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crystalninjaphoenix · 3 months ago

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Determined to Endure

Switch AU

A JSE Fanfic

A shorter chapter for today. I've been surprisingly busy this week... or maybe just tired lol. In any case, the IRIS arc continues! This time we're focusing on Jackie, Marvin, and Anti. Jackie is approached with a deal, but he tries to find a way around it. Meanwhile, Anti starts to hatch a plan, and Marvin gets taken somewhere for mysterious, but probably not good, reasons. A short summary for a short chapter. I hope you guys enjoy!

More of This AU | | First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Read on AO3 under CrystalNinjaPhoenix

Jackie had been pretty much stuck in this room for days. He was going a little bit crazy from the lack of interaction. C&C guards showed up for each meal, dropping off food, but they might as well have been robots for how much they responded to him. The longer he was stuck in here, the more tempting it was to hit one of them with a chair and scream at them to answer him. He didn’t think that being stuck in here was worse than his time spent with Distorter, but it was still awful being trapped in here.

After what felt like ages, something different finally happened. Jackie was lying face-down on the bed when he heard the door open. He assumed that it was meal time, so he didn’t even bother to lift his head. Until... “Dr. Parker?”

“Huh?!” Jackie’s head shot up. He looked over to the side and saw someone sitting at the table. Daniel, the doctor who’d talked to him when he first woke up in IRIS. The door was already closed again. “What are you—You’re back now all of a sudden?!”

“Hello again, Dr. Parker,” Daniel said calmly. “I’m sorry about the long stretch of time without anyone checking in on you.”

Jackie rolled his eyes.

“Please, come over so we can talk,” Daniel continued.

Sighing, Jackie stood up and walked over to the other chair, sitting down across from Daniel. “What?” he snapped.

“Don’t be so hostile, Jackie,” Daniel said.

“You’ve locked me in a room while you’re experimenting on my friends! I have the right to be a bit fucking hostile!”

Daniel paused. “We don’t want you to be hurt, you know.”

“But my friends are fair game, then?” Jackie muttered.

“No, we don’t want them to be hurt, either,” Daniel said.

“...I just—” Jackie shook his head. “I just frankly don’t believe you.”

Daniel clasped his hands together and smiled, trying to look friendly. “I understand why you wouldn’t. But trust me when I say that everything we’re doing here is necessary. We want this to be as easy for all of you as possible. So if there’s anything you can tell us to help make them comfortable, it would be greatly appreciated.”

Jackie tensed immediately. “You—y-you want information from me?” he whispered.

“No, not in the way you’re thinking,” Daniel said. “Jackie, you have the ability to help your friends right now. For example, we know that Schneeplestein suffers from some sort of psychosis, and we can figure out his medication, but we don’t know if there’s anything that will upset him—”

“This whole thing is something that’ll ‘upset’ him!” Jackie growled.

“Alright, let’s start with that,” Daniel said. “What specifically would get to him?”

“Being fucking trapped? I—I-I can’t believe that you all don’t realize this! I can’t believe that I was part of this fucking company!”

Daniel was quiet for a while. “Dr. Parker,” he finally said seriously. “If you don't help us take care of your friends, they will not be helped at all.”

Jackie blinked. “Is that... a threat?”

“It is a fact. We do not know anything about them. Not really. We know facts that we found, but we don’t know about their personalities or emotional needs. You have been the friendliest of them so far—” As Daniel said that, Jackie barely managed to hold himself back from saying ‘I wonder why?!’ “—so you are the only one we can approach with questions. We would hate for your friends to suffer more than necessary. For example, Marvin Moore has some sort of chronic fatigue, yes? If we push him too far, that fatigue might become pain.”

Jackie went pale. That certainly sounded like a threat. “Wh-what are you guys going to do, that would—that would hurt him?”

“That’s the point, we don’t know,” Daniel emphasized. “But you could help us, and help him by proxy.” He leaned forward. “Who knows what might happen if you stay silent.”

“Y-you... you can’t...” Jackie swallowed a lump in his throat. He wanted to refuse to help IRIS. But... part of him couldn’t help but worry. What if Daniel was right? What if his friends ended up more hurt because he didn’t say anything?

Then he thought about what the others would say if they knew he’d told IRIS anything about them. Much less if IRIS used information he’d given them against his friends. Anti and Schneep would be pissed, Marvin probably would too... JJ would be kind about it, but he’d no doubt feel betrayed. He didn’t think that any of the guys would hold it against him for too long, but he would feel terrible knowing what he’d done, how he’d made them feel.

At the same time, he didn’t want to anger IRIS... just in case. Maybe he could pretend to cooperate? “Wh-what do you want to know?” he asked slowly.

“Tell us about your friend Marvin,” Daniel said. “Does he have any special requirements?”

“Um... h-he usually needs support to walk,” Jackie said slowly. “It helps keep him from getting tired.”

“I see. We believe he doesn’t have any anomalous abilities, is that correct?”

Jackie nodded. “Yeah. He’s just a guy.”

Daniel frowned doubtfully. He glanced at the camera in the corner—wait, shit, those are the WTCHR cameras! They’re able to detect lying! Did they know he wasn’t being entirely sincere in his responses? Well they probably knew he was panicking now, at least!

“And what about your anomalous friend?” Daniel asked. “Our medical scans have shown that his throat is damaged.”

“JJ?” Jackie paused, trying to slow down his thoughts to piece together a response that wouldn’t give away too much information. “He—yes, Distorter attacked him. He probably would’ve died if... a friend hadn’t intervened.”

“Is ALTR 53815-A related to his anomalous abilities?” Daniel asked.

“N-no, he just... has that, I think...” Don’t imply magicians exist, don’t imply magicians exist, don’t imply—

Daniel nodded slowly. “Were any of your friends in possession of any anomalous items?”

Jackie laughed, trying to sound lighthearted and not nervous. “I think I’d know about that,” he said, choosing his words carefully. It’s not an outright denial or agreement, but it should imply something. Don’t mention the cards, don’t mention the cards— “Besides, this—that question isn’t related to helping my friends, is it?”

“Well, if your friends have been exposed to any anomalous items they could still be suffering from the effect of—” Daniel paused. His hand went up to his ear for a second. Did he have some sort of earpiece? If he did, it must have been very small, because Jackie couldn’t see it. “...Perhaps we should be frank with you,” Daniel said. “We recovered strange playing cards from one of your friends. Marvin, I believe?”

“...oh?” Jackie instinctively wanted to tense up, but he forced himself to stay relaxed.

“We separated them from him,” Daniel said. “And yet, even after we did that, Marvin has been showing strange, anomalous properties.”

Jackie sat up straight. “Huh? What sort of properties?”

“He seemingly appeared out of nowhere,” Daniel said. “But on closer inspection, it seems as though he entered some sort of time lag.”

“Time what?”

“You’re familiar with lag in a video game, yes?” Daniel said. “When it stutters and glitches. Sometimes in a game with multiple people, someone who’s lagging can appear to phase through objects or appear out of nowhere. Your friend Marvin briefly entered a state similar to that in reality.”

“...huh.” Jackie leaned back. “I... don’t know anything about that. I’m... sorry.” He paused. “Maybe it’s... caused by the anomalous cards? Did you all do something to them when you took them from him?”

Daniel shook his head. “The cards did enter a strange state, but it happened on its own, not because of anything we did.”

Jackie wasn’t sure he believed that. But he didn’t think Daniel would lie about the ‘time lag.’ It was such a specific thing. What happened? Had Marvin cast some sort of spell with his cards before they all got knocked out by IRIS? “I don’t know anything about that,” Jackie repeated.

Daniel looked at him quietly for a moment. Scanned him with his eyes. Jackie swallowed a lump in his throat and stared back. After a moment, Daniel nodded. “Alright. Let’s continue. Now, your friend... ‘Anti,’ he’s called. We couldn’t find any legal records of his birth name, which is actually extraordinary in a way. Do you know anything about him that we should know?”

Jackie hesitated. “Um.. no... not really...” He wondered how Anti was getting along, actually. He hadn’t been reacting to the situation well in that brief moment he last saw him...

———————

This camera was made of fucking rock.

Anti had thought he’d be able to move it slightly—it seemed to be built on a hinge or a swivel so it could scan his room. If he could just jam it or something—but noooo, this might as well have been a solid piece of plastic for all it could move.

Biting back a growl of frustration, he carefully climbed down from the chair. He’d dragged it over beneath the camera so they couldn’t see him—he was fairly sure this spot directly under it was a blind spot—but they could probably still hear him. He had to be extra cautious so they wouldn’t catch on and stop him. No weird sounds or sudden movements. He’d even taken his shoes off so his footsteps would be quieter.

Back on solid ground again, he sat down heavily on the chair, leaning back, tilting his head up so he was looking at the underside of the camera. Maybe if he had some sort of tool... Maybe the next time they came to get him for one of those fucked-up experiments—because he was sure there would be another one of those—he could try to grab something.

But he had no idea how long that would be.

Patient. He had to be patient. He had to not lose his fucking mind like he did before. That’d be... difficult. But he could try. For his friends.

———————

Marvin was trying to nap when the door opened. He sat up straight immediately, and saw a pair of guards enter the room. “Wh-what is this?” he asked, voice showing more fear than he wanted. He still vividly remembered all the strangeness surrounding the last time they showed up to take him somewhere. Putting aside the accidental happenings with his failed escape attempt and his cards, there was... that experiment. He shuddered just recalling the daze he’d been in, the way Anti kept trying to reach out to him, but his voice had sounded so distant...

Without saying a word, the guards walked towards him. “Whoa, h-hey, back up!” Marvin scrambled backwards, but he was cornered. The guards grabbed him roughly by the shirt, ignoring his yelp, and dragged him off the bed, where they adjusted their hold so they were gripping his arms. Then they marched out of the room. In the hallway outside there was another pair of guards. They said nothing to each other, just walked down the hall, pulling Marvin with them.

“H-hey, is t’is abou’ what happened last time?” Marvin asked nervously. “You—t’ere’s no hard feelin’s, righ’?”

The guards didn’t say anything. But their tight grip on his arms felt personal, somehow.

They dragged him in the same direction he’d escaped before—going through the set of double doors into that white-walled highway, and then down to the elevator at the end. One of the guards took out a keycard and scanned it before pressing a button to call the elevator. Marvin briefly considered trying to break free while they were waiting—but then one of the guards casually took something off his belt and pointed it at Marvin. He froze. That couldn’t be a real gun. Or at least, not one that shot bullets. But it probably shot something nasty nonetheless. The implication was clear. He was not to escape.

When the elevator arrived, the guards dragged him in and quickly pressed the button second from the top. The doors closed, and Marvin tried to push back the sense of finality that came with that.

The ride was short. Soon, the elevator stopped and the guards pulled Marvin out onto a new floor. One which, bizarrely enough, reminded Marvin of a hospital. He wasn’t sure why. There was just something in the plaster walls and tile floor that caused the feeling. Maybe part of the reason was because, unlike the other floor, the elevator here opened onto an open space instead of a hallway. A big square room, with a corridor on the walls left, right, and ahead. The central area of the room had a bunch of desks with computers.

The walls of the room also had some windowed sections, and some glass doors. Marvin glanced into the nearest one. Ah—there were smaller rooms lining this larger one, and the glass walls and doors let the people in the main room look into them. For some reason, his first thought was ‘it’s like a zoo.’ A bunch of terrariums for people to gawk at.

Which meant his stomach dropped when the guards started dragging him towards one of these smaller rooms. Inside he could see a table and two chairs across from each other, just like the setup in his room. “Wh-what is t’is?” Marvin asked, voice cracking slightly. “What are you goin’ t’do to me?!”

The guards remained silent. The one with the keycard pulled it out again, scanning it on a spot next to the glass door. There was a beep, and another guard reached forward to slide it open while the other two dragged Marvin into the room. They forcefully sat him down on one of the chairs and grabbed his arms, shoving his hands down on the table. There was a pair of handcuffs attached to the surface. “H-hey, let’s—” he started to say, but while he was talking the guards already snapped the manacles onto his wrists. They were cold and tight. He tested the strength of them, but of course he wasn’t nearly strong enough to break the chain.

And then the guards left. But Marvin could see them still hovering around outside through the glass wall. No doubt doing their job and guarding him. But... there was no one else in sight. Nobody was here to observe whatever test was going to happen. There wasn’t even a camera in the room.

Marvin could only sit there and wonder.

———————

Anti had wondered when his sitting under the camera would draw attention. Well, it turned out, it didn’t take long. Or maybe the guards walking into the room were coincidental. Either way, he sat up straight when they appeared. “Subject, why are you sitting in the corner?” One asked.

“Trying to avoid you all staring at me,” Anti grumbled.

The three guards in the room exchanged glances. Then two of them walked forward and unceremoniously grabbed Anti, yanking him upwards. He growled, but fought the urge to struggle. He was trying to play nice to get on IRIS’s good side, wasn’t he? But it was hard to just stay quiet and let the guards manhandle him down the hallway.

They took him to the same room as last time, but now the setup was different. Instead of the U-shape of desks and that weird stone tablet in the center, there were about four loose desks all set up around a central chair with straps. Now that—that he couldn’t just go quietly into, as panic immediately kicked his fight or flight instinct into gear. Anti tried to struggle, pulling against the grip of the guards. And—he actually managed to pull an arm free! He wasn’t about to question it! He punched the other guard in the face and bolted forward.

But then—

Something pierced his side and a jolt of pain spread outwards from that spot. Anti screamed, recognizing the feeling. A taser! No! He had to—get away!

He threw himself forward, but only managed to crash into one of the desks, jittering on the floor aimlessly. Some junk from the desk fell to the ground around him. A few pens, a set of keys, some paperclips, and... one of those L-shaped bits of metal, what were they called? An allen wrench.

As the pain from the shock faded, and the guards bent down to grab Anti, an idea hit him. He scrambled forwards, pretending that he was trying to get away from the guards, but while he was moving he put his hand on top of the allen wrench and quickly curled his fingers around it. Maybe this was the tool he needed! It’d be better than trying to mess with the camera with his bare hands, at least.

The guards grabbed him, hoisting him up and pulling him towards the chair with straps in the center of the room. And that’s when Anti realized he couldn’t just hold the wrench in his hand the whole time. They’d notice it! And he could let go of it and lose it easily! His mind scrambled for a solution to this, and the answer it reached might’ve been less than ideal. Anti pulled his arm free again and ducked his head, pretending like he was gearing up for a big escape attempt—but actually shoved the wrench in his mouth.

Smack! One of the guards hit him in the side of the head. Anti cried out—but managed to keep the wrench hidden, partially beneath his tongue. Good. Good, that’s... all he needed. He could slump into the chair now. He didn’t even have the energy to bristle indignantly when the guards pulled the straps across his wrists and chest.

He leaned back, breathing slowly. Okay. He just needed to make it through whatever they had planned for him. He saw a door on the side of the room open and some people in white coats walk in and over to the desks. One of them grumbled something and bent over, scooping up the junk that Anti had knocked over in his struggle. He waited, tense, but the scientist didn’t seem to notice the missing wrench. And neither did the guards or any of the other scientists. They were all busy starting out their test, flipping switches and pressing buttons on strange instruments sitting on the desks.

Anti closed his eyes. He didn’t want to know what they were doing. Even as a strange humming sound started up, he didn’t want to know. He just had to endure whatever was going to happen now.

———————

Marvin felt like he’d been waiting in the room for hours. He’d fiddled with the chains on the handcuffs repeatedly, but found there was no wiggle room at all. The metal cuffs were basically skin tight, and he hated them.

As time passed, more people showed up in the other, bigger room. Most of them were wearing white coats: more scientists. Many of them gave him constant glances, and some stared at him outright. He resolved to not look at them in turn... but his nerves about this whole situation meant his eyes kept wandering in that direction, locking onto their every movement, despite what he actually wished.

But then, while watching—

“Jackie!” Marvin gasped.

The elevator doors opened and Jackie walked out, escorted by more guards. He saw Marvin shortly after Marvin saw him, and stumbled in surprise. The two of them stared at each other. They hadn’t seen each other once since they’d been taken to IRIS.

Then the guards, frustrated, grabbed Jackie and started pulling him towards the room where Marvin was sitting. He quickly started walking again, keeping pace with the guards. They took him to the room where Marvin was sitting, scanning the keycard and opening the door, walking in with him. “Marvin, are you alright?” Jackie asked hurriedly. “You’re not hurt or anything are you?!”

“No, Jackie, I’m fine,” Marvin reassured him. “I-I haven’t seen any of you, other t’an Anti. Are you alrigh’?”

“You saw Anti?” Jackie repeated. “I-I did too, for a moment, we both got moved to different rooms.”

“Yeah I heard t’at happenin’ nearby.”

“Dr. Parker, sit down,” said one of the guards.

Jackie glanced at them uneasily, but reluctantly sat down in the chair on the other side of the table. The guards picked up a second pair of handcuffs and chained him down as well. “I’m... fine by the way,” Jackie said quietly. “Just been stuck in a room for days. When did you see Anti?”

Marvin leaned forward. “T’ese bastards did somet’ing to us.” He explained the experiment as quickly as he could. While he did that, the guards retreated from the room, leaving just the two of them inside. Scientists in white coats wandered over, staring at the two of them through the window, holding clipboards and electronic tablets.

Jackie shivered. “That’s terrible.”

“I-I still don’ know why they did it,” Marvin said quietly.

“I’m guessing that weird tablet was somehow similar to Distorter,” Jackie said. “Or... the house on Aspen Street. They wanted to see how you’d react to something similar, since you a-and Anti were most... affected by Distorter.”

“Most affected?! You got trapped in there for nine focking months!”

Jackie smiled darkly. “Yeah... but that was a while ago, compared to you two.”

Marvin nodded. “I s’ppose... w-well, anyt’ing else you have to share?”

“I saw that this is the top floor of five, so our cells are probably on the ground to third floor,” Jackie said. “Or there might be a basement, but I doubt that we’re on that floor. That might be where Volt and JJ are, though.”

“Okay... so—”

A screeching sound filled the room. Jackie winced, and Marvin cried out and tried to cover his ears, but his arms couldn’t move that far while chained to the table. What was that? Some sort of... feedback?

“Hello Dr. Parker,” a voice said from an intercom.

Jackie started. “Daniel?”

“You know t’at voice?” Marvin asked, surprised.

“K-kinda, vaguely,” Jackie said. “From when I was uh... employed here. We talked a couple times.”

“Enough times t’be on a first-name basis?”

“Dr. Parker, IRIS is very disappointed in you,” Daniel continued. “We had offered you a way to help everyone, but you rejected it, lying to our faces.”

Jackie stiffened. “Shiiiit.”

“Huh? What?” Marvin looked around. The scientists on the other side of the glass walls gave no acknowledgement to them. But they had to hear what was happening, right? This glass didn’t seem soundproof.

“During our talk this morning, you denied all knowledge of the anomalous cards found on Mr. Moore’s person. But this was clearly a falsehood.”

“They asked you about my cards?!” Marvin gasped.

“IRIS is very disappointed,” Daniel repeated. “You could have helped us in so much.”

“V-vague promises of help aren’t enough to sway me,” Jackie said nervously.

Part of the ceiling lowered, a circular glass tube. Inside of it was—

“My cards!” Marvin gasped. He stood up and reached for them, but they remained above his head, well out of reach of his chained hand

“The room you’re in is currently being monitored for signs of any anomalies,” Daniel said. “If something strange happens, we will know. And if it’s something dangerous, we have the ability to stop it.” The bottom of the glass tube slid open and the cards fluttered down to the table—luckily none of them fell off the table and all landed on the surface. “You two are going to show some examples of how these cards work.”

Marvin blinked. “Um... well, we... we don’ exactly know...” It wasn’t a lie, was it? The cards had almost infinite possible ways they could be arranged, and he didn’t remember most of them.

“Then you will figure it out,” Daniel said calmly.

Jackie pulled at the handcuffs attaching him to the table. He looked at Marvin. “Um... sorry,” he said.

“Sorry?”

“I shouldn’t have said anything about the cards at all, but I—I thought—I-I don’t know what I thought, I guess I just... maybe they would leave us alone? I-I don’t know. I didn’t want to say anything but I thought they wouldn’t leave me alone... but I should’ve known they would find out I was hiding something.”

“What? Are you sayin’ t’is wouldn’ be happenin’ if ye kept your mouth shut?” Marvin gestured at the room around them. “Pretty sure it would happen anyway.”

“...still.” Jackie shook his head. “I don’t know. I can’t help but feel like I fucked something up.”

Marvin laughed. “Honestly, it’s possible ye jus’ got yourself in trouble wit’ t’at.”

“...yeaaah.” Jackie pursed his lips. “Well, uh... are we going to do what they asked? Figure out what your cards do?”

Marvin glanced at the scientists. They were poised to take notes. “Well... what happens if we don’?”

At that moment, both sets of cuffs started glowing white. Pain jolted up Marvin’s wrists and he shouted out. Jackie also let out a short scream.

“The less you cooperate, the higher intensity the electric shocks will be,” Daniel said calmly.

“Wh-what the fuck?” Jackie gasped. “Just—j-just completely dropping the pretense, are we? I’m not g-going to help or join any company that shocks people into compliance!”

“If either of you try anything, the other will also be shocked in turn,” Daniel continued.

“F-fun,” Marvin commented. “T’at’s probably why you’re here, Jackie. Leverage.”

“Fun,” Jackie repeated, going pale. “So... now what?”

“We coul’ continue to resist, if we wanted,” Marvin said. “But... I-I don’ know how long we could hold out. Maybe we coul’ just... try... messing wit’ the cards? Maybe we’ll find somet’ing helpful.”

Jackie nodded slowly. He looked down at the cards and took a deep breath. “Alright.” He started flipping the cards over so they were all face-down, the runes on their backs visible. “But you know they’re watching us.” He jerked his head to the side, towards the glass door. “Anything we know, they’ll know.”

Marvin nodded slowly. “But... what else can we do righ’ now?”

“I-I don’t... know...” Jackie sighed. “I’m not... good in these sorts of situations... I-I’m not a fighter like Anti, or Schneep, or even you.”

“I’m flattered t’at you t’ink I’m a fighter,” Marvin said. He also began sorting out the cards, recognizing each rune and recalling what they do. Idly, he started looking for ways they could match up.

“You are.” Jackie nodded. “You have this fire in you that I just don’t have.”

“You have a fire too, Jackie. I don’ t’ink anyone will blame you for not puttin’ it towards fightin’ t’ese guys. We’re jus’ normal people, you know. We’re jus’... doin’ our best to endure t’is. Like we have been for so long.”

Jackie didn’t reply right away. The two of them started making patterns with the cards. None of them seemed to do anything. There were a couple that gave off a few flashes of light, causing the two of them to tense and the scientists outside to lean closer with their clipboards, but there were no obvious effects. “...I’m tired, Marvin,” Jackie whispered. “I feel like I’m losing my mind, I want to do something, but at the same time, I’m so tired.”

Marvin nodded. “I’m tired, too. It can’ have been too long in here, but I’m tired. I t’ink we’re not meant to be in a constant state of ‘desperate to escape’.”

Jackie laughed. “No, no we’re not.”

“But we can’ give up, y’know,” Marvin continued. “We have people outside waitin’ for us. No matter how distant they feel righ’ now.” He pushed some more cards into place. “We have to keep goin’, for them, and for Jems, Anti, Schneep—for all of—”

Everything turned fuzzy.

Marvin blinked. Did something get in his eye...? He reached up to rub his eyes... and realized something. He wasn’t fuzzy. His body was totally clear. It was just the world around him that was strangely out of focus. This realization was followed by the subsequent realization that he had somehow slipped out of the handcuffs. “Jackie!” he gasped. “I’m out!” He shot to his feet.

Jackie didn’t move. Jackie didn’t look up. And the scientists outside the glass door didn’t react, either. Marvin blinked. He walked over towards the glass wall. One of the scientists was pulling a strange facial expression, like they were in the middle of a sneeze. Was that... exactly what was happening? Did time freeze around him?

Marvin looked back at the cards on the table. He hadn’t been going for any specific pattern. It looked like several of them had been pushed into a vague circle. He leaned closer, trying to remember what runes were on the back—

But then suddenly he was back in the chair, cuffs around his wrists again. He gasped as the world became clear again.

Jackie’s head snapped up. “Marvin?! Are you okay?!”

“I-I’m fine, I—” Marvin looked around. What was that? He looked down at the cards again...wait a minute. Those were new. Or, not new, but they weren’t there before. The joker cards.

Jackie followed his gaze. “Oh!” He started. “What’re those ones? With the spiral runes?”

“T’ose are the joker cards,” Marvin explained. “But... what’re they doin’ here? They were in some separate room before...”

“Huh?”

“Oh, I tried to escape and found them t’ere,” Marvin explained. “Doin’ t’is weird ‘swirling around each other’ t’ing. Why are they here now?”

Suddenly, the glass door slid open and guards rushed in, surrounding the two of them. Marvin yelped in surprise as they grabbed him and pulled him away from the cards, causing the cuffs to dig into his skin as they yanked his arms forward. “Hey, what?!” Jackie shouted as they did the same to him. Two guards stepped forward and unlocked the handcuffs, then a couple more pulled their arms back.

“J-Jackie!” Marvin shouted as the guards dragged him out of the room. “Jackie!”

“Marvin!” Jackie struggled against the guards holding him back. “D-don’t panic! You—you must’ve done something! Th-that could be good!” The glass door slid closed, separating them, but Marvin could still hear Jackie shouting. “Just hang on! We’ll get through this together!”

“Y-yeah!” Marvin nodded, trying to dig in his heels. He could hear some of the scientists muttering something. What were they talking about? Something about something synchronizing? The “feed” from some sort of camera? Were they monitoring something else at the same time as they were watching Marvin and Jackie. “I’ll see you again, Jackie! I promise!”

“I’ll see you!” Jackie shouted.

Then the guards dragged Marvin into the elevator and the doors slid shut.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticegos #septic egos #septic egos au #jacksepticeye au #jackieboy man #dr jackie parker #marvin the magnificent #1920s marvin #antisepticeye #programmer anti #brigid writes fanfiction #septicswitchau

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lythea-creation · 7 months ago

Text

Expectations - Shams x fem reader (Chapter 4)

Chapter 1

Previous Chapter

warnings: nothing new rlly

word count: 1.014

------------------

I woke up in Shams' bed, my girlfriend soundly asleep beside me. It was not anything unusual. Omar had carried me to her bed lots of times before when I had fallen asleep on the couch.

It took me a moment to remember yesterdays events and when I did my stomach was doing back-flips.

What was I supposed to do now? Would my dad come and search for me? How will he react? Will he force me to return home and isolate me even more? Make me switch schools to separate me from Shams and Omar?

Thousands of worst-case-scenarios were flooding my mind, but I gulped them down. It was not helpful anyway. I had to focus on how to solve this situation.

So I decided to get out of bed and take a shower, hoping to feel better after cleansing myself of the dirt yesterday.

Today was Wednesday, meaning we had to go to school. I had no idea what time it was, only that Shams' alarm clock had not rung yet.

I did not find my backpack when I returned to Shams' room. Therefore I blindly borrowed some of her clothes to leave as quickly as possible, hoping not to wake her up.

The clock in the living room was telling me that it was 4.26 am. A lot of time before school. Time to think and reconsider.

Right now I was missing my mom more than I had for a long time. How could you long for somebody you never got to know?

“Hey”, Shams uttered quietly.

I flinched slightly out of surprise. I had not heard her coming.

She sat down next to me, scanning me up and down as if she could read my mind simply by looking at me. Maybe she could somehow. After all she had known me for pretty much my whole life.

“He hurt you worse this time, didn't he?”, she inquired, a knowing glint in her eyes.

“He brought up mom”, I confessed.

He usually never did and Shams knew that. I barely knew anything about mom as he was shutting her away, keeping his memories of her out of my reach; my only chance to get to know her.

“What did he say?”, she wondered, observing me cautiously.

“Pretty much that he's glad she isn't alive to see how pathetic I am”, I mumbled.

Shams' hands immediately moved to hold mine. “You don't believe him, do you?”

I sighed. “I dunno”, I answered hesitantly. “I mean … I have no idea what kind of person she was.”

“I'm sure she would have loved you. How couldn't she? She was even willing to risk her life for you. Some grades wouldn't have bothered her, although your grades are incredible anyway”, she pointed out.

I sent her a small smile. She was probably right. I should not let my dad get into my head. Yet I could not quite help it.

“I don't wanna go to school”, I admitted. “I don't wanna pretend everything is fine anymore. I don't wanna stay away from you for my reputation.”

“Then don't”, she encouraged me. “You literally ran away from home. Do you think your reputation is such a big deal right now?”

“It feels like I'm daring him to ruin my life”, I remarked, resting my head on her shoulder.

I was feeling tired, rather exhausted. And it was the kind that no amount of sleep would be able to fix.

“Maybe you're worrying too much. Overthinking won't solve anything”, she considered.

I could not disagree with her. So I stayed silent instead.

“How about doing something fun before school starts? We got a bit of time to spare”, she stated and got us controllers to play video games.

How could I say no to that, especially with the challenging expression my girlfriend was wearing.

We only made it to school in time because Omar showed up in the living room. The game had done a better job at distracting me than I had expected and Shams was contributing greatly to it. She was even able to improve my mood during the bike ride to school.

But as soon as she stopped at our usual spot to drop me off, the bubble popped.

“Go on! I don't wanna get off yet. I need you by my side today and I don't care what the others will do about it”, I declared.

Her grin strengthened me in my decision.

“Alright then”, she agreed enthusiastically and continued the way.

Saying that we got a lot of weird looks would be a huge understatement. Basically all eyes were on us, most of them appearing shocked.

“Did you see their faces?”, I asked Shams while she was putting her bicycle away.

I could barely contain my laughter and honestly I did not want to.

“Priceless”, she chimed in.

We walked to our classroom together, talking and laughing the whole way. And obviously enjoying the reactions to it.

“Since when are you talking to Shams?”, Tasneem wondered while I was settling on my seat. Hiba was closely behind her; of course.

“Hm, let me think”, I messed with her. “I'd say since I learned talking.”

Her dumbstruck face was absolutely worth any consequences.

“I don't get it”, she confessed.

“Shams is Omar's sister”, I revealed, watching as their faces lit up with realization.

“I had no idea”, Tasneem exclaimed.

“We're really close. So you're offending me every time you offend her”, I added.

Tasneem simply nodded and retreated back to her seat.

Shams and I quickly laughed at each other before focusing back on the lesson ahead.

Despite Shams' great job at cheering me up, I was anxious the whole time, waiting for my dad to show up.

But among all the scenarios I had pictured in my head I had never expected him to not show up at all. And somehow this was destroying me in a tauntingly painful way.

----------------------

Next Chapter

You asked for it, you shall get it! I hope you like the chapter. Do you have any suggestions for the next chapters. I have honestly no clue what I'm doing with this story.

Tag List: @sunwoniie

#al rawabi school for girls #shams x reader #fem reader #lgbtqia #romance #angst #fluff #drama

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counterspelling · 2 years ago

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Hi! I hope you don't mind me asking, but I've been interested in getting into Dimension 20 for a while, but with all the campaigns they did already, I find it a bit hard to understand which one to start with, so I thought I'd ask you, as you seem to know your stuff ! So I was wondering if there was a chronological order to some campaigns, if there was one you advised to start with, and where I could watch it. I hope this doesn't bother you, have a nice day ! ♥

This doesn't bother me at all, I love questions like this! And this is truly one of the worst weeks of my life, so thanks for the distraction <3

Short answer: d20 is divided into short and long seasons, long with the main cast (brennan dm'ing for lou, emily, murph, zac, ally, and siohban) and short sidequest seasons with different players, mostly dm'ed by Brennan but also with guest dms! You need a monthly/yearly subscription to dropout.tv to watch, but it's truly the best subscription service in my life, $6/month or 60/yr, with d20 putting out a 2 hour episode every week plus a half hour talk show in Adventuring Party (in addition to their other stellar comedy shows, Game Changer and Make Some Noise, especially). If you just want to dip your toes in and see if you like it, you can watch the first seasons of Fantasy High or The Unsleeping City for free on youtube

Long answer! Fantasy High is still to this day my favorite d20 property, it's teen adventurers at an adventuring academy in a sort of magical realism world. It's extremely funny and the first season was the first season of d20 so most of them are learning 5e after switching over from 3.5, although a few had no previous dnd experience. The second season is probably my favorite season of any tv show ever, and it's a great introduction to the main cast. Those characters will probably always be the closest to my heart in d20, they're all perfect to me.

The Unsleeping City is an urban fantasy series set in a magical New York that is also very good! There's again two seasons, and they are both well worth watching. The second season is again even better than the first, imo.

If you're getting into it because of Matt's season next month, then his The Ravening War series is a prequel to another main cast season, A Crown of Candy. ACOC is the biggest outlier in d20, which isn't ONLY a comedy show, but comedy is very much at the core of d20, but ACOC is a very, very emotionally heavy show. I loved it, but I have also never rewatched it since it took such a mental toll. It's a very high stakes, inter-party conflict, no resurrection magic world, and the entire cast had backup characters prepared in case of character death. It's very good, but not the best example of what the rest of d20 is like. If you've seen EXU Calamity, it is similar tonewise, just a longer campaign.

Then there's the two most recent main cast campaigns. A Starstruck Odyssey is a screwball scifi series set in a world created by Brennan's mom, Elaine Lee, who wrote the original Starstruck comics/play! It's very much a labor of love from him, and it was the first season the main cast filmed in person post-pandemic and the unhinged energy is truly off the charts. It was extremely good and would be a great starting point, no knowledge of the original Starstruck is necessary.

The most recent campaign is Neverafter, which is horror-inspired, but still very much a comedy. It's fairy tale inspired and I'm very sad it just ended because it was so good, although the ending was perfect.

Then there are the sidequests! My personal favorites of those are Mice and Murder, a murder mystery series set in an animal-populated turn of the century England, where the cast were all collegehumor alum so it was very funny and I love murder mysteries and think Brennan did an excellent job at it, and would frankly love another murder mystery season from him. A Court of Fey and Flowers from Aabria is another favorite, a fey-regency romance mashup that was absolutely perfect. The Seven is an all ladies/nonbinary season (dm'd by Brennan) that's technically a spinoff of Fantasy High so I would recommend watching it first, but also it stands alone if you don't mind spoilers for the main seasons.

So!! That was a very long answer, hopefully it was some help to you. You could really pick any season and be fine, and I hope you end up falling in love with d20! My personal recommendations would be to start with either Fantasy High or Starstruck, since I think they're the best examples of what the show is like overall. Good luck! Feel free to let me know what you think :)

#counterspelling asks #d20 #dimension 20 #anonymous

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pink-tonic · 9 months ago

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Answer to the Problem🔪

All Chapters

Warnings: None

It's the next day and I go to the cooking club. I'm sure that Odayaka has seen the damage that I did last night. I go into the club, and I see Odayaka and the rest of the members talking.

I listen in on their conversation.

"Yesterday, there was a break in at my family's bakery," Odayaka announces to the rest of the members.

His statement is met with anger towards the people who did it and sadness.

"Luckily, they didn't take any money, so we are getting new display cases by the end of today. By tomorrow, we should be able to open up! Our security system is busted, but there will be police officers outside at all times," he adds on.

The club members cheer at how fast the bakery is going to reopen. The reopening of the bakery catches me by surprise. I failed again. Odayaka's spirits haven't shattered like I thought they would. I need to step up my game. It's Tuesday, and I can still sabotage him.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

The rest of the day goes by the same, but I'm still thinking about what I should do to the bakery, or maybe I should take a different approach? Odayaka doesn't know that I did the damage, so I could become his friend.

Yet, I can't.

My mind is craving to destroy his high spirits. So, being his friend is out of the question.

I want to destroy him, but if I can't destroy him physically, then I want to do it mentally. Destroying the bakery is the only way I can achieve that.

I go home right after-school, I don't bother to follow Taeko. I know that she is with (Y/N). I see them together all the time, so I don't want to get close to them.

I head home and go to my room. I go to my desk and think about what to do. I could buy gasoline and start a fire, but what about the cops? Sure, the security system is down, but the cops are there watching over the bakery.

I get an idea. I should go to my basement. My mother has dealt with what I'm going through, so maybe something within those cardboard boxes can help me.

I leave my room and go to the basement. I open up the door and walk down the wooden steps. It's dark, and I have to be careful where I step, but I eventually make it to the bottom. I feel around for the light switch. I feel the small chain and pull it. The light bulb flickers before brightening up the dark room. The light isn't much, but it does its job.

I look around the basement, and I see the mountain of cardboard boxes. They are all labeled, and each of them are stuffed with items. I walk over to one corner of the room, and I start to search.

The first few boxes are antiques, so I place them to the side. The next set of boxes are my old clothes and toys. The next box is old electronics. The next is filled with books.

It just keeps going, but I find a box that catches my interest. It's labeled as 'Backup' in big, black, bold letters. The label is odd, but I open it up and take a look inside.

Inside of the box, I find a bunch of letters and a few photos. I take a look at the photos first. Captured on the photos is my mom and a man who looks to be a delinquent.

Interesting.

I look at the letter next, and it's even more interesting. When I finish it, I'm left with a smirk and a new idea.

I know how to get rid of Amao Odayaka.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

It's Wednesday, and my shift has just ended. I walk down the street with the intent to go back to that alley. In my pockets, I have the photo and the letter I found yesterday.

I hope these are the same guys.

I see the alley, and I speed up. When I make it to the alley, I see the same men. I walk into the alleyway.

"What are you doing? Leave."

"I need your help."

"Leave, kid. You have no business here," he tells me with a scowl on his face.

"I do have business here," I tell him as I stand my ground.

"Like what?"

"I have something that you may or may not recognize," I tell him as I pull out the photo and letter.

"What's that?"

"Take it."

He snatches both of the items from my hand and looks at them.

He looks at the picture and then at me.

"You're her kid, huh?"

"Yes, and I need your services."

"Just because you're her kid do-."

"I don't care about the price, I just need it done."

He looks to the side, thinking about what I said.

"What do you want?"

"The Odayaka Bakery. I want it burned to the ground."

"Are you sure? That's something serious."

I take out an envelope with all the money I earned from my shifts.

"I'm sure."

I hand the envelope over to him, and he takes it. He slowly opens it up and takes the money out. He starts to count it.

He looks up from the money,"I'll get it done."

"I want it done by tomorrow night."

"You've got it," he tells me as he disappears deeper into the alley with my money.

All I have to do is wait.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

Tomorrow comes, and nothing happens during the day. Odayaka does come up to me and asks me if I have made up my mind, but I tell him I'm still thinking about it. He walks away with a smile on his face. A smile of my own shows up. Tonight should be fun.

#fanfic #yandere #yandere simulator #yansim #male reader #reader insert #x reader #ayato aishi

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postgamecontent · 29 days ago

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Nintendo Switch Weekly Round-Up for the Week Ending October 12th, 2024

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the Nintendo Switch Weekly Round-Up for the week ending October 12th, 2024. It's an odd week when you're in October and the biggest new release is a new RPG Maker. Business will pick up from next week, but for now we've got a curious mix of interesting indies and licensed fare to sift through. Let's check out this week in the world of Switch!

Select New Releases

RPG Maker With ($49.99)

I… somewhat question the need for another RPG Maker on the Switch, but it's here anyway. Turns out Shaun doesn't get to decide what is or isn't on the platform! Despite the name, you're still more or less on your own with this one. There's also plenty of DLC in case you want to expand the assets at your disposal. Make your RPG! Share your RPG! Play RPGs from others! That's the RPG Maker experience.

Faith: The Unholy Trinity ($14.99)

New Blood seems mostly known for its first-person shooters, but it has the occasional thing that ventures off that formula. Faith: The Unholy Trinity is a stylish horror game inspired by the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. You play as a priest and have to survive a variety of trials with only your cross as a means of defense. I wouldn't say this is the best-regarded game from the publisher, but if you're looking for something season-appropriate, this is surprisingly effective.

Thronefall ($12.99)

A deliberately simplified strategy game, Thronefall aims to offer a satisfying yet minimalistic take on base defense. You spend the day time building up your base, and the night defending it. This kind of set-up has popped up before, but it's particularly well-executed here. I'm not a big fan of this kind of game, but this one is alright.

Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire ($24.99)

This is a pretty obvious love letter to SEGA's Skies of Arcadia, and I think what I will say here is that it is important to remember how this kind of thing usually plays out. Don't expect a replacement for Skies, or a spiritual successor, or whatever else your heart may want to put on this. It's a vibrant indie RPG with plenty of open skies to explore and an interesting turn-based dogfighting combat system. I'll have to put some time into it to see if there's anything more to it than that.

Europa ($14.99)

You play as a jetpack-toting android exploring the moon Europa, looking for clues to unravel the story of the last living human. One of those chill exploration games, more or less. There's a demo available you can try out, but be warned that it is several months old at this point and feels extremely rough. We'll have to see how the final game turns out, but I found the demo pretty limp overall. Proceed with caution.

Transformers: Galactic Trials ($39.99)

Outright Games occasionally makes something decent, and I kind of like the idea of a Transformers racing game. Adding in robot-based combat bits to break things up sounds like a nice way to serve the license better, too. The developer on this one is 3DClouds though, and that gives me some pause. Previous efforts from 3DClouds include Race with Ryan, Blaze and the Monster Machines Axle City Racers, Gigantosaurus: Dino Kart, PAW Patrol: Grand Prix, PAW Patrol World, and Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Rise of SH1FT3R. That's a long and consistent history of iffy racers, and based on that I can't really recommend this one.

UFO Robot Grendizer - The Feast of the Wolves ($39.99)

The third entry in Go Nagai's Mazinger series is an odd pull for a game in the current year, but I suppose it still pops up here and there with new manga and anime series. This game feels very much rooted in the 1970s material, however. If you love Grendizer, then I think you'll find this game's clear passion for the material charming enough to carry it. If you don't, then I wouldn't bother with this. It's way too rough around the edges and thinner than it should be for the price it's going for here. It's also not running especially well on the Switch.

Nick Jr. Party Adventure ($39.99)

As ever with Outright Games, we must look to the developer. Here, it's Melbot Studios. Its only previous title with Outright was My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure, which was not terribly good. This might seem like it's going to be a party game featuring various Nickelodeon characters, but it's actually just another one of those adventure-ish affairs like the My Little Pony game from this studio. It also only supports two players. So, you know, a small party at best. Six different worlds to explore, and Dora, Blue, and the PAW Patrol gang are here. I could see the younger fans perhaps enjoying this, but that's about it.

Miss Rosen's Wowtastic! Marching Band ($11.99)

Here's another game for fans of the absolutely bizarre About An Elf. It uses a similar visual style, and sees you solving a variety of puzzles in a dozen different locations. Lots of luggage packing. You're probably not here for all of that, though. If you're here for anything, it's likely the off-beat and unique story. I don't think you'll be disappointed, if that's the case. It's just as charming and weird (in a good way) as About An Elf.

The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass ($14.99)

An emergency leaves eight people trapped in a tower for twelve hours, and they're unfortunately locked in there with a rather unusual artifact. This visual novel aims to please fans of mystery thrillers, and judging by reviews of the game on other platforms, it does a decent job of achieving that goal. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, though. Many find it to be excessively wordy and lacking in good characters. It seems to go over best with people who love the theorizing journey as much or more than the mystery's resolution. Maybe that's you?

Necro Story ($14.99)

You're a necromancer! How about that? You have the ability to catch the souls of your foes and put them to work for you. This is a creature-collecting RPG, and the main gimmick is the whole necromancer thing. You also have an assortment of magic to wield, so you don't have to rely completely on your undead army. It's a light RPG, but it has a lot of soul. Ha! No but really, it's decent.

Bloodless ($14.99)

An action-adventure game about a ronin who has vowed to never take another life. To that end, you'll use non-lethal attacks to defeat the foes in your path. It's a counter-heavy affair, so if you don't like that kind of response-based combat then you might not get on with Bloodless. It's very stylish and atmospheric, which helps make up for some rough edges in other respects.

Arcade Archives Power Spikes ($7.99)

We've had the other two games in this series for ages in Arcade Archives, and now we have the entry that originally released between them. This is generally the most well-liked entry, but be warned that you only get the Japanese version of the game in this package. Well, I suppose it's nice to get a game that isn't a platformer, beat 'em up, or shooter now and then. If you can't tell from the screenshot, it's a volleyball game. Enjoy!

EGGCONSOLE Templo Del Sol: Asteka II PC-8801 ($6.49)

The latest EGGCONSOLE release is a Falcom adventure game, and as usual the in-game text is almost entirely Japanese. And since this is an adventure game, that's going to be a problem if you can't read it. A particularly challenging one at that, so don't even think about it if you can't understand the language. This game was heavily modified and released on the NES as Tombs & Treasures, which is an interesting bit of trivia. Not much more to say here without excessively repeating myself.

Extra Coin ($6.49)

A girl seeking her missing parents steps into a virtual world that promises a getaway for those seeking an escape from the harshness of reality. Explore the virtual reality of The Arcade day by day, getting involved with whatever nonsense you feel like doing. It's not going to be easy for Mika to find her parents. She'll have to follow whatever clues she stumbles across and face her fears. It's certainly got some heart put into it, and it's rather affordable.

Son of a Gun ($9.99)

This looks to be a fairly standard take on the top-down twin-stick shooter, but that might not be a bad thing depending on your mood. There are seven different gun categories, and that adds up to plenty of different weapons to wield. Six different playable characters, lots of bosses to battle, and around twenty enemies to blast. Very meat and potatoes, but it will scratch the itch if it needs scratching.

Dagon: Complete Edition ($9.99)

This is a collection of narrative adventures based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. It includes the original Dagon, plus three DLCs that each tell their own little story. Lovecraft fans will probably get into it, as it seems like it was put together by enthusiasts of the author. I'm not too big into Lovecraft's stuff, so I can't really judge it the way I'd prefer.

My Big Sister: Remastered ($7.99)

While I am not the biggest fan of selling a remaster on the same console you sold the original on, the low price combined with the changes here make it seem somewhat reasonable. You get some new story stuff, the art has been fully redrawn, and there's a new soundtrack in place. The original is still up on the eShop, so if you're buying one make sure you grab this version.

Massi ($4.99)

If you're hungry for more side-scrolling action and don't want to burn much money, here's Massi. It has a fair bit going on for what it is, and seems to have been inspired by Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap. It's been out for a couple of years on computers and mobile, so you can probably find more detailed impressions out there if you look.

El Panadero -The Baker- ($7.99)

A quirky action-platformer with a distinctive style. You can play alone or pull in another player for some local multiplayer fun. It's a relatively short game, and you can hit the end in around forty minutes. So, you know, keep that in mind.

Rogue Sentry ($7.99)

Another twin-stick shooter, this one using that monochrome-ish style that some games favor. 1-bit, as they say. Don't assume the 'rogue' in the title means this is a roguelike or roguelite game, though. Straight-up action with some traversal, that's about it. A little short, but challenging and enjoyable.

Camp Sunshine ($6.99)

Uh oh, a dangerous killer bear mascot is on the loose again. I've seen stories like this before, and it doesn't end well. It describes itself as an RPG, but it's really just an adventure game in the guise of a 16-bit RPG visual style. You know, like Corpse Party or To The Moon. It's quite well-liked over on Steam, and we'll have to take their word for it because you folks know me and horror games.

Kill The Crows ($4.49)

A top-down arena shooter with an old western theme. Not exactly the fanciest of TV dinners, but it seems to understand that its theme is its selling point and leans into it nicely. Affordable fun, and sometimes that's good enough.

That's all for this week, friends. We'll be back next Saturday with another Round-Up as we head into the back half of October. Lots of great stuff on the horizon right now, even as we're likely in the final months of the Switch as Nintendo's main squeeze. As ever, I will plug both my Patreon (where you can find lots of cool exclusive articles) and my Ko-Fi (tips help me run this blog). There, plugged. I hope you have a super Saturday, and as always, thanks for reading!

#nintendo switch #switch round up

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kalmeria · 1 year ago

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hey kori! how's your cold? are you feeling any better?

soo if you're in the mood to answer... what about 4, 5, 11, 14 and 21 from the enstars asks? sorry for asking so many, but i'm curious, haha ^^'

hello!! i’m feeling better, thank you for asking. still a bit sick but the brain fog is mostly gone at least~

answering these is fun so i might ramble on a bit haha

okay i ended up talking a lot a lot. so much that i’m putting a readmore here lmao

link to the secret codes that enable me to ramble about ensemble stars (aka the ask game)

4. what got you into enstars?

short answer is: wanted to play a new rhythm game!

long answer (i have a whole timeline lmaoo): my first encounter with enstars was watching the first episode of the anime when it came out (summer 2019). but honestly i didn’t enjoy it. the fact that anzu, who is such a central character, felt like a prop the others talked at… it was weird! i get that it’s because of her being the player character so to speak, but it still bothers me, and i find stories where she shows up a lot difficult to read.

fast forward to early 2021 when i followed a person on here who later turned out to be a big enstarrie. through them i was exposed to some wataei edits that made me go “wait this is gay?” but i mostly tuned it out as stuff on my dash i’m not that interested in. one mention of vampires did get my attention, and i ended up reading the tv tropes pages for a bunch of characters? the oddballs, valkyrie, switch, alkaloid. i could not understand what this “war” thing was.

then last autumn i got tired of the power creep in starira, my previous gacha game, and decided to try bandori garupa. found out i really enjoy rhythm games, so then i started playing d4dj and project sekai as well.

and then, around new years i think, i was sick and lying in bed, and ran into some enstars music related videos. notably one that was rating different rhythm games. and then there was a video of a bandori fan playing enstars for the first time that really sold it to me because of the shared point of reference.

i was still fighting my curiosity because enstars fans scared me, and i knew the immense amount of lore could easily suck me in and i didn’t really want that. so i decided to just watch the anime and see what the whole deal is… and then i did binge the whole thing and soon after downloaded the game (there was a minor setback of figuring out how to get an app that isn’t available in my region). i read the main story in like a week in february, and now i’m here!

(btw enstars replaced bandori in my mobile gaming, which i had kind of lost interest in at that time, and had just had the worst gacha luck trying to get a 4* moca card)

tl;dr (which is totally fair): wanted a new rhythm game to play, have heard about enstars and seen people be really into it, watched the anime -> it captured my interest

5. what's your favorite headcanon about the character you produce?

umm well this is not a fun one but it’s kind of an important one to me. i see tatsumi as someone who has dealt with being suicidal in the past, especially during his hiatus after the reimei incident, but before that as well. i think he processed it through his faith and through devoting himself to others, but it is also wrapped up in feelings of guilt about not respecting the value of a human life (his own) properly.

11. do you have a least favorite character?

i don’t really actively dislike any of the idols. the ones i like less than others are the ones i don’t really know well because i haven’t really read their stories. either because they didn’t manage to capture my interest, or in the aois case, i’ve just found that a lot of the ways identity and self comes up in their stories makes me uncomfortable, so i kind of don’t like reading them.

but i love seeing people who love these characters i’m not too focused on talk about them and why they love them. it’s really nice how everyone has their devoted fans!

that said, no one has managed to make me care about the two teachers.

14. what card are you currently saving for?

funny story!!!!!! (it’s not)

i am. saving for getto spectacle tatsumi.

and fs1 kohaku.

which will happen at the same time.

(pained smile) i know there is months to go until then, but in the meantime we’ll have fs mayoi, aira and hiiro, as well as ibara event scout. so i will have to make some decisions. oh and ariadne is right around the corner too….)

21. do you have a favorite story?

well. obbligato might be an obvious answer. and it is very high up there.

but i think in general i prefer the shorter stories? because the pacing of the long ones can be absolutely all over the place!

i quite like princess kaguya and ariadne. they do both have that typical enstars thing of having a central conflict that gets dragged out for quite a while and then very suddenly solved in a previously unforeseeable manner. but i’m giving these a free pass for having that conflict be interesting, as well as the character dynamics they explore.

oh and shoutouts to feather touch! i hadn’t considered it before as a favorite but as i was thinking about this question i realized that it’s a pretty solid story.

and i do just really love reading idol stories! they have a lot of fun casual interactions in them! (jun kohaku hiyori teatime, rinne praying to kanata, the runrun calamity, the ones where tatsumi and koga hang out, hiyori giving idol advice to kohaku, etc!)

#slow answer was originally bc i needed to make lunch #then it ended up because of the sheer length of this thing (i am very slow when it comes to writing/reading)#thank you for the ask and sorry about my rambling #i enjoyed answering :3 #asks #umilily #im too tired to read this back now #i could give you a tag of you are okay with that #ive been doing name + an emoji #lily🌊

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folksy · 1 month ago

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I put on a youtube video that was in my recommended while I was at work and it was a criticism of the resident evil 4 remake and how it was overhyped and is a bad, unnecessary remake that’s practically a cash grab and doesn’t understand what makes the original good and that people need to quit accepting remakes that worsen game mechanics, characterization, and design because the result is the loss of the essence of what makes the original so liked in favor of liking something just because it’s new and has better graphics. that’s the gist. but the thing that really bothers me about these criticisms is the fact these people are only looking at it from the view of it being a remake of 4, and not the fact that is is also the third remake (in this era) which really changes the context because it’s not just remaking a game, it is also adapting the game to the current storyline and mechanics. obviously you can have your opinions but I don’t find it fair to judge a remake just from its original source when it’s a sequel that is shaping itself off the previous remakes. the remakes have established themselves as “retellings of the same events” as opposed to just trying to do a one to one remake of the original game with modern graphics and mechanics. which is another thing the person in the first video brought up, which is that some of these modern remakes feel more like “fanfiction” of the original games. which in the case of re4 remake it’s making itself out to be a retelling and not a replacement for the original. unlike 2 and 3 (where until GOG released them this year, you couldn’t play the originals unless you emulated or used older consoles) you can go on steam or console stores and play the original 4 right now.

read more because I’m feeling really passionate about this issue rn lmao

I don’t recall this aspect (being the third modern remake) being addressed at all in the videos. only the original remake of the first game which I don’t think is a fair comparison as 1. there’s only a 6 year difference between the original resident evil and its remake, while 2 is 21 years, 3 is 21 years, and 4 is 18 years. 2. the one remake added content (granted the original is the only mainline re I haven’t played, so I can’t compare the content as well), enhanced the graphics, while also maintaining the tank controls and fixed camera angles of the original. 2 and 3 and remake completely changed the mechanics from their sources, while 4 remake has switched tank controls for the modern controls of the other remakes. 3. already addressed above but the modern remakes are retellings made in the current era, whereas one remake is a bit of a “this is what we wanted to do originally but didn’t have the technological means at the time.” having not played the original yet, the biggest changes I know about besides the graphic overhaul would be the addition of lisa trevor and more areas, along with different dialogue.

stemming from what all I’ve said about how 4 remake is a a continuation of the previous remakes, there is way more cohesion between the 2 and 4 remakes than the originals. it’s pretty obvious that the original 4 is a soft reboot that moved the series into a new direction. there is not very much connecting characterization with leon in the original 2 and 4. it’s obvious that the events of 2 led him to where he is in 4, but he has a completely different look and personality. it is something I have not seen in these criticisms of re4 remake. 4 remake is clearly a continuation of leon from 2 remake, and you can tell how the events of the previous game have affected him physically (through his more rugged appearance and deeper voice, which is also attributed to him being older and retaining the same voice actor unlike the originals) in addition to his outlook on the world and his mission. people say leon lost a lot of his charisma from the original 4 and is more serious in the remake which. makes sense as it’s a natural arc from what happened in the last game we saw him in. he still does say stupid shit though lmao but not to the degree of the action hero archetype he’s supposed to be in the original. the original is very of its time, and the remake is supposed to be of its own era too. it’s not just “let’s remake re4 to today’s graphics and fix some things” it’s more “let’s remake this game for a modern audience while also being able to appeal to fans of the original” but obviously not everyone can be appeased especially when it’s trying to make a broader appeal

#I do have criticisms of the game and the other remakes. but this issue in particular bothered meee like it doesn’t exist in a vacuum #you gotta look at the other remakes and apply those to the 4 remake #like the knife was brought up #in the remakes knives have durability whereas in the original 4 your knife never broke #but coming from the previous remakes. having Leon’s combat knife break and have to be repaired #is a natural continuation of the knife durability of the remakes while combining the merchant and weapons upgrade mechanic #Of the original. but no you only looked at it from the context of the original where the knife never breaks

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todayimgonnaplay · 3 months ago

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Today I'm Gonna Play: Dragon Age: Inquisition

I've always heard good things about the Dragon Age games. It's not my first time trying out Dragon Age: Inquisition (DAI) although I was never in the mood to fully go through it. But considering that The Veilguard is coming soon, I thought to give it a shot. I did try Origins and although I don't mind playing old games for the most part, I find it harder to play games with old UI/UX systems (graphics don't really bother me). But I was also intrigued in how I could handle the story blind in my first completed Dragon Age game.

Having been in the fantasy mood lately thanks to Baldur's Gate 3, this was the next game to jump into. I did subconsciously compare the two at first, but I will try to refrain from doing that here, since both games had different visions in different times.

DAI seems to have held up nicely in some regards. Visually, it still looks quite decent to an extent with the other games that have released at that time. It does have a sort of porcelain look to some of the character models in some scenes, but does look better if there's some strong lighting around the area. Environments, especially from afar have aged better than the characters.

The combat is simplified which is quite standard for action RPGs. It has an easy learning curve so that anyone can jump in. Although I've noticed at points that enemies can get very spongy. This can be attributed to poor gear, in which the opposite happens if you have adequate gear. I couldn't find a balance to it and mostly felt like I was spamming my attacks as a warrior, without much tactics involved, which gets a bit dull at some point. Other classes on the other hand, seemed to require you to position yourselves well which adds to some variety in their cases.

However, I do like the variety in the skill trees. I've heard that previous games have a more broader selection and are therefore better. I can see how that applies as I noticed a lot of the skill selections can overlap between multiple party members, and you can only unlock unique paths well after you're halfway through the game. It's also frustrating that you cannot reverse skill point selections so that you can revise your builds more carefully with each member. The gameplay structure in paper is somewhat fun. It's akin to hub based design games like Monster Hunter where you can visit a variety of places in an open world fashion and do quests, loot materials which you can craft,upgrade,sell or use for completion purposes. Although there is a lot happening which can get tedious, so I ended up skipping many side quests at some point. It doesn't help that although some side quests tend to have some interesting lore behind it, you're essentially given MMO-like tasks like fetch quests, killing a number of enemies or collecting items. I'd love to see side quests be given more meaning than just be a checklist in future installments. Baldur's Gate 3 is a great example of how to make sidequests fun and not tedious yet integral to the story.

Although I mentioned that I didn't feel like playing through Origins due to outdated looking UI, DAI has made me realize that a more modern game does not equal to better UI/UX. I don't know if it applies for keyboard and mouse, but there's a huge reliance on radial menus that felt clunky to navigate, but even worse is the actual menus in terms of inventory and skill trees (the former is worse). There is no way to immediately see what's being equipped, or any sense of filters or proper categories apart from weapons. This made rudimentary features like equipping and selling, or even switching characters massively frustrating to deal with. Apart from menus, the minimap is also a poor example of its own feature due to its extremely minimalistic design. This makes navigating terrain a very difficult task when you can't tell which route to take to get to a marker (and there are instances where the marker for a quest isn't placed properly, forcing you to search around) as the game doesn't allow you to jump your way through to climb them like other games would. But I still appreciate the experimentation so that designers could learn from this example when working on future projects, or projects in general.

That isn't to say that the game isn't lacking in plot. I've heard that DAI was rushed during development, but I do appreciate the amount of story you get in a short campaign like this. Along with the potential of having decisions carried over from previous games (if you've played them) makes each playthrough a little unique. The lore hasn't sent me down a rabbit hole like Baldur's Gate 3 has, but has me intrigued enough to be curious about the next installment.

One thing I appreciate about the story is how three dimensional the characters are. For a story about saving the world, you're met with very imperfect people who are trying to make the best of their own situation and the bigger picture that's happening. It's quite refreshing to see that and figure out what kind of path would they be led to. I also found it interesting how the game tackled sexual preferences in the romance aspect. It's not a new concept for older games, but it made me realize the up and down sides of it. It adds personality and realism to the characters, but can also potentially mislead players if they wish to romance someone in particular. I played as a female human inquisitor and found characters like Cassandra and Morrigan interesting, but realized that they're locked for male Inquisitors instead, which forced me to look towards other choices. Perhaps a way to mitigate this is to subtly hint their preferences in dialogue/banter or collectibles early on so that the player can decide early on who they would like to pursue. A feature that I really enjoy that I haven't seen in a game so far is that you can respond to certain banters in the field, it makes it more immersive as you're actually engaging rather than being a passive listener. Although I also have a gripe about the options as I've often had mismatched expectations selecting something which caused an unintended outcome. This is unfortunately a common flaw I've seen in choice based games which really hampers the enjoyability of this aspect. I've often been in situations where my player character says something in a negative tone when I meant positive, and vice versa. Choices should be clear on what the player character intends to communicate so that the player gets the intended outcome that they want. The icons that represent an emotion or direction are an improvement to what I've seen from the Mass Effect series (which I intend to visit in the future).

Overall, this was an interesting title to play from a series that's been on my backlog for a while. I'm not sure if I'll give Origins another shot as that's the most popular (although I hope I do), but I do look forward to seeing if The Veilguard could be an improvement.

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#Dragon Age: Inquisition #DA:I #game analysis #game review #game reviews #gaming #youtube #RPG #Action RPG #Youtube #DAI #Bioware

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mythleague · 1 year ago

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I Don't Have a Problem! I Swear!

(Image Description: The Veilstone Game Corner. The player stands behind Looker who is playing the slots. Others are also playing slots at the same time)

As we head out of town Blondie surprises us with an impromptu battle. Thankfully I'd had the good sense to heal up before hand. Monferno worries me, but we take his team down without too much trouble. On our way out of Hearthome we accidentally visit Bebe, but she gives us a lv 20 Eevee, which is nice because it allows us to take some time to use switch training to evolve Peter into Togetic, meaning we can now focus solely on Jorinda and Joringel.

(Image Description: Summary Screen of a level 18 Togetic. It is male and in a regular pokeball) I'm free!!!

After a very brief visit to Solaceon for the Defog HM, it's time to head over to Veilstone and prepare for the Worst grind OF MY LIFE! You see, there are not one, but TWO moves I need to get from the Game Corner, which cost about 16k coins. This will actually be the first time I've bothered with slots since rage quitting them in Yellow, and I have been dreading it, but if I want to give Jorinda and Joringel a decent movepool, it has to be done. I find the clown who gives out coin cases, buy some coins and begin... the... grind... I will spare you the details. Suffice it to say that it took an agonizing amount of time. Luckily it turns out that if you know how to handle Clefairy streaks you always seem to win more than you lose. Still, I don't think I'll be playing the slots again any time soon.

(Image Description: A Ditto disguised as Clefairy gazes at you under a full moon)

She stares into my soul O.O

With a total of 16,320 coins in hand, we finally have enough to get the TMs we need. Hidden Power for Jorinda, with a typing of Ice, and best of all, Psychic for Joringel, which gives us a nice super effective move for the upcoming gym! Orrr so I thought. As it turns out, Maylene has a Meditite and Lucario making up two thirds of her team, meaning Psychic isn't actually the best move for a lot of the fight. Still, we ultimately prevail and earn our fourth badge!

First - Previous - Next

#mythical little league #pkhex #pokemon #pokemon challenge #sinnoh

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darkmegaexe · 2 years ago

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Bayonetta 3 is one big “fuck you” to Bayonetta fans

(I’m about to spoil the hell out of nearly every aspect of this game btw so read at your own risk)

Let me get the positives out of the way first. The combat is great. Getting back into the flow of Bayo’s gameplay was a joy, and Viola, while having mostly similar gameplay, still felt like her own separate character with her own mechanics and was also a lot of fun to play. She’s definitely got a little Metal Gear Rising in her play style. Fun, fast-paced, and tight combat is the one thing you can pretty much always expect from a Platinum game, and they didn’t disappoint in this game (for the most part). The game also runs surprisingly well for a Switch game. There are some frame rate dips once in a while and the cutscenes only run at 30 fps, but it’s nothing that ruins the moment-to-moment gameplay. It runs fairly well in handheld mode too, even during some of the more intense moments, so good on them for optimizing it as well as they did. The voice acting is also as good as ever. Jennifer Hale does a great job as Bayonetta, Anna Brisbin nails Viola’s attitude perfectly, and the rest of the cast sounds just as on point as they did in the first 2 games. Great performances all around.

Aaaaaaand that’s where my compliments end. Everything else about the game is middling at best and fucking abysmal at worst. Firstly, the level design is boring. It feels like areas are as big as they are for no reason other than to scatter collectibles wherever they devs felt like putting them, and the environments all have really bland color palettes. It doesn’t encourage exploration when 75+% of the space is there for no reason and not pleasant to look at.

The new enemy type, the Homunculi, are incredibly forgettable. A lot of them look too similar to differentiate them from each other, and a lot of the bigger ones are just a pain in the ass to fight, even with Infernal Demons. It’s been quite a while since I played Bayo 1 and 2, but I could at least name a few of the enemies in those games. I finished Bayo 3 just a few days ago and couldn’t tell you the name of a single enemy. It wouldn’t be as bad if you got to fight Angels and Demons more often, but they’re unfortunately relegated almost exclusively to hidden Verses that you have to go out of your way to find, meaning you’re spending most of the game fighting the lame toothpaste monsters.

I mentioned earlier how the combat is great, but it definitely feels like a step down from the previous games. Landing combos is still a lot of fun and dodging at just the right moment to activate Perfect Witch Time is still incredibly satisfying. I’m not really bothered by them getting rid of being able to equip different weapons to Cereza’s hands and feet. That’s honestly not something I really did a lot in the old games, I don’t mind being limited to 2 weapons at a time in this case. Fuck you, BioShock Infinite My main gripe is the new mechanic, being able to summon Infernal Demons in combat. Considering the director, Yusuke Miyata, was previously a game designer on Scalebound (RIP) and Astral Chain, I can see why this mechanic was included. It sounds awesome in concept and it’s not terribly executed, but they’re all either too sluggish or just plain not fun to use, the only 2 exceptions being Madama Butterfly and Phantasmaraneae. But you can’t use them at all in smaller spaces, so it’s obvious that they were meant to be used against the bigger enemies. But the problem there is that when you’re in an open space fighting smaller enemies, which is gonna be most of the time, you can just wipe the floor with them with an Infernal Demon. This is especially bad in the case of Angels and Demons, which have not at all been reworked to deal with this mechanic. Despite being the new main addition to the combat, it feels a bit more like a hindrance than an enhancement to the general gameplay flow established in the first 2 entries. It can be pretty fun at times, but I’m playing a Bayonetta game to play as Bayonetta. At least when Viola summons Cheshire she can still actually fight instead of being completely inoperable until you either run out of magic or have to dodge an enemy that gets too close to her. It’s not much better in the boss battles where they’re the main focus either. If anything, they’re even more sluggish than in regular combat. You get 12 of them in total, and a weapon tied to each one; Depending on which weapons you have equipped, Bayonetta will take on their form when doing certain moves in combat and when dashing, and each one will also change what ability she gets after a double jump (glide, swing, etc.). Considering the game only has 14 main chapters, 3 of which you don’t even play as Bayonetta in, that’s just too much of an arsenal. I tried out every weapon and Infernal Demon at least once, but I mainly just stuck with 2 or 3 of them throughout my entire playthrough. Unless you take the time to go into practice mode, the game just doesn’t give you enough time to get acclimated to one weapon/demon before throwing another one your way. Also, Jeanne being relegated to 2.5D pseudo-stealth side chapters is garbage and they’re some of the worst parts of the game overall. They’re clunky, out of place, and it feels like the only reason they’re in the game is to give Jeanne something to do. The nicest thing I can say about them is that they’re short.

But all of those complaints are nothing compared to the biggest problem in the whole game; The story and characters. I’m not gonna claim that this series has stories that are on par with games like NieR Replicant, 13 Sentinels, or Metal Gear Solid, because they don’t. They’re written by the same asshole guy who created Devil May Cry, of course they’re gonna have dumb stories that make little-to-no sense. But they were at least still fun stories to watch unfold. The story of Bayonetta 3 is one of the worst I’ve ever had the displeasure of experiencing. Not only does it never bring up anything that happened in the previous games, but it also shoves in everyone’s favorite new hotness; The multiverse. It’s such a tired cliché at this point that it’s almost comical, but the thing about this instance is that it really doesn’t have any reason to be a multiverse story. It feels like they only made it that way because either they had a bunch of alternate Bayonetta designs and needed an excuse to put them in the game, or they saw some recent MCU schlock. The events of this game could’ve easily taken place in one universe, all they would’ve had to do was change Singularity’s goal. That’s the least of the plot’s issues, honestly, but I can’t get into the rest of them without talking about the characters and how the game ends first.

As for the characters, returning ones are so poorly written that they don’t even feel like the same characters from 2009 and 2014, and new ones get little-to-no development whatsoever. Enzo and Rodin show up so little after the prologue chapter that they’re not even really worth talking about, but honestly, they’re pretty much untouched as far as their personalities go, so they have it the easiest. Jeanne is separated from the rest of the cast for most of the game, which means she barely interacts with Cereza, the character she has the most chemistry with. Instead she goes off looking for Sigurd, a character we don’t meet until just before the game’s climax and has no personality to speak of. I’m not saying Jeanne isn’t good enough of a character to stand on her own, but when she has so little screen time over the course of the game, it feels like they just didn’t know what to do with her.

Then there’s Viola, who had the potential to be as memorable of a character as Bayo, but unfortunately misses the mark by quite a wide margin. Not to say she doesn’t have her charm, because she certainly does. Her punk aesthetic and attitude makes her stand out among the cast, and seeing her fumble when trying to be cool is kinda cute at times. But despite being the new playable character and basically the one who kicks off the story, she gets very little development and accomplishes literally nothing in the entire game. Like, yeah, she’s doing stuff, but it’s nothing that makes any progress towards her goal. Instead of travelling the multiverse looking for the MacGuffins Chaos Gears herself, she leaves that to Bayonetta, and gets preoccupied with Luka, who followed them because of course he did, he’s Luka. In her second chapter, she fights Strider, a recurring boss who I’ll get into later. After the fight, a cutscene plays where Bayonetta shows up about to finish Strider off, but Viola stops her and he escapes. She pleads with Bayo to let her take care of Strider, to which Bayo agrees before going off to continue doing what Viola should be doing. She fights him again in her third (and final) chapter and loses, not appearing again until the end of the second-to-last chapter of the game. Again, it feels like the writers just had no idea what to do with this character, and it really shows once you get to the ending.

And then there’s Bayonetta herself, who gets hit with the worst character assassination I’ve seen since The goddamn 3rd Birthday. In the first game, Bayonetta is cemented as strong, independent, and fully embracing of her sexuality, basically being a dominatrix. Bayo 2 gives her a bit more development, now having people in her life that she genuinely cares about and wants to protect, Jeanne in particular, going so far as to travel to Inferno after Jeanne dies to get her soul back. This game throws all of that out the fucking window. Instead of always being calm, cool, and collected, she’s constantly hesitating to take action in most situations. Every single alternate universe version of herself and Jeanne that she meets ends up dying because of her hesitation. The most she’ll do is point her guns at the Homunculus killing the alt universe Bayo/Jeanne and that’s it. The one situation where she makes a decision pretty much on the spot is when she’s forced to kill an alternate universe version of her mother, Rosa, which is a situation where it would make sense for her to hesitate, considering she failed to stop Loptr from killing Rosa in the second game and presumably wouldn’t want to see her die again at all, let alone have to be the one to pull the trigger on her. And it doesn’t only show in the story, you can see it in gameplay too. One of the most memorable things about combat in the first 2 games was the Torture Attacks. Every time one was done, it was a spectacle, and their BDSM influence further accentuated Bayo’s dominatrix style. But in this game, not only are they watered down, but they don’t even involve any more interaction than just hitting the buttons to activate them. Sure, it doesn’t break the flow of combat as much, but it makes them so much less fun to actually do. The new ones are just basic bitch shit like dropping an oversized gravestone on an enemy or riding a missile into it, and even the returning ones are neutered and are over in 3 seconds tops. Bayonetta in this game just feels like a shadow of her former self. It was already frustrating enough seeing her like this throughout the game, but it gets so much worse in the climax, which is where the story completely implodes on itself and becomes truly irredeemable.

(If you’ve made it this far, first of all, thank you for enduring this ridiculous wall of text that was originally intended to be like 3 paragraphs tops. Second, this is your last warning to back out if you care enough about the story of this game to not want the ending spoiled for you. Once again, continue at your own risk.)

In the penultimate chapter, Jeanne finally locates Sigurd and brings him back with her to reconvene with Cereza to put the plan to stop Singularity into action. They open a portal to the Alphaverse and get attacked by a horde of Homunculi. Jeanne stays behind to protect Sigurd while Bayonetta heads through the portal. There’s a slow, kinda boring fight against a giant, mostly stationary Homunculus, followed by the return of Strider, who is revealed to actually be... Luka. Yes, Luka fucking Redgrave, the one character I’ve held off on talking about until now. Apparently the offscreen deaths of all the alternate universe Lukas caused him to transform into Strider for some goddamn reason. Anyway, he and Bayo fight, she tries to get him to come to his senses, and what’s basically his Heartless manifests itself and he falls off the platform, leaving Bayo to do the exact same boss fight a second time in a row. Afterwards, Viola just appears in the Alphaverse with no explanation, as does Lukaon, a faerie king and alternate universe counterpart of Luka who she met earlier while making her way to a different universe, who rescued Luka from his fall. They then find out that Singularity’s true identity is Sigurd, who sacrificed his Alphaverse counterpart to control the Homunculi from there. [insert 3rd Strike “YEAH THAT MAKES SENSE” here] Which begs the question... How did Jeanne and Cereza not realize this the second they met Sigurd? They’d been fighting Homunculi over the course of the entire game, how did they not think it was a even a little bit suspicious that he bears a striking resemblance in physical appearance and color scheme to them? The answer: terrible writing. It’s some of the most contrived bullshit ever, even by Japanese action game standards. And just to add some salt to the wound, it then cuts back to the main universe and we see Sigurd kill Jeanne, absorb her soul, and trap Bayo and Viola in the Alphaverse.

In the final chapter, Lukaon merges with Strider, bringing Luka back to his senses. He then proceeds to transform back into Strider (which I guess he can just do at will like a fucking Devil Trigger now) and jump into the vortex absorbing the Alphaverse, turning it into a portal to take Bayo and Viola back to the main universe. After a boss fight against a giant kaiju form of Singularity, they end up on an asteroid because why the fuck not at this point, they fight again, and then all the alt Bayos and Jeanne come back to assist main Bayo, just for them to disappear again like a minute later, reinforcing the fact that the whole multiverse thing is completely pointless and unnecessary. They crash back down to Earth and a whole recreation of the opening plays out, followed by Bayo getting btfo’d in pretty much every cutscene from there on, even after merging with incarnations of herself from the first 2 games who show up out of nowhere with no explanation, with Viola trying to get a hit in and also getting bodied, until Luka shows up again to stop Singularity from delivering the killing blow, transform into Strider, and fight alongside Bayo, finally defeating Singularity. Afterwards, Bayo is too weak to continue controlling Gomorrah and it knocks her soul out of her body, before Luka subdues it and embraces Bayonetta. They profess their love for each other before they’re both dragged down to Inferno, leaving behind Viola, who at this point has been revealed to be the child of her universe’s Bayonetta and Luka. Credits roll.

Okay, now I can talk about Luka. In the first 2 games, he was nothing more than comic relief at best and an exposition dumper at worst. Most, if not all, of his interactions with Bayonetta were just him unsuccessfully trying to flirt with her and making an ass of himself. Despite that, he was still a welcome addition to the cast because what made him stand out is that he was just some dude. Not Umbra, not Lumen, just an ordinary human following in his father’s journalist footsteps and getting caught up in situations that are way bigger than him. So for him to suddenly be a descendant of faeries and be able to turn into a giant werewolf at will is not only some serious tonal whiplash for this character, but it also takes away from what made him stand out from the rest of the cast. And to have Bayonetta, who’s previously been perfectly capable of taking care of herself and has never shown any signs of having any kind of romantic interest in anyone, let alone Luka, suddenly have to be saved by him at the 11th hour, confess her feelings for him before dying, and for the game to imply that it’s their fate to be together in every possible universe, completely goes against everything that made Bayonetta such an iconic and beloved character. It’s such a spit in the face to the character, the franchise, and the fans.

But wait, there’s more! After the credits, Viola has to fight Kraken and her mother’s Heartless. Once the fight ends, the multiverse is restored (y’know, except for all the dead Bayos, Jeannes, Lukas, etc.), Viola is in the main universe taking jobs from Rodin, and she’s now seen wearing Bayonetta’s glasses and Luka’s scarf, and is given the title of Bayonetta. At face value, this may just seem like a stupid little continuity error since “Bayonetta” was a pseudonym that Cereza used before she regained her memories and not a title. But this also goes against what Viola is supposed to be. Nothing about her design or personality indicates that she’s the daughter of Bayonetta. If anything, she’s the polar opposite of Bayo in just about every aspect, which makes it incredibly confusing when both Enzo and Luka say she looks familiar. Like... how? She looks nothing like Bayo. The only thing that even slightly indicates that she has some connection to Bayonetta is the little Cheshire charm on the hilt of her sword. Aside from that, she’s just a punk girl. “Punk” is a subculture all about freedom of expression and individualism, and it’s a major part of Viola’s character. Obviously her design is supposed to be reminiscent of the typical punk aesthetic, but it goes deeper than that. With the way she acts when Bayonetta looks down on her and calls her “Kitty”, it’s clear that she wants to be taken seriously, constantly instisting the she be called by her proper name. Hell, it’s even evident in the lyrics of her battle theme. It’s clearly a song about wanting to break free; Viola wants to be seen and heard for who she is and not let her past or her lineage define her.

“I don't wanna be a ghost and don't wanna be a little secret”

“From the top of my lungs I'm screaming, speaking in tongues: "Why can't you hear me?"”

“I'm the ghost within you, you're my history. Beggin' to be free, but you don't hear me.”

But that gets completely tossed aside at the end of the game, and instead she embraces a name that isn’t hers, that she didn’t even earn. Viola isn’t Bayonetta. She’s not supposed to be Bayonetta, she doesn’t need to be Bayonetta, and she spent the entirety of the game before this moment wanting to be herself, not Bayonetta. It’s some real “Rey Skywalker” bullshit. Everything about her character clashes with the way this awful story is written.

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the reason this game took nearly 5 years to come out is purely because of Devil May Cry 5. I’m willing to bet that when DMC5 came out during development, Platinum looked at it, trashed whatever story they were working on before, and decided to not only rip off the story of DMC5, but also DMC4, and shove them both into one game. It makes sense, considering Viola is basically a Nero equivalent. Same cocky, punk, semi-tryhard attitude, same “amateur/veteran” dynamic as Nero and Dante between her and Bayo (for what little screen time they share), same “passing the torch” trope at the end of the game. The only thing missing is the actual character development and the feeling of earning that passing of the torch.

Bayonetta 3 is a fucking mess of game. With a combat system that isn’t as fun as its predecessors combined with a story as pointless as Kingdom Hearts III’s and as offensive as Metroid: Other M’s, I’ve never felt as insulted by any piece of media, let alone any video game, as I have by this. Almost 5 whole years of anticipation for the follow-up to 2 of my favorite games of all time, just to be met with... this, is one of the most disheartening things I’ve ever experienced. It’s a complete betrayal of everything that made this series special, and I think it would be better off if they did to it what they did to the title character both literally and figuratively and killed it here.

#tldr: game bad #thanks for coming to my ted talk

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crochetedblorbos · 2 years ago

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“Human friends!”

Character Name: Mini Smithson

Fandom: Chapter & Multiverse, “Masks” Campaign 1 [Podcast]

Played By: Lydia Nicholas

Yarn Used: Hair: Loops & Threads Facets - Electric Skin: Loops & Threads Capri Eco Cotton - Cream Stripe Leotard: Loops & Threads Capri Eco Cotton - Rainbow Multi Shoes: Loops & Threads Capri Eco Cotton - Blueberry Speckle Skirt: Hayfield Next Addition - color name unspecified Eyes: DMC #E147 Mouth: DMC #816

Basic pattern here.

Our adorable little alien friend! Mini was actually a lot of fun to make and definitely an experiment in her own way. (She was also a bit frustrating, as I accidentally dropped her first leg at the bus stop on my way to a baseball game and had to do another, only to find the first one when I went back later.) Like with Joseph, there are things I would do differently a second time, but I love her nevertheless.

Mini’s style is frequently described as “somehow it works” and I wanted to reflect that with the colors I picked for her outfit - and I think it did exactly what I wanted! I did Mini in a cotton yarn, rather than the acrylic I’m using for all the other blorbos, for two reasons. One is that, well, she’s an alien - it makes sense that she wouldn’t be made of the same stuff as her human friends. The second is that the yarn is a bit thinner than the acrylic despite being the same weight, so I was able to make her come out smaller than Joseph despite using (roughly) the exact same number of stitches. She varies from the base pattern as follows:

Shoes: I didn’t think to grab a color that would work for soles, so her shoes are the same color from top to bottom. I gave her high-tops, and I also made her legs just the slightest bit smaller, so: R7 (right shoe): Ch 1, sc in first 7 st, inv dec 4 times, sl st in first sc (12 sc). R7 (left shoe): Ch 1, inv dec 4 times, sc in next 7 st, sl st in first sc (12 sc). R8 (both shoes): Ch 1, sc in each st around, sl st in first sc (12 sc).

Legs: I figure Mini wears no-show socks, or else she forgets them entirely because humans wear an unnecessary number of layers in her opinion and nobody even looks at your socks so why bother? (She does wear hover boots in costume, so probably they mostly don’t show.) I also only had two colors of yarn to work with for her outfit and I was not going back to the store that quickly, so I decided to put her in a 3/4 length leotard: R9: Using skin color, ch 1, sc in back loop of each st around, sl st in first sc (12 sc). R10-15: Ch 1, sc in each st around, sl st in first sc (12sc). R16: Switch to outfit color. Ch 1, sc in front loop of each st around, sl st in first sc (12sc). Continue pattern as normal.

Body: To get a place to attach the skirt later, work R38 in front loops of R37, then work R39 in the back loops of R38. Continue as normal. I used the same method to form the collar of Mini’s shirt as I did with Joseph’s.

Face: I used a DMC “Light Effects” floss for Mini’s eyes. I don’t recommend this. It’s a pain in the you-know-what to work with, but it gave the effect I wanted.

Hair: I probably made this more complicated than I needed to, but it worked. Starting with R58, I took the yarn I planned to use for hair and laid it across the stitches of the previous row, then worked the stitch over the hair yarn with the skin color. I then looped the yarn back up until it was the desired length, laid it over the foundation row, and stitched over it again, and so on around the back of the head. I did this for five rows before switching to the scalp method I used with Joseph; in Mini’s case, I continued with the “add one stitch to each side” until it came to a peak at R75. To make the ponytail, wrap yarn around a book, card, or fingers (depending on desired length) until it is desired thickness, tie together and slide off card. Cut other end of loops, then stitch to top of head. I tied it with a hairbow, but you can also use a rubber band or stitched circle as you prefer. Last step is to cut all the loops you stitched through the scalp for the bottom half to get the hair flowing.

Skirt: Using the skirt yarn (I used a ribbon yarn because I had it and liked it and thought Mini would wear it), join to front loop of st in R38. Ch 7. [YO 5 times, insert hook in next st, draw up loop, YO and draw through next 2 loops on hook 7 times] in each st around, sl st in top of ch (38 very long stitches). * Note - you can make this stitch as big or as small as you want. You can also do several rounds of smaller stitches if you want. I was just being as simple as possible. If you’re doing a taller stitch, YO two fewer times than in your initial chain.

Arms: You might have noticed Mini’s hands are different than Joseph’s. This is because…

...they have magnets in them! Mini’s known for her “tight, squeezy hugs” and I wanted her to be able to give hugs as well as receive them.

Pattern is as follows: R1: With skin color, 4sc in magic circle, join. R2: Ch 1, 2 sc in each st around, sl st in first sc (8sc). R3-4: Ch 1, sc in each st around, sl st in first sc (8sc). Place magnet in center of palm between R3 and R4. (The way I stitched, it fit exactly.) R5: Ch 1, inv dec 4 times around, sl st in first sc (4sc). R6: Ch 1, sc in top of sts around, sl st in first sc (7sc). R7-19: Ch 1, sc in each st around, sl st in first sc (7sc). R20: Switch to leotard color. Ch 1, sc in front loop of each st around, sl st in first sc (7sc). R21-25: Ch 1, sc in each st, around, sl st in first sc (7sc). Fasten off, leaving long tail for sewing.

I didn’t stuff Mini’s arms, partly because they were so skinny it made it awkward and partly because I wanted them to be extra floppy for extra huggability. Before I stitched them on, I made sure the hands would stick together the way I wanted them to - stacking on top of each other like she’s lacing them together rather than palm to palm like a prayer.

#blorbo from my shows #Mini Smithson #Chapter and Multiverse #CMV #crocheting

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shurisneakers · 4 years ago

Text

harmless (iv)

Summary: Bucky volunteers to go stop a small time villain, but nothing can prepare him for what exactly he has to deal with. (Bucky x villain!reader, drabble series)

Warnings: cursing, guns, mention of war, frustrated bucky, dramatic reader

Word count: 1.5k

A/N: good evening i’ve never been to any of the places i mention in this series so dont come @ me

if you have any ideas for future inventions/evil plans, lemme know! i might actually end up using them

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

Previous Part || Series Masterlist

He spends the weekend doing nothing. It’s supposed to be relaxing. He finds it nauseatingly boring.

“No mini mission this week?” Steve asks him from across the couch.

They’re supposed to be catching up on Star Wars but two prequels in and Bucky could feel himself lose his sanity. Anyone could present him with a random assortment of alphabets, call it a Star Wars species and he would have no reason not to believe them.

It’s not like he doesn’t like space. It’s just that he’s had enough of it and everything and everyone who came from it for the foreseeable future.

“No. Someone else is taking care of it.”

“Didn’t you volunteer for this?”

“I pulled myself out of the case.”

“I thought you were having fun.”

Bucky’s head slowly turns to look at him. “Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know,” Steve shrugged. “Looked like you were.”

Well, he wasn’t. He likes it here at home, glued to the TV. Popcorn beside him, sweatpants on. Refreshing, calming, slow, mundane, and Jesus Christ, so fucking boring-

His spiralling is interrupted by the dinging of the elevator to the common floor. No one was allowed up there unless it was extremely urgent. Guests were barely allowed into the Tower as it was.

It reveals the receptionist from downstairs, Marie. She’s always a little reserved, a little shy. But Bucky had seen her chew and spit out trespassers or anyone who dared to get on her nerve. He adores her.

“Hey, Marie,” Steve says while Bucky sends her a friendly wave in greeting. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a hostage situation downtown,” she informs them.

“Okay...” Steve drawls, waiting for a reason why this was an Avengers level threat.

“They’ve asked for Mr. Barnes by name.” She makes a mention towards him.

Bucky sits up straight. Bits of popcorn fall off his chest.

“What?”

“They said, and I quote-” she looks down at her notepad. “‘Tell that grumpy motherfucker that I’m waiting for him and that he’s not getting out of this so easily because we have come too far.’ End quote. They’ve also told me to include a kissing emoji. And a skull.”

Steve and he look at each other.

“Well?” Steve prods.

Bucky sighs and gets up to go get ready.

The entrance of Chuck E. Cheese is more crowded than he’d ever seen. He wasn’t even sure he’d seen people in the store before. If there were, they probably only came up till his waist.

There are a few journalists, a few policemen standing together outside. Whispers of confusion and curiosity reigned free.

Bucky gently pushes his way to the front. He gets a nod from a police officer who opens the door for him after a quick briefing.

The place is darker than it usually would be. A trademark, it seemed. The blinds are drawn shut and most of the light is coming through whatever sneaks in through the crack.

“Hey, Barnes.” Your voice is muffled by a mask that looks suspiciously like it was made out of classroom craft supplies.

There’s a person in a loose chokehold in your hand with a gun pressed against his head. Once again it looks straight out of a cartoon, purple with round disks lining its barrel.

“What’s all this now?” He gestures around monotonously.

“A hostage situation. Didn’t you get the memo?”

“Got that part down, genius,” he bites back. “But why?”

“Fucker kept harassing me when I was walkin’ down the street.”

The guy’s helpless gaze met Bucky.

“Catcalling me, stalking me.” You tighten the grip you have on him. “Call me darlin’ one more time, you son of a bitch. I dare you.”

He wasn’t impressed with his pleading eyes. He kinda felt like he deserved it.

“Why’d you do it here?” The bright colours were starting to give him a heading. “And where are the staff?”

“It’s symbolic, Bucky,” you emphasise, “He deserves to be among other rat bastards.”

Of course.

“The staff?” he asks again.

“Gave them thirty bucks and told them to leave. I’m not a monster.”

“Right.” He doesn’t bother refuting you. “Why’d you call me here?”

“Dunno.” You shrug. “Thought it’d be fun. You having fun yet?”

You shake the guy you’re holding. He gives a small whimper.

Bucky doesn’t want to stop you. He had chugged enough Respect Juice in his lifetime to know that this guy probably deserved a threat or two.

Hell, he’d even help but you were more than capable of handling this on your own.

“Listen,” he sighed. “As much as I’m sure he deserves it, this is technically illegal and I’m required to stop you.”

“Sorry sarge, I thought you weren’t interested in playing this stupid game with me,” you mock, voice dropping to imitate him.

“I’m not.” It wasn’t entirely true. One Saturday with Jar Jar Binks had convinced him otherwise.

“Okay, so before you leave, do me a favour and call Hawkeye. I hear he looks mighty fine when he’s annoyed.”

His face involuntarily scrunched up. You were going to replace him with Clint? Clint?

He probably took it more as an insult than he should have.

“I’m not doing that.” Bless his foul mouthed friend, but he was a little shit who was too sarcastic for his own good. At least twice a week he’d say something stupid to Bucky and then take out his hearing aids when he tried to argue back.

“You’re leavin’ me with no options here,” you groaned, using your thumb to flip a switch. The gun looks like it powered up, lights along the side turning red.

If he let you have this, it’d be a bad look for the Avengers.

New York man dies in Chuck E. Cheese lone hostage situation, unable to be saved by same superhero who tried to fight Thanos with a machine gun.

“Tell ya what,” he says instead, “If you kill him, there won’t even be a slight chance that you’ll see me again.”

Your grip on the gun falters.

“If I let him go...”

“I might consider coming back next week.” He’s trying to spin it, make it look like he’s the one with the upper hand here. “But you gotta let him go.”

You search his face for any signs of dishonesty.

“Let him go or you’ll never see me again.” It sounds too much like Clint’s arguments with his dog who brought a live squirrel into the house.

“Fine,” you relent, a glint in your eye. “but say goodbye to this fuckface.”

Before Bucky can open his mouth to shout in protest, you pull the trigger. The man clenches his eyes shut, face red.

He expects blood to be splatter across his face.

Nothing happens.

A barrage of bubbles floats into the room.

“I meant it literally,” you say, pushing him off you. “Say goodbye. He’s leaving.”

The man stumbles to the ground and Bucky doesn’t make any attempt to catch him. He scrambles to his knees, picking himself up and scurrying out the door to a hoard of reporters.

The door shuts behind him with the chime of a bell.

“You’re annoying,” Bucky states, giving a small sigh.

“I’m well aware of that.” You pull off the mask, wiping the sweat off your brow.

“Where is the agent assigned to your case?”

“Dunno. Last I saw he was crying on the driveway of my lair. I just figured he’d pick himself up later so I left him there.”

Bucky’s nose twitches.

“You weren’t actually going to kill him, were you.” He shrugs with his shoulder towards the door. It wasn’t a question, more a statement. He knew you wouldn’t.

“I could have.”

“But you weren’t going to,” he repeats.

“No,” you admit. “I wasn’t. But I’m glad to see you showed up.”

“You held someone hostage as leverage.”

“No, no. I held someone hostage and then asked to see you. They were completely unrelated.”

“You’re evil.”

“You jumped to conclusions,” you point out. “Would you like a trampoline next time? Maybe a pogo stick, you clown?”

He has a very real gun in his holster. His very real metal death arm aches to use it.

“No one else agreed to come,” he deflects.

“We both know that’s a lie. You were going to come back anyway.” You stuff the bubble gun back into the bag. “I’m deliciously irresistible.”

“I beg to differ.”

“Then beg.” You give him a smirk and he rolls his eyes. “Don’t worry, you win this round, sarge.”

He doesn’t say anything. He watches you remove your heist gear, revealing normal civilian clothes underneath.

You walk casually to the kitchen, intending to leave through the back door.

“But I can’t say I lost either.” You send him a wink before swiftly pushing open the door and leaving him behind.

He only watches you leave.

It doesn’t hit him until a few seconds later that he let a criminal out of his hands when there were several policemen and journalists outside.

He entertains the idea of chasing you down and handing you over.

It takes him only a few seconds to decide that if they wanted you, they’d have to try themselves.

Next part

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #mcu fic #bucky fic #bucky barnes fic #bucky fluff #bucky barnes fluff #bucky angst #bucky barnes angst #harmless fic #winter soldier x reader #Winter Soldier #bucky barnes #bucky

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magicalsalamander · 4 years ago

Text

Lacuna

Pairing: Jin ⇆ Reader

Genre: Law Students | Werewolf | Childhood best friends to idiot enemies to lovers | F | A | S

Summary: Lacuna(n): (1) In law, a non liquet (commonly known as “lacuna in the law”) is any situation where there is no applicable law. (2) An unfilled space or interval; a gap.

You are well equipped at handling whatever life throws at you. You had worked hard to erase the past and mold a new you, and the future were to become a lawyer. Well, everything was planned expect for your ex best friend who came back into your life like a crashing gavel. Just when you thought you could deal with his presence, he was now your partner on a case that was bigger than you had ever imaged.

Words: 21K

Warning: Mature; explicit themes, sexual content, and violence. Lots of law inaccuracies. Alcohol and club situations. Heavy angst with lots of arguing. Previous trauma of abandonment, harsh words and feeling unworthy. Knotting, cunnilingus, fingering, mentions of impregnation, soft dom Jin, marking/claiming, and possessive behavior.

A/N: It’s been so long since I’ve put out something! I want to thank everyone for being so patient and always supporting me! Thank you @heyitsmee2 for reading over this early on. I apricate you!

*Story mildly edited due to time constraint, will edit further

You were no stranger to the game; surviving and trying to be someone in the charade of corporatism. It was all too important to be unemotional. You’d soon find yourself in Prometheus place than on the highest rock on Olympus if you let yourself slip and you were sure of your path.

Calculation leads to quantification—and it takes only seven second to make an impression.

Your throat narrows with altitude, but the breadth of your career expands.

The raspy voice of the jazz singer was a rich wine as she caressed the vintage microphone intimately. The soft notes of the piano and band follow in tandem with the slow, romantic song she sung. The dark golden hue casted over the ballroom from the multitude of chandeliers only perpetuated the elegance of the atmosphere. Parties like this were suffocating despite being in a room sized for a hanger. You wouldn’t doubt either than some of the patrons here own their own planes.

You down the rest of your wine nearly rolling your eyes at the romantic lyrics. When you were a little girl events like this were a dream, places like this gave promise of finding a prince charming. At least that’s what all the movies feed you and lead you to believe would happen until reality set in. This event wasn’t romantic in the slightest. It was to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the law firm. The entire point of the function tonight was to schmooze and be seen. As an intern, this was prime time for you. However, you suppose you were living the dream, just not a fairytale. You had worked hard to get this internship, nabbing one of the four spots that over thousands applied to. You had done what felt like to be the impossible—coming form a school that wasn’t ivy made it all the more surreal. Important business people, old and new money mixed in with ‘top of the food chain’ lawyers were all present and hiring opportunities post-graduation. That is if you don’t end up getting a job post with the firm, but a smart woman always keeps her options open.

The obligatory greeting and sucking up to had already passed and it was the lull of time where everyone was wondering who would be the first to leave. Your senses go off as you catch a two of four making his way through the crowd towards you. Standing up as if you hadn’t caught glimpse of Logan from your peripheral. You smile at those who you had shared the table with, names already forgotten, number three’s included, silently bidding them an underserved excuse me. You grab at the bottom of your dress and move through the crowd. You miss the scrunch in brow from Logan as he picks up speed after you. He was the typical American type of handsome with brown hair, strong brows, square face, shadowed beard, lean and tall. Logan was nice, made his name memorable by persistence, but the guy couldn’t take a hint. How he’s made it this far has been a mystery to you.

As you break the crowd going into the hallway, you hear him calling your name. Acting as if you couldn’t hear him, you ask a server where the restroom was and quickly headed in that direction. He began jogging to catch up with you. Your pace began to pick up too. You counted down the seconds, four, three, two—the bathroom was still to far to accommodate for your sudden pick up in counting.

“Y/n! Wait, oh, sorry, excuse me.” Timely a cart full of new hors d'oeuvre blocks his path.

Seeing his distraction, you abruptly turned and head down another hall from the main meant for staff. You reached for the first door and to your muttered curse when it was locked. You jogged to the second door which opened and closed it behind you as if fire was at your feet. Not bothering to turn on the light, you backed up further into the closet until you hit something. You had expected to hit a wall, but instead what you bumped into what oddly felt human, a large one at that. When they oofed, you scampered away. Fear thickening in you as you rapidly apologized under your breath. Instinct dictated you get out, as you opened the door to leave the heavy sound of footsteps outside had you closing it right back. The person with you murmured a beginning of a question but you quickly reached up, cupping the mouth of whomever was inside with you. Shushing them they quieted up instantly. The slight stubble under your hand indicated it was a man. At this point you didn’t care if they were someone important. You winced as you heard Logan calling your name again. The man murmured a muffled question that you couldn’t understand and you shushed them again until the footsteps outside quieted.

Sighing in relief you removed your hand from his mouth, using the same hand to search for a light switch. With an apology on the tip of your tongue turning to face the stranger, you froze, staring back equally as motionless as him in shock.

Kim Seokjin.

Number four.

Dressed to the nines in a black suit that clung to him tightly. His broad shoulders were pronounced, and with his height tall he took a lot of space. His thick, dark hair was pushed away from his face. His eyes flashed red before it disappeared back into its espresso color. He looked gorgeous. You’d never utter that out loud, but you couldn’t ignore it either. It irritated you even more. He irritated you.

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” You drawled out the oh incredulously.

A smirk pulled at his thick lips. “Hello to you too.”

“I never knew you to be so forward, at least take me to dinner first.”

Looking around you realized you were in a janitor’s closet. The scent of bleach was thick, taking up as much space as Seokjin’s personality in the confined space.

“What are you doing here?” You asked while wiping the hand that was over his mouth on your dress not so subtly.

He shrugged, suffocating a laugh at your gesture. “Needed a break.”

That was hard to believe. Jin was a natural at talking to people. He made it seem easy. He always had this sense of composure and poise about him. Staring at eachother his eyes broke from your gaze as he looked you up and down. Suddenly feeling self-conscious you adjusted your dress. The black satin dress you were wearing suddenly felt tighter than when you put it on. Under his gaze you’ve always felt this way, vulnerable, but you’ve learned how to conceal it better over time.

“What?” You hissed at him when he still stared.

“This isn’t the first time you caught me in a closet.” Quietly he followed up with, “Reminds me of the first time we met.”

You don’t know what bothers you more, Seokjin’s casual reference to the past or the fact that you suddenly are placed back there. You remember being terrified, wrapping your blue, pilling blanket over your head only letting your head poke through. You had been reading under your blanket when you heard thumping coming from your closet. With your flashlight pointing at your closet you swallowed harshly as the sound came again. Your parents had told you that monsters were fake, but the sounds sounded real.

Your light was shaking on the white double doors. “H-Hello?” you bravely called out. The thumping stopped. You gulped inching closer. You were taught to be brave. Your dad said that monsters couldn’t hurt you, especially if you don’t show fear. Like the book you were reading, “Where the Wild Things Are”, you like Max, could confront the monsters too. You could become and make them friends with them. You were sure of it.

“H-hey,” swallowing hard, ”I’m opening the door, don’t bite me okay. I won’t hurt you.”

When no response resounded you breathed in deeply through your nose. Reaching out and yanking the door open you came face to face, inches away, from a boy hiding in your closet. A majority of your clothes were pulled from their hangers and piled on the floor which he was laying on. Similarly in equal fright from you bursting open the door, a shirt he had over his head fell off revealing furry grey dog ears. At the sound of your gasp, he gasped, and a tail that swept to the floor wrapped around his middle.

Buffering in the moment you stared at the boy who seemed to be around the same age as you. Recognition filters through you, “Max?” Your eyes lit up in wonder.

The boy squinted at you, almost upset. “My name’s not Max, it’s Seokjin!”

“Why do you have ears and a tail like him then?”

His brows furrowed, “Because I’m a—.”

You heard a knock on your door from your mother hushing Seokjin instantly. “Sweetie, are you still awake?”

The boy lurched forward cupping a hand over your mouth seeing you were going to respond. “You can’t tell anyone I’m here.”

You whispered, “Why?”

“Y/N?”

His eyes gleamed as he silently pleaded with you, switching between the shadow from under your bedroom door and your eyes, bidding for you to understand.

Nodding in understanding, somehow you understood. Your mom from the other side of the door sighed, “I know you’re pretending to sleep, Pumpkin. Put the book away. I know its Saturday but remember lights out by 9.”

“Okay, Mom.” Finally speaking up.

“G’night.”

She walked away.

Seokjin studied you carefully, eyeing you skeptically. “You’re not scared?”

“No, should I be?”

He paused truly thinking. “Yes. You should be.”

“Well, I’m not. I’m brave.”

He’s getting nervous and began muttering to himself. “You shouldn’t have seen me. I shouldn’t have fallen asleep. It just smelled so nice.” The last part was whispered out low enough where you couldn’t hear it.

“How did you get in?”

He pulled you into the closet down next to him, closing the door behind. The flashlight was between you both pointing towards the ceiling tightly grasped between your hands. His hands over you. His gaze serious and intent. “Promise you won’t tell anyone, swear on it! Swear on your life!”

You felt like you were being presented the ultimate challenge. This boy was trusting you with his all, maybe this was your adventure. Your destiny. You could be honorable. You nodded, “I swear, I swear.”

“What are you though? Why do you have ears and a tail? Are they real?”

“They’re real.” He said haughtily before pridefully confessing. “I’m a werewolf.”

Your eyes were sparkling, the blanket surrounding you long forgotten and dropped. “Oh, wow! Can I touch your ears?”

He nodded. Your reaction to his secret was surprising to him. He had been told by his parents and everyone in the pack that he should never real his truth. Humans had been enemies for centuries, hunting his kind since the beginning of time. Although, the kind had lived amongst humans for centuries, finding ways to blend in and look alike. The difference was the ability to shift into their natural form.

“Why are you not, like, you know—a wolf?”

“Papa said I can shift fully when I become a man.”

You carefully reached up and felt. He shivered at the touch. “Puppy.”

He growled at you, “Don’t call me puppy.”

“But you’re cute.”

He blushed, scrambling up and pushing your closet door open before heading over to your window. “I have to go.” He began climbing out of your window landing on the ground. Your home was one floor.

You stuck your head out of the window. “Wait!”

He turned around,

“Will I see you again?”

He looked around, nodding before he disappeared between the trees.

It was nearly magnetic the way you both clicked. It was nearly painful being apart from eachother after that night. He would come to your window and sneak into your room almost every night. The following school year you finally went to the same school, Jin having convinced his parents he wanted to change schools. That’s when you both became inseparable. Years later he still snuck into your room, even though he could come through the front door, and still hid in your closet just to scare you. Although, you learned to growl back at him.

It was your normal, but at some point things began to change.

More specifically you were no longer kids. Puberty hit and you were no longer innocent to the maturity that began to bloom in you both. You knew Jin was always touchy. He would hug you and sometimes his hand would linger on you longer than necessary. He would lean in sometimes to smell you, nuzzling his nose against your temple. Initially it had bothered you, the sensation ticklish, but he had explained it quickly it was a werewolf thing. That didn’t change the way your heart would flip each time though.

Jin grew taller than you towering over you, and signs of man began replacing the baby fat. Time was good to him. He found a pack and you no longer spent every waking moment together. It wasn’t that you weren’t welcome, the six boys in his pack were nice, but you had your own group of friends that you began hanging out with. You suppose that was the beginning of the unraveling of your relationship. Naïve and feeling lost you latched onto the first group that accepted you.

Even if they weren’t good for you. You were becoming aware of popularity and boys as it was the only topic they choose to discuss. You began to feel self-conscious because your friends all had boyfriends before, but you still hadn’t. When you introduced the girls to Jin, your presence was made solely into providing information about the boys. The pack were isolationist, but you suppose that’s what made them more attractive besides their looks to hormonal teenage girls. Only now do you realize they accepted you was because you knew Jin and his friends. Specifically, one of the girls, Jenna—if you could remember correctly, would always asking you about Jin.

The breaking point was when Jenny, who knew of your obvious unrequited crush, finally asked you. “You wouldn’t mind if I ask him out right?”

“Jin?” You repeated his name as if you were unsure you heard her right. Although you heard his name coming out of her mouth more times than you can count.

“Yeah, Jin. I mean, you don’t like him, right?” Like a snake she drew out the last words, expression full of pity to resemble comfort. It didn’t help when the other girls at the table all had a similar expression, encouraging her and cornering you.

“I-I—.” You were cut off as another girl spoke up.

“Be real Jenny, they’ve been friend since forever. If he liked Y/n, he would’ve said so already. He doesn’t see her that way.”

The other girl sitting next to her laughed, “Totally doesn’t.”

Blinking back the tears, her words weren’t wrong. Embarrassment flushes through you. Embarrassed that you had even believed that Jin’s affection towards you could ever mean more. The fact that he had made your heart skip a beat. Swallowing your heartache, with a voice more confident than you felt, “Yeah. We’re only friends.”

Squeals and laughter echo out throughout the table in excitement. “Oh my god! Then when you two start dating, you should introduce us to the rest of the friends. I mean Y/n hasn’t done it, but I know you will.”

You were quickly forgotten. The bell rang and the all of them got up as they giggled and walked away to their classes. Sitting alone at the table, you stare at your tray, food partially nibbled on. A single tear falls down onto the table before you suck up the other that threatened to fall. How could you be so stupid. How could you have misread things all along? You get up from the table in a hurry, nearly tripping as your foot caught.

As you step out of the bench of the picnic table you make eye contact with Jin who had been standing at a lunch table a few tables away. The rest of the pack moving around him, but he was still staring at you.

Your embarrassment flushes deeper, had he had heard it all? Your heart breaks even further as you force a smile at him and he returned the gesture. The simple response solidifies everything—you’re just friends.

You miss the way his eyes follow you out of the lunchroom.

The heartache only gets worse as Jin begins making excuses on why he can’t hang out. Claiming he has pack things to deal with. You also begin making excuses no longer hanging out with the girls, even though they don’t seek you out. You instead dedicating your time in the library. You begin reading the books tucked away in the furthest corner of the library, vintage leatherbound books on laws, just to distract yourself. It becomes your new solace.

A few months pass, the sudden silence between you became increasingly awkward. You hadn’t realized how Jin was entangled with every single part of your life. You grew annoyed because your parents would always ask where Jin was. The visible change was when you began noticing the extra portion at the dinner table for him was no longer there. The look they began to give you, seeing the distress in you began to wear you thin.

Deciding enough was enough you decide to confront him, but still cowardly enough to do it between passing. Walking through the halls you headed towards his lockers, knowing he’d be there. His locker just a bit in from an intersection of the halls. When you finally catch sight of him he stood there with two other boys form his pack, Jimin and Hoseok. You swallowed hiding behind the wall where you could hear them, waiting for the two to leave so you could get to speak to him alone.

“Come on hyung. Come on another run tonight.” You could hear Jimin asking

Jin closed his locker after switching out his books then leaning up against it. “I can’t tonight.”

“Why? Gotta go see your girlfriend?” Jimin teases.

Jin hesitated.

You couldn’t see his expression from your place. Your heart sunk, lower lip trapped between your teeth. Had Jenny finally asked him out? Your heart was beating out of your chest.

“No, fuck off Jimin, you already know why.”

Your brows furrow. Has something been going on with Jin? How come he hasn’t told you. He used to tell you everything. You miss the conversation slightly as you contemplate what you’ve been missing with Jin. You had so much to ask him. The question on the tip of your tongue too was –had he finally fully shifted? He had always told you that he had wanted you to be the first he showed his wolf.

Zoning back in you hear Hoseok question. “Come to think of it, haven’t seen Y/n in a while, she doing okay?”

“Normally you’re like a dog in heat around her.”

“No I’m not! I don’t see her like that.”

“You sure?”

“I don’t have time for feelings or emotions.”

You cover your mouth, swallowing your feeling. You suffocate the tears. Everything the girls said were confirmed.

Jin had been so engulfed in his protecting his ego, he hadn’t been able to sense you just around the corner. He then smells it. He smells you. His head twirled towards the wall where he knew you were hiding just behind. He knows your there. He clenched his fist, he wants to go after you but he can’t, it would only prove the teasing.

Clenching your books closer to your chest you run away. Your mind working a thousand miles an hour. Lost in your turmoil you miss that you’re walking straight into someone. Stumbling slightly you look up seeing the person you didn’t want to run into. You don’t pause to apologize or recognize her yelling at you. You needed to get away. The whole day you manage to evade him and everyone—you praise that it was Friday.

Coming home your parents were sitting in the kitchen, the only light on in the house was hanging over the dinning table. Your parents look up at you sadly. “Honey, we have some bad news.”

Your backpack slouched off your shoulders and onto the floor as you took a seat.

Your mother swallowed, placing her hand on top of yours. “We’re moving. I’m sorry, Pumpkin. I know you have so many friends here. Your father’s job is forcing him to transfer to the city, the plant here is shutting down.”

You remain stoic, processing the information. However, you smile, squezzing her hand back in assurance. “How soon can we go?”

Their expression registered shocked. Clearing their throats as they somberly told you, “We’re leaving next week.”

Nodding you get up from the table, leaving your parents apologizing to you. You dragged yourself to your room. Standing alone in the darkness, words found you again. “Not soon enough.”

You moved away, and soon what it was like to be around him everyday was forgotten. You became strangers. An unpleasant memory.

You had done college, and decided early on that you wanted to go into law. Those leather bound, vintage law books was the only thing you actively brought with you from the past. Law was consistent, but ever changing. It allowed you to find a voice, a place where arguments meant something—your voice meant something. It paved the way for a new you and when you entered law school you flourished under the pressure. Everything felt like progress, at least until the day you showed up at the internship. You no longer had the luxury of pretending. Standing in the attorney’s office was Jin among the two other interns. Seeing him first saw him again felt like all wind had been sucked out of you. It was like a ghost had aspirated and so did the sting of rejection. It was all accompanied by an odd sense of longing that passed through you. You saw the way his eyes widened with recognition when he saw you.

But you both made no motion towards the other, frozen in space and time.

Ironically, time should have done its job and all healing had been done, but scars were just thicker scabs.

The nostalgia quickly washed away as it twisted into the familiar shape of disdain towards him. He was brilliant and It was irritating, so you always were sharp with him, cold even, not willing to lose to him. A rivalry quickly evolved between you. He seemed to feel the same way as he would always retaliate back. You couldn’t last a few minutes without bickering. Words just as venomous and an amused smirk always followed.

“What are you doing? Did I mess up a secret meeting?” He throws your question back at you, grounding you back into the present.

Looking at Seokjin now, he had grown up well. He had grown in height, completely towering over you. His shoulders were broad tapering off like a V to a tiny wait. He looked great in an all black suit. Thick, dark hair pushed away from his face showed off his thick brows and symmetric features. You had eyes, but your mouth would never admit it out loud how good he looked.

Rolling your eyes, you sighed, running a hand through your hair. “Avoiding Logan.”

“Logan?” You missed the way his red eyes darken deeply as it looks black. He had heard the footsteps, but now he could put a name to it. “Are you fucking him?” He questions easily, never one for a filter.

Your eyes widen, the crudeness expected despite your aggressive bickering. “Are you seriously asking me that Seokjin?” The though was so absurd and ridiculous. Has he lost his mind. What more you had never even touched this type of topic with him before, who was he to ask about your sex life.

He tucked his hands into the pocket of his slacks. “I don’t know, it’s just an obvious conclusion to draw. Considering he follows after you like a lost puppy.” He feigned a look of pity. “It’s pathetic.”

The tone he takes with talking about Logan surprises you. He never outwardly showed that the man irritated him. You had seen them chatting around the office even. Considering your desk were next to one another it was inevitable. Anger filled you again, was he calling it pathetic because he was pursuing you? Bastard.

Lazily he leaned up against the shelf, as if he was waiting for a reaction he knew he’d get from you.

“I can’t deal with you right now.” you groan, an onset headache coming on from how childish it all was. Growing frustrated and hotter by the second stuck in the closet with him. You turned to leave.

“Leaving so soon? Don’t you want to wait for him to come back around?”

“Seokjin, will you cut it out. What is with you right now?”

He shrugged, still measuring you with a hardened gaze and lips tight in anger. “Nothing.”

Why was he so angry? Earlier you had noticed that all the bigwigs were laughing easily at his jokes. Something you couldn’t deny about Seokjin was his charisma. It was easy be persuaded by him, you used to be stupid enough to be swayed by it too. Shouldn’t he be on cloudy nine, probably having already solidified a job post grad.

“Whatever. Enjoy your night Seokjin. Don’t suck off potential employers too much.”

That had him laughing. “Ever one to need footsteps to be followed. Lead the way then.”

You glare at him in what you picture to be intimidating at him. Pulling open the door. “Fuck you Seokjin.”

You stomped away, faintly hearing the laughing coming from the closet. Luckily, no one was in the hallway.

You had been aimlessly staring at an one of the many orange sticky notes you had tacked onto the glass pane between the desk. Pink was current deadlines, orange upcoming, and blue was for your frustrations. The low cubicles truly didn’t provide privacy, but it wasn’t permanent anyways so you didn’t really put effort into personalizing it. You were trying to read the orange sticky note with the date November 29th ominously written on it. You couldn’t for the life of you remember what was due on that date. The pink note next to it reading the date December 4th was a blaring reminder of the last day of your internship.

Awakening from your thoughts you heard Logan still been droning on to you about whatever he was talking about. You had stopped listening after he called your name, you hummed like you were paying attention, then zoned out. He was leaning on the glass, his desk situated right next to yours. Jin’s was situated across from yours, but he wasn’t at his desk at the moment. At least that saved you a headache.

Your phone rings and you answer it instantly, cutting off whatever he was saying. You give him a pretend fake smile, one to which he luckily accepts sitting back at his desk. Its quick as the secretary is hanging up on you before you can tell her that you’ll be there in a moment. Gathering your things, taking an extra pen just in case, you head towards the elevators.

Knocking on the door twice you let yourself in quietly behind you. Your boss was a passive man, preferring those to act than be told what to do. Turning around taking in the office before pausing noticing the back of someone’s head already sitting in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. The chair meant to occupy your boss was empty.

Remembering where you are you and ignoring him as you stride until you plop yourself into the empty seat. You refuse to look at him, instead sorting out your tablet to take notes on. You just had to wait until your boss came in the room—you could be patient. You had a vague idea of what he may want to talk to you about, but with Jin here you were at a lost. What was he doing here anyways? Had the secretary gotten his appointments mixed up? It’s been two weeks since the event. You had spoken to him since, but it had been the usual bickering. Something had changed though, it was something atmospheric between the two of you, but you couldn’t place an instance on the beginning of the feeling. Oddly, you found yourself searching for him whenever you came to the office, which had brought its own set of turmoil that you’ve yet to unravel. Now that you were sitting next to him, somehow you felt the sense of pettiness overcome you again.

Finally looking at him you notice how great he looked today. He wore common slacks and a button up, but he made the ensemble look great.

Jin asked, “What are you here for?”

Crossing your legs over you flip open your notebook. “None of your business Kim.” You hate that you had done such a good job hiding the layers of hatred and anger, but you could even recognize the coldness in your tone.

He rolled his eyes, “Typical.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m just saying.”

“Clue me in Seokjin.”

He shrugged, clearly wanting you to put the pieces together. Rubbing at your scalp muttering under your breath. “It’s too early for this,” checking your watch, “it’s only eight-thirty in the morning, I haven’t had my coffee yet, and I have to deal with guy.”

“That explains your snappiness. You do seem constipated.”

You audibly gasp, a retort on the tip of your tongue when the door burst open to reveal your boss. A grin already on Jin’s face knowing he got the last word in before he neutralizes it. Paying you both no mind he continued grumbling into his phone that’s tucked between his neck and ear as his other hand holds a cup of coffee and a stack of paperwork in the other. Min Yoongi, your boss, was a man of few words elusive at times, but his tongue was sharper than any knife. His mind was brilliant too, a legend amongst law students. you had heard stories of his infamous mock trials when he was in school and how he had won trails out like a daredevil. He was intimidating to say the least.

Jin’s gaze was still on you before he turned to your boss who plopped into his chair. He seems frazzled, tie a bit disheveled and dress shirt not as freshly pressed as it should be. The fact that you looked kept together in front of him was kind of embarrassing. It was common sense that interns should look that way. Did his appearance have something to do with the 29th? Shit, you really needed to figure out what event was happening that day.

He flung a thick packet in a folder over to you and Jin. You flipped open the folder and read the first page. Peaking over from yours to Seokjin’s you see he was given the exact same paper.

“I’m assigning this case to the both of you.”

“Mr. Min, I don’t mean to impose on your judgement, but I can handle this on my own.” You squinted as you read it over. It seems like a generic divorce case based on the short preliminary interview.

“Can you?” Jin quirked a brow at you. You already have insults on the tip of your tounge but he continued. “Look, I’m just saying because remember that one time—.”

You bark out his name before he can continue, already knowing what story he was going to reference.

“Mr. Kim, Ms. Y/L/N.” You both instantly shut up. “If you both are treating this opportunity simply as some game between the both of you then I’m sorry to inform you that you may not be needed anymore. This is court of law. So tell me—do I need to provide this opportunity to someone else?”

At the same time you both respond. “No, Sir.”

The way he was glaring at the both of you had your toes curling in your shoes.

“Look, Ms. Y/L/N, I’ll admit you are smart, just as much as I think Mr. Kim is capable of handling his own cases. I need the both of you on it because this isn’t an ordinary case. It won’t only go to trial in court, but Kinds court too.”

The only thing you hadn’t expected to come to find out was he was also a kind. Kind being something they used in the human world to refer to their supernatural counterpart for political correctness. One afternoon not long into your internship, but months ago, you had called Jin wolf boy in the breakroom, not knowing your boss was walking in. Anyone else would think it was a passing comment, but the narrowed look that he gave you had you crystalizing. It had become second nature to you identifying when someone was otherly. Yoongi only commented as he walked out to make sure that you both keep it that only you knew.

Jin stiffened next to you, his gaze snapping up to look at Yoongi. An exchange of glances went between them that you couldn’t quite decipher.

“Seeing as you already know about our kind Ms. Y/L/N, I would like that you both work on this together. Prepare it for the courts and depending on how it goes there the Kind’s will deal with it following. Frankly, we need you on this case to keep things right on the human end. And Seokjin we need you because you have the knowledge that comes with it. I expect the both of you can approach this and prepare a case that is thorough. We cannot risk the underlying truth getting out to the public. Dress it up how you have to, leave the kind out of it until human laws can punish as needed.” He centers you both with a stare that’s unwavering, even you feel the expressive. “Do I make myself clear.”

“Yes.” Simultaneously you both respond.

Yoongi finally sits back taking a sip from his coffee that was still just a little too hot. “Everything you need is in the folder. Now get out.”

Beginning to gather you stuff, relaxing your jaw just a bit, “Thank you Sir.” You stride out of the room without looking back.

You leave not bothering to hold it for him. He was right behind you, closing the door so it wouldn’t slam shut. He watched as you strut down the hall. He huffed realizing you weren’t going to wait to talk about the case. Calling your name does no good as you still keep towards the elevators.

When the door closes, you take a moment. Truth be told, the gravity of it is not lost on you. This was going to force you and him to be close again. Backing down would prove you and the grin that would be on Seokjin’s face knowing you gave up would be enough to keep you up at night for the rest of your life. You swear you could handle it. It is just Seokjin. Your career depends on this and doing well.

But why was your heart beating so fast?

Sitting in an empty conference room, you were going over the material again. It seemed like a regular case of infidelity and the wife was filing for divorce. After Min’s pressing of the importance of this case it felt like he was mocking you. This was a case that felt “practical”. In school you had gone over these types of cases a thousand times—introduction on legal fairness and getting the most for your client. Just because it involved the kind doesn’t mean the law will treat it any different.

At least that’s what it all seemed to be.

Standing up from your seat when you heard the door handle clicking open you put on a an air of professionalism. A short woman, who nearly curled in on herself shuffled into the room. Her blue cardigan nearly engulfed her being, but her maxi dress underneath disguised most of her petite figure anyways. A male followed behind her with a hand on her back. That had you breaking your professionalism for a split second as you lifted your brow. The way he held her was anything but platonic. You wondered shortly if that was the man in the ex-husband in question.

Extending your hand out to her in greeting. “Hello, Ms. West, I’m Y/N. Pleasure to meet you.”

In the softest voice she greeted you back. You turn to greet the male he introduced himself as Damien Caldwell. With your hand still out towards him, he refused to shake your hand. Mentioning something along the lines of scent tainting. Pretending you understood you signaled them to take a seat.

You all take a seat with Jin next to you and them across.

Carefully observing her you monitor that she was fidgeting a lot, clearly nervous.

Jin glanced at you and his expression was conveying, “Stop it, you’re making her nervous.”

You forced a smile in his direction, reading into his silent message. “Fine.”

Jin adjust himself, pen in hand gesturing towards them. “Mrs. Gloria West , can you please restate your case?” Although you both had the intake form in front of you, you needed her to state clearly what she was here for.

She begins fidgeting, biting her lip tears welding up in her eyes. Damien gently began rubbing her back. “You can do this. This is your story to tell.”

She nods, sniffling, finally looking up and you finally get a glimpse of her face. Her delicate features look worn out, dark circles under her eyes.

Your features soften, and you give her a genuinely soft smile. Handing her a tissue she thanked you softly. Dabbing the corners of her eyes she began, “My,” she licked her lips as if uttering the words brought bitterness to her, “husband has been cheating on me. I found out he has another family.” She reached into her purse pulling out a card that says Happy Father’s Day. “I found it in his underwear drawer when I was putting his clothes away last week.”

Jin followed up. “You’ve previously stated that your husband has claimed you, is this correct?”

“Yes.” She pushed aside the collar of her cardigan exposing the flaring bite marks where fangs met skin.

Pen pausing on paper you forced your jaw to stay closed. You hadn’t really prepared yourself for what claiming really meant. The primal signature was jarring. The two puncture wounds looked poorly scared, the tissue surrounding it somehow still rejecting the mark.

She covered it up again. “I was young and naïve when we first met, just out of high school and didn’t have much experience. He was five years my senior. I didn’t understand what it all meant at the time. I thought the butterflies I got seeing him meant he was my mate. I was hopelessly in love.” Tears brimmed in her eyes again, but she sniffled preventing them from falling. “He told me I was his mate. I believed him. I let him mark me.” She spoke the words as if they burned her. “We got married three years ago, right after he marked me.”

You were disgusted, stomach unsettled, forced marriage seemed so archaic. Your fist curled under the table. You didn’t understand the depth of what happened in the kind context, but it still irked you. You didn’t let it show on your face though.

Damien was getting restless, clearly irate.

Jin visibly tensed. You see his jaw clench. You fill in for him. “Daniel West, your husband, how did you know he wasn’t your mate?” The word sounded unfamiliar in your mouth. You had heard it spun around before, but never truly knew the meaning. Although you could conclude that it seemed to imply partner.

She looked to Damien and her face seemed to lighten up, dark circles diminishing, as she looked at him. He had the same look at her. Clearly you could tell they were in love. “I found Damien. I knew it was the real thing because it hurt being apart. I couldn’t get him out of my head. Just a touch and it felt electric. I can’t explain it, but I just…knew. I just knew he was it.”

“Is there any other signs of another partner or family?”

“He smells like her.” She swallowed harshly. “He smells like other women too, but her the most.”

“Is there any other factors that are telling? Like photo evidence?”

“No.” You tilted your head considering it over. You couldn’t use smell in court to prove infidelity. You breathed in harshly, slouching forward. How were you supposed to find evidence?

Jin hasn’t spoken the entire time, lost in thought and focusing on the incoming information. “Are there any children?”

She nodded.

“How many? Please identify them.” She goes on to list two children, one three years old and a newborn.

Jin stared at the Damien for a moment. “I know this is a sensitive question, however, I must ask this. Did you mark him?”

It seems Jin had already predicted Damien’s response as the sound of paper crumpling in Damien’s fist was loud. His fist shook form the strength of his anger. Gloria reached over grabbing onto his leg, and his grip loosened up slightly.

She apologized to him. His fist completely unclenched as both of his hands cupped her face. “No, no, no, honey. Don’t apologize. None of this is your fault. You know that right.”

She closed her eyes, calming and basking in the affection. “I know.”

You blushed yourself, feeling as if you had intruded in an intimate moment. You can’t help but follow your instincts telling you to look at Jin. You feel like you see Seokjin for who he is, not how you’ve constructed him. At the same time you find yourself suddenly reminded—he was different. Stern and cold, eyes empty of all the things that used to make him goofy. It was as if you had lost the dictionary. Unable to translate a language that was once native to you. His quirky awkward fillers and jokes have matured into standards. He holds punctuation in his tone, powerful. Calculating in a way you didn't know he could be. Your eyes follow the curve of his plump lips, the curve of his nose and then the entire profile. It feels intimate.

You pause and wonder if Seokjin has a mate. Did he look at them like that too?

You pause diffusing those thoughts, you shouldn’t be thinking of him that way. Focusing back on the case at hand you know mating is something that cant be proven scientifically. It’s a feeling.

She blushed, taking both of her mates hands into hers and placing them on her lap. With more confidence she turned back to you both. “No. I didn’t know then that it had to be both. Daniel told me that marking me would be enough for the both of us. I didn’t realize it until later. When I brought it up he told me I was wrong, that I didn’t know any better. That people were just trying to put ideas into my head and he knew best. I believed him, until I felt the real feeling.”

“You will have a trail before the elders after this, are you aware of that?” Jin says.

“Yes.”

With a thoughtful pause, Jin smiled reaching out to shake their hands. “That concludes questions for today. Thank you both for your time.”

Reaching out to Gloria, you shake her hand, “You’re very brave for this. We’ll do whatever we can to help.”

She smiled, patting your hand. “Thank you.”

You help escort them to the door and they assure you they know the way out. Shutting the door with a click you find Seokjin hunching over his notes. All sense of comfort he offered earlier and professionalism drained form him.

Eyeing him curiously, you asked, “What’s wrong?”

“This…this…this is worst case scenario.” He says.

“Can’t she just get rid of the mark? Things like this are reversable right? She found her mate,” you say the last word with uncertainty as its unfamiliar on your tongue. Logical solutions are the only way you can navigate.

“No, Y/n. it doesn’t work like that.” Voice accusatory.

You shrink, feeling as he had called you stupid indirectly. His fingers couldn’t stop fidgeting over the papers, unable to look at you. “The mark is permanent and can’t be undone. She’s bound to him, but he wasn’t.” He raises his voice towards the end.

“Why are you getting angry?”

When he looked up at you his eyes are red. “You don’t get it.”

You falter. His words hit hard and ring like a ghost putting you back into your old room. Those words engraved like a scar on your heart. Pulling back the scar you are put back in time.

Pacing more folded clothes in the cardboard boxes you glance out your window. It was a full moon.

You couldn’t sleep so you began packing, you were due to move out the following day.

Standing up, you went to the window, staring at the moon. Your eye follows the bush and thick trees that line the property. The night seemed to be so quiet and clear. You felt suffocated in your room, your thoughts making you claustrophobic. You pushed open the window, carefully to make the least noise as possible. Going back to your boxes you fished out a jacket and put on shoes. You slipped through and hit the grass with a thud. Closing your window behind you, you turn back towards the beginning of the forest.

Suddenly a wave of sadness fills you as you remember how Jin used to always come through the same bushes to see you. Clenching your fist and tucking your jacket tighter over you, you force the thoughts of Jin out of your head.

You push pass the bushes, the light of the moon enough to light your way. You follow a faint overgrown carved out path. In all truth you had only ventured out a few times into the forest each time with him. Jin had always warned you that it wasn’t safe, but he wasn’t here to tell you otherwise. You could make your own choices. Remembering that there was a small ravine nearby you began heading towards it knowing it was somewhere nearby. The sounds of crickets was the only thing you heard besides the crunching of your shoes on mulch.

The air grew noticeably heavier with a mist and you could hear the soft sound of water running. Heading down a slope you end up at the shore of a riverbed. The water was running gently over the darkened stones underneath, just a bit further down the river picked up, frothing as it hit protruding stones. You dip your hand into the spring water, the cold causing you to shiver.

For a moment you can imagine that it’s just you in the world.

Tomorrow this would be all but a dream.

From across the bed, along the other shoreline, twigs crunch. Ripping your hand form the water you freeze in place. Scanning the shoreline, you couldn’t see anything. Your mind pictured a thousand things it could be. Even in the dark you could make out red eyes looking at you. The being shifted to an opening on the shoreline before taking on the large silhouette of wolf. Its fur was black, dark as the sky.

You stayed put, afraid to rile it up by running despite all instincts saying to do so. It stepped closer, entering the water and trudged closer to you. You weren’t ready to die. It held your gaze the entire time. As it grew closer the wolf was larger than what you’d expect to be average, it was more comparable to a grizzly bear.

It kept coming closer and your heart even louder in your ears. You lost your balance falling on your ass with a shriek. You weren’t quick enough to recover as it was hovering over you. You could feel its hot breath fanning over you with its heavy breaths. It growled and your muscles tensed in fear. It just hovered over you, you wondered if it was waiting for you to make a move.

Willing your eyes to open, all at once you felt like you had recognized the beast. “J-Jin?”

Sensing your fear, it then whined. Then he is shifting, limbs elongating and spine curving as he growled through the process. You can’t bear to look at him as you hear the sound of bone cracking and popping. The sound having goosebumps pill your flesh.

"What are you doing out here?" His voice was deep and cold, lacking its usual warmth. When you turn to look at him you no longer see a massive wolf but Jin. His eyes were still red and you stare, trapped within the color. It’s the first time you’ve ever seen it. The tattered clothing that had stuck to his previous form manifested in torn pants, but he was shirtless.

Wrinkling your nose. Just when you thought you could get away from him, he manifest. “I can be here if I want. Who are you to say I can’t?”

His wolf hadn’t settled, taking your challenge personal rather than rational. “Its too dangerous.”

“We haven’t spoken in so long and the first thing you do is yell at me.”

His expression softened, but he still appeared stern. “Go home.”

“Really Jin?”

“Go home!”

“Do you really not care about me? What you said to Jimin, is it really true?”

When he remained quiet, you found your answer. You bit your lip, forcing yourself to suffocate the tears.

“You don’t understand.” He heaved.

“Obviously, so why! Why won’t you talk to me!” Your nerves finally snap. Tears were prickling at your eyes regardless of how much you fought to keep them down.

“Can’t you give me some space! You just need to give me space sometimes.”

“No! This isn’t you, you’d tell me everything. There are no secrets between us. I want answers. Is it that easy to you to throw away everything we have?”

He growled and stepped up to you, inches away looking down at you. Your neck was kinked back staring back at him with equal challenge. His nostrils flare as he takes in your sense. His chest rumbled.

“I don’t want you to know! I don’t want you know about that part of me. So stay out of it! Leave it alone and me alone. I don’t need you.”

Feeling so small, it hadn’t occurred to you that he didn’t see you as important enough. You hated how much you had relied on him. You feel like a child whining to a parent. Maybe the girls were right. Jin would never look at you like that. You were an outsider to his real world anyways. “Fine. You know what, you’re right I don’t understand and never will. I see what I mean to you now.” Tears were rolling down your cheeks but you swiped them away as soon as they broke.

“Y/n.” The anger melted away from his being instantly, realizing what he said. He wants to take it all back, but he can’t find the right words. He stepped towards you and you took two steps back. You wanted to get away from him.

“You’ll never have to see me again.” You laughed, but it wasn’t in humor, instead full of bitterness.

“What?”

“I’m leaving.”

“What do you mean leaving?”

“What do you care Jin? Aren’t you getting what you want? You don’t need me. You’ll never have to worry about me getting in your business or caring about you again. I’m moving tomorrow.”

“Goodbye.” You turned away from him. His red eyes imprinting in your memory like a branding. You swore before you turned away you saw tears, but you refused to believe it.

He had made his bed, now he had to lay in it.

When you remained quiet, Jin began packing his stuff quietly realizing his outburst. You can only assume he remembered the same thing.

Sighing heavily he tries to dispel the anger, his eyes flashing back to normal. “We’ll discuss things later.”

You hate that it makes your heart sink. You don’t like that he’s pushing you away. He had done it before, but he wasn’t going to do it again. “Of course I don’t, so explain it to me now.”

He ignores you and makes towards the door. Before he makes it you grab onto his forearm. “Will you listen. Don’t walk away from me.”

His body stiffens instantly, although his chest was still heaving. When he turns to look at you, you let go of him like you had been burned. You crossing your arms over your chest protectively. Knowing he no longer plans to leave you follow up, “Look, I don’t know as much as I thought. Don’t punish me for it. I just want to solve this case as you do.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I just…imagining someone claiming—.“

Your chest deflated too with his reaction it gave you an unspoken conclusion. He had a mate. You should’ve known better than to let your thoughts trail on earlier. Instead you focused on his apology. “We need to work together right? This is our last case here and we can get through this professionally.”

“Can we?”

You smirked, “I can behave if you can.” You straightened up, extending out your hand to him, “Let’s call a truce or something.”

He accepted it, but still held onto it which was something you didn’t expect. “Something?”

“I mean do you have a better status to call whatever this is?”

“Truce implies I hate you. I don’t hate you.”

The way Seokjin looked at you felt like he was truly looking at you. You almost felt paralyzed as you couldn’t look away. His words felt—genuine. But you refused to lean into that, you didn’t want to read into his words too much. You rolled your eyes, unconvinced pulling your hand out of his. “Okay, alright, I said behave”

“Really. I don’t.” Weakly he smiled.

“So truce or not?”

��Okay.” He answered.

“Okay.” You repeat back.

“Good.”

“Yeah.”

“Give me your phone.”

You pulled out your phone and handed it to him. He saved his phone number, calling himself, before handing it back. “Don’t abuse it now.”

You scoffed, nearly choking on your own saliva. Unable to stop yourself from laughing in disbelief. “You wish.”

He genuinely laughed, the high pitch sound unique and squeaky. Turning to leave, he paused in the doorway looking over his shoulder. “Another thing.”

You hummed, looking at him expectantly. You saw the cheeky smirk before it bloomed. “Keep the messaging to during the daylight hours, alright.”

“Seokjin!”

He closed the door quickly behind him, evading your spitfire.

He isn’t sinking back into your life. You aren’t even friends. You both were going to go your separate ways after the internship, and you were never likely to run into him again.

You had nothing to lose.

Truce.

Shutting the door behind you a bit harder than necessary, you toe off your heels and hook your keys up.

Your roommate, Mia, was already sprawled out on the couch. Slumping right next to her and crowding her out. The sounds you emit sounded like a deflating air mattress as you groan.

“Yikes, that bad of a day?” Shuffling to adjust herself again on the couch.

Closing your eyes you nodded. She laughed, clearly not buying the way you played victim. “What did he do today?”

Mia had been a friend you made during college, and quickly became your closets friends. When you both graduated you found yourself needing someone to roommate with while job searching and grad school stuff. You had found out about her being a Kind early on in your sharing of home. She was more surprised to find out that you had already known about it. That’s when you told her about your childhood, leaving out names, all until recently where she was too smart and connected the dots. Wolves and their intuition.

“Okay, first off, not everything isn’t about him. And secondly, how dare you be right about it.”

She laughed, her laptop nearly falling off her lap. You loath her, her and her perceptiveness. She was smart, but sometimes too smart for your own good. “It just—he’s so irritating! I just said one wrong thing today and he exploded. Then we had a truce and get this, he said he didn’t hate me.” Confessing all on your own, you felt accosted just by her silence.

Her eyebrow quirked at that, followed by a cheshire grin. “You two getting along now then? Is that’s what’s upsetting you?”

“No. It’s just—he played the good guy and it made me feel stupid. I have been doing my best and then he comes along and makes me feel—ughh! It’s just this case is stressful. I feel way out of my depths.”” You have your hands in the air scratching at the air.

“Leave then.” She shrugged, stating the obvious solution. She already had let this type of complaining go in one ear and out the other. Since the beginning of your internship you had come home and vented about your day, mostly revolving around him as the topic of choice. How he irritated you that day, or simply breathed the wrong way. Even to yourself, the amount of time he has been able to rile you up lately has become annoying.

“I can’t just leave, you know how hard I worked for this. You know how important this place is. Besides, I need it to graduate.”

“Well then, why were you arguing anyways? What does this have to do with your case?”

“Everything to do with it.”

She nodded. Realizing it must not be within your realm she opens up, “Need insight?”

You shifted on the couch tucking your legs underneath you. “What’s marking or ‘laying claim’?”

She turned to you, “Are you serious?” For the first time in your friendship you saw her blush. She was always forthcoming with sexuality and whatnot, so this was out of character for her.

“Yes.”

“Did he ask you about it?”

You squinted at her, “No, why?”

She cleared her throat, waving her hand, “No, nothing.”

“Well its not PG-13.” She licked her lips.

“Well thank goodness I’m not a virgin maiden in waiting. What is it? You’re stalling.” Her reaction made you infinitely more curious.

“Okay, well honey, when two mates, who love eachother very much—.”

“Oh god, stop it, please be serious for once!”

She laughed. “Fine. It’s a sacred ritual that connects two mates together. Or in layman terms, two soulmates together via a bite mark. It acts like rings? But its more than that. Its hard to explain.”

“Soulmates?” You suffocated the scoff. Out of all things she said to be appalled at. “That doesn’t exist.”

She smiled at you. “They do! You humans just don’t believe it because you’ve corrupted the system.”

“So it can’t it just be anyone? You know, fall in love and just know that person is it, the one?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s this instinctual feeling. This soul connection. You’ll know it when you feel it kind of thing.”

“Ugh, that’s what she said too.” You rubbed at your temples. “I can’t use a feeling as evidence.”

You sighed, “I can’t tell you about the case, but hypothetically if this happened. Hypotheticals only.”

She suffocated a laugh, rolling her wrist in a circle, hand gesturing for you to continue.

“So hypothetically, the client was hypothetically marked by someone other than her mate. What does that mean—hypothetically?”

Her face sobered, “Are you serious?”

You nodded.

Fiddling with her fingernails, she looked genuinely troubled. “How can that even happen?” She mumbled to herself before she turned to you. “I don’t know of any worse punishment. The pain that comes with that either is unimaginable. It’s violation of not only culture, but its inhumane. The human equivalency of forced marriage, but even then that equivalency doesn’t compare how bad it is. Murder, maybe?”

“What would happen to the one who bit the other…hypothetically?”

“Normally, death. There would be a match between the actual mate and the one who bit until death, but times have changed. The punishment is still severe.”

You take pause realizing how serious it all was. You weren’t sold to the idea of love, or soulmates, but being forced in a marriage the idea made you sick. You finally could see why Seokjin was so upset earlier. Sighing heavily you let your head fall back on the couch onto the cushion stared at the ceiling. How could you find evidence against this guy then?

“We gotta make him pay.” Looking towards her. “Do you think a guy who has a separate family would leave a paper trail?”

“You just need to find his social accounts. Cheaters usually have multiple accounts under different pseudonyms. Their downfall though is that most guys are stupid enough to not undo the geo tag or take the photos all in the same place.”

“I’ve already looked into it. He only has one account. It’s pretty generic, nothing telling.”

“But have you?” She gave you this side eye. “He must have a fake account then. Probably all his closets friends follow it, so we just have to find a similar name that seems to be a generic account.” The whole time she had been speaking to you she had been doing the research.

“Done.”

Your jaw dropped. She did that so fast. Could you blame her though, as an IT specialist she knew the ins and outs of things like this.

“You evil genius!” She pulled it back to herself, you scooching to sit next to her so you can watch what she does. Scrolling through, she squinted. “Seems he recently was on this page.” She clicked on link bringing up a page to a club named Fluxx. Scrolling through you both catch a comment under an event from West. The DJ who was playing there apparently was his favorite, him and his boys were going to be there to see it that weekend.

She turned her laptop towards you. “You’d think he’s in college still.”

“What if…what if I go. I’m sure he isn’t going to just party with his friends. I’m sure he’s going to be there looking for his next victim.”

She shut her laptop, scowling at you. “No. Absolutely not.”

You pout, “Why not? You realize this give me the evidence I need to proof the case.”

“You don’t understand. It’s a club for others. Humans can’t get in here unless you’re someone’s play thing or—.”

“Or what?”

“With someone who is.”

You stare at her expectantly.

“No.”

“Come on!” You whine, tugging at her sleeve.

“No, this is dangerous!” She set her laptop on the coffee table, moving away from you so you couldn’t provoke her. Getting up form the couch she headed towards the kitchen. You sigh following after her. She reached into a cabinet for a mug.

“Don’t treat me like a child.”

She slammed down her mug, and you jumped. You had never seen her upset. She turned to you with a look of disbelief. “Child? This isn’t a game, y/n. You apparently don’t what kind of shit you’re getting into. My kind have to live in the shadows, and do you know what happens in the shadow.” Her comment was rhetoric.

You kept your mouth shut.

“Humans are no longer the superior race in there. Not all kinds are what you think. You’d get eaten alive the moment you let your guard down.”

“I didn’t go through all this trouble to find a good lead to get scared away by the what ifs. Besides, you’ll be there with me, right?”

“They’re not what ifs, y/n.”

“Yes, they are. You went there before and are standing here today.”

“Don’t get smart with me.”

“I’m not. I understand okay! I know you don’t think I do, but I do. I’ve heard it before and I don’t need to hear it from you!”

She turned to look at you with a pointed glare. You stood your ground.

She huffed preparing herself a drink. You stared at her back. For a moment you held doubt. What if she was right. What if you were getting yourself in something bigger than you anticipated. Picturing back to earlier in the day to Gloria and the amount of fear she had regarding her husband had your stomach sinking. The look that Seokjin had, the anger in him, and now hearing of the significance. The sense of justice found itself rooting in you even thicker.

“Alright.”

Pushing off the counter you were leaning on, Mia dropped the spoon she was using to swirl her drink in the sink noisily.

“You’re planning on going anyways aren’t you.”

Painting her with a look of exhaustion and resolve. “I am.”

“How?” she tossed her hands up in the air.

“I don’t know, I always figure things out somehow.”

She picked up her mug pushing past you then picking up her laptop going into her room. She slammed the door.

You slumped back onto the couch. Biting on your thumb. How were you supposed to get in now?

She came storming out of her room thirty minutes later. Rubbing her temples with a look of distress.

“Can’t you just hire a PI or something?”

“No, you yourself said being a kind is a secret. I can’t hire someone to watch him.”

She bit her lip, “Do you have to be this stubborn?”

You chuckled. “Yes. A woman’s life is going to be decided if or not I can prove her husband is a dick. Even if that means putting myself out there to prove it. I really want justice for her.”

“God, I really hate you sometimes.”

You smirked sitting up. “Does that mean you’ll get me in.”

“I swear to God if you get hurt—.”

“We won’t, I won’t.” You rushed towards her wrapping her in a hug. “Thank you, this means a lot. You know I wouldn’t ask something form you if I didn’t mean it right.”

She sighed. “Yes.”

“You owe me big time!”

“Whatever you want darling, the world is ours!”

Finding yourself back at the office after finishing all your classes in the morning. You were exhausted. The week, on top of the internship, had been exam heavy. You found it difficult to raise your head from your desk. Luckily for you, the office was nearly empty including of the other three. All others were at their campus or otherwise. You purposefully came on this day to get your work done.

Your phone pinged, notifying you got a text. With your hand you blindly searched for your phone dragging it so you could look at it form your lap with your head still on the table.

You sat up when you noticed who had texted you. You blink at the ID a few times.

Partner in Crime [2:07 p.m.]: We should meet up to work on the case.

You knew enough to deduce it was Seokjin.

You [2:09p.m.]: Who’s this?

Partner in Crime [2:10p.m.]: Are you serious?

You [2:10p.m.]: I’m at the office now.

Pain in the ass [2: 12pm]: Can you meet me at my school’s library in thirty? The office is nearby. I’ll buy you a coffee.

Location sent.

You contemplate. You just wanted to go home. Deal with the case more after this weekend after going to the club. You want to present all your finding and seal the deal all in one session. However, the thought of coffee was convincing enough to have you texting back.

You [2:20pm]: Okay. Be there soon.

Pain in the ass [2:21pm]: I’ll meet you outside.

You found yourself standing outside of the library half an hour later, staring up at the towering building. This was their library? This looked more like a historical site. Well it explained why the tuition here was so expensive. He went to the ivy school, one of the best, if not the best, law programs in the nation. You eyed things with envy. You had applied for this school too, it was a dream of course. But you suppose going to state university granted you only so much prestige.

“The clouds telling you something?” You jump when Jin comes up next to you.

You glare at him. He’s laughed. “Sorry, you looked so lost in your thoughts. Didn’t actually think I’d scare you. Here.” He handed you the other coffee in his hand.

You accepted it gladly, fingers feeling frozen, but pause. “You didn’t poison this right?”

“No, that’d be too easy.”

You nearly snort into your cup. “Spoken like a true soon to be lawyer.”

You miss the endearing stare he gives you as you begin walking up the stairs. He quickly catches up with you putting a hand on the small of your back when a large group of students come your way. He guides you up the stairs keeping you close with the abundant of students pouring in and out. You suppressed the squeak you wanted to let out. His hand was large and warm, the touch radiating through your coat. Your mind tells you you should move away, but you don’t. He leads you to the lower floor where to your surprise was just as magnificent as the base floor. The gothic architecture feels almost as if you’re entering a cathedral. The tables were dark oak wood and heavy looking ordered in long rows of five. Green banker lamps were in the center of each table basking the old scratched up wood in golden light.

Leading you to a table secondarily inward, he took a seat next to you.

Finding it odd, you debate on moving, but you neglect to comment on it. He settled into the seat looking none the more comfortable. Settling in you pulled out your laptop plugging it into an outlet underneath the table. You needed a second to re-center yourself. You didn’t like that you instead of revulsion like you expected to, you felt his presence give you a sense of security. It’s all dangerous, the feeling all too close to the ease you used to have with him.

“Have you come across any new leads?” Jin asked.

You quirked you head, having been so lost in your thoughts. “Huh?”

“New leads?”

“Oh, yeah.” You bring it up a on your laptop and show him. “I found his secret Bookface account. It’s even under a different name, Ethan Miller. He must have many identities and more accounts than this one.”

He brought his arm up resting it on the back of your chair, bringing the both of you closer. You flush thinking nothing of it as his thick thigh brushes yours as he leaned in.

“How’d you find it?” He clicks through the photo album. Pictures of ‘Daniel’ and children appear that look very much like him. Children who were not his with Gloria.

“I know people.”

He looked mildly impressed. “I see, if you tell you’ll have to kill me kind of scenario.”

Shrugging with a bit of pride you crossed your arms over your chest and leaned on the desk. Lamely you shot a single finger gun at him. Realizing how lame it was you quickly tucked your finger back into your fist and crossing your arms. When did you do lame things like that ever? He laughed, and you tried to ignore the embarrassment.

“Anything else?” He was so close to you when he looked up. You couldn’t help but let your eyes flicker down to his lip for a second as he mouthed the words. You quickly brought them back up to his eyes, the dark chocolate color another vortex. Heat rises to your cheeks and he could probably hear your heart picking up in pace. It didn’t help that from how close he was you could smell the cologne he wore, which made you want to lean in and press your face to smell it from his skin. Heat flushes even hotter through you, how brazen of your thoughts were getting.

Remembering he asked you something you answer more breathier than you would like. “No.”

When he straightens up, you were glad he didn’t comment on it. You contemplated telling Jin where you were going, but you keep your mouth shut. You could handle it on your own, all you needed to do was bring the evidence.

You cross your legs attempting to move away from him.

He nodded, taking screenshots before moving on. He finds the photos of his other family just like you did, and the other woman too. He carefully zoomed in squinting at the image of the woman.

“She’s wearing a scarf and in a majority of them.”

“Didn’t take you to be in the fashion police.” That has him snorting a laugh before he goes back to the page. He looked around, finding no one in any of the other rows, you both completely had the basement floor to yourselves. “He must’ve marked her, or newly marked her when they took these photos. She’s trying to cover up the bruising.”

“Is that so abnormal?”

“Well, not necessarily. We just heal rapidly, cuts heal within hours. Marks do take a bit to heal, but it usually heals within a day if cared for properly. But just the way she hiding it and the bruising, It means she’s human. Kinds know marks aren’t meant to be covered up. They’re something sacred and to be worn proudly.”

“So…?”

With his head propped onto his hand he turned to you, eyes boring into you. That feeling arises in your stomach again. The way he was looking at you felt deeper than just a simple glance. You think back to when he said he didn’t hate you. The words still feel impossible.

“Human mates are rare.” Without letting you question it he says, “Bruising could mean it never healed because her body is rejecting him.”

“Wouldn’t he be feeling some repercussions too? It’s a two-way thing right?”

“Yes, but it seems that he’s not being affected. Gloria would have mentioned illness or signs of hyper aggression.” He scrolls over the images. “You’d expect this kind of behavior from—.” Again he pauses, lost in though.

“From what?”

“A rogue.”

You squint. “English, please.”

He smiles at you. “An exiled wolf. When we don’t have a pack for too long our sense of direction becomes distorted. Signs are aggression, loss of humanity and morality, eventually they lose their its ability to revert.”

“And you think he’s one?”

He leaned back in his seat. “It’s plausible.”

“Let’s go through his account and gather more evidence. I can began transcribing the interview. We can do case search too if we have time.”

He nodded his head. You send him the link to West’s account and begin sectioning out the work. Surprisingly, you had worked quietly next together, no bickering. It was—pleasant.

“How’s school going?” His husky voice breaks you out of your concentration. He was still looking at the laptop and writing down notes.

You hummed. “Getting by, you?”

“Same.” He hums back and the lull begins again. You bite at your lip, curiosity getting the better of you. “Why did you decide to go to law school? Weren’t you going to become a chef?”

He had always told you when he was younger, he wanted to become a chef. “Duty called.”

“Let me guess, pack stuff?”

He nods, not missing the way you said it. “I’m expected to become a council member when I graduate. I’m going to take my father’s position and practice in the kind’s court.”

You didn’t know much about his family, things were always surface when you were younger. Playtime and other things taking precedence. You had no idea his father was a lawyer. You had only spoken to his parents a handful of times. His mother was the one who spoke to you mostly, his father was a stoic man.

“But, your dream?”

“I still cook, I just don’t do it professionally.”

“Do you regret it?”

“No, I’m happy.”

You thoughtful consider his words. It pains you a little to know he gave up his dream.

“How are they, your pack?”

A fatherlike smile comes on his face. “They’re all well, Namjoon is to be the next pack leader. The others are all doing their own thing, but they’re doing great.”

You smile, the fond memories of the boys resurfacing. “I miss them.”

“Why’d you leave then?”

There it is. The conversation the both of you had been avoiding this whole time. You had asked him something so personal and now he was returning it. The implication of the question wasn’t only why you left town, but him. You knew that, both physically and emotionally. You don’t know if you could offer him that though.

Abruptly your smile leaves you. “My dad got a job here in the city. I had no choice.” Your tone was frigid despite how much you wanted it to sound neutral.

“That’s the only reason?” He didn’t buy it. Based on his tone he sounded hurt. Knowing there was another reason. You hated that he could still read you.

You shrug, maintaining your stance. “Yes.”

“Bullshit.” His voice comes out clipped and sharp.

“What other reason would I have Seokjin?” Willing your voice to stay leveled, you begin using a voice you only use in professional settings.

“You left me.” He spoke the pain that he had held within. When you look over to him his eyes are red.

Leaning back in your chair, you crossed your arms over your chest. You wanted to remain unaffected, but you wanted to reach out to him. You felt the urge to touch him, but your anger kept you steady. “I didn’t leave you, you weren’t there. How can you say I left when you weren’t there.”

“You know that’s not true.” He accused, gaze darkening.

“It’s true.”

“I tried, but you wouldn’t answer.”

“That’s bullshit Jin and you know it. For months you ignored me.” Using his words back at him you choked on your words towards the end. You want to say, ‘you didn’t need me’, but the word hung heavy on your tongue, too hurtful even to yourself. You know that you didn’t try to reach out because after what those supposed friends said, it was made true when he just suddenly left. The prioritizing of his pack over you. All your feelings for him were crushed. Heartbreak was easier to deal with when you didn’t have to see their face.

He growls out, “I had things in the pack to handle.”

“Good excuse.” You knew he avoided you for other reasons, it was beginning to urk you that he wasn’t voicing it.

“I couldn’t help it. I was being initiated and had my first complete shift. It was a lot.”

“It’s different and you know it. I—forget it.” You wanted to say so much more, confess how you used to love him. Those feelings feel trivial now, even if they still exist in the present. The realization of the words, even though spoken in your mind had you reliving the pain all over again.

He falters and you almost feel guilty. A darkness spreads over the atmosphere. You spend a moment staring at one another. There is a tension between you two. Yet you can’t deny it’s like magnets. You feel drawn to him despite it all. Always have been. The knowledge of that has you shattering inside.

You stand up. “I’m going to look for a case study.” The wooden chair screeches against the floor. You needed to get away, to cool down. The sound of your shoes echo with the emptiness of the library.

Slinking between the bookcases you keep walking until you are deep within, feeling far enough where you can breathe again. Leaning against a bookshelf you sigh heavily. How come he had this much effect over you still?

Suddenly you feel heat overcome you as Jin suddenly towers over you. Softly his chest rumbles in hushed growls as he caging you in.

“Seokjin, leave me alone.”

When he doesn’t move you attempt to escape, placing your hands on his firm chest and pushing him. Unsurprisingly he doesn’t budge, but he shifts to keep you within his outstretched arms on the bookshelf. His gaze is intense, the red seeming to glow. “No, why do you run away when the conversation gets difficult?”

Humiliation clouds you. “Don’t patronize me.”

“Seokjin I’ve never run, it was you. I stopped chasing when I realized you had other priorities then and I wasn’t one of them. You said so yourself. Simple as that.”

You see him register the memory. His expression turns bitter. “That’s not true.” Gaze narrowed, his hands turn white as he clutches the shelf behind you. “I didn’t ignore you on purpose. Things were complicated and there was a lot I didn’t understand yet.”

“Good excuse.”

“It isn’t!”

“So what?”

“I realized something that—.”

“You didn’t need me.” The words come out of your mouth quietly finishing the sentence for him.

“No!” he growled.

“Keep telling yourself that.” You bit back the feeling of tears. “What do you gain Seokjin from this, huh? Reliving the past? It’s not then anymore. The us, whatever it was, is not now. And nothing will change that.”

The bookshelf creaked under his grip. “Don’t. Don’t say things like that.”

“What? That I’m no longer that young naïve girl? The one that used to follow you around? The one that used to think you were—.” The word mine dies on your tongue. “I don’t need you anymore and haven’t for a while, face it.”

“Please don’t cry.” He looked at you sadly.

You hadn’t realized you were crying. Attempting to wipe your tears, Jin hand took yours holding it while he caressed your face with the other wiping it away for you.

“Please don’t. I can’t handle it.”

He lowers his head and kissed you. The first press of his lips was gentle but deep. A small whimper escapes you; he rumbles in response pressing you closer to the bookcase. His hand dictates yours onto his shoulders while it wrapped around your waist pulling you close to him. It was making you dizzy with how good it felt.

He pulled away warm breathes of quiet between you two. You slowly open your eyes meeting his fiery ones. The warmness and adoration of it catching you off guard. The boyish loopy smile that followed had your heart melting. He lowered his head, resting his forehead against yours. His lips press against yours again unyielding. You had imagined this before, but this felt better. He kisses your jaw down to your neck. You shiver. The implication of it is not lost on you. He trailed back up finding your lips again in a harsh mesh. With a sigh he pried your mouth open. He moans your name.

Bringing you back to reality. “I—We can’t.”

This wasn’t right on many levels, but most importantly, didn’t he have a mate? Why was he kissing you? You had messed up, messed up big time. How had you caved so easily when he kissed you. You hate that you liked it so much too. You realize from the moment you both met again that the feeling you worked so hard to suppress came back strong. This was a mistake from the beginning. He still makes your heartbeat like it used to.

Seokjin’s arms were still extended towards you. “Why not?”

“I can’t—we can’t.”

You do what you do best. You run. Your heart breaks again for the second time.

Standing outside in line in the dead of fall would have to be the last place you wished to find yourself. The bombing bass thumped through the walls and neon lights outlined the vicinity. Other patrons in line to the club seemed at ease with the near freezing temperature. You suppose its a caveat of being human that your body didn’t run naturally warm. You had been to clubs throughout your college days, but they were far in between. Except this wasn’t any regular club, Fluxx was meant for the underworld. Those of the other kind.

Crossing your arms over your chest you attempt to conserve as much heat as possible. The fire within only kindled by the fact that you are only doing this for the case. The dress you had borrowed form Mia after she had deemed your choice to tame barely covered anything. It was too tight and you were sure that everything underneath was outlined.

Your phone vibrates in your clutch. You step away from Mia, although she was distracted chatting up some guy in the line. You answer it without looking at the ID.

“Hello?” Plugging your other ear with your finger.

“There’s something you need to know.” Jin’s voice comes through. You startle looking at the phone to check if it really was him. After what happened yesterday you hadn’t expected to never speak to him so soon.

Putting it back to your ear. “Can it wait?” You hiss.

“No.”

“What is it?”

“I talked to Yoongi about him being a rogue. It all checks out. I don’t know how much longer before he turns.”

You bite your lip, heart pausing in your chest. You stare at the club for a moment contemplating what you are about to do. You knew what you were doing was dangerous, entering territory still uncharted to you. However, this was the best way to get more proof.

“Y/n? Y/n did you hear me?”

His voice comes back into your ear, bringing you out of your thoughts.

“Are you out right now?”

Form the corner of your eye you notice a bouncer going down the line, eyeing those standing in line. Mia grabs your elbow pulling you back to her. You hadn’t told her what happened yesterday. Unable to articulate it either. She mouthed to you, “Everything alright?”

“Where are you?” Jin asked.

You nodded to her.

“I gotta go.”

“Y/n, wait—.” You hung up on him tucking your phone back in your purse.

The bouncer scanned you over before looking to Mia. The smile that bloomed on his face was a bit salacious. “Go on in ladies.” Mia grabbed your arm pulling you to bypass the line. Going through the entrance, the dark narrow hallway, you focus on your footing as it was hard to see. The deep house thumping grew louder until it opened to a large room. Strobing lights were made opaque by the hazy air, thick with the smell of alcohol and sweat. Bodies were moving to the music as Mia pulled you towards the bar. You were nearly knocked twice by people too drunk to notice or have body awareness.

Mia had already given you the rundown of what to expect. She had spent at least two hours lecturing you on what goes on. These clubs were not just host to one kind, but all. The fact that you were human would send off a few sense and mixing alcohol in the situation it makes things a bit more dangerous. It had already been decided early on that you both would split up.

Mia leaned in at the bar catching the bartender’s attention and ordered for the both of you. Without turning back.

“Spot him yet?”

Scanning the crowd, you look over the bodies, none of them striking familiarity. It isn’t until you scan the private section where the tables are do you find him.

Mia receives the drinks, handing you the soda. Stealthily she looked over spotting the area of where you were looking.

“I’m not getting good vibes Y/n.”

You nearly snorted into your drink. “It’s a club of course you don’t. This place is grimy and full of fuck boy energy.”

Her lips lift in a smile, but it doesn’t stay. “I’m serious.” Biting her lower lip in uncertainty, leaning in she spoke into your ear, “Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah.” An important detail you left out was telling her that he was a rogue. You knew that just like Jin she would talk you out of it. To her he was just a douchebag and you were just an ordinary girl hitting on him.

“I’ll come find you. Don’t do anything stupid okay.”

You nodded. She disappeared into the crowd weaving into the swaying bodies dancing seamlessly, leaving you at the bar.

You spotted him leaning into a woman, holding her by the hips and grinding to the beat. She wasn’t any woman you had found on his social media before. You snuck photos pretending to take selfies then going through a few other apps. Seeing him move away from her at the change of the song you took your cue. Moving through the dance floor you approximated yourself. Your heart was beating in your fingertips, fist tightly clutching at your drink. Steps beside him you went into action. Stumbling slightly in front of him, you spilled your drink on his black slacks. He growled as soon as the cold liquid spilled all over him.

Trying to swipe off the drink, “What the fuck!”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” You played up to the image of innocence and a naïve human.

He paused in his attempt at brushing off the liquid. “A human. What are you doing here sweetheart?” When his eyes meet yours, they don’t just look they linger. The girl he had been speaking to completely forgotten. His eyes flicker down from your face to your body, lingering in erogenous zones before meeting your eyes again. Pretending you didn’t notice, you suppress the urge to smile knowing he’s playing into it.

Now that you were closer you couldn’t deny that the guy was attractive. It made sense how he was able to play so many. His tousled hair was dark and silky. His eyes were piercing and intimidating.

Seokjin’s words ringing in your ear again. Don’t know how much longer we have until he turns. Why did you have to think of him now at all times.

Touching his leg over the stain you squeezed it suggestively still pretending innocence of attempting to clean it. “I’m so sorry. I’m such a clutz.”

“Hold on princess. Take me to dinner first.” He grabbed your hand, but kept it over his legs.

You couldn’t explain it, you felt his touch turning nausea within you.

“Can I pay you to get it cleaned?”

“This thing? I got twenty more, its fine.”

You leaned in, putting your hand on his chest. “Is there another way I can repay you?”

That had him quirking his brows before a twisted grin bloomed on his face. “Got any ideas babygirl?”

You leaned in, playing with a button on his button up. “I can think of a few wolf boy.”

He growled clearly taking on the challenge. “My names Daniel and don’t forget it baby girl.”

He leaned in to capture your lips but you turned to the side. You whispered into his ears, chuckling, “Don’t tease me baby. you’re going to bring the beast out in me.”

Pretending his words were stimulating, you giggled, tossing your head back. Biting your lip you gave him a doe eyed look, “Let’s take this somewhere else.” Blinking up at him, “Please.”

He took your hand leading you through the crowd. You didn’t have time to search for Mia in the crowd, but you had hoped she saw you. He moved towards the back towards an exit door. He pushed open the door you were pulled out into the back alley. As soon as the door closes the noise of the club softened, and Daniel’s labored breathing is the loudest sound. Fog had settled in over the city, and you could see a group of guys lingering just at the entrance, the ember of their cigarette light.

Stepping closer to you he caged you against the damp brick wall. His overwhelming smell of alcohol was suffocating as he leaned in with a smirk on his lips. He leaned in close enough that his breath fanned over the side of your face. Moaning and humming, “You smell like a bitch, hard to believe your just human baby girl.”

“I’ve always had a bit of wild in me.” You smirked.

Throwing his head back as he laughed, then lowering his head following with a groan. He bit the bait. He presses himself closer to you, enjoying the soft curves of yore body against his. Leaning in to speak with hot breath into your ear, “I can tame you. You’d like it if I’d put you in your place right.”

Goosebumps pimpled over your whole being, except it wasn’t because of him. Something changed in the air. Your heart began beating faster in your chest, like a radar beeping when a target was nearing. Breaking eye contact with Daniel you turned towards the alley where your instincts were indicating something was coming. In turn you exposed your neck to him. Daniel rumbled contently in appreciation at your action. He leaned in sniffing your skin, trailing his nose along the column. The action having your stomach twist in a sudden nausea.

The radar in your chest pinged its loudest as through the dense, grey fog you saw red eyes. A shadowed figured, large and imposing, began taking form of the owner of the red eyes. They were heading towards you at a face pace like when a predator locked in on its prey. A harrowing growl comes from the shadow sends a shiver down your spine. Daniel was so lost in your scent he didn’t realize the figure coming at breakneck speed.

When the figure was close enough you finally caught a glimpse of the shadow.

In a whisper, “Jin.”

Fire burned in his eyes, as he struck like a missile. It all happened in a blur of motion; Daniel was ripped from hovering over you. The vicious growls that came from both beings was terrifying. Jin’s anger had always been cold and blunt. You had only seen it once before, but even then, that time feels minute to what happened in front of you. You had never seen him fight before. Fist struck and the sound of bone cracking was like thunder. It was gruesome.

Daniel lost his balance, his eyes turning red as well. Their heavy breathing steamed around their mouth, their fangs elongated to their lower lip. Daniel twitched seemingly resisting shifting fully. However, Jin was the larger of the two, his body partially shifted. His muscles bulged against the fabric of his clothes. The buttons of his dress shirt barely maintained against this broad chest. His sleeves were rolled up, veins pulsing against his muscular forearms. He was out for blood.

“What the fuck man! Get your own bitch!” Daniel growled at Jin, still maintaining his goal of getting you. When Daniel’s eyes shifted over to you, Jin charged him as the scent of lust filled the air. He grabbed at Daniel’s throat, moving backwards until he slammed him to the wall. He held him growling out words you couldn’t make out until he felt Daniel fall unconscious. His heart was still beating. Released him and let him slump to the floor, hovering over him like a predator.

“Jin.” The quiet whisper of his nickname has him coming back down to earth. He whipped around finding you leaning against the wall, knees weak. Your eyes were wide taking in his face. His eyes the deepest red you’ve ever seen, fangs over his lips, and body near feral. However, as soon as he sees that you, it dropped from him and he looking more like a puppy. He hurried over to you. Instead of greeting he grabbed your chin and angled your head to the side to get a glance at your neck. He breathed a sigh of relief. He was still more wolf than man at the moment. He leaned forward and whined. Your heart stopped in your chest. His body was warm sending a shiver down your spine. His scent was comforting. You hate how good it feels, you hate that your body relaxed instantly when he came to save you. As if you already know everything was going to be alright. To trust and rely on him felt so foreign, but so familiar.

He pulled away but you were so close you could make out his eyelashes individually. He growled, “What were you doing!”

Suddenly what you had been trying to forget comes back full force. Why was he acting like he cared so much? You curled in on yourself, the pettiness returning. “I could’ve handled myself.”

“Oh really? You were just going to let him mark you?” He seethed with an anger like wildfire.

You tried to remain indifferent. “I don’t see what the problem is. It’s just a bite, it’ll heal. I’m not one of you.”

Ignoring him, you pulled your phone out from your pocket showing him that you had a recording going. “I got it.” You pressed pause and saved the file. You hadn’t realized your hands were shaking, the adrenaline of it all still coursing through you.

His brows furrowed. “What?”

“I recorded everything. I even took pictures of him with other women. We can use this as evidence.”

“Y/n?” The moment shatters and you search for the familiar sound of your name.

You see your friend stumbling drunkenly through the door out into the empty alleyway.

“I’m here to save you!” For being a kind, her alcohol tolerance was low. She turned towards you, squinting her eyes. “Whoa, who’s the hot guy? Was I interrupting something.”

You pushed Jin away from you slipping past him to support her as her ankle kept rolling due to the uneven asphalt.

Jin didn’t bother smirking or returning the understanding. He was still beyond pissed.

She looked down to the passed out man, “Holy shit.” She looked to Seokjin, seeing the remnants of his partial shift as he hadn’t bothered to transition back. There was a silent understanding of one another between them as he could tell she was the same as him.

“You were supposed to keep watch, how could you get drunk?”

“I didn’t mean to, I was feeling really nervous about all this. I needed to calm my nerves, so I had a few drinks.”

“We’ll talk in the office.” You directed your words to Seokjin before you began walking away with Mia.

“No, I’m taking you home.”

Mia wiggled her eyebrows. “Can you stay forever?”

You shushed her, bewildered by her behavior. The intense glare he was giving you had you agreeing. “Fine.”

Walking towards his car in silence. She squinted, then her eyes then widened thinking she was whispering to you, “Oh my god is he the one you’ve been talking nonstop about.”

You hush her. “Shut up.”

Through the walk Jin had shifted himself back. A black Audi RS7 beeped as Jin unlocked his car. Mia whistled, “He’s rich.”

“Mia!” You whisper yelled at her. “Please, behave!”

She nodded holding her hands up in an apology. “I’ll behave. I’ll behave.”

You slip into the back with Mia. Her head falls on your shoulder. You gave him your address. He presses the car to start and pulls away. Not long your friend falls asleep, her head falling asleep on your shoulder. You caught him looking at you a few times through the rear-view mirror, but you couldn’t bring yourself to say anything.

Pulling in the parking lot of your complex, Jin got out first then opened the door for you. He helped you with Mia and supported her up.

Going to the first floor of your apartment complex you made sure Jin was following you with Mia. Shoving the key in your door you let him in, leading him through your apartment to her room. He laid her down onto her bed. You began helping take her shoes off, Jin leaving to go to the living room. Taking a moment to help her clean up and ready for bed. She smiled at you partially awake, partially asleep.

“What?” You smiled back.

Giggling, “He likes you too.”

You froze, staring at her incredulously before you played it off as she was too drunk to know what she was talking about. “You’re drunk go to sleep.”

She shook her head. She grabbed your hand staring you directly in the eyes. “No, I’m sure.”

“He already has a mate.”

Her eyebrows squinted. “No he doesn’t. He doesn’t smell like it.”

You refrained form rolling your eyes. “You wolves and your weird olfactory fixation.”

She sighed then let go, allowing her eyes to close as she fell asleep. You remained crouched by her bed, trying to decipher her words. Jin, didn’t have a mate? And liked you? She must mean that he tolerated you, civil at most. The kiss the other day meant nothing, you were sure of it. It was spur of the moment, high stress and you both didn’t know what you were doing.

She was drunk what did she know.

Standing up with a click to your knees you groaned, you were exhausted. The adrenaline finally wearing away of what happened earlier. Seeing Jin standing in your living room was awkward. He was looking at the photos on the wall. Specifically staring at a photo of when you were younger and Jin was also in it. You both looked so happy, with paint on both of your faces and white shirts.

You hesitate, weirdly feeling as if you were caught with something you should be. “Kinda hard not finding a picture of the old days without you in it.”

He looked at you, putting his hand down from touching the edge of the frame.

When he says nothing you clear your throat, “Thank you.”

He turned towards you, sticking his hands in his pockets, humming in acknowledgement.

“I’ll format all the recordings and photos for the—.”

He cut you off. “You looked happy here.” He pointed to the photo next to the one he was touching. It was of you and a few friends at the beach. It was taken the last year of college.

You smirked. “Hey, I know how to have fun. I’m not all business.”

He smirked, “Would’ve fooled me.” You knew he was poking fun. This time you enjoyed it. Turning to you. “You even turned our night off into a work night, at a club no less.”

You couldn’t argue there, in steading biting your bottom of your lip. He follow the motion before looking up. Clearing your throat you changed the subject. “He said that I was his mate.”

His whole body stiffened. “Impossible.” He crossed the room closer to you, just stopping a foot away.

You looked up at him, the sudden hostility throwing you off. He scanned you over once more. “Are you sure you’re alright? He didn’t touch you?”

“No.” You fought off the blush that threatened to rise to your cheeks. The attentiveness he was giving you was doing things to your heart that you promised yourself you wouldn’t let happen again. You flush suddenly remembering how soft his lips feel.

Nodding seemingly distracted with his thoughts. “I’ll look into that.” He began making his way towards the door and you followed. He stood outside your doorway.

He hesitated before nodding, as if he had contemplated something. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” You returned the words in a soft whisper.

He began walking away towards his car.

“Jin.”

He turned around.

“How’d you know where to find me?”

He paused, his face clearly. Your heart nearly stopped in your chest when a smile, an expression you haven’t seen on him. Jin looked like his old self. “I just went where the wild things are. I knew I’d find you there.”

You laughed, “I hate you.”

A smirk came back to his lips. “Don’t go soft on me now, Y/n.”

You watched him slip into his car before going inside. Alone with yourself you felt unsettled. Lately, it had been happening more. You chalked it up to being stressed, but stress was a constant in your life. This emotion was blaringly obvious to you, but you didn’t understand. Why did him leaving leave a hint of sadness.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, totally. I’ll catch up with you soon.”

Logan pulled a face saying he wasn’t convinced. The others had already gathered their stuff and were heading towards the elevators. Yoongi suddenly threw his arm around Logan’s shoulders. “Let’s go. I need a drink.”

You couldn’t help but smile biting back laughter. Yoongi was a man of few words, but he always knew when to insert himself.

You turn back to your desk when they’re out of sight. In all truth you didn’t want to go. You wanted peace, and despite wanting to follow the social cues it was the last thing you needed right now.

Accompanied by the lone light from your desk, the silence of the office greets you in full embrace. The electronic whorl of central air kicking on. You busy yourself with “last-minute” paperwork you had purposefully withheld on doing, knowing this celebrating was coming. The case had gone incredibly well, it was easy to prove the divorce with your added evidence. It was set to go to secondarily trial within the kind’s court. You just needed to give yourself enough time to know they were out of the building and you could go home.

“Y/n?”

You looked over your shoulder. Seokjin stood there, you could see wear of the day on him but it somehow painted him like oil paint. His hair was disheveled, and the top buttons of his white button up were undone.

“I forgot my wallet.”

You hum. It’s a bit awkward. Watching him round the desk to his in silence. Ever since you had turned in the case over to Yoongi, you had distanced yourself from him. There had been no incentive to not go because of him. It had been a looming idea over your head though that after this you weren’t going to be seeing him.

He held up his wallet, “Found it.”

“You found it.”

He swallowed tucking it in his pocket. He rounded the desk standing just near yours. His hand was clenched in a fist, words on the tip of his tounge.

“Well, it was great working with you Y/n.”

Standing up you extend out your hand. Staring at it for a moment his eyes soften taking yours in his.

“The truce was sufficient after all.” He joked.

“Don’t get too soft on me now.” You joked back.

He smiled. The handshake had long outlived itself, but you still held his and he held yours.

“Well, this is goodbye.” When you tried letting go his grip tightened. “Jin?”

“I can’t. I can’t keep pretending.”

“Pretending?”

“Pretending I’m okay with you walking out of my life again. Pretending that I’m not effected by you. I can’t. I can’t handle it for the second time.”

His logic was flawed. You didn’t allow your heart to pick up pace, fall into his words. “What do you mean? You said you didn’t need me.”

“I lied. I never meant what I said then. I never wanted to hurt you or push you away.”

Your eyes flicker about his face, looking for signs of deception but couldn’t find it. “Then, why did you?”

“I couldn’t control it, I couldn’t control my wolf. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt me? Jin, you wouldn’t have hurt me.”

“No, I would have. I couldn’t control it back then, the urges were too intense. I’m weak when it comes to you.”

“You can’t mean that.”

“I do though. I was weak, and whenever you would come near me it became harder to control. The night I found you I couldn’t think straight. Now though, I can’t deny it anymore, I know what I want. And I want you.”

“What do you mean? Don’t you have a mate, what are you talking about?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well don’t you?”

“I’m not seeing anyone or have claimed anyone—yet.”

You pausing looking at his distraught face.

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

“You don’t?”

“No.” His touches were romantic.

“Well I still don’t see what this conversation has to do with me.” , “Look, I’m not here to get mixed up in whatever.”

“Are you really that oblivious? Do you really not see it?”

“See what?”

He groaned rubbing his hands over his face. “Y/N, you’re killing me here.”

“It’s you. You are my mate.”

Everything froze around you.

Your hands trailed up his chest to wrap around his neck.

“My mate.”

“What?” You freeze. Attempting to put all the pieces of the puzzle together none of it makes sense to you. “You said so yourself humans can’t be mates.”

“I didn’t know how to tell you. You aren’t bound by the same instincts or rules that I am. I was worried, I thought it was only me who felt something. But it’s you, always has been.”

He pulled you closer, and you didn’t fight him.

“Please, I’ll tell you everything, but I need to know. Do you feel the same?”

You swallowed hard. “I do.”

His body melted. “Do you mean that?”

You rolled your eyes. Your hands were around his neck, pulling him down and your lips crashing onto his even before he could finish that sentence. The sudden softness in the midst of the charged tension had you even more sure that you wanted this. The electricity just a kiss from him confirmed it all. You did feel the same way, have for a long time. He reciprocated gripping the sides of your waist and lips moving in tandem with yours. All the built-up tension from before exploded as your tongue brushing against his.

You push him away needing to breath. Tucking his head into your neck he presses kisses into your skin not wanting to part from you. “Why were you so worried? Didn’t you know that I was your mate before?”

“No, we can only begin to find our mates after we’ve fully shifted.“

Finding a place between your neck and collar he nipped at the flesh causing you to moan and shiver. Appreciating the sound he dug his hand deeper into your hair angling your head so he could access it better. “I knew it was you for sure after I shifted, but you were human and I didn’t understand. I had always been told that a mate couldn’t be human. But its been you all along. My elders had tried to talk me out of it, they had tried to keep me away from you. It didn’t help that I had so much to learn after shifting. It didn’t change anything, I kept looking for you. From the first time I found myself in your closet, I was too young to understand destiny, but its always been you.”

You didn’t realize how much you wanted to hear those words from him until he admitted it.

“Why? Why were you so mean.”

“I couldn’t get your attention otherwise.”

You giggled into eachother mouth. “Dumbass, all of this could have been avoided.”

He pinched at your side causing you to shriek.

“Let me take you home.” His voice is low and sweet, and drips like honey.

It takes a second to register what he said, awestruck by how much the words feel common place. “Okay.”

He chases your lips before pulling you along with him. “Wait! I need to get my stuff.”

You laugh at the whine that comes form him as you collect your things form your desk. When you turn around he has his hand extended and you tangle your hand in his. You can’t get the smile off your face. The next movements are rushed as you find yourself in his car. His hand tangles back in yours as soon as he’s in the drivers’ seat.

It takes all about fifteen minutes to get to Jin’s apartment. The moments in between getting there were filled with tension as his hand no longer was just content holding yours but clenching over your thigh and kneading the flesh. Upon reaching his unit he fumbled with the code for a few seconds. When he finally had you inside he pressed himself to you. He no longer appeared to be completely human. His fangs were extended, eyes gleaming red, and he at you like a man starved. He rolls his hips to your center, letting you feel the evidence of his erection tight against his slacks. “Tell me what you want. Anything you want, you can have it.”

“Jin.” You moaned at the feeling of him pressed against your center. You wanted all of him, but you didn’t know how to voice it all. You wanted to feel his weight on top of you, feel him within you and to hold him against you. You wanted more than just that though, but words felt unfulfilling besides his name.

“You really don’t realize what you do to me.” He grabbed under your thighs lifting you up so that your legs rested over his arms while he supported you against the wall. He grinded into you again, his hot breath fanning over your face before he sloppily kissed you.

“You turn me into a beast.”

He shifted so that your legs were wrapped around his waist and he held onto you tightly as he moved towards his bedroom. It all happens so quickly. You were pressed down on his bed with him hovering over you. He tugged at your shirt silently asking for permission to remove it which you give him happily. He pulled it off you delicately, as if you were an art piece he was afraid of breaking. He reached behind you an unhook your bra, tossing it.

He stared for a few moments. You wanted to cross your arms over your chest but he stopped you.

“Beautiful.” He swallowed harshly. He leans down trailing his nose along your sternum before nuzzling at your breast. His hand trailed up the side of your body before reaching your breast and kneading the flesh. His thumb traces over your nipple until they pebbled. With the other his mouth sucked marked into your flesh before taking your nipple into his mouth. You release soft gasp at the gentle pleasure. He switched showering each breast with kisses and small bites until they were both marked.

He propped himself up as he moved his mouth down from your chest to your stomach, caressing your sides. He moved until he was nestled between your legs. Sitting back on his heels he reaches for the waistband of your skirt again asking for permission. Intoxicated on the feeling you nod at him lazily. He pulled it down landing somewhere with your other clothes.

He spread your legs wider fitting himself between your legs. You were so wet that the fabric of your panties stuck to you. Using the slick he traced his finger over your slit, focusing on your clit. Your back arched off the bed, bowing towards the ceiling. It was a simple touch, but you were hypersensitive to his touch. With his face between your legs he looks deliriously in bliss.

The dichotomy of his nature made him an anomaly. He was domineering but tender in each of his approaches. Each motion was made with love, but eagerness to feel you. No partner you’ve had before had been so attentive, trekking your body as it was meant to be explored and learned.

“Shit, Y/n, you’re so wet. Is this all for me?”

You gasped his name when he leaned in and pressed a kiss to your clit. He chuckled, “Is my name the only thing you can say now?”

You flushed, “Stop teasing me.”

He pressed a kiss to your knee soothing the teasing.

“Fuck, you smell so ready for me.”

“Please.” You pleaded breathlessly.

“Just a taste, please.”

You nodded threading your hands through his hair. He hooked his fingers in your panties and pulled them down tossing them somewhere in the room. Yanking you forward and closer to him he spreads your legs for him putting you on full display. Kissing up your thighs moving closer to your center. When he places a kiss on your mound before he begins to gently. He sighed against your folds. “Delicious.”

He taste you longer than just a sample as he buries his head between your legs. The sounds of your moans and mewls awaken the cavernous part of him. He growled, the sound sending shivers down your spine and making you even wetter.

“Jin!” you gasp, as he eats you out. When he pushes a finger inside you can’t help but tighten your grip on his hair. It felt so good, the stretch was sending your sensitivity to overdrive. It has been a long time since you’ve had sex with someone, but your cunt was accepting his finger easily. He worked you up and slipped another finger inside you, the stretch causing you to screw your eyes shut. Letting out a pained cry of pleasure and a bit of sting from the stretch.

“Doing so good for me Y/n.” His fingers moved to spread you open, to let him in. He watched you from between your legs as he increased his pace when he felt you relax a bit around him.

He was driving you crazy, the sounds he was admitting as if he was enjoying it more than you was such a turn on. No one had ever made you feel this way, as if he wasn’t just touching your body but your soul. Your pressing your hips upwards, feeling your end coming near. Your pussy clenches around his finger when he keeps stroking that one spot within you. In combination with his lips on your clit and him finger fucking, you had never felt so much pleasure before.

“I’m—.” Your body tenses and you can feel yourself just on the edge.

“Come for me.” His words commanded you and like a band you snapped. Your walls pulsed around his finger as he kept you through your orgasm. He pulled his fingers out of you, licking them clean. When he seems your release dripping down from your entrance he leaned down licking it up. He pressed his tongue inside you. The action surprising and jerk, but you couldn’t move away. His tongue moved languidly and rhythmically within you until he was content. He continued to lap of your sweet release until you pushed him away.

He crawled over you. “So good for me. Fate couldn’t have chosen a better mate.” His words were possessive but you didn’t mind it. The word mate fell off his lips so easily.

You came down from the high gradually, chest heaving, and eyes

You see that he was still hesitant to let it through. You reached up cupping his face, gently tracing your thumb. “Let go.”

“I can’t. I don’t want to hurt you.” He peppers kisses along your collarbone.

Your fingers make quick work of his shirt. You pause to admire his broad chest. It had been .

He grabs your hand before you reach for the button of his pants.

“Do you really know what this means. Know what I mean when I say you’re my mate and want you?”

“Yes, mark me. Claim me. I want you. I want all of you.”

“Even if it means forever?”

“yes.”

He allows you to undress the rest of him, he kicks off his pants and underwear and he’s completely bare before you.

His endowment makes your thighs clench. His cock was hard, thick and throbbing, the tip ozzing.

Coming down to his elbows he fits himself snuggly between your thighs, cock brushing your pussy. He reaches between you gathering your slick before spreading it over his cock. He teases your pussy by teasing your entrance, and with your slick he coats his cock with it.

“I’m going to fill you with my cum y/n. Knot you so none of it spills out.” He rubbed your hips. “You’d look so beautiful swollen with my pups.”

You couldn’t help but tremble, excitement filling your veins. You wanted to be sated, to feel him inside you already.

“I want it Jin.”

‘Anything for you, my love.”

That was the last warning you got before he was pressing into you. He watched your face as he filled with you with this thick length. You cried out, as you fisted the sheet under you. “Oh my god.”

His grip tightened on your hips enough you were sure they were going to bruise later. He was trembling just as much as you were. Slowly sinking in you he pumped until he was full seated inside you.

“Holy shit, this is way better than I’ve ever imagined.” He paused allowing you to adjust to his size.

When you shifted against him he took it as a cue to finally move. He pulled out almost the full way before he was sliding back in slowly. It drew out a choked moan from the both of you. His length dragged against your walls hitting that spot each time.

“Harder, please, harder!” You cried out. You trusted him enough to know he would keep his strength in check. You knew he could crush you, as lifting you earlier seemed like nothing to him.

The pace was gentle until he picked up a merciless pace. Each powerful thrust pushed him in deeper to you. You were quickly unraveling approaching your second orgasm in record time. The sensation of everything was addicting as you lost yourself in the pleasure. Tears built in the corner of your eyes.

He mouthed at your neck murmuring, “My mate. My sweet little mate, so good for me. Taking me so well.”

Nearing your orgasm you began trembling in his embrace. “Come again for me, my love. Give it to me.”

You clenched around him, shattering around his cock and in the same moment he sunk his fangs sunk in between your neck and shoulder. The pain meshed with the pleasure into an addictive eliquer that flooded your system.

He kept going. “Too much Jin!”

Licking clean the marking he pulled away from your neck. He pressed your legs up into your chest. He could see his cock going in and out of your swollen lips. He kept pounding into you, somehow reaching deeper into you. “I’m going to fill you up, love. Do you want it baby?”

You nodded. “Give it to me.” Tears were spilling form your eyes from the overstimulation.

With a final slam of his hips his length swelled inside you spilling his seed within you. When you expected it to end his length was still swelling at the base.

“Jin, what’s happening?” Your nails dug into his shoulders.

“Shhh, baby, its okay.” His mouth slipped back over to your neck, kissing over the fresh mark. He peppered you with affection as his hands soothed your flesh. He relaxed your legs until they wrapped around his waist holding you close.

Just when you thought you couldn’t take anymore the knot stopped swelling. You heaved, panting slightly from the painful stretch.

“You did so well.”

You smiled, pulling him to your lips to kiss. The way he was looking at you as if you were his world had you reaching up to cover your face.

“What just happened?”

He stilled, “Do you regret it?”

You pulled your hands away form his face. “No, no, no.” He easily succumbs when you pull him closer to you. You rub your nose against his back and forth, wanting to return the affection. “It was perfect.”

He flushed crimson.

You spend hours after within eachothers embrace, even when his knot swelled down. You talked, whispered words of affection to eachother and fell into eachothers embrace again. Like the first time his touch is gentle, he praises the moon for bringing him to you. He leaves no part of you untouched, and you his.

You feel at home for the first time in a long time.

When the sun rises, you wake in his arms, head in the crook of his neck, as he held you tightly to his chest. Bodies still bare, you both felt there was no need to cover, he had his hand over your hip. Breathing in the scent of him and . The silence doesn’t feel uncomfortable. The sound of his heartbeat in your ear was calming.

Slowly pulling away from his neck you reach up and caress his face. With your thumb you trace under his eye and cheek with a butterflies touch.

“I love you.”

He smiles. “No. I’m supposed to say it first.”

You quirk a brow at him. “Who says so?”

He opened his eyes, the trails of sleep still evident. “I do. I love you, always have.” He captures your lips in his.

“You stayed.”

You pulled away. “Of course, I would.”

He smiled. “I know, but to have you here. In my bed. Next to me. It all seems like I’m still dreaming.”

“Oh my god, you’re so cheesy, you dork.”

“But you like it.”

Giggling as he peppers kisses all over your face you manage to worm out of his embrace. You jump out of bed. Taking his dress shirt from off the floor you toss it over yourself buttoning up a few buttons. “Don’t sour the sweetness too soon, wolf boy.” You let the last word roll but with no real malice. You know the word will rile him up.

From the bed he watched you. He had never seen anyone more beautiful. You had his heart that was for sure. He tossed the blanket off of himself chasing after you. “You take that back.”

You giggled running down his hall and out of sight with him chasing right behind you.

Even after the wildest journey, some things in life, like home, just won’t change.

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just-dreaming-marvel · 4 years ago

Text

Love and Medicine ~ 11

MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 4,300ish

Summary: The aftermath of Steve’s bombshell insues....

I do not own Grey’s Anatomy or Marvel.

Previously on Love and Medicine…

Steve grabbed your hand, staring at you as you both started for the door. When he turned to look at the door, he froze, stopping you two in place. His eyes went wide, which worried you. You looked to see what he was looking at. Walking towards you was this beautiful brown haired woman, with fiery red lipstick.

“Y/N, I am so sorry,” Steve whispered. The woman walked all the way over to them. “Peggy. What are you doing here?”

“Well, you'd know if you'd bothered to return any one of my phone calls,” the woman responded, surprising you with a British accent. She turned to you, overing you her hand. “Hi. I’m Margaret Rogers.” You shook her hand.

“Rogers?” You repeated, confused.

“And you must be the woman who’s been screwing my husband.”

You were pretty sure that everyone in the lobby could hear your heart drop to the floor and shatter into millions of pieces of glass. Quickly, you yanked your had from Steve’s.

“Y/N…” Steve tried to reach out to you but you shook your head and hurried out the door.

“Hey, Y/N,” Tony greeted heading into the building. He quickly noticed you were freaking out. “What’s wrong?”

“Did you… did you know?” You asked, quietly.

“Did I know what?”

“About that?”

You pointed behind you. Tony could see through the glass windows, Steve and Peggy talking.

“Oh, Y/N,” Tony said. “I’m so sorry. I was hoping—“

“You knew. Oh my… I can’t. I have to go.” You rushed away.

“Y/N! I’m sorry!”

You ignored Tony, making a run for it. You needed to get somewhere, anywhere, else. As you ran, rain began to fall, making the whole scene a lot sadder.

~~~

Back inside the hospital, Steve and Peggy were talking.

“Peggy, what are you doing here?” Steve asked.

“Your hair’s different,” she said.

“A lot of things are different.”

“It’s longer. And the beginnings of a beard here. I like it.” She goes to try and touch his face but he moved back.

“What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here? You just pick up and leave everything? Your house, your practice, your friends? You had a life you up and left.”

“Had.”

“And now you have a girlfriend. She seems… sweet.”

“The ice you’re on. Thin.”

“She's young. That whole wide-eyed, ooh he's-a-brain-surgeon thing happening, but still sweet. Which was what you were going for, right? The anti-Peggy?”

“If you came out here to try and win me back, forget about it.”

“I did. I flew all the way across the country to reminisce over wedding photos, get drunk, fall into bed, and make you realize you can't live without me. Relax. Steve, I'm here for work. I'm helping the TTTS case you guys admitted last week and from Fury's briefing, I should be—“

“Fury knew you were coming out here?”

“He asked me to come. Didn't he tell you?”

“No. He didn’t.”

“Hmm. Surprise. The hair, though.” She leaned into his ear. “It looks really good.”

~~~

You found your way to the bar across the street. You quickly order a few shots of tequila and began to down them.

“You know familiar,” the bar tender stated, wiping down a portion of the bar. “You been here before.”

“Once,” you replied. “And, sadly, that’s what brought me here.” You took another shot.

“I know that look. It'll be one of two things. Either your boss is giving you hell or your boyfriend is. Which is it?”

“Both.” Another shot. “My boyfriend is my boss, which was a problem. But not as big a problem as the fact that my boyfriend has a wife.”

“Tell you what, these next ones,” he began to refill the shot glasses, “are on the house.” The door bell ran began you and the bar tender greeted those coming in. “Hey, Clint, Natasha.”

“Hey, Happy,” Clint replied, the two came to sit beside you.

“Where’s Laura?”

“Don’t ask. Can I just have a beer, please?”

“Let’s play a game of whose life sucks the most,” you said. “I’ll win. I always win.”

“No,” Natasha said, “you don’t want to play with me.”

“Oh, I do. I'll even go first. Steve's married.”

Clint spit out his beer. “What?” He questioned.

“Clint, you have beer running down your face,” Natasha stated. He quickly got up to clean himself up.

“Told you I’d win,” you said before taking another shot.

“No, you didn’t win.”

“Did you hear me? I said Steve is married. As in pigheaded, adulterous, liar married. Nothing you could say could top that.”

“I’m pregnant. I win.”

“What?”

Suddenly, Happy groaned and held onto his head. He was one the floor before anyone could say anything.

“Okay, maybe Happy wins,” Natasha said as you and her rushed to his side. Happy tried to sit up. “Happy, lie back down.”

“I’ve called the medics!” Someone in the bar said.

“The medics are coming,” you told Happy.

“You called the gurney patrol?” Happy asked.

“Sit back and relax. We have to take you to the hospital to run some tests.”

“Tests? I don't need tests. I'm fine!”

“You collapsed! On the floor,” Natasha argued, the two of you checking him over for injuries. “This is your bar. You know how filthy this floor is.”

“Radial pulse is strong,” you stated as Clint came up to help as well.

“Minor skull contusions.”

“You’re sleeping with someone?” You questioned Natasha.

“What? Who?” Clint asked.

“Why is that such a shock?” Natasha wondered. “Even Clint managed to get some action.”

“Correction. Clint got some syphilis.”

“How could I not know, you were sleeping with someone?” You continued.

“Forget this,” Happy said, fighting you guys to stand up.

“Happy!” Natasha exclaimed.

“The hospital is right across the street. I can sure as hell walk across the street by myself.” He stood up and headed for the door.

“I got him,” Clint said. “Happy!”

~~~

You, Clint, and Natasha helped Happy get checked into the hospital. You and Natasha were currently walking the halls.

“Alright, details,” you broke the silence. "You're pregnant? What are you gonna do?”

“Look, you know what happens to pregnant interns. I'm not switching to the vagina squad or spending my life popping zits,” Natasha replied. “I'm too talented. Surgery's my life.”

“Which begs the question: who are you sleeping with?”

“Just a guy.”

“That's all I get? You can't just bring something like this up and expect me to drop it.”

“Well, watch me.”

The two of you walked up to a nurses station where Scott, Val, and Clint were standing.

“Why are you back here tonight, don't you have a date with Captain McDreamy?” Val wondered.

“More like Captain McMarried,” Clint responded.

“McWhat?” Scott said.

“I came to check on Happy,” you told them, trying to change the subject.

“You think he’s gonna be okay?”

“You think he's gonna need an operation?” Natasha wondered.

“Operation, yes,” Steve answered, walking up. “Okay, hard to tell. Basilar artery's blown up like a balloon. Subarachnoid bleeding. Aneurysm the size of a golf ball.”

“No way to clip something like that,” Clint said.

“Not without magic fingers,” Scott added.

“Or a standstill operation,” Steve stated.

“You’re doing a standstill?” Natasha questioned.

“I'd like to try. First I need some additional patient history, overnight labs, and a cerebral angio.” He tried to had Happy’s chart to you.

“I’m drunk,” you said, walking away.

“Y/N.”

Clint grabbed the chart from Steve before Steve tried to follow you. The other interns quickly stepped in his way. You hurried into the stairwell and headed down the stairs.

“Y/N!” Steve called, now in the stair well, trying to catch up with you.

“Go away!” You replied, trying not to get emotional.

“Just wait, please! We should discuss this.”

“Here’s a thought, no!” You exited the stairwell and went outside, where it was still raining. “Quit following me!”

“At least let me explain.”

“Explain?” You turned around and stopped. “You know when you should have explained? The night we met in the bar. Before any of the rest of it. Yeah, that would have been a good time to discuss it.”

“Look, I know how you feel.”

“Do you? Somehow I doubt that. Because if you did, you would shut up, and you would turn around and go back inside, because you would realize that I am this close to stealing a car and running you down in the parking lot!”

“Y/N—“

“Leave her alone,” Tony ordered, jogging up and putting himself in between you and Steve.

“Tony, this has nothing to do with you.”

Tony turned around slightly and handed you his keys. “Go, wait in the car. Do not drive, you’re in no condition.” You nodded and left to find Tony’s car. He turned back to face Steve, pointing a finger at him. “I warned you that this was all bad news and going to blow up in your face.”

“Stay out of this, Tony.”

“I will not! Her parents are no longer here to take care of her, so I will.”

“Her parents? What are you talking about?”

“You don’t deserve to know. Now, I’m taking her home and you’re going to leave her alone.”

“Just… tell her I’m sorry.”

Tony didn’t responded. He simply walked to his car, where he found you in the passenger seat, crying into your hands. He got into the car and started it.

“I’m so sorry, kid,” he said softly, unable to look at you. “I should have told you—warned you.”

“I… just take me home,” you cried. “Please…”

“Of course.” He leaned over and kissed your head. “Of course.”

Steve watched, in the rain, Tony drive you away. He had really screwed up. He was planning on telling you, tonight actually. But then Peggy had shown up, because of Fury. Going to speak with Fury, Steve found Peggy laughing with Fury in his patient room.

“And the husband was the…” Peggy trailed off as Steve fully entered the room. “Well, I will be back in the morning to report for duty. You get some rest.” Peggy kissed Fury’s cheek before leaving.

“What is she doing here?” Steve asked, angrily.

“You and I both know she's the best in her field,” Fury answered. “Brining Peggy out was a business decision, nothing personal.”

“Oh, well, what a relief. It's not personal,” Steve scoffed. “It is personal to me.”

“The working of my surgical unit don't have any—“

“Don’t include my wife!”

“Don't include your private life! Stark will act as Chief of Surgery until I'm back on my feet.”

“You gave Chief to Stark?”

“Like I said, there's no room for personal in being Chief.”

“How long have you have been sleeping with an intern?”

“So, I guess part of being Chief is personal.”

“Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.”

~~~

You didn’t get much sleep that night, lying awake in your bed thinking about what had happened. The only reason you even made it to work was the fact that you didn’t want Steve to have that power over you, even though you knew he did. You were in the locker room, finishing up getting dressed when Gamora entered and gave out assignments.

“L/N,” she called after giving everyone else their assignments. You walked up. “Somebody’s popular.”

“Meaning?” You asked for clarification.

“There’s been a special request, just for you.”

~~~

Tony was walking through the hall with Maria Hill, going over a clipboard full of paper.

“You’re telling me that Fury runs through all of this? Tony questioned.

“All before lunch,” Hill stated. “After, you’ll have calls to return, meetings, and a few of Fury’s surgeries that I won’t be able to cover. Not to mention the surgeries you already have scheduled.”

“Absolutely. No problem.”

Maria walked away, rolling her eyes. “Virgins,” she muttered.

Steve then walked up to Tony. “So, congratulations are in order,” he said.

“Don’t sweat it, Rogers,” Tony responded, a tiny undertone of anger. “I’ll only be your boss for a few days.”

“I’m well aware of Fury’s recovery time. I’m the one who operated on him, remember?”

“Oh, I do. I also remember what else happened last night. And I’m not planning on forgetting.”

“I didn’t plan hurting, Y/N. You have to believe m—“

“Sorry to interrupt,” Peggy said, walking up. “Dr. Stark.”

“Dr. Carter-Rogers,” Tony greeted curtly.

“She’s always interrupting,” Steve muttered.

“I was just checking to see if Dr. Gamora was around,” Peggy explained. “I want to know if she secured the—“

“Intern you requested?” You finished, walking up. “She did.”

“Come on then, Dr. L/N. We have a patient to see.”

You followed Dr. Carter-Rogers down the hall. As you walked, you could feel Tony and Steve’s eyes on you. You shook it off as you tried not to freak out that Steve’s wife had personally requested you.

“Hello, Jamie,” Dr. Carter-Rogers greeted as you both entered the room. “This is Dr. L/N, she’ll be the intern on my service today. So, Dr. L/N, define TTTS.”

“Twin-twin transfusion syndrome,” you answered. “Conjoined fetal twins.”

“Connected by?”

“Blood vessels in the placenta.”

“Meaning?” You paused, unable to find the answer. Dr. Carter-Rogers was clearly unpleased. “One twin gets too much blood, the other too little, endangering the lives of both. I'd expect you to know that, L/N.”

“They told me there wasn't much chance anything could be done,” Jamie said.

“TTTS is usually impossible to correct. Unless you happen to be one of a handful of surgeons in the world who knows how to separate fetal blood vessels. Which, luckily for you, I am. So were gonna get you into surgery tomorrow. If you have any questions at all please ask Dr. L/N. From what I have seen, she is one the hospital's most popular interns.”

You followed Dr. Carter-Rogers out into the hallway.

“I could’ve answered your question had you give me the chance,” you spoke up.

“Chin up, L/N,” she responded. “I'm this tough on everyone, not just the women my husband sleeps with. Order an ultrasound for her and pre-op labs in full.”

~~~

“Stark, you let Y/N go with Peggy,” Steve said. “Are you sure about that?”

“Not your call, Rogers,” Tony responded. “And technically it’s not mine. Have you ever tried stopping Gamora when she has her mind set on something? Yeah, not planning on dying today. Now, do you need something. Because as the new Chief, I’m—“

“Interim Chief.”

“Chief nonetheless.”

“Ever attempt a standstill surgery?”

“No. In plastics, I’ve never needed to. What are you up to, Rogers?”

“Happy, the bar—“

“I know who Happy is. What about him?”

“He has an aneurysm that needs to be taken care of. But it’s in a tricky location.”

“I’ll let you do it. Make sure you get Banner involved.”

“Already on it.”

~~~

Natasha, using the stairwell, ran into Bruce.

“Hey,” she greeted, only for him to ignore her and head away. “What, we aren’t speaking now? Banner!”

“What do you want?” He asked, turning to face her. He was clearly frustrated in a way Natasha had never seen him before.

“What?”

“What do you want? You don't want to go out to dinner. You don't want to meet me in the on-call room, and you sure as hell don't want to talk to me. I could pretend I know, but hey, I don't even have your home phone number. So tell me, what do you want?”

“Don’t yell at me.” Frustrated, he shook is head and turned back to walk away. “Wait. Hey, we’re having a conversation here.” She chased after him.

He turned her way. “Well, what do you want?”

“I don’t know!”

He grabbed her and kissed her passionately. “Figure it out.”

Then he left, leaving Natasha speechless. And to neither of their knowledge, Clint witnessed everything from a few flights above.

~~~

You were currently getting ready to do an ultrasound on Jamie.

“What does it take to go after another woman’s husband?” Jamie wondered.

“Excuse me?” You questioned, confused.

“It happened to me. Jake moved in with a long-legged miniskirt who answered his phones, three weeks into my pregnancy. By the way, that gel is really cold.”

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry about your husband.”

“Are you sorry about Dr. Carter-Rogers’ husband?”

“I'm going to be checking a few things today,” you told her, trying to change the subject.

“I bet she asked to work with you. It's what I would have done.”

“You know what, I’m gonna go check on your labs. This can wait until after.”

You left, confused and utterly embarrassed. How did Jamie know? And if she knew, did the whole medical center know? It’s not like you all were very subtle last night. You were screaming at Steve and Tony in front of the center. Shit. You were screwed.

Taking the long way to get Jamie’s labs, you found Clint talking to himself.

“Talking to yourself now?” You questioned, walking up.

“Yes. No! Damn it… I’m a bad sponge. A leaky sponge,” Clint rambled. “I'm gonna leak all the wrong secrets. I'm a bad liar, can't even lie about talking to myself. You look nice today.”

“Wore my new lip gloss. Cause my ex-boyfriend's wife is like the most attractive woman in the world, and I'm like me. I'm trying to outdo her when she's the victim here. How crazy is that?”

“Not crazy. Smart. You know, gloss, you know, prevents chapped lips and your ex-boyfriend?”

“I'm an evil mistress.”

“Well, still. You look nice.”

“Thanks. What are you doing here?”

“Well…”

“Come on, Barton. Out with it.”

“Okay. Can you think of any reason, any reason at all, really, why Natasha would be kissing Banner?”

“What?!”

~~~

You found Natasha inside an elevator, alone. You quickly entered it, pissed.

“After all this time,” you scoffed with a shake of you head. “All your warnings about me sleeping with my boss, and you're doing the same exact thing?”

“It’s not the same,” Natasha responded, not even bothering to look at you.

“It’s the exact.”

“No, it’s not.” She turned to face you. “You and Captain McDreamy are in a relationship.”

“And you and Banner are…?”

“Switzerland. It's very neutral there. And they make very nice watches.”

“Have you even bothered to tell Banner about the baby? Are you going to?”

“Look, Y/N, can we not go there? Can everyone just accept the fact that there are some things I like to keep to myself? I don't discuss everything to death.”

“Well, why even confide in me at all. If you're so intent on not discussing it? Why even tell me?”

That’s when the elevator doors opened and Natasha excused herself without another word.

~~~

After finally getting the labs, you went back to Jamie’s room to do the ultrasound. You were hurt now, from various people who you cared about. All you wanted was this day to be over.

“When I found out about the miniskirt, I called her up and took her to lunch,” Jamie told you. “It was perfectly civil. I said I didn't hold it against her, that these things happened. But, really? I just wanted to put a face on the bitch that got my husband to throw away 15 years of marriage.”

You bit your lip, trying to focus on the ultrasound and not back talking your patient.

~~~

Steve, trying to go about his normal day, eventually ran in to Peggy.

“That took a lot of nerve,” he commented.

“Oh come on, Steve,” Peggy said. “She came highly recommended.”

“Right.”

“So you don’t recommend her?”

“No, I did not say that.”

“Just not for her medical skills.”

“Oh, would you shut up?”

“Dr. Rogers,” you called, coming up to the couple.

“Yes?” The both responded.

Ignoring Steve, you turned to Peggy. “Labs confirm what look like abnormalities on the ultrasound,” you stated. “I think you should come and see for yourself.”

“Fine,” she responded. “Let’s go.” You followed after her.

“Y/N, Y/N,” Steve called, trying to catch your arm.

You pulled it away. “Don’t,” you growled.

Not too long later, you were standing beside Peggy as she did another ultrasound on Jamie.

“See,” you pointed out something on the ultrasound. “Bilateral pleural effusion with evidence of subQ edema.”

“In English, please?” Jamie requested.

“We've detected what looks like beginning heart failure in the twins,” Peggy answered. “Don't be alarmed.”

“Are my babies gonna be okay?”

“I'm gonna go ahead and take you into surgery now. We're not gonna wait.” Peggy turned to you. “Book the OR. Move.”

~~~

“Jamie, we're just gonna go in laparoscopically,” Peggy informed the patient as you all surrounded her in the OR. “You're not gonna feel anything and neither are the twins. Ok, let's get going. Ten blade. Begin with a three-millimeter incision.”

You watched and help, the whole time in awe. Peggy was actually so amazingly talented. There was no way you were ever going to be able to complete with that. No where close. Peggy was literally operating on twins still in the womb. How could anyone beat that?

~~~

Natasha found Banner in an on-call room after Happy’s surgery was finished.

“That was the single most amazing surgery I have ever witnessed,” she stated. “You, you killed a man and brought him back to life. You, like, raised the dead. God, how does that feel? Are you rushing?”

“Like you wouldn't believe,” Bruce responded.

“Hey, um, do you still have those reservations? Cause I'm starving.”

“Natasha, I think there's something we should discuss.”

“Yeah. Yeah, there is.”

“It’s pretty clear.”

“It is?”

“We've been fooling ourselves, to think that we can continue like this without consequences.”

“Consequences?”

“We have careers to think about. Reputations. We both put the job first. You are very focused. I respect that.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Oh, wait… you’re ending this?”

“I think it's best to make a clean break.”

“Okay…”

“Before it gets too involved. Before it gets—“

“Messy. Right, right. That would be, that would be bad.”

“It’s really nothing personal, Nat. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah… right… I’ll just— I’m gonna go.”

~~~

After Jamie’s surgery, you and Peggy took her to her room and began going over what happened.

“See?” Peggy showed Jamie her stomach. “Just a small scar.”

“And my babies?” Jamie wondered.

“Your babies are doing very well. And Dr. L/N will be back to check on you a little bit later.”

“Actually, I'd prefer it if Dr. L/N were taken off the case.”

“Why, is there a problem?”

“Just reminds me of someone I don't like very much. Someone my husband likes a lot. Particularly in lingerie. You understand.”

“No, no, I don't understand.”

“Well, she's sleeping with your husband, right?”

“Ms. Philips, I lack Dr. L/N’s class and patience so, let me set the record straight. My husband didn't cheat on me, I cheated on him. So the wronged woman here, Dr. L/N. So, I think you owe here one hell of an apology.”

Then Peggy left, leaving you in even more awe of her. And confused. You needed to get Steve’s side of the story.

~~~

“One night I parked my car, I unlock my front door, go inside my house, and something 's different,” Steve began.

You had found him leaving the medical center and stopped him. You two went into an on-call room. You stood by the door while he sat on the bed, farthest from you.

“Nothing's different, everything's the same, but yet, still, something's different,” he continued. “And I stand there for a while. And then I know. See, there are moments for me, you know, usually when I'm in the OR, when I just know what's gonna happen next. So I go upstairs. As I'm walking down the hall, I trying to prepare myself for what I'm gonna see when I go into my bedroom. I step on a man's jacket that doesn't belong to me. And everything I think I know just shifts. Because the jacket that doesn't belong to me is a jacket that I recognize. And what I know now is that when I go into my bedroom, I'm not just gonna see that my wife is cheating on me. I'm gonna see that my wife is cheating on me with Bucky, who happened to be my best friend. It's just so pedestrian, common and dirty, and cruel. Mostly just cruel. I left, came out here.”

“And you met me,” you stated softly.

“And I met you.”

“Well, what was I to you? The girl you screwed to get over being screwed?”

“You were like coming up for fresh air. It's like I was drowning and you saved me. That's all I know.”

“… that’s not enough.”

~~~

You were trying to enjoy a beer at Happy’s bar, when Natasha come and sat beside you.

“The clinic has a policy. They wouldn't let me confirm my appointment unless I designated an emergency contact person,” she told you. “Someone to be there, just in case, and to help me home, you know, after. Anyway, I put your name down. That's why I told you I'm pregnant. You're my “person.”"

“I am?” You questioned, looking at her with slight surprise.

“Yeah, you are. Whatever.”

“Whatever.”

“He dumped me.” You sighed at her statement and laid your head on Nat’s shoulder, putting an arm around her. “You realize this constitutes hugging?”

“Shut up. I'm your “person.”"

next chapter >

NOTES: from now on the taglist when be added by a reblog. I will reblog it using my second account, @just-dreaming-marvel-2. Just so that my main page doesn’t get too cluttered.

If you want to be added to the tag list, please dm me or send in an ask.

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #steve rodgers x reader #steve rodgers imagine #the avengers x reader #avengers x reader #marvel x reader #marvel imagines #marvel imagine #tony stark x reader #peggy carter x reader #clint barton x reader

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