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imgoingtohellsofuckit · 4 years ago

Text

Oops

Spencer Reid x Reader

Warnings - criminal minds based mentions of violence (not really), drinking

Summary - When something slips out at the round table things between the Reader and Spencer get really awkward

(i got the idea from notjoselyn on tiktok)

Y/n walks alongside Penelope as they move through the BAU bullpen. Talking about the girls' night plans the girls have been working on for the last couple of weeks. "That club would be so fun," Y/n says brightly, "but did everyone agree? I mean it's a little you know loud and crazy."

"I mean Emily is always down," Penelope says, "especially when I ask her... And JJ needs a minute away from her kids. Even if she won't admit it."

"Little angels my ass," Y/n chuckles as they reach the round table, "oh my I have the cutest dress to wear. It's a little- you know."

"Oh, I do know," Penelope says smirking lightly, "you're gonna look hot!"

"Mmm you just wait and see," Y/n chuckles.

"Wait and see what?" Spencer asks as he joins the two at the table. The girls chuckle lightly as Spencer looks between them. "What?"

"Well, boy wonder we are talking about our upcoming girls' night," Penelope tells him, "specifically about the dress miss Y/n here is going to wear." Y/n chuckles lightly. Spencer nods lightly. "What color is it?"

"Black," Y/n tells her, "a little black dress moment you know?"

"Yes!" Penelope says brightly, "oh I can't wait." Y/n chuckles lightly. "I have this really cute dress picked out- it's purple very sparkly. Very eye-catching."

"Hot," Y/n says playfully. Spencer looks slightly amused with the banter. "I just hope JJ can keep up. I mean with all the mom duties she's been slacking behind on girls' nights... I feel like we are gonna exhaust her."

"Redbull drinks exist for a reason," Penelope says.

"Right," Y/n says.

"What even happens on a girls' night?" Spencer asks.

"Chaos," Y/n tells him, "We all drink until we can't stand. Dance with strangers. Leave the FBI training at home and have fun."

"Sounds dangerous," Spencer says, "do you have a designated driver?"

"Uber," Penelope tells him.

"That's not safe," Spencer says, "do you guys not pay attention to the cases we get? How many of the girls we see started out at some random bar?"

"If you're so worried you be our dd," Y/n offers. He looks between the two girls carefully.

"Fine," He says, "I'll go."

"You can't go," Emily says as she and JJ join them at the round table, "it's girls' night."

"I won't ruin the fun I'll just keep you from dying," Spencer says, "1 in 5 violent victimizations involving perceived alcohol use by the offender."

"That's ruining the fun Spence," JJ says placing her hand on his shoulder, "we are big girls-"

"No no, he wants to be DD then let him," Y/n says, "we save uber money that way. Plus he can't be the one that gets to play wheres, Emily."

"Or Can we keep clothes on Penelope," JJ chuckles. Y/n nods lightly. Spencer raises a brow lightly. "Just remember you signed up for this." Rossi and Hotch join the others in the room. The conversation shifts from reckless drinking to the cases they are supposed to be consulting on. "I'd say, sadist."

"Profiler JJ always comes through," Y/n says smiling lightly. The blonde chuckles lightly. "I mean it profiles relatively simple... This all the cops have?"

"Yes," Hotch answers her, "I think what we have so far is all that we'll be able to give them based on the files they sent." They all nod lightly. Handing the files over to Penelope as they move to the next one. After six or seven more cases the attention starts to shift. Small conversations breaking out around the table. Y/n tries her best to focus but the words were all blurring together.

"So are the girls' night plans always this dangerous?" Spencer asks her. Clearly more curious than he's trying to let on.

"You worried about me?" Y/n teases lightly.

"Well yeah," Spencer says, "I'm worried about all of you... I mean it's really risky going out like that- not that I'm saying you guys can't take care of yourselves but- you know what we see. The statistics show how dangerous it is."

"I understand what you're saying but we watch out for each other," Y/n assures him, "and besides with you babysitting us we will have a knight in shining armor to save us if it goes too far."

"You don't think it'll look weird with me watching a group of girls?" Spencer asks.

"You're right," Y/n says, "we should ask Morgan if he wants to go."

"Go where?" Morgan says looking from his conversation with Hotch.

"To this new club," Y/n tells him, "tonight with the girls and Spencer."

"Spencer?" Morgan asks clearly shocked at the addition of the younger man.

"Don't be so surprised," Emily says, "he offered to make sure us ladies got home alright." Morgan nods lightly.

"Yeah and you can make him feel a little less left out," Y/n offers, "make it seem less like he's babysitting... Rossi, Hotch if you want to come as well we can make it a team thing."

"If it's a team thing then I want everyone to forget what happens when we leave this office," Penelope says, "whatever happens when we drink stays in the safety of the club."

"Jack has a sleepover," Hotch tells them, "maybe another time." They all look to Rossi. The older man chuckles.

"I think my clubbing days are past me," Rossi tells them, "plus its poker night."

"Lame," Emily teases lightly, "Morgan will you at least come?"

"Of course," Morgan says, "I don't wanna leave our boy genius all alone." Y/n looks back to Spencer and smiles lightly. Trying to get back to her work. The boy keeps his eyes on her. She looks up carefully. He smiles to deflect the fact he's been staring at her.

"That necklace looks really nice on you," Spencer tells her. She smirks lightly.

"Thanks," Y/n says, "but your hands would look nicer." The words leave her mouth before she can process what she said. She freezes at once as the table looks around in slight amusement and shock at what just happened. Y/n's eyes widen in horror. Rossi laughs lightly.

"At least let him take you out on a date first," Rossi jokes. Y/n looks up to Spencer who's still frozen. His mouth slightly open as if all words are suddenly lost to him. Morgan just laughs loudly at the situation. Y/n can feel her face go red. She moves covering her mouth lightly.

"Did she really?" Penelope starts.

"Oh she did," Emily says in pure amusement.

Y/n closes the file and moves to stand up.

"I'm gonna walk out the door," She says slowly, "and when I walk back in here we can pretend that it never happened."

"Please," Hotch says. She nods quickly. Walking out the door. She takes a lap around the BAU in an attempt to work through the crippling embarrassment this situation is going to bring her for the next forty years. She can already tell she's gonna see this in her nightmares.

Back at the table, Spencer is still frozen.

"She broke him," Emily chuckles as JJ waves her hand in front of Spencer's eyes. He blinks quickly. He looks over the others.

"Did that actually just happen?" Spencer asks them finally. They nod lightly. His face is bright red. Suddenly that big brain of his is nothing more than a peanut. When Y/n steps back into the room he's still in slight shock. She shuffles nervously back into her seat beside Spencer. Making a point to not make eye contact with anyone.

"I'm never going to live that down am I?" She whispers over to Penelope. The blond chuckles awkwardly.

"Oh no honey," Penelope says, "probably note."

"Oh goddammit," Y/n says softly. She moves the file lifting it to cover her face.

Meanwhile, in Spencer's big brain he's trying to process that the girl he's had a crush on for years said that his hands would look good around her neck. He tries to explain it in any way that makes sense but he's out of luck there. All he can think is what just happened?

Y/n's thankful when Hotch dismisses them back to their desks to work on their reports. She's suddenly very grateful for having the desk furthest away from Spencer. She can't even begin to think about what the hell she'd say to him to clear all this up. And Spencer and Emily laughing lightly don't help at all. She can just imagine all the things he's saying. Not to mention him avoiding her eyes at all cost.

Her face is still bright red when she shuffles into the elevator to head home later. However, life is forever cruel. Instead of giving her an empty elevator to escape to Hotch and Emily jump in beside her. She chuckles nervously.

"I'm not going to say anything," Hotch tells her, "just- try not to say anything like that while we're trying to work."

"Right," Y/n says softly.

"Where did that even come from?" Emily asks leaning forward to get a look at the girl. Y/n chuckles nervously.

"You're gonna have to get me drunk before I answer that," Y/n says carefully, "mostly because that's the only way you're gonna get me to talk about what is probably one of the top ten most embarrassing things that I've ever done." Emily chuckles lightly.

"Well, then the first round is on me."

When she meets back up with Emily the other girl is pretty much shoving a drink into her hand. Y/n takes it without a word. Knocking back the shot eagerly at the thought the others would be meeting them soon. More so that she's going to have to see Spencer... Considering she invited him.

"Oh, you do look hot!" Penelope exclaims as she and the others move to join the two girls. Penelope engulfs Y/n into a hug. Clearly excited to see her outside of the work setting. "Oh and look at you, Emily!" As Y/n's eyes settle on Spencer she starts to panic.

"I'm gonna go get our first round," Y/n says planning her escape route in her mind. Before the others can say anything she's rushing off to the bar. She orders the drinks quickly. Trying to focus on the bartender's movements.

"Hey," A soft voice says. She turns to look at Spencer. She turns back to the bar immediately. Spencer looks at her slightly confused. "You shouldn't walk off alone it's dangerous." The bartender sets the tray down. She takes it eagerly.

"You could see me from the table," Y/n says trying her best to not look at the boy. He follows her carefully as she hurries through the crowd back to the table. She sets the drinks down at once. "To the BAU!" The others grab the shots eagerly. She takes hers knocking it back quickly. Spencer looks over her carefully.

"Oh, I love this song!" Penelope says as she drags Y/n off to the dance floor. Emily follows. The second they get to the floor y/n tries not to focus on the awkwardness. Instead pushing her attention onto dancing with her friends.

"So?" Emily asks, "where did that come from?"

"Deep in my subconscious," Y/n answers, "you know I've always had a thing for Reid but- I can't believe I said that out loud!"

"I thought I was dreaming!" Emily chuckles as she moves her hips to the beat, "but Hotch's face- that was real."

"So was Spencer's heart attack!" Y/n adds, "did you see him? I thought he was going into shock!"

"I think he did," Emily says over the music. The two chuckle lightly. Emily looks over to the boy. Elbowing Y/n to look as well. They see him drinking out of a water bottle as he looks over the crowd carefully. Morgan talking to him about something that seemed serious. Spencer looks like he's turning red again.

"He looks good tonight," Y/n says to Emily, "the whole sweater and tie combo." Y/n bites her lip lightly. Emily chuckles.

"Maybe you can have his hands as a necklace then?" Emily teases. Y/n scoffs lightly. "Go talk to him- now."

"Why?"

"Because I said so," Emily says, "and you trust me with your life." Y/n sighs lightly. "Come on." She doesn't get a chance to argue. Emily yanks the girl along the dance floor before practically shoving her into the booth. Then Emily looks to Morgan. "Let's get another round." The two are gone before Y/n has a chance to process her thoughts. Spencer smiles lightly.

"Hey," He says softly.

"Hey," Y/n says, "how's the- weather?"

"Fine," Spencer says, "about earlier-"

"I know over the line," Y/n starts.

"You think about that often?" He asks. Y/n's eyes widen at his words. Layers of confidence and the slight smirk on his face make her wonder if she blackout and this was a dream.

"Uh- well I," She mumbles lightly. Spencer leans over to her ear.

"Cause we can make it happen," Spencer whispers. Y/n steps back at once. Spencer looks at her carefully. "Shit Morgan said the wouldn't sound creepy. I'm sorry- I just was trying to be flirty." Y/n looks at him carefully. As if she's deciding him if he's real or not.

"Wait so you don't think I'm a freak?" Y/n asks him carefully.

"No no- I was just kinda taken back," Spencer admits, "I mean I'm not exactly used to hearing that." Y/n chuckles lightly. "But you know- we could?"

"Hmm- I don't think they'd notice if we left," Y/n chuckles lightly. Spencer bites his lip lightly.

"Well if you don't think they'd notice," Spencer says. Y/n chuckles grabbing his home to pull him along the bar to get to his car.

They absolutely noticed.

#spencer reid #dr spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid one shot #spencer reid Criminal Minds #criminal minds x reader #Criminal Minds

412 notes · View notes

sly-merlin · 4 years ago

Text

KILLING ME -11 |N.Y

pairing : law student!reader + yuta

genre : angst , mafia au/ arranged marriage au.

warnings of this chapter : cursing, explanatory mention of a pistol!

words :: ~5k

summary : “life’s never fair y/n. realise it as soon as you can . it is the only secret for living a regretless life.”

“ curiousity got the cat hitched”

taglist :: @kpop-choco @moon-yuta @kawaiiayasan @btm-taeyong @exfolitae @lanadreamie @cheersskznct @hyuckiesgf @theworld-accordingtocasey @yiyi4657 @sorrywonwoo @sillywinnergladiator @suhweo @minejungwoo @leesalts @mal-nakamoto23 @ro2424 @itlittlefangirl @nctzens-world @bl--ankhaeji @simplybree

networks :: @kafenetwork @neowritingsnet @nct-writers

K.M masterlist

K.M 10 next

a/n :: header was made with detailed instructions from lovely @cirrus-lily (thank you so much for your patience).

Previous night , taeyong’s office.

The thick, heavy unnatural silence was breached by the phone call. Taeil’s muffled words didn’t reach anyone’s ears but taeyong’s reaction was enough for an estimate!

“what did taeil say?”

Taeyong glanced at yuta’s hopeful yet helpless face. Taeil's order was far from what yuta's eyes sought. The past ten minutes were spent listening to the unsynchronized ticking of the clocks and some random whispering of the younger ones from the living room. And now, several pairs of eyes were asking for the answers.

“you will be stationed in nice, f-for two months.”

Yuta’s face hardened at his words. He gulped and opened his mouth to say something but stopped. The words stuck on his tongue would not be able to convey what he wanted to, he thought.

“with johnny?" Jaehyun uttered.

“no yuta is replacing him" taeyong mumbled, hiding his face in his hands.

Yuta snickered , “ as expected.” as much as he didnt want to sound bitter, his senses were not cooperating with him too much.

“this is not about you or johnny. It’s better if you both stay away fr-

“did taeil tell her the truth?” yuta coldly cut him off.

“i don't know about that!"

“then I'll have to do it myself." Yuta stood up, alerting everyone.

“do not stretch this yuta. This can end right here. Your absence woul-

“you got it wrong taeyong!” yuta cackled , “I'm dying to leave this place but don't you think she deserves to know that she's wrong here.”

“please yuta. For last time. trust taeil. this is the last thing I’m asking from you. You’d get the chance to explain. Ju-just not yet.” Yuta scowled at taeyong’s hollow pleading.

He inched forward slamming his palms on the table , “ since when did you start playing with wrong players taeyong? you are supposed to be the smarter one here. Who are you fooling here? you think I don’t know why she’s here or jaemin, jeno, jungwoo, chenle, jisung, mark, they don’t have a hint?” taeyong eyes danced around the room avoiding any contact as yuta continued, “Don't stretch this taeyong. this can end right here. without hurting another one and right before they can get attached. I hope when i come back , you would have sorted this mess out or you won’t have time to regret this time”

Scoffing at taeyong’s hunched figure, he smacked the table once before leaving the room.

Doyoung followed soon , leaving Jaehyun and Taeyong alone.

Panic engulfed jaehyun’s entire being as he pondered over yuta’s words.

“he’s right. You saw her today. She’s getting worked up over a stupid misunderstanding and you saw the way taeil is acting! This was never the plan. She’s not timid. You cannot possibly make her agree to anything at all. Taeil would never let that happen. Heck! Yuta’s getting weirder these days. Let her go. We can wait unt-

“We. Can’t .wait. I know my limits, Jaehyun and two months are enough..” Taeyong whisper yelled “ I care about her more than you’d ever do so get the fuck out of here. You don't get to tell me what I should be doing.”

Jaehyun leered at the older man, muscles in his jaw twitching at his words “you have lost it taeyong. if we fail this time, you’d be the one to blame.”

Perfectly ironed shirts were wrinkled as yuta threw them into the case. doyoung was ready to accompany but he refused all the assistance proposed to him. He left nothing. from t-shirts and pants to jumpers, he packed as if he was going for a one way trip to france.

He groaned , jumping on the suitcase, trying to bury the clothes deeper into the case so he could zip it. Once finished,he pushed the cases out of the room and into the hall. locking the door, his running and hurried eyes fell on the opposite room. It was bare of any presence. This was his first time peeking into your room. He was merely looking from afar but the very next second he found himself going through the album resting on the bed covers. a perfect normal photo album was calming enough to subside his inner turmoil.

yuta scrunched his nose at the small girl who was either frowning or crying in most of the pictures. the family of three looked quite happy. But the girl didn't seem to resemble any of the adults. He almost let out a laugh at your wailing form in every other photo. Just looking at the pictures, anyone with two eyes could tell that you were a spoiled kid. No wonder you were full of attitude and ego, he thought.

closing it, he glanced at the room, simple and plain. Not that his own wasn’t but he couldn’t find anything that had prompted you to lock your door for the whole day. He left the room to lock his own but when he pocketed his keys, they met with something at the end of his pants pocket.

A grunt left his throat at the sight of the screws. He had placed them in his pocket to follow your fuming body, the reason of which he didn’t know back then. He was about to throw them on the bed when the album caught his eyes again. He cursed at himself for being so indecisive. Pacing back and forth , he noticed how composed he had suddenly become. He wasn’t feeling anger, just some traces of irritation for the whole drama that had unfolded.

Before he could convince himself otherwise, he took a paper from your desk, scribbled with a trembling hand and left it on the counter.

All while hoping taeil was actually being reasonable , just this once.

12:30 p.m

Looking through the power window, you stared at taeil’s arriving form, hands full with brown food bags. He hit the car door with his one knee prompting you to open the door from inside.

“when I say you are no better than others ,I really mean you are NO better than them!” taeil chortled as he shoved a bag into your lap.

“what did I do this time?” you rolled your eyes as you anticipated another moral lecture from him.

“nothing. you are making an old man to get food for you!”

“and I had suggested the said old man to enter the drive thru!”

“and drive thru is no fun, duh! The vintage the better!”

“just like someone I know! you exclaimed chewing the burger.

“very funny. You know highway stops are all about breathing in fresh air while stretching your arms, yawning so widely that you have to hide your face in your stretched arm to save yourself from the embarrassment. The first step out of the car after hours of driving feels like restoration of something that was denied to you for such a long time. and the second phase of happiness comes at the engine purring, the feeling is like no other, I’m telling you. but someone lost their chance to experience it .”

“you sound poetic taeil but you lack facts. The fresh air you just inhaled is what we consider a polluted one.I’ll prefer to sit inside and miss all that instead of going out and dying. So let go of the fancy peace thoughts and develop your perceptions according to the changing world. The sound of this vintage engine is a source of headache and not happiness.Now lemme eat. IN PEACE”

“we’ll see whose perception changes” taeil mumbled munching on the fries.

You both ate in silence for 20 minutes. As the drive continued ,the stilled milieu took you back to the uncertainties you were trying so hard to suppress. When taeil had knocked at the door in the morning, which was beyond expectation at first, he gave you the liberty to question his actions but you had passed that opportunity, precisely to show that you weren’t that greedy. But you were! The endless queries were now making you anxious. Why did taeil come with you? what was the reason behind his pleasant behaviour, how could yuta agree to go like that? sure he liked your presence not more than you did but was he the kind to bow down so easily! Or was he designing something under the colour of acceptance. taken together ,you ended up being the ruthless one here. But the leading one was why did yesterday happen! Multiple stolen glances at Taeil were fairly noticeable; you were waiting for him to just start something. And he perhaps was waiting for you to initiate. Dilemma remained unsolved and you arrived in seoul just like you had left it, but visiting your parents had lessened the encumbrances weighing you down.

You were about to retreat after thanking him when he finally spoke up,

“b.n at 6! No exemption. And instead of racking your brain, just ask. it’s simpler than you make it to be y/n.”

Slamming the door shut , you dragged your feet for the apartment, shaking your head at the man.

Of course he knows everything! And maybe could ask him someday to get your own answers.

10 days later

The gun went off with a bang which if it hadn’t been for the ear protectors and the noiseless sheets, would have deafen your ears. Fingers pointed at the target, eyes coloured with impatience, jungwoo didn’t move. After he was done with his dramatic action, the glass shield slid and he entered inside.

“this is target A. this one is B” he asked for a confirmation with his wide eyes which you nodded at.

“right. so!” he walked circling the dry grass to stand between two targets, “so when I say hit at A, you should be firing at A, precisely aiming anywhere in this space.” he explained again, hand moving in front of the said space.

“I hit at the center jungwoo! The fucking center! For the first time in two weeks.”

“yes. You did hit the core but of the wrong target.”

“how does it matter? It's a perfect shoot”

Jungwoo blinked multiple times focusing on your puzzled face. He wasn’t sure if you were purposely trying to annoy him or you seriously lacked a few braincells to understand where you were wrong!

“at the wrong target.” he pressed.

“but I still hit-

“Ok. listen to me carefully now. Lets assume A is taeil hyung and B is a killer. If i shout to you that kill B and you mistakenly shoot A instead then you’d end up killing taeil hyung instead of the killer and then you’d be a killer yourself and even if the shot was perfect it was targeted wrongly thats why when i say hit A, hit A and when i say B, hit B. understood now?” dumbfounded, you stared at him bobbing your head a few times to indicate you understood. But you really hadn’t.

“You are not lying right?”

“Dont accuse me of lying!”

“Oh! So you still don-

“hey beautiful!”

Your heads jerked towards the owner of the voice who had just interrupted the bickering.

“johnny” you whispered.

“I meant jungwoo y/n.” jungwoo sticked his tongue out at you as he jumped forward to hug johnny.

“When did you come back?”

“just now. I flew directly to Japan from nice. didn’t he inform you all? And why is nobody at home?”

a small smile graced your face while jungwoo started explaining to him about some business event. You felt like jungwoo won’t shut up anytime soon so you turned around from the scene and made yourself busy with the magazine. As you were counting the rubber bullets to fill the magazine, a pair of arms touched your both shoulders.

“wh-

“how are you y/n.”

“you done talking to your prince.”

Jungwoo groaned approaching you with a stern look.

“you’ll have plenty of time to chatter. Focus on your job instead!”

“ugh. You are so annoying. I’m done for the day.” You announced handing the pistol to him.

“wait! what am I missing here.” Johnny's eyes shifted , not knowing what was going on in his absence.

“yuta hyu-

“I know all that. I’m asking about the bullets!”

“Taeil told me to learn some basics to defend myself and jungwoo is my assigned teacher who don’t seem to appreciate my skills at all”

“liar!” Jungwoo screeched and continued, “she’s poor at shooting, hits anywhere but the point I’m indicating at an-and she never listens to me.”

Snorting dramatically at the end, he glares at you. you welcomed his complaining speech with a toothy grin which seemed to annoy him more. One thing you had learnt in the past two weeks had been that jungwoo was frustrating when he was hungry and during the time he was supposed to teach you, no food was allowed in the basement, making him a hunger monster.. Johnny watched the exchange with an amused smile, just like you were doing a few minutes ago.

“alright. You both need to chill. Jungwoo, she's not a professional so go easy on her and you! you should listen to him. or if you want I can be your tutor instead!”

“don’t hijack here. she's my student and I was chosen because I am the softest and the sweeter one her-

“who is a second away from having a breakdown!”

“no go out. You are not invited anymore. nobody is allowed here from 6 to 7:30 .” Jungwoo announced as he started pushing Johnny out the door.

‘”yaa! Jungwoo. I’m go- don’t push me you rascal. I am going. Bye y/n. I’ll be waiting upstairs.” He shouted and waved in the air which you, for no reason, found yourself returning even if he wasn't going to see it.

As johnny was gone, jungwoo pressed the switch again to close the partition. Coming behind you, his arms embraced you and he placed the gun in your hand as he ducked himself to reach your height with another try to improve the hand-eye coordination. Occupied with each other, you both missed the pair of eyes watching you both in a very unpleasant manner.

“how’s your research going?” johnny asked with a mouthful of meatballs.

“it’s meh! The library is under construction so I can't properly look through books and besides minjun is too whiny to let me do anything. I can’t leave that kid alone so we're always hanging out after 1. I’ve some resources saved so I’m fine for now” you replied.

“seems like that minjun guy makes you very happy. Is he the one?” jaehyun took your attention as he pinched his neck. You narrowed your eyes at his unnecessary remark.

“my happy pill is not minjun but you jaehyun dear. I haven’t seen you in like 5 days i guess? So that eliminated all the reasons for my unhappiness. Your absence is my elixir jae. ” You grinned. Jaheyun pointed his chopstick at you but before he could utter anything, taeyong spoke up.

“woah. Don’t you two start now.” he cried.

“he’s the one that starts everything! I just continue his shit for it-

“well I won't initiate if its not for that stinky tongue o-

“Shut up before I lock both of you in a room.”

Hearing several snickers, it seemed like taeyong was the only one getting annoyed, everyone else seemed to be enjoying it.

Just when you were about to pour more juice, everything else finished and left the table. it seemed strange as how fast they were done with their dinner.

“how can you all eat so quickly?” doyoung seemed to be more perplexed as he asked taeyong.

“don’t you both know?” you settled your chopsticks on the plate as taeyong proceeded, “the last two to finish cleans the dishes.”

You instantly scanned the whole dining table and the instant regret of eating like a sloth washed over your face. There were only three left and next second there were only two. Jungwoo shot up from seat with his stuffed mouth, waved and left. Taeyong didn’t waste any time before he also scurried away.

“this was a conspiracy y/n.” doyoung murmured.

“I know right. they knew it. w-we have to wash for 14 people.”

“look at the brighter side, we don’t have to hurry now.”

You shrugged at his words, filling your glass with juice again.

“you should not be drinking juice at nighttime.” He lectured

“then why is it on the table?”

“aish! You are impossible.”

“so are you.”

You continued bickering with doyoung until both of you were finished. Like everyone else, you too had started to find joy while annoying doyoung. The responses from him were always a treat. He was also awfully similar to you. the nit-picking in almost everything, forever sceptical body language and lastly the identical frown you both wore all the time. but you were not the one that detected the similarities, it was doyoung himself.

It was not just doyoung! With exception of jaehyun, it seemed like everyone was trying to make you a part of their daily lives. The day after the incident, you had hesitated to knock the door, scared of their reactions towards you but the dark cloud of worry had floated away with the warmest hug jungwoo had welcomed you with. You detected no rejection, no unpleasant remarks, instead you were strictly instructed to not to leave the premises without having dinner. And that one day became two and two a routine. You were confused as you were the reason someone dear to them was somewhere he wasn't meant to be at the moment and yet they treated you like you were their own! For first few days you were at edge, the affection not digestible. Feeding your suspicions , you tried to choke something out of mark who was also your designated driver but all he unveiled was his endless jokes and contagious giggles weaved with the various stories. Each day he recited a new one, sowing the seeds of intimacy with his family which, you couldn’t deny, were sprouting into something unprecedented. However vague it was, you liked it. You liked this unsought acceptance, being included like a family, taking you back in the time. But you never had the luxury of an easy life. Was this worth trusting? Were you ready to return their affection by placing them on the pedestal as same as jungkook and yugyeom. But this house wasn no more reeking of any resentment and you were more than fine with that for now.

"Stack the glasses, I'll pick up the plates"

"This is so tiring" you complained while scraping the sauce on the plates.

"You'll get used to it." Doyoung deadpanned.

"Tell me why i agreed to this!"

"You know the rules. And don’t you remember because of you, I washed for 20 people that day! You deserve the suffering woman!”

You chuckled at the memory. A few days ago, You, doyoung and hyuck were the last ones remaining. And you had won the rock paper scissors. Though the last two were the supposed cleaners, hyuck had ditched the poor boy, leaving him with extra load.

"You carry some heavy dark clouds on your head man. I don't know how you manage to end up with dirty utensils!every fucking single time" Doyoung glared at your remark and you both continued washing and wiping the dishes side by side.

"Where are the spoons?"

"On the table. Wait , I'll be back in 2 minutes!"

Carrying the cutlery you made your way back to the kitchen but chanting of a familiar name froze you in your steps.

"He's acting like a child johnny! Had he called you after you left?" It was taeyong speaking in a hushed manner, but he was not doing a very good job in whispering.

"Nope. He just took names and contacts of all the whistleblowers and that's it. But i can’t understand the need for that taeyong! I had everything in control. What do you wanna achieve with your stupidity!”

"Jaemin, hyuck and jisung are in constant contact with him but only to receive the codes he's sending. He's just unreachable and I'm not just talking about his cell network johnny. I'm losing him. He- taeil thought it’s for the best. They won’t see each others face for sometime an-

“And everything would be fine? Right? Sounds very legit. Goodluck with daydreaming princess.”

Hearing some shuffling, you trudged for the kitchen, not wanting them to be aware of your eavesdropping.

Stretching the hem of your knee length skirt with your hands, you kicked your feet in the air to get the non existing elasticity to work. chances were not less but anybody could see you so while cursing at chelin for the tight skirt you made your way inside the office. Your bag made contact with your right hip as you walked into the office corridors. You entered the security doors through the pass that was generated online for first day entry.You never wanted to enter this side of the famous company but with minimum options available you had no choice but to associate yourself with this branch, infamous for saving culprits of money laundering, false accusations and what not.

“ms. y/n?” a receptionist shifted your attention to her tall frame. You affirmed with a nod and she extended her hand asking for the documents.

“I’ll place your original documents in our custody room. No need to worry, this is a mere formality as we don’t make interns sign confidentiality papers. As you already know , you can end your internship with a three weeks prior notice and when we receive that application, your document would be handed back. And in case, you become an associate, and that would depend on your performance, you’ll get them at the promotion.”

You followed her steps as she stopped at a desk and gave you the papers back.

“change the folder to a chois file. And sign this receipt. I’ll give you a copy and don’t lose it if you want your degree back.” You blinked drinking each and every word she said. You again nodded like a lost child and completed the formalities. After a few minutes you were shown to your small desk that was decorated with a pyramid of legal files.

“do I have to work on these” you voiced your fear. Even if it was a stipend based internship, nobody would take up that work load.

“oh no! actually I forgot that you were joining but I’ll get it cleaned in the evening so you can adjust for today right?” before you could respond the sound of her heels faded away in the distance.

“Welcome to the great chois y/n” you mumbled to yourself, picking up a random file to pass the time until further orders.

A week later

To keep your mind off the distasteful look painted all over mr. kwang’s face, you chose to look at his new assistant. The clicking or rather banging of the keys of the computer combined with the occasional scratch of her nails was highly uncomfortable but not more than the man sitting beside her. Your professor didn’t find it amusing that his favourite free fund student was asking for her permitted leave.

“how much have you progressed with the thesis?” he scoffed, respectfully dumping the application on the table.

“I’ll be working half day. I’m not supposed to accompany them to the hearings so I’ll be back in the university in the late afternoon to research on that.”

He sighed, clearly not satisfied by the answer, “you want to skip lectures for an assistant job!”

“I would be promoted shortly so it’s acceptable sir.” A lie slipped out before you could stop yourself.

“what about getting distinction in thesis?”

“I’ll be surrounded with experts so it’s not a big deal sir. I’m getting late. I’ll see you in Friday’s lecture.” In sync with his eyeballs, he rolled his chair to face the other way. Picking up the paper you bowed to his back and left the staffroom , a grin of content bedazzling your face.

"He did what?" Johnny tried hard to control his laughter but the scenario you were narrating was too humorous for him to keep his hands stable on the wheel.

"I'm not kidding John. Yugyeom seriously forgot kook at Busan. But he did go back to get him though but I won't blame gyeom for this error!"

"Oh yeah! Just because jungkook slept in the gym doesn't justify his mistake girl. The driver should count the passengers before taking the wheel. Look at me, i never forget anyone no matter what!"

"Stop blowing your own trumpet. Don't forget you are driving a stolen car!"

Johnny rolled his eyes at the comment , "no, borrowed from mark so I can spend more time with you. stop lawyering and tell me what you did in the break. Apart from flirting with jungwoo of course."

You shook your head at him as he repeated the same you-flirt-with-jungwoo mantra again but this time decided to follow the lead , "so what if we flirt! He's teaching me to save myself from predators , abductors and he’s very gentle with me. Have you seen his eyes! I want to drown myself in the depth of those brown sea-

"Oh my god I'm so sorry! I'm never mentioning that again but please stop. You are awful with words." His laughed again, you joining him soon. " Now seriously tell me how were your holidays"

"Umm nothing new except that everyone was on university funded trips leaving me with minjun , his camera and the plants. We explored botanies and flower shops an-

He had lied. You were not sounding awful but he just hated how quickly his heart beat at someone else's mention from your lips. He consumed each and every word like he could be tested on the said information later on. His eyes were glued to the road and his ears to your voice. He wanted nothing more than to be the only one you’d see. He wanted nothing more than to be subject of your talking but the voice in the back of his mind said fuck it johnny, you are already asking for too much. He hated how he lost control over his senses whenever you were near him but he was slowly getting used to the dilemma. But the trance he was trapped in quickly broke down when you mentioned something. Abruptly stopping the car by the trees, he faced you to confirm.

"You are doing what?"

"I'm interning. Don't look at me like I stole your candy John. I need money." You innocently replied not aware of the reason behind his sudden dumbfounded expression.

"Shouldn't you be focusing on masters!n yuta is supposed to pay for you so why do y-

" I can work for my money johnny." Frustration made its way to your face as you continued,"drop me home johnny!" You weren't sure whether it was for his mention or him questioning your ability to feed yourself but you were offended.

"Yeah I'm sorry. I won't mention that again" a hollow apology and the car sailed again.

Hiding himself in his car seat, Johnny's fingers hovered over various contacts. Taeyong, taeil, Yuta, jaehyun! He wasn't sure what he wanted to do or whose side he wanted to take. He just wanted to be with you and no one else! but he couldnt do that !

Kicking harshly at the brakes, he screamed. The voice reaching no one’s ears but his own.

Was he asking for too much?

i wanted to add more to this chapter but i dont find enough time to write due to some commitments! but i’ll update one more chapter before this beautiful year ends. and all the smut chapters would be uploaded again sans the adult stuff for the minor readers! and there are few more chapters left. masterlist says 12 chapters bcs i’m lazy（￣︶￣）↗　

HAPPY DECEMBER EVERYONE. HAPPY HANUKKAH AND MARRY CHRISTMAS. BE THE SANTA OF YOUR LIFE AND SPREAD HAPPINESS!!

#nct #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct fluff #nct angst #nct mafia #nct yuta #yuta mafia #yuta arrange marriage au #nct arrange marriage #nct series #yuta series #killing me yuta

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no-worshiped-roads · 4 years ago

Text

Mayday RtU fight

so this is for @the-nsr-family Roads to Unity au

my crack at the mayday fight

go check out their blog they got lots of fun stuff, also this is long i lost control and it’s like 11 pages

Phase 1

Zuke dodged a flash of lighting that struck the spot he used to be standing in. He skidded a little across the smooth floor since it was already completely wet from the storm Mayday summoned. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Neon J and Eve also dodging both lightning and attacks from May’s guitar.

“Mayday please just listen to us!” Zuke pleaded.

“NO! WHY SHOULD I?!”

“Because there’s something you really need to know! We know who is behind all of this!”

“Oh I’m sure you do.” May spat out sarcastically.

The guitarist jumped back onto a higher part of the platform and began to sing. “Show me how to lie, you’re getting better all the time.”

Zuke dodged a blast from her guitar and slipped in the water on the floor. He slid till he crashed into some equipment in the room. Zuke hissed from the pain and rubbed his head where he had hit it. He could hear May still singing but was more focused on the stars in his eyes. Zuke looked up just in time to see lightning heading for him and braced for impact. When he felt nothing but the rain, he opened his eyes to see that Neon J had thrown one of his weapons in front of him, making a sheild.

Zuke shakily got to his feet, trying to get a better foothold on the slick floor “Thanks.”

Neon J gave him a nod before returning his attention to the fight. “We may have no choice but to fight back like we did before.”

Zuke winced at that, as fighting these people hasn’t been easy for him. He loved these people, and hell, Mayday was practically his sister by all means but blood. But he knew Neon J was right. If they just kept dodging there was no way they were going to survive, Mayday was too angry to be holding back. Beside Zuke wanted to get through to her before she got REALLY angry. He knew what would happen if she did but his companions didn’t. And while he knew what would happen, he wasn’t sure if that would help him stand up to it.

“Alright. I’m really sorry May but we’ve really got to talk.” Zuke pulled out his drumsticks and charged forward.

“So you talk with your drumsticks now?” She sneered, before returning to singing.

“Now dance sucker dance! Man, we never had a chance. And no one even knew, it was really only you.”

Zuke flinched at the lyrics, knowing exactly what May meant by them. He could only hope he could convince her otherwise. As he continued to try and make his way to Mayday, Zuke found himself mainly dodging and just trying to keep up with her, but like Kliff said before, this girl was an acrobat. She was dancing around them and avoiding most of their attacks. So while she had gotten a good number off on them, they could count the number of hits on her on one hand.

“Well I’ll admit, this is definitely challenging~” Neon J’s auto tune singing carried over the pounding rains.

“This rain certainly isn’t helping.” Eve added, as she nearly slipped off the platform she was on.

“With a thousand lies and a good disguise, hit them right between the eyes”

“I feel like she might be saying something to you with this song choice.” Neon J muttered unhelpfully.

“When you walk away, nothing more to say.”

“Yeah I noticed.” Zuke droned out. He liked Neon J, but he had a bad habit of stating the obvious and not understanding rhetorical questions.

“Mayday please listen, none of the EDM artists had anything to do with those attacks, those were staged!”

“You call those attacks fake?! Do you even know how much damage they did?”

“He’s not saying their fake! Just that they were set up by someone who isn’t us!” Eve argued back.

Eve was using her reality warping abilities to redirect Mayday’s attacks away from her. At one point of redirecting lightning, she managed to make it strike Mayday in the back.

“Gah!” Mayday stumbled forward a bit, but quickly got her footing back and strummed an attack towards Eve. “And yet here you are, attacking all of us. Wasn’t you indeed.”

Eve jumped out of the way and landed next to Zuke. “I believe I may have just found a way for us to actually fight back.”

Zuke frowned, as he really didn;t like the idea of shocking Mayday with her own lighting but knew they had no choice. They weren’t getting anywhere going about this like a normal fight. Zuke nodded and dodged another attack by rolling out of the way. Banging his drumsticks together he sent a wave at Mayday who moved away, but left her open for Neon J to get a hit in on her.

“Nice work you did, you’re gonna go far kid, trust deceived!”

“Mayday, we don’t want to fight, But we’re also not gonna sit here and be wailed on. We really did talk to the others. I don’t know why you can’t contact them but we didn’t do anything to them, I swear!” Zuke called out again.

“Oh you swear? Yeah, like I’m supposed to trust anything you promise.”

Zuke winced. “Yeah alright I deserve that.” A dodge. “But please can we just talk, there’s a lot I have to tell you, a lot you need to know.”

“SHUT UP!”

Zuke jumped out of the way of a large bolt of lightning and counterattacked with his drumsticks. The fight continued like this for a while till Eve got one more of her lighting attacks to hit her, this one causing Mayday to slide down to her knees. Mayday huffed, whether from exhaustion or frustration was hard to say. She growled and forced herself back to her feet.

Phase 2

Mayday played a different tune on her guitar as the weather around them changed. The rains stopped, but the room turned white. A thick fog now permeated the area, reducing their field of vision to where they could barely make out their hand in front of their own face.

“SHOT THROUGH THE HEART AND YOU’RE TO BLAME! You give love a bad name.”

Guitar riffs could be heard through the fog as musical blasts were shot at the group. Everyone dodged but when Zuke looked back up, he saw that they had lost each other in the fog.

“Eve, Neon J?!”

“An angel’s smile is what you sell, promise me heaven then put me through hell.”

Zuke felt the ground beneath him being blasted away and he was flung back. He grunted as he hit the ground behind him.

“We’re alright!” Neon J’s voice called through the fog. “But we aren’t going to be able to find each other much less Mayday in this fog. GAH!” Another guitar riff sounded off, clearly hitting Neon J.

“That’s kind of the point.” May’s voice drifted through the fog somewhere ahead of him.

Zuke acted quickly and smashed his drumsticks together in the direction he heard the voice. A small grunt greeted his ears, knowing he had hit her. Zuke then had to dodge again as a blast was the returned favor in his direction.

“Mayday those attacks really weren’t caused by the EDM artists. None of them even knew about the attacks till they were on the news!”

Another guitar riff was his only answer as he rolled to the side.

“Oh, you're a loaded gun, yeah. Oh, there's nowhere to run”

“Listen to where she is to find her! Use that to try and get to her!” Zuke called out and dodged another blast.

“No one can save me, the damage is done!”

Zuke continued to use his drumsticks to attack in the general direction that he could hear Mayday, and could hear his companions doing the same as well. Wherever they were in this fog. Of course this strategy went both ways. As they attacked they also made noise, which was how Mayday was finding them. Though to be fair, she had figured out that strategy long before Zuke did.

“I played my part and you played your game! You give love a bad name! You give looovvvveee---a bad name.”

Mayday was definitely picking songs that expressed what she was feeling towards Zuke. What she thought was going on, even though it wasn’t true. They had to keep pressing through and prove to her that Grunge was the only problem here. Not the EDM artists, and not him. A louder cry interrupted Zuke’s thoughts as he looked up to see the fog slowly clearing away. As it cleared out Zuke could make out Neon J near to where Mayday was, the latter on the ground again, panting. He watched her fist clench around the neck of her guitar and she swung at Neon J, making the man fall back and off the platform when he tried to move out of its way.

Phase 3

Mayday hopped back to her feet, with a bit more struggle this time, and started playing once again. Neon J grunted as he hoisted himself up from his rather big fall, given that this platform was well off the ground. As Mayday played her guitar she backflipped up to one of her trapeze platforms. The rock girl hopped from platform to platform, doing tricks as she did, all while playing her guitar. Zuke was so focused on watching her, and trying to keep her in his sights that he didn’t notice the drop in temperature.

“Wh-why is it s-s-so c-cold?”

Eve’s stuttering brought Zuke out of his trance as he huffed and realized he could see his own breath. The air was bitingly cold, and he found himself shivering much like his companions. Though Eve had it worst of all. Her outfit was beautiful, but not exactly warm. Zuke shuddered again in a vain attempt to warm his body as snow began to fall.

“Oh p-p-perfect, as if it w-wasn’t c-cold enough-AAHH” Neon J’s biting remark was cut short as the cyborg took a step back, only to slip on the ice that had formed on the floor.

The snow picked up to be more like a flurry now. Great. So now that had to deal with snow, the cold, the ice, and that Mayday was jumping and leaping around above them. She was already a hard target before, and all of this just made it harder. Mayday glared down at them, though more specifically him. Zuke did his best to hold her gaze and not wither under that glare. It was hard to say if she learned that from her mother or Kul Fyra. A familiar tune reached his ears as the rocker began to sing again.

“I wouldn't hold my breath if I was you, 'Cause I'll forget but I'll never forgive you. Don't you know, don't you know? True friends stab you in the front!”

Zuke grimaced, it really did seem that May felt that all ties between them were cut. That he was a traitor of the worst kind. He tightened his grip on his drumsticks and got into his fighting stance. He had to convince her that she was wrong.

“Listen Mayday, We know who was really behind the attacks. She started out just sabotaging the other EDM artists.”

A rather solid blast of wind and snow pushed him back, with him sliding further due to the ice. He immediately had to dodge a guitar riff, which was harder given that the ice messed with his movements. After scrabbling in place for a bit, Zuke finally managed to skid out of the way, feeling the blast move his hair as it just missed him by inches. Zuke could see Eve and Neon J continuing to attack her, and struggling just as much as he was with all the ice and snow messing with their movement.

He watched as nearly no attacks were hitting her with her using her aerial equipment to swing around and avoid them. Zuke could feel his frustration beginning to build up and took some breaths to try and calm down.

“Mayday you have to listen to us!”

“Like hell I do!”

“Mayday! There’s an inside person at NSR! She staged those attacks, she set the EDM artists up to take the fall!”

“You got a lot of nerve, But not a lot of spine. You made your bed, When you worried about mine.”

“Gah will you just listen to me?! What is your problem?!” Zuke was losing his patience.

“MY problem?! Have you seriously not figured anything out yet?! How do you not understand?!”

The snow was beginning to pick up into something more like a blizzard, not that Zuke paid it any mind. Eve and Neon J however did notice,

“Um, Zuke?”

Zuke ignored Neon J. “Come on why are you being so stubborn? The Mayday I know would actually listen!”

The blizzard got stronger, and the air got a heavier feeling to it. “What the hell do you even know about me?! You abandoned me five years ago! You left me to deal with all of that crap on my own!”

“Zuke, this isn’t helping.” Eve hissed.

Zuke again ignored the words of his companions and continued to argue with his former friend. If she would just listen to him so things could be fixed. “For crying out loud it’s Grunge! It’s her fault all of this happened! She ruined EDM’s name, she arranged the attack on you, on everyone! She is the one to blame!”

“Seriously?! Now you’re blaming someone else! At least she stuck by our side through this, unlike you!”

Mayday blasted her guitar at him and Zuke leapt out of the way. Zuke didn’t know what came over him, but he just felt so angry, so frustrated. It was like it was with West when he just didn’t listen to his side of the story. So he brought his drumsticks together and hard. The blast was too big for May to dodge and knocked her straight off her aerial swing to the platform below. Her scream of pain definitely snapped him out of it though. The snow died down and the temperature returned to normal, with the ice starting to melt away.

Phase 4

Zuke didn’t pay any of it any mind as he could stare in horror at Mayday just lying on the platform unmoving. He could vaguely see his companions getting to their feet, having no idea how they got knocked down, but guessed it was the blizzard. The two looked up to see May’s crumpled form on the platform, her guitar laying away from her, having fallen off of her when Zuke had hit her.

“Um, what happened? The blizzard made it hard to see.” Neon J asked, unhelpfully.

Zuke could only swallow hard as his ears rang. Mayday’s body twitched, and Zuke breathed a small sigh of relief knowing she was okay. The girl slowly dragged herself into a sitting position, and hugged her sides. She was breathing hard, head down, obscuring her face. Zuke couldn’t read her expression.

“...did we win?”

“Not the time Neon J!” Eve bit back.

Mayday’s breathing got harder, harsher, till she was huffing in what Zuke had to guess was anger.

“Get away.”

Mayday’s voice was low, shaky. If Zuke had been smarter he would have picked up on what that meant. But instead he just assumed it was because of her fall. He took a step forward and Mayday stiffened.

“Go away.”

It was a lot harsher this time, though still shaky. Zuke ignored her demand again and stepped forward once more. “May please, I-”

“Don’t. Leave.”

The wind began to pick back up, a strange sound filling the room. Rains started again, but much harsher than before. Zuke paused looking around at the weather, he had to get her to stop before the weather became a problem again. He stepped forward again, ignoring the winds and rain worsening around him, even as his feet splashed in the water pooling on the floor.

Mayday’s body twitched, and her hands clenched into fists, slamming down on the platform. “I said”

“GO AWAY!” Mayday suddenly screamed, throwing her head back.

The winds were so strong now that they picked up the three companions and threw them to the back of the room. Everyone slammed into the walls and fell to the floor with a splash. Zuke pushed himself up to his knees and hands, and glanced towards Myday. Winds circled around her as the rain absolutely downpoured, reducing anything in the distance invisible. Mayday was hunched in the middle, shaking. Glancing up he saw exactly what he thought he would be forming above her.

“IS THAT A HURRICANE?!” Neon J screeched.

“Yeah maybe I should have warned you she could do that?” Zuke yelled back weakly.

“That would have been nice, yes!”

“Well we were supposed to have this taken care of before this happened.”

“We could have if it weren’t for you Zuke.”

Eve’s harsh voice made him flinch. “Hey what the hell does-”

“I may not have been able to see what happened when that blizzard picked up but I could hear it. You two arguing.”

The winds and rain continued to rage around them as Zuke stared at Eve. “She’s being stubborn! Nothing I say is getting through to her!”

“So are you Zuke.”

Zuke jolted back like he had been slapped. “I’M actually listening though!”

“Are you?”

“I’ve been helping you this entire time yes!”

“I’m not saying you’re not listening to us.”

“You just-”

“I’m saying you’re not listening to her.”

“...yes I am.”

“Are you? You seem to hear her when she argues back against us, total strangers to her. But you fail to hear the reason why she’s upset.”

“But it’s a misunderstanding!”

“Mostly yes. But she doesn’t know that, and you’re acting like she should. And like I said, mostly.”

“What does that even mean?!”

“She’s not wrong about you abandoning her.”

“Bu- hey!”

“She’s. Not. Wrong. And you have to accept that Zuke, she was attacked so badly that she apparently landed in the hospital for a week. And then, when she was recovering back at home, she finds out you’ve left NSR and are helping the people she believes attacked her. How do you think she felt in that moment?”

“...”

“And now you’re also throwing the blame all at Grunge’s feet, while not accepting your own fault in this. You could have handled how you left better. Not to mention you’ve come here and blamed her for being ‘too stubborn’ like it’s her fault she feels angry and hurt and betrayed.”

“...”

“I’m not saying you are a traitor, but you did leave her. And you need to own up to that. You can’t let your anger control you, or you’ll do things you’ll regret forever.”

“...”

Zuke thought back to the second encounter with West when he disowned him, and how they had somewhat made up in the third encounter. He wonders what would have happened had he not run into him again. Would that have been it? Would he have never seen West again? Would his brother leave the city for good? Zuke thought on it further and frowned, remembering it was Kliff who got across what Zuke couldn’t say. Wouldn’t. Too stubborn to.

Zuke sighed. “...you’re right. I’ve only made things worse. I kept thinking about how this affected you guys, and how I felt. And completely ignored what Mayday was feeling.”

“So what do we do now then?” Neon J had walked over to the two as they had argued. It was slow going given that the winds threatened to throw him again.

“I’m gonna try talking to her again, but I need to get close. Can you two cover me? I don’t think I can get to her through the hurricane and if she starts attacking again.”

“What are you going to do?”

Zuke turned to Neon J. “What I told Kliff I was going to do. What I should have done from the beginning.”

The two nodded at him and Zuke began to walk forward. He had to take precise and heavy steps, the hurricane's gale force winds threatening to throw into the wall again. As he trudged onwards, May’s head snapped up slightly. He could just make out her eye’s glaring at him in not just anger, but pure anguish.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!”

Lightning began to rain down from the hurricane above him, and as Zuke braced for impact, Neon J and Eve came to his rescue. Neon J fired off his weapons to stop the lightning before it reached him, while Eve redirected it harmlessly behind them. Zuke continued to Mayday while his friends kept him from getting hit.

“NO! GET BACK!”

May’s attacks became more erratic and frequent. Though with how wild they were, more and more of her attacks were missing. Zuke finally reached the platform Mayday was on and gripped the beams holding it up. He hoisted himself up on the first beam and began climbing up, he didn’t have time to try and find the stairs. Heck, with what Mayday could do, there probably weren’t any. At this point Zuke wasn’t being attacked at all, and he couldn’t hear lighting cracking against the ground anymore. The hurricane was still going strong, but she had stopped directly attacking them. At this point she really was just trying to make them leave her alone.

Zuke finally reached the top of the stage and forced himself up on to it. He could see Mayday’s body trembling in the middle of it. Zuke had to drag himself across the stage, knowing that if he stood up he would be blown off. He could feel himself getting even more soaked from all the water pooling on the floor but he didn’t care. He had to get to May. Finally an outreached hand touched May’s leg.

She slapped his hand off. “Go away.”

Zuke pushed himself up so he was sitting in front of Mayday on his knees. “May, I’ve not done anything right by you since that day five years ago.”

“....”

“I left without saying anything, or explaining myself. I come back after all this time and I just hurt you more, and that’s not right. I’ve been so focused on what I want I didn’t consider how you felt.”

“...”

“I know my words are probably empty coming from someone who abandoned you, but I promise you the EDM artists won’t hurt you. They were sabotaged and set up by Grunge. She wants rock to rule as the top music genre, no matter the cost And was going to ensure it by any means possible.”

“..is that all you came here for?” Mayday’s voice is quiet, quivering.

“No.” Zuke reached forward and pulled Mayday into a hug. The girl flinched, and though she didn't pull back, she didn’t reciprocate either.

“I’m sorry. For everything. For what happened to you, for what you went through afterwards. For just leaving you like that and not explaining anything. For not really trying to get a hold of you for five years. For being a coward. I’m so, so sorry May. You have every right to be mad at me, and I understand if you won’t forgive me. But I’m not going to hurt you. Not again. I promise.”

He could feel May’s body tremble against his and suddenly felt a tight grip around his back as she hugged him back. The winds began to die down and the rain stopped pouring. Mayday just sobbed into his shirt, letting out all that built up hurt she had been shoving down for five years. Zuke just held her for a long time, apologizing over and over again till she finally stopped crying. He had thought all he had to do was stop Grunge, but now realized that even when they beat her, and she was gone, there was still going to be a long road of recovery ahead of them.

Everything that had happened had left lasting marks on the artists that weren’t just going to go away like that. And for once, Zuke was really going to stay by Mayday’s side, and help her through all of it. This was a promise he wasn’t going to break.

#nsr #nsr mayday #nsr zuke #rtu #Roads to Unity #nsr au #nsr eve #nsr neon j #no straight roads #no straight roads au

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hope-for-olicity · 6 years ago

Text

Airplanes, Coffee and Deadlines 5/?

Felicity begins working at a national newspaper where she has always dreamed of working. On her first day, she meets a very interesting photojournalist. The two will eventually work together but sparks fly immediately. This and all previous chapters are also available on AO3.

This chapter is set in a war-torn country.

Oliver knew he captured some great shots today, he looked forward to getting back to his base for the evening and uploading them for Lyla. He sent Felicity an email earlier. What he’d witnessed today was distressing so he reached out for his light, Felicity.

He sighed, looking at his phone, no response. All he saw was the email from Lyla with the subject change of plans. He avoided opening it as he needed good news not bad while out in the field.

“Queen, we’re here.” The driver stated as he pulled up to what Oliver was sure used to be a very nice hotel. Due to years of bombing, Oliver knew it was impressive that the building stood at all. He was shocked every time he returned that it was still there.

Oliver walked into the hotel restaurant, not surprised to see it was packed with foreign journalists, he waved at people he knew but he was in no frame of mind for a conversation. He wanted to grab some food before heading up to upload his work.

After getting food to go. He took the stairs to his second-floor room, he plugged in his devices to charge, reopened his email on his computer. Still nothing from Felicity. He opened Lyla’s email, only so long you could avoid your boss for.

To: [email protected]

Fr: [email protected]

Subject: Change of Plans

Hi Oliver,

I know you are out in the field today so I don't expect a quick response but I wanted to let you know that Johnny will not be joining you in Syria. Felicity Smoak will be going in his place. She should arrive tomorrow around noon your time. She has basic safety training. I’m counting on you to keep an eye on her.

I know you and Felicity have become friends, this might not be what you want. But Oliver, this is what she wants. She deserves this opportunity. Please give her a chance and remember this was my decision.

Look forward to seeing your next FTP upload.

Lyla

Oliver stood. He began pacing across his very small room. He had so many feelings. First, Felicity was coming tomorrow - he was overjoyed, he’d never missed someone so much. Second, Felicity was coming to Syria. No. Felicity could never be in Syria. He needed to protect her, protect her light. This was where light came to die. He really hoped this would not always be the case but for now -- for now, this was not a safe place for Felicity to come. What was Lyla thinking? Oliver sat down to write his boss back.

To: [email protected]

Fr: [email protected]

Subject: Change of Plans

Thanks for letting me know. I hope John is alright. I’m a little surprised you sent Felicity, I would not have thought she was ready for this. She has proven herself to care and be a great reporter at home but she’s so green.

I will do my best to keep her safe. I’ll be at the hotel to meet her when she arrives.

Oliver

Well, at least he knew why Felicity had not written him back, she’s travelled. He was a little hurt that she didn’t tell him she was coming herself.

Oliver held his face in his hands. It was all going to be okay. He was going to keep her safe. He opened his eyes to look at the clock on his computer it was 10:06 pm. He opened the folder containing the photos he took today, he did some editing before uploading the shots to the FTP folder. He was exhausted and grateful to have done his preliminary editing before he had so much on his mind.

Bed now, he thought, Felicity tomorrow - he couldn’t keep the smile off his face if he tried.

~~~~~~

Felicity couldn’t stop fidgeting. She was on her way to her dream job. She would be responsible for letting the people at home know what is happening in Syria, right now. She wasn’t stupid, she knew going into a war zone was dangerous. Her safety briefing went over what to do if she unexpectedly found herself in the middle of a gunfight, near an explosion or kidnapped. Western journalists were popular targets or kidnappers. It was something she worried about when Oliver left.

Oliver. She’d tried hard not to contemplate his reaction to her arrival. They were getting close before he left but she really wasn’t sure what he’d think of about her coming to Syria. She hoped he wouldn’t be mad, she really wanted to do a good job.

She was now on the last leg of her journey. She’d flown into Damascus where she was escorted along with two other journalists to a van. The van was their ride to the hotel. Lyla explained all this. What Lyla didn’t tell her was how far the hotel was from the airport. Felicity had to stop herself from asking how much longer? She was about to ask when the van came to a stop. This was it.

The van door was opened by the driver. Felicity grabbed her knapsack, jumped down her feet on solid ground. She began walking to the entrance when she heard her name.

“Felicity!” Oliver couldn’t help but shout when he saw her. He did resist running to hug her.

Felicity turned to Oliver’s voice. His scruff had turned into a beard since she’d last seen him. She was happy that he looked relieved to see her, not angry. She began walking toward him, bag in hand. “I made it!” She tried to hide her nervousness.

Oliver nodded. “It’s good to see you. Here, let me take your bag, we can head into the hotel bar for a drink. They have decent food if you are hungry.”

Felicity thought Oliver’s voice sounded gruff but at least he didn’t tell her to go home. She let him led the way to the bar.

They grabbed a booth. The server came by, they ordered some food and drinks. Oliver remained silent. Felicity looked good but he couldn’t lie he didn’t want her here. At the same time, he knew he had no right to tell her what to do and this was her job she had as much right to be here as he did.

Felicity took a sip of her drink. “Okay, out with it. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

Oliver shrugged. He was still trying to think of the right thing to say.

“Oliver, I get that me being here was not the plan. And I get that I’m new so you may see that as a liability. But I’m here to work. I know that we are in a dangerous area. I’m not going to do anything stupid. I promise to listen to any advice you have. I only want to do a good job. I want to keep the people back home informed. Please understand.” Felicity knew she was pleading but she desperately wanted Oliver to be on her side.

“Felicity, yes, I was surprised when Lyla said you were coming instead of Digg. But I think you will be great. I know that telling the story is important to you and that is half the battle. I’m happy to have you on my team.” Oliver smiled.

“I thought there would be a but…” Felicity squinted her eyes at him.

“Okay.” Oliver raised his hands in surrender. “There is a tiny but. Felicity, you and I have become close,” Oliver looked at her for agreement.

Felicity nodded.

“So, I guess. I would rather you not be in the middle of a warzone. I want you to be safe. And yes, I get how selfish that sounds.” Oliver looked away sheepishly.

“Not selfish. Sweet. You sound like a caring friend. Thank you for being honest with me and understanding why I have to be here.” Felicity leaned forward and gave squeezed Oliver’s hand.

“Shh. Don’t let people hear you call me sweet, I have a reputation to uphold, Smoak.” Oliver winked at her. He really was glad she was here. A light in a very dark place.

~~~~~

The first time Oliver took Felicity out in the field he was sick with nerves. What if something happened to her? But he was impressed with how careful she was. She followed all her training and consulted him if she was unsure.

Oliver introduced her to some of his contacts on the ground. He could see, Felicity was deeply shocked by the damage of the constant bombings, the injured people, especially children and the air of fear that can’t really be described, you have to feel it.

The evening after their third trip into the field, Oliver was relaxing in his room when he heard a knock. He peeked out saw Felicity, opened the door with a smile.

Felicity stormed into the room without invitation. Felicity began to pace back and forth in the tiny room. “How dare you? I mean, how am I supposed to do my job if you won’t let me. Yes, it’s sweet that you don’t want me to die but Oliver this can’t continue. You are SMOTHERING ME! I am doing my best but if you can’t let me work, I might as well go home. Oliver, we are here for a reason. I need to do this.”

Oliver was dumbstruck. Yes, he was aware he was being a little overprotective but he thought Felicity was fine with it. He had no idea this was brewing. He felt awful. “I’m sorry,” Oliver spoke quietly. “I don’t want to prevent you from doing your job. I guess I was just scared. I don’t want anything to happen to you. You are important to me. I don’t want you to go home. I promise I’ll back off. Not completely, please don’t ask me to do that. I’ll stop smothering you. But I need you to promise me something. Promise me that we will talk? Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours. How are you holding up? I’ve been leaving you alone because I know seeing all this for the first time is a lot to process. Trust me, it’s better not to keep it balled up inside.”

“Oh, Oliver!” Felicity sat down on the edge of his bed with a sigh. “I don’t know what to say. It is all too much. But then it should be. All of this should be too much for anyone to stand. I go to my room and cry for these amazing people. These people who are surviving in total destruction and chaos. These people who have lost so much, yet continue to fight. These people who feel the world has forgotten them. It’s that last bit that stops me from asking to go home. These people need their stories told. People need to know what’s happening. So, I want to stay but Oliver this is so much worse than I thought it would be.” She looks down as she feels a tear slide down her cheek.

Oliver crouched down in front of her, he wipes the tear away with his thumb. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s always worse when you are in it. You are not alone. I’m here too and we can talk anytime. I feel as frustrated and devastated as you. When we stop feeling this way, we should stop reporting, I think we need to feel it in order to convey it properly in our reporting. You are doing good work. In fact, I was just reading an email from Lyla when you knocked. She sent a picture of baby Sara.” Oliver handed his phone to Felicity.

“Aww, what a beautiful baby. Well, all babies look the same at this point, right? But oh so beautiful. Lyla and John must be so happy. I can’t wait to meet her!” Felicity smiled.

Oliver was so glad to have brightened her spirits.

“I have something to show you too!” Felicity hauled out her phone, with a few clicks handed it over.

“Baby!” Oliver chuckled. “Is it me, or has she grown?”

“Oh, she’s definitely grown. I miss her. Mom says she misses me.” Felicity smiled taking her phone back from Oliver.

“I have no doubt.” Oliver smiled. “Felicity, we will get through this. We are doing important work and we have each other. From here on out, let's be honest about our feelings here. We need to let each other in.”

Felicity nodded. She knew this was not the time to discuss the elephant in the room. Their every growing feelings for each other.

~~~~~

This was their fourth trip out in the field. Oliver was getting better at letting Felicity do her job.

Felicity felt ill. Truly ill. She followed what was happening in Syria for years. She saw the footage, the pictures, read of the carnage but seeing it in person. She was not okay. Not even close. How could the world let these people suffer? Why did it seem as though no one cared? She spoke to a woman with the help of an interpreter as Oliver looked on taking photos.

The woman kept asking the same question, translated into “You will tell them, right? You will tell the world what is happening?” It was as though the woman thought the world didn’t know. She believed if the story got out, help would come. Felicity, let the woman know that yes, yes she would tell them. What she didn’t say was that they might not care.

~~~~~

Felicity was quiet all the way back to the hotel. When they arrived, she hopped out of the SUV turned to Oliver, “I’m going to head up and write this up while it’s fresh, send me the photos you think best. I’ll send you a copy when I’m done and you can decide if you want to add or remove photos before we send it off to Lyla.” Felicity turned. She really needed to get back to her room before she cried. She was so filled with overwhelming sadness and hopelessness.

Oliver watched her walk away, knowing she was not okay. Clearly, she wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. He decided to respect her wishes for now however he was definitely going to check up on her later.

Oliver grabbed a seat at the hotel bar and ordered a beer. He’d just taken a sip when his phone buzzed. He looked down expecting to see Felicity’s name but instead it was Digg’s. He smiled.

Digg: Hey man, hope all is well

Oliver: Yeah, we are getting some good stuff. Felicity is working out but you can tell it’s rough on her

Digg: Always is - the first or the last time.

Digg: I hope you told her that her caring will help her story

Oliver: You think I don’t listen to you?

Digg: I wonder ;)

Oliver: Congrats on the baby. Does she have a name?

Digg: Sara Olivia Diggle

Oliver: Wow, that’s amazing - after me, of course ;)

Digg: For once you are right

Oliver: K, now I’m really flattered.

Oliver: I was kidding

Digg: For real

Digg: Lyla figures you saved my ass enough that we should honour you

Oliver: Tell Lyla thanks

Oliver: Felicity and I are both excited to meet Sara

Digg: Felicity and you?

Oliver: Not like that

Digg: Good

Digg: For now, you both need to keep your heads in the game

Oliver: I know

Digg: One more thing, it’s only a rumour at this point but two Reuters journos are missing

Digg: Maybe kidnapped - too soon to know

Digg: I know you are both being cautious but still

Oliver: Appreciate the heads up

Oliver: Anyone we know?

Digg: Nora and Zari

Digg: We know them, sometimes they go off the grid. Which is why Reuters is waiting

Oliver: I’ll hope for the best. Keep me updated

Oliver put down his phone. Nora and Zari were staying here. He’d had dinner with them the night before Felicity arrived. He really hoped they were okay.

~~~~~

Oliver waited for a little over an hour before heading to Felicity’s room. He knew she wasn’t okay. He didn’t want to hover but they weren’t in the field so he was going to check.

He knocked twice, no answer. Was she sleeping? “Felicity, he called softly through the door.”

“NO! NO! THEY ARE CHILDREN!” Felicity began to shout.

Oliver had no idea what was going on but he had to get in that room. He moved back then rammed his way through the door. Felicity was laying on her bed tossing and turning. A sheen of sweat over her body. Oliver took a breath, relieved that no one was attacking her. As much as he was trying to deny it, Felicity was beginning to mean everything to him.

He approached her cautiously. “Felicity,” he spoke quietly at first. “Felicity, you have to wake up. It’s just a dream.” She continued to toss. Oliver hated to watch her in distress.

“Felicity,” Oliver spoke a bit louder and shook her arm.

Felicity woke with a start, breathing rapidly looking around the room for the coming threat. Her eyes rested on Oliver. She was confused. “Oliver?”

“Yes, I’m sorry to wake you but you were having a nightmare.” Oliver continued to stroke her arm in reassurance.

“Oh.” Felicity felt embarrassed. “Was I loud? Is that how you knew?”

“No, I came to check on you so I heard you yelling from beyond your door.” They both looked over at Felicity’s now broken door. “Sorry, I did that. You can have my room for the night. I’ll pay for the damages.”

Felicity shook her head. “Where will you sleep?”

“I’ll take this room, shove something in front of the broken door.” Oliver looked around the room for a chair or something with weight. “But back to you, are you okay? Do you want to talk about the dream? Was it something we saw today?”

“I’m okay. I mean, I’m kind of okay. Really I have a lot of feelings - guess that leads to nightmares.” Felicity shrugged.

“Why don’t we grab some supper. We can talk if you want.” Oliver could sense Felicity was going to say no to the talking. “Or not talk and eat.”

“I’ll take option number two.” Felicity gave Oliver a weak smile.

“Great. Let’s move your valuables to my room for safe keeping while we eat.” Oliver handed Felicity her bag, he picked up her computer.

“I’ll throw my clothes into my suitcase and clean up quickly.” She began to walk toward her bathroom.

“See you in a few minutes.” Oliver shut the door deciding to wait until tomorrow to bring up Nora and Zari. Felicity didn’t need any more stress tonight.

Thanks so much for reading!

@mindramblingsfics @memcjo @mel-loves-all @wherethereissmoak @green-arrows-of-karamel @spaztronautwriter @wrldtravler @tdgal1 @vaelisamaza @oliverfel4 @lucyyh @swordandarrow @smoaking-greenarrow @it-was-a-red-heeler @miriam1779 @coal000 @blondeeoneexox @laurabelle2930 @allimariexf @onceuponarrow @swordandarrow @msbeccieboo @tangled23works@icannotbelieveiamhere @1-crazy-dreamer @stephswims

#Airplanes Coffee and Deadlines #olicity fanfiction #alternate universe #oliver x felicity #MyFanfic

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grapesodatozier · 6 years ago

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happy trailer day!! here are some soft madwheeler hcs 💕 (this got long, so most of it is under the cut) (fr this is basically a fic in bullet format lol)

the party is in their junior year of high school, which means they’re learning physics

which means the boys are in heaven

but max is in hell

(el isn’t in the same classes as them bc she still has catching up to do)

will, lucas, and dustin all have physics together with mr clarke, but mike and max end up in another class with another teacher

mike and max are on good terms at this point, but they’re still not super close. still, they sit next to each other on the first day without questioning it, and then those are their seats for the rest of the year

they mostly make small talk the first couple of days, but then max comes into class with a huge smile on her face bc the funniest thing happened in art class and she has to tell someone about it

and mike is right there, and curious about what’s so funny, so max tells him the story, sounds effects and hand motions and all

she doesn’t notice, but mike is listening to her with undivided attention, his eyes soft and the ghost of a smile on his lips

they start actually talking after that

cue to their first quiz

max doesn’t want to admit it, but she’s been struggling in the class

when the teacher passes mike his quiz back face up and murmurs a “well done, mr wheeler” right before she passes max’s back face down, she can already feel the shame heating up her cheeks and settling in her stomach

she peeks at her grade and finds a 35/50 at the top of the page, right above a big red C-

she crumples up the quiz and shoves it in her bag despite the fact that the class spends the next 20 minutes going over the quiz

max can feel mike looking at her

one glance at his quiz explains why he’s paying attention to her and not the teacher: 52/50. he even got the extra credit right.

max rolls her eyes and slumps further in her seat, her arms crossed as she pointedly avoids meeting mikes eyes. she bets their wide and brown and full of pity she doesn’t want or need

they’ve fallen into the habit of chatting a bit after class and leaving together, but max leaves without a word and doesn’t bother to wait for him

unfortunately, she only has one period of reprieve before she has to see him at lunch again

she gets there before him, which turns out to not be in her favor as he sits right next to her when he arrives with el

he gets a few weird looks from the others, bc that’s where el usually sits, but el just shrugs and takes mike’s usual place next to lucas

max has had an hour to cool down, so she gives mike a smile and congratulates him on being nerd

mike gives her a small smile before getting right to the point

he leans in and says it softly so that the others won’t hear, and max is grateful for that, but now he’s so close that she can smell the laundry detergent sticking to his clothes, she can feel his shoulder bump against hers, and it makes her heart beat a mile a minute

“why didn’t you tell me that there was some stuff you didn’t get?” he asks, his voice soft and genuinely confused “I can help you if you want”

and max feels embarrassed and indignant and almost too proud to accept the offer

but mikes eyes are wide and brown, and they’re soft, and what max finds in them is closer to affection and encouragement than pity

and also he’s giving her an excuse to spend time with him, something she’s been looking for (not that she’d ever admit that - she’s barely admitted it to herself)

“okay, yeah, if I’m feeling lost I’ll ask you about it. thanks.”

they smile at each other softly and join the group conversation, but max’s heart is beating too loudly for her to hear much

a week later and max admits defeat

physics ends and max feels about ready to cry

“mike?” she calls gently across the aisle, hating how her voice breaks. and she knows mike noticed it, bc he’s giving her his soft eyes™️ that make her want to melt but also punch him, but she manages to swallow back her stubborn pride and tell him, “I didn’t get any of that”

she tries to say it with a laugh, but her voice is choked up

“yeah this unit is confusing” he agrees, and max can’t believe how kind his smile is. “do you wanna work on the homework together? we can go to my house after school if you want”

max can’t help but smile at how eager mike is to help other people

“yeah, sounds good.” then, after mike smiles and finishes packing up his bag, max adds on a “thanks”

“it’s no problem” mike assures her

max is suddenly regretting saying yes bc if mike looks at her like that the whole time she’s gonna have a problem paying attention during their tutoring session

it’s all she can think about for the rest of the day, which nearly makes her gag at herself, but she can’t help it

butterflies erupt in her stomach when she sees him after school at the bike rack

just as mike is getting on his bike at the end of the day, max rides past him on her board and shouts at him that she’ll race him to his house

the way he shouts after her warning her about the giant hill on the way has her both rolling her eyes and smiling; she’s been down that hill hundreds of times, but it’s still sweet that he’d want her to be safe

they get to mikes house at pretty much the same time, so they have a foot race to the basement door - max wins, but her victory cry dies on her lips when she turns to see mike right next to her, leaning on the house, smiling at her as he catches his breath

“you got a head start” he accuses her, but there’s a smile on his face and no real hear behind his words

“you keep telling yourself that” she grins as she pushes the door open, trying to ignore how nice mikes hair looks when it’s wind blown

they get down to business pretty much immediately, much to max’s chagrin

they start out just doing the homework side by side, the textbook open in front of them on the table, surrounded by capri sun pouches, chips, and cookies

max can’t help but notice how much farther ahead mike is than her

the she gets stuck on a problem for so long that when she throws herself back into the couch in frustration she notices mikes been waiting for her so he could turn the page and go onto more problems

“you don’t have to wait up for me if I’m slowing you down” max grumbles

mike completed ignores that offer. “which one are you stuck on?”

max shows him, and he walks her through it. his patience melts her heart, calms her down. but then the next problem is even harder, and with her anger quelled now she just gets sad that she doesn’t understand what mike is trying to explain to her

she can feel the tears stinging in her eyes, and she does her best to hold them back, but then her vision is blurring and she hears the tell tale sound of a tear hitting loose leaf

she shoves her binder away and furiously wipes her eyes, wondering if it’s more embarrassing to leave or stay

she freezes when mike puts his arm around her. he’s never done that with her before, but it feels so natural, max wants to melt into it so bad

“hey,” mike says, in the gentlest voice max has ever heard, “it’s okay, we’ll get it eventually.” max nods, but she still doesn’t look at him

he starts rubbing little soothing circles on her shoulder with his thumb, a small gesture that has max’s heart kicking into over drive

“do you wanna take a break?”

max wants to say no. mike clearly didn’t need a break, why did she need one? but she is pretty drained, so she nods again

“can you teach me how to skate?”

that surprises max into finally looking at him

“what?”

“well, I’ve been wanting to learn, and it’s gonna get too cold to learn soon, so”

“you know what? sure, I’d like to see you make a fool of yourself”

“wow, thanks”

and max was kinda joking, but mike truly is terrible

like, she knew he would be, but he’s genuinely shaking even as he’s just stepping onto the skateboard

he reaches out for her instinctively, and she’s immediately there to support him

his grip on her arms is so tight, and she can feel his hands shaking as he gives her a small, bashful smile that makes her heart melt

“you need me to walk you down the street?” she asks, only half teasing

mike rolls his eyes, but his smile doesn’t leave his lips as he says back, “are you actually gonna teach me or are you just gonna make fun of me?”

“can’t I do both?”

and max loves this, she loves this banter that’s blossomed between them in recent weeks, she loves that she knows it’ll make mike smile

she drags him around for a bit, first clinging to both of his arms and then gradually shifting to holding his hands, a gesture that had her blushing even harder. his hands were a little clammy, but she liked how tightly they gripped hers, she liked how they were bigger than her own. she liked the freckles on them.

eventually she insisted that he try pushing off a few times without her. he hesitantly agreed, on the condition that she stay close

max really thought he’d do better, but after pushing off for the second time he falters, loses his balance, and the board flies out from under his feet

max is at his side in an instant, kneeling over him to make sure he’s okay

he props himself up on his elbow and checks his scraped up palm and mutters a quiet “shit”

“does it hurt?” max hold his wrist gently, the contact sending electricity through her as she feels his pulse under her thumb

“I mean yeah, but I’ll probably live”

she finds that their faces are level, and closer than she’d realized

“guess you still need me to hold your hand” she jokes, her heart racing

“yeah” mike smiles, and the autumn sun is setting, bathing his skin in golden light and bringing out the red highlights in his dark hair. he takes max’s breath away as he says, “you make it look so easy” with that soft smile again

“yeah, well,” max scoffs. she tucks her hair behind her ear, looks down. “you get used to it, it’s really not that impressive”

“I think it is”

and max really wishes he’d stop looking at her like that, stop making her stomach flutter like that

he continues: “I think it’s really cool. especially now that I know how hard it is”

“I think that might just be you”

they laugh it off and go inside to clean mikes hand

“thanks,” he smiles once it’s bandaged. “and thanks for teaching me... or trying to at least”

max giggles “hey, you’re teaching my sorry ass physics, i owe you one”

mike shakes his head and smiles at her like she’s a sunrise “no you don’t, I like helping you”

max scoffs and blushes and tries to walk away, but mike catches her gently by the wrist

“you know you’re really smart, right?”

max doesn’t know what to say to that, but thankfully mike senses that and keeps going

“and I really do think it’s cool how good you are at skateboarding, and... I’m glad we’re talking more now”

max melts

“so am I”

“and I actually think you’re really funny” he grins

“oh, do you?” max beams. “you’re never gonna love that down”

and now mike is smiling big too, and he says “I think I’m okay with that”

and somehow they’ve drifted closer together, and max is so trained on mikes smile, on how soft and pink his lips look that it takes her a moment to realize how intently mike is looking at her

then their eyes meet, and it’s like that both get it. he caresses her face, and she lets him, leaning into it and placing her hands on his sides

then their lips are meeting, and they’re kissing, and max’s heart is going wild

his lips are just as soft as she imagined, and he’s so gentle with her, almost shy

they’re both smiling as they pull back

“so you know how you’re smart and cool and funny?” mike asks, his arms slipping around max’s waist, making her blush

“you may have mentioned it” she grins

“you’re also really beautiful”

max hides her face in his shoulder, blush creeping over her as she giggles “and you are ridiculously cheesy” but after a moment she meets his eye and adds with a smile “but you’re also smart and cute, and sometimes even funny”

“not cool?”

“never cool” they both giggle and kiss again, smiling into it. “you’re the cutest nerd ive ever met, though. definitely the cutest tutor I’ve ever had”

mike grins regretfully, almost apologetically: “speaking of which...”

max pouts in protest and presses light, slow kisses to mikes lips

“okay, that’s a compelling argument” mike concedes with a grin

they do get their homework done soon after tho, and once it’s done they reward themselves with pizza and more kisses

#madwheeler

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ned-nerderson · 6 years ago

Text

MID FanFic

HERE IT IS. I don’t even know what to say here. Except that this is my MID fic featuring Nancy, Deirdre, and the Hardy Boys. It was basically 28 pages double spaced when it was in Google docs but I just copied and pasted it here so it lost that format. Hope you guys like it, I kind of rushed so my perfectionist self isn’t 100% happy with it but I just really wanted to get my idea out to you guys before Halloween, so I’d appreciate any feedback as well as spreading it out to the Clue Crew.

Nancy had finally gotten up to her hotel room. Technically it was Joe’s room but since ATAC had booked two rooms for the boys, Joe graciously offered his room up to the girls and moved his things into Frank’s room. Exhausted after a long afternoon picking pumpkins and an energetic car ride with Joe, she set her pumpkin down atop the “Explore Salem!” brochures on little wooden desk near the tv. Deirdre had been laying on her stomach on one of the queen sized beds, remote in one hand, a bowl of popcorn in the other, and a glass of whisky sitting dangerously on the bed.

“I ordered some popcorn and drinks, and now that you're finally back we can have a sleepover gossip session. I need some girly time even if it's with you, Drew. Frank and Joe can be such boys at times.” Nancy grabbed her pajamas and toothbrush and went into the bathroom to change, “Sleepover gossip session?” “High school rules, so you have to answer.” Deirdre said from the bed sipping some whiskey that she probably put on ATAC’s tab.

“What if I don't know the answer?” Nancy asked as she brushed her teeth.

Deirdre laughed, “Honestly Drew, were you ever in high school long enough to learn any social skills? I ask you personal questions, you ask me personal questions, straight answers are mandatory, we share gossip, stuff like that. So, let’s start with the burning question everyone is dying to know, what’s going on with you and Nedgur?”

Nancy was now struggling with the buttons on her pajama top, “What?”

“Practically a whole year without cases? And you never gave anyone a direct explanation about that ring you started wearing after you just up and dropped the mystery solving business, and I know it has to do with Ned, so tell me everything.” Nancy’s ring in question remained stuffed in her suitcase where it had been since she was on her way to the airport to catch her plane to Salem. All she wanted was to forget about her relationship issues before falling asleep, but she had a feeling that trying to evade Deirdre and the sacred rules of high school party games would not go well for her.

“Deirdre, I’d really rather not talk about it right now, everything is fine between us, and besides we have a long day tomorrow and I’m tired and-”

“You can't lie to me Drew, sleepover rules, no lying, no avoiding the questions. You said 'fine' and everyone knows that means you're not fine and even if you really are fine, you wouldn't use that word because of its negative social connotations. Even someone as socially inept as you knows that, so what gives?”

Nancy was suddenly tired both physically and emotionally. Deirdre sat up and glared at Nancy waiting for her to break as she walked out of the bathroom, now in her pjs and her hair up in a ponytail. Nancy knew Deirdre would be relentless in finding out the truth. It’s what made her a good detective. Not only was Deirdre good at what she did, she had the mental drive to push her beyond expectations. She also had knack for psychological analysis, something that Nancy apparently lacked. Nancy had been told many times by her friends that she could not read a room. Meanwhile, just yesterday Nancy had not only seen Deirdre read a room, she had seen her play the room so they could get access to town records. Nancy almost envied her for her social graces. She sighed and gave in before the mental torture began. “As you know a year ago I totally forgot about mine and Ned's anniversary because I was in another country on a case instead of at dinner with Ned, which I forgot to tell him until he called and asked if I was on my way to the restaurant. Well,” Nancy began to play with her sleeves and sat on the edge of her bed, “we promised we'd spend the next anniversary together, in person. When I got home after that case somehow I ended up promising Ned I'd take a year off cases so we could have some time to just be normal, you know? And it was hard at first,” she fought the lump in her throat that caught her by surprise, “Especially seeing you take up all my would be cases. I almost made it to a year, but then you called. Ned was upset when he found out that I wanted to leave to help you, he said that he thought I had really changed, that we could really be together now.” Nancy’s eyes suddenly began burning, she fought back tears by pinching her thigh. Something about physically pain made Nancy more of a fighter. “I told him I couldn't just stay here when you had asked for my help, not when there were others who needed my help. He said if I got on that plane I'd be throwing away everything, our relationship, the whole reason I stopped taking cases this past year…”

“And now you’re in Massachusetts on a modern day witch hunt and shacking up with me.” Deirdre smirked, “So, how did he react when you told him you were going to come up here instead?” As she waited for an answer she could practically see Nancy’s face grow redder. “You did tell him right?” Nancy shrugged, avoiding eye contact with Deirdre. Deirdre's eyes bulged, “You didn't tell him!?” She practically shouted.

“He seemed to make it pretty clear that if I left on the plane to Salem our relationship would be over. I didn’t tell him I was leaving, I just left in the middle of the night, caught a red eye flight here.” Nancy wiped her nose with her hand, “It’s been a few days and I haven’t talked to him since but I’m sure he’s figured out where I am by now.” She looked away.

Deirdre rolled her eyes and finished her last bit of whisky like a shot. “Wow, what a buzzkill. Don’t overthink it Drew. I hate to say it but you and I both know what you need is to be out solving cases, just don’t give in and backslide on your decision Nancy.” She put her glass down on the nightstand between their beds and crawled into the sheets. “Don’t worry, I’ll help Ned forget all about you…” Her words trailed off as she fell asleep.

Nancy exhaled and emotionally composed herself. As she got into her so hotel bed, she wondered just how much of this conversation Deirdre would remember in the morning.

* * * *

Deirdre had passed out around 10:30. It was now two hours later and Nancy was still awake in bed. She was restless. She wanted sleep. Until Deirdre had brought it up, she hadn’t thought about the consequences of her actions, instead she let the adrenaline of her first case in a year carry her though till now. She just couldn't stop thinking about Ned, their relationship, if it even existed anymore and if it should still exist. Ned would always be second to her cases. Was there a chance she could apologize to Ned, as forgiving as he was, would he take her back? But is that what she wanted? Did she want Ned? Or was she too afraid of how different her life would be without him, too afraid of being alone, losing a friend? She shivered at the thought.

Quietly, she climbed out of her queen sized bed and stood in front of the bathroom mirror. Her reflection accurately represented how she felt on the inside. A mess. The overgrown layers of her titian hair was falling out of its loose ponytail, the dark circles under her eyes were getting worse, and her face gave away every sign that she had been crying. She was also cold. She had plenty of blankets in her hotel bed, but every part of her body was stiff with chill. It was almost 1 a.m. now, she needed sleep. She needed warmth. She wanted someone to hold her and tell her it was going to be ok. Frank. She wanted Frank.

Nancy hurried quietly out of her and Deirdre's hotel room to the elevator. The Hardy boys were on the floor just above them. Frank had always been soft with her, she could trust him to handle her emotions and she needed someone to pick her back up. Nancy got in the elevator and stood right behind the closed doors as it slowly crawled its way up. Nancy had no plan, no opening line, no idea how to bring up her current situation or explain her emotional state that she had been holding up inside her. Frank will know, Nancy thought, Frank always knows. The elevator doors opened and Nancy stumbled back, startled. “Where do you think you're going, Drew?” Leaning against the elevator door frame in the hallway was Deirdre. She casually ate some popcorn from the bowl tucked between her arm and hip. Nancy jumped back a bit but quickly regained her composure, “You brought the popcorn?” she said in a slightly annoyed sigh. Deirdre was practically doing a comical bit about how amused she was by Nancy’s hardships. Deirdre shrugged, “I heard you leave the room, wherever you were going at this hour, it had to be interesting. So what's going on?” “I need to talk to Frank.” Nancy stated trying not to choke on her words as she walked past Deirdre and into the hallway. Deirdre followed right behind her. “What? Why Frank? Nancy it's the middle of the night, why do you need Fr-No. You liiiikee him! Is he the reason you-”

Nancy cleared her throat, “are you still buzzed?” she shot back as she kept searching for the Hardy's room number. “You know it’s not safe to take the stairs when you’re inhibited.”

Deirdre gasped, “You DO like him don't you?” “No, I don't know, no, I just need to talk to him ok?”

“The only kind of guy a girl ever needs to talk to in the middle of the night is the kind of guy she needs to have sex with.” Nancy stopped in front of the hotel door she had been looking for. “This is a bad idea Nancy, as of right now,” Deirdre checked her phone, “1:07AM you are about to make a bad decision, think about this for a second, you can barely make a decent decision in the day.” Nancy knocked on the door. Deirdre whispered harshly, “What are you even going to tell Frank?” Nancy shook her head, “I don't know, I just need to see him.” Suddenly the door swung open. “What's up?” Joe asked holding the door wide open. He was sipping some Mountain Dew unaware that right behind him Frank had just stepped out of the bathroom with only a towel around his waist, still dripping wet from his shower. Clueless and completely visible to the girls Frank was looking around the floor for his pile of clothes. Deirdre shot a look at Nancy, “Well shit if I had known he looked that good shirtless I would have wanted him right now too.” Frank shot up straight immediately upon hearing Deirdre's voice and noticed the two standing in the doorway, “Joe, close the door! God, really?” “Just give us a minute here.” Joe smiled sweetly at the girls and closed the door. His sudden burst of laughter could be heard through the walls. “Well there you go, you got to see him. Happy now?” Deirdre tossed some popcorn in her mouth, “Cause I am.” She smirked and Nancy gave her a small shove just as Frank opened the door. “Sorry about that,” he let the girls in. He was now wearing some old grey sweatpants and a faded Panic! At the Disco shirt, however, his hair was still very wet. “Joe insists he ‘can't rest until every zombie has been taken the fuck out’ and I can't sleep with all the merciless slaughtering going on.” As if on cue a zombie exploded on the tv screen causing guts and blood to go everywhere as Joe triumphantly fist pumped. “What are you two doing up at this hour anyway? Do you have a new lead?” Frank asked hoping they'd have a break on the case to share, anything to distract from what had just happened. “Well, I'm out.” Deirdre threw her hands in the air, still carrying the popcorn bowl in one hand, and walked over to Joe who was sitting on the floor in front of the tv. It wasn't that hard to tell that Nancy was upset at this point. “Nance?” Frank looked at her for an explanation, "Is something wrong?" Nancy bit her lip, what was she supposed to say? That she broke up with Ned? “I broke up with Ned.” Well fuck, Nancy thought, Okay so maybe that wasn't the best opener but now it's all out there, basically.

Frank looked like he was just slapped across the face. He felt like it too. “WHAT?” Frank so desperately wanted to yell but could only find enough air to wheeze in a form of a whisper.

“Well, at least I think I did. I could have.”

“You think?” he shook his head slightly confused and taken aback. The slight shaking caused little beads of water from his dark wet hair to trickle down his neck. Joe was too busy with his game to hear what Nancy had just said, but if he had he would already be on the phone with Ned trying to get the two to work things out.

Frank led Nancy into the hotel room’s walk in closet, which unfortunately was the most private place they could talk at the moment. He pulled the string that hung down in the middle of the room and after a second’s delay a warm light illuminated them.

“What’s going on Nancy?” She was visibly distressed; it killed Frank when she looked this way. “What is it you really want to tell me? What happened with you and Ned?”

“I need some advice, or just help me figure out my life, I guess.” She sniffled, sitting down on the floor of the closet in front of Frank, he did the same. Then she told Frank everything she told Deirdre and then some. About the ring Ned gave her that he practically considered an engagement ring and that she barely wanted to consider it a promise ring, about all her doubts about a future with Ned, how awful a girlfriend she must be, about how she doesn't want to be alone but also would rather be solving cases rather than being tied down, and about how she spent another anniversary on a case instead of with Ned, but this time she had done it on purpose, and how she was worried she had made a mistake.

Once she was done spilling her emotions she held her breath looking up at Frank to see his reaction to it all. He sighed and brought her in close, hugging her firmly.

“Nancy, I’m not really sure what you want me to say, I’m still trying to process everything you just told me.”

“Honestly I think I’m just starting to process it all too, and I’m only kind of starting to freak out because I didn’t let myself think about it earlier and-” her voice hitched and Frank could feel through his shirt a small wet spot form on his shoulder from her sudden tears.

She breathed in, taking a few moments to compose herself “Well, you've alway helped me with Ned before. Remember that one time I was in Germany after Ned and I had a huge fight? You were a big help then, you always know what I need to hear, Frank.” Nancy took a deep breath in, “Should I try to fix things with Ned?”

Frank analyzed every point she brought up and calculated every possible ways to say ‘Hey, if you're not happy, with Ned anymore, your long time boyfriend, the only one you've had for years, one of your best and closest friends, you should break up with him for your sake, which you seemingly already did.’ but he couldn't think of any eloquent way of putting it. Because the fact that they had shared numerous moments between each other in the past that could be interpreted as as flirtatious, and some dangerously flirtatious, he didn’t want his opinion to sound biased.

Nancy was the kind of person that always knew what they wanted, even if they weren't aware of it. Anyone could see that in her. However, this was a bit different and more serious than other choices Nancy had made. Outside of solving mysteries, she always took the safe bet. She made reasonable purchases, always wore modest clothes, sensible shoes. Everytime she went out to get ice cream her friends all knew she'd take about 4 minutes to decide, ultimately getting the same chocolate ice cream in a sugar cone. She would always say that next time she'd try Scoop’s newest flavor, or venture into the world of toppings, but she never does. Ned was her chocolate ice cream in a sugar cone. Content enough with her decision, but always wanting something different later. And by far Frank could see that was her biggest mistake, content but never happy. In her personal life, Nancy wasn't much of a risk taker, and Ned wasn't much of a risk.

There was something different about Nancy this time though, Nancy had never spoke about the possibility of breaking up with her boyfriend of what seemed like an eternity to Frank, even when she had returned the flirtatious qupis that accidentally slipped out of his mouth now and then. “She must be tired of going in circles with Ned like this.” He thought. She pulled her head up off his shoulder and looked up at him, something in her tired red eyes begged for help.

“You don’t think I should call him, do you?”

“I-I didn’t say anything.” Frank said as if he were defending himself.

“I know that face that you were making. Besides, you didn’t tell me right away to stay with Ned, so it’s kind obvious what you think, I might not be able to read a lot of people, but I know you Frank.”

Frank rubbed the back of his neck wondering if Nancy remembered the time he almost confessed his feelings for her over a voicemail, “I guess I can’t hide anything from you, detective. But hey, you came to that conclusion, not me. Just, don't tell Joe, he'll think I-”

“Oh I won't tell Joe. But..” She paused.

“What, Nance?”

“Do you think Ned... do you think he'll be okay? Will he hate me? What about our friends? What about you and Joe?”

“Ned, well, it'd be hard to lose someone like you definitely, but he'll move on eventually, you said he wants to be married one day? That's what he'll do then. And well, you'll keep Bess and George, obviously. Joe, he'd probably be crushed too but do his best to maintain both friendships. It'll be ok Nancy, if that's what you want to do.”

“What about you?”

“Nancy,” Frank's chest nearly exploded, I’ve been in love with you for years, he thought I’m not going anywhere. “I'm sitting on the floor in a closet in Massachusetts holding you as you cry into my arms hoping that I didn't just help you make one of the biggest mistakes of your life. I'm not going anywhere.” He tucked a loose strand of Nancy’s hair behind her ear, “And what about you Nance, will you be ok?”

Nancy wiped her tears away and cupped her face in her own hands. She breathed in “Yeah. Yeah I think I’ll be ok now. I just, it’s like I jumped off a plane and I didn’t realize it until now and kind of panicked and it’s a little late to panic now.”

“Hey, you can still panic if you want, especially if it helps.” Watching Nancy suddenly look down away from him to continue to wipe away tears pained him. “Personally I like to panic at a disco.”

A strangled laugh came from Nancy’s throat as she looked from the chest of his shirt and up to his face. “You did not just..”

“Yeah, I did just.”

Nancy shook her head at him fondly, “You’re really just a dork aren’t you? All those muscles are very misleading.” She teased. She always liked to make fun of how nerdy he really was when they were together.

“And you really just need some sleep now, don’t you?” He joked with her and motioned his head toward the closet door. “You ready?” She nodded. He helped Nancy stand up but her leg gave out from sitting on it for too long. Frank saw her lose balance and leaned over to catch her. Despite Frank catching her hand, Nancy fell against the closet wall with Frank falling almost completely against her, their heads hit each other just enough to hurt.

“Ouch!”

“Ah!” Frank hissed in pain, “I’m sorry, are you ok?”

“You’re such a clutz.” Nancy laughed lightly before feeling a pain in her head.

“Hey, you’re the one who always gets knocked out during a case, Drew.” Frank retorted, he missed hanging out with her, joking with her. He smiled looking down at Nancy, she returned the smile looking up at him. She was exhausted, her face was red and puffy, her eyes glassy, her hair a total mess, but god she’s beautiful, Frank thought.

They stayed that way for a moment in silence.

“Um, Frank?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re kind of pinning one of my arms to the wall.”

“Oh, sorry.” Quickly, he stood up properly, away from Nancy. He stood there rubbing the back of his neck feeling a bit awkward and nervous as Nancy stood up in front of him.

“You ready now?” Frank walked over to the closet door and reached for the door handle. Nancy nodded, putting her hand on top of his, and pushing on the handle.

They walked out of the closet and made eye contact almost instantly with Deirdre and Joe across the room. Deirdre was sitting at the foot of Joe’s bed while Joe, standing in front of the bed shirtless, had paused mid flex.

“What? She wanted to know if abs ran in the family,” Joe stated defensively as he changed poses, “I couldn't let you upstage me, bro.”

Deirdre stood up and made her way to the door, “Well it's been quite a pleasure, Joseph,” she nodded to Joe and then to Frank, “Franklin. But it is pretty late and if we’re going to a Halloween ragger and catch the perp tomorrow night, then I need sleep.” She gave a wave of her hand and walked out the door. Nancy smiled at Frank as she walked out the door.

***

Nancy plopped down on the hotel floor spreading old newspaper around her in a circle. She placed a few pumpkins around her on top of the newspapers as if they were a clock face and she was the center. Teegan had put the girls in charge of setting up the decorations for the town halloween party later that night.

“Come on Deirdre, I can’t carve all these pumpkins by myself by 5!” Nancy pleaded with her groggy roommate who was slowly gathering her things for a shower.

“Nancy. It is 11:30 in the morning. I am barely awake,” she mumbled slipping into the bathroom and closing the door, “bring me Starbucks.”

Nancy sighed and began to pour her focus into carving the pumpkins around her. She began with a systematic process: she gutted the pumpkin in front of her and then adjusted herself to face the next pumpkin. Moving clockwise in her circle she placed the insides of the pumpkins into a plastic shopping bag. She was almost done with this process when her phone began to buzz on her hotel bed. It was an unknown number.

“Hello?” Nancy answered cautiously.

The voice on the other end was harsh with some kind of American east coast accent. “So first of all I’m going to pretend like I’m not offended that you didn’t invite me to this big halloween bash in Salem, second-”

“Who is this?” she demanded.

“What’s the matter Nancy?” The voice dropped its false accent, “You don’t recognize my melodious voice?”

Nancy gasped, ‘Sonny? Is that you?’

“Bingo.”

“But I have your number, and why did you sound so… weird?”

“I have a new job in Washington and I’m on a burner phone, that’s all I can really say right now.”

“Another Sonny Joon adventure?”

“Always another Sonny Joon adventure.”

Nancy could practically hear him winking. “So, did you look into Jenna Ravencraft for me?”

“Course I did Nancy, you know I always deliver,” digital beeping noises could be heard from Sonny’s line, “Her alibi checks out.”

“How’d you find that out? She said she was out in the middle of the woods in the dead of night when the house caught on fire.”

Sonny sighed, “Let’s just say I have some friends in Salem, some of which keep tabs on particular parts of the woods.”

“Okay... so, that ruins my working theory.” She huffed.

“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. Oh, and Nancy? Take it from an experienced Salem tour guide, you’re going to want to stay away from those woods. They’re… not safe.”

“Thanks for the warning.” Nancy said skeptically before they said goodbye.

Nancy returned her attention to the pumpkins before she drifted off thinking about the case again. Sonny had just crossed out her only working theory and now she felt stuck. She thought about calling Bess and George but she didn’t want to distract them from their Halloween party prep. Maybe call Ned? Oh right… Ned. At that thought she began to block out the world and pour herself into the mystery at hand as she carved generic jack o'lanterns as if on autopilot.

Whoever the perpetrator was they had been leaving behind cryptic notes for Deirdre and now for Nancy to decipher in hopes that the girls would lead them to whatever valuable thing was that the notes hinted at. They were difficult to understand and still very cryptic once deciphered but with the help of Sonny and ATAC resources they were starting to make some headway. The crew was beginning to suspect that whoever was causing the strange events was hoping to let the girls do all the work leading them to the whatever treasure might be so they could swoop in and take it for themselves.

Just then Deirdre came out of the bathroom looking effortlessly perfect as usual. “Where’s my coffee?” she whined.

“Oh, I forgot I was thinking about the case.”

“Uggghhh,” fine I’ll get it myself.” Deirdre grabbed her phone and made a phone call on speaker. She carefully placed her phone on the little wooden table with the Salem brochures next to where Nancy sat on the floor. Above the table was a mirror on the wall, she began to comb out her wet hair.

“Hey Deirdre what do you want my brother for this time?” Frank’s voice suddenly filling the room through the phone caught Nancy off guard making her jump a little.

“Hey Hardy, I need coffee, bring me some.” Deirdre snarked.

“Is that Deirdre? Hi Deirdre! Is Nancy there too? HI NAN oh shi-” Joe’s distant voice was followed by a shuffle and clatter. “Oops, my bad.”

Nancy giggled, “Hi Joe.”

“Joe pay attention to what you’re doing, please.” Frank pleaded with his brother who had just dropped a few boxes of decorations on the floor. “Well, you’re in luck because we were just about to take a much needed midday coffee break. What do you want us to bring you?”

Deirdre’s tone instantly became warm and cheery, “a venti skinny vanilla latte please!” she said with a smile.

Joe took over the phone, “Consider us on our way. Oh and when we get there we’re going to go ver the plan for tonight, Frank thinks he’s onto something.”

“Great see you then, bye!” Deirdre hung up in a rush and looked over at Nancy, “since you were so busy thinking about the case, did you make any breakthroughs?”

“Well Sonny called and he said that he looked into it and Jenna Ravencraft’s alibi checks out. She was in the woods during the fire after all.”

“What was she doing in the woods?”

“Honestly I don’t know but I trust Sonny.” Nancy sighed as she leaned back looking at one of her jack o'lanterns, “hey, does this look scary to you?”

Deirdre rolled her eyes, “Oh honestly Nancy, you need to make the mouth’s more pointy, here, let me do it.”

The two girls carved jack o’lanterns in an almost comfortable silence and had just finished them up when there was a knock at the door.

“We brought pizza!” Joe’s voice sang from the other side of the door.

Deirdre got up and walked over to the door, “Did you bring coffee?” She insisted.

There was a small silence, “Yes.” Joe answered. Deirdre opened the door. “I thought we could have lunch together and go over our plan for tonight” Joe grinned and stepped inside the room. Frank followed him inside holding two Starbucks drink trays. Deirdre picked hers out and began drinking it right away.

Frank sighed, “Coffee and pizza, a weird combination, we know. But we needed to have lunch and Joe wanted to pitch his plan for tonight.” He sat down on the floor with his back leaning against the foot of one of the beds and placed the coffee trays next to him and Nancy sat down on the other side of the coffee trays.

“What’s with all the coffee?” Nancy asked Frank.

“Oh, I didn’t know if you wanted anything so I was going to bring you some but while I was ordering I realized that I don’t actually know how you like your coffee, so I got three different kinds. I can just drink whatever you don’t want anyway.” Nancy smiled and Frank began identifying what was in each coffee cup. Joe set the pizza boxes on the bed and Deirdre sat down next to them. Joe stood in front of all of them with a slice of pizza in each hand, he began to explain his plan for catching the culprit tonight.

“So,” Joe said in between bites, “Frank deciphered one of the notes that was left for Deirdre.”

“If I understand it correctly then the thing the culprit is after is a first hand account of the witch trials that historians have never found, it’s hidden somewhere on the Hathorne property.” Frank handed Nancy the cup of blonde roast espresso that she had decided on.

“And we all know the culprit is trying to use Deirdre and Nancy to find this old notebook for them, so if we can just pretend that we know where it is, we can lure the culprit into a trap during the party tonight.” Joe took another bite of his pizza.

“So what, we just spread the word that we found the book and wait for someone to knock us out?” Deirdre huffed.

“Here’s my plan, we start spreading the word that Deirdre knows where the old records are that the perpetrator is after. It’s highly likely that the perp will be at the party tonight since it’s on Hathorne property too, let’s say Deirdre goes off to get the records-”

“Then I knock out any creep who follows me.” Deirdre interjected.

Joe turned to Deirdre, “Don’t worry we’ll all be there as backup,” he motioned to himself and Frank and Nancy. “Frank and I are testing out these new smart watches for ATAC.” Joe lifted his wrist to show his watch, Frank did the same to show Nancy.

She lightly grabbed Frank by his hand and forearm to get a better look. “Oh, cool!” They looked similar to an apple watch with a touch screen face, she wondered what kind of special features ATAC equipped it with.

“We only have two so I’ll trail Deirdre around the party and Nancy can stick by Frank that way we can keep tabs on everyone. Plus we’ll all be there in costume, complete disguises, so we can be on the lookout for both you and the perp without them recognizing us. We’ll blend in perfectly at the party.”

Nancy broke away from her side conversation with Frank, “But I don’t have a costume.”

“Don’t worry Nan, I called in a little favor and your costume is actually waiting for you to pick it up down in the lobby.”

Frank looked at his brother as if he were already dreading what Joe had in mind for him, “And what about me, Joe?”

Joe grinned at his brother, “Don’t worry man, I brought you a costume too.” Frank internally started to get concerned at whatever crazy scheme his brother was pulling at his expense. “And Deirdre as for your costume-”

Deirdre smiled and winked at Joe, “Oh I brought a costume.”

“Alright then, so we’re all set for tonight? We’ll all go into the party separately and meet up inside? I’ll have Deirdre’s back, Nancy and Frank you can keep an eye out on all our suspects?”

“It’s worth a shot.” Nancy chimed in.

“Great, we’ll leave you girls to get ready, Frank and I still have some decorations to put and we promised Mrs. Hathorne we’d have everything set up by 5. Did you guys finish the jack o’lanterns?”

“You bet!” Nancy grinned. She pointed out to Frank which one was her favorite that she had carved.

“I’ll try not to drop it then.” He said almost as if he wasn’t joking. Nancy laughed and lightly hit his shoulder causing him to break out into a grin. “I brought you three coffees remember?” He laughed trying to cover himself with his arms and bringing his knees toward his chest.

“Well then you better take these pumpkins out of here so I can start getting ready.” Deirdre stood up to hand Joe a jack o’lantern who quickly shoved his last bit of pizza in his mouth.

****

Nancy had helped the boys take some of the carved pumpkins down to their car and topped by the lobby to pick up the package Joe had mentioned. She now sat on her hotel bed, legs crossed with the package in front of her. It was almost time to leave for the party, Deirdre was sitting on the sink counter busy finishing her hair and makeup. Nancy opened the package and black material slipped out onto a pile on the bed along with a little handwritten note. Nancy picked up the piece of paper.

Don’t have too much fun without us!

Love, Bess & George

“Oh no.” Nancy groaned, realizing exactly what all the black fabric was. She picked it up and held it out in front of her. It was the black cat suit that Nancy had brought back from a case she had in Italy. Bess and George thought it was the funniest thing that Nancy had to dance in a cat suit to get extra money while on a case once and they never let her hear the end of it. Nancy sighed and got dressed, the suit was a little tighter than she remembered but it had been a few years since she had even touched it.

Deirdre walked into the room “Oh wow Drew, I didn’t think you were this into the Halloween spirit.”

“Um, it’s a long story, Bess and George sent it.” Confused, Nancy looked at Deirdre who was in underwear and a silk robe that was tied closed. “Where’s your costume?”

“Oh, your right.” Deirdre grabbed a pair of white wings out of the hotel closet. “There, now I’m ready to go.” She could see that Nancy was still confused. “I’m an Angel, you know, a Victoria’s Secret model?”

“Oh.” Nancy nodded.

About fifteen minutes later, still feeling awkward in her suit Nancy got into a cab to take her to the Hathorne house. Deirdre had left a little earlier and it was time for Nancy to slip into the party and look out for anything suspicious. Upon arrival getting dropped off at the party Nancy stood on the roadside admiring how beautiful the old house looked. There was the faint sound of music from the distant party and the warm light pouring from the windows, but the way it glowed in the moonlight around the trees was chilling. Nancy almost hated that the the city decided to throw a town party in a place with so much history, granted the party wasn’t supposed to get out of hand, but still.

Once inside Nancy quickly realized she had no idea how to find Joe or Frank because she didn’t know what they were wearing and she had left her phone at the hotel since her costume had no pockets. Great, she thought, now what? She saw people dressed as werewolves, cartoon characters, vampires, Star Wars characters, people dressed as foods, some creative costumes, and a few “sexy” variations of things Nancy couldn’t identify. After awhile of looking around she spotted Deirdre talking to Mei Parris near the tables of food and candy. Nancy walked over to one of the nearby candy tables to see what they had. She saw Moon Chunks, Auntie’s Acorns, Licky Loo lollipops, finally in s bowl at the end she saw fun sized versions of her favorite candy, Koko Kringle bars. She peeled her mask up just above her lips and ate one of the candies. Whew! She thought. It’s so much easier to breathe with the mask this way.

She walked past Deirdre who made eye contact with her and then quickly glanced across the room. Nancy followed her gaze to catch a glimpse of Teegan Parris slipping into a separate room. Nancy decided to cut through the dance floor in pursuit. A slower paced song came on and she had to squeeze through a group of girls in tutus walking off the dance floor and shove past the cast of Twilight. She nearly tripped over Jacob’s werewolf tail but was caught by someone in a Spider-man suit. Not only did he catch her, he brought her into a ballroom dancing position, and began dancing the box step with her? Nancy looked up and was about to protest against the mysterious menace.

“Watch your step Miss LaRue, you might get knocked out.” The Spider-man’s words were muffled through his mask.

Nancy quickly relaxed and fell into step with his dancing. “Frank?” she gasped. Frank was the only person who knew the name that was given to her dancer black cat suit persona in Italy. She would have told Bess and George but she knew they would just make fun of her even more. Sure Frank might make fun of it, but at least he’d keep it a secret.

He used one hand to lift his mask up from his neck just enough to show his mouth and the tip of his nose. “Hey you.” he grinned. She could recognize those lips anywhere.

“Frank!” Nancy smiled, relieved that she wasn’t so alone anymore. “Oh but Teegan Paris just went into that room, I have to go-”

“Don’t worry, Joe was already following her.” Frank continued to lead their dance.

“So, I didn’t expect you to be in such a...” Nancy hesitated to find the right word, “fitting costume.” The suit was just like the kinds you see in the movies, no fake muscle padding, just the stretchy breathable material fitting just right in all places, making him look taller and his shoulders broader. It reminded her just how muscular he actually was.

“Yeah well, apparently Joe bought it for me when he saw how I was really into the new Spider-man PS4 game. And it is Halloween so, why not. It is kind of fun.” He spun her. “As for you, I guess I am a little surprised to see you dawning the infamous cat suit that you swore you’d never wear again.”

Nancy was pulled back in close to Frank after the spin. “I guess Joe asked Bess and George to send up one of my old costumes for the party,” she sighed, “I’m going to kill them when I get home.”

“You don’t look bad.” Frank offered. What he wanted to say was that she looked good because she did, but he didn’t want it to come across the wrong way.

“Thanks,” Nancy felt her ears get a little red under her mask, “You don’t look to bad yourself, tiger.”

The song changed to a slightly more upbeat one to which Frank adjusted his lead to. “Remember that case we had in Michigan when we could have won that state dancing competition.” He remarked as he looked around the room behind her.

“If only we were actually from Michigan.” Nancy knew he was recalling how during the case they had a system for watching their suspects while they seemed to rehearse their dance routines, and they did get surprisingly good at dancing too. She surveyed the room and saw Deirdre looking over her shoulder as she quickly went downstairs toward the basement. Lauren Corey seemed to sneak down the stairs shortly after her, giving Nancy a bad feeling.

Nancy leaned closer into Frank, “At your six, a target spotted in pursuit headed down the west stairs.” She would have said something normal like ‘Behind you I saw Lauren following Deirdre down to the basement’ but she remembered how Joe’s love for ‘making things sound cool while on a case’ had rubbed off on Frank.

He led them into a spin so that he could look in the direction she had noted.

“Over there.” She said quietly looking at the stairs. They both saw someone in a Stormtrooper costume walk down the stairs.

Frank chuckled a bit and his watch buzzed once, “Looks like Joe is on it.” Frank brought Nancy in even more, closing up the space between them as they danced, “But I love it when you talk espionage to me.” he said hushly to her, their cheeks touching.

Nancy playfully lifted her right leg and hooked it around Frank’s left leg like a dramatic salsa dancer, “How could I forget?” The tip of her nose touched his, she could just barely see his green eyes through the mask lenses. Their lips had come dangerously close to touching… It was as if the world slowed down, almost standing still.

They were interrupted by a Frank’s watch that was violently buzzing and flashing. He pulled away from Nancy. He sounded breathless, “Joe needs help.” He wiped his head around toward the staircase to the basement. Just then a high pitched screeching rang throughout the whole house. Nancy and Frank both flinched, bracing themselves from the auditory impact. Sounding almost like a banshee screaming it causing the party goers to scream and rush the exits in a panic. Nancy watched as Frank grabbed the back of his mask and pull it off in one swift motion. She did the same.

“The fire alarm!” Nancy shouted over to Frank.

“We need to find Joe and Deirdre!” Frank shouted back to her. He fought through the crowds of people trying to go the opposite direction. He used one arm to shove past people and the other arm he kept behind him against his back so that Nancy could hold and follow behind him. Once they got to the stairs they were able to run freely. Nancy reached the door at the bottom of the stairs first. She grabbed the door handle letting out a yelp and quickly drawing her hand back. The door handle was hot but it wasn’t locked. They both rushed inside.

“Don’t let the door close!” Deirdre’s voice yelled over the crackling fire. Frank and Nancy turned around but it was too late to catch the door. Nancy tried to open the door but it was locked on this side.

“Deirdre?” Nancy shouted, “Where are you?”

“Over here!” Deirdre’s voice came to the left corner of the room near the door. She was kneeling on the floor next to Joe. She had taken his helmet off and was using it to elevate his legs. “Lauren figured out our plan! And this idiot got knocked out.” Although she sounded like she was starting to panic, Deirdre seemed to still be annoyed despite the situation.

“Did she get the journal?” Nancy asked, kneeling down next to Joe and Deirdre.

“Not on my life.” Deirdre reached behind her and pulled a small old notebook that she had kept tucked under the back of her bra strap. “Lauren took a fake.”

Nancy looked around the room. As the fire spread up the right side she noticed rope on the floor next to Deirdre and the fresh red bruises around her arms and legs. It didn’t look too good, how well could Deirdre walk after that?

Joe started to gain consciousness. “Joe!” Relieved, Frank started helping his brother stand up.

Joe instinctively grabbed his helmet. “Did I miss something?” Joe mumbled.

Deirdre stood up, using the wall to lean against. Nancy walked over and put Deirdre’s arm around her shoulders to help her walk.

Frank had helped Joe walk toward the door in hopes of knocking the door down but the fire had caught onto the door. Frank’s eyes darted around the room. He spotted a window near the top of the left wall, it’d be a tight fit for Joe and his costume but they could fit, if they made it in time.

“Over there!” Frank coughed as he pointed to the window. They all walked over to the wall. Frank let go of his brother.

“Up you go.” He said to Nancy as he knelt down against the wall cupping his hands together. Nancy quickly understood and put one foot up into his hands as he pushed her up toward the window. Nancy struggled to move the latch but she finally got it and slipped through the window. Frank hoisted Deirdre up next, she shimmied through the window and Nancy helped pull her through. Next was Joe. Frank helped his brother up to the window in the same fashion but also had to help push him through the window as the girls pulled him due to the bulkiness of Joe’s costume.

Now for Frank to get out the window. He hadn’t thought this far. He looked around for something to help him.

“Get the rope!” Nancy coughed pointing at it on the floor.

Frank ran over to it. The rope was laying dangerously close to the fire. The heat was strong and it felt like he burned himself trying to grab it, but at least it wasn't on fire. He ran over to the wall and threw the rope up to Nancy. Joe and Deirdre grabbed some of the slack behind Nancy to be an anchor while Frank started to climb his way up the rope. The others pulled. He made it through the window. They all collapsed on the grass next to each other.

***

Although it felt longer, the fire department and an ambulance arrived moments later. Deirdre had a blanket around her and was explaining what happened to the police. Joe was laying in a gurney outside of the ambulance getting checked out by nurses. Frank and Nancy sat shoulder to shoulder on the grass under a tree nearby waiting to give their statements to the police. They were sharing a blanket they had gotten from the EMTs.

“Are you sure you’re ok? I could go ask for an oxygen mask for you.” Frank put a hand on Nancy’s back as she coughed.

“No, no. I’m fine.” Nancy managed to say though her coughs.

“You know,” Frank sighed “it’s kind of funny how this is our first shared near death experience.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of nice not to face death alone for once.” Nancy had stopped coughing.

“We could do it again sometime if you want.”

“You sure know how to show a girl a good time.” Nancy joked sarcastically, shoving him with her shoulder. “Hey Frank?” Nancy looked up at him. He had ash smeared on his face and his hair was messy and standing up a bit from his mask. “Speaking of near death experiences,” Nancy said lightly, “What was it that you wanted to tell me?”

“What are you talking about?” Frank looked puzzled.

“You know, when I was in Colorado, you and Joe left me a voicemail,”

Oh no.

“You said there was something you always wanted to tell me?”

Frank’s heart rate increased suddenly. “Um-” He laughed nervously. “I-”

Nancy leaned her head against his shoulder and snuggled closer to him. “It’s ok, you can tell me. Joe told Bess and Bess told me.”

Maybe she could solve mysteries without having to be alone.

Nancy grabbed one of Frank's hands and held it in hers.

“I just want to hear you say it.” She closed her eyes and felt the tension leave Frank’s body as his chest let out a sigh of relief

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svtskneecaps · 7 years ago

Text

Blink and You’ll Miss It - Part 4

Summary: Sanha’s been a curious shit her whole life. Jackson’s always told her she’s going to get herself killed at some point. She thought that was a bunch of bull, but he might’ve actually been right. She might be in way over her head on this one.

Featuring: A bunch of bull, a lot of cursing, merciless butchering of honorifics, and other things. Essentially, it’s a Comedy of Errors: Story Version.

Warnings: Cursing. Lots and lots of it.

First ~~~ Previous ~~~ Next

Masterlist

“Oh my god I can’t believe I forgot!” Sanha groaned, leaning backward until she’d knocked her chair onto the floor. Youngjae jumped at the sudden noise, laughing sheepishly afterwards.

“I can,” Jackson said dryly, grinning as she playfully glared at him. “What’d you forget?”

“Alyssum, it doesn’t just help with emotional balance, it protects against glamours and hexes.” She slapped her forehead. “God, I’m such an idiot!”

“So pack some.” Jackson pushed his own chair back and grabbed the opal necklace they’d picked up at the store the day before. He draped it around his neck, and Sanha laughed.

“You look like my grandmother.”

“At least I’m not going to die.”

“Opal just makes you brave and blocks glamour, silly. It doesn’t protect you.”

“it gets combined into strong opal and passes that onto the wearer,” he insisted. “I looked it up.”

She shrugged and slid her own necklace on. “Mine matches my aesthetic.”

“I hate to break it to you, but you’re as colorful and cheerful as you can get. Ebony does not match you,” Jaebum stated as he settled a crown of alyssum flowers in his hair.

“Yeah well, I never pegged you as a flower crown kind of guy, but here we are.”

“You’re just jealous.”

Youngjae pulled on his bracelet of lava rock and bronzite and stood. “Guys, we have to go, we’re losing daylight.”

“You know daylight doesn’t matter for what we’re doing, right?” Sanha asked as she slung her bag over her shoulder.

“It makes it easier to not die while we’re getting there.”

“Finally, someone who agrees with me!” Jackson threw his arm around Youngjae’s shoulders. Sanha rolled her eyes at them and pulled the door open.

“After you!”

As they walked, Sanha filled them in on the research she’d done into what she might’ve seen.

“Right now, all I know with absolute certainty is that it’s not a ghost,” she explained. “Our best bet right now is that it’s a spirit.”

“Aren’t those the same thing?”

“Not exactly.” Sanha’s brow furrowed as she tried to think how to phrase it, and she pulled her notepad out of the bag at her side, flipping through the pages to find her notes.

“You still use a physical notepad?” Youngjae stared at her.

“I’m old fashioned.” She shrugged. “And anyway, it helps me organize. Do you want the question answered or not?”

“Ghosts are remnants of people that were once alive and died in some horrendous way or with unfinished business,” Jaebum explained for her while she found her page. “ ‘Spirit’ includes ghosts but a little more than that besides.”

“Yeah,” Sanha agreed, tracing her pen down the page. “Ghosts manifest as dark shadows and these little sounds, but rarely more than that. Spirits are practically physical, which is kind of what I saw, and they aren’t necessarily a dead person. Essentially they’re like the soul of a person, the ‘energetic part’, and it leaves the body when they die. They can possess other bodies too.”

“So are they evil or nice, or what?”

“That depends. And get this, if the spirit in the body isn’t the original, they’re basically invincible! Isn’t that exciting?”

Jackson groaned. “Thanks, that makes me feel so much better.”

“At least you have your necklace.”

“So if the guy in the building’s a spirit, then what’re we meant to do about it? I mean, he’s probably dead, that’s why he’s a spirit.”

“I don’t think that’s it.” A thoughtful frown appeared on Youngjae’s face. “It’s too simple. Besides, the building didn’t actually explode. Something else must’ve happened, and they covered it up.”

“So they got murdered?” Jaebum theorized.

Youngjae shook his head as he moved the sign away from the face so they could sneak through the hole. “Glamouring a whole building to fake an explosion just because a couple kids were killed seems excessive, since they probably could’ve just actually blown up the building. It would’ve used a lot less energy than sustaining the glamour.”

“So you think they’re still alive?” Sanha leaned on the sign, waiting her turn. “And it’s all a plot to hide that fact?”

“That’s what I think right now.” He squeezed through the hole. “That’s all assuming that the building isn’t destroyed, though.”

Sanha snorted, sliding through the fence. “Please, I’m nosy, not nuts.”

They put the sign back and headed for the dorm building. As through from some previous agreement, they all paused at the last corner.

“Well.” Sanha sighed. “Moment of truth. Who’s going first?”

They stared at each other for a second, before Jackson pulled up a clenched fist hovering over his palm without breaking eye contact. “Best two out of three, winners fight and the overall winner decides.”

With the rules set, they paired off and played.

Eventually, they reached the overall game, with Jackson facing Jaebum. Jaebum won the first round, they tied three times, and Jackson pulled it back with two consecutive wins. The mood of the situation was temporarily lost as he danced around victoriously.

“Yeah, that’s right! Who’s the best!” he crowed at the sky. Sanha covered her mouth as she bent over from her laughter. “Okay, so anyone except Sanha can go first.”

“You have to actually pick someone, oppa, that was the prize.”

“Really? Okay fine. Jaebum hyung.”

Sighing like he’d expected it, Jaebum stepped around the corner. There was a breathless second as they waited for feedback before Sanha ran out of patience and stepped around the corner herself.

“It worked.” The words dropped out of her mouth with her breath as she stared up at the dorm building silhouetted against the sky. “It actually worked.”

“Damn.” Jackson stepped out next to her, making a face as she whispered for him to watch his language.

“Okay.” Youngjae breathed out semi-fearfully. “This just got real.”

“If you want to back out now, that’s totally fine,” Sanha reassured him.

He threw his shoulders back and shook his head. “It’ll be okay. How bad can it be?” Jackson leaned around behind him to knock on wood.

“Let’s go before it gets too late.” Jaebum strode forward, looking confident in body, but his face screamed that he was definitely not sure about any of this. “Sanha, where’d you see the spirit?”

“Second floor past a broken door. Jackson oppa knows what it looks like.”

“Speaking of the broken door,” Jackson started. “How are we going to get past that? It’s locked, and Sanha’s the only one small enough to get through.”

“We break it more?” Youngjae suggested as Jaebum pushed the front door open and they slipped inside.

“I could always just go at it alone.”

“No!” Sanha’s suggestion was immediately shot down by three vehement voices. She lifted her hands in surrender and swung the front door almost closed.

“Jeez, find some chill. It’s this way.” She led the way up the stairs as they continued debating behind her. The broken door looked just like she remembered, and without waiting for the boys she crawled through the hole.

“Sanha I swear to god-” Jackson’s heated statement stopped threateningly in the middle.

“Just break the door, silly. I’m not going to go anywhere.” She rolled her eyes.

“We agreed that was a bad idea,” Jaebum reminded her.

“I didn’t agree anything.” She leaned against the wall, staring down at the window at the end. “I told you, I’m not going anywhere. Just get the door and get in here.”

Someone started kicking at the edges of the hole, so she moved farther down to avoid the chips of wood that flew from the edges. As she did, a few notes sounded in her ears, familiar chords. A soft oh dropped from her lips as she turned to the hallway, anticipation thrumming through her body. What had he said? Don’t look away, keep your eye contact with me.

“. . . no one can keep us apart.” The soft words met her ears, and then there he was, standing at the end of the hall.

“Hi.” She breathed the word out in her awed exhale. She was acutely aware of Jackson’s exasperated breathing behind her as he struggled to pull himself through the hole, but refused to look away this time as the boy ran down the hall. Daylight streamed into the hallway, she reached out to him, his hand was so close-

-and he went straight through her.

“Dammit!” she swore and dropped her hand, turning quickly around. He hadn’t vanished, luckily, but he stared at his hands with a bleak, shocked expression. The daylight in the hallway went out, and everything was the same except for the new presence.

“Language,” Jackson snapped breathlessly. “If I can’t say it, neither can you.” He seemed completely unaware of the boy standing maybe a foot from him. They made confused eye contact before going back to Jackson. “You mind giving me a hand?”

“Yes,” she teased automatically, moving to help. As soon as he was through, he kicked the door next to the handle a couple times and it swung open, the door jamb splitting.

“The damn thing opens the wrong way,” he explained.

“Why didn’t you just tell me to do it?”

“Because you’re a little featherweight, and it was easier to do it the other way.” He surveyed the hallway as she scoffed in mock offense. “So where’s your spirit at?”

She gave him a confused look. “Can you seriously not see him?” Sanha glanced back at the slightly transparent man in the corner, with Youngjae following her gaze.

“Sanha, there’s nothing there.” Jaebum frowned, glancing between her and the corner.

Youngjae snapped his fingers. “It must be items!” He turned to Sanha. “That’s why we can see him but they can’t.” Abruptly he turned and bowed to the confused boy in the corner. “Hi, by the way.”

“Oh thank god, I’m useless,” Jackson said sarcastically.

“No, you just brought the wrong thing.” Sanha frowned down at her ebony pendent. “I don’t know what about this would lead to. . .” She trailed off.

“Does anyone mind explaining?” Jinyoung finally spoke.

“Oh shit, of course.” Sanha dropped the pendent and bowed, ignoring Jackson calling out her language. “I’m Kim Sanha, beside me is Wang Jackson, Im Jaebum, and Choi Youngjae. It’s a long, wild story but the gist is I’m trying to figure out what’s up with this section of campus with my wide array of sidekicks!”

“Partners,” Jaebum edited her statement.

“Details.”

“I’m Park Jinyoung.” He bowed hesitantly, still seeming confused.

“Sorry if this is rushing things, but what the fuck happened here?” Sanha pulled out her notepad and prepared to write down anything that seemed important.

“I’m really not sure,” he admitted. “I broke up with my girlfriend and she didn’t like that, so she enlisted the help of another guy in our dorm and did something that moved us into another universe, I think.”

“Just you and her?”

“Me, Mark, Yugyeom, her, and the guy, BamBam. I guess he’s a demon, because he was the one with the magic knowledge.”

As he spoke, Sanha ran through the five missing students. She didn’t recognize the last name, and assumed it was a nickname for the other male student. It didn’t sound like the name of a demon to her, but she hadn’t done research into demons so that made sense.

“So the others are still here?” she asked. He nodded. “Are they in an intangible form like yours?”

“I think so. To tell the truth, I didn’t know I was until I ran through you. While we’re on the subject, I’m sorry about that. Honestly, you’re the first new person I’ve seen in a really long time.”

“You’re good,” she reassured him.

“Where are the others?” Youngjae asked.

Jinyoung stared past them with a thoughtful expression. “Mark usually hangs out in 1704, and I think Yugyeom is in 1209. BamBam you don’t want to run into, but he tends to hang around the third floor, and I haven’t seen my ex since the first day.” Upon hearing the first room number, Sanha couldn’t help but laugh, but she hid it behind her hand.

Youngjae took Jaebum’s arm. “Come on hyung, let’s go find Yugyeom.”

“And then what?”

“We’ll. . . figure it out.”

“Reassuring.

Sanha studied Jinyoung as the other two left. “Can you move between rooms, then?”

“Yeah. I can show you where 1704 is,” he offered.

“We know where 1704 is.” At her words, Jackson’s face went shades of white and pink embarrassment and he buried his face in the bag he’d brought, acting as though he was searching for something. She stifled another giggle. “But I’d love for you to come with.” She thought maybe his older way of speaking was getting to her, but it didn’t mean enough for her to care.

“Hah!” Jackson suddenly shouted, withdrawing his hand from the bag and waving something around. “Hah, I knew I still had it in there!” He stopped flailing it around as he slipped it on, keeping it still long enough for Sanha to see that it was an ebony ring. Immediately, his eyes landed on Jinyoung.

“Hello, I’m Jinyoung.” As though at a loss, the boy introduced himself again.

“Wang Jackson.”

“If there’s a demon we should get on with it,” Sanha said.

“I’m willing to overlook your crazy phrasing because there’s a demon?!”

“Talk and walk~!” she sang, tugging on his arm and inviting Jinyoung to come with, which he did, albeit with a bemused expression.

It didn’t take very long for Jinyoung and Sanha to explain everything, and it took even less time for them to get to room 1704. Jinyoung didn’t have any problems with the floor, since he wasn’t a physical form, but the other two had some minor difficulties.

Finally standing at the door, they looked awkwardly at each other for a couple seconds, before Jackson bowed gallantly, echoing the words he’d said their first time at the door. “Thrill seekers first.”

She rolled her eyes and shoved his shoulder, but pulled the door open and stepped through. It was a familiar scene. Nothing had changed since the last time she was in there, the time which would not be mentioned. Just like before there was a dark shadow on the balcony when she turned to look, although this time the doors were open.

“Mark!” Jinyoung called his attention. The figure turned and walked back inside, and his features became clear. Nobody said anything for a long minute, as Mark seemed surprised to see them. Unsurprisingly, it was Jackson who broke the silence.

“You’re quite handsome, Mark-ssi.”

Sanha hit herself in the forehead.

Mark blushed pink and looked down. “Ah- thank you.”

“Don’t mind him, he’s a little shit.” Sanha pushed Jackson to the side and stepped in front of him. “I’m Kim Sanha, and this is Wang Jackson.”

“Tuan Mark.”

“Nice to meet you.”

He paused, before turning slightly. “So you’re real then? Physical.”

“I would hope so. I was when I came in.” Sanha pinched herself. “I’m not even sure how I’d check that.”

“I haven’t seen anyone physically real in years.”

“So you knew you were intangible, then?”

He nodded. “BamBam- did something. I’m not sure what. He punched me out of my body.” As he spoke he made the motion with his arms, pushing away from him with his palm out in a way that looked like he was trying to win a splash fight in a pool.

“Punched you out of your body?” She recognized that.

“I know it doesn’t make much sense; I’ve been trying to make sense of it for years.” He blushed a bit.

“No, it totally makes sense.”

Jackson gave her a sideways look. “It does?”

“Yeah, remember how I told you that the spirit’s the soul of a person, the energetic part? BamBam knocked the energetic part out of the physical somehow,” she explained.

“So if we find the physical part, then we’ll be tangible again?” Jinyoung asked.

“In theory.” She scribbled the hypothesis down in her notepad. “I’m not a hundred percent right now, but it’s our best bet, so we may as well test it.”

“I don’t know where my body is, though. He hid it somewhere.” Mark frowned.

“Well he’s not going to make it easy,” Jackson mumbled.

“It probably can’t have gone far.” Sanha tapped her pencil eraser against her cheekbone. “With the energy required to keep up this kind of glamour, he can’t have moved them outside the building, and if he had someone would have found them already. Technically you guys are still missing, not confirmed dead, so they should still be in the building.”

“So-”

The door burst open, cutting off whatever Jinyoung was about to say. Youngjae stood in the doorway, breathing heavily. “We’ve got problems.”

#got7 #got7 au #wang jackson #im jaebum #choi youngjae #park jinyoung #tuan mark #kim yugyeom #bambam #bambam bhuwakul #sorry it took so long to get more of the members in #i promise they'll play bigger roles later

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