#this got itself stuck in my ear again this morning

[faeriekit]

#i'm very pro danny accidentally adopts a whole bunch of talons previous installments

*

The next day, the body was back.

The green was gone from its eyes, but the awareness wasn't; it spent about an hour watching people go around outside Danny's apartment, which was new behavior. None of the corpses that shadowed him had shown any interest in garden-variety humans before. Now it sat at the window and watched families come home from school or head to their afternoon shifts.

That went into Danny's notes.

After that hour, it taught itself to flush the toilet repeatedly, rearranged the contents of Danny's half-assed linen closet (again) and then stood hovering over the safe where Danny had stashed the ectoplasm.

"...Okay," said Danny.

The dead body croaked. It was a new sound, but there was no context for it. Danny just kind of...wrote it down and hoped for the best.

The day after, Danny woke up at a very reasonable ten forty eight in the morning to find stray corpses feeding each other spoonfuls of ectoplasm in the kitchen.

At that point he kind of had to throw out the notes on how much each one was dosed with, because what the fuck.

"Really?!" Danny shouted, spooking the bodies into fleeing behind chairs and doors and back into his closet again. The only one that didn't flee was Danny's ringmaster corpse of the hour, of course. "You really couldn't wait??"

It stuck out a withered black tongue out at the mortician, who was, really, the victim in all of this. A victim to his parents' whims and a victim to the dead people who followed him around all the time.

This was how Danny found out that, when it doubt, the corpses could just tear through solid steel if they were motivated enough. The finger-marks were so deep and so embedded that they actually looked more like rough claws in the metal.

Great.

Danny ordered a new locking cage for the fridge on Prime and darted off to work. One of his regulars was on the table, though, so Danny just ended up doing what he would have at home— sewing up a gash in its neck and reattaching dead fingers back onto dead stumps.

On the third day, in which four of Danny's frequent fliers had learned from the first how to flush the toilet (and therefore raise the water bill immensely) Danny got a ring from a dark voice he (almost) recognized.

"Is he here?"

Danny squinted, jerking the phone further under his ear as he whipped up some scrambled eggs. The dead girl leaning over his shoulder leaned a little closer to watch the egg froth up. "Is who here? Who is this?"

"This is Batman. Is— the body requisitioned from your facility currently at your place of residence?"

Danny fully let go of the whisk. It landed haphazardly in the glass bowl he'd been stirring in. "What on Earth is a Batman?" he asked, incredulous.

"I visited your workplace previously."

Oh! "Yeah, the cop's friend. I remember now." Danny pulled the whisk out of the liquid eggs and held it out to the body. The unusually animate cadaver mostly prodded the whisk wires and paid no attention to him. "No one's here but me, though. Not that it's your business...?"

"And there are no non-living bodies currently in your apartment?"

Danny ignored the flushing noise in the other room. "I don't know, dude. They practically live in the walls at this point. Don't come over unless you have a warrant."

The call ended with a click.

His omelette turned out amazing, by the way. In case you were wondering.

On the fourth day, the ectoplasm was gone, because the corpses had apparently all taught each other how to lockpick the container in the fridge.

"Okay, some of that was meant to be my dinner. No more lotion at the funeral home now, okay? Now you all can be ashy forever. I'm so serious," Danny complained to the only visible dead person in the room.

The dead person held up a cracked egg. It was probably a gesture of peace, but now there was egg on his vinyl flooring to deal with. And. It wasn't exactly all that comforting in the end.

On the fifth day, Danny awoke to the sensation of a hand jamming itself through his neck until it punched into the mattress beneath him.

Fuck.

[urhoneycombwitch]

living room lover’s rock

foreword: was in the mood for some domestic bitchy steddie x reader. that’s all

cw: no smut but sexual content (+18 as always), steddie established throuple/poly relationship, Steve’s kind of the sugar daddy, Reader with breasts, femme pet names used for R (princess, girl)

wc: 1.2k

___

It’s after six and Eddie’s got you pinned flat with his knee in your hip socket, hands dragging through each other’s hair, a proper couch spit-swapping session in full swing until the front door to the trailer slamming shut interrupts his rhythm.

“You two just couldn’t wait, huh?” Steve’s tone is husked with fatigue and admonishment as he hangs his jacket on the hall hook- must not be too upset, though, ‘cuz after toeing off his shoes he approaches the couch with head tilted in interest.

His fingers slip behind the knot of his tie, tugging it free from collared confines to hang loosely around his neck. His other hand plants itself on a hip as he stands over you and Eddie, watching, hunger brewing.

Eddie graciously attaches himself to the sweet spot behind your ear, freeing up your mouth to gasp and speak. “It- ah- it’s your boyfriend's fault. We were watching a movie and he stuck his tongue down my throat.”

Your accusation stands on grounds as shaky as your voice, and Eddie knows it, drawing back to nip at your collarbone before saying, “Didn’t hear you complaining, princess.”

“That’s because my mouth was occupied,” you snip, hands fisting tighter around the flannel of Eddie’s shirtsleeves.

In retaliation, Eddie pretends to eat your ear- chomping with loud and sloppy theatrics as you squeal and smack his ribs.

He’s still grinning like the devil when Steve sinks a knee to the carpet and gets a fistful of Eddie’s dark curls, pulling his head up and back by the roots, neck craned pale and lovely above you as Steve speaks. “Enough. You been torturing our girl, Eds?”

In response, you push up to your elbows, pressing fond kisses to either side of the Adam’s apple on display, held in place by Steve’s big hand as Eddie gulps around the sudden attention shift.

You almost feel bad for him, having been on the receiving end of the boys’ doubled focus many times before. But he did interrupt Sixteen Candles like, twenty minutes into the runtime- didn’t try very hard to wait for Steve at all, either- so you figure a bit of choice brown-nosing and light torment is called for.

“Been torturing me all day.” When your tone falls into that lilting, supplicating frequency that usually precedes something or someone coming, Eddie’s hands spasm around your hips (in warning, with pleading, anyone’s guess), a fruitless effort to get you to ease up.

Eddie’s chocolate eyes are half-lidded, not-quite panting but close to it as Steve leans closer, hints of the cologne you’d watched him tap delicately into his skin earlier this morning leftover and lingering in the shared air between the three of you as he purrs in Eddie’s ear- “Gonna say you’re sorry?”

Steve has introduced a fizzling swell of tension, growing as Eddie squirms against you and into the hold still tight in his hair; through the layers of denim, in the cradle of your hips, you can feel the stiff bulge of his cock growing stiffer by the second.

“Yeah, okay.” Remarkably well-behaved and compliant, Eddie rasps out his white flag, the grip in his hair loosed just enough so he can dip to press an appeasing kiss over your left breast (t-shirt sitting skewed and low from where he’d hastily pulled at it earlier). “Sorry ‘bout showing you a good time.”

It’s not even close to a well-rounded apology, but before you or Steve can catch him again Eddie’s sliding off and away, cool air flooding in as soon as he stands from where the warmth of his body was.

“She’s all yours, anyways, Harrington.” With kiss-bitten lips and wild hair, Eddie tugs at the front of his jeans before plunging into his pockets, feigning cool disinterest. “Gonna go out for a smoke.”

Steve settles into the couch cushion next to you, holding out an arm for you to tuck under. “Gonna wreck your lungs, Eddie.”

Adopting the same condescending tone, you add to the back retreating down the hall- “I won’t kiss you until you brush your teeth, Eddie.”

Eddie lifts a middle finger for each of you before the screen door slams shut behind him.

“Well he’s rude tonight,” Steve remarks, fondly, thumb working circles into the meat of your shoulder as he pulls you tighter to his side, arcing down for a kiss. “Good thing one of your boyfriends is a gentleman.”

Steve tastes like the sweet mint gum he always stows in his dash, with a hint of cherry chapstick. His cupid’s bow fits just right into the notch above your lips.

“Can’t really blame Eddie for his behavior,” you say, accusing again, this time with a softness that draws your nose into the curve of Steve’s neck. “Your stupid job kept you too late from us. Gonna make you quit soon.”

Steve huffs, irritated and amused- “If I don’t go to my stupid job then no more lights or water for our luxury palace.”

He stretches his legs towards the coffee table, hooking one ankle over the other, humming at the weight of you shifting further into his side.

You know he hates working for his dad, abhors the business-formal dress and the banality of numbers crunching; you also know that Steve likes providing. Needs to do it, an intrinsic part of his giving nature- he’ll work himself to the bone if it means you only have to work half shifts at the diner, if it allows Eddie to devote his free time to income-unrelated hobbies like D&D and the band.

“Gotta bring home the bacon,” Steve muses, rubbing absently at your upper arm, “God knows no one in this small-minded town will rent to our drug-dealing, delinquent, rumored-to-be satanist-”

“Hey.” The screen doors slams, Eddie drifting in on a cloud of cigarette smoke. “Watch it, pretty boy. Keep talkin’ and I’ll sic the devil on you.”

Steve sticks out his tongue, petulant. Eddie snaps menacingly at the air and flings himself down into the last spot on the couch, thigh pressed into Steve’s.

That simmering tension is back. You draw on your instigator tendencies, resting your elbow on Steve’s shoulder to wind a long lock of his chestnut hair around an index finger. “Aww. I think you two should kiss and make up.”

Lamplight glints off the silver hoops lining the shell of Eddie’s right ear, on his sharp canines as he grins, wolfish, leaning in to pucker at Steve.

With one last scathing eye roll, Steve gives in, guided by the push from your fingers at his temples- but the kiss doesn’t last more than two seconds before his head jerks away in disgust.

“Eugh. You forgot to brush!”

“Didn’t forget.” Smile turned shit-eating, Eddie jumps up from the couch “But I will for princess, here.”

He smacks a kiss to the crown of your head on his way to the bathroom. A moment later, the faucet spits on, and you turn to Steve, biting back a giggle at his less-than-enthused look.

“Asshole,” Steve mutters, but there’s a gentleness to it that makes you smile.

“Yeah,” you agree. “Ours, though.”

[inneedofsupervision]

So, you got Detention

@berrys-hide-out Hey Berry, I hope reading this cheers you up a little, hope you like it <3. @cantsaythetword I didn't forget to tag you, here you go :)

Summary: Getting detention sucks. Getting detention for something you haven't done sucks even more. Getting detention and getting scolded through a Captain America PSA for something you haven't done and going home to have said man looking at you disappointedly is the bad-tasting cheery on top that Peter didn't need on this absolute disaster of a Monday. At least he gets the satisfaction of telling the rest of the team about Cap's PSAs. That's going to be fun.

Read on Ao3

"Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you," sings Peter softly before his face turns into a grimace. "I'm never getting this song out of my head now. Thanks for that, Ned," mutters the teen without any bite, stepping out of the subway station. Despite Rick Astley uninvitedly declaring his love inside Peter's head, his lip twitched upwards for the first time today. He was glad to be finally heading to the Avengers Tower. Peter was ready to lock himself into the lab with Mr. Stark and ask the man what they would work on today. Him needing to bring distance between himself and the rest of the world doesn't come off as much of a surprise, taking into account that today had sucked until now. Immensely. At least in Mr. Stark's lab, nothing could get on his nerves, breaking the continuation of a bleak day. 

It began with oversleeping. 

The shrill sound of the alarm had cruelly torn Peter out of a dreamless slumber, and with a soft moan, the still sleep-drunk teen had aimlessly patted for the clock to end the obnoxious sound. As soon as silence had fallen over the bedroom, Peter's eyelids dropped, and although telling himself that it would just be five more minutes of lying down, he promptly fell asleep again. If Spiderman had stuck to his curfew and not exploited his aunt working overtime, there might be a chance getting to school late could have been avoided. When Peter woke the second time, tiredly checking his mobile phone, he sprung up in shock as he caught the time. Twenty minutes before the bell would ring. With no time for breakfast, he had washed up as quickly as he could, shoved the next best sweater and jeans he could find into his backpack, and sprinted out of the apartment. Peter usually avoided swinging to school, but drastic times called for drastic measures. He just hoped there wouldn't be any posts or articles of people wondering what Spiderman was doing, swinging this early in the morning cause that always prompted a rather unwelcome interview with Mr. Stark, or worse, Aunt May. 

In his hurry to get to school on time, the boy had packed the wrong folder, thus having to scribble the history homework onto a paper two minutes before classes started. MJ had caught him sitting on the floor before the classroom, rushing to copy Ned's answers as if his life depended on it. She had pulled up an eyebrow before rolling her eyes. The girl didn't have to say anything for Peter's ears to grow red, embarrassed to look this unprepared in front of their decathlon team captain. Classes were relatively uneventful. Well, apart from the Spanish vocabulary test that Peter might have forgotten. Luckily, he could answer everything, although the boy was sure he spelled at least two words wrong. At lunch, Peter had felt the aftereffect of not eating breakfast as his stomach was rebelling, threatening to start eating itself from the sounds of it. The teen swore he could eat at least three portions until he had seen what they served today. To clarify, Peter isn't a picky eater. At all. Living years with Aunt Mays cocking trained him into trying everything deemed edible, and the hunger did the rest. But today, out of all days, the cafeteria ladies decided to let their presumable hate for the students show in the manifestation of the most disgusting-looking meatballs the boy had ever seen.

"Are those capers?" 

Ned had glanced from his fork, where a with sauce dripping green ball of something pierced on, over to Peter, who, in return, squinted down onto his plate. He pushed the greens covered in watered-down sauce with his fork around before looking at his best friend with a frown.

"Could be. But to be honest, I don't really wanna find out."

The food had tasted just as it looked, and Peter was glad he was enhanced because he was sure if that weren't the case, he would have gotten food poisoning. How Ned got the funny-tasting excuses for a meal down was still a mystery to him. Having no money to buy something else to eat and knowing that his metabolism wouldn't let him go on without eating, Peter hadn't had much of a choice other than to force the stuff down his throat. 

"If I don't show up to school tomorrow, you know what has happened to me," Ned had said with a slightly pained expression as he pushed his empty plate away to put a safety distance between himself and his lunch.

"Same," agreed Peter as he stood up. He had thrown a look at the leftovers, suppressing a shudder as he collected the food tray. They quickly left the cafeteria and the traumatic lunch experience the place brought with it behind. On their way to biology class, Peter had hope that this was the point where his day would finally turn, where it would start getting better. But of course, no day at school could end without Flash strutting up to them, holding onto the need to be insufferable. Flash had been making a beeline for Peter. The intent to bump his shoulder into Peter had been painfully obvious. Flash's nearing presence had sent Peter's spider-sense off, and it took the vigilante some willpower to let the impact happen. 

"What, not apologizing for blocking the hall with your stupid face, Parker?"

Not wanting the situation to escalate, Peter tried to overlook the provocation. He wasn't looking forward to a confrontation, minding his business and continuing walking away when Ned whispered. "Don't mind him. Flash probably ate one too many of those meatballs and now feels like crap." Peter was aware that his friend only meant to lighten up the mood. He couldn't help heaving a sigh when their classmate turned around with an icy glare. "What did you say about me, Fatty?" 

Apparently, Neds whispering had not been as quiet as intended. Flash had snarled, hand reaching out to grab Ned's collar but grasped at nothing as Peter anticipated the action and pulled his friend out of reach. He had shoved himself between the two and tried to calm Flash down when the teen grabbed his arm roughly, pulling him closer. 

"Listen, Parker, one more word from your friend and I-" The rest of his threat had gotten cut off by the booming voice of Mrs. Warren echoing through the hallway, causing the students standing near her to jump at the sound.

"Parker, Thompson! Detention!"

"Fuck you, Parker."

With a glare, Flash had let go of him and stomped away under the watchful eye of Mrs. Warren. Ned had turned wide-eyed to his friend, carefully laying his hand on Peter's arm where Flash had grabbed him.

"Are you hurt? Peter, I'm so sorry, you shouldn't get detention because of me. I'll talk to Mrs. Warren."

Peter had pulled Ned back with a tired sigh. "Don't bother, Ned. You know Mrs. Warren won't change her mind. She's not exactly my biggest fan. I'll message Mr. Stark that I'm going to be late."

Ned was quick to protest. " But you did nothing wrong! Dude, that's just not fair!"

"It's alright, Ned. It's only detention. It won't be too bad."

By the time Peter finally got to step out of the building, he felt the urge to shake his head at his naivety. Detention had been downright awful. The second the supervising teacher had rolled in the antic tube television, Peter had an odd foreboding of what would come. The old device had flickered to life, and the speaker began playing with a static noise that made Peter wince inwardly. Peter swears he could see Mr. Stark before his inner getting an aneurysm at the sight and sound of their school equipment. Peter had ignored the burning pair of eyes trying to bore into the back of his head, courtesy of Flash, the latter trying to get his attention by calling him names but got told off by their teacher quickly. Peter had also noticed the lack of MJ, who chose today out of all days, not bothering to sketch someone's questioning of their life choices, and maybe detention would have been a tiny bit less terrible with her in the classroom. His eyes had flipped back to the TV, where a star-spangled, all too familiar-looking man sat down on a chair and began talking. 

"So, your body is changing. Believe me. I know how that feels."

Peter had sunk deeper into his chair with a groan, the need to bid his lunch goodbye stronger than ever. Sixty painful minutes of unwanted advice from America's most popular and still living icon later, Peter is on his way to the Tower when his mobile phone vibrates inside his jeans pocket, Ned's name greeting him on the display.

"Hey, Peter. I'm still really sorry for earlier. But look what I found! This article is about Spiderman!"

Peter was glad his headphones were on as he clicked on the link Ned had sent him, as Never Gonna Give You Up blasts into his ears. It took him a few seconds as he stared down at his mobile phone, where the singer cheerfully danced behind his microphone, only for him to realize what happened. A surprised chuckle makes it out of his mouth as Peter holds his mobile phone up and whispers, "Dude, did you just rickroll me?". The grin was evident in his voice before he sent the audio message. It doesn't take Ned a minute to answer with a series of laugh emojis. Peter continuously chats with Ned on his way, his Spidey sense keeping him from bumping into anyone during the bustle on Manhattan's sidewalks. 

Despite being late, there is the hint of a smile tugging Peter's lips upwards as he steps out of the elevator, amused about something Ned had written. Someone clears their throat, and Peter startles at the sound, quickly using his stickiness to catch his phone. The device dangles from the tip of his ring finger while Peter wonders why he has not felt their presence when a pair of familiar black dress shoes comes into view. Realization washes over Peter at their sight, the owner the only other person apart from his aunt, that his spidey sense doesn't go off to. 

"Hey, Mr. Stark," greets Peter and puts on a polite smile as he takes in the frown displayed on his mentor's face. Maybe he should have written more than, "Hi, Mr. Stark. I'm going to be late. Happy doesn't have to drive me." 

Peter's smile must have looked as forced as it felt by the look Mr. Stark gave him in return. The man stays quiet as Peter walks past him towards the guest room to put his backpack away. Walking into the living room, the teen gets greeted by the rest of the Avengers lingering around. Peter makes a beeline towards the couch where Clint is sitting, hoping to avoid the confrontation with his mentor just a little longer.

"Hey, Pete. How was school?"

"Please don't ask," mumbles Peter, taking a pillow to hug it while he sinks further into the cushions, trying to be one with the furniture. He leans his head back and stares at the ceiling while Clint chuckles next to him. "That bad, huh?" asks the man, and Peter hums. He closes his eyes, relishing that he finally gets to rest when the sound of footsteps grows closer before halting in front of the couch. Peter suppresses a sigh.  

"Care to explain why you happen to be late?" Mr. Stark doesn't sound too bothered, which Peter takes as a good sign. He ponders if he liked Mr. Stark better when the man had been more indifferent but quickly pushes that thought into the back of his mind. Mr. Stark is just worried. But still, Peter didn't like the curiosity and concern in the older man's voice, the tone making him feel like a little kid getting scolded. The boy hugs the pillow closer, successfully muffling his voice by pressing it against his face. He really wasn't in the mood for this kind of conversation. Pushing his face deeper into the pillow, he grumbles, "I had detention."

"What was that? I didn't quite catch that, Spiderling."

Peter is pretty sure Mr. Stark did catch that. Something cold presses against his forehead, the only part of his face not hidden behind the pillow. Peter peeks from under it up to Natasha, who holds a can of Coca-Cola above him, a tiny smile on her lips. She nodded toward Stark with a reassuring smile, and Peter felt a bit better, knowing someone was there to step in if Mr. Stark became too overbearing. Taking the drink from her, the teen sat up properly and put the pillow down, facing his mentor.

"I hung out with Deadpool after school," he deadpanned, his last attempt to stir away from the topic. Mr. Stark raises an eyebrow, sending a side eye at Clint, who dared to snicker at the kid's comment.

"Funny kid, but just to let you know, I have a pretty little monitor in the lab telling me that you haven't left the school building until twenty-five minutes ago. Oh, and I hope for my and your aunt's sanity that you haven't been around Deadpool without at least a ten-mile distance between you two. That man is a nutcase, Peter."

Ignoring the jab at the merc with a mouth and Peter's secret "Thursday is taco-day" partner, he raises an eyebrow. "Should I file a police report for stalking, Mr. Stark?"

"Kid, I don't need two spies and Snowflake around knowing you are deflecting. Now, out with it. Why were you late?"

Peter picked up on the silence around, aware that, by now, everyone in the room and the kitchen were probably listening in. A little embarrassed by the attention, the teen's eyes wander toward his lap, where he absentmindedly fiddles with his web shooters, a sense of shyness overcoming him.  

"I had detention," he repeats, a little timid.

The silence only lasts a few seconds.

"Ouch, detention. I knew there had to be something about you, man. No one can be such a goody-two-shoes all the time," teases Sam with a smile, patting Peter's shoulder as he walks past to sit next to Bucky. Peter's lip twitched at the comment, relief flooding him when he looked around and saw no one looking disappointed. Catching Mr. Stark studying him, Peter fumbles with his web shooters again. Although the man didn't seem mad, the way he was looking at him made Peter nervous. Before the teen knew what was happening, he was already throwing a lengthy explanation the man's way, a sudden flood of words hastily chained together to form a somewhat coherent report of what had happened.

"Those meatballs were seriously bad, Mr. Stark. It reminded me of the time you made me try oysters. I'm not sure if I should ever forgive you for that, by the way. That had been kinda traumatic." Peter was painfully aware he was full-on rambling at this point, but Mr. Stark silently listening was unnerving him greatly, so he pushed on, eyes everywhere except Mr. Stark. 

"Flash walked up to us and tried picking a fight. I just wanted to go and ignore him, seriously Mr. Stark, I didn't even look at him, but then Ned said something about Flash feeling crappy cause of those meatballs, and it was a joke, but Flash heard it, and he was going to grab Ned by the collar." 

Peter goes on, and by the looks Bruce and Rhodey are throwing him, he should probably take a second to breathe before freaking out the adults in the room. But Peter couldn't waste time caring about who he was freaking out because he was going to freak if not managing to make Mr. Stark understand that he didn't get detention on purpose. 

"I put myself between them when Flash grabbed me instead when Mrs. Warren came by. She saw us in the hallway and gave us detention."

"Hold on," says Sam, sitting up as he looks at Peter, wearing an incredulous expression. "You've got detention 'cause you avoided your friend getting roughed up by that Flash kid? Is that what I'm getting?"

Before Peter could answer him, Mr. Stark had already his Stark phone out. "I knew that Flash kid meant trouble. That's it. I'm going to get that gremlin expelled."

"Wait, you can't do that, Mr. Stark!"

The man raises an eyebrow, and Peter backpedals quickly. "Okay, you could, but please, you don't have to. He didn't hurt anyone, and it's only detention!"

"He was about to hit your friend, Peter," comments Clint, and Peter did not doubt if Mr. Stark wasn't about to call his school, then the archer would be the one to do it. Clint could get weirdly protective at the most random times.

"He does dumb stuff, yes, but if you expel him, it could get him in serious trouble. I know he has problems at home, and getting expelled isn't the solution." By the pointed look he's receiving from several of the Avengers, Peter had a hunch that his arguments weren't cutting it. He needs to pull out the big guns. The teen leaned forward and looked up to Mr. Stark with the saddest puppy dog eyes he could muster. "Please, Mr. Stark. Don't call the school."

If he hadn't been panicking about Mr. Stark trying to expel his classmate, Peter would have found it funny how quickly the hero calling himself Iron Man crumbled. Tony rolls his eyes with an excessive sigh passing his lips as he pockets his Stark Phone. "Next time that hooligan starts something, I will have him expelled faster than you can say, Mr. Stark, got it?"

Peter grins at his mentor. "Got it, Mr. Stark," he chirps back, leaning back into the couch and feeling content for the first time that day. He catches onto the amused glances the others send him and Mr. Starks way. 

"So, how many pizzas should I order?" asks Rhodey, the man successfully breaking the silence. With the promise of Pizza and the knowledge that no one minded him getting detention, Peter takes out his phone to text Ned, the smile from before back on his lips. He looks up, feeling someone looking at him, and meets Bucky's eyes. 

"Still can't believe they give you detention without clearing up the situation," says the man, crossing his arms over his chest, a sour expression on his face. Peter was about to tell Bucky that it was alright, honestly touched that the man got bothered on his behalf when Captain America chose that moment to walk in. A groan builds up in his throat as the man settles next to Bucky. Steve's brows are furrowed in concern as he glances around the room, lines on his forehead deepening before his eyes turn to the teen. It takes only a second for Peter to guess that Steve had only picked up the detention part of the conversation.

"You've got detention?"

Steve says it so seriously it makes Peter want to throw the pillow at something. Or someone. Too tired to retell the event, Peter merely shrugs his shoulders. "It wasn't that bad."

He had hoped they would leave it at that, but who was he kidding? He's talking about Steve Rogers, after all. Peter's good mood starts deflating when Steve puts on his disappointed Captain America face.

"You're a good kid, Peter. You shouldn't get in trouble." 

The teen's expression turns sour at Steve's comment.

"Steve, leave him alone," begins Bucky, frowning at his friend and leaning forward to intervene when the teen sinks into his seat with a low groan. Tony shoots him a worried glance. "What's wrong, Pete?"

Peter ignores the question in favor of sending Steve a glare. Steve dared to look baffled by the look sent his way. If today hadn't been so bad, Peter wouldn't even consider rolling his eyes at Steve, but now he couldn't be bothered to be polite to Captain Popsicle. "I had to listen to your lectures for sixty minutes today, Steve. Sixty. Minutes. I think I had my fill, so please don't bother starting another lecture about what is right and wrong if you don't even know what happened!"

Mr. Stark looks highly amused, not bothering to stop Peter from throwing his sass at Steve, which the teen usually kept for being alone with him in the lab, not often showing it in front of the rest of the team. Bruce raises an eyebrow, head slightly tilted in question. "Peter, Steve had been here all day while you were in school. When should he have lectured you?"

"He wasn't, but I had to listen to his PSA during detention, and I don't feel like hearing more now," answers the teen with something that might, under some circumstances, resemble a pout. Not that Peter would be pouting in front of the Avengers.

"PSA?" asks Clint while Bucky carries a thoughtful look before glancing at the blond sitting next to him.

"You shot PSAs? They still do these?"

Taking in all the puzzled faces around them, Peter quickly realized something that filled his inside with nothing but delight. It was like someone turned a switch, the not-pout on the teen's face morphing into a grin bright enough to lighten the room while Steve's face darkened with every new question asked, their expression the complete opposite of each other. 

"They don't know," whispered Peter under his breath, eyes locked on Steve. He lets out a surprised laugh, a grin wider than ever. 

"Oh my god, Steve, they don't know!"

He sits upright, the tiredness completely wiped off him as he beams at the blond, eyes gleaming with mischief rivaling Loki.

"Peter," says Steve slowly, the warning heavy in the undertone of his voice. Said warning meets deaf ears, Peter not even thinking about stopping any time soon. He had felt like crap the whole day. Nothing went his way, and Peter knows that that's not on Steve. But having to listen to Captain America's lecture when he did nothing wrong only for the man himself to assume that he did something the second someone uses the word detention in context with Peter without giving him a chance to explain rubbed him the wrong way. The teen isn't a fan of revenge and retaliation and holding grudges, but today, Peter felt petty. If Steve thought he could spoil the rest of the day after school had been that bad already, then he could buckle up. Peter knows his behavior is childish and petty, traits no one would connect with Spiderman, but the teen isn't Spiderman right now. He is Peter Parker, a feeling wronged fifteen-year-old who holds the perfect blackmail material of the person who wronged him in his young, inhumanly sticky hands.

"So," begins Peter in the most serious voice he could muster, giving it his best Captain America impersonation. The way Steve's expression contorted into a grimace was worth it. "you got detention."

"I give you one chance to stop, Peter," warned Steve, eyes narrowed dangerously. Peter only grins wider at that, having way too much fun rilling the blond up while the others could only share confused glances.

"Something tells me this goes over my head," stage whispers Clint. 

"Doesn't everything?" shoots Sam at him simultaneously as Tony throws a, "Nothing new, then."

"Harsh," says Clint, rubbing his chest in mock hurt, causing the others to chuckle. "But back to Spider-kid and Cap, does anyone know what those two are on about?"

Choruses of no clue and a beat from Rhodey are all he gets before all eyes are on the pair, who are now challenging in a silent stare-off. Peter leaned forward, openly enjoying teasing the older man. Steve is ready to jump at him by the looks of it, but Peter isn't intimidated in the slightest, knowing he could outrun the older man. "You screwed up. You know what you did was wrong. The question is, how are you gonna make things right?"

Peter's grin widens at the same time Steve narrows his eyes. 

"Last warning, Pete."

The blond raises his eyebrows, caught off guard when the teen leans back into his seat. He watches with surprise how Peter fishes his phone out of his pocket, taking a short glance at it before calmly placing it on the coffee table. 

"Okay, I'll stop here," says Peter mercifully, stretching as he stands up and walks towards the kitchen. The blond's eyes follow the teen's movement, and Sam snickers how his friend's body deflates at the tension vacating his shoulders, amused by the power a teenager holds over Steve's head.

"Oh, by the way, Steve," Steve's heads shoot up at the tone in Peter's voice. He locks eyes with the teen, who wears the cheekiest grin any of the Avengers ever had seen him carry as he beams at the man.

"Maybe you were trying to be cool. But take it from a guy who's been frozen for 65 years... The only way to be cool is to follow the rules."

Peter's grin was about to reach his eyes. He couldn't help himself. 

"Are you following the rules, Steve?"

In hindsight, Peter should have anticipated that the super soldier wouldn't let go of it without some retaliation. It had been too much fun to watch the man's patience thinning than to think what the outcome of that scenario would mean for Peter. He ducks at the same time his Spidey sense peaks, blocking the pillow flung at him just in time. The low buzz had begun to surr in his ear since he started teasing Steve and was growing into a shrill ringing when the man got up from his seat incredibly fast. Peter turns around while stepping out of reach, avoiding the hands reaching for him by vaulting over the couch, including Clint. 

"Hey, no jumping over my furniture!" scolds Mr. Stark, but the crinkling of skin around his eyes betrays the stern act as he watches his mentee chased by Cap, wearing a grin on his face. 

"Sorry, Mr. Stark!" 

The sincerity of the apology suffers under the smile lying in his voice. 

Peter stands still, eyes not leaving Steve, who hovers on the other side of the couch, waiting for him to move. Despite focusing on the blond, Peter catches onto the excitement in the room, their little chase entertaining the others immensely, followed by the cheering they receive from the rest. The whole situation was so silly. Peter couldn't help but laugh when he feinted a step to the side, causing Steve to flinch as the man was ready to pounce but narrowing his eyes as he caught on Peter trying to fool him. He couldn't wait to tell Ned that he had teased Captain America, the thought alone bringing a grin about to split his face. 

The excitement in the room only increases, so much that Peter doesn't notice the new presence of a person before nearly bumping into them. Thanks to his sixth sense, he barely keeps from barreling into Mrs. Potts. He comes to an abrupt halt despite wearing socks, only possible thanks to his stickiness. Pepper holds a hand over her heart, the surprise written all over her face when Steve takes the chance of Peter not paying attention. The last thing Peter catches is Pepper's green eyes widening, her mouth forming a silent o before something slams into him at full speed, turning the world upside down. 

"Whoa, careful Steve. I don't want squished spiders on my clothes."

Clint scowls playfully at the blond, who ignores him in favor of wrestling with a laughing teen on the couch. The archer rolls his eyes at being ignored and points his thumb at the pair.

"Children. It's like herding cats." He snorts at the sight of Peter with his back pressed into the couch, one foot pressed against the super soldier's chest, and pushing the 240-pound weight off of him without much difficulty. "So, your body is changing," begins Peter, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face despite Steve looming above him, looking ready to throw him out of the next window. The blond reaches out to cover Peter's mouth to block more parts of his most embarrassing PSA coming out of the teen, the panic in his eyes causing Peter to break out into laughter. Steve narrows his eyes at the laughing teen, who half-heartedly shoves him off of him. 

"Can someone please tell me what is going on here?"

Peter perks up at Mrs. Pott's question, glancing at Steve with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Oh, I was just about to tell the rest about Mr. Roger's PSAs, Mrs. Potts," he chirps, ever so helpful. He was about to elaborate when Steve finally managed to clap his hand over Peter's mouth, successfully shutting him up.

"Noo, why did you turn him off?" complains Sam with faked disappointment. "It was just about to get interesting."

"Since when do you believe anything Peter tells you?" counters Steve, struggling to hold the teen down and keep him from spilling another word. Despite Peter's small size, the teen was powerful. Steve needed to trap him in a hold, somewhat resembling an uncomfortable back hug, to keep a hand over his mouth, but the teen with his freaky flexibility didn't even seem too bothered. 

"Well, the kid can be very persuasive. And he did sound like he had something important to tell us. Isn't that right, Peter?"

Peter nods vigorously despite the hand still covering his mouth. They watch the teen worming an arm out of Steve's bear hug, tugging on the hand that kept him from talking. Sam grinned as he observed Steve's face fall at the ease Peter pulled his hand away. The older man tried reclaiming the position, but the teen had it in a tight hold, successfully keeping him from putting his hand back on his mouth. Peter grabs Steve's other wrist and pushes the man's arms away, wriggling out of the hold. A bright grin adorns the teen's face as he pushes Steve away, who is back on his heels in a second. Peter jumped off the couch as a hand seized his leg, causing him to fall over. Several surprised gasps could be heard, along with a rather colorful curse directed at Steve from Tony as Peter catches himself, keeping from faceplanting into Mr. Stark's pristine white living room floor. In contrast to the glares Steve receives at the rash action, Peter openly cackles as Steve tries pulling him back by his leg.

"There is a perfectly equipped gym two floors down, and they decide to do this here?"

"Don't be harsh on them, Tony. They seem to be having fun," appeases Pepper, surprisingly one of the few people along with Bucky and Natasha who weren't shocked by seeing Peter fall. 

"Where does that look like having fun?" He asks, but one look at his mentee's face tells him his fiance was right. The kid is enjoying himself.

Meanwhile, Peter plants his palms on the floor, his upper body hanging off the couch. He sticks onto the tiles, sticking one hand down at a time, and crawls away while Steve still holds onto one of his legs. He keeps moving forward, laughing at the strained huff Steve lets out as he avoids Peter's free foot from kicking him in the stomach. The super soldier bats the flailing limp away, shortly loosening his hold on the teen's leg, which the latter quickly uses as a chance to create some leeway. 

He doesn't get very far.

"No!" shouts Peter as a hand wraps around his ankle and pulls him back half a meter. "Sam! Bucky! Help!" pleads the teen half-heartedly, reaching out for the two men sitting on the opposite couch.

"What do you say, Buck? Do we help the munchkin?"

"I know Steve long enough not to interfere when he gets like that. Punk is a mad dog when he throws a fit. Sorry, kid, you're on your own."

Peter is about to give the men a piece of his mind when he gets pulled another good amount of inches back before he gets back to stick on the floor. He crawls away again, but Steve has none of it and reaches for the teen's other ankle. Thanks to his spidey sense, Peter avoids the grip by turning on his side, but it causes him to roll further towards the couch than away from it. Steve quickly takes the opportunity to reach down and hook his hand under the teen's side, attempting to heave Peter off the ground. The teen twists in his hold, and Steve curls his fingers into Peter to keep a hold of him when an honest-to-good squeal escapes the teen.

An eerie silence hangs over the room, no one daring to speak as Steve stares at the frozen teen in his hold who avoids meeting his face as best as he can, but he catches onto the reddened tips of his ears. Steve's lip twitched knowingly. He knows that kind of reaction. He squeezes his hand abruptly, lips forming into a grin as the body on the floor jumps like a fish on land at the action.

"Oho," says Clint, sounding way too gleeful, the first to break the silence, having watched the silent realization come over Steve with amusement. 

"What a way to reveal your secret, kid. At least I won't have to keep this to myself anymore," comments Tony with a grin.

Now was Steve's turn, carrying a mischievous grin.

"A secret? What kind of secret could that be, Peter? You like sharing information. How about you enlighten us about this, huh?"

Peter feels his heart jump at the tone in Steve's voice. He kind of regrets having made fun of the man. Peter begins crawling again, but this time with more vigor than before. He doesn't get very far as Steve instantly pulls him back but meets resistance as the teen sticks to the ground. The problem resolves itself quickly as Steve releases one of Peter's legs to reach forward and claw at the teen's ribs. With a shriek, Peter's left hand unsticks, arm shooting down to protect his side. Steve's hand darts to the teen's other side, repeating the procedure and efficiently getting the teen off the ground. From there on, it was easy to throw the already laughing boy back onto the couch. 

Never one to back down quickly, Peter instantly tries climbing over the couch, but an arm sneaks around his middle and prevents him from escaping. He tries reaching for the backrest, but a hand worms its way into his underarm, and every attempt to reach his arm out to grasp something becomes futile. He quickly gets pushed down, back pressed into the couch cushion as Steve looms over him for a second time that day, but this time, Peter could crawl out of his skin at the grin on the older man's face.

"Dohon't do this," says Peter, voice void of any conviction as nervous giggles accompany his words. Not knowing what to do with his hands, the teen awkwardly holds them in front of him, half shielding his upper body and half waiting to catch any hands that were about to attack. Steve watches with growing amusement how the boy's eyes jump from his face to his hands and back as if he were unsure what was more important to keep track of. He had never seen such an amount of nervous energy radiating from the teen. It was adorable to see him this unnerved about something harmless as this.

"This? What do you mean, Peter? Is this about the secret Tony mentioned?"

"I don't know what you are talking about. I don't have any secrets. Apart from being Spiderman, I mean," Peter stumbles over his words, lips twitching upwards when Steve raises an eyebrow at him. "No secrets to share, no information to keep. I have nothing to hide, so you can let me go. Please?"

Steve turns towards Clint, who hasn't moved an inch, even with the literal wrestling match happening on the seats next to him. "What do you say, Clint? Does he tell the truth?"

Peter throws a pleading look towards the archer. Clint grins at the pair.

"You see that face," he asks, pointing at the teen. "As a spy and a father, I can tell you that's the face of a liar."

"That's not true!" protests Peter as Steve turns back to him. Catching onto the look the man bestows on him, Peter snatches the next best thing he can get his hands on, a decorative pillow, and uses it to shield himself, a giant grin about to split his face. Steve cracks his knuckles.

"Seems like I have to get the truth out of you."

"Noho!" shouts Peter with a laugh as Steve pulls at the pillow. Nervous giggles are pouring out of him as he tries to make himself as small as possible, and it is faint, but Steve's enhanced hearing could pick up on the wild pace of the kid's heart beating. 

"Let go of the shield, Spiderman," commands Steve, eyes gleaming playfully at the boy.

"In your dreams," says Peter, only fastening his hold onto the pillow, the only thing keeping him safe from the fingers getting closer. Steve catches a movement out of the corner of his eyes, lips twitching ever so slightly. He focuses back on Peter, the boy watching him with his whole attention, unaware of the hands reaching for his feet. A shriek escapes the vigilante, eyes widening at the feel of blunt nails running over his socked soles, causing him to flinch and pull his legs up at the ticklish feeling. Steve uses the moment of surprise to tear the pillow out of Peter's hand, depriving him of the last thing to shield himself from his attack.

"Thanks, Clint."

"No problem, Cap."

Peter sends a glare Clint's way, but the archer only needs to reach for his feet for the teen to let the glare turn into a panicked grin, quickly tucking his legs close. "That's what I thought," says Clint with a smug grin. Steve uses the moment of inattention, poking the teen's stomach in quick succession. The reaction didn't disappoint.

"Hey! Stohop it!"

Peter tries glaring at the blond while his hand fails to catch the poking fingers, jumping when one poke lands dangerously close to his lower rip. The motion doesn't go unnoticed by the soldiers' trained eyes, a sly smirk forming on the man's face. "Why? Does it bother you?"

"Yehehehes! Stahahap pokehihing me!" complains Peter, but it was hard to take the teen seriously with the constant giggling. Steve does stop at that. 

"Alright, I'll stop. Would you prefer this instead?" 

He skitters his fingers over the teen's stomach, grinning at the squeal escaping Peter before he tries curling on himself, hysterical giggles pouring out of him, unaware that the sound causes amused smiles to appear on every face in the room. 

"Nahaha, gehehet your hahahands of mehehe," Peter manages to bring out between his laughter as he twists on his side, addressing the others.

"Sohohomebody hehelp!"

"Anyone here knows who that somebody is he's talking about?" asks Sam, feigning ignorance.

"I hahahete you, Bihihirdman 2!"

"Yeah, I can't take anything you say seriously giggle-bug."

Peter is about to counter, but a set of fingers dug into the part where his ribs and upper back meet, sending a ticklish shock throughout his body. He jumps at the touch, and Steve latches onto the reaction, taking both hands to claw at his ribcage and digging his fingers in on the search for that spot. Peter's giggles had long ago turned into bright laughter, now accompanied by an occasional shriek and a whole-body jump as Steve found what he'd been searching for. 

"Oh, what's this?" he asks, voice full of glee.

"NOHOHOTHING, IT'S NOTHINIHIN!"

"Something tells me you're onto something, Cap," comments Rhodey with a grin, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, amusement written all over his face. 

Peter shakes his head at the words, chanting "Stopstopstopstohohooop," while trying to catch the hands that are way too skillful in sending ticklish sparks under his skin, leaving him in stitches. "Why? Is this the spot I have to go to to get you to tell me about your secret? Although I think I can already guess what it is."

Steve grins down at Peter who tries so hard to scowl at him but fails miserably. It leaves the man wondering where all the strength has gone, and while the idea of tickling being Spiderman's big-bad weakness sounds fun, Steve knows for the better that this couldn't be the reason for the teen's failure to escape. 

"OH MY GOHOHOHOD, NOHOHO!" Peter kicks his legs, wriggling from side to side and throwing his head back when Steve finds a way to slip his hands into his underarms. He presses his arms down, quickly rendering Steve's fingers immobile, but the feeling of them simply touching his armpits tickled like mad. 

"Peter, I kinda need my hands back, or we're stuck here until tomorrow," teases Steve, amused when the boy shakes his head with a giant grin. 

"Buck, a little help here?"

The other man huffs a small laugh. "You're seriously stuck?"

Steve grins at him. "I can't move a single finger."

With a shake of his head, Bucky makes his way over to the couch. He assesses the situation before glancing at Peter, the latter trying to catch his breath. Without a word, Bucky clasps both hands on Peter's thighs just over the kneecap, squeezing and massaging his thumb into the muscle. Peter kicked like mad at the action, breaking into loud belly laughter, and Steve could pull his hands away as the teen was busy twisting and wriggling, trying anything to get Bucky's hands off his knees. 

"How did you know that would work?" asks Sam, impressed, as Bucky walks back to sit on the couch as if nothing had happened. Bucky shrugs. "It works on Steve," he answers cooly, but with a smirk playing on his face. Steve glares at him but quickly focuses on Peter, who uses the moment to try crawling in the other direction of the couch. Clint only watches with amusement as he has a lap full of enhanced teen trying to crawl over him as if that was your normal Monday afternoon thing, only to get caught by the shoulder and get dragged back. 

"We're not done yet, Queens."

"Steheheheve, pleaahahse. I cahanah't tahahake anymhohore!" whines Peter, but Steve catches onto the playful spark glinting in his eyes. 

"Okay, I'll stop here," says Steve, mimicking Peter. "But there's one thing I'll have to tell you." The teen narrows his eyes at the blond, not trusting one word coming from Steve.

"What I tell you now is about one of the most valuable traits a student or soldier can have."

Peter's eyes widen comically. As soon as his brain registers the words, he gracelessly flails in his place. The teen tries to throw himself off the couch as he knows where this is going, but Steve, having anticipated the action, jumps forward and catches the teen around the waist. He keeps his arm wrapped around Peter's middle, hugging the teen against his chest and kneading his free hand into Peter's side without further ado.

"Nohohohot anohohother one! Steve pleahahahase! Dohohohon't do thihihhis! I-I'll goho insahahane!"

Steve keeps a stoic face despite the madly giggling and protesting fifteen-year-old half-sitting squirming in his lap, batting and pulling on the arm holding him in place. He continues his speech with his Captain America voice, causing several eyebrows to raise in amusement.

"Patience." he begins, while his hand slips under the teen's shirt, skittering his fingers over bare skin, "Sometimes, patience is the key to victory." 

Peter doesn't know if it's the teasing or the fact that Steve keeps dragging his fingers over the bare skin of his sides, but he can't help kicking his legs into the air and throwing his head back into Steve's shoulder as his whole body shakes under the force of him laughing. Steve takes advantage of Peter's head being this close as he speaks the following words right into his ear, earning him the cutest giggle he had ever heard as the teen desperately tries to scrunch his shoulder up and shield his ear from the tickly air. "Sometimes, it leads to very little, and it seems like it's not worth it, and you wonder why you waited so long for something so disappointing." 

At his last word, Steve changes his tactics and uses his free hand to poke every place he can find that Peter isn't poorly trying to protect. The boy can't do anything in his hold but giggle his head off, and Steve wonders once again why Peter doesn't escape since he certainly could until he realizes that, maybe, Peter doesn't want to escape. The thought sparks his interest, and he might as well test that theory while the opportunity's still there.

"STEHEHEHEHEHEVE! NO! Anywhere but there! Please please please, please not thihihis it's so bad. Seriously, dohon't do it! STEHEVE NOHOHO, WHY AREN'T YOHUHU LISTENIHIHIHN! AHAHAHAH NO STAHAHAHAP!"

Peter trashes in his hold as the super solider gets another chance to dig into that sweet spot between his back and rips, sending the kid into a laughing fit, face reddening as he squeezes his eyes shut, the corner wettening with tears of joy before his laughter turns silent.

"Steve, I'll think he got the message," interrupts Tony, having caught onto the change from silent laughter to coming out a tad bit breathless. Not wanting to overdo it, the blond stops the tickling but keeps his arm around the teen, afraid Peter will fall if he lets go of him. The boy hangs slack in his hold, trying to catch his breath.

"You good, Queens?" asks Steve, a little worried he might have overdone it as he carefully loosens his hold on Peter. The latter let himself slip to the side, landing with a groan on the couch. Feeling Steve's eyes on him, Peter turns his head but keeps lying on his side. He sends the man a tired grin.

"I think now I know the true meaning of patience. And ruthlessness."

With a smile, Steve reaches over and ruffles Peter's already messed-up hair. 

"You need another lecture, and you know where to find me," he jokes, smirking at the dramatic groans it earns him. 

"Yeah, no, I think I pass. You know what I would rather listen to?"

Steve raises an eyebrow in question.

Peter grins at him. 

"Some Captain America PSAs."

[little-mouse-gardens]

Random idea that came my mind awhile back, rambled about this on discord but-*plops this here* I am rattling this around in my brain

Tw : mentions of violence, yandere behaviors, blood

I was Thinking about elderitch forest god Donnie basically making this cottagecore dreamscape for researcher reader so he can keep them by his side.

For reader, a researcher and selected member of a team that would be sent to go out and find some ancient ruins and study the wildlife in an unexplored forest, It was just supposed to be a simple trip to study the wildlife and old ruins in an unexplored part of the forest. Nothing more.

However, readers team didn’t seem to read the signs near the entrance……nor did they feel the same set of eyes burning into their backs like reader began to feel the second they stepped foot over the old stone gates that led into the forest.

The silence in the forest is almost deafening…everything in the forest-hell the forest itself seems to have all eyes on them. Watching their every move or trying to train themselves on every word they whispered to eachother.

Reader even seems to pick up how, for lack of a better term, kind the forest is towards them compared to their friends.

A lot more rare wildlife seems to suddenly approach them out of nowhere. They stand in one spot for a few minutes and when they start to walk they notice how a trail of flowers seems to follow right behind them with every step. Their favorite flowers too.

Maybe, every so often, they may catch a glimpse of Donnie’s smiling face every so often. His smile is seemingly so soft for that brief moment. So soft. Warm. Welcoming, and almost loving if reader manages to get a better look before they blink and He’s gone again.

He’s been lonely for a long time, and the moment he set eyes on reader while they were carefully saving some wild ducklings stuck in the middle of a river or scolding their team for breaking some rare plants, he’s head over heels in love.

Their smile…their laugh, the way they care about his forest and the creatures within it. How respectful they are to his old monuments and they ignored their teams complaints about stopping so they could fix one of his statues they’d bumped into.

In his mind he finally found the one. He wouldn’t be lonely anymore. He’d have someone to share all the love he could give with. He would give reader so much love and attention, he’d do everything he could to make them happy.

…which reminded him that he needed to take care of their little…friends first after he spotted them walking off to find some place to camp.

When nightfall comes…..everything goes down hill so fast. A storm hits. During the panic of being chased by wild animals and avoiding falling trees, reader whips their head around to look for their missing friend and ends up getting knocked out by a tree branch.

Everything is a blur from there. Screams, roaring and snarling of animals, soft whispers against their temple as their ears rang. The feeling of being scooped and cradled to someone’s chest. The scent of blood in the air.

By the time readers up they are in a completely different space. The sound of soft music is playing when their eyes flutter open and the feeling of warm fluffy blankets surround them.

They don’t even remember exactly what happened-all reader knows is that when they woke up they found themselves bundled up in the comfiest cottage they’ve ever seen and to the soft sound of his voice. They turn and spot a particularly peculiar sight. A mutant softs-hell turtle wearing nicely embroidered sweater, shorts and an apron that read ‘genius chef’ on the front on lavender stitching.

Before they can even say a word he’s already glancing over his shoulder at them with a warm smile and nice tray of their favorite comfort foods in hand. This loving look on his face as she sets the tray down on their lap and helps reader sit up, “well, good morning start light. I was worried you’d got caught up in the rain again” he says, nothing but warmth and tenderness in his tone as he fluffs their pillows and lifts the lid off of the delicious smelling soup, “here, my darling, I made you some nice warm vegetable soup to help chase that nasty cold away”

readers mind is so fuzzy…that they don’t even register him calling them darling until they’re halfway through eating the meal he made or the ring that’s been slipped onto their finger.

However everything about him feels so…familiar. Very brief memory’s of them and Donnie going out on picnic dates and working on the garden out in the backyard.

This wave of familiarity seems to wash over them as they relax into the pillows and they give him a shy, “oh….sorry about that, you know how I get when I get focused with gardening”

Donnie just chuckles and sits himself on the edge of the bed next to reader to make sure they like the food he made them. His heart practically jumping for joy as he looks at that sweet smile on their face.

Sure he may have….replaced a few memories of theirs with a few that would keep them with him

But hey….in his mind, what they don’t know won’t hurt them right?

After all, their friends can’t wander his forest forever in search of place they will never be able find.

[lowkeyrobin]

TOM KAULITZ ; catching feelings

summary ; while on summer vacation, you meet tom and spend most your summer sneaking away to be with him

warnings ; language, put way too much effort into this, should i make a part two??

disclaimers ; reader has two younger siblings 😔 for plot purposes. I also don't know much about Germany / Euro countries as an American, I obv have no idea what it was like in 2008 and I used Google for some reference so sorry if anythings still inaccurate / didn't exist yet

track ; catching villains, chizzy stephens

word count ; 1.5k

masterlist

You couldn't stand school. At least you were going into your senior year, the only thing keeping you calm beyond the panic, knowing you'd be back to school again in three months.

Your parents won a 300 grand lottery ticket, so why not bust it on their soon-to-be graduate?

You picked a vacation to Leipzig, Germany. You really just wanted to experience a lot of the tourist attractions, and your family agreed. Who could say no to drag racing fancy cars, art museums, ghost hunting, and riverside forest tours?

Adrenaline courses through your veins as you step onto the airplane, knowing this was sucking probably thousands of dollars out of your parents bank accounts.

Your iPod rests in your hand, wired earbuds stuck into your ears, your favorite songs playing as you lead your younger siblings to your seats.

This was gonna be the best summer ever.

Your first week went as expectations had gone. You spent the first few days just exploring and getting to know the area all while trying out all the restaurants you could. The food was good, that's for sure.

The hotel you were staying at, the Steigenberger Icon Grandhotel Handelshof, was also quite the attraction itself. The exterior was wrapped in castle-like architecture, the pallete a light tan and soft red. The inside was even better, feeling like another, very distant, home. Luxurious, to say the least, which you weren't all that used to.

Home wasn't this fancy. It didn't have golden accents, bright white lights along the large mirror above the couples sinks. The bathtub wasn't as big as a baseball field, and your beds weren't laced with silky sheets. Weird for 2008, but alright.

Sadly, those silky sheets that retained all the nice, cool air in your room were thrown up on by your younger brother the morning before you went to go drag race fancy cars. Fuck.

Turns out, he'd come down with a bad fever and couldn't go anywhere. Your plans were soiled and your parents needed someone to go pick up some food and medication.

Of course, you were the scapegoat who wasn't going to bring your little sister along. She wouldn't be interested anyway, too absorbed by the television playing My Little Pony.

So, you got to walking down to the nearest convenience store all by your lonesome in a country you were just visiting for the summer. You'd only been here three weeks and shit was going bad.

What was even worse was that there'd be no possible way to rebook your tickets to another time, meaning you'd never get to experience a rush of pure adrenaline in a fast car in Germany. Hell, you wouldn't have a chance to do this back home, let alone do it yourself in your college years. You didn't have a death wish.

You solemnly walk down the sidewalk, passing many of local residents and other tourists, trying to navigate your way down to anywhere that sold soda, crackers, and Pepto Bismol.

As you walk in and scan the aisles, finding crackers and soda just fine, you realize you can't read German, meaning you couldn't actually tell which bottle of liquid medicine was what you wanted. Motherfucker. You knew you should've taken German your freshman year.

You stand frozen in front of the shelves, trying to make out whichever one could've been 'Pepto Bismol' in German. Fucking hell, why would it have been translated and how? Why would it even be in a different bottle?

"Hey, are you looking for something?"

Your head quickly snaps up to the voice who was speaking to you. It was a boy who'd noticed your increasingly nervous body language and paralyzed staring. He wears a white jacket with a thick, tan stripe across it over a matching shirt, which is paired with baggy jeans, flat Nike's and a white baseball hat. Underneath the hat is a head full of brunette locs, which are surprisingly well tamed for a skater looking boy.

"Uhm," you glance between him and the shelf nervously. "Pepto Bismol."

"Oh," he softly chuckles, grabbing a bottle right off the shelf, handing it to you. "Here you go,"

"Thanks" you nervously smile, thanking him for the favor.

He glances down at the items shoved in your arms, raising an eyebrow. "Odd selection."

"My brother got sick," you answer. "My parents both had to stay at the hotel with my siblings apparently. I'm the only one responsible enough I guess,"

He nods, his hands shoved in his pockets. You'd just noticed he wears a lip piercing, and had black sunglasses resting over his hat. "How long are you staying?"

"All summer. Going back the last day of August."

"Oh, wow. Nice."

You nod. "Parents won a little fortune off the lottery and wanted to do something nice for me since I'm graduating this next year,"

The corners of his lips shape upward, "Me too. You need any tourism suggestions? There's so many places to go all around here,"

"Oh, I'm good," you shake your head, pulling the cash your parents handed you out of your pockets. "I don't know how long my brother's gonna be sick. My family's on the 'if one person loses everyone does' mindset. It's bullshit. Wasted my own money on reservations for something and I can't get them refunded and I can't go,"

He nods, curious. "Where to?"

"Drag racing thing. It's called Pure Adrenaline Rush,"

He nods with a soft smile, familiar with the name. "That place honestly sucks anyways. I could give you a way better show, for free even," he pulls a pair of car keys from one of his pockets, swinging them on the index finger of his right hand.

You chuckle, gracious for the offer. "Thanks, but I'm good. I have to sit around a hotel room until my brother feels better," you speak, rolling your eyes.

"Your parents won't let you have your own fun even after your plans got canceled? It wasn't in your hands?" he questions, following you up to the registers.

You shrug. "I dunno, dude. I could try begging them, but I doubt it'll go my way. They'll bring up how I picked to come here and how expensive it was and how I can spend some time with my family,"

He shrugs, "I'll drive you back to your hotel, yeah?"

You sigh, realizing your legs were practically numb after the mile long walk you'd have to take down here. "Okay, fine,"

He smiles, leading you out after you pay for your items, a plastic bag swinging in your hand. A black convertible rests across the street, three other figures sitting in the passenger seats. You look at the boy with the locs, seeing him jogging to the car.

The boy in the front raises an eyebrow, his eyes landing on you. He looks back up at the boy with the locs, brushing his fine, straight brown hair back with his hand. "Who's that?"

"No one, just taking them back to their hotel,"

"Where's our snacks?" another boy asks, his eyes confusingly following the first boy's figure. His hair is black with some white streaks, laying straight and flat.

The last boy with short, blonde hair is silent, just listening.

"Georg, move to the back," the boy with the locs speaks.

Georg, the boy with the long hair, sighs, unbuckling his seat belt before sliding to the back between the other two boys. The boy you met in the store turns back to you, inviting you to the front passengers seat.

You accept, jumping in, the bag at your feet.

"Thanks for the ride,"

"No problem,"

You definitely didn't get to go drag racing that day, but you did end up sneaking out to hang out with the boy with the convertible that night. His name was Tom, as you'd found out. His brother was the one with the black hair, Bill. The blonde haired boy was Gustav, and the brunette was obviously Georg. They were pretty cool friends, to be honest.

As they wait for you, Bill leans up toward Tom from the backseat. "Don't catch feelings. They're only going to be staying for three months,"

"I won't," Tom grumbles, rolling his eyes.

"He's catching feelings-"

You zip your jacket up as you approach, jumping into the passengers seat, beside Tom. His sunglasses rest over his eyes now, ironic as the sun was long gone.

"Hey," he nods

"Hi," you smile, strapping your seat belt into the buckle.

He hands you his iPhone 2, the aux cord connected to the car radio. "Wanna pick some music?"

"Uh, sure," you nod, accepting the offer.

Yeesh, those accents got you down bad now. Sleep deprivation made you feel real damn funky. You scroll down his iTunes to Everlong by Foo Fighters.

Tom smiles, holding up a fist for you to bump. "Foo Fighters, yeah?"

You bump his fist with yours, mentally preparing yourself to dangerously speed with a bunch of kids you'd just met hours prior in the dead of night. You couldn't lie, the car was pretty hot itself. Don't get yourself started on-

"Ready?"

"Set!"

"Go!"

"Get out of my car."

[ramcharantitties]

Raghuvan, teri raah nihare

Chapter 10, part 1

s/n- hey guys, this is the last chapter of my first ever series. Even I am excited to write, thanks to @vijayasena , and since it's kind of huge i am gonna make it a two part fic.

yeh teri aur meri mahaubbat hayaat hai

Akhtar stood by the end of the door. The crowd allowed him to hide from Adikavya and still witness everything. Ram pulled out a ring, sliding it up her finger. The crowd cheered, relatives, friends, cousins. So many relations but not one person close, not one person any of them could talk to. Adikavya pulled the ring from the cushiony box, sliding it up Ram's finger. It was tight. Ram hastily stuck it so it wouldn't fall, just for the sake of ritual and practices. It was visible on their faces, Adikavya wanted to probably run away, and Ram just wanted to get this done. For someone who's going to spend the end of their lives together, they weren't a very joyous couple. They've had their moments together, yes, but Adikavya's swollen face was still more acceptable than the sheer frustration on Ram's.

Adikavya has given the puppet string of her life to fate. Any decision she would make now would be futile, resulting in only one thing, marriage with Ram.

It's surprising how many faces this relationship has seen, but mutual respect and romance was never one of them. She wished he'd leave, go away, he stayed and when he wished he didn't have to see her anymore, she helped him. The curves in the puzzles were too rigid for them to fit.

Akhtar took a deep breath. He knew that even if it wasn't Ram, or anyone, it would never be him anyways. The conversation he had with Sita, or even, the monologue he had, enlightened his own self about a lots of things. Akhtar took a deep breath, crumpling and throwing away one of the two bus tickets he had for the next day.

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

har lamha ismein jeena

Sita laid in her bed next morning, the slow moving fan like a lubricant to her fast moving thoughts. The window was open, cool air making it's way down her room. She remembered Babai didn't utter a word as she told him about everything. How he never dared to look at her. Not a single universe will hold a reality where she is married to Ram. The blue of her room has started to be less vibrant. She couldn't sleep last night or the night before, the constant moving memories keeping her eyes open. Sita sighed, got up, and went to do the house chores. Laying around will not help her anyhow. It was a Saturday too.

On the other hand, Ram was restless, he paced up and down his room, staring the neatly folded sherwani on the bed. His haldi was done in the morning, as he stood in the center of his room with a yellow tainted vest and dhoti, his body shining golden brown. "Leave the city? No, Babai will be disappointed". He began his homely marathon again, when Jangu came in the room. "Tell Adikavya everything" he muttered to himself, when Jangu erupted- "She already knows everything" Ram sighed, turning on his heels. Ram sat down on the bed, moving around will not help him anyhow.

Adikavya stood by the balcony, her curls falling behind her ears gently swaying with the motion of the wind. She had no choice in this. She turned and leaned back on the railing, rubbing her face. She can't even scream in this house. Sometimes she wished to run away. But then where to? And to whom? Although, all of those question seems less concerning than this marriage itself. And of course, the cousins, giggling, swarmed in, never leaving the bride alone.

mukaddar ki baat hai

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

The sun dipped below the horizon, casting a warm glow on the floral decorations that adorned the porch of Adikavya's home. The air buzzed with excitement as family and friends gathered, dressed in vibrant hues, ready to witness the union of two souls in a celebration that promised to be unforgettable. Adikavya, draped in a delicate red lehenga, awaited her moment. The embroidery on her attire sparkled under the lights, and the mehendi designs on her hands told tales of love and commitment. The air was charged with joy, laughter, and the spirit of celebration. The beats of the dhol resonated in every heart, and the colorful dance of the relatives set the stage for an evening of revelry. Amidst the grandeur and celebrations, the wedding was not just an event; it was a tapestry woven with love, traditions, and the promise of a beautiful journey ahead.

Or that's what everyone thought.

Four people were tied with handcuffs, unable to do anything for themselves. The wedding looked like as if the most beautiful thing to ever happen from outside, but the wretched emotions and crumpled hopes said something else. What is always right, is not always necessary. Right now, Ram and Adikavya can be wedded and tie a knot that no one else will be able to break without gaining any attention or insult. Divorce? Adikavya will face a rejection from society. Cheating? Ram will face a rejection from society. Not showing up to wedding? Their families will face a rejection from society. There was no way out. Until someone showed up, broke their marriage and showed the truth about their children to the families. But who will take such a risk?

It was already evening. Ram wished for a miracle, a falling star or a severe earthquake. Ram gazed over the golden waves of ganga, his sight automatically following up the walls of Sita Mahal. He didn't even know when Babai came in the room, but all he saw was Babai closing the window and the wooden and metal sound of windowsill scraping. "Get ready" was all he said.

_______________________

Sita stood by the flowing water of Ganga, the golden light reflected, throwing an image of the moving waves on her. It was already evening, so she should get ready. Her anklets jingled as she stepped in her room, the loneliness echoing. Sita was not unfamiliar with the feeling, the dread of getting ready, dancing in front of men who had no courtesy for emotions or any sentient. She missed his brown eyes, and the soft looks, his sight that never left her eyes. Akhtar was right, she has started to think about him when she isn't thinking about anything. There was physical pain in her heart, seeping in her stomach and throat, wanting to burst through her eyes.

The chatter has already started to be audible, when Sita entered the court. Her golden lehenga matched the shining glass dome, her face bright as the moon. Yet it looked like the soft winds of sadness had pulled a dark, nighty cloud over it. The pakhawaj players were ready, and so was the evening. It was time for her to dance and continue on with her job. Like every Saturday, once a week, four times a month, and fifty two times a year. Sita danced on her routine, her hands splayed in an artistic manner which only resembled the beauty of her dance. Her body moved with the beat, the taal, but her mind couldn't. Her mind only repeated the things she has been suppressing ever since Akhtar left.

She started taking turns on her heel- one, two, three, four, five, and that's when her body and mind started absolutely deviating.

“What if you never come here ever again?”

Another turn.

"you are going to regret it for your life"

Then another.

"No one will come between us"

Then another.

"you are going to find everything in the world that is even remotely close to him"

Then another.

"Just thinking about it isn't enough, Sita"

Then another.

She tumbled over, by disbalance, landing straight on her palms on the floor.

The crowd was shook. The most delicate dancer, the strongest person ever known to the girls has fallen in front of the audience. Some men hollered, and some knew better to be quiet. Haala rushed over to Sita.

"Didi! What's wrong?" She kept a soothing hand on Sita's shoulder, to find her body breaking down to her tears.

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

The scene encapsulated the essence of joy, unity, and the timeless celebration of love that makes this wedding truly extraordinary. The baraat was ready to go. Ram saw himself in front of mirror one last time, and this isn't how he planned his wedding. He thought he'd be happy, content, excited, ready to hop on the horse anytime. He knew that if Babai had decided someone for him, she would be a good wife and daughter in law. But what if even she wasn't ready to be? The air was filled with the rhythmic beats of the dhol, the joyous notes of shehnai, and the energetic dancing of family and friends.

A woman appeared, as golden as a crown, huffing, standing on the door.

Jangu knew in an instant who she was and he knew that if Babai saw her, there will be a chaos unavoidable by anyone. Jangu pulled her to a silent spot, unnoticed by anyone. When he confirmed that Babai was not, in fact, home, he quietly sent her to Ram's room. They didn't have time.

Sita hesitated before knocking on Ram's door. The yellow and orange flowers, brown door and red walls felt energetic, not calming her nerves. Jangu rapidly slapped the door, earning a small "come in" from Ram. Sita's breath hitched. Ram sounded different with her, just not like this. But it's been so long since she has heard the voice. Jangu pushed the door open. Ram stood in a white and golden sherwani, embroidery of red on it. His white pagdi sat proudly on the chair, it's peak fluffed and pointed. Ram looked back at the silent visitor, only to find his beloved looking a bride- to him, at least. Ram has never, in so long, ever has seen Sita dressed in anything but a simple pastel saree. She had tear stuck in the crevices of her cheeks, her eyes bright red, big and wet. Her lips looked bitten and plump. Sita was one of the girls that looked pretty when cry.

kehti hai ishq duniya jise, meri jaaneman

Ram gently slipped his large, warm hand under Sita's huge earring, cupping her cheek. She leaned into his palm, another tear slipping down, meeting his thumb. "I can't" the dam broke, the pain in throat finally making its way out. "I don't have the heart to let you go. I can't do this to myself or even you." She croaked, and put her hands on his chest "Tell me you love me" Sita's eyes showed everything, the expectations, the hopes and the search for truth.

iss lafz mein hi chhupi kaynath hai

tagging- @budugu @thewinchestergirl1208 @rambheemlove @ramayantika @bishh-kanya @chaanv @nyotamalfoy @obsessedtoafault @phoenix666stuff @iam-siriuslysher-lokid @cursedcursives @hopelessdemonic @nerdreader @bitchy-bi-trash @vijayasena

[allidoistrytrytryy]

don’t want no other shade of blue, but you (part 2 of 2) (neteyam x reader)

AO3 version if you prefer reading over there

part 1 (Neteyam and the sky girl, series)

summary: (the confusing timeline and glimpses of life between Neteyam and a human girl.) (part 2, ending)

warnings: hurt/comfort, fluff and angst, the angst is back with a fervor but HAPPY ENDING, no use of y/n, aged-up characters, not canon-compliant, everybody lives, unrealistic lore (sorry james cameron), human!reader

little note from author: thank you all for the notes and reactions!!!! i wrote everytime i had some time outside of work and did my best to get this out as fact as i could! this is the end of the two big parts, but i think i’ll write more one-shots around neteyam x human!reader (whether before or after part 2) so expect some stuff!!! will not stop writing neteyam anyway, the brainrot is too present lmao enjoy!!!

this is also like...9k words, almost 10k...BYE

“Yawntu, come here.” You heard from behind you before feeling a hand settling on the back of your neck. A mouth put itself on the edge of your ear, which twitched at the contact. “Let’s ditch the others and go on a date. Just you and I.”

You turned around to see Neteyam smiling mischievously, as he squeezed your neck gently to get an answer. You could only nod with a smile back as he pulled you away.

“What about a flight, sky girl ? Ready to get beaten again ?” He asked, his hand sliding down to intertwine with yours. Your tail twitched at the contact, tapping at his hip gently.

Your...tail ?

“You okay, yawntu ?”

You tried to look at him only to see a blur. You startled awake, looking up at the same white ceiling of your small room, sweat sticking to your back and your shirt.

It had been a dream again.

You didn’t remember how long it had been already since the day the Sullys had left. A part of you had been left too, back in the forest when he turned his back on you and never looked back.

It was all your fault, you knew that. You broke your heart and his in the process. You were the only perpetrator.

You felt empty and aimless. You barely saw anyone. Norm and Max forced you to work with them, forced you in conversations, forced you to even eat.

Norm was once again coming in to put breakfast on the little table in your room. “He wouldn’t like to see you like this. Please, eat.”

You watched from your bed, stuck in a decision - going back to sleep or getting up. If you slept, that meant you could dream, where you were with them, with him. If you slept, that meant you didn’t feel for a few moments.

Everything had gone to shit. Your life included. You had lost them all, even Spider. Spider who was stuck with a man that had never loved him, with a man so cruel and terrible. Spider who had been your brother for so many years. You prayed to Eywa everyday that he was okay.

Everyday, you thought of the Sullys. Were they okay ? Had they found somewhere to belong ? Were they doing well in a whole another clan with different people and customs ?

(Was Tuk crying ? Was Kiri protected when she got lost in what was around her ? Was Lo’ak not getting into too much trouble ? Was Neteyam... was anyone taking care of him when he was taking care of everyone else ?)

Sometimes, Mo’at would come around and force you out. She would teach you and talk to you. You were glad for her presence, the only remaining link you had with the Na’vi and the Sullys.

You were glad for Norm and Max too.

So you woke up every morning. You went on. You took it day to day. You went back to sleep. And you started it all again, like a machine.

You would get out of your room when you felt okay to. You would see if any of the humans needed your help or if Mo’at had deemed it a day to come see you. You would go along with it. That was your routine, your way of survival.

Even if all you thought about was Neteyam. His drooping shoulders and the defeat in his body. His eyes. His smile. His voice.

So many days and weeks and months later, commotion happened in the lab, Norm in his avatar and Max running out.

You looked curiously. You decided to ask. “Hey, what’s going on ?”

Max stopped. “You should come with us, now.” He pulled on your arm, getting you towards the helicopter. “Bad situation. Jake called us over.”

You felt blood rush in your ears. What had happened that Jake needed to call them over ?

“Kiri had a seizure. He called so we could go and see what is going on. We need to go now.”

You nodded, your heart in your throat.

You barely remembered getting in a seat and buckling up. You barely remembered the flight over. All you saw was water, until there was land. Islands. Until you saw Jake motioning the helicopter down.

You went out last, after Norm and Max, lost in between the new environment and your fear for Kiri. You felt stares on you. You barely paid attention to them.

Jake was talking with them and leading them away, not even noticing you were there until he turned around when you all arrived to their little hut.

His eyes widened, before he pulled you in. “Oh, sweetheart, I didn’t see you there. Thank you for coming.”

You teared up at the hug, at his words. Great mother, how had you missed them all. “Of course. How is she doing ?” Your voice shook, as you looked up at him.

He grimaced, worry all over his face. “She’s unconscious. She had a seizure when she connected to Eywa with the kids.”

Max and Norm had both gone in to try to see what was happening, to connect to Kiri’s brain with their machine. Neytiri was beside Kiri, holding her hand. Tuk was close by too.

A beautiful pregnant Na’vi woman came in, with what seemed healing materials.

“You are Tsahik.” Neytiri hissed, before chasing everyone out. Jake, Max and Norm left to talk. (You would have laughed in any other situation. They were still all scared shitless of Neytiri. Which you understood.)

You watched as the Tsahik worked on waking Kiri up.

Please Kiri, just wake up. Be okay. Be okay. Please.

A few moments later, Kiri opened her eyes and cried as Neytiri comforted her. You sagged in relief, feeling your own tears burning your eyes.

You didn’t try to enter or barge in. You didn’t try to talk to them. You were just relieved to see them all and to see Kiri okay.

“Tsmuke ?” A small voice whispered and then a large hand fell on your arm. You looked up to see Tuk, surprise and happiness in her eyes.

“Hey, Tuk tuk.” You whispered back, your hand reaching up to ruffle her braids.

At this little moment, you heard gasps behind her. Neytiri looked at you with surprise too before a soft smile broke on her face. Kiri started crying even harder before she threw herself at you.

You choked and fell back.

“Kiri ! That fucking hurts, you skxawng !”

“Sorry, sorry.” She sniffled and still held you tight, putting you in her lap in the process. “I just missed you so much. We all did.”

The burning behind your eyes intensified until you couldn’t keep it in anymore. The tears flowed as you hugged her back.

“I missed you too. All of you. So much.” Your voice broke on the words, breaking through your real feelings for the first time in months. “It’s been hard.” A wet laugh came out of you. “But, enough about me. What happened Kiri ? Are you okay ?”

She put some distance to look into your face. “I saw my mom. She was right there. And then...” Kiri sighed, disappointed to have lost the contact. “I don’t know what happened exactly. I was ripped out of the connection and went into a seizure apparently.” She shook her head.

You couldn’t believe it. You were stuck between being happy for her (she had always wanted to talk to Grace, at least once in her life, to be in her presence) and being worried about what happened to her. How could connecting to Eywa put her in this state ?

“Hey, Kiri, I know the seizure was bad but I’m so happy you got to see Grace. How was she ? Did she say anything ?” You asked, holding her hand tight.

She went into it with sparkles and happiness in her eyes about what she looked like and how it had felt to be with her for this short simple moment. You couldn’t help but smile with love for the girl in front of you. Tuk had gotten closer to you too again in the moment, pushing her head on your shoulder (even though her head didn’t fit, not really). Neytiri was looking over the three of you, holding Kiri’s hand the whole time.

You both talked for a few minutes until Norm squeezed your shoulder. “We have to go.”

Pure sadness and pain exploded in your gut at the words. You had felt what could happiness be again for a short discussion, and now you had to leave it all behind again ? You swallowed to keep the bile in but gave a smile to Norm (which looked more like a grimace). “I’ll be there in a minute.”

You slowly got up, Kiri and Tuk following you in the process.

Tuk hugged you, whined at you leaving. “Do you really have to go ? Can’t you stay with us ?”

“I wish I could, Tuk tuk. I really wish I could.” You gently pinched her cheek. “But it’s going to be okay. You’ll come back to the forest at some point and you’ll tell me everything. I’ll be waiting.”

Kiri looked at you and you knew she didn’t believe a word you said. In truth, you didn’t know if they would ever come back and if they did, you knew it wouldn’t be soon, not with Quaritch back.

But no matter how much you wanted to stay, you couldn’t.

“I’ll see you all later, okay ?” You tried to sound strong, when you were really breaking again inside. “And don’t move Kiri ! I’ll go by myself.”

You hugged them one last time. Neytiri softly touched your head for a second and let you go. You smiled at her as much as you could, before you turned around to join Norm and Max out.

Jake hugged you as you left. “Take care.” You nodded. You didn’t look back.

The Tsahik and Olo'eyktan stood near the helicopter, ready to watch you leave. You extended your hand from your forehead downwards in greetings, bowed your head in thanks.

You both felt relieved and destroyed to not have seen Neteyam. Relieved because then you did not have to face the way he wouldn’t look at you. Destroyed because you missed him, because you needed to see him to know he was fine.

As if Eywa had heard you, the moment you stepped one foot in, the moment you slightly turned your head left, he was there. A few feet away. With Lo’ak and others from the sea clan.

He looked at you with wide eyes and you froze. Pain and love blossomed in your chest. It hurt. It hurt to love him so much. You could never stop though. You didn’t even want to.

“What’s happening ?” Max asked, before getting his head out towards Neteyam still looking at you.

Norm sighed. “You should go. Go talk to him. Here’s your chance.”

You were still frozen when Norm’s words entered your ears, but Neteyam unfroze to start moving forward towards you. You shook your head, both at Norm and Neteyam.

He stopped and you saw the words on his lips. “Sky girl”. You shook your head again and gave him a sad smile. His ears twitched down, his tail drooped. You had hurt him again.

You still couldn’t do it though. You hadn’t changed your mind. What were you supposed to say to him when you still felt like your decision was the good one, the best one for him ?

Maybe not for you. But he would understand with time. That was what you told yourself.

You went in the helicopter and watched him become smaller and smaller. You went back to your small room and thought you would just go back to your routine.

If only you had known.

You were strolling through the forest, needing time away alone, when you heard a noise behind you. You looked back, through the trees, but there was nothing.

Your feet continued moving on their own but the tension was clouding your mind. Something was happening. Your fingers closed themselves around the knife you always carried, hidden underneath your shirt.

More noise came from behind you but now also in front of you. You looked to see glimpses of blue.

Those weren’t Omaticayas. They wouldn’t hide and observe you. They knew you.

They weren’t the people you knew who had avatars.

Which only meant one thing. And you weren’t going to go without fighting.

You heard footsteps next to you. You took out the knife and turned, stabbing whoever had tried to approach you.

An unknown Na’vi in military gear gasped in pain at the knife in their side before you got the knife out. Not Na’vi. Avatar. Whatever the fuck they were now.

“You bitch !” The man said, rising his hand to strike you. You ducked under the hand as fast as you could, lessons and reflexes kicking in. You tried to stab him again but a hand wrapped itself in your hair.

It pulled and raised you up. You gasped and moaned in pain, the knife slipped from your hand to the ground. Your feet didn’t touch the ground anymore.

“Well, looks like you learned a thing or two from the Sullys, haven’t you, girlie ?” A voice said as their hand turned you to them.

You had only seen the man in human form in the archives left with the lab. You had learned disgust and hate for this man from as young as you could remember. Quaritch. You hissed at him as best as you could behind the mask.

“And you’ve also learned to be feral. I guess that’s all they’ve been teaching you human kids, huh.”

At the mention of human kids, you hissed even harder through your gasps of pain. His other hand went around your throat while the other stopped pulling on your hair. He could kill you in an instant. Break your neck and end it right there.

You did not care.

“What the fuck have you done with Spider ? You better not have touched him !” Your voice was rough and broken, angry. “Oh, do not worry about that, he’s fully okay. Look, he’s here.”

From behind him appeared Spider, looking unharmed. Relief coursed through your veins. He was okay, nothing had happened.

“Now, I’m not here for a reunion. I’m here because an helicopter left this forest to get somewhere and little Spider here let slip that you may have been on it.” The hand around your throat tightened up. “I want to know where it went, and exactly where.”

It kept tightening and tightening up. You gasped for air, your head started spinning, but you kept looking right into his eyes in defiance. You would never give up the spot. Ever.

“See, I can’t barge in the Omaticayas’s place and get to your avatar friends. We’ll get killed. But you ? You’re the way to Jake Sully. So, you have a choice. I can hurt you or you can tell me.”

The hand stopped and let air go through your lungs. You breathed in as much as you could.

You laughed lightly. “You can go fuck yourself.”

Quaritch smirked at your words and nodded. He tightened up and tightened up. You felt yourself slipping away.

You could hear Spider screaming. “Stop it ! Stop, you’re going to kill her !”

The only thing you saw behind your eyelids as you passed out was Neteyam’s face. I’m sorry.

You woke up jumping, banging your head against something in the process. “Shit !” You yelled out.

You tried to touch the top of your head with your hand, to see if you had a bump, but was stopped. A look down made you realize you had been handcuffed.

Both your hands and feet.

And you realized you were next to a hut on an island. You looked further, you saw a large boat, ikrans, a village. You saw a Na’vi clan on their knees, the military avatars pointing their guns at them while Quaritch was yelling at them, showing a picture on his tablet. Jake.

“The princess finally wakes up. Come on.” You were hauled up by a guy and pulled to the scene.

As you grew closer, you realized Spider was playing translator for him. It seemed like he had gotten nothing from them. This wasn’t the good island nor the good clan. Quaritch stopped when he saw you and turned to you.

“I told you you had a choice. Here it is again. You tell me where the Sullys are or I kill all of them.”

He had told you he would hurt you. You had thought it would be physical. You should have known better from a man like him.

You were forced on your knees and forced to look at the Olo’eyktan and Tsahik of the clan.

“Look at them. Do you want to watch them die ? It’ll be all your fault, you know ?”

Tears grew in your eyes. You could save them, but at what cost ? You saw flashes of the Sullys’ dead bodies in your head. Jake, Neytiri, Kiri, Lo’ak, Tuk...Neteyam.

You couldn’t. Couldn’t. Couldn’t.

“Go fuck yourself.” Your voice was shaking and blood spread in your mouth as you bit your tongue.

The Tsahik’s head was forced on the ground, the gun pointed at her temple.

“Are you sure about this ?” Quaritch asked. You couldn’t answer anymore. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry...” You kept repeating in Na’vi.

Spider yelled out at Quaritch, forcing him to look at him. “Don’t do this ! They don’t know anything. She won’t tell you a thing either, especially if you kill them. Please, just stop.”

You kept looking into the tsahik’s eyes. If this was to be your fault, you would force yourself to look. You would carry the death in you forever.

“We really going to kill her ?” The man with the gun at her head asked with no emotion.

Quaritch didn’t say anything for a minute. It felt like an hour.

“They don’t know anything. Let’s burn it all.” He said finally and the gun left the tsahik’s temple.

You finally breathed again. You made yourself look at them burn the village. All you felt was rage.

How could they dare come in an innocent clan’s village to destroy everything ? How could he ? For some sort of stupid revenge ? Would a man like him never fucking move on ?

At least, it seemed like Spider got to him, which surprised and disgusted you at the same time. How could he act like he cared now about him when he hadn’t then ?

Quaritch looked back at you and motioned to the guy. “Knock her out. Keep her quiet.”

All you saw was the butt of the gun going down on your head, before you passed out again.

(Tonowari had come around the Sullys’s hut to tell them sky people had attacked with a human boy translating for them and a captive human girl.

“A human girl ?” Jake asked, worried.

Neytiri and Jake both looked at each other, fearing the worst. They both knew who it was but did not want to believe it.

“We have to believe she’ll be okay. She is strong.” Neytiri said, her hand intertwining with Jake’s.

He nodded. How could they tell their kids she had been taken ? How could they tell Neteyam ?)

(He wouldn’t get the chance to know.)

You woke up later in a boat in a corner of what seemed the main control room, in the middle of an unknown crew, your feet unbound, you hands still cuffed.

Spider was sitting next to you. He sighed in relief. “You’re finally awake. You’re scared me there for a minute.”

Your head hurt.

“How are you not even cuffed ?” You mumbled out, straightening up against the wall.

“Tracker’s in my mask. And we’re in a boat full of military men right now, so I guess he hasn’t even thought of cuffing me.”

“But he does me ?” You asked, as you raised your hands to show him. “Spider... what the fuck is going on ? Why were you even translating for the guy ? Why did you tell him I would have been the helicopter ?”

His head hung low, to hide his eyes and his face.

You scoffed at his silence. “And why were the ikrans there ?” You nudged him. “They wouldn’t have known how to do it. Tell me the truth.”

He got up in an instant, pacing. “You don’t know how it was like ! I was left with them, they took me and he told me to just follow them around. And... yes, I told them how to do it. I taught them stuff. What do you want me to say ?”

“I don’t know, Spider ! All I know is it’s been helping them. That’s not your father. That’s a copy of him in an avatar body. And even if it was him, that’s a man who decided that destroying a planet and its people was more important than his own son !” You screamed in frustration.

“And where did answering back take you, huh ? Look, you’re injured, cuffed, prisoner with no way out.” You couldn’t believe your ears at his words. “You’re in the exact same situation, Spider. You may not be injured, but you’re as much a captive as I am. Do not think he cares now. He doesn’t and he never will, not really.” You spat out. “He’ll never care about anything but revenge against Jake.”

You sighed. You were so tired. “All I know is I will never tell him anything. I also know I was worried about you. I’m glad you’re okay.”

He sat down again next to you, shoulder against yours. “I’m sorry... Everything is so confusing. I’m glad you’re okay too.”

You stayed like this for a while. There was commotion at some point, the crew getting busy and you ended up in front of a screen with Spider and an unknown man, Dr Garvin.

The screen showed big beautiful animals swimming through the ocean. “What are they going to do ?” You asked, even though you already knew the answer.

“They are going to hunt the tulkun mother.” Dr Garvin answered bitterly, as if he did not want to be there but had no other choice.

You could only watch as they killed the mother and left the calf to desperately stay with its mother. You wanted to cry. What was the point of all of this ?

“They hunt them. He also wants to trap Jake with this.” Spider whispered to you. You didn’t understand how that would work. “The tulkuns bond with the people. This tulkun is bonded with someone. He’s trying to get them to fight back and get the Sullys through that.”

You didn’t even know what to answer. What else could you have expected from Quaritch ? Of course, since he couldn’t get the answer through you, he would try a trap.

Spider went with Quaritch to go into the tulkun. You stayed in the corner of the room. You debated trying to run for it and jump in the ocean. But where would you even go ?

You weren’t a great swimmer. You were still cuffed. You were okay at survival and fighting, but you were outnumbered by a large amount.

So you didn’t do anything.

Until Spider came back. Until everything became a mess and Lo’ak, Tuk and apparently the Olo’eyktan and Tsahik’s daughter were taken and cuffed at the edge of the boat.

An avatar hauled you up. “What are you doing ?” Spider asked before the man pushed him away, into the wall. “Stay away, she’s going with the others.”

You didn’t try to fight back. At least you would be with Lo’ak and Tuk. You shook your head at Spider. Don’t try anything, dumb ass.

He pulled at your arm until he got you to Quaritch. You heard Lo’ak’s “Sky girl !” and Tuk’s little gasp.

“Here’s some use for you, girlie. You’ll be bait with your little friends.”

He uncuffed you to intertwine your cuffs to the railing. You hissed at him in the process. He didn’t even pick up your attitude, stepping away to talk to Jake. At the same time, you looked over the railing to see the whole sea clan was out.

That was how you would be bait. You got it now.

You couldn’t see Neteyam though, you realized as you narrowed your eyes. Where was he ? What was he doing ?

Lo’ak was the closest to you. “How the hell have you ended up here, sky girl ?” He asked, looking down at you in concern. “Not that I’m not happy to see you. I missed you, but you know what I mean.”

You smiled. “Missed you too, ass. But Quaritch basically kidnapped me and tried to get me to talk. Didn’t work, so now I’m bait with you guys.” You joked. “You okay, Tuk ?”

She nodded and you smiled at her. You looked at the one in between them. A beautiful Na’vi girl with lighter blue skin and beautiful features. “Sorry, we haven’t met before. I’m the human girl, maybe you’ve been told about me. I’ve heard you’re the Olo’eyktan’s daughter.”

“I’m Tsireya. I’ve heard about you from the Sullys and I saw you when you visited Kiri.” She said softly.

“It’s nice to meet you. Even though it would have been better in any other situation than this, right now.” You answered, with a little laugh.

One of the avatar men hit you in the back with their gun. “Shut up !”

You gasped and groaned in pain. Lo’ak yelled out. “Hey ! Watch what you’re doing !” When you saw the man decided to approach Lo’ak, you told the Sully brother to calm down. “It’s fine, Lo’ak. Let’s just shut up and wait.”

“What’s dad doing ?” Tuk asked, her little voice shaking and worried.

Jake was moving forward alone. He was going with Quaritch’s orders. If it went on, he would die. Nothing was going right.

A tulkun rose up from the water and threw itself right unto the boat, a few meters away from you.

“Payakan !” Lo’ak screamed with glee. “Do you know him ?” You yelled over the commotion.

“He bonded with him. He’s soul brother.” Tsireya screamed, explaining to you. You turned to Lo’ak with a laugh. “Well shit, Lo’ak. You’ll thank him, he just saved our asses.”

You tried to get out of the cuffs to no avail as Payakan fought back.

You then heard Tuk yell. “Neteyam !”

Your heart skipped a beat. You hadn’t been able to see him. Was he okay ?

He went over the railing and freed Tuk first.

He hadn’t seen you yet, hidden behind Lo’ak larger body. “Who’s the mighty warrior, huh ?” He laughed and boasted to Lo’ak as he cut his cuffs.

It was only when Lo’ak was freed that he saw you. He froze for a second, before he went right into action.

“What the hell are you doing here ?” He asked hurriedly while cutting your hands free. “No hello, how are you doing ?” You jokingly asked. He simply looked at you with that stare of his, his hands now incapable of not touching you. “I was...kind of taken by Quaritch.”

His eyes turned violent and angry. His stance stiff. He took your chin and raised your face up to see through the mask. He saw the small injuries. He saw the marks around your neck. He felt around you head and you grimaced when he touched the bump.

“You’re hurt.” He stated, grumbled. His eyes still screamed for murder. His hands still traced the contours of your face and neck gently.

“Nothing much, Nete. I’ll be fine. We need to get out of here.”

He nodded. “We need to get Tuk out of there first.”

Lo’ak stopped him. “Tsireya and sky girl, go with her. We have to get Spider.” Neteyam hesitated. “We can’t leave him here !”

Neteyam accepted.

“I’m coming with you guys.”

He shook his head vehemently. “No chance, sky girl. You’re taking Tuk and getting to safety. Now.”

You shook your head back. “I know where to go... kinda. I can help you.” He still pushed you away towards Tsireya and Tuk. You took his hands off. “I’m not leaving Spider and I’m not leaving you. Not again.”

Your eyes searched around for a rifle and you took it. “I can defend myself.” He sighed. “You are all going to kill me one day, I swear.” He then pointed to you and Lo’ak. “You stick to me. No funny business. No risk. We find Spider and we go right away. Understood ?”

You both nodded. This was prime hunter Neteyam speaking, getting into combat.

You stuck close to Neteyam and still showed the way as best as you could, for the little of the boat you had seen.

You all found Spider and fought your way out.

“I’ll distract them ! Go !” Neteyam screamed, as Lo’ak and Spider jumped in the water. You didn’t. “You skxawng, you better get in the water right now, or I’m pushing you in myself.” You still stayed.

“I’m not going without you.” You insisted. “I’ll kill you when we get out of this, sky girl.” You nodded with a smile. “Looking forward to it, Nete.”

You both got out of you cover to shoot and get closer to the water, distracting them in the process. You were both about to toss the guns and jump when you saw one of the avatar men put his gun up in Neteyam’s direction.

You didn’t think.

You didn’t think at all.

A second felt like minutes, hours.

A second changed everything.

Your body moved. You put all of your force into pushing Neteyam out of the way and into the water first.

You felt the bullet pierce your chest. You felt the pain explode in your whole body. You fell in the water backwards.

You did your best to swim out, to get your head above the water. The pain was dragging you down, making it hard for you to stay afloat.

Neteyam rushed to you, as you struggled and gasped for air. You felt like something was wrong with your lungs, a rattling, making it hard to breathe or move.

He pulled you to him, helped you up. “What’s wrong ?” He sounded panicked, kept you close. You wheezed for air. “Got...shot...” You barely managed to say.

“Shit, shit, shit.” He swam as fast as he could to his ilu, sitting you in front of him and getting to land as fast as he could. “You’re gonna be okay. It’s gonna be fine.” He whispered in your ear, supporting your body with his. “I told you to stick to me. I told you no funny business, you skxawng.”

A wet laugh came out of you, wet with your blood. You knew it wasn’t a good sign. Everything hurt. You could only let yourself lay against his chest.

You arrived to a rock, Lo’ak and Spider following behind. Neteyam held you in his arms to settle you down. Jake and Neytiri arrived a few seconds later.

Jake turned you around, saw the exit wound through your shirt, saw the blood. He could only press a hand against his forehead.

“Dad, what ? What is it ?” Neteyam asked, and Jake shook his head.

Neteyam refused to believe it. He held you in his arms. “Sky girl, you’re going to be okay. We’re going to make it out and we’ll go home, okay ?”

You were working harder and harder to even breathe. Darkness was creeping up at the edges of your eyesight. You felt numb. The pain had become simple numbness.

You knew it was over. You could feel yourself slipping away, bit by bit.

“Nete...” You wheezed, trying to lift your hand, to no avail. Your limbs wouldn’t answer anymore. “I never...never told you...”

He shook his head. “You’ll tell me later. You’ll have all the time to tell me. We’ll have so much time, you and I. So much time.” His eyes never left your face, your eyes. “We’ll go hunt, we’ll go fly on my ikran, we’ll keep watch on the rest of the idiots, we’ll slip away at night and look at the stars. We...”

You smiled slightly. You stopped him. “No, need to tell you...now.” You took your last deep breath. “I see...you. Always have. Always...” You whispered.

Neteyam was shaking, you could feel his hands trembling. “I know. I know, sweet girl. I see you.”

You smiled. You looked at his face, his eyes, the glowing freckles. You committed all the little details in your memory. You wanted him to be the last thing you saw.

You didn’t want to go. You wanted to stay with him. Fuck everything you had said about not belonging together. You wanted more time. You wanted to go against everything you had ever believed.

But, the darkness took over. The control over your body left and you went limp. Your eyes got lost in the void. You were slipping away, you slipped away.

Your time had slipped away like sand.

Neteyam couldn’t understand as you went completely limp in his arms.

“Sweet girl ? Come on. Please. Don’t do this, don’t do this.” Neteyam begged.

He heard gasps from behind him, cries. He barely registered them as he held your body closer, as he tried to shake you to wake you up.

“Don’t go. Please, please.” He whispered, his eyes still on your face.

Your skin felt colder already. Your eyes weren’t looking at him anymore.

They would never look at him again. He would never feel them on him again. He would never hold your hand again. He would never feel you fall asleep against him again. He would never see you smile again. Never hear your voice. Your laugh.

It hit.

He screamed. “Great mother, why ? Why ? Not her ! Please !” He screamed and cried and sobbed. “Please...”

Jake and Neytiri could only watch as their son held you to his body tight, not seeing anything but you, crying and whispering to you to come back.

They had to move. Kiri and Tuk were still in the boat, captives by Quaritch.

Jake put a hand on Neteyam’s shoulder. “Neteyam, we need to go.”

He had no reaction the first time, still crying, his face in your hair.

“Neteyam !”

Neteyam looked up at his father, his eyes lost and full of tears.

“Your sisters are still in there. We need to go, now.” Jake said, his hands on both Neteyam’s shoulders now. “I know... I know it’s hard, but I need you to have a strong heart right now. Your mother and I need you with us.”

The words finally registered in his mind. Kiri and Tuk were still in danger. In danger by the same people who had killed you.

He couldn’t describe the rage he felt spread from his core, flames eating up at him. He needed to kill them. Needed to get his sisters back and kill all of them. Kill Quaritch.

He nodded. He laid you down on the rock gently. He took off your mask. You didn’t need it anymore.

The pain was excruciating. He felt like his heart was breaking, being torn out of his own chest.

It has already been torn out, he thought. You had taken it with you as you left and went somewhere he could not follow.

Neteyam closed your eyes and pressed a kiss on your eyelids and on your cheeks. He could almost fool himself in the fact that you were just sleeping.

If only.

He got up and took a deep breath. He looked around him.

Lo’ak and Spider were crying too. You had been a sister to them for so long. Now, you were gone.

Tsireya was a comforting presence at Lo’ak’s back. He was grateful that his brother wasn’t alone.

Jake and Neytiri looked at him with somber expressions. He could also see the tears in their eyes, the pain.

You had been sky people, but they all had loved you like one of their own.

His mother looked at him, letting the rage and pain also fill her eyes. “We have to go. Get your sisters back. Kill them.”

He nodded and joined her on her ikran. His father went on his own ilu with Spider who was willing to show the way.

“I want to go with you.” Lo’ak said to Jake.

He turned to him, “You have done enough. Stay with her.”

Neteyam already knew Lo’ak wouldn’t listen. He knew his brother too well. He wouldn’t stand by, especially not with everything that was happening, that had happened. Neteyam wouldn’t try to stop him, not this time.

After that, Neteyam let the pain, the rage, the anger, the grief take over. He took a spear a Metkayina had left in a body. He killed.

Any man coming his way was killed. A hit in the throat, before he took the spear out. A swipe at their stomach or their limbs, cutting off parts, ending them.

He didn’t see anymore, not really. He only saw red. He wanted red to spill, blood out of them, revenge. He barely had any control over his body. He was only fueled by the image of your body in the back of his mind. The image of his sisters captive.

He couldn’t say how many had fallen under his spear. A trail of bodies were left by him and Neytiri.

Neytiri let her own rage talk beside him. A rage that had built over the past year. Rage over the sky people coming back. Rage over having to run to protect their family and leave her home behind (the one she had promised to protect to her father). Rage over her family getting hurt over and over again.

They looked like two demons coming for retribution. Two hurt beings fueled by pure instincts. The sky people had no chance.

He was only brought back when he saw Quaritch with his knife at Kiri’s throat. Tuk was with their dad, but Kiri was still stuck.

He approached slowly, his mind racing, trying to find a way out of this situation.

Neytiri appeared, her knife at Spider’s throat.

She hissed at Quaritch. “A child for a child.”

(She had hated sky people, couldn’t accept Spider nor you in the beginning.

You had never pushed, especially with her. She had learned to at least tolerate you.

She had seen the genuine love you had for all of them, and especially Neteyam.

She couldn’t accept it at first. The looks between the two of you. This was her firstborn, her son. He couldn’t end up with sky people. It did not make sense.

But she had seen the way you distanced yourself. The way you always tried to pull away. The way you smiled and laughed and loved them, but looked lost and pained when they weren’t looking.

She had learned to respect you. And she had learned to love you.

(“Ma’Jake, are you really going to do this ? Teach her ?” She had asked one day. Jake had decided to teach her survival skills.

He looked at his mate with a small smile. “Our kids love her. She’s become a part of us. She needs to be able to protect herself.” She sighed. “Look... she reminds me of me in a lot of ways. It’s not her fault she’s ended up here. She didn’t ask for this. But, she’s been there for our kids and she’s been trying.”

Neytiri knew this. You tried to learn, while keeping your distance and your limits. You were respectful.

Even her own mother seemed to see something in you. And she also saw it but did not want to admit it.)

She ended up also teaching you the way of the bow. The way of the hunt.

She ended up liking your company. The way you worked hard and were eager to learn. The way you would not push conversation.

Day after day, you had wormed your way into her family.

You had become one of hers.)

She hissed again, her voice a rumble in her chest. “I cut !”

She cut Spider’s chest to show that she meant it. Quaritch let Kiri go.

Neteyam only remembered taking Kiri and Tuk and going backwards in the water, away from Quaritch, even if he wanted to gut him. Wanted him to bleed out slowly on the ground.

But his sisters mattered more. That was what you would want too. Kiri and Tuk safe, before any revenge.

As he swam away with them, Neytiri and Spider, his father stayed behind to fight Quaritch. He prayed to Eywa that his dad would win. He had to.

The fire spread before they could get away.

“We need to swim back !” Spider screamed and Neteyam swam back towards the boat, tugging Tuk and his mother along with him.

They tried to find a way out, to get away from the fire. Tuk fell, taken by the water. Neytiri jumped after her.

“Try to get out of here, find Lo’ak or my dad!” He screamed to Kiri and Spider. “I’m going after mom and Tuk!”

He jumped in.

He found them quickly. “What are you doing here, son ?” Neytiri screamed. “You should have stayed with Kiri and Spider !”

“I’m not leaving you two behind. Let’s move forward, mom.” He said with resolve, moving first with Neytiri.

They managed to escape the water, swimming as fact as they could. One door would not open. Neytiri tried. Neteyam tried and tried, bruising his hands.

His mother put a hand on his shoulder. “There’s no point, Neteyam. It’s okay.”

They stayed the three of them, huddled close. Neteyam held Tuk close to him. Neytiri held them both close.

“We’re going to be okay, Tuk. All is going to be fine.” He whispered, as the water kept rising.

He remembered the same words he had said to you before you died. He hoped it wouldn’t be the same. Not for Tuk. Not for his mom.

A part of him would have been okay with being taken by the water. With joining you wherever you were. But not when his mother and sister were there too.

The water kept rising and rising. He held Tuk closer.

Eywa, sky girl, please.

Lights came, along with Kiri. They were saved. He hugged Kiri. He said thank you to the great mother, to his sky girl.

They got out. They found Lo’ak and their dad. They all hugged.

Sullys stick together.

They went back to the rock. Tsireya had stayed with you the whole time.

Neteyam felt the adrenaline and everything fall away. He felt the rage and anger slip away, only to leave the pain and the grief.

He scooped you up in his arms again and held you close. You were so small and still so limp.

He saw Tuk and Kiri realize.

“Oh no... No...” Kiri broke down, coming to hold your hand. “Oh, sky girl...” She cried the loss of her best friend.

Tuk only cried, pressing your other hand to her cheek.

They all huddled close to you and Neteyam.

Spider came back. Sat there, eyes lost.

Neteyam cradled you, protected you until the sea clan came back to help them out back to the island.

He kept you in his arms the whole way, his forehead to yours.

And still when they all arrived and stepped foot on land.

“We...we want a proper funeral for her. We know she was not Na’vi but she was one of us.” Jake asked Tonowari and Ronal.

Neteyam stepped forward. He looked at them with despair and pain. “Please. I would not dare to ask such a thing but I have to, for her. Please let her rest with Eywa.”

They both looked at each other and had a silent conversation. They knew they could not say no. Not to the Sullys who had fought for the Metkayinas and had become a part of their people.

Not to their grief. And especially not to the oldest son, who they saw destroyed.

They saw how he never let you down, how he looked at you, the tears in his eyes.

“Of course. We will hold a proper funeral for her, in your honor.” Tonowari promised.

That night, they all gathered at the Cove of the Ancestors.

All of the Sullys gathered around you, all touching some part of your skin.

Neteyam, Jake and Neytiri went with you to submerge your body and lead you to the polyp bed. The corals took you.

The sea gives and the sea takes.

Neteyam watched as you joined Eywa, body and soul. He didn’t know how to go on, now. Not without you.

He didn’t connect with Eywa. He was too scared to do it. Too scared to see you again. If he did, he didn’t know how he would have the strength to stay away.

He would want nothing but to stay connected forevermore.

He couldn’t do it. Not yet.

The Sullys left to go back to the forest for a little bit. To tell Mo’at. To tell Norm and Max.

They went back to the Omaticayas. They were welcomed well.

Neteyam tried to smile, to be happy for the reunion. He felt nothing but emptiness.

“Hey everyone.” Norm came to them in his avatar, hugging Jake in the process. Max followed behind him and other humans too. They all looked tired.

“We...we lost her. She was just gone.” Max whispered.

Jake had a somber expression. “We know. Quaritch had her and brought her to us. She...she’s with Eywa now.”

The humans all looked surprised before somber expressions took over their faces too. Norm had to sit down. “What happened ?” He asked after a deep silence.

“She got shot for me.” Neteyam answered. He hated the words. Hated that they were real.

He could barely sleep anymore. He wished it had been but a nightmare. A nightmare his mind had conjured up.

He had hoped to find her with the Omaticayas safe and sound.

If only.

“Norm, should we tell them ?” Max commented.

Norm said nothing, simply got up and motioned them to come to the lab.

In the back of the lab laid a tank covered up.

“We didn’t know if we would be able to ever make it. We barely had the means, it’s been trial and error with what we had left.” Norm commented, taking the cover off. “It’s been years of process and development. We started when she was a kid, without her even realizing it. We just saw how much she loved you all and had to try.”

“And she had become a daughter to us.” Max added.

They both let the Sullys come through to see what was in the tank. Neteyam was the first one to witness whatever it was.

There was an Avatar floating, still connected. Neteyam saw its head turn. The face had your features. Your features on a Na’vi.

Your hair, your eyes, your mouth.

With blue skin. Taller. Ears twitching. Tail and queue.

A dream he had always had. You looking like him.

“We thought she would be able to link with it one day and even have her soul transfer through Eywa but, now...” Norm trailed off, a hand over his eyes.

Neteyam pressed a hand to the tank, wishing he could touch you, wishing you were in it. The body was useless without your soul, your spirit, your heart in it.

“What if we tried ?” He said, turning to look at his parents, his sisters and brother.

Jake looked at him, his eyebrow raised up. “What do you mean, son ?”

“She’s with Eywa. What if we asked Mo’at to still try the transfer ? Eywa may let her soul get into the body.”

Neytiri shook her head. “It does not work like that, Neteyam. She is already gone with Eywa. She cannot come back.”

“So what ? We don’t try ?” His voice raised up with frustration. “There’s a body right there for her. We’re just going to let it die without even trying ? What if it works and she can come back ?”

He turned back to the tank, looking at your face. “I need to try. Just once. I wouldn’t be able to live and go on if I hadn’t tried.” He mumbled.

He went to Mo’at. They all did but he was the one at the head of the family, which he never was. His dad would always talk, make the decisions.

He had to try. He had to. He explained everything to Mo’at.

“Like my daughter said, it will not work. She had a strong heart and I am too saddened to have lost such a soul. I had wished she had been Na’vi. But, it does not work like that.”

Neteyam’s frustration was growing and growing. He willed himself to calm down. “Just...let’s just try, please Mo’at. Just one try. If it doesn’t work, then, that’s it. But let’s try, for her.”

Mo’at conceited after a long silence.

“We will need someone to guide her back. This will be more complicated than the transfer your father went through.”

“I will do it.”

Both Neteyam and Kiri had talked.

“No.” Jake retorted right away. “No, Kiri. You had a seizure last time.”

Kiri turned to their parents with a scowl. “I am the closest to Eywa, and you know that. I can help her. And I will do it with Neteyam.”

Jake and Neytiri still looked at her in disapproval.

“Please. She is my best friend. I have to do this with him.”

Jake conceited too, with a sigh. “Okay, but no risk. You realize something is going to happen, you feel anything, you’re out of there, okay ?”

She nodded. Neteyam bumped his shoulder against hers. They smiled at each other, ready.

The Omaticayas all gathered at the Tree of the Ancestors, for you.

Another gathering. This time Neteyam wished it was for an happier reason. He prayed you would be reborn.

He prayed to Eywa as he held your avatar body and laid you in front of Mo’at.

He prayed as he connected his queue. He prayed as Kiri connected hers.

Neteyam opened up his eyes to find himself in the forest. Kiri was beside him.

They saw you a few feet away, squatting down, your bare feet in the grass, your fingers touching a glowing flower.

You turned around to look at them and smiled. Neteyam felt a rock in his throat, an acute pain in his heart.

He had missed your smile. He had missed your eyes.

“Guys !” You waved them over, standing up.

Kiri went to you first, smiling with tears streaming down her face. “I missed you, stupid girl.”

You laughed. “We saw each other literally yesterday, Kiri. You hit your head during the night ?”

Neteyam got close too, intertwined his fingers with yours. You looked at him to realize he was also crying.

“You too ? Are you guys okay ?” You asked, this time worried something had truly happened.

Neteyam just smiled. “Come on, sweet girl, come with us.”

You let yourself be taken away. You would have followed Neteyam anywhere, anyway.

You felt your hand slip away from his. Bright light entered your eyesight.

You breathed again. You felt the ground against your back. A hand on your face.

You slowly opened up your eyes. You saw the Tree of the Ancestors. You were confused.

You saw Neteyam. His hand was on your face.

“What is going on, Nete ?” You tried to say but only whispered, your voice unused. Your throat hurt.

You saw him choke up and cry. “Nete !” You sat up with difficulty, other hands helped you. “Slow down, sky girl.” Kiri.

You wiped his tears. Then you saw your hands.

Larger, blue.

You gasped. How ?

You brought them to your face, flexed them, turned them around before Neteyam caught them in his own.

“This is a dream... I’m dreaming...” You whispered, still looking at your hands in Neteyam’s.

“No, you’re home.” He answered, dropping his forehead to yours.

You realized Mo’at was there watching you. She screamed. “She has been reborn !”

You were Na’vi now. Somehow.

It took you a few days to simply understand what had happened.

You remembered getting shot and passing out. You barely remembered anything from your time with Eywa.

You could only remember feeling her, knowing she was real.

Now, you were reborn. You were Na’vi. Somehow, your dream had become true.

You had hugged Norm and Max like never before when you had learned it was thanks to them. They had developed an avatar for you, for years. (Max had moaned in pain. “You’re not human anymore, you’re going to have to learn to be careful.” You had smiled, sorry.)

You were taller, blue. Your ears would twitch. You couldn’t control your tail yet.

You had a tail. It was weird.

(“How do you guys do it ? It’s such a strange feeling...” You asked Lo’ak and Kiri, rubbing your tail.

They both shrugged. It was as natural as breathing for them. As natural as an arm. It was still weird.)

You also didn’t need a mask anymore to breathe the air. You didn’t feel restricted anymore.

Only the lack of control of your own body restricted you.

(“How the hell do you even go forward without falling ?” You were frustrated. You had tried forming tsaheylu with a pa’li.

It had seemed okay. You had told it to move forward.

It dashed. You fell on your ass, the tsaheylu broken.

Neteyam tried not to laugh, hiding behind his hand. You wanted to kick him.

Jake looked at you with understanding. He had gone through the exact same thing. He patted your back. “It’s a... lot of trial and error. You’ll be able to do it in no time, don’t worry.”

You didn’t believe him.)

Everything felt surreal. You were in this body, you were alive.

You were laying down with Neteyam, watching the stars. You barely had any time to just be the two of you ever since you had been reborn, so this was a rare occurrence you both were making the most of.

Your head was on his shoulder, your hands intertwined together.

He broke the silence. “I had prayed to watch the stars again with you. I can’t believe Eywa heard me and gave me this.”

You raised up on your elbow to look at him. He looked back at you with pain still lingering in his eyes.

He had grieved you, had thought you were gone forever.

“I’m sorry I left you. I had...had to. I couldn’t imagine you gone so I...” You trailed off, not knowing what to add.

“I know, sweet girl. I would have done the same for you, had I been in your place. Let’s just...never do it again.” He laughed, his fingers drawing a path between your freckles. “Eywa, you’re so beautiful.” He whispered.

Your heart skipped a beat. You felt your ears twitch and your tail move up. “Does that mean I was ugly when I was sky people ?” You joked.

He smirked and tackled you down, his body over yours. “Do you really have to try and twist my words, yawntu ?”

You were going to melt into the ground. This man had to know what he was doing. His smirk grew.

“You were beautiful then. You’re beautiful now. You’ve been beautiful to me, no matter what.”

He whispered, his face lowering down towards yours. His lips met yours. You softly moaned and melted into the kiss. Your hands went on his shoulders as he deepened the kiss, before drawing a path to his back.

You could never get enough of him. Never get enough of this.

Later on, a few weeks down the line, you two would go to the tree of voices.

You had dreamed of what was coming.

You had both waited for years. You knew. You were sure.

He looked at you and kissed your face.

Your hand went to your queue and brought it closer to his.

“Are you ready, yawntu ?” Neteyam asked, his eyes never wavering from your face.

You nodded. “I’ve been ready for a long time.” He laughed, before letting his queue connect to yours. “Me too.”

Your foreheads pressed into each other’s as you felt him. Him.

You couldn’t believe the feeling of it. You felt everything. The way he breathed. Thoughts. Feelings.

What he felt for you.

“I see you.” He whispered.

“I see you.” You whispered back.

You fell into each other and intertwined before Eywa.

Your mate.

It wasn’t over. It was only the beginning.

[animeniacss]

Seoksoo - imperfect - Part 1 - Chapter 16 - What Comes Next For Us?

Synopsis: Lee Seokmin likes a lot of things: karaoke, stuffed animals, his friends, his family (when they're not at each other's throats), and when things go according to plan. It's perfect that way. That is...until Joshua Hong, the Education Department TA, stumbles into his view one day and suddenly Seokmin has to start facing the fact that maybe not everything in life will be perfect...but with Joshua, that might just be ok.

Tags: College!AU, ActingMajor!Seokmin, Teacher!Joshua, Romance, Angst, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Misunderstandings, Side GyuCheol, Side JunHao, Side Verkwan, Other Idol appearances, Anxiety/Panic Attacks, Domestic Violence (not between the main couple), Joshua is a dork 90% of the time, (More Tags will be Added as needed)

Length: approx. 7.2k words

Chapter 16 - What Comes Next For Us?

Seokmin’s neck was sore when he woke up. He rubbed the tight spot, sitting up straight. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the room. When they did, they steadied on the figure in the hospital bed scrolling on his phone. Seokmin’s eyes widened.

         “Hyung!” He gasped seeing Joshua’s wide eyes shoot in his direction. “Are you okay?!” He looked at the clock on the wall. “It’s ten in the morning. Has a nurse or something come in?”

         “Yeah.” He smiled. “She brought breakfast.” He motioned to the half-empty plate at his bedside. “Hungry?” Seokmin smiled a bit, shaking his head. “Hospital food in Korea is much better than hospital food in America.” 

         “I’m glad you’re okay. Did the nurse say what caused you to faint?” Joshua avoided his gaze for a second, licking his lips and looking down at his phone. Seokmin held his breath a second as he waited for an answer, but saw the clear discomfort in his eyes. “How long are you supposed to be in for?”

         “Just a few days.” He said. He shifted in his seat, leaning forward on the bed. “Did you stay the entire night?”

“Of course, I did. I couldn’t leave you…” Seokmin took the chair he was sitting on and scooted it closer up to Joshua’s side. The back of his hand pressed against the bandage on Joshua’s forehead. “You have a really big welt there. You hit your head hard.” 

         “It doesn’t take from my beauty, does it?” he smirked. Seokmin’s cheeks turned red, but he chuckled.

         “No, I guess not.”

         “You guess?” Joshua’s eyes widened along with his grin. “Wow, wound me even more, why don’t you.” He lay back in bed, closing his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. Seokmin snorted.

         “You have a lot of energy for someone stuck in a hospital bed.”

         “Can’t hear you. I’m dead.” Joshua whispered. When Seokmin turned his chair around to cover his laugh, Joshua looked over and sat up again.  “Seokmin?” His voice sounded a bit less playful. “I realized you never got to tell me what you wanted to, before this all happened.” Joshua shifted a bit in the bed. “What was it? I’m all ears.” He motioned to his face. “And nose. And eyes.” Seokmin chuckled shyly, scratching the back of his neck.       

         “Well.” Seokmin began. He couldn’t imagine confessing his feelings to Joshua in the middle of a hospital room less than 24 hours after his skull introduced itself to a marble floor. It felt…awkward. So, he only said: “I got the lead in the play. That’s all.”

         Joshua’s eyes sparkled; two dim lamps whose bulbs found a reason to flicker back on. “That’s all? Seokmin, that’s awesome!” He reached out and took his hands in his own, grinning. “I knew you would! I’m so happy for you!”

         Seokmin’s smile melted into a shy laugh. “Thank you. I’m excited.” He felt the way his heart twisted in his chest, silently yelling out in hopes it would be able to share its thoughts too. Seokmin only swallowed, nodding his head.

“Well I’ll make sure to take you out to celebrate once I’m discharged. Okay? I promise!” Seokmin’s cheeks turned pink and he nodded. After a second, Joshua’s smile faded and his hands loosened from Seokmin’s; palms putting gentle pressure onto his forehead. “Augh. Damn it.”

“Headache?” Seokmin asked, receiving a nod. He shot up. “Let me see if I can find a nurse. Don’t go anywhere.” Joshua looked over at him and smirked behind his hands, holding up the arm with the IV in it. Seokmin blushed, laughing nervously. “Right." Just as Seokmin was about to head out the door, he heard muffled footsteps running towards it. He stepped out of the way. His timing was perfect, as within seconds, the door flung open. Seokmin flinched, the door slamming against the wall.

         “Hong Jisoo!” Seokmin looked up to see Jeonghan standing at the door, Nayeon behind him. Even shouting, Seokmin noticed how… soft the male’s voice really was. However, he was still stunned into silence. “What the hell happened?”

         “Well, funny story.” Joshua began, watching as his friend came to the side of the bed. Seokmin looked over at Nayeon, who only offered a sweet smile. Again, it comforted Seokmin a bit.

         “I told you this would happen if you kept pushing yourself.”

         “It’s really not as serious as you think.”

         “The nurse said you have a concussion and said your vitals were all out of wack from not eating and your body was shutting down from exhaustion, how on earth is that not serious?” Seokmin felt the hair on his arms stick up as Jeonghan spilled his diagnosis. He pressed harder against the wall in hopes it would swallow him up and spit him out on the other side. “We didn’t hear from you all night. We were terrified. I got a call from the hospital; thank God you listed me as your emergency contact.” Jeonghan’s expression switched from annoyed to concerned. “Do you know how worried we were? How worried I was?”

         When Seokmin saw Joshua’s eyes cast down into his lap, he swallowed what felt like a rock in his throat. “I didn’t have your number. I’m sorry.” Jeonghan and Joshua looked over at Seokmin as he shifted on his feet. “And I didn’t have Joshua-hyung’s phone. I think I fell asleep as soon as I was allowed to come in….”

         Jeonghan sighed. “It’s not your fault.” He assured. “It’s this idiot’s fault for working himself into an early grave.”

         “Hey.” Joshua frowned.

Jeonghan didn’t even look over at him. “You know I’m right.”

Quiet for a second, Joshua pursed his lips together. “I’m sorry…” he finally said. “I didn’t mean to worry anyone.” Jeonghan sank onto Joshua’s bedside, running a hand through his hair. He turned and stared at Joshua; lips still tugged in an annoyed line.

“I’m just glad you’re okay.” He said simply. “But I am exhausted from running up the steps. The things I do for you.” 

“But I’m honored.” Joshua cooed.

         Seokmin watched the duo from the door, his hands slipping into the pockets of his jeans to keep them hidden. He could feel them shaking, and he wondered how noticeable it was. Nayeon leaned closer to him, a playful grin on her face. “Maybe we should leave them alone.” She teased. “I feel like we’re interrupting the dramatic reunion in a drama.” He only offered a polite, almost nervous chuckle at her joke. When he looked back at Joshua and Jeonghan, Joshua was filling his friend in on what happened. 

“Seokmin went to get some ice when I fell in the bathroom.” Maybe it was just the Whack-a-mole game starting up in the back of his brain, but Seokmin immediately his chest tightened, looking down at his feet. The little hammer in his brain kept hitting the ‘GUILT’ button over and over, to the point where Seokmin felt like he was going to vomit. He turned his head, covering his mouth. 

“Hey, you okay?” Nayeon asked softly, a supportive hand on his shoulder. Seokmin looked over, nodding quickly.

“I’m just tired, I think…” he said softly. “That’s all, I’m okay.”

         Joshua’s voice piped up from the other end of the room, making Seokmin look back over. “Do me a favor, Hannie. Take him home so he can get some sleep.” Joshua requested.

         “What?” Seokmin’s eyes widened. “No. Why…?” He sounded almost hurt.

         “Seokmin, you need to go home and sleep.” Joshua said. “I’m just going to sit around here bored. You just said you were tired…” 

         “But-.”

         “Jeonghan, please.” Joshua turned to his friend once again.

        Nayeon’s hand left Seokmin’s shoulder. “I’ll stay until you get back.” Nayeon offered, running a hand through her hair to fix her ponytail. 

         Jeonghan glanced at his friend, not taking long to contemplate before sighing. “Alright. Do you need anything while I’m out, Joshuji?” Joshua smiled at the sound of his nickname, but shook his head. Jeonghan got up and patted Seokmin on his shoulder. “Come on.”

         “I…” Seokmin felt silent. “Hyung, I want to stay.” His voice was soft, hoping Joshua wouldn’t hear him. His only reply with a sympathetic look. “But-.”

         “He’s right… You’ve been here all night, and you can tell. You should go home and get some sleep.” Seokmin was silent for a moment, thinking if he said something he could stay. However, not wanting to risk causing a scene at Joshua’s bedside, he simply nodded before walking back to Joshua.

         “Uhm…” Seokmin pushed his fingers together. “Promise you’ll call if you need me, okay? The bus ride from my apartment isn’t long. I’ll even walk if I have too, so-.” Joshua chuckled.

         “I should be fine, but you’ll be the first person I call.” His expression then got a bit serious. “But not for a few hours. Go home and promise you’ll sleep.”

         “Look at yourself in the mirror and say that, Joshuji.” Jeonghan called from the door, hands in his pocket. He motioned to the door, smiling when Seokmin quietly followed behind. He turned his head just as Nayeon plopped herself on the chair at Joshua’s side, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV as the duo fell into their own conversation.

⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔(im)perfect🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌

         The car ride was quiet at first, Seokmin’s eyes glued to his lap. He had only seen Jeonghan a handful of times, so he wasn’t sure what to say when it was just the both of them. He looked up to Jeonghan as he pulled up to the red light, one hand on the steering wheel as the other brushed hair from his face.

         Jeonghan, much like Joshua, was devastatingly handsome. Beautiful, even. It made sense that he was a model, it looked as if he stepped off a runway even now, in a gray sweatshirt and pair of light denim jeans. Seokmin could only look at him for a few seconds with his captivating side profile. The stunning visuals, paired with a focused, neutral expression sent shivers down his spine. He felt as if he was caught doing something he shouldn’t. Jeonghan finally spoke, his voice gentle:

         “Don’t be upset about Joshua telling you to go home, okay?”

         “Wh- I’m not.” Seokmin said. He heard Jeonghan only hum in response, and the bubble his lie was in popped almost immediately.

         “Thank you for getting him to the hospital. I’m sorry I wasn’t home.”

         Seokmin shook his head. “I should have noticed it was really bad, the second I saw him open the door.” He ran a hand through his hair. “He could barely stand up and all I could think about was myself. I didn’t even go into the bathroom with him when I knew he could barely stand. I’m sorry…” Jeonghan smiled a bit, the car slowly rolling past the light as it turned green.

“Don’t be. Joshua wouldn’t want you to be sorry.”

“But …Nayeon-noona said he gets really hyper focused on studying. I didn’t realize how much though, I should have checked up on him more.”

         “I’ve known Joshua since we were kids.” He said. “I’m sure you knew.” Seokmin nodded. “We saw each other almost every summer our whole lives. I spent most of my afternoons on the phone with him while he would be up all-night studying, just to make sure if he passed out, I could call his mom or something. He never did.” He chuckled. “Maybe he doesn’t trust me enough...” His eyes fell back to Seokmin for a second. “At least, not in the way he trusts you.”

         “I don’t think that’s true.” Seokmin’s eyes widened. Jeonghan only shrugged. Eyes unsure where to look, they glanced out the window just as the car hooked a right. “You’ve known him much longer than I have.”

         “Yeah, that’s true.” Jeonghan agreed. “Time doesn’t mean anything, though. It’s the connection that’s more important. I only knew Nayeon a few weeks before we started dating, and I realized right away that I was totally crazy about her. I was with my ex-boyfriend for almost two years and I don’t think I ever felt nearly the same for him.” Seokmin nodded as he listened. “I think it’s the same for you guys. It doesn’t matter if you’ve only known each other a short while, it’s clear you two have a strong connection. I can’t assume how you feel for him, but I know Joshua really trusts you and likes being around you.”

         “Yeah?” Jeonghan nodded. 

         “He needs to figure a lot of things out about himself, and I think he’s scared for you to see him do it.” Jeonghan leaned against the steering wheel. “No one expects you to wait around while he does, though. You have your own things in your life, it wouldn’t be fair of me, or him, or anyone to expect you to take on more than you can handle.”

         Seokmin was silent for a moment, before looking to Jeonghan with nervous eyes to assure: “I want to.” He felt his cheeks turn a bit pink. “I don’t think I’ll be of much help but…” He offered a smile. “I like spending time with Joshua, so if I can be of any help to him, I want to be.”

         Jeonghan formed a little smile, nodding his head. “Then he has nothing to worry about. And neither do you.” He assured. “If you want to go visit him another day, let me know. He’ll kill me if he finds out I let you walk.”

         Seokmin chuckled. “Thanks, Hyung.” He said, finally slipping out of the car. Heading towards the apartment, Seokmin turned at the sound of Jeonghan’s car starting up. With one final wave, Seokmin let the apartment doors close behind him as he headed to the elevator. 

         The trip up the elevator was silent, Seokmin standing to the side as a mother tried wrangling her young daughter to her side. The sound of the little girl trotting around the elevator was just barely enough to drown out the thoughts pressing into his brain and crushing it. The shock of what happened, the guilt of not being able to properly help, the memories that being in that situation trudged up. Memories he thought that he had finally forgotten – or at least tucked far enough into the closet of his memories. However, the closet had become much too overstuffed in recent years, and Seokmin found it starting to overflow when the stinging sensation of tears pricked at his eyes.

When the girl bumped into Seokmin, he looked down. Her head tilted up, little black space buns and bangs hanging slightly askew. Seokmin quickly turned his gaze, wiping his eyes. How embarrassing. He thought to himself. That mother is going to think I’m a freak…who cries alone in an elevator?

         “Aerum, come here.” He heard the mother call, and he simply slipped his hands in his pockets and looked up at the elevator numbers, praying his would come soon. “Apologize to him, Aerum. You can’t run around like that.” Seokmin finally looked over, seeing the little girl poking out from behind her mother’s leg.

         “Sorry…” she said sheepishly. Seokmin only offered a small smile.

         “It’s okay. Are you hurt?” the girl shook her head. “Okay, good.” The brief distraction was enough to keep his tears from spilling, but only for a moment.

         “Are you alright?” the mother asked. While he knew she was most likely asking about his leg, he had to take an extra deep breath. The elevator buzzed, and he quickly nodded his head, feeling his eyes get fuzzy.

         “Yes, ma’am.” He said, before quickly heading off the elevator and straight down the hall. When he heard the elevator doors close, he looked to the first apartment that hit his sights. He was 3 floors above where he was supposed to be. He’d rather take the stairs the rest of the way than stand one more second in the presence of anyone else.

⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔(im)perfect🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌

         When Seokmin finally stepped into his apartment, he could barely close the door before he was attacked to the floor. The force of the hit stunned him for a second, eyes blinking a few times to remind him of where he was. “Wh-.”

         “Hyung, where were you?!” The high-pitched voice in his ear was immediately recognized as Seungkwan, who was clinging to him for dear life. Seokmin reached his hand up, patting him on the shoulder.

         “I can’t breathe…” he coughed out. Seungkwan pulled back, eyes welling with tears that probably mirrored Seokmin’s own expression.

         “You never came home. I tried calling you, but your phone went straight to voicemail.” Seokmin immediately remembered the cellphone in his back pocket that he’d yet to take out, most likely dead since he hadn’t felt it vibrating. 

My mother’s probably called every police station in the country….He thought to himself as he pulled the phone out. 

“What happened?!”

         “I….” Seokmin clicked his phone, confirming it was in fact dead when nothing but his stunned expression looked back at him on the screen. “I’m sorry…”

         “What happened?” Seungkwan asked again, voice gentler now as he loosened his grip on his friend. “I was so worried.” Seokmin rose from the floor and kicked his shoes off, heading into the bedroom to charge his phone. “Hyung.” Seungkwan called, following after him.

         “Sorry, I…hold on.” Seokmin knelt at his bedside, shakily plugging in his phone. He saw the little charging symbol pop up. He sighed, waiting for the phone screen to brighten up and give him a rough estimate of how pissed his mother was going to be when he called back. He needed time to prepare. Seungkwan sat on the bed, recapturing Seokmin’s attention. He saw the worried look in his friend’s eyes and felt his throat close up again. His legs gave out and he lost his balance, falling onto his hip before resetting himself into a sitting position. “I had to take Joshua-hyung to the hospital last night. That’s where I was….”

         “What?!” Seungkwan gasped, immediately hopping down on the floor by his side. “Is he okay?!”

         Seokmin nodded. “He has a concussion, I think. He didn’t look good when I went to see him.” Seokmin felt his eyes water. “He told me everything was okay with him but I should’ve known he wasn’t telling me the truth. Right before I said anything to him, he got-.” Seokmin motioned to his nose, but that wasn’t enough to get the point across. “He got a nosebleed and all the light went from his eyes. He passed out in the bathroom and I thought he was dead for a few seconds and-.” The longer Seokmin rambled, the more tears welled up in his eyes. The more tears that welled in his eyes, shaky hands rubbing his eyes in hopes to brush them away. The more he wiped his eyes, the redder they got and the harder the tear drops fell into his lap. “I couldn’t do anything to help him…”

         “Oh, Hyung…” Seungkwan pulled him into a hug, rubbing his back. “No, no that’s not true…” Seokmin clung to him as he cried. “You took him to the hospital. That’s exactly what you should’ve done.”

         “But if I noticed earlier, I could’ve at least driven him or taken a bus. Or I could have caught him when he fell if I stayed with him instead of going to get stupid frozen corn…” Seokmin sniffled. “And he wouldn’t have hit his head.” Seokmin pulled back to gasp for air, giving Seungkwan a chance to lean to the end table and grab a few tissues, passing them over to his friend. “And I worried everyone because I didn’t even think to make phone calls the entire time.” He wiped his eyes. “And he must be mad at me for it. He didn’t even want me there. As soon as Jeonghan and his girlfriend came, he made them take me home…”

         “I’m sure that’s not true either…” Seungkwan said gently. “Calm down, Hyung. It’s okay…”

         Seungkwan’s gentle reassurance was suddenly drowned out by the overwhelming sound of Seokmin’s phone vibration; messages finally flooding in once his phone turned on. Seokmin looked up, wiping his eyes as the sound flooded his ears. It took a solid 2 minutes for all of the message notifications to register on the phone. When Seokmin went to reach for it, Seungkwan took his wrist. “Don’t worry about that.”

         “But my Mom...”

         “Mingyu-hyung can handle that. I’ll have him call her back and say you’re at the apartment.” Seokmin didn’t look convinced, but Seungkwan simply grabbed his phone and sent a text. “There.” He turned the phone to Seokmin’s view, saying Seokmin was home and to let his mother know that his phone died. He stood up, offering a hand to his red-eyed friend. “Come on. You should get some sleep. You must have been up all night…”

         Seokmin took his hand to stand up. “I guess so…” he said softly. Without putting up much of a fight, mainly because he had cried all of the fight he had into Seungkwan’s shirt, Seokmin crawled into bed, sticking his head under the pillow. He heard Seungkwan chuckle. 

“You look like an ostrich in the sand.” He teased. “Need anything? Water?” Seokmin shook his head, the pillow moving in tandem with the motion. “Okay. I’ll be in the living room.”

         Seokmin lay still for a few seconds, making sure Seungkwan really left the room and closed the door behind him. When the room fell quiet, Seokmin stuck his head out from under the pillow and blanket, reaching for his phone and opening up his mother’s messages.

         [Mama Bear] (10hr ago): Hi honey call me later.

         [Mama Bear] (8hr ago): Hello?

         [Mama Bear] (7hr ago): Seokmin.

         [Mama Bear] (7 missed calls)

         [Kyungie <3] (6hr ago): Oppa, Mom’s going fucking nuts where are you? I called Mingyu-oppa too. He’s on the phone with Mom right now.

         [Kyungie <3] (6 missed calls)

         [Auntie] (4 missed calls)

         [Auntie] (5hrs ago): Where are you? Your mother’s worried. If you can’t tell her, tell me so one of us at least knows you’re safe.

         Seokmin scrolled down the waterfall of messages on his phone in the family group chat. When he reached the bottom, the most recent message came into view.

         [Mama Bear] (now): Mingyu called and said your phone died and you are home. Call me when it charges….

         Seokmin sat up in bed. He could hear his mom’s voice in each message, and it made his heart form a violent drum beat in his chest. However, even though his eyes were heavy and his brain already mentally taxed, he dialed his mother’s phone number and pressed the phone to his ear.

         Within seconds of answering the phone, Seokmin’s mother began shouting at him for how much she worried the entire night, how she was tempted to call the police, and how he needs to listen about charging his phone if he plans to be out because “Your no-good father did this all the time! You can’t make me worry like this!” The entire time Seokmin sat in silence, staring at himself in the mirror in the corner of his room. For a brief moment, another, much kinder voice took over his thoughts.

         You have your own things in your life, it wouldn’t be fair of me, or him, or anyone to expect you to take on more than you can handle.

⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔(im)perfect🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌

         Seokmin spent most of the weekend curled up in bed, hoping that when he woke up on Monday, things would be normal again. However, as the morning turned to evening, he realized it would be far from normal. His mind was plagued with thoughts of Joshua in the hospital, unable to think about anything other than his well-being. He sent texts between classes, but Joshua expressed how exhausted he had been, and that he was falling in and out of sleep the entire weekend.

         [Seokmin] (now): I’ll come by after my cast meeting ends, okay?

         [Shua] (now): I’ll be here. I don’t think they’re letting me go yet.

         Seokmin smiled at the photo Joshua took of himself still in the hospital bed, a look of overexaggerated boredom on his face. Handsome even with a white bandage smack in the middle of his forehead, it seemed.

         His admiration of Joshua’s selfie was interrupted when a heavy arm was slung over his shoulder. Looking over, Junhui was staring down at Seokmin’s phone, grinning when Seokmin held it away. “What? Hiding the good stuff from me?”

         “You’re gross.” Seokmin pouted, and Junhui snickered. The duo sat on the edge of the auditorium, waiting for Jihoon and Soonyoung to arrive for their first cast meeting. Soonyoung had sent it into the newly formed group chat. “What are you doing Wednesday?”

         “Minghao and I have dinner reservations.” He said. When Seokmin grinned, Junhui immediately frowned. “Not like that.”

         “Like what?” he asked curiously.

         “Like a date. You’re making a date face.”

         “Am not.” Seokmin said, playfully batting his eyelashes. Junhui only rolled his eyes. “I was asking if you wanted to practice going over our monologues after school, that’s all.”

         “You’re done?” Seokmin shrugged. He passed his phone over to his friend. 

“I have enough for our rough draft submission, so I guess I’m done for now.” Junhui silently skimmed the Google Doc, eyebrows furrowed together in concentration. Seokmin read it as judgment, and he immediately piped up again: “Well, I mean it’s only a rough draft, so if there’s anything not good in there, I’m going to fix it so-.” Junhui looked at him, and Seokmin’s shoulders sank. “It’s bad, isn’t it? So bad. Like ‘I need to move out of the country, change my name, and live as a monk in the mountains of Tibet’ bad, right?”

         “Jesus, Seokmin, we get it, you can act.” Junhui teased, and Seokmin’s cheeks turned red. “No, it’s fine. I just feel like everyone’s going to write about a play, or a musical, or something.”

         “You’re not.” Junhui didn’t respond beyond a proud grin on his face, handing the phone back to Seokmin. “Should I change it?”

         “I think what you should do is write about something that is unique to you. Something nobody else in class is able to experience. That’s the point of a monologue, right? To express the feelings of the reader in a way only they understand.”

         “I guess.” Seokmin looked back down at his phone. “I’ll play around with it…”

         Before their conversation could continue, the doors to the auditorium busted open, and Soonyoung was grinning at everyone. He and Jihoon both had large, square boxes in their hands, Soonyoung’s smile so big his eyes were basically disappearing behind his puffed cheeks.

         “We brought pizza.” He said proudly. Seokmin heard the rest of the cast devolve into eager chatter as they all gathered together.

         “We’re glad everyone could make it on such short notice.” Jihoon said.

         “I had to cancel my chiropractic appointment to be here.” Seokjin called from the back, a bit of annoyance in his voice. Seokmin turned his head to acknowledge Seokjin’s comment while the rest of the room rolled their eyes. However, he was only met with an even more annoyed look, and Seokmin decided it was best not to look at Kim Seokjin if he didn’t have to.

         “Well, we thank you and your unaligned spine for being able to reschedule.” Jihoon passed out papers to each cast member as he spoke. “This is a schedule for rehearsals, cast meetings, dress rehearsals, and all of the shows. We’re hoping this doesn’t get changed, but if anything, we’ll tell you.” Seokmin skimmed his schedule.

         “Today is a team building day.” Soonyoung grinned. “So, relax, mingle. Have fun! Just please, don’t start any relationships with anyone, though. One time, we found out that the people we casted as ‘Evan’ and ‘Connor’ from Dear Evan Hansen were dating, then broke up the day before dress rehearsals.” His strained grin screamed PTSD from the incident that Seokmin had only heard about, as it occurred before he enrolled. “So, please don’t date anyone.”

         “Well, there goes our epic romance, Seokmin.” Junhui teased in a whisper, grinning when Seokmin laughed at his side.

         The cast settled around the pizza boxes, taking the paper plates and slices. Everyone began mingling; cast members with stage crew, the fashion department with the art club. The entire time, Seokmin sat by Junhui and Minghao’s side, he listened to some of their conversations and jumped in where he could. He didn’t have much to say at the moment, his mind filled with other things that weigh heavy on his mind. The entire hour they spent in the auditorium, Seokmin could only think of one thing:

         Joshua must be really lonely in the hospital right now. What can I get him to eat?

⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔(im)perfect🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌

         The bus seats were colder than they had been the past few days. However, Seokmin hopped onto the first one that pulled up to the school’s entrance. Nestling into a seat, he looked out the window and watched as his breath cracked along the glass, spreading a foggy mist before his eyes. He settled the plastic bag filled with snacks and food from the school café onto his lap. It was still hot; Seokmin was able to buy it right before the café closed.

         Other than the person behind him shouting on the phone with his girlfriend, the ride was quiet. Several times, Seokmin thought about turning around and asking him to quiet down, but decided against it when he realized he’d have no way to escape the situation if it got hostile. Even moreso, the silence would lead to a Whack-a-mole game of thoughts starting up in his head, and he wasn’t in the mood to lose another round. So, he simply bit his lip and waited for the hospital to appear into view, darting off the bus at the closest stop and finishing the journey on foot. 

         The overlapping chatter in the waiting room made Seokmin’s chest tighten almost immediately, eyes darting between doctors and nurses rushing in every direction. He needed a second to remind himself of what he was here to do, needed to blink a few times to recenter himself. He looked down the hallway that led to an elevator. Joshua’s room was on the fifth floor, so, holding the bag of now slightly warmed food, he made his way down the hallway.

         When he got to the fifth floor, turning the corner and saying hello to the nursing station, he headed to the last room in the hallway. As he got closer, he heard talking coming from Joshua’s room. His feet slowed just outside the door. It was cracked open a bit, Seokmin peering in enough to see Joshua, with Jeonghan perched at the foot of his hospital bed.

         “Why can’t you just bring it? I’m stuck here.” Joshua asked. Exhaustion was burned into his features as he spoke. 

         “Joshua, you’re in the hospital because you almost worked yourself to death. Why would I bring your school work to you? That’s just adding more fuel to the fire!”

         “Because when I eventually get out of here, I’ll be behind!” He said. “And then I’ll only have more stuff to do. I’ll never be able to catch up. Is that what you want?”

         “And then you’ll end up back in the hospital. Is that what you want?” Jeonghan’s voice raised just a bit, and it made Seokmin duck behind the door, pressing his back against the wall as he listened. He gripped the bag of food in his hands. Was this a bad time? Should he leave? “Joshua, you can’t. I’m not bringing your work here.”

         “Jeonghan.” Joshua was almost begging. “Please, I have so much left to do.”

         “I already reached out to the school and told them what happened. Your professors all said-.”

         “You what?!” Joshua’s hands tangled in his hair, falling back on the bed with a groan. “Jeonghan, why?”

         “Joshua, you’re in the hospital!” He hissed. Seokmin heard the older of the two let out a groan in annoyance as he kept repeating himself. “You can be angry with me all you want. I’m not going to bring you any textbooks. You can do work when you’re better, and discharged.” He turned towards the door, Seokmin pressing himself farther out of view. “I need to go. I’ll be back tomorrow.” 

When footsteps were heard, Seokmin wondered if he could run fast enough to be out of the hospital before Jeonghan saw him. He wouldn’t, but it didn’t matter. Jeonghan stepped outside, and the duo immediately locked eyed. The olders expression immediately softened, seemingly relieved at Seokmin’s presence. Seokmin watched him turn the corner and disappear from sight, before turning back into the room. Joshua still had his hands tangled in his bangs, gripping them in annoyance.

         Seokmin hesitated, but stepped in. A few steps in, and the sound of the door closing behind him alerted Joshua to him. He looked up, almost ready to argue again with his narrowed eyes and annoyed pout. However, when he saw Seokmin, his expression immediately changed to one of shock. “Hey…” he sounded shocked.    

         “Hey.” Seokmin smiled shyly. “’How are you feeling?”

         Joshua shrugged. “Just a headache.” His eyes immediately fell to the bag in Seokmin’s hand. “What’s that?”

         “Oh!” He hurried to Joshua's bedside, sitting down beside him and opening the bag. Joshua leaned forward eagerly, and Seokmin immediately noticed the gap close between him. He shot his eyes down to the food once again, pulling it out. “I got you something to eat from the campus cafeteria since you haven’t been at school. Chicken and noodles were all they had left though.” Joshua’s eyes widened as if he was just given the winning lottery ticket.

         “Oh, thank you!” He beamed. Seokmin smiled. “I’m starving.” Seokmin watched him open it up, chopsticks in hand as he began to eat. “Mmm. I needed this, thank you.”

         “Of course.” Seokmin sat for a minute, watching as Joshua ate eagerly, almost as if he hadn’t in months. “Shua-Hyung…”

         “Hm?” Joshua’s eyes perked up from the meal, but he continued eating. Seokmin debated asking about the argument he had stepped in on, but he was unsure if it would put Joshua in a bad mood again. “What’s wrong?” Joshua’s voice hinted at some concern, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

         “Well.” Seokmin shifted. “I heard you and Jeonghan-hyung arguing. Is everything okay?” Joshua’s lips dipped into a frown, and Seokmin’s heart stopped beating for a second. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to!” He said quickly. “I’m sorry, I overheard when I came to the door.”

         Joshua set the food on his lap and gave a defeated sigh. “I probably have to be in here another day or two. They said my levels were still not where they need to be and they want to make sure they regulate again before I get discharged.” Joshua leaned back against the bed. “I was hoping to go home and catch up on my work.”

         “Oh…” Seokmin bit the inside of his lip. “How much do you have to do?”

         “A lot. And Jeonghan doesn’t get that.” He said. “I have discussion work to finish, and I have three papers due. I was supposed to be observed by my advisor doing one of the discussions today, but that’s obviously not happening.” He sighed. “I would have had it done last night, but I’ve been here.” Gesturing with frustration at his current surroundings. The more things he listed, the more his pupils began to lose focus. He looked more and more panicked with each thing he realized he had to get done. “Plus, I have to get ready for finals. I got a lot of studying done already, but there’s still at least three weeks of content left we haven’t learned, so I wanted to get a head start with-.”

         Seokmin’s first thought was to lean forward and put his hand in Joshua’s hair. The touch caught Joshua off guard, eyes wide as he looked up at the arm now outstretched between them. It took a second for Seokmin to realize what had happened, and his hand immediately pulled back. “Sorry!” He exclaimed, cheeks a cherry red. “I just…that usually calms me down when I’m anxious – not saying you’re anxious, but-.” Joshua’s eyes steadied, face softening as he reached out for Seokmin’s hand again. Seokmin immediately reached it back out, allowing Joshua to guide it back into his hair.

         “No, it’s okay.” He said softly. Seokmin scooted closer to find a more comfortable position in his arm. Joshua scooted over a bit, allowing the duo to sit side by side, Seokmin’s hand gliding through his hair. Exhaling through his nose, Joshua finally continued eating, his entire body loosening up. “I can see why you like it when I do this. It’s nice.”

         “My Auntie used to do it for me and my sister a lot. Mainly my sister, because she’d style her hair. But I asked her to do it for me too, so she always does it when she comes to visit.” Joshua nodded, sticking some more food in his mouth. Seokmin watched him for a minute, studying his side profile as his cheeks puffed up with a new bite of food.

He needs to figure things out for himself, and I think he’s scared for you to see him do it.

Jeonghan’s words bubbled in Seokmin’s throat, but simply came out as a rushed, “Let me help you.”

Joshua chuckled, turning to look at him. “Seokmin, I didn’t break my hands, I can feed myself.”

“What? No.” Seokmin’s cheek tinted red just as they were about to fade back to their normal color. “Let me help you with organizing your school stuff.” Joshua’s smile dropped, chopsticks stopping midair. “I have schoolwork too, and finals. We can figure out what you should do first. Maybe if we do that, you won’t think you need to get all of it done at once.”

“Do you think I haven’t tried to make a schedule?” Joshua asked. Seokmin went silent. “It doesn’t work. I have stuff to do, I need to get it all done, and there’s nothing that takes priority over the other. My priority is getting it all done right.”

“But if you keep pushing yourself, you’ll end up right back here.” Seokmin said softly. “And what if nobody’s home the next time? Jeonghan-hyung and Nayeon-noona were going out on a date, and we didn’t plan to see each other this time.” Seokmin swallowed the burning in his throat. “If you fainted all alone, who knows what would’ve happened.” Joshua sighed. “I don’t know if I’ll be much help figuring out what’s got to get done first, because I don’t know your classes well enough. But we can study together. And when it feels like you need a break…” he blushed a bit. “We can take a break together. And then study together again, and break again…until finals are over. And we’ll do it again for midterms next term….”

Joshua paused for a minute, seeming to really take the offer into consideration. Seokmin’s hand continued running through his brown locks, waiting patiently for him to provide an answer. Finally, Joshua allowed his head to fall and rest on Seokmin’s shoulder. Despite his tone sounding as if he was inconvenienced by the initial suggestion, he nodded his head where it fell and with a sigh of relief, replied, “That sounds amazing.” 

Seokmin smiled, nodding his head, feeling the theoretical storm around the older clear just a bit. “Okay. Then, we can get started when you get discharged.” Joshua groaned, this time out of genuine annoyance, and Seokmin only laughed a bit. “It’s better this way. Okay?”

Joshua tilted his head to look up at Seokmin, pouting. “Yea, I know…” He mumbled.

         Seokmin felt his heart skip a beat. If he were a more confident person, he’d have kissed Joshua right there. But a simple smile down at him was enough, before Joshua turned back to his meal and continued eating in silence.

⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔(im)perfect🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌

         Seokmin spent the rest of the evening keeping Joshua company. The older had fallen asleep as the duo watched TV in silence. Even if he tried to deny his exhaustion, his body was taking advantage of this time in the hospital to fully recharge itself, a feeling Joshua so rarely seemed to experience. Seokmin sat in the chair by his bed, scrolling away on his phone. Occasionally, his eyes fell to the older, studying his sleeping frame. He wanted Joshua to be comfortable for as long as he could, so he would stay by his side as long as he had too, even if it meant sitting in silence with a crick in his neck. 

         With time to kill, Seokmin had pulled up the Google Document with his monologue half-typed. He skimmed through it one more time and frowned. It felt even more painful to read now than it did on campus. He could only imagine how bad it would be to read aloud in front of everyone. He would certainly end up being a laughing stock in his class. He sighed, typing a few random words before ultimately deleting them, hoping somehow his brain would conjure up something worth fleshing out. Five minutes of retyping ‘I hate Kim Seokjin’ over and over again didn’t help at all, and only made him panic that somehow, the guy could see his messages. He closed his phone and stuck it in his pocket.        

         From the corner of his eye, Joshua shifted in his sleep, tossing the blanket off of himself. Seokmin chuckled. This was the first time he had seen Joshua asleep; finding it to be just as beautiful as when he was awake. Joshua’s face tightened in his sleep, seemingly put off by the sudden cold chill that surrounded him. Seokmin leaned forward, fixing the blanket around both of them. “There.” He smiled proudly to himself. Even in a white hospital room, there was a domestic feeling bubbling in his chest as he watched Joshua’s face soften, head nestling his shoulder as he continued to sleep. Seokmin brushed a few pieces of hair from his face, before resting back against the back of the bed. Visiting hours were almost over, he’d be asked to leave soon. The closeness of a safe and resting Joshua calmed Seokmins' worried heart, and the quiet company made it easy for him to try and focus on his monologue. 

         Think about something that’s unique to you. Something nobody else in class could be experiencing right now.

         Junhui’s words dug deep into Seokmin’s ears as he glanced at the sleeping figure beside him. Nobody else could be experiencing the perfection that was Joshua Hong, not in the way that he was able to. But writing about his connection with someone else, putting it on paper makes it real. If something is real, it can be taken away in the blink of an eye. 

Joshua hummed, muttering incoherent English under his breath. Seokmin couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but a fondness bloomed in his belly. Seokmin wanted Joshua all to himself; wanted every one of his future memories to have Joshua entangled in it somehow. 

But Seokmin wasn’t the type of person to be selfish…Right?

Return to Kpop Masterlist

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[raeflora]

Chair + intimacy prompt #58, bonus if you can also include #29 😌

#58- being locked in a small space + #29- kisses when they're mad

Blair likes to think that motherhood has given her a sense of patience. She no longer has the same need for control in her life, and knows that sometimes the more unexpected something is the more rewarding and joyful it can end up being.

Except being locked in a coat closet with her husband, of course.

She huffs, trying the handle again even though she knows it hasn't magically unlocked itself in the last 10 seconds. Chuck sensibly leans against the wall, tie still carelessly undone and an almost tempting distraction. But that was what got them stuck in the first place, so Blair purposefully averts her eyes from his body up to his smirking face, which, truthfully, doesn't help either. She tries the door again.

"This is ridiculous!" She groans, kicking the door for good measure, "are you sure we can't just break it?"

"While I have no doubt about your ability to use your shoes as weapons, I think these doors are made to withstand more than that"

"Next time you build a hotel can you use doors that we can actually open?"

"For you," he murmurs, closing the gap between them and taking her hand in his, "I'll never use doors again and everyone in Manhattan can see us fulfil your wildest fantasies at any time"

She shoves his shoulder, "this isn't funny Chuck! What if nobody comes until morning? We promised Henry that we'd be back when he woke up and I'm not letting him down"

He takes her other hand in his, "I already contacted security," he leans in so that his lips brush her ear, "and someone came long before morning"

She ignores his innuendo, her body growing warm for two entirely different reasons, "you contacted security?"

"After your first attempt to unlock the door using willpower failed, yes. They thought it was better to give us time to... right ourselves before coming up"

"So we could've already been home by now?" Blair's voice rises, anger and arousal coursing through her veins, "but you let me almost ruin my shoes instead and think we were trapped?"

The smirk doesn't leave Chuck's face as he replies, "yes"

He leans in then to kiss the anger out of her, his lips pressing against her pout is almost enough to snap her out of her rage. Logically she knows he has a good reason, he wouldn't ever put her in a situation like this without one. But she keeps the pout on her lips, if only to make him kiss her again. He obliges, happily so, and this time as he pulls back she feels the anger leave her body, and her unspoken question hangs between them.

"I didn't tell you," Chuck starts, running a palm down her bare arm, "because I love you"

"I love you too" she responds softly, instinctively, linking her fingers with his.

"Spending time with Henry is one of the highlights of my day, but so is spending time with just you. So can you blame me for wanting to make it last as long as possible?"

Blair sighs softly, "no. I would've done the same if we were in the atelier. Actually," a smirk curls at her lips, "that gives me an idea for next week. But for now..."

She trails off, wrapping one arm around his neck, her other hand on his jaw, and kisses him soundly. He presses her back against the door, his hands sliding from her waist to her hips, and lifts her up, her legs around his waist. Maybe, she thinks, gasping as Chuck kisses her neck and pulls at her stockings, being stuck with the love of your life isn't so bad after all.

[ultralightpoe]

Maroon - Ethan Landry

Authors Note: I have been trying to find any sort of energy to post and get out of bed. Got so close to giving up on life itself and I'm barely back, please bare with me as I try to find my way out of my depression hole I have dug for myself everyone. I know it's been a minute but life has been kicking my ass. Be patient with me - Ultralight

Word Count: 4930

Warnings: stab, cussing and all that jazz.

Apart of my MIDNIGHTS EVENT. (Next Event is Sour by Olivia Rodrigo. Requests closed. Event following yet to be decided)

SOUR EVENT

MAIN MASTERLIST

Enjoy!

When the morning came we were cleaning incense off your vinyl shelf

'Cause we lost track of time again

Laughing with my feet in your lap

Like you were my closest friend

“Jesus, I didn’t even know how much incense you  had been burning.” Ethan laughs, admiring the stain on his shirt caused by the incense powder left. A blue contrast to the pure white. 

“Who wears a white cleaning shirt?!” You laugh, leaning over to pour him another glass of wine, your face heated from the alcohol and laughter. 

“How was I supposed to know that it would stain?” His face falls into one of confused shock that has you keeling over from laughing so hard. “What is so funny? You should be worried about your lungs! Sure you don’t smoke but -THAT- cannot be healthy.”

“Incense are calming.” You defend, shrugging off his pointing. “And sage helps clean out dark energies.”

“You are so stressed and filled with dark energy that you are risking your lungs?” He raises a skeptical eyebrow then, watching you closely. 

“I don’t know, lately there is something just…..off.” Your face falls then, your heartbeat slowing down as you blink at him. For a moment you can only stare, and he seems to get nervous under it, leaning forward to kiss your forehead. 

“Let’s get off the floor, yeah?” He reaches under your arms to draw you up, keeping a tight hold on your waist as he avoids eye contact. 

You sat, eyes casting all around the room in anxiety, as you waited for the class to start. You were having a really off day, and you just wanted it to be better but you were stuck attending class. The ringing in your ears seemed to get worse the more people stared, your pen tapping obnoxiously as you did your best to ignore everyone. 

“You okay?” Someone asks, a light touch at your shoulder that is immediately snatched away as you peer up to the person that had asked. Being met with the nervous face of Ethan Landry, your seat neighbor, as he tried to fix his hair. “You seem off today.”

“You would laugh if I told you.”

  “Try me.” He smiles, sitting next to you and pulling out his school work. 

“Well… the candle I lit this morning died out.” 

“Okay? You ran out of wax?”

“That’s the thing, it died right after I lit it. No breeze, still a lot of wick and wax. It just died out.” 

“So what does that mean?”

“I don’t know but it’s bad luck.”

“Well…..” He gets quiet for a moment before smiling and reaching into his bag and pulling out lighter before grabbing a sticky note. “Let’s try this.”

He scribbles down ‘bad luck’ on the sticky note, catching it on fire and smiling. “We are burning away the bad luck.”

“I don’t think that is how it works…” You smile. 

“Worth a shot, plus you smiled.” He turns to where the teacher is entering now, blowing out the fire on the sticky note and leaving you to smile to yourself the rest of the class. 

"How'd we end up on the floor anyway?" You say

"Your roommate's cheap-ass screw-top rosé, that's how"

I see you every day now

“How did we end up on the floor anyway?” You laugh, taking a moment to stretch your legs before breaking from his hold and shuffling to the other side where the glasses still sat.  You feel him shuffle closer as well, his hand finding your own .

“Your roommate’s cheap wine.”

“Do you have to get back?” You turn to lean your head on his chest, enjoying the feeling of his arms wrapping around you.  

You had met Ethan the first month of college, and the both of you had gotten attache way too quickly.  You were regarded as a ‘witch’ to your classmates, they mocked you as they passed, pretending they were scared of you casting spells upon them . You had always laughed, not really thinking it was big enough to defend yourself. 

Sure, you believed in auras and sage or candle magic, but you never tried to summon the devil. You just believed that there were ways of life, yours was praying to mother nature and leaving salt at your windows. 

Ethan was….. Sweet and wonderful. He never said mean things to anyone, and carried himself nervously. He was like sweet caramel in fall, and you fell hard.  

That being said, you were always fearing his departure, especially lately. 

“I do, Chad wanted help with his econ.” He mumbles, leaning down to press your foreheads together and breathe you in. “You’ll be okay here?”

“Oh, yes.” You sigh, smiling a bit as you know you are about to be dramatic. “I guess I will be fine here, all by myself with the dark energy that I am pretty sure is a demon latched onto my roommates childhood stuffy. Let the demons come to get me, I guess.”

“Oh…..sad.” He pretends to mourn  before smiling wide. “But I’m young, I’ll move on.” 

“You sucker!” You scoff, slapping his shoulder. “Now go, before I make you stay.”

He smiles, leaning down to kiss you deeply before pulling away to grab his sweater and backpack. “See you tomorrow morning?”

“Of course.” You sneak one more kiss in before allowing him to head out, the second he is gone you shuffle to the shelf you keep by your bed, smiling at the photo of you and Ethan as you drag your Tarot deck out. 

You wouldn’t ever admit it but you were sure something was going to happen soon, everytime you rolled a deck you ended up pulling the tower card. And that was never good. 

“Hmmmm, what is that smell?” Ethan asks, hugging you tightly and breathing you in. “Oranges and…”

“Frankincense with a hint of rosemary. My own brew.” You smile, giggling when he sticks his nose right on your neck. “You want some?”

“What does it do?”

“Good luck, safety.” You smile, grabbing the bottle you made that morning and rubbing some of the oil on his pressure points. He lets you, smiling like a dope as you work. “Some people believe that growing Rosemary at your gates is a harness of protection.”

“And you?”

“Believe it wholeheartedly.” You admit, trying not to laugh. “So in my class we have to interview someone that has ‘survived a trauma’, right?”

  “Yeah?”

“And everyone was talking about everyone they wanted to interview. But Jason Carvey..get this-” Just as he always does Ethan turns to give you his whole attention, something that makes your chest explode each time.  “He started talking about that Tara girl your roommate hangs out with. Then when I asked him about it he told me to go hide in a cave and curse myself.”

“Curse yourself?”

“Then flipped me off! Like he was in elementary school!” You laugh, putting the oil back in your bag before turning your attention to the board. “He’s such a child.”

“He’ll regret it one day. Karma is a pain.”

And I chose you

The one I was dancin' with

In New York, no shoes

Looked up at the sky and it was

“You decide on a costume yet?” Sam asks, side eyeing you a bit as you try to keep your cool in her hallway. You never really had a lot of female friends, and it always seemed that Ethan’s friends didn’t really like you, the only one that bothered to acknowledge you when you came over was Tara’s older sister who seemed to always pick up on your anxiety.

“Yes, actually. I am going to be Ted Lasso. My roommate is going as Beard.” 

“From a show?”

“Yeah, we watch it together every thursday. How about you?” 

“Not a Halloween person.” 

“Who is not a Halloween person?” Ethan asks, swinging around the corner with a slight smile as he reaches for you. Within moments you relax into his touch, smiling as he kisses your cheek. “Gave Chad and Tara the notes. We can go get lunch now.”

“Great, thank you so much for the water Sam.” You smile, setting the glass down as Ethan waves and drags you off. 

“You were actually talking to her.” Ethan points out, keeping an arm around you as you both walk down the sidewalk. “She nice to you?”

“As nice as she can be. I don’t think she likes me but she at least tries.” You shrug, smiling when he turns you both to your favorite place to eat. “None of your friends like me.”

“I barely think they like me, only Chad really.”  He laughs, doing his best to play off his own anger. You knew it well by now, he was one of the sweetest people you knew but he got angry and quiet sometimes. Normally he smiled it off, trying his best to pretend nothing was wrong.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” He lies, leaning down to kiss you. “Everything is fine.”

- - 

Your boyfriend looked around your room with curious eyes, a small smile playing on his lips. You stood in the doorway, fiddling with your nails as you watched him. This was the first time he had come to your apartments,  and you were more than nervous. 

“What’s this card mean?”

“Oh, that’s  bad card….well normally. It really depends, but tower means doom normally.” You mutter, watching him move closer to your record player.  “Ah, Stevie nicks…Taylor Swift… Abba?”

“I like upbeat sometimes.” “Wanna dance?”

You hesitate for a moment, watching him before shrugging, moving closer as he chooses a vinyl to play, the sound of Taylor Swift fills the room, his other hand flying out to grab you softly. The wine he was holding sloshes a bit when he slips, drawing a gasp from him and a laugh from you.  “I am so sorry-”

“I am fine. Just a dress.” You mumble, setting both your cups down before letting him pull you to the center of your room.  You both dance easily, giggling between each other whenever one of you trips. 

“I’m really glad I met you.” You whisper, hugging him tightly.

“Right back to you. You make life better.”

The burgundy on my T-shirt when you splashed your wine into me

And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was

The mark you saw on my collarbone, the rust that grew between telephones

The lips I used to call home, so scarlet, it was maroon

Ethan stuck close to your side Halloween morning, clinging to you as tried to get ready. Your roommate, who hated Halloween, sat on your couch in the living room trying to convince both of you not to go out. 

“And your cards?! What bout that tower card you keep pulling?!”  She cries, stuffing her face with grapes as you search for your heels. 

“Tower? That was the one that meant doom, right?” Ethan asks, dragging his attention between the two of you, the cardboard vest he wore duct taped tightly. 

“No!” Lie. “Nothing is wrong, we are all going to go out and have fun. Yeah?”

You were determined to have a good night, since Mindy had invited you to come with when he heard that your roommate bailed. “It’s going to be grand.” 

You just wanted to impress his friends, so you grabbed your eyelash glue and placed some on the mustache you had bought for the ted lasso costume, trying not to shake. “Do you think I should have dressed….”

“Your costume is amazing.” Ethan is quick to correct, peeling himself off of you to sneak over and see what your roommate was turning on the tv. “What is that?”

“Global warming.” Your roommate snaps, turning to glare at him before she hears something and snaps her head to see the window. 

“You going to be okay here?” You ask, waiting for the glue to dry as you watch her. 

“I am going to be great. Mind your own business.” She mumbles defensively, getting up to hug you and dash to her room. 

“Okay, ready?” You ask, sticking the mustache on your face and smiling at him. “Wait…. You ready?”

Your voice slips into a smooth southern accent like Ted Lasso, watching him smile. “Let’s go.”

“WAIT WAIT WAIT!” You laugh, snagging your phone from the table. “It’s Mindy!”

“What? Why?” Ethan asks, wing sauce all over his face as he stares at you in a panic, your shouting making his heart race. 

“She…. she is inviting me out with you guys tomorrow! To the party!” You squeal, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. “She wants me to come hang out.,...... she must think I’m kinda cool!”

“You are more than kinda cool, you know.” He laughs, watching you with a smile. “To me you are the coolest person I know.” 

“You have to say that, I kiss you.” You laugh, dashing to show your roommate the text.

When the silence came, we were shaking blind and hazy

How the hell did we lose sight of us again?

Sobbin' with your head in your hands

Ain't that the way shit always ends?

Things had not gone as you thought they would. Not in the slightest. 

You had gone from wearing a fake mustache to that same wine shirt you had once danced in with Ethan, the wine stain still covering the heart as you watched everyone around you. Your face was tear streaked, blood running down your face as Chad leans to snap you out of it. “You okay?”

“No.” You answer bluntly, doing your best not to throw up. “Anika….”

“Don’t look-” As if she knew you were turning to stare down the alley Sam appears and blocks your path. “Don’t.”

“Scarface dude was strong, and Quinn-”

“Ghostface.” Mindy laughs, drawing your attention to her bitter expression. “You were close though.”

“Does it matter, the prick-”

“Y/N!” Ethan calls, and you spot him dash through the crowd, hearing Chad mutter out a ‘hell no’ before turning to shove him back. 

They snap at each other for a moment, Ethan casting a look to you every once in a while as you go through the events of the night. Before you know it his hands are on your jaw, pulling your attention as he cradles your face. “Look at me, are you okay?”

“That was crazy, Ethan he just-”

“I know. Breathe.” He mumbles, pulling you in so you can sob. After a couple minutes he pulls back, reaching into his bag for the essential oil you had mixed together. “Safety and calmness….right?”

“Yeah.” You sniffle, hands shaking as you reach for it while he pulls out your ointment. 

“For the cut on your thigh.” He explains, setting it next to you before he moves back to Chad since his roommate couldn’t stop glaring. 

You smile, loving the fact that he remembered all the healing you explained to him before your heart drops and you slowly process. 

You were wearing a blanket over your lap, Ethan hadn’t been there. How the fuck did he know you were cut on your thigh?

- 

A scream tears through your throat when Quinns door bursts open, blood going everywhere as her body flies to you and Anika. 

Ethan had left you here with everyone while he went to class……well more of Anika demanded you stay so you would be safe rather than at your apartment. 

Her body hits you both as you look to her feet where she seems to catch her own fall on the floor, making you stop for a moment before the masked figure is after you. Another scream tears through your lungs and you snatch Anikas hand to move out of the way only for him to go for Mindy. 

A moment of chaos ensues as everyone fends for survival, you grabbing the lamp from the side table and throwing it as hard as you can as the assailant tears their knife through Anika. 

“OH MY GOD-” You scream, watching the blood pour from her as the figure slashes you back, hitting your thigh harshly while you struggle to get to Ani. Pain flashes through you as the figure grabs your arm and throws you to the side, your rib catching on the knife. 

Sam is quick to snatch you off the floor, keeping you close as she goes through Quinns room, only to find the body in the bath. 

“IMGONNAPUKE-” You call as Mindy pulls Anika in. 

“Hold it in.” Sam breathes out, trying to figure out what to do when someone across the way calls her. 

“I got you baby!” The man calls, pulling a ladder for them to climb across. “I GOT YOU!”

You push Sam to go first, trying not to be sick, then Mindy. You pull Ani to the ladder, trying to get her to go across. 

“No no no. You go.”

“Anika, I’m barely bleeding. If I am behind you then I can get you across. Come on.” You mutter, pushing her through the window so you can follow. Your heart is racing through your chest, and your hands are shaking so bad you think you are gonna fall anyways. 

“Y/n.” Anika sobs, and you look up to see her already staring behind you, when you turn you see the figure lurking at the window. 

The head tilts, and the hands grab the end of the ladder, before you know it the ladder starts shaking. It goes from side to side, and when you take a hand off to go help Ani you lean too far and find yourself slipping off, screaming out as you tighten your arm around, your shoulder burning out harshly. 

You can see as Ani falls, hanging from the ladder as everyone screams for you. For a moment you debate it, it would be better if you died like this right? Better than the knife.

But then Sam is reaching out, and you snap back in. 

You were standin' hollow-eyed in the hallway

Carnations you had thought were roses, that's us

I feel you no matter what

The rubies that I gave up

Three days ago you were dancing happily to Fleetwood Mac in your hallway, today you were staring at the history of Ghostface past, blinking at the old T.V. that looked completely fucked up, seeing Ethan approach from the reflection. 

“You wanna talk about it?”

“Not really.” You answer, leaning forward to read the description. “Actually yeah, because I just want to think this all through.”

“Yeah-”

“You miss a day of class, I don’t hear from you and when I do you say you have been with this group the whole time, yeah?”

“Yeah?”

“Then you go to class and two people die…..three people. Naked guy in the bathtub was dead.”

“Okay?” He seems to get defensive then, straightening up a bit as he watches you and you catch on to that. 

“Just…. I thought for a second who would be told if I died. You know?” He nods then as you try to come up with the words. “Who would be notified for you? Your sister?”

“I don’t have a sister.” He laughs, a red tint climbing his neck. 

“Right…. yeah. “

“If you die, I will make sure the entire world knows about you. But I refuse to let you die.” He smiles, leaning to kiss you. 

“But you don’t really have a say… you know?” You smile, trying to play off the bile rising in your stomach. 

“Y/n….?” He asks, something crossing his face before the woman in the purple suit grabs your attention by snapping her fingers at you two. 

- 

“Do you have any siblings?” You ask, looking around the room for your bra as he lays in his dorm bed watching you with a wide smile. 

“I do. A sister.” He mumbles, leaning up to catch your hand and pull you in for a kiss. “Stay, please?”

“Chad will be back soon…..” You mumble, hugging him close. “You close with your parents?”

“My mom left about a year ago, but I’m close with my dad and sister. I can tell him you are here and make him sleep at his sisters dorm…” He is so warm, pulling you back into the bed as you giggle. 

“Pets.”

“No.”

“Do you miss your mom?”

“No.” 

“Do you love me?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” 

You wake up a couple hours later, wrapped tightly in the comforter as Ethan keeps you covered, Chad snoring loudly on the other side of the room. You don’t stay awake for long, the heat coming from Ethan pulling you back into another deep sleep. 

- 

And I lost you

The one I was dancin' with

In New York, no shoes

Looked up at the sky and it was maroon

“I can’t believe you would do this,” You sob, limping across the stage of the theater. You had more stab wounds than you ever thought possible, and now you stared at Ethan in a ghostface getup, tears streaming down your face. 

Kirbie laid odd on the floor not too far off, where Ethan's father had killed her. He smiles softly, shrugging a bit with a bashful ease. “Baby-”

“DON’T!”

It had been Quinn that stabbed you, three times, and you were sure you were going to die here but that didn’t matter. Not with the burning in your heart. 

“Just listen-” He pleas, moving to walk forward. 

“BACK THE FUCK UP!” You scream, holding the bat tighter, ready to hit him at any chance. “I swear to god Ethan-”

“You love me! You won’t hurt me because you love me-”

“LOVED!”

“You don’t mean that, baby, you don’t mean it.” He mutters, stepping forward only to step back when you swing the bat. 

“I mean it. I defin-” A scream rips through you as pain shoots from your side, Ethan screaming out and dashing for you as you fall to the stage floor. 

Quinn stands over you, a knife gleaming with blood……your blood. 

“We agreed not her-”

“WE HAVE TO- NO WITNESSES-” She screams as Ethan moves to cover you, your body relaxing under the pain, a warmth crossing you as tears fall from your cheeks. That’s when you spot her, coming to help you, covered in blood and tears streaks down her own face as Tara swings something at Quinn. 

But you are already slipping from reality. 

- 

“Witch.” One of your classmates coughs, laughing when you look his way. 

“It doesn’t even make sense.” Ethan sighs, watching your face fall at the diss. “Witches have always had a strong impact in history. They just think they have a good diss because……well I have no clue because it is stupid.”

You smile, looking over to the kid that has sat next to you the past week. 

“Ethan? Right?”

“Ethan Landry, yeah. And you are Y/n L/n.”

“Yeah,”

“It’s great to meet you.” He blushes, nodding his head.  “I’ve been wanting to talk to you since I saw you, I just haven’t found a good starter and-”

“It’s great to meet you too. You want to get coffee?”

The burgundy on my T-shirt when you splashed your wine into me

And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was (maroon)

The mark you saw on my collarbone, the rust that grew between telephones

The lips I used to call home, so scarlet, it was (maroon)

Suddenly it all seemed like a joke, right before his eyes Ethan can see everything his family has worked for crumble. He keeps his hands on your wounds, not that it would matter with the amount of blood you were losing. 

But he had to try. 

You meant way too much to him not to. 

This hadn’t been planned, he thought it would be easy to do this for his father. But then he met you and things began falling apart. He went from trying to take down the friend group to only being able to think about you. 

“Y/n, come on….. Come on please.” He cries, hearing screams and stabbing noises behind him. “Please please please.”

He was begging someone who couldn’t even hear him, but he needed you to hear him. He needed you to make it. 

“Please please please-”

“ETHAN!” His father calls, and his gaze snatches to where his father now stood. “LET’S GO!”

“Ican’tleaveher.” He breathes out, his breath snatching. “PLEASE!”

He doesn’t get to keep arguing, the flash of a knife filling his vision as a ghostface comes out and slashes at him. 

-

Ethan Landry could not believe his luck, watching the girl in front of him with wide eyes as she settles into the coffee shop seat, hands wrapped around the cup while she smiles at him. He can’t breathe but can’t seem to stop breathing in the wonderful scent she is wearing. 

He thinks of something to say, anything to say that would make him seem cool but he can’t seem to come up with anything. Please, he just needs something to impress you with, anything. 

“You like coffee then?” He asks, watching your face pull into a smile that has his heart melting. His phone rings in his back pocket and he knows it would be his father wondering where he was, but he can’t seem to care. 

He just wanted to make you smile. 

And I wake with your memory over me

That's a real fucking legacy, legacy (it was maroon)

And I wake with your memory over me

That's a real fucking legacy to leave

You wake up a couple months later to the sound of your class alarm, your heart racing as you lean up, tears still slipping down your cheeks from your dreams. Your daily routine doing nothing to stop the thoughts of him as you got ready. 

The scars reminded you of him, the songs and the oils and the sage. Everything reminded you of him, and if you had a day where he hadn’t snuck into your mind the world took it upon themselves to remind you of him. He was there, haunting you. 

You think back to the day he helped clean your vinyl collection of incense, talking to him about the dark energy that had led you to saging your apartment so many times. A bitter laugh creeps up your throat as you think how much you sage now, from the second you open your eyes to the second you fall asleep you cover yourself in Sage. 

No more messing around. 

You get dressed, limping to the living room of your new apartment where your roommate already stood. 

“You okay?” She asked every morning, and the answer never changed. 

“Fine.” You mumble, ignoring the look she gives you. 

Even dead he haunted you, and you couldn’t figure out how to move on. 

-

The hospital room smells like death, well at least to you. 

Peeking your eyes open, flinching from the light, as you try to look around the room and ignore the dark energy that surrounds it. 

“Y/n?” Your roommate calls, catching your attention to where she sat, leaning to check your forehead. “Hey, easy. It’s going to be okay.”

“Is he dead?” You ask, tears welling in your eyes as you watch her closely. 

“.......Yes.”

“Okay.” There isn’t much more to say after that, trying to keep contained as you turn to the wall in the room. “Okay..”

The burgundy on my T-shirt when you splashed your wine into me

And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet (it was maroon)

The mark you saw on my collarbone, the rust that grew between telephones

The lips I used to call home, so scarlet (it was maroon)

The news channels called you a final girl, and tweets showed that hundreds of men thought you were perfect final girl material as ironic as it is. But you always thought it was a laugh in the face. 

You follow Chad through the hall, ignoring the whispers around you as you listen to the trial update, hearing Gale Weathers testimony. She had survived, barely, and now told the world everyone's stories so they could go back to living their own lives. 

Not that you had much of a life since…..him. 

You found yourself staring at the evidence shown, the bloody shirt you had worn that night. The wine stain was barely seen now, the rest of the shirt dark red.

  You had to stop yourself from getting sick, remembering the night with Ethan dancing in that shirt. 

Nothing would ever be the same now. 

It was maroon

It was maroon

6 months after the trial you find yourself sitting on your living room floor with Taylor Swift blasting in your phone speaker as your friends did her own makeup a couple steps away, humming as you focused on your gemstones. 

“I cannot believe we are about to see Taylor Swift in person!” She smiles, and you can’t help but smile as well. 

“I hope she plays You Belong with me- hey- knockit off!” You laugh, turning to see her stealing your liner. 

When she snatches it you have to reach into your makeup bag, pulling out a picture of you and Ethan that you had shoved in there awhile ago. 

Your heart stops at the photo, staring at it for a second before shoving it back in, not quite ready to throw it out and not ready to enjoy the memory. Forever haunted. 

(I have been trying to find any sort of energy to post and get out of bed. Got so close to giving up on life itself and I'm barely back, please bare with me as I try to find my way out of my depression hole I have dug for myself everyone. I know it's been a minute but life has been kicking my ass. Be patient with me - Ultralight)

[voldemorts-tap-shoes]

Sneaking in my second submission for era #5 of @cruelsummer-ficfest at the last minute!

A brief follow up to my last fic 💜

you still would’ve been mine, we would’ve been timeless

Even though the waiting room chairs at St. Mungo’s are horribly uncomfortable, and Hermione has been stuck in the same position for the past hour while Ron snoozes on her shoulder, and her mouth burns with the bitter taste of some of the worst coffee she has ever had the displeasure of consuming, there is no place else Hermione would rather be.

Home.

Her mind was made up before she even made it back to her hotel after meeting with Ron, and as soon as she got back to Sydney, she had set about making arrangements. After three weeks and a lot of Floo calls, she had a job and a flat ready to go, and she was on another plane to London. For good this time.

Harry bursts into the waiting room then, a smile splitting his face from ear to ear, and Hermione shakes Ron awake. “She’s here,” Harry announces. “Baby and Ginny are both doing great.”

“What are you going to call her?” Hermione asks as she and Ron both rise to hug Harry in congratulations.

“Lily of course, and Ginny picked Luna to be her middle name.”

“Oh, that’s lovely.”

“You couldn’t give one of your kids a name that wasn’t a mouthful?” Ron teases, earning him a sharp elbow to the side from Hermione.

Harry just laughs, and Hermione’s not sure anything could dim his happiness at the moment. “Come back and meet her.”

By the time they’re through visiting with Harry and Ginny and the new baby and are heading for the exits, it’s nearly three in the morning. “Y’know, every one of their kids was born in the middle of the night,” Ron says with a yawn. “They’re bound to be trouble.”

“Is that some superstition about children born during a witching hour?”

“Well, that and they’re Harry and Ginny’s so they’re just bound to be trouble regardless.” Ron laughs as he yawns again. “I guess I’ll take the Floo home, I think I’m too tired to Apparate.”

“My place is closer,” Hermione says, though the offer is far from selfless. The only thing that hasn’t settled itself since she returned home two months ago is where things stand with Ron, and maybe this is her chance to fix that. “You could just…crash with me.”

Although he’s been there for her throughout the whole process and they see each other nearly every day, neither of them has made any sort of move to take things to the next level. On the one hand, she appreciates Ron’s sensitivity, and his willingness to give her time and space while she settles into her new-slash-old life.

On the other, haven’t they waited long enough?

Ron smirks, a sure sign that he’s thinking exactly what she is, that their respective homes are the exact same distance via Floo—nearly instantaneous—even though Hermione’s is technically closer to the hospital. She’s about to laugh it off, tell him to get some sleep and that she’ll see him tomorrow, but then Ron reaches for her hand.

“You should know,” he says softly, “if I come with you, I have no intention of sleeping on the couch.”

Hermione squeezes his hand and leans up to whisper in his ear. “Who said anything about sleeping?”

[captainlunaxmen]

The Lady and the Lord

Chapter 7

Eddie munsom x fem!reader

This is a repost since the old blog doesn't work anymore. 🥰

Chapter summary: pur young adults are stuck in the Upside Down and they do need to get back. But this experience might not be all bad.

Chapter warnings: spoiler season 4, blood, injuries.

If someone told me this morning I'd find myself fighting demonic creatures in the UpsideDown... again... I would've scoffed... loudly.

But yet... that's exactly what I'm doing now: fighting demonic bats in the Upside Down with... oars.

We got rid of some bats that were biting on Steve's sides, but they keep coming and coming.

"Nancy!" I scream as she's attacked by a bat on her back "Stay still"

I strike with all the force I got, the bat whimpers and flies away.

Eddie and Robin got here too, luckily I might add because there are way too many bats for only three people, one of them being held down too.

As they fight off some of those creature I turn to check on Steve who managed to free himself from the bat's hold around his neck and grabs its tail.

"Come here"

"Shit shit shit"

We're all busy using everything possible to hit and kill these things. As I'm about to hit another bat away, another one attached itself to my left arm, biting down.

"Fuck!" I instinctively yell, shaking my arm to get rid of it, but no use.

"I got it, I got it" Eddie runs towards me hitting the bat to the ground and I immediately impale the thing.

"Thanks" I breathlessly say and he nods.

We turn around hearing Steve grunting, seeing him smashing the same bat, that held him down, on the ground and at the end ripping the creature in two.

Quite the hot scene.. if you ask me.. but anyway, the most important thing is that he's.. alive, not sure if he's okay, but he's alive.

I run to him, along with Nancy.

"Steve.."

"Jesus H. Christ!" I hear Eddie yell out of frustration.

"Oh shit... how you feel?" I say looking at Steve's wounds.

"Well, they took about a pound of flesh" he tells us "but other than that, yeah, never better"

"Uh, do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies?" Robin asks suddenly, as she looks at one of the dead bat on the ground.

"What?" Steve asks, very confused.

"It's just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear. And I think we should probably get you to a doctor, like, really soon, because once symptoms set in, it's too late. You're already, like, dead." She rambles.

"Robin, I'm sure-" I start, wanting to reassure her, but I get cut off by the sound of creature chittering.

We look towards the noise and see those bats again, flying towards us, but not quite... they gather around the gate.

"All right. There's not that many" Steve tries "we can take 'em. Right?"

More chittering... and more bats coming.

"You were saying?" Robin says.

"Shit"

"The woods. Come on" Nancy starts to run towards the woods and we all follow her carefully not stepping on the vines.

We ran until we arrive to the Upside Down version of Skull Rock and hide under the stone waiting for the bats to fly beyond that place. All ears to see when the right time to come out arrives.

"Oh.. okay. That was close" Robin comments as we get up.

"Yeah, too close" Eddie replies in a small voice.

"Oh sh.. shit" Steve whispers as he lean on the rock for support.

"Steve.. jesus" Nancy's immediately by his side.

"I'm fine. I'm fine" he replies.

"You're clearly not, Stevie. You're losing too much blood" I tell him getting closer too.

"Yeah exactly" Nancy agrees as together we look closely at those bites.

"C'mon, c'mon sit" she tells him.

Steve with a painful grunt sits.

"Oh" Robin comes closer too.

"That's... a big bite" I comment "does anyone have something to use as.. a bandage or something?" I ask.

Nancy immediately rips her shirt.

"Okay" Robin kneels down with us "so the good news is I'm pretry sure wooziness is not a symptom of rabies. But if you start having hallucinations or muscles spasms, or you start feeling aggressive, like you wanna punch me, let me know."

"Robin" Steve stops her.

"Yeah?"

"I kinda wanna punch you" he says, making me giggle with some relief.

"Sense of humor's still intact. That's a good sign" she laughs nervously and turn to look at me, I nod to help her calm down.

Nancy is ready with the "bandage".

"Here" I help Steve standing straight off the rock, just enough to let Nancy cover his wounds.

While Nancy finishes knotting the ripped shirt on Steve I get up and walk close to Robin as Eddie climb up a big stone to get a better look at the surrounding, I think.

"So, uh, this place is like Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit?" He asks turning to us.

"Basically, yeah" I answer.

He just nods and goes to climb back down, but Nancy warns him.

"Watch out for the vines. It's all a hive mind."

"It's all a what?" Eddie says confused.

"All the creepy crawling around here, dude. They're, like, one or something" Steve tell him "step on a vine, you're stepping on a bat, you're stepping on Vecna"

"But everything from our world is still here, right? Except people, obviously?" Robin asks.

"As far as I understand it, yeah" Nancy replies.

"So, theoretically, we could go to the police station and steal guns and grenades and whatever we need to blow up those bat things that are guarding the gate" Robin suggests, in her ramble.

"I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades, Robin. But guns, yeah, sure" Steve tell her.

"We don't have to go all the way downtown for guns" Nancy starts "I have guns in my bedroom."

"You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom?" Eddie asks, completely surprised.

"Full of surprises, isn't she?" Robin chimes in.

"A Russian Makarov and a Revolver" she specifies.

"Yeah, you almost shot me with that one" Steve remembers.

"You almost deserved that" Nancy replies with a smirk.

Nancy and Steve shares a long stare, luckily, interrupted by Eddie throwing his denim vest.

"For your modesty, dude" he tells him.

"Wait... Nancy" I say, turning to look at her "does that mean you still have my shotgun?"

"I think.. the one Hopper gave you at Starcourt?" She asks and I nod "yeah.. I think I still got it"

"And you have a shotgun.. I shouldn't be surprised anymore.. but shit" Eddie comments.

Before I could answer him another earthquake interrupts us, and makes us fall to the ground.

Nancy against Steve, who holds her as best as he can, me against Eddie next to Robin.

I instinctively grab his hand, more to hold onto something than anything else at this moment, and I feel his other hand holding me close.

Once the earthquake stops Eddie speaks up.

"So guns seem like a pretty good idea to me"

"Definitely" I agree and I get up, helping Robin too.

"So, what are we waiting for?" Steve says, walking in the direction of Nancy's house, torch in hand. "Let's go"

"Yes, mommy" I mutter.

"I heard you" he says back.

I flip him off and, with the others, I follow him.

I walk along side Eddie noticing his nervous demeanour.

"Hey" I softly calls.

"H-hi" he replies.

"All good here?" I ask.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" he quickly says.

"You know" I start, wanting to make him feel a little bit better "the first time we faced these kind of things, uh, I was scared shitless.. I didn't know what those things were, I didn't know where they were coming from, I didn't know why they were here."

"Must've been terrifying" he comments.

"Yeah, a lot, but now, if I think about our first experience... well, that looks like an easy D&D campaign. The easiest you could think of" I say with a small chuckle, noticing his small smile I continue "You're dealing with the worst of them all and you're behaving so so much better than me back then"

"Now you're just saying that" he says, sending me a sceptical look.

"You don't believe me, my lord?" I ask faking offence, putting my hand on my heart.

"I think, m'lady, that you're being simply too kind" he replies.

"I'm just being honest" I tell him "if it wasn't for those kids I would be dead by now. Not because of those creature, but because of fear" I let out a small laugh.

"You're saying we shouldn't worry then?" He asks.

"I'm afraid we should be worried... this thing is.. far worse than anything we've faced before. I'm not one to sugar-coat something. But.. the thing is that each time seems worse than the previous one, yet we managed to survive each time, so... I'm hopeful" I turn to smile at him.

"Shit.. we do need you at Hellfire. Smart, pretty, great sense of humor and... very cool rings too... perfect" he smiles, and I could simply melt in this exact moment. I look away quickly, trying to hiding my embarrassment.

"Not as cool as yours" I say looking everywhere but him.

"Oh these?" He ask, waving his hands in my face playfully and I laugh, trying not to stare at his hands too much... his hands are just.. too distracting.

We stay silent for a while before I remember something.

"Oh, uh.. I made you something" I tell him, checking my pockets, hoping I didn't lose it somewhere.

"You.. you made me something?" He seems surprised.

"Yeah" I still checking until I find it. "Here... helps with the fidgeting"

I hand him a small black beads ring.

"Wow" he simply says.

"Hope it doesn't ruin your metalhead look" I joke.

"You kidding? This would only make it better" he says. "Thank you. That's very sweet of you, m'lady"

He winks.

"Shut up" I smile again, feeling my cheeks warming more and more as he just looks at me with that sweet smile.

"Why do you know how to use a shotgun?" He suddenly asks.

"Hopper taught me" I answer with a sad smile.

"Oh... cool of him." He comments.

"Yeah. He had so much patience" I chuckle at the memory, looking down with a sad smile.

"Hey.. I'm sorry" Eddie sweetly whispers.

"Don't be. You didn't do anything." I smile at him.

I see him reaching out to my hand but Steve's voice stops him.

"Hey" Steve slows down to catch up with us, and I see Eddie rolling his eyes.

"How's your arm, honey?" Steve asks me.

"What? Oh" I look down to my left arm "Oh, uh.. not that bad, I think"

"I think it needs a bandage or something" Steve says, ready to run up to Nancy and Robin and ask them.

"I got it" Eddie chimes in, he seems almost annoyed though.

Eddie grabs his bandana from his back pocket and goes to wrap my arm in it.

"I'm gonna ruin it" I protest moving away.

"As if I care more about a bandana than you" he instantly says. Surprising not only me and Steve, but also himself I think, considering he widened his eyes slightly.

"Stop complaining, honey" Steve says.

Eddie glare at him just for a second before wrapping the bandana around my injured arm and I hiss at the pain.

"Sorry" he softly says.

"Nah, it's fine" I groan.

He finishes rather quickly. "Here, m'lady"

"Thank you" I say rubbing my arm, just slightly.

"Hey hey don't rub it" Steve stops my movement.

I scoff. "I'm gonna see if Robin and Nancy too will treat me like a child"

I walk faster towards Nancy and Robin.

"Hey, oh! Oh shit, uh, your arm! Are you okay? Do you feel any-"

"I'm fine, Robin. Don't worry. I actually didn't even notice until Steve pointed it out" I chuckle.

"Good.. Good.. but, uh, tell me if you don't feel good okay?" She asks and I nod.

"Promise?" Nancy asks.

"Promise" I say.

I walk a little slower to stay a bit with my thoughts.

I can hear Steve and Eddie talking, but I don't pay too much attention to them at the moment. Focusing instead on the shotgun and when Hopper taught me how to use it.

"Why do I have to learn how to use this?" I asked Hopper, annoyed, as he hand me a shotgun.

"Because, since you refuse to accept any sort of help from me, I'm gonna at least teach how to defend yourself" he answered, exasperated.

"I just refused to live with you" I clarified.

"Exactly" he said "you live alone, it's dangerous. Now again."

I aimed at the empty bottles in front of me.

I shot.

Missed.

"Fuck" I muttered.

"Language." He warned "you're getting closer though. Practice makes perfect. That's how I became... me" he adds proudly.

" Oh. So you're saying you're perfect now?" I challenged with a scoff.

"How come you're so quiet with everyone, but with me you're this noisy?" He spat.

"I..." I stuttered. It was true, he was one of the few people I was comfortable enough to be... a bit louder.

I looked down, ashamed, and heard him sighing.

"Come here" he said patting a spot beside him on the fence.

"I'm sorry" I quietly said with a sigh.

"Nah.. don't apologise. Actually.. it's good you're noisy with me" he assured me.

"Why?" I asked, not understanding what he meant.

"Because it means you trust me enough to speak your mind" he explained. "I see you with those kids, that Wheeler girl, and Joyce's son and that... one with the cool hair"

"Steve" I reminded him.

"Yeah yeah that guy. I see the difference between you talking with them and you talking with anyone else."

"Really?" I asked, once again.

"Yeah! You see, when you talk to your friends you're visibly calm, open and you actually talk, joke and get angry too. But when it's someone you don't know talking to you, you wrap your arms around you, shielding yourself, you talk very little or not at all, you play with your rings to have some sort of excuse not to look at the people you're with." He explained.

I never thought he actually cared this much about me.

"And you noticed all that?" I asked, more to not show that I was happy about it.

"Of course." He nodded "That's why, even though you're getting on my nerves with your comebacks.. I'm also very proud."

I laughed and he did too.

I miss him. Fuck... I really do.

When I hear Nancy's name I snap out of my mind.

"... what happened between you two" I hear Eddie saying. "But if I were you, I would get her back. 'Cause that was as unambiguous a sign of true love as these cynical eyes have ever seen."

Obviously, Steve still has a thing for Nancy.

I hope they sort this out... I don't want him to suffer again.

"What about you, uh?" Steve asks back.

"What about me, Harrington?" Eddie teases.

"Oh I think you know" Steve laughs.

"What? Want me to admit my feelings for Y/n? Saying that she's the only thing I've been thinking about since they paired us up for that stupid project? Or that she's so beautiful that all I want to do is just look at her.. maybe that's why I've been failing O'Donnels' class this whole time."He lets out a small laugh "everytime Henderson or Wheeler mentions her, for whatever reason, I can't help but feel jealous they get to spend so much time with her while I was too much of a coward to talk to her...Fuck.. I'm screwed, man" Eddie rambles, I'm speechless, I never thought he feel this way about... me.

I need all my strength not to turn around and ask him to tell me more.

"Why would you be screwed?" Steve's confused.

"Because... she deserves so much more. I can't do that to her" Eddie replies defeated.

"Let her decide that, uh?" Steve pats him on the shoulder.

Good answer, Steve.

I hear silence for a moment before Eddie's answer.. or more, question.

"There's nothing between you and Y/n, right?" He sounds insecure, almost.

"Man, you just made a whole speech about why I should get Nancy back, not even a few minutes ago, and now you ask if there's something between me and Y/n?" Steve asks in disbelief.

"Uh.. yeah" Eddie simply answers. "You call her 'honey' a lot"

"No, man, there's nothing. She's my best friend since..." He puffs, thinking "ever."

"And, uh, there has never been anything? Like at all?" Eddie checks.

"Well... I did have a crush on her.. for a while, but then we grew apart and... yeah it changed. Then Nancy happened..." Steve explains and I hear Eddie letting out a sigh of relief, but then Steve adds casually "We were each other's first though"

"Uh? What-"

Another earthquake interrupts him.

"Oh shit"

"Okay, second on my list of lists favourite things, earthquakes. Seriously, I'm unsteady enough as it is" Robin says.

I'm holding onto a tree and I see Nancy running and Robin calling for her.

I turn around to check on the boys and nid my head towards the direction Nancy went to and we quickly follow her.

When we spot her, thankfully, the earthquake ceases.

"C'mon" she tells us, walking towards her house.. or this alternate version of it.

"Thank god we were close" Robin breathes out.

"Yeah" I say out of breath.

The house... matches with the rest of the Upside Down, obviously.

Here the cute, clean rooms are dirty and there is this dark dust all over, and the vines are crawling over the walls and the furniture.

"Might be time to get a maid, Wheeler" Robin says, trying to enlighten the mood I think.

"C'mon. I don't want to stay here longer than we have to." Nancy walks upstairs.

"Agree. Definitely don't wanna add 'creepy dimension' to the weird places I had a panic attack in" I blurt out following her.

The others close behind us.

Once we get to her room, Nancy immediately goes to her wardrobe and takes a shoes box.

When she opens it, though, there are no guns... only a pair of shoes.

"Those aren't guns" Eddie sarcastically points out.

"These heels are pointy, but I was hoping for something on the line of a deadly projectile" Robin adds.

"I don't understand" Nancy comments, looking at me.

"You sure you left them here?" I ask.

"Yeah, maybe you left them somewhere else" Eddie tries, getting agitated.

"There's a six-year-old in the house. I know where I keep my guns" Nancy almost snaps at him "and also, I threw these away years ago"

I look down on her desk, thinking, but I notice some notes. Chemistry notes, I helped her writing them so we could practice at home... three years ago.

"Nance.." I say, handing her the notes.

"I get that grades are important to you two, but perhaps studying can wait till we get out of here?" Robin suggests.

"These are from sophomore chemistry." I explain, Nancy looks at me, catching up on what might be happening here.

"Yeah.. and this... this wallpaper, this is old wallpaper" Nancy informes moving around her room to look at the rest "and this mirror, this went to a yard sale. And you" she grabs a stuffed animal "You're not supposed to be here. No, I gave you to cousin Joanna two years ago"

Nancy then moves to grab a diary.

"What is it?" Eddie asks.

"Nancy? You're freaking me out" Robin urges her.

"This doesn't look good" I comment shaking my head waiting for Nancy to confirm my suspicions.

"I think the reason that my guns aren't here is because they don't exist yet" she answers.

"They don't... exist?" Eddie repeats, tensing up more and more each second.

"This diary should be filled of entries. It's not. The last entry is November 6, 1983. The day-"

"Will went missing" I cut her off, earning a nod from her. "The day the gate opened and everything started... we're in the past.. how?"

"I don't know" Nancy shakes her head, defeated.

Suddenly we hear Steve's voice yelling "Dustin! Dustin!" And we immediately hurry downstairs.

Steve's moving awkwardly in the dining room, looking at the ceiling calling Dustin's name.

"Maybe he really does have rabies" Robin suggests.

"Steve!" I call "What the hell are you doing?"

Steve points his torch to us, blinding us for a second.

"He's here. Henderson. That little shit, he's here. He's like...he's in the walls or something. Just listen" he explains breathlessly, pointing his finger up to make us pay attention to... whatever he heard.

As we listen closely, Steve keeps calling for Dustin, but we do manage to hear...his voice!

Oh shit.

"That brings us to the question you first raised" he seems to be saying.

"Oh shit! That's him" I exclaim.

Everyone starts to call for him, yelling his name, hoping he'll hear us.

"Guys! I don't think he can hear us." I grab their attention.

"Yeah, either he can't or he's being a total douchebag." Steve replies.

"Will found a way" I say.

"What?" Steve's turns to me.

"Will. He found a way to speak to Joyce through the lights" Nancy goes to turn some lights on, with no use, nothing turns on.

Steve points his torch to the chandelier. "Guys? You seeing this?"

It's like there is some almost tangible energy surrounding the chandelier and we all gather beneath it.

I reach out to touch it.

"Shit.." I breath.

It's a weird feeling, warm and ticklish.

As we touch the energy around it, it enlightens.

"It.. tickles" Steve comments.

"It's weird, but... pleasant" I agree.

"Yeah" Eddie turns to look at me with a breathed chuckle.

"Does anyone know Morse code?" Nancy suddenly asks.

We all shake our head no.

"Wait, does SOS count?" Eddie asks, earning a light scoff from Robin "is that.. is that good?"

"Yeah, definitely" I tell him.

Immediately Eddie starts to touch the energy in Morse code.

"Yeah, that's working"

We managed to hear Dustin telling us to go to Nancy's room, where they're bringing Nancy's sister's toy. It's supposed to help us communicate more.. effectively.

Hopefully.

We wait kneeling at Nancy's bed, the tension devouring us.

"C'mon, c'mon" Steve keeps mumbling.

I keep fidgeting with my hands and rings, my breath getting heavier and heavier, but suddenly I feel a hand holding mine. I look up seeing Eddie, sending me a reassuring look even if he was just as tense, but it helps my breathing getting even again. He doesn't let go of my hand, though, not that I complain about it.

Dustin's faintly voice snaps us out of our moment.

"You.. seeing this?"

A small mass of energy appears in front of us, just like the one around the chandelier.

When we hear Dustin's laugh we know it's working.

I look at Steve who's already looking towards me, with his "We're okay" look. The one he always gives me when he sees me nervous.

"We're not moving it, but we're gonna unplug it. Stand by" Dustin says.

The energy seems to disappear, but Dustin urges to try again.

"Try it now"

Nancy, unsure, start to "draw" something on the line of "Hi" in the air, basically.

Eddie holds my hand a bit tighter.

They all answer.

"Hi"

"Hey! Hi. That worked!" Dustin exclaims.

"Yes!"

We all let out a sigh of relief and cheer. Robin lets out some relieved giggles.

"Okay. Um.." Nancy starts to draw again.

S T U C K.

"St... stuck!"

"That's what we are" Robin mutters.

"Mhm Mhm" Eddie vigorously nods.

"You can't get back through Watergate?" He asks.

"What the hell's water gate?" Steve asks.

" 'Cause it's in the water and it's a gate" Robin simply explains.

"Oh"

"That's cute" Eddie comments.

"Yeah" I agree.

"Righ, uh... no it's..."

G U A R D E D.

"Guarded. Uh the watergate is guarded" Dustin catches on.

Oh smart boy.

"Perfect, yes yes yes" Steve exclaims.

"We think we have a theory that can help with that" Dustin tells us.

"Genius child." Robin comments, feeling more relaxed now.

"We think watergate isn't the only gate. That there's a gate at every murder site."

"Does anybody understand what he's talking about?" Nancy asks us.

"Nope."

"No"

"No idea"

So she draw a question mark.

"Seriously? How many times do I have to be right on the money before you guys just trust me?" Dustin's voice sound pretty worked up.

"Jesus christ. This kid's gotta get his ego in check" Steve comments, slightly exasperated.

"It's his tone, right?" Eddie chimes in.

"I know" Steve agrees.

"Hey, it's your kid" I tease them.

"Okay so.. how far is your trailer?" Nancy asks Eddie.

"Seven miles?" He replies.

"Nancy?" Robin speaks "uh, I know your house here is, like, weirdly, creepily frozen in time and shit, but haven't you always had bikes?"

"She's right"

"Yeah.. yeah we have" Nancy answers.

We then tell the others to go meet us at Eddie's trailer and we go find the bikes, quickly riding them to Forest Hills Trailer Park.

Hopefully, Dustin's theory is correct once again. Being permanently stuck in the Upside Down is not in my plan, definitely.

Eddie leads the way and we all follow him on our bikes. We don't take much to get there, luckily.

"That's gotta be a Guinness World Record. Most miles travled interdimensionally." Robin jokes as we get off the bikes and head to the trailer.

"And the prize is getting out of here in one piece" I reply.

"Just inhaled a bunch of that crap. It's stuck in my throat." Steve complains couching.

Entering the trailer our attention is immediately on the ceiling. The gate.

"This is where Chrissy died" Eddie explains. "Like, right where she died"

"I think there something in there" Robin warns.

Something from the other side, probably, is trying to pierce through the thin veil of the gate.

"What the hell is that?" Eddie asks as we slowly get closer to inspect it better.

Suddenly the veil is broken and we step back, watching as some mysterious slimy material fall from the crack.

Steve get closer, carefully and we follow close behind.

As soon as we can see on the other side of the gate we all let out a sigh of relief.

There they stand, upside down, Dustin, Max, Lucas and Erica.

"No way" Steve half exclaims.

Dustin laughs as soon as he sees us.

God.. never thought I'd miss that laugh.

"Hi!" He greets.

We a say hi back, shocked... shockingly relieved though.

"Holy shit, this is trippy" Robin comments.

"Yeah.. that's the word" I say with a chuckle.

"Bada-bada boom!" Dustin exclaims ecstatic.

"Okay what's the plan?" Steve asks "how do we.. get back there?"

We all look at each other, uncertain on what to do.

"We got an idea" Dustin tells us.

"We're gonna use, uh, a rope or something and, like, drag you back here" Max explains.

"Yeah, we gonna need something you can fall onto" Dustin says "can we use your mattress?" He asks Eddie.

"Uh, sure, man. Sure" he replies, still out of breath.

"Oh, and the sheets for the rope" he adds.

"Whatever you need."

"Hurry please" Robin asks.

The kids get to work, Dustin and Erica making the rope and Max and Lucas bringing in the mattress. They put it right under the gate, or.. from our perspective, over the gate.

"Those stains are, uh..." Eddie starts explaining, noticing the particularly visible stains on his mattress. "I dunno what those stains are." He finally say, visibly embarrassed.

I try to hold back an amused smile, never thought he'd be the type to get embarrassed over something like this.

The rope is ready and Dustin is about to throw it to us.

"Not quite sure how these physic's gonna work. But, uh...here goes nothing" he finally launch the rope that extends itself like normal gravity permits.

"There we go, and if my theory is correct" Dustin is holding the other end and then lets it go.

The rope stays put... unbelievable.

"That's crazy" I let out a surprised chuckle.

"All right, pull on it! See of it holds" he instructs.

Robin immediately goes to pull on it. It does hold.

"Holy shit"

"Guess I'm the guinea pig" Robin says ready to climb up.

She climbs the rope, grunting and as soon as she get to the top, through the gate, she falls.. she actually falls on the mattress.

"Oh thank god" she exhales "that was fun"

I smile, relieved.

I look at the others seeing if anyone wants to go after her.

"My turn, I guess" I say, not seeing anyone else stepping up.

I pull, experimentally, at the rope and jump holding me up.

I slowly climb up, shit.. never been the athletic type.

Once on the edge of the gate, I feel like being sucked and instantly fall on the mattress, back in our world.

"Shit!" I say as I land, with a grunt. "Fun, yes, but to never do again" I say with a laugh.

Dustin helps me get up so the others can come back too. Max immediately come to hug me and I do too.

"You're okay?" I ask her.

"Yeah, you? What happened to your arm?" Dustin asks worried.

"Nothing unusual" I joke and they smiles.

I see Eddie climbing and then falling.

"That was fun. Shit" He then grabs Dustin hand and get up, getting beside to me and nudging my shoulder playfully.

"All good here?" He whisper to me.

"Yeah" I smile at him.

Now It's supposed to be Nancy's or Steve's turn, but something's wrong.

Steve's screaming Nancy's name, she just stands still.

"Wake up! Wake up! Nancy!" He keeps screaming.

"Oh no no no" I mutter.

"Vecna" Max speaks.

Shit.

[shippergirl-14]

Hii, even though this apps had been on my phone for months I have no idea how to use it, but here have a South Park one shot I wrote.

It’s Creek bc they are adorable and btw I don’t fluently speak English so I‘m sorry for any mistakes

Clyde isn’t always wrong

" I'm sorry, Craig. I don't feel the same."

Blue eyes filled with guilt and other undetectable emotions were glued to the snowy ground. Tweek bit his tongue, stopping himself from apologizing over and over again. He shouldn't be apologizing in the first place, yet the little voice in his head was messing with him. He knew exactly what this was about, so there was no point in feeling bad. Without sparing his classmate another glance, the blonde left him in the cold.

Craig hasn't even noticed that he was alone now. His heart was still racing from the adrenaline rushing through his veins. The loud beating reached to his ears, drowning out any sounds around him and it hurt. What hurt even more was the fact he had got rejected by the boy he had fancied for the past year.

How could he not like Tweek Tweak ? He was perfect and would remind the stoic boy every time he stepped into his view. Would he still smile at Craig whenever they passed each other in the hallways ? Would he still turn around in his seat to have a little chat once in a while ? Had he completely ruined his chances of getting closer to the coffee addict by confessing to him ?

" Yo, dude. How did it go ?" An arm wrapped itself around his shoulder and the face of his annoying best friend Clyde came in view. This had been his idea. How could he be so dumb and listen to Clyde ? " I got rejected", he stated bluntly, still in shock over this realization. " Wait ! What ?" The grin that graced the brunette's face turned into a frown. " You're messing with me. There is no way." Craig rolled his eyes.

" Better believe it. You were wrong. He doesn't like me." Jimmy and Tolkien, who were standing right behind them, exchanged a worried glance. " I'm sorry, Craig. Is there anything we can do to make you feel better ?", the latter asked, stepping closer. " It's fine. Just leave me alone for a bit", their friend mumbled, freeing himself from the tight grib of the idiot.

Craig wanted to kick himself in the ass for confessing right before school started. Now, he was stuck with Tweek for the whole day. It would be awkward. God, could he get more stupid ? Hesitantly, he dragged his drained body to the building, hoping this day would be over soon. You couldn't blame him for wishing nothing more than hiding under his space themed blanket and ignoring his problems by sleeping until he couldn't anymore.

Maybe he would even cry, but what use would that be ? Crying was pathetic and it wouldn't magically change Tweek's mind. Clyde had always told him, it lifted a heavy weight from his shoulders after bawling his eyes out, but there was no way he would ever take the crybaby's advice seriously.

The hallways were as noisy as every morning. How could kids be that active at this ungodly hour ? Craig didn't have the energy to flip the kids, playing football, off as he was walking to class. Spotting the familiar mess of blonde hair, his heart clenched and he averted his eyes from the hurtful sight that would always remind him of the pain in his chest. Of course, an angel like the blonde wouldn't like a rude motherfucker like Craig Tucker! How could he have possibly thought that it wasn't this way ?

Tiredly, he fell into his seat far in the back as soon as he reached his class. If he was lucky enough the teacher would leave him alone for the day and if Mister Garrison wouldn't he always had the option to show him his middle finger. Maybe he would be sent home, escaping this hell hole, however he would rather avoid his mother's wrath that would come at him for being disciplined again. Skipping wasn't a possibility either, therefore he had to suffer in silence the whole day.

Stretching out his arms over the small desk, he placed his head on the table, not able to keep it up. All his energy had left his body the moment his ears had picked up the pitying tone of Tweek's voice. " Crushes are stupid", he told himself while playing with the eraser that had seen more colors than his actual notebook. Did everyone have the habit of drawing on the white little thing ? Philosophizing about everything and nothing might keep his mind at bay.

Unknown to him, bright blue eyes were fixed on him as the owner was biting his lips in the same nervous demeanor excepted from him.

The loud noises of the annoying bell couldn't rip Craig out of his trance. Had his teacher tried to talk to him ? Was this the end of the first period ? Why did people tend to cling to the tiniest string of hope, even though it was pointless ? He had no answer to any of those questions.

" Yo dude, aren't you getting up ?" A hand shook his shoulder violently, trying to stop the boy from drowning in his thoughts. Blinking confused, the space enthusiast managed to sit back up in his chair, analyzing the faces of his three friends. " It's time for lunch, come on" Tolkien pulled the energetic brunette away from the shell that used to be his classmate. It was no secret how hard Craig had fallen for the paranoid kid, which was only further proven with this kind of reaction. None of them had expected him to be rejected. It was just so weird.

" Oh", was the only thing that left the ravenette's dry lips before he rose from his place and followed the others to the cafeteria. Why would he even come here ? His stomach refused any food and the seemingly tasty tacos on the tray, that's been pushed into his arms, wouldn't change that fact. " I'm not hungry." A sentence his group had ignored, informing him how important a healthy diet was and that he shouldn't skip meals.

In the end, his plate hadn't been touched and the tallest wasn't even listening to the on going conversation. That wasn't surprising. Tolkien couldn't bare seeing the usual unaffected guy so heart broken. Even though he would rarely agree with Clyde, he had been just as convinced as him that Tweek would reciprocate his feelings.

It was so obvious. Shy glances whenever Craig wasn't looking, bright smiles whenever they had a lively conversation, baked gifts that he claimed to be too much for him to eat. The blonde even was calmer around him ! What did they miss ? Were all of those things just their imagination ? There was no way.

In the corner of his eye, Tolkien spotted said blonde disappearing into the hallways and decided to follow him. Excusing himself from the table, he quickly jump to his feet and sprinted after the person that could give him clarity. Fortunately, he witnessed him entering the bathroom, which should be empty around this time. Without hesitation, the dark haired boy opened the door and called out, " Tweek !"

" Gah !", came in response. Only, after the name holder was able to recover from his mini heart, he backed away, eyes widened in fear. "

Ahh, what do you want ? Kill me ?" His blonde locks were the first victim of his anxiety outburst as he grabbed a handful and yanked it. He had been on edge the whole day.

" What ? No ! Why would I even-", the other yelled back defensive and surprised, yet quickly came back to his senses, " look, Tweek. I'm just here to talk to you." The words seemed to have an effect on his classmate, as he was loosening the grib on his hair and was more willing to listen. " You're not gonna kick my ass for rejecting Craig ?"

" No, I wouldn't do such a thing, but I want to know why you rejected him." Tolkien kept his distance, observing his every step. The way he was now biting his finger nails reminded him how uncomfortable the other boy was under his piercing gaze. " Gah ! Why are you looking at me like that ? This is too much pressure !"

The coffee addict didn't have a glue how to handle this situation. Why would Craigs friend stare at him like that ? Was he mad ? Would he actually kill him and was hiding his true intentions ? Why were they targeting him anyway ?

Considering the fact that Tolkien hadn't backed down, his best choice was to answer his question. " Because I don't like him." That was a good enough reason to not get together with someone, right ?

Something was definitely wrong here. Everyone was aware that the anxious teen struggled with holding eye contact, yet he would occasionally met his conversational partners' gaze. However now, his eyes were fixed on the dirty floor as if it was the most interesting thing on earth.

Then it finally hit him. " You're lying." There was no other explanation for his increased anxiety and fidgeting. The blonde always had trouble being untruthful as he was too worried about getting caught. Only one question remained, though. Why would he say he didn't like Craig if he clearly did ?

" Gahh ! I'm not lying ! I don't like him", Tweek yelled, facing his classmate for the first time since he entered the bathroom, " you can tell your friends, too ! I don't like him and I'm definitely not falling for your bullshit !"

" What do you mean ? What bullshit ?" The older male was beyond confused. Nothing the younger was spouting made any sense.

" Don't give me that crap ! I know exactly what you were trying and I'm not falling for it again !" He pointed a finger accusingly at Tolkien. " I know Craig doesn't actually like me ! He can stop pretending to be sad."

" Tweek, take a deep breath and listen to me." The rich boy cautiously stepped closer, avoiding startling the already freaked out kid. With a calm tone, he carried on, " I still haven't figured out what this is all about but Craig really does like you and he isn't pretending to be sad."

" How do I know you're telling the truth ?"

" Well, for instance, Craig sucks at acting. Do you remember that one musical in seventh grade ? That should speak for itself." He chuckled remembering the embarrassing performance of his friend, also attempting to cut the tension by joking. " He is also always looking at you and trying to get close to you, thinking he is sneaky, but it's actually super obvious."

" Oh", was the only thing that left the blonde's mouth, clearly trying to process this information. Suddenly, he gasped, breaking the silence. " Oh my god ! He really sucks at acting ! Does he actually like me ? Oh god, I'm so stupid. Why do I keep messing up ?"

" Woah, Tweek. Calm down." Gently, Tolkien placed his hands on the tense shoulders of the shaking male. " Can you tell me why you claimed to not like him when you actually do ?"

" I thought you were pulling a prank on me, but now I messed up badly and made Craig sad. He probably hates me now. What do I do ? This is too much pressure !" How could he be so cruel and accuse Craig of playing with his feelings ? Again, he had proven that he was nothing more than a paranoid freak.

" Just talk to him. I'm sure if you explain whatever had stopped you from accepting his confession he will understand." Tolkien smiled encouraging, hoping it would help to ease the other's nerves. The notification sound of his phone forced him to release his grib on Tweek and checked the noisy device. " Oh, Craig is leaving", he read the message of Clyde out loud.

" I need to fix this !", the anxious male stated, clearly not convinced of his abilities, yet he would do whatever it took to not have Craig hate him. " Thank you", he showed his gratitude to his classmate, running out of the door immediately, before his mind could tell him this was a bad idea.

Arriving outside, he quickly caught glimpse of a blue hat, whose owner was walking towards the bus stop. " Craig !", he called out, rushing over the fast he could. The ravenette spun around, not expecting to be adressed, far less from Tweek himself.

Regaining his composure, he crossed his arms and glared at the boy, that was bending over and panting heavily in front of him. " What do you want ?" He didn't mean to sound so pissed and make Tweek flinch, but he wasn't in the mood for talking. What could he possibly want now after breaking his heart ? Apologizing again ? No, thanks.

" I lied", his classmate blurted out between breaths, not providing any further explanation. " What's that supposed to mean ?"

" I lied about not liking you. I do like you", he admitted, feeling a bit relieved to have finally been able to confess as well. If he hadn't been so scared from the start he would have spilled his feelings. Another reason to hate his overthinking mind.

" What the actual fuck, Tweek ?!", Craig raised his voice in utter disbelief what he had just heard, " is this some sort of joke ? Dude, you literally rejected not five hours ago ! Why the fuck did you do that if you like me ?" On the one hand, he was furious. Did Tweek just wanted to make him suffer even more ? His classmate wouldn't intentionally hurt others, yet he couldn't be entirely sure at the moment. His words reminded him of the aching pain in his chest that he couldn't get rid of. Even though his admission might be fake, it made his heart jump. Nevertheless, he wouldn't let himself cling to the silver of hope solely to be rejected again.

On the other hand, he was confused. If his love wasn't unrequited, then why wouldn't the coffee addict accept his invite to a date in the first place ? His mind couldn't come up with any possible explanations, so he just kept on glaring angrily at the nervous boy, expecting him to deliver a really good reason for his behavior.

" I thought you were playing a prank on me and-" Tweek was immediately interrupted by the offended male. " Do you really think I would do such a thing ? Play with your feelings ? Do you really think I'm that kind of person ?" He couldn't even be mad anymore. He was just sad. His crush didn't saw him as more than a stoic asshole. That stung.

" No, no ! That's not it ! I'm always super nervous whenever you talk to me and then you suddenly confessed your feelings and I was like " no, Craig is way too cool to like you" and then I spotted your friends hiding behind a tree and then I panicked more and just blurted out that I don't like you", the anxious kid started rambling on. The words were leaving his mouth too fast to be understood, yet Craig magically comprehended the mess of a sentence. Only when a shaking hand reached out to yank at his hair, he dared to step closer and gently take the hand in his.

Ignoring his pounding heart and the warmth that washed over him, he interlocked their fingers, hoping to prevent the dreading panic attack. It worked better than he had expected. Even though Tweek was still trembling, he had relaxed his body the moment they had touched.

" You think I'm cool ?", Craig suddenly questioned, remembering what the other previously said.

" Of course, I do. You literally know everything about space and star constellations, you're so good at math and physics it's insane. You almost always keep your cool", Tweek listed merely a few things he admired about his crush, however he could go on for days. " I never thought anyone would consider this things cool", Craig responded bashfully, before regaining his composure and clearing his throat, " I still don't understand why you thought I would be pulling a prank on you and what it had to do with my friends watching."

Shifting uncomfortably under his gaze, Tweek bit his already abused lip. " Okay, I will tell you", he spoke quietly, eyes darting to the ground, " two years ago, I had a big crush on a regular costumer of our coffee shop. He would always strike a conversation and I thought he might have been flirting, as well. I was so obviously in love with him. It's embarrassing. One day, he was waiting outside for me and claimed that he wanted to tell me something. I failed to see his friends hiding behind a car"

Blue eyes were shut tightly as he inhaled to brace himself for the next part of his story. " He confessed and I was overjoyed, so of course I accepted. The moment, I said "yes", he started laughing with his friends joining in. He told me the confession was only a dare and that it was too easy to fool me. When you confessed this morning, I had flashbacks of this day", he finished his story, too ashamed to look at Craig.

" I know you aren't like that, but I'm always assuming the worst because I'm always so god damn anxious and annoying." The ravenette shook his head and squeezed his hand reassuringly. " You aren't annoying. Don't spit nonsense about yourself." His tone was soft and his eyes displayed the love he felt for the blonde. " and now I understand you better. If something like this had happened to me I would have been suspicious, as well. I'm really sorry that this asshole broke your trust. This dude deserves a beating."

" You don't hate me anymore ?", Tweek asked, still afraid that his crush might be still mad. " Tweek, I never hated you. I was just upset", Craig eased his mind with a small smile, " would you now like to go on a date with me ?" This time, the blonde didn't hesitate to answer, " Of course, I would like that. Tell me when and where." Both of them had a big grin planted on their faces as they we were gazing at each other.

" How about right now ? Let's go to the cinema", the taller boy proposed, giving the smaller one another heart attack as he started pulling him in his desired direction. " But what about class ? We're gonna get in so much trouble", Tweek interjected nervously, yet let himself be dragged by his ecstatic date. " Who cares. We're already too late anyway, so why not skip." The blonde was quickly convinced since he would rather spent time with him than listen to Mister Garrison talk. As long as Craig was by his side he would be fine.

Even though the day started out awful for him, everything seemed to have turned around for Craig. Maybe he should listen to Clyde more often ?

———————

Hii, if you enjoyed that you could always look at my other works on wattpad or ao3 ^^

[yewsoup]

Stuck

Words: 777

A conversation between Warden Gaeric, and the random guy he found in the Icelands and promptly befriended. As he does with many of the strange things that cross his path. They are just buddies <3

Can also be read Here on Ao3!

"I feel stuck." Is how the conversation starts. Gaeric whittling wood. The thing he found out in the snow and the cold and thought was human, but nobody's quite sure anymore, flopped upside down over a log sorting sticks. Pointed ears twitching in time to the knife.

He glances down at it. Meeting it's glowing eyes. "You are stuck. You don't remember where you came from, or how you got here, so you can't go back."

It twists- a little too fluid in it's movements- to sit up properly. Hands folded in it's lap. "Not like that- i..." Ingo- that's the name it had remembered- struggles with it's words. A fang pokes out as it bites it's lip. "Elsewise. Stuck otherwise. Something isn't... right."

Gaeric raises a brow at it. Pausing in his work. This is a serious conversation, apparently.

"I feel stiff. Wrong."

Well, it isn't very good in the cold, so maybe it's the cold getting to it. "You can go inside if you need."

But it closes it's eyes. Shaking it's head and clicking it's tongue. "Not the cold. I am warm!" It plucks at the extra thick tunic over it's black underlayer. "This keeps me warm." He's pretty sure it's wearing it's strange thin shirt under both of them. Which alongside it's jacket, makes four layers. So it'd be strange if it was cold, even out here.

"But you feel stiff?" It nods. "Stiff. Stuck. Something is missing." It sighs. "I wish I could remember what..." "Maybe you just need to do stretches?"

Ingo blinks at him. "Stretches?"

"You know, stretches? They loosen up your body?" Gaeric puts down his whittling proper. Standing and doing a couple stretches he KNOWS Ingo has watched him do.

"Oh! Your funny poses!" It mulls over it's words in it's head a second. "Yoga?"

He can't help but snort at the wording. It really didn't know...? "I don't know what yoga is, but yes. My 'funny poses' as you call them, are stretches! They loosen up my body before a workout!"

It squints at him. Tilting its head as it watches him move. Before standing up with a little grunt, using it's hands on it's knees to push itself to it's feet.

Then, it tries to copy him.

Gaeric laughs, and goes through the motions. Giving tips as it moves. It becomes a game of follow the leader as he goes through an impromptu routine. Ingo keeping up as well as it can.

"Maybe you should join me in my morning stretches!" Is said as a joke.

But Ingo is delighted by the idea! Nodding excitedly. "Yes! I feel so much better after these stretches! It reminds me of..." The gleam disappears from it's eyes as it's mouth returns to it's common frown. Memories slipping from it's grasp as they're wont to do. "I don't know."

Ah... Gaeric sighs. But he does his best to smile at Ingo. Patting his shoulder with a hand. "That's alright, buddy. Now we know the stretches help you, yeah? Maybe you'll remember something in time."

Ingo still frowns- maybe he frowns so much from the stiffness he's apparently been feeling? Or it's just the cold. But he nods, and is excited when he suggests "I can show them to Emmet when I see him next!" Ah yes, Emmet. Another oddity of Ingo is his friendship with the bloodsucking bat Pokemon...

Not that Gaeric can argue, what with his own predisposition to dangerous Pokemon. ... And finding strange things out in the snow. As proven by Ingo.

"I'm sure Emmet would love to hear about the stretches." He agrees. "You're going to see him again soon, aren't you?"

"Yes. And I made a toy for the Sneasel! I think it will like it."

"Is that what you were nicking your hands up carving?" "My hands are not nicked. They healed fine!" "You almost cut your finger off, Ingo."

It opens it's mouth to retort, but a gust of wind blows through it. Cutting it off as it shudders and pulls it's black coat closer around itself to stave off the chill.

Ah. It's gotten late, hasn't it? "You should head inside, it'll be no good if you freeze again. And I need to attend to some duties." Ingo doesn't fight it. A good sign of having learned better. As it nods and ducks into the tent. Hands covered in gloves that don't keep them warm shoved under it's armpits as it goes.

Gaeric watches it go. Calling, "I'll be back soon!" And walking off to check on everyone, tucking the rough-hewn froslass he had been working on into the folds of his tunic.

[crestfallencrest]

Bravus Vesperia Magica (Ch. 4)

(Basically a Magical Person AU origin story!) Read here on Ao3 [x] (Notes at the end) Read Chapter 1 here! [x] Read Previous Chapter here! [x] Word Count: 20,964 Hiya! I'm back from vacation! And I got a BIG chapter (this was not on purpose i am so sorry). Introducing a bunch of names in this chapter so some notes on a few of them! Niren, Hisca and Chastel - obviously from the First Strike movie. I don't think it's REQUIRED for you to watch the movie but hey, it might help a bit <3 And is good movie! Liam, on the other hand, is an entirely made up character. Also I borrowed some of the Symphonia cast and one from the Abyss cast. (Also this chapter jumps between Yuri and Karol POV)

Chapter 4: A Coward's Test

“What’s the matter with you?” 

Yuri’s hard gaze tears itself away from the window of his classroom, breaking from his thoughts as he turns his head towards the source of the voice. Amber eyes stared back at him, as one of his classmates stood over him, arms crossed over her chest and eyes narrowed suspiciously through her red bangs that rested just above her eyes. 

Yuri takes a moment to examine her closely. “Ah, Chastel.” “Guess again.” The girl’s hands drop to her hips as her nose twists in irritation. 

Yuri keeps his lazy expression though a small grin begins to stretch across his face. “Nah, I don’t think I will.” He drawled. “Maybe if you and your sister wore your hair in different ways, I wouldn’t get so confused.”

“It’s not my fault that you’re too blind to notice the differences!” 

“Sure, sure, whatever you say, Twin Number 2.”

The twins, Hisca and Chastel: Yuri had somehow had the displeasure of being stuck in their class since middle school. For a while, the two of them tended to hang out with him and Flynn, with Chastel, the younger twin, constantly fretting over the blonde while Hisca, the older twin, constantly nagged Yuri’s ear off. Yuri had to admit though: It was pretty impressive meeting someone who nagged more than Flynn.

“You’re so infuriating.” Hisca growled out but began to pull out a chair next to his desk anyway, despite her irritation. “What’s going on with you? You’ve been angry all morning. Did you get into a fight again?” 

Yuri rolls his eyes, once again propping his face onto his right hand and moving to stare at the window. “No.”

“Well, the bandages beg to differ.” He feels Hisca reach out to tap at his bandaged cheeks and he flinches back with a tiny hiss. She quietly withdraws her hand. “Sorry, but this wouldn’t happen if you weren’t fighting all of the time!” 

Yuri clicks his tongue but doesn’t respond. 

“Don’t click your tongue at me!” 

“Well, I don’t know why you’re asking me such stupid questions.” Yuri drops his hand onto his desk again in frustration. “You seem pretty good at guessing what happened so why are you bugging me about it?”

“Because I’m trying to get the full story, you jerk!” Hisca slammed her hand on the desk. “Liam and his goons are talking about how you came out of nowhere and beat them up for no reason yesterday and people are talking about you now. I thought it was nothing but a lie but seeing the bandages…”

Psch, of course they were. It didn’t help that Yuri was already building one hell of a reputation with his fighting. But of course those guys were trying to make themselves seem like the good guys. He was certain that Flynn had a hard enough time dealing with that. In truth, the fight was no one’s business. Flynn couldn’t necessarily correct the rumors because then he would just look like he was taking someone’s side. 

…The fact that Yuri was just given three days of detention during lunch instead of straight up being suspended was already stabbing holes into Flynn’s credibility as the student council president. Correcting the rumors would simply be a death sentence. 

“So, what do you think?” Yuri raises an eyebrow at the twin. “Think I jumped them?”

Hisca considers it for a moment, finger to her chin. “...No, I don’t think so. Not unless they were doing something they shouldn’t be doing.” 

Yuri just lets out a hum to show that he was listening. 

“So… they managed to get a few hits on you then?” 

“No. I got jumped by a crazy maniac with a knife on my way home yesterday.” 

Hisca lets out an amused snort only to stop when she notices the hard and serious look on his face. 

“Oh my god, you’re serious?” 

“Wish I wasn’t.” Yuri’s irritation slowly fades as he slumps down into his chair. “Before you start freaking out, I’m fine.”

Hisca stays quiet for a moment, eyes scanning his cheeks and then moving down to his hand. If she was unsatisfied with what she saw, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she props her elbows onto Yuri’s desk as she leans closer. “I knew that Liam’s story was fishy when he started taking credit for your injuries. The guy has never thrown a punch properly in his life. So what happened? And don’t lie this time.” 

Yuri considers it for a moment. Despite Hisca’s nagging, she never seemed to come off as an untrustworthy person. If anything, she was just way too annoying, loud and loved to hover and criticize him at every given moment. Which made him realize pretty quickly that he was likely not going to be able to leave this classroom until he gave her what she wanted. 

“Ugggh, fine.” Yuri throws his head back in annoyance. “Here’s the short version: The jackasses were feeling up on Estelle, the new girl, and they were kicking around a dog too–”

“Oh, the one you were taking care of?” 

Yuri stopped and stared at her like she had just grown two heads, earning the tiniest of shrugs in response.

“Chastel told me…” 

“And how the hell did she know?!” Yuri exclaims, completely baffled. Was this Flynn’s fault? Oh, he would bet money on it.

“I don’t know.” Hisca shrugs again, waving her hand at Yuri, signaling him to continue. “Keep talking.”

“You both suck.” Yuri’s eyes narrow as he continues the story. “So they were kicking around Repede and feeling up on Estelle so I decided to take care of it. So, sure. You could technically say I jumped them. But they started it.”

Hisca nods, understandingly. “So, that’s why you’ve been so huffy all day?”  

A small growl leaves Yuri’s lips before he can even stop it. “No. I’m pissed off that I was called to the principal’s office and was told that instead of being suspended for starting a fight, I would only get three days of detention. Which means that Flynn likely had a hand in this somewhere.” 

Hisca immediately slaps her hand against her forehead in disbelief. “You’re mad because Flynn got you out of trouble?!” She exclaims and… yeah, when she says it like that, it sounds stupid.

But it wasn’t. Not really. He was a known troublemaker and he was also known as Flynn’s childhood friend. Everyone in the school seemed to know this and if you didn’t, then it wouldn’t be long until you did. Flynn, to his credit, did everything he could to treat Yuri as equally as the other students. Hell, if anything, Flynn was a lot tougher on Yuri than others. But despite it all, rumors still flooded the halls of the school. People, mostly those with malicious intent towards Yuri or Flynn or both, would whisper constantly about how the only reason Yuri hadn’t been expelled yet was because of Flynn.

And on some days, Yuri felt as if they were right. Today was one of those days. 

“I want you to repeat that sentence to yourself, but slower. Sound it out if you have to.” Yuri’s words come out sarcastically as he folds his arms behind his head, leans back into his seat and kicks his feet up onto the desk. “He shouldn’t be getting me out of trouble.” 

“But those guys started it! You were just protecting another student!” 

“Yeah, and even if the principal understands that, you really think the other students will?” Yuri closes his eyes with a tired sigh. “Especially with the stories that Liam has been spreading?” 

Hisca half-heartedly swats at Yuri’s feet to shoo them off of the desk. “So go and set the story straight.” 

“Find me someone who will listen and maybe.” A chuckle leaves Yuri’s lips as he peeks an eye open at her. “Until then, I want Flynn to stay out of my business.” 

“Ugh, you’re just so impossible. You and Flynn.” 

The silence settles between them and Yuri chalks the conversation up to a close. He pulls his feet back to the ground and moves to stand, grabbing his bag along the way. “Okay, speaking of detention, I should probably head that way. See ya around.” 

As he moves past the girl, he does feel her reach out and tug back on his sleeve, grabbing his attention. When he looks back to her, eyebrow raised questioningly, she’s looking down into her lap cheeks a slight tint of red from embarrassment. 

“Hey, for what it’s worth, I’ll listen. Chastel will as well. And I know a few handful of others who will as well. So don’t act like it’s you against the whole school, okay?” 

The sentiment was nice and he really did appreciate it. Truly, he did. But he and she both knew that he was not the type to run to others with his problems. Not when they had other things to worry about. Regardless, he gives her a tiny nod as he gently pulls out of her grasp and heads towards the door. 

“...Yeah. Okay.” 

---

He had been making his way towards the room for detention, ignoring the way that eyes would stare him down as he passed while choosing not to pay any attention to how people pointed out his bandaged cheeks. They whispered, they pointed, they judged and Yuri chose to turn a blind eye to all of it. He was, admittedly, surprised that the guys from yesterday were popular enough to cause so much gossip. He barely even recognized them, after all. Well, it showed what he knew regarding the social ladder of the school. Regardless, he would, again, choose to just forget about it. At least, he would attempt to until he heard her voice call out from around the corner.

“I demand that you correct these silly rumors at ONCE!” 

Oh no. She wouldn’t.

Yuri’s uncaring attitude about the situation suddenly took a turn as he hurried to the corner and poked his head out, and sure enough, his fears became a reality. There he spotted Estelle, having Liam and two of his goons from yesterday ‘cornered’ (They were simply just leaning against the wall while Estelle stood before them with her hands on her hips) as she glared at them with the ferocity of a small and angry puppy. 

‘No offense, Repede.’ Yuri commented to himself, thinking back to the small pup that he had left back at his apartment on the way to school with Flynn today. 

As Yuri peered around the corner at them, he tried not to take too much pride in how much the three boys were all bandaged up and he was sure he saw the gap in Liam’s teeth from where he had lost the tooth. 

As Estelle stood tall against Liam, the boy snickers to himself as he sported that same sleazy look from yesterday. “You really want to come back for more, princess?” His voice is light and teasing, and just so slimy and disgusting. “I figured you would have had more brains than to show yourself to us again.”

Yuri takes a quick glance around and, of course, there didn’t seem to be anybody else nearby. Why would he ever be that lucky?

“You know, your boyfriend isn’t here to bail you out this time.” 

“Yeah, for real.” The two lackeys (because what more could they possibly be?) glance at each other with large grins. “You know, you shouldn’t hang around someone so violent, miss. We’re so much nicer.” 

Oh, Yuri was about to show them violence. He glances at Estelle and while he can’t see her face, he notices that her hand is shaking in anger. He notices a twitch of her hand and he briefly wonders if she were about to slap one of them. That… would not end well for her at all. Was he going to have to step in again?

“Yeah, you should definitely play nice with us. Lowell will likely be kicked out of school before the end of the year and after that, things will be very different around here, I promise–”

As Yuri steps out from around the corner, a hand suddenly grabs hard onto his shoulder and yanks him back with such ferocity that he finds himself getting thrown onto his ass on the floor. Looking up from his spot on the floor, all he sees is a glimpse of brown hair and a girl’s uniform as whoever it was turns the corner with quick and angry stomps. 

All Yuri can hear is the loud clap that he can only assume was someone’s fist connecting with someone’s face, followed by the sound of someone falling to the floor with a loud and pained groan. He jumps to his feet in an instant and peers back around the corner as he takes in the scene. 

The new arrival was a young girl who was a few inches shorter than Estelle with short and messy brown hair. She stood confidently above Liam, who was now on the floor holding his cheek while his two lackeys flocked to him to help him to his feet. Estelle quickly took a step back, hands flying over her mouth as she looked between the girl and the three guys. Judging by their angry expressions, Yuri was becoming more certain that a fight was about to break out. 

“Will you three just shut the hell up?!” She growls out and when she takes another step forward, Yuri nearly laughs with lackey #2 flinches back. “I have heard NOTHING but the dumb shit that you’ve been talking about all freaking day and I’m SICK of it!” 

“And who the hell are you supposed to be?”

“Wait, aren’t you that Mordio girl? You’re just an underclassmen! You can’t treat an upperclassman like that!!”

Mordio took another step forward and this time, Lackey #1 stepped back. “I said SHUT UP! You’re literally so annoying! I can’t even go to the library without hearing about how you three got your butts kicked! For someone who tries to act all tough, you would think that you would get embarrassed about sharing a story about how you got your sorry tails handed to you. Who brags about losing a fight?!”

Okay, this Mordio girl had a very good point. 

Liam pushes himself off of his little buddy followers and makes a step towards Mordio, shooting her a dangerous glare and for a split moment, Yuri is back on guard, ready to step in. “I’m already getting really sick of your mouth, Little Girl. This conversation had nothing to do with you so stop butt–” 

“I’m getting sick of you! ”Mordio put an end to his little macho speech by delivering a kick to somewhere that made Yuri flinch back in a bit of sympathy pain. When Liam once again drops to his knees, both hands shooting to cover his crotch in pain, Mordio quickly snatches Estelle by the arm and begins to hurry away with the taller girl in tow. Estelle has a moment of panic as she looks back to the assaulted leader and his friends. “Uh– Wait–” 

Mordio either doesn’t hear Estelle or chooses to ignore her protests as she hurries past the hallway that Yuri was currently standing in. Yuri was unsure the two noticed him at all as they quickly made their way down the stairs to the floor below. The two boys that remained quickly left Liam on the floor and moved to pursue and that's when Yuri decided to step in. As he stepped around the corner, he shot his hands out and grabbed the two guys by their shoulders and spun them around away from the staircase. 

“Hey there.” He greets with a grin as he slides his arms over both of their shoulders. “Fancy meeting you guys here. Were you on your way to detention too?” 

He takes a little bit too much pleasure in watching how both boys freeze and pale upon getting caught by Yuri. And when Yuri tells them to help their friend up and get him to the nurses office, they thankfully have the brain to do so without complaint. 

At some point, Yuri makes sure to send a quick text over to Estelle when he can. Whoever Mordio was, he was pretty sure she didn’t intend on harming Estelle, since she went out of her way to get her out of the situation. But it still didn’t hurt to check in. 

---

Karol really hated when his friends started going off about ghost stories at the lunch table. 

It wasn’t like he was scared or anything! And even if he was scared, who could really blame him?! He’s heard so many stories of teenagers that were a good five years older than him running out of the Quoi Woods, screaming in terror. He’s heard adults talk about how they avoid the forest in the park like the plague. He’s heard stories of eerie red lights, evil monsters lurking in the shadows, people disappearing, curses… he’s heard them all! How could anyone blame him for being wary?

And yet, here they were, speaking about the Quoi Woods for the third day in a row. He wasn’t entirely sure why Anise, a girl only one year older than Karol with black hair pulled up into pigtails, was so hyper focused on the forest lately. She babbled on and on about the rumors of the forest with an evil grin on her face as she scanned the table for reactions. Nan sat beside Karol, digging at her food with her fork as she listens carefully to Anise’s words and Karol is momentarily baffled because Did Nan actually like stories like this? !

“...and then I heard that a teenager over at Zaphias High saw a giant monster-like creature in the forest!” Anise clutches to her little stuffed toy (which was creepy enough without all of the ghost tales) with a wide grin. 

A low hum of boredom is from across the table and Karol and Nan both glance over to a boy with white and messy hair pick at his lunch in disgust. One glance at the lunch box told Karol everything he needed to know. Genis, one of his classmates (and a genius at that), was known for being a wonderful cook, to the point where he ended up making his own lunches. Unfortunately, it did not stop his older sister, a professor who taught over at the same high school Anise mentioned, from trying to make his lunches for him. Karol didn’t want to know how she had managed to sneak the food into his lunchbox like she did. 

“My sister heard about that story and said it was only a bear or something.” Genis eventually gives up and moves to close his lunch box.

“Yeah, but I also heard that the police are starting to look into it!” 

Karol frowns, pursing his lips. “Maybe… they’re just tired of all the rumors so they’re going to confirm that there’s nothing there.”

“Yeah, or maybe there’s a rabid wolf or something and they’re going to go put it down.” Genis rolls his eyes. “I highly doubt it’s a monster, Anise.” 

Anise shoots both boys a glare as she slams her doll onto the table. “If it were just a rabid wolf, people wouldn’t be making it such a big deal.” She pouts before looking at Nan with a smile. “Nan believes me, don’t you, Nan?”

Nan takes a moment, trying to consider it as she glances at Karol. “Maybe there is a monster.” She finally decides, putting a finger to her chin. “All the more reason to stay out of the forest, right?” 

“I wasn’t planning on going into the forest in the first place. You’d have to be an idiot to go into the forest, especially at night.” Genis shrugs lightly, earning a frown from Karol.

“Didn’t your best friend go into the forest at night?”

Genis stares dead at him. “I rest my case. But he didn’t see anything.” 

Karol nods lightly. “I… don’t think there’s a monster in the woods or anything. I think people are just seeing things or seeing bears or something.”

There’s a long silence that stretches over the table and Karol figures that that must be the end of the conversation, so he picks up his fork and decides to go back to eating his lunch. There was a moment of relief as the conversation seemed to die down but that relief lasted only a moment before he noticed that Anise was staring at him with narrowed eyes and an evil grin. 

“Why don’t you go prove it then?” 

The clatter of a fork dropping on the table is barely heard over the bustle of the crowded lunchroom though it wasn’t Karol’s fork that fell from his hands. Looking over, he sees Nan very quickly snatch the utensil back into her hands as she narrows her eyes at Anise, quietly. Karol, however, turns pale as he looks back to Anise.

“How would I prove that?!”

“You’ve gone camping before, right?” Anise pulls her doll back into her hands and grins proudly. 

“N-No, I haven’t!” Karol clutches his fork in hand fist as he looks helplessly between Genis and Nan. “What would camping in the woods prove?!”

Anise hums playfully as she holds up one finger as she counts her reason, adding a finger to every reason she lists. “It’ll prove that there’s no monster in the woods, like you claim, it’ll prove that you actually can go out and do something interesting for once and it’ll prove that you’re not just a scaredy cat!”

Okay, the last two were just mean…

“I’m not a scaredy cat!” Karol argues, leaning back in his seat as Anise leaned in closer. “I just think there are better ways to spend my time!” 

“What, like hanging out with your babysitter? ” 

“That’s… he’s not–”

“Don’t you dare try and say he’s not your babysitter!”

“He’s not!” Karol’s eyes narrow, tone coming out more sharper than he meant to but he leans forward regardless. “He’s my friend! He’s not just some babysitter!”

Anise cackles at that. “He’s literally getting paid to hang out with you. Why else would a guy in high school hang out with some weird kid in middle school?” 

“Genis’ best friend is sixteen!” Karol argues, unsure of what the difference is.

“Yeah but Genis isn’t as clingy as you are. You can’t do anything by yourself. I bet your babysitter thinks that as well.”

Genis frowns, looking between Karol and Anise before letting his eyes settle on Nan, who seems to be clutching her fork tightly as she stares over at Karol, waiting for his response. Karol’s mouth opens to reply but his voice dies in his throat as his shoulders suddenly slump.

He knew Anise was wrong. He knew that Yuri didn’t think that way. Despite his foul mouth and passive attitude, Yuri was a good person. That was clear as day to anyone who spent more than two days around him. He wasn’t just watching over Karol for the paycheck, he knew this. He stepped in because he saw a young kid staying home alone due to overworking parents and wanted to do something about it.

That’s where his doubts came in. 

He knew Yuri wasn’t in it for the money. But was it really because they were friends? Or did Yuri just see a kid left all alone and decide to take on the responsibility of taking care of him, despite his personal feelings on the matter? He remembered how tired Yuri had been lately too. He tried so hard to hide it last night but Karol noticed how Yuri was a shade paler than normal and how his legs shook when he wandered into the house. 

He shouldn’t have even been there. But because Karol had sent out that text complaining about Flynn’s cooking, he threw everything out the window, went and grabbed some pizza with his own hard earned money and made it way over to his house. Karol wished he had never sent that text. Yuri had been so exhausted, it was plain as day. So exhausted that he had apparently passed out on the couch not long after he, himself, had been put to bed. 

He had stirred awake upon hearing a quiet curse as something thumped against the wall. Karol had jumped out of bed and hurried towards the door, cracking it open just wide enough to see Flynn stumble back from the corner of the hallway, favoring his left foot as he did so. In his arms, held so closely, was the sleeping form of his caretaker, dead asleep even as Flynn stubbed his toe against the corner of the room.  Flynn bit his lip tightly as he fought through the pain of an injured toe when he looked up and spotted the brown eyes staring at him from the doorway. The pain is barely there still but he still offered Karol a tiny smile as he began to maneuver his way through the hall, towards the guest room where Yuri tended to stay. Karol, without much thought, moved to follow. He peeked into the room just in time to see Flynn gently place the sleeping man onto the bed, moving to pull the blankets over him. Yuri, normally a pretty light sleeper, didn’t move an inch. As Flynn drew the curtains closed and moved to step out of the room, switching off the light as he did so, he looked back at Karol and held a finger to his lips.  As they both backed out of the room, Flynn shut the door gently behind him and then placed a hand on Karol's back, quietly leading him away from the door. “Now what are you doing up?” He whispered, curiously. “I heard you kick my wall…” Karol admitted, eyes darting over to the entryway of the hall, particularly at the corner that nearly took Flynn out. “I wanted to make sure no one was hurt. You’re not hurt, are you?”  “I’ve definitely had worse bruises, no worries. You should get back to sleep though. It’s getting late…”  Karol nodded quietly but then found his gaze drifting towards Yuri’s door. Worry began to settle in his stomach again. “Is… Yuri okay?” After hearing a tiny questioning sound from Flynn, he clarifies. “You know… despite everything with the guy with the knife. He seemed distracted tonight, didn’t he?” He takes notice of how Flynn’s face slowly falls from his caring gaze to something more withdrawn and sad as his eyes trail over to Yuri’s door as well. “Yuri is just… tired.” He stated, quietly. “He’ll be alright though.” “Tired from what?”  “Well…” Flynn turned back to Karol, lips pursed in thought. “He’s just got a lot on his plate, I suppose. Though he’d sooner die than admit it.” Yeah, that sounded like Yuri, alright.  “Is there anything I can do to help?” The question hung in the air as he stared hopefully up at Flynn.  Flynn is, of course, a bit surprised by Karol’s willingness to help but he just as quickly gives Karol a tiny smile that Karol knows all too well. Don’t worry yourself over this. “I think your flowers helped Yuri more than you think.” Flynn explains carefully, moving to guide Karol back to his room. “Lilies are special to Yuri, so it was a thoughtful gesture that I’m sure he won’t forget.” Karol can’t help but feel slight defeat as he’s led back to his room. “It seemed like they just made him more tired than happy.”  “It’s… complicated. But I promise you, he does love them.” Flynn watches as Karol climbs back into bed and offers him a comforting smile. “So don’t worry yourself over Yuri. I’m hoping that I can convince him to share part of the load he’s carrying with me so he won’t work himself to death.” Karol wasn’t too sure of that. From what Yuri said when talking about Flynn, Flynn was just as much of a workaholic as Yuri was. So the idea of Yuri willingly letting Flynn help him out when he had just as much work to worry about was close to zero. But instead of speaking his concerns to Flynn and insisting that he could also help, he just quietly nods instead, letting the topic drop.  “If you need anything, come let me know, alright? I’ll be in the living room.”  Karol nodded again, face blank as he moved to lay down. He hears Flynn leave the door open, just a crack, leaving Karol alone to deal with complicated feelings of guilt and uselessness. 

Karol swallows hard as he clenches his fists tightly. “I can take care of myself! I don’t need Yuri!” He argues, feeling a flash of anger rush through him. “And… And I’ll prove it!”

From the way Anise’s grin grew, Karol knew she had technically won the argument but he couldn’t care less about what she thought. He had to prove that he could take care of himself just fine. That Yuri didn’t need to stress himself to death just to take care of him. He would prove it. 

Genis gives Karol a quick look of disbelief while Nan stares at Karol with her mouth open and eyes wide with shock. “Karol–”

“You’re gonna prove it?” Anise is clearly over the moon with this information. “Gonna prove that you’re not a coward? You know, people aren’t into cowards, Karol.” 

Karol sees the way her eyes dart over to Nan and the anger intensifies, along with a warmth that spreads over his cheeks. “I’m not a coward! I can take care of myself so– So…. So I’ll camp out in the Quoi Woods this weekend! By myself! And then you’ll see that I can handle myself, that I’m not some scaredy cat afraid of ghost stories and that there are no monsters in the woods, either!” 

As Genis mutters a quiet “I dunno if this is a good idea…”, everyone’s words die in their mouths as Nan suddenly stands up, slamming her hands onto the table. Her face is red with anger as she clenches her hands into fists as she looks between Anise and Karol. Karol had a sinking suspicion that he was about to get yelled at for something.

But as Nan stood there, mouth opening like she was about to start yelling, her eyes trail over to Karol’s and she stares dead into his face for a few seconds. Karol can’t help but shrink back slightly because he knew that look all too well. He had done something wrong. Eventually, though, she moves away from her seat. 

“You’re so stupid, Karol.” She says simply before storming out of the cafeteria.

“Wha– Nan!” Karol moves to climb to his feet while Anise lets out a giggle. 

“Maybe Nan thinks that you’re not brave enough for it.” Anise thinks aloud before moving to close her lunch box and her doll, moving to stand up. “When you go camping, be sure to take a picture~! Or else no one will believe you~!” 

And with that, she stepped away from the table, skipping happily out the door, leaving Genis and Karol behind. They both look to each other in silence before Genis moves to get up as well. “Hey, remember earlier when I said that you had to be stupid to spend the night in the woods?” 

“...Yeah?”

“My opinion has not changed.” He states simply as he moves to leave as well, leaving Karol behind to contemplate his sudden life choices. 

---

[Yuri: hey u alright? just witnessed a onesided beat down between liam and some angry gremlin child and then i saw u gettin kidnapped u good?] 

Estelle had not texted him back since his message earlier that day. Which was all well and good since they confiscated his phone for the duration of detention. But even after it was given back to him, he still hadn’t received a response. Still, he wasn’t one to worry too much about it. Estelle was nice and sweet but she came off as a bit of a space case so maybe she had just forgotten to respond. No big deal. 

He started getting a little curious though when Estelle had come back to class, all smiles as she wandered back over to her desk without a word. The normally attentive girl was lost in thought all throughout the class and Yuri could not stop his curious nature from taking over as he pulled out his phone to try and send a quick text to Estelle, wanting to follow up on what she seemed so giddy about. 

He just as quickly shoves his phone into his pocket when a chalkboard eraser is thrown in his direction from the front of the room by their history professor. This earns a few chuckles from the classroom, though the professor's behavior was nothing new for her. Thankfully, it's new enough to Estelle that it’s just enough to snap her back to attention as she looks back at Yuri with wide eyes. 

“Were you aiming at my hands or were you aiming for my head?” Yuri leans down to pick the eraser up as the professor wanders over, pushing her white bangs from her face as she takes it from his hand. 

“For your hands.” She answers, a tiny smirk on her face before replacing it with a stern expression. “No phones in my class. I’ll take it away next time.”

“Your aim is getting better.” Yuri simply comments before holding up his hands in defeat. “No phone, got it.” 

Thankfully, Professor Sage was one of the few teachers he could somewhat tolerate but she was also one of the strictest. Yuri was not too interested in giving her a hard time so he never tried to fight her authority or snark at her… too much. Seeming to accept his response for now, she takes her eraser and returns to the front of the room and resumes her lessons. 

Yuri took one glance towards Estelle and Flynn, both sitting within the vicinity of each other and was not at all surprised to still see them staring over at him. Estelle, seemingly surprised that the professor’s way of regaining attention is via the use of throwable objects, quickly turns back in her seat and straightens up. Flynn’s gaze lingers a bit longer, eyebrows narrowed and mouth closed tight. 

If Yuri still wasn’t so mad at Flynn, he would have laughed at his face, eyes widening in annoyance and mouth puffing out with a huff, when Yuri responded by sticking his tongue out at the boy.

---

Estelle’s reply never came, though that would be because she was up and out of her seat seconds after class ended as she made her way over to Yuri’s desk in record time. She nearly ran into another student on her way, causing Yuri to have to hide his amused grin behind his hand as she quickly apologized and continued her pace to Yuri’s desk.

“Yuri! Hello!” She greets, pressing her hands together in front of her as she offers a quick little bow. “How are you feeling?” 

Turning in his chair to face her, Yuri leans back into his chair with a casual grin. “Feeling a lot better, thanks!” 

Truthfully, his hand still burned a lot. Holding a pencil was also a pretty tough task at the moment. He had some use in his right hand but with his left hand being more dominant, his word speed had slowed down considerably and his handwriting had gotten a bit sloppy. Most of the teachers didn’t seem to care too much, and if they did, they didn’t mention it. The only one to make any type of comment was Ragou, who made a muttered comment about his handwriting being illegible. Yuri didn’t care enough to make it into a big deal. If it wasn’t his handwriting, he was sure that Ragou would have found something wrong regardless.

“I’m glad it’s doing better! I’m sure it’s sore but so long as you keep it clean and change your bandaging regularly, it should heal up in no time.” Estelle smiles brightly and Yuri can’t help but notice how contagious her energy was. “So… um… Yuri, if you’re not busy at the moment, do you think you could stop by my locker real quick? I have something I’d like to give you.”

The way Estelle glances back towards the door of the classroom tells Yuri that it’s not just a simple gift that she intends on giving. (When he follows her gaze, he does notice that Flynn and both of the twins are staring hard at them and they were not being subtle about it. When Yuri meets Flynn’s eyes, Yuri huffs and looks away.) “I have to leave pretty soon to go pick up Karol and then stop by my apartment to repatch back up before heading to work but I should have a few minutes to spare.”

“Oh, right! Of course!” Estelle nods quickly and reaches over to grab his right hand, pulling him out of his chair. “Come this way then, please!” 

“Yeah, yeah, take it easy. I’m not gonna run away.” 

As Estelle pulls him out of the room, they both nearly slam into someone attempting to enter the classroom. A young girl with short and light brown hair that was adorned with a small braid in the front and whose purple eyes were stern and unamused in a way that filled Yuri with annoyance and dread, staggers back as she drops her books onto the floor from Estelle’s impact. Estelle squeaks and quickly scrambles down onto her knees and begins to scoop up the books. 

“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry–” 

The girl quickly drops down as well, hands reaching out to gather her now-scattered papers. “No, it’s quite alright…” She mutters as she quickly stacks them all together. 

A familiar presence approaches Yuri from the side and he’s once again left wondering when he had started sensing Flynn by presence alone. “Sodia, are you alright?” He asks, gently moving around Yuri and Estelle to help the girl, the school’s very own vice president, back up to her feet. 

“Flynn.” She greets him with a tiny smile and accepts the hand up. “Yes, I’m alright, I–” She pauses when her eyes meet Yuri’s and the smile is gone instantly. 

“ You. ” Her tone is, as always, so full of disdain as her lips curl up in disgust. “Why don’t you watch where you’re going, Lowell?” 

Here we go…

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Yuri shoots a very annoyed glance towards Flynn as if silently asking the man to call his easily aggroed dog off. Instead, all he sees is the tiniest and pleading glance that asks Yuri to ‘please play nice’ as if he were the one who started swinging right out the gate. Yuri honestly couldn’t give a rat’s ass about Sodia and what she did with her time but the fact that she would constantly belittle Yuri at every turn and look down on him as if he were the scum of the Earth was annoying at best. Even when he tried to act civil, it was to no avail, so he stopped trying. 

Estelle was already in the process of babbling out another apology, trying to point out that she was the reason Sodia had fallen but of course, her eyes were still trained on Yuri suspiciously. 

“I like to think that I have a pretty good eye on my surroundings.” Yuri just shrugs as he moves to slip by the angry woman as he scratches at his left side. When he receives a look of doubt from Flynn, blue eyes lingering on his hand and cheeks, Yuri can’t help but roll his eyes. “On most days, that is.” 

He doesn’t wait for a reply before he’s snatching up Estelle’s hand and tugs her back again. “C’mon Estelle, let’s go before someone’s guard dog starts barking at me.” 

There’s a moment where Flynn’s eyes dart down to Yuri’s hand grabbing Estelle’s but his attention is snatched back to the matter at hand when Sodia bristles up. “Dog?!” She exclaims, stepping forward as if she were going to take matters into her own hands.

“Yuri, you can’t say that to her–” Flynn also tries to argue but Yuri has already turned away and is leading the pink haired girl away from the problem.

“Sorry, super busy!” He calls back, casually reaching a hand to scratch at the left side of his waist, feeling a weird itch appear on his skin. “Later!” 

“I-I am very sorry!” Estelle calls back as well, letting herself get dragged away. 

Thankfully the two do not make a move to follow. Good. He was not in the mood to deal with Sodia today and his frustrations with Flynn were still as strong as they were this morning.

As he and Estelle walk through the halls, Yuri does eventually release her hand as he shoves his hands into his pockets. He slows his pace enough to walk beside her as she stares up at him with a hint of concern on her face. 

“I’m sorry for getting you into trouble again.” 

Yuri shrugs and smirks. “Nah, don’t worry about it. Sodia is like the president of the “Yuri Hate Club” so she would have found some reason to get mad at me. You just gave her an excuse, is all.”

“She… hates you? How come?” 

“Same reason why a bunch of randos hate me. I’m a troublemaker and an embarrassment to the school or something. Blah, blah.” As he explains, Estelle’s face drops and her eyes widen as if someone had just spit at her. “Specifically for Sodia though, she thinks all of those things AND she thinks I’m just a horrid influence on Flynn.” 

Estelle’s mouth falls open. “But why would she think that?! I’ve only known you for a short couple of days but I can see, clear as day, that you are genuinely a nice person with the best intentions and–”

Yuri’s scoff cuts her off. “Best intentions doesn’t always excuse the actions. But I do what needs to be done. But she does have a point. I am a pretty bad influence on Flynn.”

“Why would you say that?!”

“Because it’s true?” Yuri notices that the girl was beginning to get upset, judging by the frown turning into a disappointed ‘mom’ glare, so he reaches over and rests a hand on her shoulder as he begins to explain himself. “Estelle, I got into a fight yesterday. I should have gotten suspended for it. We all should have. But we didn’t. Flynn likely had a hand in it and that’s why my ‘sentence’ was decreased to just detention. Flynn shouldn’t be doing stuff like that. I chose to fight so I had to accept the consequences for it. So long as the other guys got punished too, I didn’t really care. But because my sentence was decreased, theirs was too and they didn’t learn. You saw that earlier today, didn’t you?”

“You saw…?” For a moment, Estelle’s face turns a slight tinge of pink. 

“Yep. Saw the whole thing. I was ready to jump in again but then that girl jumped in instead and went berserk on their asses.” Yuri snickers a bit. “She literally pushed me to the ground so she could step in. It was scary. But, Estelle, you shouldn’t go picking fights like that. Those guys are merciless.”

“It’s just… they were spreading such awful rumors about you and it was because of me and–” Estelle’s lip quivers and Yuri has a moment of sheer panic because he really did not want to make Estelle cry but then she’s shoving herself into his space, that same look of sheer determination appearing on her features. “No, Yuri! It wasn’t Flynn’s fault!”

“Huh?” Yuri pauses midstep, eyes widening slightly as Estelle steps around him and glares up at him, fists clenched in front of her chest. “What do you mean? I know the teachers weren’t lenient for the sake of leniency. Someone had to have had a hand in–” 

Oh. Oh.  

The culprit was standing in front of him. 

Oh, fuck , he probably had to apologize to Flynn, didn’t he?

Fuck.

“Estelle.” He lets out a deep breath and quickly has to run a hand down his face to steady himself. “You… You’re the reason? How did you even–” A sigh escapes him as he turns to stare Estelle in the eyes. “You realize that by getting my punishment reduced, you got everyone’s punishment reduced. You realize that those guys aren’t gonna stop harassing you and others now. You realize that, right?” 

To her credit, Estelle does look slightly ashamed of herself but only a little. Her resolve, however, seemed to be much MUCH stronger than her shame, however. “Yes, I realized that. Which is why I stepped up today and tried to talk with them. I decided to handle my problem on my own and get them to stop without having to bother you with it.”

“And how did that work out for you?”

“...Bad. It worked out bad.” Estelle’s shoulders suddenly slump as she turns and continues to slowly lead the way to her locker. 

“Yeah, it worked out very bad. It was almost a repeat of the whole scenario and then we all would have gotten punished. You included, for starting the whole altercation.” Yuri explains as he quickly moves to walk alongside her. “I’m not going to tell you what to do but my suggestion? Leave it alone. I’m a big boy. I can handle it.”

“Mm… Maybe it’s for the best. After all, I keep involving people who shouldn’t be involved.” 

“Exactly.” Yuri smirks a bit. “I think those guys learned their lesson though, because of your friend. Who was she anyway? I thought I heard the name Mordio…” 

The frown on Estelle’s face changes and Yuri immediately catches the way that her hands join together as she fiddles her thumbs. Her frown changes into the tiniest of smiles as her eyes dart over to Yuri and then back down to her feet. “Oh… Yes! Well… that’s not– I mean, it is her name– It’s… her last name.” She giggles quietly to herself. “Her name is Rita Mordio.” 

“Rita Mordio, huh?” Yuri smirks a bit, letting the name run through his brain for a moment. It rang a bell, that’s for sure. “Wait, isn’t she like… a year under us? People say she’s like a super-genius, right?” 

“Do they?” Estelle blinks, confused. Of course, Estelle was still a new student after all. She’s probably not intune with all of the rumors yet. But she does give off a tiny little smile after a moment. “She seemed very smart so I definitely believe it.” 

“So that was your first time meeting?” 

“Yes, it was. She was so nice, stepping in to save someone without really knowing who they were… She reminded me of you, in a way.” Estelle’s smile is telling as she folds her hands behind her back. “It’s nice to know there are such kind people in the world like you two.”

Estelle was conveniently forgetting the way that Rita had slugged Liam and then promptly connected her foot with the man’s dick while he was down. He would let her have her fantasy. “I’ll have to thank her next time I see her.” Maybe. There was a good chance that she wanted to punch his lights out too. 

“Oh, I’ll be happy to introduce you later!” Estelle chirps, her low mood now suddenly bright and sunny as she smiles happily towards Yuri. “We plan on meeting up again in the library tomorrow. We’re both book lovers, so I asked if I could join her again and she said yes!” As they approach the lockers, Estelle practically hops over, excitement clear on her face. “Maybe we can start a little book club with the three of us! Maybe Flynn too!”

Yuri was not a big book person and he figured that just by looking at him, this would be obvious. Plus, he didn’t really have the time to be joining a bookclub, which was good because he wasn’t sure if he could say no to the hopeful look in Estelle’s eyes otherwise. “I might have to pass. I already have enough on my plate to begin with. You know… part time jobs, saving the world… that kinda thing.” He snickers quietly. 

“Oh. Right.” And then the two of them are laughing to themselves as Estelle moves to open her locker. “Sorry, I got excited. But speaking of ‘saving the world’....” 

She reaches in and brings out a pretty decent sized gift bag and quickly hands it over to Yuri. The bag is plain, just a simple purple coloring with white tissue paper meant for gift bags shoved inside. Yuri tilts his head, taking the bag carefully into his hand. 

“What’s this for?” 

“It’s a welcome gift!” Estellise smiles widely, folding her hands in front of her skirt as Yuri peeks into the bag. “Welcome to Brave Vesperia! I think this will come in handy for when we have to go out and actually get to work.” 

Upon peeking into the bag, Yuri can see a black piece of clothing inside and he takes a moment to look up and down the hall. Crowds of people were huddled through the hallways and thankfully, everyone seemed more involved in their own conversations so their words would go mostly unheard. Knowing this was a gift regarding Brave Vesperia, however, he decided to hold off on opening it for now. “I’ll check it out when I drop by my apartment today before grabbing Karol. I’m guessing it’s an add-on to my costume?” 

Estelle nods eagerly. “I figured it would be best if we tried to hide our identities!” She explains, cheeks turning a bit red as she continues. “I… read in a book that superheroes have to hide their faces or else, things can get complicated. So… So I got something for you that you can put on after you transform. I got a mask for myself, as well!” 

A mask, huh? Yuri couldn’t stop the grin from appearing on his face. “So you went out and read comic books and stuff after finding out we could transform? Think it’ll work?” 

“I… believe so! Yes! I…” Estelle trails off. “Do you think I should have gotten something for Repede? His form changes so drastically, I thought that maybe he wouldn’t need it but… Oh, no, what if he feels left out?!” 

A poorly suppressed chuckle leaves Yuri’s lips. “I don’t think Repede will appreciate a doggy outfit. You’re fine.” He reaches out and pets the girl on the head, trying to comfort her. “I appreciate it, Estelle. I’ll try it on later. I’ll even send pics and you can tell me if it suits me.” 

The way Estelle’s eyes light up is almost breathtaking as she beams at him, clearly pleased with this development. “Oh, please do! I’ll even send you pictures of my mask!” She claps her hands together, gleefully.

“I’m looking forward to it.” Yuri grins. 

As he holds onto the gift bag in his hand, the two talk happily with one another as they move to leave the school together. Yuri is heavily aware of the looks they receive as they leave, side by side, and he can’t help but worry about ruining Estelle’s reputation as well (Not that she had much of one just yet, with her being new) but the way Estelle would smile through it all was… comforting at least. 

As the two go their separate ways after leaving the building, Yuri checks his phone, making sure that there wasn’t a text from Karol yet, letting him know that he was ready to be picked up. Instead, he saw a text from Flynn from just a little bit ago. With guilt settling in his chest, he quietly checks the text with a sigh. 

[Flynn: Yuri, have I done something to upset you?]

He couldn’t help but feel like a brat in that moment but… he really HAD thought that Flynn was behind him only getting a slap on the wrist. He supposed that he could have just confronted the man and asked but with everything going on, he was not really feeling the energy to have yet another confrontation with Flynn. Not only that, but he was having a lot of conflicting feelings about… well… everything from last night and he wasn’t quite recovered from showing even the slightest bit of vulnerability last night. 

But still… he at least owed the man an apology. 

[Yuri: no u haven’t done anything wrong. was just going thru something today. Sorry]

He sends the text quickly as he takes his bag and hurries back to his apartment. On his way there, he received a text from Karol, stating that he was ready to be picked up so he only had limited time to change into his work uniform and check out the new present from Estelle. 

As he slipped into his apartment, he gives a quick greeting to Repede who barks in reply before he’s already unfastening the buttons of the rather large school shirt and quickly slipping out of it. He remembered trying to skip out of school that day due to him lacking another uniform top, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to afford a new one at the moment, when Flynn practically shoved his extra shirt at him this morning, opting to just wear his same shirt from yesterday. The two of them used to be the same size, so Yuri didn’t see much of a problem with it but then when he actually put on the shirt, he suddenly remembered just how much muscle mass Flynn had gotten recently. 

Yuri was once again thinking of Flynn’s newly acquired muscle mass and found himself facing those conflicting feelings again. Considering how his face heated up, he decided not to entertain those thoughts for very long. 

Instead, he tossed the shirt and pants aside before pulling on his work uniform, a long sleeved burgundy button up with black slacks and a black apron tied around his waist. He redid the clip in his hair and made sure raven strands were pulled from his face before pulling his black shoes back on. 

As he finishes getting ready, he does take a quick moment to pour the contents of Estelle’s gift bag onto his bed. Pushing the white tissue paper aside, he’s greeted with black hooded poncho with white accents bordering the edge of the cloth and a small black face mask to match and Yuri couldn’t help but to laugh. Estelle definitely had a color theme in mind when she thought of him, huh? 

This would definitely help, he thinks to himself, as he runs a finger over the soft cloth of the poncho. He would have to be careful with the hood, of course, but he figured that the mask would at least hide his face if the hood were to fall. Of course, if he operated during the night, that’s an entirely different story. 

He does take a quick moment to try the poncho on, mask and all, and thankfully it seems to be a perfect fit. Estelle was kind of good at this, huh? He smiles to himself and takes a quick selfie before sending it her way, right as another text from Flynn appeared. 

[Flynn: You stuck your tongue out at me earlier. Most people would assume they’ve made you mad when you stick your tongue out at them.]

Fair point. After he’s taken the poncho and the mask off and safely stores it in his dresser for now, he takes another selfie for Flynn, making sure to stick his tongue out in this one as well. But this time, he made sure to have at least some kind of smile in the picture. A silent gesture of we’re good. I promise.

Flynn’s reply is instant. 

[Flynn: I see that you’re just being you. Is that your work uniform?]

[Yuri: yep the boss said i have to be somewhat presentable so he shoved me into a suit]

There’s a long pause between Yuri’s reply and Flynn’s next reply. Which is quickly followed by a couple more less collected and obviously flustered texts that nearly had Yuri on the floor, laughing.

[Flynn: You look good.]

[Flynn: Not to say you don’t always look good. You’re very good at wearing clothes.]

[Flynn: That sounded wrong. I meant that you have a good fashion sense.]

Yuri had to take a few minutes to calm down from his laughing fit and even Repede had to walk over to make sure he was good as he struggled to catch his breath. “Flynn, holy shit.” He breathes out, giggles escaping his lips. He didn’t think his uniform would have caused Flynn to spiral into a flustered mess. He knew that he should have left it alone and let Flynn die of embarrassment in peace but he’s never been one to pass up an opportunity like this.

[Yuri: are u saying I don’t look good when im not wearing clothes?]

[Flynn: You’re the worst.]

[Yuri: i guess this means no shirtless pics for flynn :( ]

[Flynn: Some people would just say “Thank you for the compliment” and move on.]

[Yuri: yeah but im not Some People now am i?]

[Flynn: This is true. You’re definitely one of a kind.]

As Yuri reaches down to give Repede a quick pat, who pushes his snout gently against Yuri’s palm, he feels a small smile stretch across his face at Flynn’s words. He wasn’t sure if Flynn meant it as an insult or a compliment but knowing Flynn, it was likely both. Still, it made him feel a bit warm inside of his chest. As he gathers his things, ready to head out with Repede on his heels, he shoots off a quick reply to Flynn before turning his phone on silent. 

[Yuri: youre one of a kind too. talk to u later.]

---

The Sagittarius was more of an unofficial tavern than an actual restaurant, according to Yuri’s fellow coworkers. It had the vibe of one, anyway. The place was rather old, sporting a more rustic style. The wooden walls were rough to the touch and the floors creak when someone walked across them and Yuri couldn’t help but think that the place could use a bit of a makeover. But despite the old and organic look that it had, it was still a rather cozy place. The tables were kept clean and organized and the windows were usually crystal clear and the bar that sat in the front of the store was sturdy and had plenty of room for people who would usually forgo the food in favor of getting a drink instead. 

Selling drinks was normally Raven and Judith’s area of expertise since Yuri wasn’t quite old enough to sell alcohol yet. Legally, that is. So instead, he would focus more on either cooking food for the restaurant portion of the establishment, or waiting and bussing tables. It really just depended on where Raven needed him on that day. It just so happened that today, he was needed as a waiter.

Despite only being at this job for just a couple of weeks, Yuri got the hang of it pretty easily. Of course, it helped that the place was pretty lenient on how one should act. When he was hired on by Raven, the man made it very clear that a lot of the people who came by were regulars and that it paid more to treat them like an old friend rather than a stranger that he should be overly kind to. That was a huge relief for Yuri, who hated the idea of having to be overly accommodating to a bunch of strangers. He was a waiter and a cook, after all. Not a servant. 

Three hours into his first shift, Raven commented that Yuri was built for a job like this. As much as Yuri hated to admit it, he silently agreed. He wasn’t a people’s person. It wasn’t like he was anti-social or anything. He could be plenty social if he were around the right people. But he was often told that he had a sharp tongue and a rough attitude and that had a tendency of throwing people off. 

However, it only served to make him more popular at the Sagittarius. Between the friendly but sharp banter between him and his manager (How Raven managed to score that position, Yuri would never know), the way he and Judith (Another waitress who had been hired about a year ago) hit it off immediately, and the way he jumped to help the rest of the staff when he could (though he would jokingly complain, of course), Yuri became pretty well liked by the staff, as hard as it was to believe. 

Not only that, but he already had regulars that would come in on his shifts just to chat. Some were friendly, like the young couple with their five year old. Some who would come in to mooch off of the free wi-fi for work or school (Yuri always made sure to give anyone studying a free slice of cheesecake as a desert, courtesy of Raven after a lot of convincing). And then some who, Judith pointed out, may or may not have gained quite an attraction to the new cook/waiter. Mostly girls who would come by after school, who would talk to each other in excited hushed whispers every time Yuri walked away. He never noticed until Judith pointed them out. 

Of course, there were some that were more obvious about their crushes. Like, for example, the little blonde haired girl, who was maybe around Karol’s age, that was currently clinging to his arm and staring up at him dreamily as he guided her to her seat.

“Here you go, Patty. Window seat, just like you prefer.” He gestures lightly before using his free arm to carefully peel the girl off of him.

Patty smiles widely as she hops into the chair, grabbing the menu eagerly. “Thank you, Yuri, my beloved!” She sighs happily, blinking her blue eyes up at him. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Yuri rolls his eyes as he pulls out his notepad. “Water to drink?” 

“Yes please! And the Seafood Bowl!” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll see what I can do.” Yuri quickly scribbles it down. “Your family lives by the beach, right? I don’t see how you can work with fish all day long and not get sick of seafood.”

Patty grins widely as her hand slaps her chest, puffing it out proudly. “Ye can’t keep an ocean gal away from what she loves most!”

“So it would seem.” Yuri snorts quietly as he shoves the notepad into the pocket of his apron. “It’ll be a few minutes for the seafood bowl. The water will be out in a sec.” 

“I’ll be waiting!” 

Patty was one of the regulars of the establishment. When she first appeared, he wondered what a child her age was doing wandering into the restaurant all by herself. But apparently, she had been coming to the place since she was small. Er… well… small er. According to Raven, her father would frequent the bar every night after a fishing trip and he would always bring along Patty with him. While he celebrated the catch of the day over a drink, Patty would always be sitting at a nearby table, celebrating with a nice dessert. When Yuri asked what happened to her old man, he simply replied that he wasn’t able to come by anymore and that Patty was just continuing to do what she had always known. 

Yuri got the impression that Raven was respecting Patty’s real life privacy by not discussing what happened with her father. He had some ideas of what was going on but he agreed. It wasn’t any of his business. Besides, Patty seemed like she was getting along just fine. He had only been here a short amount of time but he had never seen Patty without a smile on her face. 

As he got Patty’s water and delivered it over and then put in the order for the cook in the back, he went back to clearing out his tables and getting them ready for the next customer. On his way, his eyes do catch Karol sitting at the end of the bar, scribbling away at his homework for the night with Judith taking any free time she had to assist him with whatever it was he was working on. 

Some days he felt bad about dragging Karol to the restaurant with him. It definitely wasn’t ideal for a ‘normal babysitter’ but Karol usually seemed excited to come to work with him. The young boy seemed to warm up with Raven, Judith and the rest of the staff and even befriended some of the customers as well. At this point, the young boy seemed like an unofficial employee of the Sagittarius, though whenever Raven would try and get Karol to work, Yuri would immediately step in to let him know that if Karol does any work, it’s coming out of Raven’s tip jar. That’s usually enough to shut the old man up. 

“You survivin’ over there, Captain?” Yuri calls out as he passes by the bar, earning both Judith’s and Karol’s attention as he does so. 

Karol tapped his pencil on the counter, anxiously. “Uh… yeah… we’re almost done, I think.” He mutters, eyes glancing down to the floor. 

Judith smiles warmly at Karol before moving to stand up straight as she leans against the bar to look at Yuri. “I decided to take a quick little break to help Karol out, since I know you were busy.” She explains, voice calm as ever. “The poor guy seemed pretty stressed…”

Yuri didn’t need Judith’s superhuman empathy skills to be able to tell that. Ever since Karol had been picked up that day, Yuri could tell that there was something on his mind though he would insist that everything was fine. Had he really been freaking out over some homework? 

One glance at Judith made Yuri realize that there was probably something more to it than that. The way she stared at Yuri, an eyebrow slightly raised, told him that she definitely suspected something and that he probably should too. 

“Stressed, huh?” Yuri moves to rest a hand on his waist. “You got a big test coming up?”

“Oh– uh… yeah, I guess so.” 

“You guess so?” Yuri and Judith both raise an eyebrow at that before Yuri continues to press. “That doesn’t inspire me with confidence, boss.” 

This seems to be enough to snap Karol back into attention as he suddenly straightens in his seat before looking both Judith and Yuri in the eye. “I-I mean, a pop quiz could come at any time! So I just have to be prepared, right?”

Judith lets out a small hum. “Mm… yes, you’re right, I suppose.” She takes another glance towards Yuri, silently calling out Karol’s bluff. 

He was worried, admittedly, but he didn’t want to force Karol to talk if he didn’t want to. So, with a tiny nudge to Judy’s side with his elbow, he decided to step back for now, making a mental note to see about bringing it up later. “If you say so. Just let us know if you need anything, okay?”

Karol’s mouth opens and shuts a few times, causing Yuri to pause before he begins to leave to continue working. He gives Karol a moment. Two. Three. Finally, he just sighs and nods. “Okay, Yuri…” 

Damn. It seemed like Yuri almost had him. But he kept to his silent word. He would let Karol come to him rather than force him to speak. So instead, he went back to work, moving to finish cleaning his tables. Judith, thankfully, offered some assistance and helped take some of the dishes off of his hands, placing them gently into the sink in the back before returning to the front of the bar. Yuri wasn’t surprised when she kept glancing over towards Karol’s direction. 

Judith was more than observant. She had a talent of being able to size up a person with literally just one glance. She seemed to be an amazing judge of character and Yuri was almost jealous of her for it. She could usually tell whether or not a customer was going to be a problem, and nine times out of ten, she was usually right. Not only that, but she proved herself to be plenty capable of taking care of herself and others. Once, a guy had gotten drunk and got a bit too handsy with one of the waitresses. Before Yuri could step in and handle it, the guy was grabbed and literally thrown out the door by Judith with such ease that Yuri wondered if she had actual self-defense training. He would believe it, for sure.

She also had a tendency of digging for information. She would ask about Yuri’s school life or life in general and while he didn’t tell her much at all (after all, what could he say that wasn’t the generic answer you would hear from a school boy), she managed to put together context clues to get a pretty decent understanding of Yuri’s personal life. Meanwhile, he knew literally nothing of hers. (Plus, Karol had let Flynn’s name slip once and apparently Yuri had gotten a weird expression on his face when his name was said, according to Judith. So now he will never know peace from the woman.)

Neither would Karol, it seemed, because even after Yuri finished bussing his tables and delivered Patty’s food to her, she was still eyeing the poor boy up and down. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice but Yuri was stepping in regardless.

“Hey, leave him be.” He says under his breath as he moves to put some dollar bills into his tip jar for later. When she blinks and looks back at him with a tiny hum, he continues. “He’ll talk when he’s ready. Let’s not force it.” 

“Oh, I’m just worried, is all.”

“And curious.” Yuri gives her a suspicious look before smirking. “You’re way too into other people’s drama. Nosy.” 

Judith feigns an innocent look, making sure to blink her eyes in Yuri’s direction. “Oh, no, I’m not nosy. I just like to hear about people’s troubles so I can help.”

“That is the definition of nosy, in case you weren’t aware.” 

Judith doesn’t confirm nor deny it but instead, she looks back towards Karol, who was back to anxiously tapping his pencil on the counter. “Do you think it has to do with that little friend of his? What was her name? Nan?”

“Yeah, Nan.” Yuri shrugs, following her gaze. “And I dunno. Maybe. They argue a lot so maybe it was another fight.” 

Judith sighs sadly, folding her arms behind her back. “Love is just so complicated at his age…” 

“He’s literally twelve.” Yuri shakes his head. “He’s got all the time in the world to figure it out. Nan does too.” 

“I know, I know but it doesn’t stop it from hurting in the moment, you know?” 

“Yeah, I guess.”

There’s silence before a devious grin stretches across her face. “I guess you would know more than anyone, wouldn’t you, Yuri?”

“Aaaaand the conversation is done.” With a clap of his hands, Yuri begins to step away. “Good job everybody. Same time next week.” 

Before he could completely step away, however, a strong hand slaps down onto his shoulder and pulls him back over as Yuri is suddenly greeted with a bush of brown hair pulled into a loose ponytail and the faint smell of alcohol. 

“Aw, c’mon, yer gonna stop th’ conversation before I get the join in?!” Raven greets with a wide smile as he pats Yuri on the back before his arm is shoved away by the latter. “What’s this I’m hearin’ about love? Oh! Does our lil’ Yuri have a sweetheart now?”

Yuri wrinkles his nose. “Have you been drinking on the job again , old man?” 

“Naw, I was just tastin’ one of our new products.” Raven waves him off before hopping onto a stool so he could lean against the bar. “It’s fiiine. It was literally just a sip. You won’t even notice it missing!” 

“He says that every time.” Judith hums. “I guess I’ll see when I do inventory tonight.”

“And I won’t disappoint ya, Judith Darlin’!” With a snap of his fingers, Raven grins over to Judith before looking back over to Yuri. “So, who’s the one who stole our lil’ Yuri’s heart?”

Judith smiles, staring Yuri directly in the eye. “Oh, I can tell you all about him–” 

“Judy, I’ll literally fist fight you.” 

“--But we were talking about Karol.” She finishes, her smile not once wavering. “He’s feeling anxious about something and we’re thinking it has to do with a special friend of his.” 

Raven puts a hand to his chin, nodding in understanding. “Ah… Young love. I remember those days…” 

“I’m surprised. That was centuries ago.” Yuri deadpans, moving to grab a wet rag to wipe down the bar. 

“You don’t hafta be so mean to this old man, y’know? My heart’s sensitive.” 

“You make it so easy though.” 

Raven gives Yuri a tiny pout before moving to lean his head against his hand. “Maybe I should talk t’ him. See if he’ll open up to good ol’ Raven!” 

“Leave it alone, Old man.” Yuri shoots the man a quick warning glare. “He’ll talk when he wants to. Let’s stop crowding him, okay?” He directs the glare between Judith and Raven, a final warning before he moves to clean off another table. 

“I suppose Yuri has a point.” Judith says after a moment. “He’s more familiar with Yuri anyway. If he’s going to talk to anyone, it would be him.”

“Yeah, yeah, I guess so…” Raven nods in agreement before scratching at his head. “By the way, you two still good to watch th’ restaurant for me on Friday? That work business I mentioned last week finally got confirmed so, definitely gonna need the night off for it.” 

Yuri gives a quick little nod. “You scheduled me for it, so I’m available.” 

Judith also nods, smile never fading. “Someone has to keep the place running.” 

“I knew I was right in trustin’ ya with my heart and soul, Judith, dear!” Raven leans in with a grin, only for Judith to reach out with two fingers, pushing his forehead back.

“How about just trusting me with the restaurant, mmhm? I might just accidentally shatter that heart and soul of yours. I am terribly clumsy.” 

“H-ha… yeah…Sure, that works too…” 

---

Usually by the time Yuri got off of work, Karol was exhausted and ready to crash as soon as they got home but tonight, he was especially anxious as they quietly headed home, which was thankfully not far from Karol’s house so the walk wasn’t too bad. As they closed for the night and Yuri and Karol headed out, they paused by the small makeshift dog house that Karol and Raven had happily made out of cardboard when they saw that Yuri’s new pup had followed him to the restaurant. Repede, as grumpy as he looked, seemed pleased with his little temporary house at the time. 

But he seemed even more pleased to be heading back home with Yuri and Karol in tow. 

Yuri, on the other hand, was exhausted. In the last hour of his shift, he had gotten slammed with a multitude of tables. Not that he was complaining, of course. More tables meant more tips. But it still left him rather fatigued, especially with everything that’s happened within the last two days. But even though he was pretty exhausted as they walked through the street, his attention was on Karol in an instant when the boy finally spoke up for the first time in the past two hours.

“Hey… Yuri?” He speaks slowly, uncertainty clear in his tone as he shoves his hands into the pockets on his pants. “Are… you working on Friday?” 

Yuri rubs at his eyes, trying to force some more energy into his body before he nods. “Yep. Working all weekend actually. Is that okay? I can see if Flynn can watch you if you don’t wanna hang out at the restaurant all weekend.” 

“No, it’s okay! Really!” Karol’s eyes widen as he whips his head to look over to Yuri. “I like the restaurant. I don’t mind but…” He trails off again as he slows to a stop. 

Yuri stops as well and he takes a moment to glance around the empty and darkened street, a bit uneasily. He steps just a bit closer to Karol before leaning down to make direct eye contact with the boy, frowning in concern. “What’s wrong?” 

Karol stays silent, eyes downcast and face dropping to stare back at the ground. 

Yuri frowns. “...Karol, if something is bothering you, you can tell me.” He says quietly, voice calm and serious. “I don’t judge people for that. You can talk to me. And if you feel like you can’t, I can give you Flynn’s number and you can talk to him. Or you can talk to Judith, or Raven. I don’t know what’s bugging you but you don’t have to deal with it alone–”

Yuri’s words must have sparked something within Karol because the next thing Yuri knows is he’s suddenly looking back up at Yuri with a certain determination on his face. “No! Nothing’s wrong! It’s just… just… a sleepover!” 

Excuse me?

Yuri knows he said he wouldn’t judge but… well… that didn’t make any sense at all. “A… sleepover?” 

Karol nods his head quickly. “My friend, Genis, is having a sleepover on Friday and he invited me.” 

“...And you were freaking out because…?” 

Karol pauses, swallowing hard. He glances towards Repede when the small pup trots over to his  side and sits down. Taking the hint, he leans down to pet the small dog in an effort to comfort himself. Meanwhile, Yuri can’t help but stare at Karol closely. He was still so nervous and Yuri was having a pretty hard time trying to figure out why a simple sleepover had Karol freaking out as bad as he was. What exactly was he hiding? That couldn’t be all there was to it, right? 

…Unless…? 

“Is Nan going to be there?” 

Nan’s name alone was enough to cause Karol to tense up. Yuri, for a moment, felt as if he had hit the nail directly on the head but something still didn’t feel right. He rubs anxiously at the Bohdi Blastia on his left wrist as he waits for Karol to answer. After a moment of hesitation, the young boy quietly nods. 

“...Yes.” Karol’s voice was quiet, almost akin to a squeak as brown eyes quickly peeked up to Yuri’s as if trying to gauge his reaction. 

Something didn’t feel right. Something didn’t feel right.

“So, it’s going to be… You, Genis, Nan…” Yuri trails off, tilting his head a bit to gesture for Karol to fill in the blanks on who else would be there.

Karol takes a deep breath. “Me… Genis, Nan… Anise and her creepy doll.” Another uneasy pause. “Maybe another kid or two. He didn’t specify.” 

“Uh-huh…” Yuri lets the hum of agreement trail off, making it quite clear to the boy that he was feeling a bit suspicious about the whole thing. “Karol, no offense buddy, but the way you’re fidgeting is making me think that there’s something more going on here.” 

Yuri tries to keep eye contact with Karol but the young boy seems more interested in running his hands through Repede’s fur, who nudges him lightly with his nose, as if also trying to urge Karol into speaking the truth. He sees now that Judith was right to be worried as Karol’s behavior was suddenly worrying Yuri as well. But he couldn’t even begin to imagine what could possibly be worrying Karol so badly. Yuri didn’t do something wrong, did he? He didn’t think he did but…

Finally, though, Karol speaks up and it startles Yuri out of his thoughts and leads him to focus on the young pre-teen in front of him. “It’s just…” Karol starts out slowly, eyes scanning over Repede and then across the street and then to his shoes before finally looking towards Yuri. “... I’ve… never been invited to a sleepover before…? I’m not sure how to react… I guess.” 

Oh. Oh.  

The suspicion immediately vanished as a small tinge of sympathy settled in Yuri’s chest. Karol, unfortunately, never had many people in the friends’ department. A lot of his time was spent taking care of the house on his own before Yuri started to watch over him. He had heard Karol talk about some of his friends off-handedly but even then, the friends he mentioned didn’t seem very close with Karol, not that Yuri would say that to the boy out loud. 

He knew that Karol had a certain attachment to his friend, Nan, though he wasn’t too certain on how she felt about him. Whenever Yuri would bring her up, Karol would get extremely flustered and attempt to change the subject so he could only use his imagination to guess what kind of girl she was. Considering how Karol would mention the two of them fighting at times, he couldn’t help but believe she was a bit of a headstrong kid. 

While Yuri still had some concerns regarding this sleepover, he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of joy rise up within him as he suddenly reaches over and ruffles the young boy’s hair. Karol sputters in surprise, quickly batting Yuri’s hands away as he looks at him with questioning, wide eyes. 

“Well… if I can offer a suggestion, you can react happily.” Yuri grins at him before flicking the boy’s forehead. “You don’t need to be nervous. I’m sure it’ll be fun. I’m happy for you.” 

“Wh– You’re letting me go?” Karol’s eyes widen even more in disbelief, hands falling from his hair. “Seriously?” 

“I’ll need you to give me a good phone number to contact and the address and all that, but… yeah. I guess I am.” Yuri tries to shove away the feeling of anxiety he was still feeling. Karol had a chance to actually get closer to people his own age. He wasn’t going to ruin that simply because of his own anxieties. “Should I not?” 

“N…No! No, that’s–” Karol takes a deep breath and quickly nods. “Y-Yeah… So… Friday. I’ll go… Friday.” 

“Yeah…” Yuri reaches out to ruffle his hair again. “I’ll try and do my best to survive without ya, Captain Karol. Will I still need to pick you up?” 

“No… I can go home with Genis that day…”

“Gotcha…” Yuri gives him another smile before moving to stand back up. “We can talk about it more later, if you wanna. Right now though, I’m exhausted so let’s hurry back, kay?” 

“Y-Yeah… Sure thing.”

---

He was a liar. He was a dirty, filthy liar. He looked Yuri directly in the face and lied with his whole chest and badly too! Karol was shocked, frankly, that Yuri let him get away with such a horrible lie. The whole thing was a mess, to be honest, and Karol just kept digging himself deeper into a hole. 

The worst part is that he almost came clean. He wanted to come clean! He didn’t want to go and spend his Friday night camping out in the creepy forest bordering Quoi Park. He could literally spend his time doing literally anything else. But then, Yuri had to go and open his big stupid mouth and remind him why he was doing this to begin with!

“You can talk to me. And if you feel like you can’t, I can give you Flynn’s number and you can talk to him. Or you can talk to Judith, or Raven. I don’t know what’s bugging you but you don’t have to deal with it alone–”

He didn’t have to deal with it alone?! Yuri had the nerve to say that after trying to deal with everything on his own! Those words alone were enough to shoot a surge of determination through Karol’s body, determined to show Yuri that he could be trusted to help carry the burden, even if it’s just a little bit. Determined to show Yuri that, yes, he didn’t have to deal with it alone but Yuri didn’t have to either! He had to show Yuri that he wasn’t just some little kid that needed coddling. 

So he lied about the sleepover. He lied about going to Genis’ house and about Nan and Anise being there. He lied about it all and even took a cheap shot at Yuri, lying that he was nervous because it was the first time he had ever been invited to someone’s house. And Yuri had fallen for it. Or at the very least, he let it slide but regardless, he felt like a horrible person afterwards. 

He felt like an awful person when he asked Genis for his phone number and address the next day, asking him to pretend that he was staying over if Yuri had decided to call on Friday (to which the boy eventually relented and nervously agreed to, yet making sure to stress that it was still a horrible idea). 

He felt like an awful person when Anise came over to his desk that Thursday, and then again on Friday, making sure that he still intended on keeping his promise to go camping in the woods that night. When he once again agreed and even decidedly went over his plan for the night with her, she seemed overjoyed and even impressed by his resolve. He hated it. 

As for Nan, she had barely interacted with him in the past two days since their last conversation in the lunchroom. She definitely seemed mad about something and he wondered briefly if it was because of his decision to go camping, though the one time he tried to ask her why she was so angry with him, she simply slammed her book on the desk. 

“I shouldn’t have to tell you why I’m mad, Karol!” She snapped, narrowing her eyes dangerously at him. “You’re just so… so…”

He frowned, shrinking back a bit at her rage. “... so what?”

“.... you’re just so spineless!” She spat out, crossing her arms. 

He definitely didn’t get what she was mad about. He was going to go camp in the middle of the woods at night all by himself. Wasn’t that the opposite of spineless? Of course, when he tried to mention that, it only seemed to make Nan even angrier. 

“You’re clueless , Karol!” And with that, she ran off with a huff before Karol could try and ask her to explain what he was missing. 

Now he was anxious, depressed and confused. 

Part of him wondered if he could just go into the woods and just take a few selfies in the forest and call it good but that might make him feel even worse for chickening out. Anise would call him out on it immediately, Yuri would never feel like he could rely on him and Nan would have a genuine reason to call him spineless. 

And thus, he found himself pushing through his school day when Friday arrived, constantly in battle with his own brain until the final bell rang that day and it felt as if that bell was the sound that marked his execution.

Maybe he was being a bit overdramatic. He hoped he was anyway. 

But as the school day came to an end, he hurried home as he decided that he should just go for it. Go for it before he could change his mind again and chicken out. He felt strange without Yuri leading him home for once. It wasn’t like he didn’t know the way. After all, he would walk home alone when he was merely ten years old! But he had gotten used to Yuri coming by to pick him up and it was a bit nerve wracking not seeing him appear on the corner of the street to meet up with him, like usual. 

Part of him was expecting Yuri to show up anyway, even though Karol told him that he didn’t have to. And another part of him was disappointed, while the other part was relieved. After all, he didn’t exactly come up with a plan for if Yuri caught him walking home by himself instead of walking home with Genis, as was told. Thankfully, that was his only concern about getting caught on the way to his house. If Yuri were to try calling Genis, thankfully the boy had promised to cover for him, despite how much he didn’t want to. He made a note to himself that he definitely owed Genis for this. 

As Karol arrives at his house, he quickly replaces the books in his bag with a bundled sleeping bag, a flashlight and other necessities for his camping trip. He did make sure to take a pocket knife that his father had left behind as well, making sure to have some kind of defensive weapon on him if he needed it. (He desperately told himself he wasn’t actually going to need it.) 

As these items were shoved into his bag, he gave pause when he noticed the familiar looking stone that he had found earlier that week when he had been digging around in the garden. The amber-colored stone, when pulled from the bag, sparkled almost unnaturally when the light hit it just right. He had almost forgotten that he had found it. 

Holding the stone in his hand seemed to bring him a bit of comfort as he ran his thumb over the smoothness of the stone. He still couldn’t quite remember why the stone seemed so familiar but if it was good for anything, it was good at lowering his anxiety. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to take it with him as a good luck charm.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt inclined to take the stone with him. Maybe it was some type of intuition or something. 

Well hey, if anything, he could throw it at the bear if the bear were to show up. With that thought in his mind, he shoves the amber-colored stone back into his bag. Slipping a hoodie on and pulling it over his head, he makes sure he has all essentials needed for his trip and with one final deep breath, he places his hand on the doorknob leading outside of his house. 

After a moment’s hesitation, he throws the door open and heads out.

---

Yuri was almost glad that nothing of note seemed to happen up until the end of the school week. There were no fights, his teachers didn’t give him a hard time, the rumors regarding him seemed to slow to a stop and there was no sign of Zagi or any kind of world ending threat. It was almost as if life had gone back to normal, even if it was just for a short amount of time. 

His hand still gave him a little bit of issue but after having Estelle look at it briefly during their lunch period on Friday, she noted that the wound looked as if it were recovering quite nicely so that was a relief, at least. During their short meetups, Yuri did bring up the Quoi Woods and the possibility of something lurking within though Estelle seemed rather confused when she had heard of it. 

“A supposed monster in the Quoi Woods?” She asked with a whisper as she sipped at her cup of juice she had brought along for lunch. “I don’t believe I’ve heard about that.” 

Yuri took a bit of his sandwich as he leaned back in his chair. “I’m gonna guess that’s a good thing then? If you haven’t heard about it, then there probably isn’t anything to worry about, maybe?”

“No, I wouldn’t say that…” Estelle frowns, looking thoughtful. “I just haven’t really looked into the area yet. I can do some research though!”

“Sure, just don’t get caught up in chasing a false lead.” He snorted softly before propping his head on his hand, looking at her curiously. “So, what about Brave Vesperia? Any more leads on them, yet? Any other dreams?” 

Yuri notices how she pauses, putting her cup down thoughtfully. He can see her pondering to herself for a moment. “I’m unsure… My dreams were… Well, I saw someone… but…” 

Yuri doesn’t respond and instead waits for her to gather her thoughts together. He couldn’t imagine having prophetic dreams. Hell, he never really had dreams before aside from the one about his blastia. If he had any other dreams, he certainly didn’t remember them. So he figured that trying to gather one’s thoughts after a dream like that must be tough. So he remained patient. Unfortunately, Estelle simply shakes her head. 

“It was just too blurry. The voice– She sounded familiar! Very familiar!” She notes and Yuri sees a tiny smile appear on her face. “But I couldn’t quite place it and I couldn’t make out her words.” 

“Well… is she tall? Short? Was there a vibe? Color?” 

“...Hmm…” Estelle’s finger moves to her lips, eyes closing as she tries to force herself to remember. “...Short. Red. She wore red. But… you know, that doesn’t mean anything, sadly. She could be wearing anything right now.” 

“Yeah… I guess you have a point.” Yuri nods quietly, moving to sit back in his seat. 

He doesn’t get to relax for much longer, unfortunately, as Hisca and Chastel end up calling him away to help with moving some of the desks of the classroom (despite his protests). They didn’t have much time for any more conversation after that.

Something else he noticed over the next two days was that Flynn had shown up at school looking rather exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes. Still, the boy kept his shining personality as best as he could as he didn’t let the exhaustion slow him down. Still, Yuri wasn’t about to let this stand for long.

“What’s the matter with you?” Yuri had asked that Friday afternoon, after school. 

Since he didn’t need to pick Karol up, he had a little more time to spare before he had to go get ready for work. So, he decided to spend it by slipping into the student council room and thanked whatever God he had to, that Sodia and others weren’t there. Flynn sat alone in the room, looking through some papers regarding some of the plans for the school. When Yuri entered the room, he quickly looked up and gave a small smile as he removed his glasses from his face. 

“Oh, Good afternoon Yuri!” Flynn beams happily, moving to stand up to properly greet him. “You don’t have to hurry home today?” 

Yuri wanders over to stand by Flynn, waving him back down as a silent gesture to let him know he didn’t have to stand up and greet him. He grabbed a nearby chair and slid it over next to Flynn’s and plopped down next to him. “Karol’s got a sleepover today so I have some time to spare.” 

“And you decided to spend it here?” Flynn asks as his smile only grows wider.

“Well, yeah. Is that a problem?” Yuri raises a suspicious eyebrow, earning a tiny chuckle from Flynn.

“No, no, of course not. It’s just that I’m almost done here myself. The workload was light today so… maybe I can walk you home.” 

“You’ve really been hanging on the whole ‘walking me home’ thing.” Yuri reaches over and snatches a pen off of Flynn’s desk, though the blonde haired man quickly catches him by the wrist, fingers once again brushing against the bracelet on his hand. “I think you’ve been watching too many cliche romance movies.”

“I-I have not!” Flynn’s grip remains on Yuri’s wrist as he moves to let their hands rest on the desk between them. Yuri didn’t feel the need to pull away just yet. “I just… miss walking home with you. And I figured it would be a good chance to say hi to Hanks as well.” 

“Well, you were the one who decided to move into the dorms. It’s a bit out of the way to walk me home now.” Yuri reminded him. 

“Well… considering that Niren offered to pay for it and it would move me closer to the school, I didn’t see any reason not to.” Flynn frowns. “You can still move in too, Yuri… Niren told you that the offer was still on the table.” 

“Nah, he’s your legal guardian. Not mine.” 

Niren Fedrock. He was a man who worked very closely with Flynn’s father back when he was alive and on the force. He and Flynn were around nine years old when they met the man for the first time. He was invited over for dinner one day. After that, he could come by to visit and Yuri and Flynn warmed up to and admired the man quite quickly. 

His presence became more frequent after Flynn’s father was killed in the line of duty. He likely felt as if he had to take care of Finath’s wife and child for him. This was confirmed when Niren took official custody of Flynn after his mother passed. Since Yuri was technically under Hanks’ legal custody (and just decided to let the boy have free reign to his own apartment room), Niren couldn’t just take the boy in like he did Flynn. But he still offered some casual guidance here and there. 

Yuri liked Niren, he really did. But he wasn’t about to mooch off of a random man’s kindness like that. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. He would make a mental note to go visit the old guy one of these days though. 

“Well, it’s not just me that he’s looking out for, you know. And he knows that Hanks wouldn’t be able to afford it as easily–”

Yuri lets out an exaggerated sigh. “Flynn, can you really see me getting along with some random roommate that they assign me with?” 

“You get along with plenty of people!” Flynn quickly argues, squeezing his wrist. “You don’t know that it’ll be someone you won’t like.” 

“I only get along with like… ten percent of the school’s population.” Yuri reminds him. “It just wouldn’t work. And it’d be weird anyway. I’m comfortable staying in my own apartment.” 

“Then… maybe Niren can help you pay for the apartment–”

“Pass. I’m a big boy. I can handle it.” 

Flynn drops the conversation after that, realizing that he was fighting a losing battle at that point. Instead, he directs his gaze down to their joined hands and runs a thumb over the golden bracelet hanging off of Yuri’s wrist. 

“Where did you get this bracelet from, Yuri?” 

Yuri kind of wished they could go back to fighting over the dorm rooms now. “Oh, I found it at a shop on the way home.” He answers simply but when he moves to pull his hand away, he realizes that Flynn has a firm grip on his wrist. He couldn’t pull away without actually snatching his hand back and… well, that could be seen as suspicious.

“... Everything okay?” Yuri’s question was slow and uncertain as he eyed Flynn cautiously. 

The way that Flynn seemed to be studying the bracelet, eyes narrowed in thought, made Yuri’s heart race. It was just a bracelet, right? At least it should look like that to someone outside of the whole world saving business. So why was Flynn staring at it like he was suspicious of it? After a few minutes of silence, Yuri clears his throat and tries to tug his hand away again. 

“Flynn?” He tries to grab his attention again and it almost comes out as a worried whine. 

“Sorry–” Flynn snaps out of it and loosens his grip though he doesn’t let go completely. “I… was just trying to see if that was real gold or not.” 

Yuri felt like he was about to have a blood sugar crash. He lets out a quiet sigh of relief before chuckling to himself. “Oh, is that all? Well, what do you think? It was like five bucks. Was it a steal?” 

“Don’t know. Couldn’t tell.” Flynn laughs quietly, moving to rub at his eyes. “Maybe I’ll look at it again later when I can see more clearly.” 

“Yeah, speaking of, you look like you haven’t been getting any sleep lately.” Yuri happily takes the chance to guide the conversation away from his blastia. “Everything okay over at the dorms?” 

Flynn rubs at his eyes again and snorts. “Yes, everything is fine. I was just up for most of the night with Sodia.”

“Surprising no one–” Yuri freezes. Blinks. He looks back to Flynn, eyes wide and confused. “Wait, with Sodia?”

“Yes?” 

“...Doing what exactly?” 

There’s a brief moment of silence as Yuri and Flynn are both staring at each other before it finally clicks with Flynn what Yuri was implying and he simply just clicks his tongue. “Yuri, come on now… We weren’t doing anything. We were studying.” Another pause passes and suddenly Flynn is smiling a bit. “I didn’t know you were the jealous type.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on! I was not jealous.” Was he? Yuri wasn’t the type to get jealous… at least, so he thought. “I was just shocked that she possibly had the balls to make a move on you.”

“Well, she didn’t. And I don’t exactly want her to.” Flynn shakes his head with an amused grin on his face. 

“Aw, damn. Don’t let her hear you say that. She might die on the spot.” 

“I think you’re looking too into it. I don’t believe Sodia has a crush on me.” Yuri made a mental note to ask Niren about getting Flynn’s eyes checked again. “... And even if she did, it doesn’t matter. My eye is on someone else at the moment.” 

Way to be obvious about it. 

Yuri’s teasing grin falls as he tries to tug his hand away again but Flynn’s grip tightens again, not wanting to let him escape so easily. “I think you should give her a chance. Isn’t that what people say in situations like these? Everyone deserves a chance.”

“I think that saying is meant more for life in general, not relationships.” Flynn points out, his thumb brushing against Yuri’s palm. “And if that saying were about relationships, then that would mean I would get a chance too, right?” 

“Ah… Right, I guess so.” Yuri pouts. “I guess it’s a dumb saying.” 

“Yuri…” He receives another irritated sigh from his childhood friend and he feels himself being pulled closer. “I wish you would stop avoiding the topic of… of us–”

The sound of a door opening interrupts him, followed by a painfully familiar voice. “Excuse me, Flynn, about tonight–” 

Yuri isn’t sure if he was disappointed that Sodia just barged into the student council room or if he was glad that she interrupted the conversation that was about to happen that he wasn’t quite sure he was ready for yet. For a moment, she looks shocked and surprised to see Yuri there, hand flying to her mouth as if to stop the words from slipping from her mouth but it’s soon replaced by that usual glare that tells him just how unwelcome he was in this room of theirs. Taking the hint, Yuri’s hand yanks from Flynn’s grasp as he jumps to his feet and shoves his hands into his pockets. 

“Welp, I guess that’s my cue to leave.” Yuri snorts, trying to force his voice to stay steady and trying to ignore the ache slowly seeping through his chest. He also tries to ignore the glare from Sodia as she moves past him, making her way towards Flynn.

Flynn, looking rather frustrated at the interruption, nods in greeting to Sodia before looking back to Yuri, eyes softening. “You can wait outside, if you’d like… I’m almost done here and then I can walk you home.” 

“You’re still trying for that?” Yuri quickly waves him off. “I–”

“Actually, Flynn, I needed to have an important word with you.” Sodia interjects, standing up straight with her usual serious expression. 

Flynn’s gaze leaves Yuri and he almost laughs at the pout that the man tried to hide as he stares up at Sodia. “Um… about what, Sodia?” 

The girl stays silent and Yuri tilts his head to try and get a look at her expression but gains nothing from it. Her face remains stern, eyes trained directly on Flynn’s and mouth shut tight. There is a moment where her eyes dart to Yuri and Flynn’s eyes show recognition as they follow her gaze, as if there were some silent communication between them. 

“... You know, you’re allowed to say that it’s a private matter.” Yuri tells them both, rolling his eyes. “Instead of just side-eyeing me like that. Just be like “I don’t want to discuss it in front of him.” ” 

Sodia glares. “Would you even listen?”

Yuri ponders for a moment and grins. “Absolutely not.” 

He almost laughs at the way Sodia bristles where she stands before she whips her head around towards Flynn, almost pleading. “Flynn–”

“Yes, yes…” Flynn sighs, trying to mask his disappointment as he looks back to Yuri. “I guess this might take some time… I can walk you home another day, perhaps?” 

“You are SUPER persistent.” Yuri complains with a groan as he heads for the door. “I’ll think about it.” 

As he moves to leave, Flynn quickly stands up and hurries after him, moving to grab the door from him. As he holds the door open for Yuri, the blonde gives him a tiny, bashful smile as he speaks with a whisper. “...And will you think about…?” 

He trails off, gesturing between the two of them with his hand and Yuri finds himself looking past Flynn and instead letting his gaze fall on Sodia. She’s staring at the two of them, eyes narrowed with disapproval and it just served as a reminder of how much of a bad idea it was for them to cross that line that they had been on for the past few years. Still, he couldn’t ignore how much his chest warmed at the idea, no matter how much of a mistake it would be. 

After a moment’s pause, Yuri just sighed. “...Look. I’d rather not talk about this here, okay?” He gestures behind him towards Sodia, a silent message between them of I don’t want to talk about this in front of her . Thankfully, Flynn seems to understand this but he has that dumb kicked puppy look of rejection and Yuri began to speak before he could stop himself.

“...How about this?” Yuri’s words came out as a defeated sigh. “What if… you came to pick me up after work tonight? I’ll be getting off at around 10 so… maybe we could talk then…?” 

Yuri watched as a range of emotions filled Flynn’s face. First was surprise as his blue eyes widened, and then hope as his smile washed over his face… but then the disappointment kicked in, followed with a bit of regret and Yuri instantly knew that it likely wasn’t happening. 

“Busy?” Yuri guesses, shoving his hand into his pocket.

“...Unfortunately.” Flynn frowns. “I’m not sure if I’ll be done in time…”

“What are you doing anyway?” Yuri frowns. “If it’s studying, you can just like… pause, right? You’ll have all weekend…” 

Before Flynn could even think to answer, Sodia cuts in. “Flynn.” She says, reminding him that she’s still there and Yuri couldn’t help but feel a bitter taste appear in his mouth. 

“Geez, wait your damn turn…” He grumbles before moving to head out the door. “Fine, whatever. Just text me and lemme know if you’re able to pick me up. I don’t care.” 

“I–I will!” Flynn stammers, nodding quickly. “...Let you know, that is. I’ll text you as soon as I know. I’m sorry, Yuri.”

“No skin off my nose.” And with that, Yuri didn’t bother to wait for a response before he turned and hurried down the hall. 

A part of him did consider going back to listen in on the conversation between Flynn and Sodia as Flynn turned and headed back into the student council room. But at the same time, he did not care in the slightest over what he and Sodia had to talk about. 

It was true that he thought Sodia would be a better match for the man than he ever could be, even if Flynn thought otherwise. 

That didn’t mean he wanted to stick around and see Sodia try her hardest to make the moves on the poor student council president. 

Plus, just being around her gave him the worst kind of stomachache. 

---

For a Friday night, Yuri’s shift at work was long and slow with time moving by with an almost painful drag. He did what he could to keep himself busy on the floor but a lot of their customers were more interested in buying a drink and talking with Judith rather than dining in with Yuri as their waiter. Not to say that Yuri hadn’t had any tables that night: He had a few, one of them being Patty, of course, but it was becoming clear that he would be lacking in tips tonight. 

Still, some money was better than no money. He only wished that he had more to do in the restaurant so he could distract his brain from wandering off. He had plenty of things going through his head. He had sent Karol a text earlier that night to let him know if he needed anything, though he did try not to seem so overbearing about it. But he did wonder if the boy was having fun. Considering he hadn’t heard back yet, he could only assume so. The thought put him at ease, at least a little bit, and Yuri had gotten this Genis’ number in case something happened. So one way or another, someone would contact him if something happened. 

However, this was not the only reason why he kept anxiously peeking at his phone at every chance he got. Part of him knew that he shouldn’t hold his breath about Flynn being able to pick him up. Sometimes Flynn got so caught up in his work (or whatever the hell he was doing) that he forgot to eat sometimes. So Yuri knew better than to expect Flynn to actually remember to pick him up. Plus, if he did show up, that meant that Yuri would have to follow up on his word and he would finally have to face what Flynn has been reaching for all this time.

And he still wasn’t sure about his answer. But, they were both about to be adults, right? He was capable of having an actual conversation about everything… right? And it would feel nice to try and be honest about something right now, all things considered. 

“You seem distracted.” Judith points out as she finishes pouring a patron another drink, managing to keep eye contact with Yuri instead of on the drink she was pouring. Of course, it was like second nature to her. “You keep checking your phone like a mother hen. Should I start thinking of confiscating it?” 

It was a tease, of course. He knew she had no intention of taking the phone away but Yuri grimaced nonetheless. “I’m not that distracted.” A lie, and a weak one at that. “Just thinking about how boring it is on my end.”

“Mm, I suppose the dining room is slow, for a Friday night…” Her eyes scan the dining room as she moves to grab another drink to mix up. “I do agree, though. It is pretty quiet here without Karol.” 

“I mean, yeah. He’s way more talkative than both of us.” Yuri snorts quietly. “I’m sure it’s quieter than usual because the Old Man isn’t here either.” 

“Mm, you do have a point. Seems like everyone’s got something going on nowadays.” 

“You sound jealous.” 

“Aren’t you?” Judith raises an eyebrow, only earning a shrug in return. “Maybe we should go out into the city one of these days.” 

“I don’t exactly have much free time anymore.” Yuri explains as he moves to lean against the counter. 

Judith finishes mixing up a drink and pours it into a cup before sliding it to another patron, who happily takes it, slapping some cash on the counter. She takes it, counting through it carefully before moving to put it into the cash register before she moves over to the edge of the bar to continue the conversation with Yuri. 

“I suppose being a senior in High School with a part time job is already hard enough.” She guesses with a smile. “But surely you’re not pushing yourself, right?” 

That sounded more like a threat than concern. God, if only Judith knew. “I’m fine. I’m already dealing with Flynn fretting over me. I don’t need you to start too.” 

“You know…” Judith starts, moving to clasp her hands together before resting her chin on them. Her voice holds a feigned innocence to it and it’s enough to tell Yuri that he’s in for it now. “You always talk about how hard Flynn works… Have you ever considered that it’s bad if the guy who supposedly works himself to death is worried about how hard you’re working yourself?” 

Yep, here it comes. Yuri narrows his eyes for a moment before moving to step away. “No, he just worries about anyone that isn’t himself.” 

“Oh, that also sounds like someone I know.” The woman giggles to herself before her expression falls into something a bit more soft. “Just keep it in mind, alright? Flynn isn’t the only one concerned.”

“You know, Judy, if you’re worried about me, just say so.” Yuri forces a smirk. “You don’t have to hide behind Flynn–” 

“Who said I was hiding? Unlike you, I’m very intune with my feelings. But it’s not just me either.” 

Before Yuri could ask for clarification on who she was talking about, the bell to the door of the restaurant suddenly chimed, indicating customers. Judith and Yuri both looked up towards the door and upon seeing an older woman with a child wander in, Yuri took it as his cue to drop the conversation for now and get back to work. 

“My saviors~” He teasingly grins to Judith (who simply snorts with a shake of her head) before hurrying over to the pair, sporting a rather friendly smile as he does so. “Hey, guys, welcome. Have a seat, I’ll get you some menu–”

He pauses when he gets closer to the two. The young kid, sporting a blue t-shirt and shorts with messy white hair, he didn’t recognize but the older woman standing with him, short white hair and wearing a button up coat with boots with a stern expression on her face, was one who was pretty familiar to him. He had heard that his history professor had a little brother, so seeing Professor Sage's little brother right next to her? He could see the resemblance. 

“Well hey there, Professor Sage.” Yuri drawls, with a lazy grin as he moves to grab two menus. “I haven’t seen you here before. Is this the famous little brother I hear people talking about?” 

Upon looking at the kid, he notices that he’s probably around Karol’s age and he couldn’t help but wonder if the two knew each other. The kid, however, did not seem very happy to be there as he stood between the two of them, rigid and stiff with fists clenched at his side. He was also staring hard at the ground, avoiding any and all eye contact with Yuri and the professor.

Professor Sage gives him a tiny nod of greeting, quickly giving his greeting a smile of acknowledgement. “Yuri, it’s nice to see you. I have to admit, I was surprised when I heard you were working here. But it seems like you’re settling well enough.” She does reach out and puts a firm hand on the kid’s shoulder, and he flinches heavily under her touch and Yuri can’t help but raise an eyebrow. 

“You heard I started working here? Who’d you hear that from?” He hadn’t exactly made it public knowledge yet. Not that he was planning a big reveal or anything. It just wasn’t anyone’s business. Not even Flynn knew where he worked until today. 

Yuri took a step back, intending to lead the two to a table while they talked but the professor and her pale as a ghost little brother remained rooted where they stood. “Oh, thank you, Yuri but we aren’t actually planning on eating in.” Yuri watches as she smiles down at her little brother and– oh, that’s the smile she uses when someone in class is in big trouble.

You have my condolences, little guy. 

“...Um. Okay?” Yuri slowly puts down the menus as he looks between the two of them. “Then… how can I help you? Do you guys need the bathroom…? It’s in the back.”

He notices how she squeezes the kid’s shoulder. “Genis? Why don’t you let Yuri know why we’re here?”

“Genis?” Yuri’s lips fall open a bit, and instantly, he’s looking past the professor and Genis towards the front door, looking for that familiar tuft of brown hair. Karol was, unfortunately, nowhere in sight. “Genis… You’re Karol’s friend, right? Where’s Karol?” 

Genis’ fists clench tighter as his elder sister nudges him forward, a movement that was gentle but also firm. Her smile is gone now as she glances up to Yuri and he’s suddenly filled with dread. 

“Karol… is… camping out in the Quoi Woods for the night. Our friend Anise dared him to and– And I told him that he was stupid for it but he didn’t listen and–” Genis finally forced himself to look up to Yuri, eyes wide in shame. 

Yuri couldn’t even process it. His mind seemingly shut off as he stared dumbly at the professor and Genis. 

Karol was camping. Camping in the Quoi Woods. Camping in the Quoi Woods where there was a supposed sighting of a monster. Or a bear. Or something. Karol was there. By himself. Karol snuck off without telling him. Karol could be in danger. Karol was–!

Yuri didn’t even realize he was moving until he was behind the bar, hand shooting for the computer so he could quickly clock out, throwing his apron off in the process. Judith must have picked up on how pale he looked because she quickly reached out and grabbed his shoulder. 

“Yuri, what’s wrong?” She frowns, concern clear on her face as he suddenly rips himself from her grasp. “Yuri?” 

“Karol snuck off so I’m going to go grab him before he–” Gets himself killed. “--gets lost or hurt.” The words hurt his throat as he moves past Judith. “Sorry, it’s an emergency, Can you–”

Judith holds her cellphone up immediately. “I’ll text someone to come and finish your shift.” She frowns, her casual attitude from before turned serious. “Text me when you find him. Please.” 

“Yeah.” Yuri breathes out, trying to keep calm as he hurries out the door. As he passes the professor and Genis, he hesitates and he has half a mind to scold Genis because what was he thinking, letting Karol run off like that?! But the Professor seemingly reads his mind and quickly pushes him towards the door.

“Go on. I am perfectly capable of scolding Genis. Please expect a written apology as well when you return back to class on Monday.” Something about her words indicated that the written apology was the least of the kid’s problems right now. 

He decided to leave it to her. 

As he ran out the door, he let out a whistle towards the makeshift dog house right outside of the restaurant, calling for his furry partner. Repede had barely stuck his head out before Yuri was running by, bending down and scooping the dog up as he took off in a sprint towards the park. As he sprints down the street, trying to remember what path to take to get to the park from there, he hears his ring tone ring out and his phone is out in an instant. 

Seeing Estelle’s name on the caller ID fills him with dread. When he answers, he’s already breathing hard from the running, earning a quiet whine of protest from his pup companion. “Estelle–!”

“Oh– Yuri! Good evening!” Estelle greets, sounding a bit surprised over the phone by Yuri’s heavy breaths. “I’m sorry for bothering you, is this a bad time? I was calling to let you know that I was able to find something about the Quoi Wood–”

“Estelle–” Yuri interrupts her, having to slow down just slightly as he skids around the corner of the street. He pauses to gain an idea of where he was before deciding to continue north. “ Please tell me that the rumors about a monster are just rumors!” 

Estelle hesitates, likely confused as to why Yuri was behaving in such a way. “Um… Well… It seems like there’s a possibility that there’s something strange there. I found reports of a strange phenomenon and I think there could be–”

Another stab of dread shoots through him as Yuri yells out before she can finish her sentence. “DAMMIT!” He spits out as he stumbles to a stop and doubles over for a moment. This earns a tiny squeak of surprise from Estelle as she quickly speaks up again.

“Yuri, what’s wrong?!”

He has to take a moment to control his breathing as he quickly begins his running pace again, pulling the phone back up to his ear. “Estelle, Karol snuck off and is camping in those woods right now . I don’t know why but I need to get there right now.”  

Estelle falls silent as Yuri spots a street sign, showing the park wasn’t too far from his location. He sighs in relief, thankfully that he was heading the right direction. The moon was shining bright in the sky, which thankfully illuminated his path but everything looked so different at night that it was easy for him to lose his way if he wasn’t careful. 

“Yuri–” Estelle speaks up again, voice coming through the speaker with that same determined firmness she usually showed when she made her mind up about something. “Do you have your cloak and mask?” 

“Wh-What? No, Estelle, I don’t have time–” 

“Will Hanks let me into your apartment if I ask?” 

“What?” Yuri glances around the area and spots another sign nearby. To the west. He makes the turn and keeps his pace. “I mean– Maybe. Is there time for that though?” 

“I’ll go and get your cloak and mask and I’ll meet you in the woods.” Estelle explains carefully and Yuri picks up a hint of nervousness in her tone. “I’ll come as fast as I can but in the meantime, you have to find Karol before something else does!” 

Yuri, despite the fear settling in his gut, can’t help but give a tiny smile at that. “...Right. Right, yeah, I will. Don’t worry. Thanks, Estelle.” 

“Please do not thank me. Just promise me one thing, Yuri. Be careful and don’t let anyone see your face, if you can help it.” Her voice is stern and serious and he wonders if there’s something more to her words than that. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to dig into it right now.

“I don’t plan on stopping to have a conversation with anyone so no problem.” Yuri breathes out. “Check the top dresser for the cloak and the mask. Thanks again, Estelle. I’ll see you soon.”

“Be careful, Yuri!”  

With a tap of a button on his phone, the call ends and Yuri shoves the phone back into his pocket before clenching his left fist. “Okay, Repede, think you can sniff Karol out when we get to the park?” 

Repede perks up at him, giving him a single wag of the tail before giving a bark of agreement. This earns a grin from Yuri as he glances down at the Bodhi Blastia on his left wrist. He notices a warm glow begin to emit from the core within, followed by a surge of power.

“Awesome. Let’s go find the Captain.” He grins and with a flex of his left arm, a familiar and warm flash of light shoots from the core and envelopes his body.  

===

Ages in the Chapter by the way: Raven: 35 Rita: 15 Judith: 20 Patty: 11 I decided to make Judith a bit older than Yuri in this AU. She just has that older big sis vibe to be honest. Also, in case you haven't noticed, I REALLY love the Big Brother Yuri / Little Brother Karol dynamic so much, they made me so emotional in game bro. I also wish I could promise that the next chapter will be shorter but I legitimately have no idea LOL

[grumpygreenwitch]

Fanfiction 15-16

Wherein things are put together, and then promptly fall apart.

Buy me a Ko-fi?

1-2-3 + 4-5 + 6-7-8-9-10 + 11-12 + 13-14 + 15-16 + 17-18-19 + 20-21 + 22-23 + 24-25 + 26-27

15

Morning found Jean asleep once again under one of those wings, the angel's head buried under a pillow, crisp sunlight spilling into the room. He reached out to brush his fingers over the crook of that arm, once again amused and charmed.

He got a wordless, sleepy moan in protest.

"There are curtains, you know," he pointed out, his voice made rough with sleep, his brogue perceptible even to his ears.

"They're all the way over there," the arm gestured vaguely. "I'm all the way over here. So are you. Jean."

"Mm."

"Not a sunflower."

"Always a sunflower," the vampire teased, and got a pillow to the face for his cheek. His angel scrabbled up just far enough to straddle him, and Jean lost all his breath to the beauty of Alyss, to the press of those legs around his hips, that groin so close to his. Wings cocked, the angel leaned down to kiss him, and Jean wound his arms around him, forearms brushing the soft down at the root of each limb.

Then Alyss was gone, heading into the bathroom. "Chere's going to be here any minute now with breakfast. Do you want him to catch you like that?"

"Man'd probably cheer," Jean muttered, but rolled to a sitting position, rubbing at his neck and trying to figure out what shape his life was taking all around him. Or what sort of future, if any, there could be for the two of them.

The future began to take shape when he came out of the shower, to find Alyss already squinting at his laptop while he held a croissant and pretended to eat it. Both their heads snapped around to a woman’s glad, high cry coming from the front lawn. "Kili!"

"That'll be Evie," Jean pointed out, rubbing at his freshly shaved face. He'd given up astonishment at how thoroughly Chere had stocked Alyss' bathroom with the vampire in mind at the point where he'd found his usual brand of toothpaste and his favorite shaving gel.

Alyss rushed to the window. From there he could see a flurry of barred owl-colored wings as an angel plummeted down and all but tackled Kliman, who was waiting on the lawn. The older angel answered with a matching cry of delight, catching the newcomer and spinning them around exuberantly.

Evelie, better known to the household as Evie, was the angel in charge of Massachusetts. She was a tall, sturdy creature with screech owl wings and very dark hair and eyes, and a direct, powerful, cheerful personality. Her skin was the color of fired clay, and she was Kliman's half-sister across a distance of several centuries. She was introduced to Alyss during lunch and seemed equally delighted to meet him.

"Lilah is escorting all my hard copy documentation over here. Well." She winked at him. "The stuff that's safe to move, anyway."

It was the first inkling Alyss got that Evie was another key stop along the escape pipeline that Kliman ran. Evie and her tech-savvy folk, as well as the contacts and friends she had in the Bay area, created new identities where possible, or simply made the old ones disappear. Alyss could see the critical usefulness of it: angels had a bad habit of getting stuck on whatever time period had seen them first hit their prime. It was usually the responsibility of their underlings, humans, vampires or angels, to keep up with the technology of the times. Evie had no such problem; her team came from people who knew the cutting edge of technology didn't leap and bound ahead of itself so much as it had strapped on jet engines and removed the brakes, and she flew in delight right along with it.

While he waited on the Massachusetts books, he worked on the Maine account. It wasn't nearly as bad as he'd expected. Kliman had kept everything simple - too simple, in some cases. The very first thing Alyss had done had been data-dump every single number he could find dating back at least fifty years, bloating the books to bursting. Then he'd begun to methodically replace everything he didn't want found with harmless, but vaguely suspicious activity. Safehouses had been attached to imaginary mistress accounts; vehicles to relatives removed by six or seven degrees. He knew he was hiding a crime, perhaps one of the highest crimes any angel could commit against their own society. He couldn't make it disappear; perfect books would draw even more attention than haphazard ones. But petty sins of nepotism? No one cared about those.

He would work until Jean harassed him into breaking. Sometimes the vampire would simply drag him outside, to enjoy the advance of the season, its bluster and winds full of dry leaves, the passing herds of deer moving silently through the woods, the vicious warfare between chipmunks, the sweet and mournful calls of birds in the marsh. Sometimes they would share a meal and Jean would make agreeable noises while Alyss gushed about his work.

The vampire didn't care that he didn't understand. He cared that he could spend time with Alyss. Sometimes it strangled him, the reality of it, the old nightmare rearing up and telling him, it won't last. You'll lose him, too. Something will take him away, and there'll be nothing you can do.

But every time, as if some unseen signal had warned the angel of what went on behind the vampire's troubled green eyes, Alyss would move closer, slip his arms and his wings around Jean and kiss him, so lightly, so delicately, as if asking permission every time. And Jean would forget everything but his bird, his sunflower.

Two days after he'd gotten the Massachusetts books, Kliman called him to a meeting. Evie was still there, chatting quietly with Lilah when Alyss came into the meeting room, Jean two steps behind him. Kliman's brows went up.

"I asked him to come," Alyss preempted any protest.

"Oh, he's your Second then?" Evie seemed unfazed by this. "That's very convenient."

Alyss sputtered. "I'm nowhere near important enough to rate a Second!" he exclaimed, and Jean couldn't help but be amused. "You've got Gevaun and Lilah, I want him here."

Kliman laced her hands before her face to badly hide a grin. "Gevaun is my Second, Alyss."

"Oh, for goodness' sake." Red to his ears, Alyss sat down, primly setting his laptop and tablet before him on the table. "My preliminary report -"

"That's not why you're here," Kliman gave him a deeply affectionate look. "Alyss, why are you so bad with people?"

"Lack of practice," he admitted resignedly. "I had to choose people or numbers. It was really a terribly unfair choice."

Evie laughed. Kliman sighed and gestured for Gevaun to pour hot chocolate for them all. While they drank, she set before Alyss the plan they'd all been working on since that fateful night at the marsh: she wanted Alyss to take over for Evie in running the escape pipeline.

"No," Alyss replied at once, so terrified he blurted the truth without thinking. "No, I can't be responsible for people's lives. What if I muck it up?"

"What if there's no one, then?" Kliman replied. "I mean to make Evelie my heir, Alyss. She won't have time to do more than oversee; less even, while we find replacements for Alistaire, and a new caretaker for Maine. These people, these vampires, they deserve to have someone fully on their corner."

"Yes, someone capable!"

"Which you are."

"No, I mean someone useful!"

"Which you are," Kliman repeated, then reached out to catch the accountant's flailing hands. "You mean a warrior."

"Someone brave," Alyss strangled out.

"Alyss, none braver than the one who gave his coat away while three other people discussed shooting him for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Gevaun flushed faintly, and Alyss stared at the older angel's hands. "He was cold. I'll mess up. I know numbers, not people. My head, it’s all numbers. I'll mess up and then what?"

"I believe your words were, then you make plans for when things go wrong. And you make plans for when those plans go wrong as well."

"Someone's told you an awful lot about what happened that night," Alyss protested grumpily. "There must be someone else."

"There is not. Gevaun must stay to help Evie with the transition. This operation is small out of necessity, Alyss, we need to hide what we're doing and we need to hide it very, very well. A thousand humans become vampires every year, and that's just the ones that are Made legally. Some die. Some are killed. Some think they are clever enough to escape their contract, unaware of the predator they've invited into their veins. And some very, very few find themselves bound in slavery to a true monster. They’re not many, but when you are one among a thousand you’re still very easy to find if you run. We need your expertise and they need your cleverness. And if you really think they need a warrior, well. There's one standing right behind you."

"You haven't even asked him!"

"Do I need to?" Kliman asked Jean directly.

"No," the vampire replied readily from where he was slouched against a wall. He'd been just as surprised as Alyss, but he wasn't as easily distracted by fifty other concerns as his sunflower. Kliman's reasoning made sense, and in truth he realized he should've seen it coming. The choice had always been between Evie and Rook, and Rook was too much the typical angel for Kliman to trust him with her domain.

More than that, he could see why they wanted Alyss to take over. His mind caught onto problems long before they'd actually, fully taken shape. He unraveled issues before they became such. He could keep track of vast, labyrinthine quantities of data, and put them together on the fly, making a whole that fit whatever the situation called for. If anyone could keep the escape pipeline running smoothly, it was his bird. But again they came to the one shortcoming of the young angel, and Alyss apparently understood that lack on himself better than anyone.

It didn't matter to Jean. He would fight the world for his bird. The realization struck him quietly at that moment, under the bright autumn sunlight in the tasteful meeting room: it wasn't just that he could think with Alyss nearby, it wasn't just that his nightmares went quiet. But in glimpses and hints he was catching sight at last of the man he'd once been, simply because it was the man he saw in the angel's eyes.

He shrugged. "I go where Alyss goes."

"Oh, for -!" Alyss turned on his chair to glower at him. "You're not helping!" But he was pink and flushed, and Jean could smell in the book and summer scent of his bird a profound sense of relief. Alyss would have never asked him to come, Jean realized, even while he bled at the possibility of losing him, even as he feared that the vampire might wish go his own way.

He grinned a little at his bird. "This is me helping. It makes sense and you know it."

Alyss ground the heels of his hands into his eyes and made a high-pitched sound of impotent impatience. Then he snatched for the slim folder that Kliman had set on the table between them, muttering sourly at all of them. Mainly because he already knew he'd lost the argument.

16

It wasn't a quick thing, of course. Alyss still had to work on the accounting for Massachusetts, which was incredibly complex. And he had to rebuild the Maine accounting from scratch; he refused to do anything less than hide the entire operation from its inception. But that work taught him the ropes of what he'd be doing taking over Kliman's pipeline better than any sort of training would have.

When the first snow fell over the Bay Alyss found himself moved into one of the buildings that dotted Evie's sprawling domain just past Natick. Kliman had retired to the Refuge to plan her Sleep and Lilah had gone with her; she and Gevaun would be taking turns keeping watch and helping the new angel in charge of New England. Evie and Kliman had even flown to New York to officially appraise the Archangel of North America of the changeover, which he'd graciously allowed even while mourning the loss of one of his most steadfast stewards.

Jean had overseen the work on the gatehouse lodge Alyss was given, a single-story, sprawling building lost in the woods, whatever gatehouse it once served long gone. On paper Evie had made Alyss her CFO and the vampire with him a groundskeeper. In truth, once he'd sorted through the Massachusetts books, upkeeping them took Alyss all of two hours a day, and part of that was simply sending reports to the people who actually dealt with the finances. Evie had made no effort to hide from them that the angel's real job could be dangerous, and made sure Jean understood what the vampire had already known: his real job, his only job, was to keep Alyss safe.

In working with those who, however anonymously, helped fund Kliman's pipeline, Alyss began to see the innate goodness he'd missed while doing his original job. As Jean had pointed out, the angel had been called upon only by those who didn't trust anyone else. In truth angels did care about their vampires, for the most part. The problem was two-fold, he quickly realized, and the fact that angels could be unspeakably cruel becausse there was no one to stop them wasn’t even the worst part; the biggest problem was that those who did care didn’t know what they were doing. Which was was really a very silly thing to have happening when angelkind had been making vampires for as long as they had. And that was before counting those humans who were Made without ever consenting to it.

The best part, though Alyss only admitted it to himself very quietly in the privacy of his mind, was having Jean with him. Jean, walking through the snow-clad woods full of whispers and winter sunlight. Or watching him chop wood, which was a favorite pastime of the vampire, and Alyss wasn't about to say no when the ax came out, always hoping the shirt would come off then, though it never did. Granted that Jean couldn't make tea, at least not that anyone alive could drink, and his coffee was not safe for anyone's consumption but his own, but his cocoa was nearly as good as Chere's. He couldn't make croissants at the drop of a pin, but his cornbread nearly gave Alyss an epiphany. He was a decent cook, a fair hand at cleaning, atrocious at laundry, and his love for Alyss shone on his eyes, as if the sight of his sunflower brought spring to the green of them after too long a drought. It made the angel's wings ripple every time he saw that look, the look that said he was seen, he was known, he was worth something as himself, priceless as himself.

And Alyss? Alyss was balm to Jean's heart. For the first time the vampire found himself talking, finally talking, about Moissani. About the betrayal of his Making, and the centuries of brutality that had followed.

Whenever the words wrung themselves out of him and left him shaking, exhausted and angry in their bed, it was always Alyss who was there. To hold him, to soothe him, to remind him that he was worth something, that he was himself. That his sunflower loved him without judgment, cherished him without condition, supported him without doubt. To Alyss he was not Moissani's guard dog or guinea pig. To Alyss, Jean was simply Jean. Sometimes his love for the amber-winged angel strangled him and his nightmares reared up, laughing, always laughing, at the very thought that he'd ever be able to protect Alyss. How could he possibly protect an angel that seemed unable to protect himself?

To be fair, when things did go wrong, there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent it.

Evie warned them that the Guild had requested leave to make inquiries of anyone who'd worked for Kliman prior to the angel's retirement. Given Gevaun had already warned her that the Hunters were sniffing around Maine because Alyss had warned Gevaun that someone was electronically sniffing around the Maine books, no one had been surprised. Jean had suggested, somewhat sarcastically, that they act surprised. But then he had as poor an opinion of the Guild as it was possible to have.

Evie offered to bring Alyss and Jean over to her Boston offices, where the wealth of bodies would throw off the Hunters' senses. But Jean had pointed out, not unwisely, that it would be suspicious if she did so. Instead Evie had sent three more vampires, including one of her own enforcers who, perky, cheerful and freckled to death, was happy to pretend to being Alyss' gal-Friday.

Alyss welcomed the two Hunters in his office, somewhat put out by the fact they'd showed up right when he should've been doing his dailies for Boston from his office. The small room in the lodge had not been fully converted to angel use; it had no windows and it boasted the old stone walls, covered in tasteful decorative knotted tapestries. Maia knocked on the door, opened it and called out, "The Guild Hunters, sir."

"Oh, for the love of prime numbers." Alyss put aside the work he'd been doing, not even looking at the two men when they came in. He'd been hoping to get some work, any work, done. "Could you not do this electronically, everything is filed electronically, and I have so much work to do -"

"Woah." The Hunters had come to a startled, bemused stop, and one of them lifted an appeasing hand. "We're not the IRS."

"I'm -" Alyss caught himself and straightened up. "I'm aware. I just. I'm working. I'm busy."

The other Hunter introduced himself with a bright smile and a firm handshake. He looked like a cowboy out of his element, dirty blond hair in need of a haircut and friendly blue eyes, a powerful, square face with a thin scar over one cheekbone. He was twice as packed in muscle as his companion, who was tawny-eyed, wiry and watchful like a wild animal, his fine black hair dyed a rainbow of colors at the tips. They were both carrying slim backpacks, and from one they pulled a tablet. The blond man, who introduced himself as Lance, did the questioning while his partner, Liam, wrote down Alyss' answers on a tablet. Alyss called for tea for all of them.

The angel's phone buzzed in his pocket, and Alyss smiled faintly at the Hunters, not really hearing what Lance was saying at that one moment.

Don't speak, Jean had told him, in between one fierce kiss and another before he retreated to the lodge's cellar. The vampire couldn't be in the same room as the Hunters; he had a price on his head that would have bought a small Caribbean island, one of the good ones. Your mouth runs away with you when you're stressed, Alyss. And it's always nothing. You keep your secrets better than anyone I've met. But these are Guild Hunters. They might be able to use the noise against you. Don't speak.

"Never heard of an angel in accounting before," Lance admitted conversationally. "Y'all are always doing more... sweeping stuff."

"Oh, I've never wanted to be the sweeping sort," Alyss declared. "I like my job, I like numbers. They behave, unlike people."

Lance snorted in amusement. "So, until Maine you just went from post to post, working books?"

Alyss nodded.

"So why stop here?"

"Evie promised I wouldn't have to deal with people," Alyss replied primly.

Lance barked out a laugh that sounded perfectly honest, and even Liam's mouth twitched as he glowered at his tablet. "Alright. We deserved that one. We'll be out of your hair as soon as we can, I promise."

Their questions were not surprising. Had anything unusual happened while he'd been in Maine? Had Kliman, Gevaun or the others ever behaved strangely? Had he seen new faces among the staff unexpectedly? Had any of the staff disappeared unexpectedly?

"People don't just disappear!" Alyss protested at that question. "Not from an angel's household."

Lance gave him an indulgent grin, but it was Liam who answered, distracted by what he was reading. "All the time, from every place. Angels are no exception."

Alyss huffed but he clung to his silence by basking in the smug feeling of knowing what Liam was trying, and failing, to do. The Hunter had been trying to hack into the angel's computers using proximity and time, and probably the office intranet. Unfortunately for him, Evie had some very interesting young folk working for her out of Cambridge. If he kept trying the Hunter was going to end up with a very fancy slab of dead electronics in his hand. Alyss' phone had not buzzed again, so Liam hadn't even tripped anything past the first level of security.

The Hunters crossed a look. Liam shrugged, and Lance stood up from his lazy slouch. For just a moment, Alyss caught a glimpse of something metal, thin and gleaming under the Hunter's winter coat.

Necklets. They'd come armed to take vampires down.

"Well, I think we've taken up enough of your time," Lance drawled amicably, offering his hand again. "No one else in your staff ever worked with Kliman or Gevaun?"

"They not my staff, they're Evie's," Alyss countered stiffly, though he shook the offered hand. "But I don't think anyone in the house worked for Kliman. Would you like to ask them?"

One of Lance's brows went up. There was no guile to the angel, no deception to his words. A few times his innate awareness, the sixth sense that detected lies when spoken, had tried to buzz, but it hadn't picked up anything really telling. It didn't help that the angel with the amber wings was easily flustered and tremendously literal. 'Sheltered' was the first word that came to mind when the Hunter thought of the accountant; Alyss had worked for some of the worst, most suspicious, least liked of angels in their society, and yet he seemed to have noticed none of his employers' sins. For the angel to be offering such ready access to the people around him could only mean they had nothing to hide, either.

He threw a look at Liam, who shrugged with ill grace. The hacker had been sure he could get into the angel's systems if he could only get close enough to hit the intranet, or an unprotected connection through a printer, a phone, the heating system. Apparently, he'd vastly overestimated his skills. "Just your gal. I imagine she runs the staff for you. Just a couple of questions."

"Of course." Alyss led them out, and Maia perkily, cheerfully, smilingly answered all of Lance's questions as if she'd worked for the accountant since he'd set foot on Massachusetts and not just for about an hour that day. The conversation degenerated into not-so-subtle flirting until Liam cleared his throat pointedly and Lance sighed, leading the way out. At that point, out of his office, Alyss didn't see a reason not to escort the Hunters out. Some part of him was deeply paranoid about those necklets; this was his home, these were, however short-term the loan might be, his people, his staff, his charges.

The day was brightly sunny and an utter lie; as soon as Alyss set a foot outside the cold made him gasp and he wrapped his wings around himself with a huff.

"You cold?" Lance sounded puzzled, and both the Hunters looked surprised. "I thought angels didn't get cold."

"I wish someone had told my parents that. Obviously they missed some important bits during the crafting process."

Liam snorted inelegantly and Lance chuckled, caught off-guard. "Well. Maybe we can help with that." He rummaged through their backpack.

"Oh, you really don't have to, I'm going right back inside, I'm late for my -"

The words died a terrible death as all of Alyss' breath exploded out of him. It wouldn't have been any more efficient if the Hunter had punched him, instead of offering a neat, folded parcel, tied with twine, a single printed page secured atop it. Someone had gone to some effort to set up the package just so, someone had told the Hunter exactly how and when to deliver it. And Alyss had just realized that all of his vampiric protection was still inside the lodge because, after all, their angel was just escorting the Hunters out to their car.

Alyss watched his hands move as if they were someone else's, taking the cloak he'd given to that unknown young vampire, so long ago it seemed, back at the marsh in Kliman's property. It had been washed, pressed, folded. The printout atop it was likely from his mother's social media, both of them somewhere in Belgium; he honestly didn't remember where. It had been winter and she'd been fussing with the clasp and folds of that same cloak, playing the part of doting mother to the camera.

The Hunters said nothing but Alyss realized Liam had moved until he was just at the edge of the angel's field of view, and just out of range of a casual swat of those amber-colored wings.

The necklets hadn't been to capture, Alyss realized. They'd come expecting to fight off vampiric security to get to him.

"Your presence's requested at Archangel Tower," Lance said very, so very calmly.

"I should like to get some things for the trip," Alyss was astonished at how calm he sounded.

"I think we'd all be happier if you went now, and we didn't have to break out the bolos," Lance said in the same even tone.

"I need to let my people know that I'm leaving," Alyss protested.

Lance gave him a long, level look before sighing a little. There was something very like wry amusement in the Hunter's face. "Alyss, that's kinda what we're trying to avoid."

"May I make a phone call? Right here, with you two listening?"

Lance looked at Liam, who shrugged. "Brief," the blond Hunter warned him.

Alyss nodded tightly, and fished his phone out of his pants.

He was already on the network monitor. It was nothing to key in the passcode for the killswitch and hit enter. The tablet in Liam's backpack blared a muffled warning, and the Hunter scrabbled for it.

"What did you do," Lance demanded, surging forward.

Alyss reeled back, dropped his phone, and stepped on it as hard as he could. Then for good measure he kicked the ruin of it into a bank of slushy snow.

"No!" Lance barked, a hand snatching at the angel's throat in a rough, angry grip.

Alyss didn't fight him.

"Fuck!" Liam was examining the tablet. "He fried the network. The whole place's gone dark. Every computer here's now worthless."

"I can't leave for New York with you holding onto me like that," Alyss said hoarsely, and only then did Lance seem to realize the grip he had on the angel. "And I think you better leave before the staff figure out what's happened."

"Raphael's going to have words with you, Alyss," Lance warned him tightly. "No amount of data burn's gonna help you with that."

"I'm aware." Alyss could feel himself shaking, and he knew it was not the cold. "But it's an hour between here and New York, and that's if I don't hit a headwind. An hour can be an eternity if you handle it just right, Hunter."

"It's over. You know that, right?"

"If it truly were over, you wouldn't feel the need to rub my nose into it."

The door to the lodge opened and Maia peeked out. "Alyss?"

"I think you'd better go."

"Lance," Liam called out, his voice tight. "She's the one we saw. There's three more we didn't and one of them smells real fucking old."

Lance ground his teeth angrily before spinning around and hurrying to their car. The Hunters drove away sharply, tires spitting gravel, while Alyss stood very still on the driveway. He was afraid if he moved his legs, which were apparently made of gelatin, were going to dump him on his face upon the muddy shale.

"Alyss?" Maia had rushed out to his side. There was a very black gun on her hands and a decidedly hard expression on her freckled, sunny face.

"I need your phone, please," he croaked, clinging to the cloak for a moment before spreading it out with a sharp snap; the printout of the photograph went fluttering away as he threw it over his wings and settled it on his shoulders. He was unsurprised to find Evie's number on the quick-dial list. "Evie, they know. I don't know how much they know but they know, and it's kind of... It's my fault."

"Alyss, what -"

"I burned the databanks here and fried the communication authorizations. You'll be hearing from all the other safehouses soon. They need to take all their electronic files offline. Now." He stalked into the lodge; the rest of the vampires were beginning to appear from their nondescript hiding places where they'd been pretending to be staff with varying degrees of success.

"But -"

"I have..." Alyss came to a dead stop and felt as if he might faint. "I've been summoned to New York."

"Alright," Evie's voice went taut. "We'll just put you in the system, then. Get you out to China, it's chaos over there -"

"Me? Me!" Alyss leaned against a wall and felt unexplainable laughter bubble up inside him. "How do you suggest I hide the wings and pass myself as someone else? I'm not a vampire, Evie, I can't be someone else, I can't be human, I can't pass. Do you realize what they'd do to the pipeline to get to me?"

"We can't let an archangel get to you, Alyss! They'll rip the pipeline information right out of your head!"

"They will," Alyss felt as if he couldn't breathe. "And it'll do them no good. But you'll have to trust me on that."

"But then how are we supposed to help you!" she cried out.

"You aren't. You're on damage control now, that's all you should be doing. I need to get going -"

"Going where?" Jean's voice demanded.

Alyss closed his eyes for a long moment. This. This had been the reason he'd been trembling, the reason he couldn't catch his breath. There was his vampire, all that was good, all that nearly three hundred years of solitude had been waiting and hoping for, all unknowing.

All taken away in the blink of an eye.

He hung up and gave the phone back to Maia, trying to find something to say, anything to say that would sum up the hundreds of things, of feelings and thoughts that he'd not yet shared with Jean. He'd believed, foolishly, that they'd have forever. But forever had come to a very abrupt halt. Alyss opened his mouth, closed it, opened it and closed it again. He couldn't even turn around to face Jean.

"Say something!" Jean demanded, a plea barely hidden in the words.

"I have to go." Alyss turned to look at him and the rest of the bewildered staff. "Get back to Boston and to Evie. Now." They either trotted or ran to obey him and he rushed into the office.

"Go where? What happened, Alyss?" Jean followed him into the office.

"They know, the Hunters know, so I imagine someone knows, I think they caught one of the vampires from Maine and now they know something, maybe not everything but they know, and they found my cloak so they know about me, at least, and that's not good at all, but -"

"So you're running?"

The fury in the words staggered Alyss as if he'd been punched. Once again he was left breathless, staring at Jean in shock even as the vampire stared at him in disbelief.

"You can't run from this fight, Alyss!"

"I'm not running!"

"Then where are you going?"

He couldn't tell Jean, Alyss realized. Because his vampire would then demand to come with him, and the Archangel would tear him apart. Or hand him over to the Guild. "I'm not running," he repeated.

"It sure fucking looks like you are!" Jean shouted. Nothing in him wanted to believe it. Nothing. His angel was so clever, so bright, so funny, so kind. But if there was one thing Jean had known about Alyss from the beginning was that his sunflower was not a fighter. And four centuries of trauma were rearing up inside him to remind him that angels were cruel, and selfish, and liars. Whispering that the only thing angels were good at was treachery.

You can't run away from every fight that finds you.

I absolutely can, and I absolutely will.

"Do you trust me?" Alyss shouted back.

"I thought I could!"

Jean saw his angel flinch and felt as if someone had dumped him into a cold well. What the hell was he doing? This was his bird, his sunflower, the one who saw him for who he truly was, who he wanted to be. "Alyss, what is going on. That's all I need to know. What. is going. on."

I thought I could. The words had been an unexpected, searing knife cutting right through Alyss. So. He'd been... nothing, in the end. Perhaps not a trophy but likely nothing more than a pleasant diversion. A rope for the vampire to dig himself out from under his past. He should have been angry, Alyss realized, he should have been furious. At least if he'd taken up with one of the suitors his parents had found for him they would have both been honest on where they stood.

But he loved Jean. He loved him no matter what the vampire might feel, or not, for him. It was, the truest part of his brain told him, why it hurt so much to hear those four words. Love doesn't beget love, his father had once told him in the manner of someone handing out deep wisdom. Best not to love at all.

But he did love, Alyss realized. Unwisely, apparently, but he did love. "I don't even know where to begin." Which was a lie, a terrible one. He already knew what he had to do.

"Not running would be a good place." Jean bit back any further words and dragged in a long breath, trying to master his own runaway trauma, knowing it, not him, was the one talking. Already the hurt, lost look in those sweet brown eyes was making him regret everything he'd said and done since he'd barged out of the cellar to the ruckus upstairs. "Alyss, I didn't -"

"I need to talk to Evie," the angel whispered numbly, patting himself down. "I left it... Where did I..."

"I'll get it," Jean said automatically, moving behind the desk to look for the damned phone.

He was still rummaging through folders and paperwork when he heard the door close and lock and for a moment, staring at it, he couldn't believe what he was seeing or what had just happened.

The office was one of two rooms in the lodge that had not been changed overmuch. The stone walls of it and the cellar remained, to a thickness of nearly a foot. There were no windows to the office, only the door, which looked like a gracious oak example of its kind, but wasn't: it was thin oak paneling over a reinforced blast door running on hydraulic hinges. It was a panic room, supposed to protect someone from the wrath of an angry angel, if they ever found out the truth of what the pipeline did.

In a pinch, it was a very good cage for an angry vampire.

Jean leaped over the desk. "No, no, nonono, Alyss! No! What are you - Don't!" He slammed full-force into the door. Unsurprisingly, it didn't budge. "Alyss!"

"I'm not running." His angel's voice was muffled, but no thickness of steel could hide the heartbreak in it. "I wish you could believe that. I wish you did trust me."

"Alyss!" Every old fear and far too many new ones were rising up inside Jean, strangling him, whispering a new, deadly truth: he'd done this. He'd done it to the both of them. He banged on the door. "Alyss!"

"I'll call someone from New York to let you out."

"New York, wha- " Jean abruptly realized there could be only one reason for Alyss to be going to New York. The breadth and depth of his paranoia-driven stupidity staggered him and launched him shoulder-first at the door. "NO!"

But Alyss was no longer there to hear him.