#tried doing 5 and 6 seconds of silence a couple times then got confused whether id tried 7 seconds already or not but anyways

[uwuwriting]

Maybe pregnant hcs for Todoroki, Iida, Shinsou and Amajiki???💓💓💓💓💓

-Ohoho!!!! This right here just melts my hurt. Even thinking about it makes me weak.Plus a little heads up, everyone is having daughters cause I’m weak to the knees with the thought of these four and their babygirls so be prepared. Hope I don’t disappoint.💖💖💖

*All characters are aged up so around the ages of 20-25 and up*

Todoroki Shouto

-You and Shouto have been together since your second year in UA.

-You got married when you both got well acquainted with the hero life and now live a happy , yet busy, life in an apartment near his mom’s house. 

-We know that this boy would want his family to be close to him and the fact that you get along with everyone fills his heart with so much love. 

-You two never really talked about children.

-Maybe a few suggestions of having a child in the future but nothing serious.

-Que the morning sickness. 

-Shouto was really worried about you, I mean look at you.

-You’re emptying your guts in the toilet every single morning. 

-You can’t eat most foods that you used to like and have a weird craving for tuna yogurt?!

-He doesn’t want to leave the house, he even convinced you to take some days off and try to relax.

-Give your body rest.

-He promised to get some days off himself to take care of you.

-You had your suspicions, tbh.

-You just didn’t tell him.

-Whether that was to not get his hopes up or to post pone the heartbreak you didn’t really know.

-So what if you were mildly panicking over the fact that the 5 pregnancy tests you just took were all positive. 

-It was the first day of your mini ‘vacation’ and thankfully Shouto had been called in today.

-Because you’re panicking and legit losing your shit over this, you call....Rei.

-Okay maybe it wasn’t the best course of action considering you were on the verge of cardiac arrest, but what can you do.

-You asked her if she was home and if you could stop by.

-Of course she said yes, delighted to see you and mentioned that Fuyumi was also going to stop by in around an hour.

-You made your way to her house, arriving just as Fuyumi was pulling into the drive way.

-After greeting each other and going inside, you took your seats in the living room and waited for Rei to make some tea.

-Fuyumi was going on and on about what the kids at the kindergarten were doing and how cute some of them were being. 

-Neither of the Todoroki women had missed your puffy eyes or how your smile would constantly waver, but they decided to let you tell them on your own accord. 

-Once Rei joined you in the living room, they both turned to you.

- “So how have you been Y/n, dear?” Rei said watching you really closely. 

-You looked down, feeling hot tears starting to form in your eyes and your throat tightening painfully. 

-Fuyumi moved closer to you while Rei draped an arm around your shoulders which were shacking at the moment. 

- “I-I’m p-pregnant.” it was barely a whisper, but they heard it alright.

-Mom mode activated 2x.

-They reassured you that everything was going to be fine and how lucky you are.

-They repeatedly said how excited Shouto will be and what of a push over of a dad he would become.

-After 4 long hours of baby talk, you returned home, collapsing on the sofa before passing out for a good 3 hour nap.

-When you woke up, Shouto was home and sitting next to you weaving his fingers absentmindedly through your hair. 

- “Hey there sleepyhead.”

-How could his voice be so soft!?!?

-You buried your face into the blanket, which really confused him, I mean...what did he do?

- “We have a problem...” pause....awkward silence.... “I’m pregnant.”

-*Windows noises*

-After the mild stroke, he lifted you up so you were looking at him and just stared at you. 

-Those seconds that he just looked at you felt like eternity.  

-The torture ended however, when he lowered his head to your stomach and lifting your shirt, placed a small kiss right under your belly button.

- “Hey there, snowflake. Nice to meet you.”

-And with that, 9 exhausting months started full of mood swings, weird cravings, back rubs and a never ending list of baby names.

-You two learned you were having twins on your fifth appointment, but you decided to keep the gender a surprise. 

-On a cold January night your two girls were brought into the world and it was one of the few times you had seen Endeavour and Natsuo in the same room bawling their eyes out. 

-Your white haired baby was named Rei *after her grandmother* while your mixed red and h/c babygirl Ren. 

-When Shouto held them for the first time, you thought he was going to have a mental breakdown.

-He’s a total push over and your girls are daddy’s girls to the core.

-He’s the best dad they could ask for.

Iida Tenya

-You and Tenya have been married for 6 years now and have been trying endlessly for a baby.

-You both agreed that you were ready for the responsibility and that having a little Tenya running around the house sounded like a great idea.

-Saying that you were exhausted form the attempts was an understatement.

-Tenya had incredible stamina and even more libido, so you can safely assume that during the week long process of baby making you couldn’t walk straight.

-However, your little shenanigans stopped when your doctor delivered you the news.

-You had been hit by a blood related quirk while dealing with a villain and had to get a check up afterwards.

-You were given a scolding the moment you saw your doctor because why aren’t you in desk duty you RASCAL!?

-You were confused beyond belief and it was written all over your face.

- “You don’t know do you?” 

-Le sigh.

- “Mrs. Iida I’m happy to announce you that you’re expecting, so that means you are to be put in desk duty for the next 4 months or else I’m making sure you don’t leave the house for a good 9 months.”

-You. Were. Ecstatic. 

-You ran to Tenya’s agency, bringing down the damned door to his office giving the man a heart attack.

- “Y/n what’s-”

- “I’M PREGNANT!” 

-Que ecstatic air chopping. 

-Tenya went into full dad mode during those 9 months. 

-Buttt he’s also kinda nervous.

-Nervous like Tamaki in a crowd level nervous.

-You get the image.

-You have anything you want whenever you want it.

-The nursery is done the moment you find out you are having a gilr.

-Unlike Todoroki he isn’t patient enough to keep the gender a secret.

-When the day arrives, you’re just chilling outside with him when you nonchalantly blurt out ‘my waters broke’.

-....oh...oH.....OHSHIIIIIIIT.

- “WHY ARE YOU SO CALM?! GET UP! ARE YOU IN PAIN? CAN YOU WALK!?”

-This goes on until you are screaming and crushing his hand in the delivery room.

-Your little girl is born and she’s a carbon copy of Tenya.

-Same colored hair and eyes.

-The face structure looks like you.

-She has your nose and mouth, along with your eyebrows but apart from that she’s a mini genderbend Tenya.

-Because she was born early in the morning you decided to change her name and so little Asami Tenya was officially a part of this world.

-Tenya cried.

-You cried.

-Asami cried.

-You were one happy crying family.

Shinsou Hitoshi

-You and Hitoshi have been together for two years now, but you haven’t put a ring on it.

-Sure you live together and act like a married couple already but you’re not Mrs.Shinsou.....yet.

-You have been feeling strange for days now and your period was late which never happens.

-You are panicking but unlike Shouto you two aren’t married.

-He can leave with almost no complications.

-You were his girlfriend not his wife.

-The pregnancy tests you had taken were mocking you from the bathroom sink and your poor hormone ridden mind couldn’t handle the stress.

-You cried a river until you heard keys jiggling and HItoshi’s iconic ‘Kitten, I’m home!’

-You couldn’t face him like this.

-In a haste you shoved the tests into the laundry basket along with their packages and covered them with some sheets. 

-Fixing your hair and washing your face, you straightened and walked out the door.

-After greeting Hitoshi with a kiss you calmly told him to go get ready while you made him something to eat.

-Your mind was running laps thinking how you could tell him or how you could solve your little problem as quietly as possible.

-That is until he walked in holding what seemed to be a box.

-A pregnancy test box.

-HOW CAN YOU BE BLIND?

- “Y/n, what’s this?”pause “Are you..?”

-Anddd more crying.

-You sobbed about how sorry you were and how you couldn’t explain how it happened.

-Both of you were so careful, how did this happen???

-After a good 15 minutes of you bawling your eyes out on the kitchen floor while Hitoshi was trying to calm you down, you finally stopped at the sound of his chuckle. 

- “Well, damn kitten, your surprise definitely beat mine.”

-Then he pulled a small velvet box from his pocket and watched you closely.

-Now you are Mrs.Shinsou.

-These 9 months weren’t as bad as you would expect.

-Hitoshi was really good at giving you everything you wanted and during the whole pregnancy you didn’t lift a finger.

-One October night your waters broke and you found yourself in a long procedure of bringing your child into the world. 

-Hitoshi was a wreck and had called Aizawa for emotional support who called Hizashi who called Midnight.

-Once you were finished, Hitoshi rushed into your room and found you utterly exhausted.

-He was the first to hold your baby and you have never seen him cry this much in your life. 

- “Hello my little Kei.”

-Kei Shinsou was a happy little girl with an amazing father by her side.

Amajiki Tamaki

-Ah love.

-Something Tamaki found during high school and held onto it ever since. 

-Now a well known pro hero, Suneater was more than happy with his life with you.

-He always wanted a little something more but never expressed it. 

-He loved the idea of having a mini you running around the living room or waking him up in the morning with little squeals and kisses.

-He loved you to the moon and back, more than life itself but having a kid with you sparked a whole new sensation in him.

-So he tried to be sly about it.

-Forgetting the condoms or to pull out.

-You not being able to find your pills.

-A whole lot of fun. 

-You were newly weds and your libidos were high af and with the prospect of children on the table Tamaki became 10x more driven and horny.

-So you weren’t all that surprised when your doctor gave you the news. 

-You had gone for a plain old check up when he came into the room with a bright smile on his face and congratulations falling like a waterfall from his mouth. 

-Once back home you put your plan in motion. 

-You had a feeling Tamaki was trying to knock you up for some time now.

-He couldn’t forget to pull out every time like come on.

-But you were fine with it since you too wanted a kid with him.

-You just would’ve liked a little heads up first.

-You made your little bun and put it in the oven.

-And waited.

-And waited.

-And waited.

-Until finally Tamaki walked through the door,  a smile gracing his features as he made his way to you.

- “Hey bunny.”

-Giving him a quick peck you told him to check the oven real quick to make sure the food was all good.

-He obliged, walking to the kitchen and seeing the sole bun sitting in the oven.

-He was beyond confused on why you would only make one bun in the oven and not more, I mean you are two peop- ohhhh.

-OH.

-He did it. 

-He let the news settle in before going back to you.

- “Are you sure?” nod “100% sure?” another nod.

-At that he fell to his knees in front of you, attacking your stomach with kisses and I love yous.

-To whom they were directed you couldn’t actually tell but you were happy either way.

-Calls the baby butterfly.

-Makes the whole nursery along with Mirio who is ecstatic.

-Butterfly themed baby room.

-Expect many back and belly rubs along with Tamaki coming home early because Fatgum cannot allow him to stay at work when he’s preparing for a baby.

-When your waters break you are buying some onesies with small octopuses on them.

-You have never been taken to the hospital so fast in your whole hero career. 

-After many painful and stressful hours, your baby girl is born and she’s stunning.

-She has Tama’s ears and hair but your eyes and nose. 

-She’s a perfect mix. 

-The Big 3 cry as a team.

-When she’s given to him, Tamaki just cry laughs at how gorgeous she’s.

-Many thank yous are exchanged.

- Cho Amajiki.

-Tamaki cannot stop repeating the name even after they have taken her away.

-He curls on the chair next to you, holding your hand the whole night, falling into a deep sleep, imaging his new life with his little butterfly. 

[unstable-sapphic-hoe]

The Ultimatum

AN: So y'all remember when I told you I'd have more time bc school gave us an academic break, yea about that, our teacher gave us work, and will be giving us work until further notice. Anyways, that kinda sucks but I'ma try to update as much as I can. Like always tell me if you wanna be added to the taglist and feel free to give me feedback and stuff <3 Words: 1,067 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Chapter 6

Prev. Chap. Masterlist Next. Chap. It was a cold winter’s night, fog was dense, impairing their vision. Above them, what should’ve been a beautiful night sky decorated with bright stars was instead blocked by clouds that barely let the light pass through. The silence was filled by lithe footsteps through the snow and the occasional breaths of exhale from the people. “Are you sure that the perimeter’s been breached? For all we know it could have been a squirrel” A blonde woman grumbles. “You can never be too sure, Ana” Answered by another woman, this time a brunette. The blonde only replied with a huff. After a few more minutes of patrolling the area and looking for the breached, they finally found something, or rather, heard it. They could faintly hear the sounds of what seemed to be a… child? No. That’s not possible. All the girls were accounted for and they knew that all the doors of the facility were shut. Although, then again, this wouldn’t be the first time a student has tried to escape. She had to admit, she was impressed that the child even made it this far out. No one’s ever done so. Quickly she raised her hand in a signal to stop. She glanced back at the people she’s brought with her and silently communicated that they needed to be silent. With a nod of understanding from them, she faced the direction of the cries and headed there. As they got closer and closer, they could all make out a faint silhouette of the child who supposedly escaped.

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Y/N was confused. She could have sworn that she slept in her room, on her comfortable bed with a warm blanket over her. Yet, she wasn’t in her room when she woke up. She wasn’t in her soft bed with sheets that smelled like lavender, and she didn’t have her warm blanket over her either. Instead she was on the ground, covered in snow, the air smelling like those tree shaped car fresheners she saw one time at a shop, but fresher. Next to her she saw a backpack, which was filled with an assortment of different stuff. She didn’t know what to do. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. She was alone. She didn’t have Kara, or Kal, or Artemis and Diana. She didn’t even get to say goodbye. This brought a wave of tears to her, her lips wobbling. She didn’t want to be alone. With that thought, her tears fell freely as sobs wracked through her little body. She must’ve been there for what seemed like an hour before she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, her super hearing picking up a labored breaths and a couple heart beats getting closer to where she was. She was scared. What if they killed her? So what? You’re just gonna sit there and cry about it? A voice echoed in her head, sounding faintly like Vidia from the Tinkerbell movies she watched a few days ago from movie night. But what can I do? Think like a warrior. What would they do? What would a warrior do? She echoed in her head, recalling the stories Diana and Artemis told her before bed. A few scant seconds later and she made her decision. She steeled herself before lifting her head up, staring at the group of people before her with determination in her eyes. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> She was perplexed. The child suddenly stopped crying, her shoulders no longer shaking from her sobs. She was silent. Maybe she wore herself out and fell asleep, who knows? She inches her way closer, her team behind her. Just as she was about 5 feet away from the kid, she suddenly glanced up, seemingly sizing them up. She had to give it to the kid, she had a great stare, impressive for her age. She started to examine her closer, wondering how such a kid like her could escape. She would’ve thought it was one of the older kids, with graduation coming right around the corner. That’s when she came to a startling realization. This wasn’t one of their kids, and they haven’t recruited anyone new either. ”Who are you?” She called out in Russian. When she received a confused look and no reply, her suspicions were confirmed. “Who are you?” she called out again, this time in English with a barely noticeable accent. This time she got a reaction out of the girl. Her eyes filled with indecision as her brows furrowed together, contemplating whether or not she should answer. Eventually, she gave in. “Y/N” she said, trying to sound brave. “Why are you out here?” she interrogates. “I-I don’t know” she stammers, confused and unsure of herself. She sighed inwardly. This conversation was most likely going nowhere, and her face was starting to feel numb from the cold, even seeping through her think layer of clothes. She knew the girl must have been freezing by now, judging by the thin Y/F/C pajamas she had on. She couldn’t just leave her here, she might’ve been a bitch most of the time but she wasn’t as heartless as some of the student might have thought. And plus, she could be a new student, and the others would’ve wanted her to be brought in any way to asses her. So with that, she signaled her team to stay where they were as she made her way to the kid. “It’s alright kid, everything’s gonna be okay” she whispered lowly, not wanting to others to her, she had a reputation to keep, before bending down to pick the girl up off the ground, along with the kid’s backpack. Yeah this kid definitely wasn’t from the facility. No one had this much stuff. After that, they made their trek back to the facility, the team whispering between themselves, trying to figure out what was going on. She then cursed under her breath, quite enough not to be heard, and inwardly

groaned at the meetings she’s have to endure after this, she hated meetings, and the pile of paperwork waiting for her at her desk, and the future one’s to come about the mysterious kid she had in her arms. She glanced back the kid who fell asleep in her arms, most likely worn out from crying, and felt an unfamiliar feeling in her chest that she chose to ignore. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Taglist:@madamevirgo , @black-dragon1998 , @marrymemcgrath ,@trikruismybitch

[butteraway]

when time runs out | v

⋆ summary:  A young girl has fallen deeply ill with an unknown disease in her, so with all her free time spent in an empty hospital room, she spends it online playing video games. That's until she meets her cousins friends, one spiking her interest with his extremely vulgare language.

pairing: bakugou katsuki x reader

word count: 6.3k

warnings: none

authors note: HERE IT IS!! A whopping 6k chapter can you believe this lol :’) I plan on making the chapters this long, so that means it’ll take a little longer for me to write,,, But enjoy this guys!

Y/N was laying on her bed, twirling the bottle of pills that captivated her interest. Sitting up, she slowly opened the cap and took a pill out. She examined it, liking how the yellow and green color meshed together. The pills didn't look like anything special, just your basic average pill.

Her conversation with doc was a bit unnerving though to say the least. The doctor was acting a bit off if you asked her.                                      ______________________

Y/N looked at Receen with uncertainty painting her face. What was the meaning of this? Was it really possible for her if she took these pills? He wouldn't try to kill her? They've known each other for almost two years, so he wouldn't try anything.

Right?

"C'mon Y/N, you trust me right? You can see your family again, just take them!" Doctor Receen urged the girl with an enthusiastic smile. Though the look in his eyes seemed a bit desperate for her to take them. Weird.

"Say, Doc, I don't wanna sound ungrateful or anything, but-" she was cut off by a soft laugh. It sounded more forced.

"Y/N, there's nothing to worry about! You had professionals work and conduct these small things! Here! Just take them and think about it!" Receen tossed the bottle to Y/N, who barely caught it with both hands. "I'll have someone bring in some fresh clothes just in case you do want to try these things out.”

And just like that he was out the door.                                     ______________________

Y/N scratched the back of her neck as she put the pill back in the bottle, wondering why the doctor was pushy with her taking them. Her eyes wandered around the room until they landed on the new pile of clothes sitting on the edge of her bed. A kind lady bought it a short while ago, giving her a small smile before leaving.

Though, Y/N decided she'd play a game before calling her parents to tell them the wonderful news. It still felt odd for her to just get pills for her sickness right then and there. Even if it wasn’t a permanent solution. She wasn't even informed about the making of her medicine, despite what Receen had told her. All that she knew was that they were trying to keep her alive. Turning on her console and taking her controller, she glanced at the bottle. She didn't close it of course, wanting to see that they were actually real. 

Putting on her headphones, she put on Fortnite and waited for other players to join. She really hated this game, but it was hilarious to see people rage. Seeing someone join, she tried to talk to them, but got no response. Briefly closing her eyes for a few seconds, she snapped them open after hearing a familiar gruff voice. King Explosion Murder!

"We better win this or I'll look for all of you and kill you." That was literally the first thing the dude said as the game began. Y/N let out an awkward chuckle, a sweat drop appearing on her forehead. This'll be interesting. She cleared her throat, slightly catching the attention of ‘Explosion Murder'.

"Hey! Do you remember me? We played together a few nights ago, with this other guy called Tape Dispenser on OverWatch!" Y/N decided to take a friendly approach, trying not to blow a fuse with this guy. I do not wanna be on this guy's bad side again. Silence filled the air, making Y/N feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Who the fuck are you?" Said girl nearly choked on her spit as she doubled over. She began shooting at random people as the game began, taking them down and moving with her small team. She once again felt her eyebrow twitch.

"What do you mean 'who are you?' Y/N asked, lowering her voice to mimic Murder's voice. She made her character shoot a person in front of her. Headshot!

"I have no idea who the hell you are, so shut the hell up!" Murder's voice rang through her ear as she winced at the volume. So loud! Her other teammate was shot down and killed, making Y/N sigh.

"You sure dude? I'm the one who almost won the game, but like, died at the very end?" Y/N didn't even know why she was even trying to talk to this guy. She just felt like she wanted to know him better. Or her. Could be a girl with a really deep voice? Murder was quiet before a growl like grunt was heard.

"So you're the damn girl who did that." Murder's voice was low and Y/N didn't know whether or not to feel scared for herself. "Haha! Yeah, that was me." She awkwardly laughed, not sure if he was going to blow a fuse because of that.

Murder was quiet, with the exception of his breathing being heard through her headphones. Y/N just came to the conclusion that Murder was, in fact, a dude. She didn't want to believe that a girl had that deep of a voice. It was possible, she thought, though she couldn't picture a female with that voice. She'd die if she did. The thought made her stifle a laugh.

"The fuck you laughing about?!" Y/N looked at his kill counts and her eyes widened. 7 already?! Goddamn! She looked at her own and only saw three. "Well aren't you curious now?" Murder let out a huff, as if he were trying to contain his inner rage. "I was asking for a goddamn reason." 

Y/N swore she could feel his irritation through the screen. The two met up and began to continue to go to the middle of the map. 6 kills. Cool! She once again looked at Murder's kills and felt her confidence deflate once again. Way to make me depressed dude. As she was shooting a player, Y/N looked at the kill feed and almost spit everywhere.

"MOTHER FUCKING FUCKER!" This dude exploded, and by the noise, she assumed he threw his chair. This dude! Suddenly, an idea came in her, oh so beautiful, head. "Yo yo yo, bro! I gotta deal!" This caught Murder's attention as he let out an aggressive 'What.’ She smiled wide as she continued to play the game, knocking down and killing another player. 

"I carry the team and win, you accept my friend request!" 

"What if you don't win, huh?" That's what Y/N was scared of. She let out a defeated sigh and surrendered. "I'll give you the most rare skin I own." There was silence as she took some damage from another player. 

"Which is what?" She swallowed and opened her mouth. "It's the skin that was only given to 5 players from the event last year." 

"Deal." He said it so fast that Y/N was actually scared to give him it. But she always kept her word. Looking to see how much other players were left, she felt her heart speed up. Why am I freaking doing this?! The girl continued to focus on the game at hand and began skillfully killing the other players. She got hit a few times, but never went down. When it was finally one player left, besides herself, she began to be cautious. At last, she took down the final player and yelled out in joy!

"Oh yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about baby! Sweet sweet victory!" Y/N cheered while throwing her hands up in the air and slightly jumping on her bed. She had no idea why she was even this excited to win. Maybe it's cuz I like him. Y/N stopped mid cheer, before she burst out with laughter as she wondered why she even thought that. She doesn't even know the guy!

"Well, looks like you're gonna have to accept me!" Murder let out a couple of grumbles and snide comments as he accepted her request that she sent. "It was only fucking luck. Don't get too cocky."

Y/N gave a toothy smile that he couldn't see and giggled. "Whatever helps you sleep at night." The small girl looked at the time and decided this was enough for the day. "Well Mr. Explody, I gotta go! It was cool playing with you!" 

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Get off now, you're starting to piss me off." Y/N laughed at his sour attitude and decided to fuel the flame some more.

"Y'know, you should work on your gaming. You suck." The girl quickly got off the game and turned off her console, but not without hearing him yell at her. The smile never left her face as she fell on her back and looked at the ceiling. Gosh, he's so weird. She continued to replay their interactions before turning her head and looking at the phone. She sighed and sat up. 

All her happy feelings went down the drain. Something just didn't feel right with the medicine the doctor gave her. Whatever. It's probably because I always thought I'd be cooped up in this room for the rest of my life. Y/N blinked and walked to the phone and dialed her parents number. She stood anxious, hearing the phone ring and her hands trembling with excitement? Fear? Who knows.

"Hello? Y/N? How are you!" Her mom's cheery voice sounded through the phone and once again, the girl smiled. "Hi Mommy! I'm fine, perfectly fine actually. What about you?" She decided to keep things smooth and simple. The laughter of her mother brought Y/N back to reality.

"Oh Y/N! No need to be so formal! I'm your mother, no need to act like that!" Y/N let out a chuckle and brushed her hair away from her face. "Yeah, sorry Mommy." 

"And to answer your question, I am doing amazing!" She let out a hum, letting her mother know she heard. "Well, I have some kind of big and important news. So basically, Doctor Receen made some kind of medicine. For my, y'know, 'sickness.' Crazy right?"

There was a small pause before the cheerful voice of her mother sounded in her ear. "I know! The Doctor had already told your father and I beforehand! I was so ecstatic, and I still am for you-"

"Wait, you already knew? And you didn't tell me?" Y/N’s voice was filled with confusion. Why didn’t mom tell me? Was she keeping it a secret? Did she try hiding it from me? Was she ever going to-

“Well I wanted it to be a surprise for you from the doctor!” Said the older woman happily, leaving Y/N to feel embarrassed. She let out a small ‘Oh’, and rubbed her neck. Why did she even think her mother wouldn’t tell her something so important? Shaking her head, Y/N continued.

“Well thank you! I’m still, uh, just still a little skeptical of the pills. I’m not sure if they are actually going to work…” The clear doubt was heard in the girl’s voice. Her mother furrowed her eyebrows.

“But sweetie! Of course they’re going to work! I would’ve thought you’d be more excited about this!” Glancing up to look at the bottle, Y/N could only let out a short ‘yeah.’ 

“So when will you be coming! Your dad and I agreed that we would pick you up after you took one of the pills, so you could come home for a while!” Her mother’s voice continued to rant off about what they were going to do when she came back home. While the voice continued, Y/N drifted off into her head.

How am I going to tell Denki this? Should I like, surprise him when he comes back from school? Hmm, I swear if he cries, I think I will too-

“Y/N! Y/N honey are you there?” Zooming back into reality, she let out a chuckle from her mother’s worried voice.

“Yeah mom, sorry. I was just thinking about some things.” M/N hummed in understanding. It grew quiet quick, but soon was filled with Y/N’s sweet voice. “I think I’ll take the pill on Friday mommy. You can come pick me up at around three. This gives you some time to prepare for everything, heh.”

Her mother let out loud cheers, happy that she will be able to see her daughter face to face again. It’s been so long since she had last seen Y/N, not being able to take it, seeing her child confined in a spacious room. 

The two talked for a short moment more until they decided to hang up. Placing down the phone, Y/N sighed. Dragging herself and the IV back to her bed, she sat in silence. Who knows how long she stayed in that position, all that she knows is that she was snapped out of her daze after a brief knock to her door. She hummed, loud enough for the person to hear. Opening the door, the woman walked in, boots squeaking against the clean floor. The short spray in the air filled the silence as the doctor walked over to Y/N’s IV bag.

Watching her check and adjust the fluid bag, Y/N’s big eyes snapped to the doctor’s face when she began speaking. “You’ve been moving a lot. The needle is off center from where it’s supposed to be.” 

As she said that, the girl felt a slight pinch on her arm and saw the doctor putting the needle back into its rightful place. Satisfied with the placement of the needle, she hummed in acceptance and patted Y/N’s arm with her gloved hand. Moving her arm around to get used to the feeling of it back inside her body, Y/N wondered when it had fallen out. Huh, I didn’t even notice. 

Feeling the need to fill the silence, Y/N spoke. “Well, today was an exciting day, haha. Received amazing news and had a wonderful conversation with my mom.” Y/N chuckled in false amusement, but the doctor could only narrow her eyes at the small girl. “Mm, you sound so excited, I could tell when I first walked in here.”

Now Y/N did laugh at that. Who knew the scary doctor lady could go along with her sarcasm! With now gleaming eyes, the excitement was now visible in her eyes. Now that she knew the doctor was ‘nice’, she definitely was going to have fun talking with this doctor. Seeing as she turned around and went to head towards the door, Y/N was quick to stop her. 

“Hey! What’s your name?” The doctor’s eyes widened in shock and turned fully to the girl who had now stood up.

“What do you mean ‘what’s your name?’ I’ve been one of your main doctors for two years!” The woman exclaimed in exasperation, unbelieving of the situation she was just put in. Y/N could only weakly shrug.

“Sorry about that! I just, uh, like was too nervous around you to remember your name?” As pathetic as the excuse was, she was telling the truth! I am so sorry Ms. Doctor! The older woman could only shake her head in amusement.

“My name is Doctor Shuzenji Kumiko, but call me Doctor Kumiko. Now you better remember that, this will be the last time I tell you my name.” Y/N nodded her head with such affirmation, Doctor Kumiko thought the child would accidentally hurt herself. And right now she did not need that happening. While she shook her head though, Y/N couldn’t help but feel a strike of familiarity at her name. But what about it is familiar? Cranking every gear in her head, she failed to notice Doctor Kumiko looking around the room.

Doctor Kumiko was never able to get a proper look around the sick girl’s room, seeing as her mission was to go in, check if Y/N was ok, and then get out. Though she immediately noticed how empty her room was. Only one big bed, a flat screen tv perched on a small table, and the medical equipment were all that occupied the room. Though now that she started paying more attention, the room was a different color. Bland white walls were now full of a bright color, something not too dark, but not too eye bleeding. It was a nice appealing color that suited the girl standing in front of her. That’s when Doctor Kumiko’s eyes landed on the small table next to the grand bed. They slightly widened as they caught eyesight on the small bottle. 

“I can’t believe he gave them to her.” Kumiko hissed silently just as Y/N snapped her fingers. Staring at the doctor, she tilted her head. 

“Did you say something?”

“Huh? Oh no, it’s nothing! Just remembering something is all!” Doctor Kumiko rubbed her neck, putting the momentary problem in the back of her head for now. Y/N shrugged her shoulders, curiously looking at the doctor in front of her. Clearing her throat, the doctor shifted the focus off herself.

“So were you going to say something?” Slowly fiddling with her gloved hands, the Doctor could only sigh in relief as Y/N eyes popped open quickly.

“AH YES!” Y/N quickly wobbled to the doctor forgetting to take the IV that weighed her down with her. The doctor let out a small gasp, stepping behind the girl and rolling it next to Y/N who didn’t pay any attention to that.

“I finally recognize where I heard that last name from! And no, I didn’t just remember your name you supposedly told me before.” The lady’s sharp eyes rolled, letting her continue.

“RECOVERY GIRL HAS THE SAME SURNAME! ISN’T THAT INSANE?! I HONESTLY FIND THAT SO COOL! I wish I had the same name as a famous person, oooo like All Might’s name, or or even Endeavor’s!” Doctor Kumiko cringed at the sound of Endeavor’s name but paid no mind to that. Right now she had to deal with a hero fangirl. Just then Y/N abruptly stopped her rapid talking, moving closer to Doctor Kumiko’s face.

“Wait. Are you like-” Y/N looked around the room as if there was someone else watching them. When she was done, she leaned closer to the doctor’s protected head and whispered the following words. “Are you Recovery Girl’s daughter?” The woman could only sigh and stared into the girl’s shining eyes. When Y/N got no response she determined her answer by herself.

“Oh my gOSH!!! WAIT LIKE FOR REAL?! LIKE YOU’RE ACTUALLY HER DAUGHTER?? YOU LOOK A LITTLE YOUNG TO BE HER DAUGHTER BUT I’M NOT COMPLAINING! WOW THIS IS SO CRAZY, ALL THIS TIME YOU WALKED IN HERE AND I HAD NO IDEA WHO YOU ACTUALLY WERE!! I HAVE TO TELL DENKI HE’S GONNA FREAK OUT-” Doctor Kumiko bellowed a laugh so grand it had Y/N laughing along as well. After attempting to wipe away her tears soon realizing she couldn’t due to her helmet, she let out more bubbly laughs. 

“Aahhh, you’re pure gold!! I can see why Receen likes you!” She smiled brightly down towards Y/N who gave her a beaming grin of her own in return. “But yes! You’re right, though not entirely.” 

Y/N trying to keep up with Doctor Kumiko’s pace to her bed, they both sat down and got comfortable. “Since you basically found out my family tree, to answer your question fully, I am related to Recovery Girl. I’m not her daughter, but her granddaughter instead.” 

The small girl’s eyes widened in shock. No way. She actually met someone who’s related to one of the greatest heroes of all time. Don’t fight her on this, she knows what she’s talking about. As she stared at the doctor with such admiration, Kumiko could only give her a weak smile. She knew what the next question would be. Her answer would always leave people with disappointment. 

“Wait! Does that mean that you have a similar quirk to Recovery Girl? After two generations, wouldn’t your quirk be more evolved at this point? Or do you have a mixture of both your parents quirk, seeing as your mom could’ve inherited some of Recovery Girl’s quirk or something like that!” Doctor Kumiko only shook her head leaving Y/N confused.

“Then did you get a quirk similar to your dads?” Once again shaking her head no, Y/N was beyond confused. Until a thought passed through her head.

“Are you… are you quirkless?” Y/N didn’t really consider a descendant from a nationwide known hero to be quirkless. It’s possible, but very unlikely. After all, only 20 percent of people in the world aren’t born with quirks. Me included. Y/N’s eyebrow twitched at the truth of her thought train. Once again though, the doctor shook her head and went to explain to the young girl.

“I do have a quirk, so that’s not the problem. The problem lies in how efficient my quirk is.” Y/N listened intently, ready to store this useful information in her memory. Ohoho Denki is gonna be sooo jealous, heheh. “My quirk is actually quite weak compared to my grandmother.”

“My mother was born quirkless, meaning that when she had me, many doctors had thought I would be too. But instead, I got a similar quirk to my grandmother. Since my mother had direct DNA from her, part of that DNA was transferred to me, to her granddaughter. Everyone was ecstatic to learn I had gotten a quirk similar to my grandmother, some even thought my quirk would be even greater than hers.

“But alas, I was handed the remains of the quirk from my mother, so I only proved to have a much much weaker quirk compared to Recovery Girl.” Soaking up the information, Y/N looked to Doctor Kumiko. Despite sharing not so amazing information, she didn’t seem to be too bothered by sharing it. In fact, she looked perfectly fine!

“I’ve come to terms that my quirk will always be a weak one, but that doesn’t stop me from using it all. I help as best as I could, using my quirk to help young children when they scrape their knees, and just replenishing as much energy into those who need it the most. I think the biggest wound I’ve healed was a large burn! I was so proud of myself, but I was just so exhausted! So I mostly conserve energy when I need to.”

Y/N nodded, happy that the doctor was sharing so much with her. She didn’t care if it was ‘improper’ or something, she was just glad to be able to talk to someone who wasn’t Receen or Denki.

“You seem quite happy with what you do. How much people have you helped?” Y/N smiled happily at the doctor. “ I’ve helped so many people. And just with my quirk!” Sighing happily, Doctor Kumiko got up and headed towards the door. 

“Do you visit Recovery Girl often?” Y/N had a small favor she would like to ask the doctor, though she needed to make sure she was able to do it first. 

“Of course, she is my grandmother after all. She would spam call me if I hadn’t visited her in over a week.” Doctor Kumiko deadpanned at the thought of that, having experienced that before. Y/N giggled at the thought, phone constantly ringing for who knows how long!

“Makes me deliver her food too if she forgot it. That lady is too much work sometimes.” The doctor rubbed her head, a headache already rolling in at the thought of all the things her grandmother makes her do.

‘Well since you see and visit her~” Y/N smiled sweetly at the woman looking at her with suspicious eyes. “Then that means you have access to the U.A. building!” Now Kumiko was narrowing her eyes at the girl at this point.

“Yes, I’m also a helper at the school too. What cards are you playing right now Ms. L/N?” Said girl chuckled mischievously, quickly moving to grab a small note pad in the drawer of her small table. Ripping out a piece of paper and quickly scribbling words on it and folding it, she handed the paper to the doctor who stared at it in confusion.

“GREAT! I need you to deliver this to my cousin that goes to the school! Since you have access to the school, which I don’t know why you didn’t tell me sooner, this makes your little journey for me easier!” Sharp eyes flew from the paper in her hand to the young girl’s face, back to the paper. Sighing, she silently agreed.

“Thank you!!! Ok, so his name is Kaminari Denki and he’s a first year in the hero course! I don’t know which one, but he’s in one of them if he didn’t lie to me.” Chuckling, the doctor nodded and stood up from the bed. 

“Well I spent too much time in here. I think it’s been the most since the two years I’ve been checking up on you.” Walking to the door, she paused for a moment, turning around to look at the girl who had sat back down on her bed.

“I’ll be sure to get these to your cousin as soon as possible. Also, I’m sure you’ll be able to help so many people when you’re out of here. But please be careful with those pills. They’re very strong so consume them with caution." And with that, she left, door opening, closing, and the familiar sound of the air purifier turning on. 

Chatter filled the classroom in the early morning, the students excited for another day in U.A. Ever since the recent villain attack, many of them were still filled with fear, though their determination to grow stronger overshadowed any negative thoughts. The days passed by since then and many of the young heroes have made it their goal to be stronger than they were before.

Which leads us to a blonde boy with a black lightning streak in his hair, sitting nonchalantly in his chair. He listened to his rambling friend, the red head mentioning something about Crimson Riot, or something like that.

“And ever since then, I always followed his words! He’s my number one inspiration after all-” A grunt was heard next to him, the boys’ eyes turning to the ash blond boy sitting next to them.

“Yeah yeah, we heard this story already, why don’t you talk about something new?” His gruff voice didn’t knock down the red head’s bright mood though, only pushing him to talk more.

“Alright Bakubro, if that’s what you want!” The boy grinned, his sharp teeth on display for everyone to see. And even despite that, no one was very afraid of his appearance, seeing as his personality shone out like the sun outside. “So what did you guys do this weekend? I’ve been training for hours! Ever since U.S.J, I’ll admit, I was still shaken up!” 

At the mention of what happened at U.S.J, more people around them joined in on their conversation. “Tell me about it, my parents didn’t want me coming back because of that.”

A few murmured in agreement, everyone now talking about their experiences at home. “You don’t know how long it took me to convince my mom to not call the school. But if anything, I’m still surprised Midoriya is still here. He was at the core of all the attacks!” 

Said boy turns red at the mention of that. I mean, his mom was really really worried about him, so he couldn’t really say anything. Scratching the back of his neck, he could only let out a nervous chuckle.

“Yeah, luckily All Might managed to come and save the day!” Excited chatter began to fill the room once again with everyone retelling each other how cool All Might was busting through the doors of U.S.J.. Ururaka jumped in as well, her voice filled with awe.

“Don’t forget how All Might even knew we were in trouble! If it weren’t for Iida speeding his way back to UA, who knows what could’ve happened!” Even more people agreed on that, some of the guys even patting the tall boy on the back. Clearing his throat, and trying to make the blush disappear off his face, Iida fixed his glasses and began talking.

“Well of course I did that, any sane person would have done it. After all it was the right thing to do, especially in our dire situation!”

“Ah there goes Iida humbling himself again!”

“Give yourself some credit dude!”

“It was still super cool how you managed to run that entire distance!”

Covering the raising blush on his face at the rapid compliments with his fist, he spoke once again, the others around him listening to his words. “It would have been more preferable if we were able to contact the school directly, help would’ve come much more quickly then.”

“Oh yeah! Too bad Kaminari couldn’t contact the school though, those villains really knew what they were doing!”

At the mention of his name, Kaminari faced Mina and gave a tight grin. “I didn’t even know that there were people who had quirks that can block out signals!” Some laughed, while others chuckled at the exasperation in the blonde boy's voice. An annoyed sigh cut through their laughter, everyone looking to the blonde spiky haired boy who interrupted their laughing fest. Just as he was about to speak, a knock was heard throughout the class, leaving the boy to grumble to himself as the door slid open.

A tall lady walked in, her straight posture already showing the students she meant business the moment they laid eyes on her. Her long, sleek black hair flowed behind her as she stepped more into the classroom, sharp eyes observing the kids in front of her. Immediately her eyes landed on a boy with narrowed red eyes, noticing he was giving her the stink eye.

Inwardly rolling her eyes at the boy's attitude, she went back to looking at the small crowd in front of her. “Hello, my name is Dr. Kumiko and-”

She was so rudely cut off by a very short boy who stood in front of her, the purple balls on her head making Kumiko furrow her eyebrows. “Are you our substitute? Wow you are gorgeous, has anyone told you that?”

As the boy continued talking, Dr Kumiko could only try and step around him in order to avoid his beady gaze. Cringing slightly, she turned her attention back to the class and watched as they curiously gazed at her. Clearing her throat sharply and loudly, that effectively shut the small boy up.

“First of all, no I am not your substitute, though I am aware you aren’t even getting one. Second of all, before you interrupted me, I was going to say I have a delivery for someone. The other hero class said I would most likely find him in here, since he was not one of their classmates.”

With that being said, murmurs erupted between students, all of them wondering what this delivery could be, that such a beautiful woman was sent to give it to one of the boys. 

Looking down at the piece of paper that was folded into an envelope, Doctor Kumiko’s eyes furrowed a little more as she tried remembering the name Y/N gave her. Uh, something like Kamayama? Kamayari? Kama- oh whatever! Straightening up, she decided that she wouldn’t attempt to damage her pride and decided to read what was written on the paper instead.

“Is there anyone who recognizes the phrase ‘electrifying baby, electrifying’? A choked cough sounded throughout the now quiet room, everyone’s eyes trailing to the blonde with a black streak in his hair. Doctor Kumiko wondered if he had dyed his hair like that.

“Uhm I recognize it?” Kaminari was too nervous to even consider how this random lady even knew him and his cousins inside joke. It became a joke when Kaminari had accidentally used his quirk when he got angry at a game both of them were playing. He went into his dumb mode and that was the first thing he said just to show Y/N he was alive. He’s still embarrassed to this day because of his slip up.

“Here you go, I was told to hand this letter to you. I’m sure you know who it is though.” Giving the teenage boy a smirk, the doctor walked closer to him, placing the piece of paper in his palms.

“Alright, since that’s all I needed to do, I’ll head off now. Don’t you give any trouble to your teacher when he arrives.” With a stern voice, Kumiko exited the classroom, sliding the door shut and leaving the students in a stunned silence.

Looking down at the smooth, neatly folded paper in his hands, Kaminari goes to open it with furrowed eyebrows, only to have it snatched from his secured hands.

“Whose this from?! A secret girlfriend we didn’t know about?!!” Inspecting the letter, Mineta’s fingers itched to open the letter himself. No way could Kaminari have a girlfriend! There were better options out there, like him for example! Cue eye roll.

“What?! No of course not dude! Just gimme the letter-” Reaching down to take back the paper, a pink hand stopped him from getting it. 

“Kaminari! There’s no need to be shy about it! You know we wouldn’t judge you, no matter how you managed to get a girl to agree to go out with you!” Mina turned around to Hagakure and Tsuyu, the pink girl’s eyes shimmering with delight!

“Wow, do you think this could be one of those romantic letters couples send to each other!” Giggling, Mina and Hagakure began to try and unravel the paper, only to be stopped by another hand delicately taking the paper away. 

“Yah! I was going to open that!” Turning around, the pink haired girl faced Aoyama, who looked at the letter with slight curious eyes.

“Did you know Paris is actually known as the city of love? I like to say I’m an expert in that station!” A deafening silence rolled throughout the class, Mina and Mineta deadpanning at what the purple eyed boy said. Quickly jumping towards him, both the students wrestled Aoyama for the letter, making a ruckus around them.

“Hey why are you- Just give me the piece of paper, it’s mine!” Soon joining their hustling, Kaminari rushed to try and retrieve the letter from who he knew was his cousin. Why do they go touching things that aren’t theirs!, Kaminari thought.

Soon, the now wrinkled paper flew away from their little cluster, floating all the way to another students desk. That student's desk being Bakugou’s. Staring hard at the paper that laid on his desk, he drew his hand near it to pick it up. Kaminari began to grow even more worried.

“H-hey Bakugou, uh could you give me my letter?” Kaminari suppressed the urge to shiver as he made eye contact with Bakugou’s piercing red eyes. His gaze then shifted to the small wisps of smoke that began appearing in the hand Bakugou clutched the letter in.

“You idiots are really screaming at each other. Because of a paper?” Adding more to his irritation and annoyance, more smoke began appearing around his hand. Now he was angry at their stupidity.

“C’mon Bakubro, don’t be like that! Just give Kaminari his letter.” Kirishima tried coaxing the angry blonde, but that only seemed to irritate him even more. Planning on just setting the damn paper on fire so his classmates would shut up about the stupid love letter, he clutched it even harder in his hand. Only to have it ripped away from him by something sticky. Glaring at the short black haired boy, Sero quickly yanked the fragile paper towards himself. 

Right now, Kaminari was panicking outwardly, rushing towards Sero to cradle the now ruined letter. His annoyance shot up quickly, sending clear glares to the four who wouldn’t give him his letter. Mina, Mineta and Aoyama looked away with guilt painting their faces, while Bakugou growled at Sero. Growled.

“Ugh look at what you guys did I- '' Taking a deep breath in, he allowed himself to cool down. They were just too curious, he told himself. Walking back to his seat, with Sero following him, he sat down and put the delicate paper on his desk. The once smooth paper was now crumbled and burnt around the edges. Resisting the urge to rub his eyes, he turned to Sero once again.

“Thanks bro.”

“No problem.” Their exchange was short, yet Sero knew Kaminari’s words were genuine. 

“Sorry about your letter Kaminari, I was just too excited thinking about you having a girlfriend.” Mina awkwardly chuckled, Mineta and Aoyama following in suit with quiet ‘yeah’s’. Giving them a small smile, he waved them off.

“I guess it’s fine. I got excited too. But I don’t have a girlfriend, this letter is from my cousin.” Nodding, she still let out a meek sorry, embarrassed that she got the whole story wrong. Mineta and his words, ugh.

Looking back to Bakugou, said boy could only let out a grunt and look away from Kaminari. Snorting, he turned his attention to the letter and began carefully unfolding the folds that had formed an envelope shape. Kaminari let a smile grace his face. She used to like making origamis. I could never have the patience to fold these kinds of stuff.

After finally opening every fold with utmost delicacy, he squinted his eyes to read what Y/N had written for him. It was hard reading due to some of the paper being burnt and blackened. He managed to read what she wrote though.

Surprise on Friday :)

Kaminari didn’t even have a second to even dwell on what that could mean, jumping slightly in his chair when he heard the door to the classroom slam open. Golden eyes widening, he quickly stuffed the paper into his bag and watched as Aizawa entered the classroom. Those who were standing quickly rushed to their seats to avoid getting called out by the fully casted and bandaged man.

Listening to his teacher’s muffled voice, he reminded himself to ask Y/N what she meant later when he got home. It was very vague, but Kaminari didn’t dwell on the fact too long. After all, he had a full and exhausting day of school ahead of him!

[marshmallow-phd]

Nine Little Letters

Genre: College AU, Fake Dating AU, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before AU

Inspired By: This graphic made by @rcse-tvler​

Pairing: EXO x Reader

Summary: Just when you thought life was done shoving you down, it got much, much worse. After finding out that your latest crush was already in a relationship, you did what you always did when emotions ran high: you wrote a letter. Signed and sealed, you put it away with the eight other letters you’d written to past one-sided loves, never to be seen again. That is, until a mix up accidentally sends those letters out to their respective recipients and you find yourself in the middle of one confusing web of love. With fake relationships, insecurities, and revelations swirling around, things are bound to get a little messy.

Part: 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I 11

The second letter you ever wrote was perhaps the most embarrassing of them all.

During the summer of your thirteenth year, Baekhyun had gone away to a summer camp that had lasted for over a month. Bored to tears due to the missing antics, you spent more time with your other friend, Yeonhee, though - as much as you loved her - her presence didn’t have the same level of comfort as Baekhyun’s did. You weren’t sure what the reason was, but there always seemed to be this invisible barrier between you and Yeonhee. You couldn’t get quite as close to her. There was so much relief the day that Baekhyun came back. But something else was there, too. Something that had been growing throughout the absence.

At first, you thought your heart was beating fast because you ran to the park where Baekhyun told you to meet him. You were excited - elated - to have your best friend back. When you saw him lying on the teeter-totter, you stopped. His skin was sun-kissed, hair a bit longer and tousled. You’d never realized how… handsome he was before. Your face was smiling before you knew it.

You liked him. That had to explain why you missed him so much, right? As soon as Baekhyun saw that you’d arrived, he lit up, jumping off the playground equipment and running towards you. He pulled you into a quick hug then stepped back, ruffling your hair.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

“Come on.” He grabbed your hand and started pulling you away from the teeter-tatter. “Let’s go down to the creek!”

You followed him without hesitation, loving the feeling of his hand in yours. Later that night, you tossed and turned, unable to sleep because of this new information. At thirteen, you were a bit smarter than you were at ten, so you decided to put some feelers out. You would see if there was any chance that he felt the same way. The two of you were close, after all. The chance had to be there, didn’t it?

The answer was no. And you received that answer almost immediately. The next day Baekhyun went on and on about this girl he had met at camp. He talked about how funny she was and cute and playful. And beautiful. He wouldn’t stop talking about how pretty he found her. She was at a summer camp, for Pete’s sake, but somehow still managed to be soft and delicate and everything Baekhyun liked in girls. It felt like an uppercut punch to the jaw. You could be soft and delicate. You wore skirts and boots and cardigans. Your room was pastel colors! What was the difference between you and this girl he rambled on about?

Flashing back to Jongin and how much better you felt after writing him the letter, you sat down at the table while your parents were away at work and tried to see if it had the same effect.

 Dear Baekhyun,

How are you? I guess that’s an awkward thing to ask given how I always know how you are. You always tell me, whether you’re happy or sad or simply indifferent. You tell me everything. And I’ve always loved that, the fact that we could tell each other whatever we’re thinking. But lately, you’ve been telling me too much and I’ve been keeping quiet. You tell me so much about this girl you met at camp and how much you like her and what the two of you talked about on the phone last night and how you’ve made plans to meet up next week. You go on and on about her without seeing the hurt in my eyes. I stay silent because of that hurt. Because while you were away, I realized something. I realized that I like you. As more than just my best friend. I find myself wishing that you were talking about me that way. What does this girl have that I don’t, anyway? She sounds a lot like me. I even wondered at one point if you were secretly talking about me until you mentioned meeting up with her. You seem so happy, though. So, I wonder, should I say anything or should I just go on being just your friend? I guess I'll make the decision at the end of this letter. If I send it out or if I keep it hidden in my drawer. Do I come out and say it or do I risk forever thinking “What if?” Only time will really tell. Either way, I hope you’re happy. That’s most important.

Love,

(y/n)

 In the end, you decided not to mail it. Though you never met the girl from summer camp, Baekhyun ended up “dating” her for the fall semester of school - if it could be counted since they lived in different cities. He always went to see her, but she never made the same effort. That was why they broke up, according to Baekhyun. Though he never came to see you in the same light as far as you were aware, you found that you were able to move on, to see him once again simply as your friend. Perhaps the two of you were soulmates in the platonic way. You were thankful to your past self for not mailing out that letter. Where would your friendship be if you had sent it? Would there even still be a friendship?

“Okay, I know you’re not a professional or anything, but you’re even worse today. What’s going on?”

You blinked, coming out of your head just in time to watch your character crumple to the ground, dead. Great.

You weren’t the best at video games, but you found them fun and Sehun didn’t mind if you weren’t as good as him. He definitely carried the two of you in the team rounds.

“Nothing, I just have a lot on my mind.” Both the truth and a lie. You were mildly distracted at the moment. It was a small amount of connected things. Seeing Junmyeon with a girlfriend had conjured up some old insecurities. While you were fairly sure that you were over him, you were circling around your lack of love life - and lack of dating history. As in zero. Zip. A big old goose egg. Of course, when that happened, you tended to retreat into your books and movies. Which rom-coms you were going to binge tonight was currently at the forefront of your mind, held up by everything else.

“So, obviously, it’s not nothing,” Sehun pointed out over the headset. Touché.

“Okay, it’s not nothing, but it's not something you’d be interested in anyway.”

“Try me.”

You paused. “I was thinking about how I’ve never had a boyfriend, so I was going to watch romantic comedies tonight.”

Silence.

Well, not total silence since the video game was still on in the background, but there was no response from your partner. “Sehun?”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m not that interested. But I also don’t see how watching movies about romance is a direct response to not having a boyfriend.”

You sighed as your character re-spawned and you continued with the game, covering Sehun from any surprise attacks as you inched closer to enemy territory. “They make me feel better.”

He took a pause to kill an enemy soldier before replying, “I still don’t get it. How can watching fake couples get together make you feel better? If you want a boyfriend, why don’t you go out and get one? It’s not like there isn’t a whole campus full of single guys.”

You scoffed. Yeah, right. Like it was that simple. There wasn’t a store or a catalogue that you could flip through and go “Oh, I’d like that one!” and have a boyfriend ready and raring to go. Although… someone should get on that revolutionary idea. It could be worth millions.

Part of you wanted to respond with “Fine, do you want to date me?” but you bit your tongue, knowing that you didn’t mean it. There had once been a time that you had thought about Sehun in that way. The two of you rarely saw each other in person. For a good year and a half, the two of you had been simple online buddies until you realized you lived in the same city. You’d invited Sehun along to outings with Baekhyun and Yeonhee, but they didn’t click very well, so it didn’t happen too often. After the first time you met Sehun, you thought he was cute. Que the letter.

 Dear Sehun.

I know you try to hide it, but you’re actually very sweet. And I know that you let me win sometimes. And you help me every chance you get. I like you because of that. Also, I never thought you would be cute. Is that bad? Do you think you could like me back? We could be that gamer couple. Those who play together, stay together, right?

Love,

(y/n).

 It was the cringiest of all your letters. Short, uninteresting, bland. After you wrote it, you realized quickly that those were the only reasons you liked him: his face and he was nice to you. Were your standards really that low? His letter always stayed at the bottom of the pile, hardly ever revisited. That was when you realized it was hard to truly like someone you didn’t know all that well. You still considered him a friend and could confide in him, but he didn’t make your comfortable triangle a square.

“Hey, (y/n)!” Baekhyun burst into your room with no warning. You jumped, letting out a rare curse into the headset.

“Baekhyun, what are you doing here?” On Saturdays he was usually busy giving piano lessons.

“And on that note, I’m out.” Sehun clicked off without a real goodbye. You shook your head. Boys.

You turned off your console and swiveled around in your chair. Baekhyun was seated at your vanity which made you nervous. He knew better than to go peeking into your things, but that hardly stopped him. And while he was aware of the letters’ existence, he was neither aware of his own nor where they were located.

“My pupil for the day canceled on me. They’re sick. I was bored so I came over. As per usual.” Looking over his shoulder at your mirror, he plucked off one of the pictures you had wedged into the frame. “Heard from your long-distance boyfriend lately?”

“Hardy, har-har.” You snatched the picture from him and replaced it. “He’s not my boyfriend and you know it.”

Zhang Yixing was your pen pal from high school. After seeing a flyer on one of the bulletin boards in the hallway, you jumped at the chance to communicate with someone from another country without really thinking about it. The partners were all chosen at random and you considered yourself quite lucky. The person you exchanged letters with was sweet and funny and really read what you wrote to him, always replying to your words before going into his own story. While life got in the way and the two of you weren’t able to exchange letters at the frequency you once had, you still received a surprise every so often.

And yes, before anyone asks, he was one of the nine. One look at his dimpled smile and charming eyes and anyone would be hooked. You’d giggled like crazy when you opened the letter junior year and his photo fell out. He’d wanted to show you the countryside school he’d volunteered at and the kids he’d helped. As cute as those children were, he was all you could look at. So, naturally, there was one letter you never sent. It didn’t make sense to send it. He was in an entirely different country. So, you used his letter as camouflage, keeping it on top at all times to hide the others underneath.

“And no, by the way. I haven’t gotten a letter for a little bit.”

“Too busy volunteering?” Baekhyun quipped.

“You could take a page out of his book, you know.”

“I do give back! I give free lessons all the time!”

Okay… that was true. Baekhyun did have a soft heart for kids that wanted to learn to play the piano but whose parents couldn't afford to pay for lessons. About twice a month on Sundays, he went to a local church and taught a class for anyone who wanted to join. It was actually kind of sweet. You’d gone a few times and he could be pretty adorable with the kids.

“Alright,” you said. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know.” Baekhyun pursed his lips and tapped a finger against his chin. His eyes slowly made their way around your room. He would smile when his eyes landed on pictures of the two of you or little souvenirs from your various adventures. Your room was like a scrapbook for the world to view. You enjoyed being surrounded by memories, like reading a book based on your life. “I’m kind of hungry.”

“Okay,” you laughed. “For what?”

He turned away from you, mostly still listening, but obviously distracted by something. “Let’s go to a grill.”

That suggestion sent sparks off in your brain. Your stomach, which had been neutral up until now, was roaring for the sizzling meat and spicy side dishes. In fact, you’d been distracted at the thought of a Korean grill that you didn’t notice Baekhyun’s hand twitching on the forbidden drawer. Before your brain could process what he was doing, the drawer was open. Baekhyun pulled the entire stack of letters out.

“Wow, you actually do keep all of these!”

“What the hell are you doing!” You bounced on him, tackling him down to the floor as you wrestled the envelopes from him. Once you finally pulled them free, you smacked his arm with the stack. “You jerk! You know those are private!”

He actually had the audacity to pout. “I just wanted to see!”

“They’re not for you to see!”

“Come on, (y/n),” Baekhyun sat up when you moved off him. You kept the envelopes close to your chest in case he tried for them again. “I thought I was your best friend.”

“Don’t you dare try to guilt trip me,” you snapped. “I have a right to my privacy. These aren’t meant for anyone else but me.”

“Fine.” He threw his hands up in defeat. “But you might want to find a better hiding spot. Let’s go eat.” He left your room, smiling to himself.

Grumbling to yourself, you placed the envelopes on your vanity. Later, you would find a better place to put them. For now, though, you draped a shirt over the stack so they were mostly covered.

You forgot about the letters for the most part by the time the two of you made it to the restaurant. Baekhyun had his moments where he didn’t think things through or he acted purely on impulse, but you could forgive those happenings. At least, when he was paying for dinner. On the way to the grill, you called Yeonhee to join.

“So, there’s this girl in my World Music three-oh-four class,” Baekhyun said right after shoving a stuffed sesame leaf into his mouth. “She’s really cute. And plays the cello. Her fingers are so nimble and small.”

“So, you going to ask her out?” you teased.

Baekhyun took some time to chew his food before answering. “Yeah. Actually, I think I might.”

“Does she seem interested in you?” Yeonhee asked. She was always the more practical one out of the three of you. She saw things in black and white. She either chose door number one or door number two. It was a philosophy she used in every aspect of her life. That realism rounded your little triangle out. Baekhyun was the carefree, never-knew-what-he-was-going-to-do-next type, you were the slightly anxiety-ridden, romantic daydreamer, and Yeonhee was the down-to-earth, rational one.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Okay. Then do it.” Yeonhee pulled her long, dark brown hair back into a scrunchy to keep it out of her face. To her, that was the end of it.

Baekhyun sent you a look, but he shrugged. “Alright. I’ll see her on Monday, so I’ll ask her to coffee then.”

Your phone vibrated against the table. Normally you would have ignored it, but given the lull in conversation, you checked to see the notification. It was a text from your mom.

I’m doing laundry. It looks like you have a full hamper. Do you want me to take some?

You smiled. You loved getting out of laundry. Yeah! Thank you!

Okay! A second text came through. Do you want me to take this shirt on the vanity, too?

Shirt? What- Panic swept through you. No! That’s okay! It’s clean.

Okay! Love you!

Love you, too!

Phew. That was close.

The rest of dinner was spent talking about classes and professors and new movies coming out. The three of you bounced from subject to subject, spending a good hour and half at the table slowly devouring the different meat courses. Multiple groups came and went while you sat there and enjoyed this time with your two best friends. When it was time to go home, Yeonhee volunteered to take you home since it was more on her way than Baekhyun’s. Once there, she parked in your driveway. Rounding the car, you bent down to tell her goodnight. A second or two later, Kyungsoo pulled into his parents’ driveway. He got out of his own car, eyes down on his phone. Noticing the two of you next door, he froze. There was an awkward tension as the exes made eye contact while you stood there like an unneeded third wheel on a bike. Finally, Kyungsoo broke the contact and went inside.

“Have you talked to him lately?” you asked.

Yeonhee shook her head. “Not at all. What’s the point? I ended it. Going back and opening the wound makes no sense.”

“Yeah, that’s understandable. I’ll, um, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

You straightened up and headed inside.

Yeonhee and Kyungsoo were a tragic story, at least in your eyes.

Kyungsoo was your next-door neighbor for your entire life though the two of you didn’t interact very often. He ran in different circles and seemed annoyed by Baekhyun most of the time - a pattern you were not blind to. But Yeonhee always took the time to talk to him if you happened to be in the front yard and crossed paths. Oblivious to what was going on while they conversed, you stood by, studying your neighbor.

He was handsome and sweet when he wasn’t frowning. In fact, his smile was quite stunning. And he was smart and, though rare, cracked jokes that had you in stitches. You found yourself admiring him. Imagine your shock when you discovered that he was dating one of your best friends. You were devastated. The strength of the feeling took you by surprise. But you’d managed to keep it together in front of both of them. Only when you were alone were you finally able to let it out. That night you’d locked yourself in your room, tears flowing in an unending stream. At some point, you were sitting down at your vanity, pencil flying across the page without you having to think it through.

 Dear Kyungsoo,

What am I even feeling right now? How am I feeling like this? You were always just my neighbor, the boy next door. Occasionally kind, helpful. I never even suspected that you liked Yeonhee or that she liked you back. I was completely left out, blind to what was happening in front of me. Mostly because I couldn’t see past myself. You were nothing like how I’d thought in our younger years. You are so much more. Amazing feels like too simple a word but that’s all I can conjure up. I’ve been so in awe that I couldn't completely understand what it was that I was feeling inside. But now… I feel like my heart has shattered. I had come to look forward to talking to you in between our yards. I never suspected you were coming out for Yeonhee. You chose her over me. I’m sure in your eyes, I was never even one of the selections. But why? Am I really that invisible?

You are a wonderful person. I’m not sure if there are enough adjectives in the world to describe how I see you. You’re like a portrait in the Louvre, unable for me to touch. You’re out of reach. And now that you’re with Yeonhee, you always will be. I know that you’ll treat her well. You’ll keep her hand warm with your own like I wish you could with mine. When she’s tired, she’ll rest her head on your shoulder. I hope you’re a comforting pillow. You seem like that kind of person. A comfort, a stronghold. I wish you could have been mine.

Love,

(y/n).

 They dated for two years before Yeonhee inexplicably ended the relationship. You knew she would have a very logical, analyzed reasoning for why she abruptly broke it off, though she never told you or anyone. However, you were surprised with how angry you were at her. How could she do that to someone like Kyungsoo, who had never treated her badly even for a moment? Your sympathy lied with him, but you had to show support for your friend. She wanted to move on, so you pretended to understand. She didn’t come around very often anymore in case of situations like tonight where she might accidentally run into or see him.

Up in your bedroom, you took a deep breath. Because it still hurt after all this time. You still longed to be the one he looked at, the one he wanted to see. Out of all your letters, his was the one that never worked. His was sealed up tight, but the feelings didn’t go away. They held on tight like a rock climber without a rope. You could distract yourself with other crushes, give in to fleeting feelings for others. And it would work for a little while. But in your weak moments, those feelings never failed to come back. Tonight was a reminder of that.

[fandomfanfics12]

Home Lives With You-Part 6

Title: Home Lives With You. Pairings: Steve x Tony Part: 6/? Warnings: swearing, fluff, angst, blood, abuse (physical and verbal), ptsd, anxiety, bullying Summary: Peter’s been living with the abusive Thompson family for years, it was the only family in the system that would take him. When Steve and Tony get a phone call from the social worker who introduced them to their daughter Morgan for an emergency placement, they feel like they must pay back the favor. But are Steve and Tony taking on more than they can handle, and will Peter be able to adjust to a warm and welcoming family home? A/N: Another long one lol, next part should be up in the next couple of days. hope you enjoy!

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

When they’d gotten back from the mall Morgan had claimed that she was tired and had gone to bed for a nap. Steve and Tony had helped Peter set up his room, making his bed and hanging up his new clothes and setting up his lamps. Peter was still bewildered that he owned all of these things and then Tony had handed him the phone.

“almost forgot about this.” he joked and Peter stared at the sleek back screen, unsure of what to do with it. he didn’t really need a phone, there wasn’t really anyone other than Rhodey who he could call. And the only reason he’d ever called Rhodey was so that he could get out of the Thompson’s house. He’d called less and less over the last couple years, had stopped checking to see if anyone had been interested in adopting him. There was only so many ways Rhodey could tell Peter that no one wanted teenagers without actually saying that no one wanted teenagers. But the amount of almost calls to Rhodey that Peter had almost made, there must have been thousands of those. Times when he’d sat there in the dark and cold basement, curled up in a ball and clutching the phone, debating whether to call. Would it be better if he called? Worse? Usually it was worse, Rhodey didn’t have good news for him usually. Usually Peter would just be told to hold on for a few more days while Rhodey tried to pull him out.

“I really don’t need this sir.” Peter said, holding the phone out to Tony. But the man just shook his head, turning towards the stack of textbooks on Peter’s desk.

“you said there was a physics test coming up?” Peter nodded his head, dread filling his gut.

“unfortunately. I’m not really that good at physics either.” Usually it pissed Peter off.

“Want some help studying?” Peter nodded, heat creeping onto his cheeks.

“Yeah actually, that’d be great sir.” Peter wasn’t sure which name Tony preferred, he’d never really commented on it. so Peter was using them interchangeably, hoping that Tony really didn’t mind.

“Alright let’s get started then.”

-

Steve was checking the emails when he saw an email from one Mrs Susan White.

PTA.

“Tony!” he called and made his way upstairs, finding Tony in Peter’s room on the bed, hands moving as he spoke.

“Yes dear?”

“What’s this?” Steve held out the phone and Tony got to his feet, crossing the room to read the message.

“I joined the PTA.”

“Why?”

“am I not allowed to get involved with Peter’s school?” he asked and gave Steve an innocent smile. But the look in Tony’s eyes was anything but innocent. Peter watched them both nervously and Steve shook his head.

“Can you help me with dinner for five minutes sweetheart?” Steve asked and Tony only hesitated for a moment.

“Peter I’ll be back in a second alright?” he said but didn’t dare take his eyes off of Steve.

“Okay?” Peter sounded confused but Steve didn’t wait any longer, just marched back downstairs with his troublemaking husband trailing after him.

“What have you been plotting?” Steve asked once they reached the kitchen.

“Nothing.” Steve glared at Tony who sighed.

“This have anything to do with the Thompson’s?” Steve asked and grabbed out the chicken from the fridge.

“Maybe.”

“We can’t seek revenge on the Thompson’s Tony.” Steve said and Tony crossed his arms.

“you saw what they did to him Stevie, I’m just trying to right the wrongs.” Steve shook his head and Tony got out a chopping board.

“That’s not our job. We can talk to Rhodey and take the Thompson’s to court. I don’t know what you were planning on doing with the PTA but I want it to stop. We can’t put Peter through anything more.” Steve insisted and Tony sighed.

“can I at least make your mother’s brownies to put Rose Thompson to shame?” Tony asked, eyes wide and puppy like.

“I love you and I’m sorry to deprive you of this, but no. I will not let you use my mother’s brownies as a revenge plot.” Steve kissed the top of Tony’s head and Tony wrapped his arms around Steve’s torso.

“Why do you have to be such a party pooper?” Tony asked in a pouty voice and a laugh rumbled through Steve.

“you can still make brownies though, don’t forget we have Bucky and Nat coming over on Saturday.” Tony nodded his head and perked up a bit.

“Maybe we could teach Peter?” Steve smiled, a light blossoming inside of his chest.

“I’d really like that.” He admitted and Tony stood up on tip toes so he could press his lips against Steve’s.

“Thank you for making dinner, but I have to help Pete study for his physics test. I promise I won’t plot anything for at least another week.” Steve rose a brow.

“You sure you’ll be able to last that long?” Tony stuck his tongue out at Steve and then pulled away. Steve turned back to dinner, he liked the idea of teaching Peter how to make his mother’s brownies. They were the brownies that had won over Tony’s heart, maybe it would make Peter feel closer to them, make him feel like he was part of the family.

-

The week seemed to fly by for Peter, and he was finding himself fall into a routine. Which made him nervous, because that meant he was getting comfortable here. But then, he was going to be here for three months, so maybe it was okay if he got comfortable, cautiously comfortable. But before Peter knew it, it was Friday afternoon. He had to babysit Morgan tonight, and he was excited to get to hang out with her. But when Peter got to the parking lot, Tony’s car was nowhere in sight. He did a couple laps, just to be sure, but couldn’t find it. oh. Peter thought, suddenly deflating. He should have seen this coming. It had been stupid of him to think that he’d get consistent rides back to the house. So Peter started walking, he’d be late and they’d be mad if he hung around any longer. He only had four more week until summer break, and then he’d just be able to hang around at the house all the time. Clean the house. Peter corrected, he needed to start to repay the Stark-Rogers. He was about twenty minutes into the walk home when there was a car honking at him. He turned, hope flaring in his chest, and then deflated as he recognised the vehicle before him.

“Penis?” Flash asked, rolling down the window and raising a brow. Please no. Peter’s eyes moved from Flash to his father who was sitting in the driver’s seat, scowling.

“Peter.” His low deep voice rumbled from the car and Peter inhaled sharply.

“Hello sir.” His hands began to shake at his sides, he couldn’t run they’d just catch up to him.

“why don’t you get inside the car? I can take you home.” His voice was tight, Peter shook his head.

“No thank you sir, I could use the walk.” Peter lied and he narrowed his eyes.

“that wasn’t a request Peter.” Peter’s throat bobbed, his heart was pounding and mind racing. He needed to figure something out, and fast.

“I’m going to have to respectfully decline the offer, sir.” The phone in Peter’s pocket sat like a deadweight. All week he’d been trying to work up the courage to ask for Tony and Steve’s number, but every time the words had died in his throat. Mr Thompson curled his lip and Peter inhaled sharply, if there was ever a time to run, now would have been it. he was just about to do so when Tony’s car pulled up behind Mr Thompson’s, honking at him. Peter nearly collapsed with relief and then he was running to Tony’s car. He got in, slammed the door shut and locked it for good measure.

“Pete?” Tony asked but Peter just stared straight ahead, preying that Mr Thompson wouldn’t get out of his car.

“Can we just go please sir?”

-

It was the high whine in Peter’s voice that concerned Tony the most.

“Sure Petey.” He murmured and Peter glanced at him, a faint smile on his lips. Tony pulled away from the curb and glanced over to the man who had been driving the car, a scowl deeply set on his face.

“Who were you talking to?” Tony asked and Peter sank down low into his seat.

“No one sir, may I take a shower when we get back to your house sir?” Tony nodded, hands gripping the steering wheel a little tighter.

“Of course Pete.” And then the car was filled up with nothing but silence, even Morgan and her friend Penelope hadn’t dared to say a word.

-

Steve had told Tony time and time again that he was not allowed to plot anything against the Thompson’s. each time Steve said no, Tony would roll his eyes and nod. But as Steve tied his tie, and Tony told him about the car incident, Steve was starting to rethink this whole revenge plot thing.

“Are you sure it was the Thompson’s?” Steve asked and Tony nodded, stepping forward to fix Steve’s crooked tie.

“he was on edge the whole way home. He looked so relieved when I pulled up…” Tony trailed off and Steve nodded.

“We can talk to him about it when we get home tonight, do you want to give him the money for the pizza?” Steve asked and Tony nodded, stepping back.

“here, you talk to him.” Steve nodded, taking the money and making his way down to Peter’s room. He was sitting on his bed, staring down at his new phone with a frown on his face.

“Pete?” Steve said, knocking and leaning on the door frame.

“hey Mr Stark Rogers.” Peter said, but Steve could see that something was wrong. he seemed withdrawn, tense, and it broke Steve’s heart.

“I’m just dropping off the money for tonight, you can get whatever you want. Morgan and Penny might twist your arm to get a cookie but we’ve got ice cream in the freezer.” Peter nodded his head, still not removing his eyes from his phone.

“okay, thanks sir.” Steve winced and stepped into the room, dropping the money on his desk.

“Are you alright?” Peter nodded but still wouldn’t look at Steve.

“was it the Thompson’s in that other car?” he didn’t move at first, but then his head lifted and his eyes met Steve’s.

“he wanted me to get in his car and I don’t know what I would’ve done if Mr Stark Rogers hadn’t shown up in time.” Peter’s voice was hoarse and Steve sat down on the bed beside Peter, pulling him to his chest.

“it’s going to be alright Petey, he’s never going to hurt you ever again.” Steve promised and Peter nodded his head as Steve stroked his hair. Once again Steve was filled with anger, he’d make the Thompson’s pay for this. it was bullshit that a sixteen year old was so traumatised, all because of those assholes.

“I was wondering if I could have your phone numbers sir? Just in case I need your help?” his voice trembled with each word and Steve inhaled sharply.

-

He was asking for too much and he knew it. but for the first time Peter felt like he could depend on someone, like there were people he could rely on. But he pulled out of Steve’s embrace turning his face away and heart shattering inside of his chest.

“Actually don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine.” Peter said all too quickly, staring at the wall. But then he could hear clicking and when he turned back Steve was typing a number into his phone.

“that’s Tony’s, you can add a photo later.” Steve said then pressed a few more buttons, he then opened up the camera, sticking out his tongue, puffing out his cheeks and making his eyes cross. Peter couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Don’t make me regret taking that Pete.” Steve joked and Peter nodded, relief flooding his veins.

“Thank you Mr Stark Rogers.” And Steve nodded, patting Peter’s leg twice before standing up.

“Well Tony and I should get going, we’ll be home late unfortunately but if you send me a text now I can let you know when we’re coming home.” Peter nodded, glad that Steve hadn’t rejected him.

“Thank you Mr Stark Rogers.” Peter repeated and Steve nodded before exiting his room. In the hall, Peter saw Tony walk up to Steve in a suit, they were wearing matching blue ties.

“Looking good sweetheart.” Steve said with a faint smile on his lips.

“I know, I know, uber’s outside,” Tony turned and winked at Peter. “Bye Pete.” And then they were gone. Peter looked back at his phone and at the photo of Steve, warmth blossoming in his chest. Maybe if he kept this up, babysitting Morgan and if he helped out around the house, maybe if he was good enough, they’d keep him around for longer than three months.

-

When they arrived the party was as boring as Steve had predicted. They made the rounds, saying hello to Tony’s co-workers and Steve gave everyone polite smiles but no conversation was made with him. The first seven or eight people Steve tried to talk to, but it was clear that no one had any interest in talking to Steve.

“You doing okay?” Tony asked once they were finally alone for a moment of peace.

“Well you just know how much I love these things.” Steve grumbled and Tony pouted.

“I know honey, but it’s only a few more hours.” Tony promised and Steve nodded.

“I know.” He could feel the eyes on him, sense the thoughts running through their heads. Tony made a lot of money in this job with the numbers and it was clear that everyone here thought Steve was nothing more than some dumb blonde who had punched well above his payrate. He’d been lucky to have Tony fall in love with him, even luckier when Tony had accepted Steve’s proposal. But no one saw Steve the way Tony did, and Steve hated these things for that reason.

“just think of all the ice cream we can eat when we get home.” Tony murmured and Steve nodded, a smile tugging at his lips.

“fine. And I spoke to Peter, it was the Thompson’s in the other car.” Tony scrunched up his face, his lips curling.

“we’re going to have to call Rhodey tomorrow about this.” Tony said and Steve nodded.

“yeah, god I just hope we can adopt him.” Tony nodded his head, his face softening.

“Me too.”

“He’s just such a good kid and I find myself getting more and more attached each day.” Tony nodded taking Steve’s hand and squeezing.

“I feel the same. But we do have to be careful, Rhodey hasn’t given us the all clear.” Steve gritted his teeth. That he didn’t want to think about.

“Tony!” they turned at the sound of Tony’s boss’ voice. Nicky Fury himself stood before them, smile a little too wide.

“Hey boss.” And then Nick turned to the man beside him, smile widening even more.

“This is my good friend Harrison Thompson.” Tony’s face said it all, went a shade too white, his smile vanishing and his hands curling into fists.

“You were Peter’s old foster.” Tony said instantly and Harrison nodded his head.

“That is correct, how is Peter doing? My wife, Rose, and I miss him so much i-“ one second Steve was holding Tony’s hand and listening, the next second there was an awful crunch and Harrison’s body falling to the floor.

“Steve!” but Steve was on the man in an instant. A rage he hadn’t felt since he’d been in the military rose within him, as his mind flashed back to the gash in Peter’s side and all the bruises on his body. The cuts, the broken ribs, the trauma. It all fuelled Steve’s rage.

Crack.

Steve’s fists were bleeding but he couldn’t stop and then there were hands on him, pulling him up and away. Steve tried to fight against the security guards but their hold was tight and they escorted him out of the building.

-

Peter had walked into Morgan’s room, ready to ask what she wanted for dinner but only to find her crying.

“Miss what’s wrong?”

“Penny’s says she wants to go home and I don’t know her mom’s number and-“ Peter’s eyes widened and his heart hammered in his chest.

“why does she want to go home miss?” Peter asked and looked to the other little girl who was facing the wall.

“she says she’s bored.” Peter rose his brows, looking around the room and spotting the dolls.

“Why don’t you play dolls.”

“dolls are for babies.” Penelope said and Peter bit his lip, Morgan visibly more upset by that statement.

“No they’re not, I’m sixteen and I know plenty of girls who still play dolls.” Peter lied and Penelope turned from the wall, scowling.

“Like who?” crap.

“MJ.” Peter blurted out of nowhere.

“really?” Peter nodded, hoping that this little kid didn’t actually know MJ.

“totally, and your mom is picking you up in three hours anyway.” Peter said and the girls both perked up a bit.

“Okay.” Peter nodded, fiddling with the cash in his hand.

“What pizza do you want?” he asked and the girls shared a mischievous glance.

“Hawaiian pizza and cookies!” they cried in unison and Peter rose a brow. Steve had warned him of this.

“Really? Well I’ll get the Hawaiian pizza, and if you two behave you might get some ice cream.” They both nodded eagerly, caving into Peter’s offer. Peter grinned, feeling victorious and went downstairs so he could call the pizza place.

-

Tony was quiet for the first twenty minutes in the cab ride home, then he turned in his seat so he could look at Steve. The man was cradling his swollen hand, watching Tony nervously, guilt written all over his face. There was blood on his white shirt.

“So, Steven.” Steve gulped.

“I’m sorry.”

“For?”

“For embarrassing you in front of your co-workers.”

“and?”

“and for embarrassing your boss.”

“And?”

“and for ruining our night.”

“And?”

“and for not being able to last until cake.” Tony rose a brow and Steve clenched his teeth together.

“and?”

“I’m not going to apologise for hitting that asshole Tony.”

“that’s not what I’m mad about.” If he had been sorry then Tony would have been mad, he was glad that Steve wasn’t sorry. Honestly Tony wished he’d gotten to throw a punch.

“then what are you mad about?” Steve asked and Tony narrowed his eyes, leaning forward.

“we will not seek revenge on the Thompson’s Tony. You will not use my mother’s brownies as a part of your sinister plot Tony. We will be polite to the Thompson’s Tony. We will take the Thompson’s to court and sort things out there Tony.” Tony made his voice slightly deeper so he was mimicking Steve’s and Steve looked down at the floor.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered and Tony nodded, eyeing Steve’s hand.

“I forgive you.”

“I haven’t been that angry since…” Steve trailed off and Tony took his hand, he winced ever so slightly but held Tony’s hand back.

“the military?” Steve nodded, eyes glazing over.

“do you want to start seeing a therapist again?” Steve shuddered, shrugging.

“I don’t know. I thought I had this under control, but seeing that man and knowing what he had done to Peter.” Tony nodded, rubbing his spare hand between Steve’s shoulder blades.

“He had it coming Steve, I love you okay?” Steve’s head whipped towards Tony, tears in his eyes.

“How?” he whispered and Tony’s heart broke for Steve a little.

“because you are the kindest man I have ever known.” Tony whispered and leaned forward, brushing his lips against Steve’s.

“how can you say that after tonight?” Steve whispered, leaning his forehead against Tony’s.

“you beat up an abusive asshole, it’s a shame we’re going back home to our kids because I must admit that you are looking mighty fine right now Mr Stark Rogers.” Tony whispered and Steve quirked a brow.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” Tony’s lips met Steve’s again and Steve deepened the kiss, the both of them melting into it. when they finally pulled back for air, Steve seemed to have calmed down a little.

“I love you Tony.” He whispered and Tony grinned.

“you’re such a dork Stevie.” He muttered, shaking his head but blushing anyway.

“and I’m sorry I ruined our night.” Tony turned back to Steve, a smile on his lips.

“Stevie you didn’t ruin anything. Watching you hit that guy was the most entertaining thing I’ve ever seen at those parties.” Tony promised and Steve nodded, his grip tightening on Tony’s hand ever so slightly.

“okay.” He whispered and tony nodded, but concern rolled through his gut. He could sense the anxiety rolling off of Steve in waves and Tony made a mental note to make some ice when they got home, just in case Steve had a panic attack.

-

Peter was halfway through a slice when the door opened and shut.

“we’re home!” Tony called out and then they appeared, Steve looking worse for wear.

“Daddy?” Morgan asked, eyeing the blood on Steve’s shirt.

“Daddy’s alright princess. Did Peter give you ice cream?” she nodded her head eagerly, the sugar high still hadn’t worn off.

“I’m guessing Penny’s gone?” Tony asked and again Morgan nodded eagerly.

“Yeah.”

“did you have fun?” Tony asked, grabbing out a bag of frozen peas.

“I guess. She said dolls were for babies but then Peter told us about his girlfriend and-“ Tony and Steve’s heads whipped towards Peter and his eyes widened. He finished chewing the pizza and swallowed, heart rate spiking.

“I don’t have a girlfriend.” He said and Morgan scowled.

“MJ, the one who plays with dolls?” Peter shook his head, this was why lying was bad. It always came back and bit you on the ass.

“She’s just a classmate, she is not my girlfriend.” Peter insisted and they nodded.

“If you say so.” Tony said and handed Steve the peas. That was when Peter saw how busted up Steve’s hands were.

“what happened?”

“We ran into Mr Thompson at the party and Steve lost his cool.” Peter’s brows rose and Steve hung his head in shame.

“Oh.”

“yeah oh.” Tony said pointedly and Peter eyes Steve’s hands again. He wondered what Flash would say at school on Monday.

“I’m sorry Peter but knowing what he did to you, I-“ Peter shook his head, unsure on how to feel.

“No it’s alright sir, you didn’t do anything wrong.” but then, why did Peter feel so icky on the inside?

@smallnjh @picklepotatoe14 @thatisamericasass @briebriebrieee @aftereveryraincomessunshine @meyamoadriytu

[blueybunny]

I’m back from the dead (sort of)

TL;DR: my confession (see previous post) didn’t go as planned. E didn’t react to it, we didn’t talk about it, I got confused. For the past I-dont-know how many months I’ve been trying to figure out what was going on, with some success. E seems to have taken it okay-ish in the end, and a lot of personal issues factored into the whole situation so that’s why she has taken some distance, but we are still in speaking terms and she’s doing well! Even though I got somewhat lucky, please please please don’t confess yourself!

This is gonna be a lengthy update, so bear with me.

Hey. It’s been a long while since I’ve updated on the situation between me and E. I think it has been some 9-10 months since I continued the story, and i left it off without any conclusion. I feel like you can already tell that me confessing to E didn’t go as planned - far from that.

To preface this, the only reason I decided to confess to her was that it got too difficult to hold my feelings steady. I was leaking out all my emotions, and I had no idea how to gain solace apart from just letting them out, properly. It was a purely selfish reason, and I elaborated to E that I was doing it for myself, and I knew it could make things worse for her. She insisted on me telling her. And yes, I could’ve backed out, and I hated every second of it because I didn’t want to hurt her.

So, after that talk in her car (i still remember it so vividly, god i wish i was there), I waited the weekend to finally tell her. This was when everything shifted and took a turn for the worse. E had told me we could talk on Monday, and when Monday finally came, she texted me to let me know that she also had something to tell me face to face. I didn’t have the slightest idea what it could be.

This is how it went down. E said she had 15 minutes before she needed to head home. She sat me down, and told me to essentially stop coming to her with all my problems because she had no idea what to do with them anymore. She felt completely helpless and wanted me to get some “real” help. And at the time, that completely broke me. For weeks – no, for months. She telling me she wouldn’t be there for me anymore? I wasn’t sure i could take it. I just sobbed for the whole 15 minutes, and she asked why i was crying??? At this point i still hadn’t told her about my feelings, so she just assumed i would be fine with losing her. I didn’t have the courage to confess, and i even went as far as saying i was mad at her. Then the situation ended, as rapidly as it had begun.

Oh god i loathed myself so indescribably much after that, i still do. I had no idea what i was doing to her, when she had so many issues of her own she had to take care of to begin with. I should’ve known better. Why did it take so long to realise how much i was hurting her? She’s an extremely sympathetic person so making her feel helpless is the worst thing i could’ve ever done. I couldn’t forgive myself, and still can’t. I feel like i broke everything. I was so selfish, so naive, so dumb. The worst part was that she told me she had spent the entire weekend worrying about me, and that just broke me.

So what did i decide to do? Well, the first thing i had to do was apologise. And the second, well, was to confess. Why, at this point? It was to grant her at least some peace of mind, no matter how strange it might sound. I thought at the time that the best thing would be to just tell, so that she could stop worrying about me - once and for all. Also, I had a feeling she knew about my feelings, since I hadn’t been particularly good at hiding them, and so I thought that telling her about them would make things easier for both of us.

Tuesday rolls around, and i gather the courage to tell her everything in five minutes (that’s how long our break lasted, and i had to run to my next class). Bad idea, i know. I still remember what i said: “i like you a lot more than i should”. And i think it got through to her. She looked at me, saying how it came out of the blue. Then she told me i should go, and it was the coldest “goodbye” i have ever received.

Yep, not the best it could’ve gone. Also not the worst, because in the end she took it relatively well, she wasn’t visibly upset or disgusted, she didn’t tell me to stop speaking to her. But do i regret it? Absolutely. No matter how much i tried to convince myself it was the best of both worlds, i still did it in the heat of the moment.

What happened afterwards? Oh god how much i want to say it’s been a nice uphill climb from there, but nope. Everything’s been static, nothing has really changed between me and her, and it’s still that loud, awkward silence clouding our “relationship”, or at least what remains of it.

I asked her in a text if she felt distraught or shocked by what i had told her, to which she said no. But she also said she doesn’t want to talk about it any more than that - which i totally understand. I felt like i needed to clarify things so i asked if she had time to chat. It took a month to finally talk face to face again, and in that time she basically banned me from texting her. I didn’t bring up the confession at first, and we spoke as if nothing had happened (and it felt amazing). But then i asked her if i we were still friends. Bad wording, i know: she hesitated a bit first but didn’t deny anything. It was truly hanging by a thread.

We spoke a few times after that before quarantine happened in late March. They were normal conversations, mostly related to school. However, since E had told me that she wouldn’t be staying behind after school to talk to me like she used to, she now had to find time for me in her already full schedule. She was always in a rush, and every time we spoke, I cried afterwards – not out of happiness, but out of discomfort. I wasn’t sure what was happening. She suddenly became very cold and distant towards me, and it felt like she was pretending that nothing had ever happened between us, not even last fall when we grew quite close (at least in teacher-student terms). It was as if I had never even known her in the first place, and it hurt. A lot.

During the time when we were quarantined and school was still in session, I texted her a few times just to ask how she was doing. I had to be very careful in doing so, and I made sure to leave at least a month between texts because I didn’t want to annoy her. Even then I noticed changes in the way she talked to me (or texted me, rather). All that made me incredibly scared and confused, because I wasn’t sure what she was thinking, or if she felt uncomfortable or disgusted. Back when I confessed to her, she told me that nothing would change, yet now virtually everything has. I understand why, at least mostly, but I really thought at some point that our relationship would stay the same.

Nothing really happened over summer. I thought about her a lot, and I thought about how I could fix this and perhaps salvage at least something from our “friendship”. Even though she had told me we were still friends, I couldn’t bring myself to believe it. She felt like a stranger who was saying stuff out of pity.

Then, September rolls around, and we go back to school. The pandemic is still very much present in my country, but we didn’t have to continue our lessons online. On the first day of school, i saw E, and I talked to her a bit. I hadn’t done that in about 5 months, so it felt weird, but I was glad to see her regardless. I told her about an exciting thing that happened, but she didn’t really seem that interested. And again, I was left with tears in my eyes. I didn’t want to believe it – was this how things were going to be for the rest of my time in high school (mind you, I am a senior)? I had a complete mental breakdown the following weekend. I just couldn’t handle it. Where did E go?

On the second week of school, we had a school trip which meant E and a couple of other teachers spent a few nights with a bunch of students. At first, I was unsure whether I should attend because I feared that I would get jealous, but i ended up going. The trip was fun – if you don’t count the fact that yes, I got jealous, and that E essentially ignored me and didn’t talk to me during the whole trip, something that she’s never done before. I spent the nights panicking about the situation, trying to figure out if I had done something to upset her or to otherwise make her feel uncomfortable (because I definitely had, but that - my confession, that is - had happened over 6 months ago). Something was off, I could feel it.

And then, when I return to school the next day after the trip, certain that E hates me, everything goes back to normal. I went to ask her if she had time to talk, and she was all smiles and told me that I could come by later that week. We also joked about the fact that she still hadn’t given up her habit of drinking coffee – something that was an inside joke of ours a while back. That was the first conversation in ages that didn’t leave me with tears in my eyes. That week, we spoke on three separate occasions. The first conversation was relatively normal. The second was about me going to a professional to seek help for my mental health issues (finally). We talked briefly about why E had set strict boundaries – she wasn’t doing well either, and she almost cried when she told me about it. I said something, and I felt bad for bringing it up, so I apologised to E the following day. Then she told me that she would keep listening, that i could still talk about my problems. I thought that she wouldn’t allow that anymore, so that came as a surprise. Of course I don’t want to keep complaining to her about virtually everything, but I’m glad she didn’t set a boundary there too. That was a pleasant end to the week.

We’ve had a few chats since then. She’s still very busy and won’t be staying after school to talk to me, meaning that I have to find time in her already packed work days. But I’ll take what I get, because it’s still something that E is willing to give up her time to just chat, even though it’s mostly nothing of importance. She also gets very apologetic every time she has to tell me that her schedule is full, which is both sweet and a bit sad. During one of our chats, we spoke about gap years, and to my surprise, she had one right after high school. She told about her reckless young adult years, when she would live at home and spend her savings on weekly visits to a local karaoke bar. She apparently excelled at school, yet she was very different from me in many other ways. At one point she sighed and wondered why she was even telling me this, and I had to hold back my laughter. That made me quite happy.

But alas, the situation still didn’t fix itself. There were a number of reasons as to why I still felt uneasy about everything, and almost scared whenever talking to her. There were times when I could’ve swore last spring never happened, but something was off. At one point I really thought the best thing to do was to just stop talking to her altogether, to force my overflowing feelings back under my skin, but I soon realised it was not going to work. My idea initially was to tell her that I was going to take a time-out and wait until she would have more time to talk about things thoroughly, but soon after it occurred to me that it would be the ultimate guilt trip for her. Don’t get me wrong, there have been many things she’s done that have hurt me one way or another, but I don’t hold her responsible. I know she means well and that yes, she probably felt shitty after what happened last spring, but she would never intentionally hurt me. She has, even after all this time, the right to be mad at me – I sort of broke her trust.

Since radio silence was not going to work, right before we went on fall break, I tried to find E at school to talk things out. Of course I didn’t find her, so in an email thanking her for a thing I also mentioned that I had something I would like to talk about. She responded, saying that we would return to the topic after the break. Well, come next week, and I was sure she forgot about it. Tbh she was probably expecting me to remind her (not the other way around), but I told myself it was not a thing that needed rushing anyway. On Thursday, however, I passed her in the hallway and took the opportunity to talk to her. “I haven’t sent you another email yet –”, I said, before she interrupted me mid-sentence with “next Wednesday. I’ll have a free period from x to y.” She was in a hurry, for which she apologised - but she was in a good, almost delighted mood. She remembered, after all!

Come Wednesday. I had been preparing for this moment for so long I had pretty much scripted the dialogue out in my head. But, as usual, things didn’t go according to plan. I hesitated, I completely chickened out. We did talk, but at first it was about everything else except the actual topic. Only in the last 15 minutes of our conversation did I open my mouth. I asked her if we could go out for a short walk before my next class, and so we did. The air was crisp, and neither of us had coats on. I told her there were still some things that bothered me about what happened last spring, a bit vaguely. She did take the hint, saying in an almost teasing tone: “ooh, so about the time when you said you liked me more than you should?” That took me aback a bit. I was surprised by her directness – I was expecting euphemisms, awkwardness, the like, because to me, it felt as if I was tearing open a half-healed wound. This just proved to me that it wasn’t a big deal to her (which was a relief!) and that she had always taken it somewhat well. Anyway, I revealed my reasoning behind the confession, and she told me that at some point in the spring she did feel a bit shocked by what I told her that day and that her personal boundary had been crossed. Fair point, E. I did violate her boundaries, I lost control, I was sure that the whole thing didn’t just fly past her head. But, that’s the opposite of what she initially told me: remember, she said she didn’t feel distraught. It wasn’t a lie at the time, but I wish E would’ve confronted me about it instead of having me second-guess each and every one of my actions. I am bitter, yes, but I’m sure E had good reasons to act like she did. It’s not simple to talk about these sort of things. I’m glad I got my reaction after so many months of waiting. Before our time ran out, I asked her about boundaries and I got the same answer she always gives me: “you can always, always come talk to me.”

We’ve been in and out of school this fall, reflecting how erm... well our country is dealing with the pandemic. We have had face to face classes almost periodically, but currently we’re in lockdown and thus back to online school for the rest of the year, at least. Quite ironically, I was supposed to talk to her at the start of last week, but it just so happened to be on the day schools were closed again. Just my luck, though I’m starting to get used to it. Things are okay between us – not the best, but not nearly as bad as a few months back. I’m currently fighting a pretty bad episode of seasonal depression, which in turn has made me an emotional mess, exaggerating my feelings for her once more. I’ve tried to keep myself together whenever we’ve talked since I kind of promised to her to keep these things to myself since E starts feeling really helpless if I burden her with my unwellness again. I want to talk about happy things, but right now I find it difficult to even point out something I would deem “happy”. Whenever I complain, however, she does the same, so I guess we do have some kind of mutual understanding in regards to that. I’m not exactly sure what to do now, what to tell her and what to leave out of the picture. I do want to be honest thought, because we all know how exhausting putting on a happy face is. The only thing is that I don’t want her to worry.

One thing is for sure: I want to fall in love like this again. I have only now begun to realise how much E actually gave of herself – I still can’t believe we’ve been driving around town together, or that she remembered my birthday, or that she has given hours of her time to just listen. And she still continues to do the latter, whenever she does have time in between lessons. I wish love was easy, all butterflies and rainbows and glitter. But it’s not: it’s bold, it’s giving, trying, failing all over again, in a loop. But to say that love, even in its ugliest forms, isn’t worth all the heartbreak and hurt and pain, is wrong. I would do this again and again, shatter my heart into a million pieces and glue them back together just to experience all the happiness that it has brought me.   

To quote a manga I absolutely adore, “Those treasured moments we shared are still with me now. And the bond we made will continue to support me, tomorrow and so on. I’m sticking to my dumb and ridiculous unrequited love.”

One day I’ll hug her again. One day. I have something to look forward to in this life.

[cyn-00]

Moreid one shot, 5 - "spare you"

Season 6, episode 19 "With friends like these" (the one where Reid is having one of his headaches while they're delivering a profile, hence Morgan follows him to the bathroom to talk to him)

Back at it again with another unrequested long ass fic

Update like 5 months later: I basically re-wrote this. Well, parts of it; and I added other parts

Read it on AO3

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

Reid had been behaving weirdly for weeks now. Everyone on the team had noticed and asked, but he'd always given vague answers.

One would expect that only Morgan, aka his boyfriend, would know something more about it and, in fact, the others had tried to ask him too. Truth was, not even Morgan had it quite figured out. Which was concerning.

He'd tried to ask Reid what was going on several times: while they were working on cases, on the jet, in private, even at home, the few times in those past weeks that he had convinced him to come over, to try and make him spit it out. At a certain point, he just gave up. But seeing someone you love so much suffer and try to cope with something clearly bigger than them, isn't fun. Especially if you think that maybe you could do something about it, if only they let you.

The times he'd asked, Reid had told him that it was his migraine, which caused him insomnia and vice versa, in an endless vicious cycle. That could've been true: it happened to him from time to time. Especially after the drug problem he had dealt with a couple of years before; but Morgan didn't know much about that because they weren't "dating" at that time - and if Reid was one to keep things secret from him as a couple, imagine when they were just friends.

-

They were delivering the profile to the local pd agents, and Reid was clearly distracted. He didn't say a word during the whole thing, except when Hotch directly called him out to explain which was the unsub's "comfort zone".

Since they were all used to him intervening to give some statistics or make comparisons with other famous criminals, to the point where, sometimes, Hotch or Morgan had to shut him up because he was getting too excited; it was safe to say that such behavior wasn't normal for Spencer. 

In that specific situation, though, it was understandable that he wasn't saying anything: first of all, the unsub was supposedly schizophrenic, and when an unsub showed signs of mental illness - let alone if it was the same his mom had - it was very triggering for Reid. But most of all, it was their first case after Emily's "death".

-

"If you find someone who fits this description, let the sheriff know. Thank you for your attention." Hotch concluded.

Reid was still sitting on the desk. The moment Morgan's eyes met his for a split second, he stood up and immediately strode toward the bathroom; like he had been "caught" and had to flee as far as his feet could take him.

Spencer's headache was killing him in that moment. He hoped not to look so clearly uncomfortable, but he knew Derek - and literally everyone else - had noticed. And he knew that time he'd have to tell him the truth. He was NOT enjoying the continuous lying at all, especially when it came to lying to Derek. His Derek. It wasn't fair to him.

He walked toward the bathroom as fast as possible so that the others wouldn't have the time to ask him what was going on. On the other hand though, to Morgan that must have clearly looked like Reid was unspokenly asking for him to follow, and that he was ready to finally talk - which he wasn't. He would NEVER be ready to talk about it.

Spencer got in the bathroom, but couldn't hear Derek's footsteps yet. Maybe Hotch had to tell him something? Maybe he was too busy on the case to worry about his stupid headache? Maybe he wasn't even going to follow him in the first place, because he was done with his bullshit? No, that surely wasn't possible. And anyway Reid didn't even know whether he was hoping for that to be true or not.

He closed the door, - noise made the headaches way worse - washed his face and started taking deep breaths, which was what he usually did to try and make the migraine better; obviously failing 9 times out of 10.

He finally heard someone open the door, hoping it wasn't any member of the team apart from Morgan or - even worse - some officer who would've thought he was crazy.

-

When Morgan entered the bathroom, he found Reid bending over the sink, leaning on his arms with his head down. He had a feeling he was gonna talk for real, this time, instead of using lame excuses or avoiding the topic completely.

Reid finally found the courage to look up at him, not directly, but through the mirror - though even just that was enough to make him nervous.

Morgan was now right beside him, with his arms crossed on his broad chest, like he was waiting for him to talk first. Reid sighed and finally turned around, leaning on the sink. But he couldn't bring himself to talk: he didn't even know where to start.

Derek lightly put his index under Spencer's chin and raised his face, to make him look into his eyes instead of facing the ground.

"I'm not here to judge you. Is that what you want me to say so you can finally speak? Like you don't know it already." Derek broke the silence.

Spencer couldn't find the right words to explain that he had been feeling like crap for the past 2 weeks.

"I've been feeling like shit." he finally murmured in resignation: that's just how it was.

Derek's eyebrows shot up. He wasn't expecting him to be so direct.

"Yeah, I noticed. Everyone has, to be fair."

Reid nodded and went back to look at his feet.

Morgan continued, softening his tone. "Listen, kid. This can't be a normal migraine, am I right? If it makes you feel so sick."

"That's what I thought." Spencer answered.

"...so did you go to a doctor?" Derek asked after a few seconds of silence, during which he would've expected him to continue with his explanation.

"I went to three different doctors, actually. And basically, they told me I have nothing."

Derek looked confused. His mind started to wrap around the idea that the migraines could be a symptom of something way more serious.

"Maybe..." Derek started. He wanted to say it, but wasn't sure if A) Spencer had already wondered about it and was gonna accuse him of thinking he's dumb, or B) on the contrary, saying it would heat him up because the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. Either way, he wasn't expecting him to react well, but he had to say SOMETHING, for Christ's sake.

"...maybe the headaches mean something else? " He decided to stay vague.

Reid stood up straight and faced him. That whole dancing around the problem was starting to annoy him.

"If you want to say that you think I'm showing signs of... of schizophrenia, just- just say it."

Derek wanted to answer with something that would calm him down, but Spencer interrupted him the second he opened his mouth.

"It's like I told Emily, I knew you would all treat me like a baby if I ever talked to any of you about this. Do you think I wouldn't have told you or- or anybody else, if the doctors had said that I'm having symptoms of mental illness?" Reid could feel his eyes filling up with tears the moment he mentioned Emily's name out loud.

He still couldn't believe he had talked to her about his stupid migraine while she was dealing with way more important stuff, and that maybe if he had been the one to ask her what was going on, instead of the other way around, she would still be alive.

Derek's expression changed from being comprehensive to being irritated as soon as he picked up that Spencer had talked about this to Emily before anyone else. Before him.

"So you told her. But didn't tell me. Even though I asked you a MILLION times." he said frowning, his voice deep.

Reid didn't answer. He realized he shouldn't have mentioned it. He couldn't bear with Morgan's look anymore, so he turned his back on him to face the mirror again, looking down at his distorted reflection on the steel tap.

"Alright look, I don't know why you told Emily before telling me that's- that's beside the point here, honestly. I don't blame you for it, I know she is-" Derek stopped for a second and gulped. "-was. I know she was your friend- OUR friend, I used to tell her about my stuff too, cause I trusted her with it, so I get it, alright?" he sighed heavily. "I blame you for not trusting ME, too. It's not like I didn't give you the right circumstances to tell me."

Derek paused and tried to calm down, lowering his voice. "but you and I, Spencer, we- we're not friends. We never were just friends. You're always THE FIRST ONE to know about my stuff and I'm the first to know about yours - or at least I used to be - because we get each other way before the others get us. And I did- I DID get you before anyone else even this time. You were just too damn blind to notice it."

"I DO trust you. Don't talk like you don't know that. It's not because of trust that I haven't told you yet." Spencer finally found the words to answer, without hesitation.

"Then what? What is it?? If it's because of the 'treating you like a baby' bullshit- don't even get me started. I don't care how you call it, but what that actually is, is worrying and CARING about yo-"

"I know." That's all Spencer managed to say, coldly, before letting the conversation fall into a long, tense silence.

Derek was waiting for him to say something - anything - with his arms folded on his chest, but his patience had a limit - EVEN when it came to Spencer. And it wasn't because he got tired of him - there was no such thing - but because it was too painful to see him like that.

-

"A'ight." He sighed frustratedly, dropping his arms down his sides as he turned on his heels. He just couldn't stand being there any longer.

He was about to walk away, but Spencer turned around and grabbed his arm to stop him.

"W-Wait. There is a reason why I didn't wanna tell you at all, to be honest, and I- I even hoped you'd let it go at some point..." Spencer found the courage to say, now looking straight into Derek's dark eyes. He let go of his arm and tucked his hair behind his ears, as if preparing to explain properly.

"One of the doctors said that these migraines could be psychosomatic. He didn't mention schizophrenia though." he confessed, getting to the point, pausing a second after to catch Derek's reaction. But his expression remained pretty much the same: Spencer wasn't sure whether that could be because he was someway expecting it; or he was simply trying to hide how startled he actually was at the news, afraid to discourage him from talking.

"It's hard enough for me to get the work done and...actually, to- to live, with these headaches" he paused again, this time in the attempt to stop the urge of crying, but his voice was already cracking. "I can't concentrate, even light bothers me, let alone noise, I can't- I get 20 hours of actual sleep a week if I'm lucky. I feel pain and- and exhaustion, all the time..."

Now he was crying. He quickly wiped away the tears with the back of his nervously trembling hand, and shook his head to compose himself. "When I'm with you I feel guilty because I- I can't actually enjoy it and I can see that that's affecting you and that's SO not fair to you Derek I-" he sniffled, stopping himself from continuing with that train of thought, afraid that if he went on to say how much Derek didn't deserve to go through all of that for him, to have to adjust in order to keep up with his garbage, how he didn't understand why he hadn't yet ran away in the arms of someone normal, someone just as amazing as he was because he shouldn't settle for anything less, someone who could lift from his chest some of his pain instead of adding to it- Spencer was afraid if he'd went on to say that, not only he would crumble on the floor at his very knees, which would've been quite the pathetic scene; but most of all Derek would've thought he was praising him just to distract him from how mad he was at Spencer - righteously, he thought. Derek wasn't mad at Spencer for feeling sick, by the way. He could never.

Spencer was somewhat ready to continue, getting back to the problem. "The times that you've convinced me to come over, lately, were few not because I didn't want- actually it's a bit easier for me to sleep when I'm with you, in general, at least more than I manage alone- it's- it was just because I can imagine that having to babysit me is not how you- we, that's not... how we wish to spend time together. So what I'm saying is that the reason why I didn't wanna tell you is because if the doctor is right, it means I'm gonna have to go through therapy to fix this and it's gonna take a while...maybe it's never even gonna go away I- I'm not sure, honestly. There's no way of knowing. And I don't wanna force you to be a part of this. Even just for these few weeks I can see I've been nothing but a burden to you- to everyone, to be fair, and..." he gulped and tried to slow down the pace of his talk. "and I want to be able to spare from this at least you."

-

They stared into each other's eyes for a while. Derek understood what Spencer meant to say with all of that, he just needed a minute to process a proper answer - or at least one that would make some kind of sense.

"So uhm, let me- let me get this straight" he said shaking his head, his voice hoarse, his eyes squeezed shut trying to soothe the itching of tears poking at his lids. "Your best solution would be to... to break up ?" he asked, knowing the answer already.

Spencer nodded and returned to face the ground, ashamed of what he was implying and not really knowing what he was hoping for him to decide.

Derek couldn't find the right words to say next. So he walked toward the door.

-

Spencer thought that that was it. That he was about to be abandoned yet once more - and for the first time he wanted to punch himself in the guts at the awareness that it was no one else's but his own fault; surely not Derek's. He thought the best thing that had God-willingly fallen into his arms in years was about to walk away through that door.

And, despite knowing there was no such thing, Spencer could swear he felt his heart physically break. The amount of tears heaping up before his pupils blinded him and made his eyes literally burn; his jaw was clenched so tight in the attempt to put a stop to the desperate sobs about to escape that his teeth seemed to be cracking, just before shattering altogether.

But he didn't really have the right to stop him, since he basically asked for it and since he knew sticking with him through that would be a big responsibility and an even bigger burden, other than a distraction.

That's why he wanted to break up with him first. He wanted to rip off the band-aid. At least he would've spared them both the mess that would've happened if Derek had stayed with him for a while longer and then dumped him at a certain point, out of having enough, when Spencer would've already convinced himself that he could trust him to stick around till the "end". Whatever that meant.

-

Unexpectedly, when Derek got to the door, he did not open it and leave. He locked it, instead. He didn't really care if anyone got in anyway, but the situation was already uncomfortable enough.

He went back to Spencer and took him in his arms, with one hand on the back of his head, tied in his curls. And he kissed him.

Spencer was definitely not expecting that. His heart started beating again, so loud he could feel it in his ears. His eyes shut while his mouth was moving almost on itself, like it got carried away by his feelings. As for his arms, though, at first he hadn't figured out what to do with them yet, leaving them hanging idle along his sides.

Then he stopped for a second to catch his breath, and when their mouths met again, making the kiss more intense and wet; whether that be from the tears coating Spencer's face entirely or the drool he didn't even have the strength to contain - just then, his arms found their way, wrapping Derek as tightly as he possibly could.

Just when it was starting to get too needy and Derek's mind was about to go places it shouldn't have - considering the context and the importance of the matter - Spencer placed his hand on Derek's jaw to pull away, abruptly.

"W-wait" he whispered breathily. "Did you mean for this to be our- our last kiss?" he blurted out worriedly, the bad thoughts doubling back to hit him in the stomach all at once. "Is this a goodbye?"

Derek didn't answer immediately - instead, he drew him closer into his arms and hugged him tight, burying his face into his soft hair, keeping his eyes closed.

The lack of response left Reid even more confused. He slightly furrowed his brows but let himself melt into the comfort of Morgan's broad and warm body, returning the hug a few seconds later.

He could feel the rhythm of Derek's breath softly blowing into his ear, and the beat of his heart against his chest. And Spencer knew that to feel a person's heart through a hug it would have to be really pounding. Like, he could give you the numbers.

-

"I can't even imagine there being a last kiss with you, Spencer. I love you." Derek finally murmured into his ear, pausing to sniffle. "So much. I love you so much, I need you to understand that."

The only reason why Spencer didn't say it back, was because the smile printed on his face was too wide to speak; he didn't even know he could smile that big. And Derek felt such smile against his neck, so how could the lack of answer bother him? 

Derek opened his eyes and pulled away to look at him, shifting his hands to cup his face. Spencer placed his hands around his wrists, holding onto them like he wanted to secure the grip.

He leaned closer and laid a gentle kiss on one of his boyfriend's eyelids. It was an affectionate and pure gesture in itself, but he didn't do it randomly: Spencer's mom used to kiss him goodnight like that when he was little, before tucking him in the blankets. In that moment, Spencer probably wished Derek had long forgotten about that thing, thinking it sounded childish and embarrassing. Derek didn't find it either of those things.

"Can't believe a smartass like you could think I'd just leave." Derek said. Spencer snorted and nodded: he realized just in that moment that he had no excuse for even CONSIDERING that, even if before it seemed to him like the only way out.

Morgan let go of him. "C'mon pretty boy. Let's get back to work."

-

He walked toward the door first: if they had got out together, maybe someone would've suspected something - what that "something" was, he still had to figure out. They got lucky enough that no one had tried to get in during all that.

He unlocked the door but waited a second to get out.

"Thank you, by the way."

Reid frowned.

"For what exactly? Doubting about you and making you angry?" he smiled sheepishly; his eyes still flushed and his voice wavering. "Also, my headache has completely gone away so I'm the one who should be thankful".

"No, no." Derek shook his head, smiling back at him in that way, the way that made everyone always melt on the ground. "Thank you for telling me, I mean. Even if it took a while."

Silence.

"I know it's hard for you, kid." he added in a gentle tone.

He got out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

[invisibletinkerer]

Fic: 30 Seconds Later (chapter 19)

Chapter 1 – Chapter 2 – Chapter 3 – Chapter 4 – Chapter 5 – Chapter 6 – Chapter 7 – Chapter 8 – Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19

Length: ~7000 words

AO3: archiveofourown.org/works/13715520/chapters/50933677

Strange.

Strange and pleasant and warm.

Opening his eyes seemed unnecessary. The novel state of comfortable half-sleep beckoned him to stay. Forever, perhaps. Forever would be nice.

It took an undeterminable but lovely amount of time to remember why it felt so strange.

Recollection brought with it a much more familiar surge of panic, causing him to a bolt upright, pain shooting through his abdomen and chest, eyes wide and hands immediately fumbling for his glasses.

Slamming his eyewear in place with more force than was strictly warranted, it still took a moment for Stanford’s mind to spiral its way to the conclusion that there was no need to panic. He forced himself to breathe, a fist tight against his chest, slowly relaxing his shoulders. He was awake and no harm was done. He was in the ground floor study, inside the barrier that blocked Bill from his mind, and he was—he knew this—he was safe here. That’s why he’d been asleep.

The portal was broken, the rift was sealed in a container and locked up, and the journals were right under the couch where he’d put them previously. He should still do more, but nothing had happened to them yet, as far as he could tell. He leaned forward, arms on his knees, and closed his eyes for a moment. It was fine.

He was alone in the room now, but he hadn’t been so all night. The mattresses and crumpled blankets on the floor – not to mention the game books – was proof enough that last night had been real.

Ford ran a hand through his hair and took deep breath that turned into a yawn, ending with a quiet incredulous chuckle. He couldn’t believe he’d played DDD.

He couldn’t believe he’d played DDD, and slept, and he felt—he felt alright. His wounds ached and his heart was beating too fast in his chest, but the colors around him seemed brighter – reds, browns, purples, not just yellows – than they had been in weeks. There was daylight illuminating the window from the outside. It was another warm summer day, when it should have been freezing winter. Bill wanted to destroy the world, but Ford wasn’t going to let him, and for once the determination seemed like something more than a desperate last stand.

He wasn’t doing this alone.

The emotions attached to that thought threatened to overwhelm him.

He had Stanley back. He had something that resembled a family. Together they’d done things he never would would have managed alone, and then they’d played DDD. It seemed incredible, fragile, unreal.

He had Stanley back, and all it took was a one-way trip thirty years into the future. Now he had a twin brother twice his own age, his elder brother’s grandchildren, and no identity of his own.

Something twisted in his guts. He should have done things differently. Should have tried to explain better to Stanley when he arrived, should have reached out sooner, should have listened to Fiddleford, should have seen the warnings signs, should have never summoned Bill to begin with—the list of mistakes could go on forever if he allowed it to. He should have been a better brother. He should have been a better scientist. He should have been a better son, a better friend, a better person. It was too late for so many things, now.

And yet, here he was.

Rubbing his arms against the sudden chill, Ford looked down at his dirty, worn dresspants and rags of a shirt. He should probably change. Possibly also shower and redress the wounds if he could stomach it—no, whether he could stomach it or not.

As well as other things that needed to be done.

Wrapping himself up in the coat, he made himself slip out of the protection of the barrier and face a new day.

 Stanley served him pancakes for the third day in a row, as if this was now a normal occurrence. Dipper and Mabel chatted about last night’s game. All three of them had already eaten earlier, but apparently they wanted to ‘keep him company’, which was probably just another way of saying to keep an eye on him – but if so, it was fully warranted and not completely unwelcome.

“So, did you sleep well?” Stanley asked from the stove soon after getting Ford to sit down at the table. “Didn’t hear ya wake up any, not even when me and the kids got up.”

Ford frowned at the implications, and the grammar. “I didn’t even hear you.” That was troubling, especially after the alien tranquilizers yesterday. If anything had happened, he might not have noticed in time. “I suppose I slept too well.”

Stanley laughed. “No such thing for you, Sixer. You needed it. I’m just glad you’re getting your head back on your shoulders.”

“It’s always been on my shoulders!” Ford bristled. “Well, technically, between them.”

Stanley laughed more.

Oh. “But that’s just a saying and now you’re messing with me.”

“Just happy you’re here, genius.”

Ford didn’t know what to say about that. Stanley’s smile was reminiscent of a better time, but set on a too-old face, and Ford had been gone for thirty years. An absolutely preposterous amount of time for his brother to spend trying to get him back, but little more than a nap for an immortal being like Bill. He bit his lip and tried not to think about the blue light of the portal, the rage on Stanley’s face turning to horror and the taste of his own panic as he drifted away. If they hadn’t fought—if things had gone differently—

Mabel broke the uncomfortable silence. “I slept well too! And Dipper didn’t have any nightmares!”

Dipper smacked her arm. “Thanks, Mabel, that’s exactly what everyone was asking about.” He looked up at Ford. “I did sleep well, though. I dreamt about DDD! Last night was amazing!”

Ford found himself smiling at that. “It was a good game.”

“We have to do it again sometime!”

“Yes, we—” Ford hesitated. The idea of playing regularly implied a level of permanence he couldn’t take for granted, but neither could he deny that he wanted to. “—we should.”

“What’s the matter?” Dipper sounded wary, perhaps taking Ford’s hesitation the wrong way.

“I need coffee,” Ford realized. There was no coffee on the table, and although it might be more of an addiction than a necessity today, he still craved it. He resolutely got up to make some.

Stanley tried to wave him down even as he was flopping pancakes around with a spatula. “Ah, I’ll get to that when I’m done with—”

“I can make coffee!” Dipper chimed in.

Ford turned around. “Don’t,” he said, making a horizontal gesture with both hands. “I’m quite capable of making my own coffee, thank you.” He wasn’t even the slightest bit dizzy at the moment, so any coddling was utterly unnecessary.

This was his own kitchen, even. It wasn’t as if Stanley had rebuilt or remodeled this part of the house. The coffeemaker on the counter wasn’t his own, but it was a similar model, just as easy to work. He filled it up and started to brew, then opened the cupboard above for a mug.

He narrowed his eyes at the plates. Just because the mugs weren’t in the exact cupboard he expected them to be didn’t mean he couldn’t find them. As it turned out, they were in the next cupboard. And just because the mugs were all unfamiliar to him didn’t mean—

Wait. Struck by an urge to examine the matter scientifically, Ford started taking down all the mugs from the cupboard one by one. Eleven, all in all. Most of them must indeed be Stanley’s, but some were so old and worn that it was difficult to tell. Only one was unmistakable. It was chipped and discolored, but wore a faded print that said “It’s all fun and games until someone divides by zero.”

Ford took a deep breath, more relieved than he’d expected to be. He remembered buying this during a visit to the east coast, three years ago. Thirty-three years ago. It still existed, but like Stanley, it was old now. Older than himself. He’d bought it before he’d met Bill, at a time when he’d just started to become frustrated with his own inability to produce a unified theory of weirdness, and the printed words had spoken to him. A simpler, more naïve time, but the sentiment written on the mug still seemed apt.

“Earth to Stanford.”

Ford spun around, bumped his wounded side into the counter and bit down a grunt of pain, still clutching the old mug in his hands. Stanley was by the table, having filled Ford’s plate with pancakes, looking at Ford with a concerned frown. “You okay?”

“Are you cleaning the cupboards?” Dipper asked, confusion clear in his voice.

“Are you making a mess?” was Mabel’s follow-up question, a bit more enthusiastically.

“No, I—Yes, I’m okay.” He glanced at the ten mugs on the counter. “I wasn’t trying to do either of those things, but I suppose I got lost in thought.” He turned back around and filled his old mug with black coffee, sipping at it while putting the rest of the mugs back in the cupboard.

“I’m sorry,” Stanley mumbled as Ford took his seat again and started pouring some syrup on the pancakes.

“I know.” Ford couldn’t think of anything else to say. He wasn’t sure what exactly Stanley was apologizing for – for taking thirty years? For replacing or wearing down his coffee mugs? For having stepped into the spot Ford left behind and lived a life? Ford got all that. He wasn’t angry, not the way he’d wanted to be a couple of days ago. It was just—it was a lot. Too much. “It’s fine,” he said.

Pressing the hot mug against a stinging part of his chest, the pain grounded him. He reminded himself that it didn’t matter. As long as Bill was stopped, the rest was unimportant details.

 The first order of business after breakfast – technically brunch – was a shower.

That shouldn’t be a problem, and he’d assured Stanley as much. Going to great lengths to avoid looking at the cuts Bill had inflicted on him was irrational, as they’d be there whether he looked or not. Additionally, they did need to be kept clean, and he could only hope he wouldn’t suffer too badly from not having tended to them earlier. He certainly wasn’t going to let Stanley do it again – he did have a modicum of dignity when not thoroughly sedated by alien drugs.

Still. As much as he felt better, as much as the dizziness and tunnel-vision had faded with the sleep deprivation, his heart was beating like a drum in his ears when he met his own eyes in the bathroom mirror. They were perfectly human eyes, still a bit red, still ringed with dark sacks, but no yellow anywhere. Knowing that didn’t douse the adrenalin spike.

Irrational or not, he took a towel from the shelf and covered up the mirror before undressing. At least he wouldn’t have to look at the full-frontal view of the damage. Beyond that, he simply had to handle it.

The triangles were uncovered in stages as he unwrapped the bandages. Triangles upon triangles. Angry red lines.

There were so many of them. They moved as his stomach heaved, and suddenly he was retching.

He was in control. Bill couldn’t do anything to him, not right now. He knew that, and yet just looking at his own body somehow made the conviction slip through his fingers. It didn’t matter how much he tried to detach himself; his body was still there, still him, still Bill’s.

He threw up. He’d eaten too much anyway, filled himself too comfortably, as if he could afford to be comfortable. He stood, gripping the sides of the bathroom sink tight enough that his hands hurt, squeezing his watering eyes shut, but it was too late to keep Bill’s laughter out. It wouldn’t stop. He knew it too well.

“Did you really think you could stop me from doing whatever I want?”

No.

“You agreed to the deal, so deal with it! From now til the end of time, pal!”

No!

“It’ll be fun to watch you try! Cute, even!”

Stop it!

Ford forced himself to open his eyes again, facing his own skin. The large triangle right over his solar plexus met his gaze with a red-lined eye, not a mere symbol, but Bill himself somehow grinning up at him without a mouth.

In fact, Bill probably was here. The bathroom wasn’t shielded. Bill could be watching Ford’s reaction right now, from inside his own mind, from the triangles etched on his body, and there was nothing Ford could do about it, no way to stop it.

He’d done this to himself.

Swallowing bile again, Ford looked away. There were dark stains on the ceiling. His hands clenched, nails digging into his palms, and he might possibly not be breathing.

This was nothing but trivial physical damage. No different from a fork stabbed into his thigh or a sandpaper scrubbed across his forearm. It didn’t mean anything.

It meant Bill owned him. It meant that he’d once voluntarily made a deal, and now he was a triangle’s plaything for the rest of his life. It meant—

“Well, I don’t care! It’s bullshit!”

Stanley’s words from yesterday cut through the moment, and suddenly Ford found air. He gasped, shoulders sagging, and somehow he found himself sitting on the edge of the tub, rubbing his eyes.

“You’re bullshit, Bill,” he breathed.

He’d slept without fear. Bill could no longer take him whenever he wanted to. Unless he massively slipped up, he might never have to be possessed again. Wasn’t that enough to not be owned? Maybe it wasn’t, not in the face of his own body’s evidence to the contrary, but it was enough for him to clench his jaws and get himself cleaned up.

It hurt, but it might as well. Pain meant he was alive and awake, and as such it was a good sign.

At least the wound from the alien tranquilizer gun seemed to be healing fine, and so was the one around his wrist from the handcuff. None on the older marks and bruises were a problem, either.  And indeed, most of the triangles had scabbed over, too. It wasn’t that bad.

Still, despite Stanley’s efforts yesterday, a number of them were still tender and hot to the touch, and a couple of the triangles were shifting yellow with pus. The latter made Ford taste bile in his throat again, but it was bullshit. Just a few cuts that hadn’t been properly tended from the beginning. They were shallow. The infection was shallow, too.

All he had to do was have a proper shower, and then hopefully the inflammation could be controlled with what antibacterial ointments Stanley had available. Seeing a physician was simply not an option.

 At least he had his own clothes. The fact that he did – that Stanley had preserved them for thirty years and had them washed and ready for use when Ford returned – seemed a minor miracle. A clean white shirt and a gray sweaterwest to hide away the new bandages improved his mood immensely. The marks were there, but he didn’t have to dwell on them.

As he put on the coat again – unlike the shirt and sweaterwest he’d worn yesterday, the coat was merely a bit frayed, not ruined – his hand reflexively went for the upper left inner pocket. It was empty, of course, not that it should matter.

Taking a deep breath, he emerged from the bathroom, glancing towards the locked door to the study. Surely if there had been a burglary, someone would have noticed. Surely the rift was still in there.

“Looking good!” Mabel said, startling Ford to pay attention to the two kids that had apparently been sitting on the floor right outside the bathroom, playing with some folded paper. “Wet hair makes less fluff, so you look even more like grunkle Stan!”

“Fluff?” Had they been waiting for him?

“I wonder if we could make grunkle Stan wear a coat like that?” Mabel continued, turning to Dipper. “We could make them pose like before-and-after pictures! Or if uncle Ford wore a suit, they could make a whole de-aging trick for the Mystery Shack!”

Dipper laughed, but cut it off when he met Ford’s narrowed eyes.

“I’m not going to do tricks for the Mystery Shack,” Ford said flatly. He was still trying to swallow the existence of the Mystery Shack. Turning himself into a freak show was the last thing he wanted.

“You don’t have to,” Mabel said breezily. “But it would still be fun to dress you and Stan up the same and confuse people. I bet Stan could rig it up with a smoke bomb!”

“Mabel and I do that sometimes,” Dipper added. “Not with smokebombs, but with confusing people. It’s fun!”

That, on the other hand, he could relate to. Ford sighed and leaned his back against the wall, a fond smile finding its way to his face despite some irritation. “That is one of the perks of having a twin,” he admitted.

“Did you and grunkle Stan switch a lot when you were kids?”

“When we could get away with it. Our mother always knew.”

Dipper nodded. “Yeah, moms have a superpower like that.”

“Moms can see right through you,” Mabel said, wriggling her fingers as if casting a spell.

“Well, anyone who remembered to look at our hands would figure it out, unless we could hide them.” Ford held out a six-fingered hand. “Still, it worked surprisingly often.” A wave of nostalgia was hitting him like hot air to the face, tinged with lingering resentment and overpowering regret. “Where’s Stanley?” he asked.

“He’s in his office with Soos,” Dipper replied.

Ford grimaced. “His office.” That was less than helpful. Ford had had several places to work and write in the house, but no room designated an ‘office’ as such. “And where’s that?”

“Oh. Um…”

“It’s the little room next to the museum,” Mabel supplied, which wasn’t actually helpful either. This house had changed so much, and Ford didn’t truly want to know what Stanley had done to it during all those years. The tourist trap of fake anomalies was... Well, if he were to express how much it hurt he would have to start yelling at Stanley again, and he didn’t want to do that. He got it, intellectually, and objectively it was a far more harmless activity than Ford’s had been.

“We’ll show you,” Dipper decided, to Ford’s relief. His discomfort might have been written on his face, but neither of the kids said anything about it, though Mabel took his hand and squeezed it as they led him off to the back of the house. The goal turned out to be the small guest bedroom next to the hall where Ford had collected his specimen.

Well. It was clearly an office, now. Decorated with Stanley’s weird mix of real and fake anomalies, as well as books, documents haphazardly thrown into boxes, and Ford’s magic photocopier, though the latter had obviously seen better days. Stanley and Soos looked up from a pile of documents on the desk as Ford and the kids entered.

“Ford?” Stanley said. “You okay?” As if the only reason he’d be here was that if he was having a problem.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Ford crossed his arms on top of the layers that covered the bandages. “Can I ask you a question? You seem to be busy.”

“Bah.” Stanley straightened up and pushed a piece of paper aside. It looked like some kind of invoice. “It’s just economy. Soos can handle it.” He turned to the younger man, adding, “You can, right? Just fake my signature if you need to.”

“Yes sir, Mr Pines!”

“So,” Stanley said as Ford tried not to stare. His brother’s mixture of carelessness, crookedness and utter trust was difficult to believe, especially the last part. Stanley nudged him back out to the big hall, leaving both Soos and the young twins behind. “Hit me with it.”

“What exactly—” Ford lowered his voice. “What exactly is this Soos person to you?”

His old twin grinned. “That’s your question?”

“Do I only get one, then?”

Stanley shrugged. “You get as many as you like.” He glanced around them. “Just don’t ask about the Sascrotch.”

Ford’s face hardened. He’d already glimpsed that particular fake pun-based abomination, but he refused to acknowledge it.

“Nevermind.” Stanley rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m just trying to—sorry. Anyway, Soos. He’s my handyman. Works at the Mystery Shack, keeps things together.”

That was not the whole story. “And what else?”

“Geesh.” Stanley grimaced. “Why would there be anything else?” They were moving back to the main part of the house, now.

“Is he or is he not a part of your family?” Why did it have to be so ambivalent?

“He is! Well. I mean.” Stanley fell silent. Ford waited.

“He’s been my handyman since he was twelve. His dad ditched him and I guess he kinda imprinted on me or something. Does that answer your question?”

Ford nodded slowly, filing the information away. “I suppose it does. More or less. And you trust him?”

“Of course I do.”

That didn’t solve the matter entirely, but it eased some of the worries. An explanation, a map of the immediate social environment, and some reason not to suspect the young man’s loyalties.

“But that wasn’t what you wanted to talk about,” Stanley added.

“No. It’s a minor thing, but I was going to ask what happened to the coat I was wearing—” —when I fell through the portal— “—three days ago.”

“I threw it in the wash. It’s in the dryer right now – you need it?”

Damn. Ford’s stomach sank. “You didn’t think to empty the pockets, did you?”

Stanley’s eyes widened, but then he smiled. “Yeah, I did.”

That was a relief, but suddenly Ford found himself tongue-tied regarding the actual item he was after. Stan’s smile already told him that he knew exactly what it was about, and it wasn’t as if he hadn’t already admitted to missing Stanley. But he hardly had any good excuse to care about a childhood memento in his pocket when the fate of the world was at stake. He should just drop the matter, before he had to—

“And yeah,” Stanley added, interrupting Ford’s thoughts. “It’s in my bedroom. Come on.”

Stanley’s bedroom looked different now that Ford was fully awake and actually looking. Of course, it looked even more different from Ford’s own bedroom, the one that was now – thirty years ago – piled up with junk and unused for months. Some of the furniture was the same, though worn and rearranged, but most had never been Ford’s at all, and the mess had a very different flavor to it.

The photograph sat on a cluttered drawer, next to the pieces of a plastic credit card.

The latter was strange. “Is this mine?” Ford asked, picking up a piece. Had that been in his coat, too?

“Yeah.” Stanley grimaced. “I think Bill broke it and used the edges.” He didn’t say for what, but he didn’t have to. Ford dropped the piece of plastic like it had burned him, clenching his teeth and absolutely not thinking about that night.

It was the picture he wanted, anyway. He sighed, taking it gingerly in both hands and sinking down on the side of the bed. Two small boys looked up at him with pride from the wreck of an old boat. The memory of that day was still vivid, despite everything. The smell the salt air, the heat of the heavy sun overhead, the splinters from the broken hull. They’d both been so happy.

“It’s a good picture,” Stanley said next to him, sounding too casual. “Can’t believe how sunburned we were.”

“Indeed.”

Stanley opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again. “I’m glad you kept it,” he said eventually.

“I’m glad you didn’t put it in the washer with the coat.”

“Hah. No, that woulda been a tragedy.”

“You must have others like it, though. I’ve got—I had a whole box of old photos somewhere.” Stanley wouldn’t have thrown them away, would he?

“Sure. But this one was missing, and it’s a good one. And, ya know—” He took a deep breath. “I’m glad you’re a bigger sap than you look, okay?” He looked so embarrassed that Ford released a huff of laughter, tension evaporating slightly.

“I’m not a sap,” he said prudently. “I merely—” He paused and drummed his fingers against the back of the picture. “I needed a reminder of something good.” Even with the estrangement, his childhood with Stanley had seemed more meaningful – more real – than anything he’d felt for the last few years with Bill. The Stan o’War might have been a pointless dream, but it had been harmless and fun. The portal had never been either, looking back.

Stanley grunted. “You know it’s gonna be okay, right?”

“I don’t know that.” He rubbed a hand over a particularly sore spot below his left shoulder. “Bill isn’t going to give up.” Besides, he wasn’t sure what ‘be okay’ would even mean anymore.

“I’m not giving up either. Still gonna find a way to punch him, too.”

Ford had to smile. “I very much want to see that.”

“Do you want a frame for that picture?” Stanley asked after a moment of silence.

“A frame?”

“Put it up somewhere. Makes it easier to look at whenever you want to.” His eyes went to a small frame on his bedside table, containing a picture of Mabel and Dipper making ridiculous faces at the camera.

That was the sort of thing you did when you made a home.

“I’ll think about it,” Ford said, putting the picture away in his inner pocket with a soft sigh. “Right now I’m more concerned about safeguarding the rift. I want to seal up the window in the study again, to prevent it being used by burglars.”

Stanley looked alarmingly skeptical. “You wanna live in the dark?”

“Lamps exist, Stanley.”

“Sure, but—” He shook his head, apparently thinking better of it. “It’d make you feel better?”

“It’ll make us all safer.” Ford narrowed his eyes, hoping that Stanley wasn’t just humoring him. “And yes, that would make me feel better, yes, if that is your order of priorities.”

“Right,” Stanley agreed. “Let’s do that, then.”

 With Stanley’s help, the work on boarding up the window went quicker than anticipated. The room did get darker, of course, but it could also be argued that summer daylight was too bright. It also got a lot less likely that anyone would be able to use the glassed hole in the wall to break in. Nothing was one hundred percent secure, but this was better.

They were almost done when Mabel stormed into the study and announced, “Ten minutes to the Ducktective finale!”

“The duck-what?” Ford asked, hammering in the last of the nails before turning around.

Stanley was sitting back on the couch, looking tired but otherwise pleased. “Good thinking, sweetie,” he told Mabel. “I had almost forgot.”

“You can’t forget, grunkle Stan! It’s the finale!”

“The duck-what?” Ford repeated.

“Duck-tective!” Mabel yelled, gesturing at the portrait of a behatted duck on her sweater. “It’s about this duck that solves crimes and—”

“It’s a kids’ show,” Stanley explained. “But I like it. It’s got some clever mysteries and a lot of humor that goes over kids’ heads. Wanna watch it with us?”

That was not part of Ford’s plan for the day. “I don’t—”

“You should!” Mabel interrupted. “It’s great, and the duck is so cute!” She tilted her head slightly. “But then again it’s the final episode, so you’d have all the spoilers if you watch the rest of it later. That’s a dilemma.”

“No, it’s not,” Stanley said. “Just watch it with us for fun, ‘s not like you have to take it seriously. See what TV is like in the twenty-first century.”

“Why would I—” Ford shook his head. “No.”

Stanley looked disappointed. Why would he be disappointed that Ford didn’t want to watch a kids’ show about a duck? Even if he did want to catch up on popular culture – which he didn’t – that would hardly be his first choice. He still had work to do.

“So will you watch the whole series with us later?” Mabel asked with a hopeful smile.

“I—” Ford bit his lip. “Perhaps.”

“Okay, then,” Stanley said. “You gonna be alright here, or…?”

“I’ll be in the basement,” Ford told him.

“With the portal?” Stanley’s eyes widened. “I’ll come with you, then.”

Mabel made a frustrated sound, looking from Stanley to Ford.

Stanley looked guiltily at the girl. “I know, pumpkin, but—”

“I’m fine.” Ford sat back on the couch and sighed, waving his brother’s concern away. “I don’t actually need a babysitter, Stanley. Bill can’t possess me unless I fall asleep or unconscious, and that is exceedingly unlikely to happen within the next few hours.”

“What’re you going to do down there, anyway? The portal’s already busted.”

“Probably, yes. But I’ll be the judge of that.”

“You can’t wait an hour?”

Technically, he could. But that would mean succumbing to unfounded fear – Stanley’s, certainly not his own – that he couldn’t handle the remains of his own creation. He’d slept well. He wasn’t going to faint. The portal’s existence sat like was a heavy weight on his mind, and he didn’t want to postpone facing it because Stanley thought he was weak. “No,” he said.

Stanley hesitated, worry clear on his face. “Don’t overexert yourself.”

“Of course not.” He might be prone to working too hard, but if the safety of the world depended on him not blacking out, he thought he could manage that. Knowing Stanley, though, he probably wasn’t thinking about the safety of the world at all. Ford patted him on the arm. “Look, I’m still not going to spontaneously combust or otherwise turn to dust.”

“Or disappear in a flash of light?” Stanley tried to grin, but there was an obvious shudder in his shoulders.

Oh. Or that. “Most certainly not,” he replied. “That was unpleasant.”

Stanley’s smile turned slightly more genuine. “Yeah. See you in a bit, then.”

 Stanford stepped carefully into the large chamber of the basement, ramrod straight and hands clenched behind his back. The portal gazed back at him silently. Leaning on its side, edges broken and surrounded by shattered equipment, it was less impressive than it had been.

His own previous assessment – as well as Stanley’s – was, of course, correct. The portal was hardly in an operable state. It could never be accidentally activated like this. Not only had the very support beams collapsed, panels cracking and wires tearing, but he had no doubt that the energy surge had caused delicate components to burn out and fuse all over the machine. It was a mess, surely similar to the mess Stanley had been faced with thirty years ago. Possibly worse. The portal must have been open longer this time.

Regardless, if Stanley had been able to repair it once after a full power-up, it could be done again.

He had to destroy it. Pull it apart, scatter the components, hide the journals with the blueprints. No, he should destroy those, too. He should destroy everything.

He'd put so much of himself into his machine, his hopes and dreams and ambitions. He wanted it gone. He’d barely dared touch it before Stanley arrived. It would have been his masterpiece. He hated it with all his being. It was supposed to change the world. It was now one of the few pieces of evidence left that he had ever existed at all.

He could see now that it wasn’t a masterpiece at all. It was sloppy. A piece of equipment that broke immediately upon full usage was hardly a practical tool for anything, even if it had been able to do what it was supposed to. He’d even known it wasn’t sturdy enough for the forces it handled, but Bill had reassured him, and he’d trusted Bill’s judgement above his own.

If this was a masterpiece, it was Bill’s.

It did exactly what Bill had meant for it to do.

Ford licked his lips and took a deep breath. This machine was a monster. He’d poured his soul into it, but all it reflected was Bill.

An hour or so later, Ford was busy prying, tearing and unscrewing protective covers and underlying components, throwing them in piles on the floor and swearing at himself. His hands were covered in tiny scratches and cuts, and maybe he should be wearing gloves, but he doubted his own specially made gloves even existed anymore. He didn’t care.

Every part he touched reminded him of the work he’d put into making it. The discussions with Bill over physics and metaphysics and mathematics. The lies and the half-truths and the actual truths and many times he couldn’t tell them apart even in hindsight.

He wasn’t making any headway. The portal was too big, too well put together – courtesy of Fiddleford McGucket who may or may not even be alive anymore – and there was a strange, unwelcome nostalgia welling up inside him as he worked. Bill had made so much sense. Bill had taught him so much. He’d felt so special, chosen to receive and apply knowledge beyond the rest of humanity’s level. How deeply had he been deceived? Did this one relay truly regulate the flow of Higgs bosons? The math had checked out, but there were too many unknowns, too many fundamental aspects taken on faith by Bill’s word. Even without outright possessing him, Bill had still twisted him to his will.

How much did he understand of anything?

“How’re you doing?”

Ford looked up, not even surprised to see Stanley emerging from the control room, wrinkles and fez and all. “Great,” he said. “I’m doing great.”

Stanley smiled wryly. “Quit sounding like me.”

“What.” Ford pried the screwdriver into a crack between two panels locked together and tried to tear them apart.”

“I said, you sound like me.” Stanley sat down on a nearby fallen beam. “That is, if anyone had ever tried to ask how I was doing when I was down here swearing at that damned piece of technology.”

Ford huffed.

“Look, I—"

The panel Ford was working on snapped open with a pop, revealing the components underneath, wrapped in— Ford swore again. “Is that goddamn duct tape!?”

“Whoa.”

“Did you repair this with duct tape?” Ford snarled, not really meaning to. The duct tape didn’t matter, the way Stanley had affected repairs on the doomsday machine he should never have touched in the first place didn’t matter, and Ford’s overwhelming frustration with everything didn’t matter.

“I might’ve?” Stan stood again to take a look at the guts of the newly opened panel.

“Do you even know what this part is?”

“Dunno what it’s called, no. I have a decent idea what it does.”

Ford blinked. “You do?” Tossing the screwdriver to the floor, he threw up his hands. “Because I don’t! There’s duct tape on it and I don’t know how much of what I thought I knew about the whole machinery was true in the first place!”

Stanley looked pained. “I’m sorry.”

“For what? For using duct tape?”

“No, for—” He stopped with a sigh, instead wrapping an arm around Ford’s back. When Ford didn’t pull away immediately, he squeezed him in a sort of half hug.

“It’s dangerous,” Ford said. “It must never be repaired again.”

“I know.” Stanley looked up at the portal frame and laughed softly. “Great Moses, I know. You wanna tear it apart, you really should’ve waited for me.”

“Why?”

“I spent thirty years of my life on this thing. Think that entitles me to be in on the revenge.”

Thinking about it, that was a fair point. “Yes.” Ford drummed his sore fingers against his legs. “You’re right.” In a way, the portal had been Stanley’s life work, too. “I have to admit I still find it hard to believe you did that.”

“Mm-hm.” Stanley’s face tightened slightly.

“I didn’t—this technology is beyond anything on Earth, or at least Earth as I knew it.”

“Still true, pretty much.”

“Yes, and I don’t even know to which degree my own calculations make sense! The basic idea was Bill’s from the start. Some of it isn’t even based on human science. To reverse-engineer that enough to repair it, without the full blueprints—” Without a high school degree. With no documented interest in science whatsoever.

“It took thirty years.”

Ford sighed and leaned his back against the portal frame, looking down at the floor. “Most people in your position would have given up within a month, and rightly so.”

“So you admit it’s pretty unlikely that anyone’s going to come down here and repair it now?”

“That’s—” Ford looked down at his fingers. “You’re right, that’s extremely unlikely. Perhaps if Bill possessed someone and did all the work himself… But what I meant to say was that you did something incredible.”

Stanley’s face softened.

“And you’re almost as foolish as I am.” Perhaps in different ways, but nonetheless.

“I think I’ll take that as a compliment, too.”

Ford banged his forehead against Stanley’s shoulder with more than a little fondness. “You’re a knucklehead.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, Poindexter.”

“I still want the portal gone.” He turned back towards the monstrous machine and sighed. “Did you duct tape the graviton converter? Is that what you did?”

“If you mean that tube that changes extra radiation into anti-gravity, then yeah. I did that.”

Ford froze. Hearing Stanley so casually mention the inner workings of the portal was strange. The description made sense, but those were not the words he would have used. Nor Bill.

“Stanley?”

“Did I get it wrong?”

“No, that’s what it was meant to do. I was just thinking—if you want to help me disassemble this—”

“Yeah, I want it gone too.”

“—then could you do me another small favor? I’d like you to tell me your own understanding of how all these components work!”

Stanley frowned. “Is there a reason for that? I’m pretty sure you know better than me.”

“Maybe. But—” But maybe if Stanley described it he wouldn’t have Bill’s voice, Bill’s teachings, Bill’s flattery and braggery and lies ringing in the back of his mind every time he thought about complex metaphysics. “—I built this portal together with Bill. I’d like to hear about it from another perspective.”

“Huh.” Stanley grimaced. “Can’t say no to that, can I? I can try, but if you laugh at me I’m gonna flick your nose.”

Ford accepted the threat without argument.

Stanley’s descriptions were a breath of fresh air. They cut through Bill’s voice in his mind, vastly different from how Bill had talked about it, or how Ford himself had talked about it with Fiddleford. There was no theoretical sophistication, no air of pride or flattery or ambition or knowing exaggeration. When he didn’t know, he just said so. Stanley used plain layman’s terms wherever possible, describing things clearly and concisely, with none of the flair he used to put into speeches. However, his plain, utterly unacademical understanding of the inner workings of a machine that punched a hole in the fabric of space-time was quite frankly amazing. It mostly aligned with his own knowledge – no great revelations, and some of Stanley’s explanations stood on less theoretical and more pragmatic grounds – and the subject matter was still a disaster. The question marks and the foul taste of Bill’s lies remained in the back of his throat. But this was Stanley, talking science, and as such it was beautiful.

And yet Stanley seemed uncomfortable with it. When Ford tried to ask questions about how in the world Stanley had managed to figure some particular aspect out, it was more often than not met with sad eyes and a tired sigh. He did have some stories to tell about procurement of materials and misfired attempts at starting the device – things he had obviously never told anyone before – but they weren’t many, and he didn’t tell them with anything near the usual glee that telling stories about himself used to incite from Stanley.

“Believe me, Sixer, you do not wanna know how many useless notebooks I filled trying to make sense of stuff like space-time. Basic stuff to you.” He pulled the crowbar and a large part of protective covering fell away from the portal with a loud clatter. “Okay, so here’s the last part of the anti-gravity thing, and then that box is one of the six that spins fermions. Plus some part of the electronic control rig there in the back. Don’t think we can get to it yet.”

“Didn’t you ever—” Ford stopped, unsure if the question should be asked, but curiosity got the better of him. “Didn’t you ever take pride in this?”

“Why would I? I kept failing for thirty years.”

Ford opened his mouth, then closed it again. He wanted to say something, but his brother’s answer was so abrupt and horrifying in all its simplicity. He shuddered. His own foolishness burned hot with pride and ambition and willful ignorance, threatening to take the world and everything on it down in the flames. But Stanley’s foolishness was like relentless ice that simply wouldn’t budge until it had done what it meant to do.

He swallowed. “Thank you,” he said eventually. “For not giving up on me.”

Stanley released a sharp breath, smiled, then looked down. Before he could say anything, Ford looked back at their progress and changed the subject.

“We should get power tools.”

[thewritewolf]

Eating Habits Chapter 17:  Continuing On

Things aren’t quite as bad as our heroes thought they would be, but something else has picked up the slack when it comes to gnawing at Adrien’s peace of mind.

We’re close to the end of Eating Habits - three more chapters to go over the next ten days! :D

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 (Final)

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3

The other shoe didn’t drop in exactly the way that Adrien was expecting.

Despite his worst fears, his life didn’t return to that tumultuous few months following the unmasking of Hawkmoth. The news outlet that had reported on Marinette and Adrien had been little more than a tabloid that got picked up for a hot minute. Besides a few inquisitive phone calls from rather polite journalists, nothing much came of it.

Marinette hung up and sighed as she sat down at the kitchen table. “Where were all these well mannered reporters the first time? It would’ve saved us a heck of a lot of heartache if they had been there before.”

“Some of them were,” Tikki said from her spot on the table. “But polite whispers usually get drowned out in horrid shouting.”

“True.” Adrien put an omelette on a plate and set it in front of Marinette. She took a deep breath and sighed happily. “I’m super glad that I don’t have to sit in the apartment all day just to avoid getting ambushed.”

Marinette frowned. “I feel like there is a ‘but’ in there somewhere…”

“I’m sure you can find it if you keep feeling around,” Adrien joked. After a flicker of a smile passed over her face, her frown deepened.

“That settles it, then. You start with the lewd jokes when you’re trying to distract yourself. What’s got you so worked up, if it isn’t the news?”

Before he could stop himself, his eyes glanced treacherously towards the basket on the top of the fridge. Her eyes followed before understanding dawned.

“Ah.” She said into the cavernous silence that followed, a hundred conversations hanging in the emptiness. “Those. Do you think he saw the news? And that’s why he’s gotten so… prolific?”

Adrien laughed, but it was an empty noise. Prolific, as if it were him making designs just like the old days. Designing, rather than sending Adrien multiple letters a day, hammering away at his hard-earned and tenuous peace of mind. Every time he saw that particular type of envelope, that flowing cursive handwriting, his heart pounded in his chest and his breathing became haggard. It had gotten to the point where Marinette had banned him from getting the mail, but even with her filtering out most of them, his curiosity was building.

What did his former father want? Did he have something to say about his and Marinette’s relationship? Was he finally turning over a new leaf? Did seeing how they had moved on without him make him pull his head out of his ass for the first time since mom died? Well, her first death, that is. Adrien knew he shouldn’t get his hopes up, but… hope was something Adrien had always found hard to give up.

Which is why it was getting ever more tempting to give in and open one of those letters. Just one.

He was startled from his thoughts when a pair of slender arms wrapped around his chest from behind. Somehow, Marinette had snuck up behind him. He gladly took her hands in his as she spoke.

“You won’t find the answers you want to see in those letters, kitty. I promise. It’s just going to lead to more pain.” She sighed sadly. “But you know that already, don’t you?”

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

The sweltering summer days gave way to the cool summer nights - a perfect time to patrol. Maybe not in the full body suits, but Marinette was just glad that they were much more breathable than they looked. Swinging across Paris felt great and she hated going without doing it for too long.

Of course, the exertion brought with it a heat all its own. Which is why Ladybug and Rena Rouge could be found high up near the top of the Eiffel Tower tonight, where the winds whipped and they could escape the warmth of the city for a little while. As a nice bonus, it also kept them far away from listening ears and prying eyes. A perfect place to chat.

“The internship is going great,” Marinette said as a way to break the quiet.

Rena tilted her head to the side curiously, a look of confusion flickering across her face for a heartbeat. After a few moments, she smiled. “I’m glad to hear it, girl. It’s gotta be keeping you busy if you haven’t had time to talk about it. I was getting scared you were having an awful time over there.”

“Oh no no no, it’s been great!” Marinette began to warm up to the conversation .”I mean, yeah, they’ve really been keeping me active, but I actually enjoy that. After all these years, being idle just sorta feels… wrong, you know?”

“I get ya, girl.” Rena smiled as she leaned her head back, staring up at the inky black skies. “After that juggling act you pulled back in high school, it’s no wonder you keep putting more and more stuff on your plate. It must all be super easy compared to that.”

“It’s easier than fighting a super villain a day for years, yeah. But it’s challenging in a different way. I can’t just summon a lucky charm in the workplace to get just what I need to fix things.”

“Now that’s just quitter talk,” Rena replied. They both giggled. “But seriously, if anyone can figure out the solution to something, it’s you. Your mind always worked on a whole different plane than the rest of us.”

“Thanks,” Marinette said with a small smile. “Although the biggest problems they have me solve is the fastest way to get my designer what they need - whether that’s a second look at their latest piece, a roll of fabric, or just a coffee depends on the day.”

Rena scrunched her nose. “Doesn’t seem that glamorous.”

“Maybe,” Marinette conceded. “But being a gopher is exactly how I ended up being such good friends with Uncle Jagged, remember? A little hard work pays off in the end.”

Humming in agreement, Rena let the conversation end there. At least for a few minutes before she disturbed the quiet with a question.

“You know, you avoided the elephant in the room pretty well. But it’s not like I don’t know about it already. Even if I wasn’t a journalist, it was all over the news for a hot second.”

“I just…” Marinette sighed and started again. “You didn’t see how he just folded in on himself when the news first broke. He was just so scared and broken.”

“Damn,” Rena said simply. “Is he feeling any better? I tried to scare off the worst of the lot to keep them off your backs.”

“That was you? Thank you so much!” Marinette hugged her friend and pulled away to groan. “He would be back to his usual self, I think… if it weren’t for his father sending letters daily now.”

Rena sucked in a sharp breath. “That bastard doesn’t know when to give in, does he?” She growled. “What does he want, anyway?”

Marinette shrugged. “I don’t know. We haven’t opened any of the letters.”

“You can’t hide from it forever. We both know how that man works. All the determination of his son without any of the compassion or self-examination.”

“Adrien did his confrontation already. I don’t think another is going to do anything but hurt him, especially since Gabe has had a lot more time to think about how he’s going to tear into Adrien.”

“I know. But I also know that you are the one who took him down in the first place, so I know you’ll find a way to stop him again.” Rena squeezed her hand and Marinette smiled at her.

“Thanks.” Marinette’s smile faded as she turned to look at the city. “I just hope I can figure something out soon. I’m worried for Adrien. And with his twentieth birthday coming up…”

“You think Gabe might have something up his sleeve?”

“I don’t know how he could, but he always was full of horrible surprises.” Marinette sighed and stood, stretching her legs. “Come on, let’s finish patrol.”

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

A couple weeks after the news had first broken and Adrien found himself back in the spotlight - however briefly - he now found himself with his head in Marinette’s lap. Her fingers worked their way through his hair as he poured his heart out to her. It wasn’t an unusual scene, but it had certainly been happening more frequently.

During a lull in his venting, she said, “You’ve got a lot going on in here, kitty.” Her fingers traced a circle around one of his temples.

“I guess you could say that,” Adrien said as he rolled onto his back to look up at her.

“And you know I’m more than happy to help you however I can.”

“But…?”

“This might be more than I can help you with. You might need to consider some professional help.”

Adrien grumbled. “Everybody seems to think so too. You. Nino. Alya.”

“Then it must be a good idea, huh? If the people who love you most are all saying the same thing?”

Adrien thought about the pain in his chest and for the first time since Nino had first brought it up, he really gave it some thought. It might take him a while to build up the courage, but… he wanted to start healing. And maybe he had gotten as far as he could get on his own. Maybe it was time to find professional help.

[immortal-imagines]

Hot For Teacher - Part 1

Summary: Crushing on your new, hot neighbour is one thing, but when he turns out to also be your professor; well, that’s another story.

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

(Professor!Gwilym Lee x Reader)

Warnings: Smut, swearing, fluff

Word Count: 1,725

A/N: Here we are, my first smut. Well, it’s somewhat smutty. In comparison to other things, this series is probably extremely tame! Just addressing my kink and one true love Gwilym. Judge me as you will! Hope you enjoy this series! Also, shoot-out to my girl Cara ( @rogerina-is-hotter-than-me ) for encouraging me to do this! Send some love to her and her awesome blog!

The apartment building rarely got new arrivals, but with the end of the term came exam results and, as it turned out, your neighbour didn’t pass. One minute she was a prominent member of the block, with her loud, late night parties. The next, her apartment was empty and she was on her way back home to her parents. Well, you thought, What a waste of tuition money.

Aside from her, you had been the only student in that building. You had specifically chosen an area that was a fair distance away from the university, mostly because you didn’t want to have to deal with the wild parties. That plan had failed. You did feel a little sorry for your neighbour, but also extremely grateful because finally you could have some peace and quiet. You just hoped the next person to move in would be a little more respectful.

You sat on your bed in your room, a book on your lap, glasses balanced on the end of your nose. Your phone rested between the pages of the book. A YouTube video displaying the latest drama online was playing. You had tried to focus on the thousand-page epic that your lecturer had set you before the term had ended, but it was just so damn boring. Thankfully, that lecturer had gone on maternity leave. Perhaps the new one would be more considerate with the work load. As the summer holiday was coming to a close and the new term rapidly approached, you should have been cramming. However, the internet tea seemed far more interesting.

“For fucks sake,” you heard a man’s voice grunt through the wall. Pausing the video, you stood and walked out of your room and towards the front door. Peering through the peep-hole, you tried to see the source of the commotion. A tall, dark-haired man was heaving boxes into the apartment next door. He was dressed in a white, button-up shirt, which was only partially done up, and grey suit trousers. An unusual outfit for moving, you thought. He ran his hand through his hair, sighing out of frustration. You smiled a little to yourself. This man could have as many parties as he wanted. He was far too handsome to argue with. You felt like your legs might just turn to jelly at the prospect of confronting him.

Regardless of the butterflies in your stomach, you let your rational side take a backseat. Where was the harm in seeing if this attractive stranger needed help moving in? You checked your reflection in the hallway mirror, grateful that you’d showered this morning. Your hair was tied in a messy bun and you wore an over-sized hoody. Not bad, you thought, Suitably suggestive.

You pushed your glasses up your nose and opened the front door. Leaning against the door frame, you said, “Can I help you with that?”

The man looked up, his blue eyes making you melt. Your confidence faltered under his gaze. As if things couldn’t get anymore difficult, he smiled, a perfect, lopsided grin that would stop traffic. Okay, a little overdramatic, you thought, Pull it together, (Y/N).

The man set down the box that was in his arms and straightened up. He held out a hand, which you shook. “Gwilym,” he said, “Nice to meet you.”

“(Y/N),” you smiled back, “Welcome to the building.”

“Thanks,” Gwilym replied, “You lived here long?”

“About a year now,” you said. In a sudden burst of confidence, you added, “Want to come inside for a cuppa? Take a break before you start heavy-lifting again?”

Gwilym chuckled, rubbing his beard, “You know what? That sounds amazing.” He kicked one of the boxes into his apartment and pushed the door shut. You walked into your own, with him close behind. You were instantly very conscious of the mess your living room was in. Although you took pride in being neat most of the time, the last couple of weeks had caused things to pile up. Trying to fit in all the uni work you were behind on had left little time for cleaning. Books and papers were strewn over the coffee table, along with empty mugs and pizza boxes. You picked a few of them up and threw them in the recycling.

“Sorry about the mess,” you said, blushing slightly, “It’s been a bit hectic around here.”

Gwilym laughed, picking up a copy of The Handmaids Tale, which had seemingly become a coaster judging by the rings on the cover. “You have good taste,” he complimented.

“It’s one of my favourites,” you smiled, gesturing to the well-thumbed pages and creased spine of the book. “Take a seat,” you pointed to the sofa, one of the few empty surfaces in the room. “How do you take your tea?”

Gwilym sat down, “Milk, no sugar.” You nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. You returned a few minutes later with two mugs, to find Gwilym flicking through one of the notepads that had been left open.

“You wrote this?” he asked, holding up it up.

“Yeah,” you said, “Just a little story I’m working on.” You grimaced when you saw which one of the many projects that you’d started he was reading. It was a pretty dark horror short story, one which many would be weirded out by.

“It’s really good,” he complimented. He put it down and took the mug from you. You sat down next to him, tucking your legs up under yourself, your foot accidentally brushing his leg as you did so. You winced, but couldn’t help the small part of you that felt a burst of electric upon contact. Instead of dwelling on it, you sad, “Thanks,” and took a sip of the tea.

“What brings you here?” you asked, hoping he hadn’t noticed the lapse in your confidence. Whether he had or not was unclear, but he shifted in his position so he faced you. His arm rested on the back of the sofa, just behind your head, the mug of tea in his other hand. There it was again, that spark.

“Work. I just got a new job up here, so decided to move closer, rather than commuting,” he said. You nodded, setting your mug down on the table.

“How old are you?” he asked, abruptly. Your confused expression caused pick to creep onto his cheeks. “Sorry, that was rude of me.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” you laughed, “I’m 24. Just starting my third year of uni. I was a late starter. I made the smart idea to go travelling with my boyfriend after school.”

Gwilym’s smile faltered at the word ‘boyfriend’.

“Ex-boyfriend, I should say,” you clarified, though you weren’t sure why you needed to. “He turned out to be a bit of an ass. Broke up with me in Rome and caught a plane back to England by himself.” You shrugged, “I had a great time without him though.”

Gwilym smiled, thoughtfully.

“How about you?” you asked, “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Just turned 30,” he said, “And I’m a teacher. I’ve not been to Rome, though I’ve always wanted to.”

“It’s beautiful,” you said. You moved a little, to prevent your foot from cramping. You leg was now resting against his, whether by accident or on purpose. You weren’t going to admit that.

Absentmindedly, Gwilym’s fingers began playing with the loose strands of your hair that had escaped the bun. Ordinarily, you wouldn’t kiss a stranger. Who were you kidding? You’d kissed plenty of strangers. But usually you were drunk and in a club. Now, you were completely sober and sitting in your own home with your new neighbour, who was several years older than you. You couldn’t help the rush of warmth that spread to your core. Without thinking, you leant forward and pressed your lips to his. He immediately reacted, pulling your body towards him, his tongue gliding over your lips. His hands went to your face, holding it between his palms. You reached up and pulled the bun from the scrunchie, allowing his fingers to thread through your hair. You wrapped your arms around his neck. Before you could go any further, he pulled away.

Your face was flushed and his looked the same. You felt slightly embarrassed. Had he not wanted to kiss you? You’d met this man ten minutes ago. That was rushed, even for you. But, then again, he kissed you back.

Your rambling thoughts were interrupted, when he said, “Sorry, I don’t make a habit of kissing people I’ve only just met.”

You let out a shaky breath and smiled, your eyes darting up to meet his for a second. He ran a hand through his hair. There was an awkward pause. All you wanted to do was kiss him again. It had felt like fireworks. Now, you weren’t so sure if he wanted to do the same.

He cleared his throat and stood. “I should be going,” he said, walking to the door, “Got to finish unpacking. Thank you for the tea.” He opened the door and left without another word.

You sat for a moment in silence, not entirely sure how to read the situation. You figured you’d embarrassed yourself and leaving your apartment was no longer an option. Either that or you’d have to sneak to uni very early and hope he wasn’t on his way to work at the same time.

You groaned and flopped back on the sofa, covering your face with your hands. Why did you have to think with your vagina instead of your head? That is not how you greet the new neighbour.

Whilst you were dwelling on how embarrassed you were, Gwilym had managed to get the final boxes into his apartment. He sat on his bed, looking at the mess he had yet to unpack. He couldn’t even begin to think about that at the moment, when his thoughts were clouded with the image of you, just the other side of the wall. His lips were tingling, still feeling the aftereffects of yours. He sunk back on the bed and sighed. His trousers had grown a little tighter and he wished he’d stayed. However, that wasn’t the best idea. Regardless of the small age gap between you, he didn’t want things to be awkward. Unfortunately, it seemed too late for that.

Tag List: @rogerina-is-hotter-than-me

[k-popscenxrios]

Didn’t Ask For This Pt 13 (Roommate!JK x OC)

A/N: So we’re getting closer and closer to the end now! I’m still trying to figure out where exactly I’m ending the story so I’m not sure just how many more parts there will be... If I had to guess, there will be 4 more after this one! I hope everyone will stick around for the end of Jungkook and Ari’s story!

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

6.1k words | drama ✞ | fluff ♡

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

⇨ Masterlist ⇦

The day was off to a good start since my fever was officially gone. I was relieved to say the least, because I really needed to talk to Hoseok tonight. I was going to tell him everything and apologize profusely for wasting so much of his time.

Hopefully it’ll go well, but I wasn’t holding my breath.

Jungkook and I ran into each other as he exited the bathroom and I was about to head to the bathroom. He had a tired expression on his face, his hair haphazardly sticking up in several different places. I couldn’t help but smile as he looked at me with a questioning gaze.

I reached up to fix his hair as he froze in place, almost leaning into my touch the longer I had my fingers in his hair. He closed his eyes and started to lean into my touch. His forehead laid against mine as I felt my heart begin racing. He put on his cologne today...

I looked up at Jungkook to see his eyelids. He still had his eyes closed...

I smiled and moved my forehead from his, tilting my head to get a good angle to press my lips to his. His eyes opened from my forehead’s sudden absence, but when he realized what was going on, he smiled and leaned in to press a kiss to my lips.

“Have you been talking to Hoseok recently?” 

Taehyung’s voice sounded from his room as both Jungkook and I jumped. We stepped away from each other as I moved my hands from his hair and spun around to see Taehyung walking out of his room. He just barely missed the very questionable stance we had just been in.

“What’s with the sudden question?” I asked as I felt my nerves spike a little. I didn’t exactly want Jungkook to know that I had spoken to Hoseok. He obviously wants me to reject the guy even as rudely as over text, so I could only imagine his reaction if he realized that I was meeting with Hoseok behind his back.

“I talked to him about you yesterday, so I hoped that he might text you or something to check up on you,” Taehyung frowned as he moved past the two of us and turned into the kitchen. I walked toward the kitchen as Jungkook followed behind me.

His eyes narrowed when I glanced back at him, trying to keep myself calm.

“I didn’t hear from him. I guess he didn’t have as much fun on our date as I thought.” I said the words to try and calm Jungkook down, but his stare didn’t back down even a little bit. I was about to deny anything again, but Jungkook cut me off.

“Bull shit.”

He practically spat the words at me as I noticed Taehyung’s face contorted in surprise. I swallowed and turned to face him, but he already had his mind made up.

“He spoke to you, didn’t he?” Jungkook took a step closer to me as I felt panic rise in my chest. I glanced over at Taehyung who was the picture of confusion.

“I said that he didn’t talk to me,” I simply stated with the calmest voice I could muster. Jungkook’s eyes moved to glance behind me before he swallowed and looked down. He was still really pissed, but at least he wasn’t grilling me for information.

“Hoseok did mention something about you,” Taehyung looked up in thought, his memory becoming my biggest enemy, “Oh yeah! When I brought up that I had texted you but got to reply, he told me that you seemed okay to him.”

“Thank you, Taehyung,” I smiled and closed my eyes, feeling my nerves spike. Jungkook’s gaze was back on mine as I felt like I was boxed in with no escape.

“Okay, I talked to him for a little bit, but it was just for him to check on me,” I didn’t think that my words were going to help my case judging by Jungkook’s increasing annoyance. I wasn’t sure whether to be worried or glad that Taehyung’s present, because I would be getting an earful if he wasn’t.

“Okay, does someone want to tell me what’s going on?” Taehyung took a step closer to me as Jungkook’s eyes finally left me. Since Taehyung hadn’t been able to see Jungkook until just now, he had no reason to hold back on his intense glares. I once more felt relief wash over me that Taehyung was here.

Then again, if Taehyung never popped up in the first place, Hoseok wouldn’t have been brought up in the first place.

“It’s nothing,” Jungkook spoke, but his voice was very strained. Taehyung didn’t seem to notice as Jungkook started walking off into his room. My eyes filled with worry as I watched his tense figure disappear as he stepped into his room, “I have a call to make.”

Taehyung and I were left in silence as I couldn’t help but frown. Call? Who’s he calling? I hope to God he’s not calling Hoseok…

Taehyung turned to me to ask me what had happened, but he stopped short when he saw my face. It was as if he could tell just how stressed and upset I was. After all of that, I didn’t have the will to hide any of my pain.

“Are you okay, Ari?” Taehyung asked as he reached out to touch my shoulder. I tried to relax from his touch, but the touch I truly wanted was from the man currently making a mysterious phone call.

I just nodded his way and tried to muster the best fake smile that I could.

“Never better.”

...

“Taehyung, can I talk to you for a second?” Jungkook spoke as he walked into the living room where Taehyung and I were. Taehyung looked at him with an interested look on his face as he nodded and glanced my way. I held back my urge to look their way as Taehyung stood up and followed Jungkook down the hall.

They stepped into Jungkook’s room for a while as I felt something stir within me. I was dying to know what they were talking about, but I wasn’t going to be nosey like I had been in the past. With the luck I was having today, one of them would catch me in the act.

…

Ten minutes later, the two of them walked out of Jungkook’s room as I felt my nerves spike. What could Jungkook possibly have said to Taehyung? It wasn’t like the two of them never talked to each other in private, but for Jungkook to make a statement like that in my company meant something was up... Especially after the jealous episode he just had.

“I don’t know why you thought I’d be mad,” Taehyung spoke with a shrug as he watched Jungkook slip on his shoes. Where was he about to go?

“I just wanted to talk to you about it is all,” Jungkook spoke as he avoided my eyes. I shamelessly watched him as Taehyung glanced my way. I didn’t filter my curious gaze as I could see the hints of worry in his eyes.

“Have fun,” Taehyung waved as Jungkook started heading for the door.

“Whoa, hold up,” I stood up as Jungkook froze with his hand on the doorknob. “Does anyone wanna tell me where Jungkook’s going?”

“He’s…” Taehyung drew out the word as the tried to think of what to say next. He seemed to panic mid-sentence, but my mind was more focused on Jungkook, “He’s just going out to meet a friend of ours.”

“What friend?” I stood up from the couch as I didn’t fail to notice Jungkook spin around and lean against the back of the door.

“This has nothing to do with you, Ari,” his voice was serious, but I couldn’t take him seriously. He couldn’t be real right now…

I wanted to argue with him, but since Taehyung was right in front of us, I had to hold back. I sure as hell wasn’t letting him just walk out the door.

“What friend?” I continued to press as Jungkook’s intense stare didn’t falter. What’s gotten into him? Is he trying to make me jealous? Surely not… “Jungkook, tell me.”

“Just because you like me doesn’t mean I’m obligated to tell you where I’m going,” he snapped as I flinched.

“Okay, what the hell?” I asked, my voice breaking as I felt my whole body slowly begin to shake. He didn’t have to say that, and he certainly didn’t have to say it that way.

“That’s not cool, man,” Taehyung defended me as Jungkook looked up at the ceiling for a couple seconds. He took a deep breath and nodded before visibly calming down. Taehyung took a step closer to me as I felt a whole bucket of emotions dumping on me. This was one of the only times I can recall Taehyung sticking up for me while Jungkook and I were arguing. “The least you could do is pretend to be nice to her. She confessed after all.”

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Jungkook spoke quickly after Taehyung finished talking. I bit the inside of my cheek as I felt stress building up in my being. I didn’t like the fact that we were still doing this back and forth thing. I thought we could get past this…

Though I wasn’t totally innocent in this situation. I did try to hide the fact that I talked with Hoseok...

“Tell me where you’re going, asshole,” I kept my voice steady as my harsh eyes met his. I stood as close to him as I could with Taehyung standing there watching us. For my next words, I practically whispered them so that Taehyung couldn’t hear them.

“You don’t tell me and I don’t tell Hoseok about us. Looks like a second date is happening,” I crossed my arms across my chest, but Jungkook was good at holding back his reactions. He glanced at Taehyung who was increasingly worried and confused over the two of us.

“Go right ahead,” Jungkook spoke as I felt my entire being freeze in shock. Okay, what? That didn’t make any sense coming out of his mouth! What was all that stuff yesterday and the day before that?

“Jungkook,” I looked down, only to look back up with a softer look than before. I wasn’t mad anymore. I was just scared that Jungkook had lost his mind. What was all of our conversations before now about? And Jungkook has been very clear on his feelings for me… Surely he wasn’t playing some game with me. “What the hell?”

Jungkook looked at the door to get away from my upset gaze. He put his hand on the door knob again and started to open the door. I took a deep breath as I watched him walk out without saying another word.

“I’m sorry, Ari,” I heard Taehyung speak as I just stared at the door. I almost couldn’t believe what had just happened. Did Jungkook really just tell me to schedule another date with Hoseok? After all the arguing we did about him, I was so pissed that he would say something like that to me. I didn’t even care if he said it out of rage or if he said it because Taehyung was within earshot.

Now all I was thinking about was if I was actually going to schedule a second date. I really truly shouldn’t do that to Hoseok… If I thought that this was the end of Jungkook and I, I would probably feel differently. The only reason I would ever consider going on another date with him would be because I’m terrified of turning him down. He’s just such a nice person to be around…

But I would feel like garbage the whole time that I was around Hoseok because I’d consciously be aware of my motives the whole date. I just need to suck it up and get it over with.

“Ari?” Taehyung’s voice brought me out of my thoughts as I looked up into his worried eyes. “Are you okay? I’ve never wanted to smack him more than I did just then.”

I let a small smile appear on my face as I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his left arm. I snuggled into his side as he looked down at me and ran his free hand up and down my arm.

“If Jungkook and I were somehow… to become a couple,” I started speaking as I felt Taehyung stiffen, “could you learn to be okay with it if it makes me happy?”

He was quiet for several seconds, but I didn’t try to look at him. I took several deep breaths to prepare for what he was going to say, but he never said anything.

He lightly pushed me away to look into my eyes as I felt my nerves spike. His face was blank, devoid of emotion, but his eyes were full of worry. I waited patiently for Taehyung to say something as we both stared the other down.

“You don’t seem very happy to me.”

I blinked a few times as Taehyung’s blank expression morphed into a frown. He put a hand on my arm as he softly caressed it. I tried to let his touch comfort me, but I was too focused on what he said.

“Well obviously not at this current moment,” I spoke softly, my eyes trailing off behind him, “What if Jungkook is only treating me this way because you don’t approve?”

I was trying to subtly put the idea in Taehyung’s head that Jungkook likes me, but he didn’t seem to be buying it.

“So you think all that he is seeking is my approval?” he asked, suddenly gripping my arm. He looked even more upset before, but it was a sympathetic sadness. I nodded in response, but he didn’t seem to like that answer.

“Ari,” he let out a breathy laugh, but it was empty. The slight smile on his face didn’t last long as he took a deep breath, “If Jungkook truly likes you, he would have already tried to talk to me about it.”

I felt my mood shift to become very defensive at his words. I felt myself getting worked up as I tried to not second-guess anything. What Jungkook and I have is real. I don’t want Taehyung feeding other ideas in my head!

“What makes you so sure with that statement?” I felt my voice growing panicked as I tried to calm it down, “You’ve been pretty intimidating and protective of me. He’s probably worried that he’ll lose you as a friend.”

“Ari,” Taehyung called my name again, more pity being laced in his voice. Taehyung needed to stop looking at me like that. Jungkook loves me! I know he does! I felt it that night on the roof. I saw every soft expression on his face, I felt it from every kiss he gave me.

It wasn’t just a hookup that meant nothing. Jungkook loves me, no questions asked!

“If Jungkook liked you in return, he wouldn’t have asked for my permission to meet up with your old friend, Soomin.”

I felt my muscles stiffen as I looked up in Taehyung’s eyes. He was messing with me. “Taehyung, you’re not funny.”

“I’m not being funny,” Taehyung shook his head and looked at the floor so that he didn’t have to look at me. “Why would I lie about something like that when I know it would hurt you?”

“But why would he go meet with her?” I felt my hands shaking, tears building up in my eyes. I couldn’t help but think back to all that Soomin said about wanting to get Jungkook back with her. For all I know, she’s been pestering him constantly and he just never bothered to tell me.

But why the hell would Jungkook actually willingly go and meet with her? Surely he wasn’t trying to hurt me on purpose, even over all this Hoseok drama...

“He told me he wanted to catch up with her,” Taehyung slightly shrugged as I took a deep breath, “I think he’s also going to apologize to her or something? I asked him if he was and he didn’t confirm nor deny it.”

I spun around to get my face out of Taehyung’s view as I felt my lip quiver. I fished in my back pocket for my phone as I shakily opened up Jungkook’s contact in my phone. I hadn’t used it once since he’s been here, but I was relieved that Taehyung had put his number in for me just in case.

“Ari,” Taehyung called as he tried to grab my phone, but I was faster than him. I rushed across the room and pressed the call button, holding my phone to my ear. “Ari, he’s probably just going to forward you to voicemail. He seemed pretty pissed off! Just try to forget about him and maybe talk to Hoseok-”

“Tae,” I sniffed as I wiped away the few tears that had fallen down my cheeks, “I want you to listen to me and listen to me well. I’m in love with Jungkook. I don’t want to try and forget him and move on when there’s a possibility of something there.”

“But what if there isn’t?” Taehyung’s eyes narrowed, but his expression was still filled with worry, “What if he truly doesn’t feel anything for you like that?”

“Then…” I paused as I heard the sound of the call going to voicemail. I felt my breath catch in my throat as I shook my head and started to call him again, “Then I’m the biggest idiot in the world if that truly is the case.”

Taehyung tried to walk over to me and give my any kind of consolation, but I wasn't having it. I walked away from him and started down the hallway towards my room, heartbeat increasing with every ring. Taehyung rushed after me as he spotted me walking into my room, moving to close the door behind me. He moved to block the door from closing as I felt more tears fall from my eyes. None of this was real… This whole morning has just been a bad dream…

“If he really doesn’t feel anything for me-” I took a shaky breath, another tear falling as I heard the automated message for his voicemail again. I tightened my grip on my phone before dropping my hand to my side, allowing Taehyung to push my bedroom door to get a better look at me.

“-He’s possibly the worst human being on this earth.”

::

Jungkook didn’t come back all afternoon, and by the time for my shift rolled around, I didn’t want to get out of bed. Taehyung and I sat and talked for a while about random things as he tried to get my mind off of Jungkook, but it was only a temporary fix. The moment he left for me to get changed, I was right back into my depressed state of mind.

Once I arrived at work, I felt my mood darken further. I was scheduled to work with Chaeyoung and Jimin, and those two were being very touchy. I wasn’t doing a good job at hiding my jealousy when they weren’t looking, but when Chaeyoung would smile over at me, I’d send her my most convincing fake smile.

I felt my grip tighten on my broom looking at the two of them holding hands. They had toned down the PDA over the past two hours, but even seeing them holding hands put me in a sour mood.

I couldn’t help but remember how right it felt for Jungkook’s hand to be in mine. The day that he angrily dragged me through the halls after catching Chaeyoung and I in the closet came to mind the most. He looked so angry and his grip was so firm, but it was the first time Jungkook truly made my heart skip a beat.

It took about three hours until Chaeyoung finally realized how upset I was.

“Ari,” She grabbed my arm to catch my attention. She had let go of Jimin to rush up to me, and I felt my nerves spike, “Ari, are you okay?”

I took a deep breath as I looked down, not fully ready to tell her everything. How is she going to react to what all Jungkook and I have been through since I last spoke to her? I certainly don’t want her to get so angry that she yells at him or anything…

But I have to tell her something because she knows that something is wrong.

“It’s a long story,” I started, but Chaeyoung wasn’t having it.

“And you have all night to tell it while we’re cleaning theaters,” Chaeyoung stated as she moved ahead of me to stop me from walking, “You’re making me really worried, Ari. This is all because of Jungkook, isn’t it?”

I looked away from her as my breath hitched in my throat. My muscles tensed as my eyes locked on to the eyes of Hoseok. I had completely forgotten about him coming up here. This was not going to go well.

“Oh God,” I spoke as Chaeyoung raised an eyebrow. Instead of looking in the direction of my gaze she continued talking. I felt my panic increase as Hoseok started walking in our direction.

“What did he do this time?” She continued grilling me as I turned my attention back to her. “Did he say something horrible? Do something horrible? Did he yell at you?”

“Chae,” I called as she stopped talking, “We need to put this conversation on hold. I’ll explain everything later.”

“Why later?” she whined, but her question was answered when Hoseok finally became earshot of the two of us.

“Hey Ari. Is now a good time?” he asked as Chaeyoung spun around in surprise. She looked completely shell shocked at his appearance as I moved away from her and nodded. I felt my stomach twist every which way as I moved closer to him. I had no idea how this conversation was going to go.

“I’m gonna take my dinner break now,” I told Chaeyoung as Jimin appeared next to her. She just nodded with dumbfounded look on her face. I was not looking forward to telling her this story…

…

Hoseok and I sat in his car in silence as I looked out the window nervously. The only noise in the air was the whir of the air conditioning blowing in our faces. The parking lot was fairly empty looking despite how many people were going to the movies tonight.

“I don’t know how I’m going to talk about this,” I spoke with complete honesty. Hoseok looked at me and leaned against his door, turning his body to me.

“That doesn’t sound like this is going to be a good conversation,” he observed as I let a bittersweet smile appear on my face. Despite how horrible I felt, he still managed to make me smile…

“I wish I could make this a good conversation, but no matter how I look at it…” I paused and looked down at my hands that were holding each other, “this isn’t going to go well.”

“Well, hit me with your worst,” Hoseok spoke, nodding for me to go ahead, “You’ve built up the anticipation, so this better be all that you’ve made it out to be.”

I smiled once again, amused with his wording. He was being so… cool about my vagueness. He knew that I was about to reject him, yet he still had a smile adorning his face.

“I’ve had a lot of fun with you every time I’ve been around you,” I spoke as his expression didn’t shift even a little, “Our date the other night was the best date I’ve been on. Well, let me rephrase that. It’s the most fun I’ve had with a friend in a long time.”

Hoseok’s eyes softened as I let out a little broken laugh, “Our date is the only date I’ve been on, so saying it was the best date wouldn’t mean much.”

“I’m flattered, really,” Hoseok nodded, saying no more as he let me continue.

“I look at you and I see… quite honestly one of the most perfect men I’ve ever come in contact with,” I paused as I saw a smile spreading across his face, “You’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a man plus more…”

It was silent for a couple seconds as I continued to gather my thoughts.

“But?” Hoseok leaned forward a little as he re-adjusted his position to make himself more comfortable.

“But…” I nodded, looking back down at my lap. My nerves weren’t getting too out of hand, and I could only assume it was because of how calming Hoseok was. He patiently waited for me to continue as I tried to muster up the courage to admit it to him. It was a very intimidating thought, but when I looked his way again, everything seemed to fall into place.

“I’m in love with Jungkook.”

I was startled by my own words despite having said them many times before. I had only intended to start off telling him that I was in love with someone else, slowly easing into telling him that Jungkook was that ‘someone else’.

Hoseok’s eyebrows raised at my sudden confession, and I felt my heart breaking at the slight look of hurt in his eyes. It was masked quickly as Hoseok let out a sigh, looking up at the ceiling of his car.

“I didn’t see that coming to be honest,” he shook his head, the smile slowly fading away. I kept playing Hoseok’s hurt expression over and over in my head, growing sick over the thought. That’s exactly what I was worried about… That look right there was the last thing that I wanted to see on him.

And the fact that he was hiding it very well made me paranoid for all the other emotions he could be hiding from me… I could feel my body becoming more tense, and Hoseok seemed to notice that I’d gotten more on edge since I let that secret slip.

“I’m sorry,” I spoke, shaking my head in shame. I closed my eyes and put my face in my hands for a couple seconds, “I didn’t mean to be that blunt.”

“No,” Hoseok grabbed one of my arms and pulled it away from my face. I looked intently in his eyes, my worried ones searching his for any more hidden emotions. “It’s okay. I’m guessing that Taehyung doesn’t know…”

I shook my head, “He actually does know. He just doesn’t like the idea of Jungkook and I…”

Hoseok nodded as I looked down again.

“Don’t tell him any of what I’m about to tell you, please,” I said, feeling his soft eyes watching me, “I want to be the person to tell him. I don’t want him to hear it from anyone else.”

Hoseok held up his hands as if to show him surrendering, “You have my word.”

I sat in silence as my mind flashed to the man in question. All day, every time I thought about Jungkook, I’d feel stinging in my heart. All I had been reflecting on was all the negative events that had happened a few short hours ago.

But in this moment, all of our good memories were flooding to me. I memorized every kiss and every caress, chills running through me at the thought of his touch. I recalled the smell of his cologne and how heavenly it smells to me. I smiled at all the times Jungkook had broken his tough manly exterior to give me a look of concern. Soft Jungkook made me want to grab him and never let him go…

I felt the words flowing naturally out of my mouth as I began explaining everything to Hoseok. I started with how much we use to hate each other. I moved on to explain how we grew closer despite not wanting to, and the closer we got, the more I fell in love.

I spilled my heart out to the man in front of me, coming up to the events that happened right after our date. I debated whether or not to disclose the rest of this information since I was so worried about hurting him, but he had seemed fine throughout the night.

I decided to continue on with my words as Hoseok seemed to slightly stiffen at my confession. His look of hurt made me stop my explanation as I started to apologize yet again.

“No, It’s okay,” he shook his head, “I mean, of course it makes me sad, but I just really liked you. I’m not going to hold anything against you. Please finish your story because I can tell there’s more to it.”

I was reluctant to continue, but Hoseok had talked me into finishing the story. I didn’t filter anything out at I mentioned everything. He knew about the soft words only to turn into harsh arguments. I even told him about Jungkook’s insane jealousy problem, ending with informing him that Jungkook doesn’t know that the two of us were meeting tonight.

Hoseok wasn’t surprised in the slightest hearing about Jungkook’s jealousy. The two did used to be kinda close in high school, so I guess he already knew Jungkook was the jealous type.

“I j-just…” I stuttered, feeling so many different emotions overwhelm me, “I can’t apologize enough for how much of your time that I’ve wasted…”

Hoseok just shook his head, sending me a selflessly soft smile. Despite all the things I had told him and all of his feelings that I stomped all over, he was smiling at me. It was comforting at first, but after having finished telling him everything, I just felt wrong. I felt like such a horrible person, and I had no one to blame but myself.

“Every part of your life happens for a reason,” Hoseok spoke, breaking myself out of my sad thoughts. I tried to nod to agree with him, but I found my body staying still.

“Do you think that Jungkook is in my life to stay here?” I looked down at my lap as my own words crashed into me like a wave of negativity. For the umpteenth time, I was crying over Jungkook again. “Or do you think that this summer, the time I’ve spent with him, was all just so I know what it’s like to be in love?”

I blinked away the tears as the silence in the car was deafening. It wasn’t a very fair question to ask him, but I couldn’t help it. Hoseok is the only person outside of Jungkook and I that knows the full story behind us.

“Ari,” Hoseok called, drawing my attention to him as I heard his voice quivering as well. I felt worry fill my whole being as I noticed his eyes were growing red. Oh no. Oh God no. Hoseok was crying now? All because of me?!

“I’ve known Jungkook a long time. Sure, we’re not super close or anything, but I’ve seen him go through some relationships,” I felt my heart tear into a million pieces as a tear slipped from his eye. He was quick to wipe it as I felt my supply of tears re-enforcing. “I saw him go through small uses like him breaking off a fling, all the way to him being devastated over a break up. He really tries to keep you from thinking about it, but the kid has a heart, too. He might have possibly one of the most breakable hearts out there.”

I looked down to wipe more tears away before looking back up to Hoseok. My hand reached out to grab his to try and comfort him. He looked down at our hands in surprise as I gave him a reassuring squeeze.

“Jungkook’s heart being fragile?” I almost laughed at how unreal it sounded, “He acts like his heart is made of stone or something.”

“I know,” Hoseok laughed through his tears that seemed to be coming to a slow stop. He looked out his door’s window as I just watched him. “It sounds strange. To my understanding, the kid got hurt in the past and has tried to block his heart out. He laughed in the face of love and anyone that tried it on him. I thought he was just being a moody teen when he became so cold in high school, but to know that he’s still trying to do that to this day has me pitying him even more.”

I felt myself choke up as I felt my brain recollecting everything between the two of us. I recalled every argument from the day he walked in to present time. There had always been something I would see in his eyes when we would go from bantering to yelling. He hid it so well that I barely noticed it, but the look was there. I never understood what it was or what it meant, but thinking back on it, I realize what those looks were. Those were the real, raw Jungkook slipping through for me to see.

Ever since the night on the roof, Jungkook’s been a whole mess of emotions. He would go from the sweetest man alive to the most hurtful person every few hours, and I think I started figuring it out. He knows he’s in love with me, but he can’t help but be terrified that I’m going to hurt him like girls in his past. So every time he gets the least bit hurt, he blows everything out of proportion to try and save himself.

“H-he…” I swallowed, sniffing to try and clear up my nose, “He met up with my old friend, Soomin, today.”

Hoseok glanced over at me in surprise, wiping away the last of his tears. He seemed to have calmed down, and I wished I could calm down, too. “This is the girl who’s high school life he ruined, right?”

I nodded before continuing, “She told me that she wasn’t going to forget him and she wanted to actually date him. You know, the same day Jungkook and I first kissed.”

Hoseok nodded, remembering what I had told him a little bit ago.

“So for him to go and meet with her out of the blue just because he’s mad at me…” I looked out the window to try and calm down as Hoseok patiently waited for me to continue, “I can’t help but feel betrayed. It’s not my fault that I’m a decent human being and wanted to explain everything to you in person.”

“You did the right thing,” Hoseok reassured, “Jungkook is just too blinded by jealousy to think about how other people might feel. You just need to talk to him about all of this. Not only that, but you really need to talk to Taehyung, too. Sure, he’s really protective of you, but he’s your brother. He wants you to be happy, even if that means that you end up with his best friend.”

I took a deep breath hearing Hoseok’s words. If Hoseok had told me this yesterday, I’m not sure that I would agree with him…

But witnessing what I did today with how soft Taehyung was with me… maybe Hoseok’s right. I’ve been so concerned with Taehyung and how he’ll take Jungkook and I being together, but he’s my brother. He may not be happy with us at first, but he’s never been a person to hold a grudge for too long. If that were the case, he and Jungkook would not be friends for as long as they have.

“You’re right,” I felt my tears drying up the more I thought about it all, “I can’t believe that it took you telling me for me to realize that.”

Hoseok just sent me a soft smile as we sat in a comfortable silence for several seconds. I glanced at the time on my phone for a second, but my eyes caught sight of something else.

I had received a call from Jungkook.

I took a deep breath and realized that he called only two minutes ago. I guess I forgot to turn my ringer back on when I went on my break.

I looked up to Hoseok to tell him that I really needed to go, but he spoke before I could.

“You should probably call him back,” Hoseok nodded as I swallowed and nodded in agreement.

“I’m sorry I have to go,” I frowned, but Hoseok just waved me off.

“It’s fine.” he smiled and watched me as I opened the door to step out of his car, “If it’s not too awkward for you, I would love to at least be friends. I won’t try and make any moves on your or anything.”

I smiled and let a soft laugh out of my nose. This is exactly how I wanted this night to go, and I felt euphoric over the fact that something went right for once.

“I would love that.”

::

A/N: Sorry to cut it off before the phone call, but this was the best cut off I could give. I hope you enjoyed this part!! Finally Hoseok knows the truth, so all we have left is Taehyung~

Thanks for reading!

⇨ Masterlist ⇦

[pi-cat000]

MSA time travel idea (part 30)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Vivi POV, 8, 9, 10, Lewis POV, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, Lance POV 18, 19, Lewis POV 2, 21 , 22, Vivi POV 2, 24, 25  Lewis POV 3,  Mystery POV , Vivi POV 3,  29

Part 31: here

.

LEWIS POV

Vivi is quiet after Lewis finishes his quick recount. Instead of offering him a reprieve to gather his thoughts, the silence is oppressive. Lewis is beginning to understand why Vivi dislikes it so much. He tries to shake the image of Lance Kingsman, deathly pail, unnervingly still, alone in that quiet hospital room but it is stuck at the front of his mind. The low thrum of hospital patrons does little to reduce the discomfort, which consumes the space between him and Vivi. His attention flickers to her intense frown. By now, she should have a least offered an opinion or hypothesis on their current predicament. She hasn’t, keeping her thoughts to herself instead of saying them aloud like she usually did. Why isn’t she talking? Was it him? 

Lewis is a little embarrassed about overreacting so spectacularly to a few missed calls but, honestly, that had probably been the worst moment for Vivi to not answer her phone. Vivi always answered her phone. For a second, he had thought she’d run off to join Arthur in self-imposed exile. What if she’d met up with Arthur and they’d both decided to avoid him together? Now he is just angry with himself for not trusting her -Vivi would never do that – and worried for Lance and increasingly worried for Arthur. “What do you think we should do?” He has to ask because he needs her to say something. Vivi fidgets, obviously searching around for an answer to give him. Why is he so useless in these situations? “Wait for news on Lance,” Vivi nods in the direction of the reception desk where Lewis had asked, only minutes prior, for directions to Lance’s recovery room. “Who knows, maybe Arthur will show up later…” She trails off, unconvinced by her own statement. Across the hall, one of the nurses operating the desk hangs up a phone, motioning to a co-worker, pointing in their direction. The second man, a doctor going by the white coat, twists to follow the gesture, staring at them from across the foyer. Lewis straightens and Vivi perks up, expression clearing into determination when the man strolls towards them. “Are you the one who pulled the alert for Lance Kingsman?” The grouchy middle-aged man asks, coming to a stop, looking them over, settling his attention on Lewis. “Yeah. Is Lance alright? What happened? I…haven’t heard anything, not since he went into surgery.” A negative head motion, “I don’t know much about Mr Kingsman’s condition unfortunately, but I’ve been asked…” “Was it complications with the original injury or did something else happen? Lance was admitted for stab wounds…are those prone to post-surgical complications?” Vivi jumps in to question. “I don’t know. All I’ve been told is to ask whether you…the two of you…” The doctor amends noting the way he and Vivi are pressed together, “would be willing to wait in one the private offices. The police would like to ask you a few questions, and the hospital would rather that not happen in the middle of the main foyer.” “Police?” Lewis repeats, confused. Vivi takes the development in stride continuing her line of questioning, “Does the hospital keep records of people who visit patients? Like, do people need to sign a register or something?” “No. Most of the recovery wards are generally open during visiting hours.” “That doesn’t sound very secure,” Vivi objects outright, “People have to ask at the reception to find out which room patients are in though?” “Most visitors have to stop by the front desk,” The man shrugs, giving Vivi a vaguely irritated expression, “Are you two going to wait or not? Technically, you don’t have to, but it was strongly advised that you do.” Vivi opens her mouth, but Lewis stands, interrupting her. Obviously, this guy doesn’t know much, and any further questions would just serve to irritate him and hurt their chances at gathering information further down the road. He is not sure what Vivi’s goal is exactly, but she obviously has one. The thought gives him confidence. “We’ll wait and talk to the police. Where do we enquire after patients in the meantime? We’re really worried about our friend.” “Uh,” The man blinks up at him, taken off guard his height, “Hospital records are only open to family members…Sorry. If you would follow me, there’s an office just down the hall you can wait in.” “What about security cameras? The hospital has those right?” Vivi’s question is ignored. They follow the man into a small room just off the main hall. It is neat, with a shelf of plain binders and a sparsely decorated desk. Probably someone’s personal office. Whereas the hospital foyer had been filled with the gentle hum of people, this room is quiet and muffled. “Just…stay here. Shouldn’t be too long. Help yourself to the water.” Lewis notes the water cooler and a stack of plastic cups in the corner. The man, still disgruntled, beats a hasty retreat, leaving them to take a seat on the padded chairs adjacent to the desk. A least its a bit more comfortable. “What was that about?” Lewis asks once the doctor is gone, to which Vivi gives a frustrated sigh. “I have this…hunch. I don’t think what happened to Lance just now was an accident.” “Lance…” He starts, and has to pause to shake the image Lance Kingsman, pale and unmoving - if Lewis had walked in any later-, “He was admitted for stab wounds…and now the police have been called….you don’t think that…” “…Whoever did the stabbing came back? That’s exactly what I think.” Lewis’s stomach twists, sick with worry. If Lance was being targeted, did that mean Arthur was in danger as well? If Arthur was in danger or hurt, Lewis can’t help but feel guilty, like this might be his fault. “It could have been complications with the surgery,” He voices weakly, wondering just how many more unpleasant surprises were in store for them today. Vivi releases a long breath, “Do you think, if I asked at the reception, that they’d remember seeing a dude in a leather vest come through?” Lewis raises a brow at the odd and somewhat random question. Even if there hadn’t been a change in shift, the chances of hospital staff remembering a single individual amongst the hundreds he’d seen coming and going was low. “Not unless the guy was really distinctive?” He leads off with a question, hoping she would elaborate. She doesn’t, lapsing back into silence. Uncomfortable silence. Lewis exhales, stands, and walks to the water cooler. Neither of them has drunken anything all day. That, coupled with food high in salt, meant they were most likely dehydrated. He fills and puts a small plastic cup in Vivi’s hand, sipping one of his own, collapsing back down into the chair. “Do you know anyone who wears a leather vest, darker hair, big beard, really angry looking?” Vivi gulps the water down in one go, staring expectantly. “…” Lewis quickly runs through all the people he knew, but no one immediately jumps out. “Why?” “I met this guy in the carpark. The reason I was a bit late,” A guilty grimace, “He was looking for Arthur and recognised your purple hair. He thought I might know where Arthur was because I was with you.” “Strange….A customer maybe?… We do get a few strange ones.” “That’s just it. I mean, if he was after just you then maybe, but he wasn’t. He was after Arthur…Also, he was real weird about it. He looked pretty beat up to, like he’d been in a fight.” Lewis’s thoughts cycle and land on one particular, almost violent, encounter which fit the description. “There was this one guy…This would have happened about four weeks back…Arthur got himself into trouble annoying some guy about fixing their motorcycle. I think we told you about it. Anyway, the man was decked out in a lot of leather and stayed in town for a week. He left without much fanfare aside from starting a load of rumours.” What were the odds that this was the same guy, though? Arthur, after narrowly escaping being punched by the man, and in between bemoaning poor engine maintenance, had mentioned that the bike was made for hardcore road-tripping. The guy should be long gone. Lewis shakes away the fonder memory. “I actually saw him before he left town. He came into the diner to apologise for almost punching Arthur. There was another man with him, I think. What did he want?” He distinctly remembers the encounter because he had thought, what with how invested Arthur had been in fixing up the motorcycle - against the wishes of its possessive owner-, that he would be pleased to find out his verdict was correct. Only, Arthur hadn’t been pleased. He hadn’t reacted to the news at all. “Yeah, well, mystery man might have implied that Arthur is either working with, or possessed by, a demon. And that’s why Arthur’s been acting all weird these last few weeks.” Lewis stares at Vivi waiting for the punchline of whatever odd joke she’s telling. There is no punch line. She’s serious. “That’s…” “Crazy? Yup…it sure is.” Vivi crosses her arms again and frowns, agitated. Vivi loves myths, legends and investigating supernatural phenomenon. If someone in Tempo whispered the word ghost, then it was a sure bet that Vivi wasn’t far behind. Personally, Lewis enjoyed ghost hunting and investigating as a hobby, but he had never really believed that any of the stuff they searched around for was real. The fact that Vivi appeared so shaken by this encounter has him re-evaluating the gut reaction to deny. “What do you think? You know more about this stuff than me.” “Well, he said some stuff about demons possessing people via touch and having green eyes, which kind of lines up with the stuff I’ve read, but that doesn’t mean much. He could have just read the same books as me.” More frowning. “Honestly, it’s far-fetched…and he probably is just a crazy person who, I dunno, wanted to get his bike fixed. Just… It would be nice to blame all our problems on some random ‘demon’ and call it a day. But…that feels like I’m making up an excuse for being an unobservant friend. I mean, Arthur was acting weird way before Lance was attacked, so I’m not sure.” As Vivi speaks, growing more restless and upset, Lewis attempts to envision the leather guy to act as a target for his growing anger. Not a lot of things can make Lewis hate a person but, even if the guy wasn’t messing with Arthur, upsetting Vivi like this would do it. Tenderly, Lewis reaches out, threading their fingers together. Maybe, he’s been relying too heavily on Vivi’s quick thinking. Time to offer up his own theories. “We don’t know it’s not connected somehow. If this guy is the same guy from a few weeks back, then he might have been in contact with Arthur since then. From what I remember, he didn’t seem like a nice dude. Even when he came to apologise, it was like someone was forcing his hand. Pretty insincere at any rate. Maybe, it’s like you said, and he is just behind this recent attack. Or maybe he’s involved with everything...or this is a weird coincidence and not connected at all.” Lewis pauses then adds more confidently. “Just because it’s weird, doesn’t mean we should discount it entirely.” Isn’t that what Vivi always said whenever they went ghost hunting? Vivi squeezes his hand back, lips twitching up, apparently thinking again. “The timing does sort of work…” She agrees, hesitant, “I just wish I knew more. It feels like I’m missing something important.” Lewis takes a breath and continues, speaking faster to get the words out. “Arthur panicking at the hotel wasn’t the only time it happened. On the drive out, just before we stopped at that View Point, I asked a question about Arthur’s lack of online presence. I thought he was trying to avoid me. He cut our conversation off and almost drove us all over a cliff.” That had been particularly painful, and Lewis can still feel the sting of realising that Arthur would rather almost crash the van then talk to him. Until that moment, he and Arthur had always talked through their disagreements. “Oh,” Vivi stalls, thrown, “I…I mean, I sort of knew something was wrong but…” “It’s okay. I just wanted you to know that I feel the same way about the 'being an unobservant friend' thing. If I had just said something or paid more attention …then maybe stuff would have happened differently.” A beat of quiet. Vivi stares then lets out a long huff. “Geez, we make quite a pair don’t we…” A knock. The door to the office opens, putting their discussion on hold. A thin man in an officer’s uniform steps through, conversing with someone over his shoulder. He turns, glancing over them both.

“Which of you was the one to alert hospital staff to Lance Kingman’s condition?”

.

NOTE:  ‘Leiws and Vivi exposition dump’ because I gotta make sure everyone’s up to speed -and this shits been going on long enough- for when I launch into the EPIC climax only like 2000-4000words away now! (gonna finish this fic even if it kills me).

Part 31: here

[thebrochtuarachs]

To Begin Again: Chapter 9

Jamie passes through the stones on Beltane to 1968.

CHAPTER 9: REVELATIONS CONTINUED / Roger and Mrs. Graham have a surprise and Claire gives Brianna a gift. A short scene chapter before the Frasers head up to Lallybroch.

A/N: This is just a short chapter with two scenarios in mind that I've always wanted to write. Short scenes involving Roger, Mrs. Graham and Bree. It was important to me to establish these relationships and connections and really show the forging bond within this family and the important people around them. I am so excited for the Frasers to head up to Lallybroch and for Claire and Jamie to finally (!) have some alone time together in the next chapter! Thank you so much for reading. I know its takes me a while to update but rest assured, this story is constantly on my mind. Your comments and suggestions are always appreciated and if you want to send a prompt, please feel free to message them! :) ❤️

CH: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 AO3

Sitting by the tree with their arms wrapped tight around each other had been pure bliss after what had been an emotional night for Jamie and Claire.

Releasing 20 years of hurt and pain had taken a toll on them but nothing beats the satisfaction of finally being in the arms of the person you long for most in the world. After a brief while, they both agreed to head back inside and back to their room where they promptly fell asleep.

The following morning, they came down to their family having breakfast. Bree, Roger and Mrs. Graham were all in the table already starting with their food.

“Morning” Bree said. Pointing towards the table for them to join in.

Once they sat down and settled, Claire noticed Bree and Mrs. Graham kept looking wide-eyed at Roger.

“What is it?” Claire finally asked, saving them all the trouble.

“Ah,” Roger heaved a sigh, put down his utensils and went for his briefcase. He pulled out a paper and handed it to the couple. “I hope you don’t mind. It was Mrs. Graham and I’s idea, thought we’d sort it for you guys since we had the time and we know people around. It wasn’t hard to come by…We thought it will help to get him all the other things he might need.” He trailed off, just looking at Jamie and Claire’s speechless faces.

“Roger, this is, uhm…” Claire began, stumbling out the words, then finally looked at him with tears nearly falling from her eyes.

���Thank ye.” Jamie finished for both of them. “This is above and beyond for what you’ve given me and my family.”

Mrs. Graham and Roger used their connections to give Jamie a copy of his “birth certificate”, making him a legitimate citizen of this century. Moreover, they knew Jamie, at least, needed that document to get all of the other IDs and documents he will need in this time.

“Did you know about this?” Claire turned to their daughter who was openly chuckling at their loss for words.

Brianna smiled and nodded at this, “Roger and I thought about it when we were preparing for Da’s birthday. I hope it was a wonderful surprise”

“It is.” Claire immediately replied. “I honestly hadn’t thought about all this, about Jamie’s legal situation here…” she trailed off again.

“There’s just one document we couldn’t get though” Roger hesitatingly said.

“What is it?” Claire asked for the second time that morning.

“There is no record anywhere of yer marriage from before the current war, we thought it be harder to justify to our friends why its such if we tried to get one for you. It’s not hard to remedy though, for yer situation.

Claire looked at Jamie as he reached out and took the document from her hands. She was relieved that in the three days Jamie has been back or even after in their years apart, Jamie can read her as plain as an open book. He already knew what she couldn’t say.

We’ll talk about it later.

“Thank ye again.” Jamie said in final.  

“It’s no bother and we’re happy to do it. After everything else ye’ve been through together, ye deserve this chance.” Mrs. Graham said as she grabbed another bannock. “Now, eat up and we’ve got some errands to do”

-

It took all day but when Jamie, Claire, and Mrs. Graham, arrived home, they had acquired a passport and ID card for Jamie. The question of Claire and Jamie’s civil status were, thankfully, not brought up by either of them and that was fine.

By the time they got home, Jamie excused himself to freshen up before dinner and Claire found their daughter by the fireplace in the study, helping herself to a small dram.

“Oh, you’re here” she said surprisingly.

“Just got home”

“Da?”

“Upstairs.”

She offered Claire the glass which she took as Brianna poured herself another and they settled by the large chairs.

“When?” Brianna asked.

“When what?”

“When did you know that you loved Da and you wouldn’t go back?”

Claire looked at the fire and chuckled. “Give me a minute to rack my brain.”

Bree raised an eyebrow in a silent, questioning “why”.

“No, it’s not a question of whether or not I love him. The timeline is just a little complicated - on my end at least.”

“Why so?”

“Well, if you ask your Da that question, he can answer you right away.” Another hearty laugh between mother and daughter filled the room.

“I think it was a gradual and unexpected thing for me.” Claire began. “When I went through the stones, I was scared and confused. Then I met Jamie and he became my only friend in the Castle. Your Da was sneaky though. I knew there were lots of times he’d spend time with me just because or I’ll find him looking at me out of nowhere. It started as little innocent things but I knew overtime that he had a crush on me. I tried to deny it or push it off as friendly, tried to not get too attached to him as I still planned to get back to my own time and to Frank as well. But that was until we were kind of forced and arranged to be married.”

Bree could see the glint in her mother’s eyes as she recounted this part of the story. There were faces of her that was new to her and Bree thought that maybe that’s what being in lovelooked like.

“Our first night together, well, it was…ugh, mandatory…to be together. But after that, well…” Claire blushed and shrugged pertaining to the obvious.

“Mama, keep it PG” Bree joked while taking a sip.

“All I am saying is… despite my reluctance to still admit my feelings for Jamie at that time, and my plans still to return to my time even after we were married, a part of me enjoyed being with Jamie, enjoyed being married to Jamie - and not just physically, mind you. He knew my mind was at battle with everything going on but he just had a way that made me feel at ease all the time, whether it was with a kiss, a hug, a touch in the hand, or giving me my own space. He just knew and I think I’ve never been with anyone who knew me better than I knew myself, not even Frank. Again, we go back to the little things. And despite my strong independence, I found myself relying so much to Jamie and slowly, I just couldn’t imagine life without him. After that, I knew I had loved him more than I ever loved anyone and it was enough to keep me in that time. As long as I was with Jamie, I was okay and that simply was it.”

“But that doesn’t really answer my question.” Bree insisted.

Claire thought a little bit more. “The first time he took me back to the stones - that was when I knew my heart, finally admitted to myself that my heart was with him. He tried to send me back but I didn’t go. I spent a long time in front of that stone, thinking of every possible scenario, tried to be logical and reasonable about this life changing decision. But at the end of the day, everything led back to Jamie and I chose him. Shortly after that was the first time I told him I loved him, which was at Lallybroch.”

Bree nodded in understanding as Claire took her fill of the whiskey.                                                                                  

“Frank was a love in my life - but Jamie is and will always be the love of my life. We are meant to be together. That’s the only explanation I have for my ability to travel through time – it was so I could find him, love him, and for us to just be together.” she said straight and plain. “So…” Claire toyed with her left ring finger and slid off the gold band she’s been wearing the past 30 years and handed it to her daughter. “Jamie never asked me to take it off because he knew Frank was an important part of my life – but he isn’t anymore, he hasn’t been for a long time. I hope you understand.”

Bree took the ring and held it close for inspection. From F to C. Always.

“Why are you giving it to me?” she asked.

“You loved Daddy, I think he would appreciate you having it, plus, it seemed a much better idea to give it to you than throw it away. You can do whatever you want to it and it will be fine by me.” Her mother allowed.

“Thank you, Mama”

“You’re welcome”

A moment of silence passed through and Claire knew more questions were coming from her daughter. It the first time in a few days that they’ve had a moment to themselves after Jamie had arrived. They did promise each other honesty, too, back at the stones and she plans to follow through with that. She was ready to tell everything, but she thought if her daughter was ready to hear it.

“Were you and daddy ever happy?” The question put Claire out of her reverie and she looked directly at her daughter’s eyes as she answered.

“We were happy raising you together.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Do you really want to know?”

“All the truth is coming out now, might as well blow it all out in the open”

“Can you handle more?”

Brianna laughed and shrugged. “I don’t know but I’d rather know now than be surprised again later”

“Alright,” Claire said as she took another good sip of her drink. “First and important thing to know is that Frank loved you with all his heart. You were his greatest joy, his proudest accomplishment.” Claire paused and thought if she should go on but Brianna was looking straight at her, she couldn’t stop now.

“After the war, we thought about our options about having a family and he was sure that adoption was not for him. He wanted a child of his own blood and flesh. I was not happy with that decision but I was young, then, and he was my husband and what his last say goes. When I came back and told him everything, he still wanted me back despite knowing for a fact that my heart was no longer with him. A part of me believes he wanted us back together because he truly did love me and another part of me thinks he just wanted to continue to look what society deemed the right thing for us to be. I withheld the pregnancy until the last moment. He was happy at first but when he slowly realized that I was, indeed, with another man, he almost tried to hit me but he held himself. After much thought and counsel, he still took me back with the condition that we raise you as his own and forget Jamie.”

“Why did you agree to his terms then?”

“Because I promised Jamie. I promised that you and I will be well taken care of by someone who loved me, someone who would’ve loved you. That is all he wanted for us.”

We moved to Boston and we tried to be together but we couldn’t. Most of it is on me because even though I kept my promise to not speak of Jamie to Frank but I think he knew that Jamie was still constantly on my mind. Eventually, we just agreed to stay together, legally, but have separate lives. He had his work, I was in school. We supported each other, for old times sake, at least.”

“And you?”

“I must admit that it was difficult going through the pregnancy. I was in a new place with no friends or family. Frank felt the distance between us, I was heartbroken for Jamie…it was not a happy time until you were born. When I held you in my arms, I have found my life and purpose again. You are the child Jamie and I badly wanted and I see him in you everyday. He made me go because he loved you and we lived because I loved him enough to keep my promise. Believe me, if there was a way to stay, we would’ve done it in a second.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Faith” she huffed, unwilling to look at Bree’s eyes. “And Jamie” she followed. “I promised him that I’ll keep you safe. That’s why we decided that I had to go back to this time. If I stayed there after the Battle of Culloden, I am almost most certain that we wouldn’t survive. Every traitor got hunted down and killed throughout the highlands and they will not know I am pregnant for it was too early for me to show. They will have no mercy.”

“But Jamie survived” Bree followed somberly.

“He did” Claire, not really the religious type, suddenly found herself saying a silent prayer of thanks to a higher being for bringing him here in her time and to have her daughter too.

“And Faith? What about her?” Bree asked, hoping to know more about her older sister. Claire just briefly touched the topic in their storytelling in the past week. She understood that it was – is– painful for her mother to relieve that memory.

“We lived in a very unpredictable and chaotic time. We were Scottish socialites in France, doing all these deceitful things to save a war from happening. In the process, we’d made enemies who tried to harm us. Then the war happened and we were in battles. Everything just went from bad to worse so quickly. Just the stress of it all, I think, was what made us lose her. It was beyond heartbreaking. I was ready to die.”

Bree tried to hide the surprise she felt on her mother’s blunt revelation.

“Yes, it was that intense. I was mad at your father, mad at the world, mad at God. You should thank one Louise de la Tour for keeping me alive until your Da found me.”

“Da found you?”

Claire shrugged and shook her head. “There’s a lot more to tell, my love, but I’ll be enjoying this conversation more if both Jamie and I tell it to you”

“Speaking of Da, are you going up to Lallybroch tomorrow?”

“Yes. You’ll follow us the day later after you’ve finished your class?”

“Yes. Already have Roger and Mrs. Graham to come with me too”

“Good. I think the food is ready” smelling the aroma of a hearty dinner down the hall. “We should head out” Claire stood and offered a hand to her daughter who quickly took it.

-

Jamie was asleep when Claire entered their room. His traveling through the stones can be compared a little bit as jetlag as the man acclimatized to this time. Four days he’s been in her time and she still can’t believe their luck.

Sensing her, Jamie, with still eyes closed, reached out a hand which she quickly took as she tucked herself in under his arms. They both hummed in contentment at the same time.

“Was it a good talk?” Jamie asked.

“You always know do you?” Claire funnily retorted, squeezing herself closer.

“Well, there is only one person I know that can tear you away from me that long and I can smell her scent on you.” Jamie smiled as he buried him face in her curls.

“It was a good talk but next time I want us both to tell it. It’ll be a good bonding experience for us.”

Jamie gave a sleepy Scottish grunt. “I canna wait to go to Lallybroch, Sassenach, and see what ye’ve done wi’ it.”

“I can’t wait to go back to Lallybroch with you.”

“Tomorrow, then.”

“Tomorrow. But now, you have to get up because dinner is ready”

[miraculouslbfangirl]

8 - The weight of being the Guardian

AO3

1   2   3  4   5   6  7  9

Chapter 8 - Time for patrol

Ladybug landed a few meters away from where Chat Noir laid staring at the sky with his hands under his head. She approached carefully to not disturb him and laid beside him inhaling the cool night air. She studied his profile; it hadn’t the soft look of someone stargazing. Instead, it held a serious expression, his jaw clenching and unclenching every now and then.

“A penny for your thoughts, Kitty” Ladybug said averting her eyes from him.

“The akuma today. That little boy seemed so lonely. It’s not that I’m judging his parents, it’s just… the woman that came to pick him up was his babysitter. She admitted that his parents have been giving too much attention to the baby and leaving him out.”

He didn’t elaborate, it was clear that it was a painful subject for him. He was projecting his own life into the situation. Ladybug understood why he was so tense. Gabriel filled her mind, his cold demeanor, his lack of involvement in Adrien’s life. How many fencing competitions Gabriel had failed to show up? He had never been to school, always sending Nathalie in his place. Adrien almost never complained, but she had seen him in many of his fragile moments to know better. She shook her head to clear her mind. Perhaps one day she would be able to talk to him about his home life, but not today.

“I’m not going to judge them either, but if I were in their place I’d try to include him in the care with the baby. Ask his help, maybe when it’s bath time; small things so he could feel helpful.” She smiled imagining the scene.

“Is that how your parents acted with you?” Chat gasped. “I’m sorry. I…”

“I’m an only child.” She chuckled seeing his surprise for her sharing personal information. “It’s not like you can figure me out just by that.”

“You never know.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Just kidding,” Chat laughed and returned his gaze to the sky with a much softer expression. “If I were in his father’s place I would try to give him all the time I could, play with him, help the mother with him.” He stopped a bit to think. “I would take care of the baby too so my wife could spend some alone time with him as well.”

Ladybug closed her eyes feeling her throat constrict. His wife. How did their conversation get to this point? It was so easy to imagine him doing those domestic things. Not long ago she had imagined him building a pillow fort and then reading to their kids making voices; she would join them with the food she’d have prepared. Maybe at that time he had imagined something similar, raising a family with Ladybug. Now she had no idea who he was imagining as his wife. It wasn’t even Kagami for what she knew.

Her eyes flew open as she remembered that Ladybug wasn’t supposed to know about his decision to remain only friends with Kagami.

“Wife, hum? Thinking that far ahead with your girlfriend?” She put as much as teasing on her voice as she could muster.

“She isn’t my girlfriend.” He sighed and just a few seconds later he sat up facing Ladybug. “Oh, you meant Kagami. I decided against dating her.”

“You’re confusing me. Who were you thinking of?” She sat up as well, his admission of thinking about another girl as his wife plaguing her mind.

“Sorry, it’s confusing for me too. Let me try to explain.” Ladybug nodded for him to continue. “So, last time we talked you said that I should date Kagami but I wasn’t so sure about it. I don’t love her. She is a nice girl and we have so much in common that I feel good being around her. I didn’t feel like that was enough, though. So I went for another opinion.” He said a look of guilt on his features for not following her advice.

“It’s ok that you looked for someone else’s opinion. You had all the right to do so. It’s something important. I’m the one sorry here for just hum… pushing you to Kagami, I guess. I just want you to be happy.” He visibly relaxed as she gave him an apologetic smile.

“I know you do and I want you to be happy too.” He changed his position so he wasn’t facing her anymore. He brought his knees up to his chest and hugged his legs. “So, as I was waiting for my best friend to ask his opinion I encountered another friend and asked hers instead. She encouraged me too and that caught me off guard. Not because of her answer, she is always supporting her friends and has joined some couples after all.” He glanced briefly at Ladybug as she sat there in silence trying to understand what he was saying. “I realized that I wanted her to stop me from dating Kagami and tell me to date her instead.” He laughed dryly “What a foolish thought, I know.”

Ladybug couldn’t believe her ears. She surely hasn’t understood him right. “You l-like your friend?” she stammered.

“I think I have for a while. I was just too blind to realize my feelings for her because I had all my thoughts on you. I even rejected her because of you.” He buried his face between his knees and kept silent.

Ladybug didn’t say anything. Too busy wrapping her mind around that new information. He loved her. All of her. Her doubts of whether he had dated Marinette just because she was Ladybug in the Chat Blanc timeline falling to pieces. Her heart clenched, without knowing how Hawkmoth discovered their identities she would have to reject him if he tried to confess to her. It took all of her self control to hold back the tears. When he finally loved her back, she couldn’t love him. In what world was that fair? Where was her luck?

“When are you going to confess to her?” She managed to keep her voice somewhat steady to ask. She wanted to be, at least, prepared.

“I won’t”.

“What?” The genuine surprise in her voice caused him to raise his head and look at her.

“My best friend suggested me to wait a few days because of the situation with Kagami and then ask her out. But I don’t think that it’s a good idea. She doesn’t like me like that. She said that multiple times. And there’s the fact that she helped me with Kagami. Why would she help me with another girl if she liked me?”

“You have a point,” she said hiding the truth.

“She is completely out of my reach.” He heaved a sigh and faced her again. “Well, that’s not why we’re here. Let’s get to the important things.” Ladybug was marveled at how fast he schooled his face and hid his feelings.

Ladybug sighed too. “The miraculous holders.”

“It’s not safe for them, now that Hawkmoth knows who they are. Have you thought about a solution yet?”

She nodded. “I think that, for now, we could use multiple miraculous ourselves when needed. Like we did against Miracle Queen.”

“That was a hard thing to do. With the Snake Miraculous, I had to do most of the planning and I’m not particularly good at it.”

Ladybug snorted “I think you did an amazing job.” Imagining that his answer could have been influenced by their recent talk about Aspik, she added “You will probably have to use other Miraculous too, like the turtle. And it would be temporary until we find other holders or another solution.”

“Yeah! You’re right. But I gave it a thought too.”

“Great! What’s your idea?” Ladybug perked up. It was good to brainstorm with him.

“We can’t give the Miraculous back to the people that used them before because Hawkmoth knows who they are, right?” She nodded. “I already knew some of their identities, so, me knowing it’s not a problem.”

“No, it’s not. What’s your point?” She was getting impatient.

“Ok. When you gave the Mouse Miraculous to Marinette the only one who saw her detransform was me.”

“I can’t give the Miraculous back to her” Ladybug said trying to contain her panic. She should have expected that.

“Why not? Hawkmoth doesn’t know who she is and she did a great job. It’s perfect.” He looked at her confused when she got up and started to pace.

“It’s not perfect. She was reckless; I can’t have her putting us at risk.”

Chat Noir got up and towered over her. “Reckless? Just because she assumed that I could know who she was?” He glared at her.

“She shouldn’t have assumed that,” Ladybug said struggling to find a reasonable excuse.

“Both Kagami and Chloe let Hawkmoth know their identities and yet you gave them back the Miraculous.”

“And look where that led us. Chloe betrayed us.” She spat.

“Don’t compare Marinette with Chloe.” He practically growled.

Ladybug fought the urge to cringe and stepped forward tilting her head up in defiance. “I’m not giving a Miraculous to the girl you like. I can’t risk you putting yourself or her in danger because of your feelings.”

She hasn’t realized that she was projecting Chat Blanc’s feelings into her words until Chat Noir looked at her with the same ice-cold glare that his akumatized self wore. He narrowed his eyes clenching his jaw.

“Well, you’re the Guardian. You make the rules. You know where to find me if you need me.” He turned on his heels and jumped from the roof.

Ladybug stayed frozen in place. Having a double life was never easy but now it seemed that she was walking on eggshells. Or better saying, on a minefield, judging by his reaction. “How am I going to fix this?”

[marshmallow-phd]

Innocent Intentions

Part of The Untamed - EXO Wolf Universe

Genre: Supernatural, Wolf Au

Pairing: Tao x Reader

Summary: There was one thing you couldn’t stand in all your years at college: playboys. And the campus was riddled with them. So when Tao - a player with a particularly well-known reputation - inserts himself into your life, you come up with a plan to get rid of him, whether he makes your heart race or not. But the more he’s the around, the more you just might find there’s a hidden layer underneath all the rumors, including a secret you never could have guessed….

Part: 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I 11 I 12 I 13 I 14 I Final

**

Tao tried to block out his own pain - mostly from the gash on his forehead - while he drove at lightning speed back to the farmhouse, thought it would still take a few hours before they’d arrive. Every couple of seconds, he would check the review mirror to make sure that Kris was still breathing.

The alpha was strewn across the backseat, groaning from the wounds he’d suffered. By how the edges were looking, it seemed that the holes made by the arrows were finally beginning to heal. Tao couldn’t understand what was slowing down the process of one of their natural gifts, but he suspected it had to do with the arrowheads being dipped in something. He hadn’t heard of any metal being that lethal for them just on its own, but just the tiniest bit of wolfsbane could do the trick.

In the car behind him, he could barely make out Luhan leaning his head against the window with Minseok behind the wheel to keep the former from turning back around. Tao couldn’t blame his brother, though. With her just… disappearing after the blast, the anxiety had to be killing him. At least he knew where you were. At least he had an - albeit probably very dumb - idea to make things right.

The driveway to the farmhouse finally came into view. Tao began to relax just a fraction of the tension that was straining in his hands, giving the steering wheel a bit of mercy. Sehun was sitting on the porch steps and when he saw the two cars pull up, he ran into the house, coming out a few seconds later with the entire party herding out after him.

Opening the car door, Tao stepped out, wincing just a tad from the bruise on his side that hadn’t quite healed yet. One of the hunters got a good piece of him with their steel-toed boot. He didn’t think the rib had fractured in any way, but it still hurt like hell. Brushing aside his own injury, he pulled open one of the back doors to help Kris to his feet.

“Kris!” Evie shoved through the crowd to get to her wolf, panic and fear making her eyes wide and round. She pulled on his face as she cupped his cheeks, inspecting the wounds with horror.

“I’m fine, Evie,” Kris groaned.

Wrong thing to say, Kris, Tao thought. That just made it worse.

“Fine?” Evie snapped. “You call this fine?”

Tao was struggling not to laugh. He wasn’t sure what about the situation was funny. Maybe it was just an overall feeling of being uncomfortable since the more Evie pulled the more strain was put on Tao’s neck from Kris’ deadweight. The jerk wasn’t even helping.

“Kim Minseok!”

Oh, no. Now the real show was about to start.

The steam could practically be seem coming out of Jiyeon’s nose and mouth as she stormed up to Minseok, who stood knowingly and patiently by the driver’s side of Luhan’s car. Jiyeon’s fists were balled up by her sides, ready to make a violent connection. For a moment, she just stood there, like she was gathering up all her strength to deal the blow of a lifetime; the kind of hit that would knock any wolf on his ass.

That made the wordless yell that was released from her throat an unexpected turn.

“God, I want to hit you so bad, but I can’t!” she yelled.

“You can hit me,” Minseok reassured her quietly, a ghost of smile on his face. He knew he’d caused her worry, purposefully didn’t tell her about taking off. Judging by her hair and bloodshot eyes, she didn’t sleep even a second all through the night. She’d already lost him once and he’d put her through that fear all over again. He was going to have some making up to do.

“No, I can’t,” she argued through gritted teeth. “Because that makes me the bad guy. You were the one who went to go help your brother and-” No other words could come out. Jiyeon broke down. Minseok didn’t hesitate at pulling her into his chest, rubbing her back soothing and whispering endearments in her ear while she buried her face in his chest. Her fists did make a few pathetic attempts, but they barely thumped against his shoulder before she balled his shirt in her fingers.

Junmyeon stepped up, looking past all of the loving scenes in front of him to the lone wolf who stood quietly in the back, staring at the ground. “Luhan? Did you find her?”

Still not even glancing up, Luhan nodded.

“I’ll tell you inside,” Kris whispered.

“Thank god, I already put Mei down for her nap,” Evie sighed as she took Kris’ other arm and draped it around her neck, taking the duty of helping the idiot limp over from Tao. “She’d be hysterical if she saw you like this. Talk about traumatizing your child.”

Kris swooped in and kissed his mate. “Once I have clothes on again, I’m waking her up. I need to see my baby girl.”

Evie made a face that said she wanted to protest, but there wasn’t any real reason to deny Kris’ request. The poor guy was nearly killed, he’d earned it.

Tao stayed behind as the large crowd shuffled back into the house to hear all the gory details of their late night rescue. “You’re still thinking about going back, aren’t you?” he asked when he leaned up against the car next to Luhan.

Luhan started to shake his head, but then he simply sighed. “I shouldn’t have just left like that. I should have looked harder.”

“She’s a tough person,” Tao reminded him. “Even though the others didn’t survive, she did. I’m sure she did.”

“I know.” Luhan turned to look at him with determined eyes. “But that doesn’t mean I’m just going to sit around and hope she’ll show up again.”

Tao allowed himself to smile again. “I wouldn’t expect any less.”

As the two of them stood there in silence, staring off in the distance at nothing in particular, Tao’s own wheels began to turn in his head. He couldn’t put off seeing you again. He needed to make things right this very second. Luhan wasn’t giving up on his mate even when hope seemed miniscule. While Tao had never given up on you, he couldn’t let his fear take away any more time he could be spending with you.

**

You stared at the bright screen of your phone, dumbfounded.

Meet me in the parking lot of the old grocery store.

Please.

The fact that Tao had texted you to meet him was enough of a shock. You had to read the “sent from” line over and over again just to make sure your eyes weren’t tricking you. But why did he want to meet at the old grocery store?

The place had been closed since you were a child. It was a small building on the outskirts of the city, near the woods. Seeing an opportunity, a national chain came in and built a larger store near downtown that was easily accessible to the entire population. Eventually, the original store went out of business and the building had stood empty all these years.

It was a strange place to meet… unless you were a serial killer. But didn’t things like that didn’t happen in broad daylight, right? Weren’t those the stories that took place in the dark?

Paranoia aside, you were left with nothing but confusion. Two days ago, he wanted nothing to do with you. From what you gathered thanks to some fellow students, he wasn’t at the university yesterday or today for class. When your phone vibrated during your statistics lecture, you figured it was your mother answering your question regarding dinner. The possibility of it being Tao was a hope you hadn’t dared to entertain. And you were torn. If you went to see him, would it end in heartbreak all over again?

Your will, it seemed, was nearly nonexistent as you headed off for your car. Multiple times you asked yourself what the heck you were doing and if this could really be the right choice. The answer was given when you pulled into the parking lot.

Tao was leaning up against the hood of his car, arms crossed over his chest and staring down at the asphalt. For the first time since you’d met him, he was dressed down in a plain white t-shirt and ordinary jeans. A bandage was taped to his forehead, just above his right eye. Your heart thumped in your chest as you got out of your car. It got even worse when he looked up at you and smiled softly.

“Hey,” he greeted in a low voice.

You nodded back. “Hey.”

It was dead silent as the two of you stood there, looking at each other and then not looking at each. You shifted from foot to foot, agonizing over what had prompted this.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “For the other day. I shouldn’t have pushed you away like that. I just… I didn’t want either of us to get hurt.”

“I think we both ended up getting hurt anyway,” you pointed out.

He nodded in agreement. “Well, if you’ll let me, I’d like to make it up to you.”

You crossed your arms in a faux show of defiance. “And how will you do that?”

“By telling you everything.” Releasing a sigh, Tao pushed off the car and held his hand out to you. “I need to show you something. Come with me.”

You let his hand hover in the air. “What do you mean you have to show me something? Why can’t we just stay here?”

“I’ll explain everything, I swear. Why I didn’t come crawling back after you asked to try again. Why I felt the need to push you away. But I can’t do that here,” he urged.

“You said you were no good for me,” you whispered. “Is that still true?”

“That’s something you’ll have to decide for yourself.”

His ability to be so cryptic grated on your nerves, but you wanted the answers he was dangling in front of you. And besides, the temptation to feel his skin against yours was just too great. So, you slipped your hand into his and allowed him to pull you towards the trees.

Tao kept going farther and farther into the woods until the city was no longer visible behind you. A small clearing barely ten feet around seemed to your final destination as he slowed down before coming to a full stop. You ripped you hand away from Tao, feeling what you thought was the beginning of another game. Either that, or he really was a secret serial killer.

“What are we doing here?” you demanded.

Tao took a deep breath and turned to face you. “Look, (y/n), I know if I say it out loud, it’ll just crazy, which is why I’m going to have to show you first and then I’ll explain what it has to do with you and me. Just, please, don’t leave yet.”

You frowned. “Show me- oh, my god! What are you doing?”

Tao had started to remove his shirt, tossing it to the side before reaching for the button of his jeans. You immediately slapped your hands over your eyes.

“Tao, I don’t know if this you trying to make up for walking away or if this is some sick game, but I am not interested in that in this moment. Put your clothes back on and take me back. Now.”

But you received no answer. No sarcastic remark or pleading words. Curious to the sudden silent treatment, you removed your hands and gasped.

Tao was gone and in his place was a dark gray wolf standing next to his piles of clothes. The wolf stared at you before taking a few steps in your direction. Trying to get away, you stumbled back, falling onto your butt. You were in too much shock to move when the wolf came closer. This was it. This was how you died, being ripped apart by sharp teeth, left to bleed out in the woods.

However, the wolf never growled or made any menacing actions towards you. Rather than attack you to fill his stomach, he rested his head on your legs, ears back and eyes turned up at you, a puppy seeking attention.

“T-Tao?”

In reply, he lifted his head back and nodded.

This was impossible. People who turned into giant dogs… they didn’t exist.  Had you fallen asleep in class and were now dreaming up this unbelievable scenario?

To try and see if you could wake yourself up, you slapped your cheek. Hard. Hard enough to not be able to hold back the “Ow!” that came with the hit. But you didn’t wake up. So that meant this was very, very real.

Apparently put out about you harming yourself, wolf-Tao nuzzled the top of his head under chin in what you thought was an attempt to sooth the stinging skin. As soft as his fur felt against your skin, you needed a more verbal explanation of what he was and how it all tied back to you.

Gently pushing on the wolf so he was forced to step back, you said, “I still don’t… completely understand.”

Rather clumsily, Tao put a paw over your eye, making you catch a few of his hairs in your mouth. As you spat out the fur, you could have sworn you heard something resembling a laugh come from the animal’s barrel chest. You were about to ask what all that was about when he headed back to the pile of clothing.

Oh.

Thankful for the warning, you covered your eyes – for both his decency and yours – and waited patiently for Tao to change back.

“(y/n).”

A hand fell on your shoulder, signaling the all clear. Tao was sitting in front of you, his features twisted into a mix of happiness and worry.

“So,” you swallowed, “you’re… well, a....”

“A werewolf, yes,” he chuckled. Scooting closer, he took one of your hands in both of his, running a thumb over your knuckles. “We all are, my brothers and I.”

They all were. How many did he say lived together? Twelve? The world was beginning to tilt just the slightest, but you pushed out a question, hoping that maybe focusing on the answers would help it right itself. “Can you just… change like that? Whenever you want?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “Although, sometimes if we get too angry or upset, we can lose control and shift. But we’re all fairly good at keeping our tempers. For the most part, anyway.”

“And were you all… like… bit?” Wasn’t that how it worked?

Tao laughed. “No. We’re born this way. You can’t become a werewolf. You just are.”

You nodded shakily, taking in what he was saying.

So, Tao was a werewolf. Not an ordinary human. Basically a different species if you thought about it too much. And you were definitely thinking about it too much. The world was not moving back to its original position and you were getting dizzier by the second. Although you were sitting down, you began to sway back and forth, a churning sensation building in your stomach.

“Whoa, whoa, (y/n), are you okay?” Tao jumped up to his knees, hands on your shoulders to help steady you.

“Yeah, I just need a minute,” you told him. And he gave you that time, letting you breathe in and out at a pace that helped your stomach calm down and your brain stop hurting.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Tao admitted after a while. “But I didn’t think you’d believe me if I just told you.”

“You’re right about that,” you chuckled. If he’d just blurted it out, you would have definitely thought that he was insane and in need of a doctor. “So, now that, um, that is out of the way, can you explain how that me knowing that is supposed to connect to... well, to us?”

Suddenly, shy Tao was making an appearance. He sat back on his feet and took your hand once again. “All wolves are granted one special person – their mate. It’s the one person that they’re meant to be with and will protect them and love them for the rest of their lives.”

You scoffed at the fairytale notion. “And how are you supposed to know who that person is?”

With the back of his knuckles on his free hand, he traced the outline of your jaw. “All it takes is one look. And we just… know. The pull is created and no one can severe that connection.”

It’s because he saw you, (y/n)!

Kendall’s voice echoed in your head and it was like a bulb slowly started to turn on after years of being unused. “So… I’m your mate?”

Tao nodded, his smile growing bigger than ever as he pulled you to his chest. “Mine. All mine.” Clearing his throat, he looked down at you, a faint fear dimming his light just a bit. “Only if you want me, that is. You still have a choice.”

“A choice?” you echoed.

Did you really, though? Because you knew if you chose to walk away, you’d regret it. Or you’d just turn right back around and run towards him at full speed. Now that you had him, you weren’t ever going to let him go.

“Well, then,” you smiled up at him. “I choose you.”

Your little reply erased all doubt and insecurity that he was holding on to. Letting out a laugh so loud it bounced off the trees, he flip you over to your back, the leaves and grass creating a soft landing, while he hovered over you. He wasted no time diving in, kissing you deeply and desperately as if he’d been dying of thirst and your lips were the only way to rehydrate him. Matching his rhythm, you looped your arms around his neck and pulled him closer. The uncomfortable scratching of the ground beneath you against your skin wasn’t enough to deter you from drinking Tao in. One little thought, however, did nag at you.

“Tao?” You pulled away just enough to look and speak at him.

He frowned at you, confused. “Yeah?”

“After today, no more skipping class.”

While you were completely serious, Tao turned into a giggling fool, giving you his answer in the form a very heated kiss.

**

You stayed in the car even though Tao was already out and at your door, pulling on the handle to swing the barrier open.

“They won’t bite,” Tao said cheekily. You threw him a rather dirty look in response to his stupid joke, but eventually you exhaled and stepped out onto the grass.

You’d only been aware of Tao’s secret world for a few days and already he had insisted you come out to the place he called home and meet the rest of the pack. To say that you were nervous would be an understatement. Connected mate or not, you worried about the possibility of his family not liking you. He reassured you over and over that they would love you, but you still took extra caution in getting dressed this morning in order to make a good impression.

Taking your hand, Tao kissed your cheek before guiding you up the porch stairs and through the front door.

Since it was a Saturday morning, most of the house’s occupants were still in the kitchen working on breakfast and waking up. The sheer amount of noise hit you like a train as soon as you stepped foot in the room. Mates and wolves were strewn everywhere, either eating, helping at the stove, or just waiting around for the next course.

The chattering died down as eyes starting falling on you. You shrank into Tao’s side for a bit of protection. One girl – tall with soft, motherly eyes – stepped away from the oven and waved as she walked over.

“Hi,” she greeted softly. “You must be (y/n). I’m Evie.”

You nodded shyly, but managed to remember to take her hand that was outstretched in front of you. “It’s nice to meet you, too.” This one. You definitely liked this one.

“Are you hungry?” Evie asked.

“She’s starving,” Tao answered for you. Que dirty look number two. Yes, you’d said as much on the ride over here, but your natural instinct was to immediately turn down any offers of food or drink when at a stranger’s house.

“Great. There’s plenty, so let me make you a plate.” Over her shoulder, Evie called out, “Kris, make some of the boys move so she can sit down.”

You waved your hands erratically. “No, no, no, please don’t! There’s no need!”

The tallest wolf who you suspected was Kris laughed at your reaction. “Don’t get so worked up. Most of them have had their fill. Besides, you’re a guest here. It’s the least these idiots could do.”

Well, for that, you had no rebuttal.

As if coming to your rescue, a little girl not even a year old came crawling up to you, reaching up with her tiny hands while giving you the widest smile. You knew exactly who she was. Tao hardly ever stopped talking about his niece, Mei, when there was just the slightest reason to bring the subject up in the first place. Bending over, you scooped the child up and cradled her on your hip like a professional.

You glanced over at Tao. He was giving a very readable longing expression.

“No,” you mouthed at him. You were so not ready to have one of these yourself. You needed to make it to graduation first. And then find a stable job. And then… maybe in a few years.

That boy actually had the nerve to pout at you.

It was then that several other mates and wolves began to approach you, introducing themselves and asking questions. The surprise you felt when you realized that this whole “meeting the family” thing was not as overwhelming or intimidate as you’d been expecting came as a relief. You were still very new to this world, but you weren’t alone and you very, very thankful.