#two (2) of the brown eyed boys ruining my life

[jtownraindancer]

@divine-victory

Dan Rydell and Casey McCall, Sports Night (1998-2000) // The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift

[writeforfandoms]

Shatter Me 15

Find the series masterlist

Things can never go according to plan with Mando and Grogu, something you're reminded of rather forcefully when the three of you reach the next planet.

Oh boy. Guys. We're getting into the good stuff here. We've got I think five chapters to go before the interlude. Hee hee hee. Don't mind me sitting here rubbing my hands together in glee...

Warnings: Canon typical violence, swearing, Feels, Mech is going through it, we're on season 2 episode 6.

Word count: 2k

You were in the hold when the ship dropped out of hyperspace, and you balanced easily against the hull. You gave the two a bit of time - you could just hear Mando’s voice, but not what he was saying, and only if you concentrated. You waited until he had gone quiet to rejoin them in the cockpit. 

The planet below you was new, shades of brown and tan and green. Mostly the vegetation seemed to be low-growing - grass and shrubs. You hadn’t seen any trees. Mando guided the Crest above the planet easily, keeping an eye out below. 

Up ahead, you could just see some ruins, jutting up above the ground in an impressive display. There was nothing else around it, just hilly land and rocks. 

“Looks like that’s the magic rock I’m supposed to take you to down there,” Mando observed, tipping the ship to circle around the site, to get a better look. Grogu burbled and then went quiet, looking out at the ruins. “Sorry, buddy, I can’t land on the top. Too small. Looks like we’re gonna have to travel the last stretch with the windows down.”

What was he talking about? You eyed him, a little nervous. The windows didn’t come off. 

He landed the ship as smoothly as ever and picked up the kid, carrying him down and out. You followed, curious and a little apprehensive. 

And then Mando set the kid down briefly to slide his jetpack back into place, and you understood. 

So when Mando turned to look at you, you didn’t give him a chance. You weren’t sure if he was going to offer to take you with, or tell you to take the long route. But you already knew what you wanted. 

“You two go,” you told him, glancing quickly at Grogu. “I’ll follow behind you. You’ll be faster with just you and the kid.”

Mando hesitated for a moment before he nodded. “Keep your blaster with you,” he instructed, picking up Grogu and cradling the child against his chest.

“I will,” you agreed. “Now go.” 

Mando hesitated one more moment before he nodded and took off. His ascent was smooth, and you watched them for a few moments, just to watch them go. 

Then you sighed and turned to get your blaster.

It was far from the worst walk you’d endured. Sure, it was a little ways away, but it wasn’t boiling hot. You weren’t surrounded by people. It was quiet, with a gentle breeze occasionally ruffling the grass at your feet. 

This was a different kind of quiet. Not the quiet of night, or the quiet of a crackling fire, but the quiet of lack. Lack of people. Lack of life. 

It was starting to get to you, just a little.

Even Tatooine had life, had little noises. This? This was… unnerving. 

Idly, you wondered if Mando even noticed. Did he feel unnerved? Ever? Or was he too much a warrior through and through to feel something like that? 

You stopped, eyes going wide. Why were you thinking about him? Why were you even wondering? His emotions (or lack thereof) were his own business, not yours. 

You were just… You liked him. He was… kind, in his own way. Polite. He’d treated you better than many people had. 

And you were maybe a little enamored with that kindness, that hidden softness in him. A little. But it was a passing fancy, that was all. 

Besides, you didn’t even know if you’d stay with him, once the child was gone. 

If the child left. If a Jedi responded. 

So many ifs. So many possibilities. It was… staggering. Weighted. Both better and worse than what you’d grown used to. 

You sighed, a short exhalation through your nose, when you missed your step and nearly fell. Okay. That was enough time wondering about the future and what ifs and all this nonsense. You needed to focus on where you were going. 

The sound of another ship broke your concentration yet again, and you ducked low into the foliage before looking up. It was an unfamiliar ship, oddly shaped, and you frowned as you watched it go past overhead. It was headed towards the Crest. 

But you stayed put, well aware of your limitations when it came to fighting. Namely that you couldn’t. 

As soon as the other ship was out of sight, you booked it towards the seeing stone, as fast as you could manage. Mando was up there, probably. Unless he had gone to investigate. 

You were no good in a situation like this, and you knew it. 

Mando dropped down in front of you, and it was only habit that kept your lips closed. His hand landed on your shoulder, firm but grounding, not painful. 

“Stay down,” he told you. “Looks like trouble. Get to the kid if you can, but stay out of sight.” 

“Okay,” you agreed, heart pounding. For a moment you simply stared into the dark visor, hoping you were meeting his gaze, hoping that nothing was going to happen. That this wasn’t about the child. That these two weren’t in danger. 

Then he nodded, once, and took off again, far quieter than you would have guessed considering all the beskar. You took a deep breath, trying to rally yourself, and continued on. 

It was slow going, trying to stay down and out of sight. Especially since you didn’t know what you were staying out of sight from, or where, or how many. Your hands shook a little as you scrambled up finally to the top of the hill, ducked low. 

A faintly pulsing blue… energy? Something like that, surrounded the kid and the stone. Grogu’s eyes were closed, and he seemed oblivious to the world around him. You pulled your blaster out, holding it down and closing your eyes briefly.

Maker, you hoped you didn’t have to use this thing. You were absolutely no good at it. And you didn’t want to hurt anyone. You really didn’t want to have to shoot someone. You would, if you had to… Probably. But just the thought of it, even to defend this precious child, sent your heart fluttering with anxiety and made your chest hurt. 

You had the brief, wild thought that you should never have let Peli bully you into this. 

And then you swallowed and drew in a deep breath through your nose. Nothing had actually happened yet. You needed to pull yourself together, get a grip. You could do this. Mando had only given you one task: get to the kid. You’d done that. 

Now, you wanted to defend the kid. You wanted to. You. Just you. 

Your hands steadied, at least a little. You kept breathing, slow and steady. You didn’t hear shooting, didn’t hear shouts of pain. You also didn’t hear anyone approaching, not for long minutes. Long enough that your heart had almost settled back into a normal rhythm. 

And then a third ship emerged, flying low towards the Crest. And that ship? You knew the shape of that ship. You knew what the inside looked like. 

You’d had to work on one, once, as a personal favor. It had taken every ounce of willpower to not ask about the blood stains in the hold. 

This was bad. This was very bad. You wished briefly that you had a way to alert Mando, to let him know. 

But he was smart, he’d probably already seen what was going on. 

“Grogu,” you called, unable to contain the fear in your voice. “C’mon, we need to finish up and go.” 

But the child didn’t move, motionless atop the rock, eyes still closed. You swallowed hard, turning in a slow circle to try to see if anything was coming your way. No Mando. No soldiers. Nobody. 

And then the blaster fire started, the shouts drifting up to you, too distant to hear clearly. You swallowed, gripping your blaster more firmly. Okay. You could do this. 

You turned and started towards Grogu, even as the air felt oddly heavy. Trying to get too close felt like pushing through something thick and heavy, your hand meeting resistance as you reached for the child. 

And then the tension snapped suddenly back against you, pushing you back and sending you stumbling several steps away. You gasped in a breath, shaking a little, looking at the energy field around Grogu with awe and frustration. 

Even if the first ship hadn’t been here for Grogu, the second definitely was. You needed to get Grogu out and get going back to the Crest. 

“Grogu,” you called again, pushing closer to the child, struggling against the tension. “We have to go, kid.” 

But he didn’t respond, and after a few moments of holding steady, you were shoved backwards again. You stood there panting, trying to figure out if there was another way to get to him. 

“Hey, kid! Time to go.” Mando emerged from the rocks, starting towards the kid. You opened your mouth to warn him, but not in time. Mando got close, though, almost reaching the child before he was shoved backwards hard enough that he actually went flying a few feet. But he got right back up. 

“I tried that,” you told him, skirting the edge of the blue energy field to stop next to Mando. “I can’t reach him, not while he’s doing this.”

Both of you turned and watched as a second transport ship landed next to the first. Oh, kriff that was bad. So bad. You were all so screwed. 

“Stay with him,” Mando ordered you, turning away. “I’ll buy you as much time as I can.” 

“Mando–” 

But he was gone, leaping back down the rocks and out of sight. 

Your heart hammered in your chest as you took a moment - a few moments, really - to look at what he was facing. That was… a lot of potential troops. No matter that the Empire was supposed to be gone. 

You sucked in a couple deep breaths and turned to look at Grogu. Still doing… whatever he was doing. Okay. You licked your lips and held your blaster a bit tighter. Would it be better to walk around, keep an eye out in multiple directions? Or to just keep watching from this area? Did they even know the kid was up here? 

No. No, you needed to focus. Just stay here, where you had a pretty good view of the area below. You could hear the shouting and blaster fire, could even faintly see the flashes of red. 

You shifted your weight, anxious and feeling the need to do more. But you were guarding the kid, you were doing what you could. You would be no good in a firefight, and you well knew it. You were just as likely to hit an ally as a foe, and that… that was unacceptable. 

Too jittery to hold still, you started pacing, back and forth. The shouting was less now, farther away. You watched as first one, then the second transport ship took off, flying away. Your shoulders sank in relief. 

Behind you, the sudden cessation of humming made you turn and look, just in time to see Grogu slump sideways, passed out on top of the stone. 

An explosion made you turn again to look and see that one of the transport vessels had been hit and collided with the second one, sending the both of them into flaming ruins falling from the sky. 

Relief made your hands nearly numb, and you dropped your blaster to run to Grogu. “Kid. Hey. Grogu. You alright?” Carefully, you stroked one downy soft ear, but there was no reaction from him. Just soft breathing. He was out for the count, then. 

It was easy to scoop him into your arms, holding him close as you turned to look in the direction Mando had disappeared. Maybe you could leave now, could get going to… wherever was next. You allowed yourself a few moments to feel hopeful.

[lovelyladyabsinthewrites]

From the Ashes Pt. 26

Pairing(s): Pairing(s): Rhaegar Targaryen x Lannister!Reader, one-sided!Jaime Lannister x Lannister!Reader, Jaime Lannister x Cersei Lannister

Warnings: slow burn fic, changing povs, MC POV

Words: 3k+

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 3.5  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9  Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40 Part 41 Part 42

Book Two of Dārilaros hen ōrbar se perzys (Heir of Ash and Fire)

Tyrion’s small but blunt body crashed into your arms before you could fully prepare yourself. Ready or not, you held on tightly to your younger brother and inhaled the scent that clung to his dirty blonde hair. It was your Tyrion. You couldn’t ask him how in the world he had found you. Words would ruin this blissful moment. You would just be grateful to the gods that he was here now. There would be time for questions later.

Finally pulling away from him a few inches, you gaze at his face. His endearing large head and brow that made his eyes appear smaller. Oh but how you loved him so much.

That was when you took notice of a haggard man in a rather soiled looking brown cloak. Protectively under one arm was a rather large chest made of a rich dark wood. Surrounding him were priests of the temple and priestesses eying the foreigner suspiciously. Hands were already present, some barely arriving to the scene. Among them was Jaime being pulled by Rhiannon to the very center. He still wore his red training robes and bore the sweat of his efforts. Green eyes immediately find you on the ground. Fear flashes momentarily before he takes in the shape in your arms.

The boy in your arms cried out “Jaime!!”

Jaime nearly tripped over his own feet as he continued to stare with large eyes that screamed disbelief. “Tyrion. . . ?”

You didn’t care if there were dozens of people watching you. Right then you hardly cared about being upset with Jaime.

Releasing one hand from Tyrion, you beckon Jaime to join the two of you in a sibling embrace. All too gladly, Jaime skids onto his knees and gathers you and Tyrion in his slightly sticky arms. If there were a way you could stay in that moment, you would have given everything and anything.

“Gods be good. . .” you whisper against a curl of Tyrion’s hair. The salt air of ship life still clung to him. He had traveled by sea, that much was clear.

Rhiannon and Inanna scurry to your side. “My lady, would you and your siblings like a moment to yourselves?”

In protest, Iomhar pushes past his fellow priests. “Please wait nuha kosh! We need to settle the matter of how this stranger found you! As you have said, everyone in Westeros believes you to be dead.”

Helping you up, Jaime turns to Iomhar. “That is no stranger. That is one of the most celebrated warriors in all of Westeros.”

The older man smiles briefly. “Ser Jaime.”

“Ser Barristan. What are you doing so far away from the king?” His tone was teasing but in his gaze held fondness for his superior.

“I could be asking you the same thing. You disappeared the night of the fire in Princess (y/n)’s chambers. Now I understand.”

High Priest Benerro spots Iomhar about to intervene again but holds a patient hand up. “Weles, escort this Ser Barristan and nuha kosh’s family into our council chambers.”

Obediently, Weles bows and faces Barristan whom he was standing a few feet away. “This way, Ser.”

Barristan eyes the tattoos on his face before glancing over to Jaime. Jaime grins in reply. “Don’t worry. Weles doesn’t bite.”

“My blades do the biting.” It was a warning that was clear to everyone.

Inside of the council chambers was packed with Hands, a select few priests and priestesses. They hadn’t even given you that much security when you had first investigated Inniros. To them though, Barristan Selmy had yet proven to be trustworthy. Especially when he puts forth the box he had been protecting this entire time. According to him, it was Varys who revealed to him that you were still alive. He was the one who entrusted Barristan with this odd request. All because Thalina had entrusted the Spider with her last wish.

What about Tyrion? They seemed like the most unlikely duo.

“I ran away from Casterly Rock. My initial plan was to join Rhaegar’s army.”

“His army?”

“What army?” Jaime asked, equally confused.

Barristan shoots the young boy a wary glance. Tyrion saw it and knew he had to be careful with this news. Shyly he replies “Rhaegar is at war with Aerys. Has been for about a year. Last I heard they were on their way to King’s Landing. Dorne, the North and much of the Stormlands now support Rhaegar.”

“But Aerys still holds much sway in the Crownlands. They fear him too much.”

“Some HAVE switched to Rhaegar’s side though.” Tyrion reminds him pointedly.

Rhaegar was at war with his own father. The only thought that gave you comfort was that he wasn’t alone. How he had gotten Dorne was a mystery to you and overall an incredible blessing. Dornishmen fought like berserkers. The North though. . .

Lyanna.

You couldn’t stop the sudden drop of your heart when you heard that. So now that he thought you dead he was taking his chance with the woman he wanted to be with all along.

Noise and voices around you were ringing in. Space closing in on you by the second.

“(y/n)?” asks Tyrion tentatively as he stared worriedly at the glassiness of your eyes.

He was going back to Lyanna. All those nights you spent together; you thinking that maybe he was actually reciprocating your feelings. His touches made you feel loved. His tender words made you feel endeared. And the baby the two of you had created together. . .

Despair whispered to you to run. Get out of there and hide your shameful tears. You already felt your face growing warm the more you suppressed yourself.

“Nuha kosh? Are you alright? Would you like something to drink?” Inanna is now starting to fret around you.

That’s right. You were their champion. This is no way a champion acts in front of those who revere them.

A deep breath was needed before you apologized. “Sorry. It’s just all so shocking. War in Westeros. My gods. I hope Queen Rhaella and her children are okay. They have to still be at Dragonstone. King’s Landing is too dangerous right now.”

Another gloom hovered over Barristan and Tyrion. You were to learn that so much had happened in the year you had been dead. None of it was good.

With a bit of smugness in his voice, Jaime leans back in his chair and smiles. “Well, looks like it was good I got you out when I did.”

Smiling briefly, his lips twitch down into a hurt frown. “Why didn’t you take me with you?”

“Oh Tyrion.” Softness that he had only ever used with you touches his tone. “We didn’t plan it. That fire. . . (y/n) was lucky I was patrolling when I was. It was by pure luck I was out that night and happened to see smoke in the air.”

Blushing, Tyrion flicks his eyes down. “O-Of course. I’m sorry. It’s just been very hard without either of you. I’m so happy though that (y/n) is alive.” His beaming face returns when he regards you. Your heart melts in the best possible way and you find yourself reaching over to him and embracing him once more. Tyrion eagerly returned the favor. Despite the heartache you continued to feel burrowing inside of you, there was still warmth when you looked at Tyrion. He had found you. What a blessing that truly was.

“Ser Barristan.” Benerro politely addresses the knight; Selmy straightens his back a little more. “You say that you were sent by a spider to deliver something to nuha kosh.”

He nods and without much hesitation, places the small chest on the table in which they were congregated around. Blue eyes that seemed to hold a type of sadness to them settle on you. “The Spider says this was given to him by Thalina. It was her last wish that if anything were to happen to her, this would be delivered safely to you.”

Gingerly your fingers run along the rounded top. You turn to look at Rhiannon behind your shoulder. She stood rigidly but met your gaze. You beckon her forward. Thalina was her blood sister. As far as you knew, this was the only item of Thalina’s left in existence. Something of great importance that she entrusted to someone like Varys. It seems you didn’t really know Thalina at all.

“No one has been able to open it.” your younger brother tells you with a bit of frustration. “There’s not even a lock!”

Laughter bursts out of Rhiannon that makes everyone jump. “Skoros iā krubōñe (What an imp!)" Her eyes were shining with joy and melancholy all at once. Placing both palms on the chest, Rhiannon composes herself. “It’s a puzzle box. Thalina loved puzzles.”

Tyrion leaned in, incredibly interested. “A puzzle?” Using a new perspective, Tyrion wanted to take another crack at it. You knew how his brain was working relentlessly on how to solve it.

Rhiannon’s honey sweet eyes lift. “With your permission, nuha kosh, I believe I can solve it by tomorrow.”

“Take as long as you like, Rhiannon.” you smile at her. Before leaving, she bows with Thalina’s puzzle held securely against her chest.

Hesitantly Tyrion holds onto your arm. “I know we just reunited, but that box has been killing me. I must know how it’s solved!”

You chuckle and caress Tyrion’s head. “Go. We’ll have plenty of time to spend later.”

Grinning from ear to ear, Tyrion catches up with Rhiannon. As he left it didn’t go unnoticed by you that a few people had stared after him. Maybe it was their first time seeing a dwarf.

“If I could make a request?”

“Of course nuha kosh.” Benerro smiles and gets down on his knees. “Anything.”

You make sure everyone is paying attention. This wasn’t a request just for the High Priest. “As you can see, my brother is a dwarf. I request that as long as he is here, no one is to stare at him. Not like he’s some anomaly.”

Those who had been staring at your brother prior, bashfully lower their heads.

“You all heard her.” Weles snaps at everyone. “Whatever nuha kosh says will be upheld.” Priests nodded while priestesses pressed their lips together with uncertainty. They would obey.

Nuahlin who had been quiet the entire time finally stands with the help of Siofra and Chetna the Fiery Hand with short blond hair close to her scalp. Weles helps make way for Nuahlin to stand next to him.

“Ser Barristan, it’s an honor to meet another renowned knight of Westeros. I am Nuahlin. I must voice my concern about you knowing (y/n)’s location. He is at war with his son. (y/n)’s former husband. I hope you will be discreet in your explanation of your absence and not mention her or Volantis.

“The secret is safe with me.” You and Selmy had never really interacted. The need never called for it. From what Rhaegar told you, he seemed like a man you could trust. Even with that thought lingering in the back of your head, you were still cautious around unfamiliar people. He was still a knight under employment of King Aerys. He was unconsciously working against Rhaegar. “All I ask in return is to have a few private words with Jaime Lannister.”

Jaime’s jaw tenses for a moment despite his easy going smile. The school of priests turn to one another and confer in barely audible whispers. Benerro briefly listens to what Nuahlin says in his ear before nodding. He gives his consent and has the room cleared. Including yourself as you were the last to exit the room. The air between them had abruptly turned icy.

Benerro closes the door, blocking your intrusive gaze. “Best to keep the storm contained in there. I’m sure your brother will be fine.”

You nod. “This is a matter between Kingsguard brothers.”

The two of you walk together back to the central court where the others had filtered out into. Hayri and Iomhar were speaking with Nuahlin when Benerro slowly broke away from you to join them. Hands blocked the hall where the council chamber was. Of course they would keep a close eye on Barristan.

“Nuha kosh.” Sirvart beats Vidarr to you. She briefly sticks her tongue out at him before turning her head back to you. “You didn’t look so good in there. Is your wound bothering you?”

“No, it’s fine.” It was a partial lie. While it didn’t ache like it once did, you still felt the soreness. Especially when you collided with Tyrion. His arms had been squeezing tightly around your torso, pressing firmly against your wound that had barely finished healing.

Worried about Jaime, you linger around while staring at the blocked corridor. Technically Jaime had committed high treason by abandoning his post. Knights that abandon the king are known to be either exiled or executed. You didn’t know Barristan well enough to guess what his actions would be. He could go back to Westeros and tell Aerys everything.

“Would you like me to keep him here?”

Weles is next to you, formal and alert as always. Up close you could see the faint yellow and orange tattoos on his cheeks, right below his dark eyes. His skin tone made them hard to see from a distance. “What?”

“You’re worried about that knight. I can have him escorted and kept in a room if you so desire.”

“It would not be such a bad idea.” Vidarr agrees with a small nod of his head.

You purse your lips. “Even if he tells Aerys. . . why would the king care that I’m still alive? And we all know that there has yet to be an assassin to accomplish his job. There’s no need to treat him as a prisoner.”

“Speaking of prisoners, have you learned anything useful from the darkin?” asks Sirvart. “You go to the dungeons often.”

“I want to know who he is as a person. After all, I thought darkins had been just a fairytale.”

The loud creaking of century old hinges groan and those who had been dawdling are now at the ready. Heavy boots thud against the ground.

Jaime’s voice gradually grows louder “You have to at least say goodbye to Tyrion. The two of you have spent much time together. What’s one more night?”

Barristan clears his throat. “Very well.” when he realizes he is coming into view of peeping eyes, he lowers his tone. “If they will allow me to sleep safely under their roof.”

“But of course.” Benerro sweeps across the room. “If nuha kosh says you are trustworthy then that is all we need.”

For the first time, Barristan locks eyes with you. Back in Westeros you had never been this important. Even if you were married to Rhaegar and would one day become his queen, many had the tendency to ignore your presence. They would only address Rhaegar. You were just a decoration. Here though, your word was law. The Red Temple was your castle and you were the queen. Far better than a queen, you were something much better.

Warmth radiates against your thigh and you remember Lightbringer strapped to your hip. Rhaegar’s little mouse was no more.

“Please treat Ser Barristan with the utmost respect.” You tell the armed men behind you. “Rest. You have another long journey back. Inanna.”

She perks right up and despite her small size, she pushes her way through to get to you. “Yes nuha kosh?”

“Can I trust you to take Ser Barristan to a proper room? Take Ilta and Haakon with you.” They were two hands that you knew would be polite to the knight while still be on guard. The others you knew would not take kindly to yet another potentially dangerous stranger under their roof so close to you.

Taglist:

@boywivlove

@esposadomd

@domoron

@yentroucnagol

@enchantingcupcakecollectionfan

@bregarc

[kaepopsicle]

Nct dream react to you saying i love you first? thx

hii yes I can lovely :))

nct dream reaction. their s/o saying ily first.

— mark

you guys were sitting on his bed, you’re just scrolling on your phone while your bf was playing his guitar; you have only have been dating for 2 months; but it’s felt like forever. you came across a really funny meme and you couldn’t help but burst out laughing, you startle mark as he fell off the bed. “oh my god are you okay?” you say in between laughs, not being able to fully focus, “yeah you just scared me!” he said chuckling before you look down at him on the floor, you point and laugh at him and reach down a hand for him to pull so he could get back up; but he ends up pulling you down on top of him. you start laughing even more before the words popped out of your mouth. “I love you.” he stops. freezes and looks at you, “you what?” you sigh before repeating yourself “god mark I said I love you.” he smiles before grabbing the side of your face and kissing you. your soft lips and kisses fill the atmosphere.

— renjun

you and renjun were just hanging around at the park playing i - spy — “I spyyyyy brown” you say as you see a squirrel run by, renjun looks around “oh my god uhhh,,” he sees the squirrels and laughs “is it that squirrel?” you give him a grumpy face before crossing your arms. “how are you so good at this game?!” you pout as you stomp ahead, renjun laughs before running up to you and spinning you around so you can face him. “bc you make it easy my love; plus that squirrel looked just like you.” you roll your eyes “meh meh meh” you turn around, smacking him in the face with your hair a bit before stomping ahead. “babeeee I’m sorryyy” he chuckles before running up to you again,, “nope don’t even try” you look away and cross your arms. “Ahhh stoppp you love meee.” He says as he starts poking your side, making you move and giggle. “Stop stop!!” You laugh as you try running away, he grabs your side and pulls you into a back hug. The smile on your face was so bright and big. He starts kissing your neck tickling your skin. “Ahh okay okay! I love you I love you!! Stop” you giggle once more. He stops and stares at you, turns you around and pulls you close by your waist. “you what? did I hear that correctly?” you blush “yes, I love you huang ren-“ before you could even finish your sentence he pulls you in closer and kisses your lips. While whispering “I love you too.”

— jeno

your bf jeno finally convinced you to go to the gym with him, “ugh ugh this is so heavy babe” you try and lift up one of his many weights. he laughs at you before lifting up his own thing, as his muscles flex. you stare a little too long; before he looks at you “you like the view?” You immediately blush before turning to look away. “No no not at all! I just wanted to prove I can do better than you.” he rolls his eyes and chuckle before putting down his weights to watch you. you quickly stammer around to find a decently sized weight. You try picking it up before tripping backwards and falling. “Ah!” “Oh my god babe!” he shouts before running over. you start laughing hysterically on the ground, “AHAHAHAHA THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE.” jeno rolls his eyes, smiles and falls backwards; laying down. “I hate you. oh my god” you still laughing, smacks his thighs. “boy I love you too.” he stops and stares at you through the corner of his eye. You get wide eyed as you see a grin appear on his face. He tackles you to the ground before kissing your neck and cheek. “Ah ah okay okay okay, does this mean you love me too?” You smile. He stops and connects his eyes with yours. “of course I do. I’ve just been waiting for you to say it first.” You roll your eyes before pulling him down to kiss.

— haechan

you guys were doing a painting class together just to have some time together and a break from haechans hectic life style; you were trying to focus on the instructor but haechan kept painting your arm with different colors; “babe stop I’m trying to focus” he chuckles “I don’t care, focus on me” he says as he flicks some paint on to the side of your face. you gasp before turning your head slowly facing him. “you did not just do that” he smiles softly before running away; as you grab your whole container of paint. “EXCUSE ME SIR AND MADAM CAN YOU PLEASE SIT DOWN!” you chase him around the room as the teacher is yelling at you. “NO BC THIS JERK THREW PAINT ON ME!” “HAHA ITS ONLY BC YOU LOVE MEE” he says running around the side of someone else’s paint easel; you groan before throwing paint on him “AH JUST ADMIT YOU LOVE ME HAHAHA” HE SAYS screaming while holding up a chair in front of you. “FINE YES I DO! I LOVE YOU!” he stops for a second and lowers the chair, before smirking and lifting it back up again “HA I KNEW IT! OF COURSE YOU DO!” you groan before throwing the whole paint container at him. “that’s it. you two. out” the teacher points at the door, you guys look at each other and burst out laughing before walking out, you still having paint on your hands; smear it on his face before running down the street.

— jaemin

“babe it’s really not that big of a deal” you say walking into your apartment with your boyfriend. “noT that big of a deal?? Excuse me I asked for 3 shots of espresso and they gave me 2, that barista was lucky that I was with my girlfriend bc I would’ve gone off.” You roll your eyes before throwing yourself and your coat on the coach. “babe just shut up and come pick out a movie with me” you flip through the variety of different movies and genres on the tv as he walks over still complaining about his coffee. “no no that barista didn’t understand how important this was to me, like I LOVE my coffee and they just ruined it for me.” you put a hand on his thigh and squeeze it as you roll your eyes. “Okay well babe your coffee doesn’t love you back I love you, so can you drop it so we can watch a movie.” You say as you turn to look at the tv, unrealizing what you said and how he was in the middle of drinking his TWo shOt EsPresSO coFFeE; nearly choking on it he replies back “say that again.” you look at him “say what again?” “What you just said, say that again but slower.” You rolls your eyes. “I love you Na Jaemin. There I said it now can we please just focus on picking out a movie to watch.” He puts his coffee down before pulling you close to his face. You stammer and get flustered as your nose lightly brush against each other. “I’ve been waiting so long to hear you say that.” He crashes his lips against yours. Kissing you messily but gentle.

— chenle

your bf chenle and you were going to the market to pick out some snacks for your movie night, you got into a shopping cart while chenle pushed you around; you were screaming as he pushed you really fast around the aisles, “babe! watch out don’t run into anything!” You scream as you whip around facing him, “I’ll be fineeeee; trust me” five seconds after him saying that he runs you into a display knocking over a whole tower of beans. you both stop and stare. “HEY YOU KIDS!” A store worker looks over and yells at you guys “oh shit!” You both say simultaneously; he quickly picks you up out of the cart as you guys run holding hands. “HAHAHAHA! THIS IS FUN!” You shout as you sprint around the corner! “HAHA YOU ARE THE ONLY PERSON ID WANT TO DO THIS WITH!” he shouts back. “ZHONG CHENLE I LOVE YOU!” you say without hesitation as you guys run; almost out of the store. he stops. “woah woah did you just say you love me?” you a couple feet ahead turn around and smile. “was it too soon?” you say scratching your head. “no it was perfect.” he says before walking up to you and pulling you close and kissing your warm lips. “HEY STOP THERE” the kiss was broken by the sound of the employees, you chuckle before continuing running out.

— jisung

going to an arcade with your bf jisung was always your favorite thing to do, just being able to spend time with him alone; away from all his crazy brothers. you guys ended up finishing one of those virtual roller coaster rides before finding a photo booth. “Ooo babe let’s take some pictures!” You say as you pull your tall bf over, he doesn’t say anything and just smiles before hopping in. “Oh? there’s different filters” he said as he looked at all the controls on the touch screen. “Omg do that one!” You point to a dog filter, “wah” jisung blushed before clicking it, you guys smile, do a silly picture, then you decide to take a leap of faith, before the next click of the camera, you whisper in his ear an “I love you” and a quick peck on the cheek. his body turned frozen before he looked over at you, even though his body was cold, his cheeks were brushed with warmth and rosiness. you quickly got out to look at the pictures while jisung was still stuck in his position. you chuckle at the sight. “babe cmon I didn’t say marry me, I just said I love you; now come look at this pictures.”

[goofyhoffy]

CHAPTER 2

Fanfiction : My First Kiss 'just a kiss'

Genre : best friend to enemies to lovers! Roommates au! Classmates au! Romcom.

Pairings : Taehyung × reader

Word limit : 2.06k

Warnings : fuckboi, bestie bad words, private talks, best friend sharing sex life, abusing, angst, misunderstanding, bullying, kissing, smut, fluff, explicit, student life, dirty talks, wet dreams, hitting on, making out, Dom,sub, yandere.

Summary : you shifted to a new city for your best friend Taehyung. He's your bestie since birth. You admitted to his school where you find life difficult. Taehyung being a fuckboi and you being is bestie he shares everything with you even his sex life and moves. But your character is far more different from him. You always looked for your comfort person. You dreamt of spending time with your future partners. Even you're in high school you haven't kissed anyone as you want to secure your first kiss for your special one. What happened when Taehyung seized the chance from you of your first romantic kiss!

Series: a drabble fanfiction of 3 sets.

Author note : this one is so emotional and romantic , so look forward to read it. I hope you'll love it. Finally, after reading give me your help full opinions. Love ya.

Chapter 1 ∆ CHAPTER 3

MASTERLIST

(๑♡⌓♡๑)(๑♡⌓♡๑)(๑♡⌓♡๑)(๑♡⌓♡๑)

You walks up to him and straight up slap him in his golden cheeks.

Slapping your bestie feels so bad, you felt the worst person in this planet. Your anger and frustration towards him still didn't left from your heart.

Taehyung getting slapped with your bare soft hands. He got thrilled. You slapped and left the venue. But eventually you feel someone grabbed your hand so hard. As you expected it's Tae. He was standing with his hand grabbing yours and the other hand holding his delicate cheeks you just slapped. You frowned.

"What was that?" Tae arrogantly asked.

"A slap to remember you that you're nothing but a stranger to me from now." You screamed.

"How dare you?" Tae squeezed your hands.

"How dare you to kiss me?" You eyed.

"Seriously, for a kiss you would slap your bestie" Tae sighed.

"It's My First Kiss" you emotionally acknowledged.

"It's just a kiss". Tae sighed.

"You were my best friend." Your voice broke.

"I still am. Still your best friend." Tae said.

"No, Tae. That's not how things happen. I told you hundreds of time that, I'm not like you. I can't makeout with anyone like you do. I have higher expectations and hope for my First Kiss. But you ruined it." You screamed.

"But you kissed me back." He too screamed.

"I don't, I don't know. It's just happened."

"See, you kissed me back but still reacting like a fucking slut. Don't be emotional virgin,____"

"Shut up, you fuckboy. See yourself. A fucking boy who can sleep with any and every girl across the door. I'm not like you, Taehyung. Maybe your dick fits for everyone but not for me. I never thought that you'll do something like this to me. I was your bestie." You bashed for him.

"What? Think before you speak,____" Tae sighed.

"Why will I? When you never even think about smashing your worst lips on mine? Huh." You said.

"I can't. You're the meanest. Actually your lips taste the worst. You don't even now how to kiss. Huh, how would you even know. You're a emotional Virgin. If I didn't kissed you, nobody in your entire life will do. You should thank me. Poor Virgin." Tae chuckled devilishly.

Hearing those cruel words from Tae. You just broken up. Those tears can't resist to drop themselves from your small pearl eyes. You never thought that your best friend can think that about you. Each and every word he speaks you remember word by word. The known loved face of Tae looked devilish to you now. He was not the same anymore. People change so do he. He turn to devil, who even can hurt their own people. You remember why you even here. It was all because of Tae who needed you. You were always there for your best friend. But he was never there. And he was the one who hurt you the most.

You can't let a word fall out of your mouth. Your neck was feeling pain out of caught your tears back. You don't want to face him anymore. Just want to go away from his gaze. His presence even stinks. He feels like a complete stranger to you. Out of anything you want was someone to tell you what is wrong and right. But your own friend was a traitor.

You still can't processed how things got runied between you. It was only second day of your staying with Tae, and you both already at the verge to broke up. The fight turns into a rival. You never have such a big issue or fight with him. Back in the old days, he always supported, loved and cared about you. But now at the school, he totally treat you like a new nerd girl who's hitting on him. So much things are going on your mind. The presence of your first kiss, the betrayal and the acting a stranger all from your own best friend.

"Huh! Don't fucking cry like a monster. Speak up, my toxic friend." Tae frowned.

His words makes your heart ache more and more. You can't stand to him. You wanted to slap him untill death. He was like a enemy to your eyes.

Without any response you shed off your tears, took a deep breath. Took your books from the library table and left the place.

Taehyung is deeply affected by your presence. He had never seen you like this. He somewhere immaturely annoyed by your response. The slap still leaves a mark on his cheeks. He deep down know that it's all his fault but his ego stops from accepting that. He only knew that you were overreacting and nothing. A kiss never can be compared with a slap. Best friend do this shitty things but the fight turns to Rival. Now, onwards he only know one thing she was his enemy and nothing.

You took your bagpacks from your classroom. And left the school. You stroll down the unknown street. The school, roads, place and your best friend seems stranger. You don't know where to go. For a second you thought of leaving your school from Seoul to go back to Daegu. But you promised Taehyung's mother that you would not leave him in the half way. You decide to stick to him but he wasn't your best friend anymore. But he was, no he still is. Might be you were little too much to response harshly. But he need to apologize to you first. And you were not gonna talk to him anymore.

Taehyung when came to classroom and can't find you anywhere, he got that you skipped the school. He was worried about you, after all you knew no one there. It was completely unknown place to you. But he know his way of finding where are you. He checked your snap location and at his surprise you were already home. He got relieved but still want to realise you that you were wrong to slap him.

You gone home as no other option was left. Did your homework and some self study. And missed your old Tae a bucket. Cried for hours over the same boy. But your strong will power helps you to organise yourself more. Took a fresh shower and done your hair and skin care.

Lying on the bed you were checking your social media. At your surprise you see something that broke your heart again. Tae posted a photo with his school friends and captioned it "far from the toxic friendship. Best day to get to know about real colour of people." You were so annoyed. You deep down know that he posted it for you. Tae intentionally posted to mock you. You were like does he thinks that you were toxic, he want to end friendship so he should tell you early. Such a asshole he was.

You know you have to call him, to tell him that he don't deserve you. That he was wrong to take away your first kiss. You called him and as expected he didn't received. You called him again, he received.

"You asshole." You screamed.

"What? What do you want now?" Tae arrogantly said.

"You fucking don't deserve a bestie like me. Your sarcasm is not a joke. You think you would mock me and I'll ignore it. Huh." You frowned.

"I see... So, how was my post. You like it. I love the caption so much. It's best to ignore toxic people like you." Tae devilishly grinned.

"Just fuck off with your poor fake gang Kim Taehyung. I even don't give a fuck. I hate you." You declined the call.

You screamed across the lungs that you can't with this boy.

°

Thinking all those think you drifted into sleep. You woke up to some weird noises coming from living room. And it's of screaming some girls. Felt weird that who was gonna scream like a monster at that time. That was barely late evening. As you were moving closer to living room the noises turns to moans. And as expected it was none other than your fake bestie Taehyung.

"What the heck? " You screamed.

"Oh my god. Who's she?" The girl screamed violently.

Taehyung turns to you and let out a deep sigh.

"_____, you're here again. Get off your ass. We're in a moment." Taehyung continued.

"Why in the living room? Don't you have two big bed rooms of your. Don't stain my yellow couches with your c-" you were cut off in the middle by the girl who covered herself with Tae's shirt.

"Shut up. Just go. Babe, we should go to your bed room."

"We can have sex anywhere and everywhere in this house. It's my fucking house,_____. Understood. Now, go." Taehyung rolled his eyes.

"I'm here too. As a roommate, I don't like this. Now go to your bedroom." You sighed.

"You are a bitch,_____. And you know that. You just ruined my mood." Tae frowned

"Babe we can start again, let's make your mood. So, where were we-" the girl said.

"You, please shut up. Take your clothes and fuck off." Taehyung sighed.

"But babe we ca-"

"Get out, slut." Taehyung directed the girl and she wear her clothes finally leaving you two alone.

A deep silence surround you both. None of you were starting a conversation. You were standing at the living room's door and he was sitting at the couch with his hand on the side chin. His dark brown eyes pierced yours. It was like he gonna kill you straight with his staring. You try to hide from his gaze but can not. He got up and grabbed your hands.

"What do you want?" His firm slow voice cut through your ears.

"Huh! I was ... Just asking to be at your bedroom." You stumble.

"Why you slapped me? Is kissing is an offense?"

"For me it is. You have totally changed."

He grabbed your hands and pinned you across the wall leaving enough space to breathe.

"Leave me. You're embrassed of me! Aren't you?" You sighed.

"Embrassed of you? Why?" Tae asked .

"You call me a little nerd in front of your friends. Why? You're treating me like you never knew me. I'm shocked to see such changes. I know I'm not cool like you nor I'm good looking like you. But still you would not talk and even humiliate your best friend in front your school friends. I'm your child hood friend, Taehyung. Mind it." You speak your heart out.

"Are you okay?" Taehyung speaks with his most delicate voice. He never believe that you have think to much just within a day. This was not what he was expecting.

"No, I'm not. I'm here for you but still you are ignoring me. Calling me slut, humiliating me and doing everything a best friend shouldn't do." Tears rolled down from your eyes. You can't anymore hold that back. Your eyes got puffy with tears. Your heart sink because of Tae.

Without any response Taehyung hugged you. Pressed you in his huge warm body. His hands patted your small head and back. But still you were crying.

"Stop crying. You misunderstood me. I'm sorry." Taehyung sighed.

"Please, let me explain you everything. I'm not ignoring you. It's just if I tell everyone that you're my bestie then they would see you as a person like me. I don't want you to be like me. I just wanted that you would make your own image as you wanted in your new school. I want you to be the best in the class and not like me who's always known for having girls around. I... I'm sorry." Taehyung explained.

You hugged him back and even cried more that his shirt got all drenched.

"No. Don't talk to me." You murmured.

"I'm apologizing. I really like you." Taehyung sighed.

A moment of silence between all those words make you stumble. You were still hugged by your best friend who just confronted his feelings to you.

[bluesylveon2]

Do You Remember When? (Epilogue)

Written for @levihanweek Day 6: Memory and Day 7: Free Space. This is a continuation of the other fic I wrote which you can find here!

Part 1

A/N:

Levi and Hange are 24 when they meet again and 29 when they get married

Thank you @levihanweek for hosting Levihan Week and @immagoudaboi for beta reading!

Enjoy!

Levi believed, with all his heart, that he was in some cheesy romantic movie or a shitty fanfic. Like the ones where there are 2 childhood friends, they separate, meet again, and fall in love after all those years.

Well, now that movie/book had ended and opened up to the sequel: the marriage.

Levi stared at himself while he adjusted the tie in the mirror. He was currently getting ready for his big day, and he also wanted to be alone for a few minutes. Here he was at a stage in life he never expected. Marrying his childhood crush, Hange.

The couple decided to keep their marriage small. Only close friends and families were allowed to witness the event. Luckily they found a small botanical garden that was perfect for the venue, reception, and sunset photoshoots. Plus, the garden had a section dedicated to sunflowers, a flower that makes Levi smile every time he sees it. Overall, it was perfect for the couple.

Levi still remembered the day they reunited. It was only 5 years ago when Hange was with Erwin, and Levi swore Erwin would introduce her as his lover. Boy, was he wrong.

Levi made a mental note to thank whoever above for not including that.

(Np Levi)

His relationship with Hange developed smoothly for the most part. Sure there were rough patches along the way, but the two always overcame it. Thus their love grew stronger as the years progressed.

Their first date started as a simple fancy homemade dinner. It was quiet and peaceful. The couple had even sung some karaoke and ended the night waltzing to jazz music.

The second date was a whole 180. This date included Levi's 2021 Ducati XDiavel Black Star

motorcycle. It was a gift given to him by his uncle and all the gambling money he earned. The bike alone took Hange's breath away.

---

Hange let out a loud whistle as she eyed the Ducati. The motorcycle was very sleek, black, gray, and had a few hints of red. Overall, it screamed Levi.

"Levi! I didn't know you owned a Ducati! Do you know how much they are? Over 20k!" Hange exclaimed with stars in her eyes. Levi smirked before walking up to her side. He wrapped an arm around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder.

"Actually, this bike was a gift from Kenny. He won enough at the casino and bought it for me for my 24th birthday."

Hange fondly smiled at the thought. She knew Kenny always had a soft spot for Levi since he is his only nephew.

"You know what we should do now, Levi?" Hange's smile turned into a full grin. "Let's take it for a spin!"

Levi took his head off of Hanges shoulder and looked at her with shock. "Just like 10 years ago?"

"Yes! But…." Her voice trailed off, and she stared down at her feet. "Can I drive it this time?"

Levi's jaw dropped, and he just stared at her. Hange waved a hand in front of his face.

"Levi? Are you there?"

"I heard you. It's just….are you sure?" He asked with worry, and Hange chuckled at how cute he looked.

"No need to worry about me, Levi. Mike used to let me drive his motorcycle around, so I know what to do."

"He let you do what?!" Levi became horrified. Why didn't Mike ever mention this to him?

Hange waved a hand nonchalantly. "I only had minor scrapes when I first started, but I managed to pick it up quickly. Just like you!"

-----

"So, where do you want to go?" Hange asked Levi, who wrapped his arms around her waist. The motorcycle purred with life, and the two had their helmets secured on their heads. The only thing left to do was actually leave Levi's garage.

"I'm okay with going anywhere. Just as long as I’m with you."

"Really? You don't mind driving us off the cliff?" Hange teased and laughed at her own suggestion.

Levi rolled his eyes but smirked along with Hange. "No, and nowhere reckless, Four-Eyes. Got it?"

Hange did a mini salute before facing forward and positioning herself to take off. "Yes, sir! Besides, I know the perfect place to go."

Levi decided to not question where Hange wanted to bring him. He trusted her enough to know that wherever she brought him will hold significance to the both of them.

Levi rested his head against Hange's back as she took off. He watched the city pass by in a blur while listening to Hange's merry laugh. It was like music to his ears despite the other sounds in the background. He kept his focus on Hange only.

Hange zoomed and zigzagged through the city. What felt like seconds, was actually hours when they arrived at their destination. Levi's eyes widened in recognition.

"Is this?" Levi asked Hange, and she nodded.

In front of Levi was the same park he took her to several years ago. The park itself had been updated in the past 10 years since the time he and Hange last snuck out. There were multiple colorful flowers and trees planted all over to provide more natural shade. Additionally, the city added more benches so people could sit down and enjoy the scenery.

Hange parked the motorcycle so she and Levi could get off. She extended her hand out to Levi (which he gladly accepted) and led him to the hill, where they shared their first kiss.

This time, there was a giant ginkgo tree with bright yellow leaves on the branches. The autumn breeze blew some of the leaves off to float in the air as if they were dancing. Hange let go of Levi to run up ahead and go under the tree.

It was an amazing sight for Levi to witness: from below the tree, Hange watched the leaves fall. She spread her arms out and laughed as the leaves began dancing around her body like it was people worshiping a goddess.

Boy was Levi in love.

"Levi! Come join me." Hange called out to him as the ginkgo leaves started decorating her brown hair.

Levi strode over to Hange and reached up to her head when he was close enough. He plucked a yellow leaf out of Hange's hair and brought it close to examine it.

"Did you know that the ginkgo leaf is considered a living fossil, and it symbolizes hope and peace in China? Additionally, it also survived the Hiroshima bombing, so it also symbolizes endurance and vitality."

Suddenly, Hange's face became serious, and she clasped her hands over Levi's. The yellow ginkgo leaf remained in Levi's grasp.

"Levi, I'm sorry about our falling out in the past."

"Hange, you don't need to apologize-"

Hange shut Levi up by pressing a finger to his lips.

"Let me finish." She added and retracted her finger. "I want this relationship-" she gestured between the two of them. "To be like the ginkgo leaf. Do you want to know why?" She quietly added.

Levi remained quiet but nodded his head, so Hange could continue.

"I want us to endure through every challenge we face together. Until we die. I want us to someday live together, have kids, and keep making happy memories. I know this is our second date, but I have always loved you, Levi. I want you to know that, but I don't expect you to--"

Hange never finished her rambling when Levi swiftly grabbed Hange by the back of her head and brought his lips to hers. She dropped her hands down and brought Levi close to her.

Levi didn't need to vocalize anything, but Hange already knew. It was like telepathy between the two of them; Levi loved her too.

The couple was preoccupied with their embrace to notice the yellow ginkgo leaf flutter down and land softly on the grass.

---

Levi smiled at the declaration of love under the ginkgo tree. The leaf Levi held was now pressed in a frame that sat in the couple's living room. It was a constant reminder of a new start in their lives. It symbolized turning a new leaf for the two.

Levi moved on to add the boutonniere to his suit. The item itself was made up of fake (because it saves money and lasts longer. Hange’s words, not his) sunflowers. Levi smiled after he finally pinned the boutonniere.

Boy, was he in love with Hange.

The door rattling interrupted Levi's thoughts of his fiance, and he clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Mike! Erwin! I told you to knock before coming in-" Levi complained and turned around to glare at the intruder, only to be greeted by his fiance instead.

"Here. Hange?!" He exclaimed, and Hange chuckled.

"Oh, Levi. You know I don't knock when I enter the room. Especially the bedroom. I always catch you at the perfect times." She chuckled and wiggled her eyebrows. Levi blushed and looked away out of embarrassment.

"Why are you here? What about the whole 'seeing the bride before the wedding thing?'" Levi added, and Hange rolled her eyes.

"I could care less about that whole superstition shit, Levi. You know that."

Levi looked at Hange with concern. "What are you doing here anyway? Is something wrong?"

Hange fake gasped and widened her eyes. "Is it wrong for me to see my future husband on our wedding day?" She slumped her shoulders and strode over to stand next to Levi. Levi, noticing Hange’s distress, led her to sit down on a nearby sofa.

"Levi, to be honest, I'm nervous, and I just wanted to see you.”She admitted, wrapped her arms around Levi, and buried her face in the crook of his neck. She was careful enough to not ruin her makeup and hair.

Levi hugged Hange back and rubbed her back. "Your bridesmaids must be worried about you right now. Did you go ‘bridezilla’ on them?"

Hange laughed and looked up at Levi. He looked down at her in return. "Worse, but you don't need to know that."

Levi chuckled, and silence enveloped the two. It was nice, just sitting alone together in tranquility. This was their time to share before the ceremony. Sure, there might be chaos outside the room, but Levi and Hange were together. They endured every challenge like the ginkgo tree. The couple was also like a sunflower and the sun: facing each other until the end of the day.

-------

©: This is where I insert all rights reserved stuff. This story belongs to me. Do not modify or republish.

A/N:

I wrote 3 different wedding au's so far and I find that hilarious!

Thank you @cat for the suggestion! This is late but I was inspired to write more 😁

[tiphprince]

I have many thoughts and feelings about snape leaving Hogwarts. (I would write it but one I am well lazy and I have this weird internal conflict but yes anyways) I will be signing of as 🤺 (this is so long I am so sorry)

So for scene + background purposes : both the mud blood incident and the werewolf prank happens at the 5th year and I guess eileen leaves him. And snape is in this absolute bedroom depression because rn he can't stand himself, there is no scope and like he knows what possibilities lies in both sides but rn he's craving for fimilarity and the only person who he hates that he's connected to is his father right. They both have this anger that eileen leaves them in spinners end and one of them is free. So he does something he hasn't done ever since he met Lilly : he takes a chance and applies to ilvermony he knows he won't get in he's so sure (until he gets proven wrong). And when he gets that letter that says ACCEPTANCE he somehow empathizes with the women who first introduces magic and the same women who ran away from this horrid place and figures that eileen is a clever witch and she's probably okay of not she'd be back or they would find out that she's dead.

He knows that he's meant to be alone (he does the paper work for a transfer alone, he packs alone and he celebrates alone on his departure by allowing himself to feel something when he buys himself a small plum cake) and he feels incredibly small when he enters the ministry where he meets the headmistress but he's hopeful.

And ilvermony is big and it's grand and it's so much more accepting. On his first day he meets a brown eyed girl who's made him feel absolute concern and exasperation in 14 minutes of meeting her (why do you think that England is a sad place he asks her and she simply looks at him dumbly saying your two weather's are rain and heatstroke, and he can't help but agree with her) but he can't help but feel light. There is no Potter, no black no werewolf and maybe his life is worth something. And he's less alone (he doesn't ever say it out loud because he's scared after all he is someone who's great at ruining friendships) because he makes friends some who understand the guilt and the shame and the anger he is carrying while others (and some really good adults) just know that it's not fair that you should treat your own life like this and now he's able to speak about his regrets his guilt to those closest to him 'what you did was wrong but I also think it's wrong that you have been told that holding on to the guilt is the only way you can forgive yourself, I think you have hurt yourself enough' she says to him and there is an absolute pin drop silence until severus takes all the courage to say i think I need help.

Flash forward it's 2 years later in Hogwarts and a ripple effect occurs.

Regulus black feels at first a great deal of anger towards snape because he managed to escape this. Narcissa and lucius understand but they will never admit it. But snape left their snape this tiny greasy kid from coke worth felt his life was worth more or if not he believed in enough spite to take some direct action. That spite is what drove them to stay effectively neutral and hint on supporting dumbledore despite a war that there in the horizon. James and Lilly are together, the loss of friendship leads to a kinship which lead to a romance while Sirius and Remus are okay but they aren't. And Peter well he's shifty ( some days if not most days they all find it liberating to pretend that snape doesn't exist)

And now they all in this campaign to promote unity are in advanced muggle studies class, regulus black is the only slytherin and its painfully obvious on what's to come. And charity Burbage who is this cheery hufflepuff decides to do her video essay on schools but she has this pen pal who is in ilvermony and who's willing to help to show off her school and the people she loves (do you fucking see where I am going with this?????)

And BAM it's this heartfelt Supercut of her favorite places and the people she loves and meets there are snippets of their endearing conversations. And everything is okay until severus snape the boy who left at 15 is smiling at the one recording the video and is sitting casually at a sofa 'hey sev what do you gotta say about Americans' your tea sucks, and to think you would learn from the Boston tea party incident. And the rest of the video shows more people but it's severus who makes the video so much better and so much worse. Because she records his laughter, his joy but it's them who have this weird gut feeling and Lilly cant help but hold James hand tightly and James can't stop staring at the same boy he hurt.

And Lilly comes into this horrible but truthful realization that she's feeling what her ex best friend feels (the disbelief when she can't understand why can't she see him like this, the same way snape felt when he couldn't understand what Lilly saw in James) because there is so much betrayal she feels when he watches him smile at other people and can't understand why couldn't the snape that they are seeing in this video be the one who went at Hogwarts with them??? and James has to see this version of snape he hasn't seen before and thinks maybe they could be friends. And Lilly at that moment doesn't want to answer the question : he's happier because he's away from this place, the same place you love. Would you ask him to leave earlier knowing he could be happy like this?

The video is over and its regulus black who looks so pensive and has this look of hope that maybe goods thing can happen says in a too quite class because everyone knows : I haven't seen him smile like that at all. The bell rings and they just go on and walk a little bit more heavier because all they can think of Severus snape, the boy who escaped and the one who isn't coming back .

🤺🤺🤺🤺

Okay so... this was a completely unsolicited surprise in my inbox the other day, but damn if I didn’t love every single part of it!

I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT OUR BOY SAYING FUCK IT AND LEAVING HOGWARTS

For the the other characters it doesn’t change that much, Lily still ends up with James, the Marauders are sad that their favorite target is gone but they get over it quickly, the other Slytherins don’t give a fuck about the poor and dirty halfblood, and the teachers... well, they’re as useless as usual.

But our baby! It’s awful for him at first, the fact that he suddenly finds himself so far away, and so alone, from everything he’d ever known, even the bad. Because at least he knew what to expect at Hogwarts and at home, it was all about the evil you know, and adventure is definitely not his thing.

I’ve always been in love with the “was gone for several years, and came back a changed man” (must be the Naruto fan in me), it’s a bit like anon’s video here, a way to show everyone what they missed, the huge mistake they made in hurting this kid who just wanted to be left alone

I want to see the Marauders praising this dude from America before learning that it’s Snape because he doesn’t look anything like what he used to (meaning he actually looks like a functioning human being).

I want to see Lily, high and mighty with her perfect husband and her son on the way, frown when she recognizes her former best friend laughing and smiling with another girl, looking happier than he’d ever been with her.

I want to see Slughorn in shock when the best potions master of his generation is revealed to be the weird ass teen he’d dismissed on the first day because he didn’t have a powerful family name.

Basically, I want every character who ever underestimated Snape, who ever hurt him, to, if not regret their actions, then at least realize that there was something more to him even back then, that if only he’d been given a chance he could have become that amazing person right here in the UK and not halfway around the world.

Also, I want Snape to not forgive them. Maybe he has to work with them for one reason or another, and he acts just civil enough to not outright provoke and insult them, but he’ll never forgive and he’ll never forget.

[caxsthetic]

Through The Storm

Kita Shinsuke x F!Reader

Unfurling: He should have chase whatever dream and things that he wanted. Because it was better to die trying—than keep living in the wonder of another possibility.

Pt. 2 ⇚ Epilogue

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *. GRAND MASTERLIST .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You didn't dare close your eyes, as what you saw was the light grey strands of hair, with a black tip at the end that reminded you of a vintage pen that was dipped with ink. When darkness engulfed your vision, there was only a pair of brown eyes, staring deep into your soul.

If you turned your back and told him the truth, where would you stand right now? If only you stayed and waited for his response, would it be his name that you carry the last name to? Would you belong to him, instead of your best friend?

You eyed your reflection on the mirror which covered the entire side of the wall. Swallowing a huge lump when your mind wandered once again to another possibility of life that you had abandoned. It made you sick, stomach churned with guilt and shame that was too excruciating for you to bear.

How delightful life would be if you were honest, if everyone could just spill what was exactly inside their mind—or in this case, their heart. Your breath sounded laboured, like you have been running for a thousand miles without taking a break.

But yes, for the past years, you had been running. Running away from the reality about who it was that you actually love. Every time you thought it was enough, he came back, stood right beside you as if you were just running around in place.

Love, who said that this feeling was the greatest invention that humankind had discovered? It was so unpredictable, uncontrolled, you couldn't choose who you ended up falling in love to.

The only thing that you could do was try, to get the love that you wanted. To grasp someone that had your mind, body, and soul—or die trying. Because if not, it would haunt you for the rest of your life.

You gasped a little when the lady's maid tightened the dress, making it a little bit hard for you to breathe. And it didn't help you at all with how you already felt suffocated by your own feelings.

White. A shade of colour that meant purity and innocence, wrapping perfectly around your figure. But with the way you had been lying in front of everyone, nothing in you radiated good news. And you really wanted to just tear the perfect dress into pieces, wanting to show everyone that everything was just a facade.

Sometimes you felt like you were some kind of monster, some kind of storm. The only thing that you could do was either wrecking the once serene life, or turned everything that you passed by into a dust.

But no one noticed that, except maybe him.

"Do you like someone?" You choked on the carton drink that you got from the vending machine, didn't expect your classmate to blurt the question to you. After all, both of you were just hanging out on the rooftop, getting away from all the prying eyes and meddlesome squeal of his fangirl.

He was frantic when you coughed like that, like you could die at any moment. His large hand immediately patted your back to calm you down, with dark grey orbs lingering with worry as he looked at the pained expression on your face.

It was soothing, the warm touch of your best friend. His palms going up and down your back, so gentle as if he had the most fragile creature on his grasp. In his eyes, you were. Since the first time you knocked on the door of his house with a basket of food on your hand, he was sold.

Through his silvery orbs, you were some kind of angel that the deity bestowed upon him. With a gentle smile that you threw for everyone, a witty remark that you jabbed on his brother—from the very first minute he knew you, he was sure that you were the one.

"Osamu..." Your eyes peered on him, sending the poor boy a glare to get some apology or explanation after what he said. But he just raised one of his eyebrows from confusion, "What with the sudden question, you doofus!" You punched his arms playfully, making him winched—dramatizing of course, not too different from his twin brother.

"Jeez, you are abrasive as fuck." He tried to sound so hurt, pouting at you as he caressed his own arms to soothe the 'pain' that you caused.

"And you are one dramatic bitch."

Bantering with Miya Osamu has probably become your daily life. When you were with him, everything felt like your life would be perfect. As if knowing that he would always be there with you boosts your confidence as you tried to be the best version of yourself.

You didn't answer his question and just laid your head on his shoulder. He didn't mind at all, even if Atsumu teased him day by day about how the two of you looked like an old couple, he was actually okay with the mockery that he received.

The breeze touched your exposed skin, making a shiver run down your spine. As much as you love the privacy that you got by escaping here, sometimes you just wanted the wind to dwindle down.

But then again, times go by and every time the wind impaled your skin and made you shivered, someone would take off his blazer and place it on your torso. Even if you just showed the tiniest bit of frostbite, he would make sure that you were not going to feel any kind of cold in a matter of seconds.

"Thank you, Osamu." You smiled at him, fingers fiddling on the sleeve of his blazer.

"You are welcome." He relaxed once again, letting you get closer to him like before.

He noticed this habit of yours. How you always looked down and your digits played with any fabric that first touched your skin; meaning that you were thinking of something—or perhaps you were just nervous.

The opposite hitter always gave you a space. He never demanded anything from you as he just gave, and possibly waiting for you to give back. But never once he pestered you over something that you wouldn't say or you wouldn't do.

He would wait, because he knew when you were ready, words would pour freely from your lips.

"I confessed to someone yesterday." But that was not the statement that he wanted to hear.

Because yesterday, you were only together with him at lunch, teasing each other like usual. Because yesterday, you didn't go home with him and his twin after practice. Because yesterday, you excused yourself to talk with his captain to talk about the club.

Because yesterday, he wasn't the one you confessed your love to.

And he still remembered how your eyes glimmered every time you subconsciously gazed towards the captain of the team.

"Yeah?" But he was your best friend, "How did it go?" So he needed to be supportive towards you, even if it would destroy himself in the process.

He expected you to sound all lovey dovey, maybe being excited for the practice today because you couldn't wait to meet the one that you oh-so-love that much. He prepared himself to see you everyday with his captain, being a power couple. After all, who in their right mind would turn their back on you?

But after seconds filled with silence, the only thing that came out from your lips was just a sob. Started with you biting your lips, heads hanging low with tears dropping to your lap, then you let out a soft cry. One that broke his heart because never once he thought he would see you like this.

You were someone that never let anything get in the way of your happiness. Every problem that you got, you made sure with time you could face it. Every obstacle that came in your way, a smile always slipped on your face as you searched for a way out.

So when you were here beside him, letting out a painful cry with hands clenching on your uniform, he wanted to just rip his heart apart because the sight was too much for him. Someone as beautiful, as lovely, as wonderful as you, shouldn't burn with agony like this.

God, He closed his eyes as he pulled you to his embrace, letting your tears to seep on his shirt, Let Kita-san love her, please. He didn't want to see you like this, so in pain. If it took him heartbreak just to see you smile like usual, it would all be worth it, I promise I would be okay by just being on the sideline.

His fingers slipped in between the strands of your hair, caressing it gently as he wanted to make sure that you know. He wanted you to know that no matter what happened he would always be there for you, even if he never said it out loud.

"I am sorry," His low voice sounded so sincere, "I didn't mean to make you remember." He subconsciously leaned towards the crown of your head, kissing it softly as he could feel himself trembling a little.

"It's not your fault." You pulled away, wiping the tears that kept cascading down your cheek, "I did something stupid anyway." Snorting, you try to coat the pain you had, turning it into a joke instead, "Like, goodness. Confessing? Me, confessing? I should have known that it would ruin everything."

You were just a storm after all, nothing in your way could be great once it involved someone else.

"What do you mean ruin everything?"

"Oh come on, Osamu." You rolled your eyes, chuckling bitterly from his question, "I can't confess right, I ran away before he could say anything. What if he actually said yes? But me being a stupid ass decided to just turn my back on him. What if he-"

"He would have chased you." Your best friend answered your question as if he knew what was right inside the captain's mind, "If he truly had a feeling for you, he would chase you." It was not like he said it out of the blue, because that was the truth.

When you confessed to someone and they liked you back, they would do anything to let you know that the feelings were mutual. It was as simple as that, because if he was in the shoes of his captain, he would grab your hand and smash his lips on yours.

But he was not Kita, and Kita was not him.

Some people could be a coward—sometimes without themselves even realising it.

"If he truly had a feeling for you, he would chase you." You kept reminding yourself with the same statement that your best friend—now fiancé—said to you from all those years ago. Every time you start to think about the possibility of the unknown, you always chant those words like a mantra.

Your voice resonating through the entire room, accompanying you once all the lady's maid left you alone after they were done with your dress. Right now as you walked around to each corner of the room, you didn't know anymore was it the dress that made you feel suffocated, or the jitters that struck your core.

Every now and then, your mind always brought you back to that fateful night. The night where everything changed between you and the light grey haired man that you adore so much.

You always had hope, that one day when he looked at you, he would tell you the one thing that you wanted to hear the most. Every morning since that night, you woke up and you prayed to the universe, begging for him to look at you and gave you a response.

That was what you needed, an answer. An answer from the words that you blurt. But even after days went by, even after your best friend confessed the hidden feelings that were long buried, Kita Shinsuke never turned his face on you.

It was the sense of uncertainty that made you go crazy. Since high school years you never settle your feelings as your mind and heart always roamed upon him. Over and over like a disease that always came back even when you already drank a medicine.

You sat at the crook of the window, letting the sun from the outside hit your skin. Your fingers fix the folds on your dress, wanting to make sure that it wouldn't look crumpled as you walked down the aisle.

Do you really want to, though? It hit you again, Do you really want to walk down the aisle to him? The doubt, the different kind of love that you had for your fiancé.

At this point, you really wanted to cry. Never once in your life you thought you would be such a catastrophe to someone that not under any condition gave you something less. Miya Osamu always presented you with all the finer things in life, putting your happiness on top of him. And you? You could not even give him one thing that he asked from you.

Love. One pure love only for him.

No matter how many times you wanted to forget about the first love of yours, no matter how many kisses that you had shared with anyone else, no matter how many times you intertwined your soul with your fiancé—you always came back, asking the universe about the undiscovered route of your life.

"Hello?" You covered your mouth when the beeping of the call turned into his voice, "(L/n), are you there?" What the fuck are you doing?

Your hands were trembling by now, eyes widened as your body moved by itself. One minute you fixed the folds on your dress, another and you had your phone on your hand, a call connected to the one person that your heart always yearned for, "(L/n)?"

"Kita-san..." You muttered his name, so slowly since you were still hesitant.

"Yes?" His voice sounded so gentle. Even with how low his voice was, you always felt like you were engulfed in a soft blanket, "Are you alright?" What is that? Why did he ask you the question as if he threw it to himself.

You licked your lips, debating to answer him with which scenario. It was easy for you to create a new scenario in your life, ask him where he was, maybe teasing him a little here and there. Having a casual conversation as if every time you talked to him it didn't feel like you swallowed some thorns.

But you were done lying to yourself.

"No," Your palm went up and down your arms, trying to gather some warm, "I am not alright, Kita-san." The rays of sunshine that touched your skin couldn't even save you from the coldness that you felt right now.

"Do you need something?" His voice lingered with worry right now, and somehow you could see how he scrunched up his eyebrows right now, "Should I call Osamu?"

"Don't!" He was a little bit taken aback by your outburst, so he decided to keep silent, waiting for you to calm down, "Where are you, Kita-san? Are you alone?"

You knew that he must have wanted to just hang up the call, because he had feelings about where this conversation would lead to. Then again he was curious, wondering what was your intention by calling him out of the blue like this. Wondering what he could possibly get by continuing this call.

If it was him in the past, he would hang up immediately. Since he could taste the wreckage that might come since his name rolled down from your lips.

"I am at the restroom right now." He wouldn't have any second chance, he knew that, "And yes, I am alone." But he couldn't help but keep hoping, no matter how many times it already crashed and burned in front of his eyes.

"Alright," You breathed out the words and leaned your back on the window, "May I talk to you for a second?" No, he knew where this was going, he wouldn't let the same thing happen again.

"Yes?" But just like all those years ago, his voice betrayed him once again, "You can talk to me." So he decided to succumb on the storm, "Seconds, hours, days. You can talk to me as long as you want." After all, he was a changed man, he was braver now.

You snickered a little from his words. He was a lot more talkative now compared to the high school days that you shared with him, and it made you smile. Because this was a conversation that you wanted to have with him for a long time.

"It wouldn't be long though." You sighed, wondering how he looked right now, "I just wanted to ask and said a couple of things." He must have looked so majestic, maybe wearing a black suit, a contrast to your fiancé's.

"Alright. What is the question?"

He was nervous, as he waited for you to utter any syllable that could make him feel at ease. While you on the other hand, you still hesitate, as you were afraid that this question would reopen some old wound.

"Why do you distance yourself even more after that night?" His breath hitched from the question, "And why you acted like... Like you were disgusted by me, Kita-san?"

You could hear his soft breath through the phone which was being held once you were done blurting the questions.

"Because I am just a coward," He muttered slowly, clenching his hand into a fist, "I never disgusted by you, (L/n). I am the one who felt disgusted with myself from putting you in such predicament."

"What do you mean by a coward?" You stood up, trying to calm yourself down by circling the room, "You were not. From all these years I had known you, you were everything but a coward."

"I am a loser then." After all, he did lose you. "I just wanted you to know that it was all on me." He should have turned around and faced you. "So anything that you had in mind right now—no, you have done nothing wrong."

He sat on the luxurious chair that was being put in the middle of the restroom, one hand tapping on his knee. It was just minutes before the ceremony began, and yet here he was; having a heart to heart conversation with someone that would have the same last name as his underclassmen that he cared so much for.

"Shinsuke, are you there?" He could hear a knock from the outside, the familiar voice of his best friend muffled a little, "Osamu was looking for you."

"You go first, I am fixing my suit." It made him frown, lying, "I will be there in five minutes." But he needed to stall the moment, he had to listen to whatever you wanted to say to him.

It was scary what love could do to him, to the both of you. He didn't know whether you were still there on the other side of the screen, or were you already gone but forgot to hang up the call. There was no voice that he could hear, not even how your breath fanned the microphone like before.

"(L/n), if you still have something that you wanted to say to me, you need to say it now." He didn't mean to do that, to enforce you like this, "Are you still there?" But if he didn't hear anything from you now, he knew you would haunt him evermore, "I-"

"I love you."

You breathed out the words, the one that you were supposed to blurt on that fateful night. It was the three words that could change everything, "I love you, Kita-san." You repeated, again and again like a broken record.

The reflection on the mirror in front of him showed how ghostly he looked, face turned into a whiter shade of pale as he listened to you. It was not fair for him, to hear you confess such things while you were going to walk down the aisle to someone else that was not him.

Tears started to prickle at the corner of his eyes, debating about the words that he should say once you stopped reciting those words that he wanted to hear since years ago. Since that time when he saw how your hands were taken by another.

"Why are you telling me this now?" He swallowed a huge lump, he needed to remember that you were not his. You were just a storm, and a storm only came to wreck and then leave. It wouldn't be forever—at least that was what he wanted to believe.

"I just need to..." You dabbed the tears on the corner of your eyes with a tissue, softly so your makeup wouldn't be ruined, "I need to say it, Kita-san. I am always in love with you, but—"

"I know,"

"You know."

You let out a small chuckle, one that tasted so bitter as you tried to smile in between the wrenching pain that you felt right now. What was it actually that you try to achieve here—by confessing the love that would never bloom?

Kita Shinsuke was your storm, visioned as someone with a cold persona. The first time you saw him, your mind went blank as if it was taken away from you. Even when your face touched the ground, what flickered in your mind that momentous morning was him; wondering who that magnificent being with light silvery hair was.

Silent engulfed the call, as two souls that crave for another knew there was no future for them, "I am sorry, Kita-san. I—"

"Will you call me by my name?"

"What?"

"My first name." It was an unexpected request, "Call me by my name." Please.

He always wondered how his name would sound if it came from your lips. Those delicate lips that shaped into a gentle smile for almost every second passed, as if it was how the deity designed you by default.

"Shinsuke..."

He shouldn't, he should not have asked. Because now it made him crave for more; more of you, more of your time.

"This may sound selfish. But one more time, please—"

"Shinsuke," Your voice wavered a little as tears ruined the makeup on your face, "Shin." But he didn't expect you to call him that, "Shinsuke. Shin." Sounded so beautiful, as if he was in nirvana and an angel whispered his name.

He wanted more, that was what he needed to hear from you since years ago. Regret started to corrupt his soul once again. If it took all the money in this world to get a time machine, he would achieve it.

If back then he turned himself to see you, chasing you down the street and grabbed your hand. Telling you what you were doing to him; all the longing feelings, one that he didn't quite understand that time—he was sure, that you would be his by now.

But what in the past maybe should just stay in the past,

"Thank you,"

Someone knocked on the door of the dressing room, informing you that it was almost time. Ah, having a 'pleasant' conversation with someone surely made the time turn so fast.

In one way or another, telling him what was inside your heart for years made you feel lighter. Like finally, after unlocking the love that you clutch deep inside your heart, letting it go seems like the best decision in life.

"You are welcome," You draw in the deep air around you, "I love you. Goodbye." And for the first time in forever, you could breathe without a knife in your heart.

"Goodbye," He whispered softly, letting the tears cascading down his cheek one more time. He could see your smile on the other line—pleased even if you never got a proper answer for all of your confession. Then you hung up; leaving him there with words that better left unsaid, "I love you."

You clutched your phone in your hand, orbs never left the screen as his name still displayed on the tiny surface. Shaking your head, you decided to open up your gallery, scrolling through hundreds of pictures of you and your fiancé.

Then you stopped when you reached one particular photograph.

With one last smile, scrutinizing every little detail that the old picture portrayed, you muttered a little farewell—and erased the portrait that you always came back to before.

Because it's time; to let go of the past.

"Samu, why did you have this?" You helped your fiancé to clean up some of his stuff from his childhood house. And in the middle of it, you found some old photographs from his high school days. Lots of them were just a group picture with the entire team, some were memories of you and him that you two shared, but one random picture popped out.

That one picture you thought you wouldn't see anymore.

"Oh, that's Kita-san," The black haired man popped behind you. His answer made you roll your eyes.

"I know who the heck is that, Samu." You really wanted to just flick his forehead at the moment, somehow you wonder how could you end up with someone as oblivious as him, "I am the one who captured it after all."

"Oh, sorry," He snickered when he saw how annoyed you looked, "I think it was from when you gave it to 'Tsumu and Suna, guess it slipped on my box."

You nodded at this and gazed back to the photograph in your hand. His smile was soft, the smile that you wished you saw a lot when he was still the captain of Inarizaki Volleyball Boys Club. Your finger traced the printed picture softly, as if you really touched his skin, "Take your time."

Getting lost in some old memoir, you didn't realise as Osamu never once left your side. His dark grey orbs scanned your face, and he could see how you were still longing for the light grey haired man. The pain inside your eyes, the yearning, even if it overlapped with your feelings towards himself—the love that you had for his old captain, was still there.

"What do you mean?"

"I can wait forever, take your time."

Your fiancé leaned his body close to you, resting his velvety lips on your forehead. He knew too well how much it torture you too, to had one chapter in your life that was still unfinished. To know that it was still incomplete, and yet you continued to live.

And just like what he promised himself to, he would always be there for you. Even if he was just on the sideline, then by all means he would wait for you to bring him to your main path of life. Maybe someday, it would be just him that you needed.

Classics, pieces of music notes were gently intertwined to become such a masterpiece. The pianist started to move their bewitched fingers once the bride stood on the starting runway, ready to walk to an astonishing future that may come.

You looked so beautiful in his eyes, just like any other time in his life he had seen you. The same messy hair that flowed by the wind all those years ago, was now brushed gently as the sleek white veil rested on the crown of your head, down to cover all the strands in your hair.

Every time you move your feet, it feels like it brought you closer to a lighter life that you had been wanting to have. Your gaze filled with wonder, belief, and a little bit of nervousness. He couldn't blame you, since there was no practice wedding, it was not something that humans could prepare for.

If it was him, maybe he would ask if you wanted a Japanese Traditional Wedding, that would feel so perfect. But then again as he saw you walking down the aisle, he didn't care what kind of wedding, who were all the guests, or where the two of you shared the vow—as long as it was you, then he could call it perfect.

He sat beside his grandmother who always had a smile on her face. It pained him, as he remembered how she said she looked forward to his wedding already; worse because she had been wanting it since he was still a high schooler.

But then again, he didn't know if he wanted to have a wedding anymore. For whom the only person who he wanted to have their hand on marriage with, was now standing in front of him, with his underclassmen that he cared so much for.

He couldn't hear any of the words that spilled from the marriage officiant as it sounded like a murmur. When happiness was supposed to fill the entire space, he felt like all of his senses were being taken away from him.

But when your lips parted to shared the vow that you had prepared, when your ring finger now adorned with the delicate platinum band, he could feel his heart beats a thousand times faster,

"Should anyone present know of any reason that this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace."

His lips were dry by now, sweats trickling down his back even though the temperature was low. He wanted to stand up, to speak, to let out the words that were left unsaid before.

But then a gentle, wrinkled palm rested on top of his hand, and the gesture was enough to make him calm down in an instance.

He looked down towards his grandmother. A reassurance smile emerged on her face, as if after all this time, she knew what exactly battling inside his soul. It would be alright, Shin. Her soft voice could be heard, even if she never actually parted her lips.

It would be alright. Maybe someday, it would be alright for him.

After hours his lips only shaped into a thin line, now he could finally have the power to change it into a smile. With a little nod that he gave towards the figure who knew him like the back of her hand, he looked back towards you.

Your gaze met his, for a split second he knew you were saying one last farewell. And unlike that one time he first saw you with your perfect man, it was now real. Today, this second, it would be the last time you gave him a gaze filled with love.

"Maybe in another life." "Another lifetime."

And in this exact moment as you shared a kiss with the man that always had his eyes on you, the one man that somehow he knew would be the person you spend forever with. He promised that in another lifetime, when the two of you crosspath once again—

He would turned back towards your direction and chase you,

The storm that he wished he never ran away from.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*     ༶• ┈┈ ⛧ ┈ ♛ ♛ ┈ ⛧ ┈┈ •༶     *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Tagged Lovelies:

@muffins-puffins​​ @vlovers-world​​ @blacckdiamondposts​​ @for-ests​​ @atsunflower​​ @miyatsunami​​ @iwaixiumi​​ @hihiq​​ @the-fandom-ness​​ @quirksandbreaths​​ @rintarhoe​​ @verbluehte​​ @simp4tsukkii​​ @ladyalicevii​​ @evermorehaikyuu​​ @clowninfortodoroki​​ @koutaroulovebot​​ @fitriiaw​​ @mistypoison​​ @aquariarose​​ @greenleaf-fantasy​​ @t-amajiki​​ @kuraomi​​ @haikyuuwithadashofart​​ @starbybokuto​​ @shiningstar-byulxx​​ @nerdyphantomlady​​ @raequii​​ @sugawsites​

[fiddlepickdouglas]

Viva Las Vegas, Pt. 6 - Going Home

Summary: Sunset Curve Alive AU, Willex, bitter to bittersweet, 2.8k

@trevor-wilson-covington is my bestie who makes me these lovely edits, we stan supportive friends

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

The next morning was uncharacteristically cloudy. It took the boys a long time to climb out of bed. Reggie was sprawled over most of the larger bed, and Bobby seemed to have stolen the covers (and Reggie’s teddy bear) to compensate for being curled up into one corner. Luke was face down on the couch and somehow not suffocating to death. Alex had lain awake for a while, staring out the window and watching the light slowly creep further into the room. He’d tried sleeping more and eventually his head was buzzing with too many thoughts to keep it up any longer.

It already felt like years from yesterday. Everything was this image of beautiful long hair and dark brown eyes that were a world away, and yet they had more gravity in them than he’d ever seen. Alex was ruined for tie-dye and puka shells for the rest of his life. He knew he’d see nothing else but Willie in them. Skateboards were in a whole other category. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d just attached himself to another person besides Luke, Reggie, and Bobby.

He heard Reggie roll out of bed and enter the bathroom, and the motion caused the whole room to stir. Luke lifted his head, and after some confused staring at the arm of the couch, turned on his side and sighed heavily. A tired smile came across his face, and he had that besotted sort of look to him - the one the rest of the guys had associated with ‘Julie on the mind’ - and Alex finally understood. Did he look like that now, too?

Bobby sat up abruptly, a look of sleepy disorientation on his face. Reggie’s bear was clutched tightly to his chest, and he had to look down and realize it was there before gently setting it down on Reggie’s side. Luke simply gave him a puzzled look as he wordlessly climbed out of the bed and went to push Reggie over and share the bathroom sink to shave. Alex absent-mindedly ran his hand over the bottom half of his face, feeling the still-smooth skin underneath his fingers.

The morning was full of light chatter, most of them still too tired to gush about the night before. It was already too late to enjoy the continental breakfast the hotel served, and after each of them finished getting ready and packing, they all looked around at each other.

“You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’, boys?” Luke said. Reggie’s stomach growled loudly in the pause that followed.

“I’m gonna guess we find food?” Reggie responded.

“Yeah,” Alex said. “I’m pretty sure he’s talking about where.”

All three of them looked at Alex expectantly and he blinked back at them.

“Are you guys just gonna stare or are we gonna eat?” he joked dryly.

They all headed down to the lobby and checked out, dumping their luggage in the van. Even though no one had mentioned the diner, there seemed to be the silent agreement that that’s where they were going. Alex briefly considered suggesting that the guys go to the arcade again, but thought better of it. They were all chill with Willie; he didn’t have to hide anything. Sitting at the same table they had the day before, Alex noticed the place was busy this time around.

A tall man with dark hair approached their table. Alex recognized him from the brief peek out the kitchen door, and the reminder from Willie later: Caleb. He had a clean look to him - pristine was perhaps a better word - and he smiled widely.

“Welcome boys! How are we this morning!” he greeted cheerfully. It greatly contrasted Alex’s first impression, but he thought to keep an open mind. Willie hadn’t really said anything bad about him, only admitted that he sometimes put people off, which Alex could understand if he was running a diner. The charisma was unexpected.

“Oh, we could eat!” Reggie said excitedly.

“Music to my ears,” Caleb said, clapping his hands together. “Anything I can get started for you?”

Alex didn’t pay attention to what everyone else said as he skimmed the diner for signs of Willie. Two other servers were going around but neither of them were him. There wasn’t a proper way to peek into the kitchen either, so if Willie were to show up he’d come through the door. The image of him skating up to them instead of walking nearly made Alex laugh aloud. Luke elbowed him in the arm. Looking up, he saw Caleb waiting for him to order.

“Sorry, uh,” he sputtered. “Toast and eggs, with the banana.”

Caleb merely nodded, as if he had expected as much.

“Wonderful. I’ll have those out for you boys in the blink of an eye.” He turned neatly on his heel. Alex tried not to be too obvious as he attempted to glimpse through the doorway as Caleb entered the kitchen.

“He was nice!” Reggie said.

“Doesn’t count,” Alex told him. “He’s the boss.” It hadn’t meant to slip out sounding that way, but there was likely a bit of truth to it. He was just...disappointed he wasn’t who he’d hoped to see. Alex guessed after so many chance meetings yesterday, reality had to resurface somehow.

Bobby shot him a worried look, but got distracted by Reggie pulling out a napkin and trying to make it into some sort of shape. Alex recalled the frog and wished he had kept it. Reggie’s turned out to be a fortune teller, but since he couldn’t write anything inside he simply used it as a goofy sort of puppet and kept trying to snap at everyone’s fingers.

Luke sat up in that way he usually did like a lightbulb had come on in his head, and he grabbed a napkin as well. Then he looked around, grabbed a pen from the host’s counter, and began scribbling words on the napkin as best he could.

“Got some inspiration?” Alex teased.

Luke shushed him as he focused on getting everything down, and then began humming a melody in a low voice, repeating it to himself. Caleb came back with their plates as he did so. As he carefully laid their orders before them, he eyed Luke in curiosity.

“Are we musicians, here?” he asked with piqued interest.

“Yeah, actually we’re Sunset Curve,” Bobby told him.

“Tell your friends!” Reggie added.

“Well, I certainly have friends to tell,” Caleb mentioned. “You wouldn’t happen to have done any gigs around here, would you?”

“We just played at the Pearl last night,” Luke said proudly.

Caleb raised his eyebrows with a slight smile.

“Impressive,” he mused. “Something tells me you could become big. Consider your meal on the house, courtesy of Caleb Covington.”

All of them looked at him in awe.

“Wait, you’re serious?” Luke said incredulously.

“Oh, of course!” Caleb assured. “You boys deserve all the help you can get to make it in the big leagues. If you ever pass this way again, you can count on us to serve you here and have a place in my hotel.”

“Wait, you own the hotel too?” Reggie asked.

“Just a small monopoly in the market,” Caleb shrugged. “All to serve rockstars like you.”

“”Right on!” Luke smiled, digging into his plate.

“You boys call me if you need anything else,” Caleb insisted as he made off with his empty tray.

All of them ate with enthusiasm. Alex tried to shut up the battle in his mind about how he felt over the whole interaction. Caleb was so generous, how could his first impression have been so wrong? Was he irrationally holding it against Caleb that Willie was nowhere to be seen and that was the only thing bothering him? It didn’t matter, he guessed. They had free food and guaranteed lodging any time they were in Vegas now. That was an investment in the future.

Luke continued to hum and tap and write the whole time, which only bothered the couple sitting behind him. Reggie was bobbing his head along and Alex could see the bassline forming in his head by the concentration on his face.

“Okay, I’m guessing we’re gonna jam this one out on the way back, so who’s driving?” Bobby wondered.

“Trick question,” Alex said. “It’s gonna be me so I don’t get carsick again.”

When they all finished eating Caleb came to clear away their plates.

“I rarely see plates this clean,” he commented. “Looks like you enjoyed yourselves!”

“Compliments to the cook,” Luke said. “They make some gnarly pancakes.”

“I hire the best,” Caleb told him. He rested their plates with one arm as they each got up to leave. “Safe travels, boys. And remember, I’m always looking out for you.”

Alex was the last to leave the booth and took a moment as the other three bounded outside. Caleb raised an eyebrow, waiting to listen.

“Um,” Alex hesitated, wringing his hands. “I met Willie yesterday. Could you just tell him Alex said goodbye? I’d appreciate it.” It wasn't even close to what he wanted to say, but he wasn’t sure how to go about explaining the entirety of the day before to this man.

Caleb gave a strange half nod, saying nothing in return. Alex guessed it was a silent promise - maybe he knew what Alex was actually talking about and wasn’t about to broadcast it to the whole restaurant? He didn’t necessarily come off as straight himself, now that Alex thought about it. It was slightly comforting. Returning a small smile to say thank you, he ran to catch up with the boys.

Bobby tossed him the keys to the van and they all climbed in.

“Okay, let’s get to jamming that song before I forget the best part!” Luke cried.

Alex started the ignition and felt his chest weigh a hundred pounds as he pulled away from the diner. Everything inside wanted to stay. Or find Willie and take him along. He peeked at intervals through the rearview mirror, hoping to see him running out from the diner to say goodbye. A hand grasped his shoulder and he turned to see Reggie looking at him sympathetically. He’d caught onto more than Alex had noticed. They only heaved a quick sigh as Alex felt his body begin to shake slightly and he focused his eyes on the road. It was going to be a long four hours.

Much later, the guys were gathered again at the hospital Julie’s mom, Rose, was at. The rest of them had their acoustics while Alex carried a cheap little djembe drum. They were dog-tired but Luke was pulling every ounce of his energy forward to keep all of them hyped. Currently, he was on the phone with Julie, verifying how soon she would be there with them.

“Hey, Alex,” Bobby nudged him as they sat in the waiting room. “Ballroom Blitz?”

“Now?” Alex said, looking around at the gloomy nurses and residents shuffling about their business.

“Yeah, as a warm up.”

He couldn’t help the smile growing on his lips.

“Okay, we just gotta keep Reggie in check.”

Bobby chuckled and shook his head, knowing it wasn’t going to happen.

Alex started up the beat on his djembe as Bobby grinned. Reggie sat up as he tried to figure out what they were doing.

“Are you ready Steve?” Bobby began, trying to stay soft so it wasn’t too alarming. Reggie beamed as he realized what was happening. “Andy? Mick? Alright fellas! Let’s goooooo!” He came in with the main riff as residents’ and patients’ heads turned to see what was happening. Luke had gotten off the phone and was already grabbing his guitar

They managed to get calmly through the verse before Reggie couldn’t help but let the energy take over.

“I see a man in the back, as a matter of fact, his eyes were as red as the sun! And a girl in the corner, let no one ignore her ‘cuz she thinks she’s the passionate one! OOHH YEEAAH!”

All four of them came together for the chorus.

“And the man at the back said ‘Everyone attack’ and it turned into a ballroom blitz! And the girl in the corner said ‘Boy, I wanna warn ya it’ll turn into a ballroom blitz! Ballroom blitz!” They were all getting into jamming now, and Alex was lost in the rhythm with the rest of them.

A nurse finally approached them with a loud voice.

“OKAY BOYS!” she cried, an expression on her face that meant serious business. Each of them faltered in the middle of playing and looked at her like chastised puppies. “Thank you, you sound lovely. Unfortunately, there’s a few patients we don’t wanna disturb, so if you could please save it for your little thing later, we would like that very much.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they all murmured sheepishly.

“Thank you,” she smiled exaggeratedly and went on with her business. Once her back was turned, Reggie pulled a funny face and shrugged, causing them all to suppress their laughter.

“You guys, we could hear you from the elevator,” they all heard. Turning around, Julie stood behind them shaking her head and rolling her eyes. Ray and her brother Carlos were only a few steps behind. Luke bounded over a chair, guitar in hand, to meet her.

“We ready boss?” he enthused.

“Yeah, we just need to check in. We told her we were coming, but not you guys.”

Like the dork he was, Luke simply made the shaka sign with his hand in excitement. Alex felt newly energized from the song, and knew that what they were doing meant so much to Julie and her family. Everything that had been weighing on him all day could be set aside for this.

Shortly, they followed the Molinas to Rose’s room.

“Hey, mom,” Julie said tenderly. The woman had a scarf on her head, and she looked so tired and weak everywhere except in her eyes.

“Sweetheart, who’s this?” she asked, pleasantly surprised.

“These are my friends, Luke, Alex, Reggie, and Bobby,” Julie introduced. “They’re a band called Sunset Curve, and they wanted to do something special for you today.”

She looked back at Luke and gave him a nod. He began strumming the intro to Your Song by Elton John and happy tears immediately welled in Rose’s eyes. She looked at her daughter and pride emanated from her being.

“It’s a little bit funny, these feelings inside,” Luke sang. “I’m not one of those who can easily hide….” 

Each of them continued to join in as Ray, Julie and Carlos all took turns embracing Rose. She whispered things to them in Spanish and kissed each of their heads, keeping hold of Ray’s hand as the boys continued playing. She couldn’t sing along as she wished, but she mouthed the words to every single song they played. The boys played for only an hour, but it felt like its own little bubble of time. Alex didn’t want to leave by the time it was over.

They had saved Yellow Submarine for last, and it came as a suckerpunch. Even though the song was supposed to be silly and Carlos was doing all the echoes at the end, they could all feel the undercurrent of grief wash through. The words became a metaphor for some fantastical land where nothing was wrong - where Rose was healthy, where each of their lives were fixed, where Willie was with them - a land of simplicity that didn’t exist. But they had created a moment in that tiny hospital room that felt so close to it, and they could all tell.

Alex felt strange that while everyone else had tears in their eyes at this point, he remained dry. He was moved, of course. There was something about meeting Julie’s family and doing this little performance that made him feel warmth greater than anything he’d known in his whole life. It made him wonder what was wrong with him. He watched as Reggie, who was a sniffling mess, tried to comfort a slightly tearful Bobby (which was a rare sight in itself). Luke wrapped his arm around Alex’s shoulders, smiling even with glistening eyes. For what it was worth, the guys made him feel at home and he knew he’d been a part of this just as much as them.

As everyone said their goodbyes back in the waiting room, Julie held out her arms and all the guys came to her at once in a giant group hug.

“You guys, I can’t tell you how much this means to me,” she said, words saturated with gratitude. “I will never forget this. My mom will never forget this.”

They all squeezed tightly before letting go. Luke and Julie’s hands took just a little too long to separate as she followed her dad and brother out of the hospital. Sighing wistfully, Luke watched her go until she was out of sight completely. The image of Willie skating along the street crossed Alex’s mind in a rueful memory. He was definitely going to hammer it out on his drums when he got home.

“Alright, boys,” Luke was saying. “Let’s head out.”

[un-romancible-npc]

Chance

Chapter One: Dancing in Silence

3631 words

Original Idea:

::You are here::Part 2::Ao3::

The cacophony of night that most coastal cities had was entirely lost on the quiet, lonely streets of Gotham. It wasn't a silent city by any means, but its citizens had learned a long time ago that nighttime was not their domain, and as fantastic as some of those night-liers were, Gotham knew it was best to leave the night to its own, and let the bats do their hunting.

Most of Gotham knew that, anyway.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, President of the class in the French foreign exchange program, fashion genius, and proud owner of at least 3 brain cells, was lying wide awake at 2:30am in a bed in a luxury hotel room at the heart of Gotham City, desperately trying to figure out if cereal was a soup and feeling remarkably as though she had been lied to her whole life.

The hotel room, which she was finding she disliked more and more the longer her brain went without sleep, was a mess of creams and browns and golds when the lights were on, but in the dark, with only the faint street light filtering through the balcony doors' curtains, everything was the same vague gradient of grey to black. She much preferred it like that.

Marinette lay on her back, sheets tangled at the corners of her bed after hours of tossing and turning, her arms and legs splayed out in a manner not unlike a starfish that had been asked for a high-five, and her black hair flopped out of the two now virtually-useless buns perched atop her head, loose strands sticking uncomfortably to her wide-eyed face.

She had half a mind to wake up her roommate, Chloe Bourgeois, who had been asleep for the last hour and a half, and ask her opinion on the matter. Even considering what 'the wasp', as Alya had taken to calling her, was going through physically at the moment, and that she'd put Sabrina in a choke-hold for almost a full minute last time she was disturbed--with precise details of how she would personally destroy anyone who dared bother her nap again--and only let go after she'd given Sabrina and everyone who saw the incident one (1) more chance to live.

It probably wasn't worth it.

Unfortunately, Marinette was about to die from over-internalization, and she was genuinely considering putting her life on the line for answers.

Mari shifted to her side and stared at the gap in the curtains, one of the narrow slices of light that leaked through them leaving a stripe of color down her face and abdomen, illuminating her plain black sports-bra and green basketball shorts she'd stolen from Adrien after accidentally ruining her own fuzzy Pj bottoms mere hours before. If anyone else had been awake, they would have also seen the light glinting off the peculiar, vein-like markings that spiraled around her torso, their lines intertwining with themselves and leading up to two small marks just above her shoulder blades.

Marinette openly scowled at the double doors to the hotel balcony.

'I'm going to go insane.'

With a sigh as quiet as she could manage, Mari sat up, climbed to the foot of her bed, rifled under her dresser for her suitcase, and fished out her specially altered red-and-black hoodie, the matching pair of black leggings with red spots, and a pair of sneakers. Sliding into them in almost total silence--she doesn't count the muttered French that may or may not have been cursing when she stubbed her pinkie toe on the end table--she opened the glass doors at the end of the room and slid outside for some fresh air.

Stepping out onto the small balcony, Mari inhaled deeply and stared at the city. The lights were loud, even though the noises weren't, but the colors outside felt better, and she found she could think more clearly without the suffocating blackness of the room surrounding her, glaring at her with thinly veiled chartreuse and belly-hair-brown.

Mari looked up, the waning crescent moon sending a crooked smile her way as she did so, and she smiled right back.

The sky looked different in America.

She turned, mouth twisting into a knot, and stared at the 'french' doors that led back to her room, having half a mind to just go back inside… but her designer's heart craved a better view, and the stifling heat of her bed was exactly the kind of thing that would keep her awake longer.

Nodding resolutely, Marinette marched toward the doors, and leapt up precisely as high as she needed, fingers gripping the ledge above it with a strength that belied her small stature. Hooking her foot over the top of the door frame, she hauled herself up and began scaling the building, using every ledge and window she could. Her seemingly delicate hands were covered in calluses after years of sewing accidents and other... extracurricular activities, so the rough concrete and brick was nothing she hadn't dealt with before.

Chloe liked to 'joke' that she probably didn't have fingerprints anymore, and could definitely get away with murder. Marinette snorted, smiling to herself as she pulled herself over another window ledge, her brain temporarily distracted from cereal soup by that particular conversation that had kept the three of them awake far past curfew.

Chloe scoffed from her perch on the largest bed, tossing her head to flip her white-blonde braid over her shoulder as she dipped the little brush back into the fingernail polish container.

"Oh course I'm not talking about actually murdering anyone, Bumble-Bug." She said, delicately coating her pinky fingernail in pearlescent midnight-blue polish. "All I'm saying is that if, hypothetically of course, somebody, nobody in particular, at say… the school, happened to end up dead in a ditch somewhere," she dipped the brush again. "And there happened to not be any fingerprints, the police couldn't pin a thing on you. Ask Sabrina, she's doing an internship at her Daddy's place."

Shaking her head, and biting her lip to keep herself from laughing, Mari turned her attention back to applying her own rose-gold polish.

A few specks of Gotham's finest hotel were unintentionally scraped off the border of a window and tumbled to the pavement below. Mari grunted, adjusting her grip on a gargoyle-like figure near the edge of the roof to better secure herself so she could find another foothold, unintentionally scraping her palms in the process. She grinned.

"Y'know Ladynette," said Adrien, his mop of sunshine-blond hair coming into view as he sat up from where he had been lounging on the floor, still waving his hands in an attempt to dry the sloppy black and green nail polish he had insisted he do himself. 'We just have to take it off before I go home! Father won't know if we don’t tell him!' "Bee's got a point. I'm not saying I would appear as Chat to give you the best alibi in history, but I'm also not saying I wouldn't." He tapped the side of his nose, effectively smearing the nail polish on his index finger all over the inside of his eyelid. "You're the star student, after all."

Marinette couldn't take anymore, and collapsing into a giggle-fit, accidentally spilling the rose-gold nail polish all over her fuzzy pajama pants in the process. It took far too long to calm down, but when she did, Chloe and Adrien had already found replacement pants for her.

Mari returned to the present as she, with a final shove, found herself on the roof of the very prestigious hotel her class was staying at during their 3 month exchange program. Her entire class.

'No one in particular my foot.'

Mari stood near the opposite edge of the roof from where she'd climbed up, letting the cool, damp midnight breeze play with her hair, as she breathed a deep sigh.

Cereal was soup.

…

Kwamiis, she'd been hanging out with Adrien too much.

Her thoughts stilled for a moment, though her mind continued at breakneck speed as memories of her loved ones filled her up to bursting. She closed her eyes and let the images chase themselves in circles for a little, drinking in the feeling of the night and the faint smell of coastal rain that sank into her bones.

Gotham was officially her second favorite city.

The mood was briefly soured as her brain, still dutifully chugging along as the speed of light now that she had nothing else to think about, began turning to darker subjects. Mari sighed, her whole body sagged in exhaustion and her fingers twisting around the ponytail that was wrapped around her wrist as said darker thoughts began playing on repeat in her head, the face of at least two thirds of her misery laughing at her misery, though she wasn't on the roof to laugh at her.

‘Lila.’

Marinette's fiddling with the ponytail ceased as she began bouncing her leg, her hands moving up to readjust her buns in a vague hope of making them slightly less disastrous.

‘Oh boy, Lila…’

Liar and life-ruiner extraordinaire.

The reason her only friends were suddenly transferred to new classes even though she herself had tried a dozen times over to do just the same.

Mari sighed, tugging at a nasty tangle the ponytail-holder had somehow created with her bun.

At least she still had Alix and Kim. As much as she loved Chloe and Adrien, Adrien couldn’t do anything to rock the boat without his father forcing him to quit public school, and since Chloe’s father had finally been replaced as Mayor, she didn’t have nearly as much power as she used to. Besides, the class was against her to begin with, and it had only gotten worse as Lila began to spin her web.

Alix and Kim on the other hand, while they couldn't convince many people of Lila's schemes, they could punch people in the face. Mari actually cried when they told her they both got suspended for a week after doing just that the day they found out Lila was nothing but a liar, (Alix did the punching and Kim cheered her on) and while she insisted they never do that again, she brought them 'thank you' goodies every day for six months after that.

Her thoughts cheered up significantly after a few forceful topic-changes and as they continued to wander, a tune bumbled its way to the surface and, having nothing better to do at the moment, she began humming it. What the song itself was called she didn't remember, maybe it never existed to begin with, but the melody was quiet enough to be soothing, and it was calming, if a little haunting.

A few measures into her strange melody, Mari found herself half dancing-half fidgeting to the beat of her imaginary song, incomprehensible words playing through her mind as the night dragged on and Gotham continued on in semi-silence.

Mari was midway through one of the ballet moves Chloe had dragged her to classes to learn, when the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Mari cut her movement off mid-flow and stood stock still.

Someone was on the roof with her.

Years of constantly living life on the edge of both a mental breakdown and a life-or-death battle was the only thing keeping her from blindly round-house-kicking whoever it was in the face and running off into the night. Fight and flight instincts could fudge a delicate situation, and whoever was up here could simply be getting some air, like her.

Maybe she should have let her instincts run the show.

She barely had time to register she was still humming--being forced to communicate in the most dire of circumstances had made the moments where she couldn’t shut herself up more often than she’d care to admit--when an arm that felt as though it was made of steel and iron was pinning her left arm to her back as a knee, which she assumed belonged to the owner of the steel and iron arm, slammed into the middle of her back and began forcing her to the ground.

In the split second before her face made contact with the gravel on the rooftop, Mari had one single thought racing through her head.

She knew this hold.

She’d done it a thousand times in the back alleys of Paris on odd nights.

This was the hold that would break your arm if you struggled.

The hold designed to keep the victim still and in pain.

The hold to intimidate and contain.

The hold made for criminals.

Hah.

No.

Faster than even she expected, Mari twisted her body completely around and successfully out of his hold, eyes narrowed in determination.

C R A C K

‘Well.’ Mari rolled away from her attacker, clutching her broken arm to her chest. ‘That’s going to be hard to explain to Mlle. Bustier in the morning.’ Mari recovered quickly--She'd felt more pain than a broken arm and won a fight before: and a non-functioning arm wasn't going to stop her now.--and regained her footing just in time to see a young man, probably about her age, in a truly shocking outfit with the most bizarre color coordination she had ever seen-- Okay not the most bizarre. She'd fought Akuma after all, and some of those deserved to be taken down on their fashion sense alone--pull out a katana from seemingly nowhere.

‘Wait…’ She thought as she dodged the katana swipe and dropped to the ground in attempt to swipe his feet out from underneath him. ‘Him and his traffic-light costume look familia--’

“Robin!”

Marinette froze as none other than Batman--The Actual Honest To Goodness Batman--swung onto the roof just behind her attacker.

Mari would’ve fangirled if she wasn’t so high on caution juice.

“Father,” apparently-Robin said, not breaking eye-contact with her, the blade of his katana less than an inch from her throat now that she wasn’t fighting back.

‘Wait… wait, isn’t that called adrenaline?’

“Robin, why were you attacking a civilian.”

‘Oh glory Batman is speaking to Robin, he’s speaking with Robin and they’re talking right in front of me--’ Mari blinked. ‘Civilian?’

“Tch,” Robin’s lip curled slightly, though otherwise he didn’t move. ‘Oh. Right. I’m not wearing my mask. “Father this isn’t another civilian.”

‘I mean he’s right, but I’m right here--’

“She’s clearly a villain.”

‘Okay WHAT?!’

“And what makes you say that?” Mari’s mouth moved in her own defense before she’d formed a proper argument.

‘FrICK.’

Silence.

Silence punctuated by Batman’s stare.

Which of them he was looking at was a mystery, but he punctuated the lack of noise nevertheless.

‘I’m sorry Batman: One of us is going to die tonight and it’s probably going to be me if your son doesn’t say something soon.’

“Tch.” Robin’s head rolled slightly to the side; an exaggerated eye-roll if she’d ever seen one. “You’re up here, alone, ballet dancing, and humming a stupid creepy tune.” Mari blinked at him incredulously. “It’s highly unusual in Gotham for anyone to preform their own... musical theater routine, at 4 in the morning mind you, unless they’re extremely unbalanced and have a bomb planted sixty feet below the mayor’s office.” 

“You…” She took a deep breath in, moving her broken arm as carefully--and casually--as she could. “You tried to knock me unconscious, fight me, and potentially take me to a police station for questioning... because I was awake at 4am.” Well, if Batman’s stare wasn’t burning holes into Robin’s head before, it sure was now. Robin, to his credit, relaxed his defensive stance slightly, even as a scowl darker than any she’d expect on his face dragged whatever hope she had of reasoning down with his mood.

“Robin?”

Batman had said 9 words since his first appearance, and somehow Mari knew he was on her side.

She and her motor-mouth could learn from him.

Robin snorted softly and stuck his nose in the air, though any fool could see it was over a sense of wounded pride rather than genuine haughtiness. Or, anyone who’d been friends with Chloe for more than a week, anyway. He finally relaxed his fighting stance, however, and stood with his back ram-rod straight and his arms crossed over his chest.

“It isn’t my fault she was being stupid.”

“And it isn’t my fault you couldn’t just use basic human communication to inquire as to my true intentions.” Being starstruck is overrated.

“If you were really a villain you’d take advantage of that.” He snapped, glaring at her.

“If I were really a villain,” Mari retorted with a scoff. “I wouldn’t be stupid enough to dance out in the open in celebration of my latest unfinished scheme.” Mari crossed her arms. ‘Owowowowow no that’s bad don’t move broken arm that hurts--’ “Especially not when it’s nighttime and the Batman Squad are out and about. Besides, you can be physically prepared for an attack while still brokering a deal. It’s how being a superhero is supposed to work, isn’t it? Get the villain talking so you can assess the situation and the threat without potentially risking any civilians in the way?” ‘I just back-talked Robin. And by extension, Batman.’

Mari could feel her blush burning her skin to ash.

‘Batman please take your son and leave so I can die in peace I’m--’

“You’re very correct, Miss.”

‘S a y  f r e a k i n g  w h a t n o w.’

Mari whipped around, her loose hair smacking her in the eyes as she did so, to see The Actual Freaking Nightwing standing on one of the rooftop gargoyles and grinning at her. 

Her heart had stopped functioning a long time ago, and it appeared her lungs were now bent on doing the same.

“Being a superhero is about more than just punching crime in the face. Though I gotta admit that’s the fun part.”

“Until crime punches ya’ back,” the ghost of Marinette’s soul replied through her somehow still-living body. “Then you just have a black eye, injustice, and a whole lotta paperwork.” Nightwing burst out laughing, and slid off his gargoyle to walk over and give her a clap on the back.

“It’s official,” he said, his grin wide and friendly. “You’re my second-favorite civilian.” Mari’s soul transcended to the next dimension. “What’s your name, kid?”

“I-I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng, monsieur.” ‘I’m Freaking Nightwing’s Second Favorite Civilian. How in the ever-loving hECC, did I end up here? How has my life come to this? Is this where I die?’

“A pleasure to meet you Marinette,” Nightwing said with yet another grin, as he stuck out his hand to shake. “I’m sure you already know who we are, but based off your French accent you probably aren’t from ‘round here: I’m Nightwing.” He gestured to Batman’s looming figure. “The silent Night is Batman, and--”

“I suppose Traffic-Light boy is Robin, then?”

‘MOUTH WHAT THE HECK YOU CAN’T OPERATE WITHOUT EXPLICIT PERMISSION FROM THE BRAIN WHAT ARE YOU DOING GOING ROGUE LIKE THAT YOU’RE OFFICIALLY ON PROBATION--’

“No-- wait I'm sorry I didn’t mean it like that I swear--”

It was too late.

Robin had frozen in place, his face a mixture of shock and an emotion she couldn’t place.

Nightwing was doubled over with laughter.

Batman’s face seemed to always be an emotionless, impenetrable mask in the short time she’d known him, but Mari could’ve sworn she saw the faintest of smiles. It was gone in a moment, but it was there.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had made Batman, actual honest to goodness Batman, smile.

Well, if she wasn’t dead before, she was now.

“We’re sorry for the trouble Miss Dupain-Cheng,” said Batman when it seemed like Nightwing wasn’t going to recover anytime soon. “I hope Robin didn’t hurt you too badly.” Marinette welcomed the distraction, though she was still redder than her hoodie. She waved her non-broken arm dismissively.

“He didn’t, Monsieur Batman. Je--err, I, am perfectly fine. I’m sorry to have disturbed your patrol.” Batman gave her the tiniest of nods. “Now, if you don’t mind, I think I'll get back to my room. It’s very late after all.”

“Enjoy your evening, Miss Dupain-Cheng.”

“You too, mon--err, Sir.” Marinette started walking toward the side of the building to climb back down, when a door in the center of the roof caught her attention.

Oh.

She paused halfway to the entrance, gnawing at her lip.

Mari turned around sharply.

“Robin?” The three caped crusaders paused. The boy in question gave her a sidelong glance, shooting her a quizzical look that may or may not have been laced with faint distaste. Not that she blamed him. “I’m sorry for any trouble I may have caused.”

He stared at her for a moment, his face expressionless for a moment.

“I’m sorry too. I hope I didn’t hurt your arm too badly.” he nodded to her curtly. “Have a good night, miss.”

And then they were gone.

A wave of exhaustion hit her like a truck, and she had the sudden realization she was supposed to be asleep at 4:30 in the morning.

She turned and opened the rooftop door, thanking anything and everything that the door was unlocked, and closed it softly behind her, leaning heavily against it and biting back her groan of pain.

Hiding a broken arm was painful.

Mari stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, absorbing everything that had happened.

Her face split into a joyous beam.

Adrien and Chloe were going to go berserk tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BONUS:

Nightwing: “Hey, B-man. Bat-guy. Bro-man. Bat-dad. Can we please keep her? Please?”

Batman: “Not that it’s up to me, but we can’t. At the very least not unless she can fight.”

Robin: “Father, she broke her arm getting out of my hold and didn’t bat an eye at it.”

Nightwing: “The bean did what now.”

(also have a sketch i did. i’m sorry it’s not great but i just... i lov her okay?)

::You are here::Part 2::Ao3::

[mirinda03]

CONVENTIONAL FAMILY? Who’s that?

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Chapter 4: in which neither Remus nor Remy are willing to take one for the team and Virgil worries (but what else is new?)

Virgil was waiting for his dad to come pick him up.

He glanced at his watch anxiously. 5 minutes late. Okay, that wasn’t so bad. Maybe it was nothing? Surely

Maybe they got into a car accident or maybe Dad decided to leave you at the school or maybe Remus is in trouble..

“Hey umm, you okay there?” A voice awkwardly asked.

Virgil turned his head to look at who was addressing him. It was a guy his age, who had light brown hair and eyes.

Virgil recognized him almost instantly. How could he not?

That was Thomas Picani, son of the school councellor and seemingly best friends with one Roman Berry.

Virgil internally groaned at the thought of Roman Berry.

After realizing his little brother had been the one to terrorize him, Virgil had not known whether to praise Remus for scaring his rival or wether to strangle Remus because knowing him, he had said something unbelievably embarassing.

Virgil and Roman’s relationship was.. complicated. The two knew each other since middle school and had basically hated each other guts since then. They just.. contrasted too much.

Now that they were in high school, their rivalry was not as present as in middle school. It was still there, of course, but there had been sort of a silent agreement to leave each other alone.

And OF COURSE, Remus had come in and ruined that.

Once Roman found out Remus was Virgil’s little brother, he might think that Virgil had told Remus to scare him and would take it personal. Then, the hate would begin once again.

Not to say that Virgil didn’t still hate Roman. No, quite the contrary. Virgil HATES Roman wholeheartedly but their mutual hate always seemed to make them bound up as partners in projects. The whole ‘put students who don’t work well together in a project’ being a present thing in Virgil’s life since middle school.

It was easier to just ignore each other’s existence. Much much easier.

And while the Remus thing MIGHT blow over and be harmless, talking to Thomas Picani sure wouldn’t.

Speaking of Thomas, he was looking at Virgil expectantly.

Virgil realized that in his frantic overthinking, he had forgotten to answer Thomas’ question, leaving an awkward silence between the two.

“Yeah yeah. Just waiting for my dad” Virgil responded, keeping his tone uninviting as possible.

“Really? Same” Thomas said sympathetically

Another awkward pause.

“So.... why do you think your dad is late?” Thomas asked after a moment, keeping HIS tone friendly and inviting unlike Virgil.

Virgil, for his part, remained uncooperative

“No idea. Guess he must have gotten hold up picking up my little brother or something” virgil answered with a small shrug. He cursed himself for getting more comfortable with the conversation slowly. It was all Thomas fault with his nice and friendly aura!

“Yeah i think my situation is similar. My dad was supposed to deal with something with my brother too” Thomas answered “He got in trouble with some Remus kid or something, from what he told me”

Immediately, Virgil’s brain shut down. Slowly, he processed the words.

“Re..Remus?” Virgil asked, wide eyed. How common was the name Remus? “How.. Uhh How old is your brother?”

Thomas seemed surprised by Virgil’s sudden cooperation, but answered his question nonetheless.

“He’s 8” Thomas answered.

In that moment, Virgil knew. There was no doubt in his heart that the kid that Thomas’ father had mentioned was Virgil’s little brother.

“Do you know what the Remus did?” Virgil tried to appear disinterested in the conversation, but was instead really worried.

“Something about almost starting a fire?” Thomas answered with a small shrug from his part “Why do you ask?”

“Uhh well. I think the kid you’re talking about, Remus, is my younger brother”

~••~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

In retrospect, Emile Picani really should have considered this would happen.

Of course, there wouldn’t be any extremely logical reasons for THIS to happen, but it was a possibility he should have acknowledged.

How could he miss the possibility of his son Remy causing trouble?

As he sat down on the chair next to a tired looking men and a fidgety boy, Emile KNEW this was gonna be bad.

And the worse thing? Remy didn’t look the least worried. He was laying lazily on his chair, looking bored to death and sneaking glances at the other kid from time to time.

“So.. Mr Sanders and Mr Picani” Mrs Fletch began “ Remus Sanders and Remy Picani got into a situation today, where they almost set fire to the kitchen. Could you explain why your children would do that?”

“I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation” Emile said optimistically.

Beside him, the man with a scar on his face scoffed quietly in obvious disagreement.

“I see” Mrs Fletch said “And, pray tell, what exactly IS that perfectly good explanation?”

“Well uh....”

“Remus started the fire” Remy said immediately

“Remy started the fire” Remus said at the same time.

The two kids went to glance at each other.

Mrs Fletch sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose

“Oh this is going to take a while” she lamented

[theficplug]

Girls Trip {Erik fic}

Warnings: 18+, smut.

{reader goes on a cruise with her girls during winter break post-breakup & meets Erik when she needs him most. The intro to a series. I hope that y'all enjoy this long ass intro x}

“Told you you'd like it! We know what you need.” your friend Lynelle says as you and your other 2 best friends step into the lobby of the ship.

Your original plan was to stay home and catch up on much needed sleep and netflix binge watching during Winter Break but Khadijah, Tasha , and Lynelle (Lennie)  had other plans.

They could never get on the same page to go on a proper vacation but the one time you wanted to be left alone they've decided to get it together. 

2 plane rides and now you're here on a cruise on the way to 'paradise'.

The last few weeks went by in a blur while you were buying bikinis, trying to contain your emotions, and leaving behind your frozen over city for Bali.

You'd be lying if you said that you weren't a little excited to be leaving behind a terrible end to a 4 year relationship.

“Girl I just paid 12 dollars for Netflix this month. I planned on staying home and re-watching The Get Down. I need to at them and ask them when they're gonna add Crooklyn." You say as your phone begins to go off. 

"Uh-uh, just cause your man had community dick don't mean you gotta feel like you did something wrong. You are the sweetest and most caring person I know and gave everything you had for that man. You are a strong beautiful talented black woman. You run your own business and don't need his ass for nothing. And if I were into girls I would've been shot my shot back in the 7th grade. Now, we gon' get tipsy, dance the night away in 23$ dollar heels, and find a fine ass beard to rid-"

You quickly cut off your best friend by answering your mother's call. You held onto Khadi's hand to let her know that her support means everything to you.

"Hey Mama. Yes I made it safe and sound." You say into the phone as you shake your head and laugh at your girls. 

"HEY MA " Khadi says waving as she smiles at the woman on the other side of the phone she's known for over half her life. 

"Hello Khadijah, are you behaving yourself ?" She asks as Khadi shakes her head with her tongue sticking out.

"MY GIRL." Your mother says as they both laugh and point at each other through the screen. 

"I'll talk to you later, enjoy yourself baby. Sometimes a little fun and laughter is the cure for heartache. Love you, be safe." She says before ending the video call.

"Alright , we all meeting up for the foam pool party after the tour right? Cause I need to shower and stuff first." You say as everybody agrees

An hour or two later you were standing in front of the hotel mirror giving yourself a pep talk in your new bikini. You eyed your reflection as you tell yourself that somebody son is gonna love on your fupa, and the 3 years wasted with Derrick isn't going to matter anymore. 

"Knees. Knees. Come on knees." Khadijah yells as Lennie and Tasha  drop it low and make it clap as a chorus of 'ayyeeee' erupts in the elevator. 

You make your way down to the lobby with the girls after throwing back a few shots in Lennie's room. You past by a group of other girls in the elevator and they were blasting Cash Shit from their phone. 

"Link up with us later." Paris says from the other group before moving over to the party already happening. 

The drinks are flowing through your system and Tasha is filming you for the gram as you sing along to the music. You accidentally trip backwards onto a man behind you before immediately apologizing and giggling.

"You good mama." He says as he catches you with one hand and the other still holding his drink. Without missing a beat he twirls you to the beat so that you can play it off. 

"What's the nigga name?" He asks as he takes another sip of his drink and tries to act like he ain't see you watching the suds slide down his scarred and chiseled chest to his happy trail.  

"Excuse me?" You ask confused as he flashes his gold fanged grill and cock his head towards the phone in Tasha's hand as she gives you a quiet  'oooh shit okay'. 

"The one you tryna prove a point to. Only name that matters now though is Erik." He says as he grinds against you and move your braids to your other shoulder. 

"Alright Erik, lemme see if you can keep up then." You tease him as you begin to whine on him and ride the beat as he keeps up behind you. You realize you have an audience now with his boys glancing over at you and your girls watching him. 

His hand holds you in place before he asks if it's alright if he kissed you. You nod before you know it his soft ass lips are on yours. He pulls at your bottom lip slightly while you continue to whine on him. 

"Thank you for the dance." You say before you place one final kiss to his lips as the song ends.

You walk over to Tasha before grabbing her hand and leaving to find Lennie and Khadijah 

You knew he was still standing there watching you walk away you turned to give him a look over your shoulder with a raised brow.

"Stop watching my booty" you mouth at him jokingly 

"YOU CAN'T EVEN BLAME ME. ITS FAT AS FUCK." He yells back to you over the music.

After an hour of dancing and having a good time with friends you only checked your phone once to find 3 messages from Derrick begging you to call him then two talking about how disappointed he was with you.

You stepped out onto the upper deck to tell him to stop calling you and ruining your good time. 

"I can do what I want. I'm fucking grown. All you ever did was sit at home on your ass and criticize me for every damn thing I did. I made sure you were happy when I wasn't even okay… And fucking my cousin was your way of showing me you loved me huh? Don't call me no more and stop calling my mama asking her about me too. " You yell into the phone before hanging up.

You stand there staring out at the ocean for a moment. Trying to breathe deeply and ground yourself so that you don't cry.

"You good?" You hear a voice call from behind you.

"What, you following me now?" You ask Erik as he pulls up one of the lounge chairs to sit next to you and light his blunt. 

"Nah, not at all. I came out here to smoke and chill. All that going on in there really ain't my scene. My boys got me to come here. They got white boys in there doing backflips off the balcony and shit. I probably would've still been at work right now." He say as he exhales and leans back against the lounge chair. 

You laugh softly before shaking your head. 

"That's how I ended up here. I was planning on spending Christmas and The New Year at home with my family. But my friends had this surprise for me to ring in the new year in Bali. And now here I am. I'd still rather be watching Godfather of Harlem. I gotta catch up." You say sitting next to him in the lounge chair. He instinctively wraps his arm around you letting you lay your head on his shoulder.

Granted, it probably seemed weird as hell to be cuddling with somebody you just met and barely knew but to both of you it just felt right in the moment.

"Godfather of Harlem ? That show is my shit. It's slept on forreal… If you ever in Oakland you should stop by sometime. I run a museum based on preserving black art and culture." He scrolls on his phone until he finds some of the pieces and shows it to you. But the main thing that stood out was Stevens Black Art & History: for the culture. 

"Erik Stevens?" You gasp and sit up to get a good look at him

"Yeah , why you looking like that? What's up?" He questions

"Oh my fucking God. We was best friends back in the day. It's me, look, minus the bifocals, braces, and that James Brown bob my mama gave me damn near every day." You say and he stares at you in awe for a second. 

"Damn it's really you." You says quietly as he runs his thumb over your cheek imagining you the way you looked in 5th grade.

You loved Erik growing up and spent almost all of your time together but after his father died you didn't get to say goodbye. He was taken into the system and after that you heard that he was in the military doing who knows what. You tried to find him but after a while it was no use. You couldn't believe how different he looked now. He looked tired down by the woes of life but still as beautiful as the day you met him.

" 'Member this?" You ask as you fish your out of the pocket of your cover-up and start playing Best Friend by 50 Cent. 

You watched as he looked up at you standing up to dance. You pull him up too as he puts out the blunt while laughing and stepping with you. 

"If I was your best friend, I want you 'round all the time. Can I be your best friend, if you promise you'll be mine?" You sing to him as he twirls you around 

"First we get the talkin, then we get the touchin. If we get pass the phone games we'll be fuckin. I kiss like the french therefore my tongue in your ear. Do it like the dogs do it girl and pull on your hair. For me a different scenery just mean a different position. In the tub or on the sink I improvise now listen. In the chopper or on the jet join the mile high club. I'm no fool I know money can't buy me love. But I'm a different type of nigga that make sure that you know. Instead of a rose, there's a hundred dozen of those. See I see somethin special when I look in your eyes. With your legs way back I see this pussy is mine. If you ain't sure when I'm talkin I don't tell you no lies. But there's things that you say that have me wonderin why. When I don't say what I'm thinkin it don't mean that I'm shy. Got on that shit you picked out for me that's why I'm so fly." He raps effortlessly while kissing softly on your neck and all those memories start flashing back to you as you sway with him.

"Damn you still remember all the lyrics to our song." You say to him as you look over to see your girls and some of his friends.

"You out here ?  Bitch! I thought I was gonna have to do an interview on First 48 for yo ass. I was gon' drop a raft over to come find you. You know I can't swim and I don't got my floaties with me." Khadi says as she walks in with Tasha and Lennie . 

"I'm sorry I came out here for fresh air and then ended up literally finding my fuckin childhood best friend. Before the baddest bitches on the planet came to be. There was THEE duo. Everybody meet Erik."

After everyone got to know each other. Y'all brought the party to the secluded little upper deck with the perfect view of the ocean. You had drinks , music, and good company almost enough to forget about the whole situation back home. 

"Girl you know I love you but my feet hurt and Sebastian said he gon' rub em" referring to the man she currently had her arms around. 

"Alright , we'll meet up in the morning for breakfast" you tell them before giving them kisses goodbye and heading out with everybody. 

Tasha and Lynelle were currently singing to each other and sharing cute kisses off to the side. You couldn't help but to smile and think of how true love must feel. To love and be fully loved back like that.

You were standing in front of your opened room door when you realized that his room is across from yours but he had no plans of sleeping in it.

"Uh-uh. Who said you were invited in?" You ask Erik with your index finger on his chest. 

"I thought you said you wanted to watch Netflix? We can order room service and everything. Whatever you want" he says to you licking his lips and closing the gap between the two of you. 

"I want to forget. I want to have fun. I want to feel loved and appreciated for once. That would be nice." You say quietly as he takes his hand in yours. Pressing small kisses to each of your knuckles.

He hesitates for a moment before leaning in to kiss you slowly. He held your face in his hands as he continued to back you into the room kicking it closed with his foot. 

 "I'm glad that we found each other. After all of this time. " You say to him in between kisses

"Believe it or not I kept that picture of us. The one your mama took of us at the zoo next to the monkeys. I took it with me on tour everywhere. Right next to my mama's picture in my wallet. I never lost a battle. I made it home in one piece. Shits wild." He said zoning out for a moment like he was going somewhere else. 

"Heyyy." You call softly. You move his hands from your waist 

" I've got you." You whisper to him before leading him to your bed and laying him back. 

You wrap your arms around him almost cuddling him as you lay your head on his chest while listening to his heartbeat and sitting on his lap. 

You place a soft kiss to his lips before moving away from the bed to change, settling on a large shirt and nothing else. 

Erik followed suit and just stripped to his boxer briefs before you come back to the bed carrying soda , your laptop, and snacks. 

"And before you ask. Yes, I packed my laptop because work never stops, and yes I packed snacks because I can't find Takis out here." You say chuckling softly while he shakes his head laughing softly. 

You both settle into a comfortable position before loading up the movie. You settled on Nappily Ever After but it wasn't long before he was softly kissing on your neck with his hand under your shirt.

"Gonna eat it from the back. That's cool with you" he mumble into your ear.

If that's cool with me? BIH, I'm trying to let you give me twins. Triplets even. Play it cool. Play it cool . You thought to yourself before saying a silent apology to your girl Sanaa Lathan as you quickly moved the laptop to the bedside table.

"Damn she pretty." He says before kissing each cheek and gripping the back of your thighs. You knew what was coming next as your hands found the headboard and arched your back.

You can feel his tongue begin to explore the back of your thighs to your folds as he bends you forward. 

You hiss softly as his hand began to roam. You looked back at him as his fingers enter you. He begins to slowly and deeply work you open for him. You knew that you were dripping at this point and couldn't contain how loud you're being.

You can hear him let out a groan as he gets his first taste. Before you know it he's devouring you like you're his favourite meal and is completely in his element. His hands are massaging over your cheeks while he suckles your clit and then slides his tongue in. You begin to work your hips down onto it as he's on his knees behind you. His fingers massaging skillfully over your clit. 

"That's how you want it? It's all for you." You egg him on shakily as you reach back to grab at his dreads knowing that you're nearing your orgasm. You thought you were seeing stars but the audacity of this man bringing his hand down hard across your left then right cheek and then the pom-pom itself, did it.

Your toes curled and your head was tilted back as you continued to ride his face and the orgasmic wave crashed over you so hard it took your breath with it. 

You called out his name speaking in all types of broken Xhosa as he begin to lap you up and savour your taste. 

When you stopped shaking he sat back on the bed, proud of himself as he licked his lips. 

You turned to face him and he wasted no time continuing to massage you.

But what you hadn't realized during changing you accidentally dialed Derrick. Who's now on the other end, yelling into the phone 

{to be continued! I hope that it was alright!}

[calumance]

Birthday - C.H.

Warnings: you might die from the amount of FLUFF.

Word count: 1.7k

Summary: Calum helps Aiden get ready for the birthday date he’s taking his mom on. 

A/N: This was requested by my boo @babyoria​ 😘😘 It’s a part 2 to this lovely request right here. If y’all want a part three, let me know 😉😉 Feedback and requests are always welcomed!!! (Want to be tagged? Let me know!)

Masterlist

        Ever since Aiden was born, Calum was never able to sleep. It was annoying at first, but now he’s used to it. His wife slept soundly next to him, he smiled to himself and leaned over her to press a loving kiss to her temple. “Happy birthday, my love.” He whispered in her ear as he wrapped his arm around her stomach and pulled her closed to him.

        She groaned in her sleep as he peppered kissed all over her neck and jaw line. “Thanks, now let me sleep.” She mumbled, rolling out of his grasp and onto her stomach.

        She nuzzled her face into the pillow and Calum chuckled. He rubbed her back a few times and pushed himself off the bed. Duke ran out in front of him as he opened the bedroom door and made his way to the kitchen to prepare some coffee and let Duke out. The coffee pot gurgled to life as Calum made his way around the kitchen, grabbing Duke’s food bowl and filling it. After he set the bowl down, he grabbed a mug from the cupboard and filled it with coffee. As he poured cream and sugar into the brown liquid, Duke munched on the food. Calum leaned against the counter and sipped at his coffee while Duke finished eating.

        Calum walked towards the back door, opening it for Duke to run out. Just as Calum was about to step out into the backyard, he heard a sleepy little voice say ‘daddy’ behind him. Calum stopped in his tracks and turned towards Aiden who was standing a few feet behind him rubbing his sleepy eyes. “Hey, buddy, what are you doing awake?” Calum stepped towards him, setting his coffee mug down on the nearest surface and lifted Aiden onto his hip.

        Aiden rested his head on Calum’s shoulder and wrapped his little arms around his neck. “Mommy’s birthday is today, that means our date is tonight.” He mumbled against Calum’s shoulder.

        “It is, are you excited?” Calum asked while running his hand up and down the little boy’s back. Aiden nodded against his shoulder and Calum smiled, nuzzling his cheek against the curls on top of Aiden’s head. “Is that why you can’t sleep?” Aiden nodded again, and Calum pressed a loving kiss to the top of his head. Calum reached his free hand out to open the back door. After opening the door, he turned to grab his coffee mug and stepped into the back yard.

        Calum left the door open as he walked to a lounge chair and sat down, making sure Aiden was lying comfortably on his chest. Before Calum could even readjust his grip on Aiden, Aiden was limp and asleep, his soft breaths tickling Calum’s neck. After gently kissing Aiden’s forehead, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

        He wasn’t sure how long he had been out there when he heard someone sit down next to him. Calum opened one eye and saw her wearing a pair of pajama shorts and his hoodie, holding a cup of coffee. “Good morning, sweetheart.” He said closing his eye again.

        “Good morning, handsome. Is Aiden asleep?” She asked and he nodded his head. “How long have you two been sitting out here?” She asked and she slurped her coffee.

        Calum opened his eyes and shrugged, “I actually have no idea. He said he was excited for your date tonight and that’s why he couldn’t sleep. Next thing I know he’s passed out on top of me.” Calum smiled at her as her eyes lit up and she shook her head.

        “I still can’t believe you haven’t told me a single detail of what I should expect tonight.” She took another sip from her coffee cup, her smile not fading.

        Calum adjusted his head and closed his eyes. “Because it’s a secret. You’re not supposed to tell people your secrets, remember?” It was something she had been trying to teach Aiden for a while. Aiden was so open that he would run around telling everyone everything. It’s how the guys found out they were starting to talk about having another baby. It wasn’t a set thing, they had just talked about it, but suddenly everyone knew.

        She laughed, remembering the talk she had with Aiden, telling him that there are certain things that need to stay inside. He only sort of understood, but they’ve been practicing. “Yeah, but secrets don’t make friends.” She put the mug to her lips as Calum shot her a look. As she slurped her coffee, she raised her eyebrows.

        “That literally goes against everything you’ve been preaching to our son.” He said with a laugh, “And also, who said we were friends?” Calum smirked and tilted his head so he could watch her facial expression.

        Her jaw fell in offense and she reached over to playfully slap his arm. “Excuse me, mister ‘I know you’re my best friend and all but I love you, please date me.’ That’s how we got together!” She laughed, knowing he was joking, but she honestly loved throwing that in his face.

        “We were friends.” Calum said matter-of-factly. “Now, we’re married. We’re husband and wife, that’s different from friends.” He laughed as she playfully shoved him again. “I’m kidding, I can’t tell you because he’s so excited to surprise you. I want to reaction to be genuine, if I told you, it would crush his little heart, and I can’t handle that.” She hummed in response and eyed the limp four year old still sleeping on Calum’s chest. A soft smile creeped onto her lips and she nodded, agreeing that she couldn’t handle it either.

**

        Calum helped Aiden get ready, just as he would get himself ready. Aiden took a bath, and dressed in some nice clothes, his hair combed and styled, taming the curls on top of his head. Calum dressed himself in the closest thing to a waiter’s outfit that he had in his wardrobe. Tonight was about Aiden and his wife, he was just there to make sure everything went exactly how he and Aiden had planned.

        Across the hall, she got ready just as she would for a date Calum was taking her on. Aiden had kissed her cheek and asked her to look pretty. She blushed and immediately shuffled through her closet to find the perfect outfit. In her closet, she found a knee length, navy blue, floral skirt that she tucked a white tank top into. She pulled out a pair of white flats that she almost never wore in fear of ruining them, and slid her feet into them. She styled her hair and put on a bit of makeup. After she was all finished getting ready, she stepped across the hall and peaked into Aiden’s bedroom.

        “How do I look, daddy?” Aiden asked as he turned to Calum. With the way Calum had combed his hair and the outfit he was wearing, Aiden looked exactly like a miniature version of himself.

        Calum couldn’t help but smile and adjust the collar of Aiden’s shirt, “You look handsome, buddy. Mommy’s going to love it.” Calum ran his hand down Aiden’s cheek and he giggled happily.

        Suddenly, Aiden’s face became serious and he played with his finger’s nervously. “Daddy,” Calum raised his eyebrows and waited for Aiden to continue. “I’m in love with mommy. I want to marry her.”

        Calum wanted to laugh, only because of how cute Aiden was when he said it. He was dead serious, and it made Calum’s heart melt into a puddle at the bottom of his chest. “You want to marry mommy?” Calum asked, and Aiden nodded. Calum pulled his lips together, trying not to smother the little boy in love. Of course Aiden wanted to marry his mom, Calum is so stupid in love with her that the only kind of love Aiden see’s is the kind that Calum shows her. Not that it’s a bad thing for Aiden to know what that kind of love looks and feels like, but Calum had no way to explain to Aiden that Calum was already married to her and the love he feels for his mom is different than the love Calum feels. Calum ran the back of his fingers down Aiden’s cheek. “I’m sorry, buddy, I already married her. Maybe when you’re older, you’ll meet someone you love just as much as mommy and you’ll marry that person.”

        Aiden’s eyes dropped and a frown pulled downward on his lips. “Yeah,” he said with sadness behind his voice. Calum could tell her understood, but it was hard to watch his son’s first heartbreak be because of him. Calum let out a chuckle and pulled Aiden into his chest.

        Calum kissed the top of his head and pulled away from him, leaving his hands on Aiden’s shoulder. “But do you want to know the best thing about mommy?” Aiden nodded, “She’s always going to be there, and she’s always going to love you. She’ll always love you more than she loves anyone.” Calum poked his nose and Aiden giggled, the mood changing back to happiness.

        The tears had become a waterfall down her cheeks, completely ruining all attempts at the makeup she had just applied. Her hand was placed over her chest, afraid if she moved it, her heart was going to jump out of her chest and start running away. She blinked and shook her head, all she could think about was what made her so special two have two of the most amazing boys on the planet be so deeply in love with her. Her heart melted and she was able to move her hand away from her chest so she could run into the bedroom and fix her makeup before the boys came and grabbed her for the date.

[hermannsthumb]

star crossed lovers and curses? TYSM for writing these btw I love your writing

64. Star Crossed Lovers & 98. Curses

from fanfiction trope mashup here

ANOTHER 2 YR OLD PROMPT….this concept seems sufficiently fairy tale enough for a little Mermay, perhaps 👁👁

so like. this got a lot longer than I intended because I was having so much fun with it. OH WELL

———————-

It was a real slap in the face–Newt has to admit–for the institute to deny him funding for this one. Ten years of thorough, groundbreaking, devoted research–ten years of PhD after PhD–ten years of no vacations, or weekends off, or even dating–Newt just assumed all he’d have to do was waltz into his supervisor’s office and they’d shell out however much he requested, no questions asked. That’s how it’s always been.

And yet here he is now, solo-manning a rented skipper with rented diving gear and a backpack full of disposable waterproof cameras, sunburned and dehydrated and miserable, all just because–

(“It’s stupid?” he said. “You think my idea is stupid?”

“With all due respect, Dr. Geiszler,” his supervisor said, not even pretending to be apologetic about it, “yes. We’re not going to pay for you to chase after the Loch Ness Monster.”

“That’s in Scotland!” Newt shouted, and then Newt started shouting some more, and he maybe had to be escorted back to his lab, but he wasn’t fired, at least, and the next day he cashed in ten years’ worth of hard-earned vacation and declared he’d be fucking off to the coast to pursue a completely legitimate doctorate in crypto-marine-zoology. Or whatever it’s called. He’ll worry about the name once he gets it.)

Two weeks into his spite-fueled expedition in the middle of the fucking ocean, Newt begins to wonder if this isn’t a mistake. He’s running low on food, for one thing, and what little fishing he learned as a Boy Scout can only take him so far. For another, it’s really hard to do this sort of work by himself. Though Newt usually goes solo for shorter expeditions, he’s used to having an intern or two tag along to help him take pictures on longer ones like this–or at the very least, provide enough conversation to keep him from going nuts.

But the biggest indicator so far that this is one giant waste of time is the fact that in the course of those two weeks at sea, Newt hasn’t found one single, solitary shred of evidence. No giant squid tentacles. No sea monster humps rising from the waves. No mermaid tails. He hasn’t even seen a shark fin, for God’s sake. Just endless, deep, blue.

Starting to thing this might be career suicide, Newt writes in his field journal on the fifteenth day. 

And then his boat is capsized.

Well, not really. His boat is almost capsized. Low in the list of Newt’s priorities for trip preparation–so low, in fact, it came in after pack razors and do laundry–was check weather report. It just didn’t seem important at the time, you know? He had other shit on his mind. It’s why the storm takes him by complete surprise.

Newt woke at dawn today to the sound of rain tapping lightly on the roof above his cramped quarters. The drizzle quickly became a thunderstorm. The thunderstorm quickly became–well, whatever this is. Waves smacking against the sides of the boat. Water sloshing onto the deck. A perfectly good cup of French press coffee upended all over Newt’s only map. 

His boat isn’t capsized, but it gives a great, shuddering jerk that sends Newt sprawling to the wood planks and grasping for anything to steady himself–his bedposts, the ruined map, a chair leg–and a great flood of water rushing in. Newt manages to scramble up in time for his jeans to spare being soaked. (He probably should’ve packed more than one pair.)

It’s at this moment Newt finally allows himself to panic a little.

“Fuck,” he hisses. “Shit. Okay, fuck. This is–” Another shuddering, wood-creaking jerk of his boat. Newt takes a few sloshing to the door and forces it open against the wind.

Iron-grey sea to his left; to his right; behind him; in front of him. The waves are angrier than anything Newt remembers from Boy Scouts. He flips up the hood of his rain jacket and stumbles out into the gale to lower the sails, or weigh down the ship, or something, anything to just–

There’s something pale bobbing out in the ocean some thirty feet away from his boat. A head, Newt realizes, a human head, a human head attached to shoulders, and his shock mingles with horror because oh, God, it’s a person! Their boat must’ve been wrecked by the storm–or they must’ve been thrown overboard–or both, Newt has to do something.

He cups his hands around his mouth and bellows in the direction of the mysterious bobbing head. “Do you need help?!”

Nothing. 

“Hello!” Newt shouts.

Whoever it is suddenly disappears under the water; without thinking, with nothing on his mind but saving the drowning stranger, Newt shucks off his leather jacket and dives under.

At least this time, he knows it’s a mistake.

Newt is warm when he wakes up. Warm, and dry. The sun is shining overhead; the boat is still; the waves are calm. There’s someone touching his neck–a hand, damp, and oddly chilly.

“Stop,” he mumbles, and swats them away. He’s trying to sleep.

The hand returns. “Stop,” Newt says, and swats again, more. viciously this time.

He hears a small, offended huff. The hand retracts, though not before depositing his glasses on the bridge of his nose and swatting back in return. “Well, I’m terribly sorry for attempting to return these,” someone says.

Newt’s eyes shoot open.

There’s a man above him–sharp-cheeked, brown-eyed, shirtless and pale, his short, dark hair plastered to his head like he’s just gone swimming. He’s scowling at Newt. There’s something familiar about him that Newt can’t quite put his finger on–until he does. “You were in the water!” he says, sitting straight up. “You were drowning!” He wracks his brains for the memory of that morning: a head bobbing in the water, Newt going overboard, the cold, dark rush of the ocean, his frantic, wheeling arms– “I saved you!”

“Not exactly,” the man says.

No, that’s not right. There was the dark rush of the ocean, his wheeling arms, and then two cold, sturdy hands pulling him up, onto his boat, pressing down on his chest, a cold, wide mouth breathing air into his lungs. “Holy shit,” Newt says. “You saved me! What were you even doing out here, dude? It’s–”

Then Newt looks down.

The head leads to shoulders, which leads to a torso, but below that– “Holy shit,” Newt squeaks again, and then, at a loss for anything else to say, “Can I take a picture of you for my field journal?”

Where there should be hips and thighs and calves below the waist is nothing but a long fish tail, curving and shimmering and brightly-hued enough to make Newt’s eyes sting. It tapers into two large, translucent, fanning fins, the left of which is misshapen, almost as if it were wounded somehow. The overall effect is gorgeous, frankly. Newt’s never seen anything so gorgeous in his entire life.

“No,” the man–merman–says. “Goodbye.”

He begins to wriggle to the edge of the boat. Newt reaches for him frantically. “Wait, wait!” he says. “Don’t go! I want to talk to you, please!”

A foot from the edge of the boat, one hand on the railing, the merman turns back to Newt. His eyes are narrowed. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Well,” Newt says. “You, obviously. You’re–” He sweeps his hand in a broad gesture across the merman. “You’re not human.”

“Yes,” the merman says.

“And you saved my life,” Newt says.

Another scowl. “Yes. You’re bloody lucky I was passing by,” the merman snaps. “What on Earth were you doing out here in the middle of a storm like that? You could’ve gotten yourself killed.”

Newt shoves his glasses up higher and scoots closer to the merman. “I’m a scientist. A marine biologist, technically.” And, if you were to get even more technical, only a fifth marine biologist. Newt tended to look at his doctorates in a glass-half-full way. “I was, uh, gathering research.” Suddenly it occurs to Newt that he and the merman might have cultural differences he never even dreamed of, and he flushes with embarrassment. “Wait, do you know what a scientist is?”

“Yes,” the merman snaps again.

“Right,” Newt says. He coughs. The merman’s scowl hardens. Frankly, legends of sirens luring sailors to their deaths aside, Newt didn’t expect merpeople to be quite so…bitchy. Maybe he just got stuck with the most foul-tempered one in existence–it’d be just his luck. “Well. Uh. My name is Newt. It’s nice to meet you?” He holds out his hand, and then remembers himself. “Uh, this is how humans greet people. You shake it.”

“I know,” the merman says, and then (in a way Newt can’t help but feel as somewhat condescending) shakes Newt’s hand with a firm “Hermann.”

Newt snorts before he can help himself. Hermann pulls away. “Hermann,” he echoes. “You know–”

“I know,” Hermann says again.

“It kinda sounds–”

“I know,” Hermann says.

“It’s just kinda funny,” Newt says, and begins to snicker.

“So is ‘Newt’,” Hermann huffs, and then, before Newt can stop him, he dives back into the ocean with a splash and a flick of his shimmering tail.

Newt rushes to the railing and peers into the murky depths below, but it’s no use. Hermann’s long gone. His first real, solid evidence of crypto-marine biology, and he couldn’t stop being himself long enough to ask a few simple questions.

“Shit,” he sighs. He makes note of the meeting in his journal anyway.

He sees Hermann again four days later. It’s a bright, sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, and–in a better mood than he’s been since he started out–Newt decides to take the opportunity to do some maintenance around the boat. Turns out Doc Martens don’t offer the most amazing traction on slippery decks, especially when you’ve somehow managed to wrap ropes from the sails around yourself and lose the ability to move your arms. Newt learns this the hard way.

Luckily, Hermann is there to catch him.

“You are a bloody menace,” he scolds, as a half-soaked–but safe–Newt blinks dumbly at him in the safety of his surprisingly sturdy arms. “What were you even attempting to do?”

“Uh,” Newt says. “Fix the sails?”

Hermann rips the ropes off of him effortlessly, then lifts him higher. Newt stays still, blinking, before he realizes he’s supposed to be climbing onto the deck, and then scrambles up over the railing. “There we are,” Hermann says, sounding equal parts smug and satisfied.

“Thanks, dude,” Newt says. “If you hadn’t been here–” He frowns. “Wait, what were you doing here?”

“Nothing,” Hermann says, too fast, and Newt grins.

“You were totally spying on me!”

“I was not,” Hermann snaps. “I was merely passing by. You’re awfully hard to miss. So–noisy.”

“Uh-huh,” Newt says. “Well, lucky coincidence. Can I interview you for my journal now?”

For a moment Newt expects Hermann to dip back beneath the waves, but–glowering up at Newt–he folds his arms and rests them against the side of the boat. “What would you like to know?”

Newt digs his tape recorder from his pocket and switches it on. “Everything.”

Hermann is a begrudging interviewee, but he’s an interviewee none the less, and answers each of Newt’s questions with only a small dose of sarcasm. He eats fish, like some larger fish might. He speaks English, like most fish don’t. He lives in a city populated with other merpeople, who have jobs and families and houses, though significantly different from the jobs and families and houses humans have. “Technically,” Hermann says, with a strange, furtive glance around, “I shouldn’t even be telling you these sort of things. Interacting with humans is considered highly taboo in my society.”

“Oh, shit,” Newt says, and inches forward. “Seriously?”

Immediately, Newt’s brain works overtime to concoct an exciting, Little Mermaid-esque scenario: Hermann’s dad as the strict king of the ocean, wary of humans because of some ancient feud, Hermann longing for freedom, Newt–well, Newt would be down with kissing Hermann to help him get rid of that fin. He’d be down with kissing Hermann regardless. Newt’s scientific interest in him aside, Hermann is pretty good-looking. And–well. The forbidden, star-crossed aspect of it all is kinda exciting.

“Yes,” Hermann says. “Humans have hunted merpeople for centuries. Or so I’ve been told. But…” His face twists strangely–the corners of his eyes crinkling, his teeth flashing into view–and Newt realizes he’s smiling. Awkward, and shy, and unpracticed, but smiling. “You seemed different. I took a gamble.”

Newt blushes, just a little. “Hunted,” he echoes. “Is that what happened to your fin?”

“My fin?”

“It’s injured on the left side,” Newt says. “Like something attacked you. Did a human do that? Or another predator, like a shark or something?” Do merpeople have to worry about sharks? Maybe they keep them as pets. That’d be cool. If Newt was a merman, he would have three pet sharks.

“Oh,” Hermann says. “Oh, no, nothing so dramatic. That happened when I was human.”

Newt drops his tape recorder. It narrowly avoids bouncing overboard. “When you were what?”

“When I was human,” Hermann repeats. “Did I not mention I used to be human?”

“Uh, no,” Newt says.

“Ah, well,” Hermann says, “yes, it was some time ago. Perhaps a hundred years.”

“You look good for a hundred,” Newt says, because Hermann can’t have more than a couple years on Newt’s thirty-five. To his surprise, Hermann snorts.

“Yes, see, I was involved with a man,” he says, “and–well, he wasn’t pleased when I wanted to put an end to things, move on, you know, pursue other relationships. Only there were a number of things I didn’t know about him. He practiced–mastered, really–a strange kind of magic. He cursed me. I’ve been stuck this way–half-human, never aging another day–ever since.”

Merpeople, magic, curses–this is too fucking good. No one is ever going to believe Newt if he publishes this paper. “What kind of curse?” Newt says. “Like, one that can be broken?”

“Presumably,” Hermann says.

“Do you have to learn a lesson?” Newt says. He pushes up his glasses and leans closer. “Does someone have to kiss you? Like a true love’s kiss?” Newt was never one for reading fairy tales as a kid–having preferred the much more interesting alternatives of poking slugs with sticks and rolling around in the dirt–but he knows that’s a pretty big deal in those kind of stories. Frog princes and shit.

“I don’t know,” Hermann says. “All I know is that this has been very irritating. I had a laboratory, you know, with all sorts of fascinating equipment. I was a scientist. And now–”

“Can I try kissing you?” Newt interrupts.

Hermann flushes and shuts his mouth. “Ah,” he stammers, “I–I’ve got to–”

He disappears, in another splash and glint of fin. It was worth a shot.

Hermann comes back a few days later, and he comes back after that, and after that. Sometimes Newt asks him questions about being a merman. Sometimes Newt asks him questions about his previous life as a human. Hermann seems to like talking about being a human more, for reasons that aren’t very hard for Newt to guess. He was born in Germany, like Newt, though was schooled somewhat prestigiously in England (which explains the stuffy accent). He walked with a cane and a slight limp. He owned a very nice and very expensive telescope, which he misses, and worries about the well-being of, constantly. Sometimes Newt tells him things about himself, too: about his myriad of tattoos, his studies, how the human world has changed since Hermann’s time.

One day, as Hermann watches Newt eat potato chips and transcribe one of his numerous interviews from audio to pen, he suddenly reaches out and touches the corner of Newt’s notebook. “May I read this?” he says.

“Sure,” Newt says, hoping that Hermann doesn’t flip back to last week and read Newt’s entry where he described, in great detail, his attraction to Hermann, and the incredibly steamy dream he had about him as a result of that attraction.

Hermann skims Newt’s notes quickly, politely ignoring the grease stains Newt left behind, then pushes the book back towards him. He didn’t read about the dream. Thank God. “You called me a specimen,” Hermann says. His eyes crinkle in amusement. “How impersonal.”

“Yeah, well,” Newt says, heart pounding a little, because if he didn’t know any better he’d say Hermann is being flirty, “can’t let my institution know I’m on a first name basis with my subject. Conflict of interests.”

“Now, tell me,” Hermann says, “what do you plan to do with the information you’ve gathered when you return home? A book? An article? An exhibition? If you’re going to ask to put me on display, my answer is a definite no.”

“Nah, nothing like that,” Newt says. The truth is that Newt has no idea what he’s going to do with his significant compilation of research about Hermann. It’d be one thing if he found evidence of Hermann’s whole colony, or even a merperson besides Hermann, but to go zooming back off to his superiors with nothing three weeks’ worth of tapes and maybe a photograph or two–and after that tantrum he threw last month–he has a feeling no one is going to buy a single bit of it. Maybe he’d have a chance if he took Hermann back with him and did display him, but throwing his friend on the mercy of a society that would gladly dissect him without a second thought is completely out of the question. Maybe he’ll just write a weirdly detailed children’s book. “I might just keep it for myself, actually.”

The answer seems to please Hermann. He toys with Newt’s chip bag for a few seconds before–cheeks going a shade pinker–he says “I feel I ought to confess something.”

“Be my guest, dude.”

“I was following you the other day,” Hermann says. “I was following you that first day, too. And–” His eyes dart down, away from Newt’s. “Before then, even. You intrigued me, and I wanted to know what you were doing all the way out here.”

Newt grins. “I intrigued you. Ha! Cool. Well, now we’re even.”

Hermann smiles at him.

The last Friday before Newt is due to turn back and set course for home, he finally gets his first sign of other human life out here in the middle of the ocean: a fishing rig, at least twice the size of Newt’s tiny little rental, motors up not too far away from him and begins to cast its nets. Newt, an extrovert at heart and only mostly sustained by conversations with Hermann (who has a tendency to disappear for days at a time), is so starved for social interaction that he bolts out from his cabin when he spots it and begins waving frantically at the crew.

“Hi!” he shouts. “Beautiful out here, isn’t it?!”

He gets a friendly wave back. Newt expects he looks half-crazed, from his wild hair, to his unshaven scruff, to the explosion of freckles across his cheeks and neck, so he can’t really blame any of the crew for their hesitance.

“How are the fish?” he continues to shout.

A thumbs up.

“Cool!”

A net is drawn up; it’s a decent catch, but nothing too impressive. Earlier in the week, Hermann explained to Newt that, this close to mer-territory, anyone would be hard-pressed to find anything but smaller fish. Merpeople are much better hunters than some humans with a boat could ever dream of being. “I’ve been out here for over a month,” Newt continues his one-sided conversation. “I was looking for sea monsters. Have you ever caught anything like that before?”

No, they haven’t. The net is thrown back into the ocean.

“Okay!” Newt says. “Just wondering!”

The faint sound of groaning wood makes him stop in his tracks as he turns to head back into his cabin. Groaning wood, and splashing. Loud splashing. Excited shouts. It looks like the fishing rig netted something big.

Newt–determined, still, to be sociable–cups his hands around his mouth to call his encouragement over, but the words die on his tongue almost instantly. There, tangled up and flopping around in the rig’s netting, is a very familiar glimmering tail with a very familiar tattered left fin. “Hey,” Newt shouts, “stop! You’re–that’s my friend, you have my–!”

For the second time, Newt dives into the sea for Hermann.

He closes the distance between the two boats in no time at all, and–powered by pure adrenaline, ignoring the yells of surprise and anger above him–begins hacking blindly at the net with his pocketknife. A few more pieces–a few more strands–

It spills open. Newt feels a Hermann-sized shape graze past him, and a moment later, Hermann breaches the surface of the water. He doesn’t look very happy. “They caught me in their net,” he spits. “As if I were–!”

Newt hugs him. It’s not very graceful, considering the circumstances, but it’s something he’s wanted to do for a while, and he’s too happy that Hermann won’t be dissected or stuffed or something to care. “You caught my friend in your net while he was swimming,” he tells the fishermen over Hermann’s shoulder, now moderately more calmly. “I thought he was–uh–going to drown.”

The fishermen are profusely apologetic, to the point where Newt actually feels kind of bad for them, and it takes him waving them off with assurances they won’t sue or anything for them to hastily speed away. Hermann doesn’t look away from Newt once the whole time, his expression soft and just a touch unreadable. “You came to my rescue,” he says.

“Well,” Newt says, puffing out his chest, “a little bit, yeah.”

Hermann kisses him. Newt responds enthusiastically.

He’s so worked up over it all–grabbing Hermann’s hair, biting his weird frog mouth–that he doesn’t notice that the gentle fanning of Hermann’s tail against him has become the slide of skin against denim until Hermann suddenly grips at his arms. “Newt,” he says, eyes widening, “Newt.”

Well, even then it takes a bit. Newt kind of has a one-track mind when it comes to this sort of stuff. “Mm, yeah, Hermann,” he groans happily. He goes back in for another kiss, but Hermann dodges it.

“No,” he says, “I’m–” He gives a little kick.

Oh. “Oh, holy shit!” Newt exclaims, and laughs in delight. “Legs! You have legs!” Naked legs, in fact. Long naked legs–of course he’s taller than Newt. Hopefully he has some clothing that’ll fit the guy.

“Legs which don’t swim very well, I’m afraid,” Hermann says. He’s giving Newt another broad, awkward smile. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all,” Newt says.

There goes Newt’s paper, he guesses, but–strangely–he can’t really bring himself to care.

[spookyceph]

Good Graces Pt. 2

Finally got the second half of this fic together. Find it on Ao3 or the first part here on Tumblr. 

Nothing explicit takes place, however, the non-canon talk is of a sexual nature. Also, Dabi is a masochist and likes being ordered around. But we knew this already, didn’t we?

Words: 2,789

Rating: M for language and sexual themes

The wait ended two days later in the same spot. Dabi was in the process of pouring himself his second drink of the night when a misty-edged hole opened in reality behind the bar. From it stepped the tall, elegant form of Kurogiri. Dabi had never really considered what a demon might look like, but the League’s second-in-command/butler/voice of reason provided plenty of inspiration. Impeccable suit. Ability to show up anywhere. Form too immaterial to hurt, but still capable of making someone pay for trying. As always, Dabi gave him a polite nod and fought back memories of how it had felt to unexpectedly be elbow-deep in that shifting darkness.

“Ah, Dabi. Just the person I was hoping to see.” Deep. Smooth as high-end nihonshu. The kind of voice that could talk somebody into trading away their firstborn. Or into joining a half-assed villain ensemble.

Dabi paused with his glass to his lips. He made a sound he hoped came across as Yes, I’m listening rather than Help, I’ve swallowed my own tongue in mortal terror.

“Shigaraki Tomura wishes to speak with you at your earliest convenience.”

This was it. This was not a drill. Dabi put down the glass without taking a sip. “Where?”

“He is in his room at the moment. I will open the way, if you wish to go now.”

He’d just slid off the stool when the words registered. The air behind him changed. It was like the faint static charge living things gave off and a feeling of being watched all at once. Except Dabi knew if he turned he’d see only a hazy oval of black floating there, the perfect width and length to swallow him completely.

He didn’t want to use the warp gate. No fucking way. Problem was he’d already gotten up—couldn’t sit back down without looking like a coward or a dumbass or both. And he sure as hell wasn’t about to admit he already knew where Shigaraki’s room was to the person who amounted to the closest thing the guy had to a father.

So, Dabi grabbed his glass again. Knocked back the contents. Pretended it was just like jumping into a cold pool on a summer day as he turned and plunged into the waiting darkness.

Nothing existed anymore. Not time. Not space. Not self. Then something—maybe Kurogiri’s will or just simple momentum—carried him back into being. He returned to reality with a gasp. Catching his balance, he blinked and took stock of his new surroundings.

Shigaraki sat on his heels not a meter away, staring up through the stiff fingers of his favorite fashion statement. Large sheets of paper littered the floorboards in front of him. Maps, Dabi realized, noting the grid lines and coordinate markings. Somewhere way out in the sticks, if all the green and brown were any clue. Turning his head, he saw shelves lining the walls. Books? No, too many the same size and too thin. Cases for games—hundreds of them. More than one person could finish without giving up on everything else in life. Then again, what did he know? He’d never been allowed to have any as a kid. Never been allowed to have anything that might distract him from the glorious future planned out for him since day one. And just look at how well that had gone.

At any rate, the room didn’t seem to have the right ambiance to banish or murder someone in. Dabi let his hopes peek out from the bunker of suspicion.

“What’s this stuff for?” he asked, nodding to the maps on the ground.

Nothing from Shigaraki for an adrenaline-spiking second. Then, he crooked the fingers of one hand. “Sit.”

Dabi obeyed, pacing himself. Step in closer. Let one leg fold under him. Just bend the other so the sole of his boot lay flat on the floor. Rest same side elbow on knee. Prop the whole casual façade up with the other hand behind him.

“You got something you wanna say?” Cool nonchalance despite all the spit having vanished from inside his mouth.

Closing those intense eyes, his boss-and-possibly-more drew a long inhale. Didn’t even gag on the musty museum specimen smell of the taxidermy clutching his face. Then it was Dabi’s turn to suck in a breath as Shigaraki pulled off the gray hand with fumbling fingers, setting it aside.

“I want you to lead the others on their first job,” he said, complete with direct eye contact.

Any pretense of self-assurance abandoned Dabi. His stomach clenched as if braced for a punch. He pumped his brain for something droll, snappy, cocky in response. The well had run dry. He settled for practical.

“What do you want us to do?”

Shigaraki’s shoulders relaxed a fraction, though his stoic expression never wavered. “I was given some interesting information about UA’s precious fledgling heroes. Seems they’re headed to a remote training camp in the mountains for the summer. No one will be looking after them except two of their teachers and four pros who specialize in wilderness rescue missions. I want you to ruin their little retreat.”

Dabi’s spine went stiff and straight as an exclamation point. “I didn’t sign up to kill kids—even baby heroes.”

But Shigaraki was already shaking his head halfway through. “Killing them isn’t the point. That would generate too much outrage, hypocritical or no. The police might actually pry their heads from their asses and make a united effort to hunt us down with that much public pressure on them. Not to mention every third-rate pro in the country would crawl out of the woodwork, looking to make headlines. We’d be finished before we ever got started.

“No, what I have in mind is some training of our own.”

Attention swapped places with apprehension. “Oh?”

“None of us have worked together. Most of us haven’t worked on a team at all. This is an opportunity to test how well your quirks and styles compliment or clash with one another.”

“So, what? We crash their field trip and start fucking shit up? Flee the scene when the fighting gets too heated?”

“I came up with a level objective for you to focus on.” From on top of the maps, Shigaraki scooped up a thick manila folder and handed it to him.

Taking it, Dabi flipped to the first set of pages inside. His expression stayed set in stone while his stomach took a cliff dive.

A pretty girl with skin the color of bubblegum and squiggly little horns peeking out of her cotton candy hair smiled out at him from the photo in the top corner.

Name: Ashido Mina

Age: 15

Quirk: Acid

“You got hold of the students’ profiles? Impressive.” And a potential fucking disaster waiting to happen.

Shigaraki shrugged modestly, lightly scratching a new crop of scabs that had popped up in jagged furrows on both sides of his neck. Scabs that hadn’t been there a few days ago. “It’s just their teachers’ assessments of their quirks and performance during class assignments. Personal information like relatives and home addresses were better protected.”

The vice slowly closing its jaws around Dabi’s thumping heart released. Regardless, he made sure not to linger on any one student as he leafed through several of the profiles. Just focused on breathing normally and pretending to read for what seemed like a reasonable amount of time before moving to the next. He’d wait until he didn’t have an audience to allow himself to register anything.

“What’s this objective supposed to be?” he inquired.

“Capture one of the stronger, more notable students and ask him to join us.”

A muscle in his cheek jumped when Shigaraki reached over and flipped to a report in the middle of the folder. Dabi forced himself not only to look but see.

The boy scowling out of the picture was blonde. Broad-shouldered. Red-eyed, though not as beautifully as the one sitting across the way. Dabi’s pulse evened out.

“Bakugou Katsuki,” he read. “Isn’t this the kid they had to bind and gag at UA’s Sports Festival—even though he won the damn thing?”

“The same.”

“The hell do we want him for? I thought we were full capacity on lunatics already.”

A sigh. “To spook the school’s supporters and society at large, for one. It’s not enough to kill heroes. More will just take their place. We have to convince people to withdraw their support of them. Turn against them, though that won’t come until later.”

Dabi snorted. “This little asshole will never agree to sign on with us. He’s obsessed with proving he’s above everyone else. I know the type.”

A twitch of interest crossed Shigaraki’s face. Instead of pressing, though, he filed the slip away in that mysterious brain of his. “I don’t give half a shit if he agrees. All that matters is he blabs to anyone who’ll listen that we targeted and tried to corrupt him once we let him ‘escape’.”

Tapping his fingers on the stack of papers, Dabi let the big picture come into focus. “Instead of outright attacking the school, we’re undermining their image. Making all the mommies and daddies wonder if a career as a pro is as great as they thought it would be for their precious snot-nosed bastards. Getting donors to think twice before reaching for those wallets. We’re playing the long game. Smart.” A thin smile tugged at one end of Dabi’s mouth. “Which leaves just one question. Why have me lead instead of yourself? People might accuse me of sleeping my way to the top.”

A lovely shade of pink, like the inner coating of a seashell, livened up Shigaraki’s cheeks. “We never—!” He huffed and turned away, pink deepening to rose and spreading to the tops of his ears when he noticed Dabi’s smile had widened to a grin. “You’re fucking with me, aren’t you?”

“Guilty. Well, on the last part anyway.”

Shigaraki continued to fume, hopes of an answer dwindling with each second of silence. Then, just when an apology was in the works, “Because I’m a shitty leader.”

Dabi exchanged his smile for arched eyebrows. “”And you think I’d make a better one?”

“You take initiative when you need to, and show restraint when you should. You’re able to read people without giving away much of anything about yourself. The others respect you. They like you. Anyway, from a purely tactical standpoint, since your quirk is long range you can attack and give orders without getting swept up in the melee. And…” Blood-soaked irises looked at him through a tangled curtain of white hair for a moment before flitting back to the safety of the maps. “I trust you.”

Every response Dabi had lined up crumbled. With them gone, he couldn’t pretend not to notice what they’d been hiding. Exposed to proper light and air, it bloomed, bright and bold despite the ruin it grew from.

“I won’t fail.” The words were hoarse, but came out easily enough for a promise he’d swore to make to no one except himself ever again.

“I know you won’t. Because this isn’t about winning or losing. I want you and the others to test yourselves as individuals and as a team. Do your best. Find what works. What doesn’t. We’ll figure out where to go from there. Together.”

He’d joined the League of Villains looking for a means to exact revenge. Being told what he’d always wanted to hear made for a hell of a bonus prize.

Dabi pounced. His mouth mashed into Shigaraki’s, muffling an astonished yelp. Cold hands latched onto the front of his shirt. Not Decaying. Not shoving. Clinging. Insisting. He obliged, wrapping his arms around the other man’s waist and shoulders, then letting his weight carry them both to the floor. They rolled across the maps, scattering stolen papers as they went. Lips and teeth and tongue combined in different ways between every panting break for air.

Winding up sprawled on top, Dabi relocated his kisses to Shigaraki’s neck. The whimper that came out of him when just a bit of suction was applied under the corner of his jaw went directly to Dabi’s dick. Shigaraki writhed, supple and strong, yet unsure and overwhelmed. His fingers—three on each hand—clutched hard enough to hurt through a carapace of scar tissue. The scabs crosshatching his neck scraped the tongue and tasted of rust.

He surpassed any fantasy conjured up in the past few weeks. Because he was real. Unpredictable. And, in that slice of time at least, he was Dabi’s.

Shigaraki gasped and arched at the feel of a hand slipping up under his shirt. Dabi became so absorbed in the smooth, cool texture of the skin beneath his fingertips he didn’t think anything of the arm that snaked around his own, or the heel hooked behind his knee until, with a sharp twist of hip, he was rolled. The air rushed out of him in a huff as he hit the floor. Shigaraki didn’t look it, but he was solid, planting himself on Dabi’s chest and pinning both his wrists above his head.

“No,” he said, decisive if out of breath. “We do this my way.”

Dabi kept perfectly still. One wriggle, one shift, and he would’ve cum in his pants right then and there. So, he relaxed one muscle group at a time. Controlled his breathing. Showed his boss what a good boy he could be.

“What did you have in mind?” he asked, already positive he’d like the answer.

Despite his command of the situation, Shigaraki’s gaze wandered off to the side. Unsure. Shy. God, it was going to be fun fucking both descriptions right out of him.

“I don’t have…experience…with this, ah, subject.”

Dabi had to keep his teeth clamped together to keep from laughing. Good. He had to be good or he wouldn’t get any treats.

“So, I thought…maybe we could each make a list. Of things we like—or might like. And of stuff we don’t, or aren’t interested in. Then…pick and agree on an option. Until…until someone gets bored or just doesn’t want to anymore or…whatever.”

The habit of exceeding expectations was quickly becoming one of Dabi’s favorite things about his new boss. “Is that what you’ve been up to these past three days? Thinking about what you want to do to me?”

Shigaraki shifted his weight forward a bit, breathing definitely speeding up a notch. “Not the entire three days,” he muttered.

Dabi rested his hands on slim hips, keeping them still before they sent him over the edge. “When did you want this list?”

He considered, worrying his already cracked bottom lip with his teeth and then catching the trickle of blood with the point of his tongue in a way that made Dabi’s toes curl in his boots. “We’ll need to start meeting regularly to work on the plan anyway, so…tomorrow, at this time.”

Meaning he had already made a list and wanted to see what Dabi came up with. “Done.”

“Well.” Shigaraki cleared his throat lightly. “It’s settled then.” Carefully, he started to slide his leg over. Froze when a soft hiss escaped Dabi. A finger stroked one of the staples in his cheek before pulling back, remembering permission to do so hadn’t been agreed on yet.

“Did I hurt you? When we rolled over?”

Absolutely precious. Dabi smiled. “Not as much as I want you to.”

Red eyes blinked rapidly, wide and startled. “I’m…sorry?”

“Don’t be. Now go on. Let me up.”

Still looking a bit lost, Shigaraki did, sitting with his arms wrapped around his legs. Dabi sat upright on a long exhale. Paused to collect himself. Got to his feet when he was reasonably sure he wouldn’t ruin his last clean pair of pants doing so.

“You’re leaving?”

The note of disappointment in Shigaraki’s tone almost toppled his resolve. He looked over through lowered lashes. “I have something pressing to take care of at the moment. Unless you don’t want to wait for a list to find out what it is.”

One glance below Dabi’s belt transformed confusion into open-mouthed understanding. “Oh.” Shigaraki buried his face in his knees. “Sorry?”

“I already told you. Don’t be.” And before his willpower evaporated completely, “See you tomorrow.”

He’d made it to the door when a final thought sprung on him. Pausing with his fingers on the handle, he peered back over his shoulder. “You didn’t come up with this whole training camp plan just to score some alone time with me, did you?”

The choked sound that came from Shigaraki was answer enough. Dabi finally allowed himself to laugh as he let himself out.

[capricornus-rex]

A Shadow of What You Used to Be (8)

Chapter 8: Ensnared | Cal Kestis x Irele Skywalker

Summary: There is another! Years after young Anakin Skywalker departed Tatooine, his mother Shmi delivers a second child—this time, a daughter. Whilst the circumstance of the girl’s birth remains unexplained, Irele Skywalker has yet to choose the true path between those laid out for her.

Tags: Fem! OC, Irele Skywalker, Force-sensitive! OC, Anakin’s Younger Sister, Skywalker! OC, Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice, Long-lost Sibling

A/N: Hi guys, I’m happy that you’re enjoying the story so far! But I have to let you know that I’ll be in a quick pause from publishing chapters for a while because I have to drop off my laptop in the shop again to have my new SSD put in (because I don’t know how to do it myself). They said it might take five working days, but that will still depend on my place in line. So this might be the last chapter for now, but I hope I get this baby back soon!

Requesting to be tagged: @heavenly1927​

Also in AO3

Chapters: Prelude – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 | Previous: Part 7 | Next: Part 9 | Masterlist

9 of ?

“Hey, Irele, I got a job for us!” the Twi’lek boy, Frelik, panted as he supported himself on the arch of their door, as if he came sprinting from the town to their house in the salt flats.

“For who? Where? When!?” Irele bombarded back, and luckily Frelik answered all questions.

Irele looked over his shoulder, he had reached her house using the sand skimmer that all five of them worked together on. She told them to wait, hurried back inside, jumping to the floor from the first landing of the stairs to the rotunda and sprinted to her bedroom. She was all over the place—flashing from one side of the room to the other, swiping her pack with her tools and her scarf lying in different spots.

“I’m going out!” she announced in a voice loud enough for Owen and Beru to hear, wherever they were, and there was no time for either husband or wife to respond. They just heard the door whiz open and then shut.

Another wrangling job with her friends. It was a normal day, but it was something she enjoyed.

They’ve traveled about ten miles east of Mos Espa. The skimmer did its job, it resembles perhaps a smaller rendition of the complementary hovercraft that comes with a sail barge. Through his binoculars, Frelik spotted a cluster of brown speckles in the sand—a Bantha herd, he had found. Their quarry.

“Drello, full speed ahead!” cried out the tan-skinned Twi’lek to the human male. The boy cranked the lever of the motor and they pulled forward.

They stopped their skimmer in a safe distance, atop a small hill that overlooks the Banthas gathered around a watering hole—a rare sight in this planet. After peering through the lens, Frelik handed the binoculars to no one in particular, Irele took it out of his hands.

“Those aren’t domesticated, alright,” she panned slightly to her right. “We can slide our way down there. We’ll have enough cover so they won’t be startled by us.”

Before they got themselves on the move, Irele scanned the area for any signs of Tusken Raiders. It was not uncommon to have a run-in with Tuskens who were also trying to wrangle up mounts for their numbers; should that happen, the most logical—and only—move is to try your luck for another herd. A group of adult Tuskens versus a small band of children are in no good odds whatsoever.

“We’re clear. We’re the only ones here,” she reassured then returned the binoculars to Frelik. They sprinted back to the skimmer to retrieve their sleds and boards.

“I’m gonna ruin your win streak today, Irele!” prided Drello.

She clapped back after pulling her goggles down and smirked, “We’ll see about that!”

The children ran to the edge of the slope, the Twi’lek siblings shared a sled, Heeda—the other human female besides Irele—had her own sled that can only fit her. Golden blonde and sandy brown tinted the girl’s hair, and a bright-eyed face that proves her to be the youngest of the group, being only a year behind Irele.

A trail of sand plumed as they zipped down. It was a collective skill for them to resist squealing and cheering in delight as they slide down a two- to three-mile long sand slide. Irele and Drello surfed with a quiet confidence in the middle of this friendly competition between the two of them; sweving and leaving snake-trails along the sand, as one overtook the other.

Show off! Said each teenager in their heads, referring to the other.

Only a few meters remain before the group lands on flat grounds. They hopped out of their rides and hurried behind the rocks.

“I thought you were gonna beat my streak, Drello?” jeered Irele.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever!” the boy chide, and the girl snickered under her breath.

Another cautionary look through the lens before they approach the herd and then they scrambled to their positions. For every job they took together, there was always a harmony amongst them, a testament to their three to four years of friendship forged by their odd job life.

As always, Irele was in charge of the actual wrangling—along with Drello and Frelik. The two other girls’ jobs were to tranquilize the animals should any of them escape or refuse to be mounted.

The three vaulted over the rocks, leaving Heeda and Venee—Frelik’s sister—behind. Producing ropes out of their packs as they prowled quietly in the Banthas’ blind spots. Given the beast’s width, the children are practically invisible if they stay directly behind them. They became slower when they crept slower, the ropes primed into a lasso. In all their years in practice of this dangerous trade, they’ve mastered how to cleanly hoop the rope around the Bantha’s thick, spiraling horns.

A solid tug indicated that their ropes have rung around the base of the horns, they jumped onto the giants’ backs. Drello’s Bantha bucked its massive head, attempting to wriggle the rope off. Unfortunately, the boy had caught perhaps a more aggressive one than the rest of the herd; and to add insult to injury, his ropes have tangled around his leg and a few strands of the Bantha’s fur caught along with it.

“Drello, hold on!”

“Irele!” Drello yelped. “HELP!”

“Stay still!”

Seeing the trouble from their post, Heeda and Venee primed their dart guns.

“Wait for my signal, Heeda,” Venee warned. Fives seconds when they saw a clear shot, “Now!”

Two darts charged with a strong dosage of tranquilizer pierced their way through the Bantha’s curtain of fur and thick hide. The girth of the needle was thick enough to penetrate the animal’s skin. Drello’s Bantha seemed to have slowed down and the boy finally won some control over the beast.

“Troublemaker, are ya?! I’ll sell you to the first butcher I see in town!” grumbled a vexed Drello.

“Aw come on, don’t be like that!”

“What? He was the one who tried to buck me off while my leg’s caught in the rope,”

“Maybe he doesn’t like you,” Frelik suggested jokingly and the rest of the children giggled in agreement.

For the Banthas who didn’t put up much of a fight and were tamer, Irele suggested strapping their skimmer to the beasts.

“Since they got ropes around their horns anyway, we can just tie the other end on the winch!” she suggested, and everyone loved the fun idea.

There were no objections from her friends. In fact, they were all in on it! Heeda and Venee wanted to the ride bareback on the Bantha while the other three would sit in the skimmer. All five teenagers giggled in excitement and delight as their idea is about to be put into play, until Irele’s smile vanished, she flinched when she felt a needle prick the back of her shoulder.

“This is PG-957, target has been found and marked.” a sinister, muffled voice spoke through his comlink gauntlet.

No one noticed the tiny dart that had landed in her shoulder, but she easily swatted it off like it was some kind of debris. Little did she know that the tiny bullet that hit her packed such a punch. In her easterly side, she saw two distant figures calling out to her. The first figure waved a piece of cloth to get her attention, the second cupped their mouth with their hands to amplify their voice.

Irele!! Come quick!

“Hey, Irele, what’s wrong?” Frelik asked as he noticed his friend has suddenly gotten quiet.

“Smoke?” she muttered under her breath.

She squinted her eyes, sheltered her head with her scarf and confirmed that a pillar of smoke was in the distance as the Banthas pulled their skimmer.

“Do you see that?” she asked to no one in particular.

“See what?”

“That! That column of smoke over there!”

Frelik and Drello exchanged confused glances, and then back to Irele who had her back turned to them.

She squinted again, the two figures appeared to have gotten closer to where they are, and she could hear their voices.

IRELE, HURRY, IT’S YOUR FAMILY!!

“My home!” she bursts.

“Whoa, hey, Irele, where are you going!?” Drello tried to stop her by grabbing her sleeve but she slipped away.

Irele literally jumped out of a moving skimmer, taking her things with her as well.

“Irele, hey! Come back!” Heeda screeched.

“Where is she going!?” Venee exclaimed.

“There’s nothing over there!” Frelik insisted to his friend as he—along with his companions—watched her sprint into the distant nothingness.

Irele sprinted as fast as she could, those two figures materialized into a pair of older human males. Her friends literally lost her in the desert just when they were about to make their way back to Mos Espa, where they client awaits.

“I can’t see her anymore! Frelik, can you!?”

The Twi’lek growled in frustration, “No, she went straight into the storm!”

“Is she crazy!?” his sister protested.

“We have to go after her!” Heedra insisted.

“We’re not equipped for a sandstorm, Heeda, we can’t turn around. We have to get back to town and get shelter!” Drello argued.

They have no choice. They continued in their original path but they wordlessly promised that they’d come back for her.

Irele followed the direction of the smoke, knowing that it’s coming from the homestead. The adrenaline made her forget the aching of her legs, exhausted from running. She cared not if her friends didn’t believe her, her vision narrowed to the direction of her house. She didn’t even notice that the two males she followed were out of her sight.

The tower of black smoke got bigger as she closed the distance further. At the top of her parched lungs, she cried out for her family.

“OWEN!! BERU!!” she screeched.

She caught sight of her homestead in flames—or so she thinks—the dirty white dome of her house was charred black, a gaping hole put into the front door, the machines in their rotunda had been blown up, and tattered rags scattered across the front of the house.

“No…” she gasped. “NO!! OWEN! BERU! WHERE ARE YOU!?”

She repeated these three names, but an answer did not come.

Irele… a voice called to her.

“Owen!?”

Irele… do not fight it. It instructed her. It was a deep, ominous voice, and after the last word, a sharp robotic breath followed.

She recognizes that voice anywhere. She’s heard it in her nightmares, during the nights where she cannot sleep.

“No… No… Bring them back!” she cried.

She did not know it was an illusion. The sniper who had planted the needle into her flesh had followed the girl aimlessly going into an incoming sandstorm.

Poor Irele spun around in a panic, thinking that she was standing in the premises of her home, when in fact that she was standing in the first few inches of the storm. It was all a blur in her eyes, but she persisted looking for her family. The sniper, a trooper with a unique black armor, watched the poor girl spin until she got dizzy and weak.

Meanwhile, Darth Vader remained unmoving in his meditation chamber, dead center in the black, cold floor. He could hear Irele’s cries, her screaming of Owen and Beru’s names, and he could feel the hot, prickling wind that swats her face. The leather of his gloves squeaked as he tightened his already-closed fists.

Irele…

“No…” she exhaled one last time. “Bring them… back…”

“Target incapacitated. Requesting transport.” The trooper reported and was answered by an incoming transport craft to retrieve the trooper and a knocked out Irele.

–

The storm had eventually died down, but the teenagers’ anxiety did not.

Once they’ve gotten rid of the Banthas, they instantly hopped back on their skimmer and retraced their steps to the location where they lost Irele.

The sandstorm had erased her tracks, but they followed the direction where she aimlessly ran to.

Frelik heavily relied on his binoculars to find any sign of Irele. They had gotten far enough from the path they took when the Banthas pulled their skimmer. Drello may not be the most skilled wrangler, but he was a good tracker.

“We were here when she started talking funny, saying that she sees smoke when there’s nothing at all,” Drello pointed out the subtle indents of their skimmer and the Banthas’ hooves. He then angled his body to his easterly side, mimicking Irele’s position before she ran off. “And then she ran off there.”

“It’s strange,” Frelik added. “I heard her say the word ‘Home’ before she ran… but her house is in that direction.”

“Maybe the heat got to her?” Heeda theorized.

Frelik shook his head, “We didn’t even stay out that long, Heeda.”

“Come on, talking will take us nowhere!” Venee grunted. “Drello, what can you take from here?”

“We go to that direction,”

The skimmer hovered in a steady, leisurely pace; they were careful not to miss anything. The wind picked up as they got farther, a minor aftermath of the sandstorm in the middle of its calm; on his right, Frelik spotted something fluttering in the distance.

“Look! Drello turn us over there,”

Drello went straight ahead for that fluttering brown shape in the wind. Heeda picked it up and they all gathered around it.

“This is Irele’s scarf,” Venee mumbled pessimistically

“Then she must be close!” Heeda’s hopefulness contrasted the Twi’lek girl’s mood.

With only her lost scarf as a clue, it took the group all day trying to find her. The sunset beckoned them to stop. It never crossed their mind that they have to tell this to Owen and Beru, and they were scrambling over on what to tell them, how to say and explain it all, and that they’ll witness firsthand the wrath of Owen Lars—as well as his grief.

Reluctant, they drove their skimmer to the Lars homestead, with only a piece of Irele to bring home to her family. Up to now, not one of them have decided who will speak to Owen—neither do they have the courage to walk up to the front door.

They agreed that they go together, however, they hesitate to come an inch closer.

Eventually, Owen appeared out of the door.

“Oh, good thing you kids are back before dark.”

Silence from the children. Drello clutched onto Irele’s scarf so hard that it creased.

Owen’s eyes shifted left to right, counting in his mind, and it hit him.

“Where’s Irele?”

The teenagers flinched—shoulders flinched, sweaty fists clenched tighter, and knees were knocking.

Owen repeated the question until he spotted the scarf crumpled up into a ball.

“That’s Irele’s,” he pointed weakly at it. “Where is she!?”

“We… We’re sorry, but we lost her…”

“Lost her? Lost her!? Lost her how?!”

The raising of Owen’s voice attracted Beru—carrying Luke—to go outside. She finds Irele’s group being confronted by her husband.

“Owen, what’s going on here?”

“Irele didn’t come with them.”

“What?!” Beru gasped, her brown eyes widened.

Venee stepped forward, “We were on our way back, honest! But she started acting strange. She looked distraught about your house, she said she spotted smoke coming from here but…”

“What smoke? We were perfectly fine here all day!” Owen interrupted.

The Twi’lek girl continued, alternately looking to her friends. They vouched her every word with nervous yet truthful nods.

“That’s the thing, sir. What’s worse is… she ran into an incoming sandstorm. That’s when we lost her.”

Heeda stepped in Venee’s side, “It’s true what Venee said. We tried to look for her when the storm passed, honest! We just didn’t want to stay until dark because of the Tuskens.”

“We’re sorry,” Frelik said sadly and with a misplaced guilt. “But this is what we can only find of her.”

Drello unfurled the scarf and held it in both hands, presenting it to Irele’s brother. The young boy stepped forward to hand it over to the man who was hesitant to take it from his hands. Unable to accept that this was a rhyme to the fate of his late stepmother.

“No…” Owen’s rage melted into grief and distress. His heart wrenched. “Oh no…”

“Owen…”

Luke tugged the collar of Beru’s jacket and quietly asked, “Aunt Beru, where’s Irele?”

Unable to grasp how Irele’s friends had lost her, neither can Beru explain it to her nephew-in-law.

“Irele’s… Irele won’t be home for a while, dear.”

“Why?”

At a loss, Beru gave up looking for answers, there were no right ones after all.

“I don’t know, darling, I don’t know…”

As soon as Irele’s scarf came to Owen’s hands, he did not care anymore who would see him break down to tears. His knees melted, his back arched as he embraced a remnant of his dear sister—his remaining closest kin next to Luke—as he was fueled by the burning determination to find her.

Even if it meant he will have to repeat his father’s steps in finding Shmi all those years ago, then he would do the same for Irele. But for this night, the dunes heard his sobs and buried them underneath each and every grain of sand.

The next few days seemed desperate and hopeless. Owen had called up every men who were willing to come with him in search of Irele, her friends joined in as well. By the day, their numbers thinned out—majority giving up on the search as they could not find any other relevant leads except the scarf and the girl’s last known position.

“Give it a rest, Owen! The girl’s probably lost, or worse, fallen into a Sarlacc pit while in a heatstroke daze.”

“DON’T YOU DARE SAY THAT ABOUT MY SISTER!” Owen swung with a finger pointed at the man who claimed such an assumption.

Knowing that this was not worth his time and energy anymore, the scout gave up and turned tail. Owen originally rounded up at least fifty men scattered across the outskirts of the major towns, even as far as the Dune Sea; though little by little, they all gave up on the search as well as Owen himself. Some with a heart apologized and wished him luck in finding the teenage girl.

“Oh, Irele…” Owen huffed, exhausted. “Where are you…?”

He was forced to stop the search just a few hours before sunset. He sent her friends home earlier. Upon returning to the house, he watched as Beru quickly walked out of the kitchen with a hopeful face—only for that hopefulness to fade away when she saw that her husband arrived alone.

She awkwardly dismissed herself and returned to the kitchen. Leaving Luke playing with a toy cruiser and shuttle on the table. Owen sat across him, the boy continued playing and reentered the little world he’s created with his ships, accompanied by little scaled figurines carved out of painted wood.

And from that day forward, something in Owen changed. In the following years, he would have grown old and sterner especially towards the remaining youngest family member—his nephew. Never mind if Luke would resent Owen’s ways in disciplining him or keeping him grounded, if it meant keeping him safe and preventing the same fate to happen to the boy, then he would do it.

He cannot afford to lose another part of his family.