#usually we pick people names for our dogs but I’m open to any suggestions

[snitchseeker07]

I’m not sure if I’m keeping this little munchkin or if she’s going to be sold when she’s older (I already have three dogs so idk if I can keep her 😭). But, I really need help picking a name for her. Any suggestions?

[fredshufflepuff]

— anon’s request: ok so since i too am a whore for angst. how about the reader and rafe having a summer thing as a kook (maybe she goes to the pogue school but is a kook) and once she goes back to school, they drift apart and rafe gets jealous of her spending her time with the pogues. then maybe he sees her again at mid summers all dressed up and remembers he still loves her. please break my heart with this, im in need of a cry and then maybe put it back together with some fluff at the end? please

— warnings: fem!reader, brief smut (skip if uncomfortable), asshole!rafe for a good chunk of the imagine, language, angst, fluff.

— word count: 2,166

IT all started when you bumped into rafe at the country club on figure eights.

you didn’t normally hang around that area, but you were hanging out with sarah that day—which meant eventually running into her brother.

she tried to keep you away from him, just because he had no filter and didn’t think twice before voicing his opinion, but sooner or later your interaction with the boy would happen.

“oh god” sarah mumbled causing you to raise your brows, a confused frown on your face as she signaled to look behind you.

you turned around not so subtle to see rafe cameron making his way down the grassy hill, a golf club in one hand and a can of beer in the other.

“hey little sis, when were you going to introduce me to your friend here?” the boy spoke, a small grin on his face at seeing her roll her eyes.

“i wasn’t planning on it, you know—considering how you’re an ass.”

a small giggle fell from your lips as rafe turned his attention back to you, the sides of his mouth curling slightly at your reaction.

“well since she won’t introduce me, i will” he said, his figure leaning over yours which was sat on the grass.

he tossed his most likely expressive golf club to the ground to extend his hand out to you, which you hesitated to take before slowly reaching for it.

“i’m rafe cameron.”

of course you knew who he was, everyone did.

“y/n y/l/n.”

YOU thought the interaction with sarah’s older brother was in the past, not having to see him again since you weren’t planning on going back to figure eight or the club any time soon.

but when you found yourself in his bed getting the absolute daylights fucked out of you, you knew right then and there that this wasn’t a one time thing.

“fuck rafe,” you moaned loudly, your head thrown back against the pillow as your eyes fell shut from the feeling.

he slide his cock in and out of your needy hole as you whimpered from under him, his toned body pressed against yours as you jolted from each thrust.

“m’gonna cum, flood this needy little fuck hole” he spat, his hand coming down to grab your face and force you to open your eyes.

“please, rafe. please fill me up” you begged, your little moans and pleads sending the boy over the edge.

as soon as he gave you permission to cum you didn’t hold back. it felt like your entire body had shut down as your head fell to the side.

rafe sent a rough thrust into your quivering body before emptying himself inside, making sure to keep himself as close as possible in order to not let any leak out.

“fuck,” he groaned in your ear, his body pressed against your small one as your hands came up to rest in his hair, pulling on it gently as his cum filled you up.

later that night you didn’t bother sneaking back out to your place, instead rafe suggested you actually stay—running you a hot bath before ordering take out.

it surprised you really, considering how you didn’t know what you guys were.

you both agreed to only be friends with benefits when this all started, but now you didn’t know if you wanted that or not.

you wanted something more with the blue eyed boy.

“what are we?” you asked while laying in his arms, the feeling of his breath trailing down your neck giving you comfort.

“friends with benefits.”

no hesitation was found in his voice. it was quick and sudden, just like your heart breaking.

“oh.”

you didn’t talk much with rafe after that night—leaving early in the morning to avoid further interaction.

rafe didn’t suspect anything though, knowing how busy you usually get with school and home life, but after that single day turned into almost a week, he knew something wasn’t right.

usually you’d be around the house or at the country club, but it felt like you were almost avoiding him.

when school started up that’s when things really started to hit for rafe. you were not only distancing yourself from him, but now you were hanging out with the pogues.

to him you had wiggled yourself into john b’s friend group, getting closer with everyone but mostly jj, the one pogue he despised more than the others.

it was the night of midsommars and you were preparing yourself to see rafe, your nerves seeming to skyrocket every time his name was mentioned.

“ARE you feeling okay, y/n/n? you’re all jittery” kie pointed out, her eyes locking with yours through the vanity mirror as you slowly brushed through your hair.

“i’m okay, kie— really. just nervous for tonight i guess” you shrugged, your response seeming convincing enough as she nodded.

“hey slow pokes! hurry up or we’re going to be late” jj called, pounding on the door making you and kie jump.

“fucking assholes” you mumbled.

MIDSOMMARS was something you always looked forward to.

the lights, the food, the beautiful dresses and people you got to meet—which was rare considering how almost everyone there were stuck up kooks who’s only personality trait was having money.

all except rafe.

he was different towards you, a lot different it was scary.

“jj, don’t get into any more fights, k?” kie sighed, licking the pad of her thumb before dragging it across his face—getting rid of the dirt that had formed there.

he didn’t say who specifically it was with—the fight—just claiming it was with some stupid kooks who didn’t know when to stop talking.

“yeah yeah” he mumbled, running his fingers through his hair before sending you both a small smile.

he picked up his tray and spun it on his finger before sending her a wink, a blush coming to kie’s face as she quickly looked away.

“soooo, you and jj....” you said, the girl’s eyes rolling as she playfully pushed you away.

“enough about me, what about you?”

“me?” you raised an eyebrow, “what about me?”

“don’t play dumb, y/n/n. i’ve seen you come back late with hickeys.”

you grabbed a glass of champagne from one of the waiters walking by and took a long sip from it, your eyebrows twisting together— “this is good, you should try it.”

kie was about to protest until the music started to kick up again, your favorite song playing making you gasp.

you quickly placed the glass on an empty table before taking her hands and pulling her towards the dance floor.

“let’s dance!”

unknown to you—rafe had been watching you ever since you stepped foot into the venue.

IT was almost one in the morning when everyone had left, you and kie sitting at one of the empty tables while you waited for jj to finish up.

you hadn’t had that much to drink, but you could say you were a little tipsy.

“ready to go?” jj asked while throwing his arms around you both, a sarcastic grunt dropping from your lips at the sudden weight.

“we were about to leave yo-”

“well, well, well...if it isn’t the golden trio” a familiar voice spat, your head snapping to the side as your eyes fell on the devil himself.

rafe cameron and his little minions.

“if it isn’t daddy’s money, dumb, and dumber” kie snapped back—referring to topper and kelce who were standing on either side of him.

“put your dog on a leash maybank before we do it ourselves” rafe threatened, only causing jj to break from your side and lunge at the boy.

“jj, stop” you said, grabbing his arm as kie yanked him back, “he wants a reaction.”

“i didn’t see you there, y/n. so quiet and small, hard to notice you.”

which was obviously a lie. rafe noticed you the second he walked into the stupid party.

“what do you want, rafe? getting bored at the country club?” you asked, your lips dropping into a fake pout.

“actually the country club is entertaining, unlike some needy bitches who can’t satisfy my needs.”

your face dropped as kie gasped beside you—jj completely unaware of what was going on but still pissed at the way rafe was speaking to you.

rafe’s face dropped slightly at the realization of what he just said, nothing but lies falling from his mouth as his eyes filled with guilt.

“fuck you.”

YOU didn’t remember much after that. just the events taking place of jj trying to throw another punch at the boys before getting dragged away by kie.

the poor girl was trying to control her hot headed friend while the other was on the verge of tears.

but you refused to cry.

in front of rafe or not, you would not let yourself cry over him.

all you remember is crashing at john b’s house and waking up with a massive headache.

your legs were draped over kie’s as the two of you slept on john b’s bed, the boys taking the couch in the living room.

light from the outside peeked through the curtains as your eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness.

your phone laid next to you on the comforter as your hands dragged it closer.

what you weren’t expecting was a shitload of texts from rafe.

rafe cameron: i’m really sorry

[sent 1:34am]

rafe cameron: y/n

[sent 1:34am]

rafe cameron: i didn’t mean anything i said

[sent 1:36am]

rafe cameron: i was drunk and wasn’t thinking

[sent 1:40am]

rafe cameron: please hear me out

[sent 1:41am]

rafe cameron: meet me at our place

[sent 1:49am]

rafe cameron: 7:30am

[sent 1:51am]

you groaned loudly while reading his texts, the need to throwup swirling in your stomach as you tossed your phone to the side.

you ran your hands over your face as you thought on what to do, biting your bottom lip in the process as you stared at the wall in front of you.

after what felt like an hour of pondering, you let yourself slip off the bed and grab your hoodie that was thrown on the floor.

you were going to see him.

‘WHAT if she doesn’t show’ rafe thought to himself as he sat in the sand, his eyes locked on the waves crashing in front of him.

he was stupid last night.

the boy made a stupid mistake that he regretted deeply.

he just needs to show you how sorry he is.

“rafe.”

his head snapped in the direction of your voice, your figure standing a few feet from his as he then quickly stood up.

he dusted off his pants before nervously making eye contact, his throat suddenly drying up as he attempted to swallow what felt like a rock.

“y/n, i’m s-so so sorry for what i said yesterday. i-i didn’t mean any of it-”

“so what? i’m supposed to forgive you?” you cut off, raising an eyebrow as his mouth fell slightly, “what if it happens again?”

“i-it won’t! i swear it won’t. i was just drunk and jealous and really fucking stupid” he blabbered on, his hands shaking as he tried to defend himself.

“jealous?” you asked, your eyebrows furrowing together as he nodded his head shamefully.

“of you and that stupid pogue.”

“jj?!”

he seemed to visibly retract from your words, his eyes narrowing as he bit the inside of his cheek.

“yeah, him.”

“so you acted the way you did...because of jj?” you slowly asked, his eyebrows knitting together as he stared at you.

“i didn’t mean it, y/n...” he frowned, his face dropping slightly as you waited for him to continue, “please give me another chance, i’ll show you how sorry i am—how much you mean to me.”

it was quiet for a good minute as your thoughts swarmed your mind for a response.

“rafe...”

“y/n, please.”

another minute went by, the only sound coming from the waves crashing along the shore.

“fine.”

IT had been five months since you forgave rafe, and things were honestly going better than you had expected.

after that morning on the beach he took you out on a proper date—ending in him walking you back to your house and even stealing a kiss.

he even stopped starting fights with jj and the other pogues, wanting you to know that he was better than that.

“WHAT do you want to watch?” rafe asked while flipping through channels, one hand holding the remote while the other rested on the small of your back.

“m’not sure, you can pick.”

he hummed in response before clicking on some random channel, not really planning on watching it anyway.

he tossed the remote to the side before looking down at you, admiring your relaxed state with your arms wrapped tightly around his torso.

“you know i love you right?” he suddenly asked, his voice low and soft as he stared at you from above.

“why so gushy, rafe?” you teased, your own head angling up to see him better.

he was so beautiful.

“i’m not gushy,” he rolled his eyes, “i just wanted to remind you.”

you blushed at his words before nuzzling back into the crook of his neck, your lips kissing the delicate skin making him smile.

“i love you too, rafe.”

🏷rafe cameron taglist : @jordynsharum

a/n: could you tell i didn’t know how to end it

[stargaze-issei]

— 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝 + 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫-𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧 !

𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭; karasuno and fukurodani react to their manager doing the body count/bodyody audio tik tok ! [insp by this tik tok]

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞; crack(?

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬; suggestive themes, maybe a little swearing i can't remember ajaksjq.

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞; the trend it's to put pictures of all the people you've slept with, in case anyone doesn't know!!

karasuno !

-> it was a joke, it wasn’t supossed to get out of the thrid year managers gc.

-> the girls found it hilarious and was a good conversation topic for hours, discussing who you put or didn’t put.

-> they knew, of course, it was fake. you hadn’t slept with oikawa, KYOUTANI, BOKUTO, tendou, atsumu, TERUSHIMA and OSAMU.

-> it was SO obvious it was a joke for them that nobody felt the need to point it out.

-> they just said things like “the most quiet are the worst ones” “OMG DETAILS ABOUT THE TWINS!!” “did terushima yk,, made a good use of his percing” because they KNEW nothing was real.

-> until tanaka and sugawara asked kiyoko for her phone to watch some videos of the new play they were trying.

-> and misaki, from johzenji, sent a “forget about teru— 🤢 can’t even say it,, Y/N I WANNA HEAR ABOUT BOKUTO!!! ik man’s  p a c k i n g”

-> tanaka looks at suga and suga looks at tanaka and they’re like .......tf

-> suga’s finger “slips” and they see the other messages until finally they reach your video.

-> you’re there looking pretty as usual and above your head reads “seems like were showing our body counts with this sound? here it’s mine 🤪”

-> tanaka is about to say “it can be what we’re thinking” but when OIKAWA’S picture appears both their jaws hit the floor.

-> nishinoya sees them and ofc he wants to know what’s so shocking, so he gets closer.

-> he drags hinata too, and shoyo’s like “that’s the great king!! play it again!! play it again!!”

-> fyi: suga paused the video because wOW and they don’t know who’s left in your video.

-> sugawara looks straight in the eye at nishinoya, going “keep hinata, kageyama and yamaguchi away and bring the team” with the MOST SERIOUS EXPRESSION

-> noya is lowkey scared??? like wtf??? but does as he’s told bc suga seems super intense.

-> kiyoko and yachi left to fill the bottles and pick some needed implements from the club room, you had classes for a few more minutes, therefore, there was nobody to stop them.

-> once the rest of the team, including tsukishima because everyone seemed to have forgotten he was a first year too, is together, suga plays again the video, while the littlest ones watch from afar in curiosity.

-> the silence, you will never hear them in a more tense silence.

-> they read what’s your tiktok about, daichi’s eyes go O.O, asahi goes RED, nishinoya seemed to be ready to FIGHT THEM ALL, ennoshita awkwardly laughs, even tsukishima blushes a little.

-> then oikawa appears. EVEYRONE’S EYES ARE FULLY OPEN AND NOYA LET’S OUT A GROAN???

-> but when kyoutani shows up they’re in SO much shock they kinda forget oikawa before, and daichi whispers an “oh god”

-> then it’s BOKUTO’S TURN and tsukishima just stops functioning. asahi is static on his place contemplating, withouth being able to form a coherent thought.

-> suga highkey wants the tea.

-> tendou feels like a betray to asahi, tanaka and tsukishima. noya, just for a second, wonder what was that like.

-> ATSUMU AND OSAMU FUCKING MIYA AND THEY EXPLOTE.

-> THE EXPLOTE LIKE WHAT????? WAS IT AT THE SAME TIME???? Y/N?¡¡¡¿¿1

-> they aren’t ready for the cherry on the top at the end, a picture of terushima sticking his tongue out, sweaty after a match, SMOKING HOT, and it’s not a picture he posted to his social medias or anything.

-> it’s only suga, and daichi a little bit, who realize that if that picture isn’t public, then either he send it to you or YOU TOOK  IT.

-> that’s when you walk in the gym, just to say hi before going to change.

-> the first year are playing among each other and you are like ????

-> they don’t even notice you’re there so you go nearer to see what they’re watching. and you see the picture of tersuhima yukie, from fukurodani, once sent asking misaki WHY her kouhais where that hot. it was also the only picture you had of him and the one you used in you video the day before.

-> the phone in suga’s hands seems familiar and... that’s kiyoko’s

-> “Y/N” screams asahi when he sees  you and the rest looks like they saw a ghost.

-> a second of silence goes before everyone blows in questions and you just hear names between bambling, “OIKAWA MNASNANPGDF” “MANASKL BODY COUNT ASLKLAS” “MAD DOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

-> and daichi makes himself heard despite the screams.

-> “y/n, i know you’re 18 and capable of making your own decisions, but we have to talk about... physical relationships, with our rival teams”

-> kiyoko arrives and quickly puts two and two together and asks yachi to go check on the first years.

-> she looks at you and sees you like WHAT TF DO I DO and nods and say “you shouldn’t have gone through my phone, no matter how curious you are, sugawara-san” COLD AS ICE ISTG.

-> AND SHE CONTINUES “what who y/n does or doesn’t do on her free time is none of your business, all of you, if she decides to get together with anyone it’s just up to her. you should be ashamed of yourself, specially the third years. you weren’t just violating y/n’s privacy, but mine, kaori’s, yukie’s and misaki’s. it may have been a joke, or not, but it doesn’t give you the right. if you ever do something like this again, we will be talking with coach ukai and takeda sensei” SHE GRABS YOUR ARM, TURNS AROUND, CALLS YACHI AND YOU THREE LEAVE LIKE QUEENS????

-> once you’re in the club room, both you and kiyoko start laughing because the team was FROZE in place. not even daichi was so scary.

-> the team then apologizes to both and send an audio to the groupchat too, and never bring the subject uo again.

-> still, they all wonder everyday if you really did or not.

-> and of course, they get so defensive when they see any of the boys in the video it’s hilarious to you and the other managers.

— fukurodani !

-> damn yukie making up dares that always ended up bad for either you or kaori.

-> mostly you doe.

-> at a sleepover, she was like let’s make fake body count vids and who falls asleep first has to show them tomorrow at practice!!! it will be fun!!!

-> you accepted because you usually fell asleep after one of them did but that time it was like they gave you a sleeping pill because you fell like a rock after a few hours.

-> as to why you were there, the day after, about to go ask the team if you should post it.

-> you list consisted on kenma, kita, sakusa, daichi, and just for the fun of it, konoha.

-> the girls call konoha aside so he doesn't ruin the prank, and you proceed.

-> "hey guys, should i post this?? i’m not sure if i look good enough to be seen by the world” bokuto practically yells at you that you always look pretty before taking your phone from your hands.

-> “why don’t you ask yukie or kaori?” asks akaashi, that was a question you hand’t thought about and by pure luck, you were saved by bokuto yelling at the team to come and see what you’ve done.

-> konoha is about to head their way and yukie just grabs his arm like “no ❤️"

-> and nobody can contradict yukie’s no so he has no choice but to stay.

-> anyways

-> the team gather around bokuto, who is about to press play. at first it’s just your face, and everyone agree you look pretty.

-> but then they read “did anyone say body count? ;)” and they look at each other like ......what

-> washio leans to stop the video because he genuinely doesn’t know what body count is, sarukui explains it a little too loud, grinning, and washio goes "oh–"

-> thanks to sarukui’s explanation bokuto confirms his idea because one part of him did think it was how many people you’ve killed.

-> they press play again and kenma appears and bokuto just stares, doesn’t react.

-> akaashi’s eyes widened and he GASPS, washio can’t hide his disappointment mostly because why would you make this video and then show it to them.

-> when kita shows up bokuto lets out a surprised squeak, along with washio that’s just question your and his whole existences-

-> sarukui is smirking, his complete expression yells “way to go y/n!!!”

-> sakusa comes as a shock to every one of them, even sarukui loses the grin for a bit.

-> “how did you manage to...?” whispers akaashi, half amazed, half grossed.

-> bokuto then has to pause it for a little to keep his composure, he looks at your like WHY WOULD YOU MAKE ME GO THROUGH THIS

-> but when they resume it and daichi welcomes him he thinks it just can get any worse.

-> washio is like “isn’t that karasuno’s–?”

-> “HELL YEAH IT IS” SHOUTS SARUKUI AND THE GIRLS BEHIND YOU LAUGH SO HARD BECAUSE HE IS SO PROUD OF YOU.

-> the rest is like 🧍‍♂️ while sarukui is SO happy for you LMAO.

-> it’s at the end when no one smiles. konoha’s picture smiles at them and bokuto just stops the video to look at him, only a few meters away.

-> he looks at the picture and then at konoha and so on.

-> can’t get his mind around it????? lowkey no one can.

-> akaashi isn’t even blinking and his eyes are concerningly open, washio is regretting all his past choices that led to this moment.

-> sarukui death stares at konoha. no more fun sarukui, he crossed the line.

-> kaori and yukie are wheezing WHEEZING I SAY and konoha is so confused.

-> his teammates look like dogs about to attack but he hasn’t done anything to upset them?? has he??

-> like robots, akaashi and bokuto get up and walk towards konoha. a part of you tells you to protect him but... what are they going to do tho...

-> “you’re out of the team” THEY SAY AT THE SAME TIME AND ALL AND KONOHA GOES WHAT

-> your co-managers can’t even breath istg NO HELP

-> you then intervine trying to keep konoha in the team lmao “IT’S FAKE GUYS!! A PRANK!! KAORI!!!! YUKIE!!!! BACK ME UP!!! I’M KIDDING DON’T KICK KONOHA OUT”

-> akaashi partially believes you, but bokuto?? nope.

-> you planted the seed on his mind.

-> the whole team acts weird when they see guys from your vid and are looking for chances to bark at konoha.

-> “AKAASHI HAS TO STAND BETWEEN YOU TWO ALL THE TIME” that’s the new rule he set.

-> just to see them freak out, konoha sometimes flirts with you at practice ;)

[thefanficmonster]

Never Satisfied [Chapter 3]

Corpse Husband x Original Female Character

Warnings: Language

A collaboration between Vy & Ashens 🖤

“I can’t tell if this is a date or a debt collection“

“So where do you want to eat?” Corpse murmurs, sitting in the same car with the same girl he’d been in only a few days ago. His seatbelt clicks and he tilts his head to peer at her from his peripheral vision. She’s buckling up and getting settled in the passenger seat where no one but her has sat in for months. His cheeks turn pink when she turns to look at him, catching him staring which brings a grin to her face. 

“I’m buying you food, bud, you pick.” She answers simply, leaning back in the old seat. 

Corpse sits frozen for a minute or two as he contemplates what the best option would be. 

Nowhere? Could I get away with that though? 

His anxiety is starting to creep up again - the dark demon of his existence. The everpresent rain cloud over the parade of his life. 

What if I make myself look like an idiot. What if I picked something she doesn’t like? Would she think I’m weird? What if whatever I get makes me sick and I end up embarrassing myself! 

Wait, she’s a klepto. What if she robs me?!

“If you can’t think of a place, there’s a little bistro about ten minutes down West Colt avenue that has some pretty bangin’ Greek food.” She suggests calmly, taking his silence as indecisiveness. She’s good at picking up subtle cues, he’s thankful for that. She seems to easily be able to get along with anyone despite her wild personality. She may have a wild spirit, but she’s got the ability to tame it when needed. She’s the only one with that power from what it seems. 

Corpse takes a moment, nods and puts his car into drive to head in the directions she mentioned.

He isn’t completely sure how she’s perceived his indecisiveness though, which is bothering him - was she annoyed by it and wanted to put an end to it or was she just trying to be helpful and prevent him from getting himself worked up? His mind spirals so easily, he hates it. Even in a calm and casual - ok, as casual as it’s gonna get with this girl - scenario, his head is spinning with nothing but the worst outcomes and possibilities. That’s anxiety for ya, it’s a fucking bitch. Either way he appreciates her stepping in like that, saved him quite the bus load of anxious pondering, so the least he can do is offer her a quick smile. 

Don’t make it weird, Corpse!, he scolds himself.

She’s looking out the passenger side window, fingers tapping calmly and rhythmically against her knee, seemingly not bothered by the loud silence in the vehicle. He, however, is not so at peace with it. He’s usually the one to enjoy silences, unless he finds himself in these kinds of situations - in-closed space with another person. He tries to ask himself what would other people do to put an end to the quiet that feels almost like a physical presence. Small talk? That’s one thing he’s never been good at. Music? That’s the key here, however he can’t be sure how to properly use it to his advantage. He can’t just play whatever and expect it to be fine. He appreciates taste in people - he knows he’d be mildly offended if people didn’t respect his taste, that’s why he always pays attention to the favors of others. Especially when it comes to music. 

That’s why, before turning the car radio on, he pauses to ask: “What kind of m-“

“Anything. Really.” She says quickly, cutting him off mid-question before laughing in a certain way Corpse can’t quite place...nervously? Could that be it? That’s a sound he never expected he’d hear from her. Is that feeling even in her specter of emotions? Her? Nervous? - sounds more impossible than him being confident. 

 “Anything?” He’s curious now. She’s managed to intrigue him so easily. He smirks, switching from the radio over to the CD he has placed in the stereo. It’s a compilation of several bands he enjoys listening to, songs that help relax and soothe him. Bonus points for the effect they have on his anxiety - they always manage to suppress it even the slightest bit. Many of his favorites are on there, a lot of genre mixing as well: rap, punk, industrial. But there are also a few mellows on there, even a couple foreign songs that she might not have heard before. 

Much to his relief, a little glow appears in her eyes at the sound of the tunes that fill the car, burning brighter than the reflection of the midday sun that’s already present in them, “I’ve always loved music...haven’t found anything I don’t like.” She tells him, voice traveling softly as she closes her eyes for a moment before opening them and allowing her grin to widen, “So...my choker, huh? Thought it suited ya?”

Corpse laughs a little, low and timid as the car comes to a slow stop at a red light. “I thought it was mine, I swear.” He admits, shrugging slightly. “I go by a C name on the internet so…thought it was a product of my bullshit sentimentality or a shopping spree I can’t recall.” He swallows hard, contemplating whether mentioning he’s online was a bad move or not.

 Luckily, she doesn’t  seem to have acknowledged it, as she promptly speaks up again, “You do look good in a collar, you have that bad dog kind of vibe. If it didn’t have such sentimental value I would’ve let you keep it.” She laughs, a sound so light, almost like a glow you can see more than a voice you can hear. It’s contagious too and he can’t help but chuckle with her, blushing again. 

“You would look good in one too I bet.” He says but cringes right as the words leave his mouth. He’s quick to regret what he has said, his tongue burning with a bitter taste as he tightens his grip on the steering wheel and clenches his jaw. 

Fuck! Stupid! Stupid! Why the fuck would you say something like that?? She’s going to think you’re a fucking creepy pervert who’s imagin-

Corpse’s mental anguish is put to an abrupt pause as something warm covers the fingers of his right hand. He lets his tunnel vision focus on his hand to find hers curled over it. 

“Hey…you still with me?” She asks carefully, thumb touching one of his rings. “You don’t have to worry about offending me. It takes a lot to do that, if you can’t tell. Besides, you seem pretty cool and you’re not a narc so that’s a huge plus.” She squeezes his hand before wiggling her fingers under his palm and pulling it from the steering wheel so their fingers could intertwine. “If you need it, you can always grab my hand any time and squeeze until you don’t feel nervous. Although, you never need to be nervous around me. Consider me your personal human safety blanket. Or a….what to call it?... - A checkpoint! If everything or everyone else makes you anxious, I’m your checkpoint person where that anxiety should evaporate. Sounds good?”

Corpse stares at this literal stranger in his car. A stranger holding his hand and promising to be there for him when his anxiety overwhelms him. Letting him rely on her whenever his chest tightens or his heart speeds up. He feels so much while looking at the sight she is. Gratitude and confusion take over though. “Why would...you-..” He attempts to mutter, but she’s quick to cut him off yet again.

“Because I know what it’s like to be anxious and I wish I had somebody to help me when I was feeling that storm in me.” She replies, shrugging her shoulders with nonchalance and gives his palm another gentle and encouraging squeeze. “Even if this is a one time hang out sesh between strangers, you can count on me until we go our separate ways.” Confidence radiates from her like waves of warmth and safety. 

Her aura’s reaching out to his, offering him reassurance and comfort. And so, he decides to accept.

Corpse finally brings himself to squeeze her hand back. “-...thanks.” He murmurs, lips quirking up in a smile. 

But I don’t want this to be a one time thing…I might actually have a friend. I may have just clicked with someone like I haven’t in so long. 

She releases his hand so he could continue driving, nodding her head as if to tell him she’s still there despite the loss of contact, reassuring him that he could reestablish that contact whenever he’d like or need to. 

He now feels more comfortable in the car, more relaxed than he can even remember. Music plays from the speakers but it’s overpowered by their voices singing along to the songs they recognize. Corpse can’t help but note she sounds nice, singing like that - so carelessly. She’s by no means a Utada Hikaru, or a Mariah Carey but she knows how to hold a tune and he can appreciate that. He’s no BONES either after all.

He doesn’t want this drive to end, he doesn’t want this bubble of comfort and leisure to burst. He rarely gets the luxury of finding himself in a state like this one so peaceful yet so chaotic. So familiar despite him not having experienced it before. It all feels so natural despite how out of place it is. It’s so many things contradicting each other and it’s beautiful to him. It’s comfort, it’s happiness. It’s the absence of anxiety - a feeling he wants to enjoy for as long as possible. He has Cora to thank for this, for managing in less than a full day of knowing him what people who’ve known him for years haven’t been able to do. He’s aware that this is temporary, this car ride can’t last forever and neither can this outing. But he knows that when they step out of this car, when they leave this bubble, her hand will still be within his reach. And when this hang-out sesh is over, he’ll be able to make another one happen. There is always this big step of overcoming his anxiety he has to face whenever he wants to invite people within his proximity and in his life, but with her, that step disappears. It’s erased from existence by the simple touch of her fingers. The oddly powerful grip of her small, gentle hand. 

Corpse is not one to believe in fate, but there are some things that are inevitable. Things that are special and always happen with a reason and a message. He’s not blind either - he knows what he’s got here, with her, falls in that category of special.

@fockingwhore  @vixenl  @annshit  @wineandionysus

[plainbrunettelbl]

ABO (A) Store Owner Amajiki Tamaki x (O) Mail-Order Bride Reader Salt Water Taffy (Part Two)

Word count: 3344

Warnings: None. 

Title: ABO (A) Store Owner Amajiki Tamaki x (O) Mail-Order Bride Reader Salt Water Taffy (Part Two)

Summary: You are getting used to working with Tamaki. That doesn’t mean it isn’t hard not to pine after him. 

(Gif not mine) 

🐙-It had been two weeks since you started working with the timid Alpha. Things were going well, you had settled in quite nicely. Although, the first morning you stayed at Tamaki’s house was a bit nerve-wracking.

🐙-When Tamaki had dropped you off that night he had told he would be by in the morning to walk you to work. You had woken up early to make him a nice breakfast as a thank you for everything he has done for you.  

🐙-The kitchen was a little bare but he had rounded up a little basket containing some kitchen staples you might need from his store. You had protested but he waved it off and said it was another welcome gift. 

🐙-You now stood over an oven making pancakes and sausage links. 

🐙-The kitchen was pretty spacious. There was a small two-person table near the window on the right-hand wall. You had opened up it to let out some of the heat that the cooking was causing. The white curtains swayed with the wind. 

🐙-You pulled out the dishware and had just placed a plate of pancakes on the table when something jumped up at the window. It gave you such a fright that you knocked over a glass trying to get away from the sudden intruder. 

🐙-A small chirp escaped your chest. 

🐙-You didn’t know that Tamaki was just about to knock on the front door when he heard a crash and your distressed chirp. He was quick to push open the door and rush into the house. He found your shocked frame looking at the glass scattered around the floor. 

🐙-He took notice to your bare feet straight away. 

🐙-“Don’t move, Omega. I’ll come to you.” He softly ordered, walking towards you. 

🐙-Once he had gotten close enough he wrapped his arms around your waist and picked you up. You were shocked by his actions. You were also shocked that he could carry you so effortlessly. 

🐙-He might have not looked like it but the years of hauling crates food of paint cans and canned goods had done his body some good. 

🐙-He sat you down on a nearby wood counter before going over to the pantry and getting out the broom and dustpan. 

🐙-“Thank you, Tamaki.  I’m sorry I broke one of your glasses, Tamaki. I’ll be sure to replace it.” You apologized, saddened at the thought of him being mad at you. 

🐙-“It’s fine. I am sure I won’t even miss it. Is everything okay? I heard you chirp before I came in.” He looked over his shoulder while he swept up the glittering mess. 

🐙-“Something jumped at the window.” Your eyes shot to the opened window. The white curtains and prevented you from getting a good look at the intruder.  

🐙-A pink tongue and icy blue eyes greeted you. A smiling dog was leaning on the window sill holding his nose out like he was waiting for something. His coat had so many different colors you didn’t even know what breed of dog he was. 

🐙-Tamaki shook his head at the dog.

🐙-“I should have warned you about him. He is one of the neighbor’s dogs. His name is Charles but we call him Charlie since he was a puppy and it stuck.” He tossed the glass broken away before going over to the sausage plate and snagging one. 

🐙-Charlie let out a small woof at the action, eager to get it into his mouth. His tongue bouncing with every pant. 

🐙-“My mom used to give him a little bacon or sausage when he came by, he must have expected you to do the same. The house has been  vacant for a while so I figured he would stop coming.” He tossed the sausage out the window making the dog chase after it. 

🐙-“He seems nice. I was just surprised.” You jumped down from the counter and made your way over to the table. 

🐙-“You should see him around town a lot. Everyone loves him. He comes by the shop sometimes.” He smiled at the way your hair caught the sunlight, he couldn’t believe you looked so beautiful first thing in the morning.  

🐙-“I’ll make sure to give him something when he comes by. I probably gave him more of a fright then he did me.” You said, pouring some coffee into a cup for him. You moved the plate of pancakes in his direction. 

🐙-“I made pancakes for both of us.” You were slightly disappointed that you didn’t get to surprise him. 

🐙-He eyed the delicious-looking food on the table. He usually only had a cup of coffee in the morning, maybe two pieces of toast if he was really hungry. The steaming plate in front of him looked mouthwatering. 

🐙-His Alpha purred at your sweet gesture. 

🐙-“Thank you, Y/N.” He shot you a small smile before digging in. 

***

🐙-You had been working at the store for a few days now. You enjoyed chatting with everyone that came by. You knew the news about why you traveled here had gotten around town. You where afraid people would judge you but you received a warm welcome from all the townspeople. 

🐙-Today was the first time you were here when they restocked the shelves. Two young looking Alphas were coming in and out carrying crates of pickled goods and such. 

🐙-You would give them a friendly smile when they would walk by the front counter. 

🐙-The bell jingled when someone walked in, you looked to the door and saw a nicely dressed man enter the store. He had two-toned hair and different colored eyes. You were certain you had never seen him come in before. 

🐙-He eyed at the shelves with a perplexed look on his face. 

🐙-You leaned over the counter to gain his attention. “Is there anything I can do for you, Sir?” You asked, putting a smile on your face. 

🐙-His face was fairly blank but you could see the relief in his grey and blue eyes. He walked over to the counter in a hurry. He leaned forward like he was going to tell you a secret. 

🐙-“I was wondering if I could buy a ribbon?” He whispered, looking around like someone would be eavesdropping. 

🐙-You quirked a brow, confused about why he was being so secretive. 

🐙-“You mean a hair ribbon?” You questioned, looking him up and down. 

🐙-There was no ring on his finger and no mating bite on his neck. 

🐙-“Yes, it for an... acquaintance of mine.” He said, his eyes softening a bit. 

🐙-You could tell this acquaintance might be a little more than he let one. Your Omega was a sucker for romance and love so it didn’t take much to walk out from behind the counter and lead him to the back where you kept the ribbons. 

🐙-Each ribbon color and pattern were wrapped up on different wooden rolls. You would cut each piece to the desired length. You didn’t find yourself to be one for hair ribbons and hats but the lilac and indigo rolls did catch your eye now that you were looking at them. 

🐙-“We have a number of different colors and patterns. What do you think your acquaintance would like?” You asked, peering up at him. 

🐙-His bewildered look was back. 

🐙-“Umm. I think she mentioned gray and turquoise.” He said, struggling to go through his memories for an answer. He had to hold himself back from dwelling on her pretty face. 

🐙- You tried not to giggle when you realized he just stated his two eye colors. It seems this Omega was just enthralled with him as he was her. Your heart warmed for them. 

🐙-“Well, we have a lovely white daisy and turquoise ribbon. We also have a charcoal grey with a leaf pattern. Would those do?” You hummed, pulling each ribbon out and showing them to him. 

🐙-He trusted your opinion more than his and simply nodded hastily. He didn’t want anyone to see him back here. He was well respected around town and he wanted to keep it that way. 

🐙-What would his lumberjacks think if they found out he was buying ribbons for an Omega? He blanched at the thought. They wouldn’t respect him as a boss anymore. 

🐙-“Pardon me for saying but I believe you should get one more. A girl can never have too many ribbons.” You said, waving your hand at the selection once more. 

🐙-He bit his lip and nodded, not caring about how much he would be spending. 

🐙-“Any suggestions?” He inquired, looking at the ribbons. 

🐙-You observed him for a second before pulling a ribbon off the roll. 

🐙-“How about this lovely crimson ribbon with a rose pattern?” You said, offering it to him.

🐙-It was the same color as one side of his hair so you knew his Omega would be pleased by it. 

🐙-“That will do.” He nodded, looking towards the entrance again in case someone walked in. 

🐙-“Great! I’ll ring you up.” You smiled, cutting each ribbon before leading him back towards the counter. 

***

🐙-“That Omega working the front desk sure is a looker. I heard she was gonna marry the town drunk.” A young man’s voice said.

🐙-“If she had her sights set on Sora, I wouldn’t mind taking her out on a few courting dates. Do you think she would let me under her skirt?” Another boy joked, lifting up a crate of pickled goods. 

🐙-Both boys were outside the shop in the back, unloading all of their goods the store had purchased from their farm. They were completely clueless that the store owner was standing behind the slightly opened back door. 

🐙-He had been wanting to help out the boys with the boxes since he was sweet like that. Now there was nothing sweet about him. His Alpha was clawing at him to rough up the young boys. 

🐙-They were saying such vulgar things about his sweet Omega. No, not his Omega, his coworker.  

🐙-He pushed his Alpha down and shoved the door open with a little extra force. Both boys stopped what they were doing and looked his way. They had grown up with the timid Alpha and had never seen such aggression on his face before. 

🐙-“You know I have been offered a better price for pickled good from the next town over. I had been considering taking their offer and drawing up a contract.” He said, ice in his tone. 

🐙-“No! Don’t do that! Our daddy would have us work for the coal mines if it weren’t for you and your store.” The older of the boys stuttered, panic lacing his words. 

🐙-“Please, Sir! Our family relies on this contract with you.” The younger boy nearly cried he didn’t want to work in the dark, cold mines.

🐙-He wanted to let the boys suffer for a little while.  

🐙-“Maybe you’re right. My parents and yours are good friends it would be a shame if we stopped doing business. I’ll let them know I will consider it and to leave the option open if things come up in the future.” He warned, his eyes sharp as steel. 

🐙-Both boys nearly dropped to the floor in relief. 

🐙-“I want everything unpacked and stocked in twenty minutes’ time or else my mind might change again.” Tamaki threatened, before walking back into his store trying to act like his Alpha wasn’t clawing at him to turn back around and sock one of the boys. 

***

🐙-You had just waved goodbye to the stoic man when Tamaki came to the front. Your Omega immediately took notice in his scent. His scent usually reminded you of the smell of the outside after it rains. 

🐙-Now it had a slightly smoky scent like someone forgot to put out their campfire and the rain did it for them. 

🐙-“Is something wrong, Tamaki?” You asked, letting your Omega scent the room to calm him a little. 

🐙-“It’s nothing, Y/N. One of the boys dropped a crate and broke a few bottles. I’ll just take it out of their cut.” He said, his tone still a little cold. 

🐙- You don’t remember hearing anything drop.

🐙-Something must have happened to get him this riled, but if he didn’t want to talk about it then you weren’t gonna force him. You didn’t like that his scent was muddled. You needed to take his mind off of whatever it was. 

🐙-You knew just the thing. 

🐙-“Can I have your opinion on something, Tamaki?” You coaxed, walking out from behind the counter. 

🐙-“Y-yeah, sure.” He replied, still getting flustered anytime you would walk by him and your scent would flood his nose. 

🐙-You smelled so sweet. Like a cold strawberry on a summer day. He found himself putting strawberry jam on his toast in the mornings. Just a little something that reminded him of you.  

🐙-He follows you to the back of the store where the ribbon and hair accessories are. He instantly felt panicked. He has never seen you wear any hair accessories before. 

🐙-What was with the sudden interest? Did you have a courting date he didn’t know about? Even though he was a stereotypical protective Alpha a few minutes ago his Alpha couldn’t find it in him to growl and snarl at the idea. 

🐙-If you wanted to see another Alpha then he would accept that. Even if his Alpha and he were both whimpering at the thought. He still sometimes got mistaken for a Beta so he could understand if you wanted someone worthy of the title Alpha. 

🐙-You probably wouldn’t want to live in his empty parent’s house forever. You had come to this town looking to be bonded. It wouldn’t be surprising if you still had your heart open for suitors. 

🐙-This town was still growing but there seemed to be more Alphas than Omegas around. He nearly shuddered at all the free available Alphas in town. 

🐙-“Which color do you think I get? I like this soft lilac color but this deep indigo one is so pretty.” You hummed, softly caressing both of them. 

🐙-Your bright eyes looked up at him, he felt his heart stutter in his chest. 

🐙-What he wouldn’t give to wake up in the morning and have those sweet orbs be the first things he sees. 

🐙-“Umm, why the sudden interest in ribbons?” He questions, trying not to show you how nervous he was of your response. 

🐙-“A man came in today and bought a few. I never really paid attention to them before but these two colors caught my eye. Plus since I’m the first person people see when they come into the store it wouldn’t hurt to have a nice ribbon in my hair every once in a while.” You informed, still looking down at the soft ribbons.

🐙-You weren’t gonna admit that they reminded you of him. The indigo one matched his hair color perfectly. 

🐙-He was nearly jumping in joy at your answer. His Alpha was panting in relief. You just wanted to seem more presentable for the shop. He would have told you he wouldn’t mind you dressed in a potato sack while greeting his custom’s but he held his tongue.  

🐙-“O-oh. If that is your intention then I’ll give them to you for free.” He said, grabbing the cloth scissors and cutting said ribbons before you could reject. 

🐙-“Tamaki! You can’t just keep giving me stuff for free! You have to make a profit.” You huffed, putting your hands on your hips. 

🐙-Refusing the ribbons when he offered them. 

🐙-“My shop isn’t gonna fall apart because I gave you one too many taffy's and a couple of ribbons.” He reassured, letting a small smile grace his face, while his heart pumped nervously in his chest. 

🐙-He felt like he was giving you a courting gift for some reason. Maybe it was because he never really gifted anything to an Omega before. The ribbons wouldn’t count as a courting gift, he didn’t make them. 

🐙-He had to admit he was disappointed they weren’t handmade. Heaven knows he would want nothing more than to court you. 

🐙-It wouldn’t be right though. Not only was he not a stereotypical Alpha but most importantly he was your boss. He didn’t want you to think he only hired you so he could court you. While he enjoyed your sweet scent and calming aura his main intention when hiring you was to help out a person in need.  

🐙-“Still...” You hesitated, your eyes starting at the indigo ribbon in his hand. 

🐙-His scent was probably rubbing off on them right now. If you accepted them then it meant you would get to take a little of his scent home with you. You Omega was nearly clawing at you to take them. She wanted them in her nest. 

🐙-“How about half off?” You peered up at him, his eyes widening just a little when your sweet eyes meet his. 

🐙-You knew he was stubborn when it came to giving you what he deemed necessary. He has slipped you one too many taffy's while you would work the front counter. 

🐙-You can’t say you Omega wasn’t jumping in joy every time he would slide the sweet treats your way. You had become particularly fond of the currant flavor but also chewed on the cherry one every now and then. 

🐙-He couldn’t say no to those sweet eyes. 

🐙-“Fine, half off.” He agreed, adoring the way you bounced on your feet in triumph. 

🐙-You quickly took the ribbons from him, your Omega wanting to feel their soft texture against her fingers again. 

🐙-The mood was broken when a clinking sound was heard. One of the boys had come inside to stock the shelves. He was clever enough not to look in their way. He could faintly see the boy’s hand shaking while putting up a jar. 

🐙-“How about we take a break? The Tanaka boys are still unloading so they will be here to watch the store. What do you say we go down to my friend’s bakery and try some of his sweets?” He said, covering your body with his has he began to lead you out of the store. 

🐙-“What? Now? Are you sure we can just leave?” You wondered, confused at his offer. 

🐙-“It will only be a short break. Just enough time to eat a piece of cake and come back.” He convinced, gently pushing you out the door. 

🐙-His Alpha was snarling at him. He didn’t want those boys anywhere near you. The thought of their nasty words made his blood boil again. It didn’t help that they were Alphas too. 

🐙-“Cake?” You repeated, your hesitation evaporating in an instant. 

🐙-“Cake and other things. Tai isn’t shy when serving his costumers, especially his friends.” He said, his hand hovering over your back while walking down the street. 

🐙-“Wait, I didn’t get to put up my ribbons.” You realized, still holding them in your hands. 

🐙-Your dress didn’t have any pockets, you had planned to store them behind the counter until you could take them home when the shop closed. Tamaki had begun to walk you home after he finished locking up.

🐙-Tamaki took them from you and rolled them up before sliding them into his front pocket. 

🐙-“Remind me to give them to you when I drop you off at home today.” He said, giving you a shy smile before walking on. 

🐙-He was already thinking of ordering a strawberry shortcake for the two of you. 

🐙-Your Omega swooned, not only was she getting cake but her ribbons were gonna be dowsed in his scent when it came time to collect them. 

🐙-Today was a good day. 

Finally a second part for Tamaki! I have been promising it forever and I am glad it is seeing the light of day. What are your thoughts? Will Tamaki finally get the guts to court her?  Who was Shoto buying the ribbons for? Another possible addition to the western AU?  

We will see. I hoped you enjoyed reading. Please reblog and leave a like. Both really motivate me to continue writing. 

[weirdlypersonalrpmemes]

sentence starters: quotes from my tomodachi life game, part 4.  

❝ remember, kids. the only thing to fear is fear itself and also spiders. ❞

❝ remember, kids. never talk to strangers, talking dogs, or inanimate objects. ❞

❝ remember, kids. never open an umbrella outside unless it’s raining inside. ❞

❝ i want to be the best singer in the world. any suggestions? ❞

❝ seeing travelers chasing their dreams gets me all fired up! ❞

❝ i love the thrill of satisfaction i get after trying really hard. ❞

❝ i think it would mean only good things if i became the leader of this island... ❞

❝ it would be so great if everyone on this island became friends. ❞

❝ i’m not pessimistic. why would you say that? ❞

❝ i’m not pessimistic. why would you say that? oh, you didn’t? oops... ❞

❝ life’s a beach, but only when i’m with you... ❞

❝ as it were... there’s something important i’ve been meaning to ask... ❞

❝ that was loud! sorry — did you say something? ❞

❝ please be the sunshine in my life! ❞

❝ a scandal?! oooh, tell me, tell me! ❞

❝ let’s sit here, shall we? ❞

❝ isn’t this amazing? ❞

❝ i’m actually not a bad makeup artist. ❞

❝ a face is like a canvas! ❞

❝ today is my birthday! ❞

❝ this is what the cool kids would pick. ❞

❝ i’m not 100% sure about this... ❞

❝ what are you talking about? ❞

❝ you’re not making any sense! ❞

❝ hey! you look after people, right? ❞

❝ take extra good care of my sister/brother/sibling for me! ❞

❝ i wanna have a video-game party with [name]. too much to ask? ❞

❝ i really need to work out more. ❞

❝ my favourite is a day off where i have nothing planned. that is true freedom! ❞

❝ one bite of this, and you’re never gonna wanna eat anything else! ❞

❝ oops. i’m not a grown-up, so i can’t get married yet... ❞

❝ you have one really long nose hair sticking out of your left nostril. ❞

❝ actually, i’m just pulling your leg. ❞

❝ a traveler asked me about touristy spots here. i suggested the food mart. ❞

❝ i woke up really early to make this chamomile tea! ❞

❝ [name]! you’re our only hope! ❞

❝ people tend to misunderstand me. i really have the best intentions! ❞

❝ they say you don’t choose your friends, but i mean... of course you do! ❞

❝ i can hit it off with almost anyone! ❞

❝ i’m the smartest guy/girl/person i know! ❞

❝ i don’t let anything stand in my way! ❞

❝ i excel at thinking things through from every angle. ❞

❝ i like films that don’t make me think too hard. ❞

❝ i got this fruit at the farmers’ market today! ❞

❝ i only register people i really like on my phone. ❞

❝ i don’t like people why try to get too close too fast. ❞

❝ a punching bag is a great investment. ❞

❝ i’m not good at compliments. ❞

❝ i’m not good at compliments. by the way, your hair’s less ugly than usual. ❞

❝ kids these days. they just don’t know up from down anymore, do they? ❞

[funfunfuntillmydaddy]

Naked Ambition

Getting up the corporate ladder when you work somewhere that is dominated by misogynistic alpha males requires a good dose of talent, resilience and ambition. Not to sound full of myself but, well, I do get a lot of compliments on my talents from the guys at the agency where I work. Especially from the senior partners.

So I was pretty happy with myself when in my mid 20s I was promoted to a manager to lead a team. But it wasn’t plain sailing and I quickly learned that you can’t be friends with everyone. One of the guys in the team, Alex, who I beat out for the promotion, was particularly sour and difficult.

For two months, Alex was nothing but a total pain in the ass. He would argue with me, not do what I asked and bad mouthed me to other people in the office

Being the independent woman I am, I didn’t complain to my boss or any of the other senior partners. But then my boss came to me and told me he noticed how much of a prick Alex was being. He asked me if I wanted him to fire Alex. I didn’t want to admit defeat and wanted to fix it myself. My boss told me that maybe I should try and clear the air with him. But if that didn’t work I needed to get rid of him.

So I put a bit of a plan together. It meant having an informal chat with him late on a Friday. It also meant that I wore my best looking casual Friday outfit. This meant tight jeans and a top with a low neck to give a glimpse of a couple of my talents that were particularly persuasive. I wanted to assert my own type of dominance with some honey, rather than vinegar.

And surprise, surprise, it works a treat. As soon as we were alone and I call him out, he was back tracking and apologising like some pathetic puppy dog. He goes on saying how sorry he is and how much this job means to him and how he was getting married soon and was probably just stressed about it.

After a while, it gets a bit painful and I say we could get a drink and maybe a bite to eat to really clear the air and we could start afresh. So we head to one of the trendy city bars and get stuck into the cocktails.

I knew his type. I wasn’t surprised that he would let himself get sloppy drunk even with his boss. I guess he thought we were all good and even friends now so he felt comfortable letting go. Soon his arrogance and macho attitude came back. But I was ready for it. Now it was time for some twisted fun.

So I start flirting with him. Laughing along, touching his arm, smiling a lot. The usual kind of encouragement.

We continue drinking and get something to eat from a small and cosy restaurant where the drinking and flirting keeps going. By the time we finish dinner, it’s late but instead of calling it quits I suggest we head to a club. He messages his fiancé to say he’s stuck at work because some client was going nuts. As he tells me what he’s writing I smile to myself. I know exactly how this is going to play out now. I message my boyfriend something similar but he’s used to these kind of things. He’s proud of my success even if it means I have to prioritise work sometimes, even on a Friday night. I then message my assistant and ask her to book a room for me at the hotel down the road from our office.

The hotel booking was nothing out of the ordinary. We often did it for clients but also when we were stuck in the office or the city. My assistant had been around awhile and knew all about it. She had worked for senior partners and knew she might be asked to do it at short notice. And she always does it discreetly. I worked this out in my second week when my boss at the time took me out for dinner and drinks that started as a client meeting and continued as a debrief in the hotel into the wee small hours.

So when Alex and I get to the club, we down a shot and get even sloppier on the dance floor. He’s losing control and can’t help himself. His hands are all over me. But I don’t object. In fact I encourage it. I grind against him and feel how excited he is.

After a few more drinks in the club, I pull away from Alex and give him my best devilish grin. I tell him I should let him go home and get back to his fiancé. As I see the pain of disappointment on his face, I bite my lip as I suppose out loud that we could go somewhere else, more private. I almost laughed when the expression on his face instantly changed to that of a puppy with a new toy.

As we leave the club and find a taxi, Alex starts getting even more handsy, groping my ass and pushing into me as we walk out. Then we find the taxi and once we are in the backseat he just goes full on. He leans over planting his mouth on mine and going for it like only a drunk, horny guy can.

He keeps going all the way to the hotel and then he follows me out the door. I pull away from him again and ask him if he’s sure he wants to keep going and I don’t want to get him in trouble with his fiancé. He answers by pulling me back into him and sticking his tongue down my throat. So I grab his hand and we go into the lobby.

It’s now after 1 am and the lobby is mostly deserted. I confidently check in under my name knowing my assistant is totally reliable. My face shows no shame even though the time, our condition and the lack of any luggage makes the state of affairs irrefutable. I just exchange a brief, knowing smile with the cute, late night receptionist

With the room key successfully procured, we head to the elevator and Alex continues to carry on like a hopeless little puppy. Once in the elevator, he goes even harder at me. His hands all over me especially my ass and my tits. I keep encouraging him and even unbuckle his belt as the elevator gets to our floor. We stumble down the corridor as we get to the room and open the door. I pause briefly at the threshold and look at him, trying to get him to recognise the significance of crossing over. But he’s too horny to care.

So we walk through and the door slams shut behind us. He moves me over to the large bed in the centre of what is a pretty ostentatious suite. But we could be in a $50 motel for all Alex cares. This thought amuses me.

He bends me over the bed and roughly undoes my jeans and pulls them down my thighs and then pulls my panties to the side. My suspicion about the kind of lover he would be is soon confirmed as he goes straight to trying to ram his dick into my pussy. There is no discussion on protection. Fortunately I was wet enough to allow his dick to slide in with reasonable ease.

He hammers away at me as his hands squeeze my tits through my top. He starts groaning already so I pull away. I smile at him as I tell him to slow down. I pull down his jeans and take off his shirt as I push him on the bed. Then I pull off my own clothes as I grab his phone out of his pocket and throw it on the bed.

Naked, I climb on to the bed. Straddling Alex, I lower myself and set the pace as I ride his dick. As I hear his moaning return, I look at his phone, letting the vindictive ideas swirl. Instead of anything particularly evil, that would be thwarted by the passcode anyway, I opt for something a little more passive I pick up the phone and open the camera app. I see a look of panic on his face.

I tell him not to worry and that I just want him to have something to remember this by. Then I squeeze my muscles around his dick and ride him hard to distraction. His moans of pleasure fill the room and I snap away with his camera, framing his naked torso and face as he writhes around as my Pusey works him over. Then I hold it to the side to get my lower body and him in the frame so the cause of his pleasure is indisputable. I even switch to video a bit as I ask him to tell me how good it feels. He tells me how tight I feel which is a nice compliment given how much sex I have and how ungenerously proportioned he is. Then I can’t resist and ask him if I’m tighter than his fiancé while I squeeze extra hard. He groans out in confirmation. I can tell he’s close so I turn into bitchy mode.

I know he isn’t going to be able to get me to orgasm. I ride him hard, alternating between grinding my hips while squeezing and bouncing up and down. I moan out telling him not to cum and pleading for him to keep going, already knowing it will be futile. He is getting really close. I think about lifting off and just ruining his orgasm but decide on the other option.

I plead again for him to keep going and to make me cum. Then as he groans more sharply, I tell him he can’t cum inside me knowing he is too far gone. As I yelp out again for him to hold on, I feel his dick swell inside me as his face contorts and he groans out as he shoots inside me.

I stop abruptly as I look down at him with the most bitchy face I can put on to convey my annoyance. Behind it is a face of satisfaction as this played out exactly as I expected. The pleasure on Alex’s face evaporates as he shoots his last lots of cum into me.

I climb off of him and continue the pretence of my annoyance. Tutting and looking down as his cum leaks out of me. I growl at him, asking rhetorically why he couldn’t hold on. But secretly pleased with myself that I made him totally lose control.

It’s now after 2am and I tell him he should go back to his fiancé as I need to take a shower. There is no invitation from me to join in. We are not embarking on a second round. I make the disappointment palpable. He sheepishly walks out the door and mumbles an apology.

As I enjoy the twin jets of the opulent marble shower, I wonder if he will remember to delete those photos before he gets home to his undoubtedly suspicious fiancé.

After that little escapade, poor Alex was never the same. He was meek and unsure around me, couldn’t speak up in meetings, couldn’t pay attention to what anyone said, his work was full of mistakes. So I’m sure he wasn’t surprised that a few weeks later, we had another meeting late on a Friday. But instead of it ending with him cumming inside me, it ended with him walking out with a box packed with all of his personal effects, Including the picture of his fiancé that adorned his desk.

[shoutaaizawas]

↳ todoroki shoto x reader → cat naps 

event: domestic fluff prompt summary: you and shoto adopt a cat word count: 1,929 tags/warnings: fluff a/n: this was requested by @fudgingheckdudarino​ sorry for the wait. this was way longer than intended but i really enjoyed it.

You wanted a cat. Ever since you were little you adored cats. You grew up with them and it just always made you so happy to have them around.

Now you were an adult who shared a home with Shoto Todoroki, your husband. You had mentioned a few times how empty the house felt which led to Shoto explaining how he wasn’t ready for kids and might not ever be. Which for the record was a conversation you had already had and if you didn’t know how oblivious he was you might be offended that he was thinking you were trying to push him into having children.

“No, no Sho. That’s not what I meant.” You said, turning to face him in your shared bed. “I mean we should get a pet.”

“Oh.” He said you could tell he felt bad at assuming. “I’ve never had any pets.”

That didn’t surprise you, the more you had found out about his childhood the more you wanted to go slap Endeavor. Yes, he was trying to be a good father now but it didn’t erase what he had put his children through.

“It’s nice.” You told him, snuggling up to his warmer half. “They’re always there to greet you when you come home. I don’t know I just like the idea of knowing that someone’s getting used out of the house even when we’re gone all day.”

Shoto had a thoughtful look on his face which told you he was considering the idea.

“Not to mention there are so many animals out there that have been hurt and abandoned and don’t have any home.” You explained. “It makes me sad to know they’re out there without any love. It feels good to take in a pet and give it the love and safety it never had.”

“I’m starting to understand why you started dating me.” Shoto’s unexpected jokes always caught you off guard no matter how many times he cracked them. You nearly choked on your own spit.

“Not even.” You bumped him playfully with your shoulder. “I only dated you for your dashing good looks.” You smiled at him, brushing your hand through his hair. He gave you a small smile.

“I like the idea but I don’t think we’re home enough to have a dog. Don’t they need lots of attention.” He questioned.

“Yeah, I was thinking of a cat. They like attention but they also like their space. I grew up with them, I know how to take care of them.” You told him.

“Okay. We can go look tomorrow.” He offered.

“Really?!” You sat up looking at your husband with excitement.

“Yeah.” He said.

“I’m so excited, Sho!” You said before diving in for a kiss.

Walking into the animal shelter you felt like a child buzzing with excitement. You were most likely going home with a new family member today, your first cat as an adult, and Shoto’s first pet ever. You couldn’t wait.

Holding hands you walked through the different enclosures with different cats. At the front they had a bunch of kitten’s together, you couldn’t help but stare at how cute they were as they tumbled around played.

“They’re really cute,” Shoto said as he watched them with you.

“They are but kittens are a lot of work and they usually find homes pretty easy. I was thinking we could get an older cat. They need time to adjust but they’re calmer and don’t always find homes.”

“That makes sense.” He said as you walked further down the hallway.

There were plenty of older cats in different colors and sizes. You both stopped to look at each one you passed looking for something to draw you to one of them.

You stopped at one cage, looking at the cat that was currently curled up in the corner looking defensive. It was a scruffy white cat that had a scar over its eye as well as an ear with a piece of it missing. It looked scared.

Instantly you felt attached to the cat.

“Oh that’s one of our newer cats, he’s had a pretty rough life. He’s gonna need a lot of love, that one.” A volunteer mentioned when they saw them looking at the cat. “The previous owner was very abusive, he doesn’t seem to like men.”

“Can we see it?” Shouto said, surprising you. It seemed you were on the same page.

“Normally we’d take you to the rooms we have so people can visit with the cat but in his case, it’d probably be better to take you to him.” They said, leading them to a door.

They took you and Shouto to the other side where you could open the enclosures they had for the cats. They opened the door and let you enter, giving you some treats for the cat.

“Hey there.” You said, kneeling down. Shouto followed your lead.

The cat stared at you nervously.

“It’s okay, do you want a treat?” You said, reaching out and placing a treat in front of it.

He stared at you waiting for you to pull your hand away before it hesitantly leaned forward and ate the treat. It looked less nervous but still wasn’t trusting.

You both spent a few minutes with the cat, slowly feeding it the treats and talking to it. Shouto watched quietly.

Once you were out of treats you went back to the hallway to look at more of the cats. Every cat you saw after you couldn’t help but think back to the scruffy white cat.

When you walked back down the hallway you passed the white cat, pausing to look at it. When it’s blue eyes caught sight of you it left the corner approaching you through the glass that separated you both.

“Sho.” You cooed.

“I want that one.” He replied. You looked over, he hadn’t made any comments about which cat he was interested in yet.

“It won’t be an easy first cat for you, it’ll take time to earn its trust and for him to be comfortable around people, especially men.” You told him. As much as you wanted to help that cat you didn’t want Shouto’s first experience with a pet to be said pet hating him.

“You’re good with cats, you can help him. He deserves to have someone who will be patient and help him. What if no one else will?” He said. “And I can see how much you already love him.”

You smiled at Shouto, eyes tearing up just a little.

“Have I ever told you you’re too good for this world.” You said, grabbing his hand and pulling him in close.

You both went to the front counter and explained which cat you wanted. The volunteers were very helpful, giving some tips to help them make sure he would be as comfortable as possible in his new home.

While they got the cat ready to be sent home, you and Shouto ran to the pet store to pick up everything you would need for your new member of the family. It warmed your heart watching Shouto thoughtfully pick out which toy he thought the cat would like most or what treat flavor he would prefer. Shouto ended up throwing a bunch of variations of everything into the cart saying that he could try them all and decide.

You returned to the animal shelter with a nice carrier for your new cat, handing it over to the workers so they could retrieve him.

Driving home you could tell he was nervous even if he was quietly sitting in the carrier. The carrier sat on your lap as Shouto drove. You softly spoke to him reassuring him that he was going somewhere safe.

“What should we name him?” Shouto asked.

“I’m not sure, the first name that came to mind was Shiro but that’s kind of on the nose.” You said.

“What about Azumi?” Shouto said. “It means safe residence. He’s safe now.”

“That’s really nice, Sho. I love it.” You told him.

Once he was home you did as the volunteers suggested, placing his carrier in the living room and shutting the doors to the rest of the house. You made sure the cat tree you bought was set up along with a cat hide. That let him have places to hide but kept him from disappearing into the house.

They suggested placing the food out in the open and staying in the room doing something quiet and keeping treats with you.

You and Shouto sat on the couch, cuddled together watching TV on a low volume. When you let Azumi out he was quick to hide away in the little cat house provided. It was hard not to stare waiting for him to peek out but you tried your best to act natural and move slowly about the house.

By the end of the night, he made his way slowly to his food bowl eating a little bit before returning to his safe space. That was a win in your book.

It took time, eventually, he was more comfortable being seen by you. He would perch on his cat tree or sit on the couch when no one was in the living room. You opened up more of the house to him as time went on.

The day that you were able to approach Azumi and pet him without him running away Shoto came home to find you crying. At first, he was concerned but once he realized that you weren’t hurt but crying because you were happy he calmed down.  

You were able to bond with the cat but Shoto struggled. It was hard not only because it was his first pet but because Azumi was scared of men. You helped Shoto but it still took time.

Shoto was so patient, he never became frustrated or upset. He didn’t even feel dejected when he found Azumi on your lap when he got home only for him to run off at the sight of Shoto.

You would often come home to Shoto sitting on the floor a few feet away from Azumi with his hand held out holding treats. Shoto would softly speak to him, talking to him about his day.

You already loved Shoto but the way he treated Azumi made you love him more.

It took a long time but one night you had been working late. You came in the door, putting your purse down and taking your coat off. You walked into the living room, the lights were low. Shoto laid on the couch asleep, a stray book had fallen out of his hand.

What made your heart stop was the sight of Azumi resting on Shoto’s chest fast asleep. Shoto’s hand was on top of the cat holding him gently.

It took everything you had not to cry. You snapped a photo before sitting down and watching them. You had a feeling that Azumi was going to be Shoto’s cat more than your own at this point. Shoto stirred in his sleep, eyes opening.

“You’re home.” He said with a soft smile.

“And you have a new friend.” You said.

Shoto sat up keeping Azumi cradled to his chest. The cat didn’t so much as flinch as he did.

“Can we get another cat?” Shoto asked. “I mean if Azumi doesn’t mind.”

“I’d love to.” You said, leaning towards him and pressing a kiss against his lips.

You had a feeling you’d be getting more than just one more cat.

[snitchseeker07]

I’m not sure if I’m keeping this little munchkin or if she’s going to be sold when she’s older (I already have three dogs so idk if I can keep her 😭). But, I really need help picking a name for her. Any suggestions?

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO, “It Can’t Hurt to Try.”

My brain wanted to write this today, and so this is what I have written. I hope you all enjoy :)

I realize I have sort of Neglected Adam’s past, though I am not sure how I did that, so today I wanted to write some more.

More than three years ago.

“Mom, you don’t have to really…. I’m ok.” Martha turned to look at Adam  and the expression on her face shut him up instantly. He slid back in his seat slouching against the car interior. Off to his left side, his new service dog, who he had named waffles, was lying politely across the seat, her head resting on his thigh, her service vest bright red in the noonday sun streaming in through the window.

The car rumbled under them looking out of place in a city of sleek hover cars. Their tires rolled to a stop at an intersection, as a crash nexus wove itself into existence before the waiting line of cars. Running red lights was a near impossibility in the city and had reduced vehicular accidents by 25%.

Marha turned to look at him over the back of the seat, “Adam let your father and I worry about finances, you just relax.”

He sat up in his seat again pushing his crutches to rest against the window, “But mom do you know how much those cost, I looked it up and….” “Shhhh.” Martha held up a finger, “Just sshhh, your father and I own the house and the car. We could make ends meet if your father was working at the Burger Barn, and I was sitting at home twiddling my thumbs.” 

Adam’s usually Laconic father grunted his agreement, “Besides, this is why your mother and I have a separate account for medical emergencies.”

“But what if YOU have a medical emergency.” he protested thinking about the farm and how easy it would be for his father to get caught in an accident with the massive farming equipment they used.”

“Im old.” his father said, though he wasn’t very old at all.

“What does that have to do with-”

“Boy, just shut up, you’re mother and I have made a decision because we love our kids, and if that means selling the damn house and living in a tent we are going to do it.”

Adam lapsed into silence again. His father’s tone broached no argument. A whimper came from somewhere below him, and he looked down to see that Waffles had scooted so her paws and head were resting on his leg, her tail beat against  the car seat, and she looked at him with big golden eyes.

Her paws were a might bit large for her, but that was because she wasn’t even a year old yet, but even so she was still the best girl. She whimpered again, reminding him to relax and he took a few breaths.

Adam wasn’t so good at dealing with stress these days, though Waffles turning up in his life had been a marked improvement. The doctors said he had finally turned a corner with his mental health, though they suggested he look into getting a real prosthetic if he wanted to recover any further.

They said it would be good for his morale.

He glanced down at his current prosthetic, no more than a black rod of metal with a spring loaded joint and a fake foot at the end. It was army issue, so complete garbage, and he still had to use crutches when wearing it with the amount he tended to trip. He imagined being able to run again…. To really do anything again, and looked down at his body, which had grown thin and skeletal over the past few months of PTSD recovery.

He hadn’t been eating all that much, and his desire to workout had faded with it, instead he had spent most of his time in a hypervigilant state of alertness that left little time for things like eating or working out. When waffles came along, that had morphed into him lying in bed for days on end sleeping on and off while listening to music or listening to his collection of old Star Trek movies on Repeat.

It had been a hard transition to being functional again, which just meant that he was eating now, and went on walks in the morning with waffles. 

He was determined to make it all the way, though he couldn’t say he approved all that much of his parents throwing away so much money on a fancy prosthetic. An older model would have done, but they insisted that they wanted the best. 

The car ground to a stop in the parking garage outside of the Elmridge University robotics lab, and his mother walked around one side to open the door for him as he adjusted his crutches and stepped out into the musty underground air. Waffles leaped out behind him, sticking tight to his left side.

“You good?” His mother asked, and he nodded limping his way after them as they made it towards the doors.

Students at this university had been working on prosthetic technology for the pat fifty years, and their minds had spawned some of the greatest breakthroughs in medical technology the world over. Now, they were asking for people like him to come and test their machines. However things didn’t always come cheap and you had to rely on being rich, or getting some kind of funding from a wealthy benefactor. 

Adam Vir, who was not rich and had no wealth benefactors was instead relying on his parents and their medical savings, which they had been squirreling away for the past twenty years or more. He estimated that the account would be completely drained by the time they were done here, and the thought made him sick to his stomach.

Waffles touched his hand with her wet nose, reminding him to breathe again.

They made it all the way to the doors and into the university hallway. Adam looked around with some interest. He had what might be considered the equivalent of a masters degree or higher in aviation, but he had never stepped foot inside a university.

He thought he would have liked it, and had to brush away the regret that he had never gone for real.

The flight academy had been enough though.

Though it was likely he would never fly again. Waffles whimpered and jumped up on her back paws seeing his distress and working to keep his mind off of it. He took another deep breath. She was right, he just needed to relax.

Together with his family they walked down the hall and into the waiting room of room 125 where they made him rest in one of the hard plastic chairs as they went up to the desk. He rubbed Waffle’s ears, and she rumbled at him lightly.

“And you all must be with Adam Vir.”

They nodded in agreement.

Adam looked up as the girl came out from behind the desk. She had long black hair tied up in a messy ponytail and wore a band T-shirt over a striped long sleeve shirt. She wore glasses, was his age, and was very cute.

He had to look down at the floor.

She knelt next to him, “Can I?” She asked 

Still looking away he untied the rubber band holding the pant leg closed and pulled it back so she could see the stump of his leg.

She pulled something from her back pocket and pressed it up against the old wound. It was cold and soft and he grimaced as he looked down. When she pulled back he realized she had been taking a mold of his leg. She smiled at him, “Just twenty more minutes and we can have you come back.”

He nodded and they let her go. His parents sat on either side of them, his mom took him by the shoulder and shook, “Isn’t this exciting.”

Adam gave a weak smile.

His father picked up a robotics magazine and began to read, showing Adam things of interest as he read them. Adam’s stomach churned with nerves.

After less than fifteen minutes, the girl skipped back into the room, “We’re ready for you.” She announced, and slowly, he moved to his feet limping ack behind the desk and following her down a short hallway and into a large open room.

Here there was a small indoor track, some obstacles, and even a physical therapy table.

A cluster of students sat around the table waiting for them, headed by an older heavyset professor with a short grey beard and a lanyard hanging around his neck.

He reached out to shake their hands as they approached.

Adam glanced at a sleek silver case sitting on the PT table next to the man.

The old professor grinned at him, “Are you ready?”

The students clustered inward eagerly. This was likely the first time one of their creations was going to be used.

Adam nodded nervously, and the man reached forward, snapping the case open and in to reveal….

Adam muttered in slight surprise. The leg looked, good, something straight out of I-robot. It was sleek and elegant with silvered matt titanium and plexiglass casing to fill out the shape of a leg. He could see the fibrous strands of rubberized metal that acted as muscle underneath the plexiglass.

“Wow.”

“Do you like it? My students worked very hard on this project, and the best part is the neron interfacing net that cradles the leg in place and suctions it onto the skin. All across the plexiglass fronting there are microsensors built to detect heat, cold, pressure and vibration. The entire foot is designed to work like a human foot and all the tooes can flex individually. He picked up the leg, reached down and grabbed the foot, behding it around the ankle with a movement as smooth as ice, “The ankle joint can rotate in all the proper directions, and the most revolutionary part, the interface, should collect signals being sent through your neurons to your missing leg, pick those up and interpret them to move the leg just as your own brain would, and better yet send feedback signals in the reverse direction.”

He clapped Adam on the shoulder, “In other words, it will FEEL like a real leg, how does that sound.”

Adam’s mouth opened and then closed and then opened again, “Um…. amazing but…. Impossible if I am being honest.”.

“Well, moment of truth isn’t it.”

He nodded sitting down on the PT bench and rolling up his pant leg again. He tried to ignore all the people watching him, and listened to the professor as he instructed him on how to put it on. It socketed right over his  old injury and as it did he felt an immediate and sudden vibration run through his body as if the leg were whirring to life.

And when it did he froze.

He stared down at the leg, and slowly, with all the memory his brain still had, he flexed the toes.

The sensation was instantaneous and glorious. He put his hand over his mouth fighting back tears that began welling into his eyes.

His parents gasped in delight and an overabundance of emotion as the others at back in silence. His mother hugged him tight as did his father, all three of them staring at the machine, which moved on his command. 

Before he knew it he was grinning, turning to look around at everyone even as he had to wipe tears from his cheeks.

He could feel again!

The relief was so complete and so overwhelming that he couldn’t pick between laughing or crying

“Take it slow.” The professor said, but he hardly heard him, and with a wobbly step he slowly climbed to his feet. He began to laugh and his parents laughed with him hugging him and shaking him with excited exceleration as he took his first step. He closed his eyes in near ecstasy as the foot bent under his weight, the ankle flexed,and the toes splayed out over the ground.

He dropped his crutches to the floor ignoring the urging of the professor who was only half heartedly telling him to slow down.

He took another step, and then another and then another, slow and wobbly at first but then muscle memory took over after that.

His brain remembered, it remembered and despite months with a missing leg, it woke up the part of his brain charged to deal with that movement, and despite what must have been atrophy after months of misuse, it began to fire again.

He broke into a jog, as his father ran next to him, and then the jog turned into a run, his father fell behind as he broke into a full out sprint around the small indoor track. Laughing the whole way as the leg matched him. The students here cheering and clapping and hugging each other as they watched him interact with their creation excitedly shaking each other and screaming.

Adam, forgetting momentarily how to stop running, ended up tripping on his good foot, flailing around for a moment and falling to the floor.

He didn’t stop laughing though, and crawled back to his feet, with all the ease he might have had when he had both legs.

Waffles  barked and wagged her tail furiously as she ran to join him, hopping and bounding over the floor as he played a game of chase with her immediately forcing the leg to its full potential as they made quick turns, stopped and started and leaped into the air. He ran up and down stairs and jumped over their obstacles feeling the shock through his feet and ankles.

Unfortunately for him, months of sitting on his ass hadn’t exactly made him all that athletic and he came to a stop eventually panting like waffles only to grab every one of the students in turn and hug them in an embrace so tight it might have fractured ribs.

He was so excited, so grateful, and so unbelievably relieved.

It was an incredible moment, for him, for the students, for his parents, and for his professor.

He limped into that building but skipped out on his new leg.

Getting in the car its as if he had taken a one eighty in personality. His quiet sullen demeanor from before was replaced with something his parents hadn’t seen in ages.

The ability to not shut up.

He talked a mile a minute in his excitement yammering fit to talk their ears right off, and they let him. It was good to hear him back to his old self for once. His father was smiling more than he had in a long while, and on his left side, facing away from his son and his wife, a tear rolled down his cheek.

***

He wasn’t overly sure what he was doing. 

He didn’t have high hopes that they would even take him back. After all, He was set to be honorably discharged later that week, seeing as the UNSC had finally gotten around to dealing with the men and women injured during operation Steel Eye, but he had decided not to do that. He wanted to go back, and he had the paperwork to prove he was mentally stable enough to do so.

Now it was just down to whether they would let him work with a missing leg.

He nervously made his way onto the fort Harmony base where he had been stationed so long ago. Off in the distance he could hear the dull roaring of jet engines as they readied for takeoff, and watched as columns of other soldiers marched in the early morning sun. Light was spilling across, warm and yellow over the dw colored grass as he made his way towards the central building.

He stepped inside and passed a couple other officers  in the hallway as he walked up to the offices.

He looked down at the paper he held in his hand.

He had only meant the captain once, and that was very briefly, but he hoped that the man would be willing to hear him out. He paused outside the man’s open door, and then peered inside. The captain was sitting at his desk frowning at the papers stacked before him, tapping his fingernail against the counter. Light glittered off his completely shaved head and dark skin.

He knocked quietly and stepped inside.

“Sir?”

The man looked up frowning at Adam without much recognition.

“Yes?”

“Um, Lieutenant Adam Vir, sir…. I was hoping to speak with you.”

The man sat back in his seat and frowned again, “Adam V-”

He paused, “Wait.”

He rummaged in his desk and pulled out a set of papers, glancing at the name at the top before setting them down, “Ah yes, Adam, I was just getting to your discharge for-” he glanced down at the paper again, and then back up at Adam, and then back down again. Adam stood politely behind the single wooden chair and waited.

When the man didn’t speak Adam awkwardly cleared his throat, “About those papers sir….I…. well I was meaning to talk to you about those.”

“Yes I was going to si-”

Adam shook his head cutting the man off, “No sir, I…. I don’t want you to sign them.”

There was a pause, “You don’t?”

“Yes sir.”

He set the papers down on the desk.

“You have the opportunity to be honorably discharged for services rendered and you…. Want to stay?”

He saw the incredulity on the man’s face as he spoke.

The guy must have thought he was stupid. 

The man looked over the desk at him <”Says you lost a leg during the Drev war kid.”

Adam shifted uncomfortably, “Well yes sir.’

“Then by all rights we HAVE to discharge you.”

“No, I got a new one.”

“A new one what?”

“I have a new leg, sir, just as good as the old one. I can pass all the tests, physical, mental whatever you want me to do sir, please, just give me a chance.”

The man stared at him, Adam stared back, “You’re missing a leg kid.”

“Not anymore I’m not. UNSC regulations say that people who have had stem cell organs from their own body transplanted don’t need to be discharged, well this is similar to that. I didn’t have a leg, and now I do, and one that works just as well as the old one therefore it shouldn’t matter.”

He didn’t mean to argue with the Captain, but well that’s what it kind of turned into.

The argument must have been loud enough to attract the attention of some of the other officers and a voice from the door behind them had both of them pull up short, “Is everything alright here.”

Adam turned and his eyes went wide, “Captain Kelly!”

She stepped into full view and his eyes grew wider. He saluted sharply, “Oh, sorry, Major.”

SHe looked at him with her head tilted, “I'll be damned, lieutenant, what are you doing back here.: She looked him up and down, “And in one piece or so it seems.”

“Advanced robotics ma’am…. Maybe you can help us?”

She frowned, “Go on.”

The Captain cut in, “The boy doesn’t want to be discharged. If anything that proves he must be smoking crack.”

Adam frowned, “No Ijust….” he trailed off, “I loved my job…. Before the, losing my leg, bit.” he turned to Major Kelly, “Please Ma’am i’ll prove it. Better than I was before, honest”

She frowned, “It is…. Unprecedented, but…. There aren’t really any rules regarding advanced robotics that I can think of. We will have to talk it over.”

Turns out talking it over meant months of arguing semantics with bureaucrats and even more months of testing and proving that he was, in fact capable of operating like normal. They tested everything, including his prosthetic’s ability to handle G forces…. And he finally got to fly again. It was only by a small margin that he managed to convince them to let him back in, and even then he was relegated to guard detail on what the human medical core was calling an oxyclinic, where a couple of enterprising humans learned that spooning aliens actually helped to treat some mental disturbances in other species like the alien version of depression.

Turned out it was pretty good for him considering he had developed a small fear of aliens since his last encounter. When he wasn’t guarding the clinic, he volunteered to work for them in order to overcome his fear.

He was slowly getting back to normal.

***

Major Kelly sat at her desk looking at the schematics for the new ship under construction. The UNSC Enterprise had been completely decommissioned after engineers determined her to have too many fatal flaws to allow her to fly again. Kelly had only been captain for a little over a year before she had been pulled, and this was her chance to get back on the horse. She looked down at the papers, the schematics and then the second letter from the UN which offered her a second alternative.

A promotion to Admiral, and control over what would soon be a rising fleet of UNSC ships.

It was a hard decision to make. Every fiber in her body wanted to fly again, to see the stars again, and she was halfway to writing her agreement on the captain’s contract when she stopped. She had to think about it, if she took the promotion and gave up the ship, she would never fly again…. But she would have control over the rising UNSC fleet. Under her control she was sure she could help those rising captains avoid the bureaucratic bullshit that was sure to come after them.

In essence, they had one chance to do this right, 

And more chances to get in good with the GA. If she took the position, she could fill it with someone she trusted to back the men and get the job done.

herself .

She stared at the two papers torn between her own desire and the path she knew that was right.

It was a matter of milliseconds that allowed her to agree to the promotion, and leave flying behind. It hurt every fiber of her being and even as she sat warm tears dripped onto the schematics of the ship that would have been hers if she had asked for it.

However, her decision made, she was promoted in short order as Admiral of the UNSC rising fleet, and thus had the power to make suggestions for who should take the ship in her stead. She made a decision pretty early on, and reached out a hand to the GA in helping to come to their decision. It was all about making a good impression on their newfound friends, and lending them the UNSC’s first operational ship under new fleet command would, not only give the captain of that ship the opportunity to school themselves in the ways of alien races,  but it would leave the GA with a greater inclination of friendship.

She was right in her assumptions, and the GA was more than pleased to have some say in choosing the human captain who would be lent out to them on a probationary bases, as a PR move and as a tactical manuver for the UNSC to learn more about these alien races.

Now she had to compile her list of possible candidates.

There were ten names on that list.

All of them had to be capable of flying the ship, at least and all of them had to have some experience with interacting with alien lifeforms.

Looking at her list, however, she realized that not many people on that list had those capabilities. Sure they could fly but most of them only ever met an alien in passing.

It was sitting in her office late one night agonizing over the names that one popped into her head. She sat up in her chair and stared past her desk lamp and out the window into the darkness.

It was a strange idea.

Crazy almost.

Probably ill advised, but, out of all the people she knew, he was certainly CAPABLE of flying a ship…. And he WAS the most experienced person hse knew with aliens. Perhaps THE most experienced person in the galaxy. 

But no…

He was so young, far too young.

But…. why?

It’s not like he hadn’t proven himself, he was loyal, unstoppable and personable, which goodness knows they needed when it came to alien interactions. Looking down at her paper there were more than half of those men and women she wouldn’t trust at a birthday party let alone at a GA diplomatic event.

She added his name to the list. It couldn’t hurt, could it?

[choose-your-own-pronouns]

CYOP - Tutorial Sword

(This one might have some mistakes, because at one point I accidentally copied half of one and pasted it into another, but I think it’s all fixed now...let me know if there are any sets I missed.)

she/her type pronouns: she/her/hers/herself “she was”

Replace:

[Name]

[she]  

[her]  

[hers] 

[herself]

“Hey, who’s that Necromancer over there? Do you know ter pronouns? The one with the silver sword and the skeleton dog over by the forge. Do you know where mys got that sword? It looks awesome. Do you think mys’d trade me?”

“Oh, [Name]? [Her] pronouns are [she]/[her]/[hers]/[herself]. And as for the sword, no, I don’t think [she]’d trade you for it. That sword is Sentimental for [her], since it originally belonged to [her] parent, and they got it off a commander they defeated, so no, I don’t think you’ll have any luck convincing [her] to trade it for yours. No one wants one of the standard issue ones, they’re all too impatient and reckless.

“Why do you think you’re the only one who still has theirs? These idiots  say they’re cursed, can you believe it? A sword that can’t be looted, that tells you everything you need to know about this game, and they want nothing to do with it. Most of these idiots get rid of it the first battle they face. If you didn’t know, when you defeat an enemy in battle, you can loot any items from them that you want except for their base layer of clothing, and any Sentimental items. You know how I said [Name] got [her] sword from [her] parent? Yeah, that means it’s Sentimental, and no one is allowed to loot it, since the Sentimental Exemption applies to it. The rules for what can and can’t be Sentimental are pretty complicated, so I won’t go into them now, but that’s also why [Name] has two swords, since everyone has to carry at least one weapon that can be looted. Anyone can carry multiple weapons, but after a while it just becomes cumbersome.

“You don’t get an extra carry slot when you have a Sentimental object, and with the extra weapon you’re required to carry if you have a Sentimental weapon, you end up permanently losing a slot, and especially when it comes to the higher tier battles, every item you bring counts, which is why not a lot of people keep Sentimental items, or at least not Sentimental weapons.” 

“So let me get this right, everyone hates the default swords because they give you a tutorial, but then you’re also going to give me a tutorial?”

“Yeah, because I get paid to tell the new people how things work. Everyone gets rid of their standard issue sword the first chance they get, so they end up not knowing how to do even basic things like bathing or weapon and armour maintenance. So since I decided to keep mine around until I actually knew what I was doing, everyone decided to elect me the official tutorial tutor, since none of the other experienced players have the patience to teach new people. Everyone who survives a battle using techniques or skills I taught them gives me at 10% of any coins they picked up during the fight.”

“Wait, so now I’m going to have to pay you since you’re telling me this? You could have lead with that! That’s not fair!”

“No, no, you’re still Level 1, so you’re exempt. Plus, you still have your sword, so it could teach you anything I can. You’d only have to start paying me once you hit Level 3 if you’d already gotten rid of your sword. You don’t have to worry about paying me as long as you have that sword. The lessons it gives you run out at Level 50, so you can imagine the slack I’m picking up by teaching the people who got rid of their sword during their first fight. Without me, this team wouldn’t have any idea how to do Spells or Techniques or Crafting. I was one of the founding four, and trust me, if I hadn’t had the common sense to keep my sword, this team wouldn’t even exist right now.”

“Wow. So you’ve been doing this for five years?”

“Yep. Almost six, actually, the anniversary is next month on the 2nd.”

“Woah. So, okay, if you know everything, is there a way I can change how my sword looks without getting rid of it? I like the tutorial feature, but it’s really plain looking. I want something dramatic or cool. Or at least I want to change the color, I have my eye on an outfit from the Jareq’s and I want it to match.”

“Well, you’re in luck. Remember our sentimental Necromancer over there?”

“Yeah.”

“[She]’s our Craftsmaster. [She] can reforge your sword into different shapes and styles, and can dye it different colors for you too. If you’re patient enough, [she]’ll even teach you how to do it yourself. [She]’s always complaining that [she] has to do everything because no one else wants to learn. I think at this point [she]’s literally paying people to become [her] apprentice, just so [she] can have someone to help out with the list of orders.”

“Wait, really?”

“Well, you’d have to ask [her] if that offer is still on, I’ve been too busy with the new recruits to hang out with [her] the last few days. [She]’s friendly, especially towards new people, and [her] skele doesn’t bite anyone that doesn’t threaten [her], so don’t worry about talking to [her] or anything. 

“If you want, I’ll even walk you over and introduce you and ask [her] about reforging your sword. But before we do, you should think of a name for your sword if you haven’t already, you have to give it a name when you reforge it, and it has to be unique. If you open your journal, you can check which names are available, and it’ll suggest some for you if you can’t think of one.”

“Well, I’ve been calling it Chirithy in my head...uh, it’s from a video game, one of the older ones that you played on a cellphone.”

“Well, lets go to your journal and check if that name’s available. It definitely sounds unique so I bet it is--ah, look at that, it is! So we’d better hurry and get your sword reforged now, someone else out there might have the same idea! Trust me when I tell you that when you find a name you want, do not hesitate to claim it. Just don’t. Don’t worry about picking the new form for it yet, you can just reforge it into something quick and basic just to save the name, then you can come back later and choose a more intricate form. Come on, I’ll introduce you!”

“Okay, yeah, let’s go!”

 “Hey, [Name]! Get that forge started back up to five, we need you to reforge a sword quick before the name gets taken!”

“Don’t yell at [her], [she]’ll get mad!”

“Oh, don’t worry kid, this is just what we do. Plus, it takes time to heat the forge to the right temperature, and [she] hates having to wait when [she] could be doing something productive. Trust me, if we waited until we got all the way over there to tell [her] what temperature we need, and then [she] had to stand around and wait for it to get to the right heat even after [she] already knew what [she] was going to make, [she]’d be a lot less happy to help.”

“Oh. Hey, wait a second, do I have to pay [her] to reforge my sword? I only the have fifteen coins the opening fight gave me, and I don’t know what the economy is like yet…”

“[She] usually charges around fifty coins for a reforging to cover the cost of the materials, but this one’s on me. Fifteen coins isn’t a lot, it’s mainly supposed to get you buying things, since the basic gear from Jareq only cost two coins each. While you’re buying the basic armour, you also get to look at all the cooler stuff you can buy later, so you’ll want to get more coins to buy them, so you’ll keep coming back for more fights. And since they release new outfits every other month, you always have a reason to keep coming back.”

“Please take this as a compliment--I can tell you’re the teacher around here.”

“I do take it as a compliment. Thank you!”

“So why are you paying for my sword? I mean, I’m grateful, and I’ll pay you back later, but why? Do you just have a lot of coins?”

“I’ll tell you why. It’s because you’re reforging your standard issue sword. The more you like that thing, the more likely you’ll keep it, and the longer you keep it, the less work there is for me as long as you stick around. You know how I said [Name] is sick of being the only crafter? Well I’m sick of being the only one around here who can or will teach anyone how to do stuff. We need another jack of all trades, and if you’re willing to keep that sword around, you might just become it.”

“So [Name] will pay me to be [her] apprentice, and you’re bribing me to become your apprentice too?”

“Yep.”

“Are there any other teachers around here who are willing to pay for students?”

“Oh you better believe it.”

======================== 

he/him type pronouns: he/him/his/himself ���he was”

Replace:

[Name]

[he]

[him]

[his]

[himself]

“Hey, who’s that Necromancer over there? Do you know ter pronouns? The one with the silver sword and the skeleton dog over by the forge. Do you know where mys got that sword? It looks awesome. Do you think mys’d trade me?”

“Oh, [Name]? [His] pronouns are [he]/[him]/[his]/[himself]. And as for the sword, no, I don’t think [he]’d trade you for it. That sword is Sentimental for [him], since it originally belonged to [his] parent, and they got it off a commander they defeated, so no, I don’t think you’ll have any luck convincing [him] to trade it for yours. No one wants one of the standard issue ones, they’re all too impatient and reckless.

“Why do you think you’re the only one who still has theirs? These idiots  say they’re cursed, can you believe it? A sword that can’t be looted, that tells you everything you need to know about this game, and they want nothing to do with it. Most of these idiots get rid of it the first battle they face. If you didn’t know, when you defeat an enemy in battle, you can loot any items from them that you want except for their base layer of clothing, and any Sentimental items. You know how I said [Name] got [his] sword from [his] parent? Yeah, that means it’s Sentimental, and no one is allowed to loot it, since the Sentimental Exemption applies to it. The rules for what can and can’t be Sentimental are pretty complicated, so I won’t go into them now, but that’s also why [Name] has two swords, since everyone has to carry at least one weapon that can be looted. Anyone can carry multiple weapons, but after a while it just becomes cumbersome.

“You don’t get an extra carry slot when you have a Sentimental object, and with the extra weapon you’re required to carry if you have a Sentimental weapon, you end up permanently losing a slot, and especially when it comes to the higher tier battles, every item you bring counts, which is why not a lot of people keep Sentimental items, or at least not Sentimental weapons.” 

“So let me get this right, everyone hates the default swords because they give you a tutorial, but then you’re also going to give me a tutorial?”

“Yeah, because I get paid to tell the new people how things work. Everyone gets rid of their standard issue sword the first chance they get, so they end up not knowing how to do even basic things like bathing or weapon and armour maintenance. So since I decided to keep mine around until I actually knew what I was doing, everyone decided to elect me the official tutorial tutor, since none of the other experienced players have the patience to teach new people. Everyone who survives a battle using techniques or skills I taught them gives me at 10% of any coins they picked up during the fight.”

“Wait, so now I’m going to have to pay you since you’re telling me this? You could have lead with that! That’s not fair!”

“No, no, you’re still level 1, so you’re exempt. Plus, you still have your sword, so it could teach you anything I can. You’d only have to start paying me once you hit level 3 if you’d already gotten rid of your sword. You don’t have to worry about paying me as long as you have that sword. The lessons it gives you run out at level 50, so you can imagine the slack I’m picking up by teaching the people who got rid of their sword during their first fight. Without me, this team wouldn’t have any idea how to do Spells or Techniques or Crafting. I was one of the founding four, and trust me, if I hadn’t had the common sense to keep my sword, this team wouldn’t even exist right now.”

“Wow. So you’ve been doing this for five years?”

“Yep. Almost six, actually, the anniversary is next month on the 2nd.”

“Woah. So, okay, if you know everything, is there a way I can change how my sword looks without getting rid of it? I like the tutorial feature, but it’s really plain looking. I want something dramatic or cool. Or at least I want to change the color, I have my eye on an outfit from the Jareq’s and I want it to match.”

“Well, you’re in luck. Remember our sentimental Necromancer over there?”

“Yeah.”

“[He]’s our Craftsmaster. [He] can reforge your sword into different shapes and styles, and can dye it different colors for you too. If you’re patient enough, [he]’ll even teach you how to do it yourself. [He]’s always complaining that [he] has to do everything because no one else wants to learn. I think at this point [he]’s literally paying people to become [his] apprentice, just so [he] can have someone to help out with the list of orders.”

“Wait, really?”

“Well, you’d have to ask [him] if that offer is still on, I’ve been too busy with the new recruits to hang out with [him] the last few days. [He]’s friendly, especially towards new people, and [his] skele doesn’t bite anyone that doesn’t threaten [him], so don’t worry about talking to [him] or anything. 

“If you want, I’ll even walk you over and introduce you and ask [him] about reforging your sword. But before we do, you should think of a name for your sword if you haven’t already, you have to give it a name when you reforge it, and it has to be unique. If you open your journal, you can check which names are available, and it’ll suggest some for you if you can’t think of one.”

“Well, I’ve been calling it Chirithy in my head...uh, it’s from a video game, one of the older ones that you played on a cellphone.”

“Well, lets go to your journal and check if that name’s available. It definitely sounds unique so I bet it is--ah, look at that, it is! So we’d better hurry and get your sword reforged now, someone else out there might have the same idea! Trust me when I tell you that when you find a name you want, do not hesitate to claim it. Just don’t. Don’t worry about picking the new form for it yet, you can just reforge it into something quick and basic just to save the name, then you can come back later and choose a more intricate form. Come on, I’ll introduce you!”

“Okay, yeah, let’s go!”

 “Hey, [Name]! Get that forge started back up to five, we need you to reforge a sword quick before the name gets taken!”

“Don’t yell at [him], [he]’ll get mad!”

“Oh, don’t worry kid, this is just what we do. Plus, it takes time to heat the forge to the right temperature, and [he] hates having to wait when [he] could be doing something productive. Trust me, if we waited until we got all the way over there to tell [him] what temperature we need, and then [he] had to stand around and wait for it to get to the right heat even after [he] already knew what [he] was going to make, [he]’d be a lot less happy to help.”

“Oh. Hey, wait a second, do I have to pay [him] to reforge my sword? I only the have fifteen coins the opening fight gave me, and I don’t know what the economy is like yet…”

“[He] usually charges around fifty coins for a reforging to cover the cost of the materials, but this one’s on me. Fifteen coins isn’t a lot, it’s mainly supposed to get you buying things, since the basic gear from Jareq only cost two coins each. While you’re buying the basic armour, you also get to look at all the cooler stuff you can buy later, so you’ll want to get more coins to buy them, so you’ll keep coming back for more fights. And since they release new outfits every other month, you always have a reason to keep coming back.”

“Please take this as a compliment--I can tell you’re the teacher around here.”

“I do take it as a compliment. Thank you!”

“So why are you paying for my sword? I mean, I’m grateful, and I’ll pay you back later, but why? Do you just have a lot of coins?”

“I’ll tell you why. It’s because you’re reforging your standard issue sword. The more you like that thing, the more likely you’ll keep it, and the longer you keep it, the less work there is for me as long as you stick around. You know how I said [Name] is sick of being the only crafter? Well I’m sick of being the only one around here who can or will teach anyone how to do stuff. We need another jack of all trades, and if you’re willing to keep that sword around, you might just become it.”

“So [Name] will pay me to be [his] apprentice, and you’re bribing me to become your apprentice too?”

“Yep.”

“Are there any other teachers around here who are willing to pay for students?”

“Oh you better believe it.”

========================

they/them type pronouns: they/them/their/theirs/themselves “they were”

Replace:

[they]

[them]

[their]

[theirs]

[themself]

“Hey, who’s that Necromancer over there? Do you know ter pronouns? The one with the silver sword and the skeleton dog over by the forge. Do you know where mys got that sword? It looks awesome. Do you think mys’d trade me?”

“Oh, [Name]? [Their] pronouns are [they]/[them]/[their]/[themself]. And as for the sword, no, I don’t think [they]’d trade you for it. That sword is Sentimental for [them], since it originally belonged to [their] parent, and they got it off a commander they defeated, so no, I don’t think you’ll have any luck convincing [them] to trade it for yours. No one wants one of the standard issue ones, they’re all too impatient and reckless.

“Why do you think you’re the only one who still has theirs? These idiots  say they’re cursed, can you believe it? A sword that can’t be looted, that tells you everything you need to know about this game, and they want nothing to do with it. Most of these idiots get rid of it the first battle they face. If you didn’t know, when you defeat an enemy in battle, you can loot any items from them that you want except for their base layer of clothing, and any Sentimental items. You know how I said [Name] got [their] sword from [their] parent? Yeah, that means it’s Sentimental, and no one is allowed to loot it, since the Sentimental Exemption applies to it. The rules for what can and can’t be Sentimental are pretty complicated, so I won’t go into them now, but that’s also why [Name] has two swords, since everyone has to carry at least one weapon that can be looted. Anyone can carry multiple weapons, but after a while it just becomes cumbersome.

“You don’t get an extra carry slot when you have a Sentimental object, and with the extra weapon you’re required to carry if you have a Sentimental weapon, you end up permanently losing a slot, and especially when it comes to the higher tier battles, every item you bring counts, which is why not a lot of people keep Sentimental items, or at least not Sentimental weapons.” 

“So let me get this right, everyone hates the default swords because they give you a tutorial, but then you’re also going to give me a tutorial?”

“Yeah, because I get paid to tell the new people how things work. Everyone gets rid of their standard issue sword the first chance they get, so they end up not knowing how to do even basic things like bathing or weapon and armour maintenance. So since I decided to keep mine around until I actually knew what I was doing, everyone decided to elect me the official tutorial tutor, since none of the other experienced players have the patience to teach new people. Everyone who survives a battle using techniques or skills I taught them gives me at 10% of any coins they picked up during the fight.”

“Wait, so now I’m going to have to pay you since you’re telling me this? You could have lead with that! That’s not fair!”

“No, no, you’re still level 1, so you’re exempt. Plus, you still have your sword, so it could teach you anything I can. You’d only have to start paying me once you hit level 3 if you’d already gotten rid of your sword. You don’t have to worry about paying me as long as you have that sword. The lessons it gives you run out at level 50, so you can imagine the slack I’m picking up by teaching the people who got rid of their sword during their first fight. Without me, this team wouldn’t have any idea how to do Spells or Techniques or Crafting. I was one of the founding four, and trust me, if I hadn’t had the common sense to keep my sword, this team wouldn’t even exist right now.”

“Wow. So you’ve been doing this for five years?”

“Yep. Almost six, actually, the anniversary is next month on the 2nd.”

“Woah. So, okay, if you know everything, is there a way I can change how my sword looks without getting rid of it? I like the tutorial feature, but it’s really plain looking. I want something dramatic or cool. Or at least I want to change the color, I have my eye on an outfit from the Jareq’s and I want it to match.”

“Well, you’re in luck. Remember our sentimental Necromancer over there?”

“Yeah.”

“[They]’re our Craftsmaster. [They] can reforge your sword into different shapes and styles, and can dye it different colors for you too. If you’re patient enough, [they]’ll even teach you how to do it yourself. [They]’re always complaining that [they] have to do everything because no one else wants to learn. I think at this point [they]’re literally paying people to become [their] apprentice, just so [they] can have someone to help out with the list of orders.”

“Wait, really?”

“Well, you’d have to ask [them] if that offer is still on, I’ve been too busy with the new recruits to hang out with [her] the last few days. [They]’re friendly, especially towards new people, and [their] skele doesn’t bite anyone that doesn’t threaten [them], so don’t worry about talking to [them] or anything. 

“If you want, I’ll even walk you over and introduce you and ask [her] about reforging your sword. But before we do, you should think of a name for your sword if you haven’t already, you have to give it a name when you reforge it, and it has to be unique. If you open your journal, you can check which names are available, and it’ll suggest some for you if you can’t think of one.”

“Well, I’ve been calling it Chirithy in my head...uh, it’s from a video game, one of the older ones that you played on a cellphone.”

“Well, lets go to your journal and check if that name’s available. It definitely sounds unique so I bet it is--ah, look at that, it is! So we’d better hurry and get your sword reforged now, someone else out there might have the same idea! Trust me when I tell you that when you find a name you want, do not hesitate to claim it. Just don’t. Don’t worry about picking the new form for it yet, you can just reforge it into something quick and basic just to save the name, then you can come back later and choose a more intricate form. Come on, I’ll introduce you!”

“Okay, yeah, let’s go!”

 “Hey, [Name]! Get that forge started back up to five, we need you to reforge a sword quick before the name gets taken!”

“Don’t yell at [them], [they]’ll get mad!”

“Oh, don’t worry kid, this is just what we do. Plus, it takes time to heat the forge to the right temperature, and [they] hate having to wait when [they] could be doing something productive. Trust me, if we waited until we got all the way over there to tell [them] what temperature we need, and then [they] had to stand around and wait for it to get to the right heat even after [they] already knew what [they] were going to make, [they]’d be a lot less happy to help.”

“Oh. Hey, wait a second, do I have to pay [them] to reforge my sword? I only the have fifteen coins the opening fight gave me, and I don’t know what the economy is like yet…”

“[They] usually charge around fifty coins for a reforging to cover the cost of the materials, but this one’s on me. Fifteen coins isn’t a lot, it’s mainly supposed to get you buying things, since the basic gear from Jareq only cost two coins each. While you’re buying the basic armour, you also get to look at all the cooler stuff you can buy later, so you’ll want to get more coins to buy them, so you’ll keep coming back for more fights. And since they release new outfits every other month, you always have a reason to keep coming back.”

“Please take this as a compliment--I can tell you’re the teacher around here.”

“I do take it as a compliment. Thank you!”

“So why are you paying for my sword? I mean, I’m grateful, and I’ll pay you back later, but why? Do you just have a lot of coins?”

“I’ll tell you why. It’s because you’re reforging your standard issue sword. The more you like that thing, the more likely you’ll keep it, and the longer you keep it, the less work there is for me as long as you stick around. You know how I said [Name] is sick of being the only crafter? Well I’m sick of being the only one around here who can or will teach anyone how to do stuff. We need another jack of all trades, and if you’re willing to keep that sword around, you might just become it.”

“So [Name] will pay me to be [their] apprentice, and you’re bribing me to become your apprentice too?”

“Yep.”

“Are there any other teachers around here who are willing to pay for students?”

“Oh you better believe it.”

[ginjithewanderer]

[Homare Arisugawa] MANKAI Encore SSR — Backstage Part 3 — Sagishima Tooru

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Thank you Rina for providing screenshots of the story!

Translation under the cut

Izumi: It’s finally opening day.

Tsumugi: Yup. We have Guy with us this time, so I’m excited for it.

Azuma: I’m glad he’s playing my butler.

Guy: I’m honored as well.

Hisoka: Guy’s costume looks cool, too.

Homare: Indeed, the butler outfit suits him nicely.

Tasuku: He has a good physique, so his conduct suits being a butler, too.

Hisoka: Totally different from Arisu.

Homare: Hmph, what are you talking about? My conduct is just as splendid.

Tsumugi: There definitely are things about Homare-san’s conduct as a butler that are fascinating.

Homare: That’s right, there aren’t any butlers as magnificent as me, right? Hisoka-kun, you can be honest and praise me.

Hisoka: No other butlers are this noisy.

Homare: You really can’t be honest at all.

Izumi: Everyone, it’s almost time.

Homare: In that case, let’s have a group huddle. I thought hard about what to do this time, too.

Guy: A group huddle from Arisugawa, huh. I wonder what you have in mind.

Hisoka: You don’t have to do it.

Azuma: Homare’s huddle ideas are always difficult.

Tasuku: They are.

Tsumugi: Ahaha... Let’s do our best.

-Izumi: (Shiki, the heir to the Tojo conglomerate, picks up a handkerchief from the roadside one day. Despite Sagishima’s suggestion, they go to the Kusanagi residence to find the owner-)

Kusanagi Butler: “Thank you for taking the time to do this. Please, come in.”

Kusanagi Butler: “I believe the lady is in the garden at this time.”

Kusanagi Butler: “!? M- My lady-”

Shiki: “That person on the ground… is that Miss Kusanagi?”

Sagishima: “Shiki-sama, please stay back.”

Shiki: “Call for a doctor at once-”

Kusanagi Butler: “Y- Yes!”

Sagishima: “It’s too late.”

Shiki: “What?”

Sagishima: “She’s dead.”

-

Izumi: (As the first people to discover the body, they’re interrogated...)

Kusanagi Butler: “Right this way.”

Nakatsu: “I’m the person in charge of this case, Nakatsu Keiji.”

Shiki: “Detective Nakatsu?”

Sagishima: “My lord, detectives do not usually introduce themselves as Detective such-and such.”

Nakatsu: “Keiji is my name.”

Shiki: “So you’re Detective Nakatsu Keiji. It’s like you were born to be a detective.”

Nakatsu: “I get that a lot.”

-

Izumi: (Soon, ominous things start to happen around Shiki.)

Izumi: (Despite Sagishima’s opposition, he tries to lay a trap for the sender of the threat letter...)

Shiki: “You fell right into my trap. Was it you who wrote the threat letter, Soma Keiichi?”

Keiichi: “Gh...”

Sagishima: “Why would Miss Kusanagi’s fiancé threaten Shiki-sama?”

Shiki: “That much is obvious. It’s because he’s the one who killed Miss Kusanagi.”

Keiichi: “You’re wrong! I didn’t kill her!”

Izumi: (Just as he said, it becomes clear that Keiichi isn’t the culprit.)

-

Sagishima: “That’s an unusual book you’re reading.”

Shiki: “Kusanagi-kun lent it to me. An interesting guy, that one.”

Sagishima: “I’m glad you’ve found a friend to get along with. Shall we cease our search for the culprit?”

Shiki: “Why would we? Of course not.”

Sagishima: “I see.”

-

Izumi: (Shiki gets closer to Shizuma, Miss Kusanagi’s older brother. Meanwhile, there’s only possible culprit remaining-)

Shiki: “You’re kidding... Then, Miss Kusanagi’s killer is...”

Sagishima: “Why are you so surprised? If Soma Keiichi wasn’t the culprit, there is only one suspect remaining.”

Shiki: “But...”

Sagishima: “This is why I asked if you would like to cease our search for the culprit. You’re more dim-witted than a dog, Shiki-sama.”

Shiki: “What was that?”

Sagishima: “*cough*. Well, what do you intend to do?”

Shiki: “I’m going to ascertain things myself, of course.”

Sagishima: “I see. Well, I’m sure the person in question is hoping for the same.”

-

Izumi: (Shiki calls on Shizuma to hear the truth.)

Shiki: “So it was you... the one who killed Miss Kusanagi.”

Shizuma: “...”

Shizuma: “Your involvement in this was my only miscalculation, Shiki-san.”

Shiki: “How unfortunate. I thought we could become good friends.”

Izumi: (With the case successfully resolved, it’s time for the final scene-)

-

Shiki: “... What a windy day.”

Sagishima: “Shiki-sama, your gloves are going to get blown away.”

Shiki: “That day was just as windy as today. Perhaps I was unexpectedly summoned by Miss Kusanagi then.”

Sagishima: “You will catch a cold. Let’s move indoors.”

Izumi: (The atmosphere around Shiki and Sagishima feels much more relaxed than at their first performance. It’s probably because they have more experience and their bonds run deeper...)

-

Audience A: That was amazing...!

Audience B: The story was really great.

Audience C: It was so exciting I couldn’t look away!

Winter Troupe: Thank you very much!

-

Izumi: Good work out there!

Hisoka: Good work.

Azuma: I feel like the performance got even more interesting now that Guy is with us.

Guy: I’m glad.

Izumi: Your presence was spot on, too.

Homare: Quiet, everyone...!

Winter Troupe: ?

Homare: Yes, I’ve got it!

Homare: A luscious trick, emotions like a pendulum, hop, step, checkmate...!

Tasuku: I don’t get it.

Tsumugi: Um... I’m glad Homare-san seems like he had fun.

Azuma: Yup, he’s in perfect form today, too.

Guy: As long as he’s doing well, that’s what’s important.

Izumi: Ahaha, that’s true.

Homare: Alright, everyone, let’s keep up the hard work from tomorrow on!

Hisoka: ... No matter how much time passes, Arisu is just as noisy.

[nicknellie]

Anonymous requested: an enemies to lover shot for Juke please

Seeing as you asked so nicely, I couldn’t not do this. This trope, man. I love it so much. Thank you for the suggestion! Also, I gave Julie my own comfort song (it’s held that title for about two years now lol) and I highly suggest you all go listen to it.

Rhythm in my Heart

Julie was beginning to wonder whether joining a band on a whim purely because the boy she had known for twenty minutes had asked her to was really the best idea.

It had gone like this: Julie had been looking for Flynn in the lunch hall but hadn’t been able to see her anywhere. That was weird, mainly because Flynn’s tendency to dress in colours brighter than stars usually made her recognisable anywhere, but also because Julie had seen her just five minutes ago. They had been stood in the line together, Flynn had got her food and hurried off to find a table, but now Julie just couldn’t seem to spot her anywhere.

So, Julie had begun wandering the lunch hall in search of Flynn. Granted, she could have been a little more careful as she did so instead of paying very little attention to her surroundings, but she couldn’t help but be a little worried. Flynn didn’t just disappear like this; normally it was hard to prise her from Julie’s side.

In short, Julie hadn’t been paying attention to what was going on around her as she meandered through the lunch hall. Which was why it was partially her fault when she walked right by somebody just as they jumped out of their seat and threw their arms in the air, knocking her tray from her hands and sending food flying.

Flying right into Julie’s face.

As she blinked tomato sauce out of her eyes, Julie could feel the eyes of hundreds of Los Feliz’s students on her, could practically hear them gawking and taking photos of her as she stood there covered in spaghetti. She was dimly aware of somebody apologising over and over again, but all she was really conscious of was the fact that she was angry. Really angry.

Julie wiped furiously at her face, picked a long strand of spaghetti off her jumper, and glared at the person stood in front of her, the one who had knocked her tray. It was a boy, maybe a year or two older than her, and she had to admit that he did look apologetic. But that wasn’t the point – all the puppy-dog eyes in the world wouldn’t get sauce stains out of her best jumper.

“I am so sorry,” the boy said when Julie locked eyes with him. He picked up a napkin with fumbling fingers and began dabbing at the hem of her jumper. She yanked the material away from him and, if possible, glared harder. The boy shrank away a little.

She swiped the napkin from his hand. “I got it,” she hissed.

“Um, I’ll, um… I can buy you another lunch?” the boy offered, scratching at the back of his head. “It was my fault, I shouldn’t have whacked the tray, I… Is there anything I can do?”

“Yes,” Julie seethed. “You can leave me alone.”

With that, she picked up the tray off the floor, dusted herself off a little more in an attempt to retain some sort of dignity, then tried to brush past the boy.

“My name is Luke, by the way,” he called after her. Julie didn’t respond, she just kept walking.

Luckily, even through all the stares and jeers and people getting in her way purely to laugh at her, it didn’t take Julie too long to find Flynn afterwards. She was sat right at the back of the hall at what appeared to be the only empty table, scrolling on her phone. When she saw Julie heading her way, she gave her usual bright smile, but it melted into mingled confusion and disgust when she saw that Julie was in fact covered in pasta and sauce.

“You got a little something there,” Flynn said, pointing to her own cheek. She was very clearly trying not to laugh, which Julie didn’t appreciate it.

“Thanks,” she deadpanned, “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Is there a reason you’re wearing your lunch instead of eating it?”

“You didn’t see?” Julie asked.

Flynn shook her head then scrolled down a little on her phone and said, “Ah. Now I see.”

Julie’s eyes widened and she grabbed Flynn’s phone in a panic. Sure enough, multiple pictures of Luke knocking her tray and her being covered in food had already made their way onto Instagram. With a frustrated sigh, she handed Flynn’s phone back to her.

“I hate this school,” she said.

Flynn patted her arm comfortingly. “At least you have your amazing and supportive best friend by your side.”

“You’re still trying not to laugh.”

Flynn snorted, but quickly tried to mask her amusement again. It didn’t work.

“I’m sorry,” she said in between laughs, “but it’s hard to take you seriously when there’s spaghetti in your hair.”

The whole incident had taken up enough time that there was only five minutes left of the lunch period anyway. Julie put her tray away and headed to the toilets to clean up as best she could – all she could really do was wash her face with the scalding water that came from the school’s taps, but it was better than nothing.

She tried to let the rest of the day cheer her up, but it just wouldn’t work. Not even the fact that she had dance class with Flynn and Nick could brighten her mood. She really needed a miracle.

Whenever Julie was feeling down, music was the one thing that could cheer her up. That had always been the way. When she was young, it had been the soothing, melodic voice of her mother Rose that had been the thing to calm her down; as she grew up, her comfort songs had been ballads by her favourite bands; nowadays, Julie’s own music was what she used to cope. Making her own music, her own sound, it felt so personal and freeing that it just made sense that it would help her out of any dark place.

So, when school finished, she headed down to the music rooms instead of going back home. Usually, if a student wanted the use of a music room after school they’d have to book it in advance, which Julie hadn’t, but she figured that she would only be in there for a few minutes so it wouldn’t matter.

She slipped into the closest and smallest music practise room – it housed only a piano, an amp, and a strange array of sheet music ranging from Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8 to Jingle Bells. Julie quietly shut the door behind her and settled herself at the piano.

Just like that, she felt herself begin to relax. She could forget that her jumper was still stained, she could forget that even dance class hadn’t cheered her up, she could forget that anything bad had happened that day at all. She let her fingers rest atop the keys for just a moment before she began to play what was her current comfort song, Einaudi’s Nuvole Bianche.

She lost herself and the bad feeling all in one go.

It wasn’t until she heard the door to the practise room opening that she stopped and remembered that she wasn’t actually supposed to be there.

She abruptly turned to face the door, standing up and grabbing her bag, ready to leave. In the doorway stood a boy with a bass guitar slung over his shoulder. His eyes were wide, his mouth open, and he was staring at Julie like he’d seen a ghost.

“Sorry,” she said hurriedly, “I didn’t realise somebody else had booked this room, I’ll go and you–”

“Dude,” the boy interrupted, coming into the room and letting the door fall shut behind him. “That was awesome! You shred on the piano, man!”

Julie recognised the expression on his face then. It was awe.

She laughed nervously. “It’s nothing. Thanks, though. I need to get going.”

The boy frowned as Julie tried to move past him out of the room. “You can stay if you want, I don’t mind. We can jam together! Or you could teach me piano – I’ve been trying to learn by myself, I only know a few chords so far, but I’m getting pretty good. Watch this!”

He put his bass down, readied his hands above the piano, and plonked out a basic chord pattern. When he was done, he turned to Julie and beamed proudly. She couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s great,” she said. “Well done. Are you sure you want me to stay? You booked the room, I don’t want to get in your way.”

The boy waved her away. “No, come on. It’ll be fun. We can write a song or something! My name’s Reggie.”

Julie hesitated for a moment, but then made up her mind. She smiled and said, “I’m Julie. Nice to meet you.”

For the next twenty minutes, Julie and Reggie sat side-by-side on the far too small piano stool as Julie tried to teach him how to play the piano. He was a quick learner, and within that time she had managed to help him block the chords for a country song he was wanting to write.

She was about to move on to telling him about basslines (which, she thought, he should have been pretty good at already since he had shown up with a bass guitar) when he gasped loudly and hit her arm.

“You should join my band!” he exclaimed.

“You have a band?” Julie asked.

Reggie nodded excitedly. “Yeah! We’re called Sunset Curve, we’re a rock band. Our rhythm guitarist just left and we’ve been looking for somebody to take his place.”

Julie pointed to the piano. “That’s not a guitar.”

“Well, no,” Reggie admitted, “but we don’t have a piano either and we’ve always talked about finding someone who could do it. It could be you, Julie! Think about how much fun it could be!”

“Who else is in your band?” Julie asked. She couldn’t believe she was actually considering it.

“It’s just me and two of my buddies, they play lead guitar and drums. We have a really good sound, but it would be awesome if we added a piano. What do you say?”

Julie didn’t know whether it was the stress of her bad day getting the better of her, or the relaxation of playing the piano, or just the fact that Reggie was impossible to say no to, but she found herself shrugging her shoulders and saying, “Sure. When do we rehearse?”

She was regretting that now.

It was the following weekend and Julie had just arrived at what Reggie had described to her as a studio. She wasn’t sure the dimly lit garage with a low-tech amp and half a drum kit could really qualify as a studio, but she supposed that the homely touches like the dartboard and some drawings hung on the wall made it feel a little nicer. She shrugged off her coat and then regretted it because it was freezing cold in the ‘studio’.

“Hey Julie,” greeted Reggie excitedly. He waved at her from his perch atop the amp, beckoning her over. “Come and meet the guys!”

Julie headed in his direction and saw that he was sat with two other boys. One of them, a blond with a shy smile wearing a thick pink hoodie, was sat behind the incomplete drum kit – he gave a little wave with a drumstick in his hand and said, “Hey, I’m Alex, how’s it going?”

“Nice to meet you,” she replied. “I’m Julie.”

Julie turned to the other boy and immediately felt her face fall. The last time she’d seen him she’d had tomato sauce in her eyes but there was still no chance that she would forget those stupid puppy-dog eyes and that ridiculous haircut – it was the idiot who had spoiled her lunch.

“You,” she seethed.

The boy – what was his name? Lucas? Lydon? Larry? – looked utterly terrified. He took a step back from Julie with a nervous laugh and hit his back on Reggie’s amp.

“Hey… Fancy seeing you here!” he said, trying for a smile but failing miserably.

Reggie and Alex looked between each other, confused.

“You two know each other?” Alex asked.

“Know is a strong word,” the lunch-ruiner said nervously. “We’ve met.”

“Unfortunately,” Julie growled. She turned to Reggie. “I’m not sure this is going to work out, Reggie. I’m sorry.”

Reggie looked hurt, which was the only reason Julie didn’t walk out of the room right that moment. “Oh, come on, Julie! You’ve got him all wrong!”

“I’m sure whatever Luke did to upset you was stupid and entirely his fault,” said Alex (to which Luke – Luke, that was his name, she remembered now – weakly protested, “Hey!”), “but from what Reggie’s told us we could really use you in the band. We’d love to have you and we promise to try and keep Luke on his best behaviour.”

Julie sighed heavily, frowning as she looked between the boys. She knew that Reggie was an absolute sweetheart, and Alex seemed to be kind and sensible – maybe she could hold a grudge against Luke and the other two band members could make it work.

“Fine,” she huffed, pointing a finger at Luke. “But I’m not promising that I’ll like you.”

He shook his head, eyes wide. “It’s cool. Thanks for sticking around.”

The rehearsal went… interestingly. The piano they’d got Julie was hardly a piano at all – it was a little keyboard that only ranged two octaves and its keys were tiny, although it did have a delightful range of demos and sounds that Reggie spent ten minutes trying out. When they got to playing, Julie could hardly even hear herself, but the others all seemed to think it sounded good.

Julie found out that Luke was on lead vocals with Alex and Reggie backing him. He had written out a score for all their parts including his vocal line, but when he sang part of it Julie realised it was wrong – he was singing an E when it very clearly stated on the sheet music that it was supposed to be a C-sharp. She wasn’t going to say anything (it was her first day with the band and she didn’t want to overstep by correcting the boy who seemed to be their unofficial leader) but eventually it got too annoying.

“You’re singing that line wrong,” she told him flatly. Everyone looked to her, eyes wide.

“What?” Luke said, smiling but sounding insulted. “I’m pretty sure I’m not.”

She shrugged lightly. “I’m pretty sure you are, but go off, I guess.”

Luke’s smile widened even more but didn’t reach his eyes - definitely fake, definitely passive-aggressive. “What do you think I’m doing wrong?” he asked through gritted teeth.

Julie pointed to the music. “You’re singing an E on this line, but you’ve written a C-sharp. Want me to demonstrate?”

“I got it,” Luke snarled, snatching the music.

“I’d like to hear Julie demonstrate,” Reggie piped up, raising his hand. “Please, Julie?”

“Happily,” Julie said. “You’re singing this: I got a spark in me.” She ended on an E. “You’ve written this: I got a spark in me.” She ended on the C-sharp.  “Personally, I think what you’re singing sounds better than what you’ve written, but you’ll need to change one of them.”

Luke scowled. “Thanks. But I told you, I’ve got it.”

Julie turned to Alex and Reggie - both of whom had been watching their back and forth like a thrilling tennis match, heads bobbing in one direction then another - but now both of them were staring at Julie with their mouths ajar, seemingly unable to close them. 

“Woah,” Reggie breathed.

“You’re amazing, Julie,” Alex said. 

Reggie flung his hand into the air. “All those in favour of making Julie our new lead singer?”

Alex’s hand joined Reggie’s and slowly, just to annoy Luke further, Julie raised her own hand. Luke looked furious and betrayed.

“Hey,” he said, wounded, “I’m our lead singer.”

“Dude, that girl has the voice of an angel,” Reggie told him matter-of-factly, pointing at Julie who beamed back at him. “And if we make her our lead singer, you’ll be able to focus on things like neatening up your guitar solos.”

Luke gasped indignantly. “My guitar solos are perfectly neat!”

“Actually,” Julie interjected, “I wasn’t going to say anything but you’re coming in late on bar twenty-eight.”

Luke ignored her. “I’m our lead singer,” he repeated.

“Why don’t you share it?” Alex suggested, standing up. From the way Reggie and Luke immediately paid attention to him, Julie got the impression that Alex often had to act as a mediator when it came to band-based arguments. His unimpressed expression hinted that maybe he’d had to do this same thing one too many times. “You can both be lead singers. I think that’ll work - both of your voices are too good to omit completely.”

“You’ve heard her sing one line!”

“And she did it better than you,” Alex said flatly. “Now can we please carry on with rehearsal?”

Luke grumbled something, but readied his guitar again. Julie began playing her chords and, assuming they’d made their decision that both of them were going to be the lead, began to sing.

*

“So what you’re telling me is that you have a huge crush on this guy.”

“I have absolutely no idea where you got that from.”

Three weeks had passed since Julie’s first rehearsal with the boys. After a suggestion from Reggie and a heated debate that had transformed into a full-blown argument between Julie and Luke, Sunset Curve had been renamed to Julie and the Phantoms. Julie would now sing the melody with Luke on harmonies (an arrangement that had been painful to reach), and Alex and Reggie were happy to stay on backing vocals.

Julie was at her favourite ice cream parlour with Flynn - they were both tucking into enormous ice cream sundaes that both had claimed they would be able to finish but likely wouldn’t, and Julie was trying to tell Flynn about how annoying Luke had been at rehearsal the other day.

“I got it from the way you talk about him,” Flynn said, accusingly pointing her spoon at Julie. “And from the way your face looks when you talk about him. And from what I saw when I picked you up from rehearsal the other day.”

Julie shook her head. She did not have a crush on Luke.

“You’re going to need to explain a little better than that,” she told Flynn.

Flynn sat up straighter, smiling brightly. “Gladly. First of all, the way you talk about him - you may be describing your arguments, but you throw in compliments that are disguised as insults.”

“I do not do that,” Julie scoffed.

Flynn raised an eyebrow. “I can give examples. Like ‘He would be a lot easier to like if he didn’t have such a distractingly perfect smile, it gets in the way’. Or how about—”

“Okay,” Julie said, raising her hands. “I don’t need more examples. Just... just carry on explaining.”

“The way your face looks when you talk about him,” Flynn continued. “It’s kind of gross, actually. You go all starry-eyed and you smile like a dope, and if I’m honest I don’t understand how you don’t realise you’re doing it. Like, surely you feel your cheeks hurt when you smile that wide?”

“Ha ha,” Julie monotoned.

“I’m not joking.”

“Whatever. What else makes you so sure I like Luke? Which I do not.”

Flynn looked triumphant, as if whatever she said next would be the end of the discussion.

“The other day, when I came to the studio to walk you back to mine, Alex and Reggie came out way before you two. And when you and Luke finally emerged, you were both doing the heart-eyes-and-smile combo. And you were punching each other all playfully, which is definitely flirting. Then you tried to play it off like it was an actual argument!”

Julie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” she said. It was Flynn’s turn to roll her eyes. “It doesn’t! Just because he wasn’t unbearable that one time, it doesn’t mean I like him. In any way.”

“If you’re sure,” Flynn said, half defeated and half resigned.

“I am.”

But the thing was, Julie absolutely was not sure.

The band rehearsed the next day. Luke had managed to line up a gig that would take place in a fortnight’s time, so they were trying to get as much practise in as possible. In Julie’s extremely biased opinion, their set sounded fabulous - she had grudgingly worked with Luke to write most of it, and though she hated to say it, when they wrote together their songs were phenomenal.

As usual, Alex and Reggie headed out first. Really, that shouldn’t have been the case seeing as Alex’s instrument took the longest time to disassemble and Reggie was easily distracted, but Julie and Luke normally ended up being the last two there. It had started when Julie had reluctantly hung around to apologise to Luke for stealing his role of lead singer, and had become something of a habit.

“I was thinking,” Luke said to her as he packed away his guitar, “if we get Reggie and Alex to add echoes to the chorus in Great, it could sound really good. What do you think?”

Julie smiled. “Yeah. It’s a great idea, I’m surprised you thought of it.”

“Very funny,” Luke said, rolling his eyes. Julie noticed the tiny smile playing about his lips and couldn’t help but fight a smile of her own. “You are so hilarious it’s unbelievable.”

“I try,” she said with a shrug. And then her mouth didn’t consult her brain before saying, “Are you doing anything now?”

Luke looked at her, bewildered. “Why? Are you?”

Julie blinked, caught off guard by the situation. She hadn’t meant to say that. Now it sounded like she wanted to do something with him. She wasn’t meant to want to do something with him because Julie and Luke didn’t like each other. That was their whole relationship - dislike! She couldn’t ruin that by spending time with him.

Again, her mouth spoke before her brain could catch up. “No. Do you want to hang out, do something together? Just the two of us?”

Luke looked as confused as Julie felt.

“Yeah,” he said. “Sounds good.”

They didn’t end up leaving the studio. Instead, they sat together on the couch that Luke and Reggie had dragged in off the street one day (Alex and Julie had both refused to sit on it until they’d disinfected it thirty times and checked it for any number of animals, ranging from spiders to rats (god forbid)) and tried to work on some new songs.

Luke pulled his songbook out for inspiration and handed it to Julie to skim through. She skipped past the songs they had already performed or rehearsed to some further back. Luke, unlike any sane person, didn’t use his notebooks chronologically, so there were new songs and very old ones mixed in throughout.

Julie found herself not turning one page for a while. Eventually Luke realised that she wasn’t listening to him talk about chords, and looked over her shoulder. When he saw what she was reading, he snatched the book away.

“Why don’t we just try and think up something completely different to our usual stuff,” he suggested, clearly trying to change the subject.

Julie didn’t want to press.

She did anyway.

“That seemed pretty different to our usual stuff,” she said softly. “Luke... who’s Emily?”

She knew she didn’t have a right to be upset. She didn’t know why she was upset. It wasn’t as if she liked Luke; if he had a girlfriend or someone he fancied enough to write a song about then that was none of her business. She didn’t get to fret over the love life of a boy she didn’t even like.

Luke looked at her for a long time. She held eye contact. She could see the cogs turning in his head, see him considering whether or not to tell her.

Finally, he sighed and said, “Emily is my mom.”

Julie tried not to react. She hadn’t been expecting that response, and upon hearing that Emily wasn’t Luke’s girlfriend something inside her did a happy little jump. But Luke’s face was solemn and tense, so Julie knew that she had to be sensible right now. Obviously, whatever Luke was saying wasn’t something easy.

“Your mom?” she prompted.

Luke nervously tugged his beanie a little lower. “Yeah... she’s my mom. I wrote that for her last year. She... I... We... We had an argument - well, we had loads of arguments - but this was the worst one. I ran away from home after it happened and I’ve not been back or seen her at all. I... I wanted to do something for her or at least get some stuff off my chest, so I wrote that song.”

“Do Alex and Reggie know?” Julie asked tentatively.

“About the song or the argument?”

“Both.”

He nodded. “Yeah, they know. They’ve played the song with me before, and our old rhythm guitarist Bobby did too. It was really cool of them - they don’t bring it up unless I do first. It’s kind of hard sometimes. Like, I want to talk about it, but I don’t want to be the one to start. I wish they would sometimes.”

Julie nodded. “I get it.”

He shook his head. “And they let me sleep at their houses before I found my own place - here.” He gestured vaguely around the studio.

Julie felt her eyes widen. The draughty roof, the leaky walls, the way that the couch and thin blanket was the only bed in sight.

“You live here?” she said, astounded.

He shrugged. “It’s not much. It’s all I’ve got. And... well, I’d like to go home one day, anyway. It isn’t permanent.”

Julie had no response. Luke was practically homeless, living in their studio. It was nothing. Nothing. He had nowhere to go.

“You can come and stay at my house whenever you want,” Julie said quickly. “My dad won’t mind. He won’t want you sleeping in the cold.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t be.”

“I am.”

There was silence for a moment. Luke looked at Julie and Julie looked at Luke. She felt on the edge of something, she didn’t know what. Being there with Luke felt... exciting, even despite the conversation they were having. Just the two of them, alone, talking without walls built around themselves.

“I really do get it, you know,” she said quietly. “How it feels not to see your mom.”

Luke straightened up, his face scrunched in curiosity. “What do you mean?”

Julie took a deep breath. “My mom passed away about a year ago. Music was our thing... it took me ages to play again without her. I still haven’t been able to face writing about her or anything like that. But my point is that I know how it feels to have the most important person in your life missing. There one day and gone the next.” She huffed a mirthless laugh that turned into a sniffle.

She felt Luke take her hand.

“You are not alone, Julie.”

She held his hand in return.

“Neither are you.”

*

“Oh please, you two are so in love!” Flynn exclaimed when Julie told her the story. Julie smacked her arm.

“It’s not love,” she insisted. “But... fine, maybe I like him. He’s a lot different to how I first thought.”

“What are you going to do?” Flynn asked excitedly, her legs bouncing up and down.

Julie sighed. “I have no idea.”

*

It turned out that Julie didn’t need to have any idea of what she was going to do. It happened naturally.

Julie and the Phantoms finished their set at the gig Luke had booked them - with a flourish and a fancy trick of the light that Flynn and Julie had helped Reggie sort out, the boys disappeared off stage in the blink of an eye, and the audience applauded Julie as she instructed them to, “Tell your friends!”

It had gone swimmingly. Julie had hit the high note in Bright perfectly despite struggling with it in almost every rehearsal; Luke’s harmonies had been on point; Alex had more confidence with each song, adding more complicated drum fills as time went on; and as usual Reggie’s incredible stage presence had the audience howling and enjoying themselves. Julie was proud of all of them to an almost dangerous degree.

Elated, she hurried off stage after the boys. They were all huddled together backstage and grinned when they saw Julie coming towards them.

She didn’t think. It happened automatically. Running on adrenaline, she flung herself at Luke, crushing him in a tight hug. Luckily it appeared that he was ready too, because he hugged her back with ferocity and lifted her off her feet, spinning them around.

“You were incredible, Julie,” he said, laughing, “they were loving you!”

“They loved us,” Julie said as Luke put her down. 

She had intended to congratulate Alex and Reggie too, but suddenly found herself unable to look away from Luke. His hands were still on her waist, and hers on his shoulders. She didn’t want either of them to move.

Distantly, she heard Alex and Reggie shuffle away.

“Listen, Julie,” Luke said, voice raspy. “Ever since... I was going to say ‘ever since our conversation in the studio’ but actually I don’t know when it started. Ever since sometime, I’ve been wanting to tell you something.”

She swallowed. “I’ve been wanting to tell you something too.”

“I hope it’s the same as what I have to say,” Luke laughed. Then he turned a little more serious again. “It’s... I really like you, Julie. I think you’re an amazing singer and you improve the band a ton and you make me a better writer. You make me a better person. I just... I really like you.”

Julie couldn’t help but smile. “I really like you too, Luke. I really, really like you.”

“Really?” he asked, beaming.

“Really.”

“Thank god,” he said, and Julie couldn’t help but laugh. “The guys said you did but I wasn’t sure.”

“Tell me about it,” Julie said, “Flynn’s been on at me about this for ages.”

He laughed, smiling and ducking his head. “You really are something, Julie.”

She playfully punched his arm. “So are you.”

[dirtykpopsnaps]

My Soulmate, the Composer - Min Yoongi (soulmate au)

Warnings: None

Contains: Cute soulmates!Yoongi and Y/N meeting

Requested: no.

Words: 6, 894

———————————————————————

Sighing softly to myself, I sit down at one of the tables within our break room and set my lunch down in front of me. My eyes are drooping slightly from exhaustion, so I simply stand up and start another pot of coffee. While the coffee brews, I sit down again and start unpacking my lunch. It’s nothing crazy, just a sandwich, a bag or chips, an apple, and a water bottle. I rub at my eyes, trying desperately to wake myself up a little before I need start doing checkups on more animals.

As I start eating my sandwich, the break room door opens again and my co-worker, Quinn, steps inside. She sits down at the table with me and chuckles at my tiredness. “Did you stay up late again?” She asks. I narrow my eyes at her in annoyance.

“No, I didn’t. He was playing music in his head all last night,” I groan, rubbing at my temples. For now, the music in my head is silent, but I know that it’ll start back up soon enough. Usually, when there isn’t music playing in my head, he’s asleep. Quinn gives me a sympathetic look, sucking some air in through her teeth.

“Oh, yikes,” she hisses. I nod my head sleepily.

“I just can’t wait to meet this guy so the music can finally stop and maybe I’ll get some peace and quiet sometimes,” I sigh.

You see, my soulmate attachment is a little different than some. Most people have a distinguishable trait that they can compare with their soulmate’s. My soulmate and I, however, are connected through our heads. I can’t hear him talking or what he thinks about normally, but any music that plays...it plays in my head, too. I’m fairly sure it also works the other way around. Although the attachment is a little different, it has helped me realize that my soulmate...probably isn’t English. When I was younger, sometimes the music would be in English. My soulmate liked a lot of rap music, so I heard a lot of that. As I got older, however, a lot of the music wasn’t in English. I couldn’t quite detect the language, but it definitely wasn’t English.

Calmly, I continue eating my lunch. Every once in a while, Quinn will pull me back into the conversation, but we stay quiet for the most part. I finish my food and take the last few sips of coffee before I say ‘goodbye’ to Quinn and walk back into the exam room. The exam room is a big, white room. There are instruments scattered all around and a table in the middle of the room. Posters of the anatomy of different animals like the walls. There’s also a few posters advising pet parents about conditions and symptoms. I’ve never really liked working in a big white room, always thought it needed some color, but I’ve gotten used to it.

For the rest of the day, I continue my checkups with the patients that come and go. I end up seeing a few cats and dogs, a rabbit, and even a chinchilla. Thankfully, none of the news today is particularly horrible, so my day doesn’t take a complete nosedive by the time I’m done. The last animal I see is a cute little Golden Retriever puppy named Lucy. The whole time while I’m examining her, she keeps trying to play with me and nip at my hands. I laugh lightly and take the notes that I need to before handing her back to her owner. “Well, she looks to be in good health to me. You’re taking very good care of her and she seems happy. So, I say keep up the good work,” I smile, setting my clipboard down on the table. Her owner smiles kindly and links Lucy’s leash back to her collar before leaving.

Once they’re out of the room, I sigh in relief and grab all my supplies before heading back to my office. I place everything where it should go and check to make sure that I have everything before grabbing my jacket and bag. My car is parked out back, so I climb into it easily and make my way back to my house. The traffic on the way back is horrible, but it’s not any different than normal, so I just sigh deeply and deal. The time slowly creeps by until, finally, the blockage clears up a little bit and I’m able to continue my ride home.

When I finally get home, I park in the driveway and grab my things before heading inside. The front door is already open, so I know that my younger sister, Rylie, is already home. I hang my keys on the hook by the door and hang up my bag right next to it. “I’m home, Ryles! You better have your schoolwork done!” I shout up the stairs, walking into the kitchen to try and find something small to chomp on before thinking about dinner. I search through the cabinets for a second and pull out a cheese stick, taking chunks out of it. From the stairs, I hear pounding footsteps as Rylie comes running downstairs. She appears at the bottom of the stairs and looks around quickly before spotting me and running into the kitchen.

“Y/N!” She says excitedly, skidding to a halt before me. I narrow my eyes at her, trying to read what she’s so excited about.

For a few seconds, she just bounces on the balls of her feet, then she almost explodes with excitement. “I got the tickets!” She says excitedly, squealing and dancing around in a circle. I giggle lightly, watching as she lets out her excitement. “I never thought I’d actually get them, but I did!! Now, they’re not *amazing* seats, but it’s what I could get. Will you *pleeeease* go with me?” She asks, putting on her biggest puppy dog eyes and displaying her hands in a pleading gesture.

“Go with you....where?” I ask in confusion. Rylie groans, rolling her eyes.

“To the concert!” She exclaims, waving two pieces of paper in my face. Looking at the papers, I can just see the outline of tickets on them and I nod my head lightly.

“Sure thing. What’s the concert for?” I ask. Instantly, Rylie’s face lights up again and she starts talking a mile a minute.

“It’s for that group I really like, remember? The k-pop one? They’re called BTS, but they’re really good and I think you’ll really like them and I really wanna show them to you!” She says quickly. All of this comes out in one breath and I stare at her in shock.

“Jeez, girl, breathe!” I laugh. Rylie joins in with my laughter and finally takes some deep breathes.

“Sorry. Just...really excited,” she giggles.

I walk into the living room and Rylie trails behind me, sitting down at my feet when I plop down on the couch. “So, have you ever heard any of their music?” She asks, referring to the group she had just mentioned. I think back to what she had called them, (BTS??), and shake my head lightly. “No, I don’t think I have, Ryles. Do you wanna play something for me?” I suggest. She gasps loudly and launches off the floor, running back upstairs to grab her phone, I guess. Only seconds later, she comes running back downstairs and plops herself at my feet again.

“What do you wanna hear?” She asks excitedly, scrolling through her phone. I shrug my shoulders lightly.

“Just play something that you think I’ll like,” I say calmly.

For a minute or two, Rylie scrolls through her phone until she finally stops. “Ohh, this is a good one,” she squeals excitedly. She turns the volume all the way up on my phone and clicks on a video. The video starts with the sound of little bubbles, but I decide to just focus on the music instead. The music finally starts playing and I nod my head lightly, listening to it.

“It’s a pretty good song, sweetie. What’s it called?” I ask.

“It’s called Waste It on Me. Technically, it’s not BTS’s song, but it’s them singing and they worked with this guy named Steve Aoki. It’s his song,” she explains, using her hands to talk.

For a while, Rylie and I just sit in the living room listening to music and talking. She tells me all about this group, getting more and more excited as I ask more questions. When I say that the music she’s shown me is pretty good, she jumps up again and starts dancing in a circle. “Yes! Now I can listen to it and you won’t complain,” she says happily, still dancing around. I laugh at her, shaking my head lightly. My sister is adorable, but also...she’s a bit crazy. Rylie keeps showing me more of their music, wanting to give me a good idea of what I should expect from the concert.

To be honest, I really do like their music. The music has a pretty good hook to it and, although I can’t understand the lyrics, it still catches my attention. However, there’s something about the music that keeps nagging at me. I can’t quite figure out why, but it sounds familiar. Almost like I’ve heard it before, but I know I haven’t because I’ve never even heard of this group. No matter what I do, though, there’s just something about the music that keeps nagging at me. Finally, I just shake my head and decide to enjoy the music rather than try and figure out why it sounds familiar.

Suddenly, Rylie speaks up again. “Oh, Y/N, by the way, can we head to the music store tomorrow? I need some more picks and I wanna try and find some books of music,” she explains. I nod my head lightly and pull my legs up on the couch.

“I think we can do that. Tomorrow is Saturday, so I should have some time to be able to take you out,” I say. Rylie smiles widely and pulls me into a big hug.

“You’re the best sister ever,” she giggles. I laugh lightly, ruffling her hair.

“And don’t you forget it,” I laugh.

Rylie plays a few more songs for me before I get up and start thinking about dinner. I look through the cabinets for something to make, but don’t find anything that could remotely make a decent dinner. “Hey, Ry, how does pizza sound?” I ask, looking over my shoulder and back into the living room.

“Sounds good to me. I could never turn down pizza,” she responds. I can still hear the music playing from the living room, so I ask her to turn it off while I call the pizza place on Main Street. The music stops a few seconds later and I pick up my cell off the counter.

The call to the pizza place is fairly short. I just order a medium cheese pizza and some bread sticks. They tell me that I should expect the order in about half an hour and I thank them before hanging up again. As soon as the call ends, the music starts back up again and I laugh at Rylie. It’s obvious that she really likes this group, though, so I just let her enjoy the music. Every time I look into the living room, she’s dancing around and mouthing the lyrics to whatever song is playing. I chuckle lightly, walking upstairs and deciding to take a quick shower. At the top of the stairs, I decide to call down to her. “Hey, Ry! If the pizza shows up early, my wallet is on the counter!” I tell her. I get a small ‘okay’ in response and just continue on the way to the bathroom.

Before heading inside, I grab my towels off the rack and pull them into the bathroom with me. I quickly strip off all my clothes before stepping into the shower and turning on the hot water. The water feels nice on my skin and I hum lightly as I shower. One of BTS’s song is playing through my head, so I just hum it lightly. For a bit, I can only hear the music in my head since I don’t know the whole song. However, about halfway through my shower, the song begins playing again from the beginning. This time, the lyrics are there, but they sound a little hesitant, almost as if the person singing them doesn’t fully know if this is the right song. At that moment, it hits me why the songs sounded familiar. Those are some of the songs that my soulmate has played in their head! I laugh lightly, happy to have finally put it together. ‘Well,’ I think, ‘at least they’ll have something in common with Rylie.’

Quickly, I finish up my shower and towel myself off before pulling on a large t-shirt and some fluffy pajama pants. When I head downstairs, the smell of hot pizza wafts up the stairs to me. Rylie is sitting at the kitchen island, chomping away at a piece. “It came while you were in the shower,” she says softly, gesturing towards the two boxes. I nod my head and thank her before grabbing a plate and putting a couple pieces on the plate. Rylie and I eat silently through dinner, talking every once in a while. I ask her how school’s going and she says it’s alright. “The classes aren’t too bad and I’m not failing any, so I think that’s alright,” she shrugs.

“Not failing any classes is more than alright, that’s great, Ry,” I tell her. She giggles lightly at me, but continues eating her pizza.

For the rest of the night, Rylie and I hang out together. After dinner, I put the left overs in the fridge and then we settle down with some blankets for a movie. Rylie falls asleep about halfway through, but I make it through the whole movie without much problem. When the movie finally ends, I shake her shoulder and tell her to go sleep upstairs. She nods her head sleepily and trudges up to her room. I follow soon after, going into my own room and brushing my teeth before climbing into bed. Soon enough, I’m fast asleep.

————————

When I wake up again, sunlight is creeping across the floor of my room from the window. Little chinks of shadow are displayed where the blinds are on the window. Sighing softly, I climb out of bed and head downstairs. I might as well start on breakfast a little early so that Rylie and I can eat together when she finally gets up.

In the kitchen, I search through the cabinets again. Finally, I just decide to make some scrambled eggs and toast. I get out the toaster and start toasting some bread before I grab a few eggs out of the fridge and crack them into a pan. The eggs sizzle softly as they hit the hot pan and I use a spatula to move them around as they cook. When the first bit of toast comes out, I set it on a plate and put in more toast. I let the eggs cook for a second and look around in the fridge for the butter. When I finally find it, I take it out and set it by the toast.

Just as I’m finishing the eggs, I hear soft footsteps coming downstairs. Rylie enters the kitchen and yawns widely, covering her mouth with her hand. “Good morning,” she says, smiling groggily.

“Good morning, sleepy head,” I chuckle, tipping some of the eggs onto a plate and putting them with the toast. Then, I hand Rylie the plate. She gets some utensils out of the drawer and hands me a fork to use for my own food. I tip the last bit of eggs into my own plate and add the toast. Before I eat, I set the plate aside and turn off the stove, putting the hot pan in the sink and filling it with water to cool it down.

Breakfast is another quiet meal. We’re both a little too tired to hold up conversation just yet, so I allow my mind to think about what I need to get done today. Christmas is coming up, so I decide to go to the mall to look for some gifts after a few chores around the house. After shopping for a little, I’ll take Rylie to the music store like I said I would. I figure that the shopping will take most of the day, so I’ll think about things like dinner later on. When I think about food, I look towards the cabinet and scrunch up my nose. Add grocery shopping to the list for either today or tomorrow.

Suddenly, music fills my head again. As usual, the music doesn’t have lyrics. It’s solely the base of a song. It plays over and over in my head, notes being added every time it repeats. Sometimes subtle things change, like the rhythm or note value, but there’s always little changes. Over time, I’ve gotten used to this kind of music in my head. I get to hear as parts are slowly added to the song and, finally, I hear the final product. I’ve come to think that it means my soulmate must do something with music. I’m not quite sure what he does, but it’s obvious that he at least somewhat composes. I think that’s what I’m hearing as the song slowly comes together over time.

Across the table, Rylie waves her hand in my face. Blinking rapidly, I look at her and focus. “I’m sorry, what?” I ask. Rylie chuckles lightly.

“I asked what you were humming. You were humming something and swaying back and forth,” she tells me.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t even realize, Ry. My soulmate must be composing again,” I respond. She makes a silent ‘ah’ and nods head head.

“That must be cool, hearing as your soulmate puts stuff together,” she says, running her thumb over the ticking timer on her wrist. I nod my head lightly, looking up at her again.

“It can be interesting. The music is really good, so it’s very interesting getting to hear as it slowly comes together. Though, it can get annoying when I have a headache,” I laugh. Rylie winces in sympathy.

“Oh, I can only imagine,” she hisses.

When both of us finish, we put our plates in the sink. “Okay, Ry, can you go change your bedsheets? I’ll come by and get them in a moment,” I tell her. She groans in annoyance, but sighs and nods her head. I wash off the plates and put them in the dishwasher, making sure to get everything off. When I’m done, I head up to my room and start taking off my bedsheets, as well. The dirty bedsheets are placed in a basket and, once I take off my sheets, I walk into Rylie’s room and gather her’s. Then, I take the basket downstairs and start a load of laundry.

I set the basket on the floor and throw the sheets into the washer, putting in the right amount of detergent. When the sheets start spinning in the washer, I place the basket in front of the washer and head back upstairs. I pull new sheets out of the linen closet in the hallway and make my bed. When I’m done, I check into Rylie’s room to make sure that she’s done the same. Thankfully, my sister is pretty good, so I don’t have to ask her to do everything.

For a while, I walk around the house doing small chores. The house is mostly clean, but I’m able to gather up some more clothes for another load of laundry once the bedsheets are done. After that, we just wait for the loads of laundry to finish. When they’re done, the laundry is put in different baskets and I place them in my room for later. I poke my head into Rylie’s room afterward. “Okay, Ry, get dressed. We’re gonna do some Christmas shopping at the mall and then we’ll head to the music store,” I tell her. She shoots me a soft smile and immediately starts looking through her dresser for clothes to change into.

Heading into my room, I go to the closet and start looking for clothes. The weather is very cold, so I decide to go with a plain t-shirt, an oversized fuzzy cardigan, some plain blue jeans, and cute black boots. I throw everything on, then grab my wallet and phone off the top of the dresser. When I head downstairs, Rylie is already downstairs, sitting on the couch and waiting for me. When she hears me, she hops up and grabs both of our coats out of the closet. I grab my car keys off the hook by the door.

On the drive over to the mall, Rylie tells me all about what she’s been thinking of buying her friends for Christmas. “We’re all going to get gifts and then exchange them on the last day of school before break,” she tells me, her eyes flirting over the stores that pass outside.

“I still need to think about what to you, aunt Maddie, and Uncle Tanner,” I say. To be honest, I already have a few gifts for Rylie, but nothing major. Nothing that’ll make her very excited, I don’t think. I’m hoping to find something here, or maybe at the music store.

When we get to the mall, Rylie immediately drags me towards the Bath & Bodyworks. “Come oooon,” she whines, pulling at my hand. I laugh lightly and follow her into the store, instantly being assaulted by the mix of smells from all the perfumes and lotions. Rylie starts looking through the scents, smelling one every once in a while. I’m sure that she’s probably looking for something that her friends will like. I find some of the winter scents and decide to get Rylie the peppermint bark scented lotion. Rylie absolutely adores peppermint bark, so I hope that she’ll like this just as much.

We spend maybe another 15 minutes in the Bath & Bodyworks, then we start looking into other stores. We find a couple of the clothing stores and look in there for a little before moving on. We walk into the toy store and get a stuffed animal for our little cousin who we’ll see on Christmas. Rylie also picks out her new yearly calendar from the toy store. After the toy store, we look around some more and find a few stores here and there to go into. However, I’m not able to find anything for my aunt or uncle. I sigh softly and tell myself that I’ll just need to search online when I get home.

Shaking my head at the amount of presents I was able to get, I get Rylie’s attention again. “Okay, I’m done here, Ry. Let’s go to the music store,” I say. Her face lights up and she squeals excitedly.

“Yay!” She squeals, hurrying off on the direction of the store. I roll my eyes, but laugh and hurry after her. The music store is located just at the edge of the mall. It’s one of the biggest stores in the mall and does pretty well, honestly. There’s all sorts of instruments inside, as well as things like guitar picks, shoulder straps, and music books.

As soon as Rylie opens the door, she hurries over to the guitar picks and starts looking at the different assortments that they’re selling. I don’t have much to do here, so I look around at the other customers inside the store. There aren’t many other people here, only a few. One young man is looking at the selections of ukuleles hung upon the wall. Another young man is looking at the drum kits stacked off in the corner. A third young man is sitting on the bench of the grand piano. It’s obvious that he’s playing something, but I don’t recognize the song. Although I can’t hear him, I can see his lips moving and figure that he’s probably mumbling the lyrics too himself.

Sighing softly, I pay closer attention to what he’s playing and then my heart starts beating quickly. I realize that, not only am I hearing the song in the store, but that same song...is also playing in my head! Slowly, I walk over to piano and look down at the man playing the piano. He’s slender with large, beautiful eyes. At the moment, he’s not paying attention to me and I don’t even think he’s realized I’m there. “Uh, hi,” I say softly, waving at him. In surprise, he looks up at me and jumps, resulting in a lovely smash of keys as his hand lands on the piano again. I wince as the magnified keyboard smash sounds in my head. “Ow,” I mutter softly, rubbing at my temples. The man immediately starts apologizing.

“I’m so sorry, you just surprised me,” he apologized, picking his hands up off the piano and starting to leave.

“No, no, please don’t go, that was really pretty,” I say, trying desperately to keep him here.

For several seconds, I scramble around for what to say. Just outright saying ‘hey, you’re my soulmate!’ seems way too straightforward and scary. Yet, I have no *idea* how else to say it! While I scramble around, the man just stares at me with a look that almost screams ‘well, get on with it!’. I swallow thickly, my hands shaking horribly as I try and fail to come up with anything else. “Oh, goddamn it...ugh! I think you’re my soulmate!” I spit out, hiding my face in my hands immediately afterward. That could not have gone much worse.

As soon as the words come out, the man’s expression changes to one of skepticism. He raises an eyebrow at me like I just told him that my best friend is Bigfoot. I swallow again, trying to think of anything that could possibly show that I just met my soulmate. “I-I know it sounds crazy, believe me, I know. But, I heard your playing and I also...I...I heard it...in my...head...” I say, trailing off awkwardly. He gives me an even more skeptical look and my face burns bright red. I sift through my thoughts, trying to come up with anything that might show him what I mean. “I just...I have a thought attachment with my soulmate. I-I guess he’s a musician, but I hear his music in my head all the time. He was...he was just making something this morning! There weren’t any lyrics or anything, but he was composing,” I tell him. He stares at me with a completely deadpan look.

“I’m always composing,” he says plainly, obviously not believing me at all.

Groaning in frustration, I gesture to the piano again. “Please, sit down with me. Give me a second and I think I might be able to try and figure out what he was composing this morning,” I say, my hands still shaking horribly. The man sighs in an almost defeated kind of way and he sits down on the piano bench again.

“Alright. Show me what your soulmate was composing this morning,” he says, gesturing to the keys. Taking a deep breath, I think back to breakfast and try to pull forward the song that I heard. The melody of the song comes after a few moments and I slowly start to reach my hand towards the keyboard, but he stops my hand. I look over at him in surprise and see his jaw hanging open as he looks at the keys and then me again. “Wait...was that you? That...That melody. This melody.” He leans forward and starts playing the same melody on the piano, then stops and looks at me again. I nod my head frantically, my heart pounding in my chest again. I did it. I did something to show. He’s...He’s my soulmate!

Next to me, the man pulls his fingers through his hair. “I just came up with that this morning. Wait, you hear my composing?” He asks, looking at me again. I nod my head slowly at him.

“Yeah. I...I think it has to do with how you hear the music in your head so, uh, I hear it, too,” I laugh nervously. He thinks for a few seconds then his eyes go wide.

“You hear...all of my composing?”

“Every bit of it, start to finish,” I say, smiling widely at him.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he says, finally letting out some laughter and smiling. I laugh with him, hiding my face in my hands.

“Yeah, you’ve got some weird hours, but it’s okay, I guess?” I laugh, tilting my head.

Suddenly, I hear Rylie calling my name and, when I turn, I can see her walking over. “Hey, Y/N! These picks are really cute, can we—,” she starts, then looks up and her jaw drops. For a few seconds, I think she’s just shocked that I’m talking to a guy, but then she lets out a loud scream. Her hands fly to her face and I stare at her in shock.

“Rylie!” I chide, starting to scold her, but she shakes her head.

“Oh, my God, I’m so sorry. I just...I’m...I can’t...I’m...you’re Suga!” She says, her voice and hands shaking almost as badly as mine. Her eyes are fixed on my soulmate and she looks like she’s about to burst into tears. Immediately, he breaks into a wide smile and chuckles.

“Um, yeah...interesting introduction. Nice to meet you,” he laughs.

For a few seconds, I look between the two of them. Again, that name sounds familiar. Why does that name sound familiar? Then, everything from last night comes rushing back to me. My jaw hits the ground as everything processes. “Wait a second...my soulmate...is a member of BTS?” I ask in confusion. Suga flashes me a gummy smile and shrugs his shoulders lightly.

“Yeah, I am. But, wow, okay...didn’t expect this to happen today,” he laughs again. Rylie has tears already stream down her face and she wiping frantically at them.

“Wait...your soulmate?!” She asks in shock, her eyes going wide and she stops wiping the tears. “Your soulmate is Suga. Oh, my God, your *soulmate* is *Suga*!” She exclaims loudly.

“Yes, Rylie, we’ve realized that,” I say, shaking my head at her.

Out of nowhere, the two other men in the store come running over. “Hey, hey! Don’t crowd him,” one of them says, trying to push us away.

“No, no, Jungkook, stop! She’s my soulmate!” Suga exclaims, grabbing my hand to stop me from being pushed away. Immediately, he stops trying to push Rylie and I away.

“Oh..oh! Oh, okay,” he says, standing back with the other man. Rylie’s head whips in their direction and she claps her hand over her mouth again, stifling the scream that erupts out seconds later. Suga laughs loudly, throwing his head back at Rylie’s reaction.

For a while, everything within that music store is chaos. Rylie can’t make a sensible sentence to save her life, my heart is still pounding in my chest, and we’re all trying to figure out what’s going on. There’s lots of conversations and explanations while we figure things out and, by the end of it, everything seems to be clear. Rylie has finally calmed down enough that she’s not completely hyperventilating and I’m not worried that I might need to take my baby sister to the hospital. Through everything that’s happening, Suga doesn’t let go of my hand. He’s holding my hand tightly in his and talking to the other two members of BTS (he introduces them to me as Jungkook and Jin).

Once everything’s figured out, Jungkook and Jin have decided to head back to find the rest of the group. Looking over at Suga and then Rylie, I try to break the slight tension. “So, uh...how about some lunch?” I ask, smiling nervously. Suga chuckles lightly and nods his head.

“That sounds good to me,” he comments.

“I, um...I could go for some lunch,” Rylie stutters, her voice still shaking slightly. I look over at Suga again.

“So, it’s...Suga?” I ask, a little confused at the interesting name. He laughs, shaking his head.

“No, no, Suga is my stage name. Call me Yoongi,” he says. I nod my head once in affirmation.

“Okay...Yoongi...gotta remind myself of that,” I laugh lightly.

Slowly, we make our way out of the music store. Before we leave, I stop and pay for Rylie’s guitar picks, but she seems too interested in my soulmate to even be thinking about the guitar picks anymore. Walking back into the mall, we start walking towards the food court. “Ooh, can we go to that good pizza place?” Rylie requests. I turn to Yoongi, squeezing his hand lightly.

“Is that alright?” I ask, tilting my head. He nods lightly, looking into my eyes.

“Yeah, sure! I’ve never been here before so, I’m trusting you guys to take me to the best place,” he jokes. Rylie smiles happily and nods her head.

“It’s absolutely the best food they have here. It’s the best pizza around,” she comments.

“Alright, pizza it is,” Yoongi chuckles.

Quickly, we make our way to the pizza place in the food court and find a booth to sit in. Once we have our table, we walk up to order. I start to talk out my wallet when the cashier tells us the total, but Yoongi shakes his head. “Let me buy,” he says plainly, pulling out his wallet and some money. When we’ve paid, we sit down in the booth together. Conversation flows pretty easily, especially with Rylie asking every question under the sun. I have honestly never heard her talk this much and I’m completely amazed.

“Rylie Jane, don’t hound him,” I laugh, hitting her lightly on the hand. She pouts at me in protest, but Yoongi waves off my statement completely.

“No, let her ask questions. I wanna get to know you guys, too,” he smiles, showing off that adorable gummy smile again.

Our conversation over lunch springs *all* over the place. We talk about the sorts of things we like and what we do. “Well, obviously, you know I’m a musician. So, what do you do?” Yoongi asks, taking a bite of his pizza.

“I’m a veterinarian at the local pet clinic,” I say, taking a sip from my bottle of water. He nods his head lightly in interest.

“You must love animals, huh?” He says. I nod my head quickly.

“Oh, absolutely. Animals are the absolute best,” I smile. He flashes back another sweet smile.

“I can’t wait to show you my dog, Holly. He’s the best,” he says happily.

Just at the mention of his dog, Rylie squeaks and covers her mouth quickly. Yoongi laughs lightly, gesturing toward my sister enthusiastically. “That should tell you all you need to know about my dog,” he laughs. I giggle lightly and watch as Rylie’s face turns a bright, cherry red. She hides her face in her hands, but her body is shaking with stifled laughter.

“Well, could I see a picture of this dog? I’m a vet. I can say for myself if this dog is adorable,” I giggle. Yoongi immediately whips out his phone and starts watching through it, obviously looking for the picture I requested.

After a few moments, he turns the phone towards me. “This was taken a couple days ago. Since I’m away a lot, Holly lives with my brother. Lots of pictures are sent,” he chuckles lightly. I take his phone and look at the picture of the little, brown toy poodle with the orange squeaky bone in it’s mouth. My heart immediately melts and I look back up at him, pouting slightly. “I cannot wait to meet this baby,” I say. He laughs again and takes his phone back, nodding.

“Told you, he’s adorable!” He says happily.

“He is very, very cute. Right up there with Yeontan,” Rylie joins. I give her a confused look, but Yoongi brushes off the comment lazily.

“Holly is much more adorable than Yeontan,” he says plainly, taking another bite of his pizza.

“Unless proof is given, I cannot accept that,” Rylie jokes, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You’ve seen pictures of Holly. You’ve seen how cute he is. Yeontan doesn’t compare,” Yoongi shrugs. I look back and forth between them in confusion.

“Okay, sorry, who’s Yeontan?” I ask, looking between them again. Yoongi smiles softly.

“He’s my group mate, Tae’s, Pomeranian,” Yoongi explains lightly. I bite my lip and share a look with Rylie.

“I dunno,” I joke, “Poms and toy poodles are pretty close on the cuteness scale.” Yoongi groans, rolling his eyes.

“Ugh, not you, too!” He complains. I giggle lightly, smiling at the two of them. He rolls his eyes, but flashes me another smile, as well.

The questions over lunch range from questions like what made us choose our career to things as simple as ‘what’s your favorite color?’. Rylie adds in little questions here and there, but she seems to be running out of questions. As their fan, I expect that she knows most of the answers to these questions already. I, on the other hand, am learning so much about my soulmate. I want to know everything about him and he seems to think the same. At one point, he even asks me who is the cutest pet that I see at my work. I gasp loudly, staring at him with wide eyes. “There’s no way that I can even answer that question. I...I can’t. They’re all so cute and I just can’t choose. I refuse to answer that,” I say, holding my hands up in defense. Yoongi laughs lightly, throwing his head back.

“Fair answer. That question was a little hard,” he laughs.

Before I know it, we’ve all finished our food. We stand up and throw out the leftover trash. Without even hesitating, Yoongi takes my hand in his and intertwined our fingers. I smile happily at him, but Rylie just shakes her head. “They call you grumpy, but all I’ve seen today is a big softie,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest again. Yoongi flashes her a sweet smile.

“You caught me. Can’t hide anything from you,” he jokes. The three of us make our way through the mall, walking back towards the music store.

When we get back to the music store, Yoongi squeezes my hand lightly and pouts. “I don’t wanna leave you,” he says, pushing out his bottom lip.

“I don’t wanna leave, either, but...we’ve gotta go at some point,” I sigh. Calmly, I pull my phone out of my back pocket and present it to him. Yoongi seems to know what I’m thinking, because he grabs out his phone, as well, and we exchange numbers. When we’re done, we each other’s phones back and I put my phone back in my pocket. I sigh softly and pull him into a big hug. “Okay, Yoongi, we’ll have to get together as soon as possible, okay?” I ask. He nods his head lightly, hugging me back.

“Oh, absolutely. I already want to introduce you to my group mates,” he smiles.

Pulling back, he looks to Rylie again, too. “And you are welcome to come with her. We always love meeting fans,” he smiles. Rylie beams happily, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“This is even better than the concert!” She squeals happily. Yoongi gives her a surprised look, then looks at me.

“You have tickets to the concert coming up?” He asks. Rylie quickly nods her head.

“Yeah! I was just able to secure the tickets yesterday,” she says. He breaks into a smile again.

“Great! Then I guess I’ll see you in a few days! I can probably pull some strings and get you backstage,” he says calmly.

“That would be great!” I say, sharing an excited glance with Rylie. She looks like she’s about to explode from excitement.

Calmly, I pull Yoongi into one more hug. After we separate, Rylie bounces forward and pulls him into a hug, as well. “Thank you so much for today, Yoongi. It was great,” she thanks him. I give her a scandalized look. It wouldn’t have been great had it just been her and I! Yoongi laughs at my face, but smiles at my sister anyway.

“Well, I’m glad! I had a nice time, too,” he smiles. Saying goodbye one last time, Rylie and I grab our bags off the floor and head out the doors of the mall, going towards our car.

As soon as we’re out of earshot, Rylie turns to me again with a huge smile on her face. “I hope you know how *lucky* you are. You’re soulmate is Min Yoongi!” She exclaims. I giggle lightly and nod my head, adjusting the bags on my arms. I look back toward the mall and I’m just able to see Yoongi waving at us from the glass doors.

“Yeah, I guess I am lucky,” I smile.

[angst-fairygodmother]

Light Fingers (The Umbrella Academy)

Diego’s vigilantism brings him repeatedly across the path of a young cat burglar. But as he finds himself developing feelings for the thief, he begins to wonder if there’s more to her than meets the eye, and whether they’re really on opposite sides. And as their relationship deepens, it brings with it a plot involving his estranged adopted father, and threatens to destroy all of them.

CHAPTER 11: ON THE CASE

Word Count: 3369 Pairing: Diego Hargreeves x Reader Rating: T Content Warnings: swearing, references to violence (canon-typical) Cross-posted to AO3: here

Previous Chapter: Normalcy || Masterlist

A/N: Sorry it’s taken me so long, my loves. This chapter was rough. And I’m not a mystery writer, so I can only hope it satisfies.

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“So,” Diego said around a mouthful of cereal, absently scratching Duncan’s head with his other hand. “Who exactly are we looking for?”

“John Miller. Assistant archivist at City Hall,” you explained stirring your coffee. “He plays pool with my fence and a few others on Thursdays. I mentioned I was looking for a big score with a flexible timeline, something to work on in the background between things. He put us in touch.”

“And you’re sure it was Miller that sold us out?”

“He’s the only option.” You shrugged.

“What about Derek?” Diego offered, frowning. 

You froze, staring at him, agape for a moment.

“No. No way,” you shook your head. “The only person I’ve known longer is my brother, and maybe yours. There’s no way he would do that. I trust him.”

Duncan whined, sensing your distress and circling the counter to press himself against your leg instead of Diego’s. You absently placed your hand on top of the dog’s head, comforting him if not yourself. 

“I just had to ask. Cover all our bases,” Diego said, trying to placate you.

You glared for a moment, before deflating with a sigh. “I know…”

“Other than city hall, do you have any leads?”

“No…” you admitted. “But if he’s not at his office, maybe someone there will know where to find him. Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Maybe...this is a mistake and we should just leave it…”

Diego frowned. He’d never known you to just give up, not for anything. And yet, he had been hoping you would, scared for your safety and how things might play out. 

“That’s a change from what you’ve been saying,” he observed cautiously. 

“I know but...if Miller ratted us out, and Reginald hired extra security, the kind that use real guns and shoot first, don’t ask questions...what if he also did something to...silence loose ends?”

You hated that you were suggesting it, didn’t know if it was even probable. But you had to say it out loud. You just hoped that by calling him Reginald and not Diego’s father, it would make the suggestion seem less horrible, although it didn’t seem to be working well on yourself.

“Isn’t that all the more reason to keep looking? If someone is hurt, or dead, because of my father, and we’re the only ones who can put those pieces together, we have a duty, don’t we?”

You chewed nervously on your lip. “I...you’re probably right.”

“I could go alone if you’re worried?” he offered. “You’d be safe that way.”

“Diego,” you sighed, fixing him with a level look. “That makes no sense. I’m worried that this is too dangerous for the two of us together, why the hell would I let you do it alone?”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Are you trying to reverse psychology me?” you gaped at him, scandalized. 

He shrugged. “Did it work?”

“You don’t have to convince me to do anything, Diego. I’m not going to give up, even if we probably should.”

“Good. But, we should be on our guard.”

“Are we ever not?”

“Even more on our guard than usual,” he said, rolling his eyes. 

~

City Hall proved to be a quick dead end; the only thing John Miller had left behind was an office that looked like it had never been used.

“There must be something,” you fumed, running your fingers anxiously through your hair as you paced the empty room. “This can’t be it.”

“We could try asking? Or find a phone book?” Diego suggested, shrugging. 

“We’re going to need more to go on than a name when it’s as common as John Miller. There’s probably twenty of them in the area.”

“Good point. Trash can.” Diego pointed to the unassuming bin under the desk.

“What?” You frowned at him in confusion.

People always forget to empty the trash can, and throw out all kinds of things. Like receipts.”

“Worth a shot.” You sighed, circling around to kneel down and take a peek inside. 

Diego was right that when trying to erase the fact he’d ever existed, Miller had forgotten that little detail. But it didn’t look at first glance like it would be all that helpful, just old napkins and cigarette butts. You grumbled something about him being a fire hazard and sighed, resigning yourself to rooting through. 

“Jackpot,” you muttered before tossing a balled up receipt for ‘May’s Clean-n-Dry’ to Diego. “Think we can do something with that?”

“It’ll narrow things down at least.”

“Great. Then let’s get out of here. We’ve hung around too long already.”

~

It took several more hours, before you were able to narrow down from a radius near the dry cleaner’s to an exact address. The sun was setting as you approached the unassuming brick-faced building. You scowled at it, almost annoyed that for something likely so important it looked so...ordinary.

“So he lives on the second floor,” you said, reviewing the notes you had jotted down throughout the day. “Alone. We should split up and approach from multiple angles, in case this is a trap.”

“No. We go in together,” Diego argued. 

“Diego, be reasonable. I don’t like it either. But we both know it’s the best way to do this.”

“Y/N…” he frowned, expression deepening at your determined and somewhat annoyed look in return. “Fine. But I’m going in the front door. If he’s there and expecting trouble that’s where he’ll expect it from.”

“I’d argue with you about being overprotective, but that was already my plan anyway.”

You leaned over and kissed him swiftly, trying to comfort him and sooth your own nerves, seeking some sort of reassurance in it that the two of you, together, could handle anything that might come. His hand wrapped around the back of your neck, clinging to you and answering your emotion with his own desperation and need. 

“Showtime?” you asked when you parted finally, quirking an eyebrow at him and smirking excitedly. 

“Yeah,” he nodded, voice quiet. 

You slipped out of the car, immediately wrapping your powers around you to blur the sight as you crossed the street and circled the building. It wasn’t hard to find a fire escape and open window, slipping inside and crouching in the shadows to wait for some sign of Diego. Glancing around, you noticed that the apartment looked like it had been tossed, clothing and personal belongings scattered.

The front door creaked open and Diego slipped inside, freezing immediately as you heard a sound from the next room. 

Suddenly, Miller burst through, not noticing either of you as he tossed the room further, like he was looking for something.

“John Miller?” Diego asked, stepping into the center of the room and making the other man freeze, wide-eyed. 

“Are you here to kill me?” he asked, strangely calm. 

“Now why would we do that, John?” you asked, leaning against the sill you had just come through.

He shrieked, jumping to look at you, fists raised. You watched him standing there, trembling, and frowned, casting a look over at Diego.

“B-b-because of the robbery. The warehouse. You’re mad it was a setup, right?”

“You knew?” Diego snapped, pulling a knife. You rolled your eyes and waved for him to stand down.

“Now why would you sell me out John?” you cocked your head. “Seeing as I’ve never done anything to you.”

“It wasn’t me! Please you have to believe me! The old man came to me!”

“What old man?” Diego snapped. “Tell us everything.”

“No. No. I can’t. I have to get out of here! We all have to get out of here!”

You were starting to suspect that John was going to cry, or piss himself. He was terrified, certainly not the sort of man you had expected. He didn’t seem like the sort to be a criminal mastermind, or even an informant. Something wasn’t adding up, again, and you were starting to get really angry about it.

You sighed, rubbing your temple. “You got in over your head, obviously. And you’re scared. Talk and maybe we can help you.”

“You can’t. No one can.” He shook his head. “He’s going to kill me.”

“We can protect you,” Diego offered, holding out his hands placatingly. “You just have to tell us everything.”

“No. No one can protect me. You least of all.”

“We can,” you insisted. “If you just calm down and tell us exactly what happened.”

“You don’t understand. He paid me a lot of money to bring the plans to you. To get you to break in. Not just any thief. He told me your name, where to find you, who to contact. He wanted you.”

“He...what?” Diego asked, voice catching.

“What was his name?” you forced out past the lump of fear in your throat.

“You did what he wanted. I know too much. I’m a loose end. I know how this works. Now if you’re not going to kill me, I have to get out of here. I have to hide. Maybe he won’t find me. But I have to go.”

“What. was. his. name?” you asked. You knew the answer. But you needed to be sure, to hear it. 

“Hargreeves.”

“Fuck,” you sighed.

Diego looked pale, like he might be sick. You felt the same. 

“Get out of here,” he told Miller, shaking his head. 

~

“Just trust me, alright?” you asked, holding Diego’s gaze. “We’re not going to engage, we’re not going to do anything risky. Just take a quick look around and see what we see.”

“No. Y/N. It’s too dangerous. And what if we find something?”

“Then...I don’t know. we should probably go to Eudora? You said yourself that we’re the only ones who can make this connection, so we have to do something. Right?”

He was chewing nervously on his lip, a habit you were pretty sure he’d picked up from you at some point. 

“But he’s also your father, and I get it if that makes this complicated for you…”

“Going to the police will mean we have to explain how we know. And having something concrete.”

“That’s why I said Dora, specifically. She’ll be more understanding than most. Maybe she’ll be able to help us swing it so that we don’t end up in jail too. Either way, that’s assuming we can figure out exactly what’s going on.”

“We won’t find anything sitting out here. Let’s go.”

The pair of you stayed in the car, parked across the street from the infamous Umbrella Academy for another several minutes.

Diego, you could tell, was nervous to reenter the place he’d grown up in and left behind long ago. There were so many memories within those four stone walls for him, and most of them were bad. You almost expected him to balk at the last moment and ask that you go alone. And you had made contingencies in your mind for just that purpose. But Diego was never one to run from a fight. 

You, on the other hand, were terrified to potentially confront your father and brother in law, for both Diego’s sake and your own. You hoped that the building was empty, or that the only beings inside were Diego’s mom and...whatever one classified Pogo as (and you weren’t sure that wasn’t “your husband is pulling your leg about just how weird it was growing up in that house”). But none of your luck had been good so far, so it seemed like too much to hope. 

“We should get going…in there and...g-get it over with...” Diego said haltingly. 

“We don’t have to if you’re not comfortable. I can come back alone or something,” you rushed to assure him, catching his stutter immediately. 

He shook his head. “No. Let’s finish this.”

You gave his hand a gentle squeeze while the other fell to the door handle. He returned the gesture with a strained smile and a determined glint in his eye. Without speaking, it was like the pair of you counted to three, synchronizing. 

The Academy towered over you both, casting a looming shadow even from across the street. You swallowed and set about to work. 

~

“Diego?” a voice said, stopping your husband short. Slowly you both turned toward the door on your right. “What are you doing here? Who’s she?”

“Is Dad here, Luther?” Diego asked instead of answering questions. 

“No, he should be home soon. Don’t try to tell me you’re here to see him though. I know that’s not true.”

“No. We’re looking for answers.” 

Luther seemed more confused than combative. You let your eyes wander over your brother-in-law’s large form and decided that was probably for the best.

“Answers? Answers to what?” his voice raised slightly. 

You practically feel the way Diego tensed beside you, his hand subtly dropping to one of his knives. You stretched your fingers to dance over his and try to get him to ease off, for now.

“Diego, what’s going on? And you still haven’t answered who she is.” Luther pointed a finger accusingly at you.

“I’m Y/N,” you said, offering a smile and stepping forward to shake Luther’s hand, only to retreat when he shifted as if expecting you to launch an attack. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Diego,” you didn’t like the tone of Luther’s voice now, a warning, or a scolding maybe. 

“We don’t have time to explain Luther. We just need to take a look around before Dad gets back.”

“No. Not unless you tell me why.”

“I...had a run in with some guys that tried to kill me,” you said, choosing your words carefully. “I have reason to believe your father might be involved, and convinced Diego to help me...snoop.”

“You've always been selfish, Diego,” Luther snapped, face darkening in anger and disbelief, and Diego scowled back, “but this is a new low. I can't believe you'd turn on us for some girl.”

“She is not just 'some girl', Luther!” Diego had drawn his knife in a blink and pointed the tip of it at his brother. 

You flinched. You didn’t want it to come to a fight between brothers. Even if Diego probably could handle it physically, and pretend he was fine with it emotionally, it didn’t seem right to you. 

Luther scoffed disbelievingly. 

“She’s my wife. I love her, I have to protect her. We…” Diego hesitated, afraid of how easily the words felt like they could roll off his tongue. “We’re family.”

“What would you know about family? You ran away from yours as soon as you could!”

“We didn’t have a family growing up. This, between Y/N and I, is real, not forced because our father thought it would make us easier to control.”

“What exactly makes her so special?”

“Y/N sees me. I’ve never been a number to her, or our last name. I’m just me. And she cares about me, flaws and all. She’s been here for me no matter what. She makes me happy. Really happy.”

“And that’s enough?”

“What else is there?” you asked softly, shrugging apologetically. 

Luther turned his glare on you. “I wasn’t asking you.”

“Don’t talk to her like that, Luther,” Diego warned. “I made a decision. Now get out of our way.”

“No.”

“Don’t make me do this, Number One. I will.”

He shifted into a different stance, one you recognized from the boxing ring when he wanted to taunt his opponents and look weaker than he really was. Luther seemed to take the bait, raising his fists, and the two brothers circled each other slowly in the foyer of that house.

You stepped back, neither of them seeming to notice you anymore. Your heart fluttered, and nervously you wondered if you should stay in case Diego needed your help. Part of you wanted to step in and put a stop to it, to remind them that they were family too and should be on the same side. 

But then your logical mind kicked back in. The watchdog was distracted. Now was going to be your best, probably your only, chance to slip away and look for answers. If you moved quickly, everything would be fine. You rationalized that this was probably part of Diego’s plan, and you slipped away.

Most of the house was just empty rooms, storage and old bedrooms, places that hadn’t been lived in in years. You passed one with drawings on the walls, chicken scratch and frantic pen and wondered whose mind had been so excited that they couldn’t look for paper (you had your suspicions though). Another with scuff marks in the door and holes in the walls, as surely Diego’s as anything you’d ever seen. 

‘At least now he uses a board to practice,’ you thought, smiling softly.

Passing further down the hall, you found a back stairwell and followed it up, circling around a balcony strewn with memorabilia of the famed Umbrella Academy and of the exploits of Reginald Hargreeves. You scowled. The whole building was a monument, a museum of one man’s ego and you wanted to light it all on fire.

Reigning in your temper, you tried one of the doors on the upper level, easing it open to reveal a cluttered space that was quite clearly a study. 

“Alright, Reginald. Tell me your secrets. It’s the least you can do,” you breathed, slipping inside and shutting the door behind you. 

Immediately, you went to the desk, piled high with papers and journals. There was too much to stop and read. You needed more to go on, so you started leafing through, looking for some sort of system or organizational mark. You swore under your breath after a few minutes of hunting. Of course there was nothing that straight-forward. He was too smart for that. 

Just as you were considering giving up, you found a folder full of papers stamped with D.S. Umbrella Co. letterhead. Most of them were just lists: dates, locations, item descriptions, something you thought might be crate numbers or license plates, names. You frowned, tugging at your lower lip as you read through them, looking for something. On one page, the date a few months prior, was the name of someone you recognized as a missing person. But there was so little else to go on. Still, you pulled it out and shoved it in your coat pocket, planning to take it and study it in more detail later. 

You returned the rest of the folder to the drawer and straightened to go. Then something you had missed before caught your eye and you paused.

Underneath a pile of what appeared to be invoices for building materials and construction equipment, you found a journal, red-leather embossed with the letters RH, apparently hastily hidden. Easing it carefully out, trying to disturb everything around it as little as possible to cover that you had found it, you flipped the obviously important book open and began to read. 

First was a list of locations, some crossed out, some with initials or marks next to them, and eight circled, including one you recognized as your parents’ home address. Your jaw clenched angrily and you kept reading, finding notations about which children he had found, how’d he’d acquired them, and added in a different ink at another time their numbers and abilities. Skimming a few more pages, you realized that this book was full of observations about the seven children and their raising/training. A chill ran down your spine when you realized that there were also notes about you. Eventually you shook yourself, trying to absorb the information was taking too much time, and irrelevant to the matter at hand. 

Flipping to the end, you scanned the last entries. Much of it was in code, and you growled in frustration, but one date caught your attention: your wedding date. Starting there, you began to study and puzzle through every entry, wishing you had a pen and paper to help you. 

Before you could get very far, a hand fell on your shoulder and you gasped, spinning around to defend yourself. 

Instead, you felt rooted in your spot by the cold glare of Reginald Hargreeves. 

[yandere-mha-blog]

Chapter 11:Outside

words :1171

You looked down at your dog crossing your arms and shaking your head in disappointment

“Panchan you can't just run into people's houses when you feel like it.” You said, “That is being a bad boy.”

“Arf”

“Well I can see on your face you don't believe you did anything wrong.” you said squishing his face a bit “you are lucky you're cute.”

With that, you decided to check your emails, and message Hana, you waited and waited and nothing till you got a ding

To whom it may concern

I don't know what ridiculous notion my daughter has put into your head, but you are to stop seeing Tomura Shigaraki at once, this is a family matter and we don't need strangers interfering with family matters.

You felt your eyes roll deeply into the back of your head and cracked your knuckles oh how you were gonna tear into this man

Hello, Mr,Shimura i presume

Sorry but as stated on company policy we don't  do refunds unless our clients have become physically violent or need more extreme measure of help, so I will continue to conduct the six-month program With a Tomura Shigaraki, It is documented that you had a son by the (name) of Tenko Shimura so I'm not seeing how Tomura Shigaraki is a matter of family business when no one in your family is stated to have that name, you must have confused this man I am helping with your son

-good day

Now onto the rest of your day, meal prep, cleaning, and showering, You slipped into a pair of comfy Pjs’ and scrolling through your phone, only to get a call from your supervisor, just great.

“Hello Mr, Ito.” you said, “what is the pleasure?”

“(name) you recently took on a new case, correct, for a Tomura Shigaraki?” He said

“Yes, I've been seeing him for a little over a week now,” you said

“It's well I got a very angry phone call from a man called Kotaro Shimura.” he said, so that was the (name) of Tomuras dad “I told him we have no one under the (name) Tenko Shimura like he was yelling at me for, and well it says his (name) was legally changed to Tomura Shigaraki and all ties to that family were cut off.”

“Yes I sorta put two and two together, please tell me you aren't going to tell me to stop seeing him?” you asked feeling a bit nervous if this was the case

“Oh of course not, I just thought I should let you know that this is well a mess of a citation, and this Kotaro man may try to harass you and the company if you decide to continue, just something to keep in mind.”

“Don't worry Mr.Ito i'll be able to handle my own, thanks for checking up, have a good rest of your day,” you said

“You too.” He said and hung up, now you were even more motivated to help Tomura than you were before.

Tomura was still held up in his room looking thought a couple of formes, and man where these people dumb, no wonder they were alone, he just wanted a nice form to talk about being single and how this woman is confusing him, but all they are doing is calling them a bunch of bitches, so Tomura did what he did next, and sent in a trojan virus to mess up the server. Seeing a bunch of messages pop up saying their original account got deleted when he opened an email and it apparently got sent to his friends who were on the form made him laugh at the panic of their post and accounts getting deleted.

But it still didn't fix the issue he had at hand. There seemed to be no one that could give him an outsider's opinion on this, the only person was You, and you were the reason he was trying to look for answers in the first place. He needed to get his mind off you, that video game he wanted should be coming out soon he saw the preorder page. Unfortunately, the universe must have wanted to smack him in the face twice today because it was every introvert's worst nightmare.

In-store pick-up only.

“You gotta be shitting me,” he said

You arrived the next day and Panchan must have known where you were because he was already scratching on Tomuras door wagging his tail and whining.

“Down Panchan, you don't usually get this excited.” you said as you knocked on the door “Tomura I'm back.”

“Ugh.” you heard through the door and then a thud, then the click of the locks and then the door opening to see Tomura with a few hair stragglers popping out the front of his hood

“Did you just wake up, long night?” you asked as Panchan let out a woof.

“Hard time falling asleep.” Tomura said, rubbing his eyes, “Lots on my mind.”

“I see, do you want to talk about it?” you asked

“No.” Tomura said as he leaned down to pet Panchan who licked his hand “I'm not in a good mood.”

“Why is that?” you asked

“The video game I wanted is in-store pick up only, so I know I'm gonna have to pay ten times the price cause a bunch of scalpers are going to get their grubby hands on them and sell them.” He said

“Why don't you go and get one in person,” you suggested

“I don't think so, I'm not exactly the most excited going out during the day in large crowds,” Tomura said

“What if I go with you?” You said, “If you really want this game and being alone in a crowd makes you anxious, I can come as a moral support.”

“It comes out today, don't think you want to go last minute,” Tomura said

“Nonsense Tomura lets go right now, don't think about it, just think about you getting your hands on your game, also Panchan can come with moral support as well, right Panchan?” you said

Panchan just barked in response, Still, maybe this would work, but Tomura was still unsure.

“And if you change your mind we can just turn around and come back home.” You said

“Can’t I just give you the money and you go get it for me?” Tomura said

“Sorry, Tomura but that's a no, I don't exactly like the idea of you spending most of your day playing video games, but if you are willing to leave your house for thirty minutes to go get it, then I can compromise,” you said, Tomura thinking you were not as much of a pushover as he first thought clicked his tongue.

“Fine…” he grumbled

“Great and remember if you want to head back, we can at any time,” you said, as Tomura looked down seeing the street when was the last time he went outside while the sun was still out?