#wait is Helpy in Help wanted because his name is Helpy

[pixlokita]

It his birthday…

[whiskehorange]

jason,bubba ,michael and carrie with a s/o who loves fnaf and spend hours talking about the teorys and lore ?

oh yeah baby I know what the fuck is up with this shit right here

Jason

Get's invested because you talk about it so often

Definitely has names remembered and and gives you nods of acknowledgement whenever you re tell him something, signaling that he understands

Its a bit therapeutic for him to hear you go on and on, especially seeing how much your face lights up or contorts whenever you speak about specific timeline events. If only he got to experience this when he was a kid

Hates William with a burning passion. Like whenever he comes up in conversation he wants to combust (real)

His favorite animatronic is Glamrock Bonnie, but hates talking about the theories, makes him sad

Bubba

Just nods and smiles the whole time you talk, just happy to hear you speak to him about cute little animals and whatever the fuck a mega pizzaplex is

Can't remember shit about the lore, but absolutely remembers the names of the animatronics, at least up until the 3rd game

Has both the worst and best times playing the games if you have them. Every jump scare works on him and while he jumps and yells, he can't help but seem to be a bit of an adrenaline junkie and can't wait for another one

His favorite animatronic is Chica, specifically from fnaf 1

Michael

Retains barely any information whatsoever. Picks up on some of the names but just sits there and listens. However, you can't tell if he's breathing heavy under that mask or snoring

Doesn't jump a single time whenever you watch gameplay, who would've thought?

Now that I think about it, would probably get jump scared once and then get embarrassed it scared him so he'd punch the screen and then act like nothing happened for the rest of the day

His favorite is the red one, although favorite is a strong word

Carrie

Takes her a bit to get the ropes of what you're talking about, seeing as it's a form of media she would never be allowed to get into if she was still with her mother

Is as happy as can be while she listens to you speak for hours about the lore and the story line and she gets really emotional about it to

Thinks the story is extremely sad and always puts in her two cents about how awful William is or how bad she feels for the animatronics/kids

Absolutely adores Helpy and hates seeing him get hurt in those minigames LMAOOO

[ghoastixx]

you know the episode French Mistake? What if Dean and Sam get sent to the real world and find out their sister is dating someone else in the cast? Like Misha? Idk I just came up with this

The French Mistake

synopsis above

Notes: I literally LOVE episodes that I just get to copy the show and throw little old us in. It's so fun to write. I loved writing the mystery spot one, hoping this one is just as fun.

Author's note: Wasn't sure if you wanted the reader to be transported with sam and dean or not, but for the sake of this being more interesting to read and not just an episode of Supernatural, you get to teleport too. Made the reader Gender Neutral. R/N stands for "real name"

Warning: Spoilers for the end of The Godfather. Cas (Misha Collins) x reader kind of?????????)

For the sake of legality, I do not own the universe, plot, or characters of Supernatural. I am a mere fanficiton author.

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It was a nice afternoon..quiet..not a hunt for once.. a minute to breathe. You were sitting in the kitchen, waiting for Bobby. Dean was at the table, Bobby out and about. Sam walked into the room.

"Where's Bobby?"

"Supply run," You yawned, responding to your brother Sam.

"In this?" Ah yes, the disaster you were in. You had almost forgotten. A shame you hadn't. Dean turned to look at your brother,

"Yeah, man's a hero. We were officially out of hunter's helper." The alcohol had run dry.

"Hello Winchester's. You've seen 'The Godfather' right?" A voice that didn't belong to any of you pulled you away from the dry conversation.

"Balthazar."

"You know the end, where Micheal Corleone sends his men to kill his enemies in one big, bloody swoop?" Balthazar was now messing with things. Pouring salt into a bowl on one of Bobby's desks. You sat up, ultimately confused as your brothers were seething.

"Hey!' Dean yelled,

"'Dead Sea Brine.' Good, good, good. You know, Moe Green gets it in the eye, and Don Cueno gets it in the revolving door?" what was even happening.

"I said 'hey!'"

"You did. Twice. Good for you." Balthazar started going through the fridge. "Blood of lamb.. beer, cold pizza, blood of lamb- yes! blood of lamb!"

You perked up, "Why are you talking about 'The Godfather?'"

"Because we're in it- right now, tonight. And in the role of Micheal Corleone- the archangel Raphael!"

"You mind telling us what you mean?" Dean barked

"no, no, no, no, no, no no." You rolled your eyes. "Yes. Bone of a lesser saint. This vertebra will do very nicely. You're Mr.Singer does keep a beautiful pantry." You looked down at the contents of Bobby's drawer which was now on the floor.

"Raphael is after you?" Dean asked. Sam was awfully quiet."

"Raphael is after all of us." He corrected, ""You see. he's consolidated his strength, and now he's on the move."

"And where's Cas?" Sam finally asked, which grabbed your attention. You missed the angel. He was your friend.

"Oh, Cassie? He is deep, deep underground. So, good old Raffy put out a hit list on every Samaritan who helped our dear Cas- including both of you. And so much more importantly, me. See, he wants to draw Cas out into the open." This made you frown. The thought of Cas having basically ruined his life.

"And you expect us just to believe you?" Sam asked, "Oh. Don't. You'll go where I throw you either way."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dean was defensive and Sam was tense. You were trying to piece everything together.

"That's all the time we have Winchesters." He opened his jacket to reveal a wound.. he was bleeding pretty badly. You jumped up to retrieve the first aid kit, or more so what was left of it. "Where is it?"

"Where's what?"

There was some commotion behind you before there was a blinding light and the words that would ring through your ears "RUN." You were shoved through a window with your brothers.

When you opened your eyes it was so bright.. "Cut!" Suddenly there were people helping you up. Dean and Sam were also up and looked equally as confused. You looked over to see someone patting Dean's ass which made you cringe. You looked around. it looked like a t.v set of Bobby's house.

"Jared, Jensen, R/N! Outstanding! That was just great!" The Winchesters all looked at each other with shared confusion which made others around you giggle.

"'Supernatural,' scene one echo, take one. Tail slate. Marker!"

"What happened," Sam muttered, looking around.

"No angels?" You mumble

"No angels." Dean confirms. "I think."

There were people arguing about a scene, about how they 'jumped through the window.'

"What is even happening," You ask out loud,

"No idea." Sam replies. Dean picks up a piece of "window" which is really just fake. The other people keep arguing.

"Jared! Three minutes, okay!" Someone grabbed Sam by the hand, dragging him away.

"Jensen! There you are, let's get you in the chair." Someone drags Dean away.

"R/N," A voice came from behind one of the cameras. A man in a cardigan and a t-shirt underneath. He came up to you, smiling wide. "that was a really good shot, honey. Whenever everyone was reminiscing on Cas? Real heart tugger."

"Cas..?" This man looked so much like..well. A normal Castiel.

"yeah- are you feeling okay? Did you hit your head during the stunt?" You then spotted Sam.

"Uh- I have to go!"

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"Dude, they put freakin' makeup on us! Those Bastards!" Dean complained, practically clawing at his skin.

"Look, I think I know what this is,"

"Okay. What?"

"It itches-"

"It's a T.V. show-" As Sam and Dean pondered, you couldn't help but glance at the "normal Cas" that was talking to one of the guys.. this was.. awful.

"We- we landed in some dimension where you're Jensen Ackles." He pointed at Dean. "You're R/N" He points at you. "And I'm Jared Padalecki,"

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The three exited the studio, you looked around in awe as Dean spotted the car.

"Oh, hey. Least my baby made it." You looked over to witness someone flinging mud onto it and the pained look on your brother's face.

"Hey. Hey! What-" There are three more impalas. "I'm gonna be sick. I want to go home. I feel like this whole place is bad-touching me." You nod in agreement as Sam agrees.

"yeah, I know. Me too. So, what do you think? Cas?"

You perk up, "Oh! I talked to a guy who looked like him earlier." You start to look around,

"So he's run his ass away from heaven here?" Dean spots him.

"cas? Cas! Hey, Cas! Oh, thank god. What is all this, huh? W-what did Balthazar do to us?"

The man you spoke to earlier approached, he looks stern. Like the Castiel you know. It made something in your chest tighten. "To keep you out of Virgil's reach, he's cast you into an alternate reality, a universe similar to ours in most aspects yet dramatically different in others."

"Like- like Bizarro earth, right? Except instead of having Bizarro Superman, we get this clown factory." The Cas looks a little confused.

"Um...Yeah, well...Anyway, no time to explain. Do you have the key?" You tilt your head, but Sam pulls out a key.

"So, uh, what does this thing do, anyways?"

"It opens a room."

"What's in this room?" You ask

"Every weapon Balthazar stole from heaven."

"he gave it to us?" Dean asks, almost hesitantly.

"To keep it safe until I could reach you. With those weapons, I have a chance to rally my forces."

You sigh relief, "Oh. Okay. good. Yeah, so now.. uh, what's the deal with all this T.V. crap?" Sam asks, a bit annoyed.

"pardon?" The Cas's brow furrows

"Yeah. Amen, Padaleski." You nod as Dean says this.

"Uh, 'Lecki'" Sam corrects.

"What?" Dean mutters,

"Lecki. Pretty sure."

The Cas pulled out a packet of papers, "Man. Did they put out new pages?" He mutters.

"New what?"

"I mean, is this some kind of cosmic joke?" You ask the Cas who looks up at you with an almost hurt expression.

"yeah, 'cause if it is, it's stupid and we don't get it." Dean backed you up. Sam agreed.

"Are you guys okay?" The Castiel imposter asked. Dean grabbed the supposed script from him, flipping through it.

"Give me that. What is- these are words in a script. This isn't Cas." You chest tightens again as hope drains from your face.

"Dude, look at him." Sam mumbles as the imposter unbuttons his shirt, wearing a graphic t-shirt underneath it.

"You guys want to run lines, or..?"

Dean reads the script. "His name's Misha..Misha?"

"Oh wow.."

"Just great-" The imposter looks at you again, he's only looking at you with these mixed expressions of deeper confusion. Dean continues rambling.

"Misha? Jensen? R/N? Whats up with the names around here?" As soon as Dean says this, "Misha" laughs a bit.

"You guys! You really punked me! Im totally gonna tweet this one." He pulls out a phone.

"What's a tweet," You whisper-ask Sam as "Misha" starts to read out loud.

"Hola mishamigos. J-squared...got me good."

"I just want to dig my finger in my brain and scratch until we're back in Kansas."

All three Winchesters begin to walk away before "Misha" yells. "Hold on, R/N! Are you still on for dinner tonight!?" You feel your cheeks start to red a bit as Dean and Sam look at you.

"Er- might have to reschedule-" You yell back as you turn away and quickly leave.

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You all huddled into "Jensen Ackles" trailer. He had awful taste.. you all began to do research on yourselves. Jensen and Jared are interesting. Models and TV stars. They get to you.

"R/N.. Says here that you.. you were an actor. Also-" Sam looks up, glancing at Dean and then back at you. "You're also dating a Misha Collins." Your jaw drops.

"No way! Fake Cas!?" Dean exclaims, "That's probably why he asked you about dinner-" You bury your face in your hands. Sam clears his throat.

"Y/N, is there something you have to tell us..?"

"No!"

As Dean and Sam continue to talk about how they could possibly get out of here, you take the computer.. looking at pictures of you and Misha.. you two look happy together.. your chest tightens again.

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You were all losing hope as everything you tried was failing. All the ingredients Balthazar had used were now rubber.. the Impala was a prop.. nothing was working. So now you were trying to figure out what to do next.

"Me? Yes. um. I- I'll just tag along with uh-" Dean stuttered around. Misha and a crew member where standing in front of you.

"Jared."

"Jared...Jared here."

"Huh- since when are you guys talking?" The crew member asks as Misha looks at you,

"So..busy tonight?" You bite the frown that wants to crawl onto your face. You would like to have dinner with him, but you cannot just abandon your brothers for a man you don't even know.

"Yes, I'm sorry. Gonna work with Jared and..Jensen."

"I didn't know you guys were getting along again."

"Ah- you know...the way we are.."

"Well, call me if you need me to come get you," He kissed your cheek before leaving. You glanced at Sam and Dean as your face was red.

"I'll kill him." Dean muttered.

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Turns out Jared is filthy rich and is dating Ruby of all people. She seems a bit surprised to see you and Dean in the mansion. Saying neither of you have ever been there. She seems.. defensive. You all hole up in the library of the mansion and order stuff you need. The next day, you all go to the set of Bobby's house with a solution in mind and get permission to have the set cleared for a few hours.

When you and Sam show up to see cameras, you almost wanna vomit as Dean looks sheepishly away. He did not infect get the set cleared and the Misha guy was back. So.. you all have to do a little bit of acting. You're all awful at it.

Hours seemed to have passed and the Misha guy is still "tweeting" whatever that is. Then the day is over and you're all sent away again.. That was after you all attacked what you thought was Virgil.

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The rest of the experience was all hazy to you. The Misha guy had ended up taking you back to your trailer and giving you some pills and that was all you really remembered. Sam and dean tried to explain how you got back, but it didn't make much sense to you. Not that you cared much anymore. There were more important things to focus on!

But Dean and Sam never let go the Misha guy, insisting something was going on between you and Castiel. You insisted there wasn't...

But..maybe the next time you saw Castiel..maybe you could pretend he was the Misha guy for just a minute longer.

(I'm sorry this ended so abruptly and lame. I worked on this for two hours and honestly didn't know how to finish it I'm sorry!!!)

[ponds-of-ink]

Sing The Ghosts A Christmas Carol - Chapter 6 (“Christmas Day”)

Well, this is it. We’ve pretty much reached the end of the story. I may not have reached 50k words, but I think this has gone over a lot better than I was expecting. Thanks so much for reading this fanfic. Minor writing blocks aside, this was a blast to write.

Never mind the fact that I might be writing some of those deleted scenes as “bonus chapters” to increase the word count shhhh.

Anyways, let’s check in on William, shall we?

-

Six bell chimes broke through the silence. The sensation of a cold tile floor chilled William’s back. He rolled onto his stomach, refusing to open his eyes until he knew the floor wasn’t just a blind hope.

Thankfully for him, the floor was no illusion. The cold feeling still remained.

One of his reddened eyes opened. The dim light provided him a warm, orangish glow. What was once just clutter surrounding a wide room now seemed like old friends welcoming him home. Even the desk was a fantastic sight for his sore, puffy eyes. “I’m… back,” he muttered before breaking into a fit of raspy laughter. “I didn’t perish in that lake after all! Oh, happy day! Oh, Merry…”

William’s laughter drifted away. He hoisted himself off the ground. What day was it, anyway? Was it still Christmas here and now? Or did that twisted creature send him a few days ahead?

He crawled over to his desk chair, then scrambled into a half-decent sitting position. His eyes darted to the computer. And, unlike the last few ‘hours’, the monitor was on. Animatronic roster and all.

William’s hands shook, but not with terror. He clumsily selected an animatronic, hit the “Start” button, then waited.

A small, plastic-looking bear crawled onto the desk. It raised the air horn in its paw, then stopped. “Can I… help you?” it asked in a gentle, high-pitched tone. “You look pretty stressed.” “I am a little stressed, but that’s unimportant,” William chuckled as he patted the bear on the head. “What’s important is today’s date. That is, to say—No, ask— What day is it?”

The robotic cub put a finger to his chin. “I think it’s Christmas Day back home,” he answered thoughtfully. “But I’ll have to check with The Puppet to make sure.”

William shuffled in his seat, grinning like a madman. However, he was still aware of his concerned audience of one. “You don’t suppose you couldn’t ‘jump-scare’ me and end the shift early, could you?” he asked in a (hopefully) restrained tone. “I really just called you here because I knew you could answer that question better than the rest… If, well, I’m allowed to say that around here. Y-Your name is Helpy, after all, s-so I figured…” His words tapered off as a new feeling settled in. Or, perhaps an old one re-contextualized? Whatever it was, it made all of his excitement turn into tongue-tied jitteriness.

Helpy noticed the man’s change in demeanor rather quickly. “Sorry, Mr. Afton,” he answered as he sat down on the desk, “but my air-horn doesn’t end shifts by itself. The others use it as a signal to close in.”

“Ah,” was all William could plaintively mutter before resting his head on the table.

“But I could help you get less scared, if you want,” Helpy suggested with a bright grin. “You gotta be pretty brave to take on everybody at full strength, you know?”

William stirred. Oh, right! The Ultimate Challenge! How did he forget? “I’m not up for the challenge today,” he corrected, raising his head a little. “In fact, after this session is up, I think I’ll take a much-needed break. It was a long night for me.”

Helpy’s ears raised. “Really?” he asked, putting his hands on his chin. “You’re going to take Christmas off?”

“Unless Golden Freddy says otherwise, of course,” William added swiftly, lifting his pointer finger off the desk. “Come to think of it, would you mind sending this message to the others? I would try to go through all the trouble, but—as I previously mentioned— I’m completely knackered.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Afton!” Helpy grinned, jumping back up to his feet. “Oh, just wait until the others hear about this! They’re going to be so excited!”

William gave a weak laugh. “I hope your sentiment’s correct,” he remarked quietly. “After all the trouble I’ve put them through, I wouldn’t be surprised if they felt the exact opposite.”

The rest of the “hours” flew by. As soon as the clock chimed, Helpy sprang down and hurried away with his airhorn. William, on the other hand, sat at his desk with a careworn expression. Was he as thrilled as Helpy about his breakthrough? Of course he was! To escape the clutches of death (even if it was a mere vision of some now-unattainable fate) without creating more problems was quite the feat for him. Even more of a wonder, his vow wasn’t just some last-minute realization as his other pleas had been. It, for maybe the first time in many decades, was a genuine promise.

But there was the problem. While his words were genuine, there was no doubt the validity would be in question. He—one who would even lie to himself just to continue some twisted reputation—had no right to change his mind so late in life. He had no right to receive kindness, either, though many a Christmas hymn would plead otherwise. “Why, oh why, am I assuming they’ll let me join their little bash?” he bemoaned as he buried his head into his hands. “I admitted my villainy, accepted it, then stomped on the souls of those who would argue with me. I even trampled their hopes before I even set foot in this place! No, not just their hopes— Their lives! Even those whose lives are more artificial haven’t been spared! Oh, woe, grief and darkest lamentations!” As if to punctuate his downward spiral, he slammed his head on the desk. Any light objects either leapt to the floor in fear or fell on their sides.

He broke in a sob, but it died down in a minute or so. “But I can’t give into this second dark abyss,” he muttered to himself, wiping the tears onto his sleeve. “The first one was bad enough. No. I’ll have to… m-march to their party and apologize. Just to put an end to this whole matter. If they ‘kill’ me off-the-clock, so be it.” With this last sentiment repeating in his head, he got up from his chair and stormed into the hallway. He listened for the uproar from some distant room, then followed whatever direction his ears caught it from. The closer he got, however, the more the nerves settled in. Even more voices chattered amongst themselves. Some whispered in shock. Others outright laughed to some listener, mocking the poor thing. At least one or two attempted to shush the crowd, but it seemed to be all for naught. The reason why made itself clear as William entered The Funtime Cove. For, instead of Funtime Foxy, it was now Helpy who was standing on the stage. And, judging from his worried posture, the news hadn’t gone over well with the others. “Are you sure you weren’t talking to Scraptrap?” another Foxy inquired, raising a hook amidst all the commotion. “I know the nasty fella doesn’t talk much, but at least he’s got a better chance to say ‘sorry’ than that landlubber!”

Scraptrap rose up to his feet to answer the question, but the term ‘nasty fella’ prompted him to sit back down. He was not going to start another barrage of insults anytime soon.

William, meanwhile, was more than ready to face the crowd. He put his fingers in his mouth and let out an ear-splitting whistle. “He’s not lying!” he bellowed to those who were less- easily startled by the first noise. Though this strained his ghostly vocal chords, it did prove itself effective. Group by group, the animatronics turned their attention to him.

William exhaled slowly. “He’s not lying,” he repeated in a calmer tone. “I really am taking the day off. And, if it’s possible, I’d…I’d like to make amends.“

“For all that stuff you did yesterday, or for everything?” Pigpatch asked, halting his banjo playing.

William’s face burned red. “As much as I’d like to say ‘everything’, I’m not quite sure if everyone is so quick to forgive,” he admitted, rubbing his neck with his hand. “So, in the interest of fairness, I’ll go with what I did yesterday. I… trust that might be a good start?”

The fifty-some robots chattered in low voices. Debates of all sorts bounced about. Would their ringleader allow this sort of behavior? What would happen if they let him join the party? Would he sabotage it somehow? Or was he actually being serious?

In the midst of all this discussion, one of the Freddy models got up from his seat. He calmly walked past them all, only to stop a short distance away from Afton. The bear adjusted his purple bow tie, then cleared his throat. “I’ll call it good if you pay up,” he said, holding out his hand. “Please deposit five coins.”

William broke into a cold sweat. He dug into his pockets, almost threatening to tear them apart with how furious he was. With a nerve-wracked grin, he handed the bear several golden coins. “I know you asked for five, but I’m feeling generous today,” he laughed shakily, slicking back his messy hair with his free hand. “Here, Rocky. T-Take it these ten coins. Please..”

Rocky furrowed his brow. He moved the coins from one hand to the other, nodding rhythmically. “Wow, you really don’t know how to count under pressure,” he snickered, placing the coins into his hat. “You’ve just given me twenty coins.”

William blinked in disbelief. “Well, then, you can keep the change,” he replied swiftly, trying to maintain some sense of decorum. “I clearly don’t have any use for them today. G-Go send them to a child in need in my stead, for all I care!”

Rocky looked over his shoulder, gauged the audience’s expressions, then refocused his attention on the miscounting dummy. “Thank you for depositing twenty coins,” he said as he bowed low, his voice remarkably more smug than usual. “Now go sit down somewhere before you pass out.”

In an absolute daze, William hobbled over to the nearest chair and promptly sat down. His head spun as the conversation started up again, but with Rocky now providing more input. The man clasped his hands together and slumped forward. He mouthed a silent plea, though he wasn’t even sure what he was “rambling” about. All he knew was that this was the final decision. The make or break point for how merry his Christmas would be. And perhaps the rest of his future, given how things could potentially go.

After many more minutes of debate, everyone gradually quieted down. A sound much like a spinning top became the only constant sound for a moment or so. The speakers whined, prompting William to finally snap out of his anxiety… Only to thrown right back in by the mere sight of Ballora on center stage. “As much as I appreciate how philosophical you’ve all been, I believe it’s time to put this whole topic to rest,” she announced with her usual calmness. “While Afton has been the most ornery, dishonest, arrogant—“

“Don’t forget pathetic and cowardly!” Lefty chimed in, gesturing to William with her microphone. “Saw that firsthand last night!”

This caused a brief uproar among the more rambunctious members of the crowd. William, though a bit insulted, simply nodded and returned to hiding his face with utter dread.

“And anything else certain ghosts may have seen last night,” Ballora resumed, her voice briefly gaining a twinge of unrelated sternness. “I say we should return the favor he’s just given us. Not only because of the usual ‘goodwill to all’ Christmas likes to talk about, but also it would be absolutely hilarious to try to see him hit a piñata blindfolded.” She paused to let the same groups yell out suggestions, taking this opportunity to wink to the surprised William. “So, unless Golden Freddy himself comes here and decides against it, I would like to re-invite William to our annual Christmas Party,” she continued confidently, raising an arm into the air. “All in favor, say ‘I’.”

“Aye!” yelled the pirate foxes, chuckling to each other at their little inside joke.

“I!” cried out the rest before throwing out even more suggestions for games their adversary could play.

William himself just raised his hand. His entire voice would’ve cracked on the spot if he tried to join in.

“Then the ‘I’s—and ‘Aye’s— have it,” Ballora concluded, advancing towards the edge of the large stage. “Welcome home, William.”

William’s eyes widened. His face flushed. He could practically feel phantom butterflies starting to flutter in his stomach. Was this instinct telling him that Justine had been haunting Ballora his entire stay? Or was it just the overall thrill of redemption and new possibilities bleeding into something else? Whatever this emotion was, he used it to power his emotions for the rest of the evening.

And, as much as I would love to explain how that evening went, there are just some things we don’t have time for— Especially if you, my reader, have your own business to attend to. So, instead, I’ll do what William has done and take a page out of Dickens’ own tale.

From that point on—though the challenges would resume come the next day—William strove to be a better man. A kinder man at least and a much improved soul at best. And, while the ghosts of the neon cemetery doubted his vow, they could no longer deny that something had happened. Something that Gregory and Vanessa—Who, to my current knowledge, have not been dragged into further, more unnecessary trouble—had already experienced ages ago. A change of mind and a change of heart that one could call miraculous.

And so, to add to Tiny Tim’s original prayer: “May God bless us, everyone” and may all of these souls share in that same blessing— Though I’m sure it will look different to us.

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Soulmarks, Part 13

First part

Previous

~~~

She heard a knock on her balcony door and opened it. He stood outside, his hands stuffed in his pockets. She glanced him over. He was definitely more prepared than she was, he looked like he’d just walked out of a spy movie with all his equipment.

She looked it over with envy. Ah, the power of money.

Marinette waved him inside. “I’ve still got to get some stuff out.”

She dug through her room. Unsurprisingly, her parents weren’t exactly aware of this particular ‘hobby’ of hers… which meant that she’d had to hide everything pretty well. They didn’t exactly go through her room, but they still came up to talk to her often enough that having stuff out in the open was a terrible idea.

She scooped up the last piece of equipment and turned around.

He was also poking around her room, though the reason why was probably less innocent than ‘looking for spy equipment’... which already isn’t all that innocent, so take that how you will.

Her face flushed as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Find anything interesting?”

His shoulders froze and he dropped the tiny Chat Noir plush he’d found. “Your room… it’s... uh… very… pink.” He coughed into his hand awkwardly. “Yep. Got everything? Good, let’s go.”

He made to leave and she grabbed his arm.

Tim paused and looked back at her, giving her his most innocent smile. He was probably anxious that she was mad at him for snooping around her room (she wasn’t, she’d do the same thing in his room if he had actually lived there).

She hesitated slightly and let go, pulling out her yoyo to mess with. Now for the part of the night that she’d been dreading most: “We need a backup plan in case we get caught.”

“I doubt we will,” he said with a cocky grin.

Marinette shrugged. “I hope not, but in case… you’ll need to have some kind of suit so we can say it’s superhero business.”

He winced and looked at the floor. “I don’t want to get back in the Robin suit,” he admitted, his voice little more than a whisper.

She nodded slightly. She’d predicted that. He hadn’t once mentioned wanting to get back into the Robin suit, nor had the soulmark made a reappearance. She held up a finger for him to wait and then walked over to her desk, picking up a tiny box.

She’d thought for a long time about what to give him. She had wanted to give him the fox miraculous originally, it was the most in line with what they were doing; Trixx would give them extra cover and they could get closer to Lila without her detecting them. On the other hand, giving the fox miraculous to anyone besides Alya was risky. There was a risk of her becoming akumatized. They really didn’t need that right now.

And, so, she handed over the horse miraculous. It would give them a quick out when needed.

Also, she thought he’d look cute with glasses. Sue her.

He raised his eyebrows slightly and pulled them on.

She was right!

He frowned slightly and started squinting through the glasses. “Oh, crap, do I actually need glasses these are helpi -- WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!”

“Shhhhh! My parents are going to hear us!”

He pointed at Kaalki, who crossed her arms (? hooves? legs?) over her chest.

“Who is that,” she corrected, then turned to Marinette with a sigh. “Is he at least famous?”

“Yep. Tim Drake-Wayne. Rich and famous, just how you like them.”

Kaalki beamed. “Finally, someone who actually deserves me.”

Marinette rolled her eyes and turned to Tim, who was slowly backing away from the tiny god. “She’s not going to hurt you.”

“Well, yeah, I can and will punt her.”

She rolled her eyes. “She’s literally a god, but okay.”

“A WHAT?!”

Marinette heard a knock on the bottom of her trapdoor and cursed, quickly diving onto it before her mom could come in. Her hands and knees were scraped, but it was much easier than explaining why there was a guy and a god hanging out in her room.

“Marinette? Is everything okay in there?” Her mom pushed up on the door and she threw all her weight into holding it closed. “Who’s over?”

“Yes, mom, everything’s fine! This is just…” She floundered. “A new superhero?”

“How do you know superheroes?”

“I have an amazing personality.” She caught Tim’s eyes and mouthed that he needed to take off all the equipment and then transform.

He looked reluctant, but he complied.

She waited until he was fine and then finally pushed herself off the door, giving her mother an awkward smile as the trapdoor opened.

“Hi, mom, meet…” She looked at Tim and shrugged. “Horse-guy?”

Tim raised his eyebrows. “Horse-guy? Seriously?”

She shrugged. “Do you have anything better?”

“Uh…” He looked down at himself. “Cheval Brun?”

“Should’ve gone with Horse-guy.” She smiled and waved at her mom. “Great, now that you know nothing is going on, can you… go? I love you!”

“Love you… too?” Said her mom, her eyebrows knitting together. She slowly closed the trapdoor.

Marinette breathed a sigh of relief and laid back.

“Tikki, spots on,” she mumbled.

Tim grinned and offered her a hand up. “Ready to go?”

She took it and smiled as he helped her to her feet.

“Of course.”

~

She pulled her night-vision goggles to her eyes. Lila was… on her bed, scrolling through her phone. Threatening.

“Y’know, it feels weird to stalk someone I don’t like,” she said with a pout.

“Right?” Said Tim, frowning as he set up his camera. “Stalking is for obsessions only.”

“Exactly.”

She heard her comm click. “You guys are really weird,” said Adrien, sounding exhausted. “Just… in the future, can you stick to only stalking each other?”

“Sounds romantic,” said Marinette.

“No,” said Dick. “No, it’s not.”

Tim grinned. “It could be.”

“No --.”

“I say we let them. At least it’s not us anymore,” said Barbara.

Marinette laughed. “Exactly. Be glad.”

She felt Tim lace his fingers through hers and she was lucky it was dark because her face was quickly getting warm.

“We’re turning off comms to listen. We’ll turn them back on if we need to.”

Everyone mumbled a bye (and Dick warned that they would pick up the conversation later) and the soulmates turned their comms off in sync.

They waited there for a long time, their ears pressed to the devices Tim had brought to help listen in. But… it was almost like Lila was being intentionally boring. They didn’t have to peek over the side to make sure that she was still there, because they could hear her shift around on the bed or laugh occasionally, she just seemed to be very interested in her phone.

“Christ, she’s more boring than Adrien. At least Adrien sometimes played piano,” she joked quietly, resting her head back against the wall with a tiny sigh.

Maybe they were wrong about Lila. They’d been going off of shaky evidence at best. Still, something in her told her that they were right.

The thing telling her this was definitely fuelled by spite, but she was going to pretend that it wasn’t.

So she continued to listen in. There was a lot of waiting involved in stalking someone if you’re looking for something.

Her eyes found their way to Tim, who gave her a tiny smile.

Well, she might as well kill time.

“So, we going to talk about Lila?”

~

His smile dropped and he tried not to tense up too much.

“Thought we already did?” He said.

She shrugged. “A little, but I’d like to know why you were so convinced. Yeah, Lila is like that, but you seemed pretty determined to believe her over me.”

He hesitated, looking down at their interlocked hands. He’d hoped that her history with Lila would be enough to convince her that was all, but he supposed he should have known she’d be smarter than that.

Man, why couldn’t he just lie? He wanted to lie, it should have been so easy to say ‘oh, no, she’s just really convincing, you know that’ but he couldn’t bring himself to. Not when he’d seen how hurt she’d looked at the cafe, not when she was giving him that smile that said she’d understand no matter what.

Tim sighed and closed his eyes.

“It’s just… you’re so… good, Nette.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“No, really. Like, yes, you’re probably more revenge motivated than you should be, and you can be a bit of a pushover, and you rival Bruce in the bad coping mechanism olympics, but… you’re also a heroine, you’re sweet, and it feels like you were made for me but…”

She ran her thumb over the back of his hand. She looked like she was going to argue for a second, but ultimately just prompted him to continue with a: “But…?”

“But... that’s just not how things go in my life. There’s always some kind of downside, some huge ‘oh fuck’. So you being some sort of terrible person underneath really would have just been par for the course.”

He felt tears form in the back of his eyes. Venting always feels good after the fact, even if it opens old wounds while you’re doing it. Damn. He couldn’t really afford to do this in Paris, but here he was, and now that he’d started he couldn’t bring himself to stop. If he did, he doubted he’d ever be able to bring himself to tell her, and he wasn’t fond of that, either.

“And, I’ve never really told anyone about this, but… I don’t really… talk to a lot of people.”

“I know.”

His head shot up to look at her. “Huh?”

“You’re my soulmate. It took you until fourteen to get a single person’s name. I kinda guessed.”

Oh. Right.

He sighed and closed his eyes. “Well, yeah, my parents sucked and every person who ever tried to talk to me did it because they were rich. I ended up just never talking to people. The whole ‘friends’ thing is still kinda new to me, let alone getting a possible girlfriend.”

He gave a short, somewhat bitter laugh. “Not that you want to date me. I’m a bit of a mess. So is my life. You’d be better off if we were just friends, and even better if you stopped talking to me entirely.”

He felt her head rest on his shoulder and opened his eyes to look at her. She gave him a slight smile, but her eyes were locked on a place over his shoulder.

A frown made its way across his face and he started to turn to see what she was looking at, only to feel her cup his cheek and pull his face until he was looking at her again.

She met his gaze and her smile dropped into a serious look. “Listen: I like being around you. A lot. I’m not nearly as perfect as you seem to think I am, but I still want to be something good in your life. Please, let me.”

He let himself relax, resting his hand over hers and turning his head to press a tiny kiss to her palm.

“I know you only said that because there was an akuma, but… I’d like that.”

She blushed faintly and relaxed a little bit as well. “I still meant it.”

He looked at her for a minute, expecting to see some hint of a lie, but there wasn’t one. She met his gaze and smiled, leaning up slightly to press a kiss to his cheek.

He couldn’t help it. He turned his head and his lips brushed against hers.

She blinked in surprise.

He looked at her wide eyes and paled. Shit. “Sorry! I don’t know what --!”

She kissed him again and he felt himself smile as he kissed back. It was both of their first kisses, so they were, admittedly, a little awkward, but he could definitely tell why people liked it so much. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever felt so energized.

But, eventually, they pulled away. His eyes fluttered open to see she was blushing like mad, and the warmth in his cheeks told him that he was likely just as red. She smiled at him and he felt his heart do a tiny flip in his chest.

Eventually, though, Lila laughed at something on her phone and he was pulled back to reality.

He blinked a few times and looked away. They were here for a reason other than kissing. They had a job. “Did you see where the akuma came from?” He asked after a few seconds.

She snapped out of it as well, pulling her hand from his cheek to point over his shoulder. “Back that way --.”

They both looked at where she was pointing, where the akuma was slowly disappearing on the horizon.

“What are the chances it’s going back to Hawkmoth?”

“Worth a shot, don’t you think?”

They followed after it.

~~~

Next part

A lot of people wait to do kisses until the end but idk I like writing people in relationships too much to

Taglist

@pawsitivelymiraculous @golden-promises @salty-fang @kitsunebell @sassakitty @octobitch @glastwime859 @miyla-lokidottir @onlyabatfan @ira-sairain @2confused-2doanything @ultimatetornshipper @ladybug-182 @laurcad123 @we-want-mini-mini @roguishredaxion @just-reblogs-by-h @futursworld @magic-miraculous @nathleigh @smolplantmum @vroomtaka  @emimar7 @toodaloo-kangaroo @charme-de-malchan @spicybelladonna @fusser90 @indecisive-mess-named-me @rosesgonerogue @celestialsiren @bluesimani @loysydark

[willowaudreykeyes]

I’m Afraid, Your Cute And We’re Both Stuck; Let’s Cuddle

@surohsopsisofclouds asked for (red 11) Wings and (purple 12) Spirits from here and I took the ‘spirits’ prompt and just made it into a Haunted House/fears thing and I hope that’s alright

@sparrowofsong​ @5am-the-foxing-hour​ @ladyedwina​

Pairings:  Romantic Intrulogical, Background Romantic Roceit, Background QPR Patmile

Warnings: Swearing, wings, collapsing structure, claustrophobia (fear of tight spaces), mentions of thalassophobia (fear of the ocean), fluffiness, my fear that Remus isn’t in character by the end of this

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

Remus

Two stories tall, with dull brick walls and the occasional broken window. A stereotypical haunted house; recommended by Patton of course. If Virgil recommended one, it’d have reviews about a real ghost that made the rooms go cold and maybe a fork being thrown across the room. This place reeks of machinery and fake, money-grabbing tourism.

I glance up at the sound of wings, not fully turning towards it as I’d know my brother and best friend's wings anywhere. Roman has those huge angel wings that everyone swoons over because of their power and fluffiness; while Jan-Jan has awesome looking yellow-green scaled ones that he’s still self-conscious over since they’re often stereotyped to be with ‘evil’ people. 

So now I’m surrounded by winged-ones. Patton’s Puffin wings press tightly against his back as the sound of shattering glass, that’s been happening every five minutes on the dot, while Virgil’s huge Wedge-Tail Eagle wings fluff up despite knowing that it was going to happen again. At least Roman and Janus didn’t react as much, despite it being a shock to them

“You two are being fucking pussies.”

“Language, Em! And the shattering sound is scary… I can’t help it.” Patton should have brought his life-partner with him as it’d be more fun with more people. I guess after the last haunted house that we took Emile to, he wanted to be able to actually sleep this October.

“We’ll go inside soon, Pat. Is Logan here yet?” Oh yeah, that guy that I’m supposed to be meeting. Forgot about him. Virgil and Roman made him sound so boring, but they also made Remy sound boring before I met the guy while he was dealing with caffeine withdrawal. 

My foot sends a small stone flying as Virgil checks his phone; tsk-ing quietly as he starts typing. “He’s inside already. In the upstairs piano room.”

“I thought we were gonna meet him out here?” Oh my god; I’m going to die from boredom and haunt this place for real if I stand out here any longer. So I grab my jacket from the ground, throw it on and quickly slip between the fence bars instead of grabbing a ticket. No one’s watching anyway.

“I don’t care! I’m going in- Bye!”

“Remus! Wait up!”

Happily ignoring Roman, I slip in through an unlocked side door and fight the distant sound of doors slamming by letting my stomping echo through the house as I head upstairs. This place sucks at scares if they’re resulting in slamming doors, but I can probably piss off some employees if I can find one of their hidey holes. And finding this ‘Logan’ and messing with him would be a nice bonus.

Taking a glance into each room -and ignoring the bad jump scares of fake ghosts played by underpaid, teenage actors- I finally find the piano room Virgil mentioned with someone standing at the far end, by the window. Despite the poor lighting, I can tell that he’s wearing a dark blue polo shirt and that his dark hair has been attempted to be slicked back. Perfect posture, hands held behind his back, shoulders tense; I may even be seeing a pair of those fancy black shoes that a lot of the richer kids in the area have. 

I shake my head as I step into the room, followed by an eerie creak in the floorboards. The guy spins around and I manage to see dark eyes behind some glasses before my legs suddenly give way.

One second I see those dark eyes, then the next I’m on the floor with sore arms and a heaviness on my back. A muffled voice, sounding close but layered beneath some kind of fog, gives me the energy to push myself off my stomach and onto my knees before I’m suddenly feeling exhausted.

Those eyes are in front of me again, but this time are a whole lot closer and also no longer as difficult to see that they’re a dark blue; as if the lighting has changed. With a quick glance around, I realise that it has. Because now there’s a broken piano, some splintered wooden pillars, a floodlight that looks like it’s been forgotten about, the walls showing their insides, and a giant fucking hole in the ceiling.

“What the hell...” This guy better have some answers- there’s no way that I should have fallen through the floor. But he looks just as roughed up as me, with some sawdust and a black feather in his now unkempt hair and his tie -who wears a tie to a haunted house?- is hanging around his neck. His huge, ruffled, pitch-black wings of some corvid don’t look injured at least. 

He… didn’t have wings a moment ago.

The guy must have noticed me staring at them, as he motions behind me wordlessly as he stands and brushes himself off. Something twinges in my gut as I turn slightly, only to find myself looking at the dusty wings of a hummingbird. They’re small and rather thin looking, but covered in blues and greens and a few hints of red. They flutter as I try out the new limbs, tearing another part of my shirt in the process. But who cares? I just grew two new limbs.

I’m pulled to my feet, my vision spinning slightly and a tightness in my chest makes it a little harder to breathe. My eyes drift back to the guy in front of me who seems like he’s not as stupefied as I am at what the hell just happened. “Uh… There’s a feather in your hair.”

His eyes widen as he reaches up and runs his fingers through his hair, catching the feather along the way and taking a second to pocket it before nodding slightly. “Thank you.” I hear him taking in a sharp inhale as his wings twitch as they try to stay off the dirty floor. There’s no point as they’re covered in dust and dirt already, but he seems stubborn enough to keep trying. “As unexpected and strange as this encounter was, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Logan Crow.”

“Oh! You’re that guy I’m supposed to be meeting- Wait, your last name is ‘Crow’?” I point at the black masses on his back. “And you have those wings?” His brows dip in slightly; just enough that he looks kind of cute. I wonder what all of his other expressions look like...

“Purely coincidental. And you must be Remus Aurelian-”

Something grinds together, echoing the sounds of wood against metal and of a highly taught string snapping from the pressure. Logan’s wings move so that the joint sits higher than his head, ready to fly him away from danger; if only he actually knew how to fly.

I swallow with a dry mouth as I finally realise how small of a room that we find ourselves in. Not that the small amount of space is an issue. Nor that the room seems to be also empty, besides the useless, broken piano. “We should probably leave.”

“Agreed.” The door to the room is just a maintenance one; small enough to not draw attention to it the other side, while large enough to push through wood or something to fix these pillars. They obviously haven’t done so in a while...

It’s rusted hinges squeak with resistance until one of the screws pops out of place as I manage to push it open. But as I attempt to crawl through, a stab of pain flows up my back and shoulders as my new limbs hit the top of the door frame. I try again, wincing this time as I attempt to squeeze through until I’m dragged back inside by the leg.

“I can’t fit through that! Are you fucking kidding me?”

“If you can’t, I surely can’t either.” Even with my tiny-ass wings that may or may not be able to carry me in the future -something to worry about another time- we’re stuck in here unless we suddenly figure out how to fly. In this small room, with not even a window in it. Just four walls that seem to have gotten closer than the last time I had paid attention to them. “I’ll text message the others, see if they can get the operators of the house to help us.”

Standing up doesn’t help the irregular waves of nausea that continue to hit me, but it’s better than how hard it is to breathe when I’m sitting. “But that’s going to take ages!” Except now it’s both hard to breathe, and I feel like I’m going to throw up. And I feel light headed. And my legs don’t want to hold me up anymore. A deep growl escapes my throat as I kick the stump of the closest broken pillar, making a few extra chunks fly off of it. “Why the hell did they make half of these rooms so damn tiny!?”

I kick it again until a hand sits firmly on my shoulder. It’s weird that I already feel so much for this guy, as anyone else would get an elbow to the ribs for touching me while this nausea keeps attacking me. I move away instead, huffing a bit while also taking in a few deeper breaths. “Are… Remus, do you happen to be claustrophobic?”

“What? Fuck no.” I can almost see Janus raising his eyebrow at me; always somehow knowing when I’m lying. It’s just some stupid fear that everyone thinks that I got over years ago. I can last until someone comes to grab us. Maybe sitting down will help...

“I know that we have only just met, but I will ask if you need comforting right now. And before you say that you don’t need it; you are shaking.” The nausea fades into chills and a heavy stone in my gut as I look at my hands as the ground gets a little closer. I close my eyes, hoping that I can just imagine that I’m outside or in a huge cathedral with furniture and lots of room to run around. My hands aren’t shaking; they can’t be shaking. If Roman or Patton or Virgil- anyone knew that I would turn into this wreck just because I’m in a tiny space, I’d never hear the end of it. Being afraid isn’t… It’s not me.

A comforting warmth makes me jump, sliding me off of my pins-and-needles-filled legs. Something slides in behind me, with one hand on my waist and the other helping my wings fold before I’m pulled into a chest. Logan’s chest. When the hell did he wrap his wings around me? 

“I’m not great at this…”

“It’s cool.” I go to say ‘me either’, but instead decide to relax into him. My chest still hurts and it's still harder to breathe then what I’d like.

“You were crying.” 

“I didn’t notice.” Well fuck. What a great first impression this has been. He doesn’t sound judgemental, and he has his wings around me, so he mustn’t think too badly of me. Probably...

“Are you alright?”

I shake my head, sighing as he adjusts the both of us for a few seconds before he finally seems comfortable. “Don’t tell anyone that this happened. They uh, don’t know.” All of my usual drivel and weird flirts are weirdly vacant from my head. It’s weird since that’s the usual, but it’s not bad. I don’t think I’ve felt this comfortable since I was a kid. “The claustrophobia thing, I mean.” 

“Ah. Of course. Your secret’s safe with me.”

Logan seems shy; that’ll be fun to fuck with later. A distant scream from the haunted house brings his arm further around me, and I definitely get a smug smirk because I know that Roman didn’t get cuddles for weeks after meeting Janus. Logan may be a little awkward but holy shit, I already love this.

It's too quiet though; I can hear how bad my breathing is and it’s making me way too self conscious. “I’m gonna eat a full squid in front of Roman to cheer myself up after this.” He stifles his laugh too. Oh, he really is a shy one! And he doesn’t get grossed out easily from the sounds of it.

“They do have three hearts that could be used to help you scare him, but I’m unsure if they are also edible. It may depend on the species.” He hesitates for a moment, moving his head to look down at me, judging by how he’s moving. Roman did say that he was a nerd, but not about stuff that’s actually cool. “I do know that they use two for their gills while the third sends blood to the rest of the body.”

He stops again, this time tensing up the shoulder that I’m using as a pillow. With a huff, I reach up to pat his face before closing my eyes; getting comfortable enough to try and forget where we are. “Keep goin’, you’re nice to listen to. Got that sexy teacher voice thing going on.”

I’m exhausted, but manage a chuckle after his sputters for a moment. He starts talking once more as the hand that’s wrapped around me lightly tapping a rhythm against my side.

“Oh, uhm, alright. I myself am afraid of the ocean, as we have mapped far more of Mars then it and it confirms that over ninety percent of the world is in the dark, but it is rather fascinating to know that ninety-five percent of life on Earth comes from our Ocean’s-” I get to listen to Logan talk endlessly about cool facts, wrapped in his large wings, while being comforted about some silly fear as we sit inside of a partially collapsed room? I think I could get used to stuff like this.

[hideawayintheimaginationworld]

Rachel-eve-puppet here! Changed username! I would die for some fluff with Matt and Spring Jr!

This life was more tiring, boring.

Matt had a 12-kilogram weight named Spring JR strapped to his leg.

An annoying condition, the bear robot, Lefty had that was nonnegotiable; was Matt being present for it. Like he had a choice, Lefty was ready to withdraw everything he had given whenever he wanted.

It was easy to make him happy but also easy to piss him off.

“What are you doing?”

He turned his attention from his laptop, he saw the little bear, Helpy looking at him curiously, he wondered if Lefty had left him here deliberately because he didn’t trust him, he knew Helpy couldn’t force him into things like Lefty but Helpy certainly looked like a tattletale.

“Nothing important to you,” Matt dismissed him, waving his hand in “shoo” gesture, preferring to be left alone.

It appeared Helpy didn’t understand, he just stood still, he watched Matt's hand but stayed still, Matt then repeated the gesture and said “Shoo! Go away!” for good measure.

Helpy didn’t move, but he had seen what Matt was looking at because he stepped forward and closed his laptop screen immediately.

“You're not supposed to be looking at that.”

“Why??” Matt asked him, “You're so worried about your secrets getting out??”

“No, because with the technology you're using, Fazbear Entertainment can track your IP and confirm your identity, and they will make you disappear,” Helpy emphasised the last part with a serious face and a flat tone, something about it was unnerving considering Helpy was like a Care Bear.

“And they will do it quick enough so you can’t talk,” Helpy snapped his finger, “They get suspicious of people who search up that stuff, please reframe from doing so.”

Matt didn’t think about that, Lefty said it would drive him insane and he shouldn’t be looking it up, he didn’t know they could potentially track him to the house.

Helpy clapped his hand together, “Since you aren’t working... how about spending time with your son?”

“I don’t view it as my son.”

“Yes, I think it's weird too, but technically you were the incubator for him, which is technically what a pregnancy is.”

Matt narrowed his eyes.

“Yes, yes I know you hate that term, but the kids only laughed at it for three days then they lost interest... they didn’t laugh at what happened to you, they laughed at the concept of it....” Helpy walked away then turned and said, “So what can you and Springle do?”

“Exist in two different rooms?” Matt suggested sounding hopeful.

“Painting! Ooh, I love painting! Has Spring ever done finger painting?”

“No, that's messy.”

“That's why we have something called outside... I can set it up! You just need to get Spring,” Helpy walked away.

Matt was irritated Helpy didn’t offer to get Spring JR himself, he was capable, he just didn’t want to, or rather Lefty told him he shouldn’t do that.

Spring JR was easy to locate, he was in his toddler bed, half asleep, he immediately perked up when he saw the door open, he looked even more excited to see Matt.

Matt brought him downstairs, Helpy had come out of the kitchen and looked at Matt before walking upstairs, he was probably seeing if Matt was actually holding Spring JR right, Matt once said he'd lift him by his ears and Lefty countered saying if he ever saw him doing that, he'd break his coffee mug and force him to drink coffee out of a bowl.

Helpy came back, pulling a box of things behind him, then lifting it, slowly coming down the stairs, then he stood next to Matt. “Outside,” He said then walked into the kitchen, directly to the door that led outside, he placed down the box, he stood up and pulled the door handle down, opening the door, he shoved it open and turned, pulling the box outside.

It wasn’t much, considering Lefty liked having a peaceful enclosed space outside, it was still nice. They were on the deck that Lefty and Rockstar Foxy built, which was under the shade. The deck had two areas to sit, Helpy walked towards the rounded table with six chairs, bringing the items with him.

Matt followed him, still holding Spring JR, Helpy pulled out one of the chairs, he used it as a step, putting the box on the table, Helpy then turned to Matt, “Come on and sit!”

Matt decided it was less of a pain to just do what he said.

Matt sat down, Spring JR was in his lap, Helpy opened the box and pulled out some items, he then paused, “Probably need to cover the table with something, I'm sure Lefty will hate me if the table gets messy.”

“He'd probably blame me.”

“You know you kind of remind me of a more sour Greg,” Helpy pulled a large grey material square out of the box.

“How exactly?”

“Greg thinks a lot of things are his fault, it isn’t his fault and neither is what happened to you,” Helpy placed down the box so he could put down the material over the table.

“Why did that feel like a lie?” Matt asked him.

“It wasn’t!” Helpy exclaimed shaking his head, “The problem is... I'll be honest Matt, you're kind of unlikeable... but you can improve! Everyone improved...”

“Even Lefty's favourite Alec?”

“Lefty doesn’t have favourites,” Helpy automatically answered pushing the material flat.

“Then why does he spend so much time with him?”

“Alec chooses to.”

“But why?”

Helpy looked up at him, “You haven’t been paying attention?”

Matt was silent.

Helpy sighed and placed down the paint tubes on the table, “Alec was alone, he was scared after what happened to him.”

“He was turned into a teddy bear, right?”

“Not quite, he was body swapped... like in the movie Freaky Friday. Lonely Freddy stole his identity... Alec was too scared to ask for help anyway... but when he was finally discovered, Lefty made a promise to him, that no matter what, he was going to get him back to his body... and well when it was just me, Lefty and Alec, we did everything we could to show him a bad experience doesn’t shape his life,” Helpy looked at the tube of yellow paint like he was checking how much there was before placing it down.

“Lefty never said this,” Helpy continued talking, “But I think he just grew attached to Alec after a while, he was use to seeing him every day, and eventually, Alec was also used to the life he had, I think he was okay as long as Lefty was there.”

“So Alec decided after he got his body back to get up and leave his family?” Matt asked, he knew Alec and Hazel's parents were still alive but they weren’t even mentioned at any point.

“Not quite,” Helpy answered, “It wasn’t easy... his parents never provided him with the emotional care he needed, and Lefty did, Lefty thought just because he was the way he was, it didn’t mean he should be sad... I could tell after everything, Alec was just conflicted, he wanted to stay with Lefty but he didn’t know if he could... it's similar to you, Lefty doesn’t want you to be sad either.”

“I’m not sad.”

“You're angry because you are sad, Lefty doesn't know exactly how to approach you, that was the same for Alec, Greg, Millie, and Devon, Lefty wants to respect distance by not getting in your face but he wants you to remember you can always come to talk to him if you want to, one experience can make or break someone, don’t let this break you.”

“I'm... I’m okay.”

“Doesn’t sound like it, why don’t you express the frustrations with painting?” Helpy suggested, he got up on the table and placed some paper in front of him, he then walked away and took his seat.

“Springy!” Helpy called his attention, “Watch!”

Helpy took a tube of paint and squirted some on the paper, he then placed down his hand, he smeared it over the paper, he then lifted it to show Spring JR, “Fun!”

Spring JR made an “Ooooh” noise, Helpy didn’t seem to care he had gone to the level of a child now.

Helpy nodded, “Yes! Why don’t you paint a lovely picture? What colour do you want? We haven’t got any purple but I can mix it using red and blue!”

“Green! Green!” Spring JR said.

Helpy held up the green tube of paint, “Here! Have fun!”

“He's going to make a mess,” Matt warned him how messy young kids could be.

“Yes, but it'll be a fun mess!” Helpy nodded.

Spring JR seem to test the technique Helpy used, he smeared it almost the same way, he stared for it for a minute then started smacking the paint in the page with his hands, creating an imprint.

Then he moved on, trying his own thing, Matt watched him draw a circle with the green on another piece of paper, he then turned it into a smile by pressing two dots and drawing a curved line.

“Ooh, that's pretty,” Helpy said, “Why don’t you take an interest?”

“Okay then, what are you painting?” Matt asked.

“I'm painting a fox,” Helpy replied.

“Foxes don’t have pink on them,” Matt spoke a matter of fact seeing the fact Helpy was adding pink on.

“They can in painting, reality doesn’t apply!” Helpy replied scratching in some pink over the muzzle of the fox he drew, “Have some fun Matt! Your son enjoys it!”

Matt looked at the colours, he took the pale blue colour, he poured some into the middle of his palm, he spread it over his whole hand, then he pressed it down on a blank page, leaving his handprint, now Helpy couldn’t argue he wasn’t contributing.

Spring looked curious at the handprint.

Then he pressed his own against it.

Matt immediately realised.

The little shit.

“Hey don’t do that! You ruin your own things!”

“No! No! He didn’t! It looks nice!” Helpy immediately said.

Matt's anger immediately burnt out, it was the quickest his anger ever died. Matt looked at the page, seeing his handprint with Spring JR's pressed in the middle, in the end, it was just a little handprint.

Father and Son.

He remembered that day.

Just being uncomfortable.

Now it had come to this day and this lifestyle.

Spring JR turned his head to look up at him, almost like he was waiting for a response.

“Don’t ever change...” Matt said speaking honestly, not looking forward to him being a teenager at some point, at least he was playful at this point and not angry.

Spring JR poked his tongue out, laughed and reached out his hands, Matt forgot about his paint soaked hands until he pressed them against his cheeks.

Well, two can play at that game.

Matt pressed the tip of his nose with one finger, leaving a blue dot on his little black nose.

Helpy watched, intrigued, not making a single sound, he watched the back to back responses, just naturally occurring, it was like Helpy didn’t exist and this was just them, Matt actually having his anger cancelled out by Spring JR existence.

It was a step forward in the right direction.

Helpy took that as a cue to leave and make himself a cup of tea, leaving the father and son alone for a few minutes.

A few minutes of bonding.

[onebangtanstan]

Power Style - Chapter Twelve : The group

I am in shock. Everyone is turning to me, following his gaze. They're starting to understand what is going on.

"KIM NAMJOON ARE YOU SERIOUS???" I'm yelling.

Yoongi tries to catch me as I start walking angrily towards Namjoon. As I'm arriving near him, I extend my arm and point my finger at him.

"You and me. Outside. Now."

He follows me out, and we're now facing each other once again. This is starting to become a habit. The cold doesn't even bother me at this point, my body is so hot from the rage.

I put a distance between us to be able to fully look at him while I spit my anger. He's standing as if nothing was wrong, with his hands still in his pockets, smirking at me.

I start scolding him.

"How could you do this?! You know how photoshoots work. And you just randomly decide to change your whole aesthetic?! As if it couldn't have waited until tomorrow?!" I am telling him off as if we was my child. I barely see the boys come out, I am too focused on him. "This is my job, and probably the biggest account I've ever done, and the only thing you seem interested in is how to fuck it up for me! What the fuck did I ever do to you?!" I can't see anything but his smirk at this point, which only enrages me more. I can't stop. "You are the most arrogant, annoying, disrespectful, ungrateful-" I vaguely hear someone call out my name "-cockiest piece of-"

"GINA!" I finally turn around to the sound of Jin calling me. He's standing right beside me. "Don't give into him." He whispers, looking deep into my eyes. He's right. I start to realize what I've just done.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. No. What did I just do?" Jin takes me in his arms, which instantly heats me up. I didn't realize it but my body is numb from the cold.

"Breathe, Gina, breathe." Tae and Kook are beside us now too.

"Dude, even I wouldn't have went that far, and that's saying something." I hear Jimin talking to Namjoon.

Hobi is on the phone and soon hands his phone to Namjoon. Someone is obviously on the line, because I immediately hear a voice coming out of the device. Given the look on his face, he's probably being told off by someone above him, and he doesn't seem happy about it.

"Are you okay?" Hobi asks, arriving near our little crowd. "Do you need anything?"

I think of something. Something I haven't done in a very long time. But it's the only thing I can think of right now.

"Um.. I don't know.. I think I.." Why am I embarrassed? "To be honest I thinks I need a cigarette." I can tell that they weren't expecting this, but I see no judgement on their faces.

"Don't move." says Kook before running off to the parking lot.

He's back a few seconds later with a packet of cigarettes and a lighter.

"They're all yours. My drivers treat." I smile at him.

"Could I have some time alone guys?" They all nod, Jin takes me in his arms once again and proceeds to give me his coat.

As they walk back inside, I start looking for a place where I can sit down. Once that's done, I hold the packet in my hand and stare at it for a long time. Fuck it. I take one out and light it up, feeling the nicotine spread to my body.

I sit there and smoke my cigarette while staring ahead of me, contemplating what I just did. I hope this doesn't cost me the account, or even my job. I royally fucked up on this one, I never should have snapped that way at him. He's my fucking client.

I hear footsteps coming towards me, making my eyes focus again. I see Namjoon walking towards me.

"Please, just go." I tell him.

"I just want a light." What? He smokes? "Don't make that face, it's one cigarette here and there. Plus, I don't owe you anything. Give me the lighter."

"You do owe me this campaign." I start. "As for the rest, I agree. But it's not an excuse to treat my like shit."

"Please may I have your lighter?" He says ironically.

I simply lift my eyes up, handing him it. I can't get mad again.

I look up at him while he takes his first puff. Ok, he's hot. The hair colour really suits him, but it doesn't excuse the fact that he did it in the middle of shooting a campaign.

"Gina," The tone he's using startles me. I've never heard him talk to me like that, calmly, no anger in his voice. "I was just on the phone with my boss. I would like to apologize for what I did. I know it could have compromised all the work you've done." Sounds like a fake apology, but ok I'll take it.

"Look, Namjoon. We don't have to like each other. It's what I told you yesterday. But we are going to have to find a way to work together. We'll be seeing each other everyday for the next 6 months or so, and I can't be in this state of mind every time we see each other. And I most certainly can't fuck this account up, if I didn't already, it would jeopardize my entire career."

"Don't worry about that, the blame is on me." This feels weird. It's the first time we're talking without fighting. "As for work, I agree. What if we don't talk unless it's about Fila and the promotion? Would that work out?"

"Yeah I guess. We don't have a reason to talk other than that so yes." Wow. That was mature of him. "But it doesn't fix your hair problem."

"I'm an ass, I'm not stupid. I had a wig made exactly like how my hair looked yesterday."

That fucker. So it really was just to piss me off. He wanted to make a grand entrance, and he wanted that reaction of me. I swear t- Stop. Don't start again.

I simply stand up, finish my second cigarette -that I lit up unconsciously- and head back inside.

The atmosphere is tense when I walk in, and all heads turn to me. I sense a general relief when they see that I have calmed down.

"All right guys, we're shooting today. We've lost enough time, so let's speed everything up to finish in time." I direct to my staff.

The boys are almost done with makeup, while Namjoon is heading towards them, his wig in his hand.

"You are such an asshole." Jimin snarks

30 minutes go by, and we are all set to go. We start shooting, but we can still sense the tension in all of their faces.

"Guys, it's not working." I let them know. "Let's take a 15 minutes brake, have a coffee, some food, some air, I don't know, but let's all come back with a good energy, okay?"

Everyone scatters around the room. I sit down on my chair and just stare vaguely at the set up. A cup of coffee appears in my vision. The hand holding it is attached to Jin. He's standing beside me, Yoongi, Hoseok, Tae and Kook around him.

"Thank you" I smile at him as I grab the cup.

"What do you need Gina? We'll do anything to make your life easier." Jin is now kneeling down beside me.

I think for a bit but know exactly what has to be done. "Could you make us laugh?"

"WorldWide Handsome, at your service, you know?" I giggle. I knew this could lift my mood.

For the rest of the brake, I just watch Jin head over to each crew member, asking them if they know BTS. Kook is back to being the carefree boy he usually is, Tae and Hobi are having a dance battle with Yoongi as a judge.

From the side of my eye I can Jimin and Namjoon near the toilet, but don't pay too much attention to them. I focus on the others.

"All right people, let's get back into it!" Everyone takes their places, and we can already feel the mood has lifted up. Jin keeps telling jokes the whole time we shoot, making everyone relax as time goes by.

We take all the pictures we need before lunch. The company has ordered a bunch of food for us, and while we're waiting for it to arrive, I have a look at this mornings' shots. They are very good. I can see each of their personalities in them, but also their complicity. I stare at one particular pictures of them, and I think it will be the main visual for the campaign. I guess Jin had just made a joke, making Jungkook and himself laugh. The others all have a little smile on their faces. They look really cute.

"Hey, they're good looking men." Jin is looking over my shoulder. He points at himself. "Especially this guy."

"He's Jin from BTS, do you know them?" I smile at the sound of his laugh "He's known as WorldWide Handsome."

"I can see why." He answers.

The food finally arrives, and we all dig in. Well, almost all of us. I see Jimin roaming near the buffet, trying to decide what to go for. He ends up putting his plate back down and grabbing a apple and a bottle of water.

We finish eating and start cleaning up behind ourselves. I notice the apple on the table, half-eaten, and no Jimin. This is fucked up. He looks great, why does he do that to himself? I shouldn't say that, I know why he does that. Part of the reason I became an addict in the first place was because I thought I was fat. Nope, not going to think about that. I quickly clear my mind and focus on the filming part we have to do this afternoon.

The boys get changed while we arrange the set for the filming. I gather everyone around, staff and band, to give my directions.

"Okay everyone, we don't have much time to do this, and we will most likely have to do only one take per person. I'm gonna need everyone to put out their best work in order to make everyone else's lives easier. Do we all know what we have to do? Okay perfect, we can do this guys!"

Everyone rushes to their place, while I fill the boys in on what I'm going to need from them. They take place in front of the camera.

"Are we all ready? Aaand Action!"

We film all afternoon. Everything goes smoothly and I feel very relieved knowing we'll be done today. The only thing left will be the editing, and we'll be spending all weekend on that.

"We have everything we need guys! Thanks so much everyone, it's wrap!" I start clapping at my team, and everyone tags along.

I then head to the band.

"Thank you, you were brilliant today." Well almost. Thanks Namjoon. "I'll keep you updated during the weekend on how the editing is going. You can go now, thanks again."

As they head back to the dressing room, I start helping my team pack everything up. We have to empty the whole place since we won't be needing it anymore. I notice Namjoon and Jimin leave, but to my surprise, the others are helping out.

"Hey, no you don't have to do that."

"We said we wanted to make your life easier. This helps you all leave sooner." Jin says, as he picks up a cable.

"Yeah, and you and I have plans, so I'm staying until you're done. Might as well help out." Hobi tells me.

"Thank you guys, I really appreciate it."

We all get back to cleaning up, and we're done in about 30 minutes.

The crew leaves one by one with their respective equipment, but I have to stay until everyone is gone.

Jin comes up to me. "I have to go, but call me tonight?" He's holding my face in his hands. I nod and smile back at him, he answers with a kiss on my forehead. Yoongi leaves with him, and simply waves goodbye at me from afar.

Tae and Kook both give me a hug goodbye not long after Jin left. "Dinner at mine on Monday? To celebrate the launch." Tae asks.

"Absolutely!" I tell him.

Everyone is gone now, expect for Hobi who is just sitting on the floor. "Are we good to go?"

I check one last time if everything is in order, grab my stuff, and head out the door. I lock it behind me and turn to him, a smile on my face. "Let's go."

[taehyungiestummy]

Blood, Sweat, and Tears -- Chapter Sixteen

Masterlist     Previous     Next

Warnings: Swearing

Word Count: 6216

         I skip down the hallway towards what used to be my father’s office, but I need to start thinking of it as an office that I am sharing with my brother. Either way, I am late to a meeting that I didn’t even know was happening until this morning, and honestly, I was still trying to process last night’s events to even care that much about the meeting.

         “They can’t start without me, so they will wait until I show up,” I shrug.

         It feels like an eternity since the last proper meeting that Yoongi and I held. A lifetime ago when our father was alive, and my biggest worry was dealing with the Fakes. This meeting is going to set the bar for all that is going to come from now on.

         I make it to the office door, swinging it open to announce my presence as I step inside.

         But no one even glances in my direction; they are all too deep into conversations to notice.

         Yoongi is at the head of the meeting table talking to Taemin, Jungkook, Jimin, and Taehyung. I can tell without hearing a word that they are worrying about something that happened last night, and they need to figure it out fast.

         Off to the right side of the table, Namjoon and Hoseok are deep in a conversation that better not be focused on what Namjoon learned just an hour or so before in the kitchen.

         “Areum,” Sooyoung’s voice is a whisper as she steps up next to me.

         “God, Pebble, nice to see you,” I chuckle, linking my arm with my best friend. “Thanks for last night. You really saved my ass.”

         She giggles, dragging us over to the empty seats at what is my head of the table now. “Well, I knew that you probably went off to get some, and I couldn’t let anyone ruin that for you.”

         I roll my eyes, “You’re not wrong, but don’t bring that up right now.” I plop down in my seat, turning to place my legs over the arm rest.

         “Why? You’ll become a blushing mess?” She settles into her seat, smirking like the evil teasing girl she is.

         “Just let it go until you are dying my hair later,” I wave her off.

         “Are you seriously going to dye your hair? What color are you thinking?”

         “Like a midnight blue,” I tap my fingers on the table. “What do you think about that? Think it would reflect how I am right now?”

         “Definitely,” Sooyoung nods a few times. “It’s about damn time that you dyed your hair. Everyone here seems to change their colors up constantly.”

         “There’s a reason for that,” I waggle my index finger at her.

         “I think these boys have become addicted to different hair colors, though,” she shrugs.

         “That might be true. It is better than drugs, so I can’t complain.” I look over to see Yoongi still deep in conversation with the four other boys. “Hey! Gossip kings!”

         All the boys look over at me; small smiles on most of their faces.

         “Can we get this party started now or what? You’ve been whispering up there for way too long. You have to share with the class after some time,” I grin, feeling like the leader I have always mean to be.

         “She’s right,” Yoongi runs a hand through his hair. “Everyone, sit down, and then we will get to business.”

         The four boys around Yoongi disperse in seconds. Jungkook sits down next to Sooyoung, and Taemin sits down next to him. Jimin takes his place next to me, and Taehyung sits down next to him with Namjoon and then Hoseok on his other side.

         “Damn baby girl, when did you get so demanding?” Jimin chuckles as he reaches over to pinch my cheek.

         I slap at his hand, “I’ve always been like this. How else will you boys listen to me?”

         “She has to keep the balance,” Taehyung’s voice is just above a whisper; his eyes flickering over to me as a tiny smirk forms on his lips.

         I feel the squeal aimed at Taehyung fizzle in my throat, as any interaction with him would send my brother into a spiral. Instead I just glare at my boyfriend who just dives into hacking on his laptop.

         “Was that a reference to the bedroom?” Jimin is careful to keep his voice down.

         “Oh, you know it was,” Sooyoung smirks, leaning back in her chair.

         “I regret telling you so many things,” I grumble. “In this moment, I hate you all.”

         “Okay, if I can have everyone’s attention,” Yoongi speaks up from his standing position at the end of the table, getting everyone besides Taehyung to look over in his direction. “Before we touch on the negative, there was a lot of positives that came out of last night. For starters, all of the partners that my father was working with will continue to be with us, and are happy that Areum and I are going to be taking over. They are happy that we will keep the family name alive, and that we are feeling up to get back to work.”

         “Life stops for nothing,” I comment. “We have to pull ourselves together and get back to reality.”

         “That is why we had the party to get some of the younger people into the business, and I am happy to report that we were able to get five new little businesses to partner up with us.”

         “I say that at least three of those are because the guys in charge have the biggest crush on Areum,” Hoseok giggles.

         “Are we betting?” Taemin perks up, looking around at everyone.

         “I can’t help that I am super cute,” I sigh, wiggling around in my chair. “Yoongi won’t let those idiots come close to me anyways.”

         “Only in professional meetings,” Yoongi firmly states. “Now, onto why I wanted to hold this meeting in the first place. In the past few days, the main Bangtan bank account, as well as Areum and my accounts, have been receiving money from nowhere. The bank can’t tell me where any of it is coming from, but they all come with notes that are encrypted that the hackers are doing their best to figure out.”

         “I believe that it is the Red Wolves,” Taehyung speaks up in a monotone voice that makes me a bit sad. “I have been working hard to try and find any leads that they are doing anything, but it is just dead end after another. They are good at hiding, but I just need to find the right path.”

         “The Red Wolves are the only ones that are after us for no reason, and they never back down no matter what we do,” I cross my arms. “They have some sort of vendetta against us, but from my understanding they are the ones who started this whole bullshit fight. It is just a matter of time before we corner them.”

         “And we have the manpower to take them out once we find them out,” Jimin boasts.

         “Moving on from that, since V is doing all he can for more than just that task, Taemin has had a development with the guy at the bar,” Yoongi steers the conversation back on track.

         “Ah, yes,” Taemin slowly pushes his chair away from the table so he can stand up. “The man has not missed a single day of coming into the bar, which is not that weird most of the time. However, he has been alone every single time until a few nights ago. He met up with a lady about twenty-five years older than him, I’d say.”

         I feel my whole-body tense as I remember the lady who came up to me in the bathroom at The Lotus, and how she was clearly a member of the Red Wolves. If she is the one who visited the guy at the bar, then we have a serious problem. And one of those problems is me not being able to remember what she looks like.

         “They sat at a booth all the way in the back, and talked for a few hours,” Taemin continues. “None of the servers could get their names, and they paid with cash. The CCTV’s were able to capture sort of okay video clips of them, but so far the hackers have not been able to give a definitive match with anyone in the area.”

         “I have no proof, but I have a gut feeling that they are both Red Wolves members,” I tap my index finger on the table a few times.

         Taehyung tilts his head just enough for us to lock gazes. “The Lotus?” He mouths, remembering just like I did.

         My shoulders move up slightly in a shrug before I look away.

         “I get the vibe too, Bambi,” Taemin nods at me. “They aren’t really doing anything wrong, though, so we can’t do anything at the moment. I just keep my eye on them, so that if they were to act out of line, we’d be on them in seconds.”

         “They want us to know they got together,” I let my hands clench into fists. “Why else would they come to a Bangtan owned bar?”

         “To hack into our systems there,” Taehyung answers. “Someone has tried to get in recently, with no luck, of course. Us hackers are the best of the best.”

         “They are plotting something, and I hate that we can’t figure out what it is.”

         “We will,” Taemin takes his seat, scooting back up to the table. “I doubt they will attack out of nowhere, or start a fight in a public place. We still have plenty of time to figure out what is going on.”

         “They’re playing with fire,” I roll my eyes.

         “They’ll get burned with the time is right, Bambi,” Yoongi is now sitting, arms on the table as he leans forward. “Now, Jungkook, you have a mission to report on.”

         “Yes,” Jungkook intertwines his fingers, placing his hands behind his head. “Just a few nights ago, I took out two Red Wolves’ members that were messing around outside a Lee’s Supermarket. A business that we work close with. They looked to be messing with security cameras, and possibly waiting to tamper with some deliveries.”

         “Why would they do that?” Sooyoung questions.

         “I think that it must be to hurt the Bangtan name, since we work so close with that business,” Yoongi answers. “Bangtan does the security for all the buildings, and we are partners with the shipment business. If both of those were to fail, we would be to blame.”

         “So, I took them out,” Jungkook finishes his story with a shrug. “It seems like the Red Wolves are getting braver with going out and trying to tamper with us. I’m sure I’ll be taking out a few more of their pairs before long.”

         “What now?” Namjoon speaks up. “Do we need to come up with a plan?”

         “All I can do is hack, so I am trying to give us some more leads,” Taehyung replies. “Suga, you said that there is stuff in this room that you still are trying to decipher.”

         “He’s left the deciphering to me,” I raise my hand for a few seconds. “Not that I have gotten anywhere. People are helping gather all the hi-lighted words into charts, so that has been helpful at least.”

         “Once you break into our father’s computer, that is when everything will unravel,” Yoongi nods a few times. “I think that he has a lot of information locked in there for some reason. Why he wouldn’t leave instructions to let us in is beyond me.”

         “He wants to make sure that only those who are meant to get in do so,” Jimin says. “If he left a note with clear instructions, then anyone might be able to get in.”

         “I think we can also put some hidden microphones in the bar to try and pick up on the conversations of the man and the lady if they come back,” Taemin adds in. “There was too much noise last time the met, and we couldn’t hear a single thing they said.”

         “I think that we wait for them to come to us,” Hoseok speaks out. “If they want a fight, then they can come and get it.”

         “I’d love to kick some ass,” I smirk, rubbing my hands together. “I am sick of those assholes ruining my life and trying to hurt my family.”

         “That’s why we are going to come out on top,” Sooyoung shrugs, filling the room with a calm. “We don’t need to worry about anything because in the end, Bangtan will be the ones that will still be standing. Those Red Wolves don’t know what shit they are getting into.”

********

         I stare out the window as Namjoon drives away from the mansion. Out of all the days I would rather not go to university, today has to top the cake with the new rules that Yoongi has put into place for me.

         “Don’t think too negatively, Areum,” Namjoon glances back at me through the rearview mirror. “It’ll just be a few more weeks, and then you don’t have to deal with those people again.”

         I groan, pulling my gaze away from the window. “That’s comforting, and all, but being forced to go back to the classroom means that the Fakes are going to come up to me, and I just want them to stop. They keep texting me, and tagging me in pictures on Instagram. No matter what I do, they just don’t get it. They don’t understand that I do not like them. So, I am the most pissed about that new rule that Yoongi has set in place for me.”

         “You don’t have to listen to him, ya know? You are an adult too. He may be your older brother, but just because your father is gone, doesn’t mean that makes him the boss of you.”

         “He just worries about me,” I sigh, running a hand over my now midnight blue hair. “I listen to him because I don’t want him to worry any more than he does. With what happened to our parents, I don’t blame him for his worries. I’m sure that he is trying to teach me something too.”

         “What could he possibly be trying to teach you?”

         “How to act towards people that you despise,” I chuckle. “He’s done damage control with the fathers of the Fakes, but he made it clear to them that I was not going to suck up to their daughters anymore. That I was not being true to myself, and their daughters are not the friends I would ever have around me.”

         “Does that mean you won’t blow up at them again?”

         “I make no promises,” I frown as the car pulls up to the university’s main building.

         “I wish you luck, then,” Namjoon puts the car in park.

         “Thanks, Joonie,” I weakly smile, grabbing my backpack as I shove the car door open. “I’ll see you later, unless Taehyung comes to pick me up, but who knows if he will.”

         “I still can’t believe that you have a boyfriend,” he chuckles.

         “Whatever,” I roll my eyes. “Bye.” I jump out of the car.

         “Bye!” Namjoon’s voice reaches me before I push the door shut.

         As I begin my trek towards the door, Namjoon drives away in the black BMW. If the weather wasn’t beginning to prepare us for winter, a lot more people would be outside with me, and I would have to deal with a lot more stares.

         I just wish that I was at home, doing work at the seat next to my desk as Taehyung hacks away. There would be no worrying about what people think about me, or having to deal with people that just can’t get it through their thick skulls that I am over them. There would just be love all around me.

         It takes just a few minutes to reach my Japanese class, opening the door and heading straight to the seat that I claimed as mine the first day of class. My classmates are glancing over at me, but there are no whispers of surprise at seeing me. It is just how I wished it would be like.

         I pull my pencil pouch, folder, notebook, laptop, and water bottle out of my backpack to settle back into my classroom routine. Now I just have to hope that I am left alone until class begins.

         “Areum, it is so good to see you,” Blondie’s voice shatters my peaceful thoughts.

         “You have to be fucking kidding me,” I mumble to myself, wishing that I could turn invisible.

         “She’s always in the library,” Chewing Gum says. “Like she’s trying to avoid people.”

         “They say people who go through trauma do out-of-the-norm things,” Glasses comments. “Look, she’s even dyed her hair.”

         “I hate Yoongi so much right now,” I place my fists on my lap, trying not to think of how satisfying it would be to smack these girls.

         “Are you not even going to look at us?” Cheekbones asks as the four of them step up to my desk. “We’ve missed you so much, even after the incident when you were with that motorcycle boy.”

         “None of you are in this class,” I tilt my head to barely look up at them. “If you could please leave, as there is only a few minutes until the start, that would be great.”

         “What is up with you?” Blondie places her hand on my shoulder, but I quickly move out of her grasp. “If you would just tell us what is bothering you, we could help you out. If you need to see a grief counselor, I’ll find you the best one in the city.”

         “I don’t need a grief counselor,” I glare up at the girl. “What I need, is for the four of you to leave me alone.”

         “For how much longer?” Glasses questions. “We have been giving you space for weeks now. We didn’t even come up to you are the Halloween party that Bangtan hosted.”

         “Forever,” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I want you to stay away and never talk to be ever again.”

         “But we are your friends, and we want to make sure that you are okay,” Cheekbones whines.

         The laugh that leaves my mouth is one filled with venom at the statement that the ditz just spit out. “You think that we are friends?”

         “Of course,” Blondie firmly nods. “We’ve been friends since high school. Our fathers work together, so it was only a matter of time before we would meet and hang out. We’ve spent time at each other’s houses, and we text each other, and share fashion tips.”

         “If it wasn’t for my father, there is no way in hell that I would have ever spent a second with any of you,” I shake my head. “I was forced to hang out with you, to be friendly to you, and I hated every single second of it.”

         “You’re just saying that because you are still grieving,” Glasses stomps her foot once as if that shows what she is talking about.

         “She’s right,” Blondie takes a deep breath. “We’re best friends. You and I are super close, and you are just stressed with everything that has been going on in your life.”

         “No,” I stare right at Blondie. “My best friends name is Sooyoung, and she has been with me since my mother was murdered. She knows more about me than you will ever know. She has always been by my side not because of the money that the Min’s have collected, but because she has wanted to get to know me. Areum is not some puppet that you can suck up to so that you can get ahead in this world.”

         “Now you are just talking crazy,” Cheekbones pouts. “We know a lot about you.”

         “Oh, do you now?” The venom laced laugh leaves my mouth once again.

         “Ask us any question, I bet we can answer it,” Chewing Gum crosses her arms over her chest as she blows a gum bubble.

         “What is my preferred fighting style?” I smirk as their faces go blank.

         “Trick question, you don’t fight,” Cheekbones points an index finger at the ceiling.

         “Wrong. I am trained in knife throwing, kick-boxing, and firearms. I have just started training in karate. If it came down to it, I could fight all of the kids in here, at once.”

         “Ask something else,” Glasses waves her hand across her face.

         “Fine,” I run a hand through my hair in annoyance at the girls. “What is my dogs name?”

         “That’s easy, you and Yoongi have Holly,” Blondie grins, looking like she just won a trivia contest.

         “Holly is only Yoongi’s dog.” I scoff, “My husky’s name is Snow. Want to try another question?”

         “Well, we know that you have a boyfriend,” Cheekbones blurts out.

         “Oh, yeah, the vampire at the party,” Glasses slaps her fist into the palm of her other hand. “You slow danced with him, and then kissed before we lost sight of you.”

         “I remember his name, um, Taehyung,” Blondie nods a few times.

         “Wow, you four are a lot smarter than I thought,” I roll my eyes, noticing that the professor, Dr. Liu, has made her way into the room, but is just watching this scene unfold. “That has nothing to do with me personally, though. Have you noticed that I don’t wear dresses anymore? That I chopped my hair off? That I have almost no make-up on? Did you ever wonder why that is?”

         “You’re grieving,” Blondie sighs, her eyes showing a glimmer of sadness.

         “I’m done grieving. Not just for my father, but also for the self that I have left behind. I changed because of all of you!” I slap my hands down on my desk as I burst out of my seat. “I don’t have to pretend to be nice to you anymore, so the Areum you knew is no more. This is the real me! I don’t wear dresses every day, and I don’t talk like everything is some juicy gossip. I hate people, and I hate spending my time with any of you. All of you are fake!”

         “Areum, please, there is no need to shout,” Blondie whispers, looking around at all the students staring at us.

         “Yes, there is, or else you won’t listen to me!” I feel the urge to throw something, but I fight that desire away. “I don’t know any of your names. All I think when I see you is traits that I associate with you. None of you have ever been true friends. All you do is hang around me in hopes of getting money. Is that all I am to you!?”

         “No, not at all,” Blondie’s cheeks are reddening. “Sure, it’s fun that we can go out and do fun things with you, but you are more than that to us.”

         That venom laugh bursts out of my chest once again. “If I was more than just money to you, then you would know about who I really am. You wouldn’t act fake when around me. You would try and become friends with people that I enjoy being around. You wouldn’t make me want to punch every single one of you without regret. I am sick and tired of you coming up to me, and I want you to stay away for a long time. All of you,” I growl.

         “She’s so mean,” Cheekbones huffs, walking out of the room.

         “Hasn’t she always been?” Chewing Gum rolls her eyes as she follows Cheekbones.

         “We’re sorry for putting you through hell, Areum,” Glasses slightly bows at me. “You always were distant. We should have known, sorry.” She fixes her glasses before walking off.

         “You don’t mean any of that,” Blondie has tears welling up in her eyes. “You don’t even know what you are saying right now.”

         “I mean every single word,” I fall back into my seat. “My father can no longer force me to be nice to you, and I have reached the last straw of patience when it comes to any of you. Yoongi will deal with your fathers, and I can finally live peacefully without you ruining my days.”

         “Fine,” she sniffles, wiping the tears off her cheeks. “We’ll leave you alone for now, but that doesn’t mean we won’t check in on you from time to time.”

         “I’d rather you didn’t,” I turn my face to look at the front of the classroom. “Now, if you could please leave, you are cutting into class time.”

         “After everything I have done for you,” Blondie’s voice no longer sounds like she could burst into tears at any second. “I can’t believe you.” She stomps out of the room in the next second.

         “Fucking fake ass bitches,” I sigh, rubbing my temples with my index and middle fingers.

         “Well, that was one way to start off class,” Dr. Liu clears her throat to get everyone focused on her.

         “It was awesome, that’s what it was,” a boy who I have never spoken to, but know as a baseball player for the university, speaks up. “That was kickass, Areum.”

         “Yeah,” Haru, a girl that is in the book club, nods a few times. “Those girls think that they are queens around here, but you put them in their place. I always knew you were nothing like them.”

         In the next split second, everyone is shouting out praise for me standing up to the Fakes. They are impressed that I had the guts to call them out on their shit, and that I have started to act like how they could feel I wanted to act. It feels good to know that they don’t see me as some sort of freak since this isn’t my first outburst.

         “Thank you everyone,” I chuckle without the venom. “That was nothing special, though. I just couldn’t take being miserable and lying about myself.”

         “I always knew that you weren’t like other girls,” baseball boy grins.

         I shrug, “I haven’t grown up like most other girls.”

         “Well, now that that is out of the way, is everyone ready to start class?” Dr. Liu looks around the room, but her eyes end on me.

         “Unless you want to ask me some questions, let’s get class start,” I smile at the professor.

         “Alrighty then,” Dr. Liu claps her hand together. “I think that it is time for a pop quiz.”

         The class erupts into groans, but I just grab a pencil with a gummy smile on my face. Nothing can ruin my day now. It is all changed from now on.

********

         I run my thumb and index finger across my eyes, giving them a break from staring at my laptop screen. Being back in the classroom has tired me out, but I still have one class left until I am able to go home. At least I am able to relax in the library in between each class.

         “Just one last class, I can do it,” I take a deep breath, looking up at the ceiling. “Still, something is missing.” I look back down at my laptop and my face lights up at the sight.

| Tae: You’re missing me, that’s the something.

| Ari: Tae! You are right. I am missing you.

| Tae: I saw you fight with the Fakes. Not going to lie, it was kind of hot.

         I roll my eyes.

| Ari: Got to keep the balance, right?

| Ari: It felt so good to get it off my chest. They should be leaving me alone now.

| Tae: That’s good. I don’t really like seeing you angry like that.

| Tae: You deserve to be happy more than anything.

| Ari: That is very sweet to say, Taehyungie. With you, I think that will be the case.

         I smile, looking around for CCTV to show Taehyung that I am doing much better now.

| Tae: You look very beautiful, babe. I can’t wait for you to get home.

| Tae: I want to give you so many kisses.

         I feel my cheeks heating up from the statement, shrinking into my seat to try and hide.

| Tae: I see you trying to hide away from me. You are too cute.

| Ari: I try to be, but I can’t have someone seeing me blush while looking at my laptop.

| Ari: They’ll probably think I’m watching something dirty.

| Tae: Am I just supposed to not flirt with my girlfriend then?

         I feel my heart skip a beat; still not used to being called girlfriend by Taehyung.

| Ari: It’s not fair because if I flirt with you, I can’t see your reaction.

| Tae: That’s not my fault that you have to go to school and can’t just be with me all day.

| Ari: Is there a reason that you hacked into my computer other than to flirt?

| Tae: Yes, and babe, listen, this might be too much for you.

| Ari: What is it?

| Tae: I found some stuff about your mother and her connection to the Red Wolves.

         I feel my mind go blank as I take in the words on the screen. The one thing that has been plaguing us since that lady came up to me has been revealed, and it still just feels like a dream.

| Ari: Send whatever you have over to me. All of it. I need to read it.

| Tae: There’s a lot, Areum. Are you sure you don’t want to wait until you get home?

| Ari: Damn it, Tae. Give them to me right now. It was my mother, I need to know.

| Tae: Sorry, sorry. Give me a minute, you’ll get everything as pop-ups.

         I focus on my breathing to calm myself as I wait for the documents to pop up on my screen. I have to be strong for what could be waiting for me to read.

         In exactly a minute, multiple documents from newspaper articles to official business statements take over my screen, leaving only the chatroom visible.

| Tae: Don’t force yourself to read something if it gets too difficult to process.

| Tae: And please, talk to me if you feel like it is too much. Call me if you have to.

| Tae: I am here for you, Areum. I want to help you, but you have to let me help you.

| Ari: I’ll message you my thoughts once I am done, so don’t go anywhere.

| Tae: I’ll be waiting for your message.

         I take a deep breath, enlarging the article on top. “Now, what were you hiding, mother?”

         The first article is titled “The Family Behind the Red Wolves” and is the first time that I have ever seen the names of my mother’s side of the family. My mother’s maiden name is Han, meaning that we can now search for Jieun Han. She also has a twin sister named Soojin, and then a younger brother Hyunwoo. Her father’s name is Sanghoo, and her mother’s name is Misook, but I doubt we will be able to find out if they are still living with how long it took to find this little bit of information. I don’t know what I would do if I had the chance to contact them anyway. It seems they want nothing to do with Bangtan with how they send Red Wolves’ goons after us.

         I close the file, looking to the next article that seems to have to do with my mother’s death. Even if I could remember the chaotic day surrounding her murder, I don’t think I could read about it.

         “Another time,” I sigh, closing the tab.

         Next is an official looking paper that has my mother being disowned from the Han family, and the reason for it is that she has betrayed the family name.

         “Because she married my dad?” I mumble, exiting out of the tab to keep moving.

         The next few articles talk about the Red Wolves from before I was born. There has always been a war going on between them and Bangtan since the two came into existence. None of it explains where this hatred between them came from, but it is clear that my mother’s decision to marry my dad and become a member of Bangtan was not what started the fight. The Red Wolves clearly do little good for the city, but they just can’t be taken down.

         Then a more positive article appears of my mother and her twin being praised for their accomplishments. Soojin has just won a spelling bee against college students while still in middle school, while my mother is crowned champion of a karate competition.

         “Well, there’s where my interest of karate is coming from,” I happily sigh as I take in the pictures of my mother and aunt as kids, smiling like nothing could ever go wrong.

         After that there is a few articles surrounding my parents’ marriage, but nothing that stands out to me as weird. They were very public about marrying, so there are all kinds of photos of them being super cute. Maybe they were rubbing it in Grandfather Han’s face?

         I make it to the last article, still in a bit of a weird state from all that I am reading, wondering if I will be able to focus for my last class.

         The last article is titled “Red Wolves have New Leader” with a blurry picture of what appears to be a woman rushing into a building with large men in suits surrounding her. She is most likely Soojin, the twin that would still be alive to take over the gang. My heartrate speeds up as I think of my mother’s beloved sister coming after the group that took her away from the family. She must be torn, seeing as she’s going after her niece and nephew for a conflict that they didn’t even know about. Still, why would the Red Wolves kill the daughter of their leader? Was it a mistake?

         “No, what if it wasn’t them?” I feel my breath quicken as a thousand explanations try to play out in my mind, but nothing makes any sense. “Why can’t anything be easy?” I run my hands through my hair, tugging gently at the roots.

| Tae: Babe, are you done reading?

| Tae: You look like you want to scream, and I wish I could comfort you right now.

| Tae: I want to talk all this information out with you.

| Ari: There’s so many questions that I now have no answers to. There are so many answers that I don’t know what to do with.

| Ari: Life is just a giant puzzle, isn’t it?

| Tae: Yes, it is. Life can never be easy. We have to work for everything.

| Ari: I feel like I am going to throw up with all that I know. My mother really kept a lot of secrets.

| Ari: It’s like I don’t even know her.

| Tae: No, you do know her. You just know one part of her. She kept things away to keep you safe. I am sure of it.

| Ari: Thank you Taehyung. For that, and for sending me the documents. It helps, but at the same time it hurts.

| Tae: Do you think that you will be okay for the rest of you time at uni?

| Ari: I don’t know how I will be able to focus with all that is swimming around my head now, but I’ll manage.

| Tae: If you get through this next class, I’ll give you a surprise.

| Ari: A surprise? What kind of surprise?

| Tae: One that will make you love me even more.

| Ari: Impossible. I already love you more than I have ever loved someone. I can’t even explain how much I love you.

| Tae: And I love you more than binary code could be able to transmit.

| Tae: But trust me, this surprise will make you forget about the hell of all this shit.

| Ari: That is all I want right now. Today has been a bit much.

| Tae: I’m sorry about that babe. I’ll give you all the kisses to cheer you up.

| Ari: I would like that. I’ll see you soon, then, Tae. Just one more class.

| Tae: One more class. You can do this. I love you.

| Ari: And I love you.

         In the blink of an eye, the chatroom is gone, and I am left with too many thoughts swirling around in my head. With all the answers comes more questions that overwhelm me. Is it even possible to get answers with the state of things?

         “It has to get better, it has to,” I sigh, placing my head in my hands. “It has to, or I don’t know what I am going to do.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It has been a hot minute since a chapter of this came out, and I am sorry for that. Blame school and all it’s crap. Now that it is Spring Break, this will not be the only chapter. I am going to work hard to get as much out as possible, so enjoy! Don’t forget to let me know what you thought! :D

[l000ey]

the queen and the jester → r.d

pairing; song mino x rae dara (ft. dong youngbae and mentions of lee chaerin, park bom, min hyorin and kwon jiyong)

summary; Red needs to forget everything and Mino wants to helps her

warning; bad language

note; yes, they fucked but Mino is not the only one Red has had sex with after her breakup with GD.....

2014

People smiled and laughed happily as they talked to their friends or acquaintances while Red was sitting there with a glass of the strongest alcohol she could have found in the bar of the huge hotel where they were celebrating the end of the year party. She sighed and turned to see her best friend when she felt that he was sitting next to she.

"Are you gonna stay like that all night?" The girl shrugged at the question. Taeyang sighed as he looked for Chaerin but she was very busy dancing with Hyorin and Bom, he made a face that showed his displeasure when he saw his leader dancing with that girl he had brought to the party.

He looked at the brunette only to realize that she was also looking at Jiyong and that model devouring in the middle of the dance floor. Dara sighed and drank another swallow from her glass. "I think I'll go home."

"But there is only one hour left for it to be New Year" With his right hand he gave a slight squeeze on her leg, trying to give her encouragement but she ignored it by going back to drink another drink "D, stay. Do not give him the satisfaction of seeing you wrong. "

"I think he's already satisfied enough." She pointed out how the girl intertwined her fingers in the rapper's hair and bit his lips. She let out a bitter laugh and stood up, alarming Youngbae.

"Uh, uh, where are you going?" He got up too when he saw her staggering, helped her sit down again.

"I need a cigarette, maybe two or three." She opened her purse and pulled out a packet of tobacco next to a cigarette lighter. The white-haired man sighed again before snatching the bag, earning a complaint from the best "Yah, give me that."

"No" He said curtly.

"Youngbae, please. I need to get out of here, I want to go home.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and hid her face in his stomach, the singer growled looking for someone to help him with the twenty three years old baby. The only one who seemed to be in his five senses was the rapper of the group of boys who had debuted about a year ago, what was his name? Oh, yes, Mino.

"You" He pointed to the boy, who was sitting at a few tables beyond. The dark haired man frowned and pointed, Youngbae nodded "Come here."

"Yes, hyung?" Mino waved at him but Taeyang stopped him.

"I need your help, have you drunk?" The boy denied and he smiled "Perfect! Well, you're going to help Red get home. "

"Ah, I'm not so drunk." Red, who was watching them still sitting in her place, frowned annoyed. "I do not need a babysitter, Youngbae."

"Oh, believe me you need it." He handed the bag to the young man and helped his friend get up while she complained nonstop. Mino frowned without understanding anything, his sunbae looked sad and did not understand the reasons why she could be but nevertheless remained silent. The older one looked at him. "Help her get home and then come back if you want. If you do, I'll talk to the CEO to give you a solo album. "

Red rolled her eyes at the exaggerations of her best friend, snatched the bag from her hoobae and picked up a cigar ready to be smoked. She looked at the dark haired man "Are we going?"

"Eh, yes." He nodded quickly receiving her bag again and started to walk to get to it but his hyung's hand on his arm stopped him.

"Take care of her. She's not anybody, you know?” He nodded and started running toward the girl who had stopped at the door as soon as she realized he was not following her.

Both walked in silence through the hotel corridors until they reached the elevator. Red sighed as soon as Mino hit the button that would take them down.

“Mino”.

"Yes?" He turned quickly to see if she needed anything. He inspected her with his eyes, curious about his senior, but everything seemed fine with her, so he waited for her to speak.

"Can we go somewhere other than my house, please? I do not want to be there, I need fresh air.” She did not look at it for a second as she spoke, her eyes were lost on the floor of the elevator.

"But Taeyang hyung said that ..."

"I know what your hyung said, but I want to breathe and if you're going to be my babysitter at least does that for me." Her green eyes finally settled on him and all he could do was nod. He was afraid to screw everything and have her thrown him out of the agency. He approached the panel and pressed the button on the sixth floor making the girl look at him confused. "What are you doing?"

"I rented a room because I thought about drinking until I forgot my name so we can go there. You can smoke, there is a terrace. "He explained before leaving the wall and standing in front of the doors.

"Wow, I did not even think about asking for a room. Very clever, Song” The boy smiled at the words of the eldest and offered his hand to help her out of the elevator. They walked hand in hand to the room where Mino had to let her go to open the door. He let her pass first in a gentlemanly act. Red smiled to see the room, it was beautiful "You can go back to the party if you want, I will smoke a while and then I will go to my house. Do not miss the fun because of me. "

Mino laughed leaving the bag on one of the bedside tables after closing the door "It was not a fun party. It was pretty boring, I would say. I'll stay and when you want to leave I'll take you home. I promised hyung that I would take care of you."

"Well, thanks." She smiled at him, running the curtains so she could have access to the terrace. She turned around and looked at him still smiling. "And stop talking to me in a formal way, we've known each other for many years, I think we're close enough to talk to me like that."

He followed her to the terrace. "You're older than me and everyone knows you do not like honorific so I had to be respectful in some way." He watched her take off her heels and throw them away from her. He laughed thinking about how cute she was doing that pout looked when he saw the wonderful views of the Seoul night that the room had.

"Thank you for bringing me here." She looked at him, ignoring the fact that she had caught him looking at her and smiled at him and then looked again at the illuminated city. "It's just what I needed."

He followed her example and sat in the other chair. "I'm glad I was helpful."

Silence filtered again between the two, the only thing you could hear was the cigarette burn and music away from the party a couple of floors above. Dara sighed letting out the smoke, her sigh caught the attention of the rapper, who turned his head to look at her.

"C-can I ask you something?"

The brunette laughed "You've done it but yes, go ahead."

"Why are you so down? It's been a while since I've noticed it. You almost never smile and if you do it is a fake smile, you just drink and smoke and spend most of your time in your studio or at home "He looked at her worried" Is everything all right? "

Just as he said, she forced a smile, feeling her eyes watering so she looked away from him. Mino did not stop looking at her for a moment so, despite her effort to keep the tears out of sight, he saw her cry. He got up and knelt by her side while rubbing her arm trying to comfort her.

"Hey, it's fine. You can cry if you want. "He trailed his other hand down her back and hugged her while she hid her face in his chest. A few minutes later she stopped sobbing but both continued in the same position "Do you want to tell me what happened?".

"Jiyong and I have broken up and the son of a bitch has brought a slut to the party. He was eating her mouth in front of me!” She exclaimed and shrugged closer to the warm body of the boy" I know we're not together anymore and he's free to do whatever he wants but I do not know...show some respect at least? "

"He should have waited a little longer to take someone to an event at the company." The black-haired agreed, she nodded away from his arms causing a cold to immediately spread through his skin.

"Exact. Thank you.” She accepted the handkerchief for which Mino had entered the room and carefully cleaned her face but could not continue because the boy took it from her hands and began to clean it.

"Let me do it" he murmured and began to spread the silk over her skin carefully, with too much care, as if she were the most precious and weak thing that he could have in his hands and that he should take care of. "I think hyung is stupid, not only for today but for leaving you. He's crazy about leaving a queen like you without a king. "

Dara moved slightly away from his touch leaving his cleaning job in half. She looked into his eyes and frowned thinking about why the hell she should have fallen in love with Jiyong instead of Mino. Without realizing her lips were already glued to his and her body was sitting on his lap.

She moaned when his tongue entered her mouth. She quickly brought her hands to his hair, that hair so well combed and cut that since she had seen it had made her want to run her fingers through it and ruffle it. The fireworks began to explode in front of them and the shouts of happiness of their record companions sounded in the distance. 2015 had already arrived.

Mino broke the kiss by separating from her, very little but for them it felt like being millions of miles away from each other. He looked at her confused.

"Help me to forget him, please" She whispered and he, even knowing that this would bring consequences, nodded before returning to stick his lips with hers and get up with her in his arms. He walked with a determined step towards the room where he approached the bed and placed her gently on top of it.

Mino pulled away to take off his shoes while Dara unzipped her dress. He came quickly to her after he had discarded his jacket and kissed her again before helping her to get rid of that dress that looked very expensive although he did not regret to see that under the dress there was a fine lingerie. He bit his lower lip with such force that it seemed that at any moment he would bleed, the brunnette took him from his tie and pulled him closer to her. He joined her lips again while she unbuttoned his shirt. Mino's mind kept telling him that this was probably a dream and that he enjoyed it because he would never experience such a real dream again.

"Mino" She sighed his name when his lips took hold of the skin of her neck, he growled happy to hear his name leave her lips and continued sucking her smooth and soft skin. He spent minutes on each part of her body, did not leave a corner without kissing while whispering how beautiful she was making her sigh happily.

He pulled away from the skin of her stomach and looked at her, eyes closed and moaning for him. He smiled and went down to kiss her on the lips this time.

"Mino” She whispered again when the kiss broke.

"Yes?" He pulled their sweaty foreheads together as his hands danced around the curves of her body.

The look she gave him said too many things, said he would help her, that she needed love, that she missed her family, that she felt...empty but she did not say anything of that.

"Mino, fuck me." She said instead.

Hours later the boy looked at her back where that stupid tattoo rested while she slept soundly after her attempt to forget Kwon Jiyong. Mino grimaced without stop looking at the tattoo, that tattoo that was famous throughout Asia, that tattoo that symbolized the eternal love that the king and queen swore to have before all but that in the end it would only be a scar on the skin of the queen that would remember her for life to the king.

And Mino did not like that because he knew that this, what had just happened and for what she asked so much, would be nothing more than a secret story that would be between them and that soon she would run into the arms of the king as soon as he was, realized how stupid he is and asked for forgiveness. And then there would be him, the funny but lonely jester who loves the queen in secret like many others.

He sighed and turned around, ready to say goodbye to the beautiful but tragic night that had just passed in front of him.

[animatedpileofbones]

DA q's!! 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 14, 17, 25, 33, 34, 37, 40, 42, 47, 51, 52, 60, 63, 66, 77, 78, 79, 98, and 99~! (◠‿◠✿)

eli i love you man here we go, this is long sorry but i have a Lot To Say! i literally wrote like 1500 words for these so it’s under a readmore.

1 how did you get into dragon age

i was on tumblr when inquisition came out and a lot of my friends and mutuals at the time suddenly became dragon age blogs for a while (some still are, howdy!) yEARS later i found origins on discount at gamestop and decided to check it out and whoops now i’m a fucking mess forever :)

4 about my warden(s)

My first, and most recently rehashed* warden was Gwinek, she was a casteless dwarf rogue, dual wielder. I didn’t know there were specific temperaments in this game like in 2 but I play her as gruff but fiercely loyal. She would do almost anything for her friends and sister, but is very naive in matters of magic. She romanced Leliana.

*rehashed because I came to the series completely blind, and as such made some not so great choices the first time around.

I also have an elven mage, named Lemmen, she was also a big helpy helperton but slow to trust. She romanced Alistair and I don’t like to think about that sacrifice. :’)

5 about my hawke(s)

My first Hawke was Marcel, a dual wielding rogue and I played him purple. He is big into his friends, obviously, but mostly just wants to be liked despite the fact that he is accidentally an asshole sometimes. He romanced Fenris. All my Hawkes romance Fenris. I love Fenris just so much and I keep telling myself one of these times I’m going to romance Isabela but then Fenris walks in all drama and vengeance and I’m just too gay to handle it. My latest Hawke was Lucien, a… purple dual-wielding rogue. He erred on the side of blue, though, whereas Marcel was vaguely red, so. Not Entirely the same but view my problem, especially going into...

6 about my inquisitor(s)

My first inquisitor was Vodahl Cadash, a… dwarven dual-wielding rogue. :) He was pretty anti-chantry but was also more invested in taking care of his crew than making enemies, preferring to let Josephine handle PR and just say what she told him to say while he supported his team as he saw fit. He lived for life on the road, mostly, an adventurer type, but whatever his inner circle needed, they got. He romanced The Iron Bull, because I’m a thirsty thirsty bitch. I rehashed the dwarven rogue in Heraht, this time romancing Dorian; Heraht was much more enamored with surface life, not necessarily Ferelden-style though. He was well manicured and a bit on the sarcastic side of charming. Right now i’m playing a human sword-and-shield warrior, Errol Travellyan, and he is accidentally just Dorian But From The Free Marches in personality. He can be easily frustrated, I play him fairly no nonsense at times but he’s trying to maintain his Approachable Facade. He’s…. also romancing Dorian OH NO

7 favorite origins backstory

Oooh this is tough because I love Leliana so much, and Alistair just makes me cry all the time I Love That Man, ooh this is tough but I think I have to say Morrigan. She is a story gift that keeps on giving, and I think this is because of what we learned in Inquisition. Without that info, I think… OH NO WAIT IT’S SHALE, HANDS DOWN IT’S SHALE

11 best hawke quote

it’s not specifically a quote but when you bring the viscount’s son back in act 1 and you can either keep your mouth shut about their disagreement or Well Actually yourself into that conversation, that’s my favorite.

14 favorite origins party combo

Before you get Shale, it’s Alistair, Leliana, and the dog. After Shale, it’s Shale, Leliana, and either Zevran or Alistair.

17 mabari name

In Origins, I named the mabari after a person from the backstory. For Gwinek it was Leske to keep her friend with her even now. For Lemmen it was Jowan, because at least the mabari would never let her down. In DA2, it was a family pet, so for Marcel it was named Champion, and for Lucien it was Handsome Cal, and you can envision all sorts of titles in there but I didn’t have enough characters. Lord Handsome Cal Esquire III (he was the first)

25 favorite inquisition place

It’s the Hissing Wastes for sure. It’s always dusk, it’s so vast and beautiful. I love just hanging out there.

33 favorite dragon age character overall

Hey Eli? I hate this question! I am doing my current playthrough solely for the benefit of Leliana this is true. But I have a horrible weakness for two (2) men, Fenris and The Iron Bull, I can’t choose between them, and also Varric, and, asdlfjasdf how could you do this to me? I also identify very heavily with Dorian, and, I’m going to just cry instead of answer this, how about that?

34 least favorite character

Oh it’s Anders no doubt, no question, I hate him. I hate him so much. Like don’t get me wrong, I am in full support of mages taking back their space in Thedas, I just. Have known guys like Anders and the way he hits on f!Hawke like immediately after his intro quest, y’know where we had to kill his boyfriend? felt so bad and just turned my mild irritation into full-on hate.

37 blood magic yes/no

Nope.

40 moment/action i regret in game

Just like everything with the ending of Origins. I don’t prefer to do the ritual with Morrigan because I tend to play women which means I need to coerce Alistair into doing it and I did that for exactly two savestates (one being my Cousland because I wanted to see how that went and then the first time around with Gwinek) thinking “this is the best long term post-game choice! Neither of us have to die! And I’m not even making him be king!” despite it sitting bitterly in the back of my mind the rest of the series. then comes Inquisition and the full consequences of my actions hit me like a brick in the face and I eventually scrapped that playthrough and went back and didn’t be a shithead shitbag, replaying Gwinek entirely so that choice wouldn’t have even begun to make sense to her. I regret that so much.

42 who do i wish i could romance

VARRIC “PARAGON OF MANLINESS” TETHRAS

47 best antagonist

Arl Rendon Howe from Origins, cos he was voiced by Tim Curry and that was just so sexy of a choice. In all seriousness though, Meredith from da2.

51 favorite warden/hawke/inq headcanon any/all

Lucien Hawke routinely had sleepovers at his estate in Hightown. He tried to a couple times while living with Gamlen, but everyone was too sad to indulge him.

Heraht nearly breaks up with Dorian on a near weekly basis whenever Dorian accidentally lumps him in with the Fereldens re: hygiene. Also, not a headcanon but just the way I played but the two of them absolutely had coordinating outfits at all times.

Gwinek shared tents with Wynne most nights, finding in Wynne the mother she wished she and Rica would have had.

Also with Gwinek, she may have helped her sister’s paramour become king but she doesn’t trust him half as far as she can throw him and comes down to Orzammar on the regs to make sure he’s treating Rica right, and he knows damn well that Gwinek put him into that throne and she Will take him back out of it, and he can’t do shit without risking absolute chaos. 

This is also a good time to mention my ot3s: Hawke/Fenris/Isabela, Heraht/Dorian/Bull

52 favorite npc headcanons

Fenris took to reading rather easier than Hawke would have guessed, only Hawke didn’t know just how well Fenris had taken to it until years into their relationship because Fenris thought the “lessons” were cute.

The Iron Bull introduced hot cocoa to Skyhold and literally changed so many lives in that moment; quartermaster Morris pulled so many strings to get marshmallows in, and when they arrived the first time the celebration was almost a riot.

60 who do i wish had been given more story

Weird to say for the woman who had her own Origins DLC and also was pivotal in Inquisition, but Morrigan. She’s just really interesting to me. Also, Warden Stroud. I think he was just there to be the Easy Low Stakes Choice to leave in the Fade honestly but I hated not having a reason to care about him. I didn't play any da2 dlc tho.

63 best story moment

This is tough? I enjoyed the landsmeet in origins. I think most of da2 was great story. Except Orsino obviously. I think I’m just going to point to all of da2. Yeah.

66 something i hate about any of the games

it can’t seem to decide how it feels about the qunari. also that there are characters that absolutely are not straight that the writers decided Actually, Despite Everything, They Are Straight Actually :’)

77 what moment/memory still gives me chills/feels

Definitely definitely Dorian’s confrontation with his dad. That was so well acted, I felt that pain and betrayal so viscerally. It hurts every time. As for a different brand of chills, y’know when if you seduce The Iron Bull and stuff finally starts happening there, and he lifts the inquisitory by the wrists in One Hand and remember I was playing a dwarf, oo golly that shit is All I Need In Life

78 what am i hoping for in da4

More magic and Old Gods and stuff! More Morrigan? Familiar faces!

79 what am i worried about for da4

Familiar faces! :’) Also just so heavyhanded “morally gray” issues that is actually just bad edgy writing. Worried we will be racelocked like in 2 :(

98 if i could be any non human da species which/why

Dwarf, because halflings don’t exist in thedas and dwarves are fairly industrious as a culture

99 where would i live

Despite what I just said, I would probably live somewhere in the Free Marches! Kirkwall ended up pretty fucked and I am absolutely biased because da2 was my favorite.

[leaves-of-three]

Day 8: Part Three || The Woods

Connor Murphy x Reader

Word Count: 3664

Summary: The final end of Day 8. I dragged a single day on for way too long. My bad. [This is part of an in progress series. You can follow along here.]

Warnings: DISSOCIATION, REPRESSED MEMORIES, MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ABUSE, DEPRESSION, MENTION OF A DEAD PARENT, ANGSTY AF

Author Note: Guess who stayed up all night and didn’t reread this story before posting it and will probably regret that decision later? That’s right. It’s me! xKatie

You weren’t sure how long it took you and Connor to find yourselves out the forest. He lead the way. For all you knew, you could have been walking around in circles. Everything in this damn forest looked the exactly same, especially in the dark. Your legs moved on auto pilot. They stumbled over fallen logs and through uneven terrain. Your mind was numb. Not a single thought was able to push past the walls you had quickly built up for protection. Once you had calmed down enough to start moving, everything began to shut down inside you. It started with blocking out the most violent threats. Your memories of that night got shoved back into a dark box. They needed to go quickly if you were supposed to be able to function well enough to leave the woods. Then your emotions went. They were the second biggest threat to you. One by one, anything you were feeling fizzled out and dissolved. You let yourself disappear into the black, endless nothing that reached out to you like a warm embrace. Mild dissociation was the mind’s attempt at protecting you from the tornado of painful emotions that whirled around and fought to take over. 

At first you were fully capable of walking by yourself. Connor stuck extra close to your side then. His jacket was still wrapped around your shoulders. He would send you worried side glances from time to time but you were too detached from reality that you hardly noticed. The more you slipped away into yourself, the more challenging navigating the forest floor became. Your limbs no longer were your own. You were nothing but a whisper trapped inside your brain while your body clumsily moved forward without direction. It felt like the ground beneath your feet was evaporating with each step. You imagined what it might be like to try and stand on a cloud. The cool, smokey vapor would give out and you would fall right through, hurtling towards the ground with nothing to grab onto to slow the inevitable impact.  

You landed hard on the mossy, forest floor. Your legs had simply given out from under you. Your cheek pressed into the dirt. You inhaled a mouthful of the earthy soil causing you to immediately cough it back up. You sputtered out any dirty remains and closed your eyes. Sleep. All you wanted was to sleep. You didn’t want to walk anymore. You dug your hand into the ground, balling loose, warm earth into your fist. It felt so real. It wasn’t a cloud. It was solid. You couldn’t fall any further than this. You could lie here forever. If you fell asleep now, maybe you wouldn’t ever have to wake up. 

A hand gripped onto your shoulder. Justin’s wicked, smiling face flashed behind your eyes. He broke through the haze you surrounded yourself with. For a split second, you were back in that closet. A scream got caught in your throat as you rolled over to scramble away from the touch. Your heart pounded against your chest. Like before, you were only staring back at Connor. Not Justin. Your panicked eyes scanned the dark forest for any sign of that villainous grin in case he was still out there lurking in the shadows. The night played tricked on your exhausted mind. Each branch swaying in the breeze was an arm reaching out to grab you. You swore you could see glowing eyes peering at you from a bush. Nothing was safe. 

Connor inched closer to you. His body blocked the rest of the forest from view. You were forced to stare at only him. You had forgotten he was even there. He had been so quiet while you were walking. Too quiet. Like a ghost. He didn’t seem real anymore. Nothing felt real. You weren’t even sure if he was actually there at all. A split second ago, you had been so sure that Justin was touching your shoulder. He wasn’t here. Was Connor here? Were you even here? Where was “here”? 

Panic began to rise. Your eyes darted back and forth, unable to focus on anything for too long. Your leg bounced rapidly against the grass. Your hands began to shake. You were scared. Nothing was real and everything was real all at once. You couldn’t distinguish between the two. Your wanted your mom. You wanted to look over and see her, arms outstretched, waiting to pull you into a hug. She always been a physical embodiment of safety. You hadn’t truly felt that safety since she had passed. Your father could try but there was always a distance between you two. He struggled to show his emotions the way your mother had done so naturally. You were starting to feel again. Your barriers were breaking. Panic, anguish, and fear all piled on top of you, trampling you into the ground.

Connor knelt down in front of you. He slowly reached his hand towards your shaking one. When you didn’t pull away from his touch, he gently held on and gave it a soft squeeze. “Y/N,” he spoke your name tenderly but with an assertive tone, commanding you focus on his face. You looked up. You saw him but only as if you were looking through a thick glass panel placed between you and him. There was a break in your reality. You were floating between time and space. “You’re going to be okay. I’m going to get you out of here and I’m going to get you home safely. I’m not going to leave you.” He spoke with a steady rhythm. His eyes were filled with some kind of emotion you weren’t capable of figuring out in this state. He carefully lifted your hand to his face. He placed your palm against his cheek. “I’m real. I’m right here. See? You can feel me. I’m real and I’m not going anywhere.” Your fingers hesitantly grazed across his skin. You left a faint trail of dirt where they touched. Connor was like the ground. He was warm and real and solid. He was here. You were here. You willed yourself to anchor onto him. You forced yourself to listen to his words. The glass cutting you off from him began to crack. He was real. This was real. You hesitantly nodded. 

He took that as a good sign. “See five things. Name five things. Touch five things.” He patted your hand against his cheek. “One. Me.” Then he moved your hand from his face to the ground. “Two. Grass. Feel it.” Your fingers ran through the thick, long grass. You entwined a piece around your thumb. Then your arm was being moved again to the trunk of a tree. “Three. A tree. Feel the bark. It’s rough, see?” You did see. “Four...” He looked around then ripped a leaf off a branch. “Four. A leaf.” He held out your palm and brushed the leaf over it. It tickled. Finally, he picked a small stone off the ground by his foot. “Five. A rock. Hold it.” He placed the cool, grey granite into your palm and closed your fingers around it. He kept your closed fist in his hands while he continued to speak. “Five things to ground you back to reality.” The rock weighed heavy in your hand. It warmed to your touch. It was smooth and flat. The perfect kind for skipping across water. The glass separating you from the world shattered into the oblivion.

You took your fist, the rock still snuggled into it, from his hand and held it close to your chest. Connor must have seen a change in your eyes because his shoulders relaxed slightly. “I learned that trick once from a therapist a long time ago. Five things. It’s supposed to help you when you start dissociating.” You didn’t response, merely stared back at him with a vacant look. “Keep holding onto that rock. Use it as one of your five things. Having a solid object with you can help.” He stood up, dusting dirt off his knees. “Would you trust me enough to give you a piggy back? I’ll be able to get you out much faster that way. You won’t have to worry about moving forward. I’ll do it for you.” 

His words still sounded far away. Like an echo from the past. But you knew he was real. He was safe. You nodded again. Words weren’t something you were capable of forming anymore. Tired. You were so tired. He reached up to take your hand still clutching the rock and used it to help pull you into a standing position. The world tilted violently for a few seconds until your vision focused again. Your head was swimming. 

Connor stepped in front of you and knelt down. You tried once to hop onto his back but fell short. Your muscles were so weak. Jumping was too hard. Everything in your body ached. He was too tall even when kneeling forward. You let out a quiet whine, indicating that you were struggling to get on. It was all you could manage. He sank down a bit lower. When you tried again, you were able to successfully hop onto his back. You wrapped your arms around his neck and your legs around his waist, clinging to him tightly, as he stood up. 

The first thing you noticed was how warm his body was. You practically melted against him. Warmth radiated off him and sank into your chilled bones. Your shirt was still damp from falling in the stream. The wet fabric pressed against your chest and you grimaced at the feeling. It was an unpleasant component wedged between you and Connor’s body heat. You tried your best to refrain from whining again. 

The second thing you noticed was how strong Connor actually was. You could feel his muscles moving under his shirt. He was able to carry you with ease. He was also surprisingly graceful. His feet moved expertly over the forest floor, avoiding fallen sticks and rocks, weaving between trees. Even in the dark, with only the moon to shed light, was he able to skillfully navigate what was in front of him. 

The soothing bobbing motion your body made against his as he walked began to lull you to sleep. The weight of the world had been thrown onto your shoulders and now someone else was helping you carry it. You started feel more relaxed. You were safe with Connor. He wouldn’t leave you alone. Not now. Your eyelids felt heavy. Resting your head against the side of his, it didn’t take much for sleep to grab you.

-

The sound of a honking car startled you awake. You would have fallen to the ground had Connor not had his arms tucked under your legs. For a brief moment, you felt a twinge of giddiness. You were so close to him, nestled against his head. It would have been heavenly had your memories not come flooding back. Any ounce of excitement you felt for being with Connor was smashed away and replaced with a heavy sadness.You remembered why were you here...why he was carrying you. It wasn’t anything to be enthusiastic about.

You were out of the forest now and walking along the train tracks. It felt like a million years ago you had been trying to balance on the track, arm and arm with Connor, skipping school. How could a person change so drastically in less than a day? That girl from this morning was gone. 

“I think I can walk now,” your voice came out croaked and dry. 

 “It’s okay. My car is just around the corner. See? There’s the lot we parked in.” He pointed ahead of him. His black car was still there, sitting under a street lamp, illuminating the way. A light at the end of a tunnel. 

You settled back against him the rest of the way. 

Connor cranked the heat the moment you entered the car. You curled up against the door, your head leaning against the fogged up window. The forest taunted you from the rear view mirrors as you drove away. You closed your eyes. You didn’t want to see that place for another second. Your rock was still pressed against your skin, keeping you anchored to the real world. 

The car clock glowed green through the dark and read 9:38 pm. Your dad was probably worried. Usually you’d call if you were out late on a school night. You dug into your pocket for your phone. This was the first time you had checked it since entering the woods. Your screen had smashed in the middle. Deep groves cracked off and scratched out across the rest of the phone like the web of a spider. It was almost impossible to read anything but it still worked. 

Two new messages. 

Dad: Today 7:20 pm: Boss asked me to take another night shift tonight. Won’t be home till morning. Left money on counter for pizza. Love u! 

Evan: Today 3:52 pm: Hey, Y/N! Noticed you weren’t in school today. I hope everything is okay. I made copies of my notes for you. I’ll give them to you the next time we see each other :)

Your dad wasn’t home. He wasn’t going to be home tonight. You were going to be alone. That was a bad idea. You didn’t trust yourself to be alone. 

“Something wrong?” Connor kept his attention to the road but his voice held concern.

You turned in your seat to look at him. He still had a streak of dirt on his cheek from where you had held him. You couldn’t even fathom what you must look like. You glanced down at your own hands. They were caked in dirt. The dark soil was deep under your nails. It would take forever to fully clean them. Like your newly cracked phone though, you didn’t care. “Will you...are you...” Your voice was faint. It was barely above a whisper. “I don’t want to be home alone. No one is there.” You hoped he would pick up on what you were trying to ask without actually having to say it. 

Connor glanced over at you before turning back to the road. “You want me to stay with you?” 

-

The house was dark. You pushed open the front door and stepped into the living room. Your house was small but, when you only had two people to fill it, it was the perfect size. Neither you nor your father took up much room. These walls were familiar to you. You could navigate the entire space blindfolded. Your entire life was packed into every corner. Ghosts of past memories floated through every room. This was your home. It had always been your home and it will always be. Any lingering feelings of dissociation were stripped off at the door. You were finally safe. 

You still felt numb but it was a different kind of numb. A tired kind. A cold kind. Even the heat from Connor’s car hadn’t been enough to keep you warm. You needed a hot shower but you wanted to sleep more than anything. You had started to trudge down the hall when you realized Connor was still standing in the open door way. “Uh...come in?” If you were your normal self, you would have made a vampire joke, but humor was foreign to you in this state of mind. So was hospitality. You could hardly keep track of yourself right now. Connor stepped inside and closed the door. 

You silently turned and made your way to the bathroom. You still hadn’t turned on a single light since you came inside. You had been in the dark for so long, you had forgotten that light still existed. So when the bathroom light was flicked on, it flooded your eyes. You had to flinch away from the brightness until your pupils began to adjust. 

You left the bathroom door swinging open as you walked to the mirror. You didn’t know the girl staring back at you. Your mind flashed to last time you didn’t recognize your own self. The morning after the party. Only this time, the face staring back at you was half coated with a layer of dirt. The whites of your eyes practically glowed against the dark residue. Your hair was tangled and filled with bits of twigs and leaves. Under the dirt, you could make out the faint line of a scrape running down your cheekbone. “I look like a zombie that just clawed her way out of the grave,” you mumbled under you breath. 

“A pretty zombie, though.” Connor was hovering in the bathroom doorway. The light flooded out and illuminated his face. You could see goosebumps rising on his bare arms. He was only clad in a black tee because you still held his jacket around you. Your house always ran cold. 

He took a step towards you. He seemed a little unsure of himself, like if he was regretting speaking up in the first place. He pointed to the shower behind you. “Want me to heat that up for you? You’ll feel better if you get a hot shower. I can get it started for you if you want to grab some fresh clothes.” You silently nodded. He gave you a small smile and stepped out of your way, walking towards the shower. 

You crossed the hall to your bedroom. The sound of the faucet turning and water hitting the bath filled the space behind you as you opened the door. Your bedroom was simple. The walls were painted a light grey. Your steal frame bed was covered with cozy white sheets. Bubs, your favorite childhood teddy bear, still sat on top of the covers. Fairy lights were strung over the walls. It wasn’t much but it was you. You placed the rock still in your hand onto your bedside table by the lamp. Then you walked to your dresser, pulling out a pair of warm pajama bottoms, an oversize t-shirt and fresh underwear and socks. You hid the underwear wrapped up in the clothes before you moved back to the bathroom. 

Warm steam greeted you the moment you stepped in. It felt amazing. Connor was standing by the sink. He had a wet wash cloth in his hand and was wiping away the bit of dirt you had left on his face earlier. He turned when you came in. “Showers all ready for you.” He put the cloth down on the side of the sink. “Just holler if you need anything. I’ll be...uhm...” 

“You can wait in my room. Across the hall.” He gave you another smile and left, closing the door behind him. 

You were alone. The thought worried you. Alone was dangerous. You were scared of alone. You closed your eyes. Five things. One, the clean clothes in your hands. Two, the hamper for your discarded, dirty, damp clothes. Three, the edge of the sink. Four, the shower curtain. Five, the water. 

On any normal day, the water would have been too hot. It was scalding against your skin but it felt heavenly. You could feel it sink right through and heat up your soul. You held your face into the stream. Dirt washed off your body and swirled around the drain. You tried to imagine the weight of the day washing away with it. A heavy sadness settled in your heart. You didn’t know how to cope with things. No one ever teaches you how to handle repressed memories invading your life. No one teaches you how to emotionally handle being violated and abused. No teaches a class on how to deal with the loss of friends over a trauma. It was all foreign territory. It was terrifying. 

You finished washing after ten minutes. Your thoughts were getting too carried away in the shower. You had to force yourself to move on to the next task. If you stayed still for too long, things got scary in your brain. 

You grabbed a towel, dried yourself off, and wrapped it around your body. The air was hard to breath due to the thick steam filling the small space. You wiped away a circle in the fog covering the mirror. This was a person you recognized more. Your eyes held heartbreak behind them but you were still you. With a clean face, you were able to notice the shallow scrape across your cheek bone more prominently now. You couldn’t remember when that had happened but that wasn’t surprising. You pulled a brush through your wet hair then grabbed a toothbrush and brushed your teeth. Afterwards you changed into your fresh pajamas. You finally felt truly warm.

You were beginning to feel human again. 

Connor was sitting on the edge of your bed when you entered your bedroom. He was petting the old, long haired, black cat that was sitting in his lap. She purred happily at the affection. 

“Her name is Beetle,” you said as you closed the door behind you. 

“Beetle? That’s a strange name for a cat.”

The corner of your lips twitched up in a tiny smile. “I was eight when I got her. I had just seen Beetlejuice for the first time. Obviously I couldn’t name her that for fear of summoning him. But Beetle was the next best option.” You sat down beside him and gave your old friend a pet. 

Connor turned to look at you. He was so close. “Are you feeling better?” 

You shrugged. You honestly didn’t know how to answer that. “I don’t know. I feel weird.” You looked into his eyes. He had been so kind to you. He hardly even knew what was going on but he still managed to protect you. He kept you safe. He brought you home. 

You leaned over and pressed your lips to his. “Thank you,” you whispered against them.

[dxngsichxng]

true love is closer than you think

pairing; yuta x taeyong

words; 8680

characters; yuta, taeyong, sana (twice), jaehyun, hansol

genre; angst, fluff

summary;  Yuta is just like anyone else. He wants to find his soulmate, be friends with them and probably fall in love. When his soulmate starts messing things up, he's about to lose hope, but Taeyong fixes everything up for him.

a/n; crossposted on a03 :3 since i have accounts for nct both on a03 and tumblr posting it on only a03 would be 너무 아쉬어워 hehe so i decided to post it here too

check out my a03 haha theres more nct fics (and some seventeen too) there :D

The concept of soulmates isn't difficult to understand.

Well, at least to children who are introduced to it when they are probably nine or ten, when they find strange scribblings or bruises on their arms which sure wasn't caused by them. It's simple. When a form of ink stains your arm, it appears on your soulmate's. Same goes with cuts and bruises.

Yuta didn't expect to be introduced to it when he was five.

Of course, the poor boy didn't understand a word of it back then. He was just quietly watching Frozen on the television when he shifted his gaze from the tv to his left arm, only to see a rainbow spectrum of colours painted on it.

He screamed like the tv suddenly caught fire and his parents came running to him, eyes as wide as saucers and questioning lil Yuta what had happened.

Not saying a word, the boy just pointed to his left arm, eyes filling up with tears. "I... didn't do this... but suddenly appear... not me, mom, dad, it appear like magic..."

Yuta's parents shared knowing smirks and his mom spoke up first, "come on Yuta, let's get this cleaned off and we'll explain it to you."

That was all the tiny and unused brain of Nakamoto Yuta could take in at that point of time. The rest were a blur of new and complicated words that he didn't bother to, or rather couldn't, remember.

Yuta went to sleep that night with an uneasy feeling in his stomach. But he didn't bring it up anymore.

In fact, he had completely forgotten about the incident until ten years later, when Yuta was walking to school like any other ordinary morning.

Wanting to check the time so that he could confirm he wasn't going to be late, he lifted up his left arm where his watch was wrapped around his wrist. Just as he was about to put his arm down and continue walking, he saw random black splotches of ink peeking out from the long sleeve of his uniform. Curiosity taking over him, he rolled up his sleeve.

You could say in that moment Nakamoto Yuta got the biggest shock of his entire lifetime.

Staring at his wrist that was tattooed with numerous characters that weren't even in his language, Yuta couldn't help but allow his jaw to drop to the ground. And the writings were continuing. From his wrist, down to his forearm, down to the crook of his elbow... Just when Yuta thought it was over, he flipped his arm over to see that the writings were continuing there.

For a solid ten minutes, Yuta stood there staring at his very own left arm like he had never seen it before, wondering what the hell was going on and why this invisible person was writing strange Chinese? characters on his arm. He took note of the handwriting, how each stroke was written fast, yet precise and neat, and how they made up to form one character. Yuta hated to admit it, but whoever's handwriting that was, it sure was pretty.

Yuta looked up from his arm and started to run to school so that he could show his best friend Sana what an invisible man was writing on his arm. Even while he was running, the writing continued and Yuta was amazed at how steady the man's handwriting could be even when he was flying down the streets to the neighbourhood school.

"SANA!" The Japanese boy yelled the moment he stepped into the classroom. The girls snickered at how terrible he looked, his hair all over the place from the speed he was running, and one with one sleeve of the school uniform up and the other down.

"What? What happened?" The called girl rose from her seat and Yuta immediately ran to her, showing her his left arm that had more ink than skin.

"There's this invisible man that's writing stuff on my arm! What he's writing I have no idea, but his handwriting is sure pretty! And his handwriting stayed stable even though I was running, isn't that amazing?" Yuta panted, still breathless from running such a long distance.

Sana stared at him in disbelief before bursting into laughter.

"What's so funny?" Yuta frowned, his arm retreating, "you don't believe that an invisible man is writing on my arm?" His face expressed genuine hurt and Sana had to stop laughing if not Yuta would start crying.

"No, it's not that," she smiled, taking his arm, "an invisible man is not writing these. It's someone real."

"Someone real?! Then how come I can't see them?" Yuta's eyes widened in shock, "am I the only one who can't see them? Can you see them?"

Sana giggled again, shaking her head as she rolled up Yuta's left sleeve and inspected the characters, "these are a bunch of biology terms. DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid... you get the idea."

"Wait this is in Korean?? I thought they were in Chinese!" Yuta exclaimed and Sana wanted to slap the boy in front of him because how. could someone. be so stupid.

"Urgh I give up on you, Yuta," Sana turned around and faced the front of the classroom.

"Noo! Tell me, who's writing these? And why biology terms? And why in Korean? And why am I so confused when you seem to know everything?" Yuta whined as he poked Sana's shoulder from behind.

The Japanese girl rolled her eyes and faced her best friend again, "God Yuta, you talk too much," she cleared her throat and slowly explained, "the person who's writing these words, is your soulmate."

"SOULMATE??!" Yuta hollered, gaining everybody's attention before apologising, "I thought those only existed in fanfictions!"

Sana fought the urge to roll her eyes again. "No, Yuta, soulmates are actually real," she told him and Yuta just gasped really loudly and covered his mouth.

"So... I have a soulmate? Who wrote these? In Korean? My soulmate's Korean? How am I gonna meet them? Wait, this is so cool, you mean I can actually see whatever they write on their arm?" Yuta rambled and Sana smiled at how cute his best friend was.

"Yeah, whatever your soulmate writes on their arm appears on your arm too. Including cuts and bruises. If they get it, you get it too," Sana stated calmly as she watched Yuta's jaw drop lower and lower.

"That. Is. So. Cool," Yuta's eyes sparkled as he said that, "no wonder I found cuts on my arm last night! I thought it was just me being careless, but it was my soulmate? And I can talk to them? By writing on my arm? And they'll see it too? And reply?"

Sana nodded to all of his questions, just as the teacher came in and lessons started.

Yuta couldn't keep still in his seat, staring at his arm every five seconds, which got him kicked out of the classroom. That didn't stop him from paying more attention to the foreign words than the actual class itself.

When the class ended and Yuta dragged his feet back to his seat after a good scolding from the teacher, Sana asked him again, "any changes?"

Yuta rolled his sleeve up and looked at the familiar sight of squiggly characters, shaking his head.

"Wait," Sana grabbed his wrist before Yuta could roll up his sleeve again, "the back of your arm. Look at this."

Furrowing his eyebrows, he flipped his arm over and, just like magic, the Korean words faded and eventually disappeared. Yuta looked back at the front of his arm and saw the words there had disappeared as well.

"What... is happening... Sana... why is it disappearing..." Yuta held his arm far away from him and squeezed his eyes shut, like it was going to explode any second soon.

Sana let out a breathy laugh before taking Yuta's arm and placing it back beside his waist, "it's not going to explode. Don't worry, it's just your soulmate washing off what they wrote. Their biology test must have ended. It's harmless, Yuta, don't look so scared."

Sighing in relief, Yuta opened his eyes and grabbed a marker out of his pencil case. "Should i talk to them now?"

Sana nodded excitedly as Yuta uncapped the marker and scribbed several letters on his left wrist.

konnichiwa

They didn't need to wait long before more letters, or rather symbols, appeared below Yuta's message.

???!!?!!!

Chuckling, Yuta wrote below the question and exclamation marks.

watashiwa Yuta desu

This time, Yuta's soulmate replied in actual words, but unfamiliar ones. Luckily Sana was beside Yuta if not he'd be completely clueless.

일본?

"He asked if you're Japanese," Sana translated quickly and Yuta's grin grew even wider.

hai. dare desuka?

They waited a little longer this time before the Korean words replied again, Yuta taking note of how pretty the handwriting was, stroke by stroke filled with beauty.

난 태용이야

Sana grinned. "Your soulmate's name is Taeyong."

Taeyong shoved his earbuds deeper in his ears, turned up the volume, and put his hands over them in order to block out the shouting that was happening outside his room.

Nothing was working.

The arguing between his parents had been going on for a few hours now, and if anything, it was growing wilder. Taeyong could hear stuff being thrown about and broken. He certainly did not want to know what were those stuff, but he still had to find out the next morning when he emerged from his hiding hole to go to school.

This was a regular occurance- normally they would start fighting over the smallest of things and it would end with either one of them storming out of the house and not returning until the next morning. Taeyong would usually not care, trying to block them out by blasting music in his ears that was so loud he's sure he's partially deaf by now.

Today was one of those days, but the poor boy had an important biology test the next day and had trouble cramming an entire textbook worth of infomation into his head. The racket outside wasn't helping.

Taeyong desperately wanted to get out of his room, yell at them to stop hating each other, stop making so much noise so that he could study for his test.

But he knew the consequences. So Taeyong stayed silent.

As the moon raised higher in the sky, so did the volume of Taeyong's parents' shouting. He prayed that one of them would give up and get out of the house so that at least he would have a few miserable minutes left before he had to get to bed. Or that his neighbour would call the cops and report them for creating disturbance, but his neighbours were currently out of the house, judging by the darkness that Taeyong could see out of his window.

A loud thump resounded against his bedroom door, followed by the sound of glass shattering. He hoped his parents had not escalated into throwing their plates and bowls at each other.

The shattering of the glass bowl seemed to break something in him. A tear slipped out of Taeyong's eye as he questioned himself the same questions everyday: why do his parents hate each other? Will they eventually divorce one day and leave himself with only one parent? What made them marry and have him in the first place when they were going to be like this? Why couldn't he have a normal and loving family like all his friends?

The last thought never failed to make Taeyong into a sobbing mess. He hated how he saw his classmates with their parents, joking around with them and looking as comfortable as ever, whereas when Taeyong was with his parents he remained as quiet as a mouse and flinched whenever one of them talked. He longed for a sibling- someone that he could share his pain with and understand him better than Jaehyun did. Sure, Jaehyun was the best friend that Taeyong could ask for, always healing his mental wounds and making Taeyong feel much better, but something was missing. Taeyong didn't know what.

Calming down from his fit of sobs, he eyed the penknife in his penholder warily before holding it in his right hand. He'd always thought of self-harming but never actually did it. Taeyong would change that today.

Pushing the blade out of its case, he pressed it against the skin of his left arm and dragged it an inch. Yelping in pain, he shot up from his chair and clutched his arm, the penknife clattering to the floor. He was weak, he thought, he couldn't even handle a blade gliding across his arm without gasping in pain.

Washing the cut until no blood came out anymore, he abandoned his studying in favour for his bed, crying himself to sleep with his parents' shouting as the background noise.

The word 'Taeyong' drifted around in Yuta's head for a very, very long while.

"Taeyong? Why does that sound like a boy's name? My soulmate is a boy?" Yuta had questioned Sana on the day they had found out Yuta's soulmate's name.

"Maybe your soulmate is a boy. I don't know, but does it make any difference if they're a boy or a girl? They're all the same anyway," Sana shrugged before walking away.

Sana was right. Yuta didn't care if they were a boy or a girl, but he did care that his soulmate wasn't living in the same country, nor speaking the same language as him.

But he wanted to talk to Taeyong, even if the other didn't want to talk to him. So Yuta did what he could: take up Korean lessons, in hopes of flying to Korea one day to meet his soulmate.

He couldn't believe he was learning an entirely new language just for his soulmate, because in a blink of an eye four years had passed, Yuta mastered the language and does Taeyong still even remember him?

Yuta went to bed everyday with that question in mind. He could've always simply just grabbed a marker and written on his arm 'hi do you remember me', but something was stopping him. Maybe it was the fact that Taeyong hadn't written any form of message to Yuta in the past four years. Maybe it was the fact that Taeyong didn't want to talk to Yuta. Maybe it was the fact that Taeyong had completely forgotten Yuta's existence.

When Yuta had graduated junior college and entered a university, Sana decided to move to another part of Japan to further her studies, leaving Yuta alone in Osaka. It was now safe to assume that Yuta had no friends anymore.

One night, when he had climbed into bed and asked himself yet again whether Taeyong remembered him, a sharp pain in his left arm made Yuta spring out of bed and shout. Rushing to the toilet, he rolled up his sleeve a sea of red greeted him.

Cuts were scattered all over his arm, and more were in the process of being made. With each new cut that began, Yuta had to bite his bottom lip to prevent him from screaming cold murder because, damn, it really hurt.

And the cuts didn't look so accidental either. They were all over the place, all in straight lines oozing out different amounts of blood, some vertical, horizontal, diagonal, in no particular order. Yuta didn't think an accident would have caused his arm to be in the state it was now.

Then it hit him. Taeyong. Taeyong was cutting himself. All the pain draining from him, he bolted back to his room and grabbed a marker off his desk, before hastily scribbling a few Korean characters on one of the few patches of uncut skin.

TAEYONG STOP

The cutting seemed to stop, and Yuta sighed in relief. But a minute later, fresh black ink appeared on his arm, diagonally below Yuta's message.

who are you?

Yuta's heart dropped.

Yuta. You don't remember?

A pause.

oh Yuta. I didn't know you knew Korean

Yuta let out a brearh he did know he was holding. So Taeyong never did forget him in the first place.

let's save that for another time. Why are you doing this?

Yuta waited. One, two, three minutes, the blood on his arm had started to dry up, and the only reply he got was the short conversation that he had with Taeyong vanishing into thin air.

He washed off the dried blood and winced at the ugly cuts on his arm, and waited somemore. Once Yuta couldn't take it any longer, he uncapped his marker again.

Taeyong? You haven't replied me

Yuta held his breath when he saw the beautiful handwriting appear on his arm again, but his heart sunk at the reply.

goodnight, Yuta

"Jaehyun?"

The younger boy stopped chewing on his sandwich to look at his best friend who had barely whispered his name. "Hmm?"

"Can you understand Japanese?" Taeyong inched closer to Jaehyun, looking for comfort.

"What's wrong?" Jaehyun abandoned his food and paid his full attention to Taeyong, who had his sweater sleeve pulled up and blinking at the unfamiliar language.

"Japanese suddenly appeared on my arm, I don't know what's happening, I don't know what this person is talking about... Jaehyun..." Taeyong frowned and Jaehyun just laughed.

"He said yes to your question. And asked who you are," Jaehyun replied and Taeyong promptly replied by writing 'I'm Taeyong' below the question.

After Jaehyun had explained the entire soulmate concept to Taeyong, the latter was equally as amazed as Yuta was. Waiting for a reply to his introduction, he kept his pen uncapped, expecting Yuta to say something more about himself and keep the conversation going.

Taeyong was patient. One minute passed, no reply. One hour passed, no reply. One day passed, no reply. One week passed, no reply. Eventually when a year passed and Taeyong had not been replied, he gave up waiting and concluded that Yuta had absolutely no interest in him.

When he turned 19 and Jaehyun left his side to go to a seperate university, Taeyong's living hell became even worse. Now with no friends to turn to when he was upset, Taeyong tried finding other ways to help him feel better, one of which was cutting himself.

It was another night when his parents were yelling the house down and Taeyong attacked himself with more of his destructive thoughts. Not hesistating unlike last time, Taeyong grabbed the penknife from where it had been sitting untouched on his pencil holder since four years ago. He extended the blade and just before he could push it in his skin, a name flashed through his mind.

Yuta.

Taeyong knew fully well that Yuta would get all these cuts too if he did decide to cut himself, but what was stopping him? Yuta probably forgot his existence judging by the amount of time he was waiting for him to reply. So without thinking anymore, the sharp blade dug into his skin and Taeyong closed his eyes for awhile, feeling the stress drain out of him.

He repeated the action, drawing lines all over his arm and smiling wearily at the blood dripping out of each of them. As he was filling up the empty spaces with more cuts, a very familiar black ink in very familiar handwriting appeared on his wrist.

TAEYONG STOP

That wasn't Yuta, Taeyong thought. The Yuta he knew spoke Japanese and was in Japan. Frowning at being interrupted, Taeyong put down the blood-lined penknife and picked up a pen instead.

who are you?

Yuta. You don't remember?

Taeyong froze. Now he had made Yuta think that he had forgotten him. Since when did Yuta know Korean? Or... did Yuta learn Korean specially for him? He shook the thought out of his head, that was impossible. Trying to make himself sound as unaffected as possible, he thought awhile before penning down his reply.

oh Yuta. I didn't know you knew Korean

let's save that for another time. Why are you doing this?

Taeyong bit his lip and winced, a wave of pain suddenly washing over him. Could he trust Yuta enough to tell him the real reason why he had done this? Who was he kidding, this was only the second time he was talking to him, but then again, Yuta was his soulmate, and they were meant to be together. Contemplating for a good ten minutes, he decided the best option would be to wash it off.

Taeyong? You haven't replied me

If not for that bit of ink that seeped into one of his cuts, Taeyong would never have known Yuta was waiting for his reply. He stared at the message, tears unknowingly started clouding in his eyes. It was all Taeyong's fault. His selfishness had led to Yuta suffering the same cuts as him. Now Yuta was demanding the reason why he dirtied his perfectly normal left arm with something he didn't even want. And Taeyong couldn't reply him. What a perfect example of a loser.

Instead of erasing the message like he normally did, he reached over and grabbed his pen, using the moonlight to scribble two messy words.

goodnight, Yuta

Taeyong cried himself to sleep once again, with the thought of the person whom he was meant to be with hating him forever.

Taeyong never once talked to Yuta again.

'Taeyong?' Silence. 'Are you okay?' Silence. 'Don't do anything silly like that again, okay? For your own good, Taeyong.' Silence.

If not for the fact that Taeyong had erased every single one of Yuta's messages about an hour after it had been written, Yuta would've thought Taeyong was dead.

On top of ignoring him, Taeyong went against Yuta's words as well. As soon as the cuts from that night healed, Yuta was awakened from his sleep to find out that fresh, new cuts had replaced them.

'Taeyong!' He tried, 'Taeyong, listen to me, stop doing this!'

The cutting stopped for a couple seconds, but Yuta's hopes of getting Taeyong to finally talk to him went down the gutter when his message vanished and cuts took over the patch of untainted skin.

Yuta sighed and tried to ignore the blood that was dripping down his arm and on his desk. He had to do something fast, something that would stop Taeyong from doing whatever he was doing. Not because Yuta was getting the second-hand pain, but for Taeyong's sake. At the rate Taeyong was going, his next step might probably be killing himself.

If he couldn't get Taeyong to listen to him through messages, what could he do to get Taeyong to stop? He thought hard, distracting him from the continuing slashes on his arm.

A lightbulb flickered on in Yuta's head.

Since his left arm was full, Yuta wrote on his right arm with his very terrible left hand writing.

Taeyong, if you ever think no one's there for you, think of me. I'm always here, a grab of a marker away. Even though we can't see each other, we're always in each other's hearts, and maybe one day, fate will bring us together

The cuts from that night closed up, healed, and never opened again.

Looking at the plane ticket and passport in his hand, Yuta regretted nothing.

It took him months of paperwork, but finally after half a year, he had secured himself a position in one of the universities in Seoul. Thankfully, Taeyong never cut himself anymore, but he had never talked to Yuta, and Yuta's messages all got ignored if he tried to initiate the conversation.

After awhile, Yuta gave up.

He was going to Korea in hopes of finding Taeyong and shake some sense into him after all. Not like Taeyong revealed which part of Korea he lived in, but Yuta just grabbed the opportunity and went to the first university that accepted his application. That was the main reason, the side reason being that Yuta was genuinely interested in Korea's culture. But mostly the Taeyong part.

When he landed in Korea and managed to find his way to the campus office, he was greeted by this really tall, frog-eyed blonde man.

"Are you Yuta?" Frog-eyes asked and Yuta nodded his head, "I'm Hansol, your roommate and your guardian."

"I'm 19. I don't need a guardian," Yuta huffed, "show me our room already, I'm tired."

"Fine, grouch, but don't blame me if you get lost on your first day of school tomorrow," Hansol shrugged and walked out of the office, leading the way.

Hansol was right. The campus was way bigger than Yuta's in Osaka and after his day of lessons he had trouble finding his way back to the dorms. Silently cursing under his breath, he walked and walked in whichever direction seemed sensible to him. But with every turn he made, the buildings seemed to grow more and more unfamiliar.

He ended up at the arts block, which, Yuta found out afterwards, was in the opposite direction where he was originally supposed to go. He heard instruments being played, booming sYSTEM UP UP music from speakers as students danced to it, and as he walked on, everything became quiet. Yuta knew he was at the end of the campus and was about to turn back when his eye caught a light shining from one of the many vocal rooms.

Normally Yuta wouldn't really have cared, but something about that room drew him to it. Maybe it was because his surroundings were so dark and quiet and that vocal room with the lights on stood out. Maybe it was because Yuta heard a voice that was beyond beautiful seeping out of the crack under the door.

Maybe it was because the most handsome being Yuta had even seen was sitting on the floor beside a red snapback, phone in hand, singing along to the music playing from it.

It was amazing Yuta found that guy handsome, because he currently had tears streaming down his cheeks and his voice cracked every few seconds. He wondered how many times more handsome he would look when he wasn't crying.

"I saw an angel, neol cheoeum bwasseulttae, haneureseo naeryeoon cheonsa gachi binnaseo," the guy sang with his eyes closed and damn, Yuta thought, his English pronunciation was also spot on. How boyfriend material.

Yuta slapped that thought out of his head. What the hell.

He leaned on the wall beside the vocal room so that he could still listen and be unnoticed. Yuta closed his eyes to indulge on the beautiful voice from an equally beautiful man-

"NAKAMOTO!"

His eyes flung open and saw Irritating Frog-Eyes at the end of the corridor, running towards him.

"God, I literally ran around the entire campus looking for you! How did your ass manage to find its way here?" Hansol reached him and rested his hands on his knees, panting, "see, I told you you'd get lost! This is what happens if you don't listen to Hansol The Great."

Yuta rolled his eyes and dragged his roommate out of the scene so that in case the hot guy comes out after hearing so much noise, they wouldn't be there. "I was going to turn back. Like, literally five seconds before you came."

Hansol scoffed, throwing his head back. "Yeah right, we all knew you were busy listening to loner guy's voice."

"Oh yeah," Yuta turned to Hansol, "who was that guy in the vocal room? What's his name?"

Hansol laughed, a forced sound that came out of his mouth. "Hah, no one knows, Yuta, no one knows who he is. We don't know his name, we don't know how he looks like... all we know is that he likes this vocal room and it's basically his. Either than that, he's just a loner with no friends. That's why we call him loner guy."

Yuta scrunched up his nose. "That's mean. No one tried to go up to him and initiate conversation?"

"Lots of people tried," Hansol shook his head, "all of them failed. Loner guy ignored all of them. I feel sorry for them."

"Loner guy, really? That's just really mean. Why doesn't he want to reveal his name? Even the teachers call him that during classes?" Yuta frowned. He couldn't apprehend the situation- he was a friendly person by nature and couldn't stand it when someone was left out.

"I don't know, maybe he's wanted by the cops or something. The teachers call him TY, but that can't possibly be his real name either," Hansol took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, "why are we talking about him anyway? It's not important. What do you feel like eating for dinner?"

But Yuta wasn't listening. He was busy thinking of how to get loner guy, or TY, to be his first friend.

Yuta knew exactly how when he walked into one of his classes the next day.

There he was, TY, or whatever, sitting at the back corner of the classroom, all alone. In fact, Yuta wouldn't even have recognised him if not for the red snapback he saw yesterday that was hiding all his facial features.

"Anyone sitting here?" Yuta asked and he shook his head. Smiling to himself, he dropped his books on the table and shifted his gaze to the man beside him.

Up close, he was undeniably much more handsome. Even though anything above his nose couldn't be seen, the guy's lips and jawline were enough to drive Yuta crazy. The handsome dude pretended not to notice Yuta staring and continued his work.

"Let's introduce ourselves. You first." Yuta tried, and as expected, his words got ignored. Yuta pressed on.

"Come on, I have to know you! Since we're gonna be sitting beside each other in this class, at least I need to know your name, bro," Yuta transformed his fingers into a stick man and made it walk all over the guy's paper, trying to disrupt him from his work.

"Fine, I'll go first, since you're scared," Yuta removed his stick man, "I'm Yuta, from Osaka, Japan, and I just started school yesterday. Your turn."

The guy's pen stopped in midair and his body remained in .jpg for a minute or so.

"Uh... you ok?" Yuta waved a hand under his nose and that snapped the guy out of his trance. He scribbled something on the corner of his paper and thrust it to Yuta.

What did you say your name was?

Reading the handwriting stirred up a sense of familiarity in Yuta, but he ignored the feeling.

"God, are you not listening? Yuta. Y-U-T-A. From Japan, where takoyaki is the best," Yuta explained and the guy's grip around the pen tightened. Did the guy have something against Japanese people?

Taking back his paper, the guy resumed his work, but all that came out were ugly squiggles.

"Hey! You haven't told me your name yet!" Yuta whined, "tell me your name, if not I'll give you the nickname I was thinking of."

The guy continued to draw squiggles.

"I heard you singing yesterday. Your voice sounds like an angel, so I'm gonna call you angel from now on," Yuta grinned when the guy stopped squiggling, grabbed his work, and moved further away from the Japanese man.

"Don't you like it, angel?" Yuta reappeared beside the guy, smiling teasingly while trying to look under his cap. He just turned his head away, tore out a page from his notebook, wrote something, crumpled it, and threw it to Yuta.

It's embarrassing

"Do you not talk or something? Why do you have to reply on a piece of paper?" Yuta questioned, "you refused to tell me your name. So I have the right to name you, angel."

The guy grumbled and snatched the paper back.

I do talk. I just don't want to. And I swear to god don't talk to me when the lesson starts. This is my favourite class

"You know, your handwriting seems really familiar, like I've seen it somewhere before," Yuta said to himself but he noticed the guy's hands clench into fists, "but I may be mistaken, I don't know."

Like the guy wanted, Yuta didn't bother him when the class started. They stayed silent, paying attention until Yuta decided to roll up his sweater sleeves to start on his notes.

The guy's eyes widened into basketballs, which went unnoticed by Yuta due to his snapback. Growing curious, he put down his pen and reached over to poke Yuta's scarred skin.

"Hm?" Yuta looked over at the guy who had his gaze fixed on Yuta's left arm.

How did you get these? They look terrible

"Oh," he saw the corners of Yuta's lips curve into a smile, "I never told anyone before, not even Hansol, but since you asked, I'll tell you."

"My soulmate did this. I know it looks horrifying, but I'm not angry at him. I know he has reasons for doing this. I didn't push him to tell me why, because he probably doesn't trust me enough yet," Yuta traced the scars with his index finger, smiling. "Wanna know something? I actually came to Korea so that I could look for him, and help him get over whatever's troubling him. He seems to have stopped this awhile back already, but I don't think his mental scars are fully healed yet. To fix that, I learned Korean specially for him so that I could talk to him comfortably. Do you think he's okay, angel? Do you think I can find him?"

The guy nodded quickly, turning around to focus on his work. Once he saw Yuta not looking in his direction anymore, a droplet made a wet splotch on his jeans.

The droplet turned into a waterfall. Suddenly, the lesson didn't seem interesting anymore.

The next morning, Yuta woke up to see a small 'thank you' on his wrist. He wondered why.

To Yuta's pleasure, he found out he shared majority of his classes with Taeyong. Though he was still communicating with him through a crumpled page of his notebook, and he still couldn't identify him without the iconic red snapback, Yuta enjoyed Taeyong's prescence.

And if Taeyong had to be completely honest, although Yuta was constantly teasing him or making too much noise, he enjoyed Yuta's company too.

Yuta would always take him out for lunch between lessons. Taeyong really appreciated that, though he didn't say it, because he normally skipped his meals as a result of no one to eat with. That was the cause of his terribly skinny figure.

Yuta would stand up for him too, when people around them would start gossiping about Taeyong being a coward. When he saw Yuta land his fist on someone's jaw after that person called him a loser, he made it a point to stick to Yuta from that day onwards.

As a result of spending so much time with Taeyong, Yuta gained the reputation of 'loner guy's friend', which really destroyed his image. Of course Taeyong knew about it and distanced himself from Yuta when he heard the words 'loner guy's friend' along the corridors. But Yuta's arm would always find its way back to its position around Taeyong's waist, pulling him closer to him.

"Why do you even hang out with him? He doesn't talk, you don't even know how he looks like, nor his name. Hell, it's deathly amazing you even got him to reply to you and your unnecessary questions. How did you do that? And why don't you hang out with more fun people like me?" Hansol asked him one night when both of them were in their beds, trying to sleep.

"Firstly, you aren't much fun either," Yuta grunted and ran a hand through his hair, "I don't know. All I did was tell him my name and he started replying to me already. Seriously, why did you make it sound so difficult to talk to him?" he chuckled, "and secondly, angel may be more fun than you think. He takes off his snapback and talks to me when the two of us are alone. He has a nice smile and laugh. And he's cute. Though he still refuses to tell me his name though, it's weird," he sighed and looked at the ceiling.

"Angel. Of all nicknames. Makes it sound like you two are a thing," Hansol laughed.

"I don't mind. Angel is handsome, sings well, smart, basically fitting every category of my ideal type," Yuta smiled to himself.

"Don't pass your gayness to me. Goodnight bro," Hansol rolled over and Yuta's smile grew wider at his comment. If only angel and him were meant to be.

Yuta hovered the marker over the skin of his left arm, contemplating on what he should write.

It had been months since he'd last talked to Taeyong, and ages since Taeyong ever talked to him. After thinking about it, Yuta just settled with a short 'i miss you'.

What he didn't expect was, number one, Taeyong replying him. And number two, Taeyong replying him literally three seconds after he wrote that. It was just two words, but at least it was better than nothing.

i'm fine

thank God!! hey, wanna know something?

what is it, Yuta

Yuta's heart pounded at the way Taeyong wrote his name. Beautiful like always, but Yuta swore he had seen his name written like that before.

I actually arrived in Korea not too long ago! I came here to attend a university, but also to find you ;)

Taeyong didn't reply for a very long time. Yuta thought he got ignored again, but the words 'that's fascinating' appeared below his message. Yuta paused to think what to write but Taeyong beat him. For once.

how's Korea? Your university?

Yuta smiled. This was his chance to tell Taeyong all about angel.

oh it's great. my roommate Hansol might be a bitch but he's the best bro. And there's this guy I befriended. I called him angel

angel?

His grin widened. Taeyong was interested.

yeah, he wouldn't tell me his name so I called him angel. People think he's the introvert who hates everyone and is boring and mysterious but he's actually a huge ball of fluff. He's cute

Another pause. Yuta thought Taeyong might be busy so he waited. True enough, the reply soon came.

you... like him?

I think I like him, I don't know... but you're my soulmate. I'm supposed to like you

This time, Yuta waited a full ten minutes. Taeyong must really be busy.

never mind me. I hope the two of you date

The space on his left arm was running out so Yuta grabbed a cloth and erased their conversation, creating more space.

I hope so too. How about you? You fine these days?

I made a new friend too. He was the one who helped me

That comment made Yuta's stomach lurch. Something in him didn't like the fact that he wasn't the cause of Taeyong's happiness now.

really? That's awesome. How's he like? His name? How he looks?

Fifteen minutes of waiting time made Yuta wonder if Taeyong was actually piecing together and drafting out the right words to describe him. Finally Taeyong replied, and damn, that's a long ass passage that took up half his arm.

he's like your guy. I don't know his name, but I call him Yukkuri. He face looks like it has been sculptured by the visual Gods. He's really annoying, talks too much, irritates me all day. But he's amazing. He stands up for me and makes me feel loved. He makes me feel things I never knew could be felt. I never told him all these, but I hope he knows. He's really important to me

Yuta cracked a sad smile reading the passage. How he wished he could be this Yukkuri guy.

that's sweet. You like him?

I... guess...

Yuta's heart ached.

I hope the two of you date too

Taeyong's pen hesitated on his wrist, the blob of ink growing and growing.

He grabbed a towel and wiped it off. Taeyong didn't reply.

Yuta sneezed into yet another tissue and cursed Hansol out loud. One week into school and his roommate officially made him sick. Now Hansol was completely cured and the bug jumped onto Yuta instead.

He sneezed again, so violently that he fell back onto his bed. The doctor instructed him not to lay a foot in school for the next week, effectively making him miss lessons. He had Hansol to take his notes for him, but then there was angel.

Angel. He's be alone for the next week and Yuta wasn't sure if he'd be okay. Being the idiot he was, Yuta never asked for his number and thus couldn't tell him he was sick. And also being the idiot Hansol was, he couldn't even do his roommate a simple favour by telling angel that he couldn't come to school for a week("I don't want my reputation to be ruined, unlike someone's")

Yuta groaned and pulled the covers over his head. He was such an idiot.

He managed to survive three days not seeing his friend, until his left arm started aching a very familiar pain.

Fearing the worst, Yuta pulled back the sleeve of his long-sleeve shirt and gasped at the sight.

Since the last time Taeyong cut himself was more than half a year ago, Yuta almost forgot the pain and the gruesome sight, but the way his arm looked like now brought a wave of memories crashing back at him.

Yuta scrambled off the bed and rummaged through his pencil case for the marker. 'Taeyong!'

The cutting paused.

he's gone, Yuta

who's gone? Your friend? Yukkuri? What happened?

he's not coming to school anymore. I think he hates me, Yuta, I think he hates me so he's not coming anymore so he won't see me

Yuta's heart cracked at the statement Taeyong had written. He wasn't cutting anymore, so Yuta presumed he was waiting for a reply.

i'm sure he doesn't hate you, maybe he'll come back soon? If he doesn't he's a jerk, give up on him, you're too good for him, Taeyong

The cuts didn't continue, and neither did the replying. Yuta watched his message vanish; he washed the blood away, and pretended nothing happened at all-

-until more cuts appeared on his arm the next afternoon.

Taeyong wasn't replying this time, no matter how much Yuta tried to convince him to stop. He started panicking because what the actual hell was going on, Taeyong wasn't like this yesterday, did his friend do or say something that triggered him?

When the cutting had stopped, Yuta wrote on his right arm with his left handwriting again, gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain pulsing from his left arm.

'Taeyong', Yuta attempted again, and cracked a small smile when a small dot of ink appeared below his message.

we have to talk about this. I don't care where you are, meet me at Switch cafe at 127 street, the one outside the National university of Seoul like, right now. Or as soon as you can

Another dot was the reply, and Yuta huffed in annoyance. Was Taeyong joking around or taking Yuta seriously?

if there's no reply with actual words, I'm assuming that you're already on your way there

Taeyong didn't reply. Not even a dot.

Yuta sort of regretted telling Taeyong to meet with him when he was in this terrible state. His nose looked like rudolph's from the excessive sneezing and his pockets overflowed with tissues. Then again, he was finally seeing the boy whom he had talked to for the past four years and a half, so how could Yuta postpone the date?

He barely made it to Switch cafe without dying from sniffling. There, he looked around for Taeyong, when he realised that, oh, he didn't know how Taeyong looked like.

And stupid Yuta, he had forgotten to bring a marker, so he couldn't ask Taeyong if he was already there or not. Looking around for an empty table to sit down and wait for him, a familiar red snapback caught his eye and a smile crept up his face.

"Angel!" Yuta exclaimed rather nasally and sat down at the seat opposite of him. Taeyong glanced up from his strawberry milkshake smoothie for a second before resuming his staring competition with it.

"I'm sorry I couldn't go to classes the past few days, as you can see, I'm still sick like hell," Yuta chuckled and noticed Taeyong grab the styrofoam of his cup tighter.

"Is everything okay? What happened when I was gone?" Yuta prompted and Taeyong just shrugged and shook his head, refusing to speak, like the old times.

Frowing at his friend, Yuta continued his monologue. "What are you doing here at this time? Don't you have classes starting soon?"

Taeyong swallowed the dry lump in his throat and shrugged again, taking a sip of his drink.

Yuta huffed and folded his arms. "Something's definitely wrong, as introverted as you are, you'd at least speak to me," he unfolded his arms and propped his chin up with his elbows.

"Anyway, I'm here because I finally secured a date with my soulmate! He recently began cutting again and he's not telling me what's wrong, so I told him to meet up so that I could comfort him and reassure him that he's not alone and I'm here for him," Yuta threw a glance at his watch, "I don't know if he's here yet. Do you have a marker on you so that I could talk to him?"

Taeyong started breathing more heavily, the rise and fall of his chest growing more prominent. The hands on his lap balled up into fists, and the message that Yuta wrote on his arm suddenly felt tingly.

Yuta sighed and reached out to grab Taeyong's arm gently, making the latter flinch over-excessively. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong or not? I don't like seeing you like this, I want to help, angel, and make you feel better."

Yuta expected him to relax and spill out his troubles, not to look up from his smoothie and stare into Yuta's eyes for a solid two seconds before dragging him out of the cafe.

"Hey! Angel! Stop, I have to wait for my soulmate!" Yuta shrieked and tried to wriggle out of Taeyong's grasp but he the latter just grabbed onto Yuta's wrist harder.

Yuta gave up, letting himself get dragged to wherever Taeyong was bringing him to. They ended up at Taeyong's vocal room, the one where Yuta first saw him, the one that Hansol claimed it was Taeyong's favourite. Taeyong removed his snapback and threw it to the ground, exposing his brown, fluffy hair. Gorgeous.

"What the hell? Couldn't we just talk about it in the cafe? My soulmate's probably waiting for me now, and-"

"No," Taeyong shushed Yuta up and the Japanese man halted his rant and looked at his friend questionably.

"No?"

"The answer to your question. No. I don't have a marker that can help you talk to your soulmate," Taeyong said, voice strained, and Yuta groaned.

"Seriously, you brought me here just to tell me you didn't have a marker? Do you have one in here somewhere then?" Yuta looked around but Taeyong grabbed his chin, forcing Yuta to look at him.

"I'm not done," he continued, "you don't need a marker to talk to your soulmate. You're already talking to him."

Yuta cocked an eyebrow and burst out laughing, hitting Taeyong's chest in the process. "You're that delusional? Calling yourself my soulmate? You like me, angel? You think we're meant to be?"

Taeyong pursed his lips and rolled his eyes, before reaching over and yanking Yuta's left sleeve up.

"What are you doing! Angel, stop it!" Yuta grumbled and rolled his sleeve back down, but Taeyong's hand prevented him from doing so. The Korean boy looked away and took a deep breath, closing his eyes. Yuta was genuinely confused now. Was Taeyong practising his acting skills, or...

Taeyong carefully rolled up his own left sleeve and all the air in Yuta's lungs was knocked out.

we have to talk about this. I don't care where you are, meet me at Switch cafe at 127 street, the one outside the National university of Seoul like, right now. Or as soon as you can

Period.

if there's no reply with actual words, I'm assuming that you're already on your way there

No reply.

There, the words that were written on Taeyong's arm was a cut-copy-paste version of Yuta's. The identical last conversation that they had, the identical scars, the identical wounds that were still in the process of healing... Realisation hit Yuta in the heart like a bullet train. Suddenly everything made sense. Why it was so easy for him to make friends with Taeyong. Why Taeyong never revealed his real name to him despite being so close to him. Why Taeyong's handwriting on the little notes they passed each other looked so familiar. Why Taeyong was so introverted and sensitive-

"Yukkuri," Taeyong broke Yuta's train of thoughts. Yuta looked up at his friend and saw the other smiling the brightest smile he had ever seen him smile.

"It's me, Taeyong."

Yuta ran into Taeyong's arms, the tears he was holding in unknowingly spilling out. "Taeyong," he wailed, unable to form any words either than the name of his soulmate, "Taeyong, Taeyong, Taeyong..."

"I'm sorry I kept it a secret," Taeyong returned the hug and his cheeks became wet as well, "I didn't know how to react when you first introduced yourself as Yuta, then I thought that going up to you and suddenly announcing that I was your soulmate was too weird, so I waited for the right moment."

Yuta shook his head, hugging Taeyong tighter. "Don't be sorry, I should be the sorry one that made you go through whatever problems you had alone," Yuta pulled away his right hand, wiping away Taeyong's tears, "don't cry, baby."

"Everything's okay now, now that you're here," Taeyong smiled at the feeling of Yuta's hands on his face, "remember what I said? Yukkuri makes me feel things I never knew could be felt. Yukkuri is important to me."

Yuta giggled, even more nasally. "What kind of a name is Yukkuri? It's cute though, call me that more often," he snuggled his head in the crook of Taeyong's neck, and the two of them stayed in that position until Yuta gasped.

"Wait, Taeyong, so that means..." Yuta pulled away from the hug and left a gap between them, "you... like me?"

"And you like me," Taeyong smiled and Yuta felt his stomach do flips.

"And we should totally date," Yuta ended and the two of them found themselves in each other's embrace again, this time with Taeyong planting small and light kisses on Yuta's cheek.

Yuta closed his eyes and enjoyed the feel of Taeyong pecking his cheek, and he couldn't feel any happier. Four years of communicating with his soulmate when he was right in front of Yuta, literally. His mind flashed back to the day they found out each other's existence, the day Taeyong first cut, the day he first met Taeyong. How Yuta's impressions of Taeyong changed over the years, from studious to depressing to introverted. They all led back to the same person, the cute and embarrassed boy that buried his head in Yuta's chest after kissing his cheek to his heart's content, Lee Taeyong.

Yuta shifted his gaze to his soulmate who was staring lovingly in his eyes and couldn't help but to press a kiss on his forehead. They might have taken things the hard way around, but they still ended up in the same place.

In each other's embrace, feeling the soft and gentle touches of their fingers on their arms.

[hideawayintheimaginationworld]

I am Machine: Chapter 5

Sleep didn’t come to Alec this time, he watched as Lefty and Helpy slept, they finally went to bed at 1:21am, while Alec was left think about what Lefty said.

That lock existed because a Lonely Freddy came into their room while they slept. Lefty knew they were already dangerous, he just didn’t know the extent of it until he met Alec.

Alec knew if they got rid of the Lonely Freddy when Lefty talked to “Mike” that he wouldn’t be here right now, but Alec didn't blame Lefty for this.

If Lefty had his way initially...... He would have unintentionally saved Alec.

This room wasn’t as cold as others Alec had been in previously, he did still wish he had that blanket he found, recalling it was most likely left at that guy's house. His name was Lewis Anthony, Alec remembered, he is the Music Man. Would be likely he'd get the blanket back? It was soft and great to lay on, his argument was despite being covered in fur now, he could feel the cold more intensely now, he hated cold, which is why Alec hated Winter.

The hours flew by and eventually Alec heard movement, he turned to see Lefty had opened his eyes and looked at the displayed time from the clock that sat on the desk where Helpy often worked.

"12:10pm....” Lefty mumbled pulling off his blanket and standing up, stretching out.

"Aren’t you.... Late for work?” Alec asked him knowing it was a few hours pass opening time.

Alec saw Lefty jump slightly, “Oh I forgot about you being here.....” He turned to him, “I'm only use to hearing Helpy’s voice when I wake up. Seems he still sleeping like a cat,” He looked over at the small bear who was all cuddled up against the blanket, looking so peaceful.

"So um.....” Lefty was trying to think of what to say to Alec, he knew Alec was most likely a bit emotionally unstable being in the wrong body.

"You obviously don't.... Want to stay this way?” Lefty knew what the answer was but he needed to hear it from Alec.

Alec huffed, “No, I don't enjoy being a perfect height for people to kick me.”

"I don't want a repeat of the kicking incident with Helpy,” Lefty grabbed his red hat from where it sat on his black bedside table and placed it on his head. He then lifted up the red ribbon and began to tie it around his neck as he spoke, “He was aching all day as was Freddy. Benedict had to delicately put back his spine into place, much like humans, if robots break their spines, we don't stand a chance unless it's all fixed up. I could've broken that teenager's spine if they weren't so many witnesses.”

He spoke about teenagers quite bitterly, that seemed to be his only real experience with a teenager.

“Really?” Alec asked. Alec had yet to tell Lefty his age so he was unaware he was speaking to a teenager at this very moment.

"Well I am strong enough to break a spine....” Lefty had adjusted his bowtie so it sat perfectly, “But I did at lease get to scream at the teenager for a solid twenty minutes for thinking it was funny to kick a small robot who didn't even provoke him, my voice was gone later but it was worth seeing that pathetic brat's face go white.. He was.... Scared.... Of what I'd do.....” Lefty frowned realising something, “Alec... I must ask and don’t think this is because I don't believe you...”

"You don't?” Alec asked sounding unintentionally very worried which Lefty immediately picked up on.

"No! No! I do believe you.... But this situation..... It's strange to me... I've never dealt with this.... I need to know this however, Alec how did Fred get you? In the sense of.... How did this happen? I’m still unclear on how.”

"I went into a backroom-” Alec explained with Lefty unexpectedly cutting him off with:

"You are not allowed in backrooms unless you work here. Customers are not permitted to roam in those areas for their own safety.”

It sounded like Lefty was reciting a rule that was well known, Alec wondered how often he had to repeat that one rule to remember it. Alec knew he broke that rule and didn't care now, so he answered “Obviously I know that.”

"I'm surprised you weren’t found by an employee. I myself roam those backrooms often when I'm not on stage, I'm surprised I didn't encounter you unless I was on stage for a long segment during that time.” Lefty responded.

“Can I continue?”

"Go ahead,” Lefty answered, “Wait, can you describe the room? Any props inside?”

"It had like... Old arcade machines.. Some broken toys...” Alec recalled.

“Oh yes, that's the south west backroom, we keep various props lying around in there,” Lefty nodded, “I have seen a Lonely Freddy in there about five months ago but it looked deactivated so I didn’t bother with it. I need to remember what Marionette has told me, which is “things are often not what they appear,” which is why I believe you, you appear as one of the deceivers but you are actually one who was hoodwinked.”

"Lonely Freddy approached me... It seemed normal at first, then he got extremely personal...” Lefty tilted his head confused so Alec had told him about the questions he recalled which were suspicious, “Asking who I admired, what would I do if I had to hurt someone I love, what I fear, and asking.... Asking... Asking...”

What's your biggest regret Alec?

A chill ran down his spine.

You are weak for telling him that. Pathetic.

"Alec. Alec. Alec! Hey!” Lefty had snapped his fingers in front of his face to bring his attention back, Alec blinked and looked at Lefty who had gone from standing in front of his bed to kneeling in front of him. He had been so out of it that he didn't see Lefty move.

"What exactly were you asked? I’d like to know,” Lefty prompted.

He felt like he was forced to answer, not because of that single golden honey colour eye staring at him to force an answer, but because Lefty needed the answer, “What’s my biggest regret...” Alec told him.

Lefty's pupil noticeably shrunk in shock, he had either heard that particular question before or was surprised it asked that question.

Could he have heard it before?

When he blinked, his eye grew to normal size, “Why didn't you run away? Lonely Freddy couldn’t have possibly stopped you. You could have kick it, I kicked one once and it went down easily.”

"I couldn't move.... Those eyes... Glowing...” It still seemed so hazy to him, yet very real. He remembered his panic, the disappointment of hearing his mom and Hazel so close by, yet unable to find him.

"That girl....” Lefty himself had recalled what he encountered and his face turned to rage, “It's the same thing!!!! You were put into a trance Alec, Lonely Freddy hypnotised you, by using known the well known method one, eye contact and possibly using his voice as some sort of lure....” Lefty spoke as a matter of fact, “An unspoken rule of keeping yourself safe from evil is to not look something strange in the eye if you don't know what it could do.”

"Hey I didn't know that! It's not my fault!!” Alec shouted.

"I was not blaming you! You did nothing wrong!” Lefty exclaimed, “So unable to move... Glowing eyes...... What happened next?”

"I closed my eyes and woke up.... He was gone... I notice everything was bigger.”

"You didn’t initially make a connection?” Lefty asked, “Lonely Freddy gone, the world looks bigger? Didn't you see the fact you had paws now?” Lefty had held out and extended out his own paw to show him.

Lefty had pointed out the obvious glaring issues that Alec overlooked, “No I didn't,” Alec answered, “I saw my reflection later and I knew what happened at that point.”

Lefty tapped his chin, “The fact your voice doesn’t sound like a Lonely Freddy and you have green eyes instead of blue, and you perfectly describe a very textbook case of hypnosis... It all adds up.... But why did you hide from me? From the others? I understand hiding from humans but if you came to me with the story sooner, I could have helped you, perhaps I could have tended to this as soon as it happened. I could have even stopped Lonely Freddy from leaving the pizzeria in your body.”

Alec could easily answer, “I was scared....”

"Scared of us?”

"I didn’t know what you'd do! You could have quickly turned on me-!!”

"You thought we'd kill you???” Lefty asked seemingly surprised at this.

"That guy Lewis said you hate Lonely Freddy-”

"I knew even at that moment you were listening to us! I didn’t tell Lewis because he would have immediately gotten hysterical, much like how you are. How old are you suppose to be?”

"Fifteen.”

"Oh you’re a teenager.”

"Why does that change anything?” Alec almost sneered at him.

"No it doesn’t, you're still a human, I sense it. You are not suppose to be a robot. I just didn’t guess you were a teenager... But now that I think.... It makes sense...?” Lefty looked around as he spoke, “A young child would have approached us regardless of what they appeared as. An adult wouldn’t even be here, they'd figure out a way to escape. A teenager would probably panic like you.”

"Are you insulting me?” Alec questioned.

"No, it's an observation,” Lefty answered.

"Speaking of that, why is it so quiet? The pizzeria's open... Isn't it?

"Our rooms are soundproof, behind three different tightly locked doors so we don't hear what's going on in the pizzeria, and also kids can’t accidentally wander in this area. It's good too because we all have different sleep schedules, me and Helpy usually sleep from 2:00am to around 12:00pm, but if I have to work earlier for a birthday that specifically requested me, I have a nap at about 2:00pm until 5:00pm. If Helpy works all night helping Mike, he's asleep from 10:00am to about midnight. It's easy for us to adjust our sleeping schedules.”

"Easy for you, humans don’t work that way,” Alec scoffed.

"You know if you have trouble sleeping.... You should try some Chamomile tea before bed. You're still able to eat and drink but it's not necessary to survive like humans,” Lefty replied walking over to the door, “Would you like to join me for something to eat or stay here?”

Alec thought back to that strange scrapping noise on the door last night, “I’ll come with you...” Alec walked to be alongside him as Lefty unlocked the door and opened it.

They walked in quiet, as Lefty wasn't as talkative as Helpy. Alec saw he was not even looking at him, he had a look on his face like he was mentally somewhere else. He'd be exactly like that when he was being lectured by his parents but the thing was when he wanted them to acknowledge him.... They ignored him.

He missed his family.

Lefty opened one door and stepped aside so Alec could walk through. Lefty then took the lead again and opened a door at the end of the hall. They arrived at a sort of small communal area there was a kitchen set up, an area with sofas.

A man was in one of those sofas, his back turned away, so he didn’t see them, Lefty realised the situation and shoved Alec along until he was hidden behind the kitchen island counter top.

"Otis?” Lefty asked trying to act as casual as he possibly could to not accidentally reveal Alec.

"Oh! I didn’t hear you come in! Good morning- I mean Good afternoon! It's afternoon....”

"It's okay, you on a break?”

"Lunch break, I'll be gone in ten minutes, I guess I could go now if I'm bothering you.”

"Oh no! You can stay Otis, there's no problem here....” Lefty replied, “Say.... I wanted to ask.... You once spoke about.... Something... Called the Shadow Puppet, he was in your story... Is he based on the legend I read about once?”

"Legend no, Shadow Puppet is real Lefty, apperantly he was once a friendly man but something changed about him and he changed for the worse, embraced the darker magic elements and used them for diabolical purposes. You know magic is suppose to be used for good intentions and those who use it for evil become disfigured..... Anyway why are you asking?”

"Hypnotising and Body swap are generally dark magic right? The evil side tend to use them to get an advantage don't they?”

"I don't like where this is going Lefty-” Otis looked disturbed by the topic.

"I’m asking because!.... Because!......” Lefty looked around the room then looked back at Otis, “Can you keep a secret?” His voice had lowered to almost a whisper.

"Sure!”

"This will not leave this room at any point,” Lefty said, he turned to Alec, then he kneeled down and lifted him up.

"What are you doing?!?” Alec asked extremely panicked because Lefty had lifted him off the ground and he knew a person was there who would see him.

"Calm down, Otis's as dangerous as butterfly,” Lefty assured him.

Otis's eyes widen, “My! Is that a Lonely Freddy? I thought all of them were gone!”

"This is Alec..... I was right Otis... He's suppose to be human like you, Lonely Freddy had hypnotic capabilities with a body swap tied to that, and it slipped pass all of us!” Lefty held Alec like a child, “Seems impossible when you consider you're a magician, Security is an anti-kidnapping measure that has always worked, I'm able to detect souls and anything suspicious, not to mention we have other staff who are almost always actively patrolling the pizzeria! It just seems so impossible yet it did happen... Now, do I have your permission to go to your house and look for anything that could help me, help Alec, go back to his normal body?”

Otis was thinking for a minute, “I see..... Does anyone else?”

"Helpy knows but Foxy saw him at one point, and as stubborn as he is, he's likely not to leave it alone so easily,” Lefty spoke, “He could be a problem.”

"You will probably have to at lease tell Freddy eventually, Alec can not be kept a secret especially if you, and I think you do, have any intention of returning Alec to his correct body,”

"I will tell him soon, but I don't want to find out you've been going around telling anyone else. No one else should know unless I told them,” Lefty said as he put Alec on the ground.

"How.... Do you know how it happened?”

“Only Alec really knows, it could be possible that his memory of that event is foggy like how some victims of hypnosis are, they struggle to recall the exact event but remember the before and after. I didn’t see it happening but apperantly it's remarkably similar to an incident I have seen but with a different outcome because I interfered in the other incident.”

“30 years have gone by without a single incident in the company’s history....”

"That’s why I have strong belief this isn’t a coincidence..... I think.... He's back, and he's trying something new..... He doing that in hope that we don't recognise his new signature, but it aligns with the whole concept of “Harvesting Soul Remnant”. I need a word with Security when they aren’t busy.”

"Him...? This is serious....”

"It’s also just a theory I have, but it seems very close to what he did apperantly... This could be someone new though, I do know Mr. Emily didn't build these things.... This is what I'll do, Alec will stay in my room, once I tell Freddy, I'll be fine letting him roam at night, but not at day. If kids see him, they'll go ballistic. If the staff see him, he'll be put out for good, I won’t let that happen until they're swapped back, then I'll give the real Lonely Freddy to Benedict so he permanently shut down the vile thing.”

Lefty looked at Alec as he spoke, “As much as I hate this situation because this is an area I've never explored in magic.... Alec is technically only still alive because this.... Is a vessel for his soul, self conscious, and memories. Mike won't give him a chance to explain... Alec you would be immediately shut down if you were found and that..... That would officially end your life, it's like turning off a life support unit,” Lefty explained, “My priority will be keeping you alive, I expect you to do all you can also to prevent being caught by the staff members.”

“Well you're talking about keeping me alive so......” Alec responded realising that all he had said made sense even if the whole thing appears quite grim.

"The only other human I feel safe to tell is Lewis, he'll understand this... I only told Otis so I could look through his stuff. I'd only tell Mike if I need to, I'd rather not tell him if I don’t have to...”

"Yes, yes..... Mike will mostly not listen to Alec because he can't see the truth....” Otis agreed.

"Hopefully now I know about Alec's situation.... I can come up with a plan.... Maybe we could lure the Lonely Freddy back here, or if that isn’t possible, I could ask Lewis to take me and Alec to Alec’s house and we'll swap back there with no one else knowing, it depends on what must be done and what me, Helpy and Security can do.”

Otis shook his head, “This is... Way beyond my understanding.... Do what you must Lefty! You can look through what I have! We must do the right thing and return Alec to his body as soon as possible before the Lonely Freddy does something desperate and undoable to stop your efforts!”

Alec frowned, what exactly would Lonely Freddy do to stop him from returning to his body? Nothing really came to him at that point other than how desperate would that bear get just to keep his identity indefinitely. Fred obviously would not want to blow his cover as an imposter and he obviously hadn’t done so yet if no one came to look for Alec.

Unless they don't know where to look for me.... His mind had said in that moment, Maybe if I asked... Lefty would let me see my house... See my family.

"Thank you Otis,” Lefty smiled.

"Oh Lefty, I wanted to ask you something.”

"Yes?”

"Your room is close to Bonnie's, I was in there last night before I went home because I had hit my head while working, did you... Happen to hear a strange noise last night?” Otis asked.

"A strange noise...?”

"It sounded like scrapping, like something snatching on wood. By the time I looked, the sound stopped and what ever was causing it was gone.”

"Maybe Alec made the noise? He fell over or something?” Lefty suggested.

"No I didn’t, I heard the noise too, and talking, quiet talking,” Alec said.

"Talking..... Helpy got spooked once and told me he was sure someone was outside our door talking quietly. I didn’t think much of it because we have a lock on our door and when I started practicing magic I put a “no evil shall breach” spell on the door, so anything that tries to break in with evil intentions, will be repelled.....”

"Is there anything we should be concerned about?” Alec questioned Lefty.

"Security did tell me once that if we hear barking outside at night we should make sure the doors are locked.... I thought it was funny initially, we aren’t close enough to any houses that we would hear any dog barking.... But then I heard barking a couple of nights ago and it sounded very close..... I looked later.... There were big paw prints in front of the pizzeria... Bigger than any dog that exists... It freaks me out, what happened to you freaks me out!”

Alec nodded, “I know.... It's still surreal for me... I thought this was a nightmare.”

"Lefty, you best hide Alec for now, I believe Fiona and Rockstar Chica are on break soon, and their reactions will... Draw attention...” Otis stood up and walked to the door, “I’ll see you later Lefty, good luck in finding a way to reverse this awful curse.”

Lefty nodded as Otis left the room, Alec looked up at him.

"Curse...?” was the only word out of his month.

"I guess this technically is... A curse,” Lefty responded.

"A curse...” Alec repeated, he had never viewed his situation as a curse.

“But most curses can be reversed! I'm sure there is a way to undo this!” Lefty exclaimed, when he heard Alec repeat it sounding terrified.

"But most people who get cursed deserve it.....” Alec knew that much, he then looked away, “Maybe I did deserve this.....”

"I can see into your soul and I know you did nothing bad enough to deserve this!!!!”

“That's because you really don't know me!” Alec exclaimed angry.

"And that doesn’t matter! I know what I need to!” Lefty yelled back at him with the same amount of rage Alec just had, “You are a teenager who needs to go back to his own body and I will find a way! It'll..... It'll just...... Take time.... It’ll take time to fix the mess you’ve gotten yourself into......” Lefty shook his head.

Alec was silent. He watched Lefty turn his attention away and grabbed the coffee jug from the machine, he then reached up and grabbed a black coloured mug with a strange jagged white stripe pattern that looked like lightning bolts.

Lefty was drinking coffee when Alec spoke.

"Lefty..?”

“What is it Alec?”

He wasn't yelling or ignoring him.

He was actually listening to him.

“I want to go home and make things right,” Alec said, “I’ve done some pretty bad things....”

Lefty looked at Alec, completely focused, Alec felt compelled to say this, “I hurt my sister, I made her cry, and I didn’t apologise for it. I was so angry at her, I thought she was a brat, but it was me, and this is my fault. I didn't mean to make her cry.”

"Oh Alec...” He put down his coffee mug and kneeled down, speaking directly to him, “We all do stupid things in anger, we're so determined to prove a point, when it goes haywire, we can lose our temper, I do it, I've seen Helpy lose his cool when things go wrong, everyone here has gotten frustrated.....”

"My sister.... I was awful to her.... And it was my fault, she wanted to be my friend and I ruined it for no good reason... I hated her for no good reason...”

"Honestly.... I've sometimes become frustrated with Helpy, but I always realise that he is just bothering me because I'm like his brother, and I can’t change that... I feel honoured Helpy considers me as such....” Lefty said, then gave a small smile.

“I’m certain, it is not too late to repair your relationship with your sister, let her be your friend, have a long discussion, tell her how you feel, make sure you let her speak too, be honest with her. I've had to fix my own relationships before, and I always believed it was too far gone to undo my mistakes.... But each time I was wrong, because there's two sides to everything. To me, it appears you were jealous of your sister, perhaps a conversation with your parents isn’t out of line? It might be good to also speak to your parents...”

“It seems your sister wanted nothing more than to be your friend. It's remarkable, true friends, will never be pushed away, even we try to shove them through the front door again and again, treat them as an unwelcomed guest, a nuisance... They always come back to make sure we're okay, because they care.”

"What if she likes the imposter more than me?”

"Lonely Freddy is not her brother. You are, I'm sure... Your sister-”

"Her name is Hazel,” Alec irrupted him to tell him.

"Hazel would rather want her own brother over Freddy any day, plus... I'm certain, he cannot keep up the façade forever... Something will slip, and Hazel may already realise that something is amiss. Lonely Freddy will have no idea how to perfectly mimic you, someone who truly knows you will see something is wrong.”

Alec has a very reassuring conversation with Lefty. Hope you enjoyed Chapter 5.

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[hideawayintheimaginationworld]

I am Machine: Chapter 4

He completely forgot about Helpy.

And how small he was.

He easily got through the hole like how he did.

“Wow it's both extremely claustrophobic and homey in here,” Helpy stood up, looking around.

He was blocking the only way in or out.

No way to escape now. Helpy had cornered him.

“You know, the hole is going to be repaired soon,” Helpy told him, “And if you chose to stay in here, you'll be sealed away forever.”

“You care why?” Alec had spoke for the first time in a long time, his voice sounded so unfamiliar now, he had forgotten what his voice had sounded like. He didn’t see the need to talk until now.

“Because forever is a really long time!” Helpy exclaimed, “So anyway, I'm Helpy.”

“I've seen on the safety posters around the pizzeria,” Alec nodded.

“Customer safety is very important to us!” Helpy had clapped his hands together, “That's why some of us have particular features! Like Security Puppet stops kids from leaving without their parents! And well.... Lonely Freddy's use to be walking security cameras... But not anymore, because they started to act strangely, but you seem different!”

“That's because I'm not a Lonely Freddy!” Alec shouted at him.

“I don’t understand I'm afraid,” Helpy shook his head, “You can't really claim to be something your not! If you have no good ground for it, you look like a Lonely Freddy, so you must be one??”

Alec heard his voice was practically drowning in confusion, so he spoke, “I heard you and your black bear talking and I remember he mentioned an incident with a Lonely Freddy and a little girl.”

“Oh are you that Lonely Freddy?”

“No I'm not a Lonely Freddy! That happened to me!”

“You're a little girl?” Helpy sounded even more lost than before.

“No! No!” He shouted frustrated Helpy was constantly irrupting before he could really explain, “My name is Alec! I'm not a Lonely Freddy!”

“Oh okay! Alec is a boy's name! I get it!” Helpy nodded eagerly like he won a game.

“I don't think you do Helpy.”

“Then I'll need an explanation then!” Helpy said.

“Your friend talked hypnosis,” Alec had decided he was going to tell Helpy, he seemed friendly enough plus what could he really do? He didn’t look interested in fighting, he looked more like a curious child.

It reminded him of when Hazel was a toddler following him around.

“Lefty! Yes he did!! He's actually a good guy! He may sometimes act weirdly but he's my friend!” Helpy was beaming when he talked about Lefty.

“I was a 15 year old boy, but something happened and Freddy's in my body!”

“Wait, a mind swap.... Like he's in your body and you are in his... A real body swap scenario?” Helpy frowned understanding.

“I guess that’s an basic way to define it,”

“Oh sugar honey ice tea..... Maybe that's why Lefty detected something wrong with them.... He was so insistent that something was amiss but he said he didn’t know what, he described it as feeling like it would steal his soul if he looked it in the eye...” Helpy muttered, “So you are a human really?”

“Yes,” Alec answered.

“Prove it!”

“How am I suppose to prove it?!” He snapped at Helpy.

“Well humans don’t usually look like walking teddy bears. Then again.... Your eyes.... They are green. Freddy’s eyes have always been blue all the way from the 70s to the current day, always blue. The only green eyes in the pizzeria history include the newer variations of Bonnie, the original had pink eye, the first version known as SpringBonnie had purple eyes, kinda creepy..... It's unusual..... Considering what Lefty said and the history we have, this seems plausible you were, well are suppose to be human... There’s a certain amount of creditability to your story,” Helpy answered.

“What history?” Alec asked, as far as he knew, this place seemed as normal as possible, aside from the obvious. However the way Helpy had said “history” sounded like there was something more dark and twisted below the surface.

“Umm too much to explain, we'd be here all night! Now how about we both get outta here before Mike decides to find us, it'll be far more difficult to explain it to him,” Helpy looked around nervously.

“Your friend won't hurt me?”

“No, in fact I think he will want to hear this strange story,” Helpy nodded then turned around and crawled back through the hole, “Come on Alec! We probably shouldn’t let anyone else see you!”

Alec hesitated, Helpy then poked his head through, “Let’s go!”

“Where are we going?” Alec asked.

“Back to my room!”

“You share it with the bear,” Alec said.

“He won’t bite.... In fact I'd be more worried about Chica, she ain't a scared cat but I once saw her smack a rat with a guitar, she's not scared to hit things....” Helpy answered, he pulled his head back as Alec crawled out of the space. Helpy pointed back to the room and they walked away, Alec following Helpy, seeing truly how small the world was, even Helpy was slightly taller than him.

“This is the strangest thing I've ever come across, and that counts the time some awful teenage brute ripped the arm of a Yarg Foxy toy, kids are one thing, I don't hate teenagers, but.... They don’t particularly like me, I was actually kicked across the restaurant once by a teenager. I was actually kicked straight at Freddy who was performing on stage, we both had the wind knocked out of us... Lefty.... He was absolutely furious and started screaming at the teenager asking if he'd like to be thrown into the wall.”

Alec had paid attention and wondered if Helpy was talking about him unless there was another teenager who tore the arm of a Yarg Foxy. As far as he knew, Helpy wouldn’t have seen that happen unless he was quiet enough to see it but to not draw attention to himself being there, meaning he would have by some luck, had to avoid being seen by Alec, Hazel and both of parents, which seemed impossible. Maybe Helpy heard about it, then again, Helpy was small.

Helpy pushed open the bedroom door and they both walked in, Helpy then pushed it closed.

“Must be weird, you can’t reach a lot of door knobs now!” Helpy said making a remark on Alec's situation, Alec turned and noticed something he didn’t see before.

The door had a lock on it.

“Um Helpy, why is there a lock on the door?” He questioned trying to figure out why there was a lock on the door.

“Oh! Um... The lock..... Um.... It's to keep anything bad out. Lefty said something bad happened once when I was asleep...” Helpy sounded really unsure, “I don’t remember what exactly happened but Lefty seemed extremely worried about me for a while and he wouldn’t explain why, we lock the door when we are both asleep, otherwise our door is usually unlocked..... Admittedly.... I've heard... What sounds like some pretty vicious growling coming from outside.... Lefty almost is always paranoid something is outside, he wasn’t that bad until this “Marionette” started speaking to him in his head,” Helpy explained.

“Maybe.... He's just looking out for you..?” Alec suggested.

“Yea! Kinda like an older brother! He's my best friend, I guess he is my older brother.... Hey Alec, as a human, do you have any siblings?”

Alec didn’t expect that question but answered honestly, “I had... A younger sister.”

“What’s your relationship with her like?”

“I don't feel comfortable discussing that,” Alec frowned.

“Oh understandable.... I apologise, I’ve been told I’m not suppose to ask those sort of things, I’m not invasive! I’m curious about you Alec! That’s all!” Helpy smiled, “Well.... Lefty'll be back soon.... You wanna do anything?”

“Like what?” Alec asked.

“I can go ask Mike for the tablet and we can watch some videos.”

“I've noticed, you mentioned Mike a few times, who is he?” Alec felt like he wasn’t out of line by asking that.

“Human Owner essentially....” Helpy answered, “He owns this place and does the work at night, apperantly, he's a night owl, he's use to being asleep during the day and awake at night, he's told me it's easier to do work here when it's quiet.”

“Could he help me out...?”

“No probably not, I'll be a minute, just stay here, sit on Lefty's bed until I get back!” Helpy said as he reached for the door knob and turned it, leaving the room and Alec alone.

Alec decided it was okay to wait for him, he climbed up onto Lefty's bed and sat with his back against the wall.

A few minutes passed, Alec tapped his feet together. He wondered when these guys slept, Lefty was performing usually from opening time to closing, which was ten hours on average, and he seemed to be awake between 12:00am and 6:00am, that left only eight hours for anything like sleep.

Alec then swore he heard a strange noise. Like scrapping.

He looked at the door, hearing the scraping from that direction, he then heard a snap and something winced in pain, it was then followed by a quite “ow”.

It wasn’t Lefty or Helpy.

“I can't get in again.” He heard a quiet voice speak.

Silences.

“Yea, yea, shut up I know you're angry again I can't get in! What do you expect?”

Why did it sound like it was having a conversation?

“Quit it. I'll get in eventually, you don't need to break in, otherwise the Puppet'll know we're watching again.”

Silences.

“Good one, yep he is exactly that. Tell our Master I'm coming back home, should be easy to do that.”

That didn’t sound good.

“Hey I brought the tablet!” Helpy opened the door, “Anything you want to watch? Funny videos? We can watch some cartoons! Maybe even a movie!”

“What exactly is there...?” Alec asked as Helpy got up on the bed with the tablet in his hands.

“Well let's see...” Alec watched Helpy open a application with videos listed, he saw a fee movie titles he recognised, he saw a tab that had a list names and numbers:

HELPY'S VIDEOS

230 MOVIES

20 TELEVISION SERIES

SERIES THAT MIKE AND LEFTY WATCH

34 TELEVISION SERIES

STUFF FOR EVERYONE TO WATCH

400 MOVIES

50 TELEVISION SERIES.

“Anything you recommend?” Alec asked him.

Helpy tapped on the list that had his name and the page loaded with video thumbnails and titles.

“Depends! You want a comedy? You want to watch a television series? An animated movie?”

The door opened and Lefty walked in, he locked the door behind him and looked at Alec.

“I see you've made yourself at home,” Lefty said in quite a monotone way, “Would you care to talk now or shall I continue to be suspicious about you?”

“He explained to me Lefty,” Helpy nodded, “Ummm... That girl with Lonely Freddy?”

“I don't really want to talk about it anymore-” Lefty pinched his nose bridge, shaking his head.

“It was a mind swap thing,” Helpy cut him off.

“You know that how....?” Lefty asked, his golden yellow eye glaring at Helpy, he was puzzled about how he could know that and what the concept even was.

“Because me....” Alec spoke.

Lefty frowned, staring at him, he didn’t understand. Then it struck him, this can’t be a Lonely Freddy. “Wait.... No.... No..... NO! God Security!!! Me!!! We failed to keep a kid safe!!” Lefty exclaimed grabbing the sides of his head, shaking, “It explains why I didn’t want to kill you and felt like I needed to hold onto you!! I'm programmed to protect children.... I sense your soul as a child.... That's why!! Oh no! How can I fix this?!?”

“Lefty! You don't need to worry!” Helpy yelled, “Calm down!”

Left crashed onto the bed, completely dazed, the two bears looked at him in confusion.

“I’m a failure to Mr. Emily, how did this slip pass me?” Lefty asked to no one in particular.

“We all missed this!” Helpy shouted, “This isn’t your slip up! It's our! Every animatronic here failed to stop this from happening, we have measures to prevent things like adduction, thief, hostage situations, murders, accidents, injuries... We never had something in place for this sort of thing!” Helpy was pushing his side trying to get him to stand up.

Lefty sat up and looked at Alec, “So you really are..?”

“Alec,” He answered.

“Alec.... Alec.... I need to check that name and find out exactly how long ago this happened to you... We write down every name in a book....”

“We don't need to do anything yet-”

“Helpy have you forgotten there is a rogue Lonely Freddy out there who looks human?!? And we have no idea what it's planning more importantly!!! Lonely Freddy's are the worse sort of unpredictable, you never know where they are and what they're doing! They don't act like the rest of us! They don’t socialise, they’re extremely invasive, and they don’t understand what’s wrong with the way they act!! Dam it Helpy I will not let that thing run free, they are cunning and manipulative! And that's why there's a lock on our door so they don't come in our room ever again!”

Helpy and Alec were silent.

Lefty looked around, realising what he said, his tone soften as he spoke again, “Helpy....”

“The truth Lefty,” Helpy spoke, “Why is that lock on our door? I honestly don’t remember what happened and I don’t know why! I have a great memory! Why won’t you tell me?? Is there something I should be scared of?”

“Helpy no! I will protect you from what’s out there!” Lefty exclaimed, “Human or Animatronic!”

“Lefty has a Lonely Freddy come in our room before? When we were asleep?”

Both looked at him for an answer, even Alec wanted an answer from him.

“I’m not answering that in light of this, it's unimportant,” Lefty shook his head, “However, Alec's problem is extremely serious, he needs to be a priority. He is trapped in a body that isn’t his...... Something tells me this far more serious than anything I'm programmed to do....” Lefty looked at Alec, his look was genuine confusion and concern.

Hope you enjoyed Chapter 4 AKA the Chapter "where it all comes out, Helpy figures it out quickly, Lefty has a mental breakdown and Alec is thinking why is there a lock?"

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I am Machine: Chapter 8

One week had passed, Alec noticed Helpy seemed really excited about something.

“What are you jumping about for?” Alec asked him before he started to work.

“August 18th,” He replied, “It’s a great day!”

Alec was confused, did Helpy know...?

“It's the pizzeria's 50th anniversary, a big milestone,” Helpy continued talking, “The first location was opened August 18th 1970. It's also Lefty’s birthday.”

Of course, Helpy wouldn’t know, why did Alec assume?

Wait. Lefty’s birthday was on the 18th of August? He assumed they didn't celebrate anything like Birthdays.

“It’s Lefty’s birthday?”

“Yes, I don't know his real age, I've tried to guess but I never get it right!” Helpy huffed, “And he won't tell me!”

Alec couldn’t help but lightly laugh at that, that sounded like what Lefty would do. Over the last week he learnt a lot about Lefty and Helpy, Helpy did actually sleep talk so Alec saw why on that night Lefty believed he was just sleep talking.

“Hey! When’s your birthday? Mine is February 15th! The day after Valentine’s day! I apparently also share my birthday with some animatronic named Fetch! I never met him but I've seen pictures of Fetch! Of course, it's all old photos, he was made in the 1980s..... I think our history is interesting!”

“My birthday?”

“Yes, you said you're 15 when are turning 16?”

“This is really funny... My birthday is also August 18th....”

“Wow! You share Lefty’s birthday!”

“Well, I'd guess I'm younger than him....” Alec said scratching his nose.

“We can do something for your birthday too! Just because you're a Lonely Freddy now, it doesn’t mean we can't celebrate!”

"I don't know....”

“You only turn 16 once, plus as far as I believe you've never had a birthday here!”

“Well, I honestly don't have a lot of friends to justify it.”

“Why not? You seem like a nice kid,” Helpy said.

“I just... Don't get the chance, I don't talk to people a lot...” That was kind of true, he was notorious for not talking to people unless they started to irritate him, a good thing was the fact he wasn't targeted by bullies but he didn't exactly attract friends, he only had three guys at school who he considered friends.

He was almost certain he shouldn’t tell Helpy about them because they fell into the same crowd as him, so he said: “I use to have a great friend named Oscar but he moved away a couple of years ago after his father died... I've been wondering if I could get in touch with him...”

“Well, that's one of the first things you should do when you go home! Go and contact him! I'm sure he'll want to hear from you!”

When. It was nice Helpy was assuming he would get to go home and resume his life like nothing had happened.

“And hey I'm your friend now! So is Lefty! Lewis could be your friend too!”

“I never thought of that.....” Alec muttered.

“Well, I am! Hey, are you hungry? The pizzeria's closed today so we could go out into the kitchen and maybe we’ll find a pizza for lunch! We just have to watch out for the others and Mr Adams,” Helpy nodded.

“Mr Adams?”

“Our in-store technician, he's working in the back, doing repairs, checking the systems for bugs... We probably won't run into him...” Helpy walked to the door and opened it, Alec followed him outside and they went through the three doors that led them to the backstage area, then outside into the main dining area.

It was quiet.

“Why is it quiet?”

“Mike said some sickness is going around, so we need to start closing a few days a week for now,” Helpy explained, “We’re trialling being closed every second day... Might be good sometimes Lefty gets exhausted particularly on Fridays.”

Helpy and Alec walked around to the kitchen, Helpy looked inside, “Great! No one is here! Let's go!” They both stepped inside.

“Where is everyone?” Alec looked around feeling slightly anxious.

“I know Bonnie's in repair, you know Lefty is deep in research right now, Foxy is probably out the front, Chica is cleaning the party rooms I believe, Freddy is in his room I think, Security might be asleep, The Melodies and Lewis are..... Well, they're not working today so they’re at home today... Hey, we can visit Lewis! His house is close by! We just need to ask Lefty for the key to open the front door! The only thing is that usually, Lefty doesn’t like going out during the day because we could be seen... That's the only condition Mike told us when Lefty was allowed to have the key, he needs to be careful to not be caught outside, and Lefty must always relock the door when he comes back.”

“I see why you can't be caught outside..” Alec nodded knowing the most likely case is if someone saw an 8-foot-tall black bear outside the pizzeria, they would call the police.

Helpy walked over to the fridge, “Oh yes! There's still some leftover pizza dough that Lefty made! Lefty always makes the best pizza! We can put whatever we want on it!” Helpy pulled it out and walked to the kitchen island, no surprise there were steps on the side, so he was able to place it on the bench.

“Do you want anything interesting? I once made a dessert pizza and it was amazing.”

“A dessert pizza?” Alec rose his eyebrow.

“Chocolate and Marshmallows,” Helpy answered.

“Oh....”

“Let’s just have a plain cheese with some oregano...”

“Sounds good!”

Helpy had gathered everything except the oregano.

“I don't understand! It’s supposed to be here with the pepper and chilli powder!” Helpy was frustrated as he looked in the cabinets, he then groaned, “I really don't want to disturb Lefty unless I really need to... Maybe somebody misplaced it?”

Alec and Helpy looked in every cabinet, essentially they worked as a team, searching every place where it could be.

“Oh no don't tell me Pigpatch did it again....” Helpy groaned then stood on his tiptoes.

“Yup, he put the freaking Oregano on top of the fridge again! He knows I can't reach it without asking somebody! He's done it to deliberately annoy me!!”

“I’ve climbed on the fridge before, I can get it...” Alec nodded.

“Sure? Just don't fall... It's not a big fall to a human but to someone as small as you are now, you could break something,” Helpy said.

Alec had climbed into the bench next to the fridge, he used the container of flour next to it as a platform to get closer, he then jumped up and grabbed the edge. Pulling himself up to the top.

“Good job! I wouldn’t have thought to do that!” Helpy nodded.

Alec smiled, then he heard the door open, and looked, his heart dropped, he backed away so he wasn’t seen.

“Who are you talking to?”

“Oh just myself Bonnie!!” Helpy exclaimed, “I’m just saying I did a good job to solve a problem that’s been bugging me!”

“Good for you! Are you making pizza for lunch?”

“Yes, I'm giving some to Lefty.”

“Do you know what's going on with him? He's acting more jumpy than usual, and he was carrying around the book where we keep the names of all the people who visit, he keeps going into his room saying he's got a bad headache or feels sick or something... And Foxy keeps talking about how Lefty has the missing Lonely Freddy in his possession. That's not right, right? He hates them, he use to say they were Nosy, Foxy's saying Lefty is keeping one like as a pet or an experiment,” Bonnie replied.

They noticed Lefty was acting differently.

“No, I don't know...” Helpy lied immediately.

“Something isn't right here, Lefty only does practice at night then says goodnight and leaves... He's been doing it for about a week now...” Bonnie nodded, “Hey don't you usually have oregano?”

“I think Petey put on the fridge to be a jerk to me. I was debating if I should try and climb up there myself.”

“You could hurt yourself, let me grab it...” Bonnie's hand was in Alec's vision and he panicked, he couldn’t get down because Bonnie could catch him and as far as Alec knew, Lefty hadn’t told the others that he existed.

“Oh no! I'll get a chair don't trouble yourself!!!” Helpy exclaimed knowing Alec was in danger of being found.

“No, it doesn’t bother me! I don't want you to hurt yourself if you do it wrong!”

“Bonnie, I can ask Lefty! You just got repaired, go rest!”

Bonnie grabbed Alec's foot, “What's this?”

Alec tried to pull his foot away but Bonnie’s grip was stronger than he expected.

“Bonnie leave it! I can solve this for myself!”

“I got something strange!” Bonnie pulled Alec forward, he froze in terror.

"Bonnie no!!!”

He released him but it was too late.

ꇙꄲꂵꏂ꓄ꁝ꒐ꋊꍌ ꃳꋬ꒯ ꁝꋬꇙ ꁝꋬꉣꉣꏂꋊꏂ꒯.

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