#want him cremated or anything so we’re gonna do that and then i don’t know what i’ll do from there

[lilgynt]

want to reach out to my brothers about what’s going on with my mom and how it’s effecting me but realistically i know they don’t care and even if they did they can’t do anything about it so im just skipping the reaching out and subsequent conversation that will just make me feel worse which like yes im isolating myself further in the abuse/gaslighting and letting myself sink further into it etc etc etc no one cares pass the weed and alcohol every night

[guidedhearts]

probably gonna be quiet today. tw in the tags

[silverwings22]

Song of the Sea: Chapter 44: Strike Gently

Series Warning: explicit smut, alien anatomy (it's a monsterfucker fic, guys), major character injury, grief, canon typical violence, autistic meltdowns, and my terrible attempts at Mando'a Chapter Warnings: PTSD/trauma, trauma bonding, suicidal ideation, disability, biological weaponry, grief

Previous chapter:

Next chapter:

“You want to go on a picnic?” Shiani looked suspiciously at Crosshair. He’d just gotten off his shift helping fishermen load their boats at the dock, and he and Wrecker had come and picked her and Omega up from the ship. They’d insisted she and the girl get their bathing suits, so now the siren was riding her minispeeder down the stairs between the two brothers in her yellow suit and a sarong Shep had given her. Omega had hopped on the back, holding the towels. 

“You miss the beach. Don’t act like you don’t.” Crosshair smirked.

“I can’t swim anymore. I already told you.” She sighed, glad she’d at least left her new vambrace on in the shuffle to get out of the ship. She could work on calibrating the venom darts with her pocket toolkit that fit on the back of her brace…

“We’ll see about that.” Wrecker grinned, and pointed as they reached the sand. Hunter was already there, with a big blanket and an umbrella. He waved, sitting cross legged on and waiting for them. 

Omega grinned, running ahead with Batcher to get to Hunter. “Family beach day!”

Shiani looked up at Wrecker and Crosshair. “We’re doing family activities now?”

Wrecker nodded as they got to the blanket, helping her off the speeder and onto it. “Omega mentioned you were crying the other day when you were supposed to be meditating, and then Cross said you mentioned not being able to swim. So we’re gonna help. Lunch first.” 

Shiani was slightly overwhelmed at the idea they’d all put in this effort to cheer her up, sitting quietly as the clones divvied up fruit and snacks for their picnic. Omega was sneaking Batcher scraps, and Hunter pretended he didn’t notice. All the clones were in in civvie clothes, Crosshair mildly threatening a few moon-yos that got close enough they might be considering stealing his lunch. Wrecker just kept handing Shiani things to eat, having gotten to pick stuff out for Hunter to buy at the market for this. “Here, try this one. It’s gotta be better than irling.”

Crosshair raised an eyebrow. “Irling?”

“Giant insectoid thing we ran into on Ord Mantell. She tried to eat it.” Hunter chuckled.

“She tried to eat a gundark too.” Omega laughed.

“I did eat an aggrocrab.” Shiani finally smiled a little. “I wanted to try porg, but Omega said it was too cute. I do not understand why cute means not edible.” 

Crosshair snorted. “Have you tried to eat everything?”

“Not everything.” Shiani laughed. “Never ate clones.” She couldn’t say the same thing about longnecks, but she thought it might horrify Omega to know that. The longnecks used to bury their dead at sea, and anything in the ocean was fair game for a starving siren in exile. Clones were cremated, and she didn’t think she could have ever looked Tech in the eye if she’d eaten someone who shared his genetics. 

When she’d wanted to know what Tech tasted like, there had been more pleasant ways to indulge them both. 

Crosshair just squinted at her as everyone ate. Once they’d finished, Wrecker grinned and ducked his shirt and boots. “Take your brace off.”

Shian frowned at him. “I can’t walk without it, Wrecker.”

“I know, but you won’t need to walk.” He grinned. “Just trust me.”

She sighed and unstrapped and buckled herself, pulling her leg loose slowly. She squeaked when Wrecker slipped one hand under her knees and another behind her back, picking her up like a ragdoll. Her arms and tentacles wrapped around him immediately, eyes wide, and he walked straight to the water. Omega giggled as he got in up to his chest and let Shiani sink to her shoulders. 

She blinked, slowly reaching her hand out to feel the water before she loosened her grip on the gentle giant. Bit by bit he let her go, until she was floating beside him with her eyes wide and amazed. “See? You can swim again, ya just need a little help!” He grinned. 

She couldn’t kick, but she was happy to keep herself near the surface with her arms. The cool water ran through her gills, like it could cure the uncomfortable heat a heart burned to ash left behind in the chasm it left behind within her chest. She could feel the ghost of the woman she’d been before Eriadu, and sank completely under to stretch out in the embrace of the sea. 

When she surfaced, she looked up and waved at Hunter and Crosshair on the blanket. Hunter waved back, sitting back with a bottle of juice and watching Omega play with Batcher in the sand. Crosshair had laid down under the umbrella and immediately fallen asleep with his arms behind his head. He could nap anywhere, Shiani had noticed. Wrecker sometimes tried stacking things on him whenever he conked out somewhere obvious, like the bridge. 

Wrecker was floating and splashing, so she wiggled the best she could and dove deep enough to go check on the reef. It was harder to swim than it used to be, but she was more agile in the water than on land. She let herself bask in the array of color under the surface, hands out for small reef fish to explore her as much as the coral. 

She’d been under a while when she surfaced. Crosshair was standing at the water's edge, clearly looking for her. She swam in as far as she could, almost to his feet. “Where’d everybody go?”

He offered her a hand up, flipping her into his arms like she didn’t weigh much. “Omega ran into someone in the caves. I just checked her through Tech’s records, and it’s exactly who I thought it was.” 

She nodded, frowning. “Bad person?”

“Yeah. I’m going back, get your leg back on and come around the back. We’re going to try to deal with this, but we might need backup. This woman’s a war criminal.” 

Shiani nodded, pulling on her vambrace. “Guess we’re testing this today.” She muttered as he ran back towards the caves. She quickly pulled her brace back on and strapped herself in, getting to her feet and taking a careful approach on foot instead of with her speeder. She came around wide, finding a woman with ghostly pale skin absolutely beating the hell out of the three clones. Crosshair was curled on the ground, trying to right himself, while Wrecker was lifted off the ground and clawing at his throat. She had a glowing yellow weapon held to Hunter’s neck, one Shiani had read about. A lightsaber. 

Either the woman was a Jedi or their evil counterpart, but either way she was a threat to Shiani’s family. When Omega ran up with a white blossom from the weeping maya tree, she was just in time to see Shiani pop up from the lower rocks and hold her fist out. With a flick of her thumb, a hypodermic shot out of her vambrace attachment and slammed into the side of the stranger’s neck. 

The female zebrak turned her head, looking at Shiani for a second before she dropped to her knees. Her lightsaber extinguished, and the three clones who had been on the ground all breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Shiani!” Omega gasped. “She was helping me!”

“And now she is napping.” Shiani said calmly, limping over to give Hunter and Crosshair a hand up. “Crosshair says she’s a war criminal.”

“She’s testing me to see if I have a high M-count.” Omega protested as Wrecker dragged the woman to a rock and sat her up, cuffing her. 

“Do we even know what an M-count is now?” The siren didn’t look very moved by the girl’s pleading, crossing her arms. 

“She says it’s in the blood. A high count can be trained to be a Jedi.” Omega explained. 

“What did you shoot her with?” Hunter pulled the needle out of the woman’s neck and examined it. 

“Siren venom. Don’t touch that.” Shiani cautioned. “Even Jedi aren’t immune. You guys go back to the ship, and I’ll interrogate her and come back.” 

“What if you don’t get anything out of her?” Wrecker frowned.

The look on Shiani’s face said he didn’t want the answer, and the three men very hurriedly escorting their little sister away from the threat and potentially violent solution to it. Shiani sat down on a rock across from the woman, fiddling with the cuff key Wrecker had slipped her. 

It didn’t take long for the woman to wake up, her constitution impressive for someone so skinny. She squinted at the siren, in a yellow bathing suit and wet sarong, leg brace cocked up at an angle. “Who are you?” She muttered in a tense, raspy voice as she scratched at the injection point on her neck with bound hands. 

“I’m the sister of those clones.” She responded. “Shiani Illumai. Who are you?”

“I’m Fennec’s contact.”

“I don’t trust Fennec either. Name?”

The woman sighed. “Asajj Ventress.” 

“My brothers say you’re a war criminal.” Shiani said quietly. “But Omega says you’re helping her. Explain please?”

“I don’t owe you an explanation.”

“No, you don’t. But you had a Jedi weapon pointed at my brother’s throat. I don’t owe you your life.” Shiani picked up the lightsaber and examined it. “I know you don’t know me, so I’ll be very honest. I have nothing in this galaxy to lose but those four clones. I can’t go back to my people in a meaningful way, everything hurts, and I’ve lost my mate. My entire purpose, for the rest of my life, is to keep them safe. If you’re a part of that, then we’ll get along just fine. But if you’re going to hurt them, I will make sure you’re never found.” The siren looked up at her. “Now, explain please. I’m listening.”

Ventress sighed. “Fennec said a group of clones were asking about M-counts. That’s dangerous, so I came to check out the kid and see if she did have a high count.”

“What is M-count?”

“Midichlorians. It’s in the blood, and the higher counts are able to use the Force.”

“Jedi. And… Sith.” Shiani ran her thumb over the lightsaber hilt in her hand. “You’re not a Jedi.”

“No. I used to be a Sith. I’m on my own side now.” Ventress nodded. 

“So you want to test Omega. What happens if she’s got a high count?”

“She’d need to be trained. I could take her.”

“Or not.” Shiani frowned. “She needs her family. And we need her.”

Ventress stared at the siren for a moment before nodding. “I thought you might say that. That’s what the fight was about, with the clones.”

“They start it?” Shiani mused. 

“Of course they did. I told them they’d regret it. I’m not the enemy here. We were all pawns of the same war, and we all lost.”

“Everyone lost.” Shiani nodded and got up, limping over to uncuff the former Sith. She handed Ventress back her lightsaber and offered her a hand up. “You can test Omega tomorrow. How will you do it?”

“I’ll rent a boat and take her out on it. Many Force-sensitives can connect with wildlife.” Ventress shrugged.

Shiani nodded thoughtfully. “You test her, and tell us what you find. But after, you can’t take her. If she needs training, we all will go. If she doesn’t we’ll stay here and keep her safe.”

Ventress nodded. “You’re an odd little creature.”

“I’ve been told.” Shiani smiled, but it didn’t quite touch her eyes. “Thank you for talking to me.” 

Ventress eyed her. “You’re Force-sensitive yourself, aren’t you?”

“All sirens are.” Shiani nodded. “Can’t do what Jedi and Sith can do, though. I don’t need to. Light and Dark side don’t mean the same thing to us.” 

“But which side are you on?” Ventress raised an eyebrow. 

Shiani laughed. “Same side you are, Asajj Ventress. My own side. See you tomorrow.” She limped out of the cave, leaving a very puzzled woman behind. 

The rest of the family was sitting on the ship when Shiani limped her way up to them, the sky past dark now. 

“She leave?” Crosshair murmured as the siren settled into a seat for the expected family meeting. 

“No. She wants to finish testing Omega in the morning. I told her it would be alright.” 

“Why?” Hunter frowned, looking at her. She adjusted her brace casually. 

“Omega needs to know if she has a high M-count, and I can’t tell her. Neither can you.” She looked up, meeting his eyes.

“She’s a fucking war criminal. We can’t trust her around Omega. Do you have any idea how many clones she’s killed?” Crosshair growled. 

“I don’t know much about the war, but if she wanted to hurt us wouldn’t she have killed you three when she had a chance?” Omega pointed out, arms crossed. She looked so serious in the dim ship lights. It dawned on Shiani all of a sudden how far they had all come, from the moment this little family had formed to now. Omega was speaking up, expecting to be heard by her brothers as equals instead of the nervous little girl who’d first joined them. She knew and considered danger, unlike the child who had strayed past the fence into a nexu’s sights in ignorance on Salucemi. Hunter was listening, regarding her intently and seriously instead of trying to conceal the greatest danger to protect her. Wrecker too was focusing on Omega instead of trying to comfort her, giving her choice and agency in the group decision. Crosshair, toothpick in his mouth, was reunited with his brothers and had the same goal of keeping Omega safe. Omega was their equal, like Shiani had once told her she would become.

If only Tech could see this… he might have liked this kind of change.

“We were just getting warmed up.” Wrecker protested. 

“You all got folded like lawn chairs.” Shiani sniffed.

Omega tried not to let it make her laugh. “I think she’s trying to help. People can change.”

Crosshair frowned, looking at her quietly and pointing at her with his toothpick. “You’re being naive.” 

“I never gave up on you, did I?” Omega said firmly.

Crosshair froze, eyes widening before dropping from Omega’s face to Shiani’s. The siren nodded, squaring her shoulders. “Neither did Tech.” 

He sighed. “You really think this is worth the risk?”

“It’s our only chance for answers. If Omega can use the Force like Jedi, we have to find her a teacher. If she can’t, we find a new lead.” She held an arm out and Omega came over, tucking herself close to the siren. “You go meet her in the morning. She’ll take you on a boat. I’ll follow underwater, and keep an eye out from below.” She looked at Wrecker. “If you don’t mind putting me in the water again.”

“Not at all.” Wrecker smiled. 

Shiani got up. “Dibs on first shower.”

Crosshair rolled his eyes, but smiled a little. “Don’t use all the hot water, squidlett.”

She chuckled and limped to get her clean clothes, and Omega smiled. “You three have to promise not to interfere.”

Hunter groaned. “Omega….”

“Please, Hunter. I need to do this on my own.”

The sergeant sighed deeply. ‘Alright. I promise, we’ll stay out of it.” 

He blinked when she threw herself into his arms for a hug. “Thank you for believing in me.” 

“Of course I believe in you, Omega. It’s Ventress I don’t trust.” 

Once Shiani got out of her shower, she settled herself in a bridge chair while the guys settled down for their own showers and bedtime routines. She turned to the console, and started typing. 

Alright Tech, tell me who this Ventress really is.

She pulled up Tech’s old logs, going through everything her mate’s brilliant catalog of a brain had ever found her associated with. Former padawan, who lost her master. An attack on Kamino that led to the father-like clone 99’s death. Republic troops killed when she broke Nute Gunray out of custody. Frequent run-ins with Kenobi and Skywalker. Count Dooku’s apprentice, left for dead, witches of Dathomir, Savage Opress…

The more she read, the more Shiani kind of felt sorry for Ventress. She’d done terrible things, but she’d also been a victim of so many types of loss herself. Shiani guessed if she’d been hurt this many times and hadn’t had the Batch to love her… maybe it would have pissed her off too. It wasn’t hard to see her own reflection is someone else’s suffering, and what made her any better than Ventress in the right situation? 

She slumped back in her chair and rubbed her hip quietly. At least she’d get to go swimming again tomorrow.

Wrecker had taken Shiani into the water at first light, so the siren floated serenely under the pier and waited. She could hear Omega and Ventress talking about what the former Sith had done during the war. Omega was so unflappably unafraid, though Ventress said all her smiling was unsettling. That only confirmed Shiani’s idea that Ventress was much like Crosshair, unused to any kindness and with twice the power as the traumatized sniper to lash out and take the surrounding area out in their wake. 

She swam under the boat when Ventress and Omega got into it, keeping pace with the engine with a little effort. She remembered when she was fast enough to swim circles around a dianoga… back then she could have lapped this boat three or four times as they went along to deep water beyond the reef. It was cooler here, and Shiai stayed out of sight just under the surface and kept watch. 

Far below her was the world she had left behind, the cool darkness of the sea. Kashae and Irri were hard at work, building New Acopit for the sirens while they adjusted to a semi-aquatic life among the people of Pabu. Some had partnered with fishermen and tradesmen here, making friends as their skills were showcased for all their value. Kashae came to land often now, meeting with Shep as co-leaders with Shiani serving as a liaison when she could. It was heartwarming to see, and she’d never missed life beneath the waves when Tech was here. But now, sometimes she wanted to visit Kashe in return. Swim with little Shion, sing with Irri and hunt with the other sirens… just to feel like there was some part of her that had existed before she’d fallen in love that hadn’t died on Eriadu next to the love of her life.

She hugged her arms around herself when she felt a sudden calling, deep inside her gills and hearts, like an encouraging bid to the surface. It felt like the craving she’d had to seek out the light when she was young, the call that dragged her from Acopit to her first sight of the surface of Kamino. She remembered the sting of raindrops on her cheeks the first time, and the clouds and moonlight on the water as she took her first breath of air that tasted of sea salt and freedom. 

Luminescent manta rays came up from below, fluttering past her like a swarm of birds as they headed for the boat above her and started circling. They were beautiful, and she watched in amazement before something pulled once again inside her hearts. She opened her mouth and it poured out, a song she hadn’t felt since the day she’d lost Tech. If she’d been on land she would have had tears on her cheeks as the notes kept coming and coming, sweeping her away as some of the mantas dropped lower to circle her. She threw her head back, eyes closed, and sang her hearts out.

She’d thought she had forgotten joy felt like.

Something brushed her side, and she turned to see a massive vrathean surfacing fast, tentacles reaching up towards the boat. She paled, shooting upwards to the side of the boat. “Omega!”

The girl turned around, startled, just before the vrathean capsized the boat and grabbed her in its tentacle. It dragged Omega under and Shiani went after it at the same time Ventress did. The former sith had her lightsaber out, cutting herself free when the creature grabbed her. Shiani had sunk her teeth into the vrathean’s tentacle that held Omega. It let go of the clone girl, and Shiani swept past her and Ventress to grab their hands and drag them to the surface. The grabbed onto the boat, coughing. 

“You okay?” Shiani frowned. 

Omega nodded, paling when the vrathean fully surfaced. “For now. Did you summon that too?”

“Not intentionally.” Ventress groaned.

Shiani glanced up at the Marauder now heading for them. “Tell them not to shoot. They’ll make this worse.” She muttered, diving under as the leviathan grabbed Ventress and hoisted her into the air. Omega watched her hold out her hand and try to connect to the vrathean’s mind, and felt something deep in her bones coming from below the surface. 

Shiani had wrapped her limbs around one of the larger tentacles and was singing again, soothing it of its anger and hurt, until it went still and relaxed some. The siren climbed up beside its eye and gently petted it as it brought Ventress to its face and her hand pressed to its beak. After a long moment where its massive eyes dilated and it returned Ventress to the overturned boat. It sank back into the depths and Shiani swam over to the other two. 

Ventress raised an eyebrow, pushing her wet hair out of her face. Omega smiled. “You actually did it!”

“Don’t sound so surprised.” Ventress huffed. 

The Marauder hovered low for them, Crosshair practically running down the stairs to get to Omega. Then he politely offered Ventress a hand up into the ship too. “Hunter, get lower. I can’t reach Shiani.”

“You got the other two?” Hunter yelled back.

“Yeah, they can stand on the boat. Squidlett can’t. Get lower!” Crosshair dropped to his knees on the last step and stretched his arm down, grabbing the siren’s arm. “Gotcha.”

She laughed as he hauled her out of the water and set her on the ramp so he could carry her back inside. “Proud of you..”

“For what, pulling you up? You’re my sister.” He grumbled, still thinking of what she’d said last night about Tech having never given up on him just like Omega hadn’t. 

“No, I mean thank you for being nice to Ventress.” Shiani smiled, patting his arm as he set her on a crate in the hold. “She’s just like us.” 

He paused, looking down the ship to where Ventress as listening to Omega describing what she’d done to Hunter. “... I had a feeling you were going to say something like that.”

The family of clone and siren stood in front of Ventress’ ship as they said their goodbyes, Omega curiously bouncing on her heels. “So… what’s the verdict? Do I have a high M-count?” She looked up, eyes wide.

“From what I’ve seen, no.” Ventress shook her head. 

Omega deflated a little, and Shiani put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay.”

“But we still don’t know why the Empire is after me.” Omega’s brow furrowed.

“The truth is rarely comforting.” Ventress shook her head. “But with the Empire hunting high m-count targets, you’re better off this way.”

“Well… thank you anyway.” Omega said kindly, taking Wrecker by the hand and calling Batcher as they headed down the beach. 

Once they were out of earshot, Crosshair fixed Ventress with a hard look. “You’re lying.” 

“About which part?” There was the barest hint of a smirk on her face as she looked at them. 

“You tell us.” Hunter was in no mood to play games with Omega’s safety at stake, and his tone was demanding. 

“If she had a high count, she’d need to be trained. Which means leaving you all.”

“Not going to happen.” Hunter snapped.

“That’s what she said.” Ventress nodded to Shiani. “High M-count or not, the Empire is still after her. It’s worse out there than you know, and you’re not as safe here as you think.”

Shiani furrowed her brow. “You have a high count. The Empire will be hunting you too. What will you do?”

“I’ve still got a few lives left.” Ventress chuckled, turning to walk back to her ship with an exaggerated sway of her hips. 

Crosshair snorted. “I still can’t figure out whose side you’re on.” 

Ventress paused and looked over her shoulder. “It’s like your little friend said. My own.” 

Shiani watched her go as the two brothers looked at her, fingers tight on the handle of her cane as she tried to wrap her brain around everything. The ship pulled out of the cavern and ascended rapidly, disappearing out of the atmosphere and into the cold, beautiful reaches of space. Her hearts ached as a slow realization dawned on her. It wasn’t safe here, and the longer they stayed the greater the chances became that the Empire would find them. Even though she’d brought the sirens here, and made friends, and was starting to feel like life might have some meaning after Tech… “Guys…”

Hunter and Crosshair both turned to look at her. “What’s wrong?” The sergeant frowned, seeing her shoulders tremble. 

“We’re going to have to leave Pabu…” 

[feuqueerfire]

Bad and Crazy Live Blogging

Needed something to watch from iQiyi for my commute now that I have a 7-day VIP pass but I've watched all the kBLs on there that I'd like to and I don't want to watch the raunchy Thai BLs I haven't yet watched (Love Sea, Deep Night) on the train. Thus, this Wi Hajoon and Lee Dongwook duo kdrama.

I had this on my watchlist before it was even released actually because I was on a Wi Hajoon binge in fall 2021. Ended up removing it sometime first half of 2022 it seems like because I got spoiled about the characters being [redacted] and wasn’t sure if that’s a trope I liked. But have watched some more Wi Hajoon and Lee Dongwook shows since then, so honestly, I think I’ll probably like it

Ep 1 (Aug 18)

I wonder if him getting drunk and kicking his car and stuff

oh this cop who they're questioning's background kinda reminds me of Beyond Evil Dongshik's dead partner

ohhhh Senior Inspector Ryu Su Yeol, you are working for corrupt bosses and doing their bidding.

I wonder who this side character and what this missing woman side story is

oh, this woman got disappeared

damn, Detective Do is scary as fuck

oh Su Yoel. i know you'll become good in the end but smh in the meantime

omg, I was wondering if the neighbour woman was lying but didn't expect her to set this guy (Kyung Tae?) up like that

well at least it was the Do fucker and not Su Yeol who hired the woman to pretend to be sexually assaulted by Kyung Tae

1:02:00 lmfaooo the editing of the shaking Assemblyman Do when he found out the bear records things is crazy. also does this mean that the Assemblyman was actually behind the woman's disappearance? And that's why his cousin Inspector Do was on the case of her missing + has the footage of her in the grocery shop?

omg... he was soliciting her? and killed her bc she was using her phone?!?! omg... okay, I did think it was a bit strange how good of a relationship he and his wife had + he was being a good father, I'd expect him to be terrible in some way in regards to family just based on tropes since he's supposed to be corrupt Assemblyman. and indeed he's a cheater and a murderer

Kyung Tae's rooftop apartment... did the main character from Death's Game live here too?

holy shit, much more violent than I expected

oh, I see. I waslike how did Su Yeol's ownself lead him to Kyung Tae's place, not like he'd know he was in danger but I guess he wanted to subconsciously apologize

K finally takes off his helmet

Man, it's Sunday night, and I've gotta go to sleep but in a different world, this would be so fun to binge.

Ep 2 (Aug 19)

damn, the teddy bear camera didn’t even have anything incriminating? and Kyung Tae is lying in the hospital like that smh

ohhh was that van used to cremate Yuna’s body? and they were planning on cremating Kyung Tae’s as well after the fire?

it’s so sad that we know Yuna’s dead and won’t be found even while the kid and others search for her

eughhhh they fucking framed Kyung Tae? I was wondering what was happening with Im Beom standing beside Kyung Tae’s bed if not to kill him

ahh so Ryu Su Yeol just accepted Kyung Tae as the murderer and got promoted to captain

murdered cop Minsu’s secret informant Yuna who was also murdered.

Ah, I wish I was binging this, these cop-mystery shows are always like “I gotta know what happened”

hmmm I don’t think Assemblyman knew that Yuna was related to Minsu investigating whatever when he killed her bc that seemed like a drunken accident where he thought of Yuna as his mistress or whatever

omg he found the necklace and incriminating evidence, wonder if he can actually use it now or if it’ll also be stolen away somehow because we’re only on ep 2. or maybe the show will have smaller villains and story arcs that last 2-3 episodes?

Su Yeol was gonna throw the necklace away into the river?! bro have some integrity omg

ah, the K and Su Yeol being the same person thing is revealed by ep 2, the end of the first week. When I’d first heard the spoiler, I’d thought it was one of the climax reveals.

Ep 3 (Aug 19)

him keeping memories of her and passwords being her birthday lol i enjoy exes to lovers

oh Su Yeol is “a foundling” not biologically related

a drug ring aspect. maybe this is what minsu was trying to figure out

Is the drug lord a NK defect? idk if the way they’re portraying her is… frowned upon but i do enjoy her demeanour and actions and the way she holds herself

oh naur assemblyman is ruining Su Yeol. you let him know you’re onto him way too early with that violence, ma

ah, pathetic begging Su Yeol. at first I was like maybe he's putting on an act but idek now, he's really losing everything i guess + it's affecting his mother

are they gonna have Su Yeol be in charge of the "delivery service" for their drugs? Is the alcohol that Su Yeol's drinking drugged?

I started this to watch on my commute, especially after the first 3 eps so that I can watch after downloading on iQiyi vip but I'm not commuting to work tomorrow, so I don't need to download the episode tomorrow... man, if I watch most of this show without the VIP, what will I even watch with VIP?

Ep 4 (Aug 19)

Episode 4 and yet Ryu Su Yeol is still a bastard who's handing over Kyung Tae, oh man. he's gotta be faking at this point right? there's a plan?

ookay they have a plan

we're only halfway through episode 4, what's gonna happen for the rest of it? the drug people? whatever Minsu was after? Yu Gon trying to get out of jail?

pls him as K donated all his (bribery) money

Ep 5 (Aug 20)

I should have suspected the Narcotics Team Leader fr, oof

I kinda wish we didn’t know so much of the actual crime beforehand, like we knew about Yuna’s murder and now half the Narcotics team. If there’s no mystery and we as rhetorical audience know a whole lot of what’s going on way before the main characters know, it gets frustrating waiting for them to catch up and seeing them be thwarted

Ep 6 (Aug 20)

I’ll be honest idk all these names and faces of side characters and who’s involved with what, so i’m just going on vibes. is the guy who the other guy thought called to tell Su Yeol about Min Su actually the other cop?

ah, they’re Russians. I was like what language are they speaking?

Chan Gi is seriously so annoying why are you now hitting Su Yeol and breaking your phone dumbass

Ep 7 (Aug 20)

i love exes to lovers, Su Yeol coming to Hui Geum’s house and the familiarity

oh they’re making out now

Ep 8 (Aug 21)

different tone and mystery then the first 7 episodes

Ep 9 (Aug 21)

this parent having alzheimer’s thing and their relationship should affect me more, maybe if I was watching at once on my laptop vs here and there on my phone. + idk if lee dongwook’s acting here evoked more emotions in me

this is a very different show now than how we started

I like that at least right now, we're not super ahead of the answers to the mystery the way we were with the previous cop criminals. We're finding stuff about as the characters are figuring stuff out.

I hope Su Yeol really had killed Junho's father in their murder pact. Not a fakeout.

Ep 10 (Aug 21)

yeah, been guessing it was indeed the shelter therapist despite him being ruled out earlier on. i had a small confusion where I thought this man was somehow old enough to have treated people in 1999 because of the files they were going through but ig they were just files of the shelter, not the therapist files.

Ep 11 (Aug 22)

frustrating in a good way I guess since Yunho is always a few steps ahead

Ep 12 (Aug 22)

somehow i wanted the defeat of Yunho to be more satisfying, to see some of it but Su Yeol was asleep for it all it seems

Boss Yong is so cool and brutal, I’m happy she got her revenge even though it felt like The Eye’s existence in the show changed halfway through lol

Overall:

Fine but did not make me feel much and is not going to stick with me the way other shows by these actors have. The first couple of corrupt cop investigations was fine but a bit annoying because we seemed to know everything far in advance to the characters finding out. The second half with Yunho was more interesting in some ways because we also did not know and it was like psychological tricks basically but I wish the ending was more satisfying somehow. Like everything is wrapped up nicely but Inwouldve liked it see it. Nothing super wrong with it but I could’ve just kept it off my watchlist and I wouldn’t have missed much.

Rating: 6/10

[arrowflier]

hi 💛 i know this may be out of character for post-finale, but i was wondering if you could write a bit of angst (with happy ending of course) where mickey becomes more withdrawn from the gallagher fam cause he doesn’t feel like he really belongs (thinking of lip during the “mickey’s not family” kitchen scene and mickey&lip’s fight) - maybe mick is staying back at their westside apartment more often, not attending family events, only feels comfortable around ian, etc. - eventually ian catches on, they talk, and he makes it better 🥰

This went a little different and it's ooc for the other Gallaghers, but I think it still hits the general vibe so I just went with it.

---

The wake of Frank Gallagher’s death was filled with uncertainty. For the present, the future, the family. For Ian. Because for all Ian said he wouldn’t care when Frank died, for all he said he was done caring for, mourning for a man that used him, threw him aside…

When it came down to it, Ian was still a Gallagher. And Gallaghers didn’t let each other go that easily.

Mickey wasn’t a Gallagher. He never had been. And he had never felt that difference more strongly than now, standing behind the counter in the Gallagher family kitchen, feeling like an eavesdropper as he listened to them plan.

Plan for a wake no one wanted, a remembrance no one asked for. Plan out Frank’s goodbye while the man himself sat in ashes on the mantelpiece.

Ian looked tired sitting on the opposite side of the room, facing Mickey. His face was drawn, his eyes squinted thin and surrounded by red, and his mouth twisted as he argued with Lip over how much of the money from selling the house should go toward completely unnecessary arrangements.

“I’m just saying,” Ian said plainly, “that we don’t need to do anything fancy. There’s nothing wrong with a cheap party at the Alibi.”

“Party,” Lip snorted. “Don’t think this is the kind of thing we’re supposed to celebrate.”

“Why the fuck not?” Mickey couldn’t help himself from chiming in. “Frank was an asshole, and nobody cared when he was dyin’ on the goddamn sofa.”

It was true enough. They had all been rather unbothered by his imminent demise until they got the call, a few words over a tinny phone connection enough to suddenly make it real. To make it important.

“No matter how much we hated him, he was still our dad, Mickey,” Lip argued, wiping a hand over his face. He eyed the drink Carl held hungrily before taking a slow sip of his own cola, adding, “Not all of us can just leave family to fuckin’ rot.”

And that hurt. Felt like a fucking kick in the chest, over a heart already bruised. He could see Ian watching him, though, and his husband had enough to deal with without getting into Mickey’s shit again.

“He’s already cremated,” Mickey pointed out, putting on an unconcerned face for Ian’s benefit. “Nothing left to rot, man.”

“Well we can’t just do nothing,” Debbie said, for once on Lip’s side. “I mean yeah, he was a shitty dad, but it’s not like he was Terry.”

“Not a high bar,” Mickey countered. “Think he deserves some kind of parade just cause he didn’t try and kill any of ya on purpose?”

A brief moment, just one, as that went through the room. Then:

“Mickey,” Lip sighed, “just let us deal with this, yeah? This is kind of a—”

“Family only thing,” Mickey interrupted bitterly, repeating words that Lip had thrown around one too many times. “Yeah, I figured.”

Ian offered an apologetic look from across the table, but didn’t argue for him. Not like last time, when his first thought had been to defend Mickey’s place.

Mickey took the hint.

“I’ll be out back,” Mickey said shortly, directed at Ian, and marched toward the door. “You know, whenever fucking family time is over.”

“Mickey…” Ian called after him, but he didn’t get up. Didn’t follow. And as Mickey left, he could vaguely hear Ian making apologies.

So he didn’t stop when he went down the steps. And he didn’t stop at the gate. He didn’t stop at the sidewalk, or the street, or the edge of the neighborhood.

If he wasn’t fuckin’ family, he didn’t need to be at the family home. So he went to his new one instead.

---

“Mickey?” Ian called out as he entered the apartment, hours later. “Mickey, are you here?”

Mickey didn’t answer. Ian found him anyway.

“There you are,” he said with a sigh as he came into the living room, where Mickey lay sprawled over the sofa. He stopped at Mickey’s side, towering over him.

“You weren’t answering your phone,” Ian complained, looking to the device Mickey held with both hands. “Why did you leave?”

“Why do you think?” Mickey answered. “Wasn’t exactly welcome.”

Ian had the grace to look chagrined.

“Sorry about that,” he said sheepishly. “You know how Lip gets…”

“Stupid?” Mickey said, and Ian shrugged.

“I mean, yeah. Kind of.”

Mickey went back to playing on his phone, leaving Ian standing awkwardly at his side.

“I told them I’d come back once I found you,” Ian told him abruptly. “You should come with me.”

Mickey didn’t answer, eyes on his game.

“Will you come?” Ian pressed, and Mickey dropped his phone with a sigh.

“They don’t want me there,” he answered. He lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck, and Ian caught it, pulled it away.

“Why would you say that?” he asked, voice earnest, his thumb tracing circles on Mickey’s wrist.

“Dunno,” Mickey lied, then caved immediately. “It’s a family thing,” he said. “And I ain’t family.”

“You’re my family,” Ian countered, but Mickey shook his head, pulling his hand free.

That wasn’t enough.

They were quiet, for a moment, and Mickey was about to give up and pick up his phone again when Ian broke the silence.

“You’re more family than Frank was, if you think about it,” he said suddenly. “Definitely more of a Gallagher, if you only count the good bits.”

“It’s cheating to only count the good parts of me,” Mickey argued, feeling bitter, and Ian knocked his shoulder with his hand.

“Meant only the good bits of being a Gallagher, Mick,” he corrected, rolling his eyes before they settled, soft, on Mickey’s face. “Stuff like being there, taking care of each other. Sticking together when things get rough.”

“Don’t think your brother agrees,” Mickey said flatly, then winced as Ian sat down hard on his outstretched legs.

“My brother,” Ian started, “is an idiot.”

Well, Mickey wasn’t going to argue with that.

“But believe it or not,” Ian continued, “he does think of you as family.” Mickey tried to cut in, but Ian glared at him until he closed his mouth, settling back against the arm of the sofa.

“You know what I heard him telling somebody the other day?” Ian asked. Not waiting for a reply, he said, “that if they had any trouble, he’d sic his brother-in-law on them.”

“Don’t think using me as a threat counts as me being part of the family,” Mickey grumbled, but Ian shook his head.

“Wasn’t a threat,” he explained. “He was offering your services. Cause you’re part of the family, now, and he knows you would help him.”

He would. Of course he would. Without a second thought, even for his least favorite in-law, even at risk for himself. But it was a surprise to hear that Lip knew that.

“Carl tells people you taught him how to fight,” Ian went on. “Brags that the infamous Mickey Milkovich taught him everything, and that’s why he makes a good cop.”

Mickey snorted. Of course that little fucker did.

“Didn’t think he’d grow up to be a pig, did I?” he said, and Ian just smiled.

“Liam tells the school bullies that if they mess with him, his brother will beat them up,” Ian continued. “Didn’t work very well until he said that brother was you.”

“Damn right I would,” Mickey agreed easily, scowling at the idea of anyone giving Liam a hard time. “He’s a good fucking kid.”

“And Franny fucking adores you,” Ian said, knowing it would make Mickey smile. “Which means Debbie does, too.” Ian scooted closer, sitting on Mickey’s thighs instead of his shins.

“You know I offered to babysit the other day, and the first thing Debs asked was if you would be there?” Ian laughed. “She almost said no until I promised you would be.”

“Little sis has good sense,” Mickey muttered, flushing to his ears, and Ian nodded.

“She does,” he agreed. “They all do.” He raised a hand to Mickey’s face, held his cheek. Stroked his thumb over it. “You’re family, Mickey,” he whispered. “And they love you. Just like I do.”

“Fucking sap,” Mickey murmured, leaning into the touch.

“You know it,” Ian said, and pulled him in for a kiss.

When they parted, Ian took Mickey’s worries with him.

“What do you say?” Ian asked softly, hand sliding down to Mickey’s neck. “Come home with me, let them apologize?”

“Thought this was home, now,” Mickey said.

“It is home, for us,” Ian answered. “But the house is home too. Family is home,” he stressed. “And you’re family.”

“Lip ain’t gonna apologize,” Mickey pointed out next, leaning in again, and Ian shrugged.

“Come home with me and tell him he’s an asshole?” Ian offered instead.

Mickey grinned, resting their foreheads together.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I can do that.”

[ficforce]

Handle With Care

Shinmon Benimaru x F!Reader

SFW

No set timeline

Established relationship

The weather was particularly hot and on days like this, the Town was quieter during the afternoon. People were content to stay in the shade to drink and talk, even the children were willing to wait for the sun to move a little in the sky to cool things down before they played again. Y/N hummed softly to herself as she continued to knit a new blanket for the Guardhouse’s supply. It was an unfortunate fact that sometimes people’s homes got destroyed when someone turned Infernal but the Hikeshi always did their best to provide for their people.

She looked up when a shadow crossed over her and smiled at the man stood in her light, a bored-looking expression on his face, “You’re in my light, Benimaru.” She pat the space beside her on the raised walkway of her friend’s home and the Captain dropped down beside her, “I was going to come home as soon as I finished this blanket, my friend came back early so I wasn’t stuck babysitting all day.” Y/N watched as Benimaru picked up the corner of the blanket to take a closer look at her handy work, “Were you passing by or looking for me?”

“Looking.” Benimaru next picked up one of her needles and gave a small grunt as he accidentally dropped it onto the ground where it seemed to simply vanish, “…Shit. Sorry, Y/N.” He knew she hated when he messed with her tools, he glanced at her face and her soft sigh felt as bad as being told off, “I’ll make sure to pick some new ones up.”

Shaking her head, she finished off the row and put everything down on her lap, “It’s okay, they were getting a little blunt for needlework.” Benimaru watched her reach to the side and hold up her flask, the outside was cracked and the handle broken, “Could you get me a new one of these?”

He blinked at it in silence; wasn’t that one only a few weeks old?

Then he realised that she probably hadn’t had enough to drink, he’d watched her prepare the tea the previous night so that it would be perfect for icing but it seemed her effort had gone to waste.

“Sure,” it was then his crimson gaze caught sight of the tea stain on her favourite yukata, “Did you drop it all over yourself?”

“I was drinking it and then someone walked into me… it was just an accident.” She didn’t dare tell him that the guy who walked into her called her a klutz and gave her a shove - it wasn’t worth the man being beaten to a pulp over a flask and her clothing.

“Tch, they could have offered to replace it for you” He sat up straighter, “Who was it?” he knew Y/N was too kind to make a fuss; she was always letting things like this slide even when it wasn’t her fault. Benimaru wished she would get mad sometimes, she wasn’t weak in the slightest and nor was she shy. She was just too damn nice.

It meant that, sometimes, she was taken advantage of.

He had hoped that maybe it would stop once they became an official couple but it was just the same. “Benimaru, It’s okay, it was just an accident.” She reached over to stroke his cheek and he huffed, “Did you fix the bar you broke last night? I went and apologised for the mess this morning, the owner was still sweeping up glass.”

“Y/N?!” The man she has walked into rushed to help her up and began apologising for knocking her down, explaining that he had been wrestling with two of the other guys there. “We were just messing - you okay?”

“It wouldn’t have happened if that guy hadn’t have touched you…” She should have been firmer in telling the drunk to get lost but she had asked so nicely the man laughed and grabbed her again. “You’re too forgiving, Y/N. If I didn’t know you could handle it I would worry all the time.” Benimaru leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek, “I’ll get you a new flask whilst I’m out with Konro. The Twins found something suspicious so we’re gonna check it out.”

Once the hottest part of the day was over, Asakusa bloomed back into life and Y/N headed to the butcher to pick up something a little special - the Hikeshi had been working flat out and she figured they deserved a little something. Not all of the Hikeshi lived in the guardhouse; some of them had their own homes and families. They only stayed on the nightshifts, if there was a party or if Benimaru had totalled their house. Most of the time everyone liked to meet in the evening and share a meal; this often included wives, girlfriends and children. Dinner was often loud and fun but it meant the kitchen was always busy during the day.

Removing her shoes at the genkan and stepping up into the main room Y/N walked straight into another body. She let out a surprised yelp and fell backwards onto the floor.

The other laughed, “Not if he’s gotta refer to that cripple, Konro. If you can’t fight then just die, ya know!”

Smiling at the three grown men who looked like scolded kids, she shook her head, “It was an accident, don’t worry about it, okay?” Her elbow throbbed a little but it wasn’t worth mentioning, “I’m going to get changed then help out with dinner. You three make sure you don’t hurt each other.”

“Y/N, you’re too nice! Waka woulda kicked our asses.”

“You can have a free hit, we’re men, we can take it!”

Y/N waved them off, “You’ll have to do far worse than knock me down to get a reaction, boys.” It wasn’t that she wasn’t annoyed or that she didn’t want to knock their heads together - she just didn’t like to lose her temper over small things. Maybe she was too forgiving and maybe she was a bit of a doormat but she had people who liked or loved her to get mad on her behalf.

Placing the shopping down at the doorway of her shared room with Benimaru, Y/N removed her yukata and tossed it into the laundry basket before pulling out a fresh one from the drawers. She liked the colour of this one; she also liked that the twins had picked it especially for her to do chores in. It wasn’t like she had to help out around the Guardhouse but she liked doing it… she couldn’t slack just because her lover was the Captain.

Grabbing the shopping on her way toward the kitchen she hummed quietly to herself, grabbing the sliding door to enter she paused when she heard her name from the other side.

“Do you think she’ll notice?”

Another male voice scoffed at that, “Even if she does she’ll not do anything, she’s such a wet blanket - why’s Shinmon even with her?”

“Maybe she’s just a really good lay?” It was only two voices, surprising as the kitchen should have been busier but she recognised the voices as two of the new recruits. They didn’t know her… they had no right to be talking about her this way.

She had heard it before, people made fun of her, they tried to take advantage of her too but she could usually ignore it. Once she got in there she knew they’d be too cowardly to say it to her face.

“She suits him, Shinmon is pretty pathetic - sure he’s strong but he’s not cut out to lead.”

Y/N’s hands were shaking as anger coiled low in her belly, her usual calm demeanour cracking as they mocked the people she loved most. They could say what they wanted about her but that was her family and she couldn’t just ignore that. “Well, the poison I picked up should be enough to see the Lieutenant and kids off. Just gotta hope if weakens Shinmon enough for us to handle him - then we get the old gang back together and take the town. Fucking Hikeshi think they run the place.”

Her eyes widened as she heard their plan, her mind going blank as she dropped the bag she had been carrying and slid open the door to the kitchen.

x - -

Hinata and Hikage both sneezed at the same time and Hikage complained loudly, “Someone’s talking about us!” Hinata nodded and then they both let out a surprised squeal as the ground shook slightly. Running to Konro, they each grabbed his pant leg and looked up at the smoke rising in the distance.

“An Infernal?” Konro looked at Benimaru whilst placing his hands on the girls, “…The alarm isn’t sounding though.” They were already on their way back from investigating what they had thought was a White Clad hideout but turned out to be a secret club for a bunch of kids playing ‘gangs’.

“Not an infernal.” Benimaru answered and squinted at the sky, “There’s a lot of heat and I didn’t hear any explosions…”

“Y/N!” Konro yelled as he got through the crowd and started shouting orders to have everyone moved back, “You’re gonna hurt someone! The fire is already spreading out of control!” She didn’t seem to be able to hear him and he knew she’d never forgive herself for causing this much destruction, “We’ll fix it, Y/N, just stop!”

Benimaru and Konro seemed to realise at the same moment what was happening and Benimaru called up one of his matoi, “What set her off?”

From above it was easier to see that a large crowd had formed outside the Guardhouse, smoke billowed off the burning blue flag that hung by the entrance and he could see part of the wall of the Guardhouse was blown out into the street.

There were a few Hikeshi trying to stamp out the sea of blue flames before they jumped from house to house and in the middle was Y/N.

Benimaru hopped off the matoi once he was close enough to the ground, standing between her and two cowering men, “Y/N.” He hadn’t seen her like this before, he had heard she could get angry but he had never once witnessed it; the bottom of her yukata was burning from the intensity of her ability and her eyes blazed. The way her face contorted in rage was so different from her usual calm expression, all of her anger was on the men behind him, “Whatever they did I’ll handle it - you need to cool down before you get hurt!”

Her ability had one of the highest temperatures on record, she had burnt him on occasion and Benimaru knew that she could burn out fast, he could see her chest heaving already as her oxygen ran low. “Y/N!”

Benimaru approached her after getting a few of his guys to grab the two battered men Y/N wanted to cremate, he reached for her shoulder and just before he could touch her he felt a sharp pain in his stomach and stumbled back a few feet.

She sent two tendrils of flame towards the men behind Konro, they skirted past Benimaru and Konro to catch the clothing of her targets. They screamed in fear as their clothing burnt and the heat started to break through their resistance, the Hikeshi holding them let go immediately. Her hand raised to deliver the finishing blow - she’d lost her senses. All she wanted was for the two men to vanish, to stop existing so that they could never hurt her family again.

“Enough!” Strong arms wrapped around her, Benimaru’s clothing began to smoke within seconds - her yukata was turning to scraps the longer she used her ability, “Stop,” he said into her ear, “This isn’t you, this isn’t my sweet girl - you gotta stop.” He didn’t want to knock her out but he also didn’t want her getting tephrosis.

He was hugging her too tightly for her to finish her attack and instead she increased the heat around her to force him to let go; the buildings on fire nearby lit up more violently than before. “Let me go! They were going to kill you! They were going to poison your food! They didn’t care that they’d kill Konro and the girls too!”

“And you’re gonna burn down the town to punish two cowards.” He felt her stiffen and then her body relaxed against him, the air around her began to cool rapidly and the fires on the buildings began to shrink. “We’re safe, you kept us safe but this is enough.”

“B-Beni…” The man didn’t say anything as she hid her face in his neck and clutched at his coat, “I’m sorry, I… I just- I can’t lose-!”

“I know,” He murmured. Earlier he had wished she would get angry more often but not like this. Not to the point of destroying property and losing her mind, “It’s done… leave the destroying to me from now on.”

“I’m sorry…” She whispered, “I thought I was better than this.” Y/N really thought she had a handle on her anger; it had been years since she had reacted like this. She had lost her family as a child, her mother had infernalised and killed her father before she could be put to rest. Y/N had been angry afterwards, hating that people could burst into flames, hating that the Hikeshi couldn’t get there in time to save what she had left; when her ability came in she could hardly control it and caused fires whenever she got angry. It had taken nearly killing another family to make her stop and change.

To start forgiving people and letting things slide. “D-did I hurt anyone?”

“No one important.” Benimaru picked her up into his arms and turned his head to catch Konro’s gaze, “They were gonna poison us, I’ll leave them to you, Konro.” The Lieutenant nodded and Benimaru headed inside to look after Y/N.

The twins ran after the couple to help, grabbing Benimaru’s clothing whilst occasionally glancing back, Asakusa didn’t treat traitors well and the hearing how they planned to use poison didn’t go down particularly well. “Konro looks real mad.” Hinata giggled.

“They shouldn’t have made Y/N angry first.”

[sisterspooky1013]

Only One Choice, Chapter 5

Read it here on AO3 / Tagging @today-in-fic

They’re sitting in the car outside her mother’s house, and she’s stalling.

“Are we going inside?” Ethan asks with a confused smile, and she nods wearily.

She’s been dreading telling her family. Well, not her mother; Mom will be thrilled, as will Bill. Charlie will act appropriately happy but doesn’t actually care that much. But Missy….Missy will see right through her. She always does.

They exit the car and make their way to the front porch, her stomach twisting in her gut all the way. Ethan knocks, casting her concerned glances intermittently. She knows she’s not playing the part of “recently engaged” very well. She’s told Ethan that it’s just nerves, and that she hates making big announcements, which is true. She’s still trying to convince herself that’s all it is.

The door swings open and Charlie greets them with smiles and quick hugs, and they make their way to the kitchen where Mom is still finishing up dinner.

“Grab some wine and take a seat,” she directs them as they each kiss her on the cheek, “Missy should be here any minute.”

She pours herself a very full glass of wine after asking Ethan if he can drive home, then plants herself in an armchair that only seats one. She���s been craving personal space lately.

Ten minutes later, Missy breezes in the door, giving Dana a skeptical glance; leave it to Missy to immediately pick up on something being off. They better get this over with soon.

They all sit down and say grace. Missy holds her left hand and she can feel the moment her fingers make contact with the ring. Missy yanks on her arm and gives her wide eyes as everyone else at the table thanks the lord for their daily bread. Dana glances at her briefly and then looks away. It will all be out in the open momentarily.

“Before we dig into this lovely meal Mom has prepared for us,” Ethan begins, “Dana and I have some news to share.”

Oh god, here it comes. Maybe the huge glass of wine was a bad idea.

“Am I gonna be an uncle, D?!” Charlie says excitedly, and both she and Maggie shoot him an unamused glare.

“Not just yet, Charlie,” Ethan says with a cautious smile. “Dana and I got engaged. We’re getting married!”

Dana holds up her left hand with a thin smile, and Maggie and Charlie both provide appropriately big, happy reactions complete with hugs and congratulatory slaps on the back. Missy raises her eyebrows and looks at her baby sister with a bemused expression.

“Oh, this is such happy news, I wish your father could be here,” Maggie says, clutching her hand to her chest. “We’ll have to call Bill and Tara after dinner.”

Dana forces bites of pot roast down her throat and avoids her sister’s eye for the following twenty minutes, then leaves Ethan and her mother to share the news with Bill as she escapes to the back porch. Charlie, as usual, finds his way to the couch with a beer.

She’s sitting on the steps of the porch, working on her second glass of wine, when she hears the creak of the screen door behind her. She doesn't need to look to know that it’s Missy; she can hear the swish of her flowy skirt and the jangle of her stacked bracelets. Missy sits down beside her and they are quiet for a few minutes, the dark night illuminated by a waxing crescent moon.

“Is this really what you want, Sis?” Missy asks in a tone that’s soft and concerned.

“Of course, Missy. Ethan and I have been talking about getting married for years,” she says, hoping it sounds more convincing than it feels.

“I know. But…” she trails off and sighs.

“But what?” Dana prods her.

“Look, Sis, Ethan is great. I love him, and he’ll make a great husband. I’m just not sure he’s the right one for you.” Dana can feel her sister looking at her in the dim light, but keeps her eyes on the blooming hydrangea bush at the bottom of the stairs.

“He’s a great guy, Missy. He’s kind, and generous, and he has a stable job. He treats me really well. There’s no reason NOT to marry him,” she offers, taking a big gulp of her wine. “Dad loved him, he’d be so happy to know we got married,” she adds.

Missy scoffs. “Two years underground and you’re still trying to please Dad?”

“He was cremated, Missy,” she replies deadpan, avoiding the point.

“Okay, so two years underwater, then. Doesn’t change the fact that Dad liking him isn’t a reason to marry someone. Neither is them being great husband material. The only reason to marry someone is because you want to marry them. Do you want to marry Ethan?” She can feel Missy’s eyes on her face.

“Yes,” she says in a weak voice, unwilling to elaborate.

Missy sighs. “Okay, if this is what you want, I’ll be here to help you in whatever way you need. But if you change your mind-”

“-I’m not going to change my mind, Missy,” she cuts her off.

“Well,” Missy continues, “whatever happens, I’ll be here. Thick and thin, right?”

Dana looks at her sister then, and smiles as they clasp hands. “Thick and thin.”

&&

The following week, she takes herself out for Sunday afternoon coffee to one of her favorite places near the apartment. She likes to go out alone for coffee or lunch sometimes, just to have some space to think. Lately, she’s been needing a lot of it. The cafe is bustling with the after-church crowd, which makes her feel guilty for not going to mass with her mother. It’s difficult to talk to Mom right now; all she wants to do is talk about the wedding, and that’s the last thing Dana wants to discuss. Ethan wants to get married soon, this fall, and the whole thing is so overwhelming she shuts down every time they try to talk to her about it. She wishes she could pause life for a while, until she can sort out her feelings.

“Fancy meeting you here,” she hears a familiar voice call from beside her, and she looks up to see Mulder, dressed casually in jeans and a grey T-shirt.

She smiles reflexively, the first time she’s felt a real smile tug at her lips in a week or more.

“Mulder, hi,” she says, genuinely pleased to see him. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, this place is right near my dealer’s house,” he responds, and flashes her that boyish grin at her shocked expression. “I was actually just checking out a record store around the corner and decided to grab some coffee. How are you?” The question feels so real, like he actually wants to know how she is. She doesn’t want him to leave.

“I’m well, would you like to sit down?” she says as she gestures to the empty seat across from her, pulling her hand back when she realizes that he’ll likely notice her ring. She surreptitiously slips it off her finger and tucks it into her pants pocket.

He sits, and she can’t help but take in the way his shirt hugs his broad shoulders, and the hint of defined pectorals underneath. He is a seriously good-looking man.

“So, whatcha been up to?” He asks, taking a sip from his to-go cup.

She should tell him the happy news that she’s gotten engaged, but she very much doesn’t want to.

“Not much, just cutting up dead bodies and teaching others how to do the same,” she responds dryly.

“Slicin’ and dicin’,” he says with a nod, and she feels a sense of relief at being able to make such a crass joke to someone who understands the kind of work she does.

“Exactly. How about you, working on anything interesting?” she asks, and never has a social nicety been more genuine.

“That depends on your definition of interesting, I suppose,” he begins, “we’ve got the face mutilator, the acid thrower, and the super-stabber, who you’re familiar with.”

“Quite the line up,” she retorts.

“I realize I didn’t get the chance to ask how you ended up at the Academy,” he inquires.

“Oh, um I was actually recruited out of medical school,” she replies, taking a sip of her coffee.

His eyebrows jump and he leans forward a bit. “You’re a doctor, then?” he asks, and she gauges only that he’s impressed, not surprised, which is a nice change of pace. People don’t seem to realize that it’s not a compliment to express disbelief that she, of all people, would be a medical doctor.

“Mmhmm, all pathologists are trained medical doctors,” she confirms with a nod.

“Your parents must be very proud,” he offers, and she makes a face.

“Not exactly. My father actually passed away a couple years ago, but he was less than pleased with my decision not to pursue medicine as a career. My mom is moderately more supportive, thankfully.”

She catches his eye and is surprised by the intensity of the look he’s giving her.

“I’m sorry to hear about your father,” he says as though he knew the man, and it catches her off guard a bit. She changes the subject.

“What about the X files, anything interesting happening there?”

“Well, no, given that they don’t exist anymore. You wanna hear about an old one I investigated?”

She nods emphatically.

“There was this team of researchers up in Icy Cape, Alaska. They were geophysicists, drilling ice core samples. They’d been up there a few weeks when there was an odd video communication received from one of the research team members saying “we are not who we are” before he shot himself in the head, then all communication went dark.”

“What happened to them?” Scully asks, leaning towards him. She’s immediately drawn in.

“Well, that’s what we went up there to find out; myself a physician, toxicologist and a geologist. When we got there, the whole crew was dead, only a dog that belonged to one of them survived. He appeared to be rabid, and he attacked me and our pilot. When we examined the dog, he had these black nodules on his skin.”

“That sounds like a symptom of bubonic plague,” Scully offers.

“That’s what Dr. Hodge thought too. Anyway, the pilot ended up getting infected as well, and we had to restrain him and remove this worm-thing from his neck. He died immediately after we removed it.”

“A worm-thing?” Scully asks, “what was it?”

“I’m still not entirely sure. The geologist found an ice core sample that was probably over 250,000 years old, and I think the worm came from the ice. Some kind of prehistoric parasite that overtakes its host. We eventually figured out that to kill it, you have to introduce a second worm into the host, and they’ll destroy each other.”

“Why haven’t I ever heard about this? It seems like the kind of discovery that would make the news, at least in the science community,” her mind is reeling, now with excitement.

“Well, that’s the thing. After we were evacuated, they destroyed the drill site and all the evidence.”

“They?” she inquires. “Who is ‘they’?”

Mulder smiles knowingly and she has the overwhelming urge to touch him.

“That’s the million dollar question, Scully. That’s what the X files sought to answer. Who, or what, is behind the mass coverup of information that would prove the existence of extraterrestrial life?” He says it so casually, like it’s the most irrefutable fact in the world instead of some half-cocked conspiracy theory.

“Huh,” she sits back in her chair. “Are there a lot of cases like that one? In the X files?”

Mulder’s mouth quirks, and she can tell that he’s pleased by her interest in his old work.

“Hundreds, though I only have about fifty in my possession. I took the juiciest ones, of course.”

“What else is there? Tell me about another one,” she asks unabashedly. She’s fascinated.

Mulder looks at his watch and makes a face. “I wish I could, but I have a prior engagement. I have them stored at my apartment, I could show you sometime, if you’d like. Do you like cats?”

Her eyebrows lift. “Is there an X file about cats?” she asks, and he laughs.

“No. Well, actually yes, but I’m asking because I have a cat. You aren’t allergic, are you?”

“Oh, no,” she says as she feels her cheeks warm.

He reaches into his wallet and hands her his business card. “Give me a call, or shoot me an email. I’ll show you what the FBI doesn’t want you to see,” he punctuates this with a wag of his eyebrows as he stands. “It was really good to see you, Scully,” he says with an earnest look, those eyes seemingly seeing right through her.

She swallows hard. “You too, Mulder,” she replies, and watches him walk out the cafe door.

She looks down at the business card in her hands:

Fox W. Mulder

Criminal Behavioral Analyst

Behavioral Science Unit

She wonders what the W stands for. She wonders why she cares.

[skywalkerstyles]

Kissing Lessons pt5

Pairing: Bakugou x Fem!Readee

Warnings: domestic violence, abuse, angst

A/N: not proofread

I hear voices.

“Officer, I know you’re just doing your job...But there’s no reason she needs to go into the system.”

“Are you sure ma’am?”

“Officer. I’ve raised this girl as if she were my own since she was six years old. She is family. She will stay with us.”

It sounds like Mitsuki.

“You may collect any items she may need from her home now, an officer is on standby there but you will have to be quick.”

“I’ll go.”

“I’ll go with you. I know what she’ll want to keep.” There’s shuffling, movement. I can’t open my eyes. I want to tell them no. Leave everything. Burn that house of hell to the ground.

“I need to call the office and tell them I’m not coming in. Katsuki you can go if you’d like. I’ll have your father send Mei after they are done at Y/N’s house.”

“Someone should stay with her….I’ll stay. I want to be here when she wakes up.”

Katsuki’s mom puts salve on my cut. Her hands are soft and gentle. She smiles at me kindly as she puts a bandaid over it.

“Be careful with those kids. I know you’re playing but you can get seriously hurt. They are a bit bigger than you dear.” I smile shyly at her, she kisses my cheek and I sprint back towards the back yard to play tag.

My fingers twitch. I flex them, I still feel locked inside my body, I can’t open my eyes, but I can feel again. Am I dead? I hear someone shift beside me. Who is that?

"Katsuki? Why don’t you go home? You don’t have to go to school. Just go home and rest.”

“I’m staying till she wakes up mom….Please.”

“She’s a good girl. She’ll be alright.”

“I hope so…”

“Tell me son. Why didn’t she come home last night?” Home? I did go home. “She never goes over to that place. Did something happen? Was there a fight or an argument?”

“Mom...I….There’s something I need to tell you-”

“H...Home…” my words are hoarse and thick as I manage to finally speak. Slowly I open my eyes, taking in the room around me.

It’s white, sparse, and smells heavily of antiseptics. I see Mitsuki standing at the edge of my bed, and Katsuki himself, sitting in a chair beside me. He’s holding my hand, I don’t think he notices my eyes flicker towards our intertwined fingers. He leans forward, closer to my face, eyes wide and filled with worry.

“Y/N?” Before he can say anything else his mother is by the other side of me, kneeling down.

“Oh sweetheart.” she says, she reaches out and touches my cheek, a dull throbbing starts in my abdomen, I inhale sharply and shift with discomfort. “Are you alright?” she asks, placing her hand on my shoulder.

“Wha...What happened?” I ask, everything is fuzzy, cloudy. Mitsuki is hesitant, she doesn’t want to tell me? Is it that bad? She clears her throat.

“Honey you….Your dad….” a strange sensation of dread washes over me. Memories come flooding back. My mother and father fighting. The gun. The blood. Knocking on the their front door.

My eyes become blurry with tears, I take my hand away from Katsuki, who released me with ease, and wipe my face.

“They’re dead aren't they.” I say flatly. “My parents are dead.” she doesn’t need to say anything. Her face confirms it. I sigh, trying to sit up, I’m tired of laying down.

“Easy.” Katsuki grabs my arm and slowly helps me sit up, while his mother places the pillows beneath my back. I groan as doing this causing the pain in my stomach to sharpen. I flinch, Katsuki doesn’t let go of me.

“Ouch” I moan, leaning back against the pillows. “So...What happens to me now?” I ask his mom, Katsuki’s hand slides down my arm to take my hand again, I let him.

“Well….I told the Officer we would take you. You pretty much live with us anyway so it wouldn’t be much of a change….You can come home.”

“Home?” I ask. She smiles.

“Yes. Our home is your home. It always has been.” I smile, tears falling down my cheeks. I can go home. To my real home.

“Thank you,” I reach out and she wraps her arms around me, hugging me tightly. She kisses the side of my head.

“I need to go and call your father Katsuki, will you stay with her?” He nods as his mother gets up to leave. We sit in silence, he plays with my fingers absently.

“Katsu...I….” I don’t know what to say, there’s a lot I should say, but I can’t think.

“You really….You really scared us you know,” he says, looking up at me. His face is pale and there are dark circles under his eyes. “We thought we were gonna lose you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why did you go there after school? Why didn’t you come home?”

“Because….” I take a deep breath, pulling my hand from his, “Because I couldn’t stand the awkwardness.” I reach up, running my hand over my face. “You just pulled back and...I know it’s my fault. I did it to myself. But….” my voice cracks. “Katsuki you are one of my best friends. And I don’t want to lose you. I want things to be like they were. Before I asked you for kissing lessons, when we could just hang out….I don’t want to lose-” he cuts me off, pressing his lips to mine tenderly. My eyes slide shut, all the feelings I have for him bubble up, I’m so confused.

“You’ll always be my best friend Y/N. That’ll never change.” he says as he pulls away, a soft smile on his lips. “And you can always talk to me. About anything. We’re okay.” I sigh with relief and nudge his forehead with mine.

“I love you Katsuki."

“Tch. Of course you do.” our moment is interrupted by a knock on the door. I look up to see Ash, he’s standing awkwardly with a bouquet of white roses. Katsuki pulls away from me immediately. Ash smiles sheepishly, holding the flowers up.

“I heard what happened….Wanted to make sure you were alright.” Katsuki stands up stiff and rigid, he walks towards the door.

“I’ll go find a vase for these,” he takes the flowers from him. “Give you two a minute alone.” He smiles at me again, making my heart flutter, before leaving me alone with Ash. Ash takes Katsuki’s seat. He looks worried, upset.

“I’m so sorry about your parents,” I feel my jaw twitch. I take the hurt I feel and ball it up, shoving it to the pit of my stomach.

“I think it was going to happen one day….They weren’t good for each other,” I pause, “Or themselves.” Ash takes my hand in both of his, he runs his thumb over my knuckles.

“There’s still so much I don’t know about you. I wanna know. I wanna know everything….But I understand why you wouldn’t tell me about your home life.”

“It’s embarrassing,” I say with a smile. He chuckles.

“Yeah. I guess it would be.” He leans in and kisses me, pressing his lips to mine softly, I let my eyes slide closed and relax into it. “I was so scared.” he echoes Katsuki’s words from earlier. “But that fear made me decide something.”

“What?”

“Homecoming.” I look at him confused. “Homecoming is a month away….If you feel up to it, I’d like to take you.” my mouth falls open in shock and surprise. I was not expecting that, but he looks confident and sure of himself.

“Sure,” he grins, kissing me again. He cups my face in his hands and kisses me excitedly, I smile into it. “That sounds great.”

Katsuki knocks on the door, Ash pulls away from me as he walks in. He sets the flowers down by my bed. They really are beautiful. Ash stands.

“I should probably let you rest,” he says to me, the look of excitement on his face is endearing.

“Thank you for the flowers.”

“Thank you for saying yes.” he turns on his heel, leaving the room with a pep to his step. He sits back down, he opens a bag of chips and holds it out to me. I take one.

“What’d you say yes to?” he asks curiously. I shrug.

“He asked me to Homecoming. I said I’d go.” He nods, we don’t speak again for a little bit. Quietly munching our chips and watching television.

“Y/N.” he says during a commerical break.

“Yeah?”

“I’m not going to say you shouldn’t go. It’s not my place….But I just...I get weird vibes from that guy. Be careful, please. We almost lost you once. We…I mean.....I don’t want to know what it feels like to actually lose you. Okay?” I don’t know where this is coming from, but his face is dead serious.

“Don’t worry about me.”

“Someone needs to.” I chuckle. He faces the tv again and we sit in comfortable silence.

I am released from the hospital a week later. One of the Bakugou’s was with me at all times. I was asked about my parents by the police. They were cremated. They asked if I wanted the ashes. I said no. Katsuki helped me to the car when I was finally released. Going to their home, my home, was like entering a dream. One I’d been wishing for my whole life. A place where I belonged.

Nothing really changes. Mei and I always share a bed so they don’t blow up the air mattress, their dad gets another dresser for me to put my clothes and Mei cleans off her book shelf for my books. This is contentment. This is normalcy.

“I’m so glad you can come back to school. I was dying without you,” Mei says dramatically as I slam my locker shut. My stitches are healing well, as long as I take it easy I can go to school. No gym class though, I am not complaining.

“I’m sure you were just fine.” we make our way to the cafeteria for lunch.

“Really Y/N,” she smiles and nudges my shoulder. “I missed you.”we sit at our normal spot and wait for Kai and Ash to show up. Ash called me alot at home, and came by a few times. Everyone seems to really like him, except forKatsuki, I don’t know why, but his warning pops into my head every time I am alone with Ash.

“Hey beautiful.” Ash wraps his arm around my shoulders and kisses me dramatically. I hear Mei make a gagging sound and flip her off teasingly as he pulls away. “How’s your day going?”

“It’s good.”

“Guess who’s having another party this weekend?” Kai says, pointing at himself. I roll my eyes, Mei does too.

“Really? You have a party almost every weekend.” I snicker when she says this. Ash takes my hand, holding it under the table.

“Well this one is gonna be big! Epic! I swear it.” he kisses her cheek and points at me and Ash. “You two gotta be there.” Ash looks to me, I hadn’t been out since the shooting.

“What do you say? It could be fun.” I nod, giving in.

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

“Mei!" Kai meets us at the door, throwing his arm around his girlfriend and shoving a beer into her hands. “What took you so long?”

“We got held up at home.” I said, Kai barely acknowledges me. Dick. “Is Ash here?” I ask. He nods, bringing his beer to his lips.

“Yeah, he’s upstairs I think.” I question it for a second and then think maybe he’s in the bathroom. I leave Mei and Kai in the foyer and make my way up the steps of Kai’s house. The base from the stereo vibrates through my body. The music is loud. Always loud.

I start knocking on doors and shouting Ash’s name through them. When I get to the door at the end of the hall I press my ear to it. I can hear shuffling. I knock tentatively and try the door handle. “Ash? Is that you?” I push the door open.

Ash looks up at me alarmed, a blonde girl, Tiffany, pulls away from him smugly, her arms still around his shoulders. I can feel my heart cracking in my chest.

“Y/N?” Ash stutters. “It’s not what it looks like-” I turn, sprinting down the steps, I can hear him following me.

“Leave me alone!” I shout as I burst out of the house and into the night air. I can hear him following me quickly, shouting my name, anger becoming more and more evident in his voice. Suddenly I feel his hand, not so gentle, not so kind, on my upper arm. He yanks me around to face him, grabbing my chin in his hand.

“When I tell you to stop, You fucking Stop!” I flinch, his voice sounding very much like my father’s, I feel my body tense up, my jaw is aching from how tightly he’s holding it. His breath smells like alcohol and his pupils are dilated.

“Ash.” I whimper, “Let me go.” He holds me tighter, digging his fingers into my elbow.

“If you ever fucking run from me like that again….”he warns. He doesn’t finish, he doesn’t need too. My head is spinning, he was such a nice guy, so nice to me, I don’t know who this monster in front of me is. He glares at me and lets go of me forcibly. I stumble back and he pulls out a cigarette, lighting it and taking a slow drag. I stand there, afraid if I move I’ll set him off again. We stand in the middle of the empty street, the noise of the party behind us. No one is outside. So no one saw.

Finally he shakes his head, flicking his cigarette away. He comes close to me again, I flinch when he caresses my cheek with the back of my hand, I feel sick.

“You look tired,” he sounds concerned. “You don’t need to be here. I’ll tell Mei you went home.” He kisses me, I don’t kiss him back, to stunned to move. “Go straight home. You go anywhere else...I’ll know.” he doesn’t look back as he leaves.

The kitchen light is on when I come home. I shut the door quietly and try to tip tioe to the room I now share with Mei .I’m shaken, I don’t know what to do, my mind is spinning. How could someone be so sweet and then turn into such a monster. My heart aches from finding him with that girl, and my mind is reeling from the threat he made.

“Y/N.” I stop in my tracks. Of course Katsuki’s still awake. He’s a night owl on the weekends. He comes into the hall, turning the light on. I turn my face away, trying to hide how shaken I am. “You’re early.” he says. I shrug.

“H...He wasn’t there. I decided to come home.” Katsuki reaches for me and I move away out of instinct, wrapping my arms around myself. I refuse to look at him.

“Hey,” he says, no doubt surprised by my reaction. “You okay?” before I can stop him his hands are on my face, they’re nothing like Ash’s. Katsuki’s hands are soft, and kind. He tilts my face up and I watch as anger washes over his features. He narrows his eyes, and when he drops his left hand, grazing my arm I flinch and hiss. Shit.

“Katsuki I-”

“What happened to your face?” He gently pushed my jacket off my shoulders and down my arm, I can see the purple bruise forming clearly. “What the fuck Y/N?” I pull away from him, my face to the ground and pull my jacket back up. “Ash was at that party wasn’t he?” I shake my head. His eyes are dangerous, his voice barely kept quiet as anger rolls off him.

“I fell. You know how clumsy I can be.”

“Y/N.”

“Katsuki stop. Please,” my voice is pleading, I need to be alone, I need to clear my head. “Please I’m tired….I just want to take a shower and go to sleep." Katsuki opens his mouth, ready to say something else but thinks better of it. He shakes his head, irritated but doesn’t press.

“Whatever you say Y/N.” tears burn my eyes as he walks back into the kitchen.

The water is warm, I let it was away all my anxiety. I examine myself in the mirror when I finish, there’s a few small bruises where Ash grabbed my face, my arm got the brunt of it. I make excuses for him in my mind and take a shaky breath. He had been drinking. Maybe he was really drunk, maybe that girl seduced him. Maybe he didn’t mean it. He didn’t know what he was doing.

Katsuki P.O.V

I ask Mei the next morning when she comes home if Ash was at that party. She tells me that he was. My blood is boiling. I know he put his hands on her. I know he did, but she won’t tell me. Y/N avoids me all day, I don’t take my eyes off of her. I want to protect her, I want to take care of her. She’s been through so much...I just wish she trusted me with this. I wish I had proven myself worthy of her trust.

I decide to keep an eye on her, and Ash. If I see him do anything….it won’t end well.

[krysphycookiez]

Heyo hun can i request a NCT 127 scenario please? 🥺 where the foreigner fem!reader is the same age as haechan and they're both gemini's (reader late may - haechan early june) and they're a lot a like to the point where they're known as the nct twins. johnny is basically their dad. lmaoo.

(ps. reader doesn't refer the boy as hyungs.)

if you don't feel like it that's fine hun. 🥺❤

nct 127 | gemini twins

synopsis: you’re the same age as donghyuck and both of you are very similar, to the point you both are known as the ‘twins of nct’ amongst the group

genre: fluff, platonic, slight humor, one-shot

pairing: nct x foreign!fem!reader

tw: none except for a bit of swearing

a/n: hi sweet pea! thanks for requesting, i really appreciate it <3 this one in particular was a little specific so i apologize if there’s some parts i missed! with that i hope you enjoy!

btw, anything in italics and bold is in english :)

❤︎

“do you think johnny hyung will kill us if we do this??”

“last time we did, he almost cremated us into paste. let’s do it,”

“hell yeah,”

you and the little sunshine himself, lee donghyuck, we’re currently hovering over your tired leader’s sleeping expression, while setting up alarm clocks around him strategically.

both of you guys were known as “the twins of nct”, with the two of you being gemini’s and similar in personality, that name was bound to come around. the slightly younger male next to you snickered as he set up the alarm clocks, and fleeing along with you once it was all set up.

once the two of you got into a safe position, you looked at the timer on your phone, and the alarm clocks were going to set off in 5 minutes. sure you got an earful from doyoung and mark cussed you out in english, but it was worth seeing their funny reactions.

the tan-skinned male pulled out a small tablet and turned on the screen, and what appeared on the screen was camera viewings of each member’s rooms, all of them sleeping soundly, unknowing of the danger that awaits them.

both of you snickering quietly to yourselves, you both sat on the couch, awaiting the amazing reactions that was gonna come from your fellow bandmates, but you both were unknowing on the figure standing behind you.

“what are the two of you doing?” johnny, one of the older members asked you suspiciously, making you both freeze up and turn around nervously. “o-oppa! uh— well we were just- y’know—“

“AHHH WHAT IS THAT SOUND—“

your statement was quickly interrupted when you heard the familiar voice of your fellow member jungwoo. both you and the soft-faced male both turned over to the screen with excited smiles, while johnny tried to peer over your shoulders to see what you two were looking at.

“what did the two of you do this time?” he questioned, as if you guys were some sort of criminals. “just gave them a nice good morning greeting~” the sunshine maknae said cheekily while he was watching his members catastrophe in the cameras.

despite the fear and terror that ran through your bodies when entering the member’s rooms, it was so worth the risk. jaehyun was trying to calm down a screaming jungwoo, your leader knocked over various things on his nightstand which hit mark on his toes, but the cherry on top was yuta desperately trying to turn off the alarms with his sleeping mask still on, running into taeil on the way as well.

you and the devilish maknae exploded with euphoria, you could feel tears of joy pricking at the corners of your eyes while donghyuck was hunched over his seat laughing out loud. johnny just sighed, growing tired of your guy’s antics, but he could feel the small smile teasing the corners of his lips.

after the whole fiasco went down, all of the members went downstairs and you laughed even more at their tired and sleepy faces. they looked angry, but you knew deep down that they actually didn’t have the energy to be mad at you.

the first one to speak up was none other than taeyong himself. “did you brats start this whole thing?” he questioned in a somewhat intimidating tone, but his tough facade soon fell after he saw the both of you laugh even more, making his face light up a bit.

in between huffed pants, a familiar cute voice answered. “y-yes, hyung! it was us!” donghyuck replied, still trying to catch his breaths while you were already gone on the couch. “why did you guys do that!? i was just sleeping after staying up last night!” mark yelped out in a distressed voice, automatically switching to english, so you assumed the statement was directed towards you. “s-sorry mark! we just wanted to prank you guys a bit..” You said still recovering from your laughter, which can be seen through your stuttery tone. you were born and raised in a country that spoke english, so you obviously knew how to speak it.

before the other members could counter, a voice of reason spoke up. “alright guys let’s just get ready for the day, at least y/n and donghyuck are ready for training,” johnny said as-a-matter-of-factly, leaving the other members dumbfounded.

“hyung but they—“

“did i stutter?”

“ON IT—“

ఌ

“hey give me the strawberry mochi,”

“no i’m not, donghyuck.”

“why not???”

“because i’m older than you,”

“yeah by like only two weeks,”

“still,”

“both of you just shut up and eat your food,” doyoung said a bit irritated by your guy’s bickering, making the two of you chuckle cheekily as you went back to eating your food. you and the boys just finished rehearsing your newest comeback, superhuman. it was a nice change of pace for a song, given that it was very positive and energetic.

“hey y/n— aren’t you gonna visit the dreamies with haechan soon?” johnny asked you, while you were munching on your delicious cold snack. you swallowed the food and replied. “yeah we will, right after lunch actually,”

“the two of you are lucky, i can’t see them any time soon,” mark said sulkily, making you chuckle. “must suck to suck, mark,” “shut up.” mark said while playfully punching you in the shoulder, which resulted in you punching him back. your little banter was soon interrupted when a familiar voice ringed in your ears.

“ay what’s up twins of nct!?”

“eyyyy jaemiiiiin!!”

you and sunny hyuck got up excitedly to be met with the two members of nct dream, na jaemin and huang renjun. you all did a signature handshake you came up with and laughed while the 127 brothers watched you guys with happy smiles. “how have you guys been?” the chinese boy asked curiously while donghyuck waved him off. “pssh! we are fiiine~ mark was being annoying as always,”

“i’m right here!”

“i know~”

the flirt of the dreamies just chuckled and wrapped his arm around you, pulling you closer to him, much to your surprise. “well let’s go! chenle and jisung planned some awesome things back at the dorm, and jeno is cooking some good food too!” jaemin exclaimed, but his smile disappeared when he heard the familiar sound of someone clearing their throat and putting their hand on his shoulder.

“and will you kiddos cause any trouble? i don’t want managers to come and cause some more chaos while you guys are away.” taeyong asked sternly to the younger male, causing him to gulp the lump in his throat. “w-well hyung- we were gonna just play games and stuff...” he said nervously while you silently snickered at him. you knew taeyong just didn’t want anything bad happening to you, considering that jaemin made a particularly inappropriate joke that quite literally almost landed him in the wrath of mom taeyong.

“are you sure about that, jaemin?”

“yes i’m sure!”

“don’t worry about it taeyong, they won’t do anything.” johnny said while approaching the duo, making jaemin sigh in relief. taeyong just sighed and let go of jaemin’s shoulder. “alright, but if you brats do anything i’m gonna—“ “taeyong.”

the leader slightly froze at johnny’s words and didn’t say anything further. but when johnny walked away, he turned back to renjun and jaemin and said seriously, but cutely. “i’m watching you.” in english before walking out of the room.

all four of you stood there confused for a moment before letting out joyous laughs. all of you were hunched over trying to catch your breaths while jaemin wiped a tear from his eye. “holy cow hyung is scary! i thought i was gonna die!”

“mhm, i don’t blame ya. however he does have a point, if you do anything to y/n i swear on yo fuckin yEEZY’S—“

“hyuck, not the time.” you said sternly at the slightly younger gemini, making him smile cheekily. this overprotective brother side of his really was something. “fine fiiine~ but still, i see you, jaemin.”

“alright alright i won’t do anything!”

“come on guys let’s just go, we don’t wanna keep the others waiting.” renjun said excitedly while running off, making the three of you trail behind him in pure joy, ready for the fun that’s about to start.

❤︎

ANNND DONE! thanks for the request again! this one was really fun to write for, sorry if i did miss anything though i promise i didn’t mean it qwq

this is @/krysphycookiez logging off... ♡︎

[harryhandstan]

you bring me home

tw: death

word count: 2,356

This is a piece that was something more personal to me and I'm thankful to Olivia (@bfharry​) for allowing me to include it in her bf!harry fic-a-thon. My aunt died in early December of 2019 very suddenly. She and my uncle had been together for almost 20 years, but since common law marriage is not recognized in my state, her sister was in charge of all arrangements. Her sister lived in another state and basically just called and set up everything for her cremation over the phone. My uncle was too devastated to really speak up and say anything, so my family and I never truly got a chance to have the experience of a funeral for her. I never felt like I got that closure I needed, so for the past 8 months since her death, my brain has cycled through this vicious cycle of denial and depression, never fully reaching acceptance. This piece is basically just the experience I wish I had and Harry helping me through the grief process.

It's also the very first Harry thing I've ever written and posted here so any and all feedback is welcome!

also lots of hugs to @geoffwittek​ for reading over everything for me and being such an angel in general 

"Linds? We're gonna be late, love. Your family's still meeting at 3, right?"

His voice sounds distant, despite you both being in the same room. Your brain registers the noise but is unable to form a response.

He stands near the end of the bed, hands in his pockets, head down, "We don't have to go if it's too much for you. I'm sure your family would understand."

The black dress Harry helped you shop for 2 days ago lays, taunting you, at the end of the bed. You remember mindlessly wandering around before you had a breakdown in the middle of the department store. Harry had to sit with you on the bench outside of the store until you pulled yourself together enough to go back in.

Nearly a week ago, you had answered a call from home only to find your world turned upside down. Your Nanna cried on the other end, she couldn't believe the news was true either. It was so sudden and so unbelievably unexpected.

Your Aunt Linda was dead.

Thankfully, Harry had invited you over for dinner and a movie that night. You still don't remember how you stopped crying long enough to tell him the news. He held you on top of his chest, letting you sob until exhaustion took over and you fell asleep.

Currently, you were sitting on the side of the bed. Something in your brain had prompted you to gather enough strength to take a shower a couple of hours ago, but you hadn't had the energy to move since then. Harry's warm hand squeezing your shoulder brings you back to reality long enough to look at the clock and see you only had 10 minutes to get ready and be out the door.

"You coming back to me there, angel? Anything I can do to help you get ready for this?" he kneels in front of you, one hand on your thigh, the other cupping your face, wiping one of the many tears that were starting to form and fall.

"No, no, I can do this. I still wanna go. Just give me 5 minutes to get ready?"

"I'll go warm up the car." he leans up slightly and kisses your cheek before grabbing a set of keys off the dresser and disappearing down the stairs.

You throw the dress over your head quickly. Dread builds in your stomach but you push through, selecting a pair of pantyhose and taking longer to put them on than you have to spare, making sure you don't rip the delicate fabric. Shoes waited on the floor at the foot of the bed, a simple pair of black flats with a small silver buckle.

The bathroom lighting does you no justice as you try your best to do something to make yourself look somewhat presentable. You know there's no point in makeup, it'll all end up washed away by tears most likely before you even arrive at the funeral home. You apply a quick layer of moisturizer, hoping your skin will have a chance to recover before it's all washed away too. Your hair gets swept back into a low bun and at the last minute you grab a pair of earrings to loop through your ears on the way down the stairs and out the door.

The cold, winter air of December surrounds you as you make your way to the car. Harry was true to his word and had the car warm and waiting for you.

You take a shaky deep breath once you're settled in the passenger seat. Harry rests a hand on your knee, "You sure you're ready, peach?" you smile faintly at his nickname for you.

You'll never forget meeting him for the first time and comparing accents; your Georgia drawl versus his British one. Some nights when you were both delirious with sleepiness but unable to drift off, you would just exchange single words back and forth, trying to mimic one another. The nickname tended to roll off his tongue easier when you were in your hometown.  

You shake your head no. How could you ever be ready for a day like this? Despite she and your uncle never getting married, she always supported and loved you and your siblings as her own nieces and nephew from day one. How were you supposed to live without a woman who always had an encouraging or motivational word to offer when you were sad or frustrated? A woman whose light was so bright in your life that her absence surrounded you with a darkness you could never imagine pulling yourself through? ______________________________________________________________

"You're making your lip bleed, lovie. Here." He swipes a thumb softly over your bottom lip. He pulls a tube of lip balm out of his coat pocket and you gratefully take it and use it.

"I don't know how much longer I can do this, H." You look down at your hands, a few frayed tissues lay on your lap, messy and still wet with tears. Your gaze meets his, eyes pleading for some sort of escape.

His arm wraps behind your back and a hand rests on your side, pulling you closer to him. He kisses your temple, "Do you want to leave?" His voice is a low, comforting rumble in your ear.

You look around at the small funeral home chapel. Only two of the twelve long wooden pews were filled. Most of your aunt's family still lived in Virginia, where she was originally from, and none of them could be bothered to pay their respects here in small town, Georgia. You couldn't leave now.

He reads your face, a brief glance over your features, feels your body relax into his, "Just say the word if you change your mind, alright?"

You rest your head on Harry's shoulder for the remainder of the sermon. The preacher is nice enough, but the speech he prepared is all wrong. Your aunt would have appreciated this, but it just wasn't her. Wasn't an accurate representation of who she was and the impact she had on your universe.

The preacher finally wraps up with a prayer, asking all to stand and bow their heads. You've never known Harry to be a particularly religious sort, but he grabs your hand and squeezes as he bows his head. A quick and thoughtful reminder that he's still there. He's not leaving your side.

The small gathering of guests parades past the casket now, all expressing their final goodbyes as they pass. Harry stands back, quiet and respectful, letting your family through first before he rejoins you. His hand lands on the small of your back and wanders around to rest on your hip as you walk back into the lobby together.

You accept a few hugs and expressions of condolences from the few friends that came. Your hand stays loosely tied to Harry's the whole time, and he uses his free hand to greet everyone you introduce him to. Your family offers you a spot in the family car to the graveside, but you decline. Harry assures them he'll drive you to the cemetery safely.

The graveside service is thankfully quick. Another gathering of guests and more kind words from the preacher. A small prayer. Emotional exhaustion is settling into your body, and Harry easily supports your weight back to the car when the service is over.

"Your Nanna cornered me in lobby before we left the funeral home while you were talking to your cousin," he starts the car and fiddles with the controls, adjusting the heat, "she wants us to come to her house for a bit. Are you up for that?"

You nod your head yes, still not sure if your voice is strong enough to not break when you answer him. You know it will only be your family there. 8 people, including Harry. You could handle that.

"Should we grab a bite to eat before we go? You haven't eaten much today, honey."

You chuckle. The first genuine laugh in a week bubbling up through your chest. You stop when you notice Harry's adorably confused expression, his brow furrowing together with slight concern.

"Oh, no. You don't eat before you go to Nanna's house, trust me." ______________________________________________________________

Harry is a warm addition to the small house on the hill.

His eyes go wide when he sees the amount of food spread across your grandmother's small round kitchen table. His gaze follows everyone already seated around the table and then back to you. All you can manage is an "I told you so" shrug.

"Is all this just to impress me or..?" his voice is a whisper in your ear, but the kitchen is so small it echoes around to the whole table.

"No, babe. This is how it always is at Nanna's."

Your Nanna and Aunt Donna, who you're sure spent all day making everything, insist that it's not THAT much food, but you know you'll all be guilted into at least finishing a full plate AND taking leftovers home for later. You're thankful to see even your uncle has a plate in front of him, knowing his appetite hasn't been the same since he lost your aunt.

When dinner is finished, a pot of coffee is made and passed aroud to accompany dessert. The aroma fills the house, the strong scent a comforting reminder of your Aunt Linda. She always said she hated the taste, but loved the smell. You inhale, the essence surrounding you and bringing back warm and lovely memories. You catch Harry's eye, a small smile crossing your face.

He makes his way around the living room, refilling a few mugs along the way. The open entryway between the two rooms allows you to watch the path he takes. He stops where your momma sits in a green plaid armchair, her lips are moving but you can't make out what they're saying. They both look at you and he turns back to her, a charming smile lighting up his face.

By the time he makes it back to the kitchen, you've slipped into your Nanna's bedroom. You know it's normally rude to disappear, but this place is home. Had been your second home all your life and you knew no one would care that you were slipping your shoes off and crawling under the covers of the freshly made bed.

You hear a lull of voices outside the door, and you're thankful for the noise, for the small comfort of gentle chaos. If you listen closely, you could pinpoint individual noises throughout the house; your dad and Nanna talking politics, your momma and sister flipping through channels on the living room tv, your Aunt Donna and your uncle questioning Harry about his favorite British television shows. You hear water running and picture Harry, his tall frame towering over the tiny kitchen sink, helping with the dishes. You feel a slight bit of guilt for leaving him alone, but by the sound of his laughter, he's making himself right at home too.

You drift to sleep, and when you wake, Harry is next to you. His long fingers smoothing comfortingly up and down your arm, "You disappeared, love. Thought you might like some company. Hope you don't mind me joining you."

You shift your body closer to him, your head on his chest, his arm resting behind your head, "Is everyone still here?"

He brushes a loose strand of hair out of your face, tucks it neatly behind your ear, "Your uncle just left a minute ago, but everyone else is still around. Your brother called, said he was sorry he couldn't make it. I came to find you, make sure you were okay."

Your little brother was in his last semester of college. It was finals week and you know he would've been here if he could.

"I'm okay...I mean as okay as you can be after a day like today, you know?"

"Yeah, I know."

You slip off the bed and Harry follows you, hands on your waist to steady your balance while you slip your shoes back on. He helps you remake the bed, and the two of you make your way back towards the kitchen, now quiet that everyone moved to the living room.

"Harry?" You turn back at the last second before you leave the room. He's following so closely behind you you end up pressed against him.

"Hmm?" He catches you, pulling you even closer, the light from the kitchen shining on his face.

"I haven't had a moment to thank you today. For all of it..dropping everything and flying out here with me, spending the whole day with my family, driving me everywhere, just being here with me. You've kept me sane and I could never repay you for something like that."

"You don't have to thank me. I wouldn't have dreamed of being anywhere else than right here. You needed me and that was all that mattered, everything else can wait."

______________________________________________________________

“Ha! Look at baby peach! How old were you here?”

Your lap was covered in pictures, the few favorites you had brought with you from home. Harry was plopped next to you on the couch. The picture in question is a baby picture of you, chocolate icing all over your chubby cheeks.

“That’s my first birthday party.” You giggle at his smile, the way he can’t stop staring at the photo.

You shuffle through a few more, Harry being curious about each one and questioning you about every detail.

“Who’s this?” The picture he hands you takes your breath away for a second. You forgot it was mixed in and he instantly knows by the tears filling up your eyes.

“It’s your Aunt Linda, isn’t it? I’m sorry, I didn’t know..”

“No, it’s okay. This is a good picture of her. She had such an amazing smile.” He rests his head on your shoulder. 

“She loved you so much, babe. She would be so proud of you.”

“Yeah, she would’ve thought you were pretty great too, H.”

[apocalypseornaw]

Always be Yours- 12

Word Count: 6,134

Story Summary: follows Dean and the Reader through season 9 into season 10

Chapter Summary: Kevin makes his ghostly presence known and that leads to a rescue mission. You finally get tired of the boys not talking.

Warnings: the usual. Blood, fighting, cursing, talk of sex

You stepped out the shower and dried off then dressed before going in search of Dean and Sam. The phistaco case had a couple close calls and you were all a little spent but it was nice to be working together again, it was nice to be home in the bunker but the animosity between the two of them was chokingly strong and you couldn’t fix it. No matter how much you wanted to, you knew they had to get there.

You stepped out into the hall and headed to your shared room with Dean first but when it was empty you headed to the kitchen. You were about to step around the corner when you heard Sam say “Just once be honest with me, you didn’t save me for me. You did it for you” you stopped and knew you should just walk back to the room and wait for Dean but that little voice inside your head said to listen so you leaned back against the wall. Dean’s voice broke through the silence “What are you talkin about?” you could hear it in his voice, the guilt and the pain. No matter how much you cared about Sam you hated to hear Dean sound like that. 

“I was ready to die. I should have died, but you..you didn’t want to be alone. And that’s what this all boils down to. You can’t stand the thought of being alone..I’ll give you this much..you’re willing to do the sacrificing as long as you’re not the one being hurt” in all the time you’d known him you’d never really gotten pissed off at Sam. Yeah when he was hooked on demon blood he was a problem but you knew a lot of that had simply been the addiction. Then when he was soulless he was a douche but now he was just saying things to hurt. You started to let your presence known until Dean said “All right you want me to be honest?” you knew whatever was about to go down between them had to so you remained unseen and silent as Dean continued “If the situation was reversed and I was dying, you’d do the same thing.”

Your stomach fell when Sam said “No Dean, I wouldn’t. Same circumstances I wouldn’t” Dean didn’t say anything so Sam sighed “I’m gonna get to bed” fuck you were about to get caught eavesdropping. Your room that still held most of your weaponry was closest so you ducked into it and waited until you heard Sam walk by and his door close before stepping out. You glanced towards his room and saw the small amount of light from his tv so you walked slowly towards the kitchen.

You stepped around the corner and Dean glanced up from where he was sitting at the table “Hey baby” you breathed and he nodded “Hey sweetheart. Did you hear any of that?” you started to lie, you really did but you couldn’t not in that moment. “Yeah but Dean I think he’s just still hurt” you tried and he shook his head “Come here” you walked over and climbed into his lap letting him pull you against his chest “Maybe he’s right and not just about him. Even Crowley called me out on the fact that I’m putting a target on your back for Abaddon but I still don’t want you to leave. I don’t want to be alone. I can’t stand the thought of losing you or Sam”

You tried to pull back to look up at him but he held you in place so you simply kissed his neck since that was the only thing you could reach “You’re not going to lose me Dean. For what it matters I don’t think you’ll lose Sam either it’s just going to take time. Now that we’re all back here I’ll try talking to him about it more so maybe I can get through to him, make him see?” He kissed the top of your head with a sigh “Can we go to bed? I’d much rather feel you next to me than think about this any more”

You nodded “I like that plan actually” he let you climb out of his lap then took the hand you held out. When he stood he pulled you against him for a kiss. It started innocently enough but when you felt his hands curve across your ass you smiled into the kiss “I thought you wanted to go to sleep” he pulled back and shrugged “I said go to bed not what we can do once we get to bed” you shook your head with a laugh and grabbed his hand “Well what are we waiting for in that case?” 

------

You laid there a few hours later your bare body pressed against Dean’s as his fingers trailed along your spine. You knew he was watching you without turning over to look at him. You’d find him doing that even more often than before. “You’re not weak for not wanting to be alone” you whispered into the dark and his fingers stopped their rhythmic motions “What?” he questioned so you turned over pulling the sheet up around your breasts to keep some sense of modesty while you spoke because if given the chance Dean would take the distraction.

“Everyone’s lonely in this life Dean, even people who aren’t as complicated as we are. I think sometimes the point in life is finding your person or people that chase the lonely away and hold tight to them with everything you have. It takes more strength to fight for those you love than to walk away” he half smiled then tugged you over on top of him so you were effectively straddling his bare waist “How the hell can you be this amazing and want someone like me?”

You lightly grazed your nails across his chest smiling when he closed his eyes and swallowed hard at the action “Whatever happens with the mark and with Abaddon, I’m yours Dean” he opened his eyes and god it felt like he was looking into your soul itself when he said “And I’ll always be yours but if she targets you..” you cut him off by catching his lips in a gentle kiss “Then I’ll fight the bitch with everything I’ve got” you started kissing down his jaw causing him to roll his hips up into yours and you groaned when you felt how hard he was again. “Now who’s using sex to sidestep an argument?” he teased with a laugh that turned into a sigh of your name when you started kissing across his chest. “Are you asking me to stop?” you questioned glancing up at him. He licked his lips before shaking his head profusely “Hell no” you grinned and let the sheet fall away.

-------

You were half asleep around three the following morning when you got a sudden chill. You sat up and glanced around. When you reached to turn the bedside lamp on you could see your breath and heard what sounded like whispering from the hallway. “Um Dean?” he sat up and his eyes flew to the flickering lamp. “Shit”

You quickly climbed out of bed pulling pants on under the shirt you slept in before grabbing one of the sawed off shotguns from Dean’s stack of weapons. You chunked it to him then grabbed the other one.

You stepped out into the hall and motioned towards the garage so he took the other direction. You slowly crept around each corner checking the noises and mentally cursing the flickering electricity. When you got to the garage you flicked the lights on for the lower level and stepped inside. You went over the lower and upper level to no avail except for the lights flickering off and on. When you walked by your jeep the radio came to life but the moment you touched the door handle it shut off.

You decided to head back towards the library when you heard Dean call out for Sam followed by Sam calling out for Dean so you picked up your pace, still carefully checking every corner you went around. You slid around the corner in the map room in enough time to see Dean blast the spirit before it hit Sam. “Well” you spoke getting both of their attention on you before Dean nodded “Yup,bunker’s haunted”

------

You walked into the kitchen as Dean was questioning “How is this possible? This is supposed to be the safest place on the planet” “Nothing could’ve got in” you replied, taking the cup of coffee he offered you before walking over to the table to start helping Sam make more salt rounds. Sam nodded in agreement with you “Like Y/N said, the bunker is warded and sigiled from top to bottom. There’s no way something came in from the outside” “Ok, so whoever’s haunting us died here” Dean reasoned you were concentrating on filling the shell in front of you and only half involved in their conversation “What, dead man of letters?” Sam asked.

“Doesn’t track. We’re the first people to occupy this place in fifty years. Why would a ghost wait so long to get it’s spook on?” Dean argued so you glanced up and offered “Must have been a more recent death” “No” Dean said shaking his head. 

“How can you be so sure?” Sam asked and Dean pointed at you “Me and Y/N burnt his body ourselves” he looked towards you “Sweetheart it can’t be him” “Dean we’ve cremated people and they’ve still managed to haunt. What if he’s tied to something of his that’s still here?” Dean sighed “Baby, I’m telling you this ghost. It’s not Kevin” time the name left Dean’s mouth the coffee maker started beeping like a prize had just been won on a game show. “Kev?” you asked and one of the coffee cups exploded.

“I think it’s a better possibility than you thought Dean” Sam stated motioning at the mess before he glanced over his shoulder at you. “Call his name again” “Kev?” you spoke lightly standing up as you walked towards the coffee maker and it started beeping again. “What do we do?” you asked looking at Dean who looked just as lost as you felt.

------

You decided to go back to the garage since your radio had acted up to try to see if Kevin may feel chatty there. You were also giving Sam and Dean a chance to talk in hopes that maybe they actually would.

You walked into the darkened garage and slowly walked up to your jeep. You touched the handle and was hoping the radio would do something but nothing happened. You sat there for the better part of a half hour trying. You finally took a deep breath before saying “Kev, I don’t know if you can hear me but I am so sorry. God that falls so flat but I am. Me and Dean we let that angel in not knowing much about him to save Sam. We kept the truth from you, from Sam and from Cas. I should’ve helped to protect you. I should’ve stayed at your side that day. I should’ve done something. Now you’re gone, Cas is fighting other angels..Sam and Dean..they barely talk. Everything’s gotten so fucked up and I have no clue what to do. I should’ve saved you. We should’ve done more. You didn’t choose this life like we did. You were a kid and you lost everything but still chose to help fight in whatever way you could. You were the one who deserved to make it out of this alive more than any of us” you slowly climbed out the jeep then headed back down to the lower level.

------

Once you were back in the main part of the bunker you headed towards the kitchen and found Dean alone which wasn’t really a surprise. You froze at the door when you heard him say “It was my fault. There’s nothing I can do to make it right and I am so sorry” you stepped around the corner as the lights started to flicker. Dean had his hand covering his eyes and didn’t see you or the lights. Before you could say anything Sam ran into the room behind you “Did you see that?” Dean looked from you to Sam so you said “Yeah..the lights”

You spun around when you heard Kevin’s voice “No, this is not happening. I did not spend months struggling to break through the veil just to get stuck listening to Dean Winchester having a self pity session” your eyes widened when he became visible. You cut your eyes at the boys and both of their attention was on Kevin as well. “Didn’t hear enough of those when I was alive and now Y/N is starting in on them too” “Kevin?” Dean called out and Kevin’s eyes flew up to look at the three of you “You can see me?”

Kevin’s form started flickering so Sam cautioned “Take it easy. You may not hold this form for long ok? It takes a while” “Then we should talk fast” Kevin reasoned but Dean interrupted “Wait..wait why aren’t you in heaven? If anybody deserves a pass to paradise..” but Kevin cut him off “I couldn’t. I can’t” his form flickered but his voice stayed strong as he continued “No one can. Heaven’s closed for business”  his form flickered back in “Everyone’s died since the angels fell are just stuck inside the veil, waiting”

You swallowed hard at that thought. What had Metatron done? “How bad?” you asked quietly and Kevin replied “DMV line times infinity bad” “What can we do?” you questioned trying to think of any way to help not only Kevin but all the trapped souls. “I need a favor, a big one”

“Name it” Sam replied and Kevin looked towards Dean as he said “Find my mother” “Crowley only told you she was alive to mess with you” Dean cautioned but you were guessing Kevin had found something out important enough to give him the juice to cross back over and that feeling was confirmed when he said “I’m not going off his word.I have my own sources. It’s crowded in the veil. All of us are stuck near the sites of our deaths but I’ve been able to pass messages spirit to spirit. I made contact with another new arrival. She said she saw my mom just a week ago, alive”

You cut your eyes at Dean as he said “So this spirit that you’re playing ghost telephone with,I mean what do you even know about her?” “Her name’s Candy. Says she’s in a forest in Wichita” “Candy?” Dean questioned and Sam added “That’s all you got?”

Kevin looked towards you as he spoke “Long distance communication within the veil..it’s not ideal. That’s why I need you to go there,summon her. See what else she knows. You and Dean both say you want to make it right? This is how” his form flickered again so you spoke before he could disappear “Of course we’ll do it Kev”

------

“Well there’s the trestle” you announced pointing up ahead of you, Dean and Sam. Sam nodded “Candy said her spirit was stuck nearby” “She died here?” Dean asked and you shrugged “Yeah, I guess so” “What the hell got her? A bear?” he added and you tried not to laugh when Sam said “I’m still stuck on the fact that we’re trying to summon a ghost named Candy”

You shook your head “Both of you stop with the half jokes!” Dean winked at you and Sam shot you a small smirk. You were helping Dean unload his bag when Sam said “You know just because Kevin heard his mom is alive..” “We owe it to the kid to try” you and Dean both spoke then stared at each other for a second before going back to setting everything up.

“What’d you two bring anyways?” Sam asked so Dean replied “She’s only been dead a week so we figured she could use as much help as she could get so..” Sam turned around about the time Dean was pulling the coffee maker out the bag and you were hanging a radio on a tree. “Really?” Sam asked and Dean shrugged “Whatever works”

------

The three of you had been sitting for hours with no contact from Candy. It was overcast and raining.You were getting cold and Dean was getting a little grumpy. “You feel that? I think I felt a chill” Sam said and Dean scoffed “Yeah that’s cause it’s cold” you shivered despite yourself and Sam scooted a little closer to you so you smiled and leaned against his shoulder while Dean pulled his phone out. You weren’t sure who he was calling until he said “Crowley? It’s Dean. Call me when you get this”

“Really Dean?” you cut your eyes up at Sam when he spoke and Dean turned to look at the two of you “What?” Sam motioned to Dean’s phone “That’s your third unanswered voicemail. Ever think he’s just not that into you” “Well he is our last confirmed link to Ms Tran. Yes he is a flaming douche but at least we know he’s real which is more than we can say for this Candy no show” Dean reasoned finishing off his beer before reaching into his jacket pocket and holding out a pair of his thick gloves to you. “Thank you” you smiled, slipping them onto your hands. Dean nodded “Figured you’d get cold and you forgot to bring your own gloves”

The radio you’d hung up in the tree glowered to life. Sam and Dean both rose to walk towards it so you followed hoping it was Candy so you could actually find Ms Tran for Kevin.

------

Candy recounted that she along with Ms Tran and a few others were trapped in boxes. From the description she gave it was storage units they were trapped in. She described her captors and one of them was clearly Crowley. When Crowley stopped coming leaving her with the other man she figured it upped her chances of escape but he caught up with her at the trestle.

------

With no other option the three of you decided to check the nearest storage facilities out after changing into your fed suits. You sat in the backseat of baby listening while Sam said “There are three storage facilities nearby. The closest one is a mile up the road. Oh and I dug up some stuff on Candy” you leaned up across the seat as he continued “turns out she was the kept woman of a powerful congressman. Gossip blog said he worshipped the ground she walked on,literally. He uh..foot fetish” well you weren’t one to judge but a foot fetish? To each their own.

Dean nodded “So Crowley was holding the beloved tootsies of a powerful politician” “And the beloved mother of a powerful prophet” you added with a shrug “Human leverage is a bitch”

“Why kill Candy though?” Dean pondered and Sam shrugged “She made a break for it. Maybe Crowley wanted to make an example?” “Or the guy left in charge couldn’t handle his shit. Crowley wanted them alive. Kill em you lose your leverage” you chimed in and Dean nodded in agreement.

“Crowley’s still the one that put them in the cells in the first place” Sam reminded and you nodded “Yeah I know Sam. I don’t like that little gremlin either but we got to talk this shit out to work the case” “Being businesslike” Dean added and you could tell you’d missed something from the look they shared but ignored it.

------

Dean held the door leading into the office of the storage facility open for you so you stepped inside then Sam grabbed the door so he could walk. “Let me guess, five foot five, pasty white .Black rimmed hipster glasses just like the last place” so far none of the other facilities had paid off.

You shook your head then hit the bell sitting on top of the desk. Movement in the office caught your eye and Dean smirked at you and Sam when the guy stood up “Nailed it” you cut your eyes at him and he winked at you as the guy walked around the corner “Can I help you?” You pulled your badge out as Dean did the introduction of “Agents Nicks, McVie and Monroe. We need to take a look at your rental records” the guy stammered “Uh my manager’s not here. I really don’t think I should” You cut him off by saying “Get the records!” he stared at you for a second then nodded “Yes ma’am” then called over his shoulder “Barry! Bring out the rental binder!”

Barry of course fit the bill of being 5’5, pasty white with black rimmed hipster glasses. You saw Sam and Dean share a smirk. Sam walked over to look at the dry erase board on the wall so when “Del” sat the binder down in front of you with a smile and said “There you are ma’am” You opened it and Dean looked over your shoulder while you flipped the pages 

Sam noticed something on the board because he called you and Dean over so you handed the binder to Dean before both of you walked towards him. He pointed up the board “Check it out. Corridor Q. Three adjacent units separate from the others. I mean Candy said there were three hostages, right?” “Yeah” you nodded and reached for the binder in Dean’s hands flipping it to the Q section while he held it. He read over your shoulder once you got it to the right page “Says it’s all leased by the same guy a D. Webster” “Wait, as in like Daniel Webster?” Sam questioned and Dean rolled his eyes “Well I know a lame Crowley in joke when I see one”

Good ol Del was eavesdropping from the counter and asked “Did you guys say D Webster?” “Yeah. You seen him?” you asked walking back across the floor and feeling both Sam and Dean follow your movements. Del seemed to get a little nervous “No I just uh I know his name from the records. He’s leasing another unit on the other side of the facility” he realized all three of you were waiting for him to say what unit so he added “ I could show you?” Dean smiled “Yeah, that’d be great” Del grabbed the keys so Dean turned to look at you “Go with Sam and check out corridor Q. I’ll go with Del the funky homosapien” “Have fun” you whispered and he tilted his head with a smirk before walking out.

Sam looked back at you “Q it is?” you nodded and waved a hand towards the door “Lead the way Samuel”

------

You followed Sam through the hall leading into the corridor. You wanted to ask him about the issues between him and Dean but knew mid case was not the time. When you got to the first unit he nodded towards the key slot “You got this or want me to do it?” you rolled your eyes at him then pulled his kit out his jacket pocket “Sit back and watch a pro Sammy” within a few seconds you were pulling the door up.

You ducked down and gasped when you saw a very alive Ms Tran. “Ms Tran!” Sam whispered because she was already cowering down in a protective stance. “Hey hey hey! It’s us! It’s Y/N and Sam” you spoke softly both of you squatting down next to her. When she met your eyes you felt an overwhelming guilt at not only the fact that you would have to tell her Kevin was dead but god if you and Dean would’ve believed Kevin maybe you could’ve reunited them before he died.

You were studying her wrist and ankle restraints to see how to pick the lock when the door suddenly shut back. “Son of a bitch” you muttered and Sam ran over to it. “Sam? Please tell me it just fell?” you asked but he shook his head after trying it “No. We’re stuck” you leaned back on your heels then spotted the camera “They saw us the moment we walked in” Sam followed your line of sight and cursed “And Dean’s alone”

------

You were not panicking. Nope not in the least. Or that’s what you were telling yourself while you and Sam worked to get Ms Tran free. You checked her wrists and ankles for any open wounds before she told Sam “There’s an electrical wire, leads to the control panel” you followed him across the room to the panel and held the flashlight for him. He popped open the panel then glanced back at you “This may take a while” Ms Tran took the multi-tool out of his hand and waved him back.  

“We have to unplug the ground wire first. If this is standard U.S. color coding, it should be the green one” “Ok” you nodded watching her as she started working and explained “Helping Kevin with his engineering-club assignments, I picked up a thing or two. I’m sure he insisted but I trust neither of you were foolish enough to bring Kevin along on this mission. That you left him in a safe place?” Sam glanced at you before answering “Of course”

She nodded “Good. Now all we have to do is get this door open,get the hell out of here and you will bring me to my son” You cut your eyes at Sam and nodded. He was feeling the same guilt you were. He covered Ms Tran’s hand with his “Listen. Ms Tran..” she looked up at him then looked at you and fuck you felt your heart break for her when she realized. She only let that tough exterior slip for a moment then you saw when she steadied herself and repeated “You will take me to my son” “Yes ma’am” you replied so she nodded and went back to work.

------

The moment she got the door open you nodded to Sam “Go! Get to Dean. I’ve got her” he nodded then ran off so you nodded to Ms Tran. You and her walked to the other side of the facility. You were waiting for an all clear text from Sam and when it came you breathed a sigh of relief. “Ok. You’re up”

You walked into the unit they were in and Del the demon scoffed at Dean “Your little whore of a hunter?” you glared at him then smiled “Nope. Someone so much more scarier than I am” then Ms Tran walked in behind you and Sam handed her the demon blade. “Do the honors Ms Tran” Dean told her so she took the blade and said “With pleasure” then plunged the blade into Del’s heart. After he fell dead she handed the blade back to Dean then said “Take me to my son” and walked back out of the unit.

You noticed not only the blood near Dean's eye but on his neck as well. You reached out to cup the side of his face “Are you ok?” he nodded then turned to kiss your palm lightly “I’m fine sweetheart. Takes a lot more to hurt me”

------

The ride back to the bunker you sat in the backseat with Ms Tran. You weren’t sure what to say to her so you remained silent unless she spoke to you. You’d gotten her fresh clothes, some decent food and had stopped long enough for her to get a little sleep. 

When Dean pulled up to the bunker he glanced back at you “Show her in. We’ll round him up” you nodded and watched him and Sam head inside before looking back to Ms Tran. “Ready to see him?” she smiled sadly “Please”

------

You led her down the stairs but stopped in the map room to let her go first when you saw Kevin was visible in the library. You quietly stepped around them to follow Dean and Sam into the kitchen so they’d have a little privacy. 

You looked over your shoulder when you stepped into the room then looked back at the two of them “I can’t imagine” Dean nodded “It’s got to be hard” Sam remained silent but you saw the way he looked at Dean. Maybe he was starting to see Dean’s point too?

------

After some consideration Ms Tran decided to go through Kevin’s things to find his father’s ring which both of them were sure was his tie.

You stood next to Dean while he explained the risks of taking Kevin home. You could feel tears threatening to spill from your own eyes when she said “He’s my son.It’s my job to keep him safe for as long as I can” 

-------

While Kevin said a goodbye to Sam and Dean you stood with Ms Tran on the stairs. “If you need anything or have any questions..my phone is always on. I am so sorry we failed him” She gently touched your hand and when you finally met her eyes she said “He wouldn’t have lived that long without all of you. You were his family too, just promise me who is responsible will die for it” “I promise you” 

You walked over to stand next to Dean and Kevin smiled at you before looking at the boys “Hey, before I go. Will you two promise me something?” you were curious but remained silent as they said “Yeah” “Anything” Kevin’s eyes flickered to you again before he said “Can you two..get over it?” they looked confused so he explained “Dudes just cause you couldn’t see me doesn’t mean I couldn’t see you. The drama, the fighting..it’s stupid” you saw Dean glance towards Sam and swallowed hard as Kevin added “My mom’s taking home a ghost. You two you’re both still here” Sam was the first to speak “Of course. Promise” “Yeah” Dean agreed.

Kevin nodded “Good..and Y/N if you ever need a break from them” You half laughed “I’ll come visit. Bye Kev” “Bye”

You felt Dean’s hand come out to grasp yours as you watched Kevin and Ms Tran go up the stairs then out the door. “Well that was..” Dean started but cut himself off when he realized Sam had already walked out the room. “I’m tired of this” you muttered and moved to follow Sam but Dean stopped you by pulling you back to him “Y/N just don’t” you shook your head and pulled away from  “No. Now I’ve waited and waited for the two of you to figure this out. I haven’t wanted to get in between my best friend and my boyfriend but if the two of you really expect me to continue living here, hunting with you two then you need to get on the same page” 

He knew you well enough to know when you were past the point of arguing with. When your mind was set on something it was best just to let you go. He threw up his hands and said “Go for it then. I’ll be in our room” You stepped back to him and left a quick kiss on his lips before turning to follow Sam down the hall.

------

You stopped for a second before knocking on Sam’s door. When he didn’t answer the first time you tried again using the knock the two of you used to use at Bobby’s as kids. “I’m coming” he called out before opening the door a few seconds later.

“So you weren’t asleep just purposely avoiding Dean yet again” You accused the moment he opened the door. He sighed and leaned his arm over on the doorframe “Did you just come to yell at me” You were already pushing past him into his room as you said “No, I came to talk and this is once you are going to willingly listen to me” He much like Dean didn’t try to argue instead he simply walked into the room and sat down at the small table. Once he was seated he waved a hand as if to say “Go ahead”

You took a breath then said “Why aren’t you mad at me?” “We already talked about that..” he started but you cut him off. “Shut up! I normally don’t talk so damn harsh to you and Dean but fuck John stunted the shit out of your emotional growth. I’m lucky I had Lena and Bobby for most of my life” you stared at him waiting for him to interrupt again so when he didn’t you continued your rant “I was there at the hospital Sam. I got there right after they approached Dean about donating your organs. Do you know how that felt just to me? To hear they had no hope for my best friend? To see you like that? So broken and hurt in that bad? It tore my heart out. Gadreel passed himself off as Ezekiel, an angel mind you Cas knew and therefore vouched for. We had the choice to let him possess you and save your life or to let you die. Dean asked me before he said yes..did he tell you that?”

“No” Sam replied barely above a whisper.

You let out a harsh laugh “That doesn’t surprise me. That man has a habit of taking on the weight of the world just to keep those around him from having to. Sam he asked me. The moment Gadreel offered the deal Dean looked to me and you know what? I nodded. I agreed. I not only agreed to let him possess you but I agreed to lie. I came here to help cover up that lie and I did many times. Whether you or Dean want to see it I am just as responsible as either of you are yet neither of you have shown the least amount of animosity towards me. I’ve told Dean and now I’m telling you. If you and him want me here and hunting with you two I need you and him to try to get on the same page. We both love you Sam even if he can’t always put the words right. We did what we did because neither of us could let you go. If you’re going to continue hating him, hate me too” you turned to walk out but stopped with your hand on the doorknob to add “Kev’s right, both of you are still here..right now. How would either of you feel if something happened on the next hunt and one of you died? Would you want to leave it like this?” 

You opened the door to step into the hall but felt Sam’s hand grab your shoulder “Y/N..Wait” you turned towards him with an expectant look “Yeah?” he sighed “You’re right” you smiled and said “Of course I am. I’m always right” he shook his head with a laugh “You and Dean are a perfect match you know that? I’ll talk to him in the morning...really talk” “All I ask..thank you Sam” you reached up to hug him then kissed his cheek “Goodnight” “Night Y/N”

------

You heard his door shut behind you but you were feeling better than you had in weeks about the current predicament. You had to at least get them talking normally again and working through everything.

You opened the door to yours and Dean’s shared room and smiled at the sight before you. Dean had kicked his boots off but was laying across the bed with his headphones on and his arms crossed over his chest. Since his eyes were closed you shut the door easily then kicked your own boots off before walking over to the bed. You considered just changing for bed and crawling in next to him but instead you climbed onto the bed and straddled his waist. His hands came to your hips even before a lazy smile slipped onto his face. 

When he opened his eyes you reached up to gently pull the headphones off of him and laid them on the side table. “Did you get through bitching at Sammy?” he asked so you shrugged “I really wouldn’t call it bitching but yeah” he nodded then raised an eyebrow “Am I next?” you laughed and rested your hands on his chest “No for the simple fact you had to listen to me about the situation the entire time we were on the road but I do have one request of you” “Which is?” he questioned so you moved one hand down to push up the right sleeve of his shirt. You didn’t miss the slight flinch when your fingertips grazed across the mark but you were betting on it being more so the fact of you touching it than actual pain “Stop trying to carry everything by yourself. Ok?” 

He stared into your eyes for a few moments then slowly nodded “I’ll try” “All I ask” you replied before leaning down to catch his lips in a gentle but lingering kiss. When you pulled away he smirked “Can clothes come off now?” you rolled your eyes then smiled “You’re such a sweet talker Dean”

Tags: @facadeformyrealblog @akshi8278

[tentimesthecourage]

Spirit AU

Um... this was supposed to be light hearted

annnnd then I ran into a problem

and someone on Discord gave me a solution

“i mean,,,,,, if four dies, they wont have to worry about living and dead“

So WARNING; MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH

But... it’s not a bad thing

kinda

sorta

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

They were all supposed to leave safely. They had won!

And yet…

The group of eight living and one dead surrounded their tenth member as he shuddered with a heavy gasp. Blood dripped down the side of his mouth as he gripped the tattered piece of his tunic just above the gaping wound in his abdomen. His eyes were glazed from both the pain and tears as he shivered.

Faintly Four could hear the others desperately trying to figure out a way to help him, but he already knew it was too late. They were out of potions, out of fairies and Hyrule was already exhausted from the battle. He wasn’t going to make it out of this alive.

His gaze managed to shift over to Rinku who was watching silently, grimly. Their eyes met and despite the pain, Four smiled at him. The spirit jolted before smiling weakly in return. Reaching out, he saw him brush his fingers against his cheek, but he certainly couldn’t feel it. He was going numb.

Four wasn’t afraid to die, he had come close to it so many times it almost felt like an old friend. A part of him (well, if he was honest, all parts of him) selfishly hoped that when he did die he’d be able to stay with them regardless. Stay with him regardless. He knew it was slim… but it didn’t hurt to hope, right? What else did he have to lose?

He blinked slowly as he noticed Rinku above him, watching him pull away. The spirit’s eyes were bright and he could barely make out the shimmer of tears in his eyes. He wanted to tell him don’t cry, he couldn’t feel anything, it didn’t hurt anymore, but he was so… so tired…

The shouting around him had dulled down to almost nothing and he sighed softly. His vision was dimming, guess it was time.

Please… if She was listening… don’t make him leave.

Rinku watched as a final shudder ran through Four and he fell still. He didn’t pay attention to the arguing, he didn’t pay attention to the curses, the shouts, the sobs. His gaze was focused on the small male who looked so peaceful even with the wounds his body held. Slowly he lowered himself down to him again, cupping his cheeks. He was still warm… it looked like he would wake up at any moment.

And then he noticed it. And a chuckle escaped him, slowly developing into a laugh. The laughter silenced everyone else and he could feel their stares, confused and probably angry. Not answering their silent questions, he instead moved to take Four’s hand and gently squeeze.

“My… aren’t you a stubborn one…” And he pulled gently. The physical hand slipped out of his grasp, but in its place was a transparent one. Carefully, slowly, he helped him sit up. “I would have thought Hylia would have taken you away from us.”

“I…” Four shuddered faintly. “I didn’t want to go…” He gave a sheepish smile, a silver blush crossed his face as he noticed the stares of disbelief, “Um… guys…?”

“FOUR!” Rinku had to smother a laugh as the new spirit was engulfed in hugs.

“You feel like ice…” Wind mumbled, his voice thick with tears. Four scoffed quietly, shaking his head in faint exasperation even as he hugged the younger male back. “That’s expected.”

“Why would you stay here?” Sounded like Legend, though his voice was choked. Neither Rinku nor Four could see if he was crying, but it certainly sounded like it.

“Someone has to look after you lot.”

Rinku stepped back to settle beside Wild who gave him a look as he hung back as well.

“You knew?”

“No…” He wiped his eyes. “But I know he’s stubborn, so I guessed.”

Wild wanted to say more, but he was yanked into the hug soon after and his expression crumbled as reality finally set in. Four was dead, but he was still here. Goddesses, he was still here.

Then there were sounds of confusion as the Four Sword gleamed brightly.

And one was now five.

“What…?” Four gasped softly. They were…

“The Four Sword still works?” Red was staring at his hands.

“Somehow…” Vio mused softly.

“Not even death was gonna mess with us.” Blue folded his arms.

Green said nothing, he was staring at Four in disbelief just as the other was doing the same.

“G-guys…” The other three snapped their heads in his direction, realization dawning on them.

“We’re separate…”

“We’re all here…”

“FOUR!” Red slammed into the other causing a cry of surprise as he fell over. They were quickly joined by the other three as they clung to each other like a lifeline as tears fell and faded before they hit the ground.

“I’ll be honest, didn’t see that coming.” Rinku murmured to his twin who chuckled softly. He glanced over at Wild, biting his lip. “What are the others…?”

“They’re cleaning up the blood and making his body presentable.” Wild murmured. “But no one’s sure what to do with it. We can’t take it with us… but burying him in the middle of nowhere just seems wrong.”

“Burn it.”

The twins jumped at the interruption, turning to Four who was in the middle of a cuddle pile by his Colors.

“That’s what I want.” He raised his voice, catching the rest of the Chain’s attention. “Don’t bother making me presentable.”

“But Four…” Twilight protested, quieting as the smith shook his head.

“I want my body to be cremated. There’s no reason for it to be presentable.” He turned a wry smile on Wild. “Would you do the honors, Wild?” The champion stiffened in surprise. “You really want me to…?” He asked softly causing Four to nod.

“I trust you with this…”

Soon enough, Four, his Colors and Rinku settled together as a fire roared before them. Everyone was silent in respect, but the smith could see tears on their faces reflecting the flames. He might still be here, but it wasn’t the same and he understood that. It was strange… undeniably so, knowing that his body was burning in those flames. The Four Sword was stored away in Wild’s slate, the smith not having the heart to let it be burned away with him. He felt Red shove his head against his chest and reached up to run his fingers through his hair. Green rested his head on his right shoulder while Vio was on his left. Blue was draped across their laps, seemingly nonchalant, but Four knew better.

And Rinku was settled behind him, arms around his waist and his chin on top of his head. In any other instance, he probably would have jabbed him in the stomach, but right now he appreciated the silent support. It was grounding.

The fire burned long into the evening and then into the night. Eventually nothing remained except the ashes. Carefully, almost reverently, Wild managed to gather them into a bottle and store them in the slate.

“At the very least, we should bring you home when we can.” He whispered as his eyes met with Four’s questioning ones. The smith nodded slowly in understanding, slumping. Home… Goddesses, what would his grandfather think? What about Dot? He hated that he was leaving them in such a manner. He could only hope they’d understand and not be angry with everyone.

He leaned back against Rinku’s chest and gave a shuddering sigh. So many things were new to him now. He looked up at Rinku who gave him a small but knowing smile. At least he had someone at his back.

They also needed to have a talk… but for now, he managed to reach up and pull him down, brushing his lips against his cheek for the briefest moment.  He felt Rinku stiffen and watched as a silver flush crossed his face.

“Til death do us part, right…?” He whispered “But death can’t part us anymore.”

Rinku stared at him in surprise before his expression softened and he smiled, tightening his hold on him.

[amethystpath-writes]

Okay so this isn’t my original idea but remember that one post where it was like one soulmate is killing their other soulmate to stay immortal but their soulmate keeps on being reborn or just doesn’t stay dead for long??

If that’s too confusing basically can you do a continuation of your own prompt there the villain is the immortal, not the hero. (Prompt 41?44? I don’t remember oops)

I don't think I know that post, but if you still want me to write it and you can find it, feel free to send another ask! For now, I'll just fill the prompt!

******

“But- but I killed you.” Hero swore he couldn’t breathe. Villain wasn’t supposed to be in front of him right now. He- he was supposed to be in the morgue or wherever they kept and processed dead bodies. He was supposed to be dead. This had to be some kind of trick. Maybe there was a part of Hero’s mind that felt guilty for killing Villain, and now he was hallucinating. “I watched you die. I- I checked your pulse. You’re dead.”

Villain huffed and rolled his eyes. “Why is this always such a surprise to everyone?” He took two steps forward, watching with boredom as Hero flinched back, shielding his eyes. “You need me to pinch you? Convince you I’m right in front of you?”

“Not real,” Hero muttered. “Not real, not real, not. real. It’s in my head. It’s just in my head.”

Tossing his head back, Villain sighed. “Most of your little crew in the past at least tried to swing at me, finish the job. Some of them actually achieved killing me for a second time. I was impressed! Much more exciting than what you’re doing right now.” Hero kept muttering. Villain asked, “You really think you’re imagining me still? What’s it gonna take? Do I need to jab you in the gut? Would that help?”

Maybe I’d deserve that, Hero thought, continuing to consider the concept of guilt. What Hero was really curious about right now was, How is this so real? He acknowledged it was all fake, but he didn’t think his brain was capable of creating such a realistic version of Villain. The look, the voice, the condescending tone, everything was drawn up to a T. It shouldn’t have been possible, especially after a whole week of Villain’s death.

“Alright, this is getting old. I want to try something new since I haven’t had this reaction before. You really shouldn’t be a hero if you go into shock this easily.”

The image in front of Hero was moving closer. Villain was pulling something out from behind him. Hero already knew what it would be; Villain always kept handheld weapons back there in case his powers- whatever those were, Hero never knew- were unsuccessful. Usually it was throwing knives. This time it- Hero swallowed.

“You remember this. Good.” Villain nodded. “I figured you would, given how you stabbed me with it- rude.”

Now Hero had the sense to stand from his seated and shaking position. As a change, he was now in a standing and shaking position. This was becoming real to him- too real.

“Okay. What I’m thinking is that I clean this blade- a very pretty one by the way; love the chromatic look…I’m going to go over to that sink, and I’m going to clean this.” Villain made his way to Hero’s kitchen, turning on the sink like he said he would. He began scrubbing with the pad of his thumb. “I have two reasons for this: one, there are other victims’ blood on it now- from the morgue; they were about to cremate me if you can believe it. Props to you; that was my first time ever being in one of those places. And, two, because I want this to play out for you as it did for me- it was clean before you stabbed me with it; it should be clean before I stab you with it.” Villain turned with the blade now clear of any blood.

Hero couldn’t move, but he didn’t need to, did he? Because this was all his imagination, all his guilty conscious. Nothing else.

“You aren’t going to do anything to protect yourself,” Villain observed aloud. “You’re just going to stand there shaking like a rotting leaf stuck in a tree during October. Fine, then. Might as well take this to my advantage.”

**

Unable to move or think for himself, Hero was easily taken by Villain. All the while, Hero continued to believe this was a hallucination. Villain absolutely could not be alive because that meant- that meant he could…No. Villain can’t- can’t come back to life.

Hero knew for a fact he killed Villain. When he bled out, Hero listened to the silence of his opponent’s chest, watched its stillness. He. Was. Dead. It was that solidity in Hero’s mind that made him deny the obvious fact in front of him. Because it was impossible to become…undead. It just wasn’t possible. And since it was impossible, the person standing in front of Hero, talking to someone or something else in the room was fake- was a ghost in Hero’s head.

“-tired of this game. It’s becoming boring, but I found some entertainment for myself, and I think it can become a lesson to you. See…”

A red light was in front of Hero’s face. He looked, blinking slowly, beyond the red light to Villain. Hero didn’t quite understand where he was, or what his mind was conjuring up at the moment. He felt so tired because of his current insanity, and so it didn’t matter much what his location was.

“I think this can serve as a lesson to you- not that I care to help you, but it gives me an excuse to torture a poor soul.”

Hero blinked again. The red light belonged to a camera, he realized. Villain- or Ghost Villain- was recording him and talking to whoever was watching on the camera. In all reality, Hero figured it was he who was recording himself. Maybe he was even talking- he didn’t know. He was likely telling his base leader about how he was losing his mind and thought he was in a cellar-like room with Villain.

“I’m going to screw this back on the tripod, and then, I’ll show you what happens when you guys keep sending your men to kill me. It doesn’t work, alright? And I’m tired of dying.”

The chromatic knife was lowered in front of Hero’s eyes. He didn’t startle at it, but, as it was lowered out of his vision and Villain’s amused grin replaced it, he felt worry. Worry turned to searing pain in Hero’s leg and he let out a blood-curdling scream, grasping at the cold ground, fingers curling into fists that grasped onto nothing. The same pain magnified again as the knife came into sight once again- this time half coloured with red.

It’s real, it dawned on Hero as he finally looked down to find a hole in his leg. “A-augh!” It was throbbing and he swore he could feel his blood pulsing out of the wound. His stomach twisted with his pain and he turned to his right as to not throw up on himself.

What made the pain in Hero’s leg worse was the fact that his muscles were clenched. He couldn’t relax them no matter how hard he tried and that only meant the throb was everlasting.

The knife made its strike again- this time down the arm opposite of Hero’s now-injured leg. He hollered again, writhing and crying in anguish. “Stop! Stop it!” Quieter, he repeated to himself, “It hurts. It hurts, it hurts.”

For once his body protested as he eyed Villain in front of him. His good leg twitched like it was ready to assist in springing on and tackling Villain to the ground. But the controlled side of Hero’s mind told him it’d only make him hurt worse. Not to mention, he might land on the blade and therefore kill himself. Wait. “You’re- you’re going t-to kill…kill me.”

Villain paused, tilting his head almost curiously at Hero. “That was the plan originally, but then you fell to cowardice, and that was boring.” As he spoke, Hero could feel his limbs jumping, spasming. “So, now we’re doing something else. Kinda like it, actually. Centuries have gone by, and I never actually took my time with any of you. For once, I am seeing the true and utter fear I felt when I died for my first time.” Villain continued, “I could have been such a great person, you know? I would have been a perfect good guy, unable to die and all. But instead of seeing that vision, I was seen as a threat to humanity. They began hunting me, trying to figure out how to put me down for good. I decided to fit their little role, though.”

What Villain did and said next shocked Hero. “Go on, try it.” Villain held the blade handle out to Hero on the ground. “Take it. I’ll let you kill me again, and then you can leave.”

“You’re lying. That’s- that’s a stupid th-thing to- to offer. Why would you l-let me kuh-kill you, then let- let me go?”

Villain shrugged. “Something new. I want to live something different this time. I told you many times that few have killed me twice- and the ones who did it were killed as soon as I could find them. I want to see how far you can go if I give you a month’s head start.”

“You- you want to hunt me.”

“I do. Seeing as you did it to me, I think it’s fair.” He jutted the handle out to Hero again as an offer. When Hero took it, Villain said, “I know I took out your dominant arm out, but- well, I have confidence you’ll do just fine if it means you get to kill me again.” Villain tapped at his chest, right where his heart was located. “Go on. I know you want to.”

Hero considered this for a moment, staring at the knife- at the knife with his blood on it now instead of Villain’s. Did he ever question why his organization was going after Villain? Not really. He just knew Villain murdered every single man Leader sent out. Maybe it was self-defence, in which case Hero shouldn’t have been going after Villain like he was, shouldn’t have killed him like he already did once and was being given the opportunity to once again.

But now was different. Now, Villain really was sadistic- assuming he wasn’t before. Villain, if he was any sort of a healthy and sane man, would have had Hero jailed for trying, and succeeding, in killing him. Or, if he was afraid of the authorities taking him in for being- ahem- unkillable, then he would have only kept Hero locked up. Villain wouldn’t have had Hero in a cellar room, stabbing and slashing at him while a camera recorded it all. If Villain ever was good, that morality was stripped from him now, and that meant Hero needed to take this chance at life. Maybe he could go back to his base and demand answers. Because based off what Villain told, they knew he was immortal, and they never told Hero- or Hero’s previous teammates, who were now ‘mysteriously’ dead.

Without another word, or even a warning glance, Hero weighed the knife in his left hand, gripped the handle, and slashed at Villain’s throat. As he laid dying, Hero searched for the key on Villain’s person, and left.

[fiddlepickdouglas]

To The Wick - Bobby’s Birthday

Disclaimer: I’m not usually a fic writer, I tend to stick to original stuff, but I just felt like I had to write this for Bobby today. I definitely wrote this in one go and did no proofreading, so I’m very sorry for that.

Summary: 2.3k wd. Bobby celebrates with Rose and Ray while still dealing with survivors guilt. Lots of fire imagery and comparisons.

WARNINGS: deals with death, symptoms similar to anxiety or PTSD, funeral mentions, survivor’s guilt

Staring at the flame, he fought every impulse to snuff it out with his fingers. For a moment, he contemplated on its gentle flickering, not unlike himself at this time. Every moment of its existence a fight against very strong currents, against all but one element surrounding it. All it knew was heat and the need to grow outward, but not being able to without the permission of exterior forces.

The words to the Beatles’ birthday song drummed on his ears, but his mind was in the back of the cavern where the music could only echo at a distance. Shaking his head and pulling his mind out of the depths of the cave, Bobby let a small smile loose for Rose and Ray and blew out the candle on the cupcake before him.

His friends cheered and they all bit into their own homemade cupcakes. Rose had been perfecting her recipe, and so far these were the best.

“You’re going to open a bakery,” Bobby told her through a mouthful. “And I’m going to be your most faithful customer.”

“But I get to do all the taste-testing, right amor?” Ray teased, earning a hand messing up his hair from Rose.

“Mi abuela didn’t pass this down and I didn’t tweak it so you could eat it for free all the time,” she said in a sassy tone, kissing his cheek.

Ray raised his eyebrows. “Noted,” he replied with a smirk.

Bobby finished his cupcake, entertained by the two lovebirds.

“So,” Rose started saying. “Now it’s time to open gifts!” She leaned away from her seat and grabbed an object from the counter a few feet away, then handed it to Bobby.

Tearing apart the purple wrapping and blue ribbon, he looked down at the small stack of CDs. Meditation Sunrise, The 7th Chakra, and Celtic Wind sat in his hands like rectangular dumbbells, each weighing heavier on his heart than he cared to admit. Suddenly, Ray was draping something over his head, and as he looked down he found himself wearing a necklace of prayer beads.

“You guys!” he chuckled, trying to sound genuine. It was his birthday, he was supposed to enjoy all of this. The gifts were actually great, too. “Thanks, this is awesome. You’ll both have to join me in a session, you know.”

“We were thinking we could do it with you today, if you wanted to,” Rose told him.

Bobby sat back in surprise.

“O-okay,” he stammered. He caught the look in her eyes that was hoping this wasn’t too much, to which he gave her a small smile of assurance. It was impossible to blame them for anything he felt today, especially when she and Ray were putting in so much effort to make it full of the joy and happiness it was meant for. It didn’t mean he hadn’t subconsciously stuck his hand in his pocket to where he kept a lighter. Just to feel that it was there, of course.

“Is it okay if we do it later tonight?” he asked. “I just have a quick meeting with my producer and a couple other things afterward to do. And I can pick up some incense while I’m out.”

“Great plan!” Ray exclaimed. He didn’t elaborate, but Bobby could guess that all the eye contact with Rose meant something he needed no part in. He got up from the table and grabbed another cupcake for the road.

“Say we meet back at, like, eight or nine?” he asked, grabbing his leather jacket and keys.

Rose looked up from being halfway embraced with Ray, barely paying attention. “Sounds perfect!”

********

“So, after talking with Jedd we decided we wanna cut out the second repeat of the chorus in Long Weekend. It makes it easier to put into radio time.”

Bobby stared at Callum, his producer, in disbelief.

“But we can just do a radio edit, then, why cut it off the album track?”

Callum blinked condescendingly.

“You think you’re just going to get radio edits out like that before you have an album out, kid?”

“Have you listened to it?” Bobby challenged. “That album is gonna shoot through the charts and I know you know that.”

“Tch,” Callum acted like he’d been shot by a Nerf gun. “That’s a bold statement from a guy who didn’t write these songs.”

A fireball seemed to form inside his chest, and Bobby wished he could open his mouth and shoot it toward the man. He clenched his teeth.

“You signed the deal, you recorded these songs, and you are getting this opportunity from us. We - need I say this - are professionals. Trust me, I’ve dealt with music written by dead people before. You’ll thank me in a few years.”

He was trembling to keep the fireball from burning down the entire room, and clenched his fists. Focusing on a stupid paisley design on the carpet, he avoided eye contact with Callum. There was no way he was letting Luke’s songs go any different than what they had played together for so many years. He had read the contract well enough, hadn’t he? It was hard enough not crediting the rest of them, but it was honor Luke with letting his music connect to people or honor Luke by letting him keep his songs to the few who heard them from the source. Not to mention Alex and Reggie being equal parts in that equation.

“Fine,” he forced out. “Make the cut. See how it does. I’ll bet you that when I make a remaster in twenty years with greater freedoms because I’m a respected artist, fans will ask why you cut it to begin with. I’ve got better people to see than you right now.”

He only saw Callum shaking his head out of the corner of his eye as he pushed through the door of the studio, flipping the bird behind him. It would’ve been nice to simply say over my dead body, but he was already bulldozing over his three best friends and it wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t fair that he could walk along the street, get into his car, and drive off in a huff. Not fair that he could go to the abandoned grocery store parking lot and yell until his lungs were sore. It was absolutely inadequate that he remained on this earth, soul inside his body, light in his eyes, breath and blood and bones and all. He screamed in that parking lot until he was dizzy.

Bobby laid in his seat, exhausted, until twilight approached, and then started the engine again. The route was so well-known now that he knew exactly when the lights turned so he never had to make a stop. He came to the right stop and parked on the shoulder, looking wistfully out the window.

So far, he hadn’t managed to set foot on the grounds again after the funerals had passed. Still, he came and made sure his line of sight at the closest angle to get a proper look at them. They were all in a row, even though only two stood vertically. Reggie’s parents had cremated him and only gotten a stone plaque that acted as a placeholder while they kept his urn with them at home. It was nice of them to at least contribute to keep the three together.

Today still wasn’t the day he was going to venture closer to them. Bobby wasn’t going to handle it well after the conversation he’d just left. He pulled the lighter out of his pocket and flicked it off and on. It hadn’t really been a habit he had before, but there was something weirdly comforting about it. For something that couldn’t think, it really understood him. He didn’t want to use it on anything, he just wanted to watch it exist before disappearing. The fire was them. But he could control it.

Taking in a deep breath, he went to get some incense.

********

Mats were spread in the backyard with tiki torches and a camping lantern in the center, more paper lanterns hanging from the tree above. Bobby had gotten a nice incense burner a few weeks back and was excited to put it on display. Ray was in his swim shorts, already seated with his legs crossed and repeatedly going “oommmm” and breaking it with giggles when Rose swatted at him playfully.

“We’re not doing that kind, tontoroso,” she teased.

“Pero me quiero - ah!” Ray cried as she accidentally thumped him with the boombox she’d been carrying out.

“Oh, lo siento mi amor, me desculpes!” she cried, setting it down to address the minor bump now forming on his head.

Bobby sat patiently as they babbled for a moment ensuring that Ray wasn’t harmed too much, smirking a little. He didn’t really mind being the third wheel on his own birthday - it helped take away from some of the guilt.

“Okay!” Rose said finally, standing and adjusting the bottom of her tank top. “I think we should try the Meditation Sunrise, so it will guide us through every motion and we don’t have to think.”

“Agreed,” Bobby nodded, with Ray doing the same. “The less thinking the better.”

Rose pressed play on the first track as all three of them sat in their assumed meditative positions with their eyes shut. Calm, synthesized music floated out of the speakers of the boombox, with light chimes twinkling here and there.

“Welcome to Meditation Sunrise. This first exercise is to help you free yourself from resentments and embrace forgiveness. Listen to my words. Focus on my voice and soon you will be free of anything that stirs up anger. This can be anger toward another person, anger toward a higher being, or even anger toward yourself…”

Bobby felt his heartbeat increasing and strained to keep his eyes closed. He tried to sit up straighter so that he could breathe in even deeper. He could hear Ray and Rose exhaling, sounding so calm and relaxed, and let out his own breath hoping it came out the same way.

“Forgive faults. Resentment comes from Latin, meaning ‘to feel again’. We all have these feelings, and they all visit us from time to time. Sometimes we hold onto things in the past that have caused harm. These things were painful. Letting these feelings continually visit us repeats that pain. In this exercise we are here to let it go…”

Taking a careful peek through his eyelashes, Bobby checked to see what Rose and Ray looked like. They sat close together, holding hands with the remaining ones shaped in circles. Rose had her head tilted back, so free and open to the sky, so light from the weight that wasn’t sitting on her chest. The flames from the tiki torches flickered and Bobby squeezed his eyes shut so he wouldn’t focus on them instead.

“Now we are going to envision that we have a shovel in our hands. We’re going to dig. Get that shovel deep into the rich soil and lift it up. Set the soil to the side. Smell the fresh, upturned earth. If you want to, you can kneel down and take some into your hands. Let the soft, rich earth be cool to the touch. Let it calm you.

“Imagine you are digging in a garden and planting a seed. It’s a seed of happiness. It’s small right now, but will grow as we continue through our meditation. We just need to go a little deeper into the ground…”

Bobby’s mind was transported back to the cemetery he’d visited earlier. It travelled all the way to the funerals - open ground, lowering cheap wooden boxes. His hand filled with a small amount of dirt.

“Stop,” he muttered, eyes remaining closed. Rose and Ray were still entranced.

“Stop, stop, turn it off, I can’t -” He felt his breathing get uneven, and Rose was already in front of him, cradling his face and wiping away tears that he didn’t realize had escaped. He jerked away from her touch. Ray rushed to stop the playback on the CD.

All he felt was heat rising everywhere. In his veins, all over his skin, the fireball growing like a small sun in his chest, and apparently tears could be hot, too. There was too much rage building up inside. Bobby let out a frustrated cry and kicked over the incense burner, the camping lantern doing down with it. Turning, he almost hit a paper lantern and he whacked it off the tree as he headed back inside the house.

Rose caught up to him and frantically tried to block his path.

“Bobby, I sincerely apologize, I did not know it was going to be like that,” she placated. He paused as she stood before him, pleading. “If you need me to, I can get you a different present, I just wanted to do this because you had seemed interested and thought we would have a fun night together - Bobby, I am so sorry!”

Looking back at her, he sighed heavily and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“You don’t need to get me anything else,” he told her solemnly.

Ray had joined them and put an arm around each of them. A twinge of reminder came to Bobby as he recalled Luke doing the same thing for him. But coming from Ray, it still had the warmth and love connected to it that he needed. He looked between the two of them.

“That was a bust,” he said. They all chuckled a little, albeit with heavy hearts. “But having you guys still made it a good birthday.”

His friends both muttered an “aw” and they came together in a group hug. Bobby sighed as they both squeezed him so tightly before breaking away.

“So what do we wanna do, then?” he asked.

“We could watch Wayne’s World,” Ray suggested.

“Baby,” Rose objected, giving him a look.

“What?” he lifted his hands defensively. “I could make a dip, we could grab some tortilla chips, you know I love dips.”

“But Bob -”

“No, I like that idea,” Bobby interrupted. “Ray makes some good dip, I’ll give him that. I think we can hold off on the meditation for now. Wayne’s World it is.”

[fork-tectors]

trusted ║ arlo

; among us au trusted ; crewmate! arlo x crewmate! reader

[ edited ] [ word count ║ 1271 words ] [ part one ║ part two ]

John/Black was an imposter. One (1) impostor remains.   

The recently ejected person's best friend blandly stared at the screen. Once she had processed the words, her face contorted into an expression of anger and betrayal.    

Her shaking hand curled into a tight fist. She spent most of her time on the ship with the dark-haired male. They had been here for almost four days, and they had bonded; she felt deceived. Was he only using her as an alibi?   

Sure he hasn't killed her, but, he would've done it afterwards since it would only be a matter of time. There are no friendships in this game.   

She wanted to use her ability to turn back time and ask him. But, she shook her head with a weak laugh. "It isn't worth it," she whispered to herself.   

After Elaine did her best to console the upset short-haired girl, we all went our way. The mentioned two leaving with the company of each other. I felt horrible for her. It isn't every day that your new best friend turns out to be a murderer.   

I made my way to go to Admin with the guy in the yellow spacesuit, which I afterwards learned his name was Arlo, walking side-by-side. He wasn't very talkative was honestly quite distant and cold to everyone, but, I didn't want to wander alone, and that we both had a few tasks in Admin left for the day. We thought it would be convenient that we head there together. I will bet my life that he was safe; I watched him do the scanning task, and he hasn't done anything to be called "sus".   

I'm sure he was still sceptical of me since I had no assigned tasks to prove my innocence. Not that I need it to show that I am just a mere defenceless crewmate.   

We arrived at Admin quickly; it was near the cafeteria anyway. I jumped to do my work, and so did he.   

I kneeled onto the ground; the blonde-haired guy was still seen in my peripheral view. I pulled out my ID card. Taking some info from talking to the other crewmates, they complained about how hard the card swipe was. I didn't think it would be that difficult. I mean, how hard can it be?   

I unscrewed my helmet to make myself adjust to my comfort level, placing the headwear near me on the table. I started my job, readying the item needed.   

Swipe!  Too fast.   

Swipe! Too fast.    

Swipe! Bad read.    

Swipe! Too slow.     

Taking a quick break after two failed ones, I sighed and continued with a whine.   

Five attempts and the constant reminder of doing something wrong later, I was tired and annoyed with it. I slammed my fists on the hard metal surface which startled the boy who was performing his final task of the day.  

"What's wrong?" He asked as looked over at my work station to see me sitting on the ground, slumped over.  

"... I hate card swipe," I murmured.  

I heard the subtle sound of zapping before hearing metal come into loud contact with metal.  

"Get up."  

I felt the sudden grip on my right shoulder, "Hey, stand up."  

I looked up at him to see his sparkling blue eyes, taking notice that he had taken off his helmet too. His eyes are so pretty, I awwed. It was kinda stuffy in the suit, so I guess it was expected.  

I followed his command and grabbed my wrist with my fingers wrapped around the card, "here." He guided my hand to help me with my work.   

He coiled his hand around mine as I positioned the laminated piece of paper to do my thing. With one steady motion, the mission that took more than ten tries was completed.  

"There. It wasn't that hard, right?" I gave him a sarcastic look, though he just ignored it.

"That was your last task?" I hummed in agreement.   

We were caught off guard when the loud alarm rang through our ears, someone must've pushed the emergency meeting button. Without warning, I clutched his arm and set off to retreat back to the cafe, not wanting to be late. Arlo just quietly obeyed and sprinted with me.  

I notice a person dressed in an orange spacesuit standing near the table, the red button left uncovered. He must be the one we called a meeting, I thought.  

Soon the crewmates slowly arrived with their buddies and some alone. My eyes circled the room to see if everyone was present. Pink. Cyan. Red. Dark Blue. Green... Wait a sec, where's green?   

Speaking of the devil, she appears to be the last to arrive. No, I'm not gonna call her suspicious just cause she the last to enter the room. That's a dick move.  

"Who called the meeting?" Dark Blue, or Holden, spoke up.  

Orange, or Isen, help up their covered hand, "I did."  

"So, why?"   

The orange-haired boy sighs, "It's Green."  

Hearing their colour be brought up, Cecile glares at him in surprise. She seemed taken it back by his abrupt accusation, "excuse me...!?"  

"Tell me, what's your alibi then?" Orange was acting more persuasive than usual.  

The pink-eyed female growled at him, narrowing her eyes. A vibrant glint of pink visible from her irises, as if to indicate that she was powering up her ability. "I was at Med bay, doing my task like a responsible cremate should, unlike someone who's going around accusing people. What's your proof?" She looked somewhat agitated.  

Isen imitated the girl's action, his glare was prominent, and an orange hue was projecting from his eyes. Both leant near, looking like they had the intent to harm the other. If they didn't have the madness in their eye, I would've thought they were gonna kiss.  

Before the situation could escalate itself, a girl who was dressed in pink intruded and pushed them off of each other. "Getting angry and fighting won't resolve any of this!" She yelled.  

At first, I thought Isen was just nervous. I kept noticing how fidgety he was every time I encountered him, that was just a mere observation. That didn't really come across as unusual since everyone else was acting the same. Honestly, I was beginning to become sceptical of him despite that I've no proof of him doing anything strange.  

There's another impostor still on board? I thought. Could it be Orange...?   

As if he was speaking my mind, Arlo stabs an allegation at Isen. "Isen, why are you so eager to vote someone without any evidence? That's extremely shady. If I were to be the judge, I'd think you're an imposter or either siding with them."   

"Hey, man! He's not an imposter, he's been with Remi and I a lot of these days!" The redhead jumps to protect his friend.  

"So did John," Sera said.  

It didn't feel right to give more statements about what's happening since people were already arguing. Maybe being stuck in this ship with anyone being an alleged murderer was taking a toll on everyone's mentality. I yawned, I feel tired.  

"None of what you people are saying mean anything! None of us knows each other personally. Don't be fucking stupid! We're all just strangers! We can buddy up with someone, but we can't be sure that they're fully safe to be with!" She inhales, pausing, "Look at John, you think someone could've known that he was gonna be the imposter?!" Cecile stayed silent once she finished with her rant. We did similarly.  

"Let's just vote to skip for now."   

And that's what we did.  

This will only go two ways. Either with Arlo or with Isen. Btw, they’re all strangers here, if you haven’t caught on. They don’t know each other outside of this. This might get a part two if I become motivated enough to finish it:>

ngl the card swipe task ain’t that hard though

[67impalaandwhisky]

Destiny Is Heaven Sent

Summary: Knowing Dean Winchester since you were fifteen, you’ve always been pulled in his direction. Always wanting to open up the rattled and broken cage your heart lives in. But when the child you’ve been raising together dies, you find yourself closing up the cage of your heart again. And if destiny has one thing for you, it’s to break you down before bringing you back up.

Characters: Dean x You, Sam, Castiel, Bobby, OFC’s, OMC’s, (Ongoing)

This Series Is Set Through Seasons 1-6 With Knowledge That The Bunker Exists

Rating: 18+

Warnings (Ongoing and Will Be Updated): Grieving, Mentions of Rape and Defilement (As Per A Case), Show Level Violence, Swearing, Smut, Impreg Kink, Blood, Fighting, Drinking, Dean Being Dean, Fluff, Angst, Dom!Dean, Sub!Reader

Warnings For This Chapter: Show Level Violence, Fluff

Chapter 5.

"You better not let my insides turn to mush." You tell your best friends as they drive through the dark night towards the scene of the crime.

"We would never let you get hurt, ever. Don't be ridiculous." Dean mumbles as he lowers the music as it blasts throughout the car.

"I'm just saying." You whisper as you tug at your dress.

"Yeah well, don't 'just say' anything. And, stop pulling at your dress like that something is gonna pop out from one end or the other if you keep it up." He barks out.

Throwing his jacket over your legs, you let the scent of his cologne wash over you and you feel your nerves begin to calm down.

"You memorized what he looked like right?" Sam asks as you finger at the green fabric of his jacket.

"Yep. Got it all in here." You say tapping your temple with your index finger before looking out the window.

You watch the odd streetlight pass you by before eyeing the moon. You've always loved how, no matter how close you drive towards it it always seems farther and farther away with each step.

"Since Morley Rosmund was cremated by the state, he must be attached to something. A lock of hair, a locket, something he bled on." Sam says as he flicks through the sheets of paper within his manila folder.

"Maybe he's attached to the old woodchipper that prostitute shoved him through." You comment as the car begins to slow down.

"That would be an issue." Dean mumbles as he pulls up to the nefarious corner.

You want to open the door but your nerves seem raught with determination to stay inside the safe car.

"All we need to find out is where he takes the women. Whether it's his old house, his old office, anywhere. We'll send him packing for the night and go there in the morning to scout it out and find whatever he's attached to." Dean tells you as he hooks his hand behind the passenger seat to look at you.

It's a simple plan. Straightforward like always. You three are a team. There's no reason to let yourself get worked up over nothing.

"We're going to be right across the street. We'll be watching you." Your younger best friend tells you calmly and you look up at both of them before nodding.

"Okay. Let's gank this bitch then." You whisper before opening up the car door.

The gentle chill that blows through the breeze assaults all of your limbs as you stand on the street corner.

You watch Baby do a U-turn before the car shuts off. Dean is watching you like a hawk, eyes narrowed as he picks some skin off his bottom lip.

His gaze is comforting and you take deep breaths as you pace back and forth.

"She looks nervous." Sam comments to his older brother as he angles his head to watch you.

"Yeah. She's waiting for a weird pervert ghost. You'd be nervous too if you were her." Dean answers gruffly as his eyes roam your body.

"Why don't you guys just fuck already?" His younger brother asks as he brings his coffee cup to his lips. 

"Excuse me?" His older brother's voice is deep and low, the threatening baritone creeping into his head and rattling his brain. Dean turns his head slowly to his brother with narrowed eyes.

The gaze sets something akin to nervousness in Sam and he gives an awkward chuckle combing his long hair behind his ear.

"I just...I mean… I can see the way you both look at each other." He says with a shrug.

"It's complicated. Don't worry about what me and Y/N do or haven't done." He mumbles before turning back to watch you continue to pace.

"I mean you guys have both liked each other since you guys met. And...Well, you guys always pretend like something between you both doesn't exist." Sam fumbles with his words.

Dean sighs as he pulls his flask out from the inside pocket of his jacket. Taking a swig, he rolls his eyes. 

"I'm not talking about this right now, Sammy. All I do is talk about this shit to you, to Cas, to Bobby, even to Dad when he was still alive. I'm not with her because I don't fucking deserve her. I'm not going to ruin her life like I always do. So, shut the hell up." He barks out before cracking his neck.

Sam nods slowly as he presses his lips into a straight line, "Fine. I just think Y/N should be able to make those decisions for herself too. Y'know?" 

"Shut up, Sam." The fraction of a second that this conversation has gone on, Dean's eyes left you for a minute.

When he turns his head back to the corner, you are gone. 

"Goddammit!" He curses loudly, slapping the steering wheel harshly before shoving the door open and jogging across the street. 

Nothing but the brisk chill of the evening is all Dean can feel. You're completely out of his sight and he puts his hands over his face.

"I'm sorry." Sam apologizes quickly as he joins his older brother.

"If anything happens to her…Fuck!" He curses as his head continuously turns in all directions.

Pulling out his phone, the younger Winchester begins to track the GPS on your cell phone, "I'll find her." Sam whispers nervously as he takes in his brother's broken form.

Dean can feel his heart clenching, his eyes are watering at the mere thought of you being in danger. How could he let you out of his sight?

He promised. He fucking promised. 

This is like Marsh all over again.

Clutching onto the fabric of his shirt over his heart, his head lolls back at the pain and fear that encroaches upon him.

Dean and Sam weren't paying attention when Morley Rosmund came and grabbed you. That you knew for a fact. They were fighting. As per usual. 

The second the man in olden clothes had touched you, your body felt cold and numb.

You could count on your hand the amount of times you've met a ghost this pissed.

You've done jobs by yourself before while your best friends were gallivanting and fighting with every Archangel known to man. This would just have to be one of those times where you suck it up and have to fend for yourself.

You couldn't rely on them always and that's perfectly okay. You can handle yourself, you're strong and capable. 

Ghosts with this angered of a spirit can travel only a certain distance away from their soul-bound item. 

That seems to check out as you're pulled only a block away from that street corner. The office building is old and decrepit. There are many stop work orders on the face of the building as you're pulled inside. 

Grimacing, you step over dead bodies and bones in the first floor hallway.

"This is my office." You hear Morley explain and your breath comes out in puffs of smoke as you wrap your arms around each other for warmth.

"Oh. Lovely." You murmur as the body of a woman around your age lays on the old, varnished desk. 

Your hand reaches for your clavicle and you tug off the old coin pure iron from the necklace before pushing it down into the palm of your hand.

Your eyes glance around the office, trying to find anything that would be the key item for this man to still be bound here. You try to ignore the putrid smell of rotting flesh before the taller ghost is in your line of sight with a feral smile on his face.

His body shifts in and out of this plane of existence before solidifying once more.

"Get on the desk and spread your legs." He commands and you shiver at the roughness of his voice.

Clearing your throat, you sit on the corner trying your best not to touch the dead girl that's there.

"NOW!" The thin glass of the window shatters at his bellow and you swallow thickly as you raise your hand to his face.

Just the thought of touching this dead spirit is nerve wracking but you need to be able to get out of here. You know the building now, you just have to get away.

You press your hand to his face and he shimmers away with a yell. Closing your palm, you jump off of the desk hopping over dead bodies in the hallway. You're so close to the entrance door you can almost taste it.

But, Morley Rosmund is an old, angry ghost. Just as quickly as he vanished, he reappears.

Your breath hitches in your throat as he blocks the doorway and you go to throw the old iron coin at him. Before you can even let the coin slide out of your hand, you're in the air.

Your body travels backward against the wall with a loud thud and you crumple in on yourself with a whimper. You can taste blood in your mouth, can feel your body aching and bruising all over as the ghost advances on you.

Dean is mumbling to himself as he rummages through the trunk.

Hearing glass shatter in the distance, his head jolts up. 

"You hear that?" He asks his younger brother as he grabs his sawed off shotgun.

"Yeah. I got her location. She's not far." The words put gusto into his bones as he rapidly grabs the rest of the materials and weapons he will need.

Slamming the trunk shut, he hauls the bag over his shoulder before throwing a shotgun at his brother.

"Let's go then." He says quickly, ushering Sam to get a move on.

Jogging down the block, it didn't take long for them to find the old, decrepit building you were housed in.

Peeking his head in Dean can see the strewn bodies on the floor, new and old.

"Oh Y/N." He whispers gently as he pushes the door open with the mouth of his gun.

The office door which is cracked and shattered reads 'Mund.' You must be in there.

Stepping over the dead bodies gingerly, the closer he gets to the office with his little brother behind him the louder your whimpers and grunts of pain become.

His jaw clicks and he can hear you cursing out the ghost like a proud sailor.

Kicking open the door, he takes in your half naked body for a fraction of a second before he's shooting the gun at the ghost. The rock salt blasts through Morley Rosmund and he's gone within seconds. 

"Hey. Hey. I got you." He whispers as he jogs over to you.

You whimper loudly, holding your arms out like a frail child and his heart breaks at the sight of you.

"I'm so fucking sorry." He says as he picks you up. Your skin is already bruising and deepening in color as he coddled you to his chest.

"We gotta go!" Sam yells as more glass begins to shatter in the office.

Dean buries your face into his neck as he steps over strewn debris and body parts. You can hear him whispering kind, gentle words in your ear and you practically jump out of your skin as Sam shoots the gun behind you.

"He's one angry son of a bitch." Dean growls as he kicks open the front door.

Stepping down the stairs, the brisk chill of Autumn assaults your half naked body and you groan loudly as Sam shoots the gun once more before closing the front door of the building.

Sammy throws his jacket over your body as Dean jogs back to the Impala with fast feet.

"Did he hurt you? Where did that sick son of a bitch touch you?" The venom in his voice is almost intoxicating to listen too.

"I'm okay." You whisper as he opens the back door of the Impala without a word. 

Throwing the keys to Sam, the younger brother clears his throat uncomfortably. Dean sits in the back of the car with you, he pulls your upper body onto his making sure Sam's jacket is covering your body.

You're still aching and feeling the pain all over but it's also a soft comfort that creeps over your body as Dean runs his fingers through your hair. 

"De?" You whisper as your eyes flutter closed.

"Hmm?" He asks, lowering his head to hear you clearly. 

"When I feel better, I'm going to kick your ass for leaving me alone." You threaten before grimacing and putting your hand to your chest.

His face shifts above you, as if he's been stabbed or shot. Your words cut him to the quick and he can barely nod.

"I would expect nothing less, Candy girl."

You ended up in Dean's bed again that night, which was becoming more of a regular thing than you cared to admit. But, against all of your better judgement, you were okay with it.

You were finally sound asleep when Dean uttered his first words of the evening.

"I'm so sorry." He whispers as he turns towards you.

Your lips are parted, hair splayed over your face as you take shallow breaths during your sleep.

Turning his head to make sure his brother is sleeping, he curls his arm around your form. His thumb grazes gentle circles on your forearm as he watches you sleep.

"I'm so caught up in what to do around you, what to say, how to hide my feelings… It's all getting to be too much for me." He mumbles more to himself than to you.

"I shouldn't have taken my eyes off you tonight. I'm sorry I didn't pay more attention. I don't know what I would have done if you got hurt because of me. God…" His voice is deep and pained. A tear threatens to spill over as he hangs his head.

This would be about the time where he grunts angrily and drinks a beer but he can't leave your side. Not for a minute. 

"I'm getting sick and tired of not having you as mine. Really fucking sick of having to push you away because I'm too goddamn stubborn to do anything about it." He sounds breathless by the end of his monologue. Laying his head down on the pillow, his thumb drifts over your cheekbone once more.

"Then don't be stubborn." You whisper before turning over and facing the window.

Your older best friend's eyes widen and he clears his throat before rubbing at his face roughly with his left hand.

"I didn't...I didn't know you were awake." He whispers as you open your eyes.

You watch as soft grey clouds drift past the large moon that looms over the motel.

"Kind of hard to sleep when your best friend is spilling out his soul to you." You retort quietly, your fingers pull at a frayed string of the comforter that lays over your body.

"So...you heard me?" He asks nervously.

Oh. You heard it all.

Destiny Is Heaven Sent Taglist: @roonyxx​, @deans-baby-momma​

Forever Dean Tags: @akshi8278​