#was so fucking exited for the anime i almost blew up today

[hantokarakida]

Dungeon Meshi, Star Icon Edits!! | Free to use for carrds, rentry, etc, ONLY WITH CREDIT!

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[alltooreid]

All Too Well

Spencer must go to him and Y/N’s once shared apartment to clean out his things and leave her life forever. While there he can’t help but look back on his actions, the ones that made him lose the love of his life forever

A/N: Hi!! This is my first fanfic ever published on here and I’m excited to share it with you all! It’s inspired by one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs All Too Well, but although I utilized some of the lyrical genius and imagery from it, the story is not the same as the story in the song. This is a very angsty fic, and there is not a happy ending. Although there are some cute fluffy elements, including a Reid’s purple scarf origin story, I would in no way call this happy. Additionally, because of a reason you may later realize, the content warnings are very vague. If anything even slightly mentioned in them may affect you, I advise you to maybe stay clear. On a lighter note, if anyone wants to request anything, whether it’s another song inspired fic or a general plot line you would like to see please do so!! Also sorry this is kinda short, I’m still learning but I’m really proud of this one :))

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem Reader

Type: Very Angsty, Not a Happy Ending, (Y/N and Spencer do not end up together)

Word Count: 2.4k

Content Warnings(try to ignore if you would prefer to stay surprised): slight cursing, discussions of death and gore, discussion of car crash

Things to Know: Italics and bold are flashback moments :) let me know what you think!

“But you keep my old scarf from that very first week 'Cause it reminds you of innocence And it smells like me You can't get rid of it 'Cause you remember it all too well”

Spencer was packing up his things, finally getting the chance to clear out and move from the apartment he and Y/N once shared.  Their relationship was rocky and unconventional but he loved her all the same. Even though he left her broken-hearted and destroyed his most cherished relationship. Even though Y/N’s parents now hated him because of what he did to her. Even though hope of repairing what they once had was long gone and there was nothing else he could do about it. Even though he had torn up the masterpiece they once had together. He still loved her so much.

But the magic was gone and so was she. 

Now Spencer was left with memories, and since the apartment they lived in was hers instead of his, filed entirely under hers and her parents name. In his excessive knowledge and wisdom, Spencer Reid struggled to understand how the kitchen where Y/N told him she loved him for the first time as he lit the candle on the collapsing confetti cake he had attempted to bake for her birthday was in no way legally tied to him. 

“Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to Y/N! Happy birthday to you!” Spencer sang as he lit the single pink birthday candle he found after rummaging through his desk drawers for longer than he cared to admit. He knew it was in there somewhere, but at the same time there was a whole lot in there. 

As he looked at her face, eyes welling up with tears as she took in the sad, homemade excuse for a birthday party Spencer had thrown together after they got back from a case hours before, he couldn’t help but feel he should have done more. He wanted to take her to New York, where they would’ve enjoyed fine dining and one of those incredibly detailed floral frosting cakes he knew Y/N was infatuated with. 

However, the case in Oregon ran long. They had only returned to their apartment 2 hours ago, hours past their 7pm dinner reservations. Although Y/N tried to hide her disappointment, you don’t need to be a profiler to know that someone wants to celebrate their own birthday. So although they had agreed to go to bed and play everything by ear tomorrow, the young genius had, what he would still argue to be, his most brilliant idea when he saw Y/N asleep once he got out of the shower.

It was still her birthday.

And Spencer had just under 2 hours to throw you a party. 

So sure, Y/N deserved more than a cake that was definitely not cool enough to frost, but was frosted anyway due to time constraints. And she definitely deserved more than present hastily wrapped in his printed out articles and newspaper clippings. Spencer wished that he had time to go buy new candles, instead of lighting a green sparkly number 7 because it was all he could find.

But it was almost midnight, and that meant he only had 18 minutes before it wasn’t Y/N’s birthday anymore.

So instead of dwelling on it, he headed to their bedroom, shook her awake and watched her roll over to face him. He watched the smile overtake her face as she said the stupid party hat he was wearing, made out of a pom pom and a wedding invitation.

“Hey birthday girl,” he said softly, “you do realize you’re sleeping through your party right?”

She looked so happy that night, even as she saw the way too messy kitchen and her birthday cake that was melting by the second. She laughed as Spencer fumbled with the lighter. 

And as he finished singing her eyes started releasing tears. 

“I’m sorry sweetheart, I wish we could’ve done more for the first birthday we get to spend together. “

“No, no, no” she said as she wiped her tears away, “It’s not that at all.”

She smiled and looked up at him “I just love you so goddamn much Spencer.”

Although at one point, all Spencer knew was logic and logically Y/N had never ever known him when she filed her paperwork, the genius still struggled to grasp the concept. That even before the ending of it all, you had no legal, definite connection to her at all. 

How was nothing about this place, his? 

  All that he knew was that he had today to pack all his shit and leave. All he knew is that Y/N’s father had made it very clear none of their family wanted to see him again. 

He wished he could talk to Y/N about it. However all of his calls went to voicemail immediately. 

Logically, Spencer knew why, he had completely fucked up. 

But still, he called every single day, as there was nothing his heart wished for more than to speak to Y/N again. To apologize, to beg for forgiveness he knew he didn’t deserve.

As the cold air from the open windows blew into the apartment, Spencer couldn’t help but feel he was leaving his home behind. Everything left of her was going to be here, and he wouldn’t get to experience any part of the life you and him had once shared together anymore.

But then he saw it. 

The royal purple scarf Y/N bought the day of their first date. 

“You like this color right?” she asked as they stopped by a booth at the street festival she had taken him to. Spencer was too distracted as he watched the other couples on dates, as they walked hand and hand down the streets. He sometimes wished he could forget things like the number of germs and bacteria that lived on her hands. He at least wished he could forget long enough to gather enough courage to hold Y/N’s hand as they walked down the sidewalk.

“Hmm?” he said, looking back at her, then the scarf she was now wearing. “Oh, yeah! I love that color, it um- looks great on you.”

She smiled, then turned to the weird old guy running the stand. “How much for the scarf?” she asked.

He looked at her, then looked at Spencer, “depends which one of you is paying.”

Before Spencer could say anything, let alone pull out his wallet, Y/N already had hers out. 

“Well, for a pretty lady like you, it’s 2 dollars,” the man said.

She handed him five and turned to Spencer. “You hear that? I’m so pretty I get 80% off! Wonder what you would’ve paid huh pretty boy? He would probably owe you money.” The man handed her her change and whispered something Spence couldn’t quite catch. 

“Gross,” Y/N said as they exited the booth, “he wrote his number on my change.”

Spencer chuckled, “Did you really just buy that scarf because I like the color of it?”

She smiled, “Don’t get so cocky now Einstein, I like purple too you know? And maybe if you’re lucky I’ll let you borrow it.”

At that moment Spencer felt just okay enough to wrap his arm around Y/N’s, and she felt just right enough to wrap the new scarf around them both. 

The one she left next to her front door, after making the last minute decision to leave it at home the night of their final outing.

No one would notice if he….. Right?

Sure maybe Y/N would but what would she do about it? Hunt him down just to get a scarf she paid less than five dollars for? Definitely not. 

He wrapped it around his neck and closed his eyes, even days later he could perfectly picture Y/N singing in his car, fascinated by the autumn leaves falling around her. He felt the wind in his hair, but instead of the cold, dreary air from the open apartment window, he swore he could remember the warm air from that October night. 

“Spencer I know you hate it but please, please, please. I’m so tired.”

“Sweetheart you’re not tired, you’re drunk. Of course I have to drive you home.”

“Oh, whatever.”

A phone call broke him away from his memories, it was Hotch. Spencer was angry, how effortlessly cruel of him to call him during such an emotional time. Hotch knew how much Spencer loved Y/N, the whole team did. 

So he didn’t pick up.

Instead he walked over to the coffee table they used to put their feet on when they binged watched Doctor Who together. Letting the ringtone play out in the background, Spencer picked up an old photo album Y/N’s parents must have brought out. Of course he remembered it, it was the same one they flipped through when he met Y/N’s parents for the first time. He didn’t realize she had brought it home with her.

His eyes welled up with tears as he flipped through the old school pictures, remembering how embarrassed Y/N was of her big glasses. He saw her old athlete pictures from when she used to play tee ball, and flipped through more pictures until he reached the end of your softball career, in college. 

He remembered how hard Y/N blushed when she showed him her childhood bedroom. Her twin sized bed was full of stuffed animals and her walls covered in boy band posters. 

“You know what Spencer? I don’t want to hear it. I loved and still love the BackStreet Boys and I am not ashamed of that.”

He laughed, “You know, before we started dating I always thought you were so cool and unattainable. I imagined that you had always been this chic, beautifully brilliant badass. It’s oddly comforting to know that you wore tortoiseshell glasses and had a fruitless infatuation with Nick Carter.”

She gasped, before tossing her tabby cat stuffed toy at him, “You’re about to get it!”

Once again he was called out of the memory by his phone. 

And once again he let it ring.

Spencer went into their shared bedroom, most of his things were already put into boxes for him. Honestly he was surprised that they hadn’t been set on fire or thrown away after what he did. 

Soon it was time for him to take his things down to his car.

Except it wasn’t even his car. It was Morgan’s.

“Spencer, you are the most gorgeous man I have ever seen in my entire life. I am infatuated with you, I want us to spend the rest of our lives together.”

“You sure that isn’t the alcohol talking Y/N”

“Look at me Spencer, no, no really look at me.”

He couldn’t imagine ever using his old car again after what had happened in it.

“You are my future.”

Not that he could use it again.

“You are my everything.”

It was pretty much destroyed, after that accident on that little town street.

“I want nothing more in my life, than for you to be in it.”

When he was so enamored by Y/N, so in love that he couldn’t take his eyes off her, that he ran a red light.

And the truck waiting to go didn’t stop either.

“SPENCER! SPENCER CAN YOU HEAR ME? I NEED YOU TO CALL 911!” she screamed, her voice filled with agony, her limbs mangled in a sea of crushed mental and snapped backwards by the emergency airbag she didn’t realize she was resting her feet on.

Spencer had already called 911. That was the sickest thing about it. Spencer was, physically, perfectly fine. Spencer would get to leave the hospital after just a few days. Spencer could’ve probably gotten out of the car if he tried to. But he stayed, he stayed with Y/N, as she wasn’t fine. As Spencer looked down on her broken body, and tried desperately to find just one piece of skin that wasn’t coated in blood, her blood, that is when he realized. That not only could Y/N not walk out of the hospital with him, but she probably wouldn’t even make it there.

So he sobbed, he struggled to breathe, not because of the ways Y/N did, but because he had caused all the reasons she couldn’t.

“Hey, Spencer, look at me.”

So he did, and he reached for her hands and held them so tightly, and wanted one last time to feel her squeeze back. And she did, just ever so softly. 

“Spencer, I meant everything I said to you. I want you to spend the rest of my life with me. Please.”

“I love you so much Y/N”

“I love you too.”

Spencer was drawn away from his memories once again as he got another phone call. 

But it wasn’t Hotch this time. It was Mr. Y/L/N, so he answered it. He owed him that.

“Are you out of her house yet? You’ve had hours. I want you gone Spencer.”

Spencer sighed, “I’m leaving now sir, I’m just putting the last of my things in the trunk and then I’ll be gone.”

“Good, I never want to see you again Spencer, you hear me?” Mr. Y/L/N said. “And you better not have anything of hers either. All that stuff in your car better belong to you and you only. If Y/N paid for even a dime of it it better still be in that house.”

Spencer looked down at this scarf he was wearing, the one that still smelled like her perfume. The one that he couldn’t bring himself to take off because he reminded him of so much innocence and beauty.

“Yes sir, I didn’t take anything.”

“Good. And Spencer do me a favor.”

“Anything sir.”

“Go fuck yourself.” Mr. Y/L/N said, and then hung up. Spencer sighed, he expected that and fully deserved it.

How else should a father react when you kill his daughter?

“'Cause there we are again when I loved you so Back before you lost the one real thing you've ever known It was rare, I was there, I remember it all too well”

[silverrstarrr]

Sorry for such the big delay for chapter 2! Since this took some time, I made this chapter longer. As I said before: please be nice, this is my first fanfic. I would LOOOVEEE feedback or even tips to better my writing. I made a little playlist for you guys can listen to while reading. Please enjoy!

○Part lll- crumb

●Recently played- crumb

○Big sis- SALES

●Ghost-Machine girl(I'll put an ◇  when to play this song)

꒰ Nails ꒱ؘ ࿔*:･ﾟ

Chapter 2:

「6:30pm」

Horns honking left and right, men in suits exiting the train. Women sitting on benches holding their phones with their shoulder–typing away on a laptop. High school girls walking around in groups, giggling and smiling at one another. Obviously they were having a good conversations. Tourists and visitors checking out pastry displays, hands on their chins- undecided on what to get.'Tokyo sure is busy, huh.'  Y/n said to herself.

Y/n was currently strolling throughout the streets, glancing every now and then at food restaurants— trying to see what she was in the mood for.  Tapping her phone screen once again, she checked the time. In a thin helvetica font, the numbers "3:25" were written along with the words "pm" right next to it in a smaller font size. Dropping her hands down, her arms drooping right along- a sigh left her lips. She's been walking around for 15 minutes and still couldn't find what she wanted to eat. She stopped by a bakery, checking out what they had to offer, didn't really liked what she saw and left. Then went to a classic sushi restaurant— that also served Ramen. Once again, she turned her head and walked out of door. From there, she just began going back and forth through restaurants— which leads her to right now. She went deeper into the city, wandering further away from the school's location. To be honest, the whole mission even slipped her mind- she had a new job now: finding where the fuck to eat. Being really the indecisive person she was, this whole thing took another hour. Yeah...a whole HOUR.

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At last, the woman was finally making her to an empty table carrying a black tray, filled with her meal order. Placing her order on the beautiful round tan wooden table, she pulls out the chair tucked under—sitting herself down. Y/n glanced down at her food and honestly, it looked good as hell. Kinda reminded her of how those anime food gifs looked like that you search up on Google. What was her food choice? Well, it was Ramen:

I know, I know- early she said she wasn't in the mood for Ramen but shut up! People can change and y/n's appetite craving sure did.

Picking up the pair of wooden chopsticks with her right, slowly watching as the steam from the noodles rised up only to disappear within the air—y/n began to eat her meal. Grasping the thin long lines of unleavened wheat dough between her chopsticks, she silently blew on before placing them into her mouth. Using her left hand, she grabbed the chirirenge—dipping it into the bowl, scooping up a spoonful of the well seasoned broth. Y/n brought her left to her lips and slowly drunk the liquid. She continued eating, placing the tender mushrooms into her mouth, savoring the flavor. Taking more sips of the broth with her chirirenge, her right hand going to her bowl again to grab a piece of sliced meat then taking another chomp. She was enjoying this a little more than she should but so what? She deserved it. Still,  time was going by pretty fast actually and she still yet to remember her mission.

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Three hours have now passed since "3:25pm". Y/n was now finishing up her glass of water, as a waitress came to pick up the empty bowl along with the tray. Grabbing her phone, she made her way out of the door. It was now 6pm. It was less crowded now, but since it wasn't dark yet, people were still around checking out the city. It was the beginning of summer after all.

Y/n was now walking down the streets of Tokyo, before she head back—she wanted to stop by the convenience store to get a few things. Taking a sharp turn to the left, then pushing through a sea full of people— she made it to her destination. The convenience store. At this moment, y/n was ready to take in on her indulges of just buying snacks like crazy. She barley had enough time to eat a proper meal because of her crazy schedule, so she always just ate a quick snack to pass her hunger over to complete her mission.

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Placing her hand on the door's handle, pushing it forward and stepped into the store. She stood there in awe for a few seconds until a small smirk appeared on her lips, she was now in her snack buying heaven. Automatically going towards the back of the store, she grabs herself a few drinks. Next, she went to an aisle and grabbed a few packets of candy. Moving onto the next aisle, where all the chips, cookies, instant Ramen,(etc) were at—y/n just stood there. She had such a wide variety to choose from but first she grabbed a couple of her favorite cup Ramen and her cookies as well. Now, what type of chips did she want? When it came down to these, y/n always liked to look at the flavors and see if there were any new ones. And if they were? Well she'll try them. Shrugging her shoulder, she went up and grabbed a few of the ones she always ate then a few of the new flavors. It was now time to check out, she had enough snacks to last her a decent month or two. Carrying all of her items to the front counter, she casually dropped them as the cashier began scanning. Y/n stood there looking at the small monitor, watching as the numbers went up after every beep—she hoped that she'll be able to pay for everything.

The cashier placed all of her food items into white plastic bags and placed them on the counter.

"Your total is ¥2664.19." The worker said. ($25.19 in USD)

Immediately, she goes into her pocket and pulls out the cash needed to pay. She hands it to the cashier and grabs the white bags resting on the countertop. A 'Thank you' leaving the person's lips as y/n nodded her head and walked out the store. Now it was time to head back! Today was a victory. She got to wander around Tokyo, Eat a decent meal, and not to mention got snacks. Y/n smiled to herself and pulled out her phone. Since she had snacks, she was gonna shoot Megumi a message to see if he was willing to eat some with her. Maybe they could find a good sho–wait a minute. At this moment, she froze. Megumi? Letting out a gasp with a surprised expression, she came to realization.

"OH SHIT, I FORGOT ABOUT THE MISSION."

In less than a second, y/n was on her feet, dashing down the street. she was pretty fast, considering she was a Sorcerer and running was a common thing.

Unlocking her phone with her thumb, she went to her contacts and immediately called her partner.

"please, please, please... pick up." She said to herself. Even though she knew he was a Sorcerer and could handle himself, her gut told her something wasn't right and this threw her into a panic.

"The phone number you are trying to re-"

It was no use, he wasn't picking up. How would she know where he was?  He could be anywhere—they spilt up to look for the finger, to see if it was in a different location. So many thoughts were running through her head, she didn't even know where she was heading to. The only thing she could think of was her friend's safety.

She finally came down to a decision to first check the school. If he wasn't there, she wasn't sure what she'll do but she'll leave things up to future her. Making a sharp turn to the right, she went into an alley way. Jumping on top of trash can, y/n used this as little boost to pull herself up to a building's rooftop. Since she spent so much time doodling off, it was now dark. Which was a good thing—so people wouldn't see her leaping from building to building. It would be weird as hell if they did.

Going through hellish missions of fighting curses did pay off. She had agility and was able to pass over buildings with ease, swiftly taking a right turn—next a left as she went further down. Pushing her foot upwards off of the concrete roof, she leaped into the air, grabbing onto a branch from a tree. She then released her grip and landed on the sidewalk, proceeding to sprint towards the school.

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At last, she was at the school's gates. Instinctively, her eyes began examining the area. Checking the ground, she saw a few broken shards of glass, this must have meant something happened. Y/n looked up and her heart almost dropped into her stomach. There were multiple broken windows and she felt lingering curse energy oozing out from the school. Without wasting anymore time, the woman ran into the school. Busting through the doors, she swiftly headed to the staircase and started ascending the steps with speed.

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Seeing that there were nobody on each floor, her last step was the school's roof.

Making it to the last set of stairs, y/n prepared herself—she took into caution of a cursed being present. Gathering and focusing on her curse energy, she was ready to take on the curse at any moment. Steadily, she made her way up steps and pulled the roof's door open. To her surprise, it was nothing was she intended it to be.

On his knees, completely worn-out, covered in injuries head to toe, uniform in a mess, and the obvious bleeding from his head. She knew it, Megumi was hurt.

Immediately, dropping her plastic bags, she rushed over to him- completely ignoring her sensei. Lowering herself down to his level, and before she could speak- her friend did.

"I'm fine, no need to worry." He said with his eyes closed, looking away from her direction. He wasn't fine, he was holding his torso—blood was dripping down from his hand. Y/n blamed herself deeply, it was her fault that he was in such a state. Grabing his right arm, she slung it over her neck as it rested on her shoulder. She then slider her left arm around his waist to help him back on his feet. Megumi wanted to protest but he knew thay she wasn't planning on letting him go. Now they were both on their feet, she finally looked up and noticed a tall man with a stupid blindfold—Gojo Satoru, their teacher. She didn't only notice him but a shirtless boy hanging over his shoulder? He had pink hair with a black undercut, she swear she saw him before but couldn't put her finger on it.

"Aww! Y/n you missed it!" Gojo said with a pouty voice in attempt to sound like an innocent school girl.

"Miss what?" She responded.

"Nothing." Megumi spat out in an annoyed tone.

Gojo was opening his mouth to speak again but y/n cut off him.

"Who's that?" Y/n was looking at the boy who was knocked tf out on Gojo's shoulder. Her sensei only hummed in response, this irritated her because he didn't answer her question. Megumi noticed this and sighed,

"I'll explain later."

Y/n glared at her injured partner, not liking that the two were being secretive but megumi did say he'll tell her soon, that was enough. Both of them started walking towards the roof's door. Bending her knees down slightly, she leaned to the side and used her free to pick up her snacks. With this, she completely lets go of megumi as he fell onto the ground with a harsh slap. Before megumi could literally curse her out for dropping him after she offered to help him, she quickly picked him up bridal style. Fushiguro was silent. it wasn't that he accepted what she was doing but more like in shock and didn't have words.

Satoru just stood by with a dumbfounded look on his face and only was able to say "O-"

Y/n didn't really care, it was bothersome to carry him on her shoulder all the way down some stairs. As she said before, she's a Sorcerer.

Megumi looked up at her with an angry expression, it seemed like he was gonna pop a vain. She only smiled in response and simply said, "Hold on." And with that, she jumped off the school's roof, heading back to the dorms.

[almostkoo]

How Not to Train Your Dragon | Kim Namjoon

pairings: kim namjoon x oc

summary: getting placed with a familiar creates a sacred bond but when your familiar despises you with a passion the hoops you’ll jump through to patch things up will lead you on a journey

word count: 2.1k

warnings: language (as always), 1 (one) death threat, oc & namjoon got more beef than wendys, i swear one day i’ll write them being friendly .. but it is not today 🤡

author’s notes: day four !! of spooktober! getting these stories out back to back have been challenging but i’ve been having fun with this and i hope you guys are enjoying my stories ! we’re almost done :)

link to my main masterlist

The sweet smells of your workshop swirled around in the air as you bustled around over your cauldron, dropping things in and stirring around every so often. You were focused on the potion that had been taking you months to master. Shrinking potions were always hard to do, anything with changing anatomy was always hard to do. What made things worse was that potions were never your strongest area.

Stirring the lime green substance around you looked around at the shelves around you trying to find the one last ingredient you’d need for this and you’d be sure it would tie this potion all together.

The Water Buffalo’s tooth was placed on the shelf to your left in a transparent pink jar. Keeping an eye on the cauldron you started side stepping in an attempt to reach for the tooth. Your hand remained on the handle of the ladle you were using to stir. Fingertips barely ghosting the jar at all you didn’t know what to do. If you tried levitating it towards you there was a chance you would accidentally release the jar from it’s hold and drop it. If that Water Buffalo’s tooth hits the ground it’s gonna be of no use. You let out a sigh doing something you dreaded to do.

“Namjoon? Can you come help me in here please?” you called.

Every witch had a familiar, yours so happened to be Namjoon. It was bad enough he seemed like he hated you the moment his sharp, slit frosty blue eyes laid on you. He was a dragon too. The most hardest to deal with of all the supernatural beings. Namjoon was stubborn, arrogant and stand offish. You hated having to deal with him for prolonged amounts of time.

The curtain to enter your workshop pushed to the side and in came Namjoon, his grown out purple tresses hung wildly around his face.

“What do you want?” he asked, arms crossed.

“Can you please hand me the Water Buffalo’s tooth, it’s right there on the shelf in the pink jar I just can’t reach it.” you asked. Namjoon snickered at you.

“You can’t just make it fly over to you?” he waved his fingers around mockingly.

“Don’t you think if I could I would. If I do I could risk dropping it. If I drop it I’m going to have to travel just about half way up the mountains again to get another one and I really don’t want to do that.”

“That’s too bad. Figure something out. If you need me, which I hope you don't, I'll be out front handling your store while you squander ingredients trying to be a potions master.” Namjoon turned on his heels and stepped back out of your workshop. You felt a hot tear start rolling down your cheek. Quickly, wiping it away with your free hand. You straightened up, reaching out your hand to summon the tooth to you. Multitasking between that and stirring you looked out of the corner of your eye, watching the jar slowly float to you. The cauldron started bubbling and you looked away from the floating jar. When suddenly you hear the glass shatter, you looked down at the floor where the Water Buffalo tooth laid useless. Fighting back the urge to cry some more. You waved your hand freezing the potion in place. You walked towards the door to your workshop grabbing your cloak on the way out.

Namjoon looked up from the book he was reading. He snapped it close, the sound making you jump and stop in your tracks.

“Where are you going ? Thought you had a potion to finish.” He said.

“I dropped the Water Buffalo’s tooth on the ground, I can’t use it anymore. I’m gonna hike up the mountains to get another one.” You said, pressing the door open to the shop to exit. You were walking down the road in the direction of the mountains. Loud footsteps came from behind you, not even bothering to turn around you knew who was following you.

“Why are you following me Namjoon?” You sighed.

“I can’t let you just go off into the woods alone. Why don’t you let me fly you up there? It's going to take you hours to get up there and that’s if you don’t rest and power through.”

Not many things scared you. That’s something you learned early into your existence. Until you met Namjoon, then you realized heights and Namjoon’s dragon form was two of the only things that truly shook you to the core. Them put together you couldn’t just handle it it was too much.

“I don’t like heights and you know that.” You kept walking forward, dreading the trip up the mountains. A shot of fire blasted straight past your shoulder. You jumped back out of the way, whipping around to look at Namjoon who blew a puff of smoke out of his mouth.

“Namjoon? Are you serious? Did you just try and burn me?” You questioned. Namjoon let out a loud sigh, dropping his shoulders.

“Come on y/n. Please let me fly you up the mountain. I don’t wanna do this walk either! I still have to protect you and assist you. Stop being so damn stubborn.” Namjoon hissed at you.

“Me being stubborn you’ve got to be kidding me.” You shook your head, turning back around to continue walking.

“Y/n if you want you can close your eyes. I fly quickly, we’ll be there before you know it.” He pleaded.

“No Namjoon” you snapped. “I don’t care if my eyes are closed! I don’t care if I had soundproof headphones so I won’t feel the wind rush into my ears! I don’t care if I have on mitts so I won’t feel your rough ass scales on my hands! You’re NOT flying me up the mountain.” You yelled.

“I hate dealing with you.” You heard Namjoon mumble.

“I fucking hate dealing with you too, you aren’t special.”

Hour One

Somewhere during the first 30 mins of the hike up the mountains Namjoon’s airpods found their way into his ears. His loud rapping filling up the quiet air, annoying you very quickly. You scanned the ground as you continued walking until you saw a small pebble. Stopping in your tracks you picked it up, turning around in one swift move throwing it right at Namjoon’s chest. He flinched back in pain, snatching an airpod out of his ear.

“What the fuck is the matter with you?” His eyes narrowed at you.

“Cut it out with all that loud ass rapping. I don’t wanna hear that shit!” You shouted.

“So what you’re gonna assault me with fucking rocks?”

“If I could levitate a boulder and get away with crushing you to death I would. But I can’t so the pebble will have to suffice.”

“You wouldn’t kill me.” Namjoon said smugly.

“Don’t tempt me.” You stated, sternly. Your cold stare peering into Namjoon’s eyes. He rolled his eyes and looked away. Muttering a soft “Whatever” under his breath.

You continued moving up the mountains and Namjoon resumed rapping out loud.

Conjuring up a pair of earbuds to listen to your music from your own phone. Seeing that your device was on 25% you hoped to the heavens your phone would at least get you the full trip up the mountains. You couldn’t even conjure up a portable charger because you know you would’ve managed to electrocute your hands … again.

Hour Two

The 25% did not last the complete trip up the mountains. Leaving you once again to listen to Namjoon’s loud rapping up the mountains. Slowly you found yourself getting irritated again. Scanning for another pebble you found a slightly bigger one than last time. You picked it up, tossing it up in your hand a few times to feel the weight of it. You turned around like a pitcher aiming to throw the pebble at Namjoon again, he attempted to dodge it, he missed it but his phone in his hand didn’t. It fell underneath the small rock, the now dark screen had a visible crack in it. You could see the smoke leave Namjoon’s nostrils.

“Y/n” Namjoon hissed. “You did not just do that.”

“Oh, but I did.” You said, in a saccharine tone.

“Why would you do that? You keep acting like a fucking caveman. You could’ve just asked me to stop rapping out loud.” He scoffed.

“I’m acting like a caveman? Says the giant lizard. You’ve got to be kidding me.” You muttered.

“If I’m a giant lizard why are you afraid of me then?” Namjoon taunted.

“I’m not afraid of you. I’m afraid of flying.”

“Well if you’re not afraid of me then I guess you won’t mind if I stretch my wings and trot around then until we get to the top of the mountain then.” You quickly turned around, spotting Namjoon’s blue scales appearing all over his arms.

“CUT IT OUT! I’M SERIOUS!” You yelled. Namjoon started cackling. You felt yourself getting angry. It wasn’t funny that you were scared. You could quite piece exactly why you were scared of Namjoon. But you knew you were and that was enough.

“Namjoon don’t talk to me for the rest of this hike. I swear to the heavens if you don’t you won’t speak again unless I want you to.”

“But y/n come on-“ You turned, waving your hand, binding Namjoon’s lips together.

“That’s enough out of you for now.”

Hour Three

The rest of the hike up the mountains was pretty peaceful. Quiet and serene, except for the small sounds of nature here and there. Water running in a creek, birds chirping, animals running over leaves. The only non nature sound was the occasional grunt from Namjoon.

Soon you found yourself met right with a board of Water Buffalos. You searched around. The tooth you needed was from a special specific silver Water Buffalo, that made whoever wanted its teeth solve riddles. You found it in the back of the hoard. Bumping in between the Water Buffalos you stood in front of the silver one, taking a bow and waiting for it to speak to you.

“How could I be of service to you child?” the Water Buffalo hummed.

“I need another tooth … please.” You said.

“To receive one of my teeth, you must answer a riddle correctly. You may only have one chance. Are you ready ?” It asked you. You nodded.

“This number added to it's square, and the digits of that summation added together, bring it back to itself. What is it?” It questioned. Your mind went blank and then filled itself with confusion.

“I thought I was supposed to be answering a riddle. Is that a math question?”

“It is indeed a riddle.”

You were stumped. You couldn’t tell if this was going to be one of those twisted riddles that had some philosophical meaning or just one straight forward. You started thinking deeply when that was interrupted by Namjoon’s grunting. You looked at him. He pointed at his mouth in frustration. You waved your hand removing the binding.

“What is it? You better have something useful to bring to the conversation.”

“I have the answer. I do.” He stated, eyes big and his smile wide, deep dimples indenting his cheeks.

“Namjoon, I swear if you say something incorrect and I can’t get this tooth.” You rubbed your temples.

“I’m not stupid. I know this one. I swear, let me answer it.” Your eyes scanned Namjoon’s face trying to see if there was any indication of him lying or being uncertain and you couldn’t see any. You really hoped he didn’t fuck this up.

“Fine answer it. But I swear if you fuck this up I will never forget it. When I finally master this potion I’m going to shrink you down and keep you in a jar for the rest of your days.” You stated, sternly.

“3. 3 squared is 9. 3+9=12. Take the two digits of the summation and add them; 1+2=3. In short; 3-9-12-3. This can also work with the number 0 and 9.” Namjoon said, proudly. Hands on his hips and puffing out his chest like a superhero that just saved the day.

The Water Buffalo hummed in approval. Before opening his mouth and dropping out one single tooth.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” You smiled, bending over and picking up the tooth. Wrapping it gently in a cloth and placing it in your bag. You bumped your way back through the hoard and started your way back down the mountain.

“So what, you aren’t going to thank me?” Namjoon called from behind you.

“Jesus. Fuck. Thanks Namjoon. Are you happy?” You snapped.

“Yes actually I am. Thank you.”

“You are so annoying I can’t wrap my head around it.”

“Thank you.” Namjoon smiled. You looked at him as he poked his cheeks right in his dimples. You shook your head laughing.

One would say you and your familiar have a dysfunctional relationship. Maybe one day it would change maybe one day it wouldn’t. You’d work through it any way it went.

[suupernovalight]

Addictive Drug

Ushijima W. x Reader

Masterlist || Previous || Next

9) Trapped In

Warning: mention of attempted suicide, gun violence, and torture

The Day Before

“Sir!” A truck driver said. “There’s something I need you to inspect”

A man with blonde hair and a cigarette groaned and got up from sitting. He then walked up to the truck driver and grabbed him by the collar.

“You know not to annoy me while I’m taking a smoke.” The man then blew the cigarette smoke into the truck drivers face. “You know what happens when I inform Tadashi about your disturbance”

“Boss” the truck driver said. “Please, just listen to me for once” he coughed.

The blonde haired man dropped the driver and turned around. He was waiting for the driver to talk.

“There’s something unusual that I found on my truck. I need you to come look” the driver said regaining his breathing.

The man nodded and watched as the driver left the room. When he was alone, he dropped and put out his cigarette with a sigh.

“Tadashi... why would you put me, Haruki Hadeiko in charge of this drug dump?”

~~~

When Haruki got out of his office to see what the driver was talking about, he immediately went to the truck to inspect it.

After checking for anything unusual, he found it. There sat a small but noticeable black... tracker? Could it be that the driver was followed?

“Driver 086” Haruki said.

“Yes sir?” The driver replied stepping up.

Haruki looked back at the tracker, then at Haruki. “Were you followed?”

The driver gulped in fear. “I don’t... I don’t know sir.”

Haruki squinted his eyes in annoyance. He then turned back at the tracker and tried to pull off the tracker. When it wouldn’t budge, Haruki got mad and kicked the truck.

“086, let me ask you again...” Haruki’s voice booming. “Were... you followed?”

The poor driver knew he was dead. “I heard someone around my truck but I dismissed it thinking it was nothing but an animal”

“Why didn’t you go check?” Haruki asked walking up to him.

“I-“ the driver stuttered. “I did check sir... nothing was there...” the driver backed up a few. “It was dark and I couldn’t see”

Haruki laughed a bit then reached into his suit to grab something. The other drivers listening quickly minded their business in fear that they would be next.

“Y’know 086... I actually kinda liked you.” Haruki said putting his hand on the drivers cheek. His eyes then grew dark. “But you’re the reason for this mess”

Haruki then quickly got out his gun and shot the driver. Dead right in the center of his forehead. The bang rang through the other drivers ears. As 086 got shot, he fell to the floor dead.

“Everyone else, you better clean up this mess and get back to work” Haruki said blowing his gun. “Or all of you will be next”

Present Day (from the last chapter)

“Ushijima...” you whispered while looking around. Not planning to take your eyes off of the many men pointing guns at you and your partner.

“Y/n...” Ushijima replied.

After some silence, you broke it. “We are so fucked.” You then smirked. “Might as well make the best of it” you said reaching into your suit and grabbing something.

You then threw it on the ground very quickly. Everything around you and Ushijima turned smoky. You heard many people coughing around you. You quickly grabbed Ushijima’s hand and brought him to a place to hide for a bit so they can make a plan.

“How did you have a smoke bomb on hand?” Ushijima asked you.

You dusted off your suit and smiled. “I keep some around me sometimes, it’s like a plan B” you then looked at your gun. “We gotta kill these men, we are dancing with the reaper”

“Dancing with the reaper?” Ushijima repeated.

“Just follow my lead” you winked while getting up and shooting at the men who were oddly confused with the smoke.

Ushijima also did the same, he wasn’t to sure of your plan though. Anything could go wrong. You on the other hand, was overly confident. You were sure that your plan would work.

Bang.... bang... bang

The shots of the guns were getting louder and more faster. You were slowly falling behind in your rhythm of “dancing”. That was until Ushijima stepped up.

He grabbed your hand and looked into your eyes. You looked back and saw how they sparkled. This isn’t a fairy tale though.

“Get down!” Ushijima yelled pushing you behind a metal pillar in the facility.

“Ow bitch.” You groaned. “That hurt?” You said looking at him. He was on top of you. His knees held him up still. You could feel your cheeks heating up and butterflies forming in your stomach.

“I’m sorry y/n” Ushijima said looking at you. “You were about to get hit” Ushijima then got up from being on top of you and shot at the workers.

You were still kind of shocked about what just happened. This didn’t change the fact that you were in battle right now though. When you snapped out of your love trance, you connected with Tendō from your ear piece.

“Tendō... can you hear me?” You said over the ear piece.

“Loud and clear y/n, why are there gun shots?” Tendō responded worridly.

“They are shooting at me and Ushijima. I need you to drive to the nearest exit and wait there. Me and Ushijima will try to be there as soon as possible.” You said shooting your gun at the workers.

“Got you ma’am, I’ll be waiting” Tendō said cutting off.

As you and Ushijima shot one worker down, 2 more would replace that dead one. Bullet after bullet came after you guys. You wouldn’t be surprised if you got hit.

The smoke around you and everyone else was clearing up. This was a bad sign because the workers could get an open shot on you. Even worse, they could be getting Ushijima.

You reached for another smoke bomb and was about to throw it when Ushijima stopped you.

“That isn’t necessary. They are almost already gone. Some flee’d others stayed to die” Ushijima said. “I promise we will make it out of here safe.”

You gulped and nodded. You then put back the smoke bomb and continue shooting.

“KILL THEM YOU FAILURES!” The man you were trying to capture said. “I CAN NOT LET TADASHI KNOW ABOUT THIS...”

You stopped. The name Tadashi made you. You hated that name. He was part of the reason why you are here today.

“Tadashi...” you mumbled. “TADASHII” you yelled getting out from your hiding spot and shooting at every darn worker you saw.

“Y/N CONTAIN YOURSELF” Ushijima yelled backing you up.

The more anger that surged in you, the more workers that died. Ushijima was slightly terrified of you. It was like you lost control.

“Tadashi... Tadashi... TADASHI” you yelled as you continued to shoot.

The final of the workers dropped dead to the ground. Now that was only left was the man that caused this chaos. The man who was pointing a gun towards...

...his head.

Your eyes widened in shock. You were about to run towards him to make him stop but Ushijima was up ahead of you. He punched the guy making him loose grasp of the gun towards his head.

“What are you thinking!?” Ushijima yelled.

Finally, you could see the man’s features. He had blonde hair, his eyes were a glossy blue color. You blinked a few times then ran towards the guy.

“Tadashi...” you mumbled. “What do you know about him?” You asked the blonde haired guy.

“Why... why do you want to know...” the blonde haired said trying to grab his gun but Ushijima stepped on his hand.

“Tadashi... Hayashi... are they... your boss?” You asked kneeling down to see the man’s eyes.

“Why yes now let me go and pass on because I can’t bare to go through their torture again!” The man wailed.

Your eyes widened. “Torture...” you repeated. “What’s your name?”

The blonde haired guy squirmed but answered. “Haruki... Hadeiko”

You scoffed. “They used you...” you whispered standing up and grabbing the gun Haruki once had.

“Y/n... who are you talking about?” Ushijima asked.

You looked at Ushijima. “I’ll tell you soon... for now, let’s arrest this man.” You said looking at Haruki.

Haruki smirked. He then looked behind you. You quickly turned around to see someone holding what seemed to be a bottle.

“Y/N” Ushijima yelled grabbing you and covering you with his body.

The sound of glass shattering filled your ears. It was then followed by smoke. Was it your smoke bomb? You didn’t know because Ushijima put his hand over your nose and mouth.

“Dont... breathe in...” Ushijima coughed while shooting at the guy who dropped the bottle. “Go towards the exit... I’ll get Haruki.”

“Ushijima what about-“ you were then cut off by Ushijima yelling at you to go.

You nodded and ran towards the exit, as you escaped, you saw Tendō waiting outside.

“We got the culprit. Start the car” you said.

Tendō nodded and did as you say. Meanwhile, Ushijima grabbed Haruki who was again, trying to commit. Ushijima thankfully knocked out Haruki before he could though. More smoke surrounded him. Ushijima quickly grabbed Haruki and ran out of the exit with him.

As he saw Tendō in the car, Ushijima quickly ran towards the trunk and put Haruki inside. As that happened, Ushijima went into the drivers seat to drive.

“I’ll be driving y/n’s motorcycle. She says she feel tired” Tendō said getting out. “I’ll meet you guys back at the agency” he said getting on the motorcycle and driving away.

You got into Ushijima’s car and buckled yourself up. You had a bunch of scratches on your face and arms but you didn’t care.

“Drive.” You said. Ushijima did as you ordered.

~~~

As you two drove back to the agency, the ride back was very quiet. 4 hours of this made you not want to be with him.

“Listen... I-“ you tried saying but Ushijima cut you off.

“Who is Tadashi?” Ushijima asked.

You looked out the window. “It’s none of your business”

Ushijima’s eye brows lifted a bit. “It’s my business when you go crazy with bloodlust yelling his name.”

You blushed in embarrassment. “Listen it’s nothing. I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”

“Ok...” Ushijima started. “What about that news paper I showed you.”

Your eyes widened. “The... news paper?”

Ushijima nodded. “I have it in my pocket. I brought it with us so we could talk-“

“It’s my info. It’s none of yours” you cut in. “I’ll tell you when I’m ready.” You said sighing. “Just drive back.”

Ushijima groaned but did as you say.

~~~

You guys were now almost there. Ever since bringing up Tadashi, you’ve been cautious of what you were saying.

“That smoke...” you said.

Ushijima looked at you. “What about it.”

“Why did you cover my nose and mouth back there” you said looking into his eyes.

Ushijima quickly looked away. “It could have been harmful and... I didn’t want you to breathe it in.”

You nodded. “Thanks for that...” you said smiling.

“No... problem...” Ushijima mumbled.

He then looked into your eyes. You guys were now at the agency. As Ushijima parked his car, he was becoming odd.

“Y/n... I-“ Ushijima was then stopped by him groaning in pain.

“Ushijima??” You said grabbing his arm. “Are you okay?”

No answer. You only earned more groans from Ushijima. This worried you deeply.

“USHIJIMA?” You said shaking him. “Hold on! I’ll get you to your apartment”

Taglist:

@toaster-stick @ashydoesdumbstuff

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[timextoxhajima]

HOSTIS, Chapter XII: Terminus, Limit

Previous Chapter (XI: Et Invisibilia Filum)

Member: Lee Hyunjae (tbz)

Genre (by chapter): drama, comedy, suggestiveness

Category: Short Novel/Long Series

“he’s not the one who’s got you wrapped around his finger.”

red, pink or peach?

tch.

unbelievable.

changing your choice of lipstick because of lee hyunjae?

who am i?

where am i?

you yank the cap off the peach lipstick and start to trace it along your mouth, but a loud, prolonged honk crashing its way through the calm morning startles you, and a peach line gets drawn off your upper lip.

an agitated groan escapes your throat while you wipe the mistake off, and you start to speed up your application of make up, including on your neck.

the honks start to become more frequent, and by frequent you mean like once a fucking minute. 

you find your briefcase and push yourself out through the door, locking it while yelling at him over your shoulder. 

“neighbours are not going to be happy about this!”

“it’s your fault you took so damn long! what are you taking so long for anyway?! there’s literally no amount of make up that can correct how hideous you look!”

your eyes roll in plain sight as you skipped down the steps, and he gets back into the drivers’ seat without helping you with your door. 

the sky was clear today, in stark contrast to the day before. the roads were already bustling with vehicles driving back and forth, some cars had students in them, some cars with some rich guy driving off to work, some were lorries. 

your attention was suddenly yanked back into the car when your jaw was pulled away from the window, and his touch on your chin pissed you off for some reason. 

“interesting choice of lipstick,” he tilts his head and raises a brow, his eyes glued to your lips. a little bit annoyed, you lift your head out of his hold and swat his hand away, suddenly aware of the layer of foundation you had around your neck. his marks from the party four days ago were still there. 

the ache between your legs was gone, but not his stupid territorial marks.

what does he think he is? an animal?

“peach is a common shade, don’t get too ahead of yourself.”

he chuckles and lands both palms on the steering wheel, the light thwack earning your attention from the side of your eyes. 

his grip on the steering wheel pumped up all the veins in his hands, and the lone one or two arteries were showing on the back of his wrists. they trailed along his forearms and disappeared under his rolled up sleeves, and in your peripheral vision, you notice the white dress shirt he was wearing looked a tad tight around his shoulders and chest. 

the car jerks as it moves off, and it also jerks you back into your senses.

fuck’s wrong with me-- ew.

no.

you shut your eyes tightly and open them extremely wide, vision looking straight out the window in complete disgust with yourself. 

traffic was pretty light, given how early it was, and hyunjae must’ve still been in his morning mood because he doesn’t say anything either. 

but hatred and resentment for someone will never be able to match up to hatred and resentment you could harbour against yourself.

your heart was fucking racing for some godforsaken reason when the car starts to reverse into the parking lot.

he wasn't even looking at you -- hell -- it's almost like you weren't in the car.

his arm comes around the passengers seat and his strength pushes the seat forward just slightly, and him turning around to look at the rear of the vehicle reversing does nothing but pull the material around his shoulders and chest even more.

the black tie falls to the center console, and your reflexes decided that turning your head to look at him was a great idea.

the muscle in his neck was strained as he looked behind, and there was a vein shyly exposing itself on his skin under his ear. the contours of his jaw makes your lips feel so unsettled that you had to suck them between your teeth.

the white material that gets stretched around his torso puts stress on the buttons, and his skin was peeking out from the tiny gaps between them.

stop fucking looking man--

the arm that was still reached out for the steering wheel now had the two arteries on display, and the sight in general, coupled with the shitty lighting of the carpark, was making you feel things you shouldn't be feeling.

the car finally stops reversing and you look away, slightly panicked and in shame. his ears were slightly red from the effort, but the blood quickly dissipates once returns into his seat to pull the car into parking mode.

you stay completely still in your seat while he checks all the gears, and there was this nagging voice in your head telling you to cut it out.

but he suddenly reaches across you, his forearm with his stupid arteries just inches away from your chest as he pushes your door open.

not only that, he pulls away only enough for him to rest his palm on your right thigh.

every nerve and muscle freezes, and you were so grateful that they didn't tense up; he would've felt it.

the heat from the carpark swarms into the vehicle as you feel him scan your face from the side, like you were too scared to look at him.

he gives your thigh a small stroke before removing it, hands running all over the gears once more as he says, "get out, i don't think i want to be seen together."

after clocking into your offices, hyunjae leaves for his rounds while you stay in yours to refresh the patient’s records. 

work was such an efficient method to fit you into reality, a place where you could divert and dedicate all your attention to your profession and taking care of patients. 

rather than that annoying man next door. 

your press your peach-tainted lips together and rub them, the layer of coating becoming drier and more stuck to the lines on your lips. the classical music runs its course in the background before your phone alarm sounds, cuing you to start on your rounds before you head over to the research department before lunch. 

hyunjae was already seated in his cubicle and walking around to different research officers to ask some questions about something he was doing. meanwhile, eric greets you with a hug when he walks past the lift you were in.

“y/n! good morning!” 

the physical contact stuns you, but you remind yourself that eric was american-born.

“someone’s in a great mood,” a grin spreads on your face and you watch as he carefully pulls away, a cup of hot coffee in his hands. 

“oh, my god, you’ve got no idea,” he turns and walks to his desk, but his face was still tilted to the side so you could hear him as you followed. “the storm yesterday was insane.”

the enthusiasm in eric’s voice was so contagious, the grin never comes off your face. walking your way to your cubicle, hyunjae stops just close enough for him to say something that was loud enough for you to hear.

“don’t you dare try any funny ideas.”

confusion and slight resentment befall on your face as he walks away, a sneer appearing on your lips before eric catches your attention again. 

his mug was on his table now, and he’s got his butt planted to his chair, rolling his way over to you. 

so cute.

your briefcase gets laid on the table and you start up the computer, eric fiddling around on his phone while waiting for you to sit down so he could start his story. 

“you were saying?” using your feet to position your chair near enough, you slump into your seat and lean back, hyunjae in the distant background getting up from his seat and walking over to another research officer’s cubicle again.

“the thunderstorm blew down this tree right outside my friends’ place yesterday and their car was super wrecked,” the phone gets fished out and he shows you the picture. 

“oh, my god,” your palm covers your mouth at the devastating picture, a picture you’d probably only see in newspapers. “nobody got hurt right?” 

“oh, no,”  eric shakes his head and removes the phone out from your sight. “everybody’s fine.”

“that’s a relief,” the computer screen lights up and your eyes naturally turn towards it, eric still fiddling with his phone. 

“also, y/n, i can’t believe i’m saying this but i accidentally deleted your number yesterday after i got it.”

“you what?” a chuckle breaks free from your lips and you turn to eric, hands already at the desk where your keyboard is.

“yeah, i may or may not have saved it before exiting the page and it’s just gone.”

unbelievable.

“but i’d still like to ask you to hang out sometime soon, so do you want to go for dinner tonight after work or something?” 

your lips part with an answer in mind, but your vision zooms out into wide view and your attention lands on lee hyunjae. 

one arm resting on the cubicle partition, the other hand holding the research document file to his torso, and his eyes glued to you. there was a pen being twirled around in his fingers, and the look in his eyes looked too tempting to manipulate. 

he was warning you.

“dinner after work?” the eye contact breaks and you return your attention to eric. “i have rounds till 6, maybe later, though so if you’re willing to wait then--”

“doctor l/n!” 

eric snaps his head around when hyunjae calls for you, and he was waving the research document file in the air while he walked along the cubicles and stopped between the two of you. 

“sorry... eric,” hyunjae says the name like he hated it. “can i just steal her for a bit-- i got instructions from doctor choi--”

“doctor choi? why are we getting instructions fro--”

“can i just--”

“i’m gonna go...” eric points over his shoulders and glances at the two of you, his feet already pushing himself back to his seat. “tell me if you’re up for dinner tonight later, okay?”

watching him roll away because of lee hyunjae again was such a sour, bitter sight. hyunjae’s shadow covered you from the morning sun, and you angle your head upwards to squint at his features that were darkened from the silhouette. 

his shoe comes into sharp contact with your chair but it doesn’t make a sound besides startling you, and he turns so suddenly, his coat runs into your face. 

“you--” the hiss seethes out between your gritted teeth, and you purse your lips when you realise your lipstick got brushed onto his coat. your eyes widen when you see the small mark, but his one step was so large, he was already too far for you to call without distracting the other research officers in the space. 

the little blob of peach on his coat was so glaring to you, you worried if anybody else was going to see it. three steps became two while struggling to keep up with hyunjae as he walked off into the pantry again. 

the memory you associated with this place starts to flicker like a spoilt bulb in your head, but him dropping the research file on the table in the pantry knocks you out of your thoughts.

“which part of ‘don’t try any funny ideas’ did you not understand?”

so he’s bothered.

“i’ve got no clue what’s wrong with going out with eric though,” an arrogant brow perks itself up on your face and your arms cross your chest. his fingers brush across his forehead, and him being visibly stressed about a lame situation was really making your day. 

the sunlight was brimming in with sharp lines on the floor, the shadow of the window grills making grey squares on the floor behind him. 

a considerable amount of effort was spent to keeping your smirk to yourself, and the frustration that was radiating off him was being lapped up by your confidence like a dog drinking water after a walk. 

he finally stops pacing after a few steps and literally stops an inch away from your nose, the close proximity pulling your pupils away from his direction. 

“how can you even think of other men when you have my hickeys on your ne-- you know what?”

a pause.

“i’ve got two things i need you to know, kitten.”

oh, god

that name.

his scent starts wafting through your nose like poison gas and his breath hits you on your cheek with your face turned away. he was craning his head lower to level your eyes with his, though you were looking somewhere else. 

you tend to forget that he was the stronger ares. 

“one: you’re not available tonight. two: you can flirt with eric all you want but he’s not the one who’s got you wrapped around his finger.”

the reflection off the microwave oven shows you your distressed brows after you process his words, the pain of the truth seeping into your bones against your will and liking. 

your jaw and chin start to get traced with his finger before he pulls your face towards his, and your eyes were already going to shut themselves when you feel just the surface of his lips brush against yours. 

but he stops, and pulls away. 

that cocky smirk surfaces on his lips when he notices your annoyance, and he reverses to retrieve his research file off the table. 

“you seem to forget that i too can play this game, kitten.” 

the nickname kicks you in the gut once more, this time harder and more difficult to swallow. your hardened eyes freeze on his figure while he leaves the pantry, and your temples tighten with frustration when you start to realise he was going to spend the rest of the day proving his point. 

by the end of the day you’ve counted a total of ten times he’s brushed a hand across your waist, touched your hand, bumped shoulders into you, and all you could think of was shoving your research papers down his throat.

the physical contact was only alleviating your need for more, and it wasn’t to your liking that it had to be him. 

and that blotch of peach lipstick on his coat... there was no way he didn’t know it was there. 

was he just waiting for someone to point it out?

by the time you told eric that you wouldn’t be able to make it for dinner, you already had a ton of electricity in your body. 

and by electricity you mean unwarranted displeasure. 

your rounds concluded almost on time, so returning back to the office to find hyunjae idling outside yours was like a nightmare. 

“what do you want now?” the office door clicks open and he follows you in while you pull off your coat and pack your things. 

“what do you mean ‘what do i want’? i told you to tell eric you’re not available tonight because you’re not.”

why did i tell eric i wasn’t available when i didn’t even have a reason...?

“am i expecting to be drugged out and tied to a chair--”

“well, if you’d like that--”

“stop,” you warn with a finger in the air, briefcase already in hand before you turned off the main switch for the stereo. “not another word.”

“request declined,” he looks at you with eyes you should be becoming familiar with, his tongue poking the inner side of his ride cheek. he shifts his weight on his feet and a small smile appears on his lips, the sight of it all only encouraging you to wonder just what the fuck is wrong with you?

you give in first and turn away, picking up your briefcase to exit the office with him tailing you. the lift takes forever to come, and some other doctors come by to speak to him, greeting you in the process. 

“leaving together?”

“yeah, we are.”

what?

“oh, to where?”

to hell--

“my place. we had a little deal for her to give me her opinions on my culinary skills.”

the lift door opens and the ride was so painful to swallow. hyunjae just went off about cooking and being his mother’s helper in the kitchen when he was younger and blablabla...

and the other doctor gets off at another floor while the lift continues down to the basement.

the heat of the carpark swamps the lift when the doors open, yet he doesn’t bother to tell you to follow him. “why the hell am i going to your place to eat dinner?” 

silence.

“lee hyunjae!”

“can you just shut up and get in the car? i don’t want to be seen by anybody else.”

a look of disapproval slaps onto your face as you stormed over, the car beeping when he pulls the car door open. “wha-- you literally just told her that i’m going to your plac--”

“one more word...” the ribbon around your top gets tangled in his grip and pulled forward, just enough energy without him pulling it off. “kitten...”

not again.

“and i’ll make the day even harder for you to tolerate.”

his breath hits your lips when he swipes his tongue over your bottom lip, and he dramatically releases the ribbon around your neck. 

“get in. i don’t think you’ll need eric to help you into the car, do you?” 

“you--”

the sudden lack of vocabulary crushes you when his soul dug his way through his pupils, and the light from the car park glimmers off the whites of his eyes. he angles his neck so carefully and it exposes the vein right under his right ear. your knuckles whiten when your grip around your briefcase tightens, and your legs turn to jelly for a split second.

“get in the car, or i’ll show you what it means to be wrapped around someone’s finger,” he drags his finger across your chin and looks at your lips for a second, quickly looking back up at yours without leaning any closer. 

“and right now you’re already halfway there to being wrapped around mine, kitten.”

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

Chapter XIII: Inferno

A/N: i felt like this was a rlly shitty chapter imo but it wouldn’t have been complete if i didn’t include this in the line up. it’s really to show the change in dynamics between the two of them so i hope it isn’t too hard to swallow ;(

[all-things-skam]

Jens’ season: chapter nine

Saturday, February 29th

Feeling the bed shift next to him, a smile broke out on Jens' face as he remembered last night's events. His plans had completely shifted and he couldn't be more happy - sorry, Robbe.

His heart began to swell, filled with endless happiness. He had thought Lucas was asleep when he confessed his feelings to him. That's why Jens allowed himself to say those three words. Given the Dutch boy's steady and slow breathing, he should've been asleep - but he wasn't -, which turned out to be a good thing. If he had been, Lucas wouldn't have reciprocated the words.

Jens felt his smile deepen. Lucas loved him back. Life couldn't be better.

At least, at 8am on a Saturday.

Lucas woke up not long after Jens, both still sleepy but also needy. He nuzzled his face into Jens' neck and along his shoulder, fighting sleep. That boy was really cuddly in the morning. Not that Jens minded.

Jens wished all his mornings would be like this. Warm, lazy and filled with kisses from the prettiest boy. It was as close to a perfect morning as it could get.

Lucas bit Jens' bottom lip and let it go with a 'pop'. ''Do we have any plans for today? Or are we staying in bed all day? Not that I'd mind.''

''We?''

The brunet hummed, blue irises looking up at Jens. ''I told you. It's my mom's weekend. I don't need to go home. I can stay here instead.''

A content smile formed on Jens' lips. ''I'd like that very much.''

Now that Jens had come out to the boys, he could officially introduce Lucas to them, but staying home and keeping Lucas for himself sounded better. Much better.

He leaned down to join their lips together, one of his hands sliding under the blanket and down Lucas' body. His hand was about to slide inside Lucas' boxers when his bedroom door opened and Lotte walked in, forcing their little 'fun' to end before it even started.

''Lucas!'' she squealed, eyes sparkling with joy the second she saw him in her brother's bed. Lotte jumped on the bed with them, clueless about what almost happened. ''I didn't know you were here.''

Lucas forced an awkward smile, cheeks flushed from the situation.

''Does Mama know?''

''Yes.''

Lotte knitted her eyebrows, staring at her brother, trying to figure out if he was lying. ''That's a lie. If she had known, you wouldn't have been startled when I came in.''

Jens groaned. If only she knew why he was startled... ''Lotte, can you go bother someone else? It's 8am, let me go back to sleep.''

''No! Dad left for work so Mama and I are making waffles downstairs.'' She turned to Lucas. ''Are you staying for breakfast, Lucas?''

The brunet cleared his voice. ''I guess I am.''

Grinning, Lotte took Lucas' hand and tugged, trying to drag him out of bed, but the curly haired one stayed under the covers, very aware that he was only wearing underwear. No matter how much he loved Jens' mom and sister, he didn't feel comfortable enough to be walking around like that in front of Jens' family.

''Why don't you go and make sure Mom doesn't burn the pancakes? We'll join you in a minute.''

.

Sunday, March 1st

Spending the weekend at Jens' made room for a lot of awkward situations.

Yesterday, Lucas almost stumbled into Jens' dad when exiting the bathroom after his shower. Is there any better way to be introduced to someone? Lucas wanted to be swallowed by the ground. Then, he got caught mid-changing by Lotte. Thankfully, his pants were still on.

Their making out session had been cut short this morning when Jens' mom walked in, catching them kissing in Jens' bed. Fenna didn't say anything, both boys being still fully clothed. She just deposited the pile of clean clothes and left, leaving the door wide open instead of just ajar. Message received.

Later in the afternoon, Jens decided to leave the house to get some fresh air - aka freedom.

While he was grateful that his parents agreed to have Lucas spending the weekend over - and sleeping in his bed -, he was tired of his family breathing down his neck or constantly being interrupted by his sister. They couldn't even sleep in or have some morning cuddles without Lotte coming in and jumping on the bed. Jens really needed to learn to lock the door.

It was cloudy and gray outside - a bit cold too -, but Jens wanted some time alone with Lucas. Can you blame him?

Spoon still in his mouth, Lucas hummed, eyes closed. ''This cake.''

''It's good, uh?''

The brunet nodded avidly, cutting another piece of his cake with his spoon. ''You, Belgians know how to make desserts.''

Jens shook his head, smiling. ''You and your sweet tooth...''

As if a cake wasn't sweet enough, Lucas had ordered the sweetest one on the menu: a chocolate mousse cake. Even though Luc had told Jens how much he loved chocolate, he didn't realize until now exactly how big of a sweet tooth he really had.

Jens watched the thick, yet smooth chocolate mousse disappear into the brunet's mouth. He cleared his throat and averted his eyes, reminding himself where they were. He tried to keep his mind from wandering to a dangerous place, but it wasn't easy. It seemed, sometimes, like Lucas made every minor actions somewhat suggestive, and he knew exactly the effect it would have on Jens.

''Want a taste?'' Lucas asked, raising an eyebrow.

Turning his attention back to him, Jens nodded. Why not? He wasn't a big fan of desserts, but the chocolate mousse seemed really tasty. He opened his mouth, ready to taste the sweet desert, but Lucas put the spoon in his own mouth, making Jens frown and pout.

''Hey! That was for me.''

Lucas shrugged. ''Sorry, but this cake is just too good to share.''

''Tease''

Smiling smugly, Lucas blew him a kiss over the table before returning to his plate.

Jens pulled up his phone, snapped a picture of Lucas - he was just too cute to not capture this moment - when a notification from the selling app popped up. ''Yes!''

Lucas glanced at his boyfriend, confused.

''Someone is interested in something I'm selling,'' Jens explained.

''What are you selling?''

''Oh, just games I don't play anymore.'' He shrugged. ''They were collecting dust.''

It wasn't a huge sale. Only some game at 7€, but, it was 7€ less to find to pay back the drugs Lucas had flushed.

Lucas frowned, taking a sip of his fancy coffee. ''Why are you selling your video games online? Can't you go to a game store for that? Jayden does it all the time.''

''Yeah, but they only offer discounts on other games. I need money.''

''What for?''

Jens sighed. He didn't want to involve Lucas any more in his problems, but he already knew about the drugs, so why not. ''Remember when you saved my ass and got rid of the drugs in my locker? Well, my dealer texted me and he wants his money. I have some cash from the weed I sold and other stuff, but what has been flushed needs to be paid too. I can't just tell him I almost got caught and had to get rid of them.''

''I can help. It's partly my fault that you have to repay him.''

Jens shook his head. ''No. It's my fault that I'm caught in this shit.''

''And, it's my fault that they're in the sewers somewhere in Antwerp.'' Lucas paused. ''We could always try to retrieve them...''

Jens wrinkled his nose in disgust. The pills had probably all dissolved by now anyway. ''Ew, gross.''

''So, are you taking my offer?'' Jens hesitated and Lucas smiled at him. ''You can pay me back if you want to. In cash or...other,'' he added, winking over the table.

''I'll think about it.''

.

Monday, March 2nd

''What the fuck, man? Why did you shoot me?''Jens asked through the headphone's mic as his character received a bullet to the chest.

''Sorry, I thought it was Aaron.''

Jens laughed, looking around on his TV screen to find Aaron and shoot him, laughing harder as he did so.

''Hey! Why is everyone trying to kill me?''

''Because it's fun,'' Moyo responded.

paused his video game when he saw Michiel's name on the screen. He bit his lip anxiously before opening the message.

Michiel: Where's my cash, kid? Ghosting me won't work. I need it by Thursday. Or else...

Jens stared at the screen for what felt like a lifetime. Michiel was now threatening him. Jens had to do something quick or he was going to be in real danger. Who knew what Michiel - or his men - were capable of? He couldn't tell Lucas why he had suddenly changed his mind and he felt bad for asking his boyfriend for money - Lucas wasn't his personal banker -, but he needed the money sooner rather than later.

Jens: Is your offer still standing? I don't think I'll sell enough shit by Thursday

Lucas: I told you I'd help, didn't I?

Lucas: When do you need it for?

Jens: Thursday

Lucas: Want me to come with?

Jens: No. I'll be fine

Lucas: Is that supposed to be reassuring?

Jens: I'll be fine, Luc

Lucas: Okay... but I want you to text me when you get there and when you leave just so I know you are safe

Jens: 👍

.

Wednesday, March 4th

The television was playing loudly when Fenna returned from work, some sort of anime on the big screen. She furrowed her eyebrows at the unfamiliar characters, her heart aching at the explicit content flashing across the screen. How can teenagers watch that?

''Sorry for finishing so late. There was a big car accident and I had to do extra time to help,'' she explained, removing her jacket and setting her bag down. ''Did Lotte eat already?''

''No, I let her starve,'' the teenager answered from the couch.

Fenna gave her son a look. ''Jens...''

He flashed his mother a smile. ''I'm joking. I reheated last night's leftovers.''

''Good. Where's is she?''

''Upstairs playing in her room. Want me to tell her to come down?''

Before he could call Lotte down, Fenna shook her head. ''No. That's good, actually. I wanted to talk to you.''

Jens frowned, trying to read his mother's face but failing. She came around to sit on the couch and he turned down the volume of the television.

''You...you were right. About your father. He lied to my face about this job, he lied to all of us.'' Fenna closed her eyes, her husband's lie still fresh.

She had gone to see Mohamed on her lunch break between shifts since the hospital wasn't far from his new office - and he wasn't answering his phone. When Fenna got there, she asked to see him and was told that he didn't work there and never had.

''After a lot of difficult thinking, I made a decision and I wanted you to be the first to know about it. Your father and I will be separating.''

''As in a divorce?''

Fenna nodded slowly. She didn't want to get a divorce - nobody does. Divorce felt like a failure to a lot of people. But, it was the right choice to make. ''I still love your father, but sometimes love isn't enough. Money might not buy happiness, but without money, we can't live in this house.''

''We?'' Jens repeated. ''That means we're going to...move?''

Exhaling a breath, Fenna nodded sadly. ''I didn't want to. I did everything in my power to stay here, but I can't afford this house on my own.''

Jens swallowed thickly, a wave of sadness flowing in. He wasn't one to get attached to things, but loved this house. He spent his whole life here. Every corner and walls held a memory. The staircase where he broke his arm when he fell with his bike when he was five, the dining room table where him and his mom used to sit and work on his spelling homework, his bedroom where he had his first makeout session and the place he lost his virginity.

''What about Dad?''

He didn't want to be insensitive, but where will his father go? Clearly, he won't be following them after the divorce.

''His brother lives in Liège, he'll be staying with him for a moment. Or, so he said.''

Jens nodded. Maybe a change of scenery will be good for him. Maybe it'll help him get back on track.

.

Thursday, March 5th

His hands were clammy as he crossed the street, seeing Michiel's building in his line of sight. After his parents' divorce announcement, Jens wasn't in the mood to meet with Michiel, but he didn't really have the choice. Michiel had been clear: he wanted his money. He didn't care whatever was happening in Jens' personal life.

All the money was in his left pocket, feeling heavy, and a worried Lucas was in the other, sending him texts every ten seconds.

Jens stood on the doorstep and rang the doorbell, stress growing in his stomach. He bit his lip as he waited, going still when the door opened and the same big guy who was there the first time stood there.

''Long time no see,'' he pointed out.

''Is Michiel here? I have his money.''

The man nodded and let Jens in, the door shutting loudly behind.

.

''So, it's over? No more drug dealing shit?''

Jens hummed. ''It's over.'' He kissed Lucas in the middle. ''No more drug dealing shit.''

Lucas rolled his eyes at the small mockery. ''Good.'' He sighed, relieved.

After leaving Michiel's, Jens came over to Lucas' to reassure him and take advantage of Mr. Van Der Heijden being at work. They hadn't had a lot of alone time during the weekend despite Lucas sleeping over, so it was nice to be just the two of them again.

Lucas led them to the couch and cuddled against Jens, being the cuddle-bear he will never admit to be. Some things were just for Jens and him to know.

''I could fall asleep right here and now,'' Lucas pointed, closing his eyes as Jens played with his curls, twirling the soft ringlets between his fingers.

''Am I that much of a bore? Because I can go home if-''

Clutching a fistful of Jens' hoodie, Lucas made a protest noise. ''Don't you dare.''

Jens laughed and kissed his forehead, feeling Lucas pulling him in closer. He was keenly aware of Lucas' wants and needs and cuddling was Lucas' unspoken signal of reassurance that he would always be there for him.

''So, now that you've met my family, when am I going to meet yours?'' Jens asked, mildly teasing, breaking the comfortable silence first.

Lucas grew quiet, staring down at the carpet in front of the couch, the shades of browns and greys suddenly very interesting.

''Do you...not want me to meet your parents or something?'' Jens asked, silently hoping it wasn't that.

The brunet sat up, removing himself from Jens' hold. ''No, no. That not- It's just, I've never introduced someone to my parents...like that.''

''You mean a guy?''

''No girls either, if it reassures you,'' Lucas added with a bit of humor.

''You've told your mom about me, though?''

''Yes, but it's complicated. With my mom, we can't just schedule a date and have dinner all together. She might get anxious or she can- So many things can go wrong.''

''Or it could go well.''

Lucas sighed, moving away from his boyfriend's touch. ''Jens...''

''And, your dad?''

‘’My dad’s a dick. I only moved with him because the judge said I had to. It was that or going to a foster family. My dad might be a dick, but he’s not the worst. There’s kids out there that need fostering more than me, some who are stuck in abusive families or even orphans. I would’ve felt bad for taking someone’s place. Entering the foster system would’ve also meant not seeing my mom anymore and I can’t renounce to that.’’ Lucas paused, swallowing his emotions. ‘’She needs me. I’m all she has left. I can’t do that to her.’’

By the way his voice was strained, Jens could tell that it was still a difficult subject. Lucas was close to his mother. Hearing his story made Jens wonder how bad her mental illness was. If a judge had declared her inapte to take care of him, it must be serious. It was also so sad to hear that her husband had completely pushed her out of his life just because of her mental illness. She was lucky to have a son like Lucas.

As much as he wanted to meet Lucas’ parents, it wasn’t worth putting Lucas - nor his parents - in this state. Causing trouble in his boyfriend’s family wasn’t what Jens wanted.

He shook his head. ‘’Forget what I said, okay? I’ll meet them when you’re ready. No pressure.’’ He flashed Lucas a small smile which got reciprocated.

Lucas nodded, grateful to have someone as understanding as Jens. ‘’I love you.’’

‘’I love you,’’ Jens repeated, pulling the smaller one back into his hold.

.

Friday, March 6th

‘’Is Lucas coming?’’ Aaron asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.

Jens nodded, taking a sip of his beer. ‘’He said he’s on his way.’’

An eager smile spread on Aaron’s lips. ‘’So, I’m gonna meet him?’’ he added, unable to contain his excitement.

‘’You’ve met Lucas before...’’

‘’Yeah, but not as your boyfriend. This is a big deal-’’

‘’Aaron…’’

He shrugged. ‘’What? I didn't say it the other day, but I’m happy for you. I liked Jana, but Lucas is much cooler. At least he skates with us instead of sitting and watching.’’

Jens raised an eyebrow. ‘’Cooler than Sander?’’

‘’Don’t push.’’

After Robbe, Aaron was Sander’s biggest fan. He was never shy to voice how much admiration he had for him whether it was his flirting tactics, his confidence, romantic gestures or how good looking he was. It even became a running joke in the gang that if Sander wasn't already taken by Robbe, the curly haired one would tempt his chance.

‘’Your boy is here,’’ Aaron pointed out, nudging Jens as he saw Lucas walking in.

Jens looked up, watching as Lucas squeezed a path between the dancing girls in the living room and some shotgun drinkers. He grimaced at the mess it was making on the floor and scanned the room, trying to find his boyfriend, fastening his pace when he spotted him and Aaron in the kitchen.

Jens greeted him with a kiss, getting some cooing from Aaron. Could he be more annoying? Lucas leaned into Jens as the latter hooked an arm over his shoulder, pulling him close.

‘’So, you’re Jens’ boyfriend?’’

Jens rolled his eyes and groaned. ‘’Let’s go look for Moyo and Robbe.’’

.

They all sat in the bathroom, passing around weed and booze, like the old days. Moyo had brought some weed and smoke was rapidly filling the bathroom as they all blew their thick, grey puffs into the air.

It was the first time they all hung out together - Lucas and Sander included. Jens and Lucas squeezed in next to Robbe and Sander in the tub, laughing as Aaron vented about his latest romantic gesture that turned into an epic fail. Honestly, when does it not?

''I had the room all set up and everything,’’ he explained. ‘’Candles, flower petals, her favorite scented bath stuff, but then her mom came home and ruined my surprise before we could even get in the water. I tried telling Amber that we can still go in, but she said it was too weird if her mom was in the house.’’

Amber’s bathtub. Lucas shared glances with Jens, memories of their first kiss flowing in.

Sander sighed. ‘’Robbe’s the same, he won’t-’’

Knowing where this was going, Robbe didn’t let Sander finish his sentence, covering his mouth with his hand before he could say any more, refusing to let this turn into another let’s tell Aaron about our sex-life episode.

‘’Why did you stop? It was getting interesting,’’ Aaron complained.

‘’Quit encouraging Sander into telling you stuff. It’s private.’’

‘’And weird,’’ Jens added, backing his best friend.

‘’You’re the one who used to brag about sex-’’

Jens rolled his eyes. ‘’I don't brag…’’

He did tell everyone about losing his virginity and the sex he had with Jana - what else does fifteen years old do? And, he ranted about that toothpaste tip...a lot, but he wasn’t on Aaron’s level of bragging.

‘’Well, if you really want to know, there’s this amazing thing Jens does with his-’’ Lucas stopped himself, a smug grin on his lips. ‘’Did you really think I was going to tell you?’’

‘’I like him,’’ Moyo commented, giving Lucas a high five.

The gesture didn’t go unnoticed by Jens. It was nice to see that Lucas was integrating well into their group.

“So, since we have two new guys in the group, maybe we should get to know you both better?” Aaron suggested, waiting for his turn to take a puff.

“Dude, why do you always have to be in everyone's business?” Moyo asked.

''Don’t you know Sander enough already? You've pestered him with questions ever since Robbe said they were dating,’’ Jens said, making Robbe laugh.

Lucas felt his phone buzz and reached into his pocket to see who it was. Noting the number, he silenced the call and put his phone back in his pocket, returning his attention to the boys.

Aaron shrugged. “I’m just trying to get to know my best friends' boyfriends. If they are important to them, I want to get to know them better and let them know we care enough to get to know them.”

Sander snorted. “How profound and thoughtful of you, Aaron. I feel much more appreciated.”

Robbe laughed as Jens grabbed the joint from Moyo and took a hit. He had hesitated at first, remembering recent events, but figured that weed was a better coping method than Xanax. And, he wasn’t going to let himself get so high. Just a couple puffs to have a nice buzz.

He was about to hand it to Lucas when his phone went off - again. Sighing, Lucas pulled it out of his jacket and frowned.

‘’Gotta take this. It’s the third time he’s called, it must be important. I’ll be right back.’’

Jens nodded and watched as Lucas rose to his feet, leaving Jens’ side and headed outside to answer the phone call in a more quiet place.

The second the door closed, Sander whistled. ‘’I didn’t believe Robbe when he told me you two got together. Does he still steal your fries?’’

Rolling his eyes, Jens shook his head.

Minutes later, the door opened and Lucas’ face was worried and distraught, his previous lightness and drunken happiness completely gone.

Jens furrowed his eyebrows. ‘’Luc?’’ He sat up, recognizing a frantic and panicked behavior.

‘’I-I gotta go,’’ he simply said, ignoring Jens’ question and grabbing his jacket on the edge of the tub before leaving again, not saying ‘bye’ to anyone.

The boys watched confusedly and gave Jens a look, but the latter wasn’t paying attention to them, his eyes focused solely on Lucas. Jens stood, handing the joint back to Robbe, and went after his boyfriend, wondering what he had been told on the phone that made him want to leave the party so fast.

He didn't catch up to him until they were outside, the amount of people inside the house made it difficult to get a hold of Lucas. The evening wind hit his face the second he stepped out, sending a shiver down Jens’ back. He grabbed Lucas’ arm when he was close enough to reach and made him stop.

‘’Slow down, Luc. Why are you leaving?'' he asked, releasing his arm.

Lucas turned around, eyes filled with tears but he fought them. ''My dad. He said-'' He interrupted himself, shaking his head, voice trembling and faulty as he spoke.

Jens frowned, going immediately into comforting mode. Something was up, but the Dutch boy was talking so fast and the panic in his voice made it more difficult for Jens to understand what he was saying.

He lifted Lucas' chin, catching sight of his glassy blue eyes. ''Hey...tell me what’s going on. I can’t help you or understand if you don’t tell me.’’

‘’My mom. It’s- She’s going to be admitted to a clinic, I… I have to go.’’

[azritesx3]

“A Devil’s Love” Chapter 7: Hurt You

Description: Chloe’s best friend is back, and Lucifer’s charm can’t seem to affect her either. Is she also a miracle child? Or something…more? [Story starts during S2 Ep4, Female Reader Insert]

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AN: Updated March 15, 2020 - Grammer AN: Updated July 21, 2020 - Grammar

Rating: Teen Warning[s]: Swearing

Show Timeline: Season 2 episode 14

Spotify Playlist /// AO3 Fanfiction Net Wattpad DeviantArt

Tag List: @ayanna-wild​, @anushay1998, @emiwrites3reads​, @i-am-canada-13​, @heart-of-pots-and-pans​, @tinyybiceps, @jessicarene99​, @lucifersnipnips​, @givemebooksorgivemedeath​, @sailor-earth-1

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"Last one, I promise." You rub the pup's head and she licks your face in trust. You smile and insert the last shot into the shoulder blades, "All done!"

Treat….

The pup looks up at you happily as her owners start petting her in congratulations.

You smile back and wink. You reach into your treat jar on the counter, "What a good girl you are!" You give her the treat and another pat on the head. You look at the owners, "Her vaccines are all done! She's free to run around with other animals."

"Awesome! We can't wait to get her to the dog park!" The husband says.

"Yeah! Poor girl whines at it every time we pass by." The wife laughs and kisses her pup's nose.

"I bet. You've got a real energetic one here." You laugh and gather your paperwork, "Well hopefully I won't have to see you till next year! Have fun little one." The pup puts her paws on your shoulders and gives you a lick. The husband then puts her harness and leash back on.

Bye….nice….playtime!

You wave to the pup as the family leaves the room. You exit through the opposite door when a worker comes in to clean the room for the next patient.

That was the last one scheduled for you today, and you didn't have to stay overtime with all the veterinarians in. You head into your office and sit on your comfy leather chair. As you put the paperwork away in your desk drawer your phone chimes, informing you of a text message.

"Is it Lucifer?" Alice asks as she walks into your office to hand you some more paperwork.

You shake your head, "No. Just Chloe. There's a new case."

"Oh…"

You look up suspiciously at your business partner and close friend, "What?"

"Well, I was hoping it was him so you could stop stressing." She shrugs.

"I'm not stressing over him." You lie and by Alice's eye roll, she knows it too.

Lucifer Morningstar has been gone from LA for nearly two weeks. Everyone, even Dan, has been trying to contact him since Chloe found his penthouse laid in white sheets. Lucifer didn't reply to anyone, not even you.

You can't help but think that he's gone because of you. Maybe you got too...personal during Chloe's poison scare. It scared the hell out of you what you two almost did. Maybe it scared him too and he had to escape just like with Chloe.

Or worst case: your past has come back sooner than you intended and took him.

You shake the thought from your mind and stand from your chair, "Call me if you need me." You hang your lab coat on the door hook and pass by Alice.

She grabs your arm, "I'm sure he's ok, Earth."

You nod slightly, not looking at her, "Yeah."

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

You pull up to the crime scene and park next to Chloe's car.

"Hey, Earth!" Ella smiles and waves happily at you when you join the group. Dan gives you a nod and Chloe looks at you with that same question in her eyes for the past two weeks.

You shake your head slightly at her, and like all the other days before her face flashes disappointment before returning neutral, "So, what's the case?"

"This guy's name is Ash Corrigan. Looks like he died from a blunt object to the head." Ella replies.

"Any idea on leads or murder object?"

"Not yet, but I did find this." Chloe hands you a flyer for a band. The victim appears to be the band's singer.

You and Chloe drive to the band's studio for questioning. The bandmates give you two a lead into a possible suspect: a woman named Courtney who was Ash's ex-wife and according to the female of the band, Courtney is bossy and violent. You two return to the precinct to meet up with Dan and Ella.

You half sit on Chloe's desk and drink from your bottle of water as Chloe explains what you two learned.

"That girl's name has popped up around here before." Dan says, "She's known for being abusive in her relationships."

"Alright. Earth and I will go talk to her. Do you have her address?" Chloe says.

"Yeah, here-"

"Detective!"

Your eyebrows shoot up to your hairline, your eyes go wide, and you painfully spin your head around to look at the staircase. You can only see the back of Chloe's head, but you imagine she has the same look.

Lucifer Morningstar happily trots down the stairs like it was a normal day, and stands in front of Chloe with a wide grin.

"Lucifer?!" Chloe is speechless.

Lucifer gives himself a grand stature with his hands, "In the flesh!" He says while still smiling. He looks to everyone in the group, "Detective Douche, Ms. Lopez, K9."

You instantly look away from him when his eyes meet yours. Unlike Ella and Dan, you give Lucifer a barely audible grunt of acknowledgment. You ignore the fact that you think you see his smile slightly dim at your response.

Fucking dick. You take a long drink of your water.

"Lucifer...what happened? Where did you go? Are you ok?" The words tumble out of Chloe and she looks him over for any damage.

"Oh, I'm perfectly fine Detective! Just needed to blow off some steam after, well, everything."

Ass. Hole. You continue to drink your water, afraid that if you stopped you'd end up strangling him. Much better, and less criminal, to slowly squeeze the bottle of its contents.

"Anyways," Lucifer claps his hands together, "I have some news!"

"What-" but Chloe's question is cut off by a high pitched voice calling for Lucifer.

That makes you look again. You hold in your gulp of water as you watch a woman walk down the stairs in very high heels and a tight short pink dress. She has wavy blonde hair with pink streaks running through. She puts an arm in the crook of Lucifer's elbow and looks up at him with big brown eyes.

"I'm sorry, baby! I know you said to wait, but I got lonely." She pouts.

"It's quite alright, darling. Well, everyone!" Lucifer pats the woman's hand, "I'd like to introduce my wife, Candy Morningstar!"

Your hand flies to your mouth as water starts to escape. Ella rubs your back as you practically choke to death, and you imagine Chloe's face resembles that of Ella and Dan's: pure shock. Candy, oblivious to everyone's reaction, holds her hand up and is squealing happily as she shows off her ring. Lucifer smiles and holds up his hand to show a matching band.

What. The. Fuck.

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

"LUCIFER!"

You storm out of the elevator and yell for him. Your nostrils are flaring and your hands are balled into tight fists.

"LUCIFER!" You yell again, "GET OUT HERE!"

"Oh!" You hear a familiar squeak and look to the couch to see Candy pulling out earbuds. She's lounging on the couch, feet up on the coffee table, and high heels discarded on the floor.

Uhhh...

"You're K9, right?!" Candy expertly puts on her heels and skips over to you, "I've been so excited to meet you!" She giggles and hugs you.

Well, this feels awkward.

"Candy, darling, this is the person I said you can be yourself around." Lucifer comes from his closet and stands in his bedroom entryway, "She's the only one I'm not worried about."

"Oh, good!" You see an instant change in Candy. She seems to deflate from the perky personality and turns to a more "natural" one, "Almost thought I blew the favor there, Lucifer."

"Not quite." He winks at her.

Whaaat?

The look of complete confusion on your face makes Lucifer burst out laughing. You turn your attention to him, furious again, "What the hell is going on, Lucifer?!"

"Right right. Well," he takes the two steps down from his bedroom, "after the whole fiasco a couple of weeks ago I went to Las Vegas and met the lovely Candy who stands before you." You look at Candy and she gives you a small shrug and smiles with a wave, "I helped her out with her family business and in return, she agreed to marry me." He smiles at you like that clears everything up while he straightens his cufflinks.

"Only for a little while." Candy mentions when she sees the look on your face, "Once I'm done here tricking his family then we're getting a divorce."

"Wait wait wait." You close your eyes to process the information while shaking both your hands at them, "You," you look at Candy, "Actually got married to him-" you point at Lucifer with your focus still on her, "just to return a favor?"

"Well, my father's business means everything to me. If being married for two weeks is all it takes to save it I'd accept in a heartbeat."

"But, actually marry him?"

"Well, of course!" Lucifer buts in before Candy can respond. He walks to stand next to his piano, "Have to make it legitimate for my family who is no doubt snooping as we speak."

"Ok…" You take a breath in and out to process all this then look to him a bit more calmly, "So, you helped out Candy and as a return favor you had her marry you in order to trick your family?"

"Good job, K9!" He smiles and gives you two thumbs up.

"But-" you look at him sternly, "what does marrying Candy have to do with tricking your family? Better yet, why are you tricking them in the first place?"

"They've gotten too involved in my life." Lucifer suddenly turns serious and that makes you blink in shock at the quick mood change, "Pushing me to go in a direction that was planned. If it hasn't been obvious already, I don't let anyone push me into anything." The slight growl he had at the end of his sentence made you shiver, even though you suspect it's not aimed at you since he looked up.

"Fine, but why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Well, that would ruin Candy's-"

"No, Lucifer. That's not what I'm asking about." Your hands return to fists, "Why didn't you tell anyone you were fine?"

Lucifer stares at you, head tilted in puzzlement. Candy's wise enough to take a few steps back at the sound of your voice.

"I don't know what you mean, K9." He says sincerely, "I often disappear. Surely Maze told you that."

"You have friends now, Lucifer." You step to him, "Friends care about each other. You not contacting anyone really scared-" you freeze for a second, "...Chloe." You look away from him.

Lucifer just stares at you and it's making it hard for you to breath, "I realize that now, which is why I'm trying to fix our partnership, but," he puts a palm to the side of your face to push your eyes back to his, "I didn't mean to scare anyone. Not the Detective. Not you." His thumb caresses under your left eye and you can feel that same pull from before in the hospital.

But you're still hurt.

You step away from him, "Yeah, well you did. Better get going before you're late. That definitely won't help you win her back." You turn away from him and head for the elevator.

"K9-"

"I don't want to hear it-" You step inside the elevator when the doors open and you end up bumping into someone. "Oh!" You take a slight step back and look up, "Sorry-"

You freeze.

Charlotte Richards looks annoyed as she fixes any possible wrinkles your bump could have caused. She looks down at you, "Ah. The human who didn't blow up. Of course you'd be here."

You take an involuntary step back at the tone of her voice and the look she gave you. You didn't expect that one step to put you against Lucifer's chest. He wasn't even near you before this.

"And the woman who paid off one of K9's possible murderer's bail," Lucifer replies back with the same tone. Charlotte just stares at him, and you can't help but sink more into Lucifer at the air change in between the two.

She freaks me out.

"What are you doing here?" Lucifer asks.

"I came to see what's so special about this woman you married, and why I wasn't invited to such an important event." She steps further inside the penthouse.

"Simple: no one has control on what I do and no enemies allowed." He smiles sarcastically at her and she rolls her eyes.

"Ooh! Are you Lucifer's sister?!" Candy's facade is back on and she giddies up to Charlotte just like she did to you. She goes in for a hug but Charlotte holds her hand up.

"I'm his mother." She hisses out.

"Whaaat?! Oh my gosh! You're so beautifully young!" Candy, it now seems to you, is an expert at acting. She didn't even flinch at Charlotte's coldness.

"I have an idea!" Lucifer exclaims, "Why don't you two enjoy a shopping day together! To get to know each other!" He winks at Candy.

"I would love that! Come on, mom!" Candy pulls Charlotte into the elevator, and you can't help the smirk that appears when you see Charlotte's face.

But the smirk instantly falls when you remember who you're stuck with now, alone, "Well, suppose we'll catch the next ride then?"

You can tell he's smiling behind you, but you refuse to turn around. Instead, you walk to the elevator and wait patiently for the doors to reopen.

Lucifer sighs and walks to stand next to you, also patiently waiting.

"K9-"

"Why am I allowed to know all this?" You cut him off. Still staring at the elevator you continue, "Why am I the 'only one you're not worried about'?"

He looks at you, "Because you're-", he stops, then faces the elevator, "You're just not. That's all."

You grunt and cross your arms, "Great explanation, Lucifer."

"K9, I-"

"Why don't you tell Chloe?" You cut in again.

He doesn't answer, and that makes your blood boil.

"You're tricking her too?" You look at him with fire in your eyes.

"Not...precisely."

"What the hell is going on with you?!" You face him now, "You two just got together! I thought-"

"Yes well, so did I." Now he cuts you off and faces you. You can't read whatever that emotion was in his eyes, "She and I are meant to be, which means it can't be."

"What."

But he just shakes his head and whispers, "You wouldn't believe me anyway. No point in trying to explain it."

"Well, what I do understand is-" you shove him, hard, "that you're too much of a chicken shit to just tell her. You just go off, marry some other woman, and leave her heartbroken with no explanation."

You're still boiling, but it feels good to see him hurt.

The elevator doors open, "Get your own ride." You say as you head inside and close the doors on him.

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

"Do I play good or what?" Candy smiles as she walks up to the car Lucifer called for her.

He smiles back, "Good indeed, my dear." He takes her suitcase from her and hands it to the driver to put in the trunk, "That'll teach my family not to butt into my business."

She laughs. The driver returns to the front and Lucifer opens the door for her, "Oh, here. Don't need this anymore." She removes her wedding ring and hands it to him.

But he pushes her hand back, "Keep it, darling. As a remembrance. In fact," Lucifer removes his wedding band, "keep this too."

Candy smiles warmly at him and takes both rings, "Thank you, Lucifer. For everything."

The two hug each other, "Call me if you need anything." Lucifer says. Candy nods then pulls back. She's halfway into the car when she stops and looks back at him.

"Just curious...what's the deal with you and K9?"

Lucifer just chuckles and looks away.

Candy gets the hint, "I get it." She raises a hand, "None of my business, but if I were you Lucifer, I wouldn't mess that up." He looks back to her and with a small smile, he nods. Candy goes into the car fully and he shuts the door. He watches the car drive into the street and away.

"I hope I haven't." He looks up at his building, then down at his phone where a blank text message to you shows on the screen.

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

A few days have passed since Lucifer returned. He managed to fix his relationship with Chloe, though she told him it's now strictly partnership and friends, which pleases him.

Lucifer - 1 Dad - 0

Now the problem was you. Lucifer has been trying to contact you the whole time. You never acknowledged his texts or calls. Somehow, you've even managed to avoid him at the precinct.

There was only one place left Lucifer thought to go where you'd definitely be.

"Hello!" One of the receptionists at the Circle of Life #2 greets Lucifer as he walks in, "How can I help you?"

"Hello, my dear!" He leans on the counter and flashes the receptionist his charming smile, "Is your boss in?"

"She is, do you have an appointment with her?" She starts to blush under his gaze.

"Not precisely, but I need to have a word with her. Would you mind directing me to her office?"

"Oh, I'm sorry sir, but I'm not-"

"Come now, darling." He leans more in and with his height, he easily manages to be near her face, "Surely you can bend the rules for me."

"I…" The poor woman is trapped under his gaze.

"Lucifer!"

Lucifer rolls his eyes in annoyance and stands straight. The receptionist was just about to stand and take him to you.

His annoyance disappears when he turns and sees who called him, "Ah! My dear Alice!" He opens his arms wide in shock then walks to her.

Alice eyes him, "Why are you here, Lucifer? You don't have a pet."

"Not of the animal kind." He winks at her. Alice rolls her eyes, but Lucifer catches that interest in her body, "May I please speak with K9?" He smiles.

"Earth doesn't want to see you, Lucifer. She specifically told me-"

"Alice Alice Alice~" He sing-songs her name and steps into her personal bubble. He takes her hand and holds it up, "You're a good friend to K9, aren't you?"

Alice can't speak. Her eyes are trapped in his and her face is beat red. She nods.

"Of course you are! You see, I'd like to still be good friends with her too. That's why I'm here, to make it up to her. Surely there's no harm in that?" He smiles innocently at her. He watches her throat move as she swallows.

She finds her voice, "Y-yeah."

"Wonderful!" He gives the top of her hand a kiss, "Can you please lead me to her then?"

Alice closes her eyes and sighs, knowing she's lost. She pulls her hand away and motions for Lucifer to follow.

She takes him through the back doors where other veterinarians and nurses work on computers and samples. Some animals are back here getting weighed or blood samples, and Lucifer has to hold his breath from all the different animal scents.

Finally, Alice stops at a white door and knocks. Lucifer hears your voice on the other side and can't help the smile that spreads across his face.

"Don't hate me," Alice says as she cracks the door open slightly and sticks her head in.

You look at her questionably, "Why would I-"

"Hellooo K9~!" Lucifer pushes the door fully open with his long arms behind Alice. Your face instantly turns into a frown. Alice shrugs helplessly and runs away.

"Get out."

"But I just got here!" Lucifer whines. He shuts your door and sits on one of the chairs in front of you. He crosses his legs and stares smugly at you.

You sigh loudly. You close your eyes and rub your temples, "Why are you here, Lucifer?"

"To get back in your good graces, of course." You put your arms down and stare at him. Getting the hint that you aren't going to say anything he continues, "I meant what I said, K9. I truly didn't mean to hurt you. Had I known I would have told you I was fine."

Lucifer uncrosses his legs and leans forward, "But please understand my side, K9. After seeing the Detective almost die I-" he pauses and you watch him swallow. Your face softens slightly, "I just had to get away for a bit. Yes, I didn't handle it correctly. I know that now. K9 all this, these friends, it's a new concept to me."

He stands up and comes around your desk to stand next to you. You don't turn your chair, but you do turn your body towards him. His eyes look pleading:

"Please, darling. How can I make it up to you?"

You stare at him, studying him. He looks truly sorry and distraught, and you have to admit to yourself you missed him.

But just as you are about to speak your cell phone rings. You look away from him to answer it.

It's Miller. The ASPCA found another dog ring.

You hang up and look up at Lucifer, "Alright, Lucifer. Come with me to this case to help out, then maybe I'll forgive you."

"I accept!" Lucifer's face beams of joy as you stand. You hang up your lab coat and Lucifer opens the door for you.

"Meet me at the precinct." You say to him as you head to your car.

"Yes ma'am!"

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

When you arrive at the precinct you change into your K9 uniform while Miller gathers up a team. Lucifer agrees to ride in your vehicle to the location where the ASPCA officials were waiting.

While driving you fill him in on the situation, "The ASPCA has been hunting a man named Roberto Alejandro for almost a year now. He's responsible for the largest dogfighting ring this state has had in a long time. They've never been able to catch his trail until it's too late. Somehow he seems to stay one step ahead."

"Hmm." Lucifer's looking out the window. You grip the steering wheel, thinking he's not listening.

"This may not be a homicide, Lucifer, but it's damn well important to me. At least act like you're interested."

He looks over to you, both eyebrows raised in shock, "I apologize, K9. It's true I'm not used to this type of case, but I am listening. I promise." You look at him and nod. Then focus back on the road.

"It does astonish me, however, that a man responsible for a dog ring is able to hide so well from two forces." He says.

"Yeah, me too, and I have a theory on that but I'll explain it later." You turn into a run-down looking neighborhood and continue, "Once wind of me being back in LA was heard the leader of the ASPCA contacted me about this case. Within the first two weeks, I was able to get more information than they could in months."

"Really?" Lucifer gives you an impressed smile, "What's your secret, K9?"

You fidget slightly, "You'll think I'm crazy."

"You're talking to the Devil, dear."

You scoff, "Right. Well, better to show first then explain."

The two of you arrive at the scene where the rest of your team is, along with an entourage of ASPCA men and women. You both exit the car and walk to Miller who's talking to one of the officers.

"What's the status?" You ask Miller.

"The ASPCA managed to catch a dog fight while it was happening in that building." He points to the decrypted brick house. Perfect place for crimes and criminals to hide, "When they charged in they managed to capture two of Roberto's men. Report says they saw him too, but he got away."

"Of course he did. At least we saw him now." You look at the ASPCA's kennel vehicles, "Any dogs saved?"

"The two that were currently fighting were shot down. However, we did find a room with more dogs in cages, five in total. One of the dogs belongs to one of the men they caught."

"Alright." You nod, "I'm heading in for them. I'll radio you when it's good to get them." You and Lucifer walk to the building, but Miller stops Lucifer.

"She does this alone, sir."

Lucifer raises a brow at him, but you step in before he can say anything, "It's alright, Miller. I told him to come with me."

"Shouldn't he at least have a bulletproof vest on?" He questions you.

"Oh, I don't need one of those silly things. I'm immortal." Lucifer says nonchalantly.

"Says the man who's been shot multiple times." You remark.

"While with the Detective, yes, but only with her. She makes me vulnerable. She's not here, however, so I'm 100% immortal." He says to you. You and Miller share a look. You end up shrugging and go along with it.

"Is it normal for you to expect being shot on this kind of case?" Lucifer asks as you both enter the building and head up the stairs.

"Only this one. There have been a few times where we thought the place was abandoned, then ended up in a firefight."

"Have you ever been shot, K9?" The worry in Lucifer's tone makes you look back at him.

You give him a small smile, "Not yet."

"Well, I'll make sure it remains that way."

"You can't always be with me, Lucifer."

"Beg to differ, darling."

You just shake your head at him, smile still on your face. You arrive at the door to the room with the dogs inside. Already you could hear whining and growling.

"Just stay quiet and keep to the door, alright?" You look back at Lucifer with your hand on the handle. He nods and you open the door.

Instantly the dogs start to bark and growl. Lucifer stays by the door while you walk a bit further into the room. You slowly raise your hands in surrender and continue to walk closer while the barking slowly dies to growls. You pick a dog to go to and slowly walk to their cage. Hands still raised, you kneel in front of the cage a few feet away.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you." You whisper to the dog.

The dog eyes you. It's a pit bull with awful scars across its face.

Lie...humans…hurt

The pit growls at you menacingly, but still takes a step back into the cage.

"I'm not like the humans you're used to. I help and heal. No hurting." You slowly put your hands down and take a small step closer. The dog takes another step back, "Can you tell me your name?"

...Killer…

You hold in your scoff. That name was very common among the dogs you've saved, "Well Killer, can you tell me anything about these humans who mistreat you and the others?" You take one step closer and Killer takes one back, but he's reached the end of his tiny cage.

….No…

"You still don't trust me. How about I give you this," you hold out a treat, "and let you out of your cage? You can attack me and I won't fight back."

He doesn't answer. You place the treat through the cage. It takes a few minutes, but Killer comes up to the cage door and eats it. As he's eating you slowly reach out to the lock on the door. You open it quickly and brace yourself to get bit, like usual.

But the dog just cowers back into the cage.

What?

"I have to say, I'm a bit surprised." You say.

….Bad….worse than humans….

You raise a brow at him, but notice he's not looking at you.

He's looking behind you. At Lucifer.

You look back at him to see if he's doing anything to upset the dog, but Lucifer is just staring at you curiously. His hands are in his pockets and he's leaning against the door. Not threatening at all.

I trust...if...make evil leave…

You look curiously back at the dog, but nod and obey the wish, "Hey, Lucifer." You look behind you once more. He raises a brow at you, "I need you to step out of the room."

"What?" He's confused now, "Why?"

You look back at the dogs and notice that they are all as far back in their cage as they can get when Lucifer spoke.

Odd…

"I'm not sure why," you look back at Lucifer, "but these dogs seem to be wary of you."

Lucifer scoffs loudly, "Of course they are. I'll be outside. Better that way." He says, annoyed. You want to stop him but he's already out of the door.

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

Sometime after Lucifer left the room you gained the dogs’ trust. You warn them that more humans are about to come in to take them inside a vehicle, where they'll then arrive at a building to receive treatment. You radioed Miller and it took an hour to just get the five dogs out of the building and into ASPCA hands. After talking to the head of the case about what you learned and telling your team to head back to the precinct you looked for Lucifer.

He's leaning against the hood of your car smoking a cigarette. His look is far off.

"Hey." You walk up to him.

The far off look in his eyes changes instantly when he looks at you, "Job well done, K9?"

"Seems like." You smile, then you give him a concerned look, "You ok?"

"Perfectly." He flicks the cigarette on the ground and stomps on it. As he's getting inside the passenger side you roll your eyes and pick up the bud. You enter your car and stick the bud in the cup holder to be discarded later.

Lucifer just looks at you. You shrug, "Don't condone littering." He laughs at you then stares out the window as you drive off.

After 10 minutes of silence, Lucifer finally asks that question you've been treading, "You understand animals?"

You take a quick side look at him expecting to see a look like he thought you were crazy, but that's not what you see. He looks genuinely curious and interested.

Still, it takes you a moment to find the courage to answer truthfully, "...Yeah, sort of."

"That explains why your clinic over in New York has such amazing reviews." He's smiling like he's incredibly happy to be let in on your little secret.

"You looked up my clinic?"

"Of course. I told you I'm interested to learn more about you, K9."

You're silent for a long time, "You're not going to tell anyone right?"

He looks at you questionably, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because people will think I'm crazy and I'll lose all my business."

"Have people told you you're crazy before?"

Memories of being in multiple foster homes flood through. You remember all those looks the families gave you whenever you talked to a stray cat or wild animal. Then the image of a bright burning light from a lamp blinds you.

"Yeah." You say with no emotion, "All the time."

"Well, I don't think you're crazy. In fact, you've made me even more interested." He smiles flirtatiously at you.

You roll your eyes, but smirk, "Oh great."

The rest of the drive is you two having basic chatter. You ask him if he'd like to come over for dinner, as a thank you for coming.

"Does this mean you forgive me, K9?" His smile is so contagious. You smile back and playfully hit his chest.

You arrive at the apartment complex. You and Lucifer take the elevator up to your floor and head for your door.

"It's not usual that I'm this excited to be invited to a woman's home, especially knowing we won't be doing the dirty." He wiggles his eyebrows at you, "Or is that my real thank you?"

You laugh as you unlock the door, "Definitely not."

You open your door and step inside with Lucifer close behind. He notices you taking off your shoes and putting them on the shoe rack to the right. Respectfully he does the same.

"I'm going to take a quick shower first. That house was too damn humid." You say touching your sticky face, "Make yourself at home!" You disappear into your bedroom. Lucifer takes the time to explore your space.

It's tiny. More like a loft apartment. As soon as you walk through the door you can practically see the entire space. About five feet from the door is the kitchen island. The kitchen has a decent amount of cabinets. All white with silver handles, the countertops marble. Behind the bar stools under the kitchen island is the living room. You have a grey "c" shaped couch that's cluttered with pillows, along with a large quilt blanket hanging off the back. Lucifer walks past the living room to see that you have a step up to your bedroom like his penthouse. The difference is you have hidden sliding doors to separate the bedroom from the rest of the space. To his left, he saw a door leading out to a small balcony that can also be accessed from the bedroom. The balcony is littered with pots of flowers, as well as vegetables.

He smiles to himself. You did say you loved to garden.

He steps up into your bedroom to take a quick look around. To the right is a door that he assumes lead to the only bathroom. Next to that is two double mirror doors that he guesses is your closet.

"Well that's fun." He can't stop himself from whispering that comment.

Your bed looks to be a queen size. The bedsheets are various colors of green, and much like your couch, your bed is also cluttered with pillows. The bed frame is black wrought iron with an abstract design of a tree with leaves as the headboard. The base is the same design, but as just vines with leaves.

Lucifer bites his lip. He can't help himself. The design choices in your room are giving him way too many ideas.

He leaves your room and sits on your couch, after moving many pillows. He goes for the tv remote, but notices an opening in your coffee table. He messes with it and the top lifts up, it's one of those coffee table/eating tray sets. It makes sense for you to have one since there's no room for a proper dining set.

He notices something down inside the coffee table. He reaches in and gets a hold of various papers. He leans back and looks through them.

His eyes turn red and his blood boils at the words on the papers.

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

It's 30 minutes later by the time you exit the shower. You quickly dry off and comb your hair. You opt out of wearing your pjs. Instead, you put on a plain colored t-shirt and black leggings.

"Alright, what are you interested in for food?" You say out loud as you exit the bathroom and place the dirty clothes in your hamper. When you hear no response you walk to the living room.

You freeze at the top of your bedroom steps. Lucifer is holding the papers you kept hidden.

He looks at you angrily, but you can tell that the anger is more directed at the papers than you. He lifts them up in one hand and says in an aggressive voice you've not heard from him yet:

"Who's threatening you?"

[maikatc]

Black Sun Tale | November 1st

sorry for the delay! i really hoped to have this released during my vacation but regardless, i hope you all enjoy! this chapter is fairly special, along with others from here on out

remember that this is a first draft with only minor edits, and comments are always appreciated!

-

The weather was damp on the first day of November. Rain showers drew down to the ground making minimal sound; however, it was all deafened by the daily events of Obodo. 

In the alleyway, Ayu’s body shivered in his slumber. Not a passing minute did he still. His arms and legs crouched over each other to give warmth from the cold droplets on his skin. 

“Stop bein’… cold,” he mumbled in his sleep. Though the showers continued to pinch him to a tiresome amount. 

His weariness itched him from everywhere. The noise of the crowd, the traffic; the clicking in his mind; the faded nightmare of a dream; they all dimmed into his sleep but for a second, the world went silent. In Ayu’s ears, his touch, his senses, his attention drew to a single voice calling out in a blank dream. 

“Wake up, Ayu.”

The voice whispered in Ayu ears, her tone soft and sweet, almost like a lullaby. The command kept running in his mind until his eyes finally fluttered open. 

His mind processed who was talking and his eyes dulled. Nostalgia brought him to a numb halt. 

“… Hi Lillie.”

“How’s the story going?”

“Bad.” He grabbed his journal with sluggish hands, opening it to illiterate writing. “Not as good as yours.”

“Oh really?” Her pitch perked up. 

“I can’t ask for more advice from you,” he sighed. 

“It’s a shame. There’s so much you can improve on too.”

“That’s…” he flipped a page. The used page full with a disproportionate character. “Under-exaggerating.”

“Under-exaggerating?”

“Yes, I can’t find the word,” Ayu huffed. He covered up his legs with a thin blanket after a gust of wind reminded him. 

She hummed. “I can always tell you what’s wrong if you need it.” 

Ayu kept his mouth shut, pushing himself up to sit by his wall. His eyes lingered towards the ground. He waited for what’d be inevitable. “… I know you’ll just tell it to me either way.” 

She giggled. “I’m predictable, aren’t I? Now let’s see… Well, you really are terrible. Your drawings can’t evoke the characters at all. It should already be easy for your age.” 

Ayu didn’t move. 

“You keep changing everything I gave to you. Everything you’re adding is making it worse.” Her voice was calm, no bitterness spatting out. 

“I’m sorry…” He breathed out. 

She rambled on, “If people were to see this, nobody would understand and bat an eye for what you want.”

“I’m sorry.” He repeated. His throat began to heat up. 

“Oh,” she chirped, “It’s okay to be sorry. Just remember, I’m doing this to help you…” 

Ayu gasped at a hand caressing his cheek. Another held him gently by the other cheek. Eying down, the hands were a snowy pale. Drawing his eyes ahead, a vivid figure formed by the hands. The only clear thing being the beauty of her lilac eyes. 

“Don’t cry… you look ugly when you cry,” she smiled. 

He closed his eyes against his doubt. “You’re real, right?” 

“Of course.”

“I- I know you aren’t-”

“Don’t you trust me,” she asked. 

Ayu entangled his fingers with his hair. His mind pounded in pain. “I’m sorry. I don’t.” 

 Lillie scowled. “You’ll never help anyone like that, Ayu.”

“Can you let go now?” Ayu swallowed. 

“... With pleasure.” She let her hands off of him. 

Ayu’s reality settled in by the rain again. He huffed, looking back at the girl. His legs brought himself up. He abandoned his book and her to exit the alley. 

The black-haired boy pulled up his hood as he stepped through the streets of Obodo. 

The streetlights radiated against puddles in the sidewalk cracks. Dozens carried umbrellas wide to stubble; arrangements of pinks to blues to greens spread through the streets. 

Ayu strolled and passed them all. He watched carefully at passerby’s, taking steps to avoid a single touch. 

A crosswalk pulled him to the next boulevard. “Where do I even go now?”

Damp leaves flew by from the winds, each with muddy colors of autumn.  One by one, they passed by the crowds. Though, it didn’t take long until one hit Ayu in the face. 

“Fuck…” He slipped the leaf off, drying out the water droplets on his face with his sleeve. He held the leaf by his fingertips, glaring at what just hit him while walking along. Giving a sigh, he threw it behind his shoulder in the hopes that nobody was behind. 

“I’ll just go around, I guess,” he shrugged. 

***

An hour passed; Ayu continued to wander throughout the streets. Ideas floated around his head whenever he was to pass by infamous sites and buildings. However, nothing stuck with familiarity like others would. 

That is, until he stopped by a particular park. 

The children laughed faintly in his ears. He stopped a step, turning around to see the entrance sign of Felle Park. 

Ayu’s face softened at the reminder of the setting. Maybe there.

“Let’s see,” Ayu poked his own cheek in thought, “November 1st, 201X…” 

Ayu sat in front of the playground fence. He watched silently as other kids his junior played. Their parents sat at the benches or standing, talking to each other about whatever news. Umbrellas rested by all of their sides. 

“Today so far’s… cold.” He scooched back as a little girl ran passed him. He pressed down on his lips. “Lillie wasn’t fun again, but that always makes sense.” 

Ayu took a breath. “I’m thinking about changing the story since things aren’t going good again.” He swallowed empty, dry air. 

A child fell off the swings. He sighed, “No monsters; No Akeldama.” 

As children cheered joyously from their games, Ayu observed them. In his obscure eyes, he visualized his own fun while they ran along. 

A younger kid, with scruffy black hair held back by a headband, ran throughout the playground along with others from the neighborhood. He laughed as they chased him around, dashing through everyone who couldn’t catch him. 

Ayu chuckled at the sight. 

It didn’t take long for the boy to stop. He paused to hide behind a girl dressed in a black dress, carrying an umbrella on a sunny day. Her white hair and skin were the only things capturing brightness in her still figure. 

She ratted him out merely seconds later. 

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t even see you there.” 

Ayu snapped back into reality, blinking to see a toddler, who’d bump into him, staring back. 

“Why do your legs look funny?”

Ayu jumped up. “O-oh, um, sorry, I was meaning to leave-” He looked towards the side of the exit. 

“Why do your eyes look weird-”

Ayu shook his hands towards her tilted head. “It’s nothing! I’ll uh- be going now.” He rushed off from her, pulling up his hood more. 

“God, damn it,” he muttered under his breath. He exited the playground area. He kicked his ankles without effort, making him wince from every hit. They aren’t gonna bruise. 

The farther he avoided obstacles and drifted in thought, the more he’d part ways with the sidewalk path. The rain showers continued to fall and they kept on dripping onto Ayu’s skin and clothes. 

However, it was the trees ruffling against each other that lifted Ayu’s ears. He peeked around to find a forest next to him. 

Something called out for him in his chest breathtakingly. It pulled him in a way Ayu couldn’t comprehend. 

Without a thought, he entered blind. 

*

A step in the grass can bring so much sound. The melody of them cracking and brushing each other softly rang through Ayu’s ears. It was peaceful compared to the constant ringing in his head. 

The forest whispered to him like a dream. It hid itself within its own shadows as Ayu gazed upon them. Flowers of soft blues and reds shriveled against the boy’s worn out shoes in every step. Faint scurries of squirrels and birds added to the environment. Though, even with the beautiful sight in front of him, Ayu’s head wouldn’t stop sensing something ahead of him, something to be ready for. 

“The forest is a thing I can get used to,” Ayu said aloud. He stepped over a log as he rambled and animals ran away. “If anyone’s here to listen, fuck ‘em, I guess.” 

He hopped through a tiny river. “Maybe I can get some cool rocks here… It’d make too much of a mess though.”

He spoke with whatever came up in his mind. Endless one-offs and quips echoed from the trees to Ayu’s ears. He ventured on to what seemed like a boundless forest. 

“Oh yeah, that’s why you don’t feed rice to pigeons.” He jumped off of a foot-long ledge after talking to himself for a half-hour.

“Are you done with your banter?” Akeldama’s voice rang in Ayu’s head. 

“God, damn it, I knew you were coming here sooner or later.” He stopped himself, tapping down his foot in the patience of getting through the conversation. “What are you here for now?”

“Impatient, I see. I was simply wondering how meeting Oliver went. What’d you think?”

Ayu formed a fist. “If you do anything to him, I will-”

“Don’t worry about that,” Akeldama assured, “He already has enough to worry about as is.”

“And you don’t let that slide for Annette,” he scowled.

“… You’ll understand in time. But I truly want your opinion here. What do you think of him?” 

“We just met,” Ayu exclaimed, “Most that I know is that he’s smart and can beat anyone at Ono.” 

Akeldama sighed. “That’s just for now, I suppose. I just hope that you like him.”

Ayu blinked. “Why would you want that?”

Wind blew through the forest again. Silence was the only reply for Ayu.

He kicked a rock with minimal effort. The impact let it fly across a few yards as Ayu only took a deep breath. His doubt of no-harm weighed him greatly. “What’ll the next stunt be Akeldama?” 

No reply, as always.

He walked on, shrugging off the suspicions of the conversation as just another Akeldama talk. 

Everything stayed in the same atmosphere, all until Ayu took a single step. 

From one place to another, Ayu sensed a change. There was thicker air surrounding him, almost suffocating him. All of the bustling of the critters and rustling of the trees and grass stilled, making silence the only thing to scream out.

Despite it, something in Ayu urged him to push forward. And his curiosity pulled him through. 

It only took a minute walk. The dead silence crept up through Ayu’s spine in suspense. No traffic, no talking, no footsteps, no chirping or brushes, it left him in unease. 

However, the silence wasn’t all that much of a bother once Ayu’s breath was swept away completely by the sight he found. 

It was a small field, empty of any flowers, logs, all that laid dormant was a single stump in the middle and a certain boy he’d seen days ago. 

Oliver was next to the stump, curled up and resting soundly. His hair was messy and he was draped with his crimson jacket as if it were a blanket. It would’ve been a nice scene to revisit.

Though flashes made Ayu doubt what he was seeing. With every second, the scene changed until it stopped to one that only left him with shock. 

The grass was dampened not by the rain but instead dark red liquid. What laid around Oliver and the stump were scraps of organs and flesh. They scattered all over, big and small, rotting by the minute. 

Then there was Oliver. His entire body was dressed in blood, apart from his coat. Though, splatters of intense reds rested upon his mouth and hands. 

Even with everything around him and himself, he still slept with a peaceful face. 

Ayu backed up, shaken by what was in front of him. He whimpered curses under his breath. His throat swelled up as he was on the verge of tears. His head pounded so loudly against him yet he still stood and didn’t realize the pain. 

Taking a small gulp, his gut forced him to walk forward. He raised his hand slowly towards Oliver. His entire arm couldn’t stop shaking. 

Though, it was only before Ayu could try waking him up, that he already did. 

Oliver’s eyes opened about, fluttering up along with his head. His drowsy face stared to space. 

Ayu froze in hesitation. 

It took a moment for Oliver’s expression to change. His eyes widened as he shifted his eyes left and right to see his surroundings. He shifted his hands to his stomach, pushing it in and out. “Shit.” His face turned cold. He slumped both his hands and face down, pulling up his coat’s hood and buttoning it up. It was only a mere second after did he pause, flinching up and jumping once he realized Ayu. 

They both stayed in place. Ayu’s heartbeat pounded in confusion. Why is he here? Why is there blood everywhere...?

A few seconds passed. Still no words; still no movement. Ayu’s mind jumbled up as to what to say and what to do. However, it was after those seconds did Oliver take a stand. 

Ayu stuttered out, “W-wait- uh, what are-”

Oliver dashed off immediately, pushing Ayu out of his way. 

“Wait!” Ayu pushed himself back up, stumbling off to run after him. If it weren’t for his speed, he wouldn’t have been able to catch up to Oliver’s sprinting at all, though he caught up in record time. 

Ayu grabbed Oliver by his left arm, making Oliver hiss in the process. He asked, “What the hell was that?”

Oliver hyperventilated, sweat pouring against the blood on his face. “No- please go,” he whimpered. His eyes were puffy, tears already pouring in the brink of an eye. He somehow pulled himself out of Ayu’s grasp, running off yet again. 

Ayu could read Oliver easily at least. He could tell he was scared, terrified even. Yet, the urge to understand what he’d seen led him on. 

He ran after the red-hooded boy again. 

Oliver continued to make twists and turns down his path, making Ayu fall behind. Though it was lucky for Ayu as Oliver tripped by a twig. 

Ayu caught up before Oliver could get up again. But before Ayu could do anything, Oliver cried out. “STOP THIS, PLEASE!” 

Ayu paused, watching the shaking boy curl up. His arms wrapped around his head as his begged, “Leave me alone…”

Ayu’s body relaxed as his adrenaline slowed. “I’m not gonna leave you alone like this, and without an explanation.” He pulled up his hoodie, taking it off and letting the now pouring rain settled all over him. 

“Here,” he tossed the jacket over to Oliver. “This’ll probably make the stains less… obvious.” 

Oliver peeked his head up, still shivering and shedding tears. Hesitant, he put the hoodie on, not saying a word. 

He didn’t say anything about the scent... 

Ayu reached his hand out to the redhead. “I’ll take you back to the alley.”

Oliver swallowed. And he slowly took his hand. 

***

Rain still fell through as the two boys sat against the alley wall. 

Ayu stared at Oliver, thoughts spiraling through his mind. 

Oliver only stuck his head down. “Can you…”

Ayu blinked to his attention. 

“Can you be quiet, please? I still need to process this.”

Ayu nodded, then keeping his eyes away from him. 

The sound of the rain was his only distraction. He tapped his foot, shifted his seat, looked around left and right to the crowds. His impatience prayed for time to fly by. 

It came to the point where Ayu counted 78 raindrops before Oliver quietly spoke. “This is the first time someone’s ever seen me like that.”

“But…”

“It’s-… it’s fine. I’m pretty sure out of anybody, I can tell you. You can even help, maybe… or hate me, either one.” Oliver forced out a chuckle. 

“Just tell me what’s going on,” Ayu urged. 

Oliver nodded in reluctance. He looked down as he started to explain. “I’ve… been starving for years,” he said, “Whenever I eat something from my mom or just whatever, it doesn’t process for some reason. And it’s only until I pass out and I find myself with a dead body am I actually full.” He curled himself up again. 

“Does that mean-”

Oliver nodded. “From what I can tell, I just need flesh to live.” 

Ayu shook his head, his breathing heightening. “No, no… when did this start…?”

“My seventh birthday four years ago,” Oliver explained. “I was with two friends at the park and just woke up to find them dead in the same forest. It usually happens on my birthday… like today.” He sighed. 

Ayu himself took a mental sigh of relief despite it all. However, another thing came into realization at the same time. “So… you take others’ lives…”

“I hate it enough that I don’t try to eat or pass out of exhaustion until I give in after a week.” He slammed his head back against the wall. “It hurts…” 

Responses were limited. Ayu could barely comprehend what Oliver was even saying. However, in a reluctant fashion, he asked, “It’ll get better at some point, won’t it?”

“I doubt it,” Oliver immediately responded. 

Bad pull. “I- I’m sure of it.” God, damn it, don’t lie.

They stayed in an awkward silence. No replies given and no conversation added. Ayu twiddled over his thumbs over and over again, waiting for some kind of conclusion. 

Though it was Oliver to close things up by adding, “At least we have one thing in common.”

“What?”

“We both have shitty lives, right?” Oliver looked back at Ayu, opening up his eyes instantly. 

That was when Ayu realized Oliver’s been avoiding looking at him this entire time. 

“Holy shit,” Oliver spoke. He reached out to grabbed Ayu’s arm. “How did I not realize how skinny you were?”

Ayu stammered, raising a brow. He pulled back his arm and shrugged. “I guess the jacket. I don’t really eat, remember?”

Oliver only stared. His expression twisted to concern. But all he did was take off Ayu’s own hoodie, giving it back to him. “You can have this back.” 

“Uh, thanks?”

Oliver stood back up. He licked off some of the washed-up blood on his mouth and pulled up his own hood again. “Can I go home now?”

“Uh- yeah. Just don’t do anything extreme.”

Oliver huffed out a chuckle. “Don’t worry, I definitely won’t for the next while.” He walked off to the edge of the alleyway, waving him a, “Goodbye,” as he disappeared through the building edges. 

As the calmed rain still hit his soaking hair, all he could mutter was, “What the hell…”

-

Ten Dollars | Bread and Water | Red Eye | Crimson Capture | Next>>>

[azookiex3]

A Devil’s Love: Chapter 7

AN: Sorry this chapter took forever to get out! I had the idea for it, but I just couldn't figure out how to write it! Thankfully my mind is out of that block now. I was going to go further, buuut it's already at 6k words so Chapter 8 it goes.

In case anyone is wondering, yes the updates will take awhile. Hopefully when my hours drop at work I can get updates out more quickly. Know that I'm not stopping this story & it's going to be a long one! 

Check out this story's playlist on Spotify! If you do please read the description so you can see how the songs are organized!

AO3 , Fanfiction Net , Wattpad

Warnings: Swearing

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"Last one, I promise." You rub the pup's head and she licks your face in trust. You smile and insert the last shot into the shoulder blades, "All done!"

Treat….

The pup looks up at you happily as her owners start petting her in congratulations. 

You smile back and wink. You reach into your treat jar on the counter, "What a good girl you are!" You give her the treat and another pat on the head. You look at the owners, "Her vaccines are all done! She's free to run around with other animals."

"Awesome! We can't wait to get her to the dog park!" The husband says.

"Yeah! Poor girl whines at it everytime we pass by." The wife laughs and kisses her pup's nose.

"I bet. You've got a real energetic one here." You laugh and gather your paperwork, "Well, hopefully I won't have to see you till next year! Have fun little one." The pup puts her paws on your shoulders and gives you a lick. The husband then puts her harness and leash back on. 

Bye….nice….play time!

You wave to the pup as the family leaves the room. You exit through the opposite door when a worker comes in to clean the room for the next patient.

That was the last one scheduled for you today, and you didn't have to stay overtime with all the veterinarians in. You head into your office and sit on your comfy leather chair. As you put the paperwork away in your desk drawer your phone chimes, informing you of a text message.

"Is it Lucifer?" Alice asks as she walks into your office to hand you some more paperwork.

You shake your head, "No. Just Chloe. There's a new case."

"Oh…"

You look up suspiciously at your business partner and close friend, "What?"

"Well, was hoping it was him so you could stop stressing." She shrugs.

"I'm not stressing over him." You lie, and by Alice's eye roll she knows it too.

Lucifer Morningstar has been gone from LA for nearly two weeks. Everyone, even Dan, had been trying to contact him since Chloe found his penthouse laid in white sheets. Lucifer didn't reply to anyone, not even you.

You can't help but think that he's gone because of you. Maybe you got too...personal during Chloe's poison scare. It scared the hell out of you what you two almost did. Maybe it scared him too and he had to escape just like with Chloe.

Or worst case: your past has come back sooner than you intended and took him.

You shake the thought from your mind and stand from your chair, "Call me if you need me." You hang your lab coat on the door hook and pass by Alice.

She grabs your arm, "I'm sure he's ok, Earth."

You nod slightly, not looking at her, "Yeah." 

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

You pull up to the crime scene and park next to Chloe's car.

"Hey, Earth!" Ella smiles and waves happily at you when you join the group. Dan gives you a nod and Chloe looks at you with that same question in her eyes for the past two weeks.

You shake your head slightly at her, and like all the other days before her face flashes disappointment before returning neutral, "So, what's the case?"

"This guy's name is Ash Corrigan. Looks like he died from a blunt object to the head." Ella replies.

"Any idea on leads or murder object?"

"Not yet, but I did find this." Chloe hands you a flyer for a band. The victim appears to be the band's singer.

You and Chloe drive to the band's studio for questioning. They give you two a lead into a possible suspect: a woman named Courtney who was Ash's ex-wife, and according to the female of the band Courtney was bossy and violent. You two return to the precinct to meet up with Dan and Ella.

You half sit on Chloe's desk and drink from your bottle of water as Chloe tells the two what they learned.

"That girl's name has popped up around here before," Dan says, "She's known for being abusive in her relationships."

"Alright. Earth and I will go talk to her. Do you have her address?" Chloe says.

"Yeah, here-"

"Detective!"

Your eyebrows shoot up to your hairline, your eyes go wide, and you painfully spin your head around to look at the staircase. You can only see the back of Chloe's head, but you imagine she has the same look.

Lucifer Morningstar happily trots down the stairs like it was a normal day, and stands in front of Chloe with a wide grin.

"Lucifer?!" Chloe is speechless.

Lucifer gives himself a grand stature with his hands, "In the flesh!" He says while still smiling. He looks to everyone in the group, "Detective Douche, Ms. Lopez, K9." 

You instantly look away from him when his eyes meet yours. Unlike Ella and Dan, you give Lucifer a barely audible grunt of acknowledgement. You ignore the fact that you think you see his smile slightly dim at your response.

Fucking dick. You take a long drink of your water.

"Lucifer...what happened? Where did you go? Are you ok?" The words tumble out of Chloe and she looks him over for any damage.

"Oh, I'm perfectly fine Detective! Just needed to blow off some steam after, well, everything."

Ass. Hole. You continue to drink your water, afraid that if you stopped you'd end up strangling him. Much better, and less criminal, to slowly squeeze the bottle of its contents.

"Anyways," Lucifer claps his hands together, "I have some news!"

"What-" but Chloe's question is cut off by a high pitched voice calling for Lucifer.

That makes you look again. You hold in your gulp of water as you watch a woman walk down the stairs in very high heels and a tight short pink dress. She has wavy blond hair with pink streaks running through. She puts an arm in the crook of Lucifer's elbow, and looks up at him with big brown eyes.

"I'm sorry, baby! I know you said to wait, but I got lonely." She pouts.

"It's quite alright, darling. Well, everyone!" Lucifer pats the woman's hand, "I'd like to introduce my wife, Candy Morningstar!"

Your hand flies to your mouth as water starts to escape. Ella rubs your back as you practically choke to death, and you imagine Chloe's face resembles that of Ella and Dan's: pure shock. Candy, oblivious to everyone's reaction, holds her hand up and is  squealing happily as she shows off her ring. Lucifer smiles and holds up his hand to show a matching band.

What. The. Fuck. 

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

"LUCIFER."

You storm out of the elevator and yell for him. Your nostrils were flaring and your hands were balled into tight fists.

"LUCIFER!" You yell again, "GET OUT HERE!"

"Oh!" You hear a familiar squeak and look to the couch to see Candy pulling out earbuds. She was lounging on the couch, feet up on the coffee table. Her high heels laid on the floor.

Uhhh...

"You're K9, right?!" Candy expertly puts on her heels and skips over to you, "I've been so excited to meet you!" She giggles and hugs you.

Well this feels awkward.

"Candy, darling, this is the person I said you can be yourself around." Lucifer comes from his closet and stands in his bedroom entryway, "She's the only one I'm not worried about."

"Oh, good!" You see an instant change in Candy. She seems to deflate from the perky personality and turns to a more "natural" one, "Almost thought I blew the favor there, Lucifer."

"Not quite." He winks at her.

Whaaat.

The look of complete confusion on your face makes Lucifer burst out laughing. You turn your attention to him, furious again, "What the hell is going on, Lucifer?!"

"Right right. Well," he takes the two steps down from his bedroom, "After the whole fiasco a couple weeks ago I went to Las Vegas and met the lovely Candy who stands before you." You look at Candy and she gives you a small shrug and smile with a wave, "I helped her out with her family business and in return she agreed to marry me." He smiles at you like that clears everything up while he straightens his cufflinks.

"Only for a little while." Candy mentions when she sees the look on your face, "Once I'm done here tricking his family then we're getting a divorce."

"Wait wait wait." You close your eyes to process the information while shaking both your hands at them, "You," you look at Candy, "Actually got married to him-" you point at Lucifer with your focus still on her, "just to return a favor?"

"Well, my father's business means everything to me. If being married for two weeks is all it takes to save it I'd accept in a heartbeat."

"But, actually marry him?"

"Well, of course!" Lucifer buts in before Candy can respond. He walks to stand next to his piano, "Have to make it legitimate for my family who is no doubt snooping as we speak."

"Ok…" You take a breath in and out to process all this then look to him a bit more calmly, "So, you helped out Candy and as a return favor you had her marry you in order to trick your family?"

"Good job, K9!" He smiles and gives you two thumbs up.

"But-" you look at him sternly, "what does marrying Candy have to do with tricking your family? Better yet, why are you tricking them in the first place?"

"They've gotten too involved in my life." Lucifer suddenly turns serious and that makes you blink in shock at the quick mood change, "Pushing me to go in a direction that was planned. If it hadn't been obvious to you already, I don't let anyone push me into anything." The slight growl he had at the end of his sentence made you shiver, even though you suspect it wasn't aimed at you since he looked up.

"Fine. But, why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Well that would ruin Candy's-"

"No, Lucifer. That's not what I'm asking about." Your hands return back into fists, "Why didn't you tell anyone you were fine?"

Lucifer stares at you, head tilted in puzzlement. Candy's wise enough to take a few steps back at the sound of your voice. 

"I don't know what you mean, K9." He says sincerely, "I often disappear. Surely Maze told you that."

"You have friends now, Lucifer." You step to him, "Friends care about each other. You not contacting anyone really scared-" you freeze for a second, "...Chloe." You look away from him.

Lucifer just stares at you and it's making it hard for you to breath, "I realize that now, which is why I'm trying to fix our partnership. But," he puts a palm to the side of your face to push your eyes back to his, "I didn't mean to scare anyone. Not the Detective. Not you." His thumb caresses under your left eye and you can feel that some pull from before, in the hospital.

But you were still hurt.

You step away from him, "Yeah, well you did. Better get going before you're late. That definitely won't help you win her back." You turn away from him and head for the elevator.

"K9-"

"I don't want to hear it-" You step inside the elevator when the doors open and end up bumping into someone. "Oh!" You take a slight step back and look up, "Sorry-"

You freeze.

Charlotte Richards looks annoyed as she fixes any possible wrinkles your bump could have caused. She looks down at you, "Ah. The human who didn't blow up. Of course you'd be here."

You take an involuntary step back at the tone of her voice and the look she gave you. You didn't expect that one step to put you against Lucifer's chest. He wasn't even near you before this.

"And the woman who payed off one of K9's possible murderer's bail." Lucifer replies back with the same tone. Charlotte just stares at him, and you can't help but sink more into Lucifer at the air change in between the two.

She freaks me out.

"What are you doing here?" Lucifer asks.

"I came to see what's so special about this woman you married, and why I wasn't invited to such an important event." She steps further inside the penthouse.

"Simple: no one has control on what I do and no enemies allowed." He smiles sarcastically at her and she rolls her eyes.

"Ooh! Are you Lucifer's sister?!" Candy's facade is back on and she giddies up to Charlotte just like she did to you. She goes in for a hug but Charlotte holds her hand up.

"I'm his mother." She hisses out.

"Whaaat?! Oh my gosh! You're so beautifully young!" Candy, it now seems to you, is an expert at acting. She didn't even flinch at Charlotte's coldness.

"I have an idea!" Lucifer exclaims, "Why don't you two enjoy a shopping day together! To get to know each other!" He winks at Candy.

"I would love that! Come on, mom!" Candy pulls Charlotte into the elevator, and you can't help the smirk that appears when you see Charlotte's look.

But the smirk instantly falls when you remember who you're stuck with now, alone, "Well, suppose we'll catch the next ride then?"

You can tell he's smiling behind you, but you refuse to turn around. Instead, you walk to the elevator and wait patiently for the doors to reopen.

Lucifer sighs and walks to stand next to you, also patiently waiting.

"K9-"

"Why am I allowed to know all this?" You cut him off. Still staring at the elevator you continue, "Why am I the 'only one your not worried about'?"

He looks at you, "Because you're-", he stops, then faces the elevator, "You're just not. That's all."

You grunt and cross your arms, "Great explanation, Lucifer."

"K9, I-"

"Why don't you tell Chloe?" You cut in again.

He doesn't answer, and that makes your skin start to boil.

"You're tricking her too?" You look at him with fire in your eyes.

"Not...precisely."

"What the hell is going on with you?!" You face him now, "You two just got together! I thought-"

"Yes well, so did I." Now he cuts you off and faces you. You can't read whatever that emotion was in his eyes, "Her and I were meant to be, which means it can't be."

"What."

But he just shakes his head and whispers, "You wouldn't believe me anyways. No point in trying to explain it."

"Well what I do understand is-" you shove him, hard, "Is that you're too much of a chicken shit to just tell her. You just go off, marry some other woman, and leave her heartbroken with no explanation."

You're still boiling, but it feels good to see him hurt.

The elevator doors open, "Get your own ride." You say as you head inside and close the doors on him.

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

"Do I play good or what?" Candy smiles as she walks up to the car Lucifer called for her. 

He smiles back, "Good indeed, my dear." He takes her suitcase from her and hands it to the driver to put in the trunk, "That'll teach my family not to butt into my business."

She laughs. The driver returns to the front and Lucifer opens the door for her, "Oh, here. Don't need this anymore." She removes her wedding ring and hands it to him.

But he pushes her hand back, "Keep it, darling. As a remembrance. In fact," Lucifer removes his wedding band, "Keep this too." 

Candy smiles warmly at him and takes both rings, "Thank you, Lucifer. For everything."

The two hug each other, "Call me if you need anything." Lucifer says. Candy nods then pulls back. She's halfway into the open car door when she stops and looks back at him.

"Just curious...what's the deal with you and K9?"

Lucifer just chuckles and looks away.

Candy gets the hint, "I get it." She raises a hand, "None of my business, but if I were you Lucifer I wouldn't mess that up." He looks back to her, and with a small smile he nods. Candy goes into the car fully and he shuts the door. He watches the car drive into the street and away.

"I hope I haven't." He looks up at his building, then down at his phone where a blank text message to you shown on the screen.

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

A few days have passed since Lucifer returned. He managed to fix his relationship with Chloe, though she told him it's now strictly partnership and friends, which pleases him.

Lucifer 1 - Dad - 0

Now the problem was you. Lucifer had been trying to contact you the whole time. You never acknowledged his texts or calls. Somehow, you've even managed to avoid him at the precinct.

There was only one place left Lucifer thought to go where you'd definitely be.

"Hello!" One of the receptionists of the Circle of Life #2 greets Lucifer as he walks in, "How can I help you?"

"Hello, my dear!" He leans on the counter and flashes the receptionist his charming smile, "Is you boss in?"

"She is, do you have an appointment with her?" She starts to blush under his gaze.

"Not precisely, but I need to have a word with her. Would you mind directing me to her office?"

"Oh, I'm sorry sir, but I'm not-"

"Come now, darling." He leans in more, and with his height he easily manages to be near her face, "Surely you can bend the rules for me."

"I…" The poor woman is trapped under his gaze.

"Lucifer!" 

Lucifer rolls his eyes in annoyance and stands straight. The receptionist was just about to stand and take him to you.

His annoyance disappears when he turns and sees who called him.

"Ah! My dear Alice!" He opens his arms wide in shock then walks to her.

She eyes him, "Why are you here, Lucifer? You don't have a pet."

"Not of the animal kind." He winks at her.

Alice rolls her eyes, but Lucifer catches that interest in her eyes and body. 

"May I please speak with K9?" He smiles.

"Earth doesn't want to see you, Lucifer. She specifically told me-"

"Alice alice alice~" He sing songs her name and steps into her personal bubble. He takes her hand and holds it up, "You're a good friend to K9, aren't you?"

Alice can't speak. Her eyes are trapped in his and her face is beat red. She nods.

"Of course you are! You see, I'd like to still be good friends with her too. That's why I'm here, to make it up to her. Surely there's no harm in that?" He smiles innocently at her. He watches her throat move as she swallows.

She finds her voice, "Y-yeah."

"Wonderful!" He gives the top of her hand a kiss, "Can you please lead me to her then?"

Alice closes her eyes and sighs, knowing she's lost. She pulls her hand away and motions for Lucifer to follow. 

She takes him through the back doors where other veterinarians and nurses worked on computers and samples. Some animals were back here getting weighed or blood samples, and Lucifer had to hold his breath from all the different animal scents.

Finally, Alice stops at a white door and knocks. Lucifer hears your voice on the other side and can't help the smile that spreads across his face.

"Don't hate me." Alice says as she cracks the door open slightly and sticks her head in.

You look at her questionably, "Why would I-"

"Hellooo K9~!" Lucifer pushes the door fully open with his long arms behind Alice. Your face instantly turns to a frown. Alice shrugs helplessly and runs away.

"Get out." 

"But I just got here!" Lucifer whines. He shuts your door and sits on one of the chairs in front of you. He crosses his legs and stares smugly at you.

You sigh loudly. You close your eyes and rub your temples, "Why are you here, Lucifer?"

"To get back in your good graces, of course." You put your arms down and stare at him. Getting the hint that you won't say anything he continues, "I meant what I said, K9. I truly didn't mean to hurt you. Had I known I would have told you I was fine." He uncrosses his legs and leans forward, "But please understand my side, K9. After seeing the Detective almost die I-" he pauses and you watch him swallow. Your face softens slightly, "I just had to get away for a bit. Yes, I didn't handle it correctly. I know that now. K9 all this, these friends, it's a new concept to me."

He stands up and comes around your desk to stand next to you. You don't turn your chair, but you do turn your body towards him. His eyes look pleading:

"Please, darling. How can I make it up to you?"

You stare at him, studying him. He looks truly sorry and distraught. And you had to admit it yourself, you missed him.

But just as you were about to speak your cell phone started ringing. You look away from him to answer it.

It was Miller. The ASPCA found another dog ring.

You hang up and look up at Lucifer, "Alright, Lucifer. Come with me on this case to help out. Then maybe I'll forgive you."

"I accept!" Lucifer's face beams of joy as you stand. You hang up your lab coat and Lucifer opens the door for you.

"Meet me at the precinct." You say to him as you head to your car.

"Yes ma'am!"

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

When you arrive at the precinct you change into your K9 uniform while Miller gathered up a team. Lucifer agrees to ride in your vehicle to the location where the ASPCA officials were waiting.

While driving you filled him in on the situation, "The ASPCA has been hunting a man named Roberto Alejandro for almost a year now. He's responsible for the largest dog fighting ring this state has had in a long time. They've never been able to catch his trail until it's too late. Somehow he seems to stay one step ahead of them."

"Hmm." Lucifer's looking out the window. You grip the steering wheel, thinking that he's not listening.

"This may not be a homicide, Lucifer, but it's damn well important to me. At least act like you're interested."

He looks over to you, both eyebrows raised in shock, "I apologize, K9. It's true I'm not used to this type of case, but I am listening. I promise." You look at him and nod. Then focus back on the road.

"It does astonish me, however, that a man responsible for a dog ring is able to hide so well from an entire company." 

"Yeah, me too, and I have a theory on that but I'll explain it later." You turn into a run down looking neighborhood and continue, "Once wind of me being back in LA was heard the leader of the ASPCA contacted me about this case. Within the first two weeks I was able to get more information than they could find in months."

"Really?" Lucifer gives you an impressed smile, "What's your secret, K9?"

You fidget slightly, "You'll think I'm crazy."

"You're talking to the Devil, dear."

You scoff, "Right. Well, better to show first than explain."

The two of you arrive at the scene where the rest of your team was, along with an entourage of ASPCA men and women. You both exit the car and walk to Miller who was talking to one of the officers.

"What's the status?" You ask Miller.

"The ASPCA managed to catch a dog fight while it was happening in that building." He points to the decrypted brick house. Perfect place for crimes and criminals to hide since it looked to be abandoned, "When they charged in they managed to capture two of Roberto's men. Report says they saw him too, but he got away."

"Of course he did. At least we saw him now." You look at the ASPCA's kennel vehicles, "Any dogs saved?"

"The two that were currently fighting were shot down. However we did find a room with more dogs in cages, five in total. One of the dogs belongs to one of the men they caught."

"Alright." You nod, "I'm heading in for them. I'll radio you when it's good to get them." You and Lucifer start to walk to the building when Miller stops Lucifer.

"She does this alone, sir."

Lucifer raises a brow at him, but you step in before he can say anything, "It's alright, Miller. I told him to come with me."

"Shouldn't he at least have a bulletproof vest on?" He questions you.

"Oh, I don't need one of those silly things. I'm immortal." Lucifer says nonchalantly.

"Says the man who's been shot multiple times." You remark.

"While with the Detective, yes, but only with her. She makes me vulnerable. She's not here, however, so I'm 100% immortal." He says to you. You and Miller share a look. You end up shrugging and go along with it. 

"Is it normal for you to expect being shot on this kind of case?" Lucifer asks as you both enter the building and head up the stairs.

"Only this one. There's been a few times where we thought the place was abandoned, then ended up in a firefight."

"Have you ever been shot, K9?" The worry in Lucifer's tone makes you look back at him.

You give him a small smile, "Not yet."

"Well, I'll make sure it remains that way."

"You can't always be with me, Lucifer."

"Beg to differ, darling." 

You just shake your head at him, smile still on your face. You arrive at the door to the room with the dogs inside. Already you could hear whining and growling.

"Just stay quiet and keep to the door, alright?" You look back at Lucifer with your hand on the handle. He nods and you open the door.

Instantly the dogs started to bark and growl at you two. Lucifer stays by the door while you walk a bit further into the room. You slowly raised your hands in surrender and continued to walk closer while the barking slowly died to growls. You pick a dog to go to and slowly walk to their cage. Hands still raised you kneel in front of the cage, still a few feet away.

"Hey. I'm not going to hurt you." You whisper to the dog.

The dog eyes you. It's a pit bull with awful scars across its face.

Lie...humans…hurt

The pit growls at you menacingly, but still takes a step back into the cage.

"I'm not like the humans you're used to. I help and heal. No hurting." You slowly put your hands down and take a little step closer. The dog takes another step back, "Can you tell me your name?"

...Killer…

You hold in your scoff. That name was very common among the dogs you've saved, "Well Killer, can you tell me anything about these humans who mistreat you and the others?" You take one step closer and the dogs takes one back, but he's reached the end of his tiny cage.

….No…

"You still don't trust me. How about I give you this," you hold out a treat, "and let you out of your cage? You can attack me and I won't fight back." 

The dog doesn't answer. You place the treat through the cage. It takes a few minutes, but the pit comes up to the cage door and eats it. As he's eating you slowly reach out to the lock on the door. You open it quickly and brace yourself to get bite, like usual.

But the dog just cowers back into the cage.

What?

"I have to say, I'm a bit surprised." You say.

….Bad….worse than humans….

You raise a brow at the dog, but notice he's not looking at you.

He's looking behind you. At Lucifer.

You look back at him to see if he's doing anything to upset the dog, but Lucifer is just staring at you curiously. His hands were in his pockets and he was leaning against the door. Not threatening at all.

I trust...if...make evil leave…

You look curiously back at the dog, but nod and obey the wish, "Hey, Lucifer." You look behind you once more. He raises a brow at you, "I need you to step out of the room."

"What?" He's confused now, "Why?"

You look back at the dog and notice that all the dogs were now as far back in their cage as they could get when Lucifer spoke.

Odd…

"I'm not sure why," you look back to him, "but these dogs seem to be wary of you."

Lucifer scoffs loudly, "Of course they are. I'll be outside. Better that way." He says, annoyed. You wanted to stop him but he was already out the door.

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

Some time after Lucifer left the room you gained the dogs trust. You warn them that more humans are about to come in to take them inside a vehicle, where they'll then arrive at a building to receive treatment. After you radioed Miller it took an hour to just get the five dogs out of the building and into ASPCA hands. After talking to the head of the case about what you learned and telling your team to head back to the precinct you looked for Lucifer. 

He was leaning against the hood of your car smoking a cigarette. His look was far off.

"Hey." You walk up to him. 

The far look in his eyes change instantly when he looks at you, "Job well done, K9?"

"Seems like." You smile, then you give him a concerned look, "You ok?"

"Perfectly." He flicks the cigarette on the ground and stomps on it. As he's getting inside the passenger side you roll your eyes and pick up the bud. You enter your car and stick the bud in the cup holder to be discarded later.

Lucifer just looks at you. You shrug, "Don't condone littering." He laughs at you than stares out the window as you drive off.

After 10 minutes of silence Lucifer finally asks that question you've been treading, "You understand animals?" 

You take a quick side look at him expecting to see a look like he thought you were crazy, but that's not what you see. He looks genuinely curious and interested.

Still, it takes you a moment to find courage to answer truthfully, "...Yeah, sort of."

"That explains why you're clinic over in New York has such amazing reviews." He's smiling like he's incredibly happy to be let in on your little secret.

"You looked up my clinic?"

"Of course. Told you I'm interested to learn more about you, K9." 

You're silent for a long time, "You're not going to tell anyone right?"

He looks at you questionably, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because people will think I'm crazy and I'll lose all my business."

"Have people told you you're crazy before?"

Memories of being in multiple foster homes flood through. You remember all those looks the family's gave you whenever you talked to a stray cat or wild animal. Then the imagine of a bright burning light from a lamp blinds you.

"Yeah." You say with no emotion, "All the time."

"Well, I don't think you're crazy. In fact, you've made me even more interested." He smiles flirtatiously at you.

You roll your eyes, but smirk, "Oh great."

The rest of the drive is you two having basic chatter. You ask him if he'd like to come over for dinner, as a thank you for coming. 

"Does this mean you forgive me, K9?" His smile is so contagious. You smile back and playfully hit his chest.

You arrive at the apartment complex. You and Lucifer take the elevator up to your floor and head for your door.

"It's not usual that I'm this excited to be invited to a woman's home, especially knowing we won't be doing the dirty." He wiggles his eyebrows at you, "Or is that my real thank you?"

You laugh as you unlock the door, "Definitely not."

You open your door and step inside with Lucifer close behind. He notices you taking off your shoes and putting them on the shoe rack to the right. Respectfully he does the same.

"I'm going to take a quick shower first. That house was too damn humid." You say touching your sticky face, "Make yourself at home!" You disappear into your bedroom. Lucifer takes the time to explore your space.

It's tiny. More like a loft apartment. As soon as you walk through the door you can practically see the entire space. About five feet from the door is the kitchen island. The kitchen has a decent amount of cabinets. All white with silver handles, the countertops marble. Behind the bar stools under the kitchen island was the living room. You had a grey "c" shaped couch that was littered with pillows, along with a large quilt blanket hanging off the back. Lucifer walks past the living room to see that you have a step up to your bedroom like his penthouse. Difference is you had hidden sliding doors to separate the bedroom from the rest of the space. To his left he saw a door leading out to a small balcony that can also be accessed from the bedroom. The balcony was littered with pots of plants, as well as vegetables. 

He smiles to himself. You did say you loved to garden. 

He steps up into your bedroom to take a quick look around. To the right was a door that he assumed lead to the only bathroom. Next to that was two double mirror doors that he guessed was your closet.

"Well that's fun." He can't stop himself from whispering that comment. 

Your bed looked to be a queen size. The bed sheets were various colors of green, and much like your couch your bed was also littered with pillows. The bed frame is black wrought iron with an abstract design of a tree with leaves as the headboard. The base was the same design, but as just vines with leaves.

Lucifer bites his lip. He can't help himself. The design choices in your room was giving him way too many ideas.

He leaves your room and sits on your couch, after moving many pillows. He goes to reach for the tv remote, but notices an opening in your coffee table. He messes with it and the top lifts up, it's one of those coffee table/eating tray sets. Makes sense for you to have one since there's no room for a proper dining set. 

He notices something down inside the coffee table. He reaches in and gets a hold of various papers. He leans back and looks through them.

His eyes turn red and his blood boils at the words on the papers.

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

It's 30 minutes later by the time you exit the shower. You quickly dry off and comb your hair. You opt out of wearing your pjs. Instead you put on a plain colored t-shirt and black leggings. 

"Alright, what are you interested in for food?" You say out loud as you exit the bathroom and place the dirty clothes in your hamper. When you hear no response you walk to the living room.

You freeze at the top of your bedroom steps. Lucifer was holding the papers you kept hidden.

He looks at you angrily, but you can tell that the anger is more directed at the papers than you. He lifts them up in one hand and says in an aggressive voice you've not heard from him yet:

"Who's threatening you?"

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

Tag List: @insanity-is-always-fun  @anushay1998 @emiwrites3reads @i-am-canada-13 @heart-of-pots-and-pans @tinyybiceps

[imagine-loki]

Wedded Bliss

TITLE: Wedded Bliss CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 36 AUTHOR: MaliceManaged ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Odin determined to find Loki a wife in a misguided, though somewhat well-intentioned attempt to ‘mellow him’. … RATING: T NOTES/WARNINGS: I… have no excuse for how long this took. The chapter has been written for weeks, I just had to proof read it, but when I finally got some time to do that I got distracted writing most of a one shot ya’ll gon hate me for.

_______________________

As expected, the day after Loki’s Nameday as they had breakfast with the family Frigga suggested they stay ‘for a few more days’, causing the pair to exchange a knowing look that prompted laughs from all of them.

“I suppose I have become predictable,” Frigga conceded humorously.

“Eh, maybe a little bit,” Edith joked. “We did plan for this, though. As long as we’re back for New Year’s, it’s fine; any longer and I’m afraid you’ll upset a few people.”

“That’s alright; we do not celebrate the final day of the year so specifically,” Odin said before smirking slightly, “Though now you have said that, I fear you have guaranteed you will spend at least part of the Jól here.”

They laughed and Frigga swatted Odin’s arm in response. The rest of the meal passed in silence then light conversation was had for a while after until the monarchs left to carry on their respective duties while Thor all but dragged Loki and Edith to the training grounds, wanting to see how they fought together now that they had been partners for a few months.

“You do realise since we are staying for most of the month, we could do this any other time, don’t you?”

“Yes, well, there is no time like the present!” Thor grinned, causing Edith to snort.

“Anyone ever tell you you’re like a puppy?” Edith asked, earning a slightly bemused look. She turned to Loki, “We might as well; he’s not going to let it go until we do.”

Loki sighed, conceding the point, then walked off to an empty area and conjured several animated constructs. Edith joined him, accepting the daggers he summoned for her with a smile. They took a stance, assessing their targets, then got to work. As they fought, other warriors stopped their own training to watch them; the chemistry between the two was unmistakable, their attacks blending seamlessly. Loki had kept his promise to teach her his battle tactics and Thor could see it clearly in how Edith handled the blades. When all the constructs lay in pieces all over the floor there were cheers from their impromptu audience, before they all turned back to what they’d been doing.

“Satisfied?” Loki asked of Thor as they walked off to the sidelines for a drink.

Thor rolled his eyes. “As if it bothered you so terribly to show off your skills.”

Edith laughed. “He’s got you there, dude,” she said, earning a mock glare she blew a kiss at.

****

Edith stepped out of her bathroom wrapping her hair up in a towel and grumbling slightly to herself, having once again forgotten her clothes on her bed. She had just finished pulling on her panties when the door burst open and Thor barged in, causing her to let out a startled shriek, her hands coming up to cover her chest and thanking whatever force wanted the credit that her back had been facing the door already. Thor for his part immediately looked away.

“What the fuck, Thor; don’t you know how to knock??”

“I’m sorry! I was looking for my brother!”

“In my room??”

“Well, he is not in his!”

“That’s not an excuse to just barge in!”

“I said I was sorry!”

“Don’t be sorry; just get out!”

“Right! Right,” he stammered red faced, wondering why that hadn’t occurred to him already, before making a swift exit.

Tossing the towel on her head aside and dressing in record time, Edith opened her door to find a very sheepish looking Thor waiting in the hallway. “Now, why are you looking for Loki?”

“It is tradition for us to hunt with father; the game we bring back will be the main fare for the Jól feasts starting tomorrow. He has been busy, or avoiding me, the past few days, but we have to ready ourselves today.”

“Well, I haven’t seen him since breakfast. Odin sent word he wanted to talk to him, and that’s as far as I know.”

“I see. I suppose I will go look in father’s study, then. I… apologise again.”

“It’s fine, just… Knocking; it’s very useful.”

Thor ducked his head then turned and walked away. Edith watched him go for a moment before going back into her room to brush her hair out before it dried into a tangled mess. That done, she walked out, making her way to the stables where Sif was waiting for her.

“You took your time,” Sif commented.

“Sorry; Thor apparently forgot knocking is a thing people do.”

Sif arched an eyebrow. “Dare I ask?”

“I left my clothes on my bed,” Edith replied with a wince.

To her credit, Sif tried to suppress her laugh, even though she failed miserably. “Oh, Norns, that is… that is awkward.”

“Yeah, laugh it up,” Edith said, grabbing a handful of oats from a nearby pail and throwing it at Sif, causing her to burst out laughing. “Bitch.”

“I’m sorry, it is just…” She tried to get herself under control, succeeding after a while. “If it is any consolation; I doubt he will forget again any time soon. Though I suppose he should be grateful you were dressing after bathing and not… otherwise occupied…”

“Noooo! Don’t say that; you’ll jinx it!” Edith cried dramatically, making Sif laugh again.

Getting on their horses, they led them out past the palace gates and into the city beyond at a leisurely trot, discussing the sparring match they’d had the previous day which Sif had of course won but she’d been impressed by Edith’s skill, given the younger woman hadn’t had much practise with swords. They reached the forest and urged their horses into a gallop; they had a ways to go and hoped to get there before dark.

Halfway to their destination a group of seven men armed with swords and hatchets jumped out from behind the trees, blocking the way and causing the women to pull on their horses’ reins to stop them.

“Well, well, what have we here?” the one in the middle spoke, eyeing the two women with a grin, “Bit far from the city for such lovely creatures.”

Sif rolled her eyes. “You are either foolish or suicidal to think to ambush us.”

“I suggest you get out of our way while we still feel nice,” Edith added.

The man scoffed. “The great Lady Sif and the Trickster’s pet; a fine catch, I think. Get us a fine price for the both of you. Now just kindly dismount and come quietly, and we won’t have to get rough.”

Edith looked at Sif, who shrugged. They got down from the horses, pulling the swords strapped onto the saddles out of their scabbards along the way, Sif grabbing her shield and blowing a sharp whistle that sent the horses running off. The four men nearest them swore and dove out of the way while two others ran to the women, who met the charge with battle cries that gave them a moment’s pause.

A moment was all Sif needed to knock her opponent’s sword out wide with her shield and stab his throat, turning from him as soon as her sword was free to meet the next one. Edith ducked the somewhat sloppy swing her opponent tried to recover with, pushing the blade aside with her own and pulling a dagger from her belt which she used to stab the man in the gut twice before stabbing up into the spot where the man’s throat met his head. As Edith blocked her next opponent’s attack, she saw the remaining two approaching, apparently deciding she was the easier prey.

And she might have been… if not for her belt pouches full of explosives.

Dropping her dagger as she backed away from the man in front of her, Edith dug into one of the pouches and took out a few of her armour piercing pellets, throwing them at the approaching men, taking them completely off guard so that they were dead almost before they knew what had happened. She sent a sharp grin to her remaining, very shocked opponent, who quickly turned tail and tried to run, only to run into Sif’s sword.

They turned to the leader who, realising he was sorely outmatched, tried to flee as well, only to end up with a dagger to the back of his head thrown by Edith.

“Nice throw!” Sif commended, looking around them to be sure there were no more attackers.

“Thanks!” Edith grinned. She went over to retrieve her dagger, not wanting to leave it behind.

Sif whistled sharply, calling their horses back and mounting hers. “We should keep moving, else we won’t make it before dark after all.”

Edith hummed as she got on her horse. “Hey, how come you’re ‘great’ and I’m someone’s pet? That’s not fair,” she pouted, earning a laugh.

“Because men are idiots,” Sif replied easily, “If our positions were reversed and I were the one being courted, that is all they would see then as well.”

“Well, that’s bullshit,” Edith scoffed, “If anything, Loki would be my pet.”

That left Sif laughing for most of the ride.

[she-is-tim]

Neighbours pt 2

Lucas is a young, exhausted musician who just tries to relax, while Eliott is the overexcited, dubstep loving artist who lives next door.

Aka Lucas confronts his annoying neighbour who turns out to be gorgeous

WARNING slight angst is incoming!

Previous chapter here

Sunday 9:35

Eliott was struggling in bed, he already kicked the blanket off of himself hours ago. It wasn’t the usual struggling though, he just couldn’t sleep much since his adorable and kind neighbour spent hours at his place yesterday. His couch still had some of his sweet smell on it, that nearly drove him crazy. He grabbed his phone and looked through instagram just to forget about it for now. 

He scrolled through some nice and funny posts when something came to his mind, he decided to search for Lucas on there. Not like he wanted to stalk him, but he was really curious. It took him a while to find the profile, but there was him. Lucas der Deutscher. Eliott chuckled and looked through his posts, being really careful not to like any of them. There were some silly pictures of Lucas, pics of nice food, snacks, a theatre, but there was a lot of picture with this guy. He was tall, black, handsome, wearing a leather jacket. Basically every third post was about him which really bothered Eliott. He threw his phone on the pillows and sighed.

An hour later he crawled out of the bed, walking to the bathroom. He brushed his teeth, washed his face and decided to shave too. He looked horrible, the bags under his eyes started to make him look like his spirit animal. 

After he was done, he put on some clothes, light grey jeans and a black shirt with an unzipped hoodie. He wasn’t really fan of flashy, colorful clothing, he liked his dark shirts and jackets. It was fitting his personality.

He walked to the living room, looking at the couch. He remembered how beautiful Lucas looked as he sat there, smoking with him, telling silly stories. His heart was beating faster as he looked at the wall, the barricade that separated him from that gorgeous being. He wanted to just grab a sledgehammer and destroy it, so he could see Lucas everyday. He shook his head. Stop it!

Lucas woke up early, making coffee and a light breakfast for himself. He was sitting in the kitchen, his laptop in front of him, watching a show on Netflix as he ate. His mornings were usually like this, but now he barely could concentrate on what was going on on the screen. His thoughts were circling around Eliott since last night. The way he smiled, the  way he blew a smoke ring like it was an ordinary thing to do. Everything about him was so thrilling, exciting for Lucas. He hasn’t really been in a relationship since he realized that he’s gay. He had two girlfriends before Sara and Chloé. Both of them were clingy and Lucas was just scared to accept his sexuality, so he went with the moment. Thank god he managed to escape that web of lies.

His phone started buzzing, so he paused the show, he didn’t even realize that it was still going and checked his phone. It was a text from Yann, his best friend. Lucas smiled.

From Yann: Morning dude! How’s it going? 

To Yann: G’morning! I have shit to tell, wanna have a video chat? 

From Yann:  Give me 10 minutes

To Yann:  You got it!

He finished his breakfast, drank his coffee and put the plate and mug in the sink, he will wash them later. He then sat back to the table, waiting for Yann’s call. It took him a bit more than 10 minutes, but finally he recieved a video call which he immediately answered. His best friend smiled at him brightly, tho he still looked a bit sleepy, he must have just wake up. Lucas was really grateful to have a friend like him. 

“Hey there! What’s up, Lulu?” Yann asked with his usual enthusiasm. He was always caring and kind with Lucas, except when they were teasing each other. 

“I’m doing okay, I have some news.” he said with a big smile. He had to tell somebody about Eliott, because otherwise he would convince himself that it was just a dream, nothing else.

“I’m all ears.” 

“I met a really hot guy yesterday. But like really, really hot.” he started. “He is tall, handsome, an artist and he has the most beautiful smile.” he said excitedly.

“Where did you meet him? At the coffee shop?” he asked curiously. Lucas used to talk about hot guys that came and go at his workplace from time to time. 

“No, dude, listen. He is my fucking neighbour!” he said seriously. Yann was surprised, he didn’t remember ever seeing Lucas’ neighbour, while he was basically visiting his friend every week at least once. 

“Your neighbour? I thought your neighbour is some kind of sick old lady who never leaves the building.” he said surprised. 

“And I thought it’s some stupid punk asshole.” he shrugged. “I tried to play the piano yesterday when he started to blast dubstep so loud my head started to hurt from it. So I went out, banging on his door, ready to yell at his stupid face, then I just couldn’t talk. He was so fucking gorgeous.” he explained, shivering a little as he remembered how it struck him seeing Eliott for the first time.

Yann chuckled and leaned closer to the camera. “Is my Lulu having a crush?” he asked a bit teasingly. Lucas blushed now and looked away. “Yes, he does! Lulu has a crush! Lulu has a cruuuush!” Yann was basically singing on the other side of the call. 

“Stop it, I don’t have a crush.” he said, but he could hear how that wasn’t true. He sighed and leant back on his chair. “Maybe I have a crush on him.” he admitted. 

“Okay, so is there any plan? I mean you wanna ask him out? Is he into guys too?” he asked, honestly being interested in his best friends now existing love life. 

“I don’t know... I mean, he invited me into his place.” he mumbled and then told Yann shortly what happened yesterday. His friend listened carefully, sometimes nodding or making a noise to let him know he’s still listening. “So yeah, he’s coming over today.” he finished it, looking at Yann now. 

“Woah, that’s a lot to process, bro.” he said honestly. “But if you ask me, I think you should go with it. I mean he clearly seems to be into you and not just wanna be friends. And I am sure he will fall for you hard after you play the piano.” he added with a wide smirk, Lucas felt relieved and smiled back. 

“What would I do without you?” 

“Probably sleep under a bridge somewhere in Paris.” he smirked. “But I got your back, bro. Just let me now how the date went, okay?” 

“It’s not a date.” he mumbled.

“Of course it’s a date. See ya later.” he said giggling and ended the call.

Lucas spent the rest of his morning cleaning and making sure Eliott won’t feel like he’s coming to a messed up musicians place. He picked up the music sheets from the floor, put away the laundry, organized his books on the shelf at least three times. He was super nervous, he couldn’t even eat lunch, so he was just standing in front of his opened wardrobe, trying to find the perfect outfit. He usually wore sweatpants and a loose shirt, but he had to impress his visitor. Yesterday was so sudden he didn’t even think of that Eliott saw his stupid grey sweatpants that had black violin keys all over it. So embarrassing. 

He decided to put on nice, sky blue jeans and a dark red shirt. He tried to fix his hair to not look like he just got out of bed. It was almost 13:00 and he just got more nervous by each minute, looking at the clock on the living room wall as he walked around his coffee table. Sometimes he glanced at his piano too, then his couch that was just behind his instrument. Eliott is going to sit there, watching him play the piano. He suddenly remembered that his guest might wanna smoke, so he looked for an old ashtray he had only because Arthur and Basile used to some at his place when they had a gathering here. He put it on the coffee table and looked at the door now. He can come at any second. 

Sunday 12:34

Eliott was circling around in his living room, holding a joint in his hands. He couldn’t stop thinking about Lucas and that he’s about to see him in a few minutes. He felt anxious, he couldn’t breathe properly which wasn’t a good sign. Probably the lack of sleep, the booze and weed from yesterday didn’t help him to feel better today. He sat down on the couch, leaning back, trying to normalize his breathing just as his therapist taught him. He put the joint behind his ear and grabbed his phone.

His hands were shaking so badly, he needed a few tries to type and send a message. He couldn’t let Lucas see him in this condition, what would he think of him? That couldn’t happen. It broke his heart that he can’t watch him play the piano.

To Lucille: I need you. Come over, please.

He threw the phone away, because he hated the fact, that he had to contact her again. It was inevitable, she was the only one who could handle his anxiety attacks and his depression. He needed her, even though he wanted someone else. He could never want Lucas to see this side of him, this weak, vulnerable Eliott who was wheezing on his couch, grabbing his shirt like it helps him not to fall into the pit of darkness.

“C’mon, Lucille.” he mumbled into the silence of his living room. 

Sunday 13:25

Lucas was a bit worried, Eliott seemed excited yesterday to come over, but he wasn’t showing up. He decided to go and check on him, just to see if he’s okay. His chest hurt because he was truly worried about the tall boy. He exited his apartment and in that exact moment he saw a beautiful, brunette girl standing on the hallway, giving a kiss to Eliott before walking into his apartment with him. 

Lucas felt betrayed and heartbroken, even though he only spent a couple hours with his neighbour, he felt like they had something, some connection that was special. But he was wrong. Eliott never really wanted anything from him, he was just a flirty person in general. Lucas felt so stupid, he should never had such high expectations from this, life has never been kind to him when it came to love. He was destined to be single. 

He sat down to the piano, taking a deep breath. He started to play Debussy’s Claire de lune. He let the soft music to fill his living room, gently moving his torso to the tunes, closing his eyes as he played. He wanted to forget Eliott, forget the world and just live for the music that was always his way to escape reality. Life sucks.

[combust-catalyst]

Two Sides of a Coin

Main Idea: Niwaki ( OC ) and class 1-A are doing hero combat class. And Niwaki hasn’t had the best of days at the moment, but since he has had a chance to relax, that anger or explosion isn’t going to end well.

Notes: I’ve been having a rough day at work within the few days to maybe a week and stress is going to literally make me explode. This kind of long.;;; I apologize for any grammar like mistakes and such. This is a Bakugou x OC story, but there isn’t a lot of per say interactions between them a lot as most is very non agreeable? Thus, I tried tagging them the best I could for what I believe is appropriate and not clutter other tags it’s not a part of.

Everyone has ups. Everyone has downs. Some people have good days. Some people have bad days. It was only a matter of how you dealt with those days. Relaxation was a way to ease the pain. Hobbies and activities one loved could release tensions. A good massage would help with tense muscles. A favorite beverage put you in a sense of bliss. Music or sounds could send away the painful migraine. Finally, a good chat with a good friend was a good way to make everything go way.

However, Niwaki had none of those things. At least, for the moment, Niwaki didn’t have any solutions. His days had been disgusting. As disgusting as being pushed by a large crowd on the way to school. It was the early mornings, so it was naturally busy. Crowded trains with business people clamping up against him with no mind for personal space. Clamping foot steps stomping on his feet. Yeah, this wasn’t a good start to his day. 

To find that his homework had been left at home that was due the very current day. Although, one could say it was yesterday that he had bad nightmares that made sleeping almost nonexistent. His abrupt awaking to his own yelling and nervous sweating made sleeping in the dark of night impossible as he would resort to  hiding under his sheets. Matters seem to only grown more when annoying voices in his head got to him. Or were they voices? Wait, where did the scratching noises come from? That was from a tree, right? 

A car driving pass a large puddle that splashed onto Niwaki’s pants. At least, it only got his shoes and lower parts of his pants up to his knees wet. Either way, he was on his way to school. He didn’t have even time to go back home and change again as that would require another crowd travel back on the train. He would have to go to class and just home he could hope that the air today and temperature was fair enough to make it bearable. 

To include insult to more problems, a random dog chased him on the way to school. It was uncertain to the boy as to where the dog came from, but he was sure it wasn’t home trained as the animal was not wearing a collar. Niwaki had not even encountered this dog nor agitated the canine in any way nor shape nor form. This was only their first encounter with each other for fucks sake! As why the dog had been so enamored with wanting to rip Niwaki’s jacket, the boy didn’t even know.

And it didn’t stop there. Even school was draining him dry. He had to explain to Present Mic for the missing assignment which didn’t end well. You know how one loves music? Well, Niwaki has his favorites, but let’s just say Present Mic’s voice was on a very low tier list. Low volume or quietness was not going part of that teacher’s characteristic. . . at all. 

“Seichikara,” Present Mic stopped.

“Yes,” Niwaki’s voice responded a bit ghoul and almost dead-like.

“You don’t seem to be lookin’ too hot, my dude.” Present Mic remarked as he took notice of Niwaki’s already badly messed up shoes and lower pants. “I’m not too angry over the missing assignment. Things happen, ya dig?”

“I’m fine.” Niwaki calmed as he raised his hands to prevent Present Mic’s further reassurance. “I’m completely fine, teach, okay? It’s just a rough day.” He looked away his expression clearly not equal to his own works, but his tone and pretending attitude seem to get through his teacher.

“If ya saying it’s all good, I’ll follow, but I still my suspicion.” he complied almost somewhat a bit against the sudden shrug off.

“Thank you,” Niwaki smiled as he bowed his head respectfully. 

All seemed to be well for Niwaki. Exiting the teacher’s lounge, Niwaki rubbed his forehead. It was subtle, but there felt to be two lump from his head. Maybe it was from the migraines. They tended to annoy him when he was in a bad mood such as today.

“Maybe I should just---,” he toppled a bit backwards against the wall. “Fuck! Ow.”

That was going to make his migraines worse for sure. As his eyes scanned for the source of the impact. They had locked eyes with a pair of two red eyes. One seemed a bit less harsh and almost apologetic while the other seems to have more of a hostile anger at him like he had ruined their day despite his own. 

‘I don’t have time for this!’ Niwaki hissed to himself. ‘I’ll just try to dispute this peacefully. Besides, no point get angry at someone who is already angry.’ 

At least, he was the only one thinking this.

“Watch where the fuck your going, you damn extra!” the voice barked.

Niwaki scratch that idea immediately out the window.

“Excuse you,” he barked back. “Say that to me again you puny spike puffer fish!”

The more hostile red eyes that he had locked into contact earlier had seem to take it as a challenge and immediately seem to inch closer to Niwaki. His height already somewhat taller than Niwaki’s. His teeth more shine and eyes that seem to want to pop out of his sockets. He continued, “Fucking say that shit again! ”

“Bakugou,” the one with much softer eyes and spiky red hair spoke up, “come on, dude! Knock it off!” His hand blocking the other one away from Niwako. His own sharp teeth smiling as his expression a bit more goofy was enough to keep Niwaki in place. “Listen, don’t my friend here, hehe. He’s been a bit rowdy. Things are comings up and he’s been on edge.” He extended his hand to Niwaki, “Names Eijirou! Kirishima Eijirou! Please to meet!” 

Niwaki leaned back a bit hesitant from the sudden change in mood. He wasn’t sure if he should be saying hello or glare at him. With whoever was behind him, Niwaki felt as if two auras was surrounding him: one that seem a bit too bright and one that seem too heavy. 

The soft eyed boy, Kirishima took notice of the situation. With a toothy grin once more, but with extra teeth, his other than pointed with his thumb back to the other one with much more hostility in his eyes that before staring at Niwaki, “And this is Bakugou! Katsuki Bakugou!”

Niwaki decided to at least comply with Kirishima’s introduction with his own accepting his extended handshake, “Seichikara. Niwaki Seichik---.”

“That damn extra doesn’t deserve to fucking know my damn name!” the boy, Bakugou, interjected. 

And with that, he made a swift jerk. His elbow bumping into Niwaki’s as he stomped off. His hand clamped into his pants that seem to be even more disgusting in Niwaki’s eyes. Someone like that goes to this school?! Kirishima was at least kind enough to give another apology for his friend before racing off to catch up with the puffer fish.

“See you in class later!” he waved. “We got combat practice today!”

The walk back to class had not been light enough to sooth the raging pain in Niwaki’s head. And bumps on his forehead felt a bit bigger than before. Maybe some ice packs might help or should he go see Recovery Girl.

‘My head hurts,’ Niwaki rubbed his face as he stepped into class. 

And the sight was rather over whelming to say it lightly. Normally a class held a number of possibly twenty students each, right? So why in the word was there over that number of students in the classroom now? Niwaki pinched his nose at how rowdy the conversation was. Was this a competition to see who could be the loudest?  If so, this would rival that noisy Bakugou guy from earlier; he seem to only knowing swearing at people for a first impression. His eyes scanned the room as he was able to tell that there was quite some students he had not encountered--at least not at a slight closer distance. 

“Why is there so many people here?” Niwaki groaned.

And just as he had pondered to leave the room, a door flew open. And what followed seemed to be none other than the R18 Hero, Miss Midnight. Niwaki’s face was at pure concern at this point. Although, he couldn’t deny a slight disgust at how close she was--as if blocking him from the only freedom he could see. 

“I hope you haven’t forgotten what today is.” she folded her arms as a smirk graced her lips. 

“A holiday? Special occassion?” Niwaki guessed. 

“Your combat training today.” she cheered. 

“Oh,” he deadpanned before burying his face in his hands. ‘Shit!’

Niwaki recalled Kirishima mention something about a combat hero class today. Was it really today though? Perhaps all those bad things earlier was a sign to stay home? Now Niwaki was feeling a bit disappointed at himself. It didn’t take long for him to wander before a hand landed on his right shoulder. His magenta eyes coming into contact with a familiar soft pair of red ones. 

“Hey again,” Kirishima grinned, “this is like our second meeting too! Haha!”

A pair of hostile red eyes returned to join the spiky red-hair.

“Not fucking you again,” Niwaki growled. “Can YOU not be here when I”M here?”

“I didn’t even say a damn thing to you!” Bakugou barked.

“Guys,” Kirishima stepped in as the rest of the class started to die down. “Come on.”

“You h---.” he started to bite back again until a gust of blew from behind him. 

His white hair flowing along the wind and tangling up his style. There was even a slight clumped together strand of hair that curled straight up like a swirl. Bakugou was loud yes and would grab quite the attention because of it. Yet, Niwaki had seem have a slight weird affect. As if the air was suffocating for a few of the students, the atmosphere felt too hot, but at the same time curiosity was a natural thing. Glancing behind him, where Miss Midnight had previously stood, but seemed to be with now two other teachers. Dressed in entirely all black that matched even his hair with only his scarf and belt standing out, the hero whose quirk disabled others, Eraserhead, otherwise known as Aizawa. And finally the quirk user that might as well be a mystery of his own nature, All Might.

All Might saluted in his rather same old masculine form, “I see everyone is full of energy!”

“I know, right?” Midnight agreed with glee.

“They may as well save it for today’s training instead of picking fights with each other.” Aizawa deadpanned not even the slightest interest shown for what today’s activity was going to be. He tilted his head at the students who eyes all trained on the teachers in front of the doorway. His hands pulling out a remote, “Today’s training will be working on your skills and such.” As he pressed a button in the direction of the wall, the wall began to press into the glass revealing suite cases each with different numbers. “Get dress and head out back for further instructions. We’ll be informing you more later on.”

And with that, Aizawa had left. Midnight following behind as she herself claiming it was a surprise for a few students. All Might had given a small encouraging speech before following as well. Most of the students were quiet while some had continued their chit-chat from earlier while carrying their suitcases to their respective dressing rooms. Niwaki just slip pass the two boys as he proceeded to grab his own suitcase. 

Although, he could never exactly escape one of them though.

“Hey, uh, Seichikara?” Kirishima called. 

Niwaki glanced to see them again except this time Bakugou was clearly looking away from him. Kirishima’s nervous expression as he rubbed the back of his head.

“I just want to say---,” he stopped as his eyes was looking up at Niwaki’s forhead. “Dude, is something wrong with your head?”

“What about my head?” Niwaki asked. “There is nothing there.”

“Look again, shit-head.” Bakugou intervened.

“Do you ever say anything that doesn’t come with an insult.” Niwaki growled. 

“Not my fault you fucking have a low attention span!” Bakugou pointed out.

“Dude,” Kirishima interrupted. “There is like two horns coming from the top of your head. Is that normal?”

The dark-skinned boy took a second to let those words seep in his ears. They were two lumps from maybe something that happen some time ago he had concluded. And they weren’t even that big like just bumps from a distance. Lifting up to touch his forehead, the curvature of the lumps was evident. A slight peak or edge was felt from the tips of his fingers that followed the curve. His eyes widen in horror. Was he getting sick? His mind rambled for answers, but only responded with a another throbbing headache that felt like a needle had been jabbed in his skull. 

“Ow,” Niwaki flinched as if static had got him.

“You don’t look so good.” Kirishima said eyes soften and voice laced with concern and worry. “I should go get the teachers.”

“No,” Niwaki grasp the spiky red-heads sleeve. His eyes widen as they came into contact with Kirishima’s. “I’m fine! Really! It’s just a bad headache symptoms that my quirk does sometimes! Yeah! That’s it! I’ll be fine! It’s nothing to worry over! Some fresh air will do the trick!”

Kirishima squinted his eyes. His eyes appearing to struggle at trying to keep eye contact with Niwaki who might as well look to be helpless pup begging it’s owner for attention. It was then Niwaki’s eyes had noticed the puffer fish, Bakugou, walking off. It didn’t matter to him in the least what the ash-blond did. Niwaki was not going to have this day go any more crazy that is already was. He’d just needed to get through this class today and everyone should be sooth sailing. Besides, hero combat training was one of his favorite classes for many reasons, but there was something more special about it for him at least.

“Seichikara,” Kirishima pulled Niwaki away from his thoughts, “you should really go tell the teachers.”

“I’ll be fine.” Niwaki smiled as a way to reassure Kirishima before sneaking his way out of the topic, “Say, do you have any idea what’s going on with today’s hero class?”

Niwaki didn’t mean to do it, but if it went on forever, Niwaki was going to be stuck here. And besides, peoples quirk have weird reactions to their owners internal problems. You could get a cold and your body temperature could drop or you sneeze ice icicles. His quirk was just reacting to his body he guessed. 

The travel to the boys dressing room was a pretty nice and chill. Of course, a few other students that were headed there two was a bit more rowdy than most. Kirishima had no idea from what Niwaki was inferring from that the classes was a bit more of a secret. This meant no one knew what to expect. Yet, the boys enthusiasm was something Niwaki found quite nice; that and his optimism. When you two went inside to finally change, Kirishima brought up an interesting question or it might be called expected.

“Oh,” he started to chuckle, “this seems really intrusive to ask since we just met today even though more than an hour ago. But mind if I ask what’s your quirk?”

“If I told you,” Niwaki laughed, “you’d use it against me. Besides, we don’t know what the teachers have in store for us all to do.”

“Agh,” Kirishima groan, “you’re right. Darn!”

As Niwaki proceeded to dress in his hero costume or well, uniform? His uniform was a bit easy for movement, but enough that he didn’t feel like a completely copy of other ones. However, his most precious item was his gloves. It was maybe a personal taste or how it had many meanings. Yet, for Niwaki, his gloves might as well be his most important part of his identity.

The meet up with teachers was calm. With all students dressed up in their hero costumes, Niwaki couldn’t help, but look around. Some costumes were easy to tell the owners quirk and others took a bit more subtly. One couldn’t help, but find some others amazing in appearances and gave off intense or cute aura. Even some where quite plain or disturbing.

Midnight shifted her hips which her hands rest, “Heroes must be able to improvise and work along with others. This includes making the best use of each others quirks and special skills that go beyond just the basics. Cooperation and teamwork are crucial in any situation.”

“Putting your complete trust in your teammate!” All Might laughed. “A hero can be not just be a single person in the light, but duo--or even a group!”

“Which is why,” Aizawa stepped up in between the two one foot ahead of them in front of the students. “You’ll be working in pairs of two in today’s hero training.”

Excitement filled the air as some felt a bit enjoyment. Niwaki was not one of them. If working with another person while having a headache could count as a good, Niwaki would be showing enthusiam. Instead he smacked his head into his palms internally screetching. 

‘This can not get any worse!’ Niwaki screamed. 

“Working as pair, one of you will be wearing these,” Midnight announced as she held up a ribbon like necklace. “This is in a way treasure in the heroes possession that the villains will be going after. There is a tracking devise to allow us to keep track of every piece. Villain will not be given one as their objective to obtains the very ribbon one of the two of you possess. Of course, this will not be a battle royal to avoid any dangerous destruction.” Her eyes glanced at Aizawa and All Might who seem to be avoid her glance. 

“Of course,” All Might coughed. “We will be observing closely from near the area and in a security room to allow other students to watch and learn from their classmates.”

“I’ll be announcing who the pairs are.” Aizawa put his hands in his pockets; his head tilting a bit. “During these decision it was between use three to pair you with particular partners due to either quirks, personality, or behavior.”

As Aizawa proceeded to name the students pair, Niwaki bit his lip. His fingers toyed with his hair. Every pain he felt began to weigh him more and more. He massaged his temples from the tips of his fingers. His eyes closing to trying take in the cool air that graced upon his skin.

“And lastly, Seichikara,” Aizawa announced, “you will be paired with Bakugou.”

Like a bunch of glasses falling apart, the world or soothing ease Niwaki had put himself in had gone down the drain. His eyes widen in horror. He did not need to deal with the puffer fish! And certainly not on this course as his partner! And it seemed that Niwaki was not the only one as Bakugou’s own eyes locked with his matching the shocked expression.

Throughout the rest of the day, the training had gone pretty nice. Each students prevailed while some barely went through. Yet, there was also a tiny portion that would fail or get carried away in the moment. Niwaki found it to be a good source to watch with excitement. Yes, the whole partner thing had gone on pretty terrible, but Niwaki wasn’t going to let Bakugou make his headaches kill him. 

“You might want to get ready.” Midnight smiled. “You and Bakugou’s turn is coming up.’

“Right,” Niwaki’s face clearly struggling to smile as he glanced at his surrounding to find the puffer fish nowhere in sight.

Approaching the area which was a city construction that seemed almost too familiar, Niwaki walked at the entrance with his white necklace around his neck. Bakugou’s back being the only thing Niwaki could see. Expanding a sigh, Niwaki had to take this seriously. The only problem was how do you talk to someone who gives off an aura of “don’t talk to me”.

“So depending on who we’re up against,” Niwaki initiated the talk, “we need to be cautious in case its some whose quirks we don’t know. Got anything to say to that?”

“Just stay put and out of my way,” Bakugou deadpanned his eyes entirely focused ahead of him.

“This is a team, more so duo,” Niwaki warned. “We do this as a pair not as a one man army!”

Before the talk or argument get more higher, Aizawa interrupted.

“Team Bakugou and Niwaki will be playing against Team Kirishima and Sero.”

Niwaki blinked, “I was worried for something else.” He glanced at Bakugou, “You’re friends with Kirishima, right? So you got to know at least his quirk.”

Instead of answering his question, Bakugou proceeded inside the area. Niwaki racing right behind. Was this really the time to not talk? This was important.

“Bakugou,” Niwaki barked as his glove grabbed onto his shoulder roughly turning him around, “I’m not going to just let your recklessness get us in trouble right now! I’m trying to work with you! It would be APPRECIATIVE if y----.”

Before Niwaki could finish, Bakugou was close to elbowing Niwaki in the side. Luckily, Niwaki was observant as his free hand gripped Bakugou’s elbow. His eyes came into contact with the  same hostile and fierce red ones since the just more than an hour ago they met. Was this idiot truly going to do this now? Niwaki was internally grateful to be able to react quickly enough to prevent his anger to lash out at them so violently free. Besides, Niwaki wasn’t a pushover. 

‘I’ll have to thank Kirishima for this.’ he reminded himself.

“And I said don’t get in my way,” Bakugou barked. “Is all you do is ask god damn stupid questions?”

“When I’m trying to talk to a puffer fish,” Niwaki responded, “who by the way, looks angry almost every fucking second then yes I do!”

The air was thick. Perhaps from the humidity in the air or the wind that was blowing at them, but Niwaki’s stance stayed the same against Bakugou. His hands gripping Bakugou’s elbow that seemed to be fighting against the hold. Niwaki’s magenta eyes glowing bright as his teeth clench. This was already difficult as it was! Niwaki had enough problems and troubles that came along his way. His days had been disgusting enough! And now having to work with an uncooperative teammate was just as bad and fueling the fire.

“I am asking you one last time,” Niwaki’s voice deepened almost like a beastly growl, “will you----.”

It was unfortunate the sentence couldn’t be finished as Niwaki felt a strong grip wrapped around his shoulders that restricted his arms. He stared down as he was exposed to white like tape. His eyes checked with Bakugou as his own attention was no longer focused on the brown-skinned boy, but rather behind him. 

“Damn it,” he growled.

Niwaki’s eyes glanced back following the source of the white tape. At the end, a light skinned and dark haired boy about taller than Niwaki whose elbow was rather larger than the average human had a look of a grin on his face. Kirishima had stood right next the boy; a less cocky but confident smile on his face.

“Yo,” Kirishima saluted, “no hard feelings, right?”

“This is too easy!” he laughed as he began to reel Niwaki in.

Niwaki’s glared behind him. This was already stressful. His teammate wasn’t even cooperative! Now, Niwaki was stuck in some fucking tape! His head was pounding. The pain of needles felt like a pain of a sledge hammer hitting at his cranium over and over again. His teeth screeching as they lost their form. His eyes kept the same glow. The nubs on his head felt less small and short, but rather longer and stretching as if growing in size. 

“Fuck you,” Niwaki yelled as he reckless fought to break free of the black-haired boy’s restraints. “And fuck this fucking tape!”

Everyone around remained silent as Niwaki seem to behave entirely different as he even gripped at the tape to rip it off. Bakugou, who appeared ready to suddenly fight was silent as Niwaki’s sudden emotion was more hostile than he had seen previously. Despite all of this, Niwaki was behaving like some wild animal or insane badger.

“Eh, uh, Sero,” Kirishima blinked, “are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“Another Bakugou?” the black-haired boy, Sero, asked.

“No,” Kirishima denied. “Seichikara looks. . . different?”

“Wh---.” Sero lifted and eye brow. 

Not giving Sero a chance to continue his talk with Kirishima, Niwaki clawed his hands into the ground for support as he began to pull back away from Sero. This resulted in Sero stumbling forward almost into the ground. 

Niwaki grinned, “Not so tough with you being the one pulled in huh?” Niwaki shifted his weight again causing Sero to follow along almost helplessly. 

Leaning up, Niwaki’s voice groaned as he bit his lip. His eyebrows furrowing in anger, but concentration. It was enough as he was able to get himself onto one knee. He had enough being through shit and he wasn’t going to allow others knock him down more than the day had succeeded ahead of them. His eyes glanced up a pair of red ones, ones Niwaki immediately recognized and felt his anger get higher. The same eyes that had nothing, but hostility to him had now turned to caution. 

“You,” Niwaki hissed as he began approach Bakugou.

Each step was followed a low growl. Niwaki’s entire appearance that had been nothing had grown into some beast. His eyes had been clouded black with the only magenta glow that stared down the explosive boy. Marking from his head down to pass his neck, almost unrecognized. And the thumping nubs on his forehead had extended upwards--almost horn-like. Bakugou only keeping his stance against Niwaki as small sparks began to fly off his palms.

Niwaki’s step faultered as he was yanked back once more, this time it was Kirishima was assisting Sero who was having more trouble than before from the pain of his arms. Kirishima’s skin almost rock solid as he appearance to stomp his foot in the ground to get solid grounding and not budge, “Seichikara, snap out of it!”

“What are you talking about,” Niwaki grinned as he gripped tighter on the tape and with one more pulled had yanked the two off the ground. His body shifted as he tossed the two into a nearby building. “I’m perfectly fine!” His eyes jerked to the side in search of Bakugou. The white-like tape no longer wrapped around him, but rather loose on the ground. A grin on his faced never leaving, “Now--!”

Boom!

From a large explosion that collided with Niwaki directly in the face, the dark skinned boy was sent back quite a distance. A large rumble had fallen in front of him as a few pebbles of concrete had seem to fall apart from the structure of the ground. A groan escaped his lips as the contact had been quite a dizzy one. Yet the point blank blast was a bit more obnoxious as he was pretty sure he received quite a few bruises. 

“Son of a bitch,” Niwaki yelled as he began to stand up again. 

His eyes stared directly at the source in front as Bakugou had his palm outward aiming for Niwaki. 

“Tch,” Bakugou clicked his tongue.

“I’m gonna---.” Niwaki yelled as he stomped his foot forward before sprinting directly at Bakugou.

“That is quite enough!” a voice called.

“Huh,” Niwaki hissed before his eyes came into contact with a pink like mist and a smell that seemed too soothing. His eyes blinked a bit trying to fight his, but he fell to his knees. His face colliding with the ground. “God damn it,” was his last words before he collapsed.

Once Niwaki opened his eyes, he stared up at a ceiling. Was he home? That could be possible? Was he at the hospital? No, lights there were much brighter and room develop noise from outside to which there was none. He leaned up. He gripped his head almost as if his brain lost its still state and bumped into his skull from the insides. To call it a headache than--no! Comparing it to over grown headache was a laugh. This pain strung him like his brain was ping ball and his skull was the table. Not a pretty sight at all to imagine.

“Oooowwww,” he groaned. “Myyyy heeaad huurts.”

“Well,” an elderly voice lectured, “that what you get when you neglect a headache! Especially with what it caused!”

Niwaki looked to his side greeted by an elderly woman whom he immediately recognized as Recovery Girl. Shit, he was in the school infirmary. Well, it was better than a hospital, so he couldn’t argue against that. Yet, his mind wandered to the class he should be in before finding where he was now. What happen to everyone? Where was the teachers? His mind went back to what happened earlier. His hands covered his face with shame. What about Kirishima? He hoped he didn’t injure him or that Sero guy too badly. Considering his anger and burst of rage, they might as well be mad at him.

“He hates me.” Niwaki confessed as his voice dropped.

“What?” another voice called from the entrance. “What are you talking about? Hate who?”

“Huh,” Niwaki blinked.

At the doorway, the three teachers stood behind as the three students Niwaki recognized from the fight earlier. The guy Niwaki recalled earlier to be Sero, who was on the left side of Kirishima, had a few bandages of his own and possibly a brace for one of his elbows. Niwaki sweatdropped as he knew exactly why that was the case. Bakugou on the other side of Kirishima preferring to not even still make eye contact. He looked perfectly find as usual, but that reason was because Niwaki was restrained earlier and didn’t get to punch him at all. As for Kirishima, he was in a few bandages, but there wasn’t a lot of them as his expression was full confusion.

“I mean,” Niwaki started, “look at you two! Those were my fault!”

“They were.” Aizawa interrupted. “That’s a reason I had Midnight around just in case things got out of hand.” He scratched his head. “Present Mic had informed me earlier this morning about your earlier condition.”

“And you still let him continue in class,” Recovery Girl summarized, “knowing full well he may just burst?”

“When you put it like that,��� All Might scratched his own head clearly not able to argue at the truthful fact. 

Niwaki interrupted, “I was the one that didn’t confess though.” He looked down at his hands, “I was having a rough day and just thought it would pass, but my headache just kept growing and then I got irritated.” 

Recovery Girl sighed, “Bottling in emotions are damaging to your mental and physical health! It is even worse for those around you who are unfairly targeted due to your emotional outburst!” She turned to the teachers who seemed a bit terrified. “And as teachers you should be more careful for letting it almost get too far!”

All Might apologize as did the other two. Midnight sighed as she smiled at Niwaki, “For now, how are you feeling? I can imagine after all outburst, you’re more sore than ever.”

Niwaki chuckled, “I’ll be alright, for real this time.” He smiled at Recovery Girl, “I’ll try to keep that advice next, Recovery Girl. Thank you.”

“Well,” Recovery Girl sighed, “with a quirk like yours, healing shouldn’t be a problem. You have quite a lot energy for that.”

“I thought Niwaki’s quirk was super strength!” Kirishima yelled astounded. “That’s not his quirk!”

Niwaki rubbed his head, “Inside voices please.”

“Sorry,” Kirishima flinched. “I mean with how you was about to like grip Sero’s tape and just fling him off---and me!”

“Well,” Niwaki sweat dropped, “it’s part of my quirk.” Niwaki had a feeling explaining was going to be quite a pain. “Let’s just says it’s like two sides of a coin?”

“Oh,” Sero called, “like Todoroki’s, right?”

“That’s kind of close to it.” Niwaki sweat dropped. 

Kirishima nodded a few times appearing to take in this information. Bakugou groaned which caused everyone to stare at him expecting some exchange of words between him and Niwaki. 

“Your hands,” Bakugou glared. “That’s the source of your quirk, isn’t it?”

Niwaki sighed, “I did say it’s hard to explain. But I mean Sero already got it.” 

Niwaki rolled his eyes as Bakugou clicked his tongue and jerked his head away. He had a feeling he was going to encountering Bakugou a lot more often for the rest of the year. And honestly, Niwaki wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

[hearts-upon-our-sleeves]

Astraphobia - Part 2

Series Masterlist

Title: Astraphobia

Pairing: Mob!Tom Holland x Gardener!Reader with Astraphobia

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: Cursing, mentions of sexual acts, illegal activities, murder, alcohol, panic attacks.

Summary: Astraphobia, also known as astrapophobia, brontophobia, keraunophobia, or tonitrophobia is an abnormal fear of thunder and lightning, a type of specific phobia. It is a treatable phobia that both humans and animals can develop. -Wikipedia

Chapter Summary: It rains unexpectedly and you have no one else.

A/N: This switches between Tom and You bc i want both sides told? Idk but I like it. Also super bad panic attack so ik it’s in the warning but heres a second warning.

 Your chest was heavy, your lungs filled with fire as it tightened and loosened. Your fingers traced down your chest clutching your top, the coolness of your fingers and the fire of your chest met and left traces along your skin. Tears escaped your eyes as you shook leaving stains along your skin, your arms were around your knees hugging your chest as if there was nothing else in the world to hold. Your ears were pounding from the blood flow, and your eyes were blurred as the tears stung them like bees. Pins and needles traveled through your legs as you gripped them harder.

It wasn’t supposed to be today, you’d read the news it said no rain for the next week. Yet here you were sat in your shop trembling in fear of the monster storm outside. You tried breathing exercises but nothing had been helping, so you stuck your fingers in your ears and you sat and cried trying to get over the strikes you heard outside.

“T-trees are the longest living organisms on earth. Plants can feel, smell, and remember.” You repeated facts to yourself to distract yourself, and the only thing you could recite by heart were plant facts. Your fingers remained planted in your ears as you rocked back and forth praying that this storm would end soon.  

---

“Where the fuck is my money Holmes? Because all I see here is you buying brand new cars yet not being able to pay me back. You know what that’ll get you? A fucking bullet through your sad little brain.” Tom said as he pulled a gun from his desk drawer and aimed it in between  Holmes brows. Tom saw the man flinch and soon he was on his knees begging for his life.

“Get up, you’re pathetic.” Tom moved his gun upwards and soon the man followed. Tom went to pull the trigger when a strike of lightning boomed through the cold office and for a second he thought back two weeks to the thought of you. He thought about you and how you’d see his lifestyle, and lowered the gun. Tom rolled his eyes and pointed to the door.

“I want the money by noon tomorrow or i’ll make sure you go down straight to hell.” Tom boomed as the man thanked him and rushed out of the door. Tom sat down in his chair and put his gun own questioning why he didn’t kill him. Then he thought to you and why when he thought of you he turned soft. He needed to get you out if his head, why should he go after a girl who clearly hated him, but why did look back at the time you patched him up after a fight and smile. How you looked him in the eyes that night and asked if he was ok. How the peroxide burned yet all he could think about was you touching him. Tom looked to the window, you probably loved storms, he thought you’d enjoy not having to water your plants, how you’d stare at the storm and feel relaxed. But that’s just what he thought and he needed to stop, he needed to stop thinking about you, even though you were a ray of light in the darkest storm.

Tom was still lost in thought when Harrison walked in. Harrison fully expected to walk in to see a dead man on the floor not his best mate staring out the window lost in thought.

“Mate what the hell? I thought you’d finish that bloke he was an ass.” Harrison shook Tom out of his trance. The brunette looked over to his mate with a huff and a smirk.

“Wasn’t worth a bullet.” Tom shrugged and sat at his desk pulling up the money he had just been sent.

“Yeah,” Harrison paused with a smile, “I don’t think it’s that.”

“What are you on about this time?” Tom groaned and leaned back into his chair as Harrison sat on the desk.

“You are hung up over that flower shop girl aren’t you?” Harrison laughed as Tom scoffed. Tom rolled his eyes, blew a piece of hair out of his face and smiled with thoughts of you. “How long have you even known her? Have you had an actual conversation other than her telling you to fuck off when you try to buy her shop?”

Tom thought for a moment. You two had known of each other for two years, he still remembers the first time he walked in. You were picking flowers for an old ladies bouquet. Tom still remembers the smile you gave when the lady left and he could’ve sworn that’s when he fell for you. Tom was still in his head when Harrison slapped his shoulder earning a punch to his stomach in return. “Mate? The hell?” Tom called as Harrison laughed and clutched his stomach.

“You need to stop thinking about her, she's making you soft and you can’t be soft mate. Come on get dressed lets go get some drinks and you a pretty looking girl for the night.” Harrison called as he walked out of Tom’s office, and Tom agreed, he did need to stop thinking about you. It was only going to be business, he needed your shop and he was going to get it.

---

The storm died down but that didn’t stop the fear rushing through your body. Your deep breathing turned to panting and all you saw was a white blur, you could taste the metallic taste of blood from you biting you inner cheek, and all you could hear was the pounding and rushing of blood in your ears.

You were on the verge of passing out and you knew you needed help. All of your family was hours away, and no one else had a key to your shop. Holy fuck you were going to have to ask Tom weren’t you? He had picked your lock two weeks ago and knew the lay out so he would understand if you said you were under the desk. The last time you called the hospital for help they charged you way more than you had and you were still paying the bill. You hated Tom, he wouldn’t come or even give a shit, all he wanted was your shop, there was no way he’d give a shit you were on the floor having the worst panic attack of your life.

“Calling him would be better than dying.” Your mind screamed. So with shaking hands you pulled out your phone and clicked on the icon, he’d given you his number in case you wanted to take on the offer of him buying his shop. You clicked on the call button and prayed you wouldn’t die.

---

Tom had been chatting up some blonde at one of the clubs he’d owned. She was pretty but nothing compared to you, Tom thought but ignored it, you’d never be his nor would you ever need him. Tom looked over to Harrison, he was knocking it off with every woman he set eyes on. Tom was about to knock another drink down when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Who ever called him was going to get it, the rule is to never call him when he’s clubbing or you die.  It was an unknown number and he almost felt sorry for the poor schmuck who called him.

“Who the fuck is this?” Tom boomed into his phone but all he heard were soft cries and uneven breathing.

“T-tom-m.” Was all you were able to muster out but he instantly knew who it was and every ounce of worry ran through his body. He exited the club extremely fast, if you were hurt he’d kill any sorry son of a bitch who dared to even look at you.

“Hey love you gotta tell me where you are. I’ll be there ok are you hurt?” Tom walking in any direction he could trying to find you, he noticed your breathing was almost non existent.

“S-s-shop.” You dropped your phone and Tom started yelling in his, you couldn’t hold it up anymore. You started heaving and you knew if you didn’t calm down, you were going to pass out.  

It didn’t take Tom long to run to your shop. He picked the lock as if it was the easiest thing in the world and called out your name running around looking for you until he hit the desk. He looked under it and saw you, you were hugging your knees tears permanently stained your face. Tom crawled under the desk and you instantly gripped onto him.

“Love you gotta tell me what happened.” Tom whispered loud enough for you to hear, but you didn’t need to tell him a thing, because at that instant the storm continued and the loudest strike rolled through and Tom knew when you screamed in horror. So he held you close and whispered sweet things in your ear to keep your mind off the monster outside, and for once you felt at home during a storm, right in Tom’s arms.

[sparklingspidey]

Protect His First Love

Summary -Virgil's ex-boyfriend show's up to the same bar one the same night of a date with his new boyfriend

Characters - Virgil Sanders, Roman Sanders, Patton Sanders, Logan Sanders

Ships - Prinxiety, Moxiety

Trigger Warning's - drugs and mentions of drugs. some breif non-con and non safe bar practices. if that isn't your cup of tea, then please, please don't read. Stay safe.

ao3 link here (I'd prefer if you read it there!) Thanks for reading! Reblog and likes are appreciated!

Virgil had been trying to actively avoid him since the night had started. When Patton said he wanted to go to the bar, he said he was okay just standing by the door. When Patton asked if they could dance, Virgil lied and said he had to pee. When Patton begged Virgil to meet a boy from his psychology class, Virgil politely declined. And everytime Virgil said no, his boyfriends smile seemed to drop more and more, until he wasn't smiling at all. But Virgil couldn't risk running into him, despite the fact that he was obviously upsetting his boyfriend. Leaning against the bar, looking out at the sea of people as a Bruno Mars song came on, Virgil silently promised he’d make it up to Patton.

He just had to be here, on all nights, ruining fucking everything. He use to party every other day, so what else could Virgil expect? That he would take a break? Give Virgil the benefit of the doubt and let him enjoy a nice evening with his boyfriend?

No, of course not. Roman, Virgil’s ex, just had to show up.

“Is it alright if I go and dance?” Patton asked, causing Virgil to look down at his significant other and away from the man across from the room, just barely obscured by the crowd of strangers on the dance floor. He supposed the Roman was one of those strangers now.

“Yeah, of course. I'm just not really feeling it today.” Brief concern flashed across Patton's baby blue eyes, but Virgil quickly waved it off. “Seriously,” he urged, setting his soda down on the bar. “Go have fun without me. Enjoy yourself.”

“If you're sure.” Patton frowned, standing on his tiptoes to press a quick kiss to Virgil's lips, intertwining their fingers and lingering for a brief moment before he turned away. Virgil watched him go with a small smile. God, he was so head over heels in love.

Patton immediately joined a circle of incredibly drunk girls, and started flailing his arms in what looked like a seizure but was actually a dance. The girls he had joined with probably all had economics with him or they were all in sewing club together Patton was sociable like that. Virgil, on the other hand, wasn't.

Which was why he was actively avoiding the other side of the club and the first boy who had broken his heart. Momentarily looking away from Patton's goofy smile and ridiculous dancing, Virgil took another sip of his soda. It bubbled down his throat and when he lowered the glass he had lost sight of Patton.

Frowning, Virgil leaning his back against the bar and pursed and his lips. He scanned the dance floor but couldn't find his boyfriend. Patton was probably somewhere near the D.J., requesting a silly song like the cha, cha, slide. Sure enough, the song suddenly switched to one from camp rock. Virgil was sickenly in love. His boyfriend was so similar yet so different from his ex.

Roman had been enthusiastic, a hopeless romantic and disgustingly optimistic. Virgil and Roman had been complete opposites, yet somehow they complimented each other nicely. Virgil had known when to rein Roman in, when to stop him from trying to start an impossible task or tease someone who didn't need to hear it. And Virgil had been good at picking up on Roman's mood, knowing when his boyfriend had needed a confident booster or someone to play along with his silly charades. Virgil had always been willing, no matter how stupid or ludicrous it was, to do whatever it took to make Roman feel better.

And Roman had been just as sweet. He had been able to pick up on when Virgil need a mental health day. He would cancel their plans, ask friends for the notes from class, and snuggle up in bed with his boyfriend as Virgil rode out his anxiety attacks. Roman knew that Virgil wasn't as outgoing as him, that he couldn't just ask Virgil on a date or to a party without at least a two hour warning before hand. Roman maybe have been more extroverted than Virgil, but he was always willing to go the extra mile to make sure that Virgil was comfortable.

So what had happened? It had been something stupid of course. Something Virgil couldn't even remember anymore. An argument building up over the course of several weeks until they both just couldn't take it anymore and blew up in each other's faces. Roman’s nicknames had become too biting, Virgil’s skepticism had become too much. Roman couldn't let go of a grudge, Virgil couldn't rein himself in. Roman didn't know when to stop, Virgil didn't know when enough was enough. What was once endearing was suddenly infuriating. They’d become one of those couples who fought just to feel something for each other again, and that something was hate.

The more Virgil watched the lights flash in the club, the more he seemed for forget what that final argument was really about. Or maybe he never remembered it at all. Virgil just remembered it mattering so much in the moment despite his heart break, despite his tears, despite the painful clench in his heart as he moved his stuff out of Roman's apartment and handed back the hoodie he had burrowed and awkwardly shuffled down the sidewalk, boxes in hand.

With Roman things had taken a while to click. They had playful teased and bickered with each other until it eventually grew until something more. However with Patton, it happened immediately. They’d been together for almost eleven months now and he couldn't be happier. Patton was almost all Virgil thought about. His soft smile, his bubbly laugh, the first time they ever locked eyes.

It was an English class. Just some stupid gen ed and Virgil had arrived early. Slipping out his headphone, he looked up at who dared sit next to him in the near empty lecture hall, and the rest was history. Sure, the couple still fought, but it was nothing a little time apart and a calm conversation couldn't fix. Their fights weren't like any of the fights that Roman and Virgil had.

Still, Roman had been Virgil’s first love. Nothing would change that.

Virgil finished off his soda, breaking away from his thoughts when the song changed to Victorious by Panic! At The Disco. Finally, some good fucking music. Something he wouldn't mind dancing to. Virgil started scanning the bar, looking for Patton. Hopefully joining him on the dance floor would make up for how standoffish he had been earlier. And then it happened.

Roman was leaning against one of the high top tables, sweaty and red in the face from dancing. His hair was sticking to his forehead and his shirt clung to his body in all the right places, the sweatshirt Virgil had borrowed from him tied around his waist. He was having an animated conversation with a guy in thick, square, glasses when his eyes wandered and met Virgil's across the room. They widened and shock and recognition, and all Virgil could think was get out, get out, get out.

Get out before those green eyes are pulling you back in, and strong arms are hoisting you up and holding you close, only to be drop you at the last minute and leaving falling, falling, falling. It was like his heart was breaking all over again and all Virgil could feel was the ache in his chest as it threatened to cave in.

He needed to get Patton. He needed to cry. He needed to use the bathroom.

Virgil fled. His mussels felt sluggish and his eyes were watering as he stumbled through the crowd, muttering sorry’s as he pushed past people. Where was Patton? Which way was the bathroom? Had Roman followed him?

He finally found the restroom and was heading down the short, empty hallway leading towards it when he felt a tug at the back of his jacket. “Rowman-no-” Virgil slurred, trying to pull away only to be yanked back. “I said-hey!”

Virgil was spun around, face to face with someone who definitely wasn't Roman. The guy? person? had moved their had down to Virgil wrist, holding it in a vice grip, and had pushed him against the wall. “Sorry cutie, I just couldn't let someone as pretty as you get away.” He whispered in Virgil's ear. His breath smelled like alcohol.

“I'm not interested.” Virgil struggled, furrowing his brows as he glared, desperately trying to come off as threatening but ultimately failing. His head was killing him, his knees felt weak, he wanted to leave before Roman found him. “Besides, I have a boyfriend.”

“He doesn't have to know.”

“He’s here-right now-”

“It can be our little secret.”

Virgil blinked, looking up slowly. Everything felt like it was under water, painstakingly slow. He tried to look for an exit but his vision was blocked by the malicious grin in front of him. The music was thrumming uncomfortably in his ears. “No.”

“Just relax sweetie,”

Virgil heart was in his throat and he weakly shoved at the guys chest with his free hand. He could feel the blood pumping in his veins. “No, seriously stop it-” hands were on his waist, pulling him closers and Virgil's breath stuttered, the room spinning, and the lights blinding as tried to find purchase on the slick floor.

“He said no.” Virgil's head snapped up, squinting as he saw Roman standing right there, a fire lit in his green eyes and face set in a hard glare.

The person dropped Virgil and ran. Roman let them push past him, more worried about his friend who stumbled and struggled to stay up right. Virgil's chest was rising and falling rapidly, a tell tale sign of a panic attack, and his hands were shaking. When Roman set a gently hand on Virgil’s arm, he flinched for a moment before reaching up a free hand to test and see if Roman was really there.

“Hey,” Roman said softly, Virgil leaning heavily into his touch as tears cascaded down his cheeks. “You're okay. You're alright. How you feeling?” Roman gently tilted Virgil’s head up, scanning for any bruises. Virgil’s breath caught and he found himself quickly looking away from Roman's unfairly handsome good looks.

“Tired,” He whispered, looking up at his ex through his eyelashes. “I'm-I'm sorry-” he cried, shuffling forward to lean his head on Roman, sucking in air like it was water. “I'm sorry.”

“What for?” Virgil could feel Roman's chest vibrate as he talked and he could hear the frown in his voice. He hated that. That Roman was sad. Virgil wished he knew how to make him smile again, god he loved that smiled, but all he knew was that his body ached.

“For everything.”

“Are you here with anyone?” Roman asked, after a moment, wrapping his strong arms around Virgil’s waist and holding him up, just in case.

“My boyfiend,” Virgil slurred, listening to the steady, if not fast, heart beat of Roman.

If Roman had any thoughts on that, he didn't let it show. Instead he just tightened his hold around Virgil. “Do you have your phone on you.”

“Yeuh.”

“Where?”

“Back pocket.”

Roman carefully took it out as to not spook the other male, and tried the password Virgil had trusted him with long ago. Luckily, Virge was always too nervous to change it incase he forgot it and locked himself out of his phone. “What's his name?”

“Paa-patton.”

“I'm calling him now okay?”

Virgil hummed in understanding, but the noise got lost in the music and indistinct chatter. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, breathing in the familiar smell of Roman. Sweat and expensive cologne with a hint of the strawberry body wash he used. It was nice. Virgil had missed burrowing that body wash. Maybe he’d buy a bottle for Patton and him. Patton smelled different from Roman. He smelled like cinnamon and warmth and home. Like cookies baking in the oven.

More tears started rolling down Virgil's face as he realized what a dick he had been to Patton, all in the name of avoiding his ex-boyfriend who had ended up saving him from an assault.

[aphrorose]

Somebody Pray for Me Pt 1

This is my first ever BP fic so y’all be gentle. Let me know if you like it!!!! I ope y’all enjoy.

Living in Oakland’s roughest neighborhood did nothing but make my heart colder and my mind sharper. My momma told me she believed I would do something great and I made it my mission to prove her right. I woke up and looked at my alarm clock, it read 5:15 in glowing red. I knew I needed to get up ,but my body was protesting. ‘You’re my shining star’ are the words that whispered through my mind at moments like this. At my weakest my mom was always there for me. I got up begrudgingly and padded to the bathroom to complete my morning routine.Washing my face I look up at the guarded brown eyes that stared back at me. I sighed going back into the room and picking out my outfit, I didn't have much to choose from,but someday I would change that. I finally chose a brown flowy top and light wash jeans. Putting on my worn out Jordans I made my way to the kitchen to grab some fruit before leaving for the day.

“Who said you could touch my shit?” snarled a voice from behind me.

I slowly closed my eyes and pretended to be calm while inside I was frozen solid.

“Nobody.” I mumbled putting the apple back in order to keep his wrath at bay.

“So you just stealing now?” he said coming closer.

His breath was the first thing that hit me before I could even think of a response. He reeked of whiskey mixed with a little bit of beer. I knew immediately there was no diffusing the situation therefore you took a deep breath and waited for the hit to come. When the strike did come it knocked the breath right out of me. I fell to the floor whimpering in pain and knowing he was not nearly done with the beating. Knowing I couldn’t protect my body  I curled in the fetal position in order to protect my face. ‘Your body was already covered in bruises and lacerations what’s a few more’ whispered a dark voice in my mind. When I’m on the ground he lands a solid kick directly between my ribs that knocks all the breath out of me. I try not to make a sound knowing that that would only make the beating worse and I wanted to be able to move so I could make it to class.  All I can think is I hope he finishes before I pass out, I can’t miss a day of school. Surprisingly instead of continuing to hit me he crouches down and whispers low enough for my blood to run cold.

“Wait until you get home.” he blew his foul breath in my face and turned to leave.

I looked at the clock and it read 6 o’clock.

“I’m late, shit!” I ran out the door toward the bus I was supposed to catch. It sped off just as I was about to be at the stop. I immediately started to panic I told my brain to shut up so I could think I needed a level head if I was going to get out here in one piece. Looking around I saw two men ,coming towards me and I stopped breathing completely. I ran to the park that was close to my house to escape them. The park was run down and no children ever came to play here,but we did have a basket tied to a post as a faux basketball hoop. I hid in the slide area until I heard the shouting pass me.

“No no no no no.” I repeated the word until I could breathe again. I needed a plan I had to get to school I couldn’t miss a day if I wanted colleges to look at me. They had to know I was serious about my education, I needed to get out of Oakland like my momma wanted. I looked up and decided I would just walk the 3 miles it would take me. I heard the voice in my head whisper        ’Yeah bitch walk off some of that fucking weight and maybe you could get out of Oakland easier.’  I shudder at the voice knowing it wasn’t the voice of my momma anymore. I sighed again knowing the voice was right and maybe if I walked more I could be in better shape. With a shake of my head I started on my trek to the school. I was about halfway there when the sky decided to open the floodgates of heaven and start flooding the streets. Immediately soaked I ran the rest of the way trying to avoid cars and people. Entering the building I slid into my homeroom class with my heart pounding and gasping for air. Everyone’s head snapped to me as though they were observing a wild animal at the zoo. I felt my body heat up with embarrassment and made my way to my seat with my eyes glued to the floor.  As soon as I sat down Mrs.Jackson raised her eyebrows and with an evil look in her eyes she said“Nice of you to join us Alliyah.”

I rolled my eyes at her. She was one of those teachers that hated her job and took it out on her students. She didn’t like me in particular though because I was actually passing her class with an A.

“We’re taking a test on parabolas today you might want to study up on the subject before we start” she said with a smrk.

The whole class burst into giggles thinking that I had problems with the subject I just smirked knowing I knew the subject up and down before we even started studying it.

“Nah I think I’m good.” I said with a little more attitude than I would have if my day wasn’t so shit. She just smiled and turned to her desk to hand out the test. It didn’t escape my notice that she handed everyone a test from one pile and handed me mine from a whole other pile. I raised my eyebrows and held my breath as she placed the test in front of me. Peering down at it I realized it had nothing to do with parabolas at all and had advanced Calculus on it instead. I covered my wide smile with my hand and got to work. After homeroom school flew by and the next thing I knew I was walking in the opposite direction of where my bus sat waiting to take me to that poor excuse of a home. With my head down I walked to the library. On my way to the row of seating in the back I ran into a figure .

“I-I’m sorry.” I mumbled out so he wouldn’t get mad.

. He  had the shadow of well built muscle under his black hoodie and plain jeans. His hair was in locks that fell into his face framed by wide set reading glasses. While I was in La La Land checking the boy out he shoved me out of the way. It wouldn’t have been a big deal if his hands didn't push in the exact place of one of my most tender bruises. I cry out and a look of shock fills his face before he could mask it again. I regain my composure in a nanosecond.

“I’m fine, don’t touch me.” I snarled.

With that I pushed past him and took a seat getting ready to study for hours.

“I know you didn’t just bump into me then get an attitude.”the boy that I bumped into groused.

He grabbed the chair next to me and made himself comfortable in my personal space. I just looked at him for a second then turned back to my school work determined to not be bothered by him.

“So you ain’t talking now?”

Silence filled the space between you us. “Aight bet.”

I rolled my eyes while reading the same sentence over and over again. I looked over at him through my peripherals and caught him staring at me.

“If you gonna be in my personal space at least open a book.”

He chuckled and continued to stare at me .Finally I huffed in frustration and started to gather my books. A hand grasps my wrist before I could pick up my notebook.

“Where you think you going?” he drawled.

“That ain’t none of your business, I don’t know you and you don’t know me so just leave me alone.”

“I’m Erik.”

I just stared at him in disbelief. Did this boy, that looked like trouble in the worst way, just give me his name?

“I’m Alaina.” I said hesitantly.

“Yeah I know we have homeroom together.”

I looked at him one last time before my brain finally broke through the fog and told me it was time to leave. I turned on my heel and almost ran out of the library towards the exit of school. When I finally got a fresh air I was able to think straight again. How did that boy control my mind so easily? If I didn’t know any better I would say the intoxicating smell of Satinwood must have poisoned my mind and taken over my body. I shook my head and headed back to the park to set up camp for the night.Immediately I noticed a figure following me so instead of going in the direction I planned on laying my head I went the opposite way to the nearest store hoping whoever it was would back the hell off. When I heard the jingle of the bell behind me I knew I had no such luck.I turned around to look at the person tailing me and sucked in a breath of shock.

“What the hell Erik why are you following me around?” I said with a hint of sass in my tone.

“Do you know how rude it is to walk away from someone in the middle of a conversation?” he said casually.

I knew he was mad though because his shoulders were tensed and ready for a fight. I looked into his eyes for the first time and I saw a reflection of me. I looked horrible with bags under my bloodshot eyes.

“I thought we was done.” I said in an uncaring tone. He looked like he wanted to say more when another person entered the empty store.

“Alaina what is your ass doing in here talking to some boy? Daddy waiting for you back at home.” Javaris my big,dumb brother said.

“Okay hold on I'm coming.” I said forlornly. I feel Erik tense beside me as he sees the worry and genuine fear etched on my face. He reaches down and hands me a piece of paper before walking out eyeing Javaris the whole way. I walked behind Javaris dreading entering the house,but knowing I was safe at least until J left with his new girlfriend to the movies that night. Daddy never let Jarvis see him hit me and I never told him hoping to keep him out of it and us off the streets.

“So who was ole boy you was talking to?” Jarvis  said conversationally.

I knew I had to choose my words carefully cause just like any good little boy Javaris would deliver any information I gave to him to my dad in a heartbeat.

“He ain’t nobody.” I said hoping that would be the end of the conversation.

We walked in silence for the rest of the way. I knew we weren’t finished with the conversation but I was relieved that for the moment he was minding his own business. My whole thought process was focused on Erik and how he was able to so easily control my thoughts. I needed to focus on the punishment that I would receive when I got home. When I walked through the door I knew I was gonna be sorry I existed at the end of the night. There he was the man that beat me for eight years, my so called dad. He was rolling a blunt and had two scantily clad women draped over him. How could he behave like this in his late wife’s- my momma’s- house? She spent the better part of her life paying off this house. She would be rolling over in her grave if she knew the dead beat she married did what he did in her house. I knew I was about to make the beating worse, but I couldn’t help myself. I raised my eyebrows and scoffed at the trio muttering about how I hope he get something he can’t cure. I knew he heard me and I knew I would pay for it later. I walk into my room and flop onto my bed ignoring the pain in my body.

When I woke up there was a looming presence over my bed. I blinked a couple of times to make sure I wasn’t still dreaming. No. I realized,this wasn’t a dream it was a nightmare. I sucked in a deep breath as he held the belt  and came down onto my overheated skin repeatedly.I was shocked as this was the first time he hit me with anything other than his hands. It felt like liquid fire where the belt made contact with my skin. My whole existence was focused on the acute pain blanketing my body. I screamed out trying to alleviate some of the physical pain.When my screams started the evil glint in his eyes truly twinkled. Finally he relinquished the belt and moved on to using his fists to finish the job. The last thought that crossed my mind was ‘I’m gonna be with momma’. Then all the pain went away and there was nothing but darkness,

I woke up in a room that smelled like antiseptic. “What...” I couldn’t finish my sentence, it hurt to much to talk. In fact it hurt to do much of anything. Breathing was even a struggle. I moved my eyes around the bland room with its stark white walls, floor, and ceiling. There was a chair in the room ,but it was obviously just there for decoration cause there's no way it could be comfortable. I was the only one in the room at the moment giving me time to figure out why I was in a hospital to begin with. My brain slowly sludged through my memories until finally I remembered what happened last night. The brutality of the memory made my hands sweat and heart race as I relived all the pain I went through at the hands of the one person in the world who was supposed to love me unconditionally. I tried to calm myself when I heard a soft knock on the door. An elderly looking nurse walked in, she was beautiful with her short bob style haircut and caring brown eyes, She was slightly plump and wore glasses that you could have plucked right off a model in any magazine. What really caught my eye though was the slight smile she wore to greet me. I don’t remember the last time someone smiled so kindly at me.

“How are you doing sweetie?” came her soft slightly high pitched voice.

I blinked out of my reverie and opened my mouth to explain to her taat I’m fine and I didn’t need to be there any longer. Before I had the chance though a voice came from behind her.

“What happened to you shawty?”

I knew who owned that voice immediately even though I only talked to him once. I rolled my eyes the only thing I could safely do. I motioned to be sat up after I tried and failed to do it myself. The nurse quickly made her way over to me and after I assured her I was fine and comfortable multiple times she left the room giving Erik the stink eye the whole time.

“Erik what are you doing here?” I said slightly embarrassed.

He just walked closer inspecting my face before his eyes moved down to the numerous tubes sticking out of my arms and finally the bandages wrapped around every inch of my skin. Done with his evaluation he took a seat in the chair next to my bed. Finally he opened his mouth to tell me how he even knew I was here.

“I knew something was wrong when you weren’t in homeroom.” he whispered almost to himself.

“Erik I’m fine.” I said punctuating it with another roll of my eyes.

“No you’re really not. You are sitting in a hospital bed barely able to move.Don’t think I don’t catch the small winces you make everytime you move.Okay is nowhere near what you are get the fuck outta here with that Alaina.”

I gasped at the anger brewing deep in his voice. Instantly my hackles rose.

‘Why are you mad at me?” I say in the sharpest voice I could manage. Who did he think he was? I barely even knew him and he wanted to sit up on his high horse yelling at me. My life was hard enough without him trying to come in and make it more difficult. He looked me in the eye for the first time since he walked in the room. White hot fire was emanating from them. I immediately looked away to keep from embarrassing myself further in front of him.

“Just leave please.” I whispered softly.

I turned away from the chair expecting him to leave without an argument. Waiting a few moments I turned around to see him still there looking at me. Raising his eyebrow as if daring me to say something he got more comfortable in the chair. We sat like that for hours.