#went for something a bit different right now

[hemipenal-system]

oh, you want to fuck a dragon? wait, you're expecting some nice cute snuggly shit where you get on your hands and knees in the dragon stable and get gently fucked and then cuddled under a wing after, aren't you?

yeah, that's not what this is. hope you're not scared of heights. the biggest benchmark for dragon riders to get past is not getting fucking traumatized by mating flight day.

what, you just thought you got to pick a dragon? you do some how to train your dragon shit where you feed it some fish? they really don't tell you newbies anything, huh?

on mating flight day, they release every unpaired dragon into the sky, take you up to 25,000 feet or so, and then just drop you. not before painting you with pheromones, of course. yeah, you're falling to your death, but every other dragon in a country mile thinks you're a really horny potential mate, and you get fucking swarmed.

why did you think it takes a full day? normally there's 45-50 dragons in the air, and you're gonna get fucked by every one of them at least five times, usually. that's not actually the scary part, though - they've got a pretty good grip on you so they can thrust without dropping you. the part that breaks the newbies is when the dragon cums and just tosses them into the air because it's too horny to remember that the cute little hole it just dumped a load into can't actually fly, and said hole falls for five seconds or so before being caught in claws or teeth and dragged back up to mating altitude.

sometimes they're not patient enough and whoever the poor bastard is gets two or god forbid all three holes filled at once, being tugged in a couple different directions by the eager bastards... that's never a pretty sight.

how do they know? oh, wait, you mean- yeah, no, it's pretty much universally someone gets paired with whichever dragon successfully breeds them. they have a sense for it.

oh god no. you would die. no, we just stick some dud eggs into you first and the dragon just thinks it's gotten you pregnant firmly enough that it won't maul you when you try to ride it, at least until it trusts you and then we can take them out. you don't have to lay anything. your body 100% cannot do that.

yeah, there's a reason people are a bit scared of this.

[motorsportbarbie13]

Christmas Showdown

In which you and Lando run into an ex-boyfriend while you're home for the holidays.

Warnings: talk of abusive relationship (no details though). Established relationship. Protective Lando. This could probably be better and it's pretty short buttttttt I needed to get this out of my head, so enjoy! Pairing: Lando Norris x Girlfriend!Reader Word Count: 1.8k words

Master List

It had been several years since you spent the holidays in your small Midwestern hometown. Usually, your family flew out to London or Monaco to spend the holiday’s with you there, much preferring to leave Michigan’s several feet of snow that was typically on the ground during Christmas. This year was different thought. Your grandmother had been too ill to make the long flight so instead, you came to them. Which was fine with you, you had missed seeing friends that were home for the holidays and missed the nostalgic nights spent around the Christmas tree with your family. The one person who was not fine with it, however, was your boyfriend. 

Lando Norris simply hated the cold. He hated being cold. Hated thinking about the cold. Hated the snow. Anytime the temperature dipped below 50 degrees Fahrenheit ( which also a fight you two had often was how he refused to learn the difference between Fahrenheit and Celsius while also simultaneously refusing to do the same for him.) So you knew he must really be down bad for you when he had agreed (albeit a bit sluggishly) to spend the Christmas holiday with you in your (freezing) hometown. 

There was minimal complaining for the first few days you were at home, mostly because it the weather was fair enough to not be something comparable to the North Pole, but trouble arose the day of your Aunt and Uncle’s infamous Christmas party. The first sign of trouble was your brother’s insistence on a family outing to the sledding hill that was a few miles from your house. Of course Lando had packed several parkas but when he had seen the Canada Goose store in the mall the day before, he had bought the thickest, best cold rated puffer jacket he could find. Despite that and several layers of long johns and sweaters, by the time you reached the sledding hill your poor boyfriend was shivering like your grandma’s ancient chihuahua. 

To his credit though, there was not one single utterance of a complaint or plea to go back to your parents house for a cup of hot chocolate then entire time. Lando happily chased your nieces and nephews around the sledding hill and even went down the hill a few times with you. 

“Okay, folks!” Your dad calls out as the afternoon sun hangs low in the sky. “I think it’s time we all head home and get ready for Judy and Steve’s party tonight. I expect everyone to be at their house by 7pm sharp!” The ‘this reminder is for your benefit’ look that your dad sends you has your already wind chapped face turning even more red. 

“I don’t know why you’re glaring at me! I’m always on time!” You shout, grabbing for Lando’s hand. “We’ll see you guys tonight!” 

Once you get in the Range Rover that Lando had rented for the two week visit, he immediately turns the heated seats on full power and cranks up the heat. 

“Do you want to swing by Starbucks and get something warm before going home?” You ask as Lando pulls out of the park and onto the snowy street. “I feel like I might need to just get you an IV of hot chocolate at this point.” 

Lando gives you a sidelong glare. “I think I have icicles in my nose hairs.” 

Laughter tumbles out of you, quick and light, sending a thrill of pleasure down Lando’s spine. You two had been dating for a few years now and there were still times he’d look over at you and think ‘how the fuck did I convince this girl to be my girlfriend?’. You had come into his life at a particularly challenging time and had been his rock since day one. 

“Starbucks it is, my poor little snowman. There’s one up here in this strip mall. Turn left at this light and then it’s on the right.” 

The parking lot, which is a shared lot with several other big box stores, is an absolute zoo and you can see the line snaking around the inside of the Starbucks before you even go in. To save some time, Lando drops you off at the front door while he goes and finds a spot for the large SUV. 

The line is long when you get inside but you’re thankful to at least be out of the bitter cold. While you wait in line, you mindlessly scroll on your Instagram, which is locked down tighter than Fort Knox. Going private on all socials and not being featured heavily on Lando’s had been one of the things you two had agreed upon when things started getting serious nearly two years ago now. People who were huge Lando fans knew who you were but the casual F1 fan probably wouldn’t have been able to pick you out of a lineup. 

Your casually scrolling, minding your own business, when a deep voice calling your name jolts you out of your little social media bubble. 

“Jeff?” You sputter, surprised to see your college boyfriend standing in front of you in line, huge smile on his face. 

Jeff had been one of the guys you and your best friends had drooled over in high school, having been nearly two years ahead of you when you were teens. You didn’t start dating him until your freshman year of college, when he was already a junior. To say the man was toxic was an understatement. In fact, now that you had a few years distance between the now and the end of the relationship, you could confidently say Jeff had been pretty abusive. 

“Hey, stranger!” He says, leaning in for a hug. You go completely still, totally unprepared to be faced with the man who had caused you so much trauma in the two years you had dated. “I have’t seen you in ages, visiting your family for the holidays?” 

You toss a look over your shoulder, desperately wishing for Lando to come walking in the door. “Uh, yeah. First time in a few years. I usually fly them over to London or Monaco for the holidays.” 

A dark shadow passes over Jeff’s face at the mention of where you live now. “Monaco, huh? You always thought you were too good for us here, didn’t you?” 

Your stomach twists painfully at the look in his eyes and you briefly consider just turning around and walking right out of the Starbucks without your drinks.

Before you can stutter out a response, a strong pair of large hands wraps around your waist as Lando drops his head onto your shoulder. “Darling. Baby. Sweetheart. Love of my life." Lando croons in your ear, not yet picking up on your body language. "I adore you but why the fuck did you have to be born in a place where the air hurts your face?” 

You laugh stiffly despite yourself. “Talk to my parents about that one, love.” 

Lando drops a kiss on your cheek before looking over at the other man. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were talking to someone.” 

Across from you, Jeff had been watching this exchange between Lando and you with an increasing amount of annoyance. Who the fuck was this and why was he calling you the love of his life? 

“Lando, this is Jeff.” You turn slightly, giving Lando a knowing look which he catches onto immediately. “Jeff, this is my boyfriend, Lando.” 

“That’s an interesting name. Only heard that name twice before, once in Star Wars and…” Jeff’s voice drops off as he finally makes the connection. “Wait. Lando…as in Lando Norris?” 

The smug grin that stretches across Lando’s face nearly has you giggling. “That’s me. And you’re Jeff, huh? I’ve heard a lot about you. None of it good.” 

Lando remembered the first time you had ever opened up to him a few months into dating about how you had been in an abusive relationship in college and how much work it had taken to recover from it. He had been your first serious relationship after leaving Jeff, having left the country just to get away from him. Internally, Lando raged at the man standing in front of you two, the protective instinct in him screaming to just lay the guy out right here.

Jeff’s already ruddy face turns red with incandescent rage. You had totally forgotten he was a big Formula One fan and when you remember the fact that not only is he an F1 fan, but a huge McLaren fan, the urge to giggle hits you again. Oh, this was just too good. 

“How’d you…” Jeff stutters. “How’d you manage to bag yourself a Formula 1 driver?” 

The question is a pathetic attempt to rile you up and insult you but both you and Lando see that question for exactly what it is. 

Lando plants another kiss on your cheek and you know he’s doing it to be an asshole. “I was actually the one who pursued her. She turned me down left and right for nearly a year, didn’t you baby?” 

You nod, remembering the way Lando had come into your office at the McLaren Tech Center day after day just to make small talk at first but finally had worked up the nerve to ask you out. You were one of the newer people on the comms team back then and you hand’t wanted to jeopardize the career you had worked so hard for so you had turned him down for nearly a year, insisting that you wanted nothing more than a friendship with the driver. 

“But eventually, he wore me down. He flew me to Monaco and took me out on his yacht for our first date, it was all very romantic.” It had actually been Max’s yacht, but Jeff didn’t need to know that bit. 

You can see Jeff practically seething at this point, knowing that you’re doing so well and he’s still apparently stuck in your hometown. 

“And how are you doing, Jeff? Still working at your dad’s law firm? How is Vance doing? And Laura?” You know it’s killing him, asking about his parents by their first name. 

Jeff just blinks at you for a few moments, realizing you weren’t the little girl he used to push around and take advantage of in college anymore. “Made partner last year, actually.” 

“That must be easy to do when your dad owns the practice, huh?” Lando says, voice nothing but light innocence. 

Jeff’s eyes bounce between you and Lando for several moments before he suddenly reaches into his pocket. “If you’d excuse me, it looks like the office is calling me.” 

“A call from the office the day before Christmas! Gosh, you must be very important, Jeffery.” Lando’s low blow to Jeff’s big ego hits true and without another word, the man scampers out of the Starbucks without a second glance in your direction. 

Once he’s gone, both you and Lando dissolve into giggles, your head finding it’s favorite spot on Lando’s shoulder. “I’m surprised he didn’t try to deck you there are the end.” 

“And mess up his pretty lawyer hands? Honey, I doubt he even knows how to throw a punch.” 

tag list @shelbyteller @formulaal @martygraciesversion381 @longhairkoo @samantha-chicago

[jasvtsc]

just come kiss me and bite me

you were a vampire.

sure, it took some time for dean to get over it and deal with the fact that he fell in love with a bloodsucker.

was it against his morals and family values? absolutely.

did he give a shit? not at all.

and it’s not like you were a real vampire—well, you were in the matter of drinking blood. however, for some unknown reason, you reacted pretty badly to human blood. it made you sick, your throat burning, your fangs itching and your tongue swelling.

a vampire allergic to blood? yeah, pretty pathetic.

that’s why you could only drink blood from supernatural creatures—werewolves, witches, wendigos, hell even fairies. everything unusual and that had powers or whatever, was your dinner. so dating a hunter? a dream come true.

not only were you helpful, hunting down the threat with him but also you got your food intake. you weren’t harming anyone—just those who deserved it. and sure, maybe it was a bit hypocritical, a vamp going after its own kind but then again, you’d do anything to keep yourself alive.

however, there were times were you couldn’t help dean or you had to do something. so he came up with an idea that’d ensure you wouldn’t possibly starve to death.

he learned how to draw blood and now carrying a blood bags whenever he went, he’d take his time in an alley after killing a monster, getting as much protein for you as he could.

and honestly? you found it adorable.

today was no different from the others. you went back to the motel he was staying at after running some errands, and immediately made your way towards the bed, falling on the soft mattress with a sigh. dean watched you, noticing the way you looked even paler than usual, your slow blinking, and the way even your breathing was close to concerning. with a worried frown etched on his face, he helped you sit up on the bed, making you rest against the pillows, and then he grabbed a few blood bags out of the mini fridge.

“here. drink this, baby. it’ll make you feel better,” he said with a soft voice and a small smile, gently threading his fingers through your hair. you nodded and wrapped your lips around the straw, beginning to feed yourself.

dean watched you intently, and sure, he must’ve been disgusted by it, right?

wrong.

he knew there was probably something wrong with him and that he must’ve been insane, but he couldn’t help that he found you immensely attractive like that. not only, but he also got a massive boner as well.

there wasn’t a more beautiful sight to him than the one in front of his eyes right now. the way your skin was getting its less fair color back and the familiar sparkle in your eyes calmed his worries down. however, the way your lips were wrapped around the straw as you sucked, the way the blood trickled out from the corners of your mouth, going down your chin and throat to ultimately drip down between your breasts, and how your fangs were covered in crimson liquid, now in full display, as you let out a soft moan of pleasure with the prettiest blissed out expression he’d ever seen?

yeah, it was enough to make him cum in his pants.

he watched you intently as your chin was dripping with red, the way everything was falling on your slightly exposed chest. he licked his lips, absentmindedly palming his erected cock through the fabric of his jeans. he wanted to whimper because of how badly he wanted to bury himself inside of you right now, in hopes that you’d get that blood all over him.

you noticed him staring and quickly shied away. you turned around, your head tilted down as your hair covered your face—sometimes you felt ashamed that he had to see you like that. you had these thoughts that maybe he found you disgusting and in the end, you felt like you didn’t deserve him. he was too good for a bloodsucker like you. you were a monster—at least that’s what you thought.

as soon as dean noticed your attempt at hiding away from him, he blinked a few times and moved to kneel in front of you. he placed his hands on your knees, rubbing them soothingly with his thumbs, a loving smile on his face as he tried to look into your eyes.

“come on, don’t hide from me, baby. you don’t have to. you know that i love you. you’re my hungry little mosquito,” he chuckled as he moved your hair behind your ears, admiring your pretty face.

god, how could anyone say that you were an evil creature or a monster? you stared at him with those big eyes, looking so innocent despite the blood covering your chin and chest.

“you’re such a messy eater, sweetie,” he hummed, wiping the corner of your mouth with his thumb and letting you lick it clean. you put the bag away, now focusing on him.

and that only made him want you even more.

soon enough, he stood up and cupped your face, connecting your lips in a needy kiss. you widened your eyes at first and pulled back, trying to wipe the blood off of his mouth in panic.

“dean—”

“stop. you’re so hot right now,” he panted breathlessly, driven by desire. he grabbed your wrists and moved your hands away from his face, pinning you to the bed, and kissing you again.

he groaned into your mouth as you kissed him back, your hands wrapping around his neck to pull him closer. that was enough for him to start grinding his erection against your clothed core.

and in a matter of seconds, he was already thrusting into you, letting out a wave after wave of ungodly sounds, pathetically close to spilling his cum deep inside you.

[mydarlingclaudia]

every word I meant to say

note : ermmmm hi. don't ask where I went for like almost a month work is eating me alive and I was sad. this was inspired by that the unsent project thing andddd idk if I really like this it's def ooc but I was thinking about it again today and this has been in my drafts since September so I figured why not

wc : 2.1k

tags : @luvrgreyy @clitorphosis @sonya-semyonova

desc : letters that went unsent. kind of unrequited love, angst (???), more Leon focused, re2r!Leon - DI!Leon, fem!reader, ooc, not proofread

"I meant to write sooner, I really did. I know it's been a year, my life is so different now, I don't think you'd even believe me if I tried to explain it. I hope you're doing better than I am, I'm happy you weren't able to move to the city with me."

Leon hasn't written a letter since, what, his first few years in the academy? Maybe the end of his senior year of high school? He can't really remember, but he knows that this letter is important because it's to you, his friend he hasn't seen since the night he left for Raccoon City. This isn't even an actual letter, he's scribbling out what he thinks might be good excuses as to why he hasn't talked to you in a year on the back of pieces of scrap paper he took from the office.

He's supposed to be asleep right now, same as everyone else in boot camp, but it's been a year since Raccoon City and he's wondering if you ever tried to reach him. Maybe you tried to go to Raccoon City to look for him, only to see the pile of rubble that stood in its place, sectioned off by the government. Maybe you thought he was dead, he wouldn't blame you.

You and Leon had stuck together all throughout high school, even managed to stay friends when he went off to the police academy and you moved a few hours away for college. He doesn't even know if your address is still the same, he really hopes it is, there's no phone-books in boot camp if he wanted to try and call you, you're supposed to have your loved ones numbers memorized.

The last time Leon saw you was the night before he was supposed to move to the city, before he got a letter in the mail the next morning telling him not to come in, he really wishes he had listened. You were so happy for him, starting out as a city cop was a big deal and he had worked so hard to get there, you and a few friends had thrown him a going-away-party, telling him not to forget you once he got to the city. Leon couldn't forget you if he tried.

You had talked about moving to the city with him for a short period of time, it was really just ramblings the two of you kept bringing up. "Oh, when we live in the city..." "I can come visit you at work..." "I'll handle dinner, you'll handle cleaning..." Nothing ever really came of those ideas, but it gave him a warm feeling in his stomach knowing you wanted to come to the city with him.

He hopes you’ve been well, that life has been kinder to you than it has to him. Leon hopes you got that job you were gushing about the last time he saw you, he hopes you still think of him on his birthday because he thinks of you often.

He shouldn’t have gone to Raccoon City, he should’ve stayed home the day he left and instead stopped by your house to bother you about going to see a movie. Or he should have taken you to lunch, anything would’ve been better than walking into a city that was beyond saving.

"I’m not really sure what I’m saying, but I know I miss you. How have you been? I hope I’m able to come and visit soon, everything’s been moving so fast, but I’ll figure something out. Maybe we can get dinner, or something. Whatever you want, I’ll pay for it, don’t worry."

Leon's hands shake a tiny bit when he thinks of you, it's that school boy nervousness that movies portray whenever there's a boy with a crush on a girl who he knows is probably too out of his league. You were friends, at least.

"You're done with school now, right?" He knows you are. "I wish I was there for the graduation ceremony, I know your parents are proud. Do you remember my graduation party? Someone spiked the punch and we both ended up passed out in the bathtub at your house, you looked really pretty that night. I hope your graduation was better than mine. This would probably have been better as a phone call, but I don't know, you said letters were always more thoughtful.

– Leon"

–

That letter never got sent. Every letter needs an envelope, Leon just never got around to finding one, but he kept that scrap piece of paper tucked inside his pillowcase on the odd chance that he got his hands on one. He had stricter rules to follow than the other recruits, being legally dead and all.

But even after he got out of boot camp, he kept the letter. It's hidden away in some drawer in his house, he's not sure where, though.

He didn't make it into the army, he's not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but being in the position he was in now wasn't much better. He's stronger now, hardened, more mature.

Leon's written a few more letters to you over the years, ones that still never got sent because he either deemed them unworthy or because he became unsure of himself halfway through writing it. But he hasn't thrown any of them away, he'll send them one day, he swears it.

Leon's not using you as a way of journaling, either, even though he should find some way to actually write down his thoughts to get them out of his head. What he writes to you is mostly memories, telling you that his life keeps changing and that he misses you. He knows you're different by now, too. You're both grown, no longer in high school, no longer in college or the academy. If he could turn back time, go anywhere other than Raccoon City, he would. He thinks that's selfish of him, him not being there would've left Claire and Sherry in that city, but how would he have even known?

"Me again, hope you're doing better than I am." Leon's way with words gets worse and worse by the week, not that he cares. "I met someone who kind of reminded me of you, she's a sweetheart, like you. You'd probably become fast friends if you were ever able to meet."

Leon's not allowed to tell you about his mission in Spain, or about the president's daughter. President Graham is putting more body-guards in place for his daughter once she steps foot in D.C. again, Leon's sure the president considered appointing Leon as one of them at some point since breaking the news that she was going to be coming back home safely.

Leon should stop thinking about you so much, it's not like you were his only friend in the world, you've probably forgotten him, anyway.

"My life is still different, but yours probably is, too. This probably sounds stupid, but I miss being in high school. You probably don't, your mom was up your ass all the time and you worked yourself to the bone. Has that changed at all?

I remember that one year I went to Thanksgiving at your house, your uncles were all drunk and your cousins kept trying to get me to come sit with them, your grandpa was trying to get me interested in football. I haven't had a holiday like that since then, your family was always really nice to me."

He's not sure what to say anymore, these letters always just end up dragging out, but Leon has a lot of memories and he hopes you think of them as often as he does.

"I'm sorry I haven't visited. It's harder for me to get time off of work these days, even though I could really fucking use it. I promise one day I'll come back, it's just not going to be for a little while. Just don't do anything dumb.

– Leon"

–

Those letters he's been writing you have piled up in the drawer of his nightstand.

He's definitely sure that your address has changed by now, you're probably not even in the same state anymore. He could always try to find you on Facebook, explain everything that's been building up over the years in a simple text, but there's still rules he's supposed to follow even in his personal life.

Leon didn't stop writing, though. The letters did eventually get shorter, he's not sure if you like the same things anymore or if you'd even be interested.

He writes now mostly about how different his life would be if he was with you, if he had just asked you out in high school or kissed you the night he was supposed to leave for Raccoon City. It almost feels real to him when he goes to sleep, but that might just be the alcohol numbing his brain, not the dream of you sleeping next to him or the feeling of your breath on the back of his neck, not even the little pitter-patter off tiny footsteps coming from down the hallway.

It does make him feel a bit pathetic, dreaming of a life with someone he hadn't talked to in years. Leon can't help but think of you, he always thought you were pretty, and the past always lives in the back of his mind, but it comes alive late at night.

You're an entirely different person by now, someone who he hasn't had the opportunity to meet yet. You're probably married, maybe you even have a few kids running around, Leon's jealous of that. That could've been him, but it's not. But he's not even sure if you'd recognize each other if you passed by on the street, so is it even worth it to dwell on all the maybe's?

"I'm not sure I'll get to visit you for a while, not without a lucky fucking twist of fate, anyway."

All these letters are starting to sound the same, but Leon clings onto the thought of someday sending them to whatever corner of the country you were hiding in and hoping that there's still room in your life for a stranger.

"Do you still want me over for dinner? You don't know what I'd give to just eat a shitty meal with you right now."

You don't know what he'd give to do anything with you, really. He knows that there's a lifetime worth of things he's missed out on and that maybe every once in a while you think about him in the same way he thinks about you.

"I don't know how to ask this, but are you married? I know you'd look stunning in a wedding dress." You probably are, you're a catch, who wouldn't want to put a ring on your finger? Your husband's probably a better man than he is, too. One who hasn't had years worth of trauma jammed into his brain with the proof of it marked across his body, your husband probably takes you out on a date every week, maybe even surprises you with breakfast in bed and kisses the nape of your neck to gross out your kids. "I really hope you're happy, in my head you are.

I wanted that to be us, I never told you, but I was a chicken-shit kid and didn't know how to say it. You show up in my dreams sometimes, you deserve nothing but the best. I meant to get back in touch with you forever ago, but I think it's probably too late.

– Leon"

–

Two years after his last letter and Leon's still thinking of you, seventeen years after Raccoon City and the image of you sitting across from him for the last time still loops in his mind. He doesn't really remember your voice but he knows that you thought handwritten letters were romantic, and he still reads over the ones he meant to send to you but kept avoiding.

He's done with the letters, hasn't written one in a long time. But he just got back from California and your old favorite song is playing on the radio, and he's remembering how in love he is with your memory.

"I don't know what I'm doing. I'm too old for this and I'm sure you'd tease me if we had somehow kept in touch. I don't blame you if you thought I died in Raccoon City, I hope you're still alive and that life is good to you.

You were always important to me, I think you've given me something to cling to over the years. This letter won't find you and I'm not even really sure if I want it to, but I hope you'd still call me if you were able to. You wouldn't believe the things I've seen, but I'm happy you never got to see them.

Love, Leon

p.s. I'd say I love you but it feels like something you'd say in person"

[myth1cs]

Thanksgiving (Kim Minju x M!Reader)

This wasn't posted on Thanksgiving sorry! Feel free to still request things though In case you haven't figured it out this is smut. Word Count: 2,351

You were walking down the street with your best friend Minju. It was time for your Thanksgiving break and you both wanted to use that time to relax yourselves.

"Y/N it's crazy to think this is our last school year before we all go out separate ways into the real world. It feels like it was just yesterday that we started our freshman year of college."

"I know Minju. Does that mean I won't ever see you or the friend group anymore after graduation?"

"Yah! You won't be able to get rid of me Y/N! Your going to be stuck with me whether you like it or not."

You both started giggling after Minju made that comment. But you both knew deep down that you were right. You and Minju were in completely different majors. Neither of you would likely see each other again unless the friend group hosted a get together. But since you all would be busy with your own personal lives. Well ... it was very unlikely.

"Y/N do want to host a Thanksgiving celebration with the whole friend group?"

You were a bit surprised by Minju's request. Celebrating Thanksgiving wasn't something that was usually celebrated in your friend group. Since you all lived in your dorms and your family was a state away then you just never bothered. Not like Thanksgiving break was that long to begin with.

"A bit cheesy don't you think?"

"Well yeah but if this is our last year together than we should make as many sacred moments as we can before we all split up for a long while."

The idea was a bit silly to you. But something about Minju made you want to say yes. You sighed, you couldn't reject her idea now could you?

"You know what Minju? Sure why not. We could have a fun time."

Minju's eyes lit up when you agreed to her idea. She grabbed your hand and led you to the grocery store to buy food.

"Thank you Y/N! Now let's get the supplies we need. Let's make this the best Thanksgiving ever!"

Even though you felt Minju had the personality you could swear you hated and never wanted to be around. She was different to you. You just wanted to stay by her side for whatever idea she had.

As you both were shopping for ingredients you noticed how Minju was glowing. Her smile and the way she always held your shoulder for reassurance was something that made your heart beat faster.

"Y/N should we add some food from other cultures?"

"It could be fun to try."

"Well what are you thinking Y/N?"

"Let's see if we can get any Mexican food."

"Hm ... well Tamales could be nice."

You nodded and continued shopping for ingredients. Every now and then Minju would slightly push her chest onto you. It was very brief but it was enough to bother you slightly.

After all the shopping was done you both started to walk back to your apartment you shared with Minju. You opened the door and both of you went in and dropped the bags of groceries.

"Go ahead and call everyone to come here at 7. I'll start making the food."

"At 7?! Minju that means we only have a few hours to get everything ready. Its going to take a long time and that's not even including setting up the apartment!"

"Since when has that stopped you? The Y/N I know wouldn't give up before trying."

"I didn't say that! Tsk fine I'll do it." Regardless of how set you were on something if Minju wanted you to do it then you'd do it.

After making the call you started to help Minju with the cooking. You weren't the best at cooking but you still managed to find ways to help Minju.

"Y/N your making the Tamales wrong!"

"It's not my fault the tutorial is complicated!"

Minju sighed and made her way over to you. She put her hand on yours and started helping you. You were a bit surprised when she put her hands over yours.

"She's just my friend." You thought to yourself. You've always been roommates with Minju since freshman year of college. She would always be friendly towards you and was very touchy with you. Naturally you started to catch feelings but you never wanted to admit it.

-

After a few hours everything was finished. Minju was finishing setting everything up and you were finishing the decorations.

Suddenly you both heard knocking on the front door. "Come in!" Minju yelled. All of your friends started to come in your apartment.

Everyone came in and took a seat at the table. You all started eating the food that Minju made for everyone.

"Wow Minju this is really good." Sullyoon said while grabbing another plate of food.

"Hey I did some of the work to you know."

"Yeah sure Y/N. If you did anything it was handing Minju all the ingredients. We all know that if you cooked anything it would burn your apartment down."

"Guys calm down. Its Thanksgiving break let's not spend it fighting."

The rest of the afternoon went smoothly. Everyone spent it hanging out doing many activities to enjoy yourselves. From playing darts to doing a 6 player game on Jackbox you did everything a broke college student would do for fun on their break.

"It's almost midnight. It's time for the hangout to end." Minju said after finishing a game of Mario Party.

"Man it feels like we just started!" Jeong-in (I.N) said. But Minju was right it was time for everyone to leave.

When everyone left you started to help Minju with the cleaning. You washed the plates while Minju was cleaning the table.

"Did you have fun today Y/N?"

"I did Minju. Honestly it was more fun than I thought it would be originally."

"See Y/N I told you having a Thanksgiving hangout would be a good idea." You laughed at her. She was write you did enjoy yourselves and you were glad she talked you into agreeing to do it.

Once everything was cleaned you took a shower and started getting ready for bed. As you were getting dressed you heard the shower turn on. It was probably Minju taking a shower.

You got dressed and got into bed trying to go to sleep. Before you could you heard soft knocks on your door.

Getting up you made your way to the door and opened it to see Minju in a towel, she was still wet.

"What's wrong Minju?"

"Can I come in Y/N?"

A little hesitant to let Minju in your room while she still wasn't dressed you still let her in. She made her way to your bed and sat on the edge. You sat down next to her.

"Y/N I just wanted to say that you never said what you were thankful for." Suddenly you remembered what happened at the dinner table earlier.

Minju asked everyone what they were thankful for and when it came to you you didn't answer. "I don't know." is what you said.

"Well you didn't say what you were thankful for either Minju."

"If I say what I'm thankful for will you tell me what your thankful for Y/N?" Minju asked. You nodded and Minju started to scoot closer to you.

"I'm thankful for you Y/N." Minju took off her towel exposing her naked body being lit by the moonlight coming in from the window. "Thank you for being my friend Y/N." She wrapped her arms around you.

Her arms soaked your clothes. She put her lips on your neck and started to suck harshly. "Ah~ Ah~ Minju!" Unable to form words you were trapped under the magic of her lips.

Leaving marks all over your neck she continued leaving mark after mark on you. Minju went up to your ear licking your earlobe. Her tongue went all over your ear making it wet. "Y/N let me get a taste of you." She said as she started to move towards your clothed crotch.

"Wh-whats up with the sudden affection." are the only words you were able to get out of your mouth. Even though her heard your question Minju didn't answer you. She started to gently rub your clothed cock.

It was getting hard. Your cock was growing and you really wanted her to get on with it. "Please take my cock." is what you told her.

"Maybe you'll answer my question now. What are you thankful for Y/N? I won't ask again." She had a big grin on her face. Knowing exactly what you wanted. But what's the fun in "Getting to the point?"

"You Minju. I'm so thankful that you're my friend."

"Is that so Y/N? What exactly do you like about me?"

"Fuck if your going to be one of those people that fish for compliments then-"

"I was only kidding Y/N. Now pull down those pants for me."

You pulled off your pants quickly leaving your cock exposed to the cold air. Suddenly Minju pushed you down on the bed. She was over you putting her hands on both sides of your head. Now being trapped under her you could only wait.

She leaned down kissing your nose and then went down leaving trails of kisses until eventually getting to your lips. She licked your lips before putting her lips on yours. Starting off slow you both kissed each other softly.

Getting a little needy you started to go a little rougher. But you suddenly felt a light smack on your thighs. "I'm the one calling the shots not you. Don't make me repeat myself." You simply nodded to confirm that you heard her.

Minju lifted your shirt and started to draw small circles on your stomach with her finger. She laid her body on yours still slightly wet from her shower making your body wet. Pulling you closer your body was as close as could be with her.

Eventually she pulled out in order to catch her breath. "Nice job Y/N you really do know how to show your appreciation to a friend."

"Minju should we even call ourselves friends? Is this what friends do?"

"Of course Y/N. Friends show their appreciation to each other by sleeping with each other. Now show me how much you appreciate me." You didn't need to be told twice.

Grabbing her soft breasts you softly pinched one of her nipples and licked the other one. Her breasts were soft and squishy. "Mhmm Ahh Y/N go a little rougher!" of course you listened to her. Biting a little rougher and squeezing her breasts harder Minju moaned uncontrollably.

Not missing an opportunity you put your lips on hers and let her moan into your mouth. Minju now having one breast without attention she started to play with it on her own.

You were getting a little daring and were sliding your tongue into hers. Rubbing each other's tongue together both of you felt the others warmth.

Though now your cock was getting really cold. Preferably you wanted something to warm it up. "Minju it's cold down there." Pulling away she giggled at your comment.

"Want me to do something about it?" You nodded at her question.

Minju turned her body around her ass now on your face and her face was now facing your extremely cold cock.

She started to lick it. Running her tongue throughout your whole cock. But it wasn't enough to warm it and she knew it. Minju opened her mouth more and took your tip in her warm moist mouth.

Minju started to suck your tip and run her tongue all over it. You started to put your hands all over her butt and insert your tongue into her pussy. Taking in her sweet nectar as fluids slowly were coming out of her pussy. You took in every drop as soon as it flowed out.

Wanting to encourage Minju you shoved your tongue deeper making her moan louder and take in more of your cock. She was bobbing her head up and down your cock was alternating between being in her warm mouth and being in the cold air. All of it made you want to unload your semen into her.

"I'm cumming!"

Thrusting your cock as deep as possible into her mouth you let your cum spill into Minju's mouth. She tried to take in all of it but some leaked out of her mouth.

Swallowing what she could Minju licked your cock a few more times.

"Your semen tastes really good Y/N I want it in me."

Both of you got into position and you slowly entered Minju's tight pussy. "More Y/N I need your entire cock inside of me." You shoved your cock deeper into her pussy making Minju roll her eyes back. "Yes just like that. Your cock is so good." Hearing those words really turned you on and you were thrusting in and out fast.

You were still sensitive from your first orgasm and it didn't take long for you to almost cum. Not wanting to cum in her you pulled out. "In my mouth quickly Y/N."

Minju was sucking your cock as fast as possible and fingered herself at the same time. "Your so good at this keep sucking my cock!"

She came all over her fingers first and shortly after you unloaded your semen into her mouth for the second time. "I'll never have enough of this Y/N you must feed me every day."

"I don't think I can survive having amazing sex with you every day Minju."

You laid down next to Minju now exhausted. "If you want to stay as my friend Y/N you have to cum in my mouth every day from now on."

"Fine then, that's what friends are for right Minju?"

Both of you pulled each other close and drifted off to sleep.

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

Thanks to whoever asked this (I forgot) this was fun to write.

I'll try to get back on schedule.

[creamflix]

cw: mutual + guided masturbation, sort of angst. "just (childhood/best) friends" trope

the air was thick, too heavy for your tiny dorm room. it carried something unspoken, lingering on the line that you and satoru never dared to cross but always, somehow, ended up toeing.

"come on," he said, voice a little breathless, eyes sparkling with that dangerous mix of mischief and vulnerability that always got you into trouble. "we said we'd help each other out, didn’t we?"

his hands worked at his waistband, and your mouth went dry when he pushed it down, revealing pale skin that seemed to glow even in the dim light. your throat tightened. this wasn’t the same as hickeys or kisses, those could be brushed off as experiments. this was different. this was dangerous.

but you didn’t back out. you never could, not with him.

“you don’t have to be shy,” he murmured, eyes dipping to your fingers as they trembled over your own waistband. his voice softened, taking on that coaxing, honey-sweet tone he reserved just for you. “you’re so pretty like this, you know? all nervous and flustered. makes me wanna take care of you.”

your breath hitched, and his lips quirked into a sly smile. "there it is," he teased. "that little sound you make. keep going — wanna hear what other noises you’ll make for me."

"this is insane," you muttered, your voice shaky but not convincing enough to stop your hands from moving. the first touch sent a shiver through you, and you bit your lip, too aware of his gaze on you.

“nah, it’s not insane,” he countered, his voice lower now, tinged with something darker. "it’s us. we’re just...helping each other, right?” his hand wrapped around his dick, and the sight made heat pool in your stomach. “fuck, you look good like this. don’t stop — don’t you dare stop.”

you couldn’t even if you wanted to. not with the way he was looking at you, eyes flicking between your face and the slow, tentative movements of your hand. every groan, every hitched breath from him sent sparks down your spine.

“faster,” he urged, his voice strained now, his own hand matching your rhythm. “fuck, that’s it. so fucking pretty, just like that. bet you’d feel so good if i —”

“satoru,” you gasped, cutting him off. his name on your lips came out breathless, and he groaned, loud and unrestrained.

“say it again,” he demanded, his voice rough, his strokes quickening. "wanna hear you say my name when you — fuck, when you cum."

you tried to keep it in, tried to hold back the tide threatening to pull you under, but his gaze pinned you down, and his words stripped you bare. “satoru,” you whispered again, and the look in his eyes turned feral.

“that’s my girl,” he panted, his hips bucking into his hand. “fuck — keep goin', just like that. you’re close, aren’t you? i can see it — can feel it.”

it all blurred — the heat, the desperation, the way his voice broke when he moaned your name as he came, spilling over his hand and your sheets. the sight alone was enough to send you spiraling, and he was on you in an instant, pressing kisses to your tear-streaked cheeks, his mouth moving over yours like he was starving.

“you’re so good,” he whispered, his voice softer now but no less intense. “so fucking good for me. always.”

“this...this is what friends do, right?” you asked, your voice trembling, searching for reassurance in his eyes.

his gaze softened for a moment, a flicker of something more, before he leaned in to kiss you again, deeper this time. “yeah,” he murmured against your lips, even though the word didn’t quite feel like the truth. "this is what we do."

but the way his hands cradled your face and the way he whispered “i love you” as you both tried to catch your breath felt like anything but.

produced by creamflix on tumblr. all rights reserved. do not copy, steal, modify, repost — support your writers by liking and reblogging. ♡

[tori111777]

FRIGHT AND FURY

Part 2

Parings: Caracalla x wife!reader

Warnings: mentions of violence

Summary: You confront your husband, the emperor of Rome, of his sickness.

You leaned back in your chair. The bracelets on your arm clanging loudly as you moved, showing off your riches with just such noise.

Your husband was right in front of you, yet his mind miles away. It was always away when the people in the coliseum roared as they saw a persons eye get gutted out of his head. He would howl with them as well.

You did not care so much for this marriage was not out of love but Marcus. Dare not ever call him that, Caracalla has been different these past moons.

So there you were, starring intensely at your husband back trying to figure him out.

…

“More food, my lady?” A servant came up with a tray of grapes, all laid out neatly with additional touches of green that was obviously there for decoration purposes.

You didn’t say anything and put up your hand and shooed him away, you were occupied anyways as Caracalla finally sat back down next to you.

He smacked his chair and gave a chuckle, “did you see that?” “I did.” You said plainly, looking straight ahead. He frowned, “you don’t seem excited by that?” You turned your head to him finally, looking into his eyes. You tried to seem something there but there wasn’t.

“No, I have just seen better battles.”

He scooted back more into his chair, trying to get comfortable in his seat. “You’re right.” He agreed with you, “It has only just begun though, don’t fret my dear.”

Your eyes drew back to the sandy arena floor, dust flying up as people tried to dodge other attacks. The clink of metal on metal and the blood dowsing in the sun, it gave you no entertainment as it did to him. It happened so often, how are they not bored of it?

Your fingers absentmindedly tapped against the armrest, the cold clink of your bracelets and rings brought you back.

“You seem bored.” Caracalla frowned at you. You didn’t respond immediately, letting the silence stretch between each other. Shifted in your seat, eyeing him once more, his posture relaxed, yet his eyes gleamed with a hunger you never quite understood.

“I suppose I am.” Playing with your rings as you let out a sigh. “Caracalla's gaze lingered on you, his expression unreadable for a moment, before he gave a short laugh. "You always were different. I suppose as well.” He leaned closer, his breath warm against your ear. "You don't care for the blood, do you?"

Your head turned as well to meet him again. You two were very close now and his eyes flickered between your lips and eyes, the heat of his breath on your skin.

The crowd went up again and his brother, Geta started to shout ferociously, almost as if he was fighting them down there as well. The sound broke you two apart.

His smile didn’t falter as he straightened in his chair, but there was something in his gaze—something that made the hair on the back of your neck stand. "You don't like the blood," he repeated, quieter now, as if testing something. Noticing him slowly disappearing more and more into his mind.

"You know, it's not the blood," you replied, your voice low and deliberate, "It's what comes after it."

He definitely heard you but decided not to pay attention to you anymore and decided to lean against the railing watching the show below unfold.

———

You did not see your husband, Caracalla until later that night, long after the sun had set and the games were done for the day. The moon shining bright and cooling everyone of the hot day in Rome.

Back in your chamber with the windows open. The wind blowing through your silk gown right in the moonlight’s direction. Looking out into the beautiful streets and hearing bells ring and children laughing. It was the only peaceful part of the day you would get.

Nor did you care when you heard footsteps enter into the room. "Are you still angry?" Caracalla voice was low, tinged with amusement, though you could tell he was testing the waters.

Your head tilted a bit and your eyes lingered on the marble floor. “I never was.” Keeping your voice quiet and steady. For a moment, he said nothing, only watching you. His usual presence was like a shadow, but tonight it felt like he wasn’t even there.

"You always do this," Caracalla’s voice broke the stillness, soft but tinged with something darker. He had moved closer now, though still keeping a careful distance, as if measuring the space between you both. "You retreat into silence like a stranger in your own home. You’ve always been so... aloof. Cold, even."

You wanted to scoff at him. To throw the vase on the table at him. You knew better than this though, you’ve played this game your whole life. Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing your emotions. "I don’t retreat, Caracalla," you replied, your voice calm, though it held a trace of something sharper beneath it. “Something seems off with you these days, I fear.” You held your hands close to your chest for some comfort.

He breath became fast and he narrowed his eyebrows for a second. “Is this why you can’t look at me?” He raised his voice higher yet you did not flinch one bit.

“No.” You said.

He stepped closer to you to talk quietly yet anger was still in his body, it has always been there, a whisper in the night air. "Then what is it? What do you see when you look at me?"

You shifted slightly, the silk of your gown rippling with the motion, "I see a man who has everything, yet still wants more," you said softly, the words as sharp as the cold marble beneath your feet.

Caracalla paused, his chest rising and falling with each shallow breath, the silence between you both growing heavy. His eyes darkened, and for a moment, it seemed as though he might lash out, the fury in him barely contained. Yet, he remained still, his lips pressed tight together as he absorbed your words.

"You always were good with words," he muttered, you stood unmoving, your back to the open window, the cool night air sweeping through the room as the distant sounds of Rome's nightlife echoed faintly in the background. The weight of his gaze was palpable, as though it was trying to break through the carefully constructed walls you had built between you and him.

"What do you want, Caracalla?" You said those words very loudly. You weren’t afraid speaking out against him. “You are not yourself these days, you are restless in your sleep and crave blood more than ever…”

He looked down at the ground and almost began to shout. “It is my brother! He blames me for everything I’ve ever done!” His voice pleased and aching. You’ve seen him like this before, but never this serious. Yet, you don’t believe he’s telling the full truth, or at least he knows the full truth.

You drop your hands to your side and step close to him, your silhouette leaving the silver moonlight that touched you. You brush your hand into his hair and look at him, holding his head. Your rings felt cold against his skin but he did not mind it.

“You are the emperor.” You spoke softly, trying to calm him down. He had always been out there but you’ve always yet had a soft heart and it aches for him right now.

His eyes were stinging from holding back tears yet he did not shed any. He did not speak for he did not seem weak but he has a sickness of the mind and you knew it, Geta knew it, the senate knew it and damn that monkey probably knew it as well. You just kept denying it and he does not see it.

“It’s not enough. It will never be enough.” He whispered and turned his head to break away from your hands. Leaving the cold air to touch them again. Maybe you should’ve kept that window closed.

[starlightkun]

⇢ word count: 37.8k total (22.7k & 15.1k) ⇢ genre & warnings: sci-fi/science fantasy au, soulmate au, alien!jungwoo, human!reader, slow burn, fluff and angst; blood/injury mentions (but like, alien blood, if that makes a difference?), a couple needle/injection mentions, if u get secondhand embarrassment this one might hurt in places, a couple crude jokes about alien stuff iykwim (reader’s friends r kind of the worst), this fic is just a rlly sweet soulmate au i swear idk why these tags look horrendous 😭 ⇢ extra info: released in two parts bc of tumblr’s 1000-block limit that was put in place to hurt me personally :)) BUT both parts are out RIGHT NOW ⇢ author’s note: rahhh this one has ALSO been a wip for like over a year and is finally finished!!! this is technically my first sci-fi piece bc i started it before frankenstein complex, but i finished fc wayyy before this one. anyway i loveee my alien!woo and i hope y’all do too ⇢ part two

“What? Did you imprint on me like a baby duck or something?” You joked, stretching and yawning.

“I don’t know what ducks are nor the imprinting habits of their young, but yes.”

“You don’t really need to know what ducks are, but baby ducks—Wait, what?!” Your brain finally processed the rest of Jungwoo’s words, and you stared at him wide-eyed.

“Here, Y/N,” Johnny grinned at you as he pushed another seltzer into your hand. “You’re a bit too sober, kid.”

“Thanks, dude,” you beamed back, popping open the tab one-handed and taking your first swig.

All of your friends were gathered around a firepit on the beach, relaxing and celebrating another friend’s birthday—Taeyong. Said birthday boy, a notorious lightweight, was already pink-cheeked and giggly as he chatted with some of the others. Someone had apparently given Doyoung access to the Spotify playlist for the night, as a ballad suddenly came over the Bluetooth speakers that had previously been playing upbeat tunes. A chorus of groans and jeers rose up around the fire from the other eight of you, while Doyoung loudly and passionately tried to defend himself.

“Give me the phone,” Johnny waved for Doyoung to hand over Jaehyun’s phone—the one connected to the speaker.

Doyoung clutched it protectively to his chest. “No! You guys haven’t let me play any of my songs tonight!”

“Because they either make us cry or put us to sleep,” Yuta scoffed, lunging for the device, but the other man jerked it out of his reach.

“If you two break my fucking phone, you’re buying me a new one and splitting the cost,” Jaehyun warned from where he was sat on the sand next to your feet, lazily leaning his head against your knee.

“Seriously, Doyoung, give him the phone,” Mark insisted.

Doyoung reluctantly handed the phone to Yuta, who passed it along to you, who firmly planted it in Johnny’s waiting palm. “None of you have any taste—”

“I thought it was nice, D—” Taeyong was cut off by a hiccup as he went to pat your friend’s head reassuringly. “It was a nice song, Doyoung…”

“Thanks, Yonggie,” Doyoung rolled his eyes, but didn’t shove him off as Taeyong drunkenly wrapped his limbs around him in what you were sure was supposed to be a comforting hug.

As Johnny went to put on more party-appropriate music and you took another sip of your seltzer, you looked up to the sky over the water. There weren’t as many stars as you would’ve liked, and it was a new moon, so there was no silvery light to come from there either. But it was still a nice night, the air was cool, the fire warm, you were the only ones on this stretch of beach this late at night and had enough alcohol to feed a medium-sized frat.

Then, one star started glowing even brighter than the others, and you realized it was moving across the sky. “Look, guys! A shooting star.”

“Ooh, everybody make a wish!” Donghyuck chirped.

Feeling a bit silly, you closed your eyes and made your wish in your mind, then opened them again to see the shooting star getting bigger, as if it was heading towards you all.

“Hey, are shooting stars supposed to do that?” You asked no one in particular.

“I… don’t think so,” Yuta squinted at it suspiciously.

“Should we like… move?” Mark suggested hesitantly.

“They’re just meteors being burned up in the atmosphere,” Jaehyun shrugged. “Most don’t ever reach Earth.”

Except it was very much getting closer and closer, hurtling even faster through the air than before.

“But some do!” Jaehyun added, rushing to his feet. “I think we should go.”

As everybody started scrambling to pack their things, the meteor was making its final approach, and you could hear the sound of it splitting the air as it took a sudden nosedive towards shore. It finally struck with a cacophony of snapping palm trees and thunderous boom of its impact with the ground. It had thankfully missed all of you, but you could see smoke start rising out of the thick foliage where it did land. You all looked around at each other, mirrored faces of shock.

“We survived,” Donghyuck breathed out, patting his front as if he didn’t believe it. His blanket was sloppily thrown over one of his shoulders as he had one hand on the cooler.

“Dude, you thought we were all going to die, and your first instinct was to save the drinks?” Mark pointed out in disbelief.

“I’m sorry, Mr. ‘Where’s my phone?’” Your other friend retorted back. “Going to lecture me on the sanctity of human life when you were about to lose it all for your iPhone?”

As they kept squabbling, you tentatively stepped over the back of your log, towards the trees.

“Y/N?” Johnny said your name questioningly.

“Don’t you guys want to go see it?” You knocked back the rest of your seltzer. “A real-life meteor. Come on, we can all get a piece. It’ll be like, the coolest birthday party souvenir ever.”

Doyoung and Taeyong exchanged uneasy glances. Doyoung spoke up, “I don’t know, that thing was huge…”

“What? You think it was a spaceship or something?” You snickered at the idea, pulling out your phone to turn the flashlight on. “Come on, anybody who’s not a wimp. We’ll bring back enough pieces for the wimps.”

Yuta, Johnny, Jaehyun, and Donghyuck turned out to be the only ones who agreed to come with you. You led the way into the trees, following the slowly thinning smoke trail and path of destroyed palms. The impact site wasn’t very far, and when you first caught a glimpse of the hulking size of its silhouette, you were so glad it had missed. A hundred meters or so over, and all of you would have been crushed by a giant space rock, which is certainly one thing to put on your headstone. Except, as all of your individual flashlight beams shone over it, and you got to see it piece by piece, you realized it was not a meteor. It was all smooth metal, matte chrome in varying colors. A vessel of some kind. From space. A spaceship.

“Holy shit…” You breathed out.

“Oh, we should get the fuck out of here,” Jaehyun said lowly.

“Yeah, no way should first contact be made with our stupid, drunk asses,” Yuta agreed, starting to back up.

“Y/N,” Johnny grabbed your arm to try to pull you back as well, but you stood rooted to the ground. “Y/N, seriously, this is not the rabbit hole to jump down.”

“Maybe she’s figured we’ve gotten plenty of practice with aliens with Mark,” Donghyuck snickered.

You kept staring at the ship, listening to the metal creak and groan. Except those groans weren’t all metallic.

“I think someone’s in there!” You exclaimed, taking off towards it.

Johnny swore as your arm slipped from his grip, and you heard two pairs of footfalls chasing after you. You’d just managed to get a hand and a foot on the ship before a strong pair of arms grabbed you by the waist and pulled you off of it.

“Yuta, grab her hands before she claws me!” Johnny yelled from behind you.

As Yuta went to do that, you haphazardly threw out your feet that were now fully off the ground as Johnny lifted you up. You impacted with something on Yuta, who let out a long line of expletives, his hands dropping to grab something low on his own body. You blindly reached back for Johnny, grabbing a fistful of his hair with one hand and yanking hard, while the other reached under his arm to pinch a pressure point.

“Fuck!” He dropped you. “Yuta! You were supposed to—”

“She kicked me in the balls, man!” Yuta groaned back.

Knowing that you didn’t have long, you raced up the side of the ship. Banging on every panel that you passed by, you yelled out, “Hello? Somebody in there? Are you okay? Hello?”

You finally got to the top-ish of the ship, and one of the panels there felt different than the others. Almost like glass. Pounding your fist against the side of that, hoping it was the cockpit or something, you shouted into it, “Are you okay in there?”

There was another groan that echoed from inside, and it definitely sounded like a person this time. Searching for some kind of emergency release from the outside, you felt around the edge of the whole glass panel. There was no release, but you found a part of the panel that it connected to on the outer hull that had a sizeable dent, big enough for you to get your hand under. Biting your phone in between your teeth to point the flashlight at the dent, you saw that it had exposed an inner latch of some kind.

The sounds of another body climbing up the ship came to your ears, and you whipped around to look at Johnny, already holding your hands up in a defensive fighting position. You took your phone from your mouth just to threaten, “I will bite.”

“I know. Let’s just get this over with before this thing explodes or something, okay?” He held his own hands up in surrender. When you’d relaxed from your fighting stance, he came over to squat down next to you. “So, what are you thinking, kid? We need to bust that?”

“I think?”

“Alright, give me a second.” He hopped back down.

There was another low sound of pain from inside, and you bent closer to the gap as you addressed them, “Just hang in there! My friends and I are going to get you out, okay? Really soon!”

Johnny clambered back up, a large rock now in his hand. You moved out of the way for him to swing the more angled edge of the rock against the latching mechanism. After several swings, you heard a crack of metal, then he was tossing the stone aside. “Jae!” Johnny called out, your other friend joining you two a few seconds later. They each grabbed a side of the glass panel, pushing and pulling it away from the hull.

“Guys?” Donghyuck’s voice suddenly floated up to you, but from the rear of the ship. “I think you should hurry up!”

“No fucking shit!” Jaehyun yelled back, straining as him and Johnny continued battling with the ship.

“I mean, I’m not a spaceship engineer or anything, but I don’t think any of this should be on fire!”

“God dammit!” Johnny groaned. “Yuta!”

“Yep! Recovered! Coming up!” Yuta joined the fray as well, and finally, you heard the last bit of metal holding the panel down snap and give way.

They all fell down as the glass dome now rose on its own, along with a hiss of air pressure. There were dozens of lights and screens inside, all flashing red, lighting up the figure of a man on one of the two seats there. His head was lolled back, arms hanging by his sides.

“Christ, there is someone in there,” Johnny exhaled in shock.

“A fuckin’ alien,” Yuta mimicked the sign of the cross over himself.

“Wrong way, dumbass,” you scoffed, moving along the rim to get closer to the man inside. “You’re not supposed to start on your shoulders.”

“Oh, excuse me, didn’t realize I was in the presence of the Pope herself.”

You shot him another glare as you kneeled down to hook your elbows under the stranger’s arms. “Anybody going to help me?”

“The fire’s getting bigger!” Donghyuck yelled, fear pitching up his voice.

The other guys grabbed the man’s arms as well, helping you yank him up and out. He was all long, lanky limbs and dead weight, which your friends complained about to varying degrees of intensity. With a final tug, you pulled him out to the hull with you, his body flopping back onto you.

“Seriously! I can’t read alien, but I think it’s spreading to the fuel tank or something!” Your friend on the ground shouted in a panic, running around to the side where you were. “Get off there!”

Just then, the spaceman’s eyes fluttered open, and he looked at you with concern, his lips parting for a moment.

“Sorry, introductions later, your ship’s about to explode!” You said, jerking him over the side with you.

Donghyuck half-caught the two of you as you slid down the smooth exterior. Really, he just broke your landing a bit, the two of you still crashing into him at far too high of a speed to be painless, all your limbs smacking each other. The man from the ship made another groan of pain, as you and Donghyuck swore up a storm at your bitten tongues, clocked elbows, and cracked heads. The other three jumped down after you, Johnny and Jaehyun taking the stranger from your arms like they were carrying their drunk friend home from the bar. His feet dragged on the ground between them as the six of you hurried away from the ship. As you came crashing through the foliage again back to your campsite, your other friends all got to their feet to greet you.

“Took long enough!” Mark complained. “Alright, where’s our—Holy shit!”

“You found some guy?” Doyoung asked, pointing to the stranger. “Why does nothing ever go normal and fine when we let Yuta, Y/N, and Donghyuck go off together?”

Before any of you could explain, there was a loud boom from behind you, and you whipped around to see bright, glowing, molten sludge being shot into the air where you just had been. Fire lit up the trees, the night no longer feeling so cold suddenly.

“What was that?!” Taeyong rushed to your side, clinging onto you tightly.

“Spaceship,” Yuta pointed at the fireball. He then pointed at the stranger, “Alien.”

“Seriously?!” Mark’s eyes were bugging out of his head. “Like, a real UFO? What did it look like?”

“I was too busy fearing for our lives to take pictures, sorry, Mark.” Donghyuck leaned his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

Doyoung spoke up then, concerned look focused on the man from the ship. “Uh, I think your alien’s dead.”

The spaceman was entirely slack in Johnny and Jaehyun’s grip, head hanging forward as dark droplets fell from his mouth onto the sand. You rushed over, instinctually putting two fingers to the side of his neck, where you guessed a jugular would be if he had one. Please, please, please let him have a heart, and let it be beating. He felt warm, at least, and while you couldn’t find a pulse, you didn’t know if that really meant anything. Instead, you held your fingers under his nose, relieved when you could feel a slight, repetitive exhale of breath.

“He’s breathing!” You announced with relief. A drop of his blood fell onto your hand then, and as you jerked the limb back, not entirely sure what alien blood would do to you. The fleck caught the light of the bonfire and shone blue. A dark navy blue, so dark it almost appeared black at first.

“Definitely an alien…” Yuta crossed himself again.

“Stop that!” You hissed, grabbing a half-drank bottle of water to pour the contents over your hand, washing off the alien blood. “You’d burn up if you stepped foot in a church.”

“Should we take him to a hospital?” Doyoung asked.

“No!” You cried out immediately. “They’d dissect him or something.”

“Y/N, you’re not suggesting we keep him!” Johnny regarded with you wide, incredulous eyes.

“Like a pet alien?” Donghyuck added very helpfully.

“You’re a doctor!” You argued with Johnny.

“A vet! An animal doctor! I’m not even licensed to practice medicine on humans, I wouldn’t know where to start on an alien!”

“Exactly, you don’t need a license to practice on him, he’s not human!”

“Johnny, we all know you’re going to say yes,” Jaehyun grunted, readjusting his hold on the passed-out spaceman. “Come on man, he’s getting heavy.”

“Fine! Fine! I have my kit in my car,” Johnny relented with a big sigh.

“We can take him to my place,” you immediately offered.

The distant sounds of sirens caught your attention, and you all immediately rushed to shut down the campsite. Someone doused the firepit while the speaker was shut off, and the drinks, towels, and blankets were hastily packed up. You all made a run for the cars parked up on the side of the road, as the sirens got even louder. You climbed into Johnny’s backseat before he and Jaehyun pushed the stranger back there with you, then got into the front. The others loaded up into Doyoung’s van, and the two vehicles took off with roars of engines and squeals of tires. You pulled the man’s head up into your lap, wincing as you appraised the damage. His blue blood dripped from his mouth and a significant rip in his jacket on his side. He groaned in pain but didn’t stir otherwise. Aside from the blue blood, he looked human… hopefully Johnny would be able to do something.

At your building, Johnny and Jaehyun helped you drag the spaceman up to your apartment on the third floor, and you had them deposit him on your bed. Johnny brought his travel vet kit up from the car, and together, you managed to get the shiny silver jacket off of him. Underneath, he had a fairly plain white top, which was also torn and blood-soaked. Johnny snapped on a pair of gloves before he pushed the hem up to appraise the stranger’s side, where there was a huge gash in his flesh.

“Oh, Christ, okay,” Johnny sighed, inspecting the wound. “I guess I’ll disinfect and suture it up?”

“Just do it,” you mumbled, pressing a towel to the man’s sweat-sheened forehead.

“Jaehyun, mind assisting?”

“You do know the ‘Dr.’ I put in front of my name is just decorative, right? It’s in Poetry—”

“And now you can brag to all your colleagues that you’ve done real medicine like a real doctor,” Johnny snapped back. “Disinfectant, get it.”

With Jaehyun assisting him, Johnny made quick work of patching him up. Pressing the bandages down over the site so the adhesive would stick, Johnny then disposed of his navy-splattered gloves. He grabbed a stethoscope, putting the end up against the spaceman’s chest.

“I think he’s alive?” Johnny announced. “I don’t know. If he is, he doesn’t have a heart because I’m not getting anything.”

He shifted the placement, presumably to listen to his breathing, and an even more bewildered look overtook his features. Sliding the stethoscope over to the right side of the man’s chest, he sat there for a moment, just listening.

“It’s on the other side,” he breathed out. “His heart’s on the right side.”

“But he has a heartbeat?” You clarified.

“Yeah, he does. Faint, but it’s there. He’s breathing, too. A bit shallow, but otherwise normal. I think.”

You let out a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”

“I don’t think there’s anything else I can do until he wakes up. If he wakes up.”

“Right, thank you Johnny,” you smiled wearily your friend. “I’ll call you when he wakes.”

Jaehyun and Johnny looked at each other skeptically. Jaehyun spoke up, “You’re going to stay here alone with some rando we literally pulled out of a burning hunk of metal?”

“My couch only fits one person. So unless you two are offering to sleep on the floor to protect me or whatever?”

“Call us if anything happens,” Johnny sighed, packing up all of his supplies.

“Of course,” you nodded. “Thanks, guys.”

You heard the sound of your front door clicking shut as you stayed sitting on the edge of your mattress, wiping the spaceman’s face. He really did look human, two eyes that were now shut, lashes resting on his cheeks, a nose practically just like yours, with an elegant slope to the bridge, and a pair of plush, pouty lips. He let out a soft sigh, his head rolling over towards you. But then he went silent and still again. You finished cleaning up his face as best you could, then pulled the covers up over him. Readjusting his bangs that had been stuck together by the damp washcloth you’d used, you gave a final determined nod to nobody in particular before standing up. Grabbing a change of pajamas from your dresser, you got everything you’d need from in here for the night, then went to leave.

“Alright…” You stopped at the threshold of your bedroom, looking over the spaceman’s sleeping figure one last time. “Goodnight, I suppose.”

And with that, you turned the lights out, and quietly closed the door behind you. You were sure to leave it slightly ajar, though, just in case. After taking a much-needed shower and getting ready for bed in your bathroom, you headed out to the living room. You set up a few pillows and blankets into a comfy-enough makeshift bed, then tucked yourself in. Despite the exhaustion in your muscles, the excitement of the night hadn’t worn off yet, and you laid awake for another hour just staring at your bedroom door.

Waking up in the morning to sunlight streaming in through your living room windows, you covered your eyes with a groan and rolled over to bury your face in the back cushions. The sound of your phone buzzing incessantly from the coffee table came, however, and with a guttural groan, you flopped back over to pick it up.

“Yeah?” You mumbled, not even checking the caller ID.

“Y/N?” It was Yuta on the other end.

“Who the fuck else would it be? You called me at whenever-the-fuck-in-the-morning.”

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

“Couch,” you corrected him, swinging your feet over as you sat up properly. “I slept on the couch.”

“Gave E.T. your bed? Such a kind hostess.”

The mention of your guest woke you up more. You got to your feet, shuffling towards the bedroom with a yawn. “Yeah, you know me, I’m a fuckin’ peach.”

“So how’s the…” Yuta dropped his voice to whisper into the phone, “Alien?”

The door hadn’t moved since last night, and you cautiously pushed it open to peer inside. You could see the stranger exactly where you had left him, laying on his back under your blankets, chest shallowly rising up and down. Pushing further into the room, you hesitated on whether to try to find a pulse again. You settled for trying once around his wrist, and if it didn’t work, then you’d just have to assume he was fine. Surprisingly, you found his pulse in one go, and it felt steady.

“Fine, I think,” you answered Yuta quietly, walking back over towards your door. “He’s breathing, he has a heartbeat. He’s just not… ambulatory.”

“Still passed out cold?”

“Yeah.”

“Imagine if he was in one of those comas that you don’t wake up from, and we just had to deal with this comatose alien.”

“Stop, you’re going to manifest that or something!” You hissed.

“Not manifesting, just joking.”

“You’re hilarious.”

“Anyway, some of us went back to the beach this morning, because Mark really wanted to see the UFO—”

“Don’t touch anything!”

“We couldn’t. The whole place is locked down. Couldn’t even park on the shoulder, it was swarming with cops. They were still putting out the fire.”

“Do you think any of the ship survived?”

“I have no clue. Doyoung said he’d ask his dad about it.” Doyoung’s dad was the fire chief, making your participation in the conflagration last night even more dicey.

“Tell him to call me as soon as he finds out anything.”

“I think he was already planning on that, but I’ll make sure he knows.”

“Good. Also, I’m sorry for kicking you in…” You trailed off as you turned around to see two big brown eyes staring at you from your bed. “I’ve got to go, Yuta. I’ll call you back.”

“What’s hap—” You hung up.

The spaceman was looking around the room warily, regarding you with clear suspicion.

“Hey…” You offered him a smile as you kept your tone of voice soothing and calm. “You’re alright. I’m not going to do anything to you. My name’s Y/N.”

He kept staring blankly at you, and you were starting to fear that he wouldn’t be able to understand you at all.

“You got injured, last night. On your side.”

He pulled up the hem of his shirt, looking at it himself. He tentatively touched the bandages, but didn’t rip them off. There was a small dot of dark blue that had soaked through.

“I’m going to call my friend, to look at it, okay?”

He nodded.

Quickly dialing Johnny’s number, you chewed on your thumbnail anxiously at how long it was taking him to pick up. Finally, the ringing stopped, and a confused groan came from the other end.

“Hey, Johnny,” you greeted him, relieved. Johnny made another inquisitive sound. “Yeah, he’s awake.”

You could heard Johnny make a few more noises of exertion, presumably sitting up in bed. After a yawn, sniffle, and cough (which he thankfully pointed his mic away from), he said real words. “Has he… said anything?” Your friend questioned. “Can you even understand each other?”

“No, he’s not exactly talking… Just sort of nodding. So I think he can understand me at least.”

“Alright—good Lord—I’ll be over in like, thirty.”

“That long?!”

“You woke me up! I need to brush my teeth and shit. Make that forty-five, I still reek of alcohol.”

“Fine. Hey, can you bring some clothes for him, too?”

“What?!”

“I don’t have anything that’ll fit him. You guys are about the same size. Or steal some of Jae’s, I don’t care.”

“Yeah, I’m taking Jaehyun’s. I think they’re a bit closer in size.”

“You don’t want an alien to wear your clothes.”

“Excuse me for feeling weird about that! What if he bleeds on them? I’d have to burn them!”

“So you’re volunteering your roommate’s clothes instead.”

“Well—”

“Just get over here, John.”

“Will do. See you, kid.”

“See you.” You hung up. Turning back to the alien, you announced, “My friend will be here soon. He’s just going to look you over. Are you okay? Like, does anything hurt?”

He stared at you.

“Right, those were two different questions.” You shook your head at yourself. “Do you feel any pain? Anywhere?”

He indicated to the wound on his side.

“Makes sense, you got sliced open by something there. Anything else?”

He held his hands out, and you saw that his left wrist was slightly puffier and swollen than the other.

“Oh, looks like you… sprained your wrist?” You said tentatively. You had no clue how his joints worked or if they could even get sprained like yours, but that’s definitely what it looked like.

He nodded.

“Johnny should have something for that,” you assured him. After a few beats of silence, you tried introductions again. “I’m Y/N. I know I already said that, but uh, it’d be nice to know your name, too? I’m pretty sure you can understand me, since you’ve been answering my questions, mostly. So—”

“Did you capture me, then?” He finally spoke, his voice clear but uncertain.

“What? No,” you laughed, completely caught off-guard by the question. “You’re free to go anytime you want. Your ship crashed, and my friends and I found you. I just want to help, but if you want to go right now, I won���t stop you.”

“This is… not a human hospital?”

“No, it’s not,” you chuckled again. “It’s my bedroom. We uh, we weren’t sure if we should take you to a hospital or not. Didn’t want them taking x-rays of you and finding out you had two hearts or something.”

“Just the one.”

“Yes, and it’s on the right side of your chest, right?”

He stared at you with mild alarm.

“Johnny was listening to your heart last night. Had a difficult time finding it.” You tapped the left side of your chest, right above your own heart. “Ours is usually over here.”

He licked his lips, eyes flitting around before they landed on you again, and he finally said, “My name’s Jungwoo.”

“Jungwoo?” You echoed slowly, making sure you were pronouncing it correctly.

“Yes.”

“If you’re from space, why is your name… Korean?”

“It’s not. It can’t be pronounced by humans. You’re missing a flap.” He gestured to his throat. “I suppose that’s the closest approximation that it could get.”

“It?”

“My transcoder.” He picked up the pendant hanging around his neck, a simple rhombus of flat gold metal. “It’s a translation device. That’s why we can understand each other right now. Thankfully, it didn’t get busted in the crash. I don’t speak human.”

“We don’t all speak one language, you know? We have thousands.”

“Wait, really?”

“Does your whole planet speak one language? Speaking of, where are you from?”

“I’m from far outside this galaxy. I’m not sure telling you the name of my planet would be any help.”

“It’d be interesting.”

“Galaria.”

“So you’re… Galarian?”

“Galarii.”

“Ah, I was close. Never was good at conjugation in grammar class.”

“All Galarii speak the same language, to answer your question. We have some regional dialects, but all of us can understand each other. How does your planet hold conversations, come to agreements about policy or run the government at all?”

“We don’t have one government system for the whole planet, so usually we don’t need to. Everybody who lives near each other tend to speak the same language.”

His brow furrowed and his lips pulled down into a slight frown. “Then you must all be so… separated.”

You sat down on the corner of your bed in front of him, hoping this was still a polite, conversational distance for Galarii. “I don’t think it’s so bad. People can always learn more than one language if they want, learn about other cultures.”

“How do people from those different cultures even understand each other, though? You seemed confused about my transcoder, I’m guessing you don’t have anything similar here.”

“Translators. People who learn more than one language and interpret between people who don’t speak the same language. Not to mention computer programs will usually get you the gist of something if you’re in a hurry or don’t have access to a more authentic source.”

“How many governments do you have, then? Two? Three?”

You burst into laughter at the idea. “Sorry, sorry, I’m not laughing at you. It’s just… well, to spare you from any degree of human politics, let’s say there’s a debate about how many countries we even have, but people usually say about 200.”

“Two hundred?! How do you get anything done?”

“Very slowly,” you snickered, hiking a leg up onto the side of the bed to get comfier. “So, how does your transcoder work, exactly? Like, how is it getting in my brain? Because watching you talk, it looks like you’re saying the words I’m hearing, but you can’t be.”

“Low-level, short-range telepathic wave.”

“Telepathic?!”

“I’m not sure what word it’s picking to translate, but you seem very shocked.”

“For us, telepathy is magic. It’s a superpower, it’s not real.”

“I can assure you, this all has very sound science behind it. Though I’m more of a pilot than a neuroscientist, so I can’t really explain it...”

“Really good pilot, too. Spectacular landing,” you joked, crossing your fingers that Galarii understood sarcasm.

He seemed to, as he let out a cynical chuckle. “Not my finest work.”

“So what happened that made you crash in the first place?”

“Political assassination.”

“Excuse me?!”

“Attempted murder?” Jungwoo tried another phrase, looking down at his transcoder as if inspecting it for damage.

“Am I harboring a space fugitive right now?”

“No, I’m not on the run from anywhere. I was taking a joyride when suddenly the engines began failing. I presume it was meant to look like an accident. I’ll know more after I can inspect my ship.”

“Ooh, about that,” you winced.

“What?”

“Well, it exploded, for one.”

“Yes, that’s what I figured when you told me ‘your ship is about to explode’ and then I heard an explosion.”

“So you remember some of last night!” You pointed victoriously.

“Some,” he agreed mildly. “In a couple brief bouts of consciousness I had.”

“So, yeah, it exploded, and the explosion and resulting fire drew in a lot of attention. A couple of my friends drove by this morning and the whole place is swarmed with firemen and cops still.”

“I’ll just tell them it’s my ship.”

“No.”

“They should release it to the proper owner, what would the problem be?”

“You crashed here from space in a certifiable UFO. If you walked up and say that it’s yours, if they believe you, they’d probably ship you off for dissection, shoot you on the spot, or kill you then ship you off for dissection.”

“That’s not very polite.”

“Sorry, we don’t really get a lot of alien visitors. Or any, that I’m aware of.”

“Very well,” Jungwoo sighed, looking down at his lap dejectedly.

“So we’ll have to sneak in at night.”

“What?”

“If you want to inspect your ship, we’ll have to sneak in after everybody leaves for the night. And, after they’ve put out the fires.”

“You’re suggesting breaking the law?”

“Do you have a problem with that? It’s just light trespassing, and onto a ship that’s yours anyway.”

“No, I don’t have a problem with that.” Jungwoo’s face finally cracked into a smile. “Just clarifying.”

“So… who are you?”

“I’ve told you my name and species.”

“I meant, who are you on your planet? To have somebody trying to assassinate you. Here, usually people that get assassinated are like, politicians, rulers, activists, sometimes celebrities. Ooh, I’ve got it! You’re a pop star or something!”

“No, I’m not a… musician.” The way he said the word made you think the transcoder must have had a hard time finding an equivalent word in his language.

“Actor?”

“I’m not a celebrity. Well, not how you’re suggesting, I believe.”

“Okay, because you’ve got the look.”

“Look? How am I looking at you?”

“No, I mean you’re really pretty.” You gestured vaguely to his face. “You’d fit right in on a red carpet here.”

“I think I will interpret that as a compliment.”

“Maybe,” you grinned and shrugged. “So? What are you? If you’re not a celebrity, why did someone try to kill you?”

“They weren’t trying to kill me.”

“Who were they trying to kill?”

“My brother, presumably,” he said as if this were the most obvious, natural thing in the world.

You raised an eyebrow. “You sound unperturbed by this.”

“Really, this is what I get for stealing his ship.”

“So you are a thief.”

“With permission.”

“Then it’s not stealing.”

“Just like you didn’t want to bore me with Earth politics, I won’t bore you with mine, but let’s say my brother’s very powerful and very controversial,” Jungwoo explained. “He asked that I take his ship and publicly leave the planet on it.”

“So everybody would think he left.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“So he could get some paperwork done.”

“What exactly makes him so controversial?”

“None of his policies, really. But people don’t like some choices he’s made in his personal life.”

“Sounds familiar,” you mused, thinking of a few figures on Earth like that as well. “How long was your joyride supposed to take?”

“A few days.”

“Are Galaria days similar to Earth days?”

“I… am not sure.”

“Cool. So what’s going to happen if you don’t come back on time?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve run away,” he admitted. “Though he will be pissed that I diverted from the plan.”

“Well, hopefully we can get you back without getting in too much trouble with him,” you offered him a reassuring smile.

“We?”

“I’m not an engineer or anything, but I’ll help you however I can. Even if it’s just holding the flashlight.”

Jungwoo regarded you not with suspicion, but more-so fascination, like he wanted to put you under a microscope. “I take it not all humans are this helpful.”

“I like to think we all want to do good, but it might look different for different people. And some of us haven’t practiced doing good since we were taught to share as kids.”

“Well, thank you, Y/N. I suppose if we’re going to be sneaking in at night, I will need somebody to hold the flashlight.”

“I’m your girl,” you beamed, right as your doorbell rang, accompanied by a solid knock. “That’ll be Johnny. Wait here.”

“Johnny!” You opened your door, head tilting curiously at the extra figures that accompanied him. “And Mark and Donghyuck. What are you guys doing here?”

“Well—” Mark started.

“We want to see the alien, duh,” Donghyuck pushed past you.

You crossed your arms over your chest. “He’s not a freakshow here for your entertainment.”

“Alright, Ms. High-and-Mighty, excuse us for having natural human curiosity,” Donghyuck scoffed, looked around your living room as if you were hiding him somewhere.

“Let Johnny look him over first, then I will ask Jungwoo if he wants to meet you.”

“Sweet!” “Yes!” They high-fived each other.

“Jungwoo?” Johnny repeated with a suspicious eyebrow raised. “His name’s not like ‘Gorgluk’ or something?”

“It could be, for all I know,” you admitted with a shrug. “According to him, we—humans—don’t have the right… throat flaps to say his actual name. That’s the closest approximation his translating device could make, apparently.”

“Right. Cool. Alien named Jungwoo. We going to meet his brother Steve next?”

“You’re not funny.”

“I’m coping.”

Leading Johnny back down the hall, you gently knocked on your bedroom door as you pushed it open. “Hey, Jungwoo, I’m back.”

Jungwoo was right where you’d left him, sitting up in your bed, hands folded over his lap patiently. You saw him stiffen slightly when his eyes moved from you to Johnny as the taller man followed you into the room.

“Jungwoo, this is my friend Johnny. Johnny, this is Jungwoo,” you quietly introduced them.

“Hey,” Johnny nodded to him casually.

“I told you Johnny was going to check you out, remember?”

Jungwoo nodded.

“Does he talk?” Your friend looked at you with a skeptical eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, he’s just shy, or something,” you muttered, walking over to the bedside with Johnny.

Johnny pulled out his stethoscope first, awkwardly listening to the right side of Jungwoo’s chest, then motioned for him to lean forward to listen to his lungs from the back. Once he’d taken the stethoscope out of his ears, Jungwoo spoke.

“You’re a doctor?” The spaceman asked, watching as Johnny opened his kit again to put the tool away.

“Vet.” Johnny answered bluntly, pulling on a pair of latex gloves.

“Vet?”

“Veterinarian. I am a doctor, but my patients are usually on four legs.”

Jungwoo looked up at you in bewilderment. “There are four-legged humans?”

“Animals. I treat animals.”

“Johnny’s really good,” you assured him. “He’s the one that stitched you up.”

“Speaking of—” Johnny gestured to his side. “You mind?”

Jungwoo wordlessly pulled his shirt up to allow Johnny to inspect the wound.

“I’m going to change the dressings,” the vet declared, beginning to peel the bandage off.

To your disbelief, the wound was half the size as before, and looked almost healed up. The amount of blood on the gauze indicated much more damage than you were seeing.

“What the shit?” Johnny swore under his breath.

“Jungwoo, how’s your wrist?” You asked with wide eyes.

He lifted his left hand up, bending and flexing it with no visible reaction. It was a typical size again. “From your reactions, I take it humans heal at much slower rates?”

“Uh, yeah,” you gulped, still staring at the wound on his side in awe. “It would take us days to heal as much as you have.”

“I-I don’t think I need to change the dressing,” Johnny said, his face completely betraying how weirded out he was by what he was looking at. “There’s no blood or any other… fluids coming out of it. It’s entirely scabbed over, nothing should be getting in there. I can put a band-aid on it so the scab doesn’t catch on any clothes, I guess?”

“Do you have any morphine?” Jungwoo requested.

“It can’t hurt that much, it just looks like you bumped a countertop too hard.”

“I think my rib is broken.”

“What?!”

You looked at him incredulously. “Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“My skin heals quicker than internal parts. It should be fine in a few days, but it does hurt quite a bit now.”

Johnny looked to you for any sort of cue, at the same time that you looked at him for the same. He presumably thought you knew more about aliens than him, and you were seeking his medical opinion.

“Can you have morphine?” Johnny asked him slowly. “Like, is it compatible with your biology, or whatever?”

“Very much. My body naturally produces some, but I’m afraid the concentration of hydrogen in your atmosphere is inadequate for this level of injury.” Jungwoo looked the two of you over with confusion. “Why are you so hesitant to give me it?”

“Well, it’s sort of… addictive,” you tried to explain. “Doctors tend to try other stuff before jumping for the opioids.”

“My body must process it differently. We’ve never seen opioid addiction on my planet.”

You and Johnny met eyes again before Johnny reached back into his kit. He pulled out a small bottle and syringe. As soon as he took the cap off the needle, Jungwoo’s eyes went wide. “And what are you going to do with that?”

“Inject you?” Johnny replied, bewildered. “Unless you were planning on drinking it?”

“You don’t?”

“No! And I’m not going to let you!” Johnny was clearly at his wits end. “Either I stick you, or you don’t get any.”

“Okay, guys,” you jumped in, uncomfortable with the rising tension. Able to realize when Johnny was at his limit, you turned to Jungwoo. “Will it harm you if you get injected with it instead of drinking it?”

“No, but I would prefer not to,” Jungwoo admitted.

“Alien with trypanophobia?” Johnny scoffed.

At the returned stiffness in Jungwoo’s muscles, you looked at him sympathetically. “Is that it, Jungwoo? You’re afraid of needles?”

“I’m not afraid of them, he has one and I’m not running from the room—”

“But you don’t like them being used on you.”

“Y/N, I have a job,” Johnny sighed, checking his watch. “I can’t do this song and dance with him all day.”

“Jungwoo, are you going to let him inject you? Like I said, doctors avoid giving opiates out, we’re not going to be able to get you any from anywhere else.”

“Y/N will hold your hand, will that help?” Your human friend offered tersely.

“Johnny, don’t patronize him.”

“Very well,” Jungwoo cut Johnny off right as he had opened his mouth to respond to you. “That… is an agreeable compromise.”

Johnny gestured at him while staring you down very pointedly. Not having the energy in you to go back and forth with either of them anymore, you sat down at the head of the bed by Jungwoo and offered your hand out to him. His skin was surprisingly warm as he laid his hand atop yours, and you curled your hand around it, then put your other one on top, giving him a gentle pat and small smile that you hoped looked reassuring.

Jungwoo didn’t look at Johnny as he went back to preparing the injection, instead keeping his eyes trained on you. “I… didn’t realize that humans are so cold.”

“Just me,” you told him, squeezing his hand. “Cold hands. You’re about as warm as other humans I’ve met. My friend Jae is like a human space heater. Hates when I put my cold toes on him during movie night.”

Jungwoo opened his mouth to reply, but his face suddenly scrunched up. Johnny must have put the needle in. The alien squinted one eye open as he continued whatever he had been going to say in the first place. “I don’t mind how cold you are.”

“Done,” Johnny declared, quite literally slapping a band-aid over where he had just injected. “And I’m going to work.”

“Taking the other two with you?” You asked hopefully.

“You promised them an alien.”

“I promised I would ask. They’re not entitled to see him.”

“Whatever, I’ve got to go.” Johnny packed everything up quickly. He gave your hair a quick ruffle. “Bye, kid.”

“Bye, Johnny.” You watched him head for the bedroom door.

“Thank you,” Jungwoo called out to him.

The vet gave a final nod to both of you before slipping back out. You heard a sudden swell of noise as the two younger boys accosted him.

“Who else is here?” Jungwoo asked you.

You bit your lip ruefully as you heard the front door open and close, but the voices of Mark and Donghyuck were still very much audible. “Two more of our friends, Donghyuck and Mark. They were at the beach last night, too, when we found you. They want to meet you, if that’s okay with you. I totally get it if you say no. I’ll be more than happy to kick them out.”

“No, that’s alright. I would like to meet them. They’re your friends, right?”

“I guess I did say that,” you sighed, letting go of his hand and standing up. “Okay, be back.”

Out in your living room, the two younger boys practically assaulted you in their excited states, clinging onto your arms desperately.

“Don’t throw us out! We’ll be so good!” Donghyuck pleaded.

“Johnny told us he talks and stuff?!” Mark was buzzing.

“Cool it,” you chastised them. “He said he wants to meet you. Don’t make me regret this.”

“Fuck yeah!” They fistbumped.

“You two are so lame. Come on.” You stalked back over to your room. Jungwoo perked up when you came back in, regarding the two newcomers studiously.

“Jungwoo, this is Mark and Donghyuck,” you gestured to each in turn. “Guys, this is Jungwoo.”

“It’s nice to meet—” Mark’s polite greeting was cut off by Donghyuck.

“So are you from Mars? Jupiter?”

You slapped a hand over your face with a low groan. Jungwoo almost looked amused, thankfully. “No, I’m not from this Solar System. Or galaxy, for that matter.”

“How can you breathe our air?” Mark asked curiously.

“We have a similar composition on my home planet. Though there’s not as much free hydrogen here…”

“Oh!” You suddenly had an epiphany. “The hydrogen. Will water work? Uhm, dihydrogen monoxide?”

“Yes, that will be an apt replacement.”

“I’ll go get you a glass,” you patted his shoulder before hurrying from the room. The others were still talking as you filled up a cup of water, then walked back in with it. You held it out to Jungwoo. “Here.”

“Thank you, Y/N.”

“So what do you eat?” Donghyuck questioned. “Can you eat our food?”

“I quite like uhm, confections. Desserts.”

“Alien with a sweet tooth…”

“You all keep calling me that. You do realize that to me, you are the aliens?”

“Woah…” Mark breathed out. “You’re right.”

Jungwoo quickly chugged down the glass of water, and you took it back. “I’ll get you another,” you smiled down at him.

Donghyuck perked up, “Oh, Y/N, can I have a—”

“You know where the kitchen is,” you snorted, heading for the door. “I’m not your mom.”

When you returned and handed the cup to Jungwoo again, Mark eyed you with a pout and arms crossed over his chest. “You’re never this nice to us when we get hurt.”

“Yeah, you laughed in Yuta’s face when he broke his leg last year,” Donghyuck narrowed his eyes.

“Because he broke his leg trying to grind an ollie at the skate park at his big age,” you scoffed. “And then had to go into his grown-up job the next day. Tell me how that isn’t funny.”

They exchanged a glance before breaking out into snickers.

“Okay, that is pretty funny,” Donghyuck admitted.

“Exactly.” You glanced at the time on your phone. “Alright, I’m tired of human interaction, you two need to go.”

“But—” Mark gestured wildly to Jungwoo, who was calmly sipping his water.

“My apartment, my rules,” you clicked your tongue, shooing them towards the front door.

“Johnny brought us here, how are we going to get home?” Donghyuck tried to plead with you as you shoved them through your apartment.

“You have bus passes, don’t you?”

“Well yeah—”

“Then, bye!” You opened your door and pushed them out, slamming the door shut behind them. Turning back around, you noticed a stack of clothes on the arm of your couch, and recognized them as some of Jaehyun’s. You grabbed them and took them back with you into your bedroom.

“Ugh, finally,” you sighed, rolling out your neck. “Sorry about them.”

“They were… funny,” Jungwoo settled on an adjective.

You offered out the clothes to your guest. “Here, Johnny brought these for you. My shower is through there, too.” You gestured to your bathroom door. “And I can make something to eat while you freshen up. If you’re hungry. What do you eat? Other than sweet stuff? I don’t have any meat, but I can go get some if you need it—”

“We don’t eat meat, either,” he smiled up at you. “Galarii don’t.”

“Vegetarians?”

“Yes.”

“Well, easy for me, then.” You watched him as he swung his legs around. “You got it? You need any help?”

Jungwoo slowly got to his feet, and you winced as you watched him clutch at his side. Nevertheless, he stayed upright, and took a couple steps forward. “I’ll be alright.”

“Great. Uhm, let me just show you how the shower works and stuff, then I’ll leave you be.” You walked him into the bathroom, pushed back the shower curtain, pointing out the knobs and bottles to Jungwoo. “This one’s for cold water, this one’s for hot water. You have to turn them left to turn them on. Pull this thing up to turn the shower part on instead of the bath. This blue bottle is for shampoo, you do that one first, just on the roots of your hair. Purple one is conditioner, on your ends. Face wash, body wash. Yeah, I think that’s it.”

As you turned back to look at Jungwoo, you realized how close he was as he had leaned in to listen intently to you point out everything. Squinting, you looked closer at a faint smattering of freckles across his cheeks and nose that you hadn’t noticed before. “Hey, I never realized you have freckles,” you commented, blinking a couple times to make sure you were seeing this right. “Or that they were… rainbow? No, just pink? And purple?”

“They’re not freckles.” He touched them as if he were wiping them away, but they didn’t budge. “They’re iridophores, patches of cells that reflect light differently. I believe the fluorescents in here are making them more visible than the dim lighting in the other room.”

“They’re so pretty!” You exclaimed, shifting in another direction so that they were even flashier at this angle, revealing some blue and green as well.

Jungwoo’s hand hovered uncertainly over his face. “You think so?”

“Yeah, of course! What? You don’t?”

“They’re… I don’t know, they’re nothing special on Galaria,” he admitted, dropping his hand to give you a full view of the iridophores. He pulled the collar of his shirt to the side to show some of the top of his shoulder, where there were even more, then let it go. “I have them here too. Everyone does.”

“Well, we don’t have stuff like that here,” you informed him with an awestruck grin. “Anyway, I’ll let you shower, sorry. You’re not some specimen for me to gawk at.”

“No, it’s alright. I don’t mind you being curious about me.”

You weren’t sure what to say to that, so you gave him a nod and another smile before leaving the bathroom and heading into the kitchen.

By the time Jungwoo was done with his shower, you had made a couple hefty stacks of pancakes, cut up some fruit, and grabbed a jar of Nutella for good measure, remembering his comment about preferring sweets. You filled up two tall glasses of ice water before also making a cup of tea for yourself. You briefly contemplated running to the boba place around the corner, but it was exactly then that you heard the shower turn off, and thought better of it. Jungwoo emerged in a pair of Jaehyun’s jeans and a slouchy, grey crewneck sweater, looking startlingly human, except for the occasional glint of iridophores on his cheeks and nose. His hair was still a bit damp as he came over to curiously inspect the two plates you had placed on your kitchen counter.

“Pancakes and fruit. Grab a plate and sit wherever, I don’t have a table. I usually eat at the couch.” You gestured. Jungwoo followed your lead and sat in the corner of your couch as you plopped down in your armchair. You cracked open your jar of Nutella, offering it out to him.

“What is that?” He questioned, sniffing the air tentatively.

“Chocolate hazelnut spread,” you stuck a spoon in it. “It’s sweet. You’ll probably like it. Most people do.”

He put some on a small part of a pancake, and tried a bite, then immediately dove back in to slather the rest of his pancakes in it.

“Alien with a sweet tooth,” you chuckled to yourself, digging into your own breakfast.

“You don’t have to… stay with me,” Jungwoo told you between bites. “I remember you telling your friends that you were tired of human interaction. I believe that it’s a common human social nicety to entertain house guests, but you won’t offend me if you wish to be alone.”

“That’s… considerate,” you chuckled. “But the operative word there is human. You’re an alien, so I’m not tired of you yet, Jungwoo.”

“Really?”

“Yep,” you grinned at him, popping a piece of fruit in your mouth.

“May I ask… Why am I staying with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“From what Mark and Donghyuck were saying, it sounds like there were many of your friends there last night when my ship crashed. How did it happen that I ended up here with you?”

“Finders keepers, I guess,” you laughed. Jungwoo gave you a funny sort of look at that, which prompted you to further explain. “I’m the one who found your ship in the first place and wanted to look inside at all. I don’t know how much you remember, but I’m kind of the one who pulled you out. Some of the other guys helped me, don’t get me wrong, but if they had their way, you would’ve been left in there. So, I found you, you’re my responsibility. Finders keepers.”

“Ah, I see.”

Your phone buzzed then, and you saw that it was Doyoung calling. “Oh, that’s Doyoung, I’ve got to take this. Sorry, hold on.” Standing up, you didn’t go very far as you walked over to the living room window to look out over the city as you answered. “Hi, Doie, what’s up?”

“Y/N, hey. How’s your alien?” Your friend asked.

“Fine, all things considering.”

“He alive?”

“Alive, awake, eating, talking, the whole shebang.”

“Shit, really?!”

“Uh-huh,” you confirmed, holding your phone mic-out towards Jungwoo, “Jungwoo, say hi to Doyoung?”

Jungwoo covered his mouth as he quickly chewed and swallowed, then called out, “Hello, Doyoung!”

You brought your phone back up to your ear just in time to hear your friend react. “Holy shit!”

“So what’d you find out from your dad? How much of the ship survived?”

“A lot,” he told you. “They’re calling it a hoax, and they’re not letting news reporters get footage. Apparently they don’t want to encourage any copycats. After putting out the fire, they haven’t let anybody on board. They’re just keeping it cordoned off until the police chief and my dad decide what to do with it. Right now it’s a crime scene while they investigate it as an arson case.”

“But the fire’s been put out, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you know anything about how it’s being watched?”

“A couple cops at night, I think.” Doyoung’s voice was guarded. “You’re going to sneak the alien back there, aren’t you?”

“He has to get home somehow, Doyoung,” you insisted. “Unless you think we should steal a spaceship from somewhere else that’s fit for intergalactic travel?”

“Hey, I’m not disagreeing with the whole ‘get the alien back home’ idea,” he said defensively. “Just don’t get arrested while you’re at it, alright? Johnny would have a stroke.”

“Yeah, I know, he nearly had one last night and this morning playing alien doctor,” you sighed. “I don’t think he’d bail me and Jungwoo out of jail if it came to it.”

“Call Yuta for your one phone call if you need. He’s good for it.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Or Taeyong, he probably wouldn’t hold it over my head.”

“Good point. Or, even better—don’t get arrested in the first place.”

“Plan A: Don’t get arrested. Plan B: Taeyong. Plan C: Yuta. Plan D: You. Plan E: Jaehyun, who would definitely bring Johnny with him.”

“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out,” Doyoung chuckled. “I’ll leave you and Spock to it then.”

“He has a name, you know.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have all the right flaps, right?”

“Who told you? Donghyuck? Mark?”

“Johnny. He called on the way to work to ask if I knew anything about the ship.”

“Huh…”

“Anyway, I’ll leave you and Stitch be. Holler if you need something.”

“You’re hilarious. You’re fucking hilarious,” you rolled your eyes, hanging up. Plopping back down in your armchair, you relayed the pertinent parts of your conversation to Jungwoo. “According to Doyoung, a lot of your ship survived the explosion. They’ve put the fire out, but there will probably be a couple cops patrolling it at night, so we’ll have to be careful when we go check it out tonight. Until then, I guess we’ll just hang out. Sound good? How are you feeling? How’s your side? Do you need more bandages after showering? I can call Johnny up, probably swing by his office and get some more or see if he can come by on his lunch and take a look at you? Maybe bring some more morphine?”

“I don’t need any more bandages,” Jungwoo shook his hand, lifting the sweatshirt to allow you to see how he’s healed so far. There was still a considerable amount of bruising, but the skin had entirely mended itself, no evidence of a scab, only a dark, puffy scar.

“Does it still hurt?” You asked with a sympathetic grimace. “I know you said you take longer to heal internally than on the outside. I can probably convince him to bring some more morphine for you. I don’t know what your metabolism is like compared to ours, or even how much he gave you last time. I mean, are you in pain?”

“It is painful,” he admitted, dropping his shirt again. “But I don’t—I’ll be fine.”

“Jungwoo, if it hurts—”

“Not that bad.”

You felt a bit mean for this, but you reached out to poke his side, and he immediately let out a yelp, covering his wound and ducking away from you.

“What did you do that for?” He asked you, jaw dropped.

“You liar,” you scoffed, bringing your phone out. “I’m texting Johnny.”

“He will administer it the same way as last time, won’t he?” Jungwoo questioned quietly, stopping your typing.

You put your phone down. “Probably, yeah. He’s not… used to letting people drink that stuff.”

“Then I will be fine without it.”

“Even if I hold your hand again? You can’t do another one?” You asked. “I’ll talk to you, you can squeeze my hand like a stress ball—or we’ll get you a real stress ball, whatever you want.”

He was silent, and you let out a sigh.

“Jungwoo, I don’t like seeing you hurt, you know,” you shook your head, cutting off a piece of your pancakes with the side of your fork, lifting it to your mouth. “But it’s up to you, I’m not going to hold you down and make him stick you or anything.”

With a flash of iridophores, Jungwoo’s head turned, and his eyes were focused back on you, his hands wringing together. “I’ll do it.”

Your jaw stopped mid-bite. “Wait, seriously?”

“Yes. If Johnny agrees. I get the impression he doesn’t like me very much…”

“No, no, he likes you just fine, I promise!” You reassured him, reaching forward to pat his knee. “I just stress him out, that’s all. I’ll text him right now, okay? We’ll get you feeling better in no time!”

“Can’t believe he’s making us come to him,” you grumbled, pushing your way through the sidewalks with Jungwoo’s arm around your shoulders. “You literally have bruised ribs and fell from the fucking sky last night.”

“I don’t mind,” Jungwoo tried to be diplomatic, even as he held his side with his free hand. “He’s doing me a favor.”

“He’s being an asshole.” You tried to match Jungwoo’s slow, hobbling pace. “Making you come all the way across the city in pain. Risking you being out in public. Goddamn asshole.”

“I don’t mind,” your companion repeated, looking up past the visor of the baseball cap you’d put on him to conceal his glinting iridophore flecks as best as possible. “I haven’t seen much of Earth. Your sky is beautiful. Is it always blue?”

“During the day, yeah, usually. What color is Galaria’s?”

“A bright violet.” He was leaning more of his weight on you, and you stepped into the alcove of a shop door to rest for a moment. The crowd continued hurrying by you as you leaned against the wall and Jungwoo leaned against you.

“Purple sky?” You repeated, staring up at the crystalline blue expanse above you and trying to picture it.

“Yes, most of the time.”

“That sounds really gorgeous.”

“I suppose it is.”

You looked over at him curiously. “You don’t think so?”

“Well, I suppose I’m just so used to it… I don’t know,” he shrugged, looking back to the clear aqua sky above you. “I quite like your blue sky.”

“I think I’d like to see your purple sky someday,” you hummed thoughtfully.

“Really?”

“Yeah, as long as you could bring me back,” you shrugged. “Always wanted to travel.”

Jungwoo blinked down at you, and you shook your head with a chuckle.

“Sorry, that probably sounded like I was asking to run away with you or something. And you’re like, in a bunch of pain,” you laughed at yourself. “I should stop blabbing and get you to the man with the morphine. You ready to keep going?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

At Johnny’s animal clinic, you had to stay in the waiting room while he finished up with a patient. After he handed the dog back to its owner, and dismissed the front desk attendee for their lunch break, he finally gestured the two of you back. You helped Jungwoo up from his seat, wrapping his arm back around you so you could slowly follow your friend into the back. Johnny held the door open for you all as he led the way into the exam room. You could tell the morphine had been wearing off faster and faster, even though Jungwoo hadn’t said anything. He had been favoring his side more and more, and vocalizing noises of pain more frequently as the day wore on.

“How is it?” Johnny was nice enough to ask as you helped Jungwoo half-sit and half-lean on the exam table. You’d seen some pretty big animals on this thing, you were pretty sure it could handle him.

“Fine,” Jungwoo hissed.

“He’s not bleeding on the outside anymore, but everything’s still pretty banged up internally,” you answered honestly, shooting Jungwoo a pointed look. “Do you think you could like x-ray him while we’re here? See if anything’s broken?”

Johnny stopped where he had been getting supplies from some drawers. “Would x-rays kill him?”

“I mean, you traveled through space, right? Isn’t there a bunch of radiation there?” You asked Jungwoo hopefully. “Johnny can take some pictures of you with x-rays, right?”

“Yes, that will be fine,” Jungwoo nodded minutely.

And so Johnny moved around his portable x-ray machine to take a few images of Jungwoo’s side where the pain was most concentrated. You had to stand outside the room while it was being done, but as soon as Johnny gave you the thumbs-up, you rushed back in, helping Jungwoo sit back up. Johnny took the lead vest back off, leaving him in his white coat again as he went back over to the imaging machine.

“Okay, here we go,” Johnny muttered, clicking a few things on the computer to pull up the images. “Remember, I’m not a human doctor, and definitely not an alien doctor.”

“We know, Johnny,” you retorted.

The first image came up, and you yourself weren’t any kind of doctor, but that definitely didn’t look right. A dark line going right down what you assumed to be a rib, splitting it all the way through. “Yep, your rib’s broken,” Johnny declared, pointing to the severance.

Jungwoo’s brow furrowed with concern. “It shouldn’t—”

“Yeah, no shit. Remember, dude, you fell out of the sky twelve hours ago, I’m surprised you’re alive.”

“No, I should be more healed than that.”

“You said that the lack of hydrogen in the atmosphere was making it so your body couldn’t produce as much natural painkillers, remember? Maybe something is making you heal a bit slower, too,” you suggested reassuringly. “I’m sure you’ll be fine, it’ll just be a little longer.”

“That’s probably it,” Johnny agreed. “Are you eating enough? I know Y/N only has that vegan crap at her house, you probably need a real meal—”

“His whole planet is vegetarian, you dick.” You flipped him off. “You’d probably kill him if you gave him a steak.”

“Alright, damn,” he held his hands up with a laugh. “Let me just shoot him up with morphine and you two can get out of here, huh? I’ll do a double dose from last time.”

“I need to be able to get him home, John,” you said frankly.

“I’ll drive you.”

“Alright,” you nodded, then looked to the alien. “Sound good Jungwoo? Twice as much as last time? So hopefully it’ll last a bit longer?”

He nodded, his eyes fixated on Johnny as the human had gone back to getting the supplies for the injection. You grabbed his hand without prompting, flashing him a bright smile as you tried to come up with something to talk about to distract him. “So, how else are Earth and Galaria different?” You asked him. “The skies are different colors, we know that. What about the oceans? Do you guys have oceans?”

“Yes, we do.”

“Ours are blue, for the most part. Or, a blue-green.”

“We have—oh,” he wrinkled his nose, but didn’t look away from you. “Pink seas.”

“I think we have a pink sea too, somewhere!” You perked up. “I’d have to look it up, but I’m pretty sure somewhere has pink water. It might be a lake, actually, not a proper sea. Don’t quote me on it…”

Jungwoo smiled at that. “I won’t hold you to it, then.”

“What about like, glaciers? Do you have those? Really big floating chunks of ice in the ocean?”

“Galaria is mostly frozen tundra…”

“Damn, really?! How cold is it there? Wait, there’s like, no way we use anywhere near the same units of measurement for temperature. Your transcoder probably couldn’t help with that, huh?”

“No, we presumably don’t use the temperature scale.”

“All done,” Johnny announced, scooting his chair back and disposing of his needle and gloves. “I’ll take you two home now.”

“Thanks, Johnny.” You smiled up at him, helping Jungwoo up. “How are you feeling, Jungwoo?”

The Galarii took a couple slow blinks. “Mm… starting to feel better…”

“You said morphine doesn’t make you high, does it make you tired?” You questioned, following Johnny out towards the back where his car was parked in the alley.

“Not usually… but my body hasn’t been doing what it’s supposed to be doing the whole time I’ve been here…” he said slowly, narrowly missing hitting his head on the roof as you helped him into the backseat. You scooted in after him, encouraging him to lean against you after you’d buckled him up.

Johnny took off quickly through the streets, occasionally watching the two of you in the rearview mirror. Outside your apartment building, he helped you unload a half-awake Jungwoo, the alien rousing himself just enough to climb the stairs. Giving your friend a final thank-you and goodbye at the entrance to your apartment, you tugged Jungwoo back into your home, guiding him once again back to your bed.

“Come on, time for a nap,” you sighed, encouraging him to lay down. “You need to rest up, dude.”

“Y/N?” He murmured, grabbing your forearm as you went to walk away to leave him in peace.

“Yes?” You stopped, looking down at him attentively. “Do you need something, Jungwoo? Water? Food?”

“Will you just… sit with me? And talk to me? Until I go to sleep?” He requested. “I… find your company soothing.”

“Oh.” You shifted your weight uncertainly between your feet, but acquiesced nevertheless, scooting onto the corner of the mattress near his head. “Sure, Jungwoo. Here, I’ll look up those pink oceans I was talking about, see if I was right.”

And so you read some Wikipedia articles to Jungwoo about various pink lakes and beaches until his eyes fluttered shut, his breathing evened out, and you were more than certain that he was asleep. But even after you were sure he was fast asleep, and you stopped reading the article aloud, you stayed right there, silently scrolling on your phone and occasionally looking from your screen over to his face. Because for some reason that you couldn’t put your finger on, you sort of found his presence calming, too.

When it seemed as though Jungwoo was stirring, you quickly got up from your spot and scurried from the room, feeling a bit weird about sitting and watching him sleep the whole time. You had a feeling that he wouldn’t have minded, but you didn’t want it to be a fact known to anybody but you that you had done that. Truly, you didn’t even want to really admit it to yourself, either. And so, when Jungwoo finally wandered out of your bedroom some hours later, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he found you tucked into the corner of your couch, in the middle of an episode of a TV show, as if you had been doing that the whole time.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” you greeted him nonchalantly, pausing the episode. “How’d you sleep?”

“Mm, well,” his reply was punctuated by a yawn.

“And how are you feeling?”

“I’m still feeling the painkiller effect, but I am no longer tired.”

“So, do you think you’ll be up for checking out your ship tonight?” You checked the time on your phone. “We can probably eat dinner then head out after.”

“Yes, I would very much like to see it.”

“Cool, let’s do it.”

After eating another modest meal prepared by you, you and Jungwoo headed out. The streets weren’t as busy at night, and with Jungwoo moving fully of his own power again, the two of you were able to make your way through them much quicker. The intel you got from Doyoung was good, the entire expanse of beach was roped off with police tape, and one officer was stationed on either side of the shoreline. Because of how far the fire had spread through the trees, the officers were pretty far from where you remembered the ship being. Getting in and out would be the tricky part, but once you were in, you were certain they would be none the wiser that somebody was there.

Jungwoo followed you silently, and you finally found what you were looking for. The old public access to the beach. When you were little, everyone used to have to take a steep staircase that started right off the highway. After a particular heavy rainy season that brought rockslides from the mountain up above, it was deemed entirely unusable by the city, all markers for it taken away, left in disrepair, and a new, much safer one was made further down the road. There was a ‘CAUTION: ROCKSLIDES’ sign nearby, which is how you knew you were in the right place. The best part was that it was right in the middle of the thicket of trees, meaning that as long as you were quick, you should be able to drop right in undetected.

All boardwalks and rope that had been spared by rockslides and Mother Nature over the years were left untouched by the city government, and you were able to start the steep descent like normal. It was about a third of the way down that things started getting dicey, broken pieces of wood, large gaps that you had to step over, and several areas where you had to test the steadiness of rocks before putting your weight on it because there was no manmade material for you to step on at all. When you and Jungwoo got to the place where the path would’ve diverted to the beach instead of dropping you right into the trees, you bit your bottom lip and resisted cursing aloud. It was a steep drop from where you were. It was too dark for you to see where the ground was, but instinct and memory told you it was too steep for you to just jump down. Looking around desperately, you realized there was a much shallower incline further down the trail, but it was close to where one of the officers was patrolling. You were already too near him for your liking.

A distant voice humming got closer and closer, and you held your breath and held your position, keeping your eyes peeled in the direction of the noise for any sign of movement through the trees. You never did see the police officer, but eventually the humming got further away again, until you stopped hearing it, and you made a break for the shallow area, sliding down the mostly sandy, occasionally rocky hill on your butt. You heard the sounds of Jungwoo hurrying after you, but didn’t look behind you until you were sure you two were well concealed in the trees again. Glancing up at him, you saw his chest heaving, and motioned for him to keep quiet as you listened to the officer run back over towards the road end of his side.

The crackle of a walkie-talkie, then a distant voice. “Hey, I think I heard something. You hear anything?”

After a second, his buddy responded, his voice slightly garbled through the walkie-talkie speaker. “Yeah, you heard a rock fall down the mountain. Rockslide area. Been hearing them all night.”

“Damn, you’re right. Thanks.” And he was gone again.

You took off through the brush at a brisk pace, knowing that Jungwoo would be right behind you. The ship was easy to find, with the concentration of charred and blackened foliage getting greater and greater the closer you got to it. When you finally found it, the spaceship was mostly intact, which the size of the explosion from last night did not lead you to believe. Jungwoo let out a sigh of relief, and did a quick walk-around first. It was when you got to the tail that you saw why there had been such a huge fireball. Four huge canisters that must have housed something flammable were nothing more than metallic flowers now, the material burst open and curling over on itself from the force of the explosion.

“The reactors…” Jungwoo breathed out.

You chewed on your bottom lip, asking quietly, “Is it fixable?”

“I don’t want to say anything until I see the inside.”

You followed him around to the side, where he pressed a button that you had missed last night on account of it being entirely smooth and looking like nothing more than a random dot. A set of hand and foot rails emerged seamlessly from the surface of the hull for you to climb up with. Once the two of you were up at the cockpit, Jungwoo pressed another button up there, and the ladder seemed to melt back into the metal of the ship once again. The glass was still propped open, making it very easy for you to hop down into the ship. Whatever red flashing warning lights that were going off before had deactivated, leaving it in pitch black, and you immediately brought out your phone to turn the flashlight on.

“Ah, thank you,” Jungwoo said as you pointed it at wherever he looked.

“I told you, I’m your flashlight girl,” you grinned.

As he looked over many different panels and controls in the cockpit, you drank in every detail with fascination. While the button on the outside of the ship had functioned seemingly almost like a touchscreen, the ones in here looked analog at least, though you couldn’t figure out for the life of you what a single one was for. You kept your hands to yourself. Jungwoo finally pressed a button, and a screen lit up, one that quaintly reminded you of computers from the nineties in its size and resolution. As he navigated through the program, you watched with interest. He sat down in one of the two chairs, and indicated to the other one for you. You eagerly sat. It was remarkably comfy.

“You seem to be very close to Johnny,” he commented abruptly, spamming one button in particular with a bit of frustration.

“We’re all really close.” You nodded, and the program finally loaded the next screen. “But yeah, I guess John and I are a bit different. Our parents are all friends, so we’ve been friends since we were little. He’s had to deal with my bullshit for our whole lives. We even call each other’s parents Aunt and Uncle, that kind of thing.”

“He is… similar to your cousin?”

“Sort of? I don’t know, he was kind of like a built-in older brother.” A sheepish smile tugged at the corner of your mouth as you reminisced in childhood memories. “People in our neighborhood and at school did actually think we were cousins. He’s a few years older than me, and I was a bit of a troublemaker. I remember he’d pull me away from getting into fights with kids way bigger than me, or when I’d talk back to teachers, the head teacher always brought the both of us in for a scolding. Something about how he should be keeping his younger cousin in check, too. Poor guy. He took it like a champ. We came to an agreement that he wouldn’t tell my parents if I stopped getting in trouble so much.”

“You’re not so unruly anymore.”

“Oh, I’ve still got a bit of a rebellious streak,” you chuckled. “Johnny always says I’m going to make him go grey. I mean, you and I are literally on a crime scene right now. And I pulled an alien out of a spaceship that was about to explode last night.”

“I suppose that’s true…” Jungwoo trailed off, brow furrowing as what looked like a schematic of some sort came up on the screen. “Hm.”

“Something wrong?”

“Mixed results.”

“What?”

“There are some bad things and some good things.”

“Tell me the bad stuff first.”

“What?”

“When somebody says ‘I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news,’ they’re supposed to let you pick if you want to hear the good news or the bad news first,” you explained the small colloquialism. “I want the bad news first, so we can end on the good stuff.”

“I see…” he hummed, clicking a few more things. “The bad news is… I will need to reconstruct the reactors and make other minor repairs.”

“And how long will that take?”

“I do not know Earth measurements of time.”

“You’ve been on Earth for one day now. How many of those do you think it’ll take?”

He took a moment to think about this, then eventually answered, “Twenty to thirty? Maybe more, maybe less, I’m unsure, I was asleep for much of the ‘day’ that I experienced.”

You nodded. “Okay. And the good news?”

“There was no serious structural damage to the hull or critical systems of the ship. Once I reconstruct the reactors and make those repairs, I will be able to leave.”

“That’s great news, Jungwoo!” You beamed, holding up a hand for him. He uncertainly put his palm against yours and laced your fingers together, eyes flicking around the ship nervously. You burst into laughter. “I wasn’t trying to hold your hand again, sorry. It’s a high-five. It’s celebratory, friendly.”

“Ah. My apologies. How do you do that, then?” He took his hand back from yours.

“I put my hand up for you, and you hit your palm to mine pretty hard. You’re trying to make a—” you clapped your own two hands together “—sound.”

“I think I understand.”

“Okay, take two.” You held your hand up, and he gingerly tapped his hand to yours. Once again, you couldn’t help but giggle fondly. “Yeah, pretty much. A for effort,” you declared. “So, anything else you need to do right now? Or is that it for tonight?”

“I wish I could begin working right now, however I will need lots of materials for the reactors.”

“Let’s get out of here, we can talk about what kind of stuff you need and where to get it on the way home.”

“So is your brother older or younger?” You asked as you and Jungwoo took a more leisurely pace back to your apartment.

“I’m sorry?” Jungwoo tilted his head, as if he hadn’t heard you, which was weird, considering he was already looking at you when you turned to ask him that.

“Your brother whose ship you took. Is he older than you or younger?”

“I… don’t know.” He frowned thoughtfully.

You balked. “You don’t know?”

“No. It’s not something we’re told on Galaria.”

“But—” You laughed out of habit as your brain tried to process this information. “What? Why?”

“It’s not important.”

“I mean, I guess not. But like, it is!”

“Why?”

“I mean, some cultures here have entire systems of honorifics that you call people based on your age relative to theirs. But just—” You were still staring at him. “Don’t you know how old your brother is?”

“I know his birthday.”

“But not how old he is?”

“I… suppose not.” He shrugged. “That’s all kept somewhere.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just difficult for me to wrap my head around. You’re not allowed to know your brother’s age—”

“I’m allowed to know,” he corrected you. “If we were to learn somehow now, it would be fine. There’s no punishment for it. But it’s just not something that we grow up knowing. Nobody is referred to as the older or younger.”

“Do you remember your brother being born?”

“No.”

“Was he in a higher grade than you in school?”

“School is based on ability, not age.” It was his turn to look at you with bewilderment. “You move up in levels as your learning progresses, not your physical body. Is that how it works here?”

“We keep kids who are the same age together, yeah.”

“Fascinating.”

“What about siblings that have big age gaps? Where you can totally tell who’s older and who’s younger?” You asked. “Or step-siblings? Like, you already knew their age and then your parents got together?”

“Again, it’s not forbidden to know a sibling’s age,” Jungwoo reiterated. “It’s just not… important.”

“So if your brother is a controversial politician… What are you?” It felt like you could ask him questions forever and never run out. “You never did tell me that earlier.”

“My profession?”

“Yeah. What do you for work?”

“Specialized cargo transport.”

“Uh…” You blinked up at him. “You know that sounds really shady, right?”

“When people need things transported across galaxies, typically under time constraints, or with specific instructions, they come to me.” He tried to explain it further.

“What kind of stuff have you transported, then?”

“Anything from fuel, to an engagement comb, to produce from someone’s home planet that they were missing after moving elsewhere,” he shrugged.

“So you’re like an intergalactic DHL driver,” you laughed. “Sounds fun, I guess. You’ve been to a lot of places, then?”

“Yes, many different planets and cities and galaxies.”

“And this is your first time on Earth?”

“I haven’t had a reason to come to this solar system before. Your planet isn’t exactly involved in intergalactic trade. So, I might not have another chance to visit.”

“Nobody’s requesting any black market Earth commodities?”

“I guess… we don’t really know what’s here. Nobody’s ever put in the effort to find out, I suppose.”

You couldn’t help but laugh again. “We’re just not interesting enough, huh? Can’t even make it on the niche alien knickknack market.”

Jungwoo smiled a little. “That tends to be a good thing, in my experience.”

The two of you were walking through a night market at that point, and you perked up as you saw a particular stall. Your dinner earlier hadn’t included a dessert for Jungwoo. You stopped him, pointing to the ice cream stand. “Ooh, hey, you want something sweet?”

“Sweet…?” He peered over the crowd to try to see what they were serving.

“Yeah, dessert. Ice cream. Want some? They’ve got toppings too.” You pulled him into the line as you talked. “You can get sprinkles and candy, or even entire brownies as toppings. And they’ve got some really good flavors.”

“Which flavor do you like?”

“Peanut butter cup and green tea are my two favorites. But you can only get one flavor at a time here,” you sighed wistfully, getting on your tiptoes to look at their options again. “I think I’m going to do green tea today…”

With your own green tea cone and Jungwoo’s peanut butter cup selection in hand, the two of you started back down the streets together. You watched with interest as Jungwoo took his first tentative lick off the scoop, his face lighting up with delight.

“It’s good!” He declared happily. “We have something similar... on Galaria.”

“If your planet is mostly frozen tundra...” you paused to eat some of your own ice cream. “Is most of your food hot or cold?”

He seemed to contemplate this for a moment. “I don’t know...”

“It’s okay, Jungwoo,” you laughed at how hard he seemed to be thinking about it. “I wouldn’t be able to answer that about Earth food. It wasn’t a very fair question, I think.”

“Still, I feel bad that I can’t answer your question.”

“It’s fine, really,” you promised, squeezing his arm. “It’s not going to keep me up at night.”

The next day, after another injection from Johnny on the vet’s way into work, you took Jungwoo to Yuta’s garage. There was no way you would be of any serious help when it came to furnishing him with parts for his ship, nor did you really want him just walking into your local hardware store asking for alien spaceship parts. Today seemed to be a slow day, as only one of Yuta’s coworkers was there, firmly wedged under a car on the other side of the garage, loudly playing music from a speaker, so you weren’t worried about him eavesdropping on your conversation so long as you kept your voices low. Jungwoo and Yuta had a slightly rocky start, obviously using different terminology, but eventually got on the same page, leaving you in the dust as they started going over various specifications and parts. You zoned out, taking over Yuta's chair and kicking up your feet on his workbench as you let their words go in one ear and out the other.

“Hey,” Yuta’s hand came down on your head, catching your attention again.

You craned your neck back to look up at him. “Yeah?”

“I’ve given him everything I had in stock, there’s a few things you guys will have to pick up at a shop,” he explained, and you turned around to see Jungwoo loaded up with a duffel bag that he hadn’t walked in with. “I wrote everything out so you know how to ask for it in human.”

“Thanks, Yuta.” You stood up and got out your wallet. “How much do I owe you for the parts?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“What? But—”

“Hey, we all want to help him get home.” He held his hands up, backing away from your money. “Just doing my part.”

You narrowed your eyes at him knowingly. “Uh-huh... very charitable... What’s the catch?”

“Well, I’m going on this date tomorrow, and—”

“Pass.”

“You didn’t even hear me out!”

“I’m assuming the girl wants to bring a friend, you’re trying to turn it into a double date,” you snorted. “The last time I went on a double date with you—”

“No, not you,” Yuta waved you off. “Jungwoo!”

“Excuse me?”

Your friend had already sidled up to the alien, throwing an arm around his shoulders. “What do you think? Date with an Earth girl? You’re only going to be here for so long...”

You rubbed your face in exasperation. “Yuta, you do remember that we don’t want people to find out that we have an alien here, right?”

“We can say he’s from out of town.”

“What is wrong with you?” You stared at him incredulously. “Just bring Johnny, or Jae, or any of your other ten million single human loser friends.”

“You’re not Jungwoo’s mom,” Yuta snorted.

“Well, no—”

“There we go, Jungwoo, do you want to go?” Yuta focused his question on Jungwoo instead.

Jungwoo’s eyes shifted nervously between you and Yuta. “Uhm, well...”

“Okay, I hate to be crude here, but keeping in mind how your successful dates usually look, Yuta,” you cut in again pointedly, “We can’t risk exposing what Jungwoo is. Doesn’t matter if we say he’s from out of town.”

Yuta raised an eyebrow at you. “Wow, Y/N, didn’t think you’d bring up the alien dick angle first.”

You groaned as your face burned. “You’re the worst. Why’d you have to say it?”

“Pretty sure you said it—”

“Will you drop it?!”

“I don’t want to go!” Jungwoo interjected loudly, stopping yours and Yuta’s bickering. “I don’t want to go. Uhm, thank you for the invitation, Yuta, really. But I’d rather not...”

Yuta shrugged. “Alright. I’m pretty sure Doyoung’s free.”

Your skin was still on fire as you left Yuta’s garage. He didn’t end up making you pay, despite neither of you fulfilling his need for a double-date partner. You were pretty sure the embarrassment of that conversation was payment enough in his mind. As you and Jungwoo headed for the nearest hardware store, you swallowed down some of your discomfort, unable to imagine how Jungwoo was feeling in that moment.

“I’m sorry about him, Jungwoo,” you sighed. “He shouldn’t have dragged you into all that.”

He looked down at you curiously. “Do you frequently feel the need to apologize for others’ behavior?”

You blinked at him, caught off-guard. “Uhm... What?”

“You apologized for Donghyuck and Mark being excited and a bit overzealous—in your opinion—when they met me. Now you’re apologizing for Yuta asking for a favor that was inappropriate—again, in your opinion. Do you do that a lot? Feel responsible for what your friends do or say to other people?”

“Well... I mean, no,” you stared down at the shopping list in your hand hard as you thought. “I guess... I’m embarrassed that they’re not behaving better around you.”

“You’re embarrassed of your friends?”

“No, I like them. I like my friends, or I wouldn’t be their friend.” You bit the inside of your cheek. “I mean... they’re not treating you like someone they just met. They’re treating you like they’ve known you for as long as they’ve known the rest of us. You’re supposed to ease into that stuff so you don’t scare people off.”

“That makes me happy,” Jungwoo declared, a soft smile on his face as he looked down at you.

“What? Why?”

“Both that your friends would want to be familiar with me and not treat me like an outsider, and that you’re afraid of their behavior making me uncomfortable,” he explained. “You don’t want me to leave. Of course that makes me happy.”

You felt your eyes widen as you looked up at him. “Well, I mean, I do want you to leave, eventually. Obviously, I want you to go home. But I mean, yeah, I want your time here to be nice, you know? I don’t want you to be back home on Galaria thinking about your time on Earth being bad.”

A strange look flickered across the spaceman’s face then, you could’ve almost sworn it was pained, before the same serene smile came back. “I think I’ll remember my time on Earth very fondly. Really.”

You looped your arm with his, trying to shake the memory of the odd look on his face from your mind, playfully bumping your shoulder into him. “Well then let’s get you off Earth so you can start looking back on it, hm?”

After getting your last few things at the hardware store, you had to wait for the sun to go down before heading back to the beach. The path down to the ship was even more treacherous now that the two of you were loaded up with supplies, but you finally made it there in one piece. Jungwoo didn’t stop in the cockpit this time, leading the way towards the back of the ship, through the narrow hallway. He pressed a button outside a doorway, then when nothing happened, pressed it again. Nothing. He banged his fist against it a couple of times, cursing under his breath.

“What’s in there?” You asked.

“It’s the crew quarters,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “There’s a desk in there. We’ll be a lot more cramped working in the cockpit, but apparently this circuitry got affected too.”

“But we can still do it, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah, yeah.”

You turned around to head back to the front of the ship. “Then let’s get started.”

Jungwoo seemed to be able to do much of the repairs on his own. You shone the flashlight on the work area, handed him tools and parts when requested, or held small pieces so they didn’t roll away from him. It was a bit cramped sitting on the floor of the cockpit behind the seats, it obviously wasn’t designed with this purpose in mind, and Jungwoo’s long limbs only made the space feel even smaller.

“Can you move the light here?” He requested, pointing to the side of the device that was facing him.

You scooted closer, trying to maneuver your phone around without blocking his vision with it. “How’s that?”

He shook his head. “I still can’t—”

“Hold on.” You scooted around behind him instead, pointing the flashlight from over his shoulder. “What about this?”

Jungwoo was quiet for a beat, and you peered around to try to look him in the eye.

“Jungwoo?”

“That’s perfect,” he answered, eyes focused down at object in his hands. “Is your arm getting tired?”

That was the first time you really noticed the ache in your limb from holding up your phone for so long. “Yeah, a little, I guess.”

“You can rest it on my shoulder, if you want.”

“Oh, thanks.” You lowered your arm until it was propped up by his shoulder, making sure you adjusted your grip on your phone to keep your light on the same place. “Light still good?”

“Yes, thank you.”

As he kept working, you quietly watched his deft fingers move over the pieces. “So how do you know how to do all this?”

“I fly a lot,” he answered, his attention held by the parts in his hands as he was trying to precisely line up two of them.

“Yeah, but I mean, I have a driver’s license and I couldn’t change a flat tire, gun to my head, much less fix up the whole car if I crashed it off the side of a mountain,” you scoffed.

“You’re allowed to pilot a vehicle that you’re unable to repair yourself?”

“We have mechanics and stuff for that. Are you saying you’re not allowed to get your spaceship pilot’s license or whatever on Galaria without knowing how to build one from scratch?”

“You’re required to have a certain engineering proficiency to get your solo pilot’s license, yes.”

“Ah, you have a specialty license, then.”

“Yes, I do. It’s a requirement in case you ever find yourself in circumstances like this.”

“Crash landed on an alien planet and stranded with a busted ship?”

“Yes.”

You noticed that he had paused his machinations as you were talking. “Sorry, am I distracting you?”

“No, this is all I can do tonight. The adhesive needs to cure for some time before I can continue working.” He carefully set the part down. “I should be able to resume tomorrow night, I believe.”

“Sounds good to me.” You yawned and stretched your arms over your head. “I’ve got work tomorrow anyway.”

“And what job do you do?” Jungwoo asked with intrigue as the two of you stood up.

“Reception at a law firm.” You could feel your nose habitually wrinkle with disdain.

“You don’t like it?” He immediately surmised.

Thankfully, the two of you were climbing out of the ship then, and had to stay silent through your trek up from the beach. You had time to think about how to answer his question as you climbed back up to the main roadway.

Finally, as the two of you started the walk down the shoulder of the highway, you let out a huff and said, “The work is fine, I guess. Except I hate being talked down to and belittled by people on the phone who think I’m stupid just because they’re attorneys and I’m not, or because I’m a woman, or I’m young, or because I’m just a receptionist or whatever. And I hate when they start yelling at me for no fucking reason, and I hate when people are in the office and start being fucking rude to me and I’m supposed to just sit there and take it. And I hate that in between all of that, it’s fucking boring. It constantly fluctuates between being so stressful and so goddamn boring I want to bang my head against a wall either way.”

“So... you don’t like it?” he asked again, head tilted with clear confusion on his features.

“It’s a job,” you replied flatly. “I need to eat. Do you like your job?”

“Yes, quite,” he replied quietly. After a pause, he questioned, “What sort of work do you want to do, then?”

“I wish I didn’t have to.” You let out a cynical chuckle, looking up at the sparse dotting of stars above you as the hum of the city streets started up around you again. “I mean, I’ve always wanted to see more of the world, just do more, learn more. And now that I know that aliens are real—” You looked over at Jungwoo wistfully. “I don’t think I’ll ever be happy behind a desk again. You know?”

Jungwoo met your eyes, his lips parted as he couldn’t seem to respond for a moment.

You shook your head at yourself, looking back down at your feet and the concrete below them. Forcing humor back into your tone, you apologized, “Sorry, sorry. Of course you don’t know, you’re criss-crossing galaxies all the time, huh? You’ve got enough problems of your own right now anyway, you don’t need mine too.”

A large hand grabbed yours, cool to the touch and surprisingly firm as it squeezed yours. You could feel the callouses on Jungwoo’s hand where his skin pressed against yours. Shifting your gaze from your shoes back up to the alien, you furrowed your brow curiously, but made no move to pull away.

“Please, give them to me,” he said. “And when I leave, you can imagine that I’m taking all your problems with me, to somewhere very far away from here.”

It was your turn to be speechless for a moment, and the only thing that kept you from skidding to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk was the sea of other pedestrians keeping your momentum moving forward. Your skin got hotter, and you wondered if Jungwoo could feel it where he was holding your hand.

In an instinctive bid to diffuse the tension that was currently squeezing all the air from your lungs, you gave his shoulder a friendly bump as you teased, “Alright, well here’s a new problem: That’s quite possibly the most romantic thing anybody’s ever said to me, and I’m 100% sure you didn’t even do that on purpose.”

“I—”

“And our next problem—” You plowed right past whatever Jungwoo was about to say, still fighting the prickle along your skin where you knew his eyes were. “Unfortunately, it’s not Bring Your Alien to Work Day tomorrow, so do you think you’ll be okay at my apartment by yourself all day? Or do you want me to see if some of the guys can keep you company?”

“While I don’t want to inconvenience anybody, if somebody has time, I wouldn’t mind seeing more of the city.”

“Sure, I’ll find someone.” You immediately took your phone out to text your top choice.

[you: are you busy tomorrow? i need someone to hang out with jungwoo while im at work]

[yonggie: i have a few errands to run and a few of us were talking abt seeing a movie in the afternoon. he’s welcome to tag along!]

[yonggie: unless the grocery store and stuff is going too be too boring?? i can do it another day and we can do something else!]

[you: i just feel bad keeping him cooped up in my apartment by himself all day. im sure he’ll have plenty of fun going grocery shopping with you. he’s never seen a human grocery store, after all]

[yonggie: sounds like a plan! let him know i’ll be by around 10ish!]

[you: thanks yonggie, i owe you]

“Taeyong is free tomorrow,” you announced to Jungwoo. “You haven’t really met him yet, but he was there when we found you. You don’t mind tagging along with him while he runs a few errands, do you? He’ll be going all around the city, I’m sure. Oh, and it sounded like some of the guys might be doing a movie later, too.”

“Thank you, Y/N,” Jungwoo smiled down at you. “For everything.”

You smiled and lightly elbowed him again. “Like I said, I want you to have good memories of Earth.”

A few more days passed by like that, with you finding various friends to leave Jungwoo with during the day while you went to your dreadfully boring job, then the two of you would eat dinner together before heading off to the beach to work on his spaceship until late. Tonight in particular, you didn’t have much to help with, as he was able to prop up a spare flashlight you’d gotten from the hardware store for illumination as he worked.

“When do you think we’ll be done tonight?” You asked, spinning the cockpit seat around as you unfocused your eyes, letting the colorful lights become hazy blurs and streaks in your vision.

“Soon,” he answered shortly as he usually did when he was focused. “Do you have something you need to do?”

“The guys are going out.” You read the texts on your phone as they streamed in. “They invited me and you, by the way.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, Jaehyun just got promoted to assistant professor, so we’re celebrating.” You stopped your spinning to watch him work again, but found that he had stalled his ministrations. “It’ll be at least two or three nightclubs; if you’re not up for that, that’s fine.”

“They invited me?” He repeated, brow furrowed as he had clearly not been expecting that.

You couldn’t help but laugh and pat the back of his head fondly. “Yeah, Jungwoo, they like you. It’s also definitely a bit of novelty, you know—‘Hey let’s see if we can get the alien shitfaced’—but I won’t let them mess with you.”

“Yes, I’d like to go with you.” He smiled, looking back down at the contraption in his hands. “It won’t be much longer.”

Knocking on the front door of a very familiar apartment, you bounced on your toes as you waited for one of the occupants to answer. It was Johnny who opened the door, eyes lingering on Jungwoo behind you before he went to give you a hug. “Hey, kid. How are you?”

“Good, good. How are you, John?” You patted his back them dropped back down onto flat feet.

“Same old, you know?” He grinned and shrugged, then finally addressed Jungwoo. “Hey, man. How’s your side?”

“Fine, good. Thank you,” Jungwoo answered hastily, offering a polite nod.

“Jae!” You called into the apartment, latching onto Jungwoo’s wrist and dragging him over to Jaehyun’s closed bedroom door. You banged on the door. “Jaehyun! Come on, it’s me, your favorite!”

The door opened a second later, Jaehyun looking at you stone-faced as he buttoned up his shirt. “You claim you’re everyone’s favorite.”

“I am! Aren’t I?” You grinned.

“Can’t a guy get dressed in his own apartment in peace? Bother Johnny.” He was about to close the door in your face when you stuck your foot in the way.

“Can Jungwoo borrow some clothes?” You requested sweetly, batting your eyelashes at him.

Jaehyun looked the alien up and down skeptically. “He’s already wearing my clothes.”

“He can’t go to the club in a sweatshirt and jeans!”

Your friend sighed and opened the door wider, jerking his head in a gesture for you two to come in.

“Thank you!” You squealed, pulling Jungwoo in with you.

Jaehyun sat on his bed as you started rifling through his closet for something for Jungwoo to wear. Pulling a couple shirts down first, you held them up to the spaceman, humming to yourself as you compared how they looked on them. You clicked your tongue and shook your head, putting one back and looking for another. With two new shirts, you held them up again, nodding in satisfaction. “Yeah, I like that a lot better.”

“He’s not a doll, Y/N,” Jaehyun snorted. “Go ahead, Jungwoo, you can tell her not to play dress-up with you.”

Jungwoo rubbed the back of his neck, the iridophores on his cheeks flashing as he shifted awkwardly in place. “I don’t mind it, really…”

“And that’s how I ended up as the first and only victim of Y/N’s Barber Shop when I was eight.” Johnny had joined the three of you, leaning in the bedroom doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.

“You say that like your hair didn’t grow back,” you scoffed. “I didn’t take your ear off or anything.”

“Just my dignity.”

“And who gave me the scissors?”

Johnny held his hands up in surrender, making his roommate laugh.

“Johnny’s always been a pushover when it comes to Y/N,” Jaehyun explained to Jungwoo, still chuckling. “Ever since they were kids.”

“Alright guys, listen up!” You called for their focus loudly. “This is going to be one of the most important questions I ask you in our entire lives.”

Johnny and Jaehyun gave you two very similar amused but attentive looks, while Jungwoo beheld you with absolutely rapt attention.

You held up the two shirts that you had narrowed your selection to for Jungwoo. “White lace or black silk?”

“He’s not wearing those jeans, is he?” Johnny cocked his head.

“God no,” you shook your head. “Or the sneakers. I’m thinking simple black pants and boots. His necklace will go good with both, right?” You pointed to the gold transcoder that rested below his collarbones.

“White.” Jaehyun pointed.

“Black.” Johnny shrugged.

“Helpful.” You glared at them. Turning to Jungwoo, you held up the tops. “What do you think? Do you even like them at all? These are just my favorites, you can pick something else if you want.”

“I like them,” Jungwoo reassured you, fingertips gently running over the front of one shirt, then the other. “Which is your favorite?”

“I think the black silk?” You appraised it again. “Yeah, I like the neckline, and I think the material will move really nice for a night out, you know?”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

You handed him that hanger and put the other back in the closet where you found it. Looking at the owner of the room, you prompted, “Jae, you’ll get him the right pants and stuff, right?”

“Sure,” he nodded and stood up, teasing glint in his eye. “It’s not like we’re meant to be celebrating my accomplishments tonight or anything. I’m just a butler, really.”

“Great, thanks!” You grinned back, traipsing out of the room with Johnny.

A few minutes later, Jaehyun joined the two of you in the living room, sitting down on the couch and pulling his shoes on. “So, anything new, Y/N?” He asked innocently.

“You mean, other than the alien living in my apartment?” You raised an eyebrow at him. “Not really, work’s the same.”

“You’re still at that shit place?” Johnny didn’t hide his distaste of your workplace.

“Yup.” You replied flatly.

“I thought you said you were looking for new jobs.”

“One, you said that. I didn’t agree to anything. Two, I am, the job market sucks right now, John.”

“Have you even interviewed anywhere? Submitted your résumé?”

“God, not this again…” Jaehyun groaned from his spot between you two on the couch.

“Not everybody can inherit a veterinary practice once their mentor retires and have their life made,” you snapped, turning to glare at Johnny pointedly.

“My life’s made? I’m still paying off my student loans, you know that, right?” He scoffed. “Not to mention how much free morphine I’ve been giving your buddy in there just the past few days.”

“I told you I’ll pay you back once he’s better, you said not to worry about it, and now you’re holding it over my head!” You said in disbelief. “God, this is just like you!”

“‘Just like me?’”

“Yes, you always nag me about shit like you think I can’t do anything, and insist on handling things for me instead of letting me do it, then just turn right around to use that as further proof that I can’t do anything on my own!” You were about to launch to your feet when Jaehyun caught your arm and urged you back into your seat.

“Woah, woah,” Jaehyun looked back and forth between you two. “Time out. You’re both right and you’re both wrong. Johnny, we get that you’re coming from a good place, but obviously Y/N feels patronized with the way you treat her. Y/N, Johnny has a lot going on too that you’re ignoring on purpose to make him seem like the bad guy, which also isn’t fair.”

Johnny pushed some of his hair out of his face as he stared ahead at the TV across the room, obviously refusing to meet your eyes now. You crossed your arms over your chest and flopped back against the cushions, not looking at either of them. You’ve never been great at apologizing first.

“You two aren’t making up before we go out, are you?” Jaehyun rubbed his face.

“No.” “Nope.”

Jaehyun’s bedroom door opened then, Jungwoo hesitantly stepping out, still fussing with the shirt. When he looked up, the searching look fell from his face as he obviously could sense the tension in the room, turning cautious instead.

“Is everything alright?” While his question was general, his eyes were focused on you when he asked.

“Yeah, Jungwoo!” You forced a cheery smile again, jumping to your feet as you appraised his outfit. “I love being right. It looks so handsome on you!”

“Ah, well…” He rubbed the back of his neck again as you walked around him, brushing off a spare piece of fluff from his back. “Thank you.”

“What do you guys think?” You asked the other two proudly, looping your arm with Jungwoo’s.

“Yeah, he looks—”

“Fine. Can we go now?” Johnny cut his roommate off, grabbing his keys and walking over to the door.

“Rude,” you muttered under your breath, but followed the other two with a roll of your eyes nevertheless.

“Congrats!” Everybody cheered in unison, clinking their glasses together.

“Thanks, guys,” Jaehyun beamed at you all, bringing his drink to his lips.

“So are you like tenure track now, or what?” Doyoung prompted him eagerly.

“Yes, I am,” he announced proudly. “I’m no longer instructional, I’m academic.”

All your friends let out a chorus of jesting but supportive ‘ooh’s at that, and you squeezed his arm from beside him. “Look at you, a real academic now. Knew that big head was good for something.”

“You little—” He went to tousle your hair. You let out an ‘eep!’ and jerked away from his hand, back into Jungwoo on your other side.

“Sorry!” You laughed through your apology to the alien, patting his arm as he hadn’t been knocked very far back at least. “You alright, Jungwoo?”

“Yes, I’m okay,” he reassured you with a fond smile.

“Now, are you absolutely sure you can have that?” You pointed to the drink that you had helped him order. After realizing that for some reason he immediately knew what morphine was, but his transcoder was failing on what alcohol was, you’d explained the drink—with some assistance from your friends and Google—to him to make sure it wasn’t going to kill him, but you noticed that he hadn’t yet actually taken a sip yet.

“Yes, yes.” He lifted the glass again.

“If morphine doesn’t get you high, I wonder if alcohol is even going to do anything to do you,” Johnny mused, slowly nursing his liquor.

“Take it slow, drink water, and even though we ate before we came, keep eating while we’re here, okay?” You told Jungwoo, shooting Johnny a glare over the spaceman’s shoulder.

He nodded, and with that, you grabbed your own drink, clinked it to his one more time, and drained half of it in one go. You watched his face carefully, both for any sign that he was in imminent danger, and in the vent that he was fine, if he liked the drink you’d picked. You’d chosen a cocktail on the sweeter side for him, a fruity, bubbly, unnaturally bright colored one that a couple of the guys had snickered at, which he either didn’t notice or didn’t care about. Jungwoo didn’t immediately go into anaphylactic shock, which you pocketed as a win. Just like when he tried Nutella for the first time, his eyes widened with delight before he went back in for more.

You couldn’t help but laugh and pat his head fondly. “Pace yourself,” you reminded him.

He set it down and smiled sheepishly. “Right. Thanks.”

Hyuck and Yuta had disappeared at some point, as they were now returning to your table with a round of shots for everybody. You shook your head, but picked yours up and knocked it back with everyone else. Jungwoo watched you, taking your lead. While the rest of you had various hisses and negative reactions to the tequila you were now realizing they had gotten you, Jungwoo seemed unaffected by the burn as he calmly set the shot glass down.

“Ugh, did you guys get motor oil or something?” Johnny pushed his glass away from him with distaste.

“Cheapest shit they had,” Yuta informed him smugly. “Afraid real motor oil tastes better than that.”

“I’m going to get us some waters,” you told Jungwoo before slipping off into the crowd.

You watched the bartender quickly fill up your two glasses with ice, then water. Right as he had pushed them over to you, you became aware of someone sidling up to you at the bar and grabbing your hip. You whipped around and jerked away to put distance between yourself and the newcomer, a complete stranger to you.

He chuckled at how he had startled you, stepping closer to you once again. “Woah, sorry, baby.”

“It’s fine,” you replied flatly, reaching for your waters to turn to leave.

“Hey, I did want to talk to you.”

“No thanks.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“I don’t want to.” You didn’t like that he had started shifting in front of you, putting himself between you and the rest of the club, blocking you against the bar.

“Y/N!” A familiar voice called your name as a taller figure pushed past the stranger, securing your arm in his hand. Johnny fixed the man with a hard stare before looking at you again, “There you are. Come on, we’re toasting Jaehyun again.”

“Right,” you smiled up at your friend, letting him half-pull you away from the bar. The other man didn’t say a word, letting you go as he disappeared into the crowd as well.

Halfway back to your table, you reluctantly mumbled a sharp ‘thanks’ to Johnny’s back. He must’ve heard you somehow over the thumping music, as he looked back over his shoulder at you, his eyes softening for just a moment as he nodded once, before continuing to clear a path for the two of you back to your other friends.

You wormed your way back into your spot between Jungwoo and Jaehyun, pushing Jungwoo’s glass against his arm. “Here.”

“Thank you.” His eyes didn’t leave you, seemingly scanning you over with worry. “Are you alright?”

“Huh? Yeah, fine.” You shook your head to clear away the memory.

“I’m sorry, I realized that man was making you uncomfortable, but I wasn't sure what to do. Johnny told me to stay here while he went over.”

“Oh, that’s okay, Jungwoo.” You assured him. “We can't have you getting punched defending me and bleed blue all over the place. Thanks for keeping an eye on me and telling Johnny, though.”

“But—”

“Hey, you know what?” You flashed him a smile, already starting to feel warm and airy from the alcohol. “I want to dance. How about you come with? Creepy guys should stay away if I’m already with someone.”

“Sure,” he nodded for you to lead the way.

You grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the table and into the outer edge of the dance floor. Putting your hands on his shoulders, you tilted your head, “Is this okay?”

“Yeah, should I…?”

You took his hands that were uncertainly hovering in the air and put them on your hips before returning your own to his shoulders. “There. Also, sorry.”

“For what?”

As soon as his question was out of his mouth, you inadvertently stepped on his foot, a sheepish smile flashing across your face. “I’m not a very good dancer,” you admitted. “Sorry.”

He chuckled. “That’s okay.”

“Hey, you’re pretty good,” you laughed as he kept up with the rhythm and also kept you from being a general hazard.

“Thank you.”

“Do you have places like this where you’re from?” You were careful not to say anything out of the ordinary to hint that ‘where he was from’ was actually outer space.

“Residents from elsewhere have brought similar nightclubs to our larger cities,” he informed you. “I’ve visited a few.”

“You a party boy?” You grinned.

“I’m not sure about that,” he was smiling as well. “But I’m enjoying myself with you, Y/N. Thank you.”

“I’m having fun too, Jungwoo,” you replied sincerely. Your toe caught on his shoe then, and you squeaked as you stumbled forward towards him, wrapping your arms around his neck to catch yourself from completely face-planting into his collarbone. His hands on your waist steadied you, and you smiled up at him sheepishly. “Sorry. Thanks.”

“You’re not usually this clumsy.”

“I’m a bit tipsy,” you whispered loudly. “Alcohol and motor function… not good.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Can I stay right here?” You requested sweetly, watching his patches of iridescent freckles flash and sparkle in the lights that pulsed across the dance floor. “You’re surprisingly sturdy, and your irido-irido—you know—are so pretty…”

“Of course,” Jungwoo readjusted to hold you more securely. “Do you want to sit down?”

“No.” You shook your head, starting to sway in his arms to the music. “I like this song.”

A warm puff of air washed over your ear as he chuckled. “I like it too.”

Sometime later in the night, you were sat in a booth at a different nightclub, slowly draining a water that Doyoung had pushed in front of you. Your other friends were somewhere in the club, only Jungwoo next to you. His cheeks were a little pink, but that could easily be from the body heat, as you were pretty sure you hadn’t seen him drink anything but water since your first stop of the night.

“Hey, Jungwoo?” You looked over at him with your cheek in your palm, supported by your elbow on the table.

“Yes?” He met your gaze without hesitation.

“Do—” You were cut off by a hiccup. “Do you think you’ll remember me? After you leave, once it’s been a while?”

“What?” He blinked at you, face turning oddly stern as he placed his hand over yours on the table. “Yes, Y/N. I don’t think I could ever forget you.”

“Oh. Do Galarii have photographic memory or something?”

“No.”

“But…” Another hiccup. “Don’t you go to all these places and meet so many people and do all sorts of stuff all the time? Like, of course I’m gonna remember the one alien I ever met, but why would you—”

Jungwoo turned to hold your hand with both of his. “Do you really think that you’re so insignificant? Or that I’m so… indifferent?”

“No, Jungwoo, I just—” You took your hand back to brush your fingertips over his iridophores under one eye. “I guess it’s kinda like how you don’t think these are anything special.”

“Y/N, if you remember only one thing from meeting me, please…” He shifted forward slightly, nothing but sincerity on his features. “No matter where I’ve gone, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t special. Including you.”

You felt your bottom lip quiver, and regretted that last shot you let Yuta and Donghyuck talk you into. As soon as you blinked, the tears fell, rolling quickly down your cheeks. You buried your face in Jungwoo’s shoulder, grabbing a fistful of the silk material of his shirt.

“I’m… sorry?” He said quietly, gingerly patting your back.

“She crying?” Johnny’s voice came from behind you.

“Yes, I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine, she’s an emotional drunk after she’s partied herself out,” Johnny reassured the alien. A gentle hand landed on your head. “Hey, Y/N, time to go home.”

“That’s my shirt!” Jaehyun said indignantly, having also returned to your booth.

“I’ll clean it before I return it,” Jungwoo promised.

“Y/N,” Johnny called for you again in a sing-songy tone. “Come on, let’s go home.”

You lifted your head enough to sloppily wipe at your face, Jungwoo helping to push some hair back. Squinting at Johnny, you asked, “You’re taking me home?”

“Yeah, I’m taking you home,” he confirmed.

“But I thought you were mad at me?”

“I’m never that mad, kid, promise.”

“Do you need help, Johnny?” Jaehyun offered, then looked at Jungwoo. “Or are you going now too?”

“I’m going back with her,” Jungwoo immediately replied.

Johnny helped you scoot out of the booth, and on uneasy feet, you threw your arms around Jaehyun to give him one final congrats. Johnny took you back from your professor friend to half-guide, half-carry you out of the nightclub, Jungwoo following behind. Out front, Johnny cursed under his breath as he looked around.

“Jungwoo.” He waved the alien over. “Stay with her while I bring the car around, will you?”

“Of course.” Jungwoo immediately took your arm from Johnny’s grasp, steadying you as you swayed in place. Johnny gave the two of you one last uncertain look before taking off around the corner. You stepped closer to Jungwoo, leaning your weight against him as you let out a heavy sigh.

“I’m sorry about him…” You said. “He should be nicer to you.”

“It’s okay,” Jungwoo responded, shifting to support you with an arm around your waist as your knees buckled for a moment. “He’s concerned for you, which I’m glad for.”

“I wish he’d stop treating me like a kid, though,” you huffed. “He literally calls me ‘kid.’”

“Is this why you were so curious that I didn’t know if my brother was older or younger?”

“Does he treat you like a grown-up?”

“He had some concerns with my career path at first,” he informed you, some amusement in his tone. “But I also worry for his safety.”

“I worry about Johnny,” you insisted. “I just… don’t make him feel stupid for it when I do.”

Johnny’s car stopped in front of you two then, and Jungwoo helped you into the backseat. He gently brushed your hands away so he could do your seatbelt for you—which took a few attempts, admittedly—and let you rest your head on his shoulder for the entire ride back to your apartment.

After a lot of insisting, you finally got Johnny to leave your home. You were tucked into bed in your pajamas with a glass of water, and heard Jungwoo eventually close the front door behind Johnny.

“Jungwoo!” You called for the alien loudly, not really caring about the time or your neighbors.

“Yes?” His head immediately poked into your room, eyes focused on you attentively.

“C’mere.” You patted the empty space next to you. He walked over to sit down, but as soon as he had, you shooed him away, “Wait, no! You should get into your pajamas too.”

“Alright. One moment.” He nodded and smiled softly. A few minutes later, Jungwoo emerged from the bathroom no longer in Jaehyun’s nice clothes but in Jaehyun’s sweatpants and t-shirt. He sat down cross-legged on top of the covers. “Better?”

“I’m tired,” you rolled over onto your side towards him.

“I’ll let you rest, then.” He moved to get off the bed, but you grabbed his arm and stopped him.

“Wait.” You yawned. “Can you stay for a bit?”

“As long as you wish.” He acquiesced easily.

“Can you…” Another yawn. “Can you tell me some more about Galaria?”

He shifted the arm that you had grasped to hold your hand instead. “Sure. If you’ll close your eyes.”

“You’re trying to make me go to sleep.”

“Hmm, maybe,” he hummed.

You snickered, but let your eyelids flutter shut anyway. “Hey, Jungwoo?”

“Yes?”

“I’m really gonna miss you once you go.” You squeezed his hand as you shifted around to get comfortable under your covers.

There was a stretch of silence so long that you were almost tempted to open your eyes again, but before you could, he squeezed your hand back and spoke again, voice sounding slightly strained, “I’ll miss you too, Y/N. A lot.” He cleared his throat, then continued, “So, Galaria…”

In the morning, you groaned before you even had a single human thought. You instinctually rolled away from your window, where the faintest halo of light was coming in from around your curtains, burying your face into your pillow. And then your stomach lurched. Heaving yourself to your feet with some speed, you hurried into your bathroom, not even bothering with the light before kneeling at the toilet. Thankfully, nothing came back up, and after a few minutes, you got back to steady-ish feet. Looking back at your dim bedroom, you saw it devoid of anybody else, which you were mildly surprised about. You faintly remembered going to sleep with Jungwoo sitting next to you. He had no clue about human customs, for all you knew, Galarii wouldn’t have thought it strange to share a bed. You knocked back something for your stomach and the pounding in your head before treading out towards the living room. You were going to feel a little uneasy until you put eyes on your alien houseguest.

He was sitting upright on the couch, and stood up as soon as he saw you walking out, a relieved smile on his features. “Ah, you’re awake. How are you feeling? Johnny said I should make you breakfast—”

“That’s alright, Jungwoo, I’m not very hungry right now,” you admitted. “Maybe later. How are you? Anything from the alcohol?”

“I’m fine.” He frowned. “Are you okay?”

“Honestly, I’m not feeling well, Jungwoo.” You touched your forehead, giving him an apologetic smile. “I think I’m going to lay down for a bit. Will you be good out here?”

He looked at you anxiously. “What’s wrong?”

“Just a headache. I’ll be fine,” you reassured him. “Do you need anything before I—”

“Can I go with you?”

“…Into my room? That’s right down the hall? While I nap off a hangover?” You arched an eyebrow, pointing at your bedroom next to the living room.

He nodded.

“What? Did you imprint on me like a baby duck or something?” You joked, stretching and yawning.

“I don’t know what ducks are nor the imprinting habits of their young, but yes.”

“You don’t really need to know what ducks are, but baby ducks—Wait, what?!” Your brain finally processed the rest of his words, and you stared at him wide-eyed.

“I’m not sure if the term is used the same, but I imagine it’s a similar concept.”

“You think I’m your mom?!”

It was his turn to look at you with bewilderment. “No, of course not.”

You put a hand over your chest, relieved. “Okay, God, I had a heart attack.”

“You’re my mate,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Excuse me?!” And your blood pressure was back through the roof.

“Lover? I’m not sure the term…” Jungwoo scratched the back of his neck.

You held your hands out defensively, trying to calm yourself down more than anyone else. “Jungwoo, look, we just met like a few days ago.”

“Yes, I’m aware.”

“That’s not nearly enough time to say we’re soulmates or anything.”

His face lit up. “Ahh, soulmates? Is that the word?”

“No!” You immediately shot that down. “Don’t start calling me that.”

“Y/N—”

“What even is this imprinting? Like how do you know it’s happened? Do you do it on purpose? Because if you did, you’ve got to ask people’s permission before doing that kind of thing, dude.”

“It’s not something we have control over. So no, I did not do it intentionally.”

“Oh. Okay.” That only calmed you down marginally.

“It’s…” Jungwoo sank his teeth into his bottom lip as he tried to figure out his words. “I didn’t realize it at first. When you dragged me out of my ship and I first saw you, everything was different. I thought it was the new atmosphere, new gravity, that my body was just adjusting.”

“What do you mean, ‘different’? Different how?”

“Colors are brighter around you—”

“That’s just some cheesy pickup line. It was pitch black when I found you.”

“No, really. Our species’ senses are sharpened around our—”

“Don’t.”

“—when we’ve imprinted, around whoever we’ve imprinted on. To better protect them,” he explained cautiously. “Again, I thought I was just getting used to your planet, but I always know where you are—”

“I tell you where I’m going when I leave.”

“I don’t mean like that. It’s stronger the closer you are, but I just always have this feeling, of where you are. I know you left work yesterday afternoon to go down the street, then went back.”

“I went to the convenience store on my lunch break,” you confirmed with a huff. “Assuming you’re telling the truth and aren’t actively stalking me, I’m guessing that would be another… mechanism to protect that person? That you’re… you know.”

“Yes.”

“What’s even the point of imprinting on me? Or anybody that’s not another Galarii?” You crossed your arms. “My eyes work just fine when you’re not around, and the only way I’d know exactly where you were if I couldn’t see you would be chipping you like a dog.”

“I don’t know.”

You shook your head. “So… you all are just, what? Celibate? Until you eventually find someone to imprint on?”

“Casual relationships aren’t unusual, though many don’t see a point in having such a relationship before imprinting.” He immediately became even more serious. “I’m not inexperienced sexually, if that’s a concern.”

“Oh, God, no!” You covered your face with two hands and groaned. “I was just wondering like… How do you know this imprinting thing is for real? Like, you’re actually ending up with someone good for you, if you don’t have any sort of reference to draw from on what sort of person you like, what you want and don’t want in a relationship?”

“We don’t have to know before, because we’re not picking our… lifelong companion, like I understand you humans do.”

You blinked at him. “Marriage. You’re talking about marriage.”

“Yes. You have to have this set of parameters before you prepare for… marriage. We’re not choosing, so we don’t need such standards. We find.”

“Yeah, but why me? What is it about me that activated your imprinting or whatever the hell?” You couldn’t help the shiver that went up your spine when you said it. “Shouldn’t that be something that only other members of your species can do? Like, evolution-wise?”

“That’s something that my species is still investigating.”

“God, okay…” You rubbed your temples. “Well, my head fucking hurts. I’m going to lay down—alone.”

“Of course.” Jungwoo nodded and stepped back, sitting down on the far side of the couch from you.

Your bed smelled like Jungwoo. You couldn’t nap like this, or even rest your eyes. But you didn’t want to go back out there yet, needing time to let your brain turn over what you’d just been told. So you laid in your bed that smelled like Jungwoo and scrolled on your phone, absentmindedly chewing on the skin around your thumbnail.

⇢ part two

TAGLIST: @bee-the-loser @giirlfriendd @ppddpjdr @shaqs-oatmeal @sofipolii01 @tearinka @yoursyuno @yutasputa69 @winkeuu

[akanemnon]

hi!! i just wanted to say, i LOVE your art!! i started drawing my kris design with braces after seeing dubs of your comic on yt, and when i found you on tumblr i was beyond excited to see all of it in context. i’m a comic artist as well, and i was wondering— how do you choose your color palettes ?? besides obviously picking colors from the characters themselves, that’s a given— but your comics are bright and colorful and just a real pleasure to read because they’re so visually appealing. hope this question hasn’t been asked before!!

Thank you so very much!

So I really went into your question under the cut. So feel free to proceed if that is something that interests you.

The answer is honestly not that exciting. For the characters I really only do pick colors off the original sprites. Which is why they look so bright and colorful. If you try to do that yourself, you will quickly notice how SATURATED the sprites are. And not only the sprites, but also the backgrounds.

A little trick I use is that for pre-existing backgrounds I take all the colors and brighten + desaturate them just a teeeensy tiny bit. That way the characters in the foreground pop way more.

Another way to make the colors pop even more is to use colored shading AND colored lineart! That really IS what ties everything together. Let me show you..

This is a panel without the colored shading and lineart.

And this is it again WITH all that good stuff. Quite the difference, no?

But you're asking about color palettes, so I guess you also mean for the characters/outfits I designed? A lot of it boils down to color theory. I am by NO means an expert on that subject, but when looking at the Dark World designs specifically, you will notice how I did it.

For example: Frisk's Dark World color scheme is mainly analogous. That means the colors are right next to each other on the color wheel. But there is a little bit of complimentary in there.

Here, lemme visualize it...

Frisk's color scheme is a light green, darkish blue green, light yellow and a splash of pink. The red is there mostly just for lore reasons.

One thing I noticed when looking at the sprites of all the Dark World versions is that they are EXTREMELY bright and saturated.

That is something I tried to capture as well, but I think it didn't neccessarily nail it a lot of the time. Especially for Frisk's color scheme. If I stuck closer to what the game is doing, then in theory they would look more like this (using Kris' colors as a reference)

Looking back, I WOULD tweak their colors slightly more nowadays. Just so that the contrast between the colors is a little stronger and they don't blend together as much. This improves the readability of your design. Not all people are able to perceive every color of the rainbow, so readability is EXTREMELY important. Best way to see that is by desaturating them and checking the grayscale. Like so (left is the one closer to the game's colors)

Man, this REALLY makes me wanna fix their color scheme. This has been bugging me for a while now. (Though I'm kinda afraid that people point out that they look different.)

[sugurusfavemonkey]

I have something silly. Nanami x demon!reader where Yuji, Nobara and Megumi summoning a demon arguing about it's validity when reader appears in the middle of the room when the ritual is finished. Reader just poofed out of Nanami's arms while reading before bed lol

Yessss! perfect crack + fluff prompt! I'm sorry for the delay and I really hope you enjoy it, lovely anon <3

warnings: not much with the exception of one suggestive line, still... MDNI; Canon divergence (Nanami is the trio's teacher); not proofreaded because I was lazy and just wanted to post something. wc: 2.2k a/n: this was supposed to be a short drabble, but I went a little bit overboard with it? 😬 ALSO, Here's a Nanami fanart to accompany the fic, because that's exactly what I imagine he looks like in bed, waiting for his wife.

"You're doing it wrong!"

"No, I'm not! I read this page over a hundred times! We did everything it says in here!"

"So you'll read a book on demon summoning multiple times, but five pages on the subject of our group project is too much for you?" Megumi interjected from his spot splayed on a couch that had seen batter days while his friends argued about the merit of an old book they had stumbled upon when they had gone scouring through a flea market earlier that day.

He was completely dismissed as both Yuji and Nobara seemed to be too engrossed into their own heated discussion.

"No, you're not! The circle you drew is crooked and I'm pretty sure you're pronouncing the Latin wrong." She pointed to the weird shaped drawing made on the ground where a rug had been haphazardly pushed to the side of the room.

"Weren't you the one who drew the symbol?" Megumi remarked again, hiding his amusement at their antics behind a well crafted poker face.

"Yeah! You even insisted on using the orange crayon to do it!" Yuji indicated the same poorly drawn symbol, "and why don't you do the incantation then?!" he challenged, chin pointing upwards and arms crossing in front of his chest.

Megumi scoffed at Itadori's evident selective hearing, but chose not to interfere any further. He'd rather let the two idiots sort that out by themselves.

"You know what? I will! Gimme the damn book!" Nobara almost ripped the tome from the pink-haired boy, her expression one of resoluteness.

"Hey! A 'please' would have been nice, Kugisaki."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Nobara dismissed Yuji with a wave of her hand, focus already turned to the yellowed pages of the leather bound book in her hands.

She cleared her throat theatrically before launching into a passionate monologue in also atrociously pronounced Latin, as instructed per said book.

The closure of her speech was followed by a hefty silence, the three of them holding their breaths in anticipation, even Megumi leaned forward in his seat.

...

"Huh. Guess this is just fake then." Nobara was the first to speak as her shoulders fell, the tension releasing from her previously tense muscles.

"I was so sure it was gonna work." Yuji's voice was small with defeat, a small pout forming on his lips, "Maybe demons aren't real?"

Megumi stood up and sighed, a bored look on his face. "I could have said that from the beginning."

"I always knew this wouldn't work." Nobara said matter-of-factly, throwing her short hair over her shoulder and swiftly closing the book.

"That wasn't what you said earlier." Megumi pointed out.

"You know what, Fushiguro?"

"I'm kinda hungry now." Yuji interrupted with a frown before Nobara could do anything harsh, which wasn't a far fetched possibility considering her aggravated expression and perch for violence.

"Oh! We should try that new soba place by the plaza! I heard they open late!" The seemed to work as she immediately perked up, beaming at Yuji.

"We could catch the late night showing of Human Earthworm 4 after that!" His reply was just as excited.

"Haven't you already seen that movie three times?"

"It's a good movie!"

"Right. Because it isn't just like all the previous ones."

"Hey! It's completely different! It shows a fresh view on the inner turmoil of the human experience from the perspective of-

"Guys!" Megumi interrupted their bickering, but he wasn't looking at either of them. Instead, he glared at the person standing right in the middle of the circle they had drawn.

"Hi." You waved timidly, unsure of how to get out of the circle uncomfortable situation you were put in.

。。+゜゜。。+゜゜。。+゜゜。。

You stopped by the threshold to your room upon the scene displayed in front of you.

Nanami Kento laying in bed with his back against the bedframe looking absolutely breath taking in his matching pajama set with his hair down, face unusually soft and eyes focused on the book on his hands.

He didn't even look up, merely patting the empty side of the bed, beckoning you into joining him. You grinned contently before setting into motion. Who were you to deny this beautiful man of anything?

You climbed onto the bed on your knees, lifting his arm closest to you so you could lay on his chest. He chuckled at your silly endearing demeanor, glancing at you briefly and placing a soft peck to the top of your head once you were properly settled, arms thrown over his middle, one leg over his and ear poised right over his left pec, his heartbeat a comforting sound.

"How did I ever get so luck?" You mused quietly, fingernails drawing random shapes against his covered stomach.

Kento hummed soothingly a soft smile upon his lips, "if anything I'm the lucky one, love."

Nuh-uh. I hit the jackpot with you, Ken. You're not only the sweetest man on this earth, but you're also so, so pretty!"

"Oh, I'm pretty?"

"The prettiest! And it doesn't hurt that you're willing to bend me over the table and absolutely ravish me when I visit you in your office at work every once in a while."

Nanami nearly chocked at your bluntness before he started laughing, the sound one not many had ever had the pleasure of listening to. Possibly your favorite sound.

"Anytime, sweetheart." He acquiesced as soon as his laughter died down.

"Don't mind if I take you up to that."

"You're a menace."

"I-"

And then you were gone: *poof*

One second laying snugly against the chest of your husband and then, the next standing inside a demon summoning circle in a poorly illuminated room along with three of Kento's students.

。。+゜゜。。+゜゜。。+゜゜。。

"Wha- what are you doing here?" Yuji questioned, brows furrowed in confusion.

"I was just... umm... oh! Kento asked me to check what you guys were up to."

"We weren't up to anything!" Nobara called, nervous over the thought of their strict sensei discovering they had been messing around with the occult.

"We were just, umm, studying?" Yuji threw in, also alarmed. He tried to subtly move closer, one feet sliding by the ground to reach the crayon dust so he could attempt and erase it without your notice.

Except you'd have noticed it either way, considering you were very much aware of the constriction the circle put on you.

"Wait. Don't erase it yet." Megumi blurted, also stepping closer but to stop Yuji with a hand to his shoulder instead. "Why aren't you moving? And where did you even come from?" He questioned you, protectively pulling Itadori away.

You winced, knowing there was no way you could come up with an excuse to the plight you found yourself in.

"I came from the door?" You tried anyway.

"We would have heard and seen it if that had been the case." Megumi was unyielding with his grilling, eyes seething, "tell us the truth."

"Megumi! What are you doing?! That's Nanamin's wife!" Yuji hissed at his friend, terrified that would get them in trouble with their stern teacher.

"Yes. And she's also appeared out of thin air into the room where you were performing a ritual and is coincidentally standing right inside the demon summoning circle Nobara drew."

"You can't possibly think-"

"You're a demon?!" Nobara finally clicked it all together, her voice shrill with shock.

"No, I'm-" You cut yourself off, glancing at each of the teenagers surrounding you before sighing in defeat. They were smart kids, there was no way you would be able to beguile them in this situation, "well, shit. Guess the cat's out of the bag, huh?"

"I know it would work!" Nobara whispered to herself, but it was still loud enough for everyone in the room to hear if Megumi's flat response was to be taken into account:

"You just said the exact opposite."

"I d-"

"Listen," you cut them off before they could start arguing further, you were literally in your pajamas, tired from the day and craving a night of sleep beside the love of your life. "I can explain. Just wipe off the circle so I can maybe move out of here?" You suggested, pleading eyes on Yuji (the most susceptible to your pleading).

"Yuji," Megumi sharply put a stop to his friend, "don't."

"But-"

"We don't know if it's safe." He continued, not once letting you out of his sight.

"Guys, I'm exactly the same person you've always known. Just... not human."

The three teenagers stared at you with different degrees of bewilderment. You threw your hands up in exasperation

"You know what? Just call Kento, please." was your suggestion. "If you don't trust me, at least you'll trust you sensei, won't you?"

"I... suppose." Megumi nodded once, still unsure, trading a glace with a shrugging Yuji.

"I'll call him." Nobara picked up her cellphone her glare settled on you. "Don't you dare trying anything!"

"I won't. I promise."

She huffed, narrowing her gaze and placing her phone at her ear. Kento picked up after two rings.

"Nanami sensei! Hi! So... we have your wife here" Nobara halted as if unsure on how to proceed. "inside a demon summoning circle," apparently, she decided to go for honesty.

There was a brief pause before you heard his voice from the other side of the line.

"Text me the address. I'm on my way" and then he hung up.

"He's-"

"On his way. Yes, I heard." You sighed, deciding to sit cross-legged on the floor to wait, in the limited space you had.

"You heard? I'm right beside Nobara and couldn't hear anything." Megumi seemed more curious than cautious then.

"Perks of being a demon, I guess. He's probably already inside his car by now. Send him the address please, Nobara."

She did as you told, finger flying over the screen.

"That's so cool! What else can you do?" Yuji sat down as well, leaning forward slightly, eyes wild in wonder and you couldn't help but thinking of how cute the boy was. It's no wonder Kento has a soft spot for the lovable teenager.

"Not much, really. I just have very sharp senses, maybe above average stamina too, but I've given up whatever supernatural skill I've had before the moment I decided to bind myself to Kento." You shrugged.

"That's still so cool!"

You smiled fondly at his excitement.

"Meh. That's lame. Did you seriously give up your powers for a man?"

And then you burst into laughter. Nobara truly didn't measure her words, but you enjoying her fiery, non-nonsense attitude nonetheless.

"Trust me. I would have said the same thing if I were in your place before I met my husband." You shrugged, still smiling.

Nobara regarded you for a second before deciding to sit down. If you were gonna be stuck there for while, she might as well.

"What else could you do?"

。。+゜゜。。+゜゜。。+゜゜。。

And that's how Nanami found you when Megumi opened the door for him.

"-and that's when I discovered demons do not mix well with chili." You finished, smiling proudly at yourself for being the cause behind their joy when Yuji fell back against the ground with a cackle and Nobara had to cover her mouth to muffle a snort.

"Ken!" You exclaimed once you saw him standing behind Megumi.

Kento had clearly rushed over, dressed in a crumpled beige long sleeved top, unironed slacks and a brown jacket thrown over the ensemble, hair still falling over his forehead.

He rushed forward ignoring his students until he was right before you, hand brushing away part of the circle on the ground before lifting you up and into his arms in a tight hug, "my love! I was worried."

"I know, I know, Ken. I'm so sorry." You murmured muffled against his shoulder and hugging him back.

"It's not your fault, love. Don't apologize." He carefully settled you back on your feet, hands carefully framing your face. Then his soft gaze steeled up suddenly and he turned aways from you and towards the three awaiting younglings.

"We're very sorry, Nanamin." Yuji started tentatively.

"You better be. Messing with things you do not understand, can you imagine what would have happened had you summoned other-"

"Ken. Ken, darling. It's fine. They won't do it again." You stopped your husband with both hands on his shoulders, dropping a kiss to his covered back, before joining his side and looking at the kids, "will you?"

"No."

"Never!"

"Nah."

"See?"

He huffed, but still agreed with a nod of his head, "well... it seems the matter is resolved then?"

"Yeah. I think we got the gist of the whole demoniac thing." Nobara spoke indifferently.

"Your wife is really cool, Nanamin!"

"I know, Itadori."

"Again, we apologize for the inconvenience, sensei."

"It's already been forgiven, Fushiguro. We'll take our leave now. Goodnight."

As always, Nanami kept everything succinct. To be honest, it was obvious to you that he just wanted to go back to bed for a good night of sleep after a tiring day of grading papers... preferentially cuddled with you.

"And kids,"

"Let's keep this between us, yes?"

...

"You guys think we can still catch the last showing of Human Earthworm?"

"Oh my god!"

"Shut up, Itadori."

[roundandroundthemulberry]

The S7 Dean and Cas stuff is so intense and heartbreaking.

Dean keeps being denied his chance to be angry with Cas, it's so sad. Dean is trying to hold in his anger as much as possible, but his outburst scene hurts to watch, it just slightly triggering, as is too Cas’s look of contrition.

From Dean's point of view, it was so frustrating that he keeps being denied his chance to feel angry at Cas and to forgive him on his own terms. And he wants to forgive him, he's struggling with it, it's obvious he cares about him still and wants to get to that point but he keeps having to skip over the part where he gets to be furious with him for his betrayal for a bit.

He's got to deal with a Castiel that makes him play the game Sorry instead of actually talking through an issue which is, for once, something that Dean desperately needs and seems to almost want to do.

Although I think that's exactly what Cas was trying to do, albeit in a way that didn't really work. Cas was trying to communicate with Dean in his own kinda messed up way, but it didn't work for Dean at all.

That follow-up scene between Dean and Kevin - part Dean helping Kevin; part Dean talking about his own pain over what happened with Cas. He’s upset about Cas, truly upset that his hopes of Cas being okay were dashed. He may not be able to forgive Cas, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand or that he’s stopped caring. He just doesn’t know how to fix it.

Where Dean can’t begin to forgive - not yet, Sam understands. Because at this point of the show, Dean hasn't made such a colossal mistake yet, as compared to Sam.

Because Sam made such very similar mistakes, for such very similar reasons. It's interesting to watch how different Sam and Cas' reactions are in a relatively similar situation. Sam had also done terrible things and full-on hubris but at his lowest, Sam as a human, can dig deep into the wealth of emotions that we humans gather for as long as we are alive, and those can shine a light and guide us in moving forward.

Whereas Cas, he is an angel, who just simply can't handle the guilt, who is practically new to the ebb and flow of emotions and feelings. For Cas, this is a very different sort of sensation than for Sam. Sam's human and he knows that humans fail and make mistakes. And in Cas's mind, he honestly pictured himself as this "good" thing, he is the good guy, the good angel. And now all of that is gone, destroyed, and by his own hand. He can't view himself as unqualifiedly "good" anymore. He now knows that he can make mistakes and that each choice he makes has consequences because he decides what's right and wrong, free will, and all that.

And that must be terrifying when his choices can bring upon the most horrible of consequences. So it's easy to see why Cas' initial impulse is to try to stay away from fighting and any kind of conflict. It is about protecting himself and maybe others from himself. Initially, I believed that something was “wrong” with Cas, but actually, he was exactly as he wanted to be.

After taking Sam’s burden, he was changed as a result of what he’d done in S6. As infuriating as it was for Dean to experience this version of Cas, I think that it was clear that Cas was drowning in guilt. He's been drastically changed by his attempt to atone by taking on Sam's pain. This was his way of overcompensating. Cas made no effort to assert authority over these angels from his former garrison whatsoever. He doesn’t seem interested in power at all, even if that power will help Dean and Sam. He doesn’t like conflict. This is from the angel who went toe to toe with both Lucifer and Raphael. He’s riddled with guilt for the lives he ended and destroyed on his quest to stop Raphael, for siding with Crowley, for hurting Sam. It’s still too much for him to face, especially in his vulnerable state. How long he’ll stay neutral?

He still cares about Dean, stepping in between and attracting Hester’s attention unto himself as she was getting over-exasperated with Cas by blaming and advancing onto Dean. So what happens when Dean is threatened during his next pursuit of the Leviathans? He gets in between Dick fucking Roman and Dean.

Cas with PTSD having a fixation on bees and gardens and making the perfect sandwich in late S7 somehow got absorbed into fanon to the point where people started to believe that’s canonical Cas. Bees Cas is a confused little meow meow who never did anything wrong. The things late S7 Cas fixates on are an amplification of his genuine fascination with life on earth, and one aspect of Cas is gentleness and appreciation, but those traits are not the whole picture, it’s what his brain uses as a buffer as he goes into shock and has a lengthy PTSD episode. PTSD Cas isn’t empathetic, he’s detached. He’s non-confrontational, non-violent, in that sense he is kind, but he’s not mentally or emotionally present for the people who need him most, who love him and who care, which isn’t empathy.

The arc gets used to mix fanon with canon, and the fanon version seeks a Cas who is an innocent meow meow who never did anything wrong ever (canon doesn’t do this. fanon does). Far too often that’s used to perpetuate the negative fanon of mean Dean, where Cas is his victim. The more innocent and soft and idealized the fanon on Cas becomes—and people believing that’s canon—the more that got weaponized to label Dean “the abuser” who is mean to ultra soft Cas who just wants to watch the bees.

Cas’s mental breakdown put him into a numb bubble, and that is the opposite of who Cas is. Cas feels too much all the time, and lacks context and experience to help him process all the feelings. Over time, we see him grow more comfortable in his own skin and with those emotions and expressing them in ways humans can comprehend instead of Cas just feeling and FEELING and trying to keep it locked down or running away from it.

[traumawhomst]

Dragon Dad

You didn’t believe him at first. It’s insane actually, to wake up dragon’s lair and be told that with time you’ll be one too. You’d known that they did exist, but you lived in a small town and there wasn’t much gold to take. Dragons were problems of Nobles and Kings, not you.

He was talking and you couldn’t hear it over the ringing in your ears. You felt like yourself, and from what you could see, nothing looked different than the day before. You keep running your tongue against your teeth, finding a very small sense of comfort in their bluntness.

You snapped out of it when he realized he was asking you some question, holding two equally expensive sets of clothes both made of golden fabric and as far as you could tell we’re almost identical except for the way they were fitted. You opened your mouth to say (scream) something at him when you realized that you recognized his face.

He stood at solid seven feet, ocean green and blue scales that covered his cheeks traveling down his neck and from what you could see went down his limbs and stopped at the back of his hands. Every scale the size of your pinky nail. Behind him was a scaled and spiked tail that swayed back and forth like a cat. His eyes were the same blue green of when you first met, now his pupils vertical slits like a snake. Dark blue hair swept up in a lopsided half up, half down style.

“I know darling, rather stunning isn’t it? Much better than my human form,” he said jutting his chin up as his chest puffed out a bit.

He had seemed odd when you met him a few days ago. Same eyes but with round pupils, no scales or tail and black hair instead of the blue it was now. He’d been strolling around the town at night and had assumed at first he was a thief or a burglar.

That notion quickly disappeared when he came closer and you saw the ridiculous outfit he was wearing. He wore a black silk shirt, and what you thought was cotton but unsure, black pants with golden embroidery that ran up and down both the shirt and pants in a seemingly seamless pattern.

He didn’t seem to notice your unimpressed look, as he asked in an accent you’ve never heard before, if he was in the right village. He was in fact looking for one more than a weeks’ walk away.

He didn’t seem annoyed to be in the wrong place, only giving a good natured sigh. “Well thank you,” he said, with a slight bow, before starting to turn away.

“You should change your clothes,” you said eyes skyward. When he turned back to you with a curious look on his face, you explained, “You’re going to be a target if you wear clothes that expensive,” you said explaining it like you would a toddler. “It’s not safe.”

He pouted slightly, “I thought these were sufficiently subdued,” and your brain thought of the most gaudy outfits known to man. But then he smiled, “Thank you for the concern though,” and the smile spread across his face and in the low light of the dusk you could’ve sworn his teeth weren’t quite right. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a stray gold coin handing it to you on a flat palm. “A more, worldly way to show my thanks.”

Maybe it was the intensity in his eyes as he stood still waiting for you to take it. A small greedy part of you wanted to take it without thought, hungry to spend it. But a wiser part of you could see the trouble it’d bring. It was a small town and everyone would know you had it soon enough. The headache that would be the envy, the questions, the accusations, not to mention every half rate thief would try and steal it. No you didn’t need any of that.

“No need for that,” you said trying to sound polite as you took a step back. “Just some friendly advice, you have no debt with me.”

Something flashed in his face, a cool look of appraisal, before the smile came back, smaller than before but genuine as far as you could tell. “Most wouldn’t make that choice,” he said sliding the coin back in his pocket.

“Maybe you need to meet more people then,” you said dryly and to your surprise he actually laughed.

“Most probably true,” he looked you over once more before saying, “is there something else you’d prefer?”

You refused him again, he clicked his teeth rolling his eyes. “As you wish,” he said.

Three nights later you woke to screaming and thick black smoke. You’d ran out to your small chicken coop without thinking, listening to them screech in terror. You opened it without much thought and they all ran from the fire. Something was probably going to eat them but you’d rather that than a slow death of fire and smoke.

The smoke was so thick you couldn’t see more than an arms length away, as you covered your mouth, hoping to find help or survivors. You screamed as something with claws grabbed the back of your shirt and yanked you backwards out of the smoke and you couldn’t stop yourself from falling on your ass when he let go.

Your eyes burned and stung making it hard to see with no help to your lungs gasping for clear air, as you coughed tears streaming down your face.

Behind you was a low rumbling noise, and the last thing you remembered seeing behind squinted eyes was a dark mass maybe 50 times bigger than yourself.

You’d woken up here, in a dragon’s lair, expected to be eaten. Only to realize that the monster who burned down your village was the same one who was offering you clothes.

“You!” You said trying to get to your feet only to fall back down on what you realized was a small mountain of pillows. “You killed them!”

“Don’t work yourself up darling, it wasn’t everyone, just a little more than half,” he said tossing the clothes to the side coming closer to you. “I promise in a fifty years you won’t even remember their names.”

You flopped to your side trying to pull away from him, but he doesn’t even seem to notice as he pulls you towards him as he kneels down on the pile. “I should have known you’d try and be a hero,” he said petting your hair. a soft smile on his face, he gently tapped your nose. “I was planning on making it a special occasion, but then you ran into the smoke head first and your poor human lungs were in such distress that I had to give you the potion right then. You weren’t even awake to see it,” he said sticking out his lower lip just a bit. “It took fifty years to make it and you never even saw it.”

As your mind spun connecting the dots he picked you up under the armpits facing away from him like a child with a puppy. “It’s alright, it just means I get to see you in your true former sooner,” he said petting your hair again. “You’ll understand, I had to cover my tracks darling.”

“Why?” You asked your voice breaking on the single word.

He smoothed down your hair putting his chin on top of your head. “The minute our brethren hear that there’s a hatchling, I’ll be dealing with every single dragon this side of the world. And in a century probably the other half. No one will notice you’re gone, no one who saw me there remains, and so no one will ever know why it happened. They’ll write it off as doing what we do. But before I have to share, I’m getting at least a decade with you first.”

You squirmed in his arms and with a sigh he let you go, watching you fall back into the pillows. “I’m not a dragon,” you said voice hoarse.

“You probably don’t feel very much like one at the moment, but I assure you, by the end of the year, you’ll be as much of a dragon as me, well, a much younger version of me,” he said with a wide smile, he reached out to touch you again. “I can’t wait to see what color your scales are going to be.”

[animeshotsh]

Forget me not? | Various x Kid!Reader

Summary: Charlie and Vaggie have been call to Heaven because of an....issue, they get to see you but do you ever knew them?

Warnings: Alternative Universe - Angst - Memory Loss - Sad!Charlie - Angry!Vaggie - Heaven vs Hell - OFF CANON - grammar mistakes -

When Charlie got a call from Heaven she was....well suprised and a bit hesitant about it. Not a lot was say, only that there was an issue and that they needed to talk to her as soon as possible.

Lucifer was against it and so were the rest. No one wanted to even know what this "problem" was, if Heaven was so desesperated to call Hell then it was their responsability to deal with it.

And so, weeks passed till Emily the only Angel who was open to the idea of Salvation when Charlie and Vaggie first went to Heaven talked to her and gave some small details of what was going on.

Charlie with a heavy heart went again with Vaggie, the looks they got were worse than last time. Some of the old Angels in charge of doing the "clean" in hell gave Vaggie the most nasty looks ever.

The meeting was once again with lots of high level Angels but Emily was not present (something both, Charlie and Vaggie noticed and made them worry a bit).

"Charlie Morningstar, we have called you today to Heaven because of a problem you have caused"

Seras started "When you said you could redeem souls no one here believed it. And most still dont" Some Angels nodded while others kept an emotionless face "But then something happened"

Seras made a big ice crystall appear showing no other no less than Sir Pentious himself. He was walking on Heaven streets looking different but still him, his eggs following behind. Emily was also besides him, they seemed to be going somewhere.

"Wait" Charlie said looking closer not beliving her eyes "Are you saying I was right? Souls can be redeem after all ?"

"According to our records this soul was in hell for quiet a long time, but then it appear here" Sera said looking over a book that had Sir Pentious name, below in red there was his time in hell and then a line, in blue it was a count up of his days in heaven.

"Then I was right!! I can redeem souls, extermination is no longer necesary, we can work together and-

"We did not call you because of that. This is a problem, a bizarre thing that should not be happening. Hell is there to punish sinners not to redeem them" Sera said in a cold voice

"What about purgatory?" Charlie asked remembering her old dad's books that talked about that place.

"That site was pointless and was shut it down long time ago" An Angel with green skin said from one side.

"Wait....how do we know this is not fake?" Vaggie said getting besides Charlie "How do we know Sir Pentious is indeed him there and not some trick"

"Are you acussing Heaven of lying?" An angel roared

"Yes, yes im. Bring him here and let us talk with him, alone" Vaggie demanded

~☆~☆~☆~☆

"Look there (Y/N) is!!" Emily exclaimed seeing you getting out from Heavens School and looking for them.

"Em!! Pen!!" You screamed running towards them showing your notebook with some draws and notes "Look! I learned this today, and I drew your eggs Pen!" You said moving to a different page, all Sir Pentious eggs went to look.

"Thats fantastic, should we get some ice cream?" Emily asked already going to pick you up when her phone sounded. She picked up going a bit away to listen better. Her face slowly falling.

"But Sera..."

"Just bring him here"

~☆~☆~☆~☆~

The corridors did scare you a bit, making you hug Sir Pentious side. While the place itself was not scary something was off, you could not explain it

"Whats happening Pen? Why cant we go and get ice cream?"

Sir Pentious was just as lost as you. Emily did not give him much explaination and just teleported the three to this place.

"Its alright kiddo, we will get it later" He promised

A big door was now in front of them. Two guards besides it, they looked at Emily and nodded opening them.

Inside multiple eyes looked to see the three new faces inside the room.

Charlie turned, her heart beating fast fearing and wishing, fearing it was fake and wishing it had worked.

When her eyes saw Sir Pentious she could not hold her tears, she went to him and hugged him, not noticing you or Emily.

"Sir Pentious im so glad you are alive" Charlie cried feeling his tail wrap around her then getting away to look at him better.

Vaggie got closer too, seeing if there was some kind of angel spell but no, in front of her was the real Sir Pentious.

"Princess" He said bowing and holding his hat "I must say my thanks to you, you made possible this. And now I get to live again, as a better person"

Charlie was about to cry again when you appeared besides Sir Pentious.

"Pen? Who is this? Why are you bowing?" You asked confused

"(Y/N)....?" Charlie asked not beliving it "its really you?" Charlie asked again going down to your eye level

"Uhhhh how do you know my name?"

"What...its me! Charlie, your big sister, im so sorry i could not save you but now im here, everybody misses you at the Hotel" Charlie said going to reach for you but you took some steps back.

"I dont know you...and what hotel?"

Time stopped, silence filled the room, Charlie felt her heart shatter.

"What...its me, please dont play games now (Y/N)..."

"Princess" Sir Pentious tried to talk and explain but Vaggie was faster

"You....YOU WIPPED OUT THEIR MEMORIES!!" Vaggie screamed at Sera who did not flinch.

Emily looked at you confused for a moment then she connected it. The missing soul, the strange sinner kid that went to hell, then you being in heaven....

"Sera...."

"We did what we thoguht was the best for this soul. No one can imagine what it must have lived in hell. We wanted to give it a new start"

"THATS BULLSHIT" Charlie now furious responded, her horns coming out "You did this because you dont want to admit you did a mistake, you lost their soul thats why they ended in hell"

"You are doing serious acussations right now Morningstar"

"She is right!!" Sir Pentious backed up "I knew this kid in hell, they were there by mistake and then you..."

"You...you knew me?" You asked looking at Sir Pentious your eyes giving a strange glitch, him looking different, the sky being red, faces you could not put names on looking at you.

"W-what is this, make it stop it hurts" You said pulling your hands on your head

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THEM" Vaggie said getting her weapon out

"Their soul is weak, they cant bear the idea of have been to hell"

"Thats not true, their soul may be weak but its getting their memorys back whats making them feel pain" Emily said now completly broken as she carried you trying to less your pain

"Emily..."

"Their soul may fracture...."

"Thats it. We are done. We are taking (Y/N) back right now" Charlie said getting ready to leave

"You cant take a soul from heaven!!"

"BUT YOU CAN TAKE IT FROM HELL AND RE WRITE THEIR MEMORIES?"

"Sis.....sis make it stop" You said reaching to Charlie

"Morningstar if you continue with this, this soul wont be accepted in heaven again" Sera said pointing at Sir Pentious

"And i dont give a fuck about it! I want (Y/N) to feel better" He responded back

"Thats it. We are going now. Forget whatever plan you wanted to talk about, i cant- i cant work with beings like you" Charlie said getting towards the portal when a light came going to hit her back.

But was stopped

"Emily..."

"I cant believe....I cant believe you would do this!! This is a kid, a good kid! One who had a terrible life, not only did we lose their soul, you removed their memories too?"

"It was to protect them..."

"TELL ME THE TRUTH!!"

"...We cant let a soul be in heaven when it was in hell at first. Thats why Morningstar was called on the first place, her wish cant be made. We cant accept it. No matter if a soul can be redeem, its something that we cant let happen"

"Then..., then im going with them" Emily finished her resolve clear now "If you try to stop me i will show you why im younger but on the same level as you"

~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~

"Whats this place?"

You asked now being in a room with Sir Pentious and his eggs

"This is a hotel and well, we will be living here from now on"

"...its true? Part of my memories are gone?"

"Im sorry kiddo, i promise it will get better"

~☆~☆~☆~☆~

Meanwhile in Lucifer's office

"Its a war then?" Lucifer asked Emily

"Its...i dont know, i came on my own because i want to protect (Y/N) too..."

Lucifer took a seat and a deep breath.

"If my father has not said anything then i believe we wont go to war because of (Y/N)..."

"Dad...they know souls can be redeem and yet they dont want to do it..." Charlie said "and they made (Y/N) forget us...how...."

"Charlie. Im just as angry as you. Trust me. But we cant just go to war like this.....but i never said there wont be any type of revenge"

[lives-in-midgard]

It's Christmas Time

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Summary: It's early december, so you and your roommate Bucky decide to start decorating the apartment. What will happen when you find a mistletoe in one of your boxes?

Word Count: 860

Prompts: Roommates + Decorating together + “You like them? They are my favorite.”

From @buck-star Fluffy Winter Event

A/N: Hey! I'm so excited to share my first Christmas fanfic of this year with you all! I hope you enjoy it! 💗If you haven't read my Christmas stories from last year you can find the Fluffcember Masterlist here.

Divider made by @buck-star

Fluffy Winter Masterlist | Main Masterlist

It’s early December which means it’s time to put up the Christmas decorations. After having breakfast with Bucky, you asked him if he would help you carry the boxes from the basement up to your shared apartment. He immediately agreed to help you and was excited to help you decorate the apartment. It will be your first Christmas that you celebrate together in your shared apartment. Bucky is excited but also a bit nervous because it’s been a really long time since he celebrated Christmas, and this time of the year always reminds him of his family. But Bucky is so glad that he has you.

You are his best friend.

The bond that you two share is something so special. You’re always there for each other and can talk about anything. After being friends for a while, you asked if Bucky would like to move in with you. He spends a lot of time at your apartment or you at Bucky’s apartment, so you thought why not move in together. Nothing can go wrong when you move in with your best friend, right? But something went wrong, your feelings for Bucky grew stronger and so did Bucky’s feelings for you. You still haven’t talked about it, but sometimes you had those special moments together, those moments where time stood still and you almost kissed. But every time someone or something interrupted you. Sometimes it was a phone that was ringing, or once it was Sam who knocked on the door, the ringing of the oven timer and Alpine who meowed. But what happens if nothing interrupts you the next time you almost kiss?

After Bucky and you put down the three boxes of Christmas decorations you had in the living room, you began to open them.

“Wow, that’s a lot of Christmas decorations.” Bucky said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, I love Christmas.” You said with a smile and Bucky smiled back at you. While you started to decorate, Alpine walked around and then sat down on the couch. Bucky went over to Alpine and petted her, then he helped you decorate. You have a lot of different types of decorations in different colors. Decorating with Bucky was so lovely, and you enjoyed it a lot. After a while you saw Bucky eating the cookies that you made yesterday, before he got home from his mission.

“You like them?” You asked with a smile.

“They are my favorite.” Bucky said with a huge smile and made your smile grow.

“You definitely have to make more of those, doll.” Bucky said and took another one.

“Maybe we can bake some together?” You asked and Bucky’s eyes lit up.

“That would be amazing.” Bucky smiled and walked closer to you, reaching for your hand. Then Bucky looked at you with those beautiful blue eyes and that smile. He pushed a strand of hair behind your ear and it was like time stood still for a moment until Alpine meowed and Bucky turned away.

“We should finish decorating.” Bucky mumbled and you nodded. You walked over to the last box and gave Bucky some candles. Then as you looked through the box, you suddenly found a mistletoe and held it in your hand. Bucky came back to you and looked at the mistletoe in your hand.

“Doll. You know…I’ve always wondered what it feels like to kiss under a mistletoe.” Bucky suddenly confessed.

“We should do it.” You suddenly said out loud.

“Wait really?” Bucky asked nervously.

“Yeah, how about we do it right now?”

“Yeah, we could do that. Where do you wanna put the mistletoe?” Bucky asked and you looked around the room to find a good spot.

“How about the door to the kitchen?”

“That’s perfect.” He smiled at you, and you handed him the mistletoe and walked to the door. Bucky placed the mistletoe on the wall and then smiled at you. You walked over to him, so that you were both standing under the mistletoe.

“Doll, you know we don’t have to kiss if you don’t want to, right?” He asked one more time to make sure that you really wanted to.

“I know.” You said and moved closer to Bucky, so that there was only a small distance between the two of you. Then Bucky pulled a strand of hair behind your ear and placed his hand on your cheek. Bucky looked into your eyes, and you nodded at him, making him move closer and finally kiss you. His lips touched yours gently and then the kiss became more passionate. When you ended the kiss, you smiled at each other and Bucky took your hand.

“Finally, we weren’t interrupted.” Bucky said and made you chuckle.

“I know right.” You said and you both started laughing.

“I’m so lucky to have you.” Bucky said, pulling you into a hug.

“Doll, would you like to go on a date with me?” Bucky asked as he hugged you.

“I would love that.”

Finally knowing that Bucky feels the same way feels so good and you can’t wait to go on a date with him.

Taglist:

@marvelogic | @eviebuggg @nicoline1998enilocin | @kandis-mom | @sergeantbarnessdoll | @noellez-best-life23 | @beaubbdoll | @sgtgarricks | @ratchildspartan | @scott-loki-barnes |  @mrs-bucky-barnes-73 |

@mrsbuckybarnes1917 | @brnesblogposts | @rogersbarber

[ghostsofchernobyl]

I have to be honest, this has been weighing on my mind since you asked how my url came about. Funny, given that I was hoping someone would ask. It's just a bit... complicated.

I'll give a short version and a long version, with the long version underneath the cut.

Short Version: It's the name of a fictional post-rock band that I came up with.

Long Version:

If you have paid any attention to my post history, you'll know that my primary special interest is Radiation, because naturally that's what I'd be drawn to. Funny, cause I was super scared of getting an x-ray when I was 5 and used to have a very intense fear of nuclear war. (The foreshadowing in this is not subtle).

I've known about the Chernobyl disaster since... forever, I guess? My memory of my childhood is very suppressed, and what I do have is foggy. But that's besides the point. Anyways, what caught my attention is the... solitude? of abandoned places. Like that eerie feeling of being somewhere that's been forgotten.

So, anyways, I used to have a really big fear about nuclear war. I don't remember the specifics, but I know when North Korea did their last test I was at summer camp, and we had also been told that they now had missiles that could hit the U.S. Pretty scary stuff for a kid my age.

My anxiety got so strong at a few points that I hallucinated the sounds of air raid sirens (which don't exist where I live). I also started to do stuff specific ways to *not* have such a war happen (huh, this definitely doesn't become an OCD diagnosis later on).

When I was 16, I started legally doing some Urbex after a mall an hour away went under. I also watched a documentary about the Manhattan project in class, as well as delving into the Chernobyl Disaster through the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video games. I eventually watched the movie that they're based on, and it remains one of my favorites to this day.

Last year of high school sucked for me, but I ended up starting the special interest around radiation and nuclear war. My favorite element for a long time has been Astatine, because we can't compile enough of it to be visible without it tearing itself apart from the heat of its own radiation. Cool stuff.

Anyways, at that point my OCD kept me to only knowing about the disasters (Chernobyl, Fukushima (I actually know a survivor), Three Mile Island, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Windscale, etc) and Fission Bombs (Gun-Type, Implosion, Boosted, Ivy King). It was also the last time I did Urbex because a lot of my spots by then had been torn down, or my pass to go to said places was revoked because they wanted to do construction or whatnot.

Because of this, I got even deeper into STALKER lore. My favorite faction is Monolith, which is basically a hive mind of people who worship the Monolith at the center of the Zone, right in the Sarcophogus. The HBO Chernobyl series coming out didn't help the special interest, although it is very blatantly wrong in many places.

Freshman year of college the dam broke and I started looking into fusion bombs, and damn did I miss a lot. But that's really where the special interest leaves the story. So on to another component: Post-Rock.

I discovered "We Lost the Sea" sometime in High School, but I don't remember exactly when. I had gotten into the genre through Krobak at the start of the COVID lockdowns. Anyways, WLTS has an album called Departure Songs, and it's given me a lot of catharsis. I've always been very musical, and learned how to play both guitar and bass in high school.

My dad had old tapes from when he was taking night classes, and one of them was labeled "Isotope Effect". It's something to do with how different isotopes react with body chemistry differently, something I'm actually going to learn about next year. Anyways, I always thought it was a cool band or song title.

Well, I came up with the fictional band "Ghosts of Chernobyl", and I would dedicate some riffs I came up with to them. Stupid, but the tism gotta tism, and that's how it be for me.

I can't say my faith has had nearly as large a role in my url as yours had, but it's definitely given it more meaning. I'm a Jewish Convert (a Proselyte in the jargon), and I converted for a lot of reasons that would triple the length of this tangent.

It turns out that Tschornobyl, Ukraine (the original name for Chernobyl) was actually originally a village of Jews who had survived everything from the Russian Pogroms to the Holodomor, but unfortunately didn't make it through the Holocaust.

I found that out after my obsession with chernobyl started, and long after I had come up with the band name, but it gave it more meaning. I turned it into my url because it represented a lot about me. It represented my love of post-rock, how it's gotten me through some horrible times in my life. It represents my special interest in radiation, which is how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb (TM). It also represents my Jewishness, cause the original town was an Ashkenazi/Chasidic Hotspot.

But most of all, it represents my feelings of being forgotten. Chernobyl is a town with a lot of ghosts, and was practically built by them. It is those ghosts, who have unsung tales and live in the ruined apartment blocks, that I wish to embody the spirit of. The cathartic feeling of distant, forgotten memories, where the land has been salted over.

I also found out later that there's a movie called "Ghosts of Chernobyl", but it kinda sucks and has nothing to do with my url.

Nice url. How'd you get it?

It’s a bit of a long story. To condense it, it’s a reference to a Psalm that was popular with a famously weird Mormon seminary teacher of mine, and a character that I felt like was the most human and interesting depiction of Mormonism in pop-culture: Joshua Graham.

I started using the name when I was in online exmo support groups because of the religious significance it once had to me, and for its literal sense of mourning. At some point I stopped spending time in ExMo circles and just wandered off into the regular online world, but I kept the name. It feels right.

How about you?

[yuriisclumsy]

What if there was an AU for [Name] being one of the top ranked mages in twisted wonderland?

╰Description: [Name] is one of the top mage in Twisted Wonderland, right after Malleus Draconia.

Part 1 | Part 6 | Part 7 (You are here) | Part 8

—November 20, 2024—

In the previous episode, some of the students of NRC–who have Professor Fairytale as an instructor, and like her as an educator–went to her house to try convincing her to rethink teaching. Yet, when they arrived at the address and confronted their professor, their plan was met with confusion. Their professor did not quit. Rather, she called in sick and asked for a few days off to recover from the bad cold she had.

What a twist.

Ah? Ah? …No? Okay.

The students that remind on campus to follow their part of the plan, are now doing so with the illusion that their professor is still gone. This is going to be a catastrophic mess, one which they’ll be cleaning up after the whole ordeal.

What was their part of the plan anyway…?

…

The courtyard of the college was beautiful and often frequented by the students who have a bit of time left before their next class. Today was no different. Some were practicing small spells, so as to not destroy the place. They did not want to end up like the freshmen who almost got expelled for burning a statue.

In a secluded corner of the yard stood a group of familiar students who seemed to be discussing a rather secretive plan.

“Is everyone in their positions?” Jamil asked the twins as he watched the surrounding area for eavesdroppers. Finding none, he turned to them. “So?”

“Worry not, all the preparations are ready for noon,” said jade with his usual business smile.

Floyd groaned from boredom, “Augh, can we go now?”

“Not yet,” Jade answered, “we are still waiting on Scarabia’s Housewarden.”

“Talking about my Housewarden, he should have been here already…”

“Jamil!” an energetic boy running towards them said. 

“Oh, look! The little puppy!” Floyd pointed at the boy running.

“I got the ingredients!” he yelled.

“…!” Jamil quickly grabbed Kalim by the arms and dragged him to their “hiding spot” before shoving a hand on his mouth. “Kalim…! You can’t just go around yelling that, or they're going to figure we’re up to something…!” he warned.

Kalim took the hand on his mouth and flashed an apologetic smile, “Sorry, sorry! I got excited when I saw you guys…” He scratched his head and vowed lightly.

“It’s fine,” Jade assured him, “I don’t think anyone is going to question Kalim yelling anytime soon. I think they’ll be more suspicious if you don't yell.”

Jamil frowned, knowing that it was true. “Anyway, you have all of the items I asked you for?” he asked Kamil.

“Yup!” he opened the bag in his hand, “I have all of them… What are we going to do with these again?”

Jamil took the bag and made sure everything was there, “Don’t worry about it. The only thing you have to do now…is keep quiet until the next part of the plan begins.”

“Ah, okay…”

“...”

“...”

“You don’t remember when the plan starts, do you?”

“Nope!” Kalim answered with a bright smile. Jamil sighted and massaged his temples.

Jade chuckled. He placed a hand on Kalim’s shoulder and said, “We need to wait for Idia’s signal.”

“Oh!” he let out an understanding. “...what is the signal?”

Jade’s eyebrows knitted in concern at Kalim’s forgetfulness. “I feel bad for you,” he said to the Vicewarden of Scarabia.

“I’m used to it…” Jamil extended his arm to pass the bag to Jade, “At least he helped in something…even if he had to beg to do it.”

Floyd snatched the bag from his grasp before his twin could get it, “What tasty things are there…” He licked his lips as his hands touched what felt like cotton candy.

Jade snatched it back from him. “These are not for you. So, please, keep your hands away.” 

“Awww…”

Jade’s attention turned back to Jamil, “Thank you. We’ll tell Azul we have these and start our part of the plan.”

He nodded as he watched them leave the hiding spot. He turned to where Kalim is with his eyes closed, “Now that that’s done, we can leave now, Kalim–” there was an empty space beside him. “Kalim? Kalim!?” he yelled out his friend's name. “Damn it…!”

It seems Jamil will be busy trying to find his housewarden.

Why don’t we take a quick look at what the others are up to, shall we?

…

Their plan was to show off Professor Fairytale's teaching skills where irreplaceable, and that those students who decided to hide behind their parent’s are nothing but cowards who wanted an easy class and not work hard.

It was a masterpiece of a plan. And no one would say otherwise.

“That’s an idiotic plan.”

…Unless that someone is much smarter than they are.

“Idiotic?” Riddle questioned, taken aback by their professor's bluntness.

“See! Even the prof thinks all of this was a waste of time!” Grim yelled in frustration between munches of the pastries placed in front of him. “But, NO. Don’t listen to Grim!”

He–Riddle–and the others put their differences aside and thought of a plan to get her un-fired! …Even if it were an illusion. “I’m sorry but I fail to see where this is stupid.”

“I didn’t say it was a waste of time,” she corrected Grim and slapped his creeping feline paws out of her plate. Fixing his etiquette like the badly trained cat he is. “I’m merely stating a fact.”

“This whole adventure was…unnecessary. You all could have mailed me, or emailed me, added Crowley in there, and this misunderstanding wouldn't have escalated.”

They remained silent, not bothering to touch their teas or sweets, the only one who could stomach through the lecture was Grim whose loud chewing you all could hear.

Professor Fairytale shook her head in disappointment. “Now that this has been cleared, serve yourselves more food, and leave before another rumor spreads.”

“We understand…” Riddle said for everyone. Except Grim, he was still munching away his Housewarden’s food.

Their expressions resembled that of sad puppies. Something which she could not resist.

“*sigh…* Please don’t look at me with those eyes…” she frowned.

“What do you mean?” Ace said innocently, intensifying his puppy-eyes.

“...Those eyes,” her gaze shifted awkwardly away. “I don’t like them…”

“Wait, could it be…?” Carter’s question dragged on making their professor feel nervous. “...Professor [Name] is…weak towards puppy eyes!?”

“No, I’m not!” she slammed her tea cup on the table. Her face wore a blush, and her eyes widened at the mannerism she displayed. “I–I mean…no… I don’t have any weaknesses,” she closed her eyelids and sipped her tea.

They stared at her for a bit and thought: “She’s now acting her age.”

“Anyhow, I think it’s time to go back and tell the others to stop whatever they’re doing, before any more trouble arises,” she instructed them.

Riddle got up, “I agree with professor [Name]. We need to go back and tell the others.”

“Aren’t you forgetting we have phones? They’re there for a reason, y’know?” Ace laid himself back, it seemed he was in no mood to move right now.

“I already tried,” said Carter. “The internet here is so bad, I can’t even post the picture I took earlier on the entrance!” He sulked his inability to have his brain stimulated by the mindless algorithm that is his social media platforms.

A drop of sweat appeared on [Name]’s face. “I think that’s a good thing…”

“Oh please, it can’t be that bad.”

“No, he’s right,” Deuce interjected with his phone on display for Ace to see. The internet icon had a line across it, showing that there was no connection.

“My order still stands.” Riddle vowed slightly in the direction of [Name], “It was an honor to be invited in your house, Professor Fairytale.”

“Oh no, the honor is all mine to have hosted you all.”

“iT wAs aN hOnoR..blah blah blah… Can we go now—? OW!” Ace yelped as Ramshackle’s Prefect hit him on the head.

“That’s enough for today, Ace,” he said as he made Ace get up to his feet.

“Hey–!”

They made their way to the house’s entrance. [Name] opened the door to let them out.

Riddle, Ace, Deuce, Grim and the Prefect were already far from the porch, the only ones remaining were Trey and Carter.

“Thank you for your hospitality Professor [Name],” Trey said to her, “I hope you have a speedy recovery.”

Carter placed an arm around his friend. “Yeah! I can’t wait to see you back on campus!”

“Thank you…the both of you. I will be back to work in three days as the cold has calmed down. And, expect to have a test once I return,” she said, giving them a ghostly smile.

They flinched at the mention of a check for their progress in her class.

“Hehe…We’ll be looking forward to it,” said Trey before turning to follow his classmates.

“‘Looking forward to it?’ If I fail, it’ll tank my GPA!” yelled Carter, starting to get worried about his grades.

“You’ll do great.”

“That’s because I study!”

[Name] saw as they disappeared from view. She smiled softly at the small shared memory she had with them. It had been the first in her life where she had people visit her, worried for her well-being.

It feels…nice…

𝚃𝚊𝚐𝚜: @scarabiafriend, @sleep-ydragon, @d3sperate-enuf, @elaemae, @lucky-whispers, @kiwiimochi, @emmorphine, @azriel-sama, @amora-ledezma, @writerstrashbin, @marinahavik, @twstwondersforyou, @lunatheroyal, @ririsun, @dyedscarletletter, @kuureii, @otomega, @valacz29, @busy-dadzawa-fish, @sarah22447, @valacz29, @wondering-again, @lucid-stories, @obsessionswithfandoms. Comment if you want to get added to the Tag section for Twisted Wonderland. Back to The Mind

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