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Silent Saviors: 4taro x Fem Reader

Finally... FINALLY IT IS DONE! This is infernal ask that has been in my inbox for so long!!! Thank you to @stardustbrosaders for the request all those months ago lol. This was the request: “Heya! Would it be possible to write a P4! Jotaro x Female! Reader where the reader gets her stand under stress from a battle? The group almost gets defeated but the reader’s stand appears and she beats the enemy, saving everyone? For the readers stand type could it be close range like SP and CD?”

I also drew the reader’s stand for this fic. You can find a link to the stand info here.

This is a long ass fic btw. It’s literally 11 THOUSAND WORDS. I don’t know what compelled me to make the fic this long. I really don’t. But I did and here we are. I hope you like it, no matter how long it is!

Quick content warnings: General violence and angst, strangulation, murder (duh)

Without further ado: Silent Saviors: 4taro x Fem Reader (11k words)

A dark force was afoot in the town of Morioh once more, but it had just been a long day, and no progress had been made to capture that force. The team’s morale was low. The exhausted high school students stumbled home to catch a good night’s rest, thoughts of ongoing danger in their small town looming over their heads. The young manga artist Rohan Kishibe grumbled to himself about his failures, wondering how a genius like him could not decipher this mystery like he had last time. You felt a heavy air of unrest lay over the town as you awkwardly shifted in your seat on the ride to the Grand Hotel, looking over at your travel mate as he silently ran over the facts in his head. He shook his head in frustration. None of this made any sense. All the victims had been killed in the same way, so it must be a stand, one that didn’t leave behind any evidence, one potentially even more dangerous than Kira.

A dark force was afoot in the town of Morioh once more, but you didn’t know anything about the first monstrous event that had occurred. The small town’s silent saviors all agreed with one another to seal their lips and tell no one what had really happened. Not that anyone would have believed them.

But you would have. Your travel partner didn’t know anything yet, but the more time you two spent in this strange town, the crazier you felt you were becoming. You were seeing objects levitate in the air, you were seeing arms stick out from these bizarre teenagers. At this point, you’d believe anything just to make it all stop. You stumbled inside from the taxi, convinced this small town was driving you insane.

Your partner turned to you in front of your hotel room, his own room right next door, and placed his large hands on your shoulders.

“Are you alright (y/n)? If any of this investigation gets to be too much for you, just tell me and I’ll send you on the next flight back home.”

You snort tiredly. “Too much for me? Jotaro you look exhausted… You haven’t been taking breaks from the case at all… You’re always so anxious. Do you promise you’ll actually go to bed this time?”

Jotaro looked down at you and moved his hands from you, sighing heavily. “Yeah… I promise…”

You give him a shy smile before shrugging. “Besides… you need me, don’t you? Weren’t you the one that said I’m the only one that calms you down?”

Jotaro gulped and broke eye contact with you, his own silent way of admitting that you were right. You chuckled and opened the door to your hotel room, giving him one last look and goodnight before you left to go to bed. You would wake up about two hours later from the sound of your partner’s shuffling about in his room next door. You slipped on a thick crew neck over your thin tank top and shorts and open to the door connecting to the two rooms.

You peaked your head past the door to find a familiar sight before you. Pictures were tacked onto a corkscrew board, red thread connecting the dots to draw the group one step closer to solving the crimes. Files were splayed out over the desk, a map of the small Japanese town resting on the nearby bed, etched with red Xs displaying the sites where several young men and women met their demise. Amongst the mess, you found the broad shoulders of a tired Jotaro Kujo hunched over the desk, the young man still looking at the mountains of documents, eager to find the path to justice. It was hidden in those pages, he was sure of it. It had been your third night together in that hotel, and it was evident that you two would be there for much longer.

---

“Miss (L/N) it says here that you have received your degree in zoology and graduated at the top of your major.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And it says here that you recently led an academic study of marine biology that went very well back home.”

“Yes sir, and it would be an honor to join this esteemed team of scientists here at SPW.”

It was the year 1998, and you were interviewing to work at the Speedwagon Foundation. You had graduated atop your class, and had a passion for your work that few possessed, as well success that few could show for. You prayed that this interview was going well. The Foundation was the utmost important center of scientific research in the world and you didn’t want to waste an opportunity to work there. You watched the smile on your interviewer’s face as he reviewed your credentials before setting the paper down.

“Miss (L/N) I’d like to welcome you aboard our team. I believe you will contribute much to our efforts.”

Your face lit up in excitement and you rushed to shake his hand. “Thank you so much sir, I won’t let you down! If I could ask what position you’re hiring me for?”

“You see we have an opening for an assistant with the Kujo lab. Since you’re just starting off here- you’ll be assisting him in meetings and in bench work-”

“Excuse me... the Kujo lab? As in Jotaro Kujo? Isn’t he my age?” You interrupt nervously.

“Why yes miss… is there an issue?”

“Well no sir it’s just… I thought perhaps I’d be working under an esteemed professor… I didn’t think someone fresh out of grad school would already have a lab to himself… Not to sound ungrateful of course, I just didn’t realize I would be working under one of my contemporaries…”

A sigh came to the man and leaned back in his chair, thinking about how to explain the situation.

“Miss (y/n), the reason I’m placing you in Kujo’s lab is that I feel the two of you would work well together, given your similar backgrounds and parallel personalities…” You furrow your brow, unsure what the supervisor meant until you were face to face with Jotaro Kujo himself a few days later.

You still remembered the day well. You hung your coat up on a nearby hook and looked about the lab. Documents were piled over every available surface with no particular organization. A large fish tank stood in the far corner, a wild variety of fish encased within. Anatomical posters of aquatic life were all over the walls, and right by the window sat Jotaro. He hadn’t looked up when you came in. Approaching his desk, you stared down at the mass of black hair on the top of his head. Soon clearing your throat, the young doctoral student’s head shot up to look at you blankly. You opened your mouth to speak, taken aback by his unemotional expression, nervously turning to a notebook you had on hand.

“Uh… um… My name is (y/n) (l/n), your new coworker. I would like to thank you for allowing me into your lab. I had been going over your most recent papers on the social patterns of starfish on the eastern-most coast of Japan and I was just wondering if-”

“I’m sorry, who are you?”

You looked up from your notes and into the young man’s deep blue eyes, your breath catching in your throat. You struggled to form a sentence under the intense gaze, your breath shuttering out from your lips, and you looked back down at your notes.

“I’m (y/n) (l/n)... your new coworker.”

Jotaro nodded slowly, considering what you had just said. You watched as he removed his large white overcoat and leaned back in his chair, donned in a fitted black t-shirt.

“Why did they hire you?” You lean forward confused, your ear facing him.

“I’m sorry?”

“Why did they hire you?”

You look away for a moment, considering his now nervous expression, his nervous tick of chewing on his lip, his small twitches of the eye, his clenching and unclenching of his jaw. You looked down, finding his leg bouncing anxiously against the floor. A small, sweet smile came to you, and you opened your mouth to speak, alerting his attention.

“You and I apparently have parallel personalities… according to them.”

You watched as Jotaro’s lips curved into a shy smile and he got up from his seat, grabbing a notepad from a nearby drawer. He then turned to you and extended his arm out, pointing. You followed the direction of his hand and saw a separate desk facing his at the other end of the office. You turned back and quickly nodded, rushing to set your things down and then turning to face him once more.

Jotaro nodded courteously at you. “Have you read my most recent work?”

“Yes, I just told you that I did that-”

“Good. Come to the meeting with me then.”

You followed after him into a nearby boardroom, unsure of the situation about to befall you. The meeting began. Executives discussed their most recent funding prospects, deciding whether or not to continue their spending, depending on how successful the trials had been. You sat patiently in your chair, listening to the others argue frankly amongst themselves. A steady, fast tapping upon the table commanded your attention and you turned over to see Jotaro staring off into the distance, his fingers rapidly tapping on the desk, his whole form shaking with sensory overload.

“Mr. Kujo? And you?” You watched as Jotaro’s head shot up and he looked around the room. He hadn’t been listening, his mind had been too overcome with anxieties.

“I um… I uh… W-what were-”

You watched nervously as this man came undone at his seams. You cleared your throat and tapped the table next to his notepad. Getting the message, Jotaro grabbed the notepad quickly and anxiously flipped through its pages.

“Um… sorry about that. I would like to further my research- wait no this is on the wrong page. Wait no it’s not… wait-”

You looked around as the listeners began to get frustrated, looking at each other in jest of one of their top researchers. You chewed nervously on your finger, hoping Jotaro would pull himself together. It was your first day working with him, and it was already troublesome.

“I would like to further the research done in my penultimate paper. Or was it my most recent...”

“Mr. Kujo, we would have liked for you to have prepared for this meeting…”

“No no… I did. I did. Wait-”

With a quick motion, you reached over and placed a hand on Jotaro’s shoulder, calmly taking the notepad from him and then turning to the group. Jotaro looked away, still visibly shaken.

“Mr. Kujo clearly states in his most recent paper that he plans to continue his research, at a different coastal region, comparing more behaviors there to make sure that this past successful trial wasn’t any sort of spontaneous fluke. He writes in his goals of perhaps inspecting the regional colonies of starfish around S-Town… Following that, he plans to remain in contact with the genomic department and track genetic similarities between human and aquatic life that may explain the similar social patterns between the two.”

You explain to them all, having memorized the paper. Turning to the notepad, you saw what Jotaro had written in preparation for the meeting. You then turned back to the investors.

“Mr. Kujo kindly asks that you aid him in his funding so that mankind as a whole may find a better understanding of the natural world… That’s all he wanted to say. He just couldn’t find the right page. Sir.”

You reached back and placed the notepad back near Jotaro’s shaking hand. You returned your hand back to the other’s shoulder, squeezing gently to reassure the scientist that he was alright. The young man turned to you in a bit of surprise, not expecting your presence to calm him oh so much. The executives all took in your words and the head of the meeting slowly nodded.

“Well… thank you for your assistance, miss…?”

“(l/n).”

“Right well thank you… We will consider Mr. Kujo’s work for a second trial.”

“Thank you. He appreciates it.” With that, you let go of Jotaro’s shoulder.

The meeting soon adjourned, You got up to leave your seat when you felt Jotaro’s hand grab your shoulder. You turned around to see him slowly stand up from his chair.

“Thank you. I’m not a big fan of speaking to them…”

You nodded quickly. “Yes… of course…”

From that day on, the two of you were inseparable. Having experienced the horrific acts done to him and to those he loved back in his teenage years, Jotaro was convinced that you were the only one who could calm his constant nerves and anxieties. You became his most powerful tool against the outside world. You understood his work perfectly, understood his mannerisms perfectly, and respected his need for silence in the office. You knew how to say things the way he would himself, and you had no fear discussing them to other people. The two of you became much closer over the months of your working. Jotaro became much less of an enigma in your eyes. It would be a few months until Jotaro would unwillingly reveal his more “secret” projects.

The first time you saw the arrow, Jotaro did not want you to see it. But still, what happened that day would forever change your relationship with the young scientist. You had arrived early, hoping to surprise him with a hot breakfast and a smile. You turn the corner to walk into the lab, yet when you go to open the door, you find it locked. Strange. Looking inside the room, you find Jotaro hunched over his desk in focus, in the same clothes as the day before, having not yet unlocked the door. Even more strange. You knocked on the door, only for him to leave the room with another door in a hurry, ignoring your pleas. With a grumble, you dug for your keys, figuring his weird behavior was just fatigue, and that he probably slept over at work again. When you finally get into the lab, you place your things down, and that's when you see it lingering underneath his desk in a rushed hiding spot.

Encased within a thickly walled wooden box, an arrow remained, barely hidden from your gaze, as Jotaro had had no time to hide it from you. The latch was undone, another sign that Jotaro had run away from the scene.

Jerk. Didn’t he trust you enough to show you something like this? It’s just a bow and arrow! Why was he hiding it? You called out for him to return to the room and explain what the bow and arrow was for. Hearing no response, you turned back to the wooden box, reaching your hand in to inspect the bow and arrow.

It all happened so fast. In the blink of an eye.

There were no in-between movements. One moment you had pricked your finger on the razor sharp tip of the arrow, the next moment you were standing up, the box had been tightly locked, and Jotaro stood right in front of you, chest to chest, intensely staring you down. Your breath became ragged as you maintained eye contact with him. What just happened? You didn’t even hear him come in. The box was right before your very eyes, and you didn’t even see that it was locked. How did he even turn you around without you knowing?! A chill went down your spine as you hesitated to speak even a word to the man before you.

“Do you see what was in there?”

Jotaro asked you calmly. You felt a cold sweat form on your forehead. Jotaro, ever the impatient man, grabbed your jacket collar, shaking you out of your scared daze.

“I’m asking you now (y/n)! Did you see what was in there?!”

“No, I didn’t see anything! I don’t know what just happened! I swear! I saw you run away from the room and went to see what was in there and the next thing I knew you had come back and it was all so fast and I don’t understand and I-... Jotaro… you’re scaring me.”

Your body convulsed at his rough contact, your hands reaching up to push him away, but his tight grip on your jacket remained steadfast. Pure instinct had compelled you to lie to him about seeing the content of the box, but the terror and confusion you had displayed was genuine. You still didn’t understand how he was able to move that fast, or affect you with you even knowing. Just who was this man?

Jotaro stared down at you for a moment longer, before releasing you from his grip and taking a few steps back. You stumbled back, grabbing the edge of his desk to stabilize your fall. Your heart continued to race in your chest as you heaved, still struggling to make sense of what just happened.

Jotaro silently called out Star Platinum, having his stand hover right in front of you as you kept staring at him in confusion. Your expression didn’t change once he called out his stand. So you were telling the truth. You really hadn’t seen the arrow. Or at least, hadn’t touched it.

Jotaro sighed, rubbing the side of his head with a groan. He hadn’t stopped time in so long, but it seemed he was worried over nothing. “I’m sorry to frighten you, (y/n).”

You finally straightened yourself out, gulping. “Who the hell are you? Really?!”

“...I’m Jotaro Kujo. That is all.”

Another chill ran down up your spine, but you played it off. If he wanted to continue things as per usual, you’d have to do the same.

“Right… I brought breakfast. And there’s a morning meeting in half an hour so freshen up.”

You walked past him to retrieve the food you had bought for them. Looking down to pick it up, you noticed a red blood stain on your jacket. It must have been from your bleeding finger when you’d pricked it on the arrow. However, when you turned to look at the finger itself, you found that it was fully healed, not even scarred, even after such a precise and direct cut. Jotaro politely asked you for the food, claiming hunger, and you rushed to take your coat off and hide it away. You got the sense that he’d question further if he saw the fresh blood stain.

After that fateful morning, things continued on as per usual. You still had your questions, but after a few weeks had passed without another incident, you resolved that whatever that bow and arrow were must have been top secret for the Speedwagon Foundation. You figured no company could be as powerful as they were without keeping a few secrets. And this was one of them.

So you resolved to ask no questions about that one day. The same way you didn’t put up much of a fight when, in the summer of 1999, after months of you two planning to stay there together, Jotaro told you that he would be going to Morioh alone to research for his PhD, without you. You were furious, enraged how the two of you could become so close since you began working there, yet he still didn’t trust you to go with him. You argued with him the night before he was set to leave, but his resolve never crumbled. You weren’t going to Morioh, that was final.

In the three months that he was gone, Jotaro regularly sent you his findings, and you sorted them back at Speedwagon Headquarters. When he finally came back, more visibly shaken than he was before, you could only wonder what the coworker you had grown so attached to had experienced in Morioh in the summer of 1999.

Circling back to the present day, it was the winter of 2000, and there was yet again a dark force afoot in the town of Morioh. Only this time, Jotaro would not go alone.

“You have to let me come with you this time.”

“Explain why. Explain why I have to let you come with me this time. I did just fine on my own before.”

You gritted your teeth at the other’s stubbornness. “Will you please just listen to me? Jotaro when you came back from Morioh, you were even harder to deal with than before! Any sound in the office set you on edge and you screamed when someone set off fireworks near our building! And you still haven’t explained to me what happened there! Now let me come with you! I can help!”

Jotaro turned his attention away from his work, finally looking at you for the first time in that conversation. He hadn’t realized just how attached to you he’d become, how much you meant to him. You were his ticket into communicating with the world to his fullest, and after recalling several confusing conversations with Josuke, Okuyasu, and Koichi, Jotaro realized he actually needed you in order to articulate himself to the others without getting too anxious or angry.

“Alright fine. We’re leaving tomorrow at 2. You better be ready.”

But nothing could have prepared you for the horrors you were about to encounter in that small town. To your shock and disgust, you learned that aside from his research, Jotaro was investigating a murderer. And then you met Josuke and the others. That was when you first felt that you were going crazy. When you saw glimpses of third arms extend out from these teenagers, saw one of them heal a broken leg with ease, saw another erase space itself. People all over this small town were vanishing in thin air, and the incidents were happening more and more frequently. It didn’t make any sense, but no one was commenting on it, so you felt you were just imagining things. The same way you must have imagined Jotaro moving at lightspeed that morning you pricked your finger on the arrow.

Finally, we return to the current scene of Jotaro hunched over his desk, his room in the Morioh Grand Hotel littered with documents, the board nearby covered in photos and string, the bedside clock reading 2:33 am. You approached him carefully in the tense silence, knowing not to startle him whenever he was in deep thought.

“...Jotaro-”

“Dammit dammit dammit! I’m sick of it! Where the hell is he?!”

Jotaro slammed his fist down on the desk, his chest heaving in frustration. Why did this keep happening to him?! He just wanted to live a normal life, and he thought after Kira, he could. But like so many times before, Jotaro Kujo was wrong. Perhaps it was his destiny to be unfortunate. Perhaps there would always be another person stabbed by the arrow that would have it out for him and the others. Perhaps he was always destined to have a target on his back. Jotaro turned around to see you there, your form shaken from his sudden outburst. You’d never seen him that angry before. He met your gaze, unaware that you were sensing a vague presence of a being just above the man’s shoulder.

He sighed, walking over to you. “I’m sorry to scare you (y/n). I’m just getting frustrated by all this.”

You hesitated to speak for a moment, flinching when Jotaro placed his hand on your shoulder. You look up at him with a glare. “Tell what you haven’t been telling me.”

“You’ve been with me in Morioh this whole time (y/n). We both know the same things about this case I-”

You shoved Jotaro back, the surprised scientist bumping into his desk. “Don’t play dumb with me Jotaro! There’s something you’re not telling me! Do you think I’m an idiot?! Do you think I can’t handle it?! Tell me why you and a bunch of fucking kids have to be the ones taking down a killer?! Why can’t you just leave it to the police like a normal person?! Just say it! I… I can help you!”

But Jotaro couldn’t tell you. You wouldn’t understand his world and the horrifying stands contained within it. He had to keep you safe. The moment you find out anything more will be the moment you die.

“No… I can’t tell you (y/n).”

“But that’s not fair I-”

“(y/n), I’m sorry, but if you ask me again, I’ll be forced to send you back home and have you fired from my lab. Try to understand me, I’m doing this for your own safety, but I can’t have you be near me if you don’t cooperate.”

You stood there in shock. Would he really do that? Didn’t he know how much working for him at the Foundation meant to you? How much care that you put in for him and his work? And he’d throw all that away just to protect some stupid secret!? Who did he think he was?!

Your whole body began to quiver in rage at the other’s behavior. Just when you thought there was something between the two of you, something more than just a young professor and his assistant, he makes it clear that you mean nothing to him, and you never have. You watched the man before you, turn away from your gaze to focus back to his work. With a huff, you reach for the door to leave, your hand touching the handle.

Then, it all went white.

Your hand touched the handle, feeling the metal scalding to the touch. Before you could flinch back and yelp at the pain, a hand circled around your neck and another crept around your waist, the grip keeping you flush against another body. You look around the room, watching the color and furniture dissolve from your view until all you could see for miles was a white void. The only thing you could feel was the man with a locked grip on your neck, blocking your airway. You kicked to set yourself free, until you felt a ghostly presence cling onto your legs to hold them together. That same feeling washed over your wrists to bind them as well. The man holding onto you within the void leaned down to bring his mouth to your ear.

“No human on Earth is unable to feel pain.”

Your whole body shuddered at the deep growl in his throat. “W-who are you?! What do you wan-”

“I’m the one talking (y/n)!”

With that, his hold on your neck tightened ever more. How could he have known your name? You all had made a point to only use names in private in case the murderer was lurking around. So that means… A pang of realization hit you. He’d been hiding in this hotel room, listening to you and Jotaro was however long. Black spots appeared before you in your line of sight, your head was feeling lighter and lighter. You were becoming weightless.

“In the split second that a human being first feels pain, that is when they are at their most isolated. At the first sign of pain, it’s every man for himself. When a man is shot, in the first moment he feels pain, he isn’t thinking of the man next to him that got shot in the brain. He’s thinking only of himself. The fight or flight response is activated, all other surroundings become useless. That selfishness, that hunger to be healed, that desire for self preservation, is what fuels Foreigner’s God, my stand!”

Your eyes shot open at the last word. “A...stand?” You choked out.

“My stand, Foreigner's God, extends that initial moment of selfishness that comes with pain. No longer are there distractions that can bring someone back to care for others. No longer are there healers that can take that pain away. Your hand is still burnt from the handle that I heated up, so…”

He turned you both around and you saw through your hazy view, a body appear in the white void. It was Jotaro, the man frantically calling out your name and rushing between his room and yours in a search for you. At one moment, the two of you even seemingly made eye contact, and you saw the absolute fear in his eyes at the realization that he might have just lost you. Your mouth quirked up in a smile, and tears began to form in your eyes.

Jotaro took a step closer, maintaining your gaze, and you felt relief in your heart that he could really see you. Until suddenly, he rushed to the night stand, fazing right through you and your assailant, not even noticing your presence in the room. You struggled to shout under the choking pressure as you saw him panic, reaching to the phone to call Josuke.

“Wait! Jotaro! I’m right here ah-”

“Didn’t I tell you (y/n)! At that critical moment of pain, it’s every man for himself! It’s just you and me in here! You’re in my world now, sweetheart. I allowed you to see Jotaro’s image, but he cannot see or hear you!”

The killer turned your head to the side, ready to snap. But he had to wait, for his stand would deactivate the moment you were killed, and then he’d be left vulnerable to a furious Jotaro in that hotel room. He needed information about his opponents’ abilities, and Jotaro was playing right into his hands by calling his friend.

“That’s it… That’s it Kujo! Call Josuke Higashikata! Call him! CALL HIM!”

You trembled under the rough grip, struggling to call out for Jotaro, hoping he wouldn’t call anyone and reveal any secrets.

And then amidst the silence, the click of Jotaro hanging up the phone filled your ears. You watched the look of reflection on his face. Somehow, maybe it was because of years of battle with monsters just like this man, but Jotaro Kujo realized that you hadn’t run away. Someone was keeping you from him. And he was now more alert than ever.

“Shit! He’s smarter than I thought! He must suspect there’s a stand attack going on.”

The murderer grumbled before dropping you to the ground. He couldn’t kill you, not without proper info on how to defeat Jotaro and the others. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t hurt you. With a sharp kick to the back, the assailant managed to knock you away, breaking bones in your spine and leaving you immobile. Recalling his stand ability, the murderer managed to escape out a window without a trace, figuring you would lose consciousness. With a gentle thud, you toppled to the ground, right next to the open window.

“(y/n)!”

Jotaro rushed to the sound, seeing you lay there, gasping for breath. He turned to the open window seeing no one around. He had disappeared. And right under his nose too. How long had the man been in the room with them?! How dumb could he have been?! Reaching up to Jotaro, you muttered that the man had broken a few bones in your back and that you couldn’t move.

“I’m sorry Jotaro. I didn’t get a good look at his face…”

“Don’t worry about that! I’ll get help right away!”

You looked up with hazy eyes as Jotaro rushed to the phone to call Josuke. After everything between the two of you, after everything he’s said to you, it was surprising to see just how much he truly cared about you. Holding the phone to his ear, Jotaro frantically told Josuke your condition and for him to get over here as soon as possible. Glancing down at your arm, Jotaro’s eyes shot open at the black ink that painted your skin just a few centimeters beneath your wrist. In all caps, as if the murderer was playing with you all, the ink wrote,

“Foreigner’s God - AS.”

- - - - -

“Honestly Mr. Joestar, where does that grandson of yours get off running me and the others ragged like this? He sees one person with the initials A.S. in a phonebook and he sends me out across down to read them with Heaven’s Door.”

Rohan Kishibe sat drinking his tea, absently working on Pink Dark Boy, waiting for Jotaro’s next move. His companion, Joseph Joestar, took a sip of his drink at Rohan’s rude accusation.

“Hush now Rohan. We all put Jotaro in charge of his operation, given his connection to our main victim. All he’s doing is using your stand to its full capabilities.”

The old man raised an eyebrow and Rohan got the hint. Mr. Joestar was the only one of the group that the snarky artist fully respected, so he would follow the seasoned stand user’s lead.

A heavy set of footsteps entered the room, followed by a more uneven pair lingering behind. The two stand users looked up to see you and Jotaro enter. You were looking better since the attack. Josuke had healed your back of the broken bones, but the bruises and intense pain of walking remained. Moving with crutches, you slowly stepped out from behind Jotaro as the two of you entered the room. Jotaro, his face darkened in a mixture of unhealthy fatigue and intense bloodlust, approached Rohan’s table and slammed down a stack of papers.

“Names, addresses, ages, and criminal histories. All here. I want you done with it within the next two days.”

Rohan grumbled, standing up. “You’ve got a lot of nerve talking to me like that Jotaro. Not even a hello, not even an acknowledgment of your grandfather. He’s the only reason I’m letting you push me around like this you-”

Jotaro took one step closer to Rohan, staring the smaller man down in silence. A chill went down the artist’s spine. Shown plainly in the scientist’s eyes was a haze of dark intent, of evil desires. He wanted this person dead, and for them to suffer. Joseph flicked his gaze up at his grandson, recognizing the expression from the other’s climactic fight with DIO. A tinge of worry filled the old soul.

They needed to catch him, and catch him soon.

“Jotaro, come on. We told Josuke and the others we would give them an update soon.”

At the sound of your voice, raspy still from the attack, Jotaro’s face softened into its usual composure. He turned around to face you, and you gave him a tired smile.

“Right, let’s go. Rohan. Two days, please. I’m counting on you.”

Tipping his hat over his eyes, Jotaro held out an arm for you as you both walked to the rendez-vous point to meet with Josuke.

Rohan still felt lost in the other’s murderous expression. It had been three days since your run in with Foreigner’s God, and Heaven’s Door’s user was one of the first to arrive at the scene in order to search for clues. He remembered reading a page drawn from your unconscious body; you had blacked out soon after Jotaro made the call for help. Josuke was working on your spine, and there was a tense silence about the room. A silence soon interrupted by the crash of wood hitting the floor. Everyone looked up, seeing Jotaro standing deathly still in his spot, meanwhile Star Platinum had escaped and had thrown the table over and smashed it into the floor. The rampaging stand turned to the board and knocked it over with a fierce punch, wood scraps and documents flying everywhere.

“Hey Jotaro stop it! We need those!”

Josuke yelled, drawing out Crazy diamond to hold Star back. In his blinded rage, the stand took a mindless swing, punching Crazy Diamond in the jaw and sending both him and Josuke flying into the opposite wall.

“Josuke!”

Koichi and Okuyasu rushed to their friend. He wasn’t injured too badly, surprisingly no bones broken; nothing a bandage or two couldn’t fix. The four of them, the three teenagers and the artist all turned to Jotaro in shock, who by this point had absorbed Star Platinum into his being. Turning back to face them all, they all got a look at it.

The truly furious face of Jotaro Kujo.

The calm and collected scientist now wore the face of violence, a face he hadn’t worn since Egypt. His eyes shone bright with a horrifying lust for vengeance. Those eyes looked away from the frightened stand users, towards your unconscious body. Without a word, Jotaro left the room, and the others let out a shaky breath in the tense air. Those eyes. It had been three days and those eyes were still ever present. Rohan shook away his discomfort and waved goodbye to Mr. Joestar, understanding now.

Jotaro was not in this for justice. If Kira had hurt only you those months ago, Jotaro would have worn the same face. You were the key to Jotaro’s psyche and wellbeing. That was a fundamental truth about Jotaro Kujo. It was that day that Rohan Kishibe learned another fundamental truth.

Sometimes, the universe places an answer in your hands when you need an answer the most.

Half an hour later, it happened. It was in the middle of a secluded street, inhabited by only three people at that moment. A man. A woman. And the young artist, who had been so enraptured by his goal of locating the first name of his list that he barely had the time to react when it happened. And when it did, it only took an instant.

The man in front of him quickly drew out a pocket knife from his jacket, driving its blade into the woman’s shoulder, unaware Rohan was behind him seeing the act in its entirety. Before the woman had any time to scream in pain, the pair vanished into thin air before the artist’s very eyes, and into the man’s stand realm. Rohan held his breath, frightened at the pair’s sudden disappearance. A stand user. It must have been. Was this him? Reaching quickly into his bag, Rohan Kishibe phoned his first line of defense.

You had been sitting with Jotaro and all of the Morioh teenagers when Jotaro received his call from Rohan.

“What is it?”

“I found someone. It’s either him or another one Jotaro.”

Jotaro shot up from his chair, eyes blown out in stress. “Are you sure?! How do you know?!”

Josuke, Okuyasu, and Koichi all grew the same expression of fighting spirit on their faces and you were sure danger was ahead for you all.

Rohan tried to remain calm. “I’m not sure… Come over here with the others. We have a better chance of taking down whoever this is together. I’m by Owsen, two streets over…”

Inside Foreigner’s God’s realm, the man grabbed on tighter to the struggling woman’s neck as she gasped for air.

“Please, please don’t kill me! Please don’t k-kill me!”

But the man was hardly paying attention to her cries. He had brought a vision of Rohan into the void and was watching the artist’s movement’s while still strangling the woman as she writhed in pain.

He didn’t like what he was hearing. With a grunt, the man turned the woman around to face Rohan’s vision, his hand still tight around her neck.

She whimpered at the sudden motion, tears streaming down her face, meanwhile he stared boredly at Rohan talking on the phone with Jotaro and the others.

“Hey bitch, who is that?”

The woman just kept crying. “Please don’t kill me!”

Gritting his teeth, the man smacked her upside the head and tightened his grip around her neck. “Tell me who that is!”

Her vision hazy, the woman took a good look at the eccentrically dressed man. “I-I think th-that’s Rohan Kishibe. A famous manga artist…” She sputtered out.

The man’s eyes widened. Rohan Kishibe. He was at the scene of Kira’s death. Could he be another of them?

A fit of laughter took over him and he cackled, his jubilation mixing uncomfortably with the woman’s struggle for her life. Continuing to holler, the man dropped the woman to the ground and she remained there, coughing to catch her breath.

“Oh that’s great! I’ve heard he’s good too! You ever read any of his stuff?!”

She looked up at him confused, watching his face twist in excitement as he realized that he, a lowly stand user, was about to kill a man that helped take down the mighty Yoshikage Kira. Staring down at the ground, she shuddered at the sound of the maniac’s voice.

“Hey.”

A chill went down the woman’s spine. Suddenly, the man wasn’t laughing anymore. She turned her head to find a way to escape, seeing nothing but white everywhere. Why couldn’t anyone see what he was doing to her?! The man on the street with them, Rohan, why wasn’t he stepping in? It’s like they weren’t the real world at that moment.

“...I asked you a question.”

Tears filled her eyes again as she met his bored gaze. “W-what?”

Drawing closer to her weak form, and kneeling down on the ground, the man before her grabbed a fistful of her hair and she screamed at the sudden jerking pain.

“I’m asking if you’ve ever read any of his stuff!”

The woman felt a crushing pain in her chest, as if a mysterious force was stepping on her.

“N-no! I haven’t! But please don’t k-”

“Hmph.”

In a split second, the stand’s hands came around the woman’s neck and snapped it, and Foreigner’s God’s ability ceased. The man quickly his himself out of sight, seeing Rohan standing alone in the street.

Rohan turned around at the thud of a body hitting the ground behind him. He looked over to see the dead woman, her eyes blown out and a thick ring of bruises around her neck. Just like what you had gone through. And there it was, the same tag that had been on your body after your attack.

“Foreigner’s God. - AS. ”

Bringing his phone shakily to his ear, Rohan muttered, “It’s him Jotaro. He’s just killed someone else. Get over here now!”

Jotaro felt the same dark intent sweep over him as he heard Rohan speak those words. “Do you see him?”

“No. He hid himself somehow. He’s nearby I bet. Waiting to get me… Come soon. I’m hanging up.” With that, the artist turned his phone off, staying on guard for any attackers.

Jotaro hung up the phone call with Rohan and turned to the others to come with him. You stood up as well to head to the scene when you felt Jotaro’s hand roughly shove you down into your seat.

“No.” He ordered plainly.

“No?! You expect me to be useless again?! I’m the one he attacked first! I wanna see him go down and I wanna help do it!”

“I’m not having you go over there! You can’t get hurt again!”

You stared up at him, shocked at the concern plastered all over his face. But still, you were stubborn. That’s one of the things he loved about you.

“What about you?! What makes you sure you won’t get hurt?! Or even die Jotaro?!”

“I’d rather that than you die (y/n)! The world needs you more than it will ever need me! And I can’t watch someone I love get hurt right in front of me again!”

You stood there frozen, your legs feeling like they were about to give out at those word.

“...What?”

Jotaro felt a hand grip his shoulder, turning to see Josuke motion for him to get going. They needed to catch this guy. And fast. Giving a quick glance to your shaken form, he knew you understood why you needed to stay behind.

You did, of course, know him and his words better than anyone else on Earth.

Jotaro began running with the others towards the scene and when he was a few feet away, you heard Koichi ask your beloved lab partner if he had any idea what kind of stand they were dealing with.

Your mind flooded back to the words that man had spoken to you. A stand. That was the word he kept using. A stand. AS. Those were the initials of the man that nearly strangled you to death. Foreigner’s God. He said that was the name of his stand. A stand. Stand.

Your mind kept repeating that same word over and over again in your head as you stood there in the crowded Morioh street. All of these people. The people you had come to love. Josuke and the others. The strange lives they lived. Jotaro. The strange life he had drawn you into. They were all working to save the thousands of people that lived in this small Japanese town.

You thought back on all they had said, all that you had overheard over the course of the investigation. Things you didn’t understand now flooded your mind. They spoke about the first trip, the killer. Killer. A man named Kira. Killer Queen. Killer Queen must have been his stand. A stand. Is that why you think you’ve been going crazy? Are those third arms stands? ...Did Jotaro have one?

“Gimme… gimme… gimme… GIMME!”

Your whole form awoke from your deep train of thought at the sound of someone calling out to you. You turned around, looking at all the people that were walking nearby. No one was even looking at you. You sighed. You supposed this town really was driving you crazy. You reached for your crutches and took one step forward-

“GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!”

The loud voice rang violently in your head and you fell to your knees from the shock. Covering your ears, you foolishly tried to block out the sound. Your whole body began to feel weak, your whole being heating up. It felt like your blood was boiling, your muscles were tensing, an unwanted rage consuming every cell in your form.

“What’s going on?! What’s happening to m-”

“GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME!”

“Who are you?! What’s going on?!” You thought to yourself, panicking. What was this voice?!

“GIMME GIMME GIMME!”

“Go away…” You muttered under your breath as you knelt on the pavement.

“GIMME GIMME GIMME!”

“Go away…” Your voice subconsciously raised, drawing others’ attention.

“GIMME GIMME GIMME!”

“GO AWAY!” You let a shrill yell, grabbing violently at your hair in terror, causing a crowd of people to form around you.

And then the voice stopped, a quiet renewing in your head. You sat there, gasping for air, your throat still burning from the attack days before, and your screaming had not helped it. You looked up at everyone staring up at you in shocked worry. In a calm daze, you stood up, grabbing your crutches and began to walk away from the others.

Jotaro. Jotaro would know what it means. What that voice was.

- - - - -

Arata Sone had been Yoshikage Kira’s only friend as long as the killer had been alive. He was the only person in the world that Kira confided in. He remembered the night he met the blond murderer. One evening, the normal man came home from a very late night at work to a silent home, his wife sleeping upstairs. With a heavy sigh, Sone was about to enter his bedroom when he heard his wife let out a sudden shriek, before the sound immediately ceased into a renewed silence. Panicked, the man swung the door open to find another man about his age, standing in the middle of the room, a dismembered hand in his grasp. The hand was dripping blood onto the carpet, and Sone’s wife was nowhere to be found. Putting two and two together, the man felt a chill slither up his whole body. He remained stuck in his spot as he watched the blond man draw closer to him. Then something strange happened. Arata Sone knew that he should be afraid, knew that he should be begging for his life, knew that the proper thing to do was flee. But what he did shocked both himself and the murderer before him.

Arata Sone laughed harder than he ever had before.

Cackling loudly to an unsettling degree, he even managed to throw the calm and collected Yoshikage Kira off guard. After several minutes, the laughter died down and the man looked at the other before him with a wide smile on his face.

“Thank you.”

For the first time in a long time, Kira felt a shudder rush through his body.

“Thank you?”

“I was waiting for a good moment to kill her myself.”

In that moment, both men felt one of the great pleasures of life, a pleasure that can only come from being shunned for one’s desires for so long, and then to finally have that desire recognized by another being. The two men called out their stands and both fell into fits of laughter and joy at their shared murderous trait. A new friendship had been born.

A few years later, Arata Sone saw on the news the gruesome image of his beloved friend’s face crushed beneath an ambulance. Seeing what he could only guess were other stand users at the scene, his ever present lust for murder grew within him to a boiling point. Foreigner’s God’s user made a promise to himself. To kill those who had killed his friend.

And today was the day to make that happen. The killer watched from his hiding spot as Jotaro and the others ran to the scene to see a very shaken Rohan Kishibe, who was wondering why the killer had yet to show himself. What none of them knew, was that their attacker had grown as a stand user. He was about to apply what his dear friend Kira had once taught him, and was merely hiding to get them all in one place.

Sone waited for the group to get within his stand’s range.

You slowly made your way on your crutches towards the scene. You needed to know these answers.

“Just a little farther…” He thought as he waited for Jotaro and the others to be within his grasp.

“Just a little farther…” You muttered to yourself as you turned the corner, two streets away from Owsen. An ominous feeling crept over you, making you feel sick to your stomach.

Finally, they were all together within his stand’s range. Arata Sone waited for the right moment, a sick smile on his face.

Jotaro went to speak. “Any sign of h-”

And then the attack was sent into motion. In that split second, each of Morioh’s fighters looked down to see a small mass of white matter form around their ankle. With the snap of his fingers, the matter exploded, taking a chunk off each person’s leg with it. Jotaro, Josuke, Koichi, Okuyasu and Rohan all collapsed to the ground as the street became consumed in a white void the moment they all felt that same sting of pain.

“No human on Earth is unable to feel pain.”

They all looked up from writhing in pain as the man they had been hunting down showed himself, the twisted smile on his face more present than before.

“When a man feels he is at his most cornered, that is often when the most opportunities arise for him. My st-”

In a flash, Jotaro lunged forward, landing a punch to Sone’s face. The smile went away.

“I suppose I’ll take your hand next.” He grunted, grabbing Jotaro’s arm and slamming his whole body to the ground. The moment his hand made contact with the ground, another white mass formed around Jotaro’s finger and exploded, and Star Platinum’s user once again hollered in pain.

“Jotaro!”

The other Morioh fighters called out to their injured friend and all of them got up to attack their enemy together. The moment they took another step, white matter formed once more around their feet and exploded again. The five of them were squirming on the ground in pain once again.

“As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me, Jotaro Kujo. My stand feeds on that first moment of selfish pain and extends it, trapping others in a blank void without distraction from their pain. It’s a terrifying ability when used properly, though I will admit, back when I attacked your little friend, I wouldn’t have been able to take you all on at once, and that’s the only reason I spared her life…”

He looked down to see Jotaro’s face overcome with rage at your mention. It was a fruitless effort, but Jotaro lunged at his enemy again, only to be knocked on his back. The moment his body touched the ground, several bubbles of the same white substance engulfed the scientist’s back and exploded, leaving bleeding indents all over the tall man’s frame and causing him to gasp at the pain.

“But you see. I have grown as a stand user. You may remember from the tag on your beloved friend’s arm the words Foreigner’s God. Well that my friends, is the name of my stand. Or no… this is something different. A new ability that I’ve learned. A swan song to my dear friend, Yoshikage Kira!”

Their eyes shot open at the mention of that hardly forgotten name. “Kira?” Josuke muttered.

“Oh right… an old friend of mine. I figured when I would be taking revenge for his death, I would use some of that explosive power of his that I loved so much. You see everyone, normally I would only be able to keep one person at a time in my realm. You can only hurt some many in one instance after all!”

It was in that moment, Foreigner’s God revealed itself in its humanoid form right beside its user. Lunging forward, the stand attacked the stationary fighters, knocking them all to the ground. At the very second their bodies touched the ground, the same miniature explosions went off, extending their pain and keeping them in the dangerous realm.

“Gimme gimme gimme…”

You placed a hand against your ear trying to block out that annoying voice that was seemingly coming out of nowhere. You weren’t far from the scene, your mind still running wild, asking a thousand questions as to what a stand even was, what that voice just then was, who were the others really dealing with, what was this man capable of. You weren’t sure of what you would be able to do, but something within you drew your body closer and closer to the street where your friends were currently writhing in agony. You didn’t care about what Jotaro wasn’t telling you. You didn’t care that there were still questions that needed answered. You just wanted to help, anyway you could figure out how.

Staring down at their battered and bleeding bodies, Arata Sone let out another burst of jubilation amidst the void.

“I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of this before! If you haven’t already noticed, my once empty void has now been combined with its own type of landmines. You cannot move without a new one setting off, and extending that pain further. You’re going to be stuck in here until you bleed out, with no one to hear you or see you! That is it the secret to my new ability, Arsonist’s Lullaby!”

With that cry, the stand stormed through the five of them once more, knocking them to the ground once more, causing new land mines to set off, all to the tune of its user’s laugh-filled joy. It was then that white walls of the void were beginning to fade, and the scenery of that Morioh street was starting to fade back into view.

“Hmm… it appears this ability takes up more of my energy than I thought. I suppose I can’t kill all five of you at once and remain invisible at the same time. No matter, I can’t sense any other stand users around, just the six of us. I don’t care who sees this! I’ll just kill the witnesses after I kill you!”

It was then that Arata Sone made a fatal mistake, and just like his friend Yoshikage Kira, let his hubris take over. Removing the hiding nature of his stand, but doubling the landmines, the man watched as the five powerful stand users struggled to even get close enough to him to land in a hit. New landmines keep going off, new injuries created.

They were dangerously close to bleeding out, all in plain sight of another stand user. You.

You turned the corner to see the carnage ahead of you, finding your whole group in the enemy’s grasp. You couldn’t even tell what you were seeing. The moment one of your friends moved, they would immediately flinch back in agony. Drawing your attention to the man standing over them, a familiar chill went through you. That was the same man that had attacked you days before. And seeing what he was capable of doing to the people you had grown so close to, you were now more scared than ever of him.

But you noticed something. Amidst the pleasure that this monster was reveling in, there was a distinct look of concentration plastered all over his face. You watched his expression twitch with each time an attack went off on one of your friends. He must be doing something with his mind to attack them. He was focusing. His focus. You needed to capture his focus.

Steeling yourself for what was to come, you dropped your crutches and took a deep breath in, something in you knowing the dangers you were about to face, and the rest of you stupidly seeming not to care.

With a small ounce of bravery, you shouted at the top of your lungs. “Stop it! I won’t let you hurt them!”

Sone turned around at the sudden distraction, surprised that someone was taking notice. His eyebrow raised in intrigue. That could only mean one thing. You were another one.

Jotaro recognized that voice. No… no no no. Looking up, he saw your frightened body shaking and staring straight into the enemy’s eyes without a way to defend yourself.

“No! (y/n) get out of here! You can’t be here! He’ll kill-”

The killer turned back around and punched Jotaro straight in the gut with his stand, sending him flying back into a tree.

“Jotaro!”

You shrieked. All five of them were dying right in front of you, so close to bleeding out. And now his focus was on you, and it had taken all your courage to simply call out and distract him from the others. You watched as the man drew closer, ready to kill another. The same giant smile came over his face again.

“(y/n) huh? And here I thought you were a smart person. Smart enough not to beg for me to hurt you again. But sorry, there’s no escape this time!”

“(y/n) no! Run away! Get out of here!”

You didn’t have time to register whose voice had called out to you before you saw the attacker lunge right at you. You put your arms up over your face as your body collapsed to its knees, your eyes shut in fear, and a horrified scream uncontrollably left your lungs.

“Now die!”

And then, you felt weightless.

“GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME”

As you felt a massive weight being lifted from your body, your eyes shot open to find someone new standing over you. Actually, you weren’t sure if it was someone new, or something new. This new thing, it didn’t seem real.

“GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME”

Your face lit up in shock. Attached to this new thing was the same voice that you had been hearing in your head before. You watched as its fists fired off in a flurry of punches, all hitting their marks on the man’s body. You were mesmerized by its appearance. Its body, about the same size as yours, looked as if it were made of glass. Swirling around within that glass was a pool of different colors. Different blues, purples, oranges and pinks flowed together seamlessly, all encased within the glass structure as it pummeled the enemy before you.

“GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME… A MAN!”

With one last, hard punch to the enemy’s chest, the glass figure stopped its attack and turned around to face you. You shuffled back on the ground, your chest heaving in fear from what had just happened. The figure before you, without speaking a word, drew its arm forward to point at Sone, who was now frozen in his spot before you. Then, everyone watched as small ripples began to form over the man’s whole body. All over his arms, legs, and chest, it looks as if the flesh was moving, as if someone had dropped a pebble into a lake. Then the ripples began to glow brightly, the full spectrum of colors radiating out, and tearing their way from the inside of his body outward. The enemy let out a painful shriek as the searing pain overtook him, more and more light spilling out of his body as the flesh around it became torn and melted. Finally, less than a second later, an explosion of white light burst out of the man’s body. And once that flash was gone, so was he. Foreigner’s God had been defeated. And this thing that you could tell was a part of you, it had been the thing to kill him.

Shakily, you stood up, holding on tightly to your crutches, keeping your gaze on this figure that had erupted out of you.

“...ABBA?”

Still confused, all you knew was that something in your body told you to say that name. The figure turned around to face you and gave you a shy smile before coming closer and embracing your shaking form in a hug. Surprised you could even touch it, you wrapped your arms around ABBA as well, finding to your disbelief that the glass like material felt soft and warm to the touch. You looked down its back, eyeing the pattern of jagged lines all over its body, as well as the swirling colors within. You felt your eyes well up with tears. Something about holding onto this being, one not entirely separate from you, felt so right. It felt like it had been welling up inside you for so long, and you couldn’t help but love it now that it was out.

“A stand…” You muttered. It was all so clear now. Your stand.

After a few moments, ABBA stood up and nodded towards the group of your injured friends. Holding you up, both you and your stand rushed over to Josuke. The teenager’s eyes opened with a pained groan, looking up at you and seeing ABBA at your side. His face lit up in surprise and he tried to sit up before the crushing pain forced him back down onto the ground. He muttered weakly for you to see if Rohan was alright, and you did.

Suddenly, a small white figure burst out of the artist’s body and punched Josuke in the arm. You watched, intrigued as a section of the teen’s arm unfolded like a book. The white figure leaned in, writing in Josuke’s arm the words, “I currently do not have any injuries.”

You watched in awe as the bleeding wounds all over Josuke’s body slowly began to close. Within a few minutes, Josuke was up and mobile as ever. He had several questions to ask you, but first, he had some healing to do. You watched as a pink and blue being, you assumed Josuke’s stand, flew out of his body and hovered over all of the other injured, healing them nearly immediately. They all stood up, groaning from the shadows of pain still left behind from the attacks. One by one, each of them looked up at you, each of their faces growing an expression of surprise and adoration. You felt small under their gazes, looking up at your stand standing next to you. As small as you felt, there was something about ABBA that made you feel powerful. Especially considering what it had just done to defeat the enemy.

“(y/n)... is that your stand…?”

You looked over at Koichi before quickly nodding. “Yeah… I guess it must be right?”

You tried to shrug it off with a nervous laugh, but even you were still in awe of this new ability. Finally, you turned to Jotaro, watching his face for a reaction. The gentle giant stood frozen at a loss of words, unsure of what to say. His gaze turned to ABBA, a melancholy look of admiration and love spread over his features.

“Come on Jotaro… say something. Don’t worry. I’ll understand-”

You muttered softly before Jotaro rushed forward and cut you off with a tight hug. You rested your smaller body against him, tears of relief streaming down your face, grateful that everyone was still alive. You looked up to gaze into Jotaro’s blue eyes, seeing that he had begun to tear up as well. Then something caught your eye. Looking over the tall man’s shoulder, you saw a purple skinned spirit faze out of your partner’s body and float over to ABBA, starting deeply into your stand’s face. ABBA, who had before been so calm and collected, now shrunk back a little bit with a childish giggle at the sight of the handsome stand before her. As ABBA held her face in her hands, you felt your cheeks flush bright red. Your eyes widened and you pushed Jotaro away from you, turning to your stand.

“H-hey wait a minute! ABBA, it’s not like that!”

“Gimme?”

ABBA asked innocently as she grabbed Star Platinum’s hand tightly in her own. Jotaro now felt his face heat up and turn bright red. With a heavy sigh, he watched as his stand wrapped yours in its arms, chuckling a bit at your embarrassment.

“Sorry about all this. His name’s Star Platinum, and he’s definitely more… emotional than I am.”

Your eyes widened at what that could possibly mean. Wait… did they think that you and Jotaro were…

“W-wait it’s not like that! He and I are just… “

“Gimme?”

“No! W-well I mean I care about him but I-”

“(y/n).”

You turned around to face Jotaro as he calmly took his hat off, revealing the jet black hair that you loved seeing.

“I’m so glad you’re okay (y/n).”

Your heart swelled at his words and you slowly turned around to see ABBA and Star Platinum holding each other lovingly, a warmth erupting throughout your whole body at the sight. The feeling of Jotaro grabbing your hand caught your attention and met his gaze once more.

“He’s the personification of my thoughts and well… it seems like your stand, ABBA right? It seems like she’s the personification of yours.”

The two of you watched as your stands talk to one another in their own little language, each enamored by the other’s presence. You turned back to Jotaro, seeing that his face had drawn closer.

“Yeah… I guess... you’re… right.”

As you breathed out that last word, Jotaro closed the gap between the two of you, your lips connecting in a sweet, long awaited kiss. You wrapped your arms around the fellow scientist’s, and now fellow stand user’s, neck, giggling slightly as he lifted your body off the ground to hold you tightly in his arms. When you two broke for air, Jotaro quickly kissed you again, holding you up like his life depended on it.

When he finally set you down, Jotaro Kujo placed a hand to the side of your face and wiped away your tears. With a small laugh, he turned over to your stand.

“Hey ABBA, what took you so long huh?”

“...Gimme.” ABBA shrugged a little bit and pointed at you.

You smiled, wiping your tears away. “She said she wouldn’t appear until I was either ready for it, or I really needed her.”

Jotaro rolled his eyes at your stand. “Well you really waited for the exact moment that she needed you huh-Ow!”

Jotaro grumbled a bit as Star punched him in the arm, annoyed that his user was making fun of this new pretty stand. ABBA grinned mischievously before looking around at the rest of the group, and seeing all of the other stands.

A feeling of happiness swelled within the stand’s heart. Ever since you had pricked your finger on the arrow, for so long she had been growing, becoming more and more trapped within you. It had been lonely seeing you struggle without her help. It had been upsetting to see you not yet be ready for her to show herself. But now, eyeing all the others, Heaven’s Door, Echoes, the Hand, Crazy Diamond, and especially Star Platinum, ABBA really didn’t feel alone anymore. And seeing now how the other stand users of Morioh rushed over to hug you and vocalize their shock at you having a stand, ABBA could tell that you didn’t really feel alone anymore either. With a sigh of content, your stand fazed back into your body as you followed the rest of the group away from the scene and back to the hotel to get some much needed rest.

You leaned against Jotaro’s frame as he wrapped as a strong arm around you. “Come on. Let’s get something to eat everyone! Tonio’s, my treat!” He said with a bright smile.

Josuke and Okuyasu cheered, “and (y/n) can meet Tonio’s stand!”

You turned back to the teens in shock as you all walked ahead. “Tonio has a stand?!”

Koichi gave a firm nod. “Yeah. So does Hazamada.”

“That weird kid?!”

“My girlfriend Yukako too.”

“Damn… I had no idea…”

You all shared a laugh as you left to enjoy a well deserved victory, the sun setting over the beautiful town of Morioh, another dark force defeated by the town's newest savior.

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toloveawarlord · 5 years

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Black Army Mischief Maker (Ch.3)

You can find chapters 1 &2 in my masterlist in my bio!

Characters: Finley Godspeed and Black Army

Tagging: @plumpblueberry and @christmaswarlock for their love of this Godspeed child.

A/N: Finley is back at it again. If you want to learn some elephant facts, this is the place. Finley knows whats up.

Someone new had arrived at headquarters.

Not a member of the army. A woman that the young Godspeed had never seen before. Someone that needed their protection. As such, a room needed to be prepared, and the only one available needed to be fixed up. Finley had begged to tag along into Central Quarter on the shopping trip.

It turned out to be quite more boring than she’d imagined.

Seth meticulously began his search for the right sheets, comforter, and even the cushions to be on the couch. Reaching their tenth store, Finley began to drag her feet. “This isn’t the adventure that I thought it would be.” Falling forward to rest her forehead against his leg, she poked at the holstered gun for entertainment. It swung slightly, reminding her of a pendulum.

“I told ya this wasn’t going to be fun this time, bug,” Fenrir answered with a pat to her head. No amount of explanation before they left had swayed the child from wishing to come with them. He chuckled at her dramatic whine and fascination with the holster. “Hey, I know. Why don’tcha pick somethin’ out for Alice. It might make her feel more welcome.”

Give her a task and three... two... one...

Instant results. Finley gave a small gasp and her feet became spring loaded as she bounced uncontrollably in place. “I can? I can pick her something out? Anything I want?”

It took one nod of approval for her to set off further into the store in search of the perfect item to give to their new guest. Anything chosen would be vetted by Seth. It must match the decor and color scheme of the bedroom.

The store employees had a front row seat to free entertainment. Around and around, Finley circled, and weaved past displays of trinkets. Occasionally, she leaned in to study an object before shaking her head and continuing her search. Standing up on her tiptoes, she carefully took the glass item off the shelf and returned to her father’s side. “This one. It’s the one I want to give Alice,” Finley stated, cradling with both hands as if it would break at any moment.

The Ace of Spades cast a curious gaze down at her but broke out in a wide grin. He ruffled her short hair and voiced his approval. “It’s perfect, bug.”

****

Seth spent way too much time decorating the room. Finley remained grateful that she could not help and patiently waited on the couch where she could cause no trouble. The soldiers at the mercy of the ten of spades were under intense scrutiny. One millimeter off from Seth’s vision and they received an ear full. The moment it ended, they scurried off to escape their strict supervisor.

“You did all this for me?” Alice asked, arriving with Fenrir at her side. Her steps into the room slow and eyes wide to take in the beautiful result. She’d insisted that they didn’t need to redecorate the space but lost to the relentless army leaders.

Finley climbed to her feet on the couch, holding out the small gift bag towards the woman with the biggest smile. “I bought this for you! Welcome to Black Headquarters! We have lots of fun here and you’ll be safe!” From Ray had told her, Alice had nowhere to go and needed their protection. He didn’t say from what, but Finley knew there was no place safer than here.

Alice accepted the gift and pulled the glass trinket from within. Up in the light, she observed the pale blue elephant. It matched the colors in the bedroom, but how this particular object had been chosen alluded the woman. “Thank you, it’s quite beautiful,” her warm words paused with realization, “I’m sorry, I never asked your name. I’m Alice.”

“I’m Finley. I’ve been reading a book about elephants and they are really cool. Did you know that they spend twelve to eighteen hours a day eating?” She spouted off the fact before bouncing up and down on the cushion. “I wish I could eat for that long. There would be so many yummy things I could eat in that amount of time, like crepes, ice cream, brownies, cookies, cookie brownies.”

“You might make yourself sick eating that much sweets,” Alice replied, finding it impossible not to like the young girl. She had a lot of experience with kids eating too many sweets, since she worked in a bakery.

A hum passed the child’s lips and her head tilted in response. “But Luka doesn’t have that kind of time,” she said as if that were the only problem with it. Nothing satisfied her more than the Jack’s cooking. Her gaze snapped back up to Alice. “And Elephants can consume 300 to 600 pounds of food per day. That’s like 8 to 17 of me.”

Fenrir leaned against the door frame, making no effort to reel in his wild child. Her rambling would go on for a while if he did nothing. “We did the math on it,” he interjected, confirming her statement.

“Wow, that’s quite a lot of you for an elephant to eat.” Alice laughed in response.

“Oh, and Elephants can swim underwater and breathe through their trunks. I have to hold my breath when I swim. And, and, their trunks can grow to be six feet long, which is almost as long as Sirius is tall.” Finley stuck her arm out and waved it like how she imaged an elephant’s trunk would move.

Alice cast a glance at the Ace standing in the doorway. “She’s passionate about elephants, isn’t she?” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and found herself laughing more at the elephant sounds that Finley was attempting.

“Yeah, that’s right. She bought an information book about Elephants last month. It ain’t got any stories, and very few pictures, but she has me help her read it every night. That’s why she can recite it from memory.” Fenrir loved how much his daughter liked learning. She would be starting kindergarten next year, and formal teaching wasn’t his thing. He let her decide what kind of things she wanted to study.

“How about the elephant go check on what Luka’s cooking for tonight. Maybe he’ll give you a sample.”

All three turned to see the King of Spades eyeing the young Godspeed with amusement. He adored her like she was his own. At the moment, he wished to discuss some important things with Alice and Fenrir, but the very loud and literal elephant in the room made that quite difficult.

Finley hopped off the couch and took off at full speed for the kitchen. She hopped down the stairs, crouching low and then jumping as high as her legs would allow until she’d reached the bottom. “Luuuka!” Finley took a deep breath once she entered the room. Everything smelled delicious. “Can you make me enough food to eat for 12 to 18 hours a day?”

“No.” His answer the obvious one and it didn’t faze the girl at all.

“Okay.” She relented easy and skipped across the room to stand at his side. She held up her index finger to make her next point. “If I were an elephant, you would have to. That’s how much they eat.”

Luka brushed the chopped vegetables into the pot of boiling water before giving in to the conversation. “It’s a good thing you aren’t an elephant, then.” He couldn’t imagine her eating more than she already did. She was healthy and active, but she ate nearly as much as a grown man. If no one stopped her, Luka feared she would eat herself into a coma.

“You are making a lot of food though,” Finley muttered, standing on her tiptoes to snatch a lost piece of broccoli off the counter. As she chewed it, she gasped loudly and inhaled a little bit of the vegetable. Her hand covered her mouth as she coughed until it cleared. It didn’t deter her excitement. “Are we having a party?”

What the child loved nearly as much as spooky things, was a good party that lasted well past her bedtime.

“We’re giving the little lady a welcome party,” Sirius cut in, returning from the dining hall where he’d been setting the table. With this much food involved, Luka couldn’t be expected to do it all alone. Everyone needed to pitch in.

Oh! I wanna help. Can I?” The second she got permission, Finley dashed across the room to retrieve the wooden two-step step stool, crafted from a woodworker’s shop in a town nearby specifically for her. It hit the cabinets under the counter with a thud and creaked as she climbed up.

Sirius came in and out as dishes were completed, taking them away before the girl growing ever hungrier with every delicious item that Luka and Sirius had made. The sun had slid down beyond the horizon, leaving only twinkling stars and the bright moon illuminating the dark landscape outside the window.

With the last dish done, Finley stepped off the stool and collapsed into a puddle with a growling stomach. She did enjoy cooking, but this had drained her of all her energy. She laid flat with her forehead pressed to the floor and arms out, sprawled out like a starfish. “If I were an elephant, I’d never be this hungry, ever.” The words muffled by the tile beneath her.

Luka simply stepped over her, shaking his head with a ghost of a smile on her lips. “Elephants don’t get to attend parties, do they? Don’t you want to be Finley and be allowed to come to the dining hall?”

A moment of silence passed over the kitchen.

“Okay, I want to be Finley again.” Clambering to her feet, she staggered forward, moving a little too fast for her weary legs. She made it to the door before being snatched up into someone’s arms.

“Good, cause everyone loves ya as Finley,” Fenrir said, placing a kiss on the side of her head. He lifted her up higher to sit her on his shoulders. Her fingers weaved into his hair, petting him affectionately. “Let’s go party, bug!”

The dining hall could not have fit any more soldiers. The table lined with all the delectable foods and desserts that had been made. Various bottles of beer and alcohol were spread out on a table pushed into the far corner. As full as it was, not a single one spoke. Everyone stood looking at the other door, awaiting their guest of honor.

As the door creaked open, Alice’s features lit up with a mixture of thankfulness and embarrassment. A chorus rang out from all the soldiers and the small girl sitting on her father’s shoulders. No rehearsal led to an out of sync round, but the message came loud and clear, setting the festivities off.

“Welcome to the Black Army!”

#this kid is an absolute riot #she has no chill unless she is hungry #ikemen revolution #ikerev #fenrir godspeed #luka clemence #sirius oswald #seth hyde #ray blackwell #finley godspeed #black army mischief maker #ikerev next gen #ikerev oc #look at me #i'm two for two #maybe I be able to post tomorrow too

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lux-i-fer · 4 years

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Believer of Faith and Mortality

Ao3 link

Synopsis: Lucifer and Chloe's victim shouldn't be alive, but the fact that he's currently alive and giving a statement says otherwise. When more and more miracle cases begin popping up, Lucifer believes that their lives aren't being spared out of the goodness of his Father's heart. The knock at the door only proves his theory.

Rating: T

Notes: Here we are a year later lmao. Sorry it took so long, you guys know how life is. Unbetaed

Chapter Number: 5

By the time Chloe arrived at the crime scene--a small convenience store just inside city limits--the paramedics had already packed their third zombie victim into the ambulance. Dan was on the scene, conversing with some of the techs and occasionally gesturing at the ground. He hadn’t noticed her pull in yet, and for that Chloe was eternally grateful. Arriving here undetected meant that she could have a few moments to herself before having to go out and act like her world wasn’t just turned upside-down the night before.

Chloe closed her eyes and let her mind drift. Thoughts of her father and Nicholas Keller and Maria Poncé mingled with dinner menus and Trixie’s upcoming parent-teacher night. For a moment, Chloe felt normal again. She mentally sorted through the laundry that needed done and configured the drive time between Dan’s apartment and Lux, just as she would have done any other day. Her meditation was almost successful until she opened her eyes to ask Lucifer if he could pick Trixie up from school next week, only to find an empty seat in his place.

Right, she’d put Lucifer on babysitting duty today.

A stab of guilt shot through her heart when she recalled both John and Lucifer’s bewilderment at being put on house arrest. It wasn’t as if she’d wanted to exclude either of them from her day but honestly what did they expect her to do? Chloe wasn’t about to turn a 1990s John loose on a 2020s world without supervision. It wasn’t her fault that the only person who could fill that supervisor role was Lucifer.

But even with her self-reassurances, Chloe couldn’t shake the feeling that she was a horrible daughter and an even worse partner.

“I am a good daughter,” Chloe finally said aloud. “There is nothing wrong with leaving Dad with Lucifer. They’re grown adults, everything is perfectly fine.” But everything was not perfectly fine. People didn’t just come back from the dead. Especially not the fathers of divine miracles. Chloe had tried to ignore this whole clusterfuck and focus strictly on work, but the more she pushed it off, the more unbearable it was becoming.

Chloe banged her head lightly against the steering wheel. How did this become her life? She was supposed to be taking Trixie to the beach on the weekends and having dinner with Lucifer after a long day at work, not dealing with resurrected fathers.

Chloe groaned. Ugh, who was she kidding? She was a horrible daughter. Lucifer and John were strangers at best and enemies at worst. If the awkward silence in the kitchen was anything to go by, it was leaning more towards the latter. And instead of trying to diffuse the situation, she’d confined them to a tiny apartment with only each other as company.

Chloe knew it was wrong to just dump John on Lucifer like that, but when she’d come downstairs to see her father still alive and talking to Lucifer, she’d just panicked. Whether she chose to acknowledge it or not, Chloe wasn’t ready for her past to meet her present. John’s death had always acted as a divider between her wild-child acting days and her normal life on the force. Packing away all of her grief into her life before the force had been the only thing that could ease the sting of John’s death. When Perry Smith had tried to shatter that wall around the first nineteen years of her life, Chloe had retreated further into her budding relationship with Lucifer to cope. The method had always worked. The day after Perry Smith’s trial, Chloe was back at work and all thoughts of John Decker were firmly locked out of sight. That wasn’t the case anymore. Now those clear lines between before and after were blurred and there was no telling what kind of unresolved emotions would slip through the cracks.

Knock knock.

Chloe jumped at the sound. She whipped her head around to find Dan, fist poised to knock on her window a third time. She stared blankly at him for a second as she collected her thoughts. Dan made an opening gesture with his other hand, and Chloe cracked open her door.

“Hey,” he said in greeting. He stepped out so she could open her door completely.

Chloe unclipped her seatbelt and got out. “Hey,” she said back. “What do we have?”

He shrugged. “Not much. Our vic’s name is Alandra Chase. She’s twenty-four.”

Chloe cringed, she hated the young ones. That was their second victim under thirty this week. “What happened?”

“Well around 6:30am Chase stopped by this convenience store to buy a coffee and when she came out a guy came out from around the corner and tried to take her purse. There was a struggle and eventually the mugger ripped the purse out of her hands. Chase fell backwards and hit her head on the edge of the sidewalk. I guess she was laying here for about fifteen minutes before anyone noticed.”

That made Chloe double take. “Nobody heard the struggle? Not even the clerk?”

Dan rolled his eyes. “The guy at the counter says he didn’t hear anything, but you know how people just turn a blind eye to stuff like this. Especially in this area.” They came to a stop by the convenience store door. “But we did manage to catch the altercation on the security cameras, so it’s not a total loss.”

Chloe nodded and knelt down to examine the small blood spatter on the concrete. Had it not already been marked, Chloe doubted she would have noticed it. These types of fatalities rarely had a lot of blood, but this was on another level. It was as if she hadn’t even hit the ground. “Was she ever pronounced dead?” she asked him.

“Yeah. The coroner established her TOD like twenty minutes beforehand. The next thing we know, she’s thrashing around in the body bag.” Dan made a face and Chloe mirrored him; what an awful way to wake up. She sat back on her heels and surveyed the scene again, trying to imagine the uproar Alandra Chase caused.

“So why am I here? You guys seem like you have everything under control.”

“Well initially we thought this would take a lot longer than it did. Obviously that’s not the case. But you being here actually works out. The lieutenant wants us to go interview the first two victims. The sooner the better, he said.”

“Alright let’s go then.” As she stood back up, Chloe caught a whiff of something sweet. “Hey do you smell that?”

Dan inhaled. “What, the pot?” He chuckled. “Yeah so?”

Chloe waved her hand. The scent seemed to grow stronger with the motion. “No, no. It smells like--” she inhaled. “--Like the fairgrounds? Like that thick, disgustingly sweet smell that’s always hanging around the cotton candy stall.”

“Uh no, sorry, didn’t smell that.”

She shook her head. Whatever it was, it was familiar. Chloe knew she’d smelled it before, and it wasn’t at the fair. It couldn’t be. That conclusion just seemed too...easy. No, she told herself, we’re putting a stop to that train of thought right now. She was being paranoid. Her, Dan, and Trixie had just visited the fairgrounds a couple of weeks ago. Her brain was just mixing memories.

She swore quietly to herself. Here she went again, letting her imagination run away with her sanity. Everything about this case was putting her on edge, and Chloe vowed that she was going to take a long vacation after it was finally closed.

“Hey do you care if we ride together?” Chloe said, changing the subject.

Dan seemingly took the change in stride. “Yeah sure. Take my car?”

Chloe nodded and they set off towards his unmarked Charger.

The drive to the hospital was uneventful at best. LA traffic made it last three times as long as it should have been, but that was old news for locals like them. On any other day the hold up would have annoyed Chloe like it annoyed thousands of other LA drivers. Today; however, she welcomed the idle feeling of the traffic jam. It was familiar, and boy could Chloe use a bit of familiarity right about now. In fact, the sea of cars and asphalt was so mundane that Chloe could almost forget about the emotional trainwreck that undoubtedly awaited her at home.

Not for the first time that morning, Chloe missed the life she’d had just the week before. Back then, people coming back to life might have been strange but nothing too out of the ordinary for the girlfriend of the Devil himself. But then John had to go and show up at her door and change all of that. Now it was personal. And it was because of that that there was a part of her that wished she’d never answered the door last night.

Chloe bit her tongue at such a selfish thought. She should be grateful that her father was even here to begin with. If Lucifer was to be believed (and Chloe had no reason not to), things like this never happened. Lucifer’s Father didn’t allow such things to happen. This was, quite literally, a once in a lifetime opportunity. But Chloe was a homicide detective and homicide detectives didn’t know how to not look a gift horse in the mouth.

If people found out that John was alive, they’d start asking questions. Questions that would attract unwanted attention. Chloe knew if they weren’t careful, sooner or later the feds might be knocking on their door. And then what? They find Lucifer there, informing anyone who asks that he’s the Devil, and then round them both up for testing? Chloe mulled over her mounting paranoia. That situation didn’t even account for other factors like Penelope Decker.

She’d spent the majority of her morning routine debating whether or not she should even call her mother and tell her the news. Penny was John’s wife after all, if anyone had a right to know that he was alive it was her. But Chloe just couldn’t bring herself to make the call. If John's sudden resurrection came to an equally sudden end, living through John’s death a second time just might break Penny for real.

Chloe remembered the years following John’s death with startling clarity. Her mother, despite being the greater source of income, had relied on John for everything. Penny was a free spirit and often remarked that without her husband, she’d just fly away. John was always the one that made sure the bills got paid on time, that Chloe got to her acting lessons or her school functions, and that the groceries got bought on a regular basis. When he died, it was like Penny’s tether to earth was severed. In the few weeks following the funeral, she’d floated around the house like a ghost, never speaking and staring listlessly at the American flag gifted to them by the LAPD. When Penny had finally stopped being a shadow of herself, she’d thrown herself into her work, booking every convention circuit in the country and leaving Chloe behind to pick up the pieces. It was only in the past three years that Penny had started to make an effort to reconnect with LA and her family.

Chloe thought about the way Penny smiled the last time she’d visited for dinner and decided that she would not call her mother. She knew it was the wrong choice, but the alternative was reopening a decades-old wound that was only just starting to heal. Still, Chloe couldn’t shake the conflicted feelings rising up through her gut. The closer she and Dan got to the hospital, the more noticeable the feeling grew. It had rolled slowly up her throat the deeper her thoughts spiraled and the pressure to voice her fears was almost unbearable now.

When they finally pulled into the hospital parking lot, Chloe opened her mouth. “Dan can I ask you something?”

Dan blew out a breath, the first sound he’d made since they’d left the crime scene. “Yeah, of course.”

“If your tía Josefina was one of our zombie victims, what would you do?”

An uneasy silence swept through the car at the mention of his favorite aunt and legal guardian. Josefina had been dead for only half the time that John Decker had, but Chloe knew that the passage of time changed little about the rawness that followed the death of a parent.

Dan scoffed, and she knew she’d caught him off guard. “Chloe what’s bringing all this on? Are you and Lucifer doing okay?” When Chloe didn’t answer, he continued. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that he didn’t show up to work today.”

“No it’s not that, I promise,” she said quietly, deliberately avoiding his gaze. If anything, Lucifer was the only comforting thing about this whole process.

“Okay then what is it? Because this just didn’t come out of nowhere, Chloe. You’ve been out of it since we got in the car.” He put a hesitant hand on her shoulder. “Look, I know we’re not together anymore and we haven’t been for a long time, but I still worry about you. I know I didn’t do a great job showing that before, but I promise I do.”

“I know.”

They sat in silence for a few seconds, the heavy hand on her shoulder making them feel like minutes. Finally Dan spoke again, his voice low and coated with emotion. “I would be beside myself if mi tía came back to life today. I fucked up so much right before she died. I would give anything to show her that I finally did something with my life. And that she didn’t waste hers on raising me.”

After hearing that, the guilt in Chloe's heart seemed to seep into her lungs. She took a few deep breaths to reassure herself that she wasn't completely drowning in it yet. Of course Dan would want to see Josefina again, it was stupid of her to think he would answer any other way. Even still, Chloe wished he had, if only to quell the overwhelming feelings of shame that had been boiling under her skin all morning.

An ambulance roared past their car and skidded to a haphazard stop in front of the ER doors, reminding Chloe of the real reason they were here. She took in one last deep breath. Now was not the time to break down, she told herself. Chloe silently collected all of her negative thoughts and shoved them into an imaginary box, just like how John had taught her to do when she was eleven and ostracized by her classmates. After locking the box into the farthest fringes of her consciousness, Chloe covered Dan’s hand with hers. “Josefina would be very proud of you, Dan,” she muttered absentmindedly.

“I know,” he said, mimicking her prior response. “And Chlo’?” She finally turned to look at him. “Your dad would be proud too.”

Chloe nodded. So Dan had known what this was really about.

“Let’s just get this over with.”

Without another word, they both got out of the car and made their way into the hospital. The silence persisted through the check in and badge verification process until a nurse called their names and motioned for them to follow her.

“So how about you take Nicholas and I’ll take Maria, does that sound good, Chloe?” Dan asked, shuffling the files in his arms as if to remind Chloe that they still had a job to do.

“Yeah that’s fine,” she said, taking Nicholas’ file from the stack.

Chloe was embarrassed to say that for a second time she had almost forgotten that they were here to interview Nicholas and Maria. She mentally shook herself; she really needed to get a grip. The world didn’t end because her deceased father of seventeen years randomly came back from the dead the night before. Chloe paused and considered her words. Shit, the world really wasn’t going to end because of some pseudo-Rapture bullshit right? Right? She made a mental note to text Lucifer about it after the interviews, praying that his current uneasiness had nothing to do with the potential end of days.

The nurse continued to lead them through a maze of sterile hallways and bustling nurse’s stations until they finally reached a small, secluded hallway. They stopped in front of a room.

“This is Mr. Keller’s room. Ms. Poncé is at the end of the hall, last door on the left,” she said, gesturing at the rooms in question. “I can escort whoever will be visiting Ms. Poncé the rest of the way if needed, detectives.”

Dan turned to Chloe once more. “Meet back at the car when we’re done?” She hummed in affirmation. He dug into his pocket and produced a set of keys. “Here, take my keys so you’re not waiting around. I have a feeling it’s gonna be awhile for me.”

Chloe took the keys and waved him off. She had a similar feeling about Nicholas’ interview. “Good luck.”

“You too,” Dan said over his shoulder, already following the nurse down the hall.

Chloe took a deep breath before stepping into Nicholas’ room. To her surprise, he was awake. She knew at this point she shouldn’t be surprised by anything the zombie victims did anymore, but she couldn’t help herself. ‘Tis the folly of humanity, darling she could hear Lucifer saying in her head, mortals cannot help their curious inclinations towards the supernatural.

And if Chloe hadn't been convinced that there was some supernatural intervention involved in Nicholas’ fate, she was now. Nicholas looked like he’d been to hell and back. Chloe couldn’t help but wonder if there was some truth to that statement. He looked similar to the last time she’d seen him: thick black hair, gangly limbs, and a small scattering of pimples across his face. However, where his eyes had been filled with desperate ferocity at the crime scene, here they were almost vacant, as if drifting on a morphine high. She supposed he probably was after getting stabbed in the chest.

“Hello Mr. Keller,” she began.

His brown eyes dragged over to meet hers, but he didn’t return the greeting.

Not a totally abnormal response, Chloe noted.

“I’m Detective Chloe Decker.” She brushed aside her jacket so he could see her badge clipped to her belt. “I work in the homicide unit, and I’m here to get some more information about your case. May I ask you a few questions?”

Nicholas blinked, but still said nothing.

“Mr. Keller, I need your consent before we can begin,” she prompted.

“Yes,” he said. His voice was softer than she remembered.

“Okay great. Can you tell me anything about the person who might have done this to you?”

Nicholas just stared at her, as if already worn out from speaking. Chloe held his gaze. Finally, as if in slow motion, he opened his mouth to speak again. “Tall. Black stocking cap. White. Male.” He rattled off the list with near mechanical rhythm.

The information was minimal, but Chloe wrote it down anyways. “Anything else? No identifying tattoos, markings, or piercings?”

His eyes glazed over for a moment, and Chloe suppressed a shudder. It was like talking to a corpse. “An outline of a star on his inner forearm,” he said slowly.

Now that was something she could work with. “Do you know which arm it was, Mr. Keller?”

For the first time, Chloe saw a hint of humanity flash across his face. Nicholas’ thick eyebrows knitted together and his mouth twisted into a grimace. “Left. I saw it when he…” he absently touched his bandaged chest.

“I understand,” she said.

Nicholas’ hand dropped back into his lap like a stone, face falling blank once more.

“We don’t have to talk about the altercation right now, Mr. Keller,” Chloe told him gently.

He gave her an aborted nod.

“Let’s talk about motive. Is there anyone who would be upset with you or who would want to kill you?” Nicholas said nothing. Chloe shuffled some papers in his file. There had to be something in here that could get through to this kid. And he truly was a kid, she’d realized. Nicholas’ file said he was nineteen. Hell, apparently he even still lived with his mom.

“It says here you live at home and attend community college, is that correct?” At the word ‘home’ Nicholas pursed his lips. Gotcha, Chloe thought. “Nicholas,” she leveled her best mom look at him, “is your father in the picture?”

Nicholas looked as if he wanted to shrink down three sizes. “No. He’s dead.”

Damn it. Another dead end. But at least she’d got him to open up a little bit. He was still stiff but at least now Chloe didn’t feel like she was talking to a shop mannequin. Some of the hollowness had finally left his cheeks and his eyes had gained a little bit of the fire she’d gotten a glimpse of when he’d first come back to life. Chloe didn’t know what kind of chord she’d struck in him when the mom voice came out, but she’d be damned if she didn’t try and pursue it. But first she had to play the part.

She took a tentative step closer to Nicholas. His eyes didn’t move from the spot where she’d been standing. Taking his silence as a good thing, Chloe pulled a plastic chair up to the side of the bed and sat down. For a moment, she imagined Trixie was the one in this bed, waiting for Chloe to come tuck her in or to tell her one last bedtime story.

She cleared her throat, suddenly feeling a little choked up. “You don’t have any siblings either, is that correct?” she said, still a bit shaken.

He shook his head, eyes still fixed on the space she’d occupied a minute ago. “Just me.”

She rested her elbows on the railing of his bed. “And your mom, right?”

Nicholas’ head whipped around, all disassociation gone. “Yes,” he said breathlessly.

“And you would do anything to protect your mom?”

“Yes.”

“Help do the dishes?”

“Yes,” he said more adamantly this time.

“Help bring in the groceries?”

“Yes.” He was panting now.

“Help pay the bills?”

Nicholas jerked forwards, his face contorting into a mask of frustration. “Yes!” he shouted, spittle flying from his lips.

He was mere inches away from her face. So close, in fact, that Chloe could smell his breath. It smelled sweet.

She took a moment to let them both compose themselves. “How do you help pay the bills, Nicholas?” she finally asked. Nicholas’ jaw clenched. “Because we don’t have any record of you holding an on campus job or any job for that matter.” Chloe paused, watching his face for the slightest flicker of recognition. When there was none, she continued. “I don’t want to assume because you seem like a nice boy, but the street we found you on is a popular spot for--”

“Drugs! Yes I know!” Nicholas’ chest was heaving now. His eyes looked as wild as they had when he’d tried to pull the knife from his chest. His eyes ran a quick length up and down her person, almost on the verge of tears. “I know,” he said again, voice shaking. “It’s been the only thing that makes ends meet.” He said the last word with a sob. “This was only my third time--it was gonna be my last time.” Nicholas gulped down a rattling breath. “The guy didn't like that. He said he wanted back all the money I’d made. When I said I didn’t have it, he pulled the knife on me.”

They sat in tense silence as the weight of the situation seemed to sink into Nicholas for the very first time.

“He almost killed me,” he half-whispered to himself.

Chloe refrained from correcting him.

Something about the way he’d wondered his last thought out loud reminded Chloe of the time she visited Jimmy Barns in the mental hospital. It took everything in her power to keep the discomforting thought from showing on her face. She let the silence stretch out between them for a minute more before she stood up. “I think that’s enough for one day.”

Nicholas whimpered.

“The LAPD will be in touch with you later this week to give a full, detailed account of the events that transpired this morning.” She uttered her scripted closing statement with the same sort of mechanicalness that Nicholas had when she’d first arrived.

Without waiting to hear his response, Chloe fled from the room. She didn’t even bother to walk down the hall and check in on Dan. Instead, Chloe made her way to the car, more than ready to leave and never come back.

To be completely honest, she couldn’t really pin down what was so unnerving about Nicholas Keller. The whole thousand yard stare thing was pretty creepy, but his sudden bouts of mania had been as frightening as they had been unexpected. Either way, Chloe was utterly exhausted emotionally and physically. Her heart had pounded when she’d seen Nicholas’ short fuse rear its ugly head.

His file hadn’t indicated any anger issues or bipolar disorder, but that didn’t mean they didn’t exist. Chloe knew from her experience on the force that men rarely got the source of their anger issues diagnosed, let alone put on a medical record.

When she got to the car, she wasn’t surprised to see that Dan was absent. As far as interviews go, Chloe’s had been relatively short. Even she hadn’t been expecting to get a confession that early on.

To pass the time waiting for Dan to finish up, Chloe made a few phone calls regarding the nature of Nicholas’ would-be murder. Their initial motive for it had been a mugging similar to their third victim’s, due to the fact that Nicholas’ wallet had been missing from the scene; however, in light of his recent confession, it was clear that was no longer the case. Just as she finished up her last call, Dan slid into the driver’s seat.

“Hey so guess what,” he said, pulling the door shut behind him.

“Hm?”

“I think I know what you were smelling earlier.”

Chloe’s head shot up. “Yeah?”

“So remember how you said the smell reminded you of the fair?” She nodded and gestured for him to continue. “Well I was interviewing Maria and I kept smelling this weird, nasty sweet smell, and I’m like ‘what is this?’ I couldn’t figure it out for a while until I remembered that the jacket I’m wearing right now was the same one I wore when we took Trix to the fair a couple weeks ago. I haven’t washed it since we were there so I wonder if that’s where the smell is coming from.”

Chloe so desperately wanted to believe Dan, she really did. She had enough weird shit going on right now that she was almost willing to just accept his theory. After all, his reasoning was pretty watertight. Still though, there was one thing that still didn’t make sense.

“As much as I’d love to believe you, Dan, I don’t think it’s your coat,” she said, fidgeting with a few papers in Nicholas’ folder.

His eyebrows shot up. “What do you mean?”

“I smelled the same thing in Nicholas’ room. It was, like, coming off of him.” Chloe shuddered just thinking about how gross it had been when some of Nicholas’ spit had hit her face.

“What like BO or something?” Dan said in disbelief.

She shrugged. “I guess.”

“What the fuck?”

“Yeah trust me, I know.”

Dan shook his head and turned the car on. “I guess that would explain why you caught a whiff of it at Alandra’s crime scene.”

Oh that’s right, she had. Chloe hadn’t even made that connection yet.

As they eased back onto the highway, Dan started back up again. “So not only do we have zombies now we have gross cotton candy smelling zombies. What the fuck even is this case.”

Chloe couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah. Do you want to know something weirder, though?”

“Hit me.”

“Nicholas’ murder wasn’t a mugging.”

Dan glanced over at her. “What? What was it then?”

“A drug deal gone wrong.”

“Aw, no!” He hit the steering wheel lightly. “Really? That kid?”

She nodded. “Yep, sadly. He said it was the only thing helping him pay the bills at the moment.”

Dan scoffed. “Poor kid.” He glanced in the rear view mirror and changed lanes. “Hey by the way we’re headed to the precinct. I got one of the techs to drive your car there so we wouldn’t have to go halfway across the city.”

Chloe breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God. Thank you, I really wasn’t looking forward to going back there.

“Oh yeah, also. How was your interview with Maria?”

“Eh, okay. It was a little creepy if I’m being honest.”

That got Chloe’s attention. “Why?” she asked, trying to keep it as neutral sounding as possible.

Dan made a noncommittal sound. “I don’t know. Maria was just kind of...different.” He gestured to the back seat. “Would you grab her file and see if she has any history of mental illness? I didn’t see any but I want you to double check.”

Chloe did as she was asked. “Nope, doesn’t look like it.”

Dan’s brow wrinkled. “Yeah okay that’s what I thought. Anyway so Maria was just, I don’t know--empty? That’s the only way I can describe it. It was like she wasn’t really there at all.”

“Like she was possessed or something?” Chloe prayed that wasn’t truly the case, she did not need another layer added to this shit sandwich.

“No, not like that. She was just really quiet and had this distant look on her face for a while. I hated it.” Chloe made a face. That didn’t sound good. “The whole thing was just a total Nope for me.”

She couldn’t agree more. “So did you get anything useful from the interview?”

“Yeah I got a few potential leads on who shot her, but that’s about it. You?”

Chloe sighed and threw both Nicholas’ and Maria’s files back into the back seat. “About the same here.”

“Fantastic,” he said, rolling his eyes.

Chloe hummed in agreement.

There was a beat of silence between them. Chloe’s mind drifted back to John and Lucifer, and this time she didn’t try to fight it. She’d have to call and check in with them over lunch. She knew she’d better start preparing herself now. Whenever Lucifer was involved, anything was possible. She frowned at that thought, thinking of just how much the realm of possibility had opened up in the past few days. Chloe glanced out the window at the cars whizzing by and decided that Linda would be getting a long phone call in the near future.

“It’s funny how people can just cling to life like this, huh?” Dan said, quietly breaking the silence.

Chloe forced herself to smile. “It sure is.”

#my fics #fanfic #deckerstar #Lucifer Morningstar #lucifer on netflix

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purralyth · 4 years

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How have things been going with Chariot and crew? Maybe I missed some things, but it feels like it's been awhile since I last heard of their shenanigans! Has the gf been helping out? Any crisises? (In the world around them or emotional?) What is the DEALIO I am ready to hear it!

haHAHAHA i’ll be honest i don’t talk much about their emotional/world crises because they are happening All the time. our dm wants to see us suffer. but let’s have a small summary shall we, i’m actually going to put this one under a read more bc we’ve done That Much

so first things first, the gang got shunted into the feywild, i talked about that much. that’s where we picked up our lovely little tiefling monk Fuarthas (Silence, back then) from his awful hag grandmother rosie, found chariot’s masked mom, and then got taunted by a fey demigod in his Hell Maze and he proposed to fuarthas and now they’re engaged because he’s a warlock now it’s fun shit. anyway. we get back to toril with the crew (and chariot’s masked mom’s ship, lovingly dubbed Eri’s Chariot after her daughter and her dead boytoy, that we thought we might have to leave behind) and we find out that in the MAYBE month-long period we’ve been in the feywilds, 2.5 years have gone by on toril. meteors have fallen from the sky, which is now a permanent blood red, people are chanting at these meteors embedded in the city like possessed cultists who attack anyone that threatens to take them out, and the worms coming out of the meteors are like kind of sort of turning people undead?? it’s messed up. Cool Stuff. but chariot’s aunt mom Serenity and uncle dad Patience opened up an orphanage so that’s cool

So we got some magic tattoos in some downtime (Chariot got 2, one on the back of her neck that lets her understand Undercommon, and another on her chest that gives her a free use of Mage Armour per day) and met up with some new NPCs, one of which is traveling with us now as our cleric-fighter and is dating(??) our big tiddy big heart half-orc barbarian Lockjaw, and left our aasimar monk’s kickass wife behind to run her tavern bc she’s expecting. we go to look at some funky stuff going down in the town cemetary. first thing we do is go see erran, our moon elf friend we took into the feywild and hates us now for it, and he takes us into this portal and shows us this weird temple thing his supervisor or something had just discovered. there’s these murals on the walls of meteors striking the earth, and a flood, and some figures sailing on a ship through the sky, and then 7(?) figures, that like kind of seem like Us but not quite on par, so fun stuff, and these two HUGE statues in the main chamber. somebody presses a button and this fantasy Alexa bitch floats down from the ceiling and is like oh shit presences detected. and starts listing these titles, like Sufferer, and Guardian, and Exceptional, and then locks onto jia and is like ABERRATION DETECTED FUCK THOSE SHITS and tries to kill her so she has to run. basically without making this too long we find out that we (chariot, frazier, lockjaw, fuarthas, and frazier’s daughter) are descendants of some ancient heroes that saved the world once, and we grave rob just a little and get some cool magic items, and there’s this prophecy that we’ll stop the apocalypse or something?????? shit’s wack. we go back out to see jia and chariot’s trying real hard to cover for her but she’s like well i cant rly hide it anymore. hey guys i have an illithid tadpole In my brain and it didn’t develop so now i’m also part of a separate prophecy that i’ll wipe out all the illithid. but look at this i can float but chariot and i did some research and the only way to not have it be a problem anymore is to destroy my skull and then resurrect me. so that’s a lot of fun!!!!!

still in that cemetary, we find a trail of meteor worms. follow them into a secret passage that leads to the lair of Sunshine, masked mom’s dead assistant that chariot one-shot, but it turns out she’s a necromancer! she kicks our asses to unconsciousness even after chariot polymorphed into a t-rex and sells us to Neogi in the underdark, which if you don’t know what they are, google them, they’re fucked up spider giraffe eels that are evil incarnate and basically were slave trading us & psychically torturing Jia the whole way!! which made chariot throw cantrip after cantrip at them to try to hurt them so they just mind-control enslaved her over and over so that’s fucked her up good :)

we get sold to some drow after a week. beefy boys were sent to work manual labour til they die, and the rest of us were set to be sacrificed to Lolth, so we go haha we have to get out of here asap. chariot disguise selfs into a drow guard (a man bc i was very stupid) and gets caught 2 seconds out the door by a cleric of lolth, who sets up some mix between a dick appointment and an ass kicking for later bc chariot didn’t like. idk acknowledge her. fuck drow. she and fuarthas (who she was pretending to transport) skedaddle into a side chamber and a drow guard captain comes in. she goes to beat up fuarthas so chariot attacks her and a wild magic pops off and they fall mutually head over heels in love and lust with each other, which is MESSY. chariot convinces her to help round the gang up, but everywhere they look everyone’s gone missing (frazier and lockjaw got into a fight down at the manual labour camp and jia turned into a fish and shrieked so she’s gone) so chariot ends up wined and dined and tries desperately not to let this drow captain Do Her and does not take a long rest bc she has to stay awake and make sure this woman doesn’t wake up and see she’s not actually Erran the Drow Guard. but when everyone wakes up a shadow dragon is attacking this drow camp. cool. yes. awesome. fantastic. hell breaks loose, chariot and zarra (the drow captain) find frazier and jia in a stairwell, zarra kisses chariot goodbye and runs off to do stuff after a hefty persuasion check, jia gets Understandably Angry, we run like hell to find our magic items they bought with us and get the hell out of dodge With Lockjaw’s new orc army he’s recruited and the drow dude we found that’s a part of Frazier’s old order. shadow dragon finds us, holy shit she’s frazier’s adopted mom, she offers us a ride back while chariot very desperately tries to tell jia she doesn’t know what’s going on and why zarra kissed her and why she feels like this (she didn’t know it was a charm !!) and generally feeling Very Shitty. we get to frazier’s old monastery and the charm wears off, chariot and jia have a very long talk and chariot breaks a couple times, chariot steals a bottle of wine to try and feel better, she gets in shit for it and frazier takes the fall, he gets whipped as a punishment which just breaks chariot even more, she puts herself on house arrest for a full week, jia finally starts talking to her again 3 days into that, they do some drugs, chariot makes a deal with shadow dragon mama to split the cost of a teleportation circle and the gang blows up at her but she’s like nah it’s cool. at this point she is using her +9 deception to pretend she didn’t just break for a whole week and nothing happened and she’s totally good now guys dont even worry about it.

side tangent from All That, we go to deal with a giant problem for the monastery and there’s corpses strung up with the symbols on chariot’s palm all over. lots of combat yadda yadda, trap one giant in a room and ask her questions through the door, get some cool insight on chariot’s magics that she still has no idea how it works. turns out there’s a third queen of the feywilds, the queen of night and magic if i remember correctly, and she was shunned for her beauty and her and all of her subjects were made to be ugly and misshapen or some messed up stuff. chariots like oh fuck we were just there and no one said shit about a queen that apparently everyone hates that she has the symbols for on her Hands and honestly on her cape as well half the time. but ok cool that’s some new info sweet.

jia’s still guilting chariot for kissing zarra (even though it was a CHEEK KISS and she didn’t do it) because chariot’s been feeling awful that jia got into a romantic relationship (WITH FRAZIER’S DAUGHTER WHO JOINED JIA’S CULT, FUNNY ENOUGH) on her like 10 month leave bc she assumed she’d never get to see chariot again, but that’s a whole can of worms. lots of emotional fuckage though, chariot feels even worse that that happened bc jia hadn’t even been charmed, etc etc etc. but she’s never gonna say any of it bc she’s terrified jia will leave a second time and bringing any of that up might be what triggers it So!

we get told the neogi are selling slaves to jia’s old god, Ool’zakgothool the Aboleth who has been the Big Bad since like session 3-5, so we need to go stop that shit so we can go take down this aboleth and get frazier’s daughter back. but first we have literally no money bc we got sold and had all our shit stolen so we have to sell the like 700lbs of elven armour and weaponry we stole from a navy outpost place thing in the feywild. so we get to solve a little murder mystery in a gnome town so that’s fun. go back to the monastery, pick up some stuff, get some cool magic items made by our new artificer friend Jokk who’s part of the same prophecy we are, and head out again to fuck up these neogi. but on the way jia suddenly sprints ahead and gets like hug tackled by 5 kids who she apparently raised in her cult, and we get lead back to the marketplace where we plan on staking out the neogi and following back to their camp, but uh oh there’s 100 cultists here who swarm us and there’s some midsommar shit and we just fight the neogi right then and there and that’s basically where we’re picking up now. they enslaved lockjaw who oneshot chariot bc she’s a weak little bitch so jia kicked him in the ribs it was fun. and now we’re holding the elf that threatened to cut chariot’s tail off from our Neogi Cage Days hostage to tell us where the shiny gold head hauncho went bc he dimension doored out while chariot was paralyzed and couldn’t counterspell and we want him Dead. to be continued

#akitheshinigamia #ask #chariot #THANK YOU #WE'VE DONE SO MUCH THIS ISN'T EVEN THE HALF OF SHIT #I'M SURE I MISSED A COUPLE THINGS

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prorevenge · 6 years

Text

Revenge with a cherry on top.

It's a looong read. TL;DR at the end.

I used to be a therapist. I trained hard not only in my masters degree, which I managed to get at one of the best programs available in the States after working my ass off in undergrad, but also afterwards in seeking out opportunities to get EVIDENCED-BASED training. I emphasize that point because in the world of mental health there is an internal struggle between people like myself who believe you should have proof that what you are doing for that specific person's issue actually works, and those who want to stick to "theoretical" models that sound good, but don't necessarily have any research to back them up. The town where I live is like a ground zero for this problem. I regularly saw unlicensed therapists who had failed the licensure exam multiple times get promoted to supervisor positions, just because they were good at making their companies money. I eventually got out because I couldn't stand the focus on profit over people, which is literally impossible to avoid unless you say fuck everyone and go into business by yourself. By the time I got to a point where I could have made that move financially, I didn't want to be a therapist anymore and moved on. But before that happened, I managed to slam dunk one of the unprofessional people I had to deal with in a very satisfying way.

This case was about a year before I got out. I was doing trauma therapy with several children from one family, meeting with each of them individually and sometimes together per their request. It was easily one of the most fucked up cases I ever dealt with in my career, and that is saying something. You see, I worked for an agency that contracted with Juvenile Justice and Child Protective Services. All of my clients were mandated offenders or kids who had been removed from abusive homes. In this particular case, the abuse was beyond egregious and I remember after the first session where the kids really opened up and told me what happened, I had nightmares all night. It was so bad. But the CPS case manager (referred to from now on as CM) had specifically requested me because of my success with difficult cases. I had a reputation in my county for being good with kids and someone who could handle tough parents. Even though I knew it was going to be rough, I stuck with it.

My first clue this wasn't going to go well was at the initial family team meeting. These happen monthly with the family, CPS, and all their service providers to discuss goals and progress, etc. You're ultimately working towards closing their case when they have done all their treatment and, most importantly, the kids are safe; have received all the care they need; and the caregivers have demonstrated their ability to provide an appropriate home and parenting. The caregivers, let's call them A and B, were selfish, unhinged fuckers. They denied the abuse, lied for one another, and regularly said horrible things about these kids, insisting they were little liars who deserved punishment for causing all this trouble (by speaking up). The thing that was even worse was this team of fifteen or so providers would not fucking stand up to A or B. I got into this work because I had trauma as a kid and wanted to pay forward what my therapist had done for me when I recovered. I also knew what it was like to not be protected by adults in your life who should have been there for you. So, I did not give one shit what A or B thought of me and stood up to their crap when no one else would, saying it was the responsibility of every adult in that room to put the well-being of these children first since they are the children and we are the grown-ups. A and B were pissed as hell, and everyone else who had thus far allowed their ranting without so much as a squeak actually applauded. But that support for sanity did not last.

Months went by and these poor kids couldn't make headway because their insane parents were not only not compliant, they were actively causing trouble for everyone on the case. You can't do trauma work if you don't feel safe, and for these children they were personally living weekly drama that reminds me of Americans enduring Trump now. It was that chaotic. A and B made wild accusations against most of the people on the case (they were a secret drug dealer, they were trying to molest their kids in visits, they spat at them during a visit). One of the other clinicians got into a car wreck one day during work hours and when A and B found out they demanded she take a drug test. Until she did, they refused to comply further with services. Thankfully, her agency stood with her and defended her (she DEFINITELY was not on drugs, I can assure you, it was absurd). But the CM allowed all of this crap to go unchallenged. She was afraid of both A and B, and one by one she fired the people they targeted or made them so disgusted with her lack of spine that they left, until I was the only original team member left. Up until this point, these assholes wouldn't come near me because my reputation was impeccable. I knew a lot of people in the county and their kids loved me. I was the only adult in their life refusing to back down against A and B and, try as she might, CM couldn't get the kids to say what she wanted: that everything was "much better" and she could close the case. This is where the revenge comes in.

So, months have gone by, almost a year, and I am getting burned the fuck out but I am hanging on until I can successfully close this case and one other. Around this time, CM brings on a new therapist for B (the primary offender), who we'll call SmugFace. SmugFace was unexpectedly announced and introduced at one of our monthly meetings and immediately made it clear she did not like me. Not by being rude in an aggressive way, but by being condescending. For the next three months, CM would try every meeting to close the case and, because NOTHING was better, I fought her every time. Before, I had at least one or two people agree with me, but was now met with silence. It soon became clear CM and SmugFace were friends and SmugFace had been brought on to squish me out. She tried every meeting to imply I wasn't qualified, that I was stupid and had clearly misunderstood the children's wishes, that I was taking on a personal crusade against the parents. And she'd do it with a shit-eating grin on her face each time. I was tired and it did make me mad, but I tried not to lose my cool and give her what she wanted. Because of the shitshows caused by A, B and CM's spinelessness, no one stood with me at all anymore. I was on my own.

For cases mandated by the court, you usually have to attend court dates to testify to progress and make recommendations on whether it should remain open or close. The tension was building before our next court date, and CM was laying groundwork through team meetings, emails, and her reports to discredit me and close the case. In private, I felt like I was losing my mind, but I stayed in touch with everyone I had known on the case; kept my documentation like it was going to be examined by the FBI, and bit my tongue. I did everything I could to reassure the children I would fight for them to stay in their safer placement with relatives, and waited for court day. When it came, SmugFace was there with A and B, looking fat with satisfaction (and, well, just fat). She smirked at me every few seconds, tossing her hair over one shoulder and chuckling. I pretended she didn't exist and waited patiently to be admitted to the court room. When our case number was called, I filed in with her, A, B and CM. Service providers sit in the back at this court house, with members of the family, their lawyers and CPS in front. As we a took our seats, the doors behind me opened and every service provider who had ever been on the case came strolling in. One after the other, until there were no seats left and people were standing. SmugFace's eyes just kept getting wider and wider, until she was not so smug anymore.

After the judge called everyone to order, the lawyers spoke for the family and then CPS got to give a report and their recommendations. Then the judge asked service providers if they have anything to say. CM, of course, recommended we close the case (weak, selfish wretch). Then the judge called on me and I deferred to SmugFace, saying that since the case hinged on B's progress, we should hear her thoughts first. SmugFace stammered and sweated under the collective gaze of all these other professionals glaring at her (it was dead silent but had the tension of many buzzing bees) and said B was doing well and the case should close. She tried to throw in some more professional-sounding jargon at the end, jutting out her chin and collecting herself a bit after seeing my deadpan stare. Then the judge turned to me. I stuck to my guns and expressed all my doubts in full, then reported on the kids and my recommendations. The judge, who was one of the toughest in juvenile court, actually stated to the room that she had respect for my views because of the good work she knew I had done with other children. I was really surprised by this, but the best part came next. The judge asked if anyone else wanted to speak and every. Single. Other. Person agreed with my recommendations. They called out all of A and B's bullshit, one after the other, giving so many documented examples it was dizzying. All the while, SmugFace is getting stonier and CM is just shrinking in her chair. The final blow came from the children's court-appointed advocate, who had never once betrayed any agreement with me in meetings. She said she completely agreed with my and others' assessment and could not see how CPS could justify closing the case. The judge calmly declared the case would remain open, told off CM for her being out of touch with the case, and sent us on our way. On the way out, I looked at SmugFace and she refused to acknowledge me.

I smiled all the way to my car, but the best was yet to come. The good news is the kids were fine in the end, A got caught in too many lies and finally went to prison, and I was able to move on to a new career. But before it was all over, we had another monthly team meeting to attend. And that's when it got a little cherry on top. I love to listen to music, and since I drove around a lot for my work I had an extensive playlist to keep me occupied all those hours. I have eclectic tastes and will often put it on shuffle. The day of the last meeting, I showed up early, parked and unplugged my AUX cable from my phone to go inside. This automatically shut off the music, but sometimes it would start to play again when I wasn't expecting it. Not thinking of that, I just went inside and signed in with the CPS receptionist. The lobby was deserted, except for one person - you guessed it, SmugFace. When she saw me turn around, she looked furious. Before, she'd make a point of greeting me and acting syrupy and overly polite. Now, she resolutely turned her back and stayed silent. So of course I went over to say hello. Only I didn't get to. Just as I sat down across from her, my music app came to life and the first lines of "Dirt off your shoulder" by Jay-Z reverberated around the room "BOW DOWN TO THE MOTHERFUCKING GREATEST". And then, as though satisfied it had expressed itself, the app paused again. Without missing a beat, I shrugged and said, "Sorry!" Then smirked. Her fury at the implied double meaning (sorry for the noise but really sorry I kicked your ass) was priceless.

(source) (story by hrowaway42422819)

#prorevenge #by hrowaway42422819 #pro #revenge #pro revenge #pro revenge stories #revenge stories #revenge story #last10

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trashcanmarvelfan · 6 years

Text

Best. Job. Ever. (Tom Holland x Reader) 2/?

Summary: Reader gets a job on the set of Spider-Man: Far from Home for the 3 weeks they are shooting in New York City as what she thinks is a production assistant, but a twist of fate has her reassigned as Tom Holland’s personal assistant. As she & Tom grow close during filming, will their budding friendship turn to more or will they go their separate ways after filming concludes?

Warnings: Language, but that’s pretty much it? This is basically a PG-13 rom-com.

Word Count: 1860 for chapter 2.

Author’s Note: As this was written WAY before Spider-Man: Far from Home was released (actually before Avengers: Endgame was as well) I’ve kept plot details and which scene was being shot on what day extremely vague. Also, I’m American but tried to write Tom as British as possible, although I do think he’d try to stay(ish) in character and use as much American slang as he could while he’s still playing Peter.

Requests are always open!

Cross-posted at AO3.

The next morning, Y/N woke up before her alarm, so she got ready early and headed downstairs to get her and Tom each a coffee before going back up to their floor. She knocked on Tom’s door and was looking at her phone when the door swung open.

“Good morning, Tom, are you--” Y/N’s eyes widened as she looked up.

Tom stood before her in nothing but a towel, a toothbrush sticking out the side of his mouth.

Holy shit, he’s practically naked, she thought, feeling her face heating up . “I’m-- I’m sorry, apparently I’m early, I’ll come back--”

Tom yanked the toothbrush out of his mouth. “No, no, come in, it’s fine.” He stepped out of the doorway and ushered Y/N inside, gesturing to the armchair in the corner. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll just be a few moments.” He disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Y/N had seen Tom shirtless on screen before, but nothing compared to seeing his chiseled abs in person. Mmmph.

She mentally shook her head before placing Tom’s coffee on the dresser and sitting and taking a sip of her own, letting the warmth of the coffee calm her. Get it together, Y/N. You're here to do a job, not moon over your celebrity crush.

A couple of minutes later the door opened and Tom stepped out, fully dressed this time in a pair of jeans, sneakers, and a blue plaid button-down shirt. “So sorry about that. I was up late studying my lines so I got a bit of a late start this morning.”

Y/N checked the time as she stood. “It's ok, we have a couple of minutes to get downstairs.”

Tom hurried to drink his coffee then grabbed a hat and his sunglasses so he wouldn't be recognized, and he & Y/N made their way downstairs to the hotel lobby.

As soon as they stepped off the elevator, Y/N's phone buzzed with a text. “Perfect timing. The driver's here.”

They exited the hotel to find a nondescript newer model black town car waiting for them.

“Mr. Holland, Miss Y/L/N,” the driver greeted, shaking their hands briefly. “My name is James, and I'll be your driver to and from set while you're in town.” He stepped over to the car and opened the door for them.

“Ladies first,” Tom insisted, gesturing to the car.

Y/N slid into the back seat, Tom following behind her. They buckled in while James settled himself in the driver's seat.

“Okay,” James said once he had buckled in and eased the car into traffic, “we’ll have you at your destination in just a bit.”

Tom pulled out his phone and started scrolling through it, so Y/N took advantage of the silence to look out of the window. A few seconds later, her phone buzzed with a notification.

Instagram: tomholland2013 just posted a photo.

She glanced over at Tom, who had just put his phone away. She tapped on the notification and Tom’s Instagram popped up.

It was a selfie that he had obviously just taken, with the caption “On my way to set. Can’t wait for you all to see the finished product! #spidermanfarfromhome”.

She grinned over at Tom, who had been watching her. “You’re really good about keeping your fans in the loop.”

“You follow my Insta?” he asked with a smile.

“Yeah, I have for a while. I follow a lot of the Avengers cast.” Y/N shrugged, like it was no big deal.

Tom pulled his phone back out. “What’s your username? I’ll follow you back.”

Y/N gave him her Instagram username and sure enough, a few seconds later she received another notification.

Instagram: tomholland2013 is now following you on Instagram.

“I'm going to have to screenshot this momentous occasion so I can post it to my Insta,” Y/N joked.

Tom laughed. “I can do you one better. How about a selfie together?”

Y/N grinned and shook her head. “Nah, I'm not really going to post it. I wouldn't take advantage of your celebrity status just to gain a few Instagram followers.”

“Well how about just for us then?” Tom leaned closer to Y/N-- or at least as close as his seatbelt would allow him-- and pulled out his phone once again.

Y/N leaned in as well and smiled as Tom snapped a selfie of them together.

He texted it to Y/N and she saved it to her phone.

“All right, folks, we're here,” came James’ voice.

Y/N looked out the window. Sure enough, they had arrived at the set.

James stopped the car, got out, and opened the door for them, Tom sliding out first and Y/N following suit.

“Ok, so I just got the detailed schedule for today and it looks like it’s going to be pretty tight. You’ve got just enough time for hair, makeup, and wardrobe if you go right now. Filming is scheduled to run from 8:30 till noon when everyone will break for lunch for an hour, then it's back to filming until 5 pm.” Y/N looked at Tom. “Do you need anything right now? Coffee? Tea? Food?”

“Actually I'd love a croissant from the craft table if you wouldn't mind fetching me one,” Tom replied somewhat sheepishly. “ I could smell them when we walked in.”

Y/N nodded. “I'll go grab one and meet you in hair & makeup.”

“Thanks so much, Y/N.”

Y/N walked over to the craft table and grabbed a croissant for Tom as well as a muffin for herself and headed back to the hair and makeup room.

“Oh, darling, you’re a lifesaver,” Tom said, taking a bite of the still-warm croissant.

Y/N laughed. “It was no problem. Do you need anything else?”

Tom shook his head. “No, nothing else at the moment, thanks.”

“Um, ok then… I guess I’ll see you on set? I feel kinda weird just hovering while you’re trying to get ready.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Tom replied. “I’m almost done here anyway.”

His stylist dusted some sort of translucent powder on Tom’s face then finished taming his wild curls into Peter’s signature hairstyle. “Ok, you’re all set,” she said.

Tom hopped up. “Shall we?” he asked Y/N.

They made their way to wardrobe, where the wardrobe supervisor took a look at Tom, handed him a t-shirt to change into, then declared him ready for filming.

Tom unbuttoned his own shirt and took it off before carefully pulling the t-shirt over his head. “Ok, all set,” he said.

They then headed to set, stopping every so often for Tom to say hello to someone, including Jacob Batalon, who played Ned.

They finally made it to the set proper, where the director, Jon Watts, was wrapping up a conversation with a lighting tech. “Ok, fantastic. Thanks Josh.” He turned to Tom and Y/N. “Tom, my man! How's it going?”

Tom gave him a fist-bump/bro hug combination. “Jon, great to see you.” He gestured towards Y/N. “This is Y/N. She's my P.A. for the rest of the shoot.”

Jon shook her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Y/N replied.

Jon clapped his hands together. “Ok, let's get this show on the road! Places people!”

Y/N silenced her cell phone as everyone scrambled to get into their places and Jon called for quiet.

“And… action!”

Y/N watched in fascination as Tom seamlessly transitioned into Peter Parker. She had literally only known Tom a couple of days, but she could see how much of himself he put into the character.

They repeated the scene a few times from different angles, Tom and Jacob clowning around between takes.

Finally Jon called “cut” and broke for lunch.

Tom walked over to Y/N. “What did you think?”

“That was fantastic,” Y/N replied. “I can tell you really put thought into your portrayal of Peter.” She held out two bottles of water. “Oh, here. I thought you might be thirsty, but I didn't know if chilled or room temperature water was best.”

“Wow, thank you so much.” Tom reached for the room temperature bottle of water and took a swig. “Shall we get some lunch?”

“Oh, I figured you would want me to go pick you up something,” Y/N replied questioningly.

“We’ve only an hour, so there’s not a whole lot of time to actually go out. Lunch is usually catered in,” Tom explained.

“Well in that case, sure. Lead the way.”

Y/N and Tom hung out with Jacob and some of the crew during lunch, Tom introducing Y/N to everyone. Most of the crew had been together during the entire film shoot, some having also previously worked on Spider-man: Homecoming.

After lunch, a few more scenes were shot, and finally the set wrapped for the day.

Y/N waited near the entrance to the set and checked her email while Tom changed back into his button-down.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Y/N replied. “James is waiting out front.”

They made their way to where James was picking them up and had a comfortably quiet ride back to the hotel. They thanked James and headed through the hotel lobby to the elevators.

After they stepped onto the elevator and hit the button for their floor Tom asked, “so what are you planning on doing this evening?”

“Oh, probably just catching up on some reading,” Y/N replied. “You?”

Tom rubbed the back of his neck. “Actually, I was thinking about dinner?”

“Oh, yeah, ok. I can go back out to get you something once we get back to the hotel if you want to go back to your room and relax--”

Tom shook his head. “Actually I was thinking about the two of us having dinner, together. Even though last night was technically a meeting I really enjoyed your company. I eat alone so often that it’s nice to have some someone to chat with, y’know?”

Y/N felt bad for Tom. She couldn’t imagine having your every move scrutinized just because of who you were and not really being able to go out and enjoy life for fear of being mobbed. She thought a second. “Um, sure. Ok.”

“How does Italian sound? I know this fantastic restaurant not far from here. And don’t worry, it’s nothing overly fancy.”

“Italian sounds great.”

The elevator doors opened and Y/N and Tom stepped out into the hall, Tom turning towards Y/N with a grin. “I’ll come ‘round at say, 7?”

“Ok, 7 it is.”

“Fantastic. See you soon then.”

“See ya.”

Y/N watched Tom walk towards his room before heading to hers. As soon as she was in she pinched herself. Yep, this is real . She was actually going to dinner with Tom Holland! As friends, of course, but still… She sent Laura a quick text: Going out to dinner with Tom. More later! She plugged her phone in to charge before gathering the things she needed in order to shower and get ready.

Tagging: @thoughstofaredhead & @greenarrowhead

#tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #Tom Holland fanfic #Tom Holland RPF #Tom holland fanfiction #avengers fanfiction #marvel fanfiction

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army-of-bee-assassins · 3 years

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Answer with 3 random facts about yourself. Let’s get to know the person behind the blog! tagged by @lichfucker ty tess

1. i am learning braille. mostly visually, though i’m trying to also run my fingertips on it to see if my brain can start picking up that pattern as well. i feel pretty good about uncontracted braille. and i’ve learned some contractions. but hoo boy do some of them start getting wild. like single word contractions are fine but then you start getting two letter contractions like st and ch and sh and th and er and words quickly become incomprehensible to me. oh typing braille is good tho. something satisfying about typing with just six keys and making words. esp when using a perkins brailler because that is literally just a typewriter for braille so it’s a good clicky-clacky feel.

2. i once spent a summer working with the forest service in a small town in southeast alaska. got to a ride a helicopter for all of 5 minutes because they were being nice. they needed the helicopter to transport wood and supplies for the trail my team was repairing (which was up a big hill without roads), and they were like “well okay you can take the helicopter up too instead of hiking”. the 5 minute helicopter ride was fun. the two separate five day stints of camping on that hill to work on that trail were miserable lol.

3. actually that miserable time camping while doing trail work leads me to a tangent. back then i used to have an arrhythmia that cropped up periodically, where my heart would start going over 200 bpm for hours and hours for no reason. i was on medication for it at the time (i've since had it corrected with minor surgery). while on that first five day stint camping, there was one night where i was all curled up in my sleeping bag about to fall asleep when i realized i had forgotten to take my meds. i was tired and didn't wanna get up to take them, and then i had the thought, "what if i don't take my meds and i get the arrhythmia and get to go home early and not camp". i also had the thought that this probably wouldn't work at all, but i was still feeling lazy so i didn't take my meds. the next night i took them bc like i wasn't gonna be that deliberate in fucking up my heart. but then like 30 min later the arrhythmia started so my dumb plan had worked. i got to hike an hour and a half down the hill with my supervisor in the dark (carrying bear spray and periodically shouting "hey bear, whoa bear" to scare off potential bears - we didn't see/hear any), and by the time we reached the bottom my heart was beating normally again. so i didn't have to go to the er after all and just went home and missed the last day of trail work. mission accomplished. i did feel a bit guilty about it but after the program was over and i told my team about it they thought it was hilarious.

i'll tag @thistlegug @capitalnineteen @airen-the-worthy. if you wanna do it, great, if not, that's cool too. also if you follow me and you wanna do this feel free to say i tagged you.

#this got longer than expected bc as always i cannot tell stories concisely #tag game

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chromium-siren · 5 years

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Nightingale (Part 4)

(A/N: After writer’s block, I can finally continue the story! Yaaaay! Also, a big thank you to @kyber-hearts-and-stardust-souls for helping me with ways to continue the story!)

TW: bomb threat.

PHASMA

Brendol’s visit brought us some reassurance, but of course, we didn’t know who to trust. What if Brendol was still working for Vader? No, that probably wouldn’t be reasonable, especially since I literally just met him today. Nonetheless, Hux and I waited for that Tuesday Brendol said he would arrive with the equipment.

The days seemed to inch by, almost as if some higher power was intent on tormenting me- a fact made obvious by the nightmares I was beginning to have about Vader. He would loom above me holding a machete, a sadistic grin twisted on his face, or I would watch him set fire to Nightingale packed to the gills with patrons. Just as soon as he was about to push me into the flames, I woke up in a cold sweat to the sound of my alarm and Pudge’s concerned meows.

“It’s okay, Pudgelet, Maman had a nightmare,” I cooed, gently petting him as I looked at my phone lockscreen. It was a picture I took of Hux, one of him in deep thought with his sax across his lap- until I took note of the day. Tuesday. It was here. Brendol was supposed to meet us at the club to set up the cameras at around four, which meant there was just enough time for me to prepare everything (mainly my costume) for Friday’s ball. Immediately, I slid my finger across the lockscreen and texted Hux.

[txt]: today’s the day brendol comes

[txt- Armie]: four o’clock, right?

[txt]: yes. set up and everything, maybe a tech rehearsal

[txt]: is your costume ready?

[txt-Armie]: working on it. making white tie look like a mess is tough.

[txt- Armie]: also, fake blood and saxophones don’t mix. I think I ruined a mouthpiece.

[txt]: ditch the blood or put it somewhere else?

[txt-Armie]: probably. see you, love.

[txt]: xoxo

Sighing contently, I made my way downstairs to have breakfast, feeling the satisfaction that we might as well be getting our revenge on Vader soon enough. Or so I hoped...

HUX

Life at the law firm went on as usual- meetings, marking sheet music, Krennic looking like his usual shifty self. Hold up- Krennic being shifty? This was new, even for me. Hesitantly, I stood outside his office door, expecting to hear music- instead, I heard a frantic phone conversation.

“It’s at seven p.m., but we can afford to be fashionably late. Yes, Nightingale. I have all the information, I picked it up a while ago. Do I have to come in- oh, fine, it is a Halloween Ball anyway. I figure I’ll wear the cape. Yes, I’ll see you then. Thank you.” The phone hung up and I heard footsteps. Immediately assuming the worst, I tried to get away as soon as possible. Almost luckily, Krennic made his way out of his office in the opposite direction. But I was still so nervous, that when my phone vibrated, I almost yelped in shock. Looking down, I noticed it was my dad. Thank the Maker.

[txt- Brendol]: Just checked into my hotel, will be at Nightingale at four. Athena reminded the staff ahead of time.

[txt]: Thank you, dad. See you then.

I put my phone away, but not before reminding myself about the meeting at four.

“Adelaide?”

“Yes, sir?”

“I’ll be leaving a bit early today for, um... an appointment.”

“Noted,” she said, typing away at her laptop. Obviously I couldn’t say what I was doing, otherwise someone would hear and get suspicious. At around three or so, I got out of my chair, shut down my computer, and made a beeline for my car. Within a few minutes or so, I was at Nightingale, facing my father. I noticed Kylo and Poe were there as well, they had explained that they were volunteering as wait staff to help catch Vader in the act.

"Okay, everyone, thank you for coming ahead of time. As some of you know, Nightingale is in trouble- Vader wants to take control of the club in the name of some Emperor," Brendol said. "We'll need to set up cameras throughout the club, because we'll have evidence to send Vader to jail. Sound good?" Everyone nodded and got straight to work setting up the cameras. For a while, I glanced at Finn, the staff supervisor and our maitre d', stealing a kiss with Rey, our tech person.

"Will you two be at the ball?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm letting Thannison have maitre d' duties so Rey and I can go on a proper date," he said before whispering in my ear. "I'm also hoping I'll propose to her, Maker willing."

"Good luck," I said, smiling at him as we both placed and set up cameras, making sure to keep them in inconspicuous places. But little did we know, we were being watched.

PHASMA

After preparation, rehearsals, and all that jazz, the Halloween Ball finally came. Thursday's technical rehearsal went off without a hitch, and it was relieving to know the lights (and cameras) worked properly. As for me, I made sure my ghostly flapper costume looked fabulous- and it did. A white dress I found was tattered and stained with dirt and blood, with a high enough slit showing one of my garters- and the skeletal leg! At the center of my feather headband, instead of a jewel, there was a skull, and a strand of black pearls made for a fabulous lavaliere rather than the classic white pearls. But what I prided myself on was my makeup- I had made my face look pale, and painted my eyes and cheeks to look sunken in, and topped it off with a ruby red pout.

The team was also ready for the evening, made obvious by their elaborate costumes- Rose wore an elaborate steampunk ball gown, Poe was dressed as a goth, Kylo wore hippie togs, Thannison wore an elegant pirate's costume, and Mitaka was dressed as the Phantom of the Opera. Now, I knew Hux and I looked good in our zombie Jazz Age couple costume, but Finn and Rey certainly took the cake. Rey's arms were wrapped in gauze, and a bejeweled white dress shimmered in the faint light. Next to her was Finn, a mighty pharaoh who commanded respect. Right next to Thannison was a skeleton toting a double bass, as well as Frankenstein's monster with a guitar. Along with a wolfman with a trumpet, an evil clown on trombone, and a ghost on drums, Hux introduced them to me as friends from a band back in his college days who would be accompanying us. I was glad to see everyone present, but I worried about Brendol. Why was he running late? Hux then took me aside, still looking handsome in his destroyed white tie and tails.

"My dad will be here in a minute or so, darling, so don't worry," he said, gently placing a kiss on my pale forehead. Like a miracle from God, Brendol's car pulled up to the curb and stopped. He emerged from the car with a bow, wearing an elegant baroque ensemble that would make him the envy of the Sun King or any other monarch.

"Forgive my lateness, but thank you all for arriving on time," he said with a nod. "Now, waitstaff," he said, turning to Rose, Poe, Kylo, and Thannison, "you are equipped with pens that can record conversations, which would come in handy when around anyone that seems suspicious. But remember, this is no easy task since everyone will be in costume."

"Understood," Rose said.

"Rey, you and Finn are our spies. Both of you have hidden microphones and cameras in your costumes, so as you mill around, you'll be taking pictures discreetly by touching the red gem on your collars." Both of them nodded. Brendol explained the rest of the plan to the staff as I made double adjustments to the cameras hidden within the plants. "Very well then, are we all prepared?" Brendol asked. Everyone nodded in agreement as we all got ready for the ball to begin. "Wonderful. I'll be helping tend bar ut needed. Best of luck, everyone," he said, as we all walked into Nightingale. All the staff (including Pudge, our resident mouse catcher) was equipped with cameras to see if anything suspicious was going on. Once the ball ends, we would probably be sifting through footage to see if anything of interest popped up.

I sat at my vanity, warming up my voice and putting on the last of my ghostly makeup when I heard a slight jingle and the sound of Hux's shoes tapping on the floor. The door then creaked gently open, and Hux appeared before me, his white tie and tails destroyed and covered in dirt and fake blood. His face was painted pale green and adorned with nasty looking scars, and a biohazard symbol was “etched” into his forehead. Hanging from his neck strap was an alto sax that looked like it had seen better days, the shine gone from Hux playing it so often. Despite that, I smiled sweetly at him. “You look dapper.”

"It's almost time," he told me, offering me his arm as Pudge nudged my leg, his black bowtie collar jingling merrily. I walked out onto the dark stage, the audience silent as corpses (ha, ha), waiting for what I had in store for them. I nodded at one of the backstage technicians, and he began to play a custom CD we had made for the beginning of the concert. With help from Hux's co-worker Kylo, we made a perfect voiceover welcoming out guests to the ball. Now an ominous voice boomed throughout the club, startling many of the patrons (I swore I even heard a few screams!).

Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Gory Twenties. Blood flows like bootleg liquor, the jazz is hotter than Hell, and the dead walk the Earth once more. There is no escape from this possessed speakeasy- no one has survived to make it out and tell the tale! Keep your wits about you, otherwise you may be cursed to remain in this prison forever among restless flappers and murderous mafiosos! Like we said, there's no way out!

Psychotic laughter, followed by ghostly sounds played over the loudspeakers, along with clanking chains and cries of desperation. All was silent as a fog rolled across the stage. Then my disembodied voice rang out.

Those fingers in my hair/That sly come hither stare/That strips my conscience bare/Ooh, it's witchcraft...

The lights go up, and we are revealed with wild applause to the audience, creatures of the night welcoming our victims to an Art Deco bloodbath. I sang on, scanning the audience for some sign of Vader, but there was no gas mask in sight. During the bridge, I did my usual routine- flirt with Hux and anyone else in the audience, vocalize a little, and do a sultry dance in place. It was during this that Rose gave us a confirmed sighting.

"He's here. Do you see the mobster guy in the white cape?" she asked. I silently replied, making sure to step away from the microphone. "That's where Vader is sitting. I'll notify Brendol and the others ASAP. Tell Hux." I slid close to Hux, whispering in his ear about the bad news while Mitaka played a solo.

"Mafiosos, over at table twenty," I said, and then that was when I noticed his face turn pale as a sheet.

"Krennic."

"What?"

"The man in the white cape is Krennic. I know him, and I hate that bastard," he said angrily. "I have the great misfortune of him being my co-worker."

"Should Kylo investigate him?"

"I would think so, but he'll have to use a fine-toothed comb to go through it all." Mitaka cleared his throat at us, and that signaled me to start singing again, all the while shooting death glares at Krennic.

HUX

I was angry. Angry at myself for telling Krennic, angry at Krennic for having the gall to show up, and angry in general because I had an untrustworthy co-worker I had confided in who would probably betray me! Nonetheless, the police were called, and would be on their way to, eventually, remedy the situation. But for the time being, nobody did anything suspicious or out of the ordinary, and the performance went off without a hitch- the crowd loved it!

Despite our situation, we were having a good time and the patrons enjoyed themselves. The fun kept going when one of the other musicians handed Phasma his trombone. Knowing the direction this was taking, she smiled and laughed- as did I.

“I only have experience with piano, ukulele, harp, and some percussion so I’d like to apologize for this trombone concerto,” she said with a joking smile. “Armie, will you accompany me and make this a duet?” she asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

“Yes indeed, my love,” I announced, readying my alto sax with great ceremony. Both of us nodded at the drummer, who picked up a woodblock. The drummer began tapping out a light beat on the woodblock, keeping time. Phasma flashed a dainty smile, and raised the trombone to her lips. What followed was something that sounded like a Wookiee getting in a fight with a porg- I was the porg. From my spot, I could see that despite her lack of trombone experience, Phasma was having fun and getting into it. Inspired by her, I got into it as well, punctuating her notes with trills, awkward squawks, and glissandos, even adding an altissimo scream. I played the part of the stereotypical cool jazz musician, lifting my saxophone up, swinging it forwards and back, and swaying it from side to side with every crappy note we played. Phasma and I played our final sour notes, and the woodblock assumed the role of the metronome one last time. The audience applauded (either because it was funny or out of relief-maybe both) as I bowed and she curtsied, an angelic smile dancing on her face. She handed the trombone back to the original owner, a faint ring of lipstick on the mouthpiece.

“And for my next performance, I will attempt to play Armie’s sax,” she said jokingly, as I dramatically clutched the alto to my chest.

“Oh no you won’t!” I joked, and she laughed in response.

“Just kidding! I can't play it anyway," she replied, kissing my cheek gently. “Now we’re going to be a bit more serious for this number,” she said, lowering her voice an octave or so, perching on a bar stool. In her ruined white flapper dress, crystals and sequins glittering, she looked like a dove, but also like an angel. None of the other musicians played as I closed my eyes and played a slow, yearning (and in tune) melody. Like she tended to do during these sensual numbers, she closed her eyes and did a breathy hum before beginning the lyrics. The others joined in as I played a sensual phrase just as soon as she lifted her eyes and sang.

“The moon was all aglow, and heaven was in your eyes/The night that you told me/Those little white lies…” Just then, she stopped short and let out an audible gasp of fear. Standing in the foyer of the bar, looming like monsters in a bad dream, the mafiosos stood, smirking. In a stark black pinstriped suit, Vader stepped forward, dark glasses making him look even more sinister than he was.

"Lovely ball you've put together, Miss Phasma," he intoned.

"You don't belong here, the police are on their way," Phasma hissed.

"Not anymore," Vader argued. "We've brought you a gift." Krennic stepped forward, holding one of the cameras, and proceeded to pour his expensive glass of champagne on it, dropping it to the floor. It sparked like crazy, and burst into flames as Brendol ran forward with a fire extinguisher.

"You won't get away, Vader!" Brendol hissed, as they laughed viciously.

"I believe we have, and for that, your deadline got shorter and shorter. You have until the first of December to scrape up that ransom money. We'll be watching," Vader said, but not without leaving a suspicious box on his table. Immediately, I whipped out my cell phone.

"I need the police."

PHASMA

With that, Vader left the club, along with his goons. I looked nervously at the box, which began to tick ominously, fearful for what might happen. Police sirens wailed, and a squad car as well as the bomb squad showed up just in time.

My mind immediately went to Vader and Krennic. how somehow, he must have known- or someone had tipped him off. Who could I trust? After all, Vader wasn’t just a threat to Nightingale, but to the town as well. And frankly, not knowing what his plans were scared me. Desperately, I looked at the anxious crowd, my eyes meeting Brendol’s. I thought I was being paranoid when I assumed that Vader might have placed something like a bomb in the club, but the box confirmed my fears. In the best interest of the patrons (and because one of the police officers advised me to do so), I decided they would have to evacuate for their own safety.

“Ladies and gentlemen, due to safety reasons, we’ll have to end the celebration earlier than we expected.” I awaited the boos and demand for refunds, but no one said a word. Sure, there were a few groans of disappointment, but those were halted by firm words.

“Last call for drinks!” Thannison said, getting into his role of a Caribbean pirate, and a steady stream of people made their way to the bar, hoping to get in a last drink order before the fun would have to end. Immediately, I had an idea. I whispered something to Mitaka, and he played a longing piano line. The bassist and drummer picked up the tune, and Hux played a wistful tenor moan. Bowing my head and closing my eyes, I took a breath and sang into the microphone.

“I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places…” The party atmosphere slowly dissipated, thanks in part to Vader’s surprise appearance, and all that remained was a somber mood. It seemed more like a funeral than a Halloween celebration. I heard the sound of someone sniffling and holding back tears, and noticed that my own eyes were starting to mist and tear up. My voice quivered as I continued to sing the melody, making the song sound even more melancholy than it was. At the end of the verse, I composed myself as Hux and Mitaka took a solo. Pudge knew I was sad, and ended his mouse catcher duties to rub up against me and comfort me. The rest of the musicians fell silent as they were evacuated, leaving me singing as I made my way out of the club, makeup ruined by my tears- but I didn't care. Just as I sang the last note, the police came running out, the suspicious package being revealed to be a smoke bomb which was recently defused.

Patrons milled about outside, confused and desperate for answers. One of the police men handed me a megaphone, and I began to confess everything to the patrons.

"Ladies and gentlemen... Nightingale is in danger. Vader is demanding five hundred thousand dollars by the start of December, and if we don't make it," my voice began to quaver, "Nightingale will be no more." More murmurs resounded through the crowd, and I handed the megaphone to Brendol.

"But... we'll find some sort of way to catch Vader in the act and get the club back. Mark my words, it will be done!" he said, to the cheers of the patrons. Someone took up the chant of "Save Nightingale!" and the crowd roared the chant in unison. It was a powerful scene, one that empowered me- and sent the wheels turning in my head for a plan. If we were going to get Vader out of the way and Nightingale back, then we might as well have to do an old-fashioned heist. Because Vader should have known better than to cross paths with me.

#nightingale #my writing

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nny11writes · 6 years

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Declarations, Mental Health, and Other Things You Never Asked Me to Explain About Myself but I’m Gonna Anyways

Ok, it's been almost a year since my last update on this and I wanted to explain myself a bit? And also share my story a bit???

This is all personal stuff so no need to read if you can’t handle it right now or don’t want to handle it. You’re not obligated to, but I felt it was important to share all this.

Here’s hoping the “Keep Reading” link works!

cw: anxiety, depression, mental health, suicidal ideation, nightmares

SO. Last year I had been working in a hostile working environment under an abusive supervisor for 2 years. One of the things I had done a right before I got that job (and was unemployed, depressed, and heavily suicidal) was I picked up writing fanfiction again. I had been in about a two or three year dry spell where I was writing fanfiction but never posting. Just writing it for me. And then I'd unceremoniously dropped all after posting a Mass Effect fic that had great response/reviews. Because the pressure was too much for me.

I found SW: TCW while unemployed and desperately seeking something to help lift my spirits and distract me from my known but untreated mental health. I wanted VERY desperately to find something enjoyable in life again. I was literally only alive because I was afraid of where my cat would be placed when I died. I kept seeing interesting meta posts from MyLordShesaCactus and AlexKablob about someone called Barriss Offee and someone called Ahsoka Tano. Deciding that I had literally nothing to lose I gave the show a watch.

It was a lifeline. During a time where I regularly had nightmares of being a robot that was torn apart and decommissioned, or dreams where I'd barely nick myself and suddenly start bleeding out, SW TCW became an obsession. I was years too late to the fandom but I still found active people and love for this girl who was a little Too Much and a little Too Pushy and a little Too Scared to Fail. Ahsoka hits all my bingo slots for characters I project heavily onto. And soon enough my nightmares, while still consistent, were no longer a given. Sometimes I dreamed about star wars instead. The first time I had a dream where I WAS Ahsoka Tano I woke up and cried because I'd felt so good.

Then I got hired in what I thought was a life affirming and saving way, and instead was shoved into a different kind of hell. I became so depressed that first year that I self harmed by starving myself and denying myself sleep. Which, of course, makes it worse. I started writing "Twilight" as a way to cope with my increasing intrusive thoughts about suicide and physical self harm. Then it became a way to deal with intrusive thoughts about wanting to harm others. I needed an outlet and was denying that I need medication to manage my mental health.

I didn’t expect anyone to read it and like it. I thought people would hate it. Because it was awful because I’m awful, and therefore nothing I did could be good.

But people did like it. A lot.

Then I was escorted to Psychiatric Emergency Services because I wanted to kill myself on the job. The whole episode is a little weird in my mind, time warped a bit and I remember crying nonstop and being unable to stop shouting, but when I look back what I remember most is feeling completely calm. Calm and soft and light. I think that was due to me finally verbalizing my thoughts and seeing that others did care. That I wasn’t some worthless pest to them. When I got to PES enough time passed that I got my panic attack under control, and when a psychiatrist finally saw me I downplayed the whole incident out of fear I was going to be institutionalized. I was scared as fuck in my little temp room in my little plastic chair staring at my hospital band and desperately hoping that none of the other people there would talk to me. So when I saw professionals I lied. I got a doctor’s note to stay out of work for two days and went home.

I finally had to admit to myself that I was not doing well. I was not handling my anxiety or depression. I was not ok and that it was ok to not be ok.

I was still scared to get professional help.

Instead, I spent that November participating in NaNoWriMo, where I wrote what would later become the first several chapters of “The Apprenticeship”. The first installment to the Close But No Cigar AU. I decided that I wanted and needed to write something that was happier. Ahsoka Tano made me happy and I wanted to do something good, anything good (for once in my fucking life). And convinced that I’d never done a good thing and never could, I decided to do a good thing first for a fictional character. So in I went to a story where Ahsoka Tano was an anxious wreck of a person, but had support and help and love. Into a world where Anakin Skywalker got the sort of help he needed. A place where they could all still meet and be friends and be family. Not somewhere with no pain, but somewhere softer.

The next month I finally got a PCP, and at the ass crack of 2017 I finally got medicated again.

I had already posted the first chapter of The Apprenticeship and energized by the meds and the reviews I got hard to work on finishing that story.

Funny thing about medicine, it’s a hassle and often the first thing you take is a unique struggle that requires adjustment. My first medication seemed great! For about two weeks! Then I developed a hand tremor so serious I couldn’t feed myself. That night I seriously struggled to not drive my car into the oncoming traffic lane and avoided all bridges on my way home from work. What I took helped my depressive symptoms but made my anxiety worse. The hand tremor was also a serious and rare side effect. The next day I was off that medicine and on a new one along with gabapentin to help the tremors.

Writing was difficult as fuck with my fingers shaking and twitching on the keyboard but I needed it as much as my medicine.

The new stuff worked out much better for me, we tweaked the dosage and I’m still on it. I’m glad to be on it!

Let’s do a little time skip shall we? That summer, a year after my experience at PES, I started writing Declarations. I wanted to see more Ahsoka & Obi-Wan content. They seemed like two people who should be close friends, have more of a father-daughter relationship, and general be together more than they were on screen. I found the idea of two Temple raised Jedi, who seem to break a bit from the mold and thinking of the Order, exploring their feelings for one another to be fascinating. I quickly realized that it would work really well to show that they are both mentally ill as well. I don’t like the term “mental illness” but it is accurate so I use it.

So I seeded it in from the start. I wanted to have two good people with anxiety and depression and PTSD and who knows what else find each other and help each other out! I wanted Ahsoka and Obi-Wan to be happy damn it!

So I started writing the story I wanted to see.

And unwittingly did what I had already been doing, pouring my own personal self into the story.

I’m not saying that putting some of yourself into your writing is bad, it really isn’t! Writing can be an amazing tool to explore your own experiences and sort your own feelings. I had been using it for over a year at that point to help cope with my own awful experiences, many of which I was still having to live with and through.

What happened for me is that I put a little too much of myself into this story. At the same time I was doing that my supervisor had gotten even stranger and in some ways worse. I didn’t have daily dread of being fired but I still had daily dread over who I would find when I arrived. My supervisor came in two flavors: Angry and Blaming, or Sweet and Frivolous. I still can’t decide if she was really just that abusive or if she also could use a helping hand in the mental health department. I really can’t. She did abuse me verbally and emotionally at work, she did gaslight me, she did scare me. I’m not saying that she wasn’t an abuser at all but I just don’t know if she was that way because she needs help too.

I hope she gets help if she needs it. But I’ll be grateful if I never have to see her again in my life.

Back to Declarations.

I put too much in and it had great reviews and lots of love, and I got very nervous and defensive over it. Too defensive and nervous over it. I really want to shout out to White_Ithiliel again, because she really helped me make this fic A LOT BETTER. Like, A LOT. Y’all don’t even realize what she has saved you from!! In the process she also has had to deal with my wild anxiety issues and defensiveness.

Seriously, thank you for everything you’ve done for this fic and your endless patience with me!

The latest chapter I wrote in the spring of 2018, we started going back and forth with edits in the summer, and then I panicked over a good question and point she made. She wrote back and I very nervously peeked at her cropped response (the “show less” version) sometime around October 2018. My abusive supervisor had left but I had been asked to work with/under another lady who wasn’t not my supervisor. She was almost equally bad in another direction for me. My anxiety spiked and my depression got terrible again around the time we were working on this chapter. I saw literally half a sentence and read it weirdly, panicked, had a good cry, and closed the document.

I literally haven’t been in the head space to look at it since then.

My best friend moved in with me that fall, but he’d just had a suicide attempt a few month before. My own mental health, as I mentioned, was plummeting. This past winter my depression got out of hand. I stopped going to my band practices, I nearly stopped writing, I was exhausted. The only reason I didn’t go back to eating poorly and treating myself like shit was because he was there, and just having someone be physically there who I knew cared about me made a huge difference. If I had popcorn for dinner too often, he’d make us a frozen pizza. If I drank too much (and I abused alcohol this past winter for sure), he was there to help me with the hangover and violent sickness. Thank god for my best friend! My suicidal ideation went up but I didn’t become suicidal. This was the first winter in almost a decade where I haven’t wanted to seriously kill myself at some point. I had flashes of it, moments where the bottom of the world dropped out but they lasted for minutes or hours instead of weeks and months.

I talk to him a lot about my fics and fandoms, and he very patiently listens and helps me work through it all. He lets me read him what I’ve written or what I’m reading if I think it’s funny, and we talked a lot about this chapter of Declarations and my reaction to a sincere question regarding its content and characterizations. He offered to look at the chapter with me and see what my editor/beta’s response had actually been versus what I was afraid it was.

I turned him down in November for that because I realized I needed space and time away from this particular fic. This story where I made myself into Ahsoka and Obi-Wan and Anakin, which I could no longer separate the fictional world I had created from the emotions I was feeling about my “real life”.

White_Ithiliel, I am so SO sorry I never responded. I know my silence was probably anxiety inducing too. I want to say again that you didn’t do anything wrong or rude or mean to me. I just wasn’t mentally in a place to be doing what I was doing, and needed to turn myself off and on again.

Today, after having a full week of writing and nearly daily updating fics I enjoy I realized that my life has changed since winter.

I am at a new job with wonderful people that I really enjoy. It pays better so I’m also less stressed about money. My benefits finally kick in today and I plan on getting me a therapist soon along with a new PCP. I’m doing alright. I’m doing better than I have in years.

A huge part of that is thanks to having people PM me here on tumblr and being so genuinely enthusiastic about the stories that I write. So here’s to you all for helping me through my funk over the years, giving me ideas, and giving me a damn good laugh! dontcallmebugaboo

thirdbroomstick

woeful-woods

bobkitten

Gabby(Kirasoka)

And of course ithiliel-the-french-tolkiendil (AKA White_Ithiliel)

Y’all have been life savers, maybe even more so than I realized until I decided to write this whole crazy thing out!

Thanks to all of you, even those who just leave me a kudos or a like, I’ve been trucking along. Fandom has literally saved my life multiple times, and probably will again.

So today, feeling high on my new found writing powers, I finally went in and finished editing for the latest chapter of Declarations! Hell yeah me! :D

That said! I’m putting it on a formal hiatus!

I have the next chapter written (not edited) and several chapter ideas throw out on the page, but I also think I still need more time away from this story. I want to finish Declarations (y’all don’t understand how BADLY I WANT TO FINISH IT), but I also know that right now, where we are, we are literally on SEASON ONE, EPISODE 2.

Legit the next chapter takes place after the malevolence (AKA Episode 2 of season 1).

And we are currently over 32k in.

This is gonna be a long ass haul fic everybody. I didn’t expect it to be, I didn’t mean it to be, I wasn’t planning on it. I meant for it to be maybe 10 chapters and be super vague about the timeline.

But I think I’m just as much in love with this story as a lot of you are and dang it I want more! That means I have to write more, and that means I need to give myself space to actually be approaching it as a story.

And not as something I wish was happening in my life.

To anyone still reading, thank you, this thing was long than some of the stories I’ve written! But I wanted to share this. Yes, to explain why Declarations is currently in carbonite. But more importantly to talk about mental health.

Mental health fucking sucks my dudes. It’s hard and it’s messy and sometimes it comes out of nowhere and then leaves after eating your favorite snacks and cold clocking you at 3 AM.

I’ve been on a hell of a journey.

And a lot of you are too.

I’m not “tumblr famous” and I don’t think I’m any sort of well known fandom writer. But There’s enough of you out there that I wanted to post this in case you need to know that you’re not alone out there.

If any of you EVER need to talk, please shoot me a message! I’m legit down to talk about my fics, about your fics, about meta, theories, characters, what ifs, AU’s, etc. I’m ALSO legit down to talk about mental health and all the messy things that come with that. If you want to chat with someone about your fears, your ideation, your intrusive thoughts, HIT ME UP!

You’ve all been here for me, even though you didn’t know it.

I’d like to return that favor. So anytime, anyplace, please hit me up. I promise, nothing you’ve done is unacceptable or beyond the line.

After all, in case you’d like a breakdown of the way I had a breakdown this last year, in the span of 10 hours I literally:

Accidentally self inserted myself into a fic and didn’t realize it until asked about why characters were acting that way, got angry over someone not knowing what I didn’t even know especially when it wasn’t explicit, then immediately felt like the Worst Person ever for getting mad and anxious, went home and cried ugly sobs on my cat, debated if I deserved to live before immediately deciding that DUH OF COURSE I DO, but that I was just a sad sack and everyone knew it, ate one single can of vienna sausage directly out of the can for dinner, washed it down with waaaay too much box wine, cried again about fictional characters because I had “ruined” them, asked my best friend (drunkenly mind you) if I was a good person because I thought I was secretly the worst and a manipulator b/c I self inserted myself into my own fanfiction, and then spent the next 6 months or so anxiously opening and closing my google doc in fear of What I Might Learn About Myself or worse the discovery that I Had Been A Bad Person b/c I stated my thought process out clearly but obviously that’s just “mean” to do because I am a bad and can’t not do mean or something!

Like...I get why I did it but fucks sake me. It took a lot of broken logic to get there. Looking back I don’t know how I did that actually. This is a self call out. I am @ing myself.

So, yeah.

Not sure how to end this. So...uh, feel free to talk to me if you want to!

#personal #cw: anxiety #cw: depression #cw:suicidal ideation #mental health #a frank look at the state of my mind over the last 3 years or so #while I don't know why anyone WOULD share this you are welcome to share it #seriously please PM me if you need someone to talk to #I'm italian american #I can talk for HOURS #I don't know how to end personal stories #or fictional ones HEY OH #buh-dum-tish #I'm hilarious and you all know it #seriously feeling like a writing GOD right now #and like a functional person #and good #like in my life in general right now #it's equally nice and weird!#therapy here I fucking come #*insert John Boyega and his popcorn meme here*#oversharing?#love you folks!#y'all so cool!#also y'all let me use y'all unironically which is just sweet #I also don't know how to end the tags on personal shit #:p #Started with one cat and vague interest in SW TCW #Now I have 2 cats-my best friend living with me-the will to live-and a deep love of SW TCW!#superb gains if I do say so myself

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twerkinwithhazza · 6 years

Text

Little Black Box

Authors Note: Look at me.Writing on a Wednesday and keeping my promise of a strong comeback! I have been teasing you guys with a prompt for a while now and it is finally done, and I thought it is fair to give you this in compensation for the lack of the Just a Taste Part 3. The suit in the gif is the suit I am referencing in the imagine because it truly did things to me. I am so excited for the feedback and to continue to write, thank you so much for all the help @yeshaddy and @bigdaddystyless . Please read my writing here and send me requests here. Enjoy!

Warnings: Smutty Smutty Smutty

It has been 72 days. Actually 72 days 15 hours and 36 seconds in counting since your last orgasm. Normally, you were able to hold your composure by distracting yourself with household tasks and extra hours at the office but it just wasn't cutting it anymore.

Between the Givenchy on the 24th to the Klein’s purple treat on the 27th, he was making all of it a bit too much to bare. Unfortunately, the one being that could satisfy your cravings was thousands of miles away and only true contact you would have with him was during your daily Skype calls. It warmed your heart to watch Harry get ready for his shows: he cracked jokes with his bandmates, planned his wardrobe for future shows, and shamefully whispered complaints about how the venues helpers left dried blueberries in his snack bowl. You settled in front of your laptop, adjusting your hair and tying the strings of your night robe into a perfect bow before logging on to Skype. You nibbled on your lips as you started the call, praying quietly that you would be able to keep your composure during the call. But from the second you saw that million dollar mark appears on your screen you knew that today's call was gonna be far more difficult than you had anticipated.

“There's my girl”, he held the camera close to his face a habit he had acquired after constantly imitating your habit during your dating period when you forced him to schedule facetime appointments in order to ensure you were always looking you're very best. “Hows my favorite girl day been”

“ Well I was able to pick up some overtime at the office which is always good and my supervisor has been actually listening to my ideas during the board meeting, I really hope that means my manager will final-”

You stopped yourself as the rustling in Harry’s background seemed to overpower your rambling, Harry took notice of your quietness “Oh I'm sorry baby, give me a second. Just wanted to go to the bathroom to get ready, but I’m taking you with me. Wanna hear all about how you got Julia Brown to get her granny knickers out of a bunch”

You couldn't help but chuckle, your cheeks warmed a bit as a smile spread across your face. That was one thing you always appreciated about Harry, he truly did care about every detail of your day and don't want to miss a beat in any story you told.

Harry placed his camera down, allowing the wall to act as a support to hold up his phone before closing the bathroom door behind him. This is the part of your call you always enjoyed, it was your chance to finally see the suit he was planning to wear for the night.

Harry finally appeared on your screen and your jaw immediately hit the floor. He was literally mouthwatering, the thin stripe suit paired perfectly with the cropped jacket and the custom Calvin Shirt he had been bragging about during your previous skype. Harry sense of style had always been a point of attraction for you and he certainly did not fail with this outfit choice.

“Earth to (Y/N)...” “Baby”

The loud bang from Harry's brush hitting his sink was enough to snap you out of your drooling and unconscious state.

You immediately sat up and readjusted yourself, “Huh.. what. Oh, I'm sorry babe”.

Harry let out a small chuckle,“Jesus, did the cat have your tongue or did you get cotton stuck in your ears?”.

“Nothing just miss ya is all… you look amazing tonight couldn't help but stare”, you felt your cheeks begin to blush with embarrassment. Despite being together for almost 4 years you still felt like such a little girl around Harry, always nervous to share your feelings with him because of the slight fear you had of rejection.

“Well, I may have something that can help you, ‘till I get home from tour. Go in the closet and look for a little black box”

You did as you were told, you made your way over to your shared closet and found the black box hidden snuggly between his old Doc Martens and you're worn out Converse. You returned to your seat in front of your laptop running your fingers over the velvet box.

“Open it, Peach”

You teeth tugged on your lower lip as you slowly opened the box, a gasp leaving your mouth as you finally saw the gift Harry intended you to play with. Harry left you a dildo. The more you stared at you began to realize far too many similarities between the toy in front of you and the cock you had been truly craving. From the veins to the softness of the skin, this had Harry written all over it in more than one way.

“Had it done ‘fore I left, just in case something like this were to happen. When I couldn't get home in enough time to please my girl”

“Well you're quite the forward thinker”, you whispered taking the toy out of the box. “But It's not you… could never be”

“Never said it had to be, ‘s only a temporary release until I can come home and pound into yen myself”, He twisted his ring slowly around his finger as he watched you untie your robe. “Promise to guide you all the way through Peach”

You positioned yourself so that your legs were spread wide, giving Harry a full view as you dripped lube over your clit. You swore you heard Harry let out a bit of cry as you wrapped your lips around the toy, coating it with your saliva as your wet lips wrapped around the tip before you began to slowly bob your head back forth. Once you were satisfied you placed the tip of the toy at your entrance, teasing yourself as you slide the tip between your folds just as Harry would do.

Small moans escaped your lips as you dipped the tip of the toy into your heart, “Look at my sweet peach, miss me so much yeh imitating my actions”. Harry would be lying if he said that he wasn't amused, seeing you so desperate for him in person was overbearing enough but with the added distance it made him even harder knowing that he didn't have to be in your presence to make you wetter beyond belief.

“Don't disappoint Peach, go on now fuck yourself for Daddy”. You needed no other confirmation before pushing the toy completely into your heart, a string curses falling from your lips as you began to pump the toy in you.

“ ‘s good Peach? Feel good fuck yourself with my cock?Bet your thinking of what I'd be doing if I was there. Probably have my hand wrapped around that pretty little neck of yours, take your breath away while I pound into that tight cunt of yours.Would like that wouldn't ya?”

“ Yes yes yes yes”, You whimpered softly, resting your head on the back of the chair, pumping the toy faster into you. Harry's word was leading you closer and closer to your peak, he could tell you fondling your nipples and the repeated tremble in your legs.

“Is my pretty peach ready to cum for me ?”

“ Yes baby please let me cum”

“Tsk tsk tsk, I don't know Peach… couldn't keep yeh composure ‘till I got home and used me to get you to cum the right way”

You whined as you impatiently ground your hips against the base of the toy, you knew you needed Harry to get you to cum otherwise it would never feel the same.

“Need ya to tell me you can't come without me or I may have to leave you early”, Harry teased as he ran his hand over his thigh

“Daddy please I need you to cum, your the only who can make cum please please ��please let m I need it, Daddy!”, you pouted as you roughly pounded the toy into you, hitting your g spot perfectly each time drawing you closer and closer your orgasm.

“Such a naughty peach, cum for me baby”.

And with his blessing you finally reached you high, clutching on tightly to the arm of your armchair tightly as your legs shut closed with screams of Harry's name bouncing off the walls of your room. Once you came down from your high, you lazily opened your eyes to see Harry panting just as harshly as you- know he was the one drooling over you. The two of you sat there in content silence until Harry heard a knock on his door, confirming it was 5 minutes until showtime.

“Gotta head on now Peach, but I'll make sure to check up on yeh before you go to sleep”

Too tired to respond, you simply blew a kiss and waved goodbye to the camera which he happily caught before doing the same and ending the call. Leaving you lying there breathless but beyond satisfied.

Once you finished cleaning yourself up and settling yourself in bed, you scrolled through your Instagram feed aimlessly. You were interrupted when you received a text from Harry

“I think I'm gonna take an early flight home, I see now I can't leave my peach untouched for too long. Drives yeh too wild”

#mine #writings #harry #harry styles #harry styles smut #harry styles imagines #harry styles blurb #harry styles imagine #harry styles blurbs #one direction #one direction smut #one direction imagine #one direction preferences #one direction blurbs #harry styles au meme

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killapunk · 6 years

Text

the weirdest, NO, evilest, person i have every worked for

no real names are used in this piece. i refer to other weirdos and freaks throughout, sorry its a long read (i didnt intend for this) but its one of those things ya gotta settle into and believe me its a wild ride. this saga covers over three years of drama btw.

tw: mental health mentioned (inc panic attacks), chronic illness mentioned and mild sex references

i am going to single out jess. shes more evil than a weirdo but weirdo nonetheless. pete is a secondary weirdo in this saga.

i work in retail for a long time. a fashion store to be precise. i started out in one store but transferred when i started studying at uni and remained there for the majority of the retail career. during my time there i had three managers, the longest one, who is also a fucking weirdo was pete. now before i worked with pete, before he transferred to our store. i didnt like pete when i started working with him, he annoyed the fuck outta me. but my life circumstances changed and my mental health issues got very bad AND i was diagnosed with cfs so i had to disclose it w him. turns out… he was fucking mental too, very understanding, super chill. we liked the same shit. great boss. 11/10 every time.

he would be my reference for every job ever…

…but. he started gettin involved w jess. now to jess. the main character in this piece.

jess had started at the company around the same time as me and we were always on the same level until the last year or so. jess was a bit older than the average age of staff at the store (17-20) and was 23 when this drama started. she had a college diploma, went onto do something semi-successful but related to her HND. but blew all her money, moved back into her parents and started working at the store part time and then onto full time. she was like…the perfect retail girl? small, cute, slim, bubbly… always looked cool in her uniform. customers loved the fuck out of her.

jess had a bf when i first started and pete had a longstanding gf. jess and her bf ended things abt 4 or 5 months before pete and his gf. but i remember they started gettin cushy around about this time. im not sure if its cos im v sympathetic towards pete (a true kind soul who i hold v dearly in my heart) but even tho youd be thinking ‘boss abuses his power’ …jess was and still is fuckin manipulative and he has longstanding mental health issues and i just think she sorta got the ball rollin’. pete and his gf didn’t seem on good terms, i dunno the full story but it seemed like they should have broken a long time before the did.

i think the fortnight before pete and his gf broke up they were spotted hanging out together near where she lived. it was this hush hush thing that everyone giggled abt cos there was at the time talk they were fuckin. when it got out, after his breakup jess said she was ‘just being a friend’ cos he was ‘going through a tough time’.

jess got promoted to keyholder even though she didnt really (at the time) have the skills or confidence to be a keyholder. and then she started to try and fuckin control the work. back during this time, everyone who worked at the store, minus literally 3 people, had worked for the company for at least a year. the store ran very well, we were always in profit. nothing went wrong. but. she started changing processes because it 'made things easier when she was opening’. like. she made everyone tally the amount of people they served in the fitting room in one box and tally the amount of things people left behind so she could make a sales chart. idk if that’s normal in other stores but like? it was just nuts and impossible to do.we always put deliveries away out the package but not folded in a particular way. she made everyone tag and (where relevant) hang items bc she had to pick everything in the morning.

she became friends w most of the girls, including one of the supervisors. they ruled the workplace. it was a total gossip mill. she gaslit the fuck outta people. one already less-popular girl at work ended up quitting cos she kept blaming her for fuck ups, she kept getting write ups and it was impating her mental health. she spun people against her. less popular girl spoke up and called her a bully and jess acted all defensive and said she wasn’t a bully bc shed been bullied before? jess continued to fuck up the workplace. next she turned on two people in her own clique. one tbh, i think she was jealous of bc jess had always wanted to be a teacher and this gal was training to be one. the other girl was v like jess, just not a bitch… strongwilled, liked control. anyway, drama got to the point where they had to quit. waay too much drama for this textpost. at this point others started to notice n work became hostile. jess moved her girlgang clique to one of the original clique girls, a different supervisor and the other two full time staff members.

pete obv didn’t listen to people coming to him, as store manager being like… hey… there’s this major clique problem and he’d be like ‘nah everyone is just friends, jess is a bit insecure but yno things are good, people quit, its just retail. fuck it.’ jess accused everyone who didn’t get on w her as being a terrible person. those legit words. like. if someone said it was a shame x, y or z left shed rebut, nah they were shit at their job, they were a shit person. honestly. EVERYONE. was a bad person. even the nicest people in the world were the worst person, the worst at the job. she was a good person, she liked the good people. she HAD BEEN BULLIED AND WOULD NEVER BULLY. she threw the anxiety word around a lot.

once we had a staff night out and i got left alone with jess and pete at the end of the night in this terrible lil bar as i waited for someone to pick me up. this is a good point to mention jess was always weirdly jealous cos i was close to pete. fucking ridic considering he was 14 years older than me and you know my fucking boss??? this night, i was sitting right next to pete, we were both drinking, jess wasn’t (cos she likes to be in control, she even said it), he had his arm around me and was whispering something into my ear that was such a non-thing i don’t even remember. she got her phone out, started texting. he excused himself and when he returned he sat beside her. it was fucking nuts. i couldn’t believe my eyes. we had to basically carry pete out of the bar. jess said to me she was gonna drive him home cos it was on the way to hers (spoiler! it was not!). myself and pete did the open the next day. he came in wearing the same clothes. i mean, he could have just passed out and had to rush to work when he woke up. but. this guy went out a lot. he never repeated an outfit. i think jess took advantage of a very drunk him. similarly, on another night out, jess promised to drive someone home. said person got too drunk and thew up. jess refused to take them home and called them embarrassing, she gave the space in her car to pete.

i had a major bad evening shift at work concerning another staff member, kaylee. a gal who just rubbed me up the wrong way, and who didn’t like me. ill never know why but it was just one of those things where anytime i was on shift w her she would nitpick and bitch about me and just… make me feel not v good. she was possibly the laziest and rudest person i had ever worked with but someone got away with it?

i used her as a way to talk to pete about the general problems in the store (jess). and…it was fuckin surreal. i told him abt kaylee. i told him i thought jess was controlling but kinda laid off a bit like ‘i get she thinks shes doing it for good’ etc. i padded it out w a few other rly petty issues abt the store. i was actually really upset, kinda numb from life to properly let out my emotions. and then. he started cry on me. like this full-on grown man having a panic attack in front of me when i was 19, fucked on diazepam i should have never been prescribed. to this day i visualise it. me and pete were v close at this point, and like, he didn’t mention jess too much – asked me about the other girl and other issues when i came to him. we spoke about personal shit, all but jess. i kinda wonder if he didn’t have the panic attack if i would have told him his under the radar relationship w her was not on?

and then. pete sold me out in the name of jess. idk the full ins and outta everything but he had to confront the drama once and for all cos our figures were so low so he decided to blame it all on kaylee. from my understanding of the situ from a lot of ‘he said she said’ bs, pete had this big meeting w kaylee. was like. 1. do ur job right and 2. stop being rude and unapproachable. the thing is, although kaylee is rude shes one of these ppl who most ppl really liked, not in a jess/regina george theyre scared of you way but…like they thought she was a tv character and she was funny and honest. so i think she confronted some obvious allies, and jess told her, according to another staff member, that i complained about her. after hearing this i obvious went to pete and tbh, acted pretty dramatic (cos if you haven’t fucking learned already THIS STORE WAS FULL OF DRAMA QUEENS). as soon as i heard, i started texting him angrily on his day off. i remember folding something in the fitting rooms and he came up to give me a hug and i was like ‘HOW FUCKING DARE YOU TELL OTHER PEOPLE MY BUSINESS’. i confronted jess, in a lighter tone, cos i obv told pete (half) what i felt about her. jess played the fucking innocent role. like, she said something along the lines of ‘we’re both close to pete n he was so worried that when me, you and kaylee did those shifts together that something would go wrong. so he told me to keep an eye on things and that’s all i told kaylee cos she wasn’t sure why she was being targeted when so many people in this store are treating people badly. i didn’t say you reported her or anything, honestly!!!!’ queue more bs.

after this, jess didn’t bother with me but was never explicit about hating me. if there was a convo going on and i tried to join in she scolded at me for being nosey. if i was unwell (i have cfs) shed moan ‘jokingly’ that i always had to be ill. i think she ripped on me once cos i said i was late for a hand-in at uni.

her next real victim, however, was jack, my best friend in store and our supervisor. jack was getting fucked over in his supervisor role bc pete would schedule jess for anything managerial. jess started a rumour that pete didn’t trust jack bc jack fucked it at a meeting w the other stores (semi true but fucking up a meeting isn’t the end of the world). like. anything jack would be, jess would be on him. by this point 50% of the staff that were around at the start of the story HAD LEFT. jess had driven people out and had the new ones all up her arse.

pete quit. it was sudden.

not long later, facebook popped up with a fuckin ‘pete is in a relationship with jess’ status and pete has never spoken to me again. i left shortly after that, although our new manager was lovely i felt like i was working for jess.

jack ended up GETTING DEMOTED, by petes replacement who had no idea what a shitstorm she was getting herself into. the new manager PROMOTED jess and demoted jack bc she was doing all the supervisor jobs whilst jack was only doing midshifts. he didnt get shafted to the lowest pay and was instead given the title ‘trainer and authorised opener/closer’ whilst still doing the same fucking job. he transferred out, cos that shit is fucking degrading and within, like two months he was put back up his rightful position. yay for my forever work bestie. I

feel like this has been going on for too long now. i think this doesn’t do her justice. like…i cant believe someone who is NOW 26 and who got what she wanted after manipulating a mentally ill man caused so much drama and pain and tension in a fucking clothes store.

fucking horrid. im reading this completely exhausted and so i cant say much but i just feel like these people are always the ones who come out on top, and its so fucked up. im really sorry you had to deal with so many unpleasant people, and your friend as well.

i swear mediocrity and asskissing is what gets you anywhere in this world, and manipulative cunts like this jess woman take full advantage of that. it’s pretty scary, honestly. amazing how far drama can go, huh. this is why i have trust issues.

i still hope she gets her ass kicked by life, though. there has to be some sort of karmic justice somewhere

i also feel like i should say that there’s always going to be people who won’t like you for some reason. even if you don’t do anything wrong and even though everyone else thinks they’re great. no idea why this happens, but all i can say is there’s really nothing you can do. so FUCK EM (in the most metaphorical sense as they don’t deserve you giving them the time of day)

#manipulation #story sharing #submission

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12setsofchopsticks · 6 years

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White Day 2019

Alrightty folks, it’s that time of the year again for my favorite holiday, WHITE DAY. Yes, again this year I have worked hard. I have spent the past several months meticulously crafting relationships, exceeding expectations, and perfecting my winged eyeliner and TODAY is the day that it all pays off. I made heart-shaped cookies for Valentine’s day again this year and coupled them with a personalized, hand-o-made-o heart-shaped cards of about the same size. As is the tradition, I will log the events of the day in real time as they happen. I am absolutely buzzing because I have high expectations and a good feeling about them.

Speaking of expectations, here is the forecast for White Day 2019:

Low chance of gifts from the English teachers as Vancouver sensei tends to forget and EPS tends to not care, BUT I WOULDN’T MIND BEING PLEASANTLY SURPRISED.

Will this be the third year in a row that I don’t receive a gift from my friend Dekashita sensei? PROBABLY.

Big hype for the third year teachers since we’re all buddies.

As a general rule, I think it is safe to expect gifts from all the teachers who have their Valentine on display.

Feeling confident that I will get gifts from a few teachers, like sumo sensei and softball sensei, since they have been consistent the past two years. Let’s see if this trend keeps up.

Shimichan is a bit of a wildcard this year, and I feel like he could go either way. What will happen? No one knows!

I was thinking to myself yesterday, “Lolen, what if your expectations are too high? What if, god forbid, you don’t receive ANY gifts?” The thought gave me a chuckle. There is no way. I am Lolen, the Beloved. I am a goddamn gaijin goddess and gifts WILL BE bestowed upon me on this day.

Wednesday, March 13th, 2019 – THE DAY BEFORE WHITE DAY

1:45 pm –I was caught off-guard while eating my lunch when a teacher has come over to give me my first white day gift! How delightful, I think, as I try to thank the teacher with a mouthful of salad. This is not my cutest moment.

Thursday, March 14th, 2019 – WHITE DAY 2019

8:25 am – I have arrived at school at precisely the time I am expected to.

What they see: a beautiful blonde waltzing in to the teacher’s room. My hair looks good, eyeliner is looking sharp and, oh, could it be? Yes…! Her outfit even matches her nails!

What they don’t know: ya girl stayed up too late watching Netflix the night before so she’s running off 5 hours of sleep and literally ran to catch the bus this morning. She is beauty, she is grace, she is out of breath.

8:27 am – I reach my desk and sit down. There are four additional gifts that weren’t here before. This brings the total so far to five, before the bell has even rung! I have confidence that this will be a bountiful harvest.

8:35 am – There is a shuffle as teachers begin to get up and go to their first period homeroom class. Within the chaos, I feel a tap on my back. I turn around and, heavens to Betsy, can it be?? I can hardly believe my eyes that it is actually Dekashita sensei giving me a bag of chocolate! The two year curse has been lifted and my soul can finally be at peace.

8:45 am – Sumo sensei has just come over and dropped a literal handful of chocolate on to my desk. I will award an A for intent, but I have to give a C for execution because come on, my dude, at least put them in a lil baggy or something. Regardless, choco is choco and I will accept your offering graciously.

9:01 am – I have just received two more gifts within a few moments from each other; one from the teacher who sits behind me and the other from softball sensei. So far my predictions have been accurate…will EPS and Vancouver sensei defy my expectations and come through with gifts?? It’s the question on everyone’s mind!

9:07 am – In an interesting turn of events, one of the female P.E. teachers has just given me a gift! This sets a precedent for the women here at school, I am now expecting chocolate tokens of friendship from everyone.

9:50 am – My lovely supervisor came over to give me a little baggie of white day treats! A+ execution from an A+ supervisor, 10/10.

10:32 am – The morning is swiftly passing by. Currently, I have eleven gifts but I haven’t received any more in some time now and I am wondering if this may be it for me this year. There are a few teachers that I have been lowkey watching all morning to see if they will make their move. Like a cat in the shadows, I wait.

10:39 am – JUST as I was about to abandon hope, I am approached by the cute married teacher (he’s cute, he’s married, alas) and handed a nicely boxed gift. Extra bonus points since he spoke to me in English. I didn’t even know he spoke English, today is full of surprises.

10:50 am – I am rereading my post from last year. Boy, what a wild time 2018 was! But, I am noticing that amount of gifts I am receiving and the time at which I am receiving them is REMARKABLY SIMILAR. At 10:35 am last year, I also had 12 gifts. Everything is going according to plan.

10:55 am – Bobsled sensei has just given me a gift! As an interesting note, he has opted to give cookies as opposed to a more traditional chocolate confection. On second thought, this really isn’t all that interesting.

11:04 am – One of the female English teachers just came over to give me a very cute heart-shaped cake sort of thing. I have decided that this will be the first item I eat when the time comes.

11:25 am – I have fourteen gifts now. I am wondering if, out of all the teachers, I have the most gifts. I know it *shouldn’t* be a competition but I am absolutely *treating* it like one in the deepest narcissistic pit of my heart. I think I will walk around the teacher’s room later and take some cheeky peeks at the other teachers’ desks.

11:40 am – Another female P.E. teacher just gave me a nice gift, complete with an English note of appreciation! I seem to have made some new friends in the P.E. department with my cookies this year. Exciting times!

11:45 am – Oh, these are exciting times, indeed! Just now, I have received a gift from Kocho sensei, also known as the principal. Based on his status as principal-sama, I expect that these chocolates must be of the highest kocho quality. This brings my total now to 16. At this point, I am projected to top my number from last year.

11:55 am – I have not seen EPS all day, despite him being here today. Should I call the police? Send out a search party? I’m worried that he is lost or dead. Actually, he is dead. Dead to me until he gives me white day chocolates.

12:30 pm – Another gift from another P.E. teacher! It’s quite a large box as well. I seem to be popular with the P.E. department this year, with about 60% of the teachers reciprocating chocos. My hard work is paying off and my ROI is looking great.

12:35 pm – It’s time for lunch but I’m afraid to leave my desk in case someone steals one of my precious chocos. I feel a strange attachment to them, like a dragon jealously guarding her hoard. But alas—I must go, for I am hungry. Is it strange to go out and buy lunch when I probably have over $100 worth of gourmet chocolate on my desk? I make a mental note of exactly how many chocolates there are; I will not tolerate thieves!

1:45 pm – I’m back from lunch. All seems in order. I also used this opportunity to check out some other desks. I am the clear winner in this battle royale.

2:30 pm – It’s been quiet for a while now. BUT ACTUALLY, as I was typing this, another teacher came over to deliver a gift! CONFIRMED: I am a psychic.

3:30 pm – I was just beginning to think that the gift-getting might be finished, but to my surprise I have received another! It’s getting exhausting trying to keep track of all these gifts. Interesting note: despite all NINETEEN of the gifts that I have received today, I have yet to receive one from any of the male English teachers. Just so we are clear, there are FOUR of them. This must be what the sharp knife of betrayal feels like.

4:10 pm – I couldn’t wait any longer and I ate the heart-shaped cake sort of thing. It was a delicious choice. I also made the executive decision to put all of my snacks in my desk since 1.) I was running out of space on my desk and 2.) At this point it just looks like I’m bragging (I am). Furthermore, as I mentioned above, I have a zero tolerance theft policy and these are my loss-prevention measures.

4:12 pm – I ran out of space in my designated “snack drawer” so I had to take advantage of the space in my lesser-used “lesson plans” drawer.

4:15 pm – O shit waddup, ya girl is officially at TWENTY GIFTS!! My boi Shimichan pulled through in the homestretch. If I can get my-age amount gifts does that mean that this will be my golden year?

4:17 pm – Time is precious and there are only about 45 minutes left in the day. The guy in the office must have felt the minutes squeezing by, because he just came up and gave me gift number 21. There is still time for you, EPS!!

5:01 pm – Well, it’s time to call it a day and head home. Overall, I have to say I am very pleased with the way this year turned out. Many of my predictions turned out to be true (LOOKING AT YOU, EPS), with the notable exception of Dekashita sensei who actually pulled through this year. Now all that’s left to do is to enjoy my snacks...all TWENTY ONE OF THEM!

5:30 pm – Just got home. Can’t wait to see what my real white date has in store for me tonight <3

#white day #all my senseis #dekashita sensei out of the doghouse #evil pocket sensei i hate you #snacks for days #literal days #shota is the ichiban

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fourtrisheafanfic · 7 years

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Chat Room Romance: CHAPTER THREE

Full story on Ao3: (X)

Chapter Summary: Chapter 2 and 3 will be combinations of the Jonerys Week Prompts: Day 4 and 5 (Sci-Fi and Angst). In this chapter the irony of fate seems X-Files worthy.

Chapter 3: Life Goes On

+++o+ Fast Forward Almost Three months +o+++

Early May 2018

“I know I shouldn’t say this…but I kinda love when your husband goes out of town on business,” Dany says with a huge smile while taking a sip of wine and then taking a bite out of one of the chocolate covered strawberries that Missis made for them to share.

Dany lost her roommate when Missie and Grey married the month before, and she has not been in any hurry to find someone else to rent out the second room in her apartment. Grey has traveled for work twice since they tied the knot, which the best friends took advantage of by having a sleepover at Dany’s place. Sadly Grey’s work trip are always on “school nights” so it was always a tame evening as each of the young women had an early day at the office the following morning. But it was still nice to enjoy a dinner and a quick movie.

“Don’t let him hear you say that!” Dany’s best friend chuckles before finishing off her last glass of wine.

“You know I love Grey, you did good with him. He is a great guy,” Dany smiles sadly. “But I do miss having you as a roommate.”

Missie studies her for a moment before frowning and getting up to wash out her glass. She wasn’t planning on broaching the subject again, but Dany had witnessed the look on her face.

Following her best friend into the kitchen with the plate of strawberries, she sits at the counter and watches Missie clean up.

“Now I feel bad, Missie…please just tell me if I upset you. I was completely kidding about being happy that your husband travels for work, I mean…you are my best friend, like a sister. I am so happy that you have Grey - -“

Missie sighs loudly before turning to face her best friend. “Of course I know you were kidding about Grey, I wasn’t frowning because of that. Look, let’s just drop it.”

Frowning, Dany shrugs, “You know, it will be ten times worse if you just don’t tell me what you are thinking about…my imagination will run wild.”

“I don’t want to have another debate…but I just can’t help but feel like you are still so sad about Jon,” Missis starts, frowning at the way Dany flinches at the mention of his name. “Ok, never mind. I am sorry I mentioned him. Let’s drop it.”

“What do you want me to say? I told you already what happened. The guy was kissing his EX in the middle of our date, just after he had his tongue in my mouth!” Dany snaps, her stomach instantly in knots.

Damn it, I hate how the mere mention of his name still upsets me so much. It’s ridiculous that he still had this effect on me.

Pathetic even.

“I know! I know what happened…but I also know that you didn’t even let him speak in order to hear what he had to say to try to explain. And then you immediately cut all ties with him. They guy literally has no possible way to find you.” Missie points out. She saw how crushed Dany was after her date with FoxyMulder… But as the days went on and the girls discussed and analyzed in painful detail what had happened… Missie couldn’t ignore her gut, she felt it was at least possible that Dany was making a mistake.

Missie continues, “All I can say, is that your connection with him online was so strong. What if he is the right guy for you? Why not just hear what he has to say?”

“Why? Because I don’t care what he has to say! He is just some jerk I spent months talking to online…and he was probably with that redhead the whole time…while feeding me a bunch of bullshit lines about his sad life, and how I am the only person he’s ever wanted to talk to,” Dany yells, her emotions spinning out of control before she catches herself and shuts up. “Missie, I am sorry…I have no reason to yell at you. I just want to forget about him. It was nothing, nothing at all.”

Missie agrees to drop it, both ladies continuing to clean up since they have work early tomorrow. The subject changed, the girls enjoy the rest of their evening.

It is not until much later that night, when Dany lies alone in her bed that her façade falters. She buries her face in the pillow to drown out her feelings, she is angry at herself for being weak and feeling sad over him. But the truth is…she misses him. She misses their friendship. And she doesn’t understand how she could have felt such intense feelings for the man during the date…just for him to go and - -

She doesn’t even want to remember, him and that smug redhead. The look of victory Ygritte gave her after Dany had caught them kissing.

No, Dany doesn’t care what Missie says about Jon, he is out of her life for good.

Dany makes a personal vow to never let some guy hurt her that badly again. She invested too much of herself into some guy she barely knew.

++o++

The next morning Dany is running around her office preparing for a big meeting she is taking part in. Her direct supervisor is project managing the data-warehousing migration project, while she is on point to be his lead. It is a huge responsibility and the project is crucial to the company. She will be the direct liaison with the IT firm that is consulting on the project. Dany knows the next few months at work are going to be brutal, their team was warned that there would be many late nights in the office.

“Daenerys, the Black Water consultant team is already waiting for us in conference room C, they arrived early to set up. Please make sure that you have the project specs ready to share with them,” Tyrion asks while popping his head in her office on the way to meet with them. “I’ll see you in there.”

Dany gathers her things before stopping by her teammate Brienne’s cubicle to invite her to walk with her. As the women rush through the halls they agree that Dany will take lead on the presentation and Brienne would jump in as needed to further explain the project details.

“I hope the consultants from Black Water are good people to work with. There is nothing worse than not getting along with a team of people that we are going to be stuck working insane hours with over the next few weeks…months even!” Brienne complains. Dany already knows she had a bad experience with the Frey consulting group on a previous project.

“I’m sure it will be just fine. Come on, let’s have a good attitude…happy thoughts!” Dany whispers while holding the door open so that Brienne can enter before her. The people in the room are standing to the side of the large conference table and making introductions.

“Everyone, this is Daenerys Targaryen. She will be taking lead and more importantly she is the direct liaison between Lannister Marketing Company and Black Water for this project. So make sure you get familiar…and stay on her good side!” Tyrion jokes while motioning for Dany to stand next to him.

“This will be a good test for me to make sure that I have learned everyone’s names,” Tyrion announces. As Tyrion introduces each of the consultants to Dany, she smiles and shakes each of their hands. She is also trying to remember name and role as introductions are made. “First we have Sam Tarly, he is lead coder for the group. This is Tormund Wildling who is the team’s quality assurance guy. And probably the most important for you, Daenerys, is Jon Snow. He is the project lead and you both will be working together to run the relationship between Lannister and Black Water as we tackle the project.”

The moment Dany locks eyes with none other than Jon Snow (aka: FoxyMulder), she feels as though the room is spinning. He looks equally shocked to see her. Both hesitate before showing any kind of reaction, then Dany decides quickly how she must handle this.

Oh, hey! It’s the guy that stomped on my heart at our first and last date – by slobbering on his ex’s face while leaving me to sit alone at our table.

Well that is definitely not going to be professional Dany decided.

“Hello Jon, nice to meet you,” Dany stressed coolly while quickly shaking his hand and then letting it go.

“Hello, Daenerys. Nice to meet you as well,” Jon says politely, his eyes burning into her. Dany is truly unable to decipher his expressions, so she looks away at the earliest possible moment.

“Everyone, Daenerys can be a mouthful. Most people just call my Dany for short,” she shares with the small group. Tormund looks relieved at the nickname offered, before turning his attention back to Brienne. He seems to have an immediate interest in her. Both are the tallest people in the room by far.

Everyone takes their seats in order for the meeting to start. Both Dany and Jon having significant roles in their respective presentations. Both Jon and Dany are very professional, often having to interact during the open discussion as they will be point person for the two teams.

Jon soon realizes that his teammates are very impressed with Dany. She knows her stuff and has a charming and warm personality. She also appears to have a great working relationship with her peers as well. Her smile and laugh are able to light the room up, not that she even once directed them at Jon.

The meeting goes for the remainder of the day, lunch had been catered in as well. There had been no real break for anyone to have alone time.

Towards the end of the day they do break a little early from the project. As most of Jon’s team members are using the free time to check their work emails he stands and asks Dany if she can show him which cubicles his team will be using while working on-site.

“Of course, follow me,” she says while walking ahead of him. Instead of the cubicles she leads him to her office, looking around and relieved that no one is paying attention to either of them.

Once in her office Jon shifts uncomfortably while looking around. The office is very tidy and he immediately notices a great photo of a small group of girls are at a wedding, Dany is wearing a deep purple bridesmaid’s dress and laughing while the bride is squeezing her tightly.

She sees he is staring at the photo from Missie’s wedding last month. They wedding she had dreamed he would be her date to, ‘what a joke’ she thinks bitterly. Dany’s back stiffens while she prepares herself to say what she needs to say to this man.

“Let me start by saying that I appreciate your ability to just keep it professional here, obviously this is a huge project and we need to work together,” Dany says stoically, keeping her true emotions well hidden.

Jon is quiet, just nodding as she speaks. He is letting her take the lead on how they are going to manage this.

“I also want to apologize for the last thing I ever said to you, the whole F-word. I don’t normally talk that way…”

“I deserved it, so consider it forgiven and forgotten. Dany...there is so much I want to say to you about that night,” Jon first assures her, before wanting to explain himself.

Dany quickly nods in thanks for his forgiveness before cutting off his last sentence. She refuses to go there with him.

“Jon, I would like to just move forward...professionally. I want to pretend that we never knew each other as FoxyMulder and ScientistScully,” Dany says firmly, trying to ignore the sadness that washes over Jon’s face. “I want to be able to function as professional peers as though we never had that disastrous date. There is nothing I care to discuss about the past. I don’t want to hear it. It’s over.”

Jon stares at the beautiful young woman standing before him, part of him still trying to process that it is actually her. How he had wished for a chance meeting so that he somehow could find her again. He wasn’t expecting to be in a position to work by her side for many weeks. She’s made it clear she doesn’t want to try to fix things between them personally, as much as he desperately wants to.

++o+ Flashback +o++

Jon scowls, looking at his watch as he waits for Ygritte in the back hallway of the restaurant. He hates leaving Dany alone to sit at the table and wait, but for his own conscious he wants to talk to his ex as he had promised. The manager had overheard the exchange at their table and was livid with her behavior and demanded to speak to her privately first. Now regretting that decision, Jon had told her he would wait until they were done.

Yes, they broke up many months ago and even the time they were together was not a healthy time in his life. Jon was in a bad place when he dated Ygritte, he tolerated so much crap from her because he just didn’t think he deserved anyone better and he was also being lazy. It was easier to let her walk all over him then to stand up for himself. It isn’t a time in his life that he is proud of.

Not that it matters now. Jon has learned one thing - he would rather be alone than to be in such a toxic relationship. And he has been alone, he’s not dated anyone since things ended with Ygritte.

As Jon waits in the hallway his mind wanders to his beautiful date. He’s completely enamored with Dany, she is hands down the most gorgeous woman he’s ever seen. Her eyes and that amazing smile has literally left him speechless many times already this evening. And the best part is that her outside beauty is not even what has him crazy about her! The many hours they spent talking and sharing their lives with each other have been priceless - then to find out they already live in the same state! All Jon can say is that he has really high hopes for them. He hopes she does too.

The manager walks past Jon without saying a word, as the waiter Scott is animatedly talking to him about a table that is threatening to call the health board over some bogus issue. Ygritte then comes out slowly, her cheeks wet with tears.

“I was just fucking fired! Just because I didn’t act like a statue when I saw the man I love making out with some fancy girl at my place of work!” Ygritte cries, stepping closer to him. “You have no idea how tight I’ve been on money, I needed this damn job!”

Clearing his throat, “I’m sorry to hear about your job, but you’ll get another one. I don’t have a lot of time, but we need to talk about what happened out there,” Jon begins cautiously, knowing that Ygritte can fly off the handle at any moment.

“Ohhhhhhh, you don’t have a lot of time? Is your prissy stuck-up lady waiting for you? Afraid she will give up on you and just leave?” Ygritte begins, only to be met by Jon’s scowl. “Excuse me, here my life is literally falling apart and you are worried because some rich princess has to sit at a table in a fine restaurant and ‘wait’ - - oh the horror.”

Releasing his breath slowly in order to calm himself, Jon takes a moment before responding.

“If we can’t have a normal conversation then I am just going to say goodbye now,” Jon says calmly, his eyes searching to see what kind of mood she is in.

Jon’s goal is to reiterate to her that not only have they broken up, but that he will never be with her again.

At that moment the hostess that Jon remembers from earlier walks by, saying excuse me as she walks towards the restroom. Ygritte smiles at her brightly before turning back to Jon..

“Oh Jon, you are right. I am so sorry...things have just been so stressful for me!” Ygritte cries while stepping closer to him. Her voice breaking painfully.

“I’m sorry to hear that, but I am sure things will turn around,” he offers with sincerity.

“I was thinking the same thing, in fact I think things are turning around at this very moment,” she says before throwing her arms around him and pressing her lips against him.

Jon is absolutely flabbergasted and was caught off guard. He is busy clamping his lips shut as Ygritte begins moves her head and making small panting sounds - as though she is making out with a pillow.

Finally able to move Ygritte away from him, Jon’s face is bright red as he looks at her in horror. She has never been this aggressive.

“Wow,” Jon hears from behind Ygritte, looking past her he immediately spots Dany who is looking right at Ygritte. It is after, when Dany looks at him that he feels sick, realizing how bad the situation looks. Dany looks at him like he is garbage, something she stepped on that is now stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

Jon rushes past Ygritte, desperate to talk to Dany and explain. “Dany! Please wait…please!”

But she turns and stalks off quickly. Ygritte is holding his arm and begging him to just let the princess go. Jon is furious, he forcefully steps back and tells Ygritte not to touch him.

“Congratulations, Ygritte. Even now you are still making my life a living hell! Stay away from me!” Jon sneers at her as he chases after Dany.

++o+ Flashback End +o++

“Jon?” Dany asks again, he can hear the frustration in her voice. He had zoned out while thinking.

“Sorry. Yes, of course. I’ll do whatever you think is best,” Jon says softly, noticing that she won’t even look him in the eyes.

“Okay, that’s settled. Let’s get back to work, I’ll show you the cubicle area on the way back to the conference room,” Dany says stiffly while walking past him, she is careful not to get close to him as she squeezes by.

Jon’s face falls, her dislike for him is obvious. He trusts that she will treat him professionally for the sake of the project, but he has no hope for anything else.

These last couple of months have been hell. He was completely heartbroken after that night. The look on her face, she was devastated. When she started crying, all he had wanted to do was grab her and hold her, swear his to his feelings for her…but she was also so angry.

In addition to the terrible guilt he felt for hurting her, the loss he felt over her presence in his life was devastating. She had blocked him so quickly, he had no way to get in touch with her. Jon had even gone so far as to make a new user name for the X-files chat room, only to learn that she had deactivated her account. She was gone, and wanted nothing to do with him.

He had really fallen for her, even before they had met. She had become the most important person in his life. And maybe that was a stupid move on his part. To give someone he had never met so much power over him.

But there was something about the way ScientistScully carried herself in their conversations that had hooked him. Even their hours of debate and speculation about the X-file series, it taught him so much about her personality. She was intelligent, well spoken, compassionate and most of all...tenacious.

Jon fights to push away the memory of her lips moving against his. God, how he had loved kissing her, the way their mouths moved together, the way she smiled against his lips, everything about their connection had been perfect. That night he had known that she was the girl of his dreams.

And he fucking blew it, like an asshole.

Having stopped in the restroom before returning to the conference room, Jon enters at the tail end of a conversation. Some of his teammates are interacting with the Lannister team. Then Jon remembers, as the hired consultants – his team always offers to pay for a happy hour after work on the first day. It helps with building teamwork and getting to know personalities of the client.

“Jon, come here buddy! You have to tell them we are dead serious that happy hour is on us after work…and when we say us, we mean our company,” Tormund smiles at the Lannister employees.

It is Tyrion, the main manager that finally concedes and agrees that a happy hour after work would be a nice way to get to know each other.

Jon’s heart pounding in his chest, he can’t help but get excited at the prospect of going to a social event with Dany. Maybe if he can just spend some time with her, talk…he never stopped caring about her. Jon searches out Dany’s eyes but she is typing in her laptop, ignoring everyone around her

Tyrion walks over to her, “Tell me again why you aren’t coming to happy hour, Targaryen?”

Dany smiles at her boss and begins packing up her things, “I just can’t, not tonight.”

“I will need a better excuse than, ‘I just can’t’ young lady,” Tyrion laughs while smiling at her teasingly. It is obvious to Jon that they have a good working relationship. Jon is also relieved to see that her boss is wearing a wedding ring.

With her laptop bag hanging from her shoulder Dany looks at her boss and smiles, “I have a date after work, so no – I am not going to happy hour.”

A date. She has a date with someone else tonight.

Of course she does…just look at her. She is fucking gorgeous, smart, kind…the whole package.

Fuck, this is bullshit. And I didn’t think things could get worse.

Brooding, Jon looks out the window to try to control himself. Jon feels as though the wind has been knocked out of him. Dany quietly exits with a general goodbye to the group, being careful to not even look in Jon’s direction.

He doesn’t know how he is going to make it through this project. He is in his own personal hell, with no way out.

++o+ Chapter End +o++

Author’s Note: As I was writing chapter 3, I decided that instead of rushing through my outline for the end of the story – that I would break it into two chapters (3 & 4). So now we know what really happened between Jon and Ygritte that night, the question is – how and will Jon and Dany be able to work together…with all of the hard feelings between them?

#jonerys #jonerys week 2018 #jonerysweek #Jon Snow #daenerys targaryen

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chronicfangirling · 7 years

Text

Crystal Snow (Hoseok ver.) - Heart Crystal

Pairing: Hoseok x OC Genre: Romance, encounters with beautiful idols, impromptu dates, Christmas kisses--no mistletoe necessary, koi no yokan, love and its possibilities Words: 2499 Summary: Taking a flight to Shanghai as a chance passenger and risking deportation to attend an unlicensed party for the sake of dancing with one Jung Hoseok? Totally worth it.

Crystal Snow (Christmas with hyung line) Seokjin ver. | Yoongi ver. | Hoseok ver. | Namjoon ver.

(2017 December 24)

"I can't believe you let Kim Seokjin go to that ice princess! You know how the Shanghainese would say his name? 'Zhen'--for treasure--meaning you let the grand prize slip out of your hands."

"Nuh-uh!" Hyejoon wagged a finger at her supervisor's face then traipsed down the street, ahead of their group. "Seokjin-oppa was meant to go with her, and I'm meant to come here. He may be a prince, but he's not my prince. My grand prize is out there somewhere, I can feel it."

Ducking into the dark maze of back alleys after Hyejoon, her long-suffering supervisor winced. "Is that why we're heading to that unlicensed night club with a bunch of teens instead of celebrating like proper adults?"

"I guess I'm just nostalgic..." Hyejoon mused. "You know, when I was in school, I once went to this rave--"

"And it was dispersed by the police and you were nearly booked as a juvenile delinquent, but some dude saved you." Her supervisor sighed. "You've told this story many times."

"It's my favorite story after all," she giggled.

The rest of her co-workers all sighed as well, saying that she should've gotten rid of all her rebellious impulses as a child, rather than drag them into a dodgy party in Shanghai and get them all deported. Hyejoon imagined that flight attendants always had such wild adventures on their trips, but they were ground staff after all... still, she wanted to do something crazy for Christmas Eve 2017. She waved her phone containing alert of the party--she just had a good feeling about it.

When they finally found the place, it was at the height of an impromptu couple dance contest. Hyejoon clapped for the current performer, but her hands went still and silent when she caught sight of the man across the dance floor. Bopping his head to the song, even his little graceful gestures seemed timed to the beat. The dance ended with an insane death drop, and he smiled in appreciation--not even the bucket hat obscuring his face could hide the radiance of that smile... like a ray of sunshine in the dim club.

"Hey, want to dare me to enter the contest with that guy?" Hyejoon suggested.

Her supervisor goggled at her. "Umm, no--"

"Well, if you insist!" She fluffed up her hair, free of its usual work-regulation bun for once, and checked that her sequined dress clung at all the right places before she sashayed towards him.

"We totally didn't!" her coworkers yelled after her.

Slipping past the next couple taking their places on the dance floor, Hyejoon smirked at them over her shoulder. "I'm not someone who'll ever back down of a challenge!"

She reached the man, belatedly noticing that he was surrounded by a bunch of suited companions. He himself wore sweater and jeans for a more casual look--but she could tell that they were rather expensive. "Hi!" Waving with both hands and bowing at the same time, Hyejoon greeted the man.

"Oh, hello!" he replied. Up close, he was almost literally shining--beyond his good looks, it was his bright aura that attracted her, like a moth to a flame.

I think I know now... why I ended up here in Shanghai.

"Why don't you enter the contest with me?" she asked.

He tugged the bucket hat lower on his head. "I don't know..."

"Oh, come on!" She winked. "Don't worry so much about it, I won't bring you down."

His companions snickered about him being popular anywhere, and he shushed them before turning back to her. "Uh... I'd much rather just watch right now."

"Aww, but--" Hyejoon patted his hand and he snatched it away. He was slouching in his seat now, as if in hiding, and she realized now that his demurring wasn't out of hesitation, but an actual rejection. "Oh... okay. I'm so sorry. I just... thought there would be good results if the two of us worked at it together." She forced herself to simper cheerfully as she bowed in apology and tiptoed on the edge of the dance floor to rejoin her coworkers.

But they were nowhere to be found in their previous spot, and a couple more performances passed before they tottered back to her, red-cheeked and giddy. Clearly, they each had a shot--or five--to loosen up. "Where were you?" She pouted, unhappy that she was now the only sober one.

"We got some liquid courage for you, crazy girl, not that you need it!" Her supervisor pushed two cocktails in her hands. "And we told the DJ to play that song you're always dancing to."

Hyejoon choked on her drink. "Wait, what? But I'm not dancing--"

To her chagrin, the host was already announcing her as the final entry: "Kim Hyejoon and her partner!"

Sufficiently buzzed, her coworkers whooped and tossed her out into the dance floor. The crowd cheered--then groaned when she attempted to leave, motioning to the glasses still in her hands. Someone relieved her of her drinks and shoved her out again.

The first strains of 'If you leave' floated from the speakers and Hyejoon gawked at the crowd, which was first hushed, then grumbling in discontent as she remained frozen. One partygoer booed and while she was still mentally debating fight versus flight, someone tugged at her hand.

She gasped and found herself pressed against the chest of the shining young man from earlier. "There will be good results if we work at it together." He gave her a small smile as her eyes widened; in shock, in realization, then in hope. He nodded at her. "Ready?"

He twirled her into place beside him, and Hyejoon surrendered to muscle memory to take her to the correct stance. They danced in unison, with the exact same moves, as if they had practiced together hundreds of times before. She let the music take her over, arms popping and feet sliding across the floor. Her partner danced at a level far above hers, but she didn't let that worry her, and enjoyed moving to the rhythm.

The song wound down, and instead of moving to the last stance, he took her hand again--she had felt it coming and was ready for him, and half-dipped, supported by his arms. The crowd went wild but they hardly heard it as they beamed at each other, basking in the rush of the dance.

The host stopped them from leaving and called back all the other couples. Despite the enthusiastic response to their dance, the death drop couple took the win.

"It's okay, Hyejoon, you did great!" her coworkers cheered. "You too, Hyejoon's partner! You were awesome!"

The host distributed participation prizes for all the ladies. Excited, Hyejoon opened the little red velvet box and found a pair of earrings, adorned with heart-shaped crystals. "How pretty!" she exclaimed. Grinning coyly at her partner, she leaned close enough for him to breathe in her perfume. "Could you put it on for me?"

He didn't respond to her blatant flirting, but he took the earrings and carefully put them on her ears, not poking her unnecessarily even once.

Hyejoon tilted her head, feeling the crystals swinging. "How do they look?"

Her partner's smile evaporated and he winced. "Sorry..."

She cringed. "Oh no, does it look that bad?"

"No, you're pretty," he clarified. "But you only got the consolation prize because of me."

"Nuh-uh. I wasn't sure earlier but..." She gripped the rim of his bucket hat, giving him a chance to protest, before pulling it off to fully reveal his handsome face. "You're Jung Hoseok. I'm right, right?"

"Uh, yeah." Seemingly bashful, he scratched at the nape of his neck. "How...?"

"I'd know those moves anywhere--bursting with power but flowing seamlessly." she gushed. In a quieter voice, she revealed: "I've always wanted to dance with you."

"I see," he chuckled.

"And I did. You--" She tapped his chest, right upon his heart. "--are my grand prize." She gazed into his eyes, wondering if she had enough courage left over to kiss him, but her reverie was interrupted by the entire club thrown into a commotion.

"Ack, it's the police!" people screamed.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Hyejoon shrieked. She watched her coworkers rush off and turned to Hoseok, who was waving for his companions to go while they can.

She was clutching at his sleeve and he peeled her hand off--she thought he would slap it away and make his escape--but he grasped it securely. "Can you trust me?"

She nodded. "Of course!'

Walking, Hoseok led her into the street, and she was about to ask why he wasn't hurrying, but he pressed a finger upon his lips for silence. Hoseok walked right into a bunch of policemen who all yelled for them to halt.

"Oh, thank God!" He shouted in English. "We're lost, me and my girlfriend, please help!" He crowded them, loudly asking for directions to the nearest McDonald's until the annoyed policemen finally waved for them to leave. It was only when they were rounding the corner that one of the policemen brought up their fancy clothing and how they had smelled of cigarette smoke and alcohol, and chased after them. But Hoseok led her into a niche between two buildings and they crouched in the shadows as the policemen ran past.

They had barely gone when Hyejoon gave way to emotions bursting in her chest: nervousness, shock, and above all, mirth. "Hah... hahahah!" she cackled.

He gaped at her, as if she had lost her mind. "I don't mean to offend you, but this isn't an appropriate time to be laughing." He shook his head. "What terrible luck to lose a contest and then get caught in a raid."

"No, it's the best luck!" she insisted. "I mean, some people might say, that it's bad luck that the two times I've gone to an illegal party, they both got busted by the police--"

"I hate to tell you this and ruin your good mood, but that is pretty bad luck, yeah." Hoseok wrinkled his nose.

"However!" She bopped the end of his chiseled nose. "Both times I got saved by someone truly amazing."

Leaning against the cruddy wall with no care for her party dress, Hyejoon closed her eyes, as the memories came flooding back. "Gwangju, summer of 2009, there was a party hosted by the most popular dance groups in town." She watched his face for any signs of listlessness, but when he cocked his head to listen, she continued. "At that time, I fought a lot with my parents because no matter how hard I tried, I always ended up as average and that wasn't good enough for them. For once, I wanted to rebel. So I went there."

She snorted at the mental image of her awkward teenage self. "In my average way, I could follow a rhythm but the very best dancer there--he encouraged everyone to let go and pour their feelings into dance."

"And that was when you discovered how much you liked it?" he prompted.

"Yes! It didn't matter that I wasn't a talented dancing star, it was fun." she affirmed. "But then the police came because of reports of underage drinking. I nearly got caught but that same dancer rescued me."

"While we were hiding, just like this, I cried and cried... saying that my parents would never let me back home then, and that I should let the police catch me because it's not like I'll amount to anything--I'll always be the unspecial, ordinary, average me." She shuffled closer to him. "But do you know what he said?"

Hoseok blinked at her, and ventured: "'If you don't work hard, there won't be good results...' was it?"

"You remember?" Giggling, she pointed at herself. "It's me, Kim Hyejoon... I was the girl you saved that time."

His face fell. "... Sorry. I don't remember," he murmured, wringing his hands and looking down at them. "It's just something I say to people all the time."

"It's okay." She caressed his arm and when he glanced up, she smiled. "It doesn't matter that you've forgotten, that I'm only one of the many people you said it to. Because it was what I really needed to hear at that time, so I kept those words in my heart."

"You ended up making your parents proud?" he asked.

"No way!" she pealed in laughter. Noticing Hoseok's confused, slightly horrified frown, she added: "But I also realized that my 'good results' could be different from someone else's good results. Some days, just surviving is good enough. And if I can be happy for that day, then I've also done well."

He stared at her for long moments, pondering her words. Finally, he chuckled. "Then, you're wiser than I could ever be."

"That's why, I want to thank you." she said. Her hand moved down his arm, patting his hand.

"I should be the one to thank you." He took her hesitating hand and squeezed it. "Thank you. Those words that I scattered like seeds in the wind... thank you for letting them root in your heart."

"No matter how many times you forget... I'll always remember," she promised.

Shaking his head, he graced her with that sunny smile, all for her this time. "I don't think I could ever forget you now, Kim Hyejoon."

"Keep me here," she commanded, with an impish flick of her finger against his beating heart.

"This moment will crystallize in my heart." Holding her hand, he crossed his heart with her finger. "Preserved as one of my precious memories."

"And I... I'll keep you here." She pressed the fingers of her free hand against her lips. As she inched closer, he guided the hand he was still holding on his shoulder. They kissed in that blind alley like two teenagers, fulfilling the promise of that interrupted connection from eight years ago.

When they parted, Hoseok blinked at her, as if in a daze. She was about to tease him, but her ears perked up. "Hey, do you hear that?"

"I don't hear anything," he mumbled, still sneaking peeks at her mouth as she talked.

"Exactly. The coast is clear." She grabbed his hand and stepped out of their hiding place.

But her coworkers popped out of another alley, now sober from the shock. "Hyejoon!"

"Hoseok!" His companions had been standing watch and rushed over to him.

"You crazy girl, we thought you were a goner!" her supervisor screamed.

"Hey, let go--!" Protesting when her coworkers tugged at her arm, she struggled to keep hold of Hoseok.

"This is dangerous, if you got caught here it would be very, very bad!" One of Hoseok's companions--his manager, it seemed--seized him by the shoulders and started leading him away.

"Hyung, wait!" Hoseok's hand unlinked with Hyejoon's and he grasped at air in an attempt to maintain the connection, but their respective companions pulled them their separate ways.

"There's no time!" the manager cried and marched him down the alley.

Hyejoon looked over her shoulder, searching for Hoseok and met his eyes--she knew his frantic look was reflected on her own face. To calm him, she quirked her lips in a grin. He grinned back, just he was walked out of the alley and out of sight.

"What happened to you?" her coworkers all asked in concern as they hurried to their hotel.

"Just... making more precious memories," she answered dreamily.

And she would've thought that it were just a Christmas dream, if not for the weight of the heart earrings dangling from her ears, their crystalline coolness brushing against her skin with every step.

One day, I know, our paths will cross again.

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