#which I recall thinking were at least decent I couldn’t hum to save my life

[misterbaritone]

Y’know running through the islands and collecting the various music tracks from old games has helped me realize how forgettable Sonic Frontier’s ost is.

[starshine583]

New Girl on the Block (8)

(Thank you all so much for your love and support during this fic! I hope that you all enjoy this next chapter and be sure to check out the mini series connected to this called Journal Entries!)

Ch.1 / Ch.7 / Ch.9

Chapter 8: Lost and Found

Lost. 

Felix was utterly and hopelessly lost.

He stalked the aquarium aisles, looking this way and that for the rest of the group. How did this even happen? Allegra had had an iron grip on his wrist. He was certain of that. Yet somehow, he runs into one person- one person! -and just like that, everyone’s gone! 

Felix tisked, annoyance quickly rising in his mind as he turned down another aisle. Briefly separating wouldn’t have been that bad. In fact, he welcomed the moment of silence at first. Aside from the occasional person who bumped into him, no one was yanking on his wrist or dragging him along. The problem arose, however, in the realization that he’d been aimlessly searching for them for thirty minutes now. After losing sight of them for a second! Did they truly walk that fast or did they leave him on purpose? It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened. 

His hands clenched into fists, and a scowl tugged at the corner of his lips. He was this close to climbing on top of heads- 

A light giggle caught his attention, faint but there, coming from the southern side of the room.

Felix whirled around, his eyes darting through the crowd. He recognized that laugh, but where was she?

His gaze landed on a pair of pigtails a moment later, and he nearly sighed with relief. Even with the dimmed lights of the aquarium, he could make out Marinette’s small figure standing in front of a smaller aquarium not far from him. He didn’t see anyone else with her, though. Where were the others? Did she get lost too or were the other people blocking them?

Felix moved forward to approach her. With the trio or not, he’d finally found someone from the group. That was his main concern. Besides, she didn’t seem worried about being alone, unless cooing at the glass and laughing was a sign of nervousness. (which, for her, it wasn’t.)

“You look like you’re enjoying yourself.” He commented as he stopped next to her.

Marinette jumped, as usual, and let out a squeak of surprise.

“Oh, Felix!” She gasped. “We were looking for you earlier.”

Felix hummed, glancing down at the octopus that was crawling along the rocks in front of them. “Yes, it would seem that ‘keeping up with the group’ wasn’t as easy as Allegra had claimed.”

A nervous chuckle tumbled from her lips, and she tucked a strand of hair behind her as she said, “Yeah.. we thought about texting you, but Claude said that you would catch up eventually.”

Felix scoffed. He should have known that Claude would be the one to prolong his suffering. Looking around for the brunette once more, he noticed that they were indeed alone. (Save for the large crowd swarming around them, that is.)

“How did you get separated?” He asked, merely curious. The group’s left him several times, but he doubted they would abandon Marinette so easily. Something else must have happened. 

“Well, I was originally trying to look for you,” she explained, “but then I ended up getting distracted..”

She snorted. “I swear I stopped to look at one turtle, and by the time I turned around, everyone was gone.”

Felix offered a nod. He knew all too well how that went.

“At least we found each other.” He pointed out. 

Marinette smiled up at him. “Yeah! And I found this adorable octopus!”

The way she said ‘adorable’ was similar to the babying tone of someone who was speaking to a dog, and she turned to the tank to wiggle her finger at the creature. Felix thought it to be somewhat.. endearing. 

“.. Did you know that an octopus has three hearts?” He asked, strangely wanting to encourage her enthusiasm. Normally, when Claude would start rambling or bouncing around about different subjects, it would annoy Felix. With Marinette, though, that.. simply didn’t happen. Perhaps it was because she was quieter about it?

Marinette gasped, her sparkling eyes shifting back to him. “Wait, are you serious?”

Felix nodded. “They also contain blue blood.”

Her jaw dropped open. “No way! How do you know that?”

“I’ve read a few encyclopedias.” He admitted with a half-shrug. “They’re a lot more interesting than people give them credit for.”

“That’s so cool!” Marinette nearly squealed. “Tell me another one.”

Felix stared at her for a moment. That might be the first time someone’s ever willingly asked for him to recite facts without a sarcastic tone. He didn’t think he would be this pleased about it.

“Well..” He began, mentally sifting through the pages of books that he’s read. “Their limbs are actually called ‘arms’, not ‘tentacles’. The term ‘tentacles’ is reserved for squid, cuttlefish, and nautilus.”

“What?” Marinette blanched. “No! My whole life is a lie!”

Felix smirked at her dramatic groan. It had been surprising for himself when he first read it too. 

“Tell me another one.” She said after rubbing her hands over her face.

Felix let out a small laugh. “Are you sure? You didn’t seem to like that last one.”

Marinette waved off the comment. “Yeah, yeah. I can take it. Tell me another one.”

“Alright, another fact..” Felix muttered, his gaze flicking upwards in thought. “Ah.  Each arm has a mind of its own. Some two-thirds of the octopus’ neurons reside in its arms, which allow the arms to react to stimuli and function at a fairly high level on their own. This fact applies even when one of the limbs is severed from the body.”

Marinette scrunched up her nose at the image of a severed, octopus limb still twisting about. 

“How do you remember all of this stuff?”

Felix clicked his tongue. “I think the information is interesting, and I enjoy being knowledgeable. So I make it a point to remember everything that I can while reading.”

Marinette nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense.. Do you know facts about other animals here?”

Felix tilted his head back and forth, trying to recall the animals he’d passed while searching for the group. “Most likely. As I said before, I’ve read a handful of encyclopedias, along with a book or two on Marine Biology.”

She lit up with a grin at the reply and reached down to grab his wrist. “Great! That means you can come tell me more facts!”

Felix was pulled forward, and a part of him held his breath, waiting for the indignation and disgust to set in from being grabbed. It always happened. Allegra, Claude, and occasionally Allan would jerk him around, and resentment would kick in without fail. Of course, the irritation towards Marinette certainly wouldn’t last, since she’d simply gotten excited, but it would undoubtedly come. So he waited..

..And waited..

..And nothing came.

Felix looked down at her hand, which was still firmly on his wrist, and frowned. She was dragging him through the crowd, yet he felt.. nothing. It wasn’t necessarily good, but it wasn’t bad either. He was just.. normal. 

How odd.

“Which animal should we go to next?” Marinette inquired, eagerly looking around. “I’ve already seen the jellyfish, the octopus, and some of the bigger tanks with the multiple types of fish.. Maybe we can see the big tank again so you can tell the na-”

He didn’t look up at her until her ramble abruptly cut off. She was staring down at his wrist too, her eyes wide with surprise. She must not have thought about what she was doing when she grabbed him.

“O-Oh!” As soon as she registered what she’d done, Marinette ripped her hand away from him. “I-I’m so sorry! I- uhm -I was just so excited, a-and.. I’ll try not to grab you again.”

“No, it’s..” Felix rubbed the part of his wrist that Marinette had grabbed, almost not believing the next words he was about to say. “It’s fine. We should probably be holding onto each other anyway, unless we want to get separated again.”

“Oh..” Marinette said, sounding a bit dazed. “Oh yeah.. Um.. How do you want me to..”

She held her hand out towards him again, and Felix hesitated. If they were to hold onto each other, holding hands would be the obvious option, but that was out of the question on account of the strange feeling that twisted inside him at the thought of doing such a thing. The next option would be holding onto his sleeve, or grabbing his wrist again. Would that be peculiar for her, though? He’s unsure as to why it would be peculiar, but it felt peculiar. 

Before he could decide what to do, Marinette tentatively took hold of his bag strap.

“I-Is this okay?” She asked, searching his face for discomfort or disagreement.

Felix blinked. That was actually..

“This is perfect.” He said, grabbing the part of the bag strap that was just above her hand.

A relieved smile passed her lips. “Good. Let’s keep walking then. I wanna learn as many facts as possible before we leave.”

The two set off, weaving around people and going from tank to tank. At each new animal they passed, Marinette would request a series of facts, and Felix would oblige when he could. Then, when he couldn’t recall any facts, they would look up a few for the sake of fun. He had a decent time doing it, as he got to learn some new things about the animals and himself. For example, the electric discharge of an eel can be stronger than five hundred volts, sea turtles apparently think jellyfish are delicious, and when Felix’s hand finally slid onto Marinette’s on the bag strap, he didn’t mind at all. In fact, he didn’t even notice that his hand was on hers until she jumped ahead to look at the shark tank.

“Wow..” Marinette breathed, staring at the enormous whale shark that was gliding through the water in front of them. “Look at how big it is..”

Although slightly distracted by the fact that they’d been touching and he hadn’t noticed, Felix joined her at the tank and watched the shark as well. With its large body and narrow tale, its movements were slow and graceful, and seeing it brought a soothing sense of calm to him. 

He glanced down at Marinette, curious how she might react to the gigantic creature. 

Despite buzzing about while looking at the other animals, she stood entirely still as she stared upwards through the glass. One of her hands was delicately placed on the tank, and her lips were parted with awe. She appeared to be mesmerized by the sight. 

The mix of water and the lights above brought a bright, blue glow to the room, and it reflected on her perfectly. Accenting her round cheeks and wide eyes, bringing out the deep blue color of her hair that was often hidden.. the illumination made her seem utterly.. ethereal. 

Felix sucked in a small breath, shocked by the swirl of warmth and enchantment that swelled within him. Why was he feeling this way? He didn’t recall experiencing it before. Was it something about the aquarium? Or was it something about Marinette? Why would she make such a difference, though?

“I know you enjoy her company.”

His mother’s words hit him like a truck as they resurfaced in his mind. Enjoying her company.. Was that what this was? He didn’t think something like that would be ‘warm’ or ‘enchanting’, but he supposed he’s never fully enjoyed someone’s presence before to know. Claude and the others- even his parents on rare occasions -would annoy or pester or drain his energy. Marinette, somehow, never did that. Maybe it was because she always listened to him, or because she would offer a smile or clothes or croissants- whatever he might need without ever asking for anything in return. She was selfless and didn’t demand his attention like everyone else, and that, Felix realized, made all the difference. 

“Know any facts about this one?” Marinette said, shaking him from his thoughts.

“Hm?” Felix dragged his eyes back to the whale shark. “Oh, yes. If I remember correctly, they-”

“There you are!”

Claude’s declaration barely registered in Felix’s mind before he was suddenly tackled by the brunette. 

“We’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

Felix scowled as he wrestled Claude off of him. There’s the feeling of revulsion that he remembered so well. 

“Oh, and you found Marinette!” Allegra chimed in with a smile. 

Marinette pulled a sheepish expression. “Sorry for walking off.. I got distracted.”

Allan waved off the remark as he joined them. “Don’t sweat it. This trip was meant to be fun. As long as you had a good time, everything’s fine.”

Marinette smiled. “Thanks. I had a great time.”

“Aw~.” Claude jokingly sang. “That’s good to hear. What about you, Felix? Did you have a good time?”

Felix rolled his eyes at the babying tone, but a chuckle brought his gaze back to Marinette. She was shaking her head at Claude, her eyes bright with amusement and her smile warm.

“Actually..” He muttered. “I did.” 

~~~~~~

The icy cold of the evening brushed over Marinette as she walked outside, but she smiled anyway. The aquarium had been more amazing than she could have ever predicted, which was saying something considering she’d already expected it to be great. She got to see turtles and whale sharks and octopi and all sorts of animals! On top of that, she got to see all of those animals with Felix, who was able to tell her little facts about them! Although some of the facts were hard to swallow.. like, who calls octopus limbs ‘arms’ instead of ‘tentacles’? That’s crazy!

Marinette chuckled at the memory as she nuzzled her nose into her white scarf for warmth. Yes, some of the facts were definitely mind boggling, but there was no doubt that they were the best part of the trip. 

Well.. She thought, glancing over her shoulder. Maybe not the best part.

The rest of the group was exiting the aquarium behind her, Felix being amongst them. The best part of the day had honestly been when he said that he had a good time. With all the scowling and his getting lost, she’d been kicking herself about inviting him to the aquarium, especially when she knew that crowds weren’t his forte. But then they went on that impromptu tour together, and his hard expressions softened into small smiles and quiet laughs. 

It was the first time she saw him fully relax (in a crowded room, no less!). Just knowing that she’d been a part of that brought her more joy and fulfillment than the whale shark she’d originally wanted to see. 

Of course, now that the tour was over and the group was back together, the hard expressions had returned, and he was currently chewing out Claude for trying to hug him “in the name of warmth”. Marinette couldn’t help giggling at the sight, though. Even as Felix was clutching his coat around himself and shivering, he refused to be touched by anyone. She vaguely wondered if he was against the notion for a specific reason or simply had an aversion to touch. He didn’t seem to mind them touching in the aquarium, though, so there had to be a specific reason then, right?

“I don’t know about you guys,” Allegra spoke up, taking Marinette from her thoughts, “but I had a wonderful time today.”

“Are you kidding?” Claude asked, finally stepping away from Felix with a smile. “Today was awesome! And that mermaid show? Incredible.”

“And completely generic.” Felix added with an eye roll. “They didn’t even bother to make it look as though she were breathing underwater.”

“Well, yeah.” Allegra smirked. “They can’t get real mermaids. Those are too hard to catch.”

“That’s because they don’t exist.” Felix stated flatly. “Which is another reason why they shouldn’t hold that show. It will give people the wrong idea.”

“Hey, mermaids could exist!” Claude- because if anyone were to fight for this, it would be him -insisted. “The ocean is huge, and we haven’t seen it all yet. You have no idea whether mermaids actually exist or not.”

Felix scoffed. “Please. A creature with a human half and a fish half that also lived in the ocean would be scientifically impossible. At the very least, the human side would perish from the low temperatures and prolonged exposure to salt water. The only way it might survive is if the creature simply had a humanoid half rather than a human half, and in that case, the creature wouldn’t look anything like the actor they had inside.”

“Who said anything about science?” Claude argued. “What if it’s magic?”

Marinette had been watching the conversation with an amused smile until the topic of magic came up. She knew it wasn’t a direct mention to her alter ego, but it still caused her stiffen. Thankfully, no one noticed, since they were too busy watching Felix raise a brow.

“That’s preposterous.”

“How come?” Claude retorted. “If we can have Ladybug and Chat Noir running around with their magical weapons and abilities, why can’t we have mermaids?”

Marinette faltered in her steps, but quickly regained balance. Now that was a direct mention of her alter ego. Should she try to change the subject? It definitely felt like it was time to change the subject. 

“Chat Noir and Ladybug gain their powers from the miraculous specifically.” Felix stated. “What you are suggesting is an entire species that is born and raised with the same ‘power’ that doesn’t come from a miraculous. That’s what I’d call grasping at straws.”

“You guys know the show is supposed to be for kids, right?” Allan asked, gaining a snort from Allegra.

Claude placed his hands on his hips. “Yes, but I still think mermaids can exist somewhere.”

“No, they can’t.” Felix remarked.

“You don’t have any proof of that!”

“Neither do you!”

“Okay!” Allegra interjected, stepping between the two boys with a barely contained snicker. “You two kids need to behave or you’ll both be put in time out.”

Marinette laughed despite herself, even as Felix glared at the blonde. 

Allegra ignored the glare, turning back to the group as she asked, “So where do you guys want to eat for supper?”

“We’re eating supper together?” Marinette inquired.

“Only if you want to.” Allegra smiled. “I just figured, since it’s seven o’clock, that our parents have already eaten. So we might as well eat together, right?”

“Yeah!” Claude agreed, the mermaid discussion slipping from his mind before Marinette’s very eyes. “Let’s go to Dairy Queen. I haven’t been there in a while, and an ice cream sounds so good right now.”

“You want to get ice cream?” Felix blanched. “In this weather?”

“Sure.” Claude smiled. “Anytime’s ice cream time for me. Besides, it’s not that cold.”

“Not that cold??” Felix retorted, his eyebrows furrowing in disbelief. 

Marinette chuckled, silently agreeing with Felix. Ice cream was nice when you weren’t already covered in goosebumps due to the cold, but right now, she’d much rather a nice, steaming cup of hot chocolate.

A gasp brought her attention to Allegra, who pointed towards the sky with wide eyes.

“Guys, look!” She grinned. “It’s snowing!”

The group followed her gaze to the Eiffel Tower, which stood bright and tall in the blackness of the night. 

Sure enough, flakes of freshly fallen snow were passing the lights of the city and fluttering to the ground. It started out small, with a bit of snow here and there, but soon, a whole flurry began, quickly covering the sidewalks and roads.

“Aw, yeah!” Claude cheered, sticking out his tongue to catch some of the snowflakes. “Freshly fallen snow, man!”

Marinette giggled and stuck out her tongue as well, feeling a wave of euphoria as the snowflakes began hitting her tongue, nose, forehead and cheeks. It hasn’t snowed since last month, and she’d missed it dearly.

“C’mon, Fehix!” Allan urged, his words coming out in blabs because of his tongue sticking out. “Catch snowfakes wis us”

“Absolutely not.” Felix sharply declined. “Do you know how many pollutants are in the first wave of snow, especially with all of this wind? Sulfate, Nitrate, Formaldehyde, Mercury- you might as well drink a bucket of chemicals!”

Marinette paused, though she left her tongue sticking out. Were there really that many chemicals in snow? She’d known there were some, of course, but it couldn’t really be that dangerous, could it?

“Wow, Felix.” Allegra said with an amused smile. “I didn’t know snow could be so dangerous. Can you lighten up a little, please?”

Felix tisked. “I’m only stating facts.”

“Right, right.” Allegra replied. “You don’t have to stick out your tongue, but at least spare us on the ‘grim’ details, will you? It kind of dampers the whole ‘first snowfall of the year’ deal.”

Felix rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he tilted his head towards the sky and closed his eyes. Marinette imagined he was trying to gather some semblance of calm or composure, if his deep breaths were any indication. What really caught her attention, though, were the snowflakes. Or rather, the way the snowflakes landed on him. They were crisp and frozen, and it created specks of white all across his features as the snow nestled in Felix’s hair and eyelashes. If she had been any less disciplined, she might have been tempted to take a picture of him. (Only to use the snowflake patterns later as a design idea, of course.)

“Alright, let’s head for Dairy Queen!” Claude abruptly declared, breaking the brief silence that had settled amongst them. 

Felix’s eyes cracked open, incidentally meeting Marinette’s at the same time. She averted her gaze, a strange sense of deja vu washing over her. Here she was, staring at him again. How many times was she going to feel weird about staring- or being caught staring -until she remembered not to stare? Granted, it shouldn’t feel weird in the first place. Staring was staring, especially when it was a stare between friends. The most he should say about it is, “what are you looking at?”, and that wasn’t a problem. That was a completely logical response, actually. So why did her stupid brain think it was a problem?

“I call dibs on driving Marinette!” Claude added, wrapping his arm around Marinette’s shoulders.

“What!” Allegra nearly yelled from shock. “You can’t call dibs!”

“Okay, then I call turns!” Claude shot back. “You got to drive her on the way here, so I get to drive her on the way to Dairy Queen.”

“Guys, you know she’s a human being, right?” Allan commented.

Marinette laughed. “It’s alright. I’ll go with Claude to Dairy Queen, and Allegra can drive me home.”

“Aw, she gets to drive you home?” Claude whined.

Allegra, however, pulled a triumphant grin. “Ha-ha! I get a good night snack from Mme Sabine!”

“I’m glad you two only value Marinette for her pastries.” Felix remarked.

Marinette snorted, but Allegra and Claude immediately let out an offended gasp.

“How dare you claim such a thing!” Claude said, now wrapping both arms around Marinette’s shoulders. “Marinette is amazing and wonderful, and I would choose her over pastries a thousand times.”

Allegra hugged Marinette as well. “Yeah, we’re not that shallow. Mme Sabine’s cooking is phenomenal, but Marinette is the one we truly love.”

“I hear that.” Allan chuckled.

The beginnings of a blush curled around Marinette’s cheeks, and she hugged Allegra and Allan back. She knew that she was the one they loved, not the pastries, and that’s why she wouldn’t hesitate to give them all the pastries in the world if they asked.

Tag list:  @artbyknigit @athena452 @nickristus-dreamer @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @arsaem @abrx2002 @neakco @pawsitivelymiraculous @too0bsessedformyowngood @nathleigh @lusicing @officiallydarkgeek @all-mights-asscheeks @tbehartoo @woe-is-me0 @raeuberprinzessin @lazuli-11 @miss-chaos27 @trippingovermyfeet @sadpotatoondrugs @ladybug-182 @jaggedheart11 @marinahrasauce @i-need-blog-ideas @thewheezingbubbledragon @crazylittlemunchkin @unabashedbookworm @moonystars14 @sunflowers-and-mooncakes @2confused-2doanything  @magnificentcrapposts  @moonnette @nickristus-dreamer @vixen-uchiha @casual-darkness @luxmorningstarr @jjmjjktth​ @kaithehero​ @itsme1598

[redschillzone]

I Don’t Fucking Care (Iden Versio x Reader)

(Gif found here!) Pairing: Iden Versio x (Gender Neutral) Reader Word Count: 2.0k Words Warnings: A couple cuss words  Summary: Iden has had enough of you disobeying orders and being reckless, she finally snaps.

A/N: Sorry it’s so short, was having a very rough day. I hope it’s okay, please enjoy! Maybe a part two will follow? :)

You had done it again, and she was livid this time. You had disobeyed her direct order to retreat and insisted that you could handle the threat alone. She knew what you wanted, and it was to go down in a blaze of glory any chance you could get; You wanted to be the hero that the Republic would talk about for years to come, and it pissed Iden off every time you did it. When she first saw you, she could tell right away what kind of pilot you were. Reckless, daring, headstrong; You were someone only flying to run off of the adrenaline it gave. She was sure you had joined the Republic with good intentions but whenever she was paired with you for missions, you were always throwing yourself recklessly into the middle of the fight. It was always the same thing with you; Her giving you a command, you completely ignoring it and doing your own thing that would damn near get you killed, and you two would return to the base and argue it out in the hangar with the other pilots and mechanics standing around to watch. She would always tell herself she wouldn’t work with you any more if it meant you putting your life on the line, yet she was always dragged back in. She just assumed that maybe Leia thought she could straighten you out, but Maker was she beginning to lose help with you.

“(Y/N)!” Iden’s voice rang out through the hangar, and you couldn’t help but sigh and turn to her as she began to make her way over. You crossed your arms as you leaned back on the x-wing that was marked as yours; It’s paint chipped and covered in so much soot and ash you could make art out of it with your finger if you so wanted. You raised an eyebrow at the commander as she stopped just a few feet in front of you; She was wearing her usual orange pilot suit, the top half tied tightly around her waist and her grey long sleeved shirt fitting her form nicely. You couldn’t help but scan her over, noticing the rage that filled her eyes as she stared you down with a look that could probably kill you if looks could kill. You gave a hum before you replied.

“Yes, Commander Versio?” You spoke, remaining cool and level headed even though you were sure you were about to get your ass chewed out for your little stunt. 

“What was that little stunt you pulled out there, huh?” She hissed out, putting her hands on her hips. She was going to get an explanation from you, whether it be the truth or your little lies you liked to tell. It’s how it always seemed to go, you would either lie your ass off to try and make it sound like it was the truth or tell her the honest truth. You couldn’t help but sigh as you pushed yourself off the x-wing, standing with your back straight and your eyes locked on her as you put your arms down beside you.

“I wasn’t about to let my squadmate die out there, Versio.” You hissed out. And you were speaking the truth this time. 

The battle was a long one, and it seemed the Empire just wouldn’t run out of ships to send. You had noticed your squadmate had at least three TIEs on their tail; Their engines were already beginning to smoke and you could still recall their screams for help, that they were being chased down by a couple of TIEs. You had heard Iden’s call to retreat and that they’d formulate a better plan, but if you were to listen to her command and retreat instead of going and saving your squadmate, they would surely be dead. So, you kicked your ship into overdrive and flew after them, turning your comm off after hearing Iden yelling at you to return to base. 

You spun your ship several times to avoid debris that floated about around you; Debris that had once been ships you had seen close friends fly alongside their droids, also with several Imperial  TIE fighters which now floated by in pieces. But you also spun to avoid the TIE fighters that still flew about the area. A few did spot your ship and even flew after you, but you made quick work of them; You used the debris around you to your advantage, flying in as close as you could before spinning away or going straight into the air. You look back just in time to watch as the TIE fighter would explode, crashing into the debris as if they didn’t see the pieces of metal flying about them. A small laugh escaped your form each time; They always fell for the same trick, you noted after many attempts at it. It wasn’t long before you were behind your squadmate and took out the TIE fighters. They gave you a thanks once they spotted your x-wing flying beside them, said that they owed you their life but you just said it was nothing and returned to base with them. 

And here you currently were, having this talk with one of your commanders. You had this talk with so many other commanders on base, but eventually they learned there was little to no hope of stopping you from such reckless flying; But Iden thought differently. She thought that maybe she could get you to at least get the thought out of your head that reckless flying got you nowhere, to tell you that there were people here who cared for your safety and hated that you were ready to throw your life away at a second's notice. 

“I don’t know how you guys ran things back in the Empire, but we do things differently here. We don’t leave our squadmates behind if we can do something about it.” You spat back, watching as Iden couldn’t help the frown that appeared on her face. You were touching on a subject she really didn’t want to go back and look at, but if this was how you wanted this argument to go she’d gladly bring it up if it meant keeping you alive longer .

“We knew what we were getting into then. We watched out for our squadmates and that’s what I’m trying to do for you, (Y/N). You’re getting yourself into more and more dangerous situations with each risk you take and it’s going to put you to an early grave! I can’t be there to save you each fucking time” She said to you, taking a step closer to you as you scoffed at her words. There was no way she cared for you, she came from the Empire after all; They were trained not to form attachments, weren’t they? It always seemed that way when the Empire would retreat and leave several of their own soldiers behind. Regardless, you shook your head at her.

“I don’t want your sympathy, Versio. I’m here to help win this war, and if I die trying to do what is right then so be it. Nobody here cares for me, so why stick around, huh?” You snapped back, watching as her hands turned to fists. She was beginning to shake a bit. She hated that this is what you were doing to yourself; She had read your file, Leia had given it to her. That thought she had of you having good intentions was still there as she read through it alone one night in her room. You came from a decent family from Naboo, your father having been a pilot for the Rebels and your mother worked at a cantina just nearby. Sadly your father was killed in the line of duty, leaving your mother to raise you by herself. Your mother had succumbed to drinking to forget your father, and it began to take over her life. It didn’t take her long before she crashed and burned, going and joining your father in the afterlife and left you in the hands of your aunt and uncle. They lived on Naboo as well, but supported the Empire more than the Republic. You hated every minute of it and once you were of age you joined the Rebels and took over your father's place as pilot, and here you were. Trying to live out what was left of his dream of stopping this war so you could live a peaceful life, whether you were to live that peaceful life by yourself or with someone by your side was up to your stubborn self. But as you had just said, nobody cared for you, so what did it matter. Right?

All Iden could do was stare at you with wide eyes; You were ready to die here and now and it shook her to her core. She loved you, she was falling for you and she hated it because you were so stubborn, but at times you had a caring spirit. She would occasionally see how you would help out the newer pilots by teaching them where everything was on their x-wing, how you would often share your food with some of the others when away on recon missions. She loved seeing that side of you, but this side? This reckless, adrenaline junkie side of you? It hurt her, and it hurt her bad. You didn’t care what happened to yourself during those missions and if that was the case how would you care for someone you actually loved? Would you treat her like you did your fellow pilots and soldiers, or would you treat her how you treated yourself? She was beginning to have enough of it, and her eyes began to well up with tears before she snapped at you.

“Do you ever think that maybe we don’t want you to die? That maybe we actually want you around?” She snapped, stepping towards you until your back was pinned against the x-wing. You stared into her brown eyes, watching as they glazed over with tears. 

“Do you ever think that maybe, just maybe, that there’s someone out there who actually loves you? Who actually cares for your well being and safety? Who panics each time you go out there and has to almost see you fucking die?!” She snaps at you once more, tears running down her face in streaks. If this was how you wanted to be, then that was fine with her. She’d at least get everything off her chest.

“I fucking love you, (Y/N). I love you so damn much but it seems like you’re too damn stubborn to notice how much I love you. So hyped up on adrenaline to notice that when I call for you to come back to base, to step away from the fight that I’m doing so out of my own being. Not as your Commander, but as a friend and a potential lover.” She hissed out, to which your eyes widened once more. Iden loved you? How long had she loved you, and how long was it going to take you to realize that? You swore to yourself you wouldn’t let anyone get close, afraid of losing them like you had your parents. You were afraid if someone else got close to you, they would be ripped away from you just as quickly. 

You clearly missed the signs now that you thought about it; Her arguments were her telling you to knock it off, that she was the one waiting for you to come back from those missions and your crazy suicide runs. She was the one who would wait well into the night to make sure you arrived back at the base in one piece and if you were injured she would be there to patch you up and tell you off, telling you to be more careful and to knock off the crazy stunts. You just swallowed hard, watching as she just shook her head at you and began to back away.

“I was wrong to fall in love with you, (Y/N)... You clearly have given up on yourself.” She hissed, turning and began to storm off, wiping her eyes as she did. You watched as her shaking form left the hangar, leaving you alone with just your thoughts and a broken heart.

[meganshinsou-tm]

Sugarcoated. (m)

↳ chapter eleven: confession fountain

❧ genre: pro-hero hitoshi, adoptive siblings, happy ending

❧ chapter warnings: none

[multi-chap masterlist] [previous chapter - next chapter]

Hitoshi grunted as he barely caught the closing front door with his foot, he had Eri's bags thrown over his shoulder, her backpack hanging from his elbow and multiple plushies and dolls in his arms. You and his little sister had already taken off into the house without a single glance in his direction with only a few grocery bags. 

Once inside the house Hitoshi released the flood of toys from his arms onto the floor and let out an exasperated breath as he looked at you and her putting up the groceries.

"Don't worry guys, I got everything else!"

You turned and looked at him, a pink sparkly duffel bag across his back with a pink strap across his chest, a matching purple sparkly bag over his shoulder and a cat backpack around his opposite arm. There were subtle hints of glitter stuck to his shirt from some of the dolls he carried and it was adorable actually. Hitoshi was the epitome of the best big brother. 

You gave him an apologetic smile and he shook his head with a chuckle.

"Thank you Sou-Sou," Eri chimed as she handed you some items that needed to be put up in a cabinet she couldn't reach.

Eri ran over to her brother and hugged his leg before she made her way to the pile of dolls on the floor. You turned to finish putting up the rest of the food items and felt a hand on your lower back. Turning to look, Hitoshi stood next to you and placed a kissed to your cheek before telling you he was going to put up all of Eri's things. Nodding, you let him know you'd be there to help shortly. As he walked off he ruffled your hair making you giggle.

After your little moment at the school, the rest of the day had been really great. All three of you stopped for ice cream, even though it was freezing outside that's what Eri wanted. You learned that Hitoshi's favorite was Rocky Road and Eri's was Neapolitan simply because she couldn't choose between chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. 

Next stop was Aizawa's house to get all her things, along with a legit folder of calendars for the next three months that had all her lessons, school functions and meetings highlighted and scheduled. After that you went to the car dealership and ended up picking out a small crossover type vehicle that would make it easier to haul Eri and all her things but at the same time small enough for you to be able to get in and out of yourself. 

Finally you all met at the grocery store and gathered just a few snacks and essentials for the weekend, Hitoshi planned on being lazy and just ordering out until Sunday.

You sighed and wiped your hands when finished with the groceries. With a smile you strolled over to Eri and crouched down next to her. She was playing with a doll, brushing out its synthetic hair with her small fingers. Your eyes scanned the plushies she had and you gasped.

"Eri, are these BT21 plushies?"

"Yeah, daddy got them for me for Christmas last year! Chimmy is my favorite, because I love Jimin." She smiled holding up a small yellow puppy one, "Which one is your favorite?"

You picked up the alpaca and koala ones smiling, "I like RJ and Koya, because Jin and Joonie are my favorites."

Eri giggled and you placed them back down next to her and pat her head, "Me and Toshi will be in your room putting up your things, if you need something just come and get us."

The little girl nodded and you rose to your feet and headed down the hall to her bedroom. Instead of it being pink like at Shouta's house, her room here was dark grey, one wall had a pattern of gold stars and crescent moons. Her furniture was white and pastel pink. It was all adorable and you thought it was so sweet that Hitoshi went so far just for his little sister to have her own room. Looking around you spotted Hitoshi who was pulling clothes from one of her bags when he looked up to see you and smiled.

"Wanna give me a hand?" He asked.

You nodded and walked over to him, grabbing a few items yourself and placing them in the dresser drawers. The two of you silently put all of the tiny clothes up folded neatly and hung up in her closet. You organized all her shoes and brought her bag of hair accessories to the bathroom. 

For a little girl she had a lot of stuff, even if it was for a few months. You and Eri shared a bathroom that connected to hers and your bedrooms. It was no problem though, you'd be the one to help her bath or do her hair in the mornings and at least it wasn't a munchkin sized bathroom and had a decently sized tub so that's all you cared about.

Walking back into her bedroom Hitoshi was leaned against her dresser and going through the handy dandy folder that Aizawa had left behind. You walked over and placed yourself next to him looking it over. There were different days when Eri would need to brings drinks or snacks for her class, monthly parent teacher meetings and a small class Halloween party coming up.

"Aww, that means we get to help her pick out a Halloween costume," you cheered and pointed at the date.

"Yeah, we'll need costumes too for UA's Culture Festival this year."

You eyeballed the purple hero and knit your brows together. "Pardon?"

"Well I start my teaching job in about 3 weeks, which means I'll have to help with the schools yearly festival. This year they planned to do it around Halloween, to make for more opportunities for booths and activities. One requirement is that all employees and students dress up, the public is also encouraged to dress up so it's like a huge Halloween shindig. You and Eri will be attending and if I have to dress up, so do you!"

"As much as I love Halloween and the chance to do such a thing, I don't recall you being my daddy." You clapped back crossing your arms and looking away.

Hitoshi grinned smugly as he looked through the papers. "Not yet at least."

Your head snapped back to look at him and you threw a punch to his side, it caught him off guard making him choke on air but laugh at the same time.

"You fucking wish Hitoshi!" You replied, rolling your eyes and smiling at him as you started to head out of the room.

Hitoshi grinned and threw the folder onto the dresser behind him in exchanged of grabbing you by the waist quickly making you grunt, "Get back over here cutie, it was a joke," he chuckled pulling your back to his chest as he wrapped his arms around your waist and lightly nuzzled his face in the crook of your neck.

His soft purple locks tickled the side of your face making you giggle. You had no intention of trying to escape from his hold and he knew that. His lips placed soft kisses to the side of your neck, making your skin tingle all over as you tried to breathe normally.

"I have plenty of kinks sweetness, but that isn't one of them. I much rather you say my name above anything else," he breathed on your sensitive skin.

Biting your lip, you craned your neck so you could look at Hitoshi's face from the side, his violet iris's gleaming and looking back into yours as he placed a kiss on your clothed shoulder before raising his head and closing the distance between your faces. 

Your noses brushed together and he ran the tip of his down your cheek where he trailed kisses from it and to the corner of your mouth like before. His lips went to brush against yours until he felt two fingers preventing him from doing so. Hitoshi pulled back, your fingers still placed to his lips helping him gain more distance.

"I'm sorry Toshi, not till that date." You giggled and removed yourself from his loosened grip, trying to leave the room once again.

His hand caught your wrist but he didn't pull you back. You did stop however and look back at him, he didn't look sad or aggravated but he did look like he was about to just combust on the spot. Hitoshi sighed and ran his other hand through his hair. 

"Tomorrow then!"

"Tomorrow? Hitoshi, we just got Eri."

"And we'll have her for three months. We'll spend time with her tonight and I'll get her a baby sitter for tomorrow night. I can't wait any longer dammit, I need that kiss or I'll – I'll fucking die!"

You laughed and walked back over, placing yourself before him. He placed a hand on your hip as you held the other. "I think you're being a little over-dramatic Toshi."

"I don't think I am, I've been wanting you since the first day I saw you in that stupid café. I've grown to learn so much more about you in the past week than I have in the past few months that I've known you and it's only making it that much harder for me. And with these past events, I just want to hold you and love on you as I please but I want you to let me. If you say I can't kiss your lips until that date then I won't but for the sake of my sanity, please let me take you out tomorrow and you can set the pace!"

Hitoshi was literally desperate and at your beck and call, it was somewhat shocking. He was usually very cynical and cocky, always down to tease and keep it up to see who wins but now, he was losing and bad, and admitting it! 

He was a literal fountain of confessions today and it was really adorable. Of course you reciprocated his feelings, you were falling hard for this cabbage patch hero whose done nothing but save your life in more ways than one. How could you not fall for him, he was gorgeous, sweet as could be but also kept you on your toes. Hitoshi was letting you live under his roof for free, paying you to watch his sister, got you a car, and patched you up when you were defeated, a date and a kiss was the least you could give him.

Humming, you stood on the tips of your toes and placed a kiss to his cheek and then the corner of his mouth, making him smile.

"Please let that be a yes," he begged with that cute face and those big purple puppy dog eyes.

You giggled and tousled his hair, "It's a yes Toshi!" 

With that you turned away, walking towards the door and letting his hand slowly drift from your grip until it fell out completely. Over your shoulder you smiled to him, "Play your cards right on that date and maybe I'll do more than just say your name."

Hitoshi looked at you with a confused expression as you left the bedroom.

"Oh? .... oh!"

"Hey Eri, you wanna go spend the night with Deku and Shouto tomorrow? You can help them take care of the new baby!"

Eri nodded eagerly to her brother as noodles hung from her mouth. You smiled and looked at Hitoshi who plopped down on the couch next to you with his own food. 

Eri went back to watching the movie playing on the TV and you nudged Hitoshi with your elbow playfully. As you ate your pork cutlet bowl you eyed the assortment of sushi and nigiri he had.

"Want one?" He asked picking a piece up with his chopsticks and offering it.

"Uh – no I'll pass, that looks too fishy for me," you replied with a disgusted look.

"Pussy ..." He mumbled and ate the piece himself.

You almost choked on the piece of pork you were munching on, making Hitoshi chuckle and act as if nothing happened. Your eyes narrowed and you wiped your mouth glaring at him. "The fuck did you just call me you troll?"

"I didn't stutter sweetheart." He retorted with a smirk

"That word is gross and there's a kid right here, watch your mouth Hitoshi."

"Just try one, you can down my drink if it's that bad."

Your lips curled up in disgust as you looked at the colorful pieces of fish and rolls, you preferred shrimp and crab most of your life and weren't yet brave enough to branch out into the ocean waters of fish! But, he was calling you out and you could never back away from a challenge, especially not with the smug grin he was giving you. With a sigh you nodded and swallowed harshly.

"Which one doesn't have an overpowering fish taste?"

Hitoshi looked around his box and picked up a piece of nigiri and held it to your lips, you went to question him but he cut you off. "Just eat it!"

You let out a breath through your nose and closed your eyes as you parted your lips. Hitoshi couldn't help but feel just a tad bit turned on by your sudden obedience, so he decided to push it further. 

"Now, stick your tongue out a little bit."

On command your mouth opened a little wider and your tongue hung delicately from your mouth. The hero had to take a second and breathe before all the blood could start rushing to his crotch. 

You peeked open one eye and rolled it. "Ont eah urv," you tried to speak with your mouth still open.

"What?" The hero chuckled.

You put your tongue back in your mouth and licked your lips. "I said don't be a perv! Now are you going to feed me or not?"

"Oh, I'll feed you alright!" He mumbled and you resumed your position, before you could change your mind he gently placed the nigiri on your tongue.

The muscle retracted back into your mouth and quickly you chewed the food with your eyes screwed shut, but your chewing gradually slowed as you started to take time to savor the taste. It was somewhat sweet and not fishy at all. Your eyes opened and Hitoshi tilted his head, you nodded and gave him a "mmm".

You smiled and gave Hitoshi a quick peck on the cheek while swiping another piece as he returned the kiss. You both looked forward to watch the movie playing only to see Eri staring back at you with a big grin. You blushed violently and Hitoshi chunked a small pillow in her face making her giggle.

"It's not nice to stare at people weirdo!"

"Are you boyfriend and girlfriend Sou-Sou?" She asked with a smile.

He smiled as well and started to eat his food a little faster, leaving you to answer the little girl. You felt your throat start to dry and you downed Hitoshi's drink to try and lubricate it. Before you could finish it off he yanked it from you and glared. 

You glared back. 

He was her brother, he should be telling her the answers, plus you didn't know what you were. At times you did act like a couple and you were well on your way to being one but without that kiss it just didn't feel right yet.

"Uh – not yet?" You finally replied looking at Hitoshi like you were asking his opinion on it.

He smiled and swallowed his food, purple eyes looking at his sister. "I have to take her on a date first, show her why she should let me be her boyfriend. After that the choice is hers to make."

Eri nodded as if she completely understood and quickly jumped up and smiled and pointed to you. "Then take her on a date! Don't you want her to be your girlfriend?"

"Of course I do, I'd want nothing more than that Eri. And don't tell me what to do, that's why your little butt is going to Deku's tomorrow. So I can have her to myself without you distracting her with your dumb cuteness."

You looked at Hitoshi who was sticking his tongue out at Eri and she was doing the same. After he looked at you and shrugged his shoulders, as if he didn't even just confess his true feelings but a glimmer of a smirk appeared on his lips.

The butterflies in your stomach were going wild and your heart wanted to jump out and just hug Hitoshi, you wanted to just jump and hug Hitoshi. The past week had definitely had its traumatic downs but the best thing out of it all was this purple haired hero. That café may have been the worst thing that you could have ever been a part of but it was the reason you and Hitoshi even met in the first place and to make things better he saved you from it.

There was a tugging on your shirt sleeve making you break eye contact with the purple hues you were so in love with, only to look at another set of eyes that you loved. Eri stood next to you on the couch and placed her small hand on your arm and asked you to lean down so she could whisper in your ear. You complied with a smile and let her cup her hand around your canal.

"He may look like he doesn't brush his hair but he does. He also makes really good ramen and he takes pretty pictures. I hope he takes you somewhere fun and you say yes to him because I want you around for a long time."

"I'm babysitting a literal angel," you screamed internally as you pulled away from Eri with a big smile and nodded. You ruffled her hair and pinched her cheek coaxing a sweet giggle out. "I want that to cutie! Now, finish your food and then we can all play hide and seek, me and you against Toshi!"

Eri smiled and went back to her food, you too went back to finishing your food and looked at the man next to you who was squinting as he chewed a piece of sushi.

"What did she say to you?" He demanded, not even a hint of question.

"She said you should take me to Disney Land tomorrow!"

"Ooh, I'm gonna date you so hard! Just watch!"

You walked out of the bathroom, eyes wondering for Hitoshi. After eating you gave Eri a bath and played hide and seek together as promised but it didn't last long, currently Eri was passed out in her hiding spot in the bathroom cabinet, you were trying to seek out Hitoshi to let him see how cute it was. Plus, it was taking him an oddly long time to find the two of you, his house was a decent size but it wasn't massive, he should've found you two in no time.

"Hitosh – ahh!"

Out of nowhere another body collided with yours, taking you to the floor and making your back slam into the wood. You groaned out in over-dramatic pain, chewing on the tip of your tongue as you tried to arch your back from a massive amount of weight that was holding you down.

"Yah, what the fuck Toshi, why do you weigh so much!"

The sound of his own groans in agony filled your ears, until they turned quiet and he started to hum with delight. You felt him slightly get off of you, letting you take a better breath and finally arch your back to stretch the pain out. As you did so you felt something on your chest and looked down to see a head of purple hair moving side to side as Hitoshi rubbed his cheek against your chest. You laughed and ran your hand through the tuft of hair and tugged on it trying to push him off.

"No, no, no, stay still. My head hurts from the fall, I could have a concussion!" He nuzzled even more and wrapped his arms underneath you.

You let your head fall back to the floor, rolling your eyes so hard they were bound to get stuck. "You're so full of shit Hitoshi! I'm the one hurt, my back is probably out of commission now because you don't know how to watch where you're going!"

"Mmhm, okay," was all he replied with enjoying his situation.

You took in a deep breath and let it out, your hands working their way up and into the hero's hair where they started to play and run through the soft tresses. Hitoshi closed his eyes as your fingers grazed and massaged his scalp and he listened to your breathing and heartbeat, if he let this go on long enough he'd pass out for sure.

"Well, I guess if there's a possibility of a concussion then maybe we shouldn't go on that date tomorrow."

"Uh - no! I'm taking you to Disney Land and I'm getting that kiss! I just got off the phone with Deku and they're taking the kid tomorrow. No take backsies!" His head remained laying on your chest but he looked up.

You giggled, making your breasts move with the vibrations resonating through your chest. Hitoshi was in heaven at the moment and he realized you weren't wearing a bra, but he didn't dare make any smart remark knowing you'd push him off in no time if he did. 

You sat up on your elbows and looked down at him.

"Is that what's been taking you so long? Eri passed out in her hiding spot!"

"Aww, yeah I'm sorry. I just wanted to make sure it was okay with them as soon as possible and not last minute. I guess we should get up and get her to bed then. I'll be going to drop her off in the morning."

Hitoshi sighed and nuzzled one last time into your warm and soft chest before he hesitantly removed himself, now on his hands and knees above you. Your (e/c) eyes looked up at him and you tilted your head with a smile. The both of you had taken your own showers as well before starting your game with Eri and you were wearing a black hoodie with grey sweatpants. The hoodie was riding up on your stomach, revealing your waistline. Hitoshi's eyes wondered the line of smooth and flawless (s/c) skin. 

You looked to see where he was looking and smiled. Unconsciously he lifted a hand and ran a finger across your skin. You flinched at how cold his finger was against your burning warm skin making him look up with wide eyes and retract.

"I'm sorry I just –"

"Didn't I tell you I'd let you know if I was uncomfortable. Your finger was just cold Toshi."

He nodded and replaced his finger on your waist, tracing the band of your sweats all the way across. Your right thigh started to shake, like how a dog's leg does when they're being scratched in the right spot and a mix between an inhuman noise fell from your lips. Hitoshi smiled and repeated his torture, making the tip of his finger lightly hover and ghost across your skin.

"Are you ticklish here? Or is it something else?" He teased looking at you from under his long lashes.

"I honestly don't – ah, yup it tickles. Okay, stop!"

Hitoshi laughed and did as told, hovered over you again and placed a kiss to your forehead. The hero rocked back and stood to his feet, leaning over he held out a hand and you took it as he slowly helped you stand. You winced and rubbed your back, it wasn't extremely painful but it hurt like hell.

"I'm sorry about that. After we put Eri to bed, I'll make it up to you. I promise! Come on."

Hitoshi slung an arm around your shoulder and you wrapped an arm around his waist as you walked together to the bathroom. You showed Hitoshi where Eri was in the cabinet and he quietly laughed. She slept peacefully balled up on top of towels like a cat. 

Her brother crouched down and gently scooped her into his arms where she cradled into him. You both walked out and to her room where you pulled back her covers and he laid her down. You placed the covers back and tucked her in tightly as she burrowed in her pillow. Shinsou brushed her hair back and placed a kiss to her forehead and you placed one in the same spot. He took your hand and walked you out of the room, slowly turning off the lights and closing the door.

Walking into the kitchen you both turned off lights and the TV, the only light left was the stove-top light. Hitoshi fixed himself a small glass of water and you walked over to the counter and leaned on it. After finishing his glass he sat it down and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Do you uh – want to sleep with me tonight ..."

You blinked at him in the dim light and shrugged your shoulders. You had already slept together on the couch two nights ago and even if it was the couch it was the best sleep you got, the night before you slept alone in the other bedroom that was now yours and you tossed and turned all night. You knew Hitoshi didn't have any sinful plans in mind, he looked legit tired and his tone when asking was kind of nervous but also hopeful.

"As long as it's not on the couch again and you rub my back until I fall asleep. You do owe me after all."

A smile grew on Hitoshi's face and he nodded in agreement. Placing his glass in the sink he walked over to you and took your hand again walking you to his bedroom. 

You were excited to see it, so far it was the only room of the house you hadn't seen. All the bedrooms were on the same side, his was on the very end of the hall around a corner, somewhat distancing it from the others. 

He opened the door to it and flicked on the light. Your eyes widened at the minimal yet cozy looking room before you. It was painted a dark grey like Eri's, there was a massive window with dark black curtains pulled shut and different plants in planters placed before it. He had a rolling clothes rack on one side that most of his dressier work clothes hung from, on one wall was a tall and wide dresser with multiple drawers and books lining the top of it. The wall his bed was on was littered with different sized canvases of pictures he had taken himself of landscapes, city spots and some of wildlife. They were all in black and white keeping a dark and calm theme to the room. His bed though was your favorite. It was massive and had the most comfortable and messy looking set of blankets and fluffy pillows. There was a bench at the end of it with books, magazines and a notebook scattered out.

You walked over to pick up the notebook and asked what it was, he quickly snatched it from you and held it above your head looking down at you with a smile. 

"It's late and your back hurts. You can see it tomorrow."

You narrowed your eyes but shrugged your shoulders and agreed. Pushing past him you walked over to one side of the bed and went to pull your pants down, suddenly halting when remembering you weren’t alone. Glancing up, you nervously chuckled when you caught Hitoshi watching you as he placed the notebook back where you found it.

"Uh – we're adults right? You won't be immature?" You asked sheepishly.

"Last time I checked." He replied with a laugh.

Hitoshi smiled and walked to turn off his bedroom light leaving only his bedside lamp on to illuminate the room. He made his way to the opposite side of the bed while removing his shirt, tossing it on the bench. 

You quirked a brow and let your eyes wonder his bare chest that you had never seen before. You weren't sure what to expect, you knew he was tall and he wasn't exactly super slim or super buff but you could never really imagine what he looked like under his clothes. 

With no shirt on now you could see Hitoshi's defined pecs and flat toned stomach, his abdominal's weren't overly ripped but lightly defined and the cut line of his hips were to die for. Your eyes also marveled at the then trail of purple hair you saw before that wrapped around his navel and trailed down into his sweats.

"Now don't throw a fit when I stare at you!" He chuckled, instantly breaking your thoughts.

You let out a 'oh' as you tried to gather yourself after realizing how long you must've been staring. You swallowed nervously and removed your hoodie first to reveal a tank top on underneath it. After removing the warm hoodie you shivered as cool air hit your bare shoulders and arms. Your fingers gripped the waist of your sweats and you pulled them down and stepped out of them, revealing the plain black cheeky underwear you wore. The outfit you wore to work didn't leave much to the imagination as it always revealed your cleavage and collarbone and a just a smidge of your thighs. 

However though, Hitoshi was still stunned, he thought that outfit was his favorite on you but seeing you in just a plan tank and underwear was making his heart melt. You looked comfortable and at peace, not nervous and constantly pulling at the hems to cover your skin. Beautiful was all he could think.

"Do you really sleep in that, even though it's freezing outside or are you just doing this to further torture me?" Hitoshi asked as he pulled back the covers and crawled into bed.

You smiled and shook your head, doing the same. "No, I sleep in this no matter what the weather is. I have to be cold to fall asleep, I like to cuddle up in loads of blankets and I hate wearing constricting clothes to sleep in, I feel like I'll suffocate. I just hate wearing pants period, I'll miss that about living alone."

The two of you laid down on your sides facing each other and you shivered again from the cold air, Hitoshi softly smiled and held up his arm and the blanket inviting you to get closer. You instantly scooted over to him and wrapped your arm and leg around his body, flushing with his extremely warm chest and pressing your cheek to it. 

His skin was hard yet smooth and comforting and his patchouli and pepper scent was much stronger now as you breathed it in and smiled. Hitoshi wrapped his arm around you and started to softly rub your back as his arm under your head wrapped around so he could play with your hair. He pressed a kiss to the top of your head then rest his chin on it. You cradled into him perfectly as if you were fitting pieces of a puzzle.

"Is that all you'll miss about living alone?" He asked. 

His tone sounded as if he were scared of your answer, like you'd miss it altogether and not be able to enjoy your time living with him.

Smiling, you placed a kiss to his chest and nuzzled your face and wrapped around him tighter. The feeling of his gentle and loving hands rubbing your back and head and the warmth of him was quickly causing you to doze off.

"Mhm. .. I love ...living with you ... Toshi."

Shinsou smiled as you barely got your words out before falling into the first stage of your deep sleep. He leaned, stretching his long arm out to turn off the lamp, making you groan as he shifted his body a bit. Once it was off he quickly returned to holding you, apologizing for the brief loss of contact with a kiss to your forehead. Hitoshi was more than content at the moment, having you sleeping in his arms and loving on you. If he could help it, you'd more than likely never step foot in your bedroom unless it was to get clothes because he was determined to have you like this every night.

"I love living with you too halfling, so please stay as long as you need."

With one last kiss to your hair, the hero pulled the covers more over the two of you and tucked them under your bodies and held you closer as he buried his face in your hair and continued to rub your back until he fell asleep with you.

[thesalemsaga]

𝟰 — 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹

—   𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙢 𝙨𝙖𝙜𝙖.

𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩 : 6.5k words

𝙨 : the team is officially assembled, but this is far from the end of it, it’s only the beginning. it seems like things were going according to plan, they were even tempted to set off. but a sudden explosion in the training arena ruined everything.

“ you should’ve risked breaking iron thorn than your arm. ”

but it was all worth it in the end.

seren was ecstatic at that moment, that much was obvious from the way her eyes creased and cheeks bloomed with a pink hue almost matching her hair. she was overjoyed, because it had all gone according to plan.

her father’s reaction wasn’t one she was expecting, though. the way he smiled when she told him caught the girl off guard, a girl who was used to seeing a stone cold man mostly nod through trials and tribulations and relied mostly on a poker face rather than smiling or laughing. getting that sort of reaction out of him made the girl feel somewhat proud of herself.

the only issue he disapproved of was her minor sacrifice injured in the midst of the dueling lesson. he heard of her burnt forearms and immediately requested for her to return to her dorm where the nurse would visit her. according to the kind woman, she would heal eventually. but the scars would remain, possibly as a reminder of her foolishness.

“ i know ”, seren countered.

they were sat together for dinner. he had approached her at the end of the school day to ask her about her injuries and she eventually revealed that she had accomplished her goal. at that moment, he proposed they ate together before going to bed. it was awkward, her father was a cold man and he hardly had time for these sorts of things, often hiding out in his office till ungodly hours. sitting across from him at a dinner table was a foreign sight for his daughter.

their meal had been a minor stew served with a few slices of bread, though seren found her appetite to be particularly short that evening. whether it was caused by her injury or the fact that she now had a full functioning team was unknown, but she felt no hunger peering down at her food. what didn’t help was the way her father was peering at her.

“ iron thorn can be replaced. it can be fixed without much of an issue. had you shattered your arms, i wouldn’t have been able to pay to get them fixed ”, he stated, taking a bitter sip of his wine. a shiraz, no less. “ you begged lockhart to keep evangelos out of trouble. ”

the girl hated being reminded of what happened. dwelling on it made her recall the flicker of guilt that breached through his usually cold and bleak face, and it just made her feel worse. she had been foolish with her actions and it might have cost someone their reputation or their sense of self-respect. no good feeling comes from hurting someone unintentionally, and when the expression on his face settled for just a few seconds, seren felt worse.

the girl gulped, “ it’s not his fault, it was mine. he was countering when he knew he was going to get thrown down. it was his final move, and had it been another enemy, it would have been fatal. maybe he thought he was in a real fight, that is what we’ve been trained to do ever since we’ve started in this school. ”

“ you’re seriously making excuses for the boy, seren? ”.

“ y-yes! well, i’m justifying. he didn’t do it intentionally, i know that. had it been intentional, i would have most likely be in the hospital ”, her tone went grave, but she continued speaking her mind. “ it was a duel, that was what lockhart said. he wasn’t playing dirty and he didn’t do it on purpose. evangelos is innocent, it’s most likely my fault for not being fast enough to jump away. or i should have sacrifice iron thorn but . . . ”.

she was attached to the weapon.

in actuality, it was the only relic she had left from her mother. celine armsend had spent years of her life making weapons and by the time she married arthur, she had made a reservoir of blades that would never be used. upon realizing she had married into a noble and traditional family with customs relating to war, celine picked the best blade and gave it to seren. it was the only true gift she received from her mother. after that, it was just post-cards on birthdays and jewelry on christmas.

it was a valuable gift. it had been by seren’s side longer than her mother ever had and it had aided her in many disputes, many duels, and it was likely she was going to bring the rapier with her on the journey when they choose to leave. she couldn’t leave with a broken blade.

arthur held the brim of the glass between his lips and hummed, returning the glass to the dinner table. “ well, the scar will stay. but at least you didn’t fracture anything ”, the girl nodded at his words and presented him a comforting smile, it was clear she wanted to change the subject. “ in other news, congratulations. you have your final five. ”

it was a victory the girl was going to take long to come down from. an accomplishment like this wasn’t easy, and it was unlikely she was going to grasp the opportunity to celebrate it when tides were changing. they needed to make a move soon. 

“ thank you ”, she said. her attention was brought to the shorter locks of hair that had been reaped off. you wouldn’t really be able to tell until you got a better look but it made her feel uncomfortable. it was going to serve as a reminder until it grew back, which might take a while. seren told herself many times not to rake her hand through her hair so much. “ i hope you’ll let us off soon. the sooner we leave, the better. ”

her father nodded, “ of course. but i need to ensure that you’ll make a safe route to salem’s whereabouts. i haven’t spoken to any of the military generals yet, i fear they might refuse even with my influence in the situation. ” the girl gave her father a questioning look. “ what? ”.

“ n-nothing ”, seren replied. and then tilted her head. “ it’s just odd to see you being so willing to help me out of this. don’t get me wrong, it’s mostly because you don’t really let me do stuff. ”

he knew that very well, so seren didn’t think to put it down lightly. he knew that he didn’t keep his promises, he knew that he tended to be rather cold and kept the girl inside on most occasions. what made her curious was whether he ever did it for a reason, and if so, if he ever felt guilty for it.

arthur shrugged softly, “ it’d be wrong to refuse this from you. you’ve finally found your purpose and your willingness to complete it is admirable. you also found some decent people to accompany you and even injured yourself for the sake of it. it would be rude of me to refuse something you worked hard for. ”

a warmth flooded within her suddenly. arthur, a difficult man, had his moments of true love and protection for his daughter. you’d think she would grow to hate him after a number of years of being sheltered and constantly held back from things. she never did. the thought never crossed her mind, to hate her father when he had never done anything to hurt her, only protect her. seren admired the man for handling things so well after all that happened.

when celine decided to take herself out of the armsend family and surround herself with nature and learning, it left arthur alone and looking like a terrible husband. it brought shame upon his family name, and he was always being invigilated, people constantly waiting for him to make a wrong move. and after his older daughter married and the youngest passed away, he was left in shambles trying to recover his reputation as not only a principal, but as a member of society.

and he had done well. he had managed to clean a tarnished name and managed to protect his only heir without the help of his wife or any other armsend relative. now, to answer your question, could seren hate her own father? no.

“ thanks, dad. ”

arthur sighed after finishing his glass of wine, stood and walked over to his daughter. upon pressing a kiss to her forehead, he smiled again that evening. was it due to the beverage he’d been drinking? regardless, it had seren smiling from ear to ear. “ no worries, kiddo ”, he mumbled, spotting the shorter locks of her hair. “ when are you going to dye your hair back to your normal color? ”.

her cheeks burned, “ if i dye it back, the shorter hairs are gonna be more obvious. it’s better with pink for the time being. ”

“ evangelos did this? ”.

“ dad, give it a rest! ”.

it had to have been the fifth time that month where her father has requested this from her. unbeknownst to him, she dyed to save him from immediately heartache. she was a replica of her mother, and if she were to remain with her natural color, she would catch the sadness in arthur’s eyes and wouldn’t be able to handle it.

he shrugged and lifted his hands up in a surrendering manner, “ i’m just worried. you can’t blame me. ” grazing his fingers against the bow on her hair, arthur sighed and patted her shoulders. “ go to bed, kiddo. i’ll have you and the others inside a classroom tomorrow so we can discuss your journey. ”

after that, he sent himself straight to bed. whenever he drank, which was rare, he happened to stumble into a state of sorrow. especially when he spoke about topics relating to his wife and his family. celine armsend was still very much alive, hidden within the wild, hunting and learning and risking her life almost every single day and it seemed unlikely that she would return to the aristocracy she’d been forced into when marrying arthur. she was born and raised in the wild, it was unlikely she would have stayed within the walls for long.

though she was glad to see him head to bed and not up to his office, where he would most likely spend the rest of the night in deep feelings and thoughts and they were rather harmful. arthur managed to be cold, but it didn’t mean he had a weakness. and that was his wife.

the girl spent a few moments at the dining room, offering to help the maid bring everything bad to the kitchen but was instead sent to her room. the maids didn’t like seeing her up late, and she loved to pieces, having never refused the advice they give her.

by the time she got to her bed, it was nearly midnight, an ungodly hour to be up both as a teenager and as a student that used up all of her force in the day. she had to be rested up, yet she found that sleeping did not come as naturally as it did prior to all these changes in her life.

seren was day-dreaming of those grassy plains and shattered pillars and abandoned castles and chapels, she wanted to see the world with her own eyes and return with tales to feed the thousands. story-telling had never been an interest, often finding that she couldn’t raise her voice high enough with sufficient interest to be deemed a good story-teller. which was why she had bought a notebook already, to make notes, to draw. she was tempted on borrowing her father’s camera to take some pictures, yet the worry of being robbed or losing it deemed the idea unfit for their journey.

as she lay in bed, seren couldn’t help but wonder of the journey ahead. yet, she was not prepared for the turbulent obstacle she would have to face beforehand.

time skip . . .

the school fell silent by midnight. the library had closed down, locked by the temperamental librarian. the cafeteria was empty, lounge rooms rid of any light. the only sounds that came were the whistles of the janitors who had just finished their night shift and were briskly preparing to take a yggdrasil line train back down to the city, returning to their normal lives.

seren was fast asleep. never had she looked quite so peaceful despite the day that she had. her braided locks fell against her pearly white pillows and her blanket fell over her figure, though it would be on the ground by the time she woke up. she would not have time to dream and kick her sheets to the floor as she usually does, however. because dead at night, when the city downstairs seemed like it was always going to bed, and the only sound in the background was that of the wind, something disrupted her sleep.

it started as a bang. one which awoke her with a start, sitting up from her previous position, groggy and tired in every sense of the world. she could feel her heart skipping in her chest. she wasn’t expecting such noises late at night, and her father was one to be asleep by now.

when the second bang came, it was louder. it felt like the ceiling and floors shook. and it wasn’t until she peered at her chandelier hanging in the center of her room that she noticed that the room was shaking. trembling, everything began to tremble. the jar of water began to swing until it tipped over the edge of her desk and fell into the carpet.

was the school collapsing? seren gave a startled yelp when a sound she was familiar with erupted. similar to the explosion that came from evangelos’s gauntlets, the shots he fired when he cut through her hair. it wasn’t the exact same sound, but it was still an explosion. an unnecessary one, one which should not have happened.

there was no emergency drill scheduled for that week, not that she knew of.

covering her ears, the girl braced for another explosion but it never came. what came instead was a booming voice treading through the walls of her bedroom, the sound of lockhart’s alarmed tone tannoy through the loudspeaker.

“ attention, a breach in the training arena has been detected. requesting all teachers and staff members to the cafeteria. all students are asked to stay within their dorms and are not to come out. i repeat . . . ”.

seren fought through her blanket and bolted towards the balcony door, throwing it open. her view fortunately had sight of the training arena island that was due west of the main tower. normally the roof of the arena would be closed, but tonight, the girl caught smoke rising through a vacant hole that had been blown through. someone had breached in. intentionally. that didn’t look like a mere accident.

when the girl recalled the conversation she had with her father that friday evening, she felt a chill ride her spine. salem is going to counter and do anything in order to slow down the attempts at finding her, her father’s voice echoed.

“ d-dad! ”.

seren ran back into her room, threw the door open and flooded out into the hallway where she saw some of the maids huddled in a circle in the living room. one of them stood up when a worried daughter came looking for her father, “ w-where’s my dad? is he still in his room? w-w-what’s happening?! ”.

“ there was a breach in the training arena ”, the youngest maid said, at least two years older than seren. “ i-i don’t know a lot but i heard some teachers say there were two men there and they’ve managed to lock them inside the arena. but the security won’t hold up for long. they’re trying to cut through the door. ”

two men? two henchmen, more like.

seren knew she was advised to stay inside her dorm. but she needed to see this for herself and confirm her theory. and as she raced back to her room, she worried about whether salem had found a way to penetrate through the walls of valhalla, whether these two men carried the intention of hurting someone, and if so, how many lives would be claimed tonight if nobody did anything.

and that was why she quickly found her sword tucked under her bed and slipped on some shoes and bolted out of the dorm whilst the maids were elsewhere. she was putting herself in danger. soon enough those two men were going to break through the arena door and they would start claiming lives and if she was lucky enough, she might be able to stop utter catastrophe from occurring or at least reducing some of the possible casualties.

she forced down the hall with slight apprehension, hugging her sleeping robe tightly to her body. she had put on some tight shoes in case she engaged in combat, and it didn’t dawn on her that she was half asleep and was likely going to hurt herself until she reached the end of the hall.

seren was going to turn back around in fear that her father might look out and see her and she did not want to spoil the previous chat they had at dinner. so she took a step back, only to squeal when her back hit someone’s chest.

“ w-woah, you okay? ”.

when she recognized perseus’s fruity tone, her heart race reduced exponentially. of relief. she almost thought that she had ran face first into the enemy and that her life was going to end tonight. she quickly turned around, mindful to not end up swinging her sword and cutting his face. “ perseus ”, she mumbled. “ what are you doing out here? ”.

“ trying to find the others. i’m alone in my dorm and i feel like the school could use some help ”, he sounded very tired, it was clear by how his eyes were falling closed a couple of times. seren set her hand by his arm in case he fell forward. “ y-you heard what they said over the loudspeaker, right? ”.

his tone was grave. nobody had expected something like this to go down. but seren had always told herself that salem would always try to have the upper hand, inciting fear with every chance she could because fear would be what kept people away and what enabled her to distance herself from those who wanted her head on a stake.

“ i did ”, she muttered. her figure hunched slightly, almost deflating. “ these men . . . they most likely have a connection with salem. i knew something like this was bound to happen at some point. ”

for a moment, it was silent. she paid a good glance at perseus and offered him a smile despite how shaken to the core she felt. she had expected to run into trouble on the battlefield, but never did it cross her mind that the threat would reach home, breach through the walls of the school. it perturbed her, made her grow even more impatient and willing to step out beyond the walls and finish it for good. for the sake of everyone.

as she faced perseus, she became aware of a growing anxiety rooted within her out of nowhere. it crept up like ivy, puncturing through every organ in her body in a series of pricks and jabs of fear that could not be explained. and that was when she noticed something. something behind perseus, down the hall, and although it was dark, she saw it gleam.

“ p-percy! ”.

he threw a glance over his shoulder and pushed the girl back and rose a hand. at that moment, a cold beam shot through the palms of his hands, a shard of ice hissing through vapor and spearing through whatever had tried to attack them. upon closer inspection, seren recognized it to be a goblin.

a goblin.

“ we need to find the others, now ”, he claimed, his voice orotund yet also exhausted. magic spells require a lot of mana, which drains energy from your body. seren stood there marveling at the bleeding creature that had seemingly come from nowhere. lockhart did not mention that one of them could summon smaller, more annoying minions. like goblins. there were going to be more, much more.

so they took off running. the halls were dark, only a small hue of light emitted by the lines on the ground that would only light up at night and lead students elsewhere if they needed something. seeing as how nobody really came out at night, seren was perturbed by the darkness, by the silence, it was chilling in the very least.

they didn’t have to wait for too long before they encountered most of those feisty minions. this time, there were about five or six of them huddled on a table at the lounge, hissing and snarling at each other and upon seeing perseus and seren, they pounced.

of course, seren wasted no time before shifting in between spaces, meeting each goblin half-way and tore through their small bodies with the blade of her sword. what she found unpleasant was the putrid odor that erupted, something like a polluted swamp with something seriously rotting in its waters.

their green blood spilled on the carpet in ounces, seren continued to run through the lounge just a few steps behind perseus, throwing a glance over her shoulder and locking the lounge door in case anymore spawned and tried to trail after them. it would be of no use since they could spawn anywhere, but at that moment, seren was doing anything to take precautions.

“ we’re almost by romeo’s door! come on! ”.

if they had their gunner, it would be much easier. if they had their entire team, she would be able to breathe properly. but her nerves were scattered everywhere. her thoughts lingered on the goblins, on her father, on the maids that she had left with no protection unless if they’d locked themselves in. where was her father, where were the others? and last but not least, where were the two men responsible for tonight’s breach?

it didn’t take two pounds on romeo’s door for the boy to slip out, his gun in hand. seren took a moment to marvel at it, it was a vermilion red and she couldn’t help but gaze at the sword handle available at one end. it was unlikely that he would ever have to engage in close combat, but that was a marvelous idea. focus, seren! this is not the time to drool over guns!

“ we’d be much safer if we found the teachers and staff members in the cafeteria ”, romeo stated, bringing them into his room for a moment and seren got an immediately whiff of cup noddles and some sort of soda. “ but if we’re seen, we might get sent to our dorms. ”

perseus frowned, “ who cares? they need all the help they can get. half the staff members are unarmed and the security officers have probably been locked out in another section of the school. if we leave them alone, they . . . ”.

his gaze fell heavily on seren, who pretended not to notice it. she knew where the end of that sentence was heading, what he meant by such a phrase. her father was among that crowd and although he could handle himself, he may not know what he’s dealing with and he cannot face it alone.

just then, the loudspeaker boomed. lockhart came through.

“ attention, students. please ignore previous orders; we implore you arm yourself and prepare for the worst. please move steadily towards the main hall where we will dispatch you down to the railway. if you encounter something bizarre, don’t resist the urge to fight it. you are not alone tonight. ”

romeo rolled his eyes, “ well, here goes nothing. ”

it wasn’t long before students were flooding into the halls with their massive weapons, friends clinging to each other and third years in particular aiding the younger years through the right directions to safety. they hadn’t found the others just yet, seren became worried that they might have encountered some trouble. that was until she saw a towering giant through the crowd. her voice broke, “ kailen! ”.

the archer caught sight of her and jogged over, evangelos and alexander joining him. seeing them all brought her a temporary sense of relief, they were still in danger but as a full group, they might be able to get to safety, well, safely . . .

“ anyone else encounter the goblins? ”.

“ goblins? ”.

“ in the main lounge, we found some just piling onto the table. we figured they were being spawned randomly, something to do with one of the men in the training arena. even if they can’t break out, they will find a way to harm the students. ”

just when evangelos was about to propose an idea, the ground trembled once more and for a moment, it seemed like the world was tilting. the building gave a minor lean before righting himself, and it probably settled on the minds of everyone, on how the world they were managing to make so much damage, how they were making the school shake, and just what they were doing in that training arena.

“ if we can take them down, we might be able to reduce casualties. and who knows, we might be able to understand what they want ”, kailen spoke, nodding towards the hall that would take them up to the training arena quickly if they were willing to job.

alexander shook his head, “ we might just end up making everything worse. we’d be better off heading down like everyone else and avoid any harsh injuries. ”

“ where’s your heroism, alexander? ”, romeo spat. “ we don’t know what’s in there, sure, and we’re most likely never going to find out unless if we get off our asses and seek them out. we could stop them from advancing until reinforcements come in. we could reduce casualties but if we stay here doing nothing, it’s not going to matter! ”.

“ well let’s just go then! ”.

seren managed to bellow out the final word, which brought everyone out of their complex panic and sent them moving towards the training arena, resisting the wave of petrified students who just wanted to get to safety. the girl felt sorry to see the pale faces of first year students, innocent and naive youths who were most likely the targets of tonight.

student casualties would strike the heart of valhalla and shatter the school spirit, possibly putting arthur’s leadership into question and the military’s defenses into skepticism. nobody would be happy regardless but they could resist, they could try to resist it.

soon, the wave of students broke and their steps quickened whilst darting down many halls. one convenient hall gave the view of the training arena from a lower level but she could still see the smoke rising and what seemed to be like lights sparking within the huge, cracked dome.

“ they’re trying to explode their way past the doors! ”, evangelos called.

seren’s semblance kicked in, she pushed past everyone and reached the front of the group. “ kailen, evan, you’re with me. we’ll take the longer way to establish a forward attack plan. the rest of you, you need to go via the elevator and each put up your defenses on those doors. do not let them out, and if they do kick through the doors, keep pushing them into the arena! ”, she instructed, and this time around, nobody seemed willing to counter.

the longer way was through a staircase leading to a top entrance of the arena. the others would be heading into the lower bounds and could take up their positions by exit doors and whichever door they broke through, somebody would be able to push the men back. there were three exit doors, which she thought would be the only stroke of luck they would have tonight.

from what she knew, alexander could break out of his healing capabilities and access security buffs and probably enchant the doors. perseus could wrap a door in ice, and romeo could stun them with grenades if they breached out. they had strong defenses, which meant that her, evan and kailen would most likely come into the offenses.

it was just a matter of luck. a lot of luck, because they were entering through the stands and would have to be beyond quiet, quieter than silence in itself to not raise any alarms. and strike from above.

easier said than done.

“ do we have any information on these guys? ”.

evangelos’s question brought seren out of her thoughts quickly and she darted to respond, “ one has a summoning semblance or some sort of summoning magic. the other man, i have no idea about. they’re hearing laughs from the arena, so i’m assuming there’s a maniac in there. ”

kailen grunted, “ two, if we’re being honest. ”

the last thing they needed to deal with was a mad hatter, and yet she was certain that was exactly what they were going to be dealing with. an insane jester of a henchman with tomfoolery behavior. and as they reached the end of the stairs and bolted down through the entrance hall towards the stands, it became a lot more obvious.

the maniacal laughter could be heard from the other side, followed by the tremors of explosions and summoning spells being chanted. they were brewing up a storm within the training arena and were ready to unleash it through the halls and attack the heart of valhalla before all the students could be evacuated. but seren could not stand the thought of her home being destroyed, of this monolith falling from the sky.

because if it did fall, it would crush the city beneath them.

“ great, how do we get in without making it obvious? ”.

seren held her index finger to her lips, experiencing a sudden stroke of genius. she rose iron thorn’s acicular tip and pressed it against the lock, and with a minor click, the door swung silently open, and they flooded in before the light could see out.

in the arena, sound traveled more than anything. and in this instance, the maniacal laughter that came from the center of the closed dome covered every atom in the space. though seren crouched behind the arena seats, she would peek over and she had caught sight of two, simply put, demonic figures at the center. one throwing what seemed to be explosives in the shape of colored balloons, and another using what seemed to be druid magic.

“ oh, isn’t this fun, annakin? just you and me and these steel doors! ”.

seren was horrified when she got a closer look at the jester. he was tall, six feet in height. well, she couldn’t tell if it was a he or she, it was an it. because there was no way it was human. it didn’t have a head. rather, in place of its heard, there were two masks. two french theater masks, one wore a smile, whilst the other wore a saddening frown. it wore what seemed to be a medieval court jester outfit, simple, with a satchel tied to its waist, where it seemed to have been taking out its balloon grenades.

and beside him, stood something to completely contrast an almost theatrical henchman. a horned demon, seven feet in height, wearing dark robes, wielding a spear which glowed every time it chanted. annakin, as the jester called it, was the one behind the goblins. seren could hear that disgruntling laughter of those inferior forest vermin in the sea of green that annakin brewed and summoned them from, placing them around randomly and it explained how they ended up in the lounge room.

the girl heard evangelos utter something under his breath, and turned to see him crouching in close proximity to her, she gulped slightly when her heart gave a small jump in her chest. “ i could crash the party and give everyone outside an alert to come in ”, he dropped his voice lower than a whisper and she still managed to hear him over the chaos downstairs.

seeing as how he relied a lot on his anger to moderate his more powerful attacks, she didn’t hesitate before nodding at him, it would be very effective if he went in with the surprise attack and if she followed suit, kailen staying up above to strike anything or anyone down.

evangelos moved quickly, pacing down the steps until he reached the edge of the stands. if he moved, he’d drop. and that’s exactly what he did. oh, he lunged, gauntlets fired up, flaring with that same red glow from yesterday, throwing himself over the edge and whistling in the midst of his fall.

seren actually flinched when the impact made the ground, she grasped onto a chair but followed suit, crouching behind the small wall of the stands and peeked over to where kailen stood, bow stretched, arrow ready to strike.

“ sorry to invade your party, boys! just kidding, i’m not! ”.

“ why, you little-- ”.

when seren pushed herself over the edge, the ground quickly met her feet and she shifted, soon finding iron thorn against the jester’s throat, glowing with the faint blue of an ice essence that was ready to freeze everything in her line of sight. and that excluded nearly nothing.

jester turned but made no further attempt at attacking. the frowning mask appeared to fold in more sorrow, and panic erupted through its voice. “ p-please, don’t hurt me! it takes such a long time to sow me back up again, i don’t want to be a burden to lady salem ”, it cried.

seren blinked slightly. that was when she noticed the cloth-like appearance to an almost animated figure, it was far from human and it didn’t seem all too magical. it was probably why it trembled under the weight of iron thorn’s blade. 

what struck her was that this dumb doll had just given everything away. this was salem’s doing.

when the exit doors suddenly exploded, she made a harsher attempt at keeping this jester in place, digging the tip of her rapier deeper against its chest and pushing it towards the center of the arena.

“ would you look at that! a demon and a clown, how . . . anticlimactic as fuck ”.

romeo would have incited a laugh out of seren that time around but her expression remained grim, never once did she rip her gaze away from the monstrosity that now fell to the ground, scrambling as if searching for mercy.

“ if you’re working with salem, you’re going to be really valuable for us ”, evangelos sounded psychotic, but he had a reason to. they had struck horror within the school that night and nobody wanted them out more than the students did. but they would be valuable if kept under surveillance and forced to talk. “ drop your weapons before it gets ugly. ”

it took them a moment to listen. annakin gave a grunt, hesitant to hand his weapon over even though evangelos’s gauntlets were gleaming at this point and alexander seemed ready to bring in a deterioration buff. jester also made no attempt at moving until iron thorn began to glow again, seething with ice.

“ a-annakin, drop it! ”.

he didn’t. which was why perseus suddenly launched his hand forward and a yellow hue engulfed the spear the demon clung so tightly on, and when the boy began pulling as if to shake the spear from his grasp, annakin held on tighter. “ we’re not joking, drop the weapon! ”, romeo cried. 

perseus grunted and pulled harder on an invisible rope, and it seemed like he was almost there until jester suddenly pounced and removed something from his pouch and launched it at perseus when the boy’s defenses were at their weakest point. one of the balloon grenades flew directly towards the boy and only seren saw to it in time to cut through the grenade, and unfortunately, was thrown back by the impact of the explosion rattling against iron thorn. and like a repeat of the dueling lesson, smoke engulfed them.

rather, the jester. alexander cut his hand through the air and a strong current of wind blew through the smoke, brushing it aside quickly but by then, the jester had already vanished. and the spear was back in annakin’s grasp and suddenly he was brewing up something they could not stop.

because when he dug the tip of the spear into the ground, the building shook once more, enough to throw all of the students to the ground like an earthquake found them while they were airborne.

“ they’re getting away! ”.

this time, seren couldn’t stop them even if she tried, battling against the immense vibrations on the ground that made it impossible to stand up, like a giant tap dancing on the floor, the world around them seemed to be shaking with no intention in stopping.

when annakin grabbed jester, they bolted towards one of the exits, and the clown made no attempt in stopping the terrors of tonight when it grasped another balloon grenade and threw it up at the ceiling. the contact was inevitable and whilst the henchmen escaped, the dome began to cave in on them.

seren saw the ceiling breaking into chunks, one descending right on top of her and she closed her eyes, preparing herself to be crushed. and she swore, for a moment, that she heard the collapsing horn of a train outside.

it never came.

all she heard was an explosion directly above her and felt two arms scoop her up, wind against her skin, before she was back down on the floor. upon opening her eyes, she was met with the eyes of a concerned evangelos looming over her, and even through her ringing ears, she could hear him asking her if she was okay.

the girl was unresponsive as she glanced over to see her teammates safe and sound, nobody got crushed. 

the tears came flooding in like a dam bursting.

seren turned her head softly back to evangelos, bottom lip quivering, jaw clenched, soul aching. “ the railway . . . t-the emergency train . . . ”, her voice came out in a weak excuse of a pained whisper.

“ seren? ”.

“ t-they shot the emergency train down . . . ”.

[five-hour-anxiety]

CREEPY HAUNTED HOUSE TOUR: DON'T FOLLOW US IN 👻💀👽😦😈 | The Theory of Real-Activity | LOGAN FOUND A BODY YOU GUYS

@zerogettie  @spacevirgil  @tree4life25 @thebiggestnaturaldisaster@pailettehazel @jordandobbertin @thecityofthefireflies @the-fabulous-kimball @azuranightsong @virmillion @erlenmeyertrash @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch  @the-sanders-sides @punch-you-with-friendship @captaincantatrice @clovenpinetree @jughead-is-canonically-aroace @aplaceinthevoid @zennyo

Word Count: 4500

Warnings: panic attacks, arguments, haunted houses, talk of demons

Pairing: platonic analogical

Summary: Logan and Virgil run a vlog together, and have decided to film in a haunted house.

“Virgil, for the last time, ghosts aren’t real.”

“Yes, I know that! You know that! Roman and Patton don’t, though, so we need to go ‘ghost hunting’ to prove it once and for all!”

 “I understand where you are coming from, but do we really need to do this? There must be a better approach to the issue – one that will not cost as much and save us the tour of a condemned building.”

 “Oh, that’s hilarious – you think I want to step foot in there? My anxiety is spiked at the thought of what could go wrong on the way out there, much less once we actually go in.” Virgil sighed and ran his hands down his face. His grape colored bangs fell back into place, and he blew on them in an annoyed manner. “Unfortunately, Roman has access to our Twitter and already made a poll.”

  “You mean to tell me-”

 “Yep. The people want a ghost busting episode.”

 “Why on Earth did I give him the password for the account? What was I thinking?” Logan brought his tie up to his mouth, and Virgil strained to hear the muffled curses over the mouthful of cotton.

“Roman basically just challenged you to a giant game of chicken – a public one, and are you really gonna let him win that easy?”

 “Grammar, Virgil, but you have a point. I cannot let that day-dreaming ditz best me. Clear your weekend schedule, we are going on a… what did you call it? Spirit pursuit?”

 “Okay, first – I have no weekend plans as that would require having more than three friends, and two – it’s a ghost hunt so unless you want me to meme the shit out of you again, never call this a spirit pursuit again.”

 “Oh, please, our audience does not need another joke – it’s bad enough you got everyone and their cousin to call the video blog ‘The Theory of Real-Activity” instead of its official name.”

  “Look, that’s better than ‘VirgeofDiscovery’, and it’s a vlog Logan stop trying to sound smart for once in your life.”

***

“I think that I saw this on Buzzfeed Unsolved, once. Just put the flashlight down and ask… something… to turn it on.”

“You know this won’t work, right?” The camera’s mic picks up Logan, who was exploring another room. “And it’s Buzzfeed, why were you watching that garbage?”

“Because I love Shane Madej, the only perfect human.” The camera swings upward so that we see Virgil’s face, and he points at the lens. “You can all quote me on that – make sure he knows that Virge from The Theory of Real-Activity loves his work.”

“Oh my God, Virgil, are you using our video blog in a sad attempt to get your internet crush to notice you?”

 “I-No! It’s a squish! And stop calling it a video blog!”

“If I were as childish as Patton, I would begin to sing one of those schoolyard chants about you and Mr. Madej sitting in a tree.”

“Well, gee, thanks for-”

“I am going to rap it instead.”

 “LOGAN, I SWEAR TO GOD.”

“Virgil and Shane, sitting in-” The camera stops recording.

***

 “Alright, do we have everything we need? My bag has a portable charger, extra batteries, and some water bottles as well as the camera I plan to use.”

“I have the salt.”

 “Virgil, didn’t we agree that ghosts aren’t real?”

 “Yes, but you can never be too safe. Besides – Patton wouldn’t let me leave without it, so now we have a pound of salt.” Virgil shook it around and shimmied. Logan groaned, and reached for the other’s bag, looking to see if anything else was in there.

 “Oh, I see you have a first aid kit – that’s a good addition. You also have the snacks, flashlights, and a camera but I don’t see your stress ball? Are you sure you wish to go without?”

“No worries, man, I got it in the car.”

“Why is it in your car?”

 “Roman had to drive me to my therapy session, and the chariot-”

 “You mean that disgusting minivan?”

 “Yeah, the chariot. Anyway, I have it in there because Roman was driving.”

Logan frowned at the thought, knowing that the man often bragged about having a lead foot while driving. Virgil just shrugged and hoisted his bag over his shoulder, shaking the salt container as he went out the door.

 “Hey, we both made it to the office in one piece, it’s all good. Moving on, we should probably do the intro before we leave the house. Get at least one shot with decent lighting.”

“Ah, yes, that is a good idea – do you wish to hold the camera or should I?” Logan locked the door behind him, making sure the spare key hadn’t been moved in case he misplaced his set.

“I’ll film, whenever you try to do anything in selfie mode you trim off half our heads.” Virgil threw his bag in the trunk and moved over to the passenger side door.

 “Why is it whenever we go anywhere in i car you refuse to drive, Virgil?”

 “If you didn’t leave your car at the university this weekend, we would’ve taken yours. And driving makes me anxious.”

 “Then why do you own a car?” It was a question Logan asked frequently, and never got a satisfying answer to.

 “I have a car because I’m too lazy to skateboard everywhere.”

  Logan rolled his eyes, and slipped into the car, taking the keys from the lanky man. He tied his hair back into a ponytail and motioned to Virgil to start filming.

 “Sup everyone, we still need an official video intro so keep sending in ideas. And I’m sure that you read the title, so y’all know we’re going on a ghost hunt today.”

 “Please, Virgil, don’t make it a clickbait title. Please don’t hurt me like that.”

 “I do what I want, nerd.” Logan groaned and started the engine as Virgil continued to talk, only interrupting to correct the brand name and to offer his stance when Virgil asked if he believed in ghosts. Despite his easy tone, though, Virgil seemed tense and his shoulders were drawn up close.

 The drive was by no means a long one, but by the time they finally reached the old house, Virgil had somehow managed to go through his entire playlist, having skipped each song after one or two measures. Logan found it annoying but said nothing, as he could see Virgil gripping his stress ball out of the corner of his eye.

This wouldn’t end well.

***

 “Logan, Logan it turned the flashlight on please, please tell me there’s a logical explanation for that!”

“I don’t know! Maybe it’s a faulty battery, or… or the switch isn’t fully on so it’s flipping between its off and on mode!”

 “OH MY GOD IT’S MOVING!”

 There’s a high-pitched scream, and the sound of footsteps retreating. The recording cuts to Virgil’s camera and shows Logan sprinting away as fast as he can.

 “YOU COWARD, DON’T LEAVE ME HERE! LOGAN!”

***

 “So, this is the place – leave it to Roman to pick a fucking mansion.”

 “Yes, well, I would expect no less from him. The Victorian style is quite breathtaking, despite it’s less than perfect condition.” Logan was leaning against the car, cleaning his glasses. Virgil shifted from foot to foot and fiddled with the straps on his bag.

“Do we really have to go in? We could just tell Roman there was like, a cop here or something, and he of all people should know that trespassing on private property doesn’t end well.”

 “I do not believe breaking and entering the theatre to steal a prince costume is quite the same, Virgil, and Roman would find that story compelling. No, we would have to mention that the officer was angered by our intent to enter a condemned area – we would at least have Patton on our side with that.”

 “Please don’t remind me of how unsafe this is. Not while I’m holding the car keys.”

 “You won’t drive anywhere.”

“At this point, self-preservation would let me do anything.” Virgil sighed and threw the keys at Logan. “Just hold on to these – don’t think you want me driving off without ya.”

 Logan hummed in agreement, pocketing the keys as he walked towards the front door. By the time he reached the porch, he looked back to Virgil who still hadn’t moved. Logan gestured towards the door.

 “Okay! Fine! But if something happens, this is all on you and your ego!”

 “If I recall correctly, you were the one who wanted to come here.”

 “Well, I changed my mind. C’mon, let’s just get this over with. Camera’s rolling.”

***

 “Logan, this isn’t funny!” The camera picks up a breeze from Virgil’s jacket as he sprints in the direction he thinks Logan went, his cries ignored.

The camera shifts suddenly, and we come face to face with the man himself. Virgil had stopped running and is standing in the front room.

“I never thought I’d say this, but I wish I was back in Logan’s basement listening to him rant about Mothman again.” He sighs, putting his free hand behind his head. “I’d rather listen to him confess his undying love for the thing than be here, choking on dust.

 “But! Instead, I let Roman win – which, by saying that, I feel nauseous – and now we’re here running around a death maze. There’s a ton of rusty nails and if we get cut on those we aren’t gonna get to a hospital in time. I think I saw a bat earlier? And where there’s bats, there’s disease-carrying mosquitoes. Not to mention those jacked up stairs.” The camera focuses on a flight of rotted stairs, the floorboards broken and, in some spots, missing altogether.

 “Yeah, stairs aren’t supposed to be bouncy. I’m just-I’m just gonna call Patton and see if he knows what to do from here.”

***

“I think there’s more dust in here than in Aunt Patty’s attic, and that’s saying something.”

 The house was older than anything the two had ever seen, and there was a fine film of filth covering every available surface. Logan couldn’t help but notice the numerous cobwebs and think of Patton – specifically, how much the man would hate being around so many.

  “Hey, do you, uh…” Virgil moved his flashlight over to one of the webs and stuttered out a few more false starts. “Do you think any of the spiders who made those things are, like, poisonous?”

 “If there are any venomous spiders, they will not bite you unless you give them a reason. They cannot eat you, so there is no purpose in wasting their venom on a large creature like you.” This seemed to calm the taller man down, and Logan moved over to the staircase.

 “Hey, don’t go up those, nerd, I already checked them. They’re not safe – the wood’s so rotted it’s squishy and soft.” Logan nodded and made a mental note to locate a different way upstairs.

The two continued to look around for a while longer, not finding anything remotely interesting. After about half an hour of quiet observation, Virgil suggested they started filming, claiming that the sooner they wrapped this up, the sooner they could drive away and never come back.

 “Salutations, class-”

“Logan, you’re boring.”

 “I am talking like I normally do, Virgil, how else should I speak? Like Roman, perhaps?”

 “God, no, please. Anything but that.”

“Well, in that case – greetings one and all! We’ve finally arrived at our grand destination and have been parading around the grounds for a few hours!”

 “I will throw this salt at you.”

 “Little grains of salt are no match for a prin- oof!”

 “I told you I would.”

 “You threw the entire container at me! Like a savage!”

 “What, you can pretend to Roman and I can’t?”

***

“Okay, so calling Patton was a bust. He told me to use the salt like a weapon and I had to tell him I already chucked it at Logan’s face.” Virgil snickers, running a finger under his nose. “That was the best thing to happen today if I’m being honest. Pat didn’t really appreciate it, though.

“Roman was also a wasted call – apparently he’s at some audition and when he answered, well, he just started screaming about newspapers.” Virgil pauses, and we hear something shatter off-screen.

“H-Hello? Demons?” The camera slowly pans across the room, almost making a full circle as even more thumps can be heard. Before it can finish, Virgil screams and drops the camera.

The screen is filled with static.

***

It had been about two hours, and in that time Logan had somehow managed to: find a way upstairs, provoke something into turning that flashlight on, proceed to run upstairs, get lost, and find a new respect for supernatural beliefs.

 “I cannot believe I’m saying this, but I believe in ghosts now.” His words echoed around the attic, unheard by anyone but him and perhaps the mouse he saw earlier. At least, he hoped that’s what it was. He couldn’t stand the thought of sharing space with a rat.

 “I believe in ghosts, so can we stop playing this juvenile game? How on Earth do I get back downstairs?” He waited for an answer as the logical part of his brain scolded him for speaking to thin air.

 He didn’t get one.

“This is ridiculous, I should know better.” He paused and listened again. “If I change my mind and say ghost are not real, will one of you tell me how to get back downstairs?” Logan removed his glasses and began to pace the room. The amount of dirt that had gathered on his frames was astounding – perhaps he had stumbled through a cobweb in his hasty exit.

“Well, what would Patton do in this situation? At present, he may make a joke about his poor eyesight and lack of- ow!” As he spoke, Logan ran into an old china cabinet – it didn’t fall, but he still held his breath as it swayed back and forth.

“Well, that was embarrassing,” Logan whispered, moving to the front to see if anything was inside. He found a few plates and teacups, though none were particularly impressive. If he were Roman or Patton he may have found the painted flowers beautiful, but he wasn’t, and he didn’t. The maroon one rimmed in gold paint did remind him of a set Roman owned, however, and made a mental note to come back for it if there was time.

But first, he had to find his way downstairs and reunite with Virgil.

***

“So, as you may have seen – though I can’t be sure because obviously, I do not know how this will be edited – I was forced to make a hasty, yet calm, retreat from the study.”

The screen cuts to a replay of Logan fleeing the room, and trombones play as he screams. Text pops up and it says “logan lies” in comic sans.

“After my exit, I managed to find my way upstairs and now I am unsure how to get down – much like a cat climbing a tree. But I did stumble across a cabinet full of teacups that I think a friend of mine would enjoy. I have also concluded that there are too many mothballs in this house and I will not cross meeting the Mothman off my bucket list today.”

Logan crosses the room as he paces, chewing on his lip in between sentences. “Despite my own disappointment, I find myself upset the most over being separated from Virgil. I do not believe he is well – I am ashamed to admit that I have only now realized he was suppressing a panic attack as we drove out here.

“To be quite honest, camera, there is a very good chance this footage won’t be posted online. It depends on how Virgil is doing and whether he is okay with releasing footage taken of him during an atta-”

Logan trips and falls into the china cabinet once more, a plate shattering upon impact. The camera swings around to show the floor and a trap door that was slightly ajar. A ladder falls from the floor, designed to be hidden when not in use.

“Well, here is my way down. This ladder does not look up to code,” He steps down on a rung, testing his weight, “but it should hold long enough for me to get down.”  He begins his descent but stops suddenly. Logan moves over to the cabinet and pulls out a teacup, placing it carefully in his bag. His footsteps are heavy and echo as he travels down the ladder.

At the bottom, he screams out Virgil’s name.

 ***

  “Virgil! Virgil, can you hear me?”

Logan shook him hard, but he got no response.

 “Virgil, please, you need to get up. I need to know you are okay.” Logan had spotted him collapsed in the middle of the room and jumped down the ladder as soon as he could, forgoing the last four rungs and sliding over to where Virgil lay.

“Mm, not so loud Logan. My ears are ringing.”

 “Well, I expected that. You must have hit your head when you collapsed – can you tell me if I sound muffled as if I were underwater?”

 “No, everything’s just beyond loud.” Virgil winced as he sat up, Logan taking note of where he grabbed his head.  “Logan, are you okay? You’re crying!”

 A quick swipe at his eye revealed that a few tears had formed and escaped.

 “Well, of course – I am not without a heart, Virgil. The sight of you sprawled out like that was… immensely alarming, to say the very least.” Logan’s breath shuddered, and a few minutes of silence passed between the two, interrupted by an occasional hum from Virgil.

 “The ringing is gone.” The silence was broken, and with its absence came Logan’s ability to breath deeply.

 “That is wonderful, Virgil.” Logan stood up and dusted his jeans off before offering a hand to the other man. “May I ask what circumstances led to you losing consciousness?”

“I don’t know.” Virgil kicks at the floor. “So, don’t ask.”

 “Well, may I share some theories I have developed?”

“Knock yourself out.” Logan winced at the phrase, and Virgil mumbled an apology as he collected his equipment.

 “Virgil, I knew you were edging toward a panic attack on the way here – so I would like to start by offering a sincere apology for not saying anything sooner.”

    “Don’t. I didn’t tell you, so it’s my fault. I just didn’t want you to worry too much – or to turn around. I know Roman would have given you a hard time if we didn’t film an episode here, so I figured I would just deal.”

 “As I have told you many times, there is no ‘dealing’ with these situations alone in our friendship. Regardless, I knew you were not okay and didn’t say anything.”

 “God, Logan, can’t you let me blame myself for once? At least let me share the blame.”

“Fine, we shall share at your insistence. Moving on, I believe the building panic caused you to experience an irregular breathing pattern. I deduce that the lack of oxygen led to you losing-”

“No. You’re wrong.”

 “I beg your pardon? You just told said you did not know what happened how can you say I am wrong?”

 “Because it’s embarrassing, okay?! Damnit, Logan, it’s embarrassing how bad this attack was and how ridiculous my shit brain makes me react.” Virgil strode away, and out of the room, calling over his shoulder.

“Just help me film some stuff so people don’t know that the passing out act was real. I’ll lay down over there, and just… I dunno we’ll improvise.”

“Is it wise to publish this footage? Roman and his teasing be damned, it is more important that you are okay, Virgil! These cameras likely have footage of you panicking and us arguing! Are a few views really worth it?”

“Yes, because I wanted this episode! I put the poll on Twitter, not Roman, okay? So please, let’s film something stupid, make the whole thing look staged, and leave.”

 “Virgil-”

 “Please, Logan.”

 “No.” Logan crossed his arms and stood up straight. He was taller than Virgil, and his glare was cold enough to give Virgil goosebumps.

 “I’m sorry, ‘no’? Oh, so now you say no! Not when I asked to come here, not when I asked for demons to turn a flashlight, not when-”

“Virgil, stop this. You are behaving in an immature manner and this needs to stop. How was I supposed to know that you wanted me to tell you ‘no’? I am not a mind reader, so you cannot blame your poor communication skills on my inability to instantly know what you want.”

Virgil said nothing. He glared at Logan and sat down on the floor, eventually inviting him to do the same. They sat there for a while, as both needed time to calm down before speaking.

 After what felt like an eternity later, Virgil finally spoke up.

“I’m gonna start, but you need to let me finish before you cut in, okay?” Logan nodded, and Virgil took a deep breath. “I wanted to film at a haunted house because I knew we would get way more views than we normally do.

 “I thought, hey! More views means more add revenue – and yes, I know it’s not a lot – but with that extra money, we could start building up the funds to rent an apartment. I’m sick of living with my parents, Logan, and I know you are too.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, Virgil, but I would rather endure a few more years with them than have you hurting for the sake of loose change.”

 “Yeah, well. What’s done is done, I guess.” Virgil sighed and leaned over on Logan. “I lied, you know. I do know why I passed out earlier.” He sighed and buried his nose into Logan’s shoulder.

“I will not deny that I want to know why, Virgil, but I do not want you to share if you are uncomfortable.”

 “Heh, well, maybe you’ll learn something new – did you know that anxiety can make you see hallucinations? Specifically, when the fight or flight stuff kicks in?” Logan raises an eyebrow but remains silent. “When the, uh, the – instinct, for lack of better word – kicks in, your pupils dilate.

 “And when that happens, the sudden light change can cause a person – like me – to see shadows and figures at the edge of my vision.”

 “Fascinating – but I assume this is a rare situation and does not happen to you often?”

“No, it doesn’t. But it did when… did you break something upstairs? Because something shattered, there was a lot of thumping, and then they just- appeared. I think that made me panic even more, and then yes – the lack of oxygen probably did the rest.”

“Ah, yes, I fell into a cabinet of china, and I believe a plate was shattered. I apologize for my involvement.”

“Nah, no worries about that. It was just shoddy circumstances. And,” Virgil looked up, offering a weak grin to Logan, “As cheesy as it sounds, we are probably a bit closer than we were before this whole trip.”

“You are right, that is extremely cliché. I appreciate the sentiment, however, despite how infuriating your statement is. Shall we film the ending of this video, now?”

Virgil snorted, pushing himself up using Logan’s shoulder.

“Yeah, let’s this thing wrapped up.”

 ***

  “Virgil! Virgil, please get up!” Logan is frantically shaking Virgil’s shoulder, his voice wobbly. The camera has been left on after being discarded in a hurry.

“Logan… Logan no, don’t- don’t go in the closet.”

 “I spent ten years in the closet, I have no intention of going back in.” Logan sniffs as he speaks, and Virgil gasps awake, shooting upward.

“Huh? Wait, what happened? …Why would you go back in the closet?”              

 “You said not to go in there – what happened to you?”

 “I don’t- I don’t remember. There was a- I think I saw something, Logan. A shadow, maybe?”

 “You must have seen my shadow as I came down the ladder.”

“No, I don’t think so.” Virgil pauses and stares at a spot on the wall behind Logan. “Where is the ladder you came down?”

 “To your left.” Logan gestures with his head as he hoists Virgil to his feet.

 “That means it couldn’t have been your shadow. The light wouldn’t have hit you correctly to cast a shadow over there.” Virgil points to a closet off to the side of the ladder. “Besides, the shadow didn’t look… well not to be cliché, but it didn’t look human.”

“Preposterous.” Logan has moved over to the camera, and the screen goes black as he picks it up. A few moments later, it’s aimed at Virgil as he talks about what he saw in detail.

“…and it had, well they weren’t horns per say, but they were definitely not something that’s on your head, nerd. But, whatever,” Virgil rolls his eyes, “I can tell you don’t believe me. Let’s just get out of here.”

  Logan hums in agreement, and the screen goes black.

 ***

  “Goodbye, murder house, see you never!”

 “Well, this footage is unusable.”

 “Wait, why?”

 “I am not ending the video with you flipping off an old house.” Logan sighed and turned the camera off. Virgil pouted and turned to finish packing the equipment into his car.

“Hey, I know what I’mma call this video. ‘Logan finds a body’!” Virgil spread his arms out in emphasis, narrowly missing Logan’s face in the process.

 “That is absolutely morbid, Virgil, and uncharacteristically short.” Logan shut the trunk with a slam and fished the keys out of his bag as Virgil moved to the front seat.

 “Yeah, no, it’ll have emojis in it, the vlog title of course, and-”

  “By chance, will it be the proper title?” The car started with a roar, and the two were met with a blast of warm air. Virgil scrambled to open his window and Logan quickly shut off the air flow. “Because the channel is called ‘VergeofDiscovery’, not the childish pun Patton came up with.”

 “The Theory of Real-Activity is an amazing name, and I will fight you on this. You’re just jealous that you didn’t come up with it.”

 “Falsehood!”

 “Keep telling yourself that, nerd. Pass me the aux cord.”

The drive home was lighter than the last one – Virgil never once changed the music and the two could be heard screaming along as they flew down the road. The stress ball remained in the cup holder, untouched until the next big adventure.

[kenshi-vakarian7]

For the angst/fluff prompts, 74 for Mass Effect ship of your choice, please?

Sorry for the long delay @makocartwheels , but it’s finally done!  Hope you enjoy it. :)

“Hero”

Kira Ryder was finally home.  After working for over twoyears as Pathfinder, she was finally retiring from the role (whichshe passed down to Cora Harper) and settling on Kadara with herlover, Reyes Vidal.  Their long-distance relationship was no more. The most they had spent together during the last two years was amonth, so it was going to be nice to practically have all the time inthe world.  Well, maybe not allthe time since their respective work – him as the Charlatanand her as an Arbitrator between the angara and the Milky Way speciesliving on Kadara – would keep them busy.  But at least now, theycan come home with the other waiting for them nearly every night.

Even after all this time in Andromeda, Kira didn’t bringa lot of personal items with her to Reyes’s – no – theirlittle sanctuary hidden deep within the mountains of Kadara.  Shedidn’t have a lot to begin with – mostly clothes, weapons, and afew personal items she either collected since arriving here orbrought over from the Milky Way.  All of them fit into two largeboxes, except one Milky Way item encased in a metal tube that was along as her arm.  She hadn’t opened that tube at all since waking upfrom cryo.

Reyes helped her get settled before he had to leave fora few hours to wrap up some lingering business from theKadara-related mess they both dealt with not too long ago (and thereason she took on the Arbitrator role to begin with).  He wasn’texpecting any trouble, but Kira made sure to leave her omni-tool’smessage alert on just in case.

Once Reyes left, Kira decided to take a nice hot shower(and grateful that the water no longer smells like sulfur) andfollowed that with a nap on the living room couch.  She wasn’t surehow long she was asleep before she woke up to Reyes gently kissingher forehead.  She smiled to herself when he heard him stepping awayand planned to nap just a little longer…

Suddenly, a soft popping sound was heard, making Kira’seyes snap open.  At first, she thought Reyes opened up the bottle ofwine meant for the celebration dinner they planned for tonight.  Thenuntil she spotted him just across the room… opening the metal tubeshe brought over from the Milky Way.

Oh great… Kiramoaned in her head.  She sat up from the couch and glared in hisdirection.  She momentarily thought to stop him, but eventually letout a breath as she realized that any attempt to halt his curiositywould be in vain.  If she tried to stop him now, all it would do wasmake him even more curious over the mystery item.  Besides,he’s going to find out sooner or later anyway… might as well get itover with…

“Reyes… what are you doing?” Kira grumbled.

He was just in middle of turning the tube over when shespoke.  He gazed up at her with his amber eyes and she noticed thecuriosity in them – just as she expected.  “Well my dear, Ihappen to notice you hadn’t unpacked this yet, so I thought I’d…assist.”

“Uh huh…” Kira said suspiciously.  Then shedecided to make a guess over real intention.  “You’ve been wantingto pop that open since you laid eyes on it, haven’t you?”

Reyes chuckled.  “It is a curious thing - an unopenedtube sitting in this corner while you’ve long since unpackedeverything else – and I bet you haven’t opened this once since weleft the Milky Way.  If I had to bet, and you know by now I’m abetting man, I’d say there’s something valuable in here.”

Kira shrugged.  Thinking about, it’s highly likely thathe wasn’t wrong in his assumption.  “Maybe.  Perhaps it is one of akind here in Andromeda.”

“Now you have me even more intrigued,” Reyes saidwith a grin.  He then tilted his head thoughtfully.  “I’m surprisedyou’re just sitting there and letting me open this.”

“Yeah, well.. you’re going to see what it is sooner orlater.  Might as well get it out of the way now, especially if we’regoing to be living together permanently.  Besides, I’m too tired tofight you over it.”

Reyes laughed as he finished turning the tube over. “Shame, it would’ve been fun chasing you around while you try tokeep this away from me.”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Kira mumbled in a teasingtone.

A rolled-up paper slipped out of the tube and Reyescaught the end with his free hand.  It looked brand new even aftermore than six-hundred years.  The tube encasing it was clearlydesigned to keep it in the condition it was in during the long travelthrough dark space.  Reyes pulled out the paper completely beforeplacing the tube back in the corner where he found it moments ago.

Kira watched his face as he unrolled the paper justenough to get a look at what it is.  Reyes remained intrigued as hestared at the printed picture in front of him.  Then slowly, his headtilted a little to the side before one corner of his lips turnedupward and his eyes sparked in recognition.

“Is this who I was think it is?” Reyes finallyasked.

Kira couldn’t help butglare at him.  “Reyes Vidal, you know exactlywho that is.”

“Remind me,” he added in mirth.

That made Kira rolleyes only because she knewhe was teasing her.  She tried to play it cool over her next words. “If you don’t know who Commander Adam Shepard is by now, then Ican’t help but question your abilities as the Charlatan.  Informationis your business after all.”

Now that smileof his turned mischievous.  “I didn’t think you’d be so… touchyover it.  Tsk tsk.  Andif I recall, people usually don’t use Shepard’s first name whenreferring to him.  I think you’re the first.”

Kira felt her face turned hot, suddenly feeling like ayoung teenager with a crush… again.  “So what?” she balked.

“You’re blushing.”

“No I’m not.”

“You were a fan girl of his, weren’t you?”

“…Shut up.”

Reyes laughed withamusement as he continued to admire the poster.  “I can hardlyblame you.  After all, he is the hero who saved Elysium, the firsthuman Spectre, and… very, verynice to look at.  You both have the same shade of blue eyes.”

“Not really,” Kira pointed out.  “The picturesdon’t do them justice.  His was actually a bit lighter and a lotnicer looking in person.”

That got a raisedeyebrow from Reyes as he turned to look at her.  “In… person? You actually met him?”

Kira stood up to join him.  “Look at the bottom of theposter.”

Reyes unrolled the poster more until he couldn’tanymore.  By now, Kira got a good look at the photography of the Heroof the Citadel.  Shepard was standing tall in his black armor withthe N7 stripe down his right arm, the same arm possessing a glowingomni-blade at his side.  His left arm was raised and holding an M-8Avenger.  Blue eyes looked past the camera and his dark brown hairwas cut short.  Behind him was the view of the Nebula from one of thearms of the Citadel, though Kira wasn’t sure exactly which arm it was(the background was likely photoshopped in anyway).

At the bottom of the poster on the right hand corner wasa note written in metallic silver ink…

Kira -

Never let an opportunity pass you by if you trulybelieve in your heart that it will make a positive difference in yourlife.

All the best,

Cmdr A. Shepard

14 Aug 2183

Reyes hummed a little after reading that.  “Seems likea decent guy if that note is anything to go by.”

“He was more humbled than I ever imagined him to begiven his status,” Kira mentioned as she leaned the side of herhead onto Reyes’s shoulder.  “When I met him, it was only supposedto last a few minutes, but… we ended up talking for almost anhour.”

“Really?  How did that happen?”

Kira couldn’t help smiling as she recalled the memory. “I was lucky enough to still have a particular childhood friend inmy life at the time.  After the Battle of the Citadel, she and I bothgot on the station and she, well… let it slip that her olderbrother was serving under Shepard.”  She laughed over her nextwords.  “I may have threatened to end our friendship if shedidn’t speak to her brother and convince him to set up a meeting.”

Reyes laughed.  “I didn’t realize you were such aconniving little devil.”

“Hey!” she called out as she lightly slapped hisarm.  “At that time, I waited seven years to meet him in person. Before that, I admired his heroism after he saved Elysium frompirates.  I mean, not many can face wave after wave of pirates ontheir own and survive.”

“I probably could,” Reyes nearly mumbled.

Kira snorted at the way he said that.  “Is thatjealousy I hear, Mr. Vidal?”

Reyes huffed.  “Hardly.  I’d get that kind of job donein the shadows.”

“Uh huh… but then you wouldn’t get the Star of Terralike he did.”

“Medals are overrated.”  An amused look suddenlylook came over Reyes’s face.  “You sure it wasn’t a teenage crushand not a hero worship?”

“…Shut up.  And the answer is both, for therecord.”

He laughed before Kira continued.  “Anyway, Shepardgot a bit banged up during battle so he was resting.  We met up at myfriend’s brother’s apartment and she accompanied me.  I was bothexcited and nervous because I was certain I was going to look like anidiot at some point, but… that didn’t happen.  We ended up talkingabout myself more than anything.  Believe it or not, he was actuallyinterested in what I had to say, always asking questions and neverlooking bored.  I’ve met celebrities before, but meeting him, it wasthe first time a celebrity didn’t look… disinterested.  It made merealize that day why those close to him are so loyal – because hecared about them, not because of what they can do.

“After the meeting ended, he was no longer just an oldteenage crush or a hero to get starry-eyed over.  Shepard became aninspiration, someone to aspire to.”  Kira frowned a little as shebecame more thoughtful.  “I doubt I came close as Pathfinder,but…”

At those last words, Reyes rolled up the poster beforeplacing it back in the tube it came in.  “But you have,” Reyespointed out as he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms aroundher waist.  “You’re an excellent leader, you made Heleus livable,created strong bonds between the angara and those from the Milky Way,and you helped those who needed it.  You’ve done things no one elsecould achieve, just like he did.”

Reyes placed a kiss on the side of Kira’s neck beforewhispering into her ear.  “But better.”

Kira chuckled as she rolled her eyes.  “How am I thebetter one?”

“For one thing… you’re better looking.”

Kira rolled her eyes again.  “Cheesy flatterer.”

Reyes laughed before adding, “You achieved theimpossible without the N7 rank.”

“To be fair, Luke and I received some N7 training fromDad,” Kira pointed out.  “Not exactly close to the real thing,but…”

“But you didn’t need it anyway, nor a medal for thatmatter,” Reyes said.  “Also, as much as I hate to bring it up, Ibet you gave him a run for his money when it comes to being broughtback from the dead if the rumors about him are anything to go by.”

“Maybe,” Kira said with a frown as thoughts overwhat possibly became of the Milky Way entered her mind from all therecordings she found in her father’s personal logs.  Before that, shehad thought that Commander Shepard had died, which happened just overa month after meeting him… but the logs said otherwise.  Even then,who knows if he – or anyone else she knew for that matter –managed to survive, end the invasion, and live out the remainder oftheir lives.  By now, the entire Initiative knew the truth and anyefforts to get in contact with the Milky Way currently remainsunsuccessful.

Kira’s thoughts stopped in their tracks when she felthis hold around her tighten.  “I didn’t-” he started to say.

Kira quickly shook her head as she reached her hands tograsp his own over her stomach.  She figured that he thought she wasthinking about all those close calls during the last two years of herlife.  “No, it’s fine.  I’m all right,” she assured him.

For a few moments, they remained silent and simply enjoybeing in each other’s arms.  Kira found herself staring at theirlittle sanctuary, still not believing that this was now home, and forgood.  Maybe eventually, the idea would sink in.  In the meantime,she couldn’t help but wonder where in their home would be a goodplace to hang up her Commander Shepard poster – once she got a niceframe for it of course.

The living room would be nice, sheconsidered.  Just as long as it doesn’t face the window and-

“By the way,” Reyes suddenly said, breaking thequiet.  “If we ever hit any hard times, a poster of Shepard, signedfor the Human Pathfinder, would fetched a lot of credits.”

As much as she appreciate the change in mood, Kiracouldn’t help but turn around in his arms to glare at him.  “Don’t. You.  Dare.”

Reyes laughed and Kira was about to protest more beforehe stopped her by pressing his lips to hers.  Whatever she was goingto say left her and she was soon returning the kiss.

[purplesurveys]

1237

disclaimer I’ll be taking into account the last 24 hours for the first part because it’s 3 in the morning and I haven’t really done anything yet lmao anywho

survey by chasingghosts

Have you today?

Looked in a mirror? Yeah I took a shower earlier so I couldn’t really avoid the mirror in the bathroom.

Watered a plant? I don’t do plants. Can never take care of them to save my life.

Worn denim? I did, actually. Some package came for me earlier today and I didn’t really look the most decent, so before heading out to meet the delivery guy I grabbed the first jacket I saw, which was denim.

Washed your hair? Yes, when I took said shower a couple of hours ago.

Been in pain? Yup my back and shoulders feel like hell from sitting on my ass all day while at work.

Had a nap? Kinda, I guess? I fell asleep at around 9, 9:30ish...woke up at around 1 AM, and here I am now. I don’t plan on sleeping anymore.

Brushed your teeth? Yup.

Kissed someone? Just my dogs.

Used a cheese grater? No, I don’t think I’ve consumed any cheese today either.

Eaten something sweet? Nah, it’s all been salty/savory for me today.

Spoken to a stranger? Sure.

Dropped something? I drop my vape pen at least once a day, so yes.

Felt upset in some way? UGH yeah. Our internet disappeared at around 2 in the afternoon and it still hasn’t come back, and our service provider’s social media has been unsurprisingly unresponsive and useless. I’ve been using data since then and I’m just worried about how long this would take because I don’t want to keep spending just for extra load. I also have my Korean language classes this afternoon which will for sure require a lot of data :/

Drank coffee? I have a full mug of it beside me right now.

Walked for more than thirty minutes? LOL no, I’ve only stayed indoors.

Signed up for something? Hmm I don’t think so.

Travelled in a car? See two answers above this.

Opened a can? Nopes.

Thought about doing something crazy? Just me thinking about dropping another couple thousands on merch until I mentally slapped myself and told myself I’d be fucking stupid if I spent on one more piece of stupid merch.

Listened to a new song? Yes, I tried listening to Love Shot by EXO over dinner since my sister had started humming it. It was okay but I quickly shifted back to BTS right after hahaha.

Written in a notebook? No. I only do so when I practice my Hangul but I have yet to work on that today.

Fed an animal? Yes, I have pets.

Checked your emails? I mean that’s kind of the standard in my job lol I have my Gmail tab up throughout the 8 hours.

Told someone you love them? No.

Made a phone call? No, I’m rarely the one who makes the call.

Have you in the last week?

Travelled on a bus? I’ve never ridden a bus solely for commuting by myself. I’ve only been on them when it’s the arranged vehicle, like for school field trips or our family vacations. Our public buses are quite bleck and unsanitary and the drivers maneuver the buses like it’s their last goddamn hour on the planet, so I don’t get on them myself.

Washed your face? I mean yeah, when I take showers. I don’t really have a skincare routine though, if that’s what you mean.

Used a blender? We rarely have a use for a blender at home so we don’t even have one.

Received a phone call? No. My biggest pet peeve is when delivery riders call me up once they’ve arrived at our place just to say “I’m here,” but fortunately the one assigned to me today to deliver my package knew how to use the doorbell.

Talked to someone you dislike? Yeah I have to deal with a client I absolutely fucking despise everyday.

Consumed alcohol? I’ve thought of it, but then I thought of how sleepy I get whenever I drink alcohol and decided against it because I wanted to stay up tonight.

Eaten pasta? Yeah, my dad made Filipino-style spaghetti for dinner the other evening.

Planned for an event? Not an event per se but sure, I made some plans? Punk is slated to make his debut on AEW/return to pro wrestling next weekend or sometime soon, idrk - and this is a big fucking deal omg, 15 year old Robyn has arisen from her grave - and Andi and I made plans to watch it together so we can freak the fuck out.

Asked someone for a favour? Yes. I borrowed cash from my mom since the delivery fee for my packaging earlier was apparently cash on delivery.

Watched something funny? I mean I watch BTS clips pretty much everyday and a gigantic chunk of them are hilarious.

Trimmed your nails? No, but I did bite on them multiple times.

Browsed Reddit? I did actually! After a super long time of not doing so...I just decided to randomly check out r/bangtan to see what’s going on there. It’s mostly Americans though so idk if I’ll make a habit out of browsing.

Talked to yourself? Oh this happens a few times a day.

Purchased tickets for something? Nope.

Felt like you were annoying someone? Just about everyday.

Cleaned a toilet? I have not.

Reminisced about the past? Not really. I’ve made references to the past with friends, but we didn’t ~reminisce.

Used headphones? Yeah I always use my headphones when playing Rhythm Hive so I can hear the beats better.

Laughed with a friend? Many times. Always just virtually, though.

Cooked dinner and then didn't feel hungry? I don’t cook.

Written a list? LOL yes. My period had been coming and I noticed I was crying over the smallest, stupid things, so I started a list of the things I cried over the last week. The funniest item on the list is probably an ad that was shown to us during a campaign briefing...

Played an instrument? Nope.

Felt jealous or envious? I will sometimes feel the tiniest tinge of envy and wistfulness when I see my friends in happy and fulfilled relationships, but it passes in a second.

Ignored a text message on purpose? So many hahahahahahah

Congratulated someone? Yes!!! Graduation season was last week so I congratulated a shit ton of friends.

Have you in the last month?

Made a piece of art? Making art was never made for me, so no.

Rewatched one of your favourite tv shows or movies? Yep, I rewatched Friends a couple of weeks ago.

Called a plumber? Nope.

Been to a see a doctor? I mean, technically I guess yeah? When I had to get my vaccine shot.

Finished a book? I haven’t done that in a while.

Had a crush on someone? Just celebrities but I won’t count those.

Travelled on a train? I haven’t.

Worn heels? Haven’t done this either.

Been to a friend's house? I’ve been to Angela’s house semi-regularly, yup.

Shared a bed with someone? Nah.

Been to see a movie at the cinema? I haven’t been to the cinema in like a year and a half.

Paid attention to celebrity drama? Erm not really. I also haven’t been up to date with that, especially with American celebrities hahaha.

Felt anxious? Maybe not anxious but nervous.

Taken an elevator? Yeah in Mega since that place is so goddamn big.

Given someone the cold shoulder? Yep, my mom when she is being extra annoying/condescending.

Purchased a new book/game/movie? I guess you can say that? I bought a subscription pack on Rhythm Hive because I was using it regularly anyway.

Applied for a job? I already have a job, so no. I did get a job proposal on Linkedin a couple of weeks ago with another PR firm, but I took a look at their clients just to see if the offer was something I could sink my teeth into - and even though their brands were quite high-profile, they were in industries I didn’t particularly find interesting.

Used a printer? Nah.

Had lunch in a park? No.

Gotten a manicure or pedicure? I have not.

Made an appointment? Just for my shot but that’s it.

Had a blood test done? Noooooo not another one of those plz.

Suffered from a major bruise? Not a major bruise but a huge bloody gash on my thigh after a particlarly rowdy play session with Cooper. There’s still a very visible scar on me.

Researched a topic in-depth? I do this quite a bit in my work, yes.

Have you in the last year?

Been to the beach? No, I’ve mostly stayed at home since July 2020.

Visited someone in the hospital? I haven’t. Too risky.

Played pinball? No, it’s never interested me.

Travelled on a plane? I haven’t. :(

Worn a costume? Sure, for Halloween last year I went as Dora.

Been thrift shopping? Not that I can recall, no.

Thought about getting pregnant or got pregnant? Definitely not at this point in my life.

Made a big life decision? Uh yeah this past year was both the worst and best rollercoaster I’ve ever been on. I can’t believe it’s almost been a year since that shitty breakup...

Changed a lightbulb? Nope.

Framed something and put it on your wall? No but I have been meaning to do this for months. I just never get around to buying some actual picture frames lol.

Been stargazing? Not the professional kind of way with a telescope and all. I’ve just lied on my back at the rooftop to gaze at the night sky and the stars.

Made a new friend? So many!!! Reena is probably my bestestestest new friend <3 I mean we’ve met a while ago, as Angela’s mutual - even had a few drinks or so together - but we didn’t become closer until just a couple of months ago.

Added to a collection? I’ve had merch that arrive every week or so these days because I bought a ridiculous amount of shit between May and June when I was a new Army. I’ve substantially calmed down now, but I should expect to receive my running list of ordered merch up until September LMAO. At first I used to bitch about the really long shipping period considering all the products come from Korea, but after 3 or 4 fulfilled orders you kinda get used to it.

Been to the dentist? No.

Broken up with someone? Yessss. I didn’t know it at the time but it would turn out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Held a baby? Nah.

Created a budget? Yeah...doesn’t mean I’ve been successful. I always go over, hehe.

Confessed feelings for someone? There isn’t anyone to do that for.

Had surgery of any kind? Nopes.

Quit a job? No and I have no plans to anytime soon.

Been in a car accident? Nah but my dad has, c/o some stupid and unattentive motorcycle driver.

Purchased something worth over a grand? So in US dollar conversion, around P50,000? Hell no.

Been on vacation at least 500km/300mi from home? No. :( The farthest we’ve been to was Tagaytay and I think that’ll remain the same for a while.

Applied for an academic course? Yes, my Korean class.

Had your photo taken by a professional? No, it’s been over a year since my last professional shoot for my senior photos.

[galactichen]

polaroid || sehun

looking back through the pictures, I realize you aren't in a single one.

3382 words; college!au; sehun/reader scenario; angst, romance

“You almost ready?” Your brother yells from the front foyer of your family home. You stand in the doorway of your mostly empty bedroom, hand poised over the doorknob. Memories flash through your brain, glimpses of your childhood flickering just past your eyes as you grew into the sophisticated adult you are now today.

The mahogany shelf pressed against one side of your bedroom, once filled with numerous stuffed animals before being replaced with novels and more mature items, was bare for once; excluding the times you used to take everything off your shelf just to clean it (you just lazily went through with a feather duster nowadays). The closed windows by the shelf are bare of any curtains or blinds and your bedframe lay untouched on the floor. It was to be transported later, your father said, as well as your desk which was adjacent to your bedframe.

“At least say something,” you hear your brother grumble unhappily as he trudges through the corridors to reach where you're standing. “Last minute stuff?”

“Just double checking,” you respond, voice soft.

“We’ll leave when you're ready. No pressure.”

He claps a hand on your shoulder and turns to leave.

“Minseok?”

He stops at the sound of your voice and gives you a lazy glance over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

“...Thanks.”

“Anytime. Now hurry up, Mom and Dad are waiting outside,” he finishes his sentence just as he disappears around the corner, and you laugh softly. So much for no pressure.

You turn back to your bare room, which now seemed colder in temperature, scanning the parameters for any loose items you might have forgotten to grab while you were rushing to get everything packed just that morning.

That's when you spot something poking out from underneath the bedframe.

Curiously, you step forward and bend down, one arm outstretched for what seems to be the spine of an old book. How could I have forgotten something like that? You wonder to yourself. Moreover, what was it doing underneath your bed? You don't exactly recall ever stuffing some sort of book underneath your bed, much less anything.

Your fingers graze against the surface and you’re immediately appalled by the dusty leather cover. You pull it from underneath the frame and gasp.

The cover is in relatively decent condition, probably after what looks to be years (from the amount of dust) of hanging out underneath your bed. The book itself is black, and after wiping away the dust with a tissue you found in your pocket, your eyes skim over the title embroidered in gold.

From Me to You.

“From me to you?” You breathe out. You don't ever recall owning a book like that.

“Alright, seriously?” You almost yelp at the sound of Minseok’s voice cutting through the silence. He stands by the door, an irritated look marring his baby-like features. “We’ve been waiting for ever and you're here looking at some lost book. Brilliant. And you even opened the window. Come on, close it and let's get going.”

Opened the window?

“I didn't open the window.” But when you glance at the middle window, sure enough, it's open. A breeze sifts through the screen.

No wonder it was colder in here.

“Could've fooled me,” Minseok mutters sarcastically, and you have to resist the urge to punch him from across the room. “Then who opened it? A ghost?”

You give him a blank look in which he returns just as enthusiastically.

“Fine, I'm coming!” You hastily shove the book underneath your sweater and hustle over to your brother. “Happy?”

“Very much so. Now let's go.”

You weren't able to open up the odd book until a few days later when you finally settled into your new apartment in the heart of the city. Everything you've ever owned was now in the apartment with you, including your bedframe and desk. Minseok lingered for a little while longer than your parents, before finally departing with a last, “I'm just a couple blocks over if you need me.”

You sit hunched over at your desk, your lamp switched on with the odd book in front of you. You've been sitting for approximately twenty minutes, trying to remember any sort of detail in regards to the book.

But you come up with nothing.

“Here goes nothing,” you finally say.

And you open it.

That's when you realize, this isn't any book. There's no text at all, save for the messy scribbles off to the side, pointing to different pictures pasted on the pages like captions.

It's in fact, a scrapbook.

And the pictures are of you.

The confusing part?

You know where they're from.

In the photos, you're somewhere in your teens, at least about 16, perhaps 17 or 18 in the later ones.

In the first one, the person taking the picture is across from you. You're hiding your face behind your hands, seemingly embarrassed.

“...stop that! That's embarrassing!” You remember yourself exclaiming. A male voice chuckles and it's a melody to your ears. Your heart flutters.

“No way, I'm keeping this.”

“No fair…! You can take pictures of me but I can't to you?”

The name is blurred. You can remember the time, but you can't seem to remember a name. Or a face.

All you remember is a voice.

Has it really been that long ago?

The next picture, in which you've recognized as a polaroid as were the others, was taken at the park down the block of your family home. Your back is to the camera, your arms lazily outstretched as if you were feeling the autumn breeze between your fingers. Leaves fall all around you.

“Beautiful day,” he says. He walks hand in hand with you. You remember his hands. They were large and his fingers were slim, but not too slim. They were smooth, but rough. “Don't you agree?”

“Everyday is a beautiful day,” you hum. The leaves crunch beneath your shoes with each step. “Autumn just happens to be even more so.”

The laugh you hear next fades away.

The third picture on the next page is dark, yet is illuminated by various lanterns and booths. The annual autumn festival. You see yourself seated on a bench, a few snacks in your hands as you happily grin towards the camera. This time, there's a caption off to the side.

A beautiful evening made stunning with a smile from your neighbourhood sunshine~

“Want one?”

“Nah, I'm okay.”

You shrug, and recall shoving the rest of the snacks in your mouth. “Your loss.”

You start flipping through the pages. All the pictures are of you. There's no one else but you.

Where is he?

He, who you can't seem to place a face. He, who you can't seem to remember a name, but a voice.

Tears fill your eyes as you close the scrapbook with a harsh slam. Although you can't remember him (and you aren't sure whether you want to or not), he must be disappointed in you by now.

You toss the book over your shoulder.

I'm sorry I can't remember you.

Days pass and you can't seem to think.

Your mind always drifted back to the scrapbook; to the supposed author you remember but don't remember.

You've already expressed your feelings to your best friend Luhan, but he only smiled bitterly in reply.

“It's best if you don't remember,” he said, before burying his nose back into his work.

A week later, and the book still lies untouched on your desk as you bustle around, purposely occupying yourself with other things to do and other things to think about. You swept the apartment; you dusted your shelves; you even did a little baking with the help of a not-so-helpful Luhan. Anything to help you not think about that...scrapbook. Photobook. Whatever.

That was until Luhan found the book and gave into his nosy ways.

“What’s this?” Luhan dramatically blew air over the cover of the book as if it were an antique and read aloud the title. “From me to you. Oh, fancy. Who’s this from?”

You shift awkwardly from your spot on your bed. “I...can’t remember.”

Luhan only shrugs nonchalantly before opening it up to a random page. You watch cautiously as his eyes scan the page before the book tumbles out of his hands.

You don’t find it in you to ask him about his sudden clumsiness as he fumbles for the book and hastily tosses it onto the surface of your desk. His eyes seem to glaze over and the words tumbling out of his lips are soft and incoherent.

“Impossible,” you manage to catch, “he would have shown this to me. Where…?”

Then he was out without a goodbye.

That night, you lay curled up by the headboard of your bed with the book in your arms, the lamp by your bedside switched on.

“Date night at McDonald’s…” You snort, flipping through the slightly worn pages. The author of this must have been a lover of some sort; probably a past boyfriend. “He must have had an odd sense of humor,” you say to nobody in particular.

There were many polaroids of you making funny faces, and some where you appeared to have been caught off guard. A few featured a hand that was obviously not yours and a couple featured you and, surprisingly, Luhan.

The love of my life and the best friend I could never live without, in one picture.

Luhan…

He obviously remembers him, judging from his reaction earlier. So why couldn’t you?

Why couldn’t you remember your own boyfriend?

And where was this supposed boyfriend of yours?

Er, ex-boyfriend, rather.

Frustrated, you toss the book to the foot of your bed. Your hear the flipping of pages until it slides to a stop. After taking in a few deep breaths, you finally spare a glance at the book that lay open to a page in the second half.

That’s when you spot the picture that was different from all the rest.

Frantically, you swipe the book from its resting spot at the foot of your bed and shuffle back to your original position, nearly dropping the said book twice before squishing your feet three times as you folded your legs into a much more comfortable sitting position.

Oh…?

The caption is written messier than the rest that you’ve seen, and has an arrow pointing to the polaroid on the left.

For once, you aren’t the subject of the picture. It’s somebody else.

His face is barely visible, but you can just make out the edge of a sharp jaw and a perfect side profile. Well, what you could actually see of the side profile. His skin is fair and it looks as if he’s smiling, though it’s hard to tell. His hair is dark and messily swept back in a handsome, troublesome way. His right arm is outstretched behind him as if to say, don’t take the picture!

And he wears what looks to be a jersey that says OH SEHUN.

Sehun…?

That must have been him.

An image flashes in your mind. One of a heart-stopping eye smile, belonging to a handsome boy.

Frustrated, you groan and toss the book onto the floor.

This time, you don’t even look at it as you shuffle underneath the covers.

“Did you know an Oh Sehun?”

Luhan barely even looks up from his book, but you notice how his shoulders tense. “No.”

“Really?” you ask. “Wasn’t he your best friend?”

“I told you, I don’t know an Oh Sehun.”

You mentally note to ask later, once you actually start getting information out of the poor guy, why exactly he’s lying. Did something happen between them, perhaps?

“Wasn’t he my boyfriend?”

His knuckles are white now as his grip on his book tightens even more.

“Why can’t-”

“Will you stop it?”

You’re interrupted by Luhan’s voice which is sharp as a knife. His gaze is hard and cold as he stares you down, book forgotten on the table in front of him. The eyes of innocent bystanders of the library zone in on you and him. “A few years ago, you told me you didn’t want to remember him, and now you suddenly want to? Since when did you get to pick and choose whatever you wanted, huh?” he snaps. He grabs his book off the table and cradles it in his arms. “Well guess what? Sehun isn’t here anymore. He’s gone. Yes, he was my best friend. Yes, he was your boyfriend. But is any of that knowledge going to bring him back?”

And with a final huff, he shoves his chair in and storms away, leaving his question open for thoughts.

Your walk home from the library is silent without Luhan’s usual bubbly laughter and talk about random nonsense.

He’ll cool off, you try to tell yourself to rid of the guilt that burdens your shoulders after your kerfuffle with your best friend. It’s my fault anyway.

The cold autumn breeze sweeps through the streets as it blows orange and red leaves along across the roads, sending a shiver down your spine. Pedestrians hustle along, some carrying styrofoam coffee cups and others carrying backpacks or purses. Silently, you walk slowly along the edge of the sidewalk.

Sehun…

According to Luhan, he’s gone.

Except what did he mean by gone?

He could have moved, but wouldn’t you at least remember him? He could have randomly vanished, but how does one randomly vanish? Besides, Luhan seems to know what’s up.

You didn’t even want to think about the third possibility. You feel your heart clench.

He could have died.

The person in front of you steps forward and you follow as well, crossing the street before the lights changed once more. Once across the street, you head for the path that weaves through the park just a block away from where you lived.

“Wait up!”

Instinctively you turn around, which was probably a stupid idea because usually the person calling out is shouting at someone who isn’t you.

Apparently, not this time.

He’s tall and lean, and your heart stutters at the sight of his broad shoulders that fit his fall jacket quite nicely. His face is thin and his skin is fair, strands of dark brown hair falling into his eyes from the wind. His eyebrows are sharp like his gaze and his lips have a slight pout to them. A smile spreads across his face and his eyes curve up into crescents, allowing him to appear younger than he already appeared.

Your brain doesn’t recognize him, but apparently your heart does when you gasp, “Sehun?”

He comes to a stop just before you. “Hey.”

“H-Hi.”

You aren’t quite sure what to say, and neither is he. For one, you don’t actually remember this supposed boyfriend of yours; and two, it’s been a good few years since you’ve seen him. Or last heard of him.

“How...how have you been?” Sehun gestures for you to continue walking, and you do so without hesitation.

“I've been...alright.”

“...That's good.”

“How have you been?” you ask.

“Fine, I guess,” Sehun replies. He loops his arm around yours, and you can't help but notice the odd stares from passing pedestrians around the two of you. “How's Luhan?” He adds in a quieter voice.

You shrug. “He's doing alright. Still chatty as always.”

Sehun only nods, and the two of you fall into silence as you walk side by side down the streets towards your apartment.

“Sorry I left,” Sehun finally says after a few moments. “I just...I don't know. Couldn't hold on any longer. Figured it was time to leave.”

You have absolutely no clue what he means by that. Couldn't hold on any longer. Couldn't hold onto what? The relationship? Figured it was time to leave. Time to leave...you? But you decide not to say anything.

(Although you probably should have.)

“I see,” you reply.

You arrive to your apartment a lot sooner than you anticipate and suddenly you feel sad, but you don't know why.

“I guess it's time for me to leave,” Sehun mumbles. He looks up to the sky and whispers something far too quiet for you to pick up. Then, he turns back to you. “Can I just...do something real fast?”

“Y-Yeah?”

And he leans forward and presses his lips against yours.

Sehun’s kiss is brief yet sweet. It feels light against your lips, almost as if his lips aren't even there. But you respond nonetheless, feeling the same love you once felt for him erupt in your chest. Then there's something wet against your cheeks, and he pulls away.

“I know you probably don't feel the same way anymore...but I love you, butterfly,” Sehun whispers. His lips quirk in a bit of a half smile. “But maybe I'm the butterfly now.”

And he turns and walks away before you could call him back and ask what he meant by that.

But as always, you don't find the heart to say the words you want to say, so you turn back towards your apartment and head inside, the mysterious wetness still cold against your cheeks.

“How's life on your own?” Minseok asks one day. He's over at your apartment for the afternoon, just to chill and ask you about life because that's just his job as a brother. “Lonely? Missing Mom’s cooking?”

“Just a bit,” you answer in response to both questions. Minseok laughs as he continues stirring whatever he's making in the pot.

“Well I'll tell you this right now: you're faring a lot better than I did when I first moved out.”

He continues stirring before shutting off the stove and heads for the kitchen table where you're seated.

“So what did you really call me over for?” Minseok pulls out a chair and sits down. “What really made you want me to come over so soon?”

“What, you don't like spending time with me?” You feign hurt, and Minseok snorts, nodding his head.

“Of course I like spending time with you,” Minseok says. “Now tell me. What's on your mind?”

You look away from Minseok’s curious gaze. You figure it’s best to tell your older brother before Luhan, as Minseok probably knows just as much as Luhan. “I met Sehun today, Minseok.”

Minseok doesn't say anything for a moment, and you're suddenly afraid of how your older brother might react. Will he react like Luhan? I hope not, you think to yourself. Luhan’s outburst still has this weight as if you're carrying the entire world on your shoulders; the effect of your best friend being openly upset at you. You couldn't fathom how you'd feel if Minseok acted the same way.

Finally, Minseok says, “Sehun? As in Oh Sehun?”

“Well, I think so yeah.”

Minseok looks at you oddly. “That can't be.”

Now it's your turn to look at him funny. “What do you mean? I saw him with my own eyes yesterday when I was walking home from the library.”

“That really can't be.” Then all of a sudden Minseok is attentively scrolling through his phone, before he finally finds what he's looking for.

He puts his phone on the table between the two of you and turn it towards you so you can read what's on the screen.

FATAL CAR CRASH KILLS ONE, INJURES ANOTHER

On July 25, 2012, a fatal car accident took place on Yonge and Bloor involving a drunk driver and two young adolescents, leaving one teen dead and the other severely injured. The drunk driver was unharmed and left with several charges.

The drunk driver was reportedly speeding down the opposite lane when the car smashed into the car with the teens, leaving 18 year old Oh Sehun dead, and the other teen, whose name remains unrevealed, severely injured with a possible concussion. The drunk driver was left with charges such as impaired driving and impaired driving causing death.

You stop reading and look up at your brother, absolutely horrified. That concussion...is probably why you couldn't remember him.

Why you couldn't remember anything about the crash at all.

Why you were so, so confused at his funeral.

That’s why he left you that scrapbook.

“That article was from 5 years ago. Oh Sehun is dead.”

[h-eckers]

Judgey and English

A/N: Okay this one is reeeeally long but i got carried away and I didn’t want any part of the request to get missed out because I tried to squish it into less than 2000 words

Request:  could I maybe request an imagine where the reader is new and she moves to riverdale from England and she starts off as a waitress at pops and befriends Jughead because she's all little and sassy and sarcastic. Then maybe she could become a river vixen and reggie and the football team all take an interest and juggy gets all jelly because he's developed a subconscious crush on her 

Word Count: 3,249 (god.damn.)

Warnings: Bad pick up lines, some brief angst

It was coming into the tenth hour of your shift, you’d been on your feet the whole time and there was nothing you wanted more than to be able to go home and go to bed, unfortunately, you needed the money. It wasn’t exactly cheap to move to an entirely new continent, especially when you were a teenager, you had money, but you weren’t about to rely on only that, savings ran out and you had nowhere to go if you lost your apartment.  The diner was painfully dead at this point, it was late and most people were at home, cuddled up under blankets, maybe watching TV, and you were pushing a mop around the floor of Pop’s, trying as well as humanly possible to keep your eyes open.

There was only one other person in the diner who wasn’t staff at this point, and he’d been sitting there for almost as long as you’d been working, at one point you seen a group of people over by him but they’d left hours ago and he’d stayed put, entirely enraptured by whatever it was he was doing on that laptop, whatever it was, he was obviously quite committed to it because you couldn’t recall having seen him stop typing in the past few hours. It’s not as though you weren’t paying attention either, when he’d come in you’d seen him and he was honestly pretty cute, so you’d admit you’d found yourself staring a few times, unintentionally of course.

Eventually your shift ended, you gathered your things from out the back and walked into the main diner, falling into a booth across from the mysterious writer and laying you he’d on the table top, you knew it was clean, there had been no one in here and nothing to do so you’d wiped it down three separate times. “Rough night?” He spoke, possibly for the first time tonight and you chuckled, sitting up.

“Long night.” You sighed, he looked up towards you, shutting his laptop, “Oh, so that thing does close.” He raised an eyebrow at your comment and you could swear he almost smiled. Almost.

“I haven’t seen you around.” He stated simply, it wasn’t a question but it was obvious he wanted you to elaborate.

“You kidding? We go way back.” You shrugged and he furrowed his brow, confusion falling across his delicate features, you laughed, “I served you four hours ago, you didn’t say please or thankyou but I’m sure it was implied. I’d tell you I saw it in your eyes except you didn’t look up from your laptop.” You teased and he chuckled a little, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Deepest apologies for that. Guess I got a little wrapped up.” He sighed heavily and leaned back in his seat, you heard his joints crack when he stretched and it made you flinch.

“You should probably fix your posture if you’re going to sit like that for hours at a time.” You scolded, a complete stranger.

“Thank you for that advice, coming from a girl wearing a candy necklace as though its real jewellery. I guess I missed the memo on that trend.” He smirked slightly and you rolled your eyes at him.

“By the look of it you missed a lot of memos about trends, didn’t anyone mention that the brooding loner look is so Twilight era?” You smirked back and the smirk of his own didn’t falter, instead growing into an actual smile as he chuckled quietly. “I heard your friends calling you Judgey but I assumed that was just banter.”

“Actually, it’s Juggie.” He told you and you frowned a little.

“Do you have a particular affinity for containers meant for liquid?” You asked, very confused, “Because if so, I can’t talk to my boss because we have some milkshake cups you will just adore.” He laughed again and shook his head.

“No, my name’s Jughead Jones.” He grinned and you stared at him.

“You are making this way too easy.” You told him, still giggling a little to yourself.

“… The Third.” He finished and you couldn’t help but laugh out loud, you covered your mouth to try and stop yourself.

“I’m so sorry that’s just… that’s actually amazing.” You hummed and he nodded slowly, watching you intently as you laughed.

“Its fine, I can’t say it’s exactly an average name.” He stood slowly and just waited, after a moment you realised he was waiting for you.

“Oh, yeah, cool.” You stood as well and you both wandered towards the exit together.

“So, pretty big change then, England to Riverdale.” He shrugged and you paused, your mouth falling open as you tried to remember if you’d told him that at all, “I’m not stalking you or anything, but no offence, your accent isn’t especially subtle. Apart from which, I’ve been in this town my entire life and can’t remember ever seeing you, so you have to be pretty new.”

“Two weeks, actually, and it seems I’ve probably picked the worst time to come here. Kid dies and two days later a mysterious stranger strolls into town, way to throw myself in the deep end.” You grumbled and he smirked at you again.

“Don’t worry, English, no one suspects you. To be entirely honest you don’t go to school so nobody probably even knows you exist.” He shrugged and you scoffed at him, hitting his arm.

“I work, and for your information I start school tomorrow” You grumbled defensively, “also I do have a name, it might not be as poetically entrancing as Jughead Jones the Third, but I do have one.” Yu mocked, putting on your best imitation of him to say his name.

“Yeah and what’s that?” He asked, tilting his head and feigning intense curiosity.

“It’s Y/N, and it’s a lot better than Judgey.” You huffed, flipping your hair a little bit to punctuate your comment.

“It’s alright, I think I’ll stick with English though…” he shrugged, “it’s more poetically entrancing.” He smirked and you rolled your eyes, yet again. He seemed to have that effect on you.

“Well, I have to get home before I pass out from exhaustion, and you should do the same.” You said, waving as you walked off.

“Have a good night, English!” He called out after you, you bit your lip to keep from smiling to big and turned back to him.

“I will if you will, Judgey!”

The next day was your first day of school, and as it always was, it was terrifying. You woke up just wanting to stay in bed and never get up. The gravity around your bed must have increased by about a thousand times because it almost physically hurt to sit up and drag yourself out from under the covers, especially as early as it was. You managed it though, because you had to, you wanted to look good for your first day, first impressions were always important.

Fortunately, you’d memorised the route from your house to the school, and you knew exactly how long it took you to get there, so you made it with time to spare, as soon as you walked in you felt like everyone there was staring at you and it definitely wasn’t a comfortable feeling. You wandered through the hallway, not allowing yourself to look putt off by the looks you were getting, as long as you at least seemed confident you’d be okay, hopefully. You walked past a group of guys in letterman jackets, you couldn’t help but glance over for a moment, and the bright colours distracted you. The only problem with that is that they looked back. “Well, good morning to me.” You heard one of them say and you rolled your eyes, turning back to look at him.

“Pardon?” You asked, folding your arms across your chest and looking him over.

“Nothing, nothing, just thought I’d introduce myself.” He smirked and stepped way to close to you, “I’m Reggie. Captain of the football team, all around decent guy, and your date tonight.”

“Are you serious?” You laughed, out loud, his smirk fell, “Please, if anything I think you need a hospital, with delusions like that, you must have sustained a head injury.” You smirked, his friends laughed and his brow furrowed angrily.

“Hey, princess, I was trying to be nice but if you-“ He was cut off, not by you but by a girl you’d seen around Pop’s once or twice, as she strolled up behind you and linked her arm with yours.

“Oh, please, Reggie. Lay off the new girl, she’s not from around here so she probably has standards anyway.” Cheryl said, smiling sweetly at him as she shooed him and his group off down the hall. They left, somewhat reluctantly, but they left.

“Thanks, Cheryl.” You smiled a little, “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Of course I didn’t, but I like you, you’ve got fire.” She grinned at you and you couldn’t help but smile back, maybe this wouldn’t be so hard after all. “Besides, I’m looking for a girl to fill a spot on the River Vixens and you definitely fit the bill.”

“Are you sure, you don’t want me to try out or anything? You asked, raising an eyebrow and she turned to walk down the hall, you walked with her so you wouldn’t be dragged by your linked arms.

“No, you’re fine, no one else in this place is up to my standards anyway so I’ve got to snatch you up while you’re fresh, don’t I?” She said and you nodded once, maybe it was because you were so new that she took such an interest, maybe it was because she knew she could trust you, after all, from what you had heard, everyone else was a suspect.

As she pulled you along, you spotted Jughead, leaned against a locker, talking to a blonde girl, “One sec, I know h-“

“No time, sweetness, we’ve got work to do, you can meet Betty later.” Cheryl said, pulling you along, you noted the blonde girl’s name as you glanced back over your shoulder, Jughead waved at you slightly, you smiled back, “Betty’s a vixen too, but you’ll soon become acquainted with the people who matter.”

You decided not to argue and let her drag you away, soon you were sitting with her mostly every day, sometimes you went to hang out with Betty and Veronica, they’d befriended you as soon as you’d been introduced and you definitely didn’t mind. Mainly because they were lovely girls, but partially because they were friends with Jughead and when you hung out with them, you got to see him. Not that you’d ever actually admit that.

What was really interesting was that Jughead genuinely enjoyed your company, you were almost as quick witted as he was and somehow, to him, that had come to be a reason why he felt he connected with you on a different level than with most people. He found himself weaving you into the pages of a story that had barely anything to do with you, you had near nothing to do with Jason and yet he was reaching for connections; your friendship with Cheryl, the mystery that surrounded the new kid, your new found link to the football team, and most importantly, your connection to him. I didn’t mean anything though, in his mind he was purely interested in her mystery, not her as a person, which is why it confused him so much that he missed you when you weren’t there.

“So, are you all coming to Cheryl’s party tonight?” You asked hopefully, looking around the table at all of yours friends, lingering for a moment on Jughead before tearing your eyes away. Archie nodded a little.

“Sure, I’m not doing anything else.” He laughed and Betty shrugged.

“I guess so, it’ll be a good chance to have a look around, see if I can find anything.” She agreed and you smiled softly at her.

“Or you could just come to the party to enjoy yourself for one night, wild concept I know.” Veronica teased and you laughed at her a little. Of course Veronica was coming, you’d be shocked if she’d rejected. Finally you turned to Jughead.

“What about you Judgey, care to accompany the rest of us into a den of teenage fraternising and interaction?” You asked, raising an eyebrow and he scoffed.

“Of course, English, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He said sarcastically and you grinned.

“Good, so I’ll see you there.” You confirmed.

“You know that’s not what I meant.” Jughead argued, and you did know exactly what he meant. Did you care? No. He was going. That was that.

“Do I though?”

When the night came you spent hours getting ready, you put on your best black dress and spent so long in front of the mirror with your makeup that you stopped being able to recognise yourself, like when you say a word so many times it starts sounding completely ridiculous. By the time you left your house you were looking absolutely flawless, and you didn’t regret a single moment of preparation.

Arriving at Cheryl’s house, you weren’t surprised at all of the magnificence of Thornhill, it was as huge as you’d assumed and just as intimidating, but you weren’t about to let that stop you. As soon as you got inside you were cornered by one of the boys on the football team and you just sighed, every single one of them had been like this pretty much since the day you’d arrived. “Hey baby,” he grinned and you rolled your eyes, “aren’t you the gift we’ve all been waiting for.”

“How kind.” You smiled, it was an incredibly fake smile but apparently he wasn’t aware of this.

“How about you and I ditch this place and uh, I unwrap you.” He grinned and you chuckled at him.

“I was almost considering it,” You whispered seductively, “until you opened your mouth.” You pushed him away from you and walked passed, you got maybe six feet before you almost slammed into another letterman clad chest.

“Hey, if you’re into quiet guys, I’m right here, doll.” He smirked that stupid smirk that they all did, you often wondered if they’d practised to get it exactly the same. “I’ll leave the screaming to you.”

“Oh my god.” You grumbled, you couldn’t even dignify that with a response, so you just brushed by him and moved on.

“Those were some… interesting interactions.” When you heard his familiar voice you instantly relaxed, you looked over to your left and as you had assumed he would be, he was hiding in a corner, leaning against a wall. You walked over to him slowly.

“Yeah, definitely interesting.” You chuckled, “They’re always like that, though.”

“I bet you enjoy it.” Jughead mumbled, sipping at his drink. You frowned at him.

“Not really.” You said, fiddling with the rings on your fingers to occupy your nervous hands, “Are you okay, Jug?” You asked, you had rarely ever used his first name, but clearly he wasn’t in the mood for joking.

“Oh, me, I’m fine, just worried I might be cutting into the time you have for your adoring fans.” He shrugged, his voice heavy with sarcasm and an anger you didn’t understand. You hadn’t done anything.

“Why are you being like this?” You asked, your voice was quiet, almost afraid of what the answer would be.

“I’m not being like anything, Y/N.” He snapped, “I’d just hate for you to waste your precious time on me is all.” He sipped his drink and you scoffed at him.

“Are you jealous? Is that what this is?” He stayed silence and you rolled your eyes, “My god, Jug, it’s not like I’m asking them to hit on me! I can’t stop it!”

“How would you know that, Y/N? It’s not like you try and stop them.”  You opened your mouth to respond, to unleash absolute hell on this boy who you cared for so much, but as they always seemed to, one of the footballers interrupted.

“Talking to the loser, I see,” Reggie’s voice said from just behind you and you almost cringed, “you know I love girls who do charity? You’re doing great, Y/N, just don’t let him touch you.”

Jug hung his head and cleared his throat, chuckling humourlessly and placing his drink down on the small table nearby. “I’ll leave you two alone then.” His voice was almost a snarl at this point.

“Jug, wait!” You went to follow him as he walked over towards the stairs, but Reggie grabbed your waist, pulling you back and spinning you around to face him.

“Let him go, babe, it’s not like the weird loner kid has feelings anyway.” He laughed, your eyes burned with anger, you reached across to the table and grabbed Jughead’s discarded drink and promptly threw it in Reggie’s face. He stumbled back, letting go of you completely.

“What the hell, Y/N!?” He screamed, shaking most of the excess liquid off him that hadn’t soaked into his clothes.

“Don’t touch me ever again, do we understand?” You shrugged, smiling innocently and dropping the plastic cup on the floor, walking off towards the stairs you’d seen your friend walk up. You wandered down the hall slowly, there were so many damn rooms in this place you’d probably never find him, and he could have left for all you knew.

Eventually, thankfully, you found him, in the biggest master bedroom you had ever seen in your entire life, you assumed it was Cheryl’s parents. He was sitting on the bed, facing away from you. You walked over and sat down beside him silently for a few minutes. Finally, you spoke, “Jug, I’m sorry, I should have tried harder to get them to stop.”

“It’s not your fault.” He sighed heavily as he looked up at you and you looked back at him.

“It is, though, I care about you and I don’t want you thinking that they mean something more to me than you do.” You said quietly. There was long pause, he didn’t say anything, “Jug?” He didn’t answer, at least not with words.

He leaned in and captured your lips, his hand finding the side of your neck and guiding you in closer to him, your arms moved to wrap around his neck as you relaxed into him, entirely giving into the kiss and to him. You felt him smiling just before he pulled back, you stayed close, your forehead resting against his. You were already breathless, he was a lot better at that than one would expect.

“Good enough for you, English.” He mumbled, smiling at you and moving his other had to your waist.

“It was better, Judgey.” You teased back and he chuckled softly. At about that moment the door flung open and Reggie stormed in.

“Y/N, what is wrong with y-” he stopped dead when he saw your arms around Jughead and his around you. Jughead smirked.

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave, Reg.” You smirked slightly at him, “I’m doing charity work right now.” You said, turning back to him as he pulled you in again, reconnecting your lips in a passionate kiss that made anything Reggie might have had to say catch in his throat and completely disappear.

He left the room very quickly.

[upside-nwod]

The Tightrope (Pt. 3)

I’d like to apologize in advance for any pain I cause because this is probably the angstiest thing I’ve ever written and I hate myself for it. Part 1 and 2 are also up on my blog and Archive of Our Own.

Available on AO3 here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10490118/chapters/23320066

When Eleven woke up once again, she was shivering, knees clutched to her chest. With sudden realization of what this meant, she sat up slowly, fearing something might pull her back down like before, but nothing did.

She didn't understand how or why The In-Between behaved this way, allowing her some freedoms but only on it's own terms. But she was grateful for the movement. Her bones ached from being stuck in one position for so long.

The pounding in her head had subsided which she was also thankful for, but she still felt weak and unrested. The In-Between had a way of sapping the life force from it’s inhabitants.

She was soaked to her core and freezing. Hopper's oversized flannel clung to her tiny frame that made her feel like she may never be dry again.When she tried to scratch the old blood off her pale face, she felt a sticky substance overtop.

Despite being enveloped in nothingness with no inkling of light to be found, Eleven could see her own body very clearly. The tips of the fingers she held out in front of her were stained crimson. Had she used her powers in her sleep? Either that or someone–- something–- had caused her to move. She shuddered at the thought.

El had no recollection of ever using her powers in her sleep. Then again, she could do a lot things that were unable to be explained. Maybe this was one of them.

It had to be the only logical explanation, the former being too terrifying to even consider.

She took her time standing, afraid that lying down for so long would throw her off balance. When she was upright, she realized just how sore she really was. Her knees cracked with every step she took and it seemed as though no matter how far she stretched her limbs, they would never feel at peace again.

She wasn’t sure what day it was, nor could she recognize whether it was day or night. Not knowing where she was going, she simply walked until her feet got tired, trying to catch a glimpse of anything in the darkness. Loneliness weighed down on her shoulders so much that even The Demogorgon would be a friendly face here.

Time and time again she considered using her powers to help guide her in the shadows to try and get a sense of where she was, but she knew any attempt at getting out was futile without some sort of sensory deprivation for her on the other side.

After what was probably only a few hours, Eleven found her eyelids drooping. She knew she hadn’t been awake for long, yet there was a weariness radiating throughout her with every step she took. However, the idea of falling asleep willingly instead of violently passing out was a warm thought in this cold world.

She sighed and looked to the ground. Her reflection rippled in the water and she frowned upon noticing the smudges of grime and blood that decorated her face. She knelt down, not caring that the hem of her dress got wet because she was still mildly damp from earlier, and dipped her palms in the shallow water. It felt refreshing against the scrapes on her hands she didn’t know she had. Then, she brought the water up to her face, doing her best to clean her ears and nostrils.

That’s when she heard it; “El,” Mike’s voice emerged out of nowhere. At first, she was startled, immediately frozen in place. After what felt like an eternity on her own, the sound of another person was unexpected. It echoed in such a way she couldn’t recognize whether it was in her own head or elsewhere, making her nervous. “It’s me again,” the disembodied voice said. It reverberated off of nothing and sounded like it was coming from everywhere.

Eleven shut her eyes tight and took the deepest breath she could muster before letting it out slowly. Eyes still closed, she focused on following the vibrations she felt in the air and slowly, one by one, let her feet guide her toward their source.

“I just wanted to tell you that I miss you… again. School should be back in next week or something so I won’t be able to talk to you as much. I’m really sorry. Also, Will is finally off bed rest tomorrow and I’m pretty sure the guys are coming over, but I’m not sure what we’re going to do. I haven’t written a decent campaign since that night at the school. I just wanted to let you know in case I can’t say goodnight or something while they’re here. I mean, I’ll still try, of course, if you want…” Empty static filled the air as he waited for a reply he knew would not come and sighed.

“El, I’m not giving up on you. We’re not giving up on you. When you feel strong enough, we know you’ll come back to us, somehow and we’ll find you. Just like you helped us find Will. He’s really excited to meet you too. I think you guys will hit it off.” Mike paused, realizing he was rambling now and tried to focus on the point he wanted to make tonight.

“I left some compasses and toys out for you too in case you can play with them or something in …” he choked on his sentence, swallowing the idea of Eleven being trapped in The Upside-Down. “In wherever you are,” he finished.

Mike shook out his hands trying to regain his composure, not wanting El to hear his voice crack if tears started to fall, if she could hear him at all.

It pained El to hear Mike so sad again. She remembered the feeling of guilt that encompassed her entire being the night the cops pulled Will’s “body” from the quarry and that same feeling of guilt warped her stomach into knots once again. But she couldn’t figure out why. She had defeated The Demogorgon to save her friends, so why did she feel so terrible about leaving them behind? Friend. She thought to herself. Someone you would do anything for. Mike’s words resonated with her as she followed the sound of his voice in the air.

He spoke again, a somber tone overtaking his voice. “I know our talk was kind of short tonight, but I really wanted to at least get a campaign started that way the guys don’t murder me for not trying. I’ll probably go to bed now and then wake up early to get started so maybe I’ll talk to you after breakfast or something.” He paused one more time, remembering the first night they found her. “Night, El,” he smiled weakly.

Eleven frowned and opened her eyes, wishing he had not stopped talking. But she could sense him near her. She wiped her nose, assuming there would be blood, but when she observed her sleeve, it only showed the faded crimson from earlier. Maybe her strength was returning or maybe it was simply easier to concentrate on finding Mike than it was finding a stranger.

Regardless, she decided to persevere. She still felt the radio static surrounding her, meaning Mike hadn’t turned off his super-comm. She shut her eyes, furrowing her brow, doing her best to conjure up an image of the basement.

El recalled the first night the boys brought her home, the same night she got her name. They were all sopping wet and she was shaking, her nose and fingers numb, similar to how she felt when she woke up today, but at least Mike’s jacket had helped that night. She thought about the clothes he gave her. They were soft and clean and smelled like him, a scent she didn’t know she would soon associate with the idea of comfort.

Every happy scene, scent, and memory from her first few nights in what became her safe haven came rushing back to her all at once. It made the connection stronger. She remembered Mike’s instant kindness and how the basement smelled like pizza that night. How he plugged in a nightlight for her because she was afraid of the dark. When he brought her Eggo's in the morning. She smiled at the warm thoughts, despite her nostrils beginning to clog.

Just as her nose started to drip, she opened her eyes.

There he was just a few feet way. Messy-haired and freckle-faced, super-comm in hand, Mike Wheeler lay in the mess of yellow blankets she used to call home. Unsure if this was real thing she conjured up or kist another trick, she was hesitant to believe it until she felt the radio waves humming in the air.

Happiness welled inside her chest like a balloon, but she didn’t dare try to contact him, fearing that if she did, he would dissipate into nothingness just like everything else in this godforsaken place and she would be left alone yet again.

Instead, she crept over to him silently, as if he would wake up at any moment, and lied down next to him. This close, she could see the tears that had dried on his cheeks, not bothering to wipe them away before he fell asleep.

The now all-too-familiar pain in her chest returned as she tried to wipe the salt off him, mimicking Mike’s gentle motions she remembered in the basement bathroom. But it didn’t matter. The tears were still there and she could do nothing to wipe them away because even though her hand laid across his cheek, her thumb rubbing moving in tiny circles just under his eye, she-felt nothing.

A tear of her own slid down her cheek as she curled into herself, hoping the close proximity of mirage Mike might provide her with a false sense of warmth and comfort. El concentrated with all her might to keep the image with her, to try and remember what the soft, lemon-scented fabric felt like enveloped around her.

Everything she felt was amplified in his presence. The cold hands of isolation suddenly tightened their grip around her throat. The salt of her tears were more potent than before. The ache in her chest turned into a pain that made her physically gasp for breath.

Suddenly, it became all too much. She remembered his mocking expression when she tried to apologize at the quarry, when the only word that came out was his name in a whisper. The look of utter betrayal that same night and how that same look crossed his face when she accidentally hurt Lucas. The image burned into the back of her eyelids.

What is wrong with you? Mike had screamed at her then. That's when she realized why Mike had been crying himself to sleep. The words felt like punches being thrown directly to her temples. You hurt me. What you did, sucks. Understand? His words played on repeat in her head and spit at her like venom.

She understood.

All she wanted to do was save the people she had come to love, to save the boys who saved her. Her friends. She hadn’t meant to cause more pain. She hurt Mike.

She hurt him and broke her promise. They wouldn’t go to The Snow Ball together, she would never get to try pudding, never have a bed of her own… and Mike would never forgive her.

Despite El’s head beating protests into her, nose and ears dripping blood, she simply wasn’t ready to let go of him. Not again. Not yet. She tried so hard to remember the feeling of her hands around his waist, her head on his shoulder, his lips on hers, but everything was running together.

The last thing she remembers before succumbing to unconsciousness was the feeling of bile rising in her stomach and the taste of copper between her teeth.

[coolkat122]

The Day It All Went To Hell Part 1 (Voltron AOT AU Reader Insert)

Just so there's no confusion I'll only be using Voltron characters for this little four(?)shot series that I got the idea for this by the seeing a voltron AOT fanart and had gotten an urge to write this.

P.S I'm going to try to make this as different as I can while still keeping a few things here and there, you'll find out what I'm keeping and what I'm not as we go since I don't want to list them, it's more fun when you discover it rather than being told it but I am placing this here so there won't be any confusion. Enjoy your read.

__

The walls they form all around us to protect us, keep us safe from the Titans that wished to do us harm not much is known about the Titans only that they seem to only eat humans and the only sure way we know to kill them is to slice the back of their necks. But other things still remain a mystery to us like where do they come from? How do they reproduce? And so on, my Brother thinks that there must be a stork Titan flying around delivering Titan babies, his logic was if there’s a stork delivering human babies there must be one for Titans.

He’s strange like that but I wouldn’t change a thing about him, I thought as I watched him play with the little brother of my friend Romelle with some sticks they found pretending they were swords that they would use to kill Titans.  If you hadn’t figured it out that’s what he wanted to do when he was older, to be like those famous scouts he’d always talk about.

The two most famous ones were Zarkon & Alfor since they were the most talked about though he said his favorite was Gyrgan, I didn’t have one, I appreciated all of them but I just didn’t really like thinking about those things and the best way to do that was to not think of the any of the people that fought them since it pretty much goes hand and hand.

I don’t know if that’s what Bandor wanted to do as well since he never told and I never thought to ask, I know what Romelle wanted to do, she was looking forward to being a teacher where’s I… uh had no idea actually. Writer maybe? I heard that I have good handwriting maybe that could transfer over to being a good writer? I don’t know… I still have time to figure it all out.  

“It’s getting kind of late” I took my eyes off of the boys turning my attention to Romelle as she was looking to the sky that was now noticeably darker than earlier. “You’re right…” I hummed before getting off the log calling out to my brother, “it’s time to go Wally” The freckled face boy pouted as he walked over reluctantly, whining on his way that he didn’t get to finish off the last one.

“We’ll get him next time” Bandor reassured causing a grin that showed his missing tooth to appear on my brother’s face. “Yeah you’re right, he won’t get away that easy” Wally gave a thumbs up while I crooked my brow and asked a question that was slightly bothering me.

“How would you know it’s him?...don’t they kind of look alike?” Sure there were different types but from some detailed drawings, I saw by those that have fought them and it showed that they all mostly looked alike. “Only to a regular civilian like you two but to us scouts our eyes have been specially trained to pick up all sorts of things that would usually go unnoticed by the common folk” He pointed his thumb to himself &  Bandor both wearing proud smirks on their faces as if what they said were true and not just something they made up.

Okay I can see now where this is going to go I’ll bring up legit questions waiting for logical answers only to receive made up facts that he would think up out of the blue (at least I assumed they were made up on the spot, hard to tell just how much time he feeds into his imagination).

“Uh-huh, sure, let’s get a move on before we get a long lecture from Mom and Dad about being out so late” Romelle nodded as to back me up. “Alllright… C’ya Bandor”  Wally waved before running off over to my side, Bandor returned it while pretty much doing the same except it’s by his sister side rather than mine. I also said my farewells to my friend as we went our separate ways on home.

During our walk Wally was telling me the kind of Titans he and Bandor were ‘slayings' and how they were doing it with a bunch of made up moves I’m sure they wouldn’t actually be able to do in real life but I humored him by acting amazed (for now at least, I noticed Romelle would do it for her brother so I decided to do it to for the day).

“So we finally came up with a move that impressed you huh?” Wally bought up taking noticed that this was a first where I didn’t say how silly their moves sounded.

“Well, there’s a first for everything kiddo”  He puffed his chest out again with another proud smirk. “Oh, boy Bandor gonna want to hear about this” And this is why I don’t like humoring him, it gets to his head real quick (well I think this is actually a first but I have compliment him in the past and got the same results). “Uh-oh,” He stopped in his tracks causing him to be a few steps behind until I slowed to a stop myself staring at him with Confusion.

“What?” He showed me a fake wooden knife that was decently made as I started wondering where he got it from? Lord knows he can’t craft anything decent enough to save his life. “I forgot to return this to Bandor, when we were playing I pretend that I lost my blades while a Titan had me and this is what he tossed me” I now recalled seeing Bandor toss Wally something but didn’t really care assuming that it was just another stick or something.

“Why’d he toss you a knife instead of just using his gear to come to rescue you?” Wouldn’t that be better than using a tiny knife that probably wouldn’t have done any real damage?

“He couldn’t have he was out of gas and there was no way he would get to me in time I had to save myself” Right, of course, I rolled my eyes causing him to frown when he caught me in the act. “Besides it adds more tensions and risk at the situation if all I have to work with is a knife to fight for my life against a Titan” Yup makes sense to me.

“Okay well you can return it later, there’s really no rush” I reasoned as I looked to the darkening sky when my gaze turned back to him, his arms were crossed and he was frowning.

"But I want to return it to him now, please sis? You don't have to come with, you can just wait here and I'll go it would be faster that way” He pleaded with his puppy eyes, I really wanted to say no but eventually cave which made those forest green eyes light up brighter than the stars.

"Awesome, I'll be right back I promise" He shouted as he took off into the direction of Romelle and Bandor's home, I looked for a place to sit as I sighed at the thought of the long lecture we were definitely going to receive.

Not much time had passed about five minutes or so when the ground started shaking, I along with everyone else around turned ourselves to see where it was coming from and what we saw was worse than what we thought.

A Titan much bigger than the walls was peaking over at us looking over at everyone inside as its brown orbs lingered a little too long on a certain area and I'm not sure if I am seeing this right but when it did I...I thought saw some kind of emotion in its eyes... I think saw guilt.

I really don’t know but that guilt(if that's even what it was) wasn’t enough to stop it because a few seconds later big pieces of the walls went flying everywhere, crushing those it landed on. I was knocked down by the force and was almost out cold with how I hit my head if it weren't for some random stranger that spotted me and got me back up on my feet.

He tried to help me get to safety apparently Titans were coming in...the Titans...were.. coming...in! "WALLY!" I shouted as I realized that my brother wasn’t with me I tugged and pulled until my hand was freed from the man that was trying to take me to safety but I didn’t want to go not without my brother, my friends… my family!

I quickly ran as fast as I could desperately trying to find my brother, he was my top priority after that since I would already be so close to Romelle I’ll go to them before finally getting Mom and Dad, and heading to the boats. Would we make it in time? I don’t know all that I do know and care about is that I’m not doing it without my family.

"Hey, where are you going the boats that way, HEY KID!" I heard someone shout but I didn't listen to them I just kept running until I came to a stop when I saw a boulder blocking my path as I cursed, I was so close Romelle's home is just passed this boulder.

I looked over the boulder hoping to find some way to get by when I saw my worst fears come to life under the boulder was my brother Wally his forest green eyes that were once filled to the brim with life were now dull and lifeless...and they were staring right at me...

"N-no...no, noooo!" I repeated before screaming out falling to my knees as everything faded till everything around me just drifted away until all I could see was my brother's lifeless corpse, there were flashes in my mind of how he was when he was alive. Smiling, cheerful, a total goofball, always skipping out on his chores, never stopping about how he and Bandor were going to free us all of the Titans one day but now... none of that even matters cause none of it will ever come true...

My brother started to look like he was becoming smaller and further away from view until I couldn't see him anymore... now that I think about it the reason he was becoming smaller was because someone was pulling me away from him, my gaze dully looked at my hand since that's where I felt someone pulling me and then slowly followed up from the hand to their arm pass their shoulders till I reached the back of their head...

It was that boy that always gets in trouble at school, what was his name again? You would think with the number of times I would hear our teacher shout it in anger I would have it memorized by now but I seem to be drawing a blink...

He got us to the boats just fine and just in time too this was the last one leaving if I had missed it I would have been stuck here with the Titans, left for dead as something to snack on. When we aboard I slowly walked off over to a nearby corner to sit in.

From over in my corner I saw many different types of people those lucky to have escaped with their loved ones and those not so fortunate, some of them were like me just quietly sitting by themselves void of any emotions just a blink husk that was trying to adjust to the idea of the person they held dear not returning while most were outright crying over their lost.

"_____!" Two separate voices called my name as they rushed over to me Upon realizing who they were I snapped my eyes over in their direction when they reached me they quickly pulled me into a hug that I returned feeling relieved to see them alive and well.

I felt so many emotions at that moment, happy to see that my friends were alive and well but pain, grief from the loss I've experienced today, losing my home, my parent's whereabouts and fate being left unknown and my brother's death. All these emotions were going on inside me and I didn't know what to be focusing on the fact that at the very least my friends are alive or the pain and heartache of my brother's death, the uneasiness of not knowing what has become of my parents?

When Bandor pulled back he asked a question that I had really wish he hadn't. "Hey, where's Wally?" I didn't need to say anything my silence was enough to make them aware of my brother's fate, Romelle placed a hand over her mouth as she gasped. "Oh no..."

Bandor's eyes darken as he looked back to our fallen home and cursed. "Those bastards!" Romelle pulled me back into the hug while Bandor sat down beside me not saying anything as he just looked at his lap with his legs folded across one another deep in thought.

We stayed like this until the boat reached the safe zone within a new city, Galra city it was bigger than our city but it already housed a lot of people you could just tell by the looks everyone was giving that they weren't too thrilled to have more mouths to feed.

I wasn't the only one to notice this Romelle and Bandor did as well but tried to not let it affect them as we continued living here, telling ourselves that this was only temporary that the government would take care of it soon, they'll get our home back and take out those monsters.

I wanted to believe that as much as them but I didn't I just couldn't fool myself into it and as the days went by things were only made worse when word got back that not even the most famous of forces made it back in fact only one survived... Zarkon and rumor has it he came back changed since he was the only one of his friends that made it back.

Makes sense that he would be different after the people you worked with for years were slaughtered right in front of you while you were too helpless to do anything, I would hear a whisper that King Alfor was with them.

"Wait didn't he retire after becoming king?" One of the people in line in front of us asked as Bandor stared in shock he couldn't believe that they had failed, he and my brother looked up to them so much... everyone did, they were one of the few that picked scouts and lived to be as old as they are plus they were the only ones with the kill count that high.

The day word got out that they were going to clear the area everyone hopes went through the roof with chatter going around that if anyone could get our home back it was them...guess no one's getting our home back now, all hope for it was lost, you could see it in everyone's eyes.

"Yes he did but once he heard that one of his cities was lost, he couldn't find it in himself to sit by and do nothing though it would seem he should have searched harder" Bandor balled his fist as he glared at the people saying all of those nasty things, I could tell he really wanted to do something but didn't, he was too kind, it just wasn't in his nature.

Romelle, on the other hand, took it upon herself to correct their attitudes on the situation. "What is wrong with you people? our King just risked his life to try and help make things better and you treat it as if it were nothing? How do you think the princess would feel if she heard how her people treated her Father's sacrifice? How do you think Zarkon the man in charge of this city would feel if he heard you talk about his friend in such a manner?"  They looked pissed to be told off by a younger girl but seemed to give what she said some thought, they probably would get into some serious trouble if someone important had heard their talk lucky for them though it was just a bunch of kids instead.

We soon got our food and went on our way to find a nice enough spot to eat it though when we did find a spot and started chowing down Bandor was the only one not touching his instead he appeared to be deep in thought. "Bandor what's wrong?"

His eyes sadden as he stared into his meal. "They really are dead...I didn't want to believe it when we first heard it but it just keeps becoming more and more clear that they are when Zarkon came riding in on his horse alone and all banged up...it took a while to process that they lost"

"It's not the end of the world Bandor we'll get our h-" Romelle tried to cheer him up but Bandor interrupted.

"Romelle we won't they've given up I can see it in everyone's eyes" Romelle wondering if her brother was right took a look around and got her answer with each passing glance she took at those around her the more she realized that no one wanted to take the risk.

"But that's alright, I won't expect others to take back what we lost instead I'm going to step up in three months I'll be old enough to sign up for training and not long after I can go, I can take back our home, I'll make everything right again for you, for ____" His eyes cut to me last shining at the brim before they darken just a tiny bit as he looked down again "...for Wally" Romelle placing her food down to her left raised up from her seat.

"You can't possibly want to join after what happened to our brother, after what happened to King Alfor and the others? It's suicide!" Bandor copying Romelle stood up as well just a foot or two away from Romelle.

"We still don't know if brother is dead and even if he is that doesn't change that we can't live here forever especially as freeloaders they barely tolerate us as is but if I join they'll overlook us staying here since I'll be earning our keep" I was pretty much silent throughout their argument as I thought over more and more on what Bandor said.

Taking back our home... earning our keep... the more I thought about it the more I realized that I don't want to live like this nor do I want to live here, this isn't my home it's not where I belong... my place is back in Pollux town back where my brother and I grew up... I don't want to stay here longer than necessary.

"I'm joining too" They turned to me with widening eyes, Romelle stepping forward shaking her head as she tried to think of what to say but nothing she would bring up will change my mind, I want to go back home. I want to rebuild the home I lost... It may sound weird but I'll never feel truly at home until I get that place back.

"____, yo-you can't, think about what you are saying"  Bandor someone I thought would be on my side joined in with Romelle.

"I didn't mean for you to think that you had to join, I'll take back our home for us, you don't have to feel like it's your responsibility" I shook my head as I explained.

"It's not that, though I do feel like I should do it because that was my home too but that's only one part of the many reasons why I want to do this but the bigger part is because I want to go home, the one I grew up in even if I have to rebuild it from scratch I don't care, I just want it back" I could feel the tears started to flood my gates but I wouldn't let them through, I don't want to cry not anymore, I think I've done enough in private.

"I...I never thought of it like that" Romelle said quietly as she held her hands to her chest before looking determined herself. "Then I want to join too" Bandor snapped in his sister's direction surprised by her sudden change in opinion.

"R-Romelle!" She turned her attention toward her brother voicing the same reason that I want to join.

"I didn't think about it until now but when _____ bought it up I starting realizing that I want my home back too, it's where we grew up and it's where we all became friends I don't just want to abandon that place without at least trying myself to get it back nor can I stay here without earning the right too" Bandor eyes searched his sister's looking for some form of doubt or lack of resolve but found none so he sighed.

"Alright we can do it together, we'll take back our home but I'm not stopping there I'm going to make sure that we never have to live a day in fear again by doing what Wally and I swore we would" I thought that, that was promising too much even back then, that was all the two would talk about but I didn't want to voice these thoughts instead I let him have this.

Once we got this talk out the way we were going back to eating well I was until I spotted the boy that saved me all beaten up, I frowned as I pieced together what had happened after seeing a group of adults walk off with some food. I got up to walk over to him. Romelle and Bandor questioning my actions but I quickly dismiss them telling them to wait right here I'll be back shortly.

They were hesitant but did as I ask, I approached him offering my food but he barely gave it a second glance. "I don't need it" He weakly pushed it away declining my offer. I sat down beside him and tried to think of what to say? Until the obvious answer came to me.

"I never did get to say thank you...for saving me.. I was so out of it that I lost my manners-"

"I didn't do it to get thanks, I did it because it was the right thing to do" He wasn't exactly sounding very friendly nor like he was in the mood to talk but I didn't let it stop me, I came over to give him my food and I wasn't leaving till he eats it.

"Doesn't mean I shouldn't still thank you" I shot back. "I wouldn't be here if you hadn't been so insistent on saving me... I'm not sure if I would have been if the situation was reversed but I plan to change that starting with feeding a stubborn mullet-haired boy, oh look I found one" I pushed the food closer to him, he looked at me for a bit before sighing probably realizing that I wasn't going to give up.

"Fine" He grabbed the bread saying. "But I'm only eating this" He pushed the plate back. "I don't need the rest" Now I was the one sighing as I picked my plate backup replying.

"Well that's good enough I suppose" At least he's eating something, I thought but... he's alone, I'm sure they went for him because he doesn't have anyone with him like how I have Bandor and Romelle who did he have?

"Hey, are you with anyone?" He had stopped munching on the bread to shake his head like I thought, that means this will just keep happening unless. "Would you like to.. maybe to join up with my friends and I?" He took the last bite before standing.

"I'll pass...thanks for the bread" My heart sunk at his refusal but accepted his decisions nonetheless, I got up and rejoined with Romelle and Bandor as we went back to the rundown building that all the survivors were assigned to live at for the time being.

We had a long three months to wait until we sign, even though Romelle and I could do it right now if we wanted to but we didn't not until Bandor was old enough that way we all can then together we'll take back the home that was stolen from us.

____

This was going to be longer but I thought I should just end it here and save the rest for later.

Don't Forget to Heart, Comment and Follow if you haven't already. I would love to hear your thoughts on all of my stories.

Shameless self-promotion:

Like/Love or simply enjoy my one-shots? Then check out these beauties:

Super Psycho Love (request closed for now )

GenderBender One Shots

Girls Like Girls (Yuri OneShots)

Wicked Or Misunderstood? (Descendants Short Stories Series)

Fandom Rangers (One Shots Reader Insert)

Pinocchio's 2.0 (Reader Insert )

Sora x Yandere Reader

Sora x Yandere Reader Prequel

Sephiroth x Reader Insert One Shot(s)

Prompto One-Shot

Road Trip (FFKH)

The Bond Between Siblings (FFKH One Shots)

[zi-tales]

Interview: Aum Yzyrlid