#yeah it costs money to ask someone to help you fix your book and its necessary

[tallysgreatestfan]

Can't really help with much about the service dog, other than yeah, it does cost a lot and the training also will take some time, the dog will not be born knowing everything they need to know.

A friend of mine has a service dog in training, and not only do they need to put a lot of their own money into his training because health insurance refuses to pay, and they have to do a lot of the training themselves.

But for researching autism (I assume from your ask that you are not autistic, sorry if I interpreted wrong): The most important thing about researching is to listen to what autistic people themselves describe, not what Autism Mums or hate groups like Autism Speaks or even medical professionals say.

I would recommend the #actually autistic tag here on tumblr or twitter, but if you prefer reading forum entries or books, there is this too. Read until you have a "feel" of how autistic people generally act. This will vary quite a bit between different people, but there still is some kind of... I can't describe it any other way than essence you will start to notice if you read enough.

Autism Mums or hate groups or medical professionals not only will almost exclusively focus on the negative sides of autism, and how they bother neurotypicals as opposed to how they are bad for the autistic person, they are often also straight up exaggerated or incorrect. A "good" red flag to notice that some text is not helpful is focusing on neurotypicals reactions or issues more than the autistic persons problems, and calling autism generally the problem and something to be fixed, not something neutral with good and bad parts.

What is also important to know, but barely said, is that for many autistic people (not all!) from the outside it looks as if they have outgrown their autism. This does not mean it isn't still there, it just means that they have learned, often times through abuse, to hide all the autistic parts of themselves, and/or how to deal with problems more effectively.

An autistic kid often is the no eye contact bad communication infodumps over special interest cliche. An autistic adult in most cases (though again, not all, autistic people who can't mask exist too) will just be slightly too quiet and have talking patterns and facial expressions that, to an neurotypical, feel slightly off but they also can't pinpoint what exactly is different.

It is very important to know however, that this hiding (masking) is extremely exhausting. And often we can't even deliberately stop. It becomes so ingrained at some point that there sometimes barely is anything but the mask, because we learned that hiding being autistic (because its wrong. Because it will get you bad looks or comments or even abuse) is more important than our own wellbeing.

Another often overlooked piece is that autistic people tend to flock to each other. It is kind of like a gaydar, but for being autistic. I can't count the amount of times I met someone new, at work or at a gay bar or a protest or something, and talking with them was unusually easy, and later it turns out they are autistic as well.

Not even sure how it works, but it happens a lot. This usually will make communication easier, both because of similar communication style and because you are not in as much "danger" if you slip up and say how you are different or what problems you have.

However that does not mean that there are also autistic people who hate each other with a passion; autistic traits vary a lot and can clash, and autistic people are people and sometimes one person just does not get along with another.

Hope that was helpful and actually needed, otherwise just hope this long post helps other people wanting to write autistic characters

Alright, so long story short, my oc has a autism service dog (who is kind of also her familiar) and is a witch. What can I do to make this character realistic?

(sorry if this is vague, I have no other idea how to express this.)

Hi asker!

The most important thing would be to do research on service animals and how they specifically help people.

First, service animals are also a huge investment, both in terms of time and in terms of money. Owner training is expensive, but so can a professional trainer. Someone who gets a service dog via a charity will still be on the hook for things like food and vet bills. This means that someone who doesn't have enough time or money might not have a service dog because they're a pretty big commitment. They're not generally a first resort, because while they are very useful and can really help many people, they are also an alive being. And anything that's alive needs more care than things that aren't. Dogs have to eat and poop and pee and that needs consideration; and they can get sick, distracted, develop allergies to foods, and whatnot while machines can't. So thinking about how your character navigates these things will help them feel more realistic.

Not that you have to include or even know every detail of how they paid for training or how many hours they spent on it! But just knowing the general idea will be good.

Second, what tasks does the dog do to help your character? Basically, what does she need help with that the dog can do?

The International Association of Assistance Dog Partners has a list of tasks a service dog could perform for psychiatric conditions; it mentions depression, anxiety, and PTSD specifically but are not exclusive to those. From that list I'm including a couple that could be relevant to an autistic character, although it's in not exhaustive.

Bringing medication

Summon help from designated people

Assistance leaving an area by finding the exit

Providing deep pressure therapy to calm/ground handler

Help 'unfreeze' handler from dissociation or similar

The organization Ella's Animals also has a list of tasks a service dog for specifically autism could do; again, not exhaustive:

Providing deep pressure therapy to calm/ground handler (mentioned again!)

Trained tactile stimulation to ground handler

Behavior interruption, like of harmful stimming

Alerting handler of something they're not responding to

"Buffering" in crowds

Retrieving items

Alerting of elopement (NOTE: tethering and body-blocking are sometimes mentioned as something a service dog can do for autistic handlers, particularly children. But generally speaking, this shouldn't be done. It can be dangerous for the dog and the handler.)

You'll want to think of what tasks your character will generally need from their service dog, and while you don't have to describe them all in great detail, mentioning them when relevant will be pretty important and make your character feel more real.

Also, depending on your character's witchiness, too, you could add a little flair. Like maybe your character needs extra assistance after they cast spells because it's overwhelming, or they had to train the dog to recognize what they look like when they're casting spells so the dog doesn't interrupt!

I hope this helps!

– mod sparrow

[separatist-apologist]

I feel you so hard on these bad book recommendations… you know that picture of Keanu reeves smoking a cigarette and he just looks so fucking done? That’s me. I freelance edit for work and I edit fanfiction and manuscripts alike… I would say 85% of the fanfiction I edit and read personally (ESPECIALLY YOURS) is more profound, well written, and flows better than the majority of popular book tok recs. The manuscripts I’ve edited have all been so wonderful. I am so genuinely lost at how books like Zodiac Academy and King of Battle and Blood get so much hype and recognition. I respect that it is a lot of work and takes courage to share stories but come on man. I feel fried to a crisp! I am one more bad book away from hypnotizing myself into forgetting how to read. It’s cathartic to see a fellow hater in the midst.

First of all, an editor you say? I might need to hit you up in a month or two and find out your rates.

Secondly, I think my issue isn't that people like the books. It's the toxic, near weaponized positivity of "We can't say anything bad/everything is a 4 star review" instead of "this book was dogshit BUT i liked it anyway" which is more honest. Especially lately, I've been seeing a lot of push back of like, telling people you don't like books/they're bad prevents people from reading them and like, YES THATS THE POINT OF A REVIEW. A review is NOT FOR THE AUTHOR, I don't care about the authors livelihood/income and the expectation shouldn't be that I have to prioritize their desire to write books over being allowed to say "This book should have been edited", ESPECIALLY when it comes to indie authors.

ESPECIALLY when it comes to indie authors, like given how inexpensive and almost easy it is to write and upload to KU, people should be demanding quality over quantity and they're not. Instead they're asking readers to just say "this was not for me but other people might like it" and that's an assumption. I've read books based on 1 star reviews before, and I've read books that people don't like as a group, but like, falsifying reviews in order to keep authors from having hurt feelings or not having a lucrative career is just...its not it for me.

I genuinely think some of these books are so disrespectful to the people who DO like them. Where is your care? Where is your passion? Churning out books that aren't edited (SCARLETT ST CLAIR) and then going back to edit if they sell well is horseshit. Not paying for an editor at all and then publishing a book riddled with problems only to then turn around and say "you shouldn't be so negative, I'm an indie author" is horseshit. Writing a book so egregiously racist/sexist/homophobic that it's harmful because you didn't want to find sensitivity readers (or worse, rewrite the issues they found) is horseshit (especially given how many people do this accidentally).

I think about my own job and like, probably most of our jobs where we can't just drop garbage into the world and say, "well this is my dream" okay so what? You wrote a genuinely shitty book at bare minimum, I should be allowed to say so. It's written badly. Your plot is poorly developed. So I'm a hater who can't be nice, and I'll never be nice about it.

And like, to finish this rant, my director always tells me, "[insert person]'s opinion of you is none of your business." And that has been so freeing to me, as someone who craves the approval of people around me and never wants anyone to be mad. Not everyone is going to like you. Authors should learn this and grow up about reviews. It's not personal- I'm not saying you're a bad person. I'm saying you clearly took very little care with your book and it shows.

[hoonhrt]

EMBRASSE-MOI

: pairing — student! jay x tutor! reader

: genre — fluff, crack 

: song recc. — L’amour by Miel De Montagne 

: a/n — this lowkey sucks but I've been wanting to get work out so I'm sorry if this isn't the best :(( also I'm still learning french so if some of it is wrong pls lmk so i can fix it!! 

Jay was your school’s resident bad boy. blond hair, all-black outfits, cuts class and yells at kids that look his way. you know? the usual. You on the other hand were the complete opposite. straight-A student. A quiet kid who didn’t dare look the ways of Jay Park and his Clique™. So imagine the shock that was felt when the boy you avoided at all costs, walks up to you in the middle of the cafeteria asking for French lessons. 

“You want me to do what?” He rolls his eyes, tired of this conversation already. 

“Can you not hear? I’m failing French and I need to pass or else my parents won’t let me move to France.” He speaks as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“And you’re asking me why?” He rolls his eyes again for what felt like the 100th time. You’re just confused about how he even knows of your existence.

“Listen, all I know that you’re in my French class and that you pay attention, I’ll even pay you I just need to get my mark up.” You perk up to the sound of money. You don’t really need but it’s still nice to have some. Doing this will get you good Karma right? 

“Fine. Meet me at the library every Monday and Wednesday after class, got it?” Jay stares at you with annoyance. He really does not want to be wasting his senior year on stupid lessons but, here we are. He reluctantly agrees and watches you walk away, struggling to hold your books in your arms. He turns around and lets out a deep sigh, wondering if the hot chicks and fancy baguettes in France are really worth this

Minutes turned into hours as you waited for Jay to show up. You waited patiently for hours just for this kid to not show up. Annoyed, you start to pack up your books. You don’t know why you’d think someone like Jay would actually show up to a voluntary tutor session. You were just about to make your way out of the library when you see someone running towards you almost like the flash. As the figure got closer to your still body, you realize it was Jay. Now, bent over in front of you gasping for air with his tongue out like a dog. You stared at his limped-over figure with confusion and slight disgust. 

“s-s-sorry i was… late, i f-forgot about… this.” he manages to speak out with the little air he has in him. He stands up and evens out his breath. 

“what makes you think i’m gonna tutor you now? you wasted my time Park, i have a life too you know.” you snap at him. He stares at you for a brief second before letting out a hearty laugh, throwing his head back and slapping his leg. He sees your serious expression, your eyes glaring at him like an eagle and awkwardly stops laughing. 

“Look, i’m paying you and this is only gonna last for a little while. i just need to pass, that’s it.” His eyes shine with a hopeful gleam, a look that is extremely rare to see from Jay Park. He looked a little cute. You dramatically sigh and start walking into the library, Jay following behind you. 

You settle at the table you sat at prior, re-opening your book bag to pull out your notes. He just watches you do that, not making an effort to even bring out a pencil. 

“Okay, so how much french do you even know?” 

He stares into space, a little hesitant to continue. “Um, i can ask if i can go to the bathroom?” You stare at him with disbelief. You’ve been in this class with him for months and that’s all he knows. 

“THAT’S IT?” 

“Oh and i can say good morning!” you let out a loud groan that catches the attention of others around, causing them to loudly shush at you. Feeling annoyed again, you contemplate if the money was really worth it. You sigh out and start looking for your notes from the beginning of the semester. This was gonna take a LONG time. 

“... and that’s how you conjugate verbs in the past tense, aka passé composé!” You finish off the session with joy. Jay on the other hand has gone completely blank, not remembering a single word you just told him. He stares down at his notes, then at you, then back down at his notes. You can see the struggle on his face and he hasn’t said a word yet. 

“I’m never gonna pass french. This is it. I can kiss France goodbye.” he claims with despair. This already too hard for him and he barely has learned anything. He sets his head on the table and mumbles to himself about how he will never be happy if he doesn’t live his youthful 20’s in France. You sat across from him irritated with his discouraging behaviour and a little sad that you weren’t able to teach him well. Until you come up with a plan that might help him improve much quicker.  

“What if… we hang out this weekend? We can do something and we’ll only speak in French! Of course I’ll help you and all that. But like, maybe? Only if you want to of course you probably don’t wanna spend your weekend with me i dont know you know its just a plan.” you ramble on and on without stopping and Jay simply just watches you. He smirks a little before nodding. 

“How about you put your number in my phone and then I’ll text you when I’m free hm?” he slides his phone across the table towards you and eyes you typing it in. He catches a glimpse of your rose-coloured cheeks and smirks a little more. 

“Okay, uh there’s my number! Just um, text me you know, when you’re free!” you manage to stutter out. Jay just nods at you and again, watches you walk away. This time a slight smile across his face. 

A sudden notification pulls you away from your thoughts. An unknown number that you had a feeling belonged to a particular boy you didn’t think would actually text you. 

042-002-1130: bonjour 

042-002-1130: was that even right

042-002-1130: anyways I’m free on saturday if you wanna hang ig 

042-002-1130: samedi is saturday right 

042-002-1130: it is wow im such a genius 

You let out a snort at his cocky behaviour and reply back, letting him know that you were free yourself and to meet you at the school grounds at 2 pm. 

Saturday shows up as you wait outside the school gates, a picnic basket in hand. An all-black car with dark tinted windows zooms up to you. The window is pulled down and alas, the handsome boy sits in the driver’s seat, ushering you to get into the car with his hand. 

“Woah a picnic basket? Listen y/n you’re cool and all but this isn’t a date,” he speaks and notices you roll your eyes. A smug smile tugging his lips. 

“No you asshole, I have a plan with this.” 

“Tell me,” Jay begins to drive away from the school. The destination is unknown to you but extremely familiar to the boy next to you. 

“In here there is a bunch of food, in order for you to eat, you’re gonna have to say the name of the food in french.” He turns his head to see you looking back at him, a sweet smile places on your face. Jay has always known of you. You sat in the back of the classroom, handed in all your work on time and never skipped a class. You had very few friends and always seemed to be lost in a dream world when you weren’t working. Jay had never been able to speak to you personally as you always avoided him but know he has the chance to actually talk to you, and he doesn’t wanna mess it up. 

The car stopped at the edge of a giant grassy field. The greenery going miles ahead. Trees surrounding the two of you. Jay like a gentleman runs out of the car to open the door for you. You blush at his actions, thanking him silently by smiling at him. 

He directs you to a small spot under a tree. You lay out a blanket for you to sit on while Jay leans up against the tree. You tell him to sit down next to you as you bring out all the little snacks to share with him. He thinks that he could get used to this. 

“D’accord, commençons! Qu'est-ce que ç'est?” (okay, lets start! What is this?) 

You pick up a grape. He thinks for a little bit before answering. “Un raisin.” (a grape) You clap with glee and hand him over the grape. A silence falls between you both, unaware of how to keep going. He picks up a strawberry and brings it to your face. “Tu aime les fraises?” (do you like strawberries?) You eye him for a second, for someone who said he only knows how to ask how to go the bathroom in french, he knows quite a bit. You nod a little, opening your mouth and letting him feed you the sweet fruit. Your face matches the colour of the strawberry and he giggles. You pull out a sandwich and ask him to describe what’s in it. 

“Dans le sandwich, il y a du jambon, du beurre, et de la tomate.” (in the sandwich there is some ham, some butter, and some tomato.) He speaks confidently. 

“Trés bien Jay! Tu es bon en parler francias!” (very good Jay! You are really good at speaking French!) 

“Merci, mon Cheri.” (Thank you, my dear.) you blush even more before and shy away from Jay’s gaze. Jay being the very bold guy that he is, placing his hand underneath your jaw, forcing you to meet his eyes. You both just stare at each other as the sun sets behind you. Was Jay always this beautiful? His eyes scan over your face seeking for any discomfort, none is to be found. So he makes the move and starts to lean in. You already have your eyes closed and lips puckered out, ready to embrace a feeling you’ve never felt before.

His breath fans over your lips and just before he kisses you he asks “je peux t’embrasser? (can I kiss you?) you eagerly nod and whisper out “embrasse-moi.” (kiss me.) Jay finally places his lips on yours and everything feels right. Your hands find their way to the back of his neck to deepen the kiss. You stay in this position with him for a little while before you pull back for air. Both his hands cradle your face, his thumb rubbing across the apples of your cheeks.

“I still have a lot to learn y’know?” Jay breaks the silence. You laugh out loud, falling into his lap. 

“Same time next week then yeah?” He lets out a ‘hmm’ and watches you rest your head against his thigh, playing with the ends of your hair. ‘Maybe France could wait a little’ he thought. 

[one-real-imonkey]

Wild anon with far too many ideas is back! Have you seen @thatfunkyopossum's headcanons for the Guard being dumpster divers (post/621942185340846080/coruscant-guard-culture-hcs)? It's so interesting! Does anything similar happen in the Corrie Guard AU? Now I'm just imagining clones organizing furniture / clothing drives for the refugees in the lower levels. Or having a huge system of trade and bartering for supplies / bacta / etc. There's a lot of potential!

Hi anon with so many ideas, I love them all and I'm adding to my answers for all of them, some of which will be fics some will just be notes like this one. Anyway, thank you so much for asking, and here we go...

———

Yeah, my Corrie Guard AU has some very similar things.

Overall, they're opportunistic, and they don't waste things or look down on what they're offered. They get very good at repurposing and fixing things. They don't actually have a lot of oversight, the Senators and nat-born Senate Guard don't care about the Guard barracks or what they do in their free time, so their base and their free time is theirs.

A lot of what they get is donated though. Some of its from the lower levels, started up by people who realised what the Corries were going through and decided to act, and it's often not much, but a pad and some colouring pencils or a homemade meal can go a long way emotionally to show you someone cares. Thanks to Palpy and the Senate, just giving them money isn't easy, not to mention many of the people in the lower levels don't have the money to spare. However, even if they can't be given credits, they can be given other things.

One of the most amazing things the Corries managed to get is access to food from the upper levels. Hound managed to wrangle a deal in which all the day old food that none of the rich snobs would buy because it was 'no longer fresh' from some of the high end patisseries near the base would go to the Guard instead of being thrown away. The Guard noticed all that perfectly good food going to waste and decided it was stupid that the food would be wasted when they didn't have enough. They managed to sort out a few deals like that, and while some of it is a little stale or has a little mould, most of the food is perfectly fine and the Corries are more than happy to have it.

A lot of the items that are donated from people rather than businesses are also things they can use to create things to sell, including toys for kids and pieces of art (and a few tattoo designs or just tattoos (Inky goes down to the lower levels twice a week to do tattoos and their costs are reasonable and fair)). A haberdashery sells their hand made dolls and soft toys in exchange for a small cut and a discount on the cost of the materials. That same haberdashery also gives them all the left over offcuts of materials for them to do with as they wish. They get sewn together or hung off of things and just generally used to spruce up the base.

They Corries do a lot of charity work and give a lot away to help others, if there's been a large accident like a fire or public transport crash or an outbreak of some sort of illness, supplies from the Guard may go 'missing'. They often spend their free time creating things they can donate or sell, especially to people who need them.

They also ended up in weird situations where they do favours for people in exchange for small but weird things. It started with Pup breaking off of a patrol to help a little old lady called Mirka carry some bags she was struggling with, and then she made an off hand comment about how very strong he was and how useless she was at doing things nowadays in her old age and he volunteers to help out. (He doesn't quite believe she's as weak as she claims, but he's not rude enough to doubt her aloud).

Pup was happy to help move some furniture for her, especially when she gave him a whole huge box full of home baked cookies ('Because you young boys deserve it') and then he offered to help again if she needed, and she told her friends about it...

Within a month a great deal of the Corries were going down to do all sorts of things these elderly citizens couldn't manage, and being rewarded with all sorts of things. Sometimes it was credits, sometimes it was food, sometimes it was books or fabrics or hand made clothes (theres a knitting group dedicated to making a jumper for every single Corrie) and sometimes it was even more random things, included but not limited to a day at a spa for 20, 4 gallons of homemade jam, a karaoke machine and a slightly broken but still working hydroponics device for growing plants.

And of course the plotting of conspiratorial little old ladies is never containable, so quickly all sorts of other opportunities are set up for the Corries to earn money without stress or danger, including youth clubs, charity drives and anything else they can 'disguise as work'. It's not like the people on 998 can't use the help but similarly they want to help people. Especially other people the Senate treat like dirt.

Mirka, the little old lady who Pup had first helped, gave him her extensive amount of sewing and knitting equipment, claiming her hands just shook too much nowadays and oh, her eyesight, surely some of your lovely siblings will be able to use them better than little old I. She also gave him her old curtains, which she claimed she no longer needed, along with several blankets and old pieces of clothing and any fabric she could find.

Weave and Loom just about cried when Pup handed them over.

A few weeks later all of those pieces of fabric returned to level 998, either in the form of clothes worn by the Corries so they didn't have to be in their blacks or armour, or as soft toys to sell (or donate) for the little kids.

Weave and Loom finally made their way down to level 998 with several head-scarfs for Mirka as a thank you, which she wears frequently. Her children moved away long ago, her siblings and other family members are gone, she saw her grandchildren maybe twice a year before the wars started, but they live on a Separatist planet, and travel is limited. Its why she started looking out for the Corries and why she roped in a tribe of other grandparents to join her.

Oh no, I'm going to have to do something about level 998 aren't I?

As for trading things to like bacta and supplies, they're selfless. If they get ahold of them, they'll make sure those things go to people who need it. They'd never take the food for themselves when there are children without, they'd never take medical supplies for themselves when there were people who needed it more. They had the Guard's limited amount, they had their own medics, they could make do, but not everyone on the lower levels had the same access, and with the war and Senate forcing things like the Jedi-operated Clinics closed in favour of those supplies and staff going 'where they're needed' every little helps.

Anyway, yeah, the Corries do a lot of scavenging, a lot of repurposing old items, fixing broken things to make them work. Curtains don't always get cut up and made into clothes or toys or other fabric items, sometimes they're put in the med bay to work as dividers, or in the bunk rooms to add privacy for the bunks themselves.

Any item they can give a new lease on life, repurpose, or fix and sell, they do. They fix up the hydroponics device so they can grow some herbs and spices for their food, they create clothes for themselves so they don't just have to live in their armour or blacks, and they spend a lot of time helping people who need it.

———

Thanks for the ask, this was a little longer than I meant it to be, and I kinda went off on a tangent, whoops, but the 998 are becoming a thing, haha. But yeah, long story short, they're incredibly pragmatic about things, will not waste a thing and are utterly selfless.

Inbox is always open. (-:

[sevlgi]

aphrodisiac

requested: no

group: twice 

pairing: mina x fem!reader

genre: fluff, extremely mild and short angst

contents: witch!mina, love potions, college!au

warnings: none

synopsis: You’re broke and desperate, so you don’t think twice before taking a love potion that’ll make you fall in love with a mysteriously perfect girl. But maybe you should. 

a/n: hehe i like the idea of this!! i’m just not sure how well i executed it 🤔 happy valentines day, my loves ❤

word count: 6.0k

While everyone knew that working the 9-12 weekday shift at the campus bookstore was the worst job you could possibly get, you didn’t feel quite as exhilarated to have been laid off as you should have.

As the one who had suffered at the hand of old Mrs. Lee for almost the entire duration of your time on campus, you knew the torture better than most. So it was an understatement to say that you were exhilarated to be free of ironing book pages out and restocking the shelves at Mrs. Lee’s whims, that you were practically beaming when you got the email.

But on the other hand, it wasn’t like you had much money to spare, or like you had the ability to find another job in the crowded university. When you felt your wallet in your back pocket, completely empty save for a couple crinkled receipts, the grin faded from your face; after all, it would be even harder to survive without the aid of your measly salary.

So as you pinched together a couple quarters to buy yourself a consolatory iced chocolate, you found that being let go from the shittiest job in the world didn’t feel as triumphant as you had expected. Not when you were, once again, scouring the papers stabled to the lightposts around the campus for anything that offered a quick paycheck.

Well, almost anything.

“I will not.”

“Why?” Lisa was close to whining, though the pout that she directed fully at you did her no favors. “You said you needed to get paid.”

You sighed, “I said i needed to get paid, not launched in the air like a damn cannonball.”

Lisa scowled and tapped her fingers on her face, her hands still cupping her chin as she attempted to convince you. “Come on, the dance team’s willing to pay. It costs less to pay you than to get a dummy, so--”

“That’s not helping to convince me,” you warned. As desperate as you were, and as much as you liked Lisa and her fellow dancers, you definitely didn’t trust them not to launch you in the air and break your neck. “Are you sure that you don’t know about any other job offers? Anything that won’t murder me?”

She considered it, chewing on her bottom lip. You could feel other students eyeing where you sat, one of the only seats in the incredibly tiny boba shop, but you refused to budge until Lisa gave you an answer. “Oh! There is one I can think of, actually. You know the bio lab?”

“Yeah.” You watched her suspiciously, arms crossed. “I’ve been there a couple times. Why?”

“Well, it isn’t a normal bio lab,” Lisa mumbled, leaning in as if what she was about to tell you was the greatest secret in the world. “A lot of them are witches, you know.”

It wasn’t like you didn’t believe in witches, or the supernatural-- both had been proven to be true eons ago, and almost half of the students attending your university weren’t completely human. But you were still a little skeptical that the pretty and equally brilliant girls who ran the campus’s bio lab were... “Witches? Are you sure?”

“Why would I be lying?” Lisa rolled her eyes. “I’m friends with a couple of them, and I know that they’re doing an... experiment of sorts, and they need--”

“Lab rats,” you finished for the dancer. In all rationality, being a lab rat for a couple of young witches with access to a high-tech lab was probably worse than getting launched up in the air by a dance team, but when Lisa slid a flyer over and your eyes widened at the offered money, you instantly stood. “Take me.”

Lisa pouted but stood anyway, taking the flyer back to squint at the tiny scribbled building number. “I can’t believe you trust Mina more than you trust me.”

“Mina? Is that the name of the ‘witch’ I’m selling myself to?” you asked, slightly sarcastic but also slightly curious. At the dancer’s nod, you exhaled lightly and shoved your seat in just to watch the next people scramble for it, and hummed on your way out, “Then let’s meet this Mina.”

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that your entire school was close to dilapidated, but something about the bio lab was almost creepy as you approached it. Lisa had long since set off for the dance room (something about Seulgi breaking Ten’s ankle, she claimed), so you hesitated in front of the cloudy glass door alone. But the thought of the $600 dollars scrawled onto the flyer scrunched in your fist prompted you to push the doors open and step into the lab.

There was already a decent amount of people buzzing around inside; you recognized quite a few of them and nearly laughed at the amount of students willing to possibly be poisoned. But you took the nearest empty seat as someone appeared at the front of the room.

“Wow, this is a great turnout.”

The crowd chuckled lightly, and your eyes nearly bugged out at the sight of the girl standing at the front with papers in her hands. Honestly, she was the kind of girl that you imagined people wrote love songs about-- absolutely perfect without having to really do anything, elegant and soft in a way that still stood out. She smiled slightly and waved, eyes darting around the room. “Hi. I’m Mina, I’m part of the coven that sent out the flyers.”

You joined in the chorus of greetings, but your eyes stayed fixed on Mina at the front of the room. You could see several other girls lurking around in the shadows, probably the other members, though they kept beckoning Mina to speak on her own. “Um, I’ll just... explain the project to you,” she chuckled nervously, darting over to the computer.

Once a slide was displayed on the wall, she rushed back to the front and explained, “Being a potions-focused coven and also biology majors, we wanted to conduct an experiment. A love potion, or an aphrodisiac in scientific terms.”

Murmurs arose around you, and even your eyebrows scrunched together; as far as you knew, aphrodisiacs weren’t real, and if they were, they were probably illegal. In response, Mina raised her hands and her voice slightly to call out, “Hey, hey. It’s an experiment. We were originally planning to accept all of you, but... I think it’ll be hard to conduct an experiment with 50 people, so please fill out the form we pass out.”

And like that, Mina joined the rest of her friends in passing out the clipboards. You didn’t watch them, only scanned the lab for any signs that you were about to die, so when you were tapped on the shoulder, you almost fell off your stool. It was Mina herself, a slight pink tinting her pale skin as she held out one of the forms to you. “Uh. Thanks.” You accepted it with a bow of your head, staring down at the paper. It looked legitimate, with areas for your age, your height--

“What’s your name?”

In your haste to read over the paper, you hadn’t noticed that Mina hadn’t left. When you looked back up, you could feel heat burning at the tops of your ears, and you answered, “Y/N. Y/N Y/L/N, though you’ll read it on my application.”

“Oh. Of course. Thanks for coming, Y/N,” Mina mumbled, bowing before moving on to someone else. You noted that she didn’t ask for the name of anyone else, but you passed it off and turned back to the form. Since when did becoming a coven’s lab rat require your blood type, anyway?

After nearly a week, you had almost given up on being accepted into the experiment. But just 5 days after turning your form in, you got the text.

Unknown number [4:57]  Is this Y/N Y/L/N? My name is Mina, we met at the bio lab last week. I’m texting to tell you that you got accepted into the program; we’re meeting at the lab again at 9:00 tonight to discuss the experiment further.

You [5:00]   yeah, it’s me. i’ll be there.

It wasn’t like what you wore to the meeting mattered; all you were doing was being briefed on exactly what was about to happen to you. But all through your classes of the day, through your futile studying, you couldn’t keep your mind off the experiment that you had somehow been accepted into, and whether it was a good idea to go at all.

Suffice to say, you went.

“Y/N?” the girl at the entrance of the lab asked. You recognized her from the week before-- dark hair, bunny-toothed smile. “You are Y/N, right?”

“Yeah,” you answered, shifting your weight from one foot to the other. “Why?”

“Oh, nothing,” she smiled. “We’re just taking roll, making sure everyone’s here. Take a seat inside, if you will.”

You obliged, nodding awkwardly before brushing past her. To your relief, the lab was nowhere as packed as it had been the week before, 7 people including yourself seated on the stools as the girls fiddled with test tubes in the back. One pair of eyes in particular lingered on you, before Mina was pulled back to talk, but your cheeks warmed nonetheless.

“Okay, everyone!” someone else announced, clapping her hands together. “My name’s Jihyo, I’m the head of the coven. This is Nayeon” -- the bunny-toothed girl from earlier waved-- “and Mina. We’ll be explaining the experiment to you today.”

She pulled the projector down and Nayeon stepped up, flashing a grin at all of you. “Basically, we made an aphrodisiac. And to test it, we’ll have all of you do the exact same things with the exact same person-- Mina.”

Mina stepped forward this time, and you couldn’t help smiling at the shy smile that tugged at her lips. “To keep conditions equal, you’ll all be going on the exact same 2 dates with me,” she explained. “I’ll take notes on how you act around me, and we’ll test how you feel about me at the very end. Any questions?”

The room was basically silent and honestly, you couldn’t see a downside to it either. Take a potion once and go on dates with a pretty girl, then get observed like a hamster on its wheel so you could get paid? A million times better than your old job. “Great,” Jihyo nodded. “Then, we’ll get started. If Y/N could be the first one? You’ll just go into a room with Mina to get interviewed and take your first dose.”

“Don’t die,” someone called out as you passed, and you flashed a glare despite not knowing who it was. Nayeon giggled as she opened the door for you and closed it behind you, leaving you in what you assumed to be a supply closet. Romantic.

“Hi,” Mina greeted softly, already seated across the table. “I’ll just ask you a series of questions, if that’s okay.”

“Go for it.”

“Rate how attracted you are to me on a scale from 1 to 10.��

Your jaw dropped immediately; for the first question, it was awfully invasive, especially when Mina voiced it with such a straight face. But you straightened your spine and answered stiffly, “9.” 

It should’ve been 10, but you weren’t trying to look like a literal creep; Mina only hummed and marked a circle on her form, moving on to ask, “Are you considering dating anyone else at the moment?”

“No.”

And in that manner, the questions passed decently quickly, with Mina asking them as flatly as possible and you answering them with the exact same tone. As soon as she set the clipboard aside, though, she returned to her original sweet state. “I’ll just have you swallow this now, if that’s okay.”

The test tube was cold to the touch when you uncapped it, and the liquid inside was suspiciously clear. But you barely gave it a passing glance before downing it like a shot, asking with narrowed eyes, “Is it supposed to taste like nothing?”

“Well, we figured that not everyone would like to taste tequila once a week with none of the good effects,” Mina chuckled and placed the empty test tube in its place.

“How fast will I see results?” you questioned as you stood. “Like, am I gonna wake up in a cold sweat tonight because I can’t handle how much I suddenly love you?”

The girl shook her head, though it was a bit hesitant. “I don’t believe so. It should only become more prominent once you see me more often. Which reminds me, I’ll text you about our first date as soon as I can. Thank you for participating, Y/N.”

You snatched your jacket up and stumbled your way out of the room as quickly as you could, hoping no one was looking as you closed the door behind you with a quivering pulse.

Despite the witch’s words, you were sure that the potion was already taking effect. Why else would your heart start to throb terribly as you looked at her smile? 

mina [8:16]  Hello Y/N! I was wondering if you had class today?

Mouth full of cheap cup ramen noodles, you stared at your phone screen. If Mina was asking you about your schedule, she had to have something planned (for the experiment, of course. You weren’t delusional). And you weren’t sure if you were mentally ready to see her shy smile again.

But when the thought of the $600 dollar check popped into your head, you reached for your phone and started to type again. 

You [8:19]  hey, mina. i don’t have class, actually, is this something about the experiment?

mina [8:20]  Yes! If possible, please meet me at the front of the school, we’ll be visiting the food trucks at the beach. I’ll pay!

Your stomach growled at the thought of the renowned food trucks at the beach by your university, and you typed out a hasty agreement before stuffing your phone into your bag and setting off for your apartment. There was no way you were enjoying such an opportunity for good food (and perfect company) in a slightly ramen-stained hoodie.

Thankfully, Mina didn’t seem to mind you being late when you approached her. “Hi, Y/N,” she smiled and hitched her bag higher up her shoulder. “I’m glad to see you.”

“Hi,” you breathed. Well, at least you tried to-- you could barely remember how to function when faced with Mina in a slightly cropped red top, her hair tied up in a little ponytail. But you followed her down the street well enough, towards where you vaguely remembered a fleet of various food trucks to be. “So, have you already conducted this part of the experiment with everyone else?”

Mina shook her head and answered, “No, you’re the first. You took the dose first, so you’ll be a bit like the guinea pig within guinea pigs.”

You snickered at that, nearly tripping over one of the raised cracks in the ground. Sure, the way down the hill to the beach wasn’t the safest one ever, but at least it was convenient for conducting test dates. “The lab rat. You know, this doesn’t seem remotely like a scientific experiment.”

“What do you mean?” the other girl asked, eyes on yours.

Coughing, you looked away from her gaze, though you could feel her still staring at the back of your head. “I mean... it’s not exactly normal for 7 people to drink a potion that tastes like nothing, then go on dates with a pretty girl and treat that as testing.”

“You think I’m pretty?”

“That’s what you got from my whole spiel?” you sighed in disbelief, turning to look at Mina. She laughed, gums showing slightly and her eyes twinkling, and you were forced to turn to the front yet again. “Whatever. Which trucks are we raiding first?”

And as it turned out, Mina was... generous. You were tempted to ask how she was going to keep herself from going broke if she bought that much food for everyone, but watching her bring yet another load of snacks over to where you sat on the wall, you weren’t sure if she cared too much. “Hey. Are you gonna pay for every date?”

“Hm?” She looked up from her Americano and considered the question. “Well, yes? I mean, we planned for the second date next week to be the fair, and I wouldn’t want any college student to have to pay for those overpriced tickets.”

“Aren’t you a college student?”

Mina hummed lightly and dug into her ice cream, sucking thoughtfully on the spoon. “Well, my parents are... well off? I’d like to put it that way, at least. And I think that when I can, I’ll use that to make others happy. Or to further our coven’s experiments.”

“Rich family,” you observed. “Cool.” To be honest, you didn’t really care about how much money anyone’s family made, but it was nice to have all that food paid for. After all, the sheer amount of things Mina bought could’ve covered several months worth of the finest ramen that the restaurants around campus could’ve offered. “Then why’d you end up going to college here with us normal people?”

She raised an eyebrow jokingly and gathered her knees to her chest. “Am I not a normal person anymore?” When you opened your mouth, slightly sheepishly, she giggled and waved a hand, answering, “I ended up choosing this college because my best friends came here. We’re all Japanese, and Sana wanted to come to Korea, so Momo and I just came along for the ride.”

“Ah.” You turned to watch the sky, the sun melting golden into the surface of the waves just a couple dozen feet away. You understood why it was called golden hour as you watched bright yellow rays flicker in Mina’s eyes and glow in her hair, and you had to resist the urge to pull out a camera and capture the feeling of a first date, as much of an experiment as it was. “Makes sense. Then-- how’d you find your coven? I don’t remember a Momo or a Sana.”

“Our coven is a bit... unconventional,” Mina nodded. “It’s just me, Nayeon, and Jihyo. You know that most covens form as children, and they train together, but we only met in college. See, none of us had our own coven, so it was natural that we came together. Momo and Sana aren’t witches, or we should’ve been together.”

You nodded in silence, prompting her to go on. And she did, a soft smile pressing her lips against her teeth as she thought about the girls eh seemed to consider her friends, or her family. “And, well, none of the three of us have had great luck finding someone to love. Or, to love us,” Mina added as an afterthought. “A love potion was just the first thing we fixated on.”

“Finding someone to love you?” you repeated, hand pressed up against your cheek. “I don’t mean that I don’t believe you, but it’s kind of hard to imagine that it’s difficult to find someone to love you. You’re pretty great, Mina.”

She laughed, “I’m glad you think so. But there’s a reason why we chose me as the one to test the potion with.”

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

Mina looked you right in the eyes, a kind of softness swirling in the brown of her own eyes, and responded equally quietly, “We chose me because we thought I was the hardest to fall in love with.”

“Bullshit,” you responded instantly, heat rising to your ears immediately after. But thankfully, the Japanese girl only looked endeared, and you continued, “I mean, I don’t know if this is just the potion talking, but you’re awesome. I... I think I’d like you even if I wasn’t part of this damn experiment.”

She blushed, the hue of her cheeks matching the pink clouds in the sky. “Well, I think you’re exaggerating on that. But it’s not them, I just volunteered myself. I think people just misunderstand me, you know? It’s hard to find the right person for you when you don’t let people see you. And-- I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. On a first date, too.”

“Hey.” When she looked away from you, you reached over to squeeze her hand. Mina didn’t look back up to you, but you knew she was listening from the way she chewed at her bottom lip. “It’s okay. I know what you’re saying. And I can’t say I know you yet, but I can say I wouldn’t mind knowing you. I’d like it, even.”

Mina laughed, barely loud enough for you to hear, and squeezed your hand. “Thank you, Y/N. I think we should finish our food before it gets cold.”

“Oh, yeah.” You let go to reach for one of the many desserts displayed in front of you, barely fazed by the topic change. “Wouldn’t want your parents’ money to go to waste.”

“Please let that go,” she whined.

“Not a chance,” you winked in response, laughing at her pout. “Not. A. Chance.”

“Lili, I think I’m done for.”

“Like, literally?” Lisa asked mindlessly, receiving a light hit on the head in response. “Ow, what was that for?”

You whined, “This isn’t funny. I can feel myself falling, and there’s no cushion underneath me for me to fall onto.”

The dancer rolled her eyes and reached for her milk tea. “Okay, Miss Overdramatic. You know falling doesn’t work like that, no one’s kicking you off a cliff. Especially not Myoui Mina.”

“I’m not being kicked off, I’m sliding.” You made the motions with your hand, a despondent expression on your face as you scowled, “I’m slipping through a puddle of aphrodisiac, that’s what, and Mina poured it at my feet.”

“Okay, enough with the metaphors, I’m not an English major,” Lisa sighed. She tossed a chip at your face, as if being smeared with salt and oil would wake you up from your Mina-induced trance. “You’ve gone on one date with her and spoken to her approximately twice, I think you aren’t falling just yet.”

“Did you forget the part where I’m drugged to fall in love with her?” you deadpanned.

Lisa paused at that. “Okay, I did forget that. Then what? There’s an explanation as to why you’re feeling this way, and there’s a way to get rid of it. Once you get your paycheck, you just stay away from Mina, should be easy enough, since you never met her before this. And you wait for the potion to wear off.”

“Does it wear off?” you groaned into your hands.

“Did you never ask?” Lisa asked in disbelief. “Wow, Y/N, ever heard of fine print?”

You smacked her with your rolled-up notes yet again. “Shut up. But I have a date with her tomorrow, and I don’t know what to do. I’m feeling like this because of the potion, sure, but I’m still feeling like this! And Mina has 6 other people vying for her now, all under the same effect as me. And it feels... bad.”

“Eloquent,” your friend sighed. “Then I have the perfect solution for you. Don’t go on the second date.”

“I need the money,” you shook your head. “Gimme another one.”

Lisa considered it, sucked on her straw as she did, until she shook her head. “I got nothing. All I can tell you is to enjoy it while it lasts, then just... wait. And if it doesn’t wear off, Jisoo unnie’s studying law.”

As horrible as her suggestions were, you could admit that you felt the slightest bit more assured. In the worst case scenario, you could sue Mina for winning your heart, and in the best, the somehow blissful stabs at your heart would be alleviated soon enough. 

As it turned out, you got a chauffer to the fair. Not an actual one, of course-- it was just Jeongyeon, introduced as one of Mina’s friends who could actually drive. 

You really weren’t intending to talk to her at first. She was quiet, too, didn’t even turn on the radio once she started driving, but when something that Mina said crossed your mind, you had to speak up. “Hey, Jeongyeon. Can I ask you something? About Mina?”

“Shoot,” she answered simply, keeping her eyes on the road. 

“Do you think Mina’s hard to fall in love with?”

Jeongyeon glanced at you at that, her expression slightly quizzical. “What do you mean?”

“She said something yesterday,” you explained. “Mina said that they chose her for the experiment because they thought she was the hardest to fell in love with. She said-- something about being misunderstood?”

The older girl nodded in understanding at that and blew her hair out of her face. After a short pause, she sighed, “I think that’s more of what she thinks than the rest of us. Mina... she thinks she’s unapproachable, you know. She doesn’t open up easily, so I’m surprised she told you that at all. But... she’s been hurt several times, and a lot of people think she’s mean or something similarly stupid just because she’s quiet. That’s all.”

“Oh.” You wet your lips and looked forward to the road, where you could see the fair’s Ferris Wheel already in the distance. “I see.”

And that was that. The two of you fell back into silence, and as comfortable as it was, it only gave you more time to think about what you wanted to say.

Maybe you could see why they would choose the girl who thought of herself as unapproachable and quiet to be the test, but they also didn’t seem to think about the obvious warm color to Mina that she presented. She was quiet, sure, but she was sweet, kind... there was plenty to fall in love with, and even if there wasn’t magic coursing through your system, you thought that you could’ve fallen in love with her anyway.

After bidding goodbye to Jeongyeon at the entrance, you found Mina waiting for you by the fair entrance. “Y/N!” she called out, though her voice still wasn’t loud. You could’ve spotted her anywhere anyway, and made your way over. “You’re a bit early.”

“You were earlier,” you smiled. “So. Are we ready to go in?”

“Absolutely.” Mina linked her arm in yours slightly hesitantly and surprised the both of you, but you took it in stride and swung your arm slightly to bring a smile to her face. “I’ll get our tickets, you get in line.”

“I can pay for myself,” you protested, but she waved you off. “...Okay then.”

The fair was loud, a bit too loud to hear Mina’s voice if she talked normally, so you found yourself leaning in every time she spoke. You really didn’t mind it either, feeling her words tickle your ears-- maybe it was closer than you should’ve been comfortable with, but there was a certain adrenaline pumping in your blood that you weren’t really used to. So you continued on, fed cotton candy to her despite her blush, shared a soda, won a teddy bear for her. Nothing that should’ve made your heart beat as fast as it did.

Nonetheless, time ticked by all too quickly, whirling past in a gust of quiet laughter and honestly terrible jokes. The sun set yet again, the streaks of pink and purple across powder blue oddly similar to the first date you had gone on. Mina checked her watch and frowned, “I think we only have time for one more ride before Jeongyeon comes to pick us up. What do you think?”

You barely had to ponder it before you pointed at the tall, neon-lit Ferris wheel with a smile. “Classic date ride, of course.”

“Classic,” Mina laughed in agreement. She let you tug her towards it and stood in line with you with no complaint, digging a selfie stick out from her bag. “Should we take some pictures up there? It’d be a waste of a beautiful view if we don’t.”

You shrugged, “Of course. Might as well have some pictures to remember our last date by, right?”

Mina looked caught between saying something and staying silent, but she settled with a quiet, “Sure” before starting to set her phone up. Your hand in the crook of her elbow, you tugged her forward when it was necessary, keeping your eyes away from her red-tinted lips as much as you could.

Soon enough, wind was blowing your hair off your face and the cart of the ride was creaking slightly under your weight as someone started the wheel. “Whoa,” Mina laughed breathlessly and peered over the edge. “It’s really high up.”

“And we’re only starting,” you agreed, tugging her back by the wrist. “Don’t fall over, I don’t want to get off this ride with a murder charge on my hands.”

“Hm.” Mina reached over to set the selfie stick on the seat opposite the one the two of you shared, shoving you to get you to match her smile. “Come on, 1, 2, 3.”

With every click of her phone camera, you felt yourself coming closer to her, until you could feel the rise and fall of her chest beside you. You were almost at the top of the ride in barely a couple minutes, the soft sunlight almost blinding you. As you waited for the next camera click, you felt Mina’s hand creep up your arm, up, up, until her slightly cold fingers rested on your neck. 

And then she tilted your head, fit her nose right next to yours like it belonged there, and slotted your lips together. You couldn’t think, much less fight whatever force pushed you up against her. You kissed back as best as you could with your senses battling within you, until you realized that the camera shutter had gone off at least ten times.

Mina couldn’t meet your eyes when you did pull back, and she reached over to fiddle with the camera. “Was that a part of the experiment too?” you questioned, your voice raspy.

“Maybe,” she answered, and your heart sank. But she looked up with a smile, her eyes just as confused as you felt. “And maybe not.”

“Oh. Okay,” you said dumbly, then reached over for her hand. There was nothing left to say, anyway, nothing that the slight swell to your lips didn’t already say for you, nothing that wasn’t conveyed when you leaned over to kiss her again.

The idea of allowing a love potion to work its wonders on you was like allowing yourself to be tossed into a trap. But instead of a cold, rough, and terrible trap that you would actively try to escape, you found the trap to be warm, cozy, a place that you wanted to stay-- and a place you knew that you would eventually be ejected from by force.

Once you were in the trap, though, there was no way you could pull yourself back out, especially when you didn’t really want to escape at all. You stayed up for all the nights leading up to the last time you would talk with the bio lab, just thinking about what you would do if everything that had passed by in the last couple weeks was just a figment of an aphrodisiac-induced haze. After all that time, you still didn’t quite know.

But Mina texted you often enough to pull you from that stupor. Thankfully, it wasn’t like one of those stories or dramas, where the main leads somehow fought after their first kiss-- maybe that would’ve been easier than being pulled in deeper. Instead, the two of you talked every day, even if it was only for a little while, and Mina was only worsening whatever situation you couldn’t seem to get out of.

And eventually, the day came where you’d be paid, a day that you had been looking forward to, until you began to dread it.

“Well, doesn’t someone look like a newlywed,” Nayeon greeted at the entrance with a smile, though she didn’t seem to be mocking you. “Come on in, Y/N, we’ll get you started right away.”

The closet was the exact same as it had been the first time that you stepped inside for the interview, but Mina’s smile was much more warm. “Hi, Y/N. How’re you feeling?”

“Good. Fine.” You cleared your throat and attempted to peer at her clipboard. “Questions for me?”

“Yes,” Mina nodded, flipping the pages over. “Are you ready to get started, then? On a scale from one to ten, how attracted are you to me?”

“Ten,” you answered without hesitation this time, and your smile only grew when Mina flushed.

“Okay. Are you considering dating anyone other than me right now?”

“No.” You shook your head, but gulped slightly and leaned back when Mina leaned forward to observe you.

“What about me?”

You paused, blinked, though Mina didn’t seem like she was going to move until you answered, “Yes. I would date you, absolutely.”

She flicked through the pages listlessly before setting them aside and turning back to you. Somehow, Mina looked like she was about to drop a bomb on you, her lips quivering as she calculated the right words. “I... Y/N, I have to tell you something. About the experiment.”

“I’m not going to die, am I?”

Your shitty attempt at humor did manage to prompt a smile from Mina, but she remained serious. “Not that. But- do you understand control groups? In experiments?”

“Um. I think so?” you answered, racking your brain for whatever limited knowledge of science remained with you. “It’s the normal group, right? The one that isn’t experimented on.”

“Yes, just about,” Mina nodded. She reached for your hands and clasped them within hers, eyes pleading for you to understand something that you hadn’t heard yet. “Y/N, you were the control. I... we had to make sure that it was the potion working, and not me, and you- we used you for that. You were never given any potion.”

“I...” you stammered out. Every instinct in you was screaming out to pull away from Mina’s grasp, to question every aspect of your existence that had led up to you being tricked into loving her. Somehow, everything being real only made it feel more fake, even though you now knew that what you had felt was completely you. “I don’t understand.”

Mina said softly, “You fell in love with me, or at least liked me, on your own. You didn’t work as a control group because the same thing happened to you as it did to the others, even though you never took the aphrodisiac.”

“So,” you faltered, “all seven of us fell for you. I’m just the sucker who’s in it for real, huh?”

“I was willing to sacrifice my own feelings for the experiment,” Mina clarified, shaking her head. “I knew I would fall for one of you, but I didn’t think that you, as the control, would be the one who I fell for. And who fell for me.”

Silence fell over the two of you, though you remained there, hands clasped together and eyes meeting with a clarity that speech could never capture. But you tried anyway. “Okay.”

“Just okay?” Mina questioned.

You smiled weakly as a response, “Yeah. Um... how about we go on another date to talk? After you finish interrogating everyone else?”

Mina let go of your hands and let you stand up, but you could feel her smiling at your back as you closed the closet door behind you. Like a repetition of when you thought that you’d be induced into loving her, your heart beat in your throat as you leaned against the wood. 

But when you knew it was real, when you knew that it wasn’t magic seizing you by the hand and pulling you into the unknown, you smiled. Because it felt... right.

[like-rain-or-confetti]

Pendant (The Volturi x Reader)

You were quiet and often kept to yourself. That being said, you were still a joy in people's lives and that wasn't any different for the Volturi. Demetri was a charmer and made it his goal to make you blush multiple times a day. Felix seemed to follow suit although was slightly more protective of you as well as Heidi. The twins kept their distance but you hadn't felt their wrath and so that was a good sign. Alec had even said some brief sentences towards you without any malice but his expression was always completely blank. You couldn't read him at all. The leaders treated you no differently but it was apparent in how they thought of you. They thought you to be a child and you must have been in their eyes. Caius was always a little more patient with you than usual, Aro was just as keen to know your mind since you rarely spoke it. Marcus gave you your space with advice given here and there. He was more nurturing than the rest of the group and in your eyes, he for sure saw you as a child. 

You passed by Marcus' door with Aro and Caius before halting almost immediately just as they did. "Brother?" Aro tilted his head. Marcus was knelt on the floor, his back to the door, hunched over something. Aro entered the room and Caius was quick to out a hand on your back and push you forward and into the room with them. You looked down to see in his hand a ruby, encased in what looked to be solid gold. It must have been worth hundred of thousands at least. Then you noticed some oddities. The ruby was out of place, slightly jutting out. The gold chain lay in the floor with a small piece of gold hanging from it. Then it hit you what had happened. It was a pendant and it had broke. "Is that-?" Caius began. "Didyme's." Marcus said quietly, looking down at it. "One of her favourites." "What happened?" Aro asked. "It's old. The chain gave out and in the fall the dresser knocked the pendant." You were devastated for Marcus, your expression turning to one of heartbreak. Marcus lifted his gaze, catching eyes with your pained expression. "You mustn't worry. Things get old and they break." He looked down at the pendant. It was oddly fitting coming from him. Marcus was an old soul at heart even to this day and sadly, his heart was broke when Didyme died. Marcus let the pendant fall out his hand as he stood up. "It doesn't matter." Marcus left the room leaving the three of you in silence. 

Slowly you moved forward, out of Caius' grasp and you bent down picking up the chain and the pendant. Aro looked at the pendant in your hands. He obviously remembered it well and to see it was a heavy reminder of his sister's death. "What is it, my dear?" Aro asked finally. You looked down at the necklace for a moment before reaching out your hand. Aro took it. "You needn't worry about this, (Y/N). It was inevitable." ‘Let me try. Please let me try to fix it.’ “What is it?” Caius looked between the two of you. ‘Please.’ You pleaded internally. Aro dropped your hand. “Very well.”

You did a lot of research for a number of days after that. Marcus didn't even ask where the pendant had gone. You began to wonder if perhaps Aro and Caius told him of your plans. The chain itself would be the easy fix. The jewel itself would be an issue. You were worried that if you tried to push it back then perhaps it would break and how would you weld the jewel back onto the gold bar hanging on the chain? That was when you realised you'd need more assistance than anticipated. 

After some time, you convinced Heidi to let you go out, promising you'd only be down the street and she'd know since she was out for the tours. You had no clue how much it would cost but...you wanted to try. The jeweler gawked at first and you quickly came up with the story that if had been passed down from generations and your grandfather was heartbroken when his deceased wife's pendant broke. "He's very lucky to have a grandchild like you." The jeweler said and you smiled slightly. "Would you be able to fix it?" He nodded. "Yes but...it wont be cheap." "How much?" He was reluctant to answer. "Tell me, how much do you have with you?" "Five hundred." You responded. "This is more expensive because of its value with evident age but you're a good person. So I'll give you a discount." The jeweler continued. "Come back at five. I'll have it done for you by the end of the day." Suddenly an idea sprung into your head. 

You knew you had no chance of convincing Heidi to help you again and she wasn't exactly discreet most of the time. So you decided to try and convince someone who you knew could keep a secret.    "Why were you in here?" Alec asked before you opened the door to the jewelers. The man greeted you both, box in hand. "Here you are." You thanked him before handing over the money. Alec eyed it almost immediately but said nothing and you both left. "Where did you get all of that money from?" Alec asked finally. "It was mine." You said. "Yours?" "I had money saved up." You explained. "Had? Was...was that all of it?" Alec's eyes widened ever so slightly. You nodded. "Yeah."  "Why did you...? What did you buy?" He asked incredulously. "I wanted to fix Didyme's necklace. Marcus looked so sad that it was worth it." "You're kind." Alec stated as though the extent had just been made clear to him. You shrugged lightly. 

You briskly walked to the throne room, immediately apologising for being late. Caius was about to give you a wicked scolding until the three leaders turned their attention to the box you had in your hands. "What's that?" Aro asked lightly. "Forgive me, it's the reason I was out later than expected." You began. "It's for Master Marcus." The three looked surprised as Marcus turned his gaze to you. "What is it?" He asked before holding out his hand. 

You moved forward and climbed the few steps before gently placing the box into his hand. Marcus looked slightly confused yet moved to open it. Aro rose off of his throne to take a look over Marcus' shoulder. Marcus' eyes widened as he looked inside whilst Aro gasped. You froze in anticipation. 

Slowly Marcus lifted the pendant out of the box. It looked good as new, fixed and polished. Although there was a new detail. On the back of the gold playing, there was intricate engraving. 'Didyme.' As the silence continued you began to grow fearful. Had you done something wrong? Didn't he like it? Should you have left it alone? A million questions rushed through your head all at once and suddenly Marcus stood up. 

He gently put down the pendant and the box onto his thrown before descending the stairs towards you. His eyes were glistening slightly and darkening by the second, and you could see the true emotions he felt. The ones he tried to desperately to hide by a empty facade. Absolute heartbreak. The worst of the worst heartbreaks that make one wonder how in earth they're still standing. Marcus placed his hands on your shoulders. 

After a moment of looking into your eyes with his own filled with pain he pulled you closer to him and just like that, Marcus hugged you to him. He towered over you much like many of the Volturi members. One arm wrapped around your back and the other hand cradled the back of your head with a feather-like touch. Slowly you hugged him back. Marcus couldn't bring himself to speak and so in turn he could only hold you that little bit tighter ad his thumb stroked the section of your head his thumb could reach. Finally you barely heard him whisper out as best as he could. "Thank you, little one." 

At around eleven at night. You had already gone to sleep around half an hour ago and Marcus could still only stare at the pendant in his hands. His book was long abandoned despite being in the library, reading wasn't on his mind. As Alec caught side of Marcus whilst entering the library he curtly nodded and greeted him. "Alec, might I ask something of you?" "Of course, master." Alec approached him immediately. "You escorted (Y/N) back to us today, didn't you?" Marcus asked. Alec nodded. "I did. It was at around five o'clock." "Did they tell you how they managed to get it fixed?" "Well I heard they spent a few weeks trying to fix it but couldn't so they took it to a nearby jeweler under the pretense it was a family heirloom. I discovered that it cost them their savings." Marcus paused. "Pardon?" "Yes, I had a similar reaction. They accessed all of their money and used it to pay for the repairs." Alec responded. "All of it?" Alec nodded. "Yes, they don't have any money. That was the last of it." Marcus paused. "Thank you Alec, that will be all." Alec nodded and wasted no time leaving. 

The next morning, you were surprised to hear that Marcus had summoned you to his private study. "I was surprised that you had decided you wanted to fix the pendant. Aro and Caius hadn't told me." Marcus began. "I know how much it means to you." You said quietly. "No, you don't." Marcus said. "You know only what I openly express and I can assure you, my dear, this pain isn't merely skin deep. It's bigger than I could ever be." You nodded, looking down at the wooden floorboards. "However, that doesn't make you ignorant and I am happy to know you have never dealt with such a pain as I have. As a matter of fact, it says how empathetic you are. Seeing as you went through all the bother to fix the pendant despite me giving up on it. Although even that appears to be an understatement. Alec told me what you did to get it fixed." You tilted your head slightly and Marcus continued. "Alec told me you used your own money to get it repaired when you couldn't repair it on your own. Even more so, you used all of it. Is that true?" "Yes, master." You nodded simply. "That generosity is very noble of you, (Y/N) and no one in this castle is deserving of such a kindness. Therefore I feel it only right that I replace that money you spent." Marcus said. "Oh... master there is really no need to. I'm more than happy to have done it. It means a lot to you and if I can do anything to help you, I will." Marcus stared you down for a minute. "This world had always been a cruel place, little one. Your kindness is a gift to all and I fear this world may swallow you whole. However, I don't think I could ever let that happen." Marcus picked up an envelope from his desk and moved towards you. He took one of your hands and made you clutch the envelope. "Take it. I insist."

[uglymanchronicles]

Ugly Man Chronicles Reignition Book 2 Chapter 2: My Breakfast With Evan

Just a couple dudes getting to know each other.

“If you must know,” Evan sighed, spearing a glistening sausage on the end of a flimsy plastic fork, “my jackass older sister thought it would be hilarious to give me a cupcake she'd baked with about a dozen powdered viagra for my fifteenth birthday. I wound up passing out eventually. Burst a lot of blood vessels. Damaged the erectile tissue beyond usefulness.”

Titus froze mid-coffee-sip. “Seriously? What a bitch!”

“Buddy, you don't know the half of it.”

“So... no signs of life down there?”

“Nothing for twelve years.”

“I think I would literally kill myself.”

“It's not so bad, I guess. At least I don't have to drain the blood out of it any more.”

“Eugh! Fuck! Did not need to hear that!”

“Well, maybe you shouldn't ask questions you don't want the answer to.”

“Do you get, like, blue balls all the time, then?”

“That's basically my ground state of being.”

Titus whistled flatly, avoiding looking Evan in the eye. He settled for staring at the table. There wasn't a lot of Evan's face that he felt comfortable looking at; every part seemed to at least be adjacent to some unpleasantry or another. About the only safe area was his right eye, which, as luck would have it, was directly opposite Titus's 'good' eye. Titus rallied and met Evan's gaze again. “Alright, your turn.”

They'd agreed on a sort of mutual interview process, taking turns asking questions to suss out what the other was capable or if he was worth having around. Evan took a bite out of the sausage and chewed thoughtfully for a moment.

“Who's Moreno?”

Titus hissed through his teeth. “A real piece of shit.”

“I'm going to need more than that.”

“I'm getting to it. He's basically, like... a freelance henchman? Like, sort of a mercenary criminal. Sells his services to the highest bidder.”

“And why's he matter?”

“That's another question.”

“No, it is not,” Evan said, quiet and serious. “Do not argue with me in bad faith, Titus. I have very little patience for it in the best of times.”

Titus regarded him for a long moment. The man across from him was wider than the table they sat at. His muscles were so pronounced in some points that Titus could tell when he was about to move by the way they bulged and contracted. Yet he gave the impression that he was constantly trying to pull himself inward, to make himself smaller. He spoke quietly and with a simple formality, but only hours before Titus had watched him single-handedly beat down some of the nastiest people he'd met in the past month.

Hmm.

“Fine. Moreno matters because I'm after the guy he's working for. You see, Moreno isn't just a normal scumbag. He works for people who need nasty things done. Not like regular nasty, either. How much do you actually know about magic?”

“I've got some... notes. So far I'm not able to find a lot of coherent rules. It mostly seems like it relies on things that nobody would normally do.”

Titus snapped his fingers and pointed at Evan. “Hit it right on the head. Rituals, reagents, that kind of thing... the reason—well, one of the reasons—magic doesn't just happen all the time by accident is that it's all weird little things. A lot of the more heavy magic relies on some pretty elaborate and obtuse shit to get it going.”

Evan momentarily thought back to the Book of Fate and his ritual in the woods. “So Moreno does these things for people?”

“Yeah. Thing is, though...” Titus stopped raising a forkful of eggs halfway to his mouth and set it down again, as if he'd momentarily lost his appetite. “The people who use his services generally practice some pretty vile magic. Real depraved shit. And to empower depraved magic, you need depraved rituals. Moreno is the guy you go to when...”

“I think I get it,” Evan interjected, since Titus seemed to be struggling with deciding whether to continue. “Your turn.”

Titus tapped his fingers on the table for a moment, then looked Evan in the eye. “How smart are you?”

The scars on Evan's face squirmed around as he actually smirked. “What kind of question is that?”

“Hey, we agreed no 'whys'.”

“Alright, alright. Well, there's really no objective metric for it, but... I have Master's degrees in computer science and theoretical physics, Bachelor's in those in addition to mathematics and electrical engineering, and associate's degrees and certificates in everything from EMT training to ballet. I should have my doctorate in physics, but...” he said, with a bitterness that Titus made a note of, then changed gears. “Oh, and I also speak Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese, French, and Arabic pretty fluently. I also know ASL. I can get by in German and Russian, too. I don't know if any of that is what you meant but--”

“Jesus, I get it,” Titus muttered, rubbing the side of his head. “How the fuck do you make money?”

“Software consulting, mostly. I specialize in security and processing efficiency. People pay me to break into their systems and then patch the holes, or to make their code run quicker or make their programs smaller. I've got a few patents I've licensed that bring in most of my income nowadays, though.”

“Anything I would have heard of?”

“If you've used a computer made in the last four years it probably has something I wrote integrated somewhere into it. I also helped develop a protein-sequencing program that helped develop a vaccine for this nasty SARS variant that broke out in China last year. They say if they hadn’t nipped it in the bud it could’ve spread worldwide and we’d be looking at millions of deaths by now.”

Titus scrunched up his face. “Oh yeah, just say that like it’s no big deal.”

“I’m just glad it turned out not to be one. What I'd really like to do is get my compression algorithm out there, but if I do that, somebody's going to try to hoard it all for themselves.”

“Are you talking to yourself or me?”

“Look, I... a few years ago I figured out a way to compress memory down by a exponential factor of six with zero loss. All it takes is a couple software plugins that don't take up much room themselves. Essentially, I could make a gigabyte fit in a kilobyte with very little trouble, now that the math's figured out.”

“Holy fuck, that's insane! Why haven't I heard anything about this?”

“Mainly because I don't tell people. If I put it up on the market, some ISP would buy it and bury it. If you make information smaller, you make it faster. Can you imagine what it'd do to internet access if dial-up and barebones cellular networks suddenly had the bandwidth of fiber optics? It would... maybe not revolutionize our society, but it would level a lot of playing fields. Bring a lot of underdeveloped areas of the world—hell, this country—up to modern levels with no extra cost. The telecomms would crash and burn so hard. But I don't have the means to get it out there without going through someone else. Yet,” Evan added. “So I basically work watered-down versions of the compressor into the software I make. Nothing that can be duplicated, and nowhere near its full potential, but enough to get me hailed as some kind of genius and pay the bills.”

“So why aren't you on your own private island or something somewhere instead of puttering around God's Ashtray in a shitty old Bug?”

“Hey, the Beetle is not shitty,” Evan said, defensively. “And I'm just waiting for the AC in my RV to get fixed or I'd be driving that.”

“Oh hot damn! Now that's the way to live!”

“Not the one I'd choose voluntarily, but it could be worse.”

“How come you're doing it, then?”

“I think it's my turn to ask,” Evan said, mildly.

“Fine,” Titus said grumpily, crossing his arms.

“How do you make money?”

“That's easy. I'm basically a freelance bailbondsman. I just roam around, drop my advertising around bars and courthouses.”

“You get many clients that way?” Evan asked, cocking his remaining eyebrow.

“Oh, you'd be amazed how desperate people can get,” Titus said, shrugging. “Of course, they're usually not the most responsible people, so when they bounce, I track 'em down myself, drag ‘em back to jail, get the money back. My eye usually makes it super easy. Sometimes they don't even see me before I get the cuffs on 'em.”

“Why did you feel the need to rob a bunch of drug dealers, then? The thrill of it?”

“I had a pressing need for a large amount of cash that my normal work doesn't bring in. That got me enough to hold it off for a while. My turn.”

Evan waved down a waitress for a refill of his coffee, trying not to take it personally when she gasped upon seeing his face. “Go ahead…”

“No, no, hang on.” Titus waved a hand dismissively. “I want to try something. Take your hair out of the ponytail.”

“What? Why?”

“Humor me.”

Evan groaned and reached back, removing his hair tie. After shaking his head, his hair fell over his face, obscuring everything but his nose and mouth. Titus pursed his lips and regarded him seriously for a moment.

“Can you see?”

“Yeah, I guess. Well enough to not walk into things, I think, and I could probably read if I had to.”

Titus snapped his fingers. “Good. Go with that from now on.”

“Why?”

“Because now you don’t look like God’s mistake. Now you look like a big, dumb-but-lovable goon. Like Jack Black would voice you in a cartoon.”

“And that’s a good thing?”

“Do you like seeing people contemplating their own mortality and the general cruel absurdity of the tragic farce that is human existence when they get a glimpse of your face?”

Evan felt his cheeks burn and was actually grateful his hair was covering most of his face. “…not particularly, no.”

“Then there you go. You’re welcome. Okay, question time. Uh… how did you get your powers?”

“Which one?”

“Oh, now who’s arguing in bad faith? Fucking all of them, you thick-lipped gargoyle.”

Evan had the feeling he hit a sore spot. Titus's easy-going, jocular tone had bled away from him, leaving behind the hard-edged razor-blade of a man that had ambushed him the night before. He decided not to belabor the point.

“I don't know why I can rege—why I heal so quickly. No, I'm serious, as far as I know, it just started happening sometime in the past few months. I can't remember. Don't look at me like that, I'll get to that in a minute. When I was younger I recovered from a lot of injuries a lot quicker than the doctors thought I would, so maybe it's something I was born with and it just got stronger recently for some reason.”

Evan took a sip of coffee, mainly to buy a few seconds to think of how much to explain for the next part.

“The ability to shut off powers... that's part of, well, I guess you'd call it a magic ritual, because I don't know what else to call it. I found a weird old book that said it contained the key to making someone an instrument of universal justice, or something of the sort. Since then I can see... I guess they're souls? Maybe? I can sort of move mine and when I run it into someone else's it seems like I can shut off their powers. Or... take them entirely, if they're dying.”

“Horseshit!” Titus scoffed. “That's... that's like meta-magic. I don't even know if that's real.”

“No, seriously! I don't think it's just magic powers, I think it... 'normalizes' things.” He briefly recounted his encounter with the pain monster.

“Are you kidding me? That...” Titus took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair, exhaling slowly and loudly. “Look, I don't know much, but the fact that you even ran into something like that, let alone survived... those odds are astronomical. And you say you negated not just its powers, but its whole form?”

“Yeah. Once I... reached into it, like I did with you—oh don't make that face. Grow up—I kind of disrupted what made it... different, I guess? Like I cut it off from its special qualities. Like it was...”

“Disjuncted,” Titus cut in.

“Yeah, that's a good word for it. Like the old Mordenkainen spell?”

“Fucking nerd.”

“Eat my ass. Anyway, after I killed it, I was able to reach into its... soul? Animating force? Aura? I don't know what to call it. I was able to grab something and pull it out and it just got pulled into me.”

“Not aura.”

“What?”

“Aura's a different thing,” Titus said, dismissively. “So what did you get from doing that?”

“I.. I feel pain differently. I don't flinch or get adrenaline rushes from injuries that don't actually impede my ability to function. I think I have a better sense of what is actually dangerous to my body now. It still hurts, but I don't react to pain like people normally do. It's like...hmm.” Evan drummed his fingers on the table. “Do you know anything about video games? Fighting games, specifically?”

“I used to fuck around on an old Alpha 3rd Strike cabinet when I was a kid. Why?”

“Do you know what 'super armor' is?”

“Isn't that where a move can't get stopped by being hit when you're doing it?”

“Right. I'm kind of like that now. Pain doesn't interrupt me.”

“Fucking nerd.”

Evan's fist involuntarily clenched. “I'm trying to put this in terms you can understand, you stupid reprobate. My experience with your judgment thus far hasn't given me much faith in your intellect.”

Titus burst out laughing. “So he does know how to banter! I thought you might be one of those Rainman types.”

“Oh sure, call it 'banter' to try to excuse the fact that you've been insulting me for the past half hour. Do you say you're ‘just joking’ when people get mad at you for saying stupid shit, too?”

“C'mon, lighten up! We're partners now! Tell me more about this soul thing. I still think you're full of shit.”

Evan sighed through his nose, then held up his left hand, forming his fingers into a circle and peering through them.

“Yours is... a sort of cross between a sea green and an oil slick. The tendrils of it keep reaching out and snapping back, going all over the place. It seems to keep expanding and contracting. It's almost flickering, like... it's indecisive. Very chaotic. The tendrils that aren't snapping around seem to be kept pretty close to your body, wrapping around you like... I can't tell if it's protective or restrictive.”

Titus's expression slowly became serious. “What does that mean?”

“I don't know. I have a lot of theories, but nothing solid to go on. I'm not sure if it's allegorical or a literal representation of a person's... power, maybe? Yours definitely looks a lot different than most people's.”

“I don't believe this for a second. Let me see.”

“How would I do tha—hey!”

Titus grabbed Evan's wrist and held his hand up to his eye. “Ho-lee...”

He pulled back from Evan's hand, staring at him. Then he looked around the room, mouth slack as he took in the diner's other occupants.

“Huh. Did you know it keeps working until you blink?” He said after a moment, a faraway tone to his voice.

“I didn't even know other people could do it,” Evan said, awe in his voice. “Hey, wow, you're right!”

“Jesus, yours is, like, really blue. It looks like... a bunch of steel cables. It's weird, I felt like I both could and couldn't see the edges of it...”

“I can kind of move it, but I'm not sure if I can do anything with it beyond interfering with people's powers. It's like learning to use a muscle you didn't know you had.”

“Huh.” Titus was again silent for a long moment. “Your turn.”

“Can you do anything else supernatural? Besides your time-eye?”

“Don't call it that, it sounds stupid. And... sorta. I seem to have whatever innate talent you need to actually do magic, but it's not like it's easy to find instructions. Most of the people I know who can use it just dabble with half-broken magic items—wands, amulets, charms,” he pulled the silence charm out from under his coat and bounced it at the end of its chain. “I guess I'm sort of a dabbler. I know a few tricks, I can use a lot of magic tools, I can sense magic pretty well, I can dowse... Most of the time I really never have to use anything besides the eye, though.”

“Is the eye all-or-nothing?”

“Yeah. It's not nearly as useful as you'd think, but any edge is an edge.”

“When I turned off your power and it was coming back, though, you started speeding up—or, I guess, everything else was slowing down? You were moving faster, one way or the other. You were able to touch me, and those punches hurt.”

“Huh, yeah, you're right.”

“Do you think there's a way you could learn to only partially activate it?”

“That'd be great, wouldn't it? Thing is, just using it is a huge strain, and that time spend outside of time adds up. Going by normal calendar time I'm only 26.”

“Fuck, I'm 27!” Evan laughed.

“Yeah, well, I'd rather be prematurely gray than what you've got going on. My turn. Uh... huh, I can't really think of anything else. Uh... are you gay?”

“Are you fucking serious?”

“No, but the question still counts.”

“I'm bi,” Evan mumbled, crossing his arms across his prodigious chest. “Not that it matters. And before you ask, no, you are not my type. We're done talking about this.”

“Huh. You ever sucked--”

“We. Are. Done. Talking about this.”

“Fine, God. Go.”

Evan mentally circled back to an earlier question he felt hadn't been properly answered. “Why are you after Moreno?”

To Evan's surprise, Titus didn't hesitate. “I'm actually after his current boss. He's just the best lead I have to go on.” He took a deep breath, then started talking with a rushed, deadpan pace, as if he was eager to get the words out as quickly as possible so they wouldn't be in his mouth very long.

“Moreno is working for a guy only known as the Soultaker. He has an innate supernatural ability to pull a person's soul out of their body. When that happens, the person just... shuts down, usually. No motive force behind them. Eventually they just die of dehydration, usually. I've seen some people so set in routine that they keep going without a soul, but... it's not really life.

“It seems like the extraction process takes a while, so he can't just walk past you on the street and pickpocket your entire essence. So he needs people rounded up for him, held until he can do his nasty juju. So that's where a degenerate like Moreno comes in.

“So when he pulls out a soul, it, well, it looks like this.”

Titus pulled a battered, faded Crown Royale bag out of his jacket. It bulged strangely and made a quiet clacking when he set it on the table. He pulled out what looked like a large marble, or maybe a dull pearl, and handed it to Evan.

Evan brushed his hair out of his eyes and peered into the milky depths of the sphere. After a few moments of staring, the murky clouds inside the thing seemed to clear and a face floated to the surface. A black man, maybe in his late 40s, going thin on top. His eyes were closed and he appeared to be sleeping, but his expression had a look of discomfort to it, as if he was having a bad dream.

“Jesus Christ,” Evan whispered, “I've seen this guy... Martell Calloway? I saw some news article about how his family found him tied up in his apartment and completely comatose! But he didn't have any injuries beyond being a black eye... so he's dead?”

“Life support,” Titus said, taking Mr. Calloway's soul back from Evan's unresisting fingers, “technically, he's one of the lucky ones. They found his body before it wasted away to nothing, and I was able to intercept his soul before it got to a buyer.”

“Why would someone buy something like this? What use is it? Can you fix him?”

“A human soul is a damn near exhaustible arcane battery,” Titus said gravely. In the split second between sentences, Evan noticed something—after he'd put the bag back into his jacket, Titus surreptitiously touched a pocket on the other side of his jacket, as if he was making sure something was still there.

“If you know what you're doing, you can power a lot of magic using a soul. And you can reuse them as long as you don't overdo it. If you know what you're doing, you can wring all but the last drops of essence out of a soul and let it heal or recover or whatever, and it'll eventually be back to full strength. Very resilient things,” Titus continued. “I don't think they're conscious in there, but... anyway, it's supposed to be really hard to extract a soul. But this guy was born with or spontaneously developed or somehow figured out a shortcut to the whole process. So the market is getting flooded with torture-batteries and ECUs are getting flooded with vegetables. And families are winding up with loved ones who are as good as dead, without having any idea why this happened to them. Dozens of them have been taken off life support in the past few months. Half these souls have no body to return to. And no, I can't fix it. At least not yet,” he sighed again. “I was hoping once I found him, I could somehow get the secret out of him or force him to put them back, or... maybe I thought if I killed him it'd reverse the effect. He needs killing, either way.”

Titus's eye widened as a thought struck him and he looked Evan in the eye for the first time since he'd started the story. Evan realized what he was thinking and looked down at the tattoo on his left arm, flexing his fingers.

“If you can take people's powers after they die...”

“...then we can save these people.”

Titus put a hand over his mouth and for a moment Evan thought he saw his eye well up.

“I'm in,” Evan said, a sense of righteous purpose welling in his heart. “I don't really know what the universe wants, but I doubt... I know it's not this. We'll find him, we'll stop him, and we'll save as many of these people as we can.”

“...thanks,” Titus mumbled behind his hand. He swallowed hard, then seemed to come back to himself. “We're back to square one, though.”

“You said you could dowse? Like, for real?”

“Yes, for real. I can find things and people with the pendulum method. It's handy for tracking down bounties.”

“Why don't you dowse Moreno?”

“Why didn't I think of that?!” Titus said incredulously, smacking his forehead. “Because he's warded. He's not magic himself, but he's collected enough gear through his career that my normal methods don't work.”

Evan rubbed his chin. “What if we used an abnormal method?”

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

An hour later, they were in the RV. Titus was poring over the collection of Evan's notes and the strange papers he'd bought from Delmann's shop. Evan was very carefully slicing a strip of skin from his own ankle up all the way up his leg. The Guiding Light—the Finder's Follysat on the table between them, filled with fresh blood.

“Even if this works, he's going to know we're coming,” Titus muttered, engrossed in the pages. “Remember what I said?”

“That's why we're not going to look for him,” Evan said, adjusting his grip on the potato peeler. “I don't know how we'd even write his name. Can you read that, by the way?”

“Kind of. This is... most of this is written in, like, arcane pidgin. Who compiled these notes?”

“I did, I think.”

“You think?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot to clarify on that. Apparently a couple months ago, before the ritual, I drilled a hole in my own brain to erase some kind of very dangerous memory.”

“You what.”

“That's not a metaphor or anything. Really did it. I could show you the video.”

“I'll pass. So you don't remember where this came from?” Titus shook the Book of Fate at him.

“Nope.”

“Jesus shit, do you have any idea--”

“How reckless that was? Yeah, yeah, I'm still here and I'm the answer to your fuckin' prayers, aren't I?” Evan gave a whoop as the peeling skin reached his thigh. “Got it this time!” he said cheerfully, snipping the flesh-ribbon off with scissors.

“God, that's so fucking gross. Anyway, you haven't explained how we're going to use that thing to find Moreno.”

“We don't set it to look for him. We look for somewhere he's been. Maybe the last place he slept. Do you think you can describe him well enough in that language for it to work?”

Titus looked like he might actually be impressed, but he hid it well. “Yeah, probably.”

“Good. I've got a dictionary I've put together on that tablet next to you, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. Maybe it'll help?”

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

Two hours later, they had it.

Find where a man born between the 27th and 28th north parallels during a new moon under the sign of capricorn with black hair and green eyes who has killed at least 10 people slept in the past week.

They really had to squeeze the letters in, but when Evan put a flame to the wick, it sprung to life, wavered for a moment, and then pointed east. Both men cheered. Evan threw Titus the keys.

“Drive! Drive north until I tell you otherwise!”

While Titus started the engine, Evan spread a map of the United States on the table in front of the lamp, then produced a protractor and a notebook from a drawer. “Okay, you bastard... let's see where you've been hiding...”

It took three days—one spent driving north, one spent driving back to where they'd started, and one spent driving south. While Titus drove, Evan made meticulous notes of the flame's direction, marking angles on the map. Finally he threw the pencil down triumphantly.

“He's in Salt Lake City.”

“Well, that narrows it down a little, I guess. So what, do we just go there and hope this thing points us in the right direction?”

“Too slow,” Evan called, stepping back into what used to be his bedroom and sitting at his computer. “Now I work my magic.”

After parking, Titus walked back to look over Evan's shoulder. The half-dozen monitors on the wall were flickering between rapidly-changing pictures of faces and what appeared to be CCTV footage.

“What is this?”

“This,” Evan said with dramatic pride, “is Blaccat. Facial recognition algorithms that the CIA wishesit had. I actually started working on it years ago before I thought about the implications of it, but I shelved it. I figured since I may be needing to, uh...”

“Be Batman?”

“...yeah...that I should get back to work on it. Right now it's comparing faces to the description you gave me and cycling through every damn security camera in the city looking for it.”

“How illegal is this?”

“Soooooo illegal.”

“Oh, hey, can you get into police department records?”

“Does the Pope shit in the woods?”

“See if you can get into the Las Vegas mugshots from... February 2019. Run your face-recognition thingy there.”

“Alright.... and... is that our boy?”

A handsome Latino man in his early 30s with shoulder-length jet-black hair and piercing green eyes stared at them from over a booking clipboard.

“That's him,” Titus breathed.

“Perfect! Now I just have to feed that into... wow.” Evan made a gesture and a black and white video popped up on the biggest monitor. The man in the mugshot was walking along the street, flanked by a short stocky man in bandanna and a lanky man with the ugliest white-boy dreads Evan had ever seen.

“That's him! Where is that? When is that?”

Evan grinned up at Titus. “That's live. I can track him and put us at the nearest intersection.”

Titus smiled, eye overbright, and began breathing heavily through his nose. “We got him.”

Evan met his eye and nodded. “Let's get him.”

[good-rwbyaus]

honorable-asshole asked:

Au where Whitley has actually been running the bank accounts since he was young and keeping the group financially viable

#Rising Snow AU   - [ first ]  [ next ]- mod lilac

7. Red

The Schnee Dust Company was hemorrhaging money. He would’ve thought it absurd a couple days ago - couldn’t believe the profit margin graphs he saw at first demonstrating worsening debt every year. It was to the point where the company may very well collapse in just a few scant years if the trend continued.

His first thoughts were that the graphs must be all lies. How could the SDC be on the verge of going bankrupt? The Schnee Dust Company was practically a household name - because there was no one else people can turn to for their Dust needs. A monopoly in every sense of the word. They were successful both at home and abroad with branches everywhere, even in Vacuo where the populace outright hated them. Why were they losing money? 

Was this why Father meticulously scoured everything involving the budget? 

He tapped his finger against the table, the milkshake Klein had provided having turned soupy a long time ago. Those fingers moved to massage his temples, eyebags from lost sleep causing his vision to blur. He gritted his teeth and punched the table with a loud bang. 

Why was his father going off taking vacation when there was a very real chance his company was going to keel over and die?!

Why were they still having extravagant monthly banquets, costing millions of Lien when they were on the brink?

How could things have gotten to this point?

Wait, why don’t people know about this? 

Something like the Schnee Dust Company about to go under was big news.

He looked into the glowing computer monitor, gritting his teeth - knowing he’s probably not going to like what he’s going to find. 

____________________________  

8. Trust

“Klein. Is father reachable right now?” said a pale Whitley, breath smelling acrid from the dry retching he did earlier in the bathroom earlier.

“I’m sorry, young master,” Klein replied apologetically, “your father has always been out of contact when he’s on vacation.”

Damn it. He knew that, but he had hoped... It was a stupid hope. Even back when his sisters were around - even when his eldest sister got badly injured from training, his father had never left a method of contact during his vacation. What made him think that would change? He felt like he was going to explode from what he learned.

He needed to talk to someone. This was a problem too big for him to handle, but the only one who he can talk to...

He stared at Klein whose eyes changed to a bright blue, staring him with...concern. Something he’s never seen in his father’s eyes.

“Young master, are you feeling okay?” 

Even the man’s words of care, said frequently, were never said by his father even once. It...was honestly something he’s always taken for granted. Until now.

“Klein, I need to talk to someone.”

“If you nee-”

“You can’t let father know about what I’m about to tell you,” he cut Klein off, staring at him straight in the eyes.

Without skipping a beat, Klein replied, “Young master, so long as you say so, I will not relay a single word to your father without your permission.” 

“...There was never a test, was there?” he let it out there.

The butler hesitated for a moment before nodding his head.

Whitley took a deep breath.

____________________________

9. Downhill

“This company is a landmine with the amount of debt that’s been accumulating,” Whitley pinched the bridge of his nose, “And when it explodes, it’s not going to just affect our family. It’ll affect all of Atlas, maybe beyond that.”

“Tens of thousands of people are going to die when this company folds over. And I can’t figure out how to stop it.”

Whitley agitatedly stalked back and forth as he clenched his fists back and forth, his only audience of Klein quietly but attentively listening.

“And Father’s content on just ignoring the prob- No. He doesn’t care. He’s cooked the books enough to make it look like we’re only barely in the red - enough to demand subsidies from the government to help prop us up instead of causing the state of emergency that would happen if we were to reveal how badly in the red we are now.”

He stomped his foot.

“But that solution is not sustainable. We’re just pouring water into a sieve, and I cannot solve this problem. The only one who can solve it is intent on just getting what jollies he can from the company and leaving.”

He never thought he would say that about his father, but the evidence he perused through several days of scouring didn’t lie. His father, from the very start, only cared about making sure he had all the power but didn’t care about anything else beyond his fancy dinners, expensive vacations, and his appearance. 

Cautiously, Klein made his opinion known.

“Young master, have you ever thought...that this problem may not necessarily require you in particular to solve it? You could always repo-”

He shook his head vehemently at Klein’s suggestion.

“And then what? The Kingdom of Atlas has always been merciless to those that disturb its order - the Schnee’s are only tolerated because we have both the power and the resources to both help and contend with them,” he gritted his teeth, wiping away a dampness in his eyes with a sleeve.

Klein opened his mouth to say something, but he could only cut him off.

“Don’t argue with me on this point. You haven’t attended those high-class dinners. They’re all snakes maneuvering to get the biggest piece of the pie. If we report the SDC’s situation to the government, all those snakes - the government, the biggest of all - will just slice the SDC into bite-sized pieces under the guise of management, and we’ll be left with nothing.”

“Father will probably go to jail. Weiss will likely be asked to leave her school in disgrace. Maybe Winter will be left unscathed, but that’s only because Ironwood admires her skills; she won’t be able to protect us. Mother might even have to join Father in prison, even though all she’s been doing is drinking her days away and doesn’t care about anything anymore.”

He couldn’t help the bitterness in his voice at the last bit. Yeah, she’s a horrible mother, but she’s his mother. 

“Even if father is content to let this company go to ruin, I won’t let it. I can’t. Even if I have to fix every stupid problem from gross corruption to a leaking toilet myself, I will not let our only shield against the world break in my hands.”

“..But I just don’t know where to start,” Whitley finished bitterly, “Or who to trust. I’m smart enough to know when a problem’s too big for me to handle. I’m good at numbers. I’m good at reading people. But I’m not nearly experienced enough to fix the problems that need fixing all by myself. ” 

“I feel like we’re going to capsize and drown, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.” 

[ next ]

[ecofinisher]

Lady Frost and the Fire King - A familiar partnership - Chap 11

Chapter 11

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31330631/chapters/77469461

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13886468/11/Lady-Frost-and-the-Fire-King-A-familiar-partnership

https://www.wattpad.com/1081907828-lady-frost-and-the-fire-king-a-familiar

(Chapter is about 5000 words long. I recommend to read inside the previous fanfic links)

Kai and Alfida stood together in front of a library and looked at the description at the entrance about the opening time.

„Okay, this must be it,“ Alfida commented. „Shall we go in?“

Kai nodded, then opened the door to enter along with the girl into the library and looked around the place. Alfida showed Kai the reception, where a woman sat using the computer and the two went to encounter the woman.

„Good morning. We‘d like to know if it‘s possible for someone here to help us look for flight tickets to Paris,“ Kai spoke. „Our grandfather told us this was the only way he knew how to obtain and get information about,“ Kai asked earning a nod from the librarian.

„For your grandfather or for you two?“ Asked the librarian.

„Us two,“ Responded Kai.

„Age?“

„I‘m 15 and she‘s 16,“ Responded Kai.

„17,“ Corrected Alfida making Kai grin embarrassed.

„Okay and does it have to be a non-stop flight or a connecting flight?“

„If possible, the cheapest one,“ Added Alfida. „We gotta pay this on our own, eventually,“

„Alright I‘m looking for you two on Brian Airlines, a low-cost airline if you‘re okay with it,“ Stated the woman making the teens nod.

„There are no available low-cost flights to Paris. You would need to choose another destination and see from there, how you could go there to Paris,“ Responded the librarian.

„Well what more can you want, we‘re at the moment out of money and need to go there to get my sister back,“ Explained Kai earning a nod from the librarian.

„How did you get here, if I may ask?“

„It‘s a long story. We‘re really thankful for your help ma‘am,“

„We really are and I don‘t want to be rude or anything, but what are the prices of the available destinations? Are there close to Paris a bit?“ Asked the raven-haired girl the woman, which used her mouse to open the offers.

„60 Norwegian Kroner is if you fly to Vienna, in Austria. Wroclaw in Poland costs 50 Kroner and to Basle in Switzerland 60,“ Mentioned the librarian looking at the two teens.

„For two persons it‘s actually cheap,“ Kai mentioned glad making his crush nod.

„Oh, that‘s for each person,“ Corrected the librarian. „Each of you pays 50 or 60 bucks. So 100 or 120,“

„Oh…..okay, so looks like we have to stay here for a while and find a way to make some money for our flight,“ Kai mentioned making Alfida nod.

„Yeah, we better start to look for a way to obtain money. Maybe Hendrick has an idea and helps us out,“ Commented Alfida.

„I know I can make money with art, I just need to get myself a painting easel and colors. The issue is I will need money for that as well,“

„I‘m thinking about going to Orm and Hendrick and tell what‘s up. Hendrick mostly, he knows this world at the moment better than us,“

„I think you‘ve got a point,“ Kai agreed, then Alfida thanked the woman and walked along with the boy to the outside of the library. „Hey, should we head back to the troll kingdom and see, if we can unfreeze the others?“ Questioned Kai making Alfida shrug her shoulders.

„We could go and try, yeah,“ Replied the raven-haired. „Let‘s get out of here,“ Called Alfida walking the street up with the short boy.

As the school had ended Rollan was alone in the locker room looking at a small book he has as his agenda to see the homework he had noticed down for the week and stored the books we wouldn‘t need for now inside his locker.

„Ay, it‘s been a long time since I‘ve ever done homework. That looks like a lot than usual,“ Spoke Rollan, then stored his agenda inside his bag and got up to close his locker, then noticed his belt he encountered a few days ago. Rollan took the belt out to look at his initial letter and unlocked the aperture under it and tried to adjust it around his waist. „I…..almost got it,“ Commented Rollan trying to squeeze the thick textile through the bands of his pants. Rollan made it and closed his belt, then noticed the old-goldish tune of his symbol get lighter, making him furrow his left eyebrow and in front of him appeared a stone-creature in the air, then it dropped on the ground and it got split into two and both got up scratching their heads.

„Whoa,“ Rollan commented surprised as seeing the two creatures, then got down at the two. „What kind of creatures are you?“ Asked Rollan about to pat the slink creature, then yelped as he burnt his finger on it.

„Hey, hey, hey. Didn‘t you notice the magma on my head?“ Asked the slink stone creature watching Rollan shove his finger in his mouth. „It‘s hotter, than a day at the beach,“

„I‘m sorry,“ Apologized Rollan. „I was kinda astonished by seeing you two,“

„I‘m glad you‘re thinking that way,“ Commented the round creature. „Hey haven‘t we seen each other once? You‘re pretty familiar to me,“

„Not that I know,“ Responded Rollan. „Why?“

„I felt like I‘ve known you somehow,“ Responded the large stone-creature. „I‘m Coal by the way. You‘ve got a name as well?“

„Of course he does, Coal,“ Commented the slink stone creature, making Coal frown and punch him on his face making him fall down on the ground to split into two, now the third creature was much smaller than the slinker one.

„I‘m Rollan,“ Responded Rollan looking at the third creature, which got up along with the slinky one.

„If we‘re going to be together for the next amount of time. I would really love if I could walk on the ground on my own or be carried by you. Anytime I‘m hit or fall down, I split in two and if they fall as well, you‘ll have it worse than in a rabbit burrow,“ Coal commented seeing Rollan sit down on the bench looking at the trio,

„Can I at least know, why I am here talking to you three? What were you doing in my belt?“

„That‘s an excellent question, for some reason a foreign man mixed my powers into this belt, so I assume this would be a way to have the wielder be able to use the powers,“

„Powers?“ Asked Rollan curious. „What kind of powers?“ Asked Rollan, then he heard a loud noise on the outside of the building and ran at the window to look out and see the feet of a large robot stand there blocking the way to the buildings behind it. „Coal?!?“

„The power of fire“ Responded Coal. „You‘re able to create fire and use it,“

„Really? How can I do so?“ Asked the raven-haired boy. „Do I have to say anything?“

„You‘ll get the hand of it. You just have to transform and you‘ll be able to use the powers,“ Responded Coal watching Rollan look out of the window and hear someone scream, then the robot moved back and Rollan dropped his mouth knowing someone might be in trouble right now.

„Does this make me one of the good people if I use the firepower?“ Asked Rollan making the stone-creature shrug his shoulders.

„I‘m just here to follow your orders. Whatever path you chose, is up to you,“ Responded Coal watching Rollan look out of the window and frown.

„They need a hero? They will get one!“ Announced Rollan earning applause from the three stone-creatures.

„Then all you need to do is say, Coal, I‘m fired up,“ Stated the stone-creature.

„Coal, I‘m fired up! Ah ha, ha!“ Shouted Rollan opening up his arms and have his clothing get replaced by brown boots, pants, that were marked with fire-themed symbols resembling an engravure. On his body he wore a dark-brown pullover with small streaks, forming lava running down the clothing. Above the pullover, he wore a gray vest with similar patterns to the ones from the pants, and his belt, which now works as a miraculous was dark-red and the cover with Rollan‘s initial got brighter. His skin got darker along with his eyes and his hairstyle became fixed up resembling a fire flame with its colorings as well starting on the ground with dark brown, leading to red up to the end, which was orange and yellow.

„Wow!“ Commented Rollan astonished looking at his appearance, then ran at the exit and shrieked as the door got smacked back to encounter students from the fencing class run into the locker room accompanied by their class teacher.

„There‘s fire!“ Shouted a girl pointing at Rollan‘s superhero form, which looked around to spot the empty room.

„Where?“ Asked Rollan watching the disappear behind the locker while the rest of the team looked at the superhero. „Why is everyone looking at me as if my head was on fire?“ Asked Rollan and Mr. D‘Argencourt took out his smartphone to show Rollan his looks as a superhero and he got surprised as he saw himself as a superhero and his hair was burning at that exact moment. „Oh that‘s what you meant,“

„Get in here!“ Shouted a red-dressed fencing student, which stood at the entrance waiting for other students to leave the court and Rollan ran out heading to the field passing by a few students encountering Kim Chien Le, who he met on his first school day.

„Hey, Kim! Where‘s the danger?“ Asked Rollan watching Kim point at the outside, making Rollan nod and ran at the outside of the court to spot, a large, dark-blue car robot with two white stripes on its legs and arms holding with its left hand a police car with an agent in it. Rollan spotted on the ground Sabrina Raincomprix, which watched in shock the Roboter threatening her father.

„Papa!“ Shouted the redhead, making Rollan swallow hard.

At another part of the schoolhouse, Gerda was in the restroom washing her hands and moved to the side seeing there was no handpaper available, but a strange, electronic device, which had an etiquette with instruction on how to dry her hands in there. Gerda looked at her hands and slowly put them inside the device, which began to blow wind at Gerda‘s hands to dry them and the side of the device had a small display counting from ten down until it would stop drying. As it stopped Gerda took out her hands, then smiled at seeing it made its job good. Gerda picked up from the floor her bag, then walked out of the restroom out a the library opening up the bag to check her material, she had in it and noticed the wreath Rollan told to have found. Therefore the blonde removed the wreath from her bag, then looked at the reflection of a large metal cart and observed herself inserting the wreath on top of her head. As she‘s done that, a blue spirit appeared beside Gerda floating over the lavatory, shrieking at the girl at the sudden appearance of the small creature.

„Hello. I‘m Snowflake,“ Greeted the spirit. „I‘m coming in peace, don‘t worry. I‘m able to grant you powers...the power of ice,“ Explained Snowflake watching Gerda, which had gotten calmer. „With me, you‘ll be able to use ice. You‘ll be able to freeze things, create things, destroy things. A lot is possible if you learn to figure it out,“ „Like the….Snow Queen?“ Asked Gerda curious making the spirit nod, then she spotted someone and hid inside Gerda‘s backpack. „Hey!“ Shouted Gerda opening the backpack. „Get out of here, I need to talk to you,“ Gerda ordered, then she noticed at the end of the library a student, which was wearing a red hoodie and black pants staring at her confused. „I…..can‘t find my phone in there, but I‘m able to talk like this on it. That‘s pretty cool, isn‘t it?“ Asked Gerda faking a grin at the student.

„Uh…..we gotta hide, there‘s another akuma out there terrorizing the city,“ Stated the student making Gerda nod.

„I will come, don‘t worry,“ Responded Gerda watching the boy move on, then from Gerda‘s pocket came out the spirit, making her frown. „Why didn‘t you show up?“

„You‘re my new holder, right?“ Asked the spirit making Gerda shrug her shoulders.

„I don‘t know. You just appeared at the time I‘ve set this on my head,“ Commented Gerda making Snowflake nod.

„Then I assume you are if the wreath is supposed to go to you,“

„Maybe,“ Commented Gerda, then Snowflake floated forward and Gerda followed the spirit to see above the top of the room two TV screens hanging with the news of the akuma alert.

„Shadow Moth akumatized another citizen, which turned into an Autobot and is causing trouble in Paris,“ Explained the purple-haired moderator on TV.

„Oh oh, that‘s right here at our school,“ Commented Gerda earning a nod from the spirit.

„So what do you think? Do you want to give it a chance and use your powers to take down that monster over there?“ Questioned Snowflake. „I think the superheroes would love to have another helping hand. What do you think?“

„I‘ve never done this before. I don‘t know if I can even pull this off,“

„You can do that. You‘ve got me and my powers. You don‘t have to get worried about being hurt or killed. You're sheltered pretty well as long as you have me activated,“

„Okay I could give it a try,“ Gerda answered. „I‘ve defeated the Snow Queen once when I was younger. This will be easier…..I hope at least,“ Gerda commented, then Snowflake patted Gerda on her shoulder.

„Don‘t worry Gerda. You will do just fine. Say, Snowflake freeze and you‘ll transform,“ Added the creature making Gerda nod.

„Snowflake, Freeze!“ Shouted Gerda having her entire look exchanged. Her clothings had vanished and her entire body was covered in a long, blue winter coat with big snowflake patterns spread around the outfit. The wreath got the similar colors of the outfit, the hair had gotten lighter along with the skin, and around her eyes, up to the side of her ears, she wore a mix of ice-white and blue make-up powder with smaller dots and snowflake spread over it along a part of her cheek.

„Woah I look like a….a mini Snow Queen,“ Gerda commented. „Or no this looks like a regular winter cloak,“ Spoke Gerda, then heard the door of the library get kicked back by Kim Chien Le and Ethan, the student he played basketball with holding up the doors, so a few students ran in for safety. Gerda looked from the second floor at the two, then she had an idea and looked at the stairs beside her and looked at her hands, then held them open wide and shoot ice from her hands and she approached the stairs, so she would freeze them. Gerda smiled, then jumped on it sliding down at the first floor, then Gerda shrieked and pushed down a redheaded student and flenched her teeth in shock.

„I‘m sorry Nathaniel,“ Commented Gerda looking at the redhead scratch his head and look up at the girl bewildered from knowing his name. Gerda saw him not caring about what happened, then she ran out of the library and a few students got at the door to see the mysterious person, that had just run out of the library.

„I feel like I‘ve seen her before,“ Commented Kim making the blonde student shrug his shoulders watching the superheroine freeze the long stairs, to slide down on her back.

Rollan stood at the exit looking at the robot, which held the police car in his hands, then he whistled to catch the robot‘s attention.

„Hey! You have to pick someone who‘s worth your level!“ Shouted Rollan‘s alter ego, then he heard a whooshing sound and turned his head back to see the ice-themed superheroine come along. She had made herself a path to the exit with ice, where she was trying to slide on, but she ended up falling down on her front. Rollan got down on the ground to offer her his hand. She took his hand to get up, then tripped over the ice and hit her forehead on his nose, causing him to shake his head surprised at the mishap.

„Are you okay?“ Asked Rollan raising up the girl carefully, then looked into her blue eyes and got lost in them. „Que Hermosísimo...“ Commented Rollan making Gerda grin embarrassed at her slipping, then both turned around as they heard Sabrina cry about her father in danger.

„Have you got any idea?“ Asked Rollan. „I don‘t know, how I can get up there,“

„Maybe we should attack him from here,“ Suggested Gerda, then Rollan nodded and ran towards the supervillain, making Gerda drop her mouth. „What are you going to do?“ Asked Gerda watching the superhero move his arms back causing two fireballs on the hands, then jumped up and hit with them the feet of the supervillain, causing the metal of the feet to melt a little. Rollan looked up at the robot, which moved his feet hard yeeting Rollan across the air, so he would crash with his back against the wall of the school. Gerda ran at the superhero to check for him, then helped him sat up.

„Are you okay?“ Asked Gerda making him nod.

„Yah,“ Replied the brunette. „My fire isn‘t powerful enough to harm him,“

„I saw,“ Responded Gerda and looked at the supervillain, which used his other hand to open the door of the police car, then stopped as the policeman began to shot with his gun at him.

„I think I have an idea,“ Gerda said running at the robot then used her ice power to build around the feet of the robot ice and Rollan sat up observing her doing that. Rollan looked up at the robot, then at the schoolhouse, and had an idea, then run into the school building leaving Gerda alone trying to stop the villain with her ice power.

For a long while, Gerda continued using her ice power seeing she made it to froze the feet of the robot in it, then smiled as he didn‘t move his feet in it. Gerda raised her hand in victory, then the robot tried to pull out his right leg, making pressure on the ice, which began to decay, making Gerda wide her eyes as her plan didn‘t quite work well.

From above the schoolhouse, Gerda spotted Rena Rouge fly against the car, then catapult herself away from it, while pushing Roger Raincomprix out of the vehicle and she landed on the ground, followed by catching the heavy man almost bringing the heroine down on the ground.

„Gosh! Are you heavy!“ Complained Rena Rouge, then the supervillain broke out off the ice and Gerda ran in Rena‘s direction throwing ice at the supervillain to stop him, unsuccessfully.

„Sorry, we‘re new here,“ Gerda commented watching Rena Rouge drop the policeman on the ground, which ran to his daughter and shrieked as the robot dropped the police car over the two.

„Watch out!“ Shouted Rena Rouge then Gerda used her ice power causing a long bridge to appear over the Raincomprix‘s and it hit the bridge, causing it to break, making Gerda scream and before it fell on top of the family Ladybug showed up, coming from the school and used her yo-yo to pull them away, before getting hurt.

„Well done, Ladybug!“ Chanted Rena Rouge, then Ladybug pointed at the school court, where the two members ran into and Ladybug noticed the foreign girl and figured out, that she was wearing the ice miraculous.

„Where did you find that miraculous?“ Asked Ladybug pointing at the wreath.

„It‘s actually mine,“ Gerda responded. „Or it‘s very identical to the wreath I lost,“

„Look….“Ladybug commented, then she heard the shatter of a window, then looked up along with Gerda to see the fire-themed superhero jump out off the window against the supervillain, landing on the middle of his leg, then he used both hands to create a fireball and grabbed the iron of his leg to melt it.

Ladybug facepalmed, then watched Gerda use her ice power to freeze the leg of the villain, then she stopped as she saw the robot push Rollan off his leg into his doom, then Gerda quickly used her ice to freeze the villain‘s foot and Rollan landed on the ice, slipping against Gerda's arms, which caught him. The boy grinned abashedly, then got dropped to the ground as Ladybug approached the duo.

„I see both of you are new. Per coincidence, I already defeated this villain once. The main goal is getting into the head of the villain and destroy the car keys,“ Stated Ladybug, then she heard Cat Noir‘s staff and looked from above the houses behind the bakery to see the cat-themed superhero come along and land on the head of the supervillain, then he knocked on the head of the supervillain.

„Cou cou!“ Greeted Cat Noir gazing upside down into the cabin of the car to see the human, that was akumatized and used his staff to break the windshield, then the robot moved with his upper body hastily causing Cat Noir to fall off, then grab himself on the waist of the robot.

„How shall we get up without any help?“ Asked Gerda looking at Ladybug, then Rena Rouge had an idea and grabbed the girl on her shoulder.

„Follow me you two,“ Asked Rena Rouge switching from Gerda to Rollan, then both followed the fox-themed superheroine and Ladybug looked at her yo-yo, then threw it up to activate her lucky charm.

„Lucky charm!“ Shouted the heroine, then received a large ladder and chuckled about it. „Wow this is actually useful….in a way,“ Commented the spotted heroine, then looked around the place and noticed the car of the police agent lie broken in front of the stairs, then she had an idea and ran at the car to place the ladder over the car. Ladybug watched Cat Noir jump off the Autobot, landing on the ground, and observed the Autobot hit himself on the leg, making Cat Noir grin.

„You‘ve got a plan, bugaboo?“ Asked Cat Noir, then Ladybug pointed at the ladder.

„I had expected you to remain up on Apace there for a little longer and jump down at the ladder, but now I think you‘ve gotta do it in another way,“

„From above the school?“ Suggested Cat Noir, then heard the window of the school getting broken, then both looked up to see Rollan‘s superhero form fly towards the supervillain, getting closer to his head, beginning to distract him. „I wasn‘t aware he could do that,“ Cat Noir commented surprised making Ladybug chuckle.

„Rena is quite imaginative, isn‘t she?“ Asked Ladybug looking at Cat Noir, which then understood, Ladybug had already figured out it was an illusion. Rollan‘s alter ego jumped out off the window and Cat Noir jumped at the middle of the ladder and got on the top of it, making the ladder swank down and Rollan‘s landing on the other side catapulted Cat Noir up at the driver cabin, thereafter Cat Noir broke with his staff the side of the window, then blocked with it the driver and activated his cataclysm to destroy his car keys to reveal the akuma.

„Bingo!“ Cat Noir chanted, then the villain packed Cat Noir on his head, trying to hold him down, and moved his hand close to Cat Noir‘s hand.

„Why is it taking so long?“ Asked Rollan looking at Ladybug, which noticed Cat Noir‘s odd movements from down, then she looked up at the roof to see Rena Rouge and Gerda‘s alter ego.

„Hey, snowgirl! Jump down and help the fire guy up at the robot head to help Cat Noir out!“ Ordered Ladybug, then Gerda looked down at Rollan‘s alter ego, which waited for her to jump down. „Don‘t worry,“

„Come on, you‘ll do just fine. I trust you,“ Rollan said loud, then Gerda jumped down landing with her feet on the end of the ladder catapulting Rollan up on the robot, then he landed on top of Cat Noir and grabbed the hands of the villain to prevent him to remove the ring off Cat Noir‘s hands.

„What‘s the next plan?“ Asked Rollan, then Cat Noir moved his head to look at the villain trying to find another place, where an amok could be located eventually.

„Do you see here anything loose?“ Asked Cat Noir, then Rollan looked around noticing on the rearview mirror a religious necklace hanging on it. He then kept looking around the vehicle and glanced back at the mirror.

„What about the necklace on the mirror?“ Asked Rollan making the superhero nod.

„That must it be, destroy it,“ Ordered Cat Noir, then Rollan picked the necklace and pressed it tight together causing fire with his hands, so it would get pulverized by him, then a blue feather flew out off the broken windshield making Cat Noir smile. „Well done,“ Complimented Cat Noir and Rollan watched the feather fly out, then they heard Ladybug activate her healing light to restore everything back to normal and around the robot passed by her light and removed the robot, dropping the two superheroes on the ground. Rollan got confused, afterward looked around himself to see, what had happened and looked at Cat Noir.

"Is your hair really burning?" Asked Cat Noir looking at the rookie, which was checking the surroundings wondering, where the robot had gone.

„Where did the robot go?“ Asked Rollan. Cat Noir spotted the citizen, that had been de-akumatized appear on the ground and beside him stood a blue, American muscle car. Cat Noir got up and went down on his knees to check on the man.

„Did you get caught on another illegal race, Anthony?“ Asked Cat Noir making the man shake his head.

„Not really, but I broke the speed limit and got my license taken away. I actually deserved it anyway, but I have let the anger take over me,“ Explained the driver, then Rollan looked into the car to see the necklace on the mirror, then got down to the man as well.

„That necklace in there, I used to have one from my mother, but I‘ve lost it,“ Commented Rollan.

„I‘ve got it there as a lucky charm,“ Stated the driver. „But I should really keep the velocity down. Not because of my life, I could bring someone else in danger or even erase someone‘s life, who‘s most likely to be innocent,“

„We never know,“ Commented Cat Noir, then Rollan got up to approach Ladybug, Rena Rouge and Gerda‘s alter ego, then smiled at the girls.

„We‘re not quite the skilled heroes here,“ Commented Rollan. „I‘m not sure, how we got to be them or if we deserve it,“

„Actually I‘ve lost your two‘s miraculouses during my last fight and I needed to retrieve it, but you two were fighting without any hesitation and trying to help. I think I‘ll let you keep them. Now that Shadow Moth is stronger than before it would be really good to have more team members. This was your first time, you two will gain skills with the time,“

„Yes,“ Agreed Gerda looking at Rollan‘s alter ego, which smiled at her and bowed down at the girl.

„Have you two actually a name?“ Asked Rena. „You know a superhero one?“

„Exactly, no one has to know who our identity is. No one. This is most important, cause if Hawk Moth knows about our other identity, we and our family and friends will be in danger,“

„Sure,“ Responded Rollan.

„I promise,“ Gerda added.

„So, what‘s your hero name?“ Asked Ladybug. „Paris needs to know, who these two newbies are,“

„Well I would need to think about how I should call myself...something feminine,“ Stated Gerda while Rollan pondered about it.

„Fire King, I‘m Fire King,“ Stated Rollan making Ladybug smile.

„It does‘t have to be complicated. Something very simple like uhm….Ice Queen“ Suggested Ladybug making Rena chuckle.

„Or Frosty, Frosty-girl, Queen Frost…….Ice Frost….“ Suggested the Fire King making Gerda chuckle, then she figured out a name she could use.

„Hey, I think I‘ve got one…...What about, Lady Frost?“

„It‘s up to you, if you like it,“ Mentioned Ladybug earning a nod from Rena Rouge.

„I like it,“ Rena commented making Gerda smile.

„I find it suits you,“ Added Fire King earning a nod from the light blonde girl, then Ladybug lifted her fist up in the middle, then watched Cat Noir and Rena Rouge get beside the two and look at the two newbies. Rena Rouge moved her eyes calling the attention of the two rookies, which smiled and placed their one hand in the middle to do a group fist bump.

„Pound it!“ Said the group together, seconds later Fire King and Lady Frost repeated their sentence, then saw Cat Noir‘s ring beep.

„Oh excuse me, I gotta go, see you another time,“ Cat Noir said waving at the group.

„How long have you been superheroes if I may ask?“ Questioned Lady Frost watching Ladybug think about it.

„I think about two years, almost,“ Replied the blue-haired girl. „I‘ve got a lot of experience on my back. You two are new, inexperienced, and are probably new to us all. Eventually to each other as well. The more we work together in the future, the better you two get,“

„Thank you for your confidence, Ladybug,“ Commented Lady Frost giving the heroine her hand to shake, then saw Ladybug‘s earring beep.

„Oh I gotta go as well, before I transform back,“ Warned Ladybug earning a nod from Rena Rouge, which saluted at the duo and ran away. Ladybug used her yo-yo and swung away, disappearing behind the building and Fire King and Lady Frost looked at each other.

„Do we know each other?“ Asked Fire King making the ice-themed heroine shake her head.

„Probably not. I don‘t seem to recognize you,“ Responded Lady Frost making the brunette nod.

„I felt like I‘ve seen you before,“ Commented Fire King. „I don‘t know, maybe your eyes made me feel like I‘ve seen them before,“

Lady Frost chuckled, then patted the superhero on the shoulder.

„Probably just a coincidence. There are more people with blue eyes. Might just be a coincidence,“ Explained Lady Frost. „I have to go. We will see each other next time,“ Mentioned the blonde making the fire-themed superhero nod and watch the heroine ran into the school court. Fire King smiled enchanted as the heroine went upstairs and leaned his back against the railing of the school sighing.

[nikki-writes-stuff]

Sweet As Sin - Part One

Summary: After losing your job and having to spend all of your savings, you find yourself completely broke as you desperately search for a job. On a whim, you join a website for sugar babies and sugar daddies can meet, and you’re surprised when you immediately make a connection with Captain America, of all people. But as you grow closer to Steve, you start to realize that there may be a dark side to America’s golden boy. 

Pairing: SugarDaddy!Steve Rogers x Reader, with eventual Dark!Steve Rogers

Read Part Two here!

After reaching a certain point in life, people generally come to the realization that the old adage of “when it rains, it pours” is true. At least, that was what you were thinking as you walked to your car, cheeks still burning with shame from what had just transpired in the grocery store.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but your card was declined. Do you have any other methods of payment?”

The words echoed in your ears as you drove home; of course you didn’t have another method of payment. You hadn’t ever since your job laid you off. You’d been living off of unemployment for a few months now, barely able to afford rent and living off a diet consisting mostly of ramen noodles. What’s more, you’d just had to get your car fixed after someone t-boned you at the intersection across from your house. So now, you didn’t even have any more savings to fall back on. It was even worse than when you’d been in college; back then, there had at least been a goal in mind. Just graduate, you’d told yourself, and then you’ll find a job.

Well, you’d graduated a year ago, and now you were back to where you’d started – broke and desperate.

You slammed the door shut when you entered your apartment, kicking your shoes off before throwing yourself onto the sofa. You lay on your back, looking up at the ceiling as your stomach growled at you.

“Yeah, I’m hungry, too,” you told it. Looks like it was noodles in broth for dinner again, tonight.

Anxiety was constantly clawing at your chest these days, especially now that you were too broke to afford your medication. Later on that evening, you stood over your stove while typing ‘how to make money fast’ into Google. It was a cheap shot, one that you didn’t foresee getting you anywhere, but it was at least something to take your mind off of things while you waited for the water on the stove to heat up.

That was when you saw the add. ‘Finding Arrangements – Where beautiful, successful people find mutually beneficial relationships’ – basically, a website for Sugar Daddies looking for a pretty set of tits to spend money on. You huffed a laugh and scrolled past it, only to return to it a few seconds later.

You chewed on your lip, pondering the link sitting right there on the screen, so engrossed in your thoughts that you jolted when the water started boiling over, sizzling onto the stovetop beneath it. With a curse, you turned down the heat and added the noodles, stirring them in with the seasoning packet as you thought it over. It wouldn’t hurt to check, right? Just a quick glance wouldn’t hurt; if you signed up and didn’t like any of the people you matched with, you could just delete your profile and pretend it never happened.

Your thoughts lingered on the idea as you sat on the couch, still hungry after finishing your meager meal. You’d brought the link up on your laptop, and now you were staring at the site’s homepage. To the right, there was a link to sign up, and to the left, there was a picture of a man in a business suit surrounded by three beautiful women. You gulped, starting to psych yourself out as you stared at the image. But then you closed your eyes and thought about the number in your bank account, and it was enough to motivate you to start typing.

You filled out your personal information and clicked the link the website sent to your email, confirming your new membership. When it came to choose a profile photo, you chose one of yourself from your graduation day. You were standing in your college’s auditorium, wearing a dress made out of gold fabric that was covered with thick black lace; it was your favorite picture of yourself, and you hoped that the dress wasn’t too revealing. It had a high neckline, but it had only come down to about mid-thigh.

You filled out the ‘About Me’ section and then paused when you came to the next question – What are you looking for in a relationship? You thought for a moment, biting your lip and turning over your words before starting to type again.

This is my first time trying out a relationship like this, you wrote. So I would like to find someone who I can trust to guide me through it. In return, I would like to be able to give my (you cringed as you typed the next two words) Sugar Daddy a fulfilling, comfortable relationship in return.

After reviewing your profile, you uploaded it, forcing yourself to sit back from your laptop and breathe. It was out there now; people would see it. Wealthy, presumably powerful people would see it. You closed your computer and hurried to put a movie on, choosing one of your old favorites; it had helped you when you were feeling anxious before.

By the time you finished the movie, you’d mostly calmed down, controlling your nerves until they were just a dull ache in your chest. Before you stood up and went to bed, you checked your phone, eyes bulging when you saw that you already had five replies to your profile.

You opened your notifications, scrolling through the different profiles. Four of them were from men with one of them being from a woman. Your nose wrinkled up when you saw that one of the men were in his 70s, and you quickly deleted his message without even reading it. The next one was in his early 50s, and his profile picture was of him standing in front of a car that looked like it cost more than the entirety of your college tuition. You didn’t delete his message, but you definitely felt dismayed as you skimmed through the rest of them.

You paused, though, when you saw the last one. His profile said that he was 38, making him the youngest of those that had replied to you. His username was Captain_Grant, and his profile only showed his silhouette outlined against a setting sun. The only thing you could see about his features were his defined, slightly-crooked nose and the shadow of a beard against his jawline, but you were more interested in seeing the message he’d sent you.

Good evening, miss. I hope you’re having a nice day. I saw on your profile that you liked to read?

You furrowed your eyebrows, laughing a little. The other ones had pretty much sent you the same thing – “hi”. One of them had had the courtesy of adding a smiley face afterwards, but the fact that this guy had actually taken the time to read your profile made him stand out amongst the rest.

Good evening, you typed back. I do love to read; right now I’m in the middle of a great book.

His reply came only about a minute after you sent your response.

What’s it called?

You typed out the title of the book. After another minute, Captain sent you a picture. You held your breath as you opened the attachment, praying that it wasn’t a dick pic, and you were pleasantly surprised to see a photo of a bookshelf. The book you’d mentioned was resting on it along with a few others by the same author.

I’m a fan of theirs, too, as you can see.

You grinned and got up, taking a quick photo of your own bookshelf and sending it to him. You’d bought it from IKEA years ago, and its thin shelves had started to sag under the weight of all of your books, but you loved it anyways.

You have quite the collection, miss.

You chuckled at how polite he was and sent him a message that he call you by your first name.

‘Miss’ just seems so formal, don’t you think?

I was going more for polite, but I see what you mean. Well, then, you should call me Steve. ‘Captain’ isn’t really formal so much as it’s just weird. …I’ve been told I’m not good at picking out profile names.

You giggled at that; Steve seemed like a dork. But a cute one.

I think your profile name is great, for the record, but I’ll stick with Steve. What made you join this website, Steve?

It took him a few minutes to respond, and you worried for a second that you’d asked something too personal. But as you got ready for bed, you saw that he’d finally responded.

I’m an old fashioned kinda guy, and in the past I’ve been told that I’m a bit too…overbearing in a relationship. But I’ve always believed that a man should take care of the woman he’s with. So a friend of mine suggested this site, and I figured I would try it out. You’re the first girl who I liked enough to send a message to, though.

You smiled at that, feeling warmth bloom in your chest.

What made me different from the rest?

All the other girls on here only talked about what they wanted to get out of a relationship in their profiles. You were the only one who mentioned what she wanted to give.

You felt as if butterflies were flying around your stomach, and your thumbs started typing of their own accord.

Do you think we could meet sometime? Maybe grab a cup of coffee?

I would love to, doll. I’m out of the country right now, but I get back in a week. How about we meet up then? Your profile said you live in Brooklyn; is that right?

It sure is; I’ve lived here ever since I finished college.

You’re a girl after my own heart; I grew up in Brooklyn. There’s a bagel shop that also serves coffee that I highly recommend. We could meet there if you’re up for it.

You didn’t even think before you answered him back.

I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

________

Over the next three days, you and Steve messaged each other as much as possible. He was so easy to talk to; you’d almost forgotten about the financial element of your relationship. During the day, when he was busy with work, you found yourself missing him. Right around the evening, you would start jumping for your phone any time it buzzed, and your heart would sink with disappointment when it wasn’t Steve.

You were on such a high from meeting Steve that you’d forgotten all about the things that were causing you anxiety. That was, until your landlord sent you an email talking about how rent was going to be raised an extra $50 each month. The news had washed over you like a bucket of iced water, sending you into the worst panic attack you’d had since college.

You’d spent the next few hours either pacing across your living room or crying in bed, curled up as that same feeling of helplessness that had haunted you for the past few months settled over you heavily. You hadn’t even realized that your phone was buzzing. At least, not until the fifth or sixth buzz. Wiping away your tears, you pulled your phone out of your pocket and opened it up, seeing several missed messages from Steve.

Hey, doll, just got done with work for the day.

How was your day?

You ok, doll? You’re usually around by now.

Are you ok?

I’m sorry for hovering, I’m just worried about you.

You there?

You felt guilt settle over you as you began to type with trembling fingers.

I’m so sorry, Steve. I just had a really rough day; I didn’t even realize that my phone was going off.

His reply was instantaneous.

God, you scared me, doll. Are you alright? What happened?

My landlord raised the rent by an entire $50. Rent is due by the end of the week, and I have no idea how to come up with the money.

You sniffled and waited for him to reply, and when he did you felt you felt your tears subside for a brief moment.

Is that all? That’s why I’m here, hon. Do you have a PayPal?

Steve… Are you sure? This is so much.

You could almost hear his laughter in his next reply.

Doll, I promise that $50 is NOT a lot to me. Besides, that’s part of this whole thing, isn’t it? Me taking care of you?

But I haven’t done anything for you in return…

He waited a few more minutes before responding.

Well… What if you did something for me tonight? Would that make you feel better?

Your felt your heart start to beat faster at his words, wondering what he would have you do.

What do you have in mind? you replied, trying to keep your words neutral.

Give me your phone number and let me call you?

Your breath puffed out at such a simple response, and you sent him your number without a second thought.

A few seconds later, your phone began to came, and unknown number appearing on your screen. You took a deep breath, feeling your heartrate skyrocket once more; you’d only known him for a few days, and yet a simple phone call from him was enough to make you feel breathless.

You fumbled with your phone, accepting the call and hesitantly raising it up to your ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey, doll. It’s Steve. Although… Well, that was probably obvious, right?”

Your laugh sounded more like a hiccup, and you cringed at the sound, trying to blink away the tears that were still trying to escape.

“Hi, Steve,” was all you could sigh. “It’s…really good to hear your voice.”

And it really was; it was somehow even better than you’d imagined it – not terribly deep, but warm, so warm that you wish you could curl up and get him to read bedtime stories to you.

“Have you been crying?” he asked, a touch of worry working its way into his voice.

“Oh, um… Yeah,” you sighed. “This whole rent thing has really got me anxious.”

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” he replied. “Can you give me your email address?”

You gave it to him, hearing the typing of a keyboard in the background.

“Thanks, doll. Just give me a minute, ok? I’m still trying to get better with my typing skills.”

You chuckled, picturing him typing with his two pointer fingers, but you still didn’t understand what he was asking you to give him a minute with.

“What are you doing, Steve?” you asked.

“Just wait; I’m almost done.”

After a few more seconds of typing, you felt your phone buzz, and you pulled it away to see that it was an email from PayPal. Your eyes went wide as you opened it, audibly gasping when you saw the message waiting for you when you opened your account. You have $250 waiting to be accepted.

“Steve!” You heard his laugh from the other line, and for a second you were caught off guard; you immediately loved the sound more than you’d loved any other laugh you’d ever encountered.

“This is too much!” you cried out. “I only needed $50! Steve, I’m no mathematician, but you gave me two hundred more than that!”

Steve only laughed again.

“I won’t apologize for taking care of my girl,” he said, making your cheeks heat up at the term of endearment. “You deserve it; you’ve had a rough day. Go out and get a massage, or buy something nice for yourself. Do something that’ll relieve some stress.”

Your eyes went half-lidded for a second at the thought of a massage; you couldn’t remember the last massage you’d gotten. But no; you needed to be smart with your money.

“Well… Thank you, Steve,” you sighed. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

“Every penny is worth getting to hear your voice,” he murmured. “It’s even prettier than I imagined it.”

“Steve…no…”

“No?”

“You gotta stop saying such nice things. It’s bad enough through text; actually hearing you say them is gonna make me spontaneously combust.”

Steve’s laughed rumbled across the receiver once more.

“Well try your best not to. At least not until we meet face-to-face.”

“Tell me about it. I still don’t know what you look like.”

You could tell by his voice that Steve was smiling when he spoke next.

“What do you imagine I look like?”

You grinned and stretched out in bed, your anxiety from before completely melting away.

“Well… You’re probably tall,” you started. “No… You’re definitely tall. I can tell.”

“Really? What gave it away?”

“You just seem like a tall person.” He chuckled at that, but you kept going on. “I could tell from your profile picture that you have a beard, and I bet you keep it trimmed all nice and neat. And… I’m going to guess that you have brown hair.”

“Well, I’ll be back in three days. There’s only one way for you to find out if you’re right.”

“I know. Still planning on the bagel shop at 9 am sharp, right? On Sunday?”

“Absolutely, doll. It’s a date.”

_______

The next day, you were able to pay your rent early, much to your landlord’s delight. After that, you decided that you would treat yourself to some actual groceries. Having a full shopping cart was a novelty to you; usually, you would load up with a basket containing ramen, maybe some chicken, some eggs, and whatever toiletries you needed. But today, you actually put together a meal plan and a list before going shopping.

Later on that day, you were grinning ear to ear as you put your purchases away in your tiny kitchen. There were green things in your fridge again! And they weren’t mold!

You were cooking a late breakfast for yourself when your phone rang, and you let out an excited squeak when you saw who it was.

“Steve!”

“Wow; someone sounds happy today.”

“I just got back from the grocery store,” you told him. “Thanks to a very wonderful, generous person, I was able to get food! Like, fancy food!”

“Fancy food, huh? What kind of fancy food?”

“Um… Well, I got stuff for salads! And I’m going to make a casserole for dinner. And I have some pasta, some beef, some taco stuff-“

“…Baby, that doesn’t really sound like fancy food. It sounds like regular groceries.”

“Well, it’s fancy compared to what I usually eat,” you pointed out.

“And what is that?”

“…Um…Ramen, mostly. Not that I mind! It’s better than nothing. I’ve got really creative with ramen recipes; it’s a skill I learned in college.”

Steve let out an exasperated sigh.

“That’s gonna have to change,” he asserted. “From now on, I’ll take you grocery shopping once a week, and I want you to get food with actual nutrients in it. Understood?”

You grinned as you flipped the omelet in the pan.

“Only if you let me cook for you sometime,” you bargained. You felt your cheeks heat up when he let out a groan.

“God, I can’t remember the last time I had a home-cooked meal,” he sighed. “I wish I could come back sooner.”

“You can make it for two more days,” you said. “I believe in you.”

“Well, I’m glad someone does.”

The two of you talked until your breakfast was ready, and for the rest of the day you worked on applying for jobs. You kept the news on your tv at a low volume, but later on, while you were cooking your casserole, you heard something about Moscow that made you perk up; Steve had mentioned that he was in Moscow on his business trip.

You hurried to pull the casserole out of the oven and place it on a cooling rack before jogging into the living room and turning up the volume.

“….in Moscow today. It is reported that the small terrorist organization was eliminated by Captain America, Natasha Romanoff, and a group of American agents with them. Luckily, the attempted bombing was stopped before there could be any casualties.”

You watched as the footage cut to Captain America standing in front of a group of reporters, decked out in his uniform with his signature shield strapped to his back. He shifted on his feet, looking out over the room before starting to speak.

“I’m relieved to inform you that the terrorist threat has been eliminated,” he began, and you frowned at how familiar his voice sounded. If you didn’t know any better, then you would think that it was Steve talking to you, your Steve, but you knew the idea was ridiculous. You smiled at the thought; you’d have to ask him later on if anybody else had noticed the similarity.

“The group was small and disorganized, and we believe that they acted independently of any larger organization,” he continued. “Our men and woman, however, are keeping a close eye on any and all other suspicious activity in this and the surrounding countries. For now, we advise you to rest easy, and-“

You muted the tv once more, heading into the kitchen to grab a plate of food. You sat down on your couch and pulled your phone out, dialing Steve’s number. You frowned when you reached his answering machine, but you left a message anyways.

“Hi, Steve! I just saw something on the news about a terrorist group in Moscow… I guess I just wanted to call and make sure you were okay. Just shoot me a text or give me a call when you’re able to. I’ll talk to you soon!”

After that, you ate your food, reveling in having something on your stomach other than the same old noodles. It was while you were wrapping your casserole to put in in the fridge that Steve called you back, and you rushed to answer the phone.

“Hello!”

“Hi, doll,” Steve sighed.

“You sound so tired.”

“Yeah… I guess I am. It was, uh… A rough day at work. But the good news is that I get to come home a day early. Think we could move our date to tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow? You can get here all the way from Moscow tonight?”

“Sure can. I’m on the plane right now.”

“Wow. Talk about company benefits…” Steve chuckled, and you smiled fondly as you closed the fridge. “I worried about you when I heard about the terrorists. Is everything ok? No one you knew got hurt, did they?”

“Nah, we’re fine, doll. But you’re sweet to ask.”

“Well, I saw Captain America talking on the news about it and just wanted to make sure. Hey, have you ever noticed that you sound a lot like him?”

“Uh… You think I sound like Captain America?” Steve seemed flustered, and you grinned as you walked back to your couch.

“Yeah; you guys have practically the same voice,” you grinned. “Crazy coincidence, right? You sound like him; you have the same first name… And did you know that he’s grown a beard since-“

“Hey, doll? The plane is experiencing some turbulence. Would it be ok if I let you go?”

“Oh. Yeah! Sure thing, Steve. But we’re still planning on tomorrow morning?”

“You betcha. I’ll see you at 9, and I’ll text you the address.”

“See you soon!”

With that, he hung up, and a few minutes later you received the text with the address. You sent him back a smiley face before getting ready for bed; you would need to get up early to get ready for your date.

It took you a while to fall asleep that night; your mind wouldn’t shut off. Over and over again, it would play possible scenarios of how meeting Steve might go – about what he would look like, what you two would talk about. Eventually, though, you were able to fall into a peaceful slumber, and even your dreams seemed happy that night.

______

You surveyed yourself in the mirror, looking for any imperfections that needed to be sorted out before you left. You’d somehow wrangled your hair into a nice-looking style, although you were pretty sure you’d killed half of the remaining ozone layer with how much hair spray you’d had to use to keep it that way. You were wearing a red set of leggings with an oversized, cream-colored sweater overtop it; despite the fact that the clothes were old, they still looked good, and you hated the fact that you didn’t have better shoes to complete the ensemble. You pulled on your black high-top Converse, deciding that they were the best looking pair of shoes you had, and you checked yourself out in the mirror one more time before walking out the door.

The bagel shop was only fifteen minutes away from where you lived, but the drive seemed to last for fifteen seconds and fifteen eternities all at once. You tried in vain to calm the frantic beating of your heart, but it was still pounding by the time you pulled up in front of the restaurant. You took a short moment to calm yourself, letting out a deep breath before getting out of your car.

You tried to walk with confidence as you walked into the bagel shop, inhaling the scent of baked bread, cinnamon, and coffee that lay heavy in the air. The walls inside were painted a bright, sky blue, and black-and-white sketches were hanging on the walls. The entire wall behind the display case had been turned into a chalkboard, and the various menu items were written across it in neat cursive font. One of your favorite songs from the 60’s was playing over the radio, and you smiled; you already knew that this place would become one of your regular hang outs.

At the moment, though, your eyes were scanning the shop for Steve. All you knew about him was that he had a beard; that is, if he hadn’t shaved it since taking his profile picture. There were only a few people dotted around the room, and most of them were with someone else. In fact, there were only two people there who were sitting alone. One of them was sitting at a nearby table, and he was a man who looked to be in his late 50’s; you hoped to God that he wasn’t Steve.

The only other person there was sitting at a table in the far corner, and he had his back to you. His hair was blonde and slicked back neatly, and his shoulders were incredibly broad. Letting out a sigh, you started walking towards him, wringing your hands as you grew nearer.

“Steve?” you finally asked when you were close, and you saw him straighten up.

When he turned around to face you, though, your eyes grew wide and your lips parted in surprise. There had to be some mistake; this couldn’t be him.

“I… I’m sorry,” you stuttered. “I’m here to meet, um…”

Captain America, or rather, Steve gave you a soft, sheepish smile, and he stood up to face you.

“Hey, doll,” he sighed.

“…I can explain.”

[lilith-of-rivia]

The Blacksmith’s Daughter

Masterlist

Pairing: Geralt X Reader

Word count: 3,259

Warnings: Swearing, slight dirty talk, mentions of death, gross wound

Summary: The blacksmiths daughter in the upper northern kingdoms, is the only reason Geralt of Riva trusts to not only fix his weaponry but his wounds. He travels long and far to see the half mage, every year. During the many years he comes to visit her town, she grows feelings (love like feelinsg) for the creature. one particular visits she realizes she can no longer hide these feelinsg from him. [possibe part 2 if interested]

My father only had one child before my mother died. My mother was someone he always referred to as his soul. The light of his life. She died when I was just a babe. He never remarried, saying he’d never disrespect the love of his life. My mother was a mage. The healer of our village. Her powers passed in some aspects down to myself, but not enough to be considered a full mage. I gained the ability for immortality like my mother, unless by blade or beast. My eyes were different from those around my small town, bright emerald green. My father loved my eyes; “Just like you lovely mother my deer.” He always said to me.

Even with the limited magical abilities I possessed I chose to help my father in his smithing shop. I started when I was 16 that was nearly 30 winters ago. I haven’t aged much past 24. Making all the locals continuously fight for my hand. My father never wavered tho. Knowing I wanted to marry for love.

Over the last 30 years I've become one of the most well known smiths in the upper northern kingdoms. I've been called upon to make weapons for the mightiest King’s, even the Lioness Calanthe herself. My blades were well known across most major cities. I had apprenticed many young men to help and the money I began to bring in, made it able for my father to retire about 10 winters ago. My craft did not only extend in my weaponry but also my herbal skills. I was responsible for training the town healers and herbalists. My mother's talents passed onto me. I was a force to be reckoned with.

“Y/N?” My youngest apprentice, Apollo called to me from the front of my shop. Placing the sword I had been sharpening on a shelf I walked to him. I was covered in soot and dirt, my long [hair color] hair resting in a messy bun atop my head. My hands were covered in thick leather gloves that my father crafted for me many years ago to protect my fragile hands. As I approached the window that my customers spoke to my workers threw I saw a man. He was tall, much taller than myself and even Apollo. Apollo was a strong young man, about 6 '1 a decent build, still looked like a boy. But this man made him look like a child. His shoulders were broad and his hair was a striking silvery grey. I knew who he was, all too well.

“Ahh Geralt of Rivia. I thought you were long dead.” My words were followed with a soft chuckle, as the corner of his lips twitched up in a small smirk. His Bard at his side beamed at me.

“Good evening Y/N. How wonderful to see you!” Jaskier said smiling. I took my gloves off my hands along with my messy apron, glancing at Apollo. He’d never met the famed witcher before.

“Apollo be a dear and go finish with Lord Ferdinand's items. He’ll be back soon to collect them.” He nodded his head before walking back to the forge along with my other two apprentices. I opened the small door to the side of the window and stepped about of my shop, the cool Autumn air chilling my warm skin after being over a hot forge for hours.

Jaskier was the first to approach me, bringing me into a tight embrace. I gladly returned the gesture. I pulled back to examine the bard.

“My how you still have yet to age. Always shocks me.” He laughs and pulls out his prized dagger. He had won it in a game of poker many years ago from a lord. The blade alone cost more than anything he possessed. He didn't need the protection. Due to the brooding witcher he always traveled with. I had mended it and only I had mended it. He never trusted another with his blade. Just as his counterpart.

“It's in need for a good sharpening, maybe a polish to the handle? As always you’ll be paid for with not only my coin, but my recommendations as we travel.” I smiled and took the dagger from him and placed it in my belt before tuning to the brooding witcher.

The relationship we shared was like one I didn't share with any other. When he came through my town, I not only fixed and mended his weaponry but also his wounds. I was no longer an active healer. Unless it was for one particular witcher with a pair of striking golden orbs that could pear into the depths of my soul. He could pry out any secrets I never told anyone. Even my father.

My father loved Geralt. Always made comments about how I should pursue him whenever he came to town. Foolish old man thinking a witcher of Geralt’s status stopping for a blacksmith's daughter. Even one of my caliber. Many years ago he traveled with a mage named Yennifer, I adored her when she came with him. An adoring young thing, always willing to teach me new ways in medicine.

They were lovers for many years until they drifted apart. Yennefer found love in her first mate Istredd. They married a few years ago. Occasionally Yennifer would pass through and we’d catch up over a pint of ale, and she'd tell me of her travels looking for a cure to her empty womb. I pitied the woman, she desperately wanted children.

Knowing women of Yennifer’s caliber were who Geralt went for always made me hesitate from telling him my true feelings. I had fallen madly in love with the witcher. He stayed weeks at a time some years in my town, killing monsters in closer towns and being our own personal Witcher. The townspeople loved him, contrary to many other villages and cities.

“How many wounds am I healing today, wolf?” I asked as I approached him, his small smirk formed into a genuine smile as he embraced me. My arms around his broad shoulders as he bent to hug me. I could feel him grimace under my touch as my chest pressed to his own. I pulled away with a soft frown before lifting his shirt softly. Revealing a large deep gash spreading from his upper chest to his pant line. The gash was angry, yellow pus now oozy in certain areas. My brows lifted on my forehead in shock.

“You bloody idiot. How long has this gone untreated?” I asked quite harshly as I walked back into my shop, gathering my cloak and notebook full of orders to fill. I placed Jaskiers Dagger on a shelf.

“I’ll see you lads tomorrow, don’t forget to lock up tonight. Send for me if you need it.” I called my three workers in the back who all smiled and nodded before refocusing on their tasks.

I walked back out to the two men who were waiting for me. I shot a glare at Jaskier. “You let him walk around with an infection like that ?” I snapped as we started walking to the edge of town, passing the tavern and inn they both had spent many nights in.

“He refused to see anyone other than you, we’ve been traveling to see you for three consecutive days.” I directed my glair to the witcher who had a sly smirk on his lips.

“It's not that bad you drama queen.” I scoffed at his words before reaching over and brushing my fingertips along the cufeather-light. He hissed in pain and nearly doubled over.

“Yeah not that bad. You idiot loaf.” We walked at a quick pause up a small road from the main, up to my small cabin on the outskirts of the forest. I opened the door placing down my belongings before, sitting Geralt down on a chair in my kitchen. Jaskier on the other side, his hands on the book that had set there that I read in the mornings.

I rushed around my kitchen grabbing the herbs and viles full of oils and serums. I grumbled to myself at the stupidity of the witcher while I filled a pail with clean water. “Shirt off.” It wasn't a question or anything he could argue with. I knew he wouldn’t. I could hear his grunts of pain as he peeled his black shirt off. Once the pail was full of water I grabbed a box full of fresh wrapping and set everything on the table as Jaskier read unbothered.

I crouched in front of Geralt, my fingers tracing the angered skin surrounding the gash. I inhaled deeply, the scent of the wound filling my nose. It was badly infected but nothing I couldn't fix.

“Werewolf?” I asked, knowing I was right. The smell of the wolf’s claws being the first I could smell.

“Yeah, a real fucker too. Nearly broke my blade.” He hissed, In part of his anger at his last hunt, and due to the stinging of the alcohol I had poured on the clean cloth dabbing and cleaning the wound. His muscles contracted under my touch. I sighed but continued my work, spreading a lavender oil over the outside of the gash, soothing the skin. I grabbed a jar scooping out a helping of a cream made of hemlock and musk mallow to help the infection. After a thick paste was covering the gash I placed a few pieces of gauze over it keeping it protected. Once I was finished I looked up at the witcher, who was watching me intently. His amber eyes are boring into my emerald ones.

“I suggest you stay here a few days, till you’re healed more. So I can keep an eye on that infection.” I said with a soft smile. He grabbed a pack off his hip and placed three coins on my table, making me shake my head.

“Geralt, keep it I-“

“You just used so many fucking things on me. Take the money. Replenish your stock.” I rolled my eyes taking the coin from the table and putting it in my pocket, knowing I’d be giving it to the needy in town. I had plenty.

Jaskier placed the book he was reading down and smiled.

“Know that the broot is no longer dying, care to get some ale?” He asked, making me laugh.

“Let me see your sword first.” I was the only person on this plant that he allowed to touch that beloved sword. He pulled it from its sheath and handed it to me. I looked over the blade, seeing the dullness, and how fragile the silver was.

“Lucky for you, we replenish our silver last week, I have plenty to fix this blunt blade.” I placed the sword back in its sheath before placing it on a hook on my door. I walked back over to Geralt, taking his chin in my hand making him look up at me from his seated position.

“If you ever come to me with an infection like that again. I will kill you instead of heal you.” My threats fell flat, I knew that. He chuckled softly before kissing my hand softly.

“Thank you, my dear, Y/N. I already feel better.” I smiled softly and looked over at Jaskier who was just watching with an exasperated expression. He knew we had a weird relationship and truly couldn’t understand why we never became anything more than friends.

“How about that ale?” He said after clearing his throat. I nodded, grabbing his shirt from the floor and helping it back over his head. The men left their items in my home after I insisted they stay with me instead of going to the inn. And we were on our way to the bustling tavern. Filed with laughing people celebrating the end of the week with the sweet peach ale our town was best known for. Geralt and Jaskier found a table as I went to thbarkeep.

“Ahh Y/N!! How are you, my dear?” He asked as he filed the tankers with the cold bubbly ale.

“Quite well August thank you. Hope your ax is doing better?” I asked, speaking of the ax I had fixed for him less than a month ago.

“Oh works wonderfully!” He smiled sweetly at me passing me the tankers and I pulled out the coin but he held his hand out.

“First rounds on the house.” I smiled and nodded at the man grabbing the tankers turning my back to him and walking back to the two men I left. As I approached I saw Annabel. A quite permisquess young thing, not that it was my business what she did with her body, all over Geralt. I felt envy course, threw my body as she groped his chest. I saw his face contort in pain as she brushed her hand down his chest, and he gently pushed her back, but of course, she didn't get the message. I walked up behind her, setting the ale on the table firmly before taking her wrist in my hand spinning her to face me.

“He is hurt, a massive gash, infected puss all over the bandages. Stop. Touching.” My voice was harsh as I glared at the young woman. Her head dropped as she walked away from me in a hurry. I let out a huff as I sat next to Geralt. I could almost feel his smirk as he looked at me. I lifted the tanker to my lips sipping the sweet ale as did Jaskier who was also smiling at me.

“I'll stab your eyes out of your head if you keep looking at me like that Bard.” I spat and he rolled his eyes standing with the ale in his hand looking over at a group of young women.

“I’m going to party, but now I’m also leaving you two alone too” He pointed his free hand in between the two of us, “figure out what the hell you are. Don't wait up.” He left us as he walked to the group of women ready to brag about his adventures with the feared witcher. My cheeks were warm at his words, as I gulped down more of the ale, ignoring Geralt’s persistent gaze as he drank his ale.

“Any idea what Jaskier may be talking about, dove?” He asked, his arm now draped around my chair, his fingers brushing my arm lightly.

“Don't get any smart ide,as Witcher, you're in no place to fuck with a wound like that.” I didn't look at him.

“No one said anything about fucking dove.” That godforsaken nickname made my nipples harden. And my cunt moisten. I finally turned to him, he was inches away from my face. His ale is now on the table. His hand gently cupped my face.

“I’m serious. Even if I wanted to, you cant. It could break the scabs forming.” I couldn't help but lean into his warm rough calloused hand. My hands were similar in feel due to my craft.

“I never mentioned fuking dove, but if you really wanted to. You’d be my first pick.” His lips were inches from mine. My breathing became more erratic at his words, my heartbeat was quickening. He chuckled softly. Inhaling deeply.

“I can not only hear your heart but smell your arousal, my love.” I bit my lip softly and closed my eyes gently. I wanted to, more than anything. But I couldn't just fuck him and ignore the love I felt for the man.

“You’ll leave soon Geralt. And my heart cannot handle it.” It was now or never. I pulled back a little looking in his eyes. “I've been in love with you for many many years. You coming threw and staying when you do is the happiest I am all year, but I know you do not feel the same. I can't fuck you and then watch you leave. You may leave now and never speak-“ I didn't even have the chance to finish my rambling because his lips were pressed to mine. His hands now both on my cheeks. His lips were rough and tasted sweet. It lasted mere minutes. Before he pulled away.

“I will always come home to you, my dove. If you’ll have me.” He said with a smile. My heart was beating faster again. His hands were now holding my own.

“I've never been good with words, but there is a reason I only trust you to tend to my wounds and my swords. You are not just another woman to me. I need you in my life. If you’ll have me, I'll always return to you after every hunt and If I’m needed far, you’ll come with me.” My eyes were welling with tears at his sweet words. It was all I ever wanted him to say. This time I pressed my lips to his. It was softer than before, longer. Full of more passion. More love than any kiss I had ever shared.

“I’ll always take you in your stupid bafoon.” He chuckled softly at my words and leaned back placing his arm around my shoulders again, his eyes scanning the crowd, landing on Jaskier who was singing his least favorite tune. But even the hated song couldn't damper the Witcher’s smile.

“You’ll now need to ask my father for his blessing if you plan to take me with you,” I whispered, nodding my head to the direction of where my father was seated, talking to his companions laughing and joking. Geralt cleared his throat and got to his feet, his fingers laced on my own. He led me through the crowd.

“Mr. Y/L/N?” Geralt asked, his shoulders pressed back as he stood behind my father, his hand not leaving my own. My father turned, saw our hands then the face of the man I was with.

“Geralt!! So good to see y, ou my boy!” He stood and patted Geralt's shoulder.

“How’s the hunt these days?”

“Very good sir, I um... actually have a question for you.” My father smiled and looked at me. Winking.

“What's that lad?” He asked.

“Can I have your blessing to take your daughter's hand in marriage?” I nearly choked on my own spit at his words. My heart is now hammering out of my chest. My cheeks bright red as I squeezed his hand. My father laughed and threw his hands in the air.

“Finally!! A more than worthy suitor for my dear daughter!” The men behind him cheered a few men in the bar looking over eyes burning into Geralt in jealousy.

“You are the only one for my daughter's dear boy. My dear wife Gladdis wouldn’t have been happier. You protect my daughter. With your life. And you have my blessing.” My father stuck his hand out and Geralt let go of mine to shake it.

“I’d die before a hair is harmed on her head, sir.” My father laughed.

“So it will be a wedding in the future! A round on me for everyone!!” The tavern cheered and my father hugged me, kissing my cheek before whispering, “I Told you,my dear. And you thought I was wrong.” I laughed softly and hugged him tightly. An arm wrapped around my hip. Jaskier cheered and started to play a tune on his lute. Geralt bent down his lips by my ear.

“I love you to the moon and back, dove.”

[themangoyogurt]

Clementine: Chapter 3

Kylo had to hand it to you. Despite your questionable business sense, you had a fantastic eye. The space you found was in a prime location, neighbored by a trendy womenswear boutique on the left and a hot new restaurant headed by a celebrity chef to the right. The space itself was a perfect mix of industrial and bright, with open white washed ceilings and a modern concrete flooring.

Watching you gush as you stood outside staring in through the window only steeled his resolve to help make your dream come true no matter the cost. After spending the entirety of his life stepping on the “little guys” to make his bottom line, he felt it was appropriate to atone for his sins.

The fact that you had a million-watt smile and an infectiously bubbly personality only sweetened the deal.

You continued to bounce between the left and right floor-to-ceiling windows flanking the front entrance. As you hopped back and forth, you rambled off all your ideas to transform the space into a warm and inviting neighborhood spot.

It was going to be equal parts trendy and homey. Shelves filled to the brim with new and old books alike, ready to be borrowed or bought. The scent of freshly ground coffee beans would permeate the air, causing a heady mix of warmth and relaxation. There would be nooks and crannies with the coziest chairs and sofas for patrons to gather, sip coffee, snack on freshly baked pastries, and catch up on reading.

Kylo admitted that even to an anti-social recluse such as himself, the concept sounded like a dream. If he had still been working, he would have enjoyed a little escape from the office to focus on work.

Despite his pleasant daydreams though, nothing could stop his spine from stiffening as soon as the landlord made his presence known. He was a sorry looking man, equal in width and height. The balding man had beady little eyes that narrowed into slits as soon as he caught sight of Kylo.

Kylo’s hackles rose even higher as the landlord completely ignored him and turned to give you a very lewd look.

“Hi Plutt,” you chirped, completely oblivious to the tension between the two men. “This is Kylo. He’s my friend and lawyer!” You gave Kylo an extra little eyebrow wiggle at “lawyer”, a silent tease at how different he looked today.

He had rocked up to your meeting far more dressed than he was the previous night. Gone were the fuzzy slippers. Instead, he was clad in a black suit with a matching black dress shirt that struggled to contain the man’s wide chest and thick arms.

Who would have thought that the slobbish raven haired man could clean up so well? While you weren’t really one to judge a book by its cover, even you couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow when he had proclaimed himself to be a retired, yet fearsome, corporate lawyer.

It was adorable how the more disbelieving you looked, the harder he fought to convince you that he really was a big, bad, lawyer. You giggled at the memory of how he was so focused on the argument that Kylo didn’t even notice a drop of lukewarm tea dribble down his chin and land between his pecs.

His very defined and firm looking pecs, if you had to say so yourself.

You shook your head out of the memory, scolding yourself for getting distracted. It was time for business, and you were prepped to fight for the storefront of your dreams. During your walk over to the shop, you had divulged as much info as you could to Kylo. Things like your budget, business plan (although, business “plan” would have been more accurate), and even your credit score.

You probably shared way too much info, but Kylo didn’t indicate that he was bothered or overwhelmed. The man merely nodded while typing quick notes in his cellphone. He probably had enough info to steal your identity, but something about him just made you trust the man.

Maybe it was in the way his eyes always looked soft, balancing out his perpetual scowl. Or maybe it was how he hung onto your every word, and was one of the few people who seemed genuinely supportive and interested in your dream.

Or, maybe it was in how he defensively postured himself between yourself and Plutt, chest puffing out and stance ready for a fight.

Kylo stuck his hand out and impressively didn’t flinch as Plutt squeezed back with his own moist and grimy hand. Kylo didn’t miss a beat as he harshly dived right in.

“Kylo Ren. I’ve taken a look at your offer, and we are not happy with the upfront terms and conditions. A fixed lease would only...”

Kylo completely transformed within seconds. Years of working with the worst of the worst in the corporate world made him ruthless and unshakable when it came to business dealings. Someone like Plutt didn’t phase Kylo. He was ready to threaten, growl, and glare his way into getting you the best deal possible.

Plus, the caveman portion of his brain beat its chest and flexed at the chance to impress a pretty lady. And if your look of tender awe only spurred him on more... well, that he’d keep for himself.

The entire exchange was a blur to you, the two men exchanging barbs and threats so fast, you could barely keep up. Acronyms like “CAMS” and “TI” were used, and before you knew it, two hours had passed. Kylo was triumphantly squaring away notes in his phone while Plutt sputtered, red in the face.

Apparently the entire situation had gotten away from the man.

“Send over the contract by midday tomorrow,” Kylo lazily commanded Plutt, before leading your stunned body away from the building. His hand was warm in the crook of your elbow while he steered you towards the nearest Starbucks.

He seemed tense during the short walk over, letting out a huge exhale as he slumped into the closest empty seat. You felt concerned as his pale complexion somehow became even paler. Without prompting, you darted away to find some water.

“Are you okay?” you asked upon returning. He seemed calmer, but received the cool plastic cup with gratitude.

“Yeah,” he croaked. “It’s been a while since I’ve had to do that.”

“But you were so cool,” you gushed in response. You instinctively reached out to hold his shaky hands. Giving him a light squeeze you continued, “I’ve never seen someone talk like that before! Or...or stick up for me so fiercely. Like my knight in shining armor!”

Your eyes twinkled in excitement, so filled with joy that Kylo couldn’t help but be affected. He smiled and flipped his palm upwards so he could lace his fingers with yours. He squeezed back and laughed, “Well, you don’t seem like someone who needs saving. Just someone who could use someone in their corner.”

“Then I’m glad you’re in mine. Even if we don’t know each other very well.”

His heart fluttered at your shy smile, and Kylo replied, “Why don’t we start, then? Getting to know each other that is. Let me buy you some coffee?” Now significantly calmed by your touch he added a flirtatious eyebrow waggle and added, “Maybe even dinner afterwards?”

You playfully smacked him in the chest and argued, “I thought I was the one buying coffee.”

“Alright. You buy me coffee and we’ll go over the terms and conditions of your new lease. Then, I take you out for dinner.”

It was definitely a deal too good to pass up, so you happily bounded to the counter to buy his S’mores Frappuccino (the man really was full of surprises, wasn’t he?). You decided that it would be cute to match, and ordered one for yourself as well.

A few minutes later, and you were returning to the table with two icy and teeth-rotting drinks. Kylo was all but recovered, and lawyer man was back in full swing. You happily noticed that while he was all business while going through your lease, his expression and tone was far softer than what he had used earlier in the day.

You were shocked at how Kylo had cut such a favorable deal for you. The man was kind in explaining why certain things were more beneficial for the tenant, and even helped you understand places where Plutt was trying to take advantage.

The initial offer was apparently horrible, and would have surely trapped you into some serious debt. Kylo made sure that your lease was fair, and that you would have enough money leftover to help your new business flourish.

Kylo sipped on the last of his drink, unaware of some leftover whipped cream resting on his top lip. Without thinking, you reached across the table and wiped it off with your thumb. You instinctively sucked the digit between your lips, earning a blush from Kylo.

“Ah,” he stuttered. “All that’s left is to sign. If you could send me your business license and some tax documents, I could help you file everything.”

A little furrow appeared between your brow, causing Kylo to frown. He had a bad feeling about this.

“You do...have a business license, right?” he tentatively pushed.

“Depends on what you mean by ‘business license’...”

He groaned, dropping his face into his palms. You felt sheepish, and ridiculously uneducated. Just as you were about to die from embarrassment, Kylo finally looked up.

He cast you a small smile and calmly replied, “Alright, this is what’s going to happen. I’m going to take you out to dinner as promised. Then, I’m going to take you home. You’re going to change into something comfortable, grab your laptop and personal documents, and then we’ll hammer out the final details of starting your business.”

“You...you’d seriously do that for me? At the risk of sounding totally ungrateful... why?”

Nobody had ever been this kind to you. If even your own blood could laugh away at your grand dreams of opening a business in New York City, then how could a stranger be so supportive? Not only was he gentle with you, but the man went out of his way to help you in tangible ways.

Retired or not, what kind of high-powered lawyer took an entire day to go fight a small-time landlord like Plutt on behalf of a new neighbor?

Kylo asked himself the same question. Growing up as an only child and then going into a field like law didn’t exactly foster selflessness in his personality. He was used to putting himself first and stopping at nothing to achieve his goals.

Something about your bright eyes and hopeful smile made him pause. He spent so many years of his life tearing things down - people, places, relationships. Perhaps, he saw this as a chance to redeem himself. To finally use his skills to build.

And hey, if the object of his newfound efforts happened to be a very pretty and very sweet woman, then that was just a bonus.

He gave you a smile and replied, “Honestly, I don’t know. But something about you tells me that I won’t regret it.”

That was good enough for you.

💖 Masterlist

[gustafsnightangel]

Shattered Lives Ch 25 Pt 1

He rose before her and smiled at her sleeping form all sprawled out over the mattress and hoped she woke less stressed than the past few days. They were making it work, there were some rough patches but they were still learning to be a family, a couple. He’d really messed up yesterday and stepped over a line with her, it was no wonder she’d lost her shit. He had usurped her independence, forced her brother on her and the kids, made her feel anything but the intelligent, beautiful woman she was. Not what he’d intended at all.

Quietly collecting the charm from the nightstand he had Brendan keep an eye on things for a hot minute and went to the garage. It was important for her to still have these connections with her brother. He was hoping the books in her office would be perceived as that as well.

Friday couldn’t come soon enough he thought as he changed Lily and sat her with Brendan. He’d see her purge the grief again and he had his own agenda. He’d burn that fucking notebook, he had a feeling she’d finished and that it was weighing on her now too. He didn’t want anything else piling onto her plate if he could help it, he couldn’t watch her go through last night again. It tore at his soul seeing her like that. He wanted to love her, for her to let him love her, but it would only happen when she was ready for it to happen. He couldn’t force it, and maybe unknowingly he had been, too much, too quickly.

“Morning love.” He murmured as those talented lips destroyed her neck. She rolled over and wrapped herself around him kissing that mouth she’d craved.

“Good morning.” She purred, her kiss sinful. A fresh start she thought, she had to try and put yesterday behind her. That started by her not being so much of a control freak.

“Fuck me, Friday can’t get here soon enough.” He growled. “You need to get up love, cases to slay.”

She didn’t want to, she wanted to curl up with him and rock his world.

“I could kiss you all damn day.” She said dreamily and gave him one last blazing lip lock before pulling the sheets back.

“Saturday you can do that if you want.” He chuckled. She seemed happier today so far, the stress of yesterday left where it belonged. “Come on, up you get.”

She did the adult thing and climbed out of bed and headed to the shower after kissing him again. Letting the blistering hot water pound on her face she thought about what transpired last night, the guilt for raging at him like she did weighed heavily. Rarely did she lose her temper but when pushed, when cornered, she went nuclear and in spectacular fashion.

She’d hurt him, could see her words had cut him deeply and she had no idea how to heal that wound. How did she let him take care of her, how did she let him in without losing sight of who she was? She wouldn’t see her identity, her independence lost to a man ever again, the first time was bad enough.

She also had to tell him about his notebook and knew that was going to kick him after last night. Sometimes life just didn’t play fair or nice, it just got messy.

“You look as sinful as ever.” He growled as she came out of the bedroom as he went in to take a shower.

“Wait until you see what’s under it.” She purred and kissed him so his brain short circuited.

“Oh, that’s not fair.” He breathed. “You can’t tease me like that all day.”

“Ha! Yeah I can.” She giggled and kissed him before wrapping her arms around his half naked body. “Hey, um, not to drop a bombshell on you after last night but, I finished your notebook.” She said gently as she pulled back to looked at him. He blew a breath out, and looked at her. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but I figured you would like to know I’d finished and to have it back in case you wanted to do something with it.” She kissed him tenderly, that love flooding his system.

“Do you have anything you want to talk about, ask me about?” He asked shakily and was relieved when she shook her head.

“Not unless you want to talk about it. Thank you, for letting me read it. So I could understand what she did, who she was, what she is.” She said softly hoping she hadn’t set him up for a shitty day, the remnants of last nights argument was bad enough. He rested his forehead against hers and breathed. He could burn it and be done.

“Thank you.” He said gently and kissed her, the love pouring out of him. “Thank you for reading it. I know it wasn’t easy.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Her finger trailed his jaw. “You ok?”

“Yeah I think so.” He was a little taken back. He knew this day would come and thought he was prepared for it but it still stung. His relationship, his faults, his thoughts, laid bare for someone else to read. He’d been terrified she’d read it and leave, those old wounds sneaking into his psyche and wreaking havoc.

“I didn’t mean for it to fuck up your day.” She said softly and cupped a palm to his face stroking a thumb over his cheekbone.

“It hasn’t. I’m relieved actually.” He looked at her. “I can finally be rid of it.” His smile settling her. “I can put it in its place.” His kiss was searing, that burn of passion, of love.

“Join me for lunch today?” She asked. “Just lunch.” She added when he smirked.

“I’d like that.” He kissed her again and started the shower. “Go eat. You need to get going soon and you need food.”

“Mmm.” She agreed and kissed him again. “You’re always so tasty.” Grinning she walked away. She heard the groan and couldn’t help but laugh, it was the reaction she’d hoped for to pull his mind back from Ana. Seeing him for lunch would give her the chance to make sure he was ok, she knew this would destroy him if he stayed in that headspace for too long.

She smiled as she sat in his car and adjusted the rear view mirror, her fingers gently caressing the Celtic charm. It was the little things he did that floored her the most. He knew that lump of silver was special to her and without a second thought placed it where it belonged, even though this wasn’t even her car. Even when she’d hissed and spat at him last night like some mentally deranged cat.

The morning flew by, well he thought, that’s what you get when you go car shopping. He hadn’t purchased it, yet, but if her car was indeed a brick he had something lined up to make her life easier until she could purchase her own.

Her admin all but swooned at his feet, poor kid, and he had to stifle the chuckle as she did that dreamy sigh as he walked into Sildie’s office. Sildie was a sight, on the phone railing some poor schmuck, the deadly tone quite arousing when it wasn’t at him. He closed the door quietly and sat at the coffee table to wait until she finished. Setting their lunch out he grinned when he heard the phone click and her unmistakable “asshole” as she breathed out.

“That was an interesting one sided conversation.” He said, humor thick in his voice.

She snorted a laugh. “I love chewing up opposing counsel and spitting them out for breakfast when they think they can be lazy and still expect to hoodwink me and win.” Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she logged her conversation and the progress, or lack thereof, of the case.

“I take it said lawyer isn’t winning today.” He grinned.

“No, no he is not. He’s about to have a very unpleasant afternoon.” She ripped her glasses off and looked at him as he pulled the Chinese takeout from the bag and placed it on the table.

“What?” He asked, looking up as he felt her gaze upon him. Those eyes of glacial blue were undressing him.

“Nothing, just enjoying the view.” She smirked and leaned her head on her hand, damn he looked fine in that dress shirt, she thought, and how she wanted to fuck him in it.

He got up and stalked to her, those ridiculously long legs eating up the carpet with ease, nothing but a predator stalking it’s prey in those eyes. Spinning her chair slowly so she was facing him he placed those massive hands on the arm rests and leaned down to kiss her, slow, seductive, and she was sure, highly illegal.

“Hi beautiful.” He said, that low timbre she loved rumbling out of him.

“Hi handsome.” She kissed him, that unhurried sinful kiss that set fire to his brain.

“You’ll get us into trouble if you kiss me like that here.” He murmured, her pussy throbbing for his touch. “Come and eat before it gets cold.” He held out his hand for her and she took it, his touch sending all sorts of lovely sparks through her system. As she stood his arm snaked around her waist and he pulled her to him, that soft curvy body pressing against him. He kissed her, that lustful burn that had her melting in his arms.

“I love it when you kiss me like that. Makes me all gooey.” She giggled.

“I know.” He growled and kissed her like it all over again.

They sat and ate, talking of the astronomical cost it was going to take to fix her car.

“I don’t see the point in fixing it when you could get a new one for half that again.” He said, eating another delicious morsel of chili beef.

“Yeah.” She sighed out, and poked her chopsticks into the rice angrily. “Just, fucking fuck.” She huffed, defeated.

“What is it love?” He looked at her and she blew a breath out.

“I’ve spent the last year squirreling money away to section off part of the living area for Lily’s room and now that’s going to have to wait, again, because I need a new car. It’s just... fuck.” She spat. “I’m just sick of planning, working hard and saving like crazy to have it all go pear shaped. I’m just tired of it.” Her voice trembled and she got up to pace. “I’m tired of working my ass off and getting fucking nowhere.”

He could hear the threatening tears. The remnants of last night slinking their way back in. “Hey.” He soothed and stood, sweeping her into his arms gently as she walked past. “Don’t cry love.”

“Mmnot.” She mumbled as she held onto him, she wanted too though. Her thoughts were still raw from last night for more disappointment and stress.

“We’ll work it out.” He kissed her temple. “For the moment you have my car and I’m more than happy for you to use it. I only use it for longer trips so I can catch a cab if I need to go anywhere.”

“But I don’t want it messing with your schedule either. It’s your car you should be able to use it when you want to.” It came out more of a whine than a statement and she hated sounding like a petulant child, but it really wasn’t fucking fair.

“It’s not. Hey.” He hooked a finger under her chin and tipped it up so she’d look at him. “Use the car. It’s a squeeze for you guys but use it ok? For as long as you need to.”

“Ok.” She said and he could tell she wasn’t happy about it.

“It’s either that or I buy you one.” He quipped, knowing what her reaction would be.

“And I’ll be extremely angry with you if you do.” She looked at him and he saw the fire kindle in those eyes.

“That’s what I thought. Use the car Sildie. It sits there half the time collecting dust anyway.” He kissed her. “But I understand your frustration. We’ll sort it out ok? Give it some time, let things settle down, there’s no rush.” Especially when things could potentially change come Christmas, he thought. “What else is troubling you love?” He asked and kissed her gently.

“You sure you’re ok?” She asked quietly. “I didn’t want to blindside you this morning but I felt like I did.” She rested her forehead on his. “I didn’t mean to, especially after my bitch fit at you last night. Which again, I’m sorry.”

“I’m ok, we’re ok, and you didn’t blindside me, I had a feeling you were getting close to finishing it.” He looked at her. “Reading it upset you.” It was more of a statement than a question.

“Yes.” She kept her answer short not wanting to force him to talk about any of the contents from that toxic book.

“I’m sorry. I never meant for it to get under your skin.” He never meant for any of it to touch her or her life. His sensitive goddess, she felt everything so keenly.

“It’ll be fine, it’s just, she’a a nasty piece of work.”

“She is. Was that part of being upset last night?” He asked softly.

“A little, I think it just got added to everything else.”

“I’m sorry.”

She kissed him. “I’m glad I read it though. You’re enough, and you’re stronger than her.”

“I am, and I have an ace up my sleeve this time. I also have you to help me get through anything that decides to try and kick my ass again.” He smiled.

“Always love.”

“Come finish your food, you haven’t eaten enough.” He guided her to the small two seat sofa and sat next to her.

He glared at her as she stole a coconut shrimp off his plate and grinned at him.

“Damn it woman I was saving that.” He said playfully.

“You should eat them first, that way I can’t steal them.” She quipped with a grin.

“You’d find a way.” He grabbed her hand when she went in for the kill again which had her giggling. He brought her hand to his mouth and ate the shrimp that she’d managed to skewer on her chopsticks not taking his eyes off hers. “Mine.” He growled and she bit her bottom lip gently when her pussy suddenly throbbed for him. That look made her all sorts of needy. “Careful love.” That dangerous tone making her wet. He pulled her in sharply and kissed her, sucking her bottom lip free. “You don’t want to be teasing me with that lip here.” He warned.

“I need it to be Friday.” She whispered. Fuck me she thought, the way he looked at her was enough to have her almost climax.

“One more day.” He kissed her seductively until she moaned softly. “Eat your food.”

“Tease.” She grinned.

She went and made tea once she’d eaten and found she liked knowing he was comfortable coming here for lunch. It was one of those normal things that made her day brighter. She knew it wouldn’t be everyday but for those days he could swing it she would cherish them.

“I swear you’ve broken my admin.” She said, setting the tea down and closing the door again. Her admin was trying to find an excuse to walk past her office to catch a glimpse of him.

“All I said was hello.” He chuckled.

“I think she has a crush on you. She went all dreamy eyed when she saw the flowers Monday.” She wouldn’t tell him she was just as wistful. They sent her to mush every time he sent them.

“Did you get all dreamy eyed?” He smirked as she sat beside him.

“Not a chance.” She said a little too quickly and he grinned.

“I like turning you to mush.” He growled and kissed her sweetly.

“You did when I got in your car this morning.” She murmured, her fingers trailing his jaw and resting at the deep V of his shirt. “Nearly made me cry.”

“It’s important to you.” He shrugged.

“It is, thank you.” She kissed him.

“You working late tomorrow? I saw your calendar.” He said sipping his tea.

“Yeah, I need to square some things away before you kidnap me for four days.” She chuckled.

“Want me to pick up the kids?” He asked gently and watched her. He didn’t want to push, especially after last night, but it made sense.

“Only if you’re ok with it. I don’t want to dump them on you if you have things to do.” She said hesitantly. “I think it would be nice for them, for you.” She shrugged. “Time to bond.”

“My calendar is pretty clear until after Christmas.” He leaned over and kissed her. “You drop them off tomorrow morning, I’ll come by for lunch and collect the car to pick them up. Just don’t stay at work too late. I won’t be happy if I have to come and collect you on the way to our getaway.” He said gently.

“I should be done around seven. Just depends what sort of day I have.”

“I’ll have a car pick you up.” He said without thinking.

“I’ll catch a cab.” She shot back and he knew he was toeing that line and left it well alone.

“I like taking care of you Sildie, when you let me.” He said gently.

“I know, just don’t like being coddled. It suffocating.”

“I’ll try to remember that. I don’t do it intentionally love.” I do it because I love you, he said silently.

“I know.” She leaned her forehead against his. “I like it when you take care of me, but I’m having to learn to let you. I have to consciously let go of the control. I’m not used to having someone like you be there for me. I like it though.” She added and let her fingers feel his chest, trail the edge of the deep V. “It makes me feel safe, you make me feel safe.”

“Good.” He murmured and felt his heart swell, he was doing something right at least. He understood her need for control, with how her life had taken such a dramatic change in direction it wasn’t surprising. She needed to feel in control of everything to know she had done the best she could for the kids. It was an enormous amount of pressure she put on herself and hoped he could relieve some of that pressure for her.

The light knock at the door broke them apart as Sildie got up to answer it.

“My one o’clock is here.” She said collecting all the trash from their meal.

“Then I had better get going.” Not that he wanted to.

“Thank you for lunch, this was nice.” She said softly.

“We can do it again when ever you want love.”

“Tomorrow, for sure.”

“It’s a date.” He cupped her gently around the neck and drew her close, his kiss destroyed her brain and curled her toes.

“I love it when you kiss me like that.” She sighed.

“I know.” He growled.

“Turning me into mush before you leave, that’s not fair love.” She grinned.

“I’ll make it up to you tonight.” He growled. “I want to see what you’ve got hiding under this.” He said tugging her blouse gently.

“Come on I’ll walk you out.” She chuckled. “And no breaking my admin please, I need her coherent.”

“Maybe I’ll hook her up with Valter.” He smirked as he pulled on his coat.

“Oh hush.” She chuckled, playfully slapping him. “I think she’d prefer you or Alex.”

“She couldn’t handle Alex.”He kissed her, one of longing, a promise of more. “And I’m taken.” He murmured. “Very, very, taken.”

“See you for hockey?” She asked gently as they walked out.

“You will.”

“Bye love.” She said quietly and he noticed she tensed slightly as he went to kiss her in view of her entire office. Still too new for her with everyone watching he thought.

“Bye.” He said and kissed her cheek softly. “Relax, they’ll lose interest soon enough. Just keep ignoring it.”

“I’m trying.” She said softly and nodded.

She willed the flush of heat, the red that was no doubt staining her face to disappear as she walked her client back to her office. She didn’t like an audience when she kissed him and she knew it was only going to get worse as they went out together more. She worried about how that would affect the kids and knew she’d have to talk to him about it.

She didn’t want them approached by reporters or fans wanting the scoop on their relationship, or have their faces plastered across magazine covers. Yes he was famous, but they were entitled to a private life and she’d see they got it. The kids were off limits, no exceptions.

With the day done she collected the kids and headed to the rink. Gustaf was already seated when they arrived and smiled as Lily squealed a dad dad and ran to him, a little wobbly still, but running.

“Well hello little lady.” He chuckled as she hugged him tightly, snuggling her in. “Hello lovely lady.” He said snaking an arm around her and kissing her.

“Hi.”

“Everything ok?” He asked, the stress in her voice wasn’t what he’d hoped for tonight.

“It’s fine. We just need to talk about the kids and reporters.” She said getting the twin situated.

“What happened?” She watched as his entire demeanor changed, suddenly fiercely protective, of her, of the kids. She relaxed, no doubt in her mind he’d rip them to shreds if they fucked with the kids.

“Nothing, and I’d like to see we keep it that way.”

“Absolutely.” He kissed her again slowly and felt her relax.

“Just something that’s been circling my head since this afternoon.”

“Talk tonight?” He didn’t want this getting out of hand, he wanted it off her mind and her plate, and he should have thought of it sooner.

“Sure.” She kissed him quickly and sat as Brendan’s team took the ice.

With a 2-1 win they headed home, the twins goofing off with an overtired Lily in the back seat keeping her from imploding completely.

“Ama?”

“Yeah B.” She chuckled at the outrageous raspberry noises coming from the back seat.

“Can you phone us Friday night? When you get to wherever Gustaf’s taking you?” Brendan asked quietly.

She looked over at the teen as she pulled up at a stoplight. “Of course.” He was scared and she should have seen it. Oh hell she should have been ready for this. It would be the first time they’d been separated for more than a day since the crash took their parents. And you fucking idiot, she swore in her head, you should have seen this coming a mile away. “If it’s too much B I’ll cancel.” She didn’t want to, she’d been looking forward to some adult time, but if this was going to spiral him she would, the kids came first.

“No, I don’t want... you guys need some time together and I don’t want to ruin it.” He mumbled.

“Look at me B.” The teen did and her heart sank, the kid was terrified. “You guys come first and if it’s too much, Gustaf will understand, so will I.”

“No, I still want you to go, just call when you get there?” He asked again.

“You’re sure? Absolutely a million percent sure you’re ok with it?” The kid nodded. “And yes I’ll call when we get there. I’ll even send pics.” She smiled.

“Do you know where you’re going?” He asked as the light went green.

“No clue.” She chuckled as she drove. Brendan snickered and the grin said it all.

“You know don’t you? You holding out on me?” She joked.

“Yep and I’m soooo not telling.” He giggled.

“Oh come on he won’t know.” She said slyly.

“Nope. You’re gonna love it though.”

“Yeah well we’ll see.” She said pulling into Gustaf’s parking space. She frowned at the car next to her, someone had parked in her spot. “Damn it. The nerve of some people.” She grumbled as she pulled Lily out and cuddled her in. She’d deal with that once the kids were upstairs. Just because her car had died didn’t mean her parking space was no longer hers.

Gustaf had beaten them home and dinner was waiting for them, the boys whooping when they saw it was pizza. Hockey nights had turned into pizza nights. Lily cried a dad dad for him and Sildie smiled.

“Looks like she wants you tonight. Not that I blame her, I kinda want you too.” She murmured and kissed him as he took Lily. “Hey you good with these guys for a hot minute I need to go down and report the asshole who parked in my space.” She sighed, not really wanting to deal with something else tonight.

He grinned and kissed her. “That asshole is me love.” He chuckled.

“Oh, sorry.” She huffed. “Wait...”

“I figured one car was going to get old real fast and we couldn’t go away this weekend and not have a car here for Alice to use.” That was his reasoning and he was sticking to it.

“Oh, yeah, I didn’t think of that.” She scrubbed a hand over her face. There was way too much shit going on for her to think straight.

“Anyway, that car is roomier so I’ll put Lily’s seat in there after dinner. You can take that one tomorrow.” He wasn’t going to make a big deal over it because as soon as she realized he’d bought the damn thing she’d flip her shit.

“The one it’s in is fine.” She looked at him suspiciously, did he buy another car, she wondered?

“I know, this will be better, there’s more room, and I like driving my car for longer trips.” She’d told him he wasn’t allowed to repair or buy her a car, she didn’t say anything about him buying another car for himself. She’d rage at him when she figured it out. But he had a plan, gifts and food were off limits and Christmas was three weeks away.

They sat and ate, the kids dragging homework to the table so they could multitask. As they finished up Gustaf headed to the garage to take care of the car seat and Sildie got Lily in a bath. She was a grumpy little lady and screaming by the time Gustaf got back.

“Oh Lily bear, it’s not that bad honey.” He cooed with a chuckle as he stepped into the bathroom.

“Anyone would think I was murdering her with the amount of noise she’s making.” Sildie chuckled as she pulled the plug and bundled the child into a towel. Gustaf took Lily when she launched herself at him and dressed her for bed.

“You said earlier you were worried about reporters, media.” He prompted gently, he wanted to get to the bottom of that potential shit storm immediately.

“It was something that came to mind after you left. Everyone watching us. I don’t like it but it’s part of your world that I’m going to have to deal with, I just don’t want the kids involved. They deserve to be left alone regardless of who you are.” She said honestly as she kicked off her heels and shucked the suit jacket.

“I agree and I can assure you, I’ll do everything to see them shielded from it.” He said softly as he snuggled Lily in. “You as well.”

“Is there anything we can do to sort of say the kids are off limits? I mean I can go all lawyer on them but I don’t really want to do that. Yet.” She said toying with his shirt.

“I’ll talk to Daisy and Jack. I have a few strings to pull on that end.” His knuckles brushed her cheek and he kissed her tenderly. “I’m sorry I didn’t do anything sooner. I didn’t think of it until you said something and I should have.”

“It’s ok. It’s just bad enough with my work colleagues, I don’t want the kids going through that.”

“Completely understandable.” He kissed her again letting seduction take the wheel until she moaned. “Your work colleagues will calm down once the novelty’s worn off.”

“Or I send them a cease and desist memo.” She muttered. “Oh and one thing for Friday.”

“Mmmmm?”

“I need to be able to call the kids when we arrive.” She fiddled with the buttons on his shirt and couldn’t look at him. She felt so silly for even asking, of course she could call them, it wasn’t like he’d take her phone away.

“Look at me.” He whispered. “You ok?” He asked when her eyes met his.

“Never mind it’s fine.” She shook her head and his hand caught her arm before she could fully get out of reach.

“No, not never mind.” He said gently and kissed her reassuringly. “What’s going on?”

“Brendan asked if I could call them when we land, park, dock, to wherever it is you’re kidnapping me to.” She huffed.

“Of course.” He pulled her in so he could wrap and arm around her and secure her to him. “My two best girls.” He kissed her temple and let the closeness relax her, hoping she’d spill what was really on her mind.

“Talk to me love.” He said softly when she clammed up.

“This is the first time I’ve been away from them for more than a night, further away than next door.” She mumbled. “Brendan talked to me in the car on the way home. I should have seen it earlier, dealt with it earlier but to be honest it didn’t even cross my mind until he asked. I’m so fucking hopeless at this shit.”

“He’s scared.” Gustaf stated more than asked.

“I think terrified would come closer.” She murmured.

“I’ll chat with him.”

“No, leave it, please. I said I’d call him and I don’t want this turning into a big deal.” She said, eyes pleading.

“You sure?”

“Yes, and I can text Alice some pictures. I want to make this a good thing, not something they dread or get anxious about.” She sighed out and rested her forehead against his. “Even though I’m anxious enough for everyone. Things have to level out to some sort of normal soon, right?”

“It will love, give it time, and you’re far from hopeless at this.”

“I’m nervous.” She said honestly.

“I know.” He whispered and kissed her brow. “Together love. One step at a time.”

“She’s almost asleep.” Her fingers caressed Lily’s hair as the child’s eyes started to droop.

“Then dance with me until she is.” He held onto her and swayed as she relaxed into him, head on his shoulder, kisses to Lily’s forehead, and soon the tiny child was drifting under.

Gustaf put Lily to bed and lingered as she settled, his large finger gripped tightly in her little fist. He could hear Sildie reading to the boys and headed to the kitchen to make tea. She would want to read now, get it out the way before coming to bed and he’d try and coax her into an early night considering the lack of sleep and overwhelming stress she endured yesterday. He was sitting on the couch with his tea when she came in and closed the hall door. She didn’t sit to read, instead she came over to straddle him and rested her head against his chest. He felt the stress leave her, melt clean off her bones as she slumped.

“You ok?” He asked with a chuckle.

“Yamnow.” She mumbled.

“Not reading?”

“I should but I’m beat to hell.” She said wrapping her arms around him. “Fuck I missed you.” She sighed and grinned as his laugh rumbled through his chest. “And I was an ungrateful bitch to you last night.”

“I missed you too love.” He kissed the top of her head and lingered breathing her in. “And that was last night, let it be done.” He kissed her temple and felt her relax further into him. She’d said the same thing to him after he’d had his meltdown, he’d show her the same courtesy.

“You know I’m grateful you came into our lives right? I don’t say that enough to you.” She brought her head up to look at him. “There not a day that goes by that I don’t wonder how we got so lucky.”

“I’m the one who got lucky.” He murmured, that deep rich timbre she loved. “You and four great kids. Whoever let you go is an idiot. Absolutely certifiable.” His kiss was that slow burn, seductive and potent. “I won’t be making that mistake.” He growled before kissing her so her pussy throbbed.

“You should go read.” He said as she deepened his kiss and lingered, her fingers toying with his buttons.

“Yeah, you’re right, I should.” She purred, as her hands undid the top few buttons of his shirt.

His hands stroked up her thighs and under her skirt, that single digit grazing her heat through the black lace. Her moan into his mouth made his cock twitch. “Fuck Sildie I want you.” He growled and swiped his finger over her clit and through that wetness he was growing hard for. Her moan against his lips had his fingers yanking her g string to the side and circling her entrance.

As he deliberately toyed with her, arousing her until her brain was ready to explode, her fingers hastily freed his erection. He savaged her mouth as she stroked him, those nimble fingers delightfully destroying his manhood. Palming a breast he pulled the fabric of her blouse aside so he could nip that one spot on her neck.

“I want you to fuck me.” She purred as two fingers circled her entrance teasing her. “I want to feel every inch of you.” She breathed.

“Anything for you love.” He kissed her hard as she shifted to rest his cock where his fingers had been. He gripped her hips and pulled her onto him as he snapped his hips forward. The mutual groan of ecstasy echoed softly around the room.

They found a brutal rhythm, the hard plunge deep into her, his cock hitting her in all those secret places. He ravaged her mouth as she held onto him while he filled her, his girth stretching her wide. She rode him hard, the bounce driving him deeper until he bottomed out.

“Fuck, you’re so tight.” He growled, biting down on her throat.

“No love.” She sighed. “You’re just so fucking big.” She purred, nipping his ear to emphasize her words. “So big.” She moaned as his hips snapped faster pulling her onto him, forcing himself into her with long deft strokes.

“Gustaf.” She peaked quickly and cried into his mouth as his cock pounded into her, her hands clutching at him as she tensed.

It was a fast, rough mating, an urgent need to fuck and claim each other, to scratch that itch. He plunged a hand between their bodies and assaulted her clit, the added sensation sending her over the edge. Her climax shattered her as he continued to fuck her hard, his own release thundering through him as he filled her with his seed.

“You drive me fucking wild.” He murmured, nuzzling her throat. “Stroking my ego like that.” He grinned as he nipped her ear, her throaty laugh making his cock twitch.

“Just stating the truth love.” She purred, that sly smirk tugging at her lips as she rested against him.

“Reading or bed?” He asked as they caught their breath, wanting nothing more than to strip her naked and take her again. Knowing she had reading, was tired, and had a crazy day tomorrow, he would have to settle for curling up in bed so she’d get an earlier night.

“I’m still gonna have to read for an hour.” She said, determined to be somewhat productive tonight.

“Want me to sit with you?”

“Up to you, but I like it when you do.” She placed her hands on his chest and stretched up to kiss him. “As much as I want you to fuck me all over again, I have to be the responsible adult and do my homework.” She said wistfully.

“Do your homework, playtime later.” He said playfully and she giggled.

“Now that’s incentive.”

“Whatever works.” He grinned.

They disentangled themselves and dressed enough to be descent if the kids came out. Seated at the table she got to work, the cup of tea magically appearing by her legal pad.

He kissed the back of her neck an hour later, not a second more and she shivered. He watched as her pen hand went lax, unable to put thought into action, as his lips kissed a trail on the exposed strip of skin between her hairline and blouse. That soft sigh as skilled hands massaged the rocks in her shoulders.

“Time for bed my lovely lady.” He murmured as his kiss found the spot below her ear.

“Ok.” She mumbled dreamily as he continued to relax her.

“Pack your work up.” He prompted.

“I can’t while you’re doing that, my brain won’t work.” Her mumble was barely there, he’d relaxed her into a puddle of goo.

His hands stopped and she moaned her displeasure when he pulled away. “Pack up and then I’ll take care of you.” He murmured and took the teapot and cups to the kitchen.

He watched her and smirked. She was still sitting there blinking as if trying to coerce her body to cooperate. He’d rendered her incoherent. Those lips she thought, those hands, he’d turned her to mush. She tidied up, packed her bag for tomorrow, and dragged her ass out of the chair. With everything set for the morning she headed to bed, Gustaf followed a little later.

“Those lips are deadly Mr.” She huffed as his arms wrapped around her, the kiss landing on her temple as he snuggled her in. “And so are these.” She mumbled tapping his hands as they flexed out across her torso, cupping a breast gently. His quiet chuckle made her smile.

“Sleep love you have a brutal day tomorrow. We’ll save playtime for Friday.” He murmured. He calmed her, the warmth, the strength, those protective arms keeping her close, home.

“But I have you to come home to.” She mumbled, already falling into sleep.

“Yes you do.” He kissed her head and breathed her in.

She shifted until her mouth found his, the kiss loving and soft. “Thank you.” She slurred.

“Sleep love.”

“You’re my home Gustaf.” She mumbled as sleep claimed her and he felt his heart lurch and his eyes prickle at her words.

“You’re my home too love.”

It had been a rough few days for her and with her birthday next week he knew her stress and grief would only worsen. Their four days away would hopefully settle her, or at least take the edge off. He knew she’d work herself hard tomorrow and was looking forward to taking care of the kids. It gave them all time to bond and he found he craved to spend time with them. He held her close, his Sildie, his home, as sleep pulled him under.

**************

@hausofobsession @ill-skillsgard @grandpa-sweaters @authentic90skidd @tuckersgirl @fairlyfallacy @flowers-in-your-hayr @raewritesfiction @stinkerbelle007 @kamie-b @mrsaugustwalker @skrsgardspam @loliwrites @trippedmetaldetector

[perahn]

Common For the Heartsick

So I was clearing out some old folders this evening and came across the start of this, and decided to just throw an ending on it. Modern!AU.

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

“Ursula or Maleficent?” Harper held up the two bottles of nail polish, one purple with black sparkles and the other black with green and purple glitter.

“Huh?”

That wasn’t like Katy, no matter how focused she was on the movie. The colour of her toenails was serious business. “Katy, what’s up?” he asked.

She wasn’t even watching the screen as the music swelled and the two leads gazed longingly at each other – and usually by that point in the movie she had both a smile and the sniffles. Instead she was staring out the window with an expression similar to the one the actors were wearing, only with a large portion of misery in it.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Harper said, and wrapped his arms around her. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just so sad,” Katy said softly.

“What is? I know you’re not talking about the movie. They haven’t even had the second-act break-up yet.”

Katy turned away from the window and buried her face in his chest. The muffled sounds might’ve been an answer, if he could’ve understood it. Not for the first time in their friendship, he wondered if hooking up with Ash behind the bleachers had really been worth skipping the day they’d covered ‘Common for Heartsick Half-Elves With a Mouthful of Jacket’. “You know it’s a bit easier to communicate when I can hear you, right?”

Katy popped up her head long enough to say, “Look at her!” before she folded herself back in with something that was at least halfway towards being a sob.

Harper looked. The window had a fairly good view across the street to the Haunted House. There wasn’t any ghost story attached to it as far as Harper had ever heard; Katy just called it that because nobody stayed there very long. Obviously that was due to ghosts and not to the fact that it was in desperate need of demolition. Harper had fifty bucks on the most recent victims staying less than a month; Bren thought they’d make two, but not much longer; Katy had refused to bet.

Katy had probably been watching the current residents, since they were in the front yard. Harper had never met them, but he knew people who knew people who had spoken to them. The small half-orc – Shaizy or something like it – was attempting to wrestle some of the taller weeds into submission, while the bald one – her name sounded like someone making a Ghostbusters reference while gargling – sat on the sagging doorstep frowning over a book. An enormous Great Dane gambolled around them both, wagging its black tail and occasionally entreating one or the other to throw a ball for it to ignore.

They looked content enough, even if one was waging an unwinnable war against well-entrenched and razor-sharp grasses; he must be missing something. “She needs a flamethrower instead of secateurs?” Harper guessed. “She got a grass cut?”

“Not her,” Katy said, and that was a first. Harper didn’t know much, but he was a fucking expert in pining from a distance, and besides Katy had been commenting on the half-orc’s arms basically every minute they were visible. “Cam.”

Harper’s impression of the bald woman had included words like ‘hot’, ‘tattoos’, and ‘always reading’; he wasn’t sure where ‘sad’ came from. Also, he was pretty sure her name wasn’t Cam. “Why is it sad, darling?”

“Because just look, Harper! She’s bald and skinny, she has cancer, and she’s here with someone who is probably her girlfriend in the last months she has to live-“

“Katy.”

“- and they must be poor after spending all their money on cancer treatment because they rented the Haunted House –“

“Katy.”

“- and she only ever wears that horrible burlap sack-“

“Katy!” and finally he got through. “Where did any of that come from?”

She sniffled, wiping her chin with his shirt and leaving mascara smears behind. “I’m not blind, Harper.”

“No,” he said, grabbing the box of tissues he’d had ready for the second-act break-up, “you are beautiful and smart and the delight of my life, but don’t you think that, maybe, you might be jumping to conclusions a little fast?”

She looked up at him with those ridiculously wide eyes, and fuck, her lower lip was wobbling. It was more than a man could be expected to endure.

“Come on,” Harper said, dragging her up from the sofa, “We are going over there and we are settling this.”

“Harperrr-“

“No arguments. I’ll carry you if I have to.”

She didn’t argue, but he did have to drag her by the hand across the road. The dog barked a welcome and rushed up to them, and the girl with the shears said ‘Hi,” and he said “Hi,” back because he wasn’t a barbarian, and the bald woman looked up from her book. Sure, she was on the skinny side, but she didn’t look sick and she still had her eyebrows and eyelashes, so he was probably right, and he was just going to sound stupid and a bit crazy. He was used to that.

“Hi,” Harper said. “Bad question to open with, I know, but the bald head – that’s a fashion statement, right?”

She stared back at him, wary and not quite hostile. “Cultural. Why?”

“See?” He tossed over his shoulder at Katy, who wasn’t listening to him anyway, just staring at her crush. Who had put down the secateurs and was coming up to her, the big dog gambolling madly around them both.

“That’s not an answer,” not-a-cancer-patient said.

“It was just – just an argument with Katy. I’m Harper, by the way.”

“Khemuret,” she said, a little begrudgingly. “Khem.”

“Pretty name. Katy and I live across the road, feel free to come borrow a cup of sugar if you need one. We probably won’t have any, but the company is always nice. Can I ask another really nosy question?”

Katy had dropped his hand in order to scratch the dog’s ears, and honestly Harper just wanted to cheer – in a non-creepy, just looking out for his girl kind of way - because Shaizy was very carefully not looking at Katy, and they were fumbling their way through an introduction.

“You can ask.”

“Well,” Harper said, and sat down next to Khem on the doorstep. She made a face like an offended cat and shifted a few inches away. A miscalculation there. “Sorry, didn’t mean to crowd you. It’s just- see that?” He pointed to where Katy and her half-orc had obviously found themselves into an awkward and tentative little world of their own.

“They are right there,” Khem said, with the slow emphasis of someone who had completely missed the point.

“I mean – look, just before Katy gets too invested, is she wasting her time? I don’t want to see her breaking her heart over someone who’s already attached if I can help it –“ and yeah, that gave him a bit of an inner stab, because part of being an expert in pining was wasting his time and breaking his heart and being completely unable to help it. But he was used to ignoring that inner stab, and it was all scar tissue in there anyway.

Khem was staring at him again, as warm and pleasant as a militant vegan watching someone order steak tartare. “Not as far as I know.”

Harper grinned, wide and stupid and hopeful – he knew that expression when his face did it, mostly at the worst possible time. “Thanks, Khem.”

She shrugged.

“I can see I’m intruding, I’ll leave you to your –“ he glanced at the thick book in her lap – “theoretical physics?”

“Thank you,” Khem said, and turned back to her reading.

He’d deliberately snuck away so he wouldn’t interrupt, but Katy caught him before he opened the front door anyway. In the dim hallway, she was practically glowing as she threw her arms around him and burst into that endearing perennial chatter.

��� – and Shay really likes gardening, I asked her to help me weed our back yard and she said yes and I told her about ordering from Bren’s because our oven is always broken and she said she could fix it, and she does martial arts which is why her arms are so amazing and where she got those scars and she said my eyes were really glittery and the dog is called Twitch and she said Cam was her friend so I think she might be single –“

“Khem seems to think she is,” Harper interjected.

Katy let out a high-pitched sound with no consonants in it and dashed upstairs, apparently to redo her makeup while attempting to sing something that clashed badly against the melancholy theme on the TV. One of the lovers had discovered that the other was actually married and expecting a child, and Harper stared into blue eyes that weren’t – weren’t quite right…

- and switched off the movie. He could wallow in old grief any day, and it’d come hunting him soon enough. Right now, Katy was happy, and soon enough she would need some advice from her brother-dad, and the new neighbours were… interesting.

He hoped, for Katy’s sake, that they’d stay longer than a few months. Even if it cost him fifty dollars.

[lifblogs]

Livin In You: Chapter 12

Fandom: Supernatural Pairing: Destiel Rating: Explicit Chapter Word Count: 1312 Summary: Castiel is a mental health worker who is just fine with the way his life is. The only thing that really bugs him is how much his co-worker, and friend, Meg, mentions Dean Winchester, the most famous rock star in the modern age. Meg drags him to a concert, and he ends up getting tied into the wild and angsty life of Dean Winchester. Suddenly his old life seems boring, but so much calmer. Suddenly, it matters to him that he's still a virgin. Suddenly, this rock star that he despised the mention of, now matters to him. Dean Winchester is a rockstar who's on top of the world when it comes to music. Yet there's more that he wants. He misses Lisa and Ben, he craves connection, craves being himself. Any hope for that amidst his alcoholic life all changes when Zachariah, the head exec of Heaven's Records, pairs with a new exec, Michael Edlund -- the Archangel of Music. Under Michael's dominance, he's no longer in control of his own life. There are rules. No more sex with fans. No more alcohol. And in Dean's view, no more god damn free will. Yet he stumbled into Castiel. CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4 | CHAPTER 5 | CHAPTER 6 | CHAPTER 7 | CHAPTER 8 | CHAPTER 9 | CHAPTER 10 | CHAPTER 11

READ ON AO3

Dean was glad to be sitting in the Impala, to feel its purr beneath him, to hear the rumbling of the engine, to feel the leather wheel against his palms. It was better than staying up in that bright hotel room where he’d been told he was made for Michael.

Made for Michael, he mused. What the fuck does that mean? Asshole.

The tension still resided in him, and he figured if — no, when — he went out to lunch with Cas he’d maybe have a little to drink. Not as much as last night. He hd to promise himself that. He didn’t need another repeat of that, and public drunkenness was probably the kind of shit Michael, and Zachariah didn’t want him doing anyway.

Castiel was looking at him, as if he was hurt, cerulean blue eyes so big. Dean didn’t like it. It reminded him of pity. It wasn’t a pitying look, per se, but it sure as hell seemed close.

“What?” Dean snapped.

“They’re allowed to do this to you?” Castiel asked.

“I don’t know,” Dean answered honestly. “They think they can. Sam’s gonna help. But I can’t do anything right now. I just… I just need this time out, Cas. And I want to make up for last night. I was an ass.”

“You were drunk.”

“Doesn’t mean I wasn’t an ass.”

“But—”

“Cas, I’m trying to apologize to you,” Dean intoned.

Castiel’s cheeks went a little pink, and Dean couldn’t help staring. They were at a crowded intersection, and would surely be left at the right light for awhile, so it wasn’t as if he couldn’t get away with it.

Someone behind him honked their horn, drawing him from his reverie. How long had he been looking him over? Looking at those pink cheeks, the full, pink lips, the sharp jawline. Dean’s gaze had also gone to his thighs. And as he’d looked at Castiel, Castiel had looked at him.

Focus on the road, he told himself. He made the turn, and continued driving.

“Then I accept your apology,” Castiel eventually said.

“Good.”

“And not because you have money, or your’e some big name celebrity.”

“Right.”

Why was Castiel making a point to say that? Did he think he was entitled?

Maybe I am.

“Because you’re actually trying to be human.”

Dean’s gaze hardened, heat flaring.

“What, so you think I’m not human?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Uh, buddy, yeah, you did.”

“Okay, fine, maybe I did say it,” Castiel snapped. “But I mean, look at you. Your outfit costs more than my rent, your brother is famous by association and also your lawyer, you have Garth at your beck and call. That’s not… normal.”

Dean gave him a cocky grin. “Thanks, it’s called being rich and famous.”

Castiel only sighed at that and sank down in the seat.

“You know, we don’t have to do this,” Dean went on. “I can take you to get that phone, make sure your car gets fixed, and then drop you off wherever you want. You have that friend, right? What’s her name?”

“Meg.”

“Meg, that’s right! Seriously though, man. If this is bothering you—”

Quick as an adder, Castiel shot out, “It’s not.”

“Then what’s your deal?”

“What’s your deal?”

“You know what? No, we’re not gonna argue like this. We’re not a couple o’ twelve year olds.”

Castiel grinned.

“What?”

“I don’t know, Dean, you seem pretty immature.”

“Are you… are you teasing me?”

Castiel’s brows lowered, suddenly all serious. “Yes.”

Dean started laughing, and it felt good. It felt so good that he didn’t feel as if he had to do anything else in that moment. For those few moments he wasn’t thinking about the contract, wasn’t hoping his headache would go away soon, wasn’t thinking about how much he wanted to punch Michael in his stupidly gorgeous face. And he wasn’t thinking about how strange his situation with Cas was, or what he yearned to do with him. There were no worries about where this would lead, about maybe ending up hurt and disappointed. He just laughed.

Castiel laughed too.

“There we go!” Dean said. “Knew you couldn’t be such a hard-ass all the time.”

“Thanks.”

To Dean’s surprise, Castiel seemed to mean it sincerely. He inwardly shrugged. If that’s how Cas wanted to take it, that worked too. Besides, Dean was realizing he was starting to like Castiel’s reactions, even if he wasn’t so sure he liked what it did to him.

“Tell me about yourself,” Dean requested.

“Why do you want to know?”

“I don’t want to take a total stranger out to lunch.”

Castiel seemed to think that was reasonable as he asked, “What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know, whatever you want to tell me,” Dean said with a shrug. “Favorite color, favorite movie, where you went to college… that kind of stuff.”

So Castiel began to tell him, and Dean took note of everything. By the time they made it to an electronics store, he knew his favorite color (green), knew his favorite movie (A New Hope), knew his favorite book (The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher [Dean had had to try really hard to not seem so shocked]), knew his favorite food (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches)... He listened to him talk about his college experience, what he’d majored in. Dean was happy to hear it all. By the time they pulled up to the store, Dean didn’t want the conversation to end.

He rifled through his pockets, grabbed his wallet, and then started flipping through the bills he had in there, counting.

After coming up with what he thought would be a sufficient amount, he passed the money to Castiel.

“Alright, kid, go have fun,” Dean teased.

“Ass.”

“You’re an ass.”

“This is too much,” Castiel said.

“Just take it. I’ll wait out here.”

“Will anyone see you?”

Dean lowered his hat over his brow. Castiel just raised an eyebrow in what Dean thought might be a disbelieving look, but then he took the money Dean offered, and got out of the car. The door creaked as it opened and closed. Dean knew he should oil the hinges, but that sound? That sound felt like home.

He tried not to stare as Castiel walked away, but oh god, Dean would be lying if he said that his new friend or whatever he was didn’t have one hell of a nice ass.

Guilt tugged at his stomach.

Castiel had helped him last night, helped him when he hadn’t even known how to help himself. He shouldn’t be looking at him like that, thinking about him like that.

“You are an ass,” Dean muttered to himself, agreeing with Cas.

Still, even as he tried to veer his thoughts away from what he wished he could do with him, they just kept burning in his brain.

Dean tried to rationalize it, tried to logic his way out of the thoughts. No, you can’t do that. One, he’s being nice to you and you don’t want to fuck that up. Two, he’s a virgin and probably isn’t interested. Three, you don’t even like virgins! Four, if Zachariah or Michael found out, maybe even Crowley, they’d have it out for your ass.

The logic made sense. It really did. Yet, his emotions didn’t listen to it.

Suddenly frustrated, and a little angry with himself, Dean leaned over to look through the glove compartment on Castiel’s side. His cassette tape collection was in there. Hell, he knew cassette tapes were outdated, but they were classic. How could he not love them?

Dean found a Led Zeppelin tape that he loved, and he popped it into the tape deck. He put the volume just loud enough for him to hear, and listened to one of his greatest inspirations while he waited for Castiel.

[a-robin-among-thorns]

In The Shadows Of The Rising Sun Chp 11

Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 

Once again thank you for your patience and for reading this story :)

Chapter 11: A Girl’s Best Friend

Word Count: 2,028

Their first week in the strange situation they found themselves in came and went. New routines became established, waking early to assure mutual chances at breakfast, scouring the library for any books related to the magical customs of japan. Evening snacks, and homework in the forest, followed by lessons in magic and language respectively. 

As Chise had suspected, Reina was unconcerned if she returned late and even seemed somewhat pleased she didn’t have to share dinner company. Even her teachers had reluctantly admitted that her assignments were improving. And to top it off Reina would once again be gone this weekend while she visited a friend from college. 

Not to say they were no hiccups. One such hiccup greeted her that Sunday morning in the form of Elias’ nose hovered worriedly over her stomach. 

Sleep covered her like a film of moss that stretched and cracked as she forced her eyes open. She had no reason to feel this lethargic, she thought, their day yesterday had been spent leisurely reading through tomes of Japanese folklore.   

Concerned wuffles whined through Elias’ nose as he looked her over again. “Elias,” She groaned, “what's wrong?” 

“Chise, are you injured?” 

She blinked. “What?”

“I smell blood.” Troubled pants racked his frame never ceasing his frantic inspection. “I don’t understand, I was here all night… I should have known... what could have…” he muttered in increasing frustration. 

“Blood? I’m not…” realization crashed into her like a tidal wave. She sat up quickly forcing her knees together in frantic damage control. The sporadic movement served only to further worry Elias, as he froze eyes flitting from her face to his claws and back again. Her hands came up in placating motions. “It’s ok! Just... please help me to the bathroom.”

Smoky shadow dissipated and reformed just as quickly as his arms gripped her back and under her knees. As he lifted her in smooth bridal carry Chise quickly inspected where she had laid on the futon thankful for the uninterrupted color that signaled her fear was unwarranted. His strong legs crossed the apartment in hurried steps till the pads of his feet hit linoleum. She wriggled slightly and Elias relented to let her stand.

“Thank you, now just wait out here for a moment.” He made to protest briefly before nodding as she closed the door. 

A brief search in the under-sink cupboard yielded exactly one product. Delightful. 

To say Chise’s cycle was irregular was a gross understatement. There were occasions where entire seasons would pass between the end of one and the beginning of another. As such, she rarely requested sanitary products and that morning happened upon the bad luck of Reina’s supply being all but empty. Her head fell back and her eyes winced shut in a grimace. Not only would she have to devise a way to calm Elias, who had almost certainly melted into a puddle of anxiety by now, but also they would have to run to town and buy more pads. 

So much for our nice day, she thought dejectedly. She supposed in a strange way she should have been grateful for this undeniable sign that her health had improved ever so slightly thanks to the steady influx of food she had enjoyed since Elias’ arrival. Gratitude was difficult to muster however, as her organs decided they had stood idle long enough in the form ripping spasms across her abdomen. She grunted as she strained off the floor. There was work to do. 

The door opened to the scene of Elias nervously fidgeting before fixing his eyes on her. 

She breathed deeply before exhaling an explanation. “Its Ok Elias, I’m not hurt. It’s perfectly normal for girls to bleed every so often.” She prayed silently that she would not have to explain menstrual cycles to him in detail.

His fingers flexed anxiously, making unclear whether this explanation had calmed him or worried him further. “You are...not in pain then?”

“Well I wouldn’t say that.” she blurted as immediately as she regretted. Elias’ entire posture stood on end ready to jump the second she showed discomfort. “I mean, it's uncomfortable but not unbearable. We’ll just need to run to town to grab a few things.” 

Through a truly herculean effort, Chise somehow managed to get dressed while keeping Elias stable as they headed out to town. A grueling trek later found Chise staring at a convenience store racks. She scratched her head in genuine confusion as to which size and amount she needed.  

She finally chose and mentally ran over any possible necessities. Her figurative and literal coin purse was slightly heavier as of late thanks to Elias’ habit of swiping free change off the ground. Thankfully he did refrain from the paper money as asked. As she was mentally debating the cost of painkillers, her attention was drawn to a pair of girls arguing across at the candy aisle. 

“Oni-Chan?" the younger girl whined, "Can we get chocolate for Haru?”

“No,” Her sister scoffed, “mom only gave me enough for dad and nii-san.” 

The little sister's tiny fists shot down spiking her shoulders in a heated attempt to appear larger. “But you have money!”

“Yeah, but I’m not paying for chocolates for your little crush.” The older sister continued unaffected. “You should have thought of it before the day of.”

“Pleaaase? I’ll do your chores for the week?” The younger one pleaded quickly changing tactics.

“...Make it two weeks and you have a deal.” 

Chise absorbed the meaning of her accidental eavesdropping as the sisters loudly made their way to the checkout. Why had they made such a fuss over candy? And more importantly, why did she feel it was so important to her right now? 

Shouldn’t have waited till the day of...the day of what? She mulled to herself. It couldn’t have been three separate birthdays...oh. Well, that made two glaringly obvious surprises before lunch. 

Chise was passingly familiar with holidays that forced family participation to at least acknowledge her as an occupant of the household. But a purely social holiday, Valentine's Day, was as foreign a concept to her as what it felt like to stand under the Eiffel tower. She had heard about, seen it on tv, even observed chocolate-coated rendezvous at school. But actual active participation? Well, that required several things, money, time, a recipient. All things she didn’t have. 

Didn’t have until…

Her eyes flitted down to her feet. To the passing observer, the odd branching patterns of her pale shadow cast in the artificial storefront light would be attributed to the irregular shapes of the snack aisle. That same snack aisle she quickly found herself striding towards where the sisters had stood arguing not a minute earlier. 

The electronic doorbell of the convenience store blared in her ears as Chise left feeling like a thief seconds away from apprehension. Despite having paid for the entire expense without dipping into the last of their food money. Her shopping bag’s weight felt as though it belonged to someone else but she strode forward. 

She was all but running by the time they reached the apartment and took the stairs two at a time. The door opened, shut and locked all in one motion. In the same second that her back thudded in emotional exhaustion against the door a wave of shadow surrounded her. His face formed first clearly desperate to see and speak to her before all else. His arms and legs took a full second longer to form as he scanned her for discomfort.

Summoning all her courage she plunged her hand into the grocery bag, fishing furiously. “Chise, what are-”

“Here!” she exclaimed louder than intended. But she knew that without considerable force neither the words nor the present would reach their destination.  

He was taken aback for several silent seconds, staring slack-jawed at the small package thrust forward in her palms. He shook his head and delicately plucked the present from her hands. “What is…”

“It’s a chocolate bar, for Valentine's day...for you.” She blushed fiercely.

“You were supposed to acquire provisions for yourself.” He accused in a surprisingly serious tone. 

“I know! And I did. I just...i-in Japan girls give chocolates to b-boys.” An odd thought questioned whether he considered himself to be gendered in any way. But that was for another time. “It’s how we celebrate Valentine's day. It's nothing special, but I... wanted to…” Her explanation had devolved into rambling and she forced herself to breathe. 

“I’m sorry…” I knew I shouldn't have done this she chastised. The warmth of his hand on her shoulder distracted her from his nose leaning forward. "Don't apologize," He breathed directly into her ear. He nuzzled her temple before pulling away, an odd heaviness settling in his expression. 

“I...wasn't expecting this,” he finally uttered. “Thank you for the gift.” He gasped. “Is there something I need to do for Valentine's Day?” 

Relief flooded Chise in a rush leaving her feeling giddy at the strange and adorable situation. “No, not until White Day. It's custom to give flowers to the person who gave you chocolates. You don’t have to though.”

“No, I want to!" He exclaimed, his jaw opening frantically, "When is White Day?” 

“It's not for a month or so.”

“Oh, please let me know when it comes.”

His eager desire to please caused a happy little smile to rest on Chise’s lips. A smile that was quickly broken apart as her ears rang and her stomach dropped. Her blood sugar and body fell in tandem, the later cushioned in Elias’ lightspeed grip. A miasma of terror permeated his being as he struggled to find words. 

“Sorry, I should have eaten before we left.” Chise offered feebly as she fought the pounding against her temporal lobe. Against his chest, she could feel him swallow forcibly as he brought her back to the futon. Any protest she had was stifled by gentle comfort as he laid her tenderly and covered her with their blanket. There wasn’t any harm in resting her eyes was there?

In the background, she heard clanking about the kitchenette but her sudden onslaught of fatigue made discerning meaning from the noise an impossibility. It wasn’t until Elias set the coffee table upright that Chise’s full attention was brought back to the present. The sound of cheap ceramic hitting wood followed by a light sloshing caused her to sit upright cautiously. 

“I...was unsure I could work the microwave.” Elias sheepishly offered as Chise took in the sight before her. The plastic cup she preferred to use had been filled halfway and beside it was a haphazardly filled bowl of cereal. She smiled. “Thank you...were is yours?”

“I don’t need any until you eat.” 

“Elias-“

“I am not the one collapsing. I can last a few minutes.” He argued pointedly.

Chise sighed at her foolishness and diligently began forcing down spoonfuls. Midway during her meal Elias rose and retrieved cereal for himself. Chise watched him intently between gulps. She chuckled to herself when he accidentally spilled milk on the counter. As he was looking for a rag to clean with, Chise spotted his candy had been placed on the counter. 

“Would you like to eat your chocolate?” She called gaining his attention. He nodded bringing the package along with him as he sat across from her. “How...do you eat it?” He asked.

She extended her hand to which he placed the candy, watching intently as she tore the plastic and returned it to his hands. “You just take a bite.” He delicately closed his jaws on the corner of the chocolate and bit down. The bar crumbled slightly leading Elias to worriedly struggle to catch the crumbs. Chise stifled a giggle. His jaw moved in an odd semblance to chewing with his teeth barely opening before he swallowed. 

“Well?” Chise questioned.

“It is,” his tongue flicked out swiping a spot of chocolate flecked on his incisors, “very sweet.” He broke off a piece offering it to her. She accepted, popping it into her mouth.

Chise smiled, “Yeah...it is.” The pain in her abdomen was present but considerably dulled. Very sweet indeed.