#you ask and i deliver i saw a post earlier saying that there hasn’t been a gif done for this…🪄

[thomashelbyswife]

Thomas Shelby - Peaky Blinders - S2E6

[littlemisslipbalm]

I live in the neighbourhood

When Y/N moved to Hampstead she was unaware of the implications the decision would have on the course of the rest of her life.

or

Harry is Y/N’s eccentric neighbour who sweeps her up in the whirlwind that is his life

this gif bc its maybe my favorite clip of him EVER holy fuck - this is the harry of my dreams this is the harry of i live in the neighbourhood

HEY YALL it’s been a minute and I missed yall so much and I’m just about to be on break so maybe i’ll be back to posting writing regularly but with school its so hard and I think I’ve been working on this for months so yeah <3 lol PLS PLS PLS leave me feedback and reblogs and that stuff bc otherwise my writing just feels...empty and you have no idea the smile i get when even just the tags say like “god this was everything” it can be anything honestly but it keeps my passion up. Thank you again and hope you enjoy.

Word Count: ~10k | Warnings: swearing probably? no smut (yet), rich and famous harry - mentions of Taylor Swif 

-

She considered herself an average young woman in her mid twenties. She liked screaming Taylor Swift and Megan Thee Stallion songs alone in her car and thrifting on weekends. She hated cable because of commercials and when doordash didn’t deliver all of her order. She had asthma when she worked out or the air quality was bad. She had dumb celebrity crushes that her friends and her still laughed over with every new instagram post. She had hopes and dreams she had yet to achieve and she had past trauma that many would never know about, especially at first glance.

Sure, she was successful. She would admit that. How else would she be able to afford even the modest little house she had found in Hampstead? She had studied international business in college and hopped on a plane to London the first chance she got. After a few years of a more than decent paycheck and an advantageous stimulus check from her kind parents, she was able to move out of her starter flat into the suburbs. The definitive push for the move was two-fold. Her parents wanted her to take her dog and her apartment complex was strict on no pets. Then her promotion at work - which included a pay raise - made it hard to wave off taking full ownership of her childhood ten-pound best friend.

So with life happening as it usually does, Y/N first found herself scouring Zillow, then touring homes in the area, and finally standing outside a three bedroom, two bath, two-story cream house in Hampstead. Her house.

The little moving truck she had rented sat beside her as she stared at her future. The realtor had told her they would be there in ten minutes. For the next ten minutes all Y/N had to do was keep herself from combusting, or worse, sobbing.

She felt overwhelmed already. Renting a flat in London was one way to describe herself as independent. Owning a home in Hampstead seemed like a whole new level of adulthood she wasn’t sure if she was prepared for.

After taking a few deep breaths to ground herself, Y/N walked up to the gate that kept her front yard narrowly separated from the sidewalk. She lifted one hand from beneath the box she clutched tightly to her chest to push past the iron-rod gateway. The garden was cute, a little bland, and she thought to herself that maybe she’d develop some gardening skills now that she had her own front yard. The thought made her smile a little, refraining from laughing aloud while on her lonesome, since she had never taken interest in gardening before. But this house. This house. It was a new beginning. It was a fucking unwritten journal. Blank film. Unknown territory. She could be anyone in this house.

She gently placed the cardboard box on the first step up to the front door. There was no porch, but she couldn’t complain. It was gorgeous and she was lucky to get it at the price she did. The house was cream with dark blue accents and a grey shingled roof. Lots of windows. It was classic and it was hers.

After the realtor came with her keys and made sure everything seemed alright, Y/N’s couple of friends, Amélie and Daniel, arrived with their cars filled with items she had needed picking up from various stores. They helped her move her stuff into the house. Thankfully it was already half furnished, meaning she didn’t have to go out and buy beds or couches or any of those big items that are both expensive and a hassle to deal with.

By the time the evening had rolled around, everything was in the house and it actually seemed semi put together. Y/N looked around, sweat apparent on her face and hands on her hips, proud of what she had accomplished. The nerves from earlier had been drowned by pride.

-

The next day, she woke up from her first night in the house. It felt like a dream even though she was sure she was awake.  

She had to navigate her way to the airport today to pick up her dog from his long flight and then mainly settle into the house. Her house sat on Sherwood Avenue, one of the many streets in Hampstead. It’s neighboring houses were much larger. The ones directly next to and across from her weren’t drastically bigger but what she had yet to learn was that next to the house across from her there were two houses that had been joined together by their slightly eccentric owner. A man who would be the match that ignited the flame that was the rest of her life.

This unknown fact quickly became known after Y/N’s first few weeks in her new neighbourhood. The eccentric - more so absurdly rich - neighbor who conjoined the houses was Harry Styles.

The first time they crossed paths she wasn’t even aware of it. It was the day she moved in. He had been out for his usual morning run and was rounding the corner when she had pulled up in her moving van. Once inside his home, he snoopily watched on as his neighbour began to move in. He hadn’t taken note of much about her, just that she was new and that she had a nice pair of jeans on that day.

The second time, Y/N was convinced she needed to get her eyes checked because there was no way that she had just seen Harry Styles key himself into the house across the way from her. There was no way that she had moved into the same area as him, let alone the same street. It seemed far more plausible that she needed a psych evaluation or a strong glasses prescription.

But the third instance of them crossing paths, she was proven wrong. She was on her way back from the neighbourhood park when she saw a guy jogging towards her. With a yellow beanie and a black Columbia sweatshirt paired with running shorts and shoes, he was hard to ignore running straight towards her. The iconic curls, strong jawline, and soft green eyes were dead giveaways this time. After making brief eye contact as their paths literally crossed, she felt herself make a little face of odd interest. Her head quirked and her eyes narrowed, lips pursed with slight confusion. That was definitely him.

After that, she found herself seeing Harry around the neighbourhood a relatively good amount. She’d see him at the park, at the coffee shop, on their street, and more. They didn’t speak. She really didn’t think he would want to be bothered by his neighbours and she certainly wasn’t willing to test the theory. They sometimes gave a small smile of acknowledgement but nothing really friendly. Just ‘you exist and I know that’.

-

Fridays are Y/N’s favorite day. It’s the beginning of the weekend, she never has to go into work and it’s simply a nice day. People are happier, they smile brighter and it just seems like the world is a little better than usual.

Friday was especially amazing today because her childhood best friend, Cate, was arriving at London Heathrow in the evening. Y/N had begged Cate to fly out to see the new house in person and Cate had finally found the time to run away to England for a week.

She shut her front door carefully behind her and placed her headphones in her ears. Rori, that little terrier, who had made a similar flight to see Y/N’s place not too long ago, scampered out the door with her and jumped happily at her legs as she fiddled with her phone. Her coat ruffles around her disturbed from the morning air. It’s blanket-like fabric that consisted of a deep blue backdrop with felt giraffes sewn on it, kept her warm while she walked. With her mind racing with weekend plans and ideas for her and Cate to do both in Hampstead and the city, she crossed the street like usual and began to walk with her dog to the coffee shop for her morning tea.

Unlike usual, she fumbled just as she was putting her phone in her pocket and bumped into something large and definitely not sedentary.

“I’m so sorry!” She blushed and moved backwards from the man who had just been shutting his own front gate to head somewhere.

“S’alright. No harm, no foul.” He looks down at her and her dog. Rori seems excited by the stranger and sniffs him eagerly. A single paw prodding at the man’s long leg.

She grimaces, hearing the voice and stepping back allows her to fully recognize who she had just bumped into. Her neighbour. The runner. Harry Styles.

“Sorry.” She mutters again as Rori continues to prod at Harry’s leg.

She tries to coax Rori away, but Harry simply smiles and leans down to the small dog.

“Hi there buddy,” he coos and rubs the top of the fluffy dogs head, in between his pointy ears, “What’s your name?”

“Rori.” She states easily, Harry’s eyes flickering to her smoothly. Rori makes a smile babbling noise that sounds a bit like a tiny roar - hence the name - and Harry chuckles to himself.

“He’s really adorable,” he finally says and straightens up from his admiring of the dog.

The grimace becomes more of a smile on her face and she mumbles a “Thank You”.

As her neighbour - who hasn’t introduced himself (which wasn’t necessary, but still) or bothered to ask for her introduction - seems to be about to say something new when his phone begins to vibrate obnoxiously. He twitches, his large hands immediately going to his pockets for the important device. He checks the message and looks back at her face.

“Sorry, I have to run...um,” he’s not sure what to say. He really does have to go, but he doesn’t even know his neighbour’s name. He’ll have to make sure to get it at some point in the near future. Especially now that he’s acquainted with her dog.

“No worries,” she smiles completely this time, relieved for the whole interaction to be over. She felt like she was going to explode with each passing moment. In the presence of a legendary musician, c’mon, who wouldn’t be freaking out. All she could think about was how Harry Styles now knew her dog’s name. What the fuck!

-

Upon arriving at the airport, she waited patiently for Cate to walk out of the customs area.

When she did, the two young women began jumping up and down excitedly, Y/N squealing only slightly. They hugged and began chattering intensely, catching up on lost time that generally occurs when you live an ocean apart.  

Finally, one comment rings through the constant back and forth and Cate stops.

“Wait, what did you just say,” she questions as they begin walking to catch an uber back to Hampstead.

“I think my house might be haunted?” Y/N’s voice raising because she’s unsure if that’s what Cate was talking about.

“No, no, the thing after that. I think I must’ve misheard you.”

“Harry Styles is my neighbour?” Y/N’s brows raise as she looks over at her best friend, curious to know what she will say.

“Yes! Explain. Now!”

“It’s not really a big deal. It’s a nice neighbourhood, it makes sense that celebrities of his caliber want to live there.”

“That is not explaining. You have to introduce us!”

As they climb into their uber and settle in for the short ride back to Hampstead, Y/N sighs and tells Cate everything she knows.

“We’ve only just spoken today and I’ve been here for a couple weeks. He lives across the street and down one, I guess. I just see him around, it’s not like he knows who I am. He didn’t even get my name today, just Rori’s.” She laughs lightly, still finding it funny that Harry knows her dog’s name.

Cate nods, leaning in slightly to her best friend, hardly able to contain her awestruckness from the story and baffledness at Y/N’s calmness. “So, like, when do I get to meet him?”

“Girl, I don’t fucking know. Never, if you’re going to act wild. I don’t want the neighbourhood to think I’m not chill.”

“Sometimes…” Cate starts and leans away from Y/N jokingly, “I hate you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

They both smile, bumping elbows silently. The song on the radio fading in louder as their words die out.

-

The next day, Y/N took Cate to the local park. It was expansive and connected to the football fields that local teams would play at. The park section was a luscious green that was maintained with copious amounts of watering by the township.

She and Cate settled on a patch of grass near a slender tree that would offer some shade if the sun’s rays became too harsh. The quilt they sat on was something her grandmother had made her when she was maybe 8 years old, meaning it was torn in places and completely worn in a different shade of pink than it had been initially.

They set up their picnic and played music, enjoying the sunny day. Something rare and fleeting as the fall began to creep up on Hampstead.

They eat and catch up on life for about an hour. Basking in the sunlight, Y/N had laid on her back and was staring up at the clouds passing along the sky. Cate was carefully watching their surroundings, simply taking in her friend’s new home, but possibly for another reason too.

“Hey, isn’t that…” Cate trails off, trying to subtly nod in the direction of an approaching figure.

Y/N sits up, her hands holding her up from behind her. Her hair fails in front of her shoulders slightly and it’s a little disheveled from being mused in the grass. She looks discreetly in the direction of Cate’s nodding and then looks at her friend and rolls her eyes.

“Yes, but don’t say anything, he might not even notice me and I’m certainly not calling out to him.”

‘Illicit Affairs’ by Taylor Swift is playing off her speaker and as she’s about to change it, Cate turns it up slightly. They share a glare with one another before trying to act casual again, even though both of their eyes kept flickering to the man who seemed to be continuing closer and closer to their set up.

It became clear that Harry was approaching them after all and Y/N tried to carry on an unbothered conversation with Cate, which was hard with the constant nudging of Cate’s foot on her shin.

He stops a mere foot away from their blanket, beaming at the two young women lounging on the ground. He makes an attempt at a casual wave, his large hand splaying his fingers quickly, before opening his mouth to speak.

Cate beats him to the punch. “Hello there!”

“Erm, hi!” He says nicely to her and then looks at Y/N.

“No Rori today?” He inquires.

“No,” she smiles, slightly blushing at the fact that he remembered her and her dog. “He’s napping.”

“Ah, I see,” He pauses, “I feel like I need to apologize.” He continues.

“For what?” She questions and Cate watches on anxiously, mesmerized by Harry and dying to see what happens next.

“I ran off before I could even ask for your name or introduce myself. It was terribly rude.”

“Oh,” she can’t stop smiling, “It’s nothing to apologize for, I’m sure you’re busy. Besides I had to get my day started, otherwise I would’ve been late picking her up.” She points to Cate who smiles sheepishly, still internally screaming over the fact that her friend is able to talk so easily to a celebrity.

Harry nods and looks at Cate again, “Just visiting I take it then?”

She nods quickly, words escaping her. Y/N chuckles under her breath and swoops in to save her friend any embarrassment. “Cate’s my best friend and she’s been kind enough to take time out of her extremely busy life to come look at my new house.”

He hums, still standing a respectful distance from their set-up. “Nice to meet you, Cate,” he says very kindly. Then he laughs, but in a way that is like he’s beside himself. The two women both quirk their heads at him. Y/N squints her eyes slightly, trying to understand the guy she is talking to and connecting him with the man that is all over the news all of the time for his musical genius.

“Now I know your dog and best friend’s names but still not yours. At this point, I’m begging you to tell me.”

They all laugh and Y/N feels nervous for the first time since Harry had walked up.

“You first,” she smiles slyly.

His eyes widen slightly in surprise, but then go back to normal. Harry was very smart, she likely knew his name, but one, she was trying to be funny and two, she was also trying to be courteous. He preferred to introduce himself rather than just be told who he is, even if people already knew. It allowed him to maintain some normalcy.

“‘M Harry,” He says with a smile.

“Alright.” She says and then remains quiet.

Harry’s lips quirk up in a faint smile, amused at her expression.

“I thought it was a ‘show me yours and I’ll show you mine’ type of situation or was I mistaken?” He finally asks when she remains silent still.

The two young women laugh and Y/N bites the inside of her cheek, both feeling flustered and completely in control at the same time.

“You weren’t mistaken, I was just thinking.” Then she pauses again and Cate thinks Harry is about to combust and Harry thinks he’s going to as well with all the anticipation that has been built up over his neighbor’s name, even though he was pretty sure he’d heard it in passing at one point or another but had forgotten quickly afterwards.

“It’s Y/N.”

Harry releases a facetious sigh of relief, “Oh thank god! Finally!” His words quickly turn into an infectious laugh that is paired with a shining smile and she feels like she’s swooning right then and there. The control has gone out the window and she’s taken with her neighbor. He’s wonderful in that moment and she forgets about Cate or the park or anything. It’s just Harry and how it seems like he’s smiling just for her.

“Now that I’ve gotten your name,” he smiles pointedly at her after his laughter has faded away. The smile doesn’t leave his face though, his eyes still crinkled, his dimples still showing.

She nods, encouraging him to continue. Cate feels like she’s watching a movie unfold in front of her and she wishes she could record the entire interaction.

“I can finally ask you, Y/N, where did you get that fabulous coat I saw you wearing yesterday?”

She twitches further upright, eyes bringing themselves directly inline with Harry’s gaze. “Oh,” she inhales, “The giraffe one, yeah?”

He nods.

“I got it from a Goodwill years ago. It’s some vintage company that used to only make sleepwear. I looked up the tag one time and it doesn’t exist anymore. Super cool, though. Wish I could buy more.”

“Yeah,” Harry says eagerly, even taking a step towards the women, “It was so intriguing. Maybe, if you didn’t mind of course -” he falters, losing his courage for a moment, “you could bring it over and my stylist could check it out. I would love something similar and I’m sure he could figure it out.”

She shrugs. It wasn’t crazy, especially not for Harry - she assumed. She was certain he often found things he liked but there was only one of them so he would just order his own. She couldn’t help the pride that was swelling inside her though it that moment. Harry Styles liking her jacket so much he asked where it was from and then wanting his stylist to look at it. She’d jump for joy when she was in the safety of her private home later tonight with Cate.

“One condition,” she says and Harry’s brows quirk amusedly at her.

“You are a very tit for tat person,” he muses.

“Fair’s fair,” she shrugs again and then looks around her quickly, “It’s simple so don’t get too worked up over it, buddy.”

He laughs slightly again and tries to figure out what she’s looking for. When she extends a scratched up, sticker-covered point and shoot film camera he smiles.

“Can you take a picture of Cate and I? It’s always just the two of us so we never have anyone to take pictures of us together.”

Harry grins at this and her sincere face. Cate is a little taken aback, because while it’s technically true, it’s not entirely factual. They have plenty of film pictures of them - maybe not recently though. And she wasn’t going to question Y/N right now. It seemed like she knew what she was doing.

Harry takes the camera and begins to look through the viewfinder. The women scoot closer together and Cate wraps her arm around Y/N’s shoulder. She leans in to press her cheek against her best friend. They smile up at the camera and Harry crouches slightly to get a better angle.

“Alright,” he mumbles, “Ready?...Cheese!”

Their smiles stay hung on their face as they listen for the click and when the faint sound befalls their ears, Cate laughs and Y/N pulls away. She reaches forward for the camera, her hand easily brushing Harry’s large one.

Their smiles meet each other and Cate can’t help but notice how they grow as the two of them look at one another.

“Thank you,” Y/N says sweetly and pulls back to retake her seat on the blanket.

Harry straightens up, his grin falling back into that signature smirk. “No problem.”

“So-” He begins but she cuts him off.

“Well, I’m sure I’ll see you around, yeah?”

He clears his throat, feeling thrown off. “Yeah, sure. I guess next time I see you we can talk about when a good time would be for your jacket to come over?”

His voice raises at the end of his question a little more than usual, he’s trying to get her to bite, but she doesn’t seem like someone who is easily thrown off. He is trying to read her and she’s been completely cool the entire time. It’s intriguing. Even more so than the jacket, even though he’d be lying if he said he didn’t like it, it wasn’t really his focus when he walked across the park to her and Cate.

“Yep! It was nice finally meeting you Harry.”

He feels the cue to walk off and says his farewells. As he walks off, back on course to his intended destination, his head is filled with questions. Most important of them being when he would see her again.

Cate and Y/N watch him walk towards the football fields. They see him meet with a group of men and it seems like they’re there to practice or play a game. Y/N couldn’t be sure.

“He likes you!” Cate finally bursts out.

Y/N rolls her eyes, “Stop trying to make me take the piss. That’s a fucking lie and you know it.”

“It’s not! He likes you and you obviously like him, I mean, but we been knew.”

“Having a crush on the famous Harry Styles when you’re 17 is different than me liking my neighbour Harry.”

“But you like him don’t you? He’s even better than he was when he was 19. Now he’s all grown up and established and more your style anyway.”

“Shut up! He could hear you.”

“He really couldn't, he's yards away, you’re just paranoid.” Cate continues to tease and ridicule her best friend over Harry and Y/N is just about ready to up and leave, but she also can’t help but laugh it off.

“I’m literally gonna kick you out if you keep talking,” Y/N says between laughs and the women feel like they’re back in high school losing their minds over the stupidest joke ever.

“Okay, fine. But all I have to say is I will hold this over you when you end up together.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure, whatever. Just be prepared to wait forever because I can promise you Harry Styles and I are never ending up together.”

--

Two Weeks Later

Y/N walked to her door after hearing the doorbell ring and opened it to find her neighbour standing with his arm raised ready to knock.

“Hey, Harry,” She greeted easily, but not entirely sure why he was here.

They hadn’t really seen each other since their official meeting in the park. It hadn’t bothered her and it hadn’t really bothered Harry either. It seemed like they both had extremely busy lives that they didn’t plan on throwing out the window because they had said they would meet up at some point. She liked that.

Harry had come over because he finally had a break in his schedule and was hoping to talk about the jacket and anything else really. He was interested in getting to know her and he didn’t care to hide it.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go get a coffee or something?” He asked, leaning himself against her door frame now.

Her eyebrows raise and her eyes widen a little bit, not completely sure she heard him correctly.

“Right now?!” She asked incredulously.

She was wearing an oversized grey sweatshirt and black bike shorts that peaked out from underneath the sweatshirt hem. One of her socks was shoved around her ankle while the other was pulled up flat to touch the base of her calf. She didn’t think she was looking the most presentable at the moment. She had been basking in her day off by simply laying on the couch watching hours of Netflix.

He nods, his smile growing on his face. Her flustered expression only made him happier. She was always so nonchalant with him, he wanted to see her a little more antsy.

“Unless you’re busy,” he adds seriously, not wanting to bother her, just wanting to spend time with her.

“No, no. I’m not...I’m not busy. I just wasn’t expecting any plans where I would be required to go out in public. Let me just...um, come inside and then give me five minutes.”

“Sure,” Harry smiles again as he steps into her home.

Her smile is sheepish and much less genuine then the one Harry holds on his face as he takes in her abode. She tells him to make himself comfortable and then runs to her room to try and possibly fix her state in under five minutes.

She tears around her room, heaving off the frumpy sweatshirt and grabbing a long sleeve striped v-neck top she had hanging out half out of her hamper, a sign known to her that while it was clean enough to wear, if she happened to do laundry she should wash it. Slipping it over her head, she walks to her dresser and leans over to open the bottom drawer and unfolds a pair of dark wash oversized jeans. There’s no holes in them and she throws them on the bed so that she can slip out of her current pants. Next, onto the socks, she swaps out the current ones for a fresh black pair and finds her tortoise print boots to flick on. As she just about runs into her en suite bathroom, she zips the two boots up between steps. A quick comb through her hair, deodorant, two spritz of perfume, her eyelash curler and mascara and she’s running back to where Harry is waiting in her living room.

He blinks surprisedly at her promptness, usually giving people more time then what they say they need. She had indeed gotten ready in five minutes. He thought she looked breathtaking. And she felt like she was at a lack for breath in any case.

“It’s a bit cold out,” he glances to the window.

“Isn’t it always?” She smiles, finally catching her breath.

He chuckles and then nods, a smile appearing on his face as he feels a warmth in his chest at her wit.

“Ready?” He checks in.

She nods, grabbing a coat she kept hung by the door.

“Just the coffee shop down the way?” She inquires as they exit the house and she locks the door behind her.

Harry hums, waiting down a step for her to turn around and walk beside him. It was so strange to her, this felt all too normal with him. Like he was just a friend who had come to pick her up for coffee, her neighbor, nothing more.

“Did you hear the new season of the Crown is coming out soon?” Harry asks as they walk shoulder to shoulder (technically since her shoulder wasn’t in line with his).

“Really?” She looks at him, “I love that show!”

“Me too,” He looks at her and smiles happily.

“That’s amazing,” she breathes mostly to herself, half about the show and half about how Harry watches television and that he watches one of her favorite shows.

There’s silence. The brisk air pricking their cheeks as they walk down their street. Their puffs of breath create a slight mist of white ahead of them and then quickly dissipates.

Her eyes flit up to Harry’s chiseled jaw and face and she watches him as his eyes carefully and meaningfully take in his surroundings. Was it her turn to take a stab at conversation? It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence but she just wasn’t sure what was going on.

“You play football right?” She says finally as they turn onto the next street that would bring them closer to the café they both frequented.

She remembered seeing him there on several occasions. The tips he left were always overly generous, which she assumed you could do when you were exorbitantly rich. He always smiled when he ordered and knew the baristas by name. His order rarely differed and she hated to admit but she knew his two regulars. His actual “regular” was a 12 ounce black coffee, dark roast, no cream and no sugar. The other, his “I’ll actually have”, was a 16 ounce iced green tea, no cream and no sugar.

She couldn’t help that she was observant and that when ‘H’ was called at the bar she looked at what was pushed out, patiently waiting for him to come snatch it up with a smile and nod to the workers before he left. Sometimes he’d even smile at her over the lid of his drink as he exited the establishment. It was warm and inviting and she felt good about the twinkle in his eye that never seemed to waver no matter the day.

Now they were going there together and she’d have to pretend like she’d never noticed what he got as a drink.

He responds to her question with another glance at her and a simple “yes”. His hands shove into his pockets and one side of his pink lips quirk up. He continues, “I’m on a local team with some mates. We’re in a little competition with our league. The final match is coming up this Sunday actually...You should come.”

He says it so casually it almost doesn’t catch her off guard. Harry inviting her to his football game, maybe this was going to be her life now. Going to her neighbours football match. Going to Harry Styles’ football match.

“Sunday…” She sounds out, choosing to look out into the distance instead of at him. “What time?”

“Eight.”

“P.M. right?” She responds quickly, worried since she never wakes up that early and rarely before 10 a.m. on the weekends for that matter.

“Of course,” he chuckles.

They’ve come upon the café and he’s quick to grab the handle to open the door and let her go before him. She can’t stop the blush and smile that spread on her face as she ducks her head into the warm and cozy shop. Men had opened doors for her before and she really thought of herself as a strong woman who didn’t need a man for anything, but something about Harry’s action felt especially, and specifically, chivalrous. Why, she had no idea.

Neither of them stop to look at the menu. They were regulars and they both knew that about each other as well. He gestures for her to go first and she mutters her thanks before turning to the patiently waiting barista. She orders and is about to hand over her card when Harry suavely steps in and says, “Don’t worry about it. I invited you with me, I’ll pay.”

It was both completely unexpected and expected at the same time. Knowing she’d never win this fight, she thanked him again, glanced at the man taking her order and then stepped aside. Harry orders his own drink and then pays for both. Today he leaves double the amount he usually leaves for tip, she assumes since it’s two drinks he was paying for.

“You didn’t have to do that, you know?” She says quietly to him once they’re in a corner of the café waiting for their drinks.

He stands slightly slumped against the wall, closer to her height right now. He only shrugs, his good natured smile not once leaving his face since he entered this place.

“I wanted to,” he said simply right as the drinks were ready since it wasn’t particularly busy on this random Friday afternoon.

They glance outside and see that it’s begun to drizzle while they’ve been inside. She sighs, having hoped to walk around a little after being inside all day.

Instead, they sit at the corner table in the café, across from each other. She moves on from the paying thing, knowing it was simply how this guy probably operated most of his life.

He got a black coffee today, the cold and rain likely contributing to that choice.

As one pop song fades out, slightly under the sound of the coffee machines, she’s about to tell Harry she’s pretty sure she can make his final football match when ‘Cardigan’ fades in. It’s the second time a Taylor Swift song has been playing while she’s been in the presence of Harry and they were conversing. She tries to ignore one of her favorite songs at the moment. Harry doesn’t seem to pay much mind to it. His foot is tapping against his other, but it’s been tapping like that since they sat down.

“I think I could probably make it to your game,” she says finally after a pause and a sip of her own drink.

Harry grins at the response and launches into how great it will be if they win and how happy everyone will be. She smiles along and doesn’t notice the slight head swaying to the song that she’s begun.

“Fan of Taylor?” Harry inquires and Y/N’s face drops, eyes widening cartoonishly.

She stutters, a nervous laugh leaving her mouth before she can actually say something. How does she respond about liking Taylor Swift to a man who counts her as an ex. She’s at a loss.

“Yeah, uh,” she finally starts.

Harry watches her curiously, obviously noticing her discomfort as his question.

“I used to not really consider myself a fan. I don’t really follow her just because I don’t really follow...um...musicians,” she chokes out the last word realizing Harry fits that category. “But, after folklore, I don’t know, this album really spoke to me. I also really like Lover and...uh” she pauses again, sticking on 1989, an album she has argued with her friends about how it’s basically a tell all of the man before her and Taylor’s relationship.

He nods, hoping she’ll continue. He wanted to get to know her and he kind of liked seeing her squirm. “1989?” He finally supplies.

Her blush isn’t able to be covered this time. If her hair didn’t fall in front of her ears she was sure they’d be flushed with blood.

Then she draws out of her own self stress and looks at the smooth man before her and grows calm. He was amazing at winding her up and she didn’t want to seem like some young, impressionable fangirl to him. So, she squared her shoulders and straightened up in her chair.

“Yes, it was pop perfection as one of my college friends liked to say. I’d always listen to it at the gym.” Then she pauses, taking a measured breath, gaining her confidence back. Her eyes meet his, “Is there any songs off it that you particularly enjoy, Mr. Styles.”

He chuckles, mostly because of her emphasis on ‘Style’.

“Shake it off?” He asks.

“Oh fuck off!” She laughs and he joins in with her.

When they catch their breaths from laughing, they simultaneously take sips of their drinks and settle their eyes back on one another. Exes and songs written about oneself weren’t exactly the topics Harry had in mind for the coffee outing he had asked Y/N out on, but talks of exes had never been this funny with anyone else. He was grateful for her playfulness, her demeanor.

“Can I ask you something personal?” She asks quietly and seriously.

“I think we’re past that question, love,” he responds.

“Yeah, I guess,” she pauses and just about whispers, “Pretty much all of them are about you right?”

He shrugs again, his felt coat rustling around his seat. “We never really talked about every single song.”

She leans forward at the ‘we’ Harry is using about himself and Taylor Swift.

“But when I listen to the songs, I hear us in just about every one but a few.”

“Wow,” she breathes and sips her drink. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lived through something that intense and then someone commemorated in a masterpiece.”

“Do you have a favorite on that album?” He asks, moving on from her revelation.

“I love ‘I know places’, it has a cool sound. But I also really love ‘Wonderland’. They both have kind of dark sounds, yet it still is like what you have is so special that the bad bits are worth it. I don’t know, it just seems like a tv show. I don’t think my life could ever be that crazy or dramatic.” She doesn’t notice her use of ‘you’ because she had meant it as a form of analyzing the song theoretically as she had done hundreds of times with her friends,  but this time the ‘you’ is literally the ‘you’ the song is talking about.

“Love can turn anyone’s life chaotic.” Harry muses.

The green eye’s that flashed at Taylor throughout that album look at Y/N from across the table and she feels a flip in her stomach at his tone.

Maybe he notices her mild discomfort, maybe that’s just who he is. But after a beat, Harry’s onto the next topic on his mind. He launches into how he’s just returned from Scotland for a shoot for something so undercover he can’t even divulge to her, much to his dismay. She’s taken aback since she didn’t consider her someone Harry would divulge any of his private matters to, but it seemed like he already considered her a confidant. Just not for that. He wants it to be a surprise.

She smiles and listens attentively. She wonders as he goes on about his interesting yet absurdly lavish life whether he even knows what regular life is like anymore. Or if he’d even enjoy it if he experienced it.

Sure, coffee and football were plenty part of regular life . But the football league was something novel to Harry. He had just gotten to do it and he was thrilled by its normalcy.

She regarded him carefully, unsure what the next step was in this budding friendship. Was it dangerous to get involved with someone’s life which seemed to be filled with whirlwind rigor and constant change.

She liked her chaos, don’t get her wrong. She felt like she often was the odd one out in life. Always thinking differently than the ones around her. She often was the one to suggest spontaneous late night trips around town or exploration of an abandoned building known for spooky stories. She liked inviting friends over for themed parties for no specific occasions and she liked taking film pictures of friends like they were models even though it was only for her and her memories. She thought of herself as silly and fun, but what Harry described as his chaotic fun actually was regimented tight schedules of constant travel and work. Interesting experiences came out of that constant travel and work, but didn’t seem like something she necessarily wanted to get herself wrapped up in.

After coffee, they leave the café and it’s pouring now. Instead of going home, Harry insists on walking her to her place. She relents, realizing, once again, that Harry wasn’t someone who took ‘no’ for an answer. She then invites him in because it’s the polite thing to do. And Harry being Harry accepts.

“Want a dry sweatshirt while you wait?” She asks as she slips off her wet shoes and jacket in the entryway. Harry follows suit, his knit sweater being pelted with rain for the last eight minutes left him feeling cold and shivery.

He nods as he toes off his shoes and ventures back to the living room she had him wait in a few hours ago.

“Here,” She says as she tosses a grey sweatshirt in his direction. She believes it's her one from earlier, an innocuous pullover with ‘London’ in collegiate lettering on the front. He catches it as she rounds the corner to turn up the heater.

Her mistake was being so careless to not look at the sweatshirt before handing it over to her neighbor. Anyone else, maybe they wouldn’t have questioned it. But Harry, how could he not.

“What’s this?”

“A sweatshirt,” she doesn’t spare him a glance on the coach as she fiddles with the thermostat.

“It’s one of my sweatshirts,” Harry says and she can hear the smile on his face.

“That’s impossible, I’ve never borrowed-” Her brows had raised at what he said but now her words fall short.

He didn’t mean one of his personal sweatshirts that she possibly borrowed if they were better friends. No. He meant his merchandise.

“It was a gift,” she sighs as she turns to face him. He’s now wearing the sweatshirt proudly and grinning up at her smugly.

She rolls her eyes when he gives her a knowing smile.

“I didn’t know that it was the one I was handing you. Honest!”

“I thought you didn’t “keep up” with musicians,” Harry says playfully, his fingers making quotes appropriately.

“I don’t.” Her tone is serious as she plops on the couch beside Harry.

“I enjoy your music from time to time. Is that a crime?!” She finally exclaims when she can’t handle Harry’s knowing smirk.

“No it’s not, you could have just told me you were a fan!” She tries to stop him and protest that she wouldn’t consider herself a fan, but he continues, “I still would have wanted to have been friends.You’re one of the liveliest neighbors I’ve got. Everyone else on the street is rather dull.”

She chuckles, remembering finding out quickly that the street wasn’t a lively bunch.  

“I just wouldn’t say I’m a fan,” she presses and sits across from him.

He continues smiling like he knows the truth.

“I don’t think you’ve met an average person in awhile, Harry.” She finally says after they sat in silence for a few minutes because they were both too stubborn to be the first to talk.

“I would hardly call you average if that’s what you’re implying, Y/N.” He nods her way and he shifts on her plush couch, his legs adjusting themselves on their own accord. “And I know plenty of average people,” he adds huffily.

“I normally wouldn’t either, but compared to who you seem to surround yourself, I very much am. And that’s not meant to be a jab at anyone involved.”

His right hand sneaks up to his head to scratch at the base of a particularly perfect curl. His eyes squint a bit as his mind processes her claim.

“What are you trying to say exactly?”

“I’m just curious to see if you’d actually like me in your life. It seems like you want to be friends with me and that’s great, but realistically I don’t know how much I would fit into it.”

Harry scoffs, “That’s literally bullshit, just relax. I’m so chill you won’t even know what to do with me.”

Now it’s her turn to scoff. “Chill?!” She asks incredulously. Harry nods with a seriousness she hadn’t seen before.

“When’s the next time you’re flying off to another country for work?”

Harry pauses, “Um...the day after the final match. I’m beginning to film a movie, so I’ll be there for a month.”

“Busy bee,” she muses and they both chuckle.

There’s something about the somber look Harry is giving her. His eyes twinkled in the coffee shop and with playful winks she was excited to be in his presence. But after she mentions when his next trip is, he seems saddened. There’s skepticism behind his eyes and maybe he doesn’t like being challenged about who he is from other people, especially those who are new in his life.

But that’s who Y/N is, she’s straightforward and doesn’t lie to someone. If Harry was now her friend, she was going to tell it like it is to him. That personality trait she worried wouldn’t make her long for his world.

“So the cardigan? Do you have it here?” Harry changes the subject, clearly not wanting to actually consider a realistic friendship together instead just charging ahead with no hesitation. Whatever happened they would deal with it as it came. Maybe she should just go with the flow, let herself be swept up into his madness. Maybe it would be easier than fighting it.

“No.”

“Oh?”

“I do, I was joking. Where else would it be?” Her tone is light, trying to get back the shine she had seen Harry exhibit before it had vanished.

Maybe that was Harry’s effect on people. He was vibrant and like an Elton John song. You never wanted that shine to go away, never wanted the song to end. Never wanted him to stop shining his light on you. She felt this happening in just a few hours with him. When he was happy so was she and when he wasn’t entirely shining she wanted to do whatever she could to get it back.

A smile curls on his face and his green eyes narrow slightly. He’s trying to figure her out, know what she’s all about.

“Do you want to go and grab it?” His voice sweetening, almost like a tease. Maybe he means to bite his lip, maybe he doesn’t, but the effect on her is nonetheless earthshaking.

She pops up and smiles back, happy to have made him happy. As she walks out of the room to go get the cardigan that had started this all, her head tilts and she furrows her brow wondering why she felt such a sense of pride just for making him happy.

Would this man cause her to finally put someone else’s wishes ahead of hers?

-

“Are you on your way?”

She listens to Harry’s slightly worried voice crackle over the speaker of her phone as she shuts her door with the hand not holding her phone to her ear. His voice is raspy and muffled. She assumes it’s from the cold air of London at night and the scarf he is likely got wrapped around his neck.

“Yes! Jeez, I’m on my way. Walking over right now.”

It’s the final match for Harry’s football team and if they win the game then they get a trophy and it’s all Harry has been talking about since they got coffee and she handed over her cardigan.

Harry huffed an “alright” on the other side of the line and she called a “see you soon” before hanging up.

He was both eager for Y/N to come and possibly meet some of his teammates and a few of his close friends who he had invited and for her to arrive so that she wasn’t walking out late at night alone. He hadn’t known her for long, but he felt a certain protectiveness over her. She was relatively alone here, only two friends at work that she had mentioned and everyone else lived far away. She said she didn’t mind it, but Harry had a hard time understanding it since he surrounded himself with his friends as much as he could and was constantly either traveling or having them travel to see him.

He had even contemplated inviting her to come to Los Angeles with him for a month, but knew she would remind him of her ever important job that she couldn’t just randomly take a month off.

He’d have to ask her what exactly she did because every time he tried to remember, it always slipped his mind.

When her figure came into sight below the fluorescent lights, he breathed a sigh of relief. A grin spread on his face as she beamed at him and waved a bit. He didn’t understand how she couldn’t see how special she was. Every time he saw her he felt himself straighten up and feel a bubbling in his chest. Her smile was infectious and the way her eyes glittered when she looked away quickly and then returned eye contact made him want to stay in her presence forever.

“You made it!” Harry said and scooped her up in his arms, not realizing just how happy he was to see her, swinging her around in a half circle.

She laughs in surprise, but appreciates the warmth Harry’s hug offers her. She’s not quite sure they had ever touched each other before this moment beside shoulder brushes and hand touches. Nothing so...purposeful.

“I made it,” she confirms and pats him on his broad shoulders.

Questions in her mind raced as she questioned whether it was normal for friendships to happen like this. She knew in college friendships could happen this quickly. And that’s when it dawned on her, she really hadn’t made a new friend since college and that was why everything with Harry was so odd to her. She had forgotten what new friendship was. She needed to stop questioning everything and just live in the moment with a person she really liked being with.

Harry’s hands move from her waist and one stays to lead her forward so he can introduce her to some of his mates, as he had promised.

She felt at home in that moment. His hand on the small of her back, his heat radiating off of him and her hair swept behind her ears and her cheek pressed to his shoulder staring up at him sweetly.

She meets Charlotte, a member of Harry’s band who lives in London, her boyfriend, Mitch (who had just happened to find himself in Hampstead this weekend), Ben, and a few more people she couldn’t remember all the names of.

Harry’s team wins the game and Y/N’s not sure if she’s ever seen someone so happy to win an adult league football match. There wasn’t any official trophy except the one Harry had made himself and said he would even give to the other team if they won. It was engraved with the words “The World’s Greatest Football Team of Stars Ever. October 22, 2020”. It doesn’t even make sense but she’d been holding it for the entire night as he played.

He goes down the line of his friends who have been watching and gives them all jubilant kisses on the lips. When he reaches Y/N she holds out the trophy and he grins and gives her a kiss on the cheek. His lips are surprisingly soft and his scratchy stubble tickles her and she swiftly pulls back, a smile on her face and blush on her cheeks nonetheless.

Charlotte and Mitch share a look between the two of them and Ben’s eyes narrow slightly at the interaction. His eyes narrow just as they had when Harry had strutted over to the group with Y/N before the game. He had happily named everyone and she had shaken all of their hands with a warm smile on her lips. Ben had regarded her warily and she had shaken it off as the chill of the night air. But there it was again, not quite trusting of the neighbour girl Harry had just randomly befriended a few days ago.

The team and the friends of the team decide they deserve to celebrate this win, mostly at the request of Harry.

Y/N tries to find a time to leave, to return to her place so she can prepare for her day at work tomorrow. But no excuses will be heard from Harry and she has a hard time saying no to his sparkling eyes and gorgeous grin that she’s growing far too accustomed to.

She’s ushered down to the closest pub with the rest of them and finds herself chatting with Charlotte’s boyfriend. He’s the most...normal. She’s not sure how to explain it, but he doesn’t seem to be regarding her as different, unlike every other one of Harry’s friends. They were all perfectly nice and cordial with her, but she just felt like she wasn’t a part of their group, their world and she didn’t know how to explain it.

Charlotte and Mitch are rather nice too, but they’re more reserved with her. They’re musicians, like Harry, and they somewhat have that air of awareness around them that Harry sometimes gets. She thinks it’s from the fame, having to constantly be wary of who is around you, what everyone is doing, what is happening next. She doesn’t mind it, it’s just not something she’s used to.

She wishes she could just throw back some drinks and she could allow herself to be more...well just be more. More of a presence, more of herself, but she has a job she has to get to bright and early. Tomorrow was Monday and for her that meant work. So she sips a beer that Harry insisted be on his tab and she makes small talk with Charlotte’s boyfriend about how he’s been helping her produce her first EP. Charlotte occasionally pops in when she hears her name, but mostly is conversing with Mitch over something silly. Y/N knows because they keep laughing.  

Harry is going around to just about everyone in the party and she watches as he happily talks with every one of his friends. He’s ecstatic and she wonders if she’s ever experienced happiness like he has.

At midnight she attempts to make a French exit, as her mother always called it, and slip away with little to no farewells, but Harry spots her before she can.

“You’re leaving already?” Harry asks loudly, the euphoria of winning his silly little game and drinking a fair amount of pints has him at his peak boisterity.

“I have work tomorrow,” she says warily, slumping slightly from the weight of Harry’s arm slinging around her shoulder.

He turns serious and straightens up slightly, his green eyes looking especially dark in the pubs dim lighting as they look her dead in the eye. “Let me walk you home.”

“I can get home by myself,” she laughs, shrugging off his hold. “Plus, the host can’t leave his own celebration.” She gestures to everyone else happily celebrating on a Sunday, somehow not bothered by the beginning of the average week.

He steps closer, his brow furrowing for the first time that night. One of his large hands raises to his tousled hair and he runs it through the tresses. He even nibbles at his lower lip as he contemplates his decision. Then quickly and suddenly, he makes up his mind,

“No, I’ll escort you. Can’t have my neighbour walk home this late alone. I’ll just leave my card with Mitch. He’ll settle up the tab.” He smiles at his perfect plan and she grimaces feeling slightly embarrassed that he would leave his friends to walk her home. “Won’t you Mitch?” Harry calls as he grabs his coat from the wall next to the door. Mitch simply nods and Harry yells his farewells, Y/N waves meekly.

“That was...interesting,” she mulls over her words as they walk through the cold night air outside of the pub.

“Amazing, right?” Harry speaks over her less enthusiastic voice.

“You have a lot of friends,” she mused, trying to sound less disheartened than she had in her last statement.

Harry only hums and shivers slightly from the cold. His breath comes clearly out in puffs in the cold night air. Y/N’s is muffled by her scarf wrapped tightly up to her chin. She’s tucked his face as far into it as possible but her nose won’t stop from freezing as they walk.

Her hand goes up to it and she rests her palm to the tip of it. The motion grabs Harry’s attention and he looks directly at her curiously.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m freezing,” she muffles out, “This helps my cold nose not be so..cold.”

He chuckles and wraps his arm around her shoulder and she easily folds into him, welcoming any warmth right now.

After another moment of silence and them enjoying each other’s warmth and slight smell of whatever perfumes they had chosen earlier that night as well as beer and wood of the pub, Harry nuzzles his head above hers and then asks her something.

“Was that overwhelming for you?”

She’s quiet, thankful his eyes can’t reach hers right now. He was too powerful with those things.

“I, um, a little. I just...I just realized today that I haven’t made a new friend since college outside of work and it was overwhelming just hanging out with you. So all of your friends as well, yeah, it was a bit much for me.”

Harry looks out at the empty street ahead of them and sighs in realization. In his excitement, he hadn’t accounted how she might have felt tonight until just now. He wanted to kick himself for not thinking of her feelings, but other’s feelings slipped his mind so easily sometimes.

They round their street corner and she nuzzles back into his side.

“I’m sorry, love.” He rubs at her outer arm, “I didn’t think about it like that. I was just so excited for my plan to come together. Maybe next time, it’ll just be a couple of them rather than so many?”

“Sure,” she says quickly, wanting to make him happy, knowing how much he cared about his friends. “I feel like we need to hang out more with just you before I osmos into your friend group though if I’m being honest.”

“Well that can definitely be arranged,” he says and reluctantly lets go of her body. They’ve arrived at her door.

“I also want to see the inside of your house at some point.” She tugs at one of his hands before it can disappear into his warm coat pocket. “Houses,” she corrects.

“That can also be arranged,” Harry smiles with his lips closed. Pink lips and rosy cheeks extra bright from the cold. He plays with her fingers as the two stand close to one another, happy for the alone time and chalking the proximity up to heat sharing.

“You leave tomorrow right?” She finally asks.

His head falls and he sighs.

“Yeah…”

“It’s just a month,” she smiles, trying to stop Harry from being so dramatic. Especially when there was no logical reason for him to be so upset over not seeing his neighbour - she keeps telling herself.

“Are you sure you can’t quit your job and just fly out with me?” He pleads.

She throws her head back in laughter and shifts closer to him, her front porch light illuminating and shadowing every perfect place on Harry’s gorgeous face.

“Not even a chance.”

“That is a shame,” he takes an experimental step closer and she feels his breath fan across her cheeks at his last word.

She wrinkles his nose at the smell of his last beer, even though coming from him it was endearing.

Just as she feels him being to shift his head closer, she steps forward and gives him a tight hug.

“Goodnight Harry,” she whispers into his ear, “Safe travels.”

Then she’s stepping back and swiftly unlocking her door. She moves it slowly so as to not wake Rori and then Harry’s left alone and dumbfounded on her doorstep.

He definitely preferred being with her alone, but now he didn’t even have that chance until next month. And nonetheless she had just sidestepped his kiss with such ease he’s not even sure if he meant to kiss her. It had felt right, but why? Because it was cold and picture perfect? Or because he was enchanted by her and liked her as more than a new friend?

She slumps in her kitchen and fixes an Emergen-C to stave off the chill of the night and any germs that might have been lurking around the pub. She hopes when she walks to her bedroom she can check the front porch and see that Harry has gone home because she would hate to turn the light off on him.

How could he have expected her to kiss him just then? They’ve only just met each other a few weeks ago? And he’s Harry Styles and she just lives in the neighbourhood. What the actual fuck had happened to her life?

[therealvinelle]

in the “everyone is in love with Bella” scenario, what about the wolves? Wouldn’t it be really fucked up for Sam to fall in love with her? Would it make the wolves try to redefine imprinting? how would Leah react to the whole situation?

Anon is referring to this post. For the record, I didn't get into them in the post because the plot would veer so far off-course in Twilight that Edward never leaves and Victoria never becomes a threat to Bella, meaning Bella and Jake don't get close and she doesn't need their protection.

But, let's do this.

First encounter

Bella arrives in Forks, and Billy and Jacob are there to hand over the pickup.

Boom.

They fall in love.

Jacob, having never had a real crush before nevermind something so powerful as falling in love, is overwhelmed by these new feelings. He blushes and flushes and stutters, and fails to say anything reasonable or even intelligble to Bella. Too mortified to function, he decides to hide in La Push until the embarrassment fades. Which very well could be never.

Billy, meanwhile, is unable to cope. He just fell in love with Charlie's daughter. Charlie's 17-year-old daughter who used to make mud cakes with Billy's daughters.

This is bad.

This, to a good man like Billy, is unforgivably bad.

He goes from being Charlie's best friend to suddenly being very distant, not wanting to ever cross paths with Bella again.

But, you asked about the wolves, not just Jake and Billy, so let's take this scenario further.

Bella's friends, all of whom are hopelessly in love with her, drag her to La Push

Jessica, Lauren, Mike, Angela, Tyler, Eric, Ben, the whole gang, they're all going to La Push for the weekend.

And it just won't be the same without Bella. She's just so great, you know?

Everyone looks at each other and nods. Yeah, it's just not fun without Bella. Bella's great, someone should invite her.

They all invite her, one by one, all of them with wide, adoring eyes. "It would be so amazing if you came, Bella," Jessica says dreamily, twirling a lock of Bella's hair around her fingers. "Your hair is really pretty," she giggles.

Angela and Ben are each blushing too hard to really say anything to Bella, so they end up running away from her. Bella is left feeling like some kind of freak. She later receives two notes in class, one from each, begging her in cramped writing to come to La Push. Yeah, not helping her feel like less of a freak.

Mike, Eric, Tyler, and Lauren all corner her, each worse than the last.

By the end of the schoolday Bella doesn't know what's going to happen at La Push but she does know that she doesn't want to go.

She complains about this to the Cullens (remember, her and Edward became an item much earlier in this timeline), and they all fawn and coo over her and act like she just went through a warzone. If she wants to go to the beach, she could try Isle Esme Bella. Would she like that, an island vacation? Or an island?

Bella is pulled out of school for a romantic two-week totally-not-a-honeymoon.

La Push never happens.

But surely Bella and the wolves must meet at some point

Billy catches wind that Bella Swan is dating Edward Cullen. As in, the girl he has fallen so deeply in love with is now being preyed upon by a blood-sucking demon.

Billy's own sense of propriety or honor be damned, he has to save this girl's life.

He tries to speak to her, just as in canon, but just as in canon this goes poorly. Bella is a savvy 17-year-old who doesn't need no warning, and besides, the Cullens are all so sweet. They're like hobbits, really, obviously she's not in any danger. She tells Billy as much. Vampires are lovely, does he know they gave her an island?

(Billy did not know this, and yes, that's weird. Doesn't mean they're not evil, though.)

Billy gets nowhere with his would-be intervention.

Time to bring in the big guns.

Sam phases around this time, and imprints on Emily. Break-ups with Leah, maulings, and tragic lovestories all around are had.

It is around this time that Billy brings Sam up to speed on the Bella situation, although leaving out the part where he's hopelessly in love with the girl because that would not be received well. Could Sam go speak with her about this, see if maybe she will take his warning seriously? The situation is dire.

Sure, Sam can do that. No one wants a human girl to get eaten or turned, after all.

Sam goes to see Bella.

And promptly falls in love just as he did Emily.

Emily, who is currently in the hospital from Sam mauling her, which happened specifically because Sam had imprinted.

It's official, Sam thinks, he's the greatest scumbag there ever was.

The Emily and Leah situation was awful enough as it was, breaking all three of their hearts and causing irreparable damage both physically and mentally. Sam wronged them both colossaly, and he can never amend that.

But he imprinted. He wasn't just being a douchebag, actual magic made him do it.

Now, though...

Either Sam imprinted on multiple people, in which case his happy ending is now polygamy. And how would that be a happy ending for Emily and Bella?

Or, possibly even more terrifying yet, he didn't imprint on either woman.

Breaking up with Leah, mauling Emily, making Emily fall in love with him after that and ruining her relationship with her cousin, in short putting these women through hell, all of it- it was for nothing. Sam's just a horndog who sees supernatural intervention where there's really just hormones.

Why couldn't he just have imprinted on Leah?

Sam can't go on a sabbatical to figure this out, his tribe needs him. So he takes to living in the woods alone, where he is alone, to try and figure this out.

But it gets more painful yet, because he can't just disappear on Emily.

So, he tells her. He owes her that much. And it's not goodbye forever, either, just- goodbye until he can figure out how to be the man she deserves. A man anybody deserves, really, because right now Sam's not it.

Emily has no idea what to make of any of this, but she knows her heart is broken.

She has to see this woman all of this is about.

Naturally, she falls in love as well.

The plot thickens

The next time Sam drops by, Emily gives him the news. They're both in love with Bella now.

Sam no longer knows what to make of anything.

Is the universe trying to tell them to form a polycule?

Nothing like that has ever happened before, but not much is known about imprinting. There's a first time for everything..?

At this point they're both giving themselves headaches trying to figure this out. It's a mess.

More, Bella hasn't even met either of them. Sam and Emily can't just walk up to her and say "Hi, be our wife".

Or can they?

If Emily fell in love at first sight, maybe it'll work in reverse. Maybe Bella just has to look upon them, and she'll fall in love.

Sam is dubious, but at this point let's just do this. Let's just do this, see what happens.

They walk up to Charlie's to deliver some of Harry's fish fry. Bella opens the door.

"HIIIII" Emily says, trying to act normal.

Sam's not saying anything.

"Hi," Bella says back, nonplussed, and looks at the bag Emily is clutching with white-knuckled fists.

All three of them are silent.

Bella is starting to wonder if there's something with the town water supply. She is also wondering if these people are planning to say anything, or if they just really enjoy knocking on doors and saying hi to people. Is there something Bella should be doing?

Eventually she clears er throat and asks if there's anything she can do for them.

Sam and Emily glance at each other. Bella's not looking starstruck with love, but she's not acting normal either. Who stands in a doorway and stares at people for almost a minute before talking?

It's inconclusive.

Emily hands over the fish fry. "From Harry," she says, and introduces herself.

Bella nods, remembering Charlie's friend who all but ran out of the door when he saw her and hasn't been fishing with Charlie since. None of Charlie's friends have. Charlie is going nuts. Maybe she should try hooking him up with Carlisle, vampires are lovely, they'd get along so well.

Bella, noting Emily and Sam aren't saying anything else, says bye and moves to close the door.

"Wait!" Sam yells, at the same time as Emily rips a piece of paper from her pocket, and sticks it into Bella's hand.

Bella looks down on it. It's two phone numbers.

She looks back up at Sam and Emily, who by now feel quite certain that this girl hasn't fallen in love with them and that this is the most humiliating moment of both their lives.

Just in case, though...

"Call us," Emily says flirtatiously, winks, and runs away.

Sam follows.

Bella never calls them back, and they never speak of this again.

A few months later, Leah who’d been shopping in Forks happily tells Sam and Emily that she's fallen in love with a girl, she lives in Forks, she's amazing, her name is Bella Swan.

"I took one look at her, and I knew," Leah says dreamily.

[eri-baby]

chongyun crushing on a shy/dense noble fem!reader

a/n: this idea has been on my mind for a long time now, and i'm finally posting it! chongyun is probably very ooc, but listening to his character's voice-over's gave me the idea that he's just an earnest guy and i found that adorable.

i picture that chongyun first saw [ ] at a banquet where all the wealthy and influential were invited. she was quiet, reserved, rarely speaking to anyone. it was hard not to notice her when gossip about her was circulating all around the room. they called her a mist flower because she's "a cold person" and yet they appreciated her beauty. [ ] is expected to become one of the leaders of liyue in the future, maybe even one of the qixing, because of her family's influence and her being a well-educated young woman. chongyun ignored the rumors about her and respected her resolve to make liyue a better place.

from that day onward, chongyun wanted to know more about [ ]. they were similar, after all. chongyun and [ ] were both cold in the eyes of the public. he thought he would be able to get along well with her. he had nothing but respect for her.

whenever he had a comission, he asked clients or locals within the area about the noble [ ]. he discovered that [ ] often travels around liyue to personally watch over the state of each area. if anything were ever amiss, [ ] herself is the one who creates solutions and funds them. she shut down businesses that were swindeling people, found new jobs for the innocent workers involved, and earned back money for the victims. he found more admiration for her.

xingqui turns out to be somewhat childhood friends with [ ]. they spend time together every now and then. xingqui described her as a well-meaning girl who can never get her point across because of how awkward she is. she focuses more on the problem at hand and solving it rather than interacting with others which makes her come across as prickly.

chongyun was excited when he heard that [ ] had spoken about him. she asked xingqui about the young exorcist, and commented that exorcists like chongyun help maintain liyue's glory. it took him two months to stop centering all conversations around [ ]'s passing comment.

he has attempted to speak with her, even frequenting areas she was said to be seen in often, but the most he would get were glimpses of her before she scurried off or was escorted away by one of her chaperones. it disappointed him greatly that he never had the oppertunity to speak to her since he was so invested in her and her work.

i think he would barely realize his own feelings for a total stranger. xingqui and xiangling are sick of hearing about [ ]. they're scared of the day [ ] actually talks to chongyun. she's the only other thing on his mind other than training and exorcism.

he was disappointed and ready to give up on ever talking to [ ] after months of trying, until he was assigned to a comission in her estate. apparently weird things have been happening in her room. items have been misplaced, at night there were whispers coming from the closet, banging noises were coming from the walls. it caused her family great distress.

chongyun was, needless to say, stressed about making an appearance in [ ]'s household. how should he introduce himself? how should he speak to her? will he be able to speak to her? what should he bring? he bothered both xingqui and xiangling as he asked all these questions over and over again. xingqui was so annoyed that he finally relented, telling chongyun that lady [ ] is fond of the glaze lily flower. chongyun was gone before any of them could say another word.

the local florist in liyue harbor had not even a single glaze lily in stock. chongyun had to go all the way to a faraway town where a different florist was. he was lucky it was a colder day. with a boquet of glaze lillies in hand, he was ready to travel back to lady [ ]'s estate. on the way back, he passed by a little girl who was in tears. the little girl had dirt stains on her clothes but no injuries. she begged him to save a girl who had gotten trapped in a cave. the little girl was looking for her doll and she asked the girl, who's physical description matched [ ]'s, to enter the cave with her. the girl relented but inside they were attacked by a ruin hunter. the girl managed to get the young child out of the cave before rubble fell over the other entrance. it had been a long time but the girl still hasn't turned up.

chongyun immediatly dropped the glaze lillies in his hand and rushed to the direction the little girl pointed in. the cave had two openings, one of which had been blocked by rubble. chongyun went through the second one. he found at the other end lady [ ] fighting off a ruin hunter with her bow. chongyun finished it off for her.

he immediatly dropped down beside her and asked her if she was okay politely. she had no idea what to say, in fact she wasn't even expecting any help, and nodded quietly. he noticed that her ankle was swolen so he used his cryo vision to ease her pain. he quickly helped her up, even carrying her despite his fear of triggering his congenital positivity. he was lucky that the weather was cold and so was the cave, and that [ ]'s body temperature was also cold because of her vision.

"I am Chongyun, from an exorcist family. I was heading to your home, Lady [ ], to deal with the evil spirit in your room, until the little girl you had rescued stopped me and asked me to help you."

"I... see. We'll have to double your payment for saving me, Exorcist Chongyun."

"Oh, no! My services are free of charge!"

she became quiet and smiled to herself. he could hear her quiet giggles, making his cheeks heat up slightly. he worried about his congenital positivity.

both of them were somewhat awkward and dense. the truth was that they were both panicking. chongyun had no idea what to say and neither did [ ].

chongyun was the first to speak after a few minutes of awkward silence

"I'm sorry I don't know what to say to you."

"I have no idea what to say as well."

they both laughed together about being dense in social situations. from then on, conversation flowed somehow a little easier because they found that they had something in common. the more they spoke to each other, the more similarities they found.

it turns out that her reputation of being a cold person was a result of her being misunderstood. [ ] doesn't know how to say things other than straightforwardly, and when she panics she has a tendency to freeze up making her tense in conversations.

chongyun as well had a one-track mind. everything he did was to become a better exorcist, which made him terrible at conversations especially outside of the exorcism business.

she spoke about the responsibilities of supporting the nation of liyue and her dream of traveling every inch of their lands and waters because she wanted to be one of the pillars of liyue in the future. it was her dream to become a qixing, like ningguang, to support liyue's growth.

he shared his dream of becoming the greatest exorcist. he wanted to find an evil spirit or demon that wouldn't avoid his congenital positivity, and to be able to control his congenital positivity. his dream was to rid the world of all evil spirits as the greatest exorcist in all of history.

they each shared the hardships of reaching their dreams and their desires to reach their goals. it was everything and more than he imagined talking to her. he had always wanted this oppertunity to speak to someone similar to him.

they reached the outside of the cave only to be met with servants from [ ]'s estate. she was taken away from him and rushed back to her home while he was thanked for saving her. apparently there was no evil spirit in their estate, at least not a real spirit. they were abyss mages planning something terrible again and [ ] was the victim. her family sent servants to pick her up from this town, only for them to hear from the little girl about what had happened. chongyun was greatly compensated for his help. he didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to [ ].

weeks had passed without chongyun seeing nor speaking to [ ]. he sent her a "get well soon" present but received no response. each passing day made him more and more depressed, which xingqui was not used to. xingqui told him that [ ]'s family was probably trying to keep her away from the public and were being overprotective but it didn't make anything better.

aether came in with paimon and a package in hand. he had somewhat a smug smile on his face, having some awareness of chongyun's crush on [ ]. he said that he had been comissioned by lady [ ] to deliver the package to chongyun directly. without allowing aether to finish his sentence, chongyun took the package from the blond's hands and carefully opened it.

inside it he found a letter and a jade insignia. the jade had an intricate glaze lily symbol carved on it with other symbols chongyun could not recognize. he brought out the letter and read it.

Exorcist Chongyun,

I apologize for not sending you a thank you note earlier nor seeing you at all these past few weeks. I haven't found a perfect oppertunity to escape from my family until now. My leg is fully healed, and I can even run. Please be assured that your present and the glaze lillies you had intended to give me have reached me. The little girl I was helping gave them to me and said they were from you. Thank you for such thoughtful presents.

I am aware that you don't accept payments, so instead I have sent you this as a gift. It's an insignia that identifies colleagues of mine and allows them to enter into one of my private and personal cottage. Rest assured, there will be plenty of cold sweets for you waiting there and the cottage itself is kept cold.

Please see me at Guyun Stone Forest. The insignia will lead you to me.

From [ ].

he barely finished that letter and he was already out. as the letter stated, the insignia did lead him to the secret cottage. on one of the mountains, there was a contraption made of stone that he would place the insignia in and then a stairway would appear. it led him up to a snowy floating island with a cozy cottage.

[ ] was sitting on a swing supported by a tree and waved to catch his attention.

"Greetings, Exorcist Chongyun."

"Hey, Lady [ ]."

[pickalilywrites]

it’s my first fic since i started my job ❤ i hope you enjoy ^^

..........

You and Me at the End of the World 

Falbi. SF8 AU. 

11194 words. 

Read on Ao3!

»»————- April 3, 2026 ————-««

Falco wakes, a sigh escaping his lips. He feels an incredible weariness in his bones as if he had run a marathon yesterday even though he hasn’t really had PE in a month. He hasn’t had PE since his teacher had run off just like everyone else did when they heard that an asteroid was hurtling towards the earth and set to destroy life as everyone knew it. Everyone Falco knew just up and left their jobs and homes to pursue their dreams: his classmates dropped out of school to become idols or viral TikTokers, the mailman stopped delivering mail to Falco’s house and decided to fly to every place in the world he had always wanted to visit, and even the principal of Falco’s school had resigned but not before advising all of the students to drop out of school because it was useless now that they were all about to die. 

Many people had taken the principal’s advice, but not Falco. He still goes to school on the weekdays and spends the weekend completing homework assignments that will never be graded. A few students had visited the school even after the principal had closed the school down, but they had stopped coming after they saw how many of their peers had dropped out and saw how even the teachers didn’t bother coming back. 

It doesn’t bother Falco that he goes to school every morning and studies in an empty classroom all day or that he has to fish out study plans from the notebooks his teachers left behind just to give himself something to do. His parents have asked him why he bothers going to school when all of his classmates have pretty much given up, but Falco really doesn’t have an answer. If he had to say anything, it’s probably that he doesn’t have anything in particular that he wants to do. 

Falco acknowledges that he’s never been incredibly ambitious like some of his classmates have been. His talents are unspectacular. He knows that he’s neither athletic nor smart. He’s always been average. He never studied too hard because he knew he’d never get the highest score in the class and he never exerted himself too much in PE because there was always someone stronger or faster than him. It isn’t something that ever bothered him, and he’s grown to accept that part of himself. 

He doesn’t have any special interests either. Sure, Falco enjoys playing video games and playing sports like any kid his age, but he can’t see himself wasting the rest of his days on them. Some of his classmates even asked him to join them. Falco has had multiple offers: join a band as a bassist even though he’s never touched a bass guitar in his life, become a part of a dance crew despite his coordination being awful at best, start a video channel pulling off different stunts and tricks to gain a little bit of spotlight before they all died, among others. He declined all of them in the end, preferring to be alone, and even now Falco doesn’t regret his decision. He’s content being a normal kid living out the rest of his tedious life as monotonously as he always did.

His parents live quite normally too except for the fact that they quit their jobs like everybody else did when news of the asteroid came out. Rather than return to their jobs every morning, his parents go out on long walks together, often visiting places from their younger days. They usually leave long before Falco wakes, but his mother is always sure to leave out a freshly made breakfast for Falco and his older brother Colt. 

Colt hasn’t made any drastic changes to his lifestyle, not like some other people his age. He, too, dropped out of school like many of his peers and Falco’s classmates, but he usually spends his time visiting internet cafés or playing baseball with his friends. The elder brother once curiously asked Falco why he bothered going to school and the younger just simply shrugged. Colt never bothered to ask again, and Falco was fine with that. 

Falco rolls out of bed and heads to the bathroom to brush his teeth as he normally does. His hair looks like a mess. Since news of the upcoming apocalypse, people either care excessively about their appearance or they don’t care about it at all. Considering his circumstances, Falco should probably fall in the latter category, but he fixes his bed head all the same, patting down the cowlicks and running a comb through his hair to get rid of all the tangles. 

After washing his face and getting dressed in his school uniform, Falco wanders into the kitchen where his breakfast is waiting for him. On the stove sits a pan with fluffy scrambled eggs mixed with little bits of crispy, dark spinach leaves, and sweet gruyère. Falco twists the knob on the stove with a sharp click before popping bread into the toaster. As he waits for the eggs to warm up, he fixes himself a glass of orange juice. 

Falco ends up splitting the eggs in half, leaving a portion for Colt whenever he decides to roll out of bed. He sits at the kitchen island by himself, munching on some generously buttered toast in between bites of egg. It’s a much fancier breakfast than his mother used to make. Scrambled eggs were usually plain except for a dash of salt and pepper, but his mother has become more experimental with her cooking now that the end of the world is evident. It’s a good change, Falco thinks as the blend of savory bacon and salted eggs melt onto his tongue. It probably would have been nice if his mother had decided to be more adventurous with her cooking beforehand, but it’s not as if having regrets about this can change the past so Falco just eats the rest of his breakfast before dumping his plate in the sink and calling out to his brother that he’ll be heading to school. He doesn’t even wait for a response from Colt before heading out the door. 

Ever since news of the asteroid, Falco has begun seeing very interesting people on his way to school. Some of them are familiar to him. Others he’s never seen before in his life. They’re not all strange, of course. Sometimes there are just kids running up and down the road kicking a soccer ball or couples holding hands as they take a morning stroll. But there are more than a few eccentrics on Falco’s way to school. 

Lately, there have been people claiming to be superheroes. They have superpowers, they insist. Some will rush up to strangers on the street and show off their powers, but Falco has never seen any proof of their alleged superhuman talents. 

Some people post videos online demonstrating their special gifts. Falco has seen a handful of them, mostly because his friend Zofia keeps sending them to him every few days when she finds them particularly funny. He finds them mildly intriguing, although he’s fairly certain that most (if not all) of the videos are either staged or edited to look real. He’s never been fully convinced by any of them. 

On this particular walk to school, Falco passes by a person who claims to be able to create seismic shifts and another person who she can talk to animals. Neither person is particularly believable. Falco only gives a passing glance when the first person begins to demonstrate their powers by spinning in a circle and letting out a low groan that begins to grow into a loud shriek. The earth, Falco notices, does not shake. He’s even less interested when the animal girl starts shouting post-apocalyptic prophecies about how giant bugs will inherit the earth once the dust has settled on the earth after the asteroid impact. 

Falco reaches the school gate and pulls it open himself because there isn’t a teacher there to welcome him like there used to be. He leaves it open to save trouble for anyone who ends up coming after him, although he highly doubts anyone will be joining him. He walks across the courtyard where some of his former schoolmates play soccer, looking at them briefly but not bothering to bid them good morning. When he gets to the building, he pulls open the door and steps inside. The sound of his shoes against the speckled tile echo across the empty hallways as he makes his way to his classroom. 

As usual, it’s empty. Falco could probably sit anywhere he wants, but he ends up at his old desk, the second seat in the third row from the right. He sits down with a thud and lets his backpack fall off his shoulder. He pulls out his notebook and looks at today’s lesson that he copied from his homeroom teacher’s planner earlier last month: geometry, English, social studies, art, and science. 

Falco dutifully completes his assignments for the day. He even double-checks his answers once he’s done. Maybe he’ll look over the answer key after school if he feels like it. He spends his break staring at the window at the kids playing ball in the field or playing pranks on each other in the quad. He doesn’t make any attempt to join them. 

At 2:15, Falco packs his things. He puts away his pens and pencils neatly in his case, zips up his backpack, and slings his bag over his shoulder. As he walks to the door of the classroom, he thinks he imagines footsteps running down the hall. It makes him wonder if the impending apocalypse is making him go mad because he can’t imagine why anyone would be here when the world is going to end in a week. When he pulls open the door, he sees his friend Zofia about to reach for the door. 

“Oh, good,” Zofia pants. She bends over, hands on her knees as she tries to catch her breath. Ashy blonde locks are falling out of her ponytail. “I was afraid I missed you. You weren’t replying to any of my texts.” 

“We’re not allowed to use our phones in school,” Falco says as he looks down at her. 

Zofia looks up, an expression of mild disbelief on her face. “Geez, I can’t believe you’re still doing this.” She straightens up and sighs. “Our teachers probably appreciated what a goody-two-shoes you were back when they actually cared about their jobs, but I assure you that they don’t care at all now that the world is about to end.” 

Falco rolls his eyes and walks past Zofia. He can hear her following him from the extra footsteps that accompany his. “What do you need? I thought you were busy trying to pet ‘every dog in the world’ or whatever before the asteroid strikes.” 

Zofia’s arm links with Falco’s and she flashes a cheesy smile at him. “I realized it was impossible so I settled for petting ‘as many dogs as possible.’ I’m pretty satisfied with my work, so I’ve decided on pursuing something else.” She doesn’t immediately follow up with what it is she’s working on, and Falco knows she’s absolutely itching for him to ask. 

“... What is it?” Falco asks. 

“I’m glad you asked!” Zofia says, tugging him closer to her. She pulls her phone out of her pocket and flips through it for a bit before finding what she wants to show Falco. On her screen is a long post on one of the message boards their classmates post on. “There’s this girl. She’s totally crazy.” 

A glance at the phone screen confirms Zofia’s words. It’s a post that looks like it’s been circulating through message boards of different middle schools in their area. The original poster is someone named Gabi Braun, aged 14, and she attends Liberio Middle School across the city. Her post is a call for all people with superpowers to contact her so that they can save the world together. 

Falco looks at Zofia and wrinkles his nose. “And you’re showing me this because …?” 

“Because she’s absolutely crazy, but she’s interesting,” Zofia replies as she pockets her phone. She smiles at Falco. “Let’s go visit her.” 

“What? No!” Falco says. He yanks his arm away from Zofia. “You said she was nuts! Why would we look for her?” 

“Because the world is ending in a few days, so we might as well do something stupid,” Zofia replies. She links her arm around Falco’s again and pouts, batting her eyelashes up at him. “Come on, aren’t you the least bit curious? There’s a girl our age who thinks she can save the world if she gathers enough nutjobs who think they have superpowers.” 

Falco isn’t curious at all. “I have homework,” he says to Zofia, which he knows is the wrong answer. Although Zofia hasn’t tried to convince Falco to stop going to school like the rest of their peers, she has been pretty vocal about how stupid she thinks Falco is for living the end of his life so mundanely. 

“You also have a friend,” Zofia says. She begins to tug at him after every other word, trying to get him to follow her. “A friend you care about deeply and don’t want to see hurt if she ends up walking into some creep’s trap.” 

“Then why are you going at all if you know it might be dangerous?” Falco mutters, but he knows Zofia’s right. His normal school life consists of him going straight home after classes and doing his homework, but it occasionally includes him reluctantly following Zofia sometimes to make sure she doesn’t get into too much trouble. He’s not too surprised when he ends up walking with Zofia to the meeting place the poster mentioned in their message. 

Normally, Falco and Zofia would have taken the bus into the city, but it’s difficult to flag down a bus. The schedules are erratic at best and oftentimes buses don’t show up on schedule at all. It is the end of the world, after all. 

It’s a curious thing, seeing the city at the end of the world. It’s a little bit like how the movies portray it, but not at all like the movies at the same time. Cars fill the street while drivers honk their horns and shout at each other to hurry up because they don’t want to spend their last days on earth stuck in traffic. The doors and windows of so many shops and buildings are smashed in and their contents gone. If people aren’t running around and screaming at each other on the street, they’re walking around like it’s a normal day save for the fact that they’re all looking for the next thing they want to do before they die. 

“I’d suggest going to the mall downtown or something later, but it’s probably ransacked like everywhere else,” Zofia says with a wistful sigh. 

“We could have just gone to the arcade in our town,” Falco mutters. The internet café and the arcade in their town is a mess because none of the gamers there bother to clean up their trash anymore, but at least there are still computers there and nobody has hauled off the arcade machines. 

The two wander about the city and linger near the subway station entrance the message board poster had mentioned. There are people going up and down the stairs to the subways and some kids skating around and doing tricks on their skateboards. Adults pass by hurriedly with their phone stuck to one ear, rushing to make plans with someone on the other end because they have limited time left. It feels like Zofia and Falco are just standing frozen in time while the world rushes around them. 

“Who do you think it is?” Zofia whispers in Falco’s ear. 

Falco scans the scene, his eyes quickly flitting over anyone that didn’t look like a middle schooler. He doesn’t think it would be any of the skateboarders, so he glances over them too. Whoever this Gabi Braun is, she doesn’t have any interest in anything aside from saving the world with her impossible idea. She must be looking for people just like he and Zofia are looking for her. 

Finally, his eyes land on a girl their age with a stern expression on her face. Her dark eyebrows are knitted together and she turns her head from side to side every few seconds as she scans the subway station, her brown hair whipping from side to side. She leans against the railing near the subway entrance, her arms folded across her chest. Somehow, she looks familiar, but Falco doesn’t know why. 

“Her,” Falco says. He raises his hand and points to her only to realize it’s rude and quickly lets his hand fall to his side. He’s about to jerk his head over in the girl’s direction, but Zofia has already seen who he was pointing to and starts dragging him over. 

“Excuse me,” Zofia says, catching the girl’s attention. The girl’s gaze is intense, her brown eyes scrutinizing the two of them, but Zofia doesn’t shrink away from the girl like Falco does. Instead, Zofia holds out a hand cordially and gives the girl a friendly smile. “You’re Gabi Braun, right? I’m Zofia, and this is my friend Falco. We saw your message reposted on our school forum and wanted to help you.” 

The girl looks at them suspiciously but takes Zofia’s hand, shaking it reluctantly. “You really want to help?” Her eyes flit towards Falco, who looks down immediately. “Why do you want to help me?” 

“Hmm,” Zofia hums and tilts her head to the side. “Because the end of the world isn’t something I’m particularly looking forward to.” She looks over at Falco and, with a grin, elbows him playfully in the ribs. “And this guy doesn’t have anything better to do, so I had him come along.” 

“What were you doing before?” Gabi asks curiously.

Falco purses his lips. It’s not that he’s ashamed about how he’s spending his last days. Living plainly is a far better choice than some people have made. Apparently, some people decided that murder was something they needed to check off their bucket list. If you ask Falco, he thinks being a normal student is far better than being a last-minute murderer. Still, it’s not something he wants to say out loud to a stranger. 

He kicks at the sidewalk and mumbles, “Just … homework and stuff.” 

To his surprise, Gabi doesn’t ridicule him or ask why. She simply nods as if this is a perfectly normal way for someone to spend their last days. She doesn’t ask them any more questions, somehow satisfied with Falco’s answer. She’s already digging around in her back for something and pulls a laptop out of her bag. 

“I’m still waiting for people to show up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if nobody ends up showing,” Gabi says, gesturing for the two of them to sit beside her. Her tone doesn’t sound disappointed at all. In fact, she sounds rather like she expected this to happen. 

Zofia sits on one side of Gabi, peering curiously over the brunette’s shoulder as she types away. Falco wants to sit beside Zofia. It would be more comfortable than sitting next to a stranger, but he would have difficulty seeing the screen. Reluctantly, he takes a seat next to Gabi. 

“I’ve been looking at videos,” Gabi tells them. “People have been submitting them after seeing my message on the school forums.” 

“Is there anyone particularly interesting to you?” Zofia asks. 

“Not really,” Gabi says. She opens up a folder on her screen and a video file pops up. She presses Play. “Technology lets you edit anything into videos now. Some of these powers look super fake, but I still have to take a chance in case they do have powers and are interested in saving the world, right?” 

The three watch the video play out. There’s a man on the screen claiming to have pyrokinesis. He’s wide-eyed and staring at the camera, holding out his hands with his palms to the ceiling. His explanation of his powers is similar to everyone else who has posted these kinds of videos on social media: he was just born with them and never bothered to reveal them until now for fear of being ostracized. 

The flame doesn’t ignite right away. It’s a flicker — a spark, really —  that grows into the smallest flame. The fire is hardly the size of the man’s fingertip, but he looks delighted just the same. The three children watching are not as thrilled. 

“You really think this guy can save the world?” Zofia asks, raising her eyebrow. 

“I don’t think this guy can save anyone,” Gabi replies. She’s so brutally honest that it would be funny if they weren’t discussing the fate of the world. “But I’m taking whatever help I can get at this point.” 

They spend the rest of that afternoon looking through applications. Most of them are just internet trolls and Gabi has to roll her eyes more than once before closing out the applicant’s video. There are a few promising candidates Gabi moves to a separate folder but only when Falco and Zofia also agree that the person might be worth looking into. They go through written applications too, often filtering out any CVs that aren’t descriptive enough and sometimes those that are too descriptive and more fitted to some sci-fi character description than an actual person. Gabi calls a few numbers from the short list of people that the three all agreed on, but nobody ever picks up. Nobody shows up either. Still, Gabi doesn’t seem to be discouraged. 

“Why are you doing this?” Falco asks at one point while they’re watching a video of a man who claims he can read people’s thoughts. 

“Hm?” Gabi says, looking away from the video. 

“Just … this whole thing,” Falco says and vaguely waves at the screen. “You know it too. This might not work, so why even bother trying to save the world?”

Gabi frowns and her eyebrows knit together like she doesn’t quite understand Falco’s question. “Well, what else would I be doing?” 

Falco doesn’t respond because, well, he doesn’t have an answer. It’s not like he knows what to do with the rest of his life either. If Zofia hadn’t convinced him to come here, he’d just be at home with his head stuck in a textbook. Even if it’s useless, whatever Gabi is doing is far more interesting. 

»»————- April 4, 2026 ��———-««

Falco’s parents drop him off at the edge of the city. His mother had wanted to drop him off closer to his destination point, but Falco assured her that it wasn’t necessary. Besides, there were a lot of weirdos in the city, he reasoned, especially now that the apocalypse was coming. She reluctantly allowed him to be dropped off at the edge of the city, but not before giving him a can of pepper spray and a baseball bat in case he ran into anybody cruel enough to mug a middle schooler. 

He doesn’t have any trouble meeting Gabi at the library they agreed to meet at. Zofia isn’t there with him after deciding this morning that saving the world wasn’t what she wanted to spend her last moments doing. She did, however, request that Falco send Gabi her best wishes, which Falco promised to pass along. 

The two of them sit on the tenth floor of the library at a table by the window. The library isn’t exactly empty, but it’s not exactly filled up either. There are a few other visitors in the library with them. Some are seated at tables or couches, but others choose to sit between bookshelves, folding up their legs so that people can walk around if they need to get through. Hardly anyone pays attention to Falco and Gabi. They’re too busy flipping furiously through their books, eyes scanning the pages in seconds, as they try to finish their reading list before the world ends. 

While Gabi watches more videos of superpowered applicants while Falco gathers books on powers that interest them: pyrokinesis, psychokinesis, time travel, to name a few. As he gathers research articles, he also stumbles across the section of the library dedicated to outer space and celestial bodies and decides to grab a few books on asteroids and meteors as well. There’s a slim chance that they might help, but Falco might as well try. 

Gabi doesn’t talk much to Falco, too engrossed in her research to hold a conversation with him. He doesn’t talk much to her either. He does, on occasion, glance up at her to observe her progress, but she always seems to be staring at the screen with the same dissatisfied frown on her face. Every once in a while Gabi will lean over and ask Falco about whether or not a certain candidate looks promising, but his answer is almost always no and she goes back to staring at her screen. 

At noon, the two take their lunch break. Gabi hadn’t brought anything. She tells Falco she was planning on just grabbing something from the snack machine near the elevators. The library remains one of the few places that was relatively untouched by thieves and vandals because not many people think “let’s rob the library” when they hear that the world is ending. Because Falco’s mother has a tendency to overpack his lunches, Falco decides to split his meal with Gabi. He figures that a sandwich is far better than whatever half-filled bag of chips Gabi would end up grabbing from the vending machine. 

Falco munches on his katsu sandwich. It’s a favorite of his: two slices of pillowy milk bread with a thick cut of juicy pork cutlet covered in crispy bread crumbs wedged in between. A little butter and mustard give the sandwich a little bitterness that makes the tip of his tongue tingle and savory tonkatsu sauce drizzled over the thinly sliced cabbage underneath the katsu complete the simple but scrumptious sandwich. 

He looks over to see if Gabi is enjoying her food as much as he is, but she’s scarfing it down so quickly that he isn’t sure she’s even taking the time to taste it. In between bites, she’s scrolling through her laptop with greasy fingers, frowning. A glance at the notebook beside her tells Falco that Gabi hasn’t found many promising candidates. 

“Do you really think this is going to work?” Falco asks. He’s halfway done with his lunch but Gabi is a bite away from finishing hers.

Gabi shrugs. She doesn’t look up as she answers. “I don’t know. It’s worth a shot, right?” She scrolls a bit more before she pauses, her fingers hovering above the touchpad. Her eyes flicker over to Falco so suddenly that he nearly drops his sandwich. Gabi narrows her eyes at him suspiciously, her attention entirely on the boy. Her gaze is intense and she scoots to the edge of her seat, leaning in towards Falco. “You’re awfully skeptical about this plan for someone who’s trying to save the world.” 

Falco gulps, trying not to shy away from her intense gaze. If he were a turtle, he’d be curled back in his shell right now. “I just want to make sure we’re not wasting our time,” he mumbles. 

“Falco, do you not believe that people can have superpowers?” Gabi asks.

Falco is about to shake his head and say that that’s not the case but before he can Gabi settles back into her seat, arms folded across her chest, and announces, “I have a superpower.” She says it quite loudly, loudly enough for her voice to be heard across the entire floor, but people are too preoccupied with their reading to pay much attention to her although a few readers do shoot her a dirty look for being so loud. 

Falco is not quite sure what he expected Gabi to say, but it wasn’t that. He sits there awkwardly, sandwich still half-finished in his hands. After a moment, he asks, “Er, what is it?” 

Gabi pops the last bit of her sandwich in her mouth and wipes her fingers on her jeans. After she chews and swallows, she leans towards Falco once more and gives him an impish grin. “I can read people’s minds. Telepathy,” she tells him. She doesn’t wait for him to ask for a demonstration. 

Gabi puts one hand on Falco’s chest and stares deeply into his eyes. Falco’s heart is beating wildly in his chest. If by some miracle Gabi doesn’t hear it, Falco’s certain that she’ll be able to feel it underneath her fingertips. She doesn’t say anything about it, though, just continues to stare at him with those intense brown eyes of hers as she reads every single thought racing through his mind right now, like how he’s never been quite this close to anyone, how he’s never had his heart beat quite this fast, or how he thinks he might just die right here right now before the asteroid even hits. 

Suddenly, Gabi’s face breaks into a smile and she pulls her hand away, Falco’s chest feeling achingly empty now. Gabi is laughing now, but Falco doesn’t have any idea why. 

“God, I didn’t think you’d believe me,” she laughs. She’s laughing so hard that it’s difficult to make out what she’s saying. “I didn’t think you’d believe me, but you really did. You’re really gullible, aren’t you?” 

Falco blinks, confused for a minute as he tries to process what just happened. “You … can’t read minds?” he says a beat too late. 

“No, god, but you thought I did,” Gabi laughs. 

“Then what’s your power?” 

Gabi’s still giggling as she answers. “Something else. It’s not important. I’ll tell you if it ends up being useful.” 

She’s laughing. She’s still laughing. It’s a laugh that comes from her stomach and has her clutching her sides. People are glaring because it’s disrupting the peace, and Falco feels like he should tell her to stop but he finds that he doesn’t want to. He doesn’t even mind that she’s laughing at him. He just likes the sound of it. 

»»————- April 5, 2026 ————-««

They sit with a pack of chocolate-covered biscuits shaped like little bamboo shoots between them. While Falco eats them one at a time, usually popping one in his mouth after he’s read a few pages of whatever book he’s reading, Gabi shovels them into her mouth by the handful without even looking. They’ve gone through their fifth pack of the little chocolate biscuits and it’s not even noon yet. 

“Do you think you can do it?” Falco asks at some point. 

“Save the world?” Gabi asks. She sucks her thumb, trying to get the chocolate off. Falco nods and Gabi says, “Well, who else if not me?” 

“Literally anyone else,” Falco replies because, well, they’re only kids. 

“Right, and just die young, dumb, and stupid like every other kid our age,” Gabi says with a roll of her eyes. “No thanks. I’d rather have died trying to do something. Besides, it’s not as if the adults are having that much luck either.” 

Gabi slides her laptop over so that Falco can see the screen. On it, a video plays of a rocket shooting into space. The caption on the bottom reads “NASA Space Missile Failure.” Falco vaguely recalls hearing about the missile launch earlier this morning. The scientists were excited about it, hoping that the missile would collide with the oncoming asteroid and shatter it into smaller pieces that would burn up in the atmosphere, but it seems like they had been excited for nothing. Apparently, they had miscalculated the trajectory of the missile and it would miss the asteroid completely. 

“That sucks,” Falco says finally. He’s not exactly sure how he feels about the news. He should probably feel disappointed, but he feels the same way he did a month ago when he heard the world was ending: perfectly indifferent. 

Gabi shrugs. “Armin said it wouldn’t work. He said their calculations were off,” she says. She glances at Falco and adds, “Armin’s a genius. He’s my mentor’s husband.” 

“A genius? Is that his superpower?” Falco asks. If Gabi knows someone who’s a literal genius, he doesn’t see why they’re doing all this work. Shouldn’t this genius, whoever he is, have all the answers? 

Gabi thinks for a minute, her lips pressed into a thin line. “I’m not sure. My mentor just says Armin’s a genius, but he’s way too humble to admit it,” Gabi finally answers. She frowns, leaning forward with her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand. “He can’t help us though. He’s busy tending to his fish.” 

Falco isn’t certain he’s heard her right. “His fish?” he repeats. 

“Yeah. He’s a marine biologist. He likes to have some fish at home,” Gabi explains like it’s the most normal thing in the world to take care of your fish when the world is about to end. “He says it calms him down to see them swim around.” 

Falco is still trying to wrap his head around all of this — Gabi and her willingness to save the world, the genius she just spoke of who just wants to take care of his fish, and the asteroid hurtling towards the earth. He doesn’t understand any of it. “So it’s okay for you, a kid, to try and save the world while a literal genius is taking care of fish at his house instead of trying to prevent the apocalypse?” 

Gabi blinks. “Yes,” she replies as if there could be no other answer. “Because it’s what I want to do. And it’s what he wants to do. Why should we be doing anything different?” 

“But shouldn’t you be doing, I don’t know, kid things?” Falco asks. He’s starting to feel a little frustrated talking to her. This isn’t what she should be doing at all. This isn’t what they should be doing. They should be enjoying the last few days they have together. They should be playing games at the arcade, or wandering around the empty mall, or eating snacks at the park, not … whatever this is. 

“Maybe. Probably. But I don’t want to,” Gabi says. She turns the laptop back and starts typing away. “I don’t like the idea of doing something just because the world is ending. I’ve always done what I wanted, so I don’t have any regrets. This is the only thing I want to do now.” 

It’s more than Falco can say. Like Gabi, he doesn’t have anything he wants to do, but then he’s never really ever wanted to do anything. All his life he’s been floating from place to place and participating in whatever was expected of kids his age: attending school, joining a sports team, learning an instrument. He didn’t care about any of it. He doesn’t have any regrets about it, but he does feel a sudden wave of admiration for Gabi. She’s saving the world now because she feels like it, but she could just as easily leave this task for another if something else strikes her fancy. Falco wants to know what it feels like to pursue something so impulsively. 

He wants to want things. He wants to be with Gabi. He wants to help her save the world. 

“Is there something you want to do before the world ends?” Gabi asks. She’s just asking to be polite. Her eyes are already glued to the screen of her laptop, her face turned away from him. “You don’t seem to be as into the whole ‘save the world’ thing as I am.” 

Falco shrugs even though she’s not watching. “I don’t mind it.” Falco could leave it at that. He doesn’t have to say anything else, but he does. “There isn’t really else I want to do anyway,” he tells her, but it’s a lie.

He wants to hold her hand. 

»»————- April 6, 2026 ————-««

Falco has never looked forward to anything as much as the researching sessions he has with Gabi. He’s never really looked forward to anything before, actually, and he’s not sure why being surrounded by books and looking at (mostly) fake superhero videos with Gabi appeals to him so much. 

He likes a lot of things about the way Gabi works. She’s quiet and focused, eyebrows knitted as she decides whether or not to call another applicant that probably won’t pick up. She never gets discouraged even though things don’t look promising. They’ve probably called dozens of people and only a third have actually responded. Most of them turned out to be trolls, which isn’t surprising considering they were taking submissions from strangers on the internet, but Gabi still carries on. Maybe it’s Gabi’s passion and stubbornness that has drawn Falco to her, but it feels like it’s more than that too. 

He feels, in a way, like Gabi completes him. Before he met her, he was wandering aimlessly. Now he doesn’t know what he’d do without her. Staying at home and studying seems unbearable when the option of being with Gabi exists. 

Falco isn’t sure how Gabi feels about him. He doesn’t even know if she has any feelings towards him — if she likes him, hates him, or just feels completely indifferent. At any rate, she doesn’t seem to mind spending her last few days on earth with him, and that makes him feel a little better about the world ending. Occasionally, he thinks about how Gabi probably wouldn’t notice if he stopped coming to help her. Well, she might notice, but Falco doesn’t think Gabi would change her routine. She’d just continue saving the world with or without his help. 

“Don’t you think it’s weird?” Falco asks at one point. Gabi looks at him with a raised eyebrow and he elaborates “We hardly know each other and we’re just here … saving the world together.” 

Gabi frowns, a thoughtful look on her face. “I don’t think it’s weird,” she says to Falco, and he feels his heart flutter in his chest. “A lot of weird stuff has happened because it’s the end of the world and we just happened to meet each other. If a total weirdo had showed up instead of you, then maybe I would be saving the world with them and we never would have met.” She doesn’t seem to mind the thought of working with a total weirdo in place of Falco. 

Falco slumps in his seat, deflated, but Gabi doesn’t seem to notice. 

“I’m glad it was you though,” Gabi continues. 

Falco lifts his head. “Really?” He scoots closer in his seat, curious. “Why?” 

Gabi twirls her pen between her fingers, looking upward as she thinks. After a moment, she shrugs. “I don’t know,” she answers. “It just feels better knowing I’m working with someone. It’s better than working alone, I guess. I might feel the same way even if it were someone else, but I also might not. Still, I’m glad it’s you.” 

It doesn’t really mean anything. Like she said, it could have been some other kid who ended up answering Gabi’s post and helping her with her impossible quest to save the world. It could have been some other person sitting with her and looking up useless articles on asteroids and meteorites. It could have been someone else having this conversation with her. But, Falco reminds himself, it wasn’t. It’s him sitting beside her, eating snacks and discussing the end of the world. It probably isn’t fate that they met, but it kind of feels like it is. 

»»————- April 7, 2026 ————-««

Tired of the same snacks from his pantry, Falco decides to try the café on the first-floor of the library for some new things to eat. He had asked Gabi what she wanted and she told him to just get her anything. 

The first floor café is relatively well-stocked for the end of the world, but maybe it’s because bookworms prefer literature to satiate their appetites rather than food. 

The display case, usually filled with dessert sandwiches with slices of strawberries and kiwi and slathered with whipped cream, is cleaned out, but the shelves behind the cash register are still stocked with different kinds of chips and candies. Falco scans the shelves, looking for his favorites: baked potato chips covered in rich butter, little rice crackers flavored with soy sauce and red pepper flakes, and chocolate cookies in the shape of tiny hamburgers. 

Falco stares, for the longest time, at the other snacks and wonders what Gabi would like, if she has a preference for anything. Maybe he should have paid more attention when they were eating together to see if she ever seemed to gravitate to certain foods he brought or commented on any of the snacks they ate together, but he can’t recall anything. He feels stupid for not noticing, but he also doesn’t want to keep Gabi waiting and ends up grabbing whatever grabs his attention. 

He arrives at their designated research table, huffing from the flights of stairs he had to climb. Falco deposits the snacks rather ungracefully in front of Gabi, letting them fall out of his hands and onto the table. Gabi looks up from the noise, her eyebrows raised, but she smiles when she sees that it’s him and Falco’s heart flutters almost painfully in his chest. 

“These are yours,” Falco says, shoving Gabi’s share of the snacks towards her. 

“Thanks.” Gabi picks up a snack with a gray cartoon cat on the wrapper. It’s a puffed corn stick. Pizza-flavored, the wrapper says. She opens it with a grin. “How did you know these were my favorite?” she asks. 

“I … I don’t know,” Falco says. “Must have been a lucky guess.” 

But it doesn’t feel like it. 

It feels like he knew, from the beginning, what she had wanted. It’s like he had let his instincts take over when he had randomly chosen snacks for Gabi and somehow selected her favorite ones. It was as easy as picking food for someone he had known for his whole life, which is impossible because he hadn’t even known Gabi a week ago. Maybe, then, he had known Gabi in a past life and that’s how he happened to pick her favorites. Or maybe they really are fated to be together and knowing things like her favorite food are just second nature to him. The latter two explanations are almost impossible and yet so much more likely than the first explanation. He doesn’t know how to explain it though, not without seeming crazy, so he doesn’t say anything. 

»»————- April 8, 2026 ————-««

Tomorrow is the end of the world and they are no closer to saving everyone from the asteroid hurtling towards the earth than they were yesterday. In fact, they are no closer to saving the world than they were a week ago when this effort began or even a month ago when they had first found out the world was going to be destroyed. Their attempt to prevent the world’s end was futile and their effort today will probably be equally useless. Still, here they are on the tenth floor of the library doing the same thing they did yesterday. 

The sun is about to set and it’s almost time for them to head home. Falco wonders if they’ll be here tomorrow spending their last moments at the library when the world ends or if Gabi will call it quits and suggest they spend their last day without each other. He’s too afraid to ask. 

They pack up silently, Gabi slipping her notebooks and laptop into her bag as Falco arranges the books into neat stacks on the slim chance that they’ll return tomorrow. Falco notices that Gabi packs the same way she always does — quickly, dumping everything into her backpack as if she doesn’t care if they get damaged — and it stings a little bit that she doesn’t pack a little slower this time like he does just so that he can spend a few seconds more with her. Maybe he shouldn’t be so disappointed because it’s obvious she doesn’t care for him more than she would care for a coworker or a classmate she was randomly paired with to complete an assignment. 

Falco is silently pining when Gabi speaks, startling him. 

“So, the world ends tomorrow,” she says easily. It’s like she’s talking about the weather. “Are you satisfied with how you spent your last days? No regrets?” 

They’re two questions that seem related, but Falco’s answers for them are very different. 

He is satisfied with how he spent his last days. The past week perhaps isn’t as spectacular by other people’s standards. Falco didn’t go bungee jumping or skydiving or deepsea divings like some of his peers. Some people would argue that the way he spent his last few days was as boring as the way he spent the past month, although Falco would argue that it was infinitely better because he had Gabi. He’s convinced that however he chose to spend his last days, as long as they were with Gabi, he would be happy. He could even watch the grass grow with Gabi and he’d be completely content. So, yes, he’s completely satisfied with how he spent his last few days, but he has many regrets. 

He regrets not meeting Gabi earlier. He regrets not being able to spend more than a week with her. He regrets not doing things with her that kids their age should be doing: playing soccer in the field, catching butterflies by the river and letting them go, and hanging out at the arcade and beating their high scores. But most of all, he regrets feeling this way about Gabi and not being able to tell her. 

Falco doesn’t answer her question. Instead, he asks, “Do you?” 

“No,” Gabi replies with a smile and it makes Falco feel a little better about the ache in his chest. 

»»————- April 9, 2026 ————-««

Falco doesn’t expect Gabi to call him the next day. Before bidding each other goodbye yesterday, Gabi suggested they not see each other again. 

“You should spend the day with your family or something,” Gabi said to him. “Your parents probably want to spend their last day with their kids. I’ll just do this by myself. And, you know, thanks for everything.” 

He had wanted to tell her that it was fine if they spent their last day together. He spent his whole life with his parents. He should at least spend one more day with Gabi if this is his last one, but he bit his tongue and said goodbye to her with the fakest smile before turning on his heel and walking as quickly as he could to where his mom would pick him up.

Falco was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling when Gabi called and told him to meet him at the bottom of the hill near the outskirts of his town. She said her mentor was coming back today and that they could visit her to see if there was still a possibility of saving the world. Falco didn’t even question her or ask if they really have any hope after their days of research lead to nothing. He just leapt out of bed, told his parents he would be out and that he loved them, and biked up to the hills where Gabi asked to meet him. 

When he gets there, Gabi is already waiting for him, bundled in a navy peacoat and a gray scarf tied loosely around her neck. Her face breaks out in a grin when she sees him and she waves a gloved hand to greet him. 

“How did you get here so fast?” Falco huffs once he finally reaches her. The hill gets too steep for him to bike, so he gets off his bicycle and walks with Gabi beside him. 

“My uncle Reiner drove me here,” Gabi replies, shoving her hands in her pockets. She rolls her eyes, but her mouth twitches with a smile. “He says he wanted to spend a little more time with his favorite niece before she becomes famous for saving the world.” 

“You really think we’re gonna do it?” Falco asks. 

Gabi shrugs. “I think if my mentor thinks so, we probably have a good chance.” 

They arrive at the mentor’s house at the top of the hill. It’s small, more like a tiny cabin than an actual house. When Gabi knocks, they’re greeted by a blond man with big blue eyes. The man smiles when he sees Gabi, pushing his tortoiseshell glasses up the bridge of his nose. 

“Hello, Gabi. I guess Mikasa told you she’d be coming back today,” the man says. He looks over Falco. “Hello. You must be Gabi’s friend Falco. I’m Armin.” The man offers a hand for Falco to shake. 

Falco nods, wondering why the man’s name sounds so familiar. It’s only when he’s shaken the man’s hand that he remembers Gabi had mentioned Armin a few days ago when they were researching in the library. He’s the genius that likes to spend his days taking care of fish. 

Falco follows Gabi when the man invites them into the cabin. Falco’s a little taken aback at how simple the interior is. The living room is small and the kitchen is smaller with only the essentials. There isn’t even a microwave. 

“Sit down,” Armin says, gesturing at the dining table in the middle of the room. He heads towards the kitchen cabinets where he takes out three mugs. “I’ll make tea for us while we wait for Mikasa.” 

“Can we see your fish later, Armin?” Gabi asks. She’s already settled down in a chair, kicking her legs back and forth. It’s clear that she feels at home here. When she notices that Falco hasn’t taken a seat yet, she gestures for him to sit down at the seat closest to her. To Armin, she continues, “I was telling Falco about you and he was curious about what a genius would be up to at the end of the world if he wasn’t trying to prevent the apocalypse.” 

Armin chuckles. “Do you like fish, Falco?” he asks. He smiles when Falco makes a surprised noise, an answer stuck in his throat. “Sure, we can take a look a little later.” 

Over apple tarts and tea, Gabi and Armin fill Falco in on Mikasa. She’s Armin’s wife, Gabi’s mentor, and the key to saving the world. Mikasa has a superpower, Gabi explains, that allows her to identify other people with superpowers and what those powers are. She helps people utilize their powers, but she took off for a month when the end of the world was announced to gather people with powers that might prevent the asteroid from crashing into the earth. 

“Did Mikasa tell you if she met any promising people?” Gabi asks. She’s licked her plate clean and cinnamon sticks to her lips. 

Armin shakes his head, a resigned smile on his face. “Unfortunately, no. She said all the candidates she met didn’t have any sort of useful power, but who knows? Maybe she’ll meet someone on the way here that can stop the meteor.” 

“Ah, it’s a meteor now?” Falco asks, sitting up in his seat. 

“It’s been one for a while,” Armin says. He glances out the window for a second. It’s not blue like it was when Falco woke up this morning. It’s orange now., not like a sunrise but more like someone has set the sky on fire. “We should be able to see it soon. The estimated time of impact is soon if I recall correctly. Hopefully, we get to see Mikasa soon.” His eyebrows are knitted together in concern, but Gabi looks just as unbothered as ever. 

“I’m sure she’ll be back soon,” Gabi says. She collects her empty plate as well as Falco and Armin’s before depositing them in the sink. It’s an awfully normal thing to do considering the fact that the dirty dishes won’t matter when the earth is destroyed. She lets them soak in the sink and then turns to Armin. “Can we go see your fish now? Falco hasn’t seen them yet.” 

“Sure,” Armin says with a smile. He gets up from the table and gestures for Falco to follow him. “Let’s go see the fish.” 

Armin leads the children to a side room. Inside is a large glass fish tank with so many plants, shells, and rocks that Falco doesn’t see the fish at first. He and Gabi crouch beside the tank, their faces not quite touching the glass. Falco can see neon fish the size of his pinky darting back and forth between plants. He spots a miniature catfish the size of his thumb hiding behind a rock while a school of ten or so black and white striped fish zips around the 50-gallon tank. There are many more fish that Falco spots, lots of which he doesn’t know the name of but Armin patiently points them all out and tells Falco both the scientific and the common names of each fish and their habits. It’s clear that he loves it, taking care of the fish and looking after them, and Falco thinks he understands a little bit why Armin has chosen to spend the rest of the world like this. Occasionally, Gabi pipes in with whatever she remembers about each fish, usually their behavioral patterns she’s noticed when she’s visited, and Armin always grins whenever she speaks. 

The three don’t notice when Mikasa arrives. They’re too busy staring at the fish swimming back and forth in the tank without a care in the world. The fish can’t grasp the fact that the world is ending. After all, their world only consists of the four glass walls that encase them and anything outside doesn’t concern them. It’s only when the door to the room opens and Mikasa steps in that the three realize that she’s returned. The fish, however, just keep swimming. 

“That’s a nice way to spend the end of the world,” Mikasa comments. She has a tired smile on her face. She wears a soft cream-colored turtleneck, a long black coat hanging over her arm. “I see Gabi has joined us. As has her friend.” The woman nods at Falco. 

“H-hello,” Falco stammers. He’s not sure what he was expecting Mikasa to look like. Perhaps like a woman with all the answers, someone who looked like she had seen the world, but she doesn’t. She just looks like any other woman, maybe a little more tired than other women, but still just a normal person. She doesn’t look like she has an amazing superpower, but then again neither does Gabi nor any of the potential candidates that claimed to have powers. “I’m Falco.” 

“Ah, yes,” Mikasa says with a nod. “Gabi mentioned you before. I’m Mikasa, her mentor.” She drapes her coat over a nearby chair and walks over to join the three of them beside the fish tank. 

“Did you find anyone?” Gabi asks. She looks out towards the living room, craning her neck to see if Mikasa had brought someone they didn’t notice. 

“No, nobody that could save the world, if that’s what you’re asking,” Mikasa sighs, shoulder slumped. “Although, I did run into a guy who was convinced that the only way to save the world was to destroy it. I got away from him as quickly as possible.” 

“Probably a smart decision,” Armin says with a nod, and Mikasa smiles in reply. 

“Well, shall we go watch the end of the world together?” Mikasa asks, putting an arm around Gabi. She looks around at the others. “I heard it was going to be quite spectacular. Like a meteor show in the middle of the day.” Her eyes settle on Falco and her smile begins to falter. Her brows knit together and she opens her mouth as if she’s about to say something. 

Armin notices the change in her demeanor and looks back and forth between Falco and Mikasa. “What’s wrong? Are you …?” It seems like something clicks in his head and he quickly turns to Falco. With a hand on the boy’s shoulder, Armin asks quickly, “Falco, do you have a power you haven’t told us about?” 

The question startles Falco and he jerks away from Armin’s hand in surprise. “I … I don’t know,” he says, stumbling over his words. He’s never felt like he had any kind of superpower. He’s never shown any sign of being special. He’s always just been … normal. 

“You … do you not know?” Mikasa asks, her eyebrows raised. She looks at Gabi. “Falco can save the world.” 

It’s too much for Falco to take in when the world is about to end so soon. He has too many questions like: What power is he supposed to have? How come he didn’t know about it before? Is there still time to save everyone or is it too late? He opens his mouth to ask, not knowing which one will come out of his mouth first, when he feels a comforting hand on his elbow. Falco looks over to see Gabi standing beside him, somehow calm despite this revelation. 

“What’s his power, Mikasa?” 

“He can travel back in time,” Mikasa says, still staring at Falco with her intense gaze. “Under the event of an unexpected death like, say, getting hit by an asteroid, he can go back in time and prevent it from happening. But only if he remembers that it will happen in the first place.” Her eyes flicker towards Gabi for some reason. 

“What … what does that mean ‘only if I remember’?” Falco asks Gabi. 

Gabi’s biting down on her lip, expression contemplative. Finally, she tells Falco, “My power is that I’m unforgettable. If you reset your time after the meteor hits, usually you won't remember what happened, but you will if I use my power. You’d be able to remember me and everything we’ve done together. If you go back in time, maybe you can find a way to save the world because you’ll know what to expect.” 

“Then … then that’s good news!” He doesn’t know why everyone around him isn’t jumping up and down in excitement right now. They’ve found a way to save the world. If not this time, then the next time or the time after that. “Isn’t this good news?” 

“I mean, it is,” Gabi says. She doesn’t sound as confident as she usually does. Instead, she’s hesitant, almost shy. Falco doesn’t think he’s ever seen Gabi shy before. She’s looking at the floor now, kicking at the hardwood floor with her sock-clad feet. “It’s just that … I have to make you fall in love with me to make you remember me.” 

Falco’s mouth falls open and no words come out. 

“It’s not like it’s hard,” Gabi says almost hurriedly, more because she’s embarrassed than in a rush to save the world. She’s shed off her embarrassment and assumed her usual confident demeanor. “I’m very lovable, you know. It’s just …” Her voice trails off again. 

“She has to seal it with a kiss,” Mikasa finishes, and Falco can see why Gabi was so embarrassed. His cheeks redden just from the thought of kissing Gabi. Mikasa adds rather apologetically, “It’s just the way it works, her power. She needs to kiss you.” 

“Only if you’re okay with it, of course,” Gabi adds. She’s still avoiding his gaze, her eyes on the floor. “I’m fine if you’d rather not. You might just be stuck in the loop all by yourself. It’d be a little less painful since you won’t remember each time but still -” 

“I’m okay with it,” Falco says. 

Gabi looks up, surprised. “You are?” 

“Yeah,” Falco says. “I’m … I’m fine with it. Let’s save the world. Together. That’s what our entire plan was, right?” 

“Yeah. Yeah,” Gabi repeats and she smiles. It’s different from how she’s smiled at him before. It’s a little bit bashful, a little bit excited. It looks nice on her, Falco thinks, and he’s so distracted that he’s surprised when he realizes she’s holding his hand. 

Mikasa tugs at the elbow of Armin’s cardigan and the blond man nods. Taking Mikasa’s hand, he turns to the kids and says, “We’ll be out there just to give you two some privacy. Hopefully, we’ll see each other again soon.” 

The door shuts softly behind the two adults. Falco doesn’t know if they wait in the living room or if they’ve gone outside to admire the sky. From the window, Falco can see that the sky has changed from a burnt orange to an explosion of different colors: shades of violet, pink, blue, and yellow all together almost like a watercolor painting. There are streaks of white in the sky. It’s like a meteor shower in the middle of the day just as Mikasa had said. 

When he turns to Gabi, she’s looking at him with her hand still holding his. She’s chewing on the inside of her cheek, but she smiles when she sees he’s looking at her. 

“Are you still up for it?” Gabi asks. 

“Y-yeah,” Falco says, his voice cracking. He feels his face flush, but he likes the sound of Gabi’s giggle even if he’s the one she’s laughing at. He licks his lips nervously and leans in just the tiniest bit. “Is … is it okay if I kiss you?” 

Gabi bites her lip and nods. She leans in too and Falco takes it as his cue to close his eyes and close the gap. 

He doesn’t know what to expect from this kiss. Maybe warm lips pressing against his while his heart threatens to beat out of his chest. Maybe Gabi’s hands gripping his arms while his hands hover awkwardly around his waist. Maybe the world ending and, when his eyes open, Falco waking to thoughts of Gabi and how to find her next. But none of this happens. Instead, Gabi puts her hands on his shoulder and pushes him gently but firmly away. 

“I can’t do it,” Gabi says. 

“Wha-?” 

“I can’t do it,” Gabi repeats with a shake of her head. She looks upset, but Falco doesn’t know why. He wonders what it is he did to offend her. Maybe she doesn’t want to kiss him. Maybe she finds him repulsive and doesn’t want to kiss him even if it means saving the world. Falco thinks this would be the case if Gabi didn’t look so apologetic. “I can’t kiss you. Not like this.” 

“What do you mean?” Falco asks, panicked. He takes a glance at the window. Outside, the meteors in the sky look brighter. It’s like a million stars are falling to the earth. It’s only a matter of time before the world ends. He doesn’t know why Gabi is doing this. 

“I don’t want to kiss you just to save the world and I don’t want you to kiss me for the same reason,” Gabi says, taking a step away from him. She shakes her head, tears pricking her eyes. “I want you to kiss me because you like me, not because you have some responsibility to save the earth so … so find me again and kiss me. Find me again and tell me you like me and kiss me hard. And then … and then we can save the world.” 

But he wants to kiss her now. He wants to kiss her because he likes her. He wants to kiss her because the world is ending. He wants to kiss her even if the world isn’t ending. He wants to tell her that, but he doesn’t have the words. 

Ever since Mikasa had revealed Falco’s power, everything has suddenly made sense to him. Falco understands now why his life felt so empty before he met Gabi and why he never felt the desire to do anything. He knows why he was so drawn to her when they first met that day in the city and why he felt like she completed him. It’s because they were meant to meet each other, meant to be together, meant to save the world. 

Falco wants to kiss her so badly. He wants to hold Gabi’s face in his hands and put his lips on hers and kiss her until the world ends and when he wakes up again he’ll find her and kiss her again and again and again. He wants to tell her he likes her now and that he’ll like her again. He wants to tell her that he’d like her even if the world weren’t about to end, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t get to tell her anything. 

A bright light flashes from the window. All Falco sees is Gabi and then white, and then nothing. 

»»————- March 9, 2026 ————-««

Falco wakes up and rolls out of bed. He brushes his teeth in the bathroom and brushes out his hair before blearily heading down the stairs where his mom is making breakfast. His father hasn’t left for work yet, he notices, which is rather strange. His mother hasn’t finished making breakfast yet and his brother isn’t dressed for school. He stares at them, wondering why they’re acting so odd. It takes them a moment to realize he’s there. 

“The world is ending next month,” his mother tells him. She points at the TV screen that Falco’s father is staring at. On it flashes a picture of an asteroid hurtling towards the earth. The little banner underneath the picture says it’s far too big to burn up in the atmosphere. Scientists have no hope of human survival. 

“If I knew, I would have slept in,” Colt mumbles. 

His family looks shocked by the news, but Falco doesn’t feel anything. He grabs a banana from the fruit bowl in the kitchen and starts to head out the door. 

“Wait, where are you going?” Colt asks him. 

Falco pauses by the door. “I don’t know,” he says after a moment. He’s not sure what to do now that the world is ending. There isn’t anything in particular that he wants to do. “I’ll go to school, I guess.” 

He leaves after assuring his parents that it’s fine, that he really doesn’t mind going to school because he isn’t sure what else to do. He stops by his mailbox and looks up at the sky. It’s clear and blue, no asteroid in sight. 

He takes a deep breath and then releases it. It sounds like a sigh. 

[hajimariwaquartet]

I didn't want to spring this at you on twt but I saw your ginsenkai sakuya post and I have my two cents on that. >> Sakuya not being very good at fighting but he's a super good (and sly) negotiator! He'd chat up the client or whoever he's with all nice and respectful until he asks them "Such and such is pretty great, right?" and the client would agree, and then Sakuya would smile real big and sunny while his eyes narrow like a snake's and say "Then you won't mind accepting those terms, right?"

I'm actually quite happy to see people have their own thoughts on my own silly little aus! ^^ I might have a little bit overboard and wrote an entire drabble but I hope you don't mind anon!

Hehe, spring

"Oi, you okay?"

A light nudge from Sakoda manages to knock Daichi from his thoughts. Daichi jumps, and smiles sheepishly at his senior. "Sorry 'bout that, Sakoda-san."

Sakoda laughs, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it. This is your first job, right?"

"Yep."

"Completely understandable that yer fidgeting like that!"

Daichi flushes, cheeks burning red in embarrassment. Finding Ginsenkai when he was down on his luck was amazing. Looks like he won't be kicked from his place yet, and he even has a job now!

"But hey, don't worry at all! Sakuya's one of the best talkers in the family, there won't be a need for fighting n' stuff!" Sakoda reassures.

Ah yes, Daichi's first job in Ginsenkai. Bodyguard the negotiator for the other family one town over. Daichi was just tagging along to learn things, and to provide muscle if things got a bit too heated.

"...you got everything?"

"Mhm! Don't worry about it, Azami!"

"You forgot your lunch the other day. Ken-san had to deliver it."

A sheepish laugh. "It was a tiny slip-up."

"Yeah, right."

A tall black-haired teen was dressed in casual clothes arrived in the foyer with a shorter redhead decked in a suit. Daichi notes that the tall kid shares the same eyes as the Boss. Must be the Boss' kid then...

The redhead next to Boss' son did not look like yakuza at all. With his short stature, doe-like red eyes, and cheerful smile, Daichi thought he looked like a school kid. His light pink tie with his black suit managed to make him look more like a private school kid. Huh, Daichi muses, he doesn't look like a mean kid though... more like an honor student.

"Ken-san, Daichi-san!" The kid waves, smiling brightly. Sakoda grins back.

Daichi blinks. "Huh? Y-You remember me?"

Sakuya, as he guesses, tilts his head. "Huh? But I always remember who's in the family, though..."

"You'll get used to it." Azami, the Boss' kid, shrugs. "Sakuya-nii has a great memory, after all."

Sakoda nods. "Azami's right! He even remembers how Aniki looked like when they met each other!"

Sakuya sheepishly laughs, cheeks burning a light red. "I can't really deny that."

Azami bid them goodbye and good luck at the gates of the Izumida estate as they got into the car. It didn't take too long, but they were soon pulling up to another lavishly styled Japanese home. These people reeked of old money, Daichi thinks, seeing the gaudy golden gates. The afternoon sun beaming down did not help at all.

It's surprisingly easy and relaxed as they made their way through the traditional hallways. Sakuya makes light conversation with both of them. Despite the other family's yakuza goons staring at them, both of them don't look unnerved at all.

They're led into a sitting room with three men. Two of them are standing behind a younger man. He exudes a young master type of energy, one that makes Daichi think that he doesn't actually have any fighting ability. The man raises an eyebrow as their group enters the room, but he shoots them an amused smile.

"Huh. I thought the Ginsenkai would have someone more intimidating, but you're pretty cute."

The polite smile on Sakuya's face doesn't fall off, and he instead nodded. "Nice to meet you. I'm Sakuma Sakuya of Ginsenkai."

"Mhm. Miyagi Aoi, heir of Higan-gumi. Say, are you free after this?"

How shameless. There must have been something that gave away his expression when Sakoda nudges him. Sakuya shakes his head. "Unfortunately, I have some prior engagements after this."

Miyagi pouts, but gestures for him to sit anyway. "Aw."

Negotiations are quick. Daichi can't keep up with the pace of their talks. But, it does amaze him how both Sakuya and Miyagi seem like completely different people as they talked about business.

"...but what if you let it pass through us? Would it not be faster that way? Such and such is pretty great, right?"

Miyagi nods, eyes narrowed at the diagram on the table. "Ah, I see. It would be faster than ferrying it."

Like a switch, Sakuya smiles brightly, clapping his hands. However, unlike his expression earlier, his eyes were more narrowed. Daichi could feel a wave of triumph from the boy, but in the vein of a predator catching their prey. "Then you wouldn't mind accepting those terms, right? Ginsenkai shall get 40% of the proceeds for transporting the items."

"F-Forty percent?" Miyagi jumps from his seat, slamming his hand on the table. "That's so large!"

"40%, take it or leave it. It would be such a waste for you to deny it at this point, would it not? Especially since a temporary alliance with Ginsenkai would get Azusagawa-gumi off your backs until you can prepare." Sakuya informs, gaining a wide-eyed look from Miyagi.

"H-How do you know about the feud with Azusagawa-gumi?!"

"Secret."

Miyagi slams his fist at the table with a scowl. "Damn snake. Whatever, consider this shit done."

Sakuya laughs, "Until next time, Miyagi. Try to think more thoroughly, okay?"

Miyagi only scowls at him as he stamps the contract. There was none of the initial flirtiness he showed. Daichi blinks. Did... Did Sakuya just get the upper hand with a few words...? That was amazing, he hasn't even registered it!

[missfangirll]

Glazed

Part 3 of “All the right places” Part 1: Snapped Part 2: Mended

Someone on AO3 requested a third part, so here we are...It’s not really what I wanted it to be, but it refused to be a crackfic and demanded to be taken seriously. ^^

Read on AO3

Monday

Once more Shen Wei was glad that his Black Cloak Envoy outfit came with a mask and a hood. A long time ago he had told Kunlun that the mask was crucial to not let see his enemies his fears. While that still held true, he discovered that it could hide a whole variety of emotions.

What Shen Wei felt right now was a peculiar mix of anger, shame and utter mortification. Anger at himself, that he hadn’t trusted Yunlan; shame that he ruined his surprise and mortification, because now he felt the eyes of the whole SID team burning into him when he so much as breathed.

It was horrible, and the worst part was that he had to endure it alone. Zhao Yunlan had been called to an emergency meeting with the Minister and Shen Wei was stuck at the headquarters with the rest of the team.

Sunday had been comparably fine; they had stayed in, cooked together and Shen Wei had endured Zhao Yunlan’s good-natured teasing. It had been fine. Until the call.

Some landlady had checked on one of her missing tenants and had discovered a scene out of a horror movie, with blood pools and scorch marks on the ceiling. The summoned police officer had taken one look at it and immediately called Zhao Yunlan, who in turn had called the SID and informed the Minister.

Which is how Shen Wei, in his role as Hei Pao Shi, found himself on an SID sofa, sweating under his hood, some gruesome crime scene photos in front of him. He tried to focus on the task at hand, but his thoughts and gaze kept returning to the people around him.

Da Qing, Yunlan’s second-in-command-best-friend-who-is-also-a-cat, who currently sprawled haphazardly over his sofa, munching on some dried fish. He had thrown one very scrutinising look at Shen Wei when he entered the SID via portal, and since then had carefully avoided his gaze. Shen Wei wasn’t sure what Zhao Yunlan had told him when he had called him the day before, but he wasn’t sure either if he wanted to know.

Shen Wei turned a bit to see Chu Shuzhi better. The puppet master, who was the only one here who respected Shen Wei more than Zhao Yunlan. Well, had respected, Shen Wei winced internally. After his performance last Friday he was probably lucky that Lao Chu hadn’t chewed him out personally, although that might still follow when they weren’t hunting the Dixing equivalent to Freddy Kruger. Shen Wei fought the impulse to hide his face in his hands.

Then again, he mused, if he had to atone for his behaviour, he might as well start with Xiao Guo. The newbie was the most susceptible member of the team and also the only one who had greeted Shen Wei with a heartfelt smile earlier. Probably not the worst idea. In any case better than trying to talk to Zhu Hong. Shen Wei shivered involuntarily. His relationship to the Snake Yashou had been fragile before…well, before, and he was certain it hadn’t helped at all that he had handled Yunlan so roughly. Shen Wei smothered a groan and tried to focus on the photos.

There was a large blood pool in the middle of the room with a circular pattern on the walls around it, as if something – or someone, he corrected mentally – had been dropped into the puddle. Completing the ghastly scene he saw a few black spots under all the blood, black energy residue. Whatever had happened to the tenant, whose body had been found crumpled and almost beyond recognition, it surely hadn’t been pleasant.

Da Qing scratched his head. “What I don’t understand”, he said, “is that nobody heard anything. I mean”, he pointed at a photo, “that looks like he was thrown around in the room. Surely that hasn’t happened quietly. Hei Pao Shi, do you know any Dixing power that could, I dunno, make an apartment soundproof?”

Shen Wei startled out of his reverie, painfully aware that everyone in the room had their eyes on him. “I”, he began, but had to clear his throat. “I don’t think so. I mean”, he corrected himself, “of course it is possible, but look at these black marks here. They are definitely connected to the blood, and soundproofing wouldn’t result in such marks.” He pushed one picture to the middle to show them what he meant.

“Huh.” Da Qing nodded thoughtfully. “That still doesn’t explain why nobody heard anything.”

“And we still don’t know why the guy was targeted in the first place”, Chu Shuzhi added with a look at Shen Wei. “Maybe if we find the motive, we find the killer.”

They all nodded in various degrees of agreement, but nobody seemed to have a thought to continue with. They all sat in silence, until a voice said: “What am I paying you for, exactly? Remind me again.”

Shen Wei had sensed Zhao Yunlan’s arrival – he always sensed his love, no matter where he was – and had smiled slightly at him, but hadn’t found anything to say. He still felt awful and wasn’t sure that it wouldn't be noticeable in his voice.

Zhao Yunlan’s comment had spurred his team into action, but he silenced them with a careless wave of his hand. “The Minister didn’t have to say anything helpful, except that we should hurry to finish this PR nightmare, which we would have done anyway, even without his thoughtful advice.” Shen Wei almost rolled his eyes. The ministry really wasn’t helping.

“Also,” Zhao Yunlan continued, “I made a few calls on the way back here and I might have a clue. Actually, more than a clue.” He shoved Da Qing to the side and wriggled beside Shen Wei onto the sofa. The cat protested, but then settled next to Zhao Yunlan on the armrest. “The landlady said there has been but one visitor to the apartment in the last months. A woman, early forties like our victim, pretty, black hair, looked like a film star. Her words, not mine.” He winked at Shen Wei who felt a sting in his heart. What had he done to deserve this man?

The man in question added, “She was adamant they were having an affair. I asked her how she would know that and she laughed at me, said a woman knows that.” He grinned at Zhu Hong, who huffed and looked ready to throttle him. Shen Wei contemplated if he had to intervene in case she did. It wouldn’t really help their relationship and Zhao Yunlan was very capable of defending himself, he decided.

“Anyway,” Chu Shuzhi stepped in, “if she is correct, then we have to look for the woman and possibly also her boyfriend or husband.”

“Way ahead of you”, Zhao Yunlan smirked, sounding very pleased with himself, “I already called an old friend in the department that deals with the domestic violence cases and asked if he knew anyone with a temper and a wife or girlfriend who looked like our mysterious affair. He did, actually, so I now have two dudes who I need to question. I just came here to collect Shen Wei. Da Qing, you go find Lin Jing in his cave of a lab and take him and his dark energy detector to this address.” He handed him a post-it. “Shen Wei and I go talk to the other one and see if we find anything suspicious.”

***

“Baobei, are you mad at me?”

Shen Wei almost jumped in his car seat and turned hastily towards Zhao Yunlan. “No? I  mean,” he cleared his throat, “no, I am not mad. Why would I be?” Zhao Yunlan looked at him briefly and then back on the road. “Because you haven’t said a word since we got in the car. Thirty-eight minutes ago. I counted.” Shen Wei closed his eyes and forcefully calmed his breathing. “I am not mad, Yunlan. On the contrary, I feared that you might be still angry with me. I didn’t know what to say.”

Zhao Yunlan looked over again and raised an eyebrow. “Why would I.. Oh, baobei. Darling. Xiao Wei. Are you still thinking about Friday?” Without taking his eyes from the road, he reached out and placed his hand on Shen Wei’s thigh. Shen Wei nodded miserably. “I am so sorry, Yunlan”, he said, for a hundredth time, because he hadn’t anything else to offer.

Zhao Yunlan moved his hand to caress his thigh. “Baobei. I love you. Nothing you do could change that. Not even kidnapping me with dark energy.” He grinned at Shen Wei who shrunk into his car seat. “And besides, you explained why you did it. It’s over, Shen Wei, over and done. Don’t think about it anymore.”

Shen Wei nodded and relaxed a bit. He released a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “Thank you.” He bit his lip and swallowed the rest of the sentence. Zhao Yunlan looked him over again. “You’re still going to keep apologising, do you?” Shen Wei didn’t know what to say to that.

***

The case that had begun so complicated turned out to be anything but. They had knocked on the suspect’s door, only to be greeted by a dull thud inside the house and something that sounded suspiciously like a muffled scream. In wordless agreement Zhao Yunlan had drawn his dark energy pistol, while Shen Wei had summoned his glaive. When they had entered through the unlocked front door, they had found their suspect busy throwing another man around the room, shouting obscenities about fucking his wife, dark energy flaring around them both. It had needed both their authority to calm the furious man, save the alleged lover from more harm and find the wife, who had barricaded herself in the laundry room and had only come out after a lot of Shen Wei’s patient coaxing. They had briefly parted ways there; Shen Wei, glaive in one hand, the other firmly around the delinquent’s neck, had portaled directly to the Palace to deliver his unwilling parcel, while Zhao Yunlan had called an ambulance for the mangled lover, taken the wife’s statement and made a few calls to his friends at the force and the team to fill them in.

When Shen Wei stepped through yet another portal into the SID, he wasn’t surprised not to see his boyfriend there. Instead, he found Zhu Hong and, since their interview naturally hadn’t brought any results earlier, Da Qing and Lin Jing, as well as Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi. Shen Wei winced, but squared his shoulders. He might as well get it over with. Stepping into the room, he took a deep breath. “I-”, he began, but Da Qing interrupted him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to say anything, Hei Pao Shi. We know what happened Friday was a misunderstanding, and we know why you did it.”

“You-”, Shen Wei tried again, but this time it was Zhu Hong who didn’t let him finish. “The boss told us. About the nightmares. You are an idiot. Why didn’t you tell us?” She straightened up and cast him a look that felt like a challenge.

“I-”

“We all had nightmares, Shen Wei.” Da Qing sounded pained. “Wang Zhen and Sang Zan die, Lao Li died…” He trailed off and swallowed hard. “It wasn’t easy for any of us.”

Shen Wei felt a new surge of emotions, but this time he didn’t fight his tears. He put one arm around Da Qing, and as the cat didn’t resist, he pulled him into a tight embrace. Nobody said anything, but Shen Wei heard Xiao Guo sniffle, then sob silently into Lao Chu’s shoulder.

Just as he let go of Da Qing and awkwardly took a step back, the front door opened to reveal Zhao Yunlan. Zhu Hong turned around to furiously wipe her eyes, while Shen Wei smiled at his boyfriend. Zhao Yunlan returned the smile, taking in the scene before him.

“All good?”, he asked.

“All good,” Shen Wei confirmed with a smile.

It really was, he thought.

[writingsorrantings]

Friends Don’t Look at Friends That Way Pt2 (jj x reader)

Word Count: Around 1,300 (sorry!lol)

Warnings: Alcohol mentions, angst

Music Rec: One Way St. - Jhene Aiko (just a good song and is mentioned in the chapter :)

Part One

 Recap: “And with that JJ laid back again and you found yourself in his arms. It wasn’t right, but you could get used to the way it felt even though you wanted more.”

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

It had been about a week since that night, but your head was still as clouded. JJ hadn’t called you once which was definitely not your style and it was beginning to worry you. Is he ok? Or maybe I was too forward?

Maybe he just doesn’t want to be around you anymore.

 You shook your head as a half-assed attempt to put a stop to the self-deprecating thoughts and instead focused on the music playing through your headphones as you came home from work, but that proved to be less than helpful. “Going the wrong way down a one way street.” Jhene couldn’t have said it better and frankly you felt like a semi carrying a shit ton of rejection and hurt was barreling towards you, no evidence of it slowing down and ready for a head on collision. Bracing before a crash, emotional or otherwise, had never been your specialty. You already felt like shit and you couldn’t imagine what would happen if he actually talked to you about it. You had never been one for confrontation, but he had left you on read for a week now and you were going nuts trying to figure out what you did. 

Your feet hit the pavement in a slow rhythm, but as you began to think about what he was doing (or not doing) your pace began to pick up. At this point you were angry, how could he be so childish?! You were just trying to talk to him and he didn’t even bother looking at the last message! That really hurt your feelings and you could feel the tears welling up in your eyes. Fuck him then. Your shoes hit your colorful doormat as you entered your house prepared to look the hottest you had ever looked for the kegger tonight. Walking into the kitchen you quickly grabbed the bottle of vodka from your parents cabinet knowing that they wouldn’t miss it and marched up your stairs. One thing was for sure, you didn’t need JJ to have fun. Or at least that’s what you told yourself. 

Unfortunately JJ’s thoughts were just as scattered. It was only 2 in the afternoon and he had already begun pregaming for the celebration tonight, but then again it might have just been a happy coincidence. He stared at the texts you had sent him and all he could do is run a hand over his face only pausing to take a gulp of the beer in his hand. 

“wanna surf tom?” --read 8:02am

“????” --read 8:23pm

“you good?” --read 7:48am 

“just talk to me” --read 10:47am

“what did i do” -- delivered fri 4:30 

        read sun 10:23

Fuck. He didn’t want to hurt her so he kept his distance, yet he still managed to make her feel bad. Once again this proved to himself that he was just a walking disaster. He knew by Saturday night that if he didn’t back away now it would just get so much worse. John B. came home the morning after to JJ huddled in the blue sheets of his spare room, eyes rimmed with red and for once it wasn’t from smoking. After hauling him out of bed and forcing him to take a shower, John B. questioned him over breakfast that JJ had tried to refuse multiple times. A text from you lit up his screen, and his face immediately dropped. He was a fucking wreck and anyone who saw him could figure it out. He loved you.  There was no point in denying it now, especially to John B. A boy who spent years trying to convince his best friend that he was a good person who deserved a healthy, happy love. Needless to say, he still wasn’t successful despite his efforts.

“She makes you so happy dude, I mean we can all see it. You are so damn happy. She makes you do things that you would never think of doing and you love it….She...She makes you think before you act because you know that it would destroy her if anything happened to you. For once you actually give a shit about your future and that’s because of her!”

By this point John B. was almost yelling as he had no clue how else to get it through his head that you loved each other. 

Calming down he said, “ I mean really...is this what you want? Because you deserve better than this….She deserves better than this.”

Not a single muscle in his face moved when he stood up from the chair, the screech from the legs rubbing on the ground echoing as the sentence hung in the air. A part of JJ knew John B. was right, but ultimately he would never risk your happiness to make room for his own. 

“Thanks for the breakfast.”

Feet padding against the wooden floor, JJ made his exit right into the room he came from, no regard for what his best friend had said. With a huff John B. decided that this was a battle he’d fight another day and left to go see Sarah. When the door slammed shut, tears fell from JJ’s eyes. It’s ok if he thought he was stupid, at the end of the day JJ was doing what he thought would help you.

Night was approaching and you were ready as ever for tonight’s festivities to begin. Kie had come over and you were screaming the words to various songs as you guys got ready for the night. It didn’t take you long as you both were never huge fans of full glam looks, but could appreciate it on other people. As you checked yourself out in the mirror you couldn’t help but smile. You were all for body positivity, but you were never a super skinny girl and sometimes that made you insecure. But today. Today you loved the way your curves filled out your too short cut offs. Between that, Kie’s halter top, and the layered necklace that fell perfectly in the middle of the deep v neckline, you were irresistible. Kie grabbed your hand and pulled you downstairs as you headed out for the party.

The dull thumps from the speakers began to get louder as you guys approached in the car and before you knew it you were parked and ready to get out, fingers wrapped around the silver handle. This was a mistake. Although it was just a flash of trepidation, Kiara had seen it and asked, “(y/n), you ok?” and frankly you had no clue. Were you ok? I mean no you weren’t and you definitely wouldn’t be tonight, but did you need to worry her. The silence was answer enough for her and she studied your face. 

“We don’t have to go y’know. I’m ok with not going and I can just tell the guys we hungout all night?” 

“No, no it’s ok. It’s just...JJ hasn’t been talking to me lately and I don’t know why, but to be honest I think I do, but I don’t want to think that way.”

Kie stared at you waiting for you to continue with a slight nod to show she was listening. After a moment of hesitation, you turned your body so that your open back was no longer against the leather seat and your knees were pointed at her despite how small the car was. Even though you were facing her, your eyes refused to meet hers as you focused on chipping away at your nail polish while you spoke.

“I..I just...we had a moment last saturday. I mean I thought we did and I think I like him and...and I think he knows and is just avoiding me until he finds the right way to reject me. He just kept leaving me on read and I figured the best revenge was to look great tonight. But honestly, I guess I just wanted to make him realize that I can be more than a friend.”

Kie had had enough. JJ was acting like a dumbass and she wasn’t going to let him hurt her friend. You are the sweetest person that she knows and you deserved a guy who would give you the same effort that you always gave others. She began to smile as she started planning the rest of your night in her head and she was going to make sure you had the time of your life. She reached into the backseat and handed you the bottle you had snagged earlier and after spinning the top off you took your first of many shots that night. 

“You deserve to have a good night. Without JJ. Let’s fucking do this.”

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

Part 3

Sorry to leave you guys on another cliffhanger I hate it when writers do it lol! But honestly thank you guys so much for all of the messages that you have sent me and all of the likes that you have left on part one. It was my first ever fanfic so it felt super good to see that you guys enjoyed it. I am going to start working on part 3 right after I post this, but idk if I will stop the story with that part. I’m new to this so let me know if you want to be on a taglist of if you have any requests for any character from any show. I’m not picky! Anyways love you all and I hope you’re staying safe. 

[imanativeofswlondondahling]

Becoming A Stark (8)- Peter Parker x Stark!femReader

Word Count: 2390

Warnings: Swearing

Author’s Note: No Peter in this chapter, but he’ll be in the next few. Promise.

Chapter One || Previous Chapter || Master List 

Your dad hasn’t been home in 48 hours but, according to Pepper, he somehow had time to go to MIT, spend the night at the compound and then fly to Berlin. It took less than a week for him to go back on what he had said and to be honest you were a bit passed pissed about it. Pepper had decided to order dinner for you both and had said Tony could figure something else out whenever he got home. If you were a betting woman, you bet that Pepper ordered some extra Thai food for him though. You, on the other hand, had decided to work on homework while waiting for food to arrive. But not even your English homework could hold your attention it seemed. Tony has managed to take the joy your favorite class normally brings you, because all you can think about is how pissed you are.

It also didn’t help that the tower was freezing, but you didn’t feel like telling FRIDAY to turn the temperature up. So instead you go digging through your drawers to find a sweatshirt to help warm you up. It wasn’t until you find a black one with words that really suit your mood. ‘No. I Checked My Receipts. I Don’t Buy Any Of Your Bullshit.’ Even though AC/DC’s Highway to Hell is blasting over your speakers, a knock on your door tells you that someone isn’t going to leave you alone.

“Hey there kiddo.” Even his voice irritates you right now. Instead of greeting him, you turn back towards your English assignment and continue typing. “Wow, two days away and I get the cold shoulder.”

“FRIDAY turn music up by 25%.” You say, trying to block him out.

“FRIDAY, music off.” You huff at the fact that his commands override yours. But decide to play it sweet instead of sour. 

“Did you need something?” You turn in your chair and paste a fake smile on your face.

“I know I was gone the past two days. I let you down. But I came and saw you before I even went looking for Pepper.”

“I don’t care.” But then you see the bruise on his face and you can’t pretend anything. “What happened to your face?”

“Ex-assassin under some brainwashing. Long story.” So he’s still going to keep things from you? 

“Was this while you were in Berlin? Missing family dinner again?” You know you sound like the stereotypical teenager that you usually try to shy away from, but you can’t help it.

“I fucked up. I know. And honestly, according to people other than you I fucked up in more ways than you can count. But I’m here for tonight’s dinner. I even pushed a trip to Germany to be here for it.” Tony sits down on your bed.

“Wow, I came before Germany. Not before Berlin though.” You throw your hands outward as your head moves from side to side.

“You do come before Berlin. I was hoping to make it home before I missed another dinner because I didn’t want to disappoint you again. I’m not good at saying it, but I’m sorry. I missed you the whole time I was gone.” His eyes read your sweatshirt and then looks back at your face. “That’s at me isn’t it?”

“Kind of.” You admit. “You did say ‘I would drop anything and everything for you’ and a week later I’m having dinner by myself and then finding out that Natasha’s in building’s that are being bombed and I don’t even know where you are and I was hurt by it.”

“You’re allowed to be hurt by it. I’m trying to be better, but that doesn’t mean I won’t fuck up occasionally. I wasn’t in Vienna, but I’ve seen Nat and she’s fine. Saw her in Berlin earlier.”

“Don’t tell me she has one of those too.” You motion towards his eye.

“She’s fine. She’s also an ex-assassin, remember? They tend to be pretty good at fighting other ex-assassins.”

“Good.”

“Now, dinner? Last I checked you were trending downward, so it’s a perfect time for dinner.”

“Has dinner been delivered?”

“It arrived when I did. Come on.” Tony offers an arm to you and you sink into his side hug as you walk downstairs with him. Pepper smiles at the two of you as she unboxes the Thai food that had been delivered.

“You two all good now?” She asks as she sets the food on the table. You nod. “Good. Now dinner is served.” You sit down and start eating your pineapple fried rice and tofu as Pepper and Tony talk about some SI stuff. 

“You know Y/N, I talked to a boy from your school today.”

“Really, why?”

“Possible intern.

“Uh, ok. Guess that makes sense. But do you even work at the lab at SI that much really?”

“He might end up being my personal intern here or at the Avenger’s Compound.”

“Really? Do I know him?”

“He knows you.” You can’t help but cock your head to the side as you take a bite of food. “Name’s Peter Parker. Talked about you quite a bit. Especially how you skipped out of class today.”

“I had a good reason. You see your family members' names in tweets with the word bomb and you would skip out of class too. I was going to call you too, but Natasha told me you weren’t there.”

“Well he told me so much about you that it makes me wonder if I need to start laying down some ground rules for you and dating.”

“Pepper, make him stop!” You plead as you use your chopsticks to scoop up more food.

“Tony.” She warns from the other side of the table.

“No, this is my little girl. I’m allowed to be protective about this aspect. Dating and evil villains are my prerogative.”

“I’m not little. I’m fourteen. I’ve already gone on my first date.” Tony chokes on the water he was drinking.

“I’m sorry. Maybe I misunderstood you, but I thought I heard you say you already went on your first date.”

“I did. I already had my first boyfriend and girlfriend too.” You wait to see a reaction from either Pepper or Tony, but nothing happens.

“No more dating until you're 25, at least. I forbid it. I don’t care who they are. No one is good enough for you!” Tony says before angrily eating his food.

“He’ll lighten up eventually.” Pepper says with a smile.

“Or he’ll have FRIDAY lock me in my room until I’m 25.” You say with an eye roll.

“Don’t give him any ideas.” Pepper teases.

“I’m not completely unreasonable. I would just lock her in the tower.” Tony teases back. 

“I’ll text the Avengers to come save me.” You watch as your dad’s face grows darker. “What’s going on with the Avengers?”

“Nothing I can’t handle.” He says, not really answering the question.

“I can call Natasha and ask.”

“Natasha is busy and I don’t think you should bother her.” Based off of the conversation you had with her earlier today, you can guess that’s probably actually true. “Besides, don’t you want to see your old man before he leaves tomorrow?”

“Why are you leaving?”

“Official Avengers business.”

“Weren’t you just on official Avengers business?” 

“Yes and sometimes the Avengers business is nonstop.” You glance over at Pepper and see a look of almost exasperation on her face. Apparently this isn’t the first time for her hearing this argument.

“When will you be back?”

“Hopefully, tomorrow night. But if not the day after at the latest.” Tony wants to promise that he’ll be back for dinner tomorrow night, but even with quinjet, he doesn’t think he can make it back in time. 

You walk back into the kitchen later, not expecting to find anyone. You just want a glass of water and then you’ll head to bed. “What are you wearing?” Your dad’s voice startles you.

“What are you doing up still?”

“Shouldn’t I ask you the same thing? One of us has school tomorrow, and it’s not me.”

“I was thirsty. Came to get water.” You shrug. “What do you mean what am I wearing?” You glance down at the shorts and tank top you had thrown on to go to sleep.

“You’re Iron Man?” He questions, looking over the wording on the grey tank. You glance down and finally realize what shirt you had put on to sleep in.

“Pepper found it when we were thrifting before school started. She thought it was funny.”

“Definitely is kiddo. Now water?” He asks, already reaching in the cupboard for a glass. Stepping into his favorite role, he gets you your water and walks up the stairs with you to your room. 

“You don’t have to come tuck me in. I’m fourteen.”

“Humor me.” He says, following you into your room. You set the glass on your bedside table and climb under the covers. Tony pulls them around you and tucks you in. “Goodnight kiddo. I love you.”

“Love you too Dad.” He kisses your forehead before heading towards his own room. He can’t help but smile as he thinks about you wearing something that reps him.

“What’s got you all smiley?” Pepper asks, setting down her Stark Pad.

“Well seeing as you got her the shirt, I guess you did.” Pepper’s eyebrows furrow as she tries to understand what Tony is talking about. “The Iron Man tank top? Y/N wore it to sleep in and... I just love her so much Pep.” Pepper smiles but reaches for her phone.

“You want to see something better?” She asks as she sends Tony a picture. He glances at his phone before making a double take. “Completely her idea on the pose.”

“This is the best thing ever. I have the best kid.” Tony says. He slips under the covers to lay down next to Pepper, but can’t help but look at the picture again. Fuck it. He logs onto Instagram. Caption- I have the best kid ever. Nothing else and then posts the photo after tagging you. After posting it, he flips over to your Instagram. He notices you have changed your bio to no longer show your old last name, but it doesn’t read Stark. He scrolls through some photos that you and your friends must have taken at lunch the other day as well as some pictures of some recent reads. You really plow through books fast. Maybe he should look at signing you up for one of those book subscription boxes that you get new books every month. You’d probably like that. He likes the newer photos that he hadn’t liked yet, before clicking his phone off. He pulls Pepper into his arms and lets sleep pull him under.

When you wake up the next morning, you see your notifications have blown up over night. You have hundreds of thousands of new followers on both Instagram and Twitter. There’s also a bunch of comments. What happened? You had been sitting at a few hundred followers when you went to bed, and most of them were friends or people you knew from school. So what happened after you went to sleep. You click open Instagram and look at notifications. It’s too cluttered for you to find anything. So instead you click to your profile to see if one of your book photos went viral? That’s the only thing you could think of that would do this. But then you see the notification that you’ve apparently been tagged in a photo. Flipping pages, you see that your father made the dumbest mistake yet. You grab your phone and walk towards your dad and Pepper’s room, knowing that they’re probably up but not yet out of their room. You can’t help but roll your eyes at the situation as you knock on the door. 

“Come in.” Pepper calls from inside the room. As you walk in, you see her putting on jewelry, getting ready for her day at SI. Your dad is still laying in bed on the other hand. “Good morning Y/N.”

“Is it a good morning? Because someone in this family is an idiot.” You say looking at your dad.

“What did I do?” He asks, glancing up from his datapad as he keeps working with the design that he’ll need to work on when he gets back from Germany.

“You tagged me on Instagram. My private account now has a few hundred thousand followers and people have found me on Twitter too.” Pepper turns from where she stands in the mirror.

“I thought we were trying to keep her name out of the press?” She asks, looking at Tony.

“Ok, so I didn’t completely think this through. But it was so cute I couldn’t not share it.”

“That’s not the point Tony. The whole world knows who your daughter is.”

“They already did.” Tony counters.

“No they knew you had a daughter. But her name and her face were mainly out of the picture.” Pepper takes a deep breath. “Guess I know what my day will be focused on.”

“I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry.” Tony says pushing off from the mattress. He wants to hug both females that are upset with him but doesn’t know which to go after first. You, definitely you. “Kiddo, I just had to share with the world how much I loved you. I didn’t think what tagging you would do. I’m sorry.” He pulls you into his arms. “Forgive me?” He asks.

“Yeah I guess so. Except that now everyone knows for sure that I’m related to you.”

“I’ll up security if I have to. You’ll remain safe. I promise you that.” He says into your hair. “I do have to steal Happy from you for the next few days. He’ll take you to school today, but one of the other security people will pick you up. I’ll have Happy text you who it will be after we know for sure.”

“Fine, if you have too.” You step out of your dad’s arms. “I have to go get ready for school. Try not to expose anything else about me online while I do that ok?” You tease him.

“Cross my heart.” He promises.

Permanent tag list: @wormonastringonastick

Becoming A Stark Tag list: @persephonehemingway  @iamaunicorn4704  @furiouspockettoad  @daughter-of-stark  @eternalharry  @huntective-kyeo @riiis-stuff @sunnyoongles @cosmicqueenieb @sovereignparker @bbarnestan 

[calmlftv]

open mic night (pt. 1) - l.h. blurb

description: a fateful meeting in a coffee shop. part 1 of a 3 part series.

word count: 2.3k

warnings: honestly this is just straight fluff 

w/n: happy birthday to the bubba! i’ve been sitting on this for a while and what better day to post than today. enjoy! 

taglist: @spicycal​ @castaway-cashton​ @irwinkitten​ @n-ctarinenga​ @notinthesameguey​ @blackbutterfliescal​ @ashtonsos​ @loveroflrh​ @bestyearssos​ @treatallwithkindness​ @bestyearslftv​ @another-lonely-heart​

****

“Sweetheart, can you please let daddy dress you?”

Luke had reached the point of begging, his daughter laying on the changing table and wiggling far too much to make this easy for him. He sighed, his daughter giggling and staring at him with those beautiful blues that he had passed on to her, the color crystal clear as she drooled over the teething toy she was gnawing on. 

The day had been absolutely dreadful, knocking out the wind from Luke’s lungs as it delivered countless punches to his gut. It started with his call from his ex, the shrill ringing of his phone waking him up from the brief amount of sleep he had gotten the night before. He thought he was prepared to have his daughter but her teething phase had been draining to him, and ever since his ex up and left him and Cecilia, he had been forced to navigate all the new territory on his own. 

Being a dad was his greatest joy, but he had his moments of weakness. Like now. 

His phone trilled in his pocket, the sound jolting Cecilia and making her drop her toy. Almost immediately the water works started, Luke groaned as he answered the phone with a snap. 

“Hello?” He said, taking a deep breath to calm himself down as he picked up the toy and waved it in front of his daughter’s face. 

“Sound like you’re having fun,” came Calum’s gentle voice, Luke’s best friend and confidant. 

Luke sighed again, setting the toy down to the side as his daughter continued to cry. He pressed the phone between his shoulder and ear, his hands quickly moving to dress her as she finally let him manipulate her limbs. 

“A joyous one,” he mumbled, picking up Cecilia and holding her against his chest as he bounced in place. He rubbed her back as Calum spoke again, teeth dragging over his lip ring as he comforted the child. 

“Think you’ll still be ready on time?” 

“Yeah, should be,” he said, quickly moving to the kitchen to grab a clean paci before giving it to his girl, her mouth immediately sucking on it as she finally calmed down. 

On the other side Calum chuckled, no doubt hearing the quiet whimpers from his niece as she settled against Luke’s chest, his lips pressing a sweet kiss to her hair. 

“She refused a nap again?” Cal asked softly, knowing the amount of stress on his friend. 

Luke nodded, shifting so one hand was holding his phone while the other held his daughter against him. “Yup,” he answered, Cecilia’s whines quieting down as Luke moved around the house. “This is day four now that she hasn’t wanted a nap. I’ve tried everything, I don’t know what to do.” 

His best friend sighed, heart breaking a bit at the desperation in his friend’s voice. “Sorry, mate. I’ll ask Joy, see what she could recommend.” 

Luke nodded, relief moving through him as he relaxed. His eyes glanced at his daughter just in time to see her eyes close, breathing evening out as he smiled a bit. “Thanks, man, I appreciate it. Listen, Cici’s asleep, I’m gonna put her down and finish getting ready. See you at the shop?” 

“You know it.”

With that Luke hung up, carrying his daughter to the small carrier he had gotten ready earlier in the day. He gently and carefully set her down inside it, covering her in her blankie and resting her stuffy on her lap before smiling, her tiny and quiet frame settling in as Luke kept his eye on her, wandering around the room and packing everything together before moving everything to the car. 

** 

You pulled into the parking lot, late as usual, and quickly gathered your song book, running out of your car into the rainy evening. You flung open the trunk door and grabbed your ukulele, flinging the soft case over your shoulder before shutting and locking your car and walking into the coffee shop. 

Thankfully no one turned towards you as you stepped inside, everybody chatting as a blonde man set up his stuff on the small stage. Your eyes moved around the room until they landed on Ashton, his dark hair falling in his face a bit as he sat at a table and chatted with somebody else standing beside him. 

“Hey,” you greeted warmly as you stepped over to him, leaning down to hug him as his other friend stepped back. 

Ashton beamed when he saw you, your childhood best friend ending the conversation with the other person as he turned towards you. “Hey yourself,” he teased, motioning for you to join him. You sat down, setting things on the table while Ashton gestured to the barista at the counter, the woman nodding and bringing over a hot cup of tea that had to have been waiting for you. 

“Late again?” He asked, the answer already lighting up his eyes as his gaze met yours. You sighed, running a hand through your hair as you checked the time on your phone. 

You groaned and sat back against your seat, your back bouncing against the chair. “Dalton wouldn’t let me leave,” you said, eyes fixed on the cup in front of you as Ashton stared at you. You blushed deeply and dropped your hands to your lap, eyes moving to fix on them as you played with the rings around your fingers. “Said if I wanted to go I had to clean the bathrooms, and when I mouthed off he got on the phone with his wife, and that’s when I left.”

Ashton sighed, sipping at the drink he had as you talked about your boss. “Isn’t that where-” 

“Can we not talk about this?” You interrupted, sitting up and shaking the thoughts from your head. “This is supposed to be fun, remember? Just the two of us hanging out?” 

Ash smiled and nodded, a clearing throat directing your attention to the stage. The blonde man that had been setting up was sitting on a stool, a guitar in his hands and a smile on his face. Your eyes took in his face, a bit of scruff along his jaw and a beanie covering most of his blonde hair. A bit of it was falling into his face, a black lip ring clinging to the corner of his mouth as the most gorgeous blue eyes you’ve ever seen pierced through the crowd. Call it cheesy, but you felt like you were the only one in the room as you stared at the handsome stranger, his hands resting casually and comfortably over his guitar. 

“Hello, everybody,” he greeted warmly. “My name’s Luke, and I’d like to thank you all for coming out to the first Firebird Open Mic Night.” 

The crowd politely applauded, the screaming giggle of a child making everybody laugh a bit. The man’s eyes darted over to a man with bleached hair, a beaming little girl standing on his lap as she clapped.

“Thank you. This first one’s called Falling.” 

The audience settled in, some people keeping their eyes trained on Luke as his smooth voice melted over the words of Harry Styles while others had quiet conversations at their tables. Your eyes were firmly locked on the man performing before you, his voice hypnotic as his fingers danced along the neck of his guitar. For some reason you were fixed on him, everything around you falling away while you lost yourself in this handsome stranger and his music. 

When he was finished performing you applauded him, the man thanking everyone again before climbing down from the stage. Everybody had already gone back to their conversations but you were watching as he immediately moved towards the little girl, grinning as he scooped her up from the other man's lap and peppered her in kisses, a shrieking giggle coming from her as she reached out to touch his face. 

You smiled at the sight, tearing your eyes away as Ashton cleared his throat. “Have you talked to Jenn about Dalton yet?”

You groaned again as he brought it up. “And tell her what, that her good Christian husband is a creep who’s trying to grope me?” You lifted the tea and took a sip, leaning your head against your hand as you set the cup back down. “I need this job, Ashton.” 

“I know,” he said softly, reaching over to gently tap your chin with his finger. You looked up as he smiled at you, taking your hand and giving it a squeeze. “But you deserve better than this. At the very least, a better job where your boss won’t try to fuck you every time you bend over to clean or pick up the kids.” 

A sigh escaped you as you pulled your hand away. “I know, but I love their kids, and nannies are practically obsolete in this town. Besides, I only have to deal with him when he comes home.” 

Ashton sighed as you rationalized, shaking his head as he took a sip of his drink. A tall body passed by the two of you, something falling and bouncing against your foot, the light tap alerting you to something being by it. 

“Cecilia, please don’t throw your paci,” a voice pleaded as you picked up a little pacifier. You smiled as you looked up at the stranger, Luke’s blue eyes staring back as he smiled back at you. 

“Sorry about that, I guess she really wanted to say hi,” he said shyly, the little girl wiggling around in his arms as he tried to keep her still and failed. 

“No, it’s no problem,” you giggled, standing up. “Um, hang on, I can rinse this first.” 

Luke gave you a confused look but nodded, watching as you walked to the bathroom and propped open the door to give him full view of what you were doing. You quickly ran the paci under some warm water and pat it dry with a paper towel, closing the bathroom door behind you as you carried it back out to him. 

“Here you go,” you said cheerily, handing the paci to Luke as the baby got a bit fussier. “I’m y/n, by the way. You were really good up there.” 

Luke smiled, handing his baby the paci as she continued to wiggle around. “Thank you, this little wiggle worm being here definitely helped.”

You grinned, eyes moving to the little girl. “Aw, someone just doesn’t want to settle, huh?” 

“No, she definitely doesn’t,” Luke chuckled, adjusting his daughter until she finally settled against his chest and rubbed her face against his shirt. “She’s a handful most days, if I’m honest, and it doesn’t help that she just started teething. It’s just the two of us and I’m way out of my element.” 

His words tugged at your heart, smile faltering just a bit. “Um, well, have you tried freezing her teething toys?” His blank stare answered your question. “You should try that, just to help cool and soothe her gums a little bit. And a lot of baby orajel.”

Luke looked at you, an eyebrow raised but a smile on his face. “Thank you,” he said kindly, his smile warm. “Do you have kids, too?” 

You smiled. “Oh no, I’m just a nanny,” you clarified, nodding as you turned to your songbook. You flipped it open to a blank page and ripped out a corner, taking a pen and writing down your phone number to hand to him. “If you, um, ever have any questions, or just need a friend, feel free to text or call or anything.” 

Luke looked at the paper in your hand and then met your eyes, smiling as he took it and put it in his pocket. “Cute and bold, I like that,” he said, a teasing tone to his voice as you blushed. “I have to go sit down, but thank you, y/n. You can definitely expect a text soon.”

You smiled and nodded, your hands shaping into finger guns as you sat back down and Luke walked away. A blush burned your cheeks as you turned to Ashton, the man stunned as he looked at you. 

“Did you just do finger guns to a cute man and his infant child?” 

“Yes, I’m an embarrassment.” 

Ashton laughed at how flustered you were, the sound filling the room as you buried your face into your hands. Thankfully, the rest of the night passed by with less than minor incidents, you getting up to sing before having to leave a bit early. 

Ashton hugged you tightly before saying goodbye, watching you leave the shop and get to your car to make sure you made it okay. When you got in you took a breath, about to start your car when a ding sounded from the phone in your pocket.

Shaking it out of your coat, you looked at the screen, a smile on your cheeks as two texts appeared. One was a photo of a cup of coffee, your name written on it in sloppy writing and a small, blurry hand reaching for it. 

Thank you for the advice, the following text read. Would love to have some coffee with you when you’re free next. -Luke 

The grin that spread across your face was unstoppable, every fiber of your being absolutely beaming as you read the text over again. The fact that he wanted to see you after your slightly awkward interaction was a good enough sign for you, your thumbs tapping and nails clicking against the screen as you sent a positive response back. For the first time in forever, you were excited to get through work and have it be over, just so you could see this handsome stranger and his baby again. 

When you got back to your apartment you collapsed on to your bed, letting out a content sigh as you curled up against the pillows. After your long day of childcare and creepy parents and handsome fathers, you were exhausted, being responsible enough to turn your alarms on before you drifted off to sleep, dreaming of your next meeting with Luke. 

[hookedonapirate]

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Summary: Detective Killian Jones took an indefinite leave of absence from SBPD after his brother was murdered in the Line of Duty. Bitter and broken, he resides in a cottage on the beach when his brother's former partner, David Nolan brings him a case he knows the vengeful detective won’t be able to resist. A case involving Liam's killer.  

Dr. Emma Swan makes all of her decisions like she operates on her patients—with care, competence and compassion. But when her colleague, Graham Humbert, is murdered in cold blood by the man who was freed because of a decision she made as a juror, she starts second-guessing herself. To make matters worse, her squeaky clean reputation is being questioned when she becomes a suspect for Graham’s murder.

There is one detective who believes she’s innocent, and he has a plan to protect Emma and find his brother's killer at the same time. When Killian finds himself caught between his duties to the SBPD and his need for vengeance, matters are only complicated by the feelings he develops for the woman he's supposed to protect.

He's impulsive and hot-tempered, and she's methodical and cool under pressure. Despite their differences, can they work together to bring the murderer to justice, or will the murderer get to them first?

A/N: Many thanks go to @ultraluckycatnd for her wonderful beta-ing skills and @onceuponaprincessworld as always for her encouragement and letting me bounce ideas off of her.

Rated: Explicit due to mature language, character death, violence, murder and smut. The scenes won’t be too graphic, but I’d rather overrate than underrate it.

Catch up: Pro I Ch 1

Chapter 2

Five days later...

  Her eyes sting painfully as she stares at the folded scrub cap printed with green shamrocks one last time before she places it on the metal casket that holds her colleague. She sets a red rose on top of the cap and steps back, wiping the tears from her cheeks with her hand before someone hands her a tissue.

  She turns to her head and smiles at an elderly lady who had earlier told her she’d been one of his patients. “Thank you.”

  Emma had retrieved the scrub cap when she’d gathered the strength to clean out his locker yesterday. She got it for him a few years ago as a gag gift at the hospital’s annual Christmas party. Knowing Graham's sense of humor fairly well, she had strategically chosen the one with green shamrocks because she knew he would get a kick out of it, rather than take offense. She was right, and not only did he get a good laugh, but he also claimed it as his lucky scrub cap. 

  Cleaning out his locker was one of the most difficult things she’s ever had to do, and that’s saying something since she'd performed many surgeries and occasionally has to deliver grievous news to the family of her patients. 

  Wiping her tears with the tissue, she catches a glimpse of the bootlace she’d unlaced from one of his boots and tied around her wrist. While most of the surgeons at the hospital wore clogs, he preferred boots because he said the operating room was a battlefield so he wanted to be prepared for the guts and gore that sometimes escaped during surgery. 

  Emma still can’t believe he’s gone. No more friendly sparring, no more friendly bickering about who’s the better surgeon, no more trying to mock his accent, but miserably failing. No more Graham Humbert. 

  His death was not only shocking but came way too soon. He was too young. Way too young. He was only thirty-eight. And on top of that, he was murdered in cold blood. Someone showed up to Storybrooke General, snuck past the security and drove a blade into Graham’s heart.

  The last time she saw him was the night he was murdered, when they were standing outside the bar, when he kissed her cheek. She had no idea when she said goodbye to him that night, she was saying goodbye to him for the last time.

  She returns to the hospital for her post-op patients after the funeral, relieved to replace her high heels for crocs, but unfortunately doesn’t have time to change out of her dress. She hates dressing up, and even though she wore a skirt every day in the courtroom, she couldn’t justify throwing on something casual, and instead wanted to put some effort into her attire for her friend, so she wore a dress to the funeral. 

  Emma is still reeling from his death, as is everyone who knew him. There was a large turnout at his funeral. He was well-liked and highly respected. And he was good at what he did. He wouldn't have been appointed Chief of Surgery if he weren't. After checking on her post-op patients, she briefs three others for their surgeries tomorrow morning. 

  The sky is pitch black when she finally leaves the hospital and strides across the parking lot to her car. She continuously peeks over her shoulder with an eerie feeling in the pit of her stomach. She glances over at the guard on duty, but it doesn't make her feel any more at ease considering a murder took place five days ago even though a different guard had been keeping a vigilant eye out. She’d heard he took some time off after he found Graham dead in the parking lot. The reminder of that horrible tragedy fills Emma with dread.

  After safely making it inside her car, she releases a breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding.  She has crossed this parking lot hundreds, probably thousands of times and never once has she ever looked over her shoulder… until she found out Graham was murdered in this same parking lot. 

By the time she pulls into her garage that night, she’s bone-tired after a long, emotionally draining day. She’d performed her morning rounds and two surgeries before the funeral that thankfully went smoothly. She’s so glad she didn’t have to break any bad news to anyone today because that would’ve made the funeral much more difficult to handle. In hindsight, she probably should’ve moved each surgery to a future date, but she’d already rescheduled them once before because of the ten days she served as a juror and didn’t want to further inconvenience her patients. She knew Graham would have understood.

  Emma trudges through the kitchen door from the garage, scanning the mail she’d retrieved from her mailbox before she’d pulled into her driveway. She’s ready to crawl into bed after a long, dreary day—no, after the long, dreary few weeks she’s had—but first, she needs to wind down. She could definitely use a hot cup of cocoa. So as soon as she deposits her bag and mail on the table, she makes a cup of hot cocoa, but not from the powdered stuff. 

  She boils fresh ingredients on the stove and adds some milk to the pot before removing it from the heat and adding vanilla extract. She whisks the mixture until it’s frothy and pours the beverage into a mug, but she purposely doesn’t choose her World’s Best Surgeon mug she received from Graham on her thirty-eighth birthday. It’s her favorite mug, but it’s too soon. Maybe after the shock of his death wanes, she’ll be able to use it again without breaking down into tears, but right now she just can’t. She turns the mug around so the words are facing the back of the cabinet, and she grabs a mug with kittens printed on it instead. 

  After adding cinnamon and whipped cream, she grabs her phone from her purse, sipping her delicious beverage as she checks her notifications, one being a reminder for Anna and Kristoff’s wedding. It’s next Saturday evening, which is doable, but having to dress up is just one of the many reasons why she doesn’t enjoy going to weddings. 

  Everyone’s always ragging on her about never accepting invitations to social gatherings though, especially her cousins, Anna and Elsa. Despite living with the sisters for five years, she became estranged from them after she went off to college. Now she barely sees them at all because she’s always working. She’s missed so many Thanksgivings and Christmases, it would be odd to show up to one of their family gatherings now. But they’re right. She should get out more. 

  Hard work and no play, topped with the trial and her colleague’s death has pretty much drained all the life out of her, and she could use an escape. Actually, what she could use is some time on her ranch with her horses. Her home away from home is an hour outside of Storybrooke where Kristoff owns a neighboring ranch, and he and his fiance take care of Emma's horses when she’s in Storybrooke. That’s about the only interaction she has with Anna these days—when she calls to ask about her horses and the ranch. She hasn’t even told her cousins about the trial she was a juror on.

  Emma grumbles under her breath when she listens to a voice message from Detective Nolan who’d questioned her and everyone Graham worked with attending the celebration at the bar the night he was murdered. The detective got her number from the hospital, which she is not happy about. Now he wants to meet with her to discuss Graham’s murder, even after she told him everything she knows, so it’s a complete waste of his time. And hers.

  After finding no urgent messages or calls, she goes to her living room and looks up from her phone screen. Her heart leaps out of her chest and the air leaves her lungs so quickly, the mug falls from her hands, and the ceramic breaks into pieces when it crashes to the hardwood floor. She clutches the phone to her chest after almost dropping it as well. Normally she'd be quick to clean up the mess; she’d hate the idea of leaving her floor sticky for the housekeeper to clean up and have her shoes stained from hot chocolate as the dark brown liquid pools around her feet, but she’s too focused on what's on her coffee table to peel her eyes away.

  An enormous bouquet of long-stemmed red roses in a crystal glass vase.

  “What the fuck?”

  She’s frozen in place, her face draining of color. Not only is it a very rare occurrence for her to receive roses or romantic gifts of any kind, but someone has broken into her home to give them to her. Her heart is pounding as she scans the room. Nothing else in the living room is amiss, but the thought of someone breaking into her home makes her skin crawl. 

  She stares at the fifty roses for a long time, her mind reeling with how or why someone broke into her home to deliver the flowers. It’s not her birthday, and even if it were, no one else has a key to her home, except for her housekeeper. Perhaps Johanna was here when the roses were delivered and brought them in. Yes, that’s a perfectly reasonable explanation of how the roses ended up on her coffee table. 

  Except her housekeeper would have mentioned it to her or sent a text or something so Emma would not be freaked out like she is right now. And it still doesn’t explain the reason for the roses in the first place. The roses look expensive; the vase looks expensive. Someone went all out just to gain her attention, but who? And why? She’s currently single, very single , and hasn’t had so much as a one-night stand or a dalliance in a very long time. 

  Perhaps the roses are from a grateful patient? But no one except family and a few friends know her home address. If this were five days prior, she would've suspected Graham after he'd kissed her cheek. He's one of the few people who knew her address. But he never would've broken into her home to give them to her.

  After recovering from the initial shock, she’s able to move again, willing her feet to step forward and warily make the trek around her couch to the coffee table. There’s a silk red ribbon wrapped around the top of the vase, tied into a large, perfect bow. The sight of a blank, white envelope tucked into the foliage behind the bow catches her eye. 

  Hoping there’s a reasonable explanation for the roses and possible break-in, she reaches for the envelope, and with trembling hands—hands that have worked miracles and saved lives, hands that are normally steady under intense pressure—she removes a card from the envelope and reads the fancy calligraphy used on six typed words.

  I’ve got a crush on you.

  Goosebumps cover her skin and she shivers, almost dropping the card. 

  Who the hell would be sending her flowers and an anonymous note, declaring their affection for her? 

  She calls Johanna, desperately hoping the roses were delivered and that her housekeeper is the one who brought them into her home and not some psycho who broke in.

  “Hi, Johanna, sorry to call so late,” Emma mumbles through the phone, her voice shaking slightly. She’s normally cool under pressure, but the roses and card have certainly gotten under her skin, which she’s guessing was the intention behind the gifts.

  “It’s no problem. I haven’t made it to bed yet. What can I do for you?”

  “Did I receive a delivery while you were here today?”

  “No, ma’am. Were you expecting something?”

  Fuck.

  Then who the hell broke into her house? 

  “Um… yes,” she lies, not wanting to concern her housekeeper. “I was on the lookout for a small package I ordered a couple weeks ago.”

  “Did you track the package?”

  “Yes, it's due to arrive soon.”

  “Well, if it arrives while I’m here, I’ll be sure to bring it in and leave it on the kitchen table so you’ll see it when you come home.”

  “Thank you, I appreciate that.”

  “No problem. How are you doing? The funeral was today, wasn’t it?”

  Emma closes her eyes, breathing slowly, her heart cracking at the mention of Graham’s funeral. “Yes, it was. I’m doing okay, I suppose. It was all just very shocking.”

  “I can imagine. You shouldn’t stay at home alone after losing a friend, you know? You should stay with someone, at least for a few days.”

  Emma smiles faintly at her housekeeper’s concern. “I’ll be okay. Just need some sleep is all.”

  “Make sure you eat something first. You shouldn’t go to bed on an empty stomach. But I don’t have to tell you that, you’re the doctor,” she teases.

  “You know me too well, Johanna,” Emma remarks with a small laugh.

  “I’ve known you to miss a meal or two,” Johanna points out in a motherly tone. She’s not wrong. Working as much as she does, Emma tends to forget to eat.

  “I’m actually about to make myself a grilled cheese sandwich,” she lies again. Though toasted bread and gooey cheese in the middle does sound appealing, her stomach’s all twisted in knots. She’s too freaked out to even shove anything into her mouth right now.

  “Good, I’ll let you get to it then. Enjoy the rest of your evening, Emma.”

  “Thanks, you too.”

  Emma ends the call and stares at the note again for a good five minutes. Then she searches her house for any more unwanted gifts but finds nothing. She examines her front and back door and all the windows for any signs of forcible entry, but there are none. She even checks the closets, under her bed and in her bathtub to see if whoever broke in is still there; but even after she finds no one, she still has an uneasy feeling in her gut. Whoever broke in could very well do it again. 

  She briefly wonders if she should call the police, but what would she even tell them—someone broke into my house just to give me flowers and leave a note to tell me they have a crush on me? It sounds too ridiculous, they’d probably laugh in her face. Though the gifts and the fact that this person found out where she lives are probably grounds for having a stalker, it could also be a practical joke. But the only person she can think of who would pull such an awful prank on her is… well, he’s dead. 

  She disposes of the roses in the trash, but stores the vase in the cupboard and places the card in her nightstand drawer in case she needs to present the items as evidence for having a stalker on her hands. But she's not sure how helpful the items would be considering the words were typed and the card was unsigned with no name or any other indication of whom the flowers or card came from.

  Still on edge, Emma cleans the mess she'd made. Then she takes a shower, changes into her nightgown and slips into bed. But she highly doubts she’s getting any sleep tonight.

  ~*~

  “On the night Dr. Humbert was murdered, you were at the Rabbit Hole with him, correct?” 

  “Along with several other people there that night, yes,” Emma replies in a narked tone. She came here to the police station after her morning surgeries because Detective Nolan insisted on interviewing her even though he'd already questioned her after Graham's death.

  “Have you questioned them to this extent?” her lawyer, Mr. Hopper chimes in.

  “I’ve questioned them, yes,” Detective Nolan answers without confirming exactly who he questioned and to what extent. “Did you go to the Rabbit Hole alone?” 

  Emma nods. “That’s right.” 

  “I understand there was a celebration at the bar that night. What was the reason for the celebration?” 

  “We were celebrating Graham’s promotion to chief of surgery.” 

  “And how did you feel about his promotion?” 

  “I was happy for him,” Emma replies sincerely, though it's delivered in a flat, emotionless tone due to her lack of patience and because she's not happy about the insinuations of the question. 

  “Mhmm,” Detective Nolan hums before taking a sip of his coffee. “You were also under consideration for that position, weren’t you, Dr. Swan?” 

  “I was. And I deserved to get it.” 

  Mr. Nolan's brows climb his forehead, his eyes flashing with intrigue. “More than Dr. Humbert did?” 

  “In my opinion, yes,” she replies calmly. “He deserved the position as well, but I deserved it more.”

  Mr. Hopper raises a cautionary hand to stop her from continuing. “Dr. Swan, I highly—” 

  “I’m only telling the truth,” she states, cutting him off as she crosses her arms over her chest and glares at the detective. “But I’m sure you regard being denied a job promotion as a motive for murder, don’t you Detective Nolan?” 

  He looks her dead in the eye. “I don’t believe you killed anyone, Dr. Swan.” 

  “Then why did you request this interview?” 

  “Because you failed to mention the promotion when I first questioned you.”

  “It was irrelevant.”

  “Maybe so, but it doesn't hurt to go over anything I might have missed the first time around. You also failed to tell me you left with Dr. Humbert that night. Is that true?”

  “I didn’t leave with him,” she states defensively. “He walked me to my car and then went back inside.”

  “And that was it? He only walked you to your car? Were there any words exchanged?”

  “I congratulated him and we hugged,” Emma tells him. She doesn’t deem it necessary to mention the kiss on the cheek, but in case someone had witnessed the kiss, she doesn’t want the detective to think she’s withholding any other information. “He also kissed me on the cheek and we said goodnight. Then I got in my car, watched him walk into the bar and drove away.”

  “Was there anything romantic going on between you and Dr. Humbert, casual or otherwise?”

  She shakes her head. “No, there was not. We were friends who’ve known each other since we were residents, that was it.”

  He nods, seeming to accept her answer and moves on to the next question. “Did you go home immediately after you left?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is there anyone to corroborate that?”

  “No.”

  “Did you go anywhere else that evening?”

  “No, I had to work the next morning, so I went straight to bed. And no, no one can corroborate that either.”

  The detective throws her a few more questions before bringing up the trial she served as a juror on, which infuriates her because the trial had nothing to do with Graham’s murder. 

  “Yes, I served on the jury that acquitted Mr. Gold.”

  “And were you or were you not the forewoman?”

  “I was,” she replies with a tight smile. “But you already knew that. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have asked.”

  He nods. “That’s correct. I’ve already interviewed the other eleven jurors.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I believe Dr. Humbert’s killer was hired. He wasn’t robbed, and he has no known adversaries… other than you, Dr. Swan.”

  His remark rattles her, not only because the detective is accusing her of being Graham’s adversary or because of the implications his statement carries, but because he believes someone was hired to murder Graham. 

  She explains she made a decision after exploring every facet of the case. The evidence was entirely circumstantial, the defendant could not be placed at the scene of the crime and he had an alibi. She also has to elucidate to Detective Nolan she doesn’t believe the defendant was innocent, only that she was not convinced he was guilty. And yes, she had persuaded the other eleven jurors to vote for the acquittal, but after two days of deliberation, each juror voted according to his or her own conscience.

  After everyone in the interrogation room agrees there is nothing further to ask, Emma heads back to the hospital, still reeling from what David had said about Graham’s murder being a contract kill.

  Her mind drifts to the roses and the card she’d received the night prior. She thinks about how the defendant—an accused contract killer—kept staring at her in the courtroom. It was creepy, disturbing, just as breaking into her home to leave roses and a note that says, I’ve got a crush on you was creepy and disturbing.

  Could Neal Gold be the one who broke in and left the roses and card? 

  The thought makes Emma physically ill. 

  Once Emma returns to the hospital, she trades in her red blazer for a white lab coat and checks on her post-op patients. Tired of wearing skirts and dresses, she put on her red, two-piece suit of amour for her interview that morning.

  She's called on to perform three emergency procedures, which include treating an intestinal obstruction, a strangulated hernia and a perforated ulcer. Immediately following each procedure, she speaks with the patient’s loved ones to report on the condition of the patient and to explain the procedure she’d done. She makes notations in the charts of her post-op patients.

  When she’s done, she returns the charts to Tamara, the nurse on duty. “Please page me if any of these patients take a downward turn.”

  “Certainly, Dr. Swan,” she says with a smile. “So, has the board made you Chief yet?”

  The question takes Emma off guard. The last thing on her mind is a promotion. “Um… no, but even if they offered me the position, I couldn’t possibly take it. It would just feel wrong to benefit from Dr. Humbert’s death.”

  Tamara nods. “That’s very noble of you. But even so, I hope you get it, Dr. Swan. You deserve it.”

  Emma is stunned by Tamara’s words. She had no idea the nurse had thought so highly of her. “Thank you,” she says with a tired smile. “Have a good night.”

  “You too.”

  Emma turns around and heads for the elevator. As she leaves the building, the buzz from her phone breaks through the ominous silence of the night. She grabs the device from her purse, seeing it’s from a restricted number. Reluctantly she answers the phone, bringing it to her ear with furrowed brows. “Hello?”

  There’s silence on the other end as Emma makes her way across the parking lot, but then she can hear someone breathing heavily into the phone.

  “Hi, Emma.”

  She halts in her tracks, wild-eyed at the whispered voice on the other line. “Who is this?”

  “Oh, come now, Ems, don't you recognize my voice?” he says, as though they’re best friends. “We spent almost two weeks in the same room together.”

  Emma sucks in a sharp breath and frantically searches the parking lot for any signs of him, heart pounding in her ear. Spotting her car several feet ahead, she bolts for it while trying not to draw too much attention from the guard. When she gets in her car and locks the doors, she manages a faint whisper. “Gold?” 

  He chuckles. “So, you do remember me? I knew you would.”

  Of course she does. She’d recognized his voice immediately but was desperately hoping it wasn’t true. The way his dark eyes connected with hers in court made her skin crawl. How could anyone forget him? 

  “And baby doll, please, call me Neal.” 

  Emma cringes and her stomach turns. “How did you get my number?”

  “Let’s just say I have connections. Did you like the roses?”

  Her heart skips several beats, then restarts, pounding double-time. Now that she knows the roses were from him, she wants to pretend she doesn't know what he's talking about, but since he had placed them inside her house, there’s no way she hadn’t seen them. “How the hell did you get into my house?”

  Gold laughs, this time more loudly, more sinister-like. “Please, Ems, getting into your house was child’s play to me.”

  “And why’s that?” she challenges, even knowing he won’t take the bait. He’s incredibly clever and resourceful, otherwise he couldn’t have escaped prosecution for all his misdeeds, including the most recent murder he’d been tried for. 

  “I thought you’d like red roses, baby doll, since you wore red lipstick every day of the trial,” he comments, completely evading her question. “I like your red suit by the way, the color compliments your complexion.”

  Emma clenches her jaw, and her fingers grip around the steering wheel so tightly, her knuckles turn white. She scans the parking lot from her car. Not only did he break into her house but he's following her too? What the actual fuck. “Stop calling me baby doll. Or Ems. In fact, stop calling me at all. I’m hanging up now, Mr. Gold.”

  “Wait, please don’t. I only wanted to thank you,” he says in a gentle voice, bordering on sweet, but she won’t go so far to admit that.

  “Thank me? For what?” she demands, growing agitated. No, she’s beyond agitated. Ever since this fucker showed up in her life, her world has been in complete disarray, from the trial to Graham's murder to the unwanted gifts to the scrutiny from the police department and now this.

  “I wanted to thank you for saving my life.”

  “I didn’t save your life,” Emma snaps.

  “Oh, you did, baby doll. If it weren’t for you, I’d be on death row.”

  “I did nothing. A jury of twelve made the verdict,” she clarifies. It feels like she’s had to clarify that a lot lately.

  “Maybe so, but one of your fellow jurors said you led the campaign for my acquittal. She said you argued for my side and that your arguments were inspired and… passionate,” he says as though he’s speaking to a lover. “You have no idea how badly I want to touch you… thank you properly.”

  Emma’s pretty sure she’s going to vomit all over her front seats. “In your dreams, you creep. Now fuck off.” She ends the call and throws her phone into the passenger seat like it had burned her. 

  She squirms and flails her arms as though large, disgusting rats are crawling all over her, and she gags. She wants to go home as quickly as possible so she can strip off her clothes and burn them. She feels sick, beads of sweat dotting her forehead, heart pounding erratically as she starts her car and takes a deep breath like she’s preparing for an intricate, life-threatening surgery. 

  Now she’s glad she didn’t report the break-in to the police because if they find out Neal is her secret admirer, it might raise red flags; it might be just another reason for the detectives to point a finger at her for the involvement of Graham’s murder. 

  Oh god.

  Something occurs to her, hitting her like a brick. Gold said one of the jurors told him how passionately Emma argued his side. Which means she probably told Nolan the same thing when he interviewed her.

  Even though Archie had tried to assure her the detective’s insinuations and persistence were standard police tactics, there are two questions that have been gnawing at her since the interview, other than whether or not it was Gold who broke into her house. Questions that make her skin crawl.

  Does Detective Nolan actually consider her a suspect? And does he think she hired Gold to murder Graham Humbert?

A/N: For those of you who are wondering when Killian will appear, he's introduced in the next chapter, so sit tight. I will be posting chapter 3 next week. Thanks for reading!

Take a peek at the next chapter: Chapter 3 Sneak Peek

Tagging some people who have shown interest so far. If you would like to be tagged or untagged, please let me know.

@itsfabianadocarmo​ @snowbellewells​ @ilovemesomekillianjones​ @nikkiemms @teamhook @xhookswenchx @nikkiemms @xsajx @julesep3026 @hookedmom @biefaless @cluttermind @yasbio2015 @kmomof4 @lfh1226-linda @harshini01 @noensnaringnet @xarandomdreamx @onceuponaprincessworld @annastasiarinaldiva @royalswan @brustudyblog @officerrogers @gingerchangeling @melly326 @singersdd @mzbossyboots @unworried-corsair @iamemmaswanjones @authorarsinoe @kingofmyheart14 @nightskylover @jamif @resident-of-storybrooke @iam2307 @winterbaby89 @xhookswenchx @chinawoodfan @mormonkryptonite @ultraluckycatnd @captainswan-shipper88 @killianswanjones @bethdacattfm @andiirivera

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: The Rebellion of Adrien Agreste, ch. 11

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Luka Couffaine, Lila Rossi/karma, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/aneurism, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Plagg & Tikki

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Lila Rossi, Jagged Stone, Plagg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine, Penny Rolling, Anarka Couffaine, Rose Lavillant, Juleka Couffaine, Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire, Chloé Bourgeois, Wayhem, Nadja Chamack, Nathalie Sancoeur, Sabine Cheng, Tom Dupain, Tikki, Fang, Principal Damocles, Caline Bustier, Ms. Mendeleiev, original minor character, Alec Cataldi, Lila Rossi’s Mother, Sabrina Raincomprix, Roger Raincomprix, Mylène Haprèle, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste’s Bodyguard, Nino Lahiffe, Nooroo

Tags: Lila Rossi salt, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Teenage Rebellion, Swearing, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Crack Treated Seriously, Lila Rossi’s Lies Are Exposed, Cuddling & Snuggling, Luka Couffaine Needs a Hug, Paparazzi, Parentification, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Gabriel Agreste Needs an Aneurism, Uncle Jagged Stone, we’re all queer here, the spirit of punk is sometimes just being allowed to be yourself, Kagami Finds Her Groove, punk rock fashion, Savage Kagami, Marinette protection squad, Good Parent Sabine Cheng, Good Parent Tom Dupain, Protective Kagami Tsurugi, Protective Luka Couffaine, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pansexual Luka Couffaine, Sharing a Bed, Pet Names, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Instagram, Bullying, Social Media, Anxiety, Makeover, Hugs, will cure your acne, Face Punching, Bad Ass Juleka Couffaine, Rumors, Protective Juleka Couffaine, Protective Adrien Agreste, Lawyers, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Holding Hands, accountability, mental health, Jagged Stone’s well-paid pet shark, How to Make the Evening News, Sexy eyeliner for days, one fish two fish Lila is a screwed fish, How to have fun and piss Gabriel off, Fuckery, sweet litigious karma, Alya sugar, lawyer shark doo doo doo doo doo doo, Schadenfreude, Bad Ass Alya Césaire, Gaslighting, abuse denormalization, Jagged likes his lawyers like he likes his pets: toothy af, Blood in the Water, Everything you didn’t know you wanted and some things you did, Gabriel Agreste is shark bait, Denial, Consequences, Principal Damocles salt, caline bustier salt, the impotence of Gabriel Agreste, snarky Nooroo, lies and the lying liars who tell them, Lila’s brain is a narcissistic hellscape, Lila’s mind is built like an Escher piece, Alec Cataldi salt, Adrien Sugar, wholesome salt, Fu Salt, Kwami Shenanigans, Nooroo is a little shit

Summary: Snuggles and Pastries: An Interlude

Notes: Jagged ships it.

AO3 link

Chapters 1-2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10

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Adrien woke to find that he’d moved close enough to Luka in the night that they were snuggling, one of Luka’s arms over his chest, and Adrien’s head tucked against his chest. Their legs were tangled together. He’d never experienced this sort of thing before.

And it was wonderful.

Luka was warm and soft, and while Adrien was worried he’d be offended or embarrassed, he wasn’t inclined to move.

He was halfway back asleep when Luka’s phone alarm went off, and the other boy stirred.

Adrien felt him grope for the phone and the alarm silenced… but Luka didn’t move further, just settled back with a soft sigh.

Adrien figured it was only a matter of time before Luka woke further and pushed him away. He felt selfish as he stayed still and tried to enjoy the closeness.

Nino had once called him “touch-starved,” referring to how he liked being close to people, and he wasn’t wrong; having been starved of people and with an unaffectionate father did that, apparently. He craved it. An arm around the shoulder, hugs… anything, really. This, though, was a special sort of torture—accidental instead of on purpose, the sensation without the meaning.

“Why so tense?”

Luka’s voice was so unexpected Adrien couldn’t stop himself from jerking back, gasping.

“Shit.” Luka propped himself up on one elbow. “Didn’t mean to startle you. You okay?”

Adrien nodded. “Y-yeah. Sorry. I guess I snuggle in my sleep.”

That got a soft chuckle. “You aren’t the only one. Don’t worry about it.”

“I know, but…” he sighed. “I don’t want to cross your boundaries.”

“Hey, I like cuddling. It doesn’t have to mean anything sexual unless the participants want it to.” Luka smiled. “And anyway, it’ll give everyone the idea we want them to have.”

Adrien nodded. “Yeah. I just hope I’m not inconveniencing you. I mean… I know you’re interested in Mari, and if you’re fake-dating me, you can’t real-date her.”

Luka sighed softly. “Marinette’s heart is elsewhere, Adrien. And she may never see me the way I see her. And, anyway, I want to help you.”

“I know… but last night you said Mari does what you do—hides her feelings,” Adrien bit his lip. “I just… let me know if anything bothers you. Your feelings matter, too.”

The soft look Luka gave him made his heart flutter a bit.

“Thanks, mon étoile,” Luka murmured, pulling him into a warm hug. “It’s… not easy, but I’ll work on letting you know.”

This snuggling was real, and Adrien let himself relax, snaking one arm around Luka. He was drifting off again when Luka’s phone alarm went off again.

“Secondary alarm,” Luka told him. “We’ll have to get up if Jagged’s going to have time to do your kohl.”

Adrien grumbled, but grudgingly extracted his limbs from Luka’s. “Do you think it’s okay to wear the jeans I wore yesterday for photos?”

“Probably not. Wear one of the distressed pairs—it’ll piss your dad off more, you wearing clothes with holes in them.”

That got a giggle from the blond. “‘We are not paupers, Adrien. You will dress appropriately,’” he mocked, using an approximation of Gabriel’s voice. “That’ll be perfect for the media frenzy.”

After they’d gotten video of the three of them jamming and posted it to social media, Jagged had sent hotel staff to get pajamas for the two of them. Fortunately Chloé hadn’t started pounding on the door until after those were delivered, so they had all ignored her. Adrien hasn’t been ready to face her, or to put Luka through that. She could see him in the morning like the rest of Paris.

It didn’t take either of them long to dress, and then an espresso-chugging Jagged demonstrated on himself how to apply kohl before doing it for Adrien.

“Decided less is more for you,” the rocker said. “Just enough to make your eyes pop. Makes you look like… I dunno. Otherworldly or whatever.”

In the mirror, Adrien could see what he meant. The kohl lining his eyes contrasted the green in a way that made them almost gem-like, giving him a fey appearance.

“I like it,” he said. “Should I wear the leather today, or the hoodie?”

“We want to sneak you into school, so the hoodie might be better,” Luka said. “So we don’t get intercepted.”

Jagged grinned. “You’ll both be in the limo and we’ll pull right up to the school. The leather gives a bigger statement.”

Adrien pulled on the leather.

“And we’re picking up Marinette, as well,” Penny added. “I’ve called her, and asked her if she’ll dress up for effect.”

“Are you sure?” Adrien asked. “Father might go after her.”

“He does, he has me to contend with,” Jagged muttered. “And anyway, we gotta get you in some of her designs. Even if your bullshit underage contract—which I bet wouldn’t hold up in court given the fact that it was forced on you by your shithead dad—says you can’t model for anyone else, Instagram isn’t a modeling gig.”

Luka patted his shoulder. “And she wants to, anyway. You know how stubborn Marinette can be.”

Adrien smiled, thinking about that. “She really is. It’s endearing.”

“Sometimes. Other times you just want to help her, but she won’t let you.”

He felt his smile fade, reminded of what Lila had done, how Marinette had shouldered it all herself.

“Yeah,” he said finally. “Definitely. She does do that.”

Luka offered a wry smile. “We’ll help her. And we know Jagged and Penny will too.”

“Damn straight,” Jagged said. “And we best get going.”

Adrien blinked. “Um… Shouldn’t M. Dupain and Mme. Cheng also be part of this?”

“Penny called them earlier, while you two were still cuddling, and they are. They got part-timers who’ll cover while they go to the collége with us. Lawyer’s at the bakery already. Tom and Sabine have breakfast waiting for us, even.”

Jagged chuckled. “Oh, and I’ll send you lot the picture I took later. Cute as hell, you two are. Might be good for Instagram, eh?”

Adrien felt his cheeks heat, and Luka had a blush that he was sure matched his own.

“Anyway, Penny’s waiting in the limo with Fang. Got André to clear the route through the hotel to the limo, so we’re good.”

He handed each of them a pair of sunglasses—replicas of the ones Marinette made for him. “Ready to do this in style?”

They made it to the bakery without issue, and were joined by Marinette, Tom, Sabine, and a stern-looking woman in a skirt suit.

Marinette was wearing ripped fuchsia leggings and a pair of black high-waisted shorts with two rows of silver buttons. Her top was a crop-top, a long-sleeve black fishnet over a pink sleeveless shell that matched the leggings. All were obviously her own design.

She blushed when she saw Adrien and Luka staring. “Um, I designed this but hadn’t had a reason to wear it yet. Though I put the rips in the leggings last night before bed. Figured it was more rock ‘n roll, and I can make another pair later.”

“Definitely,” Jagged told her.

Tom handed out pastries from a large box while Marinette passed around coffee. Jagged showed Sabine how to pet Fang—who was pleased with the attention.

“Kagami’s meeting us in front of the collége, too,” Marinette told them. “We’ll be able to greet her and then she’ll confirm our story to the press.”

Jagged turned to Luka. “After your public goodbye to your boyfriend, the limo’ll take you home. Anarka knows what’s going on, too. Been harassing the paparazzi—she’s good at that. Bet she’s run some of ’em off.”

Luka nodded, then pulled Adrien and Marinette in for a hug. “We can do this.”

A flash surprised them, and Sabine lowered her phone. “You do. And we have your backs, kids.”

Adrien took a bite of his pain au chocolat, glad Marinette had thought to bring his favorite breakfast. He was ready for this—as ready as he could be.

It was time to meet the press.

[extra-salt]

Just Like The Old Times (Ushijima Wakatoshi x Reader)

Title: Just Like the Old Times Pairing: Ushijima Wakatoshi x Reader Genre: Fluff A/N: May contain Haikyuu manga spoilers!

Hi! This is my very first fic after I've stopped writing around 6 years ago so this might be a bit meh lol. Who would have thought that the moment I start writing again, it'll be about Ushijima Wakatoshi...

Anyways, the idea actually came from this dream that I had while having an afternoon nap and I had to get it out of my system!

I also posted this on AO3.

Enjoy!

Masterlist

—

Nothing has been going right for you this week.

Your boyfriend called it quits with you after expressing how he finds the relationship boring now. You didn’t stop him though, because you know better than chasing someone who doesn’t want to be with you through ups and downs of a relationship.

Work-life hasn’t been easy on you as well. It seems that no matter how much you think you’ve been completing your tasks swiftly, you look back and there’s a new pile waiting for your attention, plus, your manager seems to be doubting your ‘actual work hours’.

The loud sound of the volleyball hitting the floor snapped you out of your stress-filled train of thoughts.

“That’s Japan’s most powerful canon for ya,” you mumbled, eyeing Wakatoshi from the bleachers as he runs to the back of the line for another play.

—

After you’ve ranted your heart out to Wakatoshi about how stressful the past few days have been for you over the phone last night, he invited you to come to the Adlers’ practice. “I remember how you used to release your stress by playing volleyball back in high school,” he said.

“Am I even allowed to interrupt your practice just to de-stress? Toshi please.”

“You can sneak in during the free time.”

You smiled at the memory of Wakatoshi who once got scolded back in high school for letting in outsiders on the school ground.

“It’s fine, Toshi. Besides, I don’t think I have the energy to play,” you groaned. “But maybe, I can watch you guys practice?”

“Okay.”

“And maybe we can grab some food afterwards?”

There was quite a long pause. “Just like the old times? We haven’t hung out in a while”, you added.

You hear that sigh of defeat from Wakatoshi, followed by a reply, “Just like the old times.” —

Just watching them play volleyball helped you ease some stress out of your system. The sound of the bouncing ball, loud cheers after great plays, the smell of air salonpas; you haven’t been in this environment for so long. To be specific, ever since you got together with your ex-boyfriend, you’ve never been in a single volleyball match despite the fact that you’re actually friends with a few professional volleyball players. Your ex-boyfriend wasn’t fond of any type of sports, which is why you can never really convince him to go to one. And whenever you have free time from work, he’ll bring you to parties which you never really enjoyed.

Few more hours of just watching Wakatoshi in practice matches with his fellow Adlers brought you back to your days in Shiratorizawa as the team captains of your respective volleyball teams. You two started getting along when you both found yourselves at the gym during the weekends, just playing volleyball instead of heading out somewhere like the other students who are staying at the dorm.

Even though Wakatoshi is not someone who seemed to talk a lot, you still would ask him tips about volleyball and workout routines as he walked you back to your dorm. It happened so often that the conversations during your walks were no longer limited to volleyball (again, it is you that initiated the questions). His answers are often short and blunt, straight to the point, but you, later on, realized that he’s just really like that no matter who he talks to. He’s just that honest and that’s what probably made you feel comfortable with him. You only knew that he feels the same way when he started to consult to you about the ‘jokes’ from his teammates that he didn’t seem to understand.

After-practice-meals also became a thing for the two of you, and it was in those times when you would explain to him what his teammates’ jokes meant. You find it funny and cute at the same time that he’s maintaining that straight, stern, but somewhat clueless face as you explain things and his occasional “Oh, that’s what it is.” Most of the time, Satori would tag along with you, and you bonded with him over food. The small smiles that escape your lips and that smitten look that you have whenever you have small discussions with Wakatoshi did not escape Satori though.

As you walk back to the dorms with the two guys, Satori made sure to follow your pace. “By now, I think you know how dense he can be, right?” Satori said in a low voice.

The lamp posts on the side of the road did not help in hiding your flushed face to Satori. “Am I that obvious now?”

“Everyone in the team knows, except Wakatoshi, of course,” Satori replied with a teasing laugh which earned him a groan from your end. “Hmmm, he’s probably not even aware of it, but his soft side often comes out whenever you are around. The team can see it, but no one dares to speak. I think even if we do, he won’t understand it.”

“I really don’t know, Satori,” you started, staring at Wakatoshi’s back who’s walking ahead of the two of you. “I don’t think it’s the right time just yet. For him. For me. Right now, volleyball is what probably consumes his mind and his heart the most. Even if we would get together, I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up with it. Sure, I love the sport, but after knowing him, I realized that what I feel towards the sport is not even half of what he does.”

“He’s The Super Volleyball Maniac after all,” Satori commented.

“What’s up with that name?!” you laughed and Wakatoshi looked back. “What?”

“Nothing!” You dismissed, running up to him and held onto his arm, dragging him to move faster. “Let’s get going now before we go past the curfew!”

—

“Wakatoshi! Toshi!!” You called out as he comes out of the locker room with his teammates. You waved at him and he immediately went your way as he saw you.

You suddenly hear your phone ringing and you grab it to check, and the incoming phone call was from a co-worker. You signalled to him that you’re gonna take the call and turned around. While talking to your co-worker on the phone, you suddenly felt his warm presences behind you and his arms going around your waist. This made you stutter as you tried your best to keep the conversation going with your co-worker and just started at Wakatoshi as he wrapped his jacket around your waist and went in front of you to tie it up.

After the call, you were able to collect yourself, but your blushing face didn’t help at all. “Are you okay?” Wakatoshi asked.

“Yes, I’m fine. I was just surprised I thought you were gonna hug—” you stopped yourself the moment you realized that you’re speaking out your thoughts.

Now it was his turn to blush. “What were you doing anyway?!” You rather asked loudly, hoping that he didn’t hear you rambling, but the flushed and confused Wakatoshi in front of you says otherwise.

“There was some dirt stains on your pants. Maybe you got it from the bleachers earlier so I covered it with my jacket.”

You lightly hit his arm and gave him a smile. “Gentleman.”

He only replies with a knowing look.

“We need to get going now, Toshi. There’s this place with really good udon near Koganei Park!” You drag him by the arm to the exit of the gym but he managed to follow your pace. You two quietly walk together, your hand still holding on to his arm.

“How are you?” He asked.

“A bit better now.” You replied. “You were right. Volleyball did help me de-stress, even though I was only watching from the bleachers.”

“Do you still plan on getting back together with him?”

You were surprised with it since it’s usually you who initiates such questions, but nevertheless, you gave him an answer. “Nah. Never. He thinks I’m boring because I don’t enjoy the parties that we go to. And he doesn’t like volleyball or any sports at all. Now that I think of it, we didn’t have anything in common. Why did I even waste my time on that guy!?”

“Then will you go out with me?” You stopped dead in your tracks and you turn your head to look at him. Your hand still holding onto his arms. He looked and sounded very calm, so you are unsure if he’s trying to deliver a joke in a deadpan manner just like he used to. “I don’t think you’re boring. You never were and you’ll never be. I like volleyball and I’m a professional volleyball player. I might not be able to invite you to parties but I can invite you to all of my games and practices which you will surely enjoy. You love volleyball too so we have that in common— “

“Why do you sound like you’re in a job interview?” you deadpanned.

He makes a confused face but replies, “Is being a boyfriend a job? I’m applying.”

“Yes. Your job is to hang out with me.” You answered.

“Just like the old times.”

“Yes. But even better now.”

—

End Notes:

Scenes that were taken out of this dream that I had: - The reader calling Wakatoshi when he went out from the locker room (it wasn't exactly a locker room, but he was going out from a restaurant I guess? I had to change it to match the story) and the reader calling him "Wakatoshi! Toshi!" - Lending his jacket to the reader. - Reader holding onto him and he asks "How are you?"

[peterstanslizzie]

Reacting To: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Season 2 Episode 10)

Episode Title: Heroes on Fire

Spoiler Warning: Kindly proceed if you’ve already seen the episode or are able to handle spoilers.

*Apologies for the tardiness. I meant to post this a few days ago but I was busy sorting out other things. Hope you understand 😊

1. 2 days earlier? I didn’t think we’d get another flashback lol. We go back to the moment where Kipo managed to find her mom (Song, the Mega Monkey) tied to a giant tree. We already saw this but what we didn’t see was the fact that Mulholland was inside the water she fed to her mom. I’m guessing Mulholland will try to reach into Song’s inner thoughts?

2. Mulholland gets inside her brain and creates a vision for Song, where he introduces himself to her. He then tells her that he freed her from her mind control and will continue to help her stay that way. That’s a really smart plan; I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Song asks Mulholland to tell Kipo that she loves her. OMG, why am I about to cry this early on? Also, it’s a nice little touch for the writers to make it so that Song is struggling to speak since she hasn’t done that in 13 years. 

3. Back to the present and the predicament at hand; Scarlemagne has already started to spray the humans with his pheromones all throughout the stadium. We also see the Timbercats plus Troy, Asher (who is just confirmed to be non-binary btw) and Dahlia hiding themselves in their oh so fluffy tails. Troy spots his dad, Roberto in the crowd. Wait, why is Roberto there? Shouldn’t he be back at Dr. Emilia’s hideout? Am I missing something?

4. Oh! It’s been a trick all along. DUH! It makes sense because Kipo had poured Mulholland into Scarlemagne’s vat of pheromone and that’s the reason why all the humans aren’t being mind-controlled at the moment. Song proceeds to flick Scarlemagne away (literally) and she then breaks off a dome so that everyone can get on it to escape. 

5. Kipo asks Mulholland to get inside Lio to snap him out of his mind-control but before he goes in, he tells Kipo that he doesn’t think he’s able to get her out of her Mega Monkey form since she’s been that way for a long time. I think Song needs her own anchor. Eventually, Scarlemagne gets up and orders his primate nobles to attack Song and stop the humans from escaping.

6. Benson, Wolf and Dave are fighting off Lemieux, Gerard and another noble that looks like Lemieux (what’s his/her name anyways?). Wolf is handicapped since she doesn’t have Stalky with her and Dave isn’t fairing well either. Where’s Benson? Oh right, he’s grabbed by Lemieux’s flamingo. Lucky for him; Dave molts into his super strong form and defeats both Lemieux 2.0 and Gerard. 

7. As Benson is about to be dropped into the gold fountain, Dave rescues him by delivering a solid punch to Lemieux’s face. Unfortunately, at the same time, Benson’s backpack was dropped into the fountain. He thinks that Song’s journal was inside the backpack but I swear I thought he left it back at Dr. Emilia’s HQ? Now they’re worried for Kipo since her anchor is gone supposedly. 

8. We switch things over to Kipo and she’s fighting off Scarlemagne with her two jaguar paws. She was about to fully transform until Benson stops her and tells her he lost the journal. Am I crazy for thinking he didn’t put it in his backpack? Back to Song; she puts down the dome and all the humans exit from it. Mandu then shows them an entrance that would take them underground. 

9. I find it strange how Kipo is having a hard time beating Scarlemagne. Is he that strong? I kinda figured she would be able to beat him even without fully transforming into a jaguar. Well, at least she won’t have to do it alone because Wolf, Benson and Dave arrive to help. But still, that isn’t enough because he’s still whipping their butts, even combined! Wow, he is really strong. 

10. Troy, Asher and Dalia and the Timbercats notice the fight and they decide to help Kipo out. Well, that should help. But isn’t that like 30 against 1 lol? Wolf takes Scarlemagne’s crown and drops it into the fountain, angering him as a result. He then accuses Kipo of pretending to care about him and proceeds to break the lever that controls the gold fountain. Next thing we see is a huge rush of liquid gold flowing into the stadium. The Timbercats rush to help them.

11. Scarlemagne is flying away to make his escape but his flamingo’s wings get caught by a stream of the liquid gold and they both fall into the audience section of the stadium, causing Scarlemagne to hit his head and become unconscious. 

12. Oh and our boy, Benson gets reunited with Troy again. Yayy! And the same song that was played when they first met last season is playing here once again. Benson is definitely a disaster gay; He couldn’t form proper sentences around him; How cute is that?!

13. Lio notices that Scarlemagne is lying on the staircase and he makes the decision to save him. It’s a good call in my opinion. However, the others mutes (that can’t fly) are stuck in the audience and they can’t escape the rising liquid gold. Kipo tells everyone that she has to fully transform so that she will be strong enough to knock a tree down to stop the liquid gold from rising further. Therefore, she is willing to risk losing herself to her Mega Jaguar form to save the mutes. I now have a feeling that the anchor is with Dr. Emilia. Let’s see if I’m right. 

14. Despite everyone’s objection, Kipo proceeds to quickly transform and with the help of her mom, Song, both of them combine forces to try to push down the tree. However, the tree isn’t budging over. As she’s seeing the gold rising closer and closer to her friends and family, she somehow gathers enough willpower to uncover a new transformation and becomes an even stronger jaguar with 3 tails and 6 legs. Dang, that was sooo cool. And so, the both of them are able to push over the tree to stop the liquid gold in its tracks. 

15. Kipo is trying to turn back into a human but she isn’t able too. Meanwhile, the humans bump into Dr. Emilia in the tunnel and she gives a speech about humans needing to rise up and mutes needing to be cured and be turned back into animals. I would be so disappointed if they decide to join her.

16. Lio assures Kipo that their relationship with her isn’t going to change despite her being a Mega Jaguar. Wolf then tries to remind Kipo of all the good things that she has done and how much she means to her. I’m getting teary y’all. And on top of that, Wolf starts to sing “Heroes on Fire” to Kipo and she’s then accompanied by Benson and Dave.

17. It does manage to get through to her somehow and we then see Kipo’s inner head-space, where she comes face to face with her own jaguar form but it starts to chase her. She then suddenly hears her friends singing and it reminds her of all the amazing moments they shared together in the past two seasons. And Wolf’s idea is a success because Kipo manages to transform back into human Kipo. OMG I’m crying so bad right now. What about Song though? *sniffs. Well, Kipo reassures her mom that if she can turn back, so will she. 

18. We’re approaching the end! Yumyan happily agrees to let EVERYONE stay with the Timbercats back at his village and we also see Scarlemagne being taken away by them. Is he going to be imprisoned at the village? He seems like he was impressed by Kipo’s brave act to sacrifice herself for the mutes. I really hope he joins their side in season 3 (if there is one). 

19. Troy reunites with his dad but Roberto tells everyone what went down with Dr. Emilia just now and I was right! She has the journal and she plans to use it to reverse all the mutations in the mutes. The season ends with Kipo announcing that she and everyone else are going to stop her.

20. Well, that’s the end of my episode to episode review of Season 2 of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. I must say; this season trumps the first season in my opinion. I absolutely love all the backstory we had gotten, especially regarding Kipo, Lio, Song and Scarlemagne. I also plan to make a couple of video essays about this particular season that will be posted to my YouTube channel (peterstanslizzie). So please check that out for when I have them ready for you to watch. Thank you all so much for reading my reviews. I absolutely can’t wait for a Season 3 to be announced. *Fingers crossed. I’m pretty confident it will get greenlit. Till next time; Bye!

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Zuisouroku Omokage-ge hana Animate Drama Translation

Last post of the month, but instead of my usual message, I figured I should change it due to current circumstances.... So. If you are able, please consider donating to your local food banks, the Red Cross or other charities who are supporting those affected by Covid-19. Alternatively, consider donating blood (including this since I saw this on CBC and from the Canadian Blood Services and they both mentioned potential shortages), tipping those who deliver your food/take out delivery (every dollar counts to some of these people - I would know since I’m unemployed right now cuz of what’s going on but will able to get by. huzzah for the Canadian government!), or support other content creators, writers, translators and artists who need help if possible. 

Also make sure you wash your hands for 20 seconds, avoid touching your face, cough into your sleeve/elbow, practice social distancing and refrain from going out if possible.... and please, please do not go singling out a certain ethnicity for how things are right now. I have a second cousin who works in a hospital down in california, and another living in new york right now.... and the last thing they need is racism and harassment. 

Anyway. I’m finally done with this drama. not really fond of putting things all together since that means i need to translate more hakuoki content for another week (i prefer to do less lol), but i’ve made an exception to this as the audio was supplied to me earlier by Aysha (which is also why i had this drama jump the queue lol). Edits will be done when I get to my subtitle video.

do not repost elsewhere. also thank you to @jokertrap-ran​ for helping me with 2 sentences that i just couldn’t figure out the Chinese for (they’re the ones left in bold), and thank you again to Aysha for supplying the audio. 

Videos are now here 

Track 1: https://youtu.be/ETTfJHCKOkk

Track 2: https://youtu.be/Nnp0mE_DLmw

enjoy?

Hakuoki Zuisouroku Omokage-ge hana Animate Drama CD Shimabara After story

Track 1

Translation by KumoriYami

Harada: Okay! Well now that this Shimabara incident is over, let's take the opportunity to drink! Everyone don't hold back [says: be modest], we aren't going home until we're drunk/unless we get drunk!

Okita: Arresting/Catching so many ronin, Kondou-san was also very happy! He also said that the spies hiding here were also arrested by the Shinsengumi.

Saito: However it seems that the Vice-Commander was a little anxious/upset. Because of the investigation of the spies, [news of it] has already spread throughout Shimabara. Tonight's festivities, although it was approved by the vice-commander, he  however said that we need to conduct ourselves with dignity [behave appropriately]

Souji: Yes/indeed. Then let's order some expensive food! Excuse me, please start with your most expensive wine in the store served with similar dishes!

Saito: Wait a moment! Why are you doing the opposite! The vice-commander clearly said, that we should be holding a meeting to reflect upon ourselves, and should not be celebrating by drinking.....

Souji: Eh, I can't hear anything!

Harada: heisuke, what's wrong? You haven't said anything from the start. Are you still brooding over what happened?

Heisuke: Wha....what do you mean by brooding? Sano-san. Don't say things that don't make sense/something strange.

Souji: What what? What are you brooding over/what's the matter?

Harada: Ah, so it's like this......

Heisue: Hey, I told you not to say anything unnecessary!

Harada: Ah, sorry. can't you just say it?

Souji: Are you keeping a secret from us?  That's really annoying [unpleasant].

Heisuke: Since it's only a small matter, I haven't said anything.

Souji: In that case just enjoy yourself to the fullest. Thanks to her dressing up as a geisha, she was able to infiltrate Shimabara to obtain information, and we were able to catch all those roshi at once.

Heisuke: But.... I din't want to have her dressed up like that..... [force?]

Souji: Areh?

Heisuke:.......What.

Souji: Hm~? it turns out/so that's what it was, it was that thing.

Heisuke: Don't smile like that! 

Souji: How annoying, my usual expression is like this.

Heisuke: Liar! Whenever Souji shows this kind of expression, you're definitely not thinking of anything good!

Souji: Actually/In fact you don't need to feel embarrassed, could it be that Heisuke didn't think that she looked lovely dressed as a geisha?

Harada: [it's?] Because she was originally a beauty [from the start she's already beautiful]

Souji: That response is really straight to the point/direct.   Compared to Heisuke who felt embarrassed/shy because of how cute she looked dressed as a geisha, the reactions of everyone else was like the difference between heaven and earth.

Heisuke: Why am I being dragged into his! I only that because she's not a member of the troopi, that she shouldn't be taking on such a dangerous assignment, that's all......

Harada: For the purpose of keeping her out of danger, weren't we on standby in the corner room?? You were great, shouting "that's not good," [and] "I can't stand this" or something, and rushed outside.

Heisuke: Why are you telling the truth!!! Anyway shut up and stop talking you idiot!

Harada: Whoops, i'm really sorry.  

Souji: Eh..... so that's it. I didn't expect that.

Heisuke: No, that's not [it]......!s

Saito (whispering): Actually/In fact I can understand Heisuke's thoughts...... at the time I was also deeply fascinated [entranced/captivated] by how she was dressed.

Souji: Hajime-kun?

Saito: Ah...Uh, sorry, i'ts nothing...Well, I did just say it...

Souji: Well, I can hear you very well. It turns out that even Hajime-kun was also deeply fascinated by her dress [check if says kimono. also rephrase later].

Saito : !!!! I, I didn't mean [it like?] that! Just, just because I was unfamiliar with how she dressed, doesn't mean that I was attracted [to it? her?]....... [rephrase later]

Souji: In other words, you admit that you're attracted to her?

Saito: No....... In any case I am also a captain in the Shinsengumi so how could I think of something so shameless when I am carrying out my duties! Anyhow, where is she? It seems that she hasn't arrived here yet......

Harada: Hijikata-san and Shinpachi should be bringing her over soon.

(the sound of footsteps and a door sliding open)

???: I just saw her a moment ago being questioned at the entrance of Shimabara. And together with Hijikata.

Heisuke: You are.... Kazama?! (reaches for sword)

Kazama: Put away your sword. I'm in a good mood today, and have no reason to fight you.

Souji: What does your so-called good mood mean/what do you mean by good mood?

Kazama: That goes without saying. Of course it's because I saw my wife's beautiful dress [appearance]. As expect, my eyes did not make a mistake [were not wrong].

Saito: Yukimura is not your wife. Her attitude towards you has been blatant/explicit.

Kazama: I've heard that woman who grow up in Edo are very strong. Even if she fell in love with me, she wouldn't show it.

Souji: Where does your self-confidence come from?

Harada: Go back to that [going back to what you said before], Chizuru's being interrogated?! Did someone discover her identity as a woman......

Kazama: It's because of the elopement incident that Hijikata caused which seems to have [caused her to be] been noticed [rephrase later].

Souji: Eh~ I just heard some extraordinary gossip [interesting]. It turns out that Hijikata-san already had such a reputation at Shimabara/Hijikata-san's reputation has spread to such an extent at Shimabara.

Harada: Oi, Souji. For the sake of safety/To be on the safe side, don't speak of this/go around spreading this to the other team members......

Souji: How hateful/annoying, I won't speak of such nonsense. But in the event that someone asks me if the Vice-Commander is or isn't with a geisha from Shimabara, I won't hide anything/speak without holding back.

Kazama: Alright [Very well... or something cuz its kazama], [let's] start drinking. The depressed guy over there, hurry up and prepare sake for me.

Heisuke: Oi! Why are you sneaking into our party?!

(After a while......)

Heisuke (sounds drunk for the rest of this track): Speaking of which.... I was against this plan from the very beginning!

Saito:......Heisuke, did you drink too much? Your eyes are starting to droop [lose focus].

Heisuke: Teach me how to not drink so much!

Saito: Why are you so upset?

Heisuke: I'm super pissed!!! For a covert investigation, we actually didn't need to use her, as long as we paid a geisha to assist us, but she was abruptly dragged down into this by us.

Saito: Your way of thinking isn't understandable, but it was also her who took the initiative to help us, [so] your criticisms are a little too much. [check audio to hear if this sounds like multiple sentences]

Harada: That's right.  Based on the outcome, nothing big happened, [which] this isn't bad.

Souji: Seeing how cute she was dressed, Heisuke was definitely/obviously very happy.

Heisuke: You smiling demon [???]!!! Compared to those clothes, the clothes of an ordinary woman clearly suit her more [rephrase later]!!

Harada: maybe, I'd also like her to see her dressed like an ordinary woman.

Heisuke: Hey......Sano-san, I've wanted to ask you.... She.... what is she to you?

Harada: Hm? I don't really think much of it but, is something the matter? Why do you ask? [i’ll reword ^ later when i get to the drama]

heisuke: I feel that Sano-san.... your attitude, rather than a comrade, you treat her more as a woman.

Harada: That's the [your?] problem. Although she's usually dressed in men's clothes, she's still genuinely a woman. It's only natural to treat her as a woman/Of course she still has to be treated as a woman.

Heisuke: [That's/so] Too sly/cunning......!

Souji: If Heisuke wants to treat her as a girl, he should be honest and say so and not be secretive about it..

Kazama: (setting down a glass) Toudou...... could it be that you have ill intentions towards my wife [TL is more or less evil thoughts/desire lol]? First take a look in a mirror [Look at yourself in the mirror first].

Heisuke: Shut up! You're the last one to be teaching me anything [last one who she be saying anything] ! She hates you the most out of all of us!!!

Kazama: I remember what I said just now [Remember what I said just now], Edo women, even if they fall in love, they will not express their true thoughts.

Saito:......I think it'd be nice if Heisuke could have a face as thick as Kazama's [if Heisuke could be as thick-headed as Kazama.... probably? or if Heisuke could have a face that had a fraction of Kazama's thickness]

Heisuke: Hajime-kun where the hell did your arm go?!

Souji: Don't first talk about Heisuke, what about yourself Hajime-kun [rephrase later]? Are you confident enough to defeat a crowd of rivals in love while surrounded and at her side?

Saito:......What are you talking about! The team has rules that ban personal fights!

Souji: That is to say, if it's not a personal fight, we're allowed to fight until one of us is dead/you'd fight to the death?

Saito:.....Why must you twist other people's words to this degree/extent!

Kazama: You bastard...... it seems that I'll have to force the truth from your mouth. Oi, Toudou. bring out the strongest sake in the store! I'm going to expose what his sincere thoughts he has [will have the truth forced from this man].

Heisuke: Why are you ordering me around!? Wait a moment/Hold on...... this is for getting Hajime-kun drunk so he'll tell the truth...... Yosh! I'm going to get/grab it at once/immediately!

(Heisuke gets up and runs out)

Saito: Wait!  It doesn't matter that you guys are already drunk, but I cannot get drunk [now]......

Souji: (pours sake) Don't say that, let's drink without holding back! These opportunities are hard to come by!

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

Track 2

Hijikata: It was pointed out that Yukimura looked a lot like the geisha who eloped the other day...... It look a while/lot of time to settle that mater.

(door opens)

Hijikata: I've made you wait for a long time! Sorry, I sent Yukimura back first with Shinpachi to headquarters......Eh, what's going on?!

Souji: Ah. Hijikata-san, you're really late.

Hijikata: You're the one that's late! Harada and Heisuke are completely drunk!

Kazama: What are you saying/talking about. It's your fault that you're always so slow.

Hijikata: Kazama! You bastard why are you here?!

Kazama: Don't mention that, why haven't you brought my wife?

Hijikata: Who's your wife! It's because she got upset from being interrogated, she first went back to headquarters.......Geez, this isn't the time to be getting involved with that guy. You guys! Stand up! Didn't I warn you guys about conducting yourself properly!?

Harada: Ah! If it isn't Hijikata-san! Now that Hijikata-san is here, we need to start from the begining! If you ask me about when I got this scar on my stomach......

Hijikata: I've said it many times [but] I've heard already heard your [that] story before.

Heisuke: Hijikata-san! I wanna ask you...... were you really planning on eloping with her/is it true that you were really going to elope with her?

Hijikata: Ha?! Where the hell did you hear that from? At best, that's a misunderstanding since I'd never do something like that!

Souji: Eh? Is that really true?  I thought that Hijikata-san wasn't the kind of person who would do something that could cause people to misunderstand in this way/who would ever do something so misleading. [or just misleading]

Heisuke: Then it's true! Hijikata-san used his position as vice-commander to elope with her, this method is too despicable!

Hijikata: Didn't I say, that I didn't do any of that! Can't you understand [Why can't you understand that]!

Saito: Exactly. If the Vice-Commander wanted to take Yukimura, he would not employ such callow and clumsy tricks, rather he would adopt a more complex and sophisticated course of action [tactics...?].

Hijikata:......Oi, Saito, are you trying to protect me or kill me? Give me a clear-cut position [clear answer]!

Saito: What are you saying. I will always be on the vice-commander's side. [literally: i will forever stand with/at the vice-commander's side whenever]

Hijikata: It's great that your on my side......

Souji: Right now it's pointless to say anything to Hajime-kun. Because regardless of what you say to hajime-kun, his expression won't change even though he's actually already completely drunk.

Hijikata: to actually like to say this kind of things, anyway it's you guys' fault that he's [this?] drunk!

Kazama: You came at just the right time (pours wine). Hijikata. Answer me. What kind of intentions do you have towards my wife who you have confined to your headquarters?

Hijikata: What kind of intentions [what do you mean by intentions]? Why should I answer you?

Souji: Isn't there a reason? Hijikata-san has said himself that he likes women from Edo.

Kazama: What? Then it's true.......

Hijikata: What "it's true" nonsense ! Souji! Quit always saying such misleading things!

Heisuke: Ah~ so it's like that, Hijikata-san's aiming for her too? Despite how he was so strict over a mere mistake! 

Hijikata: I'm telling you, I wasn't planning on doing that......!

Harada: But to secretly protect her......

Hijiakta hey wait! When did I do that!

Kazama: I see. So it was like that. (picks up sword) Hijikata..... even if it costs me all of my pride and dignity/honour, I will have you buried here today/I will kill you today!

Hijikata: don't misunderstand me [don't misunderstand/quit misunderstanding]! She was allowed to stay at headquarters for the sake of/for the purpose finding Kodo-san, because of that, she was given the identity of a page.......

Souji: But don't you call her every few days to your room to have her make you tea? A lone man and a woman in a room, in the end, who knows what might have happened~ [between them?] [depending on the audio i'll make thr second sentence longer/shorter]

Kazama: What.... [very] good/great Hijikata, to go as far as to use/to actually make use of your position to do this sort of thing!! I will not spare you! this opportunity just arrived [this is a golden opportunity/the perfect chance?]! We'll settle this over wine/drinking!

Hijikata: HA?! why did this happen?!

Heisuke DAMN IT~~~~!!!! it turns out that Hijikata-san is a rival (in love)————！！！！ Oi, Kazama! We have a temporary alliance! Hijikata-san! We're going to drink to decide this!

Saito: The Vice-commander and Yukimura....!? Ah.... What is the truth to this emotion buried deep within my heart [what is the meaning to this emotion buried deep within my heart]? Without drinking, I can't calm/dispel my resentment!!

Harada: Although it is important to respect that her personal opinions...... if we're using wine to determine a victor, I will accept this challenge!

Hijikata: I didn't say any of that, you're getting it all wrong!!! You guys, listen to me!

【END】

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

image swiped from suruga-ya...  i will definitely be rephrasing most of the 2nd half of track 2 for more... conversational word sense. couldn't think of how to make things sound natural when i posted this but i'll get that done along with all the necessary editing later when i get to making my srt file for this drama.... aiming to have the subtitles done for next month (currently working on the files now). 

also, next month im planning on mostly ssl game content... and to have the remainder of all Zuisouroku game content posted in may... (i now officially have enough tl+imags posts queued til the end of may).

stay safe ppl!

(p.s. in case you didn’t see my psa, i’m sharing a number of hakuoki vids and art books. full list is on my tumblr page “stuff i have”)

[bad-at-names-and-faces]

Decisions

Chapter 26 chapter index

Arendelle, September 23rd, 1864

Dear Henry,

I got your letter this week, and I would have replied several days ago, but I’ve been quite busy covering for my mother, who seems to have gone into hiding. All is well, so they tell me, and I really have no idea what's going on, but Frederick and I have been picking up the slack. When I saw Mother today she even wanted me to attend some of the meetings for her. This morning’s meeting will be with your Mr. Meyer, so perhaps you'll hear about it later.  There's been some fuss about the naval pensions we pay to Corona, but it sounded like the issue was settled so I really don't know why my mother still seems to care.  Oh, and one of our other ambassadors disappeared into the wilds of America. 

I look forward to hearing more from you, and I'll write more when I have time again!

Sincerely, 

Inga

Inga paused as she was addressing the letter. She looked outside and walked out to the balcony. 

She looked around and whispered,  "Gale?" 

***

“It’s strange going so long without talking to anyone else,” Elizabeth remarked. 

“We’ve had someone delivering food to us,” Lars reminded her.

“Oh, you know what I mean.  But I suppose that delivery boy would have told us if anything exciting happened,” she sighed, resting her head on his chest.  “He certainly was eager to tell us about the issue with the mislabeled fish at the market the other day.  We weren’t even getting any fish!”

“I remember my mother telling a story about Father yelling at someone he had hired on his ship for trying to tell him he had caught a more expensive kind of fish,” Lars laughed a little.

“It’s so funny, back home, I was just wanting to hide away and find a quiet moment, and here I am, nervous that I’m missing something.”

“I understand,” he laughed. “I keep expecting Mr. Meyer to come through the door and ask me why I’m not ready for today’s meeting.”

“I think your brother is quite competent, in his own way,” Elizabeth laughed.  “I suppose your mother enjoys having him around an extra week or two. I know Father was planning to sail off the day after our wedding.”

“She has been catching up with him, that’s true,” Lars smiled. “Do you mind that you won’t get to go with your mother and sisters? I know you haven’t seen your aunt in Wesselton in quite some time.”

“No, that’s not a problem, really,” Elizabeth sighed.  “Mother isn’t particularly close to her, even, but it was Father’s next stop.”

“I remember Karl saying there were plans to take the Maldonian prince on to Wesselton if he didn’t decide to stay longer in Arendelle.”

Elizabeth laughed. “I can only think of one reason he wouldn’t be sure about how long he stays on here, and I’m pretty sure he’ll be sailing right on schedule.”

“I don’t think I’ve heard this gossip.  What do you know?”

“Really, the only thing I’d really call gossip was from my own sisters,” Elizabeth grumbled.  “I was half afraid that Inga would never want to talk to me again after my sisters were pestering her about getting engaged to Prince Henry.  Inga didn’t even get a full day in Corona before those girls were making assumptions.”

It was Lars’s turn to laugh.  “What did happen while you were there? I don’t think you finished telling me.”

“Well, I already told you what happened that first day, with the saddle,” she smiled, sitting up again. “Now, never speak a word of this to anyone else, but…  I’m not surprised there were rumors the morning after that ball.”

Lars sat up and gave Elizabeth a puzzled look. 

“Now, don’t get me wrong. As far as I know, Inga is technically correct,” she insisted. “There’s no engagement, or any official agreement, and I’d never want to be the source of rumors about that.  I told my sisters to mind their own business.  But… she and Prince Henry got along rather well, I thought, especially after the footman brought out the extra bottle of sherry.”

“What about you?” he asked with a teasing look.

“You know I can’t stand sherry,” she swatted him gently. “I think I was the only one there who stopped at wine with dinner.”

OoOoO

“Your Excellency,” Inga greeted Mr. Meyer as she entered the room.  

“Your Highness,” he returned with a small bow.

“And…” she hesitated,  “how should I greet Lieutenant Nilsen this week?” 

“I think Lieutenant Nilsen will work,” the Ambassador chuckled. “We wouldn’t want too much confusion with his brother.”

“I don’t think there’s much risk of that,” Inga smiled politely.

The Lieutenant laughed.  “Should we offer congratulations, Your Highness?”

“What?” Inga exclaimed, barely holding her temper. She didn’t want to sound defensive, but every question and insinuation reminded her how much of her life people considered their own business.  “If there’s been an official announcement, I’d like to know.”

The Ambassador shot a glance at his temporary secretary.  “Your Highness, you will excuse the lieutenant.  He hasn’t had his brother’s training.  There has, of course, been no announcement, official or otherwise, from either court.”

“Indeed,” Inga sighed.  “May I ask where you heard this?”

“Sorry,” the lieutenant apologized sincerely.  “Don’t blame my brother, or Elizabeth.  Neither of them said a word, but I did hear her sisters talking at the reception, and nobody seemed to contradict them.” “I’m sure His Excellency will be sure to contradict any unsubstantiated rumors,” Inga said dryly, looking directly at the Ambassador.

“I assure you, Your Highness,” the Ambassador replied, almost sheepishly.

“Very well,” Inga replied.  “We were going to discuss steamship service?”

***

“Anna, sending Lars? Do you really think that’s a good idea?” 

“If you can think of a better idea, let me know.  The fact is, the actual requirements for the position of ambassador are almost nonexistent.  The only time we didn’t bother refilling a position was when our ambassador to the Southern Isles conveniently left his post twenty-one years ago.” 

“But does it have to be right away?  They’ve been at war for how many years now? This doesn’t seem like the time to be sending someone over there, does it?”

“Is it the time to leave the position empty?” 

“But him?  Lars and Elizabeth are young, and I don’t know what the foreign newspapers are saying, but it doesn’t sound safe.”

“Then we don’t send him to the capital. It’s not like Arendelle has proper embassies anywhere.”

“What about the draft riots?”

“Those were last year. Things sound safe enough now…  Well, away from the battles, of course, but he wouldn’t be drafted, since he would have diplomatic immunity.”

“Fine, what’s to stop him from taking a farm just like the last one?”

“And if he does?”

***

“Olaf?” Inga said as she approached the stables. 

“Inga! Hi! What are you doing here?”

She glared a moment, then softened.  “Have you seen Elsa?”

“No, why?”

“Well…” Inga paused.  “Actually, I think maybe you could help me.”

“Okay!  What?”

“This summer, you started telling us about the time that Papa was going rock climbing with the prince from Corona...”

“Yeah?  And?”

“Prince Henry, in Corona, was telling me that Papa took his father to see the trolls because, well, everyone else was gone at Christmas.  I don’t remember hearing about that before. Were you there?”

“Oh, the time Anna and Elsa and that princess from Corona were on that trip?”

“Yes.”

“I went to the North Mountain to see Marshmallow.”

“Oh,” Inga sighed. “And were Mama and Elsa really gone long?"

"No,” Olaf replied, matter-of-fact.  “Elsa was back a few months earlier, and then she left again when that Eugene guy left."

“Wait, what? Where was my mother that whole time?” 

“I think she was in Corona.  She didn’t want to talk about it. You know, you’d think if she spent that long somewhere, she’d at least talk about it, don’t you?”

*** 

Frederick was expecting to see Peder and Anton waiting when he arrived for dinner.  He was not expecting to see his parents there for the first time in five days, especially since he hadn't seen them when Elsa had left that morning.  

“Mother?  Father? You’re feeling better?”  

“Yes, we’re fine,” his father replied, looking uneasily at Anna. 

“I’m glad to hear it!” Frederick began excitedly. “When I was talking to Admiral Sorensen this morning, he said he thinks I could do a short training run in April.”

“Training run? With our Admiral?” his mother exclaimed, sounding panicked.  “What’s this about?” 

“Um,”  Frederick muttered.  “You said it would be fine when I asked.”

“Did I?” Anna looked at Kristoff.  “Did we?”

“Yes, when I brought you that letter about the American Ambassador,” Frederick groaned.

“Are you sure?” Anna asked. 

“I’m pretty sure you told me you were fine with it,” Frederick insisted, “unless you were talking about something else.”  

Anna and Kristoff looked at each other. Frederick wished they would have told him before if they had a problem with the idea but he held back from complaining more.  The admiral had been enthusiastic when Frederick had told him that his mother approved, and he knew that it wouldn’t look good for her to walk back on that.

“Oh, so, have you figured anything out with that?” Frederick asked. 

“Figured out what?” Inga echoed as she walked in.

“The American Ambassador,” he reminded his sister.

“Of course,” Inga replied.  “Do you have any idea what you’ll do about that, or are you just going to wait until they’re done fighting over there?”

“See?” Kristoff whispered a little too loudly to Anna.

Inga looked curiously between them, then raised her eyebrows at Frederick.

Anna spoke up. “I haven’t met with the council yet, and I’ll need to speak with Mr. Meyer, of course-”

“Why would you need to speak to Mr. Meyer?” Inga asked, then frowned.  “Wait, he’d need to approve if you’re picking Lars?  Why him, though?”

“He seemed like a good candidate,” Anna stated.

“We discussed it,” Kristoff added. “The timing might be an issue. We’d have to wait until a replacement arrives from Corona, at the very least.”

“Do you think Corona will even agree to it?” Frederick asked, “I mean, Lars is part of their diplomatic corps-” 

“And he’ll have to agree,” Inga pointed out. “You can’t just send him off to a place like that. And what about his mother?”

Frederick nodded. “Really, wouldn’t it make more sense to ask if anyone in the council has a candidate? I mean, sure, his mother is from Arendelle, but that doesn’t seem like a good reason to pick him over someone else.”

“Well,” Anna said, biting her lip, “like I said, it’s not settled.  So until it is, let’s drop the subject, and have dinner.”

***

Anna closed her eyes and knocked at the door on the guest wing.  It opened slowly. 

“Your Majesty!” Mrs. Nilsen exclaimed.  “I wasn’t expecting a visit from you.”

“May I come in?”  Anna whispered, trying to hide her nervousness.

“Of course!” Mrs. Nilsen stepped back to let Anna in, carefully closing the door behind her.

"Elsa told me," was all that Anna managed. 

"I know," Mrs. Nilsen replied, offering a chair. "I was wondering whether you would come to me."

"I… I suppose I should say thank you," Anna sighed as she sat down.

"It never felt like a duty," the woman assured her. "He's always been a delightful child. Karl would have grown up very lonely otherwise, even if we had stayed in Arendelle."

“But you were… you were practically in exile for twenty years,” Anna said, looking away.

“They were very good to us.  And I do understand why it had to be that way.”

“You do? I thought-” 

“No,” Mrs. Nilsen confessed quickly, “nobody told me anything until your sister came to Corona last month, but it was obvious.” 

“How much did you figure out?” 

“I think I know everything,” she sighed. “And I have never spoken a word of it to anyone else, except your sister. I don’t think it would do anyone any good to know.  When I was talking with your sister back in Corona last month, I…I mentioned him. I think you know who I mean.  The look on her face, I knew I’d guessed correctly.”

“What… how did you guess?”

“I wasn’t always sure about it.  But I kept up with news from Arendelle, and I read about your family here.  I knew there had to be a reason.  For several years I had prepared myself for someone to come claim him.”

Anna sighed and looked out the window for several minutes.  She still didn’t feel comfortable talking about this, particularly with Mrs. Nilsen of all people.  She hoped she was being completely honest about being happy with her life the last twenty years. Elsa had told her that Margit was planning to move back to Arendelle permanently, so Anna needed to bring up her plan before any official decisions were made.  

“I need to ask another question.”

***

“Your Majesty, this is a most unusual choice.”

“Do you have any other suggestions, Your Grace?” she replied to the duke.

The council members mumbled quietly to each other. A few were gesturing, most ended up shrugging.  There was some half whispered discussion of alternative candidates, but most agreed this was not where they would want to send friends and relations any time soon. 

“He is very young,” one of the guild masters pointed out.

“I realize it is a bit unorthodox, perhaps?  But he is qualified.”

They settled on her Majesty's proposal.  Pending agreement from Corona, and the arrival of a replacement secretary for their ambassador, the council approved the nomination of Lars Nilsen for Arendelle’s Ambassador to America.  The council decided to hold off on discussing where, exactly, to send him until a later date.

***

It was a cool morning in late September.  Mr. Meyer looked at his diary.  Today was the day his private secretary was to be returning from his honeymoon.  He had been forced into granting him the leave.  He looked out his window into the town.  It was still early morning, and he imagined that the young couple would not want to leave until after breakfast.  The young man’s brother had nice enough penmanship, but he seemed to have no sense of decorum.  And now he had heard from his old friend on the council that he would need to find a new secretary.  Lars Nilsen had some explaining to do.

***

Lars and Elizabeth returned to Arendelle just before lunchtime that Tuesday.  The Ambassador was waiting for them just inside the castle gate.  The couple were disappointed, but not surprised that Lars was being called back to his duties so quickly after their arrival.

“Your Excellency!” Lars called out as he walked towards Mr. Meyer. 

“Mr. Nilsen, I need you to come with me,” Mr. Meyer said sternly.

“May my wife and I unpack first?” Lars asked, looking over at Elizabeth and smiling, feeling some satisfaction in being able to use those words.

Elizabeth smiled and walked over, taking his arm.  “Your Excellency,” she greeted the Ambassador, who nodded in return.

“On second thought,” the Ambassador hemmed, “I think she may as well hear what I need to tell you.  You can unpack later.”

They followed the Ambassador inside and up to his quarters. Once they were both inside, the Ambassador closed the door behind him.

“Mr. Nilsen,” he began with a sternness that went beyond his typical formality, “I had understood that you hadn’t learned very much about your family connections here.”

“That is true, sir,” Lars replied. 

“And your mother, she hasn’t said anything since she arrived?”

“No, sir, she showed us the house where she used to live. It was a very tiny one by the harbor.  She told me none of the men working by the docks were anyone she remembered, and nobody seemed to remember her.  Halima did, a little bit, but she was, as I expected, a friendly acquaintance, and nothing more.”

“And,” the Ambassador probed, “the former queen…”  

“I’m not sure, sir,” Lars responded with some confusion, not certain where his employer’s line of questioning was leading.  “I’m only aware that she was acquainted with her."

"If I may," Elizabeth interrupted, "she paid several visits to Mrs. Nilsen's home in Corona. They seemed to be on familiar terms, as far as I could tell."

The Ambassador gave a sigh. "Well, perhaps that's it, then. Mr. Nilsen, I'll be honest, I don't understand why your mother has two different royal families interested in her family, and I'd say it was none of my business, except it looks like I'm going to need to find myself a new secretary now."

"Excuse me, sir?" Lars asked, trying to sound as calm as he could. Elizabeth grabbed his arm tightly looking at him with a worried expression. 

"Queen Anna has approval from her council to make you the new ambassador to America."

"But…" Lars trailed off, trying to make sense of the news. He looked at Elizabeth, whose worry had transformed almost immediately into confusion. 

"You can decline, of course," the Ambassador reminded him. "It might be awkward, naturally, as rejecting this kind of honor isn't something to be taken lightly."

***

Inga once again managed to get the most recent letter from Corona out of the stack of mail before anyone else saw it.  She looked at the date: it had been a week and a half.  She sighed.

Corona, September 24th, 1864

Dear Inga,

I’m not sure how I got your last letter so quickly. I’m sure you’ll tell me at some point, but you don’t have to now.  I hope your meeting went well.  And please tell me more of the story about your ambassador in America, it sounds interesting! 

I haven’t been particularly useful here.  We sit in on the meetings, but there really isn’t much to talk about.  They want to send us on tour, me and Hilde, I mean. I’ll make sure we visit Arendelle, if they’re serious about it, but they don’t even know if it will be this year or next year, so who knows.  

Sincerely,

Henry

P.S. I’m still waiting for a recent picture of you!

After fetching a piece of paper to reply, she found a copy of the family’s recent photograph.  That would have to do, even if it wasn’t just herself, which she had the feeling would have been more to his liking.

Arendelle, October 8th, 1864

Dear Henry,

I’m happy to hear my letter got there so quickly!  I hope I can explain it to you at some point.

I’m going to go ahead and send you the family portrait we had a photographer take right after I got back to Arendelle last month.  I ended up holding my baby sister for this one, but believe me, it’s not as bad as it could have been.  As far as the situation with the ambassador, I don’t know much more about what happened to the old one. Since I’m not sure if anyone besides you will be reading this letter, I can’t say too much about who was picked to be the new one until you officially hear about it.  I don’t understand the choice, and I don’t know if your mother will be upset by this, too.  

Tonight we have a ball for the Prince of Maldonia, who will be ending his visit this weekend.  I’ll be very relieved to see him gone, and I’m sure he is very disappointed with me.  

Sincerely,

Inga

Inga walked out to the balcony, looking around to see if anyone was nearby.

“Gale?”