#because it does make sense for creatures so young and small to react in some way in that environment

[turtleblogatlast]

Are those just placeholders or is there actual turble information written down? ( ☉_☉)

Haha I can’t quite remember what I wrote down for these, but they’re honestly just meant to take up space!

However I did end up writing little things for each of them (including Raph, though you can’t see any of his.)

Raph’s talked about how he was strong, and how he’d bit Draxum - that strength being very obvious with how hard it was to get him to let go. I think I remember writing something about how he ‘shockingly did not enjoy solitude.’

Donnie’s was talking about how he appeared disinterested in what was happening around him, but there would be repeated moments where he’d show marked intellect. Draxum also notes that “for some reason, the lack of eyebrows is off-putting. Why.”

Mikey’s is discussing his energy levels and how he appeared to perk up whenever mystic energy was present. There was also notes of how Mikey would be the one to most often go into his shell, but rarely for reasons of distress and instead “mostly for comfort.”

Leo’s is talking about how actively responsive, curious, and affectionate he is when seeing Draxum - shockingly so, for a turtle. Draxum also notes that Leo would seemingly smile at him, but “turtles can’t smile. What.”

At least that’s what I believe I wrote! Just little notes from Draxum about his turtle subjects and how even before the mutation they showed signs of not quite being like other turtles (I have a headcanon that being raised for a little bit in Draxum’s lab with all the mystic energy and ooze around them influenced their development.)

[zarcake-writes]

Berries and Cinnamon

I like Karl Heisenberg. And I was in the mood for something sweet, loving, and slightly sad. Enjoy!

The village is quiet as a bitter wind whistle past the rickety homes and down the muddy little side streets. Most of the houses are dark; only smoke rising from chimneys to show proof of inhabitance. The outline of Castle Dimitrescu is barely visible against the gloomy night sky.

Karl Heisenberg is alone on the muddy streets. The farm animals that usually roam the village during the day have retreated to the safety of their homes. While the cold weather keeps the villagers inside.

He curls his lip when he passes one of the houses. The smell of animals and wet hay is a scent he cannot grow accustomed to. Most of the village reeks; the stench of decaying wet wood and shit is so oppressive it clings to his coat. Personally, Karl finds the entire place to be an affront to his senses.

But worst is the people. Pious fools who consistently grovel and pray at the feet of Mother Miranda; yet cower in fear at the sight of the Lords.

Alcina revels in the fear. It feeds her massive fucking ego. Donna refuses to interact with any except for the few who work in her house. And Moreau is a disgusting freak whose only concern is the occasional validation that Mother Miranda may give. Karl, though, is not sure if he wants to be feared or validated.

A harsh wind blows past him, shaking the trees and nearly taking the hat off his head.

Snow is in the air. And with it, the promise of a harsh winter.

The human villagers have been in a panic about having enough food and supplies for the coming season. Karl has heard plenty of prayers, seen the offerings to Mother Miranda and the Lords in the tiny church. A few brave villagers even approached his factory at one point, asking for metal scrap.

Reluctantly, he gave them a few sheets of metal.

The humans of the village may fear the coming winter. In an attempt to survive, they give offerings to a Mother Miranda, a fake god. Their stoves are stacked with logs, and they cower under moth-bitten blankets hoping to see next spring. Karl does not share their fear.

He revels in the sensation of the cold slicing through his coat. Cold so sharp it reminds Karl of rust-coated metal. The frost-cold ground seeps through his mud-drenched boots. And as chilled wind bites his cheeks, Karl feels almost human.

Almost.

As Karl comes to the edge of the village that borders up to the forest, he stops. The woods are dark, and the path is barely visible through the overgrown brush and ever reaching trees. There are no lamps or torches to light the way. There is not even a sign. Yet, a trail of smoke rising above the trees comes from deeper within the forest.

He enters the dark forest. Immediately, his eyes adjust to the gloom. Similar to the village, the woods are quiet and cold. The trees creak in the wind as an owl screeches, causing every small creature to scuttle into the brush for safety.

Karl dislikes the forest almost as much as the village. There is not enough metal that sings for his touch. Not enough metal that is eager to bend beneath his command. The trees do not listen to him, roots do not break, and every fucking stone gets caught under the toe of his boot. The only good thing is the smell. But even then, the forest smells too pure. He feels like a trespasser.

The path ends in a small clearing with a small cabin in the center. It is surrounded by the remains of a wooden fence that fell to ruin long ago. A chicken coop is behind the house. Karl cannot stop himself from sneering at the smell of chicken shit. A small raised garden in the front of the house.

The cabin looks abandoned, but the black smoke climbing out of the chimney says otherwise.

Karl’s heart speeds up as he approaches the cabin. The stone pathway beneath his feet is new.

The metal lock on the door sings out to Karl. It would be easy for him to unlock the door using his powers, but he promised to stop doing that. The key in his pocket will do just fine.

Inside, the cabin is warm. The slow-burning fire in the fireplace casts the room in a golden light as shadows dance on the wall. The scent of mashed berries and cinnamon lingers in the air.

All the irritation and anger that was bubbling beneath Karl’s skin melts away. A single word comes to his mind: home.

The cabin is small but decorated by someone who loves their home. Pictures of people Karl does not know to hang on the walls. The faces are familiar, and he has heard their stories, but he cannot remember their names. Knick knacks and precious items linger in every part of the room.

On the opposite side of the room is a small makeshift kitchen area that is too small for one person. The stove is old and partially broken, but the sink and cabinets are new. A vase of flowers sits on the dining table. Next to the table are two chairs; one is partially pulled out, while the other is tucked away. A pang shoots through Karl when he notices the jacket and items piled on the unused chair.

A small couch sits in front of the fireplace. A blanket is lazily thrown over the back.

To his right is a partially opened bedroom door.

Karl shrugs off his coat and hangs it on the coat rack near the door. A familiar jacket is the only other coat hanging. His hat goes up next. And his boots are placed next to a pair of feminine boots.

The floorboards creak beneath Karl’s weight.

“Fuck, shut up,” he whispers.

The floorboards do not listen.

As Karl pushes open the bedroom door, the hinges squeak. He freezes, expecting the room’s occupant to wake up. But the room is quiet. And the form in the bed does not move. Behind him, the fire crackles.

The bedroom is small. The bed, which can barely fit two people, takes up most of the space. A pile of clothes lay on the floor near the foot of the bed. Paintings of the ocean and a field of flowers dot the walls. Karl has spent countless hours memorizing every swirl and color of the paintings.

Tucked into the bed is a woman. She’s buried beneath several layers of blankets. Karl can smell the lingering dust on them.

The mere glimpse of her makes his heart speed up, and his hands grow clammy.

For the longest time, Karl hated that she made him feel like a young man who has never been near a pretty girl. He hated the sweaty palms and word vomit he spluttered. He felt so weak that he decided to avoid her. But he couldn’t stay away for long, and he could not imagine chasing her off.

She shifts in bed but does not wake up.

Karl pulls off his shirt, tossing it into the pile near her bed. He winces at the noise his necklaces around his neck make. Even when set onto the bedside table, they still make a jingling noise. Even his belt clinks as he undoes it.

But still, the noises he seems to constantly make do not wake her. Karl is grateful.

Karl pulls the blanket back. She’s curled up on her side wearing a thread-worn nightgown. Carefully, Karl climbs into bed with her. He gets as close as he dares. The sweetness that clings to her skin is dizzying. He can't stop himself from reaching out and placing his arm on her waist. 

She jolts at his touch and begins to move away. Karl hears her heartbeat speed up. He can smell the panic and fear already rising.

“Just me,” he rumbles in her ear.

She relaxes and leans into him. He feels the relief in her body.

“Karl,” she whispers.

He hums at the way she says his name. For the longest time, he detested his name. Karl. What the fuck is a Karl? Everyone else must agree that the name is terrible because no one calls him that, not even the family that Mother Miranda formed. Miranda herself hasn’t called him Karl since he was a child. For so long, he has been Lord Heisenberg.

But she calls him Karl. Karl. Karl. Karl. Karl. Whether she’s yelling at him, laughing with him, whispering to him in the darkness, or moaning his name with a reverence that should be saved for a church service, he loves how she says his name. He’s even begged her to never call him Lord Heisenberg, call him Karl. Only Karl. Karl. Karl.

“Karl?”

“Hm?”

“Did you hear me?”

“No.”

She rolls over in his arm to face him.

The orange glow of the fireplace slips through the cracked bedroom door, casting the faintest hint of light in the room. The curves and dips of her face are darkened, accentuating her features. The tip of her nose is highlighted, as is the plumpness of her cheeks. Her lips stand out the most. Karl has the urge to taste them, to taste her. But she can see the soft exhaustion in her eyes.

“I asked how your day was.”

It was shit, he thinks.

“Oh. It was fine,” he says.

Her eyes narrow. “Karl.”

He can’t keep her gaze. She knows him too well. Knows that when his jaw clenches, and he blinks twice that he is lying or avoiding the question.

But Karl can’t stop himself from lying to her about his day. He spent most of it with Mother Miranda and the other three Lords, so of course, it was a shit day. But he can’t tell her the truth because she will no doubt want to know why his day was shit. How can he tell her the religious leader of their village is a fucking cruel bitch? How would she react if he screamed about the other Lords? Moreau is fucking disgusting. And Angie is an annoying fucking freak. Not to mention the dick-cutting mega-bitch that is Alcina.

And worst is he can't explain to her that his shit interactions with the Lords and Mother Miranda were because of her. 

All the Lords and most of the village know that Karl Heisenberg has a sweetheart he's trying to keep a secret. Angie asks irritating questions. Alcina gets this unhinged look in her eyes. While Mother Miranda is silent on the topic, but Heisenberg knows she is plotting something. He could see it with the slightest tilt of her head. The only one who doesn’t bother Karl is Moreau.

The sinister glint in Alcina’s eyes combined with Mother Miranda’s silence made Karl’s skin crawl. He knows they can hurt her, kill her, or experiment on her. Karl knows he needs to make some kind of claim on the woman in his arms before those two bitches can act.  

Her hand cups his face, bringing Karl’s racing thoughts to a stop. He refuses to look at her. His face will reveal too much. She whispers his name, so soft and sweet, and he cannot refuse her anymore.

He meets her gaze, and she sees it all. The anger, hate, pain, and fear burned in him. But she does not push him away, only smiles and runs her thumb along his cheekbone. Her hands are gentle but worn from working in her garden behind the house.

“I will not pry for details, Karl. But you can be honest with me. I won’t judge you for having a bad day. We all have them.”

“I haven’t just had a bad day, sweetheart.” He clasps her hand that is still holding his cheek. “I’ve had a bad life.”

His voice cracks at the end. Body growing hot with embarrassment and fear of her judging him for the emotion that screams for release in his chest, Karl looks away. He cannot bear to see the rejection in her eyes. 

But her silence is loud. Karl's ears begin to ring as his body grows hotter and hotter. He wants to scream for her to say something, anything. He wants her to push him away now for being a weak, broken man.

She does none of that. She sits up in bed, making sure to keep a hand on Karl, and readjusts her pillows. When she lays back down, she is sitting up. She smiles and opens her arms, welcoming him home.

Karl curls around her body, nuzzling his face into her chest. The tears in his eyes bleed onto her nightgown. If she feels the dampness grow on her chest or feel his trembling against her, she says nothing. She is silent as fingers moving gently against his skin. And slowly, the overwhelming emotion that nearly consumed Karl fizzles out until it is all gone.

“Your tits are soft,” he mumbles eventually.

She snorts. “Kind of like your gut.”

“Your tits aren’t hairy like my gut though.”

“And my tits are probably quieter. No grumbling from digestion.”

He hums in agreement. The only sound from her chest is the gentle beating of her heart.

“Go to sleep,” she whispers.

He opens his mouth to reply, but her fingers begin to move up and down his bareback. Nails that she keeps short and blunt leave soft trails along his back, taking care to ghost over the numerous scars. He can’t form a response, only hum at the sensation.

“Go to sleep, Karl,” she whispers again.

Her hands move up towards his head. She gently pulls at his hair, starting from the ends before pulling at the base of the strands. And with gentle fingers, she brushes through the knots in his hair, careful to not yank or hurt him.

Being in her arms is the closest thing Karl has ever been to having a home. Mother Miranda was no mother. And the other Lords are not his siblings. They are no family, just pawns that Mother Miranda will use as she pleases.

And used him she did. She took everything from him, turned him into a monster by making him perform terrible experiments. He’s numb to the monstrous things he has done and continues to do, that Karl does not feel human. Fuck, he hasn’t been human in so long.

But in this tiny cabin, in the arms of the woman he loves, Karl has a home and a family. And he feels human.

[shutupanddance]

Bones / Reader — Remember Me

Hey my fellow fan fiction people, I have MAJOR writer’s block, and I really want to get these requests done, so I’m hoping that this will snap me out of it.

Warning: this is angst!!

How would Bones react to your death?

Normal text is present time, and blocks of italic text are memories!

Enjoy ;)

Dr. Leonard McCoy is experiencing a “slow day” in medbay. Not that there isn’t the occasional ensign coming in with a scrape or broken bone, but it’s nothing like when the away missions come back.

Speaking of away missions, you were on one now. You weren’t scheduled to come back for a week, though. You were a microbiologist, so your missions were usually much longer, and consisted of more time going back and forth between your lab on the Enterprise and the planet you were stationed on. 

The personnel staff realized pretty quickly that very little got done when you and McCoy were on a mission together. The doctor was so worried for his fiancé that he spent more time making sure you were safe than doing his job. So, it was a rare thing nowadays that you’d be put on a mission together.

Spock is suddenly in medbay.

“What are you doing here?” Leonard grumbles, glancing over his shoulder.

When Spock doesn’t respond immediately, he turns. Something is wrong, Leonard can tell. But whether Spock has a common cold or the ship is about to explode, he can’t tell.

“Captain Kirk requires your assistance on the bridge.” Spock states coolly. Odd.

“Are you sure? Can’t he just ask me through a holopad like everyone else-”

“Please come with me, doctor.”

Doctor McCoy follows, but he grumbles the whole way.

As soon as he’s in the elevator, another team rushes into medbay. They’re surrounding a gurney. And attached to that gurney is a heart monitor, which is beeping slow. Dangerously slow.

You’re not really sure why you got picked for the Enterprise. I mean, it’s Starfleet’s flagship, for crying out loud! But here you are, working away in one of the most advanced labs you’ve ever seen, floating many many miles from home.

You’re still processing all this when a beaker slips out of your hands, and shatters violently on the floor.

Luckily, no one else is in your lab right now. You stay calm, walking on careful feet, and retrieve a broom. As you’re sweeping, though, you realize blood is running down your fingers.

One of the shards of glass must have flown up and cut me, you realize.

You carefully wrap the small wound and apply pressure, then begin walking to medbay. 

The nurses don’t immediately notice you, probably because you’re just standing there looking like you’re out for an evening stroll, but soon enough one happens to glance directly at the gauze you have wrapped around your forearm.

“Oh, dear!” She says, guiding you to a bed. “Dr! Dr. McCoy!”

Out from a nearby office walks Dr. Leonard McCoy. He’s got dark hair, the most alert eyes you’ve ever seen, and damn he’s hot.

“What happened to you?” He grunts.

“Beaker broke. Shard of glass flew up and cut me. No other injuries, and there’s no glass in the wound. I was able to stop most of the bleeding, but I think I’ll need stitches.”

An eyebrow goes up.

“Alright, why don’t you sit down and I’ll take a look.”

You didn’t know it, but in that moment, Leonard McCoy nearly fell head over heels for you. And all he showed for it was a raised eyebrow.

The Captain will not stop insisting that he needs a plan for contagious diseases on the Enterprise.

“We already have one,” Leonard reminds him.

“But will it work? Do we have one for different situations? For instance, if we’re docked on a hostile planet-”

“Are you trying to keep me from my job!?” Leonard asks, more as a pointed jab, but when the room grows uncomfortably silent, he realizes he’s right on the money.

What else does he realize? That every face in the room looks forlorn. And a bit defeated.

“What’s got everyone so depressed?” He asks, swiveling to see the entire bridge crew. No one answers.

Finally, Spock clears his throat.

“We wanted to keep you away from medbay while the doctor’s worked on Y/N.”

There’s a moment, a brief moment, where Leonard’s brain stops working. And he’s paralyzed with fear. But, it doesn’t last for long.

“WHAT!?!”

Jim steps in.

“She was injured on the away mission. Some animal we’ve never seen before came out of nowhere and attacked.”

Bones is trying to get away.

“She saved everyone else’s lives by luring the beast away, doc,” one of the crew is saying, but he doesn’t care. He needs to get to you-

The door to the bridge rolls open. M’Benga is standing there.

And Leonard has never seen the man look so guilty, so distressed, so sad.

“Watch the Coreolis Anjankus!” You say, pulling a red shirt away from a very poisonous plant. You pass him to Dr. McCoy, who pushes him even farther away.

“I thought you were a microbiologist?” He chuckles.

“With a minor in botany!” You smile.

You were one of the few scientists Leonard found to be cool under pressure, and the only one with real common sense. Still, despite all you knew about the dangers of every planet, you were always completely relaxed. If he was being honest, the doctor envied you (just a little bit).

“Tell, me, how did you get stuck with this motley crew?” He asks, eyes trained on the Captain, watching for any dangers.

“I’m not really sure,” you admit. “They just sent me a message one day asking if I wanted to join.”

“And you said yes.”

“Of course I did! Have you seen the labs on the ship?!”

Leonard laughs.

“I’m a nerd, I know, but this assignment is everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”

Dr. McCoy finds himself staring at you, suddenly. He doesn’t really remember how he got here. All he can think of is the fact that your heart’s not beating. That your body is mangled and bloody and despite M’Benga attempting to close the wounds, you look horrible.

It seems ironic, almost, in that instant. The woman who never worried about anything is lying mauled in a biobed. Dead.

The medical idea of death has settled in Leonard’s mind. No beating heart, no brain activity. But what he can’t wrap his head around is you being gone. You’ve  always been there. And, for a moment, he’s convinced that if he sniffles too loud, you’ll hand him a tissue. If he mentions he’s hungry, you’ll wake back up, dig through your duffel bag, and pull some food out.

But you’re not moving.

“Where’s her duffel bag?” He asks, voice as loud and cranky as ever.

Kirk hands your bag over.

Bones reaches in, and digs around until he feels something soft. A teddy bear. He places it on your chest, and lifts your arms to hug it. The soft fur stains with blood.

It’s a horrific scene, the one in front of them.

A village destroyed by a massive storm system. Houses leveled, fields of crops uprooted, and hundreds of people injured or dying or dead.

But you’re standing there, cool and calm as ever, handing out blankets. You smile gently at each villager who steps up, and ask them in one of their native languages what else they need. You direct them to different crew members who can help.

One kid walks up, so young you have to crouch to be eye-level with them. He’s alone. And he looks so terrified, so empty, that you immediately wrap him in a hug. He clings on for dear life.

When he finally let’s go, you begin to explain to him that he needs to see the doctor. He shakes his head so hard you’re afraid his neck will snap. You say some more words in his language, and reach into your duffel bag.

You pull out a teddy bear. The boy smiles, ever so slightly, and immediately gives it a tight hug.

You speak encouragement at him, something about bravery, and the little boy makes his way over to the medical tent with his head held high.

All this Leonard watches. You look at him. He looks at you. And for a while, an unspoken respect passes between the two of you.

He asks you later why you had the teddy bear.

“I always have one on me,” you smile sadly. “You never know when you might need one.”

The ship docks at Command, and the usual celebratory revelries aren’t being heard. The crew is somber.

Your body, encased in a beautiful casket, is loaded onto a small carrier vehicle. Jim, Leonard, and Spock follow it as it weaves its way through the halls.

Your parents are there, and the funeral is quick. No one can really find the strength to say what they want to. No one can choke through their tears long enough to tell your story.

Bones is the last to leave. He watches your casket for hours, almost as if he’s waiting for you to spring out and laugh and kiss him, promising it’ll never happen again, promising you’ll never leave him…

He smiles. A memory-

The town of traders on this new small planet offered the Enterprise crew a place to stay overnight, and Kirk had agreed.

Their houses stood on stilts overlooking an ocean, and there were beautiful torches that burnt blue everywhere to light the paths. Bird-like creatures swooped through the town, twittering and squeaking.

You’re watching them silently through a window, a soft smile on your face. Leonard is sitting next to you on the bed, kissing your shoulder.

Two of the bird things get into a fight, and screeching is heard. Feathers fly.

You laugh, loud and unapologetic, as they tussle. Leonard laughs too. He’s smiling at you as you watch them, so completely wrapped up in how beautiful you are.

You fall back onto the bed, hair flying everywhere. You’re still giggling.

You look at your fiancé, enjoying watching him watch you. You feel comfortable. The house is warm and the blue firelight traces his face. The face of your love.

Leonard is wondering how on earth he landed you. How he convinced you to love him. But he truly has no idea. You’re lying there, eyes locked with his, gazing with so much love he feels he’s going to burst.

You lying there like that, hair spread out on the bed, a lazy smile on your face, eyes sparkling with the reflection of torches… he locks that picture in his mind.

And Leonard thinks that he’ll always remember you this way.

[jincherie]

sunshine riptide | ot7

—  COMMISSION  —

⊙  — pairing: ot7 x reader ⊙  — genre: hybrid au, fluff, comfort, found family, ac inspired ⊙  — wc: 13.8k+ ⊙  — warnings: oc has an almost/light anxiety attack towards the end. there is no explicitly mentioned trigger and it isn’t dwelled on for long, but better to let u guys know! ⊙  — notes: here it is! it’s soft, and warm, and I hope that it can be something to cheer up a little bit those who aren’t having such a good day. i love u all,  and I hope you like this piece :) to the commissioner, thank you for allowing me to write this and I truly hope it helps you feel even just a little bit better! <3

Moving to this island whose inhabitants are mostly hybrids was a bit of an impulse decision, something you did with empty pockets barely a cent to your name. Thanks to the kindness of the island’s ‘mayor’ you have a place to stay, the last spare room in a sharehouse with seven hybrids, and for three months he will pay your rent in exchange for you to work in his shop until you are back on your feet. It’s a sweet deal, but when you begin to get along better than expected with your housemates and the deadline for your departure looms ever closer, you’re not sure you’re going to be able to make yourself leave when the time comes. 

— posted; 06.09.2020 | masterlist

“So in exchange for three months paid stay on the island while you get back on your feet, you will work part-time at the Rabbits Den three days a week, and man the desk in the Resident Services Building on Sundays. Is that okay to you?”

You nod eagerly, the ordeal seeming too good to be true and something you’re afraid will be retracted if you don’t act with haste. Mr Bang returns your motion with a little less fervour, the same kind look never leaving his face.

“Perfect, it’s settled then! We’re glad to have you with us, y/n.”

Something lifts from your chest in that moment, as though you’d been walking beneath the cover of a lead blanket and it has finally slipped from your shoulders. You feel a little breathless, and you know the grin that slips onto your face is stupidly wide. Embarrassingly, you feel salty pricks at the corner of your eyes.

“Thank you so much,” you say, and you mean it. It hadn’t exactly been a well thought out plan, moving here with nothing to your name but your most basic possessions, but you’d just needed to escape and start anew and this… this had been the first opportunity you’d seen. The best opportunity you’d seen. “Really, thank you.”

“You’re more than welcome, young lady.” Mr Bang’s expression grows even softer, if possible. “This is a place people come to find refuge, and happiness. You’re welcome here.”

You clear your throat, turning your head to the side and pretending that you need to cough so he doesn’t see the tear that slips out. You have a feeling he knows, though, as you turn back and find him smiling at you, floppy rabbit ears framing his round face. He reaches out, patting you on the shoulder.

“Now, lets find you a room for the night. I’ll send word to the house I have in mind and make sure they have it nice and tidy before your arrival tomorrow. Sound good?”

It hits you only now how tired you are, more emotionally exhausted than anything, and nod while allowing him to lead you down the hall. That does sound good, actually. That sounds amazing.

O – O – O

You’d arrived on this island in the early hours of the morning yesterday, the late-night ferry the only one that runs to this island on the outskirts of the archipelago. It’s likely due to the fact that the captain is a nocturnal hybrid, and hence prefers to run his business under the cover of night. You hadn’t been able to sleep on the trip over, so when Mr Bang had shown you to the room he was happy to lend you for the night, despite it being barely ten o’clock in the morning you’d passed out the second your head hit the pillow. It was more of a nap than anything, but you suspect that the events of the past few months all caught up to you at once because you woke only for dinner and then fell asleep once more. Mr Bang offered no judgement, and simply left a note instructing you where the bathroom is and where you could find towels so that you could freshen up once you awoke. He also left you a coffee bun in a container, since you’d missed the afternoon tea he held the day before.

You hadn’t even been on this island a day and already the kindness of one of the residents was almost bringing you to tears.

Due to the fact that you’d slept far too early, you end up waking up at an ungodly hour the next day, the day you are meant to be moving in to the sharehouse that Mr Bang told you about. Laying in the bed, nestled in the warmth of the covers and watching as the suns rays slowly begin to stain the ceiling and the curtains in rich marigold, you do your best to get yourself together. You can breathe easy now, any anxiety you’d felt previous now nothing more than an echo in your chest. You feel refreshed, and not just from the ridiculous amount of sleep you’ve had in the past twenty-four hours. There are of course some nerves pertaining to meeting your new housemates, but it’s manageable. You have faith that everything will turn out well. It’s a good feeling.

Mr Bang is kind enough to offer you breakfast, and likely would have pushed you to stay for lunch had you not shown up down the stairs with your baggage already in tow. So begrudgingly, he allows you to head on your way, informing you that your new housemates knew of your arrival and had endeavoured to tidy up as much as possible. You thought it was a little funny he was telling you that—just how messy is the house usually?—but he simply shook his head with a smile that told you the answer would come soon enough.

The island isn’t big, but it most definitely isn’t small. The sun is warm and the air cool with a tinge of salt and sea trailing along the breeze, and the path you walk along that skirts the beach is peppered with sand and the odd shell. It makes you happier than anticipated, because just being out here makes you feel so free. Mr Bang told you that the house where you will be staying is on the other side of the island, past the little cluster of shops and small businesses and perched at the edge of the sand, backing onto a river that flows into the ocean and skirted on one side by a small cliff.

“It’s their own little alcove,” Mr Bang had snorted, a mixture of fondness and amusement evident on his features. “They get up to more trouble than I can keep track of over there, but they’re good boys.”

Ah, that’s right. You’d almost forgotten; your new housemates are a bunch of boys. You hope that Mr Bang is right about their character and you won’t be living in discomfort for the next three months.

The path wound and curved a bit, following the edge of the island, and before long you were walking through a section of light forestry. You suspected the house would be on the other side, and were in the midst of thinking just what it would look like when a small squeak! catches your attention and you halt, almost dropping your bag.

It’s silent, save for the way the breeze caresses the leaves around you. You peer around, eyes unable to spot anything in the foliage. Did you imagine it? It’s a little early in your stay to be going crazy. Hesitantly, you adjust your grip on your bag and resume your trek.

Squeak! S-squeeeak!

No, you definitely heard that. You freeze, having gotten a better sense of where the sound is coming from now and turning towards a large tree smothered in vines of varying thickness and clinginess. For a moment, you don’t see anything, eyes squinting hard—it’s like one of those I spy books you used to rave about as a kid— and just when you think you might be looking in the wrong place, you catch movement.

There, in a cluster of the vines dangling from one of the tree’s thicker limbs, is a tiny creature, all tangled up and squeaking in distress.

“Oh my goodness,” you drop your bag, immediately moving closer.  “Poor thing—hold on just a second, bub. I’ll get you out. Promise not to bite me?”

The creature offers a squeak and logically you know it isn’t answering your request, but you pretend it is anyway. Carefully stepping over plants and twigs, thanking past you for wearing more practical boots, you reach where the creature is stuck, dangling just below eye level.

The vines it has managed to get all tangled up in aren’t particularly thick, but there are a lot of them, and it has managed to get a few of its limbs stuck in place. Carefully, you snap a few of the more central ones and ease the tiny thing out, getting a better view of it the more you pull from its body. It’s squeaking all the while, though with much less distress and more of an energy that simply feels chatty. It makes you smile.

“There you go,” you murmur, cradling the tiny baby in your palms and cooing, trying to calm the heartbeat and hurried breaths you can feel racing against your skin. You stroke along its back as lightly as you can manage. “Oh, you’re a little sugar glider! You’re so pretty, such a cutie. Look at your markings, wow… so pretty.”

Almost as though it can understand your praise and is basking in it, it flicks its bushy tail and rolls in your palm, like a cat rubbing against something with its cheek except this little glider is doing it with its whole body. It’s awfully friendly, you note. Perhaps much of the wildlife here is more peacefully accustomed to human and hybrid activity.

“Okay, you’re free now. I’ll stop ogling at you and let you go,” you say, holding your hands up to a part of the tree that isn’t covered in vines lest there be a repeat of the earlier situation. The sugar glider merely blinks, eyes still on you, and doesn’t move. Brows drawn in confusion, you move your hands closer to the tree, “Well, aren’t you going to—oh!”

Faster than you can react, the little thing darts from your hands, leaping to your bicep and scurrying up with tiny claws in your shirt to your shoulder. Once at its apparent destination, it rushes to the crook of your neck and makes itself at home, nestling against you and securing itself with its tail partway around the back of your neck and its little paws clutching your shirt edge. You giggle, still in shock and trying not to jostle it off as you fight the ticklish sensation.

“Okay. I guess you can come with me. I’m not sure if you can stay the whole while, but I’m sure it will be okay while I walk.”

So off you go, bending and retrieving your bag carefully so you don’t dislodge your tiny new companion. You’ve seen a bit of sugar gliders, but the way this one is acting is quite peculiar. If it sticks around until you arrive at the house, you’d love to snap a quick picture because it really is so pretty, so cute.

The trip is faster than anticipated, now there is something else to occupy your thoughts. Before you know it you’re out of the forestry and approaching a large, modern three storey building that is probably just a few yards short of a mansion, nestled between the ocean, the river, and a short cliff-face just barely higher than the roof. This is the place for sure.

The little glider seems to perk up, the closer you get, something that surprises you since it was so quiet you thought it was asleep. With a soft noise, it grabs onto your hair with tiny paws and scurries to the top of your head, likely making a mess of it in the process but it’s so cute you can’t bring yourself to mind. At least it will be an interesting first impression.

As you approach the front door, you think you see movement in one of the windows on the ground floor. You almost dismiss it as you reach the eve, until you catch the hurried patter of feet against hardwood from beyond the door.

You barely manage to blink before the door is flying open, a man with raven curls and two fluffy russet ears peeking between the locks presenting you with the biggest grin you have ever seen on anyone’s face. It’s boyish and cute, a direct contrast to the mature, sculpted features of his face.

“Hello!” he says, and you catch sight of a long, fluffy russet tail whipping behind him and betraying his excitement—not that he was doing much to hide it. “You must be the new roomie! It’s nice to meet you! We’ve been waiting all morning, and one of us actually went to pick you up but… I’m not sure where he is.”

You’re a little overwhelmed but easily recover when he simply keeps looking at you so happily, returning the man’s bright smile. There’s rustling in your hair at the back of your head but you ignore it, adjusting your grasp on your bag. “Ah, thank you. I’m y/n, it’s nice to meet you…?”

The man pulls back, a sheepish look on his face that accompanies a light flush in his cheeks. “Oh, right. I’m Taehyung. Sorry. My hyungs tell me I tend to get a bit ahead of myself sometimes.”

You keep the smile on your face. “That’s okay, we got there in the end. It’s nice to meet you, Taehyung.”

Taehyung brightens, tail curling happily behind him. He opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted from a voice to the side.

“Are you going to make our poor new housemate wait outside all day, Tae?”

The light blush colouring Taehyung’s cheeks deepens, a sheepish laugh escaping. “No. I was just about to invite her in!”

He steps back and reveals the person behind him who had spoken, a tall man with dimples and silvery hair that did little to conceal the large, rounded grey ears atop his head. He seems a little awkward in his stance, like he has more body than he knows what to do with, but still extends an arm in greeting with a kind smile. “y/n, is it? Welcome, please come in. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay here with us, however brief. We’re happy to have you.”

Don’t cry, don’t cry! If you cry now you can never show your face here again. You clear your throat, returning his smile as you step inside and out of the sun, the difference in temperature against your skin immediate. “Thank you, I really appreciate your generosity in letting me stay here.”

“Nonsense,” Taehyung snorts, “Namjoon-hyung has been saying for months we should find someone to fill the spare room, and now you show up on our doorstep! It’s perfect.”

The taller, who Taehyung had referenced as Namjoon, seems a little bashful, his cheeks heating. Does everyone in this house blush so easily? You hope it’s not contagious.

There is movement in your hair again, the glider apparently needing to breathe, and you have your mouth open ready to explain when Namjoon beats you to it.

“Oh, I see you’ve met Jimin already!”

What?

The glider leaps from your head and onto Taehyung’s outstretched arm, climbing to his head before leaping from that too and gliding through the air, all the way around the corner. There is a small clutter, the sound of a light swearword entering the air, and then the ever-familiar patter of feet against hardwood. Another boy rounds the corner, ashy-blond hair tousled and parted by two small grey ears, bushy tail curling behind him.

He skids to a stop in front of you, dipping in a brief bow before rising and shooting you a bright smile. “Hello! Thank you for helping me! I’m Jimin, welcome home!”

It takes all of your willpower to keep the happy tears at bay as you tilt your head back and laugh, already feeling lighter than you ever remember feeling before.

O – O – O

Your next introductions to the hybrids you will be sharing your home with for the next three months go much smoother and without as many surprises as the last ones. Jimin, who seems to have warmed up to you quickly, was more than happy to take you on a tour of the house and to go through introductions while he was at it. He happily told you who was what hybrid as well, without you asking. You figured that he realised your underperforming human nose wouldn’t be able to tell, so he took the initiative and you’re thankful for it, because you were curious.

The oldest resident of the house is Seokjin, a red-panda hybrid who goes on a spree of stress-baking every time exam season rolls around. Most of the hybrids study online, as you learnt from Jimin’s excited chattering. The second you met Jin, as he preferred to be called, you were stunned at how handsome he was. Of course, any awe that rooted you to the spot quickly dissipated as he said a joke so painfully funny it left you with whiplash between the urge to roll your eyes and guffaw. You like him, though. He’s nice.

You quickly discover that all the inhabitants of this house are, though. Yoongi is the second oldest and a squirrel glider hybrid—something Jimin said he found funny since he was closest to Jimin, a sugar glider, and Hoseok, the third oldest and a sunny squirrel hybrid. He giggled as he told you, and you couldn’t hide your own smile even as Yoongi’s ear had flicked and he’d shot the two of you a suspicious look. The little fun fact Jimin had told you about Yoongi had taken you by surprise; he remotely operates the island’s radio, many of the tunes ones he has created himself. Often, if there is a festival, he will volunteer his time to work the music jobs there, too. Apparently Namjoon also pitches in, and Hoseok when he has free time outside of the classes he teaches on the other side of the island.

Hoseok is a dancer, Jimin had gushed, and while he teaches at the school part time, he also volunteers time outside of that to hold dance classes for the kids. Jimin told you that he joins occasionally, but less often lately since his workload for university has increased. He did tell you, though, that the youngest of the house had all but taken his place, his youthful heart at home mucking around with kids and helping them learn.

Jungkook is his name, and Jimin informed you with a very fond and very amused look that he is rather shy, so you might not see him for a few days. Apparently it had been uttered just loud enough for the hybrid in question to catch it though, because there was a tumbling sound from the floor above and a series of stomping footsteps. A head of long, wavy inky hair had popped over the railing, grey ears pinned back as a baby-faced boy delivered a glare to the blonde to your side.

“Hyung! That’s not true! I’m not too shy to even introduce myself!” he had defended himself avidly, red-faced and huffy. When his eyes turned to you, mouth open to follow through on his words, he abruptly shrank and all that escaped was a squeak. It took him a moment to conjure speech once more, and this time he was noticeably less bold. “I’m—I’m Jungkook! It’s nice to meet you! I have to go now! Goodbye!”

And then he was gone, and so concluded your final introduction to the residents you had yet to meet. You thought you had a good feeling when you first arrived, but now that you’ve met everyone and everything feels that bit more real, you find yourself thinking…

It’s a really good feeling.

O – O – O

“It’s not what it looks like!”

You raise a brow, book in hand as you stand at the edge of the sand bank where green bleeds into gold. Against your heels is cool grass, and your toes are dipped in the gentle warmth of the sand. Namjoon sits in front of you, beneath a tree protruding from the dune, with a bundle of leaves in his hand and a guilty look in his face.

“Isn’t eucalyptus toxic to humans and hybrids?”

“I’m not eating it!” Namjoon waves his hands in a frantic bid to assure you, eyes wide, and almost drops the leaves in question. His large, grey ears flick in his distress. “I was just… I know I can’t eat it but it smells so good… I was just sniffing it. It calms me.”

You let out a light laugh, walking closer and plopping down on the sand beside him, beneath the generous shade the tree offers. The sea breeze is kind and cools your skin where it smarts from the sun, tickling your neck and manipulating your hair into a tumbleweed. Namjoon snorts, helping you get it back in order.

“No judgement,” you say, crossing your legs and placing your book in your lap for the meantime. “Just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t have to take you to a hospital, because I do not know where to find one on this island.”

Namjoon grins, rosy cheeks complimenting his skin the way it glows gold in the sun’s glare. “You’d drag little ol’ me all the way to the hospital if you knew where it was?”

“Well, yeah,” you laugh, sifting sand through your fingers as you relish the sound of waves crashing barely a yard away. It’s so peaceful, you feel so at peace. “Since none of you seem to know what a car is.”

“We had a car,” Namjoon admits, face flushing violently as he averts his gaze, turning his head. “There was just, um, an unfortunate incident… that may have involved a tree, or two…”

You decide not to probe further, lest your current good impression of Namjoon come under threat. A beat of silence passes, before Namjoon shuffles, placing the bundle of leaves back on the grass. He angles his body a little more towards you, sniffing subtly.

“So… how is your stay so far? Is everything going okay?”

You can’t hide the expression of surprise that makes its way to your face as you turn to him, blinking. You don’t know what you were expecting, but for some reason it hadn’t been that. It’s awfully nice of him.

You’ve been on the island almost a week now. The interactions you’ve had with your housemates so far, though not too bountiful, have all been pleasant, and you genuinely have nothing to complain about. You haven’t seen much of Jungkook, Hoseok, or Yoongi—but that mostly comes down to incompatible work hours and commitments. Mr Bang’s nephews run the Rabbit’s Den, the local convenience store that occasionally hosts a few exotic goods, and they have been nothing short of helpful, polite, and friendly while you worked there. You have worked a single shift at the Resident Services Building too, and it was pretty chill. A few residents came in, happily introduced themselves to you, and then you helped them with whatever had warranted their visit. All in all, your stay has been amazing so far.

“It’s been good,” you say, and it feels so nice to have the words escaping your mouth be true to the warmth in your chest. “Everyone here is super nice. It does feel a bit odd though, sometimes I feel like I’m the only human here.”

“Oh, yeah. You are,” Namjoon huffs an amused laugh. “You’re the first human Mr Bang has allowed on this island.”

Your surprise is evident, and it makes him smile when he turns his head to give you a sly look. “He must have had a good feeling about you. Rabbit hybrids tend to rely a lot on their gut feelings and intuition.”

“Oh,” you say, cheeks warming. Well, you’re glad he had decided to let you in. You say as much to Namjoon, and he smiles brightly at you.

“We’re glad he decided to let you in, too.”

You’re not sure what to say to that, a little embarrassed from the unexpectedness of it—was he really telling the truth? You’d hardly spent any time with some of your other housemates…

A calm silence begins to settle between you, and you take the time to open your book and resume where you left off. You get so carried away reading that when you finally look up some time later, the sight to your side almost makes you gasp.

Namjoon had, at some point, fallen asleep in a little patch of sunlight that manage to pierce through the foliage—in the place of the large, long-limbed man you had been talking to is now a considerably smaller fluffy koala, sitting upright and snoozing lightly. You suspect this isn’t the most ideal position for him to be sleeping in, though, because every few moments he will sway on the spot, almost tipping but not quite going far enough to have an abrupt meeting with the sand.

You coo, unable to help it, but the sound quickly grows alarmed when he leans too far—before you can think your arms shoot out to hold him up, but it seems there is something true to what is said about koalas being clingy because the second he feels something touch him, koala Namjoon clings.

You squeak, a fully-grown koala now wrapped around your forearm. Slowly, you bring it closer to you (feeling your bicep burn all the while because damn is he heavier than he looks!), planning to use your other hand to ease him off, but it seems that the second you’re close enough he can sense your warmth and he wants in. You sit, exasperated and amused, with a koala now latched to your midriff, arm forgotten. Both your hands are now free, but at what cost?

You figure that he’ll probably let go when he wakes up, or he might fall back into the sand in his sleep, but until then you resign yourself to unexpected but definitely not unwelcome koala cuddles. You just hope he won’t be too embarrassed when he wakes up; you can already see him stuttering and going red in your mind’s eye. It brings a chuckle to your lips, and with a smile on your face you return to your book once more, a little more content than before.

O – O – O

 It’s been a while since you’ve had to deal with the dreams.

Usually, once they start you can wake yourself up, or you can manage to turn them around if they’re one you’ve had before. But some nights, when the dreams come, you’re helpless but to see them play out. Sometimes they’re not that bad, but even the milder ones leave you with a nauseous ball of anxiety beneath your lungs and a feeling of discomfort that digs claws deep in your bones.

About three weeks into your stay, you wake up after one such dream, a cursory glance to your phone and the painful glare of its screen revealing it to be the early hours of the morning. For a moment you simply lay, blinking, with your gaze rooted on the ceiling. You had strung up some fairy lights around your dresser, and on the plaster above you the soft colourful rainbow of their hue meshes and blends with the cool pools of moonlight slipping through your curtains.

Absently, and with a sense of resignation that you feel in your bones, you strip the cover back and climb out of bed, deciding you may as well grab some water since you’re likely not going to be able to fall asleep very easily anytime soon.

As you make your way through the levels to the ground floor where the kitchen resides, you’re careful to be as quiet as possible—you’re not sure how successful your effort is but you do know that quite a few of your housemates have been inundated with coursework lately and you don’t want to disturb any of the valuable rest they need so badly. Jimin had looked so wiped out yesterday that you’d literally had to pull him away from the dishes and send him to bed. He complained on the way, but as soon as his head hit his pillow he was out, leaving you in a mixture of awe and concern. He explained as soon as he woke the next morning that he had been up all night completing an assignment, and it made you realise just how exhausted a lot of your roommates seem lately. You hope this period passes soon for them; you may not have been here long but you have grown to care for them and you don’t like seeing them so unwell.

You’re just pondering this when you reach the ground floor and venture into the kitchen, thoughts and feet coming to an abrupt stop as you take in the sight that greets you there.

Seokjin is standing by the bench, hands moving slowly as he puts something together just out of your view. A quick survey of the rest of the countertop tells you that he’s making lunches, and while ordinarily this would touch your heart (as it does every time you see how each of the hybrids in this house cares for each other), this time you’re overcome with a strong wave of concern.

Delicately put, Seokjin looks dead on his feet.

Every few moments his head bobs down, chin almost hitting his chest before he jerks awake just long enough to lift his head, before the cycle repeats once more. He looks so exhausted you’re impressed he managed to make as many lunches as he did. Though, from the looks of it he’s only about halfway through.

“Hey, Seokjin… are you okay?”

The hybrid jumps, the startle you gave him probably rendering him more awake than he has been in a few hours.

“Wh—what are you doing awake?” he sputters, having to lean against the bench so that he doesn’t fall over. “It’s almost midnight!”

You can’t help the look you give him, a mixture between amusement and concern. “Um… it’s a little past midnight actually… probably closer to two… are you alright?”

Seokjin blinks at you for a second while your words sink in, before he sags with a light groan, bringing a hand up to scrub at his eyes.

“Yeah,” he mumbles, voice thick with sleepiness. His bushy, striped tail sways behind him before curling around his thigh. “I’m just… kind of wiped out. I was up finishing a part of a really big assessment piece and it took longer than I thought… I was going to go to bed but then I remembered that I hadn’t prepared the boys’ lunches, and I always do that, so I came down here and…”

He makes a great, sweeping gesture over the mess on the bench, a result of his patchy attention. A huff of laughter escapes him. “Yeah.”

“I’m glad you finished your piece, but… do you really have to make their lunches? I think you should probably get some sleep…”

You were a little worried he might take your words the wrong way, but you can tell from the serene expression on his face that he doesn’t. “I always do it. If I don’t, then they might worry about me, and I don’t want them to worry about me when they should spend that energy worrying about themselves. Plus, I don’t know if I’d be able to sleep if I knew they weren’t done.”

You return his amused smile, taking a step closer and willing yourself to speak the idea that had come to mind.

“Well, considering I found you almost sleeping on the spot when I came down, I think you should probably call it a night and get some rest. I’d be happy to finish up and make sure the lunches are done, if you’d like?”

You can see the resistance immediately, the tall man opening his mouth to refuse—but he halts, and for a moment slips into his own thoughts. Sensing that he just needs a little push, you continue, “If you tell me what you usually make, I should be able to finish the rest of them without too much trouble.”

He blinks, and in that moment you see the rest of his exhaustion flood to the surface. He sniffles, unable to fight the yawn that rises. “… Okay. If that’s really alright with you…?”

You laugh, reaching to bump Seokjin’s side. “Of course it is. I don’t mind at all, especially if it means you’ll go to sleep in your bed and not on the kitchen floor. Now, what do you normally make…?”

Letting out a soft laugh, Seokjin does his best to stay awake long enough to instruct you on what he makes and how he makes it for the remaining members of the household. You can’t help but notice throughout his explanation that he doesn’t seem to make lunch for himself despite making it for everyone else, and as he finally plods off to bed and passes out, you make the decision that you’re going to make some lunch for him too. It takes you a brief google search on the diet of red pandas and their hybrid counterparts, as well and recalling what you know of Seokjin’s taste in food, but it doesn’t take you too long to decide on what to make. You work through the lunches one by one, grateful for the distraction, and complete the task fully when Seokjin’s sits primly next to the rest. You pile them all into the fridge, washing your hands again before grabbing the water you originally came down for, and then you’re making the trip back upstairs to your own bed, a soft smile on your face and a warm satisfaction curling around your lungs. You fall asleep easier than expected for a night where you had one of those dreams, but there most definitely aren’t any complaints to be found as you drift off with a faint smile on your lips.

--

The next day, it’s only a little before midday when Seokjin finally rises from his slumber and makes his way downstairs. Blearily, he reaches the kitchen and heads straight to the fridge, attempting to think through his sleep-addled brain what he should make for lunch. Those thoughts are interrupted as he catches sight of a box he hasn’t seen outside of the little tupperware cupboard by the stove in ages sitting on the middle shelf, a little paper tag with ‘for Seokjin’ scribbled onto it perched on top.

He pulls it out and places it on the bench, staring in confusion. It takes him an embarrassingly long time to kick his limbs into gear and open it, but from that point on the realisation comes quickly with the memory of last night.

You’d gone and made lunch for him, too. And from the looks of it, you’d paid great attention to what to include.

His stomach rumbles violently as he takes in the sight of berries and the bamboo shoots he usually stores in the fridge that you must have taken the time to boil and season. There is a sandwich in there as well but he doesn’t need to check whether he will like it because he can already smell the salmon.

He doesn’t know what to think, or really what to say. He knows he’s just lucky you’ve already gone to work at the Rabbit’s Den because otherwise you would probably be here and risk seeing his eyes tear up a little.

A side effect from being sleepy and stressed is the dramatics, he knows, but still… he can’t help but notice the warm feeling that lingers in his stomach when he thinks of how nice you are to do such a thing.

O—O—O

“You’re gonna love it when we get there, y/n! It’s so pretty, and there’s so much fruit… I’m going to feast.”

You can’t help but let out a laugh, thoroughly enjoying the company of your two housemates and the combination of cool breeze and warm sunlight the air offers as they kiss your skin. It’s earlier in the morning than you tend to wake up, but you’ve been invited out on an exclusive adventure and you aren’t in any position to say no. For the past few weeks you’ve noticed that on a Saturday and Sunday morning, Taehyung tends to disappear. You don’t know where, and each time you saw him again you forgot to ask, but finally the opportunity had arisen for you to sate your curiosity. Happily, the lemur hybrid had informed you that there is a small section of the island towards the north that is absolutely packed with trees, bushes and otherwise, all peppered with ripe fruit. Some days he goes to tend to them, but on the weekends he confessed to you that he normally goes to harvest the literal fruits of his labour.

“Just don’t eat all of the tamarind again, Jiminie, or I will have to kill you myself.”

Jimin lets out a loud laugh, stumbling in his gait for a moment from the force of it. “Yessir! Understood, sir!”

Taehyung’s lips quirk into a smile, and he returns his gaze to the front to continue marching ahead and leading the two of you to his secret spot. You adjust your hold on the woven bag over your shoulder, brushing away some of the more unruly strands of hair that have made their way across your face by riding on the breeze.

“Thanks again for inviting me, Tae,” you say, unable to hide the skip in your step as you plod along after them, smiling brightly. “I’ve been wanting to explore more—it feels wrong that I’ve been here for a month and barely seen everything there is to see.”

Taehyung spins to flash you a beaming grin over his shoulder, ears flicking and tail curling happily. “Of course, it’s no problem! I did wonder if you’d like to come some time, so I’m glad you mentioned it the other day.”

Jimin gasps, the sound somewhere between playful and affronted. “You asked her yourself to come?! I had to beg for weeks! Weeks!”

“I told you, the fruit weren’t done when you first asked!” Taehyung whines, reaching back and pausing in his steps just long enough to whack Jimin on the shoulder. “You just didn’t listen!”

“I’m baby,” Jimin says, whether in affirmation or explanation you’re not sure. It manages to tear a laugh from Taehyung either way, and you’re no different.

You’re not left stewing in anticipation for long; before you know it you’re broaching the place that Taehyung and Jimin speak so highly of. Rounding a corner, you come across a large grove that ends beyond what your eyes can see—some trees curl and wind, others stand straight and proud with their roots covered modestly with smaller shrubbery. Vines cling and string around some trunks, but the one thing all of the flora in front of you has in common is that they’re all ripe with fruit, ready to be picked.

“Oh wow,” you remark, barely aware you’ve even said anything. A deep laugh sounds from beside you and you turn to see Taehyung grinning brightly, tail curling happily behind him and his little ears flicking with glee.

“Pretty, right? Some of these were already growing here when I found it, like the apples, but the rest of it I planted over time. I’m proud of how it’s turned out.”

“You should be!” you exclaim, pointing to the fruit displayed in the very image of temptation before you all. “Dude, they look delicious.”

“They are!” Jimin chimes in, flitting past you and snagging his finger in your sleeve as he goes to drag you along. “Come on, there’s a mulberry tree up the back and it has the juiciest berries. We have to pick them now before all the birds and fruit bats get them.”

Laughing, you allow the sugar glider hybrid to lead you into the grove of greenery, the man ducking and weaving around branches with ease as his feet follow a path well-worn into the dirt and grass. The splotches of sunlight that filter through the foliage are pleasant where they warm your skin, breeze ensuring you don’t get too hot beneath the kiss of a star. In the shadows of the trees, it is actually much cooler than you expected, but you can’t help but feel that the temperature, the air, the sights—everything feels perfect.

The mulberry tree, fondly called Ol’ Bessy as Jimin had eagerly informed you, is a large, looming monster of a tree with a plethora of winding trunks and subordinate thin branches that dangle and sway in the breeze in the image of a weeping willow. When you comment on the sheer size of it, Taehyung simply shrugs and tells you with a smile that it’s been here a long time, before anyone was on the island.

The three of you don't have much desire to waste any more time standing and dawdling, and so you begin your activity for the day, woven bags and baskets prepared and at the ready. You inspect the mulberries that are hanging lowest, spying the occasional green one but becoming easily appeased when you find bunches of ripe ones, plump and fit to burst as they weigh the thinner branches down.

Gathering them is harder than anticipated, because you hadn't accounted for the fact they they're, well, berries. It takes a few attempts and more than a few instances of stained hands before you figure out the best way to pluck them from the tree without bursting them. Taehyung saw the first one you popped and the way it went all up your arm, and hasn't stopped laughing since.

The three of you bounce between fruits and trees, filling your containers with whichever you prefer. After a while though you all seem to have the same idea to congregate at the mulberry tree. Admittedly, you hadn't been able to stop yourself from munching on some of the fruits as you picked them, but as you look at them and see berry stains around their mouths and apple leaves in their hair, you feel a little less guilty about it. Taehyung places his basket down, leaning it securely against the base of the tree trunk, before dusting his hands with a sharp clap and then resting them on his hips.

"Right," he says, eyes alight. "There's just one more tree to visit. I think you're gonna love it."

You tilt your head, wondering just what other kind of fruit he has up his sleeve when already you've picked so many. Surely he's constrained even a little bit by the climate? Or does he have magically green thumbs? Jimin giggles at your confused expression.

"How good are you at climbing trees?"

The question gives you pause. "Uh... decent? I suppose?"

"Great!" Taehyung exclaims, picking his basket back up and closing the lid to help secure it on his back. "Let's go!"

Once more you're lead in between and through the trees and shrubs, following the gleeful lemur hybrid and his grinning companion back to the middle of the grove. Before long you're stumbling to a halt, having reached the location and wondering how on earth you managed to miss this tree before.

It's bigger than Ol' Bessy by a decent margin, but confusion filters through you when you can't seem to spot any fruit hanging from its branches. You turn to Taehyung, about to question him, but he simply grins and darts over to the massive trunk (really, you don't think two of you could hug it from either side and have your fingers touch, it's so big). It's only after he begins scaling it with alarming ease that you take note of the grooves and footholds curled into the trunk, making it a naturally perfect tree for climbing. Jimin darts up after his friend, apparently also well-versed in the art of climbing this tree, and breaks you from your awed reverie with a shout over his shoulder.

"Come on, y/n! Or Tae is gonna take the good spot!"

Unsure what he means and unsure if you're willing to find out via Taehyung following through on that, you scramble to follow after them and do your best to climb.

It's easier than anticipated, actually, and dare you say it... relaxing. Though you're going higher and higher with each branch you clear, and see less of the ground and more of the canopy with each step, you can't say you're all that scared, or worried. If anything, it's as though a moment of peace has been captured in a bubble, and now settles like cool mist on a spring morning at the bottom of your chest.

In sharp contrast to the cool breeze that brushes your face as you emerge from the thickest part of the foliage, the sun is quick to kiss warmth back into your cheeks. For a moment, you have to pause in your climb, because the view around you is simply so beautiful you're at an absolute loss for words.

From here, the highest point in the grove, you can see a vast majority of the island, a sweeping panorama of lush greens and soft sands that blend into the crystalline waters of the ocean, sunlight turning the surface to a sea of diamonds. Along the stretch of beach, in the distance, you can just barely glimpse the sharehouse, and on the other side of the island the little market square where all the stores and restaurants are appears as smudges and blobs of dark colours.

"It's so beautiful, right?"

You're so immersed in your observation that for a second you almost don't even register that someone is talking to you. Mouth open in awe, you simply turn your expression to Taehyung; the lemur laughs, almost tumbling back from the force of it, and you're shocked back into the moment with worry until you see what stopped him from falling.

Here, at the very top of the tallest tree in Taehyung's secret grove, he has built a small little fixture, a deck with enough space for four people to squeeze onto it at most. It hugs the trunk of the tree and is braced on the few thick branches that split from the tree beneath it. A lot of it is untouched, natural wood, but the bottom is made of processed planks and some of the short balcony ledge has been painted with acrylics, little scenes spanning the length of the strips. You didn't know Taehyung painted, but figure you'll bring it up at another time when you aren't precariously clinging to the top of a massive tree.

Taking the hand that both men offer you, you haul yourself carefully up and onto the deck, marvelling as you get an even clearer view of the island from your new position.

"It really is," you answer him, somewhat belatedly. When the two of them settle down, tree swaying much like you imagine a ship would on the vast expanse of the ocean, you follow suit, with your back pressed securely to the trunk.

Jimin is already flinging open his container, smacking it onto the wood in front of him, and Taehyung laughs once more, the sound so freeing and light that it makes that little bubble of peace in your abdomen expand ever so slightly.

"And now, we feast!" The lemur says, eagerly opening his own basket and setting it in front of him, besides Jimin's. They're both set to overflow from the amount of fresh, ripe fruit piled in.

They shamelessly and unabashedly dig in, eliciting a laugh from you as you move your own bag before you to do the same. It's nice, the perfect lunch in more ways than one; the small amount of foliage above you offers just enough shade that you want for nothing more in the moment besides maybe a pillow or two, everything else accounted for in excess.

You're not sure how long you spend there, but you do know that the sun has made a decent amount of headway in its journey across the sky by the time the three of you are done stuffing your stomachs full, laying across the deck and squinting until the clouds swimming leisurely across the sky begin to resemble something you can put a name to. It's fun, and light, and for what is alarmingly far from the first time, you find yourself so thankful for the choices you made and the path that led you here, to be staying on this beautiful island with these lovely boys.

By time you finish and the three of you are heading back, you’ve eaten through half of the fruit and the boys are so full and sleepy from the big day that they’ve shifted into their animal forms and are now clinging to you, Taehyung with his long limbs around your neck and Jimin with his tiny paws clinging to the hair at the top of your head. You suspect he’s made himself another little nest up there, but can’t find it in yourself to be upset with him for it especially when the soft sounds and chitters he makes to communicate with Taehyung are so damn cute.

The trip back is shorter than you recall, and before you know it you’re approaching the sharehouse once more, it’s looming sides graced with the warm gleam of afternoon sun. Jimin and Taehyung are asleep as you reach the front door, and you’re saved from having to move all the bags and baskets in your hold to open the door when it opens for you. Hoseok is standing there, a startled look gracing his features that quickly blends into one of fondness as he sees his friends, something that makes your cheeks warm ever so slightly.

“Good day?” he asks, stepping back to let you in. You nod, unable to help the wide grin touching your lips.

“Yeah, it was.”

O – O – O

‘…They should be setting up a tower soon, so hopefully it won’t be long before I can call you again. But until then, I look forward to every letter you send, bubbles.

Write back soon! I miss you.

Love, Dad’

You sniffle, trying not to let out the tears that are so close to slipping from your eyes. You’re not all that upset, you love receiving letters from your father, but it’s just… a little bittersweet. You’d moved here to escape your family, following a certain incident that you’re not keen to revisit, and your father had always been and will always be supportive of you— but it’s hard, when he’s halfway across the globe on one expedition or another.

It was only in the past ten years that your father managed to snag the job of his dreams and follow the passion he’s harboured since he was a child, graduating from his career as an accountant through attention garnered from numerous big research papers to become a well-respected biologist. From the second he accepted the offer, he’d started down a path that led him spending a majority of his life outside of the home and always on the move, hopping from one destination to another.

Whenever he could, he’d take you with him, but he wasn’t always able to. This expedition, which has landed him in the Antarctic, is an example of that. While he can’t be with you physically, he writes often and calls every chance he gets—and though it saddens you sometimes when it highlights the dismal state of the rest of your family, more than anything you’re happy for him and overjoyed that after years of slaving in an office, he finally gets to do what he wants.

You inhale, closing your eyes and trying to let the breath escape in a long, level manner. It’s night, not when you normally go about reading letters from your father but this letter had come late and you’d almost completely forgotten on your way to bed. Taking the opportunity to get some fresh air, you’d taken the letter and made yourself comfortable on the balcony, using the ample moonlight as a makeshift reading lamp.

Placing the letter carefully on the table, mindful not to place it in anything dirty or unsavoury, you settle back in your chair and tilt your gaze to the skies, allowing your eyes to become unfocused and simply stare. It's a pretty sight, as you expected-- the stars are much more outgoing here, with no haze or pollution masking their display like in the city on the mainland.

You let out a breath, but even to your ears it sounds more like a sigh. You miss your dad, and you know he misses you too but despite the fact you know it's selfish of you, you kind of wish he had been here with you when you made the decision to move. Of course, you've told him all about it, and he's supported you wholly in every choice you've made, but it's not the same. You don't blame him, and you love him dearly, but still... you're allowed to be sad, just a little. Just for tonight.

Well, that had been your plan-- apparently the universe has other ideas that don't include sulking in the moonlight on your balcony. A scuffling sound disturbs your reverie from the side of your balcony, and you look over in time to see a decent blob of shadow scaling up the side of the balcony next to yours and flinging onto the railing. Once there, it halts, and your eyes adjust just in time to meet those of the creature-- the raccoon, you realise quickly. It tilts its head up, sniffling the air once, before pinning you with an unreadable look. For a moment the two of you sit in silence, locked in place by the other's gaze, before the raccoon lets out a soft noise and then it's little claws are clacking against the hollow metal railing, and it disappears beyond the wall.

Whose room is that... Jungkook's? You muse to yourself for a moment before you remember what kind of hybrid Jungkook is, and in the next second there is the sound of a door sliding shut and Jungkook's bright-eyed face pops around the side of the wall.

"Uh... are you okay?"

You blink, brain taking a moment to catch up and then decipher how he could have possibly known you were even a little bit upset. You recall suddenly that animals can pick up cues, like chemoreceptors, and tilt your head at him with a small smile.

"Yeah... no... I'm alright." You angle yourself more towards him in your chair, cheering internally when you see him stop hiding behind the wall and come to lean against the railing. "Was that you? Where were you off to, this time of night?"

Jungkook looks like he wishes to address the first thing you said, but your follow-up has thrown him a bit for a loop. You can't be sure your eyes aren't deceiving you, but you could almost swear he's blushing.

"Oh, yeah... sorry." He reaches a hand up to rub the back of his neck, hair mussed and eyes averted. "I know my animal form isn't that nice... sorry if you thought it was gross."

"What?!"

At the sheer suddenness and volume of your almost-shriek, Jungkook jumps about a foot in the air. His wide eyes swing back to you, chest heaving as he rests his hand in the centre of it. You clear your throat, shrinking a bit in embarrassment.

"Sorry," you wince, before going to elaborate on your earlier squawk. "But please don't ever apologise for something like that! I don't know who told you that your animal form is gross, but they can't be all that bright... it was cute."

He looks more like a deer in headlights than the animal he's spliced with right now, eyes wide and staring right at you. You can't help but laugh and tease him, just a little. "Cutest raccoon I ever did see, anyway."

He suddenly comes back to earth, slamming his face into his hands and letting out a long groan. It's from embarrassment, you can tell from the flashes of reddened skin that peek through his fingers. You don't say anything for a moment, letting him return to the conversation on his own terms. Jungkook might be one of the housemates you've interacted with least, but you've heard plenty from the rest of the hybrids in the house.

More often than not, it's about how shy he is and how cute it is when he gets embarrassed. You'd simply nodded and laughed at the time, but now you realise there truly is merit to everything they said.

It takes a few moments of Jungkook muttering into his hands before he pulls his face away, averting his eyes and mumbling softly, "... Thanks. That's really nice of you to say."

"You're welcome," you shrug, smiling when he risks a glance your way to gauge your reaction. Upon seeing nothing that will make him turn tail and flee back into the safety of his room, he eases up, returning his body to it's previous angle towards you.

"So... why were you upset?"

Surprisingly, his question doesn't bother you as you thought it might. You hum, watching as his gaze follows yours to the table, where the letter and the envelope it came in, addressed to you, lay discarded.

"Letter from my dad," you offer in explanation, watching his eyes light in realisation. "Nothing bad, I just miss him so it's... bittersweet."

Jungkook hums, nodding and resting his chin in his hand as he leans forward. "I understand. It's like that with my parents. I know they love me, and I love them, but they're pretty far away and I just... miss them. They're always working."

You're a little surprised that he can relate, although you suppose you really shouldn't be. You don't know very much about Jungkook at all, so it's not fair of you to assume anything about him, even in relation to your own experiences.

"Yeah," you sigh, looking to the sky for a moment as you try and organise your thoughts. "I'm happy he is where he is, doing what he's doing, but I think it's okay to be sad, just for tonight."

Jungkook hums, but doesn't say anything further. It surprises you when he speaks next, the two of you having fallen into a lull.

"Well, you could keep being sad for the night if you want, or... would you maybe wanna see the film I've been working on?"

Your head whips to face him faster than the speed of light, startling him into another jump on the spot.

"Really?" you ask, hurried as though the offer will be rescinded at any moment. "You mean it? I can see it?"

"Yes...?" Jungkook answers, somewhat bewildered. You launch from your chair immediately, rubbing your hands together-- you've heard really good things from the others about his talents in photography and editing, so you've been trying to figure out a way to slip it into conversation for weeks. You've wanted to see them for yourself so badly.

"I'm coming over," you announce, gathering the letter and envelope and already beginning to move towards your room. "I hope your room is clean, Jungkook, or else I'm gonna tease you!"

You'd just meant it as a joke, but the scrambling and hurried footsteps you hear after you say it make you think he took you seriously.

Well, you dad would probably want you to spend the night happy, anyway. You can save being sad for another night.

O -- O -- O

Your time at the house has gone by much faster than you anticipated, and while initially you'd thought that you wouldn't be able to wait to get out, now you find yourself feeling quite the opposite.

You kind of don't want to leave.

At this point, about two months into your stay, you've settled into such a comfortable, stable routine that you struggle to imagine going through the motions in any other way. Often after your early shifts you'll return to the house and catch someone lounging in the sun, and you will no doubt be roped into a short, sweet afternoon nap. On the weekends is group breakfast, and you make sure that you go to bed as early as possible the nights before so that you don't miss it. Taehyung drags you with him of a weekend to fetch fruit and Jimin drags you around the town in general. Some evenings, you find yourself accompanying Namjoon on a walk along the beach, both of you feeling more at peace than ever before when you're standing with feet buried in the sand, watching dusk bleed into twilight and the colours around you stain violet and periwrinkle in the absence of the sun's kiss.

Jungkook knocks on your door at late hours, grinning and eagerly summoning you to his room to watch his latest creation. Seokjin no longer resists your help every other night to make lunches, and has started including you in the schedule as well.

Yoongi and Hoseok are among the busier residents of the house, but you've still spent bits of time with each of them, probably moreso with Hoseok. It's not that you avoid Yoongi or anything like that, it's just that he happens to be the most busy and more often than not is holed up in his room. You don't always see him throughout the week, but he always attends house breakfast on weekends and you're thankful that you get to see him then.

Today, you're spending a little more time with Hoseok. Your shift ended early and you couldn't have thanked your lucky stars any harder, because today the squirrel hybrid had invited you to his dance class. Usually Jungkook or Jimin went with him, both of them enjoying dance as much as their older housemate, but they had both been unavailable today. You'd seen the way Hoseok's face had fallen when they'd told him, and had immediately asked about the class-- you didn't even talk for more than a few minutes before Hoseok was happily inviting you to attend.

It made you a little more pleased than you're going to admit.

You're on your way there now, actually, a skip in your step and a swing in your gait. You've got the tote bag you hold your work things in, and you can hear the rustling of the nuts you'd shoved in there last minute earlier in the day. You'd noticed that Hoseok had forgotten them, so you'd grabbed them to give to him when you saw him. Hopefully he hasn't stuffed himself too full of other foods in the meantime, though from what you've heard apparently he's such a workaholic that he probably hasn't even had lunch yet despite the fact it's currently three in the afternoon.

A majority of Hoseok's classes take place at the school where he teaches, in a room at the end of the drama block that often doubles as a dance classroom when the school gets the funding for it. When you arrive, the door is slightly ajar and upbeat pop is leaking through the gap, Hoseok's sunny voice piercing through the music like a pendulum.

"--and one, two, three, one, two, three-- that's it! That's fantastic! Really good job, guys!"

A smile is already on your face as you push the door open enough to let yourself in, gaze immediately falling upon a group of grinning children that are looking up at Hoseok like they're a tiny field of sunflowers facing their namesake. Hoseok stands before them in a borderline comical pose that only primary school teachers can really pull off, hands on his hips and a proud, beaming smile on his face. You can’t help but blink because for a moment it really was as blinding as looking directly at the sun. He spots you before you can recover fully, and greets you with a wave.

“Ah, perfect! Everyone, this is Miss y/n! She’s going to be sitting in today—I told her how good you all were and she couldn’t wait to see for herself. Let’s all say hello!”

A chorus of greetings is immediately thrown at you, the attention of the little sunflowers now completely on you. Some gasp and run over, grinning brightly at the novelty of a new character, and others watch from afar but seem pleased nonetheless by your presence and alleged eagerness to see them perform.

Before they can launch into conversation with you like you can so clearly see they want to, the ears of some kids ramrod straight and alert and others’ tails flicking in excitement, Hoseok calls them back to where he stands and to your surprise they obey immediately.

“Alright, let’s let Miss y/n get settled down and we can show her what we’ve been practicing, hm? Sound good?”

There is a chorus of ‘yes!’ that pulls a laugh from you as you make your way to the side of the room with the best view and plop down, cross-legged. Eagerly and very self-consciously, now that they have an audience, the small army of children runs to take their place in the formation, and Hoseok pulls his phone from his pocket to pause the song currently playing and pull up the one that matches their routine.

The opening notes filter into the air and Hoseok nods, foot tapping to the beat, before he counts them in and off they go.

Put simply, you’re so incredibly impressed. These kids can dance! You don’t have a doubt that they can dance better than you, not that you ever claimed to have much talent in that department. By the time they finish running through their little routine, you’re clapping and cheering loudly, relishing in the laughter that you’re exaggerated reaction elicits. Hoseok, too, is smiling as he sees how you interact with his students, wandering over after he takes them through it a few more times before giving them a small break.

"So, what do you think?" he asks as he approaches your side of the room, slightly out of breath from doing the routine with them the last few times. "They're so good, aren't they? They've only been working on this for a few weeks and already they have it almost perfectly down-pat. I'm so proud of them."

He slides down the wall next to you, reaching for the bag he'd dropped there presumably before class began; across the room all the students are reaching into their class backpacks for their afternoon snack, and it seems Hoseok has the same idea. You don't even remember the nuts in your bag until he rifles through his for a few minutes, brows furrowed when he comes up empty. His bushy tail flicks dejectedly, ears twitching back on his head, and he pouts.

"Damn, I think I forgot my lunch this morning," he says, and it's enough to jog your memory. You jump in place from the startle of it.

"Oh, I saw that! Here," you quickly reach into your own bag and pull out the nuts and dried fruits, passing it over to him. "I brought it for you, since I figured you'd probably want it at some point."

The way Hoseok's eyes light up when they see the little plastic bag in your hand is almost enough to make you laugh and/or coo out loud. By the skin of your teeth you barely manage to hold that reaction back, but you do smile as he cheers with a short, happy scream and eagerly takes it from your grip.

"My nuts!" Hoseok wastes no time ripping the bag open and grabbing a handful, setting about munching immediately. "You have saved my life today, Miss y/n. I was soooo hungry."

"Didn't get lunch?" you guess, already knowing the answer and having it confirmed when Hoseok nods, completely unfazed by the fact he'd skipped a meal or two.

"I was helping one of the students," he explains, munching happily. His bushy tails curls in content behind him, a sight that makes something happy and warm settle in your chest. "I don't mind missing lunch if it means they get the help they need. I do feel it afterwards, though. Sometimes when I get home I feel so hungry I could eat the whole cupboard out."

A laugh tears from you at his words, the image even funnier because he didn't specify whether he would be doing it in his human form or his animal form. The image of a squirrel wreaking havoc in the house pantry is funnier than you care to admit, but Hoseok just seems happy to have elicited a laugh no matter the magnitude.

It's just a small thing, spending the afternoon with Hoseok and his students, but you find afterwards that it was almost... healing. On the way home, walking besides Hoseok and discussing which dried fruit were the superior dried fruit (he's wrong, and you'll take that opinion with you to the grave), you can't help but feel so light and happy. Like everything is in place, in motion and flowing smoothly. A river without debris and jagged rocks; life right now feels like that moment in nature when water runs over smooth pebbles in a creek, tumbling and pouring but doing so without chaos, and without mess or fallout. Just one continuous, fluid motion.

It feels nice.

You don't even realise until you're laying in bed that night that for a while now, that's how you've been referring to this place.

As home.

O -- O -- O

Aside from the occasional uncomfortable dream, these past few months have been remarkably incident-free, where it concerns the unfortunate topic of your extended family. You'd changed a lot of things when you'd made the decision to move to this island; your phone number, your email addresses and all your passwords, your social media... all of it had been combed through and either switched out or slimmed down. This place is an escape, a place of refuge for you, and that's how you want it to stay.

Unfortunately, the universe isn't always on your side.

It's a rainy afternoon when you receive the call, and you're so fixated on watching the way the rain falls in thin sheets over the ocean that at first from the first floor patio, that you miss it. They don't call again, but a message sets your phone off a minute or so later, and that catches your attention.

Of course, the second you read it and see who it's from, it does more than just catch your attention.

You're not someone prone to many episodes, and you've become adept at self-soothing. But as your eyes begin to stare unfocused at the message and you feel your chest constrict, diaphragm pushing against your lungs, you realise distantly that this is more than you just being momentarily overwhelmed.

You get a bit lost in the moment, lost in the sensation of light-headedness that suddenly washes over you, so much so that when a voice sounds distantly, muffled as though you're listening to someone speak to you from the depths of a pool, you barely even register it at first.

"Hey, y/n, have you seen--"

Still, your eyes are stuck on the message; you don't even notice the way your fingers had begun to tremble while holding the phone until a hand brushes your arm, a figure in front of you blocking the light from beyond the porch.

"y/n, hey, are you.... look at me. y/n, look at me."

Oh, that's a voice, and you do as it says without even a single thought flitting through your head. Looking up, you're barely even as surprised as you should be to see Yoongi standing there, a look of concern spread across his features, brows drawn together as he regards you. You feel a warm touch against your hand, phone tugged from your grip to be replaced with his own. Both your hands are now in his hold and he uses it to ground you, even if just for a moment.

"Can you do me a favour?" Yoongi says, and his voice is so soft and soothing that you find yourself listening as attentively as you can right now. "I need you to breathe with me. I'm gonna count ten breaths, okay? Let's do the first one-- in..."

He inhales deeply, his whole chest moving from the magnitude of it, and you feel as though you're floating in your own head in the moment as you follow suit. Slowly, patiently, he takes you through each breath one at a time, making sure you inhale as big as he does and exhale as long as he does. By the time you reach ten, the light-headed feeling has faded and the constriction in your chest has eased, ever so slightly. As soon as you finish your tenth breath you sag slightly, letting out a gush of air.

"Sorry," you say, slipping one of your hands from his grip to cover your face. "Sorry, I just--"

To your complete and utter surprise, Yoongi's hand lets your other one go and in the next moment you feel arms slipping around your shoulders, bringing you close to his chest and letting your face rest on his shoulder. You see his fluffy tail from where your face is squished, catching glimpses over his shoulder of the way it curls calmly.

Once the moment of shock passes, you're unable to help yourself but to return the embrace, surprised by how much you needed this without even knowing so.

"It's okay, don't apologise," Yoongi says, voice still soft and calm. You sag against him, and your eyes burn not from the message that triggered your almost anxiety-attack, but from the sheer kindness you feel emanating from this man. "Happens to the best of us. Are you feeling a little better?"

You nod, because oddly enough you are, and he slowly releases his hold on you, easing back with an assessing look. Another apology rests on the tip of your tongue but you bite it back, knowing he would refuse it if it ever entered the air.

“I am. Thanks,” you say, eyes looking for your phone as you realise suddenly that it is no longer in your hand where you’d left it. Yoongi holds it up, handing it back easily; his gaze passes over the screen as he does so, and the look he gives you is one of empathy and knowing.

“Shitty family?” he inquires, and you nod, choosing not to look at your phone and to slip it straight into your pocket instead. You go to sit against the wall, facing the edge of the patio, and he joins you.

“I get it,” he says, lifting a hand to fluff up his grey-tinted hair before shifting his gaze out to the rain and its reunion with the ocean. “’Part from my parents, the rest of my… relatives… they’re, uh… they’re not so nice. Didn’t treat me all that well, or even my parents for that matter. So… I get it. You don’t have to elaborate if you don’t wanna, but I get it.”

You don’t really know what to say to that; not that you’re speechless, per se, but moreso that there is simply so much going through your head at once that you can’t seem to settle on anything to voice.

“Thank you,” you say again, sniffling as subtly as you can as you focus on evening your breaths and calming your heart. You feel something on your hand and look over to see Yoongi has placed his palm over your own, his face soft and comforting.

“It’s no problem.”

A different kind of ache, the sort that is tinged around the edges with bittersweet warmth, begins to make itself known amongst the turmoil in your abdomen, and in this moment you can’t quite decipher whether it’s a good feeling or a bad one. What you do know, though, is that you’ve never been more thankful to have had the fortune of meeting these boys and having them make room in their hearts for you, even just a little, than you are right now.

O – O – O

You can’t believe that all the time you’ve spent here has gone so fast, and that currently there is no more than a week before your three month deadline is up and your contracted stay at this house is to come to an end.

If you’re being honest with yourself… you don’t want to go.

When you’d first come to this house, you’d expected that you would have a nice time, but also that you would be eager to move out by the end of the three month period. You had no way of knowing how well you’d fall into routine here, how attached you would become not only to the residents but to the home, the place and the feeling it offers and the way it allows you to feel happier than you have in years.

You know that you have to leave, they’d only agreed to house you for the three months after all, and you also know that they seem to have realised your time here is coming to an end as well. You’ve caught them talking amongst themselves a few times, not quite whispering but definitely conversing about something that halts as soon as they catch wind of you anywhere nearby. You get the sense that they’re unsure how to approach the topic, and you understand since it’s a bit tough for you yourself. You decide to bite the bullet and do it for them, though.

You ask them to meet you in the living area, a week before you leave, to talk. You wanted to just… officially thank them, you suppose. They’ve done a lot for you, in the time you’ve been here, whether they realise it or not. They’ve helped you settle, they’ve shown you that there really is more to life outside the misery your relatives tended to create, and they’ve ensured every second you’ve been with them that you have felt welcomed, and included.

Truthfully, it means more to you than you know how to put into words.

Which is why it’s especially difficult for you to accept that you have to leave.

The expressions on their faces as they gather are a mixture between curious and somewhat apprehensive, with Namjoon, Jungkook and Hoseok bordering on nervous. You wonder why before realising they might not know why you called them here.

“Hey, thanks for gathering,” you say, attempting to keep it light and ensure the smile stays on your face. Of course, they all return is as they take seats across the room, some on the couch and others on the coffee table or the floor. Taehyung’s head tilts, tail curling lightly behind him.

“Um, I just wanted to say something to you—to all of you, while I could. I didn’t think I’d be able to catch everyone in the one room any time but on the weekend,” you muse, smile widening at the round of light laughter your joke elicits. You shift, taking a breath and grounding yourself through the motion of meeting their gazes, one by one.

“I wanted to say thank you,” you begin, voice softer than intended but not so soft that you’re worried their senses won’t pick it up. “Because when I moved here it was to get away, and start anew, and you guys… really gave me that. You’ve made these three months the best and happiest months I’ve had in a long time. I’m so thankful that you let me in, and welcomed me into your home and even into your lives. I don’t think I can word this the way I want to but… really. Thank you, so much. I know I have to leave in a week, but—”

“Oh!”

You halt mid-spiel, wide eyes moving to Taehyung as he suddenly sits up, holding his hands out. “So that’s what you wanted to talk to us about—we actually wanted to talk to you about something, too.”

Freezing, you simply blink, mind coming up blank as to what they could possibly want to talk to you about. Namjoon clears his throat when no one else follows up after Taehyung, averting his eyes before he gathers himself and meeting your confused look. “Well, you probably noticed we’ve been talking amongst ourselves a lot lately—I mean, I know you’ve noticed because you’ve walked in on us a few times, and we’re not very good at being subtle, but—”

“We want to know if you’d like to stay here—permanently.” Taehyung cuts his friend off before he can finish, apparently no longer able to hold the question at bay. There is an expression of pure, unguarded sincerity on his face, excitement lighting in his eyes. “We all talked it out and found that we want you to stay—all of us.”

“You fit,” Yoongi says suddenly, voice still soft but loud enough for you to catch easily. He offers you a gentle smile when you look his way. “We know that if you left, the house wouldn’t be the same after… it would be missing something. You haven’t been here long, but you’re kind of already part of our family so… please don’t go, if you don’t want to.”

Some of the others are pinning Yoongi with a surprised look that you suspect is not directed at what he said, but rather the fact that he said it. You’re too busy biting your lip and trying not to cry like a baby to notice all that much.

“Is that really okay?” you ask, déjà vu washing over you as you think to yourself that again, this sounds too good to be true. “Do you guys really want me to stay?”

Immediately, there is a mixture of nods and loud ‘Yes!’s and ‘Of course!’. You really can’t hold it back, you find, because the sudden flood of warmth and affection washing over your insides is more than you know how to handle. You sniff, unable to reach the tears fast enough to prevent their fall down your face.

“Will you stay?” Yoongi asks, head tilted. Regrettably, his tenderness makes more tears fall.

“Yeah,” you manage, wiping your face furiously, “Yeah, I will. Thank you.”

And that’s all the confirmation you need before your new family is tackling you one by one, replacing your sobs with laughter and making sure you know that from now on, you don’t have to cry alone, you don’t have to be sad alone. They’re here for you.

And it feels so, so nice.

a/n: thank you so much for reading! please let me know what you think and how it made u feel, and let me know u enjoyed it by liking and reblogging! feel free to even just send me an ask screaming! thank u! i love u !

[shushiyuii]

Here is a writing request! I hope you have fun with it! You can put noms in if you want to! :D : Giant warden hybrid Wilbur lives very deep underground and is very lonely. He meets a lost avian hybrid named Phil and decides to help him out of the cave system. When they get out Wilbur is sad that Phil has to go. Phil then decides its time to adopt another child and brings Wil with him home to a surprised Techno and Tommy.

AAAAAA I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! THANK YOU ANON! I DID HAVE A LOT OF FUN WITH IT and may also have gone a bit crazy with it? lol

(I didn't include Nom's in this story but if you ever wish for a part two with noms or anything i'd be more than happy too!)

Warnings: Injury, (Maybe some heavy subjects such as a child being lonely)

Words: 2.6K+

He doesn’t remember his younger days; he honestly couldn’t be sure who he was or how he even came into existence. One thing for sure was sounds, the tapping of a spider’s legs, creepers occasional hissing, skeleton’s bones rattling and a zombie’s growls.

It was always so dark, he’d seen the light of lava, sometimes even the light of day but the sky was always so high, so out of reach. And he couldn’t quite fit into the cave systems to find a way, so he was stuck.

He’s alone, he hates it. It’s too dark.

…

Phil flew high above the clouds in laughter, it’d been a while since he’d gone out on an adventure. Well, if you counted a much-needed mining trip of coal, iron, and such. But it was nice to be out of the house for once, especially with the kids out of the way.

Not in a bad sense though, he loved his kids but sometimes things were so busy he couldn’t keep track of things. Raising a toddler and a somewhat crazy child is well chaotic.

His two kids, Techno and Tommy. Techno had been adopted by Phil a bit early on, when Phil first met his now-wife, Kristin. He found Techno on the streets of a village, trying to fend off bandits. Phil’s fatherly instincts kicked in, a thing he’d always had and couldn’t help but take the boy in. Much to his reluctance.

Techno grew up with Phil and is now a very healthy and happy 11-year-old, and then there’s Tommy. The most recent member of the family, his little bundle of joy of about 3 years old, Techno found it odd being an older brother, he still does but he copes.

The feeling of his feathers swaying, his hair blowing, him having to attempt to keep his hat on every second, he missed this feeling. He was glad he just managed to find a babysitter since their mother was currently out on ‘business terms’.

…

The vibrant blue sky, below the loving shades of green passing with every flap of his wings. He wondered if his wife was watching over him, with her being a god and all.

He was happy how life was currently going as of late, he only hoped that fate had a good future ahead of him.

He shook himself out of his thoughts as he finally arrived at the destination. He had been well prepared for this trip; it was a mine that he’d been wanting to adventure for ever so long. He could tell there was something about it, something special.

And judging by the vibrant minerals just shining from the sunlight of the entrance, something told him there was more than just iron and coal in this cave, perhaps something more valuable, diamonds.

…

He wasn’t sure how long it’d been, but it had been a long time, he had quite a bit of iron, coal. But not only that gold and emeralds, a valuable currency. He wouldn’t have to worry about mining with the number of minerals he now had. Not only that but diamonds could be used to create powerful weapons.

He knew Techno would be happy, he’d always loved shiny things. Probably due to his Piglin features. And he could make Kristin some beautiful jewellery. It made him happy to say that his family was going to be good for a good while.

…

He picked up different noises, it was odd to hear such things. He could hear strange padding noises, perhaps some creature moving? Not only that but he heard the breaking of stone, which was a rare sound in his caves.

It was somewhat crazy to think something else could be coming closer to him, to hurt him. He knew he was strong not he didn’t even know If he was as strong as the outside monsters.

He wasn’t sure how he came to be in this world, he was always so alone. But sometimes the vines would speak to him, telling him of things like a place called the surface, which was colourful and bright.

…

The breaking of stone could be heard again, it only got louder and louder every minute. Whatever was making those sounds had found him and was coming for him. His antennae twitched anxiously; he was scared he didn’t want to die.

His claws bared as he readied his sharp teeth, he scanned for wherever the sound was coming from and waited to attack.

…

He panted as he broke at the stone, it’d been a while since he’d done so much mining, he was much out of shape. He had no idea where he currently was, he was long lost in this cave with no way of finding his way back. Despite the torches, he had no lead to where he came.

He was now trying to mine into the walls, hoping to find another branch of the cave that would finally lead him to a way to the surface. After the struggles of breaking through the wall for however long, he finally found another branch of the cave.

Big mistake as the first step he took into this cave, there was a loud crashing sound. Something had tried to hurt him, and he barely dodged it, the ceiling of the cave barely supported the impact, rubble falling from the ceiling.

He readied his sword for battle as he ran to behind a rock for cover. Something that caused that impact was definitely big, like strangely big. Not only that but the cave was one of the darkest caves he’d ever seen, the only light being from his torch.

He had no idea of where if he was honest, he couldn’t even tell if he was hiding properly. Anything could creep upon him at the current moment, it was oddly quiet, the only sound being his heartbeat.

…

He heard a strange growl behind him, it scared him with how deep and shallow it sounded, definitely a monster. Hesitantly he turned to the right, and right there was the monster staring right at him. But the monster flinched back when Phil turned around, the bright light in the monster’s face.

It seemed to hurt its eyes as he held his eyes and stumbled back in pain, from what he saw he saw about four eyes, antennae, and dark greenish-blue skin, with some light green bioluminescence that reacted to light. It appeared to be a Warden, a creature Phil had read about.

A creature of great mystery, one that mostly relied on sound, one that could communicate with plants. It was an odd creature, but the thing is about this Warden. It had a set of hair, not only that but it looked a lot more humanoid than what he’d seen drawn of the creatures.

It looked rather young too… No! No fatherly instincts! Monster?...

…

He winced in pain and stepped back from the strange being, he hadn’t seen light in quite some time. This thing was nothing like he’d ever before. He had never seen such a strange light. It hurt. This thing was strong if the creature had that then it could definitely kill him.

It came prepared.

“Hello?” it spoke. His eyes dilated as he scanned for the light, he saw it move around. He could see the creature’s confused features. It seemed almost scared itself, not only that but concerned. Something he wasn’t quite familiar with.

He was surprised by the fact that he could understand the creature, it was an oddly familiar language. “Hello?”, he replied with hesitance. He was scared that the monster’s features would change, and the creature would attack him.

“Oh! You talk? Good, because I think there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding!”. The creature made a strange sound, but seemed relieved and happy? Laughter?

“Sorry about the light, I didn’t realise it’d hurt you, my name is Phil. How about you?”

“What’s a name?”

“Oh? You don’t have one, well I guess a way to describe it would be a sort of title, something people can call you to identify you from others!”.

“… I don’t have one?”.

…

The creature- Phil had come closer, more friendly than before. No weapons, a smile. The once bright light is now dim, more adjustable.

“Well, if you don’t have a name. How about we give you one?”.

“Okay…”.

“Hmm… You look like a.. A Wilbur!”.

“Wilbur?”.

“That’s your name! Wilbur! Do you like it”.

“It sounds nice. I like it!”.

A name? It sounded nice, it made him feel unique, different from others…

…

“Well, Wilbur. Do you think you could help me?”, “How?”. “Well, you see I’m kind of stuck here. I don’t know my way out.”.

“Where do you want to go?”, “The surface.”.

…

“The surface?”, “Yeah! I need to get home!”. “Home?”, “Yeah, it’s where I live with my family!”, “Family?”, “A group of people who are very important to me, I have to get home or my sons, I don’t know what will happen.”, “Okay. I’ll help.”.

Wilbur lent his hand, confused Phil just stared at it. But Wilbur just ended up scooping up Phil and standing up, wandering through the caves.

“So, you live in these caves?”, “Mhm”, “Aren’t you lonely?”, “… Yeah…”.

“How old are you?”, “I don’t know, they say I’m a youngling…”.

…

Phil’s fatherly instincts kicked in, a kid on his own in a fucking cave system? No fucking way. He had no choice; his mind was already made up. This kid was now his, he now wanted nothing more than to smother this boy in the love he never had, care for Wilbur. Like how he met Techno.

The two ventured the caves for a while, surprisingly no mobs. The two at this point had spoken for a while and gotten to know each other a small bit, Wilbur seemed fairly interested in his family too! So, it made him happy to think that he’d achieved a new son!

But he spoke a little too soon, a loud bang frightened Wilbur. Wilbur jumped back and dropped Phil from a height. Phil landed with an oof and looked back at Wilbur who was now crouching in fear, immediately he ran over to comfort the boy despite his aching leg.

“Hey, hey. Wil, it’s alright, it was just a creeper.”. He ran his hand over the boy’s own hand, “I-I, it was loud...”, “I know, I know. But it’s okay! It’s not gonna hurt you anymore mate! I’ll protect you!”.

…

He released his hold on his eyes and looked down to Phil… Protect? As in guard him? Phil’s eyes were enough to reassure him, it brought him comfort despite the small time of knowing him, he’d never known such a kind person before.

He picked up on a sound, the tugging of string. Phil didn’t seem to hear it as he was concentrating on him. He looked back to see a skeleton aiming an arrow at Phil. Scared, he quickly brought Phil to his chest as the skeleton shot the arrow.

Phil screamed but immediately calmed as he heard the arrow hit the ground, realizing that Wilbur had only been protecting him. He smiled and looked back furiously at the skeleton.

He reached for his sword and despite his aching leg, wiggled out of Wilbur’s hold and sliced the skeleton in half, its remains turning to dust and bones. He looked back to Wilbur, “You okay, mate?”.

“I’m fine! How about you? You’re walking differently.”. “Ah, I’m fine mate. My leg just hurts a bit!”. “Hurts? As in pain?”, “Yeah? Wh-“.

Phil was cut off when Wilbur brought him back to his chest, standing up and continuing their adventure to the surface. Being sure Phil was secure in his hold, not wanting to bring any more pain to this man.

…

A bright light could be seen in the distance, “Hey Wil! I think that’s the surface!”. Wilbur looked over in the direction of the light, he winced slightly but his eyes adjusted as he made way to the light.

Once they were outside, Phil took a good breath of fresh air. Wilbur copied, confused as to why and surprised with how fresh the air felt in his lungs. It was refreshing.

“Wil! We’re outside! Thank you so much!”

“It’s nothing but…”

“Hmm, what’s wrong?”.

“Where do I go now?...”

“We can go to my place if you want, you can meet Tommy and stuff.”.

“Really?”.

“Of course, Wilbur!”.

Phil then flew upwards and directed Wilbur to follow him, along the way Wilbur would get distracted by the views and greenery. Phil was more than happy to wait for the boy.

Now that he thought about it, he had a clearer view of Wilbur, who was definitely a lot more humanoid than he first thought, perhaps he was a hybrid of sorts? Only time could tell.

But at the break of dawn, Phil arrived home as was greeted by a worried Technoblade running towards him, a Tommy trying to follow behind him, wanting his father’s hold.

“Techno! Tommy! Are you guys okay?”. “Dad! Where have you been?”.

The worried words of his son and the rambling of his toddler were enough to make him scoop them up in his arms and cover them in kisses. Which seemed to cheer the two up.

But all hell broke loose when Techno stared up at Wilbur, he stood in front of Phil to protect him. “Who are you?!”, “Techno! Calm down! This is Wilbur! Your brother!”, “Brother?! Really Dad?!”, “Yes really”.

…

Despite the reluctance, Techno grew used to his new sibling, so did Tommy who seemed to really like Wilbur. Not only that but Kristin was more than happy to have Wilbur adopted into the family, and that’s how Wilbur joined the family.

… Bonus …

“Bitch!”

“Oi, don’t use those words, Tommy!”.

Tommy was now about 5 years old, a very clingy 5-year-old. One who never left Wilbur alone, not that Wilbur hated it, he loved his younger brother a lot. It was just sometimes he could be quite annoying.

“Wilby! I want cuddles!”. His antennae twitched as he closed his four eyes, pinching his nose to be as dramatic as possible and let out a long sigh, “Finee!” he dragged out. Tommy’s excitement as he ran to grab blankets was more than enough to make him smile.

Wilbur sat down against the wall as Tommy dragged pillows and blankets against the floor, the things being double his height and dragging behind him. Then made his way to throw the pillows at him and attempting to climb onto his lap.

He failed multiple times, “Wil! Help me!”. Finally with the help of Wilbur’s claw he adjusted and cuddled within Wilbur’s hold.

“Tell me that story again!”, “The one about the civilization and the brothers?”, “Yeah!”.

Wilbur laughed, “Okay!”.

Within 5 minutes of the story, Tommy had fallen asleep, so Wilbur changed to a simple lullaby whilst playing with his baby brothers’ hair. Something precious, something he’d always protect.

“Got room for one more?”, Techno stood there in his crowned PJs, who seemed barely functioning, his blanket and pillow dragging behind him. Usually, he’d never do such a day but today seemed to be an exception. “Of course Tech!”.

The three then fell asleep together.

…

“Awwhh! Look at them Phil!”, Kristin whispered as she peered into the room of her son’s bedroom. Phil giggled, “I know! I’m glad I have such a good family”.

Within the palm of her hand, he laid. Thankfully for them, Kristin was a giant, so the house was already pretty adaptable for Wilbur. She placed a kiss on his forehead. “Love you, hun!”, “Love you too!”.

[jinmukangwrites]

Whumptober 2021 - October 7th - Blindness

Gift fic for @sassydefendorflower

Fandom: Nightwing, Batman - All Media Types

AO3

Warnings: Head Injury, slight descriptions of blood

---

Slade dodges under the swinging blow of Blüdhaven’s newest sewer monster; born from whatever chemicals a rat has gotten into near some chemist-based super-villain’s old hideout. Now, while it’s not everyday Slade goes out of his way to take down various monsters across the ‘Haven, this time… he feels a little obligated to.

Yes, he is the reigning champion of being Nightwing’s least favorite and most powerful villain, but unfortunately Nightwing is Slade’s favorite and most interesting opponent. He came to the ‘Haven to give the kid a head’s up that he has a mark in the city; a regular challenge he likes to set for the kid to try and stop him. However, when he didn’t find Nightwing along any of his normal routes, nor in his apartment, he turned to the news to see if the kid had left for Gotham or some other city without him noticing; preparing to postpone this mark until he was back in his patron city and away from other bats.

It was then he noticed the breaking news that a giant, sewage themed rat was wreaking havoc under Blüdhaven’s streets in the downtown areas, near a major subway platform. Nightwing was spotted going in, telling people to stay out, and he hasn’t been seen since.

Of course, Slade went to the fight, and it’s a good thing he did. When he got there, he found Nightwing limp in the creature’s tail, held inches from it’s long and jagged front teeth. Blood trailed down the side of his skull in a steady flow. Slade knew immediately he was unconscious.

He took out one of his pistols and shot at the rat, but the monster was so large and feral it hardly did anything when it went into its arm. It dropped Nightwing like a sack of flour onto the ground, snarling as it turned to it’s newest threat, drool dripping down it’s snout. Slade pulled out his swords and faced it head on.

The creature, while lacking any intelligence, was fast and powerful. Even Slade had trouble ducking under its tail that it used like a club and avoiding its powerful legs and jaw. While it’s disappointing to see Nightwing taken down by a creature as low as this, he can’t exactly blame the kid when it takes himself several minutes to finally get his sword through the thing’s tail. He cuts off the appendage, then while the monster screeches in agony, he pierces its throat.

It goes down twitching and gurgling, its blood bubbling down into the sewer's already questionable streams of water. He whips his swords out, getting off a majority of the wretched blood, then heads over to his unconscious person of interest.

Nightwing doesn’t move as he kneels down beside him, in fact he’s still in the rather undignified position he had been dropped in. Frowning, Slade moves Nightwing into a better position that won't strain his spine and smacks his face lightly to wake him up. He doesn’t even twitch, causing Slade to frown more. His head is still bleeding, which is worrisome. He grabs a tube of smelling-salts from his pouch—usually used to wake up people he’s previously knocked out to get some information out of them—and firmly places it under Nightwing’s nose. A solid few seconds pass before Nightwing’s eyes shoot open under his domino mask; his hands fly out to his face to stifle coughs and he rocks forward so he’s sitting instead of laying down.

Slade doesn’t try to make conversation quite yet, more worried about that head injury. He holds Nightwing by the jaw to tilt his head and get a better look, but Nightwing reacts like the touch was electrified. He smacks Slade’s arms away and jumps to his feet, stumbling back and holding out a single escrima. Slade doesn’t know where the other one went.

“Sit back down,” Slade growls, “I’m not here to hurt you.”

Nightwing flinches at the initial sound of his voice, his mouth dropping open in shock before lowering his single weapon slightly.

“Slade?” he asks, his voice slurred.

Slade resists sighing, and lifts his eyebrow. Who else would it be? It’s not that dark here, even with Slade’s heightened senses. Nightwing doesn’t relax completely though, as if waiting for an answer. Not for the first time that night, another spike of worry rises in his chest.

“Kid, sit down or I’ll make you sit down.”

Nightwing almost goes boneless after that, breathing a single ”thank fuck” before sinking to his ass and putting his head in his hands with a groan.

Now Slade does sigh, even rolling his eyes as he does so, as he once again approaches Nightwing and grabs onto his face to look at the wound. Nightwing hisses and flinches out of his grasp.

“Don’t,” he says, “I already know how bad it is.”

Slade hums, folding his arms across his chest. “How bad is it then?”

Nightwing remains quiet for a moment, biting his lip, perhaps internally fighting with himself on whether or not it’s a good idea to tell one of his biggest enemies about how injured he is. Eventually, Nightwing makes the smart choice and speaks anyway, knowing Slade will find no pleasure in ending him if he's already down.

“Head feels like a war-drum. Feel like ‘m gonna throw up. Voice slurred… ears ringing… I-” Nightwing hesitates. Then sighs. “I can’t see.”

“You can’t see?” Slade repeats, kneeling down to once again take Nightwing’s face in his hands. Nightwing fights the grasp, but this time Slade holds strong and takes off the mask, revealing unfocused electric-blues.

“Nothing, it’s all black,” Nightwing whispers, a slight wobble in his voice that Slade is sure he’s trying to keep down.

He grabs a small flashlight from his tools and shines it in Nightwing’s eyes, frowning as there’s hardly any reaction in the pupils. He clicks off the light and releases Nightwing, thinking of options.

He’s sure the last thing the kid’ll want is to get dumped at the hospital, but Slade’s no medical expert, especially with something as fragile as a normal human’s brain.

He sighs, as only one option realistically reveals itself. The last thing Slade wants to do is risk Nightwing going home all on his own and possibly making this blindness permanent when there could be something that can be done to help him. Nightwing is a competent, talented young man, which is why he’s so intriguing to Slade—and while he has all the faith that Nightwing will find a way to fight even if his sight is forever gone, Slade also knows the loss of sense will be a major blow to the kid’s moral for months to come. He’s seen how far Nightwing can fall with helplessness and depression plaguing him, and honestly the thrill of fighting him leaves when his fire is replaced with a desperateness to prove to himself that he’s still worth something. He needs Nightwing to have a steady support system, and help for this injury.

Nightwing is going to hate him for a while after this, but Slade has no choice. He doesn’t fight against Nightwing to kill him, but because those fights are the only thing that brings a fun challenge. For how human Nightwing is, he fights like a beast, and Slade can’t lose that.

“Up,” he says while returning the kid’s mask; he grabs Nightwing by the arm and lifts him to his feet. Nightwing groans, but doesn’t fight too badly as Slade firmly wraps his arm around Slade’s shoulders. “Where is the best place to exit this place without being spotted?”

Nightwing, with the complexion of the inside of an avocado, talks him through on where to go. He looks one small fit of nausea away from throwing up all over Slade’s armor.

Luckily, he keeps it in his stomach—perhaps the discomfort in his body being something more desirable to deal with than a vomit covered Slade—and by the time they make it out of a small, boarded up and abandoned, exit to the subway line, Slade lets the kid take a break by the nearest dumpster. Nightwing, the poor thing, must have lost everything he’s eaten today in those fifteen minutes.

Now that he’s out below Blüdhaven’s night sky, he’s now the one in charge of leading the way. Nightwing stumbles along blindly—hah—never letting go of his weak grasp around Slade’s neck and shoulders.

Finally, they make it to where Slade has parked the car he had taken into the city. The windows are all tinted to near-illegal levels, but Slade still stuffs Nighting in the back-seats and hands him a bucket he had in the trunk that previously held a few hundred bullets from when he bought them in bulk.

“Throw up on the seats and I’m making you buy me a new car.”

“Bet this one was stolen anyway,” Nightwing mumbles, curled up in the backseats with the bucket touching his stomach like a flu-ridden child.

Slade scoffs and closes the door after reminding him to keep his head down but to stay awake. He takes off his Deathstroke mask, then the top bits of his armor, and shoves them in the truck. Then, after he gets in the driver's seat, they’re off.

Getting out of downtown Blüdhaven should be the hardest part of all of this; both for Slade’s navigation skills and for Nightwing’s gag-reflex. Eventually, however, they make it out of the twists and turns of downtown and eventually make it onto the main roads of the city—still crowded with cars coming too and from various ass-awful shifts of work. Nightwing remains quite agreeable in the backseats, responding that he’s awake every time Slade calls for a status report (about every five-ten minutes), and groaning at every turn no matter how slow Slade takes them.

However, that agreeableness quickly leaves the boy when Slade enters the on-ramp connecting to the north-south interstate.

Kid almost makes himself throw up by how quickly he scrambles to a sitting position; ignoring Slade's commands to lay back down.

“Turn around,” Nightwing growls. And it’s a strong growl too, reminds Slade of a chihuahua. Shaking and all.

“You’re currently blind, you have no idea where-”

“I know the roads of my city, Slade. And you’re leaving it.”

Slade sighs and merges into traffic, then uses one hand to shove Nightwing back town onto the seats. “Keep down, a cop will see you.”

“Where are you taking me?”

Slade remains silent.

“Tell me it’s a secret mansion somewhere and you have your own personal doctor that can help. Or you know a guy that happens to be down south. Or-”

“I’m taking you to Gotham,” Slade says, ripping off the band-aid.

Nightwing looks all sorts of emotions in the span of a few seconds. The one he settles on, however, is anger.

“No.”

“Batman gets injured all the time,” Slade begins to explain, but Nightwing looks frantic now.

“No, don’t take me back- I’ve worked so hard to get him to see that I can do things without him- and he has a new kid now and-”

“Suck it up,” Slade growls. “Deal with it. I’m not like you, kid. I don’t know how to take care of a normal human, and I definitely don’t know anyone who can because I have no need to. What you need is a doctor that can treat you off the record, who knows about your nightlife. Batman has that, doesn’t he.”

It’s not a question, but Nightwing’s silence is still an answer.

“Whatever your old man thinks of you for coming back injured doesn’t matter in the end. Nor does the new kid. What you should worry more about is what I think of you after this. You’re not fighting Batman, you’re fighting me.”

“What if he doesn’t let me fight after this?” Nightwing… Dick whispers as he finally lays back down on the seats. He’s taken his mask off and is rubbing his eyes, perhaps quelling tears or a headache. Perhaps both. “What if my sight doesn’t come back? What if he retires me?”

Slade remains silent for a second, then answers as firmly as he can. “I’ve known plenty of formidable enemies who are missing a sense. You’ll find a way to get back up, and if he doesn’t let you then I’ll just have to break in, kidnap you, and train you myself.”

That startles a laugh out of Dick. “I thought you were no longer trying to get me to be your apprentice.”

Slade shrugs, allowing a smile on his lips, selfishly comforted that Dick couldn’t see it. “You have a lot of potential, kid, I’d rather you use it against me than not at all. I’ll train you and release you like the bird you are, and we can get back to the same ol’ dance we have.”

Dick takes a deep breath. “Yeah. Yeah… okay. I’ll hold you to that.”

-o-o-o-o-

Slade parks the car in an old neighborhood in Gotham that has a considerable drop in crime compared to the rest of the city. All things considered. Though, the sun is beginning to rise and Slade’s positive the Bat knew he was in his city the second he drove into it. Dick knows this too, as he’s telling Slade to hurry up and get out of here despite the boy still looking green around the gills. Slade grabs his mask and armor, then turns to the stolen car he’s about to abandon and opens the back door near Dick’s face.

Suddenly, and rather embarrassingly, he doesn’t know what to say. Thankfully, Dick is a freaky empath sometimes and gives an exhausted smile.

“Don’t worry,” he says, “I’ll get through this.”

“Good,” Slade replies. “I won't let you quit.”

His grin widens. “Never.”

Then Slade closes the door and takes off quickly, only pausing on a distant roof to watch a large black figure and a smaller red-and-yellow clad child approach the car and catch sight of the injured bird inside.

From there, Slade turns and leaves, not looking back.

He’ll see Nightwing on the battlefield again. No matter what, Slade will make sure of it.

[catt-nuevenor]

I don't know if you're okay with this kinds of asks (please ignore this if you're uncomfortable with it) but... If the ro and mc are having 'fun' In bed when suddenly their kid comes in/almost comes in, how do they react? What kinds of excuse would they say?🤣

As previously stated, I'm trying to steer clear of cringe humour with this react, and instead going more into healthy responses to such an awkward encounter.

Hope you all enjoy!

I HIGHLY recommend you head over to the reacts page to read this. There you can enter your own names and pronouns for the characters.

Reacts Page

P

P swept the blanket up and over MC in a single motion, the fabric falling with an uncanny perfection across their otherwise naked body. Searching through the folds of bedding and discarded clothing, P found their hand and held it comfortingly as they propped herself up and smiled at their partner's child.

"Hi CH." They smiled, doing their best to keep the queasy shame out of their voice. It wasn't anything to feel ashamed of really, but instinct drove a heated blush up from the base of their neck.

The little child was quiet, looking between their ren and P in a stilted silence.

MC turned about in the bed, facing their child. "Are you alright CH?" They asked gently.

CH frowned. Not in an angry way, they didn't seem sad or hurt either, just puzzled. "What are you doing?"

P felt their lover's entire body tense in the span of a heartbeat.

"We..." MC looked up at their with the devotion of utter desperation.

"We were making love CH."

CH's frown got deeper, whilst their ren paled.

"What's does-" The child began, only to be interrupted by a voice from the corridor behind them.

"CH? Could you come and help us with breakfast please?"

P let out a subtle sigh, the expression, along with their relief, shared equally by their lover. After reassurances from them both, CH turned and scampered out of the room, almost forgetting to close the door behind them.

"I could just about kiss that woman right now." P chuckled, deflating bodily, resting their forehead against the warm sanctuary of MC's shoulder.

"Do you think A realised?" They mused, playing with a curly lock of their partner's hair, while their other hand was still entwined with P's.

The woman huffed. "Probably. Even more reason to sing their praises later."

MC laughed, and P lightly pressed the tip of their nose to the sound. "I'm not sure they'd really appreciate a serenade, or a kiss for that matter."

Propping herself back up on their elbows P smirked. "Really? I have it on good authority that I'm a pretty good kisser. Or are you just trying to keep me all to yourself?"

They'd find CH later, sit them down, and no matter how much it might make them both squirm, they'd answer all their questions as honestly, and sensitively as they could. P would also go find A and let their off of washing duty for the next two months.

But that was all for later. In that moment P and MC had far more present matters on their minds.

L

L felt a little bit sick. What the hell had they done?!

Why hadn't they remembered to lock the damn door? It was automatic most nights. Tuck CH in, retreat back to their private room, get utterly engrossed in MC, and before anything else, lock the door.

They hadn't noticed at first. They was too busy with 'other matters' to notice the slow creak of the door's hinge, or the small voice that asked for their ren. MC had. They'd noticed right away.

With a mortified groan, L pulled their knees up to their chest, tucking their head into the cradle of their crossed arms. Great, just great. One stupid mistake and not only had they likely traumatised a small child, but they'd more than likely ruined their relationship with MC.

Their soon to be ex-lover was with their child, trying to find a way to explain what it was they saw, and settle them back to sleep. How the hell they planned to do that L didn't have the foggiest. And what was L doing? Hiding like a coward.

This time, when the door's hinges gave their low creak L heard them, but they didn't look up. They couldn't bear to see MC's disappointment.

The bed dipped slightly as they sat down, and L automatically shuffled aside to make a bit more room. Then, a thick silence descended, burying their shame beneath renewed guilt.

"Are you alright L?" MC asked gently, startling the young fisher.

They looked up, eyes wide, jaw slack, thinking they must have misheard. "What?"

With a compassionate smile, MC reached out and took L's hand. "I said, are you alright?"

"I- You-" They spluttered, treading between confusion and annoyance as their eyes flickered between their partner and the door. "But, CH-"

"Is fine L." MC said, stroking their thumb across L's knuckles. "A little confused, but mostly worried that they upset you."

"What!?"

MC leant in close and kissed the gaping woman's cheek. "Remember it is still the middle of the night love. You don't want to wake the others do you?"

"No. But-" L dropped their indignation to a whisper. "What about CH? How can they just be fine with it?"

MC shifted further onto the bed, tucking their bare feet back under the rumpled blankets, gesturing for L to lay down beside them once they'd settled.

"Children understand more than you think." They explained, pulling the blankets up over them once L had joined them. "I told them the truth, that we were showing each other how much we loved each other in the way adults in a relationship do. That it was a natural part of some but not all grownup relationships, and that it wasn't anything to be ashamed of or worried about."

"And they just accepted all that?"

MC nodded. "They'll probably have a lot of questions in the morning, but I'll take some time to sit with them and go through anything that worries them."

"I-" L struggled to find their way back from the crippling embarrassment of moments ago, and back to some sense of logic. They should be a part of this somehow. The realisation almost threw their straight back into full scale panic, but they did their best to keep calm.

CH thought they'd upset their, while they still feared they'd upset them. The most straightforward way to reassure them both was to talk it through. Maybe...

At least they'd both have MC's support, no matter how awkward the conversation went.

When L asked to help, MC kissed their so sweetly they felt some of the anxiety melt away at once. The rest would likely sit there till the talk tomorrow. For now though there was comfort, warmth, and the familiar tangle of limbs to enjoy as they let their dreams sweep them away into sleep.

A

"Ready for this?" A asked, squeezing MC's hand tightly for a few moments when they saw the panic in their eyes.

With a dry gulp MC shook their head. "Not really." They glanced at the open door, no doubt wondering whether there was still time to make a run for it before their child arrived.

A patted their knee, smiling warmly when they turned their nervous gaze to their.

"I guess I just wasn't expecting to have to have... this conversation, not yet anyway."

The Cunningwoman gave a sympathetic nod. "No, I imagine not."

It wasn't really anyone's fault. Just a poor sense of timing, and forgetfulness. It was lucky CH didn't come in a minute or two earlier, who knew what they would have thought upon seeing that particular part of their love making. It was all unfortunate but none of them could go back and change the past. It simply was what it was.

A took in a calming breath, letting the morning air flow in and fill their lungs, before letting it go once more. It had to be done. If they simply let the matter lie CH would more than likely build up their own theories on what they had seen. Would they think they were fighting? That A was in someway hurting MC? Or worse would they think that sex was something expected of them at their age?

The idea made A's skin squirm, and their insides writhe. No. They would tell CH what they were doing plainly, without oversimplification, or gratuitous detail. They'd explain that it should be an action of sincere and mutual trust, that no one should ever take what was not freely given, and that it was a complexity of grown up relationships, and that when the time was right, and they met someone they cared for and trusted, and that both they and their partner wanted to take their relationship to that level of physical intimacy, only then would they need to consider sex.

MC chuckled quietly beside their, attempting to muffle the sound behind their palm.

"What is it?" A asked with an amused smile of their own.

"You have that look about you." MC explained, placing a fingertip on the fold of a slight frown that sat between their dark brows. "The same one you get when Erda gives you a difficult customer to manage."

A laughed. "I'm sure CH will be much better behaved than that."

Their lover shrugged. "I don't know. How many seven year olds have you dealt with?" The soul smirked as a lick of confusion danced across their partners expression. "Any question you hope they don't ask, you can guarantee they will."

A flutter of nerves tickled at the base of A's throat, though they did their best to remain outwardly calm. "Well, it's a good thing I have a practiced hand with me, isn't it?" They said, laying a soft kiss against MC's jaw, revelling in the sigh it drew from them.

There was a light tap of a tiny hand upon the door. A drew herself back, settling as naturally as they could beside MC, still holding their hand as they called out to their child.

K

"I don't understand why you hid it from them this long." K said, resting their weight back upon one hip, pivoting slightly to keep MC in sight as they fussed around their room.

"Because a little child shouldn't have to worry about things like that." They snapped, frustration and shame making their temper brittle.

K watched quietly as they slumped onto the bed, their head resting in their hands. They didn't understand the burden their efenhlytta struggled beneath. Making love was natural, every creature upon the earth or in the waters procreated in some form, yet it was only people that put such pressures on the act. Made guilt when there was no logical reason to be any.

Cautiously they sat beside their lover, and despite the ease with which they might do so, they made no move to touch them. "What will you tell them?" K asked, keeping their words, and their voice, calm and gentle.

Of course they expected them to bristle, or snap out a response born of frustration once more, and they was shocked when instead MC slumped further into the bed.

"I don't know." They said on a fragile whisper. "I don't know what I'm going to tell them."

"I didn't realise this would upset you to this degree." K said, after a brief but pointed silence had settled between them unbroken for many minutes. "Would you like me to talk to CH."

The child's ren looked up from the cradle formed of their fingers, considering their with something close to curiosity, though the finer detail of what it was that curiosity was focused upon seemed lost to them both.

"You'd do that?" MC asked, clearly not ready to believe K's answer before they'd even had chance to reply.

The strange woman nodded. "Of course, if you want me to."

They let their mind linger a while on the offer, the ease at which they might pass on the burden of the conversation they had no desire to have. But deep down they knew they could never accept.

It wouldn't do CH any good. They needed to be comfortable when they discussed what had to be discussed, and while they both got along far better than they used to, K's presence still unsettled their child.

"No." MC sighed, though they made effort to smile through the exhale. "Thank you though. If-"

They hesitated.

"If you would... be there with me? When I talk to CH."

With lithe fingers, K caught MC's chin and delicately tilted their head about so that their eyes might meet. "For you my efenhlytta, I would stand before the greatest of challenges, no matter how dire."

K kiss demanded all the attention MC's worries might steal away for themselves. When they pushed them back into the sheets, they could not help the muffled gasp.

"Shall we finish our own conversation?" K murmured into the delightful warmth of their efenhlytta's neck, kissing where their quickened pulse fluttered visibly beneath their skin.

"What- what conversation is that?" MC breathed, their breath hitching as K nipped ever so lightly at their prize.

The strange one smiled. "The conversation your child interrupted earlier, of course."

[soyeahitsmiddleearth]

Hello there! Can I request a Legolas x reader oneshot where the reader suffers from an injury, and Legolas being the best friend takes care of them? Fluff pleasee. Thankyou <3

Safe With Me

---

It happened during the Battle at Helms Deep. 

There was death, pain, anguish, and sorrow everywhere. No matter where you turned or where you looked, someone somewhere was suffering (either from the pain of death, grief, or fear). 

You've always been confident in your fighting skills; you know that you're good and can hold your own in a fight, but 'holding your own' paired with protecting others never seems to end well. 

Those fools thought it better to put weapons in the hands of children rather than the shield maidens who hide down below in the caverns, and though it does make sense that they would be the last line of defense, surely they could still spare some women instead of forcing the children to pick up their slack?

Even so, it's because of this decision that you're in your current state of injury. 

After the wall had been blown to bits and everyone began their retreat to the inner levels of Helms Deep, you tried to gather everyone you possibly could. 

Being as you're a rather skilled fighter, having trained from a very young age within the confines of Mirkwood, you managed to save a good deal of men and slay an excellent number of orcs, but there is a limit to your victories.

With each stroke of your short swords do orcs fall; every slash and stab reaching a mark that leaves the orc army with one less ally. Try as they might to overwhelm you, you're just too quick for them, so their blows remain useless for the most part (though you do get the occasional cuts and slices that leave you hissing in pain). 

You're in the midst of battling those nasty orcs 4 on 1 when it happens. Having been doing all you possibly could to keep the numbers off of the unskilled and dying men and young boys, you begin to focus more attention ahead than behind you, and one of those foul creatures manages to run up on you and finally get in a proper hit. 

The initial blow is easy for you to dodge, for you feel its' presence lingering behind you, but you quick duck prevents you from escaping the lower blow dealt to your right leg.

As soon as the blade makes contact with your calf you know you're done for. 

The deep slash causes your leg to give out from underneath you and you collapse to one knee, left crying out in shock and pain as your arms grow weak. 

Very vaguely do you hear someone yell your name, your sharp elf ears enhancing your hearing so that it may reach you, but you can't turn to look. 

In your downed state the enemy begins to overwhelm you, so you push your pain away and drop back as another blade comes swiping above your head, an action that would've taken your head with it had you not moved in time. 

You jab your sword up and impale the closest creature, muscles shaking and aching as it goes lax and slumps over towards you. 

Your energy wanes quickly, and the heavy, dead orc only further drains what little fight you have left in you. 

There is no time for you to reclaim your blade from the body of the dead monstrosity, so you're forced to release your beloved short sword and strategically roll away from the other oncoming attacks, and while it does prove to serve you well, you're now left injured and with only one of your weapons. 

The imbalance caused by losing one of your short swords is an alien feeling, for you always have both to fight with, and on rare occasions, neither. 

Another one of those dastardly abominations comes for you in when it sees your hasty retreat and weakening form and tries to stab you, but you role low to the ground and knock it off of its' feet, jabbing your remaining sword down into his belly as soon as he's at your level. 

Fighting so low to the ground, unable to stand is no easy task, and very quickly are you overtaken again. 

A large armored foot comes up and hits you right in the face, and you go down with it having been unable to react in time.

You fall back and land none too gently on your aching spine, and in mere moments is your left shoulder run through and pinned to the ground.

The unnatural feeling of the intruding weapon in your shoulder draws a pained cry from between your parted lips, and you find that you can no longer move that arm (if it were any bigger of a blade, you would've lost the arm altogether), so you rely on the other weaponed arm to stop the killing blow. 

With the last of your strength, you jab your sword upwards and stab it through the chest, relishing in the telling squelch and screech as metal and flesh alike are ripped to nothing, and then the wriggling creature stills and slumps heavily atop you. 

It's heavy and knocks the wind out of you completely, an unwelcome and suffocating feeling, and you'll later learn that this saves your life. 

Moments later, your world fades to black.

---

You were so sure that it was all over. That, while you tried your hardest, you failed. 

The last thing you remember was the horrible pain blooming from your shoulder and the blade protruding from your broken and battered body, and then the newly dead orc falling on top of you followed by complete and utter darkness. 

The bodies of man and orc alike littered the very ground you once stood on and the enemy was gaining more ground than you had to spare, so when you did finally wake up to see color again, you thought yourself to be dead just like all those around you. 

Only, you didn't quite anticipate that the Halls of Mandos would allow you to feel the pain and anguish of your past life. 

A quick look around tells you that you are, in fact, not actually in Valinor, for one of the very first sights you see is that of a dim wooden ceiling and your body laid out of a bed of mans creation. 

Pain is the first thing you feel once the anesthetic of unconsciousness wears off, and it's quite the pain alright. 

A quiet, agonized groan puffs past your chapped lips and your teeth clench together in tandem with your soft whimpers.  

You try to sit up, slowly raising your upper body from the bed, when a fresh pang of pain shoots through your shoulder and pins you back down to the bed. 

Instead of trying to get up this time, you just angle your head down and analyze your shoulder wound.

It's at this moment that you realize that your outer layer has been removed (probably cut away), and you're left with nothing but the gauze wrapping your shoulder and a covering for your modesty.  

When you look further down you see that your cut up calf has been treated much the same, and the only missing layer is that single leg of your trousers. 

Your vision suddenly goes blurry and you're forced to squeeze your eyes shut again, but this time when they open, there is another presence in your line of sight. 

It takes a few seconds for you to recognize the person hovering above you, but as soon as you do a small smile up turns the corners of your lips.

"Legolas..." Uttering that single name takes quite a bit of energy from your already bone dry reservoir, but you don't regret it for even a moment. 

Those sparkling pools of blue shine with relief when your whispered speech reaches his ears, and as soon as he's there does he disappear from your immediate vision. 

"I thought you were never going to awaken." He breathes, leaning over you once again with a damp towel in hand this time. "Tell me, how is the pain?" 

The towel is most likely to keep you from overheating, though you can't feel any sort of cold or hot like other mortal beings, and you appreciate it greatly. 

Your voice is barely a whisper when you reply, and it makes his elven heart throb in his chest with many emotions. "Painful?" Truthfully, it's a rather intense suffering that makes it hard for you to even think straight, but you don't wish to worry him any more than you already have. "Nothing that I cannot handle, I believe."

"That look in your eyes betrays a different story." He counters softly, reaching down to graze your too-warm cheek gently. "I will have to change your dressings soon. But I'm not so sure you will want to be awake for that." 

An alluded to promise of pain much worse than what you currently suffer, something you seldom wish to experience, though it's not like you can just pass out on command. 

"I will have one of the healers prepare for you a sleeping elixir, should you agree to have it." 

"What of the others? Surely I am not the worst of the wounded. You should conserve what you can." The words leave you even though you don't necessarily want to abide by them, but you don't take it back either. If you could prevent pain from anyone else, then you would. There's no guarantee that you'll react promisingly to it any ways. 

"There is plenty to go around. Do not worry yourself over others for the time being and allow me to help you." Those words don't make you feel any better.

If there is an abundance, then that means there haven't been enough wounded to use it (and not from a lack of injury either). 

A moment of silence washes between the two of you, and then in that same delicate whisper of yours do you ask, "How many...?" 

Hesitation rears its' ugly head and morphs his pleasant stare into a sorrowful, crestfallen frown, and it promises you nothing good. 

"Too many. But we must worry about that later when you have regained your strength and replenished your health. Please, rest." His places his hand over yours, touch as soft and careful as a feather, and he says no more on the matter. "I shall-" 

"Please, don't leave." You plea before you can engage your filter, curling your fingers around the warmth of his own, "I cannot handle the solitude right now." 

He hesitates once more but does not require further prompting, for he takes the seat next to your bedside and sits down. "Then I will stay right here with you." 

Your head tilts to the side to look over at him and the smallest of smiles brightens your pale face, "Thank you, Legolas. You've always done well by me." 

"For you, my friend, I would do anything. This is nothing." 

You're in good hands being left in his charge, and this thought lulls you into a pleasant, painless sleep. 

[ask-hunterxhunter]

You know this thing in fanfic where the love interest is changed into his child self, how do you think it would go if it happened to the adult trio?? It's basically a "how would they act as children" I’m imagining them around 3-5 years old?? But you can write with whatever age you feel most comfortable in

Hisoka

While how they would react depends on whether or not they are aware of what happened and retain their memories (even if they end up being influenced by the fact they are children again), you can bet Hisoka would be the one who would enjoy it the most. Those around him… Not so much.

 If he retained his memories, Hisoka would simply relax and take advantage of the situation, be by pulling a “puppy dog eyes” trick on you when he wants something or acting all innocent if he meets someone who wants him dead (you’d be surprised how easy it is for Hisoka to act as if he’s just a kid cosplaying as his “favorite fighter from Heaven’s Arena”). Who would guess this murderer clown-like maniac can look so much like a normal child? Well, it would last just as long as necessary as he’d turn to you with a grin after fooling some “idiot” (his terms) or after he pulls a “prank” on someone. In the end, even as you two are searching for a solution to whatever happened, Hisoka would find ways to have fun with it. He may grow uncomfortable or impatient after a while (especially if his strength has suffered as well and besides since his mind remains that of an adult, there are things of childhood that have just lost their appeal for him and others he can only enjoy as an adult) but you’d be the only one to notice it). Heck, even if he retains his memories, Hisoka would not be above pretending he actually regressed to a child-like mindstate if he deems it to be way more amusing (you’re free to yell at him when he either spills the beans or you realize it).

 It's also possible that, in a case of “body over mind”, having physically regressed to being a child will influence Hisoka somewhat, so he may find himself acting like one at times, even if he’ll likely try to control those impulses. It’s something when he is consciously acting the part to have fun, another is when he catches himself genuinely being a child again. If you’re close enough, you can tell him to just enjoy himself (after all, it’s pretty possible he didn’t have an exactly happy childhood) and let loose, but if not, then just shrug it off (or at most, tease him asking since when he cares about what others think anyway).

 Now, if Hisoka’s mind does regress to that of a child, things may get complicated. Even if he feels there is something special about you (the whole “heart remembering what the mind does not”), Hisoka will not simply trust you right away and because he might be confused, it will be even harder to help him, almost like trying to approach a street dog that is hurt (well, depending also on the specific age, of course), but since you’ve been together for a while, you may know a few tricks that will help you. Not treating him like an idiot just because he’s a kid will certainly be a good idea. Say a few things you know about him, that ought to at least get his attention enough for him to follow you back home. Be happy if this whole deal lasts for just a day though, Hisoka had a certain “prankster” trait on him as a child…

 In this scenario, while Hisoka as a child will likely be more independent and cynical than most of his age (to a point it can be either sad or scary, especially if he regresses to an age after he finally had enough and started to become the twisted creature we know today), it doesn’t mean he isn’t a kid. If you know this situation will pass on its own, maybe you can just try to relax (keyword, try. This is still Hisoka, after all) and give him a good memory, letting him be a normal kid… (Though I wouldn’t take him to play with other children if I were you). I can’t say it will be easy, especially at first, so patience is the key. Lots of it.  

 Illumi

I don’t know about you, but I would seriously consider dumping Illumi at the Zoldyck’s if that happened. Let his family deal with this mess…

 If Illumi retains his memories, there will be no difference whatsoever. Seriously, it’s like Illumi just got small and that’s it. You may try getting him to “enjoy himself” or something, but it won’t work. It’s just not his style and he won’t see the reason to start running around or playing tag since he takes no enjoyment out of this and doesn’t need the possible physical benefit of said exercise. It doesn’t matter if you point out he could “take the day off” and how many people might’ve liked to be a child once again, even if just for one day. Illumi may understand the reasoning, but he’ll reply that he feels he enjoyed his childhood enough. After all, his mind is still of an adult and the time for “jumping rope” or “exploring” has passed a long time ago.

 If you both know this situation will just pass on its own, Illumi will just want to wait it out. You may take a stroll around the city or spend the day together, but don’t ask him to act like a child just because his body changed. If anything, the change of size may annoy him… It’s not that he feels vulnerable or helpless (or as if he is, to be fair), but it’s a pain to have to ask for help if he can’t reach something and it just feels weird since he’s used to being taller and he can’t even use this situation to his advantage.

 Hell, he can’t even try to approach Killua for a “Brothers’ Bonding Day” since Killua is definitely, completely, totally not interested (if anything, Killua would be creeped out and run away).

 Even if Illumi’s condition comes to influence his behavior somehow, it will be hard to notice not only due to Illumi’s self-control but because, well, of the way he was raised. Even if he may feel like playing or doing something child-like, it won’t be an exactly normal sight (if he ends up indulging in it, for starters). You may try getting him to relax if you really want, but it may be better to offer to play chess or video-games (using the excuse it helps with reflexes or something of the sort).

 If Illumi regresses completely, well, it might be best to leave him with his family until he goes back to normal. Remember that Illumi has the firm philosophy that assassins don’t need friends and, without his memories, he won’t have any reason to want you around (especially if he’s at an age when boys are not interested in relationships). Unless he is at a very young age and away from home, he may even tell you to leave. It’s not that he means anything bad, but he doesn’t recognize you as one of the butlers, doesn’t need help, so… Why are you around him? Even if his feelings persist the physical change, he won’t be quite able to understand them and may just decide to ignore them, so it might be complicated for you to stay around. Remember how Illumi doesn’t care for those that are not from the family. It’s not that he means anything bad, he’s just acting the way he was raised.

 His family may try to help you deal with it, but in a way that doesn’t contradict their teachings (in their eyes, it’s better this way, especially if they know this situation won’t last). As such, they may suggest you act as a temporary butler or maid or something of the sort. Well, at least at this age, Illumi isn’t twisted to the point of disregarding your life completely, so if you want, you can at least stay around. Though, again, it will be easier for you to stay away until he goes back to normal.

  Chrollo

Oh, boy… The moment you look at Chrollo as a child, you may wonder how in all the circles of Hell did such a sweet-looking kid became the leader of the Genei Ryodan. Really, what on Earth happened?

 If Chrollo keeps his memories, he won’t want to be seen by the rest of the Spiders. Oh, he is fully aware they wouldn’t dare laugh or go into squees of “cute” (though Uvogin might’ve put him in his shoulder before Chrollo told him to put him back in the ground. Now) and this doesn’t really affect the respect they have for him, but he has his reputation to maintain anyway, you know (yeah, that serious expression? Intimidating on Adult!Chrollo, adorable on Child!Chrollo).

 It's unlikely that Chrollo will just go to a playground because he became a child, especially in this case. Too much has happened in his life for him to relax to the point of enjoying the opportunity this may present (for all we know, he might’ve to grow up too fast while living in Meteor City, so even if he did try, he wouldn’t be sure of how and would feel so awkward that he would quit soon). He will enjoy being able to walk around with no care if anyone will recognize him (not that many would under normal circumstances, let alone attack him) and you may convince him to lay down for the day, just try to make the best of the situation (even if he retains his skill and is still the Leader of the Genei Ryodan, it might be a good idea to not take the unnecessary risk of someone from the Mafia recognizing him in this form), but Chrollo is more likely to do that by going to a museum or a library like he usually does. You may try to convince him to go to an amusement park but don’t suggest the rides aimed at children. Remember that while you’re trying to get him to enjoy himself, his mind is still that of an adult.

 Even if the condition affects his behavior somewhat, it’s not easy to predict how he will react (once again due to how his childhood might’ve been). It won’t help matters and if anything, it will make things confusing for him and bring that awkward feeling mentioned above. He may want to play, but he doesn’t know why or how or even how to approach other kids. However, if you two are just at home, eating together or watching a movie, with you being yourself (perhaps at times ruffling his hair or scratching his head because, well, he is a cute kid), this will give him a sense of security and peace he likely didn’t have as a child.

 The same applies if he doesn’t remember anything. Yeah, it will be complicated to get him to trust you because he doesn’t know where he is and, while “don’t trust strangers” is a must for anyone, it’s even more so at Meteor City. People around there might help each other due to their condition, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t others who take advantage of the fact that people there are considered worthless. It might take a while just for you to convince him you mean no harm, though it might be easier if Chrollo’s feelings remain, as his own instinct will make him feel he can trust you regardless if doesn’t understand why. It’s also possible Chrollo was a lot wilder when he was younger (having to survive in that city might do that to you), to the point he seems, well, somewhat of a street urchin (or a sulky kid that stares at you with distrust masquerading as anger), especially if he regresses to a really young age.

 Though, deep in his mind, he may be noting some items around the house that he could steal. An irony, really, because that vase there or the necklace you’re wearing? He is the one that gave them to you.

 Once he relaxes enough, it will be easier to wait for him to go back to normal. It will still be like dealing with an animal (perhaps more so than with Hisoka because Chrollo might be the type that snarls if you approach him too much), but you’ll feel his coldness fading. He may still try to act tough, but you’ll see this is because his child self isn’t exactly used to someone not from Meteor City being gentle with him.

[writers-blogck]

Brand New Day ( Exorcist!Kageyama Tobio x Demon!Reader )

Warning(s): If you know what this is inspired by, then you my friend also pay for something you never thought you would actually pay for before.  This does have mentions of WWII, Hiroshima, and homicide but nothing too in-depth.  Title: Brand New Day Pairing: Exorcist!Kageyama Tobio x Demon!Reader Fandom: Haikyuu! Word Count: 1,962

        The candles were flickering in the night's cold air, the whispers of their smoke disappearing in the dark. Everything felt like it was going through you. You flattened out your palm before hovering it above the flame. Even though the fire was interrupted by your hand, you couldn't feel a thing. Your skin didn't burn, you didn't even feel a hint of the warmth that the candle was emitting. A scream slipped past your lips as you hit the candle off of the table, toppling the small item to the ground. Before it could spread, a foot was already stepping on the fire to put it out. 

        "I told you, there's a spirit in there!" A shrill woman's voice trembled, refusing to move any closer than the entrance of the room. This had been your house years ago and yet it now held different lives. If you had it your way, you would have burned the building to the ground until there was nothing left but the ash of your memories. This family could learn to live somewhere else, you didn't want to have to share. 

  ��     "Let me do my job. Take your family out to eat and when you come back, it will be dealt with." The boy with blue eyes spoke, setting his bag on the new bed. This used to be your room and they went and got rid of everything! How was any of this your fault?! It was their fault! Their fault! The flames of the remaining lit candles grew to ten times their size with your anger to fuel them. The woman yelped and was gone in a moment but the boy didn't react. Did he look....bored? You had never met anyone like this before. You didn't like where this was going. 

        You moved to push yourself in the corner of the ceiling, trying to put as much space between this new intruder and yourself. He was bringing out beads and vials of water. Some were clear while others seemed to hold a strange carmine color liquid. Wine, perhaps? The bottles were corked which kept you from smelling anything, though you wouldn't be able to smell anything anyway. You had lost that ability. How many of the five senses had you lost? 

        The first to go was touch. Whether the cold ice that resided in the icebox or the sharp blade of a kitchen knife, nothing could make you feel anything. You could no longer smell anything and while you didn't have the need to eat anymore, you believed you had lost the sense of taste as well. Would the other two disappear with time? Which would go first: your hearing or your sight? Which would you prefer? Would you be nothing but a mass of cells come next birthday? 

        "Now, we can do this the hard way or the easy way." Your eyes trailed over the boy's clothing, taking in what looked like a priest's attire. With how young he seemed to be, he couldn't be more than a trainee. He couldn't be older than sixteen. You had been that age....how many years had it been since then? You had died in the early morning, only having lived fifteen years before your own father decided to cut it short. While the rest of your family seemed to have moved on from the tragic house, you felt stuck. If you had to do something you pass over, you had no clue what it was. There wasn't a handbook for the dead or anything, though that would be helpful. What was the year now? It had been 1946 when you had passed, the bombing of your country having been the year before. 

        You had an idea as to why your father did what he did. Your country had lost the war and was forced to surrender. It wasn't in the code of honor to surrender, no matter the odds. That was something your father had believed strongly in. He was never the same after he came back from the war. It was coming up on the first anniversary of the day that Japan surrendered. It was a time to reflect and mourn those who had lost their life. For your father, it just reminded him of what he called his 'personal' disgrace. It all came boiling over and was done before your mother or any of your siblings could know what was happening. You had been the last to fall under your father's knife before he turned it on himself. Was that why you stayed? 

        It was strange to watch the boy in front of you. His eyes had passed over your form quickly, could he not see you? You wouldn't be surprised. No one seemed to be able to see you. There had been fleeting moments where a child's eyes may have lingered for too long or a dog sniffed at your feet but nothing substantial. It had been a lonely existence ever since that day. The house had gone unsold for decades. It wasn't until the history of the house began to fade into nothing but distant memories when they began to try to sell it.

        "Who are you?" You asked, more for yourself than anything but the boy seemed to hear it as he whipped his head in your direction. You were just as surprised as he was, the two of you just staring at each other in silent curiosity for what felt like centuries. 

        "You're just a kid...." His voice was softer than before, the cogs turning in his head in an attempt to understand the situation before him. He hadn't been trained for this. Demons weren't supposed to look like this...He shook his head, forcing himself to remember that demons can make themselves look like anything. They would pull any trick that they had to if it meant they could feed. 

        "I am not a kid! I'm the same age as you! Are you a kid?!" 

        "No!" 

        "Then that means I'm not one either!" 

        The silence blanketed over the two of you once again, this time a feeling of tension joining it. Kageyama was confused and didn't know what to feel. He had to exorcise you, you were bad! Yet, at this moment you looked like nothing more than a scared kid, someone his age. He imagined himself being a demon, it didn't seem possible! Then...what about an evil spirit? You could just be a spirit-filled with malice and spite. Still, you were like a scared animal pushing itself as far into the corner as possible. You could have tried to hurt him when he walked in but you didn't.         

        The owners of the house didn't say that they had been hurt in any way. You had been destroying their property and making a mess of things but you hadn't attacked them. Kageyama had been taught about exorcising spirits that would scratch up the living and attempt to bash them with whatever items were around. Still, was it his place to question the situation? He was here to exorcise you and that was it. He needed to get the job done and return back to Oikawa, the exorcist he was apprenticing under. 

        "Are you going to kill me?" 

        Kageyama's eyes widened at the quiet whisper that barely made it to his ears. He had never heard anyone talk about exorcism as if it was death before. It was always a good thing but hearing the fear in your voice, he was beginning to doubt his own profession. He wanted to be the best exorcist and yet here he was, heart breaking at the sound of one tiny question. This wasn't his first exorcism and yet it felt just as hard. 

        "No..." He whispered out, not even noticing his own words. He had been told this was going to be an easy job, just one to give him some more experience. It wasn't supposed to present him with a moral conundrum that had no easy answer! He was still just an apprentice. 

        "Then why are you still here?" 

        "This is my house, by the way." You continued on, bringing his attention back to the issue at hand. You were slowly lowering yourself to be level with the boy, allowing him to look at you up close for the first time. Kageyama remembered the creatures he had dealt with and you looked nothing like them. They had been so ugly and you were so...Ah! He couldn't be attracted to a spirit! 

        "Well, new people are moving in and living here now." He cleared his throat, wrapping his beads around his hand in a silent prayer for God to help him during these trying times. He had been a faithful servant, hadn't he? So why was he being put in such a terrible position? Perhaps this was meant to be...Maybe Kageyama was supposed to discover the existence of nonviolent spirits. A new breakthrough...

        "Well," You copied the tone of his voice, nose crinkling up in annoyance, "I was killed in this house so I think that means that I get to stay here." 

        Killed? Kageyama had read about angry spirits who were victims in their past life but they had all been dangerous. They were fueled by the anger and rage in their final moments which caused their soul to stay. Strong emotions were the only thing that could keep a spirit on Earth and so far, the only one that had been successful so far was anger. The need for revenge. Why had you stayed? 

        "I can't let you just keep living here. You need to leave." 

        "Why?" 

        "Because this isn't your house."

        "It was."

        "But it isn't anymore."

        "But it was!" 

        "Yeah, but another family has moved in!" The two of you were going back and forth at this point, each raising your voice more than the last time. The flames of the candles were flickering as if a strong wind was present in the room, your emotions affecting the world around you. 

        "So what am I supposed to do?"

        Kageyama pulled his book out of his robes, flipping through the pages until he found what he was looking for. Sometimes creatures were too strong to be exercised by one person which then meant it would need to be transported somewhere else. This spell was able to change whatever the demon or spirit was binding itself to. He could bind you to one of his items which meant he didn't have to exorcise you just yet. 

        If you weren't a danger to anyone, shouldn't they try to find a way to help you? That was what he was telling himself, ignoring the fluttering of his heart when your face was inches away from his. You were hovering behind him, watching his movements, and try to read what was written in the book. He was doing this to help you dammit, not because he thought you were super cute! 

        You were going to be the end of him. He could no longer go on with his training as he had before. You had added doubt into his small world. Exorcists weren't supposed to let a spirit stay and they especially weren't supposed to bind them to themselves! Yet, spirits were only supposed to be violent creatures, and yet here he was with a living (or not living) piece of proof. His superiors would have just exorcised you without a second thought. This wasn't how exorcists were supposed to deal with hauntings....Oh well, there was always a first time for everything. 

        "There is something that I can do but we are gonna have to set some ground rules first." 

        Oikawa would have to just deal with it.

[lordeasriel]

Do you have a take on what Phillip and Vera’s daemons would be? Or any of the other guests’ for that matter?

Hehehe yes I do, I've been waiting for this question for so long lmao I'm working on a new fic that is ATTWN written by the Agatha Christie of Lyra's world so I had to come up with daemons for all of them.

I'll start in reverse order, from Vera to Marston, since you asked about her first anon.

For Vera, I was torn between a brownish/greyish owl and a marmoset. I really can't imagine any other Vera than Maeve Dermody, and because appearance is important when thinking about Daemons (because daemons lend something of their animal form to the human, ie 'a serpent daemon usually has a human with a serpentine vibes' this was said by Philman in an interview), I think an owl would have suited her. She has big eyes, that are always darting around; she's often immobile, observing her surroundings. However, I think that a marmoset suits her better because Vera has a Hannah Relf quality to her (another marmoset daemon, in case you haven't read the HDM books). It's that silent attitude, keeping to herself, wary of her surroundings and while she seems weak and fragile, Vera is not afraid to act or reacts extremely if the situation calls for it. She is also very shrewd, and I chose the marmoset for her because there is something so appealing to see Vera, big eyes and shrewd attitude behind a mask of silly girl, with a daemon clinging to her neck, observing the room, tiny and silent, but just as clever as she is.

For Lombard, and this one was a no brainer, he has a panther. Show! Lombard would have a black panther, because it suits Aidan Turner's looks; for the book, it would still be a panther type, but a spotted leopard one. Book! Lombard is more earthy than Show! Lombard, hence his daemon having a lighter, more brown palette. As for the reason, there wasn't a lot of thinking when I chose this; in the book, Lombard is described many times like a panther: dangerous, lithe, moving quietly about the house. Everyone in the house feels this vibe and they know he is dangerous, and he sees them as prey (because one of them is the killer and he is just waiting to catch them). I think for a man like him, having a big, dangerous daemon, is very suitable. There is also something of Asriel in him, both in the show and book, so it's fitting they have the same/similar type of daemon.

For Blore, I knew it had to be a type of dog. Everything about Blore screams "barks more than it bites", and while he can be assertive and take control, he always defers to people if they say the right thing to him. Book! Blore would have a boring, but bigger dog, I imagine; he is described as a big man, and he has a very thuggish attitude. Maybe a German Shepherd. Show! Blore is more sleek and clever, less thuggish more alert and paranoid, but also more in control. He dresses nice, is rather vain specially towards his skills, so I gave him a black poodle, a small one though. Blore, although assertive, always is overwhelmed by Armstrong and Lombard, both men that have a bigger presence and willpower than he does.

For Armstrong, I was torn between weasel and a badger, and I think the badger suits him better. It's tempting to go weasel and say he was oh cunning and sleek, but I don't think that's true. While Show! Armstrong loses his shit fairly quickly, even in distress he maintains some control (like when he insists to take care of Mrs Rogers despite Rogers saying she was alright; or when they are all dancing and he is staring at Vera and Lombard, suspicious, trying to steady himself). The Badger fits him better: grounded, stable creatures but also very vicious if they have to be; if my doctor had a badger daemon I would feel safe, I think. Examples of badger daemons in the books I think it's Malcolm's mom, who is incredibly down-to-earth and assertive, which represents Book! Armstrong better, I'll be honest, but I can see Toby Stephens with a badger daemon as Armstrong as well. His character is a man with a sense of belonging, and he perceives his surroundings very well. In the book, Armstrong is more cool headed (for the show, him and Vera have their attitudes swapped, which I like but it's fair to mention here as well) and more in control of his motions. He moves around everyone and doesn't start dissent like in the show, which I think makes sense for his daemon. He doesn't fight unless he has too.

For Wargrave, and this was fun, but I was torn between a butterfly and a chameleon, and I ultimately decided for the butterfly because I thought the chameleon was too on the nose with his twist. This is for both show and book, and if there are changes it's probably just in colours and patterns. In the book, Wargrave is often described as someone with a reptile smile, hence why I chose the chameleon at first, but I think he is still a fragile man at his core. Butterflies are synonym of beauty and change; they tend to be associated with evolution and growth, and that's Wargrave's story I think. He is a man who spent his life working in law, seeing dozens and dozens of criminals come and go and die: he was known for having a high death rate, so I imagine he dealt with heinous crimes the most (I don't know for sure but I don't think they hanged people for stealing or whatever in the early 20th century, but take this with a pinch of salt lmao). Then one day Wargrave meets this Edward Seton, a total sadist (and a serial killer in the show) and he realised things about himself that he didn't know before. In the show, he has a line about Seton having a legacy of terror to be remembered, while he and everyone else would be forgotten and I think that's very much what the butterfly represents for Wargrave. When he finds out he is sick, he finds growth in pursuing his true passion, which was murder. The butterfly is also a very fragile daemon, and because of that she doesn't reflect his true physique (despite sick he is nowhere near as frail as he appears to be), and her beauty helps lure the trust of people, make him seem trustworthy (Vera on the show, Armstrong in the book). Just to add, he is also separated from her, and this is how he manages to fake his death well. (i was saving this twist for the fic but I might never finish it lmao)

For Miss Brent, this one had me thinking a lot. Like, a lot. I was torn between a toucan and a spider, and I ultimately decided to go for the toucan, mostly because I think it suits her better. Spiders are often associated with storytellers and creative people and Emily Brent is far from creative. She is judgemental, conservative, vain and nasty towards anyone she considers unworthy. In the show, she has an attitude towards the General, she likes him well and they don't quite explain why, but I think it's because he is from her generation - and social status - and she respects him for it. The same goes for Wargrave and Armstrong, but towards Armstrong she just respects his status, not his age. She sort of sees him as "still young but on the right path". She absolutely resents Lombard - as she does in the book, probably for the same reason: he is pretty much a living hands to mouth kind of guy and he is immoral according to her - and she doesn't think highly of Blore either, also because of social status. Anyway, I can do a separate post about this, but I chose the toucan because they are beautiful birds, a little menacing, and they have a bit of a bitchy attitude. No deeper thought to that to be fair lmao. Toucans make me think "vain" and I love this concept because Miss Brent loathes women who wear make up or show off, but I think this Is clearly a façade on her part, because she is also vain, in her own way.

For Rogers, I was torn between a big, posh dog and a fox. Now, this one is tough because we fall into that "good servants have dog daemons" rule, which I think it's too simplistic to define a person's nature. I'm more inclined towards the posh dog, mostly because I think that helps Rogers fit in with a crowd that isn't his; and sure, he is a cunning man (like a fox daemon would evoke) but I think a dog like a Dobermann suits Rogers best, in the book at least. A fox would suit show! Rogers better, but the dog suits him too physically (tall, slender, mean looking), so I'm sticking with the dog.

For the General, I think a hawk. A bird of prey. He was a soldier and he was fucking shrewd to send a man to die in such an inconspicuous way. Birds of prey Daemons have very passionate humans - Ma Costa, Tony Costa, Anthony Hassall, as well as Bud Schlesinger and Marcel Delamare with their owls - but while owls are tame and introvert, hawks tend to be extreme and out there, lashing out and being menacing with ease. This was a natural choice for me, although I also considered eagles for him later, but changed my mind. (On my notes I wrote "def not an owl" lmao)

For Mrs Rogers, I think a mouse would suit her, and I know this is painfully obvious, but that's the vibe she gives me. A small person, being coerced and oppressed by a petty tyrant, and she just lets things steer her by, absolutely not in control of her life. I also gave her a same sex type of daemon, because she just has that uncanny aura, I don't know how to explain it; I can see that affecting her life since childhood, and steering her towards a man like Rogers, who would take advantage of her loneliness. Same sex daemons are rare and the example we had was in someone extremely sensitive, and I feel that in Mrs Rogers.

And lastly, Tony Marston, and this one I had too many options, but I opted for a Margay, who was suggested to me in fact. It's a feline daemon, very slick and lithe but also very ethereal looking, which I think suits Marston: handsome but lacking substance (not lacking so much substance in the show tho lmao get it? cause he did cocaine? a substance? Haha please don't unfollow me). Frankly, because he dies first I didn't give this too much thought, but I knew it had to be a wild daemon, quick and lithe.

Honorable mention to Fred Narracott and his seagull daemon. Thanks for asking this anon, I had a blast!

[starscheme]

Only You

Chapter Twenty-One: A Hopeful Game

Steven stood completely still, staring at the empty space where Sodalite had been. After she purified him, he did feel a little better, but he was stuck on what she said before she vanished. Spinel. Why did she say her name? 

“Hey!!” Lars shouted as he ran down to the beach, “where’d Sodalite go?” 

“Sodalite?” Repeated White Diamond. 

“...she...she just left.” Steven muttered. 

“What?!” Lars exclaimed in a slight panic, 

Garnet stepped forward and placed her hand at Stevens shoulder, shaking him from his inner thoughts. 

“Steven, you should take Lars and go look for Sodalite,” she instructed. 

“Yeah, well I don’t suppose you’d know a good place to start?” Asked Lars with an already tired sigh. It had been a while since she just ran off like this and he didn’t miss how difficult it was to find her. 

“Who is this Sodalite? A friend of yours?” Yellow asked with a raised brow. “The name sounds familiar.” 

“Ah, I believe I made a Sodalite Gem for Pink long ago,” recalled Blue, “...but I was certain that we destroyed the Gem when she proved to be useless...” 

Lars flinched, but Garnet caught his attention by placing a hand on his shoulder as well. “...boys, you’ll really want to go and look for Sodalite. Trust me. I think you’ll have some luck near the Arcade.” 

Steven glanced at Garnet and then back towards the Spinel that the Diamonds had brought for him. He quickly turned away in disgust, “yeah, I really should get out of here. Come on, Lars.” 

“I still don’t like those giant ladies,” Lars muttered as he and Steven turned to walk away. 

“Steven, wouldn’t you like-“ White tried as she leaned forward, but the Crystal Gems stood in front of her defiantly.

While the Gems dealt with the Diamond intrusion, Steven and Lars rushed the docks, glancing around amongst the small summer crowds that were enjoying their day.  

“Why would Sodalite come here?” Asked Lars once they neared the arcade. “She hates crowded places and loud noises. The Arcade is gonna be her worst nightmare.” 

“Garnet must have seen her here, or she wouldn’t have mentioned it,” replied Steven with a shrug. After that encounter, he wanted to break something, but thought it better to keep these emotions to himself. 

“Hey! Sodalite! You out here?” Lars called out, walking with Steven until they reached the Arcades entrance. 

They glanced around the area in silence, waiting for a reply that never came. 

“Maybe she ran off because of all the noise here...” sighed Lars. 

Steven wasn’t so sure. Garnet wouldn’t have sent them here for no reason and he was eager to ask Sodalite why she said Spinels name. He continued to search the crowd, only to spot a familiar blue color, surrounded by a small group of young men. With a closer look, he could see Sodalite, obviously anxious as she spoke with the strangers. 

“Lars, there she is,” Steven informed his friend before making a bee line through the tourists to reach her. 

“Are you sure we can’t help you? I know this town pretty well, you know.” One of the men said with a smile. 

Sodalite shook her head frantically, “n-no! I-I was just-um-I need to find-“ 

The men loomed over Sodalite as she sank nervously, they didn’t notice Steven approaching until his large shadow stretched out from behind them. 

The men quickly turned around with a start, staring up nervously at the now much larger Steven who practically towered over them. He had been in such a bad mood that his Gem was causing his body to grow slowly ever since they left for the arcade. 

“You guys have some business with her?” He asked irately. 

“Wha?! N-no! I just-she looked troubled so we offered to help. We weren’t hitting on your girlfriend, honest.” answered one of the men frantically. 

“She’s not his girlfriend,” Lars announced in a huff as he caught up to Steven. Upon seeing him, Sodalite immediately rushed over to the Pink human, hugging his arm and hiding herself between him and Steven. 

Without another word, the men dashed off and once they were out of sight, Lars turned to Sodalite. “They didn’t do anything did they?” 

Sodalite shook her head in silence. 

“What are you doing out here. You hate the boardwalk...” asked Lars. 

“Spinel...she-“ 

Steven quickly turned to Sodalite and placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing the nervous Gem to look his way, “did you feel something?! You said her name before as well! Why?” 

Sodalite panicked a little when she felt pressured to answer, but she did her best. “I-I heard a voice. It-it was small but-but I’m sure. She-Spinel called me...she-she wanted to play a game...” 

“A game...?” Repeated Steven, feeling his heart start to pound against his chest. “...but...Spinel...” he placed his hand over the shards he kept over his heart with a frown, “...she couldn’t have...” 

“I-I heard it! I-I know I did!” Sodalite insisted as bravely as she could. 

“But why’d you run off alone?” Asked Lars. 

“...I-I messed up last time...” admitted Sodalite as she held her hands anxiously over her chest. “I-I didn’t react fast enough and-and it caused so much trouble. So I...I thought if I...didn’t hesitate this time...I could...maybe...” 

“Why did you come to the arcade,” Steven asked, trying to make sense of this. 

“I-isn’t this where you play games...?” 

Lars and Steven glanced at one another, both coming to the same conclusion. It’s not that Spinel was actually here, Sodalite just jumped to conclusions. 

Steven didn’t want to get his hopes up. It hurt so much having to remind himself that Spinel wasn’t coming back. “...it’s okay, Sodalite. ...I’m sure you just got confused...” 

“N-no! I-My Steven, I know what I heard. I-I was connected to Spinel for a time wh-when I was broken. Remember? Her-her fear...was very strong. I can still...I still feel it. I know what it feels like. She’s here. ...I think-I think...she’s trying to reach us...by p-playing a game...” 

Lars gasped lightly, recalling how it felt when that thing took over his body. That creature had merged with Spinels personality, so no wonder it treated this whole scenario like a game. Even when he was attacking the others, it regarded the situation like a game of tag. 

“...hide and seek...” Steven mumbled to himself. Was it possible? “...b-but she’s...” 

“Are we sure?” Asked Lars pointedly. “...I mean...you and Connie saw the shards and assumed...but how do we know those shards really belong to Spinel? Doesn’t that thing know everything Spinel knows?” 

As much as Steven didn’t want to get his hopes up only to have them dashed, he would rather bet everything he had on the notion that Spinel was still out there. He’d been so focused on getting revenge that he never considered the shattering was staged. Just like Pearl and Spinel had done for Pink in the past. He could have been holding onto someone else’s shards, or even fake ones. “I...I want her back...” Steven choked out as tears filled his eyes. This hurt so much. Too much. If there was any small chance that Spinel was out there, he wanted to believe it. Even if it meant that he’d fall further into despair if it turned out to be a lie.

Lars pat Stevens back a bit and offered a sympathetic smile, “then let’s play the stupid game.” 

“I-I’m not good at games...but I-I’ll do my best.” Insisted Sodalite, trying to appear brave despite her trembling shoulders. “As long as Lars is with me...” she added. 

Steven smiled a bit, touched by his friends willingness to go along with this small shred of hope. They had no proof that these shards around his neck weren’t Spinels, but just for now, he wanted to hope they weren’t. “Thanks you guys. ...but let’s keep this to ourselves for now. ...okay?” The last thing he needed was for the Gems to try and convince him that he was deluding himself. Especially since they didn’t put much faith in Sodalite due to her history of overreactions and panic. 

“Does that mean we’re gonna be the only ones playing? I think we should at least give my crew a chance to volunteer some help.” Suggested Lars, sure that the Off Colors could provide sufficient back up in case something went wrong. 

Though a bit apprehensive, Steven nodded his head, “okay, but if that thing is still inside of Spinel...it will be really dangerous. ...I don’t want anyone else getting hurt or...or worse. ...so the fewer players...the better.” 

“We should meet up after dark,” Lars thought aloud, “if she’s playing hide and seek, she won’t be out in the open during the day.” 

Steven was reminded of the games he played with Spinel when he was younger. Hide and Seek was one of her favorites and after he learned to use the warp, the game became more elaborate. However, there was one game he recalled right away. 

Spinel had warped away in order to hide, but unfortunately, an earthquake had occurred while she was hiding and cracked the wrap pad, rendering it useless. It took the Gems more than a week to find her and Steven was beside himself the entire time. He felt like it was his fault for not being able to find her. As if he should have known better. After that, he and Spinel didn’t the play the game much anymore. He was scared of losing her for so long again. 

“...Spinel...promised I wouldn’t lose her. She said we didn’t have to play that game anymore so that...we’d never be separated for that long again...” mumbled Steven. 

Lars stared at Steven curiously, unsure what he was getting at. 

“If she’s playing this game again...I think...she’s doing it so I know where to look. At least...I hope so.” Steven added, still worried that he was just making connections where there were none because he wanted it to be true. “Let’s go back to the house. ...we’re gonna need to take the warp.” 

[iammultifandomaf]

Once a Leader, Always a Leader

Fan Fiction: Sweet Home Netflix

Chapter 6 - TRUST ME

Hyun-Su was now with Jung Ui-Myeong who was using Pyeon Sang-Wook's body about over two weeks.

What Ui-Myeong was telling Hyun-Su kind of made sense. They are evolved monster that can be superior to plain humans and that's why humans want them dead. However, Hyun-Su couldn't get on board with all the killing. At least the killing humans part.

"Look, we can spend a night here," Ui-Myeong said, looking around the dark lobby, "and then continue. I heard that in North Korea it's roaming with monsters. We should head there and look for people like us."

Hyun-Su didn't answer and leaned against the reception's desk. Did he really want to go with this man?

"How do you know about North Korea?" he finally asked.

"Oh, that's simple. I overheard it when the army was doing tests on me. No human dares to go there now, they just left it deserted."

"Hm."

"What's with you? You are the future! Stop making that sad face."

"I am not sad."

"What are you then?"

Hyun-Su watched the hole in front of him where probably used to be an entrance door before. It made him sick that Ui-Myeong used Pyeon Sang-Wook's body as a puppet. People shouldn't be treated like that.

"You said that Pyeon Sang-Wook was dead when you took over his body?" Hyun-Su changed the topic.

"We went over this... He was barely conscious... he would've died anyways."

"Hm," Hyun-Su glanced at Ui-Myeong and then looked back at the hole in the wall. However, this time, he had to blink a few times to be sure he wasn't dreaming.

"Lee Eun-Hyuk?" he whispered at the sight of the young man and behind him, Eun-Yu, Ji-Su, Hye-In and even the children.

"Hyun-Su!" Eun-Yu cried out at the sight of him and wanted to go to him but her brother's arm stopped her.

"Wait," he said quietly and approached Ui-Myeong, looking him in the eyes.

"What do you want?" Ui-Myeong said annoyed and watched the young man in front of him.

"You should get out of him, he doesn't want you in there," Eun-Hyuk said and with a quick movement, laid his fingers on Ui-Myeong's temples.

"The fuck you think you are doing?" Ui-Myeong bursted out and thursted a thorn out of his body, piercing Eun-Hyuk through.

"No!" Hyun-Su, Eun-Yu and Ji-Su screamed out unianimously while Hye-In hugged the children so they wouldn't see what's happening.

"Get. Out," Eun-Hyuk commanded through his teeth, feeling a small stream of blood flowing from the mouth down his chin. Ui-Myeong's eyes rolled back and he shrieked in pain but quickly breathed in and gave Eun-Hyuk a smug look.

"Then I'll just take you," Ui-Meyong's voice was distorted and made Yeong-Su burst in tears. Then, the thorn stuck in Eun-Hyuk's core turned into a bloody-looking goo that made its way inside of Eun-Hyuk.

Sang-Wook collapsed on the floor with a thud. Eun-Hyuk immediately threw out a boutiful amount of blood and fell to his knees, feeling the strange presence in his body, trying to take over somehow.

"Fucking fight that bastard!" Eun-Yu run to her brother, standing by his side in uncertainity. "Why would you go off with such a crazy asshole?!" she glanced at Hyun-Su who watched the scene with an open mouth.

"I... I-" he tried to create some words but the amount of blood that came from Eun-Hyuk was the only thing he could've focused on.

"He's killing him don't you see that?!" Eun-Yu screamed at Hyun-Su in tears.

"What's happening?" suddenly Sang-Wook's confused voice popped into all the chaos. His eyes fell on Eun-Hyuk who was grunting in pain, punching the floor as he resisted Ui-Meyong.

Calm down. You have the upper hand. He caged himself in your body. You can crush him, Eun-Hyuk thought and took a deep breath in which was followed by the monstrous scream that make the whole lobby shake and the mirrors shatter. Hyun-Su fell down next to Sang-Wook who seemed to have pure terror in eyes that have turned its color to pitch black. Hyun-Su laid his head on his knees and covered his ears with his palms, trembling.

Even the humans were somehow frozen on the spot, enduring the eartearing holler barely.

Finally, it was over. Eun-Hyuk clumsily stood up, his body changing into the 2,5 m (8,2 ft) creature.

"Fuck," Eun-Hyuk swore, feeling an instant relief from that previous pain and tension. His eyes flew over the room, noticing how his scream impacted the others.

"Uhm, good call with the clothes," he tried to chuckle but that only reminded him of the drying blood in his mouth. The sweatpants were now a bit tighter as well as the T-Shirt, but nothing besides the hole from the thorn ripped.

"Hah, yeah," Ji-Su reacted with a weak voice and slowly sat down on the cold floor. Eun-Hyuk looked at Eun-Yu who had wrapped her arms around her and stared into the floor.

"Damn," Eun-Hyuk sighed and turned around to face Hyun-Su and Sang-Wook who were still stuck in the same positions as before. Eun-Hyuk approached them and sat down on his haunches.

"Hey," he said softly and put his hand, raising their heads to look at him, "look at me."

They obeyed but it didn't seem that they did so voluntarily.

"Listen," he said as he cuppped their cheeks, "you're safe now, okay? I am not going to hurt you."

Hyun-Su's eyes turned back to his human irises and a stream of tears started flowing down his face. He was now able to take in who was sitting in front of him.

"Eun-Hyuk?" he whimpered.

"Yeah," Eun-Hyuk said calmly and glanced back at Sang-Wook who seemed to have gotten out of the shock as well and laid his hand on Eun-Hyuk's.

"Are you alright?" Eun-Hyuk asked and put his hands down.

"What the fuck was that?" Sang-Wook said shortly.

"You're a monster, too?" Hyun-Su asked quietly, noticing the lack of hole in Eun-Hyuk's chest. He only nodded and let himself turn back to his human form.

Yeong-Su and Su-Yeong suddenly hurried to Hyun-Su and fell into his arms.

"We missed you!" Su-Yeong exclaimed.

"Oh, I missed you, too," Hyun-Su said sadly.

"What happened to the asshole?" Eun-Yu wondered and looked at the hole in the T-shirt where underneath was only a human chest covered in blood but with no wound.

"I did the same like with the others," Eun-Hyuk answered.

"What does that mean?" Sang-Wook asked wearily as he rose to his feet.

"He eats monsters," Hye-In explained from behind.

"You do what?" Hyun-Su asked, his eyes wide.

"He's superior to monsters. He can destroy them by eating them! And apparently, he's superior to evolved ones, too," Ji-Su said.

"Will you eat me?" Hyun-Su asked quietly, looking down at his hands. He knew that after his monstrous side finally got out, he temporarily forgot what had happened, but it slowly came back to him in small shards. And what he remembered wasn't anything good. He was closed in a secluded room and he always obeyed Eun-Hyuk's orders until that one day when Hyun-Su said that he won't be bossed around anymore. Could that backfire now?

Eun-Hyuk closed in to Hyun-Su which made him flinch away. The children were holding Hyun-Su tightly as if defending him against Eun-Hyuk. But Eun-Hyuk only placed his hand on Hyun-Su's hair.

"Don't be ridiculous. Why would I do that?" Eun-Hyuk said.

"I... I defied you. And went with Ui-Meyong."

"So what. You had no obligations to me."

Hyun-Su looked up, noticing that Eun-Hyuk's face that always carried an expressionless mask was now filled with compassion.

Eun-Hyuk didn't know, though, that after the scream affected the other monsters would let him enter their minds if he touched them. And so accidently, he saw flashes of Hyun-Su's broken memories - the bullying, the hopelessness after his family died, the suicidal thoughts.

Eun-Hyuk's eyes slowly became glassy so he put his hand down and looked away.

"Let's be a team, hm?" Eun-Hyuk suggested, blinking away his tears and looking back at that broken boy in front of him. Hyun-Su raised his head, his lips parted a bit as he was thinking of an answer.

"A team?" Sang-Wook answered instead.

"Yeah," Eun-Hyuk said, looking at Sang-Wook, "we have s few humans around that need protecting. I am not sure if they haven't turned just because they didn't properly get into contact with this... infection. Or if they are simply immune to it. Be it as it may... You two also need to figure out how it works. We can't get random uncontrolled transformations."

"So, you know how to control yours?" Ji-Su asked.

"Hopefully... At least for now it seems clearer to me," he said and raised his hand to let everyone see it change into the clawed form and then return to normal, "but I can't make any promises. I guess if a moment comes that I'd be uncertain of my sanity or anything... I have to tell you right away so we can plan accordingly... and if necessary... get rid of me."

"What?" Eun-Yu rose her voice.

"How would we get rid of you? You just received an enormous injury and now you look as if nothing happened," Hye-In noted.

"That's true... that could be a problem," Eun-Hyuk admitted.

"Can we please not talk about killing you and focus on survival?" Eun-Yu said annoyed and furrowed her brows at her brother.

"Sorry," Eun-Hyuk apologized and walked to Eun-Yu, putting his arm around her shoulders who surprisingly didn't shake him off and just stood there, stubborningly looking away.

"Another thing... we should probably get a different vehicle. Maybe like a caravan if we're planning on traveling a lot."

"Where do you want to find a caravan?" Hye-In wondered. "We were lucky to get our hands on this van," she said and walked over to the children who were still holding onto Hyun-Su.

"There has to be some abandoned shop... We can't be squeezing in that van for a long time," Eun-Hyuk said.

"I actually know a place. They resold used vehicles... I guess some cars could still be there in one piece," Sang-Wook said.

"Hm." Eun-Hyuk looked at Sang-Wook who kept his cool as always and walked to him which made Sang-Wook take a step back.

"What are you doing?" Sang-Wook said on alert.

"Nothing. How are you feeling?" Eun-Hyuk asked curiously, sensing Sang-Wook's nervosity that wasn't only caused by Eun-Hyuk's strange behavior.

"I am fine," Sang-Wook answered shortly, "why are you so weird about it?"

"I am sorry," Eun-Hyuk awkwardly chuckled and scratched the back of his head, "it's just this sixth sense I am dealing with lately. But if you have something to let out, better do it here than in the van with little space, what do you say?"

"What are you talking about?" Ji-Su wondered.

"I think that him being possessed postponed any transformations. That means it's all stuffed inside of him and he's barely holding it together-"

"So, you are now an expert in monsters? Or what?" Sang-Wook said, his tone being on edge.

"I wouldn't say an expert...-"

"I don't want to become a mindless monster! Of course I am trying-," Sang-Wook paused as he felt heat rising within him, "I am trying to hold it together."

"Yeah, I know. You'll be fine, though. Like Hyun-Su," Eun-Hyuk answered calmly.

"How do you know?!" Sang-Wook bursted out on him, his eyes changing color.

Eun-Hyuk also wasn't sure how he knew. He was somewhat aware of the fact that if he's there while Sang-Wook turns, he'll be able to keep him somewhat by his senses.

Everyone else in the lobby watched the two silently, as if any noise could've had destructive consequences and Hye-In tried to comfort the children as quietly as she could since they were uneasy from the whole situation.

"Trust me in this," Eun-Hyuk said and grabbed Sang-Wook's hand tightly, pulling him closer.

"Let me go!" Sang-Wook said angrily as his body twiched and its surface slowly changed from human skin to a wrinkly one with wounds that seemed to have produced some liquid. Eun-Hyuk held onto Song-Wook's hand during the whole process, having a short glimpse into yet another painful set of memories.

"Look at me," Eun-Hyuk said strictly when Sang-Wook's change came to a finish. Sang-Wook's black eyes landed at Eun-Hyuk's face in anticipation.

"Good," Eun-Hyuk said and laid Song-Wook's hand he had been holding on his chest and put his own hands on Song-Wook's temples, "it'll be alright. Just listen to my voice. You have control over this and you can change whenever you want. Hm? Yeah, that's right."

Song-Wook's skin was returning to his human one once again until he was back to himself, watching Eun-Hyuk in awe.

"How did you do that?" Hyun-Su asked in amazement, "it went so smoothly..."

"I don't want to make any premature conclusions," Eun-Hyuk said, taking down his hands from Song-Wook's head, "but I think that when a monster hears the... scream, or however you want to call it... then... they somehow do what I want."

"What?" Eun-Yu spat out of herself.

"So... you can make us whatever you want us to do? Even against our will?" Hyun-Su said, anxiety rising in his voice.

"It would seem so," Eun-Hyuk confirmed and raised his palms in defense, "I know... it's a bit of a moral dilemma. I can tell you that I won't misuse it but let's be frank. I do not know what lies ahead of us-"

"If I am a danger to somebody, then you can do whatever you want to stop me," Hyun-Su interrupted.

"Hm, I guess, same here," Song-Wook added, "if we get a say in this..."

"That makes you pretty dangerous," Ji-Su said, "we should keep it as a secret. Just imagine if the army found out..."

"The army would be stupid if they wanted to kill him!" Eun-Yu cried out, "and even if... you'd survive it, right?" she looked at her brother who gave her a small smile in return and said: "I promised that I'll come back, didn't I? Then I'll always come back."

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13825734/6/

[jincherie]

TEASER: sunshine riptide

genre: hybrid au, ot7, fluff, animal crossing insp wc: 2.6k

“So in exchange for three months paid stay on the island while you get back on your feet, you will work part-time at the Rabbits Den three days a week, and man the desk in the Resident Services Building on Sundays. Is that okay to you?”

You nod eagerly, the ordeal seeming too good to be true and something you’re afraid will be retracted if you don’t act with haste. Mr Bang returns your motion with a little less fervour, the same kind look never leaving his face.

“Perfect, it’s settled then! We’re glad to have you with us, y/n.”

Something lifts from your chest in that moment, as though you’d been walking beneath the cover of a lead blanket and it has finally slipped from your shoulders. You feel a little breathless, and you know the grin that slips onto your face is stupidly wide. Embarrassingly, you feel salty pricks at the corner of your eyes.

“Thank you so much,” you say, and you mean it. It hadn’t exactly been a well thought out plan, moving here with nothing to your name but your most basic possessions, but you’d just needed to escape and start anew and this… this had been the first opportunity you’d seen. The best opportunity you’d seen. “Really, thank you.”

“You’re more than welcome, young lady.” Mr Bang’s expression grows even softer, if possible. “This is a place people come to find refuge, and happiness. You’re welcome here.”

You clear your throat, turning your head to the side and pretending that you need to cough so he doesn’t see the tear that slips out. You have a feeling he knows, though, as you turn back and find him smiling at you, floppy rabbit ears framing his round face. He reaches out, patting you on the shoulder.

“Now, lets find you a room for the night. I’ll send word to the house I have in mind and make sure they have it nice and tidy before your arrival tomorrow. Sound good?”

It hits you only now how tired you are, more emotionally exhausted than anything, and nod while allowing him to lead you down the hall. That does sound good, actually. That sounds amazing.

O – O – O

You’d arrived on this island in the early hours of the morning yesterday, the late-night ferry the only one that runs to this island on the outskirts of the archipelago. It’s likely due to the fact that the captain is a nocturnal hybrid, and hence prefers to run his business under the cover of night. You hadn’t been able to sleep on the trip over, so when Mr Bang had shown you to the room he was happy to lend you for the night, despite it being barely ten o’clock in the morning you’d passed out the second your head hit the pillow. It was more of a nap than anything, but you suspect that the events of the past few months all caught up to you at once because you woke only for dinner and then fell asleep once more. Mr Bang offered no judgement, and simply left a note instructing you where the bathroom is and where you could find towels so that you could freshen up once you awoke. He also left you a coffee bun in a container, since you’d missed the afternoon tea he held the day before.

You hadn’t even been on this island a day and already the kindness of one of the residents was almost bringing you to tears.

Due to the fact that you’d slept far too early, you end up waking up at an ungodly hour the next day, the day you are meant to be moving in to the sharehouse that Mr Bang told you about. Laying in the bed, nestled in the warmth of the covers and watching as the suns rays slowly begin to stain the ceiling and the curtains in rich marigold, you do your best to get yourself together. You can breathe easy now, any anxiety you’d felt previous now nothing more than an echo in your chest. You feel refreshed, and not just from the ridiculous amount of sleep you’ve had in the past twenty-four hours. There are of course some nerves pertaining to meeting your new housemates, but it’s manageable. You have faith that everything will turn out well. It’s a good feeling.

Mr Bang is kind enough to offer you breakfast, and likely would have pushed you to stay for lunch had you not shown up down the stairs with your baggage already in tow. So begrudgingly, he allows you to head on your way, informing you that your new housemates knew of your arrival and had endeavoured to tidy up as much as possible. You thought it was a little funny he was telling you that—just how messy is the house usually?—but he simply shook his head with a smile that told you the answer would come soon enough.

The island isn’t big, but it most definitely isn’t small. The sun is warm and the air cool with a tinge of salt and sea trailing along the breeze, and the path you walk along that skirts the beach is peppered with sand and the odd shell. It makes you happier than anticipated, because just being out here makes you feel so free. Mr Bang told you that the house where you will be staying is on the other side of the island, past the little cluster of shops and small businesses and perched at the edge of the sand, backing onto a river that flows into the ocean and skirted on one side by a small cliff.

“It’s their own little alcove,” Mr Bang had snorted, a mixture of fondness and amusement evident on his features. “They get up to more trouble than I can keep track of over there, but they’re good boys.”

Ah, that’s right. You’d almost forgotten; your new housemates are a bunch of boys. You hope that Mr Bang is right about their character and you won’t be living in discomfort for the next three months.

The path wound and curved a bit, following the edge of the island, and before long you were walking through a section of light forestry. You suspected the house would be on the other side, and were in the midst of thinking just what it would look like when a small squeak! catches your attention and you halt, almost dropping your bag.

It’s silent, save for the way the breeze caresses the leaves around you. You peer around, eyes unable to spot anything in the foliage. Did you imagine it? It’s a little early in your stay to be going crazy. Hesitantly, you adjust your grip on your bag and resume your trek.

Squeak! S-squeeeak!

No, you definitely heard that. You freeze, having gotten a better sense of where the sound is coming from now and turning towards a large tree smothered in vines of varying thickness and clinginess. For a moment, you don’t see anything, eyes squinting hard—it’s like one of those I spy books you used to rave about as a kid— and just when you think you might be looking in the wrong place, you catch movement.

There, in a cluster of the vines dangling from one of the tree’s thicker limbs, is a tiny creature, all tangled up and squeaking in distress.

“Oh my goodness,” you drop your bag, immediately moving closer.  “Poor thing—hold on just a second, bub. I’ll get you out. Promise not to bite me?”

The creature offers a squeak and logically you know it isn’t answering your request, but you pretend it is anyway. Carefully stepping over plants and twigs, thanking past you for wearing more practical boots, you reach where the creature is stuck, dangling just below eye level.

The vines it has managed to get all tangled up in aren’t particularly thick, but there are a lot of them, and it has managed to get a few of its limbs stuck in place. Carefully, you snap a few of the more central ones and ease the tiny thing out, getting a better view of it the more you pull from its body. It’s squeaking all the while, though with much less distress and more of an energy that simply feels chatty. It makes you smile.

“There you go,” you murmur, cradling the tiny baby in your palms and cooing, trying to calm the heartbeat and hurried breaths you can feel racing against your skin. You stroke along its back as lightly as you can manage. “Oh, you’re a little sugar glider! You’re so pretty, such a cutie. Look at your markings, wow… so pretty.”

Almost as though it can understand your praise and is basking in it, it flicks its bushy tail and rolls in your palm, like a cat rubbing against something with its cheek except this little glider is doing it with its whole body. It’s awfully friendly, you note. Perhaps much of the wildlife here is more peacefully accustomed to human and hybrid activity.

“Okay, you’re free now. I’ll stop ogling at you and let you go,” you say, holding your hands up to a part of the tree that isn’t covered in vines lest there be a repeat of the earlier situation. The sugar glider merely blinks, eyes still on you, and doesn’t move. Brows drawn in confusion, you move your hands closer to the tree, “Well, aren’t you going to—oh!”

Faster than you can react, the little thing darts from your hands, leaping to your bicep and scurrying up with tiny claws in your shirt to your shoulder. Once at its apparent destination, it rushes to the crook of your neck and makes itself at home, nestling against you and securing itself with its tail partway around the back of your neck and its little paws clutching your shirt edge. You giggle, still in shock and trying not to jostle it off as you fight the ticklish sensation.

“Okay. I guess you can come with me. I’m not sure if you can stay the whole while, but I’m sure it will be okay while I walk.”

So off you go, bending and retrieving your bag carefully so you don’t dislodge your tiny new companion. You’ve seen a bit of sugar gliders, but the way this one is acting is quite peculiar. If it sticks around until you arrive at the house, you’d love to snap a quick picture because it really is so pretty, so cute.

The trip is faster than anticipated, now there is something else to occupy your thoughts. Before you know it you’re out of the forestry and approaching a large, modern three storey building that is probably just a few yards short of a mansion, nestled between the ocean, the river, and a short cliff-face just barely higher than the roof. This is the place for sure.

The little glider seems to perk up, the closer you get, something that surprises you since it was so quiet you thought it was asleep. With a soft noise, it grabs onto your hair with tiny paws and scurries to the top of your head, likely making a mess of it in the process but it’s so cute you can’t bring yourself to mind. At least it will be an interesting first impression.

As you approach the front door, you think you see movement in one of the windows on the ground floor. You almost dismiss it as you reach the eve, until you catch the hurried patter of feet against hardwood from beyond the door.

You barely manage to blink before the door is flying open, a man with raven curls and two fluffy russet ears peeking between the locks presenting you with the biggest grin you have ever seen on anyone’s face. It’s boyish and cute, a direct contrast to the mature, sculpted features of his face.

“Hello!” he says, and you catch sight of a long, fluffy russet tail whipping behind him and betraying his excitement—not that he was doing much to hide it. “You must be the new roomie! It’s nice to meet you! We’ve been waiting all morning, and one of us actually went to pick you up but… I’m not sure where he is.”

You’re a little overwhelmed but easily recover when he simply keeps looking at you so happily, returning the man’s bright smile. There’s rustling in your hair at the back of your head but you ignore it, adjusting your grasp on your bag. “Ah, thank you. I’m y/n, it’s nice to meet you…?”

The man pulls back, a sheepish look on his face that accompanies a light flush in his cheeks. “Oh, right. I’m Taehyung. Sorry. My hyungs tell me I tend to get a bit ahead of myself sometimes.”

You keep the smile on your face. “That’s okay, we got there in the end. It’s nice to meet you, Taehyung.”

Taehyung brightens, tail curling happily behind him. He opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted from a voice to the side.

“Are you going to make our poor new housemate wait outside all day, Tae?”

The light blush colouring Taehyung’s cheeks deepens, a sheepish laugh escaping. “No. I was just about to invite her in!”

He steps back and reveals the person behind him who had spoken, a tall man with dimples and silvery hair that did little to conceal the large, rounded grey ears atop his head. He seems a little awkward in his stance, like he has more body than he knows what to do with, but still extends an arm in greeting with a kind smile. “y/n, is it? Welcome, please come in. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay here with us, however brief. We’re happy to have you.”

Don’t cry, don’t cry! If you cry now you can never show your face here again. You clear your throat, returning his smile as you step inside and out of the sun, the difference in temperature against your skin immediate. “Thank you, I really appreciate your generosity in letting me stay here.”

“Nonsense,” Taehyung snorts, “Namjoon-hyung has been saying for months we should find someone to fill the spare room, and now you show up on our doorstep! It’s perfect.”

The taller, who Taehyung had referenced as Namjoon, seems a little bashful, his cheeks heating. Does everyone in this house blush so easily? You hope it’s not contagious.

There is movement in your hair again, the glider apparently needing to breathe, and you have your mouth open ready to explain when Namjoon beats you to it.

“Oh, I see you’ve met Jimin already!”

What?

The glider leaps from your head and onto Taehyung’s outstretched arm, climbing to his head before leaping from that too and gliding through the air, all the way around the corner. There is a small clutter, the sound of a light swearword entering the air, and then the ever-familiar patter of feet against hardwood. Another boy rounds the corner, ashy-blond hair tousled and parted by two small grey ears, bushy tail curling behind him.

He skids to a stop in front of you, dipping in a brief bow before rising and shooting you a bright smile. “Hello! Thank you for helping me! I’m Jimin, welcome home!”

It takes all of your willpower to keep the happy tears at bay as you tilt your head back and laugh, already feeling lighter than you ever remember feeling before.

[pvrkacciosan]

Part 14¦ Forgetful World

¦Previous Part

¦Creatures within us masterlist

Taglist: @dreamiezpsycho @rockteezy @bangtanxberm @leicy0756 (if you wish to be added just ask)

Notes: This is the sort of ending stretch of the book, but like I dinnae want the ending to be rushed so if there is like another five parts for the ending I apologise, I'm going to try and keep them not too long but I don't want to have a like loads of extra parts so if it gets bad because its sort of rushed, I'm sowwy< This part is much longer then others>

Yeosang extends his hand out for Tia to hold, looking at him she takes it raising up from Suki and Wooyoung's shared bed.

His brown eyes turned soft when they met hers, drawning her in like a trap. It was hard not to feel her heart swell in her chest─ doubling in size.

Every edge, line and imperfction on his skin didn't matter to her, all she wanted to do was run her finger along each and ever one of them. To know Yeosang for not just who he was as a person but also to know his body as well as he did.

What had transpired between them moments before flashed in her mind, Tia didn't noticed she had begun to smirk, her finger tips tingled in anticipation of touching him once again, to pull him back down against her. The feeling of his body weight pushing into her took away all the worry about her memory lost, the mere feeling of how his fingers brushed her lower stomach, how her body had wanted him it had the ache building between her legs once more.

She could feel Yeosang's grip on her hand gradually get tighter, he could smell the scent of her lust growing and his body was beginning to react to it, all he wanted to do was bury himself into her warmth on the landscape of the bed as he once had moments prior. What had started out as an attempted apology had turned into something much more heated.

It could not continue right now and that grated against his inner nerves. No words were exchanged, tugging at Tia's hand lightly Yeosang smiled when her gaze magnatised to his.

They both, still hand in hand, moved to the door, the walk back downstairs didn't seem as long this time to Tia and when they reached the bottom of the stairs Yeosang stuck his head inside their longue room and frowned when he saw no one sitting there on the couches.

Pulling Tia on they both walked side by side towards the kitchen where a small amount of chatter could be heard drifting through the Fedora pack house.

The entire pack was in the big open kitchen, most of the parents of the pack sat at the table their kids, sat around the room and at the island chairs, Suki even sat on one of the kitchen counter tops Wooyoung stood next to her, his hand on her knee with Jongho also sat on the counter top next to her.

The trio beckoned them in with a look, Yeosang could feel Tia tighten her grip as they stepped in and all eyes looked to them.

Seonghwa was next to his parents with Hongjoong talking to his father, the alpha held a hand over his mouth, a look of concentration vacating his features.

"What's going on?" Yeosang asked stopping himself and Tia by the island, where Yunho and Mingi were sat.

"We are discussing if we should trust the vampires or not" The Luna, Hongjoong's mother answered, she gave a hesitant glance to the alpha rubbing her hand over his forearm gently.

"How do we even know if they could help us?" Yunho's father asked causing his son to turn and look at him, "Seonghwa and Wooyoung have already explained this" Yunho spoke making a hand gesture to Seonghwa and Wooyoung who were both on different sides of the kitchen.

"They knew Tia before all this happened, they seem to care about her so why would they not help now?" Hongjoong added in finishing Yunho's statement off, looking up from the floor.

"didn't they say something about a witch?" Suki asked, Wooyoung nodded looking away from his mate, "She is right, they mentioned something about a powerful witch going into their club the other day"

Yeosang nudged Tia out from behind him, leading her to sit on one of the high chairs at the island, next to Mingi, the taller boy smiled at her once she had wiggled herself into a comfy position on the puffy stool.

"But it doesn't make sense why a powerful witch would go to a club run by vampires" Seonghwa's mother said bringing over a couple of drinks, placing them on the table she sat next to the Luna they both shared a look before glancing at the alpha once more.

"Does it matter that a witch was around vampires?" Tia asked causing every wolf including the alpha to glance up at her. The alpha watched her with a curious glint in his eye and with a gentle tone his spoke "I forget what it's like to have a human around here" Tia stiffened at his words.

The reminder that she was different made her feel even smaller in the room, surrounded by beings that were much stronger then her. Each of the other pack members gave each other subtle looks when the Alpha stood and made his way around the table, Yeosang was tracking his alpha's ever move as he stalked closer to his mate.

Tia adverted her gaze from the alpha with every step he took closer to her, curling her shoulders in on herself. The shadow of his presence stopped infront of her and she could faintly sense Yeosangs off to her right, he had stepped back a couple of paces when Hongjoong's father gave him a look.

The affect of an alpha's presence was like a powerful weight pushing down on those infront of them. She wasn't a werewolf but somehow she knew the alpha stood infront of her was not using the full extent of his authority.

"You do not have to shy away young one"

Hesitant, Tia tilted her head back to look at him, careful not to directly meet his gaze. "My acceptance of you happened the moment Yeosang brought you home the night of your attack, I know what you are to him now as I did then "

Yeosang hadn't moved his gaze from Tia until the alpha said that, glancing around at all the other pack member it was clear all the parents had also known.

"It's not official yet" the alpha started "But you are a member of this pack and I don't like it when my pack members are left in the dark, so allow me to enlighten you, A witch going to a club full of vampires is weird because after the war a few years ago the witches went into hiding and don't tend to leave their covens in fear some may abuse their power and seeing it was vampires who sparked the embers of the war it is odd that a powerful witch would go to a club run by them"

Tia tried to peice together the new information with all the knowledge she already had of this new and confusing world, the impact of it all was sickening. The influx of the possiblities that were opened by the information swarmed her and she couldn't help but wonder what her kind would do if they ever optained this knowledge. Experiments, torture, would some live in fear of the unknown the creatures would bring.

Would a new terrifying creature consume each person, ruining their humanity. Why her? why was she the one to know of this, why had it been her?

"I'm leaving it up to you to decide what we do" The alpha said, mouth falling open, Tia scanned his face for any look of hesitation of apprehension.

"You think I should be trusted with such responsiblity?" Tia was shocked with his revelation to say the least, she wouldn't trust herself to make food right now and not give anyone food poisoning, let alone make decision for an entire pack of werewolves.

"I do, it is your memories that are at stake after all" the alpha said, the corner of his lip quipping up a little into a half smile.

Tia sent a look to Suki, she shrugged her shoulder, ugh she wasn't helping, and so Tia turned to the one other person she knew would give her the support she seeked, Yeosang gave her a reasuring smile with a subtle nod.

"Okay, I say we go to the vampires and see if they can help us find the witch"

"Now we're talking" Suki chipped happily jumping off the countertop, Tia didn't miss the way the alpha watched Suki with a fond smile and twinkle in his eye as if he was watching his very own daughter.

Suki stopped pulling Tia from her stool, her hands on Tia's shoulders, "Tsk,Tsk you can't go to a club dressed like that, come on" Suki tutted looking Tia's outfit up and down. "We won't be long" Suki said quickly not taking her eyes from Tia.

Tia happened to like the plain blue t-shirt and dark jeans she had on, clearly her new found friend did not think the same way as Suki looped arms with her and began dragging her out the room, sending a look back to Yeosang over her shoulder he did nothing but wave his hand with a smile on his lips.

Tia wanted to curse at her mate for his little to no care about her safety with his own sister, the sound of it in her head brought a genuine cheesy grin to her face.

Her mate.

»»——⍟——««

Tia re-adjusted the backless spaghetti strap top for what left like the fifteenth time. "Are you sure this isn't too small?" Tia asked Suki, the girl in question came out from her bathroom, wearing a corset like style top with black jeans and a pair of heels while she carried another pair in her hand.

"It's just a tighter fit, but its supposed to be like that and besides you look sexy as hell, so own it" Suki's words did little to ease the slight discomfort of the outfit but it did help Tia's confidence a little, at first when she put the fake leather trousers on she had thought they made her slightly bigger legs look too well ...big, she felt curvier then usual in Suki's tighter clothing. Her usual style consisting of looser fitting clothes, the insecurity of being a little curvier always made her conscious of what she wore.

Suki raised the other pair of heels out to Tia "Here" she held out a pair of red thick base heels, Tia took one look at them before shaking her head, "No, Suki" the room fell silent as Suki froze, glancing at Tia with raised eyebrows, she was scowling for a short fraction of a minute before a sly smile slid onto her red tainted lips.

Seconds later Suki had tackled her back onto her bed, yelling a quick "Suki yes "

Tia fought with the girl ontop of her arms flying around in a tangled heap, "sit still" Suki hissed trying to catch Tia knees before they hit her in the face. Tia quickly realised her efforts were futile when she felt Suki sit on her stomach, pinning her to the bed. Feeling Suki grab her legs, trying to put the heels on Tia herself. Tia sulked thumping her head back against the bed "Suki I can't wear heels"

"Bullshit" Suki muttered while she focused on tightening the straps around Tia's ankles, finally satisfied she climbed off of Tia, "If I'm going to suffer while wearing heels so are you"

Tia sat up on the bed cocking an eyebrow at her, "No one said you had to wear heels" Suki waved her off "Well they make me taller then Wooyoung, and that irritates him, Come on" she gestured for Tia to get up "Give me a spin"

Unsteadily, Tia wobbled her way up from the bed, awkwardly she stood at her full height.

Suki made a funny squealling noise as she clapped her hands together, "Oh my you are so pretty, I can't wait to see Yeosang's face" she laughed, picking her phone up from off the dresser, "come on I want to see his reaction"

Tia didn't understand how Suki could look so good while walking in her heels, Tia was just walking while trying not to break an ankle, she probably looked like bambi on ice all the while Suki looked like some kind on model on a red carpet.

The corset top Suki wore enhanced the movement of her hips, the tight black jeans making her ass look flawless. Tia was so elated when Suki waited for her at the top of the stairs, she didn't believe for one second she could get down the stairs without falling down them.

Suki held an arm out and helped Tia with ever step, only when they reached the last step did Tia breath again.

The unsteady feeling of her ankles being weak beneath her had Tia reaching out for something to hold onto, watching her feet, her hand was extended out, waving through mid air in search of the wall, instead her fingers brushed against someone and a hand grasped hers.

Yeosang slid his hand up her arm to about her elbow to steady her, "Are you okay?"

When he had heard the unsteady footsteps coming down the stairs he had made sure to be near the bottom in case one of them were to fall.

The sight of Tia in the outfit had made him feel some kind of way, until he remembered where they were going and other men would look at her, he was half tempted to make her change and yell at Suki for putting her in such an outfit.

The tight fit of the clothes was making Tia look uncomfortable but Yeosang couldn't deny, she looked amazing. Despite her looking like she was going to go over her ankle.

She gave a small nod while glancing back down at the heels on her feet, "Just swell"

Yeosang chuckled at his mate, holding an arm out for her to steady herself. She took his gesture in with the entwining of her own arm, leaning into his side the warmth of his body enveloping hers, hugging her in his comfort 'till he was all she could feel.

She embraced the feeling of it as they walked into the loungue were the others were stood, Tia watched as Suki made her way passed the others, stopping infront of Wooyoung. He turned to look her up and down and Tia had to hide her smirk when his eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets.

Watching on Tia smiled as Wooyoung grasped Suki by the waist pulling her in closer to him. He whispered something, that Tia couldn't hear, into Suki's ear making her emit a small laugh.

A voice cleared themselve behind Yeosang and herself and she glanced over her shoulder, spotting the Alpha stood with his Son and Mate on either of his sides. Yeosang tugged her down the couple steps leading into the room, they both turned in time to watch Hongjoong walked down away from his father.

The youngest generation of the Fedora pack stood around, watching and waiting for their Alpha to speak. Anticipation buzzed in the air, Tia could feel it pricking against her skin, making her stomach curl.

"I don't want to clean up any mess, Do I make myself clear?" the Alpha asked, eye scanning each of the younger wolves faces, they all nodded.

"Do not make me regret letting you guys do this without supervison" he added. He met Tia's gaze and she felt herself involuntarily stiffen, Making Yeosang look to her.

"And to you" the Alpha stepped down, coming further into the room drawing closer and closer to Tia. Gripping her hand tightly into the clothing covering Yeosang's arm the air shut itself inside her chest. The Alpha stopped paces infront of her, "I wish you the best of luck, and want to remind you no matter what you remember you will always have a place among us"

A bubbling warmth spread inside her chest at the Alpha's words, releasing her grip on Yeosang's arm she pushed herself forwards to wrap her arms around the Alpha's mid-section in a hug.

The room stayed silent as all the wolves glanced at each other, The luna stood smiling at the door, watching as her mate stood shocked before he wrapped his arms around the human female, returning the embrace.

Pulling away Tia noticed the atmosphere of the room changing, the Alpha gave a quick nod to her before turning meeting his mate by the archway, he turned once more to glance at the younger werewolves in the room, he nodded saying nothing before continuing out with his mate.

"Okay so what's the bet we make a mess he has to clean up?" Jongho asked from somewhere near the back of the room.

Hongjoong sighed walking to the front of the group, "Let's atleast make a effort to not mess up this time" Suki laughed making her way from next to Wooyoung, to Hongjoong's side, cocking her head to the side with a small smirk "don't we always" Hongjoong narrows his eyes at his pack sister "Suki" he warned, the girl threw her hands up "What? come on, you know trouble always has a way of finding us"

Suki appeared next to Tia, looping arms with her she began to walk dragging an unsteady Tia with her. Leaning in "Did you see Wooyoung's face when he saw my height difference" she whispered not hiding the hint of amusement in her tone.

Tia shook her head "No I was too busy trying not to fall over" her statement earned a bubbly laugh from the female shifter, the boys had followed them out each keeping their distance from the two girls, besides Wooyoung and Yeosang of course they both were closer, flanking their respected mate's sides, walking out towards the door, Suki grabbed the keys from one of the baskets.

"I think you're a tad bit dramatic about not being able to walk in heel" Suki added pushing the down the handle of the door,

"I'm not being dramatic"

Tia could feel Suki roll her eyes at her statement, no matter how long or often Tia wore heels, she could never quite get used to the balance shift in them plus they always hurt her feet, it was a miracle she was still in them now.

"Little bit of advice from me" Suki started, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Tia, "You just need to find and chanel your inner queen"

"Why would anyone ever listen to your advice Suki" Mingi questioned raising his eyebrow as he moved passed the two of them, Suki scoffed placing her free hand on her chest, "My advice is very valuable and you should all be thankful that I give it away for free and besides" Mingi stopped to watch her, Suki let loose a small laugh "It's not my fault you listened to me" Mingi's eyes widened then narrowed at her when she started laughing, "You told me to shave off my eyebrows Suki!", the cry to his voice my Suki laugh harder, "Yeah and it was not my fault you listened"

Tia laughed at Suki's joking manner, while watching all her brothers lower and shake their heads, Wooyoung stopped next to Suki grasping her hand he whispered something into her ear, again Tia did not catch what it was he said but clearly the others had as many of the other boy's head snapped up to look at Wooyoung with narrowed eyes. Suki copied their looks turning her body away from Tia. The humerous air changed serious real quick.

What was it he had said to Suki that had them all on edge, Yeosang was next to her seconds later, checking up on her, "Are you sure you want to come with us, we can go get the witch and bring her back here?"

Something wasn't sitting right in her belly when he asked this, where they keeping something from her again. Their secrecy was giving her all the more reason to come, with a rapid nod she looked him dead in the eye "Yes I want to be there, but I don't understand why it's so dangerous, all we are doing is going to a club, the same one we both went to before all this I don't see why it's unsafe for me to come now"

Yeosang sighed, looking down at the space between them, "It's not...It's just we like to take extra precautions and well soemthing just doesn't seem right but I ─"

He was cut off by Suki pratically jumping next to them, she had a beaming smile adoring her lip, which seemed to affect the rest of the features on her face, it only added to the happy aura she exuaded.

Suki didn't give Yeosang a look, keeping eye contact with Tia she held up a singular car key, something about it was more expensive looking, the key itself looked fancier then the others she had seen. Suki swung it about, and out the corner of her eye Tia could see Yeosang's face drop, "You're riding with me" Suki spoke excitedly, Yeosang had already started to shake his head when Suki gripped Tia's hand pulling her towards her, clicking the button of the key, the lights of a car ahead of them flashed and Tia felt her jaw drop open at the sight of it, there infront of them was an Aston Martin, it's dark body work was slick and shone in the rising moon light, even if it wasn't that fast of a car, which Tia doubted, it did look expensive.

Suki was ignoring the looks from her mate and all her brothers, they hadn't let her drive it yet, she didn't know why but the wait would be worth it, guilt tripping Mingi into handing over the keys had been a long process but Suki was not dissapointed by her efforts. With keys tightly gripped in hand, she opened the door, the smell of the leather oozed out the car into the forest air, her heart jumped in her chest with excitement.

Tia was also marvelling at the interior of the vehicle, slipping easily into the seat Suki ran her fingers over the smooth leather of the steering wheel, cheek starting to hurt with all her smiling she glanced up through her eye lashed to meet to worried gazes of each of her brothers, starting up the car she revved it and she could feel the power of the engine rummble beneath her an excited giggled burst from her,

Oh, This was going to be fun

The two girls were outside the club before any of the boys, Suki was still buzzing from the quick drive over, barely able to sit still in her seat, Tia was also sat still slightly stunned by how quick they had made it into the city and to the Neo club, she would be very surpirsed in Suki didn't get a speeding ticket, Not that Suki seemed to care right now. Thinking on it she may have just started to make one of the many messes the Alpha may have to clean up tonight.

Movement in the rear view mirror made Suki look up, a black BMW had pulled up behind them, she could make out the figures of Wooyoung and Yeosang sat in the front seats. Seeing them sat side by side was a strange concept to her, if it had been about a week ago, before Yeosang had met Tia, there was not a chance in hell those two would be sitting next to each other, she wasn't even sure if they had come to eye level with each other yet. Still convinced that Yeosang had a dislike towards her mate, the same dislike from when the two had first met.

Suki watched the two of them climb out of their car, The girls were quick to follow suit.

The cold air bit at the exposed skin of Tia's back, a shiver ran down the entire expanse of her spin, goosbumps tickling along ever inch of her skin. That was until a hand came to rest on her uncovered back, glimpsing over her shoulder she was met with the brown eyes of her mate. The warmth of his skin contact spread eradicating all that was left of the goosbumps littering her body.

The hand stayed on her lower back as they moved towards the line formulating outside the club, faint memory of the building entrance flashed to the forefront of Tia's mind. Glancing around Tia took notice of the fact they were minus three members, turning her head over her shoulder towards Yeosang "Where are the others?"

They continued walking towards the entrace, where the vampire bouncers were standing watching them, "Seonghwa, Mingi and Jongho are staying outside to keep watch" Yeosang spoke under his breath to her, keeping his face trained to not show reaction.

The two vampires stood in the doorway, arm folded over their chest as they eyed the six of them up, "Don't know what you're all doing, you can wait in the line like everyone else" one of them spoke, the vampire had softer features but his words were laced with a bite when he spoke them.

Hongjoong stepped around the others, placing his hand on Suki's shoulder when he passed, before he could speak a familiar blue haired vampire came pushing passed out the door.

He stopped to glanced the group up and down, muttering something to the two vampires before gesturing for the wolves to follow him, "Come, Trinity wishes to see you"

Tia didn't know who that was but something about how the Vampires infront of them moved around the name made her think, whoever this female was, was not someone to mess with, was she perhaps their leader?

Tia didn't have much more time to ponder on the thought as Yeosang urged her forwards, and into the green lights of the club they went. A strong sense of fimiliairty flushed through her. Jeno, the blue haired vampire lead them into a booth where a women and man stood, small viles were on a table infront of them. The girl picked a needle up and held it up as they came near, Jeno waved her off.

Everyone surrounding them appeared as if they had green skin, due to the neon lights flashing throughout the main rooms of the club. Scanning it with her eyes a strange ripple of nausea boiled in Tia's belly when she tried to get a better glimps down a back hallway which was dimmly lite.

Yeosang's hand on her back led her onwards still, following Jeno they walked past the women and man stood with the viles, Yeosang looked back as they passed. Confusion sturred within him at the sight of boxes filled with viles of blood, he still didn't understand why they took the blood of those coming into their club. It was rather odd even for a club run by vampires.

Jeno led them on down a door behind the booth, the hallway behind it was lite by warm yellow lights that made it easy for the eyes to adjust. The werewolves stayed close as they walked on, in line of threes. Suki was walking in a front row with Hongjoong and Wooyoung on both her sides, while Tia was walking directly behind her with Yunho and Yeosang on either side of her.

With a subtle turn of her head, Tia looked out the corner of her eye to catch a glimps of a vampire walking behind them, the one from the apartment, Jaemin his name was, fulling turning her head she caught his gaze and he offered her a soft smile, one which she retruned before turning back around at the sound of a door opening.

The surroundings had changed once more, a very open room with cream coloured walls and a very little amount of windows.

The room was filled with Tvs, Pool tables, dart boards and many other various means of entertainment. A desk was sat under one of the bigger windows in the room, when Wooyoung moved out of Tia's way she was able to see the slender female hunched over the desk.

Jeno and Jaemin walked away from them, moving across the room to where there was a small bar, the shelves behind it lined with various alchoholic beverages.

"I see you've met my second and third in command" The women at the desk spoke, she turned to face them, she held a small glass of some kind of drink, bringing it to her lips she smirked as she downed the rest of it.

Tia realised the second and third in command this female vampire must have been talking about was Jeno and Jaemin, the pair were racking their way through the drinks, pouring themselves glasses of god know what.

The female vamp placed her glass down on the desk, before leaning back onto it. "I heard you were in need of a witch?" She tilted her head and watched them with slight narrowed eyes.

No one in the pack knew what to make of this female, especially Yeosang, when he met her last time he was here ─which he could only faintly remember─ she was definetly in charge to some degree here, he only wondered how much power she actually had.

"Yes, we are, can you help us?" Hongjoong asked taking a couple of steps forwards, the female eyed him up and down from her postion on the desk, "I can, but what can I benefit from this exchange"

"You don't have a choice Trinity, Taeyong's order" Jeno said from over by the bar, he was busy inspecting a bottle of what looked to be red wine.

"My brother has no authority of what goes on in my club" Trinity hissed, whipping a knife from a holder on her leg she threw it across the room, the Werewolves followed it's rapid movement, watching as it pinned Jeno's arm to the wall by the sleeve of his shirt. "Put it down", her warning did not fall upon deaf ears as Jeno yanked the knife from the wall, before putting the bottle of wine back into it's rightful place on the rack.

When Tia turned her attention back to Trinity she was surprised to notice the female vampire was watching her, it was an unnerving gaze that made the goosebumps re-appear on Tia's skin, despite Yeosang's hand still on her exposed lower back.

With a snap of her finger the two male vampires froze, "Jaemin will you go and get the witches vile from the other night" Jaemin walked out from behind the bar, exiting the room swiftly.

"What is up with the viles of blood" Yeosang asked, be damned if curiosity killed the cat, he had to know what his blood in the vile would be used for.

Trinity's gaze drifited to him, "You've had your taken here before?" she questioned, her red painted nails strummbing against the wood of the desk.

"I have, and would be elated if you tell me what it was for?"

Trinity raised an eyebrow, with a smirk "Well congratuations you can officially never hide from me"

When confusion made way on ever single one of the wolves faces Trinity didn't hide her laughter, allowing it to come out loud and clear.

"To sum it up for you, I have a gift where I can track anyone through their blood, when it touches my lips a craving builds and I always want more, over years I've learned to fight that craving but the singing never stops"

"Singing?" Hongjoong asked, Trinity's eyes darkened as her smirk widened, "The blood" she paused taking a second to inspect the blood red nail polish on her tallon like nails "it sings, calls to me, it's how I track someone"

Tia's stomach curled, the thought of it was sickening to her, tracking someone through their blood, it was impressive but scary, she had come here before. Her flatmate was a vampire, how many times had she come here? How much of her blood did they have?

Pushing the thoughts from her mind she tried to ease her hammering nerves, Yeosangs's skin contact was helping but no where near as much as she would have liked. The door to the room opened and Jaemin walked back inside, this was the distraction she needed.

He walked over, Jeno joinging him with a glass of alcohol. Trinity hopped off the desk, taking both the glass and vile. The second and third gave each other worried glances, "Trinity you don't have to, we can always look for another witch" Jeno said quietly trying to stop his words from travelling to the ears of the wolves.

"Jeno it will be okay" she tried to reasure, "You know there is possibility it won't be" Jaemin snipped earning a warning glare for the female

"What is the matter?" Hongjoong asked, the three vamps looked at him, "Taking the blood of a witch can be dangerous" Jaemin answered sending a pointed look to Trinity, she ignored it of course popping the cap off the vile, tipping it over the glass of alchol, They all watched as the blood flowed down through the drink, the blood started out red, but gradually changed colour infront of their eyes, going blue, green, purple and finally the colour settled for white. As Trinity swirled the glass in her hand it lightned the colour of the drink.

With zero hesitation she threw the drink back, letting out a hiss as it burned the back of her throat, the blood in the mixture soaking into her own bloodstream fast, the magic within it burning.

Jeno and Jaemin caught her when she fell, knees buckling her body went rigid at their touch. The werewolves watched on as the female vampire began shaking, her hands twitched and the two male vampires desperatley held onto her body, which seemed to be growing in temperature as the witch's magic coursed and attacked her bodily system.

As quickly as she had drunk the drink, the shaking stopped. She was letting out heavy laboured breaths that reminded Tia of a runner after they had finished a sprint. A muttered curse came from Trinity as she shook her head, "It's useless, The witch has blocked her blood."

"What, what does that mean?" Yunho asked still beside Tia, "It mean" Trinity said looking up at them, sweat trickled down her brow and her facial features were contorted in discomfort, "The witch knew I could track her and has used her magic to block me from doing so"

"So you can't track her?" Hongjoong questioned, the female seemed to hiss in frustration answering "No, I can't"

The wolves seemed to understand what this meant now, finding the witch would now be near to impossible, But like they had said eariler in the night trouble just seemed to find them, so of course things were not over.

Another vampire came crashing through the door, Jeno left Jaemin to hold Trinity as he met the other vamp half way, "We have a deranged vampire in the club" leaning in he whispered something to Jeno, "It's the vampire who took Tia's memories"

"What's a deranged vampire?" Tia asked aloud, ever creature in the room gave her a look, "It dear Tia, is a vampire who has lost all control of themselve and kills anything with a pulse" Trinity stated, pushing off the arms of the vampires around her.

Steadying herself she stood up, her own heels adding a few inches to her height, Trinity tried to bury the unpleasant feeling rolling inside her, the magic was still at work within her system.

"It also means we" Trinity smirked while she gestured to the three smirking male vampires stood around her "Get to have a little fun"

The wolves all shared glances with each other, Hongjoong was the first to move, following the vampires as they left the room.

Tia frowned as they all moved out the room, Yeosang now had his arm wrapped around her waist, fingers gripping to the side of her hip opposite to the side he was stood. Suki had also appeared next to her, "The Deranged vampires are forbidden by laws of the order" she muttered, her heels clicking at her fast pace. Tia sent a nervous glance her way, sticking by her side when Yeosang walked off for a second to talk to Yunho and Hongjoong, "What does that mean for us?" she questioned the female shifter walking at her side.

Suki's brow furrowed as she watched the vampires ahead of them, "Well I imagine Yeosang wants to get you out of here as soon as possible, but I don't know what we can do really none of us have much experience with deranged vamps" Suki explained casting Wooyoung a look as he too, walked off ahead.

The group of them had now stopped at the door leading back out to the main area of the club, yelling could be heard from the other side of the door, the smashing of glass had Tia flinching.

Hongjoong sent a look back to check on the two females, nodding he turned back to the vamps, Trinity was speaking to her second in command, Jeno but upon feeling the young werewolves gaze on her she paused her conversation to cast him a look with a raised eyebrow.

"We want no part in this" Hongjoong said watching the female vampire as she shifted her weight into her hip, "That may not be up to you, seeing the deranged one is here for her" She spoke quiter but flitted her stare passed the four male shifters, towards the two other girls stood at the back of the group, focusing in on the only human amongst them.

"We can get you out but we can't go through the main entrance, it was put on lockdown to ensure the deranged could not escape"

Hongjoong rubbed his lower lip with his fingers in thought, nodding he gave a look to Yunho gesturing his head to the two girls Yunho obbeyed moving back to stand with Suki and Tia.

Yeosang and Wooyoung both went to protest but Hongjoong beat them to it, "I can't have you to distracted if something goes wrong, Yunho can watch Tia and we all know Suki can very well take care of herself" the pair fell silent, both worrying for their mates.

If Tia was in danger because of the deranged vampire, Yeosang wanted to be the one to watch out for her. He trusted Yunho and Suki, they were the packs best fighters but the groups knack for getting into trouble made what they were about to step into all the more unpredictable.

"Seonghwa will sense us coming out, he will meet us, Jongho and Mingi won't be far behind" Hongjoong added turning back to the now two vampires stood at the door.

Hongjoong had no idea what had led them to trusting vampires, but if they could get them all out of here unharmed he wasn't going to throw up a fuss about the new alliance.

Trinity swung the door open, giving way to silence, she sent the wolves a look before leaving, Jeno close covering her back.

The main room of a the club was emtpy, ridden of all the party goers that were there moments before. The lights still shone down, casting a green glow on them as they moved. The music pounded out from the speakers, filling the eery 'silence' as they moved.

Tia couldn't hold back the instinct to hold her breath as they moved through the room, Yunho was close to her side Suki following behind. Hongjoong, Wooyoung and Yeosang were walking ahead of them, the latter sending back looks ever few mintues.

Glass crunched beneath the soles of Tia's shoes, pausing to glance down she lifted her shoe, the sight had her stomach flipping inside her abdomen, the glass was a darkned colour that was warped by the green lights but the thickness of it had Tia coming to the realisation it was not alcohol. It was a red substance that was thick and probably still warm, she shuddered. Yunho nudged her, glancing back she moved when he gestured for her to keep moving.

They moved as quietly as they could around the perimeter of the room, vampires spread around the room, hidden behind flipped over tables and the bar, each with a wooden stake in hand clutched close to their chest.

The red glow of each pair of eyes stood out, in the darkness, a sense of fascination overtook Tia and she walked off to the side, walking away from the relative safety of the wall.

The music came to a haulting stop as the speakers started making a crackling noise. When they seemed to die completly the room was dropped into the depths of a dead silence, no one and nothing moved, "Tia" Suki warned in a hussed whisper, a certain fear seaped into her voice, just as Tia was about to turned to look at her a high pitched ringing echoed throughout the room, ever creature had their hands wrapped around their ears, trying to block out the painful noise. Tia who was unaffected by the noise watched on in horror as the vampires around the room dropped their stakes in order to cover their ears, most had now left themselves open and deffensless.

Tia was still watching out into the room when a figure dropped down infront of her, the man's eyes glowed differently to that of the other vampires, he smirked at her while his eyes darkened, his lips hitched out the way setting loose the elongated canines. "Tia!" she heard someone call out, the high pitched ringing making it impossible to tell who it was.

Then the lights went out.

Pludged into darkness, the body's natural instinct kicked in as the other senses jumped into hyper drive, the ringing stopped and Tia's eye widened, trying to draw in light even though there was none.

Feeling something grabbed her arm she didn't stop the scream that left her lips, "It's just me" Suki said from somewhere next to her.

Hand moving out to find Suki, Tia jumped once more when her hands came in contact with what felt like fur, feeling around of the furry surface her fingers travelled up and over what felt to be the curve of a spine, the body of a wolf.

"It's Yunho" Suki added still having hold of Tia's arm, when she spoke Tia felt Yunho push himself up against her body, from where he stood against her side she could only hazzard a guess at how large he actually was in his wolf form, his shoulder height being around her chest.

Bright white lights came on, and Tia held her arm up to shield her eyes, not prepared for the sheer brightness of the lights.

She glanced at the wolf by her side, Yunho's big head turned to look at her, his yellow glowing eyes meeting hers, she felt her jaw drop open at the sight of him, dropping her hand onto the sandy brown fur of his coat she thread her fingers through it, marvelling at how soft it was.

A growl came from the other side of the room making Tia advert her eyes, if she thought her jaw had dropped open before she was terrible wrong, there stood with their back ends towards them was three equally big wolves. Hongjoong, Yeosang and Wooyoung she realised. Not having any clue who was who she just scanned each of them.

The trio took up a protective stance infront of Yunho, Suki and herself. Trinity and Jeno were both among them, each with a stake in hand. The five of them were facing off the man who had dropped down infront of Tia before the lights went off, the deranged vampire, the one who had taken Tia's memories. He grinned at her, which resulted in a sandy blonde wolf snapping his jaw at him. The shorter of the three wolves, that had a reddish brown coat made a noise towards Yunho.

Suki and Yunho both seemed to undertsand the command, Yunho nudged Tia along back to the wall with his nose, leading her from the room. When the deranged Vampire took notice of this the smirk wiped from his lips, stepping to go after them, he was stopped by the same Sandy blonde wolf from before, it made a hissing noise at him this time as it walked forward head lowered with it's teeth bared.

The last thing Tia saw over her shoulder before leaving the room was the sandy blonde wolf launching itself at the deranged vampire.

The trio hurried down another hallway, Yunho leading in his wolf form. Tia could feel her heart pick up a pace inside her, while the three of them tried and continously failed to find the exit.

"Oh for fucks sake" Suki hissed as they yet again came to another locked door, 'Exit' written above it in green glowed down taunting them.

Yunho was stayed behind the two girls, keeping watch down the hallway while Suki tried to shake the handle of the door once more. Tia glanced at Yunho when he began to growl, taking a couple steps out into the hallway.

Suki stopped in her effort to watch Yunho as he leaped away from them, Suki ran passed Tia to look at what had set Yunho off.

Two more deranged vampires had followed them away from the others, Yunho was trying to use his body to block them from getting to Tia and Suki. He matched the vamps moves, one jumped over the top of Yunho as he was occupied by the other.

Suki readied herself, the vampire hissed at her, she smirked back, the deranged vamp came at her fast.

Grabbing it by the arms Suki used all her body weight and a little help of her foot to trip it up and throw it into the wall behind her. It stopped itself with its hands whipping it head back in her direction to throw itself at her again, grabbing her shoulders the vamp walked her back into a wall. Where it started to raised its fist and got a few blows to the side of her head.

Bringing her knee up it collided with the vamps man hood, it hunched forwards and she brought her balled fists down on it's back.

Tia feeling helpless, had done the only logical thing she could think of, turning to the exit she bagan hammering her fists against the door, kicking it she yelled out for anyone on the other side who could help.

Yunho thinking something was wrong took his focus off the vampire who he was fighting for a split second, giving the deranged vamp time to gain one up on him, It tackled into his side, knocking him onto the ground of the hallway.

Knocking off from his bearings Yunho could do nothing as the vampire lept over him, heading straight in Tia's direction.

Suki took notice of this, using the wall to her advantage she pushed with every ounce of her stength, prying the vampire off her it stood tall infornt of her, bringing her heeled foot up she kicked the vampire in the stomach sending him flying back straight in the path of an awaiting Yunho.

Clamping his jaws down into the shoulder of the vampire Suki had sent his way he threw the vampire into the wall. Keeping a close eye on him as Suki rushed to aid Tia.

Tia hadn't noticed the vampire behind her. Still beating hard against the exit door, in hopes someone of the other side would hear her crys for help.

Feeling the presence of another, she stopped with a a fist raised mid air to knock against the door, looking over her shoulder panic spiked as the vampire stood breathing heavily while watching her with dangerous eyes. Facing it she pressed her back to the door, when it moved to grab her she ducked under it's arms, trying to evade it's deathly grasp. It hissed when it hit the door, spinning back to her with a snarl.

Suki had run staright passed her in a blurry of movement, grabbing hold of the derange vamp Tia watched on with wide eyes as Suki threw the vamp to the floor, knee pressed into it's chest she raised her fist to pumpel the vamps face in. It knocked her off of itself, Suki fell and rolled back up, jumping onto her feet in seconds grabbing the vamp by the scruff of the neck as it went to grab at Tia, she took a couple steps back jumping when she walked straight into something. Yunho gruffed behind her, using his body to balance her back out. Tia relaxed seeing he was okay.

Suki let out a roar of a scream as she hauled the vamp back towards her, hitting it in the lower neck the vamp stummbled back a few paces winded. The vamp bared it's fangs at her in a feirce display of a hiss, grabbing one of the elongated fangs with her bare hands Suki dragged the deranged vamp towards the exit, grasping the shoulders of his clothing she threw him at the exit and the door gave way under his weight.

The deranged vampire groaned from it's place ontop of the door which now lay flat on the ground in an alleyway behind the club. Suki used one of her fingers to brush a strand of hair from her face, walking down the steps of the exit she smirked at the vamp, crouching down hands gripping the sides of his head she ripped it clean off his shoulders.

Dropping the head she dusted her hands off on her jeans, as if what she had done was no more then splitting wood. Tia hesitantly followed out the exit, Yunho still in wolf form close behind her.

"That went well" Suki shrugged

Yunho made a huffing noise as he regarded his pack sisters words, Tia watched on in amusement as Yunhos body seemed to miraciously change right infront of her eyes, fur turned to pale skin and clothing, eyes stopped glowing and he raised to his full height.

Never in her life has she ever thought something like this could be possible, like people literally turning into oversized dogs right infront of her, it was crazy.

"Are you hurt?" Yunho asked, stepping over to examine her for any injuries, Tia shook her head, "I'm fine" eyes darting to the body of the beheaded derange vampire, "I think"

Suki moved into her line of sight, "I'm sorry you had to stand witness to all of that"

It didn't appear that Tia was listening as she turned back to the door, "do you think the others are alright?" she said, speaking her mind.

"Of course we are" Wooyoung said appearing in the doorway of the exit a smirk adoring his lips.

Tia could hear Suki exhale at the sight of her mate, Wooyoung came down the steps and met his mate in a hug. Hongjoong was the next to appear, holding his hand to a wound on his shoulder, "Easy for you to say" he mummbled, casting a look to the final person coming out the door.

The look had made Tia's stomach drop, and as soon as Yeosang made his entrance she had already moved to get to him. The tightening in her chest eased as he got to the bottom of the stairs, Tia didn't waste any time throwing herself against him, he locked his arms around he waistr. Feeling her bury her face into his shoulder in relief.

The others seemed to back off, Yeosang looked down to her when she pulled away "I thought something was going to happen to you" she admitted quietly, "I thought you might not come back"

Tucking his finger under her chin he forced Tia to look at him when he gently raised her head up, "I'll always come back for you"

A flurry of heavy emotion weighed in her chest at his words, a realisation that no matter what happend she was as much his as he was hers. The whole thing of being mated to him had made her scared at first but the fear of losing him was far greater.

Raising up she crashed her lips to his, allowing him to become all for her, in the form of a simple yet sweet kiss. Everything she could ever want was wrapped into the small action, smiling when Yeosang deepened it gripping the back of her head gently with his hand, fingers knotting into her hair.

She could be safe now, he thought, he would keep her safe from everything.

In the shadows of the alleyway, two stood watching, elated the wolves had not sensed their presence yet. Gripping the poison laced steel dagger tightly in his hand. Chancing a look to Mina across from him, he saw her pull her mask up over the lower half of her face before giving a quick nod.

Breathing steady, the pair of them launched out from their hiding places. Dagger raised, poised to stab into the back of the werewolf stood distracted by the action of kissing another.

The other wolves seemed to spot them first, and everything moved in slow motion as one of the male wolves ran at them.

Suki yelled out a warning to Tia and Yeosang as soon as she realised the person running at them was a hunter. Panic froze her body while she watched the events unfold

As the hunters small blade came down towards Yeosang, no one had been prepared for another to jump straight into the line of the lowering dagger.

When the posion dipped blade sank into the victims shoulder a peircy scream rippled from the female down the other side of the alley. Too shocked, all of the werewolves, plus the one human female stood stunned as they watched one of their own fall to the floor, life threatening wound in his shoulder.

Suki screamed yet again, this time moving as she ran after her mate, landing on her knees next to him she hardly noticed when all the others crowded down next to her.

Face twitching from the affects of the heart stopping amount of fear coursing through her, Suki pressed her hands to his wound trying to stop the bleeding in his shoulder, the unknown poison burned away at the skin on her hands as she pressed them to his wound.

In her lap lay the head of her mate, who looked up at her with a pained expression, one which she never wished to see ever, not even in her nightmares. She wiped away the solitary tear that slide down Wooyoung's cheek with the pad of her thumb.

He was dying and there was nothing any of them could do to stop it.

¦Next Part

[kpophoneybunny]

Aurora (Chapter 11) - ATEEZ OT8 Pirate!AU

Genre: Adventure/Romance (Mostly fluff)

Rating: PG-13 (select chapters will have strong language, violence, and suggestive situations)

Disclaimer: Our main girl has a name but feel free to self-insert. A lot happens in this chapter.

WARNING: This chapter contains sexual connotations (no explicit content), outdated views of sexuality, violence, and gore.

Tag List: @unatempesta-dipensieri @sugarrimajins @masterninjacow @twancingyunhoe @wheeinwhanders-chat (comment to be added or removed from the tag list).

Word Count: 1608

“It’s been three weeks, captain. We should get back on the move before the king sends an entire fleet after us.” Seonghwa sighed, watching as the local doctor they had hired removed the bandages on Wooyoung’s back. He switched to Mandarin, addressing the doctor directly. “When can he sail? When will we be able to leave?”

“You care an awful lot about your servants.” The doctor chuckled. “He should be fine already. Everyone’s wounds are healing up nicely. No wounds are open anymore and you’ve all cleared the period for infection. You can leave right now if you’d like.”

“Captain, he says we can go. Let’s pay the man for his services and leave.” Seonghwa gave a relieved sigh. They’d been having to trade using their treasure stores, not wanting to add more problems with the law yet. Most of the gold went to food and paying the doctor whenever a crew member couldn’t come back to the ship for the night. Some of it went to clothes for Jangmi and Seonghwa to keep up the ruse that they were a young noble couple. They couldn’t wear the same outfit every day or the people would grow suspicious.

Hongjoong didn’t react too obviously, not wanting the doctor to realize who was really in charge. He simply nodded his head and moved to go tell the others, as if accepting an order. Once everyone was notified, Jangmi dug in her coin purse and handed the doctor a bag of gold coins. “Thank you for all of your help.” She bowed and Seonghwa joined her before leading her out with a hand on the small of her back, a gesture so simple yet intimate, a gesture that sparked ire in Mingi and Yeosang’s hearts.

Once back on the ship, Jangmi subtly pushed Seonghwa’s hand away and shot him a reprimanding look. “It was a mistake, Seonghwa. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I told you I changed my mind so please stop with the advances.” It was the first time the rest of the crew heard her tell Seonghwa to stop flirting since the kiss. They had assumed the two had become involved romantically but it seemed to be much more complicated.

“Jangmi, let’s talk.” Mingi gently took her by the elbow and led her away, ignoring the look Seonghwa gave him. The anchors were raised and sails lowered and they were back to sailing.

As the months went by, Jangmi’s relationship with Seonghwa reverted to how it had been before they arrived in Qing and the crew was back to placing bets on how the strange battle for her affections would end as it was one of the most interesting things to think about when spending all day at open sea. Her attention flitted between the three young men and no one was sure what was happening in her mind.

“Jangmi, when are you going to see me about those night-time pains you’ve been having?” Jongho asked, a hand on her shoulder. He’d heard her crying out in the dead of night but had never been able to find her before the groaning ended. “I’ve been meaning to come to your aid but your crying always stops before I figure out where you are.”

“Night-time pains?” Her brows furrowed. “What are you…?” She trailed off and her cheeks began to burn a bright pink. “Oh. Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just-”

“I’ve been helping her with them.” Mingi shrugged. “That’s why you haven’t found her on time.” He looked her over with a small smirk which only made her face grow hotter and redder.

“Well, not every time, right? Sometimes I hear her but you’re still in your cot.” Jongho was digging through a box of medicinal herbs, hoping to think of something that could help.

“Sometimes I help.” Yeosang had his arms crossed, looking between Jangmi and Mingi in disbelief. How could she? He knew he wasn’t the only one but he had assumed it was Seonghwa, a rival he was aware of.

“And when they’re both in bed?” Jongho was starting to catch on to what the noise was really about, slowly shutting his box and avoiding eye contact with either of the three.

“Seonghwa,” Jangmi admitted. “These... pains - it isn’t serious and I’ve made it abundantly clear to everyone who helps.” She cleared her throat nervously. “Everyone was aware that they weren’t the only ones helping and that my need for help is because I’m lonely and nothing else.”

“I just wasn’t aware that Mingi was also... helping.” Yeosang shook his head. “I thought it was just me and Seonghwa. Does he know?”

“Not everyone needs to know who I turn to for- help.”

“They should if they’re helping too.” Seonghwa was coming down the steps from the ship’s helm. “Is there someone else I should be keeping an eye on, Jangmi?”

“No-” Jangmi was overlapped by a clearly upset Yeosang.

“Mingi.”

Hongjoong, who had been listening discreetly from the ship’s helm, came and took her into his office just as a heated argument broke out around Jongho. “Jangmi, three men? You’re seeing three of my men in secret?”

“They were all aware that is was purely recreational.” Jangmi sank into one of the chairs and buried her face in her hands.

“And you were aware that it was more than that for all of them. Not a single one of them was in it for recreation.” Hongjoong lay his hat on his desk and lit one of his lamps to brighten up the room. “You will pick one or you will see none of them. If it comes down to the unity of my crew or a woman who uprooted all sense of normalcy, I will pick my men and you will be dropped off at the next stop in Joseon.”

“I’ll stop the rendezvous. I’ll try to narrow it down.”

“I’d expect this from the type of women we normally meet, but you? You were noble, you had status and were taught to be a lady. Didn’t any of that tell you not to play with the hearts of men? Not to court friends? Where did that training go?” Hongjoong couldn’t believe he even had to have this conversation. “How long has this been going on for?”

“Since we left Qing.”

“Three months? You’ve been doing this for three months and no one figured out Mingi was a part of it too?” He groaned and sank into his chair. “Jangmi, who you have affairs with does not interest me until you uproot the balance of this crew. Now I have a first-mate, quartermaster, and navigator all ready to risk it all for you! My top three men!”

“Captain, stop talking.” Jangmi sat up straighter and looked at the door. It was eerily quiet. She couldn’t even hear the birds.

“Now you want to tell me-?”

“No. Stop talking.” Jangmi rushed over and covered his mouth. “They were arguing seconds ago. Why is it so quiet?” Hongjoong stood, looking at her with dread before putting on his hat and coming back out onto the main deck, Jangmi right behind him.

There were claw-marks all over the floorboards and the crew was all spread out, standing as still as stone. Yunho motioned for them to remain silent and Hongjoong began to look around. Jangmi wanted to ask what was happening, why everyone had to be silent. But if silence was so crucial, it could wait. Yeosang rushed over and grabbed her, pulling her back to the mast he had been standing at.

There was a thump behind the two and she jumped, looking back. Yeosang immediately covered her mouth and she let out a muffled scream. She was face-to-face with a creature straight out of the ghoulish tales parents told to scare their children.

Its body was massive - roughly the size of a well-bred horse. It’s a dragon-like body covered in scales. It stood tall on two legs, its spiked head lowering until its jaws were centimeters from Jangmi’s face. At the end of each of its two wings were claws that resembled the hands of a bat, only much sharper and deadlier.

She whimpered at the hot breath that smelled strongly of rotting flesh. Yeosang tried to tug her away before she could make more noise and alert the wyvern of their whereabouts but it was too late. She let out another scream and the wyvern reared back before swiping its claws down towards her and Yeosang.

Seonghwa ran and shoved them out of the way, a scream ripping through his throat as the wyvern’s claws dug into his back. Seonghwa was being clawed at, slashed at, and tossed about the way a cat plays with a mouse before eating it. There was a substantial amount of blood already and Seonghwa seemed to be in too much pain to fight back.

Yeosang held her back, one arm wrapped tightly around her waist, the other covering her mouth. She screamed and banged against his chest but the wyvern had picked its prey and Yeosang wasn’t about to let her be maimed as well. He didn’t let go even as she clawed at his hands and sobbed. Yeosang watched in detached interest even as Seonghwa’s flesh was torn.

Finally, he thought, a chance to get rid of his competitor. No one stood a chance as long as Seonghwa was there. He could balance the courtship routines of nobles as well as her newest desires. He knew how to handle women like her. If the wyvern killed him, he’d be gone and no one would be to blame. It was perfect.