#five missing assignments which is a LIE

[newsies-united]

i liked (most of) my teachers better this year but why did this year suck more academically. get me out of here june 10 cannot come fast enough

[rockingbytheseaside]

✦ I still love you, even though I miss you.

(sfw, angst, slight yandere - Pierro x gn reader, hinted to be connected with the abyss)

Pierro is a patient man.

Just as the immovable, snowy mountains of Snezhnaya, so is Pierro’s patience unbudging and certain. One would say The Jester’s gaze is even colder than those icy peaks on the horizon. It is no wonder a man of his caliber is the founder of the Fatui. His calculating attitude always lets him be five steps ahead of everyone, and it is precisely why you are here now.

You were in bed. Your chamber within the Snezhnayan Palace is pristine, and practically untouched even by you. The windows showcased a snowy landscape, and if that sight didn’t bring chills to anyone, then the ominous walls of the Palace certainly did. This luxurious room did not emit warmth, even if a small fireplace was lit.

No; This room was your confinement after your battle with the Fatui Harbingers. Now you were recovering, your body and mind unconscious

The Jester sat on the nearby chair, silently observing your sleeping form. There was barely a sound or motion within this secured chamber, save for his own troubled sigh. You have been slumbering in oblivion for days now, the impact of your previous battle forced you to exhaust the last drop of your mightiness, leaving even his top Harbingers wounded. In fact, The Zapolyarny Palace was still recovering from the destruction you brought into Snezhnaya. But now you are here, and after 500 years, the back of Pierro’s gloved hand caresses your skin in trembling worship.

To even reach this moment took many years, he thought to himself.

A long time ago, when The Doctor first became the 2nd of The Harbingers, Pierro assigned him a prolonged task. Use knowledge to locate that which can traverse the Abyss. Not a benign task, one may say; but one that required Il Dottore to use his expertise from his Akademiya days. One thing led to another, and The Doctor found that same thing that would be sent to the Abyss - A puppet.

A long time ago, when The Balladeer first became the 6th of The Harbingers, Pierro also assigned him a prolonged task. Search the Abyss for as much as he can. A straightforward assignment; alas it lacked much directive on what he was supposed to search there. Nonetheless, Scaramouche’s rank never allowed him to inquire further about the Jester, so he relied on any intel he could find. And find he did, in the murky insanity that lay hidden within the Abyss, some valuable information - The sky is a lie, there are those whose fate is not governed by the stars.

A long time ago, when The Captain first became the 1st of The Harbingers, Pierro assigned him a prolonged task. Prepare yourself to face the strongest opponent in the Abyss, for when the time comes you will be on the front line against the one The Jester seeks. Il Capitano was humbly keen, and as always accepted with a solemn nod. The strongest man in Teyvat would face the strongest being of the Abyss, and the Harbinger could not wait to meet the elusive entity.

Pierro was a patient man. He didn’t doubt that his army of harbingers would confirm that which he already suspected. Always several steps ahead of them. But now his plans were proceeding – getting a lead on the Abyss.

Not because the Abyss is an enemy of Teyvat and the Fatui, no. But because Pierro has suspected for centuries that an entity was harboring in the depth of darkness, hidden away from all mortal eyes. You, who was so brutally ripped from him after the Cataclysm, were alive and taking root in the realm of the Abyss.

Pierro still recalls the days of his youth, puerile and hardworking, when the kingdom of Khaenri’ah was still in its prime. You were so proud of him when he first got appointed as a royal court sage. No stars could compare your delight whenever you supported him with love and affection, the lingering memories of your small kisses still haunting the Director to this day. So naive and foolish. He was on the verge of starting a life with you, daydreaming of calling you his cherished spouse and building a home where the two of you would live out your peaceful days.

Those peaceful days never ensued, and he never managed to give you the ring he bought. The Cataclysm ushered the land with a veil of sin, with you forcing him to flee into Teyvat, while you vanished without a trace.

He almost thought you had perished, and mourned you every day until he built his Fatui organization from the ashes of sorrow.

Every action he took, every Harbinger he recruited, every order he gave, every plan he perfected – all for the intricate strategy of seeking you out from the Abyss, and bringing you back to his arms. Even if he had to sacrifice his best men and burn the Irminsul into cinders, he had no reservations.

Now he is back in the present, where you lay unconscious in bed, secured like a hidden gem within the Palace and pacified after a ferocious battle. Every day, The Jester checked on your well-being, secured your health, and waited patiently by your bedside. He never thought this day would come, and you would probably detest him for doing all this. It would be a bittersweet reunion once you wake up.

But Pierro was always a patient man. If it took 500 years to reach you, he wouldn’t mind another 500 years only to taste the sweetness of your kisses and envelop you in his embrace where you belong.

[eriace]

the right blend ; nagumo yoichi

oneshot & fluff ↪ in which l/n y/n and nagumo yoichi fake a relationship for a mission, but somewhere in between shared coffee, late-night stakeouts, and quiet glances, pretending stops feeling like pretending. ↷ nagumo yoichi ; sakamoto days

↳ an order of cappuccino from anonymous in the comeback cafe event ! ( author's note: i already made something similar for the fake marriage so this is for the fake dating one.)

IT STARTED WITH a mission.

Fake dating. Simple enough—play the part, blend in, get close to the target who had a soft spot for couples. It was supposed to be easy. Calculated. Impersonal.

But that was before Y/n learned how fast pretending could start to feel real.

The JCC Academy’s south quad was nearly empty at dusk, the sky bruised with fading orange and violet, wind teasing at the edges of her jacket. She sat on the low stone bench near the training hall, foot tapping, trying not to look at her watch for the fifth time.

Nagumo Yoichi was late.

Again.

She was mentally composing the verbal slap he’d earn when his shadow stretched long over her shoes.

“Miss me?” His voice broke through the quiet—casual, teasing, infuriatingly smooth.

Y/n looked up. He wore his standard jacket slung off one shoulder and held two cups of vending machine coffee, steam curling from the rims. His hair was wind-tossed, and his smile was the kind that made people let their guard down.

Not her. Not today.

“Fifteen minutes late,” she said, voice flat. “You know we’re supposed to check in together.”

“I brought coffee as a peace treaty.” He held one cup out. “I even remembered—two sugars, no cream. Like a psychopath.”

She stared at it, then took it with a reluctant sigh. The cup was warm against her palms. Stupid, how small gestures still made her chest ache.

“You’re lucky that’s exactly how I like it,” she muttered.

He smirked, dropping beside her on the bench, thigh brushing hers just enough to make her heart lurch. She hated that he noticed.

“I always remember your coffee,” he said, more quietly this time, eyes flicking to hers. “Fake boyfriend duties. I’m a professional.”

“So professional you’re always late?”

“I like making you wait. Keeps things spicy.”

She rolled her eyes, sipping the too-hot coffee to hide her smile. The quad remained still around them, quiet enough to hear the fountain trickling nearby.

They should have gotten up. They were expected in the instructor’s office five minutes ago to report on their progress. Instead, neither of them moved.

Nagumo leaned back on his hands, gaze tilted toward the darkening sky.

“You know,” he said slowly, “I’ve had real dates that felt less real than this.”

Y/n glanced at him, caught off guard. “This is just a mission.”

“Sure,” he said. “But you didn’t have to remember my favorite snack for the stakeout. Or patch up my hand when I cut it on the stairwell. Or stop me from saying something dumb to the teacher yesterday.”

She swallowed. “That’s just good teamwork.”

“You didn’t have to ask me how I take my coffee either.”

Her chest tightened.

Nagumo turned his head, met her eyes. There was no smirk now. No teasing curve to his mouth. Only that rare, steady look—the one that didn’t try to charm her, just see her.

“You’re not pretending anymore,” he said softly. “Are you?”

She opened her mouth. Paused. Closed it again.

It would’ve been easier to lie.

Instead, she said, “Not since the first time you held my hand without being told to.”

Nagumo was quiet for a moment.

Then, very gently, he set his coffee down, shifting to face her fully. His fingers found hers, slower than usual. No theatrics. No smirk.

Just skin to skin.

“Good,” he said. “Because I remember practicing how to ask you out in the mirror, before any of this started.”

Her breath caught.

“And if I wasn’t such a coward,” he added, voice barely above a whisper, “I would’ve done it for real.”

She didn’t answer, and for the first time since the assignment started, Y/n didn’t feel like an undercover anything.

She just felt like a girl who was falling. And maybe—just maybe—he was falling too.

© eriace in tumblr ; don’t repost my works.

[actuallyhisangel]

Not sure if you wrote that already or not but just saw your last reid reblogs so fbi agent x David ? 👀

absolutely! Low-key can't believe this idea didn't hit me straight away but I digress.

______________________________________________________________

FBIAgent!David who, ever since you joined his unit, has ignored you. Well, not ignored, but dismissed. Well, not dismissed, but treated you the same as everyone else in the team. Which would be fine, if you were just anyone else in the team and not his fiancé.

FBIAgent!David who suggested that your relationship be kept a secret in the first few months of you joining the team, just so you weren't susceptible to comments or rumours about being favoured. So thats what you did. Yet, despite it being his suggestion, it seemed to be easy for you than it was for him.

FBIAgent!David who doesn’t look at you during morning briefings. Not directly. His eyes scan the room like always, landing on everyone but lingering a fraction too long when they do reach you. No one notices, you think.

FBIAgent!David who walks too close when he debriefs on the way to the crime scene. The others assume it’s just the way he commands space. Only you know it’s because he physically can’t help it.

FBIAgent!David who showed up at your apartment once after midnight. After a case in which Agents were going missing and found without their heads. He didn’t speak at first. Just wrapped his arms around you and exhaled, like he’d been holding his breath for hours.

“You weren’t picking up,” he murmured into your neck. “I thought I lost you.”

FBIAgent!David who only calls you by your last name at work. But in the middle of a raid, when gunfire echoed and adrenaline spiked, he slipped. Yelled your first name across comms—raw, panicked, sharp. You were fine. He was not.

FBIAgent!David who leaned against your desk after a long day, arms crossed, jaw tense, murmering. “You need to stop throwing yourself into danger,” he said, voice low. “We can’t afford to be reckless.” You rolled their eyes. “We? I thought there was no, we, at work?” He just glared and walked away.

FBIAgent!David who kissed you once in the evidence room—harsh, desperate, all teeth and breath and the taste of fear after a near miss. “No one saw,” he said after, but the way his voice shook betrayed just how much that lie cost him.

FBIAgent!David who bet Agent Asher would find out first. And he did. Not by accident, not through some big reveal—he just knows. He’s observant, smug, and has worked with David long enough to know that the infamous Agent Shaw doesn’t soften for anyone… except you.

One day, David walks into the field office five minutes late with two coffees. He places one on his desk and, without thinking, slides the other across the room—to you. Asher raises a brow. “Cute,” he says. David doesn’t respond. But the tips of his ears go bright red.

FBIAgent!David who knew Agent Milo would find out in the dumbest way possible. He catches them laughing together in the elevator—actually laughing, like David isn’t normally carved out of stone. Then when you straighten the collar of David’s jacket, just a little too comfortably, Milo’s mouth drops open.

“I knew it,” Milo hisses to Asher an hour later in the locker room. “You owe me twenty.”

“Worth it,” Asher grins. “They’re adorable. Did you see him holding their umbrella yesterday like a damn rom-com extra?”

 FBIAgent!David who hates how smug his agents have gotten now. Like they have some dirty piece of blackmail to hold above him.

You see, Agents Asher and Milo don’t out you, but they definitely don’t act normal. They start slyly pairing you two up on assignments more often than HR would approve of. They nudge one another whenever David gets all tense and overprotective in the field.

During stakeouts, Milo once said, deadpan: “If either of you starts making out in the van, I’m jumping out the window.” David didn’t even blink. “Door’s unlocked,” he said, while tuning his radio.

You nearly choked trying not to laugh.

[crowsofdarkness]

A Fight For Darkness: Chapter Five

-gif not mine. credit to owners-

Pairings: Eric Draven(Bill Skarsgard) x Female!Reader.

Content Warnings: language, violence, mentions of murder, mentions of taking own life, blackmail, blood, smoking, drinking, mentions of drug use, arranged marriage, 18+ smut that I will mention at the beginning of the chapter.

Summary: An unknown text and a list full of questions for what happened to your sister leads you down to the underground fight ring that belongs to none other than Eric Draven, The Crow. Once he captures your eyes with his, the web you were desperate to untangle suddenly tightens.

Authors Note: This is not cannon to The Crow(2024). Shelly nor her and Eric's love story exist in this series. Eric does have his fast ability to heal though. Tags are open for this series as well!

We are now getting into the darker parts of this story so you have been warned.

Tags: @corawithfanfiction

A Fight For Darkness Masterlist

READER

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. 

The sound of time ticking away was the only noise that filled the space of Eric’s office in the fight club, besides the sounds coming from the gym area. I shifted on my spot on the couch, trying to find a more comfortable position while scrolling through my notes on my iPad. Although it was futile, nothing changed from when I last looked at them a week ago. 

My sister had been missing for seven months now with no news. No new leads. Silence from the authorities ends. I called the detective that was assigned to her case the other morning for updates to which he swiftly cut me off with a harsh tone. 

“All due respect, miss. If there are any updates, I will call you. You don’t need to keep calling.” 

Before I could get another word in, the detective hung up. There were moments this last week where I nearly showed up to the police station to demand answers in person. Yet the strong arm wrapped around my arm when I woke every morning stopped me. 

Daring over a quick glance to Eric’s desk, I sighed at how empty it was. It was nearing five in the evening and he’d been down at the fight club since 10 this morning doing whatever he usually did. Eric never really told me what he did down here all day, every day. But I never asked. All I needed to know was that he ran an illegal fight club and apparently, that took a lot of his time. 

There was a fight coming up in a few days and according to the men who worked for Eric, it was a big one. The semi finals in the tournament and Eric was set to face someone from the Russian mob; the same mob whose leader was found murdered here a few weeks ago. So while I hid away in his office, Eric was training in the cage. The office door was open, giving me a clear view as he moved about the ring, punching and kicking his training opponent. 

I think his name was Jay and from the brief that Eric told me, Jay was his best friend and right hand man. Greg was below Jay on the ladder which I could tell bothered him from watching them nearly every day since I’ve moved in. 

Even with the distance, I could see the sweat gather on Eric’s bare back and I licked my lips with the want to taste him. The muscles in his back teased with every punch he threw. 

Fuck, he was gorgeous even with all of the tattoos. As much as I tried to tell myself I wasn’t attracted to him, deep down I knew it was a lie. The more time I spent with him, the more I found myself wanting his warm body wrapped around me.

I could tell it was weighing heavy on Eric’s shoulders because the last two days, he’s been very short with me. This “marriage” was very one sided besides him holding me while we slept. 

Internally, I snickered at the word marriage. This wasn’t because we loved each other. It was far from it. It was to protect me from Roeg’s men but also to help me find what happened to my sister. I tried to tell myself over and over again, especially when I would wake with him holding me or when my mind wandered back to what happened on his desk the last fight night. 

Neither of us would talk about what happened, no matter how heavy the words weighed on my tongue. I repeatedly told myself that it was a one time thing and Eric only needed something to take the edge off post fight. I’d been tempted to ask him if he needed to take the edge off again but decided against it. 

Setting my iPad on the couch next to me with a sigh, I glanced at my watch to see what time it was. Since Eric’s office was underground, I had no idea what time of day it was and if the sun was still out. According to my watch it was just before six in the evening meaning we’d been down here for a few hours now. 

Gathering my things, I walked into the gym area just as Eric rose from the mat, Jay taking him down in some sort of headlock. 

“You’re distracted, Crow. You need to shape up otherwise you’re going to lose your first match,” Jay said while running a hand through his sweaty hair. 

Eric pushed him away, cursing Jay under his breath. “Fuck off, Jay. I’ve got a lot going on.”

“Marriage troubles already?” Jay teased. 

“This wasn’t how I envisioned my marriage, that’s all.” Eric said before taking a large gulp of water. 

My lips parted to call to him since he couldn’t see me but with his words, I opted not to. Instead I turned towards the back staircase that leads up towards the apartment. My heart felt heavy in my chest. Yes, I knew that this fake marriage wasn’t for love but it still hurt hearing that Eric wasn’t too fond of it although it was his idea. 

My attempts to leave unnoticed failed when I crashed into a body causing me to drop my things. More so, my iPad fell, screen first and instantly I knew it was broken. 

“Got your head in the clouds or something?” 

I was kneeling to pick up my things so when I gazed up through my lashes, I noticed Greg glaring down at me. 

“Wh-what?” I asked. 

“Maybe if you watched where you were going, your iPad wouldn’t have broken. Maybe you wouldn’t have been in any of the mess you’re currently in if you fucking paid attention.” 

“Excuse me?” I exclaimed while shooting to my feet. 

Greg was about to say something else but I felt a looming presence behind me. I didn’t have to look to see if it was Eric. His familiar warmth wrapped around me, protecting me from Greg’s wrath. 

“Watch what you say next to my wife, Greg,” Eric’s voice was deep and even as he stood behind me, his chest pressed against my back. I could feel the sweat through the thin material of my shirt. 

Greg’s upper lip snarled as his eyes continued to glare at me, never taking his gaze away. Not even when he spoke to Eric. 

“I need to talk to you.” 

Eric’s hand rested low on my hip. “Then talk.” 

Although I loved the way his hand felt on me, I didn’t forget the words he said moments prior to Jay. So I couldn’t stop the way my body tensed under his touch, something I was sure Eric noticed.

“Privately,” Greg said with a voice thick with annoyance. 

Eric’s chest rumbled behind me. “Go sit in my office. I’ll be there in a minute. 

After giving me one last glare, Greg left the two of us alone so Eric softly turned me around to face him. 

“Are you alright?”

His question fell away as I let my gaze track over every design of tattoos across his chest  and like every time I did, I wanted to trace over every single one. 

“Y/N.”

Snapping my gaze away from his tattoos, I gave him a small nod. “Yeah, I’m fine.” 

“Where were you going?” He asked, slowly dragging his fingers up and down my arm, leaving goosebumps in his wake. 

“I think I’m going to head back up to the apartment to get something to eat.” I couldn’t look him in the eyes, my heart still hurting from what he said earlier. 

So instead, I kept my gaze on his abs and noticed how low his black gym shorts rested on his hips. The defined v line was so sharp I bet it would cut my finger if I dragged it over it. The small dark hairs of his happy trail I was sure led to pure happiness, if Eric allowed it. 

“I’ll come with you,” he said.

I pointed towards his office. “What about Greg?”

Eric let out another annoyed noise from the back of his throat. “Asshole can wait. Did you want me to make you something to eat?”

At the mention of him cooking, my stomach rumbled to life. Since I’ve moved in, Eric has cooked me atleast one meal a day and he was an amazing cook. 

“I’d like that,” I smiled, excitement filling me for spending some time with him. 

I allowed him to wrap an arm around my shoulder and leaned into him as he led me towards the back staircase, talking about what we should have for dinner. There were a few of Eric’s men working around the gym. I didn’t miss the way some of them gave me a leery look underneath Eric’s arm. It wasn’t a secret that his men questioned our marriage, a lot of them thinking we rushed into this. But none of them knew the truth. 

“You stink,” I teased while tapping his sweaty chest. 

“Do you want to shower with me?” He winked

Yes please. 

Before I could answer, Greg poked his head out of Eric’s office, yelling at him. 

“Dude, forget about the broads pussy for two fucking minutes and get your ass over here. I need to talk to you!” 

“Mother fucker. I’m going to bleed him dry,” Eric’s body tensed against mine and there was a dark glimmer in his usual bright eyes. 

I watched for a moment, perplexed at how fast this kind of inky blackness filled his eyes and a thunderous beat sounded in my ears. 

“Eric,” I spoke quietly, resting a hand on his chest. “You can’t beat up people for me.”

“I have killed for you, little crow. Don’t think I won’t hurt anyone who wrongs you.” 

Momentairfly that inky blackness seemed to disappear from his eyes when I spoke his name once more. 

“Go. I’ll wait for you upstairs,” I assured him. 

His eyes darted from Greg to me, softening once he saw my face. “Ten minutes. Give me ten minutes to deal with this asshole then I’m yours for the rest of the night.” 

Will you ever really be mine?

Shaking the thought from my head, I nodded and left Eric with a small smile and took the back staircase up to the apartment. As soon as I stepped inside the threshold, something felt off. Different. Like someone had been inside of here but nothing seemed out of place. I told Eric a handful of times that he should really lock the door whether we were inside or not. Anyone can find their way up here. 

Tossing my broken iPad on the bed, I walked into the bathroom with the thought of taking a warm shower. I stripped out of my clothes while the large shower warmed up and stared at my reflection in the mirror. My hands dragged over the bare skin of my stomach, up between my breasts, and farther up my neck to let my hair down from its messy bun. Ever since I watched Eric train in the ring shirtless and felt his body pressed up against mine, I’d been so wound up. I haven’t had a release since that night in his office and I’d become desperate for one. I felt awkward touching myself inside of Eric’s apartment but right at this moment, I didn’t care. 

I needed to fucking let go. 

Standing underneath the shower head, I let the burning water ease away my tense muscles and propped one hand on the wall, the other traveling down to my pussy. My fingers pressed against my clit causing me to let out a loud moan. I threw my head back, letting the water splash across my face as I worked fast circles over my clit in the way I knew I liked. 

“Oh, oh fuck,” I spat out some of the water from my mouth, slipping a finger inside of me now. 

My eyes were closed, imagining it was Eric’s fingers inside of me. His lips leaving marks all over my neck. His tongue between my legs devouring me. 

I removed my hand from the wall and began pinching and pulling at my peaked nipples. I rolled the buds between my fingers as I began rubbing my clit against my palm while my fingers worked quickly inside of me. The familiar burn at the base of my spine made my body shiver before tensing up. I was ready to let go with a yell so forceful, I was thankful no one would hear me. 

“Eric,” I moaned, nearly falling to my knees as I felt my orgasm wash through me with such force. 

My breathing was deep as I slipped my fingers out of me and went to wash them underneath the spray of water when a familiar deep voice froze me in place. 

“If you needed me, little crow, all you had to do was ask.”

Turning around, I saw Eric sitting outside of the shower. He was on top of the counter, long legs dangling in the air, and the smug smile he wore told me everything I needed to know. 

He’d seen the entire thing. 

“I-I-didn’t,” I shook my head, spraying water around me as it flung from my hair. 

Eric raised a brow. “Really? Cause it was my name you were calling out.” 

The water ran cold by now and it cooled my heated skin as I worked up the courage to ask him the question that was on the tip of my tongue. 

“Did you like what you see?” I asked with my bottom lip between my teeth. 

He jumped off the counter and took two large steps towards the shower door, pulling it open. The shower door had this frosted tint to it, making it difficult to see everything. Now he could see all of me as I stood in front of him, naked and wet, and Eric reached in to turn off the shower. 

“What do you think?” He asked, bright eyes shining down at me.

I glanced down towards his shorts and gasped at how hard his cock was underneath the material. 

Yeah, he definitely liked what he saw. 

My hand reached towards Eric, him taking in a sharp intake of breath, yet before I could cup his cock, there was a pounding on the front door of the apartment. I jumped, nearly slipping in the wet shower, and in a flash there was a body inside of the bathroom calling for Eric. 

“Crow! There’s someone-Woah.” 

Rather quickly, Eric yanked my towel off of the hook to wrap around my naked body and then hid me behind his large frame. 

“What do you want, Jay?” Eric asked with a slight edge to his voice. 

“Am I interrupting?” Jay questioned with a fox smile.

I placed my hand on Eric’s shoulders when I noticed he was getting tense as the two men conversed. 

“You have less than ten seconds to tell me why you’re interrupting time between me and my wife, otherwise I’m going to knock your teeth out.” 

I couldn’t ignore the way my body flushed with heat when Eric said wife. 

Jay rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands deep into his leather jacket. “It can wait. I’ll let you two love birds continue.” 

Just as fast as he came, Jay left and when I made sure to hear the front door click shut, I walked past Eric towards the main area of the apartment. 

“I told you we need to start locking the door,” I sighed, reaching for a pair of sweats and a shirt from the dresser. 

Eric was leaning against the door frame of the bathroom, watching me intently. “And I told you, there’s no need. Well, that was before Jay walked in and saw you naked. I’m going to have to burn his eyes for that.” 

I rolled my own eyes, clutching the towel close to me. “You do know we’re not actually married, right? It’s all for show. Other guys can see me naked. And you can’t threaten to beat up people because they looked at me.” 

Something shifted in Eric, that familiar blackness seeping into his eyes, and he pushed himself off the door frame. I expected him to stalk towards me, a predator after its prey, yet instead he gave me his back and slammed the bathroom door behind him. 

“What the hell did I say?” I shook my head to myself before getting dressed. 

ERIC

Darkness. It’s all I’d known growing up. It’s the only thing that was familiar in my life. I let it in every time I felt it creeping on the edges of my vision because it was the only thing I knew. I was sure that it would be a part of me until I took my last breath. Yet when Y/N entered my life, I rarely felt that darkness anymore. It was as if she brought in a sense of warmth and light which was the opposite of cold and darkness. I found myself having this weird sense of purpose to give her a life that wasn't filled with the worry of Roeg’s men finding her. Although it seemed we had become too comfortable in this facade of a marriage. Y/N made it clear that what we had wasn’t real. 

Little did she know it was real the moment I saw her inside of my office that first night when she was running in fear. 

The last two days had been filled with such tension, it was making me sick to my stomach. We hadn’t spoken much since she claimed other men could look at her naked cause what we were doing wasn’t real. On paper, yes. But the feelings between us were fake. 

Right. Cause it was so fake when my little crow called out my name when she was touching her pretty cunt? 

Fuck. Remembering her naked and wet as she called out my name instantly made my cock throb inside of my shorts but I had to practically yell at it to not get hard right now. Not when I had someone pinned to the mat, laying fist after fist into their face. 

It didn’t help that not only were Y/N and I not talking, I had been keeping something from her the last week and guilt ate away at me knowing she deserved to know but I kept it from her for her own safety. Not to mention, I’ve noticed someone had been inside the apartment a few days ago. I only noticed because my laptop had been slightly askew from his normal spot on the kitchen counter. 

Y/N always told me we should lock the door to the apartment because anyone from the fight club could wander up there but in the years of having this place, no one dared to venture above. 

“Holy shit! I think Crow broke his nose!” 

“There’s no way he can lose now!”

The cheers from the crowd meant nothing as I rolled off of my opponent, some low level drug dealer, and brought my foot to his stomach, breaking a few ribs from the force of how hard I kicked him. My knuckles were bloody, along with specks of blood across my chest, but all I did was smear it everywhere. Showcasing that yet again, no one could beat The Crow. 

Tonight was the semi finals and while others were looking to win the grand prize of 5 grand, the money meant nothing to me. My goal was to win the entire thing and donate the money to the local animal shelter. 

The same thing I had done the last two times I’ve won the tournament. 

As the ref raised my hand in victory, I glanced around the packed room, looking for those pair of doe eyes that haunted my every waking moment. Even though we hadn’t spoken much the last two days, her staying up in the apartment all day while I hung out down here in my office or training, Y/N said that she would be here to watch my fight tonight. 

I’d just about given up hope of finding her and was ready to head to my office when I paused from stepping out of the cage. Far off in the distance, close to the little bar area, I saw Y/N. She was wearing a green hoodie and a pair of biker shorts. Her hair had been pulled back into a tight braid, showcasing off her sharp cheekbones. Those doe eyes scanned the room, scared, and when they landed on me it was as if she let out a breath of relief. 

That’s when I saw him resting a hand on her hip. Some nobody asshole was touching my wife and making her feel uncomfortable. I watched for a moment as she brushed this man's hand away politely only for him to touch her again. By now, that inky darkness had fully engulfed me, dragging me down to the depths of hell and there was nothing that could pull me out. 

Pushing my way through the crowd as they cheered and congratulated me for making it to the final round, I came up on Y/N and this guy pretty fast that he hadn’t had the chance to prepare for the wrath of The Crow. The sound of bone breaking seemed to overpower the cheers as I laid my fist in the man's face, instantly knocking him on his ass. 

Y/N let out an ear piercing scream as she watched me clamber on top of the guy to continue my onslaught. The darkness was all consuming now, there was no way to fight against it. The guy never stood a chance, my first hit knocking him out cold, so it wasn’t a fair fight. But that didn’t stop me from beating him damn near to death. 

“Eric! Stop it! You’re going to kill him!” Y/N’s muffled voice begged but I didn’t stop. 

My knuckles were without a doubt bruised but I knew it would heal by the morning. 

“ERIC PLEASE! STOP IT!”

Now Y/N was crying as the crowd around us fell quiet, watching everything unfold. I was sure Jay and Greg were trying to push their way through to get me off of the guy. 

A soft hand on my shoulder caused me to whirl around with my fist raised, ready to hit whoever dared touch me but halted when I saw those familiar fear filled eyes staring at me, shocked that I had raised a fist to her. My name came out as a shaken whisper and when Y/N started to step away from me, it was then that the darkness seemed to have lifted slightly cause I was quick on my feet to wrap an arm around her. 

“Let me go!” She cried, trying to fight against me. 

Momentarily, I ignored her and guided her through the sea of bodies towards my office. I knew people wanted to intervene but they knew better. All they had to do was look at the broken and bloody body behind me to know what would happen. 

Once inside of my office, I locked the door behind us just as Y/N freed herself from me and pushed my body against the door. 

“FUCK YOU, DRAVEN! YOU CAN’T JUST MAN HANDLE ME!” 

“The fuck I can’t!” I shouted back. “You were about to leave!” 

Wild eyes stared up at me, Y/N slowly shaking her head. “You were going to hit me.” 

“No,” I stood up straighter. “I would never do that. You need to believe me, Y/N. I would never lay a hand on you.” 

She was quiet for a moment but then eventually nodded. “I know. But you nearly killed that guy all because he touched me!” 

“He touched something that didn’t belong to him,” I stated while walking over towards the closet and pulled out a towel to clean the blood off of me with. “Plus, it also looked like you were quite uncomfortable.” 

“I was,” she agreed while running a hand over her face with a sigh. “But you can’t just-.” 

I slammed a fist down on my desk, causing her to jump. “I swear to the fucking gods, little crow, if you say I can’t fight anyone who touches whats mine I’m going to remind you that you are in fact mine.” 

Her lips parted slightly as she took an intake of breath. It was clear she was watching the way my bare chest rose and fell with my own breathing. She wanted me to remind her, that much I could tell with the way her eyes flicked down to my cock in my shorts. 

But there was something I realized about Y/N early on. 

She was stubborn as hell. 

“I’m not yours, Eric!” She yelled while throwing her hands up in the air. “This whole marriage isn’t real. We’re only doing this to keep Roeg off of my trail so he doesnt kill me for what happened that night. As soon as he gets bored of waiting to find me, we can get a divorce and you can go back to your fucked up life of running this piece of shit fight club.” 

Ouch. That hurt. 

One thing about me? I’m a dick when pushed to the edge. 

I scoffed, closing the distance between us again. “My fucked up life? What about yours, hm? Chasing cold lead after cold lead about your missing sister. Give it up, Y/N. She’s probably dead, her body decaying in a ditch somewhere. You’re just wasting everyone's time looking for her. Including mine.”

The sound of skin on skin echoed in the small space when Y/N slapped me, her palm hitting directly on a bruise that was forming from my flight earlier. I bit the inside of my cheek, trying so hard not to retaliate. I meant when I said I would never lay a hand on her. 

“I fucking hate you, Eric Draven. I’m packing my shit and leaving. I don’t need your help anymore,” she spat with tears in her eyes. 

What’s this new feeling surging inside of me? Guilt? Regret?

Oh, I fucked up. I took it too far. 

“Y/N,” I reached for her hand, only for her to smack it away and run out of my office

READER

I sat on the edge of the bed, eyes raw and puffy from crying. My head felt heavy and all I wanted to do was sleep. I told Eric that I was going to leave but as soon as I started to pack my things, I realized I had nowhere to go. After the break in of my apartment, Eric had everything stripped clean down to the studs to get rid of evidence and last I checked, it still wasn't livable. I thought about staying in a hotel but the fear of Roeg finding me without Eric kept me rooted in place. 

Unfortunately, much to my dismay, I was stuck here. 

Eric’s words from our fight a while ago burned deep into my soul. I wasn’t innocent in what I said but he took it too far. The beating someone nearly to death because they touched me. Not to mention, I caught sight of Greg who was sporting a missing tooth and Jay who had a black eye that he wore with a proud smile. I didn’t have proof that Eric dealt those injuries but it was pretty clear. 

I half expected him to follow me up here but it had been nearly an hour of me crying to myself, alone in the apartment. 

You said you didn’t want to see him again, dumbass.

Grumbling at the voice in my brain, I rose from the bed and dragged my feet into the bathroom. A warm bath and a glass of wine sounded wonderful and then I would finally crawl into bed to sleep everything away. I’d deal with where to go tomorrow morning after a full night's sleep. 

Once the bathtub was full, I turned off the water and walked back into the kitchen area to pour myself a glass of wine. Just as I popped open the bottle, the front door busted open and I expected to see Eric. The bottle slipped from my hand, crashing to the ground when I took in the sight of four men in masks. I didn’t stand a chance because they were on me in seconds, two of them lifting me up from the ground and holding me onto the bed, knees pinning my arms in place. My legs began to thrash wildly so the third man held them down while the fourth stood off in the distance, almost looking for something. 

No, not something. Someone. 

“Eric’s going to kill you,” I seethed. 

The fourth man laughed darkly, pulling something sharp from his pocket. “Not if I finish the job before he gets here.” 

Blood drained from my veins as the fight against my captors became weaker. 

“Roeg wants it quick,” the first man, who was holding onto my legs, spoke. 

So these were Roeg’s men. It seemed like they finally found out where I was and were here to silence me for what I saw that night. 

“Y/N? Are you up here?” Eric’s voice called from the open doorway. “What the fuck?!” 

A scuffle happened, man two rolling off of my arm so man three could hold both of them down. Man Two and Four fought Eric, who had the upper hand for a few moments but soon, they worked him down to the ground, handcuffing him to the old heater in the apartment. 

“Are you alright?” Eric asked me. 

I shook my head, fear filling my veins, but he reassured me that everything would be alright with a small smile. 

“This is bad,” Man Three began rambling. “Roeg wanted us to kill her. He made it clear that The Crow was not to be touched.”

“I’m going to skin you all alive,” Eric promised with venom. 

Man Four shrugged. “We make him watch.” 

“You mother fuckers!” Eric cursed, pulling on his handcuff. “Don’t touch her!” 

“Eric!” I yelled out to him as Man one pinned me harder to the bed. 

“Shut up!” Man Four bellowed, back handing me. 

The taste of copper filled my mouth, his slap busting my lip open, and I yelped out in pain when Man Two forced my head towards Man Four so I could look at him as he knelt down next to the bed in front of me. 

“Did you really think The Crow would keep you safe forever? Roeg knew where you’ve been hiding but wanted to give you two some time to enjoy the honeymoon. He’s quite upset he didn't get an invite to the wedding.”

“Fuck you!” I spat blood against his mask. 

Man Four glanced over towards Eric and pointed at me. “You’ve got your hands full with this one, huh?” 

I noticed Eric’s wrist was raw and bloody from him trying to break free. 

“Leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with this life. She’s innocent.”

“Innocent?” Man One hollered, rolling off of my arms so he could bend down in front of Eric. “She ran from me that night. Made me look bad!” 

“Wait,” I shook my head. “You were the guy I ran from that night?” 

“Yes,” Man One whirled back towards me, pulling a gun from the back of his pants. “I had you dead to rights until Johnathon had to barge inside the room. Mother fucker deserved the death he got.” 

My eyes were no longer on any of the men, it was stuck on the gun Man One had been waving around. 

“How’s married life been, by the way?” Man Four asked while gripping my chin so I had no choice but to look at him again. “How well do you know your husband?” 

“What are you talking about?” I asked. 

“You’re looking for your sister right?” Man Three asked. 

I nodded at him. “Do you know where she is?” 

“No,” Man Three broke out in a smirk underneath his mask. “But your husband does.” 

It felt like someone had punched me in the gut as I looked at Eric with a broken expression at the revelation. No, it couldn’t be true. Why would he allow me to search for my sister for this long when he knew where she was?

“They’re lying, right?” I asked, tears brimming in my eyes. 

Eric’s face was hard like stone as he slowly shook his head and I let out a choked sob, forcing my eyes away from him. 

“She’s been with Roeg this entire time,” Man Three chuckled. “Your husband found out when he showed up on Roegs door step a few nights ago, looking to strike up a deal with him.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Eric yelled, trying so hard to break free. 

Snot fell from my nose onto my mouth and chin but I couldn’t wipe it away due to being held down. My head fucking hurt from all the cryhing I’d done tonight. I thought that maybe Eric and I could work past our stupid fight but now with this revelation, there was no way I could ever forgive him. 

“Alright, I don’t do well with tears,” Man Four sighed. “Shut her up.” 

Eric watched in horror as two of the men beat me readily. Fists hitting any part of my body. Face, stomach, and legs. I was sure it wasn’t a pretty sight due to hearing Eric cry out for me while promising vengeance against the men. 

My left eye was swollen and every time I took a breath, it felt like I was getting stabbed. I was pretty sure one of the men snapped my ankle but I’d become so numb to the beating, I barely felt it.

“Hand me the shotgun,” one of the men shouted. “I’m ready to end this.”

Before I could feel the cool blade against my throat or the gun barrel deep inside of my mouth, Eric had somehow broke free of his handcuffs and tackled man One to the ground. There was a small scuffle for the gun, Eric grabbing it and sending two bullets into Man One’s head. Man Two and Three dropped to the ground in a blink of an eye with their own bullet wounds to their chests. Man Four scrambled to pick up the discarded knife only for Eric to snatch it up from the ground. 

“This is for touching my wife,” he snarled right before dragging the blade across Man Fours neck. 

All four bodies lay in a heap of blood and I climbed off the bed away from it all, limping towards the bathroom. Eric reached for me but I smacked his hands away, letting out a strangled scream. 

“You knew where my sister was and didn’t tell me!” 

“I was going to,” Eric said, following me into the bathroom. “I wanted too, little crow.” 

I pushed against his chest. “Stop lying! Stop calling me that!” 

“Baby, we need to get you to the hospital,” he took a step towards me. 

“Fuck you!” I slapped him across the face. “I wish I had a gun so I could shoot you myself. You’re disgusting and deserve to die. I fucking hate you, Eric!” 

It was as if my words spoken into the air manifested because a loud gunshot echoed in the air causing me to cry out in shock. My hands patted all over my body, thinking I got shot. But my name coming out in a gargled mess had me looking over to Eric who had blood pooling from his mouth and a large wound in his gut. It was hard to watch through the tears as he stumbled back towards the filled bathtub, once more reaching out for me. It was clear with the look on his face that he knew what was about to happen, but he couldn't do anything to stop it.

My heart sank to the depths of my gut as I realized that he was shot and was about to die. Regret washed over me for the words I said to him, wishing for this to happen when I never meant it, but I couldn’t move. I could only watch as he fell into the tub, the water turning crimson as his body disappeared underneath it. 

[wileys-russo]

childhood sweethearts (3) II a.russo x reader

series playlist part one part two

this fic really does have my heart tbh childhood sweethearts (3) II a.russo x reader

alessia exhaled shakily, tapping her foot nervously as her eyes flickered repeatedly between the time on her phone and the door to the cafe, counting down each second which passed that you didn't arrive.

maybe you just weren't going to show up at all, could she even blame you if you didn't? it had been six years since the two of you really spoke, and your last words exchanged were hardly on friendly terms.

when her mum had called her to invite her to dinner with your family, her heart leapt into her throat. your name was something that hadn't crossed her mind in years, well no actually that was a lie.

alessia often wondered what you were up to, occasionally in a moment of weakness imagining what would be different had things not gone the way they had between you both.

but she'd banish those fleeting thoughts and insecurities as quickly as they arrived, knowing she'd just spiral into a tornado of overthinking if she dwelled on them too much.

alessia tried to trick herself into believing she was fine with how things had ended, pushing her real feelings deep down away and filing them under painful memories she'd rather not resurface ever again.

but they always did, and no more so then when you'd walked into that restaurant beside her brother and every thought, feeling, memory and emotion she'd repressed the last six years came soaring to the surface, she could have thrown up with how suddenly she was swamped by them.

the pain only grew when you refused to even meet her eye, greeting everyone else first and alessia was almost certain if you hadn't had to sit beside her the two of you likely wouldn't have even conversed that entire night.

"hi i'm so sorry i'm late i got held up at work." she was snapped out of the depths of her overthinking as you hurriedly dropped down into the seat across from her, exhaling heavily and dropping your bag on the floor beside you.

"that's alright, i hope everythings okay?" alessia rushed out, playing with her fingers which sat dormant in her lap as you nodded, starting to ramble on about the frustration of substitutes not doing their assigned pick up duty so you'd had to fill in.

realising you were getting on a tangent and meeting those ever so familiar ocean blue eyes you suddenly stopped, clearing your throat and apologising.

"you don't need to be sorry, you've clearly found the right career. mum was right when she said she was sure you're an amazing teacher." alessia complimented with a soft smile as you nodded, admittedly still unsure quite how to interact with her after so much time.

"so...how have you been?"

~

"-no because that time was entirely your fault! you were always getting us in trouble." you chuckled, shaking your head at the grinning blonde across from you, your coffees long finished, empty mugs pushed to the side.

"i was not!" alessia defended herself with a playful offended scoff, unable to stop the smile spreading on her face. "you so were! every single time we had detention it was your fault, and any time we got in trouble with our parents it was one of your genius ideas that lead up to it." you couldn't help but smile yourself at the fond memories.

"miss!" your head turned as you heard a voice call out for you, spotting one of your students frantically waving at you from the counter. "sorry, he insisted on saying hi. i tried to explain that you have your own life outside of the classroom." his mum smiled apologetically as the boy hurried over and she chased after him.

"thats perfectly alright. i always say if you guys see me around to give me a wave and thats what you did, charlies one of my best behaved students! aren't you?" you smiled fondly, holding your hand out for a high five which he happily gave you with a grin, waving goodbye as his mum smiled gratefully and hurried the two of them away to another table.

"sorry about that." you apologized to alessia, a slight blush coating your cheeks as the blonde shook her head. "don't be, that was quite adorable. your class clearly love you and who could blame them." alessia complimented with a dangerously familiar look in her eyes as you forced a small smile and glanced down to your phone, eyes widening as you realised you'd been here well over two hours now.

"i should really get going, i've got dinner to cook and lesson planning to do for tomorrow." you smiled apologetically, alessia nodding in understanding as you both reached for your bags. "could we do this again, soon?" the girl asked hopefully as the two of you stood outside, causing you to bite the inside of your cheek.

"look alessia it was great catching up and i'm really glad that football and everything else is working out so well for you. but i just, i don't know if i can make this a regular thing." you admitted with a slight wince, watching as her face fell at your answer.

"why not?" as soon as the hurt was plain on her face it was gone, replaced instead with a firm look of defiance, folding her arms over her chest. "you know why, please don't make me say it." you responded quietly, shuffling uncomfortably and adjusting your bag on your shoulder.

"god you are so frustrating." alessia dragged her hands down her face with a shake of her head. "whats that supposed to mean?" you were now the one to respond with a frown.

"its like i said at the restaurant y/n we were best friends for years before anything changed. we've just spent the however many hours reflecting on how good that time was, i know the way things ended wasn't ideal but why can't we just work on getting a friendship back?" alessia almost begged, taking a step toward you and frowning as you immediately took one back away from her.

"before anything changed...the way things ended? you are so arrogant, as if it was nothing!" you scoffed and shook your head in disbelief that she could dismiss what happened so easily. "that's not what i fucking meant and you know it, don't put words in my mouth." alessia warned, jaw clenching tightly.

"no i think it was exactly what you meant. at least to me alessia what went on between us meant a hell of a lot, and it hurt when everything fell apart. for god sakes we were each others first everything! i can't just go back to being your friend after six years like none of it even happened." you had to stop yourself from shouting at her, well aware that she was a public figure now and though the cafe behind you wasn't crowded, you never knew who was inside listening.

"you are putting words in my mouth. just-" "no alessia, i've spent too fucking long getting over you to fall back into the trap of caring again." you regretted the words from the moment they fell from your lips, cringing with a shake of your head.

"i need to go i'm sorry. i really didn't want to argue with you but i just-I can't do this with you again alessia, good luck with everything." you forced a pained smile, the strikers stomach plummeting as you reached out, your fingertips just ghosting hers sending a bolt of electricity up her arm at the feeble touch, hurrying off away before she could even open her mouth to respond.

~

it seemed your words had struck a chord as you didn't hear a single peep from the girl the entire week following, it had been days of radio silence between you both and you had spent the whole time convincing yourself that was what you wanted and it was for the best.

you weren't sure what alessia had said to her own mum but yours seemed to be relentless in pestering you about how catching up for coffee went, you once again dismissing that too much time had passed and it was awkward.

though the ever persistent woman didn't take the hint it wouldn't be happening again and had tried time after time to press you for more, and you'd taken to dodging her phone calls all week just to avoid the ongoing conversation.

on the bright side you'd made it through another week and you were settling in well to life back in london.

you'd found a favorite coffee spot for your much needed morning brew on the way to work, loved your new school and your class, had dinner and drinks last night with a few co-workers at a local tapas bar and genuinely enjoyed their company, you were on top of your workload and despite needing to currently dodge her you were enjoying living closer to family again.

however you were a creature of habit and so saturday nights were always your night to relish in your own company, recharge for the week and properly switch off. armed with a face mask, a chinese and a glass or bottle of wine at your side, finding some sort of trashy reality nonsense to engross yourself in for the evening.

your family knew this and knew to leave you be, your friends knew this and had long given up trying to drag you out with them unless it was for some sort of holiday or celebration, and your co-workers you'd only gone out with last night and weren't yet all that close to.

which is why it caught you so off guard for your phone to be ringing at half past eleven at night, you'd almost dozed off with a bowl of crisps in your lap, snapping to attention at the ringtone.

rubbing your eyes you fumbled around in the blankets adorning your body for your phone, eventually finding it and answering without looking at the contact, assuming at this time of night it was either an emergency or a scam.

how you regretted that choice.

"you actually answered!" you winced as a loud and very intoxicated voice slurred in excitement, holding the phone away from your ear at the unexpected volume, music pumping away and people laughing in the background.

"alessia?" "baby! what you doin?" the girl slurred and you could already imagine the dopey smile which would be plastered on her face at her words, and the way the corner of her eyes would crease as she squinted.

you grimaced at how much one simple word could cause years of healing to wash instantly away. one little baby and you were suddenly sixteen again, wrapped up in her strong arms sharing soft kisses and giggling about something that happened at school that day.

growing up alessia wasn't one to ever drink all that often given how much time and energy she invested into being an athlete. though on the rare occasions she did drink you quickly learnt the girl couldn't handle her alcohol.

she was a messy drunk to say the least and anytime a drop of alcohol passed her lips you'd abandon your own, knowing you needed to be there and sober to look after her.

"why are you calling me? and at...half past eleven at night." you sighed, collapsing back into the lounge and tiredly rubbing your eyes. "because i wasn't lying when i said i missed you." she laughed and you shook your head at her words.

"alessia you're drunk. i'm going now, please be safe." you tried to wrap up the conversation, knowing she'd likely be embarrassed about this when she sobered up tomorrow, finger hovering over the little red button to end the call then and there.

god how you wished you'd pressed it.

"wait! i'm really smashed and my friends all left me, i can't find them and i need to go home. i'm seeing double babe!" the blonde groaned and you heard a smash and some yelling, your eyebrows furrowing at the noise.

"call an uber home then, or get a taxi." you remanded firmly but softly, knowing that in times like this she needed things very clearly broke down for her.

"i don't know how! i can barely see my fucking phone screen, can you come and get me?" she continued as you withheld a groan, sharply pinching the bridge of your nose at the seemingly never ending flow of possibilities for whatever you answered next.

"where are you?"

~

"god what am i doing here?" you mumbled to yourself, insecurely playing with the strings of your hoodie, feeling incredibly under dressed as patrons of the bar you were stood outside of stumbled around with giggles and drunken cheers.

"y/n?" you turned at your name, frowning at the unfamiliar voice as your eyes finally landed on alessia, who was not alone. "oh wow it is you, hi?" lotte spoke in surprise, eyes wide as alessia cheered when she spotted you, you weren't particularly close to many of the girls football friends but that hadn't meant you'd not known or become fond of some of them over the years, lotte and ella in particular were two names who came to mind.

"baby you actually came!" alessia stumbled her way over with her heels in hand, wrenching her bicep away from lottes careful grip. she was dressed in blue jeans and a charcoal coloured knitted vest, toned arms on full display as a rolex which probably cost you a months salary glinted on her wrist under the streetlights.

you shoved her away as she placed a sloppy kiss to your cheek, but had no choice but to grab her hands and steady her to stop her from falling over right afterwards.

"i didn't know you two were..." lotte trailed off with an awkward pause of uncertainty as you quickly shook your head, smacking away alessia's hands which poked at and clung onto you.

"we're not anything. we caught up for coffee once and it didn't go well, and then she called me tonight saying she was drunk and her friends left her and she needed a lift home." you sighed at the realization you'd clearly been played, feeling stupidly gullible as you swallowed the urge to yell at the tall dopey blonde beside you who really you knew had minimal control over her actions right now.

"well she ran off for a bit when we changed bars but then we found her again, we were actually going to send her off home but we weren't sure if a taxi would even take her, she's had a few too many." lotte winced apologetically as you nodded along with a sigh, knowing exactly how the older girl behaved when she drank.

"russo has a secret missus?" a brunette with a thick irish accent shouldered her way to the front of the group, slinging an arm around lotte and you shifted somewhat uncomfortably as her eyes narrowed and scanned you up and down.

"used to, not anymore. she hates me now!" alessia rolled her eyes moodily and you winced, knowing that sober she wouldn't have likely confessed that, especially given how much the brunettes eyes widened at the new information.

"wouldn't have pegged you for the type to drunkenly dial an ex russo, i learn new things about ya every day. she's quite fit though!" the brunettes lips curled into a smile and you felt a hot flush creep up your neck.

"lay off mccabe!" alessia scowled as her arm draped over your shoulder and you grunted as her body weight bore into you, struggling to keep the taller girl upright.

"oo and you're also the jealous type are ya russo!" mccabe continued to wind the drunken blonde beside you up with a grin, another girl stepping in to drag her back to the group with an apologetic smile flicked your way.

"are you sure you're right with her? i can get her in a taxi." lotte offered sincerely, glancing over her shoulder as someone from her group yelled at her to hurry up.

"no its fine, don't let her ruin your night. i know she's ruined plenty of mine before with her drunken antics." you sighed sparing alessia a glance who scoffed and stumbled slightly as you grabbed her.

"did not!"

ignoring her you again urged lotte to join her friends, sending her a reassuring smile and bidding her a good night as you struggled to move alessia through the crowd of drunken party goers and won the street towards where you'd parked.

"for fuck sakes just get in you idiot!" you grunted as you all but shoved her into the passenger seat, clicking her seatbelt in and slamming the door shut.

"why me? why?" you looked up to the sky with a sigh of defeat, rubbing your temples for a second before moving around to the drivers side and sliding inside, wincing at the strong smell of alcohol wafting from the girl beside you.

"don't touch anything!" you swatted her hands away as she reached for the gearstick, sinking back into her chair with a huff. "you're so bossy now, you weren't this bossy before. you used to do whatever i told you!" alessia slurred with a roll of her eyes as you started up the car.

"yeah? well then it took me six years to grow a backbone. now where am i taking you?" "home." "well obviously alessia but i don't know where that is, do I?" "god can you stop that!" "pardon?" "the whole alessia thing, i hate the way you say it. call me less, or lessi, literally anything else!"

"just tell me where the hell im driving you so i can go to bed? please!" you sighed in frustration, looking at her expectantly. "fine. only if you agree to hang out with me again!" the blonde tilted her head at you, staring with half lidded eyes.

"that is not how this works. i'll kick you out right here and you can walk home!" "if i end up dead in a ditch cause you left me i don't think your mum or my mum would be very happy." "maybe not but you know what? you are no longer my problem to deal with or my mess to clean up anymore alessia. you're responsible for your own shitty choices and their consequences! like calling your ex and lying about your situation to come and get her to pick you up, and then trying to manipulate her into doing what you want." you exploded suddenly, hands balled into fists as you let out your pent up frustration at this entire messy situation.

there was a thick silence that followed afterward and you refused to look at her, feeling her eyes bore holes into the side of your head.

"god you look so good when you're angry."

you let out a groan, head thumping down onto your steering wheel in defeat. the comment took you right back again to being a lovesick teenager, alessia's blatantly charming cockiness both equally attractive as it was infuriating even back then.

"just please tell me where you live so i can take you there and be done with all of this." "um...i forget." "you forget? how the hell do you forget where you live!" "stop yelling at me i'm drunk! all i can think about is jager and vodka and tequila and-" "i don't need a walk through tour of the bar cart currently sitting in your stomach alessia. can you seriously not remember your address?" "nope." "give me your phone then, its gotta be saved in there somewhere."

you grabbed it out of her hands with a roll of your eyes when she refused to hand it over, but trying to open it was a fruitless activity as the screen remained black.

"its dead." alessia commented with a lopsided smile and you almost threw it out of your window. your fingers drummed the steering wheel trying desperately to think of a way out of this. you didn't have lottes number so that was out, and you couldn't just leave her here as tempting an idea as that was.

you didn't have any of her families numbers, you knew where she used to live with them but that was hardly close by and you didn't even know for certain if they'd moved or not, and you did not want to call your mum for support right now.

which painstakingly and infuriatingly left you with all but one option as you sighed and shifted your car into drive, pulling away from the curb.

"where are we goin?" "home."

~

"this is really nice babe!" alessia slurred as you stumbled through your front door precariously balancing the intoxicated footballer clinging onto you, kicking it closed behind you and tossing your keys on your hallway table.

"stop calling me that." you mumbled, dragging her into the living room and pushing her to sit down on your lounge as you rubbed your neck, which was throbbing from having to cart around the girl who was easily a foot taller than you, and being so drunk meant leaning her entire body weight into you.

"make me some food please." alessia demanded, head thumping back into the sofa as her eyes fluttered closed. "what do you think i'm your on call taxi driver and personal chef?" you scoffed, kicking her sharply in the leg to wake her back up as she whined at the action.

"the last thing you need is anything else in your system which could wind up on my floor later. are you sure you don't feel the need to be sick?" you asked for the fifth time this evening as the blonde nodded wordlessly.

"c'mere and gimme a cuddle baby girl." her lips curled into a dopey smile as she opened her arms expectantly, barely able to hold her own head up as your entire body cringed at the long familiar endearment.

"absolutely not, and stop calling me names. you're going to bed!" you refused, wishing the ground would swallow you up as alessia groaned.

"you're so stubborn, and so hot. i miss you!" the blonde slurred as you grabbed her hands, hauling her to her feet with a grunt and stumbling your way to the guest bedroom, sighing in relief as you dropped her onto the mattress.

"no you don't, you're drunk." you replied firmly, running a hand through your hair with a sigh. "i do! i have for years, the one that got away." alessia shrugged, arm flopping across her face as her eyes closed.

with a roll of your eyes you left her for a moment, hurrying across the hall to your own bedroom and grabbing out some clothes. she may right now be the most infuriating person on the planet but you weren't about to make her sleep in jeans.

you hated yourself for caring, why didn't you just ignore the phone earlier?

"jesus alessia." you sighed as you returned to find her with her jeans around her ankles and her vest stuck over her head, meaning you quickly averted your eyes from her half naked form.

"help! i've gone blind!" the blonde yelled and you bit your lip to stop the smile breaking out on your face, shaking your head firmly. "stop that, god you're useless." you couldn't help but chuckle as you helped her strip off the rest of her clothes, again careful your eyes only remained on her face.

"made you smile." alessia slurred with a stupidly attractive smirk, poking at you as you pulled a black baggy shirt over her head, handing her a pair of shorts which she promptly threw over her shoulder.

"alessia!" you huffed as she shrugged, mumbling something about sleeping naked as she rolled over and with much struggle managed to get into the bed.

"god you're a nightmare." you turned to leave her as a hand gripped at the back of your hoodie, firmly yanking you downwards.

"no! get off." you grunted, struggling to wrench her hand away as she attempted to pull you into a hug. "i want a hug! i'll probably never see you again." alessia whined needily as you continued to fight her.

"ohh you always did like when i touched you there." the blonde laughed as her hand accidentaly grazed your bum and your breath hitched momentarily before you pulled yourself free, shoving her back down into the bed.

"jesus christ alessia please shut up before you embarass yourself any further, the less i have to explain to you tomorrow the better." you flared your nostrils and took a deep breath, counting to three and turning away.

"where you goin?" "to bed alessia, go to sleep." "isn't this your bed?" "no this is my guest bedroom, not that i can even really call you that given i had no choice in you staying here." "you can afford a two bedroom flat on a teachers salary? wow baby you're doing good!" "please stop calling me that, now go to sleep." "can't we cuddle? for old times sake, friends cuddle!" "we're not friends." "ouch, way to land a blow babe." "i told you to stop calling me that, now please just go to sleep."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

part four

[greatwesternway]

Thomas and Friends S13E06 "The Early Bird"

So "The Early Bird" starts off telling us about how all of Sir Topham Hatt's engines are busy and who all is doing what. And they kinda bury the lede by showing us Percy pulling the mail, all happy and content with hisself, between Gordon pulling the Express and Thomas working on his branch line.

Little does he fkn know, plight is about to befall him.

It cuts to Thomas who is sitting on the turntable in front of Tidmouth Sheds, having his fire fanned (which, is that a strange place to do that? It feels like the turntable is a weird place to do that), when he notes that Percy is not there.

He asks James, who is, if he's seen Percy and James gives us this incredible line: "No. I have too much to do to see Percy." You don't even see it coming, but once it arrives... "Why don't they have a lightbulb," said James, "that only shines on things worth looking at?"

Sir Topham Hatt arrives then to tell Thomas that Percy has - as mechanical engineers refer to it - "popped a piston" and as such will not be able to deliver the mail. Thomas will have to do it instead.

Kinda cute that James is in these shots, making little faces to agree with the scene. When Hatt says Thomas has to do Percy's job, he even smiles, like he's happy for Thomas. Maybe he's just happy for himself that the mail train was appropriately assigned to a small engine.

And Thomas is excited, because apparently he'd never delivered the mail before. Hatt tells him to make sure he does a good job and Thomas says he will. Then he heads off to do his jobs for the day.

He meets Gordon at a crossing and tells him about getting to pull the mail. Gordon, rather than dismissing the mail like you'd expect, asks if Thomas has asked Percy how to do it. Not if Thomas knows how to do it, if he's asked Percy how to.

Thomas says he knows all about the mail (which he should but is a lie).

"Do you indeed?" said Gordon, pressing X to doubt.

They fill "the day" out with some B roll to get us to night. Not to actually get to the mail itself - because that runs in the very early morning now apparently - but to visit Percy and see if he's been repaired yet.

He has not. And you know, this is an excellent opportunity to ask Percy about how to pull the mail. Percy even offers! But Thomas assures him that he knows what to do and has to get to sleep since he's gotta be up early.

Foreboding.

The next morning, at the crack of dawn, Thomas is out struttin' about with the mail coaches. And he decides for himself that letting everyone know the mail is here is part of the job. So - again, at the crack of dawn - he's out here blowing his whistle as he's being unloaded.

"Yes, thanks, I fucking heard you."

Mavis heard him too, but was too groggy to recognize it was him waking her up.

Thomas then goes to Brendam Docks and tells himself that he needs to let the dock master know the mail is here. So he toots his whistle to let the dock master, the seagulls, God, and errybody know he's arrived.

Cranky was also still asleep and was woken by Thomas' mail wail. "Who woke me up?" he asks, also missing Thomas and not recognizing his whistle.

Last, Thomas goes to the Steamworks and decides he's got to announce himself to the manager. Tootin' and hootin', at five-thirty in the AM, he wakes up Victor and Kevin.

Which, weirdly, the episode only mentions Victor being woken, but he and Kevin both sleep under this building in front of the slide track (is that what it's called?).

It's kinda strange to have a whole building, that they work in all day, and not have that also serve as their shed. Having this separate stilt house thing out front that they sleep under is probably based on something in real life, because they put this in and seemingly later abandon it. In Series 17's "The Frozen Turntable", Victor is kept indoors and claims there's two more berths besides. In Series 21's "A Shed for Edward", the Steamworks apparently has a night shift and Victor and Kevin aren't sleeping at all (although this might just be a special circumstance to expedite James' repairs). Anyway, it's "Victor's Shed". Kevin just sleeps there too.

"What's that noise, boss?"

It's the Rise-and-Shine Bandit, blowing his goddamn whistle hither and thither, from Vicarstown to Arlesdale.

Later that day, Thomas observes Mavis missing a cue under the slate hopper, dumping slate all over the tracks. He remarks that it's strange because "Mavis never makes mistakes".

Never! What a glow up! I actually really love that they retconned developed Mavis this way. Like, a purist might prefer that Mavis remain full of her own ideas, but I think having her demonstrably take Toby's guidance (even if that Toby no longer exists) and follow through on it is some good shit.

But none of that does her any good if she's falling asleep on the job.

Also love this little quarry worker who tries waving his hands at her and pounding on her side to try and get her to wake up.

You know who else never makes mistakes?

This guy, also sleepin' on the job and droppin' crates everywhere. With a crash and bash even. Thomas, however, misses that both of these guys made these mistakes they never make because they've fallen asleep.

Thomas heads back to the sheds where he finds Hatt there, with a cross look on his face and a lecture prepared.

Someone woke up Mavis, Cranky, and Victor too early and they have all made mistakes because they were sleepy. I do think it's kinda funny that we don't get to see what mistake Victor made. Like, we coulda cut some of that B-roll from earlier to make time.

On the one hand though, they're really trying to make Victor a presence of comfort and authority so maybe they don't want to show him fuckin' up for your little child memory to refer back to. On the other, what could he possibly mess up that would compare to Kevin dropping shit all the time? It's tricky narratively and the pay off wouldn't really be worth it.

Hatt tells Thomas he has to do a better job tomorrow and Thomas says he will.

Then, Gordon rolls up and we're told - since he has no lines in this scene - that he's heard all about Thomas' unsolicited whistling and consequent yakety-sax activities. Thomas tells him that he was

~Right~

which is such a rare occurrence on this railway that it was honestly kinda rude of them not to let Gordon respond to it with anything more than a sidelong glance and smile.

So that night, Thomas goes back to the Steamworks and asks Percy about the mail. And it must have been a very long conversation too because the narrator just says that over a couple shots of them talking with no dialogue.

The next morning, Thomas delivers all the mail without blowing his whistle and he's careful to move quietly so he doesn't wake Mavis or Cranky. When he arrives at the Steamworks, he keeps quiet and doesn't wake Victor (or Kevin, but who gives a fuck about him, amirite?)

But Percy woke up early today to see Thomas and tell him how good he did.

Percy was so pleased he wanted to toot his whistle about it! But he didn't! Because he didn't want to wake anyone up before time.

Not least of all this goldbrick.

Overall, I do think this episode's a little shallow. Nonetheless, I do like it; it's one of the ones I remembered seeing after my first go through. And I mean, they caint (and certainly won't) all be winners.

As far as morals go, it's pretty clear this time around. If you're doing someone else's job, make sure you're doing it right. @littlewestern did make the point to me that they were maybe revisiting this idea (for the third time but at least with a character who actually never had pulled mail before) in Series 17's "Calm Down Caitlin". I think they were going a bit wider with the moral of that episode, but there is an element that story has that I rather wish was in this one.

In that story, Henry and Percy both offer to let Caitlin do their respective nighttime jobs and in the morning, after she's been noisy all night, Hatt comes to ask why Henry and Percy were so damn loud about their work. Because no one would know Caitlin was pulling the Kipper or the Mail Train that night. Everyone just assumed it was a green engine full moon or something.

This episode would benefit from going that step further and making the moral that doing another engine's job incorrectly may reflect poorly on them. In "Calm Down Caitlin", it's a sideline to the broader childhood moral of "if you're allowed to stay up late, be mindful that other people are not". Here, it would actually be a quite good moral for later life, but also applicable to things like helping your friends with their chores so they can come out to play, you know?

[bullet-prooflove]

Syria!Series Part One: Syria: Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson x Reader

Tagging: @crazy4chickennuggets @kmc1989 @withakindheartx @chickensrule @iwannabeinthesequalmrghostface @justameresimp @handsupforamiracle @lxaah11 @librarian1002 @littlebadariell @imaginecrushes @luckyladycreator2 @flrboyd @nani-kenobi @areamir @b-bradshaw @adaydreamaway08 @crimeshowjunkie @shepgurl @ashcosmo @inkandarsenic @caffeinatedwoman @tortilla-maria1 @lemmons1998 @dr-alan-grantler @dizzybee03 @watashiwasun @burningpeachpuppy @penguin876 @haley-hotchner @deliriousfangirl61 @agentorange9595

You’ve been married to Beau three years when he’s deployed to Syria. You’re situated in San Diego, working with the Victim’s Support Service. The two of you have talked about settling down here, you both love the area and Beau’s up for promotion soon which will give him more stability and better choice of assignments. It feels like the right time to put down roots.

The first indication you get that something is wrong is when Commander Larson steps into your office. You’re too enthralled in the casefile you’re reading to register his presence until you hear the door click shut behind him.

It’s the expression in his face that stops you in your tracks. You’ve seen Commander Larson deliver bad news a handful of times throughout your career and he has the exact same look in his eyes now.

“Beau’s been captured.” He tells you.

You don’t hear anything else after that, just the roaring of blood in your ears as selective words filter through. You learn that it had happened during a navy training exercise, that a Syrian officer he had been working with was also taken.  

You fall apart, for two whole days you’re a complete mess because the love of your life is missing and there’s fuck all you can do about it.

It’s Soloman that calls you from a military hospital in Damascus, that tells you the unofficial story. Three hours ago Beau had turned up at a military checkpoint gravely injured, dragging Captain Zadir Abadi, along with him. The two of them had been barely alive when they’d been airlifted.

“It’s bad Ally, they tortured him.” Soloman tells you, you can see the gravity of the situation in his features as he rubs his palm over his weary features. “He’s been stabbed multiple times, they’re not sure he’s going to make it through the night.”

You go to church that evening, for the first time since you left Idaho. You light a candle, and you say a prayer because there’s nothing else that you can do and the reality of that devastates you. You don’t sleep, you don’t eat, instead you lie on the couch with a pillow clasped to your chest watching reruns of Friends and waiting for your phone to ring.

Solomon calls again in the afternoon; he looks as exhausted as you feel. His jaw line is peppered with five o’clock shadow and his eyes bloodshot.

“They’ve taken him back into surgery.” He tells you, shaking his head. “He started bleeding again this morning, if they can’t get it under control…”

He looks away from the screen, swallowing hard before he opens his mouth to speak.

“Zahir passed away this morning.” Solomon tells you. “His injuries were too great, infection set in. There was nothing the doctors could do.”

You close your eyes for a second, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth because you hear the undercurrent of what he’s saying.

Prepare yourself.

You don’t sleep again that night.

***

Beau survives the surgery. He spends days drifting in and out of consciousness, in a haze of agony and numbness. The painkillers they give him are strong, they mess with his head, twisting his dreams and reality into one long nightmare.

The only consistent thought he has is you. He wants you; he thinks he tells Solomon that when he’s semi lucid. The next time he’s awake Solomon hands him his tablet and there you are on the screen, looking as pretty as the day he met you.

“Ally,” He drawls as he settles back into the pillows.

It’s the first time he’s laid eyes on you since this whole ordeal started and he feels so fucking relieved to see you. You were the only thing he thought about during his time in that bunker, the thing that kept him going. Everytime they cut into his flesh, stabbed him, humiliated him, he thought about you, that smile, that laugh, the way you look at him like he was the only man in the entire world.

“Beau.” You whisper and he smiles, tears searing at his eyes because just hearing the sound of your voice soothes something deep inside his soul.

“Talk to me.” He requests, his head coming to rest against the pillows. “I just need to hear your voice.”

Love Beau? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

Interested in supporting me? Join my Patreon for Bonus Content!

Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[bouncybongfairy]

The Connection of Water Part 2

Percy Jackson x Water Nymph Reader

Summary: Your relationship with Percy is beginning to flourish, which causes some jealousy from Naylene. You explain that because you were raised by a full blooded water nymph, this meant you didn’t have any contact with the modern world. After learning this, Percy takes you to the city and indulges you in the first time you’ve ever been to a mall.

Word Count: 3k+

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

When you woke up in the morning, most of the girls were already up. Once you started getting ready, you had three little girls asking you about what happened when you left with Percy. You told them you went for a walk, which wasn't entirely a lie, and satisfied their curiosity. You felt well rested and optimistic about today. You really wanted to learn more about the camp and how things were running around here. Percy was telling you about different competitions the camp hosts. After getting dressed, you make your way down to the canteen for breakfast. You pulled your hair into a ponytail as you walked. Once you got to the outdoor picnic tables, it didn't take long. They haven't issued you any camp t-shirts, so you wore the one Percy loaned to you. Percy motioned you over to sit at his table, which you did. 

"Hey, how'd you sleep?" he asked. 

"Great actually, I thought I might be uncomfortable because you know, a new place away from home, but it was fine," you said. 

After eating breakfast, Chiron gave you five camp half-blood tee-shirts, which you appreciated. It made you feel better to be wearing what everyone else was wearing. It gave you a sense of camaraderie. Not to mention Naylene was giving you dirty looks non-stop. You were pretty sure it was because you had not only gotten close with Percy, but wearing his clothes. You push that aside and head back to your cabin to change your clothes. Even though you missed your dad and sisters, you were so happy that the cabin you ended up being assigned to was so peaceful; everyone was so kind and caring. After changing, you make your way to one of the common areas, unfortunately there weren't any activities planned today. Just general combat training, but other than that, it was going to be an uneventful day. You make your way to a picnic table where Percy and a couple other campers were hanging out. 

"One of the things I've been missing about the modern world is going to malls. Even if you only went there to eat and walk around it was still always really fun," one camper remarked. 

"What's a mall?" you asked, which caused everyone to furrow their brows. 

"Wait you- have you ever like, see the modern world?" Grover asked.

"Well, I was raised by my dad and he's a full blooded water nymph and was extremely uh, paranoid about mortals and modern society. The only times he would leave the lake was to get certain medicines and foods. Oh he would also get our birthday presents from mortal commerce," you said. 

"Wow, and I thought I was isolated from the modern world," Annabeth said. 

"So you've never been to school, or movies or anything like that?" Percy asked. 

"No, I'm sure if my dad was mortal I would have but that's not how the cards were dealt," you said playing with the two roses on your necklace. 

After hanging out at the table for a while you departed and made your way to the lake. You stripped your shirt and jeans off and dove into the water. You let yourself float still for a couple moments, taking in all the sounds underneath the water. The water rushing pasted your ears or the frogs making ribbiting noises. You lay flat on your back, slightly above the floor of the lake. You looked up and gazed at the sun breaking through the surface, it was really beautiful. You swim around slowly, guiding yourself through the water. The water was cold but not in an overwhelming way, it felt more refreshing than anything. You were surprised by how big the lake was, it felt like you could swim for miles without stopping. You take a break from swimming and let the current take you, suddenly you feel something grab you by the back of your shoulders. You jump and whip yourself around to see what holds you. You let out a sigh when you see that it's Percy, he was laughing so hard that his face was covered with bubbles. You laughed and shoved his shoulder. You pulled your hair out of the ponytail that it was in and started swimming circles around him. He reached his hand out and let his fingertips graze the end of your tail. You stopped in front of him and made eye contact, he moved the charms from your necklace out of your face after they floated up. He signed the word beautiful which made your jaw drop. Most water nymphs can use sign language because it's the most effective way to communicate under the water. 

I didn't know you could sign.

Chiron has been teaching me just in case I need to in combat.

How did you know where I was?

Your tail is stark white, and when it hits the sun, you look like a ball of light.

You smiled at him and put your hand on his chest, he gently grabbed your wrist and pulled you in for a quick kiss before pulling away. After swimming around with each other for a while you decided to take a break, sitting on top of the large rock that the other naiads used to bask in the sun. You used your fingers to brush your hair out slightly, Percy was sitting with his elbows on his knees. His skin was so pale in comparison to his black hair which was even darker if possible while it was wet. You didn't realize how long you'd been in the water until you saw that the sun was setting. You were about to make small talk when Naylene and Madison jumped onto the rock. 

"My Gods, I had no idea your tail was white, it's beautiful," Madison said.

"Oh then-" you started but were interrupted.

"So Y|N, how's the dream house. Are you able to tell your sisters apart under all that hair?" she asked. 

"Yeah everyones really nice, it's nice to be around girls who don't feel the need to compete with each other. They were all super welcoming," you jabbed back and suddenly as you could. Naylene was about to respond but before she could Percy began to speak. 

"We actually have to get back to my cabin but it was nice seeing you both, let's go Y|N," he said standing up and diving into the water. 

"Look I don't know who you think you were, I guess you think wearing a shirt with his last name on it makes you queen of the sea or something. Percy and I are almost a thing and I swear to the God's if you fuck that up you'd better watch your back," 

"Naylene!" Madison said as she jumped off the rock into the water, "I'm sorry she's normally bitchy but I don't know what's wrong with her lately. I'll see you around," she finished jumping off the rock. 

You were a bit taken back by what Naylene said, it was like her words went down your throat and created a pit in your stomach. Percy popped out of the water as you were about to lower yourself into the water from the bottom of the rock. He set his hand on your tail and looked up at you. His eyelashes were clumped together because of the water, his eyes were dazzling. He asked you if everything was alright and you reassured him that it was. After hopping back into the water, Percy grabbed your hands and pulled you on top of him. You were lying chest to chest, he then used a current that propelled you both towards his cabin. You laughed and rested your arms on his chest, helping steer in the right direction with your tail. His hair was slightly covering his eyes because of the momentum of the water. This made you laugh and prompted you to kiss him on the chin. Once you got to the dock that was attached from his cabin he got up first and then pulled you by the shoulders onto the dock. He picked you up and carried you over to his bed that had a huge towel draped over it. He then handed you another towel, you used this to dry your hair and tail. 

"Thank you," you said. 

"No worries," he said while using a towel to dry his hair, he then sat down on his office chair before continuing, "so you really never seen the mortal world?" he asked. 

"No, like I said my dad told us about it but not very much," you explain. 

"Can I take you?" he asked. 

"When?" you asked slightly skeptical about these plans. 

"Tonight." he said matter of factly.

"Is that even allowed?" you asked, finishing up with drying your hair and moving your attention to your tail. 

"Well like Chiron told you, they can't force us to stay here and we are allowed to go into the modern world to get toiletries, clothes and other necessities," he said. 

"But at designated times right?" you asked, finally standing up, now that your legs had finally emerged. 

"Well yeah but I-," he took a big sigh and walked over towards you, pulling his tee-shirt over your head, "I really like you and I know we just met and I respect if you think we're moving too fast like really I do get it. Today when I went into the water you were literally sparkling, you moved with such fluidity and grace. You are so striking and I just can't keep my eyes off you, you're so kind and genuine and I love that. It may be selfish but I want to be the one with you when you experience the world," he said, wrapping his arms around your waist, you looked up at him and smiled. You weren't quite sure what to say so your heart generated an answer before your brain could. 

"I would love to come with you but I am a bit scared," you said resting your arms on his shoulders. 

"It's okay, I grew up around mortals until I came here. Not to brag or anything but I know my way around," he said kissing the top of your head before continuing, "let's get ready yeah?" he asked and you nodded, letting your head rest on his bare chest listening to his heart beating. It made you giggle when you noticed that his heartbeat was fast. 

~

After you left Percy's cabin, you walked back to yours to get your backpack. One of the older girls asked you where you were going as you were shoving different things into your bag. You told her you were going for a late night swim because you were used to sleeping in water rather than a mattress. She bought it and rolled over before falling back asleep. Your heart was racing thinking about going into a real city. You dad always told you stories about buildings taller than trees and all the different shops and people. Even though your dad did explain the glorious upsides to the modern world he didn't leave out the dangers that came right along with it. How mortals are extremely judgemental and can be so cruel when it comes to beings who are different. This scared you but you knew as long as you concealed any mystical aspect of yourself, everything would be fine. It also brought comfort to you knowing that Percy had extensive knowledge of the modern world. You finally made it to his cabin where he was also gathering his things into a backpack. You knocked as you walked in which made Percy jump and you laugh. He let out a sigh and slung his bag over his shoulders, asking if you were ready to go. You nodded your head and started towards the entrance of camp. Percy fills you in on how during this time of night they start training new campers to become guards; this means that the front gate won't be as heavily guarded as it normally would be. Hand in hand you slip right past the entrance of the gate. After walking in the woods for a while you both talk and giggle with each other, you guys finally reach a train station. 

"Have you ever been on a train?" Percy asked you as he bought your tickets. 

"No but my dad told me about them because he used to ride one to get into town," you said. 

"Well I'll be here for your first time," you blushed and followed him onto the train car.

When you saw Percy hand the worker green bills you immediately recognized it from when you left home. Before the dove symbol appears over your head your dad helped you pack a bag and gave you a fabric drawstring bag with similar green paper inside. When you asked your dad what it was, he told you not to worry about it and not to lose it. You pulled the small velvet bag out of your backpack and showed Percy to ask what it was, his eyes widened when he saw.

"Where did you get all that?" he asked while counting it. 

"My dad gave it to me before I left home," you said, setting your bag down by your feet. 

"150 bucks," he said before folding the stack and putting it back in the bag.

"Is that a lot in terms of human money?" you asked as he handed the cash back to you. 

"Yeah it's a nice chunk of change," he said. 

"Oh okay, where are we going again? I know we're going to the city but what are we gonna do?" you asked. 

"I was thinking we could go to this mall I used to ditch class to go to. It's called ShopLand Plaza, it's really cool. It had a carousel and a lot of different places to eat and alot of cool stores," he said, wrapping his arm around you. 

You ended up falling asleep for the hour and a half ride there. Percy woke you up 10 minutes before you needed to get off the train at your stop. You were grateful because it gave you time to collect yourself before going into modern society for the first time. You grabbed your backpack and stood up with Percy, following him towards the train door. He grabbed your hand to help you off, and you were a little overwhelmed to say the least. It was loud; music blasting from a couple different directions, children screaming and of course just the loud sound of the subway. It wasn't until he led you up the concrete stairs that you felt better about coming. Percy told you it was only a 15 minute walk to the mall, as you walked you were slowly taking in your surroundings. All the billboards and people with crazy styles of mohawks that were two feet tall and colored every color you could think of. Or the most beautiful woman you'd ever seen, she was wearing a white fur coat with bright pink lipstick and was holding a cat that had a bedazzled harness on. It didn't take you long before getting to ShopLand. Once you walked in, the smell of food was one of the first things that you noticed once you walked inside. 

"Let's eat, I'm starving," he said, taking you by the hand and leading you to the restaurants that were lined up along the wall. 

Percy ended up deciding on Chinese which you were very excited to try. It was amazing, your dad had made rice before but adding egg, carrots, and peas made it that much better. It was the first time you'd ever had broccoli beef and you fell harder for it than you did Percy. After you guys ate, you started walking around, wandering into different stores. You got to the Disney store and when you saw The Little Mermaid doll you completely lost it. You had no idea that there was any type of representation of water nymphs in mainstream media. It made you a bit confused because your dad said mortals had an negative outlook on mythical beings but seeing pop culture yourself gives you a different story. Percy bought you the Prince Eric and Little Mermaid plushies which kept you blushing for a solid 30 minutes. You then followed him as he walked into a store called Zumiez, he was browsing the Thrasher's magazines. You held onto his arm and rested your head on his shoulder. You got bored after a while and noticed they sold bathing suit tops which you needed. As you looked around you noticed a store employee walk up to you and start a conversation. 

"So uh, are you looking for anything in particular?" he asked, taking a sip out of his plastic cup. 

"Oh yeah, I'm looking for a bathing suit," you said, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear. 

"Oh yeah for sure, are you like a model or something? I just asked because you're incredibly gorgeous so I- '' before he could finish his comment the drink he was holding had dropped causing water to spill all over him. He quickly made an excuse before rushing into the back room, when you turned around and saw Percy standing behind you a smile crept onto your face. He walked over to you and wrapped his arms around your shoulders as you looked through the bathing suit tops.

"Was that you? How did you know it was water in his cup?" you asked after deciding on a purple top, matching the one on the Ariel plush. 

"Yes it was and I didn't. I just hoped and prayed to the Gods that it was water," he said, giving you a kiss on your cheek. 

After you purchased your top and Percy got his magazines you started making your way out of the mall and towards the subway. Before you left however you had Auntie Annes for the first time and your eyes practically rolled into the back of your head when you took your first bite, washing it down with a frozen strawberry lemonade. You made it in time for the train and as you sat you looked up at him and tapped him on the shoulder. 

"I have a question and you can't laugh at me," you said which made a smirk appear on his face. 

"Okay, go ahead," he said. 

"What's a model?" you asked which made him laugh, you couldn't help but join him before entering a food coma for the rest of the ride home. 

[catiuskaa]

new task: valentine’s day {ACTS}

A/N: reposting by acts! [see full version here]. wanted to see if this format works better (and yes i will squeeze everything in this one right here cause its amazing and i 100% worked my ass off on it)

PAIRING! seungmin x reader ; enemies/rivals2lovers!

SUMMARY: boring classes, boring classmates, boring assignments…to seungmin, everyone is boring even if he’s used to pretend otherwise, but you seem to get on his nerves. you, your stupid poem, and his stupid letter.

WC: 4.408k

CW: fluffy comfort, use of spanglish (not relevant to the plot, dw), use of text format, the reader is stupidly short (which i know all about), academic rivals, bad student reader x good student seungmin, mentions of the unability to deal with complicated feelings, mentions of masking feelings, slight hint of bullying, mentions of being followed, (pet)names: little one, shortie, shortcake, smallable, pretty, hyunjin as a walking therapist, and the ending is kind of a reference to a show i'm obsessed with (not gonna say it so i don't spoil it for you guys hehehe)

|PROLOGUE| |ACT 1| |ACT 2| |ACT 3|

[☆★🌷★☆]

{ACT 2: UNDER THE STREETLIGHT}

After avoiding Seungmin like the plague all Thursday, only looking at his back when you zoned off in class, Friday arrived earlier than expected.

You hadn’t been able to concentrate at all, the thought of his sweet taste lingering in your mouth, almost letting you feel the ghost of his lips pressed against yours.

“Hello? Earth to… oh, you’re awake, Jesus.” Abril looked at you with a smile, but she was unable to hide her worried look.

“Of course I am,” you mumbled, shaking your head sideways. “What’s going on?”

“You haven’t even touched your delicious and totally-not-overcooked pasta.” Lara mentioned the cafeteria lunch as she poked it whith her fork, full of humour. “It leads to believe that you’re dealing with something far more interesting that the technical drawing homework, that’s for sure.”

You bit your lip, hesitating.

“Is it because Henry Li has been ignoring you?” Noa mentioned softly.

You blinked, puzzled. “Huh?”

He’d been ignoring you? Now that she had mentioned, maybe that could’ve happened. Maybe you would’ve realized if you hadn’t been so focused on Seungmin and whatever-happened-that-cannot-and-should-not-be-remembered-every-five-minutes…

…or maybe you should look for an easier name for it.

“Uh, no, he invited me to this new place today, actually,” you brushed your hair with your hand mindlessly. “But I’m fine. Really. Just tired.” You smiled at the girls, and joined in at their conversation.

After lunch, you separated from Lara and Noa, who had literature, and Abril, who had been hanging out with a guy called Jeongin from her photography club recently, and so you headed to the study room.

It was a quiet place, quieter that what you had initially expected for a high school study room. Matter of fact, you thought it was a pity that the school closed it after class, considering that in that case you wouldn’t have to walk to the public library.

You opened the door silently, finding that there were barely any students, only three or four people studying silently. You were heading towards a lonely corner so you could listen to music in a high volume without having to pay attention if it could be heard through your headphones. Or maybe, considering that it hadn’t been a lie and that you had slept like four hours maximum, you could probably rest there until the bell rang.

You snickered when you looked to your right, finding someone struggling with the technical drawing homework that had been assigned that morning, the one that Lara and Noa had been talking about.

You gently tapped the guy’s shoulder, but spoke before he even turned.

“You’re missing this incline here,” you whispered on his ear, your arms coming above his shoulders, placing your hands above his, placing the square and bevel on the right angle. “It should be seen, but with dotted lines, get it? That way the side-view makes sense.” You added with a soft giggle.

“Oh, right. T-thank you…” he mumbled, not facing you.

You brushed it off as weird, but your sleepy self wasn’t bothered enough to notice or pry, and instead smiled, ruffled his hair and settled in your cozy little corner, placing your scarf in between your arms and rested your head on it, merely “resting your eyes”, but only if a teacher happened to come and check on the students.

Seungmin stared at your sleeping figure, eyes almost wide. He felt like his heart was going to explode underneath the layers of flesh. His hands tingled, his usually warm and sweaty palms missing the comfortable coldness of yours, so soothing and relaxing.

Either you had completely gone crazy, or he had fallen asleep trying to complete the stupid assignment. He knew you were good at technical drawing, it was one of the subjects were he wasn’t. It wasn’t a surprise when several students started asking you for help on their papers and assignments, considering that you were one of the few who was able to receive praise from the teacher, a middle-aged man with no kind of vocation with kids or teaching, by any means.

But it had never happened when he was the one in need of help, had you ever considered the idea of helping him.

He watched you, puzzled, as he had never done before, and maybe it would be the first time of many because Seungmin found himself liking what he was seeing, dare I say mesmerized by the image before him.

By you.

Your sleepy figure was as calm as he had ever seen from you, sleeping with little to no care in the world. Your hair remained stuck in a ponytail, which allowed Seungmin to notice that it left the skin of your neck visible, and despite the voice on his head saying that it was a behaviour quite like a man from the Modern Ages, just being so fixated at that small bit of skin, he couldn’t help but feel bashfully amazed.

Suddenly, he noticed you licked your lips, your eyes still closed and your small smile never faltering, but that made something start to flutter in his stomach, as if a whole lot of butterflies had been awaken at the sight of you, tranquil, and sweet, and cute, and he forced himself to stop looking at you abruptly, wondering why he had done that in the first place.

Licking your lips only made Seungmin aware of how dry his were, and action plus the thought of your lips immediately brought back what had happened on Wednesday.

Crazy. He’d gone completely crazy.

He felt his hand slowly approach his lips and he grazed them with his fingers, almost able to taste your chapstick back on his lips. Because he had been able. All Wednesday night. And a small part of him wanted more of it.

He blushed, scratching his eyes. He hadn’t slept shit, his mind betraying him every time he attempted to close his eyes instantly going back to the memory of how you stared at him after your kiss, dark pupils, and red lips, and so ridiculously gorgeous that it made Seungmin wonder why whenever he saw you he resorted to his first line in code: being mean.

He never used that side with anyone. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried, because small, teasing and slightly unhinged Kim Seungmin had tried to be himself in middle school, and… well.

Let’s just say that it didn’t work like expected.

But everyone loved dorky, funny and sweet Seungmin. Even with the difference with grades, that had definetely not been appreciated in his early years, nowadays people would see that as a part of him, and he recieved praise for it, not only from teachers, but also nice classmates, who sometimes went to seek help from him.

He just needed to pretend for a bit. Smile here and there, and put on a sheepish act of bashfulness that despite it not being natural, it wasn’t totally bad. It wasn’t like middle school.

But then you came in the picture.

Something about you made Seungmin want to tease you. To see you finally look at him after battling in your head if you even should, and then, sometimes when you were mad enough, you’d glare at him, and he couldn’t help but grin. Your cheeks flushed in anger that creeped up your body, how you looked at him through your lashes or how you’d tease him back. The first time you had done that, his brain’s chemistry had changed, he was sure of that.

He didn’t care about the mean remarks, and that now seemed almost obvious, considering what had happened almost two days ago in the school bus.

But it got impossible to miss when Seungmin noticed your sleepy self shivering in your slumber. With a mental groan, careful of not making any kind of loud noise in the study room, he slowly got closer to your corner, and tried to close the windows near it. And failed, because the stupid windows were old and rusty, only able to move them a bit.

He bit his lip, arguing in his head. Would that be enough? No, it probably wasn’t, right? Yeah, it couldn’t be. Considering that you always wore thin clothing, always borrowing your mates’ jackets…

…it couldn’t possibly hurt to do a bit more, right?

Seungmin approached you further, and shook a hand close to your face, but you were dead, as still as a fallen tree, despite the sunlight that enetered throught the windows glowing on your face, the Sun in winter, that brought little to no warmth, made you shine in his eyes.

He’d see you in the public library a couple of hours later. It didn’t mean anything. He could probably tease you for sleeping in school later. Yeah. And then he’d ask for his jacket back.

Seungmin was lost in his thoughts as he carefully settled his jacket over your shoulders, and he froze when you sighed deeply, surrounded by a familiar warmth and a cozy scent that you didn’t know you had missed or needed until then, but you didn’t wake up.

He blinked when he noticed your phone in your hand, the screen suddenly turning on. He giggled at your wallpaper, which had a silly joke on it and a funny doodle of a banana.

But then his eyes trailed down to the notification that had made the phone turn on.

[3 new messages from: henry li🫧]

> sorry i didn’t get to see u yesterday, had to sort smth out!

>guys.its.totally.a.real.address.wdym.lol

> it’s the address for later, shortcake 😉❤️

…huh?

Seungmin blinked once. Twice. Nah, his glasses had to be deceiving him. Then, another notification popped up.

> can’t wait to see you ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

He winced silently.

Ugh. What a cringy choice of emojis.

Did you really like this guy?

He frowned, going back to his place in the study room.

Ugh.

He didn’t care, obviously. Why would he care? That wasn’t his business. Never was, never would be. Not like he was interested. Pffft, no. Not at all. Yeah, nah. That kiss had been a one time thing. Totally. 100%. He wasn’t thinking about it again. Nope. Nor did he want to kiss you again. Not in a chance.

Just… ugh.

It was just that… no. Scratch that. No further comments.

He sighed as he went back to his work, feeling a sudden inspiration hit him as he took out a blank paper for the English class valentine’s assignment, but not before he looked at you again, then shook his head, turning the music back on in his headphones. He started writing, drafting, and throwing papers away, getting slightly desperate at his perfectionism.

He sighed. His eyes trailed off towards you.

Slowly, words started to flow in his head. Pretty sentences, things that he had kept hidden in the back of his mind. Maybe it could be good to let it all out. It couldn’t hurt. Yeah.

So he stared writing. Vomiting word after word. And he finished earlier than expected, with two papers.

One was perfect for the english assignment. It was boring and dull enough to be handed in for a school work, but good enough for his perfectionism.

And the other… was something different.

Something that had only happened because you were there, in front of him.

He stood up, letter on his hand. He leaned against the table you were sleeping in, and settled the jacket further on your shoulders. He sighed, grabbing a pen from his pencil case, folding the letter and signed it.

Maybe it was a bad idea, he thought as he picked up his stuff from the table and adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

He looked at your figure once more before heading out.

It had been to check if you were still asleep, of course.

Just to check.

Yeah.

[☆★🌷★☆]

Your phone vibrated in your hand again.

And again.

And again.

With a groan, you silently accepted that there was no way you could fool an inanimate object into believing that you were still asleep.

But when you yawned and looked around and didn’t find the posters in your room, but rather a whole bunch of tables and chairs, your eyes widened.

It hadn’t been your alarm but a phone call that had awoken you.

“Y-yeah?” You mumbled, picking up the call and quickly taking your backpack and scarf and rushing out of the study room, taking a quick scan and making sure you weren’t leaving anything behind.

“I’m heading to the club now, shortcake.” A low voice greeted. “Are you getting ready?”

Who…?

“H-henry?” You frowned slightly.

You heard him snicker through the other side. “Yeah?”

Fuck, shit, fuck.

“N-nothing! Nothing, I, uh, I was just doing my make up. Y-you know.”

What? You frowned, even more this time. No, that didn’t make any sense. You always blabbered about how you never did your make up for clubbing because the one you owned was cheap and never stayed on anyways.

“Sure, yeah.”

It didn’t seem like he had noticed.

“You can head there before me. I’ll go there eventually, yeah?”

You heard him snicker on the other side of the phone call. “Ok, baby.” He cleared his throat, stuttering a bit. “Y-yeah, I mean, I’ll uh… get there in a bit. Don’t rush.”

Only then you felt that the wind from outside wasn’t freezing your bones like usual. You squinted at the jacket you were wearing.

“Henry, did you…?” But he hung up.

It probably was him. Yeah. That’s why he had called you. To make sure you’d wake up.

Besides, there were little to no people who’d do such a kind gesture towards you, and even if the jacket was pretty much your style and it smelled like heaven, it didn’t feel like something any of the girls would keep around.

So, why didn’t it made you feel giddy that Henry had given you his jacket?

You kept on running through the hallways and catched the bus that was usually there for students who had extracurricular classes, unlucky people who had to stay in school late in Fridays. You never had, using Fridays to be a bit lazy or to start homework sooner just to hand it in earlier than Seungmin.

Oh.

Friday.

Seungmin.

The library.

You bit your nails, staring through the window.

Would he wait there for long?

What was he going to do once he figured you weren’t going to show up?

Were you… feeling guilty?

No… that… that couldn’t be, you chuckled dryly. Mean decisions against Kim Seungmin didn’t spend too much time on the judgmental side of your brain. You just… teased him back. And he’d take it. And double it. And so on.

So why did this feel too mean?

Could it be because of whatever-happened-that-cannot-and-should-not-be-remembered-every-five-minutes?

Could the fact that it had been the best thing that had happened in a long while?

Well, fine.

Not just ‘thing’.

A kiss.

And for fuck’s sake, what kiss.

You groaned and grunted, sprinting home as soon as the bus stopped.

Why did it always have to be him?

You entered your room and burst open your closet. The jacket was cool, you thought. And if you were going to see Henry, you could just wear it and hand it back to him in the club.

It was vintage, but its warmth engulfed you as if it had been handmade. Its funky designs and patterns looked cute, and its grey color contrasted well with it. You chose the first dress you saw, a tight black dress with no sleeves that you would’ve discarded as too short if you had more time, but it wasn’t exactly something you could’ve bragged about.

Jacket, dress, high socks, boots, wallet, phone, keys, headphones… yeah. You nodded, checking all of the boxes in your mental list, and started hurriedly walking to the address he had sent.

You hoped you weren’t going to be too late.

[☆★🌷★☆]

“Pick up, pick up, pick up…”

“The number you are trying to call is turned off or out of coverage. Please, leave your message after the—”

You hang up, tired of hearing that mechanic voice over and over again.

You looked around you, and there was nothing that looked like a club. You had tried to enter the building that the address lead to, but it hadn’t got well.

A strange figure opened a small window and gave you a look, almost disgusted. It took you a second to understand that they were wearing a mask, with dark lace and other colours. But just when you were about to speak, the window slammed close.

You blinked, puzzled. Where the fuck was Henry sending you? What kind of club was this?

You had started to roam around the building, trying to call him —and failing misserably, because the damn guy couldn’t pick up the fucking phone for the life of him—, but now you were starting to run out of ideas.

It was past 12pm, your legs shivered with every slight wind that swooshed your way, and there was no one that was going to pick up the phone. Not Henry, that ridiculous imbecile, not Lucas, who always bragged about having his phone in night mode, so nothing would get to him until morning, and not the girls, because Noa had her phone turned off, Atenea was most likely sleeping, Abril and Lara hadn’t picked up either, and your list of close friends who could possibly pick up was… that.

And no one was picking up the fucking phone.

You were about to keep on ranting about how disgustingly bad this was turning out to be, but you heard footsteps coming your way. You looked around, but didn’t find the source. With a frown, you walked to the building again

Placing your hand on one of the windows, who were dark and almost impossible to see through, you could notice that in the dim light from what could be seen outside, Henry was well entertained with a certain kind of company, so much that he couldn’t even pick up your phone.

You closed your eyes and leaned your forehead against the tinted glass. Of course. Yeah. That made total sense. It was Henry, after all. He had always been known to be kind of an asshole anyways. It couldn’t possibly come out as a surprise the fact that he actually was.

You shook your head and mentally mocked him and the blond girl he was kissing.

Henry Li could go to Hell.

Guess there was nothing left to do now. You had dumped Seungmin, and Henry had dumped you. It was an ass move over an ass move. Maybe you kinda deserved it.

But then your thoughts ended in a halt, because you swore you could feel a shadow starting to follow you from a distance.

They were behind you, but not too close, and due to their hoodie it was imposible to distinguish their face.

So you started walking. Turning left. Right. Left again. Right. Just kept on walking. Don’t look behind you. They’d probably just leave. This had to be your imagination, 100%.

But when you took a peak, the silhouette was not only still behind you, slowly walking towards you, but a slight bit closer this time.

You swallowed dry, gulped, even. Your heart tightened in your chest. What kind of joke was this? Your eyes were tearing up. You were tired, and this was mental. Adrenaline rumped through your body, and even if you were already lost, you kept on walking.

You took your phone from your pocket. Think, think, think. Who could you call? Who could pick up at one am? You scrolled down your list of contacts, until for a reason you don’t fully get, your eyes stopped at a certain name.

—> seungmeannie

It couldn’t possibly hurt to try… right?

You sniffed almost silently, and pressed call.

One beep.

Two beeps.

Three beeps.

You started crying a bit louder, unable to hold it back.

“Eh, hi…?”

“S-seungmin!” You sobbed, smiling. It was the first time in your life you had been that happy just from being able to hear his voice, raspy and low.

“W-what?” He stopped talking, and you guessed that it was because he hadn’t figured out who was calling him so late at night. “Do you know what time it is, you fun-sized dingus?” He groaned sleepily at the phone.

You bit your lip and sniffed.

“Wait. Are you… crying?” His tone had changed.

“I-i’m sorry about t-this eve-ening.” You sobbed, failing to hold back the tears, hugging the jacket that was still on your shoulders.

“Are you drunk, little one?” You never thought your shoulders could relax as fast as they had when his soft tone of voice called you that stupid nickname.

“N-no, I… I went to this stupid club, with-“

“With Henry, yeah.” The way he said his name, as if he wanted to put that stupid bitch in a box and send him to the end of the world took you by surprise.

“B-but um, he’s not picking up my phone and I…” you gulped. Taking a peek behind you, you shivered. “I think someone’s following me.”

“Wait, what?” Seungmin had never stood up from bed as fast as he had done that night. “Where are you?” He asked to the phone as he randomly picked a sweater and his glasses, biting his lip as he struggled to put on his shoes.

“I… I don’t know.” You sobbed. “I started walking away so he’d go, but it didn’t work.” You mumbled, sniffing. You felt so stupid.

“Everything’s going to be fine, yeah?” It was the first time in the whole afternoon that you felt like that statement could be true. Because Seungmin was going to help you. “Don’t hang up. Tell me what buildings can you see. Try heading away from small alleys. I’ll find you.”

Seungmin rushed out of his appartment, not before scribbling down what was happening in a post it note and left it on his mother’s bedside table.

“T-there are some restaurants, but they’re all closed.” You started, dubious as how was this going to work. “There’s a road to my left.”

“Can you name any of the restaurants, little one?” Seungmin had a hunch, and he huffed, sprinting to the plaza closest to his appartment.

“I just passed by a Mexican, I think.” You sniffed, Seungmin’s soothing voice working like a charm and calming you down slowly. “In front of me, I think this is a Japanese… it’s called Ginza.”

Seungmin chuckled, feeling relief flooding his body. “Y-yeah, ok! I- god, yes, I know where you are. Keep walking straight ahead. There should be a park, right?” He started running, hiding the fact that he’d have to rush and make the usual fifteen minutes it could take him to arrive where you were and make them five.

He needed to see you and make sure you were safe.

“I… shit, yeah! I can see it!” You went back to crying, a smile planted in your features.

“I’m almost there. You’re doing so well, little one.”

You felt your cheeks getting warmer at that. Walking a bit faster, you looked behind you, finding that the silhouette was still there.

But Seungmin was close. Seungmin said everything would be fine.

“S-seungmin?” You mumbled at the phone, wanting to hear his voice, so soothing and warm.

“Under the streetlight, silly.”

You heard the beep that sounded when Seungmin ended the call, but he was there, tangible, a couple of meters away from you.

You chuckled, happy to see him for the first time ever, and crying away the pent up stress and worry, you ran off to him, and clung your arms around his neck tightly, unbothered at the need to stand on the tips of your toes to do so.

Seungmin stuttered, still panting from the marathon he had ran to get there, 100% baffled at this. But it was ok. You were there. You were safe.

“T-they’re still behind me.” You whispered against his chest.

He could feel your nervousness on your tone, how scared you were judging by how strongly your arms closed behind his neck, and hesitated for a second before hugging you back, his arms pulling you closer by your lower back, keeping you grounded and so weirdly safe in his grasp, and it felt so strangely comforting coming from him that your eyes swelled with more tears.

You couldn’t see or feel the person behind you anymore, but Seungmin did, somewhat clearly.

The only thing that his mind made up that moment is that for the person to leave, they’d have to believe you two did know each other.

And Seungmin’s heart beated loudly in his chest when your grasp loosened and you stood back on your feet, allowing him to see how your lip trembled, how you were holding back tears and how you looked at him with a million emotions hidden in the colour of your eyes. He had never seen you cry before.

His hands itched to touch you again, a sudden need to comfort you that overwhelmed him.

So he did.

His hands cradled your cheeks, his thumbs brushing away your tears, and he pecked your lips softly, smiling at your baffled face. His arms engulfed you in a comforting hug that smelled so much like the jacket you were wearing.

He looked behind you, and the silhouette was nowhere to be found. As if it had never been there before.

“It’s ok.” Seungmin whispered in your ear. “I’m here now. You’re safe. They’re gone, yeah?” His arms rested on your shoulders as his slender hands stroked your hair. “No one’s gonna hurt you now, pretty.”

And you started to cry on his shoulder, because not only then you realized how bad you had needed a hug, and not even the fact that it had been a hug from him that you had secretly yearned for, but because none of your excuses made sense now.

There was no ‘fake’ or ‘real’ Seungmin.

Whatever he was, fake or not, stood in front of you as he hugged you under the streetlight.

And you sighed as he cooed at you softly, because deep down you had known for a while.

It was time you came to terms with it.

[☆★🌷★☆]

[bruce--yamada]

“ The seasons. ”

Pt 2 / ?

Includes - Rinney / Finbin

As the day passed, Robin got more and more nervous. As he waited in his seventh class, he could only watch the clock that stood at the top of the door. Tick, tick, tick. It rang in his head. Tick, tick, tick. God, why was it so annoying. Tick, tick, tick. Five minutes passed, then two, then one.

"Robin Arellano," He snapped out of his trance with the clock as his teacher spoke. "the clock won't move any faster with you staring at it, get to work. That assignment is due tomorrow and I won't be giving you extra time."

Robin sighed and looked down at his paper, he stared. Some words started to form into Finney, he flipped it over to the back quickly which gained another comment from the teacher. "Robin Arellano. There's nothing on the back, if you don't get started, you will have detention." She glared at the kid.

"Sorry miss." He mumbled and flipped the page back over, he pretended to read. He couldn't risk getting detention. Not when him and Finney were supposed to be hanging out after school. That was if Finney ever wanted to lay eyes on him again.

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Finally, the bell rang and Robin threw his stuff into his bag. Not like he would care, most of his papers were already crumbled and destroyed.

Robin huffed as he let go of Finn's hand. "Jesus- I don't know why I'm so out of breath.." He groaned, he looked at Finney and smiled. "What's happenin'?" He asked like usual. "Keepin' on keepin' on." Robin smiled more as he said it. "Ready?" "What's the full plan, Robin? You know I like my plans."

He rushed out of the classroom, finally escaping the ticking noises of the clock. He looked around before running to Finney classroom. A smile came on his face as he saw Finn leave his class. "Finn!" He yelled out and smiled, he slowed down as he reached the boy.

Too many people, his first thought was. Before Finney could respond to Robin, the dark haired boy grabbed the other's hand and led him to a less crowded area.

Right, he did. Finney absolutely loved plans. Robin sighed and shrugged. "I was just thinkin', maybe we stop by grab 'n go and get some snacks and drinks and just go chill? Maybe we can have a sleep over at my house? My mamá doesn't get home till super late and she already loves you so, I doubt she'll see a problem with it." He smiled.

"Sure Arellano." Robin blinked. "Please, if you're going to kill me today, please just tell me.... That's the second time you've done something man. You're scaring me. I am scared." Finney nudged him with his elbow. "You don't get scared." "God, feed my ego, Finn. Make me fall more in love with you."

"Okay Blake. Come on, I don't wanna be here anymore." Robin finished as he already began to walk away, Finney jogged up next to him and they went on with their day.

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Robin threw down the grab 'n go bag, soon following it as he plopped into the snow. He smiled and soaked up the cold. Finney sat down next to him before he laid back.

"I love winter." Finney stated. "I know." Robin replied. "I know you know." Robin turned his head and looked at Finney, he looked like a god. So handsome. The way the sun illuminated his face, bringing out his features. The way Finney's freckles could barely be seen due to the snow or how his hair got every so slightly lighter.

He turned his head back forward, he looked at the sky, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Robin?" A pause. "Yeah?" Robin sighed. "You know I know Spanish, right?" "I do." Finney looked at him. "Why did you call me your love?"

"Because.." He started. Should he really confess his feelings? Nah. Not now. "It was just a thing, you know? Because you're my best friend." He mumbled. "Oh, alright. So when you say " I love you " You mean it platonically?" Robin sighed, he didn't want to lie, especially because he knew it wasn't platonically.

"Yep." He lied. "Alright.. Thought so." A hint of sorrow in his voice. "Finney?" Robin kept his voice low. "Yeah?" He responded. "I love you more than there are stars in space." Finney felt himself tense up a bit, his face going red.

"Do you mean that?" He asked. "Yes, and I always will." Silence. The ticking of the clock came back into Robin's mind. "You don't mean that platonically, do you?" Robin looked at Finney. "No. Please don't hate me, I can't lose you. Please don't leave." "I do."

Robin looked forward. "Can we head back to mine?" He asked. Silence, tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

"I'd like that."

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

TEHEHEHHE <3333

[thelastspeecher]

I've been working on this off and on for A While but finally got around to finishing it. I don't know what to title it though so uh here. Have Stan and Angie reconciling in the Pollution Powers AU. It takes place following this ficlet.

———————————————————————————————————–

                 “No, this is about how you insult and degrade some poor girl after spending our entire lives defending me from the same behavior!”  Stan stared blankly at Angie in the back of the science classroom as she scribbled some things down in her notebook.  Her lab partner, Ford, said something to her.  She nodded.  Is Ford right?  Am I…a bully?  He wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t lie to himself.  At least, not about something like this.  Angie doesn’t deserve the way I’ve been treating her any more than Ford deserved being shoved into locker.  It’s not self-defense or even revenge.  It’s bullying.  Stan swallowed.  I’m a bully.

                 “Uh…Stan?” squeaked his assigned lab partner, some shrimpy guy whose name he could never remember.  “You should probably be more careful…”  Stan tuned him out, still ruminating on the revelation he had been acting like a bully.  His musings were cut short by searing heat on his wrist.  He let out a yelp and whipped his head around.  His mouth went dry.

                 His hand had strayed too close to the active Bunsen burner.  Fire was spreading up the sleeve of his shirt, but worse, he could see his hand beginning to darken, a sheen on his fingers catching the light of the flames.

                 Shit, shit, shit!  No!  Don’t turn oil!  But it was no use.  His body refused to listen to him.  Stan screamed as the oil caught up with the fire, burning so deep it felt like it reached his bone.  He collapsed to the floor, closing his eyes.  His classmates let out gasps and shouts.  I’m gonna die.  I’m gonna die an asshole.  A harsh gush of wind suddenly enveloped him, accompanied by a loud whoosh.  The burning stopped its spread, though much of what had already been hit remained searingly painful.  Deafening silence fell.  Stan opened his eyes.

                 A yellow powder stuck to his still oily skin.  The fire was gone.  Pointedly avoiding his arm, Stan looked in the direction the wind had come from.  The classroom fire extinguisher was a mere foot away from him.  But the person holding the fire extinguisher was still at the back of the classroom, where she had been when Stan last saw her.  His jaw dropped.  Angie blushed furiously.  Her arms, which extended across the classroom, slowly retracted, shrinking to their normal length.  She set the fire extinguisher on the floor.  Ford patted her shoulder with a smile.

  ��              “I was gone for five minutes!” an exasperated voice said.  All heads turned.  The science teacher stood in the doorway, arms crossed, tapping her foot irritably.  “All right, what happened?” she snapped.

                 “Stan caught on fire and Angie put him out,” Stan’s lab partner piped up nervously.  The science teacher looked at Stan for confirmation.  Stan nodded.

                 “Great.”  The science teacher walked over to Stan and helped him up.  At the sight of his arm, she gasped.  “Holy-”  She took a deep breath.  “Has anyone finished with their assignment?”  Stan didn’t have to look to know that Ford and Angie would be raising their hands.  “Excellent.  Stanford, take Stanley to the nurse.  Now.”

                 “Yes, Miss Stephens,” Ford said obediently.  Stan silently gathered his things and waited by the door for Ford.  The class slowly returned to their normal activities.  Ford joined Stan at the door.  The two exited the classroom together.  They walked down the hallway in awkward silence for a few minutes before Ford finally cleared his throat.

                 “So, uh, how are you?” he asked hesitantly.

                 “In agonizing pain, but other than that, just peachy,” Stan snapped.  Ford winced.

                 “Yeah.  So.  Uh.  You’re flammable in oil form, apparently.”

                 “No shit.”  Stan looked away.  “Did you know about Angie’s contamination?”  There was a beat.

                 “Yes.”

                 “How long?”

                 “For a while now,” Ford said softly.  “I witnessed her fingers stretching when she was practicing piano.”

                 “Why didn’t you tell me?” Stan demanded.  “If I knew, I wouldn’t have-”

                 “Bullied her?” Ford finished.  “Stanley, we both know that’s not true.  You were following Jimmy’s lead, and Jimmy would have found some new reason to mess with her.  He made her his target the moment he saw her.”

                 “…Yeah,” Stan mumbled.  “But seriously, why didn’t you tell me?  You’re supposed to tell me stuff.  We’re twins!”

                 “We haven’t been acting like twins as of late.”  Ford sighed.  “Even if we were as close as we used to be, Angie made me promise to not tell anyone.  It’s her contamination and she wanted to have control over when and how people learn about it.”  Stan grimaced.

                 “And then I was stupid and set myself on fire and she didn’t have a choice.”

                 “She did.  I could have grabbed the fire extinguisher and rushed up to you.  I was about to do so.  But Angie beat me to it.”

                 “Why?”

                 “She’s surprisingly level-headed when it comes to high stress situations,” Ford said.  “She claims it’s because her generally high levels of anxiety prepare her for the moments in which everyone else panics or freezes.”

                 “I guess that makes sense.”

                 That’s not what I meant.  Why did she save me after the way I treated her?  They arrived at the nurse’s office.

                 “Do you want me to come in with you?” Ford asked.  Stan shook his head.

                 “Nah.  I can handle it.”

                 “Should I wait?”

                 “Um.”  Stan steeled himself and finally looked at his burned arm.  His stomach churned.  He frantically swallowed the bile rising in his throat.  “No,” he croaked.  “I think- I think I’m gonna be here for a while.”

-----

                 Stan walked up to the second floor, where the dorm rooms were located.  After a moment’s hesitation, he turned right instead of left.  Most of the doors on the girls’ side were closed, but a few were open, their inhabitants looking at Stan in confusion.  Stan hunched his shoulders and stared down at the floor.  Some of the boys spent regular time on the girls’ side; Ford and Fiddleford visited Angie in her room regularly.  But Stan hadn’t gotten close to any of the female students, and as such, wasn’t allowed in any of their rooms.  Which some girls enforced gleefully.

                 Including Angie’s roommate.  Stan winced, thinking about Bethany.  Moses, please don’t let her be there.  She’s scary.  As the most recently enrolled girl, Angie’s room was at the end of the hallway, resulting in a seemingly endless trek.  When he finally reached it, the door was open, revealing Angie sitting on her bed, strumming on a ukulele.  To Stan’s relief, Angie’s scary roommate was nowhere to be seen.  He coughed.  Angie looked up.  Her mismatched eyes widened.

                 “Stanley!”  She seemed confused.  “Um.  Are ya lookin’ fer Stanford?”

                 “No.  I, uh, I’m looking for you.”

                 “…Why?” Angie asked suspiciously.

                 “You saved my life.  I figured I’d, uh, talk to you.”  Angie’s brow furrowed slightly.  Stan quickly utilized the phrasing Ford had suggested.  “I want to clear the air.”  Angie chewed on her lip.

                 “Well, um, in that case, you can come in.”  Angie moved aside so that Stan could sit next to her.  “How’s yer arm?” she asked softly.  Stan looked down at his bandages.

                 “Well, it’s not so bad they’re gonna amputate,” he joked.

                 “I reckon it’s awful painful,” Angie said, her southern drawl suddenly very prominent.

                 “Um.”  Stan rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.  “Some of it is.  But not all of it.”  Angie gasped.  One of her hands daintily covered her mouth.

                 “Oh, no!  Third degree burns?”

                 “How did you-”

                 “I grew up on a farm.  I learned basic first aid at a young age.  Part of that means knowin’ when somethin’s bad enough ya need to go to the hospital.  Third degree burns, the kind what don’t hurt ‘cause the nerve endings are destroyed, that’s when ya need a doctor.”  Angie put her hand on Stan’s knee.  “I’m sorry.  I should’ve moved faster.”

                 “What?” Stan stared at her.  “You moved plenty fast!”

                 “You got third degree burns!”

                 “Yeah.  But I could’ve died,” Stan said firmly.  “You saved my life.”  Angie’s eyes widened.  Her cheeks turned pink.  Stan shifted, uncomfortable from the impulsive vulnerability.  “Um.  Even when I’m not in oil form, I’ve still got oil all in me.  Like, all of me has it.  I was gonna go up in flames even if I didn’t lose control and start turning fully oil.”  Angie nodded.

                 “I get that.  I’m the same way.  My contamination, it’s from an herbicide.  I’ve got the herbicide in my body.  Every cell’s got some of it.”

                 “Really?” Stan asked, interested.  “I didn’t know that was where you got your contamination.”  Angie looked away, rubbing her arm.

                 “Yep.  That’s what it comes from,” she mumbled.  An awkward silence fell.  After a few moments, Angie sighed.  “Why are you really here, Stan?”

                 “Whattaya mean?”

                 “Did Fidds or Stanford put ya up to this?”

                 “No!”  Stan grimaced.  “But they did give me some advice for what to say.”

                 “You came here out of the goodness of yer own heart?”

                 “I dunno how much good I’ve got in my heart, but I’m not here ‘cause someone told me to be here.”  Angie looked at Stan with a doubtful expression.  “I’m here ‘cause it finally got through to me that I’ve been an asshole to you.  And you didn’t deserve it.”

                 “I don’t want you to start treatin’ me nice only because I helped ya out.  Then ya didn’t learn anything, ya just decided ya owed me,” Angie said firmly.  Stan raised an eyebrow, impressed.

                 I’ve gotta stop underestimating the McGuckets.

                 “I was gonna talk to you before the whole…”  Stan waved his uninjured arm vaguely.  “…fire thing.”

                 “Really.”

                 “Really.  Last night, Ford and I, we had a talk.”

                 “Goin’ off what I know ‘bout the two of ya, I’m guessin’ it weren’t a meaningful heart-to-heart?”

                 “No.  There was shouting and Ford exploded something.”

                 “Is that why security went ‘round checkin’ all the rooms?” Angie asked.  “Bethany got woke up by it and was wonderin’ what made ‘em do a random check.”

                 “Yeah.  That was us.”  Stan took a deep breath.  “But even though Ford exploded something, what he said really- like I said, it got through my stupid thick skull.  I was planning on talking to you today.”

                 “And then ya caught on fire.”

                 “Yeah, that ruined my plan.”

                 “I see.”

                 “But I’m gonna change,” Stan said quickly.  “I don’t want to be the kinda person I protected Ford from back home.”  Angie searched Stan’s face.  She hesitated, then nodded slightly.

                 “I believe ya.”

                 “You do?”

                 “Maybe I shouldn’t.  Bethany will definitely get on my case ‘bout it.  But my fam’ly believes in second chances.  I want to make sure ya have one.”

                 “So…we’re good?” Stan asked hesitantly.  Angie looked down at the floor, her brow furrowed.  Eventually, she shook her head.

                 “No.  We’re not.  But if ya make good on the promise to change fer the better, we will be eventually.”  She shot Stan a hesitant smile.  Stan returned it with a grin of his own.

                 “I’ll take it.”

[halfbakedspuds]

OC interview

Thanks to @illarian-rambling for the tag!

Rules: write your OC's response to the questions

I have Hans von Nirgends on my mind so I'll do it for him.

Are you named after someone?

At birth, I was named after my paternal grandmother... no, I will not tell you what that name was, allesficker. When I fled to Neureich, they asked under what name I wished to be registered, and I... panicked a bit, choosing 'Hans Schmidt' (which I'll admit is possibly the most stereotypically Tuitish name ever). Then I joined the Neureich Friedensrichter corps and got assigned to a little frontier town in the Mittelostia territory called 'Nirgends'- which I may have grown a little too attached to since I had my surname changed to 'von Nirgends' after a year and a half of living there.

When was the last time you cried?

Probably after the last Hellstorm I survived. Not necessarily because anything bad happened, they just leave behind a kind of eldritch beauty that you can't help but shed tears at the sight of. The last time I cried out of heartbreak... I decline to comment, that memory remains buried for a reason.

Do you have kids?

That's not really on the table for me due to several reasons- let's just lie to ourselves, say that Hellstorms are sterilising and leave it at that, alright?- and as much as I'd like to maybe adopt kids someday, I'm also far too afraid that I'll turn out like my father. No child deserves that.

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

What do you think, detective? In all honesty, it annoyed my father, so it became a rebellious habit of mine.

What is the first thing you notice about people?

The way they walk. That can usually tell me whether or not they have a gun concealed that's getting in the way of their movements, but all in all it's just a lesson learnt from experience.

What's your eye colour?

Bluish-grey. Although under... certain conditions, they take on the colour of a dark storm.

Scary movies or Happy endings?

I don't know, maybe my life has just been filled with enough real fear and horror, but scary movies don't really do anything for me. I'm a sucker for a happy ending, though. Probably because I'm still looking for mine.

Any special talents?

What, why do you... oh wait, that's what you mean. I guess I'm a decent-ish marksman. How many people do you know who can take a rifle and put a hole in a coin from a hundred and fifty measures out from horseback?

Where were you born?

Listen here, and listen close. If you tell anyone this, I will find you. Verstehen? Good.

I was born in the Wasserfall family manor in the Grenzenwald barony of Tuitis, near the Tuitis-Lenroux border. Happy? Good, let's move on.

Do you have any pets?

I had a dog named Rufus while I was still a Friedensrichter. Damn good partner, closest I ever had to a friend before I met Anselm and Mariette. Anyways, one day we were on a job, stopping a gang who'd commandeered a cash transit train. Rufus ran in, bit their leader in the soft, and got shot for it.

My orders were to take that gang alive. Well, it's not exactly my fault if some outlaw scum managed to vanish into thin air as if they'd been vaporised. It's also not my fault that I may have done the reasonable thing and... assisted in the emancipation of their molecular bonds.

What sort of sports do you play

In Nirgends they have this sport that the children play where you need to try to get a ball into the other team's goalpost. When I was off duty, I'd sometimes play it with them, though it says something that I as a twenty-four year old man repeatedly got thrashed by a bunch of young teenagers... Bozhe, now I miss home.

How tall are you?

One measure, twenty five marks. In your system that's about 167cm or about 5'5".

What was your favourite subject in school

My father wasn't too keen on the idea of me receiving an education, however there was a guy in town who our family commissioned machinery and other things from who taught me how to read, write, and maintain machinery whenever I snuck out to visit him. My favourite lessons were the ones where he only told me the design specs and left me to figure things out myself. I guess I just enjoyed the challenge and he knew it.

What is your dream job

A musician, maybe. Although if I'm being honest I'm getting tired of a life where something exciting is constantly happening to me. Perhaps I'd like to hang up my rifle and put my talents as a mechanic to use here in Ost-Rietland... yes, that actually sounds quite lovely.

Blank template under the cut

Are you named after someone?

When was the last time you cried?

Do you have any kids?

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

What is the first thing you notice about people?

What is your eye colour?

Scary movies or Happy endings?

Any special talents?

Where were you born?

Do you have any pets?

What sort of sports do you play?

How tall are you?

What was your favourite subject in school?

What is your dream job?

[hypocratic]

@vitalphenomena for mack.

The most essential electronic feature in the Baltimore State Hospital that Frederick employs (aside from his office's espresso machine or the automized locks installed in every door thick enough to contain one) is the site-wide thermostat. Therapy rooms are kept at a cool sixty-two degrees fahrenheit; it is harder to lie convincingly when one is physically uncomfortable, however minimal or subliminal. Effectiveness is consistent regardless of a patient's awareness of such tactics: the cold will not dissipate whether one notices it or not. (Behavior, notably, is much the same.) In fact, registering it or its purpose only serves to amplify its presence.

Exactly an hour before private sessions within a patient's room, the silver vent in the corner of the ceiling hisses to life like a long, metal reptile coiled (in sharp, forty-five degree angles) in the rafters.

Many rooms fill with this sluggish-chill—a cold, constricted blue—throughout the day. Often, patients or staff shiver when Frederick passes them in the hallway; a simple conditioned response the uncritical misattribute to fear. An assumption, however, he makes no effort to undo.

The astute quietly conspire, voices so low the cameras present in nearly every room and hall can't detect any chatter. They talk at medical carts (staff) or through toilet plumbing (patients) or all together in the common rooms; a group can predict which branch of the facility Frederick will visit that day solely by recording room temperatures.

He's storming the halls, he hears an officer whisper as he passes through administration. Cute. An impotent hurricane with a limp, a nurse replies. He'll reassign her shift to the noncompliant quarters.

Frederick is never cold. His two piece suits keep him well insulated during the hour-long sessions. Today, he chose a wool jacket and pants. Thick, coarse fabric; stiff but remarkably pliable; a beautifully dyed brown plaid with a pocket square tucked in the hidden breast pocket stitched into the satin lining of his jacket, there in the event that his face or neck show any signs of perspiration; the sensation of warm abundance is an experience allotted to him alone of which he makes no effort to hide amongst patients—and some staff.

This will be his first formal session with Miss Mackenzie Knight. She has been temporarily assigned to the high security women's hall as she undergoes evaluation. After two days, she was approved by the attending psychologist for private interactions. He'll wait no longer than that. Of course, in this section, there's no true privacy. Cushioned walls separate each cell, but thin, horizontal bars—wide enough for voices and for arms—display each patient to the hallway and whatever figures may be loitering therein. There are no individual vents here since every room is, in a sense, conjoined. But the single vent is on. Frederick feels it at the nape of his neck, on the slim area of exposed skin between his weekly-cut hair and starched, blue collar as he enters the hallway. That chill wind hissing out like an invisible snake tongue.

Frederick carries with him nothing. Mackenzie has no backlog of hospital records for him to refer to. No written reports were found in the wreckage. Not hers, or anyone's. It would seem either the cult had no interest in writing physical or mental reports, no interest in physical or mental resources, or the records were burned along with everything else on the compound. A query, among many, Frederick mentally makes note of.

He does not peer into the other cells as he walks by. His attention is pointedly, consciously set forward. He walks with a casual, strained poise, shoulders sharp, their movement smooth then lurching with the new integration of a cane. Refusal to acknowledge a patient or their actions is the most efficient way to diffuse misbehavior and promote compliance. Like ignoring a toddler's tantrum. Some thrash against the bars, some yell. He reacts to none of it. Mackenzie's cell is last. Not unplanned: it is the closest to the hallway camera. But an annoying distance nonetheless.

A foldout chair is already set out, heralding Frederick's arrival. He steps behind it, into view, and fixes his gaze on his own hands as they wrap around the top of the backrest; he leans forward, relieving weight from his concave abdomen. Once situated, his gaze flicks up (his eyes large, weighty—pinning) then his head rises to meet hers, seeing her in-person for the first time (he had watched a few initial assessments on the camera feed in the comfort of his office during his lunch break; he found her to be remarkably rational for a girl who attempted to, and largely succeeded in, killing her entire family only a few weeks ago).

She is sitting on her bed. She looks approachable. She looks ordinary. Comfortable. Like a college student in her freshman dorm room. Frederick smiles, a flash of intrigue and excitement he does not conceal. "Hello, Miss Knight. Or, would you prefer Mackenzie? I apologize for the enforced uniform. An institution such as this shares more than a few characteristics with cults." The air conditioner kicks onto a heavier setting; louder, churning. His gaze momentarily drifts towards the noise, then back to her. Smiling, because he is able to indulge his own machinations under the guise of cordiality: "Are you comfortable?"

[codiecoda]

Wallet Check - Anthony Ivo/Joseph Martin Fanfic Featuring Some Lex Luthor/Slade Wilson

Joseph goes through Ivo's personal belongings

[Drabble Prompt: Another credit card?!]

It was well known that personal belongings are taken from prisoners when they are taken into custody, and Ivo was no exception to this. It had been a hell of a month with Ivo being transferred in and out of the prison for missions, and this time Joseph was assigned to take Ivo's personal belongings and have them documented. It was a task that should have been simple, but he had to admit that he wasn't expecting several of the items that he received.

Ivo carried several items on his person, including his car keys, his phone, and his wallet, but he also had some kind of tool and a few other tech devices. It was items that Joseph was unfamiliar with, but he did his task as he was asked without complaint. He had to admit that he almost wished that he knew Ivo's passcode, as the wallpaper of Ivo's phone served to be of much interest to him. It was a photo of Ivo and Alex at some cat sanctuary, and it was clear that Ivo had a severe love for the animals based on how he was allowing them to crawl on him. It was a thought that Joseph knew he would have to consider, but once the phone was documented, he moved on to the wallet. It was the final item on his list, and then he could head down to Ivo's cell.

“How many credit cards does this man have?” Joseph questioned as he started removing the cards from the wallet, unable to keep himself from smiling when he found another photo of the man with his intern. “Another one.. Huh.. I never thought that he would be into the whole surprise adoption concept, but it suits him. I mean, he does have that parental instinct.”

“I wasn't adopted.. I was taken in, and then the secret love child allegations started back up again, which he liked a bit too much.” Alex noted as he seated himself on the counter, watching the agent as his partner sat beside him. “I thought we could keep you company.”

“You should steal one of his credit cards.” Slade remarked with interest, looking offended when his partner smacked his hand away. “Alex, come on, there has to be at least a dozen there.”

“I do admit the man has great credit on his personal account. It was his business account that went bankrupt, but he still has money.” Alex noted which gained the interest of both men, not missing the looks he was given in response to this. “He made me a trust fund. I know his finances.”

“I'm not stealing his money. I wouldn't carry five hundred and seven three dollars on my person, but I'm not a billionaire either.” Joseph mentioned as he continued sorting, pausing for a moment when a card in particular caught his interest. “Is that a black card?”

Joseph had never thought of himself as the househusband kind of man, but it would be a lie to say that the thought didn't cross his mind at that moment. He could picture himself having a home-cooked meal prepared for his husband before he walked in through that door. The one issue was Ivo's line of work. He knew he had done modeling, among other things, that had made people thirsty after him. He would hate to have to drop a sex tape to end that.

[galaxymagitech]

I had a truly terrible past few days.

9:00 PM. Strike begins.

9:20 PM. My back gives up on me for the first time. This is not particularly surprising—my back hurts even when I’m not lifting stuff if I don’t lie down for several extra hours a day. It’s a good thing I brought medication! Oh, wait. I had the medication in my hand but I managed not to put it in my backpack. I decide to just tough the next five hours out.

9:30 PM. I look like I’m in pain while lifting something. Because I am in pain. Someone notices and gives me extra strength (over the counter) pain medication that is supposed to last for 8-12 hours. I continue lifting things.

11:30 PM. My back gives up on me for the second time. I am now in pain again, despite it being only two hours since I took the pain medication. I continue lifting things.

2:15 AM. My back gives up on me for the third time. I am carrying an 8 x 4 platform with someone else and as soon as we set it down I just know. I ignore my limits, but I do know the limits beyond my limits, and this is it. I barely manage to get the platform into place and then shakily announce that I’m done. Back hurting really badly, I sit down on a bench, sip water, and try desperately (and fail) not to look lazy.

2:20 AM. The person who gave me the pain medication offers more. I say I took it at 9:30, so it doesn’t seem safe.

2:40 AM. Strike ends. I am roped into “strike party.” It has food, at least.

4:40 AM. Strike party ends.

5:00 AM. I go to sleep.

1:15 PM. I wake up and eat.

2:00 PM. Orchestra rehearsal begins.

4:00 PM. Orchestra rehearsal ends. I race over to another building to help run callbacks for my a cappella group.

6:00 PM. A long reading assignment is due. I have not done it. Blissfully unaware of this, I am running a cappella callbacks with less than a third of it done.

7:00 PM. Callbacks end. I run over to a different set of callbacks for a musical which begin at 7:15 PM.

8:30 PM. While talking to another student at the second callbacks, I realize I forgot about the reading assignment. But there’s nothing I can do, because I’m at callbacks.

11:30 PM. Callbacks (the second) end.

12:00 AM. I panic about the overdue reading assignment and consider dropping the class.

3:00 AM. I finish the reading assignment, turn it in late, and collapse. I miss the class that assignment was due for the next morning.