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heyitsyn · 5 years ago

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Keeping Up With Seijoh Ep. 6

a/n: DKFJSLDKFSJ OMG YOU GUYS IVE LTR BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS FOR SO LONG AACCKKK!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

also, omg im screeching bc BAHAHAHA THERE IS GOING TO BE A SLIGHT PLOT TWIST YOU GUYS!!!!!

for more seijoh content, check this masterlist out!

anon:

- Ever since yn got lost during a trip to another school, the team made the rule that she has to hold one of their hands. Its probably so small compared against the boys. She got lost cause babie saw a cat

SKDLFJLSDKFJ EWWWWWWWW IM SCREECHING IN DISGUST RIGHT NOW LIKE THATS SO DIS COS TANG OIKAWA TOORU LIKE LEAVE MY GUY ALONE!!!!!!! #LETMAKKILIVE

lmao yep this is really happening

okay so anyways

you guys know how seijoh is like known around the prefecture right?

and we all know that nekomata and old ukai are like besties so they were talking over the phone right

and nekomata was complaining that his players were already fed up with playing against the same people and they wanted to be challenged and wanted new exposure to other players and all that jazz

old ukai was cackling at the other side bc haha youre actually begging me to find you new teams now?

but anyways

theyre like besties forever so ofc old ukai would help

and by help, he turned to poor zaddy keishin and told him to look for teams that could be sent up to tokyo and play against nekoma

‘what?! im already busy and i dont have time to scout-’

‘YOU WATCH YOUR TONGUE BOY! I CREATED YOUR FATHER AND WITHOUT HIM, YOU WOULDNT BE HERE TODAY!’

‘BOLD OF YOU TO ASSUME I WANTED TO BE ALIVE IN THE FIRST PLACE!’

family goals 😍😍😍

but keishin still listened to his grandfather and recommended seijoh as being the one to go as they are one of the hardest to beat opponents in the preferecture

but its more like he wants to hear about nekoma being destroyed by oikawa’s service aces and grovel at their feet since naoi always made fun of them saying country boys arent as good as city boys

LIKE PLEASE

anyways!!!!!!

nekomata got word of it and immediately phoned aoba johsai and talked to the coach

‘yes, i heard from an old friend of mine that you are quite strong’

nekomata praised, wanting and desperate to have them come up

‘and do you think your team is good enough to beat us?’

LMAO YESSSS GRANDPA IRIHATA!!! DRAG THEM KITTIES!!!!

WAIT NO THAT SOUNDS WRONG

but they settled on their disagreements and decided yep they were going to go up there and have a practice match

however

irihata and nekomata wanted their boys to be kept in the dark about who this team is as knowing them, they have sources to find them tapes of old plays

they wanted it to be a fair match

even the managers were being kept from it as they could easily be influenced by the players for that information

irihata walked into the gym and announced a team meeting to which they stopped

you sat down next to kyotani, who pulled you beside him and wrapped a protective arm around your waist

‘we have a practice match against a prominent team up in tokyo in 3 days. make sure you have your plays right and pat down as they are known to be quite an opponent’

the boys shouted a determined cheer and they all hussled back to practice

you were running around, tending to everyone with towels or medical tape

once you finally sat back down on the bench, you noticed your phone screen light up, indicating someone sent you a message

it was natsu

you swiped open and smiled softly at his picture

it a selfie of him in front of his school as you told him to send you a picture that he arrived safely

‘got here in one piece since im not ready to meet daddy satan yet’

i hate him you guys

after receiving news of his mother gaining custody of him, he cheered and was able to go back to tokyo without his father in the picture

lets just say,,, hes not nice

anyways

you were sad to let him go but you understood he missed his friends and his almost-boyfriend so you were able to say goodbye easily at the station

‘gross but im pretty sure katsuki would blow satan to smithereens’

‘hehe ;) he would’

‘N A S T Y’

you cringed but giggled and the team noticed so they tried hard to gain your attention back on them

‘aaa!!!!! y/n-chan!!! my leg!!!!’

‘i think i chopped off my finger!!!!’

‘my head snapped off my body!!!!!’

you rolled your eyes and placed your phone down before walking over to mattsun to help him snap his head back on his neck

finally, it was the day of the match

you were arranged to stay the night at tokyo to have a few practice matches with this unknown team

the team was arranged to meet at the train station at 9:45 since the train leaves at 10

you arrived the earliest to keep track of everyone and just because you were actually kinda excited

theres this weird feeling in your stomach that isn’t exactly bad but its,,, giddy

you sat on the bench, waiting for the team

they all started arriving one by one and you were doing a headcount for everyone but you were missing one

you checked your phone and you noticed he was getting late

it was already 9:54

you hate it when people are late to meeting time so you were slightly irritated

you dialed up your captain’s number and you stood up, pacing around

‘hello~~~~ y/n-cha-’

‘oikawa-san! do you know what time it is?! you were arranged to come here at specifically 9:45 but its 14 minutes passed that so where the hell are you? you better have a good excuse you piece of-’

‘aww y/n-chan oikawa-san is sorry’

someone whispered in your ear from behind and you flinched, surprised at the sudden person

oikawa wrapped an arm around your waist while his other hung up the call and you turned around, arms crossed while pouting at him

‘sorrysorrysorry!’

he apologized and you rolled your eyes

‘i swear, oikawa-san. if i find out it was because of your hair again-’

‘oi shittykawa! your sister just called me and you left the curling iron on, you stupid bastard!’

iwaizumi’s shout made oikawa sweat and pale

your eyes glinted dangerously

‘this is the last straw, oikawa-san’

you growled and he shot down to his knees and was about to start praying to you when the coach decided he had enough entertainment for the day and called everyone to gather around

‘heres your tickets. this train will get us there around lunch time so dont worry about getting hungry’

the shinkansen train had 2-person seating so everyone fought secretly amongst each other to sit next to you

literally, their private group chat was blowing up until early this morning at the shouts and yells of everyone caps locking their arguments as to why they deserve to sit next to you

the only one who didnt was mattsukawa issei

bc quite frankly, he didnt care who he sat next to and although it sounds nice to be next to you, he isnt exactly the comfiest to sleep on due to the obvious size difference

lmao like your head probably wouldnt reach his shoulders bruh

now youre not oblivious

or blind

so you noticed the glares of everyone as you all stood for the train to come

and you also noticed mattsun just standing there, bored, so you sneaked over to him, wrapping your arms around him

‘arent you excited, mattsun-san?’

he gasped quietly at your sudden appearance but he smirked

‘its nothing special. just another team that we’re going to beat’

you giggled at his confidence and you walked in front of him so you could properly be held by him

it was practically second nature now by the way he just opened his arms and you crashed into them, his own wrapping around your shoulders to hold you tight

‘i love your confidence so much mattsun-san’

he flushed red and furrowed his eyebrows, head turning to the side to hide the obvious effect you had on him

‘whats the point of playing when you cant be confident’

‘aaaa why are you looking away mattsun-san!!!’

lmao when the team saw you sitting next to mattsun, they all felt so betrayed like bruh

ltr kyo and iwa were about to go feral

oikawa was like ready to screech his ass off but one look from you made him shut up

‘i sincerely, really, truly hope youre just complaining about the seat hurting your flat ass, oikawa-san’

KDFJLSDKFJSDL Y/N NO STOP IT

it was kinda funny actually bc everyone was all pouting and sulky while you just have mattsun who’s smirking like ‘beat that’

SDKFJLSDKF I LOVE MATTSUN’S SMIRK LIKE PLEASE OMG

ofc he let you sit at the window bc you love window seats

like iwa, he also pulls up the arm barrier thingy and you shuffle closer to him and mattsun practically combusts

the ride isnt expected to be very long but you still found yourself sleeping during it

mattsun has his arm around your shoulder while your head is leaning against his peck man boobie

omg its so cute like he actually slides lower on the seat to help you reach his shoulder and hes slouching and back is hurting just for you

;’)

he was awake the whole time bc he couldnt sleep with his heart beating so hard it might rip out of his chest

ew thats kinda gorey

your hand was gripping his own and to pass time, he found himself fiddling with your fingers

an unknown smile appeared on his face at the obvious size difference between yours and his

a finger traced different and foreign shapes just to feel the softness of your hand and he combusts again when you unconsciously squeeze his hand

mattsun couldnt help but bring your linked hands up and kiss the back of yours

it was soft, gentle, and his lips lingered there for more than a second

then a sudden feeling of fatigue washed over him and he leaned his cheek against the top of your head

the last thing he remembers is the smell of your f/s (favorite smell) shampoo

then you guys arrived in tokyo

irihata had to personally wake you all up because even naoi fell asleep and everyone fell asleep

irihata gently shook mattsun awake and when the boy opened his eyes, the older man nodded over to your form

‘gently wake her up’

as if mattsun didnt already know

thats why he softly ran the pad of his thumb on your cheek that was exposed to the air

‘y/n~~’

he coos and your nose twitches, in between the border of dreams and reality

‘darling, wake up, baby bear’

FSDKLFJSDLKSDJKFJDSKLFJSDLFKSJDLF YOU GUYS I CANNNNTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

also im listening to kataomoi by aimer so that kinda influences the ‘darling

his deep voice that surprisingly reaches a level of quietness made your eyes flutter

your whole face scrunched at suddenly being woken up but the sight of mattsun’s genuine smile made you mirror it and cuddle closer for an extra dose of warmth

‘hmm, is my baby tired?’

he teasingly whispers and you nodded, snuggling even further and he gently cups your face

his hold had made your cheeks squeeze slightly together and your pout increased the cute factor

‘nwoooo dont skweeze demmm’

you slurred and he chuckled

‘hai hai’

‘kwiss it better’

you demanded and he full on laughed before moving his hands to your jaws so he could plant many kisses on your cheeks

the repeated kisses tickled so you giggled and squirmed

‘aaaaaa mattsun-san it tickles!!!’

your playful protests forced him to stop and allow you to actually sit up

as usual, your hair was a bird’s nest and mattsun attempted to settle it out

‘hah, y/n-chan your hair is like another being itself’

he choked out and you pouted at him

‘so mean! mattsun-san is so mean! baba-san! rescue me!!’

yahaba was known in the team to be the one who fixed your hair and you trusted him the most with it

hearing his name being called, the pretty boy dashed towards you and mattsun’s seats

‘is senpai giving you trouble again? come, honey, come to baba-san’

mattsun gave him a look for the younger’s passive agressive tone

oikawa immediately dashed over right next to yahaba

‘oh? y/n-chan! oikawa-san is here!!’

iwa and kyo growled

‘SHUT UP SHITTYKAWA!’

meanwhile irihata and naoi were just done

they just wanted to get off the train like is that such a big favor?

finally!!!!

seijoh was able to actually make it to the city and ngl, despite living in sendai, you were actually overwhelmed by the bustling city of tokyo

there were people all over the place and many cars and you were being pushed around

it didnt help that it was ltr lunch hour and a flurry of business people just flooded out of their buildings

you unconsciously gripped your bag and focused on just not tripping over people so your eyes were trained on your feet

then in the corner of your eye, you saw a tiny animal that was in danger of being stepped on so you ofc had to go chase after it

you shouted at some people to watch out and to not step on it

but then it disappeared

the moment you looked up, everyone was gone

you panicked and your head was turning from side to side

‘MATTSUN-SAN?! IWA-SAN?! KYO-SAN?!’

you shouted but it seems your voice wasnt loud enough

GIRL YOU GOTTA MANIFEST THAT BULLHORN VOICE

worry and dread bubbled inside of you but you stopped, just trying to calm down and think

then you saw the flash of white again so you hurriedly ran after it, not knowing that you were straying away from the city and towards the suburbs

you noticed you were now lost at the less amount of feet walking and this wasnt the city and you were now away from the team

taking yoru eyes off of the cat, you looked around to confirm your fear and that gave the cat an opportunity to disappear again

yoo crookshanks

huffing a curse, you pulled your phone out of your bag and dialed each

your phone wasnt reaching the boys and no one was picking up

what the heck

you ended up at some quieter and less crowded spot

like a neighborhood

you contemplated calling natsu as he lived in tokyo but tokyo was a big city and you were at some neighborhood so its highly unlikely he would know where you are

so you just walked around, looking for a place to sit and think like a park

then you heard a distressed meow

you were just walking and hearing that loud cry of help made you stop and immediately follow the sound

‘kitty? kitty?’

you called out even though you knew fully well they didnt understand you

but the cat cried even louder and you heard another cat

it was less higher pitched and honestly, you just felt like there was another cat

as you looked around, you saw the same cat you followed after and it bobbed its head at you as if asking you to follow him

‘you want me to go with you?’

the cat blinked then turned around and started walking

‘okay then’

you took the time to inspect the actual color of the cat

it was dominantly white furred but it had multiple colored spots, mainly yellow and brown

you eventually ended up at a large tree with a cat shivering on the biggest branch

it was black and had some fur sticking out at the top of its head and it looked young so its probably a kitten

you tutted and reached out your hand but it recoiled, hissing at you

BOI SHE TRYING TO HELP YOU WHAT

‘hey, i want to help you’

you softly said and maybe youre just doctor dolittle?

bc it stopped hissing and started whining instead

‘kenma-san! i swear i saw it just now-’

a sudden foreign voice made the black haired cat hiss again and this time, even you were counted as a threat

the appearance by the corner of two boys made you glare at them

one was freakishly tall with grey hair and scary green eyes while the other was shorter and had bleached hair that grew out

they both wore running shorts and black shirts and they looked like they were on a run or something

then you had a thought

this guy was tall

he could help

‘hey! you!’

you waved and the boys stopped, eyes wide

they pointed to themselves and you nodded

‘yes, silly! especially the tall one!’

the other had a flash of a glare that disappeared almost immediately but the ‘tall one’ happily skipped over

‘oho, hello chibi-chan’

KDFJSLDFKSDJLFDKSJ YES IM CONDENSCENDING

you puffed your cheeks out in anger at the nickname but this was not the time

‘that kitty up there is stuck. and i cant help it because its scared. and its all the way up there’

you pointed and he nodded

‘i followed that cat here too but i needed someone else. thats why i brought kenma-san’

your eyes shifted to ‘kenma-san’ who was focused on the other cat who also stared back at his spot by the tree

hmmm, they look kinda similar

‘well! we need to help it,,,,,, grandpa-san!’

taken aback by the nickname, the tall guy gasped while the blonde boy choked out a sudden laugh and you giggled

‘GRANDPA?!’

‘yea. you know cus you have gray hair’

you reasoned and he was about to retort when he stopped himself

‘no. we have more important matters in hand. kenma-san, come stand on my shoulders. chibi, use my jacket to catch it if it falls’

you scrambled to do your task but you heard kenma-san mumble

‘you cant tell me what to do’

‘oh hey! whats your name?’

you asked and the tall guy waved

‘im lev. haiba lev. first year’

‘kozume,,, kenma. im a second year’

‘oh! then nice to meet you! im l/n y/n!’

introductions had to be cut short as you all assembled

kenma wobbled while lev cringed at the obvious pain but they gritted their teeth and kenma lunged to grab the cat

but the cat jumped away, falling to the ground where it was caught safely by you

thankfully the jacket saved you from scratching but after a few soft whispers of reassurance, the kitty calmed down and it resulted in just shaking

‘its okay. we’re okay. i got you’

you were completely oblivious to the fact that kenma and lev were on the ground, bleeding after falling, or the shout at the distance

‘kenma! lev!’

‘Y/N-CHAN!’

you three turned to see two groups of boys coming from two directions

on the right had a guy with black hair similar looking to the cat on your arms

while the left had your familiar looking captain

‘oikawa-san!’

you shouted and he ran up, eyes wide with worry

‘where were you?! why did you run off?! you shouldn’t-’

he rambled but your eyes stopped at the appearance of your familiar pink-haired cousin

‘natsu?!’

you shrieked and he had an equally surprised expression

‘y/n?!’

he shouted

‘what-!’

he started but you beat him to it

‘why are you here?!’

you pointed to the people behind him

‘im,,, a manager. im a manager for my volleyball team’

‘volleyball,,,’

you trailed off

‘VOLLEYBALL?! NEKOMA?!’

you knew of your cousin’s school but you didnt think you guys would meet here

‘shes your cousin?’

someone piped up from the back and natsu nodded, still looking at you

‘oya? the apple doesnt fall far from the tree, then. hello gorgeous, the names kuroo tetsurou’

KSLDFJDSK I HATE THIS LIKE PLEASE HES JUST A NERD YET I WRITE HIM LIKE THIS I HATE MYSELF

‘HAH?! YOU BACK OFF!’

kyotani started but you caught him in time, holding him in your arms

‘nooo,, calm down, kyo-san’

natsu’s nose crinkled and his mouth curled

‘ugh, nice to see you too, brat’

‘BRAT?! YOU BASTARD!’

‘IM A THIRD YEAR, YOU BASTARD!’

kyotani was held back by oikawa and iwa while your cousin was with that kuroo guy and lev

you hurried back to the rest of the team and they each glared at you but they had an obvious expression of relief

‘do that again y/n-’

‘i know, makki-san. youll use a leash backpack’

lets just say its not,,, the first time youve been lost

‘new team rule. youre holding someone’s hand at all times. no matter what, always hold us’

yahaba scolded and watari nodded

meanwhile, mattsun grabbed your hand and gripped it tight

‘youre never leaving my sight again’

his tone was different from his usual playful and teasing voice

you knew he was very worried and that made you feel really guilty

‘im sorry’

you whispered and he pulled you to him, hugging you tightly

‘its okay. youre here right now and thats all that matters’

you nodded and you turned your head, leaning on his chest to watch oikawa yelling and shouting at this kuroo guy while your cousin and kyo were arguing and you chuckled

this was,,, chaos

‘dear god, you shouldve let me be lost for a few more hours’

you mumbled, smiling lightly when mattsun’s chest vibrated as he laughed

‘take me with you next time’

‘i will’

you hummed

‘Y/N-CHAN! YOU ARE NOT GOING NEAR THIS-THIS MONGREL!’

oikawa screeched, stomping his way over to you

you smirked

‘oi kuroo-san! lets hang out after the match!’

oikawa screamed

a/n: now that my nekoma manager is out, i can finally have a manager x manager interaction and uwuwuwuwu just wait until i finish the others and ill do that req anon sent in ;) if you sent it in, you know what im talking about ;)

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angelicmichael · 5 years ago

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Pretty Please

Jim Mason x reader

Summary: Jim and Reader decide to throw a christmas party but get distracted while trying to do so. Christmas fic!!

Words: 2.5k+

Warnings: Hella sexual tension, no smut but almost smut?? Very sexually suggestive hehe, fluff with no plot basically, SO much fluff its gross

A/N: based off this prompt I found in a christmas prompt list 'Making out under the christmas tree because the lights reflecting in their eyes just looked too ethereal for them not to kiss them until they lost their breath' sorry I cant find the specific prompt list this came from. Jim and Reader are both 18+, and this is kinda canon rewrite?? Basically as if the ending in ttopv didnt happen and Jim actually lived.. and got a gf haha. ALSO loosely based on the song 'pretty please' by Dua Lipa. Enjoy 💖 read the tags for more thots

You felt as if the wind had been knocked out of you once you entered the apartment.

The minimalistic decorations that once adorned the small apartment you and Jim owned were now paired and even doubled with new, shiny, Christmas decor. The last thing you were expecting to come home too was christmas decorations, to be completely honest. You knew the decorations were new because prior moving in together- you two had nothing.. christmas decoration wise anyway.

Saying that Jims childhood and even high school years were rough was definetly a understatement; you were thankful you didnt have to see him in that state and that you met him after that time.

You only met his parents once; well his mom anyway and almost immeadietly you knew why it took him so long for him to introduce you to her.

She was a fucking nightmare.

She told you immeadietly about Jim's dark past, probably in a lazy attempt to scare you off. She told you about Jim's father, the drugs, and even the drug overdose that nearly killed him. That didn't scare you off - but what it did do was break the final fucking straw for Jim who happened to overhear everything she said.

He hadn't talked to his mom since.

Medina frequently came over, she was practically your best friend and stayed incredibly close with Jim. In fact, you were supposed to see her in roughly a hour... along with a handful of other Jim and yours close friends.

With Christmas being so soon you and Jim decided to have a spontaneous christmas party. The idea was to decorate together but.. apparently Jim had other plans.

There was a wreath on the front door for one, and multi colored lights and Garland that were kept nearly on every surface of the house. Smaller christmas related knickknacks were placed too on the dining and coffee tables. It looked beautiful. You couldnt believe Jim would do this all for you, you meant to help but work unfortunately ran short so you had to cover a coworkers shift.

The entire living room was kept pretty dark and dim, only candles and the soft lighting from the christmas tree lights allowed you to see at all- but it was still enough. It was romantic if anything.

Jim didnt say anything as he came out to the living room to greet you. He stayed silent, watching you and your reaction as you spun around - trying to admire the apartment from every angle possible.

As you continued to keep walking in the apartment and admiring Jim's work, you couldn't help but dumbly giggle.

"Jim; dont get me wrong, I love the apartment but why didnt you just wait for me"? You marveled.

He smiled shyly, a light blush coating his cheeks.

"I wanted to spend as much time with you that I could when you got back before people started to show up for the party". He admitted, sounding slightly bashful and shy as he spoke.

He approached you, and you couldnt help but to feel butterflies at the closer he got. You dont know why you were suddenly starting to feel nervous at doing a act so simple; like kissing your boyfriend. Perhaps it was because normally when you two kissed or showed affection it was done so quickly and without second thought; it wasnt 'special'. You weren't blaming Jim for that either, you knew that was typical in long term relationships. However - tonight he was actually taking the time to be with you. It was beyond romantic.

He looked delicious. His hair wasnt messy but it wasnt kept up enough to look like he brushed it recently, yet it still managed to look so soft. You were yearning to run your fingers through it.

Once you were within arms reach, he quickly enveloped you in a hug. Forcing you to inhale his scent while you quickly buried your nose in his jacket, trying to take him all in.

He smelt like a hint of weed, but mostly like the ocean. You suspected he must've went surfing a while ago.

Even though the apartment was decorated for christmas and it was currently Winter; the air was still warm, maybe even a little muggy. The sun had finally decided to set, just sinking below the far off treeline - making the sky in a state of in between. Not dark but not quite light out either.

In the part of California you and Jim lived in, it only dropped about 10 degrees in the winter. You wore a warm cardigan since you came just home from outside; along with a pair of jeans and cozy boots that seemed to be your go to outfit in the winter.

Jim on the other hand wore a tight fitted dark navy shirt under his typical Jean jacket which you gently clutched onto.

"I missed you. I hate when you have to work during the holidays". You heard him softly grumble, which made you giggle.

You slowly moved, you backed your head up just enough so that your faces were now right next to each other. You bumped noses - you considered kissing him for a split second but you chose not too. Instead ghosting your lips over his; and gently resting your forehead together.

"Why? It's not like today is a holiday or anything". You asked, a playful tone apparent in your voice.

Your breath hitched in your throat as you felt Jim's lips inch closer, you could nearly taste his breath. Minty mostly, and warm on your lips.

You suddenly were itching to kiss him, unconsciously moving forward to ease the growing tension between the two of you. You jumped a bit when you felt a hand start to rub your back, quickly relaxing when you realized it was just Jim being handsy. You heard Jim's voice, even though you were incredibly close to him, it was so soft you could still barely hear it. A quiet, sultry whisper.

"It doesnt matter if it's a holiday or not". Jim started, he backed up a bit.

Just enough to make eye contact with you, now gently cradeling your face in his hands.

"This is the first Christmas season I've had where I'm not in between my parents trying to break up a fight. I'm so thankful I get to spend it with you, I just wish I had met you sooner". Jim said, with a shy blush starting to dust his tan cheeks again.

By the time he finished talking you were beaming. Pure happiness and joy was coursing through your veins as you stepped forward and fully enveloped yourself in him, your hands grasped his shoulders to steady yourself while your lips feverishly and slowly met his.

Jim's hands quickly adjusted, moving from your face down to your waist. His fingers gripped your skin tightly; the slight pain made you moan. It didnt really hurt persay but you knew your skin would be purple and sore tommorow. However, in this moment you didnt really care about how your skin would look - you just wanted him.

Jim kissed you menacingly slow; his lips working against yours so slowly in a deliberate attempt to make you frustrated and it was working. Your fingers flexed into his shoulders as you let out a throaty moan. You broke the kiss and let out a hiss,

"Stop fucking teasing". You spoke, titling your head slightly and arching your neck out - trying to hint to Jim that you wanted him to start kissing down your neck.

However; that's not what he fucking did.

Instead of feeling Jim's soft warm lips on your neck, you felt his wet tongue lick a fast stripe down your neck - most likely tracing a vein. You yelped and jumped, only realizing after how stupid you probably looked for getting startled. Jim was laughing too, fucker.

"What the fuck, Jim"?! You asked, laughter mixing in with your voice.

Jim giggled before quickly leaning in and stealing another slow kiss from you before mumbling against your lips;

"As much as I would love to sit here and make out with you all day.. we have business to attend too".

He pulled back suddenly, his lips up turning in a smile as if he knew what exactly he was doing.

"Business"? You mused.

"Yes. We have company coming over in 30 minutes, love" Jim reminded you.

You rolled your eyes, completely unamused.

"Do they have to come"? You whined.

"Yes. They do. Now c'mon make yourself useful". Jim said.

He turned around, grabbing a box that sat idly in the living room which you didnt notice previously. Opening it, he pulled out a ornament. You dumbly smiled, knowing exactly what this meant. He approached you, ornament in hand with a corny smile on his face.

"I decorated everything but the tree. I wanted to save something for us to decorate together". Jim stated.

"Your such a sap". You said fully laughing.

You grabbed one of the ornaments out of the box and walking up to the tree. You felt dumb for not noticing how bare the tree was before. No ornaments, no lights, no tinsel.. nothing. Well, nothing execpt for the one shiny ornament that you had just hung on one of the branches right center in the tree.

The one ornament on the tree quickly doubled, and then tripled until the tree was fully adorned with ornaments. You and Jim (mostly Jim) hung a string of lights around the tree. Making the already ambience scene in your living room even more cozy and romantic.

"This was a good idea, babe". You said, quickly kissing him.

You quickly checked the time, there was still 20 minutes before anyone was supposed to show up.. An idea popped up in your mind.

A wonderful, awful idea.

You were already standing comfortably close to Jim; you turned casually around and place your hand square on his chest.

"Its too bad we finished decorating so early, hmm"? You purred.

You didnt dare take a step forward; you knew Jim would make the next move and sure enough he did. He took steps closer to you.

You cheeks were slightly rosy, with the slight embarrassment you felt from suddenly taking the reigns and being in control. Needless to say this wasnt something you were really used too.

"We still have the tinsel to put up, you know". Jim chuckled lightly.

You looked down for a split second and looked back up into his circealean blue eyes, batting your eyes at him.

"Or.. you know, theres something else I can think of we can do that's less boring". You said.

You let your hand slip and travel from his chest up to his shoulder, feeling the muscle that lie underneath your hands as you took your other free hand up to his other shoulder. Your heart skipped a beat when you heard Jim groan.

It's not like you two have never been intimate before; that was far from the issue. Even though you knew Jim for fucking ever and you two have had sex countless of times - he still managed to give you butterflies.

That's how you knew he was the one for you. Even after all this time he still seemed to make you nervous and blush.

"Is that what you think"? You heard Jim say. His voice lowered in a husky manner.

You felt his arms quickly grab you as he gently pushed you onto the ground. He pinned you on your back; his hands on your shoulders as he softly panted above you. His face hovered right above yours - and his legs on your thighs. Not that you were complaining but you certainly couldnt leave or escape even if you desired too.

You merely giggled beneath him at this realization, not really wanting to switch from this position at all.

It sounded incredibly corny but you honestly wouldnt be surprised if you had took a brief visit to heaven. You felt pure, unfiltered ecstasy as you looked into Jims eyes.

The aroma from the pine tree that was directly above you and Jim filled your senses; the smell along with the candles set the atmosphere perfectly. Ornaments hung directly above you two, the rainbow lights from the tree reflecting in Jim's light blue eyes.

Because of the nature of how light Jim's eyes were, typically seeing reflections of other objects or anything really in them was close to impossible... but, maybe it was the already dark lighting in the room or a bit of christmas magic that made seeing the lights in Jim's eyes possible.

It made the already beautiful man look nothing but ethereal. You were left speechless as you could do nothing but stare, and get lost in his eyes.

You couldnt help but feel how lucky you were to even be in this situation, how lucky you were to be loved by him.

You could do nothing execpt for smile cheesily and blush at your new realization. Instead of craning your neck awkwardly to reach his lips, you chose to be smart and innovative instead, by taking one of your hands and pushing his head into yours - gently of course.

His lips met yours and you nearly moaned from the anticipation. You kissed him slowly, relishing in the feeling of being on the floor with non other than Jim Mason. You knew for a fact you would never do this with anyone else, nor did you even want to spend the time thinking about doing so.

His lips were warm and soft - not chapped in the slightest. They danced perfectly with yours; making separating for air almost a painful and undesired act.

When you separated, Jim still didnt let up off of you. He remained on top, breathless. His lips were swollen and pink, and were his cheeks. His eyes still looked beautiful, but even more so now that his pupils were dilated.

You heard him let out a soft, shallow growl. Bending down swiftly, almost animalistically, to the side of your mouth to give you a quick kiss. His lips ghosted and drifted down over your jaw; until you felt them meet your neck in gentle soft kisses.

Your mouth fell open, your fingers gripping the soft tree skirt below you that was riddled with tree nettles.

"Jim, wait". You spoke, barely even able to get the words out of your mouth without moaning.

You saw his head immeadietly snap up, those gorgeous blue eyes meeting yours again.

"Arent we having company over in like.. 10 minuets"? You asked, laughing.

You noticed Jim let out a brief chuckle as well before replying.

"Ugh, your right but if only I could bring myself to get off of you, baby". He spoke, gently attacking your neck in slightly more aggressive kisses than what you were typically used too. Although, you certainly weren't complaining.

You felt Jim slightly push his hips into yours, you automatically opened your legs - wrapping them around his waist and lower half. He gently started to grind into you; and there was no point in even trying to bite down or mask your moans at this point. All you felt was pure, unfiltered love for the man who was on top of you.

"I love you, Jim".

Taglist: @mina672 @michaellangdonstanaccount @langdonsexual @jimmason @blakewaterxx @dark-mei-rose @9layerdevilfoodcake @prophecy-is-inevitable @matildaofoz @beautyiswithinchaos @frenchlangdon

#i hope yall like this #im about to post to ao3 #also let me know if you wanna be on the taglist #but this fic is rlly unlike the rest of my fics and i hope u still like it hehe #its not rlly plot heavy and i feel like the grammer is kinda rough but.. i just wanted to post something happy and full of fluff haha #ALSO theres a very very slim reference to The Grinch in this.. try to find it haha #also i was very high when i wrote like 2/3rds of this?! so guess which paragraphs dhdhd #i will be back to add a read more line #jim mason x reader #jim x reader #fanfiction #my fics #my work #ttopv #jim mason

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love-dreams · 5 years ago

Text

build a rocket with me

pairing: joshua/reader

genre: angst, fluff

content: angst, break-up, long distance!au, idol!au emotional cheating, seunghee from clc!, angst ending

wc: 5k

note: omg 5k, i’m gonna be writing a part two for this too! thank you so much to @secndlife for helping me edit.. you’re amazing and i appreciate it so much. inspo: 《rocket》by seventeen (joshua and vernon), a continuation of my own long distance au blurbs: blurb1 blurb 2, netflix original: love alarm, @tonicandjins lie to me

It’s early in the morning when Joshua arouses you from your slumber, with a gentle shake and a soft, husky whisper, laced with drowsiness. The curtains are strewn shut in the dark room, the only source of light was the thin crack between the door and the wall of your bedroom. After another lackadaisical attempt to pull you out of your reverie, you opened your eyes, glancing sleepily up at your boyfriend through half-lidded eyes, a yawn already beginning to lodge itself in your throat. Groggily, you try to force your body upright with your forearms but your body is heavy from sleep and your limbs are limp without energy in the early morning.

“Josh, what time is it?” you mumbled, with an arm stretching out and fingers pawing at the bedside table for your glasses.

You yawned mid-sentence, causing Joshua to chuckle, bending his body slightly over yours to impel you gently back to your original position. You gave in without resistance, arm limply hanging off the side of the bed and messy curls of hair framing your face on the pillow.

He gazed into your sleepy orbs lovingly, caressing the side of your face with smooth strokes of his thumb. “I didn’t want to wake you, but I have to leave now. For tour. The guys and manager-hyung are waiting for me.”

In your sleep induced haze, you don’t fully comprehend Joshua’s words, lips mouthing an automatic, “Bye bye,” and your body already relaxing into the cushions.

Joshua couldn’t hold back the smile tugging at his lips, his heart feeling a little heavier as he gently pulled the door shut until it clicked, leaving you shroud in darkness once more. The last memory you have of that encounter was the warmth of your blankets embracing you.

“You should have woken me up!” you complained over the phone after you woke up. With a bloated face and oily skin, tangled strands of hair floating over your sight, Joshua almost chuckled at the fact that, even after just waking up, you were thinking about him. “I wanted to see you one last time before you left.”

Joshua smiled through the screen, a sleepy, exhausted smile, slight circles discoloring the skin under his eyes. “I didn’t want to, it was super early and I knew you had plans for the next day too.”

You pouted slightly, disappointed at the fact that you couldn’t send Joshua off to the airport, where he would soon be leaving for SEVENTEEN’s Asia tour. For three whole months. Just thinking about the time spent away from him made your heart hurt and your head swim.

As you pulled out a chair from the countertop, you faintly noticed the white styrofoam box empty of its contents on top of a table behind Joshua.

“You already ate?” you questioned through a mouthful your breakfast ensemble.

Joshua nodded his head, a tired sigh escaping from his lips. He grabbed the phone off from where it was resting against a tissue box and collapsed onto the hotel bed, holding up his phone high above him, vertically, allowing you to see the crisp white sheets contrasting Joshua’s dark-colored hair; you could see the planes and slopes of his face and the slight dark circles rimming his beautiful chocolate brown orbs. Even then, sleep-deprived and bare-faced, he looked beautiful.

He heaved another sigh, eyelids fluttering shut momentarily. “I miss you, Y/N.”

You purse your lips, trying to formulate an answer that will satisfy Joshua. “I do too, Shua. Work hard but don’t push yourself too hard, got it? Tell the other guys that as well,” you managed.

Joshua opened his eyes to stare at you through the screen. For a moment, there was a flicker of unease in his blank stare, causing your heart to stutter for a beat, but then, like a flick of a switch, his lips morphed back into a melancholy smile. “Okay, I will. Take care of yourself as well.”

You nodded, mirroring his smile, “I always do, Joshua.”

🟊 🟊 🟊 🟊 🟊

You really hoped that you could hold down the fort on your own without your boyfriend’s presence, but by the second week, it became apparent that you were heartbroken. Each passing day of living your life in absence of your boyfriend chipped at your heart; coming home to an empty home, eating dinner by yourself with two containers of takeout, routinely checking your phone for calls or texts. Your head was constantly plagued by worries of your boyfriend, if Joshua was eating well, if Joshua was tired from rehearsal, what Joshua saw that day; it became near-suffocating.

The daily phone calls dwindled to once every few days to once or twice each week. Every evening you would make dinner for yourself, shower and sit, alone, under the covers of your bed, waiting beside your phone to see if he would call; sometimes he did and sometimes he didn’t. Either way, you had developed an unhealthy habit of staying up late at night until the sky was jet black and the city was silent, waiting in the dim, silent bedroom until you fell asleep.

“Hey baby, how are you? I’m sorry for not calling yesterday.”

A month had passed and Joshua was still touring with the other SEVENTEEN members. At this point you had developed a steady rhythm to your life and, although the yearning for your boyfriend was still present in your heart, you had started to feel a little happier and less lonely.

In the background you could faintly make out other echoes of voices, informing you that your boyfriend wasn’t alone in the room. It looked like a new hotel room as well; the sheets were crisply tucked into the mattress with thick cream-colored blankets laying neatly on top.

“It’s fine, we were performing anyway and didn’t get back until way late. Have you been eating well?”

You smiled half-heartedly, a little bloom of warmth nestling in your chest from his concern. You uncrossed your hands from your lap, poking your chopsticks at the little untouched grains of white rice in your bowl. “Yeah, and you? I hope you’re eating proper meals.”

“Shua! The kimchi fried rice is here!”

Joshua’s lips broke out in a grin and yours cracked into a small smile as well at Jeonghan’s voice.

“Okay, wait a sec,” Joshua whispered. “I’m talking to Y/N right now!” he called back. Dropping his gaze back to you, Joshua frowned apologetically, “Baby, can-”

“Go get your food, Shua,” you interrupted reassuringly, “Make sure to take care of yourself okay? And I promise to do the same.”

Joshua nodded and tilted his head endearingly, “I will and I love you, Y/N.”

Then he hung up.

On one fateful Saturday morning, your friend and coworker, Seunghee, decided to take you out to a cafe as a cure for your loneliness. It was a small cafe nestled in the city landscape, with large windows letting the rays of morning glow dance across the polished wooden floor. The two of you seated yourselves by one of the glass windows and ordered coffee with some snacks.

“So,” she leaned in, interlacing her fingers and resting on her elbows, with her weight over the table. “Tell me what’s going on with you and Joshua.”

Your eyebrows rose in surprise of the sudden question, choking on the green plastic straw of your iced americano. You coughed slightly, reaching for a napkin to dab at your moist lips. “I’m not sure what you mean. Josh and I are fine. We even called… just the other day,” you trailed off, voice growing weaker at the end.

Seunghee rolled her eyes disbelievingly, retracting her arms to reach for her drink, taking a sip as well. “Oh yeah? Then tell me why you’ve been arriving to work looking like you’ve stayed up all night crying to rom coms.” You chortled in disagreement but didn’t refute what she said. “C’mon Y/N, you obviously have something up. Are you two fighting or something?”

“No, no,” you shook your head. You pushed your drink aside, folding your hands neatly on top of your skirt in an effort to look organized, brushing stray strands of hair out of your frame of vision, tucking them neatly behind your ears. Averting your gaze to the large windows of sunlight, you spoke softly, “We’re not fighting or anything. It’s just a little hard to explain.”

Seunghee nodded, backing off and scrunching her nose in discontent. “Well, that’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, just lemme know when you’re comfortable, okay? I’m worried about you.”

You smiled and gratefully thanked her for asking about you, settling into a prickly, awkward silence between the two of you. That serious atmosphere was finally lifted after a waitress delivered your orders; the two of you thanked her profusely and continued on with another light-hearted conversation. In the middle of drinking your coffees and taking small bites out of your sandwiches, Seunghee left for the restroom, grabbing her purse and phone to retouch on her makeup, all the while leaving you alone with your plates of food all by yourself.

You could hear the background cafe sounds of a coffee maker grinding and the rush of cars in the street; the city was just starting to wake up for the day ahead. It was a peaceful, and calm atmosphere, with a few more customers trickling in, it was like you were surrounded by a bubble of tranquility-

“Hey.”

Your head whipped around in surprise, heart jumping two beats. Your head turned side to side frantically as your eyes scanned the desert of vacant tables and chairs for the sudden voice.

“Oh, sorry for surprising you! I’m over here, haha,” he laughed shyly, scratching his head awkwardly.

Turning a whole 180 degree rotation, behind you, you were met with the smiling face of a stranger. He was sitting backwards on his chair, head resting across his arms hanging over the back of it.

You let out a breath of relief, head falling forward slightly.

“Um, hi, do I know you?”

He grinned wider, a line of straight white teeth and full, pink lips. You refused to note the way that your heart skipped a beat and your cheeks became warm.

“No, but you can now! I’m Leo, and you must be Y/N?” He spoke in an optimistic, cheerful manner adorned with a cute eye smile. He radiated a type of innocence like the morning sun that was, at this time, turning into a blazing, burning heat outside of the air-conditioned building.

You narrowed your eyes at him, feeling apprehensive and suspicious. “Yes, my name is Y/N, and how do you know that?”

Leo chuckled and leaned back a little, sheepishly saying, “I may or may not have overheard your conversation with your friend... Seunghee, right?”

You parted your lips to respond but before you could, Seunghee was back from her trip to the restroom. Her lips were painted bold, apple red lipstick, and a new coat of mascara was applied onto her eyelashes.

She halted in front of the table, confusedly glancing between you and Leo. “Sorry, am I interrupting something here?”

You reeled back, turning away from Leo to face Seunghee. Plastering a smile on your face, you shook your head, “Ah, no. We were just making small talk while I was waiting for you.” Seunghee raised an eyebrow disbelievingly, but slid into her seat anyway, a little smirk present on her face as she daintily bit into her sandwich. By the time the two of you had finished your meals and drinks, it was already a little past noon and the city was full in motion. Cars were whizzing by on the streets, accompanied by a steady rush of footsteps on the sidewalk.

As you got up from your seat, grabbing your things along with you, you noticed that the stranger hadn’t left yet, head buried in a book and a forgotten cup of coffee on the table.

You felt a nudge to your side, glancing behind you in annoyance. “Go!” Seunghee whispered encouragingly, pushing you toward the male and walking briskly away to pay for your food.

Leo looked up, just as you stumbled toward him, unsteady footsteps drawing his attention away from the book.

“Wait- I-. Hi. Um, sorry, my friend-” you stammered, sweat already beginning to build up at the uncomfortable situation your friend had just pushed you into.

His face broke into a smile, taking off his round-rimmed glasses and closing his book softly. “Hi Y/N.”

You turned your head to scan for Seunghee, but she was already vacant from the cafe, leaving you by yourself in the most awkward situation you would have imagined. You sighed in slight annoyance, fingers pinching at your nose in habit.

“I’m sorry, my friend… Seunghee pushed me, I didn’t mean to bother you or anything. She thinks I might be interested in you or something, I’m really sorry.”

Leo maintained his eye smile, gesturing dramatically at the chair opposite to him for you to sit down. Cautiously, you slid into the seat, tucking your skirt underneath you clumsily. Your eyes darted from Leo to the counter, then to the windows on your left.

He took a sip of his coffee, unbothered by the nervous tension radiating from you. Scrunching his nose from the bitterness, Leo set down the cup and folded his hands in his lap. “It’s okay, we can’t control our attraction, not that I’m saying you like me or anything. We can’t control a lot of our feelings,” he paused tracing the lettering on the cover of the book. “We feel what we feel, loneliness, love, anger, that’s all natural and you shouldn’t feel apologetic.”

You nodded, fingers twisting the fabric of your skirt into wrinkles. “I guess you’re right, but don’t we have to be understanding sometimes? I just think that always conveying our emotions is sometimes selfish.”

Leo tilted his head, lips pursing, “I heard that you and your boyfriend are going through something? Do you want to talk about it?”

You averted your gaze to pick at the sleeve of your dress. “Yeah, he’s on tour at the moment, so I guess I decided to go out for once.”

“You sound a little unhappy about that.”

You scrunch your eyebrows together, trying to choose your next words carefully with consideration. “Well, it does get a little lonely, but he’s pursuing his dream, and that’s all that matters. I wanna support him on this.”

“And you? Do you have any life goals?”

You paused again, leaning back into the chair. “I’m aspiring to be a writer, so yeah, I suppose.”

“Wow, aren’t you two an artsy couple, huh.”

You smiled in slight embarrassment, cheeks rising in temperature. “I guess we are. How about you? Any life goals?”

He broke into another breathtaking grin, hopes and aspirations pouring out of his mouth like a waterfall. As you sat with him, you felt so refreshed and energized with a new bout of motivation. Your heart swelled in happiness for the first time in weeks and you couldn’t help the broad smile tugging on your lips.

When he finally paused, you voiced your thoughts, “Thanks for chatting with me, Leo, I hope I didn’t take up too much of your time.”

Leo grinned, choosing to ignore your statement. He rose his cup to gulp down the last droplets of his now cold coffee. Letting out a discontent sigh, he gazed forlornly at the empty cup. “Unfortunately, by talking to you all this time I neglected my poor cup of coffee. As payment, you could, I don’t know, give me your number?”

You held his gaze with a warm smile, a shy blush creeping onto your cheeks and a faster tempo playing in your heart. It was endearing, his attentiveness to you. A therapeutic sense of calm washed over you and you couldn’t help but feel grateful and indebted.

You agreed on impulse, without an inkling of hesitation in your voice.

After paying (Leo insisted on doing so, for the both of you), the two of you exited the cafe together and parted ways good-naturedly. Standing in the middle of the sidewalk, you pulled out your phone, you saw multiple text messages from Seunghee and a couple missed calls.

Dialing her number, you raised your phone to your ear hesitantly, glancing at the people strolling past you.

“Hello?”

“Jesus Y/N, do you know how long you spent there? It’s been almost two hours already! You have a boyfriend, you know?”

You laughed her comment off, twirling a strand of hair around your index finger and kicking at the loose gravel pieces. “I’m sorry for worrying you, Seunghee, and don’t worry, it wasn’t like that. We talked a little and, it’s fine, he already knows that I have a boyfriend.”

Seunghee huffed, “Fine, but I can’t believe you ditched me like that, I thought we were friends.”

“Technically, you ditched me first.”

She mockingly sighed, “For the good of your sorry relationship! Anyway, stay safe on the way home and text me later.”

You called for a cab, sitting in the leather backseat quietly with your phone in hand. Pulling up Leo’s contact evoked a smile on your face; the two of you had exchanged numbers in the midst of having more-than-one cup of coffee together, and also having more conversation than you had had with Joshua for months. You held your phone up to your chest, heart beating rapidly and eyelids shut in imagination. Your thoughts drifted to Leo’s smile, his brushed, brown locks of hair, his plush, peach lips-

Joshua.

A truck of guilt smashed you out of your reverie, sending tremors of stress and anxiety to vibrate through your body. It was a crushing type of guilt that squeezed at your heart and collapsed your lungs. Adrenaline rushed through your veins, and you clenched your fists out of reflex. You were just romanticizing about another man when you were in a perfectly content, perfect relationship with your boyfriend. In your head, you could only imagine what Joshua’s face would look like if you told him what you had happened or the feelings that you had felt.

The second the taxi pulled up to your street you pushed the car door open wide, swaying slightly on your feet, feeling distraught and shameful, knowing that it would only be downhill from that point onward.

🟊 🟊 🟊 🟊 🟊

“If you’re not happy with Josh then you should break up with him.”

You leaned back in your reclining chair, head tilting backwards and eyes squeezing shut from the bright light. You rubbed at your temples, trying to fend off the impending migraine creeping into your skull. “It’s not that easy, Seunghee, and I am happy with Josh.”

Seunghee spun you around, throwing herself into the empty chair beside you. “Is this about that guy we met in the cafe the other day?”

You opened your eyes in surprise, a sudden bout of stress striking your stomach. “Wh-what? What about him?”

Seunghee leaned on your desk, rolling her eyes, “It’s obvious. You clearly like him, and maybe that’s a good thing.”

“No, it’s not,” you adamantly denied, fingers digging into your computer keyboard as you pounded the backspace key. “I’m dating Joshua, and I barely know Leo, we saw each other for one day and that’s it.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Well maybe you should get to know this Leo guy better.”

You turned around, eyes narrowing into a withering glare. “Seunghee, stop it. I’m trying to figure out how to talk to Josh, not destroy our relationship.”

Seunghee backed off, reluctantly standing up and holding her hands out in defeat. “Okay, okay, I’m just saying that, it’s not fair for you to be ignored either.”

You stayed silent that time, fingers pausing slightly over the keys as you pondered her statement. You readjusted your glasses, tucking another strand of hair behind your ear.

“Like, when was the last time the two of you even called?”

When was the last time you heard Joshua’s voice? Or held each other? You were even beginning to forget the features of his face: the curve of his nose, the plush of his lips were all fading away.

Your heart sunk in your chest, “I’m not even sure anymore.”

🟊 🟊 🟊 🟊 🟊

You started to prepare dinner, taking out your ingredients out of the refrigerator meticulously in an organized fashion, a complete contrast to your actual state of mind. Your head was too wrapped up in your own thoughts to even concentrate on the vegetables being laid out in front of you. Scenarios upon scenarios filled your brain to the brim, until the stress and anxiety bubbled over; your hands shook while holding the knife when thinking about how to explain to Joshua about Leo and your stomach cramped at the mere thought of Joshua’s facial expression. Bringing down the knife onto the cutting board, you rapidly finished preparing your ingredients.

The dial tone of your phone rang through the sound of the kitchen machinery, the sound echoing through the empty apartment. You quickly scooped up some of the fried rice into a porcelain white bowl, setting it down on the countertop along with your eating utensils.

Shakily, you pressed “accept” on the screen, Joshua’s face popping up within seconds adorning a wide smile and shiny crescent eyes full of happiness.

Your heart dropped to your stomach and suddenly you felt a rush of light-headedness.

“Y/N! I’ve missed you so much, it’s so good to see your face again,” he said softly, fond adoration present in his voice.

You nodded shallowly, poking at the rice grains with your chopsticks absentmindedly. “I’ve missed you too,” you mumbled in a lackadaisical manner, your eyes refusing to meet him.

“Y/N?” Joshua trailed off, a confused look on his face with flashes of hurt present in his eyes. “Is there something bothering you?”

You swallowed roughly, fingers roughly gripping onto your chopsticks.

Just spit it out, do it, do it, do it now-

“I-I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

Silence. Dead, immovable silence. Your heart stopped beating and it felt like your ears were on fire, taking in every movement of sound.

Taking a deep breath, you looked up briefly to assess the damage, but it was like the screen was frozen: Joshua’s facial expression was frozen, but his eyes were devoid of the smile from before. For a moment, you were scared that the connection had timed out and that you wouldn’t have the courage to repeat your statement. Then you noticed the slight trembling of his pink lips, frail and shy like blush flower petals.

“You don’t mean that,” he managed out in a spluttering breath, a fake smile plastered onto his face.

You shook your head, voice a little louder this time, “I want to break up, Joshua.”

Your veins were on fire and your vision was constricted to just the phone screen. It was like a tsunami of pent up emotions, sadness, anger, loneliness, were rushing to shore, spilling out of your mouth in a single sentence.

Joshua repeated your gesture, shaking his head rapidly. His head tipped down in a mess of hair so you couldn’t see his face. “You said that the distance didn’t matter, that you were still mine! I thought-I thought we were fine together.”

Joshua’s voice broke at the end. You noticed the slight heaving of his shoulders and chest and the quiet sniffles of his tears.

Taking a deep breath to control your nerves, you firmly rebuffed him, “I thought differently back then. We’re both reaching our peaks in our careers, I don’t want us to get in the way of both of our dreams.”

You could see Joshua trying to calm down his rapid breathing, a hand coming up to wipe the shimmering droplets off his cheeks.

“Did-did I do something wrong?” he stammered. “I don’t want to give up on us, Y/N. Can you just explain yourself a little bit? Just a little. Whatever it is, I’m sure we can figure it out, together.”

You took another deep breath in, letting your eyelids fall shut for a moment. After a couple beats of silence, you brusquely answered him, “I’m sorry, Josh. I’m really tired, I don’t want to come home to a silent house, or go to bed by myself waiting for you. I’m tired and I’m also lonely. These once a week phone calls just aren’t enough for me, and I know that you’re busy, I understand that. I just don’t think I can wait for you anymore. The group is doing super well overseas, and I would never want you to have to choose between your career and me.”

You stopped for a moment to contemplate your next words. Joshua was silent and unmoving except for the slight shudders of sobs and fluttering of his eyelashes. When he didn’t respond, you continued, driving your next words deep into Joshua’s flesh and skull. “I’m choosing for you, for us. I’m choosing to let you go.”

Your words rung in the silence between the two of you, in the background of your side of the screen, you could hear the slight hum of the lights and the city bustle on loop outside. Contrary to you, Joshua heard nothing but your words replaying in his mind in his empty hotel room. He had asked the other members to leave since he wanted the call to be private and more meaningful. Now, alone, his mind had tuned out from reality, feeling slightly dizzy from the sudden rush of emotions: sadness, despair, hopelessness. He swallowed, his dry throat protesting from the harshness, but refused to take a sip of water from the bottle in front of him.

“Josh? Are you still there?” you asked gently, worry creeping into your voice.

“Yeah,” he mumbled. He grabbed a tissue to dry his tears. “I’m tired, Y/N. I’m going to hang up now and go to sleep.”

“Okay…” you hesitantly agreed, “Sleep well, Joshua.”

“I will.”

And then he hung up, collapsing into the armchair in wracking, heartbreaking sobs.

🟊 🟊 🟊 🟊 🟊

“Wait, what? What do you mean Y/N broke up with you?”

Joshua groaned at Jeonghan’s incredulous tone, covering his face with the hotel pillow, the white covering crinkled and stained from his tears. Digging his face deeper, Joshua didn’t even know where to begin. It was as if the more he tried to understand you, the more he grew entangled in his never-ending web of questions.

“She said she was doing it for me,” he mumbled into the pillow. Joshua turned so he was facing Jeonghan, arms gripping the cushion to his chest. “And the worst part is that I don’t even know this was coming.” He sat up, legs crossed, to look at Jeonghan through puffy, red eyes. “Y/N was probably thinking about this for weeks and I didn’t even know. And I didn’t even call her for two weeks.” A tear slipped off the bridge of his nose, little droplets darkening the sheets. “I was hurting her all this time and I didn’t even know,” he sniffled.

Jeonghan sighed and slung an arm around his best friend, hugging him close to his body as Joshua cried his eyes out, another wave of sobs wracking his frame.

Jeonghan patted Joshua’s back while listening to the sobs of the other male, letting his arm hang limp around him. “I don’t understand either. Y/N seemed fine when you guys were calling each other, something must’ve happened for her to make this decision so abruptly.”

His sobs died down as Joshua tried to catch his breath. He looked up, “What do you mean?”

Jeonghan exhaled, bringing up one hand to ruffle through his hair. “I don’t know man, I think you two have to talk though. Face to face. It’s not fair for her to break up with you through a call, you know, closure and stuff.”

Joshua nodded along, slowly drying his tears. He reached over for a tissue, blowing hard and throwing it into the trash bin. He stared at the blank sheets before saying determinedly, “Yeah, you’re right. I need to talk to her face to face.”

🟊 🟊 🟊 🟊 🟊

The second the members left the airplane, stepping out into the airport lobby, Joshua pulled out his phone, fingers flying over the keys in a text message. “Hey Y/N, I’m home...” He paused, thoughts whirling in his head, thumb hovering over the send button.

“Shua!”

Joshua glanced up to see the members standing a few steps before him, all of them adorning confused, exhausted expressions, some annoyed, some indifferent to his aloofness.

He quickly tucked his phone back into his back pocket, taking quick strides to reach the other boys.

“Hey man, you okay?” Mingyu muttered under his breath as Joshua caught up to him.

“I’m fine,” he responded nonchalantly, walking closer to Jeonghan in an attempt to distance himself from the other members. Jeonghan slung an arm around Joshua, trying to comfort him in any way possible. “I’m fine,” Joshua repeated firmly.

The car ride to the dorms was silent, only the softness of snores and intakes of breath could be heard in the van. Most of the members were either sleeping or keeping to themselves after the long and exhausting Asia SEVENTEEN tour. Joshua felt immense guilt and blame for the breakup; he blamed himself, essentially, for abandoning you and for choosing his career over you.

Now, as he looked out of the rain splattered window, Joshua understood the suffocation you felt when he was gone. The guilt gripped at his heart, making it harder for him to breathe.

By the time they had all arrived back in the dorms it was already evening, the sky turning a beautiful swirl of pink cotton candy clouds and blue gray.

Pink represented his love for you, ever so light and present, fluffy wisps drifting into nothingness.

Gray represented his sadness, his anger for you. He could never bring himself to hate you though, Joshua knew that you must have had a reason.

So he waits. Waits for you to come back to him, to explain to him.

212 notes · View notes

guiltysecretpasttime · 4 years ago

Text

Happenstance

(title edited)

Note: Heads up – this is end game Linumi with a side of Tokka. With very very slight Pema / Tenzin bashing. Zuko and Katara will feature as well but will not be Zutara (nothing against it though haha). This is def not proofread. This is also definitely not my usual so let’s see. 🤓

---

One-shot, Linumi (Lin / Bumi II), pre-LOK AU

__________

Air Temple Island was lit up tonight and the noise level was way beyond its usual.

A slender woman sat at one of the tables set up across the courtyard, clad in a gray and cream hanfu, hair piled up in a bun. While her attire allowed her to blend in among the other guests, the surly expression indicated that she clearly wanted to be somewhere else.

Someone commented to her earlier about the decorations and how exquisite they look; the couple getting married was tasteful in their choices. She simply stared back blankly without responding until the person excused themselves, getting embarrassed.

Ha. That would teach them.

The lady sniffed at the glass that one of tonight’s waiting staff placed at the table. Their dinner plates have been cleared (not that there was anything she found substantial enough of the dishes served to them).

She threw back the glass, an ugly grimace on her face.

As expected, the drinks were bad.

She groaned, leaning back in her seat. When they had planned this day, she envisioned it going differently. For starters, there would have been meat.

Something has to be said about old friends and loyalty. If it weren’t for that, she would not have deigned attending today’s festivities.

She snorted.

Yeah, right. Politics and majority of her adult life spent on civil service practically ensured her attendance.

Most of the attendees were hypocritical brown-nosers. A while back, they had been clamoring and clapping for the union of an airbender and an earthbender. Today, they all stood by and cheered for the same airbender and his young bride.

A clatter and a huff from her side told her that she was not the only one not enjoying dinner.

“I’m going to find my sister.” Her companion announced, pulling back her chair.

She could distinctly feel the emptiness of the other seat at the table. The ceremonies were over and even dinner was nearly over, but the seat remained empty.

“She was not supposed to be on duty today.” Was all she could respond to that. “There were other people who can easily take the job; she insisted leading today’s security team.”

The younger woman simply shrugged. “Of course.”

Toph Beifong could only close her unseeing eyes as Suyin went off to find her eldest, who they last saw briefing the officers on duty some time before the start of the wedding ceremony of the last airbender.

The scraping of the chair and a thunk signaled her to the presence of another person joining their table.

“The food is a bust and the drinks are a flop. Wanna leave before they start dragging people to the dance floor?” The man nudged her shoulder. “I’d have you know that I smuggled in high quality booze on the island; I have bottles that my sister did not confiscate.”

She wanted to ignore the man but the promise of alcohol got her attention. “What kind of booze are you talking about, Sokka?”

The Water Tribe man told her what he had brought over; it was enough to convince her.

“Let’s go.” And she allowed herself to be dragged away.

---

Suyin Beifong had gone down to the docks and back up to the welcoming arc. Yet, she has not found any trace of her sister. All of Lin’s colleagues had told her that she had already gotten to the main courtyard an hour or so ago.

She was about to go back and report to her mother that Lin was missing when she saw that the table was empty.

Great, even Mom has escaped.

Truth be told, Su did not really have to go this hard in searching for her sister. A few months ago, they had not even been on speaking terms (her fault, of course, she admitted to Lin years late).

---

When she opened the newspaper weeks ago and saw the wedding banns announcing Tenzin’s marriage to someone who was not her sister, Su took the first ride to Republic City and boarded the ferry to Air Temple Island…

And promptly punched the airbender on his large and crooked nose.

Before leaving, Su, in true Beifong fashion, let all her power and anger loose and managed to wreck a sizable section of the island.

As she went her merry way in Republic City, towards the familiar path to the Republic City Police Headquarters, with the intent to seek an audience with her sister (hoping against hope that the usually irate metalbender will not throw her out), she spotted her unsuspecting target.

A young (too young! She thought) woman clad in orange and yellow was browsing some produce in one of the market stalls.

Without even looking around and without even a moment of indecision, Su slid her foot on the ground, commanding an almost imperceptible piece of earth to jut out in the direction of the woman.

The next moments of chaos would forever be imprinted in Su’s memory.

The woman she knew from the photos as Pema tripped as she moved to the next stall. Su quickly flattened the earth to avoid detection.

Pema attempted to regain her balance and ended up grabbing the nearest thing she could – which was a chopping board from the fruit stall. This resulted in the fruit on it (sliced watermelons) being flung off and hitting the stall owner across the street. Unbeknownst to them, the two stall owners (both selling fruit) already had an on-going and long-standing dispute.

The flying fruit was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Chaos broke lose.

Fruits, vegetables, feathers and even animal blood started flying around.

Whistles and sirens permeated the air.

With a sense of schadenfreude, Su found herself paralyzed at the edge of the commotion, watching what she intended to be an inconvenience to an individual turn into a full-fledged market fight.

Before long, members of the Republic City Police Department started swarming the area and arrests were happening right and left.

“Little Suyin, is that you?”

Su stiffened, recognizing one of her mother’s captains approach her (Lin’s captain now, she supposed).

“Heeeeeeey, Captain Ryou.” It was all she could say with a smile too innocent to be believed.

“I don’t know why you’re back in Republic City but I have a strong feeling that you’re somewhat involved in this.” The metalbender shook his head.

Su froze her smile on her face.

“Can’t prove it though.” Captain Ryou gave instructions to his second-in-command before continuing the conversation with the youngest Beifong. “What brings you to Republic City?”

“Can you bring me to meet my sister – I mean – Chief Beifong?”

---

“Where is she?”

The door slid open revealing Chief Lin Beifong.

Su immediately stood up and quickly held up a hand to stop the older Beifong from talking. She offered her sincere apologies and she practically grovelled (grovelled! No Beifong has ever grovelled and here she was grovelling) at her sister. She even offered to participate in community service *and* shell out money to pay for damages and/or bail.

Lin looked stunned. It was apparent that it was not what she had expected of their first interaction since her sister was sent away to Gaoling.

To Su's surprise, Lin was quick to forgive. Then again, Lin always was the mature daughter of Toph Beifong (even more mature than she is). She was taken aback.

“But wait -there is something that you should know about what I did earlier today -.”

“I heard and I saw - I'll take you up on covering the damages of Air Temple Island. Tenzin was not pleased when he arrived at the station earlier to report you." Lin frowned. "Then we were both surprised to hear that his bride was in holding."

"Ah." This was Su's opening. "About that -."

"What on earth did you hit him on the face with?"

---

Earthbending.

Right. Kicking herself mentally, Su used seismic sense to look for her sister and quickly found her at the kitchen that the caterers had set up for the event.

Su was relieved to see Lin garbed in the form-fitting dress that she bought the other week specifically for the wedding (eat your heart out, Airhead).

“Finally found me, have you?” Lin lazily spoke, twirling a goblet of what could be that horrible wine being served earlier.

"Enjoying yourself?" Su thought it was a pity that Lin was all dressed up and there was no one to appreciate it.

A shrug. "No security breaches, no gate crashers - I'll say it was a job well-done for RCPD today."

Su rolled her eyes. "Well, of course, they practically hired the Chief of Police to provide security for their miserable wedding."

Another shrug.

“Oh come on.” Su petulantly pulled at Lin's arm, effectively sloshing the rest of her drink on the floor.

"Watch it!" Lin grumbled. "Is the party that good that you want me to share in their joy?"

"No, don't be daft. When was the last time did we have fun at a party that Tenzin threw?" Remembering that maybe her sister and the airbender actually had an engagement party in her absence, Su quickly added. "We are going to have our own beach party."

---

"We didn't do well, did we?"

"Excuse me?" The waterbender was startled from her passive people-watching, uninterested to join the festivities.

"This is the second wedding among our children that seemed to be under duress."

Katara did not deign to reply to the Fire Lord because she agreed.

"Izumi," Zuko nodded towards his daughter who was seated with other Fire Nation dignitaries and her husband, a Fire Nation nobleman who had a position in one of the older colonies. "At least seems to be getting along better with her husband."

Indeed, Katara noticed the difference in body language of the Crown Princess and her husband compared to how they were during their own wedding.

"Enough about my child -what about yours?" Zuko could not miss how stiff Tenzin was on the dance floor as he led his wife for their first dance.

Katara could only shake her head. "He has embarked on his own family life now - all I can do is support him."

They watched as Izumi laughed delicately while her husband whispered something in her ear and gently offered his hand before leading her to the dance floor.

Both of them sat in comfortable silence now when the waterbender's attention was caught by her brother leaving the head table from the other end.

"Are they going public tonight?" Zuko asked, surprise tainting his question as Sokka sat beside Toph and appearing to be wheedling her to stand up with him.

She sighed. "I don't know who they think they are fooling." When they were younger, she struggled to understand how her brother's mind works. Now that they were older, Katara simply gave up.

"Here's hoping they finally get their happy ending tonight." Was all she could say as Sokka was successful in prying Toph from being disapproving at her seat.

---

"I could have sworn there were more bottles of cactus juice." Sokka scratched his head when he got to their meeting place.

They parted ways when they left the reception. Toph had gone off in search for actual sustenance and had returned, clutching several pouches of jerky and fireflakes ("Where did you-?" "Don't ask. Can't tell you.")

"Meh." Toph tore open a packet of jerky, popping a piece into her mouth before grabbing one of the bottles and taking a swig out of it.

Sokka made himself comfortable at the stone bench that was situated at far from the courtyard, a slope semi-hidden by trees. Their seat provided them an excellent view of the bay and the shore below them.

There were well within the private area of the island where only family and close friends are allowed. Most guests probably did not know about the area itself.

…Which made it unusual for two individuals to be walking at the shore at this time.

Sokka struggled to identify them in the dark but snippets of conversation floated up to them.

"Lin -it's okay to be mad. This is the perfect time to let loose!"

"My daughters are down there, aren't they?" Toph's uncharacteristically whispered, holding Sokka's forearm.

Sokka swallowed a lump in his throat. "Yes, your daughters."

---

The older metalbender glared her sister, who sat down on a nearby rock.

Lin curled her bare feet on the sand, one hand holding her shoes and the other hand a bottle of the swill that airhead deemed to serve as wine.

It barely had alcohol in it.

Today was supposed to be her wedding.

But shit happens.

No one really knew the main reason of their falling out - except for her and Tenzin.

Good riddance.

She took another sip.

"Why are you forcing yourself with that? We got the good ones!"

Bumi and Kya arrived from beyond the greenery that hid the path to the beach.

Lin shot scowl at her sister looked as surprised as she did.

"I didn't invite them!"

Bumi guffawed. "No one invited us - we used to live here, you know."

He got a punch to his arm, care of his sister. "What he meant was we saw that the Beifongs had deserted their table and had correctly assumed that you would be here."

Here meant this short stretch of the shore which was inaccessible or unknown to most. Even acolytes who might have lived their entire life on the island were not aware how to get there. This became their go-to place when they were younger, a respite of sorts from their life. It seemed fitting now.

"Wouldn't you be missed?" Su accepted the bottle that Kya offered.

The waterbender snorted. "They're all enthralled by the program."

Lin tossed aside her empty bottle and Bumi handed her a newly opened bottle of cactus juice. "Fancy that."

---

"So that's where my drinks have gone!"

"Well, Snoozles, you probably did not hide them properly."

---

"Come on Lin, be petty! You get a free pass today!"

A cheer was heard from above, where the party was still on-going.

"Damn right you do."

Lin took another gulp. The more she drank, the more she felt relaxed.

The bickering of Bumi and Kya and Suyin goading her… It harkened to their childhood days.

The only one missing was, well, her best friend.

Ex-best friend.

Bumi tossed her a pack of fire flakes.

---

"So that's where you got the fire flakes!"

"I didn't steal it if that's what you think." A sniff. "I ordered boxes of it from Bumi; he did say they were docking at the Fire Nation before heading here."

---

"That's the spirit!"

"You're welcome!" Lin shouted to the bay. "You're welcome for planning all this," She waved vaguely around. "For the past months! This is the thanks I get for your instant wedding and reception!"

"What! No way." Kya's eyes widened. She thought her younger brother was full of it but this was beyond what she expected (and she had low expectations).

"What - why do you think that the color palette?"

"Tenzin said it's because Pema came from the Earth Kingdom…" Bumi said slowly.

Su snorted. "Earth Kingdom colors would not exactly match the Beifong family colors though. But they're quite close."

"The menu, of course, they had to scrap." Lin leaned on her sister as they had all now sat on the sand, facing the water.

"Mom was most disappointed at that; she took all the food tasting seriously."

"I told her we can still order our choices as a set menu one of these days."

"I heard Uncle Sokka griping about meat to Mom earlier as well." Kya added. "So, what else did they repurpose from your wedding plans?"

As if on cue, music was carried over to their spot.

Bumi saw Lin's lip twitch. "Your playlist, huh?"

Lin looked away, eyes glassy.

---

The military man knew what he needed to do. He usually worked on impulse and tonight was no different.

He got up, patted his hands on his pants to brush off the sand that had stuck to his sticky palms.

Bumi extended his hand to the still seated earthbender.

”May I have this dance?"

---

“What if the Chief of Police was never meant to be with the councilman?”

Toph remained silent. She sat straight, bare feet firmly on the ground, sensing with clarity how her eldest slowly stood up to accept the offer of the eldest of the previous Avatar.

What if indeed…

Had they all been blind blind?

Sokka was probably reading too much into the scene below them.

To her surprise, Lin and Bumi began to move in time with the music, more in sync with each other than they had ever been with anyone else. And that was saying something – both had been at the top of their respective classes in their academies. Both had passed team tactical tests with flying colors, where working flawlessly with their colleagues is imperative.

And yet…

“What if she was meant to be with the easily overlooked non-bender?” Sokka’s whisper was now much closer to her ear than it was earlier.

Toph's breath caught in her throat.

Was he still talking about her daughter and his nephew?

---

“I never knew Bumi was a dancer.”

“He isn’t.” Bumi’s sister confirmed. “He probably learned his fancy footwork from the military.”

“Lin always was graceful,” Su leaned forward, enthralled by the movements the pair did on the sand. “Grandma forced us to go to dance class."

---

“You know, Aunt Toph used to call Uncle Aang fancy dancer.”

“Excuse me?” Tenzin unwittingly echoed his mother’s words as he was caught unawares. He quickly faced the person who interrupted his solitude.

“There you are.” Izumi was leaning on the railing of the path that led to the shore. “Hiding out during your own wedding banquet?”

“I needed air.”

“You can create your own air.” The Crown Princess rolled her eyes. “Lin was right, you are an airhead.” She nodded to the group of four dancing, laughing and drinking by the bay.

The airbender let out a sound that was a cross between a snort and a scoff.

The two of them simply watched the group below, unmindful and unaware of their observers.

Izumi heard the man beside her gasp as Bumi suddenly dipped Lin and then lifted her up. “Don’t look like a kicked turtleduck. It's your wedding night. You made your bed and so you better lie in it." With that, she left the brooding groom.

With one last look at the group by the way, Tenzin soon followed, ready to plaster on a smile as he made his way back to the courtyard and guests.

---

Heaving in exertion of the dance, Lin found herself leaning forward, trying to catch her breath. “Where's Kya and Su?”

"They got bored. Maybe." Bumi noticed their sisters were nowhere to be found.

Before Lin could even respond, he let out a loud belch before excusing himself.

She laughed.

He reddened with embarrassment but quickly recovered. He scrambled to the pile of food that he and Kya had smuggled earlier.

Plopping beside him, sand disturbed, she took a drink and rummaged through the junk food (some of which she had vowed never to even touch, an influence of having a vegetarian partner for a long time).

She racked her memory as to the last time she felt this carefree and impulsive; she came up empty-handed.

Lin decided she liked the feeling.

---

"What do you have to lose, Lin Beifong?" He breathed against her lips.

"We don't do commitment well." As though that explained it all.

"You wore it well but he didn't. You would not need to worry about that with me - no strings attached."

That she could live with.

Sometimes things happen because they had to.

But maybe sometimes there was no reason why.

---

The next day had the makings of an auspicious beginning.

Tenzin felt he barely slept when Pema (his wife) began rousing.

Whenever the Fire Lord stays over, his father used to have meditation with him. The years had passed so did his father (and the Fire Lady). The children sought to continue traditions.

Each family would be represented during morning meditation. It just was their custom.

Tenzin thought this would be the best opportunity to introduce his wife to their family traditions.

Surely they'll remember that he would be bringing Pema over?

Apparently not.

When they reached the family pavilion, everyone was in place - Izumi beside her father and the two Beifong sisters.

The Beifong sisters who were bickering at this early hour.

“What are you doing here?” Su’s voice rang clean in the air, almost accusingly at her sister. Said sister simply shrugged.

“Hi Uncle Zuko.” Lin bowed before the Fire Lord.

“Ah, Lin, Suyin.” The old Fire Lord’s eyes twinkled happily. “Two Beifongs for the price of one.”

The older Beifong finally turned to her sister. “Mom told me.”

Su rolled eyes.

Izumi clicked her tongue. “Well, she tricked you both and just wanted to make sure that the House of Beifong is present this morning.”

Tenzin cleared his throat, diverting the attention to him. “Good morning.”

“Ah, the newly-weds.” Zuko remarked, inclining his head.

“I suppose you’re here because we can hardly expect Kya to be up.” Izumi observed.

“Same goes for Bumi.” Tenzin cannot help but quip, observing Lin’s reaction.

“Tenzin, we weren’t expecting you.” Zuko said not unkindly. “Specially for Pema to wake up this early. But it is appreciated. Let us begin.”

Tenzin’s mind wandered.

Pema was fidgeting beside him.

Had she always been fidgety during meditation?

At the opposite end, Lin looked calm and unbothered. He had supposed that she would be bothered by their presence but, she barely batted an eyelash.

And where was Bumi?

Maybe nothing happened…

He knew Lin would have taken the chance to sleep in if ever.

---

To Tenzin’s irritation, the first person they encountered upon reaching the dining area was his brother.

“I’m surprised you’re awake.” He bit out.

Bumi threw him an amused look as he placed a large platter on the long table. “Of course – were you expecting me to be hungover?” He smiled and greeted his sister-in-law.

“You cooked!” Pema exclaimed in astonishment.

Bumi blinked while other people started to filter into the room. “Someone had to help mom, and, no offense, I don’t fancy eating meatless grub.”

“I knew I liked you better.” Toph Beifong entered the room, punching Bumi’s arm, her hair all puffed up from being in bed. “Well done.” She yawned, walking towards the seat in front of her daughters.

Sokka lazily slid beside her, rubbing his eyes and pulling out the chair for Toph.

“Someone had a rough night.” Su snickered at the pair.

A smirk and a blush were exchanged.

“Did not.”

“Please, I sensed what you were up to.” Lin smirked at her mother. “Wanna bet?”

“No, thanks.” Toph ignored her daughter’s dare and reached over to get a cream bun.

Everyone started to dig in when Katara sat at the head of the table.

Bumi hesitated before sitting down at Lin’s other side.

Tenzin looked around the table to see if people noticed it.

No one was reacting.

Then again, he realized it was usually Bumi who picked up on undercurrents like that, being observant himself.

Well, Tenzin considered, Bumi, Toph and Lin.

He had fully expected either Bumi or Lin to give more credence to the night’s romp.

Neither seemed worse for wear though.

Unless…

He frowned.

Kya nudged him and whispered. “You’re a newly-wed, why do you look far too displeased?”

Tenzin then became a little bit more conscious and focused on his plate.

Pema was no help, who was simply quiet and seemingly in awe.

Belatedly, Tenzin remembered that this was the first meal that his wife would have with the entire extended family.

Just then, several acolytes entered the dining room, carrying trays of food.

Katara beckoned them over and asked them to place the food on the table. She turned to Tenzin and Pema almost apologetically.

“We didn’t expect you to be up and I had asked the acolytes to prepare food for you in bed.”

“That was thoughtful of you, Master Katara. Thank you.” Pema meekly responded, dipping her head in deference.

Something twisted in Tenzin’s chest.

It was not a well-kept secret that when Lin was over, they tend to eat breakfast in bed.

---

Tenzin felt everyone was waiting with bated breath.

Every time Pema would shake her head as her courses arrived – well, the airbender could only nod back.

They better try harder.

Tenzin did not know what else to do.

---

The first time was fun.

The second time was on a whim because why not?

The succeeding ones – they barely thought about it, making no more excuses other than that they enjoyed each other’s company.

They could live with this, they reckoned.

Two misfits, Bumi had said. Failures in the eyes of their parents.

Unfit to continue a legacy.

---

One night, Lin had opened up to him – to both of their incredulity.

It was painful to share but at the same time, there was something cathartic about having a non-judging listening ear.

It has been a long time since she had someone like that, Lin mused.

“You’re better off without him.”

The metalbender had looked up in wonder at that statement.

No one had ever told her that before. It was always in the vein of her deficiencies and how she did not measure up to expectations.

Surrounded by air acolytes and the White Lotus, their patriarchal stance and beliefs had woven its way into her previous relationship. Motherhood, apparently, was one of the few things that they see a woman’s way of self-actualizing. Never mind that the wife of the previously last airbender was a master healer and warrior in her own right.

“You’d think growing up under Mom’s parenting would disabuse him of those misconceptions.”

As much as he thought that his brother was spineless, Bumi would not dare disparage him in public. Blood is blood and truth be told, he would never know the pressures of being the last airbender (and the non-bender was forever thankful of that).

Family is family, just as Lin and Su fell into an easy kinship despite years of estrangement.

Nonetheless, the disgust he felt at his brother’s treatment of Lin was propelling him to head on to Air Temple Island to knock sense into him (albeit it would be too late). Lin managed to dissuade him stating that this was why she did not feel comfortable about sharing why it all ended.

“I know you don’t need protecting or saving.” Bumi scooted over the bed, tightening his arm around her. “But I want you to know that someone’s always got your back here.” He placed her palm on his chest (his heart, though he was not about to reveal that to her any time soon).

“I do want kids. I did. I probably still do.” It was a whisper. “I guess it wasn't meant to be.”

She held her knees to her chest.

Bumi moved closer, hugging her unmindful of the tears.

“Hey,” He gently tilted her chin up. “We can always be the cool uncle and aunt these brats have ever seen.”

Lin managed a weak laugh.

“After all, where else can they find an aunt who can rappel down a skyscraper without a safety net?”

---

He wondered.

When had it all changed to something more, something beyond friendship?

She certainly enjoyed his company, at least behind closed doors.

He let her be herself. And vice versa.

It wasn't meant to be a secret. He understood she was burned.

And so he let it be.

He admitted her one time that they were watching the dawn that he liked their arrangement - the thrill in hiding, of being caught.

He wondered if it was just the daredevil in him that sought this excitement in his life.

---

Slowly the press left her alone outside her capacity of being chief of police.

All focus was on the council and its youngest councilman.

She used to see his name on the papers and feel a stab of regret.

Then it dissolved into a twinge.

Then simply a phantom pulse of hurt.

Until it was nothing.

---

“You’re looking at the United Forces new liaison officer!”

It had taken a while but the powers that be had surmised that the overall situation has stabilized. No more pirates and, definitely (to his immense relief), no more cannibals.

“Seriously?” An arched eyebrow was the disbelieving response to his announcement.

He felt hurt but masked it with a grin. “Yes.”

“It wasn’t a jab at your capabilities.” Lin rolled her eyes. His façade did not fool her. Not one bit. “It’s just that – is this what you wanted?”

Bumi was taken aback. It has been a while since anyone cared to ask or know what he wanted.

“Yes, of course.” It was surprisingly sincere.

He didn’t mind that he would be staying put in Republic City for the time being.

He did not mind at all.

---

It has all hushed up.

The public relations guy that Lin hired at Bumi’s suggestion was wonderful at his job.

One of Lin’s trusted staff at her home placed a call to the Bumi’s direct line.

Bumi’s heart caught in his throat and he hurried home to the Beifong manor.

“I'm good.” Lin did what she did best – downplay her injuries or illness.

Leave it to a Beifong to hire a private nurse and doctor to see to her after a fainting spell at work.

Bumi approved of this. None of that hospital stuff – Lin’s reputation as the Chief of Police would suffer and the criminal underbelly might see it as an opportunity to wreak havoc.

Seeking to lighten the air and shake off his concern, “You may be good now, but after I'm done with you I don’t know if you’ll still be good.” He waggled his eyebrows, hinting at a naughty past time.

“Oh, I’m all yours – be as bad as you want to be.” To his delight, Lin quipped back. “I’ll have you know though that that’s what got us into this predicament.”

His jaw slackened, he noticed Lin’s eyes shining.

Could it be?

He gently placed his shaking hands on Lin’s still flat abdomen. He gazed at Lin’s face, a question unspoken.

She nodded, placing her hand over his, smiling.

“I’m going to be a father!”

The man’s howl echoed throughout the manor.

---

Bumi was a superstitious man.

Having encountered various peoples and learned different cultures in travels through the course of his military career, he had picked up practices and folklore along the way. He was adamant that where necessary, they will practice them if only for the health and safety of mother and child.

For the most part, Lin let him do what he wished. She understood at some level the trepidation that the man felt regarding their impending parenthood.

However, after the boisterous man had frightened yet another one of her household staff as he crept into the manor in the wee hours of the morning, carrying yet another exotic fruit for her, Lin had invited him to stay in.

She leaned at her windowsill, enjoying the breeze.

Bumi was chatting with her gardener, a kind old man hired by Toph when she first had the manor constructed years ago.

He had readily assimilated into the life at the manor.

And she, meanwhile, was contented, oddly enough.

---

From Su

It’s your ex’s birthday (Lin looked heavenward at her sister’s juvenile terms) next week and I received this gaudy invitation for his party.

I’d expect you’d be going too? As a family friend, I mean, and don’t you dare use the police card.

Anyway, sending you this book – it’s a good read. It helped me understand Baatar a little bit more.

---

From Lin

I intended to attend in my professional capacity, of course.

But some snitch sent a letter to Aunt Katara to request that I should not be part of the security detail.

And, Su – what is this garbage? This is not going to help me in any way.

---

The Five Love Languages

---

From Su

Oh come on. I’m sure there is someone special in your life. And before you even accuse me of sending spies (not that I didn’t think about that), it’s how you’ve been writing back to me.

You’re less acerbic. And the point is – you have been writing back!

Sweet Agni, even Tenzin wasn’t able to induce you to respond to any of my letters.

---

From Lin

Su: Mind your own business.

---

Nonetheless, she read the book.

---

“Whoa there! What was that?” Everyone paused to pay attention to the blind earthbender who raised a hand, requesting silence. “Who else is there? How many are we in the room?” She volunteered a number to be confirmed.

Sokka counted each individual.

Toph Beifong was off by one count.

---

Katara eyed Tenzin and nodded towards Pema.

The airbender shook his head.

---

Lin gripped Bumi’s arm in alarm.

This was not how she wanted it to be revealed. Not here, not now, not yet.

Not on Tenzin’s birthday.

Toph quickly shot a look at her daughter, no doubt feeling the increased (and additional) heartbeats. Her eyes widened subtly.

Lin and Bumi held their breath.

“I might have been mistaken.” She raised her glass. “Tipsy, you know.”

“Yeah, dear that's likely it.” Sokka laughed. “You must be getting old.”

Bumi saw his mother look shrewdly at their joined hands.

Of course. Mothers knew best.

And mothers knew all.

He caught her eye and nodded – a promise to speak later.

---

Then came the toast.

Drinks were provided around to the guests, save for the birthday celebrant and the air acolytes who were given another set of drinks.

“To good health!”

“Cheers!”

“Lin, why aren’t you drinking?”

Lin froze.

They had not counted on their uncle.

“You never passed up the chance for wine.” Sokka was oblivious to Toph pinching his arm to stop talking. “Is there something wrong with the selection?” He was taking offense at it since he was the one who provided the libation for the celebration.

“Uncle…” Bumi attempted to intervene.

“You took after your mama here – the only time she stopped was when she was carrying you or Su.”

There was a palpable shift in the room when comprehension dawned on all the guests.

Bumi’s proprietary and protective posture beside Lin did not go unnoticed.

All eyes turned to the airbender who had slowly approached Lin.

Tenzin suddenly hugged her and slid down, kneeling in front of her, causing the metalbender to gasp.

He shook as he had his arms around Lin’s legs.

“Leave us.”

Pema’s stony countenance clearly expressed her displeasure at the request but left nonetheless.

Bumi looked like he wanted to argue but he recognized wordless plea on Lin's face.

His heart sank.

---

I’m sorry.

It’s all my fault.

I was too weak.

I’m sorry Lin.

You did not deserve all that.

Not at all.

I’m the one who was not enough – I’m the one who failed you.

---

I know that now, Tenzin.

I must go.

---

Bumi tossed a rock into the bay.

This was where it all started. How fitting.

On the night of his brother’s wedding.

And maybe, as his hearing picked up the unique steps of Lin, this was where it will end as well.

And on the night of his brother’s birthday.

He sighed. It was good while it lasted.

He supposed he would always be the Avatar’s screw-up son.

“I thought I'd find you here.”

Before he could even form the words to ask how soon he needed to move out, Lin’s lips were on his.

Well, maybe Sokka was right - the Chief of Police was meant for the non-bender.

What do you think? 🤔💭

#linumi #linumi fanfic #lin beifong #bumi ii #toccatina's fanfics #toccatina completed

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lloydskywalkers · 5 years ago

Text

skywalker syndrome, pt. II

*sweats nervously* this is...so long. This is so, so long and it’s not even the last part, but i just have a loT OF FEELINGS about it okay T-T

Anyways! here is the continuation of my extensively angsty, s9-Lloyd-loses-an-arm-AU that i posted about a year ago, now featuring four whole over-concerned siblings who are finally back in the same realm.

The funny thing about life as a ninja extraordinaire, is that there are certain things that you can totally suppress, and never deal with ever. Like, they might still be there, lurking in the dark corners of your mind like vaguely threatening mold or something, and sure, one of these days they could blossom into actual issues, and then threaten to destabilize whatever’s left of your emotional stability, but you can at least ignore them for a while. And if you’re Lloyd —which he is — you can get really good at ignoring them, to the point where you almost forget they’re there half the time. Bam, problems solved.

But as it turns out, unfortunately, there are also some things that you just can’t.

One of those, even more unfortunately, happens to be losing, say, an entire limb. And to top off the entire stack of unfortunateness — the unfortunatetest — most unfortunate? — part about the whole thing: Lloyd currently happens to fall into the second category.

(Will always fall into the second category, he doesn’t know why he’s saying currently, it’s not like his arm is gonna grow back—)

Anyways. Lloyd has finally met an issue that he can’t ignore, and that’s…another issue, he guesses. Oh, he’s tried, but walking off a lost arm is just a lot more difficult than ignoring trauma, or a broken rib or something.

“But I mean, it also could have been a leg, and then I’d have real trouble walking it off, haha, get it?”

“There are so many concerning things in that essay’s worth of words you just threw at me, I don’t even know where to start,” Nya sighs.

“Aw, c’mon,” Lloyd nudges her shoulder with his fist from where he sits in the battle wagon next to her, metal fingers clanking oddly against her shoulder armor. “That wasn’t even my worst pun.”

“That’s not what I’m referring to, and you know it,” Nya side-eyes him. Then, after a beat— “And that one was low-hanging fruit. I know you can do better.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll come up with something better when we’re not running on zero hours of sleep,” Lloyd yawns, propping his elbows up on the dashboard and leaning against them, scrubbing at his eyes. He flinches back at the cold of his metal hand, and scowls at it instead, as if its inability to create heat like a normal limb is a personal insult. He lets it fall limp against the dashboard with a dull clank, laying his normal, warm human arm on top, and using that as a pillow.

He then squeezes his eyes shut, enjoying the brief relief from the thundering headache he’s had the last few days, before screwing them back open. Nya is staring at him fully now, face pinched in concern. Lloyd thinks that’s rather unfair, because her eyes are every bit as bloodshot as his, and he’s definitely caught her wincing from a headache of her own like, six times today already.

“Lloyd.”

“What.”

Nya sighs again — she’s been doing that a lot lately — and finally takes her hands off the wheel, leaning back in her seat, pulling her leg up and wrapping her arm around her knee. “You can’t do that.”

“Do what?” Lloyd says petulantly, knowing full well what she’s talking about.

Nya knows too, because she gives him a look. “Ignore that kind of stuff,” she says, waving a hand absently in the air. “Trauma, and whatnot.”

“I’m not ignoring my trauma,” Lloyd rolls his eyes, because they’ve had this conversation a minimum of sixty times now, so he’s ready for it. “I’m just waiting until I have a thing of ice cream big enough to cry it all out over.”

He’s probably going to need an entire ice cream parlor at this point, he muses—

“I’m serious, Lloyd.”

“Uh-huh,” he mutters, burying his face in his arms. “Sure. You wanna talk about Nadakhan while we’re at it, then?”

Nya sucks in a breath, and Lloyd feels a hot flash of guilt for having brought it up.

But like — it’s true. If he’s gotta sort out his issues, then Nya needs to, as well. Fair’s fair, and she needs someone looking out for her. Even if Lloyd’s been doing a pretty terrible job of it lately.

“Sorry,” he murmurs anyways.

Nya presses her lips together, then shakes her head. Her eyes are far away, staring out across the ruined city through the windshield. “No,” she says, her voice a whisper. “No, you’re right. I — you’re right.”

“Well, I’m sorry for that, too.”

Because he wishes he wasn’t right. He’d love to be wrong, about this. He’d love it if they were all just fine, and the guys were back and cracking jokes with them, and Nya had never died after being nearly forced into some twisted marriage, and the city wasn’t crumbling down around them because his sort-of-ex brought back his dead dad, and Lloyd still had both whole arms, and they were all drinking like, strawberry lemonade on the beach right now or something.

“We’re a real mess, huh,” Nya says, and there’s a sniffled edge in her voice that Lloyd doesn’t like.

Lloyd bites his lip, then reaches out, uncurling her fingers from where they’ve gone white around the steering wheel, and squeezing her hand lightly instead. “Kai would say we’re hot messes, though.”

Nya snorts, squeezing his hand back, ad Lloyd feels a bubble of warmth at her smile. They sit there in silence for a bit, watching the smokey clouds drift past above, waiting on Pixal or Skylor to finally call in on the radio, and tell them they can move out already.

Lloyd’s just considering trying for another nap, when Nya speaks up again.

“Really through. Lloyd, we gotta talk it all out eventually. You don’t wanna end up all emotionally suppressed, like your uncle, do you?”

Lloyd sputters, then glares at her. “You take that back. I’m not gonna end up like Uncle Wu.”

“Oh yeah? Just wait, any day now you’re gonna walk in on us, with a big straw hat on, and say ‘terribly sorry, my loyal ninja, but there’s something I haven’t told you’—“

Lloyd throws his mask at her, even as he breaks into snickers at the deep-toned voice she’s using. “I am not!”

“—you’ll have a beard, too,” Nya continues, grinning. “Like, ten feet long—“

“Ten, please, have you seen my hair? I bet I can do twenty—“

“Oh yeah, Rapunzel? What’cha gonna do then, trip over it into your enemies?”

“No, I’m — I’m gonna strangle them with it.”

That mental image is the final straw for Nya, and she doubles over in loud cackling, stuffing her fist against her mouth to try and silence her laughter. Lloyd’s already dissolved into giggles, but his attempt to keep them quiet sounds a whole lot more like rheumatic wheezing, which only makes them laugh harder.

“Please,” Nya breathes, when they’ve finally wound down. “Never grow a beard.”

“I dunno,” Lloyd says, stroking his chin, in what he hopes looks like an accurate impression of Uncle Wu. “I think I got the face for it—”

“You don’t.”

“Ouch, right in the heart.”

“It’s for your own good, bud.”

“We’ll see what Kai says.”

“He’s gonna agree with me, and you know it.”

“Hmph.”

“…and Lloyd?”

“Hm?”

“ ‘Unfortunatetest’ isn’t a word.”

“You aren’t a word.”

The other funny thing about life, though, is that no matter how miserable it gets, it’s always bearable with Nya.

************************

Which is probably why Lloyd doesn’t really start to crack until Nya goes down.

“Oh no — oh no, Nya, you’re okay, you’re fine, you’re all good, just — you’re okay—”

“I’m fine, stop telling me what I already know,” Nya gets out, through gritted teeth against the pain. She couldn’t be more clearly not fine, but between the two of them, they seem to believe that if they can say it’s fine enough, it’ll all work out. It’ll be just fine. Nya just had a car fall on her and probably shattered her arm but it’s — it’s fine, she hasn’t lost it yet, and if it comes down to it, she can have his other arm, because Nya is not losing a limb today.

Between him and Dareth, they finally manage to get the car — the entire car, Lloyd is losing the battle to panic by the second — off Nya, and Lloyd’s right back at her side to worry more. Nya shrugs him off, squeezing her eyes shut against the pain as she struggles to rise, wobbling in place.

But she still pushes herself up, on her feet, and picks up her spear with her good arm, and Lloyd decides for like, the tenth time this week, that Nya is the strongest person he knows. Right up there with Skylor, who’s actually insane, as it turns out, holding off an entire Colossi with his father’s stolen power — Skylor’s incredible.

But Skylor’s also currently unconscious in the battle wagon, and now Nya’s in severe pain and down an arm, and she doesn’t have a handy — aha —replacement like Lloyd does. And Pixal’s in Kryptarium so all that’s left of the ninja is Lloyd, and Dareth looking to him for answers, and Lloyd should be used to this, he’s leader, he could practically write the book on being in desperate, all-consuming-panic situations like this, but—

Harumi’s dead. Lloyd’s powers are gone, and people are dying now. Because of his dad, because of this stupid vengeance spree, because of him.

Lloyd’s eyes smart painfully, and he tightens his grip on Nya’s good arm, wondering, not for the first time, how in the world it had all come to this.

“We need to — we need to—” Nya cuts off, biting the inside of her cheek. Her composure falters, and Lloyd can see the same hopeless sort of exhaustion in her eyes, the weeks of running on fumes taking their toll. They need to get moving, they need to regroup, but there’s no one to regroup with. It’s just them, Lloyd and Nya, and they might be able to function independently better than anyone else but they’re also chronic younger siblings. The reminder that they’re not supposed to be alone is driven so deeply into their heads that it’s not even annoying anymore.

Not when they’re so very, very alone now.

“We can fall back,” Lloyd suggests, his voice wavering. “We can—” He swallows. Hide feels cowardly, but even he knows it’d be useless to suggest, anyways. They’ve run out of hiding places from Garmadon. He’d find them, Lloyd knows he will. His father is a lot of things right now, and relentless is one of the stronger ones.

“We can move, at least,” Dareth says, panic tinging his voice. “Those Sons of Garmadon will be on us any minute.”

It’s not Dareth’s fault, but it certainly feels a lot like karma as, at that very second, the sound of motorcycles echoes down the street, mixed with the familiar cries of the Sons of Garmadon.

They all go tense. Nya and Lloyd look at each other, and Lloyd wonders if the expression of fear on her face is mirrored on his, or if he looks closer to terror.

Either way, he’s frozen in place, and that’s bad, because they’re all frozen now. Maybe this is it. Maybe they’ve finally run out of the will to keep going. Maybe this is for the better. At least it’s not his father.

But then he remembers that they’ll probably take him to his father anyways, and if Lloyd didn’t have terror on his face before, he does now.

The loud roars of the motorcycles are circling now, and if Lloyd’s right, they’ve got barely a minute left before they’re surrounded. That’s not enough time to make it out. Not with everyone, not with the condition they’re in.

And Lloyd’s not about to leave anyone behind.

Nya sucks in a shaky breath, her face white from pain as her bad arm shifts. “Lloyd, do you — do you have any ideas?”

Lloyd stares up at the smoke rising above the city, his city, and the skin that meets his prosthetic throbs. His head does too, exhaustion mixed with pain mixed with dying adrenaline leaving him sick.

You’ve failed, Green Ninja. Your father won this round.

Like he does every round, Lloyd thinks bitterly. Morro had it right, back in Styx. He doesn’t deserve to be the Green Ninja. Not when he can’t win the fights that matter.

But he’s still Lloyd. He’s still Nya’s little brother, and even Garmadon can’t take that from him if he tried. So he shakes his head, croaking out, “Sorry, I’m stumped.”

It takes Nya a minute longer than usual, her eyes confused in her pale and dirt-stained face, but then—

She slumps against him, wheezing out what could be a laugh. “If that was an another arm pun, I swear—”

Lloyd tries to keep his face passively blank, but he can’t help the breathless huff of laughter that escapes. It very quickly threatens to turn into hyperventilating, so he cuts it off quickly. They all step closer to each other, forming a tight circle as the motorcycles roar into view, and Lloyd’s knuckles turn white with the fist he’s making.

He almost says I’m sorry, because it feels like what he should say right now, him and his whole sorry bloodline and everything that’s led to this. But Nya would probably hit him if he did that, and get that sad look on her face, so he doesn’t.

“This would be a really good time for the guys to get back,” Lloyd finally says instead, a bit hollowly. Nya gives him a weak smile that threatens to crack into despair as they’re surrounded, the blinding headlights from the Sons of Garmadon pinning them in place.

But maybe, just maybe, karma is on their side after all. Because, not half a second after Lloyd’s said those words, the sky opens up and roaring out from the bright portal, filthy and battered but alive, come the super late — like so late, for real, Lloyd’s gonna give them heck for this — rest of their family.

Lloyd doesn’t think he’s ever been happier to see his big brother’s ridiculous, spiky head of hair in his whole entire life.

************************

In the euphoria of reuniting with the guys and his uncle, Lloyd kind of forgets that he’s lost an arm for a second. He also forgets that the last time the guys saw him, he might have been a half-dead mess on Mystaké’s kitchen table, but he also had both arms. So it’s probably not — not the best of welcome back surprises he could’ve offered.

But the thing is, Lloyd’s at least been thinking his arm looked fine now. Like, it’s obviously not his arm arm anymore, but it’s a whole lot better than the ugly empty space that was there. And Nya put the dragon on and everything, so he can look sick when he either defeats his father or dies horribly.

But for all that it looks fine, the guys’ faces still go ten shades of white when they finally catch sight of it.

Lloyd thinks that’s rather unfair, considering they just burst out of the sky on a bunch of dragons after having been presumed dead, but he’s not gonna pick now to argue with them.

“Wha — how — what — is that—” Kai, predictably, is the first to go to pieces, his eyes wide as dinner plates in his dirt-stained face, his fingers hovering shakily over the metal arm as if touching it will make it real.

“Your arm,” Jay informs him blankly, gaping at him. “It’s gone?”

Oh, Lloyd’s aware.

“Yeah, it’s uh, it’s gone,” he explains, quickly. Then, because he needs to see a different expression on their faces than horrified shock— “It’s — it’s pretty disarming, haha, right?”

Kai looks like he’s either going to combust on the spot or physically smack him.

In the end, he makes this heartbreaking kind of “oh Lloyd” at him before throwing his arms around him, then immediately jumping to the absolute worst conclusions possible.

“Was it your dad — it was your dad, right? Was it Harumi? It must’ve been your dad, oh I’ll kill him, I’ll slaughter him for you Lloyd, I swear to FSM—”

This is followed by a general meltdown of “if only I’d been here,” which spirals into self-blame pretty fast, which Lloyd neither wants nor needs to happen right now (nor thinks is accurate, what could any of them have done anyways), so he throws Nya a desperate look.

“Look, stuff happened, okay?” she says, shouldering her way between Lloyd and the guys, wincing as her wrapped arm pulls. “The city’s on fire and Lloyd’s down an arm, we dealt with it. Right now we need to focus, because Garmadon and the Colossi are still out there, so please tell me those dragons are going to help us out.”

Again, Nya is one of Lloyd’s favorite people in the entire universe.

This distracts them enough that they momentarily get off Lloyd’s back, though he has a feeling he’s either gonna have to answer two hundred questions later or find a really good hiding spot.

But that’s a problem for a different Lloyd to worry about, and this one needs to focus on his father. And the fact that his uncle now looks ten times younger and is, much more importantly, about to let him ride on his dragon.

Lloyd’s halfway to the dragon when Cole catches him. He doesn’t grab him or anything, just touches his arm gently, his eyes horribly sad. “Lloyd,” he murmurs.

Something in Lloyd’s chest twists. This isn’t how it’s supposed to work. How is he supposed to pretend he’s not sad when they’ve all got this look on their faces?

“It’s fine,” he blusters, with a smile that is only half-forced. Fortunately, he has this part rehearsed by now. “It’s not a big deal — it doesn’t even hurt or anything. Don’t worry about it.”

Cole looks like he has every single intention of worrying about it, because Cole is Cole, but Lloyd can’t even find it in himself to be annoyed because he’s missed them so, so much. Sure, he’s mad at himself for giving them something to immediately worry about the second they even get back to the realm, but Lloyd’s too happy to see them at all to mind that much.

Plus, there’s like, a fifty-fifty chance his father is about to kill him pretty soon anyways, so he tries to enjoy it while he can. He’s sure Uncle Wu will do his best, but unless he’s got something big up his sleeve — besides the, uh, age thing — Lloyd isn’t so sure.

Winning against Garmadon isn’t something he’s ever been particularly good at, even with both arms.

************************

Lloyd wins this round.

Somehow, somehow — bruised and bloodied and down an entire arm — he wins this one. It’s almost surreal, standing on top of Borg Tower, the wind whipping eerily around them as he stares down at his father, kneeling on the ground before him. His father, defeated. Lloyd didn’t have to break this time, he didn’t even have to bend. He defeated his father, without his powers, without any cursed venom fueling him, and without his arm.

Take that, you stupid snake.

Well — technically. Technically, he did defeat his father with his arm, because there are going to be some spectacular bruises on Garmadon where he got sucker-punched by a solid metal fist in the morning. But still.

Lloyd didn’t have to kill him. Not this time.

The relief that hits him is so dizzyingly crushing, he almost throws up.

But oh, it figures. The one time Lloyd can end things with his dad alive, and it’s the time his dad hates him.

But Lloyd knows a little too well that things could’ve ended a lot worse. He’s got his family back, his whole family, Kai and Jay and Cole and Zane and the people that have stuck through the worst of it with him, and that’s more than enough for Lloyd to be happy. He doesn’t die, they win back the city, and Kai only cries about it like three times, so honestly, it’s almost the best he could hope for. The worst part is out of the way now, so really — it should be smooth sailing from here. The guys are upset about the arm thing, obviously, but it’s not really that big a deal. Lloyd just has to convince them of that, which shouldn’t be a problem.

A piece of cake, compared to the last few weeks. Besides, he’s already been through the worst of it.

************************

As is his luck, Lloyd finds himself eating his words half a week later.

“First Master—“

Lloyd chokes back a curse, stumbling out from bed as quietly as he can, teeth clacking as he clenches them together to keep from making any more noise. The guys don’t move, still solidly asleep, but that’s going to change real quick if Lloyd starts cursing up a storm over his stupid arm.

He bumps into the doorway on the way out and almost screams, biting his lip hard instead and fleeing down the hallway. Ow, ow, ow. He must’ve rolled his shoulder into his sword sometime in the night, because that’s what it feels like, a horrible kind of deep ache that leaves him wanting to sever what’s left of his limb as he stumbles into the kitchen. At least then, there would be less to hurt.

Lloyd passes by the several large windows in the apartment they’ve been staying in, and his heart immediately sinks. It’s dark outside, but the city lights illuminate the growing clouds above, and he can spot the flash of lightning in the distance. If the slight buzz in his blood at the oncoming storm wasn’t enough to clue him in, the building pressure in the atmosphere certainly is.

And he used to like rain, Lloyd thinks miserably, leaning his head briefly against the wall.

There’s a distant roll of thunder, and something in his arm — his stump, there is no arm there to hurt, that should help — throbs, deep and aching. Lloyd squeezes his eyes shut, fighting back the budding tears of pain, and remembers his mission. They went shopping earlier, and he knows for a fact there’s pain killers somewhere in the kitchen. The promise of relief from the pain is enough to spur him from where he’s slumped against the wall, and he drags his feet down the rest of the hall, finally ducking into the kitchen, which is quiet and empty in the late-night hours.

Great. Now he’s just gotta find the stuff, and he can — well, he can try to go back to sleep. Maybe he’ll just watch cartoons instead, or stare blankly into oblivion, or something. His shoulder throbs again, and Lloyd forces himself to focus, blowing his breathe out. Right. Cole was the last one to take the meds, ‘cause he’s got all those nasty healing cuts. So if he was the one to put the bottle away last, that means it’s probably…on the…top shelf…

Lloyd carefully, quietly drowns the whine of despair in the back of his throat. He’d eat dirt before he admits he’s a shortie, but compared to Cole, everyone is, and Cole has a terrible habit of leaving all the meds on the highest shelf or cabinet possible when he’s done, which are always the ones Lloyd can’t reach. And right now, with the first drops of rain just starting to fleck on the windows, moving his arms anywhere above mid-waist sounds like death.

But sitting here with his arm on fire sounds even worse, so death it is.

Biting the bullet, Lloyd toes the handle on the drawer closest to the floor, bracing his good arm on the counter, and pushes himself up. He wobbles precariously, but he catches himself quickly, breathing out a huff of relief. Now comes the hard part. Gritting his teeth in determination, Lloyd swings his prosthetic arm up as quickly as he can, knocking against the uppermost cabinet and—

Lloyd’s vision blurs out as the pain in his shoulder decides to go nuclear, and he slips back down with a strangled choking sound, clutching the edge of his shoulder and desperately willing himself not to blast through the wall with his powers in agonized frustration. When the pain finally ebbs enough for him to think again, he slumps over the counter, bracing his good shoulder against it and letting the bad one hang loosely, where the pain pulses in and out like a heartbeat.

Like death, he thinks dully, hissing his breath out through his teeth. Right. Okay. He’ll just — take a nap on the counter then, until he can work himself back up to the cabinet.

Lloyd cracks an eye open, glaring hotly at the cabinet out of reach. Maybe if he like…rattles it? With his…leg, or something? He can do a pretty impressive high kick, if he tries. Anything not to move his stupid shoulders, because the pain radiating from the prosthetic port is — oh boy, it’s something.

…with hindsight, he should’ve been prepared for this. But still.

Lloyd kind of just….crashes on the counter, for as long as he can, but the pain finally gets bad enough that he’s willing to risk more for any kind of relief. Gritting his teeth again — his jaw is beginning to hurt — he squares his shoulders, instantly regretting the action as little lines of agony flare in his right side in tune with the thunder from outside. At that point, Lloyd’s brain finally decides it’s done with the situation on the whole, and he’s backing up to make a running jump for the cabinet, when—

“Who’s — stand down, I’ll blast you!”

Lloyd aborts his charge just in time to duck the bolt of lightning that flashes through the room with a yelp, sliding to the floor as his momentum sends him crashing into the lower drawers. His vision whites out for a good minute as he whacks his bad shoulder on the metal edge of a handle, and he might make some kind of muffled scream that sounds enough like him for Jay to recognize, because by the time it clears, Jay is staring at him with wide eyes, his face pale but clearly no longer registering Lloyd as a threat.

Still, just in case— “Don’t shoot,” Lloyd croaks out. “I’m unarmed.”

Jay’s expression spasms, but the crackle of electricity silences, and the blue light extinguishes as he lowers his hands. Lloyd notes the way they’re trembling, despite how hard Jay’s trying to stop it. “Lloyd, seriously,” he mutters, but he’s at Lloyd’s side in a beat, hovering anxiously.

“Are — are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Lloyd says, trying not to wince as he shoulder twinges. “I, uh, sorry if I scared you. I was just getting some water.”

Jay looks up to the cabinets, then back to Lloyd, where he’s yet to rise from the floor. He needs to get up already, because he’s got like, an image to keep here, but he’s also too scared that his stump of a limb is going to attempt murder again, and that’s keeping him pretty solidly rooted to the floor.

“You’re on the floor, you know that, right?”

“Yeah,” Lloyd shoots back, making a face. “Maybe I like it here.”

“Uh-huh.” Jay’s expression is narrow-eyed in skepticism, and Lloyd shrinks in on himself a bit. Still, though — the expression is better to see than the stark terror that had been written over Jay’s face when he’d walked in. The remnants of it are still there, if fading quick — Jay doesn’t look quite like Jay yet, bright and happy and quick on the uptake.

He looks tired, dark circles like bruises beneath his eyes, and his movements are slower than usual, as if perpetually lagging a step behind. Like he’s being dragged down by something, and it’s taking an extra amount of strength to fight it off that’d usually go toward bad jokes.

Which is sad, because Lloyd could really go for a bad joke right now. The atmosphere’s been heavy enough around their little apartment after everything, and it’s only worse now, with Lloyd curled up on the floor and Jay watching his arm with hollow eyes. And that’s not even talking about the actual atmosphere, which is currently trying to make Lloyd consider knocking himself out to escape the pain. Bad Jay jokes would be nice. Lloyd misses having something to laugh about.

But you know what, that’s quitter talk. Lloyd can make bad jokes, too.

“You uh, you wanna give me an arm up, here?” he says, grinning weakly at Jay. “Could really use a hand, if you get what I’m saying.”

“You — you’re terrible,” Jay sputters, but he cracks the edge of a smile, and Lloyd silently congratulates himself on that small victory.

“But you love me.”

It comes out too much of a question, and Lloyd bites his tongue. But Jay’s eyes soften as he pulls him up, and he’s gentle as he does it, so it barely hurts.

“Yeah, short stuff,” he says. “I do.”

And that’s — Lloyd swallows. That’s too much emotion for him to deal with in Jay’s voice right now, even if it is the kind of reassurance he clings to with a desperation these days.

“Short stuff,” he scowls instead. “You’re one to talk.”

“Nuh-uh,” Jay grins, a bit weaker than his usual one. “I grew a half an inch in the First Realm, bud. I’ve got you now.”

“No way,” Lloyd counters, squinting at him. “You look shorter, if anything. I’ve got you now.”

“I do not.” It’s Jay’s turn to scowl. “And please, the only height you’ve gained is your hair. Fluffing it up all crazy does not count.”

Lloyd snorts, despite himself. “My hair, you should see-ee—”

His voice abruptly pitches higher, strangling off mid-sentence as a fresh wave of bright pain sears through his shoulder, throbbing with the increased thudding of rain against the window. Lloyd almost bites his tongue in half as he dips forward, words momentarily lost as his teeth grind together.

Jay’s at his side in an instant. “It’s the storm, isn’t it,” he says, his eyes bright in concern. “Your arm is hurting extra.”

“T-technically, it’s not,” Lloyd breathes out. Words are back online again, that’s good. He exhales, shuddering. “S’just what’s left of it.”

Jay worries his lip, and then realization sparks in his eyes. “You were going for the top cabinet,” he says, slowly. Then— “Cole had the pain meds last, didn't he.”

Lloyd nods, his good hand clutching and un-clutching at his shoulder. Jay makes a sympathetic noise in his throat, then moves for the cabinet himself. He uses the same drawer handle as a step-up that Lloyd did, but he doesn’t wobble, snatching the bottle from the top shelf and stepping down neatly. Thunder shakes through the apartment, and Lloyd squeezes his eyes shut tight, barely conscious of the sound of running water. When he opens them, Jay is in front of him again, a glass of water and four larger pills held out.

“You look like you could use the extra,” he says, in explanation.

Lloyd nods gratefully, shoving the pills in his mouth before grabbing the glass and draining it. “Thanks,” he croaks out.

Jay nods, his eyes lingering on Lloyd’s prosthetic. He opens his mouth once, then closes it. Then opens it again, inhaling like he’s gonna say something, then shuts it again. Then again—

“Jay, spit it out.”

“CanIlookatit,” Jay blurts out, red immediately rising in his cheeks.

Lloyd blinks rapidly, trying to parse out the jumble of words. “Can you — huh?”

“Look at it,” Jay repeats, shifting awkwardly. “Your, uh, your arm? The prosthetic one, I mean. Just ‘cause I think I can help it! Help you, I think I can help you, ‘cause you kinda look like it’s hurting you, which would make sense, with the storm, and I might be able to — to help, if that’s not like, a problem with you — if it is that’s fine! I totally get it, I mean if my arm had got — was lost, I’d be—”

“J-Jay, slow — Jay,” Lloyd tries vainly to cut over him once, before succeeding the second time. Lloyd gives him a weak smile, then flops his arm out. He immediately regrets the action, as it feels like he’s shoved a knife or two into his arm. “It’s — ow — fine. You can look at it.”

“Oh! Cool,” Jay says, deflating in relief. “Ah, thanks for trusting me?”

Lloyd waves him off, with his good arm his time. “There’s like, six people left I trust, but I trust ‘em with my life. You’re one of them.”

“Oh,” Jay repeats, but he sounds sad this time. A little too understanding, too, and Lloyd wonders if their entire team isn’t suffering similar issues with putting faith in people, after everything.

“Here,” Jay says firmly, as if shaking that sobering thought off. He points to the couch, eyeing Lloyd as he winces with the thunder again. “Wanna lie down, so I can look at it?”

“Sure,” Lloyd mutters, flopping down on the couch (and immediately regretting the action, again, you’d think he’d learn by now), lying with his head at the left end so he can spread his prosthetic out on the edge of the cushioned footrest. Jay steps over, carefully sitting down on the floor by him, hands hovering hesitantly over the arm.

…his arm. His arm, just a bit different.

“I like the design here,” Jay says quietly, his fingers ghosting over the engraving Nya had put on one quieter day during the Resistance. It’s in the shape of a dragon, like the one of his other spare prosthetic, but this one is a little subtler, almost sketched into the metal. “It’s cool.”

“Nya did it,” Lloyd says. “And you can touch it, if you want.”

“Oh — yeah,” Jay gives a nervous laugh. “Um. Could I, like, see where it…attaches?”

Lloyd blinks, glancing to where the sleeves of his too-big (Kai’s) t-shirt fall well over where the metal arm meets his stump. He swallows, then nods, carefully rolling back the fabric until his shoulder’s exposed. “That good?”

Jay, to his credit, just gives a quiet, hissing little intake of breath, and nods. And it really is to his credit, because while Pixal did all she could, the surgery was — well, Lloyd was in and out during it, but it was haphazard at best, and the scarring it left all up to his shoulder is…

It’s not pretty. And Lloyd’s been thinking he doesn’t mind, but now that he actually has someone looking at it, he’s realizing he might.

Time to invest in a lot more long sleeves, he thinks dully.

Jay’s frozen for a second, and Lloyd bites his lip, trying not to squirm as he stares openly at the scarring. Then he shakes his head, bright eyes gaining the steady determination Lloyd knows, and sets to work, fingers carefully skimming one of the compartment edges.

“Lemme know if anything hurts.”

Lloyd just nods. It’s weird, at first, feeling but not really feeling as Jay fiddles with the arm. He still doesn’t like not being able to truly feel stuff with it, but right now, with the pulsing pain still lingering from the storm outside, he’s almost glad for it. To the point where the idea of feeling anything else in what’s left of his poor arm almost has him flinching away from Jay.

Jay’s fingers are careful, though, and he finally clicks something in the arm into place that shifts the whole thing, the throbbing pressure on a few particular nerves in Lloyd’s arm letting up some, and his shoulders go loose in relief, the tight rigidness he’s been holding them in easing off.

“Oh,” he exhales in relief, a bit shakily as he sits up. “That’s better. That — thank you. That’s a lot better.”

Jay beams, clearly pleased with himself. “No problem, green machine,” he says. “Just glad I can help. I mean, Nya did a great job with it, but the uh — the wires right here, you see? Those can get twisted up if you move around a lot, and that’ll create pressure on the nerves, and then you’ve got the gears here, and…”

Lloyd quickly loses track of Jay’s technical babble, nodding along like he understands instead. His brother’s stream of chatter is a nice sound against the rain in the background, warm and familiar, and Lloyd slowly relaxes further, his shoulders crying in relief as they lose their tension. The meds are kicking in now too, and the pain’s ebbed into something a lot easier to manage. Enough for Lloyd to start feeling guilty, anyways.

“I’m sorry if I woke you up,” he finally says, after Jay’s wound down from his explanation, ducking his head.

Jay waves him off. “I was already up, anyways,” he shrugs. “The storm woke me. They…they do that a lot.”

Lightning flashes, as if to echo his statement, and Lloyd notices the twitch that runs through Jay this time, how he almost seems to vibrate with the thunder that follows.

“Does it bother you?” he asks, a little hesitantly. “The storm?”

It feels like a silly question, because Jay can practically create storms, he thrives in them, Lloyd’s seem him straight-up catch a lightning bolt in his hand and chuck it like a baseball without breaking a sweat. But even though Lloyd's definitely not the ninja of lightning, it is the element he found easiest to wield, when he’d had all four, and he remembers the way the connection would buzz at him.

Jay bites his lip, his fingers tapping some vaguely familiar beat on the table as he fidgets, turning the question over in his head.

“It’s — I feel it under my skin, you know?” he finally says, bouncing a bit in agitation. “I mean, it’s not bad, but I can — I can hear the lightning outside, like it’s talking to me, and I can’t sleep through it. I normally can, I mean, but — but normally it’s not this loud.”

He trails off, frustrated as he glares out the window. “Everything’s been loud since the First Realm,” he mutters, beneath his breath.

“Oh,” Lloyd says, quietly. The guys have told them about the First Realm, sure, but like — not really. The same way Lloyd and Nya have told them about the Resistance, but not really. An outline of the events, sure. A plot-like summary of important details, as detached as possible, sure. But all the worst parts, the crushing grief and despair and the awful headaches from too little sleep and too many held-back tears, all that? No way.

So while Lloyd knows they went through heck in the First Realm, he doesn’t really know. But with the way Jay’s eyes are shadowed, the dark circles beneath them and the way he looks like he’s years older as he stares at the storm out the window right now, he can guess.

“That must’ve been tough,” he finally says, hesitantly. “Being stranded, and everything. I can’t imagine what I’d do if I was cut off from everything like that.”

Jay blows his breath out, his fingers trembling slightly where they lace together. “It wasn’t fun,” he says, a little distantly. “I…I was kind of a mess, at first. I think I scared the guys. I wish I hadn’t, but it was just — it was a lot.”

Lloyd’s not sure what to say to that, so he just squeezes Jay’s forearm with his good hand, and hopes it’s worth something.

Jay shakes his head, almost as if to himself, “I just wish I’d been useful.”

Lloyd blinks at that, taken aback — and pretty concerned — at the gaping insecurity in Jay’s voice. He knows Jay struggles with that, but to see it this raw—

It hurts.

“Kai says you helped build that dragon,” he says, nudging Jay’s side with his knee. “That plan wouldn’t have worked without you. And you drew up the actual plans, and kept them secret and everything. And I saw you, when you guys came back. You saved us, right in the nick of time. It sounded like you were pretty crucial to the whole thing, to me.”

Jay gives a huff of laughter, but some of the tension in his expression eases. “You’re just saying that. Buttering me up,” he shakes his head, knocking his fist against Lloyd’s leg.

“Am not,” Lloyd says, kneeing him back. “I’m serious. You’re all kinds of useful. I’d totally hire you, if you came to me with your ninja resumé.”

“Yeah, ‘cause job number one on it would be ‘green ninja babysitter’. You’d have no choice."

Lloyd sputters. “I’m not — you guys don’t babysit me.”

“I have a whole lot of evidence that proves otherwise,” Jay says, grinning. “The others would agree, too.”

“This is mutiny,” Lloyd glares. “The nerve, the utter disrespect. I’m your leader.”

Jay actually laughs at that, further proving Lloyd’s point that his whole team is awful. But it’s a genuine laugh, one that softens the lines of stress at the corners of Jay’s eyes, so Lloyd figures he can let it go and laugh a little himself.

This time. They’re gonna have to talk about the babysitting thing later.

“We really missed you guys,” Lloyd finally says as his laughter ebbs, his traitor voice cracking in the middle. “A-a lot. I’m really glad you’re back. Like, you have no idea.”

“I think we kinda do,” Jay breathes out on dying laughter. “We missed you too, you know. We couldn’t even check if you were alright, we had no idea what was happening. You guys were realms away.”

Lloyd swallows back the ‘but you were dead’. Jay doesn’t need that knowledge right now. Jay needs to be able to relax, and to get more than three hours of sleep for once.

“Well, we’re in the same one now,” he says, with a wry smile. “Hopefully we can stay that way, for a while.”

“Do not jinx us,” Jay points his finger at him, and Lloyd manages a grin that feels genuine this time, shrugging. He’s beyond pleased to find out that the action doesn’t hurt so much, only feeling the faint twinges of pain this time. Lloyd stifles a yawn instead of replying, and Jay fixes him with a look, jerking his head back toward the bedroom.

“If your arm’s better, you should get back to sleep.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lloyd mutters, biting back a groan as he stands, wobbling a bit as his arm swings loosely. “That goes for you, too.”

“I’m not the one with designer bags for eyes,” Jay says, even though he clearly has dark circles worse than Lloyd. He pauses, eyeing Lloyd’s arm. “You really shouldn’t sleep with this on, you know,” he adds, tapping his wrist, nails clacking oddly on the metal.

Lloyd cringes. “I know,” he mutters. “I’m just — I don’t wanna have to put it on, if we…”

“If we’re attacked in the middle of the night?” Jay says drily, but there’s understanding in his voice. “Yeah, I get that. But hey, how about this: you sleep with it off for tonight, and if anyone comes in to kill you, I’ll take ‘em out.”

Lloyd raises an eyebrow. “Lightning blast to the face?”

“Lightning blast to the face,” Jay nods solemnly.

Lloyd shifts, arms wrapped around himself, his real fingers clenching anxiously at the juncture where his prosthetic meets his arm. It’s tempting, the idea of having the heavy weight off for the night. Really tempting.

But that also means taking it off, and that sounds…less than fun, especially after all the pain he’s already been in tonight.

“I’ll consider it,” Lloyd says, smiling weakly. “But I have full faith in you.”

Jay’s eyes are understanding as he nods, knocking his fist gently against Lloyd’s arm again. “Good. Now, bed. Practice starts back tomorrow, remember? You don’t wanna be dead tired for that.”

Lloyd’s heart sinks. Oh, no. He’d forgotten.

“Aw, man,” he moans. “This is gonna be a disaster.”

“Don’t say that,” Jay says, clearly trying to sound optimistic. “It’ll go fine. Wait and see.”

************************

It is, in fact, a disaster.

The first practice with the guys after everything reminds him a whole lot of his first time sparring with Nya down one arm, and that — well, sucks. That’s about as cheerfully as he can put it.

“Do you need a hand?” Lloyd looks up at the voice, shielding his eyes against the afternoon sun. Zane’s standing over him, looking slightly apologetic, his hand outstretched.

Lloyd takes the offered hand, pulling himself with a grunt of effort. “Yeah, a right one would be nice.”

Jay and Nya groan in unison. Zane just flicks his eyes skywards, his mouth curving up slightly as he hauls Lloyd the rest of the way to his feet. Lloyd wobbles a bit, caught off guard, and Zane steadies him, grabbing for his prosthetic before he can lose balance. Zane’s hand lingers a little too long around it, his eyes flashing in concentration where they rest on the metal fingers. Lloyd’s about to ask him what’s up — growing slightly defensive — when Zane lets go, blinking once. The look of furrowed concentration stays on his face even as he steps back, though, and Lloyd’s not sure if he likes that.

“Sorry, Lloyd,” Cole says, interrupting his train of thought as he steps forward, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck in guilt. “I didn’t think you’d — I shouldn’t have been hitting that hard.”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t have,” Kai snaps testily, his eyes flashing in the dangerous kind of protectiveness Lloyd’s used to seeing against people not in their family. He quickly intervenes, waving his hands.

“It’s fine, it’s fine, chill out,” he says, hastily. “I wasn’t paying attention, it was my fault. Besides, it’s not any worse than what Nya gave me the first time we sparred with, uh…the arm.”

Nya rolls her eyes. “You kept tripping everywhere. That’s not my fault.”

Lloyd goes a bit red, but he doesn’t argue back. He’s pretty sure Pixal has video footage that would invalidate any argument he’d have, anyways.

Kai looks between the two of them, then seems to lose some of the fire, shoulders sagging. “Just…be more careful,” he mutters. “Lloyd’s arm is still pretty new.”

Lloyd’s head swivels to Kai, his mouth half-open, incredulous. He begs Kai’s pardon, who, again, lost their arm here and who definitely didn’t? Who knows what they’re talking about, and who knows absolutely nothing—

“Yeah, no, for sure,” Cole nods back, like Lloyd isn’t even here. “I’ll let up on the heavier attacks, too.”

Lloyd snaps his mouth shut tightly. He wants to scream. They’re all acting like Lloyd is glass, like he’s fragile. And that’s not the problem. The problem isn’t his arm. The problem isn’t even that he’s not used to the prosthetic, because at this point he kinda is. (He’s getting there.) No, the problem is that the guys are all walking on eggshells around him, to the point where the hits they do throw at him are so sporadic it’s completely throwing Lloyd off. Like he’s being attacked by uncoordinated chickens with no heart in their attacks, or something.

It’s actually a pretty good strategy to keep in mind, he muses, for another time when the target isn’t him.

“Um, no, you won’t,” he says instead, biting his cheek to keep the edge out of his voice. “You’re going to actually attack me. You’re holding back so much right now you’re handicapping yourself worse than me without a metal arm.”

Cole looks taken aback. “I just sent you to the ground, bud,” he says. “Hard.”

“You only sent me to the ground because I wasn’t expecting you to hit like Jay,” Lloyd shoots back.

“Hey!”

“If that’s the tactic you wanna use, fine, but only if you’ve got a plan for when I blast you right back from the ground.”

Cole blinks. “Do your powers even work with the prosthetic?”

“I do have another arm,” Lloyd growls. He immediately feels bad, because he sounds angrier than he should be, but that subject’s touchy. He hasn’t tried to use his powers with the prosthetic yet, apart from the blinding blast of energy he’d given off when he’d first gotten them back, and he doesn’t want to find out if another use will blow his arm to pieces or not.

“It should work with it, anyways,” Nya assures them, though there’s a spark of uncertainty in her eyes. “Your powers are pretty intuitive. They protect you, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to hurt you like that.”

Lloyd doesn’t say how completely unfounded this is, because his powers tried to protect him during the fight with his father and they sure as heck hurt him then, but she does have…a bit of a point. And again — there’s like, the glaring fact that his arm did not explode when he went supernova on top of Borg Tower. And Lloyd’s control is way better these days, so in all honesty, it’ll probably be fine.

But on the off chance. Lloyd is trying to be more careful, lately.

Now the guys, though. The guys are taking careful to a completely ridiculous level.

“Maybe we should tone it down for today, just to be safe,” Kai says, exchanging looks with Cole. A vein somewhere in Lloyd’s forehead begins to throb. “We don’t want to take any risks.”

“Oh, yeah, like we weren’t taking plenty of risks while you guys were gone in the First Realm. Oh wait, we did, and we were just fine then,” Lloyd snaps.

He immediately regrets it, because Kai’s expression does this awful crumpling thing, and Cole’s eyes widen painfully. Jay just looks down, and Lloyd hates himself.

“I-I didn’t mean—” he stammers, grasping desperately for the words to apologize, when Zane lays a gentle hand on his shoulder, silencing him.

“How about I train with Lloyd one on one for a bit,” he says. The corners of his mouth quirk up, humorlessly. “I think cooling down might be in order.”

Lloyd feels his cheeks heat, but he ducks his head, nodding. Kai looks like he want to protest, but he shuts his mouth, nodding as well, and Lloyd’s relieved to see a kind of understanding in his eyes.

He hopes he does, Lloyd thinks to himself, as Zane leads them away from the others, to the other side of the yard they’re using for training. He hopes, that Kai and Jay and Cole know he isn’t actually trying to attack them for getting yanked into another realm instead of being crushed to death, because that is definitely not something he would ever complain about—

“So, how strong is your arm?”

Lloyd blinks rapidly, yanked back to the present. “My — what?”

Zane repeats the question, patiently. “Your arm, the prosthetic one. Do you know how strong it is?”

“Like…as in durability, or how hard can I hit with it?” Lloyd asks, flexing a metal wrist.

“Ah. That’s a good question,” Zane tilts his head. “Both, I suppose.”

“Um, pretty strong, I guess,” Lloyd winces, remembering the last time he’d tested how strong it was, and he’d sent the punching bag through the wall instead. “Most of the strength is in my forearm, ‘cause it’s just metal and gears there. It gets a little dicey where it connects, up here, but it can take the heavy hits.”

His father had the honor of testing that part out, he thinks bitterly.

Zane nods, his eyes calculating. “Good. Then show me a heavy hit.”

It takes a second for the question to register, but when it does, Lloyd blanches. “No,” he says, firmly. “No way.” He remembers how the punching bag crumpled beneath his metal fist. He remembers too well how his father, full power, had actually buckled under several of his hits. The idea of hitting one of the guys with that same force makes him sick.

“Ah,” Zane says, and there’s a spark in his eyes. “So now you want to start holding back.”

“This — this is different,” Lloyd grinds out, trying not to go red in embarrassment. “It’s one thing to hold back entirely, but my arm is — its different, Zane, it’s way stronger now, and I don’t wanna hurt you guys with it.”

“I’m not going to break, Lloyd,” Zane says, cooly.

Lloyd bites his lip. “Look, I’m serious, you don’t understan—”

The end of Lloyd’s sentence cuts off with a yelp as Zane sweeps his leg out from beneath him, sending him sprawling to the ground. He looks up at him, wounded, and Zane just tilts his head.

“You said you want us to stop holding back,” he says, challenging. “You want a real fight, so fight back. Hit me.”

That’s all the warning Lloyd gets before Zane sweeps another kick toward him, forcing Lloyd to roll out of the way, somersaulting backwards before springing back to his feet. He opens his mouth to protest, but Zane’s elbow is already whistling toward his head, followed by his fist, and Lloyd’s too busy blocking and dodging to get any word out edgewise.

He’s not going to hit him with it, Lloyd tells himself fiercely. He’s not, but — but Zane is actually attacking him now, with all the cool calculation and devastating accuracy Zane is really good at, and if Lloyd doesn’t launch a counterattack soon, Zane’s going to obliterate him in full view of everyone.

Through the buzz of adrenaline, Lloyd bites back a curse. He’s forgotten, for a crippling moment, how smart Zane is. The way he’s pressing on him is leaving his left arm for blocking, which means the only way he’s gonna get a decent hit in is with his right. So either Lloyd sucks it up and hits Zane with the metal arm already, or he’s going to eat dirt the rest of the day.

Darn it, Zane, Lloyd thinks heatedly, barely dodging the next barrage of hits, wincing as one clips his shoulder. He’s just gonna have to do it. They both asked for this—

Lloyd suddenly ducks, darting beneath Zane’s blow then squaring back, bringing his fist up and swinging hard — just to crash right into Zane’s own blocked fist with a loud, screeching clang of metal.

Lloyd blinks. The hit he’d just thrown wasn’t holding back — it was way harder than he should’ve thrown, actually — but Zane just slides a few feet back, barely flinching. He flexes his wrist, a grin curving up the edge of his mouth.

“You aren’t the only one with a metal arm, you know,” he says evenly, and oh. Oh. Lloyd stops dead, staring at him.

So Lloyd’s just an idiot. Here he is, freaking out about how different his arm is now, how no one gets it, and Zane’s been metal this whole entire time.

“I…” Lloyd trails off, staring at him wordlessly. He feels so stupid, a total sham of the leader he’s supposed to be. He’s overlooked the most obvious fact ever, to the point where he’s been severely misjudging Zane, and that’s…that’s bad. That’s very bad, if he’s calling himself leader here.

And that, Lloyd realizes, with an unpleasant jolt, is the real problem with all this. Not the guys, not the arm. It’s Lloyd, failing to lead them against Harumi, failing to lead them against his father, and failing to lead them now. No wonder they can’t take him seriously, when Lloyd can’t even give them the decency of doing the same.

“Oh,” he whispers.

“It’s difficult,” Zane says, quietly. “To see yourself as one way, then suddenly as another. Even if it’s just one limb. Adjusting can be…difficult.”

Lloyd ducks his head, swallowing. “I’m sorry.”

Zane makes a noise that could be a huff of laughter, if it wasn’t so exasperated. “You don’t need to apologize. That is not the point I’m trying to make.”

Lloyd stares at the ground, not meeting his eyes. Zane’s footsteps draw close, until he’s right in front of him.

“Lloyd.” Zane’s hand is gentle on his shoulder, and Lloyd slowly looks up at him, feeling very much like he’s nine years old again, and Zane is the older brother who knows infinitely more about the world than he ever will.

“We are more than just a team for you to lead,” he says, gently. “We’re your family, above all else. We may not have been here when you needed us, but we are here now, and we want to be. We trust you. We just want you to trust us back.”

“I do,” Lloyd says, fervently. “I do, Zane, and I didn’t mean to — I never blamed—” He cuts off, shaking his head and swallowing. “I wanted to be there, too,” he rasps. “I — we couldn’t be there for you guys, either. You were alone, too. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair to any of us.”

“No,” Zane says, sounding very tired. “No, it wasn’t.”

Not for the first time, Lloyd wonders how heavily the guys edited their own story of their time apart, and how much of the darker stuff they decided to leave out. The hollow look in Zane’s eyes leaves his stomach sinking. Probably a lot.

“B-but we’re together now,” Lloyd finally speaks up, cringing at the waver in his voice. “And, um. I know I’ve been most of the problem, but — but I trust you guys. I trust you, so — could you show me how to use my arm?”

Zane looks at him, and Lloyd offers him a tentative smile. “Since you’re the resident expert, and all.”

Zane’s mouth quirks up in a grin of amusement, and Lloyd feels a happy flare of victory at the action.

“I wouldn’t call myself that,” he says, lightly. “But yes, I can help adjust your training. Provided, of course, you throw better hits. No offense intended, but that one was…pitiful, at best.”

Lloyd chokes on a laugh. “Okay, if that’s how it is. I’ll show you a real hit. Just don’t go crying to Cole when I wipe the floor with you.”

“I assure you,” and there’s an edge to Zane’s smile that promises Lloyd’s not leaving here without his fair share of bruises. “I have no intention of doing so.”

************************

Training with Zane helps even more than he’d thought it would. Not only does Lloyd start to learn how to better use his prosthetic to an advantage, the others pick up on it and start actually fighting Lloyd again, well-practiced moves and techniques that force him to fight back, and by the third week of practices they’ve all slid back into a steady routine, even if there is still the occasional hesitation when it comes to Lloyd’s right arm.

Except for Nya. She’s been sending him sprawling across the mat since day one, no problem, and even with her healing arm she’s never stopped threatening to do it again.

Lloyd’s beyond grateful, though — he’s starting to almost feel normal again, to feel a little like his old self, with his proper place on the team, and he finally, finally feels like he’s doing something right. So he’s got no right to complain whatsoever, when the increased training leaves his arm feeling so sore he may as well have gotten hit by a truck.

A throbbing ache shoots through his right wrist again, pulsing up through the bones of his arm. Lloyd’s fingers grasp on air, wavering once, twice before it clicks that there’s nothing there. A croaking laugh almost bubbles up in his throat. His arm is in agony and it’s not even there. There is no wrist there to hurt, he doesn’t even have his prosthetic on right now. So why—

Phantom pain, he reminds himself firmly, before clicking the prosthetic back into place, the motion slowly growing familiar. It’s just a ghost, like Morro. Lloyd survived him, he can survive this.

Besides, he doesn’t have time to be hallucinating an arm that’s not there. He’s gotta have his best face on right now, because this…this is going to take a lot out of him.

Lloyd stares at Kryptarium Prison with hollow eyes, trying to rid himself of the icy shiver that’s crawling up and down his spine. They’ve since fixed the damage to the walls, and he’s eternally grateful for that — but the stretch of stone that’s been recently repaired is obvious, and Lloyd can easily pick out exactly where he went bursting through when—

When Lloyd’s brain was an idiot, he scolds himself, as the shiver threatens to turn into a full-blown panic attack. Those memories need to go right back into the dark hole he’s shoved them in, where they can stay for the rest of his entire life.

Besides, the person he’s about to see is gonna bring back enough bad memories, as it is.

Lloyd swallows, forcing past the fear closing in around his throat as he finally starts walking again, his feet practically dragging toward the prison doors. His arm throbs in pain with every step, spreading to the aching twin points on the back of his right hand.

Which isn’t there, he reminds himself fiercely. There’s no hand to hurt, move past it, brain.

The doors slide open for him with a mechanical hiss, a chiming bell warning the guards of his entrance. Lloyd’s in full gi, hood pulled back, so no one stops him, the outermost guards just nodding to him as he passes. Lloyd barely manages a grimace of greeting for them, where he’d normally have at least something sincere. But it’s hard enough, trying to keep his expression impassive. Each step further into the prison feels like a step closer to his doom, and this is ridiculous because the only other time he’s felt this nervous walking up a set of stairs was the Overlord—

“Name, please?”

Lloyd blinks, abruptly realizing he’s already reached the check-in gate. He shakes his head, trying to reorient himself. Name, please, he thinks drily, as he looks up. Like this guard doesn’t know who he is, entirely decked out in green, it isn’t like he’s been on TV a whole lot in the last month—

Anyways.

“Lloyd Garmadon,” he says, hoping his voice doesn’t sound like a gasp for air. “I’d like to see my — um, Lord Garmadon. He should be in heavy lockdown.”

Private lockdown, somewhere dark and deep, probably, Lloyd thinks. He tells himself he doesn’t feel anything at that. His father probably likes it, anyways, being alone and in the dark. That’s all it seems he’d even wanted, except for maybe her—

Lloyd thrusts the hot flash of emotion down deep along with the rest of that thought, and tries to focus on the guard’s reply.

“—terribly sorry, but I can’t let you in.”

Lloyd’s brain stutters to a halt. “Sorry, could you repeat that?” he frowns, taken aback. He doesn’t like to throw his weight around, but Lloyd’s pretty sure that the ninja are supposed to have clearance to the entire prison. Especially after everything that’s happened, he and Nya practically have clearance to the entire city at this point.

“Your name’s been blacklisted,” the guard chews on the edge of his lip nervously. “Y-you aren’t allowed access to the prisoner in question.”

Lloyd blinks rapidly. “What?”

The guard is visibly sweating now. “The, uh, the records say I can’t let you in. To see him. Not without a signature.”

Lloyd’s stomach does a weird swooping thing, like he’s missed a step on the stairs. If he needs a signature, then someone had to go out of their way to block him — specifically him — from seeing Garmadon. Someone who the warden apparently decided had the right to make decisions for Lloyd.

“Who’s signature,” Lloyd grits out, fury barely held back.

The poor guard — because he really doesn’t deserve this, but oh, Lloyd is angry — shrinks even smaller in his seat, swallowing.

“Wu,” he finally says, stammering. “Your uncle, he — I’m sorry, but he technically has the right…”

Lloyd steps back, metal creaking as his fist forms. “Thank you,” he clips out tightly, then spins in place, hoping his eyes haven’t gone supernova yet.

No, he’s saving that for his uncle.

************************

“How could you do that.”

Sensei Wu barely stirs, visibly unaffected by the way Lloyd’s just slammed his door open, and is currently fuming in the doorway like a very angry part-Oni crime of nature.

“It was, at the moment, the correct course of action to take.” He sips evenly at his tea, not even attempting to pretend he doesn’t know exactly what Lloyd’s talking about.

Lloyd sees red. “You had no right.”

Sensei Wu finally looks at him, sighing wearily. “I’m your family, Lloyd. I have every right—”

“Not this one!”

Sensei’s eyes are sympathetic, but unrelenting. “Your mother told me what happened, Lloyd. What you did.”

Lloyd almost swallows his tongue at the shock of surprise, but it quickly mixes with a hot flare of betrayal in his chest. It’s his arm, it’s his story to tell.

“Cool.” The words scrape through his teeth. “That doesn’t mean you can block me from seeing him!”

“Your head isn’t in the right place to see him, Lloyd. Neither is your heart. I believe you know this, too.”

“My head—” Lloyd trips over his words in anger. “My head is fine! So’s my heart, thanks.”

Sensei Wu’s eyes narrow. “You’ve never been the best of liars, nephew.”

Lloyd is going to smash his stupid teapot. “Then maybe your perception is still off from the First Realm, uncle.”

A part of Lloyd’s soul dies at the sentence, because it’s the most dangerously rude thing he’s said to his uncle since he was like, eight. But he swallows it back, because he has a bad feeling it’s not going to be the worst thing he says in this conversation.

His uncle’s lips press tightly together, and Lloyd feels more than sees the crackle of anger in his eyes as the atmosphere heats, no longer a conversation between sensei and student. It’s a family conversation, now. “I hardly need much perception to see how traumatized you are from recent events. It’s not difficult to miss.”

“Traumatized—” Lloyd sputters, his own eyes narrowing. “You know what, fine, so what? It’s not like I haven’t been — been traumatized, or whatever, before,” he snaps. “Morro put my head pretty out of place, and you were fine with that.”

Sensei Wu’s eyes flash. “I was not ‘fine’ with that. I was nowhere near fine with that, but at that time you were equipped to deal with it. And you were not forcing yourself to face Morro on some shred of false hope you know will only hurt.”

Lloyd full-body flinches back at that last part. But it’s not that — it’s not because —

See, Lloyd knows. He’s had it physically beaten into him multiple times, that he’s not the father he knew. He knows that he’s not really him, that he will never be him, that he will never regain the father he lost no matter how much this one looks like him.

But — but Lloyd’s heart can only take so much at once, and he’s dangerously close to reaching a point where nothing will repair that kind of break. He can take a hundred prison walls and his arm cut off fifty times in a row, but that is something he’d rather die than have to face right now.

And to hear the phrase false hope coming from the one person he’d hoped would understand nearly breaks Lloyd on the spot.

So he gets angry instead.

“You taught me not to give in to fear,” his voice is icy, words measured and slow. “You taught me not to put off until tomorrow what I can deal with today, and you wanted me to make my own decisions.”

“Yet I do not recall teaching you to disregard any and all concerns for your wellbeing,” his uncle replies, his voice just as glacial. “Nor do I remember teaching you to argue back against my orders.”

“You made me master!” Lloyd nearly shouts back, barely restraining himself. “You told me to start giving the orders, how am I supposed to do that if you don’t trust me? You can’t keep doing this to me, either you trust me or you don’t!”

“I do trust you, but I will not lose another member of my family because they believe they’re stronger than they are!” Uncle Wu snaps, his eyes flashing, and for a beat Lloyd can almost see the Oni in his blood, as well. “I’ve forced you to face your father too many times, Lloyd. I will not let him continue to hurt you.”

“He isn’t hurting me!” Lloyd bursts out, despite knowing those words are a stone-cold lie. But— “He’s already hurt me, I almost died, what worse can he do from a prison cell?”

“More than you will acknowledge!” his uncle barks back. He exhales tightly, eyes closing briefly before re-opening. “Lloyd, I understand that you are upset with my decision. But in time, you will see that this was the right one. Your perception is clouded to the point where you can no longer see yourself properly, and a leader who continues to put themselves further into that state is not fit to be leader.”

Lloyd’s teeth snap together with an audible clack, and his fists tighten, fingernails biting into his palms and metal fingers creaking. “You’ve been gone for months,” he grinds out. “For a year, and I led just fine that whole time. You can’t just come back now and say I’m — I’m a screwup—”

“That is not what I—”

“And you keep talking about decisions, when you didn’t even ask me before—”

“Lloyd—”

“—going behind my back is way out of line and you know it!”

“This is not—”

“And my perception is fine, I do see myself—”

“Lloyd, I said—”

“—and I’m fine, Uncle Wu, I swear, I can face him I’m fine—”

“That is enough, Lloyd!”

Lloyd flinches back as his uncle’s voice cracks out, angrier than he’s heard it. Wu’s knuckles turn white around his cup handle, and his eyes glint with the steel of his glare. “This is my decision, and I will not move from it until you can prove that you are ready.”

Until he can prove he’s ready. Like Lloyd hasn’t had to prove again and again—

Like he doesn’t believe in Lloyd either when he was the one—

Like Lloyd wasn’t willing to lose an arm not to fail him—

Something dangerous in Lloyd snaps.

“You’re just as bad as him,” he spits, venomous like a snake. “You’re all the same, you think you know what’s best for me and you never care how I feel! You don’t even care about me, you just care about the stupid Green Ninja and your stupid prophecies and I’m sick of it, I’m so sick of being your Green Ninja, I hate it!”

Sensei Wu goes stark white. His fingers tremble and his teacup drops to the table, his eyes painfully wide. “Lloyd,” he whispers, weakly. “That’s not—”

“Fine,” Lloyd snaps over him, blinking back angry tears. “Fine, I’ll stay away from him. I’ll stay away from all of you. I hate being part of this family anyways.”

He turns on heel before he can look at his uncle a second longer, before the tears can start to fall and he has the chance to say anything else. There’s a high-pitched buzzing in his ears as he storms back down the hall, the lightbulbs above him sparking wildly in his wake before shorting out, exploding into tiny bits of glass that rain over the floor.

Lloyd darts past them, hurrying his footsteps as he tries to escape the apartment with the rest of the lights unscathed. Shoving open the stairwell door, Lloyd makes a break for the rooftop, where he at least knows it’ll be quiet, and there won’t be as many lights for him to burst, and his uncle can’t—

Lloyd pushes the rooftop door open and stumbles out with a heaving gasp, drawing air in desperately as if that’ll ground him. His heart is racing way too fast, way too angry, and his power is zinging all over his skin like a swarm of angry bees. He’s almost dizzy with how angry he is — except that’s not right, he’s not just angry, there’s a whole wave of emotion coming in from somewhere that’s threatening to — to drown him, and this is why Lloyd should always keep things bottled back where they belong—

A transformer across the street blows, and Lloyd jumps in alarm as it explodes, showering sparks down toward the street below. Lloyd blinks past the blurring tears, his stomach dropping. There’s a flickering of lights before the apartment complex below it goes dark, power lost as startled cries sound from the open windows. The power lines around him start thrumming dangerously, reaching a higher-pitched whine that prefaces bursting. Lloyd’s throat closes over in panic. Oh, no. He didn’t think — he can't be this bad. He doesn’t lose control like this, he — he needs to stop, right now, or the entire city’s going to lose power.

He clenches his fists again, trying to reign the power in, to pull it back to him, but it only sputters more wildly out of control. Lloyd’s hands are trembling now, shaking worse than before, and in a desperate attempt for it to stop he crumples to the rooftop, pulls his knees up to his chest and wraps his arms around them, burying his head in the crook of his flesh elbow and squeezing tight, metal digging painfully into his leg as he draws in tighter and tighter — like he can crush himself down into something small enough that he won’t feel so much anymore, and his power will stop, stop—

But it’s like he’s back in the prison, his power sparking wildly out of control and not listening to him. Just like her. Like his father, like his uncle, nothing he’s gotten from his family ever listens to him when it matters, and why should they. Why will they ever, when all Lloyd’s ever going to be is a weapon, a scribbled line in a prophecy or a stepping stone for power—

It’s his power. His power, and he can’t even get it to listen to him.

Lloyd listens to the power lines around him explode and lets his sweatshirt sleeve soak up the tears.

Lying to himself can only get him so far. He’s never going to be able to prove he’s ready to face his father.

Not when he doesn’t even know if he can.

#lego ninjago #ninjago #lloyd garmadon #nya smith #kai smith #jay walker #zane julien #cole brookstone #the focus is on jay and zane tho #for this part ahaHA i'm not kidding u guys its so long #anyways a huge thanks to everyone who requested more!!#u sadists #and special thanks to ninjawhoa for making sure i don't totally butcher lloyd's arm #i love u #my fic

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slashingdisneypasta · 5 years ago

Note

I don't think I've come across anyone else who writes for Hans and I intend to take full advantage of the opportunity you have presented me with. Could you please write a oneshot where the reader is like, Hans secret admirer when he returns from Aredendele? Like, no one else likes him but she leaves him little notes because she's genuinely in love with him? And then he finds out?

Sorry this took some time! ^^ I hope you like it, though! I’ve never really written for him, so, uh, I dunno?? Haha

So you know, Y/N has been one of Hans’ maids for a long time. That’s why he knows her name, and how she can be in love with him.

~~~

“Y/N… it was you?” The prince emerges from the darkness of the hallway, as he had been standing, and watching, for quite some time. Just out of my candles light, spying on me while I was writing his note for the day. Jesus, I’ve been here for hours, was he there the whole time??? Christ, Hans!

Like a flash I look back down at the note my thoughts had reminded me I was holding, and then back up at him as I hide it behind my back. Guiltily, I flick my head to get some hair out of my eyes, and step back closer to his bedroom door. Can’t believe he wasn’t in there this whole time. “Your highness!”

A flitter of satisfaction crosses his handsome face in the candlelight, the sky dark with stars through the window behind him. Damn, I shouldn’t have called him that! No one calls him that since he got back! Its too good for him. Man, I’m sounding more guilty, of my feelings for him by the second. “Sir,” I try again. “I was just writing you a note saying that your breakfast would b-be, ahh, late today. The chef’s going be an hour late- Hey! You don’t want to read yet! I haven’t finish-“ Before I could snatch it back further away from him or into my apron pocket without being impolite because he might be disgraced, but he is still a Prince, Hans manages to get the letter away from my fingers and step back away from me. I let out the breath I was holding, because he was so close to me, and immediately start to panic. Biting my bottom lip, I cover my face and look away in embarrassment. No way he wont figure it out now, if he hasn’t already!

“Let’s see what we have here, huh?” He teases, making my stomach roll. He’s going to make fun of me! Peaking through my fingers, I watch him stand and read todays letter, his grin slowly leaving his face as he reads.

“P-Prince Hans, please, a moment, I can explain-“

In my horrified state, I couldn’t tell you what the contents of that particular note was, that I just wrote, if you threw my feet into a bucket of ice water, but I’m suddenly terrified that I said something wrong. Or spelt something wrong- I only learnt know how to read and write from cooking books. I’m a kitchen servant! it’s not like I’ve read any romance novels at all! What do I know about love letters??

If I wasn’t so used to dealing with his brothers, I would be hyperventilating right now out of panic.

I need to go hide back under the potatoes where I belong.

It must take a full 10 minutes before he finished reading- or maybe that’s just how it felt for me. Either way, when he looks up at me, he shows me the most lovely face. Small smile, eyebrows arched just so, eyes gleaming with something gentle, and light. A kind expression, something not oft seen on Prince Hans since he came back from Arendelle.

It makes me feel like I’m turning to mush, in a good way. I missed that face when he came back. Of course, I like the stoic, sinister look he’s been carrying with him lately, too! But this particular expression just has the royal power of making your heart soar in a way it isn’t supposed to. Because, you’re a servant and he’s a prince and even if he did like you… like his expression says he does… he could never act on it.

It’s a very evil face.

“Thank you, Y/N. I… “ His pretty, perfect expression shuts off and he looks down both ends of the hallway, at empty darkness before coming forward quickly and cupping the right side of my face with one of his hands, fingers tucked under my hair and thumb on my cheek. He grins some more, this time a more sedated, mischievous grin that makes my heart pound -especially with this unseemly distance between us, - and brushes my cheek with his thumb. A small, but surprisingly heart melting gesture coming from him, aimed at me. “Would you keep leaving me these? I’ll leave you some back, if you do.” Was that a sparkle of cheekiness in his eyes when he said that? I don’t know, I’m still floored by the fact he’s touching me. His grin widens to show his teeth. “I really like them, they’re the best part of my day.”

“I, uh… I can, yes. S-Sorry, if theirs bad grammar in them. Is there is- “

He cuts me off, slightly shaking his head. “It’s perfect.”

“Okay.” I quickly respond, shutting up because I’m embarrassing myself. A chuckle escapes him, before he thinks for a second, staring at my face, then leans up and kisses my forehead. Then lets me go and opens his bedroom door.

Before he disappears into his room, though, he looks back over his shoulder and smirks at me. “And, by the way, I liked watching you write before. Twirling your hair around your finger, nibbling on the pencil… you should wear your hair down like that more, it’s pretty.”

“Oh- Thanks!” I smile, touching my hair and feeling my heart burst in my chest. Oh, that was the last straw. I’m definitely going to explode. “I… like your hair too!”

He laughs, and closes the door behind him. “Thank you!”

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leggomylino · 6 years ago

Note

au ceo / trope unrequited love / prompt 8 or 10 / like joshua from svt or yoongi from bts !! 💓💓

au trope + prompt requests! Send me a trope, prompt, etc. and I’ll write a short story or drabble!!

AU Type: ceo!au

Trope: Unrequited Love (I think I did okay- I’ve never written this type of romance so I’m sorry if I failed :c)

Prompt: #8: “Wait, wait. Say that again, please.”

K-pop Boy: Joshua, Seventeen (+ Yoongi, BTS)

Genre: ceo!au, angst, comedy, nostalgic

Pairing: ceo!joshua x fem!reader (x ceo!yoongi?)

Word count: ~2.4k

Warning(s): angst, I kinda rushed this one so sorry if I left out any important details…also it’s a bit cheesy and unrealistic lol ^^”

A/N: requests are open~ | Masterlist in BIO! | aaaaaaaaaand as always, yeehaw

“Excuse me, Mr. Hong. If you would just sign here, please…”

“Mr. Hong, there’s a call waiting for you on Line Four.”

“Mr. Hong! Mr. Hong, do you have a moment?”

Being swarmed with papers and phone calls and never ending crowds was the life of a CEO. But it was never the life that Joshua Hong wanted.

In his mind he was living a small, peaceful life by the sea within his means, the love of his life at his side and within an absence of the means of time. And he would achieve that, one day.

For now he just had to wait, and continue to play the game.

As the crowd grew thicker and less transparent, completely blocking his way down the golden-railed hallway ‘til he could no longer move, Joshua halted his pace, took a quick breath, and graced everyone with the usual-plastered smile they’d all been waiting for, addressing his underlings one by one.

“Yes, sign here? Okay…and Janice, you said there’s a call on Line Four? I’ll take it momentarily, tell them I’ll be with them shortly? And Shawn, why don’t we talk during lunch? I’ll have Seungkwan make a reservation–”

One by one he went through them, each and every employee and sales’ person and random fan or citizen that had managed to make their way to the 48th floor of GameOn! Headquarters, handling each concern and care with kindness and as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

The entire act was draining. Thirty minutes later, he needed a nap.

But the moment the mahogany doors opened, the gold-plated doorknob flinching back as he released it to reveal the initials “J.H.” on the cover, yet another face was waiting for him. Sort of.

Hay and wood chips covered the entire room– the delicate swirl-colored carpet in shades of deep blues and cascading velvet, the beach-toned walls that really didn’t match but reminded him of the dream he was pursuing, the crystalline chandelier where a telephone hung among the masses.

“Just so we’re clear,” Seungkwa said, visibly sweating at the seams, “Dokyeom–”

Joshua wasn’t listening. He was too busy scouring the room for whatever had happened to his pet rabbit Mina, who just…jumped…onto the balcony.

Screaming in unison both boys rushed beyond the double french doors, Seungkwa nervously gathering the speckled ball of fluff before shyly passing it to his superior.

“Ha…hahaha…” He bowed. “Sorry?”

“……” His boss looked back inside at the chaotic mess before letting out a sigh, his gentle strokes against Mina’s backside attempting to soothe the terrified creature…and calm his own nerves. “…It’s fine…just call someone to clean this up. Do I wanna know what…?”

His assistant shook his head. “Probably not. I’m blaming Dokyeom. The snake was his idea.”

“Snake?!”

“What? Snake? I don’t know a snake. Unless his name is DK? Haha…ha?”

“…” Another sigh. He stepped back into the office, the brunette boy at his heels. “…I need you to make a reservation for lunch in an hour. I was thinking maybe–”

“Oh! Reservation!”

Seeing as Seungkwan had stopped and cried out with such sudden tenacity, Joshua blinked behind him. “Yes…?”

“Um…” Seungkwan smiled sheepishly. “There’s someone waiting for you in the lobby. After Seokmin dropped by and Mina got loose I sorta forgot about it. She said her name was…y/n?”

Joshua’s face paled. Every motion in his body froze, save his beating heart and racing thoughts.

He gulped. The last time he’d spoken to anyone by that name was…you. Three years ago. “………”

“…Joshua? Are you okay?”

The snapping and abrupt clapping in his face pulled him out of a one-way ticket to Memory Lane. He quickly smiled shyly to avoid any confrontation.

“Yes. I’m fine. Has she been waiting long?” He lifted the fallen plush pin from the ground, resetting it with one hand and placing Mina back into her luxury Barbie Dream home. “What’s her last name?”

Seungkwan thought a moment, picking random wood chips off the floor as he simultaneously flipped through a phonebook for room service. “I don’t think so…and her name was, uh, y/n…l/n?”

Another gulp. Crap. It was you.

He knew what this was going to be about. The same thing, every two to three years. You show up on his doorstep and tell him how you feel without actually saying anything. And everytime, he has to push you away.

Because he knows you. And he can’t have you getting mixed up in this “extravagant” lifestyle. It wasn’t just luxury cars and homes and country clubs and maxing out however many credit cards you wanted. It was busy, and messy, and chaotic. The opposite of you. Often times it got downright evil, shady, and sinful…blackmailings, mindgames, having to uphold an image and reputation. It definitely wasn’t the life he wanted, and he refused to drag you down into it as well.

At least not until after he’d done enough. After he could fall back on an early retirement that would please his family and make everyone happy.

He’d spaced out again. When he came to, Seungwkan was glaring up at him with curiously round brown eyes.

“So should I tell her to come in or…?”

After flinching back and shaking his head (once to recover from shock and once to clear the despondent memory of you), he took a look around and gestured with his hand.

“What do you think?”

Seungkwan looked over his shoulder, up at the ceiling, down at the floor. “Hmmm…probably not. I can–”

The door suddenly opened. “Mr. Hong? Animation Studio’s is still on Line Four and I don’t think they’ll hold much longer…”

Joshua clenched his jaw, closing his eyes a moment. “Tell them I’ll be there as soon as I can.” His eyes shifted to his accomplice. “Keep them busy,” he said.

Seungkwan shook his head. “You want me to handle an important business call?! But–”

The door had already shut, the echo muffled by scattered woodchip and torn featherdown from a certain rabbit-tailored Barbie Dreamhouse.

A groan overtook the following silence.

“Wait, wait. Say that again, please…”

It was no use. This year’s visit was going terribly wrong. Just like all the other visits.

But it wasn’t for the same reason as before.

“I came to get your blessing. If that’s okay…? Oh, and I wanted to drop off this thank you gift. For my birthday? I know it’s a little late, but I’ve been so preoccupied with the wedding invitations and the planning and…sheesh, you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to get Yoongi to go anywhere on his days off.” Y/n shook her head, hands clutching a rosary-gold picture frame with her latest masterpiece scribbled within its contents. “He’s always so tired so we usually just end up staying in and watching Netflix all day. But sometimes I’m able to convince him to do a little shopping with me. If I ask nicely and lure him out with cookies…er, that doesn’t always work, though…”

He couldn’t believe it. Here he was thinking he was going to have to let you down easy again, thinking up a basic speech plan to go over so things wouldn’t get messy or sidetracked, and your feelings would be spared, and he could go back to tackling another day in the life of Joshua Hong while trying to make the best of things and stay as cheerful and bright as possible, but…

It was his feelings that were on the line now. And dangerously close to the fire.

Things were not cheerful and bright. They were a desolate wasteland.

“You’re…getting married?”

Those words had cast a curse over every last straw of bliss he had left to grasp onto, and yet they’d brought the brightest smile Joshua had ever seen to cross your face, brighter than the sun and the moon and all the stars he was suddenly wishing he’d paid more attention to, stars he would chase to the ends of the earth for you…

But they were too far now. They were no longer a part of his universe. They were a part of yours…and someone else.

He found it adorable the way you bounced lightly in place at his question, nodding ecstatically. “Yes! I met someone…about a year ago, Yoongi. And he’s recently asked me to marry him.”

Your eyes dipped down to the cerulean rug lining the large office table Joshua currently had to lean against for support, and a film of sadness fell over the atmosphere like a veil of mist or fog.

“So…I wanted to ask for your blessing. You know, since we grew up together and all…and well, I know we’ve kind of had a..history…but I also wanted to know, you won’t have to worry about me bothering you anymore. Haha,” You scratched the back of your head, turning away sheepishly to enlong the avoidance of eye contact. “I know you’ve always seen my yearly or semi-biyearly…tri-yearly?…visits as sort of an…inconvenience. And I told myself if you really felt that way, I should just get over it all and stop coming around anymore. But…” You smiled. “I know how hard this world of yours is. And that it’s not something you ever wanted. So I promised myself I’d just check in every now and then and make sure you were okay, because I really care about you, Josh.”

This was it. His world was crumbling.

“But you know, now that I’m getting hitched and all, I probably won’t be able to come around anymore as often.”

Why? Why was his world falling apart?

“I’d be really nice if we could still keep in touch though? That is, if you want to…”

Why did any of this matter to him? He’d wanted you to move on. He’d wanted you to stop coming around, and he was finally getting his wish. So why…?

His grip tightened on the chair beside him. On the corner of the table he was propping himself against.

“…Anyway, that’s enough about me and Memory Lane. Here,” you held out the portrait in your gloved hands, the one’s he’d always see you show up in during the Holiday Season from years past. They’d been sewn and patched over a few times, a stark contrast to the Tiffany diamond and quartz watch around your right wrist.

You glanced down at it as he took the painting from you, eyebrows raising with a smirk. “Ah, I’m going to be late for lunch. We’re almost finished watching (insert favorite series here). I promised I’d try making dinner tonight, too…”

The two of you shared a look. A look that only lasted mere seconds, but to him felt like twenty more years had gone by.

You gripped his wrists, giving him a tearful smile. “I don’t want to say this is goodbye, so…I hope to see you at the wedding? Or at least hear from you soon.” A content giggle chimed from your lips, the means of an afterthought following. “Oh, and…thanks for putting up with me all these years. You know I’ve meant well, right?”

“……” He felt lost. The only thing he could do was nod.

You beamed. “I’m glad. Again, I always knew I kind of annoyed you or that maybe you got the wrong idea but…you know, I just, wanted to make sure you were doing okay. Anyway,” you let go, and he wished you hadn’t so. Every step back was one he wanted to take forward. “I should get going. Don’t worry if you can’t make it, or if…you know, you’re just, too busy, I understand. I honestly should have stopped coming around so much, but I just…couldn’t help myself.”

And for a moment, just one moment, Joshua could have sworn he saw a flick of regret. A wavering longing of nostalgia, of something so deeply internalized he didn’t have the time to reach down and discover its true nature, for it was gone just as soon as it had come.

And then so were you. As if you’d never existed at all. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt like he’d lost something; or that maybe you were never real to begin with. Which was blasphemy, absolutely ridiculous, he had known you since you were six.

He observed the painting you’d left for him, lips parting just slightly.

It was a portrait of a long forgotten photograph, one your parents had taken of the two of you when you were twelve, fishing for frogs and bugs and rainbow-colored rocks down by the riverbed of your hometown. The sky was the clearest blue it had ever been that day, the fluffiest of clouds providing the perfect shade along with thick blankets of willow trees, and Joshua was smiling while displaying a handful of crystallized rocks he’d found buried in a pile of mud (which he’d detested having to get dirty for but did so anyway), you proudly swinging a silver-colored fish that gleamed in a spectrum of colors beneath the soft peaks of sunlight.

The portrait was signed at the bottom: “To my best friend Joshua, with love - y/n ❤”

And then everything just…clicked. It was strange, but all those unscheduled yearly visits, the bi-yearly and tri-yearly, and all the time the two of you had spent together before that…everything came crashing down like a whirlwind that suddenly ceased, dropping everything it had been lugging and spinning around. It fell like a sudden ton of bricks.

He studied the painting for hours, locking himself away and politely going through the motions of the day on autopilot. Even when he was away from it, it was fresh in his mind, and the moment he had finished one task he would come back to it, even if it was just for a few minutes. At the end of the day, when everyone else had gone home for the night, he found himself staring at it, preferably you, and your smile. The gleam in your eyes.

He’d always thought you’d been squinting at the camera with the sun in your eyes. But really, you’d been squinting gleefully at him.

And he’d always known, deep down. This was all a carefully hazardous game he’d orchestrated to keep you at bay, telling himself he was protecting you and doing the right thing, but now…

Now, the game was over. He’d won.

But he’d truly lost you.

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amyf20 · 6 years ago

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Hall of Memories

first off i would just like to thank @theincaprincess for helping me out with the idea, second i know this is long, i kinda just kept writing haha so i hope you enjoy this and if you would like to request anything just drop me an ask!

Requested by: anon

Would you mind writing a oneshot where fiance!Bucky sees you being proud of an ex or like having fun with them and he gets insecure about being a burden to you?

Word Count: 1,515

Warnings: none

Tag List: @theincaprincess

You sat on the sofa staring at the small bit of paper you were holding in front of you, you had been invited to your school reunion, old school memories flashed through your mind, some good some bad.

Bucky walked through the door to see you deep in thought, he dropped his bag on the floor making you jump.

“What you got there” Bucky pointed to the piece of paper you were holding.

“it's an invitation to hell” you laughed before continuing “it's an invitation to my school reunion.”

“Are you going to go?” Bucky sat beside you as you thought about it.

“I don't think I want to go”

“Why not? Its a chance to see if people have a better life than you or not” Bucky laughed as you rolled your eyes.

“Well news flash, they probably do” you sighed.

You had never told Bucky about your school life, it wasn't something you ever wanted to talk about, you may have been the popular girl but it led you to a lot of bad decisions and you knew for sure that some of the people you promised yourself you would never talk to again would be there.

“Bucky i can't go” you sighed again as you pulled on your jumper.

“I think you should, maybe you will see some old friends there”

“I don't speak to my “old friends” for a reason Buck, they aren't people i would want to hang around with anymore”

“When is the school reunion anyway?” Bucky picked up the invite as he stood up.

“Tonight at 7” you buried your face into a pillow as you groaned.

“You are going!” Bucky tapped you on the shoulder as he walked out of the room.

“Okay, i’ll go but on one condition” you spoke loudly.

“What?” Bucky peeked around the door.

“You come with me”

-----

You pulled up to your old school, you sat in the car for a few minutes as you watched people walk past, some faces looked familiar to you some didn't.

“Wow these people must be rich” Bucky pointed to a girl holding a kid.

“Yep, her whole family is loaded” you sighed as you looked over at her.

“You know her?” Bucky questioned.

“She used to be one of my closest friends in high school”

You and Bucky headed inside as you joined the crowd of people you once shared these halls with, you held Bucky’s hand the whole time, you walked down the hall towards the assembly hall, you stopped once you seen your old head teacher Mrs Miller walking towards you, “hello Y/N, it's so nice to see you after so many years, how have you been?” she asked as she looked over at Bucky with a smile.

“Life has been…..interesting” you laughed as you looked at Bucky who was standing next to you smiling.

You said your goodbyes and continued walking down the hall, memories coming back to you as you pass the lockers, you walked up to your old locker and tried the code, to your surprise it was still the same after all these years, you turned to see Bucky standing with a shocked look on his face.

“Did you just break into someone's locker” his laugh rang out through the hall.

“I was curious, I didn't think the code would be the same” you were about to slam the door shut but something caught your eye, you looked down and saw your name carved into the door along with your ex’s name.

“Who’s Luke?” Bucky questioned as he looked over your shoulder.

“Nobody important” you said slamming the locker shut.

You walked through the wooden doors to be greeted by people you haven't seen for years, you and Bucky stood next to a cabinet that had photos in it from your school years, once stood out to you, it was a photo from your prom, it had everyone in your year in it, Bucky pointed to the guy next to you in the picture and looked over at the tall guy in the corner, “is that Luke?” he asked, you sigh before turning to look over at him, you looked at Bucky and then back at Luke “yeah...that's the guy who fucked up my life” you groaned out.

You walked Bucky around the room pointing out each person and telling him a story or a memory you shared with that person, you were mid sentence when you felt a tap on your shoulder, you turn around to see your ex Luke with a smile on his face as he looked at you “Hey!”, you turned your head around to look at Bucky who had a grip on your waist, “Bucky this is Luke, Luke this is Bucky ...my fiance” you smiled.

“Fiance huh? Well it's nice to meet you”

“So what’s new with you Luke?” you asked.

“Well i’m in an NFL Team now, we actually just won the Super Bowl”

“Damn that must feel great, i know that was always your dream, i’m glad you get to live it” you smiled.

“Hey is it okay if I steal your girl away from you for a few minutes, I promise I'll bring her back safely” Luke leaned over to ask Bucky, he shook his head as you felt his grip loosen, Bucky kissed your cheek as he whispered in your ear “don't forget me will ya” letting out a laugh as he walked past you.

“So have you seen anyone you remember here?” Luke asked.

“A few, but not anyone I would want to reconnect with, what about you?” you looked at him as he took a sip of his drink.

“I seen Lauren, she has a kid now, i also think her boyfriend is only with her for her money” he let out a slight laugh.

“I heard Katie got married and moved to Mexico” you giggled.

Lauren and Katie were your best friends in high school, you would do everything together, when you left everything changed, Lauren got a job as a waitress and is now dating a famous singer and Katie went to university and is now married to a billionaire.

“Yeah, her and her husband actually came to our game a few months back, she is expecting her first child in a few weeks”

“Damn, everyone out here having kids and getting married” you laughed, but before you could continue Luke grabbed you by the hand and dragged you into the corner.

“The real reason i wanted you alone was because I wanted to apologise for what I did all those years ago” he looked at you as you looked down at your feet.

“Yeah it was a dick move” you sigh.

You notice Luke looking over at Bucky who was currently watching your every move, it wasn't because he didn't trust you, but he knew nobody here, you felt guilty for leaving him on his own for so long.

“Why do you keep looking over at my fiance?” you started to question why he wanted you alone, you turned around to look at Bucky who was looking at his drink.

You turned back to look at Luke who had downed the rest of his drink, he grabbed your arm and leaned in closer, the smell of alcohol hitting you as he tries to kiss you, before he could you pulled away and pushed him into the wall, you look back expecting to see Bucky but he was gone, you noticed him walking out of the dark brown doors as you rushed over to him.

“Buck, wait up!” you shout down the hall.

Bucky stopped and turned around as he watched you get closer, his feelings had got to him and seeing your ex try to kiss you was the last straw for him.

“Hey where are you going?” you asked.

“I needed some air… I also just noticed your ex try to kiss you”

“Bucky, i didn't…”

“I know” he cut you off as he grabbed your hand leading you towards a little wall outside.

“I’m sorry if ive ever been a burden” Bucky sighed as he sat on the wall.

“What? Bucky you are never a burden, what caused this?”

“I seen you laughing and having a good time with Luke, you looked so carefree, sometimes i feel as if i hold you back” Bucky sighed.

“Bucky, trust me you are not a burden”

“I'm going to be honest, when i see you around other guys i can't help but feel this way, I love you and I just want you to be happy” Bucky looked at you as you shifted closer to him.

“I am happy, i’m the happiest ive ever been, bucky you are all I need and want, i’m marrying you for a reason” you giggled.

Bucky grabbed your hand and looked at your ring, a smile appeared on his face as you kissed his cheek.

“I love you, I promise to make you happy and love you for the rest of our lives”

“I love you too Bucky”

#Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #marvel #Sebastian Stan #request #anon request

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bohemian-napsodyy · 7 years ago

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Somebody Else Is All You Need (PART 3)

Summary: What first seems like a moment of overthinking for you soon turns into something much worse than that when you find Rami with Lucy. Is a moment away from your boyfriend all you need, or will it take more than that to heal your heart?

I know it’s been a while since I last updated this series, so if you need a little refresher or you’re new to this series (welcome! :), here’s PART 1 and PART 2

Word Count: 4.4k (whOopSiEs)

Warnings: swears, it’s angsty, but otherwise it’s about the same as part 1 and two, so nothing too major

A/N: Well, here it is folks! The final part to Somebody Else Is All You Need. I’m still kind of in disbelief that a fic I wrote intending to be a one-shot is now a three-part series! haha, that’s amazing! Thank you for all the support, it means so much to me and it’s helped me find the motivation to continue writing. I wouldn’t still be posting fics without you all, so thank you!

Thank you to the anon who suggested we see Rami’s point of view in this one! If you’re out there reading this, I really appreciated your suggestion and I decided to incorporate it! I had to credit you, since it was technically your idea, not mine. Thank you for mentioning it to me, it was a lovely idea

I made a playlist to go along with this, as a little “hurrah!” to celebrate the end of this series. It’s a nice little thing to listen to if you’ve got a long commute, or just need to unwind after a long day. Here you go, I hope you like it

https://open.spotify.com/user/otisandpepper/playlist/31dgSwoNLUDFEH3HTPZD1F?si=qrGxgJIxR-GnfzJGS7Kd2g

(even if you choose not to listen to the playlist, at least consider giving this one a listen. It was the inspiration for the series actually, back when it was just a oneshot :) you can interpret it how you like! ;)

Rami couldn’t understand why you had to keep slipping out of his grasp.

He had only wanted to talk. He knew that if he had ten minutes with you, he’d find a way to get you to forgive him and stay. You had broken him down to the most vulnerable, fragile version of himself when he so much as discovered your car in the driveway. He was over the moon that you had finally come back. This was the chance he had been waiting with trembling hands, and a trembling heart, for.

But then Rami saw your suitcase. He heard the doorbell ring. He saw Gwilym.

That’s when the vertigo set in.

Things were still spinning, even though you had left over fifteen minutes ago. Was that anger that was making him clench and unclench his jaw over and over? Or was he trying to hold back the sob that made his throat feel like it was folding in on itself?

God, Rami wished he could just stop fucking counting every minute he had to spend without you. It was all getting to be too much, especially since this time you never said when you’d return.

If you’d return.

Rami tried closing his eyes as he sunk to a crouch on the entrance hall floor, but that did no good. The hurt and betrayal that was reflected in your eyes when he tried to stop you from leaving was all he could see. He couldn’t keep his eyes open either, because it seemed like every little thing his gaze landed upon only served to bring to light another memory of the time you spent together:

The tiny splotch of a coffee stain on the wall from when he chased you down the hallway, only to have you slip in your socks, knocking Rami down with you and splashing coffee from your mug all over the place.

The photo of Freddie you had put on the mantle as a way to celebrate his birthday back in September, but which you never bothered to take down. You always joked that Freddie was watching over the two of you.

The final straw proved to be the photo Rami had hung in the entrance hall of the two of you together. You were both smiling like complete idiots as you stood on a bridge in Amsterdam last Christmas. It would’ve been a lovely picture, had it not been for the fact that it was pouring rain that day, and as a result both of you were squinting at the camera to try and prevent raindrops from falling in your eyes.

But it ended up being your favourite photo from the trip. Nothing compared to the laughs Rami shared with you each time you so much as glanced at it.

When he looked over to the photo, all he could see was Gwilym with you. He felt he had fucked up so badly to the point where he was simply... no longer in the picture.

Rami wouldn’t exist in your world anymore.

He’d be invisible. Nothing more than a memory.

In a sudden surge of anger, Rami plucked the photo off its hook on the wall and threw it to the ground. With a crash that sounded more like the crack of lightning, the frame fell and shattered broken glass across the hardwood floor.

The adrenaline faded as soon as it arrived.

Oh god.

What had he done?

Rami bent down and shook the slivers of glass from the broken frame off the photo. With trembling hands, he turned it over and the sob he had tried so hard to contain emerged with a gasp.

Everything was falling apart.

And it was all his fault.

“It’s all my fault,” you sighed as you leaned back in the worn out sofa of your tiny hotel room. “I should have been more observant or something... at the very least I should have noticed that I wasn’t doing enough to maintain a good relationship. That’s probably why he got...bored of me.”

You let out a puff of air in defeat as you stared up once again at the ceiling, only to feel Gwilym set a steady hand on your shoulder.

“Y/N, you did nothing wrong.” Gwilym reassured you. The two of you had been talking for almost four hours straight, and you could see he was getting really tired. You felt so bad for dragging Gwilym into this mess.

He had been so calm with you on the drive back to your hotel. Less than thirty seconds after you left the driveway, you were yelling obscenities directed towards Rami. You were in disbelief that he had the nerve to get mad at you, after everything he had done in London.

Gwilym kept a steady tone for the entire drive. He listened patiently until he was certain that you had finished letting out everything you needed to.

“What Rami did was wrong, yes,” he had told you earlier as he pulled into the parking lot of your hotel. “But Y/N, and I’m just pointing this out from a third party point of view here, what benefit do you think will come from running away from this entire situation?”

You had no answer for him, and it didn’t seem like Gwilym was urgently looking for one from you, either. His goal was to get you to stop and reflect on what you were doing, and boy it sure was working. Everything about your hotel room felt off now. What you thought was a safe sanctuary away from your current harsh reality now felt more like purgatory of some sort. You wanted out.

That left you where you were now, feeling deflated and defeated as if it was all your fault. The more you replayed Gwilym’s words in your head, the more you regretted leaving without saying a thing.

“What if we’re both wrong?” You wondered out loud, shifting positions again so that your head was now resting on the arm of the sofa. “I mean... this is the longest relationship I’ve ever been in, Gwil. Rami and I have been together for almost two and a half years. We’ve never fought this bad before.”

You heard Gwilym sigh, and a pang of guilt immediately hit you.

“I’m sorry,” you apologized quickly. “I didn’t mean to drag you into this, I’m really sorry. This probably isn’t how you want to end your trip here in LA, huh?”

“Don’t be silly,” Gwilym replied, and you raised your head off the sofa to glance at him just as a small smile graced his features. “I saw how upset you were at the party last week. I would’ve never been able to live with myself if I just let you be and not checked in with you at the very least.”

You felt tears sting your eyes at Gwilym’s reply, and you immediately leaned over to embrace him shakily.

“Thank you,” you whispered. “You checking in on me... it means so much. You have no idea.”

“Oh, Y/N. Of course, it’s no problem at all.”

You sat back against the sofa once more after Gwilym returned your hug. You couldn’t stop fidgeting. This time you were now sitting cross-legged on the sofa, hands clasped tightly together to keep your mind distracted.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do now, to be honest.” You admitted with a shaky laugh. You felt a warm hand on your back as Gwilym tried his best to reassure you.

“What’s on your mind?” He pressed on carefully. You could only shrug as you struggled to find the right words to express the turbulent waters inside of you.

“I just...” You began, pausing to run a hand through your hair. “I want to go back home. Pretend like none of this ever happened, pretend that Rami never got cast as Freddie... I just want to go back to the way things were last year. But it’s not that easy. I can’t.

“I could go home. But Gwil, I don’t know if I can ever look at Rami the same way again. Every time I look at photos we’ve taken together... even earlier today when he came home before you arrived... all I can see when I look at him is how happy he seemed when he was with Lucy. I saw the way he looked at her when you brought me over to the group. He was staring at her like she was his entire universe wrapped up into one person. I can’t remember the last time he looked at me that way-”

You broke off, your voice hitching as a sob snuck up on you and caught in your throat. You squeaked out a tiny apology just as Gwilym gently patted your back.

“Don’t apologize, Y/N.” He added quietly. “I already told you, it’s alright.”

The words that were bubbling inside you, itching to get out only moments ago, had quickly fizzled into nothing. You couldn’t seem to find the energy to speak anymore. Gwilym was the one to finally break the thick silence buzzing within your hotel room.

“You know,” he said, his voice no louder than yours was moments prior. “Sometimes people do change. They drift apart. I don’t want to be an ass and tell you to leave, or stay for that matter, but... well, I guess you should just think about yourself and not Rami for a moment.”

“What do you mean?” You asked with a frown.

“Well... think about what you wanted last year, versus what you want this year. And I want you to keep Rami completely out of the picture for this. Think about what your goals are. Are you still the same person you were? Do you still want the same things you wanted last year?”

You blinked, silent once more at Gwilym’s words.

“You don’t need to answer that right away, Y/N, don’t worry,” he reassured you with a tiny laugh. “I just wanted to throw that out there, as something to think about. It might help you with making a decision.”

You nodded, grateful for having the opportunity to talk to someone as lovely as Gwilym about all this.

“Thank you. That really helps.”

Gwilym gave you a soft smile before leaning over to hug you gently once more.

“I’m glad I could help somehow,” he replied, giving your shoulders a reassuring squeeze. “And Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“I know whatever you choose to do from here on will be the best for you. I can see you’re starting to figure out what you want.”

You nodded as you began to piece together your emotions and thoughts about this entire situation. Gwilym was right, and his words were helping you to make sense of your next move. Now that you had let go of the anger you had been feeling earlier, you had a clearer picture of where you were going to go from here.

The first step? Rami’s house.

As soon as the doorbell chimed, Rami had to stop himself from practically sprinting all the way down the hall to the front door.

A good thing too, he still hadn’t bothered to clean up the mess of broken glass from the picture he had thrown off the wall.

Stepping carefully around the shards of glass, Rami paused just before he could unlock the door.

Did he really want to see you again?

Upon first instinct, his mind screamed yes. But he was still angry at both himself and you. But mostly himself. It was definitely a loud as fuck N-O from his heart.

As Rami stood in front of the door, frozen and conflicted about whether or not to open it, he jumped slightly when his thoughts were interrupted by three gentle knocks.

“Rami? I know you’re there, I can see your shadow through the window. Please open the door.”

Well, there was no going back now.

I am an actor, Rami tried to remind himself as he began to unlock the door. I wear masks for a living, this is no different.

“Hi.”

You didn’t look angry or broken for that matter, not one little bit. You looked almost at peace. What the fuck? What could have changed in the span of eight hours since he last saw you?

Gwilym.

Shut up, shut up, shut up. Keep your fucking mask on.

“...Hi.”

Rami felt like his face was being stretched far too tight. The same went for his voice. He felt like he was spreading himself way too thin, and he hated it.

“Um... could I come in for a bit?”

Say no, you idiot. Had she not left after your fight in the first place, none of this would’ve happened. Don’t give her another chance.

...But if you shut the door, it might never open again.

“Yeah... sure, uh, yeah.”

Shit.

The house was a disaster. Rami saw the polite smile on your face flicker and falter for a moment as your gaze landed on the broken glass on the floor, then to the jackets that had been torn off the coat hooks and thrown down the hall in another impulsive burst of anger that had occurred earlier.

He noticed you didn’t say anything. But he caught you pressing your lips together into a thin line, almost disapprovingly.

Come on, hold it together, dammit.

“Why don’t we sit down?”

“No, I think right here is good. Let’s talk here.”

He was losing his grip on things. He never thought he’d have to put on a character in front of you, of all people. This was getting ridiculous, a game he didn’t want to play any longer.

He didn’t catch the mumble of a reply you gave him, but he did see your eyes flicker nervously to the broken picture frame once more.

I bet you wish things would go back to the way they were too, don’t you.

Rami stood frozen in place, rehearsing possible words you were going to say over and over in his mind. You were probably going to give him shit again for something stupid, like the fact that he broke the frame. He didn’t care about that. All he wanted was to find a way to get back on the same page. Another lecture about how he fucked up was the last thing he needed to hear. He knew his actions were far from good, he knew he made a mistake, he knew you were upset. So was he. Couldn’t you find a way to move on and finally fix things-

“Rami, I don’t know how else to say this so I’ll just go right into it... I think we need to end this.”

Rami almost breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god. He couldn’t believe it. You were actually on the same page as him, this was amazing. You wanted to move on as much as he did. Perfect, you guys could start right now. Pick up from where you left off and work on being better.

The mask could fuck it, for all he cared.

Rami surged forward, unable to contain a laugh of relief as he enveloped you in a hug.

Wait.

This wasn’t right. No. Something was wrong, why weren’t you hugging him back, with your arms tightly wrapped around his middle like you always did?

Were you pushing him away?

“Y/N, what-”

He saw your eyes. They were glassy. You wouldn’t meet his gaze.

“I don’t mean the fight, Rami,” Funny. It seemed your mask was gone too. Your voice wasn’t tight and high-pitched anymore. He could hear the tremble in your words, and it sounded like an earthquake to him.

“I mean us. I think we need to break up.”

Oh god. Was the room spinning? Was the vertigo coming back again?

Rami shook his head, hard. This was another nightmare. He was asleep. Y/N was still out somewhere. Y/N hadn’t returned yet.

But there was never a tear in the fabric. No hint to prove to Rami that this was in fact a dream.

“Why?” He had been hoping his voice would come out loud. Demanding. But it was so quiet, Rami couldn’t tell if he had even spoken that question in the first place.

“We’ve both changed.” You said simply. Rami tried to piece together what you were implying.

“Y/N, I don’t understand.”

Rami was convinced you were stretching out the silence on purpose, just to spite him. He suddenly hated how your eyes searched the room as you fumbled for the right words.

Please. Stop fucking torturing me already.

“All the good times we’ve had... we don’t have those anymore. Every time I think of a happy memory we’ve shared together, I have to think back to last year at the latest. You’re always out by yourself now, you’re-”

“I have to be on set for my job!” Rami protested. He couldn’t ignore the sting in his eyes at your words though. He was trying so hard to keep it down, to keep the fact that you had a point out of the way.

“Rami, you haven’t worked since you came home from filming Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s been six months. We’ve done next to nothing together.”

Rami opened his mouth to reply, to protest that you were just overthinking everything, that it wasn’t true. But the longer he allowed himself to stay in the silence and let the memories come back to him, he realized that he really had been distancing.

“Oh... yeah. I- you’re... right.”

That was all he could think of saying. And from the look of disbelief on your face, it seemed you weren’t too happy with the response either.

Rami wanted to fight. He wanted to fight so bad to get you back and keep you once and for all. Grab the rope that was inching closer and closer to the edge of the cliff before it was too late.

But he had already used up all his strength on the wrong things. Instead of grabbing you and holding you close, he had thrown your belongings down the hall. He had destroyed your most precious memory. He had let his anger get the best of him.

Rami was tired. He couldn’t fight any more, he couldn’t tell the difference between the crucial and not-so-important things in his life.

He just wanted to rest.

“My mom is coming by later this week to help me pack,” he heard you finish. Rami watched as the glass crunched dully underneath your feet as you made you way back to the front door. “But I’m still going to be staying somewhere else.”

Rami didn’t hear you leave.

He didn’t even lock the door.

He simply stood where he was and allowed himself to sink into the white noise, the vertigo already threatening to take over once more.

Two years later.

Even though you had been to two of these award ceremonies already, you still had a tendency to hover near the back of the room.

You had started anew in a small apartment just outside of LA. What had initially begun as a writing exercise to let go and move on from you past quickly turned into a career as a scriptwriter.

Film companies loved your first manuscript. You got to quit you day job and write full time instead.

All that lead to where you stood now at this monstrosity of an afterparty, uncomfortably stiff feet crammed into too-tight shoes and all.

In other words, the film you helped write and create was nominated for an Academy Award. You didn’t win, but it was definitely the most amazing experience to be there live, instead of simply watching it on TV.

“Y/N, over here!” You looked over to see one of your crew mates waving you over. “There’s someone I want you to meet!”

You nodded, but not before motioning for them to hold on for one instant. You needed some alcohol to help you through this one. Small talk and networking were far, far down on your list of favourite things to do.

You hurried over to the bar, and just as the bartender approached you, you felt a tap on your shoulder.

“I know, I know, I’m coming over, I just need a drink-”

You broke off, your voice faltering and your eyes widening as you took in the man standing in front of you.

Rami.

Damn did he ever look good. He was wearing an all-black suit, and he had grown out his hair a little more, so it curled on the ends just the way you used to like it.

He looked... perfect.

“Oh my god...” You squeaked, quickly covering your mouth with one hand when you realized with a sickening jolt in your stomach that you had accidentally said that out loud. The way he quickly glanced you up and down with wide eyes suggested he felt the same.

“Hey,” He said quietly. You had the urge to either run away, fast, or just kiss him for the first time in what felt like a million years right then and there. You weren’t sure which way the feeling was pointing yet.

“Hi.”

“You look really good tonight.”

You smiled, unable to stop yourself from looking down at your feet. “Thanks. You, um... you do too.”

“Thanks.”

You looked back up at Rami. It felt like time had slowed to a stop around you. The crowd you had been trying so hard all night to avoid seemed to dissipate into thin air. Was this an afterparty? Or just a meet-up between only you and Rami?

“Congratulations on the nomination, by the way.” Rami smiled, and your heart skipped a beat when you noticed the light travelled all the way up to his eyes -- something you hadn’t seen in far too long.

“Aw, thanks,” You replied, unable to fight the smile that had already begun to bloom on your face.

“No, Y/N, I really mean it. I saw the movie earlier this month and... wow. The character development that Chris and Simon went through... that was some amazing stuff.”

“Thank you,” You replied once more, this time grinning from ear to ear. Your heart swelled at Rami’s compliment. It meant the world to you.

Before you could think twice, you surged forward and wrapped your arms around Rami in a tight hug. You felt him inhale sharply, pausing for a split second before returning your embrace. If you weren’t mistaken, you could’ve sworn he had started to trace tiny circles over and over on your back.

You and him, everything felt so familiar. The smell of his cologne immediately took you back to all the times you cuddled together on the couch, the both of you trying your best to fit under one blanket.

The way Rami kept one hand gently on the small of your back. All you could see in your mind was the time when Rami had pulled you up from the dining table halfway through dinner, only to pull you into his arms and begin swaying along with you to the Sam Cooke record playing softly.

“What are you doing?” You had asked him with a laugh as he laced his fingers through yours and spun you around.

“What does it look like?”

“Yes, yes, but... why? Dinner’s getting cold.”

Rami only shrugged with a wink, before pulling you in for a soft kiss.

“I just felt like it. And you looked so beautiful just then. You inspired me.”

You squeezed shut your eyes as you continued to hug Rami, afraid that the tears threatening to return were going to ruin everything. You knew you had been embracing him for way too long, but you ignored that thought and instead only pulled him closer.

“I’ve missed you,” You whispered. “I’ve missed us.”

Your heart jumped when Rami pulled away suddenly, almost as if he had been burned. You were about to apologize for your words, ready to blame it on the alcohol you hadn’t really had yet, when you noticed how he swiped hastily at his eyes.

“God, Y/N,” Rami whispered, his eyes glassy. He had a smile on his face, but unlike the last time you saw him two years ago, it was far from a bitter smile. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

“You don’t know how long I’ve waited for you to say that. I... I’m so sorry, about the way I acted, the things I did-”

You assumed it was due to the loud music, and the fact that the crowd around you brought adrenaline rushing through your veins. You cut Rami off and kissed him. Hard. Your heart skipped a beat when his hands found your waist and pulled you closer.

“I forgave you a long time ago,” You replied, gently ghosting your fingers over his features with a smile. “Like I said, we’ve both changed. For the better. I’m so proud of all the projects you’ve done. You’ve accomplished so much. That’s what’s important now.”

Rami shook his head in disbelief, before pulling you close and leaning his head on your shoulder.

“You’re amazing, Y/N. You really are.”

You giggled, returning Rami’s embrace tightly. You were ready for a hundred more hugs from Rami, something you hoped was truly possible.

“What do you say to ditching this party?” Rami asked, his eyes sparkling with the boyish mischief from all those years ago. “I think we’ve both had enough awards stuffed up our asses for one night.”

You let out a loud laugh at Rami’s comment, nodding your head.

“I’d love that. I’ve been trying to find a way to leave for the last hour.”

Rami gently took your hand as you made your way towards the door. The comforting familiar feeling of how your hand fit perfectly into his settled on your heart like a warm blanket.

“Remember that hole in the wall Chinese place I took you to after our walk along the beach during our first date?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“It’s still there.”

“What!?” You exclaimed, your eyes going wide as you gazed at Rami in disbelief. That place was a hole, you were certain they were going to go out of business.

“Yeah! Crazy right? Want to get some spring rolls, like old times?”

You smiled, your heart filling with joy as you gazed at Rami. His eyes reflected your own delight.

Just like old times.

“I would love to, Rami. I couldn’t think of anything better.”

#rami malek #rami malek x reader #rami malek imagine #rami malek oneshot #bohemian rhapsody #bohemian rhapsody x reader #queen #queen imagine #queen oneshot #freddie mercury #freddie mercury imagine #freddie mercury oneshot #freddie mercury x reader #elliot alderson #elliot alderson x reader #elliot alderson imagine #elliot alderson oneshot #mr robot

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musicalmukebox · 7 years ago

Text

Let’s Get (Back) Together | l.h. (15)

Ctto of the gifs used!!

AU: Parent Trap Dad!Luke

Summary: A strong love which led to a strong marriage and twin daughters. Yet in the end, it didn’t turn out so well. You strongly refuse to encounter him ever again. But what happens when both of you coincidentally send your twin daughters to the same summer camp in Florida after 10 years?

Word Count: 11k

Warnings: angst, swearing, sweet sweet revenge, verbal and almost physical fighting, mental breakdowns, s e x u a l tension

A/N: Gahhh it’s around 1:40 am here! I enjoyed writing this chapter like wooo! I hope you guys won’t find it too cheesy or underwhelming! First, I wanna thank my parents for giving me the medical terms mentioned here, though I still struggle with capturing some concepts of it haha! And by the way, I found out the Parent Trap film just celebrated its 20th year anniversary since its release a few months ago. Pretty coincidental to say the least! Anyways, enjoy!

I don’t own Parent Trap and its ideas. It’s only used as inspiration.

1 / 2A / 2B / 2C / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15

Feedback/Questions/Others? Here.

2022, Los Angeles

These past weeks, you’ve created a new daily routine. Or rather, your body did.

Wake up suddenly. Race to the bathroom. Vomit your guts out. Go back to sleep. Wake up to get ready for work. Prepare breakfast. Race back to the bathroom. Vomit again. Fully lose your appetite. Take a shower. Get dressed. Drive to the studios or film settings.

It pretty much varies, but this was a close one to each passing day. You ached the rush of your guts boiling up to your throat because it was physically draining and hindering you from current filming projects. Also to your disdain, Luke was on a mini tour at the moment, so you were on your own for this, though it was bound to end soon so a speedy recovery must be in order. But he knew what you were going through due to your nightly (or morning) video calls you do almost every day whenever both of you can.

“Are you sure you’re really okay, (Y/N)? I can ask Eleanor to come over and help.”

“No need! I’m fine, Luke. Just need more rest, that’s all.”

Even though the directors of latter were lenient and kind enough to give you some rest days since they knew how much of a busy woman you’ve become, you still felt bad because it looked as if you haven’t taken care of yourself too well with your condition.

Was it something you ate? Did you exert too much effort to the point your body couldn’t handle it? Are you overworking on these projects? Seriously, did you or Luke cook something that actually expired?

Actually before the nausea, fatigue has hit you faster before you begin working on-set. Thus, sitting out became a norm that quick. Going home after is just exhausting, and crashing on the bed is a lot easier than usual. Not really a bad thing, but you still had to work on your lines and respond to emails. Alongside that, you’ve suddenly gained weight despite the nausea. Your jeans don’t fit like they used to and mostly, you prefer wearing crop tops and sweaters instead of anything tight.

The last straw was today, when you no longer tolerated that insane wave of nausea that hit almost every thirty minutes in the late morning which clashed with the fatigue. Only now were you growing concerned on your health since you figured it firstly to be a stomach virus, but it could possibly more than that. Hence, you needed to get a clear idea of what is happening to you. So today, you excused yourself again to the director of one of the filming shootings for the day due to health reasons, and urgently went to the hospital. Fortunately, he freely allowed you to do so because you had one of the lead roles, and really wanted make sure that everyone was healthy.

By chance, no paparazzi was present in the area, which made it easier to check inside. Seeking guidance from any expert in the lobby as soon as you walked in, a young looking woman in her green scrubs raced to your aid, probably an intern in her twenties who was starstruck by your appearance by the way she beamed when she greeted you.

“Omg hi, Miss (Y/L/N)! How may I help you?”

Although flattered, you bluntly gave her the synopsis of your physical well-being. “Well, something’s odd with my health, like I’ve been easily tired these past weeks, and vomiting hardcore too which makes me lose a lot of sleep. Today took a toll me while at work, so I just want a clear idea of what’s happening because I’m pretty nervous and hoping it’s not serious that it could affect my work ethic.”

Upon talking, she was taking down of everything and it didn’t take too long for her to think of a procedure or solution to assist you. “Oh no! It’s a good thing you’ve come today. I suggest you take a blood test, which you can get the results of next week if that would be okay. Though for nausea, avoid oily foods and eat something bland like pretzels.”

As impatient as you were feeling now due to the tension of what’s happening within you, you trusted her opinion and pushed through with it. “Alright, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good! Now, may I lead you to the institute of pathology? That’s where the laboratory is for blood extraction.”

“Surely, lead the way.”

“And we’re done!” The phlebotomist, or someone who extracts blood from you aka. the patient for testing, exclaims as she ejected the needle from your forearm and untied the tourniquet right above. Internally, you celebrated for facing your long fear of needles for the sake of your health.

“Thanks so much, love. I hope it’s nothing serious.”

“I doubt that it is. You’re practically glowing and fit since you’ve acted and done your own stunts in your films too. Also c’mon, your body is goals!”

Gushing, “Aww, thanks again.” You attempted to stand up from the seat, but it only made you dizzy so you sat back down. You weren’t even in a rush, self. Chill. “Wow, I’m getting dizzy and tired so fast nowadays honestly. This sucks.”

“What else have you been feeling then? – By the way, I’m Claire.” She introduced whilst asking, tucking away your blood sample in a cabinet.

“Nice to meet you, Claire. Hmm well,” You leaned back in the chair to suit your comfort. “I get the most absurd food cravings at weird times yet there is non-stop vomiting late in the morning especially. I gained weight too, where I can’t fit some of my jeans and shorts and wearing tight tops and bras are suffocating. Also whenever I try to go to gym, the fatigue kicks in. Actually, the fatigue is always there, but they get worse like the vomiting.”

“Oh, I see.” Claire, who just sat across from you, listened and put her mind into use of what may have caused this, although the answer was so predictable to her and still wanted to inquire. “Have you been … sexually active recently? I mean, you are married and all to Luke Hemmings!”

You gushed again since you weren’t much to talk about your sex life with him, covering your burning cheeks. But if it’s meant to help you, then by all means go. “Last time we’ve gone at it was around 2-3 months ago, right before he went on a mini tour in the country.”

“Interesting. - When was the last time you’ve got your period?”

Frankly, you weren’t much to check on your menstruation patterns nowadays since you’re too time consumed with your career. Besides, if it’s arrives, you have pads prepared back at home. “I don’t remember. I’ve been so distracted to keep track. Why is that so important?”

“Oh my god, is it that hard to unravel? – Morning sickness, weight gain, weird cravings, over fatigue, late period?” She asked back, cracking an enthusiastic smile. But you shook your head, still not understanding where she’s getting at.

“Though I’m glad you took this blood test to be sure, my motherly instincts are telling me that you, Mrs. (Y/N) Hemmings, are pregnant.”

A week later, and she was right.

You received from the mail the results, which confirmed your suspicions. Since that extraction, you couldn’t stop thinking about it despite everything making much more sense now. All the symptoms were exactly what Eleanor felt when she was still pregnant with Nick, how naïve of you to have not realized sooner!

The need to tell Luke in person as soon as possible is making you impatient, and you were in utter luck that he was coming home tonight already after months.

You were still in contact with Claire, who was ecstatic for you when you told her and hastily recommended you to the best OB-GYN doctor in the hospital named Dr. Katherine Han. Booking an appointment today was challenging at first, but luckily, you got it. Waiting outside her clinic, her secretary kindly invited you in. “Dr. Han is ready to see you, Mrs. Hemmings.”

Dr. Han, or Kate as she fully claimed, scanned through your results happily, recommended the necessary vitamins and insisted you afterwards to make an ultrasound to inspect on your unborn child. “This is pretty exciting, must I say?”

Unquestionably, yes. Maybe, at first, you freaked out because that would mean a lot of adjustments. You and Luke have talked about before about wanting kids later in your marriage, when you’ve toned down from your busy lifestyles. But now, who cares? Your mindset changed drastically, and the idea of carrying a little life inside you was mind-blowing. It was actually happening.

With that idea having you feel thrilled for the next months to come. But the moment you lied down on the examination bed and put up your blouse, there was already a bump, which is unlikely since it’s early in the pregnancy. Regardless, you then felt the wand move below your abdomen with the cold gel, you were breathless of what your eyes witnessed on the screen.

“You see that flickering light? That’s the heartbeat. Let me raise the volume of it.”

Doing as she said, the thumping increased and you felt goosebumps grow in your entire body. There was the little bean in its glory, your little bean.

“Oh wait a minute.” She paused briefly, raising the wand higher to show another flickering light and an echo of sounds. “Looks like you have two healthy heartbeats. – Congrats, Mrs. Hemmings. You’re expecting twins. Would you like a copy of the sonogram?”

Just as you though things couldn’t get any better, you’ll get two little bundles of you. Okay, maybe one mini-you and one mini-Luke. Though if they are both mini-Luke’s, it’s alright too. It’ll be a quite a mess since Luke is practically a man-child. But, who cares?

“Mrs. Hemmings?” Too absorbed in your thoughts, you haven’t answered the doctor’s question.

“Yes please.”

As great and fantastic these news were, you were bound to surprise Luke this when he gets home. It’s been quite a while. Also, you really wanted him to be the first to know before telling anyone else. Since your careers are already over the top, you planned to just keep it simple. Besides, the both of you weren’t much into giving lavish luxury items, well except on special occasions.

But on a normal basis? Nah, you’d like to save some money for the future. Most likely for education. It’s always nice to think ahead.

There were balloons on the walls and some tied down the legs of the side tables, where you were sat by the couch with a small bag of goodies were inside with a mutual meaning. Time is ticking on your watch, and Luke could be home any minute now. He’ll be exhausted since he’ll be coming back from New York. You’ve missed him so much, where neither video not phone calls were not as sufficient as physical contact. Especially the rated R ones!

Well, before you got “sick”.

Your calm body was sprawled on the couch, trying new positions that’ll suit best for your little beans and scrolling up and down possible room decorations to purchase. Oh yes, baby fever is real with you, starting with the nickname of little beans. While at your enjoyable daze, you can hear the fumbling of the door knob from the outside, unlocking it. Struggling to roll down his huge luggages and his dufflebag as his hand carry, he dropped them immediately.

“I’m home!”

For him, all he knew was that his home is wherever you are.

There he was in his glory. His hair was a lot messier as compared to usual, his facial expressions of tiredness from the long trip but still gave a loud greeting that could get a noise complaint from the neighbors.

Again.

“Luke!” You shot up from your seat, catching his attention. Upon hearing, he knew in a snap you were in the living room. He hoped you cooked dinner or something because as much as he did like eating everywhere from hotel rooms and famous restaurants, nothing beats yours. But then again, you’ve been sick so probably not. As long as he gets to see you, he’ll be happy.

Advancing there, he lightened up at the sight of you, as if you were glowing like the sickness never bothered at all. The blue dress you had on with your beaming smile had him fall over heels all over again. Absolutely smitten. Alongside that, another thing that caught his eyes were the few balloons that bordered where you stood. Coming home from tour or a trip has never been new to since your jobs require to, yet little additions like them was blissful. He couldn’t waste anymore time, running to you and lifting you up in a tight hug by the waist.

Gasping at such suddenness, you enveloped your arms around his neck whilst internally praying he doesn’t crush the little beans, even by a bit. He then puts you down not so long after, giving you a lingering kiss on yours. He could care less if he would get sick. Tour is over anyways, and he has a break before going back to business.

God, feeling them just never gets old nor unsatisfying, like they were custom made just for you. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, love. These past months felt way too long.” Dragging the “too”, his interest returned on the balloons. As a symbol of celebration and surprises, something is up. Maybe he was just overreacting, considering this homecoming was a celebration in itself.

As he felt your arms linger away his neck, you brought out the small bag of goodies from the floor, preparing yourself for the reveal. “I came across some items you might like when I was the way home.”

He grew skeptical, but he went along with it. Taking a seat right beside you, he rummaged through them and brought it all out, laying them on the coffee table right in front.

“Hmm,” He begins his close observation. “An orange-flavored Caprisun, animal crackers and Starburst. Well, maybe for you, they were some of your favorite childhood snacks. I only liked the Starburst. – I’m still pretty lost with this.”

Not bad, he got a keyword: childhood.

This next step is the climax, which involved a sealed envelope from your jacket right beside you. It was quite nervewracking at first, but you came this far and nonetheless of his reaction, it wouldn’t affect how you feel towards the beans. “Here. Maybe this can make much more sense.”

He was so confused, but you didn’t blame him. “You’re scaring me, love.”

“Just open it.” You laughed, anticipating for too long and wanting already to see his reaction. Unsealing it felt like a lifetime, also ripping it a bit in the middle. There he saw two folded pieces of paper and took them out. The first was a short note, which he read aloud.

“Hello there! So as of now, we can’t eat and drink those treats so you can have them! Maybe give us around 6-7 months and we’ll steal them from you! We can’t wait to meet you, dad! Love, Little Bean 1 and Little Bean 2.”

Dad.

It took him seconds to sink in the premise of the surprise. Unfolding the last paper, it was the ultrasound from early afternoon, his mouth hanging down from the surprise and racing happiness that he was gaining. There was still a short sentence written on the back side.

“Turns out it wasn’t the flu or a virus. It’s just us adjusting, sorry for hurting mom though.”

From his contagiously, cute smile, he was the exact opposite of what you were overthinking previously. He was at a loss of words as he repeatedly looked back in forth at the goodies and the letters before facing you, having a matching smile and blushing. To add, he got up on his feet to really sink the information further because he was too happy.

“I’m pregnant, Luke.” You blurted, no more holding back.

Luke swore he was breathless for a moment, before lifting you up again and back into his arms you were. “Oh my God, wow. Fuck. – This is the best thing I’ve heard all day!” You were laughing too hard from his reaction, and as he put you down, he was literally filled with so much adoration for you.

“It’s actually happening! Like you’re going to be a mom, I’m going to be a dad, we’ll be parents! And twins?!”

“It’s going to be double trouble but double fun, right?” You reassured, only leading him to pull you closer for a kiss on your forehead.

“Fuck yeah. I hope they have your nose though.” He booped your nose, knowing that it annoys you often. But you let it pass.

“I hope they have your blue eyes, they are gorgeous.” You complimented, grazing a finger on his scruffy face. You were equally appreciating every facial feature of each other, giving more “I hope’s” back and forth and then confidently, you tiptoed to place your lips against him, sharing a much more passionate kiss that can are as equal to the kisses from your consummation.

He was the first to pull back, desiring to place his available hand on your lower abdomen with a grin so pure it can spread world peace. “There’s a little us there, and I’ll make sure to take care of the three of you.” Your hormones were about to get the best of you, but you didn’t let it control you for now.

“God, can we just stay in this moment forever? It’s too amazing.” He pleaded, looking directly in your eyes.

“I really do as well, but if it helps,” You pointed your finger at the fireplace, where a tiny camera was situated. “I recorded the whole thing for us to look past on.”

He couldn’t get any more blessed and grateful for you, scattering your entire face with pecks. “Fuck, I love you so much. I can never picture anyone else having my children except you.”

Your heart was fleeting crazily, but his cursing was all over the place which is now considered unacceptable in this household. “I love you so much too, Luke. – But one, stop swearing around me, or at least minimize it. They can hear you, you know?” He frowned in guilt, but when you laughed out the seriousness, you declared once more.

“Second, you’re the only person I would ever want to have a domestic life with.”

2034, Sydney

It was 4 am, and most of the adults were passed out drunk in their separate bedrooms in the second floor. The house they were lodging currently had 4 stories with a basement. In the third floor, there were designated rooms for the young boys and girls. Stella and Rebecca currently shared a bed and a room with Scarlett and Beatrix. Yet, it was Rebecca to get up first due to the soft alarm she set on her phone. Good thing no one else heard it or else Scarlett would be complaining so much about how precious sleep is.

Shaking her sister gently to wake up, it didn’t take too long before she groggily did, having some of her blonde strands covering her visage and lips. When she blew them off, her eyes crinkled open more from the flashlight Rebecca switched on since Stella was arrogant to move at first. But because now she couldn’t fall back into sleep, she urged her body to get upright and focus on her awoken twin.

“God, this bed was too comfortable like you said.” She stretched her arms, unwrapping her tiny body from the duvet and put on her slippers.

“I told you so! Anyways, we need to grab some things at the kitchen and pantry first.” Rebecca tells, adjusting her sweater and jumps out the bed with her phone. Slowly sneaking out the door without disturbing anyone else, the twins tiptoed their way to the stairs and hurried to the pantry where a huge chunk of their needed materials lied.

Rebecca switched on the light, a mischievous smirk forming in her face as she stepped on the mini ladder so she could reach items that were up in the shelves. Stella watched her, making sure she doesn’t trip or anything, but she also took some items on the lower shelves they knew they would need. When they finished, they gathered their things and laid them down on the kitchen island, arranging and checking them orderly.

“Hair dye?” Stella asked.

“Got it. Honey?” Rebecca picks the item up for showing.

“Check. Balloons?”

“Done.”

As they completed in reviewing their materials, “You ready for this, brat?”

“Fuck yeah. Sierra deserves only the worse.”

“Truly. So Camp War 2.0? Let’s get to work.”

Phase 1.

Luke dazedly woke up to do his morning run around 6 in the morning in hopes to watch the sunset by the cliff that he loves to do alone. He was blessed to not have gotten wasted like Ashton. Tying the shoelaces of his shoes and inserting his airbuds, he was on his way out the house. Sierra was in a peaceful slumber for quite some time – That was until the first alarm from her phone hit piercingly. Groaning, one eyelid was open to stop it. She didn’t recall putting any alarms before getting to bed, but nonetheless, she wanted to claim back her beauty sleep.

But the second alarm then came around not even 10 minutes later, and there she was annoyed. Muttering profanities under her breath, she turned it off and tossed back to her initial sleeping position. Unfortunately, the deafening sound of the alarm messed with her mind, which made her lose the drowsiness. No longer forcing it, she rose from her side of the bed with bad bed head. Disoriented by her “dysfunctional” phone, the first thing she was looking for was her glasses, which is usually by her bed side so she can properly operate. However, it wasn’t there as she rummaged it. Odd again, but she ignored it again since just a few hours, she was drunk off her butt and probably left it someplace else.

With blurry vision, she stumbled her way to the bathroom, discarding her pajamas to take a warm shower. Here, another scheme is set. Putting on shampoo is a normal thing when cleaning yourself, only that when Sierra applies it on her hair, it gradually left her a raging red shade.

It didn’t process to her what was happening until she saw the shower floor filled with red water. At first, she figured that she got her period, but she just got it 2 weeks ago and it’s long ended. Pulling the handle open of the shower, she went nearer to the mirror to see what has took place.

“Fucking shit!” How did this happen? Did she take the wrong shampoo? The smell was right though. Maybe there was a chemical malfunction, and she has to get this fixed as soon she can because God knows how much more damage it can bring. Also, email the company about this.

Rinsing it off with a towel, she changed into cleaner clothes and pretty set for the day, knowing she has a few things on her agenda already. She likes to be productive after all. But first, breakfast. She just needed her phone to do some contacting. When she got ahold of it on her bedside, she received a message.

[6:40 AM] Future Husband: just went out for a run! but i have a surprise for you downstairs in the basement, come check it out x

She loved surprises, where she gets to be spoiled rotten by absolutely anything she wants. And since recently he’s been so distant due to the whole surprise family reunion, she assumed that he felt bad and is making up for it.

[6:50 AM] Sierraaaaa: just showered babe, i’m gonna check it out! love you, hubba!

Meanwhile from the work room, where security cameras were placed in the major rooms like the basement, living room, the small lobby, and patio, Rebecca and Stella were imitating vomiting sounds due to the pet names Sierra gave. “So this is dating works, huh? Just bleh!”

“I suppose so. Good thing I’m too young for that! - Shit, she’s by the staircase already!”

They watched carefully her movements, hoping she doesn’t take any unnecessary detours and giggling at the new hair color on the side. When Sierra reaches the end of the corridor of the first floor, which leads to a another staircase going to the basement, the girls were on the edge of their seats, giddy. There were two open tabs on the desktop computer they were using, one showing Sierra and the other on the basement. The latter was a total and messy obstacle, which was about to be unleashed in less than a minute.

“Fuck, let’s get the actual party started!” Stella exclaimed.

Phase 2.

“Hope you like it, babe. Love, Luke.” Sierra reads the sign on the door, pumped up what lies behind the wooden door. With the suspense it expressed, Sierra couldn’t wait any longer and unlocked the door in front of her.

It was quite dark since the curtains were spread open at the large open doors on her left, so through her eyes, she searched for any light buttons to switch on. Luckily, there was one on her left, but it was pretty far from where she stood, so she moved her body to do so minimally. However, as she did, she actually overpassed a light string that was connected to the light switches. Instead, she slipped on the floor instantly and caught the tacky view of the basement.

First feature: A mixture of honey and maple syrup spread throughout the floor like peanut butter on bread.

She slid so fast throughout the entire interior of the room like an indoor slip-and-slide, hitting the corners and sides of the walls with almost every part of her body. Her mind was spinning, and every time she tried to get back on her feet, the syrup would always make her tumble repeatedly. Unfortunately enough, she had no protective gear on her figure to keep her safe from the friction and bumping the hardness, most especially her head. Yet there was another detail that got her much more drenched.

Second feature: There were numerous balloons surrounded in the entire room that were either filled with air or water.

Whilst sliding, different balloons were popping around her as she hit different spots of the room. When did, she’d pop a few balloons in the process that would either trigger her sensitive ears or wet any parts of her body. This went on many times because she really tried her best to stand up and evacuate this mess. Here, her body was reconnecting also with the discomforting syrup then faced one last detail.

Third Feature: One of the light switches from a while ago was connected to the electric fan above her, which would rain the room with feathers.

Various sizes of feathers would glue to her soaking clothing. She sneezed at every encounter she got with them, meaning that she was continuously sneezing during the entire experience. No part of her body was spared, resulting to looking like a hairy chicken, especially with the red hair!

“Bok bok, bitch.” Rebecca referenced Rachel Cho, satisfied by the ugliness of the maze which got Sierra the deserved treatment. But that so-called maze wasn’t the end just yet.

Phase 3, aka. the total knockout.

Drenched and still slipping numerously, her rage and annoyance levels skyrocketed into inflation. Thus, it resulted into passionate and thunderous screams, almost like someone was being murdered. She wanted to get out of this horrendous room, and back to the bathroom to rinse off. But on top of that, she wanted to fight whoever was in charge of this, and she knew exactly who they were. Who else?

“Absolute brats!”

Since it was impossible to go back to the main door unless she wanted to slip and fall again, she resolved into opening the big, wide doors facing the beach. Carefully taking her time making steps, she pushed them out, relieved that her stay at that maze was over.

Or was it?

Right above where she was drenching and groaning from discomfort, another line of string hung by her eyes with a tiny note with another message. “You think it was over? – P.S. flip over this note.”

She pulled it out strongly, unfolding it effortlessly because she wanted to know more about the minds of the sinister sisters. Little did she know that a bucket of chocolate syrup was stationed right above her, where a friendly creature was swimming in it, or possibly drowning.

“You mess with our parents, you mess with us. Also, look up. – R & S”

Right on cue, she tilted her head upwards and low and behold, the sticky substance splattered all over her entire body, coating the water and honey from earlier. It was almost Carrie 2.0, except there was no huge audience except the twins, who were busy rejoicing for their success. It came upon them of how smart they work together than against each other like in camp, gladly knowing that they have a valid reason to act so. Besides, they are young and bright, they have to hone their growing potentials.

Sierra remained still and quiet, trying to regain her composure because she will not let the brats win over. It took her years to get to where she is, and she will strike back because losing to them is basically like losing to you. However, that idea was scratched off as soon she felt something crawl above her dyed hair. She was disturbed at the foreign sensation, reaching over it to get a touch of what it is. When she did, it continued to brisk off and by the rough skin and long tail, it was a lizard. And she screamed bloody murder when the lizard slid down to her face, even went to her mouth! Spitting it out along other saliva that was contaminated, she attained her breaking point, finally fed up and throwing numerous tantrums like the spoiled woman she is.

“Wait, where again did you find the creepy crawly, Stella?” Rebecca asks, watching Sierra and enjoying herself at her rage.

“When I was placing the bucket by the ledge of the patio. He was crawling everywhere, but I figured he’d be important.”

Just in time with her screams, Luke just arrived back at the house from his morning jog. Removing his airbuds, he could easily determine the voice and raced to where it was occurring. But when he got to the living room so he could get to the patio and see the commotion, he was beaten to it when a soaked Sierra stormed inside with a frustrated look on her face. She pushed away any object within her vicinity and kicked some chairs too, beyond pissed. It wasn’t too long when the other boys and their families were disrupted from their rest and came running down the stairs, seeking answers towards the unexpected fuss. Just like Luke, they thought that she looked like an absolute, hot mess, psyched and intrigued by who could’ve pulled off such an accident.

“Wha-What the fuck happened, babe?” It was all he can come up with at the spur of the moment, his focus more on her newly dyed hair that just didn’t suit her with the chocolate syrup dripping on the wooden floor.

All this pent frustration and the newly added one began to overtake her mind and mouth. She was officially done. When she took a few steps closer to him, “Here's what's going on, buddy, your twins happened! The day we say “I do" is the day I ship those brats off to Switzerland or maybe give them fully to (Y/N). Get the picture? It's me or them. Take your pick.”

Right after she spits her fire, muffled voices blasted from the speakers in that room. Those speakers can be activated a few ways, commonly through Bluetooth or the aux cord from the work room. Rapidly, the device boosted in volume, giving a clearer hearing of what was being voiced out.

It was none other than last night’s convo between Sierra and Arzaylea.

The two and everyone else paused themselves momentarily to take a listen, and in the end were they stopped dead on their tracks by the intensity and ruthlessness of the situation. Though humiliation additionally crashed on Sierra because she was the main involving party.

Oh, poor Luke. The big secret behind his psychotic fiancée was uncovered and served like a slap on the face. Somehow, everything these past years made much more sense. That honestly pep talk she gave yesterday was pure bull. Everything about her was an ongoing façade.

Once the audio reached its end, the twins publicly made their entrance from the work room, giving off their petty and naughty smirks to their main target. So far, so very good.

“Woah, good morning everyone.” Rebecca greeted innocently.

“What’s for breakfast?” Stella continued on casually.

But Luke wasn’t having it, too frazzled by the situation within the room and couldn’t even look at Sierra when she tried to capture his attention numerously during that audio play. “Alright girls, quit playing. What is going on?”

No more sweet talk, just get down to the business.

“Wasn’t the audio enough, dad? Aunt Sierra over here is a lie.” Stella claimed strongly, pointing at the messy woman.

“Dad, please don’t be associated with her anymore. She’s been manipulative before we were even born!” Rebecca defended further, which finally gave Sierra the balls to speak up for herself.

“That audio you gave could’ve been self-made! What other allegations can you give?” She tested, trying to redefine her name. Aish, wrong move. Rebecca was actually bundling up pieces of paper in her arms, and once she opened them up, “Do screenshots of conversations between you, TMZ, Perez Hilton, US weekly and many more tabloid platforms count? Also saw money and private information were involved too.”

“By the way, aunt Sierra, be careful for your surroundings before running your mouth and opening your devices. This house isn’t as big as you think it is.”

First passing it to Luke for his viewing before giving them to Michael, and just by the tired look he had post-work out he begun with, he grew mentally disheartened by the accuracy of his twins’ accusations about his fiancée. Though mischievous, they weren’t wrong at all.

“Ooh, got an extra audio file that can count as evidence if you don’t mind.” Stella added, excusing herself to return to the work room and play the file of Sierra’ conversation at the Forum. The strong persona of Sierra turned weak again when the papers were handed to different people and that extra audio blasted. Her exposure was forceful, and she had nothing else to say or do to deny them especially since the twins were stating facts.

Luke just listened to Sierra’s hurtful words, in disbelief that she was capable to do this all behind his back for the past decade. He was frozen at his standing position, wanting this to all be from the crazy part of his imagination. But once he was fixated with Sierra’s when he almost spaced out, he looked away quickly at disappointment. Sierra saw that short glimpse, still immersed on his facial features that drooped down. “L-Luke, please let me ex-”

Luke cut her off, putting his hand near her face so she would stop blabbering. “So this whole time, you wrecked our marriage?”

“Wait, ple-”

Luke kept going with his questioning. “You’ve planned this whole thing out vividly so that you and I would be the endgame?”

“Luke, st-”

“This meant having to ruin the lives of (Y/N), Becks and Stella?!”

Silenced and interrupted repetitively, Sierra couldn’t contain the concoction of the variety of emotions boiling up in her system. All these years she’s bottled them up has made her insane, insane to do absolutely anything for this particular man that has once helped her genuinely in the past. But in the end, she doomed herself to unsuccessfulness and obsession. All eyes were on her now, and she really is trying to compose and defend herself in her own words despite either way, she was going to lose. But those smirks of the twins which exactly resemble yours ticked her off completely.

“All of the actions I’ve done were out of 18 years of loving you, Luke! I was always there for you, way before (Y/N) came in the picture. Your breakup with Arzaylea? I was there. When people criticized the band’s hiatus and music post-Sounds Good, Feels Good and you needed moral support? I was also there. Every drinking session you wanted and invited me to out of celebration or sadness in your old home? I was fucking there! How did you not see that? We had something going on, but it was so effortlessly destroyed when she kissed you in that Valentine music video! Since then, I never liked her because I just knew she lured you in and used you so she could be famous. I just couldn’t allow that to happen, so I had to do what was best for you. Besides, if she trusted you, she could’ve told you the real behind the scenes of our relationship and we would’ve not been friends anymore. Gosh, secrecy! But I knew how to use my words so she wouldn’t bother to tell you anything. So yeah, the bitch does not deserve you, Luke. And those brats you call daughters are just as sneaky as she is!”

There it is.

The unsaid has finally dropped, which may have brought embarrassment because Sierra didn’t hold back nor had any filter to fix her words if she was to be misread. The rawness of it was a bombshell since no one ever expected it, even you if you were present. Luke felt as if he was stabbed in the gut mercilessly, not wanting to acknowledge her. Her so-called assumptions on what she thought was good for him was beyond ill-advised. Now one thing is guaranteed: she was the biggest factor to the destruction of your marriage.

“And you think you’re deserving?! Since when were you knowledgeable to know what was good for me?! I understand that you were trying to look out for me behind the scenes, but to hurt people in the process is different!!” His voice was on full blast, startling everyone and putting them on the edge as the rising drama climaxed. Sierra buried her face in her hands, put on the spot to reply back, but either way, it was a lose-lose situation. Luke’s fists balled up and hit the first thing he saw, which was a box of Lucky Charms.

“All the controversies you’ve had, I’ve looked past them because you’re a genuine and talented girl. Turns out you’ve fooled us all. Honesty is the best policy you also said yesterday, bullshit!” No one expected him to swear, making the boys and their wives cover some of their kids’ ears.

Sierra grabbed him by the arm to make him look at her. “I still am that girl, Luke. Let’s sort this out, please.”

“You never were.” Luke swat her hand away, but still turned around with a face as red as a tomato. A mix of post-workout exhaustion and frustration. “You know, (Y/N) had her own hustle, having to balance university while looking for job opportunities. Meeting her was a coincidence gone right. I thought I could fix you and your controversies, help make you become greater than that. Yet, it but turns out that you can only fix yourself, and you failed badly.”

Sierra needed to speak, she had to. Regardless of the risks. “Wow, now you’re defending your ex-wife? Last time I checked, you no longer wanted to be associated with her because she broke it off and hurt you so bad!”

Although truth was spilled, Luke began to pick up on her words and tried to piece them together with past events. Then, he realizes how some connect to each other. “She broke it off because the rumors you’ve paid to get done was a bad environment for our family then and we began to lose trust in each other. But you know what the worst thing was that occurred in that kind of setting?”

“What?” She had the nerve to cross her arms in a cocky manner.

Luke’s walls were near to breaking, but he didn’t want to leave the fight losing. “Because of the divorce, it led to half custody, meaning my twins, or “brats” as you said were robbed of a happy and full family. All thanks to you.”

To top off the cherry on top, Luke stepped a little closer to Sierra and ordered, “Leave.”

“Excuse me?” She sneered, putting a hand on her chest.

“L-E-A-V-E, Sierra. Get the picture?” Luke hissed. “You are a love-blinded psycho. By the way you said my twins are sneaky is saying that I am too because they are half of me! With this leave you’ll take is a leave from my life for good. I don’t know about the rest of everyone here, but I have lost all interest to be involved with you. So do leave the ring too, then bring all your stuff and never ever show yourself to me. You have done enough.”

His rage reached its peak, still not moving one bit. As much as they were aware that they’ve succeeded, the twins did not apprehend that their father would be severely affected in the process. All they wanted to do was prove a point and hence, they did get their justice. But for him to become sadder too wasn’t in their truest intention. They were too blinded and motivated in getting the both of you together by doing their war that they didn’t think through of the consequences.

“Luke, I-”

“Did I fucking stutter, Sierra? Leave!”

Sierra threw a hissy fit at the treatment she finally deserved, and angrily walks out of the living room. Luke remained unmoved, but warm tears swelled down his cheeks. He didn’t bother to rub them off, and as vulnerable as he is already, he tried to stay strong and hold it in.

“Luke,” Calum bravely took initiative to comfort his friend, only for Luke to finally move backwards away from his friend from this anxiety that overfilled his entire being.

“Don’t touch me, just stay away from me. Please!” He skipped to the workroom and locked himself inside, where he was left with himself to completely crash down and bawl out his pushed back emotions.

That reluctance to recognize them? Gone.

Emotional walls? Vanished.

He whimpered loudly, punching the different pillows in the couch along with knick-knacks on the desks. Pain was prevalent everywhere. Though his fists were bruised, his heart was deeply affected because he relied on his mind to give the practical solutions. Not entirely wrong, but with complete disregard of his heart meant disregarding his feelings, bottling them up for too long.

It was too difficult to make things seem normal in the household now.

Calum and Michael really did their best to change the atmosphere of the entire room by preparing breakfast, cracking eggs and bringing out the pancake mixes. Crystal needed to walk out to the patio to get fresh air away from the stuffiness. Ashton and Bryana were trying to think of easy ways on how to answer the questions from their children about Sierra since it wasn’t something they’ve ever seen before. Eleanor wasn’t too behind to follow Sierra’s steps, but not too near for the latter to see her. Arriving at her door and leaning against, she watches the ex-fiancée angrily throw different items in her dufflebag, observing how much she wanted to leave this situation.

“I’ve always had strong feelings you were still as controversial back in the day.”

She sensed a sneaky smirk from the brunette, who zipped up her packed bag and put the strap on her shoulder. Back on her feet, she came closer to Eleanor with that exact cocky expression. “You should’ve stopped me then, but you didn’t.”

As she tried to get on her way, Eleanor blocked her way, not letting her get off the hook that easily. “That was because I believed you could’ve grown better, but you chose to be a lot worse. Trashy even.”

“Ugh, harsh. But you may have forgotten that I am a girl who is passionate, who’ll do whatever it takes to get what and who I want in life. Luke isn’t something I could swipe left, babe.”

“Have you no pity or a heart?! You destroyed the well-beings of two of the most kind-hearted people, even got their children involved! - I’m so glad you were exposed. The bitch as you’ve described my best friend? Her intellect and determination were traits passed on the twins. With you, all you could ever give is your body and manipulation.”

Sierra’s jaw clicked, her free hand preparing to slap Eleanor, but she beat her it. Gripping her wrist tight that it could leave a mark, “Smart and nice way to accept loss, babe. Also by the way, I see something that doesn’t belong to you anymore.”

Referring to the diamond engagement ring, Eleanor removed her grip to the hand and watches with keen sight on Sierra sliding off the metal band. Once it was off, she effortlessly handed it to her new enemy, leading to Eleanor unblocking her. She didn’t wear her smirk anymore and scrambled down the stairs and to the garage, where a vacant, extra car awaits.

She was finally defeated.

Meanwhile, the twins managed to discreetly vacate from the living room and back to the basement, only this time, they’ve brought garbage bags and every cleaning material they could find in the pantry. Stella harshly scrubbed first the sticky floor from one row to another, whilst Rebecca disposed every popped balloon remains in the bag, shaking off any syrup stuck in it. Their progress was quite slow because some of the sticky area hardened, making them exert double energy which is more than what their bodies are capable of. Taking breaks in between increased, thinking how impossible it will be to accomplish this the entire day.

Not even halfway, a loud knock was made on the main door, the one from inside the house. “Come in!” Rebecca called out. The knob turned to its right and clicked open, which revealed the older kids, carrying spare cleaning materials and wearing similar frowns.

Stella stopped her actions. “What are you guys doing here?”

Beatrix put down her bucket and mop, entering inside the dirty room followed by the others. “I’m assuming you guys need some help after all that craziness you pulled off with Aunt Sierra.”

“But haven’t we been a burden enough to you all? This trip so far has been horrendous, at least we need to fix our mess down here.” Rebecca fired back, embarrassed to even look at them. Unexpectedly, Oliver advanced to her with his apron getup and declared, “To be honest, Rebecca, if any of us discovered the hidden intentions of a vicious woman like aunt Sierra on our parents, we would do absolutely everything to make sure that the bitch doesn’t walk free.”

“Also your strategy was crazy good, it serves her right!” Nick justified proudly. As much as it gave a short dose of hope and enlightenment to the twins, knowing their friends got their backs, they couldn’t help still feel guilty on bringing upon more emotional instability to their father.

“Thanks for the support, guys. Still though, we made our dad a lot more broken, and we can’t forgive ourselves for that.” Stella opens up, having trouble to maintain eye contact on anybody because of the shame. She may have blinked back tears because she isn’t one to show her vulnerability, another evident trait she got from her father. Less to her knowledge, Alex came to her aid with tissue paper on standby.

She was baffled, putting it away. “Thanks but no thanks, Alex. I’m fine.”

“You aren’t, Stella.”

He was right, and at the same time, one tear from Stella streamed down and he was the one to wipe them off with his thumb. Caressing her cheek, “It’s okay to be vulnerable, Stella.” He gave a hopeful grin, which was easily reciprocated with a tight hug. “T-Thank you, Alex.”

While they had their moment, the other kids were also silently cleaning those spots that the twins haven’t reached and faced the same struggles with the syrup. But now they was a lot more of them, the job was more time and energy-efficient. With that, the whole basement became spotless in another hour. Sharing jokes and another round of funny stories in between made the experience a lot less tense.

Now on their way to return to the ground room with their sweaty figures and full garbage bags, which they first leave by the front door, they were taken aback by all their parents, Luke included with red eyes from all the crying, explicitly arguing post-Sierra excluding Eleanor, who was sat in the couch really trying to get stressed due to the baby. This hindered them to go inside and stay behind the wall near the open entrance. Crystal was right behind Michael, who sided with Ashton. “Luke, you need to tell (Y/N) this.”

“I agree. What happened to no more secrecy?”

Calum joined in, giving a piece of his mind. “Mate, if you want things to work out between you two, you have to be honest. You lost her once, don’t do it again.”

Bryana had the last say. “And if you do so, she’ll give in and likely to share her perspective on why she didn’t tell you about her real relationship with Sierra.”

The anxiety within Luke couldn’t stop raising, not being able to think straight of what the right action is. He thought it was just Sierra keeping secrets, but you did too. Though knowing you all these years, whatever you choose to do and achieve in life always has a good reason behind it. It was thoughtful, yet a secret is a secret, which jeopardizes the trust of the relationship.

“I cannot lose her again, guys. When I tell her that I know, she’ll run away! That means Stella will go along too.”

“But Luke, isn’t the lack of trust the main reason you’ve ended it?” Eleanor caved in from the couch, offended at his defense because it led to her losing all contact with you, her best friend. Running away from Luke meant running away from everyone else.

Lifting herself up, her hands putting more pressure on her lower back to support her growing belly, she approached towards the lanky man. No pregnancy hormones caused her growing rage. “I have had it up to here with you. Not only did that factor caused you to lose the love of your life, but it caused everyone here to lose a friend and our kids to lose a great aunt. Fuck, (Y/N) was my best friend, whom I haven’t heard in over a decade! But mostly, your kids lost half of their parents. If that doesn’t disturb you enough, I have no idea what else will.”

As they eavesdropped, the kids couldn’t help feel the goosebumps up their arms by the hurt and may have gasped a little too vocally. The adults overheard it, sensing that their children kept an ear out for their mature conversation and becoming tenser since it’s like their happy, cheerful innocence was gone in a snap.

“Kids,” Ashton croaked, put his palm on his forehead to relieve the headache he’s bound to receive not so far from now. “We know you’re there. – Please do enter.”

As much as they didn’t want to, disobeying their rules would be a lot worse. One by one they’ve joined inside the crowd with their heads down because they were scared shitless, especially the twins who brought this to everyone. The sense of shame still stayed, aware that they could’ve approached it much more maturely.

“How much have you guys heard?” Bryana questioned, her heart weakens mostly at her kids with their doe eyes overfilled with fright.

“Enough to know that uncle Luke won’t tell anything that happened awhile ago to aunt (Y/N).” Scarlett replies on behalf, being the eldest after all.

Luke knew how energetic his niece was, but the softness of her voice made him feeble because he’s unintentionally brought back the decade old damage and it was just unacceptable for him to bring her and the other children down with him. He needs to get and give space, praying to the heavens that those kids would not have this piece of information get stuck in their heads for too long. It was just too soon for them to face this sort of reality. However, it was the twins’ reality, and it beats him up everyday. He should’ve done better.

Bringing back the need of space, he needs it starting right now.

“Rebecca Audrey Hemmings, Stella Charlotte (Y/L/N).” He directed his entire focus on the girls, who instantly elevated up their faces to his voice. “Pack your things, now.”

His tone was very serious, and very unlike him. But with all this pressure, it has took a toll on him. Not wanting any more trouble, they scurried their way out and to the stairs, trying not to slip from Sierra’s mess and make anymore delays.

Ashton, on the other hand, did not enjoy the way he instructed his kids despite his personal pressure. He negotiates, “Luke, don’t bring them into this. They are already as afraid as you are.”

“Are you their father, Ash? I just need s-space. So excuse us, but we’ll be on our way.” He bumped against the older man on the way out of the living room that became ironic because it now suffocates him in all aspects.

“Let me repeat what I said. – No one will speak of this morning to (Y/N).”

“Oh my, back so soon?”

Luke roughly dropped off his dufflebag, rethinking of the words he’s planning to say. The trip back home was intense and filled with deadly silence. The twins were too startled to make a sound since hwas already developed much more sensitivity with his environment. Fragile almost, so they resorted to talking through texts.

“Oh, we got an emergency meeting tomorrow, so we had to cancel. We’ll move it to next weekend, maybe you can join us this time?”

Fuck, you really wanted to go this time. But life as an actress isn’t always filled with vacations even if you go abroad a lot. By next week, you’ll be back in Los Angeles working. Just last night before heading to sleep, you received a long distance call from one of the producers of an action film where they’ve accepted you to play the main antagonist. This meant that the first meeting will be in a few days time, cutting off your stay.

“I would love to, but it’s just that,” Your hands clasped together.

“That?” Luke picked up. Your twins beside him were listening attentively, curious.

Heavily sighing, “I got a meeting with a producer this weekend, meaning I need to head back in a few days.” Your view then switched to Stella. “This also means you have to come back with me.”

As expected, she was quick to retort. “No! I don’t want to leave dad and Becks, not again.”

Rebecca was on the same plane with her. “I agree! Dad, do something please!”

Undoubtedly, he wanted to beg you to stay longer after everything, but work is work. A mantra you and he have followed ever since, and especially now as parents, it must be strictly applied if you want things between you to succeed. His mind has again overpowered his heart.

“Girls, I respect your mother’s priority of work, so since she has important work she needs to attend to, what she says goes.”

Half that statement he didn’t agree to, which was that if you left, there’s more deprivation of bonding time with Stella. He needed to catch up on everything she’s done, and Rebecca still needs to know her more.

Another thing with you leaving you again is that he can’t mend things as properly as he desired to. He’s afraid to lose you again.

But it isn’t like you weren’t feeling the same way. You’ve missed Rebecca, wherein there was never missed a day to think about her. You could’ve reached out, but you never did.

Then for Luke. Oh, Luke.

Although work is an important aspect, it was another factor that deteriorated your marriage. With fame comes time consuming plans and activities that would limit your family time, especially since you both reside on opposite sides of the world. You can’t stay away from them for too long again.

Then again, work is work. The girls grew cranky over it, like all their hard work was for nothing.

“I though you were on our side, dad.”

“I lost Stella and mom once, dad. Who knows when we’ll see each other again?”

On that note, they spontaneously left the scene of the discussion, going up the stairs with frowns and heavy hearts. You felt your heart drop too by their disappointment, investing your sight now on Luke, whom by the crooked grin he gave off, reciprocated the feeling.

“Fuck,” You groaned, returning to sit down at the couch and burying your face in your hands. “I’ve already failed this family.”

Luke took upon himself to comfort you at your saddened state, putting aside him personal misery and sat right next to you, rubbing your back up and down. “They’ll come around eventually, they are 11 years old. And come on, hasn’t work always been a huge priority for us, love?”

Love. He’s said it a few times throughout this trip, but now, it felt much stranger. You might’ve felt electrified it, but regardless. It’s just a title, right?

“It was when we were still married.”

“But it’s more important now because we have the twins.” He affirmed. He had a point, and from where you stand when everything is crumbling down, you would accept any useful advice to help you.

“You know what, you’re right. They must already understand how hard it can be to balance work and family. They are still equally important, but this job, I cannot simply turn it down because I’m meeting with other great actors. I can’t be disrespectful.”

“Well, there you go!” Luke praised, gladly patting your shoulder with your realization. “Why are you still so glum, love?”

There he goes again, and somehow you could feel much more comfortable around him to express more. His eyes were gleaming with concern, anticipating to listen.

He’s always been a really good listener. He didn’t brush his hair that much either, but it still looks good on him. Curly hair has always suited him. Distinctly, he bit his lip whenever he is sad to see others feeling down because he always wanted everyone to be okay, and here he did. Though another reason he would bite his lip is he was turned on.

Luke hated seeing you like this, quietly mourning over being a failure so early in the restarting process of familyhood. It still haunts him that the both of you took one twin away, and now that they found each other, it forced you to talk and straighten things out in a flash. But you’re both still pained by the past, and it isn’t easy to simply open up to each other, especially now when you have different significant others. Well, Luke had. Though he knows Timmy has a high dislike for him, he’s there for the sake of his daughters.

But with you, there is one thing he cannot stop thinking about: your happiness. If Timmy can make you happy in better ways, then so be it. After all, it’s all parental right. But he wouldn’t be lying if he didn’t find you beautiful during the premiere or gorgeous by the way your spectacles drooped to your nose when you were reading awhile ago. Not only that, he found it cute to find you focused on the book, the way your brows knitted when a certain chapter irritated you.

Wait, what was he thinking?

But hey, what were you thinking too?

Snap out of it!

“(Y/N), you okay? You haven’t answered my question.” He shook his hand in front of your face while you were spacing out, and staring at him too.

“I preferred love more than my name.”

“Oh sorry there. - I’m pretty bummed because I don’t want to mess things up again. I can’t lose Becks and you again for good.” You worried, not realizing how you were leaning closer to him. He took you by the wrists, clasping them together between his large hands.

“You won’t, (Y/N). As much as I fear the same, there is no fucking way I’ll let it happen. We can work this out.” He promises, hoping for the best in the future. With wisdom comes intimacy, which is followed by the close proximity of your faces.

Specifically both your lips.

You could’ve sworn he brought himself closer first, but habitually, you returned the gesture. Maybe some old habits don’t die too easily.

His blue orbs were as beautiful as you’ve looked into them deeper, diving into his spell that you can’t resist like previously. He barely had any wrinkles on his face, though his eyebags got darker and his scruff is bushier. You could think of other things to describe his gorgeous physique.

The way you licked your lips, which is a sign of you being nervous or contemplating different choices in your head, got him wrapped around your finger. The short-lived grin you gave to show him that you accept his help was too precious, almost like he was falling for you all over again.

There was strong tension building up, but your self control was working stronger. Gaining personal respect towards each other these past weeks has led to respect towards your life decisions. There was no way either of you could blow this up. Nonetheless, you freely picture yourself wrapping your arm around his neck to pull nearer to get a taste of him. Just once and that’s it.

Your mind is always the dominating party, why don’t you let your heart take charge for once? Besides, did you really mean by what you say, that it’s all parental? The white shirt that grew transparent from his sweat showcases his fit abdomen and his long neck was clean. Too clean.

You accidentally caught a glimpse of his tightened crotch on his chino shorts, the length of his member visibly seen on the side. If only you could give it a - okay self, what the actual.

Luke was too tempted to swoop under your waist and on to his lap where he let you straddle his waist with your legs. He can imagine you tugging on his locks and peppering his neck with short kisses, maybe sucking on his weak spot more deeply and roughly.

Shit, you were only wearing sleeping shorts, flowy and only up to your butt. If he just slide in his digits up inside your - fuck, stop right there! He jerked back first, trying to calm his dirty thoughts because he is no longer obliged to think that way anymore. You in the other hand moved away as well, rethinking on how stupid you were to do that.

“Stop, self. Let him go. He has Sierra as his bride now.”

“No, Luke. You blew your chance, and she’s already happy with Timothée.”

Left with your withering realizations, a ding sound echoed the area, alleviating the massive awkwardness that developed. Instantly checking who it belongs to, it was yours.

[12:35 PM] Timmy Tim: Can we please talk?

Scoffing lightly, he still had the nerve to reach out to a wound that is still so fresh and stinging.

[12:38 PM] (Y/N) angel: Why? “I drunkenly cheated” isn’t big enough?

“Who is it, (Y/N)?” Luke shouted from behind, hearing the clashing of a few pans accidentally which made you giggle because he’s always been clumsy. At the same time, your phone dinged again.

[12:40 PM] Timmy Tim: Please (Y/N). I’m so sorry.

“Oh, just the same producer. - And oi, be careful! We don’t wanna to nearly burn the house down like before!”

“I’ll try!”

Rolling your eyes because the short banter brought you back to the old days, he actually bought the half lie. As terrible as at is, you didn’t want to bring him to your personal relationship issues. The less people, the better. You try to distract yourself by rereading some of the chapter you were stuck at to get a better understanding of the plot, yet your mind kept on reflecting on Timmy. By his texts, you can vibe his sincerity although it was you who was the victim.

Ignorance from you is improbable since you preferred facing your dilemmas head on, and you couldn’t become a lie of your own words. Though there is pain, ignoring it prolongs it. It’s closure or nothing. Snatching your phone from the coffee table, you typed out your frustration. Only mildly, you call the time to express when you see him next.

[12:55 PM] (Y/N) angel: Fine. Noon, the Café Sweetener near your hotel. Oh, and I’m sorry too, that I was too dense to not have realized sooner.

161 notes · View notes

bangtansoyumdamn · 7 years ago

Text

Berry Sweet

Genre: Fluff

Pairings: Taehyung x Reader

Word Count: 3.2K+

A/N: The idea of farmer Taehyung sounded cute to me and so I decided to write this fic. So here’s a sweet fic of Farmer Tae Tae on a strawberry farm, maybe now the title will make sense haha. Hope you all like it :)

You hopped onto the nearly filled bus, sighing as you look around for an empty seat. You were exhausted and just wanted to get home. You find one near the back and you let out a sigh of relief. Sitting down, you rest your head against the window. Your eyes fluttering shut.

Your eyebrows furrow and you frown as you heard a voice disrupting your sleep.

“Miss, are you getting off? This is my last stop.”

You sit up in an instant and look at your surroundings. You’ve fallen asleep, for who knows how long.

“Uh-- umm. This isn’t my stop Sir.”

“I didn’t ask if it was. This is my last stop, you have to get off.”

You scoff at his rude reply, picking up your backpack from the floor and swinging it over your shoulder. You made your way to the automatic doors of the bus and asked a question while walking out.

“So where is this place anyways?” As you turned around, the doors closed and the bus left you there, clueless of where you are.

“Ah.. jinjja.”

You look around for any signs of life, a house, a convenience store, or something, but it was just fields and fields of strawberries.

You scream loudly out of frustration. First, you pulled an all nighter to study for your Chemistry exam, that you ended up failing by the way, then, you fell asleep on the bus, causing you to be in your current situation, lost. You were supposed to be in your bed sleeping at this very moment.

You look to your left and right, there isn’t even a single car that’s passing by, why is there even a bus stop here?

“Are you okay?” You hear someone yell from behind, causing you to jump. You turn around to see a tall young man with dark brown hair. He’s wearing a white shirt with denim overalls, one strap off.

“Aish~ you scared me.”

He flashes you a boxy smile, “mianhaeyo. But seriously, what’s wrong?”

“It’s none of your business,” you said, turning back around. How were you going back home? Where are you even? Your eyes widen and you feel your back pockets for your phone, sighing of relief when you feel it. You go on the map app, trying to figure out where you were. You let out a sigh when you find out you were still in Daegu. Well that’s good then.

“Seriously Miss, do you need help? If you’re waiting for the bus it isn’t coming anymore. That was the last stop for today.”

You turn around, “no, I don’t need your help. I’m fine, I’m just trying to figure out where I am.”

You shake your phone in the air, showing him that you were on the map looking for directions.

“Great. I’m forty minutes away from home,” you mumble to yourself, also mentally killing yourself when you remember that you didn’t bring any money, because you brought just enough for the one bus trip home. You can’t help but let out a groan out of frustration, stomping your right foot hard on the ground. You shut your eyes tightly, while also clenching your fist hard, that your nails dug into your palms. You inhaled deeply, trying to calm yourself, and turned around.

“Yes. Yes, I need your help.”

The farmer boy flashes the same boxy smile at me before taking off his gloves and picking up the baskets he was using. They were filled with juicy red strawberries.

“Yeah, I figured.”

You glared at him and he can’t help but keep a smirk on his face.

“Hold this, let’s go inside.” He hands me one of the baskets he was holding and points to a small house in the distance.

You entered his small house, following him around.

He places the baskets on the counter, taking the basket in your hands and placing those by the sink. He quietly starts washing the strawberries, not saying a word to you. You bite your cheek and tap your foot, not knowing what else to do.

“Um-- hey farmer boy.” The young man turns around to look at you. His eyebrows raising in response.

“How are you going to help me go home?”

His eyes looks around for a second, like he doesn’t remember me needing help at all.

“I’ll drive you there, let me just finish this.”

You bite your lip and nod slowly, turning back around when he does.

“It’s Taehyung by the way. Kim Taehyung.”

You turn back quickly when you heard him talk.

“Okay.”

He lets out a chuckle, “you aren’t going to tell me yours?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m (Y/n).”

“Who’s this?” You heard from behind you. It was a voice of an older woman. You turn around quickly to see a small old lady standing by the front door of the little house.

“Annyeonghaseyo,” you said, while bowing your head to show respect to the older woman. It must be Taehyung’s grandmother.

Taehyung turns around, wiping his wet hands on his shirt.

“This is (Y/n). She’s in quite some trouble and I’m just going to help her with that after I finish with the strawberries.”

The older woman nods, and tells Taehyung a few more things to do before we get going. He simply smiles and obeys the older woman’s favors before going back to wash the strawberries.

By the list of chores he needed to finish, and all the strawberries he needed to wash, it seemed like it would be a while until you’d get home. So you offered to help him.

You stand next to him by the sink and began washing the strawberries. He looks at you confused.

“You don’t have to help me, I’ll be done soon.”

“You have two more baskets and this one, if I don’t help you, I won’t be able to go home soon.”

He smiles slightly, but you weren’t able to see as you were focused on the strawberries.

“Was that your grandmother?” You asked. Trying to carry a conversation to help pass time. He shakes his head no.

“Actually, it’s my grandmother’s best friend. My grandmother’s farm is close by, I’m just here to help her out because her grandkids that usually help are on vacation with her own kids. She didn’t want to leave the farm unattended.”

“Oh, you must be a very good grandson.”

He lets out a chuckle, “yeah, I try to be.”

The two of you continue with the strawberries, and finish in about an hour.

“Okay--” you sighed, about to wipe your hands on your shirt but you hesitated. Your eyes shift to Taehyung who casually wipes his on his shirt, you decide to wipe it on him too.

“--What’s next?”

He laughs at your actions and shakes his head, “did you just wipe your wet hands on my shirt?”

You shrug, “I can’t get this top wet, it’s dry clean only.”

He shake his head, still smiling, causing you to smile as well.

“We need to feed the chickens, so come on.”

He grabs your wrist and pulls you towards the back door.

Taehyung grabs your hand and turns it over, revealing your palm. He pours some seeds onto it and motions for you to come close to the chicken coop. You stand in front of it quietly, and he opens the door and six or seven chickens pop out, scaring you, causing to drop the seeds all over the floor. You scream loudly as some chickens starts to flap their wings and hopping high enough to almost reach your face. You push them off as they get close to you and you run off behind Taehyung, who is dying of laughter.

You don’t notice that you’re hugging his waist from behind tightly as you kept your focus on the chickens. Taehyung manages to calm down from his laughter, and wipes the tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

“Come on, let’s go check if there’s any eggs.” He steps forward but your tight grasp on him held him in place.

“I am not going near those hot wings,” you say, with dark eyes.

Taehyung laughs again slightly, before pushing you in front of him. He holds his arms around you and you gladly cling onto his forearms. The fear of the chickens distracting you from the intimacy you were having with the farm boy you barely knew.

The two of you slowly crept behind the chickens, who was distracted with the food, and check inside the coop. There was only one or two eggs.

“We’ll just get them tomorrow, maybe there would be more then.”

“Okay,” you said, “how are you going to get those chickens back in there?”

“We’ll put them back after they eat.”

“You mean you’ll put them back. I’m not touching those.”

He laughs, “Come on (Y/n), don’t be afraid of them, they’re sweet.”

You scoff, “yeah, when you dip them in honey mustard.”

He flashes you a boxy smile before picking up one of the hens.

“Here, hold her.”

“I’m not touching that thing.”

“Come on, just hold her.”

“Taehyung, no.”

“You want to go home faster don’t you?”

You scrunch your nose at him before closing your eyes and extending out your arms. He places the chicken in your arms and you slowly open them to find the chicken quiet and peaceful.

“Oh this isn’t that bad.”

“See, I told you.”

You bend your head to the side to look at the hen’s face and right when you did, it flapped its wings and pecked you hard on the nose.

“AH!”

“I am so sorry about that,” Taehyung says while scratching the back of his neck. He places a small band-aid on the tip of your nose.

“I only like chicken if they are fried or in my soup. Other than that, I hate them.”

He smiles at your response.

“It should heal soon, it’s just a small cut.”

“It better, it makes me look stupid.”

He lets out an amuse sigh, “here, my grandmother usually does this to me when I get hurt.”

With that, he leans closer and places a kiss on my nose.

“It should heal magically now,” he smiles, before walking out of the restroom of the owner’s house. You were glad that he walked away right away, or else he would’ve seen your cheeks turn pink.

You are starting to feel something for that farmer boy.

“Do you want to meet a special friend of mine?”

“Sure, who is he or she?”

“Come, I’ll show you,” he grabs your hand, and runs. Leading you to a place far into the fields.

“Waa~”

Taehyung looks over at you and smiles at your amazement over his horse.

“This is Haru, she’s beautiful isn’t she?”

You nod, walking closer to the dark brown coated horse. She seems to like you instantly, and lets you pet her face.

“Do you want to take her for a ride? We can go around the place, halmeoni’s farm is pretty big, there’s lots I could show you.”

You turn back around to face him, your face bright and happy, you dreamt of having a horse and riding one when you were a little girl, so this was a dream come true.

“Sure, I’d love to.”

Once Taehyung finished putting on the saddle, he helped you hop on to it and he got on shortly afterwards, wrapping his arms around you to hold the reins.

“Here hold this,” he says, giving them to you. Once you hold onto them, he wraps his hand over it so he can guide you.

“Are you ready?” he says, bending his head to the side to look at you. His heart warming up when he sees you smiling brighter than he has ever seen you smiling today.

“Yeah. I’m ready.”

The two of you stopped once you got on a hill. The sun was setting before your eyes. The two of you sat there, on Haru, watching the sun go down and the sky turn various colors of pink, orange, and blue.

“So what got you into the situation you were in today?” Taehyung brings up. For a second you didn’t know what he was talking about, too busy living your life on the countryside.

“I stayed up all night last night studying for an exam that I completely failed this morning. I was already failing the class but if I aced that one exam it would’ve brought my grade up to a passing one,” you let out a sigh, “I was exhausted and tired, and just wanted to go home and sleep. When I got on my bus to get home, I knocked out and missed my stop. The driver told me I had to get off. I only brought enough money to get home once so even if I wanted to call a cab, I won’t be able to. So I had no choice to stay, then I met you. And now I’m here.”

Taehyung lets out a long sigh, “you must be really tired, I shouldn’t have made you do anything today and should’ve just took you home.”

You place your hand on top of his, which were still wrapped around you, to reassure him.

“No, I had fun today. The first time in a long while.”

The sun fully set and the sky was getting darker as the minutes passed by.

“We should get going,” Taehyung says, pulling on the reins and off you three went.

Taehyung opens the car door for you, you thanked him as you went in.

You turn on the navigator on your phone so he knows where to take you home. You have a forty minute long drive ahead of you and you secretly wished that it was longer. You feel a bit bad for being so rude to him in the beginning but Taehyung has really helped you today, and not just because he’s taking you home. It’s been a while since you’ve been this happy, your days and weeks has been full of stress because of school and you looked forward to the weekend every time. Only for it to be full of studying and sleepless nights. Now that it was the weekend and your classes are over, you have a couple months or so to be stress free, only to be stressed again once school starts, because you have to retake that freaking class again. Usually, all that goes on in your head is school school school, and study study study. No matter how hard you try, chemistry was too hard for you, it’s just something you’re not passionate about. You don’t know if you should continue this career path or not, but you currently have no dreams to follow, so you stay in school just in case. Today, you were able to get rid of all those thoughts. School was off your mind for once. Being on the farm helped you become stress free, and being with Taehyung made it even better. You live alone in a small apartment, your parents living in Seoul with your other sibling. You weren’t the social type, you usually kept to yourself, but with Taehyung you were able to release everything and rant to him about anything. You learned a lot about him too. Just watching him help around the farm showed how caring he is to his grandmother and her friend. Seeing him with the animals showed how sweet he was. Seeing how he helped you even though you were so rude to him made you realize how much of a good person he was to even try to speak to a stranger after acting like a crazy person in front of him. You also learned a lot about him. He talked about his life, and how he started helping his grandmother when he was young. She took care of him for most of his life. You talked about yours too, it’s not as interesting as his, but he listened. He listened about your struggles in school too. You told him how you weren’t able to follow a dream you don’t have. That the only dream you always had was to be a princess and to run off with a prince on a pretty pony. But that was when you were six. Which pretty much came true that night on the farm. It was on the top of the hill, right before we stopped where he told me the most reassuring advice I’ve ever heard. There’s more to life than studying. Don’t be trapped in someone else’s dream.

“We’re almost there,” Taehyung says, and you noticed that you spaced out. You quickly regret that you didn’t take advantage of those past forty minutes talking up a storm with him.

“Aww,” you say quietly to yourself. Taehyung must’ve heard because he takes a glance at you and smiles when he sees your small pout as you stare out the window.

“You want to spend more time with me huh?”

You scoff, “no.” You joke.

“Alright, well here we are.” You look out and see your apartment building and your heart hurts because you know it’ll be the last time you will see this farmer boy.

“Well I guess this is goodbye,” you say looking towards him. His lips are pressed into a smile and he nods.

“I guess it is.”

“I had fun today,” you put your hand over his, which was on the gearshift, “thank you.”

With that you got out of the car, and closed the door, walking towards the door of the apartment building. With your fingers pressing on the keypad, you dialed in your code, and unlocked the door. Before going in you turned around, and Taehyung was still waiting there, making sure you get in safely. You smile and waved him goodbye as you stepped in. You froze in your step when you remembered. Your backpack. It wasn’t on you and all your school supplies were in there.

You turn back and ran to his car, thankful that he hasn’t left yet.

The window rolls down and he looks at you with confusion at your slightly panicked state. But then you slightly smile and his face relaxes.

“I think I left my backpack in halmeoni’s house, do you think you can come by tomorrow and give it to me?”

He smiles his boxy smile again, looking down before looking back up to me and nodding.

“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Okay,” you smile and began walking away before turning back. “And Tae, can I have your number?”

He chuckles before reaching out his hand to grab your phone. You can feel your cheeks heat up and your glad that it’s dark because then he won’t see.

“You know, so you can like text me when you’re coming, so I know when to get ready and such, not because of anything else.”

His cute smile not leaving his face as he types in his number, Taehyung texts his phone with yours so that he would get your number without having to wait for you to text first.

“Here, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks. See you then.”

As you walk away and actually step in the building, you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding in, and you leaned back on the door. Your phone vibrates and you look down to an unknown number.

“Why were you blushing, princess?”

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hauntedbunkbeds · 7 years ago

Text

Day 6: Zen Space

Day 6, Fantasy or Magical Realism: It may get a bad rap, but Fantasy is full of gems! *haha!*

Zen Space

At mile fifteen I usually hit the zen space. The sound of my breathing becomes the only sound I can hear. I focus on the ground in just the few feet of space ahead of me. I become my own little world. I think every thought at once. I am God of this little world, God of myself. I guess that’s the Runner’s High people talk about. I didn’t know what it felt like until I started doing ultra marathons--fifty to one-hundred miles in the woods with a handful of strange people who I have come to love. We’re all the same kind of strange, the be-your-own-God kind.

This race was different though. Bad different. You can always tell when you’re going to have a bad day, sometimes immediately, sometimes before you even start, like a premonition. I’ve seen world champs drop out in the first ten miles. There’s no shame in it. For an undertaking like running one hundred miles in a day, your mind and your body have to be on the same page or one is going to slip off-course, literally or figuratively. I’ve seen runners veer into the woods at a sprint, I’ve seen runners arguing with people who aren’t there. Strange things can happen when you push your body to its limits. It’s like peeking over the edge of a steep cliff, you better have a tight grip on something or you might just slip off into the abyss.

When I didn’t reach my zen space, I got worried. The races usually start hard, then get gradually easier for me as my body falls into its familiar stride. Today, it stayed hard. The Pandora 100-Miler was a notorious course, one I had never run before. The first fifty miles were literally over mountain after mountain, but the second fifty was even worse: A straight shot down a two-lane highway, no shade til nightfall. Just when your prayers of “Please God, not one more hill” are answered, you’re met with sizzling roadkill and blistered shoulders. A man died along that road last year, a drifter, and his body was discovered by one of the runners. I’ve heard the spot is marked by a small white cross.

“When you hit the cross,” my trainer (and girlfriend) Amelia had told me in the dense 4 A.M. fog, “then you’re home free. Twenty miles to go from there.”

I squeezed her hand. Something already felt wrong, but I didn’t want to let her down. She planned to meet me at mile fifty with a flat coke (don’t knock it til you try it) and run the remainder with me as a pacer. I met Amelia at the Rushmore fifty-miler seven years ago. She beat me to the women’s first place spot by fifteen minutes, but I also beat my own PR trying to catch up with her. She was wearing rainbow shorts and her long blonde hair was in a perfect french braid. We ran a few miles together near the middle without saying a word to each other, but I was already in love with her before we even spoke.

...

It was mile twenty-two when I saw the first one. It was pink, but others were blue, green, yellow--all with a soft glow about them like they weren’t quite there. I thought they were lightning bugs at first, and then I thought they were the little spots that dance before your eyes when you get lightheaded or pass out, and then I saw one up close: Fairies. Real fairies.

Okay, I’m losing my mind, I thought.

I ignored them. They were figments of my imagination, after all. I ignored them for a mile, until I realized I wasn’t ignoring them at all, I was following them. I looked up and felt a wave of shock as I took in my surroundings: Deep, lush woods, not a trail in sight.

Oh fuck, oh fuck. I’m lost. I’m one of those runners you read about who went crazy in the woods and never came back. They’re going to find me naked with a flower crown on my head, days from now.

“You’re not lost,” came a voice, the sweetest I had ever heard. I looked up, and it was Amelia. My sweet, perfect Amelia.

“Amelia,” I cooed. “I’m not even close to mile fifty. You shouldn’t have met me here.”

She gave a coy laugh. I noticed she wasn’t wearing her running clothes, but a long, deep green gown, and she wasn’t Amelia. She just looked like her. She had gorgeous long, blonde hair, an amazing athletic build, and long pointed ears.

“I couldn’t wait any longer to show you what I found,” she said.

“What you found?” I repeated. I was walking towards her, but every step I took was met with one step backward as she retreated deeper into the thick woods.

“When I ran Pandora last year,” she said. “I found this place. I had to show you.”

I reached out, wanting to kiss her so badly, but she was always just out of reach.

“Shh!” she said suddenly, and stopped walking. I realized all at once how tired my legs were, how badly I wanted to lay down in the moss-covered ground beneath Amelia’s bare feet.

She pointed to a distant spot and I followed her gaze. There, so deep in the woods I could barely see him, stood a man, or at least, the face and torso of a man. His body was that of a sinewy, muscular horse, white with black and grey freckles. His tail swatted lightly side to side.

“Don’t scare him off,” Amelia whispered. “He’s good luck.”

“Am I dreaming?” I asked. “Am I going crazy? I didn’t feel good this morning. I didn’t want to tell you, but I don’t think I’m going to finish the race.”

“I don’t think you are either,” Amelia said with a little laugh. God I loved her laugh.

“Take this,” she said, and from a small satchel I hadn’t noticed, she pulled a can of coke. “I opened it this morning so it would be completely flat by the time you reached me.”

She handed it to me and I drank deeply. It tasted so real, it felt so real in my hands. The metallic, sugary taste shocked my system back to life. I couldn’t be dreaming, could I?

“Do you want to run now?” I said, trying to snap myself back to reality. I felt energized by the coke, and scared of what I was seeing.

Behind Amelia, the woods began to thin, and through it I began to make out the details of a vast city, a beautiful jigsaw of straw huts, stone towers, colorful tents and leaning rotundas.

“When I found this place last year,” Amelia said. “They told me I was their queen.”

Beyond the city, a castle rose from the mist. Vines climbed up towers, and white flowers bloomed from the vines.

“I told them I would only accept if I could bring my wife,” she said, her eyes not leaving mine.

I blushed, though I don’t know if it would have made a difference on my sunburned and dirt-smeared cheeks. My back of my legs were muddy and my knees and palms were scraped from a little spill a couple miles back on a hidden root. That morning I had put my short hair up in two tiny pigtails which had certainly gone lopsided by now. I felt suddenly out of place as Amelia led me out of the woods and we passed vividly green pastures containing animals I had never seen before. I swear I saw one breathing fire.

“You’re asking me to be your wife?” I asked, just wanting her to say it again. I had suspected she might ask me after the race, part of the reason I was so keen on finishing. She had been acting secretive and overly lovey-dovey the past couple weeks. I thought...a ring. Not a kingdom.

She smiled and nodded, and finally took my hand.

“Run with me?” she asked. She took my toothy grin as a yes.

She squeezed my hand and sprinted ahead. I struggled to keep up, my breathing feeling shallow as she got faster and faster. Soon, the fairies appeared again, only it wasn’t fairies this time. This time it really was the little lights you see before you get lightheaded or pass out, and it was the latter.

...

“Baby? Baby?”

The voice came from a distance, but Amelia’s face floated right above me, wavering like my own reflection in a pool of water. I was on the ground.

“Oh my God,” she said. “You’re alive.”

She had tears in her eyes.

“I thought I had lost you,” she said, falling on top of me in a hug that both crushed me and gave me life. I kissed the side of her head where I could reach it.

I smelled like shit. She smelled amazing. The tip of her french braid grazed my cheek as she lifted herself off me and looked down at me.

“So, I don’t want to rush you, but you didn’t answer my question,” she said in a low voice, a touch of hesitation.

In her hand she held a thin, silver ring embellished with a single deep green stone.

I swallowed back tears from a combination of exhaustion and emotion that had coalesced in my throat.

“Say yes, and it’s all yours,” she whispered.

I looked past her at a deep blue sky, bluer than I’d ever seen in my life. I could almost see the stone turrets rising toward the clouds, green flags fluttering from each window, bearing Amelia’s initials, as a creature with scaled wings rode a current across the skyline, smoke billowing from its nose.

But they weren’t there. I was on the ground at the mile thirty medical checkpoint.

I learned later that Amelia and a volunteer had found me asleep against a tree, just barely off the course. I woke up when they called out to me and was talking coherently the entire time we walked to the medical checkpoint, though I have no memory of this. I also have no memory of Amelia crying as a nurse inserted an IV into my arm, telling me how she thought I was dead, pulling her tiny, precious ring out of her backpack, and asking me to be her wife. I have also conveniently forgotten passing out cold the moment I saw the ring.

“I dreamed you were a queen,” I said, as she slid the ring onto my finger, waiting for her clever retort.

I swear I saw something in her eyes, then, a moment of recognition, and she saw me notice. Her eyes flitted toward the nurse and back to me.

I never asked her about that look, what it meant. I know she’ll tell me eventually, I’m hoping around mile fifteen, right when I hit that zen space.

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atombombbibunny · 8 years ago

Text

I Know

Pairing: Daveed X Reader

Summary: Anthony and Jasmine threw a house party, you have no idea as to why.

Word Count: 3016 (edited)

Warnings: Lots of drinking, some angst

A/N: Part two soooooon??? Mayyyybe???? Hopefullyyyyyyy?? Shout out to @musicalmoriarty For pushing me to write lol

You twirled the little red straw in your whiskey glass, the ice knocking gently on the sides.

You were going to do it, you told yourself you were going to do it, and now you couldn’t relax.

The familiar noise of metal and clanging wood filled your ears as the backyard fence opened, to your delight and fear in he walked. Daveed.

The man you’ve watched and adored for the last ten years of your life, the one you promised yourself you would confess your feelings to tonight, the one you’re completely afraid of in this moment.

Your body suddenly ached and you couldn’t decide if you should stay still or walk away from the awkward situation that was only playing in your mind. In turn you decided to glue yourself to the grass you were standing on, and awkwardly lifted your arm to give a half wave.

His eyes fell on you and he smiled brightly, he looked extra charming in his white dress shirt with his sleeves half rolled up tucked neatly in his black dress pants, his hair down and natural, and his thick rimmed glasses on.

He began to make his way towards you, reciprocating the wave, all you wanted to do was run.

You had no idea why Anthony and Jasmine were throwing this party, it was a semi formal dinner party for absolutely reason, it was probably to show off their new house, but you still felt awkward in a floor length burgundy dress standing in the backyard, your heels digging into the soft grass, with whiskey in your hands.

“Y/N. Hey!” Daveed said finally reaching you through the crowded yard, his arms wrapped around you, you stayed still as your arms were pinned down from his excited embrace.

“Hey, Daveed.” Just then his girlfriend appeared at his side. “Hey, Y/N.” You took a sip of your drink with tight lips, allowing the burn to hide your passive aggressiveness. “Hey Lauren.” You said almost too peppy. “Babe, I’m going to get a drink, want anything?” She asked tilting her head up towards him flashing a bright smile, Daveed shook his head and waved his hand. “I’m good, thanks.” Your eye watched her sway away, her long gold dress slid gently on the grass. You couldn’t hate Lauren, she was nice, but she had the one thing you wanted more than anything.

The two of you stood in awkward silence for a moment as you tried to collect and force out the words. Knowing that once you told him you wanted to talk there was no going back, you would have his full attention. You took in a tight breath and opened your mouth.

“Daveed, can we talk?” He raised an eyebrow at you and smirked. “Aren’t we already doing that?” You rolled your eyes. “Haha, so funny.” He smiled proudly but nodded towards you. “What’s up?” You grasped at your arm, rubbing it gently. As you eyed Daveed you noticed he was almost bouncing where he stood. “Daveed-.” Before the rest of the words could roll off your tongue, the words you’ve been practicing in the mirror for days you were interrupted. “Guess what?” You felt a pang of anger coarse through you, its not like he knew what you wanted to say but usually he was all ears.

“What?” You asked a little too bitterly, he bit his bottom lip and you couldn’t help but stare. “Guess why we’re here?” You glanced around at the women in long dresses and men all dressed up, you shrugged. “Anthony and Jasmine got a new house, right?” He shook his head so feverishly that you couldn’t make out his face, his glasses almost slipping off his nose. “Guess again!” You tilted your head to the side, tired of this game already. “Daveed, just tell me.” He was biting the inside of cheek now but broke out into a wide smile. “Okay, I’m not supposed to tell anyone just yet, but you’re my best friend.” You took in a gentle breath but still felt the harshness of the night cooling down.

“Y/N, I’m getting married.” You froze, not a blink, just froze in place. You felt your insides tangle and your heart sink deep in your chest. The pain was almost so unreal that you wanted to grab at your torso, but you fought against it, as well as pushing the tears that ached to escape backwards, instead you gripped your drink tighter, your fingers aching at the ridges of the glass.

Taking another moment to gain composure, you wanted desperately to run so you pushed your heels deeper into the grass.

“That’s amazing Daveed.” You said as strongly as your vocal cords would allow, praying that it would be enough. He wrapped you again in yet another embrace. “I’m so excited.” His hug was tight, and as he let you go you took in a deep shaking breath. “I’m so happy for you.” You lied. “I’m going to get another drink.” Before Daveed could question your reaction to his wonderful news you walked off towards the bar.

Once you reached the bar you ordered another whiskey, this time a double and told the bartender to expect seeing a lot of you tonight, he laughed, you weren’t joking.

You took a long gulp from your fresh glass and examined the party happening in front of you. A lot of familiar faces, and a lot of strangers. No wonder you were confused, these are a bunch of Daveed and Lauren’s friends, you know all of Jasmine and Anthony’s friends, you felt stupid for not seeing the signs that are now so clear.

A sighed burst through and you took another long drink, almost finishing it, you saved some though, not wanting to look like an alcoholic to the bartender, although you bet, he’s seen worse than you. Your head began to swim.

“Y/N. Hey!” You turned to see who was calling you, and there stood Rafael, a smile broke across your face and tilted your drink towards him. “Rafa, hey.” He smiled and examined your almost empty drink. “Need another?” You shrugged eyeing the lack of liquid in the cup. “Need ten more.” You informed completely monotone. Rafael let out a short chuckle. “What’s wrong?” You shrugged once more playing with the skinny straw again, you wondered to yourself why they were there. “Why do they put these tiny straws in these drinks, when someone orders whiskey they aren’t going to drink through a dainty straw like this.” Rafael laughed wholeheartedly this time, he fixed his hair from his laughter and pulled you to his side. “Let’s go get you another.” Nodding you polished off the last few inches of your drink.

Once the third drink was in your hands everyone was called back inside for dinner, and a special announcement. You held back your scoff as you walked towards the door. You lost Rafael in the crowd but proceeded in on your own. Taking an empty seat next to Lin and Vanessa who flashed you a bright smile as you sat, you nodded back at them and took a sip of your drink. They could feel the unwilling to talk vibe coursing off of you.

As everyone settled in the hosts of the evening entered and thanked everyone for coming. “Now I know like, everyone was confused as to why we had you dress up, but this is actually a huge occasion with big news, without saying anything else I’m gunna pass this off to Daveed.” Anthony announced nodding towards Daveed

All eyes turned to Daveed and Lauren who just happened to be sitting all the way at the other end of the table. “Hey!” Daveed said nervousness radiating off him. “We have some big news!”

“Is it that you have big news?” Rafael shouted out, causing a giggle to escape, you glanced over to him and shot him a look, but he just flashed a smile.

“Ey, fuck off Rafa.” He said flipping him off, Lauren giggled but nudged Daveed gently. “Right! Okay!” The room was silent, it made you uncomfortable. “Lauren and I are engaged!” The second the word engaged fell out of his mouth there was an eruption of cheers and applause and gasps, you sat in silence stirring your drink, the ice cubes slowly melting watering it down.

As everyone got up to hug the happy couple you stayed seated, only looking up from your drink to see Daveed’s face, his smile was wide, it was the one that made you want to kiss his cheeks because of the way they puffed out and his eyes were squint yet were still so gorgeous.

Sighing internally, a slight knot sat at the bottom of your throat, you swallowed more of your whiskey to burn it down, the only reason you began drinking whiskey was because of Daveed, his glass was next to his dinner plate, you envied it.

Dinner passed, it wasn’t anything fancy chicken and all, everyone told stories of the two love birds placed at the end of the long dining table.

Wishing desperately for the night to end, you knew even after dinner you would have to stay a bit longer, or questions would definitely be raised as to why one of his best friends left so quickly on such a joyous occasion.

As you played with the few grains of rice that sat on your plate Lin touched your arm. “Are you okay?” you glanced at him realizing you were slumped over, completely immersed in your plate.

You smiled lightly and took hold of your glass again. “I’m fine.” Lin eyed you cautiously, your body language told him otherwise, but he knew not to push it.

Dinner finished and everyone wandered around the new house and the backyard once more. Everyone seemed so focused that no one saw your face slowly fall, the tears you were pushing back were trying for another escape, you quickly made your way to the bathroom, after locking it roughly you leaned over the porcelain sink.

You let out a sob before covering your mouth, a few tears slid down your cheeks, you just stared at yourself, almost disgusted, why were you crying, you knew this was bound to happen.

A muffled sob came out, every breath in felt like knives, as the tears spilled over your fingers.

A quiet knock came from the door. “Y/N?” Jasmines voice echoed out into the large bathroom. You swallowed hard. “Be right out.” you choked out. “Y/N…” Your name came through the door again, this time softer and filled with worry, you felt the guilt fill your veins. This was Daveed’s big night and you were ruining it. “I’m fine, I promise. I’ll be out soon, okay?”

There were no other words between you two, you just heard her heels click away from the door.

You wiped away your tears and tried to salvage what makeup you had left on your face.

As more minutes passed with your attempts to calm yourself down and fan down the red on your cheeks you could feel attention turning to you

At least Rafael is probably looking for you.

You took one last deep painful breath and exited the bathroom; a few eyes fell on you as you fast walked back outside to let the cool air calm you down.

Like magic Rafael was back by your side. “Y/N, where’d you go?” Forcing out yet another smile, they were beginning to hurt. “Just looked around.” You could see he didn’t buy what you were saying. “I got you another drink.” He passed you the glass, you already felt sick and drunk, but you took a sip. “Listen, Y/N you know you can talk to me, right?” You nodded, taking another sip, but just when you were ready to fold Daveed walked up to the two of you. Your heart fell low in your chest once more.

His smile had yet to differ from the moment he arrived. “Hey guys, having fun?” You nodded and Rafael slapped him on the back. “Yeah, congrats again man.” He said laughing at him. “Never thought I’d see the day.” Daveed shoved him whilst laughing. “I told you I was going to do it, you idiot.” Your eyes snapped to Rafael; his eyes flashed with fear as he looked back at you. “Uh, yeah.” He said trying to keep his face bright and happy.

You moved back a step. “Y/N, where you going? I feel like I haven’t seen you all night?” Daveed questioned, watching you take another step backwards, you had never felt sicker than at that moment. “I gotta go home, I have an important call in the morning.” That wasn’t exactly a lie, you had to call your mom to cry.

Daveed’s smile finally disappeared. “Are you okay? You’re a little green.” You took another step away. “Yeah, just a little too much to drink.” Daveed reached for your arm to try and pull you back, but your arm snapped gripping your glass. “I really need to go Daveed.” His eyes desperately tried to search yours to find something. “Y/N” he said cautiously. Another step back. “Really, congratulations Daveed.” Your voice quivering in mid sentence.

You spun around on your heel and headed for the door, your phone almost tumbling out of your clutch as you dialed for a cab, you were too drunk for driving and too embarrassed or too angry to ask anyone for a ride. You could hear Rafael call out your name from the back door, but you had tunnel vision for the front door.

Once you exited the house you stood in the front yard waiting. As you delivered the address to the driver you heard the door open. “Okay, thank you.” As you hung up the call you could feel someone behind you. You put your phone away and continued to ignore who ever was standing there. Deep down you knew who it was, but you didn’t want to admit it, even to yourself.

The two of you sat in silence, you closed your eyes and hoped that when you opened them the cab would be there.

“Y/N.” Daveed’s voice rang out into the quiet night, you kept your stature and continued to stare forward. “I know you can hear me.” You stood still, still saying nothing, you wondered how it could be so quiet with everyone in the backyard. The streets felt eerily silent. “Your cabs not here yet, come back inside.” Still you refused to say a word, nothing.

Footsteps approached you. “You’re scaring me.” A hand touched your shoulder, you wanted to fall, to cry into his chest. But that would be the last thing you could do.

“Come on Kitty.” He said gently. Your heart skipped a beat at the sound of your nickname, the nickname he gave you for your love of naps and hair pets. Then you just suddenly went cold. “Don’t call me that.” you muttered; his hand left your shoulder. “What?” You held your arms tightly in front of you. He finally walked around to face you.

“You don’t get to call me that.” You said sharply. His face was plagued with confusion he once again searched your eyes for something, some kind of answer as to why you were acting this way. “Why?” His voice was low and gentle. “Because Daveed.” You didn’t want to explode on him, but the whiskey was taking over, you tried to clench your mouth shut, but he just asked again. “Y/N. Why?” He looked almost hurt, but more angry, angry that you were creating this drama, angry at why you were doing this for no apparent reason.

You looked off to the side, hoping to see any sign of your cab. “Y/N, answer me.” You let out a light scoff, like he could tell you what to do. “Daveed just leave it.” Now he was irritated, you knew how to push all the wrong buttons, and now you had done exactly that. “Y/N, for the love of god why are you acting like this?”

You began to walk to the other side of the driveway, you didn’t want to embarrass yourself further, you didn’t want to hurt Daveed. But as you moved from him, he grabbed at your arm and pulled you back in front of him. “You can’t just walk away, you’re my best friend!” His voice sounded broken as you ripped your arm from his hand. “Daveed!” You shouted losing it. “Because you’re getting married, okay!?” His shoulders dropped as he stared at you. “What?” He whispered; immediate regret ran down your body like cold water.

“Daveed- I” He stepped back from you. “You…” You watched as he tried to find the right words, but nothing came to him, the headlights from the cab came into view. “Daveed, I’m sorry.” You muttered out, you started to move so the cab could see you. You were just past Daveed’s frozen body when he swiftly took hold of your wrist, you felt your heart pound painfully in your chest, you were tiring of being grabbed. You glanced at him from the side, his eye stared forward, but he wouldn’t let go of you.

The cab was almost at the house. “Daveed.” You begun to protest his grip once again, but then you found his lips on yours. The kiss was rough and passionate, the taste of whiskey on his lips burnt at yours, his hands rested on your cheeks as he pulled you flush against him.

It was everything you wanted and more, but it was wrong, he was angry and confused. You reluctantly placed your hand on his chest and pushed yourself away.

“Goodnight Daveed.” You said hearing the brakes of the cab pull up beside the two of you.

You didn’t dare look back at him, if you had you knew you would have gone back to him.

As you entered the cab you mumbled out your address then promptly hid your face in your hands.

#My writing #Daveed Diggs #daveed x reader #love #fanfiction #lin manuel miranda #anthony ramos #jasmine cephas jones #rafael casal #fanfic #masterlist #angst #drinking #I know part one #i know series

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