#I literally started watching this series to get distracted and relax

[alternatingurrent]

Look me in my eyes Tell me everything's not fine

[christinarowie332]

stupid horny fucks .

chris sturniolo x reader (smut)

warnings: accidental dick pic lmao . smut ovs ? quick fuck . possible angst if u squint . possible series . not proof read

in which : chris accidentally sends his bestfriend a none PG photo …….. resulting in tears of tension being released…. but was it a mistake?

ps : don’t send unsolicited nudes , it’s weird as fuck . this is heavily fiction . don’t be a weirdo .

————

the room was a calm environment, me , nick, matt and chris all sat in dim lighting from the tv , my legs sprawled over nicks lap on the couch as we all relax in our shared space. this was a normal night for us all , a movie in the background, snacks and drinks arrayed out as we all engage in absent minded easy conversations. chris was quieter tonight. i notice as i allways do , subconsciously focussed on him , it’s hard not to be when your surrounded by things that remind you of him , and of course himself . i’ve always felt wierd with chris . it’s not all the time . 70% of the time he’s just an annoying, loud , funny , sweet friend . same with nick and matt . but that 30% , that’s something even chris himself couldn’t get out of me . god he’s attractive. the way his legs are spread , his sweatpants pressing against his dick , the shadow of his bulge basically begging to be touched. his fluffy hair , swept against his features , the loose curls lightly lay on his forehead. his sharp facial features being illuminated by his phone screen as he looks down to it , his pink lips puckered as he concentrates. god everything about him just makes my skin crawl , goosebumps literally growing on the skin of my arms at the thoughts that run through my head. the way his veiny hands would look around my neck. the low tank top he’s wearing , and how his sleek collarbones would feel on my lips . fuck .

i cross my legs on nicks lap , squeezing them together to relieve the growing tension between them . nicks head turns towards me , his confused expression catching my attention. “you good?” he asks , shifting himself on the sofa , his voice making matt and chris glance over at us .

“i’m fine , just getting comfortable” i send him a reassuring smile after speaking , all three of the brothers attention going back to the tv or phones . thank god . i try to distract myself from my thoughts (chris), pulling my phone from beneath my body on the cushioned seat . i open snapchat and start scrolling through my recent snaps , random guys , my friends , team snapchat (wow i have no life) . i start snapping them back , ceilings , selfies . chris . i open his snap and it’s just a normal photo of him , sexy as fuck ,but just a normal face snap , i send him one back and carry on with the rest of them .

after a while , i’m watching a instagram reel and get a chat notification from chris . i look up at him with furrowed eyebrows. “chris i’m literally in the same room as you why are u snapping me ?” i ask , waving my hand around with my phone in its grasp . he doesn’t look at me as he responds, his thumb still lazily scrolling on his phone. i roll my eyes beofre opening the chat . said eyes basically fall out of my head when i open it . i audibly gasp and my head shoots towards chris , making literally everyone look at me .

“sorry.” i replies to their stares , i watch all three of their attentions go back to their original places , before chris’s head snaps towards me , his eyes wide and jaw muscles clenched . the photo he sent me , was probably the last thing i ever thought i would see . his dick . in all it’s glory , veins decorated up the shaft , towards his tip , pre cum dripping down the side . it was fucking huge . i look down at my now vibrating phone in my hand , chris frantically texting me .

chris | I DIDNDTTT MENBA TO SEND THET

: DONT FUCKIJG SAY ANYTHING.

: Y/N

: OLESSE

: THAT WAS NOT MEANT FOR YOU

: bro i’m so sorry

: please just forget u saw that

: nah im actually sorry

it takes me a few seconds to contain myself . before i decide to text him back .

me | chris bro it’s literally fine .

chris | i’m so sorry

: i’m acc so sorry

me | chris .

: i said it’s fine .

chris | are u sure ? i’m so fucking sorry .

me | why are u sorry ???? that’s a nice ass dick .

why the fuck would i say that . chris’s bitmoji stops typing . and just stays still for a while before i see a new message.

chris | my room . five mins .

me | i’m going now . follow me idfc

i immediately get up from my seat , throwing to phone to the sofa and twlling the boys i’m going to bed . i make it to chris’s room in seconds , leaving the door open and waiting for him there . it’s a minute until i watch him speed into the room and slam the door behind him , walking towards me and grabbing my neck to slam his lips onto mine .

the kiss is fast and needy , clothes being torn off as our lips collide and tongues explore each others mouths . he leads me to the bed in just his boxers , and unclips my bra before dropping me onto his mattress . he watches the recoil from the springs in his bed make my tits bounce , a small smirk playing on his lips beofre climbing on top of me and attaching his mouth onto my neck .

he pries out small wimpers as he bites and sucks on my skin , leaving bruises up to my ear and over my chest , my hips thrusting forwards to reach his bulge , aiming for any friction as the tingling between my thighs intensifies .

“are you sure ?” he breathes into my neck , it’s like all i’ve been relying on is pure instinct, his words barley make it into my head and i’m drunk in his touch . “yes fuck , just hurry up and fuck me” i reply, lurching my hands to his face and bringing him up from my chest, reattaching our lips . his fingers make his way to my clothed pussy , his middle finger drawing circles over my swollen clit . his muscles contort as he moves , curved shadows against his pale skin . the veins running up his forearm from his slender fingers .perfectly smooth and sharp at the same time . “so needy……” he says moving his fingers upwards before putting them under my underwear, running his cold finger between my folds . “and so fucking wet” he continues, making his way to my clit with his fingers , making me lift into his touch and moaning at the sensation. he continues his movements placing his knee forward towards my heat , slowly prying my legs open so he has better access , slowly increasing the speed making me a whimpering mess underneath him .

he pulls his fingers away and swiftly takes off his boxers , pumping his dick a couple of times before placing the tip at my entrance and running it through my folds . “are u one hundred perfect sure?” he asks , i nod frantically, readjusting my self underneath him making myself comfortable. “words baby , you know i would love to fuck you sensless but right now i need your words”

“YES CHRIS JUST FUCK ME”. i raise my voice , i see his eyes flicker and an eyebrow raise before he slams into me , a smirk growing on his face as he watches me sink into the bed , all confidence gone as he pounds into me. “JESUS FUCK , fuck” i allmost scream as he thrusts into me, my hands slapping his back , nails digging into his back at the feeling .

his hair flops against his forehead at each thrust , groans and heavy breathing falling from his lips. his hands hold his up as he towers over me , silencing my own cries of pleasure with his mouth on mine still sloppily placing kisses on my lips before moving down my neck. “your doing so well , i’m so close baby i’ve wanted this for so- fuck” he breathes out as he keeps thrusting , each minute pulling energy and sweat from our body’s as we both edge closer to our release . my hands hold his shoulders pulling myself into him to deepen his reach into me , feeling his ruthless abuse of my g spot , not allowing any thoughts to come from my brain . quite literally fucking me senseless .

“FUCK , chris i’m so close , CHRIS don’t stop please” i plead to him , making his speed pick up . “me too mama me too , come baby please” he says as his finger moves towards my clit , the circles matching his thrusts as he eggs my release on . i feel his dick twitch inside of me , at this i feel myself completely release around him , loud moans being silence as his hand rests on my throat as he kisses me through my orgasm . moments later i feel him also topple over the edge fulling out and feeling warm strings of cum coat my stomach and chest .

he flops down next to , his chest heaving and loose curls wet slightly around his neck with sweat .

“what the fuck just happened” i say looking over to him

he just stares at the ceiling .

what the fuck just happened .

————

i’m so drunk rn this is such a mess .

————

taglist :

@mangosrar @soursturniolo @biimpanicking @kvtie444 @kenzieiskoolaid @cabincorematt @urmyslxt @chrisenthusiast @mattsd0ll @iheart2021chris @recklesssturniolo @lovingsturniolo @loveesiren @paper-crab @daddyslilchickenfingers @strniohoeee @ermdontmindthisaccount @sturnphilia @bluesturniolo333 @lea0518 @chrisolivia4l @its-jennarose @kitaysworld @liz-stxr @rac00ns-are-c00l4 @mattslolita

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side note : i love u all sm , like acc . sorry for the delay in the fics but i hate posting shit that’s half assed or rushed , and i like to make sure that my shits realistic to the boys . you know ? hope y’all still love me LMAO !!!

-🍼

[snapscube]

hey penny!! i hope you're doing good :] not sure if you're looking for any feedback right now for midnight snap so if this message is unwarranted then no hard feelings at all <3 maybe it's just me and tbh it's hard for me to tell bc it's probably subjective, but as someone who's particularly sensitive to sound it sometimes feels like your voice gets lost in certain game music in your videos. i've listened both on mobile and on desktop and i think it's worse on desktop, more comfortable on mobile (for some reason). like, i find myself straining to hear you and pretty often i need to pause to take breaks because i get easily overstimulated. it's definitely not sfx that get me, just background music you know??? i especially noticed it in your freddi fish video around the start of the second game, but it's in other videos too like when you played animal crossing. it isn't too bad though tbh, still overall a super cozy series and i'm grateful you're still doing it!! if everything stays the same, i'll still watch it. i'd really love to know what you think and if you can confirm if anyone else has said something like this, i wonder if there's any merit to what i'm saying cause i just wanna help ^^;

i appreciate the feedback! i'll admit i'm still definitely trying to nail down the sound mixing of Midnight Snap. there's a LOT that goes into it between recording environment, VST setups for my live microphone effects, post-processing effects when it makes it to the actual edit timeline, etc. also admittedly this is a genre of content i'm still relatively new to making (never dabbled in asmr or anything) and though it's easy to put out a super long video normally and have people say its good for sleeping as a fun side effect, actually trying to make something FROM THE GROUND UP for relaxation comes with a lot of consideration i'm still not quite specialized in yet haha, especially with how long the breaks have been up to now. none of this is meant to handwave ur issues btw im taking everything into account here, just wanted to explain why its somewhat in flux right now!

my approach for the last few episodes of the show has been to heavily compress the dynamics of the audio, which might contribute to what ur dealing with here. although at the end of the day there's not much i can do to anticipate literally every individual user's listening conditions cause there's gonna be sooo much variance there. i can definitely try to put more focus on maybe separating the heaviest frequences of the voice track vs the game track though. as it stands i tend to cut back on the high frequencies a lot in both cases cause i personally just find higher frequencies a lot more distracting and harsh and to me what ends up sounding soothing is a very smooth and rumbly kind of profile. but of course audio mixing is all about balance so i'll see how i can maybe dial that in a little more distinctly! hopefully as i continue to standardize what editing software i use for the show as well as how it's recorded i can do more to brush out any remaining issues in the sound design :) thanks again!

[thyme-in-a-bubble]

daisy, porn links vol. 3

this one is centred around their summer after high school (chapter 10) and the time after the series (college vibes, we love)

there might be spoilers in this for the series

daisy series masterlist – p links vol. 1 – vol. 2 – vol. 4 – vol. 5

school is over and summer is upon us. sure, Steve is a bit sad that he's gonna have to say goodbye to the uniform, but it's good that he can cheer himself up a bit with flowy summer dresses...

beg and beg and beg on his knees till you occasionally wear them without anything under. give him easy access to tease you to his hearts content. watch as he gets you literally dripping down your thighs and wound up in a way that he might not even be ready for. although welcome the happy surprise none the less. it's his fault, if you can't get enough of him after he has cum, then that's his problem. he'll just have to take it (which he happily does omg, you can overstimulate him as much as you want)

and i mentioned that they go out on all sorts of adventures that summer? this one gives me trip to lovers lake. it starts off by Steve helping you with touching up your sunscreen and turns into this. he'd be whispering in your ear about how you never know who else could get the same urge for a dip in the water, maybe someone is just around the corner? maybe someone is already lurking behind those trees over there...

he'd totally also do that kind of thing where you go through all your memories together, like travel to the places where they happened. one day he takes you out into the woods at the exact spot where he told you that he loved you. it started out with him just being like well we have to reenact the kiss, but then before you knew it this happened.

and that road trip? *screams* CAR SEX!

he will make such a mess all over the seats...(ignore that the car is actually moving in this one lol)

and even at night when he's maybe driving the last bit before getting to one of the motels you were staying at, you're getting sleepy, getting comfy in the seat beside him. he just has his hand glued on your thigh, caressing it dangerously high. and the sleepier you get, the more you slump in the seat, gliding down and causing your dress to ride up... well, let's just say that he keeps you awake till you reach the motel...

but eventually you arrive at college, now with a new roomie at your little student apartment...

one could say that he's amazing company

he is your best friend after all

and now he's always just right there, ready to distract and help you relax, counteract some of that uni stress that is inevitable

one day you come home totally ready to fall back on the instant ramen that keeps so many students alive. but then, just as you enter the small kitchen, there is Steve! apparently, he's sick of watching you live off that stuff just because you don't have time. I have the time, I can learn how to cook! can't be that hard. so it becomes a ritual on days when your classes run long. you come home and sit up on the counter, watching the last few moments as he finishes up dinner

as soon as the food is in the oven and his hands are free, the pants are flying off! I've got you, ace, I've got you, he will whisper while keeping you from slipping off tiny sliver of the counter you're balancing on as he pounds into you

and even though you were done with private school, he still made sure you kept the uniform...

and living together means showering together.

and you two tend to get dirty so easily...

guess that just means a lot of showers!

steve, are you seriously hard again? I literally just blew you in the shower.

the former high school athlete even convinces you to join him at the gym, even if that just means never getting past your warm up because holy shit is your boyfriend hot when he's working out

you don't really wanna go to any college parties, but Steve keeps telling you how it's a crucial experience and that he'll go with you so that you won't get bored or even anxious. sure, you could say that he makes sure you have fun... he drags you into the frat house's bathroom after maybe a few too many shots, makes you stare at your own reflection as he fucks you from behind, telling you to ignore the crowd of guys that eventually gather outside the door once your activities became clear over the loud music. although, you can't help but notice how his own moans and grunts become louder as the audience outside offer drunken comments

one new years, this is his resolution. that's all. he just wants to train your throat throughout the new year so that you'll eventually be able to take him like that.

it's not because he needs you to learn that skill. you truly don't need to do anything but smile at him and he's blowing his load

and he knows he's huge and that you can barely even handle the tip, but fuck if he doesn't wanna try...

he just loves you so crazy much

and living together also means just all of the cosy domestic moments

just lazy little moments like this

an alarm clock? what even is that

from now on Steve is your alarm. he'll never let you get up late for class...

long story short, having your best friend as a roomie was a good idea

probably the best idea ever

[welovelouisandbucky]

Peter Parker Headcanon

Summary:This is how I think Peter Parker would be with artist!reader

A/n: heyya guys!!! I just wanna apologize and thank everyone who showed support to few of my series that I started but did not post anything after first chapter, I started those series when I was feeling very motivated and was full of ideas but in excitement I didn't planned them out properly and it backfired. I wasn't feeling like it anymore but I knew I have to post and I did write chapters for all of them but I wasn't happy with my work so I never posted them, and it's my fault because I shouldn't have posted them online before planning them out properly, but I promise I will complete them but not anytime soon because I just don't feel like writing them any more. for now I just want to write small one shots and headcanons so I would really appreciate if you guys show these ideas support too, thank you!!

S/n: you can imagine any Peter Parker but I personally had Andrew!Peter in mind when writing this so yeah, likes and reblogs are appreciated and as well as positive criticism, pls don't hate on me 😭 thank you!

T/w: just fluff!! One swear word? none I guess other than my writing lol

I think he really enjoys drawing because it's one of the things he finds calming. 

He usually prefers to watch you draw/sketch, because he thinks you look super cute while you're concentrating on a certain detail or drawing the outline of the figure.

When you guys are drawing together, he'd try to draw you, so he can show you how beautiful you truly are. He just loves you so much he can't help it. 

Gets distracted easily, and blames it on you, and when you ask what you did he'll say something like "stop being so goddamn cute!" or like "you're looking too cozy and cute, makes me wanna cuddle the life out of you!" 

He absolutely LOVES painting with you because then he gets to start a paint war with you. In two or less minutes you guys would be covered in 50 shades of grey🤭😉

And let me tell you, the way he drew you is *chef's kiss* so good. The boy literally put his heart out on this drawing.

When he finally shows you the drawing he'd say something like "I'm sorry if it's not good. And please be honest if it's shit, okay?" "Peter, what are you talking about?! This is beautiful! I look so pretty!! You made me so beautiful in this!" " Well that's because YOU are BEAUTIFUL!" 

He'll most definitely take you to picnic dates, somewhere far and beautiful. He'd lay there next to you while you draw in silence. Those kinds of dates are his favorite; super relaxing and peaceful.

Would model for you if you ask him to, but the poor boy can't sit still. He needs to move or else he'll go crazy, but will apologize every time he moves, you're quick to tell him it's fine and that you don't expect him to become a statue.

Would buy you art supplies but will be too scared to give you because he knows you don't like it  when he spends his money on you. So he'll sneakingly leave it at your desk thinking you won't notice, but of course you did. Will get scolding from you afterwards. 

Let's be honest, you love it when he buys you art supplies, it makes you happy to know that he actually cares enough to got you those, but the thing is art supplies are expensive as fuck! He works really hard for what he earns, and you don't want him to waste it on you. You get scolded in return when you tell him this.

"Nonsense! I'm not wasting anything, you should know that, Y/n! You know, it actually hurts me to think you'd even think something like that." "I'm sorry, Peter." "You're forgiven, but only because I need my cuddles and kisses," "and because you love me?" "yeah that too, but mostly my cuddles."

Definitely, will take (swing) you to different places he thought was worthy enough to be drawn. Or when you're not feeling motivated, or when the art block is just too strong; because he understands how tough it can get for you.

He's always there for you no matter what. He truly understands you, and helps you out when you have no motivation or ideas to create anything. Calms you down when you're frustrated because the drawing you finished is not looking the way you wanted it to be. Always tells you how talented you are and how much he's proud of you and everything you create

Always reminds you to take care of yourself and asks you if you have eaten anything yet? Because when you're drawing you always lose track of time and forget to eat. 

Definitely finds it funny when you rant about how drawing hands is an absolute nightmare, but agrees with you nonetheless. 

100% had said "draw me like one of your French girls" at some point with a dramatic gesture. 

Shows you off to everyone he meets like, " have you met my girlfriend? She's so talented like ohmygod, here look at this" proceeds to show the person your artwork while you stand there embarrassed but so in love

Definitely has hung up your drawings in his room

He's your number one supporter, but does points out mistakes if he sees one (we love honest feedbacks)

So in conclusion Peter Parker is absolutely whipped for you

Thank you so much for reading this I hope you enjoyed this!!

[codeopod]

Is This Allowed?

Post C3E89

Laudna and Imogen get another chance to talk once they are on their split-party mission, and Orym is caught in the middle. Yes this is titled from the vine, I wanted to play with Imodna from an outside perspective cause they definetely get lost in their own little world and romanticize things that are probably horrifying to onlookers, gotta love some untrustworthy narration. Enjoy!

Orym watched as the nerves settled in to each of his friends. The weight of the world would be enough to drive anyone over the edge, not to mention the weight of another smaller -but no less significant- planet.

They all carried it differently.

Fearne’s ears gave her away, twitching and following each little sound. Ashton leaned a little heavier onto his hammer when he stood for too long, and his brow was hardly ever relaxed. Chetney’s hands had developed a slight tremor, evidenced by his increased frustration while carving. FCG was hard to read, but his emotion wheel was nearly always verging on “exterminate” rather than “smiley” which was definetely something to keep an eye on. Imogen and Laudna were an odd pair, one crackling with light and the other weaving darkness, it only ever balanced out when they were touching, which they had been doing less and less of.

“So let me get this straight,” Ashton huffed, “we’re splitting up.”

“Yeah, that way we can cover more ground.” Imogen responded tersely. She had chewed off her pinkie and thumb nails and had taken off her gloves to continue, almost mindlessly as she paced the earthen chamber. They had already ruled out the assassination mission, against Orym’s hope that she at least be there for whatever happened. He, Chetney, Imogen, and Laudna were set on the infiltration mission, while the others were decided to join Ira for an explosive distraction.

“It’ll work out Ash, it has to.” He spoke up, squaring his shoulders. “You guys do what you do best, and we’ll do the same. Play to your strengths.”

Something flashed in Ashton’s gaze before he rolled his eyes with a laugh. “Right, the time-bombs vs the high-strungs.”

“I would say poor choice of words but you literally blew up.” Laudna chimed in, spindly fingers ghosting over her neck, Imogen glared at him from behind her.

“Shit, sorry Laudna.”

“It’s alright, it was funny.” She spoke over Imogens “Not funny.”

Orym sat vigil as Imogen curled in on herself, eyes glazed as she watched the violet flickering orb of her magical light dance between them. Their party had split off that morning to infiltrate and gather as much intel as they could before finally reporting back to Exandria. They were almost done, but the pressure had only increased. Especially now that they needed to spend the night in the underground network of tunnels near their target. They were meant to be back by now, and they would lose their telepathic communication soon without Letters nearby. It was all getting messy, but they had determined that it was safer to take it slow. Somewhere nearby, Fearne, FCG, and Ashton were waiting with Ira for their signal.

They are safe. Everything is stable. He reminded himself.

He had been first to offer to watch while the rest started their nights rest, but Imogen lingered as if her light was a fire that needed stoking.

You wanna talk about it? He spoke directly in to her mind to not disturb the others. It took her a minute to respond.

Bout’ how my momma might be dead right now? How if I close my eyes I might see her walk into that storm? How it’ll be the last time I ever see her. How I could’ve probably changed her mind but chose not to?

You couldn’t have changed her mind, not overnight.

Imogen looked at the ceiling, tilting her head back to suppress her tears.… I know it. That’s the worst part. She never would’ve chosen me over them. Not without a lot of talkin’ and time we don’t have.

War is full of ugliness and pain, I’m sorry you have to experience it, but you aren’t alone. You have us, we may be broken but we’re your family too, and we chose you. He gestured to the weathered grey fur of Chetney and to where Laudna lay curled up further away. Us and your spooky lady. We love you.

She smiled a little at that. Thanks Orym.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the soft snores of the old werewolf. Imogen’s eyes were noticeably drawn to the huddled form of her girlfriend just at the edge of the purple glow.

Can I ask how it’s going with you guys?

We’re alright. We talked earlier about everything and we probably still need to talk more but it’ll have to wait.

Yeah, I think a lot of us are holding out for a breather to delve into our stuff.

Some things are easier to postpone, my momma not so much, Delilah too, I just wish she wasn’t there all the gods-damned time.

Is it really constant?

Well, ‘ts what Laudna said anyway, she’s been getting stronger, she even spoke out loud to me and Fearne. Imogen grumbled. Cant stand it…knowing that ragged nasty old bitch is whispering horseshit in her ear and watching all our time together. Makes me not wanna do any…private stuff.

Orym snorted but paused and looked thoughtful for a moment. You know that’s exactly what Delilah wants, right?

Us not doing stuff?

Not just that, she needs Laudna to feel isolated…unlovable…it’s much easier to overpower someone with nothing to live for, she would definitely want to separate you two as much as possible.

Orym thanked every deity he could think of that he was friends with Imogen Temult and not at the receiving end of her power as she shot to her feet.

“That fuckin’ cunt.” She hissed out loud, turning to go to Laudna. Thanks Orym.

Orym chuckled and let his head fall back. “Yep.”

The glowing orb trailed after her, shifting its lavender spotlight onto the couple and leaving him in total darkness.

He couldn’t help but watch as they reunited; Laudna jolting upright to check on her, before furrowing her brow and pulling Imogen into her arms. Orym could only guess what Imogen could have possibly said that had Laudna wrapping around her like a spider keen on its prey. The darkness around them drew closer and the warlocks form blurred, growing in size and shuddering as her bones cracked and grew jagged bark. Her shadows licked and played around the perimeter of Imogen’s light, casting a ghostly lightshow accross the cavern wall near them.

His grip tightened on his sword hilt. He still wasn’t used to her unique display of power, and his gut often told him he was in serious danger even if it wasn’t aimed at him. He had started deferring to Imogen in those moments, to gauge the appropriate response.

The sorcerer slipped into the dark embrace without a seconds hesitation. She held on for a long moment before she drew away just enough to pull Laudna’s distorted face down to her own, hands stained black.

He nearly blushed at the raw intimacy of it all. The urge to reach under your partners skin and make a home amongst their bones was usually, he hoped, a purely poetic notion. They were in a unique position, literally, he couldn’t quite make out what was happening so he figured it wasn’t his business.

After a few minutes he glanced back to see imogen blushing and smiling like a smitten teenager, lips smeared dark, as she swayed into Laudna’s -now relatively normal- form. They were still impossibly close, but their magics had calmed, pastel purples blending into shadowy void. He heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing the lilting crone of Laudna’s laugh echo across the cavern. As they settled into their nest of blankets, Imogen’s residual dancing light faded to a dim glow before disappearing altogether, reducing Oryms perception to just his keen ears.

He really wished it hadn’t. It didn’t take long for the pair to start muttering and whispering again. He did his best not to eavesdrop, but it quickly took a tense turn, and he felt a deeply unsettling energy radiating from their direction. The normal darkness turned into something deeper, a chill skirted up his arms, and their whispers distorted to be unrecognizable and nightmarish. He wondered if Laudna had even noticed all the ways magic flowed from her, or if Imogen had grown so accustomed that she hardly took note. He was on his feet and stepping towards them when a voice broke above the din.

“No you fuckin’ aren’t!”

He nearly groaned. They were supposed to be keeping quiet and covert, not infighting. If this came to blows they would be in for a world of problems.

A light flared to life and shot towards him. He froze, preparing for his worst eventualities to unfold, until it stopped just above his head. It was one of Imogen’s, and it swayed slightly, seemingly attached to him this time.

Thanks , uh, could you guys k-

She interrupted him with a frustrated growl.

“Nope. Not messing with that.” He muttered to himself and sat back where he was before. Luckily, things slowly returned to normal, the room regaining its very faint light from the outside, and the couple quieting down for long enough that he knew they were finally asleep. He walked over and kicked Chetney lightly to switch watches with him.

Imogen wanted nothing more than to fall into a dreamless sleep, but she had a point to make first.

“Laudna?…hun? You awake?” She whispered into her lovers mind as she took a careful step towards the slight lump in their bedroll, shedding her outer layers that smelled like ozone and earth.

Laudna shot upright, concern pinching her features. “Are you alright darling?”

“Are you?”

“Can’t seem to close my eyes.”

“Well that never stopped you before.” Imogen teased.

“Imogen…?” Laudna regarded her with caution as the intensity in her eyes sharpened and locked on to her with a faint blush.

“I love you.”

“I love you t-“ The air burst from her chest as Imogen crashed into her.

“I love all o’ you.” She whispered. “Just as you are right now, okay?”

Laudna could only mumble incoherently, balking under the sudden attention as Imogen closed her eyes, happily tucked against her collarbone.

The cold seeped around them, Laudna’s aura enveloping her just before her arms followed suit. “I love you when you’re all creepy and dark.” Imogen took a deep inhale of petrichor and cedar, her hands sliding along the delicate architecture sprouting along Laudna’s spine as it shifted to accommodate her.

All Laudna could do was squeeze her eyes shut and try desperately to believe the woman in her arms.

“All your gore too.” Warm fingers traced ink across pallid skin. “You’re so beautiful Laudna, inside and out, an’ I would know cause I’ve seen it all.” She pulled her down into a slow kiss, hands smoothing her hair as twigs and leaves fell away to oil softened tresses. “I don’t love you in spite of Delilah, I love who you are in spite of her. You’re kind, and joyful, and crafty, and you love kids and you’re always eager to help cheer people up, even when everythin’ is just awful, and I’m gonna sundre that witch for ever thinking she could dim your spark.”

Laudna’s grip on her tightened with a strength that defied her willowy form. Imogen buried her head back into her now-soft skin and pressed a light kiss to her neck.

“I wanna have a farm with horses and two babies with purple eyes and black hair and a dog and some barn cats, and I want the worst thing that happens in a month to be us runnin’ outta eggs.”

Laudna gasped a breath as her ribs settled back in to place, her shock nearly choking her. “Imogen…” she cradled her face gently, dark eyes wide in awe. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Everything is okay, I promise, I just figured some shit out and I wanted to tell you.”

“I-okay.” Laudna wiped tear tracks from warm freckled cheeks as her own dripped from her jaw. “I want that life too. More than anything. It would be my deepest honor to share that with you.”

“Then it’s decided.” Imogen hiccuped and laughed softly. “Did you still wanna sleep?”

“Will you join me?”

“Can I hold you?”

“Please.” Laudna’s voice was small, but her shy smile remained as she bumped their noses and prestidigitated the tears and ichor away.

“Aw.” Imogen mumbled. “I like when it stains me.”

Laudna laughed bright and carefree, pulling Imogen in for another kiss. “You’re strange, my love.”

“Oh I like the sound of that.” Imogen purred.

My love. Mine.

Laudna giggled, delirious with affection, and pulled Imogen down into their bedroll. Imogen rolled onto her back and tugged Laudna’s head to her shoulder, hooking her own legs over Laudna’s, fingers slipping into her hair to scratch gently at her scalp. Her other hand soothed along the arm around her waist until the usual chill had melted away under her careful attention. Laudna sighed again and sunk deeper onto her.

“Alright?” Imogen whispered.

“The children… our children, if we somehow figure out how to have them, rather than adopt, they might be different than you imagined.” Laudna whispered after a moment.

“What like purple hair and black eyes instead? Maybe we’ll get lucky and get one of each.”

“Or a…teifling.” Laudna added.

Imogen held her a little tighter. “Oh! That would be interesting.”

“You’re not opposed?”

“We could always adopt. But, I would be honored to have your little teifling babies, or hells, maybe they’ll be little patè’s- I don’t care one bit darlin- they’ll be ours.”

Laudna clutched at her chest and squeezed her eyes shut. “Okay!” She managed.

“Shit, was that too much?”

“No!” Laudna hid her face in Imogen’s neck. “This all feels like a wonderful dream that will only end in horrid dissapointment.”

“Why would you say that? We’ve come this far havent we?”

“It’s not real .” She began, “I mean -I’m not real- I’m not alive, anything good that happens is simply a nice sentence in my epilogue.” She spoke in a flippant way, whether it was because she believed it, or because it was too painful to say sincerely, either way it made Imogen’s chest ache. A chill traced her spine, and up the back of her neck.

“Don’t you dare say that. I am not a dream.”

“No. You’re far better than anything I could’ve possibly imagined.”

“Don’t get sweet on me after saying this ain’t real.”

Laudna flinched, “I’m a ghost, darling.” She whispered.

“No you fuckin’ aren’t!”

Orym cleared his throat from somewhere in the shadows. Imogen threw a glowing orb his way and turned back to Laudna. “You listen to me. Your heart beats. You have dreams and hobbies and passions. You have a whole-ass girlfriend sitting in front of you, kissin’ on you and talking about making a family. You. Are. Alive.”

“That life wasn’t meant to be mine.”

“Says who? You think you’re just meant to be a hollow shell for a necromancer to puppet? That’s why you were born? You think you haven’t suffered enough to earn a little good?” Imogen huffed and set her glare in the taller woman who was currently curled in on herself. “You think Letters isn’t worthy of love? A family? A future? Just cause his life came about a little differently? Cause he’s two old to feel as young as he does? Cause sometimes he gets the urge to do bad things cause a’ how he was made?”

“Of course not!”

“Well you’re no different.”

Laudna’s eyes darted around, welling up with cloudy tears. “Well, I never thought about it like that.”

Imogen shifted to hold her face, “You deserve this hun, all the good and the weird and the beautiful, you’re just as alive as any of us and shit, you’ll probably even outlive some of us.”

“I should hope not.”

“At least Chetney.”

“…I can live with that.”

They watched eachother in the near darkness, taking a moment to breath as the tension finally faded and the roar behind Imogen’s ears dimmed.

“I’m not letting you go.” Imogen reaffirmed.

Laudna smiled sadly but kissed her forehead. “I hope not, nor I, you.”

“Good.” The last of Imogen’s anger left her in a few hot tears that pressed into cold skin as they hugged and swayed for a long moment.

“Shall we try sleeping again?” Laudna murmured.

Imogen waited until she was almost sure Laudna was asleep before whispering softly. “I’m afraid I’ll see my momma walk into the storm.”

Laudna made a pained noise and cradled her closer. “I’m so sorry dear.”

“It’s alright, really, she’s easier to let go of now that I know more.”

“It’s very much not alright. It’s entirely fucked and horrible. But I’ll be right here the entire time you’re asleep, you won’t be alone for a second, I swear it.”

“Alright.”

[drunkewok]

Tiger Inside

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Stray Kids Mafia (ongoing)

Masterlist

Likes, reblogs and feedback always greatly appreciated

WC: 5.4k

Pairing: Lee Know x reader

Genre: Series, Enemies to lovers, non-idol AU, Mafia AU

Warnings: 18+, Minors DNI, drinking, swearing, violence, weapons

Disclaimer: Any portrayal of Stray Kids or any other idols in this story is purely fiction and do not at all reflect their own personalities or how I view them as a person, it is purely for the sake of the story.

Please do not copy or repost my work

Two days.

Two days was all we had for preparations.

After my conversation with Chan yesterday, it was agreed upon that time was of the essence, especially with Jiho breathing down our necks. The time and place had been confirmed after a secondary call with Big Bang, the plan was set in motion, all we had to do was execute.

Seongho was quick in befriending each of the members last night. And if I didn’t know any better, I’d start to think they might actually like him better than me. 

When the sun had risen, Seongho wasted no time bounding over to my room from his guest bed, laying across me and groaning until I finally had stirred awake. 

"Get offffff" I choked out into my pillow, squirming under his body weight. With a chuckle he splayed his arms out to his side like a starfish, dispersing his weight farther across my body.

"Maybe if you weren't lazy we wouldn't be having this problem."

"So help me god if you don't get off right now you're going to suffocate me, have fun explaining that to Chan." My legs flailed beneath him, feet kicking backward in an attempt to kick him.

Seongho finally rolled off of me, settling into the space beside me in bed with a groan. I hoisted myself onto my elbows, finally allowing myself to breathe.

"You're way too energetic this early in the morning." My head dropped forward, hair draping across my face as I closed my eyes, wishing I could let sleep take over once more.

"And you sleep in too much, come to the gym with me."

"I can't, Seungmin still hasn't cleared me for physical activity." I fell forward back into my pillow, my body melting into the warm sheets as I pulled the blanket up over my head. "Just go down there yourself, let me sleep."

"Com'on, it's no fun down there by myself, at least come tell me if I'm doing stuff right." 

"Oh jesus christ. Fine." 

I originally had a full day of relaxation planned, letting myself to do little to nothing until nightfall when Seongho, Felix and I would head to Blossom after closing. But alas, relaxation was far from Seongho’s mind, the gusto almost literally dripping off of him.

He felt like a kid on Christmas, far too eager to experience everything all at once. I had assured him that if he wanted me involved in any of his early morning shenanigans he would have to patiently wait for me to consume my morning coffee, preferably in silence after my rude awakening.

By the grace of the heavens, Changbin and Jeongin had made their way into the kitchen while Seongho mindlessly swung side to side in his stool, watching as I leaned back against the counter with my warm mug in hand. The two were clearly about to head down to the gym, filling their water bottles with shared jokes.

"What amazing timing you two have" Changbin and Jeongin both directed their attention to me, causing Jeongin to slightly spill some water in the process of his distraction. "Seongho needs a training buddy and I can't assist with that quite yet, care to take him under your wing?" 

Changbin's smile grew as he stepped over and gave Seongho a soft punch to the arm, before nodding back to the stairwell. 

"Yes! Come join Dwaekki gym!"

My brows furrowed in confusion as I looked at Jeongin, mouthing a silent question to him with the single word dwaekki?

He shrugged, clearly just accepting cluelessness to Changbin's naming scheme, not quite sure of an answer for me.

Before I knew it, the three were shuffling from the room, their laughter carrying down the hall as they slipped from my sight. 

I let out a slow sigh in the new peace and quiet that was surrounding me, turning to gaze out the window and observing the crisp snow blanketing the ground. 

"Winter sure snuck up on us fast, didn't it?" I turned my head to see Chan sneaking up behind me and refilling his freshly emptied mug of coffee.

"It sure did." Outside produced the familiar, comforting silence of fresh snow, the sun sparkling off each flake as they fell. 

"Where's Seongho?" Chan settled into a stool on the opposite side of the island, leaning forward onto his arms with his mug settled snugly between his hands.

"I sent him off with Changbin and Jeongin to get out some of his energy in the gym.." I let out a chuckle as I turned to face Chan, leaning back onto the counter as I brought my mug to my lips.

"He’s sure had no problem fitting in. How was it being back at your own place for a bit?"

I hummed in response, smiling down into the dark liquid in my hand with a nod.

"It felt nice, almost like a little vacation."

“Well, good. I hope that it did you both some good”

“I think so. At least for me, I can’t speak for Mr. Lee Minho.”

"You two didn’t have too much fun did you?" 

In an instant I can feel all the blood rush to my face, a heat quickly forming in my cheeks as I stumbled across my words.

"I-what? Who…no, of course not! Just a normal, reasonable amount of adult fun. Wait, no, just normal fun…of the non-adult variety.”

His brow slowly rose, lips parting as he let out a breathy chuckle with a smirk.

“Well you clearly don’t do well under pressure, remind me to keep you away from interrogation situations.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

"Of course you don't.” He rose from his seat, lightly tapping the counter before turning to leave. “I'm just glad to hear there's finally progress between you two." 

"The hell is that supposed to mean!? Chan!" I hustled to the hallway after him, watching as he hopped up each step of the staircase. "Yah! What does that mean!?" 

His giggles faded as he rounded the corner, giddy like a child. I blinked as his words replayed in my mind, stunned as I processed them.

I quickly dropped my mug into the sink, deciding that it was time to distract myself from what occurred within the walls of my apartment. 

Skipping down the stairs, I turned towards the gym door, slowly pushing it open to the noisy commotion.

"Oh com'on! I know you're not letting yourself get your ass handed to you by the newbie right now!" Jeongin heckled out from the bench, watching in amusement as Changbin and Seongho had a sparring match in the middle of the room. 

He gave me a wide grin as I plopped down next to him, back resting against the cold mirror behind me. 

"You shit talking from the sidelines right now?"

"Oh yeah, egging them on is my favorite past-time." His eyes glanced back to the two, letting out a humored scoff. "You seriously couldn't block that?" 

I'll admit I was quite surprised seeing Seongho in this environment. Throughout my time of knowing him, I never took him to have the skills of a trained fighter, yet here he was proving me wrong as he held his own against the Seo Changbin.

"Where have you been hiding this from me Seongho?" I crossed my arms with my head cocked to the side, observing each of his movements.

"Guess you weren't the only one holding secrets." Seongho quickly ducked away from one of Changbin's blows with a panting grin, clearly leaving Changbin disgruntled. 

"Sure took me by surprise." Changbin hopped back with a dodge, steadying himself back on his feet.

"TAKE HIM OUUUUUT!" Jeongin cheered with a fist pounding the air, laughing at his own instigation. 

I nudged him in the side with a grin, laughing off the maknae's enthusiasm.

"What? I wanna take the winner, and I want that to be Seongho." 

Sure enough Jeongin did get his turn up against the mighty Seongho, and I quickly realized I hadn't truly got to witness Jeongin in action yet either.

He was a bit quicker than Changbin, who was now a sweaty mess sitting beside me and downing his water. Jeongin's smaller stature gave him the ability to dodge Seongho's bulky  frame faster, giving him the advantage over Seongho's more balanced opponent of Changbin. 

Changbin on the other hand chose a different approach to Jeongin's heckling, instead giving pointers to each of their moves, using the sparring session as an opportunity for growth. 

It was reassuring to watch Seongho blend into the group like he had been here through it all, SKZ had welcomed him with warm open arms and immediately treated him as one of their own. In just under two weeks he’d established himself in their ranks and they’d given him his own room. Everything seemed to be working out perfectly.

I watched with a smile as the two danced around each other, Changbin's instructions becoming muffled background noise beside me. As I admired the scene before me my muscles began to itch, aching to join the action. 

Before I knew it I was starting to approach the mat, tapping Jeongin on the shoulder to signal a swap out. He hesitated as he stepped back, giving me a worried glance. 

"Are you sure you should be doing that?"

"It's fine, Seungmin will probably be clearing me for light work any day now. Seongho just has to go easy on me." I held my fists up before me, looking at Seongho with my brow raised. 

"I'm not sure if this is smart…" Seongho dropped his fists as he looked at me with concern, Changbin behind me finally speaking up.

"If I feel like you're going too hard and I tell you to stop, you need to listen, okay?" 

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say boss." I groaned over my shoulder, before turning back to Seongho. "Now come at me." I landed a soft punch to his stomach, giving him a laugh as he shook his head with a grin. 

"Oh now you're gonna get it." We moved much slower than he did with his previous opponents, letting my favor my good arm and only occasionally trying to land a hit with my injured side. 

I tried to stay mindful of being careful, but there was something about being active again that gave me new life, letting myself get a bit too carried away with my hits. The occasional sharp pain in my shoulder was ignored, letting myself just focus on where I was at the moment.

"YAH!" In my distraction I failed to notice the door to the gym opening, a disgruntled Minho quickly stepping between the two of us and staring me down. "What do you think you're doing?" 

I threw my head back with a groan, making sure to look away from Minho as I lowered my chin. 

"I'm being careful, Binnie's even watching over us to make sure I don't overdo it!" I motioned back to Changbin on the bench with my hand, turning back to Minho with a glare.

"The hell you are, I could quite literally see you wincing. Seungmin. Now." He pointed to the door, voice stern as he nudged me forward with his other hand.

"Oh com'on! I'm not gonna get better if I just sit here doing nothing!" 

"That's exactly how you're going to get better, now go see Seungmin." With a huff I left the room, Minho close on my tail. He stopped in the doorway, looking back at the three men left behind. "Please resume where you were-" He quickly pointed a finger at Changbin "-and no more encouraging her." 

I stopped in my tracks, turning around right as Minho shut the door behind him and came face to face with me. 

"If we've got Big Bang coming in, how do you expect me to be ready when shit hits the fan?" 

"By actually taking care of yourself, now can you please stop being so stubborn?" 

"I'm not being stubborn, I'm being realistic. I can't sit back and let this injury prevent me from helping."

"I think both Chan and Seungmin would beg to differ." He placed his hand on my back, gently leading me towards the staircase. 

As we neared the medical room my steps grew smaller, our walk in silence breaking as Minho stopped in front of me and turned with a brow raised in question. 

"What if I just promise not to do it again? I'll admit you're right."

"Oh no, you're not getting yourself out of this." His fingers gently wrapped around my bicep, pulling me forward as he left two knocks on the door before swinging it open and pulling me inside.

"You know, the knocks don't do much if you just let yourself in." Seungmin slowly turned in his chair, glasses perched on the tip of his nose and book in hand. His eyes stopped on the two of us, before glancing to me and back to Minho. 

With a reluctant sigh, he closed his book and set it on the desk behind him, turning back to us and interlocking his fingers in his lap as he leaned back.

"Now what brings the two of you in?" 

"Why don't you explain why we're here?" Minho side eyed me with a blank expression, waiting for me to finally speak up. 

I bit my lip as I avoided each of their stares, a metaphorical spotlight shining and blinding me as both of their eyes drilled holes into my skin. 

"I take it she was doing something she wasn't supposed to?" Seungmin looked toward Minho with a quizzical stare, the direction of his question being taken off me.

"What gave it away?" Minho’s head tilted to the side with a sigh. 

"I was being careful!" 

“Hush dear, we’ll deal with you in a moment” Minho’s hand flicked toward me, head turning to me with a brow raised in a silent challenge.

My eyes fell on Seungmin, slumped in his chair as his face dropped into disappointment, glancing from Minho to me. With an exasperated groan he placed his hands on the arm rests, pushing himself to stand and sulking over to the bed in the middle of the room.

“Sit.” His hand flicked toward the bed in instruction, before he turned and began to fiddle with the light to the side. My shoulders drooped as I groaned towards the ceiling, before being startled by Minho’s hand finding placement on my lower back, ushering me forward into the room.

“I really think you guys are making this a bigger deal than it is.” I shimmied up onto the bed in front of Seungmin, my legs dangling over the side and hands gripping the edge.

Seungmin chose to blissfully ignore my comment, instead clicking on the light with it angled a bit too precisely to leave me squinting and flinching away from the bright light in my eyes.

“Have you been doing your exercises?” He glanced up through his lashes, face heavy with irritation. Clearly he was going to waste no time starting the interrogation, light blinding me as though I was a criminal on trial.

I reached up and tried to angle the light away from my eyes, but Seungmin’s reaction was quicker, hand gripping my wrist and setting it back at my side.

“By the lack of response, I’m taking that as a no?” His brow raised, clearly unhappy with my choice to stay silent.

“I’m starting to think she just enjoys the pain.” Minho crossed to a chair on the side of the room, pulling the pillow from it before plopping down with it in his lap and feet crossed on the ottoman in front of him.

“Oh and the secret comes out. Geez what did you two get up to while you were gone?” Seungmin said with a chuckle, eyes carefully zeroed in on my shoulder.

“Literally nothing, he’s just being Minho and making stupid comments.” My gaze sharpened in Minho’s direction with a glare, bringing a snicker out of him. “Now can you just tell me I’m fine and let me go on my way?” Seungmin’s eyes pointed up to me as he gazed through his lashes, emotion flat as he slowly blinked.

“I’m sorry, but who’s the doctor here?” He tapped my elbow, demonstrating with his own arm the movements he wanted to see me replicate. I kept my face steady to not show any signs of discomfort as I rotated the joint, pleased to at least show my full range of motion having returned.

“Neither of you. Your license was revoked.” Minho snickered as Seungmin’s head snapped in his direction, earning a glare as he attempted to brush off the comment before turning back to me.

“You’re lucky.” Seungmin stepped back, letting himself fall back into his seat. “You seem to have your movements back, but you still need to be keeping it easy.”

“Oh com’on, I’m sick of babying this.”

“You can do light work. No weights. No sparring. You’re still in your physical therapy stage. And you’ll never get out of it if you don’t take it seriously.”

“Wow no sparring, what a concept.” Minho piped up from the side, his condescending tone dripping from the words as they left his mouth. 

My eyes stayed focused on Seungmin, hoping that if I ignored Minho he might have the ability to vanish into thin air.

“I was taking it easy, Minho’s making this out to be a lot bigger than it is.” 

“I’m about ready to tie that arm down so you can’t use it.” He heckled again, trying to interject over me.

“Better yet just tie her to a chair, that’ll keep her on track.” Seungmin’s head tilted toward Minho with a grin. 

“Seungmin! Don’t encourage him!”

“Don’t be doing stuff I’ve explicitly told you not to do.” He shrugged before spinning his chair around, settling back comfortably and pulling his book back to him. “Now let me be, I was busy.”

“Oh please, all you were doing was reading.”

“Yes. Reading, alone, without a troublesome little masochist and her tattle-tale of a babysitter ruining my immersion. So if you would kindly, get out.” Seungmin shooed us with his hand, trying to ignore us as we shuffled out of the room in silence.

For the rest of the day, I tried my hardest to distract myself from the ticking clock. It felt like night couldn’t come fast enough, and no amount of movies or egging Felix on in his video games could make the time pass faster.

As the sun finally started to set, Felix stored his equipment away into his backpack, triple ensuring every piece needed was there. As we finally made our way downstairs, Seongho was already waiting in the foyer, informing us that Hyunjin was already outside warming up the car.

I skipped down the front steps of the home, nearing closer to the dark car with the engine humming, leaving Seongho and Felix to catch up behind me.

“Shotgun!” with a giggle I flung open the passenger door, sliding in beside Hyunjin with a grin. He returned my smile before his head leaned back, watching behind us as Seongho and Felix slipped into the back seat and fastened their seatbelts. As Hyunjin put the car in reverse, I watched as Chan stood in the front doorway, sending a small wave our way before turning back into the house and shutting the door behind him.

Chan had expressed a bit of worry about just Seongho, Felix and I making the trek to Blossom, instead asking if Hyunjin could join us for an extra line of security. Putting the original four back together in familiar territory.

The drive there was a noisy one, Seongho and Felix’s cackling laughter from the back seat echoing through the car at another joke, one that didn’t quite seem to make it to the punchline before they were breaking out into laughter again as if they could read each other’s minds.

Thankfully the noise levels provided a distraction, making the ride go by in what felt like a blink of an eye before Hyunjin was putting the car into park. Felix slung his backpack of equipment over his shoulder as we made our way down the dark alley.

“Hey, here’s your stop.” I nudged Hyunjin and pointed to a dark, smaller alley that branched off the main one, the same spot he hid in waiting the night Felix spoke to me outside. With a small smile and roll of the eyes he tried to ignore me, continuing forward to the door.

“Felix made me, he said I was too abrasive to get you to come with us.”

“Well, I can’t particularly say he was wrong.” I stepped to the side with a chuckle as I watched Seongho unlock the front door, before holding it open and letting each of us file in.

“You were scaring her, I told you leaving the note wasn’t the right decision.” Felix stepped in after Hyunjin, with me following closely behind.

“Yeah what the hell was that!? It was so ominous!” I hopped up onto one of the stools as Felix flung the backpack up onto the counter beside me.

“I just figured it was the easiest way to get the message to you.”

“Wait, what did they do?” Seongho slowly broke his gaze from Felix, staring back at me with confusion.

“Okay, do you remember the last night I was there, and Felix was by himself?”

“I think so?”

“Well the night prior to that, they slipped a note under my apartment door that literally just said we need to have a talk with my birth name on it. And when I finally came back to work for my next shift, this little shit-” my finger wiggled in Hyunjin’s direction as he let out a defensive Hey! “-was hiding outside in the alleyway the whole time.” I reached across the counter of the bar, grabbing one of the clean glasses and pointed to a bottle on the shelf as Seongho circled behind the bar.

I watched as he poured the liquid for me, before I graciously took the glass and took my first sip as the realization hit me.

“Wait a second, you guys totally followed me home the night you left the note, didn’t you?”

“Oh yeah.” Hyunjin laughed as he nodded, almost surprised it took me this long to notice.

“I fucking knew I was getting trailed!” I smacked my fist onto the counter with a huff of frustration. “I seriously couldn’t spot you guys anywhere, but the pit of my stomach wouldn’t let me rest until I made it home.”

“I told you it was a bad idea!” Felix punched Hyunjin’s arm, before turning back to Seongho. “Before we get too off track, wanna show me where the office is so I can get into these cameras?”

With a nod, Seongho gestured toward the back hallway, walking Felix back towards the employee rooms.

“Would you like your usual?” I started to stand, circling around the bar and offering Hyunjin’s regular.

“I actually kind of hate whiskey to be honest, so does Felix. He always made me finish his for him.” Hyunjin leaned back in his stool, crossing his legs and settling his hands in his lap.

“Then why the hell did you guys order them every time?” I rested my hands on the bar top, eyes squinting in confusion.

“Well I would have killed for a Carménère, but I highly doubted you guys had that in stock. I guess I just panicked and it was the first thing that came out of my mouth.” ~~ “It always sounded cool when Changbin ordered them.” 

“Ah, of course you’re a wine snob.” I bent down to peek into the wine fridge, taking stock of the options now unfamiliar to me. “Closest I have is a Bordeaux, will that appease you Mr.Sommelier?”

“I would love that, thank you.” With a quiet laugh Hyunjin gladly took the glass from my hand, taking a soft sip with a smile.

"So have you always had expensive tastes or is that a consequence of the job?" I brought my glass back up to my lips, letting the alcohol burn on its way down.

“Oh I was born with taste, Hon. The job just made me enjoy the finer things every chance I get.” He swirled the liquid in the glass for a moment before holding it up with a smile. Hyunjin reclined back in his seat once more as Seongho came out to the main room, resting on his forearms against the end of the bar.

“So, if neither of you like whiskey, what does Felix like then? Seongho could whip something up for him.” I gestured over to Seongho with my thumb, who leans up from the bar to his full height, with a look of indignation.  

“Oh so you’re volunteering me then? Why don’t you make something for him?”

“Because I’m rubbish. And who wouldn’t want the world’s greatest bartender to mix their perfect drink?”

Seongho sighs and take his place behind bar, grabbing a tumbler from the dish rack

“So what’ll it be then?” he asked

“Something sweet, maybe fruity? He seems to like things like that.”.”

I reached out and slightly smacked the back of Hyunjin’s hand, watching as he quickly pulled it back and held it to his chest in surprise.

“How dare you make that poor boy drink whiskey when he’s a fruity drinker!”

“Oh that’s dirty.” Seongho laughed as he studied the bottles on the wall, trying to decide on what to make for Felix. The finalized drink was poured into a tall glass, a blended ombré of orange to yellow stretching up the glass as he topped it with an orange wedge, patiently waiting for Felix to complete his mission.

Before long, Felix had returned to the group. The act of connecting his system to the CCTV seemed like child’s play at this point for him, being able to clearly have a layout of the building stored away for Chan’s viewing.

I had gladly snuck to the side, bringing the sound system to life and letting the four of us have a night with the lounge to ourselves before making the trek back to the house.

A thought that hadn’t seemed to cross our minds was the actual act of returning to the house. Seongho, Felix and I were now pleasantly inebriated and shushing each other as we made our way up the steps. Felix and I had our arms slung over each other’s shoulders, trying to silence our giggling before slowly creaking the door open and sliding in.

With a roll of the eyes, Hyunjin pushed past the three of us and sat on a bench in the foyer, untying his shoes. I tried to steady Seongho as he swayed with his attempt to remove his own shoes, opting for no support from actually sitting.

Felix and I struggled to shush each other through our muffled giggling, him falling into me slightly before going rigid at a sight behind me.

I slowly turned to see Minho exiting from a room down the hall, head slowly rising to see us with a brow arched.

“Youuu should be asleep sir.” I said with a wiggling finger, his eyes growing wide as he stood slightly taken aback.

“I was asleep, until someone woke me up by fumbling in the door giggling late at night.”

“Why are you always insisting that I’m fumbling everywhere?” I groaned, head falling back in annoyance.

Minho slowly crossed over to me, face studying my own closely as a small grin grew on his cheeks.

“God, you’re plastered, aren’t you?” He chuckled, before turning to Hyunjin. “I thought Chan was sending you to keep these three in line, not let them drink themselves silly.”

“Listen, they did what they were sent to do. I wasn’t gonna stop them from having some fun afterwards.” He shrugged as he stood from his seat, waving off Minho and us as he started up the stairs. “They’re your problem now, have fun with that.”

Hyunjin’s chuckle echoed down the stairs as he turned down the hall towards his room, Minho slowly turning back to me with an amused smirk.

“I’m starting to think you may be a bad influence.” Minho’s hand rested on Seongho’s shoulder with a squeeze as he let out a lighthearted laugh.

“Bitch, she’s always been a handful.” Seongho slurred his words as his head lolled towards Minho, a considerable emphasis on the term of endearment. 

“WELL, don’t mind me while I FUMBLE my way upstairs now. GOODNIGHT!” I pushed past him with an arm in the air in declaration. Seongho and Felix followed suit, leaving Minho as he walked off toward the kitchen.

I face planted into my mattress at the sight of the soft blankets, the plush fabric enveloping me as I tried to steady my spinning head. I smiled as I pulled a pillow close to me, hugging it as my eyes started to grow heavy.

As sleep started to quickly take hold of me, a knock on the door quickly pulled me away from dreamland.

“Whaaat, was I fumbling too hard?” I grumbled into the fabric, turning back just enough to see Minho poking his head into the room.

“Here.” He set a glass of water down on the nightstand, a couple of pills sitting next to it. He watched for a moment as I let myself melt back into the sheets, before he let out a humored scoff and crossed to my dresser. He tossed a t-shirt and shorts onto the bed beside me, switching off the main light in lieu of the softer one on my nightstand. “Drink the water, I’m not taking care of you when you’re hungover.”

“I’m not taking care of you when you’re hungover.” I mocked back, my head lifting just enough to spew out the words before collapsing back into the pillow with a thud.

“Goodnight y/n.” He said with one final chuckle before the door latched behind him, leaving me in a peaceful silence once more.

I propped myself up with a groan, studying the clothes Minho had thrown out for me. With another puff of effort I willed myself to undress and struggled my way into them. Once I had, I threw myself back on the bed and buried myself underneath my waiting comforter. 

Turning to my side, the glass of water stared me down from the nightstand. A looming demand that my foggy brain took as a challenge. With a huff I flipped over to the other side, the deepest of desires to have the glass of liquid far from my line of sight. 

I tried to nestle my face into the sheets, trying to quiet the barrage of thoughts that hit me all at once.

In such a short amount of time, I would be face to face with G-Dragon and the guys again. Thus the start of our support team for what was to come with Ateez, and as much as I hated to admit it, Tiger JK. 

It truly felt like it was just yesterday I was arriving at the house for the first time, sitting around the table as each of the boys happily introduced themselves. I had the ability to sit in blissful ignorance of what was truly to come, and what secrets were going to unearth themselves.

I pulled the comforter over my eyes, blocking out any of the moonlight that poured into my room in pursuit of the welcoming embrace of sleep. This was all very real. Too real. And my head spun as I finally tried to make sense of everything that had occurred in such a short span of time.

I wasn’t quite sure when I had truly dozed off into slumber. All I knew was that as my eyes opened, I was aggressively squinting towards the morning light, hand shielding my face before burying myself under the covers.

If the pounding headache was here to tell me anything, it was definitely that I should have drank the damn water.

Taglist:

Next Chapter

@leagreenly @moonlight-the-writer @jamlessstars @venusmoonxnight @ishz @minbinboo

[ikeromantic]

Entwined, Ch 10

Part 10 of a multipart series. Mai has been reborn in the modern age after a full life in the Sengoku. The warlords as spirit animals find her again after 500 years of searching for her soul. Approx. 3500 words.

Part 1

Previous: Part 9

Mai sat on the park bench, people watching. Her mind was crowded with all of the things she might say when Hideyoshi arrived. Tossing one phrase after another. Too generic. Too cruel. Too ambivalent. Was there any good way to -

CLANG

The sound shook her out of her thoughts and back into the moment. She could see a light pole, and a man on the ground beside it. Mai went to check on him. It sounded like he crashed pretty hard. 

“Are you ok?” She got a good look at him as he lay there. Despite the stunned expression, he was very attractive. Young-ish but with gray hair and astonishingly violet eyes. He had a book clutched in one hand. 

“Oh! Hey! It’s you!” He smiled up at her, his face almost angelic with the change in expression.

Mai was pretty sure she’d never met him, but she nodded. “Yep. It’s me!” She held out a hand to him. “Let me help you up.” There wasn’t any blood, but she thought he’d have a pretty good bruise on his cheek. 

“Thank you.” He took her hand, but didn’t really use it as he stood. She tried to let go once he was standing, but he kept hold of it, still smiling brightly at her as if they were the best of friends. Or lovers. “It’s great to see you again. I wanted to go visit you but Mitsu-”

“There you are!” A shorter, blonde guy walked up and grabbed his arm. “Come on, fool. Stop bothering that idiot.” He glared at them both. “Did she catch you walking into a pole again? What have I told you about reading while you walk?”

Violet-eyes let go of Mai finally, and she took a step back. These guys were weirdos. Cute but bizarre. 

“I did, but Ieyasu! Look who I found!”

The blond turned his glare full-on to Mai. “Yes. Some girl. Great. Come on, Mitsunari. I don’t have time for this. We have lectures to get to.”

Ah, they were either students or professors. Mai relaxed a little. “Hey, it was nice meeting you. You should um, put some ice on your face, ok? I’ll just . . . go . . . sit . . .”

“Thanks for checking on this idiot.” Ieyasu held out a hand to stop her. “It’s - it’s nice to meet you. I’m Ieyasu, and this guy is Mitsunari.”

“I’m Mai.” 

Mitsunari smiled brightly. “Let’s have lunch together, Mai.”

Ieyasu let out an exasperated sigh. “She literally just met us. She isn’t going to just go somewhere with strangers.”

Mai let out an awkward laugh. They bickered like an old, married couple, she thought.

“But Ieyasu, we’ve known-” Mitsunari started to speak again, but his friend turned suddenly, knocking the book from Mitsunari’s hand. He immediately went after it with a murmured ‘oh no’.

“Actually, I have some time before I meet up with a friend. I’d be ok getting coffee or something, if you like. There’s a stall just a little ways from here.” Mai wasn’t sure why she felt so comfortable around these two. They just seemed nice. 

The blond looked as if he might say no. His lips were turned in a firm frown, a little wrinkle between his brows. “Alright. Let’s get it over with then.”

She wasn’t sure how to take that response, but had no time to change her mind. Mitsunari had already recovered his book, and now linked arms with her. 

“Ummm . . . alright. But you know you don’t have to? I thought-”

“Come on.” Ieyasu set off toward the coffee stall with a determined gait.

Mai followed after with Mitsunari, uncertain how she felt about this turn of events. But at least it was a nice distraction from her thoughts. “So, you two are students? Or -” 

“I’m a guest professor,” Mitsunari smiled at her. “I teach project management. Sometimes I do consulting work too.” He shrugged as if this was no big deal. “Ieyasu teaches and runs a compounding pharmacy.”

“I could have said so myself,” Ieyasu shot back over his shoulder.

She held back a smile. “What do you teach, then?”

“Organic chemistry. Biochem.” He frowned. “Why do you care?”

“I was just curious. Sorry.” Mai wasn’t sure how to react to him. He seemed at turns to really dislike her, and at other times, friendly. 

Ieyasu sniffed. “You shouldn’t apologize so much. It’s fine to ask questions.”

Mitsunari laughed and patted her hand. “He’s so excited to spend time with you again. You’ve really unsettled both of us.”

“A-again?” Mai raised an eyebrow. “Have we -”

“There it is.” Ieyasu grabbed her arm and tugged her away from Mitsunari. “What kind of coffee do you want?”

Mai studied his face. There was something about his bright gaze that felt so familiar. She could recall his voice speaking her name with gruff affection. 

“Stop staring at me like that. If you don’t tell me what you want, I’ll get you a plain, black coffee.” Ieyasu grumped at her.

“But she likes sweet things,” Mitsunari spoke up. “I bet her favorite isn’t even coffee. Let’s get her a strawberry milk tea!” 

“I do really like those,” she said after a pause. 

Ieyasu nodded. “Great. Perfect.” He pointed to a nearby park bench. “Mitsunari, go sit with her there. And don’t say anything stupid.”

Mitsunari nodded. “Thank you for reminding me, Ieyasu! You are such a good friend.”

The blond gave a tired sigh and turned away to get in line. 

“Is he always like that? I feel like he is,” Mai said as she let Mitsunari lead her off to sit down. 

“Hm? Oh yes. Ieyasu is always so kind. He worries about the people around him all the time.” Mitsunari gave her an angelic smile. “It’s good you remember that about him.”

There it was again, Mai thought. She couldn’t place them, but she felt like they’d met before. She was about to ask when Ieyasu arrived with their drinks in hand. 

“Here.” Ieyasu handed her drink over and sat down next to Mitsunari. 

No one said anything for a few moments. They sat in companionable silence, sipping their drinks. Mai studied them over the rim of her milk tea. She knew that she knew them. There was a sense of it, like a song lyric just forgotten. Out of reach, but only just. She felt sure if she asked the right questions, it would all come back to her. 

“Do you like your drink?” Mitsunari noticed her gaze and gave her another angelic smile. 

“Mmm. Yes. It’s very good. Thank you again, Ieyasu.”

He gave her a nod in reply, not making eye contact. 

“I did have a question for you. Mitsunari.” Mai smiled back at him. “This is going to sound like a weird thing to ask but, do you know a guy named Mitsuhide?”

“Of course.” Mitsunari chuckled. “He’s -”

“An actor, right?” Ieyasu interrupted. “I think we saw him in a production.” He flashed a warning look at his friend.

Mitsunari seemed immune, or perhaps hadn’t noticed. “Oh, yes. I’ve seen him on stage several times. You even perfo- ow!” Mitsunari jumped. “I think something bit me! Ieyasu, did it get you too?” He rubbed at his leg.

Mai decided to try a different tack. “Ieyasu. I know that I’ve met you before. You and Mitsunari and Mitsuhide as well.” 

His jade green gaze widened before he shrugged and looked away. “So?”

“So where do I know you from? I feel like . . . we were friends?” She couldn’t help the pleading tone of her voice. “It’s like I’m losing my mind. I keep having these - these memories of places and things that . . . aren’t . . . normal. And meeting people like you two. People that seem so familiar but - but I don’t -”

Mitsunari took her hand in his. “You’ll remember it all eventually, Mai.”

“Right. So quit trying to push. You’ll just hurt yourself.” Ieyasu added gruffly. He nudged Mitsunari. “We need to get to the lecture hall. Come on.”

“But, wait! You can’t just say that and then leave. I need to know. Where did we meet? When? How did we know each other? Why do you remember but I can’t?” Mai felt a surge of frustration and helplessness. 

Mitsunari gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “I promise you’ll remember it all. And until you do, we’re all here, watching out for you.” 

Ieyasu gave a curt nod. “We’ll be around. But don’t use that as an excuse to do something stupid.” He stood and began walking away. 

“I have to go now. But I’m sure we’ll talk again.” Mitsunari’s gentle gaze made Mai feel slightly better as she bid him goodbye. She still felt confused and out of her depth, but reassured too. 

She spent the next hour sipping her milk tea and wandering through the park, thinking about the last several weeks. Her life until now had been uneventful. The usual ups and downs, full of laughter and tears. She hadn’t considered that there could be more to it. Memories, friends, lovers from another life in another time. It seemed too incredible to be true. 

In the end, Mai decided it didn’t matter whether it was too incredible or not. She knew she felt these things, and her vivid recollections from other times felt like real memories. She didn’t need to know how it worked or why it was. She really just had one choice to make. To believe these things were real, or to refuse. Simple enough . . . 

“You look lost in thought. Everything ok?” Hideyoshi’s voice took her by surprise, though he’d shown up more or less at the agreed time. 

Mai gave a half-hearted laugh. “Yeah. You know how it is sometimes. When you just go around in circles?”

Hideyoshi smiled and reached to tousle her hair, but stopped short. He cleared his throat, suddenly awkward. “You said we needed to talk?”

She realized as she looked at his nervous posture that she really didn’t want to break up with him. He was such a nice guy. Even now, he was more concerned with her comfort than his own. But it would be cruel to say nothing and so she took a deep breath and nodded. “We do.”

He let out a breath. “Alright.”

Now that the moment was here, Mai wasn’t sure what to say. She struggled for a moment, trying to find the words to express what lay in her heart. “I really like you. It’s just . . . you’re more like a big brother. Or - or a good friend. Comforting and kind and -” Mai stopped herself from saying more as she took in Hideyoshi’s pained expression.

He sucked in a breath, “I suppose I deserve that.”

“What? No!” Mai drew back. “You’re honestly the sweetest guy. It’s me, you know? I have a . . . a lot going on.” She felt a sudden urge to spill the whole thing to Hideyoshi. Her weird dreams and sense of deja vu, her confusion over Mitsuhide and her feelings for him. But that wasn’t fair to him. 

Hideyoshi stuck his hands in his pockets and fixed his gaze on the ground. “It’s not you, it’s me, right?” He made a sound that might have been laughter or tears or both. 

“Oh, no, that’s - that’s not what I meant. I-”

He shook his head, looking at her again. “You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve told a woman she’s like my little sister. Knowing how she felt about me. Using my responsibilities to - to keep people at arms’ length.” Hideyoshi’s lips twisted in a small, sad smile. “Kind of ironic to have it turned around on me now. With the - the one -” He stopped talking and took a moment to look out at the park, staring at nothing in particular.

Mai felt her heart twist in her chest. She wanted happiness for Hideyoshi, but she knew he wouldn’t find it with her. Not the way he wanted, anyhow. It just killed her to see him hurting like this. “I’m sorry. I really am.”

“You shouldn’t apologize.” He pushed his hair back from his face, trying to master his emotions. “I’m glad you told me. You were - are - so honest. I’ve always admired that about you. Even if it sucks to be on this end of it.” 

“Hideyoshi.” She wanted to hug him, but he looked so brittle in this moment, fragile. And even worse, she felt as if they’d been here before. Navigating this space between friendship and romance. 

He forced a smile though his eyes were damp. “Would it be alright if - if I still text you sometimes? Just as a friend?” 

Mai nodded. “I’d like that. I meant what I said. I care for you.”

“Good.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t want to lose you.” He rubbed his face as if to banish the unshed tears. “I might go quiet for a little while though. Just to - to give us both some space.”

“Sure. That’s probably a good idea.” 

Awkward silence fell between them, with neither sure of what else to say. Mai wanted to cry, but she felt like that would be wrong. Afterall, she broke up with him. But seeing the vulnerability in him, the openness, the hurt . . . 

“Is it ok if I hug you?” Hideyoshi held up his hands as if to show her they were harmless. 

“Yeah. I’d like that.” And then she was enveloped in his arms, her cheek pressed to his warm, firm chest. His hands rested on her upper back, cradling her gently. She knew she was crazy to give him up - any girl would be lucky to stand beside him. But she wasn’t any girl. She was - my little mouse - Mai, and she knew her heart was elsewhere.

After a moment, they parted. Hideyoshi looked better for the brief embrace, though he wouldn’t meet her gaze. 

“I think I’ll just go now. This is a good spot to end.” He gave an uncertain half-smile. “See you around?”

“Yes.” Mai nodded. “Definitely.” She wanted to apologize again, to tell him what a great guy he was and how sorry she felt to cause him heartbreak. But he was right. This was a good way to end it. More words would spoil their goodbye. So she waved and watched as he walked away, leaving an ache in her chest that made the afternoon feel colder and more empty.

After he was gone, she took out her phone, itching to talk to someone. Her finger hovered over Mitsuhide’s icon but then she scrolled past to text her friend, Asami. They’d grown up together and if anyone could make her feel better about dumping an absolutely perfect guy, it was her. 

They met up at an ice cream shop - Asami’s idea - to split a brownie sundae. 

“Trust me, warm caramel will make us both feel a lot better. Me, because I am forever alone, and you, because you’re drowning in hot guys and can’t make up your mind.” Asami grinned as she held the door open for Mai.

“Oh my god. I am too making up my mind! That’s why I talked to Hideyoshi.” Mai stormed past, feeling a little put out by her friend’s carefree smile.

Asami laughed. “Don’t pout. I’m only teasing. I know that couldn’t have been easy.” She gestured to a table. “You save us a spot. I’ll order.”

Mai forced her mouth out of the moue it was making and nodded. She knew her friend was just trying to cheer her up. And she was right. Any girl would be happy to have the problem of too many cute guys in their life. It was just less fun when it was you, and the guy you liked was Mitsuhide. Because he was -

“Here.” Asami put the sundae down on the table. It was immense. Three scoops of ice cream piled high with whipped cream, chocolate and caramel sauce, cherries, and rainbow sprinkles sat on a giant, soft, chewy, cocoa brownie. Decadent. Ridiculous. Exactly what a girl needed after a teary eyed breakup.

For several minutes, there was just the sound of spoons clinking the glass dish and happy sighs. 

When they’d done a fair amount of damage to the ice cream and dug into the brownie, Asami asked, “So. What happened? I thought Hideyoshi was the perfect guy? Is he, like, secretly eating babies or something?”

“No,” Mai giggled. “He really is damn near perfect. I just . . . he doesn’t . . .”

“Ohhhhh. I get it. No chemistry. When he kisses you, no zing. No juice. No -”

“Oh god, Asami! Stop it! You’re so dirty!” Mai was blushing now, her face hot with embarrassment.

Her friend gave her a knowing look. “But I’m right, right?”

“Yeah,” Mai admitted reluctantly. “It’s like, I care about him. But not as a lover. I can’t imagine him in bed. Or, I can? But I don’t want to.”

“Pfft. I’d imagine him in bed. My bed. You should give me his number.” Asami grinned, then her expression fell, becoming serious. “It’s hard to tell a guy he’s friendzoned. I’m sorry you had to do it. But you got it over with, and it sounds like he took it well.”

She nodded. “I almost wish he’d yelled at me or something. I feel like I kicked a puppy. And,” Mai paused, “this is going to sound weird but, I kind of feel like I told him that before?”

“Deja break up? Weird.” Her friend tilted her head. “But didn’t you tell me you have all kinds of feelings like that with the Mitsuhide guy? Like you knew him before and stuff?”

Mai took a breath. She hadn’t told Asami everything. It was too strange, and she didn’t want her friend thinking she’d lost her mind. But . . . “Do you believe in reincarnation?”

Asami raised an eyebrow. “For real?”

“Yeah.”

After a moment, her friend shrugged. “Sure, I guess. I mean, something has to happen when you die. So why not? Wait.” Asami’s other brow shot up. “You think you were with him in another life? Mitsuhide or Hideyoshi?”

Mai swallowed. “Both? Like I knew them both? And not just them.” She spilled everything over the rest of the sundae. Her dreams and feelings and all of the strange moments she’d had. It felt so good to tell someone she trusted. To just let everything out after worrying over it alone.

When she finished, the ice cream was a memory and Asami was thoughtfully tapping the licked-clean spoon against her lips. “Well. Either you’re insane or reincarnation is real and for whatever reason, you’re drawing these people back to you from your former life. Or lives.”

“That’s not much help. You’re supposed to make me feel better.” Mai tried to frown, but she honestly already felt better just talking about it. 

“Hey! I’m the honest friend. You want blind reassurance, ask somebody else.” Asami stuck her tongue out.

“I would, but Kaiya’s too honest as well, and everyone else is either involved or not a close enough friend. So it’s on you.”

Asami laughed. “Fair enough.” She set the spoon down. “I don’t think you’re crazy. So I guess that means we’re stuck with the reincarnation theory. The only other thing I can come up with is some kind of conspiracy but that seems like a lot of work to date a seamstress. No offense.”

“None taken.” Mai smiled. 

“So. If that’s the case, then why don’t we try to make you remember? Then you’ll know who these guys are and what they mean to you. Include your hottie theater friend.” She winked. “Want to make it happen?”

“I . . . yeah. I do. But how?”

Asami pulled out her phone. “I know a guy. Does hypnosis and stuff. I don’t know if he’s helped with this past life stuff, but supposedly he can help you diet and quit smoking so it’s worth a try.”

Mai wasn’t sure about that, but she nodded anyway. “If you think he might help, then I’m down.”

“Great. I’ll see what he says. And in the meantime -” Asami pointed at her. “No moping. If you start to mope, I’ll call Kaiya and we’ll both show up at your place.”

“No moping,” Mai agreed. “In fact, I think I’ll swing by the theater tonight and take a few shots of the stage. I want to do some color match and contrasts with the -”

“Oh. God. It’s always work with you.” Asami laughed and rolled her eyes. “Sure, fine, whatever helps you get through. But I know the real reason you want to drop by.”

Mai tried to look innocent but she knew she was failing as Asami’s smile widened.

“There might just be some hot, golden-eyed, platinum haired guy who needs a little help with his co-”

“Asami!”

“What? I was going to say costume. Obviously.” Her friend’s smile was mischievous and gave the lie to her ‘obvious’ statement.

Mai felt a rush of love for this friend that had been there for her every time she needed it. She grabbed Asami’s hand and squeezed it. “You’re the best. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. Just remember that on my birthday. I was looking at this phone -”

They both broke into laughter, the emotional moment passing.

Chapter 11

[vasyandii]

Hi :P

(Fun storytime: I was actually drafting this when I received your ask hahahahah)

I like Nak (and her relationship wih Krueger) a lot <3 and your drawings always make me smile, you have a great sense of humour, the way you colour is very warm and inviting, and how you portray those two sillies always crack me up

Had some questions!

1- Is Nak superstitious?

2 - Does Nak every cook for Krueger? Do they cook together? Do they cook each other food from their respective cultures? Do they enjoy it? (is Krueger useful or useless in the kitchen? :P)

3- Does Nak have a favourite insult/swear word?

I'll come back for more for sure :P keep it up, love!

Hiiiii Thank you so much for the Ask and the kind words!! I'm really glad that you like how I portray the two! I'll try my best to answer the questions!

It makes me really excited to get asks about Nak or KruegerNak, keep them coming >:33!!

1.) Is Nak superstitious?

Yes! She doesn't believe in like western superstitions (knocking on wood, etc.) Because she isn't raised on it. Nak is, however, more superstitious in terms of her culture; she doesn't like people's feet being near pillows, covers Krueger's mouth when he's whistling at night. She's not scared of many things but she's TERRIFIED of ghosts and spirits so she feels that doing these things will attract them to her. (Literally clinging onto Krueger while watching Thai scary movies)

2a.) Does Nak ever cook for Krueger? (I'll split these into multiple sections so it's an easier read :3)

Nak is usually the one who cooks for the both of them! She enjoys cooking and domestic work as a stress reliever, plus she likes taking care of him by making him food, it makes her feel cute to be taking care of someone :D

2b.) Do they cook together?

Nak cooks in a way that doesnt need much help; clean and quick. She prefers that Krueger isn't in the kitchen (maybe watching her over the counter) while she cooks because she doesnt want to get distracted with feeding him little bits and pieces of the meal as it's getting made; doesnt want him to get full quickly. Krueger helps with taste testing occasionally (he sneaks bites) so they're both involved with the cooking process in a way

2c.) Do they cook each other food from their respective cultures? Do they enjoy it? (Is Krueger Useless in the kitchen?)

Nak has tried Krueger's cooking before and honestly? She doesn't know how he's not dead from sodium overdose. He's not...bad at preparing and chopping, however he tends to over season or under season things. He makes a killer Apple strudel, though; Nak likes it, not too sweet.

-Calling over the kitchen counter, "You good over there or do I need to bring out the fire extinguisher?"

-"All good."

-"Make sure too not put the heat too high."

- "Relax, I got this. I'm finishing up anywa-" The smoke detector started blaring, followed by a series of curses as Krueger ran over to shut it off.

As for Krueger.. This man eats so much Lao food living with Nak he might as well be Lao himself. Nak tries to cook seperate meals for Krueger of stuff he's used to but ultimately stops when he kept stealing food off her plate even if it's too spicy for him.

3.)Does Nak have a favorite insult/ swear word?

Nak goes through phases of favourite swear words, but she likes Russian or Arabic swear words alot since alot of people in Allegiance speak Russian or Arabic xD

☆If you made it this far you've made it to the end of the post! Thank you so much for reading my brainrot :D

<3 Asks and reblogs are always appreciated!

[a-spell-a-rebel-yell]

July

hello friends!!! i am sorry (again) for the late post (again) this time i'm distracted by making sure i watch all of my favorite sport branches in the Olympics 😂 i swear i had like, a draft for July and had been thinking about it on the last ten days of July but then boom the Olympics took my attention away! literally writing this as i watch the men's sports climbing qualifying and wait for artistic gymnastics to start 😂😂😂

so... for a starter... July might be... a start of something new? :) not going to elaborate further but i'm glad i get to experience again something i haven't felt for so long, wherever this will end up as. i don't mean it to be cryptic but: life can hold its mysteries only to reveal it at the most specific time? 😂 it's all casual fun still, but what is life if it's not to enjoy every chance you seize to the fullest!? 😉

went to Bandung again at the first weekend of July, always a good time in one of my fav cities. i'd say Bandung can be my favorite city if only the local govt devised a proper integrated public transportation system, Jakarta still superior with MRT-Transjakarta-Jaklingko-KRL combo. attended a wedding, had a superb time, got to see my fav person too... :) had my routine that is trying new restaurants (Gormeteria, a good 85/100 from me and Lao Ban with 80/100) and of course a bit of refreshing morning walk! anyways i left my heart in Bandung and i will always be so excited to visit :)

also Penang story is due now! spent 6 days in Malaysia for the very first time and it was not even in Kuala Lumpur 😂 so there's this orthodontics seminar there, held by the Malaysian Association of Orthodontists at Georgetown, Penang and me along with five others were accompanying our profs. to save money, the six of us rented an apartment ten minutes away from the venue (which is a 5-star hotel we couldn't afford lol) actually had lots of fun, and i'm so glad all of us have the same personality that spending 24x6 hours together was just an experience full of laughter! tried some of local foods, visited and took pics at the Penang Street Art, the rest was just us exchanging stories at our apartment 😂

July is the first out of two months (summer-like) break and i love i get to do nothing most of the time... i can catch up on films, dramas, series, Olympics games, f1, motogp, and reading while just relaxing. IAO dance rehearsals also going smoothly, a nice weekly exercise for me who don't do workouts much (unless you count house chores???) i just love day-offs i can do whatever i want hehehe

next month on August it'll still be 2nd semester break and i'm kinda nervous now because i heard 3rd semester i'll start handling patients, excited but yeah, nervous!!! good news about August is that my Brisbane based cousin will move back to Indonesia next week! can't wait to be reunited with her 😁

i suppose that's all for July, praying for more good things to come. see you in August post!

[neonscandal]

6 Anime Episodes to Watch to Feel Like This 👇🏾

Not everyone is a winter holiday type person. So whether you're trying to get in the spirit or in need of a distraction (or escape) from your family, this is your list!

My Senpai Is Annoying - E3

Starting the list off strong. The plot of the episode isn't quite "The Gift of the Magi", but the story is a sweet little reminder that you can and should always give of yourself because kindness has a way of boomeranging back to you.

Sub/Dub | Funimation

My Hero Academia - E101 or S5 E13

The calm before the shit storm, as it were. Deku and Class 1A, still relatively fresh off the victory of assisting Eri in finding a reason to smile are able to celebrate an impromptu Christmas together. Without context, I suppose the reason to watch this episode would simply be that more holidays should have swords. That and everyone deserves a M-Eri Christmas.

Sub/Dub | Funimation, Crunchyroll, Hulu

HoriMiya - E12

The end of the year is the perfect time to take stock of what's important and this saccharinely sweet slice of life manages to be cloyingly reflective (and still funny).

Sub/Dub | Funimation, Hulu, Crunchyroll

Ranma 1/2 - E105 or S6 E8

There is literally nothing relaxing about a Christmas at the Tendo's or with Ranma Saotome. In fact, the chaos of trying to keep him in your sights alone feels very akin to the drain of a big family holiday. Even so, Akane Tendo somehow manages to eke out a bit of peace though the day ultimately doesn't go as she expects.

For extra Credit, peep the "Tendo Family Christmas Scramble" OVA.

Sub/Dub | Hulu

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku - E6

If you're watching anime to get in the holiday spirit, you'll likely find several elements of this show relatable, not just this brief holiday centered episode. That being said, if you're spending the holiday single, this series will likely draw more ire so exercise caution.

Sub | Prime Video

Ride Your Wave

Hey, uh, would you like to cry for Christmas? Watch this. The holiday piece of this movie is fairly nominal but it manages to pack a critical hit and some lessons, ya gotta learn the hard way.

Sub/Dub | HBO Max

[kanene-yaaay]

Good Night, Sun

Warnings: Raspberries, Angst, Nightmare (mentioned), Hurt/Comfort, Cheer up tickles, Lee!Sun and Ler!Moon. About 1.600 words.

Kanene’s notes: So I have a new fandom SDFGHJKDFTGYHJU. Okay, okay, I was in a v boring writer block until I re-watched @sid-is-screaming amazing TikTok with Sun and Moon being just the custest beans and then a sudden motivation hit me because!!! Cheer up tickles!!!! So yay! Fic! I am not gonna lie, I still need some more pratice to understand fully their personalities but this is already a start. I hope you all like this. Hope you have a comfy day, beans. Take care!

[~*~]

"M...Moon..." 

It was just a weak whisper, almost inaudible with the way it was pronounced, the usually so excited animatronic not even being sure if he would be heard by his sound asleep brother. 

It was a good thing - he decided as his eyes followed Moon when the called slowly blinked awake, his confusion, even if clear on his expression, being pushed aside as he sat next to him, eying warily the tears that ran freely across Sun’s faceplate, trying to lock their gazes unsuccessfully - that they were so carefully equipped with sensitive sensors prepared to analyze and capture the tiniest hint of any distress sound and quickly find their sources, keeping it easier to find and help scared - or scarred - kids. 

And animatronics too, as it seems.

"Sun?" His voice slurred with the way his wires and functions began whirring to life. The blue one realized it was way too dark for them to be fully charged, meaning that there were very few reasons for the other animatronic to be there, none of them being very good. 

Sun sniffed miserably, arms hugging himself, no answer leaving him. Moon calmly prodded again. "What are you doing up at this hour?"

And Sun didn’t found his words to answer because he actually didn’t want to be up, he didn’t want to literally shake with the way energy flowed inside of every single one of his wires, making his endoskeleton tremble in what, in any other situation, would have him perfectly hyped up to play with childrens, but right now just lead to a series of unpleasant shocks to travel through his spine, making his fingers hold his arms tighter. He just- he couldn’t- he couldn’t help it, he couldn’t stop the flashes of those awful, horrible moments which kept dancing in front of his eyes in explosions of red, orange and fire, oh god, the fire felt so real and horrible and burning and getting closer, closer, closer at every single second and it didn’t mattered how much he brought his brother close to him, how much they hugged and tried to find an exit, there was no escape, there was simply no escaping because the flames were everywhere and they were going to- they were going to-

A hand held his own - when did he start gesturing, again? - and pulled, the firm, yet gentle, sudden touch making the shadows of his nightmare pop out of existence in a fast piece of moment as he found himself lying on his brother’s chest, who just adjusted himself so they could rest more comfortably on the mattress, eyes widening as the other let out a quiet whimper, hugging him tightly.

‘That bad, huh?’  Moon sighed, not unkindly, a hand laying on top of Sun’s head, softly running his fingers across his rays feeling the corner of his mouth quirk upwards with the way Sun immediately relaxed on his hold, a stray, much weaker, sniffle leaving him.

“Sounds like a bad one. Our neuro system can really suck, sometimes.” The other huffed in a tired kind of approval and Moon quietly softened at the good signal that the reaction was, mentally shaking himself awake. It was decided, even before the moment he saw those tears, he wouldn’t fall asleep until his brother did so, it was the least he could do for the one who always brought a smile on his face, never leaving his side independently of the situation. 

He hummed in thought, searching for a good topic to distract Sun from his own thoughts. 

“Have I ever told you about the dream I had in which we were both part of that old show, the one with those two inventor kids who  live in an eternal summer vacations, and Vanessa was our older sister but for some reason she only talked by singing?”

“W-what?!” Sun sputtered, a light already beginning to take space on his eyes as he stared at the other in an amused confusion. “No you didn’t. Why didn’t you!?” His lips turned in a wobbly line, giving his voice a bouncy tune. “Vanessa singing, I can’t believe it.”

“I never told you because I knew you would try to pull her to the karaoke nights, that is why.” Sun snorted at the mental image, quickly hiding his faceplate on Moon’s chest, shoulder’s shaking a little with the two or three giggles that he did his best to keep trapped. Moon playfully poked him between his shoulder blades, fishing another snort. “Quiet, you never know when she will be listening.”

“Stooop, don’t be mean! She is actually nice when you give her a chance, you know?”

“A kid could steal all of your glitter and you would still think they’re nice.”

“Hey! No!” Sun batted Moon’s finger away and it came back for another poke, looking at it warily for a second before jumping to defend his tiny, squishy human friend. “Gregory is a very great kid. He just needed the glitter for a project and he apologized after his timeout! One day we all will have a slumber party and you will see how well behaved he can be. Ask Freddy, he agrees with me.”

Moon huffed, the memory of Monty bad mouthing the young human as he tried to clean all the true mess of glitter his entire form was after the aforementioned’s prank led to equal parts of disbelief and amusement to fill his reaction. The kid has the courage, that he could give. 

The one in night themed pajamas was about to mention said prank to Sun, however, as he saw the way his brother was getting closer to pout he decided to grant a bit of mercy to their usual playful banter. He could be a bit more soft today. Just for Sun.

“Ok, ok. Now sush or I will never be able to tell you about the dream.” 

And then he started. Moon talked and talked, about that one and many other weird dreams he had, adjusting his voice box to its softest setting, letting his calm tune fulfill the room as the stories brought their attention away from the tears and those scary memories which hid on the dark corners of our mind.

Soon enough a barely muffled laughter yanked Moon out of his thoughts, the same grinning as he saw more and more giggles escaping from his brother’s lips.

“Oh, so this is funny to you, huh?” One of his hands began to scribble the other animatronic’s left side, fingers lightly dancing freely and nimbly across the sensitive spot, only seeming to get faster as a wider smile took over Sun’s expression. “Me being unable to move until naptime was over because a bunch of kids fell asleep in a pile on top of me it’s a very funny story to you, huh?”

“It t-tihihihickles, Moon!” A rather high pitched squeal broke his protest when his brother decided that his other hand was bored and tickling Sun’s unfairly ticklish cheeks was the only way to give it a proper enrichment. “Nohohoh, wait! No, no, n-not thehehere!”

“Why not? I think this is a very good spot. Here, I will show you.” He highlighted his words by blowing a raspberry on Sun’s cheek, being rewarded with a loud shriek and hands immediately pushing his face away, loud squeaks and wheezes mixing themselves in the laughter that danced in the air. “But maybe you would want a few tickly-tickly-tickles-”

“Eek! Dohohon’t call them thahahat!”

Moon playfully pinched his side in a warning, glaring at the other with no real heat behind it. “As I was saying, would you rather have tickly-tickly-tickles on your ribs then?” Sun threw his head back as the hands started to crawl from his hips to the aforementioned spot, Moon needing to dodge the sunrays going from one side to another as the one in yellow pajamas shook his head in protest. “No? What about your armpits? Or this very sensitive neck? Maybe your belly, then?”

Sun’s hands flew to his wrists, although no real struggle happened, they just holding them instead to pushing the offending fingers away, legs kicking and the whole body shaking with the loud, happy laughter that escape from his big smile, his mind much more occupied to focus on the unbearable, silly attack to even remember why he looked for the comfort of his brother’s embrace and words in the first place.

And Moon simply couldn’t help the delightful smirk and laughter that blossomed on his faceplate at that, letting his tickles getting slower and lighter at every second, until the previous “attack” become nothing more than a few scratches that kept Sun with a constant flow of fast, bubbly giggles going.

When he stopped, his gaze traveled to Sun’s face, watching the way his titters got lower and his metallic eyelids began to close, indicating Sun was about to go into charge mode.

An evil idea made a smirk spread wide in his expression. 

“Or maybe I should get your spine.” Just a last poke of fun. 

With a high yelp of “NO!” Sun jumped out of his brother's hug, stumbling a bit on the place until he fell on the other side of the bed, next to Moon’s foot, and pointed a finger at the teasy animatronic in a warning, his frown losing all its grumpy power due the still happy smile lingering on his face. Moon snorted in amusement, lazily pulling his arms up in a surrendering gesture. 

“Ok. Ok.” He chuckled at the way Sun’s eyes squinted in a wary tiredness, for the lack of verbal protest he should be really fighting against sleep right now. “Come on, it’s past our bedtime. Let’s charge.”

Sun only hummed in agreement, body relaxing and immediately falling on the mattress with a soundless thumph. Moon took his time to turn around to the other side and adjusted himself in a more comfortable position, already feeling his systems and functions running slower.

As his eyes closed, Sun’s voice reached his sensors.

“Thank you, Moony”

They smiled, calm, happy, safe.

“Nighty-night.”

[fwacchi]

hello, I hope you've been doing well! can I request how they(You can choose whoever) would handle a stressed and burned out reader maybe from work or studies! Thank you!!

hello I've been doing well and I hope you are too! I'm sorry for posting this so late :(( I've been binge watching mdzs donghua so I kinda got caught up in it :'D

HOW THEY TAKE CARE OF YOU WHEN YOU'RE STRESSED OUT

genre: fluff

pairings: Ibrahim, Saegusa Akina, Kagami Hayato, Kaida Haru x gn!reader

Ibrahim

He’s the type that takes care of you without talking much because he believes talking would tire you out even more than you already are.

So he just makes you coffee/tea and cuddles you on the sofa with a blanket thrown over the two of you.

Would gently run his fingers through your hair while the two of you are cuddling, hoping it might somehow ease your headaches.

🥺🥺please i love him so much

If you have to get back to your studies/work, he would convince you to at least take a quick nap so that you’ll feel a bit more refreshed.

He would definitely run a bath for you before you go to bed.

Saegusa Akina

The opposite of Ibrahim. He talks a lot to get your mind off the stressful work you had to do.

Mans has so much tea about other vtubers that it leaves you wondering how he knows all those things.

Puts on a random anime to watch with you while you’re snuggling up to him on the sofa.

But if you want some peace and quiet, then he will be silent for 30 minutes. 30 minutes is all you get before he starts bringing up random topics once again.

Don’t be mad at him, he just can't stop talking wants to distract you from your overloading works/assignments.

Kagami Hayato

This man is at your service.

You want coffee/tea? He’s already on it. You want to take a nap? He’s there spooning you on your bed while you get your precious nap. You want to eat but you’re lazy? Worry not he’ll feed you. Want to take a relaxing bath? He’ll run a bath for you.

He’s literally like your butler at times like this.

Honestly, he wants nothing more than for you to be able to relax after a stressful day.

Would tell you how his day was and some random things about his stream to distract you.

But not as noisy as our cute lil Akina

Kaida Haru

A pinch of Akina and Hayato.

Talks about his day or things about the new anime series he’s been binge watching lately.

But if you want some peace and quiet time, he’s respectfully zipping out his mouth because your wish is his command <3

Would ask if you want to read manga together.

If you don’t want to, then you’re free to just cuddle with him while he quietly reads his precious manga.

Would offer to massage you.

He kinda sucks at it but it sure does make you laugh and forget about your stressful day.

[shurisneakers]

if you're taking ideas for harmless drabbles, i'd love to see one of bucky on one of those dates he mentioned and reader's shenanigans. if you aren't, feel free to ignore this!

a/n: are we really going to let a word limit define what a drabble is? is the vibe and spirit not enough? i say this bc this is 5.7k words long im so sorry. also hey thank you to everyone who piped in with their knowledge of violent geese and how apartment security works in new york!! also thanks to my bby @spiderrpcrker for reading this and telling me to publish this bc i wasnt going to fkjghfkj

warning: swearing, bad luck, dates, frustrated bucky, anxiety, mentions of gore but like only a sentence

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <333

Catch up with the rest of the series here: Harmless Masterlist

Bucky returns only two weeks later. His mission lasted longer than expected and all he wants is to lie down and sleep for forty eight hours straight.

“FRIDAY?” he mumbles, kicking off his shoes. His jacket had already been discarded by his bedroom door when he walked in.

“Yes, Sergeant Barnes?”

“How are ya?” He doesn’t miss a beat in asking, even though he’s exhausted.

“As good as ever. Did you have a successful mission?”

“If by successful you mean one sprained limb instead of two, then yeah.” He wasn’t really cribbing. His ankle was already starting to heal anyway and it was worth the roundhouse kick to a Nazi's face. “Do I have anything scheduled for this weekend?”

“You have a meeting on your calendar scheduled for this Saturday.”

“Could you send a text to Y/N and ask if we can push it to the next day?” His muscles feel sore and God, he could definitely use a hot shower but all of that becomes secondary the minute he feels the sheets under him.

“Would you like me to reschedule the other one as well?”

“What’s that?” He opens one eye in confusion. “There’s another one?”

“It’s on Sunday. You’ve labelled it ‘date’.”

Ah, fuck.

“Would you like me to change it?” FRIDAY never sounds like she’s judging him, which is nice. It also reminds him about how she, as an AI, can’t judge him, which is a rude wake-up call to how he doesn’t have friends.

“No,” his voice is muffled against the pillow, “no, let it be. Where is it again?”

“You’ve only specified diner, Sergeant Barnes.”

Public space, daytime, plenty of escape routes. Good on his less delirious self for selecting a diner.

“Thanks, FRIDAY.” Now that he’s a little more relaxed, he can feel himself slip in and out of consciousness.

“One last thing," her automated voice commands his attention again. "Y/N replied. She says sure and to take care.”

“Yay.” Not even a second later he’s out like a light.

____

“Did you bring me any souvenirs?” Is the first thing he hears as he marches into your lair.

“What could I possibly get you?”

“A postcard, a t-shirt.” You don’t look up from your tinkering.

“Decapitated finger, used bullets,” he continues, “cement blocks.”

“Ew.” You snap the lid shut on the thing you’re working on, spinning around on your chair. "That's not nearly romantic enough."

“That’s all you’re going to get from a Russian underground bunker.” He does a mini jog up the stairs of the platform to where you are.

“Does the finger have a ring at lea- oh hello?” You raise an eyebrow at the sight of him. “You look different.”

He peers down. The outfit was still all black. As always.

“Not your clothes, dummy,” you interrupt, making him look back at you. “Your face. What’d you do?”

He unconsciously raises a hand to his cheek.

“Did you wash your face? Is that it?” you squint at him. “Has it been a few months since the last time?”

“Wow, you’re so funny,” he drawls sarcastically.  “Top tier comedian right there.”

“No wait, it’s the beard.” You snap your fingers in realisation, completely ignoring his comment. “You trimmed it.”

“So what if I did?” He leans on your table.

“You going somewhere?” you ask, elastic snapping against your hands as you remove your gloves.

“It’s none of your busi-”

“Hold on a second.” A sly smile begins to make its way onto your face. “Are you going on a date, Bucky Barnes?”

His comeback dies down in his throat. That didn’t take you very long for you to figure out.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” You look smug, to say the least.

“Shut up.” A ray of light glistening distracts him. He traces it to the thing you were working on earlier.

“Where are you guys going?” You cross your arm across your chest, a small smirk on your face.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” It’s a silver box, engraved intricately with swirls that, when he observes carefully, looks like a skull. Wow, terrifying.

“I’m literally asking you.”

“What are those?” He shifts the conversation towards a more productive angle instead.

“Evil in a box and some other stuff.” You shrug offhandedly. “Is it a lunch date or just coffee?”

“Like Pandora’s Box?”

“A discount version, sure,” you confirmed impatiently. “Stop changing the topic, listen to me.”

He tilts his head, waiting for you to continue.

“Do you need a chaperone?” The sincerity in your voice for such a bullshit question has him scoffing.

“Good God- no, I do not need a chaperone. I’m 106 years old, I can go out unsupervised.” He reaches over and plucks the box off your table.

“Sir, you’re a geriatric."

“What are those?” He points to a few ray odd ray guns.

“Minor stuff you don’t have to worry about right now.”

He shakes the box in his hand. “What’s gonna happen if I open this?”

“Very bad things,” you whispered ominously before your volume returns to normal. “How’d you meet this person? Online?”

“She’s Natasha’s friend.” He turns the box over, seeing a small latch at the side. “What bad things?”

“Bad luck and misery. Don’t play with it, it’s dangerous.” You pull the box away from him. “Aw, is it a blind date?”

“Why do you care so much?” he shoots back, tugging the box back towards him.

“Just lookin’ out for you, Bucko,” you huff, adjusting your grip on your device. “Need to keep my favourite senior citizen safe.”

“I have a vibranium arm.” Whose force he could use to grab the box once and for all, but wasn’t. “I think I’ll be fine.”

“What if she has one too, huh? Then what?”

“She doesn’t.” As far as he knows, he’s the only one alive with a metal appendage made out of the strongest metal in the world. That could very well change by tomorrow but he's keeping the title for now.

“But what if she does? I swear to- stop trying to take the box!” You pull a little more forcefully, but he doesn’t relent.

“I want this to get over before this evening.”

“What time’s your date?”

“Why do you care?” He’s sure anyone who saw the dumb tug-of-war you both were playing would just automatically assume he was an absolute manchild, not an Avenger.

“Because.” You don’t explain further. “Tell me what time your date is, you weirdo.”

“Five o’clock, now let go.”

“Fine,” you say, suddenly loosening your grip. Clearly, it doesn't make much of a difference since he isn't struggling to keep his balance from the sudden loss of force.

“Fine.” He clears his throat, straightening up. 

You don’t say anything. He doesn’t either.

A putrid smell creeps into his nose, one all too similar to spoiled milk and decaying seaweed. He has to physically stop himself from gagging.

“Have a good day.” You smile and lean far back. Too far. It looks like you're almost going to fall out of the chair.

Through the tears that are threatening to line his eyelids, he looks down at the box whose latch you somehow managed to lift, leaving the box open.

“What the fuck is this?” He coughs, swatting at the air in front of him to clear it.

“I told you; bad luck in a box.”

“You can’t scientifically create bad luck, that’s bullshit.” He tosses the box back onto your table. You watch it slide past you, not making any effort to stop it. “What is it really?”

“I’m not lying.” You pull open a drawer, brandishing a small table fan that you set down beside you. “If you open it, you’re going to have terrible luck for the day.”

He glowers at you when you turn the fan on, forcing the fumes back towards him.

“Besides, that’s all I was doing today.” You kick your feet up. “So you can leave now.”

He doesn’t care if you’re lying about not having anything else to do today. You could burn down the world if you wanted to but he needs to take a stupid shower. Again.

“You’re the fuckin’ worst.” He tries airing out his shirt, hoping that the smell would dissipate as soon as possible.

“Have fun on your date, sarge!” you encourage him as he stalks out of the lair. “Remember to wrap it befo-”

He turns it into a sprint before you can finish.

____

Six hours later and he’s absolutely convinced he fucked up.

He isn’t used to having his weekends free.

He realises that this is the first time in months that he’s actually stepped out of the Tower for something that wasn’t directly mission-related. He should probably get some air. Touch some grass. See the sun.

His shirt thankfully manages to rid itself of the odour from the dumb box so he didn’t have to go take a shower. With nothing much planned and a few hours to spare, he heads to the coffee shop instead.

It’s a small place, bustling and alive with a crowd of people. They have a little bookshelf that usually is full of books donated by patrons, free for anyone to read.

The barista smiles at him. The coffee costs more than his high school education. He awkwardly smiles back.

He’s not a regular, but they’ve seen him enough times to know that he usually asks for black coffee in a to-go cup, later adding a sugar or two according to his own taste. They're nice to him, occasionally throwing in a cookie or something on the house. He can't tell if it's because of the Avenger status or the sizeable tip he leaves.

He picks up a random book from the shelf, fully intending not to read it but to just sit there and think. The book acted as a shield for his resting bitch face, resting murder face and his resting rage face. More often than not, a good combination of the three.

He sets the coffee down at the corner table he manages to nab in a quick second, along with the two sachets of sugar.

“Is this seat taken?” Someone asks from beside him. He earnestly shakes his head in a ‘no’, gesturing for them to take it.

They give him a quick thanks and drag the chair away from his table.

He does a quick overlook of the book he picked up.

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot.

Well, now he’s too anxious to put it back. YA fiction it is.

He reaches for the sugar while glossing over the summary. He reaches a little further when it doesn’t come to his hand immediately, blindly running his fingers across the table.

Bucky peeks over the book, eyebrows knitting together when he notices that they’re missing.

He was sure he picked it up.

He looks underneath the table. It wasn’t there, neither under his seat. Strange, but okay. He picks up the book and the cup, walking back to the station to grab two sugars.

This time he makes sure to tuck it into his pocket, double-checking before going back to his table.

Which was now occupied. He wanted to groan.

His mind automatically reverts back to the box from that morning.

“Come on,” he scoffs quietly to himself. It was a coincidence. “Get yourself together.”

“A seat at the counter just cleared up,” the barista from earlier offers when she sees him standing in the middle of the store.

See? Good luck.

He shoots her a grateful look, venturing over to the barstool to take his place. It’s not the most comfortable, but then again, he wasn’t planning to stay there for very long.

He empties the sugar into the coffee, stirring slowly before opening a random page in the book.

He takes a long sip, ignoring how hot the drink was.

He chokes immediately. Because either he was losing his mind or his order had somehow got switched from ‘no sugar’ to ‘diabetes in a cup’.

He takes another small sip and his face immediately twists in disgust. Definitely too sweet. The sweetener he added only made it worse.

He catches the eye of the barista. She looks on in concern.

“Is everything okay?”

Fuck.

He’s not one to make a scene. He just wants to live as imperceptibly as he could.

“Yep.” The sweetness sticks to the back of his throat. “All good.”

He just closes his eyes and downs the rest of it without thinking twice, trying to hide the grimace in his face. He gives her a weak thumbs up. She doesn't look convinced.

He leaves the shop soon after, hands shoved in his pocket. Maybe he could go sit by the lake at Central Park, watch the clouds. It reminded Bucky of the lake in front of his hut in Wakanda and the hours he'd sit in front of it, feet dipped into the water as his goats fed. He misses it.

He makes a sharp turn at a corner, still thinking about his options when his ankle abruptly twists under him.

He stumbles rather ungracefully, almost hitting the ground, but manages to save himself through the newly built up immunity he has towards falling thanks to all his encounters with you.

His gaze lands on his hardcore combat boots. Their laces had come undone.

Now he just knew that was horseshit. He always double knots them; they had never loosened in the past before.

The box.

He shoves the thought out of his head, crouching down to tie them again. He tugs on them to make sure they’re secure before standing up again.

Central Park is a few blocks away but he’s glad he didn’t bring his bike. The weather was rather nice and the wind in his hair felt good.

He wanders around the park for a while, looking for the lake. He pauses at a board with a map of the park on it, assessing how far it was.

Once he's ascertained which path to go towards, he turns on his heel to go.

He fucking trips again.

“Are you serious?” he says furiously under his breath. “Cut it out.”

He’s half-convinced that he should tie it around his ankle like a sexy lace-up set of heels. He ties a triple knot this time, glares at it until he’s sure it’s fine and checks to see if anyone saw him humiliate himself.

Only a person on a nearby bench who looked like they were passed out drunk, given that their hoodie and sunglasses clad self was slumped over.

No witnesses. No 'You won't BELIEVE what the Winter Soldier did! Critics say it's his biggest blunder yet!' articles the next day on social media.

He manages to make it to the lake in one piece and no more falls, partly because he keeps his eyes fixed on his shoes to ensure no fuckery occurs.

There are a few people rowing and plenty of others lining the bank at scattered locations. There’s a mom and her kid at the place he ends up. She sends him a small smile in greeting and he returns the favour.

There’s a secluded bench that he takes a place on, letting out a small sigh. If he ignores the traffic and the skateboarders and the people in general, it’s actually kind of peaceful.

There are geese and their little goslings swimming around the water close to the shore. Maybe he should have brought some birdseed. Or kale.

The kid beside him is busy fashioning something out of leaves, only occasionally erupting into giggles when it doesn't pan out. His mom watches him fondly, pointing at twigs he could use. Everything seems kind of picture-perfect and his body automatically relaxes, easing further into the seat and closing his eyes for a second.

Until there's a large splash and loud distressed honking. He whips his head around to find the same kid staring straight ahead at the goose with a wide grin. His mother curses quietly, picking herself up off the ground and grabbing his hand, half chastising him for throwing something at an animal and half urging him to walk faster.

The goose turns to Bucky. With no one else to blame for the sudden attack, it logically launches itself at him. His smile drops.

He gets up in a rush. The dumb bird nearly comes for his head, but he deflects with his metal arm.

“I didn’t even do anything.” He swats at it swiftly, trying not to cause any real damage. The goose, understandably, does not speak English.

He flinches when one of them bites at his knee. He can punt it to the sun but he doesn’t want to.

“Stop that.” He sticks his hand out to shove the stupid thing away, retreating back to the road. “Jesus, why are you so aggressive?”

Among the barrage of feathers showering on him, he prays his damn shoelace doesn’t unravel as he shields his head with one arm, the other fending himself while he moves hurriedly away.

The goose honks angrily at him. He scowls at it, not exactly pleased with the reminder that these fucking overgrown ducks were constantly bloodthirsty.

It doesn’t leave him alone till he’s significantly away from where he was sitting. He wants to call it profanity but that’d probably piss it off more.

The box and its effects were definitely starting to feel real.

Fuck it, no more day out for him. The best plan he can think of is to just go to the diner he’s supposed to meet his date at.

The waiter greets him with a courteous nod, which Bucky can only imagine was the best he could muster when a dishevelled 200-pound man walks in covered in goose feathers and irritation.

He won't admit that he’s too scared to eat lunch at this point because he can’t rule out food poisoning. He spends the next two hours on his phone playing Fruit Ninja and plucking feathers that accented his all-black outfit.

Several glasses of water later and a second before he’s about to beat his high score, someone taps on his shoulder, breaking him out of his concentration.

Motherfu-

He clenches his eye shut, inhaling deeply before turning around.

“James?”

“Hey, yeah, that’s me.” Bucky almost falls over the table with how fast he stands up, clearly underestimating his size. “Leah?”

“Hi.” She smiles and he finds himself smiling nervously along with her.

“Hi.” He steps out to pull out her chair for her and she laughs. "Nice to meet you."

“How long have you been waiting here?” she asks while setting down her bag.

“Around ten minutes.” He clears his throat to hopefully hide the fact that he was lying through his teeth.

“Just give me a second, I need to tell my friend I reached,” Leah pulls out her phone and he nods.

“Another glass of water for you?” The waiter seems less enthusiastic about Bucky’s 8th refill.

“Yes,” he answers, hoping he doesn’t call him out on it, “please.”

“You must be really dehydrated."

Bucky turns to look at him slowly. “I like the taste.”

He can’t really blame the guy. Bucky’s been there for hours without ordering anything solid, just leaching off their free water and complimentary bread basket.

“So, James.” She tosses her phone back into her bag, leaning forward on her palms easily. “Tell me about yourself.”

He had rehearsed this a million times. He could do this.

“I, uh,-”

“Menu?” Okay, so someone clearly had a vendetta against him.

“Thank you.” She takes it with a smile.

His morning debacle with the coffee flashes through his mind. Suddenly the idea of a diner didn’t seem so smart.

However, she’s already placed her order and George is standing beside him expectantly, daring him to ask for another glass of water, so he places his usual order and hopes that your stupid bad luck thing wore off.

He quickly learns that his date is laid back, and it isn’t hard to fall into a rhythm with her even though she’s the one asking most of the questions.

“How’d you meet Nat?” Is his attempt at one.

“She used to come in for lunch every week at the place I work.” Leah leans back in her chair. “She can really handle her alcohol.”

He’d be worried about Nat day drinking if he didn’t know about her complete inability to get drunk. She might as well have been downing glasses of lemonade.

“Yeah, she’s-” Intimidating, scary, cool “-really something.”

“She mentioned that you like movies.”  He definitely spends a lot of time watching them. “You got any recommendations?”

It’s easier to figure out how different things are or how much he missed out over the years through them. He’s glad he sat out the early 2000s, judging by their fashion sense and hairstyles.

He's watched several movies over the past few months, a few of them critically acclaimed and others who were just there for the cult following.

But now everything goes blank and the only thing that he can remember are the biopics made about Steve that were somehow hilarious for gifting him the mental image of Freddie Prinze Jr. dressed in the stars and stripes, and highly distressing for the number of historical inaccuracies. Contrary to popular belief, Stevie did not, in fact, consider running for president after he took up the shield, nor did he start his own bar chain.

He can’t name Oh Captain, My Captain starring Channing Tatum as his favourite movie on his first date and hope to make a good first impression.

“Despicable Me was kinda fun.” He wants to kill himself. “I mean, it’s the last one I saw.”

Her face twists in mild disgust, but he can tell it isn't ill-intentioned. “It's a good movie, but God, that just gave me some intense flashbacks to my aunt’s Facebook page. Don’t think I can look at a minion ever again.”

He sniggers with her. He doesn’t know what the context is.

He’s a little awkward, and he can definitely tell he isn’t the most open book but she laughs at some of his attempts at jokes. There’s a distinct discomfort he has lingering at the back of his mind prodding at him, telling him over and over again that he isn’t ready for something like this. A warning bell, asking him to leave as soon as possible because he was in a dangerous situation.

He remembers what his therapist told him about breathing and remembering that the resources he had available were greater than his anxiety and he tries to get out of his head. It takes a few minutes of acting like he's fine but he manages to do it.

Other than the one time he scalds his tongue on the coffee but played it off with a pained smile, shoving down thoughts of your stupid invention, things actually went okay.

It was nice, even though they decided by the end that it was better if they both gelled together better as friends. It lifts the strange fear he feels and he can hear Dr. Mendoza say she's proud of him for taking this step before spending three hours psychoanalysing why they decided to stay platonic.

Bucky promises to visit her sushi shop with Nat soon and she says a bottle of sake awaits him for a drinking game. He doesn’t have the heart to tell her that Nat and he share the same tolerance for alcohol.

He makes sure to leave George a tip. A big one. It’s the first time he sees the guy smile the entire evening.

He’s waving goodbye to Leah outside and he thinks that maybe it was a good end to the day and that things actually turned out fine.

Until he turns around to leave, only to have someone walk straight into him with an iced tea.

The cold comes as a bit of a shock, making him jump slightly. He stares at his shirt, using his fingertips to pull it away from his body.

The person melts into a series of apologies immediately, offering to dry clean his shirt but Bucky just forces a shake of his head and says it’s okay even though he can feel the sugar making the shirt stick to his chest. Goose feathers and iced tea. Was there anything else that would like to attach itself to him?

His fists clench and his teeth grit and he has to physically control himself from sprinting to your lair because God knows what else is in store for him and he didn't want to add in any way.

The door to the lair is locked. Fuckin’ brilliant.

When no one answers after minutes worth of waiting, he fishes for his phone and realises that maybe two hours of Fruit Ninja was not the best idea, especially on a phone known for having shitty battery life.

There’s roughly 2 percent left. By the time he opens his app to give you a call, his phone screen goes black.

He groans. He’s desperate at this point and under any other normal circumstances, he would have never, ever considered doing this.

But ten minutes later he’s outside your apartment building. You’re aware that he has your address; no doubt that it was in the SHIELD file he had gotten, and he knows that you know but it was still weird.

The buzzer has your last name listed next to it. He’s sure that he’ll break it if he keeps pressing it at this rate but he really needs you to let him in.

“Who the fu-” your voice comes through the intercom.

“I’m sorry for showing up like this, my phone died and I couldn’t reach you,” He breathes out as soon as he hears you. “But I need you to fix this.”

When he doesn’t hear a reply, he wonders if the thing actually worked. He’s about to start pressing it again-

“Bucky?” You sound a little surprised to hear him. “You’re at my house. Why are you at my house?”

“I need you to fix whatever this is.”

“What are you- fine, I’m buzzing you in,” your voice, initially confused soon trails off into something more dismissive.

There’s a soft click from the door, allowing him to push it open. The elevator is already on the same floor as him so he just uses that.

The elevator goes up a floor or two. His feet tap restlessly against the carpeted floor.

The lights turn off and everything comes to a standstill. His foot stops tapping.

He should have known. He should have fucking known.

Thirty seconds pass. He’s still in pitch darkness with the elevator showing no signs of moving.

In fact, he’s resigned to his fate. He sits down on the ground, only one step away from completely laying down and hoping someone finds his body here someday.

It’s six minutes of plain silence. He might as well get comfortable if he’s going to get stuck here for the rest of his life. Did he change his will? Does he even have a will?

There’s finally a whir. He thinks that maybe he’s going to plummet to his doom as the perfect end to this day, but then the light switches on and it starts moving upward.

It stops at the floor with a ding. He doesn’t get off the ground, only eyes the door wearily. With his luck, it wouldn’t open.

But it does and within a second he’s on his feet, scrambling to get out before it changes its mind.

He remembers your door number, basically charging down the hall to get to it.

The door is white and the paint is starting to chip off it. The handle itself is dented in a few places and he wonders if it was your fault or someone else's.

His knocks are rapid, agitated even. He doesn’t stop until he hears your loud shouts telling him to cut it out.

“What the hell were you doing, trying to break down my door?” It swings open, revealing you in your pajamas. “Haven’t you done that already? And where were you, I’ve been waiting for like, ten minutes.”

He honestly feels bad for showing up uninvited and highly flustered. He can’t imagine it’s a pretty sight either. "This bad luck shit- fix it. My whole day’s been fucked up.”

“What are you-” Your eyebrows knit together in confusion, taking in his appearance.

It takes you a second to realise what he’s talking about but when you do, your face settles.

“How was your date?” You lean against the door frame, arms crossed over your chest.

“Really,” He glowered at you, “that’s what you care about?”

“Yes.” You nod. “Did you have fun?”

He hesitates. “I guess?”

“Was she nice?”

“Yeah.” Where was this going.

“Good, I’m happy for you.” The smile on your face is genuine. “Look at you go, Casanova.”

“We agreed to be just friends, but that’s not the point here. Y/N,” he whines. “I have a mission next week, I can’t afford to fuck up. My whole day was off and I don’t want it to carry over.”

“Your whole day?” you questioned, standing up instead of leaning against the wall. “Buck-”

“Just fix it.”

“Okay.” You lift your hand up, extending it towards his face.

He waits for you to do something.

You flick him on the forehead.

“There,” you declare, going back to your previous position. “you’re cured.”

What.

He says exactly what he’s thinking.

You laugh. “Dude. I was fucking with you.”

Huh?

“Well, actually maybe just like, three things and then I got bored.”

He’s confused.

“You know,” you begin when he doesn’t reply, “taking the sugar packets, switching your coffee order when you were looking under the table, took your place when you left, the shoelaces.”

“The shoelaces?”

“Yeah.” You nod. “That’s the other ray gun you saw this morning. Unties your shoelaces. I stopped after that because I thought you figured it out.”

His face scrunches in puzzlement.

“I mean, you looked right at me and told me to cut it out.”

He racks his brain about what you could possibly be talking about before it hits him. The hungover person on the goddamn bench in the park.

“You were the one in the hoodie and sunglasses.”

“I just followed the Avengers’ code of disguise.” You shrug. “Turns out it kinda works. Also teleportation. So helpful.”

He forgot about the teleportation. That's why you could do all of it so fast without him noticing you were even there.

“What about the fucking geese?”

You pause for a second. “The geese?”

“And the elevator.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” The confusion on your face is apparent. “What geese and elevator? I have no idea what you’re saying right now.”

“Everything’s been a mess today,” he grumbles. “I don’t know what’s real or not.”

“I swear I had nothing to do with it other than what I mentioned.” There’s indignation on your features that quickly gives way to delight. “Holy shit, did I just accidentally invent portable bad luck?”

“Okay-” his palm finds its way to his forehead in exasperation, “-then what the hell was the smell?”

“What smell- oh, the one from the box?”

He nods briskly.

“Secretions Magnifique.” You snorted. “It’s a perfume. The worst rated one I could find.”

“Perfume?”

“With notes of milk, seaweed and sandalwood.”

“It wasn’t an inator?”

“No, it wasn- did you get vibe checked by a goose at the park?” You stifle a laugh when you notice a stray feather on his thigh.

“What does that even mean?” he asks in despair.

“I can see why it attacked you. You got bad juju.” You raise an eyebrow. “Maybe if you stop staring so much-”

“So I just have shit luck.” Is that a fucking relief or even worse?

“Well,” you begin but decide not to continue.

Even with all the irritability masking it, you could see that he genuinely was just not having a good time.

“Wait here a second.”

You leave him at the door. He shifts his balance and sighs, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. He still had to walk back to the Tower. Maybe he could grab a slice of pizza along the way since he skipped lunch.

“Okay, here.” You return with a large glass of water. He only looks at it. “It’s just water, I promise. You look like you ran a marathon."

He takes it from you sceptically, pushing away the urge to sniff at it. It’s gone within a few gulps.

You wait until he’s finished to point at his arm. He draws his eyebrows together, but you only curl your index finger and beckon for him to give you his hand.

He reluctantly extends it towards you.

“Don’t laugh,” you warn him, taking his metal arm. “This usually helps me.”

You tie a small bracelet around his wrist. It has a few beads, which he realises represent the colours of the solar system.

“Keep that for good luck.” You pat it gently after securing it. “I think you just had a bad day; those don’t last very long. Do you want to charge your phone before you leave?”

“Uh-” The bracelet’s pretty, the colours shine against the dark vibranium. “-no, I’m good. I’ll just leave.”

“Okay. Anything else I can help you with or will you be fine?”

He narrows his eyes. “You’re being suspiciously nice.”

“I’m not evil all the time.” You huff. “My hours are in the morning.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” he says again. “I’m gonna go then.”

“See you next week.” You give him a little wave. “I’d say break a leg on your mission but knowing your situation...”

He scoffs. “Thanks.”

You make a move to close the door when starts walking down the hallway towards the exit.

He adjusts the beads slightly so he can see them better. The Earth one has glitter in it. He thinks it’s cute.

“Bucky.”

He turns around.

There’s a hint of a smile on your face.

“Take the stairs.”

He doesn’t have to be told twice.

Next part

[tessatales]

Past scars and future hopes

Loki x F!Reader

Warnings: CONVERSATIONS ABOUT PAST SH! READ AT OWN RISK PLEASE.

A/N: Did someone say Loki one shot? No? Well tough your getting one. This fic is purely self indulgent as I’m recently 5 years clean 😊 so I thought to myself; what would I say to someone if they asked about my sh?

‘Good morning’ you said through a yawn, running your fingers roughly through tangled (y/h/c) hair as you plodded to the fridge.

A series of bright ‘good mornings’ and grumbled acknowledgements came from the Avengers Tower kitchen, each one distinct for who it came from.

‘You’re never up this early, what did you break?’ Natasha teased, pointing her cereal filled spoon in your direction before consuming the scoop.

‘Nothing! I’m going to school with Peter to help with his school project’ You replied as you poured yourself a coffee and returned the milk to the fridge.

Two distinct ‘Heys!’ erupted from the table.

‘Why did the kid ask you for help and not me?’ Tony grumbled, his eyebrows pinched together in the middle in mock anger.

‘Or me!’ Chimed Bruce, his face a little sad.

‘Because nether of you care about literature. Peter had to take extra credits in English to help his grade after he missed so much last semester, so I offered to help him with his spoken presentation’ Y/N replied, watching with a small smile as the two men visible relaxed.

‘How are you allowed in to help him anyway?’ Steve asked through a yawn.

‘It’s an open presentation, parents and friends are allowed to attend to listen.’ You reply, watching as recognition chimed in Tony’s eyes.

‘THAT’S what Peter asked me to come see! F.R.I.D.A.Y cancel my appointments I need to see the kid speak’ Tony said and you could laugh at how scatterbrained the genius could be.

‘Speaking of, as much as I’d love to sit here and watch Clint slowly wake up with that toast stuck to his face, I need to go get ready’ You said, draining the remains of your coffee before rinsing the cup and walking backwards towards the corridor that led to your room.

‘Clinnnnt’ You shout/sang as you went. Clints head shot up from his plate- the half eaten jam on toast firmly stuck to his left cheek. The team burst into loud early morning laughter.

You were so busy giggling, you didn’t realise you were walking into someone until you smacked straight into them. Before you had chance to hit the floor, a strong hand had you mid fall; their warm hand nearly completely circling your bare forearm.

‘You should really look where your going this early in the morning’ Loki said, his voice still laced with sleep.

‘Sorry Loki! I was to busy laughing at Clint’ You said, a small laugh escaping as you remembered the jam toast again.

When Loki didn’t reply, You looked up, realising with a start that Loki’s hand was now lightly caressing your upper arm; his callused fingers gently rubbing your faded self harm scars. Feeling a little self conscious, You gently slid your arm out of Loki’s grip.

‘I hate to hit and run Loki but I’ll be late for Peters project if I don’t get ready now’ You said, grinning before sidestepping Loki and running down the hall.

*Loki POV*

Loki wandered into the kitchen in a confused haze, his mind preoccupied as he made himself a drink. The avengers morning banter would of annoyed him when he’d first arrived at the tower, but now he’d come so accustomed to all of them that he (reluctantly) would say he enjoyed it.

‘Loki!’ Wanda shouted, her hand sparking red as she swiped the coffee pot from Loki’s hand. He’d been so distracted he’d overflown his cup.

‘What’s on your mind brother?’ Thor asked, a smug grin on his face as he finished his breakfast.

‘What kind of weapon could create small uniformed cuts on someone’s arms?’ Loki asked to no one in particular. The group stilled.

‘Why do you ask’ Natasha asked, her voice clipped.

‘Well I just quite literally bumped into Y/N and she had these marks all over her arms’ Loki said, staring into his drink as he thought.

‘Was she tortured?’ Loki asked to the silent room, surprised how much the thought of that turned his stomach. Tony shifted in his seat.

‘Loki, it’s complicated.’ Wanda said, her smile smaller than usual.

‘Why? Is it some classification I’m not qualified for? Or is it because you still don’t trust me’ Loki said, his voice becoming bitter by the end. Bruce groaned.

‘Look Loki, we’re not keeping you in the dark because your new or because it’s classified. It’s just not our story to tell. It’s Y/N’s’

‘So you’re telling me I need to ask her myself?’ Loki asked, frowning as to why they didn’t say that in the first place.

‘What we’re saying is it’s something only Y/N can explain. Just make sure you’re going into the conversation with an open mind.’ Steve said as he rose from his seat.

‘Not all battles are physical, but they may all leave scars Loki.’ Tony said, meeting Loki’s gaze.

Loki left the room more confused than when he’d entered, but one thing kept running through his head.

‘Not all battles are physical, but they may all leave scars Loki.’

Loki wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, but he knew one thing- he had a lot of questions for Y/N when she got home.

*Your POV*

You had been home for hours and the buzz you’d gotten from the A* you’d helped Peter achieve had only just worn off.

Humming a nonsense tune as you brushed your hair; You hopped about your room, only remember that they could play music through F.R.I.D.A.Y rather than sing when a soft knock came from the door.

‘Come in!’ You shouted.

The door clicked softly as it opened, revealing the obsidian black hair of Loki and he peaked around the door.

‘Good evening’ Loki said, looking uncomfortable. You frowned at Loki’s formal greeting.

‘Hey, what’s up?’ You asked, frowning as you crossed the room to sit on your bed. Loki shut the door behind them but didn’t step away from the door. He was shuffling his feet like he was itching to leave.

‘Loki, if you wanted to stand and shuffle you could of done that outside my room’ You said with a laugh, trying your best to get a grin out of the god of mischief.

‘Y/N… when you bumped into me this morning. I um. I’ Loki said, stumbling over his words in the most un-Loki way. You already knew what was coming, so explaining now rather than leaving Loki so flabbergasted was better.

‘You noticed my scars, yes’ You said simply, nodding slightly. Loki exhaled.

‘Yes. Yes, I noticed your scars and I was quite confused about how they may look that way and then when I mentioned it to the other they began acting- odd’ Loki said, the long stream of words rushing out of him one one long huff. You blinked.

‘They we’re all being very cryptic and I was still so confused so I just thought I’d take the teams advice and ask you’ Loki said, his voice coming out in a rush.

‘Come sit down’ You said, smiling reassuringly before gesturing towards the space on the bed. Loki took the space cautiously, less because of the situation and more for the proximity.

‘Do you know what depression is Loki?’ You asked. Loki shook his head.

‘Well, I’d like you to think back to when you were at your lowest. When you felt the darkest shade of black in your soul.’

Loki frowned, but after a moment, he nodded.

‘How did that make you feel?’ You asked.

‘It felts horrible. Like my existence wasn’t worth the stardust used to create it’ Loki said, clearing his throat slightly as he finished. You nodded.

‘And how did you get out of that feeling?’ You asked, shifting slightly on the bed.

‘I took it out on the people around me’ Loki said, dropping his head in shame.

You put your had lightly on Loki’s knee.

‘It’s okay. Now imagine you have that feeling all the time. Every minute of every day. It taints every happy moment, every laugh and every positive moment in your life until you begin to see the world in a numb shade of grey’ You said, your eyes slightly glassy as you remember the feeling. Loki’s face pales.

‘Life that is numb and grey is just not life.’ Loki said.

‘Exactly, it’s just existing.’ You replied, taking your hand from Loki’s knee to pull up your hoodie sleeve.

‘So when you were at your lowest, you took it out on others. When I was at my lowest; I took it out on myself. It was hurt myself or kill myself’ You said, stretching your arm out to fill the space between you and the god. He looked suddenly terrified.

‘Not all battles are physical, but they may all leave scars’ You said, looking up from your arm to Loki’s face.

‘Stark said that earlier.’ Loki said, his voice quiet. You laugh

‘I said it to him first; when I had this very same conversation with him when I moved to the tower’ you said, remembering the bear hug you’d gotten from the whole team after your confession.

‘You took a blade to your own flesh to feel something? To stop yourself ending your own life?’ Loki asked, his face ashen, you nodded.

‘Why did no one stop you!’ Loki said, his voice surprisingly sharp.

‘There was no one to stop me Loki. I’d completely isolated myself from everyone.’ You said, taking his hand in yours and you spoke.

‘You don’t need to get emotional over it. I’ve been clean 5 years now. I’m happy now. And there’s no need to dwell on the past. That’s part of the reason I did it in the first place’ you say, trying to lighten the mood you could see forming in the gods eyes.

Loki cleared his throat, the heaviness in his chest unsettling to him.

‘Um’ Loki said, staring at your connected hands. You squeezed lightly.

‘Shall we go get dinner? I can smell Steve’s signature chilli and it’s making my mouth water’ you joke, trying again to cheer the god up. He nodded without speaking, taking his hand away quickly as he rose from the bed.

‘Y/N?’ Loki said as you both reached the door.

‘Hmm?’ you said, turning to face him in the now open doorway.

You were nearly swept off your feet as Loki enveloped you in a hug. His arms creating a comforting pressure across your body. He smelled like Night and spice and Other. It was lovely.

‘Thank you for telling me.’ Loki said into your hair, squeezing lightly. You squeezed back.

‘It’s okay Loki.’ You reply stepping back to look at his face.

‘Come on, let get to the kitchen before Clint eats it all’ You smile, pulling away completely to take Loki’s hand a walking him in the direction of the kitchen.

*Loki’s POV*

‘It was hurt myself of kill myself’

The comment ran though Loki’s head as he let Y/N drag him to the dinner table. The thought of Y/N not being here burned a hole in his chest like a hot coal. But she was right. There was no reason to get emotional over the past.

She was still here, 5 year after her battle with herself. She was still here and she was happy and holding his hand. She’d battled herself and won. And Loki would be proud of her for that for the rest of his existence.

[strawberrymilkgeorge]

Part Two. Jackbox Shenanigans

warnings: swearing word count: 2.6k (not including pictures) behind the screen (irl dream x reader) series masterlist ultimate masterlist

Y/n flinched awake, startled by the sounds traveling from the kitchen. Once again, the frosty air pricked her skin, trying to convince her to not move, to stay in bed under the warm blankets. Despite the feeling pulling her into her bed, she rubbed her eyes and sat up, grabbing her phone from her nightstand. Texts from Karl flooded her screen and she replied as she took her comforter off her mattress and wrapped it around herself. She pattered to the source of the noise to find her roommate was making food.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Naomi asked, eyes wide with concern as she looked at Y/n. "I dropped a pan."

Y/n, who was observing the world through one squinted eye, shook her head and she sat at the counter in the kitchen. "No, I should be awake anyway."

"You're usually awake much earlier. Late night?"

Y/n nodded. "George streamed and we all talked for a little after."

"Oh, yeah, I watched his stream this morning..." she started, eyes focused on the food in front of her but Y/n still caught the mischievous glint in her roommate's eyes.

"Of course you did," Y/n laughed through a yawn. "That's your lover."

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Maybe if you gave me his number he would be."

"He doesn't give it to many people. I just barely got it and I've been friends with him for a year. I'm pretty sure Karl doesn't even have it."

Naomi groaned, though Y/n knew it was a joke... for the most part. She got another text from Karl, and consulted Naomi for a second opinion.

"Should I post this?" Y/n asked, lazily holding up her phone with a picture on the screen. Naomi squinted as she looked back over her shoulder. "Karl keeps yelling at me too."

"Yeah! That's a cute outfit. Make sure to credit Karl or he'll yell at you for that as well."

"No chance I'm doing that."

.

Incoming FaceTime... karol <3

Y/n hit accept and held the phone up to make a face at Karl. He mimicked the position. "Hello, sir."

"Hello, ma'am."

"What are you doing?" she asked him, walking to the bathroom to brush her teeth, her comforter dragging on the floor behind her as it continued to protect her from the cold.

Karl got distracted and started messing with something out of the camera view. "Um, trying to figure out what to do for my stream tonight. What about you?"

"I'm waiting for you to give me a fit check!" Y/n yelled. Karl quickly looked at the camera and smiled. He set his phone down on his desk and ran backward so his whole body was in frame. He posed awkwardly a few different ways before running back and resuming his position.

"Yes!" Y/n hyped with a mouthful of toothpaste. "Let's go, Karl! Karl with the old man sweater!!"

He giggled. "You're the one that told me to buy it."

"Because it's sick. Doesn't mean it didn't belong to an old man before you."

Karl pouted before his face lit up. "Guess what. I met a girl."

"Oh?" Y/n cooed. "Where? Do you have pictures? Is she cute?"

"She's Jimmy's new cameraman. Camerawoman. I don't have pictures, and yes. She's very cute." His cheeks turned red and Y/n smiled, flipping off the bathroom light and heading to her closet. She threw her comforter back on the bed and tried to pick out an outfit.

"Come on, bud, elaborate. What's her name? Have you asked her out yet?"

"You don’t get to know her name, I don’t want to jinx anything. Plus, you’ll just look ‘Mr Beast crew’ and find out anyway. Also, no, I haven’t. I'm pretty sure she thinks I hate her because I have not said a single word to her. I get so nervous when she's around I freeze up and just like... act weird. And then as soon as she's gone, Chris freaking roasts me so bad."

"Aw, I can teach you how to flirt if you want!"

"Yeah, okay," he scoffed, sarcasm dripping from his words.

"What's with the attitude? I'm great at flirting."

"No, you're not. I watched Gogy's stream last night."

"What does that have anything to do with anything?"

"I heard the way you spoke to Dream."

"What?!"

"You have zero game, Y/n. Absolutely none. Zilch, if you will."

"Yeah, because I wasn't flirting with him?"

"Not successfully, at least."

"Karl, what?" Y/n laughed but she was so confused. "No part of me was trying to flirt with anyone in that stream."

"Oh, come on," Karl groaned. "Don't do this again. Don't pretend to not like a guy and then cry to me when you're wack ass attempts don't win him over."

"Karl," Y/n started, looking directly at him. "I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about. I wasn't flirting with him. I do not like him."

"I'm just saying, you talk about him a lot. Like, you always panic when he interacts with your posts because you're scared he's going to DM you right after. And you gush about him a lot."

"I do not gush. I admire the hard work he puts into his videos but I talk the same about him as I do with George and Sapnap. The only difference is I'm friends with them and not Mr. Minecraft. He's intimidating, that doesn't mean I have a crush on him."

Karl stared for a moment, trying to read Y/n's expression to detect any lies. "You'd tell me if you did, right?"

"Karl, I tell you everything. I'd tell you if I murdered your family." They both laughed. "It's impossible to hide anything from you, you're my best friend."

"Okay, sweet, but please don't murder my family, just to be clear."

"I won't. I love your mom too much."

"Well, how was meeting Dream, then? Despite apparently not being in love with him?"

"It was cool. Terrifying because it felt very forced but the four of us hung out on the call after George ended his stream and he was much more relaxed."

"That's true. Aren't we all?"

"Not you! You're the exact same person on and off camera. Just a little ball of giggles."

Karl giggled which made them both laugh more. Suddenly, as if he completely forgot until that moment, Karl sat up quickly and yelled, "What am I going to do for the stream?"

Y/n shrugged. "See if anyone wants to play Jackbox. Chat always loves those and it's relatively easy to throw together last minute. You just need to find people that are free to play."

"Genius. Who should we invite?"

"We?"

"Yeah. It was your idea, you have to play."

"But, I've never played! And I barely know all your friends so I wouldn't get half the inside jokes. I'd be a boring addition."

"Please? They're your friends too! You just talked to Sapnap and George for four hours yesterday and George was the only one playing anything. That's friendship if I've ever seen it."

"But... others.... like literally everyone besides Sap and George...."

"Things like this are how you get to know them better. Besidessss, you're never boring."

"Fine, I'll play."

"YES!" he shouted. "Okay, who should we invite?"

**********

**********

Y/n huffed and scooted her chair closer to her desk. She pulled up Discord and hovered over the voice chat everyone was in. An overwhelming number of voices chaotically spoke over each other as soon as she joined.

"Oh no," she mumbled.

"AYYEE!!" a voice yelled, the green bubble lighting around Quackity's name confirming her suspicions.

"Aye," she said back less enthusiastic. "Hi everyone."

"She's here!" George cheered.

Y/n could hear Sapnap huff. "Finally. Geesh."

"This isn't even your stream, calm down." Y/n's eyes scanned the names on the left to read who else was involved in tonight's games. She had suggested a few people to Karl but wasn't sure about the final list. Besides the boys who had already greeted her were BadBoyHalo and Dream.

"Hello, Bugsy! It's nice to meet you! I'm BadBoyHalo."

Y/n smiled widely at his voice. "Hi, BadBoyHalo! Nice to meet you too."

Her eyes slowly traveled to the last name on the list, which had yet to greet her. She wasn't bitter, but she was curious why he hadn't said anything yet. The boys hyped up him talking about her so much but she had yet to feel that energy from him. She picked at the bottom of her hoodie, eyes darting between the names as they lit up when someone spoke.

"Is Dream still AFK?" Sapnap asked.

"I think so," Bad replied.

Maybe that's the only reason he hadn't said anything. Y/n felt stupid for thinking it had anything to do with her.

"He's probably coding something or something like that," George teased.

"Haha nerdy ass man," Quackity cackled.

"Language."

"Don't you also code shit, George?" Sapnap called out. "You're probably helping him test something after this, huh? As Quackity said, nerdy ass man."

"You know what, Sapnap? I'm not sure I like your attitude all that much."

Y/n smiled. Despite feeling nervous, she was already having fun just listening to everyone talk. The real nerves would kick in when they were live in front of tens of thousands of people and she would have to be funny.

A message popped up in the general chat, notifying everyone that Karl was joining the voice call soon so they shouldn't say anything bad.

"Everyone say something weird," Quackity directed.

Discord dinged and Karl's name joined the list on the side. "AAAHHHH-!" he started yelling over everyone to let them know he was here in case they were saying anything bad. With his luck, they were going to say stuff anyway to mess with him.

"So, yeah, that's how I lost my virginity," Quackity said as if he just finished a story.

"To a prostitute?" Sapnap added quickly. "Wow, I never thought you... oh Karl!"

"Language!" Bad gasped.

"What the..." Karl laughed loudly. "What did I just join?"

"Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry," Quackity apologized, which was hard to make out since he was laughing so hard, surprised at what Sapnap added to his joke.

"Bad, you can't say language about a prostitute," Sapnap defended. "That's really rude of you. Maybe it's a little unconventional but they're just tryna make some money the best way they know how."

George laughed with Quackity as Bad sputtered. "I-I said language about what Quackity said!"

"What, virginity?" Karl asked innocently and Bad yelled again.

"Bad hates people who have had sex!" Y/n called, causing Quackity to laugh loudly.

"Bad! How could you?! That's so messed up!"

"Wait, guys, is everyone here?" Karl asked.

"Dream isn't. We don't know where he went."

Karl groaned and started typing something, presumably yelling at Dream to join.

"Let's goooo! We're popping off!" Quackity started saying, stalling. "We're popping off!" George joined him, becoming absolute fools to keep the chat entertained.

"Okay, he's here!" Karl said. "Everyone's here!"

"I'm here, I'm here, sorry. I was... yeah, sorry," Dream stuttered out.

"Welcome back, Dream!" Bad chirped.

"Hello!" he replied. Unexpectedly, his next greeting was directed at Y/n. "Hi, Bug."

Y/n instantly got shy for no discernable reason. She blamed it on his voice and its ability to manipulate emotions any way he wanted. That and she was getting attention from someone first. "Hi," she squeaked back, hoping the contrast of her icy hands would cool her face enough to focus on the game.

"Bugsy, you are adorable," Bad stated simply.

"Sapnap! What did you just send me?" George asked loudly, and just like that, the attention was off of her and she could breathe again.

"What?" Sapnap feigned innocence.

This was going to be a long game.

"Let's play!" Karl decided. "Should we warm up with some Quippy?"

Y/n focused intensely on her answers, silently hoping the others would find her funny.

"Oh my gosh," she mumbled as everyone else finished writing. "Y'all, I'm about to get Quiplashed so hard. Don't make fun of me."

"I seriously doubt it," Dream said. "You can't possibly be worse than George at this game."

"Shut up, we always-  it's like 3 am my time. I can't, like, think of things 'cause my brain isn't functioning."

"Yeah, that's why," Sapnap teased.

"Surreee," Dream said.

The first round wasn't too bad. Y/n was in 5th place but she got quite a few laughs so she didn't care too much about where she stood. She got a notification from Dream on Twitter as everyone laughed at one of Quackity's answers.

Y/n looked back at her screen and saw the new prompt and answers. She read them quickly as everyone was laughing and with a few seconds left to choose, voted for the one on the left. It was funnier anyway.

She loosened up substantially after another round, and she knew it was mostly because Dream had reached out to her. Something about him comforted her and made her feel safe, which warmed her heart.

"Bugsy! What the hell, that's so messed up. You're so messed up," Quackity yelled, laughing at the answer on the screen. They were playing Survive the Internet and her comment got taken way out of context, just as the game intended.

"Oh my gosh!" Karl cackled loudly. "Bugsy, I didn't know you felt that way. Oh my gosh? They're just kids?? Bugsy out the gang?"

Y/n hid her face in her hands and laughed. "Noooo!! Wait I never knew- I didn't know I was ever in the gang?"

"She really said, 'infant children? slaughter them all'," Sapnap joked.

"You know, I think you'd get along really well with Technoblade," Dream added. "Though his specialty is orphans, as it appears."

"No, no, no, whoever wrote that heading is SO messed up!" Y/n defended, rereading the heading that made her comment look bad. She knew it was a game but all the attention on her was making her embarrassed. "Who would think to put that?"

"Everyone cancel Busgy!" Karl yelled.

"Karl, no! You're supposed to be my best friend!"

"I don't know how I feel about my best friend killing children..."

"Karl!!"

"Nooo," Bad protested softly. "I like Bugsy. Don't cancel her."

"Everyone vote!"

The article with Y/n's name turned out to be Dream's. "Dream! What the hell is wrong with you?" she yelled, causing him to wheeze loudly.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I wanted point."

The whole night ended up being like that. Y/n had a lot of fun and by the end, she felt a lot more comfortable with all of them. Quackity, Karl, and Sapnap were loud and very high energy while George and Bad were quieter. Dream was half and half, sometimes matching Quackity's volume and sometimes going a while without saying a word. Overall, Y/n had a lot of fun and hoped to let back in the gang in the future.

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A/N: WOOO PART TWOOO!! Hope you guys enjoyed this part! Also thank you so much for all the love on the first part!! I did not expect it to get as much attention as it did!!!!!

we clearly haven’t got to dream and yn being close yet bc they literally met the day before this but i added a small little dream/yn moment :] pls let me know how you liked this part!!!!!!!!!!!! 

taglist: OPEN (at the time) @hydrate-tion @loraleiix @tinaswagbd @charsdummb @smileyyuta @1ghoste1 @cerberus-hellhound @gaysludge @queestionmark @carnations-red @letsloveimagines @the-fictionwriters-hairdo @boiled-onionrings @a-cryptic @fee-btheweeb @letsloveimagines @erwinss @just-a-stan