#THANK YOU LIA I MISSED YOU!! LOTS!!! and your next ask…..oh FUCK

[ipegchangbin]

bully anon is filling my pea brain with insane thoughts... I have now become a bully aswell

making channie do you homework in front of you while you sit right behind him and sneak your hands under his shirt, dragging your nails along his sides making him shiver and inching upwards to his nipples🥰

rubbing them and noticing the way his breathing picks up so you lean your head ln his shoulder and notice that he stopped writing, so you tug at his nipples harshly making him arch his back and whimper in pain🥰

scolding him for being such a pervert makes his stomach churn with the shame and humiliation and his head spins. now he just has to finish (the homework) while you tug at his nipples, face flushed a deep red🤭

❕mean reader, degradation

LIA HEY OKAY IVE MADE THIS ASK MARINATE MOSTLY BECAUSE I HAVE MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS

prefacing this by saying if i end up dead, just know that lia and bully anon are the culprits (affectionate & with love). and the cause is death by sub!chan 😭

chan wouldn’t be able to sit still in this state. unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to cum either, because under your command there’s no such thing as cumming without permission.

let’s make it better though: chan is attending your online lecture for you and doing your homework while tuning in.

your hands find his nipples, fingers pinching hard, sending shockwaves all over his body. your embraces catches him and puts him in place. it doesn’t help that he could feel your own perked up nipples behind his back. the cooing from your lips followed by the plush flesh nibbling on his sensitive earlobes don’t help him.

“better perfect those notes, channie. i want good scores on the exam tomorrow.”

poor channie clicks his pen to redeem some sort of focus. “m-mhm,” he mutters.

“what do you mean ‘mhm?’ use your words.”

“y-yes, i will.”

your face lights up. “thanks, baby,” the pet name makes chan whimper through a bitten lower lip.

he crucially forgets that you weren’t done with your sentence.

“but you’re not focusing well. your handwriting’s wobbly, you’re not even writing anymore. what are you, useless?”

it was a good thing that your device was on mute and your digital camera was off. the risk in showing your pathetic boy toy to your class was addictively thrilling, sure, but exhibitionism could be saved for the future.

there were no labels yet but you still wanted to him to yourself. your best guess behind this behavior is that you can’t get over the thought that nobody gets to hear the moans of the university’s biggest people-pleaser.

before you could get too into your head about it, you grope at his chest and flick hard on his nipples at the same time, reminding you of his sweet voice. and, of course, reminding him of his place.

“i’ll be good!” that’s exactly what you wanted to hear.

…actually, sub!loser!chan is the death of me. lia and bully anon get a pass, this channie has effectively killed me

thank you for sending this in!!! ILL CRY NOW

[skzfairies]

destined best friend reunion

pairing: yuri + ateez (mingi centered)

words: 1.5k

summary: after mingi returns the dorms after his hiatus, him and his destined best friend have a reunion.

tag list. @shinyddeonghwa @ateezjuliet @atzaria [send an ask to be included!]

“yuri, come here!” hongjoong yelled from the couch, rereading the text message that mingi had sent him, telling him that he was on his way to the dorms.

he laughed when he heard her stomp down the ladder, and mumble some curses to her leader as well. when she finally had made her way into the living room, she was glaring at her leader in front of her, with her arms crossed.

“don’t be mad at me, mingi is coming back!” hongjoong exclaimed, and yuri quickly gasped, covering her mouth, and jumped in excitement with a huge smile on her face.

“no fucking way!” yuri yelled, still looking at hongjoong with disbelief, clapping when hongjoong had shown her mingi’s text message.

“i haven’t seen yuri this excited since her itzy album came in.” seonghwa mumbled but it didn’t go unnoticed by yuri, her quickly throwing herself next to him, and starting pinning him down onto the couch and to begin tickling him, causing seonghwa to erupt into a fit of giggles.

“i got a lia photo card, okay? i have known her longer than any of you, so remember that jisu is more superior to me than you all are.” yuri said once she finished, now hugging onto seonghwa’s waist, her head resting on her shoulder.

“what about mingi?” san asked from beside her, laughing when the girl rolled her eyes.

“that’s different. he was the first one to step up and talk to the beautiful girl that stepped foot in your practice room, who was me, and therefore he will always have a special part in my heart.” yuri said, glaring at yunho when he sighed when she complimented herself.

“yuri, you are so extra.” seonghwa laughed, pouting when yuri had no longer cuddled him.

“san, are you going to be mean to me?” yuri asked, looking at san with a pout, smiling when he shook his head no. “dance with me!” yuri shouted, pulling san up from the couch and forced san to twirl her, san later picking her up into a spin, smiling when he heard yuri giggle.

“san, i’m so excited!” yuri smiled, hugging onto san when he put her down.

“me too, i call hugging him first!” san yelled, looking around the room, at everyone.

“i call second!” yuri shouted, smirking up at san, causing him to furrow his eyebrows.

“what are you planning? san asked, looking at her suspiciously.

“oh, nothing!” yuri said, with a far too innocent tone to be believed.

“oh my god yuri, stop being so scary!” yeosang yelled, who yelled again when yuri had sat in his lap. “get off me, you ugly human!”

“yeosang, stop pretending you don’t love me. you text me everytime i’m not home to ask me when i’m coming back.” yuri smirked, pinching yeosang’s cheek when he had threw his head back.

“i hate you.” yeosang grumbled, but yuri had no time to retort, because she could hear the faint sound of the door being unlocked, and as soon as the sound hit her ears, she was carefully leaving yeosang’s lap, and then bursting into a run to the door, beating san.

tumblr stop deleting things AND BE NICE.

“my destined best friend is home!” yuri yelled once she had opened the door, letting mingi place his bags down and throwing herself onto mingi in a hug, which he gladly returned, and picked her up as well.

“i missed you!” mingi said, ruffling her hair when he had placed her down.

“mingi, i missed you more than you can imainge. i had to deal with these idiots all by myself.” yuri pouted, smiling when wooyoung yelled in protest.

“you weren’t nice to them at all, were you?” mingi asked, laughing slightly and shaking his head when yuri had confirmed. “my little devil.” mingi cooed, patting her head and giving san a hug, who was standing right next to yuri.

it took awhile for yuri to finally realize that mingi had called her little, it was until he was hugging hongjoong and she had laughed at the height difference, that she realized that he had called her little.

“did he called me little?” yuri asked wooyoung, both of them were standing behind mingi, with an admiring smile on their faces.

“yeah he did, but compared to him, you are soooo tiny.” wooyoung said, playfully wrapping his arm around yuri’s shoulder.

“i hate you.” yuri grumbled, which wooyoung only laughed in response, smiling softly when he saw her sulk slightly.

“what’s wrong, yuri?” mingi questioned, finally turning around once he had let hongjoong go, and placed his hands on top of yuri’s shoulders.

“shes sulking because you called her little.” wooyoung smirked, smiling up at mingi, who quickly laughed and smiled, shaking his head and looking back down at the girl.

“you’re cute.” mingi smiled, patting the top of yuri’s head, and walking towards his bags that were still on the ground. “if it makes you feel any better, i brought you something.” mingi said, sitting on the ground and pulling a canvas out of his bag, holding it against his chest. yuri had quickly ran over, and sat on the ground with mingi, trying to peak at the canvas that he was holding.

“ah ah ah, no peaking.” mingi laughed, leaning away from yuri’s curious eyes, laughing more when she had pouted. “you gotta tell me you love me.” mingi smirked.

yuri’s face immediately softened, a small smile forming onto her lips. “of course i love you, mingi.” yuri whispered, placing a soft kiss onto mingi’s cheek, smiling when she saw the faint blush growing on his cheek.

“how come shes so soft with him? she only gave me a kiss on my cheek when i bought her food.” hongjoong complained, the other members joining along too, but mingi and yuri payed no mind, both in their own little world.

“okay, are you ready?” mingi questioned , finally showing yuri the painting when she had nodded her head.

the painting was of both yuri and mingi looking at the golden gate bridge from behind when they had taken a quick stop in san francisco before getting on a plane to the next showcase, so yuri could visit her hometown and her family for a little bit. yuri smiled down at the painting, even though they were only in san francisco for a few hours, that had been one of her most cherished memories. she had been able to see friends and family that she hadn’t seen in years, and she saw sights that she missed so much, all with her boys. she didn’t notice the tears that were falling down her cheeks until mingi had wrapped her into a hug.

“mingi i- how did you-” yuri mumbled, unable to finish her sentence due to the shock that she was experiencing.

“a couple canvas’s later and multiple youtube videos.” mingi chuckled softly, handing yuri the painting from the side hug he had her in.

“can i keep it?” yuri whispered, unable to pry her eyes from the painting.

“of course, i made it for you silly.” mingi laughed, resting his head on yuri’s shoulder.

“wait, i have something for you too.” yuri said, carefully handing mingi the painting, and running to her room, later coming back with her phone and her airpods, handing mingi the airpods to put in his ear, and she was hurriedly pulling up the file that she wanted to play. when she had finally found it, she had pressed play and looked over at mingi, with a soft smile on her face.

it was a soft and sweet song that she had worked on while mingi was gone, and she had written the lyrics while thinking of him, as well. she had written about how thankful she was for him, and she wrote about how much she loved him and how cherished their memories were to her. once the song had finished, mingi, who had tears starting to flow down his cheeks, had heard yuri’s soft voice.

“hi mingi, i hope you know i love you a lot. i don’t think i would ever be able to express how much i love you just with words, so i hope this was able to give you some sort of jist of how thankful i am for you. you have been my best friend before ateez even debuted, and you are still mine even afterwards. i want to thank you for always staying beside me, and always being there for me. i will always be there for you, no matter what. i’ll always be here to cheer you on, okay? you are doing so well, and i’ll always be proud of you. i love you.” yuri had said, and the music had finally faded out, so mingi had taken the head phones out, and hugged onto yuri tightly, smiling when she had wrapped her arms around his waist.

“thank you.” mingi had whispered, pulling yuri into his lap on the ground.

“i love you, mingi.” yuri whispered back, brushing mingi’s hair so it was out of his eyes. she was happy to have her best friend back at home, and he was happy to be back at home with her. no matter what, they will always be on each other’s side, ready to pull each other into a hug when needed, and they never planned on changing anything.

[starrybethany]

I’m Sure - Adam Boqvist Imagine Part 6

Adam Boqvist: I’m Sure Masterlist

Word Count: 3.7K

Taglist: @flowery-mess​ @musiclove-12​

I sit in the lobby of the gynecologist’s office, flipping mindlessly through a parenting magazine. These magazines are so stupid- they’re meant to make parenting look easy and flawless, like nothing could go wrong- spoiler note, they’re wrong.

Your partner could leave you at any moment.

Your child could lie to you.

You could end up unexpectedly pregnant multiple times.

Children aren’t as easy as people like to think that they are. I sigh, throwing the magazine onto the coffee table in front of me and peak at my watch. It’s a minute until the time that my appointment is actually scheduled for. I was hoping to get in earlier to get out earlier. I want to pick Holden up from school and take him to an arcade to relax, since everything has been so hectic lately.

The slow, casual opening of the sliding doors are a sharp contrast to the frazzled, out-of-breath man that runs through them. He pants, looking around frantically at all of the couples staring back at him before locating me.

“Oh good, you haven’t gone in yet,” he gasps, practically throwing himself into the chair next to me and turning his hat around on his head so it’s backwards.

“I thought you were a professional athlete, how are you so out of breath?” I point out, ignoring his comment.

“I’ve been missing my workouts to hang out with you and the boys,” he gives me a flirty smile.

I roll my eyes. “Sorry to be such an inconvenience.”

His smile fades as he looks at me. “Hey, that’s not what I-“”Y/N Y/L/N?” The nurse calls my name at the perfect time.

I jump out of the chair, different from the past couple of weeks where I’ve had to ease myself up due to my growing belly.

“How are you doing today?” The nurse asks as she leads the way down the hallway.

“I’m good, how about you?”

“I’m good, thank you.”

Adam trails behind us as we enter a small exam room. He hovers awkwardly in the doorway as the nurse brings me over to the scale, weighing me and taking down my height. I motion to one of the empty chairs beside the computer and he quickly sits down, an apologetic look on his face.

I can’t help but feel annoyed.

I know he’s new to this and uncomfortable and I should just appreciate him being here in the first place, but holy hell I can’t hold his hand through everything. If he can’t even sit down in a fucking chair by himself, how can I trust him to change a diaper? Or God forbid, if he had to be with the baby by himself?

I’m doubting the man next to me as I take the chair beside him, updating the nurse on my personal information.

“Any concerns?” The nurse asks, typing furiously on the keyboard.

“My back is hurting really bad. With my last pregnancy, I don’t remember it hurting this bad,” I confess, rubbing my lower back as the shooting pain makes its way through my back.

“I will write a note for the doctor. Alright, she’ll be in shortly,” she smiles before leaving.

I feel like I’m practically begging her with my eyes to stay. I don’t want to be left alone with Adam, I know I should get used to it because he sounds like he wants to be involved in the boys lives now, but there’s something preventing me from feeling fully comfortable around him.

“What was it like with Holden?”

His question snaps me out of my thoughts, and I turn my head towards him, making eye contact with him. I feel taken aback every time we make eye contact- it’s like I’m seeing his blue eyes for the first time all over again.

“What was what like with Holden?” You’ve missed out on a lot of moments, you’re going to have to be specific here, buddy.

“Your pregnancy,” he shifts awkwardly. “You said you have more backaches this, uh, time, than you did when you were, um-“”You can say the word pregnant, Adam.”

He clenches his jaw. “Fine. You said you have more backaches this pregnancy than when you were pregnant with Holden, so what else is different? There, are you happy I said it? Pregnant.”

“Whatever,” I cross my arms over my chest, excitement for this appointment ruined by Adam’s shitty attitude. He’s shown me time and time again that he’s still selfish, so tell me again, why am I allowing him to be here?

“Well?”

“Well what?” I question, looking at him in disbelief.

“What’s different?” He asks like I’m the stupid one.

“Oh my God, Adam, I still get nauseous at the smell of scrambled eggs, my feet hurt more when I was pregnant with Holden than with this baby, but this baby makes my back hurt more, and this baby loves to kick way, way, way fucking more than Holden did. There, are you happy I said it?” I repeat his question. “Do you feel like asking about my pregnancy with Holden makes up for you not being there?”

He’s quiet. We sit in this sharp tension for a good five minutes before the doctor arrives, neither of wanting to say anything. Or maybe it’s that we just don’t know what to say.

“Hi, how are we feeling today?” Dr. Rocht questions as she enters the room.

“Hungry,” I respond, dreaming about the local sub shop down the street from the women’s clinic.

Adam gives me a look of disbelief, like he can’t believe that I would even be thinking about food after the fight we just had. But hey, the baby’s hungry.

“Why don’t we have you climb on the exam table so we can get you an ultrasound of this growing baby, huh?” She requests.

I nod, standing up and climbing onto the table, lifting my shirt so that my small bump is in view.

I see Adam’s eyes widen at the sight of it, like he didn’t actually realize that I was pregnant, but I ignore him.

“So did you open the envelope to see what you’re having?” She makes small talk as she preps the equipment.

“It’s a boy,” I smile with the news.

“A boy,” Dr. Rocht repeats with a smile of her own, “Is your son excited to have a younger brother?”

“He is! I think he would’ve been excited either way, but I think he’s really looking forward to having a baby brother.”

She rubs the gel on my lower stomach and I’m silent as I stare anxiously at the ultrasound screen, waiting for the picture of my baby boy to show up.

There he is. With his little button nose, tiny lips, and the outline of his body, I cherish it every time I get to see him. He’s really there- he’s really inside of me. Using my body and the nutrients that I give him, he’s growing.

A wide, cheesy grin spreads across my face as I see him.

“Are you okay there, dad?” Dr. Rocht’s voice snaps me out of the moment I’m having with myself.

I turn to look at Adam, seeing him ball his hands into fists and rub at his eyes, sniffling along with the motion. “Yeah, it’s just, uh, the first time that. I’ve seen this.”

A pane of guilt hits my chest with the way I’ve been treating Adam. He’s been out of his kids’ lives for the past thirteen years, yes, but he’s trying now. And shouldn’t he get some credit for that?

The gynecologist asks me a question, turning my attention back to her. She gives me some advice about how to deal with the backaches and prints out three pictures of the ultrasound. One for me, one for Adam, and one for Holden. I tuck two of them into my purse and give the other to Adam, heading to the front desk to make my next appointment right away.

The blonde man walks past me as I talk to the receptionist, out through the front doors and into the parking lot. My emotions have been all over the place all day- I’m aware of that- but walking away from me after asking me to be involved in your sons lives and crying at the ultrasound just seems downright disrespectful and inconsiderate.

His actions clearly aren’t matching up with his words.

I walk into the parking lot, unlocking my car.

“Y/N.” I look over to see Adam waiting on a bench outside of the building, looking back at me.

“What, Adam?” I question, just wanting to get my sub, eat it, and take a nap. I feel so drained from the last couple of days. Although this may be benefiting my children, this whole process with Adam is entirely exhausting to me.

“I’m looking for an apartment. Here, in Philadelphia. For the next three months,” he informs me.

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, speaking slowly. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“Why not?” I can tell by his tone that he’s instantly defensive.

That’s why, I want to respond. Because you aren’t willing to listen or understand anything other than your opinion.

“Adam, I just,” I sigh, shifting my purse strap. “Holden still hasn’t decided whether he wants a relationship with you, and I don’t know when he will make a decision. And- and there’s nothing you can do for me or this baby right now.”

“I just came to an ultrasound with you,” he points out.

“And you started an argument with me while in there.” I wave my hands around for emphasis, probably looking like a crazy person but needing to get my point across. “You stress me out. And it’s not good for my health or the baby’s health. I’m sorry, but I think you should return to Chicago. I’ll send you weekly updates.”

I get into my car, knowing that his eyes are following me, but his mouth doesn’t move. He’s finally starting to understand what I’m saying.

~

One of the good things about having a baby bump, beside it meaning that the baby is growing healthily, is that you can balance things on it. Like right now, when I have three stacks of plastic cups resting on my stomach as I carry them from the back to the front.

I set the cups on the counter, bending over to put them away.

“Okay, Y/N, Rachel, Marcella, and I have been talking, and we really like Sebastian,” Lia informs me, sliding her phone into her back pocket.

Marcella asked for the day off and Rachel had to leave early to go to a doctor’s appointment, so it’s just me and Lia this afternoon. It’s fine, it’s a slow Wednesday anyways.

“Who’s Sebastian? Is that the boy you’re kind of dating?” I question. The three girls are texting each other all of the time so they’re always caught up on each other’s lives, but I’m a little slower when it comes to that.

“No, for the second baby,” she beams, “Sebastian is the name of our favorite character from Vampires Defending the Nation. Have you seen it?”

“Nope,” I respond, knowing it’s probably some rip off of The Vampire Diaries.

“It’s so good! You have to see it,” she gushes, “So, have you thought about other names for the baby yet?”

“Not really,” I confess. “I mean, I still have another four months to think about it.”

“Hey, Y/N,” a familiar voice interrupts my conversation with Lia.

I turn around to face the customer, sighing when I see Adam standing expectantly on the other side of the counter.

“What can I get for you, Adam?” I step up to the cash register.

“I found an apartment and paid the down payment today. Just thought you should know,” he tells me.

“So, one large caramel Frappuccino,” I try to keep the annoyance out of my voice as I tap the order onto the cash register.

“And I wanted to invite you and Holden over for dinner tonight.”

“Extra whip, that’ll be an additional dollar.” My fingers jap the register harder now.

“Come on, Y/N, please. Just talk to him for me,” he pleads, pulling cash out of his wallet despite never ordering the Frappuccino.

“It is not my job to fix this for you,” I snap at him, lowering my voice once I notice other customers begin to look at us. “You got yourself into this, you can get yourself out of it. I’m sick of you fucking up and it all falling onto me, Boqvist.”

“Just tell him to respond to my texts, please.”

“It’s like you never hear a word I say,” I shake my head, exhausted from his attitude. “Your total is $5.47.”

He hands a fifty-dollar bill to me and I make sure to avoid contact with his hand, not wanting to end up in the same situation we ended up in last time we were in this café together.

“Keep the change.”

I hand him back two twenty-dollar bills, four singles, two quarters, and three pennies.

Keep the change my ass. Do you think throwing money at me will get me to change my mind?

“Coming right up,” I give him a fake smile, turning around to make his drink.

As I hand him the large cup, he leans in closer to me. I feel like I’m holding my breath, like if I release the oxygen from my lungs it’ll tangle with the oxygen from his lungs and we’ll be connected again.

“Just think about dinner, okay?” He gives me a soft smile before the front door chimes after him.

“Is that baby daddy?” Lia’s voice startles me out of my frozen state.

I nod, not trusting my voice to speak.

“Wow, he is hot,” she exclaims. When I give her a look of disapproval, she adds, “And an asshole. Total asshole.”

~

“Mom,” Holden hollers, stumbling down the steps. I pause Vampires Defending the Nation at the perfect time since Holden stops right in front of the TV.

“What’s up, bud?”

“Adam told me that he wants to buy me the new Halo game,” he states excitedly.

I keep myself from rolling my eyes. First he tries to pay me to talk to Holden for him at the café and now he’s buying Holden’s love by getting him a new video game.

Does this man think that money just fixes everything?

“That’s nice, honey,” I try to give him a smile, but it probably looks more like a grimace.

“And, uh,” he suddenly looks shy, making me wonder what Adam told him this time. I never know with Adam- I can never predict him. “And he told me that he, um, invited us over for dinner. And, uh, I would like to go, if, if you want to.”

I study him. He’s not fiddling with his fingers, he’s avoiding eye contact with me not because he’s lying, but because he’s unsure of my reaction, he’s not biting his lip. He’s not feeling pressured into doing this by Adam, it’s something that he really wants to do.

“Are you sure?” I question, giving him the chance to change his mind.

“I’m sure, mom.”

“Alright,” I pull out my phone slowly to text Adam that we’d be there in an hour, giving Holden the final chance to change his mind.

He doesn’t. And now I have to see Adam in less than an hour, something that I’m dreading, yet somehow deep inside, looking forward to.

~

Adam’s apartment is only twenty minutes away from our small townhouse, but it’s a stark difference to how we live. Whereas the brick outside of our townhouse is from the early 1900s and the paint is peeling (the landlord refuses to pay me back if I paint it myself- and I’m stubborn too, so I refuse to do it for free) while I remember Adam’s apartment building being built last year and there’s a security guard at the entrance who greets us.

I reach out to grab Holden’s hand. I’m not sure if it’s more for me or him, but I think we both need the comfort of each other.

The receptionist gets clearance from Adam to allow us up to his apartment and I hesitantly knock on the fake wood door, stepping back and waiting for it to open up.

It swings open, a beaming Adam Boqvist on the other side. “Glad you guys could make it, come on in.”

We walk into the apartment hesitantly, taking off our shoes.

“So, it has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, I figured a room for me, a room for Holden, and a room for the new baby, and uh, I made spaghetti for dinner,” the hockey player rambles, hurrying over to the stove to stir the steaming pot.

“No room for you,” Holden murmurs, teasingly, nudging my arm with his.

I roll my eyes at that, but his father clearly hears his comment, because he responds, “Oh, I was thinking she would share a room with me.”

Just as I’m about to bite back with a sassy response, he takes the pot off of the stove to dump the boiling water out. I take the time to slyly check out the apartment.

The walls are a stark white- something that he’ll regret once this baby gets into his trouble-making-toddler phase, the appliances are all brand new, and the furniture looks very modern.

Truthfully, it doesn’t look comfortable to live in. It looks like something out of a magazine.

“Dinner’s ready,” Adam announces.

We pile our plates with food, and I take a seat at the table, Holden sitting across from me and Adam sitting next to me.

“A water for you and the baby, a water for Holden,” Adam states, setting a glass down beside each of our plates before taking a seat next to me. “So, Holden, how was school today?”

I zone out as my son answers.

In the seat next to Holden, a girl a couple of years younger than him would be smiling at me. Holden would reach over to pick up the piece of garlic bread that fell in her lap, setting it on her napkin on the table. A high chair would be at the end of the table next to Adam, and in between bites of his spaghetti, he would feed the waiting, hungry baby.

That baby would be an accident. But we would laugh and joke about half of our babies being accidents, not in the way we do now, but in a joking, loving way.

A way that would show, yes, this wasn’t planned, but we’re in this together. We’re always in this together.

It’s what could have been. We could have had a nice house that we designed together, three kids that were by both of us, hell, even a dog. We could have been together. We could have done this together.

“Mom?”

I look at Holden with questioning eyes. He gives me a look of concern, nodding towards Adam. “Adam asked you a question.”

I swallow the lump in my throat, meeting Adam’s eyes. He’s always been good at telling my emotions, and that’s why he can press my buttons so easily. But now he just looks like he wants to comfort me, wrap me in his arms and never let me go.

“Sorry, what did you ask?”

“Are you alright?” He mumbles like we’re the only people in the room, ignoring my question.

“I’m fine, um, the baby’s just kicking me really hard,” I lie, hoping that even if he doesn’t believe it, he’ll accept it.

He nods slowly, a tell-tale sign that he doesn’t believe my lie, but he’ll let it slide. “I asked you who you were working with today.”

“Oh, that’s Lia,” I answer. We make small talk for the rest of dinner, but I feel concern oozing both from the man beside me and the boy across from me.

I just need to get through this dinner, then I can go home and sleep. And sleep. And sleep.

I pull the shoe onto my foot, losing my balance and beginning to tumble forward. A hand shoots out to catch me, steadying me.

“Thank you,” I murmur as I rise to my full height, planting my feet firmly on the ground.

“Gotta be careful, there,” Adam mumbles back, arm still holding onto mine. We stand there in a comfortable silence for the first time in thirteen years. I don’t want it to end, but then I remember that Holden still has homework to do, and I have to do some things before work tomorrow.

“We should get going now,” I state, moving towards the door.

“Y/N, wait,” his voice stops me. I turn around to face him. “Um, I just wanted to let you know that I’m trying. And I know I’ve been saying that for a while and I haven’t really been acting like it, but I rented this apartment, and I cooked this dinner and I’m trying to be there for Holden because I haven’t been there for him.

“And I’m trying to be there for you, too. Not just because you’re carrying my child, but because you’ve been supermom for the past thirteen years. You stepped up when I couldn’t, for the both of us, and it’s just, you just,” he takes a deep breath. “You deserve the world.” I feel something tug at my heart.

“I’m really sorry. I’m sorry for not being there then, I’m sorry for not being here now when I have been here, I’m sorry for everything. And I’m going to do everything in my power to show you how sorry I am.”

I nod, soaking in his words. He’s apologizing. He’s realizing his actions- or lack thereof. And now we just need to see if his actions will match up with this grand speech he just gave me.

“You better,” I say quietly, walking out of his new apartment.

“What took you so long?” Holden asks from his spot in front of the elevator.

“I had to talk to your dad.”

“Was it- was it a good talk?” He questions, eyes asking an unasked question.

I nod. “It was a good talk, Holden.”

[doyumacy]

FALLOUT |LH| TWO

gif not mine

PAIRING: donghyuck x reader bodyguard!donghyuck

WARNINGS: mentions of yuta. swearing, blood (i’ll let you know when there are parts with blood mentions), smut (let you know), violence, angst

WORD COUNT: 2,9K

ONE TWO THREE

It had been a week since Donghyuck was working as your personal bodyguard and things were apparently going well. The threats had stopped, but they didn't want to let their guard down in case something happened.

Donghyuck and you had got a little closer since they used to spend quite a lot of time together. One night, you left the office at one o'clock in the morning and after Donghyuck insisted you eat something, you ended up eating at a stall in a street in downtown Seoul.

You took the opportunity to get to know each other a little bit better and Donghyuck told you that he wanted to be a music producer and went to music school, but his father never approved it and had to devote himself to what he did.

On the other hand, you shared that you never thought of becoming a CEO. You always pictured yourself a baker and having a small bakery, but somehow you weren't a great baker. He found it very interesting how the tables turned.

On Wednesday, Donghyuck arrived earlier than normal and you extended your hand and shook his, greeting him, pleased to note how firm and strong his handshake was. Why did a handshake suddenly seem so much more evocative? You had shaken hundreds, thousands, of men’s hands and none, not even your ex-partners, had a touch that brought shivers to your spine like that.

Maybe that day wouldn’t be so bad after all. You thought. 

You had been told that one of your negotiations had been called off and they notified you right after you arrived at their building. What a waste of time.

“Ma’am, I was wondering if we could discuss you using the underground entrance from now on?” Donghyuck inquired.

No, it was still a bad morning. With one question, the attractive bodyguard brought on you wrath and was anything but attractive to you anymore. How many times have you instructed the driver and the staff that you were going to continue to enter the Genesis Intelligence Headquarters. 

And how many times did you need to remind Donghyuck to call you (Y/N), not “Ma’am“?

“I’m late for a meeting,” you snapped. You turned on your shoes and started towards the building.

As irritated as you were, you were still aware of the presence of the well-built Donghyuck a few steps behind you and caught a glimpse of him in the window’s reflection as you entered the building. Hmmm, you sighed. «Even if he does annoy me, he is still lovely to look at.»

In your irritation and your attempt to get back on schedule, you lost sight of Donghyuck for the next ninety minutes. The 9:30 meeting to which you were late did not go well. Again.

As you exited the meeting to take his 10:00 call, Lia approached you. “I’ve confirmed your slot with  Lee Youngjoon for tomorrow, but Nakamoto Yuta wants to see you at 10:45 this morning, instead of 11:30. He insisted.”

You frowned. Yuta? You hadn't heard or seen him in a year and suddenly he wanted a meeting with you?

You glanced at your watch. It was just shy of 10:00. If you were lucky, you could take your call and still make it to 10:45.

“Why?” You demanded.

“I don’t know, but he was very persistent.” Lia came to the response.

“Fine. Make sure to update security on the change in plans,” You instructed Lia. “Thanks, Lia.”

Fifteen minutes later, while in the middle of your 10:00 call, Donghyuck knocked on her door. Oh right, him. He entered your office without waiting for your response. You glared at him as you put your call on hold. 

“Ma’am, we need to be leaving for your meeting if you want to make it on time.”

“I’m afraid you have the time wrong. We have another fifteen minutes and I need to finish this call.”

“No, ma’am. We need to take an alternate route. If we don’t leave now, you’ll be late.”

You continued glaring at Donghyuck. “Why? What’s wrong with our regular route? I could walk there faster than what you’re proposing.”

“I don’t doubt that ma’am, but I would advise against it. It’s all for your safety, ma’am.”

It seemed unlikely that you would win on this one. You ended your call, gathered your things, and followed Donghyuck to the elevators, where he selected the basement level rather than the ground floor. You shook your head and sighed. Once the elevator stopped, Donghycuk led you through to the underground entrance, where your car was waiting.

“Donghyuck, this will be the first and only time you have me use the underground entrance, do you understand?“ Your  tone was scathing. 

Donghyuck nodded in silence and as he held open the car door for you, your hand accidentally brushed against his and you couldn’t help but catch a whiff of his cologne. You froze. For three seconds, the world stopped. You were distracted by how attractive Donghyuck was. You almost didn’t want to move. You wanted to be as close to him as possible, for as long as possible.

Your reverie was broken by the sound of a car horn somewhere else in the garage. You felt a rush of heat flood to your cheeks. You slid down into his seat as Donghyuck closed the car door, hoping that he hadn’t noticed any of this. That behaviour, those reactions, were completely out of character. Even after the car started moving, you couldn’t quite shake the feeling of butterflies in your stomach.

…

“You look as beautiful as usual, sweetheart,” Yuta greeted you planting a kiss on your cheek.

“It’s nice to see you, too,” you told him.

Yuta clicked his tongue, not sure what if he had done something wrong. “Come.” With that, you walked into his office,, leaving the door open. Donghyuck gave you a look and stood right in the door, turning his back on you.

“Since when do you have a dog following you around?” Yuta raised an eyebrow, sitting on his chair, eyeing Donghyuck. “I think I’ve seen him before.”

“He’s my bodyguard, not my dog,” you corrected him and sat in front of him. “And why don't you ask him?

Yuta shook his head. “Maybe he was someone else’s dog before you.”

You rolled your eyes. “Why did you want to see me?”

“Because I missed you.”

“Cut the crap.”

Yuta giggled. “You’re really having a bad day, huh? What happened?”

You sighed and relaxed on the chair. “The guy from Hong Kong called off the negotiation this morning and I was counting with that money for the new software we were going to launch next year. And he fucking called me right when I was outside the building!”

“I warned you about him, sweetie.”

“That’s the last thing I need right now, Yuta,” you glanced at him.

“I know, I’m sorry,” he nodded. “What if I invest in it?”

“You?” You looked at him. “Why would you do that? We’re literally direct competition.”

“We could launch it together. Right now your A.I is one of the best in the market, and I’m not gonna lie: I’m a bit jealous,” he admitted. “You combine tasks such as teaching self-driving cars to avoid accidents, assessing damage of a natural disaster, and detecting parking lot usage. This is all done through drone and satellite imagery.”

“Who in hell would've come up with that?” Yuta looked at you. “I can help you penetrate the Japanese market and get even bigger.”

You bite your lip. It’s true, during the last year you did everything to crack the Japanese market but failed and since Yuta’s company was a large and established company there, he could help you.

“You are really willing to negotiate with me?” You asked him.

He nodded. “I’ve known you for many years and I have followed your work. I’m pretty sure Genesis Intelligence could take over Industrial artificial intelligence.”

You stayed quiet for a couple of seconds and stood up walking around his office. “I need to think about it. You’re my friend and I don’t want business to screw things up.”

Yuta laughed and stood next to you placing a hand on your shoulder. “If sex didn’t screw things up neither will this.”

“Oh my, God. Shut up,” you hissed, looking to where Donghyuck was standing. He didn't even seem to move. You looked back at Yuta. “I’m gonna leave.”

Yuta chuckled and caressed your shoulders. “Stay, it’s been so long since we saw each other.”

You squint your eyes looking at him. “I’m not gonna fuck with you in your office.”

“I never said anything about fucking, but if you want me to bend you over my d-” You placed a hand on his mouth to stop him from talking and sighed. 

“I’ll tell my assistant to call you so we can arrange a meeting soon with the rest of the staff,” you told him and grabbed your purse.

“I’m looking forward,” he smirked.

You nodded and started making your way out of the office when he called you. “(Y/N)?”

You turned around. “Yes?”

“Your ass looks incredibly hot today in those dress pants,” he smiled at you.

“Good afternoon, Yuta,” you said leaving his office.

Donghyuck started walking behind you, escorting you and didn’t understand why the comments Yuta made got him upset. Was he your boyfriend? Ex-boyfriend, perhaps? Your lover?

Why did he even care? It wasn't as if he was interested in you. He had a task he must comply with. Just another job. That's what this was supposed to be. He had done it dozens of times, killed someone for money, that is. He'd earned a reputation among others in his trade for being discreet, efficient, and the ability to make it look like an accident. He quite enjoyed it, too. It was an outlet for his creativity and frustration and he had a lot to be frustrated about.

You two were sharing the enclosed, confined space of a gaudy elevator. The metal around you was pristine, without a single smudge to be seen. Directly behind you, it seemed a ceiling to floor mirror was installed over the wall of the elevator... For what reason, Donghyuck sure. He wasn't much of an aestheticist anyway, prefered things to be plain or simple in design.

There was an awkward silence and you cursed Yuta’s building which had 25 floors. The ride was long.

“So… Mr. Nakamoto and you?” Donghyuck broke the silence. You looked at him, frowning. “Right, sorry. It’s none of my business.”

You scratched your forehead and then snickered leaning against the metal wall. “I’m guessing you heard our conversation. Sorry about that.”

“No, please. I apologise. Again, it’s none of my business, ma’am.”

“Yuta and I used to… be really good friends,” you looked at him. “That’s in the past, and it’s even more buried now that we’re gonna be partners. It wouldn't be ethical.”

Donghyuck nodded. “Got it, ma’am.”

You huffed and rolled your eyes. “You need to stop calling me ‘ma’am. I feel like a 50 year old woman.”

“Sorry ma’am, but you don't look anything like a 50 year old woman,” Dongyuck glanced at you.

Your overactive imagination can’t help but bring that off-handed comment to life inside your head. You smiled. "Thank you. So, will you stop calling me that?"

"No."

You sighed. "Please?"

Donghyuck laughed lightly. “You worry too much about that.”

“Yes,” You didn't deny it. “It's strange. You're only 2 years older than me and are ma'aming me everyday.”

Donghyuck smirked at the word you used. “You’re my boss. I’m just being professional.”

Your mouth opened to speak, but the elevator suddenly shook, the lights flicker, and you stumbled. Donghyuck reacted without hesitation, sidestepping to make sure that you fall into his chest instead of to your knees. The emergency light of the elevator turned on, and you two shared a glance at each other.

“Did it break?” A stupid question, you're sure.

Donghyuck hummed, stepping away from you and towards the elevator door before banging a fist against it. He checked the elevator buttons, then leaned back to glance up at the dial above the door - you're stuck between the sixth and fifth floor. Donghyuck pulled out his cellphone and groaned. "I have no signal."

You breathed a couple of times and looked at him. "Am I under attack?  Am I gonna get killed here? Did someone plan this?!"

"Hey, hey," Donghyuck cupped your face with his hands and stared at you. "It's just a shut down. You're okay, nothing will happen to you as long as you're with me."

You nodded and closed your eyes trying to relax. Donghyuck's hands around your face felt like heaven; they were warm and soft. You opened your eyes again just to see a Donghyuck still staring at you. You could drown in that look. "Better?"

"Yeah, thank you," you whispered.

Donghyuck let go of your face and you hated the feeling of emptiness he left. 

The bright lights flickered on and made you squint. You clapped your hands together cheerfully, turning to look at the dial over the door that begins to move again. “Oh, thank God!"

“Told you,” Donghyuck smiled at you. “Shall we?”

“Yeah.”

…

Your hands moved from his shoulders to the top button of his shirt. As you slowly unfastened button after button, your piercing eyes met his. Donghyuck thought he might come just from the intensity of your look and the feel of your fingers opening up his shirt. Donghyuck’s fingers grazed across your stomach and you shivered. Your hands moved around to Donghyuck's back, underneath his shirt. You pulled him closer to you, but not close enough that your lower halves touched. In fact, it appeared that he intentionally stopped their lower halves from touching. In one quick movement, you had Donghyuck shirtless. He barely registered when you started kissing his neck and then his chest with soft kisses.  When your hands reached the top of his pants, you slipped them between the fabric and his skin. Grabbing the top of your ass, he finally pulled his lower half in contact with your lower half...

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Donghyuck awoke with a start. His breath erratic, his heart racing. It took him a few seconds to realize where he was and what was happening. Donghyuck looked around his room, around his bed. Both were empty, as always. It was a dream. Just a dream. You weren’t there. 

He groaned when realised someone had woken up very ‘pleased’ that morning. Donghyuck ran a hand through his hair and got out of bed walking to the bathroom and taking care of his ‘problem’ and getting ready to go to work.

And that same night, you sat in the venue dressing room where you were about to make a speech, reviewing your notes. Donghyuck stood silent and still by the hallway door. 

Lia entered the room, carrying several cups of coffee and a bag of food. It was about damn time. You had requested the coffee as soon as you got there; what had taken her so long? You had less than ten minutes to down the cup of decaf. 

After having two sips of coffee, the venue manager called you so you could wait backstage since you would be on it in 5 minutes. 

As the presenter made his little speech, you tried to crack your fingers for the third time in the day. You were nervous and Donghyuck noticed it. “If you keep trying to do that you’re gonna end up with no bones to crack for the rest of your life.”

“Huh?” You looked at him and then giggled. “Sorry, it’s just that… I’m nervous.”

“I never thought you were the nervous type when it came to speeches,” he said.

“It’s not about giving the speech, it's about who is here,” you sighed.

“And that is?” Donghyuck raised both eyebrows.

“My father.” You admitted.

“He 's here?” 

You nodded and your eyes went to the crowd looking for him until you spotted him. “Do you see the man with the grey suit and a black tie, surrounded by 4 guards?”

Donghyuck’s eyes slyly followed yours and found the man you were talking about. He knew him from somewhere. He squinted to have a better look of his face and froze when he recognised. There was no way.

“... he technically is my father, but left my mom when I was a newborn and never came back. And 3 years ago he contacted me telling me he’s interested in my business but I have no plans to sell it or make a partnership by any means…”

Donghyuck was aware you were talking to him but he couldn’t stop looking at the man, or your father. Why would he want you dead? So he could take over your business? That was evil. 

“Right?” You looked at him and shook your hand in front of him. “Donghyuck? Are you alright?”

“Yeah… yeah,” he shook his head and gave you a warm smile. “I was just… shocked to know he’s your father.”

“He’s a businessman with relations pretty much everywhere,” you said, “he’s so judgmental of my work but hasn’t even bothered to get to know me better. I guess he’s a natural dick.”

“He is… I mean, you’re great. He should feel lucky to have you, but he doesn’t appreciate that.” He looked at you. “You turned out great without him.”

“That’s what my mom says,” you beamed. “I should relax, what can he do to ruin me? Nothing.”

He gulped. Little did you know.

[haikyuuwaifu]

CH.2

Genre: Angst, Drama

Warnings: Swearing, Mentions of Infidelity

MASTERLIST

Chapter 2: What are you gonna do?

It had been a week since Y/N stepped foot into her apartment. She currently sat curled up on the couch in Kiyoomi’s living room, her eyes never leaving the screen in front of her. She hadn’t shed a single tear since the day she broke down refusing to give Hajime Iwaizumi a second thought. Yachi and Kiyoko sat curled around her, snuggled close and giving their friend the comfort they knew she needed. The slamming of the front door alerted the females in attendance that someone was home. Y/N merely waved a hand, eyes never leaving the screen, and Tooru sighed softly. “She any better today?” He questioned Kiyoko quietly as the woman made her way to the kitchen to prep more snacks. Kiyoko shook her head in response, shrugging her shoulders. “She only threw her phone twice, so that’s a start?” she hoped, pulling out Y/N’s favorite bag of chips to refill the bowl. “Anything happen at school?” Yachi asked, making her way behind Oikawa to pull some drinks out of the fridge. 

The man scoffed, popping a cap off the coke bottle, and taking a long deep chug. “That asshole is playing the fucking blame game.” he seethed, slamming his drink down. “I heard him telling Terushima that he and Y/N were on a break right now, something he called for because she was “too much.” he hissed putting air quotes around the words ‘too much.’ “Then Makki and Mattsun tried spreading lies about her, but Saeko and this really hot guy in her Econ class tried to beat the shit out of them.” Kiyoko nodded along half-listening until it registered that her girlfriend now knew about the situation. “You didn’t tell Saeko what happened yet did you Tooru?” she hissed, her body turning toward Y/N to ask for her phone. 

Before Tooru could answer, the front door slammed open and Saeko Tanaka stood at the entryway, with a bat in one hand and some picture frames in the other. Y/N turned at the noise, and waved before turning back toward the television in front of her. It took her a good thirty seconds to realize her doom was standing at the door, as her head toward Saeko her eyes as wide as plates. “Get up brat!” Saeko snarled, pointing her bat towards Y/N. “You’ve been wallowing for a fucking week, and I refuse to let you wallow any longer over a fucking loser like Hajime Iwaizumi.” she growled, slamming the pictures on the ground. “Babe, maybe you sh-” Before Kiyoko could finish she was interrupted by a hiss from her girlfriend. “Absolutely not. The lot of you let her sit here and wallow for an entire week! A whole fucking week! Over a loser like Hajime Iwaizumi, when our girl has the pick of any fucking guy on campus!” she screeched, swinging the bat around. Behind her, Bokuto, Atsumu, and Sakusa had returned from practice. “And you!” she hissed, glaring at Sakusa. “You’re supposed to be her best friend, and you just let her sit here and zone out for a week; when she should be out there proving those stupid fucking rumors wrong!” Sakusa was ready to fight with Saeko, as he always was; but Y/N came between them, wrapping her arms around her angry blonde friend. “Thanks for always looking out for me.” she mumbled into the woman’s shoulder, her body shaking with quiet giggles. “Course I’m gonna look out for you brat, you’re my best friend. You have the pick of the fucking litter here, don’t let a piece of shit like Iwaizumi make you feel like you don’t.” Y/N tipped her head back, a loud laugh falling from her lips as she made her way to the kitchen. “I love the faith you seem to have in my ability to snatch up a man Saeko, but I doubt I have as many options as you say I do.” she mumbled out, missing the looks shared by the three athletes behind her. “Oh sweetheart,” Saeko cooed, “You have no idea the power you hold.” Turning around Y/N was ready to ask her friend to elaborate, but she found herself over Bokuto’s shoulder and on the way to the backyard. “Now girlie, we’re gonna smash these picture frames, and then you’re gonna tell me what your next move is gonna be.” Saeko ordered following behind the big burly man.

In a penthouse on the other side of the campus, Suna Rintaro sat with pro-streamer Kenma Kozume and his roommate Kuroo Tetsuro. The three men streamed often, and Kenma always split the money between the three of them. As they played, the answered questions from fans. As Suna looked toward the comments, he grinned at the stream of comments coming in about what Saeko and Osamu had done earlier that day. “Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the beating; but knowing Saeko it was probably well deserved.” Suna replied, as Kenma and Kuroo turned toward the man, curiosity plain on their faces. Kenma turned toward the screen, his eyes scanning through the comments, widening slightly at the amount of comments about the fight. “What the hell did they do to piss her off?” Kenma asked, looking toward Suna for an answer. Suna grinned, happy to steer the conversation to something that he knew would cause more strife in Iwaizumi’s life. “Well, about a week ago it came to light that Hajime Iwaizumi had been stepping out on Y/N, L/N Tokyo Uni’s goddess for quite some time.” The fans went crazy, when they saw the way Kuroo snapped his controller. “He did what?” Kuroo hissed, eyes narrowing with rage. “She caught him bringing a girl back to their place.” Suna informed, smirking when he saw Iwaizumi’s username coming online. “Apparently, he had forgotten the plans they had, and brought a girl home; only for Y/N to answer the door.” Kenma scoffed, tossing his controller aside. “I always knew he didn’t deserve her. Absolute piece of shit.” he grunted, pulling his phone out to check his messages. Suna nodded in agreement, scrolling through the comments. “I told him last week, that she was fair game now, so it’s time to come up with a game plan boys.” Suna grinned, winking at the viewers in the stream. Kenma smirked, sliding his phone over to Kuroo. It was a picture of Y/N smashing pictures of her and Iwaizumi, a bottle of Tequila in one hand and a baseball bat in the other. Kuroo chuckled matching Suna’s smile. “She’s got no idea what she’s in for.” and the viewers went wild.

Iwaizumi could be found swearing and breaking things in his apartment, having watched Kenma’s stream. He knew he was absolutely fucked, if they decided they were going to pursue Y/N. He could barely stand a chance against Suna, let alone Kenma and Kuroo. Mattsun and Makki were nursing their wounds unable to fully grasp the severity of the situation at hand. Hajime still had a sliver of hope, that if he just gave Y/N the time she would forgive him. Completely unaware of the fact that he had already lost.

CHAPTER 1| CHAPTER 3

@dabilove27 @black-rose-29 @lia-faerie-queen @amberalisa @mint-mai @elianetsantana @prettyinblack231@that-chick212​ @oppositesunchild @nikkiandherrandomshits @sempiternal-amour​

[mayraki]

⋆⁑lost in the MORTAL WORLD ⁑⋆

jj maybank x witch!au

~chapter two~

sequel for ⋆⁑lost in HALLOWEEN TOWN ⁑⋆

masterlist | chapter one

“Amethyst”

“Is this it?” Lia asked the moment her feet touched ground and her eyes looked at the big building in front of her. When JJ didn’t respond, she turned to face him and he was holding his head with his eyes closed. “C’mon, don’t be a little baby. That’s nothing compared to the portal.”

“Well! It’s still fucked up!” JJ said loudly but seconds later regretted it since his head started to hurt.

“C’mon, JJ, let’s go inside so you can sh-“ Lia was saying but when a couple of teens walked inside the mall while laughing and what seemed to be a good time, she stopped and quickly walked to a corner where it was hidden from the street.

“Wait- Lia!” JJ yelled but Lia had quick feet, so she was already gone from his sight. “What are you doing?” JJ asked her confused when he arrived to where she was clearly hiding.

“Those teens! They were at my classes when I was going to the OBX high school.” Lia said worried.

“So?” JJ looked back at the teens talking in a circle in front of the giant glass door of the mall.

“They can’t see me! They can’t know I’m back. My stay here has to be almost invisible, the less people know I’m here, the less possibilities are that they know I’m here.”

“They?” JJ asked.

“Yes, they. The people that know about everyone who leaves Halloween Town. The more people that know I’m here, the more energy it creates, so we have to keep it on the low.” Lia said and then closed her eyes. “Now what? Damn! I didn’t think I would ran into these people.”

“Can you just... make yourself go invisible?” JJ waved his hands around referring to Lia’s body.

“There’s not a spell for that, there’s a potion.” Lia said.

“Well? Do you have the potion?”

Lia took a second to respond since she closed her eyes completely disappointed with herself. “No. Fuck! Ok, Lia, think! Think!”

JJ turned around and when a little boy with a Christmas hat on, left the mall an idea came into his mind. “I got it.”

“What?” Lia waited for JJ to respond but a smirk appeared on his face.

“Lia, please, trust the mortal.” JJ said remembering all those times she had said to him to trust the witch.

“And when did that take anyone somewhere?” Lia responded but JJ didn’t answer, he just winked at her and then turned around leaving Lia behind.

⋆ ⋆

Thirty minutes had passed since JJ went inside the mall and left Lia waiting for him. She was starting to get impatient, her foot was going quickly up and down while her arms were crossed around her chest.

“Where the hell is he?” She asked almost in a whisper to herself.

“Miss me?” Lia heard JJ ask behind her so she quickly turned around.

“Where the hell did you come from?”

“I always find a way to avoid security.” JJ said proudly. “Here, have this.” In that second, JJ pulled from behind a big suit that had the colours red and white. It was all fluffy and inside of it could fit three Lia’s at the same time.

“What for?” Lia asked confused, not fully understanding what JJ was talking about.

“For you, to put it on so people don’t recognise you.” JJ handed the suit to Lia but she didn’t took it, she just kept looking at it and then back at JJ repeatedly. That’s when she realised it was a Santa Claus suit.

“Tell me you’re not serious.”

“I’m a 100% serious.” JJ said with a smile, and Lia could tell how much he was enjoying this.

“It’s still November!” Lia complained the moment she grabbed the suit from JJ’s hand. “Why do you have this?”

“I stole it.” JJ said quickly but when Lia locked eyes with him a little bit concerned, JJ added even more quickly: “Burrowed. C’mon, we can put it back after we use it. No big deal.”

“And by we,” Lia said while putting the suit on “you mean; me, with my magic.”

JJ nodded. “Yeah, kinda.” Lia rolled her eyes. “What? Easier!”

“Yeah! You’re not doing anything!” Lia was now struggling with the big suit.

“I got you the suit! It was my idea.” JJ said proudly of himself.

“Alright.” Lia took a deep breath out when the suit was on and tried to reach the zipper on her back, but her tiny arms weren’t long enough. “A little help here?” Lia asked and JJ quickly turned to her.

“Oh, right.” JJ nodded walking closer to her and grabbing the zipper to slowly pull it up. “When I get ask to pull a girl’s zipper up I would like it to be a dress, you know, something more sexy. Not a Santa Claus suit.” JJ said jokingly but Lia didn’t hesitate when she turned around the moment he finished to hit him with a part of the suit that was hanging off her hand. “Ouch!” JJ complained.

“You deserved that.” Lia said. “You should be thankful that I used the suit against you and not my magic.”

JJ nodded. “True. Hey, don’t forget this.” From the pockets of his shorts, he pulled off a white long beard and a red pointy hat.

“I hate this.” Lia said after letting out a big sigh. JJ tried to hold on a laughter but when Lia took the beard and the hat out of his hand, he quickly looked away and bit his lower to hold it in. “How do I look?” Lia asked so JJ turned around to look at her. Even if she had a huge red and white suit on, a white beard and a pointy hat that made her look even more taller, she still was one of the most beautiful girls JJ had ever seen.

“Alright.” JJ said, brushing away all of his thoughts away. “Now, follow me.”

“No.” Lia quickly shook her head. “I ain’t climbing anything. C’mon, hold my hand.” Lia reached her hand for him to hold.

JJ let out a tiny sigh. “Not that again.”

“Yeah. That again, Maybank.”

⋆ ⋆

“Ugh. Will I ever get used to that?” JJ asked the moment his feet touched ground and he grabbed his head in pain.

“Probably not.” Lia said not faced at all from the transportation.

“Hopeful.” JJ said sarcastically. He opened his eyes and realized that they were now inside the mall, at a corner where nobody could see them. It was almost dark to the point that it was hard tro see something else than Lia next to him. When he walked closer to the end of the corner, JJ noticed people walking around with smiles on their faces, little kids holding hands with their parents being the most happy they’ve ever been, that made JJ wonder when was the last time he felt something like that.

“C’mon, where is it?” Lia said turning to him after looking around and analysing their surroundings.

“This way.” JJ said before walking out of the dark corner. He took steps like he knew where he was going, even if he didn’t stepped inside that mall in his life. But everything his eyes were seeing it was like he knew what it was. Every store, every corner, every little detail. He knew where he had to go, like the palm of his hand. How? Before he could say anything else, Lia spoke next to him.

“Is it illegal to make everyone go blind?” Lia asked jokingly while looking at everyone staring at her confused with her Santa Claus suit on. JJ was so focused on his thoughts and how weird he felt, that he forgot the fact that Lia was wearing a costume. He let out a laugh but quickly closed his mouth when Lia almost killed him with her eyes.

“Sorry, but you look hilarious.” He said.

“I save your soul from a horrible creature and you do this?” Lia asked. “Wow. What a move.”

JJ without hesitating, let his arm go around her shoulders. Lia felt her heart starting to beat a little bit faster. She tried to not let her emotions change her expression but the fact that he got even closer to her, made it even more impossible.

“C’mon, if you hadn’t saved me, you wouldn’t be enjoying this awesome friendship. We make a good team, if you ask me. Lia and JJ, kicking ass.” Lia let out a tiny laugh when she saw JJ with a proud smile on his face. “The witch,” JJ pointed at Lia “and the mortal, who’s very good looking and... well, has a witch friend.”

“Having a witch friend is awesome, give yourself way more credit for that.” Lia said with a smile.

JJ nodded. “Yeah, that’s cool.”

“Oh, there it is!” Lia said when she saw the big sign that said ‘Amethyst: the psychic’. It was on a dark corner where not a lot of people naturally walked through. It made JJ hairs to go up and feel a little shiver on his body. It was black and had purple curtains all over the windows, not letting your see anything of the inside from the outside. It definitely gave JJ the creeps, but it seemed that Lia didn’t feel the same way about the place, since she immediately walked inside the store, soon followed by a less confident JJ.

“Hello?” Lia asked once inside. JJ looked around and noticed that the place looked even more dark, it had a crystal ball that JJ was used to seeing on movies, zodiac cards, and other kind of stuff that he didn’t know what they were or what they did.

“I knew you were coming, Cromwell.” A slow voice of a woman spoke from behind some dark purple curtains. They both looked to where the voice came from to see some black long nails moving the curtain away to let a woman walk through. The had black and purple braids all over her head, shiny lips and some pretty dark eyes. Her jewellery made a loud noise every time she moved a single part of her body, her longs necklaces and million bracelets were as colourful as her clothes, her skirt that would touch the ground and her little yellow top, that would let you see a belly piercing, shiner than any other thing JJ had ever seen. “Nice outfit.” The woman said looking Lia up and down with a funny little smile on her face. Lia immediately took her beard and hat, to put them on the floor. “Who is your friend?” The women asked looking at JJ. For the second time, he felt his body shiver for the fact that the women seemed to be penetrating him with her eyes, and then looked at him like she knew all of his secrets.

“Don’t play, you already know.” Lia said confidently and the women let out a smirk.

“You look just like your grandmother.” She said while walking closer to the table that was in the middle of the room, and then sat down to play with the cards on the table. “How is she, by the way?” She asked without taking her eyes away from her cards.

“Hanging there.” Lia said. JJ noticed the look on Lia’s face, for some reason he got the impression that she didn’t fully trusted the psychic (or the witch?). Lia kept looking around and the going back to the woman, who was still playing with a cheeky smile on her face. “She told me to-“

“Come here to see where to go next.” The woman said and then locked eyes with Lia, but with her face still looking down. “I helped your grandmother a lot, back in the day.”

Lia grabbed JJ’s hand to walk with him closer to the chairs in front of the woman. His steps wanted to be slow since he felt so unsure of his surroundings, but Lia made him walk confidently until they were sat down on the chairs. They way that Lia was still holding his hand made him feel a little bit safer, but at the same time, it was something more than that. The same way he felt when she touched his knee back in Halloween Town, something about her touch made him feel different, made him feel good.

“You’re really her, aren’t you?” Lia asked after a couple of seconds in silence. The woman stopped playing with her cards and took in a little breath. “You’re not her daughter, you’re her, the real Amethyst.”

“I hope the things you’re grandmother told you about me were good.” Amethyst said softly with a little smile on her face.

“She would always told me about you guys’ adventures when you two were young. You were really close friends.”

“We were more than just friends...” Amethyst said in a tone that made them both, Lia and JJ, realise that she was having those memories back in her mind. “But back in those days, two witches together?” She slowly shook her head. “Men felt threatened by us.” She said almost in a whisper but not the calming one, instead the one that was powerful to scare a grown man.

“Is that a bad thing?” Lia asked and a bigger smile appeared on Amethyst’s face. The way that the two women smiled at each other, made JJ feel worried for his own sake, specially since two witch women were talking about threatening men. “What happened between you two? She always avoids talking about what happened in the end.”

“We had to part from one another, unfortunately. I never saw your grandmother in person again, we talked over letters, but, then figured it was going to be more painful if we kept it going. So, we stopped. Moved on with our lives. She married, I moved here, and that’s it.” Amethyst looked down and carried on playing with her cards. “She was my first and only love.” She said softly.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t be together, back then.” JJ, for the first time, talked. The way that Amethyst told the story about her and Evanora, made him forget about the frightening of the place, and the creeps that the woman gave him. But when she looked back at him, a little bit of all of that came back. Even if she gave him a little compassionate smile.

“Thank you, mortal boy.”

“But why don’t you go back and see my grandma? Things are different now.” Lia suggested but the smile that Amethyst had on her face turned into a sad one.

“I would love to. But the fear that she doesn’t feel the same way as I do, would break my heart even more than just staying here, with my own self.”

“You would never know if you don’t go and see her.” Lia said and that made Amethyst let out a tiny breath before leaving the cards against the table.

“That’s enough about me, child. You’re not here for that.”

“I’m not.”

“Then, c’mon, give me your hand.” Amethyst reached her hand for Lia to grab, and then the other one for JJ to hold. He looked at her surprised and concerned than she also wanted for his hand. He was used to being the one waiting around for the witches to do the magical tasks. “C’mon, mortal boy, I don’t bite.” Amethyst said in a tone that JJ couldn’t fully understand if she was saying sarcastically or not. Lia noticed the concerned on JJ’s eyes so she couldn’t help but let out a tiny laugh. He turned to her still worried about what was about to happen, but when Lia squeezed his arm and gave him a funny smile, his heart started to beat back to normal.

“Now, I want you two to be calm and breathe normally, calmly and slowly.” Amethyst said. “Your guys’ energy is all I need.”

The moment she said that, JJ turned to Lia to see if she was about to indicate him something to do, but she didn’t turn to him. She kept looking at Amethyst, waiting for her next move. That’s when JJ looked back at Amethyst, but her face wasn’t the same. JJ widen his eyes at the surprise of seeing the state of the woman, her eyes were rolled back, the purple of her hair was now gold and it was sparkling. She was letting out a big breaths with her mouth slightly opened. JJ turned to Lia concerned, but Lia’s expression didn’t change, she was looking at Amethyst like if was the most normal thing she had ever seen.

Seconds later, Amethyst let out a another loud breath when her eyes went back to normal and the purple went back to her hair. For the first time since they walked into the store, she didn’t have that confident look on her face and eyes, she looked... terrified.

“What did you see, Amethyst?” Lia asked realising the horror in her eyes.

“Oh, my dear child.” Amethyst said softly looking at Lia with worried eyes. “The dark times are going to be back if we don’t stop it.”

“Dark times?” JJ asked looking at Lia and Amethyst back and forth, but this two women didn’t seem to bother on explaining what ‘Dark times’ they were talking about, since the horror cut their breaths.

“How can we stop it?” Lia asked firmly after a couple of seconds in silence.

Amethyst, that was looking down, locked eyes with Lia and then took a comforting breath.

“It’s time you learn about your family’s profecy.” The moment she said those words, she went back to open those purple curtains and started to look for something in old brown boxes.

JJ turned to Lia to see how she processed the fact that her family had a profecy, but by the look on her face, I looked like she didn’t at all.

“My family has a profecy?” She asked softly more to herself than to anyone else. “Amethyst?” She called the woman’s name, but she didn’t answered. She kept looking for something around the store. “Please, Amethyst.” Lia begged for the woman’s attention. JJ never saw her like that, horrified and confused at the same time. What was going through her mind? JJ thought to himself. He had a lot of questions, but unfortunately, Lia did too. “Amethyst!” Lia lifted her hand into the air and that’s when JJ noticed that Amethyst stopped moving. But not because she heard Lia calling her name, but because she couldn’t move at all. With fear on his eyes, JJ turned to the woman and then at Lia, who was trying to take her breathing back to normal.

Lia‘s eyes were wide open when she realized what she had done, so she slowly let her hand go down. Once Amethyst let out a breath, she went back to where Lia and JJ where.

“I’m sorry.” Lia apologised still looking down embarrassed of her sudden action.

“Nothing to be sorry about, my child. I know the dark times took away your parents.” Amethyst said almost in a whisper. “And I let fear took over my body, let me explain to you what I saw.” Lia nodded and without even thinking about it, afraid of the woman’s next words, she took JJ’s hand and squeezed it hard. Lia didn’t notice what she did, but JJ certainly did. He looked down when his heart dropped to his stomach. He was starting to get worried because of all of these sudden strong feeling towards her, he didn’t remember them being like this. What changed?

“I saw power in your future, Lia. And not the kind you have right now.”

“What kind?” Lia asked quickly.

“I’m not the right person to explain it to you, because I don’t know the story of it all.”

“Then who is?”

“The profecy.” Lia didn’t answered immediately, she just went into her thoughts while looking at the table. Then, with quick and firm eyes, looked back at Amethyst.

“Where can I see this profecy?”

“The thing that can help you, that’s what I was looking for. But that’s not all I saw. I saw someone. A partner.”

“A partner?” Lia asked confused. “For what?”

“To defeat the darkness. He’s going to be there for you, by your side, fighting it.”

“He?” JJ asked.

Amethyst locked eyes with JJ and gave him a little smirk. “Yes, he.”

“Do you know how he looks like? Or where can I find him?” Lia asked hoping that Amethyst had the answer, but she just slowly shook her head.

“No, my child. All I know is that this partner, is a man. The profecy will tell you all you need to know. And more.”

⋆ ⋆

JJ felt guilty since all he could think about was Amethyst’s words about Lia’s future partner. The weird feeling on his stomach and chest was unbearable and he wanted it to stop, but when her words came back to his head all of these feeling were all over the place and that made him feel like an asshole since Lia was going through something bigger on her mind.

“I can’t believe my family has a profecy.” She said more to herself than to him. “Amethyst said that this is going to take me to the thing I want the most.” She took out of the back pocket of the suit, a brown old compass to open it and see how the little arrow was already pointing to where Lia had to go next.

“Where do you think it leads?” JJ asked looking at where the arrow was pointing.

“I don’t know.” Lia shook her head without taking her eyes from the compass. “Probably to where I can see the profecy. That’s all I want right now.” JJ nodded locking at Lia, but she didn’t turn to him. She couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that she always thought that she knew everything about her family’s past. Suddenly, everything she knew now it had a black space. What was this profecy about? Was it about her? Her parents? Or someone that she didn’t know belonged to her family? All those questions and not a single answer. Maybe the profecy had it all, or at least, that’s what Lia hoped.

The moment Lia’s and JJ’s feet touched the ground of the house Lia stepped when she came back again to Outer Banks, the Chateau, she walked inside like she owned the place, with a head full of thoughts not knowing what she was actually doing. JJ followed her and the moment they both walked through the door, JJ hoped that his friends weren’t around, and luckily, they were nowhere to be seen.

“Fuck!” Lia yelled looking down. “We forgot to give the suit back!”

“Don’t worry about it, they won’t even notice it’s gone.” JJ shook his head while Lia was taking the Santa Claus suit off to put it aside on the floor.

“It’s just- my mind is full right now!” Lia said loudly. “I mean, a profecy? My family? What does that even mean? Does my grandma and cousin know?” She was rambling while walking around whith JJ following her with his eyes. “If they did, why the fuck didn’t they tell me? What’s the point? I hate having SO MUCH questions and not being able to get the answers! Yes, we have this fucking compass, but what about it? Where is it going to take me? Is it here? Is it on the other side of the world? WHERE? And to add to all of that, WHO THE FUCK IS THIS PARTNER? WHO IS HE? WHY DO I NEED A MAN TO FIGHT WITH ME? I CAN HANDLE THIS ON MY OWN! JJ!” The moment that Lia called his name he widen his eyes worried for his own sake, since his witch friend was going crazy in front of him. But when she locked eyes with him, she let out a tiny breath and then asked more calmly. “Do you have any water?” JJ nodded relived that water was all she wanted and not destroy the whole house, or worst, turn him into a turtle or something. “My mouth is a dessert right now.”

“Yeah, I got you.” JJ said when he took out of the refrigerator a bottle of water and handed it to Lia. She thanked him with a smile and without waiting another second, she took the bottle of water to her mouth.

They both enjoyed the silence that now surrounded the room. JJ still didn’t know what to say to Lia, and she noticed that since he refused to make eye contact with her. She understood, of course. This was all new for him, having to deal with witches and profecies. The fact that he was willing to do all of this, not knowing or understanding anything of her world, meant even more to her than he could ever imagine. But she didn’t want the thought of him getting hurt because of her. Lia knew that JJ loved her world and everything she was capable of doing, she noticed that on his voice when they both talked. Being able to be by her side while on this adventure, in his eyes, was the best thing that has ever happened to him. And Lia knew that. She wanted him on her side, that was for sure, but keeping him safe was more important then the fear of going through all of this alone. She needed to protect him, so when the moment she decided to tell him that this was it for him, broke her heart.

“JJ-” she said but was cut off by a loud noise that came from behind the house. They both looked at each other confused and waited for the noise to hit their ears again. But since after a couple of seconds of silence surrounding the room, they both brushed it off thinking that maybe was something from a far and not near the house. But when Lia felt the hairs on her arm to lift up, she knew something was wrong. And then, another loud noise came from the same place, but this time, closer. They both got up not saying a word to walk outside and check the strange noise. With quick steps, they both walked around the house to get to the back of it, where the supposed noise was. But when they arrived, nothing was there. The only thing that their eyes saw was a couple or birds flying around and the trees being moved by the wind.

“What the hell was that?” JJ asked, but Lia didn’t answer, because she still had in mind that something was going on since her hairs lifted up and had that gut feeling, they were never wrong. And this wasn’t going to be an exception. When JJ turned around after seeing that everything was normal, the same loud noise hit their ears but this time, it wasn’t just a noise.

“The fuck-?” JJ asked when the ground started shaking. Lia grabbed JJ’s arm for better balance but she was still looking in front of her, ready for anything that was coming her way.

Then, when a piece of ground started to lift up, Lia pulled JJ behind her since her mind already knew what was about to happen.

“Lia, what is going on?” JJ asked her but she didn’t answer immediately. Seconds later, an arm covered in mud came out of the ground. Next, another arm, a head, and then an entire body appeared from the ground covered in mud.

“Ew.” Lia said after letting out a big sigh. JJ widen his eyes worried and surprised at what his eyes were seeing. The creature let out a big and heavy scream, shaking the walls of the house and hurting the ears of JJ and Lia. “Lia! What- What the hell is that?!” JJ asked with his voice cracked and freaking out when the tall creature started slowly walking towards them with mud dripping from his body.

“It’s a demon.” Lia said looking at it still pulling JJ behind her.

“A DEMON?!” JJ yelled with his eyes even more wide open.

“Yes, JJ, a demon. It’s called Daemonium Terram, it’s a ground demon, basically. It can shot you mud from a short distance and it’s extremely strong. It can kill you with his pinky.” Lia said like it was nothing, but JJ was freaking out on the inside while his heart was beating faster than any race car he had ever seen on TV.

“Tell me something good, please!” JJ said with his eyes glued to the disgusting demon.

“Well... it’s made out of mud.”

“So?!”

“All we need is water.” Lia pushed JJ back to lift her hands in front of her towards the demon still making it’s way to her. She looked at the water of the ocean next to the house and then went back to the demon with her spells already flying in her head. JJ noticed how the water started shaking, and then like it was being lifted by the wind, it quickly moved towards the demon. Lia moved her hand to control the water and hit it, now even more closer to her than before. When the water touched it, it screamed in pain but it seemed that it wasn’t enough. Lia immediately noticed this and lifted another, but bigger, piece of water towards her. But, again, it wasn’t enough.

“JJ! We need something stronger!” She yelled at him and like a fast truck, an idea came to his head.

Lia watched how JJ ran to the front of the house and then disappeared from her sight. She went back to the demon and realized that it was already lifting it’s arm to throw some disgusting and dirty mud to Lia. But when it left it’s hand, Lia avoided it easily by putting a protective shield in front of her. One, two, three times the demon threw mud pieces at Lia. He was so fast, that she didn’t have the change to lift some water to take the demon down. But when he lifted his both hands with the intention to throw a more powerful and strong piece of mud at Lia, she just shook her head. “Oh no you won’t, this is my favorite shirt.” She was ready to fight it with her whole strength, but when the demon moved his hand to let the mud leave his hands, a loud noise of water hit her ears and that’s when JJ appeared with a strong hose and was already throwing the strong water at the demon. “Take this, you dirty demon!” JJ yelled with a proud smile on his face. Lia let out tiny laugh seeing how much he was enjoying his actions, but then went back to the demon who was progressively screaming, louder and louder.

“JJ, good job!” Lia yelled since the noise of the water hitting the demon was loud and the screams of pain didn’t give much space for their voices. “It’s getting more weaker and weaker, but we need to destroy it permanently so it goes back to hell!”

“So how do we do that?!”

“Let me!” Lia lifted her hands towards the demon and then added; “When I tell you, you turn off the hose and then cover yourself!” JJ nodded. “Keep going! Keep going! Keep going! Now, JJ!” The noise of the hose stopped once JJ turned it off and without waiting another second, Lia walked closer to the agonising demon. “STAGNO.” She said and the creature stopped moving. Lia’s hand was shaking trying to control the demon, but her face didn’t change. She had a confident face and firm eyes, that made her look even more badass. Then, when she noticed the time was right, a little smirk appeared on face before saying: “Say hi to Lucifer for me, would you?” The demon went completely silent and then, with a loud noise, the demon exploded leaving traces of mud all over the place.

Lia let out a relived breath before waving her hands to take off the excess of mud in her body. She turned to JJ who was behind her, and just like her, covered in mud.

“I told you to cover yourself.” Lia said looking down his dirty body.

“And what? Miss being showered in mud? Who would do that?” JJ said sarcastically wiping the mud off his lips.

“Yeah, this is disgusting.” Lia said but after a couple of seconds, they both bursted out in laughter because of their unlucky and unfortunate events.

⋆ ⋆

“I’m sorry for dragging you into this mess with me.” Lia said the moment they boy walked into the house and sat down in the couch, after Lia, with a quick spell, brought everything back to normal.

“Are you kidding me? This is awesome.” JJ said with a smile like a little kid. “Today when my friends come home, and they’re all like ‘Oh, what did you do today, JJ?’ I’m gonna be like: ‘Nothing much, just helped my witch friend take a mud demon back to hell.” JJ patted his own shoulder proudly and Lia let out a tiny laugh at his actions. He seemed so excited for that new adventure that it made Lia forget how actually dangerous it was. But unfortunately, that feeling wasn’t going to last forever. She needed to tell him that she was planning on doing the next move alone to protect him. She must. But for the first time, she looked around and realized that she never asked what this place was.

“Do you live here?” Lia asked after you going back to JJ.

“Kinda.”

“Kinda?” JJ scratched the back of his head and then nodded.

“Yeah.” Suddenly, he seemed different, like he didn’t want to talk about the subject. So Lia, noticing that, she slowly nodded and looked down. The question of JJ’s dad appeared back on her mind like a fast truck, it was something that wondered on her head around and around, but she didn’t know if asking was the right move. So she just kept her mouth shut.

“So,” JJ broke the silence. “Do you know why this demon attacked you?”

Lia shook her head. “Not really. All I know is that it comes from Hell, so that tells us something.”

“What?” JJ asked, not understanding what was going on on Lia’s mind.

“That something from there sent it.” JJ slowly nodded when his heart skipped a beat. The thought of something from down there sending a demon to kill Lia for whatever reason, made him feel weird. Of course, a couple of weeks ago he didn’t even know hell existed, so the news of actual demons and a place like that, made his mind feel terrified. He was still trying to figure out what was going on, so how was he feeling was unknown to himself, since everything was all over the place. “What if it has to do with the profecy?” JJ asked and Lia shrugged her shoulders.

“Maybe. I’m still trying to process all of this.” Lia let out a sigh before covering her face with her hands. The frustration was getting to her once again and JJ noticed that. So without hesitating, not knowing where his sudden confidence came from, he let his hand rest on Lia’s shoulder, to start to caress it and try to calm her down.

“I’m here for you, no matter what, Lia.” He said softly. Lia looked at him with a smile thanking him. “That’s what friends are for, right?”

“Yeah.” Lia answered almost in a whisper with her eyes glued to his.

“I’m glad I’m here with you, fighting whatever comes.” JJ let out a tiny laugh and Lia took another a long breath. JJ noticed she wanted to say something, but for some reason, she didn’t.

She didn’t know how to. How can you say to someone that you want them to stay back, after they say that to you? Is the fact that you’re doing to protect them going to ease the news? Is it? Lia never had to deal with something like this, she was used to doing things on her own, never having to deal with someone that would literally gave his life for her. For some reason, Lia’s mouth couldn’t let out the words. Her tongue was frozen, she tried to move it and let out some words, but the moment JJ looked down to her lips, everything inside of her went on freak out mode.

You have to tell him! Her brain was screaming at her over and over again. She fought with her whole strength her needs to look at his lips as well, but it won after JJ went back to her eyes. She looked down but then quickly went back to his eyes when she noticed JJ got closer to her face. Her heart was beating faster, and so was his. Neither of them knew what was going on, for the first time, they both seemed to let their bodies control their actions. It felt like it was the right time, the right time to let it happen, the need to taste each other, something that they realized they had for a long time. JJ was slowly getting closer and closer to her face, with his eyes glued to her lips, she was staying still hoping that the moment he was against her lips came sooner. But when he was ready to take the next step, uniting his lips with hers, a noise of a car parking outside the house, made the two of them separate and get up quickly from the couch. Maybe it wasn’t the right time after all.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆taglist ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

let me know if you want to be added!

@amberritonicole @pink-meringues @sortagaysortahigh @mdlyncline @k-k0129 @sweetlysilent @ifilwtmfc @thisismynerdyself @acvross-the-universe @makebank @dmonchld @cordeliascrown @outerbankslut @chouetteschaussettes @lunaticlua @x-lulu @5sosbands @goldensk-es @behind-the-bleacherss @badbitsh13 @kenzie-rivers101 @raconteuxr @katy-barrett @allcopsarebussies @adiaryofasimpykid @beeeee06 @ilovethiswitchytimeofyear @nuwanda-greaser @crazyforsnow @ayo-its-vicki @dharma-babe @but-nice-butt @gryffendorqueen011 @angel-earth @noturpoet @purerepelsdirt @tmbquirky @idealmai @blueegansey @bloodthedevil @laurendaruler @cilorawr @sunneedazze @bhadlatina @xmmxlxlxtrx @lilbabyharrys @baddecisions-png @allipeavy21 @coolblueskies7 @pelicanpogue @laheyslove (+)

[abraxos-is-toothless]

Undercover- Throne of Glass AU (8)

Um, this one is a shortened update, not even 2k words. Thats because I took some off an moved it into 9:) Ren and Connall’s ship name is now Renall. I might write content on these two in other AUs as well?

A/N: If you read Surprises, the chap will come but I messed it up and I’ve had to redo things. And I’ve also had a few issues at home but I’m promise to get it to you as soon as I can<3

Undercover Masterlist.

Full Masterlist.

----------

Gavriel, Vaughan and Rowan were walking through Hyde Park, coffees in hand. It was early morning, grass still covered in dew and their breath could be seen on the air. A few days ago, Aelin had told them that Arobynn had a few men who stayed in the area a lot and she needed people to come down to see if they could spot anyone, taking all of their findings back to her. Rowan had offered himself up for the job, along with Vaughan and Gavriel. The two of them had agreed but Gavriel knew it was just to get them alone, could see it in the way his Boss was very adamant that the three of them could do it. So here they were, silently walking, seeing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

Rowan nodded towards an empty bench, gesturing that they should sit about twenty minutes into their walk. Rowan and Vaughan sat, but he chose to remain standing, facing them so they were covering all angles. The former was fiddling with the lid of his coffee cup, sighing when the latter turned and raised a brow at him. “Come on Ro, spit it out. You know something.” Vaughan just stared, waiting, and he felt himself go still when Rowan finally opened his fucking mouth.

“She’s Rhoe’s daughter.” Oh, for the ever loving fuck. Oh gods.

“Tell me you’re joking.” He whispered it, knowing what the answer would be, but he was terrified anyway.

“I’m not joking, Gav.” Rowan was looking at him, worry etched all over his face, but he didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what to do. This was all so unbelievably fucked up. Vaughan’s only sign of being shocked was the way his eyes widened just a fraction. Despite that, he was probably running over everything in his head, trying to figure out how he missed something so important. “Rhoe Galathynius, the man who led this gang before her, had a daughter. There is no information on her anywhere, absolutely nothing. But she was around what, nine or ten when he was killed, so her parents must have set something up in case the worst happened, making it look like she never even existed.” He felt sick. If he hadn’t left, if he hadn’t listened to Eliana, then maybe he could have done something, could have kept Aelin from Arobynn. Could have kept her safe.

But Eliana, his beloved Eliana had made him go, to keep him safe and their son, their Aedion. She had known who Gavriel was, why he was with them all of those years ago. It was his task back then to take down Rhoe and the whole organization, but she had shown him that they weren’t bad, not really. They were the ones trying to keep the city safe. Gavriel hadn’t meant to fall in love with her, but she was just so good, so pure and so fucking beautiful. He had left before it all went to shit, telling his bosses he was compromised, though Eliana would have never hurt him. He had walked away from the love of his love, his son. And now he was finding out he’d walked away from his niece. Which she was really, although Eliana and Aelin’s mother were cousins, they were sisters in all the ways that mattered. The realisation knocked the breath out of his lungs, his knees going weak, almost dropping to the ground before Vaughan was by his side, holding him steady. “Fuck Gav, what the hell is wrong?”

“She’s my niece.”

Rowan was confused; his tell was the way he scrunched his nose a little. “You fell in love with Eliana on that assignment we know, and she fell pregnant, but that doesn’t make Aelin your niece Gav.”

“It does because I married her.”

The sudden silence between them was deafening. He’d never told either of them this. Suddenly Rowan was glaring at him, slowly standing so that they were level with one another, face to face.

“I’m sorry; I thought you just said that you married her. This by the way would make you related to them, which would mean in the end, you’d go down with them.”

No going back now, the damage was already done. “I married her, Rowan. I took her last name and she had the marriage certificate. I didn’t think at the time and then everything happened...I didn’t think I’d ever be back here.”

“Fuck! Why have you never mentioned this before?!”

“I’ll always protect her, I’ll always protect them. Lia knew who I was, what I was there for. I told her once, that I’d leave it all behind, but she made me go, so that maybe one day I’d get to know my son. That they’d find me when the dust settled.” But it didn’t end that way. Rhoe, Evalin and his beloved were all gone and his son lost. It took him years to find Aedion and when he did, he was a coward, never approaching the boy, the man now, that he’d kept tucked close to his heart. Vaughan was now swearing, in multiple languages and Rowan was just staring at him, pine green eyes burning holes into his skull.

“One of them is going to piece together who you are eventually, Gav. Aelin asked how I hadn’t noticed how similar she and Aedion were. We need to start moving faster but I don’t know how to do that. They’re just so...” Rowan trailed off but he didn’t need to explain more. Gavriel understood perfectly, having been through this already. It was hard getting so close and going so deep undercover because the lines always blur one way or another.

You just have to figure out which side you’ll be on when it disappears completely, before it’s too late.

oOoOo

Aelin sat on the sofa in the living room, her legs tucked underneath her as she watched Lorcan, Elide, Manon, and Dorian play twister. She laughed as Lorcan, giant brute that he was, collapsed and began grumbling about how stupid the game was. “Oh come on, Lorcan. No need to be a sore loser.” Fenrys goaded him from his spot on the chair, bag of peanuts in hand. Lorcan simply flipped him off and Fenrys chuckled, throwing a peanut at his forehead. Manon had an unfair advantage, Aelin thought, considering how fucking flexible the woman was. She was somehow weaved in between Elide and Dorian and didn’t look bothered by the way she bent. Chaol flicked the spinner again, calling out a ‘right hand, blue’ just as Rowan, Gavriel and Vaughan walked in. All three men looked amused by the sight before settling themselves around the room. Vaughan moved towards Lorcan, still looking like a kicked puppy and Gavriel towards Fenrys, who frowned when the older man began stealing his snacks. Rowan however, he moved to sit beside her, a strong thigh pressed against her feet.

Aelin ignored the urge to press against him more and asked, “See anything interesting out there?”

Rowan shook his head, watching as the three idiots on the floor collapsed into a pile of limbs when Dorian moved wrong. “Nothing. It seemed oddly quiet though, I don’t know how to explain it.”

“We’ll just have to keep an eye out then.” All he did was nod. He seemed quite sullen and part of her desperately wanted to ask if he was alright but thought better of it. She still didn’t know what she felt about him and wanted to keep it between the two of them for now.

“Where’s Aedion?”

“Lys wanted to go shopping, again, and she took Asterin too. I made Aedion go so that he could keep an eye out.” Lysandra thought it would help Asterin feel better to get out of the house, to go and do something for herself. Manon had wanted to go with them but decided to let them be, to not overcrowd her friend. There was a rustling of plastic as the Twister mat was flattened again and Connall, Ren, Fenrys and Chaol started playing. Aelin didn’t miss the way when Gavriel called out ‘left foot, yellow’, Ren slipped just a little and brushed against Con, making the other man’s face flush. They stared at each other for a minute, abruptly looking away when the next move was called. Aelin let a little knowing smirk slip, just in time for Ren to catch her eyes. He had the balls to look at her dumbly, as if he hadn't a clue what he’d just been doing. They all forgot how attentive she was to things and thought they were being sneaky when they weren’t. She would be happy if they made a go of things, once they both stopped being idiots about it. Ren and Connall suited each other.

Yrene walked in from the kitchen with a small tray of food, murmuring gently to Rowan, Gav and Vaughan. It was now noon after all and they boys had been gone all morning. Vaughan walked to where she placed it on the coffee table, giving his thanks as he reached for one of the sandwiches. Yrene only smiled back at him and was just pulling herself back up to normal height when she let out a shocked, “Oh gods fuck.” Aelin stood instantly and Chaol abandoned the game, rushing to his wife’s side.

“Love, are you alright?” She nodded, one hand on her back and the other on her swollen belly. Everyone had stopped what they were doing now, all on alert as they watched.

“Yeah, yes, just fine. Uh, no need to panic.” Very reassuring. Aelin moved to stand in front of her, placing a hand on top of Yrene’s. The woman leaned back a little to look at her, wide eyes blinking a couple of times.

“My waters just broke.”

Oh gods fuck, indeed.

------

Again, I’m sorry it’s short but this is how I wanted the chap to end soooo:) Give me a shout if you want to be added to the tags!!!

Tags: @bryaxisthefaceofnightmares @lila-baard @empress-sei @acourtofterrasenandvelaris @tswaney17 @queen-of-glass @thesirenwashere @awkward-avocado-s @b00kworm @http-itsrebecca @eatmysandwiches @poisonous00 @flowersinvegas @julemmaes @mu-si-ca-l @spyofthenightcourt  @sis-it-dont-add-up  @mad-madeline-ace​ @df3ndyr  @jesstargaryenqueen  @notyournymphetish @carbconnoisseur @aelinfeyreeleven945tbln  @superspiritfestival @alyx801 @silentquartz @tillyrubes10  @dayanna-hatter

[blossom-hwa]

Fall [Spiral] - MARK |Swing!|

There are some spoilers for Captain America: Civil War in this chapter, so spoiler alert! Once again, thank you @deathbykpopboys​ for inspiring this series :)

Pairing: Mark x fem!reader

Genre: fluff, angst, Spiderman!au

Triggers: a lot of cursing, violence, PANIC ATTACKS IN THIS CHAPTER (I in no way meant to romanticize these triggers. If you feel I did, please let me know and I will fix it.)

Word Count: 7.5k

As the year goes on, the world starts crashing down.

Arc { 1 - Drifting Apart | 2 - Coming Home } >> Fall { 1 - Spiral | 2 - Rise } >> Release 

NCT Masterlist | Swing!

A couple of weeks pass. Dr. Charles Roberts and several other people are arrested. Things go more or less back to normal here at home. There’s a shitshow happening on the international scale – someone fucking killed the king of Wakanda and tried to take out a whole UN conference with him, and apparently the Winter Soldier is involved, what the fuck is up with that – but at home, things are okay.

The university labs are more or less fixed, so you start heading back there after school. It takes some time to get used to the new layout of things, but the explosion didn’t touch too much – Wang’s lab was much farther down the hall. AcaDec takes a new member, a sophomore named Ash, who’s smart but can’t seem to really fill the hole that Lia left on the team. You find that you do miss her presence.

Patrolling is no longer filled with stewing silence. Instead, it’s comfortable again. Peaceful. You and Mark don’t swing through opposite sides of the city now. You still split up to cover more territory, but you’re never more than a few minutes of swinging from each other.

The cuts heal. The bruises fade. The scars appear, barely paler than your skin, and far fewer of them than you’d expect. Johnny and Mei don’t suspect anything.

So things are back to normal. For the most part.

Until they aren’t.

You and Mark are walking home one day from the bus stop. It’s early evening, but you don’t plan to patrol tonight. Mei just got a raise, so Johnny’s planned a little celebratory dinner for all four of you. It’ll be fun.

Mark stops first. Lost in thought, you don’t notice until you bump into him. “The fuck, Mark –”

And then you see the fanciest, sleekest, most bougie fucking car you’ve ever seen, parked right in front of your shitty little apartment.

You’re burning with questions as the two of you ascend the stairs. How did anyone here get the money for that car?

“Johnny!” you yell, flinging open the door.

“Hello to you too, troublemaker children,” Johnny calls from somewhere. “How was school?”

“Boring,” Mark yells.

“Also boring here, but Dr. Wang made something explode on accident in the lab today.” You carefully leave out the part where the explosion brought you back to that terrifying night on the beach and you spent a couple seconds hyperventilating before one of the graduate students, Yuta, helped you calm down. You drop your bags in the kitchen, then come out to the small living room. “But there’s this crazy fucking car parked outside –”

Mark’s footsteps stop behind you.

You fall silent.

Because Tony fucking Stark is sitting on your tiny ratty couch next to Mei and Johnny, scrutinizing one of Mei’s (probably awful) cookies between his fingers. His eyes flicker toward you, then Mark, and he smiles. “Oh, Ms. L/N, Mr. Lee!”

Mark mumbles something under his breath that sounds something like “dreaming.” You pinch yourself.

Definitely not dreaming.

“Um.” You take a breath, trying to wrap your head around the fact that Tony fucking Stark is in your living room. “Hi?” You wince when that comes out more like a question than a greeting. “I’m Y/N��”

“I’m Mark,” Mark echoes, sounding vaguely dazed.

“Tony,” Tony fucking Stark introduces himself. As if any of you here didn’t know who he was already.

“Uh…” You rack your brains for a polite way to say what you’re thinking. “What… what are you doing here?”

Nice, Y/N, real nice. That’s the definition of polite right there.

“Well, it’s about time we met.” Tony fucking Stark starts winking. Actually, you can’t tell if it’s just a tic or if he’s actually winking. “You’ve been getting my emails, right?”

Definitely winking.

“Yeah…?” Mark replies. “Right. Um, emails about the…”

“You didn’t tell us about the grants!�� Mei bursts out.

“Right, the grants.” You swallow. “Um…”

“September Foundation,” Tony fucking Stark supplies. “Research projects. Remember when you applied?”

You nod mutely, feeling slightly sick. Johnny looks something between super elated and incredibly proud and utterly betrayed. He catches your eye and mouths we’re talking about this later.

Something inside you wilts and dies.

Tony fucking Stark smiles. “Well, I approved!” He puts down the cookie. “So now we’re in business.”

“Do you visit all the people to whom you give grants, Dr. Stark, uh, sir?” Mark asks timidly.

“Oh, please don’t call me Doctor. I don’t like that. Mister is fine. And no, just a few.” Tony fucking Stark – you need to stop adding “fucking” there like it’s his middle name – winks again. “We don’t usually give grants to high schoolers, you see, so every time we do, we do something a little special.”

Do you usually do special things for high schoolers who never applied for your grant in the first place?

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Johnny pipes up. He pouts slightly, and you want to melt into the ground out of embarrassment. Why is he pouting. “What’s up with that?”

“Well, uh…” You bite your lip, racing to come up with a believable lie. “We didn’t actually think we were going to get it? Since, uh, on the website, it says that high schoolers are rarely given grants and are discouraged from applying…” You swallow. “So we just didn’t tell anyone we applied.”

Tony fuckin – Tony Stark looks at you appraisingly. You’re not sure if that’s a good thing.

“But even after you got it?” Mei looks between you and Mark. “You couldn’t tell us when you got it?”

Surprisingly, Mark steps up. “Um, well, we know you love surprises.” He scratches the back of his neck. “So we just wanted to wait for the… right time? To surprise you? Didn’t want to steal your thunder with the raise…” His voice cracks slightly at the end of his sentence. You stifle a snicker.

Tony fuck – Tony Stark picks up the cookie again and takes a bite. “This cookie is exceptional,” he says, winking at Mei.

He’s lying. Mei can’t bake. She can barely cook, and then only the most basic things. Why the fuck is he lying –

Oh, no no no, fucking NO, Tony fucking Stark is NOT flirting with Mei.

As it turns out, Tony fucking Stark is flirting with Mei.

You glance at Mark to see him looking extremely uncomfortable and ready to die. Johnny’s looking at you with an evil, amused smile on his face, so he won’t be helping. You decide to put Mark out of his misery.

“Okay, uh, so what exactly did we apply for again?” you say loudly. “Because it was a long time ago. I don’t know if we’ve started on new projects since then.”

“That’s what I’m here to hash out!” Tony Stark flashes a winning smile. “Can I get a few minutes with these two lovely children?”

A chorus of “Sures!” and “Of courses!” sounds from the two other adults sitting on the couch. You zip over to your room, ignoring Mark and Tony fuck – Tony Stark following behind, and immediately slam the door shut.

. . . . .

There are a few seconds of silence before Mark finally decides to cut the crap. “Okay, so, uh, neither of us actually applied for your grant –”

“Nuh uh.” Tony Stark holds up a hand. “Me first.”

Mark shuts up.

“I have a quick question of the, let’s say, rhetorical variety.” He holds up the latest Starkphone – shit, it’s nice – which projects a hologram of Mark swinging off a building and kicking a mugger in the head. You swoop down a second later, pulling another one out of a car.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck –

“That’s you, isn’t it?”

“No,” you snap. “No, that’s not us.”

Mark is ever thankful that you’re by his side, because there’s no way he could keep talk without stuttering right now.

The hologram video changes to Mark catching a speeding vehicle just before it crashes into a building, then to you dodging a hail of bullets. Tony Stark raises an eyebrow. “Look at you go. Impressive.”

“That’s – that’s all on YouTube, you know that, right?” Mark can hear your heart thudding and takes over. “Like, it could be anyone, obviously. Or anything.”

“Yeah, uh huh.” Tony Stark begins looking around the room. “Like those UFOs in Phoenix…”

“Yeah!” Mark nods quickly. “Exactly –”

And then Tony Stark flips up your mattress, revealing the suit neatly folded beneath it. “Oh, what have we here?”

Fuck –

You snatch up the clothes so fast Mark barely realizes you’ve done it. Your eyes are wide.

Utter silence falls in the room.

“So, you two are the spiderkids. Crime fighting spider-people.” Tony Stark raises an eyebrow. “Spider…lings? Spiderboy, Spidergirl…”

“Silk,” you mutter.

“Spiderman,” Mark mumbles. He thinks he’d like to jump off a cliff right about now.

“Not in those onesies, you’re not.”

Okay, that’s a low blow. Mark opens his mouth to retaliate, but you beat him to it. “Not a onesie if it consists of two articles of clothing,” you snap, shoving your clothes back under the mattress. “Can’t believe we were actually having a good day…”

You look like you’re going to start crying or screaming or both. Mark knows that look. It’s the look you get before you start getting really pissed.

He grabs your hand. “Calm,” he murmurs out of the corner of his mouth. Your body relaxes slightly.

Tony Stark looks over at the two of you, both eyebrows raised. “Dating?”

“No,” Mark snaps, ignoring the slight twinge he feels when he says that. “Now seriously, why are you here?” Tony Stark might be one of his technological heroes, but if he doesn’t get to the point soon, he just might lose it.

The billionaire genius mutters something under his breath that Mark can’t quite hear, even with his enhanced hearing. Something about “dating” and “yeah right.”

Mark’s stomach curdles. His cheeks feel hot.

Tony Stark sits himself down on the bed. “Just wanted to thank you two.”

“For what?” you ask.

“You don’t remember?” He raises his hand, fluttering it like it’s flying. “Crashing jet full of dangerous alien tech? Vulture man?”

Oh, right.

The knowledge must register on your faces, because Tony Stark continues. “I’d heard a little bit about the two spiders swinging around Queens at night, but that was what made me actually curious about you two.” He leans his chin into his hand. “So who else knows?”

“One friend,” Mark gets out. “That’s it.”

“Really?” Tony Stark jerks an eyebrow at the door. “Not the older brother? Not the unusually attractive aunt?”

“Okay, no. Just no.” Mark rubs his face with his free hand. He hears a soft, disgusted eep issue from your throat. “No, Mei and Johnny do not know, because if they did, they’d freak the fuck out, and then we’d freak out, and that would be very bad for everyone.”

“Mhm.” Tony Stark throws something. You catch it without blinking an eye. It’s a little canister filled with a sample of your web fluid. “You know what I think is interesting? This webbing. Tensile strength is off the charts. Who manufactured it?”

You swallow. “I did.”

“Interesting. The… web shooting things?”

“Me,” Mark says.

Tony Stark whistles. “And sticking to walls? How do you do that?”

Both of you wince. “Long… story?”

But Tony Stark’s already pulled your suit back out from under the mattress and is peering into the pair of darkened goggles you’ve sewn into the mask. Next to him, Mark sees you cringe. “Lordy! How do you see in these things?”

You snatch the mask back with more force than necessary. “Heightened senses,” you snap. “Sometimes feels like everything’s caving in on you. Goggles make it easier to focus.”

A beat of silence.

“Well, that confirms it.” Tony Stark stands up, only to place himself down on your small desk chair. “You two are in dire need of some upgrades. Systemic. Full-body. One hundred percent. That’s the other reason I’m here.”

Mark can’t deal with this while standing up. He sits on the bed. You follow suit.

“So why do you do this?” Tony Stark waves a hand at the two of you. “I gotta know. What’s your MO? Motivation? What gets you out of bed and into the streets to do the police’s job for them?”

“Well, first of all, the police don’t fucking do their job, so jot that down,” you hiss, fingers digging into Mark’s palm. “Second…” You soften slightly. “If you have the ability to help people. Stop crime. If you have the ability but you don’t use it, and then shit happens…”

Mark takes over when you falter. “Then those things happened because of you.”

More silence.

“So you want to look out for the little guy, make the world a better place.” Tony Stark raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah.”

“Move over.” Tony Stark stands up, motioning to the space on the bed next to you.

You move over.

“Got a passport?” He sits down and raises an eyebrow.

Well, yeah. But the two of you haven’t traveled in a long time, so you don’t know if they’re expired.

“Ever been to Germany?” Tony Stark presses.

“… No?”

He smiles. “Oh, you’ll love it.”

“We can’t go to Germany,” you say, bewilderment etched across your features.

“Why?”

“We have…” Mark winces before he says it. “Homework?”

Tony Stark, Mark’s technological hero, looks supremely disappointed and nonplussed at the same time. Mark thinks he wants to die. “Okay, I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”

“Hey, I’m being serious!” Mark protests. “We literally took the SAT two weeks ago. We can’t just, I don’t know, drop out of school and go out of town –”

“Might be a little dangerous,” Tony Stark mutters, walking to the door. He places his hand on the doorknob. “Better tell handsome brother and Aunt Hottie I’m taking the spiderlings –”

A glob of webbing pins his hand to the door. Mark and Tony Stark swing their heads over to look at you.

“Don’t. Tell. Johnny. Or. Mei,” you enunciate carefully.

For a moment, there’s just dead silence, where Mark tries to figure out what the hell is actually going on and how his day went from being so boring to so eventful in such a bad way.

“All right, Silk.” Tony Stark nods, then points to the webs with his free hand. “Now get me out of this.”

. . . . .

You don’t know how Stark did it, but this suit literally fits you perfectly. Even as you’re hiding in your position, you can’t stop marveling about how smooth it feels against your skin.

It’s black and white, with a hood that keeps your hair back and a mask that somehow lets you breathe easily but is still tight against your skin. There are no visible holes for eyes, but some weird technology lets you see through the material anyway.

It feels perfect.

Tony Stark is a motherfucking genius.

A loud whooshing sound comes from the sky. From your vantage point, hidden inside one of the upper levels of the parking garage, you watch Iron Man and War Machine swoop down to meet Captain America in the middle of the airport.

“Wow, it’s so weird how you run into people at the airport,” Tony Stark says in the most deadpan voice possible, his helmet lowering to reveal his face.

You snicker slightly.

The two sides go back and forth for a bit. Mr. Stark didn’t explain the whole argument, citing the fact that you’re too young to understand (to which you bristled a bit), but he gave you your roles, and you’re not about to question him. Stay quiet and hidden, only come out if there’s actual fighting.

Mark, on the other hand, gets to do something you envy a bit.

He gets to take Captain America’s shield.

Just then, Mr. Stark yells the code word. “Underoos!”

You really stifle a laugh then as Mark swoops in, snatches the shield, webs Captain’s hands together, and lands on the roof of a nearby car.

“Nice job, kid,” Mr. Stark calls.

Somehow, even hidden behind the suit, Mark looks awkward. It’s both embarrassing and endearing at the same time.

Classic Mark. Can barely take a compliment. You cringe slightly as your best friend starts rambling.

“Well, I could’ve stuck the landing better, it’s just, uh, new suit – wait, no, it’s perfect, Mr. Stark, thank you –”

Thankfully, Mr. Stark cuts him off. “That’s good, kid.”

A beat of silence.

“Hey, everyone.” Mark waves awkwardly.

No one waves back. You cringe harder.

The awkward atmosphere turns serious when Mr. Stark opens his mouth again. “What are you doing, Cap?” He sighs so loudly you can hear it even from your hiding spot. “You’re being an idiot. You dragged in Clint, took Wanda from a place she didn’t want to leave, a safe place?” His eyes blaze. “I’m trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart!”

You blink. What?

There’s more that you don’t understand. Something about turning over Barnes, no compunction about hurting people, and then Lang? Who’s Lang?

Apparently Lang is a small dude who becomes a regular-sized dude all in the process of kicking Mark’s face and returning Captain’s shield.

His suit looks like an ant.

You can practically hear the what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck running through Mark’s head as he stands up because you’re feeling it too.

“Two in the parking deck, one of them’s Maximoff,” Mr. Stark says. “I’m getting her. Rhodey, can you take Cap?”

Colonel Rhodes answers in the affirmative. “Got two in the terminal. Wilson and Barnes.”

“Cool. Spiderling? Got that? Keep your distance and web them up.”

“Yeah,” Mark replies, eyes narrowing. He jumps onto the terminal glass.

You race out of the parking garage, careful to stay hidden, then leap across to the terminal in plain sight to many yells of confusion on the ground below. Someone yells, “There’s another one?”

You smirk. “Ready?”

. . . . .

Mark thanks every god he can think of for his sticky abilities as he races across the glass, keeping Wilson and Barnes in sight. He lashes out with both hands, sending two strings of webbing onto the terminal overhanging, then shoves backward.

The momentum of his swing crashes him through the glass. He grits his teeth, waiting for the pain as glass shatters around him, but Mr. Stark has somehow made his suit so that the glass can’t pierce it, no matter how thin the material feels.

Genius.

Swinging through the new hole, you lash out with your feet and and Wilson goes down with a grunt. Another swing, and then Mark’s inside, ready to fight off Barnes.

He doesn’t even think when Barnes swings his arm. His mind flashes back to a fistfight he dealt with a few weeks ago, and on instinct, he catches Barnes’s fist in his hand.

The sound of metal hitting something fills the air. Mark looks, really looks, and sees that it was Barnes’s fist that made the sound.

“You have a metal arm?” Mark blurts out, unable to contain himself. “That’s so cool!”

And then Sam Wilson, apparently recovered from your kick, swoops in and lifts Mark right off the ground. As he tussles with the Falcon, Mark hears you engage Barnes and yell, “Shit, that metal arm really is awesome!”

See? He really can’t be blamed for how cool a bionic arm is, right?

Wilson twists around in midair, giving Mark the opening he needs to attach to the ceiling and swing out of his reach. A terminal sign falls under his weight as he leaps across steel beams, narrowly avoiding blasts of Wilson’s gunfire.

“DUCK!” you scream from farther below.

Mark’s danger sense already warned him, but your added reminder is helpful as he flattens himself on the beam, just in time for the ripped-off billboard to sail over his head like a large frisbee. “Get out of the way!” you yell, leaping onto the same beam just in time to web up Falcon’s chest, sending him spiraling to the floor. As he goes down, Mark webs up the engine pack on his back, then sticks him to the glass barricade around the escalator.

“Those wings carbon fiber?” you call, clinging to one of the directory posts nearby.

“This stuff coming out of you?” Wilson looks at the webbing on his hands in disbelief.

Mark fully ignores him. “Well, if it is, that’d explain the rigidity-flexibility ratio, which is fucking awesome.” You make a noise of agreement.

“I don’t know if you’ve been in a fight before, kid, but there’s not usually this much talking,” Wilson growls.

You snort, beckoning to Mark. “Well, if he wants to be unfriendly, guess we’ll just have to hack up the blueprints later.”

“My bad,” Mark echoes, then leaps back into the rafters as Barnes comes barreling over. One string of fluid and a well-placed swing later, he’s crashing through the glass escalator barrier, sending both men to the ground. From your position on the ceiling, you web them down before they can get back up.

“Hi hello, sorry about this, but all we had to do was impress Mr. Stark.” You shrug, leaping down to crouch next to him on another directory post. “We’d love to talk some more – especially about that bionic arm, that’s so cool, like the wings are cool but the arm is better, but –”

Mark sees Wilson’s hand move before you do. Just as you send out another string of webbing, something flies out, catches it and drags you out of the glass. “Oh, come on!” he hears you yell.

He tries to think of something clever to say to the pair lying on the ground before leaping off to follow you, but all he can come up with is, “For fuck’s sake.”

Mark doesn’t yell that aloud. He just mutters it under his breath before following you out of the terminal.

. . . . .

The rest of the fight, to put it lightly (and in Mr. Stark’s words) is a shitfest.

You think that you and Mark did fine, if there’s even a way you could measure fine in this kind of scenario. You guys actually manage to fuck around with Captain America for a bit until his physics-defying shield clocks Mark’s face.

Something rips apart in your chest during that one horrible second where Mark goes down and you can’t tell if he’s alive or dead. Inwardly, you swear that if Captain America killed your best friend, you’ll murder him, symbol of America or no.

Mark turns out to be fine. He rolls over and just gasps at the sky. You yell at him to stay away and then Captain America drops a passenger boarding bridge for planes onto your head, nearly causing you to spiral into memories of that time Adrian Toomes sent an entire building crashing down on you and Mark.

(“You got heart, kid.” Captain America looks at you appraisingly as your knees buckle under the weight of the bridge. “Where’re you from?”

Between a pounding heart and spiraling thoughts, you somehow manage to answer. “Qu-Queens.”

“Brooklyn.”

“As if –” you gasp, trying to head off the increasing panic – “my history teacher from Brooklyn didn’t repeat that bit of information about you twenty times in the space of one fucking hour.”

You’re not sure, but you think Captain America smiled at that.)

No, you two aren’t the problem. After Mark helps you out from under the bridge and uses his brilliance and love of Star Wars to come up with a fantastic plan to take down a now not-tiny Ant Man (“Okay, anybody on our side hiding any shocking and fantastic abilities they’d like to disclose? I’m open to suggestions.” “Uh, no abilities here, but I’ve got an idea?”).

Ant Man’s hand eventually smacks you and Mark down. Mr. Stark then forces you to stay down with the threat of leaking your spidery secrets to Mei and Johnny, so you two limp out of the picture.

By the time Mr. Stark comes back to collect the two of you – Mark has a splitting headache, and you think you’re on the verge of an anxiety attack or something – the fight’s over. Captain and Barnes have escaped. The other “rogue” Avengers are going to some high-security prison. Colonel Rhodes might possibly be paralyzed.

Mr. Stark doesn’t look great when he tells you two the news. You think you’re just going to pass out.

Two perfect scores on the SAT cheer you up slightly. Johnny and Mei video call in the hotel room in Germany to congratulate you. But Mr. Stark’s anger at Colonel Rhodes’s state – well, more like anger at himself for not having saved his friend – dampens your moods more than slightly.

Mr. Stark apologizes to the two of you back at the hotel. “I’m sorry, kids.” He sighs, rubbing his forehead. “I didn’t think this was really going to come to blows. I shouldn’t have brought you in, though.”

Neither you nor Mark knows exactly what to say to that other than a slightly concussed, “It’s fine.”

You get to keep the suits. Mr. Stark demands you let him know if anything malfunctions, though you have a feeling he’ll know anyway. He designed the suits – there’s no way he wouldn’t install some sort of tracking device or whatever that would let him know how damaged it is.

This Mr. Stark is a far cry from the cocky, flirtatious one you met back at the apartment. Here, you see a softer, more broken side of the confident guy that makes an appearance on TV. He’s nice, you realize. Kind. He’s got a lot of baggage, but he’s trying to do what’s right.

And isn’t that just what you and Mark are trying to do?

Mark’s concussion heals quickly. Mr. Stark postulates that your spider bites gave you speedier healing, which would make sense – now that you think of it, your cuts and bruises after that disastrous homecoming healed rather quickly, quickly enough that Johnny didn’t really notice them.

Mr. Stark takes the two of you back home after a couple of days of rest in the hotel. He’s all cordial smiles when Johnny and Mei come down to get you guys. You’re supposed to go to Stark Industries every Sunday now for regular suit repairs, under the guise that you’re conducting research with that grant he gave you.

Now, you’re not stupid enough to go around publicizing your sort-of relationship with Tony Stark. The man’s practically a god. But someone from school apparently saw the two of you getting out of his car the day you got back from Germany, so now people have a lot of questions they want you answer.

During the space of one week, Flash tries a grand total of five times to bully an answer out of you. Mark has to hold you back from clocking him in the face after the fifth time. After that, you tell everyone you have an internship at Stark Industries, and even though that just spawns more questions, there’s nothing more you’ll say about it.

So life goes on. No one at school knows about your spontaneous, long-weekend trip to Germany. Johnny and Mei just think it’s a perk of being chosen as a September Fund grant winner as a high school student. Only you and Mark know differently, and that’s good. It’s what you decided in the beginning, wasn’t it? You even webbed Tony fucking Stark’s hand to your door to prevent him from blabbing.

Life is normal. You go to school, work in the lab, practice for AcaDec, and patrol. Life is normal.

Until it isn’t.

. . . . .

Mark remembers the exact day he saw the first article. It’s December 15, about a month after Germany. He’s just scrolling through his phone at lunch, half-listening to Haechan complain about something or another, when the story pops up on his news briefing.

Spiderman and Silk: Friends or Foes?

Curious, he taps on the link.

Later, as he sits in physics, shell-shocked, he’ll wish that he never bothered to look at it. He never really searches himself up – it’s just kind of weird. After the fight in Germany, the two of you are more well-known than ever, but when he hears mentions of Spiderman or Silk at school or on the streets, it’s usually good stuff. Or neutral, at least. He hadn’t really felt the need to see what people online have to say about him until that day.

Mark doesn’t know what possessed him to open that article in the first place, but he wishes it had never happened.

Because it isn’t a friendly article. It denounces you and him as half-breeds, some sort of escaped experiment gone wrong. It doesn’t actually pinpoint what experiment or the company that fucked it up – for that, Mark is thankful – but it really does hurt to see that people don’t see the good you two are trying to do, just your strange abilities.

They don’t even think you two are human.

Some of the comments defend the two of you, pointing out the enhanced abilities of other heroes like Captain America. But far more agree with the article’s words, even going so far as to demand the two of you be tried as criminals and put in prison.

That, Mark thinks, is bullshit. Neither of you have ever killed anyone, just knocked people unconscious and webbed them up. Compare that to the gunfights, the muggings, the rapes that could have happened, and he doesn’t think those comments are justified.

But they stay in the back of his mind, and when you ask him why he’s brooding on the train ride to the labs, he’s forced to show you the article. He’s forced to watch you read it, watch your smile fade, and watch you try to put your usual confident face back on. “It’s just an article,” you say flippantly, handing back the phone. “And I think we’re doing fine.”

Mark half agrees. It is just an article, he knows that’s true. But he doesn’t think you really believe that.

Hell, he doesn’t even think he really believes that.

Still, he tries to explain away the extra hour of patrolling he tacks on for himself every night. He leaves you out of it, at first – he just stays on the rooftop for a while longer until he’s sure you’re in bed, and then swings around for a bit more.

Until the night (well, morning) that he returns from that extra hour to see you standing on the rooftop in your pajamas, arms crossed.

“I’m not stupid, you know,” is the first thing you say when he guiltily lands in front of you.

And of course, now he has to let you go with him.

So patrols extend. Mark tells you that it’s just because he wants to make sure he cleans up as much crime as possible. You take that reason with a nod and a “sure,” because even though you believe Mark is a good person to the core (you’ve told him this many times), you also read that article.

You’ve also caught him reading more.

He feels strangely guilty each time you pluck his phone out of his hands and exit the browser app, raising an eyebrow. When that doesn’t stop him, you resort to giving him a punch every time you catch him.

“Are you trying to, like, classically condition me?” Mark complains, rubbing his shoulder. Yeah, he’s extra strong now, but so are you. And your punches hurt.

“Pretty sure it’s operant conditioning. And yes, if that’s what it takes for you to stop reading those shit articles,” you snap, punching him again in the same spot.

It’s hard to stop, though. Mark doesn’t know how celebrities do it. He’s anonymous – he can count the number of people who know his secret identity on one hand – but he still feels so much pressure from these articles to prove them wrong.

But that’s hard to do when they all contradict each other. Some complain that he does too much. Some complain that he does too little. Others just dislike him in general and he really shouldn’t pay attention to those, but he can’t. Day by day, he forces himself to do more – swing faster, punch harder, help more people, put more criminals behind bars.

What else can he do?

. . . . .

You’ve suspected something was wrong with you ever since that explosion in Professor Wang’s lab, the day Tony Stark came to your apartment. Explosions, though uncommon, are still a part of lab life. Usually you’d just look up, snicker at whoever did it, laugh if it was Wang, and get back to work.

That day is the first time you freak out over an explosion. It wasn’t even that big or loud, either. Mei has definitely caused bigger messes in her own apartment.

But it doesn’t matter, because suddenly, you’re back on the beach under a pitch-black sky, feeling yourself being thrown backwards as metal vulture wings tear themselves apart in a shower of beautifully dangerous blue and purple sparks.

Yuta, once you’ve calmed down, tells you that you were hyperventilating. That makes sense. You remember a burning sensation in your chest and your heart beating faster than you ever thought it could. When you’re finally calm, you’re shaking slightly, sweat beading your forehead.

At the time, you don’t plan to tell anyone about it. For all you know, it was just one isolated experience. It probably won’t happen again.

And then Captain America – who is very different from the PSA videos Coach shows you during PE – drops a passenger bridge onto you, sending you back under crushing concrete blocks. You can practically feel the dust clogging your throat and entering your nose as you struggle to respond to what the Captain is saying – because fuck if you’re going to show weakness to a superhero – and even though some part of your brain knows that what you’re feeling isn’t actually real, it feels like it is and that’s enough to start sending you spiraling.

Mark helps you out that time, helping push the bridge off of you even through his pounding headache. As you collapse on the ground, heaving, you’re not sure if he notices the imminent panic attack you’ve just managed to pull yourself out of. You really hope he doesn’t, because he doesn’t seem to be dealing with the same thing – flashbacks, panicking, hyperventilating.

What does it say about you that you are?

But once you get back from Germany, the panic attacks (you’re pretty sure that’s what they are – the symptoms seem to match, at least) subside. You relax back into your friend group, and even though school is more stressful than ever, things feel normal. You feel… fine.

Until Mark finds that article.

There’s a lot on your plate. Even before you got your spidery abilities, you were involved in a lot of things, most of which you haven’t given up because if you did that, a lot of people would get suspicious (or disappointed, which is almost worse).

You and Mark used to just not patrol on AcaDec practice or competition days. You also wouldn’t patrol on nights before big tests, or when you stayed late at the lab to finish something up. But now you do.

It isn’t that article, specifically, that causes you to double down on yourself and work harder than ever. That article was just about stupid things you can’t control, which basically consists of every ability you got after the spider bite. No, it’s the other articles, the ones that point out crime rates increasing and Spiderman and Silk not having enough of an effect on them, that first spawn the problem.

(You’re a hypocrite. You know that. You tell Mark to stop reading the articles because they’re bad for his health, but you read them too. You’re just better at hiding it.

It’s somehow addictive, reading the sickening things that people like to write about the two of you. It’s bad for you, and you know it. But you just can’t stop.)

Stress is a sneaky thing. It’s almost impossible to realize just how stressed you are, you think, until it’s too late. Johnny, when he was at university, put on a confident face for three weeks before midterms and then had a breakdown the day after he finished.

The same thing is happening with you, but you don’t notice it for a long time. The fact that crime rates are increasing just rests in the back of your mind, fueling the extra hours of patrol you do every night, even when you have tests or practice or research papers to write. Not to mention all your homework, too.

The rational part of your mind logically explains away the increasing crime rates. International-scale problems started increasing after the Avengers Initiative became public in 2012 because people believed they could go up against the Avengers and win. They drew the attention of aliens and evil public figures. It’s probably a similar thing here in Queens – people believe they can go up against you and Mark and win. You’ve caught their attention because you have the potential to take down malicious plans.

But what about the crime in other parts of New York, the places you can’t get to? Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t. Queens is big enough on its own. You can’t tackle Staten Island, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx too.

What do people even want you to do? Everyone always says to just do your best and that’ll be enough, but why is it that once you get a few new abilities, that suddenly isn’t the case?

You can’t save everyone. As much as you want to, you’re only one person.

You can’t.

Then the first panic attack after Germany happens.

You’re at home. You don’t even feel terrible. There are no flashbacks or anything to trigger it, so maybe you don’t have PTSD.

(That conjecture is the one good thing that comes out of this panic attack.)

You’re just lying in your bed, resting for a bit before you go out to patrol, when it suddenly feels like your chest is constricting and you can’t breathe.

Time doesn’t seem to flow. Your heart beats wildly, you’re hyperventilating, and you honestly think you’re about to die. When you finally come out of it, your phone tells you you’ve been stuck in your head for ten minutes.

It felt like so much longer.

You should probably call off patrols tonight. Your mind feels exhausted and you can barely drag your suit out from under your bed, but a recent article eggs you on – crime rates have been spiking recently, and New York’s newest spider vigilantes don’t seem to be doing much for it – so you wave Mark off when he asks if you’re okay and swing into the fading afternoon light.

The next day, you drag yourself to school feeling physically and mentally wiped out (someone decided a rape was necessary at around one in the morning, and you can still feel the poor girl trembling under your hands as you walked her to the nearest hospital) and you sit yourself down for a history test that will determine half of your semester grade.

It’s fine. The test is fine. You get an A, anyway. But the second you walk out of class, the chest pains start coming in again, and you all but sprint to the bathroom to safely panic in one of the stalls.

You’re not fine. You’re definitely not fine. A week later, someone bangs a locker door shut a little too loudly and you barely make it to the bathroom before you start hyperventilating. It’s like the world won’t fucking stop.

Then during winter break, there’s the fight with Johnny.

. . .

You don’t usually fight with your older brother. When you were younger and your parents were still alive, maybe. But after they died, the two of you only had each other, so the fights more or less stopped. Sure, there are the occasional petty spats that devolve into laughter and hugs, but that’s all.

Johnny isn’t stupid, you know. Even with speedier healing than normal, there are still sometimes cuts on your face and bruises on your arms that he can see. And one day, as you two sit down to dinner, he brings them up.

“So, what exactly do you do with your Stark grant?” he asks a bit too casually.

“Oh, I’m working on trying to synthesize that degradable plastic I started on with Wang,” you reply as coolly as possible. “Stark’s got a lot more supplies in his departments than Wang does, and for the most part, he lets Mark and I use whatever we need.”

“He really trusts you a lot,” Johnny says.

You don’t know what to say to that, so you just nod.

“Okay, I’ll cut the crap.” Your brother sighs, putting down his chopsticks. “I don’t like your Stark grant… internship thing, Y/N.”

Several thoughts fly through your mind, but first and foremost is what the fuck?

“W… why?”

“You’ve been hiding things from me ever since you started with him.” Johnny gestures to your face and your arms. “There’s no way you could get scratches or bruises like that from working in a lab. I don’t know what Stark is doing, or whether or not you’re a willing participant in… whatever it is, but if it were up to me, I wouldn’t have you working there anymore.”

“I’m not doing anything dangerous!” you protest, even though you know that’s a lie. Well, it’s not really in relation with your Stark internship. “I’m just – clumsy!”

“Clumsy is Mark’s thing, not yours,” Johnny snaps. “Why are you lying to me?”

Deflect, deflect, deflect –

“Why do you want me to give up the best opportunity that’s come to me in years?” you retort, pushing your chair back.

“You want to talk about giving up things?” Your brother stands up, eyes blazing. “I gave up everything after Mom and Dad died!”

Something cold settles in your stomach. It’s just as you feared. Johnny’s given up so much, and what have you done? Compared to him, you’re so selfish for taking the opportunities that land in your path – AcaDec, working with Wang and now Mr. Stark.

But you can’t give up what you’re doing with Stark. He’s been teaching you and Mark how to repair your suits, but you can’t do it alone just yet. You need to keep learning. You need to keep going.

How can you explain this to Johnny without revealing everything?

A tear slips out of your eye before you realize. Johnny looks slightly stricken, like he didn’t mean to say what he did, but you can’t look at him. “I’m sorry,” you mumble. “Sorry that…” You don’t even know what you’re apologizing for, you just know that you have to.

Then it clicks. “I’m sorry I can’t tell you everything,” you say around the lump in your throat. “If I could, I would. But I can’t.”

If anything, Johnny looks even more upset and confused than before. “Why can’t you tell me?” he asks, voice softer.

“I just can’t,” you say again, trying to convey just how impossible this whole situation is. “It’s not Mr. Stark’s fault. It’s not anything I’ve been doing with him. It’s just me. I… you can’t understand. Not now.”

“I think I should be the judge of that,” Johnny replies.

You shake your head firmly. “Not this time.”

Silence reigns. Your unfinished dinner bowls stand on the table, forgotten.

“I’ll tell you at some point,” you say, biting your lip hard. “You don’t have to trust me. I know how shady this all sounds. I’m not selling drugs or doing anything like that.” You try to breathe calmly. “I’m not going to stop my work with Mr. Stark. It’s important to me. I can give up other things, just not that.”

“Why?” Johnny’s talking again with an acid bite to his voice. “Is he like a father to you now?”

At that, you really flinch. “What?”

“Are you seriously replacing Dad with Tony Stark?” he snaps.

Your brain processes his words.

“What the fuck?” Now you’re angry too, and it’s taking all your effort not break literally anything in the room. Your fists clench into your sides so hard you can feel your nails biting into your palms. “How – how dare you?”

Johnny just looks at you like you’ve betrayed him. “It’s clear to see, Y/N.” His voice is softer, though no less cutting. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

Memories of your own father flash through your head. You don’t know what Johnny is even thinking, but there is no way you could ever replace him. “You’re wrong,” you snap quietly. “You’re completely wrong.”

Then you walk to your room and slam the door shut.

The rest of winter break is awful. Neither you nor Johnny will apologize, and you spend a lot of time crying or heaving on your bed. It doesn’t feel like anything could get worse.

Then Mark gets himself shot.

[idontgiveaflyinggrayson69]

Stains

Author: Nat / @idontgiveaflyinggrayson69 & Lia / @dacres-strawberry-daiquiri

Requested: No

Tagging: @thisismysecrethappyplace @patzammit @aw-hawkeye​ @caswinchester2000​

Fandom: Avengers

Relationship: Pre-Established; Bucky x Reader

Summary: Bucky slops on himself and needs help getting the stain out, he gets more than he bargained for.  

Word Count: 3.8k

Warnings: Smut. Unprotected sex (wrap it up kids).

Bucky’s been through a lot. He’s been through more than anyone could ever understand.

He lived through the Great Depression, was drafted to the battlefields of the Second World War, captured and experimented on by the Nazi’s rouge science division, HYDRA, gone MIA and presumed KIA, only to have survived the fall and been returned to the hands of HYDRA, where he would spend the next several decades being tortured and wiped and used as a weapon to commit political assassinations against his own country.

Bucky was, and you would always believe it, the world’s oldest Prisoner of War. You just wished that the world would see that too. Wished that the world would see him as the sweet, caring, funny guy he truly is, and not the monster HYDRA made him.

When Steve found Bucky, he stopped at nothing to get him back, and you, one of Steve’s closest friends on the Avengers, were beside him every step of the way. You knew what Bucky meant to Steve and you understood that everything the Winter Soldier had done, was never really Bucky. You understood that Bucky was as much a victim as the Winter Soldier’s targets.

Once Steve managed to find Bucky and bring him to the Avenger’s Tower, the road to recovery was a long one. But everyone rallied to help him. Shuri especially helped, she took out all the HYDRA coding and helped him with regaining his memory.

Steve was there to help Bucky remember who he was. Tony was there to help with his arm, which needed regular maintenance and Bucky didn’t know how to fix it. Wanda was there to help Bucky sort through what was real and what wasn’t. And you were there to help Bucky learn who he was going to be now.

You became Bucky’s favourite person.

You didn’t see him as a fun toy, or as something that needed to be fixed. You didn’t look at him as something that once was but will never be again. You saw him as his own person and as he was. You saw him for him.

So, as Bucky’s favourite person, you started to spend more time with him and the two of you began to grow closer. The two of you would watch TV and movies together, braid each other’s hair and cook.

What neither of you expected was to fall for one another. In hindsight, it should have been expected. The two of you spent all your time together and you made each other happy. In the beginning it was a little difficult. Bucky hadn’t been in a relationship since the 40s and he didn’t really know what to do, but the two of you figured it out together. And, you were happy together.

But, the two of you hadn’t taken the sex step yet. Bucky didn’t want to jump into things and you were happy to wait till he was ready, even if it left you sexually frustrated. But, you didn’t let it bother you. You didn’t needsex to be happy.

Tonight, was a cooking night. Bucky wanted to test out a pasta sauce he recently remembered and you were happy to assist.

“For a guy from the 40s, you certainly are a good cook, Buck.” You moaned after tasting the sauce for the first time.

Bucky chuckled softly. “I had to learn, I was on my own for quite some time after I moved out of the house.”

“It’s good shit, man.” You said with a smile, gesturing the spoon towards the sauce pot.

Bucky shrugged and added a few most spices, scooping up a small spoonful of sauce. “Try it for me?”

“Of course,” You nodded. “Thank you.”

You blew on the hot sauce before eating it, moaning softly. “This is honestly just so fucking good.”

You scooped up another spoonful of sauce and raised it towards Bucky. “You gotta have some too, Buck.”

“I mean, I made it but sure.” Buck laughed and grabbed the spoon, moving to put it in his mouth but he missed slightly causing a few splotches to drop onto his shirt. “Fuck, one second, I need to wash this off. Stir the sauce for me, (Y/N).”

You nodded and took the stirring spoon to stir the sauce. “Did you at least think it tasted amazing?”

“Yeah it was!” Bucky beamed with a smile. “It needs more salt though.”

“I... will let you handle that when you get back.” You laughed, not wanting to ruin the sauce.

Buck nodded and headed down the hall towards the bathroom. He grabbed a wash cloth from the cabinet and ran it under some cold water before rubbing the stain.

“Oh come on.” Bucky mumbled, rubbing the sauce stain more vigorously, only making it worse. “Fuck!”

The bathroom wasn’t too far down the hall, so you could hear Bucky’s commotion. You quickly covered the pot before walking after him. “Bucky?”

Bucky ignored you and started rummaging through the cabinets, looking for something to get the stain out. “This fucking thing, where the hell is all my stuff!”

“Bucky?” You ask softly, knocking on the opened door.

He looks up at you a little frantically. “I can figure it out, I just need the right stuff. I swear, I can do it... I just need... well I need, fuck what do I need?!”

You instantly snapped into action. “You need to take it off, it’ll be easier to clean. Baking soda or white vinegar will help get the stain out, but you can’t use both, alright?”

Bucky stopped what he’s doing, looking at you in defeat. “I’m sorry… I… a lot of memories of my mom and exes have been coming back recently they would do this sort of thing and—“

You nodded softly. “It’s alright. You don’t have to explain, Bucky. I can help you. C’mon, take it off, I’ll help. I may not be them; but, I do have some 50s housewife training.” You joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Bucky could only nod, slipping the top above his head and handing it to you. You swallowed and took the shirt. You had hoped that you would at least be able to get a smile from him. You nodded to the kitchen. “I’m just going to grab the baking soda...”

Bucky stayed silent, not trusting his voice or knowing what to say. Ever since Shuri fixed his head, his memories had been coming back. She said that most likely not all of them would come back, but a good number of them would, and a lot of them had. In fact, they were coming back faster than Bucky could handle.

You sighed, putting the shirt down on the sink edge before turning to look at him. “Bucky...” You whispered, gently reaching up to stroke his cheek.

Bucky clenched his jaw and gripped the sink. “Don't...”

“We don’t have to talk about it.” You said softly, slowly running your hand down his right arm.

Bucky lifted his face to look at you. “I can get a stain out, I swear.”

“Don’t,” You pushed a piece of his hair behind his ear, “worry about the stain.” You took a step closer to him.

Bucky inhaled and darted between your eyes. “(Y/N)...”

You took another step closer so your chest was touching his, pushing yourself up onto your tippy toes to press a kiss to his cheek before whispering in his ear. “Let me take care of you.”

Bucky hesitated for a minute before sliding his hand towards your hip and bending down to ghost his lip over yours. You moved your hand to his hair and pulled him down to connect your lips. Bucky tightened his grip around your waist, pulling you closer and wrapped his left hand behind your neck to deepen the kiss.

You gasped in surprise, not expecting Bucky’s actions, your free hand running down his back. He slid both hands down to your ass giving it a squeeze causing you to moan, digging your nails into his back. Bucky let out a low growl, picking you up and pushing you against the nearest wall.

“Fuck, Bucky!” You yelled, surprised.

He started to kiss down your neck. “Are you sure about this?”

“Yes.” You breathed out, tilting your head to the side to give him more room. “Are you?”

Bucky sucked just below your earlobe and presses himself into your core. “Yes.”

You wrapped your legs tightly around his waist, pulling him closer. “Then fuck me, Bucky.”

Bucky’s eyes darken as he looked at you before crashing his lips back onto yours, pulling you off the wall and heading towards his room. You tangled your hands into his hair, giving it a light tug as you ran your tongue along his bottom lip.

Bucky groaned into the kiss parting his lips to give you access as he moved into his room, shutting the door with his foot. You pulled back at the sound of the door closing, glancing quickly around the room. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

Bucky ignored you, tossing you onto the bed and quickly hovered over you, not hesitating to re-attach his lips to yours. You tangled your hands into his hair and wrapped your legs around his waist, pulling his weight onto you.

Bucky smirked and ground his hips down into your core, causing you to moan into the kiss and grind your hips back against his. “More. I need more.”

Bucky nodded and started sucking on your neck, sliding his hands to the hem of your shirt before ripping it open. You gasped slightly at the graze of cool metal against your skin, but didn’t care about the destruction of your shirt.

He smirked and started leaving love bites down your body. When Bucky got to the hem of your jeans he flicks open the button and looks up at you for approval. You nodded quickly. “Please, Buck.”

You brought your hand to his head and push the hair back from his eyes before gently tugging on the strands. Bucky licked his lips before breaking your gaze to slide your jeans off. “Fuck, (Y/N), you're soaked right through your panties.”

“It’s cause you’re so fucking hot, Jesus Christ, Buck.” You bit your lip and leaned your head back against the pillow.

Bucky chuckled softly, leaning down and pulling your panties to the side before softly blowing against your heat. You gasped at his action, arching your back, your hand tightening in his hair.

Bucky groaned and tore your underwear off much like your shirt, tossing it to the side and attacked your clit.

“Oh, FUCK!” You shouted, your legs tightening around his head due to the sudden contact.

Bucky grunted and forcibly pulled your legs apart. “Stay still, Babygirl.”

He slid his left hand up your thigh and started teasing your entrance with the tips of his metal fingers. You whined and shivered at the contact, grinding down on his fingers looking for more. “Please, Bucky. Please.”

Bucky pulled away from your clit and looked at you softly. “Do you want me to use the other hand?”

You looked at him and licked your lips before shaking your head and spreading your legs more. “I want the metal.”

Bucky rose his brows in surprise but then smirked and winked at you before diving back in, giving your clit kitten licks while inserting a metal digit into your heat.

“Oh, fuck.” You moaned loudly, throwing your head back against the pillow, moving your hands to grip the sheets. He pumped his finger in and out of you and started sucking on your clit more intensely.

“God, don’t stop.” You whined, your grip tightening on the sheets. “Feels so good, Bucky.”

Bucky slipped another finger in, curling them upwards, causing you to arch your back, grinding down on him, looking for more. “I’m getting close, Bucky.”

He picked up his pace with his fingers, curling them at random. “Cum for me, (Y/N).” Bucky looked up at you, his eyes full of lust, his lips glistening with your desire.

“I—“ You were cut off by your orgasm ripping through you, arching your back with a loud moan of Bucky’s name.

Bucky groaned at the sight of you coming undone around his fingers. He bent back down and licked up all your juices, continuing to slowly pump his fingers, working you though your orgasm. “You're so beautiful.”

You whined softly after coming down from your high, your breathing heavy. “Too much…” You moved your hands back to his hair and lightly tugged him away.

Bucky pulled away and hovered over you, his face covered in your juices and concern. “Did I hurt you?”

“Fuck no.” You shook your head. “I’m just sensitive, gotta give me a minute... a minute that I can most certainly make use of...” You smirk and flip him over so you were resting above him.

Bucky lifted his eyebrows in surprise but smirked up at you, sitting up to kiss you, wrapping his arms behind you and unclasping your bra. You smiled into the kiss, slipping the straps off your arms and discarding the garment on the floor, your nipples hardened at the cool air. Bucky slid his hands back around to your front, gripping your breasts in his hands, teasingly circling his thumbs over your hardened nubs, causing you to moan loudly.

“You’re very responsive.” Bucky chuckled, giving one of your nipples a tighter squeeze.

“Ah!” You bit your lip, pressing yourself into his touch. “It’s ‘cause it feels so good, Buck.”

His eyes darkened at the sight of you biting your lip. “Careful with that lip, (Y/N)...” Bucky swallowed deeply, warning you.

You looked at him innocently before biting your lip again and pushing Bucky back down on to his back, lightly running a finger down his chest to his belt. Bucky growled lowly as a warning but let you continue. You moved your finger past his belt to trace his bulge. “This feels like quite the problem; do you need help with it?”

Bucky clenched his jaw. “Don't tease me, Babygirl. You'll regret it.”

You smirked and moved your finger back up his stomach, bending down to hover over him. “That wasn’t a yes.”

“Fuck, yes.” Bucky breathed.

You nodded and got off him, standing on shaky legs before kneeling on the floor at the foot of the bed, tapping the bed in front of you with your hand. “C’mere, Sergeant.”

Bucky groaned, standing up in front of you, sliding a strand of hair behind your ear. You ran your hands up his thighs before slowly undo his belt and pants as Bucky’s hand slid into your hair, holding the back of your head.  

You grabbed a hold of both waist bands and slowly pulled them down his thighs, licking your lips once his dick was released. You wrapped your hand around his shaft and gave it a few experimental strokes, causing Bucky to groan and grip your hair tighter. “Fuck, (Y/N).”

You leant forwards to take his tip into your mouth, circling your tongue around his head. Bucky lightly bucked his hips at the sensation. “Fuck.”

Slowly, you took him into your mouth inch by inch as far as you could before hollowing your cheeks and bobbing your head with a soft suck, one hand resting on the base of his dick, the other on his hip.

Bucky clenched his jaw and looked down at you, groaning at the sight and pleasure. You flicked your eyes up to his and took him further into your mouth, your eyes watering a bit as your nails dig into his hip.

“You take me so well.” Bucky groaned, lightly bucking into you.

You moaned softly at his words, sending vibrations through him. Bucky groaned loudly and pulled you off. “As amazing as this is, I'm not done with you yet.”

You whined in disapproval before wiping your lips off on the back of your hand and smirking up at him. “You gonna fuck me now?”

Bucky put his hand under your chin and pulled, encouraging you to stand. Slowly, you stood up, your eyes dark with lust.

“Yes, I am. But I need to know you’re ready because,” Bucky slid his hands down to your ass giving it a squeeze, “once I start,” Bucky ghosted his lips with yours, “I won't be able to stop.”

You pressed your lips against his roughly before pulling back to kiss along his jaw to his ear. “I want you to fuck me, James.”

Bucky growled and picked you up only to toss you onto the bed, crawling on top of you to hover above you. He hiked both your legs up over his shoulders and lined himself up with your entrance, looking at you once more for approval. You nodded, your lips parted. “Please, Bucky.”

With that, he drilled into you, not giving you any time to adjust, groaning at the feel of you around him. “You feel so fucking good.”

“Fuck. Bucky.” You gripped the sheet roughly, closing your eyes and tilting your head back in pleasure.

Bucky sat up slightly and held your hips up for a better angle, nailing into you at a fast pace. You moaned loudly, arching your back as much as you could. “Feels so good.”

“You're so fucking beautiful.” Bucky tightened his grip on your hips enough to bruise, leaning forwards again to start nibbling on your right nipple.

You gasped, your hands going to his head, needing to hold on to him as your toes curled at the pleasure. Bucky groaned and lifted his head to kiss you, picking up his pace. You moaned against his lips, your hands tugging on his strands.

Bucky pulled your neck to the side and started sucking below your ear lobe, reaching his left hand down between the two of you to rub your clit causing you to whine, tilting your head to the side to give Bucky more room and grinding down on his hand and dick. “I’m gonna cum again, Buck.”

“That's a good girl, cum around my cock.” Bucky whispered, his voice husky.

You nodded and allowed the building sensation to give and let your orgasm wash over you, your eyes rolling back as you dug your nails into Bucky’s back and you clenched around him. “BUCKY!”

Bucky groaned your name loudly as you tightened around him and continued thrusting into you at a rougher pace chasing his own release. “Fuck, what a good girl for me.”

You gasped at sensation, arching your back as you rolled your hips to meet his thrusts. “I want you to fill me up so good, Bucky, please.”

With that, Bucky’s thrusts became sporadic and a few thrusts later Bucky nuzzled his head into the crook of your neck as he stilled inside you, releasing his load. “Oh, (Y/N).”

You gently rubbed his sides, pulling him down, urging him to put more of his weight on you.

“I don't want to hurt you.” Bucky protested after a moment, trying to hold his weight off of you.

“You’re not going to hurt me.” You reassured your boyfriend.

Bucky looked at you for a moment before letting go of some weight, leaning down to kiss your shoulder. You hummed at his action, still rubbing his side.

“We haven’t checked the sauce...” You released a weak laugh.

Bucky chuckled. “I'm confident that it might be ruined.”

Bucky pushed himself up, giving you a light peck before pulling out of you and rolling off you, laying on his side to face you. “Do you need anything?”

You slowly laid your legs flat against the mattress with a small gasp. “No, I don’t think so. You’ve done plenty.” You gave him a smile.

“Do you remember if you turned the heat off?” Bucky asked, his hand coming up to rub your stiff legs.

“I covered it and turned the heat down but not off, if I knew this was going to happen, I would have turned it off…” You trailed off with a laugh.

Bucky smirked. “Okay, I'll go turn it off. If it's still okay do you want me to bring you some?” Bucky got up, sliding on a pair of sweat pants before turning back to you at you.

You nodded. “Please. I would get up myself but I’m pretty sure that’s not a good idea...”

“Yeah no, stay put. Do you want a cold cloth or anything?” Bucky asked with a small smile.

“No, thank you.” You replied, pulling the covers back to slip under the blankets.

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” Bucky nodded before walking out of the room.

“Thanks, Bucky.” You called after him before getting yourself comfy in the bed, wrapping a throw over your shoulders to cover your breasts as you sat up against the headboard.

Bucky walked back into the room with two bowls of pasta a few minutes later. “So the bottom of the sauce burned but the top was fine so I snagged that.”

You smiled brightly, sitting up with the blankets wrapped around you. “Yay! Thanks, Buck.”

“It might not taste as good as it did; but, I think it's worth it.” Bucky said softly, passing you a bowl of pasta before sitting down on the foot of the bed.  

“I think it’ll taste amazing.” You replied, smelling it. “It smells really good.”

“So did you.” Bucky smirked and sent you a wink.

You blushed tucked a piece of hair behind your ear. “Um, thank you?”

“Haha, I'm just teasing, (Y/N).” Bucky said with a smile. “Seriously though, are you okay?”

You nodded while taking a dep breath. “I’m way better than okay, Buck.”

“I was worried I was going to hurt you.” He whispered, looking away.

“Why?” You asked softly, looking at him.

Bucky looked back at you and smiled softly. “You're asking an assassin with a metal arm who was built to kill, why he was worried about hurting you?”

You smiled up at him. “I don’t break so easily, Bucky. I’m not going anywhere, I promise, alright?”

Bucky nodded lightly, clenching his jaw slightly and looking away. He shoved a forkful of pasta into his mouth.

You reached over and stroked his arm but didn’t say anything. Instead, you put your own forkful of pasta into your mouth.

“This is really good.” You said softly. “Maybe you should go by the CookingSoldier and not the WinterSoldier.”

Bucky smiled and looked over at you. “Maybe.”

[sugarpun-fairy]

SOULMATE AU - SEAN CASSIDY X OC / ALEX SUMMERS X OC

word count: 1843 (first part)

warnings: angst by the end

a/n: who needs to read and write school work when we have fanfic right? def not me and my girl ori, who was the reason i got this done (thank u love) 

so this is another soulmate au, this one being the one where you have a mark related to your soulmate, since they’re mutants its related to their mutation

hope you guys like it xoxo

x-x

LIA POV

“Truth or dare bro?” Scott asked his older brother with the most devilish smile.

We were all sitting on the library, way past our curfew, in a big circle with an empty bottle in the middle. It was already past my first month at the Institute and I had to admit it was way better than I could’ve imagined. It felt good to be in a place where I wasn’t the “weirdo” or the “beast”. It was nice to be just... normal.

So basically, that was the reason I had chosen to be among about fifteen teenagers playing party games after the time we were supposed to be sleeping.

“Dare.” Alex finally answered and Scott looked like a kid seeing snow for the first time. What I didn’t expected was the young boy turning to me after his brother’s response.

“Lia are you wearing a bra?” he spoke.

“Excuse me?” Ori, my best friend who was almost sleeping on my lap questioned with her voice a little too high. I touched her shoulder and nodded.

“Yes, I am. Why?”

“Alex, I dare you to take off Lia’s shirt.” Scott declared with the most excited of the smiles.

“Are you okay with that?” Alex asked turning to me.

My heart felt like it was about to explode on my chest but I simply took a long deep breath.

“If I’m okay with a hot guy taking of my clothes? Why wouldn’t I?” I joked. Ori almost hit me, jumping away from my lap. Almost everyone had to hold back their laughs with both scenes.

Alex’s cheeks were redder than the roots of my hair. It was almost charming.

“Well if you say so.” He crossed the circle and started to unbutton my green oversized flannel, taking it off, leaving me in nothing but bra and black loose shorts. I was totally fine with it until I realized his eyes were not on my boobs but on the circles that took place between them and on my tummy, making me look like a literal walking bullseye.

“See something you like?” I teased arching an eyebrow. He cleared his throat and gave me back my flannel. “I believe it’s your turn to twist the bottle.”

“Probably.”

The bottle stopped on Sean’s direction, and we all could sense something wicked was coming. The ginger boy stared at the bottle for a couple seconds before finally answering his best friend’s question.

“Guess I’ll choose dare.”

 ORI POV

A weirdly expected shiver ran down my spine as Alex took longer and longer to tell what would be Sean’s dare. It was a well-known fact that nothing good could come from that mix.

“I dare you, if your crush is in this game, to kiss her or him.” Alex said with a big smile. Sean only sighed.

“Why put it like that if you know damn well who it is?” He complained and then turned to my direction. “Sorry.” He whispered leaning towards me and giving me a soft quick kiss on my lips.

I felt my face burning deeply, followed by a couple of large arrows tearing the back of my pajamas and going straight to Sean's direction.

“Fuck. Wait. No! Oh my God!” I took a damn deep breath and the arrows disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know how to react to that and… Well yeah I’m just sorry.”

“Well that was unexpected for sure.” Lia said finally buttoning her shirt up.

“I just went with the same logic as my little brother right here!” Alex explained.

“Amazing! Didn't knew you guys could think! And which logic would that be?” The blond didn't answer me, only laughed and shrugged.

“Okay, okay, time to put baby Ori to sleep!” Lia said as she stood up and pulled my arm. “Thanks everybody for the game! It was amazing, let's do it again next week?” added with another pull. “Ori, honey, let’s go before you stab someone with full intention!”

“Oh, but it was just getting funny! Weren't the one that wanted to stay up all night?” I joked and she simply stared at me.

“Am I gonna have to count?” She asked with no sign of being joking anymore.

“No, miss! I'm right behind you! Bye everyone.” I said following my pink haired best friend. But it was clear that there was something bothering her. “Why does it seem that you were more annoyed by the kiss than I was?” I dared to ask.

“It wasn’t annoyance.” she promptly responder.

“What was it then? You had to leave so you wouldn’t wake up the whole institute with your laugh?”

“I think Alex might be my soulmate.” She declared without looking at me. “And maybe Sean is yours.” I couldn’t help but laugh.

“What? Sean? Really?” She stopped and turned to me.

“He has arrows on his back, on the same place yours come from. Just like Alex has red wings on his.”

“So what? Shouldn’t that be a good thing?”

Lia took a deep breath, staring at the circles on her wrists and hands.

“Maybe. I’m not sure.” she whispered. “I really hope I’m wrong to be honest.” “Why honey?” I asked holding her hands.

“Because it would mean two people alone ‘til the end of their lives.” Lia mumbled pulling her hands back and leaving me alone in the dark corridor.

Weeks passed since the game and she never mentioned that suspicion again, but I hadn’t forgot. In fact, that was already pissing me off as hell because I couldn’t stop thinking about Sean and his adorable smile, or his soft ginger hair, or his charming freckles and where else they could be on his body beside his face and arms. It was terrible, annoying and absurd.

“Why don’t you talk to him?” Lia asked on a day she was particularly annoyed by everything. “Go find out if it’s him. What exactly do you have to lose?”

“If that’s so then why don’t you go talk to Alex?” I threw back without thinking much. “That way you can stop running away from him every waking second.”

She didn’t bite back. The absence of an answer made me realize how the whole situation was stressing her. Not only the soulmate thing but she was also failing a couple classes and the latest missions were ending with a lot of people in the infirmary, where she’d stay to help due to her mutation. Maybe that was one of the reasons she wasn’t having time to study properly.

“Lia, talk to me! What’s so bad about the possibility of being Alex’s soulmate?” I begged. “Please. I’m your best friend!” She only sighed without taking her eyes off the textbook. “Ophelia!”

“Don’t call me like that or I’ll steal your energy and you know I can do it.” She growled. “I know you’re my best friend but I’m fine, I swear! No need to worry.”

“I’m your bestie, its my duty to worry about you.” I kissed her on the forehead and left for a walk, leaving her with her textbooks and notes.

As soon as I stepped outside someone called me.

“Ori!” Sean repeated jogging to my direction. “Mind if I make you some company?” he asked with a sweet smile, his face slightly red – as always – from the jog.

“If I ever say no to that you can send me to the sanatory!” I joked making him get even more red. He laughed shyly and started to walk by my side. “So, how’s life?”

“Well I’m leaving for a mission tonight…” he started. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you, actually.”

“Am I your lucky charm?” I teased.

“Better. I believe you’re my soulmate.” He dropped, turning to me. I stopped walking and turned to him as well. “I wanted to tell you about that and tell you how I feel in case… something happens…”

“Don’t say that!” I held his face close to mine and dared to give him a kiss. “Nothing will happen. The mission will be a success! Everyone will be fine!”

His arms laced around my waist and he pulled me closer.

“Do it again. Please.” He whispered looking into my eyes.

“What?”

“Kiss me again.”

“Since you asked so nicely guess I’ll have to do it.” I teased, needing to be on my tiptoes to reach his lips.

For once in my life it felt like everything was in its place. The planets, the stars, us. His lips on mine, his hands on me. It felt like nothing in the world could ruin that.

Two days later, when the Blackbird landed in the middle of the night, I knew I couldn’t have been more foolish. Half of the institute had woken with the noisy clumsy landing that had almost ruined half of the garden. Everyone rushing to see what was happening made the whole situation more tense.

When Scott and Alex left the jet with an unconscious Warren between them and Erik with a bleeding Raven on his arms, some of the shocked students ran to help to get the others, Sean and Kurt. All of them badly hurt and mostly unconscious.

“What happened?” I asked following them to the infirmary. Lia was already there helping to put everyone in the beds.

“All of our data was wrong. It was a trap.” Erik answered laying Raven. “And we fell right into it.”

I took a deep breath and sat beside Sean’s bed, watching him closely. His uniform was completely bloody and torn, and he could barely breath. Tears began forming in my eyes along with a huge weight on my chest. My hands started to shake as I tried to touch his hair, even more red now.

“Ori, I’m sorry but I’ll have to ask you to leave.” Lia whispered touching my shoulder. “Being here won’t be good for you.”

“I can’t leave him!” I sobbed covering my face. “I… You were right, he’s my soulmate…” I stuttered.

“Oriana.” Lia repeated. Her red feathery wings finally appearing behind her along with a bunch of glowy feathers around the room. “I knew it. Now please. I don’t wanna have to heal you too.” I nodded before sobbing on her shoulder for a short minute. “I’ll do my best, I promise.” She swore, her wings getting bigger and glowing even more at every word. Alex closed the door behind me but I couldn’t move my legs to go back to my room.

It felt like everything I had had been stolen from me. My whole body ached at every breath I took. Tears couldn’t stop leaving my eyes no matter how much I tried. And the worst part was how useless all of that made me feel. How I’d just stand there seeing him in the state he was and was unable to do anything to help. How I couldn’t help Lia there. How I wish I could have gone to that mission and maybe help them defend themselves.

 x-x

taglist: @imaginesandideas @90s-cassidy @batboys-and-other-messes @southside-sweets @brattybombshell

[ghost-town-story]

FebruarOC Day 15: Ophelia (Lia)

(Also known as Pretentious Art Boys bc that’s how I kept referring to it when I was procrastinating on it :P)

Lia leaned against a bare patch of wall, levelling an unamused glare at her friends. “You know,” she said, “when you said I should “get out of the house for once” and “stop drowning my sorrows in ice cream”, I thought that meant, you know, doing something fun. Not this.” 

She gestured at the room with her wine glass, really the only highlight of this whole event. 

Derek gave her a sheepish grin, while Esme looped their free arms together. “And is this not fun?” she asked. 

Lia gave her another deadpan stare. “The alcohol is the only thing making this tolerable.” 

“And it’s better than drinking alone, eh?” Derek teased. 

“Drinking alone on my couch in my pjs, or getting all dressed up to drink wine and listen to pretentious art boys ramble on and on?” Lia raised her eyebrow. “Take a guess which one I’d prefer.” 

“Ophelia, darling.” 

“Don’t call me that,” Lia grumbled. 

Esme continued on undeterred. “You know I love you, but there comes a point where staying in with ice cream and wine, it’s just, well…” 

“Sad?” 

Esme gave her a sheepish grin. “I love you darling, but yes.” 

Lia sighed unhappily. “Okay, you know what, I won’t argue that point, yet,” she added pointedly as Derek and Esme shared a triumphant grin, “but I will question your sanity once again. Dragging me out here to listen to pretentious art boys, really?” 

“Pretentious art boys?” Lia spun around at the unfamiliar voice. 

A couple had wandered within earshot of Lia and her friends. The man’s expression was somewhere between bemused and amused as the woman smacked his arm, though she looked to barely be containing giggles of her own. 

“Yes.” Lia crossed her arms and decided in a split second that this was the hill she was going to die on today. “And you have something to say about that?” 

The man opened his mouth, and the woman elbowed him. “Don’t even start,” she warned. 

“You’re one to talk about not starting arguments, Jasmine,” the man retorted. “Anyways—” 

He suddenly cut off. “Fuck. Hold that thought,” he said to Lia. “I’ll be back.” 

And he and the woman disappeared into the crowd again. 

Lia rolled her eyes, taking another sip of her wine. “Pretentious art boys, all of them,” she muttered.

~

Lia quietly muttered curses under her breath, wishing her favorite coffee shop wasn’t quite so damn crowded. For a second she debated just leaving, but she needed the caffeine and sweetness, and all the other places within five miles were subpar at best, so she would just have to endure. 

Somebody bumped into Lia, causing her to stumble and fall into a stranger. Cursing her luck, Lia quickly straightened herself out, an apology already on her lips as she looked up. It died partway through. 

“You!” 

The man blinked before a smile graced his features. “You’re the “pretentious art boys” girl from that art show the other day! You ran off before I could return to continue our discussion.” 

Lia had left as soon as she finished her wine, Derek and Esme dragging her home with them to watch terrible movies until the early morning. 

“I can’t see why you’re surprised,” Lia said defensively. “Because obviously I was having the time of my life at the art show.” 

“You make a fair point,” the man conceded. “But you wouldn’t hang around to try and put me in my place?” 

“You have a lot of nerve, starting arguments you’re so sure you won’t win,” Lia said. “Plus, arguing with pretentious art boys in their natural habitat is probably a bad idea anyways.” 

“Am I a pretentious art boy?” The man smirked. 

Lia’s response was cut off by a woman cutting through the crowd to join them. Lia recognized her as the man’s date from the last time they’d met. 

“Jeez this place is busy today,” she muttered to the man before noticing Lia. “Oh hey, I’ve met you before, right?” 

“Briefly,” Lia said. 

The woman smiled. “I hate to cut this meeting short too, but we need to go.” She handed off a drink to the man before taking his arm. “I refuse to let Hayden worm out of letting me meet his boyfriend yet again.” 

Lia heard her name called. “And there’s my drink anyways,” she said. 

“Till next time then,” the man said. 

“You sound sure about that one,” Lia raised her eyebrow. 

The man laughed. “Maybe I just believe in coincidences?” 

The woman tugged his arm. 

“Yeah, okay Jazz, I’m coming.” 

They disappeared into the crowd, and Lia made her way to the front counter, contemplating the coincidence that had let their paths intersect once again.

~

The halls were dark and quiet, except for the sounds of Lia’s footsteps. If she didn’t trust Derek and his judge of character, Lia would honestly wonder if he wasn’t setting her up for some weird murder-or-selling-her-organs-on-the-black-market scheme. As it were though, this place was creepy. 

But as Lia rounded a corner, the windows let in more sunlight, and she heard muffled music coming from one of the studios, instantly alleviating the creepy factor. 

Lia curiously peered in the window as she passed, only to stop dead in recognition. 

Well fuck. 

She knocked on the door, and a voice called, “Come in.” 

As she opened the door, the man turned down his music. “Can you gimme a couple more minutes Jase?” he asked. “I’m almost done, I promise.” 

“Not Jase.” 

The man glanced around. “Ah! Pretentious art boys! Told you I believed in coincidence.” 

“Is that going to be my name for the rest of time?” Lia asked. 

“Only for as long as I don’t know it.” The man winked, his dark indigo eyes sparkling. 

“Lia.” 

The man smiled. “Nice to officially meet you Lia. I’m Alex.” 

Lia glanced around the small studio room. “This stuff yours?” 

“For the most part, yeah,” Alex said. 

“So I was right,” Lia smirked. “You are a pretentious art boy.” 

Alex laughed. “You are at least half right, I’ll give you that much.” He turned back to his easel. “So what brings you here, to the heart of pretentious art boy territory?” he teased. 

“Ha ha, very funny.” Lia leaned against the doorframe. “I’m supposed to be meeting my friend and a couple of his buds, actually.” 

“Heh, same thing, funny enough,” Alex chuckled. “My cousin’s boyfriend was talking about introducing us to some of his friends.” 

“What a coincidence,” Lia murmured. 

“And I believe in it,” Alex repeated. “It worked well enough to have us meet three times now, didn’t it?” 

Lia hesitated, then huffed. She didn’t have a good argument against that. 

“Exactly,” Alex replied, interpreting her silence. 

From the hallway, Lia heard a voice calling. “Think that’s for you or me?” she asked. 

“You, probably,” Alex answered. “Jason knows I’ll be here. In fact, he’d be concerned if I moved.” 

“Really?” 

“Usually if I tell him I’m going to paint while I wait for him to get his shit together, I lose track of time real easy,” Alex laughed. 

Lia thought of how time slipped away from her when she was watching a show or reading a good book. “Yeah, that’s fair.” 

The door behind Lia opened, and Alex’s date from the past few times they’d met popped her head in. “Hey Alex, you ready—oh!” She blinked in surprise. 

“Like, two more minutes Jazz?” Alex asked. 

“Yeah, sure. Didn’t expect to run into you here.” 

“This is my studio Jazz—” 

“Not you you spork.” 

“Ah. Jazz, Lia. Lia, my cousin Jasmine.” 

Lia blinked. She had definitely misread that relationship. 

“Cut it out Alex,” Jasmine rolled her eyes. “Just Jazz is fine. Alex likes to think he’s witty.” 

“Because I am,” Alex shot back with a grin. 

“In your dreams Jaybird,” Jazz retorted. “Anyways, you wouldn’t happen to be one of Derek’s friends, would you?” 

“I am,” Lia said, ignoring Alex’s cough that sounded suspiciously like he was saying Coincidence. 

“Cool. Derek’s been looking for you, so let’s go find them and Alex can join us when he’s ready?” 

“Sounds good,” Lia said. 

Alex gave them a salute. 

As Lia followed Jazz out, she had to admit that Alex may have a point, believing in the coincidence of all their meetings.

~

“Fourth time’s the charm, eh?” Lia asked, leaning against the doorframe. 

Alex chuckled, looking in her direction. “Starting to believe in coincidence?” 

“I would, if this weren’t Derek’s apartment and I didn’t know that he invited you all to join us,” Lia responded. 

“Aw shucks.” Alex didn’t look too upset though. 

“So why are you hiding out in here?” Lia asked. 

“Not really my thing, to be honest,” Alex said. “Movies, and all that. Well, sometimes it is but not in this context.” 

“Oh?” Lia crossed the kitchen and hopped up onto the counter next to Alex. “And may I ask why not?” 

Alex blinked. “Oh,” he said, his voice suddenly quiet. “Oh, shit I kinda can’t believe it hasn’t come up yet.” 

“What?” 

Alex hesitated, turning his cup in his hands. “I’m actually blind.” 

Lia blinked. “What?” 

“Yeah.” Alex shrugged, then took a drink. “Not like, completely, but I can’t watch movies unless somebody’s narrating what’s happening most of the time.” 

“I think that’s an option on Netflix,” Lia said, “if you want.” 

“Nah.” Alex ruffled her hair and wrapped his arm around her waist. “Thanks for the offer, but I really don’t think I’m missing out on much.” 

Lia flushed slightly. “Depends. Is your taste in media cheesy horror?” 

Alex shuddered. “No thank you.” 

“Then you’re not missing out,” Lia affirmed. 

“Ophelia Davidson, you’d better not be dissing this!” Esme called from the living room. 

“None of your business Esme Larkson, and don’t call me that!” 

“Ophelia, huh?” Alex was smirking. 

“Don’t you dare Alexander,” Lia threatened. 

“Jokes on you, Alex isn’t a nickname.” 

“Don’t you dare, Alexander Jay Lunacen.” 

“Hm, you’ve been talking to Jazz. Or Jason,” Alex added. “But the point of my first name still stands.” 

“And how will you stop me?” Lia sassed. Alex was still smirking at her, his arm still around her waist, and she’d had just enough wine to fake some confidence. 

Alex hummed. “Don’t call me Alexander, and I won’t call you Ophelia,” he bargained. “Sounds much too formal anyways. And if that won’t convince you…” 

Alex brought his free hand up to Lia’s cheek, his thumb tracing the corner of her mouth before he leaned in to kiss her. 

“Maybe I’ll just have to find some other way to silence you,” he murmured when he pulled away. 

“But Alexander fits the pretentious art boy vibe you have going,” Lia teased. 

“Do you really think I’m a pretentious art boy, Ophelia?” 

“You are definitely an art boy,” Lia said. “And I have seen no evidence yet saying you’re not pretentious about it, Alexander.” 

Alex huffed, leaning in to kiss her again. “One might think you’re trying to get me to shut you up,” he murmured. 

“What do you think Alexander?” Lia teased back. 

Alex hummed, thinking about it for a moment. “That I’m right.” 

And Alex kissed her again.

[thebeautifulgame7]

Reputation

CHAPTER INDEX

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:

Sergio’s POV:

I raced over to the training center after saying goodbye to Iris. By some miracle, I made it on time to change into the team travel clothes and get on the bus. I made my way to my locker, the clothes already laid out. Iker laughed a little as he was finishing putting on his shoes.

“Why are you acting like you’re in such a hurry? Are you that excited to sit on a plane for eleven hours?” He asked as I practically jumped into my joggers.

I stopped for a second and thought, I guess I was so worried I was going to be late that my mind hadn’t realized I was on time.

“I just thought I was late.” I mumbled, checking my watch to see I was actually right on time.

“And why would you think you were late?” Iker asked, crossing his leg and leaning an elbow on it, a knowing smirk on his face.

I pulled off my shirt to change into the team polo, revealing the hickies on my chest and neck that Iris had left, forgetting all about them until Iker chimed in.

“Never mind, I can see why now.” He gestured to my torso. I glanced down, seeing all the red and dark bruise-like marks.

I shrugged and tugged the polo over my head. “Right, those.” I laughed a little.

“So let me guess, you had a bit of fun last night, maybe a little too much and overslept?” Iker asked as I slipped my nikes on.

“You’re right about the first part.” I teased the story, tying my shoelaces with a smirk on my face. “We had some fun last night, a couple times,” I said nonchalantly, pausing to be dramatic. “And then again this morning in the shower.” I glanced up at Iker who was rolling his eyes.

“You guys fuck like rabbits I swear.” Iker mumbled, grabbing his suitcase and backpack as I did the same.

“And is that so bad?” I nudged him as we headed to the bus, “we’re young, we’re having fun, there’s nothing wrong with a healthy sex life between a boyfriend and his girlfriend.” I shrugged, that’s what a relationship was right? Some fun with a person you care about?

“It’s all fun and games until you accidently get her pregnant.” Iker joked as we got onto the bus. My heart raced a little out of fear at his comment.

“I’m not gonna accidently get her pregnant, we use protection most of the time and she’s on birth control.” I said, sinking into my seat a little. I knew Iker was joking, but I was nowhere near ready to be a father and have a kid with a girl I had been dating for only two months.

“Jeez, I didn’t think that joke was gonna upset you.” Iker chuckled a little, playfully shoving me. I tried to laugh it off a little but that kind of commitment was really intense and scary for me.

“Nah I’m good. There’s just no pleasing you.” I laughed as Iker looked at me puzzled. “I stay out late and hook up with a lot of girls, and you don’t like it, now I’m in a monogamous relationship and having a lot of sex with my girlfriend and you’re still annoyed. I can’t win.” I laughed a little more.

Iker went to speak but I cut him off, “You know what I think it is? I think you’re just jealous that I’m having so much sex.” I teased.

“Oh please, Lia and I have plenty of sex. Don’t you worry.” Iker brushed off my comment.

“Whatever you say man,” I sighed, pulling out my phone to text Iris.

I typed out a message and sent it to her, “miss you already” with a heart at the end. It still made me laugh to think about our conversation when we were at the beach. How Iris thought I was supposed to be this bad boy all the time, with no soft side for my girlfriend. I liked surprising her with how sweet I could be and as far as I could tell, she liked being surprised.

I smiled out the window as I watched the people and streets of Madrid flash by me in a blur, waiting for a text back. She was probably showering or headed to work by now, it was a week day after all. My phone buzzed and Iris’s name flashed across the screen, “I miss you too handsome, have a safe trip and text me when you land” her message read.

I locked my phone and shoved it back into my pocket before leaning my head against the headrest. I sighed deeply, my eyes closed, reflecting on my relationship. It was nice to have someone around who would miss me and someone who cared about me. I really liked her, a lot. I was sure I was falling for her at this point if I hadn’t already. Neither of us had said we loved the other yet, and thinking about it on that bus, I kind of regretted not saying it before I left for America.

Sure I could call Iris and say it to her, or text her, but it wasn’t the same as looking into her eyes when I did it. I knew I was close to saying it too because of the slight tinge of guilt in my stomach. I just got nervous this morning and if she didn’t want to say it back I didn’t want us to leave it on such a weird note.

There’s always so much riding on that L word. It’s a risk sometimes, because the other person isn’t always ready to say it back, which can cause so many problems. For me, if I said it and Iris didn’t I would have left Spain feeling very insecure about us so I thought it best just to play it cool so that way I could focus on preseason training like I needed to.

***

I sluggishly shuffled off the plane and onto the tarmac in Los Angeles, it was still light out by the time we arrived, but the sun was going to set in an hour or two, I was thankful for that, it meant we could all just go to the hotel, eat and go to sleep. I don’t really get too jet lagged as long as I can get a good night’s sleep the day I arrive anywhere and with how tired I was feeling as we boarded yet another bus, I knew it wasn’t going to be an issue.

As Iker and I made our way onto the bus to the hotel I pulled out my phone to let Iris know I made it. It was really early in Madrid, but I wanted her to wake up to a message from me. “Made it to your homeland safe and sound” I texted her. I smiled at the thought of Iris as a kid growing up here in America. She didn’t talk too much about it, but when she did it always sounded like it was a lot of fun for her.

I must’ve fallen asleep on the bus because the next thing I knew, Iker was nudging me awake. “Come on sleepy head, we’re here.” He laughed as I snorted awake, surprised by his touch.

I mindlessly shuffled into the hotel, putting my body on autopilot. I was more tired than usual after a long flight. I guessed it was probably because Iris had kept me up most of the night and I’ve never slept well on planes. The employees handled our luggage for us and got us checked in. Iker and I were going to share a room. During the season most of the time we all had our own rooms, but for preseason our manager felt it was better for us all to bond.

I didn’t mind sharing with Iker, he was a great roommate, he was quiet, didn’t make a mess and was in bed early most nights, not to mention we’ve always been close. At least I would be able to crash after dinner pretty easily.

It felt like dinner dragged on forever, and that was partly because our coaches made us go for a long walk afterwards because we’d been sitting on a plane all day. I’ll admit, it was nice to stretch my legs and chat with the guys. I kept checking my phone to see if Iris answered, but it was early morning in Madrid, no way she would be up.

I shoved my phone back into my pocket only to be surprised when it buzzed. I pulled it back out to see a text from Iris. She always had a way of surprising me.

“I’m so glad you made it safe baby.” Her message said with a kissy face at the end. I smiled at my screen and typed out a reply.

“And what are you doing up at this hour?” I teased, not paying attention to where I was walking, all my focus on my phone as I watched three dots pop up and Iris type out a response.

“I just-” I started reading before walking into a wall. I grunted as the guys laughed at me. It hurt a little more than I would like to admit but I was able to laugh it off.

“Just like the pitch, get your eyes up once in a while eh?” Zidane teased as he playfully patted my shoulder.

“Right,” I smiled at him before going back to my phone.

“I just woke up to pee and checked my phone.” Iris’s message said and another one came in right after, “and now I can’t go back to sleep :(“  I smiled a little and glanced up to make sure I wasn’t going to hit any walls again before I replied.

“Aww, is there anything I can do?” I messaged back before putting my phone away for the last little bit of the walk.

As we reentered the hotel, some of the team decided to stay down in the lobby and hang out but Iker and I headed for the elevator. I whipped out my phone to see a message from Iris. “Maybe you could entertain me? Tell me how your flight was”

“It was fine, I slept a little, dreamt about you…” I typed back.

“How’s your head?” Iker pulled my attention back to the elevator.

“Oh, it’s fine I was just being dumb.” I laughed a little as we exited and headed to our room.

“Was it Iris? Did she sent you a picture or something?” Iker teased me before opening the door.

“Nah not this time, just a message.” I said, flopping onto my bed and kicking my shoes off. “We’re just texting, she can’t sleep apparently.” I added, checking to see what she messaged me as Iker headed into the bathroom to shower.

“What was the dream?” Her message read.

“It wasn’t romantic, but it was hot.” I teased out the story. I didn’t have a dream about her on the plane, but I had a feeling she wanted something to fantasize about. Her next two messages proved I was right.

“What happened?” Iris messaged back almost instantly. “I’m in the mood to hear something sexy.” She sent in a second message.

I smiled and decided it was best to call her, since we had some privacy at the moment. After a short hello I began explaining. “You surprised me on the flight and were dressed as one of the flight attendants. Everyone else on the plane was asleep…”

“Yeah? Then what?” Iris’s voice was breathy on the call. I licked my lips and slid a hand into my pants.

“You slowly and seductively approached me, and bent down next to me, you asked if there was anything you could get me. You called me Mr. Ramos. Before I could answer, you noticed the bulge in my pants.” I continued, slightly stroking myself through my boxers.

“Uh huh, and then what?” Iris practically moaned into the phone. God she was sexy. This fantasy wasn’t just for her either.

“You blushed a little, before you placed a hand on my thigh, slowly running it up to my bulge. I told you I could use some help with that.” I said in a deeper tone, slipping my hand into my boxers now and stroking myself.

“You cautiously looked around before moving in front of me and sliding my pants down just enough. You were desperate baby, who knows how long it had been since you had a cock in your mouth.” I spoke lowly, my breathing starting to get heavier.

Iris moaned another “uh huh” before I continued. “You pulled my hard cock out of my boxers and without any hesitation you took all of me. You were stroking and sucking me off as I tugged at your hair. I had to try so hard to keep quiet so I didn’t wake anyone.” I started stroking myself faster, imagining it was Iris.

“Tell me something baby.” I said into the phone.

“Anything.” She responded.

“Are you touching yourself right now?” I asked, biting my lip as I waited for her response.

“Mhm, imagining it was you though. You know all the right moves.” Iris purred into the phone. “Are you doing the same?” She asked.

“Uh huh,” I moaned. “I wish it was you though babe, you give the best head.” I moaned again, speeding up my pace.

“Do I?” She asked innocently. I loved how she could go between incredibly sexy and innocent.

“Oh fuck yeah.” I answered, biting my lip once more. “I’m close baby, are you?” I asked, slowing down now so I didn’t finish right away.

“I’m getting there, keep talking about that dream and you’ll know.” Iris purred into the phone again. God she was so hot, I missed her on top of me and it hadn’t even been a day. I had to scramble to come up with what happened next in this fake dream.

“You decided sucking me off wasn’t enough, you had to feel me yourself. You disappeared for a minute but came back with a blanket and crawled into my lap, covering us. You pressed your lips to mine as you lined me up with your wet, throbbing pussy.” I spoke, emphasizing the last three words and hearing a loud moan from Iris on the other end.

I closed my eyes, imagining Iris riding me, “I was big and you knew it, but it wasn’t going to stop you, you took all of me and starting slowly rocking up and down, your hands roaming all over my head and neck as kissed.” I kept talking. Turns out, I was actually pretty good at this phone sex stuff, who knew?

I could hear Iris moaning loudly on the other end, encouraging me to continue, “You wouldn’t let me leave any marks on your neck no matter how much I begged and bit at your uniform.” I said in a deep, sultry voice, stroking myself slowly. If I was being honest, I was enjoying and focusing on pleasuring Iris more than I was trying to get myself off. I was still pretty tired from my flight and wasn’t sure I had the energy anyways, but it did help keep me in the moment with her.

“Oh fuck Sergio, I’m close keep talking.” Iris moaned a demand through the phone. I heard the shower turn off in the bathroom, which told me I needed to wrap this up. Iker would be out soon and he would not be happy to see me having phone sex within the first twenty minutes of sharing a room.

“We were nervous about getting caught, I kept glancing around but you pulled me back in to focus on you. My head was pressed against your breasts, leaving kisses all over them. I thrusted up into as you came down to me, reaching a rather sensitive spot apparently because you yelped in pleasure. It was amazing no one heard you moan. I used my fingers to gag you and you began sucking on them just like you had with my cock earlier. I used my free hand to rub your clit, bringing you closer and closer. You were getting louder too, making it that much more exciting.” I was really quite impressed with how creative I was getting here. I was really painting a vivid picture. I would be lying if I didn’t tell you I had fantasized about Iris in a lot of situations before we got together. The flight attendant on my long flight was definitely one of the many.

I could hear Iris finishing on the other end of the line. I was pretty happy with myself that I could help her get off with just my words. As I sat there listening to Iris panting, Iker came out of the bathroom. I abruptly removed my hand from my pants before he looked over to avoid any suspicion.

“You ever joined the mile high club?” I smirked as I asked Iris. Iker’s ears perking up at my question. He wouldn’t mind a conversation like this, but I certainly wasn’t going to make him listen to what was going on before he walked out.

“No.” Iris said and I bit my lip. “But I want to with you.” She added and giggled.

“Yeah? Well maybe we can make that happen, Paris fashion week maybe?” I teased her, stifling a yawn.

“We’ll see. If I still like you then.” Iris teased me back. I laughed a little and sighed. I missed her a bunch already.

“I hope you do.” I yawned, checking my watch. “Babe I gotta go, but I’ll call you tomorrow.” I said tiredly. “Try not to miss me too much.” I added with a little smile, Iker rolled his eyes as he listened in.

“Alright baby, get some sleep, I’ll talk to you soon.” She replied and made a kissing noise at the end. I reluctantly made one back knowing Iker would make fun of me for it after I hung up.

I set my phone down next to me and stared up at the ceiling.

“Damn dude.” Iker laughed.

I laughed a little and sat up, “What?” I asked him, knowing where this was gonna go.

“You really like her, it’s cute. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this.” He shrugged, moving to his bed.

“She makes me really happy, and secure.” I answered; I had had some time to reflect during the long flight about my relationship with Iris. She made me feel safe and understood, and I hadn’t had that before.

“That’s a really nice sentiment, and I’m really glad to see you like this about someone.” Iker smiled genuinely.

I was silent for a moment, looking down at my hands and thinking. “When did you know you loved Lia?” I asked him, feeling like a kid again.

Iker chuckled a little, “I think it was a lot of little things for me that added up. She never tried to change me, she was never upset about my demanding work schedule, she understood me and most of all she was there with me during the lows and the highs. She gives me this glowing feeling when she’s around, life is better when she’s there. She and I just kinda knew we were supposed to be there to pick each other up when we needed it.” He shrugged as he talked. “I feel something with her I never felt with anyone else, and when I realized that, I knew I loved her.” He said, glancing over at me.

I was still quiet, playing with my hands. His words resonated with me. You could see it when he’s around Lia. He glows and shines and only she can bring it out of him.

“Is that how you feel when you’re with her?” Iker asked me, looking over to where I was sat.

“She definitely brings out the person in me I’ve always wanted to be. I feel gentler around her, more patient and understanding. I like who I am with her. It’s like,” I paused to think, struggling to find the right words. “It’s like I, I feel like, she just makes me happy and I want to be around her because we have so much fun together. She makes me better, and I want to be there for her like that.” I answered. I wasn’t sure if that was the right way to word it, but Iker and I sat in a comfortable silence that made me think he understood.

“Do you think you love Iris?” He asked me, breaking the silence.

“I think so.”

[akatokuro]

The Inevitable StS Rewatch, Episodes 26-29

Leo Aiolia is... an angry person, you say? I never would have guessed!

- This whole Aiolia scene is REALLY interesting on a lot of levels and does a lot for his character.

- I love his whole immediate reaction to just hearing that there are deserters on the loose - Sanctuary is a brutal, awful place even without the recent setup of the Pope making things even worse. You are more than likely to get killed if you are a trainee there. It is more than understandable that people would want to escape. But Lia's response is "you fucking morons."

- Well, Lia probably has baggage about people trying to "escape Sancutary" to begin with, but...

- Lia is a decent guy, especially for a Saint, but he's determinedly and deliberately Lawful Neutral as fuck. He jumps in for the deserter babies situation, is clearly stern and unpleased, but then deliberately "softens" to urge the babies to go back. He's not going to be cruel about it, and he's more "merciful" than a lot of Saints would be, but he's also not going to let them go. His preference is resolving this without having to kill anyone, sure - but if it really comes down to it, he's going to uphold Sanctuary Law.

- And then, of course, Lia gets thoroughly disrespected and shittalked to his face by a bunch of Silver fuckwits. Lol at even the trainees calling him "Aiolia-san" vs "Algol-sama." Like, dude... yikes.

- Aiolia is even kind of weirdly meek when protesting, stammering and trailing off and all. You’d never guess this guy is a Gold Saint going from the dynamics in this scene, who could effortlessly squash everyone involved here like a fucking bug.

- And finally, Lia is clearly off-put by the blatant cruelty here, but does he actually do anything about it, whether it's against Algol and Shaina directly or the broader situation? Nah.

- yumetabibito, being the filthy Aiolia-lover she is, went ahead and checked, and this scene didn't exist in the manga, and Toei almost certainly wrote it before the reveal in the manga that Lia is a Gold Saint. It's hard to imagine that it would exist if they had known, because it revolves around Aiolia getting no fucking respect. Presumably, all they had to go off of was that Aiolia cameo from the first chapter, which they seem to have mostly gotten "likes Seiya and Marin?" from. So they’re vaguely trying to align him with them as sort of a sympathetic underdog in Sanctuary.

- But even so... they somehow stumbled into a really good and fitting scene that adds a lot to his character with future context in mind!

- yume and I have talked about, well, okay, Lia gets shit on and bullied for being a traitor's little brother - that's an important part of his characterization and his motives - but where does the hostility towards him really come from? He's clearly well-liked amongst the trainees and the regular soldiers. Among the Golds - okay, yeah, Milo, Deathmask, and Aphrodite would give him shit. (Goddammit, Milo.) But most of the rest of them either don't care or would be sympathetic.

- Getting his face spit on constantly by SILVERS, though, makes a lot of sense and would be even more rage-enducing than getting spit on by his actual peers. Because the Silvers obviously feel "safe". They know that Aiolia can't actually fight back or do anything without validating everything anyone has said about him and his relationship and his brother. He has to take it. And the fact that he just takes it leads to even less respect, with him being seen as a push-over while Aiolia quietly fantasizes about stomping on their broken arms.

- So in that way, it makes sense with the shitty crop of Silvers that around that jerking Leo Aiolia's chain is thought of as actually sort of a fun, twisted game. They get to taunt a fucking GOLD, a "traitor's brother" and wave their dicks around in his face and all the Gold can do is seethe powerlessly.

- tldr; Aiolia is very angry, has always been very angry, and even though it came together like this on accident - scenes like this give a lot of depth and context to that endless, boiling anger to the point that it is really, really fucking funny that it was almost certainly Toei writing out of ignorance of who Aiolia really was. How Aiolia is treated, and how he responds to the situation - both with the deserters themselves and with Algol and Shaina being assholes - says a lot about him.

- Meanwhile, as ridiculous as the [REDACTED] are, I can't help but find the weird sci-fi HQ Saori and the Bronzies have early on charming in a really corny way. I bet Saori really misses leading from this setup compared to that shitty little stone bed and curtain they throw at her when she's at Sanctuary, jesus.

- Man, there really is a lot more SeiShiryuu service than I remembered in these earlier eps. Will never be my ship, tbh - SeiSao is my One True Love - but lmao.

- for some reason saints on a plane always cracks me up no matter how many times i see it

- (note that once again we set up hyouga rushing in to help and then getting there too late to actually do anything. beautiful beautiful failswan)

- every time seiya whines about hitting girls i want there to be a flashback to this bit of him smashing shaina into the cliff face

- Oh for fuck's sake, the Steel fucking S--

- Wait, what was I thinking. What was I talking about. I have no idea. THANK YOU SAORI YOU ARE TRULY THE BEST.

- Shiryuu vs Algol is probably one of the more engaging fights in StS, Gold Saints aside. It's fun to see Shiryuu try to find a workaround to the shield and everything he tries blowing up in his face until he's cornered into jabbing his own eyes out. The sort of contrast between Shiryuu being the Bronzie who has the best chance at actually finding a normal life and a normal happiness with Shunrei, and Shiryuu being the one who keeps throwing himself into getting mauled like this, is probably the most compelling aspect of the character to me.

- One of the things that's also nice about Saint Seiya as a shounen is that it really feels like all of the Bronzies, not just Seiya, are equally crucial members of the team and get their own equally important fights. Like, Shiryuu legitimately gets to star here and save everyone because Seiya fucked it up. I used to like Rurouni Kenshin a lot, but I remember, like, yes - Sanosuke got his "big fight", but it was very much because Kenshin graciously "let" him because he could tell it was important to Sano or whatever. Or in Bleach, where the question of the others in Ichigo's group contributing during Soul Society is basically laughable. Neither really feels like the case in Saint Seiya.

- This is totally where CLAMP got their eye horror fetish from though isn't it. God I still can't believe Saint Seiya is directly responsible for the existence of CLAMP...

- Nothing to really say about the rest of the episode, but I do have to comment:

- Dude, what the FUCK.

- ANY of the Bronzies saying shit like this about Mitsumasa is grotesque, but fucking Ikki actually sort of makes my skin legit crawl. What the fuck, Toei. SOMEONE BRING BACK THE REAL IKKI PLEASE.

- Shunrei is such a good girl. She doesn't deserve this shit, man. What she honestly deserves is the privilege of getting to stab Dohko to death in his sleep--I mean, uh, what?

- THIS WAS COMPLETELY FUCKING UNNECESSARY. WHO THE FUCK SHIPPED THIS ON THE ANIME STAFF I REALLY WANT TO KNOW

- In seriousness, HyoShun is really darling. I love how weirdly attentive Hyouga is to Shun all the time; it's a really charming recurring detail. I IMAGINE SHUN IS CHARMED BY IT TOO. 

- Hyouga's good point is that, despite his bluster, he really is a sweet kid who is 100% sincere all the time. He acts tough but it's not like he's tsun or defensive about showing people - mostly Shun - compassion and concern either.

- lmao and then Ikki ditches these losers I like how after the HyoShun he instantly starts acting a million times more in-character. Did seeing the swan touch your little brother enrage you enough to expel the brainworms at last, Ikki...?

- Saori and Ikki are really good in this scene, though. I love everything about their quick exchange - Ikki being contemptuous and defiant of her, Saori answering without hesitation "HELL YES DO WHAT I SAY" when he asks if she's ordering him around. Both in how cool Saori is, but also her frankly falling back onto really bad habits dealing with the Bronzies when she's sort of panicking and doesn't know what to do. I love the scene of her lamenting about how she couldn't stop Ikki and obviously feeling like a fuckup by herself later, too. I really do appreciate that there is attention given to the arc of Saori learning to be a leader.

- I love Sanctuary openly referring to Saori as their leader, even without knowing she’s Athena, too. Damn right she is!

- Though I do still really think Saori should have been more involved in confronting Ikki when he was still extremely (justifiably) buttmad about everything. The idea of those two having a weird, special understanding about what Saori has to answer for would have been really cool...

- AND THEN SAORI GETS KIDNAPPED BY CROWS. YOU KNOW WE'RE BACK IN CANON, BECAUSE INSTEAD OF EVIL NEFARIOUS BUGS, WE HAVE EVIL NEFARIOUS BIRDS!

- Next time: THE SEISAO APOCALYPSE, MOTHERFUCKERS, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS: THE DESTRUCTION OF SEIYA’S BRAIN

[8ladyarashisama1]

Chapter 1

Théa's POV

"I promise we'll be together someday"a person with a blurred face caress my cheek"Don't worry I'll will comeback soon as you can possibly imagine"he assured me as he landed a kiss on my forehead and left to the light

"Wasurenaide kudasai Thea"

"Thea?"

"Thea!"

"Sis!"

The door to my room was knocked continuously Damn! that sound disrupted my dream.... I'd like to see the end of it you know! My hand slapped my face to instantly wake me up as I dragged myself off from bed to open the green colored maple wood door revealing my younger sister outside tapping her foot impatiently against the white marble floor.

"Yes Thalia? Can I help you?"I butted my head out between the small vertical space, she facepalmed herself and chuckled at me"Sister, Goodmorning!".

"Get to the point Lia what's good in the morning?"I tiredly smiled at her swinging the door fully open then I scratched my eyes to flick the sleepiness away, Thalia shook her head towards me in slight disappointment.

"I clearly remembered yesterday that you told me to wake you up early in the morning for your mission...sister you forgot again did you?"she slyly smirked at me when I suddenly came to a realization and "Oh dear I must have forgotten"I held my cheek with my right hand and smiled with closed eyes"Yes yes I'll be preparing now... thank you for waking me up Thalia"I thanked her and pats her head in a sisterly way, she shove my hand off her head in annoyance and waved me goodbye while I turned my back from the door and used a little time to check my bookcase where a beeping machine is placed in the middle of my books, it was given to us by our father which also serves as our only remembrance about him. That machine was crafted so that it would serve the purpose of telling when next upcoming collision of our dimension and another other dimension will happen, quite fascinating right? And it seems like it detected a collision between dimensions it happened before two years ago as a portal appeared in Coronas a country northeast from Icycilis but I guess no one came out since the news is all quiet about it...I wonder where it will spawn next.

Two minutes I spent two fucking minutes watching that machine with a piece of my heart hoping for something good to happen but I was just wasting my time, that machine was only built for damn sake to detect a portal not to give it out, sighing I gathered my clothes and went towards the closest bathroom by the hall next to Thalia's room and mine, knocking down a sky blue vase with beautiful running styles that sat on a lacquered wood cabinet in the process due to my hurry.

"Big sis? Did you break my Jadetown vase?"Thalia's voice rang out from her room, I looked down in alarm to the shattered pieces of the vase and replied with a sad tone realizing what I broke,"Damnit it's mine...".

"Oh okay just break your vase not mine...you go prepare yourself I'll clean it up"She sighed and gave a small grunt as I hear soft footfalls to the door.

"Thanks a bunch!"I stood on my tippy toes and avoided the scene of the crime to continue my way to the bathroom. ------- After dressing up to my regular attire of an orange plain qipao with little cluster of leaves as a design and a pair of autumn colored close shoes I reserved for this dress, I walked down the stairs making a turn to an open room with only a metal wall separating it from the living room and another divider on the side but it ended up short giving the dining room a big opening space, and while I'm describing the house let me tell you that this mansion is quite big for the three of us the first floor was covered either with metal or silver colored paint with five tall round windows and autumn hued curtains that to be honest matches my attire, small paintings and family pictures hang in the living room and only a little in the dining, Thalia's style of decorations.

Two round bookshelves were place in both side of the fire place in front of the metal worked sofa and a brown lacquered oak wood coffee table and Soren was still not satisfied and added a red royal rug underneath with yellow styles of design to give it a beautiful cozy glow connecting it upstairs is a wide stairway of smooth lacquered wood with a pretty amazing carving from the steps to its wood rail. Upstairs would be Thalia's room first on the right then the second bathroom and my room at the end next to the stairway above leading to the roof while on the opposite direction would be Soren's and a guest room in front.

While the first floor is made up of mostly metal the second floor is more naturey with wood floors, petal shaped lights on the halls, one or two cabinets on both sides of the hallway where my siblings would store things they are too lazy to bring inside their room and a cute cactus Thalia keeps near the white framed window after Soren's room.

I walked inside the dining room and sat on a wood made chair on the left side of the glass covered table, making myself comfortable while my brother placed a platter of good smelling breakfast in front of me.

"Where are you heading today baby sis?"He asked me while I ate the breakfast he served, using the annoying nickname he always calls us, he took a seat on the center chair with his mug of coffee a 'Universally Best Bro'engraved on the mug.

"I have a mission today Soren and I won't be back for a while"My lips formed a small smile as I finished the salad and took a small time of handing my dishes to the sink and walked out of the dining hall with the same laid back expression of a smile"Thea.. don't keep it to yourself too much"I heard him say behind my back.

"Will do"I pressed a button to let the metallic door slide open and ran to the front yard, jumping on my violet designed techno-bike(a technology flying bicycle),charged it up and pressed the speed as I zoom towards the Aureole, a masive two storey dirty gold building associated in the middle of the city with four tall neoclassical columns on both sides.

'Wasurenaide kudasai Thea'that strong soothing voice keeps playing inside my mind, I don't understand the meaning of those words but I find it very comforting but why the hellish abyss am I dream about this? Is that really that important to think about? ....nevertheless I have to focus more in my upcoming mission I spent days preparing and I can't mess it up with that! I suddenly stopped thinking when a loud honk behind me sounded.

"Hey miss! The lights turned green already!"a woman yelled angrily behind my back, behind her are a line of techno-vehicles honking..I grimaced as I realize that I stopped during the red light hmmm must be my hands' instinct to do that without me realizing it"Sorry got sidetracked!!"I painstakingly yelled in apologize back turning to the other direction I saw her sour face as she muttered something on her bike....hmp! I said my sorry already, what the deal?!

'I wonder what my task would be?'I divert my thought from earlier as I parked my bike at the parking spot beside the Aureole building, I jump out of my vehicle and walk on a row of stairs carrying a soft smiling visage, a lot of people walking in and out looking at me, it doesn't creep me out though I just don't give a damn about them, although I could her some whispering something which I can clear made out into words.

"Is that Thea Seiju?"

"I heard she is the Princess of Samaari together with her brother and sister"

"Are you drunk? They are the remaining royalties of Samaari!"

"I like her, she's always smiling"

First before all the things that are about to happen, let me introduce to you my world, we, the Aureolians were at war from the very start with the Dark Arc, a faction who affiliated themselves with the Underworld below and other opposing forces to gain allies and power to achieve their goal which is from what I heard 'to kill the light'while they keep destroying places whenever pleases, the first Arch Master who is also the first regent of Icycilis founded the association of fighters which he named The Aureolians, in which he chose six Shijos to protect the city and the other neighboring kingdoms from the Arc. Shijo is from an old word for Master and those Six were also given the chance to find their successors in order to fight the Dark Arc, but it seems like the fighting never ceased until it reached this generation. From the first Shijos they were given their own respective weapons , weapons that were forged by magical beings from a distant land of Majika.. anyways these weapons have their own abilities and given elements from which a user must train hard to master it and pass it along his successor and so on.

My master was the Fan Shijo, so as her next in line, I also have my own weapon similar to hers, for a successor to get a weapon like her master, he/she must be trained for agility, flexibility, endurance, speed and knowledge for a year before he or she can acquire a weapon.... but that's all I have to say for now or else I'll spoil the whole thing. -------

[staytheb]

Like Oh 2.0 - #KINGJACKSONDAY

Previous Chapter: White Day Word Count: 5,078 Summary: The group celebrates Jackson’s birthday.

Like Oh 2.0 masterlist

and here’s the 8th chapter. it’s Jacksn’s birthday, and yes that was the hashtag they used for his birthday! anyways, happy reading and kthxbai, Admin Lia~

Melanie was at the Cheongdam supermarket buying ingredients to make two types of cakes and while picking out those items she indulged in other things. "Hmm, I do have Serena's card and she did say I could buy whatever I wanted." A Cheshire cat smile appeared on her face as she also picked out some chips, some other snacks, and drinks she's been craving as of late that Serena didn't have at the house. Once she got everything she made her way to the check out. What Melanie didn't pay attention to was that the line she went to where the cashier was a familiar face she's been trying to avoid since meeting him a few weeks ago. When Melanie realized that fact it was already too late to move to another lane as she was next after the family of four got through.

"Chaewon-ah, hello. It's good to see you here. I didn't think I would ever see you again." Kyungtae greeted her with a bright smile and Melanie cringed on the inside at his use of familiarity when they weren't that close at all. Actually, you saw me just this morning before my class started, she thought in her head, but plastered on a smile regardless. "Kyungtae-goon. Hi." "I thought I told you to call me oppa even though I know you're older than me." The older male frown upon the formal greeting he received from the female as he rang up her order. "Ah, yeah," She lamely let out, "Anyways, I didn't know you work here." "I started last week." He flashed her another smile. "Now I have another reason to come to work knowing you shop here."

Melanie groaned inwardly at the male's words, but cast Kyungtae a meek smile. "I see." Kyungtae finished ringing up Melanie's order and started to bag it as well. "So, Chaewon, my shift ends in like three hours. Do you want to do something later when I get off?" Melanie slightly panicked and almost froze on the spot, but thought up something quickly. "Oh, sorry, I can't. I have plans with my sister tonight and I'm busy throughout the rest of the week." "Oh, okay." He frowned, but shot the younger woman a hopeful look. "Maybe another time then." "Um yeah, maybe. Well, goodbye." She told him as she gathered up her things and took off without another glance in Kyungtae's direction. "I'm never shopping here again." Melanie muttered to herself as a slight shiver ran down her spine.

~~~~~~~

Melanie arrived to an empty apartment. "Where the fuck she go?" She asked to no one in particular as she placed everything in the kitchen and went looking to see if her sister had fallen back asleep. Serena was no where in sight and Melanie let out a sigh as she pulled out her phone to call her. "Hello?" Serena answered on the second ring. "Where are you?" Melanie asked her as she began putting away the groceries. "I went to go see Chloe for a bit. I'll be back soon." "Why didn't you wait for your car?" "Because Chloe was already in Gangnam and we just met up in Sinsa." "Still could have waited or have Chloe come to your place." Melanie mumbled. "It's fine. Chloe says hi." "Okay, tell her hi back. Anyways, I spent like a lot." "I don't doubt it." "But, dude, guess what?" "What?"

"Remember that Kyungtae dude from the group date," Melanie began to tell her story as she turned on Serena's super smart TV while settling herself onto the couch after having put everything away. "I saw him at Zion Market." "No way." "It was so awkward, dude. Like hella awkward. I really hope he's not a stalker." "Just be careful." "No shit, Sherlock." "Just saying. I have that glitterified pepper spray that James bought for me in my room somewhere." "Are you talking about that pink glittery bottle he got you two Christmases ago?" "Yeah. It still works." "I'll think about it." "But yeah, anyways, are Jasmine and Jeannie coming over later tonight?" "Yeah. Jeannie had to talk to the counselor about a few of her classes. Something about the teacher. As for Jasmine, she's finishing up a group project."

"Okay. Do you want anything when I come back?" "Papaho?" "Really? You want pho?" "Hell yeah. I know the twins would want some, too" "I guess." "Aight, thanks." "Will do. Gotta go. Chloe's dragging me to another store.." "Later." Melanie hung up as she used one of the many remotes Serena used for her smart TV. "Alright, what should I watch?" Melanie contemplated on what to watch as she scrolled through the many applications on the screen. Just as she clicked on the DramaFever icon, the Skype app popped up soon afterwards with the caller's name displaying on the screen. "When did Serena get that to do that?" She looked at it confused on how to even pick up the call as it was Mark's username again. "Which remote is it?" The call went to missed and Melanie frown.

The female hit the DramaFever icon when the Skype icon popped up again. "I wonder what he wants." Melanie said as she used all the remotes to answer the call and found the right one just in time. Yugyeom's face appeared instead of Mark's. "Oh, hi Chaewon noona." "Hello Yugyeom. Why are you calling on Mark's name?" "Because Mark hyung's the only one that has Jyongi unnie's Skype contact information." "Oh I see." "Um, where is Jyongri noona?" "She's busy. Where's Mark?" "Hyung went with Jinyoung hyung, Youngjae hyung, and BamBam hyung to do something. It's just me, Jaebeom hyung and Jackson hyung here." "I see. Um, do you need something?" Melanie asked while opening a bag of honey chips. "Not really." "Okay. If that's all you wanted then-"

"Wait, wait!" Another voice interrupted as Jackson appeared. "You can't just hang up and not wish me a happy birthday, noona." "Happy birthday, Jackson." Melanie wished him with a smile as she placed a chip into her mouth. "Okay, goodbye." She waved, but Jackson stopped her again. "Don't be so mean." Jackson pouted. "I thought you were an ahgase?" Melanie laughed at the younger male's reaction. "I am, Jackson. Actually we were going to bake you a cake." "You were, but?" "But we weren't going to see one another to celebrate it either." "What? Who says?" "Aren't you guys busy?" "No, well yeah. We're busy." Jackson confessed as Melanie shook her head with a smile. "Exactly my point, Jackson."

"What did you think of the song, the music video, and the album?" Yugyeom interjected as Melanie grinned. "It's amazing, Yugyeom! The music video is pretty good too, but what's with the ending though?" "It's a secret. You'll just have to wait for the other part." Jackson grinned as Melanie rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Jackson. I still have the songs to listen to." The female smiled as she then flashed the duo her mobile device. "I bought DEPARTURE on iTunes." She then went through her phone to play the FLIGHT LOG: DEPARTURE mini-album. "And Jyongri unnie pre-ordered the albums, too. So I can't wait to see who I get!" "Who's your bias, Chaewon noona?" Yugyeom asked as Jackson was curious, too. "Yeah. Who's your bias?" Melanie grinned at the duo playfully. "Secret."

When Melanie clicked on the album to listen to Fly started to play and Jackson then started rapping his part live. "What are you two doing?" Melanie heard another voice asked the other two. "Just listening to our songs, JB hyung, with Chaewon noona." Jackson answered as he took the phone from Yugyeom to show Jaebeom that Melanie was on the other side. "Hey, JB." Melanie greeted him as Jaebeom smiled back. "Hi, noona. Did you buy our latest album?" "Of course!" She flashed her phone to show him the album's cover on her phone. "Which one is your favorite song?" Jaebeom asked curiously as the other two were still jamming, but to the song Can't this time as it played next. "REWIND!" Melanie answered instantly as she switched over to the said song. "It's my absolute favorite track so far!"

Before any of the three could say something they spotted a toy poodle in a pink dress enter in their line of sight followed by Serena. "Noona! Hi!" The idols greeted Serena as she waved at them with a small smile. "Hi. What are you guys calling for?" She asked as she set her things onto the coffee table and took the leash off of the toy poodle who instantly ran over to Melanie. "What chu want, Ugly?" Melanie asked the toy poodle in English who happily jumped into her lap. "Och, Biscuits! Calm down." Melanie said as she place the dog beside her while Serena faced the TV and spoke in Korean. "So what did you guys call for?" "How do you know that Chaewon noona didn't call us?" Jackson countered.

"Because Chaewon doesn't know how to work the Skype app on my TV and I never call Mark. Mark always calls me." Serena answered. "So what do you guys want?" "Do you know what today is?" Yugyeom asked as Serena nodded her head. "Yeah. It's a Monday and hashtag King Jackson Day. Shēng rì kuài lè, Jackson." "Aww xiè xiè nǐ!" Jackson thanked her with a happy expression. "Anyways, guys," Serena let out as she picked up her remote control. "Gotta say goodbye." "It's okay, noona." Jaebeomm smiled at her. "We need to get back to practice." "Aww. Do we have to?" The duo whined as Jaebeom just eyed them. "Yes. Now say goodbye." "Fine. Bye." Jackson complied as Yugyeom waved cutely. "Goodbye." "Bye and good luck with practice!" The sisters bid the idols goodbye as Jaebeom waved. "Thanks and goodbye." He ended the call as Serena looked over at Melanie. "Eat your pho before Biscuits does."

~~~~~~~

"Hey guys, so should we write Jackson's name in Korean, English, or Chinese?" Jeannie asked the other three as she finished spreading the frosting onto the second medium sized vanilla cake. "Do all three." Serena grinned as Jeannie rolled her eyes. "I don't even know Jackson's Chinese name even less the characters for it." "Just write it in English, Jean. It'll be easier for you." Jasmine told her sister as Jeannie nodded her head. "Okay." "Here you go." Melanie handed Jeannie the icing to write with as she grinned. "I can't wait to eat this when you're done, Jeannie." "I know right." "Whatever, Melanie. You've been licking the icing and frosting since we started." "And you're point is?" "None since you'll do it anyways." "Mmhmm." "Serena." Jasmine called for Serena's attention. "Hmm?"

"Biscuits keeps staying by the door." Jasmine told the older woman while walking back into the kitchen. "She's been like that for a few minutes now." "Yeah, she probably wants a walk or needs to pee." "But it's kinda late for a walk, isn't it? Don't you have a pad where she can go when it's night time?" "I do, but she likes to stretc her little legs, too. Besides, I'll be watching her for a while until Chloe's done moving." "Where is Chloe moving again?" Jeannie asked while writing 'happy'. "She's moving to Banpo, in Seorae Village." "Why there?" "She's moving in with like four other people she's in cosmetology school with and one of them was looking for roommates. Also, she has to ask them about Biscuits." "Hopefully it works out." Melanie said while looking at her sister. "Because you can't take care of the dog with your schedule." "I know, but Chloe has something else planned if Biscuits can't live with her."

"Anyways," Serena directed the conversation elsewhere. "Have you guys seen some of the buses and subway stations walls with Jackson on it for his birthday celebration by the fanclub?" "Yeah!" The trio let out with widened eyes. "I wonder how much that cost." Jeannie commented as she finished writing 'birthday' before moving on to write 'Jackson'. "Yeah, I was actually surprised when I came over here." Melanie said with a  laugh. "Them fans are amazing to do such things." "Yeah, but the Korean fans are always like this with birthdays and other things. I know since I follow all of SM Artists. Chinese fans also like to go all out as well." Jasmine stated with a laugh. "And that's a lot of groups and members. I'm just waiting for SM to debut there new boy group." "Ugh, too many rookie groups still coming out and they keep getting younger."

"You're just getting older." Melanie teased as Serena rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Anyways, I need to take Biscuits out before she gets impatient." Serena stated as she heard the small dog beginning to whine. "Don't get lost." "Haha, you're not funny." The trio chuckled as Jeannie finished with the icing. "Alright. Done." "Let's eat it." Jasmine commented with a laugh. "First, let's put a candle on it and light it up. So that we can take a picture and post it online." Melanie suggested as she got the candles ready. "You guys can do that without me. I'll be back in half an hour or whenever Biscuits done playing outside." "Just call." Jeannie called out as Serena gave her the O.K. sign before putting on a oversize hoodie, then putting her things in the pocket, after that she slipped on her shoes while attaching Biscuits' leash to her collar afterwards, and then out the apartment within a minute or so.

Once Serena came out of her apartment and headed towards the elevator with Biscuits yapping around happily as its doors opened to reveal a group of people exiting it. "Jyongri noona!" A familiar voice called out to her and Serena looked up to see BamBam jogging towards her while looking down at the toy poodle and both parties momentarily stopped walking. "Who's that?" "Hi BamBam and her name's Biscuits. She's my friend's dog." "She looks like Coco." Youngjae cooed as he crouched down to pet the dog. "Hi." "She's a toy poodle. Kinda similar I guess." The rest of GOT7 joined them. "Where are you going?" Mark asked. "To walk her." "It's kind of late isn't it?" Jaebeom inquired as Serena shrugged. "It is, but I'm used to it."

"Why not ask the others?" Jinyoung suggested. "Because I like my alone time." Serena admitted as she felt Biscuits pulling on the leash urgently. "I need to get going. Biscuits really has to go now." She then remember something. "Since you guys are done with practice or if you have free time to do so, the girls just got done decorating Jackson's birthday cakes." "Aww you guys made me a cake." Jackson let out happily. "We didn't know you guys were coming by and we were going to eat it without you anyways." "Wow, rude." "Hey, it's not like we see each other often." "Actually, we see each other twice a week." Mark corrected her as Serena rolled her eyes. "No. You guys have been busy. Don't make a mess in my apartment if you guys stop by."

"When do we ever make a mess, noona?" Yugyeom asked her with a slight scoff as BamBam agreed. "Yeah, we don't make that big of a mess." Serena shrugged with an indifferent look. "You're guys. I would know, especially when it involves food. Don't make a mess." "We'll make sure to not do that, noona." Jaebeom assured the older female as she shot him a grateful smile. "Good and thanks. Alright, later." Serena bid the group of seven a small wave as she moved passed them and towards the elevators with Biscuits in tow. Serena waved at them again as the doors closed a few seconds later. The elevators door instantly opened a second later as Serena looked at the doors opening with furrowed eyebrows. "Hi." Mark shot her a boyish grin and stepped inside. "You don't mind if I tag along, right, Serena?"

~~~~~~~

Melanie opened the door to see six familiar faces. "Hi. What are you doing here?" She asked as Jackson replied. "Obviously, to celebrate my birthday, Chaewon noona." Melanie looked over to the wall on her left and saw the time. "It's like past midnight. You're birthday's over." "So? Jyongri noona mentioned that you guys have a cake for me." "Oh, yeah." BamBam coughed. "Are you going to let us in, Chaewon noona?" "Oh, right. Sure. Come in." Melanie opened the door wider to let them in. "Hey, GOT7 is here minus one." She then looked at Jaebeom who was the last to enter. "Where's Mark?" "Hyung went to accompany Jyongri noona just now." "Oh, right. I forgot she went to take Biscuits out for a walk." Melanie shrugged as she closed the door. "Oh well. They're both missing out on the amazing cakes."

"Yeah they are." BamBam agreed as he ate another forkful. "This is the best cake I've ever had." "It's just a pre-made cake that we just mixed, baked, and then decorated, BamBam." Melanie told him with a shake of her head as the twins agreed. "Yeah, BamBam, even you guys can make it." Jasmine told them as she finished cutting the cake into individual pieces while Jeannie handed them to the others. "Yeah, because I don't even bake and this turned out really super well." "It's still good." Jaebeom agreed as he took another large forkful of the cake. "Like really good, Chaewon noona." "Whatever. You're just hungry that's why." Melanie told him as Jaebeom chuckled. "That, too." He shot her his signature eye-smile as Melanie shook her head as Jeannie handed her a plate.

"Hey, let's play Mafia." Youngjae suggested once the group of nine were settled around the living room eating their own plate of cake slices. "Um, yeah no. You guys can play Mafia. Leave me out of it." Melanie told them as she grabbed one of the remotes to switch back to DramaFever from Youtube. "Yeah, I'm not good with Korean games." Jeannie stated. "I'm down to play." Jasmine agreed to playing the game. "But I don't want to be the moderator." "I'll be the moderator." Jinyoung decided. "I just need paper and a pen." "What if I wanted to be the moderator?" Jackson asked as everyone looked at him. "What?" "You won't be able to keep the story straight, hyung." Yugyeom said as the others agreed. "What? I can totally keep the story straight."

"I'm the moderator." Jinyoung firmly stated as Jeannie returned with a pen and notebook. "Thank you, Jaehwa noona." "You're welcome, Jinyoung." "Alright," Jinyoung began to list game's players as he wrote them out. "The Mafia, The Detective, The Doctor, and the three Civilians." When he was done Jinyoung folded the pieces and then shuffled them. He handed the papers over to Melanie who was closes to him. "What's this for?" Melanie asked him with a raised eyebrow not taking the slips. "So that no one cheats." "Who's going to cheat, hyung?" Yugyeom asked and Jinyoung eyed him. "I know my members quite well." "It's just a game." Jaebeom stated. "Besides, Minjae noona is going to playing with us, too." "Oh don't mind me." Jasmine dismissed his intention. "Let's just play."

~~~~~~~

Mark and Serena quietly walked side by side along the streets of Cheongdam as Serena let Biscuits lead her towards the park. She didn't expect the idol to actually join her for another night of walking beneath the night sky. The female felt awkward as she was hanging out with her sister's bias, but felt even more awkward that he was an English speaker as well so she couldn't get away with saying anything in English afraid that he'll overhear. Neither of two initiated conversation due to their reserve and quiet nature, but Serena felt like she just had to say something. "You know you're missing out on cake, right?" "Yeah." Mark softly replied as the two continued their silent atmosphere.

"So, Biscuits, huh?" Mark started another topic a moment later. "She's my friend's dog that I'm pet-sitting." Serena explained as Mark nodded his head. "How old is she?" "Two or three years old. I forgot." "She's around the same age as Coco." "Oh, right, she is. How is Coco?" "She's good, but still needs some training." "Ha, those are tough times." "Yeah." "I'm sure you and Youngjae will get her trained properly." "Thanks." Silence fell between them again and Serena knew how totally awkward this was and maybe it was because they were just alone and weren't in a classroom or doing homework. "Um, shouldn't you guys be catching up on sleep?  Since your schedule is filled up due to your comeback with the whole Flight Log Departure album, yeah?"

Mark let out a small chuckle. "We are, but a break is nice." He then cast her a look. "What do you think of it?" "Fly is a really good song. I like it a lot." Serena then looked at him and saw he was also looking at her and diverted her eyes forward again. "The music video is good, too. My favorite part is when Jinyoung is still free-falling and then he flips over to see the other members ascend as he still free falls and a tear escapes." Mark let out another chuckle as Serena eyed him. "What's so funny, Mark?" "Nothing, Serena." He told her as his laughter ceased, but a silly smile still graced his lips. "Do you have a favorite song from the album?" "I haven't  listened to all of the songs yet. Fly's the only one I've listened to." "Have you watched our live performances?" "No I still haven't." "Wow." "Hey, I'm busy, too. I got a life outside of the K-Pop world."

The idol laughed as the female rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Mork." Mark stopped laughing to eyed the female. "What did you just call me?" "Mark." Serena answered hoping that the tone of her voice wouldn't give her away. "No, I'm pretty sure you just said 'Mork', Serena." "I did not." "Yeah, you did." "Mark, are you really going to argue with me about it?" "Maybe." "You're so childish." "No I'm not." "Yeah you are." "No." "Yes." And the awkward and silent atmosphere between the two from earlier started to dissipate away as the duo continued their friendly banter with one another until they reached the park. Serena released the toy poodle from her leash so the dog could run around happily. "You're not gonna follow or chase after her like that?" Mark asked with a puzzled expression. "Nah. She'll come back when she's ready or when I call for her."

"Coco's not like that yet." "It's because you baby her." "No we don't." "True, because I don't know." Serena laughed as Mark shook his head with a laugh. "Biscuits and Coco should meet one another soon. I think they'll get along well." "Can if they're free." "I'll ask Youngjae about it." "Alright, cool." "Cool." Just then Serena's phone vibrated and dinged to signaled that she had received a message notification. She pulled her mobile device from out of her jacket's pocket to read what her sister had just sent her. She let out a sigh before replying back. "What's wrong?" Mark asked upon hearing the sigh leaving the female's lips as Serena turned to face the male. "The kids want ice cream." "Ice cream sounds good. Let's go get some." He smiled at her with his pearly whites gleaming.

Serena eyed him, but cast him a tired smile. "How about you buy the ice cream and I continued to hang out at the park with Biscuits." "And leave you out here all by yourself?" "I have Biscuits." Mark looked over to where the small dog was rolling around in the grass. "Yeah, no. Let's go get the ice cream together." "I don't want to." "Serena." "Mark." "Serena." "Mork." "Aha. I knew you called me Mork." "Yeah, yeah. Stop crying." Serena told the male as she turned to scan for the toy poodle while pressing her lips together to make a kissing-like smacking of lips sound. Biscuits instantly responded and ran back towards Serena happily. "Let's go, Biscuits." Serena attached the leash back onto Biscuits' collar and then looked at Mark. "Next time, I'm making sure that none of you interrupt or cut my night walk short again." Mark just laughed in response as the trio headed back towards the apartments.

~~~~~~~

"Let's play another game." Jasmine said after playing Mafia for the fourth time and being killed again as a civilian. "I don't know why I agreed to playing a fourth around earlier." "Oh, c'mon Minjae noona. It's not that bad." BamBam told her with a smile as Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You killed me twice." "It's my job as the Mafia to kill." "Mmhmm." Jinyoung coughed. "You're not supposed to talk." "I'm already out. It doesn't matter." Jasmine told the younger male as Jinyoung looked at the older woman firmly. "Yes it does when I'm the moderator and about to tell the story, noona." "Whatever." Jasmine stood up to stretch. "I'll be with the other two." She meant Melanie and Jeannie who were in the kitchen to avoid the Mafia game.

"Did you die again?" Jeannie asked as Jasmine nodded her head and grabbed a bottle of iced tea from the fridge. "Yes. I'm never playing Mafia with GOT7 ever again." Melanie laughed. "Why? What happened?" "I'm too drained to talk about it. GOT7 has way too much energy for me to deal with although it was only for a short while" Jasmine joined the duo in watching the rest of the first episode of Vampire Detective. "The guy that plays Goohyung is so funny. I like his character with the guy that plays San." "You don't know Lee Joon?" Melanie asked looking at her friend with disbelief. "He used to be a part of MBLAQ." "Vaguely, Melanie." "I'm glad he's back doing something." "I think Serena would like this." "She would. It's vampire related and she likes Joon, too."

A second later there were a few loud crashing sounds and the three females became alert. "What was that?" Jeannie asked as they looked at each other uneasy. "I don't know, but I hope they didn't break anything." Melanie stated as Jasmine agreed. "Yeah or Serena's going to kill somebody." The trio then headed back to the living room to see the six males trying to put Serena's coffee table back together. "What happened?" Melanie asked upon reaching them first. The six males tensed upon hearing the female's voice and tried to block the damage with their bodies from the trio's view. "Um, it's nothing much." BamBam told them with a smile. "We didn't break anything. Ow." Jackson elbowed the younger member. "Yeah, don't worry. We didn't do anything." Jackson added as the trio looked at them suspiciously.

"You guys sound even more guilty." Jeannie commented as Jasmine agreed. "Yeah. It doesn't help that your body language says otherwise, too." The boys rubbed the back of their neck nervously as Jaebeom apologize. "Sorry. I'm not sure what led up to it exactly, but we didn't mean to break Jyongri noona's table." The idols then parted to show the trio the damage. The coffee table was broken in several pieces. "How did you guys even break it to so many pieces?" The males looked at one another which didn't answer Melanie's question. "Wow." "I hope unnie doesn't get to mad at you guys." Jeannie told them as Jasmine went to inspect the damage. "Scratch that, Jaehwa. I hope unnie doesn't beat them with one of the broken pieces."

"When I said don't make a mess guys, this is what I meant." Serena spoke from behind them as she, Mark, and Biscuits entered the apartment with a bag of individual ice cream in hand. "We're so sorry, noona." Youngjae cried as he fell to his knees to do a begging motion. "Yugyeom and Jackson just wanted to test out some stupid thing I don't remember what it was about that they wanted to test out." "It wasn't my fault. Jackson hyung pushed me because of King Jackson Day." Yugyeom defended as Serena held up a hand. "It doesn't matter. Here." Serena said as she walked up to her sister to hand her the bag. "I'll be in my room. Have them clean up." She faced the group. "Goodnight." Serena retired to her room with Biscuits in tow.

"Wow." Mark let out in surprised as he walked up to them while examining the damage and eating an ice bar. "I'm so glad I wasn't part of that." "Well, aren't you lucky then." Jeannie commented as Melanie then looked at him with a smile. "Although true, but you're going to help out your fellow members in cleaning up the mess." "Why?" "Because you're going to help them throw that down the chute." The idols groaned as Jasmine looked at them with a slightly stern look. "Hey, you guys were the ones that did the damage." "I wasn't even here for that." Mark grumbled as he handed Jasmine the other bag of individual ice cream as he still helped his members clean up while Jeannie returned from the kitchen with a broom, a dustpan, and a few garbage bags.

"I'm surprised unnie was so calm about it." Jeannie said as she began to sweep up the little pieces. "She'll rant later. Let's just help them and get this done and over with." Melanie said as she and Jasmine opened up the two large black trash bags. With that being said, the group of ten cleaned up the mess altogether. The older idols lugged the broken table out to the chute while the younger idols helped the female trio rearrange the living room so that it didn't look so opened, but it was hard when another furniture that was there was now gone. Some time later, they were all satisfied with the partial layout. They all called it a night as the girls gave the boys all of the ice cream and bid them a good night and wished them luck on their schedules for later that day and the rest of the week. The boys did the same and apologized once more. Serena didn't come back out that night due to exhaustion.

[yg-got7scenarios]

Infinity Part 10

**GIF NOT MINE

Mini-Masterlist

Characters:  Mark Tuan (GOT7), You (Reader/OC), Park Jinyoung (GOT7), GOT7 members, Mark’s parents, Marika (Your friend), and other surprise characters

Genre:  Mainly Angst, Minor Fluff, Smut (on previous and future chapters)

Warning/s:  Extreme Angst, Minor Violence, Lots of cursing, etc.

Length:   5,225 words

Plot:  You have always believed the line from your favorite book that some infinities are larger or smaller than other infinities. You always wonder if you even have an infinity that you get to spend with someone or you will be forever alone?

Everything happened way too fast that your brain cannot even catch up on the current situation.  You felt a sting of pain on your back and on your right arm, maybe because of the impact of the actions made by your savior.  You tried your best to lift your body off of the ground and you looked to side, seeing the face of the person who just saved you from being squashed by a truck.

A/N:  Sorry this took a lifetime to be updated.  There will be lots of going back and forth to past and present time, so I hope it won’t be that confusing… And this is the longest chapter for this series so I hope it makes up for the lost time almost 5 months to be exact lmao what the actual fuck anyways, I hope you enjoy and thank you for all of you who are still waiting for the story to be updated, I appreciate each and everyone of you!  I will do my best to update this story more often.  Thank you for all the support!!!!

Mark didn’t exactly know what he was doing.  The only thing that is in his mind is to avoid you, nothing else.  It was stupid, really, why can he not just talk to you and end whatever he wants to end and not run away every single time?

He drove off the road, not knowing that you are already gone.  He is not sure how far did he get when you pulled away from the handle of the car door. Then it hit him, his eyes widened and his chest tightened; and it finally dawned on him.  Did he just leave you in the middle of a busy road with cars constantly passing by?  He growled and tugged on his hair tight before halting the car at the side of the road, stepping outside immediately.

He was far from where he had last seen you and that made him more frustrated.  He didn’t give it any second thoughts; he ran as fast as he can back to the café, hoping to the Gods above that you are fine and that you are not harmed in any way. He will never forgive himself if something unfortunate happens to you because of his gruesome actions.

He continued running, not caring if his breaths are running short and his legs are getting wobbly, he needs to know what happened to you and he knows he doesn’t have much time to figure it out.

He finally reached the curb where he remembered to have last seen you.  He halted; catching his breath and hands on his knees, trying to regain his composure. He lifted his head and looked around, so far there are no signs of any accidents on the road, but he cannot be complacent.  He walks farther and there are still no signs of you.

“______!!”  He screamed out loud, calling for you, not caring if the people around him started to look at him with suspicious and anxious eyes.  All he needs right now is to find out if you are safe or not and your whereabouts.  He bites his lower lip while carefully looking at his surroundings, eyeing every woman who looks like you, earning smiles or glares from them.

He decided to cross the road and see if you might be on the other side.  Without looking at the traffic lights, he stepped down the sidewalk and proceeded in walking.  He was startled when a car stopped abruptly in front of him and it honked loudly, making Mark stepped right back at the sidewalk even before his brain had registered what is happening.  He took a glance at the car that almost bumped him and had caught a glimpse of the driver through the dim street lights.

Have I seen him before?

He eyed the driver of the car as long as he could and he sees that the man is staring right back at him.  He tried to keep his eyes on the driver but the car already drove past him, and he doesn’t have the energy to follow him or even think about who he is.  He still hasn��t found you, he still doesn’t know if you are safe after what he did. He wanted to say sorry for what he had done.  He ruffles his hair and cursed loudly, not caring if the people around him would hear or would call him crazy.

Finally, the stop light turned red and he is ready to cross the road.  He made his way towards the café where he first saw you, and where he thinks you were waiting for him before you approached his car.  His eyes never settled to one direction, it was everywhere, seeking for you only.  He reached the café and went inside quickly.  He noticed the panda bear that you had won on the fair games on one of the benches, and proceeded in taking it immediately.  The café is about to close because the waiters and waitresses are already asking around for last call of orders.  Mark approached one of them before clutching the stuffed toy against his chest.

“Miss, excuse me, do you happen to know where the owner of this stuffed toy is?  I was supposed to meet her here…”  He lied; and the waitress looked between the toy, Mark, and chair where he got the stuffed toy from.

“Oh, she left a few minutes ago!  She actually left that there and just run outside immediately, she didn’t come back after that…”  She explained and Mark let out a sigh before running a hand through his hair.

“Th-Thank you.”  He mutters to the girl sadly before walking out of the café.  He is not sure where you are and how long or how far should he walk to be able to find you.  He leaned against the wall next to the door of the café before closing his eyes, cursing at himself repeatedly, quietly praying that you are safe and not hurt, while at the same time, thinking on what he should do next after this.

The woman knocked on the door of her old house multiple times, but she didn’t get any response.  It has been more than 15 minutes since she tried to get an answer from anyone who may be inside, but she failed to get any.

“______! Are you there?  This is Momma, I came to get you!  Open the door please baby.”  She knocked once more, even louder than earlier, and called out for her daughter.

It has been 3 months since she came back here, taking her youngest away from his evil father, but leaving her only daughter behind.  Due to some misunderstandings between her and her current boyfriend, she was not allowed to take both of them at first, but, eventually, he agreed to take her daughter in so she went back to (Y/C/O) immediately and went to her old house.

However, she might seem to be a bit too late.

“Martha?” An old woman appeared from the house next to where she is calling out for her daughter, approaching her immediately upon recognizing her.

“Lia?” The woman eyed the obviously older one and the other gave her a soft hug.

“It has been a while… and… you look different… How’s everything going?”  The older woman asked the brunette, and the other just smiled heart-warmingly.

“I am doing just fine, Lia, however, I wanted to know where my daughter is?  I have been knocking on the door for minutes and no one seems to be inside?  Is she out with her father?  How is she?” Martha asked continuously and Lia just stared at her with her mouth slightly agape.  She put her palm on top of her chest before shaking her head slightly.

“Y-you haven’t heard what happened to them, have you?”  Lia held the younger’s arm, squeezing it and the younger woman stared at her through her brown orbs.

“W-what do you mean, Lia?  What happened to them?  Where is my daughter?  Where is _____?”  The woman’s eyes started to water with worry and fear.  Lia gestured for her to go inside her house first so that she can explain what happened.  Once they are inside her old friend’s house, she sat still on the couch, but her hands are shaking while she waits for Lia to come back with a cup of tea.

“Here, Martha, take this.”  Lia offered the woman a cup of tea and sat across her before pressing her palms together.

“Did something bad happen to my daughter, Lia?”  The woman gripped her tea cup hard and Lia let out another sigh, before looking at her friend’s eyes with pity and warmth.

“Martha, your hus- I mean, ex-husband I assume, uhm… Did something to your daughter…” Lia bit his lower lip and Martha straightened her seat before staring at Lia with a serious expression.  She wanted to speak; but words just won’t come out. What did her bastard of an ex-husband do to her precious daughter?

“H-he-“ Lia choked on her breath pressing closing her eyes shut.  “He hurt your daughter… That poor girl…”  She cries softly and Martha just stared at her before putting the cup of tea on top of the wooden table in front of them.

“H-he.. what?”  Martha’s voice quivered and trembled with so much fear and anxiety and she cannot seem to complete her sentences after hearing the news from Lia.

“I heard your daughter’s shouts and screams of pain… Martha I promise I tried to help but your husband was unstoppable.  Roger barged in to your house and tried to stop him and I tried taking your daughter with us but she ran away… We were unable to find her… I am sorry…”  Lia covers her face with her hands and the younger woman’s body fell against the couch.

“W-where is that bastard now, Lia?  A-and did the police find out what happened?  D-did they see my daughter... Do you think they’ve looked for her?” Martha’s voice shook heavily and tried to see at least a sliver of hope that you are safe and that she can still find you and take you with her.

“I am sorry, Martha.  My husband didn’t want me involved in anything else so I didn’t get the chance to ask if they found _____.  Roger locked him up inside your house after we have called the police...”

Martha just found herself staring at nowhere, her sight getting bleary and she haven’t realized that tears are already flowing from her eyes.  

“W-where is he now?”  Martha asks, her voice trembling and limbs wobbling even though she is sitting in a very comfortable seat.

“Y-your ex husband was imprisoned immediately that day, but we haven’t heard about your daughter’s whereabouts.  I wanted to ask the police the next day, but then again, Roger doesn’t want me involved. The rest of our neighbors didn’t dare to ask too.”  Lia explained and Martha wiped her tears away before standing up with her unsteady legs, crouching in front of the older woman.

“D-did ______ come back?  By any chance, did she go here and looked for me?  Is there any news if she was found?  At the local newspaper or perhaps the local news?  Lia?”  Her hopeful eyes met the elder’s remorseful eyes and your mother choked on her sob.

“N-no… Nothing on the news… At all… I was actually just waiting here for either you or your daughter to come back, just in case… But, so far... It was just you… But no signs of your daughter.”

“You know my hyung, Mari-saem?”  Bambam smiled at his tutor and his Mom just stared at the two of them with confusion.  Mari nods; though her head is swimming with confusion as well, so her student knows Mark Tuan?

“Y-yeah, I mean no, I am not sure, but, wait, so you know who Mark Tuan is?”  Mari asks the younger boy and Bambam nodded enthusiastically.  Mari just meant to clarify if he knows someone by the name “Mark”, but her stupid mouth just decided to let the full name of your boy from 10 years back slip, but it was a shock for her that her student actually confirmed that to be your lover’s full name.

“Yes Mari-saem, he is actually a friend of mine, but I am also an intern at his company.  I’ve known him for quite a while since we went to the same college, just like Jackson-hyung, the guy whom you’ve met earlier.”  Bambam explained and Mari just stared at his student. Bambam just confirmed that Mark’s full name is Mark Tuan, which means that there is a great chance that him and the boy you’ve met 10 years ago are one and the same.  It also looks like he really is close to Mark and Mark obviously had talked to them about you as well since Bambam recognized your name.

“How about you, Mari-saem, how did you know Mark-hyung?” Bambam gapes at her and she looks at him briefly before looking at Bambam’s Mom, who seems to be quietly listening to the two of them.

“Well, Bambam, the girl whom you said your hyung had met a few days ago… Is actually my best friend…? The girl that I just talked about earlier…”  Mari beams at Bambam and his eyes widened and his mouth formed a letter O, before he bursts into a fit of giggles.

“Oh my gosh, really?  W-what a small world, Mari-saem!  So, she did talk to you about what happened to them too?”

“Uhm… Yeah she did… B-But she told me that Mark kind of, ignored her when she said something… so _____ ran away… But she also told me that your hyung tried calling her but she was actually a bit upset that’s why she hasn’t returned any…”

“Yeah, he was so sorry about that and I think your friend got the message incorrectly, Mark-hyung remembered someone from a long time ago that resembles ______... so-“

“W-wait, you said he remembered someone he knows from before?”  Mari’s voice picks up a notch, and Bambam shoot her a curious look.  She was a bit taken aback by her question, but she didn’t dare give up now.

“Y-yeah, he said that he thinks that the girl whom he and his family saved from (Y/C/O) is the same girl… I mean, your best friend, ______.”  

Damn.

Mari smiled widely and she slumped at her chair softly. So your intuitions are right.  It all makes perfect sense now.  Now that she had confirmed this, she wanted to talk to you about it right then and there.

“S-Saved from what, son?”  Mrs. Lee suddenly asks out of the blue and Bam and Mari looked at her.

“Oh, Mom, Mark-hyung saved a girl who was a victim of child abuse back in our home country around 10 years ago… But after he had left (Y/C/O), he hasn’t heard of the girl’s whereabouts.”  Bambam explained to her Mom in detail before Mari buts in.

“T-that’s what happened to my best friend, Mrs. Lee… But a family from Korea had helped her study here and stay in a local orphanage where I met her…”

“Really?  So, Mari-saem, that only means one thing, right?”

“Yes, Bambam, your hyung and my best friend, ______, have met 10 years ago, and they are bound to meet again… Soon.”

Martha went to the local police office right after she confirmed where her ex-husband was imprisoned.

The woman grips the steering wheel tight, her fists clenching just by the thought of you getting hurt by the hands of your own father.  She didn’t know that he will have the audacity to hurt his daughter. She understands that he had hurt her, but a young girl like you whom he share his own blood and flesh?  That’s just ridiculous.

The older woman didn’t give her any information as to where her daughter is after his ex-husband has been put to jail.  She bites her lower lip as she took the road to the correctional facility, and asks the same question to herself, what could have happened to you?

She parks the car immediately before going inside; wanting to know the answers to her questions right away.  She asked the front desk if she can visit your father and she gave out the name immediately.  She was asked other information and she was growing impatient, but she knows that she needs to abide to be able to speak with your father.

Since your father’s case is sensitive, she won’t be able to speak with him face to face. They need to be separated by a glass window and can only speak through a telephone.

Martha sat in front of the window and her eyes are already glistening with tears. She thinks that it is good to not have your father sit in front of her because she won’t be able to control herself and might do something that she will regret soon.

Your mother’s hands are balled into fists and her tears started to flow downwards when your father finally appeared with a smug look on his face before sitting on the other side of the window, staring furiously at your mother’s hateful eyes.  Martha picked up the phone from the right side and your father did the same, the look on his face now turning into a grimace and Martha’s heart is about to explode with so much hatred.

“What did you do to my daughter?” Martha spoke through clenched teeth and she wiped the tears that escaped her eyes, not wanting to show any signs of weakness in front of her evil ex-husband.

“Welcome back, Martha.  Are you releasing me from the ce-“

“Fuck you. I am never releasing you from this cell you demon.  Tell me what you did to my daughter and where she is right now, that’s the only thing that I need from you, not your stupid remarks.”  The woman said sternly before dropping her empty palm flat against the wooden surface below her.

“Do you really want to know what happened to your stupid daughter, my lovely wife?” Her ex-husband let out a huge, mocking, and trembling laugh that made chills to run down her spine in a fearful way. What happened to the man who promised to love her and their children?  It seems like she is talking to a different person.

“P-please…” She pleaded and your father stopped laughing before he inches closer against the mirror, staring at your mother’s eyes before smirking.

“I KILLED HER.  Your pretty little daughter is dead because you left me… You will never see her again… And this is all your fault.”

Martha’s hand shook, her lips trembled and she stood up before pressing her palm against the window.

“T-tell me you’re lying… Tell me you’re just jok-“

“I am not… I killed her.  I killed your daughter who looks exactly like you that whenever I see her, I remember what you did to me.  I remember you leaving me and it makes me so mad, Martha.  So I always hurt her, and eventually when I got fed up, I hit her with all my strength and now she’s dea-“

“SHUT UP!” Your mother screamed in front of your father’s face through the mirror before she throws punches against it, curses, painful, and wounding words slipping out of her mouth while she cries out loud; your father is just laughing at her bawling form.

“H-how dare you… How dare you kill our daughter you son of a bitch!!!  I’m going to fucking kill you!!”  You mother banged the door with both of her hands that are balled into tight fists, catching the attention of the officers as well as the other visitors and prisoners.

“Ma’am you need to calm down.”  An officer approached her and wrapped an arm around your mother’s limped form but she tried to release herself from the tight grip against her while she’s still mouthing words of detestation to your father.

“My precious daughter… How dare you kill her…”  Martha cried out loud while he sees your father being taken out of the visitor’s area and put back inside his cell.  She was being dragged out of the room and she was just crying, not knowing what else to feel now that she found out that her daughter is dead, because of her. Because she left her, knowing that she is not safe in the hands of her ex-husband.  She should have just taken you along even if Junhyung won’t allow her. She should have known that Junhyung would agree eventually so why did she not take you with her along with Bambam?

She will never forgive herself for losing you, even on the day that she dies.

You woke up abruptly, panic mixed with dread and fret coursed through your entire body and you grew weak, your arms hugging yourself in what seems to be a constrained space and before you can stop yourself, you shrieked loudly; your eyes misting and you are tugging on whatever is covering your body, scratching the material using your long nails.

“Hey, hey, _____, it’s okay, it’s okay.”  A familiar voice filled your ears and you felt a hand squeezing your thigh before you felt yourself calming down, and you’ve realized that you are inside the car when you felt it stop; the sound of the engine diminishing gradually.

“______, look at me.  It’s me, Jinyoung, are you okay?”  Jinyoung held your shoulders and made you look at him, his eyes filled with worry and your lips stopped trembling and the weight on your shoulders loosening, what did happen again?

“I-“  You were tongue-tied, squeezing your eyes shut, trying to remember what happened and why you ended up being with your ex-boyfriend for the 2nd time today.

Oh shit.

Your head fell back when you recall what happened just a few minutes ago.  Jinyoung actually saved you from being squashed by the huge vehicle in the middle of the road, after Mark literally ran away from you.  When you happen to see Jinyoung lying next to you at the side walk, you just lost grip of consciousness and everything went black.

“______?”  Jinyoung is still looking at you, his other hand cupping your cheek while the other one is still on your shoulder.  You were snapped out of your daze and you looked at him before letting out a breath.

“I-I’m alright, Jinyoung.  Sorry I- I just tried to remember what happened and why I am here…” You said and Jinyoung smiled with relief before straightening the blanket that is wrapped around your form on the passenger seat.  He leans back against the driver’s seat before looking at you.

“Do you happen to remember?”

“Y-yeah… Y-you saved me from being, well, killed… but I think I passed out after that?”  You stared out the window awkwardly because you are not sure how you’re going to face your ex-boyfriend, whom you’ve thrown out of your house just this morning, and who just, basically, saved your life.

Jinyoung nods before gripping the steering wheel and nervously licking his lips, hesitant on what to say next.

“Thank you, Jinyoung.”  You peered at the beautiful man beside you and you reached for his hand, giving it a light squeeze and Jinyoung smiled dearly, the familiar crinkles at the side of his eyes appearing, and you smiled at him.

You removed your hand from his before sliding it inside the blanket when the awkwardness resurfaced, and Jinyoung silently maneuvered the steering wheel, getting the engine back up to continue driving to what you assume your place.  His calm demeanor never fails to amaze you and he didn’t say anything after that, he may be shy to ask you what happened and why you ended up in the middle of the road, but you tae

“H-how did you… I mean…”

“I was walking around the area since the hotel where I stay is just nearby.  When I- uhm- left your house earlier, I just walked around and cleared my head… And then I saw you…”  Jinyoung stops when he makes a left turn at the curb.

“You were running after a car… And you just slumped on the floor when- I think... The person who you’re following didn’t open up. I was still a bit far but when I saw the truck approaching, who didn’t seem to notice you, I run towards you right away… and… there.”  He explained as he continues to drive serenely; explaining the reason why he was there and how he was able to save you.

“I am thankful, Jinyoung, really.  If it weren’t for you...  I…”  You trail off as you stare outside again, not letting the tears that are pricking at the side of your eyes fall, and for Jinyoung not to see it.  The scene from earlier immediately made a flash back in your head, how you’ve seen Mark at the river, how you’ve followed him and almost ran out of breath until you found out that he’s missing, seeing his car at the café, and running after him and his car.

You started to wonder as to why he is avoiding you all of sudden.  He left a few messages last night and even tried calling you, so it doesn’t make really sense.  Your worry was suddenly replaced with anger, realizing that he almost got you killed when he left you running after him in the middle of the road.  He didn’t even dare to go back to check on you or stop his vehicle.  Your arms that are hidden behind the blanket are being pressed together in a tight fist as you tried your best not to bawl out loud with Jinyoung still beside you. Good thing it is dark inside the car so he won’t be able to see your face, or that’s what you thought.

“______, what’s wrong?.”  Jinyoung’s soothing voice resonates the small space and he looks at you briefly before looking back at the road.  You sniffed and cried quietly, clamping your mouth with your hand as you lean your head back, the pain flooding your system.  Did Mark found out who you really are?  Did he come to know what happened to you after they left you behind?  When he finally found out, was he disappointed and mad that’s why he was running away from you?

Jinyoung didn’t ask you again, he just listened to your soft whimpers and cries.  He wanted to ask you so bad what happened back there, who you’re following, and why did that person dared to cause you this pain.  However, he knows that he is not in the position to ask that question, moreover, he remembers that he had caused you so much pain before too, so he just stayed silent as he drove swiftly and carefully, hoping to reach your house soon so that you can finally take a rest.

Jinyoung stopped the car when he reached your front porch.  You straightened your seat and you attempted to wipe your tears using your hands, when Jinyoung hands you a tissue box.  You grabbed a few tissues from it before wiping your eyes and face.  You removed the blanket from your body before handing it to Jinyoung, also unbuckling the seatbelt.

“A-are you going to be okay?”  Jinyoung asks with tenderness as he gently pats your head before pulling away immediately.  You bit your lower lip before checking your phone, Mari hasn’t sent you a text message since earlier, and you are not sure if she is already home or still awake, and you cannot bear being alone at this point.

“I-I guess…”  You sighed and you reach for the handle of the car door but you cannot seem to open it.  You are contemplating whether you’re going to invite Jinyoung inside or just leave him here. You are still mad at him for what he did earlier and, well, for everything that he had done before.  However, he saved your life, so that, at least, you owe to him.

“W-would you like to come in for… some tea?”

You sighed when you haven’t seen Mari’s shoes beside the wooden table next to the door, meaning she’s not yet home.  You grabbed your phone and sent her a quick message after removing your shoes, Jinyoung standing behind you, quietly removing his shoes and coat.

“Mari is not yet home…”  You mumbled and Jinyoung gave you a slight nod before trailing behind you to the living room.  You turned on the lights before instructing Jinyoung to sit down before grabbing the remote from the table.  You switched the TV on to make the deafening silence disappear inside your house.  You looked at your ex-boyfriend who is just smiling at you softly.

“I-I’m going to- uhm- would you like the sa..me?”  You scratched the back of your neck, suddenly feeling nervous.  You cannot seem to say what Jinyoung’s favorite tea is, but, of course you still remember it.

“Yes please, ______.”  Jinyoung smiles and you nodded before heading towards the kitchen.  You turned on the kettle before grabbing the tea bags and two mugs from the drawer.  

Your mind keeps on drifting to Mark as you waited for the water to boil.  How can he do such thing to you?  If he really is the boy who took care of you 10 years ago, he should be happy to see you again, right?  Why is he acting that way?  You are mad at him, for sure, but you cannot help but feel curious and confused with what he has done for the past few days.

The wheezing sound from the kettle startled you and you quickly turned it off; gently pouring water over the two mugs, one for you and one for Jinyoung, before adding honey.  You retreated to the living room to see Jinyoung smiling over the variety show being displayed on the television.

“Here you go…”  You handed him the cup before sitting next to him.

“Thank you, ______.”  He smiled and you felt yourself blushing.  The two of you just sat there in silence, watching the television, feeling extremely comfortable with Jinyoung’s presence, just like how it was before.  You haven’t even realized that you are scooting closer and closer to Jinyoung until you have your shoulders bumping against his side.  Jinyoung threw you a side look, smiling when you finally had your head rested against his shoulder.  He slowly wraps his arm around you, pulling you closer, and you do not have the energy to fight back, and you figured you actually do not want to.  

You smiled and you continued sipping your tea with one hand, while the other one wrapped around Jinyoung’s waist.  Your mind is hazy, Mark’s picture kept on appearing from time to time but you brush those thoughts away immediately, just wanting to be in Jinyoung’s arms, which made you feel surprisingly comfortable again.  The two of you just stayed that way for quite some time and not speaking, relishing the feeling of being in each other’s arms while mindlessly watching the TV.

The tea (and Jinyoung’s body warmth) made your senses faze and your tired body relax, so you lean your head back further against Jinyoung’s chest, and you can feel your eyes drooping.  Jinyoung looked at you briefly and contemplated; before he straightened his seat and dropping his mug on the table, carefully lifting your head against his chest, cradling it in his forearm.  You lifted your head and looked at him in confusion.

“I, I should get going, ______, so that you can rest well, and it’s getting late too.”  Jinyoung stands up but you grabbed his wrist that made him look back at you with confusion sketched on his beautiful face.  You are not sure as to why you held on to him too, but the longing and sadness in your heart made you a bit fearful, and you do want to be left alone, and Mari has not responded to your message yet.  You swallowed the lump in your throat and gathered all the courage you can to finally speak.

“J-Jinyoung… Can you stay with me… for tonight?”

Part 11