#This rat really out here trying to steal a pillow because he be having problems sleeping

[squeaker6352]

The Kirby Squeak Squad light novel in a nutshell

Kirby: Gripping at one side of the egg's nest Paws off thief!

Daroach: Gripping at the other side, very sleep deprived I'VE HAD, A VERY LONG NIGHT KID. AND I'M ABOUT TO S N A P !

[slasherhaven]

How would Billy and Brahms react to their future s/o knowing that they are living in the walls/attic long before they get the chance to reveal themselves, maybe even going as far as to explore the walls/attic in an attempt to find them and confirm their suspicions.

Brahms Heelshire and Billy Lenz reacting to their Future S/O knowing where they are:

Brahms Heelshire

You never really believed in ghosts. When you first saw that the child you were supposed to be looking after was a doll, you just assumed that the parents were trying to cope with the loss of their child.

You attributed any strange noises in the walls to rats, and when the doll started moving around you started to question your own sanity. But you never thought it was the ghost of the child, Brahms.

You were sitting there one night and heard some movement somewhere else in the house, only to investigate and find nothing. 

Realisation hit you in an instant, and you couldn’t help but chastise yourself for being so stupid and not seeing it sooner.

Caring for the doll, having to play music loud, leaving meals in the fridge only to find them gone, how the Heelshires would even know if you didn’t follow their rules.

There was somebody in this house with you.

Since you heard a lot of movement coming from the walls, you figured it couldn’t hurt to take a look. If it wasn’t a person, it would just be the rats like you assumed.

It was pretty easy for a person to move around in the walls, and while you found it a little confusing at times you still wandered through them.

You discovered all the entrances to the walls, the spaces behind the mirrors, and the peepholes. You would remember to cover them.

Finally you got to the attic, finding a bedroom of sorts.

A desk with various unimportant papers, photos and drawings.

It was obvious that somebody was living here. You searched some more, examining the photos and drawings. There was a bed that didn’t look too comfortable. It was strange, it was clearly a room for a grown man but there was something childish about it.

Continuing with your investigation, you made another discovery. It must have been Brahms that was living here. Very much alive, and definitely no longer a child.

The most worrying thing was that you found some of your lost and misplaced belongings, but you just took them back for leaving, a little worried that he might find you snooping around.

You weren’t as concerned as you probably should have been. But at least you weren’t going insane and there wasn’t a ghost child wandering around, plus it was a good job...

It’s a miracle that Brahms didn’t catch you but as soon as he returns to his hidden room, he knew you had been there. He was worried that you were going to run because you must have figured out the truth.

But when he rushes to find you...you’re just sitting in the lounge with a book.

He knew you knew...you took your stuff back, you had seen the letters and photos, you knew he was there and who he was...but you were just sitting there like nothing had happened.

So, he waits it out, curiously and anxiously.

He lays low for a while, making sure to be extra quiet, not moving the doll, not stealing things.

Slowly, he became more comfortable again and stole something of yours.

You didn’t notice for a little while, but as soon as you couldn’t find the item where you left it, you knew where it had gone.

“Brahms!” you called out in frustration, making him pause in the walls. You couldn’t actually be addressing him, could you? “If you don’t put it back where it belongs before this evening, I am coming in there and taking it back” you warned him.

Later that afternoon, you find the item had been returned with a small apology note.

He’s still a little worried that you’re going to get scared and try to leave but it really doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen. You’re staying, despite knowing nearly everything...and that thrills him. It’s all he wants...until it’s not enough.

That’s how things go for a while, at least until Brahms decides that he needs to be in a room with you and have you see him. You’ve already accepted him, right? So you’d still accept him when he reveals himself to you, surely...

Billy Lenz

You knew it. You fucking knew it. He wasn’t exactly subtle.

You had heard the noises in the attic and had thought it was rats but you soon realised that probably wasn’t the case.

And when the ‘Moaner’s’ phone calls started getting far too specific, you knew he had been watching you.

You just put two and two together, concluding that the man making those phone calls had probably been making the noise in the attic. He was probably staying there.

Maybe you had become too used to the phone calls, become too friendly with the stranger on the phone (it had been happening for a while and you just couldn’t help but entertain his conversation from time to time), but it didn’t freak you out the way it probably should. 

Things like this had just become normal, and you just weren’t all that surprised.

But you couldn’t know for sure until you saw it.

So, one day you decided to head up to the attic and investigate.

You had half expected to find the man still up there but he wasn’t, you had no idea where he got off too but it gave you a change to look around.

Somebody had obviously being staying here, the place looked lived in.

A corner was filled with pillows and blankets, a makeshift bed, with belongings and clothes scattered around it along with some candy wrappers, probably stolen from the house.

Whoever it was had used some of the old Christmas lights to brighten the place up, probably just using them as a light source.

And, of course, you found the phone he had been using to contact you. You could have took it, destroyed it, anything, but you didn’t, you left it be.

You had no idea how this person would react to getting caught but you had learnt that you enjoyed surprising him during his phone calls, so maybe you should surprise him some more.

You didn’t want to wait until he returned, in case he turned violent at your surprise visit. Plus, you weren’t quite sure that you were ready to come face to face with him yet.

So, you left a note, just letting him know you’d found his little hide out, before leaving again.

When Billy found the note, he had no idea what to do. You knew he was there and you just...left a note to let him know?

Eventually he would call you, and you’d answer with a smirk, listening to him tell you how naughty you are for sneaking around, only to stutter when you shoot back with how naughty it is of him to be living in the attic and spying on you.

It becomes a somewhat comfortable arrangement. You know he’s there but leave him be, he doesn’t come down into the rest of the house unless he knows he won’t get caught, and you enjoy your frequent phone calls. That’s just how things are for a while.

Until he starts getting more confident. You already know he’s there but you don’t seem scared or like you wanted him to leave, so he doesn’t see the problem with testing the waters some more.

You start hearing him rummaging around in the kitchen before you go to sleep, you hear him scampering about. You’ve actually called out to him to shut up before, which made him freeze before giggling to himself before running back up to the attic.

He’s not all that comfortable around people but he’s slowly becoming more comfortable with you knowing about him. He hopes that one day the two of you will be able to actually meet properly. Maybe you could actually good for him, you might actually care, and he looks forward to that.

[retrievablememories]

three’s company | kai & taemin (m)

title: three’s company pairing: taemin x reader x kai genre: smut, fwb request: “hello!! can I req a kai and taemin with female reader smut fic?” word count: 4.4k warnings: MMF threesome, oral (female and male receiving), deep throating, fingering, unprotected sex (don’t try at home 🚫), cumshots, some spanking, taemin has dom tendencies, the aftercare is a bit lacking i think sjdfklfsk a/n: i have not written a proper threesome fic in so long, this didn’t come as easy to me as i thought it would 🤧

at the beginning of the fic—if you don’t know about taemin’s infamous slippers here are some references lol

“Open the door for your best friends!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Taemin’s head peeks through the crack in his front door only a few seconds later, and he grins at the sight of you and Kai standing on his front step, overnight bags in hand. “Took you long enough.”

“We would’ve got here sooner if Y/N didn’t take a hundred years to find her favorite slippers,” Kai says, snorting.

“I can’t go anywhere without them, they’re part of my bedtime routine,” you protest, stepping inside as Taemin opens the door wider for the two of you to come in. “And I am not wearing Taemin’s rat fur shoes as a consolation prize like he tried to make me do last time.”

Taemin rolls his eyes at your complaint. “Rat fur slippers or not, you have no problem stealing all my other clothes.”

“It’s not my fault your clothes are so cozy.”

“You say that every time you steal our stuff,” Kai points out, walking past you both to make himself comfortable on Taemin’s couch. “How many of my poor hoodies are hanging up in your closet, never to be worn by me again?”

“Just the right amount,” you insist, dropping your bag to the floor and jumping onto the couch with Kai, splaying yourself across his legs and the couch cushions. He grins at you like you’re an overexcited kid and leans against the back of the couch.

“You’re so goofy. I hope you don’t plan on having me take care of you all weekend like the last time you ate too much sugar and crashed like hell,” Kai says, tapping his finger on your forehead and making you swat his hand away.

“No, I’m not gonna do that again...I don’t need to be babysat, Jongin!”

Taemin passes by the two of you on the couch and pinches your thigh as he goes; fortunately for him, he’s fast enough to escape a slap from you. “Don’t worry...even if it does happen, we’ll take good care of you.” He leaves with a joking smile as he goes into the other room, though the teasing note in his tone makes you wonder for a brief moment.

—

A few hours later, the three of you are in the kitchen preparing snacks for your movie night—which usually ends up with you and Kai doing most of the work because Taemin tends to be a mess in the kitchen. Kai’s phone pings from the living room, and he leaves the both of you alone to go check what it is. Taemin sidles up to your side as soon as Kai exits the room, and you give him a questioning look when his arm goes around your waist.

“What do you want,” you deadpan.

“Don’t be so mean to me.” His tone is playful, but the lips at your ear are not so innocent. “We haven’t even seen each other in a while.”

“I know, which is why I’m astounded at your inability to keep it in your pants. You should’ve had plenty of practice by now.” Taemin gives an amused laugh, his eyes watching the doorway the entire time, and while the coast is still clear he takes the opportunity to press his hot lips against your neck. You shy away from him, but only because you don’t want to get caught.

One game of Truth or Dare with Taemin more than a year ago had gotten out of hand—a game the three of you usually played together, but Kai had been busy with EXO’s promotions for Obsession at the time—and the next thing you knew, you were sleeping with one of your good friends.

You knew that friends-with-benefits arrangements often ended in flames—you’d seen it happen too often with your other friends and their sexual partners—but you didn’t regret anything about the situation. You both enjoyed the sex, and it hadn’t managed to ruin your friendship, so neither of you saw any real reason to stop. No regrets—except for maybe the fact that you were keeping it secret from Kai.

It was Taemin’s suggestion and you went along with it, though you weren’t really sure what difference it made. He always acted as if letting the younger man know would be too much shock for him to take, or maybe he’d find it awkward to continue hanging out with you two, which you found ridiculous (it turned out fine with him, why did it need to be kept from Kai?) but you weren’t interested in arguing about it.

Taemin looks like he’s about to say something else, but he’s suddenly zipping away from your side just as quick as he came. You see the reason why when Kai walks back into the room seconds later, seemingly unaware of Taemin’s earlier antics. You screw up your mouth and glare at Taemin for almost getting caught when all this secrecy was his idea.

Kai raises his eyebrows. “What’s wrong? Don’t tell me Taemin is bothering you again.”

“When is he not?” 

“Stop pretending like you don’t love it.” Taemin pulls out aegyo that makes both you and Kai cringe like you’ve been stung. Taemin laughs at both your expressions, though he’s also a bit embarrassed for even trying to use the cute card on you; you rarely fell for those tricks of his.

Kai shakes his head. “This is going to be a long weekend.”

—

Despite Taemin having more than enough space in his home to host all three of you in your own rooms, you all end up in Taemin’s bed when you decide to turn in for the night. Kai swore he was only stopping in to talk before going back to his own room, but he never left his side of the bed even after the overhead lights were turned out. You lie in between the two men the whole time, enjoying their body heat on either side of you and the comfort of having them nearby.

Kai is already knocked out on your left, but Taemin remains awake, his eyes sparkling with devilment in the dark. He angles his body more towards you, lying on his side, and you mean to ask what he’s doing and why he’s not asleep yet when his hand lands on your thigh.

Your lips part and your mouth moves aimlessly for a few moments as his hand works up and down your thigh, warming you up. “Jongin…” you finally whisper, and both of you know that you speaking the other man’s name is not you trying to call out for him—it’s a warning.

“...is asleep,” Taemin says, unfazed.

“This is wrong,” you mutter, but you don’t make a move to stop him when his hand comes closer to the space between your thighs. Taemin brushes his fingers across your pubic mound as he reaches his hand over to your other thigh, teasing you. “You were the one who wanted to keep all this hidden. Remember that.”

“Correct,” he responds, still sounding perfectly casual about the entire situation. “And we still can, if you just be quiet for a little while and let me do this.”

“Can’t you wait until later?” Your voice comes out strained. When his hand inches closer to your inner thigh again, you don’t know whether you want to ask him to stop for his own good or go further. “Like when he’s in the shower or something?”

Taemin slides his hand fully between your legs now, the heel of his palm rubbing against your clit. “I have to touch you.” He says it like he doesn’t know what will happen to him if he doesn’t get the opportunity now. The tinge of neediness in his voice breaks something inside you and makes you want to relent without a single question more.

The sudden movement of his palm on the most sensitive part of your body causes you to jerk, and your elbow hits Kai right in the side by accident. For a tense moment, you think maybe you haven’t woken him, but then he grumbles and gently shoves you back. “Why are you elbowing me?” he murmurs, and then you freeze when he turns his head and opens his eyes to look at you. His eyes are only cracked halfway, but even in the dim room you know there is a good chance he can see how Taemin’s hand is now halfway tucked into your sleep pants as he begins his descent into your underwear. You stay stock-still as if that’ll make him unable to see you, which feels as ridiculous as it sounds.

“I-it was an accident, sorry,” you stammer. Kai doesn’t respond right away, too busy blinking his eyes against the dark. Then he says,

“If you two are going to do that, go in another room.” He scoffs and turns over, and you’re mortified. He sounded completely nonchalant about finding the two of you in a compromising position, which makes you wonder; does he somehow already know about the arrangement you two have? Maybe neither of you were ever really as sneaky as you’d thought.

“You should join us,” Taemin suggests, throwing yet another wrench into the situation. Kai’s body stiffens beside you, and there’s silence before he faces you both again.

“Join?”

“Aren’t you being a little—”

“Yes, join.” Taemin interrupts you, and you roll your eyes, pinching his arm. “Don’t pretend like you haven’t thought about it before.”

“What does that mean?” you blurt out, jerking your head to look at Taemin. What secrets have they been keeping from you? Kai looks equally bewildered, which makes you more confused.

“I—when have I suggested anything like that?” Kai argues, though his voice is uncertain.

“You don’t have to. You are easy to read, Jongin.” Kai makes a disapproving noise at Taemin’s statement.

“Easy to read? What about you thinking you were being sneaky with Y/N this whole time—”

“Well, I thought we were pretty damn clever—”

“Look, if you two are just going to go back and forth, I’m going to sleep—”

“Fine. Let me join, then.” You want to complain at being interrupted again, but Kai’s words make you pause. And then his eyes drift over to you, his face turning towards yours on the pillow and his voice becoming more yielding. “If you’re okay with it.” 

You feel a bit winded, never really expecting him to say yes. But now here it is, out in the open and waiting for you to take hold of it—or shun it away. You also know yourself well enough to understand the second choice isn’t even an option for you. Taemin waits in silence to see what your answer will be, though the corner of his mouth is already lifting in a smirk because he can take a good guess.

“Okay. Then let’s do it.”

With your acceptance, there’s a tense pause as everyone waits to see what the other will do first.

Taemin makes the first move by sliding his hand the rest of the way into your underwear, his fingers dipping down to feel you. You’re not as wet as he’d like yet, which he immediately seeks to remedy by rubbing your clit and bringing his plush lips to your exposed collarbone.

“Kiss her,” Taemin says in between laying kisses of his own across your chest. Kai stays still for a moment longer, and you wonder if he’s regretting this decision, but when you glance up at him his eyes are glued to where Taemin’s hand is moving beneath your pajamas. Finally, he tears his stare away from the scene playing out in front of him and meets your gaze, coming closer to press his mouth on yours.

More often than not, Taemin’s kisses are heated and frantic, as if he can never kiss you enough—which is not to knock his experience or skill, because he has more than enough to satisfy you—but Kai is soft and slow against your mouth, kissing you deeply and intensely like he might not get to do it again.

Taemin laughs quietly against your neck at how you grow wetter beneath his fingers from this one kiss. 

Kai’s touch is a little more tentative because he hasn’t done this with you before, but his hands go to the hem of your shirt. He goes underneath the fabric, pushing it up your stomach along the way, to touch your breasts. Your nipples harden at his touch, and he rolls them between his deft fingers. It doesn’t take long for him to begin desiring more contact, and he shoves your shirt up above your chest, lowering his head to take a nipple into his mouth.

Taemin situates himself further down to let Kai have his way with your upper body and introduces one of his fingers into you, sliding the slender digit inside and crooking it up to find that soft spot. You twitch around him, your thighs tensing and flexing, and he keeps his lips pressed close to your hips, biting the skin there and then dragging his tongue across the places he’s just irritated. You’re already feeling overwhelmed at having both men pleasure you at the same time, and you’re not sure how you’re going to make it through the rest of the night.

Your pulse races against Kai’s mouth as his kisses travel to your neck, making you shiver. “Does that feel good?” Kai asks, his voice low, and you nod without a second thought. You belatedly realize he’s referring to Taemin's actions when you notice his eyes have drifted below the waist again. He seems entranced with the way Taemin fingers you, or maybe he just wants a turn for himself. 

“It does,” you say, as if your nod wasn’t confirmation enough. Your words trail out of you in a breathless whisper. Kai soon shifts lower down your body just as Taemin eases another finger into you, which makes you moan softly. You think your heart might beat out of your chest when Kai settles himself beside Taemin, and you can guess what’s about to happen.

“Are you going to have her all to yourself?” Kai remarks, his tone joking.

“I was here first.” Taemin grins deviously, but he shuffles over to make more room for Kai between your legs.

As Taemin keeps moving his fingers inside you, brushing them against your g-spot and making you moan desperately, Kai lowers his head and drags his tongue over your clit. You gasp sharply at this brand-new sensation; the sight of it is even more erotic than you could’ve imagined. Kai wraps his mouth around your sensitive clit and Taemin observes closely as the other man sucks and licks into you. Though Taemin sometimes likes to pretend he isn’t as easily aroused as you know he can be, he can’t hide the way his breaths grow rushed and his face becomes more flushed.

The soft but intense sucking of Kai’s mouth and the smooth strokes of Taemin’s fingers have you careening off the edge faster than you anticipated, and your legs scrabble against the sheets as you toss and turn in the tide of a strong orgasm.

Kai comes back to your upper body when he’s finished, leaning in close to where your head rests on the pillow. Your chest heaves as you try to regain your breath. He smiles down at your supine figure, pressing another kiss to your lips. “You’re so sweet,” he murmurs against the seam of your mouth, and he slides his tongue in to let you taste yourself even more deeply.

Between kisses, Kai pulls your shirt the rest of the way off. You end up doing the same for him—with his help—and you run your hands over the newly exposed skin, feeling the soft but firm ridges of his abs underneath your palms. The length of his cock presses against his sleep pants, half-hard and still rising. Somewhere below you, Taemin removes your panties and pajama pants from around your ankles, and even though you feel spent, your body is already reacting to the idea of him pressing your legs open wider and pushing into you.

“Turn on your stomach,” Taemin instructs, though he’s already grabbing your hips and shifting you over before you can do it yourself. He doesn’t miss the opportunity to palm your ass as he does, his digits dipping down between your legs like he’s going to start fingering you again. Some nights, he can spend forever doing just that—pulling you apart with his hands and mouth and denying you his dick until he finally feels like giving it to you.

His plans for tonight are a little different, though. 

Taemin taps your lower back and says, “I think you know what to do.” You can’t see his face, but he must be giving Kai a certain look because the other man smirks, shaking his head.

“Come closer,” you say to Kai, because just as Taemin predicted, you know exactly what he expects you to do. You run your fingers up the length of Kai’s strong thighs, feeling the hard muscle of them and bringing your hands up higher to caress the bulge straining against his pants. Kai’s eyes grow heavier as he watches you palm his dick, and he settles himself in front of you with his legs spread.

You could probably occupy yourself all night with pulling reactions out of him and teasing him, getting to know what he likes and making him drip sticky precum down your hand. You are too eager to see his dick and feel him in your mouth, however, so you drag the waistband of his pants and underwear lower to bring it out. It’s thicker than Taemin’s, pretty and tan with prominent veins, and you can only imagine how it’s going to feel once he actually gets inside of you. Kai watches you with burning eyes as you grip the base in your hand and get his dick wet with your saliva, sliding your tongue across the shaft. A heavy, shaky breath leaves him when your mouth makes the first contact.

Behind you, Taemin’s cock nudges your entrance and then pushes in, and you whimper from being stretched while Kai’s dick bumps against your lips. Taemin keeps his hands on your ass as he begins thrusting into you, taking his time with it and building your pleasure up with slow thrusts. You want Taemin to move faster and send you spiraling headfirst into pleasure again, though. You whine with your mouth still around Kai’s tip, which makes him give an answering moan.

“Stop playing around and swallow his dick, Y/N,” Taemin taunts you from above. He angles his hips a bit differently to find your g-spot, and you make a choked noise when he locates it, causing Kai’s dick to slip from your mouth.

“Shut up, Taem. It’s not like you’re making it easy.” Taemin gives a sudden rough thrust in answer to that, and even Kai grins at the pleasured expression on your face and the surprised yelp you let loose.

“Try harder.” Taemin insists, and he lands a swift slap on your ass. It’s not harsh, but it’s enough to make you cry out. “You want her throat around your dick, don’t you, Jongin?”

Kai raises his eyebrows at Taemin’s words, but the twitch of his cock in your hand and the bob of his Adam’s apple are unmistakable. “Can you take it?” Kai asks you, voice thick with desire.

“Give it to me.” You open your mouth, sticking your tongue out for Kai to slide in. You’ve deep-throated Taemin numerous times before, and you are impatient to let Kai try it now. His gaze darkens, and he grips his cock and leads it deeper into your mouth. He shudders visibly when the warm, wet heat of your mouth envelops him. He hesitates for a moment, like he doesn’t want to go too deep and hurt you, but you look up at him from beneath your lashes with your best pleading eyes and he is completely lost to your longing expression. His stomach tenses when he pushes further, feeling the tight space of your throat squeezing around his tip. More precum drips from him.

“Good girl,” Taemin whispers from above, his eyes glued to the back of your head. He leans forward for a better view so he can watch Kai’s dick disappear between your lips, and that movement ends with his hips pressed flush against your ass, his length as far in you as it will go. You moan helplessly around Kai as Taemin continues fucking you at this depth and angle, one of his hands gripping your hip tightly. You feel beyond full, unable to think about anything other than the two men inside of you.

“Don’t come yet.” Taemin pushes into you as steadily as ever, rushing towards his own climax as his breaths grow more broken-off.

Kai groans as your tongue slides sloppily against his shaft, your body being repeatedly pushed forward by Taemin’s thrusts. He doesn’t even have to do much work to fuck your mouth. He only keeps his hand at the back of your head, more because he just needs to touch you somewhere rather than trying to control the pace. The wet and filthy sounds of his dick hitting the back of your throat bring him ever closer to his end, but Taemin’s gaze gives him pause. “You’re telling me not to come yet?”

“You still have to fuck her,” Taemin says, smacking your ass again. He slows his pace momentarily to lift your hips slightly, sneaking his hand beneath you to circle his fingers around your clit, and your body tenses as you give a stifled cry. “You’ve got to feel her. This pussy is so fucking good, isn’t it, Y/N? Want him to fuck this needy little hole? You’re already getting tighter around me just thinking about it...how dirty.” There’s no way to respond with your mouth currently occupied; you only give a low, shuddering moan.

“F-fuck.” Kai abruptly pulls himself out of your mouth to stave off the orgasm threatening to overtake him at the sight of you looking so fucked-out. Like Taemin said, he definitely wants—needs—to be inside of you at least once before the night is over.

“J-Jong—” You want to beg for him to put his dick back in your mouth, gripping his thighs and trying to get closer, but those attempts are lost when your climax finally comes crashing over you. Taemin keeps his hand on your lower back to prevent you from squirming away from him as he continues thrusting into you throughout your orgasm, overstimulating your already wired senses. Weak with pleasure and shaking, you let Taemin use your body to get closer to his own end, which you’re more than happy to do.

Seconds later, Taemin is pulling out of you and stroking his dick, spilling his cum on your lower back and your ass. He lets go of his dick and slips it between your ass cheeks, thrusting between them and milking himself of the last few drops. He smirks at the messy creation he’s made all over your skin.

When Taemin lies on the bed next to you, Kai sheds his pants and takes his place. Kai gently turns you onto your back and grabs your weakened legs, pulling them around his waist, and you let him maneuver your body as he wants.

When he pushes into you, you almost want to sob at the way his dick spreads you open, sliding deep inside your oversensitive pussy. His eyebrows crease together at how you feel around him, so warm and wet.

Kai’s pace is not as quick as Taemin’s; his strokes are deep and hard as he buries himself inside and pulls nearly all the way out. Your lingering pleasure is stoked even higher by the intense way he’s fucking you, and your muscles feel like they might cramp up, but he keeps your legs spread open for better access.

“Is it good, Y/N? Do you love it?” Taemin asks from beside you, his voice light and airy as if he’s in awe of it all. His hands sneak over to your breasts, and his lips soon follow.

“Fuck, yes.” Kai brings one of your legs up to his shoulder to get a better angle. His gaze is burning as he looks at you and Taemin—Taemin sucking your breasts, your knitted eyebrows and half-open mouth, the sight of his shaft disappearing into you. “You feel s-so good. So fucking deep...” You grab Kai’s arms on either side of you, nails pricking his skin.

“Y/N…” Kai’s voice has grown rough, tinged with desperation. Sweat drips from his face and down his abs. His pace increases, and the tension tightens in your lower stomach again as his hips slap against yours.

Taemin grips your chin and turns your face towards his, sliding his tongue into your mouth in a wet kiss. At the same time, he moves his other hand lower to stroke his fingers across your clit, and this pushes you off the edge into a dizzying orgasm. It’s strong enough to turn your whole world blurry with an endless ecstasy.

When Kai gets close, he pulls out like Taemin did to jerk himself off and come across your stomach, painting your skin with his warm cum. His groans are deep and rich and lovely, and they make you clench with the last waning vestiges of your orgasm.

Kai lies beside you on the free side that Taemin isn’t occupying, keeping one hand on your thigh like he needs to have some part of you always touching him.

“We need to clean up,” you mumble, uncomfortable with the cum drying on your skin, though you’re also trying to battle the increasing sleepiness threatening to drape itself over your eyes like a veil.

“Maybe later.” Taemin throws an arm around your waist and cuddles his face into your neck. Kai grins and nudges his nose against your ear, tickling your skin. Their breaths fan over your skin, and you sigh and close your eyes, contented despite the mess.

“Fine. As long as you carry me to the shower later.”

[five-rivers]

Technically Still a Crime

For @nocturna-starr

“My dude,” said Danny, “I am really, really sorry about your window, but there are only so many ways to tell you that I’m not going to rat you out to the government for…” He let his eyes roam over the room full of t-shirts. “Honestly, I don’t know what I’d even rat you out for. Did you steal these from the mall or something?”

Danny had been doing his normal ghost hunting routine when he’d been thrown into a mostly empty office building by an oversized mountain-lion ghost. He’d caught the ghost, but by that time the window was a lost cause, and everyone inside the not-actually-uninhabited building was freaking out about the IRS or the police or something.

At least, the people in the room were. Maybe if there were any people in other parts of the building, they were calmer.

He rubbed his head. He didn’t think he had a concussion, but he’d definitely taken a few whacks to his good old noggin and he was having trouble focusing.

“No, no,” said the man (short, round, vaguely South Asian, but honestly could have been from anywhere), “so theft, no stealing.”

“Then I’m not sure what the problem is. You aren’t hiding, like, kidnapping victims in here, are you?” he peered past the man, core flaring.

“No! No.” The man leaned closer to Danny. Danny mirrored him. “We are making…” He let the pause drag on. “Knockoffs.”

“Oh,” said Danny. “Cool.”

“You’re not upset?”

“Nope.”

“But you’re, like, a superhero.”

“Dude. Dude. My existence is literally illegal in all fifty states. I am breaking so many laws right now.”

“What?”

“Being a ghost is one-hundred-percent illegal. Those government agent dudes that chase me around sometimes want to dissect me. I’m not going to report you to anyone.” He paused. “As long as this isn’t a sweatshop or anything. I draw the line at hurting people.”

“Oh,” said the man, as if he’d just been given a revelation.

“Yeah. Also, do my pupils look the same size to you? I think I have a concussion.”

“What?”

“Because sometimes I prophesy when I have a concussion, and that’s just a bad time for everyone. Also, don’t get a dog.”

“Uh.”

Someone deeper in the room, hidden by a rack of clothing called for the man, who quickly ran off. Danny shrugged and flew away. He’d get Jazz to check him for concussions.

.

Somehow, inexplicably, word got out that Danny Phantom was down for crime.

This led to three separate people asking him to help them break into Vlad’s manor. Which. Danny wasn’t against on principle, but still. He declined.

(The ones who were trying to burglarize non-evil people got rejected with a bit more force.)

.

“I don’t know why people keep asking me to do crime,” said Danny. “I don’t do crime.”

“Yes, you do,” said Tucker. He showed Danny his card. “What does this one do, again?”

Danny was attempting to teach Tucker, well, it didn’t have an English name. Ghost poker, essentially. With Tucker’s card-counting skills, Danny reckoned they could sweep the literally underground ghost poker tournament. If Tucker could learn the rules.

“For that one, you have to draw from the deck again,” said Danny. “Anyway, this is different.”

“You are wanted by the law in two dimensions.”

“Walker is not the law,” scoffed Danny. “Except, you know, on his own island.”

“You’re illegal by existing. You’ve convinced me to gamble for money.”

“That’s not illegal.”

“It’s a felony, Danny. You blew up Vlad’s house. I think that counts as arson. Or something.”

“That was an accident.”

“The vandalism.”

“Okay, that wasn’t an accident.”

“The ghost weed—”

“Ghost nip,” corrected Danny.

“Ghost nip thing wasn’t technically illegal, but I’m pretty sure that’s because the government doesn’t know it exists. As soon as they know it gives dead people superpowers—”

“Dead people already have superpowers. And that was also an accident. I hate being high.”

“Sure. Anyway. Danny, you live a half-life of crime.”

Danny grumbled.

“I think that swatting Vlad was also a crime.”

“Not swatting. It was the GIW.”

“Still illegal. How about those ectoguns? You have a concealed carry permit for them?”

“They aren’t real guns.”

“They’re real weapons. You bring them to school.”

Danny abandoned his hand of cards to push his face into one of his pillows. “Stoppit. I’m not crime.”

“You are crime. Honestly, I think you should try to see how many crimes you can rack up.”

“Seeing as this is kind of life and death,” said Danny, “I don’t really want to push it.”

“Because you’re half alive and half dead?”

“No, because the GIW will kill me if they catch me, and if the government gets me, they’ll give me to the GIW.”

“Oh. Wow. That got dark really fast.” Tucker fell silent for a bit. Neither of them was paying attention to their card game anymore. “Hey, what about that car we stole, isn’t that-?”

“Hrrrngh,” said Danny.

.

“The IRS?” said Danny, incredulously. “You’re IRS agents?”

The larger of the two suited men tried to pull himself out of the ectoplasmic web. “Uh,” he said.

“Yes,” said the shorter man. “Did you know, filing a false death report is a crime, as is not filing a death certificate?”

“You were carrying shotguns.”

“Tax evaders can be dangerous.��

“Shotguns full of salt.”

“We aren’t approved for lethal force.”

“Salt.”

“It’s cheaper than a taser.”

Danny shook his head. “Just admit that you’re ghost hunters and go home.”

“Only after you admit that you’re committing tax fraud.”

“I’m not committing tax fraud! I don’t even file taxes!”

“Also a crime!”

“I make no money!”

“Or so you claim!”

Danny rolled his eyes. “I don’t have time for this.”

“Wait!” said the taller one. “You’re not going to leave us here, are you?”

“It’ll dissolve! Eventually!” shouted Danny.

“I’ve got to pee!”

“Tough!”

“Don’t you dare!” shouted the other. “I’m right below you!”

Danny was not paid enough for this. (Or at all, technically.)

.

Danny stood between Johnny and Technus, staring at the clinking, churring machine that continuously output sheets of thick green paper.

“Why?”

“I’ve always wanted to get involved in a serious crime,” said Johnny.

“I, TECHNUS, MASTER OF ALL TECHNOLOGY, WILL CONQUER THE UNITED STATES ECONOMY USING THE POWER OF COUNTERFEIT CURRENCY.”

“Oh my god,” said Danny. He looked at the nearest sheet. “Are those all ones?”

“THE LEAST LIKELY CURRENCY TO BE CHECKED, ACCORDING TO MY RESEARCH.”

“Oh my god,” repeated Danny. He brought his hands together as if praying, then looked heavenward. “You probably have more of these hidden somewhere, so I don’t want to deal with it.”

“No, this is—”

Technus rammed his elbow into Johnny’s side.

“I don’t want to deal with it,” repeated Danny. “Don’t spend it in Amity Park. Or Elmerton.”

“Gotcha,” said Johnny. “How much do you want for your cut.”

“I want to go back in time to before you told me about this, that’s what I want,” said Danny.

.

“So, Sam,” said Tucker, “did you hear that Danny’s now a crime boss?”

“I am going to commit murder.”

“That’s a crime, Danny.”

“I have a very good motive.”

“Technically,” said Tucker, now edging away from Danny, “that’s still a crime.”

[emospritelet]

Heatstroke - chapter 23/24

I was planning on this being the final chapter, but it got away from me, so it's the penultimate chapter instead :)

Last time, Gold and Lacey banged :D

Word count: 3,721

[AO3]

x

Gold made her dinner, fillet steak with a sauce made from beef stock, red wine and rosemary, alongside soft, creamy mashed potatoes and carrots glazed with butter. They drank wine with it, rich and red, and afterwards carried the dessert upstairs to bed, where they took turns spooning dark chocolate mousse and raspberries into their mouths until their lips were sticky and sweet. Gold watched as Lacey sucked the last of the chocolate mousse from her spoon and dropped it into the glass dish with a contented sigh.

“That,” she said. “Was pretty bloody amazing. You can definitely cook.”

“Thank you.”

He set the dish on the nightstand, handing her a glass of wine, and Lacey wriggled, sitting up against the pillows as she took it. Darcy had curled up at the end of the bed with his tail over his nose, and Lacey gestured at him with a foot.

“You do realise now he’s been up here, he’s probably gonna spend as much time sleeping in your bed as he does mine,” she said, and Gold grinned.

“I don’t mind that too much,” he said. “Maybe he’ll keep the mice away.”

“No sign of that so far,” she remarked. “Not that I’ve seen any mice. Only rats.”

“You’ve seen rats around here?” he asked, surprised, and she shrugged.

“I saw one the day I moved in,” she said. “Standing on his hind legs, bold as brass. Not the best welcome gift, to be honest.”

“I don’t suppose it was.”

“Yeah, Darcy came to get me to chase it off,” she said casually. “So if you’re hoping he’ll deal with any vermin that turn up, you’re out of luck. Turns out he’s a coward.”

Gold laughed.

“Well, he’s a very handsome coward,” he said. “If we get a rodent problem I can always deal with it another way. I can’t say I’ve seen any rats here, though.”

“I guess it might have wandered in from the forest,” she acknowledged. “I was worried there might be a nest of the little buggers, but I haven’t seen any since then. It was definitely male, though. All big balls and unimpressive cock.”

Gold blinked as a feeling of déjà vu washed over him.

“Really?” he asked neutrally.

“Yeah.” She wriggled onto her side, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Have you ever seen a rat’s balls? They’re huge!”

“I can’t say I’ve looked all that closely,” he said, and licked his lips. “Uh - you said his - other equipment - was somewhat lacking.”

“Yeah. Minuscule.” She held up her little finger. “Still, I guess they manage okay, right?”

“Right,” he said, and hesitated. “And this was the day you moved in?”

“As I was carrying my stuff in.”

“Uh-huh.” He sucked his teeth, nodding slowly. “You - didn’t happen to mention this to Miss Lucas in the bar that night, did you?”

“Huh.” Lacey pursed her lips, a vague expression on her face. “Yeah, I did. Why?”

Gold sighed heavily.

“Because I might have thought you were talking about me.”

Lacey stared at him for a moment, mouth slightly open, then burst out laughing. It bubbled out of her, washing over him as her eyes sparkled with mirth, and he felt a little of his awkwardness melt away.

“You thought I was telling Ruby about what you were packing?” she giggled, and he shrugged.

“Let’s just say I overheard your conversation and made some assumptions.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what you get for eavesdropping,” she said, and pushed up on her elbow. “Wish you hadn’t?”

“Yes,” he admitted.

“Good.” She planted a kiss on his cheek. “Because your assumptions were shit.”

“That happens more often than you might think,” he said, and she giggled again.

“Oh, but I’m definitely telling Ruby about your junk now,” she said, and winked at him. “She did ask for a blow by blow description if you and I ever got up to anything.”

“In that case.” Gold put down his wine. “I’d better give you lots to talk about.”

-

Lacey stretched, eyes closed, mouth widening in a grin as she felt the press of hot flesh against her own. She was nestled in soft sheets, Gold’s arm around her waist and his cool breath on the back of her neck, making her shudder in pleasure. Morning light was shining through a tiny gap in the curtains, sending a shaft of golden dawn across the bed and making the pink walls glow. The bed smelled of musk and sex and the faintest hint of his cologne, and she wriggled, turning in his arms to kiss his chest. At the touch of her lips he inhaled sharply, body stiffening as he woke, and she heard a contented rumble from deep in his chest as his arms went around her.

“Morning,” she said, and sucked at his nipple.

Gold jerked, snickering, and tugged her close against him so that she had to kiss back up his chest to get some air. He pushed her onto her back, one hand sliding down over her hip to squeeze her rear as his mouth found her ear.

“Morning,” he murmured, and Lacey moaned as he sucked at her throat. His hand strayed to her hip again, sliding along the crease at the top of her thigh, and she caught his fingers in hers before he could reach between her legs.

“Really interested in where your mind’s going,” she said. “But I need the bathroom. And coffee, to be honest.”

Gold pulled back immediately, rolling onto his side, and she slipped from the bed, drawing on his discarded shirt. He was watching her with a sleepy-eyed grin, his hair dishevelled and a day’s growth of stubble on his cheeks. It made her want to crawl straight back in bed with him.

“I guess I’ll make the coffee, then,” he said. “You want some breakfast?”

Lacey sighed.

“Does that mean getting up?”

“Doesn’t have to.”

“Well, alright then.”

She winked at him, making his grin widen, and trotted off to the bathroom.

When she returned he had already gone downstairs, and she poked around on his dresser for a hairbrush, dragging it through her curls and teasing out the knots that had formed over several hours of the best sex she’d ever had. Gold had stamina. He was also extremely generous, and wanted to please her, which was a first in her experience. She could see herself falling deeply in love with the guy if she wasn’t too careful, and was surprised to find that the idea didn’t bother her. Glancing in the mirror she shook out her hair and set down the hairbrush, sending her reflection a satisfied grin. Apparently Ruby was right. I do want more than hot crazy sex. Although the hot crazy sex is amazing.

She padded downstairs, following the sound of him clattering around in the kitchen. The scent of coffee was drifting towards her, and she took a seat at the kitchen table, watching Gold in his silk robe as he made scrambled eggs and spooned it onto hot buttered toast.

“Hot sex, great coffee and a delicious breakfast,” she remarked, as he set a plate in front of her. “How is it you’ve been single for so long?”

Gold chuckled, sliding into the chair opposite.

“My son would say it’s because I’m completely dense and have no idea when someone is interested,” he said.

“Well, he’s not wrong about that,” said Lacey, making him grin. “Although I guess I shouldn’t really tease you about it. Pot, kettle, and all that.”

He grinned at her, eyes gleaming, and she felt herself fall in love with him a little more. She turned to her breakfast to stop herself blushing with the thrill of it. The eggs were soft and buttery, seasoned to perfection, and she made a noise of approval and cut a piece of toast, pushing it into the growing pool of melted butter and popping it into her mouth. Gold was watching her over the rim of his coffee cup, and she took a sip of her own and set down her cup.

“Any chance we can finish that interview today?” she asked. “I had other questions to ask and you kind of distracted me with orgasms.”

He smirked.

“I have to open the shop at some point,” he said. “Can it wait until later?”

Lacey pursed her lips, trying to hide her smile.

“You want me to come over tonight, is that what you’re saying?”

“You’re the one that wants to interview me,” he said, one eyebrow flicking. “Maybe I’d be more inclined to open up if we were more - intimate.”

His voice had dropped to a low purr, and Lacey squeezed her thighs together.

“Okay, but no distracting me this time!” she ordered, gesturing with a fork. “I have to get some stuff on tape I can actually use! I don’t want Sidney weaselling out of this pay rise he promised.”

Gold pressed a hand to his heart with a wounded expression, and she wrinkled her nose at him. He turned back to his breakfast, a tiny grin on his face.

“I suppose he’ll have you covering the mayoral election,” he said, and Lacey nodded, chewing and swallowing.

“There’s gonna be a debate next week.”

“Really?” Gold pulled a face. “So maybe that’s why I’m starting to hear whispers against Regina.”

“Whispers?” Lacey sat up. “What are they saying?”

Gold took a drink of coffee, setting the cup back down and sucking at his teeth a little.

“The rumour,” he said, “is that money has gone missing from the accounts. Not a huge amount, perhaps a few thousand dollars, but enough to trigger an investigation. The whispering I’ve heard is that it’s the Mayor herself getting greedy. Trying to maintain a lifestyle she can’t afford on the back of hard-working townsfolk.”

“That can’t be true,” she said in disbelief. “It’s election year. There’s no way the Mayor would risk her position, right?”

“Regina and I have certainly had our differences,” he agreed, “but I don’t believe for one second that she’s been stealing town funds.”

“Me neither,” said Lacey. “I think it’s Zelena stirring shit.”

Gold gave her a slanted grin, cutting a piece of toast.

“And where’s your proof of that?”

“Don’t have it yet,” she admitted. “But a friend of mine gave me some info on her New York dealings that makes all this sound kind of familiar. Given what you told me last night, I think we can guess that there’s a personal element as far as Zelena’s concerned.”

“So what’s your plan?” he asked.

“I guess we could tell Regina what she’s up to,” said Lacey. “Give her a chance to stop Zelena.”

“It’ll just look like dirty politics if it’s Regina against her rival,” he said, and she nodded in agreement.

“Okay, how about this?” she said. “We tell Zelena what we know. Maybe it’ll make her stop scheming and leave town.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Then we go to the town,” said Lacey. “Let them all know what she’s up to.”

“Difficult to do that without evidence,” he said, and she shrugged.

“Maybe we’ll get a confession.”

“You think she’s going to reveal her diabolical plan to you in some sort of tell-all interview?” he asked, with a grin, and she sent him a flat look, reaching for her coffee.

“Not in a million years,” she said. “She can’t stand me.”

She took a sip of her coffee, setting down her cup.

“But she might tell you,” she added.

-

Gold drummed his fingers slowly on the counter top, eyes fixed on the shop door. The clock on the wall opposite showed that it was nine-thirty, and he was expecting a visitor. Right on time, the door opened, the bell above jingling as Zelena stepped into the shop, a predatory smile on her face. She strode towards him with purpose, and Gold eyed her with a flat stare as she leaned on the counter, pushing her face towards him as though hoping for a kiss of greeting.

“Mr Gold,” she said, in a breathy voice. “I can’t tell you how thrilled I was when you said you wanted to discuss my election campaign.”

“Well, before you get too excited,” he said. “I want to talk to you about these rumours against the Mayor.”

“Rumours?” She tried to look puzzled, but it was unconvincing.

“The ridiculous talk of her embezzling town funds.”

Zelena gasped, hand to heart.

“She’s been stealing from the town?” she said, in a hushed voice. “Well. About time someone else took over, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Don’t play games with me,” said Gold, in a bored tone. “You know she didn’t do it.”

“That’ll be for the investigation to determine,” she said smoothly.

“Which you’re hoping will overshadow the campaign and leave you the victor.”

“If the people of this town decide they want me rather than her, who am I to deny them?”

Gold sighed heavily, pushing back from the counter and walking around it. Zelena turned to face him, and he grounded the cane between his feet.

“I know what you’re doing,” he said. “I’m a little unclear as to why.”

“I’m running for Mayor,” she said, showing her teeth in a somewhat manic smile. “As I said, it’s all about wanting to help the town. Family values, that sort of thing.”

“Really?” said Gold. “That’s interesting. Especially as the current Mayor is your half-sister. Perhaps those family values only stretch so far, hmm?”

Zelena’s mouth fell open, eyes wide with shock, and he bit back a smirk.

“Interesting how differently your lives turned out, isn’t it?” he went on. “You raised in England by your adoptive parents, Regina over here with your birth mother. I suppose that must sting, being abandoned. As I understand it, she left you at the kids’ home in Boston with a note saying she had to give herself her best life and she couldn’t do that with a baby.”

Zelena’s eyes widened further, her jaw tightening.

“How the hell do you know that?” she demanded. “Who told you?”

“I have my sources,” he said. “Which I obviously won’t reveal.”

“That slut of a reporter’s been poking her nose in where it doesn’t belong and then selling to the highest bidder, I suppose,” she said bitterly, and he felt his fist clench around the handle of his cane.

“If you mean Miss French,” he said evenly. “Then no. My information predates her arrival in Storybrooke.”

Zelena drew herself up, brushing her hands against her skirts as though ridding herself of something unpleasant.

“Well,” she said. “My tragic history is none of anyone’s business.”

“It’s my business when you try to use it to take over my town.”

“Your town?” she said, letting out a humourless laugh. “Did you become Mayor when I wasn’t looking?”

Gold smiled coldly.

“Regina may have the title of Mayor,” he said. “But I’m the one with the power around here, and I’d prefer to keep it that way. Disruption, disputes – family drama – it hurts the bottom line.”

Zelena took a step closer, licking her lips. It was repellent, but he made himself meet her eyes.

“Well, if you could see your way to supporting my campaign,” she said throatily. “I’m sure we could - work something out. Help each other, so to speak. Perhaps we can discuss it over dinner.”

She reached out to touch his chest, and Gold stepped back smoothly, resisting the urge to swat her hand away.

“I try not to get involved in politics.”

Zelena looked as though she’d bitten a lemon.

“And yet,” she said. “Here you are. Getting in my way.”

“I know where I am with Regina,” he said. “She may be a little hard-headed at times, but she has fairly good judgement, and a genuine concern for her citizens. You have neither.”

“Perhaps I’m just untested.”

“Perhaps you’re unstable.”

She clenched her jaw, her eyes flashing.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re incredibly rude?”

“Usually I get ‘heartless’,” said Gold. “I like to think I’m merely a good judge of character.”

“And you judge the Mayor’s character to be better than mine?”

“I imagine most of this town does,” he said calmly, and Zelena sniffed.

“In case you haven’t noticed, most of the residents of this town are incredibly stupid,” she said. “Small-minded. Stuck in the past and terrified of change. It didn’t take much effort on my part to find bad feelings towards the Mayor.”

“Which you’ve no doubt been exploiting.”

“Well, that’s politics,” she said airily. “Can I help it if the townsfolk have had a difficult year and I remind them that while they struggle to pay their bills, Regina Mills and that wife of hers are lounging around doing heaven knows what on the taxpayer dime?”

“What is it you think they’re doing?” asked Gold, puzzled. “Mallory is a lawyer. Regina is the Mayor. They both earn a respectable living and I’m fairly sure neither one of them is lounging around.”

“Respectable?” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Well, that’s not the concern I’ve heard from some of the townsfolk. There’s talk of some seedy club that’s been approved by the Mayor to open next month. Queens of Darkness, or something?”

“Yes,” said Gold patiently. “It’s a gay bar. So?”

“From what I hear there is deep concern amongst the townsfolk about the image of Storybrooke,” she said. “I’m told it could attract all kinds of perverts to the town. Think of the poor children.”

Gold stared at her, then burst out laughing.

“Are you expecting to challenge Regina on some sort of morality grounds?” he asked. “Good luck with that. No one but a tiny, bigoted minority cares that she’s a lesbian. If you think you can win with their votes alone, you’re wasting your time.”

“I think the family values crowd is more numerous than you might believe,” she said. “Something tells me I’m on the right track. Outrage is so easily manipulated and weaponized, don’t you agree?”

Gold stared at her for a moment.

“So you don’t care about being Mayor at all,” he said. “You just want to take it away from Regina.”

Zelena smirked

“Can you imagine the look on her face?” she asked. “Because I have a little scene in my head that I’m hoping will play out on election day. I’m announced as the winner in a landslide victory, the simpletons that voted for me erupt with cheers, and she runs out of the town hall crying.”

“Clearly you don’t know her very well,” remarked Gold. “Why do this? You don’t want this position, you clearly don’t give a flying fuck about any of the townsfolk, why go to so much trouble to take it from Regina?”

Zelena rounded on him, nostrils flaring.

“Because she deserves it!” she hissed. “Because she had everything that was supposed to be mine! Because she was given the world on a silver platter and even that’s not enough for her!”

Gold shook his head.

“You’re saying that like any of this is Regina’s fault,” he said. “She can’t help it if your mother abandoned you. If you have to take your anger out on someone, surely your mother is the place to start?”

“Well, I can’t very well talk to her about it, she’s dead!”

“Then let it go,” said Gold patiently. “Stop blaming your sister for the two of you having a terrible parent.”

“This life should have been mine!” said Zelena, eyes flashing. “She doesn’t deserve any of this!”

“My thoughts exactly,” he said dryly. “You won’t beat her, you know. The town has supported Regina for years because she does a good job. They won’t simply choose you because you bat your eyelashes at them.”

“Well, maybe they’d prefer a Mayor who isn’t corrupt,” she said. “I think you’ll be surprised at what the townsfolk might want, when the truth is presented to them.”

Perhaps so, he thought. Aloud he said: “You know as well as I do that there’s no truth to the corruption rumours.”

Zelena smiled brightly.

“Do I?”

“Yes,” he said evenly. “So unless you’ve planted a bunch of phoney evidence, this vendetta of yours is doomed.”

Zelena had pursed her lips at his words, and he wanted to shake her.

“You’re telling me you have planted evidence?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Gold sighed heavily.

“I don’t even know why I’m trying to help you,” he said, almost to himself. “Why don’t you just leave town? Go and live your life and stop worrying about what you think you’re entitled to.”

“I will destroy her happiness!” spat Zelena. “If it’s the last thing I do!”

She whirled away, red curls tossing, and stomped towards the door.

“If you try to bring her down,” he called, making her pause. “I’ll stop you.”

Zelena swivelled slowly on her toes to face him, a smirk twisting her lips.

“Oh, really?”

“Really,” he said. “I’ve taken time out of my busy day to try to make you see sense, but I can just as easily talk to the entire town.”

She laughed at that, eyes gleaming with mirth.

“The reclusive Mr Gold, whom the entire town distrusts, is going to convince them that their beloved charity queen is really a fraudster with an axe to grind?”

“Yes,” he said simply.

She looked him up and down briefly, pursing her lips, and took a step forward.

“Go ahead and try, then,” she said. “You’ve no proof.”

Gold held her gaze for a moment, then nodded.

“You’re right,” he said. “I don’t.”

Zelena nodded in satisfaction.

“In that case, I think we’re done, don’t you?” she said. “Unless you want to take me up on that offer of dinner, of course.”

“I think not,” he said coldly, and she sniffed.

“Your loss,” she said, and flounced off, the bell above the door jingling on her way out.

Gold stared after her, shaking his head, and heard the click of heels on the floor behind him.

“Well.” Lacey’s voice made him turn. “That was interesting.”

She was leaning in the doorway, the curtain to the back room draping the curve of her hip, and he smiled.

“Did you get it?” he asked, and she held up her camera.

“Every word.”

[lettheladylead]

Your not going to lose me. Scroldie

I misread the prompt. Also I made this over the course of a day of traveling so it might make zero sense but I don't feel like rereading it so if it's nonsense then MY BAD

-

Scrooge sat at the table, reading the morning paper as per usual. He always enjoyed his morning rituals and patiently waited for his usual nutmeg tea to be placed in front of him.

Just a few moments later and it did exactly that. Scrooge smiled and looked around the paper to see the teacup. Immediately he was struck by the hand that was currently pulling away from his morning treat and his eyes followed the arm to see it was very much not connected to his housekeeper.

"G-Goldie?!" he stuttered out in shock.

"Hey there, hun," she greeted casually, as if this was the most normal scenario. "How's your morning going?"

He blinked at her and glanced around the room to see if Louie was around or something else strange was going on. "It's…going just fine. What are you doing here?"

Goldie smiled softly and raised a curious eyebrow at him before taking a seat on the table in front of him. She leaned over and let her hand glide across Scrooge's beak, stopping with her fingers tangled up in his whiskers. "Can't I greet my husband in the morning?"

Scrooge was too stunned to react. Was this some kind of con? What could she possibly get out of this? Just a chance to be in his house and steal anything she wanted? Or was she just trying to humiliate him by convincing him they've been married and he's such an old fogey he forgot? He’d never forget something like that.

He was so caught up in his paranoid thoughts that Scrooge didn't notice as Goldie leaned down and kissed him properly. As soon as their beaks touched he felt a jolt of electricity down his spine that told him that whatever was going on, he should enjoy this little moment and then be paranoid about it afterwards.

He kissed her back with what was clearly more fervor than she expected, based on her surprised moan and her hands moving to his shoulders. He stood up and placed himself between her legs, hands gripping his hips as they continued. Who needed nutmeg tea when he could have this?

After a few more moments of that, Scrooge pulled away and enjoyed the vision of Goldie looking thoroughly ravaged. Her hair was a bit messed up and her cheeks were red and her chest was rising and falling heavily with each breath.

Goldie smiled at him - and it was a smile that he'd have embedded in his memory for the rest of his life - and slid one of her hands down to his chest. "What was that for?"

He almost rolled his eyes, still not understanding the game they were playing. “Just enjoying my ‘wife.’”

She reached over and grabbed the nutmeg tea, taking a few sips while never breaking eye contact with him. Scrooge felt a shiver down his spine and she tilted the cup towards his beak so he could drink from it, too. It felt so intimate and domestic and...and nice that he started to think maybe he didn’t care if this was a trick.

As she put the cup back down, he leaned forward and lightly kissed her neck. She hummed happily and put her hands on his shoulders, pushing him back into his seat. He obliged as she followed and straddled his lap, pressing her beak softly against his once again.

He felt like putty with her fingers in his whiskers and her breath against his skin. “Goldie…”

“I love you, Scrooge,” she mumbled in between kisses. “I’ll never leave you again.”

His fingers dug into her hips and he scrunched his eyebrows in confusion as he kissed back. “...what’s wrong, Goldie?”

“What do you mean?” she asked, kissing him still.

“You’re...why are you really here?” he responded, pulling away from her and putting his hands against the side of her face. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, so long as I’m with you,” she said softly. “Why is that so hard for you to believe?”

He blinked a few times and looked deeply into her eyes, trying to gauge her angle using his decades of experience with her. “It just is,” he said finally, squinting as Goldie’s eyes seem to darken.

“Scrooge…” Her tone was reminiscent of a time he’d disappointed her before, but Scrooge didn’t back down.

“I don’t understand why you’re here.”

Her eyes flickered again and he felt his heart leap. Maybe this was a trick in a different way than he thought.

“...Goldie?”

“Why can’t you just accept this?” she said sadly, her voice starting to shake in a way that felt unnatural.

Scrooge glared at her and pushed against her shoulders. She didn’t fight back, instead falling back and smacking into the edge of the table. She closed her eyes and he took note that she looked empty and hollow. Nothing about her felt bright and fun and exciting like she usually was. Nothing about this felt like her at all.

“...you’re not Goldie.”

Her eyes opened again to reveal bright yellow with deep triangular slits that immediately faded back to her normal green. But there was no questioning what he’d seen, and Scrooge slid his chair back and stood up in shock.

“What are you-?!” he spat at her, wiping a sleeve against his beak in disgust. “What’s wrong with you, you egomaniacal -”

She responded with a deep laugh and another look that sent shivers down Scrooge’s spine, but for decidedly different reasons. “Just needed to distract you while I finished taking your dime.”

He looked even more confused as her blonde hair turned to black and the rest of her seemed to disappear in a mist of pink smoke.

Scrooge rushed towards the door so he could grab a phone, but when he opened it he was met with complete and utter darkness. Magica’s laughter hung in the air around him and he looked every which way as he backed away from the darkness that was slowly creeping into the dining room.

He closed his eyes tightly and tried to focus. This wasn’t real. He’d known it wasn’t real from the start and now his arch nemesis was going to steal his most treasured possession because he was too busy being a lovestruck fool.

Scrooge took a deep breath and grabbed the dime from around his neck, squeezing the coin tightly in his hand.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself laying in his bed, same as he last remembered. Before he could even consider that this whole thing had just been a dream, he heard the sounds of struggling coming from his floor. He sat up and witnessed the most unexpected site: Goldie holding Magica De Spell in a violent chokehold and demanding that she ‘undo her spell.’

“It’s done! Just-” Magica choked out and coughed. “Just let me go, you psychotic harpy!”

Goldie scoffed and let her go with a violent shove. “How am I the psychotic one here?”

Magica growled and kicked out at Goldie again for quickly jumping out the window and flying off on her newly acquired broom. “You haven’t seen the last of me, McDuck!” she shouted.

Goldie rushed to the window to make sure the witch was really gone and breathed out a sigh of relief.

“...Goldie?”

She turned to see Scrooge staring at her with the widest, most confused stare she’d ever seen. “Hey, Moneybags. You’ve got a real rat problem here, you know that?”

He blinked and tried to soak in everything he’d just seen. “Did you...save me?”

“Don’t sound so surprised,” she said with a smirk, but he could hear that she was out of breath and her hair was sticking up in so many places it was clear she’d just been in quite the fight. “I stopped by for a visit only to find another woman in your bedroom. What else was I supposed to do?”

Another slow blink. He reached towards his chest and felt for the dime, but didn’t feel the string around his neck. Before his paranoia started to come up, Goldie tossed the dime at his face and he let out a loud “oof!” as it smacked into his forehead.

As the dime fell into his open palm, he thought about how this was definitely the Goldie he knew and loved.

He looked up at her with an expression of pure love and Goldie’s sarcastic comment was cut off by her own shock. She blushed and looked away from him for a second before glancing up again.

They silently stared at each other for a few moments. Goldie finally moved towards him and took a seat on the edge of the bed with a loud sigh. “Don’t make this into something it isn’t, but I’m tired as hell.” She laid down across his bed and closed her eyes. “So you can either go back to sleep or get to work, but I’m staying right here.”

Scrooge just stared at her for a minute as she snuggled under his comforter, her back to him and her eye makeup smudging against the pillow. He smiled brightly and leaned down to kiss her cheek.

“Stay as long as you’d like, dear.”

She hummed in response as Scrooge got out of his bed and shrugged on his morning robe. It wasn’t quite his usual time to wake up, but he needed to update his magical defenses. Goldie could wait til he came back.

[fandom-sheep]

Fundy 21 APR 21

OSMP Dr*g Lab Part 1/1

The boy is doing disasters!

And now he’s got his new computer! Hooray!

Let’s see if the stream functions. I doubt it but it’ll be funny.

I’m typing this and attempting to fill out digital paper work for my college. Let’s see how this goes.

Hooray cat! We love Boots. Look at that pretty kitty laying on her pillow! I need to do more art for Boots. I’ve done some in the past.

Fundy gets to annoy people with his appearance. Everyone in chat shouting no. I think it’d be funny.

I don’t want to do my work. I just want to watch the chaotic fox boy.

We’ve hit problem two. Woo.

The people demand an Ad.

Oh we get facecam! Oh never mind he’s stuck again.

Ah yes. The temporary facecam.

My stream quality is going to drop just cause it can. I’m calling it.

Poor Fundy wants his mic not to cut out, but its become a thing and we all love it. “Twitch Pr”

He’s trying to break the mic for us. LOL.

Oh things sound Funky.

Echo, echo, echo

Oh no. My poor head.

He’s just laughing at us now.

He’s wondering how he didn’t lose all his viewers, we’re loyal, sadly.

Fox with his lovely base. It always looks so cool.

Ah we’ve been abandoned.

Bless your soulza

Yuck. Normal Minecraft. Yuck Spiders.

Dodge those skeleton shots! Do it!

Enslave Berry Foxes!

He has become a slow airplane.

Posture check. I am laying on my back I have no posture.

The boy eats the valued things.

I almost want to dual wield streams and watch Phil’s reactions to all this, but also not seeing the reactions is funny.

Puns. I love them. RUN FOX RUN!

Fundy Just causing problems on purpose. We love our chaos boy.

Ha ha. Karma.

Fox go YOINK.

Boots? Pet the cat. I wish we could see the cat. Boots is being banished downstairs.

Aww. He’s trying to be helpful. but the zombies just going to burn. Oh he realized before he burned the zombie. Good.

What is crow father doing? Just kelping? Is Phil just ignoring him?

Oh Phil just watching Fundy save the slab.

And giving him a reward. I am seeing parallels between this and what I do with troublesome campers.

I wonder how the crows have been reacting to Fundy being a problem on purpose?

Wealth goes in the mouth.

Sadness. Zombie friend despawned.

I love how Fundy can go from “I am tough” to “I am weak” to “I am tough” its always funny to me.

Something happened with sticky keys but I’m not sure because I was making a hot pocket.

Not crash is typically a goal of driving.

no reusing jokes. Boo someone throw a tomato.

“R” well alright then.

Don’t put wealth in the mouth. Got it.

Chat goes zoom? He’s oh noing.

“I don’t have a phone” as you text on your phone.

Wat. Some donos make negative amounts of sense.

I’d listen to him play that in the background while I work.

Look at the crowfather making his achievements.

Why would a fox have gold nuggets?

Foxes will look at Fundy and go “ah big fox. He is our leader now”

Ooo another video? A game show?

Don’t mind me. Just nearly drowning drinking water because a skeleton dropped on the small fox.

Humans designed bananas. Natural bananas are tiny and seedy. I know, Ive tried one. It was nasty.

Are star fruit rounded?

Foxes are dogs with a cat attitude. Who steal. The thief animals.

Digsirton. Dogson. Dogust. III. What an interesting name.

He was a fox. Because.

Fundy in the ring.

BRB gotta go cover plants so they don’t die during the cold snap.

Plants have been covered.

I know you guys attempted to surf the void and failed and that’s about it.

Now the Fox is chatting with the inchling.

Oops. Didn’t time it right.

He is a spring.

How does everyone have so many diamond things.

Nice. Enderman one shot.

Guilt free trident.

Woosh! With a trident the fox can fly!

And he didn’t thief it. Proud of him.

I love how close everyone stayed near spawn.

Poor lil fox.

Someone get the fox a trident!

Oh Phil’s view was probably great.

We’re looking scuffed again.

Phil witnessing the murder of 1 (one) fox.

Sneeg is a bullet.

Poor Fundy wants to become stacked, but he doesn’t hunt for anything.

Ah the bee. And there he goes.

Secret chest. Lovely.

Storage Unit Fox. Infinite mouth.

Sizzle Fox

Sneeg and Fundy work well together.

I’m betting on “no” for his next death being burning. Someone’s going to stab em or something.

Rats. Oh well. It was just 10 points

Quality entertainment.

Up he goes. He made it! Mitsakes are made (error intended)

Fundy one shotting everything is so great.

Aren’t ghast sounds cat sounds made weird? Or is that just something I heard once?

I’m voting no again. I’ll probably be wrong but again it’s 10 channel points.

No sizzle fox please. He will, but I’m saying no.

He one shot the ghast, but he did sizzle.

All this fox knows is sizzle. Ooo that give me an art idea.

Oh no he’s going to feel bad about the people who donated multiple times when it was paused.

Hi 5up.

Wow calling his “lover” short. How rude. Lol.

Du du du du

The tortles were released. Poor Niki.

I hate the mouth sound effect so much.

Training Arc with the pounce.

I hoard channel points like some people hoard money.

Oopsy.

Because he coldn’t help it? Poor boy.

I’m not involved in the prediction but these people have no hope in our boy.

Bee boy!

Oopsy. He is dead. The predictors were correct.

Bye bee boy.

Bee boy is back!

Ender boy is here! It’s a party now!

Fox just wants a skull.

Also yeah chat no spamming VC. Have good etiquette. We don’t do that’s here.

Prediction once again was right to not believe in the fox.

Drug corner looking nice. We can officially drugs now!

Oh no. He said chat. He does that when he’s ending.

Ah we are ending. That was productive.

Shaders! Gorgeous!

Oh it’s night. I never know if it’s night or not with the fox.

A pretty fox hole.

Phil over there Fox proofing his house.

Ah were attacking Phil. Nice.

The Fundy raid is here!

Tubbo! Really? Oh well. At least there is the mouth.

Anyway. I’m off. Good luck out there everyone!

I’m back to say that Fundy attempting to jump and get Tubbo was great.

Come on Fundy! Get him!

Ah. There goes the low heart boy.

Ah and the bullet appears.

I’m going to chill until Fundy gets Tubbo.

“C’mere” -Fundy

We’re used to watching our streamer get murdered Phil. This happens a lot.

Oooooooooo

He did it!

Go Fundy! Put the Wealth in the Mouth!

Oh no. Tubbo hired the bullet.

The bullet strikes again.

Oh he mouthed the zombie head.

Proud of our streamer.

No Fundy. Quit making problems.

Bees and foxes. Natural enemies.

Oh others can always hear the fox.

Anyway. That settles that. I’m heading off for real.

[yusuke-of-valla]

like rats fleeing a sinking ship, pt. 4

Whumptober Alt. 10

Prompt: Nightmares

TW: Mentions of bruises, the interrogation scene, and Shiho’s suicide attempt though the latter two are only mentioned briefly

<-Previous Next->

AO3

Ann pulls herself up into a large tree in Shiho’s backyard, and knocks on Shiho’s window.

She’s done this thousands of times before, but this time she’s shaking as Shiho opens the latch and Ann spills into her room.

“Shiho, I-” Ann starts, but she can’t make out the words.

“Ann? Ann what’s wrong, do you need help?” Shiho asks.

Ann stares at her for a second, a thousand thoughts flying through her mind, before settling on “...you don’t know?”

“Shiho? Is something wrong?” Shiho’s mother calls from downstairs.

“D-don’t let them know I’m here!” Ann whispers quickly.

“Just knocked over some books mom, it’s fine!” Shiho responds.

“Alright, just be careful!”

“I will!”

Ann relaxes a bit, slumping against Shiho’s side.

“I’m sorry, I’m-”

“Ann, take a deep breath for me, alright?” Shiho says, guiding Ann to her bed.

Ann sinks into the bed, and tries to organize her thoughts. The truth is, it all doesn’t even feel real yet. They’re wanted criminals. Not the Phantom Thieves, but them themselves. Ann Takamkai, Ryuji Sakamoto… all of them had their names and faces plastered everywhere.

Ann swallows. “Shiho, do you know about the Phantom Thieves?”

Shiho blinks. “Uh, yeah, of course.”

“I’m one of them. And now the police are after us.”

Shiho stares at Ann. “Oh.” Ann tenses up again, and Shiho quickly turns to her. “Sorry, I’m just surprised— or maybe I’m not. You being a Phantom Thief actually makes a lot of sense, but you can stay here, obviously.”

“Really?”

“Of course! I’m not leaving you to get caught by the police!” Shiho says. “My parents don’t barge into my room or anything, and I’m still being homeschooled while I recover so it’s not like I’ll be leaving you home in the house or anything.”

“Shiho…” Ann wraps her arms around her best friend. “Thank you.”

“Not a problem.”

Shiho grabs an old sleeping bag, a relic that’s survived many of their past sleepovers, and rolls it out for Ann while Ann borrows some of Shiho’s pajamas.

“As long as you’re here, wanna help me with my English homework?” Shiho asks.

“Yeah, sure.”

They go over the homework until Shiho insists Ann go to sleep, so Ann steals a pillow off of Shiho’s bed and curls up in the sleeping bag.

Ann closes her eyes and tries to sleep, but can’t stop thinking about, well, everything.

Makoto had said to avoid using phones before cutting off, so Ann doesn’t know what anyone is doing. None of them were prepared for this, none of them had even considered it an option.

Maybe that was on them though, maybe they should’ve thought about the possibility, but who could blame them? They had just gotten the upper hand after being manipulated for months by Shido and his stupid conspiracy. Now it turns out he had a trump card none of them suspected.

Ann’s thoughts run around for what feels like hours, until even with her eyes closed Ann can tell that Shiho turns off the lights and climbs into the bed.

“Hey, Ann. Trouble sleeping?”

Ann opens her eyes and stares at the dark outline of Shiho. “Yeah, sorry was I bothering you?”

“No. Not at all. Wanna talk about something?”

“...sure. I could use a distraction, honestly.”

Shiho sits up and looks down at Ann. “So… did the Phantom Thieves really kill Okumura?”

“No!” Ann says, sitting up as well. “We didn’t! We were just trying to help and we got framed by Shido.”

Shiho places a hand on her shoulder. “I figured it was something like that. I wasn’t accusing you, I just wanted to know what happened. And I want you to know that even if you had killed him, I’d still help you.”

“Thanks.”

Ann can just barely make out Shiho’s smile in the moonlight. “‘Course. You’d do the same for me.”

“Yeah,” Ann says, laughing a little for the first time all day. “Heck, I’d help you hide the body.”

“Honestly, you’d probably help me commit the crime.

“Totally.”

They settle into silence again, and Ann leans back down on the floor. “What do you think my parents think,” she asks, suddenly.

“Would the news have even reached them?”

“I’m not sure. The rest of the world started to pay attention to the Phantom Thieves after Medjed, but I don’t know how they reacted to the news about Okumura. Wonder if they’re also calling for our heads.”

“Even if they are, I think your parents would help you.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. You’re their daughter.”

Shiho says it so confidently, Ann can almost believe it. “It’s a nice thought, I guess.”

“Ann, you’re going to be okay. I promise.”

Ann turns over and tries to close her eyes again. “Good night, Shiho.”

Ann is running through Sae’s palace, trying to avoid the shadows at Oracle’s instructions. She slips out one of the back windows. From her perch she can see a bunch of police going after Joker.

She should try to regroup with the others, but can’t help but watch. She winces in sympathy as one of the officers kicks Joker and causes him to fall off the ladder he was climbing.

Except when Joker falls, his mask falls off too, and it isn’t Akira.

It’s Shiho.

Shiho who’s grabbed by the police and dragged away kicking and screaming, and covered with bruises, just like Akira after the interrogation just like Shiho after she jumped…

Ann jolts out of bed. She gets up clumsily and rushes to the bathroom, trying not to throw up. It was a nightmare.  Just a nightmare, but…

It could still happen. The police could find out where Ann is and storm the house and arrest her and Shiho and Shiho’s parents. She’s putting Shiho in danger by being here. This was a stupid move.

There’s a knock on the bathroom door. “Shiho, is something wrong?” Mr. Suzui asks.

Ann tenses up. “Yeah, I’m fine dad,” Ann whispers, hoping he won’t realize the difference. “Just some trouble sleeping."

“Alright. If something’s wrong, just let your mother or I know.”

“I will, dad.”

Ann hears footsteps moving away from the door and relaxes. Then she meets her own gaze in the mirror.

No.

She can’t put Shiho in danger.

~

When Shiho wakes up, she immediately looks over to check on Ann. Her heart drops into her stomach to see her gone.

Shiho scrambles out of bed, taking in the fact that Ann’s clothes are gone, and there’s a note on the desk.

Shiho-

Sorry for leaving without saying goodbye, but I shouldn’t have come here in the first place. You’re my best friend in the whole world and I can’t risk you getting in trouble because of me.

I hope you’re not too mad. I wish things could be different. Maybe one day we’ll see each other again.

Until then

-Ann

Oh no. Oh no, no no no!

Shiho throws a coat and some shoes on over her pajamas and rushes out the front door, past her parents who are trying to stop her.

She can make out Ann’s footprints against the morning December frost, and they’re heading towards the park, so that’s where Shiho goes too.

She doesn’t want to risk calling out Ann’s name in case all the noise so early alerts the neighbors, but her heart is pounding in her chest.

Finally, Shiho finds Ann on the other side of the park, sitting on a swing with her hoodie pulled low over her head so she doesn’t stick out.

“You’re so stupid.” Shiho says, sitting on the swing next to her.

“Shiho? What are you-”

“You think you can just leave me like that?” Shiho asks. She’s angrier than she wants to be, and she can’t help the tears that roll down her cheeks. “What if something happened to you because you decided to run off in the middle of the night?”

“What if you get arrested? What if cops come to your house? You didn’t see the things they did to Akira, I can’t let that happen to you!”

“So I should be ok if something bad happens to you,” Shiho shoots back. “Ann, you’re my best friend. I couldn’t handle it if something happened to you, especially not after knowing you’re a Phantom Thief. You made Kamoshida confess to everything, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And you stopped him from killing himself so he can rot in prison like he deserves. You’ve done so much for me, more than you can even imagine, and then you kept doing it! You kept helping people, people you didn’t even know! You’re the nicest person I know, Ann you’ve got a big heart and you don’t deserve anything that’s happening to you right now. So for once, just this once, will you please let me, help you.” The words spill out and Shiho’s face is flushed as she grips the cold metal of the swings.

“I know the risks of helping you and I want to do it, because you’ve done so much more for me.”

“Shiho…” Ann reaches out and places a hand on Shiho’s shoulder. “You’ve done more for me than you could possibly know. The reason I stood up to Kamoshida, the reason I kept changing hearts afterwards, it’s because of you. You inspired me. If anything, I owe you.”

“Thanks Ann,” Shiho smiles. “Even now you’re the one cheering me up.”

“We’re cheering each other up.”

“Yeah. So c’mon. Let’s head back to the house. It’s kinda cold.”

Ann pulls back at that, and bites her lip.

“I know the risks. Let me handle it.”

“Fine. Yes, let’s go back.”

Shiho takes Ann’s hand, and they walk back to the house. On the way they, run into Shiho’s mother.

“Shiho! Why did you run out like that? And Ann-” Mrs. Suzui’s eyes narrow. “What’s going on.”

“Mom, Ann’s in trouble and she needs our help.”

“She’s a wanted criminal.”

“Mom, you know Ann! You’ve known her for years, you think she’d actually do anything she was accused of?”

Mrs. Suzui looks between the two girls for a minute before sighing. “Fine. Fine, we’ll set something up. I can talk to your father.”

“Thanks mom.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Suzui.”

“Let’s go inside, you girls must be freezing.”

~_~_~

Mr. Suzui brings tea down for everyone as soon as Ann and Shiho finish telling Haru and Morgana their story.

“So now what do we do?” Suzui asks.

“Well, the current plan is to meet at Shido’s Palace a week from today,” Haru says.

“With Ann, that means we have five people,” Morgana points out, “that’s not bad.”

“I’d feel better if we had everyone, though,” Ann says. “No word from the others?”

“We were hoping you’d know where to start with Ryuji. Does he have any family in the city or other friends?” Haru asks.

“I’m not sure who he’d turn to,” Ann says.

“I can go talk to his mom.” Suzui offers. “Or at least check out his apartment.”

“Suzui, we can’t-”

“Call me Shiho, and like I told Ann, I want to help. Ryuji’s a friend of mine too, and out of everyone here, I’m the only one who isn’t a wanted criminal.”

“Hey, what about me?” Morgana asks.

Shiho looks at him. “Well, I’m the only one who isn’t a wanted criminal, and who Ryuji’s mom can understand.”

Ann nods. “If you’re sure about this, Shiho, then yeah. You should do it. If you find him or a clue, you can meet up with Akira and move on from there.”

“It’ll be difficult staying in touch without a phone, but can we agree to meet up at Takemi’s clinic in Yogen-Jaya tomorrow evening? That way we can coordinate everything,” Haru says.

“Sounds like a plan,” Shiho says. “You can count on me, guys. Don’t worry.”

Ann smiles and grabs her hand. “I know we can.”

[therainroguefanfiction]

⁂ What You Wanted (Hatsuharu Sohma)

Genre: Fluff, Slice of Life, Romance ☁

Word Count: 2,568 ☁

Pairing: Reader x Haru ☁

World: Fruits Basket ☁

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

“Don’t tell me that’s as fast as you can run, KyoKyo!” you called over your shoulder at the orange-haired boy. You and Kyo had decided that you would have a race to see who was faster by running all the way to school. So far, you were winning, being a good few feet ahead of him.

The school came into view and you grinned, loving how easy a win this was for you. Once you made it to your homeroom, you flopped into your chair, breathing heavily. Kyo came in a few minutes later, huffing and falling into the chair in front of you.

“You lost, again.” you pointed out with a grin, making the orange-haired boy scowl at you.

“You won’t win next time, Y/N!” he yelled, pointing a finger at you as his hair stood up in the form of cat ears.

You chuckled, leaning back in your chair. “You say the same thing every time, KyoKyo.”

“And stop calling me that!” he yelled again before getting hit in the head with Yuki’s backpack – which had been filled with quite a few books. “What the hell was that for!?”

“You shouldn’t be yelling in class,” Yuki responded, quietly as he took a seat at his desk behind the one next to you. Tohru smiled, sitting next to Kyo as her two best friends, Arisa and Hana came walking in. Hana sat behind you while Arisa sat behind Tohru. The teacher walked in a few minutes later.

You, of course, weren’t paying much attention to the lesson. Arisa turned to you and Kyo, “You two up for a game of rich man, poor man after school?”

You shrugged, “I was planning on playing some basketball after school.”

Kyo nodded, “So was I.”

Arisa grinned, “Alright then. I’ll play, too. Me and Y/N against you.”

“That’s not fair!” Kyo whispered harshly, glaring at the Yankie.

“Fine. Me and Y/N versus you and Yuki.” she changed her answer, shrugging.

“There’s no way I’m playing with that rat!” he hissed.

“That damn cat would ruin the game, anyway,” Yuki added.

“What was that you damned rat!?” Kyo jumped up in his seat, pointing a finger at the prince.

“Kyo! Is there a problem?” The teacher asked, stopping her lesson to look at the orange-haired boy. Kyo shook his head and sat down, a small tint of pink coming to his cheeks. “Then please be quiet and pay attention.”

Arisa sniggered, earning a burning glare from the cat.

“Instead, why don’t the four of you play against each other.” Hana suggested, quietly, “Play a game of HORSE, perhaps, since you can’t seem to figure out teams.”

The three of you looked at each other before shrugging and chorusing, “Sure.”

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

After school ended, you all headed for the basketball courts that sat out behind the school. Hana and Tohru had decided to watch, while the rest of us played against each other. We decided that it’d be played out like a normal basketball game, with the same basic rules as HORSE.

You try to shoot a basket, if you get it in, you don’t get a letter. If you miss, you get a letter. The first to spell out HORSE looses. You’re also allowed to try and steal the ball and stop the others from scoring.

You were just getting ready to play when Haru and Momiji walked up, watching the four of you curiously. “What’re you guys doing?” Momiji asked.

“I’m kicking KyoKyo’s ass!” “I’m kicking the Rat’s ass!” “I’m kicking the cat’s ass!” “I’m kicking the orange’s ass!” You all chorused at the same time.

Haru raised his eyebrow, taking a seat next to Tohru. Momiji sat on the other side of him.

“Let’s do this!” Arisa grinned, throwing the basketball into the air.

You jumped up and grabbed it before taking off running down the court, dribbling the ball and throwing it towards the basket before the other three could catch you. You smirked when it went in and dived for the ball, but Yuki got to it first, dribbling it away from Kyo before throwing it and making it into the basket.

Kyo scowled and dived for it before it hit the ground, grabbing it and dodging a kick thrown at him by Arisa. He took off for the opposite end of the court but ended up tripping, throwing the ball in the process. We all watched in silence as the ball spun around the top, leaning back and forth. You and Arisa grinned, however, when the ball fell backward.

“Haha! KyoKyo got an H!” Arisa laughed, pointing at the orange-haired boy who was still on the ground, his face red from either anger or embarrassment – possibly a combination of both.

“Aww, don’t be mad, Kyo!” Momiji squealed, hugging Kyo tightly despite his protests.

“Get this brat off of me!” Kyo screamed, running around the court trying to shake off the giggling rabbit.

“So much for basketball.” Yuki sighed from beside you.

“I say we leave them,” you suggested.

“Agreed.” Yuki started walking back towards Shigure’s house and you followed close behind. You could still hear Kyo’s yelling and Momiji’s whining as you walked farther and farther away from the school.

“That damn cat is too loud,” Yuki commented as you reached Shigure’s house. As soon as you stepped inside, Shigure came running, holding his arms out.

“Y/N!” he smiled brightly as he came closer. You stepped out of the way just before he reached you and he ran into the wall behind you.

“Same old Shigure,” you muttered, taking a seat at the table.

“You’re so cold, Y/N!” Shigure whined, sitting across from you.

You shrugged as Kyo, Momiji, Haru, and Tohru appeared in the doorway.

“I can’t believe you left us!” Kyo scowled, sitting next to you.

“Not my fault you’re an idiot.” you scoffed.

Haru sat on the other side of you, while Momiji sat next to Shigure. Tohru went into the kitchen to make some tea.

“Shi-chan! Can Haru and I spend the night? Huh, huh? Can we?” Momiji asked, excitedly, his eyes sparkling.

“Well, I don’t know.” Shigure started, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Say no, Shigure!” Kyo growled, “Say it!”

“Does Akito know about this?” Shigure asked, softly, looking over at Haru.

“We asked him this morning. He said it was alright as long as we came back tomorrow morning.” Haru answered, quietly.

You found yourself smiling at the sound of his voice. It was always so soothing to you. That’s right, you had a huge crush on Hatsuharu Sohma. You’ve been meaning to tell him, honestly, you were just waiting for the right time….which may just be never.

“Y/N?” you snapped out of your thoughts and looked up at Shigure, “You zoned out on us.”

“Oh, sorry.” you smiled, sheepishly.

Shigure smiled, grabbing your hand. You noticed Haru narrow his eyes at him sharply, but you shrugged it off. “You’re more than welcome to stay, too! In fact, you can stay in my room!”

“If she’s staying, she’ll be in Miss Honda’s room. Not yours.” Yuki said softly, coming back into the room.

“I’d love to stay.” you smiled. Shigure looked hopeful and your smile dropped, eye twitching in annoyance, “I’d stay in Kyo’s room before I would yours, Shigure!”

He frowned, running a hand through his hair, “You really can be so cold.”

“The only reason you’re going after me is because I’m a high schooler.” you scoffed. “You won’t have any interest when I graduate!”

“You make me sound so bad, Y/N!” he pouted.

“You are!” You, Yuki, and Kyo chorused.

Shigure sighed in defeat and retreated back to his room, mumbling something about a deadline. Tohru came back in, carrying a tray full of tea filled cups, setting one down in front of each of you.

“I wanna sleep with Tohru!” Momiji smiled, leaping to hug the brown-haired girl.

“No way!” Kyo and Yuki chorused, grabbing onto the back of his shirt before he could make contact.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

You sighed deeply as you sprawled out on the floor of Tohru’s bedroom. She had offered you her bed, but you declined, saying that the floor was fine. She had taken some pillows and a blanket, making you a soft pallet to sleep on. You rolled over onto your side and closed your eyes, falling into unconsciousness.

When you opened your eyes again, it was already two in the morning. Rolling over onto your other side, you jumped slightly, seeing Haru sleeping peacefully next to you.

You smiled softly, reaching forward to brush a few strands of white hair from his face. He stirred, opening his eyes and looking over at you. “Kyo and Yuki will kill you if they find you in here.”

He shrugged, shifting so he could rest his head on your chest. “It’s worth it,”

“Haru,” you whispered, your fingers playing with his white hair. It only took a few minutes before his breath evened out, letting you know that he was once again asleep.

You couldn’t help but wonder why he believed it was worth it or why he wanted to sleep with you to begin with.

You were one of the few people that knew the secret of the Sohma family. More importantly, you were one of the few people that didn’t trigger the curse. That made you a special person to the family.

Pushing the millions of thoughts rushing through your mind aside, you closed your eyes, letting the darkness overcome you until you drifted off, arms wrapped around Haru’s body.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

The next morning, you woke to the sound of high-pitched awwwing. Opening your eyes, you groaned at the bright light shining in through the window.

“Morning sunshine.” Shigure grinned as he stood over you, “Did the two of you sleep well?”

“Two of us?” you muttered, rubbing your eyes. That’s when last night came back to you. Looking down, you found Haru still sleeping peacefully on your chest, not disturbed by Shigure’s loud mouth or the blinding light.

“I think now would be a good time to tell him, don’t you think?” Shigure winked before leaving the room, shutting the door behind him. Tohru wasn’t in her bed and it had been made already. You assumed she had woken up a while ago.

You sighed, doing your best to slide out from under him. You turned on your side, watching his content face as his chest rose and fell. You brushed the hair away from his eyes and smiled, “You really are adorable, Haru.”

“You think so?” he murmured tiredly, cracking his eyes open.

“Yeah, I do.”

He stared into your eyes, his fingertips brushing your cheek. “You’re beautiful. Did you know that?”

“Coming from you, that really means a lot.” you murmured, trying to ignore the heat rising to your face.

“That’s good to know. Maybe this will too, then.” He grabbed your shirt, pulling you over so that your lips crashed again his own. It took you a minute to get over your surprise, but then you closed your eyes, kissing him back with just as much passion as he was using.

An insistent knocking on the door caused you and Haru to break away, just in time for Momiji to come running in. “Come on, Haru. We promised to be back, remember?”

Haru nodded and stood, kissing your cheek before leaving the room. You sat there, wondering just what that kiss meant to him.

“Y/N?” Tohru called, knocking on the door before opening it. “Yuki and I are going to the market to get some groceries. Would you like to come?”

“No thank you.” you smiled, politely. “I’ll just stay here.”

“Alright. Kyo went off with Shigure if you’re wondering.” she smiled before leaving the room.

You waited until you were sure they were gone before getting dressed and leaving the house. You decided that taking a walk through the park was just what the doctor ordered.

Taking in a deep breath, you took a seat on the park bench, looking around at the lush green trees as they swayed in the cool breeze. The kiss kept replaying in your head. It was killing you not knowing what meaning lay hidden on Haru’s lips. You had to know if he liked you back, but could you really just walk up to him and ask?

While debating with yourself whether or not you should be blunt and ask him about it, a rustling in the bushes alerted you to something nearby. You stood up and walked over to the bush. Now, most people probably would have approached cautiously, but you threw caution to the wind. ‘What’s the worst I could find?’

You didn’t expect what you found. Behind the bush was a large black and white cow with earrings in its ear and clothes spread out on the ground around it.

He nudged you lightly with his head. “I’m freezing,”

You chuckled, leaning down and wrapping your arms around the large animal, “You should have worn your coat, Haru.”

“I didn’t want to.” he snorted, rubbing his head against yours, “Hatori wouldn’t quit yelling at me about taking my coat. It made me not want to.”

You ruffled the soft patch of hair on his head, “Such a rebel~”

He nodded, his voice low and soft as his nose pressed against your neck. “A rebel in love,”

“Eh?” you asked in surprise, staring at him. He huffed, warm air coming out of his nose as he snuggled his large body closer, trying to get some of the warmth your body offered. “Who… Who are you in love with?” you asked, scared of the answer. Even so, you had decided to support him even if he had feelings for someone else.

He was about to respond when there was a poof and a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, there was Haru in all his naked glory.  He blinked thoughtfully before tackling you to the ground, sitting on your stomach and putting his hands on either side of your head. “The answer to your question is quite simple. I was planning on letting you figure it out on your own, but I’m not so sure I can wait that long.”

Your heart raced as you tried not to think about his naked body hovering over your own. ‘Damn him for being so attractive!’ “What’re you talking about, Haru?”

“Shigure was right.” he murmured, “People really are oblivious to others’ feelings. You can’t see mine, and I didn’t see yours until Shigure told me.”

You stared up at the clear sky as you pieced the puzzle together in your mind. Just when you were about to finish the puzzle, he placed his lips on yours. You responded instantly, your lips fitting perfectly together. You could feel his passion and love in the kiss. He bit your lip softly before pulling away just enough for his lips to ghost yours.

“I’m in love with you, Y/N. I have been since I first met you,” he confessed.

“I love you, too, Haru.” You pulled him down into another kiss, “I always have and I always will.”

The wind blew, causing Haru to shiver.

You sweatdropped, pushing him off of you. “Let’s get you dressed before you catch a cold, okay?”

He nodded, watching as you gathered his clothes from the bushes.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

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[jeontaeh]

TWENTY FOUR²⁴

✫  ✬  ✭  ✬  ✫

"Psst, Tae!" Jimin called in a whisper, and Taehyung turned around.

"We're the only ones here why're you whispering?" Taehyung whispered back.

"So it feels more like gossip. Anyways, listen!" Jimin snapped, and Taehyung nodded. "I've been counting down the time we've spent awake as days spent back on our planet... and if I've done my calculations right... then today is my birthday!"

"One day in space is like 3 days back in our planet Jimin. Your birthday was, like, 8 days ago." Taehyung said, and Jimin hit him on the head, so Taehyung groaned.

"I mean- happy birthday! Oh my god! How old are you?" Taehyung asked, and Jimin smiled. "21!"

"What?" Taehyung asked, confused. "I thought you were younger than me!"

"I'm not!"

"But you're shorter."

"Since when has height got any correlation with age!"

"If someone's fucking 3'9 they're gonna be, like, 5!"

"That's offensive to dwarves!"

"Shit, you're right. Anyways, happy birthday! Let's go tell the other boys so we can get you cake." Taehyung said, and Jimin nodded with a smile. They both got up, and then Taehyung grabbed Jimin and hugged him really tight.

Jimin let out a squeal of laughter, trying to push him off. "Do you think we should give you birthday spankings, Jimin?" Taehyung said in batman's voice into his ear, and Jimin started laughing harder, wriggling in his hold.

"Ew, let go of me you weirdo!" Jimin giggled, pushing Taehyung off.

"Nope, now you're definitely getting spankings-" Taehyung started, as a joke, grabbing Jimin close. Jimin giggled in retaliation, and then they heard a cough.

They both turned their heads and saw Jungkook standing there, eyes wide, red hair messy from just waking up. "W-what're you guys doing?" Jungkook let out, sounding a bit timid.

Taehyung pulled away from Jimin, who was laughing still, walking towards Jungkook. "Nothing! Taehyung was just teasing me 'cause it's my-"

"Whatever." Jungkook mumbled, looking at Taehyung in disbelief before turning around and walking away.

Jimin looked at Taehyung, frowning. Taehyung shrugged upon seeing the look on Jimin's face, and Jimin sighed. "You have to talk to him."

"No."

"Tae! C'mon, he's clearly hurt by what you said to him-"

"Rip."

"You can't say that!!" Jimin gasped, and Taehyung groaned, covering his face with his hands.

"I know, I know! I tend to distance myself from people when I have to face them with problems!" Taehyung let out, and then Jimin grabbed his arm and dragged him out.

"Yeah well y'know what? It's my birthday, which means you have to do whatever I say-"

"Since when?" Taehyung snapped, and Jimin let his arm go, looking at him.

"Since, like, ever? It's an unwritten rule of birthdays, what do you mean 'since when'?" Jimin snapped, and Taehyung frowned.

"I never got what I wanted on my birthday! Actually that's probably 'cause my birthday is on new year's eve. Every year I thought we had parties because of me, nope! They were for new year's. That ruined my childhood a lot because my father didn't care-"

"Did you have the truth serum soda?" Jimin asked, and Taehyung nodded.

Jimin walked up to Taehyung and then punched him in the face.

"Ow!" Taehyung said aloud, covering his eye. Jimin's eyes widened.

"Shit! Did that hurt?"

"Yeah, you just fucking punched me in the eye!" Taehyung snapped, pressing his fingertips to his eyelid.

"I didn't mean to hurt badly! I-I just.. wanted to punch you in the eye. Jin said that helps rid the affect of the truth serum." Jimin said with a gulp.

Jimin punched Taehyung again, and now Taehyung covered both of his eyes, groaning aloud, falling onto the floor.

"Why the-" Taehyung started, rolling over in pain. "-fuck did you have to punch me twice?"

"Jin punched me twice too!"

"Jin fucking scammed you! These punches don't do shit, he just wanted to beat your ass!" Taehyung snapped, and then Jimin ran into the kitchen. He looked into the fridge, and then groaned.

"There's no icepacks!"

"Get some ice then!"

"There's no ice!"

"Get something cold!"

"Fuckin-" Jimin started, taking out a frozen chicken, and then screamed and flung it at Taehyung.

"Jimin did you just throw raw frozen chicken at me?!" Taehyung shouted, and Jimin walked up to him, wiping his fingers on Taehyung's shirt.

"Sorry! Sorry, oh my god! It's just disgusting to hold it, I'm vegan."

"No the fuck you're not I literally saw you chow down a turkey sandwich for breakfast!" Taehyung said, and then Jimin crouched down in front of him.

"Listen I tried going vegan but it fucking sucks, okay? I didn't know meat came from animals!" Jimin said, and Taehyung made a confused face, to which Jimin sighed.

"Shut up! It's my birthday so you can't be mean! Anyways, let's go." Jimin said, helping Taehyung up and helping him walk to the dining room.

Jungkook was sitting in the dining room with Jin, both discussing something. "Listen Jungkook, that's not true. It can't be true." Jin said.

"It is, Jin! I saw it with my own two eyes!"

"You saw a rat with six legs?"

"Yes! They exist!"

"Jungkook I'm pretty sure that was a spider," Taehyung snickered, and Jungkook looked at him, mumbling whatever under his breath.

Taehyung looked to the side and saw Jungkook looking at him angrily, and then looking away, scrunching his face into a small angry pout. Taehyung sat down beside him.

"Hey Kook," Taehyung said softly, and he saw Jungkook's fingers twitch a little. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Jungkook snapped, getting up from his seat and then walking out.

"Doesn't sound fine." Jimin snickered, and Jin got up and walked out, sighing.

Jin walked up to Jungkook, who was walking away hastily. "What's wrong cherry?"

Jungkook stopped in his steps, and so did Jin. "Why's there chicken on the floor?"

They both looked at the raw chicken on the floor for a few seconds, and then just stepped over it and continued walking.

"Talk to me, Kook. You seem out of it since last night," Jin insisted, and Jungkook looked at him.

"Did you see them?" Jungkook snapped, and Jin frowned. "Taehyung and Jimin!"

"What about them?" Jin asked, and Jungkook looked at Jin with annoyance. "Taehyung had two hickeys under his eyes!"

Jin paused for a little, and then let out a sigh. "Kook I'm pretty sure those were bruises-"

"I know what a hickey looks like! A-and- Jimin probably gave him it." Jungkook grumbled.

"Woah, Jimin's asexual. You know what that means, right?" Jin asked, and Jungkook looked at him angrily.

"Yes, I know what that means, I'm not that dumb! But who knows, maybe he was lying or something. And- and just wanted my Taehyungie." Jungkook snapped, and Jin's eyebrows rose.

"Your..Taehyungie?"

Jungkook blushed, looking away. "I-I didn't mean that. I just meant Taehyung. I don't know why I said that." Jungkook mumbled.

Jin gave him a small smile. "You really like him, huh?"

"No. I hate him! I hate him and his stupid silver hair and silver eyes and blue blood! I hate him!" Jungkook snapped, and then stomped his foot. "I-I hate him, Jin. I hate him b-because he made me think that he likes me b-but he doesn't and likes Jimin!" Jungkook said angrily, voice cracking in the end.

Jin sighed. "Jungkook, Taehyung doesn't like Jimin." Jin said, and Jungkook looked at him with darkened eyes.

"Easy for you to say when you have someone that likes you!" Jungkook snapped, and then walked away and towards his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

Jin sighed, rolling his eyes wildly. He turned around and walked to the dining room, where he saw the rest of the boys. Taehyung was holding two glasses of cold orange juice against his eyes.

"Happy birthday Jimin!" Hoseok said loudly, walking in behind Jin. Jimin smiled at him, and got his hair ruffled by the other boy.

"Is Kook alright?" Taehyung asked Jin, who sighed, shaking his head. Before he could speak, Jimin got up.

"I'll go talk to him," Jimin said, and Jin looked at him with slight hesitation."I-I don't think that's the best idea-"

"It's fine, Jin. Chill." Jimin chuckled, and then walked out the dining room and towards Jungkook's room. Jimin opened the bedroom door and walked in and then got a pillow thrown at his face.

"Woah-" Jimin let out, looking at Jungkook who was sitting on his bed, looking at the window outside.

"G-go away." Jungkook sniffled, and Jimin frowned, picking up the pillow and walking inside his room.

"Hey cherry-pop. What's wrong?" Jimin asked softly, walking up to the younger who was still looking away. When Jimin got closer, was when he saw the tears in his eyes.

"Nothing. I'm f-fine." Jungkook squeaked, and Jimin sat down beside him. "Clearly not, Kookie." Jimin said with a small chuckle, and Jungkook continued looking away.

"Listen, Kooks. I don't want to elaborate, and it's not really my place to say. But what Taehyung did.. it's for your own benefit. I promise it is." Jimin said, and Jungkook snapped his head towards him, glowering.

"My benefit, or yours?" Jungkook snapped, and Jimin frowned.

"What?"

"Don't act dumb, Jimin. You don't need to come in here with your false apologies and fake smiles. I know what's going on." Jungkook grumbled, and Jimin hesitated at his anger.

"Okay, I really don't want to anger you further, nor ruin my own day. So I'd really like if you could come out and eat some cake with all of us, since it's my bir-"

"I'd really like if you could stop stealing Taehyung from me!" Jungkook snapped, getting up, startling Jimin.

Jimin looked at him with widened eyes, and Jungkook only continued. "I-I saw you talking a-about hiding your- your relationship from me! B-because you two are j-just assholes who- who decided to fuck with me!" Jungkook said angrily, voice cracking, clearly fragile.

"What? Oh god, Jungkook, no! Me and Taehyung aren't together! I'm ace, I thought you knew that! I'm not into dating people, especially not Taehyung-" Jimin started, and Jungkook scoffed.

"Yeah, right. You probably just made that up to make me think that you and Taehyung weren't-"

"Watch it, Jeon." Jimin snapped, standing up, taking Jungkook aback. "When you're angry, you say some dumbass shit like that bigoted comment you made towards Taehyung last time. So if I were you, I'd shut the fuck up real quick." Jimin growled, and Jungkook cowered his head.

Jungkook gulped. "I-I didn't mean to-"

"Of course you didn't mean to, Jungkook. But you still do and say dumb shit." Jimin said angrily, frowning. "And maybe if you realised that, Taehyung wouldn't break up with you!"

Jungkook flinched at that, and Jimin's breath hitched, realising he went a little far. Jungkook nodded his head, and Jimin just sighed to himself, turning around to walk away.

Jungkook, thinking Jimin left, started crying, sitting down on his bed. He felt this ache in his heart all day, and he didn't know if it was because of Taehyung or high cholesterol, so just ignored it.

But now, he couldn't. It overwhelmed him, flooding his senses like water pouring off melted snow. He heard voices around him, all of them melding into a singular, washing into white noise.

He didn't hear the door open and footsteps barge in. Didn't hear the flurry of confused voices and frightened faces. "Jungkook? Oh god-" Namjoon let out, walking up to him and placing his hand on his shoulder.

Jungkook cried harder, not even realising how hard he was crying, holding onto his bedsheets with his fists, bawling into them, not able to think, or speak, or breathe. Everything was turning black, all he could see through his blurred vision now, was a grey blur walking up to him quickly, and then crouching down.

"Oh no," He heard a voice, crisp clear, standing out from the white noise and darkness. "Baby-"

Jungkook fell into strong arms, felt them wrap around his waist. Heard footsteps walk out and the door close again, until it was just him and the arms holding him in his room. Just him and Taehyung.

Jungkook cried into his chest, and Taehyung held him tightly, rocking him back and forth, breathing in his soft scent in the crevice of his neck.

"Sshh.. it's okay. It's okay, you're okay." Taehyung whispered, and Jungkook continued crying, feeling that heavy pain in his heart drizzling away.

Finally, Jungkook could see again, and felt the pang in his stomach upon seeing familiar grey eyes. He didn't know why he was feeling this way, but fell forward, pressing his forehead against Taehyung's.

"T-Tae-" Jungkook let out, and Taehyung held him tighter, squeezing him in his hold. "T-Taehyung-"

"Don't cry, baby. We don't cry, do we?" Taehyung said softly, and the strong rigidity of his voice calmed Jungkook down. Jungkook shook his head, and Taehyung traced his waist with his thumbs.

"See, there's your pretty honey eyes." Taehyung whispered, and Jungkook sniffled, finally the tears stopping.

Jungkook looked at him for a few seconds, and didn't feel any words leaving his lips, just hid his blushing face in Taehyung's hair, not knowing why he had this breakdown, nor knowing how Taehyung took him out of it.

Taehyung held him tight, letting Jungkook hug him and regain his sense for a few seconds. Taehyung knew exactly what happened, but pretended like he didn't. Not for a little. For a little, he pretended everything was normal.

"D-don't g-go." Jungkook squeaked, and Taehyung closed his eyes, hearing the thud of Jungkook's heartbeat loud in his ears.

"I won't." Taehyung whispered back, knowing the entire universe was outside the spaceship, but still felt like he was holding all of his in his arms.

✫  ✬  ✭  ✬  ✫

https://jeontaeh.tumblr.com/post/647228613246205952/twenty-five%C2%B2%E2%81%B5

[ttooccaa]

Seeing the Ups and Downs

I just wrote a Soulmate AU bartuardo fic! I hope somebody likes it.

It’s under the cut. Here’s the Ao3 link as well.

Summary: Almost everybody gets a tattoo (or tattoos in some cases; also known as soulmarks), either when they are born or when their soulmate’s born, that represent their soulmate(s), the tattoo is just an outline, until the soulmate is met, afterwards it fills itself with colour.

That’s great and all, but Ed has never had one and just as he’s accepted that he’s probably never going to get one, it happens, problem is it’s 14 years too late, he’s been kidnapped by aliens, so he’s still unconscious and has no idea he even got one. On the upside, he might die long before he has to meet them and deal with everything so that’s… just peachy.

Santa Fe

December 14, 22:45 GMT-3

Ed had just officially ran away from home, it was surprisingly easy, he just had to wait for his abuelo to fall asleep in front of the TV, Ed had gotten really good at sneaking out, practice made perfect as the people say.

He had ran away before, but it was never serious and the police always found him anyways, but this time was different, it felt different. Honestly, he still didn’t know if it was real or not, as of right now he had one goal, get to America (and his father?) without being caught by the police.

Well, first stop, the bus station.

As he was walking through the dark streets, barely lit by the street lights, he once again thought how lucky he was not to have a soulmate. He had just recently convinced himself it was  something good, before he was sad, sure that he simply didn’t deserve one, that he was not worth it, but after seeing how restricting it was to have one, Ed started thanking his lucky star he was born without a tattoo. He was free to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted without caring if somebody might or might not be upset. It was also lonely, but recently he has really been trying to see the bright side of things.

Downside: I will probably be alone and lonely my whole life.

Upside: I am free.

Porto Velho

January 21, 20:16 GMT- 4

Ed was quietly sitting on the ground in an old, decrepit building, surrounded by other runaways and homeless people. He was eating a very stale and disgusting sandwich from a local gas station, while listening to other people talk or at least trying to, Portuguese was definitely not his forte, good thing their group was a mixed one and most everybody either knew spanish or english.

The person next to him moved and a guy took his place. “Hey!”

“What’s up, Lucas?” He greeted, mouth full with bread.

Lucas was one of the few people Ed had met while in this city, Lucas was older, twenty something, really skinny and tall, dirty blonde hair and a lot of small and medium sized scars all over his body, a few on his face. He was a nice enough guy, but really sad, he tried to hide it, but he couldn’t, Ed had seen him go into his depressive state once and it was more than enough. From what he heard it happened often.

They stayed in silence, until Lucas broke it “Have you met your soulmate, Edu?”

The Argentinian swallowed the last of the sandwich and answered “Don’t have one.”

Lucas nodded his head “So you’re one of those people.” He smiled gently, his gaze far away.

“What about you?”

“Oh, yeah.” His smile grew and his eyes started to glisten.

The silence stretched for a bit, until Lucas continued “She was perfect, god, I would’ve done anything for her, I did do everything I could and more for her. She was beautiful and smart and absolutely perfect.” He was still smiling, though tears were forming in his eyes.

Ed has started to feel uncomfortable, but his curiosity got the better of him “What happened? If… ugh… you know, you want to tell me…” He was blushing a bit.

Lucas nodded his head “Don’t worry, it’s not like it’s a secret. She left me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Hahha, not like that! I meant, she just left me, for another, said I wasn’t good enough for her and she was right, you know, I really wasn’t, still am not, now more so than ever.” Tears were slowly rolling down his cheeks, he looked like he was no longer in the room mentally. He probably wasn’t, relieving the good ol’ times he had with his soulmate. Lucas spoke up once again “Only reason, I’m still here, I hope she will take me in one day.”

Ed was shocked, he had heard of soulmates leaving before, but he mostly thought that they stayed together, no matter what. He had always thought that your soulmate was your perfect person, the one always here for you, the only one you can truly trust with everything, turns out he was wrong… very wrong.

Downside: I’m still going to be alone and lonely my whole life.

Upside: I will never have an abusive psycho for a soulmate.

Mitú

February 10, 23:01 GMT-5

The Argentinian had just arrived in the city, thanks to a bit of hitchhiking and a lot of walking, being on the run was exhausting and miserable…

He walked through the streets, the only thing he wanted was to find a somewhat safe spot and just crash over there and fall asleep. It’s not like he was afraid of somebody stealing his things, he didn’t have anything valuable left. Also no money, but right now that really wasn’t current Ed’s problem.

Just as he was considering passing out on a street corner and hoping for the best, he saw it, a bench! But not just any bench one in a secluded but still pretty lit part of the park in front of him. Ed gathered whatever strength he had left and walked to it. He took a blanket out of his backpack and laid down on the bench, his skateboard against his back and the backpack a pillow. He quickly felt sleep overtake him.

It felt barely like minutes had passed, but suddenly he was being woken up by a hand over his mouth and strong arms wrapping around him, he barely had time to register what was happening to him, yet alone panic as he lost consciousness once again.

Downside: I got kidnapped.

Upside: I (most likely) will not live long enough to be alone and lonely my whole life.

Taos

April 1, 18:15 MDT

Now Ed felt like even more of a freak, not only was he one of the few thousand people without a soulmate, but he also had weird, superpowers thanks to a gene inside his body… because aliens. He didn’t think his life could get any worse, at times like these he almost regretted running away from home.

Ed did, in a way, reach his goal - he was in America and with his father. He had forgotten just what a hoot his dad was, but Senior quickly reminded him by throwing his only son inside STAR labs like a lab rat.

He was walking towards one of the changing rooms at STAR labs, it wasn’t enough that aliens had experimented on him and the other abductees, apparently his dad also wanted to take a stab at it

Ed rounded a corner and opened the door of what he hoped was a changing room, he also hoped he would be alone, but no such luck was found. He opened the door, while Virgil was mid tacking his pants off.

Ed quickly started to close the door “Sorry, dude, I’ll leave you be.”

Virgil quickly recovered “Nah, it’s cool.”

The Argentinian went inside and opened one of the lockers, all of them contained the same white jumpsuits.

He took his vest off, then his scarf and finally his T-shirt. He started unzipping the jumpsuit.

“Damn, dude, cool soulmark.” Virgil whistled.

Ed looked at him like he was seeing him for the first time “What…?”

The other teen rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly uncomfortable “Well, ugh, you know, the thing on your back, unless it’s just a tattoo, than cool tattoo, but aren’t we a bit young for tattoos, I-I mean you do you… hahha.” Virgil was bright red and rambling.

“Calm down. Look, I don’t know if this some kind of American humour I don’t understand, but I don’t have a soulmate and therefore a soulmark. Whatever you’re talking about was probably a parting gift by the Reach.” Ed was trying to reason, feeling a little nervous, like he had ever since he’d been freed from the Justice League and been able to form more coherent thoughts than ‘Everything hurts.’

He tried to deny to himself over and over again the weird itch he’d been having on his back, hasn’t even looked at it, scared at what might be or might not be there.

Virgil looked thoughtful for a second “I’m not an expert, but it sure looks like a soulmark to me. Wait, I’ll take a picture, so you can see it.” He took his phone out and snapped a picture, before even Ed realised what was happening.

The phone was suddenly in front of his face and there it was right in the middle of his shoulder blades… a round clock? He took the phone from Virgil and zoomed in on it. It was a clock alright, but missing both of his handles, in the middle of it was a big lightning bolt, almost like the one the Flash had on his costume. He started at it for several minutes straight, then even tried to twist his head around to see it.

Ed threw the phone back at Virgil, who caught it while panicking a bit and dashed to one of the bathroom mirrors. Ed turned around and then twisted his neck uncomfortably and there it was - a clock…

Virgil approached him once again “Hey, man, you feeling good?”

Ed blinked rapidly, overcome with emotion, it was neither a happy or a sad one, tears were forming in the corners of his eyes “I-I… I didn’t think I had one, I don’t how to feel, I don’t even know what’s going on anymore.”

He had started to breath rapidly “First I lived months on the streets, absolutely miserable, then I w-was kidnapped and experimented on by Aliens! Then I got superpowers, and now I have a soulmate tattoo.” Everything was becoming blurry, he didn’t even know what he was saying anymore.

Virgil rushed in and helped him sit on the cool ground, he helped him with his breathing and Ed slowly started to calm down.

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah, yeah… thank you.”

Virgil slowly reach out and hugged Ed, the later hugged him back and buried his face in the place between his neck and his shoulder.

Downside(s): I’ll probably never meet him(?), while I’m trapped in START labs and also WHAT KIND OF AN AGE DIFFERENCE IS 14 YEARS?!

Upside: I’m not alone.

The Warworld

May 30, post-03:36 UTC

‘Why did we have to listen to Virgil and come back to save the superheroes or whatever they called themselves?’ Ed thought for the what felt like the hundredth time, while teleporting behind a couple of Reach soldiers and taking them down.

Asami signalled to him in which direction to go ‘Finally, we’re getting out of here.’ He teleported next to her and they took off.

That’s when he saw him or at least felt him run past him, Ed suddenly felt this pressure on his back, his skin felt thigh and sensitive. He was so confused, but decided to chalk it up to the adrenaline from the battle and think about it later.

When the door burst open and Ed saw Nightwing, Miss Martian and a sphere he couldn’t be happier.

Everybody quickly got onto the ship.

Ed couldn’t help but steal a couple glances at this Impulse character, he hadn’t met him, but that’s what the others were calling him. He didn’t know why he was so nervous around the guy, he felt dizzy and like he might throw up. His stomach was in knots, he wanted to talk to him, but something was stopping him.

He sweared he felt Impulse’s eyes on him.

After Nightwing’s dismissal of Arsenal, they were just about ready to leave, but Ed wasn’t so sure, he wanted to leave, but he also wanted to stay, not because of Nightwing and his offer of joining some Justice League for kids thing, but because of the speedster, he felt this pull towards him. But still, he walked through the portal created by the Fatherbox in tow with his friends and Arsenal.

Before that he stole one last glance at the speedster and saw that his eyes were also trained on him.

Downside: My back really itches.

Upside(?): Is it possible for soulmate tattoos to appear late without a reason?

Taos

July 5, 09:37 MDT

Ed was currently once again at Star Labs, this time luckily not as an experiment. After what happened those few months all he wanted to do was lay down somewhere and sleep for as long as humanly (meta-humanly?) possible. But that wasn’t an option, at least not now. He was helping his father move some stuff around and get settled into STAR labs, after it was rebuild.

In the end he had decided to stay with his dad, maybe they will grow closer, maybe they won’t, no matter what happens, he was just happy that everything was over and that getting a citizenship was easier than ever, thanks to being kidnapped by the same aliens the American government trusted before their attack. It was a sort of “Sorry the Reach experimented on, want to not sue us, but instead live here, you illegal immigrant?”

The teen’s mind quickly drifted away and he started focusing on more interesting thoughts, such as the speedster. He still couldn’t explain why the guy wouldn’t get out of his head, he had a speculation, but that was impossible, right?

Just as Ed thought that, a strong gust of wind hit him from behind and Kid Flash was standing right in front of him, though it didn’t quite look like him.

Ed blinked a couple of times “Ugh, hi?”

Kid Flash smiled, a bit awkward “I just wanted to… thank you! You know for freeing us and helping out after.” He rubbed the back of his head.

“Yeah, yeah I mean, I guess you should be thanking Virgil for the rescue, he insisted.” He cringed at himself ‘Wow, Ed, real smooth.’

Impulse blinked, awkwardness settling between them “Anyways… I’m Impulse! Well Kid Flash now, rebranding.” He said proudly, but full of sadness, while extending his hand towards Ed.

Ed looked at it for a second than took it in his own “I’m Eduardo or just Ed for short.”

The moment he said that and their hands touched Ed felt a burning, yet calming sensation on his back. He flinched and so did the speedster.

Without thinking the Argentinian teleported to the bathroom/locker room close by. He poked his head out of it and signalled for the new Kid Flash to follow him inside.

The brown haired speedster was currently looking at the inside of his left arm, but quickly followed Ed inside.

The stared at each other, neither saying anything.

The Argentinian swallowed and shook his head ‘Dios mío, this is so awkward.’ “So, ugh, there’s no other way to say it, but I’m going to take my shirt of to check something, yeah?” He felt like he might die of pure embarrassment alone, he was bright red and fidgeting awkwardly.

Kid Flash also grew increasingly red with each second “Yeah, of-of course, I’m gonna see something for myself as well.” He nodded once and reached for his left glove.

Ed quickly took his arms out of the T-shirt and left it hanging around his neck. He looked in the large mirror, twisting his neck uncomfortably and that’s when he saw it from the corner of his eye – his soulmark completely filled in. The clock was simply black and white, but the lightning bolt was like a real one, full of oranges and yellows with little sparks flying all around the clock.

His emotions were so mixed up, he was happy, ecstatic even, but also nervous and definitely scared… very sacred.

He put his shirt down and turned towards the superhero, who had taken his glove off and pushed the sleeve of the yellow costume up, exposing his inner arm. There right above the inside of his elbow was a stylised sun – a golden sun, simple, yet very beautiful.

Kid Flash slowly ran his fingers over the tattoo “Wow, I mean - I just –“ tears were gathering in his eyes.

Panic overtook Ed “Hey! Is that from happiness, is something wrong? Are you unhappy? You know I’m also very emotional right now.” He was rambling.

The hero sucked in a big breath, clenched his eyes shut, then exhaled, opened his eyes and looked straight at Ed. He smiled slightly “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Ed also returned the smile, his cheeks growing hotter “So, we good?”

Kid Flash grinned “We good, well I think proper introductions are in order!” He reached for the cowl.

The Argentinian was definitely a bit surprised, he wanted to know his… soulmate’s identity, but he also didn’t want the other teen to be uncomfortable or feel like he was forced to reveal it.

“It’s fine, if you don’t wanna, I mean I’d like to… but you know, if you don’t want to, that’s cool too.” He tried to sound nonchalant, he wasn’t sure he succeeded.

Kid Flash shook his head “If not now, then when?”

He took the cowl off “Name’s Bart Allen!”

Ed studied his face for a bit, he was quite simply, pretty damn attractive, not that it mattered, but it was still a nice touch. He smiled brightly and shook his hand once again “Pleasure to meet you.”

Bart winked “Believe me, the pleasure is all mine.”

Ed raised one of his eyebrows, still smiling, his cheeks had a light dusting of pink. Then it hit him, after all of the emotions of meeting his soulmate and confirming it was him, logic had started kicking in once again.

He let go of Bart’s hand “Sorry, I have to ruin the moment, but why did my tattoo appear just a couple months ago? No offence? But you don’t look like a one year old.”

The speedster rubbed the back of his head “Well, if it makes you feel better I was also quite shocked when I came here from the future and suddenly had a soulmark.” He was smiling brightly.

“Wait! The future?”

“Hah, let’s say we have a lot to talk about.”

Ed didn’t mind that at all “How about we have that conversation some place other than the bathroom?”

Downside: I don’t know anything about my soulmate (from the future?) and neither does he about me.

Upside: I am more than happy, that we can do that together.

[danurso]

Into jauneverse

*during a bright day, RWBY and JNPR were walking back to beacon after watching a movie in the theaters*

Ruby: that movie was so awesome!

Weiss: it was...enjoyable.

Yang: having spruce willis in the cast is already guaranteed fun for me.

Blake: since you love explosions right?

Nora: what's wrong with explosions? I love explosions! They make me happy!

Ren: i don’t think she was talking to you nora.

Jaune: soo...did you liked the movie?

Pyrrha: yeah, it was really fun. I didn’t knew action movies could be so funny like that.

Jaune: that's because we’re huntsmans, we’re used to real danger so whatever we see in these action movies looks more like comedy, if you we’re in spruce willis’ role the movie would’ve ended by the first act.

Pyrrha: yeah...i mean, you saw how many guys he fought in only one scene by the middle of the movie, why was it so hard to deal with three of them at the beginning?

Jaune: i have no idea.

Pyrrha: neither i do.

Jaune: ...so, there’s a marathon of spruce willis marked for tonight, we could use one of the common rooms to make some popcorn and watch all night long, i don’t think it's going to be a problem since tomorrow is sunday.

Pyrrha: that sounds lovely, although i think the couches from the common rooms are to small for all of us.

Jaune: *blushing a bit* actually...i was thinking if we could watch alone...i mean...you and i.

Pyrrha: *blushing* o-oh...right…

Jaune: i-its too weird right? Forget it, forget that i said anythi-

Pyrrha: no! T-there’s no need for that, i really like the idea.

Jaune: really?

Pyrrha: *nods*

Jaune: *with a dumb smile* o-okay then, once we get back i’ll prepare the popcorn, the blankets and the-

???: NOT SO FAST FAKER!!

RWBY/JNPR: *stops*

Jaune: ...wait, who said that?

Pyrrha: *looking around* i don’t knoOOHH!! *gets picked up*

Jaune: PYRRHA!!!

???: *tries to leap away*

Pyrrha: *breaks free falling back on her feet* who are you and what do you wa- *freezes staring at jaune, clad in a white armor with blue details and a blue cape* w-wha...jaune?

Knight jaune: *holds her hand with a charming smile* yes my lady? Tell me what do you want i’ll go through hell to make your wish come true.

Pyrrha: *blushing* w-what? Jaune, w-what happened to y-

Jaune: pyrrha!

Pyrrha: *looks back at jaune, standing besides her friends with his normal clothes* eh!? Wait. *looks back ahead to see jaune in armor* what? *looks back again to see normal jaune* w-what is going on? Why there is two jaunes?

Knight jaune: the explanation is simple my lady, that man is a faker using my appearance to try and steal you away from me. *now holding both of her hands with a determined expression* but i promise you my lady, i won’t let anyone get in the way of our love.

Pyrrha: *blushing again* l-love!?

Jaune: hey! I'm not a faker, let pyrrha go!

Knight jaune: i can’t do that faker! This lady has a place inside my heart, and i won’t let anyone steal her from me!

???: are you sure about that?

Pyrrha: AHH! *feels a rope wrap around her waist before getting yanked back* oof! *lands into something soft and looks up to see jaune, now wearing a large hat with a feather, an eyepatch and buccaneer clothes* w-what? Jaune?

Pirate jaune: hehehe, correct milady. I hope you don’t mind me stealing you for a bit, your heart is a treasure way too precious for me to let it in the hands of these bilge rats.

Pyrrha: *blushing again* m-my heart is what?

Pirate jaune: *with a charming smile* an treasure that not even all the gold in the sea could buy milady.

Pyrrha: *blushes deeply*

Knight jaune: TAKE YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF MY LADY YOU PIRATE SCUM!!

Pirate jaune: never! An true pirate will never let anyone take his treasure away so easily.

???: then you better think fast.

Pirate jaune: wha- *looks around trying to find pyrrha* where did she go!?

???: right here.

Pirate/Knight jaune: *looks back to another jaune, this one was composed by robotic parts until his jaw*

Cyborg jaune: hey there pyr, sorry i was late for the party.

Pyrrha: *really confused* j-jaune?

Cyborg jaune: of course it's me, i may have a metal heart, but it beats only for you, so of course i would be here.

Pyrrha: *blushing yet again*

Pirate jaune: *drawing his sword* you better give her back to me before i feed you to the sharks!

Knight jaune: *pulls out a golden sword* release my lady before i cut your head off metalic monster!

Cyborg jaune: not gonna happen. *pulls out a high frequency katana* you want her, you take her away from my dead body.

???: ENOUGH!!

Pyrrha: *flies up colliding with something* what is going o- *freezes staring at another jaune, this one with light amber triskele eyes, long white hair and four featherly wings on his back*

Angel jaune: don’t worry my dear, i won’t let this fight continue.

Pyrrha: w-who are you?

Angel jaune: *with a small smile* im your angel my dear, and you’re my goddess.

Pyrrha: *blushing once more* i-AAHHH *gets yanked again*

???: if she is anyone’s goddess, then she’s my goddess.

Pyrrha: *stares at another jaune, this one now wearing clothes made out of darkness, with dark purple eyes and a big black tattoo on his forehead*

Demon jaune: *holding her chin with a sultry grin* don’t worry my little maiden, i’ll be sure to finish this quickly so we can enjoy our time together.

Pyrrha: *blushing even more*

Angel jaune: *creating a small sun over his hand* i will not allow that to happen, you will stay away from my dear pyrrha.

Cyborg jaune: *with an red aura, scarlet eyes and a dark smirk* close your eyes pyr, i’ll have to teach them what happens when they stand between you and me.

Pirate jaune: out of my way you fools! This treasure belongs to me and me only! *raises his sword summoning a horde of ghost ships from the skies*

Knight jaune: *sword starts glowing* if you don’t get away from my lady, i will be forced to show you the power of my excalibur!

Demon jaune: *releases pyrrha, cracking his knuckles and with dark aura flaring like flames* bring it on, but be quick, i don’t want to waste my time here when i could be besides my little maiden.

Jaunes: *charging at each other and starting a devastating battle*

Pyrrha: oh my god, w-what is going oOON*gets yanked into an alley* not aga-

Jaune: *motions for her to stay quiet and whispers* look, i have no idea what's going on, i just know that we need to get out of here okay?

Pyrrha: nods.

Jaune: here, inside this building, they won’t find you here.

Pyrrha: *gets inside the building along with normal jaune and sighs* just what is going on now...where are these jaunes coming from?

Jaune: ...

Pyrrha: i mean, they can’t just be coming out of nowhere ri- *gets pressed against the wall* j-jaune?

Jaune: im sorry pyrrha...i can't hold back anymore.

Pyrrha: *red* w-what do you mean?

Jaune: ...i love you pyrrha...i love you more than anything in this world.

Pyrrha: *dark red* y-you do?

Jaune: yes...and i know im probably not as strong as the other jaunes out there, but i’ll do everything i can to make you happy pyrrha, so please, would you accept to be mine?

Pyrrha: i-i-i…

Jaune: *resting his head on her shoulder* please give me an answer...i’ll go crazy if you don’t give me one. *presses his face on her neck* i can feel your scent taking my reasoning away from me, i don’t think i can hold back for much longer. *wraps hands on her waist* so please tell me pyrrha. *raises his head, facing her and keeping his lips just a few centimeters from hers* do you love me as well?

Pyrrha: i...*slowly getting closer* love... *already feeling his warm breath* yo-

Nora: *barges in the dorm* HEY THERE PYRRHA!!

Pyrrha: KYAAA!!! *shuffling on her bed and quickly hiding a textbook below her pillow.* g-good afternoon nora. *sweating bullets* how are you today?

Nora: ...... *grins* you were writing fanfiction again weren't you?

Pyrrha: *dark red* w-wha-! I-i-i wasn’t wr-

Nora: aww it's okay pyrrha, i love your fanfictions, specially that one you wrote about jaune being a badass soul reaper.

Pyrrha: *atomic red* y-you read!?

Nora: yup, you probably shouldn’t store your fics bellow your bed, someone might find and read by accident.

Pyrrha: *mortified and speechless*

Nora: *we’re waiting for you in the dinner hall ‘kay? Bye pyrrha, good luck with the fics!

Pyrrha: *passes out by sheer embarrassment*

[baritonetcc]

Talent

I can’t believe where I am, I look like a protagonist of a cliche anime scene. Allergy-inducing blossoms and buds rain down around me, in a slow breeze, so more like a caramel rain. My only ride is running late, so I’m forced to remain on school grounds past my scheduled time of death. The school courtyard is empty, since school has been out for long enough for the buses to leave, and athletes were changing for sports practice. I’m sitting under a tree, finishing up a book that I stole from my English teacher’s shelf (thanks, Mr. Bradner). Oh hey, speaking of Mr. Bradner, I should go hang out in his room. The breeze is blowing majestic fronds into my not-so-majestic hair and mouth, so an empty classroom would be a nice chance of pace. I’m sure Savannah has stopped annoying him by now and pissed off to whatever hellhole she crawled out of.

I’m walking up to the building where Mr. Bradner’s room is, and Andrew Pratt bursts out of the doors, clearly late for track practice. 

“Where have you been, Tommie? I’ve been looking for you forever! I’ve been wanting to ask you something.”

Oh boy, here we go with his questions. If he asks me for answers for the math review again I swear-

“So some of the band members have been wanting to perform in an ensemble for the talent show, a big band. We wanted to play ‘Feel The Love Go’ by Franz Ferdinand, and we need someone to play the alto solo...?”

He knows that I’m going to say yes, doesn’t he. He couldn’t have asked any other alto sax player? He couldn’t have had another instrument play it? I think it would be really cool on piano. 

Thinking that I wasn’t getting the hint he continued, “So would you be interested in it? We really wanted to give it to you...”

I finally open my mouth, knowing that Andrew’s coach is going to murder him. “Sure. Text me when you can, now go to practice.”

Andrew is so good at life. He gets along with his family, he has an amazing dog, he’s a great trombone player, and he’s a track star. I wish he was better at managing his time.

I sink into a desk in Mr. Bradner’s room, where he’s correcting papers. He likes to work until he’s done with whatever task he assigns himself before going home, so I don’t say much. I go through the tasks I have written in my planner, and it’s quite bare, more than usual. I occasionally look up to see Mr. Bradner scowling at someone’s chicken scratch, or whoever’s in the hallway. Hey. Mr. Heser’s walking by. Eventually, my phone buzzes with a text. 

Andrew P(rat)t: Kyre has all the music for the group, u should go take a look ok?

What a slacker, I hope he trips because he was texting me instead of tying his shoes. I gather my things and head down to the band hall, where Mrs. Kyre resides. I get to thinking about the important questions. Who else is in the group? Why can’t I just NOT be in the talent show? I was hoping I could spend the rest of the year taking it easy, without having to worry about the talent show in June. I find myself in the band room, where Mrs. Kyre conveniently remembers to hand me the music upon seeing me. Andrew set me up for this. I whip up my hair and bust out my saxophone. I stay in the actual band room, since it’s not being used and I’d rather not lock myself in a practice room. I glance at the clock while wrestling the ligature onto the mouthpiece. I can’t believe it’s already almost four, I should’ve just walked home. I warm up quickly, look through the music, and begin trying it. Whoever wrote this isn’t half bad at transcribing, and they thankfully took mercy on the alto saxes. It was probably one of Andrew’s nerdy friends. Wait. I’m one of his nerdy friends. 

I dig into the piece, and I get into the solo part. I honk my soul out with the epicness that Adolf Sax couldn’t even begin to imagine, when I see someone walk in out of the corner of my eye. I’ve never sightread this well in my entire life before. Hell yeah, check out this badassery, Mrs. Kyre! And then I realize it’s not Mrs. Kyre. It’s Miss Avery. In that moment, I forget what key signature I’m in. I don’t know what measure I’m on. I forget how to finger any of these notes. What’s a note? I hopelessly squeak a half-assed attempt at the rhythm written on the page, then stop because I think my ears have actually fallen off.

Miss Avery smiles at me. Of course she does. She doesn’t know half of the effect she has on me. I try to talk to her, but all the words stick to my throat on the way up. Oh, and my saxophone is still in my mouth.

“Wow, that’s some real nice stuff there. You’re so into your whole band thing. I love it.”

I know she’s lying. That was the worst sound I’ve heard since hearing someone MacGyver a thick layer of aluminum foil in between the rollers of a Polaroid camera, then threw it at a running band saw when the shop teacher walked by. I didn’t even know my instrument could make such racket.

“Thanks, Miss. Are you looking for Mrs. Kyre?”

“Yeah, actually. Oh, there she is.”

Miss Avery and Mrs. Kyre set to getting completely distracted with whatever they talk about, and I get through the rest of the song.

I can’t believe I’m in Andrew’s living room with my saxophone. Honestly, it’s kind of cozy though. All of us practicing together, on these nice pillows and not in the band room. The entire way here, I complained to my friends via text about going to Andrew’s house, but I’m enjoying myself more than I made it seem. It’s a nice tone overall, and it’s a nice change since our drummer isn’t here. It’s a calm and quiet evening, and some jazzy tunes makes it powerful. His mom also makes otherworldly cupcakes. They don’t even have frosting or anything, but they taste like a sweet, buttery blanket of the warmth of innocence. It’s a week before the final show, and we’re really just working on dynamics and expression to really nail the song. Since it’s so close to the show, there’s been a lot of hype. Miss Avery asked me if I was going to see the talent show. I really wanted to surprise her, so I told her I was going, rather than informing her that I was in it, like the good child I usually am.

It’s the night of the show. I’m standing offstage in my snazzy tux (thanks, Andrew’s mom) and holding my saxophone. I usually don’t wear anything like this, which is why I’m borrowing something that Andrew’s mom pulled out of his closet from a couple years ago. He’s tall and skinny, so I didn’t have to steal anything recent from him. Last minute, we figured the stage would be blazing by the time we got on, so we ditched our jackets. The sleeves of my stark white shirt are neatly rolled up, and it’s not a bad look for me. This shirt fits surprisingly well, with the buttons over my chest doing their job, even if Andrew is a stick compared to me. Apparently, one of the trumpet players had a problem with the fact that she wore her nice diamond earrings, and I wore purple gauges. I can’t wait until she finds out that they glow in the dark. They match the album cover of the song we’re playing, so I think I win here.

I peek around the curtain, since nobody really cares at this point. The theatre’s seats are filling in with equal amounts of snickering teenagers and parents with genuine concern for our generation. I silently thank them as my eyes wander. Our theatre has planetarium-style lighting, along with the typical lights lining the wall. It’s calming to see all the bustling shadows of people finding a place to sit. I look up towards the back, and see Miss Avery coming in. She seems like she’s in a rush, and she’s looking around frantically. I dismiss the idea that she’s looking for me...but, is she? She spots a group of other teachers and they wave her over. Probably not, then. 

A couple kids eventually take the stage to thank everyone for coming, and begin intoducing the acts. I suck on my reed absentmindedly.

There’s a few dance groups, which were definitely all entertaining. Someone did a backflip off of a chair. There’s a lot of people who sing, including Savannah, who sang some basic, repetitive pop song. The musical acts are impressive, but maybe I’m just biased. Finally, the curtains close, to open for one last time. A bored looking junior steps on with a microphone, telling the theatre, “The last, but not least act we have is a band ensemble. They will be performing ‘Feeling Love Go’ by Fronz Ferdindand.” Whatever, close enough. “The group consists of various members of our school’s band, and features a saxophone solo, played by Tommie Byers.” That’s me. 

We hurry to get all of our equipment on stage. The most terrifying part was Talon’s fancy Moog keyboard setup, and making sure we were all in the right place. As we’re setting up, ‘Paper Cages’ plays. I’m wondering who’s responsible for shoving Franz Ferdinand down everybody’s throats. It’s probably the drummer. Our bari saxes conveniently bump their stands together, knocking over their music. I stand in my assigned spot perfectly, and the curtain opens. I haven’t even thought about Miss Avery again until now. Did she enjoy the rest of the show? Has she already gotten up to leave early? Once my sight adjusts to the dark sea of humans, I find her, with her eyes trained on the stage. 

The song kicks in, starting with just the rhythm section. The winds then pick up on the melody, and the guitarist strums out funky chords. Talon and his brother work magic on the keyboards. The brass delivers a bright punch, lead by Andrew. I swell with anticipation as I feel my solo come up. For some reason, I look right at Miss Avery, who has no idea what’s going to hit her. I wink. God, that was probably so cringe-worthy. I bust into my solo, starting small at first. Then I’m out there, jumping the octave, and tonguing some banging rhythms. The winds start doing this siren sounding pattern to fill in. Am I dancing? Oh God, I’m dancing. I kick out my legs and do that weird swinging squat swing like every dramatic sax player does. The brass kicks out, except for one trumpet, which follows the siren action. My solo ends after some dizzying sixteenth notes, and I’m still swayed by the music. The rhythm section continues the ride with the winds, until the song ends on a kind of questioning note, almost as if we are prompting the audience to react with whatever they were holding in the whole time.

Everybody loses it, maybe because it’s just the last show and they want to go home. All the show’s participants rejoin on the stage for pictures and such. Some kids were getting flowers from friends and family. I run down into the rapidly emptying theatre, still huffing, still red from the lights, and still holding my saxophone. My neck strap digs into my skin, as I chase after Miss Avery. We make eye contact, and she grins at me. 

“So, what did you think?” “What did I think? Well, I didn’t! That was awesome, kid! When you stepped up with that solo, my mind was blown. You did great up there, and I’m sure every person in this room enjoyed it!”

“Oh, thanks! I...I worked really hard on it, and it was really fun, actually.” “You don’t have to say that, I think we alllll knew how much fun you were having up there,” at this point, Talon’s younger brother came to retrieve my awkwardly dangling saxophone, “and I had no idea! How come you never told me that you guys were getting together to do this?”

I chuckled, “Well, I didn’t know I was supposed to.”

“That was amazing, and I’ve never seen you like that before. Come here!”

Before I know it, her arms are around me. I can’t imagine that it’s pleasant to hug a musician so passionately right after their performance, but my endorphins don’t care. Miss Avery gets a parent to take a picture of us together, and my new lock screen is Miss Avery with her arm around me in front of the stage. I’m still wearing my neck strap.

[hellyeahrpmemes]

※ SHIT I HEARD AT COLLEGE ※

a thrilling saga of shit i’ve heard at college; these are all from my first semester of sophomore year. feel free to change names/pronouns/etc.! more ‘shit i heard/said’ starters!

“The porn industry is moving swimmingly.”

“We all need men. Go find them.”

“It’s not an opera, bitches, it’s a flight.”

“Don’t look! It makes their dick bigger!”

“I have my own place and I can light as many candles as I want.”

“I’m not a librarian, sir.”

“How’s your sack lunch, bitch?”

“Stab me in the ass and turn me into Kim Kardashian.”

“I stayed up another hour just to cry.”

“I just got a nude and I don’t know how to feel about it.”

“I’m gonna go stab my eyes out now.”

“We get it. You have a big truck and a small penis.”

“It’s an epidemic, Karter!”

“There’s no cups, so I’m using a bowl. To drink apple juice.”

“Fuck y’all, I’m eating Fruit Loops!”

“I don’t know my superhero name, but here I am with my can of Lysol and my plastic fork.”

“Your list of things to do includes making the best 2000s playlist of all time and fighting me at Cheesecake Factory.”

“This is borderline human abuse.”

“How do you feel about fluorescent lighting?”

“I’m sorry, I’m on a college budget, I’ll give you two nickels and a paper clip.”

“We couldn’t say hell, because… Catholic school problems.”

“I don’t want them to call me and be like, ‘we’re about to drill into your face!’”

“Ugh, yes, the hot TA, what club are you in?”

“My rat bastard dad? What about him?”

“I have an idea that I’m positive no other human has ever had: butter flavored ice cream.”

“I hate myself, but I’m funny, so…”

“This man loves puppies and he is not afraid to say it.”

“There’s just something about stale food that I really like.”

“I like how we’re watching our upcoming death on TV.”

“When I get wasted, I want to fight. It’s a problem.”

“My boyfriend got really drunk and started drinking nectar out of the hummingbird feeder.”

“He currently has a child.”

“That’s a good way of getting rid of a baby.”

“He can’t look at his dead parents or his alive children.”

“I can’t focus on reading, ‘cause I just wanna watch Drake and Josh.”

“My roommate loves manifestos. Especially the Communist Manifesto.”

“Have you studied his naked body or something?”

“Okay, we got our Greek tragic playwrights: there’s Sophocles… there’s Euripides… uh… Isosceles?”

“We’re so stupid we click things that say ‘click here for here’.”

“So there were just 95 loose pigs.”

“This is called shaming.”

“I can’t be the only person who says ‘meatballs and spaghetti’.”

“What could go wrong? …oh, shit, I’m on fire.”

“Don’t call Kourtney unless you wanna suck dick tonight.”

“There’s no one around. He’s talking to his dick.”

“Just ‘cause it’s Greek doesn’t mean it’s sophisticated.”

“I hate myself, but I hate her more.”

“I don’t know anything about it, but it has bread in the name, so I want to try it.”

“Just… don’t breathe this class.”

“Megan: secret crop top wearer.”

“I’m embracing my aesthetic while you’re embracing… Jon Hamm’s face.”

“What are we doing tonight besides homework? …and bread?”

“I’m witnessing a breakup right here in the Starbucks line.”

“I nominate Gushers as a snack suggestion, but, like, a lot of them. All of them.”

“I have a strong immune system.”

“I was so worked up about the bolo ties.”

“Also, I was wine drunk, so…”

“Does she hit him? I hope she hits him.”

“Only Matthew McConaughey drives Lincolns.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m totally a Republican… Pence is daddy…”

“After that… is the exact same thing… from a different angle.”

“All my life, I’ve been striving to be better than Kidz Bop.”

“Is ‘slaveitude’ a word?”

“Ted Bundy was attractive. People knew him.”

“I feel like whoever’s in charge of the Reese’s company is really high right now. Like, putting Reese’s inside of Reese’s.”

“One beer bottle on campus might be a problem, but if there’s 8, they’re props.”

“With elevators, it’s not claustrophobia. It’s that I don’t trust the government.”

“Headphones: in. World: out. Notes font: ugly.”

“You know that’s a felony, right?”

“That’s a… fourth or fifth impression kind of story.”

“That means she definitely fucked a member of Kiss.”

“I feel free, but also ugly.”

“This is my unassigned assigned seat, and if any of you take it, I will fight you.”

“I went to the Home Depot, bought a bunch of lights, put them up in the air, and said ‘this is art’.”

“Because I was a full New Yorker, I just kept walking.”

“We almost died, but our last meal would’ve been free, so…”

“What’s a funeral like in 2017? GIFs and memes.”

“I would like to thank not only God but also Tinder.”

“I sat through a 40 minute argument about how Justin Bieber started the Cold War.”

“I’m just walking down the hallway, thinking about ways to throw myself down the stairs and make it look like an accident.”

“Now, if it was Kidz Bop, I’d go see it.”

“Don’t name your kid Ethelwold.”

“Shoulders, chest, pants, shoes: a vision for America.”

“My dad’s not getting dick from anyone.”

“I’m a shady beach and y’all are my shady beaches.”

“Oh, no, don’t write that down…”

“At Chipotle, God himself picked those avocados and put them in the guacamole.”

“It should be a holiday: Ohio awareness day.”

“We should go to a nice place. A formal place. California Pizza Kitchen.”

“What do you do in geology lab? Dissect rocks?”

“What great weather for a mental breakdown.”

“He’s not computer generated; he’s actually that large.”

“I’ve done some soul searching and I think that ranch dressing is my favorite food.”

“I almost said his birthday was in 1926. It’s like, we got a little bit of an age gap.”

“Are you physically running away from the situation?”

“I will personally call Papa John to tell him that he’s the reason my life isn’t going right.”

“I can’t wait for middle-aged sex now.”

“I should’ve known, there aren’t two eclipses in a year!”

“I walked around with a bear taser for a year and a half.”

“I found out that the guy I have a restraining order against has been peeing on my car for two years.”

“He fought the devil in jeans and no shirt.”

“She threw my fucking pillow off of the balcony!”

“Tickets are for something fun. Paying the check is not fun.”

“It’s Halloween, calories don’t count on holidays.”

“Well, you know how I said we met in philosophy class? Well… Elise doesn’t take philosophy class.”

“You got it wrong. You said 56 point 2. The answer was 56 point 2.”

“Do I want that horrible sock tan line that I had for five years back? Yeah, I do.”

“I got drunk, threw up, got high, and came here.”

“It’s Titanic blue. I’m the Heart of the Ocean, bitch.”

“The only rat bastard in our lives is Russ.”

“The beats are so good, but the words are such trash.”

“I had to fight someone in the elevator yesterday.

“…I’ve awakened the Demigorgon.”

“We solved the great hiccup epidemic of 2017.”

“Watch out, Kansas, I’m coming for you.”

“Do not associate my birthday with math terms.”

“That’s some Hunger Games type shit.”

“Fuck y’all, I hope you trip and die.”

“I’m very confused and also cold: an American tale. A five part miniseries, this fall on HBO.”

“I am Mrs. Grey! Bring me the kink!”

“I really wanna make a shirt that’s all Comic Sans.”

“I was thinking about Panera’s mac and cheese in a bread bowl, and I started crying.”

“We’re gonna steal your WiFi, but it’s okay, because Panhellenic love.”

“I have confidence that you’re not gonna get pregnant within those two hours.”

“See if this card works. I mean, it should work, but, like…”

“I think my favorite part was slowly dying.”

“All they serve is chicken salad, so you really have to like chicken salad.”

“I have three papers and a test this week, I don’t have time for feelings to resurface.”

“I’m living a life. Not my best one.”

“When you write a report on a book you’ve never read.”

“Don’t tell me what to wear when you wear Crocs to the bar.”

“I have listened to literally nothing but Hallelujah and My Heart Will Go On all day today.”

“Oh my god, Elise, you fucking bitch, get your shit together, and write your paper.”

You know what I’m really devastated about? I’m all out of Fruit Roll-ups.”

“We’re gonna be teachers. We have school forever.”

“I don’t want your sympathy, I want your anger.”

“Clowns… doorknobs… the color yellow… ducks… I’m quoting Victorious…”

“Did you just say ‘hey Sophie’ to not include me? ‘Cause, guess what, bitch, I’m still here.”

“I live here, I know when we have salad!”

“I think Satan’s middle name is cumulative.”

“I will put up with my moose husband for however long I need.”

“I’ve literally been down here for an hour and a half waiting for these nonexistent cookies.”

“I’m keeping a detailed list of Elise’s hickeys.”

“I’m an adult, I say as I eat my Fruit Roll-up.”

“Oh, my practicum grade is in! Let’s see… 36.”

“SOS, I’m in bed and it’s so comfy, but I need to get up to study, what do I do?”

“Get up. Only a few more days until we can sleep all we want.”

“So you’re admitting you live in the woods.”

“I don’t know if it’s finals stress or if this is actually the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, but I’m crying.”

“It was optional, don’t make me feel bad for skipping class.”

“I’ve heard that, if enough people fail, they’ll have to curve it.”

“How do you even study for this?”

[thebustedandtheblue]

The Busted Ch 4: Over and Over and Over

Chapter 1| Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

Big warning for language and gore. Posts are going to be slow going since I’m basically writing this as I go. Thanks for sticking by and reading.

Yondu awoke with a start, before his alarm and before anyone else in the barrack. Years of being with one eye open at night made him a light sleeper, and quick to rise lest he wanted a boot to the ribs. He dropped from his bunk and checked on his new and unwanted ward. Still asleep. He should haul her bony green hide out of her bunk for the mawkish gesture she tried last night. He didn’t need someone to hold his hand like a child if he had a bad dream. All she managed to do was wake him, and the only thing keeping him from throttling her in the dead of night was the thought of what a Stakar would do if he had. Some comfort that was.

The alarm went off, and the groans of men followed. N’Zar was still in her bunk after all the other men had risen, cocooned into the thin blankets.

“Get up.” A drawling voice said to her.

“Fighmormits…” She slurred, pulling the blankets closer to her.

Something heavy grabbed at her shoulder and shook her. She batted at the hand and rolled onto her belly.

The heavy thing and the drawl tried a final time and shake her back.

“Get up, girl.” The drawl said with an aggressive gravel.

N’Zar finally conceded and her head emerged from the nest of sheets. A bleary mass of blue stood in front of her. She blinked and the mass came into focus as...that dickhead centaurian from last night. It wasn’t a dream. She was still on the Starhawk.

Hey la“Tenmrmints” She said as her face sunk back into the pillow.

Yondu had had enough of this. He grabbed the sheets and yanked hard. They were stripped off the mattress and tossed on the floor along with his charge. N’zar hit the floor hard on her back. She let out a cry of pain, and a few explicatives.

“Get up.” he said again with far more force.

She got up. “Yes, Udonta.” She looked up at him. He was already dressed and ready for the day. He was holding a bundle of clothes which he unceremoniously dropped on the pile of her and blankets.

“Here.” he said. “They’re clean.”

“Can’t I get a shower first?”

“Showers are for those who earn ‘em. Now put those on.” She held up the shirt. It was far too big for her, nearly to her knees, adorned with grease stains and an ancient faded graphic, something about what happens on Sakaar, and it was a washed out, grimy pink.

She hated pink.

She sighed and pulled on the dusty rose shirt, and the mauve leggings that accompanied it. It went down past her waist and halfway to her knees. The collar was bigger than her head, and N’Zar was left with the choice of exposing one shoulder, or pulling the shirt, more of a tunic really, down her front and exposing a provocative amount of her chest. She did what she could to alter her form to fit her clothes, but to no avail. She tied a knot in the back, forcing the collar up to her neck and exposing her back down past her shoulder blades. She still looked like she was wearing a sack.

“What no boots?” She asked.

“You get boots when we can find something that fits you. Yer a good head shorter than everyone else here.” Her keeper said.

“Can I at least get a belt?” She complained.

Yondu went to his locker, and pulled out a short strip of leather, and shoved it into her arms. The belt helped. But she still felt like she was wearing a dress. A pink dress. Once she was fully clothed the two headed for the mess hall.

This was humiliating. When Yondu had joined the Ravagers he was hoping for freedom, adventure, maybe getting rich stealing things. Not babysitting a shitty little shapeshifter stowaway.  The jabs by the crew wasn’t helping much either. Word had already gotten around he ship of his punishment and new charge. Everyone thought it was a fantastic joke that the hardened warrior had been duped by the little Skrull woman toddling along behind him.

“Hey look! Chef Yondu and his little girlfriend.”

“Don’t let her get to close or she’ll tase you in the junk again!”

“A scullery maid and a Skrullery maid.” Another said, of which only half the crew understood the joke, those that did groaned at the pun.

Those that didn’t mock or laugh shot N’Zar dirty looks and scowls. No one trusted her, both for what she did and because of what she was. Few in the galaxy sympathized with Skrull, and many of them had good reason to despise her. She kept her head down, avoided eye contact until the two walked into the galley.

The ship had no formal cook. They had an automated food replicator run by the ship’s computer Mainframe. They tried their best to accommodate the plethora of people that populated the crew, only to end with the same brownish chunks and gravybroth that N’Zar had recognized as the same food she had the previous night. It could use a bit of salt.

The two worked in silence, taking plates as they came. As she took the crew’s dishes from them N’Zar noticed was that she was nearly the only woman on board. Other than the arcturan woman sitting next to the captain, everyone else was a man, or at least as far as she could suss out everyone identified as male. This might be a problem, she thought.

“So how long have you been working with these guys?” N’Zar asked, making a desperate attempt at breaking the monotony of washing dishes.

Yondu grunted and continued scrubbing at a caked on patch of food in a discarded pot.

“Long enough.” He said.

“Which is…?”

He turned to her. “Long enough.”

The last of the crew’s dishes came, and the majority left in clumps. The rest trickled out until only the two in the galley were left. With their tasks finished, they ate in silence. They observed each other in what they each believed was discretion. Yondu kept one hand on his bowl of food, while N’Zar was constantly scanning the room. Yondu also noticed the little marks on her neck and arms. Dark and puckered circles. He had seen worse, but burns were burns. He surmised that she had more elsewhere.

“So um...those little tchotchkes.In your bunk. Are they for...something?” She asked, trying once again to break the awkward silence between them.

“I collect ‘em.” He says. Once again he goes back to silent eating.

“Oh? Where’d you get them?”

“All over. I’m going to put them on my dash when I get my own ship.”

“That’s...kinda neat. You got a favorite?”

Yondu thought for a moment. “There’s one that’s got three eyes and looks like a bird.”

Three eyed bird sounded familiar. N’Zar knew she had seen something like that before.

“That’s some Kree thing right? It’s some mascot thing?”

Yondu gave a bit of a smirk. “Yeah it is. Stole it from this asshole guard. I’ve had it longer than I’ve been here.”

N’Zar perked up. Finally after a few hours of trying she had him on something.

“Yeah? Where were you before?”

Yondu lapsed back into brooding silence. “Somewhere else” is his only response.

Kree guard, the scars, the cagey demeanor around her, although that might have more to do with the other night, but still. Pieces were coming together in N’Zar’s mind.

“Were you a-“ her last question was cut off by the squeak of Yondu’s chair as he stood up.

Second shift started. Lunch was the same thing as breakfast. Same slop and the same faces glaring at her. N’Zar was scrubbing the plates and Yondu was drying. Neither were paying attention too much to the other. Not until N’Zar let out a loud curse and fell back from the receiving counter sending ceramic plates to the floor in white shards. Yondu snapped his head up to see what had shaken the girl. Laying on the counter was a dead orloni. It had been disemboweled and strewn across a dish.

“Aw hell!” He said, seeing the bloody mess. He looked down at his ward, shook by the gruesome sight.

“Get up you dumbass.” He snapped. N’Zar flinched, and stood up. She hated orloni, and seeing one with it’s guts out made things doubly worse.

“Hey who’s the stupid fuck who did this!?” Yondu yelled out into the mess.

Everyone kept their head down. The hall stayed silent other than the sounds of a hundred men chewing and slurping. Yondu picked up the carcass, stomping out of the galley and into the hall with N’Zar abreast to him, pulling at him to come back into the galley.

“Udonta don’t” She protested, but he shoved her off.

“Hope y’all like fresh meat!” He shouted, and chucked the carcass out into the crew with blood arching over some of their heads.  The dead space rat landed squarely in someone’s lunch, gravy and gore splattering several at the table. One of them stood up. A kylorian, with brown and red on his face. He stood at height with Yondu but he had a good fifty pounds of muscle on him. He walked toward him, the broader man stood nose to nose, the two staring each other down. N’Zar was still pulling at him to come back to his duties.

“You should listen to the skrull whore and go back to your job, Yond-UGH” The kylorian was cut off when a blue fist connected with his nose. The pink man held his face while threads of blood oozed between his fingers. Yondu pinned him to the floor and proceeded to pound the man’s face into the filthy linoleum.

“Udonta stop!” N’Zar screamed, trying to pry her chaperone off his punching bag. Yondu shoved her back into the wall.

“YONDU.” A voice bellowed out into the mess hall. Yondu froze and all eyes went to the entrance. A monolith of a jovian stood, his bald head barely grazing the top of the threshold. He strode towards the scuffle and removed him bodily from the man he had been pummeling. He held Yondu at the back of his neck, all the while he writhed and swiped at the air like a feral cat, a stream of explicatives spewed from his mouth.

“Put me down, Charlie! I’m gonna put this puke in the ground!”

“Both of you outside. Now.” Charlie-27 pointed at the Kylorian with the broken nose. “Go to the infirmary, then go see Stakar. THE REST OF YOU GET BACK TO EATING.”

Out in the hall, Charlie drops Yondu gingerly to the floor. N’Zar stands next to him, but not too closely.

“What happened?”

“Some jackass put a dead orloni on a plate. Scared the shit out of the girl.” “And that’s how you got into a fight?”

Yondu averted his gaze “No not exactly I uh…threw it into the hall.”

“Really.” Charlie-27 stated. It wasn’t a question. He knew the answer was true, but he had to confirm it with the girl. “Is that what happened?”

N’Zar looked at Charlie, at Yondu, and back at Charlie. She opened and closed her mouth. “He...he did. But that guy called me a whore..”

“I don’t care what he called you I had to come in and end it, dead orloni or not. I ain’t going to tell Stakar about this but I don’t want to hear about another fight. And you Miss N’Zenne, fight for yourself. Don’t let Yondu take the punches for you.”

Charlie 27 walked into the mess hall, muttering something about how he was tired of this shit.

N’Zar looked at Yondu. His face had gone back to a blank mask he had worn all morning. “Sorry.” She said.

He let out a breath. “You wanted a shower? Go get it while there’s still hot water.” He said.

Shower....

It felt like years since she had been able to bathe. Rivulets of warm water streamed down her back, the grime of Knowhere sloughed off never to be seen again. She was alone in the communal shower, save for her chaperone, whom hid behind the tiled wall. She bet he wanted to see her. Wanted to confirm if any of the rumors about Skrull were true. What she had between her legs, if she had nipples, if the folds in her jaw went beyond her neck. She had heard them all. And yet he abstained. Maybe he was disgusted by her, it was within his rights. If he was a slave to the Kree than they would have convinced him that she was an abomination or worse. Or maybe he was just not interested in her. But if she truly was the only available woman on board, and by how he seemed so eager on Knowhere, that did not necessarily seem to be the case. And why did he punch that man when he called her a whore?

She scoured her skin with soap, deepening the peridot tones to expunge the interstellar grime the best she could. She did not care about whether or not Yondu wanted her or not. Her only concern at the moment was the fleeting warmth of the shower and the gray filth-water circling the drain between her feet. A heavy succession of thumps on the far wall meant that her alone time was over.

A blue hand held out a towel for her. She was glad he was polite. Or a prude. Maybe both. She took it and dried herself off.

“Thank you” she said as she turned the corner to look at her custodian.

“Whatever.”

“No really. Thanks. For defending me. You didn’t need to do that.”

He shrugged. “Let’s get back to the mess hall. Dinner’s gonna start soon.”

At dinner there were no incidents. No dead orloni, and no fights. But she’d be damned if she didn’t feel on edge the whole shift. None of the crew could look at her, which in a strange way was even worse than before.

After dinner she returned to the barracks. Sitting in front of her bunk was a pair of boots. Not new, but in better condition than what she had on her feet. They did not quite fit, but they were close enough.

“Hope those make do.” A voice said behind her. She turned to see a tall man, with dark dreadlocked hair. There were long scars and blue tattoos across his face. “Someone found them way in the back of storage.”

“Thank you. Um…”

“Tullk Ul-Zyn. And don’t thank me, someone else found them.”

She looked down at her new boots. She’d take whatever shred of kindness she could get, even if it were anonymous.

[a-collection-of-nonsense]

Prompt: Lily is on her period and bleeds onto James’s bed one night. Thank you to @lumoslames for the prompt and @gryffindormischief for letting me steal it! It’s a little rough, I didn’t edit much, but enjoy!

“Shit, James, wake up, we need to get out of here now!” Lily Evans cried as she tried to wake her boyfriend from his current deep slumber. “C’mon, you big lump, let’s go!” 

However, the lumpy mass hidden under the covers and the rat’s nest of black hair peeking past it did not stir.

Now, don’t take this as a sign that James Potter was anything other than an incredibly attentive boyfriend. In fact, it was his ability to be completely in tune to his girlfriend that allowed him to sleep through her increasing hysterical pleas for him to wake. See, James had come to know Lily so well over the years that he could tell her ‘Help me, either I or someone else is dying’ voice from her ‘Marlene got a run in my best stocking now help me hunt her down’ voice from even in his sleep. He called these categories ‘Real Crisis” and ‘Lily Crisis’.

At the moment her voice stayed in the ‘Lily Crisis’ category, so James slept on.

It wasn’t until he heard her sniffles, the soft kind that told him she was doing her best to hide it, that he was dragged out of oblivion.

“Lily, c’mere,” he said softly, pulling her into his arms, “What in Merlin’s name is wrong, love? You were so excited about visiting my parents’ house this whole week, what’s happened?”

It was true. Lily and Mrs. Potter had been owling back and forth for nearly a month as they planned the young couple’s visit to the old Potter manor over Easter holidays. In truth, James was the one who had been most anxious about it. Not because he thought that his girlfriend and his parents wouldn’t get on, of course; no, he was worried they would get on too well. He anticipated that the weekend would consist of the three of them teaming up against him to take the piss out of him, as that seemed to be all of their hobby of choice whenever he was around. He had been picturing it all week: Lily and his mother, Euphemia, swapping stories back and forth of all the horribly embarrassing things he had done over the years (moments of which there were far too many to choose from). Just thinking about it had made him cringe. 

Now they were laying in James’s childhood bedroom after arriving late last night (too late to meet his parents, as they were a bit elderly and went to bed early), and Lily was crying in his arms and he was utterly, utterly confused.

“It’s just,” Lily sniffled, and James was amazed that somehow her button nose still looked adorable with snot running from it, “It’s just, I got my period in the middle of the night.” She blushed beet red (not that it was terribly unusual, Lily’s Irish pale skin meant that she turned scarlet with the faintest hint of embarrassment).

“Well, I sure hope it’s not your first time,” James said mock-seriously, “I mean, I can go through the whole birds and the bees talk if you need me to but I’ll tell you, I wasn’t paying all that much attention so I may not get everything anatomically correct-”

A pillow smacked him across the face. “You prat!” Lily cried, but he knew he had won when he saw her trying to fight back a smile. See, that was his: to get Lily to take herself a little less seriously every once in a while. It was his greatest goal in life to make her laugh.

“So what’s the problem then?” James asked her once he wrestled the pillow from her surprisingly strong arms, “Do we need to the supermarket or something, get your things?”

“It’s not that,” she replied, “I, well, I bled onto your sheets in the night.” She covered her face in her hands in embarrassment.

James wasn’t going to lie; he was a little grossed out by the thought. Mostly because he had a thing about blood, any kind of blood really. It all made him a bit queasy (which was ironic considering how much blood he had shed throughout his years as a Quidditch players). But, still, he couldn’t quite match up her reasoning. “So why does your bleeding on the bed mean we have to evacuate the building? It’s not contagious or anything is it?” He anticipated her smack, ducking his head at just the right moment. 

“It’s-well-your parents are going to hate me!” Lily cried, standing up and waving her arms in a frenzy. “First I barge in over their Easter holidays. And then I sleep over in their son’s bed in their own home, like some common slut! And now I’ve bled all over theirs sheets?” She paused and turned to face him, finishing with, “It’s just too much, okay? Here-I bet if we sneak out now we’d be gone before they even woke! It would be like I was never even here!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said, holding up a hand to stop her frantic packing, “First of all, they love you. They loved you the moment they heard about the Giant Squid incident, thought it was about time someone slapped me back down to Earth. They are more than happy to have you here. Seriously, they already practically view you as family.” He saw her angrily wipe away some tears and sniffle a few more times, but knew he was getting through to her. “Second,” he continued, “We’re of age. They know we are adults and intend to treat us like it. They’re not naïve, didn’t see a reason for us not to share a bed. Also, I think they see it as a sort of test, too. If you didn’t run screaming at the sight of my hippogriff-stall of a room, they figured you were a keeper.” He saw a grin working onto her face now, and felt that sense of relief that washed over him whenever he was able to talk Lily down from a ledge, whether it was over some blood purist comment or less-than-Exceptional grade. “Third,” he said, drawing up close enough to her to make her breath caught (and he grinned). Murmuring in her ear so that his breath tickled, he said, “We’re wziards love, we can just vanish it.”

“You absolute toerag!” she shouted, pushing him away while she giggled loudly (she had the most obnoxious, loud, brilliant laugh he’d ever heard) while he grinned mischievously in return, “I don’t know why I even bothered to date you in the first place!”

In response he tackled her, throwing her over his shoulder until he was able to drop her onto the bed. She bounced against the mattress (a sight that made him think of other, unrelated mattress-bouncing activities) and he pounced on top of her.

“Is it because I’m so devilishly handsome?” he asked her, kissing down her jaw. 

She pretended to consider this before saying, “No, I don’t think it’s that.”

“Is it pity then?” he asked, making puppy-dog eyes at her that made her snort.

“Not that either,” she said, sporting her own mischievous grin now.

“Tell me then, Evans,” he said, peppering kisses down her neck now (and that breath hitch, it was just wow), “Why is it that you decided to date me?”

Lily took his face in her hands, drawing it up to hers so that she could look him straight in the eye. And those eyes, the deep emerald green that swallowed him, the way they crinkled slightly around the edges when she smiled, the warmth hidden in their depths, he could stare into them forever.

“It’s because I love you of course,” she said simply, in a matter-of-fact way that took his breath away. Then she grinned again, that jokester smile that still surprised him after her seeing her for so many years as a swotty rule-follower. “I love you in spite of your overwhelming prattishness,” she finished impishly.

“I’ll show you prattishness,” he roared in return, attacking her in what turned into a ferocious tickling war.

Euphemia and Fleamont Potter woke up to the sounds of their son and the love of his life laughing loudly in the room down the hall, and the elderly couple smiled at each other, knowing that all was well.