#WELCOME BACK WHITE BOY I MISSED DRAWING CHERRI

[realkilljoyhoursnow]

A desert newspaper's local rodeo queen of 1982. This is a signed clipping I obtained, although I can't be sure if the signature is from Cherri Cola himself.

[urlkssknt]

a deep love confession

warnings!! nsfw!! unprotected sex!!

johnny x fem reader, 3k

johnny stared at you with such intensity, you had never seen that look in his eyes before. he looked mad. he was mad. at you, specifically. of course, you were a grown woman, one who could handle any form of danger, but that knowledge didn't help the anxiety that was weighing down on johnny's chest heavily. "where were you?" johnny tried to speak in the calmest tone he could muster but he was failing to mask his emotions. was it because you didn't inform him that you left for the deal or was it because he felt like you didn't trust him?

you scanned his posture as he stood still in your bedroom, a room that all of your men were forbidden from entering, even dohwan. yet, you always welcomed johnny. sighing, you began to shrug off the jacket you wore and placed it on your bed, not bothering to answer the man in your room. to you, it didn't seem like such a big deal, you were simply doing your job.

"y/n, i just asked you a question."

both of your eyes locked onto each other, a mutual look of intensity, hoping to try and read each other's minds, johnny just wanted to understand you but you were making it so difficult for him. your eyes were blank. you showed no detectable emotions.

"i don't answer to you," was what you said that threw johnny off the edge. whatever patience was left in him now vanished. groaning loudly, johnny ran his hand through his hair and held onto his neck. he couldn't shout at you, he couldn't do anything.

you infuriated him.

johnny decided it was best to leave you alone, maybe forever. the feelings he felt for you heavily trumped what you felt for him, johnny assumed in his mind, that was always constantly things about you. there was no way to tell what you were thinking and it stressed him out. he just wanted to understand you.

"wow," johnny scoffed, placing his hands on his hips as he glared at you, the way you just gazed back at him obliviously pissed him off even more, "i guess i shouldn't have worried about you then, huh?" anger was laced with every word he spoke in a voice that was quiet so no one that happened to be walking past could hear but loud enough for you to listen. the warm light of your room illuminated johnny's features, his beautiful face hardened like a rock, jaw tense. "do you even care that i was worried about you? i get that you don't care about you own life but i care, y/n! me!" you were speechless. feelings were never your strong point, voicing them aloud was even worse. slowly, you began to process johnny's words, however the said man took your silence literally and as a rejection.

feeling fed up, johnny began to walk towards the door, the sound of his leaving footsteps booming in your ear like thunder. it awoke something in you as if a switch had been turned on. johnny's fingers were ready to reach out for the door handle to leave out of your life before he froze in his steps, "i'm sorry."

you had apologised.

the two words were foreign to your tongue but you hoped johnny could hear the sincerity in your shakey voice. it was only a matter of a few more seconds before johnny felt your hands wrap around his waist, your head resting against his broad back. he felt warm to you. any anger that he experienced quickly evaporated with that one act.

"i can't stand to see the sight of you walking away," the image of it was still fresh in your mind, causing you to tighten your grip on him, in fear he would actually leave. your fingers trembled as you clutched johnny's cotton shirt. "the way i feel for you," you began slowly with a wavering voice as you thought out every word, trying to piece everything you wanted to say, "i haven't felt this way about anyone before, and i don't know if i deserve to feel it." your heart was hammering in your chest, you were afraid that johnny could feel it beating, a sheet of paper couldn't pass between your grip on the taller man.

as johnny felt your grip loosen, he instantly held your hands against him again.

"i love you," you whispered quietly in a defeated tone.

johnny turned around so quickly you were afraid he might have experienced whiplash. the hardened features of his face had finally softened, showing you everything you found so dearly beautiful about him. as his dark eyes pierced into yours, johnny raised one of his large hands to cup your face. he didn't miss the way you nestled into it further, the simple act causing his heart to skip a beat. the organ was beating so loudly out of his chest johnny was almost certain you could hear it in the comforting silence, unbeknownst to him, your heart matched his rapid pace.

"i want to be the one by your side, y/n," johnny's other free hand snaked around your waist to draw you closer to him, with your hands still wrapped around him, "please, i can handle everything you throw at me, just... let me be a part of your world." his forehead rested against yours, you could feel his warm breath falling upon your skin, finding peace in it. johnny was real and not a figment of your dreams that were beginning to replace the recurring nightmares that occupy your sleepless nights.

"but you'll get hurt," your body stiffened at the thought of johnny becoming hurt or worse, dead. all because of you.

"then let me," johnny held onto you tighter, embracing you with both arms, his scent unknowingly calming you down, "i know you'll protect me no matter what," he had spoken with a smirk that was so obvious in his voice.

gazing upon your face once more, johnny knew he reached your ice cold heart. that all his efforts didn't go to waste. your neck craned as you looked up at him with endearing eyes, as if he was the most perfect creature to have been created. it began to cause a stir in him. taking advantage of your dazed state, johnny angled his head lower so he could meet your lips. unlike the first kiss you both shared, the taste of tobacco is no longer lingering like a reminder of your habit, just the taste of your lip gloss. it was so sweet. johnny indulged himself in the sweetness, you kissed him back with an equal amount of eagerness. your slender fingers ran up the expanse of johnny's chest, standing on the tips of your feet to match his height but yet you were still shorter than him. the soft kiss quickly became anything but innocent, the urge to have johnny bed you almost had your knees buckling.

somehow, johnny had moved you both to your bed, where you sat in his lap, your thighs on either side of him. warm comforting hands ghosted along your bare legs, the skirt you wore had ridden up, revealing more inches of your body for johnny to touch. "i want you," you breathed as you pulled away from johnny's swollen lips.

johnny groaned at your words. he had imagined this moment ever since you deemed his yours, the thoughts normally continued in a lonesome cold shower and the company of his hand. a blush grazed his cheeks at the embarrassing thoughts. the blood rushed to his dick at the sight of your doe eyes pleading him to consent. "fuck," johnny's voice dropped an octave, "you sure, darling?"

the small nod of your head was the green light. his hands gripped at your hips, guiding you dangerously closer to feel where he needed you most. intently, johnny watched as you gasped at the feeling of his hardening dick through his jeans.

"i'll make you cum on my dick instead of my tongue," the lewd words were whispered softly, hot breath fanning against your ear, only for you to hear. in a matter of seconds, you felt johnny's pulp lips press opened-mouth kisses along the juncture of your neck, his lips upturned into a smirk when you titled your head to allow him to have more access. cherry blossoms trailed from beside your ear down to your collarbone. a gasp emitted from you at the harsh sting of your skin between johnny's teeth.

"you're so beautiful, y/n," you wondered how johnny viewed you, a psychotic bitch who needed to be locked up or someone who was deserving of love. cradling his face between your cold hands, you littered soft kisses all around johnny's handsome face, mentally swearing to yourself to kill anyone who as much places a scratch upon it. johnny stilled at the sudden affection. your wondering hands turn south from johnny's chest, you had the blessing of being able to peel the white t-shirt off from his body, leaving him bare before your eyes. johnny was very confident in his body, the way you drooled over him like a child craving a candy, made him chuckle. the laughter died when you suddenly began to undress yourself, revealing the dark lace undergarments you wore. johnny's mind wondered if you purposely wore such a thing for his eyes only.

returning to his lap, you innocently rolled your hips against johnny's unbelievably hard dick, eliciting a sound from him that made you clench around nothing. "do you want me to cum in my pants?" you blinked at him in confusion as if your heat wasn't sat directly on top of the area where he needed you most. johnny rolled his eyes at your unresponsive reaction. for a mafia boss, you knew nothing about sex. "where do you keep your condoms?" he shifted his weight in order to search through your bedside table for the packaged rubbers.

"i don't have any," you told johnny, watching the way the muscles in his back tense, "you're my first."

he knew this already but it spurred something in him to hear it again. johnny turned his head to you at lightning speed, catching you off guard. a voiceless part of him takes pride in knowing that you never took pleasure in someone else before him, unlike what the rest of the boys believed. if they only knew, johnny thought.

"darling, we can't do this then."

"no!" the sound of your own voice shocks you, never did you think you would be so intoxicated by a man that you'd loose all sense of pride, but johnny sat there, peering down at you, and suddenly the desire for him to fill you increased tenfold. "isn't it better without?" you reasoned, remembering the conversation with yuta about sex being better without protection. the chance of you getting pregnant during your first time seemed low to you, you knew it was a risk but you'd do anything to cease the throbbing you felt.

"yeah but-" johnny's reasoning was cut short by your lips kissing along his chest, so lightly like petals grazing against his skin, "baby." his groan only added to the wetness that was pooling in your panties, all for him.

your hands wrap around his neck to bring johnny's gaze back to your lustful ones, "it'd be nice," your voice sounded as smooth as butter, coaxing him to give into your every desire, "my belly swollen with your baby." you practically purr in his ear. johnny felt his dick twitch in its restrictive confinements, reminding himself of just how unforgivingly hard he is.

"for a virgin," johnny sighs shakily, feigning disappointment, as he began to undo his trousers, pushing his boxers down with them, "you have such a foul mouth," he moved to sit against the headboard of your bed that was fit for a king, "should i stuff it with my dick?" johnny hummed, not missing how your thighs rubbed together slightly.

all the arrogance left your body when you peered at johnny's dick, eyes lingering for a moment too long. you gulped. there was no way for you to tell if his size was regular, due to your inexperience, but he looked big.

mocking laughter fell from johnny, you looked so scared sat in his lap, having no absolute fucking clue what to do, a sight people would pay billions to see, and yet you trusted johnny enough to be the one who sees you like this. his chest swelled with pride. he was your first. somewhere in his heart, johnny knew he'd be your last too.

the tips of your fingers curled between johnny's soft locks as he pulled you back in his strong arms, slotting his warm lips between your own. his mind drifted back to when he ate you out, the taste of you still fresh in his mind. you moaned sinfully against him as his hand groped your breast through your bra, you rutted against him in response to the pleasure. his other hand itched it's way to your back, managing to unclap the lace material, freeing your breasts. leaning down, johnny doesn't miss the opportunity to press a kiss along the valley between your mounds, leaving you a sighing mess above him.

"please, john," you said breathlessly, you were aching for him to touch you in the area you desired most yet he avoided completely.

gripping your hips tightly, johnny guided you to be on top of him, your thighs straddling his waist yet again, after throwing your panties to pile with the rest of the disregarded clothes on the floor. your body trembled slightly out of nervousness. johnny cupped your face with his large palm, "we don't have to do this," he said again. your pleasure was the only thing that mattered to him, he could withstand another cold shower for your sake. however, you urged him to continue.

your hips bucked at the feeling of johnny's hand cupping your sex. "you're dripping," his eyes darkened at the way your wetness glistened under the lighting, before licking his hands clean as if it were the richest frosting, something straight out of a porno. the hum johnny produced caused a chill to run through your body as you completely focused on him.

wasting no more time, johnny aligned himself with your enterance, helping you slowly ease yourself onto him. every cry you emitted from the discomforting stretch was shushed with reassuring mumbles, encouraging words about you 'taking him so well,' and soft kisses peppered around your pain-ridden face. the air in your lungs left your body at the feeling of being completely filled. it took all of johnny's strength to not just thrust into you and take you as he pleased. your walls were so tight and so warm around him, his mind felt like it was going to explode.

as the pain surpassed, you began to rock your hips at a slow irregular pace. each second was agonising for johnny as all he could do was grip at your hip. he was sure a bruise would be left there tomorrow. the other hand kneed the flesh of your ass, coaxing you to move a bit faster. johnny's lips attached themselves to your left breast, swirling his tongue against your nipple softly, the gasp you let out only encouraged the assault. it wasn't until his teeth grazed the sensitive peak that you clenched around him deliciously. johnny cursed out as his hips bucked into yours, hitting a spot you didn't know existed, "do that again, darling."

your breaths were loud in your partner's ears, chest heaving as the air was knocked out of your lungs, your mind was filled to the brim with thoughts of johnny, much like your cunt was. the feeling of your orgasm approaching burned in your lower body.

"j-john," you tried to silence your pathetic whines by pressing your face into johnny's shoulder, his name fell like a mantra from your lips as if it were the only word you knew.

"my pretty, pretty girl," johnny cooed at the fucked out expression adorning your face, a look no one apart from him would ever be able to witness.

the rolling of your hips became sloppier, the longer you chased your high. your legs began to feel numb. johnny's hips suddenly began to thrust up into you, so deeply that tears prick the corners of your eyes.

"'m so close." it was a miracle that your nails didn't break as they created deep crescent-like cuts in johnny's back. you hung onto his shoulders for dear life. if you were hurting him, johnny didn't show it.

he was embarrassed to say it but johnny could feel his high rising in such a short time. the way you called his name when he couldn't be more closer to you made his head spin, slowly loosing control as you clenched around him tighter. grunts and groans fell from him, immediately being swallowed by your parted lips.

sweat adorned your skin, your hair matted against the top of your forehead, johnny couldn't imagine what he looked like himself, his hair was probably a mess from your clutches.

"fuck, john, why is your dick so big?"

"you did not just say that," johnny snorted, wishing he had a camera to capture the blush that crept on your cheeks in embarrassment, had you said the wrong thing?

"do you want me to cum in you, darling?" the lewd question was said with such innocence, no one would have suspected the effect it had on you, "should i?" johnny's grip got stronger, as if it were possible, and began to thrust his hips up into you, repeatedly hitting the spot that had you seeing stars. the quiet moans falling from your lips and the way your walls clenched around his dick were a big giveaway that you were nearly at your high.

you emitted a gasp as the coil in your stomach snaps, the pleasure quickly become too much as johnny continued to pound you from beneath. in a matter of seconds, you could feel the warmth of his load coating your walls.

finally, your lover stilled in you, waiting just one more moment before leaving your warmth. the whine from the loss of johnny's dick almost made him do a double-take, desiring to fill you up again. however he knew better and wanted to let you rest. johnny kissed the crown of your head, his strong arms holding your slumped body up against him. "you okay?"

you managed a small hum, feeling too tried to respond. johnny noticed your drooping eyelids, he gently helped you off his lap and lay down on your bed, despite your protests of missing his warmth. a small chuckle fell from him as he looked at the marks you created along his chest in the bathroom mirror. he went in to get a towel to clean you up with and a shirt for you to sleep in so you wouldn't sleep cold. by the time johnny returned, you had managed to fall asleep in the short time. regardless, the older man continued to clean up the mess between your thighs, he couldn't manage to slip your shirt on you so johnny made sure to tuck the blankets in tightly.

"john, can you sleep with me?" your small voice asked, tired eyes meeting his with a pleading look.

"what did we just do earlier," johnny joked as he put his boxers on, the light in your room casted a glow around him that likened him to an angel.

"stay with me."

your hand had managed to sneak its way out of the blanket and beckoned johnny to lay beside you. the sucker he was for you, anything you desired you would have, who was he to deny you of himself. sighing, johnny clambered into the cold bed, he shivered as he laid beside you. like a moth to a flame, you reached out to touch him, yearning for the warmth of his naked body. johnny was always warm and you were always cold.

"haechan will notice i'm not there," he said softly with his long fingers running through your hair.

"i don't care," you said simply, the members were almost certain that something was happening between you and johnny, they just needed confirmation. "neither should you, your thoughts should only consist of me."

[rosyfingereddawnn]

heart of gold (chapter two)

pairing: robert plant x florence bennett (oc)

warnings: domestic abuse, sexual assault (short scene, over the clothes), depictions of violence, jonesy and jimmy being partners in crime 

words: 3.4k

summary: trapped in a loveless marriage to a powerful man, florence bennett lives every day in despair. after a chance encounter with a golden-haired actor, florence finds that her life will never be the same again.

author’s note: this was... more fun to write than it should have been. once again, please note that the views of that bitch named allen are not my own. hope you enjoy!! :) feedback, as always, is so appreciated!

chapter one

masterlist

playlist

------

Walking out of that theatre, arm linked with that of her cruel husband, Florence knew her life had changed. A cosmic shift, perhaps. 

Whatever it had been, she had felt it. The blond performer, with the crown of perfect silken ringlets, was the catalyst, clearly. When Florence had laid eyes on him, she found herself completely unable to look away. He was mesmerizing and she was trapped yet again. This time, though, she welcomed it, this beautiful creature an escape for the young woman, from her unhappiness. Florence, looking towards her husband once more, is struck by scorching anger, largely directed at herself. She had let herself get sucked in, thwarted by her own choices.

“...His hair is much too long. And that blasted bird landed right in his palm! Wasn’t that just…Florence, love, are you listening?”

She hadn’t been, mind too focused on the ethereal stranger that had caught her eye. This has left her staring every now and again at the door of the theatre, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man who had stolen her heart. “Yes, of course, dear.”

“I should hope so,” he whispers into Florence’s ear, voice threatenly low. “As I was saying… Was it not utterly laughable, how that bird landed right in the performer’s hand? It appears you can now teach birds tricks as well as dogs.”

“I don’t believe there was any intent behind that. He looked as surprised as we were. Regardless, this was a very enjoyable showing, wouldn't you agree?”

“I would. Come now, our carriage will be here any moment.”

“Did you already have your… negotiations? You had mentioned this was business-related.”

“It has been taken care of. I am aware that you enjoy the atmosphere of this theatre,” he says, sharp, white teeth baring as condescension drips from his gaze, “But you realize we must return home at some point, correct?”

“Of course, of course…” Florence sends one last glance behind her at the door to the theatre. No luck, of course. The evening air nips at her exposed skin, and the sun is setting, the sky flushed pink. Stepping into the carriage, she sighs lightly, weighed down by the fact that she would never see the gorgeous actor again.

Surprisingly enough, though, it had been a rare enjoyable outing with the infamous Allen Bennett. He hadn't been overly rude to her, and he conducted himself relatively well; she couldn't exactly complain. However, she was foolish to believe that this good humour would last.

Once the couple return home, they find a wonderful roast dinner on the table, the house completely spotless, servants milling about to complete supplementary tasks. Two young servants appear in front of Allen and Florence, poised to take their coats, while James and John, with a subtle smile at the woman, escort them to the dining table, revealing a rich supper fit for a king. An appetizing cherry wine in their goblets, food on their plates, what could go wrong?

“My love, I would like to bed you tonight. Be ready after we finish our meal.”

Suffocating silence fills the room, until a shocked voice permeates it, soft, as to not anger Bennett further.

“Allen, I am quite tired. I was hoping to retire early.”

Snaking a palm up the length of his wife’s leg, the man smirks, quirked lips revealing gleaming picture-perfect white teeth. He reaches the curve of her hip and moves inward, palming her through her floor-length gown. Florence shifts, discomfort painting her features.

“Allen, please—”

This utterance captures the attention of John and James, who had been standing at attention, in case of any requests by the couple. Florence glances around the room, locking eyes with her friends as she opens her mouth to speak. She is interrupted by the roaming hands of her husband creeping further.

“You will return to our quarters, Florence. There isn’t a choice to be made here.”

“Stop touching her, Sir. It’s clear she’s uncomfortable.” John steps forward, anger pinching his aristocratic features. His gaze never wavers as Allen turns to face him, scoff tumbling out of his throat as the owner of the mansion stares back. The daggers that seemed poised to cut were almost visible in those murky black depths.

“What did you say, servant boy? Surely, you did not give me orders.”

“I said, don’t touch her. I was not aware that something as simple as that would be so hard for you to understand, Sir,” John's face is stony and cold as he locks eyes with Bennett. A smirk is painted upon his lips as he continues, treading through unknown territory. Nobody ever talks back to Mr. Allen Bennett, after all. “I apologize wholeheartedly for my indiscretion.”

Allen stands, finally knocking the goblet to the floor, a red river flowing from the overturned cup, and advances on the servant. He moves in close, a hand flying to John’s windpipe, squeezing warningly. Bennett gazes at the other man with amusement at home in his coal eyes, and John stills, returning the stare with utter contempt.

“Miss Florence was not comfortable with the way you were treating her, and I will not let you continue touching her in that manner.” John says, voice as hard as the look in his slate eyes.

Bennett, smiling now, squeezes harder, John choking on air that will never come. Florence lunges towards her husband, a cry of panic leaving her lips, fearing for John. For the second time that day, Florence is struck by the ringed hand, slashing her cheek once more. Unable to sit back and leave her friend, though, she throws herself at her husband once again, and is pushed backward, slamming into the table and falling to the floor.

James, frozen with anxiety, snaps out of his stupor at the sight of the blood dripping from Florence’s bruised cheek, and the pitiful sounds of his friend.

“Get your filthy hands off of him,” He snarks, pulling the man roughly to face him.

Allen, surprised at the uncharacteristic display of anger from the quiet, yet brutally stubborn young man, finally drops John, who struggles to draw a full breath. Florence, headache a jackhammer against her skull, crawls over to John. James, still gripping the lapels of his superior’s shirt, is thrown back into the wall. Bennett had switched their positions swiftly, catching the other’s arms in a vice-grip. He throws a solid punch, ring and all, at James. Unable to dodge, he would crumple to the floor if not for the hands pulling him up for another taste of violence. Florence, dazed slightly due to the blow to her head, grabs at her husband, willing him to stop, though he does not hear her, or even react to her touch. His eyes are a haze of horrid rage, fist connecting with James's pale face again and again, cracking the porcelain skin.

Finally finished with James after what seemed like an eternity, Bennett lets him slide to the floor, kicking once at the man’s stomach, a pitiful groan floating past his lips. Backing away after the last assault, Allen, a smirk playing about his thin lips, takes in the destruction he has caused: his wife bleeding and bruised and two of his servants injured, the rest cowering in fear, not wishing to end up like those who had defied him.

“I hope this serves as a lesson to all of you: Do not cross me.”

------

John and Florence, both sore and bruised, pull James, unconscious as he is, into their arms, rushing as quickly as they can to Florence’s room. Depositing James gently on the smooth, soft fabric, Florence runs into the ensuite to wet a washcloth at the ivory sink, and hurries back into the room, breaths coming in sharp gasps. Carefully wiping the ruby-red stains from the man’s ashen face, the woman sets about stitching him up.

“Maybe sewing really does come in handy sometimes…” croaks John, throat an abstract painting of blues and purples and blacks. The attempt at lightening the mood had fallen flat, as the man could barely get the words out. The pair sit in silence while Florence works on their fallen friend, occasionally brushing his sable curls off of his forehead, her attempt at comfort.

James adequately cared for, she walks over to John, inspecting his throat with a featherlight touch. Tears spring to the woman’s eyes at the wheezing breaths of her friend, and he pulls her into his arms. Her river of tears soak into his threadbare top, which has come unbuttoned in the chaos that had transpired.

“Florence, save for some bruises and some difficulty speaking, which are both temporary, might I add, I will be just fine. James will heal too, thanks to you.”

“My dear friend, this is all my fault.”

“Your fault? Florence, you did absolutely nothing wrong. Your husband attempted to take advantage of you, and as unforgivable as that may be, it is not your fault in any way.” John insists, handsome face solemn.

“It is my fault, John,” Florence sighs, pulling away from her friend to wipe at her eyes, the waterfall of her tears flowing once again. “I angered him this morning, as you know. I can’t meet any of his expectations as a wife, and it led to this anger. This violence.”

“Ah, yes. James was not very happy to see that mark on your cheek,” John reaches to touch the unmarked side of the woman’s face, bringing her comfort once again. “For as quiet and mysterious as he claims to be, he was all but frothing at the mouth when he heard. I doubt he will be any less angry when he wakes. Thankfully Mr. Bennett didn't hit that mark again.”

“If James wakes…” Florence says, forlorn expression gracing her face as she looks at the man in question, who remains still.

“Florence, you took care of him. You got him this far. As for tonight, that was not your fault. You did not make him the way he is, and you are not responsible,” John turns Florence’s face towards him, an earnest look on his face as he speaks. “Regarding his ludicrous expectations, you are your own person. You need only meet your own.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, John, I do, but I do not know how I can continue with this,” Florence says, furrowing her brow. “I cannot divorce him, or he will retaliate. I cannot run away either. He has so many connections, everywhere. I just wish for us to be free.”

“Maybe the three of us can run away and live in that beloved theatre of yours. I do believe you mentioned a piano?”

At this, James begins to groan, finally stirring, and the two friends dash to his side. He is still heavily bruised, but Florence will always take that over the alternative.

“Florence? John? T-thank goodness you are both alright…”

“James, we are the ones that should be worrying about you. You wouldn't wakeー”

“I am fine, truly. Bruised, but not broken. I am just glad you are both okay as well,”  James breaks out in a cheeky smile, revealing his true age, rather than the mystic persona he tries so hard to show. “I believe I heard talk of moving to the theatre? There are myths of a guitar hidden there. I used to play, when I was young... Maybe we’ll have our own group.”

His playful laughter soon turns into a wince, as his ribs scream at him to stop. Florence notices the movement, and locks eyes with him, offering a sympathetic smile. James waves it away with a nod and a hand in the air, and the conversation continues.

“Speaking of the theatre, how was the performance? Surely it can’t have been terrible. You came home in such high spirits.”

“It was wonderful, John! Truly wonderful. The plot was so well-written, and the acting was phenomenal. The man cast as the lead was purely magical! I do not know his name, sadly. He made me laugh and cry and smile,” Florence gushed, a smile of her own growing at the thought of her haloed stranger. “Not to mention he was beautiful, as well.  There was a moment where he had let a dove out of its cage, a wonderful stylistic choice no doubt…”

“My goodness, Florence,” James interrupted, smile sitting happily upon his bruised face. “There must be something wrong with him, there simply must be!”

“I am telling you James, he was perfect! His delivery was simply wondrous, and his stage presence was truly arresting…”

The two men watched their friend speak of this stranger with more love than she ever had in regards to her husband. With a knowing look shared between them, James interrupts her rant, a smile on his face, “Florence… Why don’t you write the man a letter? John and I must go into town for groceries tomorrow anyways, we can drop it off at the theatre.”

“Do you… do you think it would work? Would he even read it? A man like him has better things to do, I reckon.”

“I do think you should try, at least. You are not happy with Mr. Bennett, it is plain to see. This may be a solution,” John chuckles, spotting Florence, who had been twiddling her thumbs in an anxious flurry, eyes wide.  “Goodness, you haven't written anything to him yet and you're already in a panic!”

“You know… You may be right. It is worth it to try, at the very least.” Florence says, voice almost a whisper, a warm smile at home on her face. Cheeks flushed a vibrant pink, she rushes to grab a slip of paper as well as the fountain pen sitting on the desk across the room. Narrowly avoiding a spill of ink across the paper from the bottle next to her, Florence situates herself at her desk, and composes a letter to her lovely stranger:

‘Dear Angel, halo of golden curls…’

------

“You are an escape from the hell I am confined to, and every thought of you makes my heart sing… Goodness, someone has it bad for you, Robert. I’ve no particular idea why...”

“Oh, come off it, Bonzo. We all know jealousy is not a good look for you. Now, give me that!”

“Fine, fine…”

“Ah, the Great John Bonham is capable of listening! Who knew?”

John Bonham, a tall, muscular man with chestnut hair and an impressive moustache, sits lazily on a theatre seat, having just finished a rehearsal. His long legs extended over the seat in front of him, he drums a staccato beat on his lap. Brash, and rather impudent, John, or ‘Bonzo’, as he prefers, had gotten himself involved in acting by way of necessity. Down on his luck in a rough area of town, his intimidating physique had kept him out of trouble, though funds were scarce. He went where the money was, and a boatload of it was waiting for him in the acting industry. He had always been rather comical, after all.

Quickly rising through the ranks of the theatre industry along with Robert, a fast friend from the very beginning, the two became a sort of package deal. Rarely would you see one without the other. Looking at them now, arms thrown across the other’s shoulder, bright laughter permeating the tense air that seemingly haunts the theatre, it only becomes clearer.

“Robert, don’t stop on my account. Finish your letter. It seems important.” A waggle of Bonoz’s eyebrows follows, and he laughs heartily at the glare on Robert’s handsome features.

Robert can only shake his head in response. Eyes floating over the letters painted midnight blue with expensive ink, Robert can feel his cheeks warm at the kind words that flow across the page, a river of reverence. Luck is not his friend, as he is unable to glean any information from the glimmering syllables that glided out of her pen. The actor receives letters from content audience-members each day, but this one… is different.

Robert is intrigued by the words of this faceless admirer.

“Bonzo,” The blond starts, golden curls glinting in the late afternoon sun. His hand raises, only to rest upon his chin. He’s lost in thought, and Bonzo grunts out an affirmative noise. The sound snaps Robert out of his reverie, and he continues, “Are you aware of how this note found its way here? Who brought it, perhaps?”

“I’m not quite sure. I believe it was already here when we arrived,” Bonzo replies, face pinched in thought. As if a lightbulb had gone off in his mind, his features light up, and he snaps his fingers. The smile on his face is brighter than any spotlight. “Though… I do remember seeing some unfamiliar guests leaving earlier. They wore servants’ clothing, and their hair was rather shaggy, if I’m honest. One of them, the taller of the two, carried groceries.”

“Would you be able to point them out if we see them again?”

“I believe so, yes.”

Robert hums, eyes far off. The blond is distracted, only broken out of his stupor by the sharp sound of snapping fingers near his ear. Glancing over at the perpetrator, he meets Bonzo’s concerned gaze. His large hand claps Robert on the shoulder, and a wry smile graces Bonzo’s features as Robert searches his face.

“What are you planning to do, Robert?”

The man stands, leaving the brunet without a response, and glides into the dressing room. Bonzo flies after him, hot on his heels, his dark eyes full of questions. Reaching for a slip of paper, slightly careworn, and his trusty fountain pen, Robert writes back.

------

Rushing into the manor, James and John search around for any sign of Mr. Bennett. The bruises painting their skin shades of purple haven’t faded in the slightest, a stark reminder of the gravity of the situation. If he found out what they’d done, they wouldn’t live to see the next day. On their way to drop off a suit of Mr. Bennett’s at the tailor’s, they had encountered the blond actor again, and he had a letter of his own to exchange.

Deeming it safe, John pulls out a crisp ivory envelope, bent slightly in one corner from its place hidden under his coat. James’ lips curl upwards in a playful smirk, and John returns it, a bright smile upon his split lip. He had sliced it during his fall to the floor the night before, and it served as yet another physical reminder of Bennett’s tyranny. John lays a hand against James’ back, conversing quietly as they search for the lady of the house.

Soft, simple notes shimmer through the air from the hallway next to them, and an enchanting hum accompanies it, alto in pitch. Shuffling closer to the ornate door of the music room, the servants peer in. Sitting at the sleek black grand piano, somewhat out of place in the gold-tinted room, sits Florence, plunking away. Glorious sunlight shines through the glassy surface of the window, making her golden brown locks, pulled into a loose bun, almost glow. She looked reverent; almost godly, in a flowing royal blue gown. The woman looks up from the keys, finally noticing the duo watching from the doorway.

“H-how long have you been standing there?”

“Your playing is improving by the hour, my friend.”

“I must have had a good teacher,” Florence grins at John, earning herself a warm smile in response, before turning to face James. The ebony-haired man stands just behind John, and steps forward as the woman’s face lights up. “Oh, James, I’m glad you’re truly alright! The damage, yesterday… No matter. It’s good to see you both.”

“Likewise, Florence.”

Finally noticing the envelope half-hidden in John’s hands, the woman cocks her head to the side, confusion clear in the furrowing of her brow. Gesturing towards it, she looks up at the men, a smile blossoming slowly on her lips. Almost as if she hadn’t wished to hope, in case she was let down.

“What’s… what’s that, John?” Blue-gray eyes flit down to the envelope, as twin smiles bloom on the faces of her friends. A glance passes between John and James, a silent communication between the two, and almost simultaneously, they turn to face Florence once more. Silence fills the room, until a light chuckle shatters it.

“It seems,” John starts, eyes alight with mischief. He approaches, smirk never wavering, as he hands the note to Florence. “That your beloved has written you back. You were right, of course. He was very handsome. Quite kind as well, if his treatment of James and I means anything.”

“You mean to say…”

“Open it, Florence.” That was James, now. The man was getting rather impatient, shifting his weight from foot to foot in barely caged anticipation.

The light crinkle of paper tearing is the only sound in the room, as its occupants hold their breath in wait. Clearing her throat, Florence casts her eyes across the paper, and begins to read aloud.

“Dearest stranger, I was grateful to receive your letter. I wish, though, that I could put a name, perhaps a face, to your lovely words. You, no doubt, must be as beautiful as they are…”

------

taglist: @jimmys-zeppelin @salixfragilis @timetraveller4 @earthfire-75 @thatiloveyouso @jonesyjonesyjonesy @jimmypages @kyunisixx (let me know if you want to be added!)

[gravegroves]

Can I ask about 2 and 8 for the wip tag game?

I've already talked about 8 (search #tag game in my tags and you'll find it).

But omg thank you for asking about 2!!

2. Like a Bat Out of Hell, Indiana

Oh man, oh man. This. This right here? This is my baby. My precious. The one I wrote so self indulgently that even if no one else likes it, I LIKE IT. And I'm completely okay with that.

El and Hopper fail at closing the gate at the end of s2, Billy appears at the Byers' house just in time and so begins a mad dash across the country, trying to outrun the end of the fucking world.

Tw: death (no one we care about though)

Excerpt:

The sound of a car roaring into the driveway has Steve's heart crashing up into his throat and they all turn to watch as headlights dance across the living room walls, sharp and blinding, like a goddamn beacon of hope.

And Steve doesn't have time to think about why the deep rumbling of the engine sounds so familiar.

He moves the kids now or they die.

"Get to the car, now!" Steve screams, just as the window at the end of the hall explodes inward.

Max gets to the door first and tears out of the house, sprinting toward the high beam lights with the boys hot on her heels.

"Billy!" She screams and goddamnit she can't mean--

She reaches the car, yanks the passenger side door open and pushes the front seat forward, shoving Dustin, Mike and Lucas into the back before diving in herself, righting the front seat in a practised move just in time for Steve to jump in after her.

And yep. There he is.

Hargrove's expression would be hilarious if they weren't seconds away from being overrun by a horde of carnivorous monster dogs.

"What the fuck do you losers think you're doing?!" Billy roars, eyes bugging slightly when he recognises Steve.

"Harrington?!"

Steve grabs him by the collar and screams into his face: "Just fucking drive!" 

A loud crash has them both snapping their heads to the side just in time to watch as a hundred Demodogs or more come rushing out from behind the Byers' house, heading straight for them.

Without another word, Billy yanks the car into reverse and accelerates before hitting the breaks. Steve's stomach swoops as their momentum lets the wheels slide over the gravel to land perfectly on the road.

He grabs Billy's arm, yanks on it like it might shake some urgency into him.

"Hargrove, go!"

"Seatbelts! Get the seatbelts" Max yells at the others.

That's what she's worried about? Steve thinks, even as he reaches over his shoulder to strap himself in.

Then Billy puts the car into gear and guns it forward and they go from 0 to 70 mph in ten seconds flat, zooming down old, twisting back roads and Steve honestly can't believe that Hargrove's insane, wannabe NASCAR driving is gonna be what saves their asses tonight.

"What the hell are you doing all the way out here with my sister, huh?" Billy yells, taking his eyes off the road to look over at him and Steve might seriously have a fucking heart attack.

"Eyes on the road!" He exclaims, foot searching the footwell for a break pedal that isn't there, "For real, man? You want to do this now?!"

"Or you can get out and fucking walk, amigo," Billy snarls, swerving around another Demodog leaping for the hood of his car, "What the hell is up with these dogs?"

"Billy, stop it! Can you jus-- look out!" Max shrieks, her arm shooting between them to point straight ahead and the kids all begin yelling as the flower-in-bloom-faced ugly fuck grows larger in the windscreen at an alarming speed.

Smooth as butter, Billy avoids the gaping creature in their path, not taking his foot off the accelerator for even a second. Steve's heart beats a drum solo against his adam's apple. His fingers feel fused to the edges of the seat, holding on for dear life.

"Jesus Christ, what the fuck was that?" Billy turns to look behind him and Steve clenches his teeth so hard his jaw hurts, barely restraining himself from yanking Billy around to face forward again.

"Hargrove, I swear to God--"

"Oh god, look."

Steve turns his head the slightest amount to see Lucas pointing out of the window at the treeline to their right.

Demodogs.

Lots of them.

So many slimy, greyish bodies that the forest floor has all but disappeared and transformed into a churning sea of dark, slick oil.

More worryingly, they're all running in the same direction as the Camaro.

Fuck.

"What the…" Billy falters when he looks out of the window at the treeline, then seems to shake it off, placing his undivided attention back on the road for once.

He speeds up to pass a whole group of the beasts trying to cross to the other side, narrowly misses being cut off entirely by the mass of Demodog bodies. Steve releases a hand from the seat only to clutch at the grab handle on the door. He closes his eyes, swears he can feel his stomach fall out of his ass when the wheels on his side of the car lift into the air for half a beat.  

"Shit, we're gonna die!" Dustin wails, voice wobbly as Billy jerks the wheel again to avoid a creature charging straight for them. If the kids weren't already packed in like sardines they'd be sliding around back there, seatbelt or no. "We're definitely gonna die! This psycho is gonna kill us before the monsters do!"

Billy scowls into the rear-view mirror and grits out "Hey kid, you're welcome to get out and walk."

"You literally tried to run us off the road a week ago--"

"Not the time, Dustin!" Max snaps and shushes him.

"We need to get to the gate!" Mike blurts out, leaning forward to speak directly at Steve. Demanding. "We need to help El!"

Steve doesn't even have the faintest idea of how to begin doing any of that.

"Dude, we can't just go back there, are you crazy--" Lucas pulls him back and they continue to argue in harsh whispers.

"If you losers don't shut the fuck up, I'll crash this goddamn car just so I can take you all with me." Billy barks, knuckles white on the wheel.

"Oh my god, see! What did I tell you?" Dustin exclaims, "He's dangerous, Steve!"

Yeah, well, he's all that we've got, Steve doesn’t say. "Shut up, Dustin."

They turn into the first proper residential street and Billy misses a tree by an inch as he tries to avoid colliding with five demodogs hunched over something on the road.

Oh god, was that a body?

"Harrington, where the fuck am I going?"

Steve closes his eyes, overwhelmed and completely out of his depth. They might have been the B team, but there hadn't actually been a plan B--

"Fuck, fuck! I don't know--"

"Billy," Max pleads, voice shaky with terror, silencing them all, "My mom…" 

Billy sighs explosively before turning down a side street, barely slowing down.

"Shit."

*****

It's not just Max's mom, but Dustin's mom, too. Lucas's family. Mike's family. 

They reach Old Cherry Road first and Billy barely allows the car to come to a full stop, Demodogs further down the street are taking notice of them already, stalking forward, mouths blooming excitedly. Steve eyes them warily until a garbled oh fuck from the back seat draws his attention to the other side of the street and--

It's bad.

The porch light sets the stage for a grizzly scene at the Hargrove residence. A woman lies directly beneath it, like the opening shot to a fucked up play, her head of red hair spilling over the top step.

She's very obviously dead. Steve can see where she must have tripped on the welcome rug -- awkwardly stiff and upturned between her feet -- and he can only hope she got knocked out in the fall and didn't feel a thing that came after. There isn't much left between her head and her knees except for a dark patch of gøre.

The headless body of a man lies slumped against a truck parked in the driveway, one arm stuck through the open car door, half torn off within his jacket. Blood still running down the concrete incline, pooling in the roadside gutter.

"Oh, you Bastard," Billy spits, barely a whisper.

The longer Steve stares, the more horrifying the scene becomes.

He doesn't want Max to see this. Or Billy.

Max doesn't make a sound.

Billy slams his fist against the steering wheel a couple of times, then peels away from the curb before the Demodogs can get too close.

*****

Dustin's house is dark. There's no car in the driveway.

"I told her Mews had been seen in Loch Nora. She must still be out looking..." Dustin trails off quietly. Shellshocked.

It's almost midnight. Steve doubts she's still out looking for a cat. And if she is...

"I wanted to keep her out of the way."

No one says anything.

They drive.

*****

The Sinclair house is dark, too, no lights on except for the motion sensor activated ones over the empty carport.

Billy doesn't bother slowing down. The area is absolutely swarming with creatures already.

"It's so late. Where..." Lucas falters, scanning the houses they pass, like he made a mistake and his home will appear any minute now. "Where did they go?"

"I'm sure they're okay, man," Steve tries, but it feels flat, false, "If they're in a car they could make it out. Your mom too, Dustin."

Billy grimaces, but says nothing.

"What?" Steve demands.

"I was just here looking for Max. They were home." 

He keeps a laser focus on the road now, on avoiding the monsters spilling out onto their path, growling when he's forced to change down a gear before aggressively working his way up in speed once more, jaw clenched tight.

"You probably caught them on their way out." Steve insists.

Billy looks doubtful, but he nods anyway. Neither of them enough of an asshole to take a kid's hopes away like that.

They move on.

*****

"Let me out," Mike says, quietly. Trembling. Hands pushing against the back of Steve's seat like he'll be able to bend it out of the way through sheer force of will.

No one moves.

The front door to the Wheeler home is open, door splintered where the deadbolt held, but the wood didn't. The car is parked in the carport. All the lights are on. 

Karen Wheeler's corpse lies forgotten and half devoured on the front lawn.

In the driveway, a tiny yellow sock lies next to bloody drag marks disappearing into the grass--

Oh god...

"Let me out." 

Steve's lips move, but he can't seem to draw breath enough to produce sound..

Billy seems to shake himself out of a daze, takes a deep breath beside him. "Nah, kid."

And Mike just snaps. 

"Fuck you! Fuck you!" He screams, punching and kicking the seat in front of him.

Steve leans forward out of the seat and puts his head in his hands. 

"Let me out! LET ME OUT!" Mike shrieks, begs.

"No." Billy says again, evenly.

Mike's voice breaks on a wordless scream.

Steve wants to do his own bit of kicking and screaming, but someone needs to keep their fucking head in the game or they're all going to end up dead.

By some twisted turn of fate that someone is turning out to be Billy fucking Hargrove.

Hysterically, he remembers hearing about Billy abandoning Carla Green to walk home alone from the quarry after she'd scratched the Camaro's dashboard with her fake nails by accident.

Mike kicks the back of the seat again. Billy says nothing.

All the kids are crying, now.

Mike's screams eventually taper off into babbling sobs and Dustin does his best to comfort him through his own half-choked cries. Lucas is whispering to a sobbing Max, his own breaths hitching and heaving uncontrollably, on the edge of breaking.

Steve's eyes sting, hidden behind his hands.

He lifts his head up and glances over at Billy, still tracking the side of the road, the edge of the trees. He looks so normal that it almost throws Steve for a loop. He wants to grab Billy by the collar again. Shake him. Scream: what part of this aren't you getting?

"The fuck is going on?" Billy hisses, almost to himself and oh, right.

"Later," Steve promises, hoarsely, digs the heels of his hands into his eyes hard enough to see stars.

"You know what they are?"

"Yeah." Steve says after a great deal of swallowing past the lump in his throat.

If Hargrove's voice betrays even a hint of emotion Steve knows he's gonna fucking lose it. Luckily, the guy keeps his shit together so Steve can keep a lid on his.

"You know what kills them?" Billy continues.

"Heat," Dustin says, voice thick, "And, like, bullets."

Billy nods, "Alright, how warm are we talking?"

"They don't like warm weather or daylight, but I don't think it kills them. Weakens them, maybe. Sends them underground."

"Fire will." Steve says, pulling at his hair until it hurts, dragging himself out of foggy despair and into the present where he's needed. He accidentally runs his gaze past Karen's body and tries not to dry-heave.

Mike is still crying behind him and god fuck, they should get out of here. The kid shouldn't be seeing this.

"Where do we go?" Max whispers, like she read his mind. She sounds as lost as Steve feels.

Billy revs the engine and turns to Steve, "Any requests?"

Steve thinks about the huge empty house waiting for him, a gaping nightmare at the edge of the woods. He balks at the thought.

Where the fuck do we go?

"Just get us out of Hawkins."

[the-art-of-styles]

Pick the. . .

✧ After Raine's chosen by Harry, that handsome boy with green eyes and curly hair while playing a game that everyone can know the answer but not always the question, she's intrigued. And, looks like he spilled some of his drink on her favorite t-shirt, oh no!

Word count: 2934

Warnings: —

A/N: this is my first ever OS (that probably—most likely will have a part 2) so I hope whoever reads this likes it! :)

  

✦

The soft music danced its way between the walls like the two or three bodies that had no shame in dancing in front of a not so massive group of people since that was what there was now: a meeting with a few people with peaceful college vibes.

Raine came with Marinette, an acquaintance with whom she came to form a strong bond all this first year of university, something that she's completely grateful because she would not know what she would have done if she didn't have any hand to help her get out of the well in which the teachers and homeworks and grades induce her, so Marinette now has her hand and pulled her out of that disgusting swamp-like pit to take her to the beach. This was what Raine needed: a few beers, an occasional cigar (perhaps a magical one, out there), and living with people who do nothing more than wrap her heart in large arms of steam made of some rainbow reflected in the sky after a storm.

   "Hey, hey, everyone, let's get together and play something, what do you think?" A girl whose name is Celeste if she remembers correctly called everyone's attention, turning down the volume of the music and changing it for one that is low energy — slow rhythm.

   Everyone got together, there were about ten or a little more people in the room, some sitting on the couch, others brought some chairs and finally, people like Raine sat on the floor, although they were the minority.

   "Let's play this game where the person next to you asks you a secret question about someone in this room and you must say the name of that person, but not the question. The thing is that, after giving the answer, the person must toss a coin: if it comes up heads, the question is not revealed, if it comes up tails, they have to say it. For example; Sofia, who is next to me, asks me who I would kill from here, I would say... Jonas, I throw the coin and there it is dictated whether the question should be revealed or not. Otherwise, the named person will never know what was asked."

   "Hey, thanks for killing me," Jonas said.

   "You're welcome."

   "So bold questions?" A guy over there asked, taking a sip from his beer can and rearranging the black cap that covered his hair.

   Meanwhile, Raine also drank her alcohol and ate a few fries that were in the white bowl, this resting on the small glass table in front of her and everyone.

   "Any question. Okay," Celeste brought her palms together and rubbed them creating friction of warmth in them. Her gray eyes fell on Raine and then on the person next to her, Marinette. She immediately swallowed. "So, Mari, ask Raine something secretly and she has to answer, alright? Let's start!"

   Raine slowly turned her torso to see her friend with a mischievous smile threatening to explode on her lips, her face deformed to one of pity so that she doesn't ask her something embarrassing or that could cause conflict because with Raine's luck she knows well that she will have to reveal the question.

   Marinette leaned over and placed her hands as a shield over her ear, her warm breath smelling of beer, cigar and a bit of calm sending shivers down Raine's spine until she murmured, "Of all the people here, who would you fuck?"

   Her jaw almost dropped to the hottest hell as the corners of her lips rose a little, squinting at Marinette who flashed eyes of naive innocence.

   If she thinks about it, saying who she would fuck from here is not that serious, it wouldn't cause a nuclear war, nor would it be so embarrassing; after all, sex is not a taboo in this group of people. Unless the person she says makes a disgusted face at being named, then it—

   An abrupt sound interrupted the train of Raine's thoughts and cut the harmony of the game as hard as a sharp knife.

   A boy in his twenties or around came in, drawing everyone's attention. He wore black skinny jeans that still formed wrinkles in his knees and when they reached his ankles and a green flannel rolled up a few centimeters, where one could wonder why he buttoned it in the first place because it only covers half of his stomach, revealing part of a tattoo of a butterfly and some birds near his clavicles.

   "Yo Harry! You're late to the party, mate!" Jonas exclaimed as he clashed fists with Harry.

   "What party?" He looked to all the people, making a face with his lips. "What'd I miss? I was doing some stuff."

   "You know what? Because you're late you gotta have to be asked a question. Raine, you are safe for now. We're playing a game. . ." Celeste explained the plot of the game and Raine let out a sigh because she had come to the conclusion that she wouldn't fuck anyone in here.

   Well, before he appeared.

   The person next to Harry asked him a question and he nodded. His knees were bent and his arms rested on them, then he raised his head and scanned everyone present with his eyes, these stagnating in Raine's silhouette. From his left corner, a smirk was born. "You."

   She looked both ways, confused, and then returned to make eye contact with Harry while subtly pointing at herself. He nodded.

   "Aaalright! So Raine is the chosen one. Harry, throw the coin."

   A seed of nervousness was planted in the bottom of her stomach and droplets of water fell sporadically for each turn the coin made in the air, causing the plant to grow and grow and the petals to bloom, invading her lungs and not allowing her to breathe correctly, because what she wants the most now is that the question they asked him to be revealed but. . .

   "Heads. You're safe." And Harry smiled at her, his dimple being meticulously chiseled into the art of his face.

   The game continued until everyone was bored and the soft music became exhilarating, turning off the lights and starting to dance or just have a good time. Luckily, of all the rounds there were, Raine didn't have to reveal any questions, she was relieved, but there was one question she wanted to be revealed: Harry's.

   Suddenly, something cold touched her back and it spread like a plague poisoning a village: an epidemic. She arched her back, feeling how the liquid was draining more and more and more. . .

   "Shit! M'sorry! I'm so sorry!" A deep voice shouted over the music, causing her to turn around, and, with a bit of difficulty due to the low light, she could recognize Harry who had a "sorry" face but at the same time wanted to laugh.

   She took a deep breath, getting ready to say something to him because this is her favorite shirt but Harry stopped her by taking her hand and practically dragging her to the bathroom, where he turned on the white light and now she could see that Harry isn't like a Monet painting, by far he's fine and up close he is even better. His face is pretty, his skin, despite the acne marks left to remind him of his teens, were pretty, his eyes are pretty, and his rosy, rosy, oh-so-cherry lips are pretty. Everything about him looks pretty.

   "I'm sorry, it was dark and I didn't see you—"

  "It's fine I just—" Raine looked at herself in the mirror, placing her hands on the sink table and turning her torso a little to see the growing stain on her back "—I don't have nothing to change."

   Harry frowned but then relaxed, grinning at her, which now caused her to contract the muscles of her eyebrows until they shot up when he finished unbuttoning his shirt and handed it to her.

   The truth is, Raine's mouth cried at the sight in front of her. His torso was slightly tanned, a cross from a necklace resting between his pectorals, if she looked down at his hips, leaves were born from his pelvic line and tiny love handles were noticeable between his sides.

   She swallowed, the action making Harry's confidence rise when he noticed the effect he had caused in her, since Raine, without revealing so much skin, already had him with a racing heart and with words stuck in his throat. "Um, I, you don't — you don't have to—"

   "It's okay. Take it. It's my fault, anyway."

   "And what are you going to wear?"

   "Nothing," He smirked, the color of her eyes turning white. "Please, wear it." Honestly, Harry knew of other solutions to the problem he caused, but for some reason, he wanted — no, he craved seeing her wear his clothes.

   Suddenly, a crazy idea crossed Raine's head, and the words she formed slid so easily down her tongue. "I'll wear it if you tell me what the question was."

   Harry threw his head back and laughed, she crossing her arms in front of her chest and looking at him dead in the eye, trying to suppress the fun she was feeling and the heat she was feeling because, well, the bathroom was not the biggest and now she was supporting herself in the sink, Harry with his hands on either side of her hips (but not touching her), his bare torso helping nothing due to that he was repelling heat. So much heat.

   "You want to know the question?" Raine nodded. "Alright then. But first, put on the flannel for me, sweetness."

   To say that her stomach ached from the knots that were being made and undone was not enough, since a tingling crossed her entire body, dancing to the surface of her skin, extending to the tips of her fingers.

   "Fine. Turn around."

   Harry's lower lip was caught by his teeth, releasing his hands from the sink and turning around. Raine curled her fingers into her shirt, taking it off to drop it on top of the toilet, staying only her baggy jeans and a simple white bra.

   The idea that seemed to yell at her inside her head was that she should turn Harry around and start a hot make up session because one: she is in a reunion/party, two: they both are alone in a bathroom, three: he is bare-chested and she is half-naked, lastly, four: he's smoking hot. If Raine gathers enough confidence she would, but another intruder came to argue with her and now she thinks that if she does that, Harry might reject her and make her look ridiculous.

   "Why are you taking so long?"

   She breathed. She will not see him anymore, in the end, if he rejects her, it's his loss. Although he couldn't do such a thing, because he's attracted to Raine. Nothing can explain the reason for his immense and instantaneous attraction, it only exists and must be, because she is certainly one of the most beautiful people he has ever seen. Perhaps the most beautiful of all, she carries an unimaginable beauty where even the sun hides, because when it sees her, it gets scared of dying. So, this happened:

   "Hey Harry?"

   "Sweetness." She smiled at the nickname.

   "Can you help me put this on? My arms hurt a little." Raine internally slapped herself for the silly excuse she made for him to see her in a bra and maybe kiss her, but what difference does it make?

   Harry turned slowly on his own heels, his heart skipping a beat at the sight of her in one of her highest glories, his eyes not knowing where to look if her stomach or her boobs or her face or her lips.

   Now he swallowed, "Uh, y-yeah, sure."

   She smirked and turned around for him to help her. Suddenly, time started to move slow and deep breaths where the only type of breaths Raine could take (and honestly the same for Harry). She turned around so slowly, the heat emanating from Harry's chest dancing its way to warm up her cold back, goosebumps starting to arise when he, taking all the time of the world, started putting the flannel on her, sliding the sleeves on her arms, his fingertips lightly burning her skin, making her stomach contract and butterflies to bat their wings inside her.

"Want me to button it for you?" He mouthed, his deep, raspy words crumbling down his chin and melting on her shoulder.

It was getting harder and harder to stay sane, so she spun around and with a (not so) naive look, she smiled and nodded. His eyes started to go lower and lower, first, maintaining eye contact, then, going down to her lips, making him lick his, leaving them with a slight shine, and now he entered the space where her chest was uncovered and there was a galaxy in there, with her moles and some acne scars. To her stomach they went, that was so tight because she was just so nervous and was trying to control her breathing. His fingers mocked her, taking the piece of clothe between his index and pulgar one, going up, up, up, barely touching her skin to start button it from the top.

   When he was done, a long breath came out of Raine's mouth, making him giggle and smirk.

   "Will you tell me what the question was now?" She hissed, still being so close to Harry.

   He pursed his lips, "Maybe. Can I ask you something first?"

   "That's not fair—"

  "Would it be fair if I asked your permission for me to kiss the shit out of you?"

   This is it. This moment seemed to be the peak of Raine's entire existence, never has she felt like she was apart of a movie or a book and now with this proposal thrown out there, flying besides the bubbles of steam created by the pair, she feels like the fucking main character.

   "Depends how good the kiss is, though," she mumbled getting closer to Harry, their lips barely brushing each other, breathing the same air, chests going up and down, up and down, up and down.

   "Better make it worth it, then. Shall we?" And when she lifted one of her mouth corners, he could not resist it anymore and ended the close distance between them, pressing like a true gentleman his lips on hers.

   Man, fireworks were everywhere. The booze on both of their blood system making the room spin and the music outside of the bathroom blur.

   Slowly, their lips detached, almost not wanting to. They had their eyes closed, and when they opened them for a split second—that moment, everything got heated up and now Harry wasn't a gentleman and Raine wasn't a lady, they were animals with a immense hunger for each other.

   Their lips crashed again and now hands were roaming and exploring each others bodies, heavy breathing.

   Harry's hand snaked from the curve of her neck, to her waist, to land on her hips, his fingers caressing the top sides of her thighs. She had her hands on his belt, pulling him in every time, driving him completely nuts because now everything he could see, hear, and think was sex.

   He started walking to the front, making her walk back and crush on the sink, where he lifted her up, her legs surrounding his hips, so now Raine was sitting on the marble counter, and Harry's lips were on her neck, his hands slowly going up on her ribcage.

   "Oh. . . god. . . Harry," she barely said, not managing to even breath properly, while he was spreading wet kisses all over her boiling, soft skin.

   "Feels good, does it?" His voice was even deeper, chills running down Raine's spine because of it.

   "So f'ing good."

  "Mmm."

   His hands ghosted on her inner thighs, massaging them, and leaving, and going back.

   In a moment, Raine opened her eyes and saw the toilet and something inside her took control, because she shoved Harry away, making him look at her confused and preoccupied, a mix of both. She jumped from the counter and made Harry sit on the toilet, to then, with the most angelical face ever, she straddled him.

   He was. . . so turned on. "Fuck me, sweetness. Your pretty face is going to hell for that."

   "I'll meet you there," so desperate, she kissed him again. His tongue was testing the waters, trying to see if he could come in or not, so Raine opened a little bit more her mouth, that simple message making him smirk.

   His hands were on her hips and ass, and hers were grabbing his hair and lightly tugging it, making him groan against her.

   But, Harry doesn't know what drove him to completely lose his mind: the fact that she started grinding her hips against his, so softly, barely noticeable at first, or that when she started doing that, someone stormed in to the bathroom and vomited on the sink.

   "You've got to be fucking kidding me," he blurted, running his fingers on his hair in frustration while Raine was already up on her feet, reality hitting her back with a good slap. "Raine—"

   "I should go."

  "Bloody hell," Harry said to himself, dropping his head and taking his fingers to his lips, a small smile forming. His eyes landed on a very dead-looking Jonas, "dude, that's disgusting and you fucked up everything."

   "I shouldn't had eaten those magic brownies."

A/N: don’t know why the format looks weird i hope it doesn’t bother 🥲

[flowercrown-bucky]

Yes, there is a difference between gentle persuasion and kidnapping.

Fandom: 1970s!Loki Multi-Chapter

Pairing: Loki x ConArtist!Reader

Warnings: Swearing, drinking, drug references, later death, later smut, crime, loki and the reader are con artists….. It’s a wild one y’all, hold onto yo’ seats..

Word Count: Upwards of 3k

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three

[Something Wicked This Way Comes - Chapter Four]

Loki’s life on Asgard has become vapid; uninspiring. He’s got the taste for a little danger. During a trip to earth, he finds just the danger he’s looking for.A partner in crime - in every imaginable sense.

I've been hanging on the phone

I've been sleeping all alone

I want to kiss you, sometimes. 

Well, I've been haunted in my sleep

You've been starring in my dreams

Lord, I miss you tonight. 

- -

In his a thousand-and-something years of life, Loki had always struggled to understand the things most people derived pleasure from. 

On Asgard, inhabitants tended to sway towards the inclination that they were above such base idiosyncrasies as were displayed by the mortals, but from where Loki stood, they appeared to be just as bad. Raging battle, feasts that stretched on for days and other celebrations that could easily double that duration. They were no better than the humans, filling the voids in their souls with food or sex or blood. 

Consume, consume, consume. That’s all it ever came down to. 

Since he was a little boy, he had always found his kicks in mischief. It started as little tricks, dropping spiders into the drawers of resident nobles and frightening his mother’s handmaids with snakes. But as he grew, he developed a real affinity for chaos. His father called him a hot head, he shouted back, his mother intervened. The cycle continued for years. 

But as he sat, glaring into the smoky liquid in his glass, he was beginning to understand exactly why people sought to fill a void. 

He’d lain awake all night, his mind firing off nineteen to the dozen. You were being followed, and him by extension. You were in real, tangible, physical danger. The entire night you’d remained curled under the duvet. Possibly asleep, possibly not. Loki had not wanted to check. 

Laying on his back, the soft material of the duvet rubbing against his skin, he had never felt so distanced from you. He’d stared at the ceiling, wondering why it bothered him so much. If he was ever in any real danger, he could simply return to Asgard. 

Couldn’t he? 

It was this question that he was pondering as the rays of the morning sun poured through the window. Your face scrunched up as the rays splashed upon your face, as though someone had disturbed you. 

He did not want to admit it, but the groan that you emitted brought a slight smile to his face. His reaction to you rolling on your side and pulling the pillow over your face was, however, completely not up for discussion. 

He watched you as you slept, fighting the increasingly bright morning. You looked so different. So.. serene. 

He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. A shower, he thought. Maybe a little walk to clear his head. 

You, however, had other ideas. 

“Loki.” You murmured, stretching out your hand. You reached across the bed, flexing your fingers as though you were searching for something. For him. 

“Hey, man, are you alright?” A voice echoed in his ears. Someone was talking to him. 

He blinked down at his drink.

The barman was staring at him, a concerned expression on his face. Loki shook his head, trying to remember what the man had said. 

“Yes. I’m fine.” He replied, rubbing his face. “My mind was otherwise occupied.” 

“I see that, in your eyes.” The man nodded. “You are in a fight with your wife?” 

“Something like that.” He sighed. “She just.. Keeps so much to herself. It drives a wedge between us.” 

“Women. They carry the world on their shoulders, and they say nothing. It is a constant mystery to me.” The other man nodded his head in agreement. “But your wife, she is very beautiful. You are a lucky man, no?” 

Loki grunted in response. 

He lifted his glass to his lips, taking a long gulp. It wasn’t exactly to his taste, but there was some satisfaction to be found in the burn it left in his throat. 

Something about the voice of the gentleman who had served him was oddly comforting, his thickly accented English almost musical, a welcome lullaby to his ever-spinning mind. 

Green eyes stared at him over a cherry-brown bar, glancing down at what remained of the smokey amber liquid in the glass momentarily. 

Green eyes and hair black as the night were easily the defining features of both men, but it was quite remarkable, Loki thought, how two faces could differ so much whilst being so similar. One of those weird little quirks of the universe, he thought. 

“You would like another drink?” The barman asked. “For you, it is with my compliments.” Before he could respond, his glass was lifted out of his reach. The bigger man turned away from him to reach for the bottle, the sound of glass clinking as he poured a hearty glass. Two fingers, you had taught him was how the people of earth measured their stronger spirits, although you always poured him three fingers’ worth, served with a single ice cube and a wink that would easily have a lesser man drop dead where he stood. 

“This is very good of you.” Loki took a sip of his drink as it was set in front of him. 

“It is no problem.” He replied. “I have been in this business long enough to know when a man is in need of... Light relaxation.” 

“I’ll drink to that.” He scoffed, raising his eyebrows. He lifted his hand to brush a lock of hair out of his eyes, but was surprised by how heavy it was, by his own strength. It even felt a little difficult placing it back on the bar with enough care that it wouldn’t dent the wood. 

He shook his head as if to physically cast the heaviness out of his head. 

“If you do not mind my saying so, sir,” The barman continued. “But you should be with your wife, out of trouble.” 

“Yes.” His head felt increasingly heavy. “You’re quite right. I absolutely should.”  At least one of his words was slurred, he knew, but he wasn’t quite sure how many. He was starting to feel really, really dizzy, like his head was full of helium. Drowsy, too. Very, very drowsy.

Was he drunk? 

No. Not possible. Midguardian alcohol had very little effect on the Aesir, and only in large quantities. 

“It will be over soon.” The barman told him, turning 

He should return to his room, he knew, and lay down for a while, sleep it off. However, he also knew that should he make any attempt to move from his stool, his legs would give out and he would fall flat on his face. 

He was exceptionally confused. What was happening to him? How the fuck was he going to get out of this mess? His head spun, his limbs suddenly growing in weight and dropping to his sides. He felt as if he was chasing his thoughts, but every time he neared something relatively coherent, it would fly away from him. Everything was very slow, like he was swimming through a room filled with golden syrup. 

His body curled in on itself, suddenly unable to keep himself upright. His head lolled to the side, too heavy to hold. He needed to get back to his room, and fast. Using magic to heal himself in front of mortals was far too risky, particularly seeing as you were being tailed. His ethereal abilities were not something he wanted to alert his - or your - enemies of. 

The barman. If only he could alert the barman, he could possibly help him at least into the lift. But how best to summon him? Loki was not entirely sure he could muster up the strength to verbally communicate in any way, let alone anything coherent. 

He dragged his heavy head from his chest, squinting at the white rectangle secured to the barman’s dark shirt. It was a nametag, he was sure, but his vision was too hazy to make out even one of the hastily scrawled characters on it.  

His consciousness began to slip away from him, just out of his reach. Drops of sweat rolled down his spine, pooling at the small of his back, as a horrible realisation dawned on him. 

Poison. He had been poisoned. 

Loki, Crown Prince of Asgard, God of Mischief, Chaos and Lies, had been poisoned by a mortal. 

Fucking brilliant. 

His body involuntarily slumped against the bar as he fought to remain conscious, his mind racing. How? How had he unknowingly consumed it? 

His hand dropped against the wooden bar with a loud thud, splashing something cold and unpleasantly wet against his hand. 

The drink. The poison was in the drink. 

He dragged his gaze up to where the barman was stood, watching him but unable to meet his gaze. 

“You.” He hissed, consciousness drawing away with every laboured, painful breath.  The world seemed to spin and twirl as his eyes rolled back into his head, whirling and blurring and changing in front of his very eyes. 

The floor was suddenly a very, very deep blue. It seemed to be almost rippling, curling in on itself and suddenly crashing, dispersed back to nothing. 

Bright lights shot across his vision, vividly coloured and layering on top of each other. They were building something, he realised, something brilliant and sparkling, comprised of every colour the visual spectrum of light had to offer. Something strangely familiar. 

The bifrost. 

Somehow, he was staring down at the bifrost from a great - but rapidly lessening - height. He was falling, at an incredible speed, onto the bifrost. 

And he wasn’t alone. 

Someone was traipsing towards him, carrying something quite enormous. Whatever they were carrying was dripping something onto the rainbow bridge, leaving a trail of dark puddles in their wake. 

He squinted at the mysterious figure as they neared. They were tall, he noticed, and dishevelled, coated with some sort of dust and something that looked unpleasantly like blood. It clung to their skin, and matted their hair. Their long, dark hair. 

Loki realised with a start that the man staggering towards him, was in fact, himself. Or a version of himself, at least. He was battered and bruised, his face ashen and sunken. Every single step he took looked as if he were about to keel over and collapse, but there was a determination in his eyes, as if he would die before abandoning whatever he had made his mission. 

Quite frankly, he looked terrible. 

The clothes his other-self was wearing were unusual, like nothing Loki had ever worn in his millennia of life. Heavily soled black boots stretched up to his calves, a furry coat of sorts adorning his upper body. The fur, much like his hair, was a matted, bloody mess. 

Was it his blood, or someone else’s? 

You were draped across him, your body dangling lifelessly from his arms. Your exposed skin was pallid, almost waxy, as if there had been no blood flowing to it in some time. Your features were almost indiscernible, if not from how bashed up your face was, but from the thick layer of blood that trailed down your neck. Your head lolled with every step his other self took, weak and fragile like a ragdoll. 

A deep blue substance was gushing from the wound on your side, dribbling onto the bridge and leaving the puddles he had earlier noticed. The other Loki was absolutely drenched in it, the leather of his boots stained with it. Behind him lay a trail of footsteps as deep blue in colour as the ocean raging below them. 

What had happened here? Why was he seeing this? How was he seeing this? 

The scene before him began to fade, and he was falling again.

Falling, falling, plunging into the nothingness below. 

As the world faded to black, sound filled his mind. Shouting, chanting even, echoing through the walls of his mind. 

Long live the queen. 

Long live the queen. 

Long live the queen. 

It felt like thousands of voices were yelling inside his mind. Such was the might, the enormity of the cry, that if felt as if it might be coming from the very core of the planet itself. 

“I am sorry. I wish it did not have to be this way.” Was all he heard before the world around him turned to black. 

--

You rubbed at your face with your hands, letting out a deep sigh as you pushed yourself off the edge of the bed. The window ledge was quickly becoming your favourite perch, somewhere you liked to sit and think, and it was here you were headed for now. 

The morning light poured onto the streets below you, basking the white-washed walls in a warm glow. The cobbled streets wound and twisted through the city, trickling down to meet the sea. 

“You’ve been here before.” Loki had said, a small smile on his face as you had glanced out the window for the first time. 

“Maybe.” You’d replied. “A lifetime ago.” 

He’d glanced at you curiously, but pressed no further. 

You didn’t view the people below in the same way anymore. You studied each of them carefully, waiting for one to look back at you for just a second too long. 

In all honesty, it was making you properly edgy.

You cast your eyes to where the other half of the bed lay rumpled. Loki’s side. 

You felt bad about the row you’d had the night before, about the silent morning you’d shared. 

He’d been sat on the edge of the bed, watching you as you woke. As you opened your eyes, his head had snapped away as if your gaze had burned him. 

You snuck off for your coffee not too long after. That day, of all days, you needed a little time to yourself. It should have been peaceful, sat with your coffee, staring out to the sea, pondering what had happened. 

You were being tailed, and you hated it. Every single person who brushed against you on the street, everyone who looked at you for just a second too long, made you jittery. Every thought was second guessed, every step matched with a glance behind your shoulder. It wasn’t even as if this was new - you had spent so long ducking every time a police car went past, heart lurching every time someone leaned towards you. Even when you slept, you were on high alert, waiting for someone to burst in and open fire. Some days, you wished someone would just stab you and get it over with. Maybe then, you could be at peace. 

And then there was Loki.

You’d snapped at him, and that, you regretted. But your agreement existed purely because it was mutually beneficial, and that left no room for emotional honesty. He knew his place, and he was just as aware as you when he overstepped it. 

Did you trust him? Not in the fucking slightest. Did you want to trust him? About as much as you wanted to bath in baked beans. 

Did you feel bad about hurting him? Possibly. 

He had been gone for some time. He’d swept out of the room in that dramatic Loki-way, storming off down the corridor. But that was three hours ago, and no matter how sulky he was, he should’ve returned by now. 

You hit the button for the ground floor in the lift, waiting for the doors to shut. He wouldn’t go too far, you knew. He just liked to keep his distance where he deemed it necessary. 

You could never work him out. He was so straightforward, yet so complex. Loki was a mystery unto his own right, and not one you were sure you wanted to unravel. 

The first thing you noticed upon stepping into the bar was how quiet it was. You’d always seen at least ten people in there. 

In the morning, there would always be someone sat in an armchair so large it seemed to envelope its user, quietly munching on a croissant oozing with jam. Couples, friends and business associates scattered across the terrace, sipping coffees and discussing their plans. 

The evening brought guests in greater numbers to the bar. Husbands perched at the bar, swilling liquors in tumblers while they waited for their wives. Ladies in their finery, savouring cocktails and downing champagne. 

The air was almost always thick with tobacco smoke and chatter. Almost everything went unnoticed, from the barstaff secretly pocketing cash to a clandestine chat between hidden lovers. It was the perfect place to hide in plain sight. 

It was certainly unusual to see it completely and utterly empty. Your brow furrowed as your gaze swept the room, searching for even a single person. You never found them. Not even a single barman or concierge. 

Weird, you thought. Definitely not right. 

No Loki either. Also weird. He wouldn’t just leave without telling you. Perhaps you had just missed him on your way down and he was back in your room. Perhaps he could tell you where everyone was. 

You turned on your heel, stepping back into the lift. It whirred into life, lifting off the ground with a loud thunk. You leaned against the wall, wondering what you would say to him when you saw him. You might even apologise.

Three strides covered the gap between the lift and the door. The unlocked door. 

You had definitely locked it on your way out. And Loki wouldn’t leave it unlocked.

You reached under your skirt, freeing your handgun from its constraints. The feeling of it in your hand made you feel safe, as you racked it as silently as you could. 

You slid the door open, your gun in your hand. If someone was in your room that wasn’t Loki, you’d blow their fucking brains out. 

Somebody was sat on your bed. Someone who was, decidedly, not Loki. 

They were broadly built, - broader so than Loki - with dark hair framing vividly green eyes. 

If you did’t know any better, you would’ve killed him as you stood. 

But you did, so, you fired three warning shots.

 “Dios mia, nena.” Came the response. “You have not changed in the slightest.” 

“Bela.” You breathed. “You are not here.” 

“I am as real as you.” He smiled. “Mi querida.” 

He stepped towards you, holding out a hand. 

“You cannot be here.” You blinked at him. “You’re.. You’re..” 

“Dead?” He grinned. “It seems I am not. Which you would know, of course, if you had stuck around long enough to find out.” 

You rubbed your forehead, pushing past the man in front of you to sit on the edge of your bed. You needed a minute. 

“How did you even get in here? Why are you here?” You felt a little dizzy. All was not well. 

“I have my ways.” He replied. “And I’m not here to seek vengeance, avecita. Your life is quite safe.” 

You glanced at him. It had been so long since you had seen his face. It was almost bittersweet. 

“Why are you here, Bela?” You spat.

“I come only to bring a message.” He lifted his chin defiantly. “Senor De Amas requests your presence.” 

Your heart felt as if it had come to a standstill. Everything felt as if it had paused. Your past had caught up with you. Every syllable of that wretched sentence, every cell in this man’s body was living proof of everything you’d done, everything you’d fought so hard so hard to escape from. You’d run so far, but every step had stretched your invisible bungee a little further. It should not have come as a shock to you that it would snap right back and bring you hurtling back with it. 

“So what if he fucking does?” You replied. “He holds nothing over me.” 

You leaned back nervously, unbuckling your shoes. You clutched them by the straps, bringing them up to your chest. Did he have anything over you? You weren’t sure, but you were trying your damndest not to show your uncertainty. 

“Senor De Amas has a prize.” He shuffled uncomfortably, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “For you. He said it might capture your interest. Or rather, he might capture your interest.”  

You sat back for a second, pondering what Bela had said. You knew this man, knew what he was like. A prize, you thought. What fucked up, twisted game would you have to play to win? 

At what cost would you obtain your trophy? 

“I’m not interested in his games.” You looked away, glancing at the window frame. You’d played these games many, many times before. In the end, nobody won, the variation being solely the scale of what you lost. For some, losing the game meant losing their life. 

“You will be interested in this prize.” He called. “He went to great lengths to get it for you. Annoying lengths, you might say.” 

You glanced over your shoulder. What did Bela say? That ‘he’ might interest you? 

You did not care about people, and intentionally so. Caring about someone gave him leverage over you and jeopardised them. You did not keep the company of anyone you wouldn’t leave in thirty seconds if you felt the heat creeping up. 

Or did you? 

“Loki.” You whispered, turning to face Bela. “Where have you taken him?” 

“I have taken him nowhere.” He raised his hands up in front of him, a gesture of defence. “The same could not be said for others.” 

“Well, do what you like.” Your words burned your throat. “ I don’t care what happens to him.” 

You would get Loki out some other way, you decided. You owed him that much. But you were no use to him if you were dead, you reasoned, and partaking in this morbid power play would likely find you both in an unmarked grave. 

“If you look into your heart, I expect it will tell you that is not its truth.” Bela’s voice was soft. Soothing, even. “You forget how well I know you. I can tell when you are lying.” 

You said nothing. 

“If you will tell me that you do not care what happens to him, and you are telling me the truth, I will walk away from here and let you go.” He walked over to where you were sat on the bed, kneeling down so your eyes were roundabout level. “And I will pray that Senor De Amas is feeling merciful.” 

You closed your eyes, considering your options. Would you get to Loki before he did? It was a risk you couldn’t chance. 

“I’ll come with you.” You sighed. What choice did you really have? You couldn’t risk Loki’s life. After all, if he’d not gotten himself mixed up with you, he would be perfectly safe. (Authors’ Note: the fucking irony.) 

Bela smiled brightly at you, a smile that unsettled you right down to the pit of your stomach. You took a moment to strap your shoes back on, a moment you were sure would be your last second of clarity - of sanity - for some time to come, if not for the rest of your life. 

“He is annoying.” Bela mused as you rose to your feet, your ankles wobbling with anxiety in your heels. 

“You’ve met him then.” You grumbled, walking over to him. You were trying to convey confidence, but you suspected you weren’t really fooling anyone. 

“He talks too much.” He continued, holding an arm out for you to take. “Far, far too much. I see that you have this in common.” 

“Fuck off, Bela.” You scowled, swatting his arm away. You would make your own way, no matter how wobbly you were in your heels. You did not need his help. 

“You will never change, avecita.” Was all Bela responded with. 

His laughter was all you heard, echoing through the corridor as you stepped out into it. 

Good Lord, what had you gotten yourself into? 

—

PS: I have not posted updates here in AGES. This is three chapters behind whoops

TAGLIST: @chxrryycola @the-middle-oldest-child @possessedjoker @amour-delicate @marvelouslyme96 @the-emo-asgardian @lokilvrr

[morimallow]

Hello. This is the third and last part of Morisuke is a Nerd. Read the first and second part first and leave a like! Thank you all so much!

There you were, standing in front of your highschool gates again after 7 years. Spring is finally here. Cherry blossom petals are falling and dancing with the wind.

You were savoring the moment before finally stepping inside your Alma mater when the annoying voice of your niece interrupted your peace.

“Y/N-neesan! Let's go inside already. My friends are waiting,” she whined and grabbed your hand and pulled you inside the already-loud school spring festival.

She just dragged you to every stall that sells food and let you pay for it. Annoying devil. Just because she knows that you're a (dream profession) and they pay you well.

After an hour of roaming in the oval, she decided to go upstairs and check out the other booths. Your niece got dragged by her friends and told you to bring her back to the school gates once they're done.

Walking along the hallway leading to the library, thinking of nothing in particular, screams of delight and adoration filled your ears. You looked outside the window and you saw the Nekoma Volleyball Team when Kuroo was their captain but your eyes looked for him.

They were all wearing suits. But he caught your eyes once again. Wearing the perfect three-piece suit, hair slicked back, and a pair of sunglasses over his eyes that you missed so much.

He looked up in your direction and just assumed that he was looking at you. Your hands were over your mouth, struggling to keep your whimpers to your self and a few tears escaped your eyes. He took off his sunglasses and smiled widely at you. Wiping your tears with your hands, you smiled back at him as if you were saying, “I knew you could do it. I'm so fucking proud of you, Mori.”

After your sweet faraway encounter, his former team mates called his name so they could go on in the festival but before joining them, you swore you saw him wink at you and that almost made your knees give up. If you could control yourself around him using his charms back in highschool, but now your resistance was still the same but his charms blew up to a hundred.

You continued to walk towards the school library. You probably spent two hours there, reading books that you read back in highschool.

But then your feet dragged you to the shelf where you first met the love of your life. The wooden stool was still there and you used it to reach and grab the same Physics book. You stepped down and stayed standing there as you flip through the pages. Various solutions you and Mori did in pieces of papers were still stuck in the pages. Looks like no one used this but us?

The light dimmed as you felt him move towards you making you remember your first encounter. You waited for him to strike a conversation and he did in the most cheesy way, “Who would've thought I'd meet my mushroom in the library of all places?”

You smiled at the memory. You tried so hard to refrain yourself from jumping on him and instead replied, “You're a strange, happy man and you have my heart.”

He snaked his arms around you and placed his chin on your shoulder. Sighing contently, you relaxed in his arms and leaned your weight on him. It was the same warmth from your highschool days. The same feeling of being protected. But one thing changed. The amount of love and affection emitting from his body towards you was different. He then placed a long and loving kiss on your shoulder and whispered, “I found you.”

You smiled at his words and shook your head. You turned your head to look up at him because he grew a lot taller than you and kissed his jaw, “We found each other, Morisuke.”

You and Mori spent an hour solving problems and equations again until you both realized it was already near dark.

“Love, come. I heard awhile ago that there's gonna be a firework display in about.. ” he trailed as he looked at his watch, reading the time, “probably in a minute.”

You stood in front of the window nearest to the door and Mori placed himself behind you, giving you another back hug. Not that you're complaining. Without your knowledge, the rest of the volleyball team was behind you, phones ready. Mori, sensing that someone's watching and feeling the urge to hold you in his arms, he pulled you into a deep kiss just after the fireworks display started.

You heard some clicking of cameras followed by a series of 'fuck's, 'keep it down's, and you don't doubt one bit that you heard Kuroo saying, “Lev, are you dumb?”

But then you felt Mori smirk into the kiss. Just as he pulled away and rested his forehead against yours, you asked, “You knew they were here, didn't you?”

He chuckled lightly, sending the butterflies in your stomach go into frenzy as he gave you a peck on the lips. He replied, “Or maybe I just missed you.”

“Smooth lines, Russian boy!”

“Finally grew some balls.”

“Can we go home now? It's nearly 9 o'clock.”

And a sudden thought zapped through your brain: your niece.

You looked at Mori with sadness and disappointment and said sincerely, “M-Mori, I know you're a busy man but I need to go home. I promised my niece that—”

Kuroo interrupted your sentence and asked, “Is this your niece?” and you saw that she had her legs dangling on Kuroo's shoulders.

“Y/N-neesan? Kuroo-niichan said they'd keep me safe and walk me home. I'd choose them over you everytime so go out with Yaku-nii,” the little devil of a niece you have said straight to your face.

—

Mori didn't let go of your hand even while he was driving. He'd place soft kisses whenever there's a stop sign, draw soothing circles, and throw secret glances of adoration when the road's clear.

And you just enjoyed his touch. After 7 years, he's finally back, and this time, you won't ever let him go.

After a while, Mori parked his car in an underground parking lot and rode a lift to his penthouse, all while still holding your hand.

“And welcome to my humble abode in Japan,” he said as he opened the door to his penthouse for you to come in. Humble wasn't even the right word to describe the place. It was huge enough for a family of maybe 5 or 7.. or maybe 10.

You blushed at that thought and Mori noticed this. Assuming that you're just feeling hot, he asked, “Do you maybe.. want to take a shower?”

“Oh, uhm.. ” you trailed off, thinking if a shower would do you good or just make your blush worse when you see the products he uses everyday.

Mori wasn't used to this side of you and he's kinda liking it. You're so sensitive and vulnerable when he's around when in fact back in highschool, you'd shout and scold him like how he scolds Lev.

“Mori?” you called out as you remember you didn't have any spare clothes. “Could I borrow one of your shirts?”

You heard movements from outside the bathroom of his room and heard him say, “Come out. You can wear this.”

Clutching on to your towel, you eyed the shirt laid on the bed. It was his jersey when he joined the Japan National VB Team. It covered until your mid-thigh so you didn't find the issue of not wearing shorts.

Standing up, he kissed your forehead, “I'll take a shower, too. You go rummage my kitchen for dinner.”

After whipping up something simple for dinner, you come back to his room to call him but your eyes were met with Mori's more defined back muscles with water droplets reflecting the light in the room and being absorbed by the white towel loosely hung around his hips.

He didn't notice your presence because he was too immersed texting someone on his phone. You climbed on the bed and crawled up behind him.

You slowly snaked you arms around his torso. With your fingers tracing the lines along his abs, you said with a pout, “I thought you missed me, Morisuke Yaku.”

“I do, my love. I really do. Let me just.. ” and he started typing on his phone again. You didn't want this one. He always had his eyes on you ever since highschool. And now he won't look at you even if you're clinging onto his back?

Lightly grazing your fingertips on his toned stomach, you wrapped your legs around his waist as well, as you whispered in his ear the three words you haven't exchanged in years, “I love you.”

He laughed and blushed. Putting his arm around your shoulder and giving you a peck on the lips, “I'm still very much in love with you.”

Feeling a little bolder, you shower him with kisses on his jaw, arm, neck, and the area near his ear. “A-Ah.. ”

You smirked at this new found discovery. You wondered if his ears are sensitive as well and you tested it out. Licking the outlines of his ear and nibbled the top part while sneaking whispers of ‘I love you's’ here and there. His breathing was erratic, sensitive to your tongue. His moans became harder to suppress as you make lewd wet noises with and in his ear. You kissed it tenderly, pulled away, and laughed.

His nape was warm colored with a tinge of light pink. Continuing to tease him more, your hands found and cupped his pecs, holding him in place as you breathe slowly trying to steady his breathing. “Who would've thought the great Morisuke Yaku's weakness is getting his ear lick—”

He faced you and plopped you on the bed. His towel falling down as he hovered over you. You roamed your eyes over his hot body and just as you were about to see his package, you heard his deep voice dangerously near your ear, “Eyes on me, princess. Feeling my cock molding your tight and pretty pussy into the shape of it is much better than to look, don't you agree?”

You were waiting for this day to come. For Morisuke to be your first. “Well, are you just all bark and no bite? Come at me,” you boldly said as you raise your hips to find any form of friction for your aching pussy.

“Ah, ah, ah,” he mockingly said as he lifted his lower half up away from yours. “Come at you or come inside you? Your choice, baby,” his hands started to glide up under his shirt you were wearing.

His finger purposely grazing the area near your erect nipple. Just as you were about to moan, he placed his hand on the curve of your waist, drawing circles on your stomach with his thumb. He showed you his perfect set of white then his smirk, eyes squinting with amusement, “If you won't choose, I won't even touch you all night.”

You pout at him upon hearing his words, thinking it might charm him the way he was whipped during highschool and expecting he knows your answer. His thumb moved along your lower lip and you sucked it lightly while showing him your pleading eyes. He scoffed playfully and said, “Acting cute won't make me give what you want. Use your pretty little mouth, baby doll.”

With that, you kneeled by the bed and made him sit in front of you. You grabbed the base of his erect dick, pubic hair tickling the side of your palm.

“Y/N, you don't have to—” you kissed the tip glowing in a dark shade of pink, same as your boyfriend's lips. “F-Fuck.. I'm sensitive there.” You took that as a sign to continue torturing his tip.

Your teeth grazed near the slit then you licked it, overpowering the pain by pleasure. Spitting in your hand, you used that to smoothly pump his hard cock. You looked up at him, a perfect moaning mess: his disheveled hair, sweaty torso, teeth doing a not so good job at keeping his moans at bay.

You pumped him harder, your other hand massaging his balls. “C'mon, baby. Let me hear you moan when I'm making you feel good.”

As you tried to take his whole length inside your mouth, the tip hitting the back of your throat, he fired a handful of your hair and pushed you down, forcing you to take it whole.

“Your mouth feels so fucking warm, so fucking good,” he moaned as you gagged, unswallowed saliva dripping from your mouth. “I'm gonna fuck your hot mouth cunt and cum.”

You bobbed your head up and down in a fast pace, loud and hot groans from Morisuke became your encouragement. You felt him tense and started to shudder in pleasure. Knowing he's close, you focused your tongue on the tip and used your hand to pump the rest of his length.

“I'm cumming.. cumming, princess!” he moaned as he grabbed your head with his two hands, steadying you to shoot his cum inside your mouth.

He leaned back, propping his elbows. Not knowing where to spit, you swallowed probably half of his load when he offered to spit it on his hands.

“That was disgusting. How can people swallow that shit?” you looked at him with disgust as he washed his hands in the sink.

He walked towards you and placed you on the bed underneath him, “Well, Ms. Genius, ejaculation is part of the males' normal discharge.”

Before you could reply, he claimed your lips. He pushed your shirt up just enough to reveal your breasts with perky nipples ready for your boyfriend to nip and suck them as you moan underneath him. His hand travelled south and spreads your wet folds with his index and ring finger, the middle one is circling around your aching hole, ready to enter.

You bucked your hips, eager and impatient for his finger to enter you. And just then, he inserted his middle finger in your hot cunt, clenching around him as he enters you.

“If you're already this tight for just one finger, I wonder how good this tight pussy will wrap around my cock.” The image passed through your mind and clenched harder as he moved his finger in and out of you.

You were moaning, pulling his soft brown hair as he fingered you to heaven. “A-Ahh, fuck! Right there, Mori.. ” He briefly hit the sensitive spot in your cunt.

You let out a whimper as he took his finger out but let out a breathy moan as he positioned himself at your aching entrance.

Cupping your cheek, he looked into your eyes and said, “This will hurt but keep your eyes on me, okay?” You nodded in response as he put the tip in.

He took your hand, intertwining with yours and propped one elbow beside your head and his other hand guiding his length into you, you moaned out his name as he stretched your virgin walls.

“M-Mori, you're too big.. ” he kissed your lips as he enters you inch by inch. He groans into the kiss when you squeeze him. “Relax, baby. You'll milk me dry even before I put my whole dick inside you.”

After tons of moans and grunts, he was finally balls deep inside you. As you get accustomed to his size, you can't help but squeeze him inside you again. “S-Stop that, I'm gonna cum,” and you continued to clench around him as if testing if what he said was true.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he buried his head in the crook of your neck as he shot his load straight to your womb. Followed by his sexy moans and the feeling of his warm seed inside you made you cream his dick good.

“Fuck, Y/N, you're too good,” he said and started to move just after you both came making you both sensitive and a moaning mess.

You wrapped your legs, heels against his firm ass as he drilled your drenching pussy. “Morisuke, Morisuke.. ” you chanted and moaned his name as you were nearing your second orgasm.

With Yaku sucking on and nibbling on the skin of your delicate neck, you convulsed beneath him as he continues to thrust in you, chasing his own release. After a few more hard pumps, he buried his seed inside you for the second time. “That was so fucking good. It makes up for the seven years we've been masturbating separately, no?” he said as he laid his head on your chest.

You ran your hand to the previously slicked back hair of his and hummed to agree.

Morisuke placed a kiss on your chest, where your heart is, and said, “Let's be together until they run out of problems in Science, my love?”

You grabbed his hand, kissed it, and placed it on your cheek, “For a lifetime, my sweet.”

Masterlist

[andrewmoocow]

Steven Universe Alternate Future chapter 17: Together Forever (originally posted on July 5, 2021)

AN: Welcome back my loyal readers! Sorry to keep you all waiting these past few months, but I know the wait will really be worth it. The final two parts of Alternate Future might be some of my greatest writings yet, and I'm more than excited to share it all with you starting today. Now without further ado….

Synopsis: Steven tries to become Connie's official boyfriend.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven

Estelle as Garnet

Charlyne Yi as Ruby

Erica Luttrell as Sapphire

Deedee Magno-Hall as Pearl

Grace Rolek as Connie

Dee Bradley Baker as Lion

Kimberly Brooks as Cherry Quartz

Noël Wells as Black Rutile

Featuring Ray Chase as George Ikari

--

Pearl stood in line at the Buddwick Public Library alongside many other parents and parental figures like her, waiting as a bearded, glasses-wearing Japanese-American man signed books at a table.

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to not be from around here, right?" a single dad standing behind Pearl asked her.

"Well, technically yes," Pearl informed the father. "I come from a planet of beings similar to myself who are all based around gemstones, which explains my appearance. Also, just last week I helped save your world from a sociopathic revolutionary, so you're welcome."

"You foreigners say the craziest things!" the father giggled in disbelief of Pearl, who just groaned flatly as the line began to pick up.

Eventually, Pearl was at the front of the line and now face to face with childcare author George Ikari, who had his fingers clasped together as he gazed at Pearl.

"Let me guess, you are here because of your own son, daughter, or whatever pronouns your child prefers to be dubbed?" George asked Pearl while he took out another copy of his book, titled "When Your Child Wants Time Apart", to sign for the Gem.

"Well, he's not really my son, but Steven is the closest thing my team, the Crystal Gems, have to one after his mother died giving birth to him." Pearl explained as George got to signing. "And that's not even getting into the fact that his mother was a former despotic alien conqueror who grew tired of her life and the constant neglect from her fellow despots, so she faked her death because of how much she valued your planet as part of a big war, then thousands of years later she met a rock star and fell in love with him before they consummated their relationship and she gave up her physical form to give birth to Steven."

George just stared in shock at Pearl's tale before she tried to continue. "And just last week, there was this other Gem with a vendetta against Steven's mother who tried to destroy the planet and kill us a-"

"Stop." George commanded Pearl with a raise of his hand before handing over the signed book. "Just take the book and leave. Your tales are holding up the line."

"What did I tell ya, foreigners say the craziest things!" the single father from before laughed.

"I'm deeply sorry Mr. Ikari, it's just that Steven has been going through some rough times lately." Pearl apologized to the author.

"I completely understand miss." George said while pulling out his phone to show Pearl a picture of his own son, a young man with scruffy brown hair, a white dress shirt, and a nervous expression on his face. "My son Shane has had his fair share of troubles ever since his mother died, troubles that he insisted on running away from rather than facing them maturely."

"Just like Steven." Pearl compared the two boys sympathetically. "I am deeply sorry for your loss sir."

"Thank you for your kindness." George smiled, putting away his phone. "The best thing I feel could work for a situation like this is to let things play out and discuss his problems when the time is right."

"Thank you very much George." Pearl thanked the author as she finally began to leave the library with her new book in hand. "Though I doubt that'll be of any use to Steven."

--

Not too far away from the library, Steven was sitting in his room talking to Connie on the phone while she was on her study break.

"Wow Connie, looks like you got all this college stuff figured out." Steven laughed with his dear human friend over his phone.

"I've got a whole plan figured out for early admission into the University of Jayhawk, but I'm still not sure about my major," Connie explained to Steven. "Maybe I should major in political science and minor in sociology, or perhaps the other way around."

"Did all our galactic adventures together get you interested in politics?" Steven asked.

"Maybe." Connie chuckled. "But I'm thinking more down to earth, as far as long-term careers go." As the two laughed at Connie's pun, the timer on her phone began to go off. "Wow, fifteen minutes went by pretty fast."

"Aw man, these study breaks are too short." Steven complained before he realized something. "Hey wait, you left a brochure at my place last time." He stated, pulling out a brochure for Connie's college of choice to show her. "You want it back?"

"It's alright Steven, I still have two more, and the Internet too." Connie answered smiling.

"Oh, right." Steven realized. "Well, call me when you still wanna hang out, okay?"

"You know I will, silly!" Connie beamed. "Okay, for real now, bye!"

After Connie ended the call, Steven turned over on his back and gazed at the brochure in his hands. "The University of Jayhawk, huh?" he muttered to himself. "And how far is that from here?" Steven then opened up the brochure to learn how far the distance between Beach City and the university's location in Kansas was. "Oh, that far."

Once again, Steven began to glow pink as he sadly sank into his bed, fretting over how little often he'd be able to see Connie regularly. Gazing at his rose-colored hand, he then started pondering on whether he should do something about this new condition, as he had been thinking about since the titanic battle with Black Rutile.

--

Soon, Steven had decided to get up off his bed and walk downstairs, to which he found Garnet standing in the living room dressed in a hat and kerchief. "Oh Garnet, you're still here?"

"Steven." Garnet greeted Steven tersely.

"I could really use your advice right now." Steven declared racing over to the fusion. "It's about-"

"Not right now Steven, I gotta split." Garnet cut Steven off before un-fusing into Ruby and Sapphire.

"I'm terribly sorry Steven, but I'm running late for my lecture on alternate timelines." Sapphire apologized while taking off the scoutmaster's hat and giving it to Ruby, along with a kiss on the cheek, before racing off to her lecture. "See you soon!"

"Sapphire might be going, but you still got good ol' Ruby to talk to." Ruby said to Steven as she went to fetch a backpack. "Let's walk and talk scout, I got things to do."

"Oh, okay." Steven agreed as he followed Ruby to the Warp Pad, and the two set off.

--

Later that day, Steven had joined Ruby's class, consisting of Onion, Zebra Jasper, and Little Larimar, as they strolled through the woods on a gorgeous afternoon. When the class got to a good stopping point near a stump, Ruby hopped up on the stump to speak. "Okay everyone, you remember what we learned last week, right?" she asked her students. "Well, today is the day! Brace yourselves, 'cause today we're sketching nature and the animals around us!"

Onion and his Gem classmates excitedly took out their notepads to draw on as Ruby continued. "Draw to your heart's content scouts!" Ruby declared. "Feel the beauty of everything around you, and you'll have the honor of receiving this Nature Sketching Badge!" She then presented a patch depicting a paint palette and brush in front of depictions of a wolf and a bird. "Got that? Now get to drawing!"

As soon as the three pupils left to go draw the beauty of nature around them, Ruby took it as her cue to jump down from the stump to talk with Steven. "So, what did you need Garnet for?"

"It's about Connie." Steven admitted to the small red Gem. "Every time I talk with her, I feel like she knows exactly what to do with her life, mostly thanks to her parents, and I don't. When we're together as Stevonnie, I feel so ready for anything, but on my own, I feel so lost. Just, what do I want with life?"

"That's tough Steven." Ruby declared sympathetically.

"Exactly!" Steven replied. "Connie is gonna go super far away for college, and I'm gonna be stuck here in Beach City where barely anything can go right for me nowadays and I don't know what to do about them! I want to be with Connie forever, like how you and Sapphire are basically together forever as Garnet!" That was when he came to a conclusion. "Wait, if I want to be together with Connie, then she's my future!"

Steven's revelation made Ruby super excited, and she began scuttling in place with stars in her eyes, her rapid footsteps creating a small fire beneath her feet. "STEVEN STEVEN STEVEN STEVEN STEVEN!" she cheered, but stopped short once she noticed the fire she created. "Oh my gosh, one sec!" Ruby quickly ran off and came back with a towel that she used to put it out. "Anyways, STEVEN, YOU GOTTA PROPOSE!"

"Wait, propose?!" Steven exclaimed in shock. "But, we're only teenagers, we can't get married yet! But then again…"

"Don't say you haven't thought of it!" Ruby added cheerfully. "Besides, aren't there couples in this country that get married at 18 or something?"

"Y-yeah, I thought of it." Steven began blushing, which he tried to hide within his jacket. "I mean, we just had this discussion."

"Well, what are you waiting for?!" Ruby yelled happily while jumping up and grabbing onto his head. "DO IT, DO IT, DO IT! DO IT LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!"

"Are you still really sure?" Steven asked the overly eager Gem. "As I said, Connie and I are still only teenagers."

"C'mon, we told you about how it worked for Sapphire and I." Ruby responded. "And if you're successful, you'll have the honor of receiving this!" She presented Steven with a badge depicting one figure popping the question to another. "The Proposal Badge! And if you're not so sure, well, seeing the future would be really helpful here."

Steven gasped, knowing just who Ruby was implying.

--

Far away from Ruby, Sapphire sat down with her class, made up of the Watermelon Tourmaline fusion, two of the Nephrites, Orange Spodumene, Cherry Quartz, and Angel Aura Quartz, while drawing lines in the sand with a stick.

"Okay class, let's begin our lesson." Sapphire announced to her students when she spotted Steven racing towards her with a big smile on his face. "Ah, Steven. I've been expecting you."

"Hi, Sapphire." Steven greeted Sapphire. "I'm sorry to interrupt your class, but I got big news! I've been thinking about my future with Connie lately, and a chat with Ruby convinced me that I should propose!"

"Wait, don't you have to wait until you're a grown-up to do that?" Cherry Quartz inquired with a raise of her hand.

"Let me guess, you're here because of my future vision?" Sapphire asked. "Let's run the numbers then." She then let Steven stand next to her before beginning to speak to her class. "Okay class, let's review what we've learned today." She began while drawing complex math equations in the sand. "Using the concepts we discussed so far, let us calculate the probability of Steven succeeding in asking Connie to marry him. Let's begin with the probability that she'll want to spend her life with someone, and then we'll multiply that by the differential factor in sociocultural marriage acceptance. Next, we multiply that by a possibly happy cohabitation, the factor of fear of engagement, the intensity of the love you share, and finally the robustness of your goals in life." As Sapphire finished her equation, she finally turned back to Steven. "Are you following so far, Steven?"

"Uh, maybe?" Steven answered as he stared at the equation Sapphire had jotted down for him in the sand, but it wasn't long before the ocean tides began to wash them away. "Oh no, your work!"

"And there we have it." Sapphire declared with a chuckle. "Don't you get it, Steven? My marriage to Ruby, our fusion as Garnet, it eluded my future vision for so long, defied the odds, and perhaps even changed the course of time itself!" she declared encouragingly. "We could just write equations in the sand all day, but then a wave of chance can come crashing in and wash everything away! Love is truly unquantifiable! Even with my gift of clairvoyance, I know far better than anyone that love can make the impossible possible! And that is why I say do it! Do it, Steven, just do it!"

"Yeah, you're right!" Steven began getting pumped up before turning to Sapphire's class. "Get one last good look at me, everyone, because after today you're gonna be calling me Steven Quartz Cutie Pie DeMayo Diamond Universe-Maheswaran!"

The class began cheering vibrantly, bringing a big smile to Steven's face as he finally realized what his future now held.

--

As the afternoon slowly began to give way to evening, Ruby and Sapphire reunited by rushing towards each other on the sand, excited about the big proposal.

"Steven told me first, and I led him to you!" Ruby cheered, spinning her little blue wife around by the waist.

"I told him to go for it!" Sapphire laughed. "Oh, it's going to be so wonderful!"

As the two fused back into Garnet, she stood still for a few moments, contemplating her components' decisions before coming to one of her own. "I take full responsibility for their actions." Just then, Garnet heard footsteps and found Pearl walking behind her, her pointy nose stuck in a book. "Pearl, I'm guessing you want to see me about the book you're reading."

"I was just thinking about calling up you and Amethyst," Pearl announced as her gaze turned from the pages to her leader. "Where's Steven?"

"Oh, nothing much," Garnet answered. "Just going to make a rash decision that'll emotionally damage him in the long run."

"Oh, that's ni-" Pearl began before she did a double-take. "WAIT, WHAT?!"

--

As for Steven, he was too busy getting ready for an evening with Connie without a care in the world, picking up a cake from Spacetries that said 'Together forever!' on it, buying some flowers from Crazy Lace Agate, lighting up the glow bracelet that brought him & Connie together to begin with and dressing up in some nice clothes. If all goes well, he would soon become Steven Quartz Cutie Pie DeMayo Diamond Universe-Maheswaran.

Meanwhile, at Connie's house, Connie kept on studying for the University of Jayhawk when she heard a roar coming from outside her window. Walking over to the window, she discovered Steven parked outside her home with Lion by his side.

"Evening Connie, how are you doing?" Steven asked his ladylove.

"Steven?" Connie replied. "What are you doing here, and why are you all dressed up like that?"

"You got a fifteen-minute study break in two minutes, right?" Steven inquired, gazing at his watch to check if his timing is correct.

"Whoa, spot-on!" Connie exclaimed, gazing at her phone to learn that he was indeed right. "So, what did you come here for?"

"You want to go for a walk with me?" Steven offered. "I'm sure you could use some fresh air."

"That's very sweet Steven." Connie smiled. "I'd really love to, but I-"

"Don't worry, we can take Lion, and then I'll bring you home in fifteen!" Steven declared with a thumbs up.

"Okay, let's do this!" Connie accepted the offer and left her room to meet Steven outside, taking a moment to tell her parents along the way. "Bye Mom and Dad, I'm spending my study break with Steven!"

Once Connie was out the door, she and Steven mounted on Lion's back and he ran away from the Maheswaran residence.

--

"Remember when we first met here?" Steven asked Connie as they dismounted from Lion and began walking down the beach.

"You mean when you tried riding a bike in the sand and then started running away screaming?" Connie replied with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I was trying to get your attention." Steven added.

"Last I remember, I was more focused on my book than your silly antics." Connie stated.

"Well, that all happened right here." Steven declared, gesturing to a picnic at the very spot where he and Connie first met all those years ago. "You like what I have here?"

"Steven!" Connie exclaimed in awe at the picnic set before them. "I don't know what to say! I also can't believe you still remember this exact spot!"

"I just remember it like it was yesterday!" Steven exclaimed just as eagerly before running over to a nearby rock to sit on.

"This is too cute." Connie squealed while blushing.

"And without further ado," Steven announced as he picked up a guitar to play while Connie sat down. "There's something very important that I'd like to tell you today." With that, he started strumming the guitar and began to sing. "I'd rather be tall, I'd rather be smart, I'd rather be sure you know I care." He sang for Connie. "Wherever you go, wherever you start, I'd rather be sure you know I'm there. I'd rather I always be a part of whatever you do. I'd rather be me, with you."

Although Connie was a little turned off by the deeper meaning of Steven's song, she chose to just keep those feelings hidden to not hurt Steven's while he continued singing. "Wherever we go, I already trust, I'd know what to do if it were us. I'd know what to say, I'd know how to be, I'd know your entire syllabus." Steven continued as the song reached its climax. "I can't think of any other thing in the world that I would rather do. If I could be, I'd rather be me with you."

"Oh Steven, that's so beautiful!" Connie applauded the love song. "If a little unsettling, but I'd rather not say it out loud because-" Steven then got down on one knee and presented him her old glow bracelet. "Huh?"

"Connie, will you marry me?" Steven popped the question at last.

"Come again?" Connie asked, completely taken off guard by such a proposal.

"Let's get married and live together as Stevonnie, just like Garnet!" Steven reiterated for his possible wife.

"Are you serious?" Connie chuckled at the marriage proposal. "I think we should talk about this first."

"You might think I'm being sentimental, but this makes sense!" Steven exclaimed. "I don't know what you'll be studying, but I'm sure Stevonnie will! We can go to Jayhawk together!"

"I really appreciate this little date, but come on! You're still young!" Connie said as she stood up. "And acting a little clingy, I might add." She added under her breath.

"What was that?" Steven asked Connie.

"Nothing!" Connie lied. "Like I said, we're still young. And even if some couples get married at like, eighteen, I don't think we're fit to be one of those."

"So, you don't want to be Stevonnie with me?" Steven asked despondently, but Connie was there to comfort him.

"Of course I'd want to be Stevonnie, but I'd like to be my own person too," Connie answered reassuringly. "You get that, right?"

"Yeah, but," Steven began while putting the bracelet away as Connie hugged him. "Is it a no?"

"I'd say it's not right now." Connie answered.

"But if we're going to spend our lives together, why didn't you say it now?" Steven kept on inquiring fretfully.

"We got plenty of time." Connie declared, moving on from hugging Steven to holding his hands. "Don't you worry."

"I'm not worried, honest." Steven tried correcting his best friend. "I'm just happy when I'm with you."

"I'm happy around you too." Connie replied. "It's just that-" Before Connie could finish, the alarm on her phone went off. "Oh snap, my alarm!" she yelped in realization while pulling her phone out. "Forget studying right now, I don't think it matters."

"But it does matter to you!" Steven yelled.

"And you're just as important!" Connie responded, beginning to notice Steven getting more stressed out.

"I'm fine, we can talk about it later." Steven began rapidly panting. "Look, Lion's still right there, you can go now."

"Are you sure Steven?" Connie wondered sympathetically. "You're looking a little on edge. Maybe I can hook you up with a good therapist. She's a good friend of my mom named Dr. Rebe-"

"I'm sure I'm fine." Steven cut Connie off. "Now go."

"Okay." Connie obliged before giving Steven a goodbye hug. "I'll call you again tomorrow at noon." She said before walking towards Lion to have him take her home.

"Have fun studying!" Steven continued putting up a happy front as he bid Connie farewell. But as soon as she was out of sight, that front completely fell. "Nobody I love ever wants to stay."

With that, Steven fell back-first to the sand and turned pink, the resulting impact ruining the nice picnic around him as he wallowed in a crater of his sadness, and stayed there for the rest of the day.

--

Many hours later, Steven kept on lying in the crater long into the night with tears in his eyes, and when he finally decided to get up, Garnet was there waiting for him with the picnic basket containing the cake still intact.

"I assume it didn't go well." Garnet theorized as she helped Steven up from the crater and began walking him home.

"I don't get it," Steven muttered cynically. "Ruby and Sapphire said I should go for it, and I did, but everything went wrong."

"I apologize on their behalf," Garnet stated. "You just can't trust love advice from hopeless romantics like those two."

"Then why didn't you stop me?" Steven asked the fusion.

"I couldn't see a future where you didn't try proposing to Connie," Garnet answered. "However, there were quite a few where after she said no, you forced her to fuse with you and subsequently went insane."

"Of course." Steven moaned. "Even in alternate timelines, nothing can ever go right for me."

"Don't be so hard on yourself." Garnet comforted her half-human ward with a hug to the side. "Your soulmate should be your complement, not a missing piece. Ruby and Sapphire may deeply love each other, but they still have their own thoughts, feelings, and lives." The pair soon reached the beach house and sat down on the steps together. "Whatever hole you have in your life Steven, I want you to know that Connie or Stevonnie might not fill it."

"It's just that you guys make it so easy!" Steven revealed as he took the basket from Garnet. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but it's kinda your fault for being so dang perfect!"

"I know you're upset Steven, and I take responsibility for your plight," Garnet apologized to Steven. "but blaming others as much as you blame yourself won't help."

"Then maybe shoving this adorable cake in my face will!" Steven declared as he opened the picnic basket to reveal that the cake was in pieces.

"It probably won't." Garnet deadpanned, but Steven didn't listen and started eating the broken cake anyways.

"Well, I'm still gonna do it!" Steven exclaimed, his mouth now full of cake.

"I know," Garnet added as she gazed up at the sky. However, what she didn't catch was a fly buzzing around her and Steven, and its green eyes started blinking.

--

"Ah, romance. So utterly futile." Black Rutile grimaced as she watched the live footage of Steven drowning his sorrows in cake through a hard light welding mask. "Still, all that trauma could be useful in the future."

As Black Rutile was spectating on Steven's pain, she was hard at work on her plans for revenge, using a blowtorch to put together the final touches on a special wrist-mounted device. Once she was done, the villainous Rutile aimed the device at a rock carved into the exact shape of White Diamond's gem and fired. The resulting blast destroyed the rock and left a massive cloud of ash where it once was, but she wasn't satisfied with the smattering of pebbles that once made up the rock.

"Hm, need to work on the disintegration aspect a bit more." Black Rutile pondered while retracting the welding mask into her visor and began going back to the drawing board.

--

Guess who's back? Back again? Black Rutile's back, she's no friend! And on that rather sad turned ominous note, we conclude the first chapter of Part 3. Now that we have Steven's romance issues out of the way, expect to see the following in the coming chapters, in no particular order.

Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl re-enact Ace Attorney while Steven becomes even more scarred for life.

Viva Los Diego! Lapis & Amethyst get involved with a James Bond parody, Garnet & Bismuth solve mysteries together with a police officer who's basically the Plumber from Ratchet and Clank, Pearl matches wits with a snooty film director who's like Michael Bay, David Cage, Neil Druckmann & Zack Snyder in one, and Peridot tries promoting her CPH reboot.

Steven hangs out with Spinel and plays basketball with Wolverine.

Peridot finally gets her own song.

Jasper finally gets her own song.

A certain Stevonnie-chasing jerk dares Steven to reform him.

And finally, Black Rutile plays a role in a certain event in Fragments, the final chapter of this part.

Have I gotten your interest yet? Good, cause strap in everyone, it's gonna be nuts.

[scatterednova]

Summary: Asmodeus and Clara discover the truth behind Iruma's parents and decide that it's their responsibility to make up for the love and affection he missed out on growing up. But they somehow miss the fact that Iruma is doing just fine without his previous family, and he's enjoying his new one very much.

-

    “Whoah, Azz-kun! Your bloodline magic is so cool!” Iruma gushed. He had roped himself into helping the janitors clear the cherry blossoms again, but thankfully Azz-kun was there to burn them to a crisp. 

    “Thank you, Iruma-sama! But my magic pales into comparison to yours!” Azz-kun puffed up in pride with a literal sparkle in his eyes. But that quickly morphed to anger as Clara slammed into his side.

    “Iruma-chi! Are you done yet? I wanna play!” she whined as Azz-kun tried to pry her off. Iruma rubbed her head and laughed.

    “Yeah, just finished thanks to Azz-kun. What do you want to do?” Clara launched herself off of Azz-kun to latch onto Iruma. 

    “I wanna play with the fire!” she cheered and lunged for the small traces of soot that Azz-kun’s fire had left behind. She slammed her hands in the ash and spun around. “Look! It’s like chalk! I bet we can draw with it!”

    “You idiot! You’re going to get our uniforms dirty!” Azz-kun growled as he hoised Clara up to keep her from touching anything. That backfired, and Clara latched onto the sleeve of Azz-kun’ all-white uniform. He dropped her and started rubbing his sleeve. “See what I mean! You’re lucky class is already over!”

    “Don’t worry Azz-azz! I can make another one!” She pulled a nearly identical copy of Azz-kun’ uniform, but in a glaring shade of hot pink and sparkling like a disco ball.

    “I’m not wearing that thing!” Azz-kun yelled back. Iruma was left in the background to watch with an awkward smile. He knew that if he let them keep at it they would never get around to leaving.

    “Clara! How about we play as we walk home?” He interjected into their little squabble. By this point, Clara had climbed on top of Azz-kun’s head and was cackling madly while waving the uniform around. They both turned to face him at the same time, which looked a little creepy. Clara launched herself off once again, causing Azz-kun to squawk about his hair, and landed next to Iruma. 

    “Can we play tag?” Clara started bouncing in place while flashing Iruma puppy-dog eyes. 

    “Sure thing, that sounds like fun!” Iruma gave her another pat to the head and started leading her out the gates. He trusted Azz-kun to follow, and by the time they got to the gate he had reclaimed his usual position by Iruma’s side. Clara started skipping ahead of the pair before screeching to a halt right outside the gate.

    “Alright! If you don’t have a ribbon you’re not it!” Clara yelled as she produced two ribbons patterned with some creature that Iruma didn’t recognize. She shoved one in Iruma’s hands before sprinting off. Iruma fumbled with it for another moment before following suit.

    “Hey! We didn’t agree on who it would be! Why am I stuck with it!”

--

    Iruma sprawled out across his bed, idly watching Clara build an entire fort out of materials she pulled from her pockets. Azz-kun was yelling at her about ‘disrespecting the sanctity of Iruma-sama’s room!’. Iruma was content to stay there and watch them. He was still unused to having so many people around him, especially people who seemed to have an interest in his happiness. And his friends were so powerful, it still blew his mind whenever he saw them pull off some powerful feat of magic.

    “Clara! That’s amazing!” Speaking of magic, Clara had just finished her elaborate three-story fort, complete with a ball pit and balcony. It was easily one of the coolest things Iruma had seen that week, and Clara had just assembled it before his very eyes. “Both of you have the coolest bloodline magic.”

    “Iruma-sama, you honor us! But your bloodline magic is surely far superior….” Azz-kun gushed, only to be cut off by Clara.

    “Iruma-chi, what’s your bloodline magic?” She jumped up next to him and leaned in until their noses were almost touching.

    “Valac! If he wanted us to know he would have let us know by now!” Azz-kun started to scold her in the background, but Iruma laughed.

    “Oh, I don’t know either.” Technically, he didn’t have any bloodline magic. But he had Grandpa’s magic, so that might have ended up in his ring as well. But Grandpa had never mentioned it, and Iruma had never thought about it before. 

    That was apparently the wrong thing to say, as both his friends were giving him weird looks.

    “How do you not know?” Clara cocked her head and gave him a puzzled look.

    “Well, I haven’t spoken to my parents in ages, and Grandpa never mentions it. So I just never figured it out,” Iruma tried to laugh it off, but he just got even weirder looks. 

    “Valac! You shouldn’t pry! You could be messing with very painful memories!”Azz-kun was fuming in the background and tried to yank Clara away.

    “Don’t worry, I’m over it. They didn’t want anything to do with me, and I’ve accepted that.” Iruma had spent hours thinking it over, and it had taken a while for him to realize that he no longer felt an affection for the people who had tossed him aside after he spent his entire life trying to please them. He even felt comfortable enough to open up about it, as he was doing now.

    “Iruma-chi…” For once in her life, Clara was shocked speechless. Azz-kun was in a similar boat, but he looked more offended than shocked. “Your parents...just left you?” 

    “Yeah, but now I live with Grandpa. I’m happier than I’ve ever been!” Iruma tried to appease his friends, but they still looked disturbed. Clara was plastered to his side, and Azz-kun was hovering around the edges of the bed. “Really guys, It doesn’t bother me anymore. I’m happier here than I ever was there with them. You don’t need to worry.”

    Clara and Azz-kun still seemed deeply disturbed, but they seemed to be willing to drop it. The rest of the afternoon had a tense current to it despite that.

--

    “Do you remember what Iruma-chi said earlier?” Clara would usually use the walk home to mess with Alice, but today she quietly trailed behind him. She’d tried to brush off Iruma’s words when she was playing with him, but it stuck with her. 

    “About his parents? Vividly,” Alice, on the other hand, was trying not to combust until they were out of Iruma’s line of sight. “Iruma-sama is the pinnacle of ability and compassion! Any respectable demon would kill to have him as an heir, and those idiots just throw him away!” 

    “I can’t even think about my mom doing that to me.” Clara moped as she thought about her own family. Whenever she tried to think of her mom doing that to her, her mind just blanked. 

    “I don’t exactly see eye to eye with my mother, but to think that she didn’t even care about me…” Alice had gone from fuming to staring at the ground. Similarly to Clara, he simply couldn’t imagine his parents turning on him. “His grandfather really seems to care about him, though.”

    “Yeah! Iruma-chi doesn’t need those losers! He has everything he needs right here!” Clara declared. She was starting to get pumped up. “We can be all the family he needs!” 

    “Valac, you’re on to something! Iruma-sama seems to be doing fine, but it’s our duty as friends to make sure that he has the love and support he needs in life!” Alice yelled. He was blazing with determination, and in his haste, he forgot that Iruma had clearly told them that he was fine with the whole thing.

--

    “Clara, is something going on?” Iruma was getting a little suspicious. Azz-kun and Clara had seemingly been on the same page all day, which was weird in of itself. But now Clara was dragging him off on an ‘adventure’, and Azz-kun hadn’t yelled at her about it. As a matter of fact, he seemed to be as excited as Clara was about all this. 

    “Don’t worry Iruma-chi! We’re gonna have fun!” That didn’t calm Iruma down in the slightest, but if Azz-kun seemed okay with it he probably wouldn’t die. He shrugged and let himself be dragged away. Grandpa wasn’t expecting him home for a while, so he could text him once they got to their mystery destination. 

“Yes, Iruma-sama! You have nothing to fear?” Well, that sealed it. Iruma was just going to roll with it. 

--

    Alice regretted every decision that led him to this personal torture. He should have remembered the festival, but he got swept up in Valac’s enthusiasm and forgot that Valac’s entire family were carbon copies of her. 

    “Azz-kun, are you okay? You’re looking a little pale,” Iruma asked. 

    “I am quite alright, Iruma-sama!” Alice gripped his cup tighter as one of the boys plastered his uniform with a supply of stickers that he hadn’t been holding a minute ago. His hair had been yanked into braids and tied with bows. Iruma had half a flower garden in his, and a new manicure that was so blinding it gave him a migraine every time he looked at it.

    “If you’re sure, Azz-kun.” Iruma-same gave him a blinding smile and Alice felt better about the whole thing.

    “Dinner’s ready! Everyone gather around!” Valac’s mother swooped in with an entire feast. Iruma-sama’s eyes lit up, and he and Valac shared a look across the table. It appeared that Operation: Home Cooked Meal was a success. Mrs. Valac, who had been informed of their plan, seemed to take great pleasure in lovingly piling more on Iruma-sama’s plate. Time for the next phase!

--

    “Alright, kiddos! Have fun while I’m out! Take care of yourselves!” Valac’s mother gave all the kids one last pat on the head before breezing out the door. 

    “Bye-bye!” The Valac children waved after their mother as she made her way to do whatever it was she was doing. Clara spun around and grabbed Iruma-sama by the sleeves while her siblings attached themselves to his legs. “Iruma-chi! Do you want to play now?” 

    “Of course! What do you guys usually play when you’re home?” Iruma-sama gave them another beaming smile.

    “It’s a surprise!” Iruma-sama was dragged over to one of the many piles of pillows in a corner of the room. Alice trailed behind them while suppressing the urge to lecture them on their treatment of Iruma-sama. But this part of the operation required authentic sibling bonding, so it would be counterproductive to intervene. But he still made sure to nab the cushion next to Iruma-sama. For all he knew, those little demons had more stickers stuck up their sleeves.

    “Behold! The ultimate sibling experience!” The boys shouted in unison as they raised what looked like an ordinary board game in the air. Iruma-same clapped his hands together.

    “That looks like a lot of fun! How do you play?” Iruma-sama gushed as he praised the little ones. 

    “Last one to turn pink wins!” Alice should have been concerned about the helmets that were being passed around, but this was just a board game, right? Surely Clara didn’t really need all those balloons filled with a mystery liquid. 

--

    The matriarch of the Valac family sighed and put her head in her hands. She wished she could join in on the fun back home, but it was important for kids to have space to express themselves. And it was her duty as a mother to give the kids the enrichment they need! Her heart went out for that poor Iruma boy, but he seemed to be doing just fine. He had some very caring friends and a home to go back to. But it wouldn’t hurt if she ‘accidentally’ made too much food in the morning and sent Clara to school with an extra bento.

--

    Iruma staggered home, covered in paint and glitter but loving it at the same time. He’d always wondered what having siblings would be like, be he never imagined something so explosive. Though, Clara’s family was probably a special case. The only thing that could top it was spending an evening with his new family. 

    “Opera-san? Are you here?” He called out as he stepped through the doors of his home. The cat demon in question appeared at his side and gave him a critical look-over. Her tail twitched, the only sign of her slight displeasure at his appearance. “Sorry I got the uniform dirty.” He gave her a sheepish look as he took his shoes off.

    “Who did this? Do I need to handle them?” She got a slightly dangerous look on her face. “I will inform Lord Sullivan of this if I need to.”

    “Oh no, it’s not like that. I just went to Clara’s house to play and it got a little out of hand. It wasn’t a prank or anything.” Iruma waved his hands in front of his face as he tried to calm her down. “And sorry again about the uniform.”

    “You don’t need to apologize for something like that. I’ll draw a bath for you. Try and brush some of the glitter off in the meantime,” Opera-san reassured him. Her face was still blank, but her tail had stopped lashing around. He took that as a good sign and followed her upstairs. 

    “Is grandpa around?” 

    “He had some business at the school, but he’ll be home shortly. I believe that he has a surprise for you afterward. “ Iruma cringed slightly. Surprises from Grandpa were always a big deal, but they had a tendency to go overboard. Like his entire first day here, for example. And nearly every day after that.

    “Well, I’m still looking forward to it.”

--

    “Iruma! My precious grandson!” Iruma found himself in a familiar set of arms. 

    “Grandpa! How was your day?” He returned the hug with a warm smile.

    “Ahh! You get cuter every time I see you!” Sullivan cooed as he squeezed Iruma tighter. 

    “If you’re done, you have something to tell him.” He could always trust Opera-san to be the voice of reason in this household. His grandpa started sparkling at the reminder and he finally released Iruma from his embrace. 

    “Your beloved Grandpa has set up a playdate for you! I’ve spoken with their parents and both of your friends are coming over for dinner tomorrow!” Grandpa straightened up and spun around. 

    “Wow! Azz-kun and Clara are coming over? I’m so excited!” Iruma gushed and got caught in another hug. Even Opera-kun looked pleased with the situation. His friends had been over to his house before, but they had always just kinda ended up here. The few planned social events were usually class-wide, and while he loved his other friends he looked forward to hanging out with Clara and Azz-kun. 

    “My grandson is so cute!”

    “Sir, please let go of Iruma-san so he can eat.”

--

    “Iruma-chi!” Clara sprung forward the instant the door was opened and plastered herself against Iruma’s side. He laughed and patted her head.

    ‘I’m glad you’re here! Have you seen Azz-kun yet?” Iruma looked back out the door and into the woods, trying to spot a flash of pink and white. He saw him a second later when he came barreling into view.

    “Valac! Don’t go running off like that!” He growled at Clara, who was hanging off of Iruma’s arm like a monkey. Clara laughed and ran off farther into Iruma’s house. Azz-kun scowled after her. He bowed deeply. “Iruma-sama, I apologize for her manners. To think that she would disrupt the sanctity of your home,” he growled softly. 

    “Don’t worry about it! You know how she is.” Iruma waved his hands in front of his face while he assured his friend. Azz-kun raised himself with a sparkle in his eyes.

    “Iruma-sama is so gracious!” Azz-kun gushed. Iruma felt the urge to slam his face into his hands in embarrassment, but he’d gotten better at handling Azz-kun and had developed something of an immunity.

    “Come on, Azz-kun. The food will get cold.” He shot him a grin while leading his friend down the hall. He was followed by Azz-kun’s fervent compliments.

--

    “Iruma-sama! I will avenge your honor!” Azz-kun shouted as he mashed the buttons on the controller. Clara was perched on the back of the couch like the gremlin she was, and Iruma was enjoying the sight. He’d been knocked out by the boss, so he had a minute or two before he respawned. He took the time to enjoy the atmosphere. Opera-san occasionally popped in with snacks and advice, and Grandpa was lurking in the corner with a camera. 

    “This blasted creature!” Azz-kun threw his controller down after his character took a fireball to the face and died. 

    “Don’t worry, Azz-kun! The longer you play the easier it gets.” Iruma comforted his friend while he prepared himself to rejoin the game again. 

    “You are truly an admirable person to master this blasted device.” And Azz-kun was back to complimenting him. He shot him a quick smile before joining the game again. 

    “Well, I play them a lot. Opera-san plays with me every day. It’s not as chaotic as Clara’s games, but it’s nice to just hang out with my family.” Iruma was fully focused on the game at this point, so he missed Azz-kun’s revelation. 

--

    “I think we miscalculated,” Alice hissed as soon as he and Valac were out of earshot. He had made sure to properly say goodbye to Iruma-sama and his family, but he had to admit that he rushed a bit. He needed to talk this over with Valac. 

    “About Iruma-chi’s family?” Valac had gone quiet, and the whole situation was very reminiscent of the conversation that had started this whole thing. “I felt bad for him because his parents suck, but he seems to be doing alright.” 

    “Opera-san and Lord Sullivan gave him everything we thought he was missing,” Alice mussed. Valac latched onto his arm and gave him a look that he assumed was her version of being thoughtful. 

    “I guess we don’t need to do anything else,” Valac declared as she danced ahead on the path. Alice instinctively lunged forward to grab her. 

    “Well, that’s obvious! Now stop running around!”

[curiousconch]

Two Old Friends

Chapter 3 of Ricochet (An Open Heart AU).

Catch up here: Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Chapter Synopsis: As Bryce takes Heather in, a facade that he has blocked out for several months begins to disintegrate.

Pairing: Rafael Aveiro x MC (Dr. Heather Song) | Bryce Lahela x MC (Dr. Heather Song)

Words: 2.3k+ | Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Romance

Rating/Warnings: None for this chapter, it's pure fluff! (Yay!)

Author’s Notes: Majority of the characters are owned by Pixelberry, except the main character Heather Song. I was listening to Maybe this Time on repeat when I wrote this chapter, I think that song encapsulates it perfectly.

8 months ago

Bryce Lahela was stoked to have been assigned the Ed Farrugia case. He dreamt up of an opportunity like this ever since he graduated top of class from Stanford Law School. It wasn't out of self-ambition, it was part of his grand plan - to go opposite the direction of his white-collar criminal parents.

At first, Bryce's parents was overjoyed when he told them he's pursuing a law degree. It never occurred to them that it was all part of his scheme.

He soldiered on through law school, bagging an internship in the San Francisco DA. When his efforts to build his network provided an opportunity in Boston, he didn't hesitate to pack up his bags and fly across the country, farther away from Hawaii than ever. It was a big risk, but it eventually paid off given how his career imploded once he got the job.

But perhaps the most memorable experience was when he told his parents that he was to become Boston's newest ADA. They were nothing but furious, there were no counting the amount of expletives he heard that day.

No turning back, mom and dad.

The timing to tell them couldn't be more perfect, because it was only a week after they turned over his trust fund, a "graduation gift". He knew it was just a bribe for him to do the dirty legal work to keep them away from prison for free.

After toiling for so many years, he was more than ready to abandon his past behind and start his life over. More than it was revenge, it was Bryce's sweet and merciful justice. No more crosses behind his back, marking him as his parents' criminal son.

That wasn't his reality anymore. So he focused on work and did his best to shine. And shine he did. For the first time in a long time, he felt like he was no longer a criminal. In an ironic twist of fate, he was the one putting people behind bars. And he relished in every win.

However, being the Chief DA's golden boy wasn't providing him the opportunity to build new friendships. Although he tried to make friends with his colleagues, he began to be seen as a threat. So for the first year in the big city, he spent his free time partying hard. With his quick rise to fame, everyone wanted a taste of the majestic Bryce Lahela. He didn't hesitate to throw himself into the throng.

And in that fateful sunny morning, he felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. He built the foundations of the State versus Perry case over the weekend, not even taking a single drop of alcohol. With the help of Agent Aveiro, he collected mountains of evidence for his breakthrough day at court. He knew his case was airtight. Today, he plans to put the cherry on top.

Pulling off his sunglasses and tightening his slick striped blue tie, he grabbed his suitcase from the passenger seat and got out of his car.

He strode into Edenbrook Hospital with confidence, getting glances from several attendings and nurses as he walked the hallways. He smirked at each of them back, wondering which one he should make of a mission after he wraps up this case. God, these doctors are hot, he thought, as he slid into one of the elevators. He punched 7, and the button lighted up.

Once he arrived at the right floor, he followed the directions pasted on the walls and eventually found the diagnostics team's office. As he neared the sliding glass doors, he heard an exchange of voices in rapid succession, as if they were discussing something important. As he raised his gaze through the glass, he saw two female doctors and two males. His eyes automatically landed to the young brunette, whose hand is on her waist as she listened intently as the others debated.

His brow quirked a little, a fit of curiosity fleeted through him. She was prettier in personal. Television didn't do her justice.

Immediately shaking off the unnerving attraction, he tapped gently on the glass door. All doctors turned to him. One of the male doctors with piercing blue eyes let him in, he later found out that he was the world-renowned diagnostician, Dr. Ethan Ramsey, the head of the team.

"ADA Bryce Lahela, I'm here for Dr. Heather Song?" he walked into the room exuding confidence, burying the distracted innuendos he was currently having.

In response, she moved forward and offered her hand, smiling brightly at him. "Dr. Heather Song, at your service. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Oh, I bet you do.

He answered mentally, stepping closer to look at her soft features. He took her hand and shook it, returning the warm welcome with a smug look in his face. He couldn't stop thinking about her ever since.

He spent almost the whole day with her, going through her testimony in detail. She spoke in a very confident manner, ascertaining every small observation she made about Travis Perry, and how he raised her suspicions. She also walked him through how she confirmed her theories, and how she decided to report this to the hospital's chief. He was amazed with the way how she mapped out every step, and acknowledged how her actions made the case straightforward and uncomplicated. Certainly controversial and sensational, given that it was involving one of Massachusetts' senators. But getting up close and personal with her that day made him realize that like him, she was at the top of her game.

She was professional and insightful. Bryce was also impressed with how she carried herself. Graceful and poised, yet fierce and tenacious. There were a lot of times that he thought he was hearing himself in the way she talked. And for that reason, he like spending time with her.

Over the course of the next few months, he spent more time with her. It was the perfect opportunity to keep in touch, as she was the star witness after all.

Beyond work, it was easy for him to befriend her. She was warm and open, sensitive and caring. Eventually, she introduced him to her exclusive group of doctors, who readily welcome him.

But he admired her more when she made it her mission to help him with his runaway sister. She went out of her way to spend time with her, bridging the gap between the siblings.

That was when he irreversibly opened up to her, telling her about his past. Making her see through him, who he really was.

And the way that she embraced it without inhibitions was a breathe of fresh air. He never knew he needed someone like her in his life, the one thing to complete his do-over.

It didn't take much for him to he admit to himself that he adored Heather. He felt a deep connection to her, something he never felt for someone else.

But in a sudden turn of events, the hopefulness he had turned out to be just a mere figment of his imagination.

He learned about her relationship with Rafael. Once he saw the way she looked at him, he knew it was time to draw the line.

Ever since, that was all he thought it would be between them - an unexplored and faraway frontier.

Gradually, his presence in her life became nothing more but group hangouts in the form of brunches or night outs in Donahues. He learned to withdraw whenever she and Rafael was around, cautious to not let others know about the way he felt. He himself went back to his string of one night stands.

He kept her at arm's length, repeating to himself that he was contented with the friendship that they had. Yet when he was finally learning to ease her out of his mind, she came crashing back in.

***

Present Day

With warm bowls of noodles in front of them, they caught up with each other's life. Bryce poured them both a glass of white wine to chase down the saltiness off of their taste buds.

"Hm, this certainly is an upgrade from that cheap bottle you had the last time," her mocking voice freed him from his thoughts. He grinned at her, leaning towards her.

"Oooh, I'm not liking your arrogance. Being junior fellow got in your head already?" he teased her, sipping from his own glass. "Has all of your student loans been paid off so you have spare money to buy your own fancy wine?"

"Certainly not. I think you're the one getting ahead of yourself, hotshot. That plaque hit you in the head and made you forgot that you're a just a noob?" Heather quipped back, her index finger pointing to the square-shaped glass on one of the living room shelves.

"Psh. It's not like my colleagues skip a day to remind me of 'my place'," his one hand mimicked air quotes, feigning a look of disgust, invoking a genuine laughter from her, her skin illuminated by the late afternoon sun as she glowed in delight.

They went at it as they ate, exchanging insulting banters, trying to one up each other as they went. It was just the way they were, at ease. Two old friends who loved their careers first, always putting their self in second place.

It was the first time in months that they were together alone, Bryce realized now how much he missed spending time with her.

He didn't want to spoil the mood, but he couldn't shake off his interest on what went down between Rafael and her. He waited a few more moments as they settled into a comfortable silence, running out of casual jokes to throw at the other. He drew a deep breathe, taking up the courage he needed to raise the sore subject.

"So, you and Raf huh?"

He saw her flinch and his heart irked a little. Her hand shivered as she set down the empty glass and grabbed the bottle of wine to refill it.

"He wasn't what I thought he was," she swirled the contents of her glass once it was full, looking distracted. "Apparently, it only took him less than a month to reveal his true self." Bryce nodded opposite her, as she shrugged casually. He saw her bite her lower lip, and instantly felt the hurt she was going through.

Without second thoughts, he approached her and opened his arms, inviting her in.

After a few excruciating seconds of hesitation, she finally leaned in and received his embrace, tears falling. She didn't think there was any left, but Bryce's offer of solace was a comfort she didn't think she needed. Her dams of pain overflowed once again, and with the horrible scare that happened this morning, her resolve to put up a brave face in front of everyone crumbled.

"You know I'll always be here for you, Heath," he whispered to her, his senses being flooded by the familiar jasmine scent of her perfume.

"I know, thank you for that," she replied in a hushed voice. "I'm just... just tired of it all, Bryce, I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't be. I got you."

He just held her, wishing so hard that one embrace can take all of her fears away. He closed his eyes, letting his beating heart speak for the rest of his unspoken emotions.

He tried to soothe her as he brushed her hair, rubbing the palm of his hand on her shuddering back. His grip tightened with her every sigh, pulling her ever closer.

For the first time in months of keeping his distance, the feelings he had for her, those he tried to bury deep within his heart, started to resurface. He was feeling the way he felt way back then.

In between her deep sighs and sobs, a flood of regrets raced through his mind. His chest constricted, as his thoughts lingered on what could have been.

If I hadn't left her alone. If I just fought for her the first time. If I just have been brave enough to let her know...

But he knew he couldn't what already happened define what should be and what it will be. Just like he dealt with his past, Bryce knew that with enough willpower, he can turn it all around.

He focused forward. A rush of possibilities, a promise of a future, it overwhelmed him.

Maybe this time, it'll be more. She's free now. Maybe now is a better time than before. Maybe now, it won't have to end. Maybe this time, he wouldn't need to let her go.

His heart burned with a fiery resolve and determination.

That late afternoon, when the setting sun's light began to shine upon his face, he decided.

Even the smallest of maybes was more than enough for him. Bryce was willing to risk it for her.

TAGS: @choicesficwriterscreations @ramsey-lahela

@eleanorbloom - I hope I'm doing Bryce justice 😬

[exosthetiks]

One of the most beautiful moments

Do not edit, reuse or copy my work please.

Pairing ✩ Sehun & reader

Genre ✩ Fluff!! Fluff!! Fluff!!

Word count ✩ 2.2k

✩ Ahhh!! This is my second time writing, keep in mind that I’m new at this and if my writing isn’t how you like, I’m sorry🙇🏻‍♀️ I’ll try to improve next time >.< ✩

✿ ✿ ✿

“Babe” You hear a familiar voice calling for you.

“I’m almost ready!” You were never a fan of big parties but you can never say no to your boyfriend, when he asks you with those puppy dog eyes and a tiny pout formed on his face.

It was SM’s 24th anniversary, which meant that it is the time of year when the company organizes a huge dinner celebration at a hotel for idols and staffs who had worked hard, which also includes those invited ones to bring their partners and friends. And that is why you’re here trying to get ready as fast as you could without looking like a rat that just played with makeup.

“Babe, Junmyeon hyung already called three- oh wow...” You look to your right and saw your boyfriend’s dumbstruck face. You ask him as you look right into the pair of eyes that are roaming through your whole appearance. “Is this too much, I could change the dres-”

“No! No. You look so beautiful that’s all.” Sehun compliments you with a hint of approval in his tone.

“Did you mean I always look less beautiful on other days?” You pouted.

“Oh come on, you know you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen in my life. But right now, you look like you’re ready for our wedding.” He stated dramatically with wide eyes.

“Okay! Okay. I’m almost ready, I just have to fix my hair a little. Could you grab my bag on the couch and get the car ready?” Your boyfriend nodded and left the room leaving you alone to fix your hair, despite your racing heart and the butterflies fluttering in your stomach.

~~~

When Sehun parked the car, you were so excited that you didn’t even notice him exiting the car so quickly, until the passenger door open, welcoming your boyfriend with a beaming smile that never fail to make your legs feel like jelly.

“You ready?” He asked as he gently grab your arm to help you out of the car.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Sehun is tall but so were you, and all you had to do was get on your tippy toes to give him a peck on his lips.

The cold air hit your face as a pair of large white wooden door with gold engravings open and you gasp as you admire the interior of the hotel. You heard this is the hotel that was inspired by the Early Renaissance era, which adds to your excitement because it makes you feel like a princess at a ball. With the dramatic plasterworks and rich ornamentations all around you had left you in awe. Suddenly, a warm hand was placed on your back, which brought you out of your little moment. “Come on lets find the others” Sehun said and guided you to his members.

~~~

The night was filled with laughter and joy, and happiness was evident on everyone’s faces. Many had catching up to do as they were in deep conversations, and many were caught up in their own world. You noticed most of them had companians with them by their side, and that made you turn and stare at your boyfriend lovingly as he continued the story of how you were clumsy on your second date with him, all because you almost tripped when he gave you a surprise kiss on the cheek.

“Remember, babe?” Your boyfriend turns to you and looks at you with those beautiful eyes that are shaped like crescents, which is one of the million things you love about him.

“Hey! I almost trip only because I was wearing heels, and there was a little hole on the ground.” You said trying to hold in your laughter with a pout but eventually giggling along with everyone.

“You know I told you, you would still look beautiful with those pink flip flops you wear everyday, but you still insisted on wearing heels.” You heard a few of them scoffing at the thought of it and you felt your cheeks getting warmer than it already was.

“It was a fancy restaurant! And flip flops with a dress?!” You said in disbelief and look at everyone for backup in hopes they defend you but your boyfriend cuts in.

“But because of your heels, everyone said I was a shortie just because you were as tall as me!” Now it was your turn to laugh and Sehun had a cute pout on his lips, and you couldn’t help but give him a kiss on the lips.

“Whatever, you still look beautiful anyway.” He took your hand and brushed his thumb on the back of it while he stares lovingly at you.

“You two are just so perfect for each other.” You heard Joy said. “One whinny child with another whinny child, arguing about the dumbest things and the next second they’re in each others faces. You guys are meant to be together!” She looks and points two fingers at the both of you, and caused everyone to shake their heads and laugh.

~~~

The celebration quickly came to an end, and many people were hugging and crying because of how much they will miss each other. On the other hand you were just happy, because how can you not be when your lover was right by your side the entire time. You weren’t that sad because you often get to visit your boyfriend, which meant that you will be able to see Sehun’s group members, who you treated like your brothers, and the RV girls who immediately became your friends when you met Sehun.

“Good night, everyone” You quickly say before you and your boyfriend part ways with the others. “Drive safe, hyung!” Sehun added.

As you both got in the car, Sehun spoke up with full of excitement. “Babe, it’s not that late yet, and I want to show you something.” He said like a little boy, excited to show his drawings to his parents.

“Sehun, you know I like surprises not pranks, okay?” You looked at him innocently but he just turned and start the engine like you’ve just agreed to go to his favourite bubble tea cafe.

You were confused, you knew Sehun loved to surprise you, but usually it would always be surprises that included gifts, sometimes your favourite places but those would usually occur during daylight. You quiet down which made Sehun looked at you, taking your left hand which was in your lap and holding it while he drove, assuring you that nothing you didn’t like will happen.

With the warmth of your boyfriend’s hand around yours and the calming music playing, you closed your eyes and just enjoy the moment. The car finally came to a stop and when you open your eyes, you gasped with your lips parted as you look at the beautiful view in front of you.

You got out of the car and walked towards a large garden that was litted up with fairy lights everywhere that twinkles magically. In between two cherry blossom trees, there was a very large white picnic blanket on the grass with red rose petals all over, and you did not miss out how some petals were used to spell out ‘I Love You’ in the middle which melted your heart. You continued to walk on the pathway that leads to a table, and placed on it was a bottle of your favourite champagne along with two glasses. There was also a gift box that had a gold ribbon tied around it and was surrounded by a few of your favourite flowers. The view in front of you was displayed so elegantly and delicate that made everything feel so relaxing and exciting.

“I thought we could have a little date night here for a while.” You heard Sehun mumbled as you take in all the other beautiful details and decorations around you.

“This was the surprise?” You asked him but it came out as loud as a whisper, your boyfriend walk up behind you and wrap his arms around your waist before kissing your cheek. “It- it’s so beautiful, Sehun. I...” You turn around and look at him with so much love and adoration. “I love this so much,... T- thank you.” You smiled at him, and just like what you would always do, you silently thanked the Heavens for blessing you with such a precious, loving boyfriend to be by your side.

“Anything for my girl.” He gave you the most heartwarming smile ever and leaned forward to kiss you on the lips. You saw it coming and immediately leaned in to connect your lips with his. The kiss was slow but full of love and affection, and as soon as you try to deepened the kiss, Sehun pulled back and rest his forehead on yours. You both stared at each other for a short moment, and you took your chance to admire his facial features like you always did.

“Come on.” He gently tug on your hand guiding you towards the blanket, and bringing the champagne and glasses along with him.

~~~

Once having enough of champagne, the both of you just talked about anything and relax in each other’s presence. You both are laying on your backs cuddling and looking up at the sky, and you stare dreamily at the stars that are shinning so brightly, like how Sehun’s eyes would whenever he looks at you.

“If you ever wonder how much I love you, just think about how many stars there are in the universe.” Sehun said softly and kissed the top of your head.

“But there’s like a trillion of them. Infinity, I would even say.” You turned to look at him, and he does the same with brighter smile plastered on his face, but little did you know it is a smile that will always be meant for you only.

“That’s because my love for you will never run out. It will always be here, even if anything happens I’ll still love you. I will always love you, even after a hundred years, or in the afterlife, my love will always choose you, because it was you who stole the whole of my heart and I fall in love with you again and again everyday.” Your heart was swelling with so much love you couldn’t help but let out silent sobs. Sehun stopped for a moment and stood up, he walked towards the table and open the gift box that was laid on the table earlier. He took something out of it, but you did not manage to see what it was as Sehun turned around hiding whatever it is he had taken out behind his back and suddenly, you felt nervous.

When he started walking towards you, you slowly stood up and you swore you felt your heart stopped beating for a few seconds as you stayed frozen. Right in front of your eyes, was your boyfriend getting down on one knee while holding the one thing you thought you would never see. In his hand, is a gold ring in a red velvet box, a tear drop shaped diamond sitting on the band sparkling so brightly under the night sky

“I will never know what did I do, or which planet did I saved in my past life to deserve you, but all I know is that I truly am so lucky to be able to hold you in my arms when I go to sleep every night, and to listen to your voice when you’re singing in the shower or do the laundry, and to watch you dance around when you’re cooking, and to be able to do so, so many things with you.” At this point you couldn’t stop the tears that flowed out like a waterfall, and when Sehun stretches out his hand offering to hold yours and silently requesting you to come closer, you immediately took and hold it with your dear life. “I don’t think I deserve your love but I am willing to be a better person for you. You make me want to change and be the best version of myself, and I will prove to you that I will always love and protect you with all my power. I wish that one day I will start a family with you, and to grow old with you, and read all your favourite books in the garden filled with all your favourite flowers and plants, and just spend the rest of my life with you and only you.” You held your breath as you prepared to take in those last words of his speech.

“Will you grant me my wish and make me the happiest person in the universe by marrying me?”

You couldn’t believe what was happening, everything felt like a fairytale, like a girl living in her fantasy. This was what it felt like, a dream come true. You wrap your arms around Sehun, pulling him into a tight hug as if this was all just a dream, and if it was, you didn’t want to wake up, you would never want to wake up. You were letting all your happy tears flow out and wetting Sehun’s shoulder in the process. Still, you nod because your sobs were not stopping.

“So... I take that as a yes?” Sehun asked with a raspy yet sweet and soft voice, and that you would be lying if you said you couldn’t just fall asleep right there and then listening to him.

“Ye- Yes. Yes!” You look at him through your teary eyes and kissed him passionately. You both stayed in that position and savouring the moment, until Sehun pulled away and swiped his thumb to brushed away the tears that remained on your cheeks.

“I love you.” He said as he gently slides the ring onto your finger, and you admire the delicate jewellery.

“It’s so beautiful...” You look up at him to see him smiling at you like you’re his whole world. “I love you Sehun, you don’t have to prove anything to me, I will always be yours. I love you so so much.” You kissed him softly and pulled away.

“I love you more, my beautiful fiancée.” He then showered you with kisses everywhere, your lips, cheeks, neck, shoulders and you giggled like a little girl getting tickled. You eventually fall onto the soft fabric and Sehun pulled you into his arms, enjoying the warmth of your body, and you both stayed like that not wanting to leave anytime soon. And just like that, this night will be another one of the most beautiful moments you could ever experience in your life.

✿ ✿ ✿

✩ Erghhh this was supposed to be a drabble but I got carried away. Also, it isn’t a bad thing to wish SM would ever do something like that right? 😭😭 Anyway thank you for reading this, tell me what you guys think about it, feedbacks are appreciated as always. ✩

[chloca-cola]

Resonance Chapter One: Only You

Follow Mickey Two-Knives through her turbulent past and present with Joel, as they learn that bigger things are at stake than their stubbornness.

TW: Angst, fear

Word Count: 2,704

~

~10 Years ago~

Mickey sat up in the old rickety bed, her hands running over the rough canvas of the mattress before looking down at Gina, her fiery red hair visible even in the dim moonlight. Mickey sighed, she hasn't been able to sleep as of late, the Scavengers have been terrorizing anyone who wasn't fully in their cult, at least that's how Mickey saw them, they had been living in this camp for so many years now, and they did their best to stay under the radar.

She and Gina were lucky enough to seem in it while also not being a part of their world, you have to do what you can to survive. It was when one of the hyper fanatics of the Scavengers suggested human sacrifice to keep the Clickers away that Mickey started to feel on edge. Could some people really be that ignorant to think something like that would work? History answered her question, naturally, with a blaring 'yes'.

Mickey touched the deep X shaped scar on her right cheek, remembering the last settlement she was in, and it left a bitter taste in her mouth. It's sad that even after nearly 10 years into an apocalypse where a plague has spread and infected nearly half of the world's population, by her calculations anyway of how North America seems now, that there are still people willing to persecute her for something as simple as over who she loves. She really shouldn't be surprised, after all, history seems to love to repeat itself.

The last settlement, when Mickey fell in love with Gina, the whole village freaked out on them. Started hurling Bible verses at them, because that's what people do when they're afraid of something they don't understand. Chant old archaic shit that they themselves don't understand or cherry pick from the Bible.

Mickey scoffed, rolling her shoulders and leaving the warmth of the bed to move to look out the window.

She leaned against the window frame, eyes studying the guards around the lit torches, shaking her head, watching the orange color from the flames casting shadows over their faces. She wishes someone would come along who would be willing to take the Scavengers out. They needed to be stopped before they actually start sacrificing people. Her stomach still turned at the thought.

Mickey may not like most people anymore, but she's not stupid. You need people to regrow.

"Mickey...what's wrong?" Gina sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, before bringing her knees up to her chest, hugging them, eyeing Mickey's face, bathed in silvery moonlight and soft glow from the torches below their house. Mickey was chewing her bottom lip, deep in her thoughts, until she finally looked at Gina and shrugged.

"Nothin' major, love. Sorry if I woke ya." Gina smiled softly at her counterpart, patting the bed next to her, and Mickey smirked, quickly going to her lovers side.

"You didn't wake me, I rolled over and found only emptiness in the bed." Gina assured her, laying down and curling up close to Mickey, where she always felt the most safe, their foreheads nearly touching. Mickey chuckled to herself, tracing her fingers along the curve of Gina's cheek, before tucking some of her red hair behind her ear.

Mickey closed the small distance between them, her lips brushing softly against Gina's, their breath mixing together before Mickey finally kissed her. Gina pressed herself against Mickey hungrily, her hand running the length of Mickey's back, as Mickey rolled them to be on top of Gina 

Mickey nibbled on her bottom lip, and Gina moaned, wrapping her legs around Mickey's waist. 

"Hey! Who the fuck are you?!" Their tender moment was ruined by the shouting of the guards close to their window. Mickey looked over at the window again, as Gina released her, and Mickey growled but jumped to her feet, moving to look out the window.

Two men she's never seen before were having a standoff with the guards, Mickey's brow quirked, who would break into this compound? She wondered to herself.

"What is it?" Gina asked, leaving the bed to join Mickey at the window, looking down upon the scene. "Oh shit!" Gina breathed out, grasping Mickey's wrist. "We have to save them!" Gina urged, pulling at Mickey's tattooed arm, and Mickey clucked her tongue, before catching her own bottom lip between her white teeth again in thought. "Mickey!" Gina whispered shouted, and Mickey shrugged her arm from her girlfriends grasp.

"Why?" Gina gaped at Mickey, had she really just heard her? She knew Mickey was more closed off now that she had been tortured for being bisexual, Gina had been too, but she tried to not let it make her cynical, you can't let the hate of a few turn you into them too.

"Mickey, they could sacrifice them." Gina stressed to her lover, tugging at her arm again. "Why can't let them start that!" Mickey sighed, warring internally with herself, before turning and following Gina out of their small house.

"Heya boys, what's all the shoutin' for?" Mickey greeted as jovially as she could muster, slapping one of the beefier guards on his forearm as he towered over her 5-foot frame, while she eyed the two newcomers, who had their hands up in a placating manner.

"These two were sneaking around our camp." Mickey's eyes narrowed, as if she was squinting through what little light was available, trying to see who they were.

"Come closer," she beckoned the men with a wave of her hand, as she turned to look at the guards. "I'm expectin' some friends of ours we met along the way here. Sent out word that there was this settlement if they needed shelter. And it's dark as shit out here tonight." Mickey lied, as the two men came towards her, she turned her head towards them and gave them both a subtle wink. "Yes! Ya guys finally made it! We weren't expecting ya until tomorrow, what didn't ya sleep?" She laughed, to anyone outside her head, you'd think she's known these men her whole life, as she playfully punched the lighter haired man on his chest. The two men did well to cover their confusion too, as they laughed as well, hugging Mickey, all carrying on like they're happy to see each other again.

"There was no time to sleep. We needed to get away from a hoard, we lost 'em and just kept movin'." The light haired one continued the lie, and Mickey turned to the guards, waving her hand back towards the newcomers. 

"I'll be talkin' responsibility for them. I'll let them stay at my house." Mickey nodded her head for the men to follow her, and they all filed back into their nearby house, with the guards grumbling something about not liking outsiders.

Once the door shut behind Mickey, she turned on the men, eyes glaring daggers at them, causing the two men to get into a defensive stance against the much shorter girl.

"Now, who the fuck are ya two?" The two men exchanged a glance.

"I'm Tommy and this is my brother, Joel." The one now dubbed Tommy answered her, his stance obviously trying to keep them looking as non threatening as possible, Mickey's hazel-green eyes scanned them both.

"Why are ya here?" She continued her questioning, and Tommy raised his hands in a gesture of peace, stepping towards Mickey.

"We are just tryin' to pass through is all." Mickey folded her arms over her chest, not buying any of their shit.

"Mickey, please calm down." Gina cooed, touching her forearm softly. "I'm Gina, and this is Mickey Two-Knives. She's my-"

"Cousin." Mickey cut her off, not trusting these men with too much information, her eyes still narrowed dangerously at them.

"Mickey Two-Knives?" Joel finally spoke, stepping closer to the girls too, and Mickey made a challenging face at him. "What kinda name is that?"

"Take another step and find out." She unfolded her arms, reaching to the table behind her where her twin 18 inch bowie knives sat in wait. Joel's eyes followed her motions and he quickly backed down, not wanting to draw any more attention to themselves than needed at the moment. "Smart choice." She praised him, and Gina scoffed.

"Don't mind her, she hasn't been sleeping." Mickey looked at Gina as if she just betrayed her, Gina had always been to trusting, giving out too much information, no matter how mundane.

"Ladies, please." Tommy interjected, placing his hands palms down in a 'take it easy' fashion, causing both ladies to stare him down.

"We don't want any trouble." Joel continued for his brother. "We just want a place to crash for a little while." Gina smiled warmly at the two before motioning for them to follow her.

"You're in luck, we do have a spare bedroom, you're welcome to it." Mickey's jaw dropped, her frustration for her girlfriends hospitality weighing on her, before she stomped along behind Joel like a petulant child.

Joel looked over his shoulder at the shorter woman, as she brushed away the blond dreads that had fallen into her face, before she crossed her arms over her chest again.

"What?" She snapped at him, glaring once more, her southern drawl heavy in her anger, and Joel just shook his head, grumbling to himself. He wasn't sure what her problem was, but he kind of wished she'd get over herself. If he and Tommy wanted to, they would have already killed them.

"Nothin', nothin' at all, Miss Two-Knives." Joel stated, condescendingly which resulted in Mickey shoving him slightly, and he turned on her quickly, and she didn't even flinch. Gina and Tommy were already in the spare room, leaving these two to glare each other down in peace.

"Ya should show me some respect, Joel." 

"Yeah, like you've been abundantly showin' me?" He countered, and she scowled at him, stepping closer to him, her head tilting back so she could keep eye contact with him.

"I haven't killed ya yet, have I?" Her gaze was unfaltering, challenging him again, as if they were going to figure out who was alpha of this newly formed faction. Joel's jaw muscles flexed and bunched as they continued their pissing match, until Gina poked her head out of the bedroom.

"Mickey…" Gina's tone was stern, the only person who was allowed to even begin to talk to Mickey in such a way. The anger ebbed in Mickey as her hazel eyes slid to Gina's soft features, before glancing back up to look onto Joel's own hazel colored eyes, giving him one last dominating look before shoulder checking him as she walked passed him.

~

"That Mickey sure is something, huh, Joel?" Tommy teased his older brother as they unloaded some of their things from their packs. Joel grunted, shooting his brother a warning glance that only cause Tommy to snicker at him. "Oh come on, I know you well enough. You like those kinda women. One that won't bow down to your shit."

"Knock it off." Joel threatened sternly, as he checked their ammo supply, trying to shake the conversation. Tommy was right of course, Joel did have a thing for challenging women, and Mickey definitely fit that criteria. "She's frustrating at best." Joel lied, and Tommy gave him a shit eating grin that Joel didn't see, before shaking his head.

"Whatever you say." Tommy conceded before flopping onto the bed, sighing tiredly. "I'm hitting the sack, you should do the same." Joel turned and watched Tommy getting comfortable, deciding that he was going to ask Gina if they had any food to spare for them.

"Hey-" Joel began, seeing a figure by the window, realizing it was Mickey and not Gina and he sighed. "Oh, it's you, nevermind." Mickey turned to look at him, her eyes vacant, lost in her thoughts again, chewing on her thumbnail absently.

"What?" She asked, before her attention went back out the window and Joel walked over to see what she was so concentrated on, leaning on his forearm against the wall.

"I was gonna ask for some food. What are you looking at?" She scoffed, rolling her eyes at him, before walking away towards the kitchen.

"Ya comin'?" Joel watched her as he pushed himself off the wall to follow along behind her.

"Not even breathin' hard." He retorted and Mickey's eyes widened slightly, before a smile spread across her face and she began to laugh.

"Ok, ya caught me off guard on that one. I still don't trust ya, though." Joel raised his hands before shrugging. 

"Wouldn't dream of wanting you to trust me." She rolled her eyes again, still smiling slightly, as she dug through her pantry.

"I'm only givin' ya this because Gina made me promise to be nice to y'all." Joel nodded, looking through the cans that Mickey laid out before him on the table, and she placed her hands on her hips. 

"You two seem close." Mickey gave him a curt nod, she knew he was trying to get her to open up, even though he's done nothing of the such in return. "Been here long?" Another quick nod, and he sighed. "Look, I don't trust you anymore than you trust me."

"Good. Ya shouldn't." Was her quick reply, and he groaned at her, picking up the cans and mumbling a thanks, before walking back towards the rooms, only to stop by the window again.

"What's the deal with this camp anyway? We heard some things the closer we got." Mickey joined him by the window, the blue haze of the sky right before the sun comes up was a beautiful backdrop of the mountain town.

"I call 'em a cult." Mickey divulged, side eyeing Joel, before pointing down at the little group gathering near the entrance of the small town. "See him, the man with the long braided black hair? That's the leader." Joel sat the cans of food down on the side table, leaning on his hands on the window seal, before he looked ag Mickey.

"He the one who gave you that scar?" Mickey quickly covered her right cheek, shaking her head.

"No, those fuckers are dead." She stated, eerily calm, as she locked her eyes with his, and he nodded understandingly. "However, some yahoo wants to start sacrificin' people because he believes that'll keep the clickers away." She continued, removing her hand and ticking her chin towards a younger man standing next to the leader. "That's him, the crazy guy who believes there's some Cordyceps god he can sacrifice people too to keep the infected away." Joel scoffed at the notion and Mickey nodded. "Yeah, I share that sentiment."

"Why not band together and take these guys out?" Mickey eyes him, her brows corrugated in concern.

"Seriously?" She asked, waving her hands about her person. "This isn't much of a life, but here we are safe. We have a roof over our head, again for the first time in years since this shit started, I don't have to worry if that sound outside my window is a runner."

"Now you just gotta worry you could be sacrificed." Joel rebutted, and Mickey glared at him, but having no response to his point because she knew he was right, after all it had been what's been keeping her awake all these nights, she just turned her attention back to the group of villagers.

"Everyone here except us is under their spell. They torture the ones who aren't. We just smile and nod to keep ourselves hidden."

"Well...we could help you out." Mickey's lips parted slightly in shock, turning her face back to Joel, the gears obviously turning in her head. Why would they wanna help us? They just met us. What's in it for them? What's their angle? Were all the thoughts winding their way through her brain. 

"Why? What's in this for ya?" She snapped very defensively, that trademark scowl back on her face, and Joel sighed, hanging his head, shaking it ruefully.

"Nevermind. Fix it yourselves then." Joel picked up the food and walked away, leaving Mickey alone with her thoughts.

[mingiswow]

Soulmate!au Series | Hyungwon

Pairing: Hyungwonx female reader

Summary: Soulmates were marked with matching tattoos when born, but you couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that yours were something so vague as lips.

Words: + 2.2k

a/n: hey sweet cheeks, here’s another part of the soulmate series. I’m loving to write them so much and, so far, Hyungwon has been one of my faves to write. Hope you like this one and please help auntie Bruna and like, reblog and/or comment. Feedback is always welcomed. Love ya

You liked your job, you really did, it paid your bills after all. But there were days that everything seemed too much for you to handle, especially when the hotel received famous people that’d leave the rooms upside down for you and your partner to clean.

It was 4AM when you left the bus, saying your usual goodbye to the driver, and walking slowly through the street, enjoying the quietness before the storm of cars, bus, people and construction. You walked past the hotel, greeting the security before heading to the back of the building, doing the same path you did every day before getting to the changing room.

“Morning, babe cakes” Martha, your coworker and partner greeted you, her usual smile on her lips. “You heard about who’s coming today?” her voice muffled from her uniform on her head.

“Morning. Yeah, heard that they are some international singers, but not much more than that” you took your clothes off, folding them neatly and storing in your locker.

“Hey! Your tattoo is shining!” the woman spoke, getting closer to you and gently touching the drawing on your chest. “There are even the flowers blooming around! Do you think you’ll meet your soulmate soon?” your eyes trained to the spot, the reddish lips indeed glowing as the cherry blossoms grew around, closing the tattoo inside a heart-shaped frame.

The legend says that every human being in the world was destined to someone and those who two souls would connect through their complementary tattoos, placed on the left side of their chest, right on top of the heart. When your true-one love is close, the marks took a neon coloration, as they seemed to shine, and little flowers would grow around it, signaling the bloom of a new life. You never understood how they worked since they were complementary, not matching marks. Your mark could match with anything minimally related to lips, it could be a lipstick, some food, an instrument, musical notes. It could be so many things.

“It’s what it looks like” you simply said, covering the tattoo with your perfectly-white t-shirt. “Besides, you know I don’t have time to date or whatever right now. I have to work, study and take care of my dog” your coworker laughed.

“Oh, come on! You need to accept that one day you’ll meet them and God knows what you’ll have to do about it” you rolled your eyes to her.

Shaking away those intrusive thoughts about your future, you two finished putting your uniforms before heading to the kitchen to have breakfast with your other coworkers from that shift and start cleaning the rooms.

Being a maid in a hotel wasn’t what you dreamed for your life, whoever, you liked that place and the people who worked with you. You always had a great time with those people, especially Martha, who became like a mother to you since you were so far away from your own. When you left your hometown to go to the capital to try to become a model, everyone was against you but you decided not to listen to them and follow your dreams. It didn’t turn out very well, yes, you did a few photoshoots here and there, but it wasn’t what you imagined. But still was better than nothing.

The morning seemed to crawl as slowly as a slug. A weird pain on your body like someone was pinning your voodoo doll, especially your heart, but you decided to let it aside, it was probably just anxiety since you couldn’t take your conversation with Martha out of your mind and she wouldn’t shut up about your future lover and how they’d look and be.

“What if they are some royalty? Or what if they are some rich CEO?” she kept speculating about as she neatens up the wrinkles in the bed cover. “What if they are the homeless in the street? Would you love them anyway?” you simply rolled your eyes at her hypothesis, letting her speak alone. 

It was about midday when your boss called you through your intercom. She seemed a little… exalted. You looked over to the woman as a plead for her to not let you go, but she couldn’t do a thing. You left her and the room you were cleaning behind to meet your boss at her office. You just wished no one complained about you and your services, you had a dog to raise.

You knocked on the door three times before you could hear some laughs and the woman speak with her usual happy and deep voice telling you to enter.

“Excuse me, Miss. Did you c-” your heart stung as you stepped inside the room, making your best effort to not let the pain show.

“Y/N? Is everything okay?” the concern in her voice made you look to the floor, embarrassed for some reason.

“Yes, just a little pain but I’ll be good. Do you need me?” you recomposed yourself, your eyes meeting seven gorgeous men. Not any seven random men, but Monsta X members. Your heart started racing, your eyes never leaving them. You probably were making a fool of yourself. Your ultimate group was in front of you and you were all messed up from working, smelling like sanitary water and disinfectant.

“Oh yes, darling” the middle-aged woman clapped her hands. “This is Monsta X, but you young people might know already” she giggled excitedly and nodded to her, bowing to them as a greeting. “They are going to use our master suite for a photoshoot. Is everything clean there, sweetie?”.

“Yes, Martha and I just finished. I believe they can start taking the equipment and props to the room, miss” you answered trying to ignore the growing pain in your chest. You felt like you were about to fall, you couldn’t feel anything but the aching pain in your heart. Trying your best to hide the pain in your face, you bowed before leaving the room. 

Your heart felt like leaving your chest, thumping hard, muscle against bones against muscles. Never in your entire life you felt such pain. It wasn’t bad though, it was just a sensation you had never felt. It was almost warm, welcoming. You decided to let it all go and go back to your work, it wasn’t time for you to daydream about those feelings.

You watch warned you and Martha that the morning shift was over and you were free to lunch, your stomach growling inside you.

“What do you have today?” your coworker asked sitting by your side and spying on your packed lunch.

“Just a sandwich, I’m not very hungry” you lied. You didn’t have much food left at home, and the money that you earned this month was already gone with the bills. Your stomach growled again and the woman looked at you, eyebrow raised form your lie. It wasn’t the first time that happened.

“Y/N… You need to stop lying to yourself” you looked over the triangular bread, it barely had some jelly on it. “You didn’t get any modeling work this month?” you denied, stuffing the dry bread on your mouth.

“It’s hard to get some when you have no agency and don’t look fancy and rich like the others” you sighed, looking over to the woman. “Nobody wants to hire me because I’m a nobody, I have nothing left, Martha, no food, no money, no family, it’s just me and Mong” Martha’s arms wrapped you in a tight hug, helping you through your tears.

“I’m so sorry dear, I wish I could help but you know that I have children on my own” you nodded.

“You don’t have to, you’re not my real mom” you kept crying on her embrace as the pain in your chest kept growing.

“Y/N” the voice of your boss startled you and you turned around to meet her and the boys again. “It’s everything fine?” you nodded, wiping the tears away. 

“Can I help you with anything?”.

“You’re a model, right darling? The girl hired by the boys called it sick and now they need someone to be their model” your eyes sparkled, was she saying what you were thinking she was saying? “Can you do this? I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t know you are good at it” you smiled, both from happiness and nervousness.

“Yes, I sure can do” you lifted yourself from the chair and look at your state. “I just need a shower first” your cheeks reddened and, if it was possible, your chest seemed to hurt even more.

You quickly ran to the dressing rooms, taking a shower and making sure to take all that cleaning products’ smell out of your body, put on the clothes you arrived earlier. 

You had never seen that suite so full of people and things. And, look, there were rock stars staying there. Cameras, scenarios, backgrounds, props, lights. It all made you more nervous than you already were. You were going to model. With your ultimate group. Smelling like cleaning products.

“Hello” you spoke, calling the people attention to yourself. You were sure that your chest was going to rip it open. “I’m Y/N… The new model” your voice sounded hesitant. Great. They were going to think you were unprepared. A woman came close to you and circled around your body, eyeing you up and down, before stopping in front of you.

“Let’s start with the leader” she simply said, a plain tone in her voice and no facial expression at all. Soon enough there were at least four people around you, putting on the clothes and making the adjustments for them to fit, doing your makeup and hair. “Are you ready, sweetie?” the woman came back, a camera on her neck, as she guided you to the first background, Shownu already positioning himself.

“Hi” you greeted him, bowing a little bit to the huge man standing in front of you. He smiled, greeting you back.

You two took enough pictures for a lifetime and it was just Shownu. As time was passing by and you were getting more confident on your poses, interacting with the leader, taking more intimate pictures.

“Ok, who’s next?” the photographer asked, seeing a very handsome Hyungwon lift his hand. You thought you’d never see him getting more perfect. But at that moment, with him in flesh and bones in front of you, wearing those flowy clothes that made him look with nothing but an angel, you were sure that you’re entire life was a lie. Hyungwon could get more perfect. “Great. Guys, dress Y/N up for Hyungwon concept” and soon again the stylists were around you again.

If for Shownu you were looking fearless and sexy, for Hyungwon you were ethereal. Your hair was curled to perfection, falling down your shoulders, they even put on some clip-on extensions to make it look longer and fuller. Your makeup was glittery, shades of light blue and pink perfectly mixing together. But nothing compared to your two-piece dress. The top was shoulderless, making your collarbones and soulmate tattoo show up, the sleeves were as flowy as the boy’s own shirt, a beautiful shade of off-white. The skirt was long, a long tail following behind. You looked like a princess angel. You were feeling gorgeous.

As you took your steps closer to Hyungwon, the chest pain started to increase, causing you to almost fall, your vision getting blurry.

“Ahn… What is going on?” Changkyun asked, looking over to both you and Hyungwon. “It’s what I’m thinking?” you didn’t have time to ask what he was thinking when a strong body grabbed yours and dragged somewhere.

Your pain started to warm up your whole body, and suddenly it wasn’t pain anymore. It became a soothing sensation like you were home in front of a fireplace and wrapped in a warm blanket.

You slowly opened your eyes to finally see what was going on. The sight got you by surprise. Your hands were wrapped around Hyungwon ones, a tiny red string tattooed around your ring finger as well on his, Your soulmate tattoo shining as bright as ever, a new design added to it: a green straw between the lips. Your eyes trailed from your chest to the boy’s one. Under his shirt, you could see the silhouette of the same tattoo glowing.

You blinked several times, not believing that. Destiny was motherfucking crazy. 

“They’re soulmates” Wonho stated the obvious, his mouth hanging open, as well as everyone else. 

“I…” the words didn’t leave his mouth, he was as surprised as you. “Hm… Hi… I’m Hyungwon” he shook your intertwined hands, his eyes fitting yours. 

“I’m Y/N and I think I’m your soulmate” Martha squealed behind everyone and you all turned to her.

“OH MY GOD, Y/N! YOUR SOULMATE IS YOUR BIAS!” she screamed genuinely happy for you, your cheeks and ears burning red when he turned his eyes back to you.

“No words about that right now” you said. “I need to first digest the idea that I just met my soulmate and Gosh! You’re gorgeous” he chuckled at your sudden confession.

“If I can say so myself, you as gorgeous as me… soulmate” the words felt beautifully from his lips and it all felt like a dream.

You two lifted from the ground and his arms instantly hugged you, your chests touching your tattoos, the warmth radiating from it felt like home and the phrase “home is where the heart is” never felt more right in your life.

He left the embrace, his hands gently touching your cheeks, caressing them before bringing his face close to yours to finally kiss you and seal your future together. 

Shownu | Wonho | Minhyuk | Kihyun | Hyungwon | Jooheon | I.M

Requests are open

Masterlist

[mouneemoon]

last train home | ksj

genre: angst, hurt/comfort pairing: seokjin x reader word count: 1.6k summary: “you are my soulmate but we keep missing each other all the time.” reincarnation au.

read the rest of the star crossed series: seokjin | yoongi | hoseok | namjoon | jimin | taehyung | jungkook

n/a: reposting because I didn’t like some bits from before and rewrote some parts. This is that one sad soulmate AU series no one asked for because I love making myself suffer. also, this ended up less angsty than I wanted it to be but oh well lmfaoooo. tell me what you think!

You are always one step behind him.

The sight of his back turned to you has been engraved in your memories for as long as you can remember. The look that he throws you over his broad shoulders punches the breath out of your lungs every time, because it’s been long, so long, yet you can not quite grasp just how long it’s been since you last saw it. But there’s no doubt: you’ve seen it already.

You just don’t understand how it can be, since you’ve never met this stranger before.

“Oh— sorry,” he says. He’s bumped into you just few seconds ago, because someone passed in between him and the person standing in line in front of him, and he had to back a little to let them through. So he nearly knocked your phone out of your hands when he stepped back a little too quickly, and you were about to glare at him before he turned his head around and apologized.

And that’s when the feeling hit, making something stir deep in your guts and your heart pick up the pace. “It’s alright,” you reply quietly, staring right into his eyes, a little flustered and a little overwhelmed by the whirlwind of feelings rushing through your veins. He holds your gaze for a moment too long, and you see a sort of acknowledgement in his eyes, as if he too is searching something in the back of his mind. You take in the features in his face, the arch of his eyebrows, the shape of his eyes and his nose, and lips parted, jaw a little slacked. He looks so familiar for a second, as if lifetimes have washed over you thousands of times already, as if you need to do something before it’s late, too late once again. But late for what? You try to wrap your finger around it but not quite succeeding.

You feel kind of dumb for not being able to figure out what you are supposed to do.

The stranger still looks at you and you’re about to ask him if you have ever met before, like a bad pickup line from a romance book, when the cashier draws your attention because it’s his turn to order. And he steals another glance from you before turning around once more, and the lingering question on the tip of your tongue fades away along with the chance of meeting him again. You feel regret creeping from the depths of your memories as you watch him get his coffee, and you only have enough time to hear his name being called – Seokjin – a faint sound, before he walks past you and out of the café.

Then he’s gone, like dust and dead leaves blown away by the wind.

That night you lie in your bed, sheets drawn up to your chin and your mind wide awake. You try to figure out just how it was possible to feel heartache for someone you’ve never seen before in your life. It was frustrating and just damn sad, because you can’t remember, you can’t remember and you don’t even know what you are supposed to remember.

What surprises you the most is the fact that you feel like this throbbing pain is growing more familiar by the minute, as if you’ve grown accustomed to it over a long span of time, and you can only welcome it home like an old friend, promises of next times bouncing off the white walls of your apartment and echoing sadly in your skull. Next times. You find yourself wondering when the next “next time” will be. You promise yourself that “next time” you’ll be more careful. “Next time” you will remember to do something. “Next time”.

The old next times come to you in your dreams instead, faint flickers of memories from another age, another life, from someone who isn’t you but at the same time, it’s you. He’s there too, a fleeting presence appearing at some point in those strangers’ memories. You can see him on streets you’ve never walked before, beneath cherry blossoms and dying leaves falling, rose and golden paths crinkling beneath your feet; different seasons, the same feeling. Your gaze would always linger for a few seconds and find comfort in his somehow, but you can never hold it for too long, feeling regret slipping through your fingertips right after.

He’s never the same as you remember. But you know it’s him, the next times stuck at the corners of his lips, sad eyes softening as goodbyes fly past the both of you, with that knowing look he always throws over his shoulder as you fall a step behind him each time. He’s always within your arm’s reach, but for some reason you never reached him.

You miss the chance each time. He misses it too.

It really does sound like a sad love story.

Sometimes though, for your great relief, he’s more than just a ghost walking past you. Sometimes he would approach you, talk to you, stay with you longer. A lot longer. You would get to know each other, laugh with each other, hold hands even, kiss if fate decided to take pity on you both. Those times you promise forevers rather than next times, words whispered beneath starry skies and tucked in between warm sheets, his name falling languidly from your lips, eyes fluttering at the utter love that filled you both to the brink.

Sadly, those forevers never last for long enough. There always seems to be something that puts a stop to them, as if the time you had borrowed with him reached its end. It’s curious, though, how you always kind of expected it; that sort of contentment is always somehow broken like a spell you have to wake up from sooner or later.

And wake up you do, all the time, sorrow tugging insistently at the strings of your soul every morning. You’re left with something hanging heavy on your chest, thinking about everything you could have had but you can no longer obtain. It crushes your heart knowing that.

You think you are pretty much going crazy. There is no way, no way that you are pining so badly for someone you’ve met just once. What’s crazier is the fact that you actually want to meet him again, searching for that face and that name and that next time that seems to not want to give you another chance. You do it unconsciously, mindlessly, stealing glances from strangers hoping it’s Seokjin, hoping you can go to him, although that meant missing the last train home and being stuck at the station until the next morning; even then, you’d run to him.

There was one time, when the memories of yet another life flooded your mind once more – you already lost count of how many times it happened – and it was his back turned to you again, broad, gentle, familiar. The pitter-patter of the rain hitting the umbrella you held high for him engulfed the rest of the noises, including the sound of your heart racing in your chest. It felt like the world belonged to you two only.

“Do you trust me?” he asked, turning his head around over his shoulder, and you looked up at him, your eyes so full of him and him alone. Nothing else existed.

“I do,” you said quietly, a promise, a vow, and you saw his eyes soften and his smile grow wider. It made your breath hitch.

“Then let’s go,” he replied, and then he was dashing from under the dry of your umbrella to out in the rain, fearless of the droplets drenching his clothes, like a young boy who had just discovered the fun of the outside world. You watched him in awe for a few seconds. He was so beautiful.

A second later you were closing your umbrella as well, laughter bubbling up in your chest as you felt the rain hitting your skin, a relief compared to the humid, stuffy air of the summer. You took the hand he had extended for you, and the two of you danced messily, just like in a scene from an old romantic flick. Giggles were exchanged breathlessly as Seokjin held you by the waist, and you almost stepped on his feet. You were never a great dancer, neither was he, but it was fun and he was one of the most breathtaking creatures you’ve ever seen, with his hair falling in wet strands in front of his eyes and his lips turned up at their corners.

He rested his forehead against yours as you spun around in lazy circles, the tall buildings hovering over your heads in a way to protect the small space the two of you were bathing in. Your heartbeat counted the seconds you stayed there like that. “Gosh,” Seokjin breathed, “how am I going to survive without you? You’re my everything.”

You opened your eyes to look at him, and saw all the love in the world spilling from his gaze alone. It was overwhelming. You didn’t dare to breathe for a moment. “It feels like I’m falling in love with you over and over again all the time,” he whispered, his right hand coming to rest tenderly on the nape of your neck. “Like I’ve been doing only that since centuries ago.”

You held his waist a little tighter. “Like in lifetimes?”

He smiled. Everything was perfect in that moment. You definitely felt that it was too good to be true, that it wouldn’t last long, because he was leaving for war the next day and you knew that it was yet another story that wasn’t going to end well. Instead, you tried to focus on his breath. On the utter sincerity he put in the words he spoke next, a confession from the past, a promise for the future. Something that made your heart stir in hope and ache until this day.

“Like in lifetimes.”

[goingknowherewastaken]

Among The Trees, The Fallen Rise Again || Part Four

♦ Title: Among The Trees, The Fallen Rise Again

♦ Fandom: Star Trek with a small dash of Pete’s Dragon

♦ Relationship: McKirk || Jim x Bones

♦ Warnings: vulgarities, gossip, mentions of infidelity, mentions of harassing behavior

♦ A/N: I’m not dead!!!! Just went on an unexpected hiatus :p

But boy am I happy to be writing again. Although I was not expecting this to be the thing that I would end up posting/updating. A Million Years or even a reader insert one shot, but not then...yet here we are!!!

Any who….if you haven’t read the previous parts, you can find those linked here!!

Enjoy!! ♥ :)

Among The Trees, The Fallen Rise Again || Part Four

“Bye, Pav!” Jim waved at the kid as he exited Yorktown, dodging around a few guys and ignoring the looks he got.

It was a little busier since it was the lunch rush, but Pavel still returned the waved from where he was working the register. “Bye, Jim! And Congrats!” He shouted before darting over to help the new arrivals who, judging by the bits of sawdust on their clothes, were probably on break from logging. “Leo, Scotty, hi -”

Jim laughed and made his way to his car, an excited grin on his face as he pulled away from the curb.

Two days ago, Jim had applied to temporarily rent the ‘penthouse’ apartment before making an offer on the log mansion that was just over the listing price. He had wanted to low-ball an offer, but Barnett quickly axed that plan. The move-in ready place had been on the market for only a month, but, so far, all of it's offers had been below the listing price.

And, apparently, the owner was having none of that shit. The dude had turned down each and every 'insulting' offer for his masterpiece.

Since Jim was the first potential buyer to be able to offer more than the listing price, the realtor thought it was best to go over to maximize his chance at getting the home.

Last night, he got a call back from Barnett.

He wouldn't have to keep living out of the 'Beige Motel'.

Sure, he'd still have several weeks before he would be able to start moving in, but that wasn’t an issue. After a lengthy phone call, Jim managed to convince the owner of the apartment building to allow him to rent to the apartment

Grinning gleefully, Jim tapped his fingers along the steering wheel to the beat of the fading song.

Who would have thought that this blink-and-you-miss-it town in the middle of nowhere would be the new home of James Tiberius Kirk?

Heeding the stop sign before him, Jim took the opportunity to grab his sunglasses and slip them on before switching the station. Weather forecasts were just so boring, but classic rock? Driving on, he slipped easily into singing along to Cherry Bomb as he searched for his turnoff.

Between conversations with Nyota, Spock, and Pavel, it wasn’t hard to come to the conclusion that he was going to need far more than what he packed in his bags for his new home...homes?

Not - not that he needed their input.

But they did give him ideas on various necessities.

One such necessity? Plants.

He had adored his little garden back in LA. Carefully probing the dirt as he gently placed each plant and seed. Meticulously watering each growth and pulling unwanted weeds as they sprouted. Scenting the soft fragrance of the various blossoms as they bloomed. Tasting each new vegetable as they ripened

If he was going live here, he needed something to brighten up the inside of his new homes.

Something to care for.

After a few more minutes, Jim found himself pulling into a small gravel lot and picking a spot near the front doors. Throwing the car into park, Jim leaned over the steering wheel to get a better look at the flower shop.

Demora's Nursery was located on the outskirts of Millhaven. The main building was a low, wood paneled structure with windows filled with various types of ferns. Behind it, three greenhouses stood attached, their opaque walls giving no clues as to what grew inside.

A small set of wind-chimes jingled as he entered the colorful shop, drawing the attention of a young Asian man working behind the counter. “Hello,” he greeted, a welcoming smile spread across his face. As he watched Jim make his way back, being careful not to knock over any of the potted plants, he questioned, “Can I help you find anything?”

“Hi! Uh, yeah, I think.” Jim scratched at the back of his head as the man gave him a questioning look. “I just bought a house in the area and I'm looking for some things to add a little life to it.”

He nodded and slid a pad of paper towards him. Grabbing a pen he said, “That I can help you with. Do you have anything specific in mind?”

Jim shrugged. “Eh, not really?” He never actually thought about what he wanted. “Sorry.”

He got a one-shouldered shrug in return. “Don't worry about it. Most people come in with the mindset of 'I'll know it when I see it'. Here,” he slid off his stool and came around the counter. “I'll show you around. You might have questions about some of the plants. Oh,” he stuck out his hand. “I'm Ben, by the way.”

Well, Ben turned out to be a savior sent to Earth. Not only did he know about every single plant he and his husband sold, he was also extremely helpful with giving Jim tips about an outdoor garden come the spring.

“We usually get the garden magazines around December. So you can either stop by then or an issue can be sent to you,” he informed, leading Jim into the second greenhouse. The nursery turned out to be divided by plant types – the main building that we are currently in, ferns and indoor trees; the first greenhouse, vegetables; and the final two, flowers.

“Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.”Jim tried to shove his sleeves up higher as the humid air assaulted his body. “I didn't know that nurseries stayed open during the winter.”

Ben shrugged, picking off a few dead leaves from some pots of roses. “Most don't. We're just one that likes to keep something in stock year round. Some things we get shipped in and some we work on growing, but we tailor the stock to the season. The spring and early summer is when we have the most outdoor plants; in the late summer, we transition to ones that do well indoors.”

Jim picked up a small pot of wildflowers. “That's nice.” He gave the flowers a sniff, a memory coming to him. “Hey, do you have any of those – shit, what are they called? They're the little white, bell-like flowers? I remember by grandparents in Iowa had some that grew wild. My gramps would always send us out to pick some for my grandma when we visited.” He smiled softly. “I always liked the smell of them.”

Ben's eyebrows knitted together in thought. “Do you mean the lily of the valley?”

Jim shifted the pot over to one hand and snapped his fingers. “Yes! Those! Do you have any of those?”

The other man chewed his lip. “Hmmmm, I don't know if we have any of those left. We definitely did, though. They grow like crazy during May and the loggers dig up a bunch for us.” He turned and headed for the doorway. “See, they grow really well in pots and we worked on growing them already in pots. I think my husband might know, though.” He stepped out and yelled into the narrow corridor, “Hey, Hikaru!”

“Yeah?” A voice responded from the third greenhouse.

“Do we have anymore pots of lily of the valley?”

“Yeah!” The man sounded closer and Jim rocked on his feet listening to the two talk. “They're in green house three toward th - ” The voice abruptly cut off and Jim looked up to see the other man, Hikaru, staring at him in shock. “Holy shit,” he whispered.

The blond felt himself go pale while panic flooded his veins. Shit. Shit. SHIT!

A confused Ben glanced between the two, but Hikaru kept his focus on Jim.

“You're Jim Kirk.”

With that, his husband looked aghast and Jim cleared his throat awkwardly. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I – uh – I am.”

Hikaru ginned and strode forward, eager to shake his hand. “Oh, thank god! For a second I thought I had the wrong guy,” he babbled. “And, I don't know if you remember, but we actually met a few years ago.”

“Ah, thank you.” Still stunned, Jim squinted at the man. Now that he mentioned it, he did look familiar. It took a few seconds for the light-bulb to click. “That flight to New York -”

“- with the worst turbulence of your fucking life,” the Hikaru finished with a grin. “Yup! God, that was some scary shit.”

Jim shivered at the memory. “It fucking was!” His blue eyes widened at a realization. “Shit, you were the pilot! I bet that was even worse!”

“Yeah.” He put his hands on his hips as Ben stepped forward. “I thought we were gonna di -”

“- Excuse me?”

Jim and Hikaru found their heads twisting to the side at Ben’s interruption. The man in question was staring between the two with a look of befuddlement. Jim, at least, felt sheepish over excluding him; Hikaru, on the other hand, didn’t seem particularly concerned about the matter.

“Do you remember that flight I told you about?! The one I was assigned to when the original pilot got struck down with food poisoning?!”

Jim noticed the moment that the memory popped into Ben’s head. “The flight with the actors from Guardians of the Galaxy,” he said with his realization, his head turning to look at Jim.

Twin “Yups” were what he got as a confirmation; only Jim’s was more on the bashful side as Hikaru took the gleeful tone.

“Wow…,” seemed to be the only thing Ben could say.

A few moments of silence settled over the three before a bemused chuckle escaped Jim. “Jesus,” he said, “I’ve been here for nearly a week, walking about town -” he let out another chuckle “- buying property, and you’re the first to recognize me by just seeing me.”

Ben smirked and sent a look at Hikaru. “Well, they don’t religiously watch Haven like this nerd.”

Hikaru pouted. “Hey, don’t knock Haven - Wait, you bought property here?”

“Ah, you caught that,” Jim said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, I’d been thinking about getting a place away from the city for a while now and with…” He trailed off, the distasteful discretion raging back into his mind like an untamed bull. Suddenly, he was on the receiving end of two pity filled faces.

“Shit, yeah, we saw that on the news. That’s - oof!” Hikaru cut himself off and sent a glare at his husband for elbowing him in the ribs. Jim watched on with a pained heart as several seconds of silent communication passed between them before realization dawned across Hikaru’s face and he turned back to Jim full of remorse. “Shit! I am so sorry for bringing that up.”

“No, it’s - it’s fine.” He hated to admit it, but Jim had to swallow back a pit of despair, embarrassed that he allowed himself to become overwhelmed by them in public. Plastering on a smile, Jim did his best to ease their unease. “I slipped up with it and - and you were just trying to sympathize and -”

“Jim.”

He stopped talking, word vomit lodged in his throat at the appearance of hands settling on his shoulders, comforting and steady. He looked between the double pairs of brown, empathizing eyes and felt a delayed and all-encompassing tidal wave of relief wash through him, pricking at his own blue eyes.

Throughout his entire life, Jim had always needed to share - whether he wanted to or not. It went beyond sharing his food or his toys. No, he was expected to share his entire life. What’s his workout like? What gets his motor running? How hairy is his butt? What does he do every single moment of his day?

Majority of the time Jim had wanted to tell them to fuck off and mind their own business because did he seriously owe these strangers his entire personal life?

Yet, these two men, these two strangers, are asking nothing of him.

Perhaps the most vulnerable moment of his life and instead of joining the press and pestering him about the dirty details of the affair they’re standing as pillars of strength on either side of him.

Drawing in a ragged breath, a hurricane of emotion roaring in Jim’s chest as a lone tear sat glistening upon his cheek, lost in a sea of green and colors.

☼

Damn near tripping over his feet, Len’s head swiveled around in an attempt to keep the blond in his sight for as long as possible.

“Len.”

His gaze dropping past the fur collared bomber jacket to settle on a dark wash, jean clad butt seconds before it vanished from his view.

“Len!”

Len turned, brow raising at Scotty’s amused, knowing look. Unspoken of by all in the know, only Scotty truly knew Len’s interest knew no bounds.

Unknownst by the Scotsman, the perky young Pavel interrupted them before Len could level any sort of retort. “Leo, Scotty, hi! How was your morning?” He said the question while laying down their menus.

“Well enough, Lad. Say,” Scotty grew sly, flipping open his menu and shooting Len a wink. “Who was that that just left? Never seen ‘im around before.”

“Oh, that was Jim! The usual for drinks right?” Pavel chirped back without missing a beat. Len peered up, his curiosity piqued. In the corner of his eye, Scotty matched his nod of confirmation. When he darted off to go fetch their drinks, Len narrowed his eyes at his business partner.

He was only met with a smug grin.

“Here we go,” Pavel said, placing a tall glass of Coke before Len and one of Dr. Pepper before Scotty. “I’ll give you a few more minutes to think over your order -”

“No need.” Len waved a hand, cutting him off. “We already have an idea of what we want.” After sharing their orders, the young waiter left them for a few minutes to drop the ticket off in the kitchen. The two ended up conversing over their work at the cut before Pavel returned to their tableside, meals balanced on a large, black tray.

“Da, Jim is new to the area,” Pavel said, placing their food on the table before pulling a chair up to the side of the table.

Len blinked. Well he just cuts right to the chase. “You know him?” He ignored the glance Scotty gave him; Yes, he was curious, but not because he was interested in the guy. At least, that’s what Len was telling himself.

Pavel merely shrugged, the white button up he had to wear for his shift wrinkling more with the action. “He came in for breakfast a few days ago and has come in to eat nearly everyday. Said he wanted a break from the city - actually this morning he said he was approved to buy a house in the area.”

Scotty let out a whistle. “Already bought a house? What’s he hiding from to just get to a place and buy a house?” Len snorted at the comment, but Scotty continued on before he could say anything. “Speaking of - Have ya heard the latest shit about Kirk?”

Rolling his eyes, Len took a big bite of his burger, savoring the taste of the cheese and bacon that coated his tongue. Ever since the news of the overrated actor freaking out and disappearing over his ex dating a new guy surfaced, Len has had to hear all about it from Scotty.

And he really doesn’t care.

Unfortunately for Len, Pavel “I-Want-To-Be-An-Actor-Someday” Chekov does.

“Da!” Pavel said, voice coming out in an over-interested gasp.

So much for Len’s relaxing lunch. He settled into eating as the two began their mind-numbing discussion about the whole Hollywood debacle, fragments of their commentary occasionally cutting through his thoughts on the flavors dancing upon his tongue.

“Why suddenly contact them and act like a dick after days of silence?”

God, what type of bacon is that? Brown sugar? Maple? Ah, who cares! It’s blessed by God anyways.

“Would you act that way over an ex, though?”

Hot damn, they don’t go lightly on the brownie chunks in the shake!

“It does beg the question: What falls faster? Stars or trees.”

“Like, why would - oh!”

The sudden break off of words pulled Len from his food and had he and Scotty exchanging a glance before looking at Pavel…who appeared to be in the middle of a transcending thought.

“You okay, Pav?”

“Uh - Da! Da, I just remembered that I - I have a errand to run after my shift, da.” With that, the kid left, leaving Len and Scotty to exchange curious looks in his wake. Even when he returned with their checks, Pavel kept his words short and work related; the unusual behavior causing Len to question what more was going on.

...to be continued 

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[tilltheendwilliwrite]

Balance on the Head of a Pin

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Previous Chapter

Pairing: Loki Odinson x OFC  |  Word Count: 5608 Warnings: none

Lauren twisted her fingers together, her stomach a mess of churning acid kicked up by the wings of the butterflies dancing in her belly. She hated being on stage. It brought back memories of pageants and recitals when she hadn’t won or been good enough. When her mother’s presence had caused her fingers to fumble or her feet to trip.

Sweat broke out along her spine. Nausea took over for the butterflies, and she wondered if she’d be sick when the presence at her back, cool like an ocean breeze pressed against her. She could see Loki just past the curtain, green bright and shining in his eyes as the spectre behind her wrapped her in arms of air.

He’d returned her phantom lover to her to offer comfort while he had to be down there in the overly large crowd, and it made her smile, his constant care and attentiveness.

Bucky stood on one side of him, Steve to the other. Thor had collected her grandmother and the boy Lauren had yet to meet and taken them away to sit with Pepper and Tony. Even now she could hear the peels of laughter from her grandmother as they floated to her from across the lawn. Evidently, Ellie was having a great time. Unlike Lauren.

She closed her eyes, leaned into the cold embrace, and breathed out the anxiety. Soon it would be all over. She could get off this stage and stop feeling like some prize pumpkin everyone had come to gawk at.

“Lu?”

She opened her eyes and offered Sadie a wan smile. “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry to put you through this.” The brunette bit her lip. “It’s just… what with your friends and all, the opportunity was too good to pass up and…”

Worry coated the woman’s face, and Lauren swiftly reached for her hands. “It’s okay, Sadie. I understand.”

She squeezed Lauren’s fingers. “I know how much you hate this. You’re first. Loki made me promise.”

Lauren threw a glance his way and offered him a sweet smile. “He’s always lookin’ out for me.”

“That man adores you. It would be sickenin’ if it weren’t so sweet,” Sadie teased before giving her a final squeeze and hurrying away.

A gaggle of giggling women tramped their way up the stairs at the back of the stage, drawing Lauren’s attention. Most looked at her curiously, likely wondering what twist of fate had thrust her into the company of people like the Avengers. When three of them broke from the others to saunter their way over, Lauren did her best to retain her sigh of resignation.

“Lauren,” Lisset simpered in her high, childlike voice.

Lauren pasted on a smile. “Barb. Missy. Lisset. How nice to see you again.”

The three women had been a clique for as long as Lauren had known them. While Marabeth and her group of cronies had been the Queen bee and her court, her sister had been older than Lauren by a few years. Lisset and her entourage were the same age as Lauren, and when Marabeth had left the school, these three were quick to take over as the big dogs in their small playground.

Lisset had been the quintessential cheerleader; team Captain of course. She’d dated the Quarterback, Tommy Diffler, married him shortly after they’d graduated, had his three children, and when she found him with his secretary bent over his desk, she’d taken him for everything he was worth in the divorce and now lived in his house… without him.  

Year after year Lisset’s basket had been the biggest draw of the fair. Everyone raved over her famous Cherry Jubilee Pie, and the bidding was often fierce for the “honour” of picnicking with the PTA princess. Add in the fact she was ridiculously beautiful, had legs for days, and was lusted after by every male with a pulse between the ages of twelve and a hundred, and Lauren used to feel frumpy just being in the same room.

Today, however, the pinched look on her face said Lisset was well aware of just what was about to occur. For the first time in years, she was not the main attraction.

“How are your little ones?” Lauren asked politely.

“Not so little anymore.” She smiled sharply. “Still single?”

“Engaged, actually, but I’m sure y’all already know that seein’ as how the Mayor made such a fuss this mornin’.” Unlike with her sister, Lauren had never had an issue standing up to Lisset and her crew of hags.

“Right,” Barb chimed in, her smile mean. “To the one who destroyed half of New York.”

Lauren turned her head and gave the woman the smile she’d picked up from Loki. “Barb, sweety. You’re gonna want to be real careful what y’all say about a Prince of Asgard and an Avenger. Kipling Scott already got an earful from Captain Rogers. And Quinn found out just how fast Thor will come to his defence only yesterday.”

To Lauren’s surprise, Missy stepped forward, her smile far kinder than either of her friends. “You look so good, Lauren. New York seems to agree with you.”

“Thanks, Missy.” She smiled and took the woman’s offered hand. “I do love the city.”

“My that is quite the necklace,” Missy continued as Lisset and Barb looked on. “A gift from your beau, no doubt.”

The pinched lips of Lisset made Lauren grin a little wider. “He does have a tendency to spoil me. Asgardians are anythin’ but subtle.”

A microphone crackled in the background, announcing the start of Sadie’s auction.

“Good luck today, Lauren,” Missy said as she turned away. “I hope you have a pleasant lunch.”

“Yes. It would be a shame if your… fiancé couldn’t claim your basket,” Lisset muttered as she walked away. “C’mon, Missy!”

“She’s a bit put out, knowin’ it’s you everyone’s here for. You’re gonna make Sadie quite some money,” Missy whispered, gave a wink, and hurried off, the skirt of her pink dress flicking around her calves. 

Watching them go, Lauren felt the phantom arms tighten ever so gently and glanced toward Loki. He arched a brow curiously.

“Maybe one of the three actually grew up some since high school,” Lauren murmured, knowing he would hear her. 

A mischievous smirk curled his lips.

“Just what are y’all up to?” she asked him, but he only gave a minute shrug.

Sadie’s voice kept her from asking any more questions of the god with the superpowered hearing. “Hey, y’all! How’s everyone enjoyin’ this here fine Fourth so far?” Loud cheering erupted and made Sadie giggle.

It made the butterflies in Lauren’s belly return with a vengeance.

“That’s so great! I want to thank y’all for comin’ out to support our foundation. We all know it’s been a tough few years for folk, but your continued generosity and support is appreciated.” More cheering and polite applause sounded, and Sadie dropped a little curtsey. “Too kind, all of y’all.” She waited for the noise to die down before beginning again. “Now, I know most of you are here for a reason other than supportin’ the foundation what with the Avengers in town!” Her voice was drowned out for the fourth time, and she held up her hand for silence. “Had I known a might earlier, I would have done my best to get a couple of these fine gentlemen up on stage. Or perhaps Miss Romanoff or Miss Potts, but as it is, I was able to stron’ arm my very best friend into helpin’ out. While I can’t guarantee y’all will get a chance to eat with one of her friends, I can at the very least give y’all an opportunity to try. With our first basket up for auction, Lauren Annandale!”

Sadie turned her way with an outstretched hand, and Lauren forced her legs to work, taking her out of the phantom arms as she forced a smile. Walking toward the woman was an act of will, and when Marcus appeared with her basket, she gratefully accepted his arm.

“I know how hard this is for you, Lu. You’re a saint for givin’ into Sadie, and I’m sorry about Kip,” Marcus whispered in her ear.

“S’okay. Just let me cling, and we’ll call it even,” she whispered back.

“Most of y’all don’t know it, but our Lauren is quite the fine cook, ain’t that right, Lu?” Sadie asked, grinning at her.

Lauren blushed. “If you say so, Sadie.”

“I say so!” shouted Bucky, making the people nearest him chuckle.

“Shush your yap, James,” Lauren grumbled, causing more laughter to erupt.

Sadie was practically bursting with excitement at how things were ramping up, Lauren could see it in the gleam of her eyes. “So, Lu? What’s on offer for these fine folk?”

Lauren forced her smile not to waver and leaned towards the mic. “The usual picnic fare. Fried chicken, potato salad, a few finger foods, a Hummin’bird Cake for dessert, and Loki was kind enough to include a fine bottle of Asgardian wine.”

That caused a stir to ripple through the crowd. Lauren took note of Kipling standing at the opposite corner of the stage, away from Loki. Bill Dalton lurked with Maryann closer to the middle. The Mayor was off to the side, and a few other people she could just tell were itching for the bidding to start scattered throughout the crowd. 

But when she looked at Loki, he remained relaxed, confident, and composed, waiting only a few feet away. His eyes held a wealth of appreciation and understanding, helping her retain her nerves for these next few minutes.

“Ooh! Sounds delicious!” Sadie giggled and turned back to the crowd. “Don’t it folks? Who’s got an openin’ bid for me? Remember now, it’s for a terrific cause! So if you can open those wallets, open ‘em wide!”

“Three hundred dollars.”

Lauren tried not to blanch when Bill Dalton got things underway.

“Four.”

Jasper Rubin. It didn’t surprise her, but it wasn’t welcome.

“Five!” shouted the Mayor.

“Six!”

“Seven!”

“Seven fifty!”

“Eight!”

The bidding went so fast, Lauren was hard pressed to keep up.

“Oh, come on!” Tony shouted from the back of the crowd. “I’ve had Asgardian wine. Make it worth her while, people. Five thousand dollars!”

Lauren grabbed hold of Sadie’s mic. “Tony Stark! Sit your behind down!”

Everyone laughed when Tony pouted.

“We’ve got five thousand, do I hear another bid?” Sadie called out once she stopped laughing.

“Ten thousand.”

Everyone gasped and looked at Kipling. This time, Lauren knew she’d gone white. What the hell was he playing at? Hard eyes and a face which gave nothing away stared back at her.

“Fifteen thousand.”

Her head snapped around to stare wide-eyed at Davis Montgomery. Where the hell had he come from?

“Twenty thousand!” Tony barked.

“Anthony Stark! I will so quit!” Lauren yelled without the microphone.

“No you won’t!” he bellowed his grin wide.

“Twenty-five thousand!” Kipling barked.

He was going to get himself killed. Already Bucky and Steve were eyeing him like a bug needing to be squashed. And if they didn’t squash him, Loki would. The flash of sharp green from behind his narrowed eyes was full of annoyance.

“Thirty!” Bill Dalton cried, earning a sharp smack from his wife.

“Y’all never paid that kind of money for one of my baskets!” Maryann shrieked.

“Thirty-five thousand,” Davis groundout.

Spots danced in Lauren’s vision. This was getting out of hand. The most anyone had ever sold a basket for was five thousand dollars. Thirty-five thousand was outrageous!

“Forty thousand,” Kipling countered.

Lauren had no idea what he was playing at. What could he possibly want from her that he was willing to face not only Loki’s wrath but the entire team’s anger?

“Fifty thousand.”

“Bucky!” she gasped. Her neck cracked when she whipped her head down to glare at the smirking face.

“What?” He shrugged. “Not like I need it, doll. Might as well put it to good use.”

Before she could scold him for spending his money on something so frivolous as a picnic basket worth at most thirty dollars, the voice she’d been waiting for rippled cool and calm over the crowd.

“Five hundred thousand dollars.”

Lauren damn near choked on air she inhaled so hard.

***

As she looked about to faint, Loki made his way to the front of the stage where he walked casually up the stairs to take his love from the arm of Marcus, while Lauren stared at him in horror. “Breathe, pet,” he whispered against her cheek,  pressing a kiss there, staking his claim. “And before someone can be foolish enough to counter my offer,” he cast a warning glare toward Scott and the rest of the bidders, “I shall sweeten the deal, Sadie dear.”

“Oh? Do tell?”

The woman appeared fit to burst she was so excited. “Just what price would you put on my assistance with your… Haunted House?”

Sadie’s jaw dropped, as did her husbands. “That would be… it would… priceless!” she finally gasped.

“Consider it included.”

“Sold!” Marcus barked, handing over the basket.

“Excellent. The funds will be transferred once I have your information.” He gave the pair of them a nod as he led Lauren from the stage with nothing but shocked faces all around. “Shall we dine with your Gran, darling?” he asked, heading that way when Lauren’s voice remained absent.

As he led her through the sea of people parting before him, Barnes fell in on one side, Rogers the other, and he assisted his evidently mute wife to a space beneath the trees where her gleeful Gran sat.

“You… you… you…” Lauren stuttered.

“Yes, dear?” he chuckled as he magicked a blanket and seated her on it. Behind them, Sadie had regained her faculties enough to call up the next basket for auction and continue on, her voice and that of the crowd becoming a pleasing drone.

Lauren slapped weakly at his chest, her knees buckled, and he lowered her to sit beside her Gran. “Why would you… that was too much… how could you spend… what the hell, Loki!?” she finally barked when her senses returned. She closed her hands in his shirt and jerked him down until they were nose to nose. “Why would you ever spend that kind of money on me!?”

“Darling,” he growled, biting her tempting pout. “I would spend ten times that amount if it were necessary.”

“But… all your money on somethin’ so trivial?”

His brow arched with his amusement. “Oh, my heart. That is hardly all my money. Your Earthly currency had been accumulating nicely since I diversified my stock portfolio.”

“Huh?” She blinked up at him.

“You didn’t think all I did was watch daytime television, did you?” he grinned.

Her head fell to his shoulder, and a loud groan could be heard by all.

Chuckling, Loki settled at her side and drew the bottle of wine from the basket. Pepper’s smirk when she caught his eye was wicked, but he only smiled back. She had been the one to pique his interest in certain things and then assist him in his choices when he’d asked her opinion.

“Have a drink, love. You’ll feel better,” he offered, removing the cork from the bottle and pouring her a glass.

“While not the battles we are used to, brother, this was certainly an entertaining one,” Thor snickered.

“What the heck were you thinkin’, Tony? Jumpin’ the bid to five thousand?”Lauren huffed.

Stark rolled his eyes. “Oh, please! I was just weeding out the competition for the horned wonder.”

“Besides,” chuckled Ellie, her eyes full of laughter. “It all goes to a worthy cause. Spread the wealth! Live a little. Your youn’ man kept his word, and here you sit. Stop fussin’ at him, child!”

Lauren shook her head and began pulling containers from within the basket, adding them to the ones already set out. “I know it was a good cause, but still. Half a million dollars!”

Loki wrapped his fingers around the back of Lauren’s neck and drew her toward him. “Like I said, my love. I would have paid ten times as much. More even, to have you.”

Big jade eyes stared up at him, disbelief still filling their depths. “Foolish, but I’m sure Sadie will appreciate it.”

Loki frowned and cupped her cheek when she tried to pull away. Aware of the audience they had, he ignored each and every one to hold her close, lay a tender kiss upon her lips, and murmur, “There is nothing I would not give to have you with me. Little I would not sacrifice to keep you there. And no one would ever stop me from coming for you.”

“Loki,” she sighed and melted into him.

“You are worth every penny, every dime, and every ounce of gold in Asgard to me,” he whispered, nuzzling against her cheek.

“Stop with the sap, already,” Stark grumbled, but he was grinning when Loki looked up to find them all smirking at them in some way, shape, or form.  

“Shall we eat?” Loki asked, by way of a subject change and watched them all dig in.        

No one mentioned the other bidders, nor whatever Kipling Scott and Davis Montgomery had been up to trying to win Lauren’s basket.

***

Hours later, when the day was growing languid in the heat of the hot July sun, Loki again found himself settled beneath the branches of a stately Ash tree. Lauren was curled against his chest, Benny his thigh, and Sara was wedged in what little space remained between his hip and Lauren’s, while Usun sprawled on his side at Loki’s feet.

Both children were fast asleep. Lauren had dozed off a while ago. His Frost Giant nature a boon for once when the heat had made the children cranky. Now, everyone was napping after the excitement of the day.

More games had been played and won. Stark had excelled at the darts game where he destroyed balloons to win the lovely Pepper a smart green toad in a top hat.

Natasha had sauntered up to a man who swore he could guess anyone's weight, but when he’d leered at the redhead, she’d turned around and pointed at Bucky. The sergeant, currently wearing a shirt with long sleeves and a glove on his left hand, had crossed his arms and smirked at the man. The owner of the game had gaped for a moment but shrugged and given an answer which, had Bucky been an ordinary man, would have been relatively close. However, given his supersoldier nature, the excessive amount of muscle he carried, and the vibranium arm, and the man was so far off, Natasha had her pick of whichever animal she wished.

A purple hippo had joined Sara’s pony in the little girl’s arms.

Then, Thor had taken it upon himself to try his hand at the strongman contest. A hammer against a lever to raise a stone and ring a bell. Lauren had been the one to grab Thor’s arm when the hammer he’d tried to use was Mjolnir. He’d won rather soundly, nearly breaking the game anyway, adding a black and white puppy to Benny’s substantial menagerie.

The town had tried to coerce the Captain into judging the Miss Greenville contest, but he had declined, stating it was against policy for him to be involved in such things. Natasha had quietly coughed bullshit, but no one had noticed besides Loki who’d thrown her a small smirk.

The others had wandered off to find drinks and snacks, the lovely Ellie and young Svengil choosing to return to her home as she was plum tuckered out, but the children who were also tired and overly hot had been moments away from a full meltdown when Lauren had looked at him with eyes full of pleading. He’d swept Benny up in one arm, Sara the other, and headed off to find a worthwhile place to rest.

Both children had burrowed closer when the coolness of his body had registered, Sara going so far as to giggle and bury her face in his neck. He magicked a quick blanket, a few pillows, and settled the bunch of them quickly. Lauren had dropped down with them with a relieved sigh and a little shudder when she came in contact with his cold skin as well.

She’d murmured something about the barbeque and dance starting up in an hour or so, and how she’d just shut her eyes for a moment. A moment which had now lasted long enough for each of the team to wander by and smirk at him.

Currently, Thor was crouched down grinning at him and scratching Usun’s belly.  “Natalia is threatening to post the image she took of “Loki’s little family” on the Instagram thing. Whatever that means.”

Loki rolled his eyes and stroked Lauren’s hand, resting on his chest while threading the fingers of his opposite hand through Benny’s hair. “Like it matters.”

Thor settled to his hip, then sprawled out in the grass. “Perhaps she should.”

“And why do you think that?”

“Maybe it is time the world sees a different side of you. The side of you I remember growing up.”

Arching a brow, Loki gave him a condescending glare. “Because that would change popular opinion so drastically.”

Thor shrugged. “You never know. A softer side of the God of Mischief? It might go a long way.”

“You are mistaken.” It was highly unlikely anyone’s opinion of him would be adjusted due to a photograph of him with Lauren and the children. It may, in fact, only cause unrest among the people. The... butcher of New York living a happy life when so many others... weren’t.

“I don’t know. You make a rather adorable family.” Thor grinned broadly. “Let me know when I can bless the mother-to-be.”

“The mother-to-be is in no rush. Neither am I,” Loki huffed, rubbing the silky strands of Benny’s hair.

“You could have fooled me.”

His hand stilled in Benny’s hair as he lifted his eyes to Thor’s. “I will admit to finding this… ready-made family… pleasing.”

Thor huffed out a chuckle. “You can dance around the truth all you like, but I know you, brother. God of Mischief, God of Lies. What about the God of Revelry? Or has that part of you disappeared over these last harsh years?”

“You know nothing,” Loki scoffed.

“I remember well the man who used to invent games for the children who followed him in the streets. Or who sat and told tales of adventure and wicked imagination.”

“I seem to recall you and the others mocking me for my foolishness.”

Thor’s amusement vanished. “I was young, brother, and quite foolish myself. I did you a disservice all those years ago. My view of things was narrow and nearsighted. I was wrong. Our differences are what makes us unique, strong, and the Gods we are meant to be for our people. I was blind to this, and I am sorry for it.”

“Not all of us are built to be Odin,” Loki murmured.

“No. Not even I am built to be Odin,” Thor agreed.

Nodding slowly, Loki tilted his head to rub his cheek gently on Lauren’s hair. “One day, brother, I shall bring you such news, and you can extend your blessing if Lauren agrees.”

“And why wouldn’t she?” he sputtered.

“For one, you most vigorously kissed her best friend in front of her husband!”

“Bah! How else am I to bless such a gorgeous woman?” Thor smirked.

Loki scowled. “You may keep your lips to yourself when it comes to my wife, Thor.”

“So territorial. It has only been a day.”

“A day millennium in the making. Do not make me stab you, brother. I will. King of Asgard or not.”

“What are y’all fightin’ about now?” Lauren sighed, her lashes fluttering open as she lifted her head from his chest.

“Nothing important, my sweet. Thor is simply being obstinate. As per usual.”

“Your husband is most territorial,” Thor grumbled.

Lauren’s smile was full but sleepy yet when she turned it on Thor. “He is, isn’t he?”

Musicians began to tune their instruments not far away. Setting up on the stage Lauren had walked a few hours ago and drew her attention.

“Looks like things are gettin’ started,” Lauren said, sitting up to have a look around. A smile nearly bigger than she was split her lips when she caught sight of someone through the crowd. “Oh! He did it!”

Loki looked away and chuckled, finding the weathered visage of Teddy leading an equally weathered woman - the Miss Swan of his past conversation with Lauren - around on his arm. “It appears he took your advice, darling.”

“Good. Those two have been dancin’ around each other for as long as I can remember,” Lauren snickered. “And you, Thor? You ready to eat some of the best barbeque you’ve ever tasted?”

“Little sister, I am always ready to eat,” Thor chuckled.

She opened her mouth to say more, only to have all the blood rush from her face. “What…?”

Across the way, Loki spied the smug visage of Marabeth striding toward them, but it was Agent Hill who walked along at her side which caused a tremor of concern to skate Loki’s spine. Marabeth looked far too pleased with herself, and it gave him pause.

The children stirred, waking in time to witness the arrival of their mother. “Get up. We’re leavin’.”

“Mama?” whispered Sara.

“Maria?” Lauren asked Agent Hill in confusion.

“I’m sorry, Lauren. Samuel Avirett has turned state’s evidence. He’s willing to testify in the case against the Bianci’s. He and his entire family have to be put in witness protection.”

Maria’s face was pinched hard, and Loki could tell she was not at all pleased by this turn of events.

“Yes, Lauren. Thanks to you and your meddlin’, Samuel is now goin’ to be a wanted man, and after I was finally told about what almost happened to my children last night, it was for our own good and protection we go into hiddin’. Which means no contact with our family until after the trial. It could be years until that happens.”

Horror filled her, Loki could feel it crawl through his veins like acid, and Lauren whimpered, “You’re takin’ the babies?”

“Oh, for Christ sake, Lauren! They ain’t babies and their not yours to cry over!” She reached for Benny only to have Usun snap at her. “And you can keep that filthy mongrel!”

“No!” Benny cried, lunging to wrap his arms around Usun. “He’s mine, mama! He’s mine!”

“Agent Hill,” Thor got swiftly to his feet, followed only slightly slower by Loki as he helped Lauren to hers. “The hound is the children’s protector. Surely SHIELD can make concessions for his inclusion.”

“Of course they can,” Maria agreed without a qualm.

“I don’t want him!” Marabeth shrilled.

“Too bad,” Loki snarled, causing her to take a step back. “The hound has been gifted. He cannot be returned. No one will lay a finger on the children as long as he lives!”

“Please,” Lauren whispered, staring at her sister. “Please don’t take them away!”

Marabeth smiled, and it was nasty. “Can’t be helped. The Bianci’s will use them against Samuel if they can. What? You expect me to abandon my children? What kind of mother do you think I am, Lauren?”

“Maria?” Lauren turned her focus back to Fury’s right-hand woman.

Hill only shook her head. “I’m sorry, Lauren. Once Avirett offered to testify… it was out of my hands.”

“You have them all in custody?” Loki snapped, and Hill nodded. “Then what is the point? Jail them! Let this be done. Is not there enough evidence to see this finished without Avirett’s testimony?”

“Clearly, you know little of our judicial system,” Marabeth sneered.

“I will follow through on my promise, woman!” Loki hissed, stepping forward. “Leave the children with us. Lauren can see to them, and I can protect them. No one could do a better job.”

Marabeth gasped and brought a hand to her chest. “How dare you, sir! Insinuatin’ I would leave my children behind in the arms of some… stranger?”

Tears had begun to roll down Lauren’s cheeks. “Since when am I a stranger? Please, Marabeth! They’ll be safe and happy!”

She reached out to her sister who slapped her hands away. “No! They go with us. Their actual parents.”

“Why are you doin’ this?” Lauren pleaded, both children clinging to her legs.

“Because,” Marabeth sneered. “I can.”

Loki saw red, but a small hand slipped into his, and he looked down to find Sara staring up at him in fear. “Oh, my precious dove.” Kneeling swiftly, he scooped her up and held her tightly to him.

“You promised!” she whispered. “You promised you’d never go away!”

“I’m not, precious. I won’t.”

“Come along, Sara! We have to pack your things and be gone.” Marabeth snapped out her hand.

He was a moment away from spiriting the children to Asgard when Lauren’s hand came down on his shoulder. Her eyes pleaded with him to hold his temper, to keep calm while she did her best to hold herself together.

“It’s… it’s okay, peaches.” She knelt down with him and drew Benny in. “You two have to go on a little trip with the nice people from SHIELD, but you’ll be safe with Usun.” Lauren was hanging on by a thread, but she pasted on a smile and cupped Sara’s cheeks when the girl sobbed. “Now, now, sugar cube. None of that. It’s only for a little while.” She turned to Benny and hugged the little boy to her when he broke down in tears.

“Sara, darling,” Loki whispered, keeping his voice purposefully soft so it remained only between them and brushed her hair from her face. “I need you to listen to me, little dove.”

She nodded, her ocean eyes drowning in tears.

“I’m going to give you something very special. It is just for you, and you must never take it off. Do you promise?”

“Yes… Loki.”

“Excellent,” he rushed, knowing the heinous woman could snatch them away at any moment. He produced the pendant out of thin air, much like he had Lauren’s, and placed it around her neck. Small and discrete, the green stone was wrapped by a golden serpent and hung on a delicate but unbreakable chain. “This is a special necklace. If you are ever scared, you wrap your fist around it and call to me. I will come for you wherever you are. Do you understand?”

She nodded solemnly. “You promise?”

“With everything I am, darling, but this is for emergencies only, my little dove. For dire times. It must not be used on a whim, alright?” he cautioned. She was brilliant little Sara, and he trusted her to use it wisely.

“I love you, Loki,” she whispered, breaking his heart as she threw her arms around his neck.

Rising with her, he handed the new stuffed toys to Hill. “Do not endanger these children, Maria.”

“We’ll keep them safe, Loki,” she managed to say after finding her voice, his actions counter to what people knew of him. “I promise.”

“You’d better.” There was no room for error in his voice.

The impatience of Marabeth was growing, evident in the tapping foot and crossed arms. “We haven’t got forever!” she huffed.

“We have as long as I say!” Maria barked, glaring at Marabeth.

Placing a kiss on Sara’s hair, he set her down and Lauren swept her up. Benny looked up at him, and Loki picked him up to hold close and whispered in his ear. “You look after your sister and trust Usun. He’ll protect you both.”

“I will,” the boy whispered back, tears dripping off his chin.

“It won’t be forever,” Loki promised. “You’re a good boy, Benny. Don’t ever think otherwise.”

“Do we have to go?” he whispered, tearing a hole in Loki’s heart he wasn’t sure would ever heal.

“I’m afraid so, young Ben.” He hugged the boy a little tighter, then handed him to Hill before he changed his mind and simply took them both. It would be exceptionally hard to convince people he hadn’t kidnapped two young children if there were witnesses.

“I’ll miss you,” Sara whispered, burying her fingers in Usun’s coat.

“We ain’t takin’ that dog, Sara!” Marabeth barked.

“Yes, we are,” Maria stated.

“It would not matter if you left him behind. He is a dyrehund. He could find them across oceans if such was required. He is their guardian from all who would harm them. You can not get rid of him so accept it, woman!” Thor bellowed, clearly having had enough. “Agent Hill. Usun will require fresh meat. I trust whatever agents you will have guarding this family will see to his proper nutrition as well?”

“I will make sure they know, Thor.” Maria nodded. “Lauren…”

Lauren only turned her face into Loki’s shoulder.

“Just go,” Loki murmured, wrapping his arms around his destroyed wife.

Maria carried Benny away, Sara sticking to her side as far from Marabeth as possible. Marabeth threw a triumphant smirk over her shoulder, Lauren’s pain all she could hope for.

He’d never wanted to kill someone so badly in his entire life.

Only once the children were away did Lauren let the heart-rending sob explode from her throat. Her knees gave out and she collapsed into Loki’s chest.

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