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spookyserenades · 1 year

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Trouvaille - Chapter Four

Pairing(s); BTS OT7 x Reader

Genre/Themes; Hybrid!AU, themes of the supernatural and the occult, religious themes, violence, hurt/comfort, horror, romance

Rated; 18+ for swearing, violence/gore, future sexual themes. Reader discretion is advised.

Word Count; 20.6k

Trouvaille Masterlist

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Updates on the 7th of each month

Hello darling readers, it's Dana! Happy April, I am so excited to bring you this month's update; Chapter Four! We're picking up exactly where we left off, and there's lots going on in this chapter. Expect a bit more paranormal happenings in this chapter, particularly towards the end (nothing TOO frightening, but I figured I'd warn in advance) Of course, we have a few moments of angst, a handful of flirtatious banter, and a lot more information revealed about the hybrids themselves. As always, I love to hear from readers; comments or questions! Please know that I will answer each response in time, I am currently going through an emotional time with my family 💜 The taglist is still open, as well. Without further ado, please enjoy this update, and thank you so much for reading and supporting my work!

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Immediately, Y/N could see Namjoon recognized the relation between her and her mother– if he was taken aback, it didn’t show. However, his face completely changed like night and day as he broke out into a fond grin at her mother after a beat.

After a split second of deduction, Y/N figured that apparently, her mother was who Namjoon knew at the library. Feeling completely out of place as her mother hurried from out behind the desk and gave Namjoon a tearful hug, Y/N was positively flabbergasted. What were the chances of Y/N adopting a hybrid her mother knew? The book club, by law of the state, could only accept adopted hybrid members, and until a few nights ago, Namjoon was very much unadopted.

“You came by every day! I thought something bad may have happened to you,” her mother broke free from the hug slightly, wiping a tear from her eye as she assessed Namjoon, like she was searching for injuries.

Namjoon tilted his head, her mother right about that– he had landed in Boston’s “finest” shelter after being dragged off the street in his wolf form. Unadopted, it was likely that Namjoon had found a way to put up a front about his situation and was somehow found out later on. Her mother couldn’t have been the one to report Namjoon judging by her genuine relief upon seeing him, Y/N thought, but the missing explanation on how he had gotten into the book club in the first place was piquing Y/N’s curiosity the most.

“I’m alright,” Namjoon replied, rich voice muffled by the velvet shawl covering her mother’s shoulder. “Something… came up,” he added as he pulled away, eyes darting from Y/N to her mother, seemingly examining similarities and differences in their features. Her mother frowned sympathetically but did not pry, seemingly knowing better than to do so with Namjoon. As if just remembering Y/N was standing there gawking at the pair of them, her mother pressed a hand to her chest.

“Oh, honey, I forgot to call your hybrid’s name over the intercom, I’m sorry, Namjoon, one moment…” her mother rushed back behind the desk, Namjoon raising his eyebrows at Y/N, who was floundering under his pointed gaze. “What was his name?”

“Uh, mom. It’s alright. Namjoon is the said hybrid,” Y/N scratched the back of her head, Namjoon clearly unimpressed she had panicked right away not being able to find him. Her mother was instantly confused, looking from her to Namjoon with suspicion. Expecting her to make an elaborate spectacle, Y/N braced herself, only to be met with her mother’s careful composure.

“Huh. Snuck past the law, didn’t you, you smart boy,” her mother reached out to ruffle Namjoon’s hair, dimples appearing in the wolf hybrid’s cheeks, because of course he had them. Her mother then squeezed Y/N’s shoulder, adding, “This is my daughter I’ve mentioned before, which I’m assuming you’ve gathered by now. And you can return to the book club again, I need your help leading the discussions once more. They’ve been a bit uninspiring since your absence.”

Namjoon appeared to glow under her mother’s praise, but Y/N thought she may have been buttering him up a bit too much. Her mother had a knack for flattery. There was also the unspoken that hung around the atmosphere, her mother’s lack of interrogation and swift acceptance forming a pit in Y/N’s stomach. Usually, she’d be the type to pry out every detail of how Y/N had managed to become acquainted with Namjoon, but shockingly her mother refrained, seemingly occupied in rummaging around in the returns rack. She pulled out a book from behind the desk, handing it to Namjoon: Wuthering Heights.

“This is the book we’re reading for the next two weeks. Started it yesterday, so the others don’t have too much of a head start yet,” her mother folded her arms over her chest, looking particularly smug that they were reading one of Y/N’s favorite books as she noticed the eager grin growing on her daughter’s face. “You can ask Y/N just about any question you have about that particular book and she’ll bring out all ten of the essays she’s written on it.”

“Jesus, mom. Exaggeration much?” Y/N scoffed, watching Namjoon carefully tuck the book under his arm. “I only wrote two essays on it,” she muttered under her breath, unable to deny her great obsession for everything Bronte circa her college days.

“Excuse me, I’m scheduled to meet someone for an interview here at 10, but I’m not sure where I’m supposed to go?” A young man anxiously gripping a map interrupted the conversation by catching the attention of her mother behind the desk.

“Oh, you must be Joseph! I’ll take you up to the office myself,” her mother exclaimed, glancing at Y/N and Namjoon. “I’ll see you two on Friday, alright? Y/N, honey, don’t put that salt on the windowsills, it’ll stain the finish,” she added, motioning for Joseph to follow her around the desk.

With that, she was gone in an instant, leaving Y/N with a hybrid who still seemed to resent the fact that she thought he had run away. Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, Y/N started to sweat under the beret she was wearing, cursing her wardrobe choices that morning already.

“Uh… well, your introduction to my mother was less painful than it was when she stopped by to meet the others yesterday,” Y/N began thoughtfully, spinning around to face Namjoon, all imposing height and narrowed, probing eyes. Her stomach turned uncomfortably, reminding her she had yet to eat anything that morning. “Come on, Namjoon, I’ll buy you a pastry from the cafe here,” she motioned towards the small counter at the front of the library littered with small bistro tables, comfortably walled off by planter partitions.

With an arched brow, Namjoon sucked in his cheeks as he reluctantly followed Y/N to the counter, ears turned flat against his skull. The woman working by the oven was pulling out a fresh batch of cinnamon rolls, the saccharine scent of buttery confection making Y/N nearly swoon. Fishing around in her bag, she pulled out her wallet, promptly ordering a cinnamon roll and an espresso for herself. Catching Namjoon gazing at the cherry pie displayed in a glass cake stand, she thought about getting him a slice before thinking the better of it. He seemed like the type to want to order his own food.

“Hiya, Namjoon! The usual?” The cheery woman from behind the counter gave Namjoon a kindly smile, placing a tiny cup under the espresso machine for Y/N. Brightening up a bit, Namjoon nodded, crowding behind Y/N as the woman added a hot black coffee and a slice of cherry pie to Y/N’s order. Forking over the cash, she waited silently at the end of the counter with Namjoon for his pie to be heated up in the oven.

He hadn’t said anything to her directly since they were in the car. Namjoon must have had questions, simply because Y/N knew she had her own fair share, but he seemed to be in no hurry to voice them as he plucked a brown leaf off of the potted plant sitting at the end of the counter. Once Namjoon had his mug and pie balanced in his hands, Y/N found a little table for two vacant at the corner of the cafe. Seated across from Namjoon, taking what seemed to be a soul-satisfying sip of coffee with his eyes closed, Y/N found she had forgotten every question she was going to ask him. Shrugging, she dove into her cinnamon roll, still hot from the oven and practically melting in her mouth.

“What’s that salt for?” Namjoon asked suddenly, using the side of his fork to collect a bite of pie on the utensil. He gave a pointed look to Y/N’s tote bag as he chewed his pie, ignoring the surprise on her face.

“Hmm. If I said it's for witchcraft, what would be your response?” Y/N decided to answer truthfully, with the knowledge of him likely being able to sniff out a lie in the forefront of her mind. If he called her crazy, she could handle that, but a liar was something she no longer wished to be with any of the hybrids. In fact, she’d planned on coming clean with the others about the ghost sighting in the house later that afternoon when she got the chance.

Namjoon, sipping his coffee thoughtfully as he scanned her face, seemed to consider her words carefully. Setting his mug down, he sat back in his chair with a sigh.

“I already knew your mother was a witch, she told me– not that it was very difficult to piece together. So, it makes sense you practice too… but that doesn’t really answer my question. What, exactly, do you need black salt for? Protection from something?” Namjoon clarified, with particular emphasis on the last question.

Opening and closing her mouth, Y/N abruptly drained her espresso cup for some kind of a lifeline, not expecting Namjoon to be so direct or even have knowledge about the uses of black salt. He nonchalantly went back to enjoying his pie, waiting patiently for her explanation.

“Okay, sure. It’s for protection, I think the house is overdue for some cleansing and some boundaries to keep a few uninvited guests… out,” Y/N toed around the issue as honestly as possible without including the word ghosts, deciding it was a little strange to be discussing something like that in a library cafe. Returning to her cinnamon roll, she chased some icing at the edge of the plate with a crispy layer of pastry. Y/N had yet to plan out the exact ritual she was going to conduct, fleetingly wishing that she had her mother’s old spellbook at the house to consult.

“I read a lot about modern witchcraft here. I didn’t know all too much about it before I met your mother at the book club,” Namjoon confessed, crumpling up his napkin on his empty pie plate. “If I hadn’t seen certain things myself, I’d write it all off as new-age garbage.”

Tilting her head, Y/N’s curiosity had climbed tenfold. For someone so burly and serious looking, Namjoon’s apparent interest in the occult came as a great surprise. Not to mention, she desperately wanted to ask about what “things” Namjoon had referenced seeing to make him a believer at all. It didn’t seem like the time nor place, however.

“Namjoon, not to change the subject, but how were you able to get into the book club?” Y/N blurted out the first thing that came to mind, distantly hoping he wasn’t withholding any embarrassing stories her mother had relayed to him about her daughter.

“You mean, while I was unadopted,” Namjoon returned bluntly, holding his hand up in response to Y/N offering a piece of her cinnamon roll. “It was easy enough, I created a fake certificate on one of the computers in the lab here after seeing a flier for the book club nailed to a telephone pole.”

“Oh,” was all Y/N could think to say, the explanation much simpler than she had anticipated, feeling silly that she had asked at all. Pushing her plate away, she again wondered how he had ended up in the shelter considering her mother knew him well enough to be so moved by his absence. Someone must have ratted him out, but who, and how did they even find out about his forged certificate?

“Should we get going?” Namjoon interrupted her internal dialogue, his chair scraping against the floor as he collected their cups, plates, and his book. Scrambling to her feet, Y/N tried her best to keep up with Namjoon’s long strides, almost falling over upon seeing his beautiful smile directed at the woman behind the counter.

On the way back to the car, she caught Namjoon casting a look at the desk where they had met her mother, but she wasn’t there, cueing the corners of his mouth to turn down in disappointment. Clearly, she had left a lasting impression on Namjoon.

Outside, the weather was still cool and pleasant, tourists ambling down Boylston street with great shopping bags swinging from the crooks of their elbows. The black salt in her tote bag felt like it weighed one hundred pounds, placing it in the backseat of her car as she slid in. The tinny old tape resumed, crackling to life in the speaker, Mick Jagger sounding more like Kermit than anything. Namjoon, once settled in his seat, started reading Wuthering Heights straight away, leaving Y/N to focus on the route home and planning out some kind of cleansing and banishing ritual in her mind.

“Wow. Stick Style?” Namjoon let himself through the iron gate Y/N pulled open, taking him around the front upon remembering she had put the bar lock across the sliding kitchen door the night before out of paranoia.

“That’s right,” Y/N confirmed, carefully navigating the brick walkway to the porch in order not to trip. One of her missions for the day was to watch her clumsiness, and a stray loose brick would put a kink in that plan for sure. “This one was built in 1886 for a judge and his family.”

Namjoon was busy admiring the trees crowding the yard when Y/N noticed the packages piled up on the doorstep, squinting as she tried to see what they were. Bending to collect them, one was a thick packet from the bank, and the other was a medium sized box from her phone carrier. The hybrid’s credit cards and phones arrived far quicker than she had expected, to her delight; they’d be able to buy what they wanted that afternoon at some of the shops and even call her if they wandered off and lost her. Tucking the packages under her arm, she managed to unlock the door while her tote bag slid down her arm, pushing the door open with a loud creak.

The house was lively. The scent of bacon nearly knocked her off her feet, a lovely song coming from the piano upstairs, and there was chatter Y/N could hear coming from far off in the kitchen. Someone had lit the candles in the sconces on the wall, making the house feel cozy compared to the cool, overcast morning. Grinning, Y/N felt glee well up inside of her, the house feeling so lived-in already that it reminded her of the holidays with her grandparents as a child. Tossing a look over her shoulder, Namjoon hesitated at the threshold of the front door, appearing to size up the scale of the home, before entering the foyer behind her and shutting the door firmly. Upon further consideration, he locked the deadbolt behind him, Y/N raising her eyebrow but saying nothing.

“Good morning Y/N–” Seokjin bounded out of the kitchen, a strip of bacon in his hand on its way to his parted lips, freezing as he registered Namjoon behind her. Slowly, he lowered his arm, recovering pretty well once he noticed Y/N trying to juggle the packages and her tote bag threatening to crash to the ground, the jaguar hybrid promptly catching the bag and setting it carefully on the staircase. “Hello, Namjoon,” he greeted evenly, waving with his piece of bacon. Y/N snickered, Namjoon offering a short nod in response.

“Did Yoongi make you some breakfast?” Y/N asked Seokjin, his tail flicking back and forth languidly as he shook his head. Upon mentioning the leopard hybrid’s name, the music upstairs abruptly cut short. Y/N was reminded once more of the hybrid’s incredible hearing, sending a shiver down her spine. No more late-night trips to the kitchen for some shredded cheese out of the bag.

“No, Jimin,” was his response, nodding his head towards the kitchen. “Yoongi’s tinkering around on the piano, and hasn’t even come down yet. Nor Taehyung.”

“Mind if I take a look around?” Namjoon interjected, arms crossed over his chest as he stared straight into Y/N’s face, expression neutral. Clearing her throat, Y/N tried to make a “go ahead” motion with her arms while holding the packages.

“Be my guest,” she side-eyed the box of things she had collected for him at the foot of the stairs, which he had yet to notice. “Find a bedroom you like, while you’re at it, and come find us after.”

“Sure,” Namjoon agreed absently, slowly taking off down the hall towards Jimin’s room. Thoughtfully munching on his bacon, Seokjin shrugged, following Y/N to the kitchen in her pursuit of a letter opener.

At the island was Hoseok stirring cream into Y/N’s old Darth Vader mug, face puffy with sleep, and she caught a glimpse of Jimin by the stove dressed in his new jeans and the beige linen button down. Upon further examination, he had a bit of batter on his nose as he flipped a pancake expertly on the skillet. Hoseok offered her a sleepy smile, patting the bar stool next to him for her to sit while Seokjin swiped more bacon from the plate by Jimin at the stove.

“Morning, Miss Y/N, would you like some pancakes, or bacon before Seokjin eats it all?” Jimin turned around, flinching as Seokjin attempted to collect the batter off of the coyote hybrid’s nose with an index finger. Snorting, she shook her head, feeling the cinnamon roll from the library cafe sitting in her stomach like a boulder.

“No thanks, sweetheart, I got something to eat on the way home with Namjoon,” she answered easily, using the letter opener to hack open the packet from the bank. Hoseok, while stiffening at the sound of the wolf hybrid’s name, couldn’t help himself by nearly hooking his chin over Y/N’s shoulder to peer at the letter she was scanning, offering simple instructions for the card activations. Pulling out her phone, she followed the steps, smirking at the sound of Hoseok noisily slurping his coffee in her ear.

As she was peeling the cards off of the papers from the packet, the glass slider behind her slid open, making her frown as she realized her and Namjoon could have entered that way after all. Peeking over her shoulder, she knew who it was before she got a good look– Jeongguk.

Dressed in every black item that Y/N had purchased for him, his complexion was a tad on the paler side, Jeongguk looked quite bewildered as he stumbled into the kitchen. Clearing his throat, he absently tossed a cigarette butt– smoked down to the filter– into the ashtray outside before shutting the door hastily. Frowning, Y/N stacked the credit cards on the table, wondering why he seemed so freaked out, but held her tongue out of stubbornness due to the previous night’s spat.

“What’s the matter with you?” Hoseok called out, a note of disgust coloring his tone as he watched Jeongguk distractedly melt onto the booth of the breakfast bar. Jeongguk waved his hand dismissively, scribbling something down in his notebook with the pen from behind his ear. Rolling his eyes, Hoseok returned to his coffee while Y/N began to open up the box with the phones.

“Morning,” Yoongi entered the room, a serene look on his face as he accepted a mug of coffee from Seokjin. It was nice to see some of the hybrids get along so amicably so far, and Y/N was trying to squash the small voice in her head telling her they were just putting on a front for her benefit.

Putting the box of phones on the barstool next to her, Y/N double-checked to make sure the proper amount of devices were in there before taking her hat off to run her fingers through her hair. Eyes were on her as soon as the hat left her head, Y/N self-consciously wondering if her hair smelled sweaty or something. Jimin began to harshly wash pans immediately after, his honeyed strands of hair falling into his face as he worked.

“Anyone seen Taehyung yet today? It’s almost noon, and he was the one most eager to go out today,” Seokjin remarked, passing a hand over his stomach as he returned uncooked bacon to the fridge. Y/N was unsurprised Taehyung had locked himself away while she was gone, considering he had even excused himself from the parlor yesterday as soon as she was unconscious. He didn’t seem to have any interest in getting to know the others.

“He’s up. I heard his shower going while I was working on the piano,” Yoongi replied, cracking his knuckles as he went to sit across from Jeongguk at the breakfast bar. Either he was trying to bury the hatchet, or was keeping an eye on the elk hybrid; either way the latter hardly looked up from his notebook.

“Working?” Y/N repeated with confusion, wondering if he was writing a musical or something.

“Yeah, tuning it. You had a kit in the compartment under the piano bench, and some of the keys were a little flat,” Yoongi explained patiently, tracing a dainty pinky finger around the lip of his coffee mug while he spoke. This sparked excitement within her, thinking once again about lessons to inquire about at the music store later that afternoon, especially now that the piano was getting looked after by someone like Yoongi.

“That song you were playing when I came home was very pretty,” Y/N complimented, hoping she, too, could play half as well as Yoongi one day. His cheeks turned pink, murmuring a thank-you, studiously staring out the window.

Y/N passed her fingers over the glossy credit cards, the ridges of Namjoon’s name on the top card making her wonder where he had ended up. With Hoseok next to her, definitely more quiet than usual, she made a mental note to keep an eye on the fox hybrid that afternoon now that Namjoon would be joining them on their outing, or so she hoped. She still didn’t know if sad-sack Jeongguk would come with them, but leaving him alone in the house made her feel melancholy, even if he was a brat.

“Hoseok, are you going to shower before we leave? I can smell the sweat coming off of you all the way from here,” Seokjin suddenly complained, leaning forward on the island to sniff in Hoseok’s direction dramatically. Hoseok let the comment roll off his shoulders, patronizingly stroking Seokjin’s hand from across the island with a grin. Displeasure washed over Seokjin’s lovely face comically.

“I’ll make sure to wait for you in the shower, cupcake. Maybe you should join me for a morning workout next time,” Hoseok pushed himself off of his barstool with a great heave, chuckling at Seokjin’s angry barking insults as he vanished from the room.

“You should know by now not to try and out-fox the fox with verbal shell games, Seokjin. It’s getting embarrassing for all of us, at this point,” Yoongi called out from the breakfast bar, making Y/N chortle loudly. Seokjin frowned, his tail flicking back and forth in an agitated manner.

“Alright, come on,” Y/N sighed, brushing away a tear of amusement from the corner of her eye, “I’ve got something for you guys. Figured you’d need these in this great age of technology,” she stood, scooping up several phone boxes from the open package to deal out like cards, sliding one each across the island to Jimin and Seokjin before delivering two more to Yoongi and Jeongguk at the breakfast bar.

The room was so quiet, a pin could drop and it would sound like a gunshot as each hybrid stared at their phone boxes, Y/N biting her lip as Jeongguk took his phone from her like a live grenade.

“Uh, remind me to give you my number when you set the phones up, just in case anything happens and you can’t find me physically, or something,” Y/N babbled, wondering if now was a bad time to pass out the credit cards, considering the astounded looks on everyone’s faces. “Hmm. I guess I should look for Taehyung… Namjoon too. We’ll leave in about a half hour?” She continued upon further silence from the hybrids, catching Seokjin examining the box of his new cell phone like it was an exotic insect.

Yoongi nodded robotically, Jimin whispering something to Seokjin as they both read the back of their phone boxes. Tucking the credit cards in her skirt pocket and scooping up the remaining phones, she offered the stunned hybrids a warm smile before heading towards the hallway. Jimin looked like he wanted to follow Y/N, but Seokjin caught his wrist and started to point at something on the box.

In the hallway, Y/N took a deep breath, nearly stumbling over Namjoon’s box of items by the stairs. Cursing, she regained her balance, almost toppling over again as she heard the door to the green room from behind her creak loudly. Dread flooded through her in an instant, praying the old hag ghost wasn’t two paces from breathing down her neck. Spinning around, she was relieved to see Namjoon peeking his head out from behind the door, an eyebrow raised.

“Sorry, you startled me,” Y/N breathed, Namjoon stepping out into the hall with a grunt of acknowledgement.

“I think the sooner you do that protection ritual, the better you’ll feel,” Namjoon remarked, hands on hips. He wasn’t wrong about that, Y/N thought. “This room taken?” He nodded towards the green room where Seokjin had stayed.

“No, you can have it,” Y/N tried her best not to shy away from his close proximity, the sensation of him towering over her a bit overwhelming. “This box is for you, some clothes to get you through the next couple of weeks and toiletries. Oh, this too,” Y/N nudged the box on the floor before remembering the phones in her hand, hastily handing one over to him. Eyebrows furrowed, he pocketed the phone swiftly, more interested in the contents of the box of clothes he kneeled down to take a look at.

“Hey, we’re all going to head out into town in a bit to get some fresh air, and you’re invited as well, of course,” Y/N said, suddenly feeling shy as he leafed through some of the shirts she had chosen for him. Namjoon hummed, the sound slightly gravelly, his ear flickering.

“I’ll go with you,” Namjoon agreed, stretching back up to his full height, his face softer than she had seen it before, at least directed towards her. “Thanks, by the way,” he added gently, lifting the box off the ground, taking one last look at her before hauling it into his room.

Reeling, Y/N absently trudged up the stairs, unable to get the look he had on his face out of her head. A ghost of the fondness he had shown for her mother reflected in Namjoon’s expression, and even if it lasted for a moment, it felt precious to her. As she reached the second floor, she heard Hoseok’s whistling from the basement. Hastening to Taehyung’s room, Y/N paused to listen for any movement, but heard nothing. Before she could knock, the door flung open, Y/N’s jaw hanging open as she dropped her hand limply.

“Are we leaving?” Taehyung leaned against the door jamb, dressed in his blue long-sleeve and dark jeans. His hair was still wet from the shower, ringlets surrounding his face like a cherub. Tapping his foot, Taehyung seemed eager to embark on their outing as he peered out into the hallway, scanning the surroundings.

“Shortly, yes,” Y/N replied, the scent of sandalwood coming off of him powerfully. As they started down the hall together, Y/N chatting mindlessly about the events of the morning and giving him his phone, she couldn’t help but think that Taehyung had to be one of the easiest to talk to.

Like Jimin, Taehyung listened intently, but wasn’t so intense in his gaze as she talked, having more of a calming– as opposed to dazzling– effect on her. Out of everyone, he seemed to be the most excited about the phone, opening it immediately and passing it to Y/N to plug in her phone number. She did so blindly as they reached the kitchen, Taehyung sticking to her side closely as she created a contact for herself.

The kitchen was in a bit of commotion as they entered, Hoseok loudly complaining about Seokjin polishing off the bacon, and Jimin trying to keep up his carefully-constructed patience as he told Seokjin how to turn on his phone. Yoongi had migrated to the coffee bar, apparently making himself a to-go cup, and Jeongguk was already typing away on his new phone at the breakfast nook.

Y/N made her rounds putting her number in the other’s phones, Jeongguk reluctantly parting with his when she reached him. She endured the awkwardness of their interaction, the words he spat the previous night hovering in the air starkly. She could tell, by the set of his jaw, that Jeongguk was likely recalling the events, avoiding her eyes expertly. Feeling Taehyung breathing down her neck as she punched the digits into Jeongguk’s phone, Y/N hurriedly handed it back to the elk hybrid, who was huffing impatiently. At least, she thought distantly, he had the decency to look a little sheepish when she smiled at him sweetly.

When Namjoon entered the kitchen, every head turned to look at him. Y/N only registered the disturbance when she couldn’t hear Hoseok and Seokjin bickering anymore, looking up from Jimin’s phone with interest. Namjoon, standing stiffly at the threshold of the kitchen, scanned each hybrid briefly, spending a little more time watching Taehyung linger at Y/N’s side at the sink. Returning Jimin’s phone to him, Y/N cleared her throat, nervously shooting a glance at Hoseok, who had either subconsciously or accidentally pulled Seokjin in front of him like some kind of meat-shield. Even Yoongi, wiping down the counter, seemed perturbed by the wolf hybrid’s presence, his ears turned downwards. The tension in the room was nearly suffocating, all of the ease vanishing as soon as Namjoon walked in.

“Well, now that everyone’s here, we can head out now,” Y/N clapped once in an attempt to dissolve some of the tension, only succeeding in making Jimin jump in surprise. Patting his back gingerly in apology, she inched towards Namjoon without Taehyung following her like a shadow, to her surprise, while desperately hoping to corral everyone out to the car in one piece. “Ready?”

Y/N walked in tandem with Namjoon out the front door, counting heads like a school teacher as each hybrid exited the house. They grouped together in cliques, Yoongi and Jimin, Seokjin and Hoseok– Jeongguk, of course, was by himself but stayed close to Yoongi curiously enough. The five lingering by the Land Cruiser kept considerable distance from both Taehyung and Namjoon, who also appeared to stay clear of one another.

Without a question, the rest of the hybrids said nothing as Namjoon slid into the passenger seat promptly, Taehyung reluctantly climbing into the seat behind Y/N. Seokjin, mumbling about Hoseok pushing him too harshly, crammed himself in the third row of the car beside Jeongguk followed by the fox hybrid. Before Namjoon could put the horrid Rolling Stones tape on again, Y/N switched on the radio, a Britney Spears song filling the car with a bit of sunshine. Once again, Yoongi found himself in the center seat of the second row with a grimace on his face, making eye contact with Y/N in the rearview. Trying to appear apologetic, she gave him a half-smile as she pulled out into the street. Hoseok began to whistle along to the tune of Gimme More.

After finding a decent parking spot at the cluster of shops in the middle of the town and passing out the hybrid’s new credit cards, everyone flooded out into the square in a mostly orderly manner. They parked closest to the music store, which was right across from Judy’s metaphysical shop where Y/N was planning to pick up hours to pay for all future expenses. Seokjin, kindly, held the door open for everyone to enter the dusty-smelling music store, smiling politely at an elderly woman ambling in behind Y/N.

Upon entering the store, everyone peeled off in different directions. Shiny electric guitars, polished brass trumpets, and long coiled bunches of cables hung from the pegboard walls, large drum kits and cases of vinyls were strewn in every direction. The place was sensory overload, positively crammed with inventory and unique looking people working behind the counters, unfazed by the seven hybrids running all over the place. Namjoon, of course, was by the single small bin by the front door overflowing with two dollar tapes. Passing by Taehyung at the jazz vinyl shelf, Y/N made her way to the far corner of the shop where the piano sheet music was displayed in crates, Yoongi scanning a thin booklet in his delicate hands, his spotted tail curling around his leg placidly.

Curiously, and not without the feeling that she had no idea what she was looking at, Y/N pawed through a crate of piano music from movies, trying her best to give Yoongi enough space to move around in the tight corner. She fumbled with a book filled with the score from Grease, suddenly aware of the gold-green eyes burning a hole into her cheek while she was trying to decipher the foreign symbols evidently depicting musical notes. Glancing at Yoongi out of the corner of her eye, she sighed, putting the book down upon seeing his wry grin.

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Y/N groaned, too shy to venture up to the counter and ask the middle-aged man with a graying ponytail and scally cap about lessons. “I can’t even read sheet music– the guy giving me my lessons would probably laugh me out of the practice room. The window of learning this type of thing has probably closed for me anyways.”

Yoongi scoffed, leaning his hip against the crate he was previously leafing through, a stack of booklets tucked under his arm. With narrowed eyes, he scanned the pout shadowing Y/N face.

“That’s all bullshit, anyone can learn to play an instrument at any age,” Yoongi started, tucking a long strand of hair behind his ear, “You know, I could just teach you piano. We can do weekly lessons, and start small. Why bother paying someone here when you have a piano and a teacher already at home?”

Mouth opening and closing, Y/N squeaked out something like what, realization crashing down on her embarrassingly. She hadn’t even thought to ask Yoongi, and he brought up an excellent point– for what reason should she drive down to the music shop weekly for lessons when she could play the old piano at home that sparked the interest in the first place. Expectantly, Yoongi searched her face, waiting for a coherent answer to his proposition.

“You’d do that? I mean, that would be great– I’d really love that,” Y/N managed, Yoongi nodding purposefully. Showing her a booklet from the stack under his arm, Y/N read the title: Piano Classics for Beginners. Heat blooming in her cheeks, she realized Yoongi must have hatched this plan on the ride into town.

“We can start with this. I think Fridays would be good for lessons, that way you’ll have all week to familiarize yourself with the piano until our first one,” he tapped the cover of the book as he spoke, thinly veiled excitement showing on his expression. Glowing, Y/N agreed fervently, absolutely enthralled to have both lessons and an opportunity to bond with Yoongi on her horizon.

Yoongi went back to sorting through the piano books, eyeing each title carefully. Still riding the high of his offer, Y/N left the leopard hybrid in search of Seokjin or Hoseok. The two were arguing by the counter, Hoseok audibly more loud than the jaguar hybrid, one of the women working behind the counter awkwardly fiddling with a roll of quarters as she witnessed the dispute. Frowning, Y/N approached, trying not to panic that Hoseok was leaning his back against a wobbly and expensive looking French horn on a stand.

“How could you just watch him stroll right by and out the door? You were right there next to the bulletin board, Hoseok,” Seokjin pointed to the front of the shop, eyes bulging out of his skull as his tail flicked back and forth in an urgent manner. Hoseok groaned, arms crossed over his chest as he noticed Y/N standing in front of them.

“What happened? Hoseok, please, you’re going to knock that over,” Y/N pulled him closer to her by his upper arm, away from the French horn the woman behind the counter was anxiously staring at.

“Jeongguk left, like five minutes ago. Hoseok just told me,” Seokjin pushed a worried hand through his blue-black waves, eyebrows pulled together in distress as if he was about to be scolded. Not ideal, Y/N thought.

“It’s okay, he has a phone now, remember? He probably went out for a smoke or to check out another store. I’ll give him a call if he doesn’t turn up in the next fifteen minutes,” Y/N tried her best to soothe Seokjin, although she was worried herself that Jeongguk was already hitchhiking halfway to Vermont.

“That’s what I tried to explain to him, but he managed to blame me for Jeongguk’s departure,” Hoseok groaned, clearly exasperated by the whole conversation. Seokjin shot him a thanks a lot look.

Scanning the shop, Y/N realized that Jeongguk wasn’t the only one missing. Jimin, too, had vanished, and Namjoon looked ready to leave by the door with a plastic bag full of tapes as well. Taehyung and Yoongi were in line around the opposite side of the counter ready to make their own purchases. Chewing her lip, she turned back to Hoseok, knowing he had likely seen Jimin leave as well.

“Did you happen to see Jimin leave?” Y/N asked, catching Hoseok’s attention mid-glare directed at Seokjin.

“Yeah, he went to go look for the elk,” Hoseok rolled his eyes, finally maintaining distance from the French horn as Y/N yanked him away from it once more. Breathing a small sigh of relief that she already had someone out there searching for Jeongguk, Y/N waited patiently for Taehyung and Yoongi to check out and make their way to Namjoon by the door.

“Find anything good?” Y/N asked both Taehyung and Namjoon as they exited the shop, trying to ignore the bickering behind her coming from Seokjin and Hoseok, even Yoongi joining in on the pettiness.

Taehyung clutched his flat paper bag filled with his goods close to his chest, a warm smile across his lips, slightly pulling one of the vinyls out to show her a Mad Season record. Y/N recalled she never asked him what he was going to say about that band. Namjoon, swinging the bag in his fist as they walked out into the bricked courtyard, looked down at Y/N in a detached way.

“They had folk tapes, mostly. I saved the least… grating ones from the bin,” Namjoon replied slowly, eyes going from her face to Taehyung’s, an ounce of suspicion in his voice.

Nodding, Y/N could palpably feel ice forming between the wolf and Kodiak hybrids as they stared at one another, wondering what possibly could have happened in the short span of time spent together to warrant the hostility in their eyes. Considering the amount of the hybrids that already disliked one another; Hoseok and Namjoon, Jeongguk and everyone else, and now Namjoon and Taehyung, Y/N felt that she might have bitten off more than she could chew. She held no regrets, of course, but she definitely had the feeling that she’d need some help from her friends to get the hybrids to loosen up a bit at the cookout on Friday to prevent a bloodbath.

Shivering at a particularly brisk breeze rolling by, Y/N searched the courtyard for any sightings of Jimin or Jeongguk, spotting Jimin’s honeyed head of hair peering into the window of the bookstore. Ditching the two hybrids in their icy stare-off, she hurried over to the coyote hybrid, his hands tucked into his jeans pockets as he strolled further away from her to the next storefront.

“Jimin!” Y/N called after him, his ears immediately perking up as he swiveled around to look at her. His expression changed from happy surprise to guilt almost instantly, halting his movements as she made her way to his side. “Any luck finding Jeongguk?”

“No, I’m sorry, Miss Y/N,” Jimin wrung his hands together, eyebrows pinching together in likely annoyance towards the elk hybrid. Patting his forearm gently, Y/N sighed.

“It’s alright, Jimin, I appreciate you coming out here to look for him, though,” Y/N fumbled for her phone in her tote bag, ready to find Jeongguk’s number and call him. In the car earlier, she had each of them send her a text so she’d have all their contacts as well. Hoseok sent her a fox emoji, Seokjin and Jimin a simple “hello”, but all Jeongguk had sent was a period.

“Y/N, I think he’s in there,” Hoseok shouted from across the courtyard, pointing dramatically at the storefront towards the exit. Squinting, Y/N barked out a laugh in disbelief, because of course Jeongguk had wandered into the metaphysical shop that happened to be her future employer.

“Thanks, Hoseok!” Y/N panted, jogging over with Jimin to where most of the hybrids had clumped around by the metaphysical shop. “You guys can go into whatever store you like now– I have to stop in here anyways, and it’ll probably be for about a half hour. We can meet up after by the fountain over there, and get some ice cream before heading back. Okay?”

Hoseok took one look at the sign for the metaphysical shop, frowned, before giving her a thumbs-up and dragging Seokjin towards the chocolate shop two doors down. Taehyung, still glaring at Namjoon, followed Yoongi and Jimin to the bookstore, while the wolf hybrid remained by Y/N’s side. Watching the others go made a smile grow across her face, the tension dissolving from the air as Y/N could see closer bonds already being formed– Hoseok’s arm slung around Seokjin’s shoulders, Jimin laughing at something Yoongi had uttered in his ear.

“You coming in with me?” Y/N nodded towards the tinted glass door of Judy’s metaphysical shop upon noticing Namjoon not budging from her side.

“I’d prefer to keep an eye on that elk hybrid. Him slipping away again might cause another fiasco,” Namjoon replied calmly, Y/N raising her eyebrows. She wouldn’t have categorized the last fifteen minutes as a fiasco, actually congratulating herself for remaining calm, however perhaps he could sense the underlying dread that had been flooding through her. Shrugging, she mumbled a “thank you” bashfully as he opened the door for her, the jingling of the witch bells fastened to the door announcing their arrival.

It was dark in the small shop, and absolutely reeking of myrrh incense. Enya played on a CD player by the door, dim fabric colored lamplight allowing some visibility for the crowded shelves of candles, books, statues, and other oddities. In the corner of the shop, by the table of amulets, was Jeongguk, turning over a silver object between his thumb and forefinger. Not even bothering to inform him that they had formed a search party after his unannounced departure from the music store, Y/N found her way to the case in the back of the shop, which served as the checkout counter and a jewelry display. No one was behind the case– Judy must have been in the back room where tarot readings were held. Namjoon shuffled his feet behind her, running his fingers over a beautiful chunk of amethyst on the crystal table.

Leaning on the case, Y/N admired bejeweled athames within it laying on beds of velvet. The shop was filled with so much inventory, and judging by the humongous book by the ancient register, it seemed everything was cataloged by hand. Y/N would certainly have her work cut out for her learning all of the wares, not to mention trying to recall what everything was used for or even called.

“Oh, the wolf. How nice,” Jeongguk suddenly commented, noisily setting red candles, a stack of incense, and the silver amulet he had been holding when they came in on the checkout case. The amulet was some kind of saint medallion, but because Y/N was unfamiliar with Christianity, she had no idea who it was. Namjoon said nothing, heading over to the bookcase and pulling out leather-bound grimoires at random.

“Hmm. These are pretty,” Y/N remained civil, examining one of the beautiful hand-dipped candles Jeongguk picked out. He grunted in response, impatiently tapping on the glass of the case and staring at the beaded curtain to the tarot reading room.

Sighing, Y/N set her gaze on Namjoon while he was turned away, the muscles of his back flexing and relaxing as he hefted a large book off the shelf to leaf through. As if sensing that she was staring, Namjoon’s face tilted to the side, the length of his eyelashes catching lamplight as he locked eyes with her. Reddening, Y/N broke eye contact, not being able to shake the feeling that there was a certain familiarity in the color of his eyes. She could hear Namjoon approaching the case once more, Jeongguk groaning as he pulled a tattooed hand through his hair in exasperation.

The clattering sound of wooden beads knocking together made for a good excuse to ignore the fact that Namjoon had returned to his spot behind her, once again crowding her against the glass case like he had at the library cafe. Judy, the shop owner and close friend of her mother, abruptly barrelled into the room from the back, carrying a large, old wooden chest she heaved onto the workbench behind the case the three of them were standing in front of. Pushing her rectangular spectacles up her nose distractedly, Judy’s crystal bracelets made clanging noises as she held up a single sun-weathered finger up to the three patrons waiting for her attention.

Jeongguk shifted next to Y/N, looking aggravated as the woman began to leaf through the contents of the wooden chest. From behind her, Namjoon slid a well-worn copy of some sort of supernatural encyclopedia onto the case, his fingers accidentally brushing her forearm leaning onto the glass before yanking his hand away like he was burned. Gritting her teeth, wishing that either Hoseok or Taehyung were there to bring her a sense of ease, Y/N coiled her arms around her midsection as she tried to get space sandwiched between the elk and wolf hybrids.

“Y/N, wonderful to see you after so long. Gentlemen,” Judy began after several moments of muttering to herself looking through the wooden chest, finally facing and greeting them standing before her. “Sorry for the wait. My assistant– er, son– recently went off to college, so it’s been difficult for me to keep track of my papers and whatnot…”

Judy rang up Jeongguk’s items as she spoke, punching numbers into the old cash register noisily and pulling out tissue paper to wrap the candles. Glancing at her watch, Y/N made sure they still had time to meet the others without having to scramble.

“My mother came to see you, am I right?” Y/N smiled at Judy, who was carefully tucking Namjoon’s book into a paper bag. Nodding with a chuckle, Judy pushed a curly strand of sandy hair from her face.

“Oh, yes. Making promises without you being here– can you start next week?” Judy pulled out a packet of paper she had retrieved from the chest earlier, handing it to Y/N promptly. Snorting, Y/N flipped through the packet of inventory she was to learn, nodding sagely. Hopefully, by next week, the hybrids would be fairly settled in enough for her to leave them for a few hours.

“How many days a week would you need me?” Y/N absently handed her credit card over to pay for Jeongguk and Namjoon’s items, forgetting that they had their own. Jeongguk made a noise of surprise, stuffing his card back into the pocket of his black jeans.

“Only three; Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. Business has been slow ever since the colleges are back in session, and my son can come back on the weekends to help out. Sounds good?” Judy returned Y/N’s credit card to her, sliding the bag of items across the case towards Jeongguk, who she eyed in a thoughtful way.

“That works for me,” Y/N agreed, although partly concerned that a three day work week wouldn’t garner much for a paycheck.

“Here, honey. I think this will help you. Wrapped it up for you this morning,” Judy added suddenly, reaching behind her desk in the corner for an item. Accepting it, Y/N turned the smoke cleansing stick of cedar and rosemary over in her hands, positively amazed. She had forgotten Judy was a psychic medium, likely picking up on her need to cleanse and protect her home, and chose the perfect botanicals to assist her in that endeavor unprompted.

“Thank you, Judy,” Y/N said sincerely, carefully tucking the herb bundle into the bag Jeongguk had in his hand. Judy waved her off, thanking her for picking up the hours at the shop, before a young woman came through the shop door for a scheduled psychic reading. Taking it as their cue to leave, Y/N corralled Jeongguk out the door, Namjoon following close behind her.

Taking a lungful of incense-free air outside, Y/N felt hopeful about her new job. While it was likely an in-between before her next career move, it was refreshing to work someplace so vastly different. Jeongguk asked where they were meeting the others, walking very quickly to the fountain that Y/N had pointed to and away from her and Namjoon in a seemingly disturbed manner. Craning her neck up and back to look at Namjoon, she caught his narrowed eyes following Jeongguk’s form, jaw set dangerously. Clearing her throat, she managed to snag his attention, a degree of hostility slipping from his expression as their eyes met.

“You’re going to work there?” Namjoon asked questions in the form of fact confirmation, Y/N noticed.

“Mm-hmm. Just until I figure out what to do next,” Y/N replied, Namjoon’s half-torn ear fluttering lightly as she spoke. She wondered what had happened to it, with a feeling of melancholy flooding through her. “Gotta pay the bills in the meantime.”

“Things would be better, if the rest of us could actually get jobs,” Namjoon bit, Y/N feeling a tad awkward in his reference to the law forbidding hybrid employment. Not that it stopped certain businesses from exploiting hybrid labor illegally, which is what happened to Yoongi and likely some of the others.

“I won’t deny the truth in that, Namjoon,” Y/N muttered lamely, not really knowing what else to add. It’s not like change in the medieval laws about hybrids would happen overnight, as much as she wished it would. All she could do was take the best possible care of her hybrids, and hope that as time passed things would change for the better.

Namjoon was quiet after that, walking slowly by her side as they made their way to the fountain at the center of the courtyard. Everyone was waiting for them already, each with a bag or two of things that they had bought from various stores, Yoongi lazily lying on his side on the ledge of the fountain and enjoying the afternoon sun.

“Y/N!” Hoseok sang, startling her as he skipped from around the fountain once her and Namjoon approached the meeting spot. Aggressively, Hoseok grabbed her wrist, yanking her away from Namjoon without sparing him a glance and pulling her to the opposite side of the fountain. Heart slamming up into her throat at Hoseok’s firm grip, she barely registered him straightening her out by her shoulders as he pushed her in front of Seokjin.

“Look, Jin got these for the cookout you’re having,” Hoseok nudged Seokjin, who was holding a startlingly large bucket of toffee from the chocolate shop. Seokjin looked embarrassed, his cheeks pink and rounded as he sheepishly held out the bucket for Y/N to see. Immediately, she turned to mush at the thought of Seokjin picking out something to contribute at the cookout, and he was clearly proud of his choice, particularly when he gauged the joyful reaction on her face.

“Wow Seokjin, everyone will love those, they look delicious! That was so kind of you, honey,” Y/N gushed, the red in Seokjin’s cheeks deepening as he lifted the lid off of the toffee so she could take a look. The slabs of toffee wafted a buttery scent, making her mouth water. Seokjin plucked a small shard of the toffee out of the bucket, suddenly grinning slyly.

“Here, try some,” Seokjin lifted the piece of toffee to poise inches from her lips, stunning Y/N as her mouth dropped open involuntarily in shock. Absently hearing Hoseok chuckle, Y/N stood stunned as Seokjin pushed the toffee between her lips, the confection immediately beginning to melt in her mouth as he pulled his hand away.

“Good?” Seokjin mused, tilting his head playfully. Positively burning up, Y/N carefully chewed the toffee as Seokjin smirked at her, closing up the tub. Tearing her gaze from him, her eyes regretfully landed on Hoseok, who sent her a cheeky wink.

“Delicious,” Y/N murmured, feeling scandalized in front of the two hybrids clearly enjoying her flustered reaction. Did she really just let Seokjin feed her?

“Shall we get ice cream now, darling?” Hoseok shoved his hands in his pockets, still grinning at her smugly. Rolling her shoulders back, she agreed, casting a look over her shoulder as she felt someone approach from behind. To her relief, it was Taehyung, shooting a wary look at the peanut gallery in front of Y/N.

Hurrying to Taehyung’s side with her cheeks still aflame, Y/N did her best to round everyone else up and usher them into the old-fashioned ice cream parlor to wrap up their afternoon outing. The parlor was filled with the scents of rich fudge and waffle cones, and the space was quite limiting with the eight of them jammed against the glass display case of gallons of ice cream.

Y/N was pushed by Namjoon’s frame behind her into Jimin’s side by the register, patiently relaying each ice cream order as Jimin calmly repeated them to her in her ear. The teenaged boy taking the orders seemed to be overwhelmed by the amount of hybrids in the parlor at one given time, staring at Jeongguk’s antlers with shock as the elk hybrid elbowed his way towards Y/N to request some mint chocolate chip ice cream, which made Namjoon make a sound akin to gagging from behind her.

Since there was hardly any room for everyone to sit inside the shop to enjoy their ice cream, Y/N opted to bring everyone back to the fountain to eat. She sat in between Yoongi and Taehyung, managing to keep her distance from Seokjin and Hoseok for the moment. They appeared to still be yucking it up at her expense, sitting together on the grass a little ways from her feet. Jeongguk took his ice cream to the opposite side of the fountain, playing some kind video on his phone in a foreign language; one that sounded pretty close to Latin.

Namjoon had found a spot to enjoy his coffee ice cream on a bench not too far from the fountain, Y/N able to keep an eye on him. She regretfully realized she did nothing but fill him up on sugar and coffee since he had come into her care, as she shoveled a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, watching the wolf hybrid admire the yellowing leaves of the tree he was under.

“Hmm. I forgot to ask… Do you have a record player back at your house?” Taehyung spoke lowly, his voice hard to hear over the babbling of the fountain behind them. He had long finished the small cup of strawberry soft-serve he held balanced between his knees, his records placed neatly by his feet.

“Yeah, there’s a set-up somewhere in the room with the piano. It’s likely in one of those big cabinets, my uncle was a vinyl collector when he grew up there in the 70’s. His collection of records is in the garage, too, if you wanna pick through that when you get bored,” Y/N recalled, licking some cream from her lips in thought. She prayed that the record player still worked, although a new system would make an excellent Christmas present for Taehyung.

Taehyung leaned back on his palms, gazing at her through the thick of eyelashes. His hair was dry by now, curly and wild with the wind that mussed the strands, hiding his rounded ears in the volume of it. Y/N noticed that Jimin, who was sitting beside Taehyung, had very obviously placed his shopping bag of books between them to get some space. She could tell he was listening to their conversation, with the way Jimin’s ears were angled forward and alert, twitching to the sound of Taehyung’s deep tone.

“How was the ice cream, Taehyung?” Y/N crumpled up her napkin into her own empty cup, sighing contentedly.

“Very good,” Taehyung murmured, suddenly dropping the eye contact he’d been maintaining. Like all of the hybrids, Y/N swore that they held some sort of spellbinding power in their gazes. “Thank you,” he added, absently clicking his heels together while staring at his sneakers.

“Don’t mention it,” Y/N waved her hand, feeling embarrassed.

“Ah, maybe I should have gotten the matcha ice cream…” Yoongi suddenly lamented beside her, elbows leaning on his knees. Frowning, Y/N turned to him, forgetting he was so close as her thigh pressed into his. Immediately, Yoongi stiffened, peering at her intensely through the corner of his eye.

“Oh no, was the lemon sorbet gross?” Y/N felt her lip jutting out in a pout, disappointed Yoongi was unsatisfied with his half-melted treat. Yoongi cleared his throat awkwardly as he tore his eyes from her face, choosing to glare at Hoseok on the ground instead.

“No–”

“You should have gotten the matcha. It’s amazing,” Hoseok insisted, a smugness worming its way into his tone as he both cut Yoongi off and took a loud bite of the waffle cone he was eating. “Want some?”

Hoseok extended his mostly-devoured cone towards Yoongi, who screwed up his face in disgust. Snorting softly, Y/N shook her head at Hoseok, his cheekiness seeming to get under everyone’s skin– Y/N found it endearing.

“Get that out of my face, Foxy,” Yoongi complained, leaning closer to Y/N and firmly pressing his thigh into hers as he extended his leg to push Hoseok over with his foot. It was Y/N’s turn to go stiff, the warmth of Yoongi’s leg against the flimsiness of her tights overwhelming. She barely registered Hoseok tumbling over into Seokjin’s lap with an evil cackle, Seokjin nearly choking on a bite of his chocolate ice cream cone as he tried to fling Hoseok’s head off of his leg.

Feeling a chill wash over her despite the warmth coming from the contact with Yoongi, Y/N furrowed her eyebrows, rubbing her arms to rid herself of goosebumps. She had no idea why she was feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden, the sensation close to how she felt moments before the incident with the ghost the night before. Trying to nonchalantly take in the surroundings, praying that there wasn’t some sort of apparition following her around now, Y/N’s breath caught in her throat as she locked eyes with Namjoon from his spot on the bench.

Oh, so that’s where the chill was coming from, she realized, the expression on Namjoon’s face icy and closed off as he glared at her. His body language was coiled and tense, jaw clenched as his eyes narrowed fractionally once they caught hers. Hair stood up on the back of her neck as she was unable to look away from him, absolutely at a loss for why he seemed so pissed off at her. She hadn’t even spoken to him in at least twenty minutes; perhaps he was feeling left out? Y/N cocked her head at him, mouthing are you okay?

Namjoon simply sucked in his cheeks, getting up from his seat and tossing his ice cream cup in the trash by the bench. Concerned, Y/N watched him storm off in the direction of the car, torn between wanting to go after him and not wanting to rush the others who were still eating and enjoying their afternoon. After a few more moments of distractedly listening to Hoseok tease Yoongi, who had thankfully inched away from her, she got up with Jimin to gather up trash and dispose of it where Namjoon had minutes prior. Namjoon had left his bag of tapes on the bench accidentally, as Jimin pointed out keenly.

“How are you doing, Jimin? Find some new books?” Y/N tried to stop worrying about what she had done to tick Namjoon off, scooping up his bag of tapes carefully. Jimin held his book bag behind his back in his clasped hands, grinning down at her kindly.

“Sure did, Miss Y/N. I wanted to pick up some local interest literature, to get an idea of what this area is like,” Jimin explained as they headed to the car, quickly placing a gentle hand on her back to direct her away from a divot in the grass that would have caused her a rolled ankle. “Watch your step, there.”

“That’s right, you’re not from around here. How long have you been away from Montana?” Y/N wondered, breathing a sigh of relief that she could spot Namjoon leaning against the car from about twenty feet away. Jimin was quiet for a moment, a sort of sad look in his golden eyes while he processed her question.

“A little over a month, now,” Jimin responded wistfully, the corner of his mouth turning upwards as he met her eyes. Y/N recalled that there was a possibility Jimin had a family back in Montana, one that had no idea where he had ended up. The thought pierced through her heart painfully.

Jimin helped her load everyone's bags into the trunk, Y/N carefully avoiding Namjoon as she took Jeongguk’s bag from him gingerly, offering him a small smile. He was truly becoming an expert in abstaining from eye contact with her. Closing the trunk, she stretched her arms out as she waited for everyone to get into the car, Namjoon still leaning against the passenger door with a scowl. Steeling herself, she approached him.

“I grabbed your tapes, you left them on the bench,” Y/N started, Namjoon’s eyes narrowing at the sound of her voice. He looked her up and down, seemingly analyzing the way she was nervously rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. He didn’t respond to her, increasing her anxiety while he simply stood there imposingly.

“Is everything alright, Namjoon?” Y/N managed to squeak after a beat, the impulse to squirm under his scrutinizing extremely overpowering. His ears were turned back, straightening up to his full height to grasp the handle of the car door.

“Sure,” he replied flatly, yanking the door open and heaving himself in, slamming it in her face as she flinched backwards. Even more confused than she was before trying to speak with him, Y/N numbly got into the driver’s seat, feeling the tension between her and the wolf hybrid beside her so intensely it nearly took her breath away.

Shakily, Y/N turned the radio on as per Hoseok’s request from the back seat, somewhat relieved that the others didn’t seem to sense her discomfort from what she could tell. Before pulling away from the plaza, Y/N checked the rearview to make sure everybody was accounted for, locking eyes with Yoongi accidentally. He had a knowing look on his face, gaze flicking between her and the back of Namjoon’s head, tracing a finger over his lower lip. Grimacing, Y/N threw the car in reverse, promptly ignoring the wolf hybrid next to her for the short duration of the ride back to the house.

After pulling into the driveway back at home, to Y/N’s surprise, everyone divided off in different directions. Yoongi had gone up to the piano with Taehyung in search of the record player, Hoseok to the basement with Seokjin, and Jeongguk had disappeared in the backyard with a cigarette and one of his new candles. Both Jimin and Namjoon had retreated to their respective bedrooms, leaving Y/N by herself standing awkwardly in the foyer.

Kicking off her shoes, Y/N figured she could take a shower and cozy up in bed with a movie before one of them sought her out again. She tiptoed past Namjoon’s room on her way to her’s, hoping that she wouldn’t provoke him into further annoyance considering their rooms were so close together. Even with his door shut tight, Y/N felt like he could see through the wood as she went by. Shivering, she recalled the small, sweet smile he offered her just hours ago, trying to wrack her brain to come up with an explanation of his soured mood.

Perhaps she should have articulated her thoughts better during their conversation surrounding the hybrids getting jobs, but there was not much she could do about that now that so much time had passed. Entering her room, she rubbed her eyes, feeling the chill from the drafty bathroom window enticing her to curl up in bed with sweats. To her shock, either Jeongguk or Namjoon had left the herb bundle from Judy on her nightstand, although she caught neither of them sneaking into her room when they arrived home. She was a bit distracted, however, telling Taehyung exactly where to look for the record player upstairs. Either way, her heart squeezed, fingers brushing over the herb bundle.

After a brief shower, Y/N hightailed it out of her bathroom to prevent another ghostly encounter, dressing in her softest sweatpants and crawling into bed with her laptop. Supposing that now was as good a time as any to figure out how to cleanse the house, Y/N put a Halloween movie on while she scribbled out her general plan for the ritual. Between the campy noise of the film she had on and the tinkering sound of the piano from upstairs, Y/N began to feel ease slip into her body. The fact that the house was so full of life now was hard for Y/N to believe, even if it came with some difficulties so far, it felt so right.

Just as she had finished the steps for her ritual, which she had planned to do the following morning at dawn, her phone pinged. Thinking it was one of the hybrids, Y/N fumbled for her phone tangled somewhere in her quilt, pushing wet hair out of her face. Humming in excitement upon realizing the message was from Alice, Y/N shut her movie off, scooching down further in bed.

Alice Santos: facetime now okay?

Without responding, Y/N clicked the icon to call her, both excited to catch up with one of her closest friends and nervous to announce her adoptions of all the hybrids. She had a feeling Alice would be a bit more dramatic than Ben had been. The phone rang twice before Alice’s face appeared on the screen, squealing upon seeing Y/N.

“Hold on, hold on. Before you say anything, I’m adding Laura to the call,” Alice’s raspy voice filled Y/N with warmth, her nails clacking against the screen as she searched for her twin sister’s contact. Y/N could hear Alice’s cat, Heathcliff, mewing loudly at her from his spot on the couch beside her.

Seconds later, Laura, lovely as ever, popped onto the screen as well, sitting in a rocking chair with her son Kai on her lap. Both Y/N and Alice cooed at the boy, just shy of two years old, his chubby little cheeks smeared with a bit of applesauce Laura was trying to feed him.

“I miss you guys so much!” Y/N whined, recalling the last time she saw both of them– a little over a month ago at Alice’s poetry book release party.

Alice worked as an editor for a local paper, which often took up most of her time, up until she published her book. Now, she was busier than ever doing pop-up readings and working on her newest book, on top of the work from the paper. Y/N was extremely proud of Alice’s accomplishments; her dreams of becoming a successful writer as a kid started to come true right before her eyes.

Similarly, Laura had her hands full with not only her two year old son, but the vlog channel she created after Kai’s birth to document motherhood with her husband Tyler as the faithful cameraman. The channel took off, thanks to Laura’s infectious sunshine personality and creativity, her videos featuring recipes, craft tutorials, and Q&A’s.

“I miss you more, Y/N, how did the job exit go? Are you free finally?” Alice produced a bowl of ice cream from behind the phone camera, curling into a ball on her tiny couch to tuck into it. Alice, the more forward of the two twins, never liked how much Y/N’s job at the vet clinic had drained her.

“My last day was Friday,” Y/N confirmed, pouting slightly. She had to admit, she felt guilty that she didn’t even miss working at the clinic yet, quickly chalking it up to how busy she had been with the hybrids over the weekend.

“Thank the Lord for that,” Laura chimed in, bouncing a babbling Kai on her knee while adjusting his tight brown curls. “That place was sucking the life out of you, honey.”

“Hey, you’re doing the cookout this Friday, right? Ben texted me… what should I bring? I was going to make a sangria or something,” Alice pondered, giving Heathcliff a scratch under his chin.

Discussing the details of the cookout for a few moments, she and the twins decided on what they’d bring, the conversation turning towards Ben and Roy’s adoption of Daisy pretty quickly. Y/N brought up her idea for introducing Kai to Daisy, which Laura was already onboard for.

“I’ve been meaning to introduce Kai to hybrids for some time now. Children really seem to love them, and there’s so many hybrids in Boston these days,” Laura explained, tugging on the end of one of her collarbone-length twisted braids. Y/N sucked in her cheeks, nodding. Would now be the time to tell them about her hybrids?

“Y/N, by the way, when Ben texted me… he said you had news,” Alice raised a manicured eyebrow, setting her bowl down with a mischievous smile. Heart plummeting to her ass, Y/N cursed in betrayal.

“Ugh! He can never keep his mouth shut, I swear!” Y/N groaned, shoving her face into a pillow in dismay. Her heart began to race, knowing that if the twins began to shout at her through the phone, the hybrids would hear every word. Her headphones were missing from her nightstand, so unfortunately there was nothing she could do if that possibility came to fruition.

“So, what is it? Are you dating again?” Laura urged gently, getting up to put a sleepy Kai in his crib.

“God, no. I, uh…” Y/N began, sweating profusely, “I adopted hybrids. Friday.”

Silence rang out on the other ends of the lines, Y/N biting her lip hard enough to draw some blood. And then, deafening chaos.

“You WHAT?” Alice roared, spooking Heathcliff off of the couch and out of view. Cringing, Y/N watched Laura scramble out of Kai’s room to bolt into her own, shutting the door so she could join in on the yelling.

“I thought hybrids weirded you out?! Y/N, what happened? Are you going through a quarter-life crisis?” Laura enunciated in an intense tone, looking like a stern school teacher.

“Guys, please! They can probably hear you,” Y/N begged desperately, pulling her quilt over her head in an attempt to muffle the sounds coming from her phone.

“How many? Y/N, I can’t even begin to articulate how insane this is for you. I mean seriously, are they kids? Do you have men living in your house right now?” Alice began to panic, running a hand through her bouncy curls in distress. Cringing, Y/N turned the volume on her phone down to the lowest possible setting, trying to ignore her bloody lip in the reflection of the camera.

“Y/N. How many? You know what, fuck it. I’m coming over and canceling my reading tonight,” Alice continued after Y/N’s tense silence, the window showing her frantically getting off her couch to yank her car keys from the hook by her apartment door.

“Alice, no–” Y/N yelped, bolting upright in bed as Laura joined in on the chaos.

“Alice, relax! You can’t cancel that reading, your publisher’s going to be there,” Laura reminded her twin, her pretty face pinched in concern as she continued to tug on her braids anxiously. With a groan, Alice dropped her keys on the phone, giving Y/N a scathing look. Taking a deep breath, Y/N decided to give all of the details to prevent any more rash ideas.

“There’s seven of them, and yeah, they’re men…” Y/N began in a shaky voice, trying to ignore Laura’s gasps of horror. “They’re really sweet, all of them, and I think things are going very well so far.”

“Yeah, until one decides to enter your bedroom in the middle of the night!” Alice interjected, shaking her head constantly. Blanching, Y/N coughed, wondering how the hell she was going to face the hybrids later that evening, God forbid they heard the conversation.

“No, that’s not going to happen. I… trust them. Listen, they were all going to be sold to a hybrid hunter, and I just couldn’t bear the thoughts of what would happen to them after I saw them at the shelter. No one should have to live like that, running for their lives, an object of sport,” Y/N defended the hybrids, thinking about shutting herself into her closet to lessen the chances of Namjoon hearing her just a few feet down the hall.

“Well, that’s all very valiant of you, Y/N, but let’s be real, here. They’re still men that you just met, living in your home!” Alice spat in a more hushed tone, as all of their yelling had woken Kai up even through the phone.

“I hate to be a bummer, too, Y/N, but Alice is right. I’m really worried for you. Hybrids are very strong, and they still have animalistic instincts. You’re not used to being around hybrids, you’ve practically avoided them your entire life, apart from Keaon when we were little,” Laura added, trying her best to soothe Kai wailing from his crib.

“God, what’s with people bringing up Keaon lately, I swear…” Y/N huffed, so aggravated that she was thinking of asking Jeongguk for a cigarette after she hung up. “I’ll be fine! I was a vet, remember, that has to count for something. And my parents already met them. There's the cookout on Friday, too, so you guys can meet them and make an assessment then.”

“Oh, so you want us to wait four more days for the cookout to feel out whether they’re creeps or not?” Alice deadpanned, Y/N yanking her hair at her roots.

“C-creeps,” Y/N squeaked, tearing a bigger hole into her bloodied lip.

“They might be! For all you know,” Alice replied, though her tone began to soften when realizing how upset Y/N was becoming. “Just please be careful, Y/N. You’re known to be too trusting.”

“Yeah, honey. We just want you to be safe,” Laura grit out, hefting Kai out of his crib and trying to juggle the phone while she pat his back. Y/N sighed raggedly, grateful for her caring friends, but quite sad that she seemed to be one of the only people so far to actually believe that the hybrids were non-threatening.

“I’m safe, I promise,” Y/N murmured, gathering up her quilt to combat the chill she felt washing over her. The drafty window in her bathroom had to be tackled this week. Alice audibly cringed at Kai’s sobs, increasing in volume steadily.

“I gotta go, my loves. I think he needs to be changed. Be safe, Y/N, and good luck tonight, Al,” Laura shifted Kai to sit on her hip, his tear-stained cheeks wobbling as he cried.

“Shit. I should start prepping for my reading, too,” Alice began ruffling some papers off-screen, though Y/N could tell she was still unconvinced by the whole hybrid thing.

“Call you guys on Thursday?” Y/N asked in a small voice, guilty that she had upset her friends.

“Of course. We need regular status updates or I will come over there,” Alice threatened, the edge in her tone gone, however. She offered Y/N a half-smile, the three women exchanging “I love you”s before hanging up.

Groaning as her phone hit the pillow beside her, Y/N ran a palm over her face tiredly. She strained her ears for a moment, trying to locate where the hybrids were in the house, but she was met with complete silence. Frowning, she decided there was no way she was going out there so soon after the messy phone call, pulling her laptop onto her chest and fumbling blindly for the thick envelope of adoption certificates she had received at the shelter that morning resting on the nightstand.

The papers were weighty, a gold seal stamped over each one and the thick script of both her name and the hybrid’s name printed in stark black ink. Squinting, she searched for the ID number on the certificate she was holding– Yoongi’s, spotting it with an ah-ha at the bottom left corner of the paper. Excitement surrounding learning some new things about the hybrids, taking over the discomfort she was feeling over the phone call with her friends, Y/N brought up the hybrid database on her laptop, plugging the 9-digit ID for Yoongi into the appropriate search bar. The screen took a few moments to load, before a spreadsheet flashed onto the page.

The first thing she noticed was an outdated picture of Yoongi, from probably about three years ago. His cheeks were filled out, and he looked a lot healthier, it dawning on Y/N that he now had dark circles under his green-brown eyes. Pouting at the picture, she recognized the second as him in his leopard form, the background most definitely of the shelter she had adopted him at. The rest of the spreadsheet had information.

Yoongi, Min; panthera pardus. DOB 03/09/93. Place of Origin: unknown. Was illegally claimed without formal adoption by Boston, MA “The Black Lodge” bar and nightclub owner **** ******, along with hybrid’s mother of same species. Performed illegal hybrid labor since childhood at the place of business. Mother now deceased. Was turned into Gerry’s Hybrids by nightclub owner’s son upon his father’s death. THREAT LEVEL: 6/10 - HYBRID PHYSICALLY RESISTED APPREHENSION ONCE REPORTED, TWO AGENTS INJURED.

Hand over her mouth as she read, Y/N couldn’t help but feel like her heart was breaking. Even with the small amount of information on Yoongi, it was deeply personal; she didn’t even know Yoongi had a mother, as the majority of hybrids were lab created. Anger rose up in her when she thought of Yoongi being kicked out of a place he had known all his life, saving the form to her computer and reluctantly moving to the next certificate at random.

Jimin, Park; canis latrans. DOB 10/13/95. Place of Origin: Yellowstone National Park Hybrid Lab. Worked as ranch hand in the Yellowstone National Park from birth, up until 07/22 of the current calendar year. Abandoned position, and illegally crossed-country by bus, was found wandering streets of Boston, MA in a frantic manner. THREAT LEVEL: 6/10 - HYBRID HAS BEEN TRAINED IN SEVERAL FORMS OF SELF DEFENSE AND IS EXPERT IN SELF PRESERVATION, AS PER HIS PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT TRAINING. EXHIBITS ANXIETY IN CLOSED SPACES.

Eyebrows pulling together, Y/N examined the lovely picture of Jimin on the form, his smile just as blinding through the screen. He had on the hat that she had returned to him upon taking the hybrid’s previous belongings back from Gerry. Jimin, nor Yoongi, for that matter, seemed to strike her as a 6/10 “threat level”. Shaking her head, she figured that whoever wrote the spreadsheets were likely biased against hybrids in general, how ironic. Eagerly, she moved on – Hoseok’s sweet face filling her screen with an extremely old picture of him, perhaps during his adolescence.

Hoseok, Jung; vulpes vulpes. DOB 02/18/94. Place of Origin: Paris Hybrid Lab. Raised in labs internationally since birth. Transferred 24 times. Remained unadopted throughout, despite several possible adoptions that ultimately fell through. Has aged out of lab adoption centers by the time he had reached Boston, MA. Upon unsuccessfully meeting requirements for shelters in MA due to temperament, hybrid was brought to Gerry’s Hybrids. THREAT LEVEL: 5/10 - HYBRID KNOWN FOR DECEIT, CUNNINGNESS AND ATTEMPTED ESCAPE OF SEVERAL SHELTERS. HYBRID EXCELS IN ATHLETICS AND CAN SUCCESSFULLY OUTRUN PURSUERS. FLIGHT RISK.

Eyes bugging out at the “24 times” Hoseok had been moved around the world, from shelter to shelter, Y/N muttered a colorful cuss. It was no wonder Hoseok had been so weird when Jimin asked where he was from, Hoseok was seemingly from both everywhere and nowhere.

Next, Y/N plugged in Taehyung’s ID number, thrumming her fingers against her laptop while the page loaded. Taehyung’s picture was extremely blurry, almost akin to a mugshot. Taehyung’s eyes looked vacant in the photo, Y/N shivering, then gasping when she saw how little information the form had.

Taehyung, Kim; ursus arctos middendorffi. DOB 12/30/95. Place of Origin: unknown. Report called in anonymously that an unadopted hybrid had been hiding at a 24-HR cafe for several weeks in Boston, MA before the hybrid was dropped off at Gerry’s Hybrids. THREAT LEVEL: 8/10 - HYBRID EXTREMELY UNWILLING TO BE APPREHENDED, COMBATIVE. DUE TO SIZE OF THE HYBRID WHEN SHIFTED, HYBRID IS TO BE REGARDED WITH CAUTION. MULTIPLE INJURIES TO AGENTS UPON APPREHENSION.

Frowning, Y/N was disappointed she couldn’t glean more information about the already elusive and enigmatic Taehyung. He had told her he was from Alaska, which was missing from the form. Other than that, all Y/N gained from his form was his whereabouts just before his adoption. Again, she wrote off his ‘threat level’ as an over exaggeration; Taehyung was so gentle.

Grasping Jeongguk’s certificate while twisting her mouth, Y/N waited to see his smug face show up on her laptop screen. Like Taehyung’s, Jeongguk’s picture looked like a mugshot, his serious expression making her snort a little into her palm. Part of her wished it was an older picture– she loved seeing Hoseok’s from youth.

Jeongguk, Jeon; cervus canadensis. DOB 09/01/97. Place of Origin: Los Angeles Hybrid Suppliers. Raised with others of his species in the supplier lab, hybrid was noted as uncharacteristically aggressive compared to kin. Hybrid is known to have escaped from Los Angeles Hybrid Suppliers at age of 20 and has been at large since. Was caught by hybrid patrol in abandoned Steinert Hall (Boston, MA) with several thousand dollars worth of recording equipment and other oddities. Hybrid was promptly brought to Gerry’s Hybrids due to extremely volatile behavior during apprehension. THREAT LEVEL: 9/10 - HYBRID CONSIDERED HIGHLY DANGEROUS. WAS ARMED WITH WEAPONS AT THE TIME OF APPREHENSION, SKILLED AT FIGHTING, ERUPTIVE PERSONALITY. FLIGHT RISK.

Y/N was rigid in her spot on her bed, not quite expecting so many brand new details into who Jeongguk was. Perhaps in her let-down of Taehyung’s report, she had expected Jeongguk’s to be similar. Biting her nails, she scanned his information again, wondering if everything she had read so far was overstated. While Jeongguk was certainly rude, he had yet to demonstrate dangerous behavior. Additionally, she had no idea what a supplier lab was.

Besides, what piqued her curiosity the most was not only his journey from Los Angeles to Boston, but how he was caught. Steinert Hall was an old piano concert hall in the heart of Boston that had been abandoned for years– he must have broken in– but why? Further, she wondered about the items he was caught with, recording equipment and “other oddities”. Was he filming a movie? The thought made her even more confused, and it was not like she could ask him yet. She had a feeling she’d be met with anger.

The room began to get a little darker, late afternoon creeping up on her as she hurried to get through the last two hybrids. Setting the others aside carefully, she picked up Namjoon’s certificate, sliding a finger over his ID number. To her shock, barely anything showed up for Namjoon, not even a picture.

Namjoon, Kim; canis lupus occidentalis. DOB 09/12/94. Place of Origin: unknown. Report called in that an unadopted hybrid was participating in a club illegally. Hybrid was apprehended in shifted form around the outskirts of Boston, MA, outside of a mobile home. Brought to Gerry’s Hybrids promptly due to shifted state and volitility. THREAT LEVEL: 10/10 - HIGHLY DANGEROUS. INJURED 6 AGENTS SERIOUSLY. BEHAVIOR IS EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE. SUSPECTED TO BE RAISED IN WILDERNESS DUE TO BEHAVIOR.

Swallowing hard, Y/N cast a look over towards her bedroom door, convinced that Namjoon could hear her thoughts as she read through his information. She had only interacted with Namjoon for only a few hours, and he didn’t seem as though he had been raised in the wilderness; Y/N just assumed he was slow to hand his trust over. Though– he injured six agents? This came as quite the surprise to Y/N, as she had naively thought that agents that brought in stray hybrids were trained to be cautious; however, she had come to a strong conclusion that the agents were likely people who provoke stray hybrids into aggression. Thinking once again about Yoongi, who was one of the most gentle of the hybrids so far, she couldn’t imagine him injuring somebody unwarranted.

Heaving a great sigh, she plugged in Seokjin’s number before tucking all of the certificates safely back inside the envelope on her nightstand. To her sudden delight, a very old picture of Seokjin was attached to the page, estimating him to be about twelve in the photo. His cheeks were cutely rounded, though his expression was quite stoic.

Seokjin, Kim; panthera onca. DOB: 12/04/92. Place of Origin: Milwaukee Hybrid Lab. Raised in a group of over 300 exotic hybrids to be sold to circuses and zoos. Hybrid was exemplary subject at lab, was sold to Cirque ******* at age of 22. Traveled and performed with the circus up until 08/13 of the current calendar year following incident at a show in Boston, MA resulting in hybrid injury. Hybrid was left at Gerry’s Hybrids, consequently. THREAT LEVEL: 6/10 - HYBRID DOES NOT HAVE A PAST OF AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR PRIOR TO INJURY. SUFFERS FROM EXTREME PTSD, ANXIETY AND PHOBIAS - IF TRIGGERED, HYBRID BECOMES ALARMED AND POSSIBLY DANGEROUS. FLIGHT RISK.

Y/N felt nauseous reading about Seokjin’s past, wanting to hurl her laptop clear across the room. Sweet Seokjin, the one who didn’t mind when she grabbed his wrist to pull him along, the one who polished off the bacon that morning, had suffered such an abrupt abandonment recently. To learn that was how hybrids were treated by a company that was entrusted with his care, with such little regard to what happens to them after they are no longer “of use”, made Y/N sick to her stomach. All she wanted was to dash into Seokjin’s room to gather him up in a hug, recalling how feverish and dismayed he was the day he had arrived in the house. He had recovered remarkably well, considering, but Y/N still felt he’d have a long way to go before he truly recovered from the experience.

Laying back in bed, desperately trying to process everything she’d read, her brain was a jumbled mess. Echoes of her friend’s valid concerns on whether or not she could handle the seven hybrids bounced around in her skull; and guilt crept into her body as she doubted whether or not she could. Of course, she would never consider bringing them back, abandoning them again, but she wanted them to live happy lives. Y/N wasn’t entirely sure if all of them would truly ever be comfortable around her, considering their past treatments. She worried that she wouldn’t be able to hide her anxiety from them that night, Yoongi’s conversation with her the previous night coming back to her once more. They’d be able to sniff out her nervous sweat from a mile away.

The more she thought about her conversation with Yoongi, minor details came back to her. Namely, before they were interrupted, Yoongi had begun to talk about something called scenting. She never got around to asking him about it earlier that day, as he had promptly dashed up to the piano after returning from the shopping center. Curiously, she reached for her laptop she had pushed off her legs in disgust, googling “hybrid scenting” and clicking on a wiki page at random.

Again, Y/N’s nausea returned. According to the article, hybrids, in order to properly bond with the humans that adopt them, must “scent” the human to feel secure. Hybrids are known to be possessive over the humans in their lives, particularly their adoptive human, and will initiate their scenting ritual once comfortable enough around the human. Scenting can happen often or rarely depending on hybrid type, predators are likely to scent more frequently, but it wasn’t an exact data collection. The actual ritual included a bite, one that drew blood from the human and in a location close to arteries (where scents are apparently “concentrated” to hybrids), before saliva from the hybrid soothes and “cauterizes” the wound. Feeling her stomach flip at the thought of any of the hybrids not only biting her, but then soothing the wound with a swipe of a tongue, was so overwhelming she had to shut her laptop and bolt out of bed.

Cursing Yoongi internally for not disclosing scenting first, Y/N fanned her face frantically while she paced about the room. Should she bring it up to them? The thought was humiliating, but the article stated the longer the hybrids wait to scent their adoptive human, the more uncomfortable it gets for them. Apart from Yoongi, none of them even mentioned it yet, which was concerning to her. She knew that the shame fell on her, for not knowing basically a thing about hybrids in general. However, she still didn’t feel ready to bring it up over dinner.

Yelping at the sound of a large thump coming from above her, Y/N slapped her palms over her face a few times to return the color back to her cheeks, her appearance in the full-length mirror positively scandalized. The sound of Jeongguk’s heavy stomping from back and forth into his bathroom made her spring into action, wanting to bolt into the kitchen and work on dinner so Yoongi wouldn’t have to. Casting one last look at herself in the mirror, feeling like she looked calm enough to bump into one of them without raising suspicion, Y/N slowly pushed her bedroom door open and peeked her head out. The hallway was empty.

Taking a deep breath, Y/N marched out into the hall, skipping past Namjoon’s door; unsurprisingly it swung open once she reached the end of the hall. Pausing, she looked over her shoulder, offering Namjoon a tiny smile as he poked his head out of the door. His silvery hair was damp and in his face, likely from the shower. She hadn’t even heard it turn on. Y/N waited for Namjoon to catch up with her, his expression hard to read once he was inches away. Finding it hard to look him in the eyes, Y/N resumed her route to the kitchen without a word, Namjoon hot on her heels.

“Who was on the phone?” Namjoon demanded, a slight edge to his voice but the volume of it was not enough to frighten Y/N. Blowing hair out of her face, she knew Namjoon could hear her, but she could still pray the others hadn’t.

“My friends from childhood, they’re twin sisters, Laura and Alice,” Y/N answered simply, not wanting to over explain. The kitchen was dim, Y/N flicking on all the lights and gesturing for Namjoon to sit on one of the barstools. Lifting a brow at her, Namjoon hesitantly sat down, Y/N trying to keep the mood light. At least he seemed to have cooled down from whatever ticked him off after getting ice cream.

“They don’t like us. They think you’re in danger,” Namjoon leaned back on the barstool, arms crossed over his chest. Sighing, Y/N retrieved two wine glasses from the cabinet, pouring a healthy amount of Cabernet for the two of them and sliding the glass for Namjoon across the island. Eyebrow shooting up further into his hairline, Namjoon watched her take a hearty swig.

“What do you want me to say, Namjoon? I made an uncharacteristic decision, and to be fair, you are all men. They have a right to be worried about me, no matter how unfounded it seems to you. It’s not that they don’t like you, either. I think if anything, they’re questioning my sanity,” Y/N stated calmly, finally mustering up the courage to stare at him directly in the eyes, leaning over the island. Taking another sip of wine, she waited for the wheels to turn in his head.

“Do you think you’re in danger?” Namjoon continued to interrogate after a few moments, long fingers running up and down the stem of his wine glass. Humming, Y/N felt the red wine warm her belly, close enough to Namjoon to feel his breath fan over her face.

“No. Should I?” Y/N countered, pushing herself off of the counter in search of something to scrounge up for dinner. She heard the scrape of glass across the granite island, peeking over her shoulder to catch Namjoon, eyes cast upwards mid-eyeroll, glass to his lips.

Silent for a few moments, Y/N started to hum a tune suspiciously close to Smells Like Teen Spirit, rummaging through one of the lower cabinets for a rice cooker. Wondering just how much rice she’d have to make for eight people, she hefted the appliance and a 15 lb bag of sushi rice onto the counter beside the stove. Biting her lip, then wincing at the pain from the hole she had bitten into it earlier, Y/N estimated around 3.5 cups of uncooked rice in the pot, before bringing it to the sink to rinse it a few times. Pulling up the sleeves of her thermal, washed the rice until the water ran mostly clear.

“I think you’d be a fool if you didn’t,” Namjoon suddenly pointed out, Y/N looking at him with surprise. His wine glass was empty, his eyes narrowed at her. Scoffing, she placed the pot of rice into the appliance, drying her hands on her sweatpants and switching on the rice cooker. Taking a deep breath, she painted a lopsided smile on her face, pouring Namjoon and herself a second glass.

“Well, call me a fool then, for being optimistic,” Y/N muttered over the rim of her wine glass, Namjoon’s shoulders stiffening a fraction, his ear flickering. “Besides, the twins will be here for a cookout on Friday. If you’re still upset by then, you can talk it out with them. I think they’re scarier than you, Namjoon.”

“Please,” Namjoon snorted humorlessly, turning his head to drink from his glass. Shrugging, Y/N returned to the dinner making process, pulling vegetables, sauces, and a package of flank steak and the egg carton at random. She decided to make a bunch of things to stick in a rice bowl, and the hybrids could choose what they wanted.

While rinsing some green onions, thankfully without any more questioning from the wolf hybrid brooding on the barstool across from her, Y/N heard footsteps approaching the kitchen. Perking up a little, perhaps hoping for someone to brighten up the mood, Y/N craned her neck towards the kitchen entrance.

“Hey Seokjin! How are you doing?” Y/N grinned, pushing down the sadness that surfaced when she remembered the information she had just learned about him. Grinning back, Seokjin came up to her side, watching her chop the green onions, nodding once at Namjoon. “Wine?”

“Hmm, sure. I’m good, also. What are you making?” Seokjin cocked his head, putting his hand on her shoulder to reach a wine glass for himself when it was too high and far back for Y/N to get on her own. Shuddering at the sudden contact, Y/N hurriedly poured him a glass of the Cabernet, returning to the vegetable prep.

“I’m making some vegetables, some beef, maybe a few fried eggs… figured we can just make our own rice bowls with ingredients you like,” Y/N explained, slicing through a bell pepper. Seokjin leaned his hip against the counter beside her, watching carefully.

“What happened to your lip? Are you okay?” Seokjin asked, a strong current of concern in his voice. Absently brushing her fingers by her lip, but not touching the skin, Y/N tried to shoot him a comforting look.

“Oh I’m fine, don’t worry about me! I just bit it too hard. Happens all the time,” Y/N waved her hand, sliding the sliced peppers into a bowl with the flat of her knife. Seokjin grunted softly, apparently unconvinced, eyeing Namjoon distrustfully. The jaguar hybrid moved to sit on a barstool as well, a few away from Namjoon, settling in to watch her cook.

“Hoseok made me do “yoga” with him,” Seokjin informed her, his lips curling around the apparently unfamiliar word, making air quotes simultaneously. Using her elbow to wipe a stray tear from her eye chopping an onion, Y/N giggled picturing the two hybrids meditating side-by-side.

“Really? I love yoga, though I haven’t done it in a while…” Y/N tried to subtly monitor the two hybrids sitting across from her in case of an incident, Namjoon leaning his body across the island to help himself to more wine. Finding the bottle empty, he heaved a sigh, getting to his feet.

He was easily able to find the wine cooler, carefully reading each label before selecting the same brand the three of them had been drinking, Seokjin and Y/N exchanging surprised looks. Namjoon used a sharp thumbnail to slice open the foil covering the cork on the bottle, frowning once he realized the bottle wasn’t open completely. He began opening drawers at random, likely searching for the opener, Y/N eyeing him while she began stir-frying some of the vegetables. Each time he came up empty-handed, his ears drooped further, looking almost adorable.

“Need some help?” Came Yoongi’s gruff voice suddenly, pretty much materializing from the entrance to the kitchen from the parlor. Already feeling the wine dizzying up her head, she was grateful for any help at all to finish dinner. Making a small noise of delight, Y/N nodded, and Yoongi immediately began to assess the marinades and flank steak she had brought out from the fridge, using a rubber band from his wrist to tie up his long locks. Y/N made a mental note to dig up her bag of scrunchies to offer him later that night.

While Yoongi and Seokjin began to chit-chat about the jaguar hybrid’s yoga experience, Namjoon had successfully located the bottle opener in the drawer beside where Y/N was stir-frying, aggressively trying to jam the corkscrew into the cork with gritted teeth. He definitely didn’t know how to use it. Taking pity on him, and more or less wanting a fresh glass of wine for herself, Y/N set her wooden spoon down, holding her palm out for the corkscrew.

“Here, let me, honey,” Y/N stepped to the side, taking the wine opener from the wolf hybrid’s slackened grip, his entire body locking up at the sound of the pet name. Internally, she scolded herself as heat crept up her neck, but it was hard to resist the term of endearment when he looked so cute when he was frustrated. Hopefully, he wasn’t insulted. “It’s tricky, I’ll show you how my dad taught me.”

She briefly explained the steps, pulling up the cork halfway, before stepping away once more and talking him through the last step. Y/N could have sworn his ears, the human set adorned with simple silver hoops, turned a faint shade of pink, but she also could have imagined it. Namjoon muttered a thanks, swiftly refilling her glass for her, before dashing away a bit clumsily back to his own seat. Chuckling, she took a sip of her wine and returned to the frying pan, her elbow brushing Yoongi’s as he began both cooking the steak and making what appeared to be tamagoyaki in a second rectangle pan she didn’t even know she owned. Damn, she thought, he works fast.

“Can I try some of that?” Yoongi jutted his chin towards her wine glass while he reached for the salt pinch bowl, his tail brushing the back of her knee with the movement. Wordlessly, she passed her glass over, Yoongi grinning slyly as he took a delicate sip. A low hum of enjoyment came from the back of his throat, Y/N hurriedly cracking some pepper into her frying pan to cover up her fluster.

“Want a glass?” Y/N cleared her throat, Yoongi taking another sip and raising his eyebrows at her.

“No, we can just share this one,” Yoongi chuckled, setting the wine glass on his side of the counter with a clink. Eyes bugging out of her skull, Y/N squeaked out an “okay”, trying her best to focus on finishing up her part of the meal prepping. Yoongi seemed to enjoy her reaction to his words, snickering every few seconds as he rolled up the tamagoyaki with a pair of chopsticks.

“You had an interesting phone call, huh?” Yoongi passed her the wine glass after several moments, Y/N reeling as she was snapped out of eavesdropping on Seokjin’s attempts to initiate conversation with Namjoon.

“Shit. Did everyone hear it?” Y/N hissed, after almost choking on her mouthful of wine. “You were upstairs, for Christ’s sake, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, we did. And yes, I was,” Yoongi answered playfully, covering his completed steak dish and moving to slice the tamagoyaki. “I mean, your friends weren’t exactly speaking softly.”

“No, they weren’t,” Y/N agreed mournfully, wondering if the remaining hybrids had their feelings hurt, due to their absences. Currently, it was the longest she had gone without seeing Taehyung, other than when she was sleeping, since she brought him home. “Next time I’ll wear headphones,” she added determinedly.

“Mmm… that might help. Might not. Super hearing, remember?” Yoongi pointed to one of his spotted ears, a teasing lilt to his voice. Y/N rolled her eyes dramatically, abandoning him by the stove to check on the rice. Muttering to herself, Y/N turned to the island with a rice paddle, wishing Yoongi hadn’t stolen her wine glass for the time being. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a third person sitting at the island beside Seokjin, swirling a whiskey glass in his hand.

“Oh! Didn’t hear you come in, Jimin!” Y/N exclaimed, catching the coyote hybrid’s attention at once. Flashing one of his beautiful smiles, Y/N relaxed a fraction. Jimin was so polite, even if he had heard Laura and Alice over the phone, Y/N hardly expected him to say anything about it. “You guys have a knack for sneaking up on me.”

“Darling Y/N, it’s not our fault you have plain old human ears,” Hoseok’s voice suddenly came from her left, making her flinch so hard she dropped the rice paddle on the floor. Gritting her teeth, she turned to scold him for being mean, his face apologetic as he bent to get the rice paddle for her. He was dressed in a set of pajamas, with his new slippers on, freshly showered; grinning at her as he extended the rice paddle out to her. “Whoops, sorry. Forgot you were clumsy, too.”

“Hoseok!” Seokjin barked from his seat at the island, corners of his lips turned downwards in disapproval. Hoseok made that strange whistle tone Y/N was becoming increasingly familiar with, his expression becoming uneasy once his chocolatey eyes landed on Namjoon sitting at the end of the island. “Knock it off,” Seokjin ordered.

“Relax, Jinnie, I’m only teasing,” Hoseok replied, his voice a little strained as he patted Y/N on the back. Grimacing, she went back to fluffing up the rice in the cooker, Yoongi shooing Hoseok over to the breakfast nook by handing him the platter of sliced tamagoyaki. Starting to feel a bit sweaty, the red wine coursing through her with a vengeance, Y/N polished off her shared glass of wine much to Yoongi’s dismay.

Y/N snuck a look at Namjoon, who had turned his head to stare at Hoseok with mild interest. Namjoon’s cheeks were pink with the alcohol, and a majority of his steeliness had softened. Absently, Y/N found herself pouring him a glass of water from the fridge door dispenser, sliding it across the island to the wolf hybrid while Seokjin continued to scold Hoseok from his seat.

Her and Yoongi worked quickly to place everything on the breakfast nook, Y/N feeling quite tipsy suddenly as she found herself giggling at everything that came out of Yoongi and Seokjin’s mouths. Vaguely, she heard Yoongi ask her if she could call upstairs for Taehyung and Jeongguk, obediently following his direction and slightly swaying her way to the foyer. The loud voices of the hybrids from the kitchen had her practically squealing like an idiot, so pleased that she wasn’t alone in that big house anymore. Upon reaching the banister of the stairs, Y/N gripped one of the carved balusters with clammy hands.

“Jeongguk, Taehyung! Dinner is ready,” Y/N shouted up the stairs, probably more loudly than necessary. Humming to herself, she caught an image of her reflection in the hallway mirror, her cheeks flushed and eyes a bit squinted. Two sets of footsteps bounded down the wooden staircase rapidly. Without wasting a second, Jeongguk flew right by her, head turned to look at her suspiciously as he passed. Pouting at his frame retreating into the kitchen, she turned back to Taehyung, who was leaning over the banister she was gripping, staring at her curiously.

“Were you drinking wine?” Taehyung cocked his head, a ghost of a smile across his lips as he leaned in close to her. Both overwhelmed and overjoyed to see him, Y/N nodded enthusiastically.

“Did you find the record player, Tae?” Y/N asked eagerly, wanting to push a stray curl out of his face to see his pretty garnet-colored eyes better. She didn’t even register the nickname for him that had easily fallen from her lips, but Taehyung certainly did.

“Tae?” His deep voice rumbled with amusement, leaning even closer to her, Y/N widened her eyes, practically able to count his eyelashes. For a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her.

“Y-yeah, sorry, it just sort of fell out,” Y/N spoke nervously, barely above a whisper due to his proximity. Taehyung shook his head, chuckling, his curls brushing her forehead with the moment.

“No, I like it,” Taehyung quickly assured her, pulling away from her personal space and descending the remaining stairs. “Let’s go, Jimin is wondering where you are.”

Trying to catch her breath, Y/N turned to gaze into the kitchen, noticing Jimin heading to the foyer with his whiskey glass in his hand, a quizzical expression on his face. Hurrying after Taehyung, who kept shooting her mirthful glances, Y/N swore under her breath. Those hybrids were definitely trying to mess with her, she concluded, stumbling over her own feet to catch up with Taehyung’s long strides.

Thankfully, when she felt herself nearly toppling over by the coffee bar, Jimin caught her by her elbow, tutting in disapproval with a touch of merriment in his eyes. Sheepishly, she let him steady her, feeling like she was being herded as he walked behind her with both hands around her upper arms to steer her towards the breakfast nook. Waving Jimin off, embarrassed, Y/N slid into the booth next to Hoseok. Jimin, snickering, returned to his barstool beside Seokjin.

“You should take it easy with that red,” Hoseok murmured into her ear, scooching his own glass further away from her when she surreptitiously tried to sneak a sip. “One of us is going to have to scrape you off the floor.”

“No you won’t. I can drink,” Y/N insisted, slightly offended. She stuck out her lower lip at the fox hybrid, who appeared to be trying not to laugh at her. Muttering something like “mean fox”, Y/N begrudgingly took a gulp from a glass of water that had somehow appeared in front of her as if by magic.

“Sure,” Hoseok hummed, accepting two bowls of rice from Yoongi, ferrying them back and forth to everyone in the kitchen. Hoseok set a bowl gently in front of Y/N, his arm pressing into her’s with how close she had sat next to him.

As she was piling on some vegetables into her bowl, a couple of the hybrids leaned across the breakfast nook to add an ingredient to their own dishes before returning to a barstool. Unfortunately, not all of them could fit in the breakfast nook, Taehyung across from her, Jeongguk squeezed in between the Kodiak hybrid and Hoseok. Munching on a piece of tamagoyaki, Y/N flinched when she felt the empty space beside her fill up clumsily by Namjoon, who had inelegantly toppled into the booth with his bowl. Surprised, Y/N pressed closer to Hoseok, trying to free up more space for Namjoon’s large frame. Namjoon must have been more tipsy than she thought, barely even noticing Taehyung scowling at him from across the table. In fact, Namjoon seemed completely relaxed for once, his cheeks full of rice and meat as he ate.

“Ugh,” Hoseok groaned lowly, blood in his face draining as he pushed food around in his bowl with his chopsticks. Y/N patted his back soothingly, hoping he’d be able to push past his fear of Namjoon enough to eat. Especially considering Namjoon had rice stuck to his face, he wasn’t exactly threatening at the moment.

“The tamagoyaki is delicious, Yoongi!” Y/N called over to the island, the leopard hybrid’s ears immediately perking up. Looking over his shoulder, he smirked at her, holding up a stir-fried pepper with his chopsticks.

“Good job with the vegetables, yourself,” he returned, his sharp incisors flashing as he took a bite of the pepper.

Luckily, the meal passed by amicably. Taehyung had worked up the courage to start a conversation with Hoseok, likely due to noticing the fox hybrid’s discomfort with Namjoon’s presence. As always, Jeongguk mostly kept to himself, but very visibly enjoyed the contents of his meal, even asking Yoongi for more rice. Y/N eased off of Hoseok a bit, his skin far too warm for her to comfortably lean against for a second longer, forcing her to be pressed closer to Namjoon. Thankfully, he seemed to be running a bit cooler than the fox hybrid, the fabric of his thermal soft against Y/N’s forearms. At the contact with her body heat, Namjoon jumped a little, his hand knocking over Y/N’s empty water glass.

“Whoops! Good thing it’s empty,” Y/N giggled, righting the glass and peering at Namjoon’s startled face. He was staring at where their arms touched, tongue peaking out to catch some steak sauce on his lower lip. Making eye contact with her, Namjoon actually chuckled over his minor blunder, to Y/N’s delight.

“Is this your first time drinking, or something, wolf?” Jeongguk suddenly accused, eyebrows lifted as he witnessed Y/N and Namjoon drunkenly giggling at nothing. Y/N frowned, hoping that he wasn’t about to sour another evening. Namjoon stopped laughing, setting his chopsticks down in a wobbly manner.

“Yeah, actually,” Namjoon answered, Y/N’s eyes bugging out of her skull while Jeongguk pounded on his chest, a mouthful of rice going down the wrong way at the wolf hybrid’s response.

“Wait, seriously?” Y/N gasped, a hand over her mouth in surprise. Namjoon nodded somberly, his lips pursed. Hoseok, quietly, tugged Y/N sweatpant leg, giving her a disbelieving look and mouthing what the fuck.

“Yes, seriously. I didn’t really have many… opportunities to drink alcohol in my life,” Namjoon explained, eyes narrowing at Taehyung from across the table. Taehyung looked unimpressed with the conversation, sipping on his own glass of wine silently.

“Jesus. I should have asked before liquoring you up earlier,” Y/N rubbed the back of her neck, swearing to herself to try and make more healthy choices as far as food and beverages go for the hybrids. Hoseok snorted next to her, draining his wine glass less shakily than he had before. At least he was loosening up, and she counted it as progress.

“It’s alright. I knew what it was when you poured it, I could have refused,” Namjoon sighed, a small smile across his face as he pushed his empty rice bowl away. Glancing sideways at Jeongguk, Y/N watched him try to bite back laughter, crumpling up his napkin into his bowl.

Stirring ingredients into her bowl, Y/N tried her best to finish everything in it. Yoongi was truly an amazing chef, the seasonings on the steak were perfect and paired very well with the sweetness of the tamagoyaki. She could definitely get used to his cooking, thinking that he could even help her out with some of the food for the cookout on Friday. Additionally, she had the piano lesson with him on that day, the thought making her squirm in her seat with excitement.

At the island, upon checking on the other three hybrids from her spot at the breakfast nook, it appeared that Yoongi and Seokjin were fighting over the last bit of steak. After a few moments of bickering, Seokjin reluctantly placed the piece of meat in Yoongi’s bowl, to Y/N’s relief. Jimin had finished his meal, and was by the fridge putting ingredients back in their places.

After asking Namjoon to scooch out of the booth so she could help with clean-up, Y/N had to resist helping him get his footing, not wanting to push her luck with him that night. He caught himself on the frame of the door to the patio, Y/N truly amazed just how friendly he got with just a few glasses of wine. She wondered if in the morning, he would go back to being steely and interrogative. Hoseok, leaping out of his seat, immediately put distance between himself and the wolf hybrid, traipsing over to Jimin to chat.

Moving to the island, she asked Seokjin if he ate enough while he bashfully nodded, not a speck of food left in his bowl. In fact, they had no leftovers, Y/N realized as she collected serving dishes, trying to be as balanced as possible so Hoseok wouldn’t accuse her of being a lightweight again. Squeezing past Yoongi at the sink, she deposited the dirty dishes beside him, searching for the granite cleaner. However, she didn’t get very far in her pursuit to clean up.

“Hey! You two cooked, we can clean,” Jimin suddenly complained, pulling Yoongi away from the sink. “Miss Y/N, you should sit down, before you injure yourself,” he added calmly, snapping his fingers and pointing at her while shooting Seokjin a look.

Opening her mouth to protest, she felt herself getting dragged away by the jaguar hybrid, who promptly lifted her off of her feet and planted her on a barstool. Squeaking when Seokjin wrapped his hands around her waist to lift her, Y/N felt torn that his hands were gone as quickly as they were there. Face on fire, she watched Jimin push Yoongi onto the seat next to her, the leopard hybrid rolling his eyes and instructing the coyote hybrid to not use steel wool on the ceramics.

Forced to watch Jimin, Hoseok, and Taehyung tidy up the kitchen, Y/N drummed her fingers against the granite of the island, craning her neck to locate Jeongguk and Namjoon. The wolf hybrid, to her surprise, was viewing a video that Jeongguk was playing on his phone over the elk hybrid’s shoulder, his eyebrows pulled together in thought. Jeongguk, very quietly, was murmuring something urgently to Namjoon. Y/N wondered if hell froze over, or if she should go to the liquor store the following morning to pick up more cases of that particular Cabernet.

Taehyung, returning an unused bag of edamame to the freezer, pulled out a popsicle for himself, leaning on the island beside her to enjoy it while Jimin and Hoseok finished the cleaning. Seokjin, who had excused himself to the bathroom five minutes prior, returned with the ends of his bangs wet, like he had splashed water on his face.

“Taehyung, where did you get that? I want one too,” Hoseok whined, eyes zeroing on the frozen treat in his hands. Taehyung pointed to the freezer drawer with the treat, Hoseok scoffing. “Thanks, real specific,” He mumbled, rummaging through the freezer to locate one of the mango popsicles.

Seokjin, wiping down the breakfast nook, began humming a tune, the timbre of his voice sweet, though the song was quite melancholy. Y/N gazed at him over her shoulder, catching the bittersweet smile on his face while he hummed. Sighing, Y/N settled into the barstool, enjoying the sounds of everyone’s voices as they bantered. Her eyelids felt heavy, her palm leaning on her cheek, her brain yelling at her to stay awake to enjoy more time with her companions.

After a few moments, her eyes snapped open, an eerie silence filling the room. She registered Jimin, across from her at the sink, his eyes trained at the threshold of the kitchen and his ears perked up in alert. Blinking, she noticed Hoseok was locked up rigidly in the same manner, opening her mouth to ask what was wrong. Swiftly, she was cut off.

From upstairs came a large thump, Y/N’s blood running cold. Yoongi, from beside her, wrapped a hand around her wrist, putting a finger to his lips when she looked at him in panic. Silent again, for a moment, she strained her ears the best she could, her heart racing. Was there an intruder in the house? Or worse, was the paranormal situation escalating before she could tell them about it?

Breaking the silence came the sound of the record player in the piano room crackling to life, the sounds of an old jazz record floating down the stairs hauntingly. Feeling the room grow several degrees cooler, Y/N began to hyperventilate, totally unprepared for the night to take a horror-movie turn. Squeezing her wrist in an attempt to soothe, Yoongi gave her a pleading look. In addition to the record player going off on its own, several pitchy notes on the piano began to ring out periodically. Nausea welling up inside her, Y/N began to shake, praying to the sky an apparition wouldn’t appear in front of everyone. She had not the faintest idea of how to handle the situation, let alone correct it, in her current state.

“What the fuck is going on?” Hoseok spoke first, baring his teeth and gazing towards the stairs. Jeongguk, who had moved away from Namjoon in the commotion, ran a hand through his hair in stress. He began to chuckle humorlessly, locking eyes with Y/N.

“There’s a fucking spirit on the grounds, and now it’s inside,” Jeongguk pulled out the silver amulet from his pocket, turning it over between his thumb and forefinger. “I’ve been trying to exorcize the house since I got here.”

“What?” Y/N breathed, feeling faint and overwhelmed. Yoongi moved to rub her back soothingly, but not much could be done to calm her down. She was already seeing spots of darkness in her vision.

“It’s malevolent. It’s been following you around since you were a girl,” Jeongguk added distractedly, rolling up his sleeves, revealing tattoos that Y/N realized seemed to be made up of religious symbols from several cultures. With that, he squared his shoulders, exiting the kitchen and bounding up the stairs with determined confidence.

“Jeongguk, don’t go up there!” Y/N cried, stumbling out of Yoongi’s embrace and fleeing after the elk hybrid. Between the shouts from the rest of the hybrids in the kitchen and the increased lack of oxygen she wasn’t getting, as soon as she reached the foyer, Y/N felt her body hit the marble before she felt nothing more.

Taglist; @blancflms @grazysf @sbromp @jaxavance @sunderlight @ot7nem @mageprincess7 @wittyreader @drenix004 @mayla548 @skyys-universe @ddaeng-angmoh @trtlthts @exfolitae @kalala22 @xiusmarshmallow @bangtans-momma @zae007live @paigetj @singukieee @serendididy @lilacdreams-00

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#bts fanfiction #bts fanfic #bts ot7 x reader #hybrid au #bts ot7 x y/n #bts hybrid au #bts fic #bts au #bts hybrid x reader #bts hybrid fanfic #namjoon fanfic #seokjin fanfic #yoongi fanfic #hoseok fanfic #jimin fanfic #taehyung fanfic #jungkook fanfic

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delicatebarness · 24 days

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cry baby | chapter three . five

Summary: Returning to the bar after Steve is free, you find yourself in an embarrassing situation which leads to subtle moments of connection with Bucky.

Warning: Mild Sexual Tension.. I mean, both Bucky and CB are in this one so of course there is. Public Embarrassment. Protective Bucky.

Word Count: 936

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A/N: This chapter is sort of a rewrite of THIS one shot. - Please feel free to leave feedback or let me know where and how you want the story to continue, this is just as much yours as mine. - B

You tried to blend into the chaos while standing at the crowded bar, waiting for Howlett to hand you a cherry cola. James Howlett, known around the city for his rugged demeanor, was the owner of the bar– a man who didn’t speak much unless it was toward the Avengers, but he didn’t need to.

An imposing figure, standing around 6’2”, with a muscular frame. His beard was scruffy, thick, and his hair unkempt which added to his intimidating presence. Wearing a worn-out flannel shirt and faded jeans, he looked like someone who had lived a dozen lives and fought in every one of them.

The bar was expectedly packed with bikers chatting loudly, and the scent of smoke and leather hung heavily in the air. Leaning against the bar, Bucky stayed near you, his eyes surveying the room, always alert.

Suddenly, staggering into you, out of nowhere, a random drunk guy spills his beer over you. Cold liquid soaked through the fabric of your thin t-shirt and down to the thin cardigan in your arms, causing it to cling to your skin and turn somewhat transparent. Embarrassment began to settle in, heat rushing to your face as you instinctively crossed your arms over your chest, in an attempt to cover yourself.

Before you could take another step, Bucky moved faster than anyone else in the room. Within an instant, he removed his leather jacket and draped it over your shoulders. His expression turned deadly, glaring at the men who noticed the mishap as he tried to shield you from their stares.

“Stop fucking looking at her, and mind your business,” he growled, his voice sharp, cutting through the noise of the bar. With immediate effect, conversations were halted, and the lingering glances were averted. No one dared to challenge Bucky as they mumbled apologies.

Concern etched in his face as he turned back to you, his demeanor softening. “You okay, sweetheart?” he gently asked, contrasting his earlier tone towards the bar.

You nodded, trying to pull the jacket tighter around your body. “Yeah, I’m fine– Thanks,” your voice came out quieter than you intended as the familiar scent of his cologne instantly calmed your nerves.

As if ensuring you were alright, Bucky gave you another quick once-over, his own gaze lingering a little longer. “Anything for you,” he muttered, a slight hint of a smirk playing on his lips.

Feeling self-conscious, you excused yourself to the restroom, clutching onto his jacket like a lifeline. You locked the door once inside, peeling the soaked fabric off your body. For a moment, you stared at yourself in the mirror, standing in your bra. You hesitated before pulling Bucky’s jacket over your body.

The oversized fit made you feel more secure with sleeves too long, covering your hands, and wrapping you in warmth. Zipping it up, you made your way back into the bustling crowd, your wet shirt in hand.

As you approached, Bucky’s blue eyes locked onto yours immediately. Drawing closer to him, you saw a flicker of surprise cross his features– he’d realized you were barely clothed under his jacket. Gripping his beer bottle a little tighter, he gave you a small, reassuring smile, before recomposing himself. A fresh wave of heat crept up your cheeks, noting how his gaze lingered a second longer than usual.

Reaching the booth, you tried to act casual as you slipped into your usual seat, ignoring the looks of your friends and brother. Bucky’s lips twitched into a half-smile, noticing the way your cheeks betrayed how flustered you felt, and the tears causing a shiny gloss over your eyes. He leaned forward over the booth.

“Better?” he asked, keeping his voice low only for you.

Still holding the soaked shirt, you nodded. “Yeah– thanks again, Buck,” you replied, barely looking up at him.

At that moment, Howlett set a cherry cola down in front of you with a soft grunt. “On the house, kid,” he said, gravely voice cutting through the noise of the bar without effort. Meeting his gaze, you nodded in gratitude though he barely gave you a second glance before shifting his attention, understandably, back to the bar. Considering how intimidating of a man Howlett was, his actions were always more telling than his words.

Taking a sip of the cherry cola, the sweetness calmed your nerves slightly as you settled into your seat, discarding your shirt onto the grimy, sticky floor. Across the booth, Natasha and Sam had noticed the change in atmosphere, sharing a knowing look, but decided not to comment on the mishap. However, Sam’s playful smirk gave away his amusement.

Bucky’s broad shoulders filled the seat directly across from you in the booth, and as sharp and alert as always, his eyes scanned the room. His leg brushed against yours under the table, and for a brief moment, the accidental touch sent a jolt through your system.

The warmth spread from where your legs were connected, and you tried to ignore it. But yet, once again that evening, your body betrayed you, the heat reaching your cheeks. He didn’t seem to notice– at least, not at first. He had been glaring toward the bikers who had been staring at you previously, still on high alert. But then, you noticed his gaze flicker back to you, and the realization of the subtle contact between your legs.

His expression didn’t change as his posture shifted slightly, the corner of his mouth lifting into a subtle smirk, aware of the closeness. He said nothing instead opting to let the silence between you speak volumes.

---

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#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky x you #bucky x y/n #bucky x female reader #bucky fanfic #james bucky barnes #cry baby series #bucky fic #bucky barnes au #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x y/n #james buchanan barnes #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes x rogers!reader #biker!bucky #biker au

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smoooothoperator · 5 months

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untouchable

epilogue: Happy Ever After

Lando Norris x OC (Violet Sinclair)

same group friend, unrequited love, acquittances to lovers, ski trip, love triangle, life as lovers

a/n: So this is officially the end! I wanted to make a different epilogue of what I used to make! In this epilogue you'll watch what Lando and Violet did for the next few years. And of course, I had to make little cameos of ACOTAR.

If someone wants to ask me to make an extra chapter abot their story, I'm very happy to make it!

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Every way of feedback is very welcomed

26 of December of 2024

violetsinclair

liked by landonorris, maxfewtrell, carlossainz55 and 21.683 others

violetsinclair A whole year with this curly haired man. I love you Lan, love of my life🧡

tagged: landonorris

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landonorris For more mornings next to you🧡

maxfewtrell You guys deserve everything good in this world, no one suffered as you two and none of you gave up

violetsinclair Maaaaaaxx🥹🥹😭😭

maxfewtrell You are not crying, right?

landonorris yes she is

carlossainz55 congratulations you guys❤️

violetsinclair Eh! No red hearts in my feed! Only orange!

landonorris I love you🥹🧡

landonorris

liked by violetsinclair, carlossainz55, mclaren and 436.468 others

tagged: violentsinclair

landonorris Never give up our dreams, they always come true. I love you with my whole being 🧡

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violetsinclair Thank you for not giving up on me, never. You are everything I ever wanted and I'll never stop loving you 🧡

landonorris I love you so much😍

mclaren Our favorite pair of brits 🥹🧡

February of 2025

violetsinclair

liked by landonorris, mclaren, pietra.pilao and 21.577 others

tagged: landonorris

violetsinclair Story of the day I became a dog mom🐾🧡:

Today Lando came to pick me up from work with a suspicious grin of his face. He said something about going out for the day, to spend the afternoon somewhere away from the city. And of course I believed it! He sounded very convincing!

We had lunch on a very nice place next to a river, but I noticed him a little nervous while looking at his watch. We collected everything and went back to bed, thinking we were going back home.

Turns out he had other plans! We went to a land where the owner has a lot of puppies! And then I found this beautiful black little guy and I immediately fell in love with him. And of course, Lando had everything planned and already came with things for the puppy.

Everyone, meet Rhysand Norris (yeah, it's on purpose. And I wasn't the one that chose the name🤭)

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maxfewtrell I still can't believe you named my godson after a fictional character...

violetsinclair I beg you pardon? It was about time that I had a pet named after him

maxfewtrell what about the options I gave you?

landonorris Rhysand is Rhysand, no more discussion

maxfewtrell Rude. But I'll still name him Reese

violetsinclair Fair enough for me

sarahjmaas His name definitely fit him!

violetsinclair omg hi I love you. Now I can die in peace

landonorris Hi sarahjmaas you want to meet him? We're fans :)

sarahjmaas Sure!

landonorris added a story

mclaren

liked by landonorris, violentsinclair and

mclaren look who came! Rhys is in the paddock! The high lord is the the house!🤭👀🧡

tagged: violentsinclair, landonorris

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f1 It was nice having this little one around! He stole everyone's heart

roscoelovescoco It's always nice having a doggie friend around! 🐶🐶

violetsinclair Admin is now in love with Rhys🥰 I'm a proud mom

mclaren the high lord deserves every fan he has :)

landonorris

liked by violetsinclair, maxfewtrell and 312.649 others

tagged: violetsinclair

landonorris Today the love of my life got her degree of History of Art! I can't be prouder of her 😍😍

tagged: violetsinclair

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violetsinclair 🥹😚🥰

martingarrix photo creds mate...

landonorris I paid you dinner

martingarrix so?

violetsinclair Habemus pacem kids... but you made amazing pics! I love them🥰

martingarrix thanks Vi, at least you are more decent than him

violetsinclair Of course! Now I have a doctorate

landonorris stop bullying me

July of 2025

landonorris

liked by violetsinclair, sarahjmaas, maxfewtrell and 721.649 others

landonorris And of course, Rhysand is no one without his mate. Welcome home, Feyre🧡

tagged: violetsinclair

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sarahjmaas Omg I can't believe it! You really found Rhys a Feyre!🥹🥹

violetsinclair (I still can't believe I befriended you) Yeah! She's the cutest! You should come and meet her

sarahjmaas oh I'll definitely will

mclaren Still impressive how we have a crossover of ACOTAR and F1...

landonorris You're welcome 😉

December of 2025

violetsinclair

liked by landonorris, maxvertappen1, f1 and 43.572 others

violetsinclair P3 in the Drivers Championship for my man! Couldn't be prouder of you🧡

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maxvertappen1 White looks good and you, huh? Right, Lando?👀

landonorris 🤔🤔🤔

landonorris Don't know what you are talking about

fia Where did you leave the high lord and lady? We wanted to see them

violetsinclair They stayed at home🥹 but next year they won't miss it

October of 2026

violetsinclair

liked by landonorris, pietra.pilao and 43.726 others

tagged: landonorris, pietra.pilao

violetsinclair Life lately🐾🧡🎶🎨

pietra.pilao That was the best day of my life🥹

violentsinclair agree

landonorris agree

taylorswift agree

violetsinclair omfg hi 😭

December of 2026

landonorris, violentsinclair

liked by maxfewtrell, mclaren, carlossainz55 and 926.168 others

landonorris Right where everything started, where I confessed you my feelings, where I had you in my arms for the first time and then where you said yes to a lifetime with me. I can't wait to continue this journey with you🧡

And thank you maxfewtrell and pietra.pilao for keeping the secret and not being suspicious, making sure I don't lose the ring after months of having it and for taking the pictures for us🧡

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mclaren I'm not crying🥹 congratulations!!!

carlossainz55 You are maturing, I can't be prouder of you. Congratulations to both of you, can't wait to see you and hug you!

maxfewtrell It was such a pleasure taking pet of am important moment of your life, as always, mate. And I won't stop saying it, you two deserve everything good

violetsinclair For how long did you know about this?

pietra.pilao You would get surprised...

March of 2027

violetsinclair

liked by landonorris, maxfewtrell, f1 and 53.581 others

violetsinclair God news and bad news!

The good news: I'll be some months working here, in Egypt! I had the pleasure of receiving a call from the museum so I can experience how they work in the ruins and and translate some ancient papyrus.

The bad news: Lando and I will have to be some months apart and I can't attent to his races like I used to do. But this won't stop me for supporting him or loving him every day more.

This is just another chapter of our story, not the end.

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landonorris I can't be prouder of you, love. You always fight for your dreams and I'm so happy for you that you can finally achieve them. I can't wait to have you in my arm again. Rhys, Feyre and I love you so much.

violetsinclair I already miss you😭

maxfewtrell Super proud of you! Now I can say that my best friend works in Egypt and will appear in a documentary soon

violetsinclair You and Pi are welcomed in my house anytime you want to see some nice old people :)

mclaren Admin is going to miss you... But I'm proud of you!

violetsinclair Admiiiin🥹

April of 2027

landonorris added a new story

maxfewtrell You couldn't be away for more months, can't you?

landonorris Stay away from Pi for some weeks and then answer me again

maxfewtrell God, are you moody?

landonorris I experienced the No Nut November in March. I don't recommend it at all

maxfewtrell I didn't need the details...

landonorris Sorry😩

violetsinclair

liked by netflix, landonorris, pietra.pilao and 73.269 others

violetsinclair I'm super super super happy to announce that the "Cleopatra" series are finally out! Netflix and I worked alongside to make this amazing series about the absolute queen of Egypt. I hope everyone likes it!

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netflix We were so happy to have you on set and work with you!

landonorris Who else knows a couple that both of them worked with Netflix? I'm so proud of my girl!

August of 2027

landonorris, violetsinclair

liked by maxfewtrell, carlossainz55, mclaren and 936.269 others

violetsinclair I can't believe that this is my last day as your girlfriend and tomorrow I'll be able to call you my husband for the rest of our lives.

And this morning I remembered my best friend Eloise while I was getting my things ready for the big day, crying a little and then smiling at her pictures. I miss you, Eli. I wish you could be with us, celebrating my wedding and standing next to me. I miss you, I never stop thinking about you.

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landonorris Eloise is watching us, babe. I'm sure she's proud of who you became

maxfewtrell She's proud for sure, we miss her

mclaren Can't wait to be there tomorrow, we are proud of you two

carlossainz55 The best pair I ever met, can't wait to watch you two linking your lives together

violetnorris, landonorris

liked by mclaren, oscarpiastri, carlossainz55 and 967.471 others

landonorris We are still over the moon about yesterday. It was so beautiful watching everyone, sharing our most special day with all of you. I still can't believe this morning I woke up next to my wife.

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carlossainz55 You two made a beautiful wedding, I will never forget how you two looked at each other. Felicidades, cabrón

georgerussel63 Can't believe you are the same small boy that debuted on F1 next to me and Alex. Now look at you, mate.

oscarpiastri I still remember the day you introduced Violet to me. You told me that you were going to marry her one day

landonorris What's going on with you guys georgerussel63 and oscarpiastri? You want to make me cry or what? Yesterday wasn't enough?🥹

December of 2027

violetnorris

liked by landonorris, carlossainz, pietra.pilao and 65.279 others

violetnorris Maldivas🥰🧡

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landonorris 😚

June of 2028

violetnorris

liked by landonorris, maxfewtrell, pietra.pilao and 76.268 more

tagged: landonorris

violetnorris The last few months some of you were sending me Dm's and even asking Lando why I stopped going to the races, if I was sent to Egypt again for work. Well, I guess now our little secret is out! Baby Norris coming in October👶🏻🧡

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oscarpiastri Now it makes sense why I saw the other day Lando asking to the person in charge of the merch to give him an onesie of McLaren... Congrats you two!

landonorris I thought no one saw me🥹

oscarpiastri I guess you were wrong

quadrant Okay, baby collection in progress.....

carlossainz55 I know I'll be the favorite uncle

oscarpiastri Excuse me?

danielricciardo Excuse me??

alex_albon You're joking, right?

georgerussel63 I bed you pardon?

violetnorris Okay guys, no fighting...

October of 2028

landonorris

liked by carlossainz55, mclaren, oscarpiastri and 927.917 others

tagged: violetnorris

landonorris 17 of October of 2028. Baby Eloise Claire Norris decided to come some days earlier. Mommy and baby are okay🧡

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charles_leclerc 17 is always a good number❤️ Can't wait to meet her

carlossainz55 So happy for you, man. She looks like you

oscarpiastri On my way to meet her!

mclaren on our way* to meet her!

maxfewtrell My goddaughter is so beautiful 🥹😍

pietra.pilao Our* goddaughter 🥹😍

taglist

@elisysd @racinggirl @ninifee1802 @kakorrhaphiphobia @landoyesrizz @lorarri @bellwhysomean @leptitlu @aphroditeisamilf @brekkers-whore @copper-boom @sideboobrry11 @alltoomaples @f1madison @elijahslover @silkenthusiasts @chonkybonky @summerslike11 @randomgirlnumber-13 @is-just-a @whentheautumnleavesfall @malynn @mycenterfold @barackosteaa @izzy-marvel @ssprayberrythings @ophcelia @traveling-inspiration

87 notes · View notes

peakyltd · 1 year

Text

Guardian Angel

John Shelby x reader

A/N: I have arrived, ready to break your hearts just like I broke my own while writing it. This was inspired by a prompt I found, I kept thinking about it so I decided to write it but I gave it my own twist. The prompt is added at the end so there won’t be any spoilers just yet.

I put on a sad playlist to get inspiration. One song stood out and really helped me write it, I just had it on repeat at some point. I think it fits well so if you’d like to listen to it while reading, it’s this song:

Lost without you by Freya Ridings

Warnings: Death, mentions of blood, guns, swearing, mentions of their almost hanging in S4, I added a few canon things in here but it’s not really canon. You’ll recognize them. In summary: ANGST (I take NO credits for the phrases/scenes that were used in the series)

Word count: 5462

Every time things took a turn for the worst, there was somehow a way out. Except for now.

(Y/N) and John met each other in 1912 while she unintentionally and unwillingly became a part of John’s theft of cigarettes and too expensive whiskey, saving him from a lot of trouble that afternoon.

He never forgot the girl who helped him. Or well, he might’ve forced the help just a little when he ran past her and crammed the cigarette packages and bottle in her already full basket. He fled immediately because he was still being followed by a furious shop owner.

Nobody would expect such a beautiful girl to help out someone like him, so he knew his loot was safe.

John went looking for her when the commotion had settled. Thinking she might went home but soon enough found her on the corner of the street, looking angry and helpless at the same time. His eyes twinkled and a big grin grew on his face when he had approached her. “Thank you for that.”

The girl didn’t return any of it, she was fuming. “How could you do that? You could’ve got me in trouble!” She snarled as she crossed her arms. “But I didn’t and you saved me from trouble. I’d call it a win-win.” He confidently stated as he took the cigarettes out of her basket.

She turned her basket away from him so he wasn’t able to grab the bottle. “How exactly is this a win-win situation?” She asked him, an annoyed but slightly confused tone in her voice.

“You got me out of trouble and I...” He paused mid sentence, as he looked at her. His lips turned into a smile. “I met you.”

She rolled her eyes and turned around to walk away from him. He swiftly caught up with her and blocked her path with his body. “Wait.” He began. “What.” She cut him off, the young man was getting on her nerves. “Maybe we can share it?” He pointed at her basket. “That bottle I mean.”

“No, thank you.” She took the bottle out of her basket and handed it to him. Before (Y/N) was able to walk away once again, John stopped her by gently putting his hand on her upper arm. “Listen, I’m sorry.”

She sighed as she looked up at him. He seemed nicer than she thought he was and his blue eyes who had a confident, mischievous glint in them had turned much softer and held warmth and kindness. “Apologies accepted. I have to go now.” She replied, a little less annoyed this time.

“I’m John.” He introduced himself. His eyes scanned her face, hoping she wouldn’t be too upset with him. “And if I may be so bold, I think you’re beautiful.” He added with a smile. She was a taken aback by his bold move. A shy smile tugged on her lips, not really sure what to say

“What’s your name?” He asked her, trying to make some kind of conversation to make her warm up to him. “I’m (Y/N).” She eventually gave in. “Nice to meet you (Y/N). So, what are you thinking?” He questioned again while lifting the bottle. A soft sigh fell from her lips. “I don’t have time now but we could meet tomorrow afternoon at the market, at 2?” She suggested, she wouldn’t admit it but his determined attempts to make her stay made her curious.

“I’ll promise I’ll be there to make it up to you.” He smiled kindly at her. “See you tomorrow then.” Her lips turned into a radiant smile, lighting up her whole face and a bit of John’s heart. He watched her walk away until she suddenly turned around to look at him. “You don’t necessarily have to bring the bottle!” She chuckled before continuing her way. “I’ll keep that in mind my guardian angel!” He laughed.

Although their first meeting wasn’t the best start they soon began to hit it off very well. They had spend most of their free time together, enjoying each others company. John was a funny and charming guy, although trouble seemed to follow him, mostly caused by himself. Luckily for him he found himself someone who looked out for him.

They had been together for only a few months when John proposed to her. He knew he wanted nobody else but her in his life. She was hesitant at first, besides that they were both pretty young, she was afraid that she got herself into something she wasn’t ready for. He promised her that he meant it, that he was an honest man and that he loved her like he loved nobody else before.

Her eyes stared into his, unsure what to do. She loved John, more than she ever told him but uncertainty and doubts plagued her mind.

He was convinced she would say no, already mentally taking his loss, until a sweet smile appeared on her face. As a soft yes fell from her lips, his eyes widened and a beaming smile followed quickly after. She was going to be his forever.

Their wedding was modest, with only their families and a few of their closest friends. Exactly the way they had wanted it. They both knew, when they saw each other for the first time that day, they had made the right decision.

After their wedding they had moved to Watery Lane where John had gotten him and (Y/N) a house. Even though they had needed some time to get used to their new life, it turned into something natural very quickly. Two months after their wedding (Y/N) surprised John by telling him their family was expanding. The nerves that were rushing trough her body when she told him soon made place for butterflies when she was met by a cheerful John.

“No way!” His eyes were wide and his jaw had dropped. “Are you serious?” He asked her, wondering if she might be joking. “I am serious.” She smiled at him, her fingers fumbling with each other. He grabbed her face gently as he kissed her lovingly. “We’re going to be parents, love.” He smiled at her, his hands holding her waist. “A little Shelby... I can’t believe it.”

The Shelby’s were working hard in their betting shop to make a living out of it. John was running the books, he loved the work and it made enough money to support his growing family. It was going well and the shop started to grow.

Due to the growth of the shop it also began to attract the wrong kind of people and with that the amount of trouble John got himself into, grew as well.

Fights were obviously no exception, (Y/N) lost count on the times were he came home bloody and bruised. John knew she wouldn’t be happy to see him like that but she always took care of him without saying anything about it. Except for a certain look she gave him, to show her disapproval.

Her soft touch on his face made him relax and his jokes made her feel better about the situation. “You should’ve seen the other guy.” Was one of the phrases he used regularly. Obviously she heard it hundreds or even thousands times before but she couldn’t help but giggle while looking at John’s battered face.

“I guess they look even worse than you do now?” She played along with him. “Oh trust me, they do.” He smirked while placing his hand on her knee, squeezing it softly.

“Please be careful the next time.” She told him when pressing a kiss on his plump lips after she finished cleaning his face and taking care of his cuts. “I have my guardian angel to protect me, don’t I?” He replied, followed by a cheeky grin of the Shelby himself.

After their daughter Katie was born, John promised to be more careful. For as long as it lasted. A few months later he and his brothers had signed up for the Warwickshire Yeomanry. (Y/N) tried to convince him to think at least twice about it but John had made up his mind.

He would never forget her face when she waved her goodbyes from the train platform. The wind blew trough her hair as tears ran down her face. Their little daughter safely in her arms, not aware of anything that was going on.

In that very moment he realized that it could be the last time he would see them but there was no going back.

While he was away she wrote him as much as she could, hoping every single day that he would still be able to write her back. She wrote him about all the little silly things that happened in their daily life, pretending that the threats of war didn’t exist in that moment. Hoping that it would take his mind off the terrible things he was going trough, even if it was for a second.

John wrote her back whenever he could. Starting his letters with “Dear Guardian Angel,” which had became his little pet name for her, although he really believed she was one.

In one of his latest letters he told (Y/N) that they got attacked and that he was injured. He didn’t tell her how bad it was and how it could’ve ended for him but he did tell her he survived because he was thinking of her and their daughter.

In reality, he was critically injured and for a moment they had lost him. In that moment his mind wandered to her. He thought of her beautiful eyes staring into his, her beaming smile that could light up every single room and her soft touch on his skin when she held him. He thought of the many memories they shared, how their witty comments drove each other crazy sometimes and how much they could make each other laugh.

Oh, to hear her laugh again.

He wanted to see Katie grow up, to see how much she looked like her mum and how much of his mischievousness she had. He didn’t want to miss out on any of that.

Doctors were able to save his life, giving him the extra time he so desperately wanted. Although he wanted nothing more than go home, he agreed on staying in France after he recovered. He fought, every single day until they heard they were finally going back home. After years.

He would never forget the moment he finally held her in his arms again. The smell of her favorite perfume filled his senses, her soft touch on his skin made him almost melt and her eyes were still as beautiful as ever. “I missed you so much.” Her soft voice broke the silence between them.

“I missed you too, love.” He mumbled against her hair. His strong arms held her tightly and made her feel like everything was going to be okay. The tears were falling down her face again, this time because he was finally back home. Safely.

Katie hid behind (Y/N)’s legs, shyly looking up at John. He kneeled down and smiled at her. “Daddy’s finally home, darling.” (Y/N) said as she wiped away her tears and smiled kindly at her. She kneeled down as well, placing her hand on Katie’s back. John reached out his hand. “That has been a long time, hasn’t it love?” He smiled at the little girl who was a bit hesitant on what to do.

John glanced down at something she was holding tightly in her hand. “What’s that?” He curiously asked while pointing at her hand. “Show daddy what you have there.” (Y/N) encouraged her.

Katie shyly showed John a picture of himself. “Daddy.” She softly said. “Yes.” John swallowed down the lump in his throat, trying to not cry in front of his little girl. “And now I’m right here” He cheerily said, still holding out his hand for her.

Katie carefully placed her hand on top of his. She glanced him up and down before hugging him tightly. “Daddy.” John wrapped his arms around her tiny body, hugging her as he stroked her hair. He took a deep breath before looking at (Y/N) who’s tears began to stream down her face once again.

It would take some time but they would become the family they had always intended to be.

Years went by and their family grew by 4. Three boys and one girl. (Y/N) spend most of her time to take care of her kids but occasionally helped in the betting shop. John worked hard for the company but still kept himself busy with gang related business, led by his older brother.

John had changed since the war, becoming more violent and in some situations his emotions got the best of him, causing him to react before even thinking. He was reckless, didn’t care about any danger. He knew better but he loved to see how far he could go. His violence and outbursts went far but never reached his family.

Despite all the trauma and troubles, he took good care of them. He only wanted the best for them and would do everything to provide it.

They had moved from Watery Lane to a bigger countryside home. Life was better, they enjoyed all the good the things the countryside had to offer. It was much calmer than the streets of Small Heath and it was a perfect place to clear their heads. The kids often played outside until it got dark, John liked to go hunting with his dogs and (Y/N) loved the overall peace it gave all of them.

Peace that was suddenly disturbed by John’s arrest and the hanging that would follow. When the guards came to get him, he had tried to fight them off but he couldn’t take them both. As they dragged him trough the halls, his shouts and insults bounced off the concrete walls. The shouting turned into laughter until he saw Michael’s terrified face and found Arthur’s angry one on the other side of the bars.

Doors opened and they were led to the space that was separated from them before. Revealing three gallows that were waiting for the three men. Hope had left him the moment saw them, knowing his last minutes were ticking. Once the noose was tied around his neck, he heard Arthur mumble “In the bleak midwinter.” A sigh escaped his lips as he repeated him. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see when they were going to pull the lever.

It was over for him. He would never be able to see (Y/N) and their children again. He remembered her face when he got arrested, the fear in her eyes that had mixed with pure hate towards his brother, the desperate screams that were coming from her mouth.

The thought of her hearing that he was gone without saying their goodbyes, pained him. He would never forgive himself for the heartbreak he was going to put her trough.

He snapped out of his thoughts after hearing a shout coming from the halls. He opened his eyes and saw a man running in with a letter in his hand.

He still got some extra time.

1925

Peace had eventually returned to John and (Y/N)’s home. Every time things took a turn for the worst, there was somehow a way out. John still believed that the thoughts of his wife had saved his life once again. Like she always did. When he finally returned after another traumatic experience, he broke down like a little child when he saw her. It was one of only a few times she had seen him in such a vulnerable state and it broke her heart.

He had spent a lot more time at home to be with his family. Lots of walks, picnics and evenings under the stars helped him clear his head. They helped him heal, although the scars would never disappear.

Months passed by and he started to feel better. He had just returned home from a walk with his dogs when he picked up the post from that day. He moved to the living room to open the enveloppes. They received multiple Christmas cards from friends and family, he knew (Y/N) would love them. As he opened another enveloppe and read the card, his heart dropped.

“John would you like some tea as well?” (Y/N) walked up to him. Her sudden presence startled him. “Tea?” He blurted out, his widened eyes found hers. She noticed the expression on his face. “Yes, tea...” She said suspiciously while looking at the card in his hand. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Was just reading the Christmas cards we got.” He handed her the other cards. She took them from him as she pointed at the card in his hand. “Whose that?”

“Tommy’s.” He lied to her, putting the card back in the enveloppe. She scoffed. “Tommy’s? And what did he write us?” She asked while narrowing her eyes. “He wishes us a merry Christmas.” He stuffed the card into his jacket but she snatched it from him before he had the chance.

“Give it.” John sternly told her, trying to get the card from her. (Y/N) quickly moved away from him. “If it’s really from Tommy then it would look nice in the fireplace.” She shot back at him.

“Give it here!” John barked at her. He tried to grab her arm but she pushed him off. “Tell me what this is John!” She yelled back at him. “It’s a fucking Christmas card from Tommy!” He shouted at her, backing her up into a corner.

(Y/N) ripped the envelope off the card and opened it, finding a Black Hand inside. “What is this?” Her voice softer than before as she looked up to John. He looked at the card before his eyes met hers. “A Black Hand.”

“It’s from Luca Changretta. Arthur killed his dad.” He continued. “It was Tommy who kil-” (Y/N)’s sentence was cut short by John who’s voice had raised immediately after hearing it. “It was fucking Arthur who pulled the trigger!”

"It was mercy but it was Arthur.” He added on a softer tone. “Anyway, it makes no fucking difference. For the wops, it’s family.” John rubbed his face. “They’re coming for us all.”

(Y/N) stared at him in disbelief, an anxious feeling washing over her. “For fucks sake, John.” He took the card from her but she stopped him by grabbing his wrist. Not knowing what to say, he just stared at her. The distress in his eyes visible, not fully comprehending the situation they were in.

“We’re going to be okay.” She said but it sounded unsure. She didn’t know if she was trying to ease his feelings or her own.

That evening she decided to have a few drinks when John came in with lots of guns and rifles. She looked at him, feeling fuzzy from the drinks she had. “Are you gonna teach me how to use those?” She asked him jokingly. “I think you already know.” He smirked while putting them down on a chair.

“What did we got ourselves into, John?” She slurred slightly, a soft chuckle escaping her lips. “I don’t want to know.” He confessed while looking at her. “Me neither, I just want us to be alright.” She sighed softly as she filled her glass once more.

He leaned against the chair and watched her. “Me too.” He mumbled, pointing at the empty glass next to hers. “I need one as well. Situations like this make me thirsty.” He joked, trying to ease his tensed mind.

(Y/N) giggled softly and filled his glass. “I’m happy you haven’t lost your ability to joke about things like this.” She responded as she looks up at him. “Makes me feel much better.

“Come here.” He reached out for her hand. “I can think of something else that makes you feel better.” He said teasingly as her hand grabbed his. “Lets forget about it for now.” He smirked while pulling her up. Her other hand found its way to the back of his head, pulling him closer as she crashed her lips onto his. He eagerly kissed her back.

Lifting her up, he moved over to the sofa to sit down, breaking their kiss for a moment. She straddled his lap, her hands roamed over his chest while staring in his eyes. “I fucking love you.” She breathed out, her lips close to his. “I fucking love you too.” He grinned before kissing her again.

“I’m going to get some wood for the fireplace!” John called out before leaving the house to fetch wood from the shed. “Okay!” (Y/N) yelled, she was busy with baking a cake. The delicious smell had already filled the kitchen.

Their morning was much more relaxed than she had expected after receiving Changretta’s card. She still felt tensed but John’s calm demeanor assured her that she didn’t have to worry. At least not too much.

Footsteps approached the shed John was in. He was wary of the situation and took his rifle. As he opened the door, he immediately cocked it, pointing it at the person that was coming closer. “Oh, fuck, it’s you.” He mumbled while unloading his rifle and putting the barrel down. “Got nothing better to do on Christmas morning?” He asked Michael who was standing in front of him.

“Tommy wants everybody at Charlie’s Yard, now.” Michael informed him. John closed the door of the shed and walked him back to the house. “What is going to happen on fucking Christmas, man?” He questioned, wondering what the sudden urge to go to Charlie’s yard was. “John come on, we don’t have time for this. We have to go.” Michael pleaded, knowing the treat they had received was serious.

“Come in to the house, have some food.” John offered as he opened the door. (Y/N) looked up and saw John with another man standing at the front door. Recognizing Michael, she decided to approach him. “What are you doing here?”

“Tommy said that they could come for us today.” He answered her as she came closer to him. “Oh, where does the sudden worry come from? Tell Tommy he can fuck himself.” She harshly told him, the anger getting the best of her.

“It’s the mafia we’re talking about (Y/N)!” Michael yelled at her. “As if we don’t know that!” She barked at him. Michael decided to focus his attention on his cousin. “John come to the meeting. And if you want to leave, then fine.” He desperately tried to change his thoughts. “It’s Christmas, Michael. We’re staying here.” (Y/N) sneered.

The sound of hooves came closer, John turned his head and saw a horse with a carriage stopping in front of them. A bale of hay was pushed off the carriage, revealing a man with a gun. John immediately cocked his rifle and pointed it at the man. “Get in the fucking house!”

Michael pushed (Y/N) to the door. “Go!” Shots were fired as Michael tried to warn John when men with automatic rifles revealed themselves. “John!” (Y/N) yelled as she approached him again. “Get the fuck inside!” He barked at her, shooting at the men. “John, please!” She begged him, knowing he wasn’t going to win this on his own.

He kept shooting at the men as he gave her a firm push. “Go! Get the fuck away from here!” He yelled at her, desperate for her to leave the scene.

“(Y/N) GO-” His sentence was cut short as the impact of the bullets that entered her body caused her to fall on the tiles in front of their house. A burning sensation rushed trough her, followed by intense pain. Tears rolled down her cheeks while she gasped for air.

The rain of bullets stopped not long after, leaving them in complete silence. She heard Michael’s faint groans but John was quiet. She tried to turn her head carefully but her body didn’t let her do much.

It took her a while to adjust her eyes to look out for John, finding his body laying close to her. A soft sob escaped her mouth. “John...” Her voice was barely a whisper.

Her eyes were searching for John’s blue ones. More tears spilled over her cheeks. The eyes who once held so much life and looked at her with so much love were now empty, replaced by an endless stare. Blood was slowly dripping from his mouth.

She wanted to scream. Scream at him, to tell him to wake up. All she wanted was to hold him and maybe, just maybe she could save him.

But she couldn’t. She tried to reach out for his hand with the last bit of strength she had. Her hand on top of his, that was all she was able to do. Hopefully he somehow felt it, so that he knew that he wasn’t alone.

Her breathing slowed down. She took a glance at John as the pain in her body slowly started to fade. Her eyes found his once more before her sight went blurry.

Every time things took a turn for the worst, there was somehow a way out. Except for now.

(Y/N) wandered trough the unfamiliar place. She didn’t recognize it although it was pretty and felt peaceful. She stopped to take in the surroundings and to adjust her dress that looked a bit different than she could remember. After a brief moment she decided to continue her walk.

“Mrs. Shelby?” A voice suddenly came closer. (Y/N) turned around and noticed a young woman who was looking at her. “Yes?” She answered questionably. “Come, follow me.” The woman smiled at her. Her eyes examined her appearance. Not too sure if she could trust this woman.

"Can I ask you something?” (Y/N) questioned her. “Yes, of course.” She kindly replied. “Where exactly am I? And where are-” She stopped mid sentence as she heard someone yelling in the distance.

“It’s not my fucking fault, do you think I fucking planned it?!” John yelled at the man who was standing in front him. “Mr. Shelby we made an agreement. How could you let this happen?” The man asked him sternly.

“Do you think this is something I wanted?! For fucks sake!” He spat angrily at the man. “We got fucking ambushed! I did what I fucking could!”

A gasp left her mouth when she realized it really was her husband. She pushed past the woman to get to him. “John!” She called out his name but was stopped by the woman who was holding onto her wrist.

“You can’t go there.” She warned. “Why not? He’s my husband. Let me go!” (Y/N) angrily yelled, pulling on her wrist.

“You can’t go ma’am. They’re discussing a very important issue.” She answered her calmly. “I don’t care! Who even are you?” She finally got out of the woman’s grasp before giving her a furious glare.

“(Y/N)!” A very familiar voice had called out to her. Turning her head in the direction of the voice, she saw John coming in her direction. “John!” Not wanting to waste any more time, she ran to him as fast as she could. “John...” She repeated softly when her arms finally held his body tightly against hers, tears falling onto her cheeks. His arms found their way around her right away.

The warmth of his body made her feel at ease. They held each other tightly until John grabbed her face to look at her. His beautiful, loving blue eyes were staring into hers. Happiness filled his senses as he saw that she was okay.

Happiness that lasted until realization struck him. “You’re not supposed to be here.” He told her, guilt dripping from his words. “What do you mean? I don’t even know where I am.” She told him, confused by his sudden remark.

“I told you to go inside.” He said softly, not having the heart to tell her the actual reason she was here. “I wanted to protect you.” She answered him. “You had no chance.” John sighed, carefully letting go of her face.

“You didn’t either.” (Y/N) looked at him, remembering his body, the blood coming from his mouth, his empty eyes. Silence fell over her, as she stared at him. Her brain started slowly to comprehend what had happened.

She touched his cheek carefully, her fingers slid slowly over his freckled skin. His eyes were focused on her face. “Are you in pain?” She asked him quietly. John shook his head. “No.”

Her hand moved down to his neck and slowly down over his chest. He didn’t seem injured. “I saw you.” She whispered as she looked up at him. “I know, love. I’m sorry.”

“(Y/N) I’m so sorry. I-” John was cut off by the man who he was just arguing with. “Mrs. Shelby, my apologies.” She looked up at him, switching her gaze between him and John, not knowing what to say.

The man shifted his attention at John. “Do you want to tell her or should I?” John gave him a glare before taking her hand, leading her away from the man to a more enclosed space.

“John, what is going on?” He looked down and took a deep breath as guilt washed over him, knowing he had failed her. “John?” Her soft voice made him look up at her again.

“I-” He sighed before continuing. “I had made an agreement but I fucked up.” Her eyes fell on his fingers who were nervously playing with his cufflinks. “I don’t understand. You made an agreement with who?”

“That man who apologized to you.” He pinched the bridge of his nose before taking another deep breath. “Listen, remember when I wrote you when I was in France? That I was injured?” (Y/N) nodded, remembering it all too well.

“Do you remember that I told you that it wasn’t bad and that I was fine?” He asked, trying to make sense. She nodded again.

“I lied. I didn’t want you to worry about me. Not more than you already did.” He sighed. “They lost me for a moment there. That’s when I met that man. He gave me a second chance.” He confessed, his eyes staring into hers.

“I told him I couldn’t leave you and that I wasn’t ready to go yet. He could only give me a second chance if I promised to him that I would look out for you.” He looked down while taking a deep breath.

“You were always my guardian angel, remember? I agreed on being yours from that day.” Tears had slipped from his eyes, down his freckled cheeks.

“And I’m so sorry, (Y/N). I’m so sorry I failed you.” He felt her arms around his waist as he heard her quiet sobs. He held her, stroking her hair gently. “I really thought I could protect you.”

“You did. You always did.” She looked up at him. “We both knew we had no chance.” She assured him as he wiped the tears gently off her cheeks. “I don’t blame you John.”

"The fucking wops killed you and I’ve let them.” He mumbled. “Our kids lost their parents. You have every right to blame me.”

“Are the children okay?” She carefully asked, afraid of the answer. “They’re okay. They’re safe.” He assured her, his heart hurting at the mention of their kids.

“They’re not injured?” She whispered. “They’re not. I promise you, they’re fine and taken care of.” He sweared as her eyes turned glossy. “Are you sure?” A breathy whisper fell from her lips. “I am, love. I really am.” He assured her again as he watched her tears fall down from her cheeks.

She leaned her head against his chest as silence fell over them. He held her tightly, feeling her hands slowly stroking his back. Both lost for words.

(Y/N) let go of him after a while, grabbing his wettened cheeks between her hands, her own tears still falling. He looked down at her, a remorseful glance in his eyes.

“We have to look out for them from here. So it hasn’t been for nothing.” She said with determination in her voice.

She gently wiped the tears off his cheeks. “I know they are proud of you. Their dad protected them and he will always continue to do so, even from heaven.” A small smile appeared on her face before pressing a soft kiss on his lips. “You’ve always been our guardian angel after all.”

✧ Idea from this prompt , like I mentioned before I gave it my own twist.

#john shelby one shot #john shelby imagine #john shelby x reader #peaky blinders fanfic #peaky blinders one shot

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dvrk-moon · 7 months

Text

LOVE ME (NOT) - YANG JUNGWON

TEASER 2

synopsis : fake dating your enemy, yang jungwon, for the sake of getting your mutual friends to stop playing matchmaker is the worst idea you’ve ever heard in your life. however, it’s a bit more enticing when $100 is thrown in the mix.

word count : 1k

warnings : one killing joke

genre : enemies-to-lovers, fake dating, slow burn, jungwon x fem!reader, private school au, high school au

playlist : tba

expected release date : maybe a couple weeks

send in an ask / leave a comment to be added to the taglist!

ii. GYUVIN’S (LACK OF) GOOD IDEAS

You rolled yourself across your twin-sized mattress as you turned to face your two best friends, Minji and Gyuvin. You’d called them over to your family’s apartment to catch up, which was a much needed occasion, as you three hadn’t had much time to talk recently.

Minji and Gyuvin had just entered your bedroom door and stepped into your room, which was littered in posters, pictures, and art. Your room had always been cluttered (or “used to its maximum capacity” as your mother liked to phrase it) like this so your best friends weren’t surprised at anything when they walked in.

“Thanks for knocking.” You sarcastically remarked, pushing yourself onto your forearms to look at them. You watched as your two friends made their ways to the area in front of the foot of your bed, and saw as Minji took a seat on the rug on your floor. Gyuvin opted to take your desk chair and roll it to sit next to Minji, yet be eye-level with you.

“You look stressed,” Gyuvin commented, teasing you, “but what else is new.”

You flopped your face into your bed and let out a muffled and sarcastic, “Ha, ha.”

You heard a smacking sound and then an “Ow!” from Gyuvin. Minji stood up and made you scoot over so she could lay next to you in your bed, “Ignore him. His panties are in a twist right now for some reason.”

You turned your head to the left to look at her for a moment before dramatically flopping back into the mattress.

Minji patted your head, “What’s wrong, Y/N? You’re not usually this dramatic when we come over.”

Gyuvin stifled a laugh before quieting as soon as Minji sent him a pointed look.

You dramatically rolled over to face the ceiling of your room, “Why are boys so horrible?”

“Oh, don’t tell me you have a crush,” Minji groaned, “I’m no good with those.”

“No, no!” You rushed to correct her, not missing how Gyuvin was taunting in the mean time. He sung, “Ooh~ Y/N has a crush!”

“He is not a crush! He’s the worst person I’ve ever met!”

“Come on, Y/N,” Minji poked you, “he can’t be the worst person you’ve ever met. Think about Gyuvin!”

You rolled your eyes at Gyuvin, who was still taunting you with his song, “Gyuvin, shut the hell up!”

You watched as Minji lifted a hand that threatened to fall onto Gyuvin’s exposed thigh, and to which Gyuvin immediately shut up.

“What guy are you talking about?” Minji asked, looking back down at you.

“He’s this guy from the new school. He’s such an asshole to me for no reason. I mean, there might be a reason, but I can’t think of a valid one.”

“What does he do?” Gyuvin pitched in, finally getting his attention piqued from the conversation at hand.

“Like, everything?” You let out, “I’m not even sure where to start.”

“Saying ‘everything’ gives us no idea what this guy does, Y/N.”

You groaned dramatically before filling your friends in on the entire situation with Jungwon:

“I haven’t really told you guys about this guy before,” you started, using your hands to explain your story. Minji nodded as you told your story, while Gyuvin was spinning in his chair endlessly. You continued, “but there’s a guy at the new school, his name is Jungwon. Yang Jungwon.”

“Yang Y/N~” Gyuvin teased. Minji reached over to harshly smack his leg.

You rolled your eyes, “Anyways, he’s basically the worst person I’ve ever met. His dad runs a corporation of local gas stations, so he’s basically filthy rich. I say this because not only is he like every other private school kid that makes fun of my wealth status, but he’s also threatened to sue my parents multiple times. Most of the time he has no reason.

“The reason I’m so particularly upset about him is because I went to my school friends’ country club. You guys remember Wonyoung?” They both nodded, because as Wonyoung was your closest private school friend, of course your actual closest friends knew about her existence.

“Okay,” you said, “so we were at her country club, but her boyfriend and his friend are also there, and you’ll never guess who the friend is! Jungwon!

“He’s an ass to me basically the whole time while I’ve been trying to be nice to him,” you sighed, “I don’t know what his problem is. I didn’t even do anything to him. Anyways, we were partnered up because we were playing doubles tennis at the country club, because Wonyoung wanted to be on the same team as her boyfriend. That’s understandable, and I haven’t held it against her or anything. But he is not only a sore loser, but just a jerk to me.”

Minji nodded in sympathy at you while Gyuvin made his presence known, “Kill him. Easy as that.”

“You’re sick in the head, you know that?” MInji questioned him.

“He’s a private school kid, Y/N.” Gyuvin said, standing up from the chair to stand over you. “I really don’t know what you’re expecting from someone like him. He’s probably never been told ‘No’ in his life.”

“I’m also a private school kid…” you murmured.

“Yeah, but you weren’t brought up that way. He undoubtedly was.” Gyuvin said.

You nodded, “You’re right.”

“Always am.”

“The problem is that it’s my senior year,” you lamented, “and I don’t want it to be bad just because some pest can’t leave me alone. I just don’t know how to get rid of him.”

“You could always drop out.” Gyuvin offered, going to sit back down in the chair.

“That’s a horrible idea,” Minji said, “don’t listen to him. I’m sure that as long as you don’t pay much mind to this Jungwon guy then you’ll be fine. Plus, you have Wonyoung. They’re basically the same height, and she could probably beat him in a fight.”

You laughed, “I don’t know, I like Wonyoung a lot, but she’s basically Ivy Hills royalty. She has a reputation to manage. I’m sure fighting with Jungwon wouldn’t do her much good.”

“I would pay money to see that fight.” Gyuvin announced.

“You’re weird.”

“My mind is an enigma. I wouldn’t expect commonfolk like you to understand.”

a/n : hey long time no see

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harringtonstilinski · 3 months

Text

Always The Babysitter - Chapter Thirty-Four: The Piggyback

Author: @harringtonstilinski Characters: Steve Harrington x Olivia Henderson(OC) Word Count: 5,826 Warnings: squint for fluff, angst, canon violence, liv being indecisive but go with it, buggy = shopping cart in southern terms, Smut: no | yes; 18+ MINORS DNI: A/N: Hi, friends! I can't believe we're one chapter away from the end until Season 5 comes out! If you like this chapter, please do not hesitate to reblog and give some feedback, whether it be in the reblogs, comments, or my inbox. As always, read at your own risk and enjoy 😊

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When Steve found a spot under a tree to park the RV, Nance immediately jumped into action telling us the plan that we’ve heard a million times already. The only few things on my mind was hoping that Max was gonna be okay in the end, Dustin being safe and not getting hurt, and Steve living so that I can kiss him stupid the rest of our lives.

But all of that being on my mind didn’t stop Nancy from saying, “Okay. I wanna run it through one more time.”

Groaning, I said, “Nancy! We’ve gone over this a million times over.”

“Just to make sure everyone has it so that no one deviates from the plan.”

Slapping my hands on my thighs, I stood up saying, “Fine. You wanna run it over again? Fine. Phase fucking One, meet Erica at the playground across the street from the Creel house who will signal Max and Lucas when we’re ready. Phase fucking Two-”

“Max baits Vecna,” Steve interrupted.

“Which I’m not fucking okay with because he’ll put her in a trance before lifting her in the air to snap her bones,” I add. “Phase fucking Three, Dusty and Eddie will somehow distract the bats from the House, which I’m also not okay with. Phase fucking Four, we, as in myself, Steve, Robin and you, Nance, will all four go in to the House that is now bat-free, find Vecna and flambé his ass to a deeper part of hell. Oh, and Phase fucking Five, we can’t die ‘cause I gotta be able to kiss my boyfriend stupid.”

It was silent for a moment before Nancy said, “Nobody moves on to the next Phase until we’ve all copied.”

“And don’t fucking deviate, please,” I added before whispering, “For the love of God.”

“Got it?”

I walked out of the RV with my weapons in hand as everyone else repeated the words back to Nancy, Steve calling my name a couple of seconds later, his hand on my back not a moment after that.

Stopping my steps, I took a deep breath, releasing it before he asked, “What’s wrong, beautiful?”

“I’m just scared,” I whispered. “And nervous, and anxious, and terrified… petrified!... worried as hell about Max. She’s been through so much in the last 8 months.”

“And you’ve been there for her every step of the way,” he replied, placing his hand on my cheek lovingly.. “You’re like the big sister she never had.”

“Hey, lovebirds!” Dustin called out.

Steve and I sighed at the same time, chuckling softly once we realized it. Grabbing my hand to lace our fingers, he said, “Come on. Let’s go kick Vecna’s ass.”

“Gladly.”

We made our walk to Eddie’s trailer, stopping about halfway to place a quick kiss on each other’s lips. Steve walked into the trailer first, turning on the lights and placing his bag on the ground. I walked in after, followed by Nancy, Robin, Dustin and Eddie.

“Be careful,” Dustin said.

“Thanks, buddy,” Steve said. Looking at me for a quick moment, he said, “I love you” before giving me the quickest kiss he’s ever given me before grabbing the sheet, saying, “Here goes nothing” before he hoisted himself up the sheets into the Gate and down - well, I guess up in this case - into the Upside Down by doing some sort of flipping motion before landing on his feet.

He looked up at us, as we did him, before he walked away as Robin sarcastically said, “Ohhhhhh! What does he want us to do, applaud?”

He came into view with a mattress for a landing pad. “Let’s go.”

I dropped my own bag, grabbing the sheet when Nancy grabbed it at the same time. Looking at her with raised brows, I said, “Uhm, I’m going next.”

“Well, I’m in charge of this whole operation,” she replied.

“Babe, let’s go,” Steve said.

I saw her twitch ever so slightly before I shook my head and let go. She hoisted herself up, flipping to land on her back on the mattress. Robin and I looked at each other for a split second before she squatted a little, fingers laced with her palms up. A hand on my back had me looking at who touched me; Eddie, moving to stand opposite of Robin in the same stance.

“Come on, Liv,” Eddie said.

I moved to stand in between Eddie and Robin, putting my foot into Eddie’s hands, releasing a deep breath before looking at the sheet in front of me, saying, “This better be like fucking gym class.”

Robin and Eddie snickered as I grabbed the sheets, feeling them move in sync to stand, helping to hoist me up the sheets before I entered the Gate, my hair that was once below me now above me. “Oh, god. Oh, god. Oh, god.” I closed my eyes as I dropped, feeling another body collide with mine. “Feet, ass or face?”

“Neither,” Steve chuckled.

I opened my eyes quickly to see what he was talking about, and the sight had me swooning. Somehow in between my climbing the sheets and dropping, Steve had moved to stand on the mattress, catching me as I fell from letting go of the sheets. “I think I just fell in love with you even more if that’s at all possible.”

He kissed me as he placed me on my feet, both of us getting off the mattress before mine, his and Nancy’s bags landed before us.

Eddie was the next human to drop down before his shield was dropped, Robin and her gear dropping before the rest of Dustin and Eddie’s gear dropped, my brother being the last human to hit the mattress. He looked a little disoriented for a moment before Eddie and Steve helped him up.

Nancy, Robin, Steve, myself, Dustin and Eddie all exited the trailer… in that order, before I turned around and said to Eddie and Dustin, “Hey, guys, listen. If things here start to go south, I mean, at all, you fucking abort.” I looked at Dustin, saying, “Got me? Abort mission.”

“Draw the attention of the bats,” Steve added. “Keep ‘em busy for a minute or two. We’ll take care of Vecna.”

“Being cute or fucking heroes or shit isn’t gonna work here,” I said. “This isn’t a board game. This is the real freakin’ deal. Okay? I’m sorry to say that you’re-”

“Decoys,” Dustin said. “Don’t worry. Steve, here, can be the hero.”

“Absolutely,” Eddie said. “I mean, look at us. We are noooooooot heroes.” He softly chuckled.

I pulled Dustin into a hug, one that he immediately returned. “Please be safe, Dusty. Mom and I can’t lose you,” I whispered.

“You won’t,” he whispered back.

I pulled back from the hug, turning to Eddie to give him one as well as I whispered, “Please keep him safe.” I pulled back, placing my hands on his cheeks. “I need you to be safe, as well, Munson. Dustin and I can’t lose our best friend.”

He nodded slightly before he wrapped his arms around my middle, giving me another hug. We stayed like that as he said, “Hey, Steve? Make him pay.”

I backed away from the hug, going to Dustin to give him one more, kissing him on his forehead. “I love you, Dusty.”

“I love you, too, Liv,” Dustin replied.

“Come on, babe,” Steve said.

I turned and walked to him, our fingers entwining as we started our walk towards the woods behind the trailer park, and I honestly wasn’t sure how long we’d been walking for before I started complaining.

“Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaabe,” I whined. “Distract me from all this walking. My feet hurt.”

Robin answered my call by saying, “Uh… I don’t mean to freak anyone out, but I swear we’ve seen this tree before.”

“Don’t say that, Robs.”

“That’s impossible,” Nancy said.

“That would suck if we did,” I said.

“If Vecna destroyed the world because… ‘cause we got lost in the woods?” Robin said.

“Robin Buckley, you stop it,” I said, a little sternly.

“We’re not lost, Robin,” Nancy replied to her.

Robin started chuckling as she walked off, Nancy following behind her saying, “Robin, hey. Watch out for the vines! Hive mind.”

That left Steve and I by ourselves, which was very nice. I sighed deeply while resting my head on his shoulder as we followed after Nancy and Robin, our steps a little bit more slower than theirs.

“Don’t worry about Robin,” Steve said. “She’s just stressed.”

“Scared,” I breathed. Looking up at him, I smiled softly. “I know. It’s just… she’s super klutzy.”

“So are you,” he chuckled.

“But I’m not as bad as she is,” I said, smiling up at him.

“When you’re extremely tired, yes you are.”

“Well, at least I didn’t crawl backwards when I was a baby.”

“Always in reverse,” he said.

“Not always.”

“You push to move, right? I mean, it makes sense.”

“Not really,” I chuckled.

He let go of my hand for a moment before putting his arm around my neck, letting his hand dangle by my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around his middle, being careful of the ax on his back.

“Well, it did to my little Harrington brain,” Steve said. “That is until I reversed my baby butt down a flight of stairs and thumped my head really good.”

I chuckled, resting the back of my head on his arm. “You never told me that!”

“I didn’t?” he asked. “Hm. Thought I did.”

“Nope,” I said, shaking my head lightly. “But that explains a lot.”

“Yeah, I think it kinda does,” he replied, kissing the side of my head. “I think, like, right of the gate, like, I’m super confident, ya’know, but I’m also, like, an idiot. Which is just… like, it’s a brutal combination.”

“No you’re not,” I said, looking up at him.

“But, I mean, the good news is, I get a big enough thump on my head, I can change, ya’know. I can… learn. I can… crawl forward.” He was quiet for a moment before he said, “Listen, I guess what I’m trying to say in a really stupid, roundabout way is, uhm…” He stopped walking, which made me stop walking to look up at him since I had looked at the ground to watch for vines. He cupped my cheek causing me to lean into it as he said, “Is thank you.”

“Thank me?” I said, softly. “For what?”

“For giving my head the biggest thump of its life two years ago. I needed it.”

With furrowed brows, I followed the pattern on his shirt that I could see in this darkness, thinking of when I gave him that thump two years ago when it somewhat hit me. “The night we were in the junkyard because we were baiting Dart?”

“That night changed my life. And now I’m crawling forward.” He kissed my forehead, a smile on his face as he looked at me for a moment before walking away. “Slowly. I just wonder sometimes…”

I started walking after him, easily catching up to him as he continued, “ya’know if… some other girl had given a proper thump when we weren’t talking or hanging out.”

“When you became King Steve?” I asked.

He sighed, sharply. “Yeah. Would things have been different? Would we be together today?”

“I’m not sure,” I said, softly with sadness lacing my voice. “I’d honestly be in jail most likely. I think you gave me a thump.” It was quiet for a moment before I said, “Sometimes I think that if we’d be meeting for the first time right now, like, a part of me… a part of me thinks we wouldn’t be where we are today. Together.”

“In love?” he asked, stopping his steps to look at me.

I looked at him, all the love and adoration for him in my eyes. “Yeah. In love.”

“You remember the dream I told you about?”

“The migraine of six lil’ nuggets, yes.”

“It’s all true. Every last word, but there’s one very important detail I left out. The most important part.”

“What’s that?” I asked, resting my hands on his chest as his hand came to rest on my cheek again.

“You’re there,” he said. He rested his forehead against mine, sighing. “You’ve always been there.”

Tears filled my eyes as I pulled back enough to look him in the eyes. We were leaning towards each other, our lips about to meet before Robin’s voice came through as she made her way toward us.

“Hey, guys!”

I sighed, then whispered, “She’s such a cockblocker.”

“You guys! Awesome news!” She stopped to catch her breath. “Looks like we weren’t going the wrong way after all.” She turned away from us, going back the way she came.

“Come on!” Nancy said.

“Okay, okay, jeez,” I breathed. Looking back up at Steve, I couldn’t help but smile. I pressed my lips against his, feeling him kiss me back immediately. When we pulled apart, I looked deep into his eyes. “We’ll finish that later.”

Turning to walk towards the direction that Robin and Nancy went, Steve grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers once again before bringing my hand up to his lips, pressing a kiss to my hand. “I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too.”

We made our way through the woods to the edge, making our way down a very small hill, the Upside Down version of the Creel house in front of us, demobats surrounding the top of it. I looked over to my right, seeing a small ball of light, my face lighting up with relief as I whispered, “Erica.”

~~~

We had successfully moved to the playground before I put my hand inside the ball of light, hopefully brightening up Erica’s flashlight. We got confirmation when she said, “Okay, the lovebirds have copied. Max is moving into Phase Two: Distracting Vecna.”

“I’m still not okay with it,” I said.

“We’re not even at the hardest part yet,” Steve said.

Nancy looked at the house, taking a few steps towards it before I heard her softly say, “Take the bait, you son of a bitch. Take… the bait.”

I rolled my eyes, feeling Steve’s hands on my arms, rubbing up and down. I looked at him as he whispered, “She’ll be okay.”

It seemed like forever before Erica’s voice came back through, scaring the shit out of me. “Okay, she’s in. Initiate Phase Three.”

Robin hit the button on the walkie talkie that Lucas had given her to use, saying into the mouthpiece, “She’s in. Move on to Phase Three.”

“Copy that,” Dustin said. “Initiating Phase Three.”

I heard faint guitar playing, my metal heart happy as we hid under the rocket. “Fuck yes, Munson,” I whispered as the bats flew overhead. I knew exactly what the song was, it being one of my newest favorites.

“Okay, it’s working,” Nancy said.

“Of course it’s working,” I said. “It’s freaking metal music.”

“Let’s go.”

We crawled out from under the rocket before I stopped for a moment, raising my hand in the air, index finger and pinky lifted in the rock on symbol. “Rock on, Munson.”

“Liv, come on,” Steve said.

I put my hand down, running to catch up with him and the girls to walk across the street to the Creel house. Steve opened the door and entered first, always putting himself in front of the danger.

He pointed his flashlight down on the floor, vines slithering everywhere.

“Oh, shit,” he and I said. “That’s not good.”

He looked back at me for a second before looking back in front of him, ready to make a move.

I put my hand on his shoulder, stopping him. “Wait. Remember when we were walking along the tracks to the old junkyard with Dustin?” He nodded his head, so I continued my explanation, smiling. “Except, I wasn’t in the middle of the tracks like you and Dusty were. I was on the metal part of the track. Balancing.”

Placing a kiss on his cheek, I looked at him and said, “Don’t worry, babe. I got this.” Looking in front of me, I picked a good spot to start at where there weren't any vines. I did this until I reached the stairs, where I did it again until I was at the landing, Steve and the girls following my exact movements. I only knew that because if they hadn’t followed my exact steps, we’d all be toast.

I saw flashing red coming from where the attic is, and I immediately saw the color in my own eyes, angry with this creature for putting our Max in harm's way. I heard rustling behind me, so I looked to see what the commotion was; Steve taking Nancy’s shortened shotgun from her bag before he took his ax from his.

Not two seconds after I turned back to face the stairs to the attic, what felt like an earthquake hit, sending me flying back into Steve, Nancy and Robin.

“Oh, my god. Oh, my god. Oh, my god,” I whispered as Steve tried to balance us, Nancy and Robin doing the same. Once it was over, I was breathing a little heavy, Steve’s arm around my middle, keeping me steady.

I stepped away for a minute to regain my breathing some more before I heard squelching below me. I looked down, seeing a couple of the vines wrap around my ankles. “Shit.” I was thrust backwards towards the wall, my back slamming against it. Everything else happened so fast, I didn’t have time to think about my arms being tied up by the vines. I locked eyes with Steve, yelling his name. “Nance! Robin!”

Steve was the first to jump into action, swinging and chopping at the vines that had me basically pinned to this wall, Nancy and Robin pulling and hitting the vines to try and loosen them up a little.

Steve was the next one to get strung up high on the same wall as me, him grabbing at the vine around his neck before the vines put his arms against the wall. Nancy and Robin being the last two to be strung on the wall opposite Steve and I.

I saw the vines going around Nancy and Robin’s necks, feeling them along mine as well. My eyes started to close at their own will, my oxygen almost ceasing to exist until the vines loosened on my neck, wrists, ankles and stomach. I dropped to the ground, coughing and breathing deep to revive my oxygen levels.

Watching as the vines seemed to be called away, a hand landed on my back as I attempted to get my breathing back to normal. I looked at who was touching me, glad to see that it was Steve.

“Are you okay?” he asked, hoarsely.

“Well, considering alternate dimension vines just about killed me, I’d say I’m pretty far alright,” I said, hoarsely.

“I don’t believe in a higher power or divine intervention,” Robin said, her voice hoarse. “But that was a miracle.”

I stood up with Steve’s help, turning to face the attic door. “I do believe in higher power, so let’s not waste that miracle.” Stepping in front of the group, my eyes never faltered from the attic door. “Let’s go kill that son of a bitch and send his fucking ass back to the deepest pits of hell.”

Nancy cocked her shotgun before Steve breathed out, “Phase Four.”

“Flambé,” Robin said.

I lead the group up the stairs to the attic, anger filling me at the sight of Vecna being strung up by vines with his arms out and palms up. I breathed out an angry breath before I whispered, “There’s that ugly son of bitch.”

Nancy, Steve, myself and Robin stood in front of Vecna, looking at him for a moment. I looked up at Steve, and he at me before we both looked at Robin, ready to flambé this son of a bitch.

Steve put his bottle in front of me after I took a small step back so as to not be in the literal line of fire. After Robin had lit the cloth up, I put my hand on Steve’s upper arm, his eyes looking into mine as I whispered, “Don’t miss.” “I won’t,” he whispered back. He and I, as well as Robin, looked back at Vecna before I stepped closer to Robin right before Steve brough his arm back to toss the homemade molotov at this monster in front of us, the glass bottle flying through the air.

The bottle hit Vecna, sending him into flames, the heat causing me to cower back a little, eyes closed. The vines burned off his back, sending him to the ground.

Robin lit her cocktail before hurling it at him, the four of us cowering just a little from the new heat it emitted. Nancy took that as go time as she started to shoot at Vecna, each hit of her bullets sending him backwards. He turned around and yelled at us, Nancy sending one more shot at the creature, sending him flying backwards out of the window and down to ground below.

I wanted to see this ugly bastard dead for myself, so I turned tail and ran straight out of the house, Robin, Nancy and Steve all three following behind me. Once we made it outside, anger filled me again as the spot where I knew Vecna landed… was empty with the exception of a few little spots of fire.

“What the fuck?” I breathed. I looked at all three of them, breathing heavily. “The cocktails and bullets should’ve killed him. Where the hell did he go?”

I got my answer in the form of the clock inside starting its chiming. “Fuck,” I whispered, turning around and going back into the house. My emotions were on high alert as I counted each chime. “One. Two. Three. Four.” As the fourth one faded out, tears were gathering in my eyes as I realized what that meant. “Max.”

To say I was upset would be an understatement. The earthquake-like rumble hit again, Steve’s arm going back around my waist to keep me steady as my hands went to Nancy’s arms to keep her steady as we all stumbled towards the post of the staircase.

Once that was done and over with, I pushed off Steve and made my way outside, tears streaming down my face.

“Liv,” Steve said. “Babe, wait!”

“No!” I screamed, turning back to face him. “I told you that letting her be the bait was a horrible idea, and did any of you listen? No!” I walked up to him, hitting his chest as I said, “You all let her be the bait and now she’s dead!”

He grabbed my wrists before wrapping his arms around me tightly, trapping my arms between the two of us as I continued my sobs, “She’s dead. Max is dead!”

~~~

Once we had made our way back to Eddie’s trailer, I saw Dustin sitting on the ground with Eddie’s body, our eyes connecting as my brother yelled out my name. I quickly ran over to him, seeing blood coming from Eddie’s mouth.

He looked up at me, smiling a little. “Hey, female Henderson.”

“Liv, the bats,” Dustin breathed.

Looking from Dustin back to Eddie, I said, “You’re not fucking dying, Munson. Do you hear me?” I looked at Steve and the girls, saying, “Come over here and help me pick him up.”

“How are we gonna get him through the Gate?” Dustin asked.

“I’m not sure, but we’ll figure it out.”

Steve, Robin and Nancy were at my side in a second when Dustin tried standing up, a pained cry coming from his mouth. They somehow managed to get Eddie up on his feet while I helped Dustin up.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Fell on the floor coming back through the Gate to get to Eddie,” Dustin said. “I was in our Hawkins when I climbed back through.”

“Damn it, Dustin,” I breathed. By the grace of God, I got him inside and up the sheets. I hadn’t realized that Steve, Robin, Nancy and Eddie were all in our Hawkins until I heard my name being called from Eddie’s room.

Walking in his room, I saw the amount of pain he was in, just like Steve was. Quickly jumping into action, I searched the trailer for antiseptic wipes, gauze and tape. As Eddie grunted in pain, I decided to distract him a little bit.

“That was a pretty metal concert you put on in there,” I said.

“Yeah?” he breathed.

“Oh, hell yeah! Master of Puppets by Metallica? Pretty fucking metal.”

Eddie and I talked about metal music the entire time I worked on dressing his wounds. Looking at his neck as I went to clean it up a bit, I lightly chuckled. “You and Steve are gonna be wound twins.”

He was confused for a moment before he, too, lightly chuckled. “Yeah, I guess we are.”

“Ya’know, he’s not a bad guy. Steve. He’s not so bad.”

“But wasn’t he, like, a dick to you?”

I shrugged. “Came with his newfound popularity. I got used to it. Once all this shit started happening when Will went missing, we kind of… I don’t know, I guess we found each other again.”

“All of this has happened before with the alternate dimension?”

“The Upside Down? Yeah.” I proceeded to tell Eddie everything from the Demogorgon in ‘83, the Mind Flayer possessing Will, as well as Dart in ‘84, the Russians and the Mind Flayer again last year in ‘85, and now this whole thing with Vecna.

He was quiet for a while, everything processing. Once everything was processed, he nodded his head with a slight smile on his face. “Right on.” The smile slowly diminished once he realized the severity of it all.

Since Eddie couldn’t stay at his trailer because of the manhunt still going on for him, we had to find a safe place for him to stay. I guess that place ended up being mine and Dustin’s house.

Eddie, Steve, myself and Dustin walked into the house, Mom freaking out because of Eddie.

“Mama!”I said, following her to the phone. I placed it back on its hook once I took it from her hand. “Mama, listen to me. He’s not a murderer. He didn’t kill Chrissy.”

“Then what happened, Livvie?” Mom asked.

“I can’t tell you, but just know that he didn’t do it, okay? I promise.”

Mom and I looked at each other, her eyes coming to an understanding. She nodded at me before looking at Eddie. “Since Livvie’s gonna be staying with Steve at his house tonight, you can take her room.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Henderson,” Eddie said.

“Please,” she said, walking up to him to cup his cheeks in that motherly way. “Call me Claudia… or Mom.”

I could see the tears start to form in his eyes as he nodded his head. He looked at me before I gestured with my head for him to follow me. I led him into my room, letting him take it all in.

“Now, Dustin’s room is across the hall if you’d rather sleep in there on his bed,” I said. “He can take the floor. Uhm… don’t touch my landline, don’t open my drawer, but everything else is fair game.”

“Thanks,” Eddie said, smiling a little before he said, “Livvie.”

“If you weren’t demobat chow, I’d punch you in the gut.”

He chuckled before closing his eyes in pain. He sat down on my bed as I walked out of my room, going to the bathroom to retrieve our first-aid kit.

“It’s not much,” I said, coming back into my room. “But it’ll-” I looked at him, seeing him laying on my bed, fast asleep. The corner of my mouth lifted before I set the supplies on my nightstand. Walking out of my room, I cracked my door before moving into the living room.

Dustin, Mom and Steve looked at me before I nodded. “I think he’ll be fine. He’s asleep now.” Looking at Dustin, I said, “Please keep an eye on him. Make a pallet in my room or whatever, I don’t care. You’re on Eddie watch tonight.”

He nodded as I pulled him into a hug. I kissed his forehead once we pulled apart, Mom engulfing the both of us into a family hug. When I pulled away from that hug, I went over to Steve, who was standing at the door.

We left my house and went straight to his, where we took a joint shower, just holding each other for a moment before I carefully cleaned his own wounds from being demobat chow. We washed each other's hair like we always did before we both got out of the shower, towel drying off before putting on our pajamas and climbing into bed… after brushing our hair, of course.

As we laid there in each other's arms, a tear fell from the corner of my eye. I didn’t bother to wipe it away as I sniffled. “When is shit gonna go back to normal?” I whispered. “I want a normal life again where we don't have to worry about the world ending.”

Steve held me tighter in arms as I sobbed quietly. “I know, baby,” he whispered back.

“Stupid fucking Vecna,” I sobbed. I didn’t know how long I cried for, or how long Steve and I slept for. It was dark when I went to sleep and it was light when I woke up. Steve was coming out of his bathroom when I sat up in his bed, yawning.

“Hey,” he whispered. “You’re awake.”

“How long did I sleep for?” I asked.

“We slept all day,” he said. “Like, over 24 hours.”

“I guess saving the world a million times over will do that to a person,” I said, stretching my arms and back out.

He let out a quick, quiet laugh before saying, “There’s a note by the phone for you.”

Scrunching my brows, I threw the covers off of me to head downstairs to see this note Steve was talking about. There wasn’t a note anywhere, but Eddie and my brother were sitting on the couch in the living room.

“What are you two doing here?” I asked.

“Wanted to make sure you were okay, female Henderson,” Eddie said.

“I’m-I’m fine,” I stuttered. “What about you, Munson? Are you okay?” He nodded his head a little. “A little sore, but I’ll be alright.”

“Mom wants you home,” Dustin said.

I nodded and went back upstairs to find Steve putting on his shoes. I let him know that I was gonna go home, and he in turn let me know that he’d be coming with me. I smiled at him and walked up to him, kissing his lips before turning to my drawers to get clothes to dress in.

Once I was dressed, Steve and I went back downstairs, seeing Eddie and Dustin already by the front door. We quickly hurried to Steve’s car, careful not to draw attention to ourselves with Eddie. Steve drove us back to mine and Dustin’s house, where we all walked in the front door, the boys sitting on the couch.

After I turned on the tv, I sat down next to Dustin, the news playing on the screen as the anchorman gave the news. “It’s been less than 48 hours since a 7.4 magnitude earthquake rocked the quaint town of Hawkins, 80 miles outside Indianapolis, in an event that seismologists are calling ‘a natural disaster of near-unprecedented scale.’ The death toll now stands at 22. But with hundreds more filling Roane County hospitals and many more still missing, officials expect those numbers to rise. This is only the latest tragedy to befall this once-safe town. Most recently, a sting of high school students were killed in a series of ritualistic murders, which have been linked to a local satanic cult known as Hellfire. Eddie Munson, the leader of this cult and prime suspect in the murders, has been missing since the earthquake and is presumed dead. But this offers little comfort to the people of Hawkins, who are scared, angry, and searching for answers. Why their town? What have they done to deserve so much suffering? A growing chorus believes the two recent tragedies are linked, claiming the Munson murders opened a doorway between worlds. A doorway, they say, into hell itself.”

Disappointment flooded my body, my head shaking at the so-called news report. “Are you guys hearing this? They’re calling it a doorway into hell. They haven’t even seen hell, much less been to it.” I sighed, turning off the tv and standing up. “Come on. We gotta get to the Wheeler’s.”

~~~

We ended up leaving Eddie at our house where he could get some more rest before Steve drove to pick up Robin. She placed a box in the trunk before she got in the backseat with Dustin, Steve driving to the Wheeler’s as she got settled.

Once we got to the Wheeler’s, Steve opened his trunk, an empty box being placed on the edge of it before another box was placed by the back driver’s seat.

“Hey, Nance,” Mrs. Wheeler said. “I found some more of your old stuff in the attic.” Nancy walked over to her mother, picking up a toy rabbit for a moment before she placed him back down, grabbing the box from her mother.

A vehicle approaching had gained Mrs. Wheeler’s attention as she asked, “Someone order a pizza?”

“Pizza?” Dustin and I asked. I was so hungry. I turned my head as the horn started to blare, a pale yellow pizza van with a red surfboard attached to the top of it coming into view. “Surfer Boy Pizza?” I asked. “What–”

Mike, Will, Jonathan, El and their friend Argyle piled out of the van, my heart skipping beats and pounding at seeing El. Mike ran to Mrs. Wheeler, calling her name as Nancy and Jonathan ran to each other, the four of them hugging each other, respectfully.

“Olivia!” Eleven called. I smiled bigger than I ever smiled in my life upon seeing her running towards me. I hugged her tight, a few happy tears streaming down my face. When we pulled back, I cupped her cheeks, looking at her. Once I saw her hair, I’m sure the look on my face was more than just shock. “You… you cut your hair?”

She shook her head no. “Papa.”

I looked at her, confused, but she elaborated with, “He’s gone now. Dead.”

Sighing, I touched the top of her head. “Oh, well. It’ll grow back.”

We smiled at each other before she saw Dustin, running to give him a hug. I saw Will next, shocked at how much he grew. “You’re taller than me now.”

“Liv, everyone’s taller than you,” Will said, a big smile on his face.

“Come here,” I said, pulling him into a hug. I looked him over after we pulled apart, stopping at his hair. “Joyce really needs to quit with the bowl cut. That was so ‘81.”

Will laughed at that, pulling me into another hug before asking, “Where’s Lucas?”

“He’s at the hospital,” Dustin said, him and El coming up to stand next to me. I looked back at Steve and Robin, seeing him looking a little sad.

I walked over to him, cupping his cheeks and pulling him in for a kiss. When we pulled apart, we placed our foreheads together, breathing each other in. “I’ll kiss you stupid tonight.”

“Among other things?” he asked, smugly.

“Gross,” Robin whispered.

~~~

Jonathan and Nancy took El, Mike and Will to the hospital to see Lucas, Erica and Max while Dustin, Robin, Steve and I went to the high school to donate some stuff. It was turned into a temporary shelter for those that lost their belongings during the “earthquake.”

The four of us went to the trunk of the car to retrieve the boxes that were in there. Steve looked like he was struggling a little bit, so I took the box from him so that he could close the trunk. He took the box back, chastely kissing me before grabbing my hand, lacing our fingers together as we walked into the gym.

I felt so bad seeing all these people on oxygen and I.V.s as we made our way to the donation table. I really felt the need to help out. Robin, Steve and Dustin set their boxes down as Robin told the volunteer hello.

“Uh, these are blankets and sheets,” Robin said, pointing to each box accordingly. “And some-some clothes, and-and some kids toys.”

“Wow,” the volunteer said. “It’s already so organized. We appreciate that. Do you want a tax receipt for it?”

“Uhm, actually,” I said. “We’d like to help with anything if you need it.”

She looked at me and smiled, telling us which stations to go to. Steve and I were folding and sorting clothes, Robin at the food station, and Dustin walked around, helping to hand out cups of water.

Steve and I were in the middle of folding shirts when we both looked up at Robin and Vickie talking. I looked at her like a proud parent. “At least she isn’t rambling about anything.” “Which one?” Steve laughed.

“Good point,” I chuckled, going back to my folding.

It started getting dark outside, so I just thought it was a normal rainstorm heading this way, but I was wrong once I started to see white flakes floating down. I looked at Steve, worry in my eyes as I watched him look out the window, too. He and I walked towards the windows, as well as Robin and Vickie.

It looked like the Upside Down was coming to Hawkins… as well as another fight for our lives against Vecna.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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A/N 2: hi, friends! pls be kind and reblog! it really helps us content creators out <3

Additional Note: i just wanted to say a quick thank you to my readers on this series for being incredibly patient with me these last few weeks. i've been under a lot of stress, and i think it all just came to a head when my kids were a couple days out from spending time with my dad. my anxiety and depression took a hit because of it. i'm sorry everything is coming out late. it was not my intention. thank you sticking around. it means more to me than you truly realize.

~~~

Forever / Everything Taglist: @stiles-o-dylan24 @stixnstripesworld @fandom-princess-forevermore @quanticobae @mischiefandi @kellyashcroft @lauren-novak

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If you’re tagged and didn’t want to be, please let me know.

~~~

*Please don’t post my writing anywhere else without my consent. The author of this work will always and forever be @harringtonstilinski.

All characters, story lines, and plot aside from y/n and her storyline & plot, are all of the work of The Duffer Brothers.

*These works contain material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.

No part of these works may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

Posted on June 26, 2024 *Happy Pride Month to those who celebrate!*

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spaceman-earthgirl · 2 years

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Supercorptober 2022 Day 2: Swift

ao3 fic link. series link.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“No.”

“Lena, I’m literally driving,” Kara says, gesturing to the road ahead of them. “You have to tell me where we’re going.”

Kara has been trying to figure out for the past week where they’re going. Lena had known they’d both needed a break, and wanted to do something nice for Kara, and so she’d suggested a weekend road trip.

It hadn’t taken much to convince Kara, just the promise of snacks, J’onn to watch over the city and a fun weekend away with her best friend. Lena had kept where they’re going a secret though, mostly because Kara loves surprises, but also because Lena knew Kara would do that ridiculously cute pout she does when Lena refused to tell her.

“I’ll give you directions, but I won’t tell you our destination. You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Fine,” Kara huffs out a breath, but Lena can tell she’s trying not to smile. She holds out her hand, palm up. “Snack me.”

Lena laughs. “What would you like?”

Kara glances at the pile of food Lena has brought with them. She definitely would have brought too much food if she was with anyone but Kara. “Gummy worms, please.”

Kara takes a handful from the offered packet and shoves them all in her mouth in one go. Not that they all fit, half end up hanging out of her mouth.

Lena shakes her head. She knows she should be disgusted, but she’s in way too deep to find it anything short of endearing. Her eyes stay on Kara as she chews, watches the flex of her jaw, admires the curves of her neck, her profile lit by the sun streaming through the window.

God, she’s beautiful.

Lena really is in too deep.

To distract herself, Lena fiddles with her phone and the radio, starts the playlist she set up specifically for this trip, songs she knows Kara loves.

Kara’s face visibly lights up when she recognises the first song immediately, knows it’s one of Kara’s favourites to sing along to.

“Lena Luthor,” Kara grins. “You are my favourite,” Kara says before she starts singing along with the song.

Lena flushes under Kara’s words, feels her whole body heat.

Stop it, she tells herself. She knows Kara doesn’t really mean it the way Lena wishes she did, but it still makes Lena feel ridiculously good to hear Kara say it.

Instead of spiralling in her mind, Lena focuses on Kara’s singing, her voice melodic as she sings along to the Taylor Swift classic.

One song transitions to the next, all Taylor Swift, and Lena can tell Kara’s having a great time, singing to every song, accepting all the snacks Lena offers her, grin on her face the whole time. Lena even sings along to a few songs she knows, caught up in Kara’s enthusiasm.

It’s the distraction that delays Kara figuring out where they’re going. Lena thought that Kara would’ve figured it out by now, but it’s when Lena tells Kara to take the next exit, that Kara realises their destination.

Kara turns to look at Kara, eyes wide. “We’re going to Midvale?”

Kara’s watching her for long enough that Lena’s worried they’re going to crash. “Eyes on the road,” Lena says, accompanying her words with a hand to Kara’s chin, tilting her head to face forwards again. “And yes, we are.”

Lena swallows, this was the part she’d been a bit nervous about. Inviting your best friend on a road trip? Nothing to worry about. Inviting yourself to stay at the childhood home of your best friend, a home with a mother who might have mixed feelings towards her after the events of the previous year? Nerve wracking.

Eliza had been nothing but kind when Lena had called to ask if she’d be okay if they came and stayed, but Lena’s not sure if that kindness was only so she could see her daughter, with Lena being the added extra that Eliza would have to put up with for the weekend.

“Rao, Lena! Thank you! Does Eliza know?”

“Yes, I called her and asked if we could stay.”

Kara is beaming. “I can’t wait to show you my old room, and we can go to the beach. There’s this really nice walk I used to go for a lot as a teenager that has the best lookout for the sunset, we should totally go see it tonight. And Rao, Eliza’s cooking! It’s sooo good.”

Kara’s practically vibrating in her seat, Lena doesn’t even need to ask if it’s okay with Kara that she’s invited herself to stay too, she can tell she’s thrilled by the idea.

Despite Kara’s excitement, Lena’s nerves are back in full force by the time they pull into the driveway. Kara is out of the car and heading towards the house as soon as the engine is off but Lena takes her time unbuckling and getting out of the car.

Eliza is already outside, pulling Kara into a hug so Lena goes to the back of the car to grab their luggage, lets them have a moment alone.

They’re talking in quiet voices when Lena approaches, a bag in each hand.

“Oh, sorry!” Kara exclaims when she spots Lena, immediately rushing over to grab the bags from Lena.

The bags were heavy, but Kara takes them both in one hand, her other hand dropping to squeeze Lena’s. Lena’s cheeks heat when she sees Eliza’s eyes follow the movement.

“Mrs. Danvers, so nice to see you again.”

“Please, dear,” Eliza waves her hand. “Call me Eliza, and it’s so lovely to see you again too.”

And then, to Lena’s complete and utter surprise, Eliza steps forward and pulls Lena into a hug.

Lena freezes for a moment, her arms working on autopilot to return the hug. It doesn’t last long, but Lena has to fight the tears that threaten her eyes. It’s the first time in a long time she’s received a hug from someone resembling a mother. It’s also a much warmer welcome than she’d been expecting.

“Kara, can you show Lena to the guest room,” Eliza says when she steps away. “And then I’ve made some lunch if you two are hungry?”

---

Staying in Midvale is nothing like Lena had expected. She’s not sure what she expected now that she thinks about it, but it’s not this.

She didn’t expect the warm welcoming from Eliza, didn’t expect Eliza to share stories of a teen Kara while they ate lunch, Kara blushing the whole time, trying to get Eliza to stop while Eliza and Lena just laugh. She didn’t except to get dragged into the waves at the beach by Kara, both in their clothes, laughing as they tried to splash each other.

She did expect to go for a walk after dinner, to watch the sunset, but only because Kara mentioned it earlier.

Leaves and twigs crunch underfoot as they walk, Kara leading the way with their joined hands. The walk leads them to a small cliff, overlooking the ocean, the view stunning, the sky starting to turn orange as the sun goes down.

“This is beautiful,” Lena says. It’s peaceful, with the sound of birds behind them, the sound of the ocean below, and blue stretching out as far as the eye can see.

Kara squeezes their still joined hands, Lena trying not to overthink the fact that they’d really been no reason for Kara to reach out and take her hand as they walked, no reason for Kara still to be holding her hand now. “It is. I miss this place, thank you for surprising me with this.”

They watch as the sun drops towards the horizon, the few clouds in the sky making the colours even more gorgeous as the orange mixes with blue to create a stunning image in front of them. With Kara beside her, after the fun they’ve had today, this might actually be one of Lena’s favourite days ever.

Lena smiles. “Anytime.”

They watch as the sun goes down, the colours only getting more vibrant as it does. It’s almost below the horizon when Kara’s voice startles Lena.

“Wait! We need a photo!” Kara pulls out her phone and spins them around, so the sun is behind them. Kara slots herself even closer to Lena’s side, hand dropping Lena’s in favour of winding its way around Lena’s waist.

Lena’s cheeks are red but she doesn’t need to be told to smile, not when Kara’s face is smiling back at her from the phone screen, the sky orange behind them.

Kara immediately sets the photo as her phone background and Lena’s heart skips in her chest. She makes a mental note to get Kara to send her the photo later too.

Kara’s head drops to Lena’s shoulder as they turn back around to watch the last of the sun setting. “I’m happy I got to share this weekend with you.”

With the warmth of the sun almost gone, there’s a chill in the air now, but Kara’s body against hers is keeping her warm.

“Me too.”

It’s properly dark by the time they get back to the house, Lena thankful she had the foresight to bring a torch for the walk back. Eliza has dessert waiting for them, and Lena falls a little bit more in love at how giddy Kara is at the prospect of more food.

And not just any food, Eliza’s famous chocolate pecan pie, which is actually pretty delicious.

Something else Lena didn’t expect, is for them both to fall asleep in the guest bed after they’d stayed up too late, Kara sharing her own stories about growing up in Midvale, away from everything she’d ever known and loved.

When Lena wakes the next morning, it’s to birds chirping and Kara lying on the pillow beside her, lightly snoring.

Lena allows herself a moment to just watch, to trace the line of Kara’s nose, the curve of her eyelashes, the freckles scattered high on Kara’s cheeks that Lena has the sudden urge to press her lips too.

And then she does actually reach out, with her hand though, lets her fingers brush lightly against Kara’s cheek. “Kara, wake up,” she says quietly. She can hear Eliza downstairs, knows Kara won’t want to sleep in, will want to make the most of the day before they have to leave this afternoon. There’s a market this morning that Eliza had suggested they visit.

Kara hums, blinks sleepy eyes open, blue and stunning in the soft light of the morning. “Hi,” Kara smiles softly.

“Hello,” Lena whispers, almost afraid to break this little moment. This is what Lena wants, every day, for the rest of her life. She wants sleepy mornings and Kara looking at her with the softest expression Lena has ever seen.

“Did you sleep well?”

Lena hasn’t slept this well in a long time. “I did, you?”

Kara’s smile grows. “I did too.”

There’s more noise from downstairs and Lena remembers they’re meant to be getting up. She also doesn’t want Eliza to come looking for them, and find them in bed together. She’s not sure what Kara’s mother would think.

“We should get up, especially if you still want to go to the market this morning.”

Lena’s already moving away when a warm hand on her arm stops her. “Wait.”

Lena settles her head back down on the pillow beside Kara, waits patiently for her to continue. When she doesn’t, Lena prompts her. “Kara? What is it?”

Kara shifts herself, not away, but closer. Lena’s watching her so intently that she doesn’t miss the way Kara’s eyes dart down and land of Lena’s lips.

“Can I…?” Kara asks, voice shaking more than Lena expects, but enough to know what Kara means, if the way Kara’s eyes are now stuck on her mouth hasn’t already given it away.

Lena swallows, heart pounding in her chest. She can’t speak, doesn’t think her voice would work if she tries so she just nods instead.

Kara’s mouth is soft and warm when it presses over hers, hesitant and all encompassing. The touch only lasts for a moment, before Kara’s pulling away, looking more nervous than Lena has ever seen her.

Lena’s not sure how her brain is still working, considering Kara just kissed her. “What was that for?”

“Because I wanted to,” Kara simply says, eyes flickering over Lena’s face. “Is that okay?”

Lena thinks she’s going to cry. “It’s more than okay.”

The words are barely out of her mouth when Kara is kissing her again.

Today has barely started but it’s already fighting yesterday for it’s position as Lena’s favourite day.

Lena surprises herself by being the one to bring up the fact that they need to get out of bed a while later, when she could happily spend the rest of forever in bed with Kara.

Lena hopes that Eliza can’t tell that she just spent the last half an hour making out in bed with her daughter. Lena can’t stop blushing, or smiling, and Kara keeps smiling at her too, so Lena wouldn’t be surprised if Eliza figured it out.

At the market, Kara buys Lena a bunch of flowers and asks her on a date and Lena almost melts on the spot.

Lena gets another big hug from Eliza before they leave, and the whispered, “I’m so happy for you both,” has Lena blushing again.

They spend the whole drive home singing to Taylor Swift songs again, Kara directing every single romantic line at her and maybe Lena should just call this weekend her favourite weekend ever instead of trying to pick a favourite day because she’s not sure she can.

#supergirl #supercorp #kara danvers #lena luthor #eliza danvers #supercorp fanfic #supercorptober2022

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sparkymalone · 5 months

Note

Tbh you should write another Peko x Sayaka mini, that last one was so good

Another really ancient ask, but I have finally created more Pekozono!

This takes place right after the last one.

“This part is really good! Listen!” Sayaka said excitedly before motioning for Peko to be silent. The song that was playing reached a crescendo, and Peko had to admit that the melody really was lovely.

The two girls had returned to Sayaka’s dorm a couple of hours ago and the pop star had been playing music the whole time. After every song she would gush about how amazing it was before immediately putting in another, usually completely different, song. It was kind of cute to see.

Peko was surprised by how much she was enjoying herself. She had never really taken the time to just sit and listen to music, and she was beginning to wish she had. At the same time, though, she was a little glad that she hadn't, since it gave her an excuse to be here with Sayaka.

The pop idol’s taste in music was surprisingly vast. She played some sugary pop music like Peko expected, but then she followed it up with some hard rock. Her playlist had several genres all mixed together, giving the swordswoman a taste of many different varieties of music.

As the chorus of the current song kicked back up, Sayaka smiled broadly at Peko. “Amazing, right?”

Peko couldn't help but nod, caught up in the other girl's enthusiasm. “Yes, it sounds very nice.”

Sayaka giggled. “I'm glad you think so.” She scooted closer to Peko on the edge of the bed, holding her phone out so she could see the name of the song. She rattled off a couple of facts about the band before pausing, looking up at Peko curiously. “Um… are you having fun?”

The silver-haired girl glanced at her in surprise. “Of course. I'm having a good time.”

“Really?” Sayaka asked, seeming relieved. “Sorry, it's just a little hard to tell with you.”

Ah. So that's what had her worried. Not for the first time, Peko cursed her lack of expression. “I'm sorry. I am often told that my face is… hard to read.”

Sayaka quickly shook her head. “Oh, no! I hope I didn't come across as rude…”

“You're fine,” Peko assured her. “As I said, I hear it often.” She could practically hear Fuyuhiko and Natsumi's voices telling her to smile more, in very different tones.

The pop star’s smile fell, which Peko didn't like at all. “That's ridiculous, you should only smile when you want to.”

The swordswoman was a bit startled. “Th-Thank you, but how did you…?”

“I told you,” Sayaka replied, her smile returning full-force, “I'm psychic!” She giggled before adding, “Just kidding, just kidding!”

Something told Peko that she wasn't actually kidding, but she decided not to press the issue. She would much rather just appreciate the way Sayaka looked when she smiled.

Peko caught herself. Why did she like looking at the other girl so much? They had only known each other for a couple of hours at this point. Admittedly, Sayaka was a very beautiful girl, but that sort of thing had never really mattered to Peko before, so why now?

And why was Sayaka looking at her so strangely?

The pop star cleared her throat before turning back to her phone screen. “Do you have time for another song?”

Peko glanced at the clock. As much as she wanted to stay longer, she was also itching to check in with Fuyuhiko. He didn't need her to protect him, she knew, but she would still never forgive herself if something happened while she wasn't there.

Still, looking back at Sayaka really made it tempting to stay. “Perhaps one more song.”

Sayaka smiled warmly. “Okay! What should we listen to?” She scrolled through her playlist, contemplating her options.

A thought occurred to Peko. “You know, all this time, I don't believe you've shown me any of your songs.”

The idol looked up at her in surprise. “O-Oh… I haven't?” She turned away again, suddenly seeming very shy. “I didn't think you'd want to hear those…”

Peko furrowed her brow. “Why wouldn't I?”

Shrugging, Sayaka started twirling a lock of hair around her finger. A blush crawled up her neck, and somehow she looked even lovelier with flushed cheeks. “I don't know. It just feels kinda embarrassing, okay?”

The silver-haired girl still didn't understand. “Aren't you the Ultimate Pop Sensation? Surely you don't get stage fright?”

“No, of course not,” Sayaka replied. “But this is totally different. You're… right here. And I care about what you think.” She fidgeted slightly.

Peko felt her stomach do a little flip. “Why would you care what I think?”

The blue-haired girl groaned. “Oh my god, I'll just put one on.” She focused on her phone screen, finding her idol group's page and scrolling through her own song catalog. Finally, she settled on a song and nervously pressed play.

As the melody played, Peko found herself caught up in the energy of it. The song was cute and bouncy, and she honestly liked it a lot more than she expected to. The vocals began and Peko was immediately in awe of Sayaka's singing. The idol had a lovely voice when speaking, but when she sang, it was beautiful.

“Oh,” Sayaka said breathlessly, and Peko turned to her in confusion. The pop star was watching her with a pleased expression, cheeks flushed. “I knew you would look even prettier when you smiled. I was right.”

Peko was startled to realize that she was smiling, and even more surprised by Sayaka's compliment. She felt her face getting hot and she turned her gaze downward, embarrassed. “Oh… Th-Thank… Thank you.” She glanced at the pop idol bashfully. “Your singing is amazing.”

Sayaka giggled, looking away. “Thank you! For some reason, that makes me really happy.”

They sat in silence for the rest of the song, both blushing awkwardly. When the music finally ended, Sayaka set her phone aside and folded her hands in her lap.

Peko took a deep breath before climbing to her feet. “I should probably be on my way. But thank you,” she told Sayaka earnestly, feeling another smile tugging at her lips. “This was… fun. It was nice to do something fun for once.”

The blue-haired girl wasn't entirely sure what to do with that statement, but she also stood up. She smiled cheerfully at Peko. “This was so much fun! Next time I'll play even more songs for you.”

“Next time?” the swordswoman asked, looking at her curiously.

Sayaka flushed, but her smile remained. “Yeah! We can hang out again, right? I'd really like it if we could.”

Peko hesitated for a moment, considering. This was honestly the most fun she had had in ages, and she really did want to see Sayaka again. A quick glance at her phone told her that Fuyuhiko hadn't tried to call her at all (unsurprising), so maybe it was alright for her to take time for herself more often.

“I'd like that, too,” she admitted quietly.

Beaming, Sayaka plucked Peko's phone out of her hands and quickly added herself to her contacts. “There. Now you can call me whenever you want to ‘take time for yourself.’”

Peko chose not to comment on Sayaka's very specific phrasing, knowing the pop star would just turn it into another “joke” about being psychic. Instead, she sent the other girl a brief text, feeling relieved when she heard her phone chime. “Now you have my number as well.”

Sayaka walked her to the door, but both of them hesitated there. “Thank you again for saving me earlier,” the blue-haired girl said quietly.

Shaking her head, Peko adjusted her sword on her back. “It was nothing. I was happy to help. And besides,” she attempted to smile again, hoping it didn't look frightening, “you already thanked me.”

The idol gave her a shy smile. “I guess we're even,” she joked. As Peko stepped out into the hallway, Sayaka continued. “Next time we should hang out in your room.”

Something about the idea of having Sayaka in her room made Peko's stomach flutter, but she nodded. “Sure. That would be nice.”

The two of them said their goodbyes and finally parted ways. As she began walking back to her own dorm, Peko contemplated the warm, fuzzy feeling in her chest. It was nice, but she wasn't entirely sure what to make of it.

When she was in her room, she sat down on the bed and took out her phone, needing to clarify something.

>Young Master.

>dont fuckin call me that

>what is it

>Apologies.

>I wanted to ask you something.

>About your feelings for Hajime.

>gross what???

>why the hell are you asking about that

>Please, just humor me.

>When you first realized you were interested in Hajime, what did it feel like?

>the fuck kinda question is that

>ugh sorry

>i guess it felt kinda warm and fuzzy

>and like i wanted to see his stupid face all the time

>idk

>you better not tell him i said that

Peko blushed as she looked at the texts. So, that's what that feeling had been. How unexpected.

>Thank you, Young Master.

>PEKO COME ON

>Sorry. Fuyuhiko.

>jesus

>you got a crush on somebody or somethin

>...Perhaps.

>no shit??

>hang on im coming over

Peko almost wanted to laugh. It wasn't often that Fuyuhiko sought her out, and even more rarely was it just to talk about nothing.

She definitely needed to take time for herself more often.

Hopefully that turned out as cute as I think? Lmao

#danganronpa #sdr2 #fanfiction #peko pekoyama #sayaka maizono #pekozono #peko x sayaka #sparky writes

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gennyanydots · 2 years

Text

Here in Your Arms

masterlist

Robert ‘Bob’ Floyd x f!reader

Best friends to dating

High school au

It’s gonna hurt a little but then it gets better. I promise.

Written for @roosterforme ‘s Love is in the air TGM playlist challenge

Based off the song “Here (in Your Arms)” by Hellogoodbye

You miss Bobby.

You miss seeing him every day before first period. He’d always meet you at your locker then walk to class with you with an arm sling over your shoulders.

You knew this would happen eventually. It was inevitable that things would come between the two of you. So when Bobby started dating Leanna, you knew your relationship with him would change.

You had grown up together. Your moms were best friends, lived next to each other and everything, so when they were going to have babies within six months of each other, they were so excited for you two to grow up together. Your moms had you do everything together. Coordinating Halloween costumes every single year with a million pictures taken. You started preschool together in the same class. Every vacation your family went on so did Bobby’s. Pretty much every big memory you have from your childhood Bobby was there. The bestest friend you could ever have.

When middle school came, it was a little rough for the two of you. The separation between boys and girls became more and more apparent but Bobby never let that come between you both even making sure to set a specific time for you every single week, best friend Fridays when you would watch a movie together. You told him quite a few times over the years that if he wanted to hang out with his guy friends some Fridays that it would be okay. He stared at you like you grew two heads and told you he would never do something like that. So Bobby would still come over every Friday night for best friend Fridays and that was that.

Sadly high school had put an end to best friend Fridays during football season. Everyone went to the football games in town so it would be weird if you and Bobby didn’t go, so for a couple months every year you’ve had to put best friend movie nights on hold but you still spent the night with some other friends added to the mix.

But now…. now you seem to have to put them on hold again. Leanna signed her and Bobby up for some sort of class on Friday nights for the next 8 weeks. You’re almost positive she did it on purpose. Jealous that you get one night of her boyfriend’s attention all to yourself like he doesn’t make sure to text her back immediately every time.

You knew Bobby felt bad when he told you he couldn’t make best friend Fridays for a while. You’re sure he felt even worse when he saw your face. He tried to backtrack and tell you he could find another night to hang out with you but you told him it was fine. It wasn’t his fault. You felt bad watching him walk home dejectedly but whatever he felt you knew you felt worse. This was much harder on you than him.

Leanna’s taken every bit of Bobby’s attention. No more walking to first period together. No more eating lunch together. No best friend Fridays. Soon no more best friend time at all. Graduation seemed to be coming up so quickly. You only have 67 more days of school. Not that you were counting. You know Bobby wants to head to the Naval Academy as soon as he can. 6 hours away. The farthest you’ve ever been away from each other.

Maybe you should thank Leanna, if anything she’s making it easier to let Bobby go. Sort of like a trial separation.

You spent time with other friends to make the Friday nights feel less lonely. Your mom let you know that first Friday of Bobby and Leanna’s cooking class that Bobby stopped over to see you but you were out at a movie with a group of your close girl friends. Your mom told him he could come back Saturday morning but he never showed. You’re not sure if you’re surprised or not.

It’s weird to see a friendship dying in real time. There wasn’t anything you could do about it but let go. You’d see him every once in a while, he still lived next door to you after all, but you just never talked. His girlfriend was always there. You’d give a half hearted wave and that was that.

After 6 weeks of missed best friend Fridays you’re pretty sure even after this class thing ends you won’t see Bobby anymore, so when week 7 came along you were pretty shocked to see Bobby at your front door almost immediately after school.

“Hey princess,” Bobby says with a smile, calling you the nickname he gave you when you were both five and your mothers decided you would be a prince and princess for Halloween. He has both hands shoved deep in his pockets.

“Hey Bobby,” you say moving out of the way for him to come in.

“Oh my goodness gracious! Do my eyes deceive me or is that Robert Floyd back in our house?!” You mother says dramatically.

Bobby blushes and laughs, “Yeah, sorry, I was in some cooking class but I don’t want to do that anymore.” He looks over at you for your reaction and you just look at him questioningly then he mouths, “Later” to you and you nod.

“Not sure what you need some cooking class for, your mothers been teaching you since you were little. The both of you,” you mom says with a huff then gestures to the stairs, “Alright you two head on up and I’ll call you when the pizza is here. You know where the soda and snacks are.”

“Thanks,” Bobby says as he heads upstairs.

Your mom shoots you a look once Bobby is out of her sight and you shrug, “I don’t know.” You follow after him up the stairs and find him already laying on your bed with his hands behind his head and eyes closed, like this is normal. Like he hadn’t missed the last six Fridays together.

You lean against your door frame, “Well don’t you look comfy.”

“I have told you time and time again that your bed is superior to mine,” he opens one eye and makes grabby hands towards you.

“Yeah, I’m not laying down there with you. Pretty sure your girlfriend already hates me,” you say with a huff and sit in the saucer chair that’s in the corner of your room.

Bobby shrugs, “Don’t know who you’re talking about. I don’t have a girlfriend.”

You grab the pillow from behind your back that sits on the chair and throw it at him, “Explain yourself, Robert!”

He laughs and sits up holding his hands out in front of him, “Okay, okay! Don’t throw things at me!”

You pick up a shirt from your floor and ball it up then throw it at him, “Then tell me what happened!”

“We broke up,” Bobby says with a shrug.

“Okay,” you say looking at him with your head slighting cocked to the side. “Can I ask why?”

“It’s a free country,” Bobby says as he lays back down on your bed.

You get up and lay down on your back next to him, like you’d been doing since you were children, and turn your head to face him, “Why did you and Leanna break up?”

“I didn’t like her as much anymore,” Bobby says after sighing.

“You’re the worst at explaining anything,” you say rolling your eyes.

He laughs and sits up enough to lean on his elbow facing you, “We were fighting over something stupid and she said something and I realized she was right and I couldn’t be with her anymore.”

“What did she say?” You ask looking up at him.

“She said I didn’t have enough room in my heart for anyone else. She was right,” he says with a small smile.

“Because it’s full of love for your mama?” You ask with a laugh.

He chuckles, “Yeah princess, love for my mama.”

You beam at him, “So, what movie are we gonna watch?”

“We’re watching as many as we can before we pass out,” he says with a grin. “I have to make up for all the ones I missed.”

After four movies, a pizza, sodas, and two bags of popcorn you both fell asleep on your bed. Your mom chuckled when she checked on you both, seeing you wrapped up in each other’s arms with snacks strewn about. She cleaned the ones off the bed and threw a blanket over the both of you before kissing each of your foreheads and heading to bed with your father.

You wake up to the feeling of someone nuzzling into your hair and you try to swat them away. The chest you were pressed against chuckles a few times and the arms wrapped around you hold you tighter.

“Morning princess,” you hear a voice say aloud. You reply back with a grumble and bury your face in the warm chest.

“I’ve missed you. Quite terribly,” Bobby whispers to you. “I knew it but I didn’t realize the extent until I woke up with you in my arms.”

“I like when you sleep here,” you say, or at least try to, while you yawn.

“Do you want to know a secret?” Bobby whispers to you.

You nod and Bobby nudges your chin up with a finger so you look at him.

“Leanna said my heart was too full of love for you. It hadn’t even occurred to me that I loved you like that but it’s true. It hit me so suddenly and I don’t think I’ll ever be the same,” he says with that soft smile of his.

It takes you a second to process, you just woke up after all. You reach up and brush your fingers against his cheek.

You go to sit up but Bobby stops you with a hand on your arm, “Don’t go. Please.”

You smile at him and wiggle your body up so you’re eye to eye with him, “There’s no place else I could be but here in your arms.” You lean down and press your lips against his and he wraps a hand around the back of your neck to hold you to him.

“Finally!” You hear from the door to your room and you both break away quickly and look to see both of your mothers in the doorway.

You both groan and they laugh.

“We were just coming to wake you up. Pancakes are ready,” your mom says with a smile as Bobby’s mom giggles.

“We’ll just be going now. Definitely not to get out the scrapbooks we’ve been making for your wedding since you were both four,” Bobby’s mom says and they both turn and practically run away, giddy with excitement.

Bobby laughs and turns your face back to him and pulls you down for another kiss.

After a few minutes you pull away, “I want to revisit this but I’m hungry and I’m not positive they haven’t started calling venues.”

Bobby laughs, “Would it be so bad to be married to me?”

You shake your head, “No, it wouldn’t.”

Bobby smiles, “At least we have four years before we can get married, per the Naval Academy. Plenty of time to reel them back in and plan the wedding we want.”

You kiss him chastely and smile, “Can’t wait, Bobby.”

#robert ‘Bob’ Floyd x f!reader #bob floyd x female reader #Bob x reader #Spotify

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causenessus · 1 month

Note

HELLO!! okay lowkey i feel like we talk more through your inbox than we do in dms so im just gonna start ALWAYS talking here 🙂‍↕️ idk tumblr dms just don't work or something so GOOD AFTERNOON!! I HOPE YOURE GETTING A TON OF REST NESS bc tomorrow... we have to go back... sigh. and i have picture day tomorrow so i probably need to make myself look presentable ykwim?? 😞

but like about that friend i yapped about HIGHKEY SHE IS NOT IT YOURE RIGHT!!!! i think what makes it worse is whenever she thinks theres an issue between her and me and she goes to literally everyone but me about it to try to get other people to validate her?? FUNNIEST THING EVER because usually people side w me too pls 💔 like they'll defend me, and the people usually tell me when she starts yapping about it to them so like... just wondering why she feels the need to tell everyone in the world about what i apparently did wrong ⁉️ live laugh love i suppose... AND IF YOU EVER WANNA HEAR ABOUT STUFF THAT SHES DONE TO ME I LITERALLY HAVE STORIES FOR DAYS

ALSO!!!! IM SO EXCITED IM FINALLY GONNA GET MY DRIVER'S PERMIT AND START DRIVERS ED AAAA like ive been waiting for ages!!!! i had to like save up and stuff so it took a bit CAUSE WHY IS IT LIKE 400 DOLLARS IF YOU DONT TAKE IT THROUGH THE SCHOOL LIKE PLEASE 💔

its been days and the try again playlist is literally the only thing pulling me through... ness im forever grateful for the existence of this playlist‼️try again isnt even finished but like NESS i would marry it if i could i think i think about it even more than love notes omf 😭 i need yn as my therapist NOWWW!!! AND ADDING ONTO THAT, TONICS LOOKS SO AMAZING SO FAR OH MY GOD?? LIKE ALL THE DETAILS AND THE GRAPHIC DESIGN FOR ARTIST PROFILES AND EVERYTHING UGHH IM SO EXCITED

okay another thing, i think i told you about a phone vault before cause like my school was really talking it up... it was the stupid pocket thing on the wall. they're out there calling it a phone vault GOODBYE 😭 anyway ive given up on paying full attention in class and have reverted back to wearing and airpod in class so i can listen to music (the SOLE reason why i have airpods is bc they were a christmas gift i dont have enough money to buy those on my own 🫡)

ANYWAY I HOPE YOURE HAVING AN AMAZING DAY LOVE!! MAKE SURE YOU EAT, DRINK WATER, AND TAKE YOUR MEDS LATER!! <33 ILY

HELLO SAV!! AND PLEASE TALK WHEREVER U WANT!! I WILL RESPOND WHEREVER <3 and omg good luck with picture day!! 😭 literally those pics never turn out good like they PURPOSELY WANT ME TO LOOK BAD they're always like "no no!! push your hair out of your face behind your shoulder so we can really see how much of an egg you look like!!" but i'm wishing you the best of luck and that your picture turns out well 😔

and also HELLO??? I'M SO GLAD EVERYONE TAKES YOUR SIDE BC LIKE,, THAT'S JUST EMBARASSING FOR HER 😭 I HOPE SHE TAKES IT AS A SIGN AND REALIZES LIKE...maybe she's in the wrong...or maybe she should go to you and sort it out with you!! instead of just complaining about it to others!!

AND AA YAY GOOD FOR YOU!! it's def expensive but so so worth it in the end 😭😭 i remember for me (idk if every state does this!!) but i actually did my lessons when i was like 16 1/2 (for many reasons we won't get into 😔) but anyway!! in my state or at least at the drivers ed school i went to if you were that age they'd allow you to do this thing where basically they just threw all the information you'd learn over the course of the week (or however long all the drivers ed courses are) in one night crash course style!! and then u take the permit test at the end of it and then u get ur permit!! and although i felt a little behind everyone else bc i didn't start drivers ed immediately yk i was kind of glad i got it all done in one night!! and like you learn all the info and then IMMEDIATELY take a test on it so it was kind of easy!! but best of luck to u!! i hope it all goes well <3

AND AA THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I'M SO GLAD YOU LOVE THE TRY AGAIN PLAYLIST!! i always listen to it in the morning when i'm still waking up and then will switch to the tonics playlist when i'm more awake LMAOO BUT YES!! DW i think now that i've gotten tonics intros out of the way i'm gonna work on try again while trying to outline tonics!!

BUT HELLO THE "PHONE VAULT" BUT BEING THE SHOE HANGER THING?? MAN THAT IS NOT A VAULT 😭 THE WAY SCHOOLS ARE OUT HERE COMING OUT WITH THE CRAZIEST NAMES EVER JUST SO THAT IT LIKE FITS THE AESTHETIC OF THEIR SCHOOL OR WHATEVER IS CRAZY but yes!! i think my wireless earbuds were also a christmas gift or something and then during this one play during high school that was literally the bane of my existence (and also simultaneously the best play i ever did) i NOT ONLY lost my earbuds but i ALSO bit my phone on accident and then broke the screen so like...i sacrificed blood sweat and tears for that play frfr (i also bled all over the set after cutting my finger on accident so i mean it...) so i had to buy myself another pair after that bc my mom was sick of me 😭😭 but they were like an off brand pair and tbh they're better than like samsung buds!! (what i have to use bc i'm not an apple user </3) so honestly it worked out in the end!!

BUT I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY AS WELL!! THANK YOU SO MUCH SAV <3 HAVE A LOVELY DAY AND REST LOTS AND TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!!

#answers <3 #i heart sav <3

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novastories · 2 years

Text

8 Letters

Title and story inspired the song “8 Letters” by Why Don’t We.

Summary: Aurora and Bradley have known each other for so long, so why is it so hard to say those little 8 letters?

Disclaimer: This story is fictitious. All works are written by me and only posted here. Please do not copy, repost, or plagiarize on any other platform without my permission!

Warnings: None, all fluff!

Word Count: 1k

A/N: A 2nd chapter in one week?? 😳

This was written for @roosterforme's #Love Is In The Air TGM Challenge! This chapter can be read on its own, but it's better to read the story in order! I’ve had this song already waiting to be used, and I found a perfect moment to use this for Aurora and Bradley! Thank you Em for letting me participate in this challenge! And thank you @reginleight my beta reader and editor for editing this!

So please enjoy, I hope you like it! Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! ❤️

As always, comments, reblogs, and feedback are appreciated! 🤭

Previous | Next | Masterlist

“Care to dance?” Aurora was in the middle of a conversation between her mother and Aunt Carole when that familiar voice came beside her. They’d been discussing her upcoming job at NCIS for a while now, so when Bradley approached with his hand out to her and an offer to dance, Aurora was glad to take him up on it.

With a smile she took his hand, a spark running through her veins as it always did whenever she and Bradley would touch.

“What took you so long, Rooster?” she answers, teasing him. He rolls his eyes as he leads her to the makeshift dance floor in the Bradshaw’s backyard that was made for Aurora’s and Peyton’s graduation celebration. It was already late in the night, so there weren’t as many people as there were earlier, but still quite a bit.

Peyton and Lucille were at a table arguing over something, while her Uncle Ice, Uncle Goose, Slider, and her dad Maverick were drinking at another nearby table, talking about the “good old days.” Her mom Penny, Aunt Carole, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Slider’s wife were all in a huddle talking about who knows what. More guests were mingling with others, and some were out on the dance floor as well.

Aurora chuckles at the sight while Bradley swings her around. She places one hand on his shoulder, and one hand in his own hand, just like they used to do during their summer nights dancing in the Bradshaw’s living room. The DJ then starts a new slow song, one that Aurora recognizes immediately.

You know me the best.

You know my worst, see me hurt, but you don't judge.

That right there is the scariest feeling.

She looks up at Bradley who had a smirk on his face.

“What? You think I don’t know my best friend’s favorite song?” He teases seeing her shocked face.

“I just didn’t think you remembered,” she blushes. Not only was it her favorite song, but it was also one she had related to way too much.

“Darling, when it came out, you’d scream it every opportunity you got, and even made me put it on my playlist for car rides.”

She groans and buries her face in his chest as he laughs. He knew her like the back of his hand, and sometimes he used that to his advantage. But really, it only ever added to the growing fondness she held for him.

They continue to sway to the music as Aurora leans her head against Bradley’s chest, listening to his heartbeat, while Bradley rests his chin on top of her head.

If all it is is eight letters

Why is it so hard to say?

If all it is is eight letters

Why am I in my own way?

Aurora thinks of the words to the songs. Oh how she wants to tell Bradley how she feels. How she was so enamored by him the first time they met when they were little, from that first kiss on the hand from him. How every summer they spent together, she fell in love with every little thing about him. How she was always jealous of the girls he dated, but didn’t say anything because she wanted to protect their friendship. But she couldn’t say it.

Isn't it amazing how almost every line on our hands align?

When your hand's in mine

It's like I'm whole again, isn't that a sign?

I should speak my mind

Little did she know, Bradley was thinking the same thing. He wanted to tell her how much he adored her, how all he thought about was their kiss on Christmas that one night, how all he wanted in his life was to follow her through the ends of the earth.

But he couldn’t say it either.

I've said those words before, but it was a lie

And you deserve to hear them a thousand times

They didn’t want to hold each other back. Bradley’s naval aviator career was just taking off, and hopefully would soon be going to Top Gun in a few months. Aurora was about to become an NCIS agent to make a name for herself. If they said it now, what would happen?

When I close my eyes

It's you there in my mind

When I close my eyes

They knew that if they had both spoken those words, those 8 letters, it would make everything messy. They didn’t want to risk their friendship, not now. Not when they’ll be miles apart.

“You’ll be safe, right?” Bradley asks Aurora who was peacefully still resting her head on his chest. She looks up at his eyes that were filled with concern.

“I already said I would, B.” She says softly.

If all it is is eight letters

Why is it so hard to say?

If all it is is eight letters

Why am I in my own way?

Why do I pull you close?

And then ask you for space

If all it is is eight letters

Why is it so hard to say?

“I know, I just…I worry about you, and being a federal agent is a dangerous job.”

“Okay, Mr. Naval Aviator. Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?” she sasses at him.

“Yeah, but I just want you to be safe.”

“For you B, anything. As long as you stay safe too.”

“Always for you princess,” he whispers as he kisses her forehead, when all he really wanted to do was kiss her lips. She hums in reply as they finish dancing to the song.

They didn’t say anything else. It’s not like they were nervous to say those 8 letters, they just weren’t ready yet. So instead they kept their feelings to themselves as they danced with the stars watching over them as always, because that moment was all they had for now. But for the two of them, that would be enough until they saw each other again. When they were ready, they would say those 8 letters to each other. “I love you.”

When I close my eyes

It's you there in my mind

When I close my eyes

If all it is is eight letters

—

If you would like to be on the taglist or removed, please let me know!

Taglist: @call-sign-jinx @sqrlgrl22 @luckyladycreator2 @purplevortexx

#love is in the air tgm #top gun #top gun maverick #top gun fanfic #top gun maverick fanfic #top gun fanfiction #top gun maverick fanfiction #top gun au #bradley bradshaw #bradley bradshaw fanfic #bradley bradshaw fic #bradley bradshaw fanfiction #bradley rooster bradshaw #shrimp writes #shrimp writes stories #grateful shrimp #I'll Be Waiting Story #Spotify

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filthy-mudeoki · 1 year

Text

Alchemy of Souls - 환혼

Review and rambles:

Alchemy of souls (9/10)

(30 episodes - Part I and II) (2022-2023)

[Cast: Lee Jae Wook, Jung So Min, Go Yoon Jung]

Synopsis:

The story of a man, Jang UK whose birth was supposedly ill-fated and yet despite the odds continuously rises to overcome every hurdle he is met with. Set in the fictional country of Daeho, the story follows the trials and tribulations of the young mages and their relationship with forbidden magic, more specially something that is referred to as the ‘Alchemy of Souls.’ This allows souls to switch bodies but with frightening consequences.

The story is split in two parts. Part 1 (20 episodes) follows Jang UK (Lee Jae -wook) and his friends as the battles to unlock his true power and master it. He does this under the guidance of his secret master, the known and feared assassin Naksu who is trapped inside the body of a weak blind girl thanks the alchemy of souls. She assumes the role of his servant, Mu-deok (Jung So-min) and becomes his master, teaching him her skills as they fall in love with each other.

Part II is set three years after the finale and the tragedy that occurred to Jang Uk and Mu-doeki. Jang Uk has returned from the dead and has the ice stone in his body. With this power he becomes a feared and ruthless hunter of soul shifters who have run wild. Due to these circumstances and his own heartbreak, his has become isolate from everyone. However he meets the mysterious heiress Jin Bu-yeon (Go Yoon-jung) and their lives become entangled in more ways than one.

Review:

The series is split into two parts for a complex storytelling. The first part (20 episodes) really lays the foundation for an amazing character arc that comes full circle in part II. You have to be patient at certain points, but overall, the intensity of the characters and attention to detail does not disappoint. The secondary characters are a delight to behold as they bring a vibrancy to the story in an otherwise heavy on the plot story. The dynamics between the Four Seasons (Jang UK, Seo Yul, Park Dang Gu and Cho Yeong) are funny and makes you wish they had included more of those moments. It’s humorous without trying too hard and the endearing moments between the friends is something so real in a story set in a fictional town based entirely in the fantasy genre. Towards the end (especially in part II), I wished there had been more between some of the secondary characters (especially Park Dang Gu and Cho Yeong) as it felt their story was sort of rushed over for the benefit of the main leads.

The Cast and performance:

The Main male lead – Lee Jae Wook – brings a surprising intensity to the character Jang Uk that immediately has you rooting for him. Part I sees Jung So Min as the female lead and she does a brilliant job of layering the character’s story so beautifully. At one stage there are multiple characters and personalities and she plays them ALL flawlessly. The leads have amazing chemistry and its rather wonderful to see because you don’t quite realise it’s an epic love story until its too late.

The second female lead – Go Yoon Jung, (in part II) was an interesting but apt choice – as she immediately highlights the sharp contrast to the male lead especially to the character he once was. She protects him (Jang Uk) so he can protect everyone else. Her softness contrasts with the harsh reality of his pain and heartbreak. Go Yoon Jung deserves a lot of credit for being able to make the character her own while still drawing from part I so we’re not left feeling like we totally lost something. We grow to love the character she plays, nearly as much as we love Jang Uk does.

OST:

I loved the soundtrack on this one. There are some beautiful instrumental pieces that will leave you feeling nothing but utter peace. The opening sequence is pretty catchy and matched with great visuals. The OST can be found on spotify. I added a few of my personal faves to my own spotify playlist as well.

Final thoughts:

While the ending might have been a tad bit rushed for me (and others alike), I really enjoyed this from start to finish. The fantasy element really shone through for me. While there might have been more I wanted from the show, there was very little I would have changed. This is a beautiful story told with amazing scenes and an impressive cast. It’s a long haul of a story but definitely worth it.

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shmowder · 2 months

Note

to cheer u up today:

i’m serving up a georgiy special!! here’s another song that reminds me of him!!

georgiy kain

waiting for the snow by of monsters and men

i’m waiting for the snow, i’m waiting for vision, so I can feel brighter, I can feel lighter. I used to make mountains, but then they grew bigger than me. I thought that i’d climb my way up high, but what if I tumble? have I said too much? did I love too hard? this steel can’t carry me now that things are rough. I used to make mountains, but then they grew bigger than me. and I used to hunger, so what can you offer me?

(this one honestly could work for peter too but still I love it for georgiy)

and I know u like yulia a lot too!! here’s a song that makes me think of her

yulia lyuricheva

isobel by björk

in a tower of steel, nature forges a deal, to raise wonderful hell. like me, like me. my name, isobel, married to myself, my love, isobel, living by herself. — when she does it, she means to. moth delivers her message. unexplained on your collar. crawling in silence, a simple excuse.

(I know this one kinda is a bit gibberish with the lyrics but just listening to it gives the vibes and I love it a lot and I think you might, too!!)

sending warmth, -🥀

"This steel can't carry me now, and you can't carry me."

Amazing choice for both of these characters, the soft melody in the background, the subtle use of instruments to make the vocals stand out more, the way the chorus chimes louder at certain words, creating a false echo.

The occasional beeping, it makes me think of both a space station and a heart monitor. Someone on their deathbed with their head in the stars.

Funny you mention this song, I checked out more of Björk's music after your last recommendations and immediately fell in love with this one. The most recent added song to my personal playlist as of writing this.

It's like the more you listen to Björk's music the more you fall in love with it, it just gets better with every loop.

Yulia had a love for history, for the steppe mythology and folklore. She believed in the Shabnak-adyr, in shaking teeth inside a jar, in fate.

"In a tower of steel, nature forges a deal to raise wonderful hell." it's almost overshadowing the game events. The wrath of earth at the steel arrow shot into her heart by her own children.

And it's okay if it seems gibberish at first glance, so do most of Yulia's talks to people.

Thank you for recommending more great music <3

#♧🥀 anon #♧Yulia #♧Georgiy #♧music #♧character study

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bratshaws · 2 years

Text

goodness gracious 54. brb x oc

a/n: i really like writing this chapter :,).... SMUT IS IN THE NEXT ONE AND WOO BOY I GOTTA WORK ON IT! Feedback is welcome and encouraged uwu

check out the fic's playlist made by the sweet @wiipes !!

pairing: plus size!oc x rooster

warnings: fluff, Rooster is good with kids more news at 12, me adding yet another character to this f i c

chapters:

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23/24/25/26/27/28/29/30/31/32/33/34/35/36/37/38/39/40/41/42/43/44

45/46/47/48/49/50/51/52/53

(pls let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!!)

taglist: @mirandastuckinthe80s @roosterschanelslut @wiipes @lcahwriter @shrimping-for-all @gretagerwigsmuse @frenchtoastix

@lizzie-rdj @fanboyluvr @atarmychick007 @comebacktoearthpls

@peachiicherries @mak-32 @lizziespidiepridie @roosterswifey @ollyoxenfrees @piceous21 @sqrlgrl22 @hofficoffi @lexhalstead3

@lorilane33 @legendarydreamersharkparty @luckyladycreator2 @emilybradshaw @j-6o @louisahale @leobabbyyy @kulicny @winter-run @ktjmac

Shells and Bob did get there soon after Bradley and Beatrice, immediately looking at the blonde little girl that was currently drawing on a napkin. Shells had only seen Bianca once when she was much smaller, so to see her again was a delight. Shells always said she hated kids, but it was a lie, they all knew, she was just mush hearted to any baby or toddler there was.

And Bianca was behaving herself quite nicely, she did ask questions every now and again, questions Bradley gladly would answer for her. Beatrice only smiled watching the two interact, something about…Bradley talking to a five years old was so very charming and so very him. She knew Bianca already took him as her favorite, after Bea of course, he was Prince Rooster to the end. Which when she said it while surrounded by the others immediately made them all stare at Bradley, who in turn blushed with a little smile, “It’s how she refers to me,” he says with a weak shrug.

He didn’t mind it, of course, Bianca was a pure child, she just did that because she cared about him and cared about her aunt as well. And Beatrice loved it, she couldn’t stop smiling anytime that Bianca would ask him something and he made sure to give her his attention every time she talked to him.

He was really good with kids, at least with Bianca. She knew he wouldn’t do a bad job when he met the others tomorrow, she had a feeling the boys specially would be really interested in what he had to share, they only knew about aviation when Umberto visited and that wasn’t often.

He was also really sweet to Beatrice whenever she felt a bit overwhelmed, he could sense it somehow and would lean closer to ask if she was okay. She always said she was just nervous but would be fine and would hold his hand for emphasis. Even during the tribute to the Admiral who passed - whose name was Tom Kazansky - he still held her hand, maybe it was his own way to ask for support considering the way he clenched his jaw trying to hold back the emotion.

Pete was called to speak, the older pilot trying his best to not get choked up, even joking every now and again about the things he knew about the admiral. Even if she wasn’t part of this world, and had never met the admiral before, she felt her own eyes brimming with tears. Especially when the admiral’s widow stepped on the stage, her kids and grandkids stood to the side, to speak about him. She doesn’t think there was one dry eye in the room, she could hear the sniffling and the shaky breathing around them.

His widow, whose name she now knew was Genevieve, thanked every single one of the people there and told them that “Tom would never want his passing to be remembered with sadness.” and to “Remember this is a celebration, not a mourning.” Beatrice thought she was so brave, even with how her voice shook and cracked at times, she never stopped smiling, smiling wider when she turned to look at the face of her husband on the screen behind her.

After she thanked everyone and told them to enjoy the night because it’s what he would’ve wanted, Beatrice sighs softly, turning her head towards Brad whose eyes were glazed over just a bit, “You okay?” he nods, clearing his throat, smiling when she touches his cheekbone soothingly only to find it just a bit damp.

“I’m fine.” is all he says, something in his eyes tells her that this was more than just the effects of Admiral Kazansky’s death. She wondered if he somehow remembered the time when his own father passed. She wouldn’t ask him, of course, but she held his hand under the table, rubbing the side of his thumb with her own and sighing in relief when he squeezed her hand back.

While there was a layer of sadness around the whole room, it wasn’t so bad. There was music and laughter around them, Pete even sharing some stuff from his time in TOPGUN with the Admiral as well. He called him an ‘annoying son of a bitch’ but it had fondness in every word. Much like how the others talked about Hangman back at the bar, it had something within the obvious annoyance that made her smile.

It was like a huge family alright.

During dinner she felt Bradley’s hand on top of her clothed thigh, not doing anything illegal per se, but just resting it on the plush flesh with the casual squeezing. She didn’t mind, especially because no one else in their table seemed to notice his hand there or if they did they said nothing. The conversation was mainly about the Navy, or deployment tales she hadn’t heard about from Rooster before, even Bob seemed more talkative than normal much for Shells’ happiness.

After a while she noticed that Bianca was fidgeting a bit, the little girl making a ‘come hither’ towards her aunt who immediately lowered her head to Bianca’s level, “Auntie,I need to go potty.” she whispers sweetly, still bouncing a bit on the seat.

“Ah.” Beatrice smiles, then turns towards Rooster, “I’m going to take Bibi to the bathroom.” she says, grabbing her clutch as she stood up. She shouldn’t be surprised when her boyfriend stood up as well, placing his hand on her lower back as she grabbed Bianca from the seat to carry her to the restrooms.

She thanks him for coming with her, kissing his lips sweetly before she enters. Rooster, obviously, waits outside leaning against the wall. Beatrice barely puts Bianca on the floor and the little girl is scampering to one of the bathrooms with her aunt close behind. From outside Rooster could hear Bianca’s high pitched voice followed by Beatrice’s calm tone, he couldn’t understand what was being said inside, the voices and music around the area made it hard for him to understand.

But, he couldn’t lie that the image of Beatrice and Bianca did warm his heart just a bit. However he immediately tried to shove that deep within his mind, they never talked about it, they were about to move in together. One step at a time, he didn’t even know if she would want something like that.

He knew he wanted to have a long term relationship with Beatrice, however long that’d be - hopefully forever - and if…the situation came and the topic arrived, he’d be sincere in telling her about it. Just not yet, not now.

Inside the bathroom, Beatrice lifted Bianca high enough so she could wash her hands on her own, telling her to press the soap dispenser only once even if she wanted to do it a few more times. Once her hands were washed, Beatrice then carried her to the hand dryer, smiling when her niece giggled as the warm air hit her palms, drying them completely, “There we go.” she puts Bianca down, then crouches to fix her dress and headband, “Do you need anything else?”

“No, auntie.” she says, looking down at Beatrice’s hands as they fix the edges of her dress, “Auntie,” Bea hums in question, still paying attention to the dress, “When are you and Prince Rooster going to get married?”

Beatrice stills her hands, her whole body freezing as she takes in what her niece asked. It hit her like a ton of bricks, how would she explain it to Bianca? “...um…” she clears her dry throat, focusing on relatching Bianca’s Mary Janes as she tried to figure out how to respond, “...I…well, you see–” Bianca just blinked with a little smile, still waiting for a response, “I-I…Bibi, that’s, um…”

Bianca then smiles, leaning closer while cupping her hands around her mouth, “I gave him a magic rock.” she says, “When zia Martha got married! It makes people get married too!!” she had a feeling her aunt Martha told her so and Bea dropped her head forward with a heavy sigh. She hated how fast her heart was beating just at the thought. But it was too soon for that, they didn’t even move in together.

She understood why Bianca would be excited, but it wasn’t that easy, “Listen, Bibi.” she grabs her niece’s smaller hands on her own, breathing in slowly, “It’s…not that simple, it's something grown ups think about a lot you know? It’s a big step.”

Bianca purses her lips in thought, “But daddy said you and Prince Rooster already look married!” oh she’s going to kill Leonardo, “I heard him telling mommy that when they thought I was asleep.”

“Well, your daddy can say a lot of stuff he doesn’t know about.” she tries to say firmly with her cheeks burning red. She wasn’t mad at Bianca, she was just a child with the simple mindset of ‘if you want to do it, do it’ without any consequences. And Rooster was right outside, what if he heard ??? With as much strength and calm she could muster, Beatrice smiled down at her niece, “Sweetie, look, I know you…want that to happen.”

“Yes!”

“But it’s not so simple. Because…it’s…really early to think that.” the little girl furrows her brows, “Because um…there’s a lot of steps involved. A lot of them. And well, it’s a two person process, honey.” she cups her niece’s chubby cheeks with a smile, “But I promise that when,” if, the goblin voice growled in the back of her mind, “It happens you’ll be the first to know.”

The little blonde girl blinked again, but she seemed to accept that answer a lot more than whatever else her aunt wanted to say, “Okay!”

“Good, now,” she pressed a finger to her lips, “We need to keep this between us okay? It’s a secret,” the last thing she’d want was for Rooster to freak out at the thought of marriage before they even moved in together. She holds out her pinky, “Pinky promise?”

Bianca’s smile widened as she wrapped her little pinky around her aunt’s, much like she did with Rooster earlier that nice, “Pinky promise, auntie!” she giggles and hugs her aunt. Beatrice hugs her back, even if she is a bit nervous about this sudden conversation, suddenly remembering she also needed to use the bathroom and forgot after taking care of Bibi.

With a worried bite to her lip, she walked out with Bianca to see Rooster still leaning on the wall, nothing in his expression showed he could hear them inside, “Hey,” she says, then looks down at her niece, “Can you stay with her for a little bit? I need to go too,” and calm myself down, she thought, before I freak out in front of you.

“Yeah, sure.” he says, offering his large hand to Bianca who quickly grabs it, “We’ll be waiting for you out here.” Beatrice smiles, kissing his lips sweetly before she rushes inside with the bathroom door shutting behind her. Bradley inhales happily, moving his gaze from the bathroom door to Bianca, who was using his hand to hold her up as she leaned back, swinging from left to right by using her weight.

He chuckles, allowing her to continue, even extending his arm a little more so that the little girl had more room to move, much to her delight. Bianca giggles happily, bouncing back to her feet and then holding tightly onto his fingers “Can you lift me?”

“Lift you?”

She nods, “My daddy lifts me one handed! He’s super strong!” the way she was holding onto his fingers probably meant he was supposed to hold her up as if she was a dumbbell. He just grins, lifting the little girl up with ease, earning a happy squeal from her tiny form as she kicks her legs in the air.

He does that for a few seconds, until he hears someone clearing their throat next to him. He turns his head as he lowers Bianca to the ground, “Oh,” he straightens himself, “Ma’am.” he nods respectfully to Admiral’s Kazansky widow, Genevieve, who was just smiling sweetly at him.

“Hello, Bradley, I almost didn’t recognize you.” she says kindly, holding her hands together, her strawberry blonde hair painted with faint streaks of white and yet she looks younger than half of the people there, “Until you turned around.” he laughs softly, dipping his head in thanks as Genevieve’s eyes drop to the little girl, “Oh, is she yours?”

Yours.

“Uh, no, no, she’s my girlfriend Beatrice’s niece,” he says quickly, picking Bianca under the arms to hold her up so Genevieve could have a better look at her. Bianca was anything but shy when meeting new people, something he rarely saw with kids her age - at least the ones he’s met before were always very shy when approaching people - which was a breath of fresh air sometimes.

Genevieve was smiling when Bianca introduced herself, hugging Bradley’s neck to keep herself upright as the older woman asked her if she was enjoying spending time with Bradley. Bianca corrected that it was ‘Prince Rooster’ and not ‘Bradley’ much to the other woman’s amusement, especially when the pilot’s cheeks flushed slightly. “I don’t think I’ve met your girlfriend,Rooster.” she says after a while, “Is she the brunette you came with?”

“Yeah, she’s uh, inside right now.” he says, tossing his thumb over his shoulder, realization dawning on his face, “Oh, do you want to–”

“No,no,” Genevieve laughs, waving a hand, “I was simply taking a walk, to clear my mind.” The words came out heavier than he thought, his own eyebrows furrowing with concern but the blonde woman just tapped his arm, “Don’t worry about me,I’m fine.” right after she said that, the bathroom door opened and Beatrice walked out still shaking her hands to get rid of whatever moisture the fan couldn’t dry.

“Sorry was I– oh.” she noticed the older woman talking to Bradley and her niece on his arm, “Oh, hello.”

Genevieve looked from her to Rooster with a smile beaming on her face, “Hello, Beatrice,” she held up an elegant hand that the girl grabbed with a nervous smile, “I’m Genevieve, I was just asking Bradley about you.”

Beatrice looks to her boyfriend, who’s still cradling her niece in his arms, “Oh, oh um…well!” she laughs nervously, dropping her hand from the other woman’s hold and wringing them together since she didn’t know where to put them “I…I’m glad?”

Genevieve chuckled, turning to Bradley with the same smile, “She’s a gem,Bradley.” Bea’s cheeks turned an even darker red at the compliment, even more when her niece agreed that indeed her aunt was a gem, “But please, do not mind me. I was just taking a walk, it was very nice meeting you, Beatrice.” the brunette nods with a little smile, watching the woman walk past the two down the hallway that led to the outside of the building.

Beatrice waited until she was out of view to turn her worried eyes to Bradley, “I…should I have said I was sorry for her husband?” she asks quietly, “Was I rude?”

Rooster recoils his head in surprise, moving Bianca to his opposite arm when the other started to get tired and the little girl didn’t complain, “No? Didn’t you hear her compliment you?” Beatrice just blushes harder, still playing with her fingers, “Hey, pretty girl, you are anything but rude. I think she prefers not to be reminded every now and again of what happened.”

“...okay.”

He tsks, holding Bibi one armed to cup Beatrice’s chin and tilt her head up, “Gorgeous, don’t doubt yourself like that,” he says pressing a kiss to her painted lips, “It’s not a good look on you. And I love seeing you smile.” he whispers against her mouth, kissing her for a few more seconds before pulling back. Beatrice’s smile was all he desired for an answer, even more when she grabbed his free hand and the two made their way back inside the main room.

Bianca was put down when she noticed a few kids playing not too far from them, in the ‘kids area’ and she asked Beatrice if she could go, “Okay, but don’t wander away from the lady that’s with them.” she said, gesturing to the woman wearing a black vest who was keeping an eye on all the kids there. Bradley put Bianca down, the little girl running to the others and immediately sat down next to a boy who was playing with LEGOS.

Beatrice’s smile only broadens when she feels Bradley’s hand on the curve of her waist, she knew he wanted to wrap his arms around her but considering where they were it wouldn’t be a good idea. But she could feel the subtle twitch of his fingers, nearing the front of her stomach, “You look absolutely fucking beautiful.” His breath touches the shell of her ear and Bea laughs softly, turning to look over her shoulder, “I know I’ve said it but, ho-ly shit. You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

She chortles quietly, turning to face him and running her hands on the shoulders of his suit, “And you look extremely handsome.” she says, leaning up to peck his lips, dropping her hands to hold onto his, blinking when he lifts his arm and twirls her around, “Brad!”

“I just want a full look,” he says sweetly, laughing at her red cheeks and bringing her closer to press their foreheads together, “...I’m glad you are here.”

“...yeah?”

“Yeah,I’ll be honest…I don’t know if I’d like to be here alone, or just with Mav and the others. Having you and Bibi is really good.” he touched the side of her face with his knuckles, then tilted his head back when he saw movement behind him. Beatrice looked in the same direction and they widened their eyes when they saw Jake nearing a standing Evelyn who was no longer sitting with her parents and was now leaning against a wall with her back to them.

Beatrice and Bradley exchanged looks, with the brunette tugging him further close to a large vase so they could hide, peeking over the leaves to have a better look, “Oh my God.” he whispers, “Do you think they are together?”

“She hasn’t pushed him away yet.” In fact she didn’t even recoil in disgust when Hangman was right by her side, he wasn’t touching her but his presence was hard to be ignored. They tried to be subtle, the best they could, using the large leaves to hide themselves and pressing up against the wall from time to time hoping they wouldn’t see the two.

There’s a ping coming from inside her clutch and Beatrice clicks it open, pressing the power button on her phone

Ev (20:21)

You two are anything but subtle.

“Oh.” she lowers the phone and peeks out the leaf, seeing that now Evelyn was alone and holding up her phone with a grin, shaking it a bit for emphasis. Both Rooster and Beatrice looked sheepish and waved at Evelyn. The woman chuckles, rolling her eyes then going back to her phone

Ev (20:24)

I’m going to go back to my seat. Don’t tell Shells or else she’d never leave me be.

And after that she turns around, leaving the couple alone and staring at where she once stood, “Well…” he lets out a quiet laugh, “That happened…should we go back?”

“...yeah it might be a good idea.”

They leave when it’s past Bianca’s common bedtime, the little girl resting her head on her aunt’s shoulder as she takes her to the car. She doesn’t wake up when Beatrice buckles her on the seat, just lolls her head to the side, only actually waking up when they arrive at Beatrice’s house.

Rooster waits for Bea to take the little girl out, he removes the seat himself and grabs the duffel bag he kept under the front seats for when he got there, following Beatrice into the house only to be greeted by a very excited Jolene. Bianca made a noise on her aunt’s shoulder, something that resembled Jolene’s name but was too quiet to be understood “I’m going to change her.” she whispers to Rooster, “Then bring the mattress out.”

“Mattress?”

“Yeah, I keep an inflatable mattress for Bibi whenever she has to sleep over. I used to do it back when I lived with my parents because Leo and Cyn didn’t want her getting used to sharing a bed with other people.” she says, adjusting the little girl in her arms while kicking off her shoes with a sigh of relief, “I’ll be right back.”

But he follows her up the stairs, “I can help.” he says, unbuttoning his suit jacket and trying to hold back the grin of her eyes dropping when his undershirt comes into view. She didn’t say anything but she nodded before disappearing inside the bathroom with a sleepy voice Bianca asking her what was going on, “Where do you keep the mattress?”

“Oh, it’s under my bed.” she says and he hears her telling Bianca to lift her arms so she can put on her onesie, “It’s a dark blue bag with a yellow smiley face on it.” He crouches next to her bed after he kicks off his shoes, tilting his head until he sees the smiley face. The bag is squished between the bedframe and the floor, so it takes a little while to yank it out, grunting to himself until it’s finally visible.

He sits back on the bed and pulls the mattress out just in time for Bea to come out as well, now wearing her long shirt and pants she wore as pajamas, smiling at him and holding a dinosaur onesie dressed Bianca in her arms, “Oh,’ he sounds pained, slapping his hand over his heart, “Oh that’s so cute.”

Beatrice laughs quietly, face completely clean of makeup , “You can go change.” She says gently lowering her niece onto the bed, “I’ll set up the mattress.”

“You sure?” she nods, approaching him to kiss his lips and grab the bag from his hands, he smiles, following her mouth with his head to press a few more pecks to her lips before he stands up to go to the bathroom. Beatrice smiles as she picks up the mattress and makes her way downstairs, silently picking up her coffee table and putting it to the side before she drops the mattress to the floor.

Something inside of it clicks and the blackish blue flat fabric slowly begins to inflate, Jolene watching this ordeal with her eyes on it and still seated on the couch. Four legs pop from under the mattress, making it stand a good distance from the floor, going from a paper thin structure to a large queen sized bed that took a good chunk of space in her living room.

She rushes back upstairs to grab a few blankets and sheets, alongside Bianca who now was already fast asleep. Since her niece was so small, she made sure to make the couch as comfortable as it possibly could since she’d want to sleep next to Jolene, “Jojo?” Bianca asks when Bea puts her down on top of the various pillows she arranged, the pitbull quickly leaping on the bed and snuggling closer to Bianca, who hugs her neck.

Beatrice smiles, pulling the dinosaur hoodie back just enough so her lips touched her niece’s forehead, then Jolene’s head. When she leaned back, she saw Bradley looking around her room in confusion until his eyes met hers on the lower floor. Beatrice walks closer to the staircase with her hands on her hips, meeting Rooster when he steps down, “I thought we were staying up there?”

“No, I can’t see Bibi if I do.” She looks over her shoulder to the mattress, “I usually sleep down here because she loves the couch and loves sleeping with Jolene.” The five years old was hugging the dog’s neck as they slept soundly. “If she needs my help I can get her quickly…is that okay with you?” Would he think it was weird?

“Yeah,” he smiles, “It’s fine, I was just expecting us to be up there, is all.” He walks closer to the inflatable mattress and blinks at how soft it is. And spacious, “Woah,I love this, it’s so nice??”

“I used it while going camping, it’s really good.” she says quietly, keeping her tone down so her niece wouldn’t wake up. She lay down next to Rooster and the two of them focused their eyes on Bianca’s sleeping form, the blanket now covered both her and Jolene, with the dog huffing in her sleep as she dreamed. When Bea turns to face Bradley again she finds him already looking at her with an unreadable gaze, “What?”

He purses his lips,shakes his head and tries to hold back his own smile, “Nothing, gorgeous.” he whispers, “Just looking at you and how amazing you are.” she laughs quietly, covering her mouth with a hand so Bianca won’t wake up. He pulls the covers up to their shoulders, still facing her, “No wonder she loves you so much.”

“I love her too.” she whispers, looking back at her sleeping niece with her own eyes blinking heavily, “We better sleep, we have a long day tomorrow.” for obvious reasons, she thought.

“Yeah,” he tried to hold back his own yawn without success, chuckling tiredly when she smiled up at him, “C’mere,” he wraps his arms around her, turning her around so her back touched his chest and her vision remained on Bianca, “There, much better.” he says against her ear, leaning down to kiss the skin below her lobe.

“It is.” she says, leaning back just enough to kiss his lips, “Night Roos.I love you.”

“I love you too, gorgeous.” he murmurs, his own voice dropping into a tired tone as Beatrice watches his eyes slowly drop shut and his breathing get even. She smiles, then turns to see check on her niece one last time, gently rubbing her smaller hand and Jolene’s toe beans before she too drifted off into dreamland.

#bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x oc #top gun maverick #bradley bradshaw x reader

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