#and don’t worry; the reason I found this out was a false alarm

[ghostlycoyote0]

By the way, it’s an absolute disgrace that you can be put on hold while trying to call an ambulance

Usually, that’s a VERY TIME-SENSITIVE THING

[bluehoodiewoozi]

DRABBLE MARATHON #10:

JEON WONWOO + dorms

Note: can anyone even see this post?

Dorm life is miserable, you found. Awakened at 5 am for a fire drill, left outside to shiver in the cold in nothing but your pyjamas – coming to uni was clearly a mistake.

“You’re shaking all over,” a deep voice spoke from behind you. You turned your head to find Jeon Wonwoo – the RA of your floor – watching you with a worried expression. Jealousy filled you once you realised he was wrapped in a blanket.

You offered him a weak smile. “Well, it’s not exactly warm outside.”

“You didn’t think to grab a coat?” he wondered, head tilting quizzically. As you tried to think of an answer – your brain never did function well at 5 am –, he shuffled closer and wrapped half the blanket around your shoulders, pressing his side against yours.

Suddenly words that had been at the tip of your tongue were gone all-together. 

It took him a moment to realise the reason for your silence. His eyes widened and his own jaw dropped before he started mumbling out apologies: “Oh, that was rude of me. I should’ve asked. I’m sorry. Should I move–? I’m so sorry!”

“No, no,” you breathed out – you’d spend days contemplating if you were so forgiving because he was offering warmth or because he looked absolutely adorable when he was flustered –, “it’s okay. It’s nice.”

He stayed silent at that, only nodding somewhat unsurely. 

“I was starting to worry I’d freeze my arms off before the drill ends,” you joked to lighten the mood, “so, thanks, I guess.”

“You’re welcome,” he smiled finally and you wondered how you never realised how cute he was, “I guess.

“So,” he continued, shuffling just a little closer, “how come you didn’t bring anything warm?”

“Because I thought this was a serious fire,” you told him with a deep defeated sigh. He laughed at your confession as if unable to believe it. “What? I thought there was an actual fire or something. Who does fire drills at 5 am anyway?”

“We have fire drills every few months and false alarms every other week,” he pointed out. “This isn’t any different.”

“Yeah, that explains why so few people came out and why everyone but me is wearing a coat or a blanket,” you groaned before laughing at yourself. “I feel dumb now.”

He shrugged. “I don’t think you’re dumb. If this was a real fire, you would’ve survived. Can’t say that about many of the students here.”

“Yeah, and then I would’ve died from frostbite.”

He laughed before nudging your side. “I would’ve kept you warm.”

[finnsbubblegum]

I'm Not Me When I'm With You (Joel Miller x Reader)

Pairing: post-outbreak!joel miller x f!reader

Warnings: fluff, protective joel, age gap (reader is in her 20s and Joel is in his 50s), ptsd, mentions of rape attempt (lmk if i missed any)

Summary (Series): You were popular in Jackson but you have been single your whole life. Despite many men flirting with you, you have never found your ideal type. Until one day, you saw Joel and you fell in love at first sight.  But he felt insecure.

Summary: Joel was late to walk you home but then he made you dinner and even danced with him. 

Words count:  1k

A/N: This is part 3 for I Don’t Deserve You series. Sorry for the long wait, I just finished Becoming Mrs. Miller series so I finally have the time to continue this series. Hope you like it!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

Joel had never been late to walk you home from work. But today, he was late. You had waited for more than an hour in your classroom for him but he hadn’t come. So you decided to walk home alone.

“He probably has something important to do.” You talked to yourself. 

Joel wouldn’t ditch you without a reason. You trusted him. He was a good man.

It was getting dark and you were getting goosebumps. Since Josh’s incident at your house, Joel had never let you walk home alone. But today was an exception. 

“Okay.” You took a deep breath before you walked out of the school.

You were still traumatic to what happened. Your body felt tense as you walked slowly. Hugging yourself hoping to get a feel of calmness. You slowly moved your eyes to look around making sure no one was following you. You started to feel sick, sweating, and trembling. 

You gasped and swiftly looked behind you as you heard a sound. There was no one. It was just a bird.

“Phew..” You exhaled and patted your chest.

It took 30 minutes to walk from the school to your house and you couldn’t wait to be home. The way to your home alone was exhausting. You continued walking, walking, and walking. Your goosebumps got worse, you had a hunch that someone was following you. You wanted to check and look behind you but you were too terrified to move. Your heart was beating faster and you didn’t realize your steps were getting faster. You saw your house was not far away from you so you started to run and close your eyes. 

“No! No! Please! Just let me go! Please!” You hit the man you bumped into. 

“Hey, hey, it’s me. It’s me. It’s me. Joel.” It was Joel.

“You okay?” Joel held both of your upper arms and his thumbs moving in circles. 

“Uh-I-” You panted, tears streamed down your cheeks.

“Just breath, it’s okay, just breath.” He guided you to inhale and exhale until you were calm enough to speak.

“Did something happen? Tell me.” His eyes were worried.

“I-I think there was someone following me.” You panted and told him.

“Okay.” He moved you behind him and he looked around.

“No one’s here. You’re safe.” He didn’t see anything suspicious.

“Can you bring me home, please?” You pinched the fabric of his jacket on his upper arm.

“Yeah, yeah. Come here.” Joel put his arms around you and dragged you closer to him.

You put your head on his chest and walked to your house. Joel sat you on the sofa and made you a warm tea.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I got an emergency call from Tommy saying there was..That’s not important. I’m sorry, baby. I promise it won’t happen again.” Joel apologized.

“No, no. It’s fine. So, what happened?” You totally understood him.

“Nothing. False alarm.” Joel shook his head.

“That’s good right. Better than something bad happens.” You stroked his upper arm. Joel chuckled at your positive mindset.

“I’ll make dinner tonight. Just get some rest.” Joel groaned as he stood up from the sofa. You nodded.

You turned your body and rested your chin on top of the back pillows. Watching Joel making dinner for the two of you. 

“Like the view?” Joel chuckled as he prepared you dinner.

“Uh-uh.” You smiled. Joel shook his head.

“Stop staring at me. I can’t focus.” 

“I can’t. I’m trying to keep this picture in my memory.” You put your hands on the sides of your head.

After dinner

“Do you want to watch a movie? The TV works.” You didn’t want Joel to go home yet.

“Yeah, sure.” 

“They have a lot of DVDs. The person who lived here must have loved watching movies.” 

“Have you ever watched this one?” You showed Joel a DVD.

“Dirty Dancing? No, I haven’t.” 

“Okay, this one then.” You turned on the TV and put the CD in the DVD player.

Joel sat beside you and put his arms around you. You rested your head on his shoulder.

*credits-scene*

“So, can you dance?” You teased Joel.

“I used to.” 

“Show it to me.” You nudged your nose to his jaw.

“No, no.” He was too shy to dance.

“Come on.” You took Joel’s hand and dragged him to dance with you.

He sighed. You started dancing even though your moves were stiff and weird. You didn’t care as long as you could make him laugh. He threw his head back and laughed. 

“Your turn.” You asked him to dance.

He was shy at first but then he started to move and made funny facial expressions. You laughed so loud you could feel your stomach bursting. You had never seen this side of him.

Video from cocoullrich on Instagram

“You won, Joel.” You laughed holding your stomach.

“Promise me you won’t tell anybody about that.” He moved closer to you. 

“Depends.” You smirked.

“On what?” He put his arms on your waist.

“How you behave.” You kissed his cheek. 

“Do you know what you have done to me?” Joel raised his eyebrows.

“What?” You tilted your head.

“I’m not me when I’m with you. I’m a totally different person.” He gave you a peck on your lips.

You smiled and he kissed you again. The kiss was getting deeper and his hands started snaking under your shirt. You gasped when he tried to unbutton your pants. The memories from that night, the night when Josh tried to rape you came back all over again.

“I-I’m sorry.” You stopped his hands and stepped back.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-” Joel took a step back.

“No, no. It’s not your fault. It’s just that-that night when-” You tried to explain but you couldn’t find the words. You were panting.

“No, no. I totally understand. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.” Joel slowly moved closer to you. 

He looked at you waiting for signs to make sure you were okay with him touching you.  He extended his hand, you nodded and he hugged you. 

“I’m sorry.” He rubbed your back in circles and kissed your head. 

To be continued…

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

Taglist:

@nyotamalfoy @stevengmybeloved @happinessinthebeing @angelicbbsblog

[lexusiswriting]

A love you deserve (Ricky Olson) - Part 3 of ?

Hi guys!

I'm so happy to see your reactions to this story and I hope you will like it till the end.

Warnings: language.

Taggs: @multifandomcrackhead, @nicelittlenightmares, @roll-tide-babe89, @skulliecadaver-blog, @21-century-tae, @melissa-anderson

Requests: OPEN.

_____________________________________

It was Ben. To be more exact, the drunk version of himself.

“There she is! The most beautiful woman in the entire world!”

He could barely walk at this point, being helped by Danny. Even though he was in the same state as Ben, they made their way to me.

“Everyone here needs to know you are mine!”

“Ben, you are making a scene and you know I don’t like that. How much did you drink?”

“Maybe 3 bottles of whisky, I don’t know.”

I was embarrassed but I tried not to show that. He tried to get my drink and I got the glass from his hand before he could taste it. When he moved his head towards me, his face got confused.

“Who is this guy?”

He was referring to Ricky. In the meantime, Chris got back and saw what was happening, trying to find a solution for this problem. He knows how jealous Ben can get. I was about to answer the question, but Ricky was faster than me.

“I’m Ricky, the new bass player for Motionless In White.”

“Right. I hope you know this is going to be my wife someday, so don’t get any ideas.”

“Don’t worry, I have a girlfriend myself. We were just chatting.”

I could see in Ben’s eyes he was not that happy with his answer. But in just a second, he remembered he wanted to have more whisky.

“Ben, you had enough. You need to sleep now to be ready for the set tomorrow.”

“What do you mean? I was born ready. Or if you want to have some fun with me, just say it. Don’t be embarrassed by the boys.”

By the time he finished his sentence, my whole face was red. I’ve never seen him like this before. If Xander was here, he would have said that it’s clearly he did not change at all.

“Ben, let’s go. Now!”

He did not protest this time and put his arm around my neck for more stability. Chris offered to help me but he saw enough already. Plus, I wanted to have a talk with him to understand where all this attitude came from.

We got in Asking Alexandria’s bus and thankfully, we were alone. He almost fell because he forgot about the bottles that covered almost the entire floor. Somehow, he managed to reach his bed, while I was checking my phone for a message I just got – it was Xander.

~ I heard what happened. We need to talk. ~

Of course he already knows. I just feel this is going to be a very long night.

I made my way towards Ben and he was already sleeping. At least he took of his pants. Now I had plenty of time to think what to tell him tomorrow, when he will be sober.

When I was about to leave I heard the phone vibrating continuously, meaning multiple messages. But this time it was not my phone, it was Ben’s. I turned around and gave this a thought. I have never searched his phone before, because he never gave me any reasons to do it. Now, after all that happened, I was extremely curious.

I started looking for his phone, knowing it will be in one of the pockets of his jeans. Maybe there is nothing to worry about and I am exaggerating. But I know I will not have peace tonight if I don’t look, because the messages are still coming while I’m searching.

In the first pocket I felt something weird, like a block, but it was too little to be a pack of cigarettes or something he always carried with him. I managed to get it out and it was a box, covered in black velvet. When I opened it, I saw a ring with a beautiful emerald and little diamonds on each side. That’s exactly how I always imagined my wedding ring and he knew it. I can’t believe he actually wants to propose. He moved a little in his bed and I thought he woke up, but it was a false alarm. I put the box back and remembered what my mission was.

Maybe the ring counts as evidence for the love he has for me, but I still had my questions. I found his phone in the other pocket and my luck was that I knew his password. The second the screen unlocked and I checked his notifications, my heart skipped a beat.

There were multiple messages from a contact “Chicago Show”. If I remember correctly, he had a show there a couple of months ago. The messages from this contact, who was clearly a girl, were:

~ Can’t believe what we did, loved every second. ~

~ Where is your next show? I promise I will be there. ~

And a couple of his responses were:

~ You truly know how to make a man happy, don’t you? ~

~ Don’t worry, no one will find out about us. ~

I was shacking uncontrollably by this point. That’s why he did not called me back, not even one message. The last months of our relationship were just a lie. I forgot completely about the ring and I put the phone back where it was. When I got out of the bus I started crying. All I wanted was to go home, to be all alone and to never see him again.

While I was approaching our bus, I saw Xander smoking a cigarette. I forgot he wanted to talk with me about earlier but now it was not the time. He came closer to me and saw the tears pouring down my face.

“What happened? Are you okay?”

“You were right, all along. Ben did not change. I just found out he cheated on me in the time we were touring.”

“Oh my God.. Lexus, I’m so sorry…”

“Don’t be. I just want to sleep now, we have a show tomorrow.”

I opened the bus’s door and went straight to my bed. Tonight I would not sleep at all. I am devastated and my heart is broken. Poured all the love I had in my body for someone who just wanted to have fun. I tried to not wake up the rest of the guys and I put my face in the pillow, hopping they will not hear my sadness.

__________________________________

The next day came and I tried to make myself look like nothing ever happened. I know I will have to talk to Ben about it and to end this whole charade and then to explain everything to the most important persons in my life. At least I know I will have a couple of shoulders to cry on.

Asking Alexandria was on the stage now and our band will play next. I had a lot of messages from Ben asking me why I am not in the backstage, as I usually do. I ignored every notification that had his name on it, but not the one that came from Chris.

~ See you in 5? ~

Both Andrew and Seth knew by now what happened, Xander being the one to share the news. I bet he managed to tell Chris as well.

While walking towards his bus, I tried to not look in the stage’s direction. The last thing I want right now is to see his face. It’s enough that I can hear their music. When Chris saw me he came running to me and took me in his arms. That’s when I suddenly started crying again.

“Please, don’t cry. It shatters my heart when I see you like this.”

“Mine is already in pieces.”

He comforted me, saying everything will be okay. That if I need him by my side when I’ll talk to Ben, he will be there no matter what. He offered me a drink inside the bus, saying that Ricky was the only one there.

“Does he know about it?”

“Yeah, he was with me when Xander came by. Don’t worry, I consider him a great friend, maybe he will make you feel better.”

Ricky was sitting on the couch, looking at his phone. When our eyes met he did something I never imagined he would do. He took my hand in his and guided me into his arms. His hug was very tight, like he never wanted to let me go.

“I’m so sorry, Lexus. You don’t deserve any of these things. Remember that it’s his loss, not yours.”

I was still in his arms when I felt the tears forming in my eyes.

“Thank you, Ricky. I hope everything will be over soon.”

“Just so you know, we are always here for you.”

We? I know I can always count on Chris, but I don’t know that much about Ricky. In this moment all I was thinking about was how lucky Ricky’s girlfriend was to have someone like him in her life.

I was the one to break the hug, knowing I will start to cry hysterically if he will continue. Right now was not the time, knowing that soon I will be on the stage.

“Xander messaged me. He said you have 10 minutes to be there.” Chris said.

“Will you guys come with me?”

I don’t know what made me say that. Maybe the fear of seeing Ben, or the fear of being alone that I constantly had after last night's events.

They both nodded and stayed by my side on the way to the stage. It was right when Asking Alexandria finished their set. I saw Ben walking down the stairs and when his eyes were wandering around, they eventually met mine. He smiled at me and started running in my direction. All I felt was fear and disgust.

“Where have you been? You missed our set.”

“We will talk about that later.”

“No, now it’s the time because I am confused.”

When he touched my hand, I started shaking and took it away from him. Ricky put his arm on my back and guided me away from him to where the rest of my band was. Chris did not move from his spot, wanting to have the last word.

“You heard her. She has something to do now. Leave her alone.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Who are you to talk to me like that? And why was that guy touching my girlfriend?”

“Just let her finish what she has to do. I bet you’ll love to hear what happened. Even though you kind of know already.”

Ben was extremely confused at this point. Chris left him without any more explanations, with a smirk on his face. Now he was in the backstage, next to Ricky, both of them waiting to see our set.

[i-am-bella-donna]

The Infiltrators

Acegust 2024 Week 1: Found Family/Unconventional Format

AO3

Story Summary:

“Good evening! I’m Katie Killjoy.” “And I’m—” “Shut the fuck up, Tom. Breaking news: strange activity has been spotted at the Heaven Embassy!” A series of murders across Pentagram City had Sinners in hysterics, but residents of the Hazbin Hotel knew something about the situation was off. After all, nothing could ever be truly simple in Hell—especially not if Heaven had anything to say about it.

Pairings: Platonic Everything

Word Count: 2,266

CONTENT WARNINGS: CHARACTER DEATH, MURDER

A/N: I wrote this for Acegust 2024 on r/AO3. Frankly, I am very proud of how this story turned out, as I was experimenting with the format and had no idea what to expect.

~~~

August 8th, 17:02 Server: Pentagram City Energy

Pentagram City is offline.

~~~

August 8th, 17:43 Group Chat: Hazbin Hotel Residents!!!

Angel Dust Damn. Why was the power out for so long this time? Vox usually has the city back up and running in ten minutes.

Charlie Where is everyone?!

Angel Dust Husk and I are in the kitchen. Why?

Vaggie In the lobby. What’s going on?

Husk Kitchen.

Niffty Alastor and I are cleaning the basement!

Angel Dust We have a basement?

Charlie All of you need to stay in the Hotel until further notice. I promise I’ll explain when I get home. Don’t go outside. No matter what.

Angel Dust Can we go in the basement?

~~~

August 8th, 18:30 Transcript: 666 Evening News

“Good evening! I’m Katie Killjoy.”

“And I’m—”

“Shut the fuck up, Tom. Breaking news: strange activity has been spotted at the Heaven Embassy!”

“During today’s blackout, the spire of the tower lit up and sent several beacons of golden light into the sky. While many believe this incident was a prank or hoax, eyewitnesses claim that the light was angelic in nature.”

“Well, Tom—either several people are lying, or Heaven is up to some shady shit, as usual! No activity has been spotted since, but we urge all of you to keep your eyes open. Coming up—Mr. Vox shares the source of the longest blackout this year, right after this commercial break!”

~~~

August 8th, 21:23 Private Chat: Lucifer and Vaggie

Lucifer I just got off the phone with Charlie. Are you all okay?

Vaggie We brought out our angelic weapons and put the Hotel into lockdown. Do you know what’s going on?

Lucifer I know as much as you do. Heaven is basically useless right now. When I spoke to Sera, she politely told me it was not her problem and not-so-politely told me to go fuck myself. Which was practically an answer itself. Whatever is happening, she’s definitely involved.

Vaggie Have you heard from Emily?

Lucifer Silence.

Vaggie Security cameras around the city should be hooked to backup generators. Can you convince Vox to give you the footage? Charlie was the only one of us who was close enough to see the flare. Maybe the tapes caught something she missed.

Lucifer Vox. Is that the overlord Alastor hates?

Vaggie Yeah.

Lucifer In that case, absolutely! I’ll call him tomorrow morning.

Vaggie Sir? Do you think the flare could have been a false alarm?

Lucifer I hope so, Kiddo. But maybe you all should stay at the palace for a few nights. Just in case.

~~~

August 9th, 00:19 Group Chat: Unofficial Vee Communication Channel

Vox Something is wrong.

Velvette I’m glad you finally noticed. Don’t worry, we can burn that disgusting suit and replace it with something better. Something that inspires obedience and respect.

Valentino And something more sexy.

Velvette Anything would be more sexy than those rags.

Vox What?

Velvette What?

Valentino What?

Vox I was talking about today’s blackout. But what’s wrong with my suit?

Velvette Another time, darling. What’s happening right now?

Valentino I thought everything was fixed. On the news, you blamed the blackout on some drunk imps and said you took care of them.

Velvette You watch the news?

Vox Obviously, I lied! As far as I know, the city went dark for no reason.

Valentino Then how did you fix it?

Vox That’s the thing. I didn’t.

~~~

August 9th, 03:34 Private Chat: Husk and Vaggie

Husk You wanna talk about it?

Vaggie Is it that obvious?

Husk Yep. You’re a horrible liar.

Vaggie Why are you texting me? We’re in the same room.

Husk The others are all asleep, and I don’t think either of us wants to wake someone up. Or worse—get Alastor’s attention. Nice deflection, by the way.

Vaggie Fair enough.

Husk What’s up?

Vaggie I can’t figure out what Heaven is planning. The only reason we held our ground on Extermination Day is because we were prepared. If we can’t figure out what will happen, we can’t do anything to stop it.

Husk I understand. But Heaven hasn’t initiated anything yet. We still have time. And now, we have Lucifer on our side from the get-go. If any more angels come to Hell, we’ll be there to make sure it lives up to its name.

Vaggie But that’s just it. What if angels aren’t coming to Hell?

Husk What do you mean?

Vaggie What if they’re already here?

~~~

August 9th, 03:36 Search History of User: Velvette

Footage of angels Footage of exterminators What do exterminators look like without masks How to kill an angel How to survive an angel How to hide from an angel

~~~

August 9th, 03:36 Private Chat: Husk and Vaggie

Husk Do you really think angels could be that subtle?

Vaggie I hid myself down here for years. No one noticed.

Husk Let’s go with that.

Vaggie I’m going to pretend that was sincere. But without their masks, most angels look like any other demon. I might be bad at lying, but most of the Exorcists aren’t.

Husk You think Heaven is infiltrating Hell?

Vaggie I think Heaven is capable of more bad than people realize.

Husk True. The Extermination itself is proof of that.

Vaggie But it doesn’t even stop there. Heaven values perfection, so they eliminate Cherubs who make mistakes. They wipe the memory of new souls when they arrive. No one remembers their family or friends. And some angels do shitty things behind closed doors, only for the leaders of Heaven to turn a blind eye. On the surface, it looks perfect, but Heaven is so much more fucked up than everyone realizes.

Husk Do you think Exorcists would willingly come down to Hell for this? Outside of an Extermination?

Vaggie If they had the chance to kill Sinners? I think most of them would.

~~~

August 9th, 03:38 Search History of User: Velvette

Good places to hide Can you survive a fall from Vee tower How to remove air vents How to remove ceiling tiles Where do you go when you die in Hell Vox Vox please Help me

User: Velvette is offline.

~~~

August 9th, 05:20 Group Chat: Hazbin Hotel Residents!!!

Angel Dust Bad news: I still have work today. Just letting you all know before I leave.

Lucifer I can portal you there, if you’d like!

Angel Dust Normally, I’d be polite and say no, but I’m desperate. Also, how and why are you awake right now?

Lucifer Counterpoint, why are you awake right now?

Angel Dust I have work. What’s your excuse?

Lucifer I’m the Devil. I don’t have nightmares. I am one. In what world would I possibly need sleep?

Angel Dust Terrifying, but fair enough.

Charlie Stay safe today, Angel!

Angel Dust I will, Toots.

Charlie And if you can, keep your phone with you.

Niffty Bye, Angel! Alastor said to give Vox a middle finger from him.

Angel Dust How the fuck does he even know what that means?

Lucifer Where is that stupid deer, anyway? If he’s in the kitchen, tell him to keep his disgusting claws out of my refrigerator! I don’t want his grubby hands in my pancake mix. Angel, message us when you need to come back. I’ll pick you up.

~~~

August 9th, 06:49 Transcript: Source Unknown

“Log four: this is Acting General Lute, leading the current mission into Hell. The first three targets have been eliminated. Our plan is now in action.”

~~~

August 9th, 08:08 Group Chat: Hazbin Hotel Residents!!!

Angel Dust So…change of plans. Can someone bring me back to the palace? Right now?

Niffty This is Alastor. Niffty is typing for me. I’m afraid our dear king is unable to assist you at the moment. However, if you are willing to wait a few minutes, I can come and retrieve you myself.

Angel Dust Fuck. Okay. Just hurry. Things over here are really fucked up. But on the bright side, you’ll definitely be entertained by it.

Niffty Interesting. I am on my way.

~~~

August 9th, 11:54 Article: Two Overlords Found DEAD!

This morning, overlord Missi Zilla of the Doomsday District was found dead in the backrooms of her largest club, Siren Song. An assistant reported finding angelic knives beside her body, although the wounds are inconsistent with suicide.

A few hours later, the overlord of social media, Velvette Vogue, was discovered dead in her kitchen.

“She was surrounded by blood, with an angelic spear still in her chest,” said a Vee tower worker who has requested to remain anonymous. Investigators have ruled her death as foul play, and some have suggested that it may be linked to the erratic behavior of the Heaven embassy.

In possibly related news, the west side of Cannibal Town has experienced a series of similar murders, with residents found dead in their homes. The identity of the perpetrator is unknown.

At this time, overlords Vox, Valentino, and Rosie have declined to comment.

~~~

August 9th, 15:15 Transcript: 66.6 Radio Broadcast

“Salutations, dear listeners! My, my—we have quite the story today.

“For those of you who don’t know, beloved overlord Missi Zilla was recently found dead. Now, I would normally dismiss this incident as ordinary Hellish activity, but one of Vox’s better halves has been found dead as well. I’m nearly envious—getting away from Vox sounds like Heaven in and of itself! Minus the eternal boredom that comes with a second death, of course.

“And speaking of Vox, is it any wonder that the coward has refused to comment on the death of his so-called dear friend? Why, if I didn’t know any better, I’d suggest he took care of her himself! But that would require the bare modicum of effort, and we all know he has trouble with that.

“In fact, according to His Majesty, Vox hasn’t even mustered the effort to tell you all the truth! That blackout yesterday? Vox had nothing to do with it. He doesn’t even know what happened!

“Thus, I’d like to propose a new theory. The blackout, flare, and recent murders are too close to be a mere coincidence—and after investigations, Lucifer has determined that two angels used the chaos of yesterday to infiltrate Hell. Who else would go after not only overlords, but peaceful civilians whose only crime was defending their home on Extermination Day?

“So, Vox—how does it feel? You refused to share the truth, and now your protogeé is dead at the hands of the very monsters you kept hidden.

“What do you have to say to that, old friend?”

~~~

August 9th, 16:28 Private Chat: Angel Dust and Charlie

Angel Dust I think your dad might actually kill Alastor.

Charlie What makes you say that?

Angel Dust Just a gut feeling. Also, the giant fucking shockwave that he sent through the palace. How is Alastor still laughing right now? I’d be running for my life.

Charlie Fuck. I’ll talk to Dad. But I really wish Alastor hadn’t revealed the angels to Hell. Everyone was already panicking!

Angel Dust Yeah. Do you really think angels killed the overlords and Cannibal Town residents?

Charlie Honestly? I don’t know what to think. But two overlords were killed out of nowhere. And the only other people killed were the cannibals we fought with. Also, Dad and I can’t contact anyone from Heaven. It’s too big of a coincidence.

Angel Dust But Adam is already dead, so who do you think Heaven sent down here?

Charlie Vaggie said Lute would have jumped at the opportunity to kill more Sinners. But I’m not sure who the second person could be.

~~~

August 9th, 18:05 Transcript: Source Unknown

“Log six: this is Acting General Lute, leading the current mission into Hell. With the first stage of our plan underway, my companion and I are ready to enact the keystone.”

~~~

August 9th, 19:46 Group Chat: Carmine Family

Odette Mother, what is happening?

Clara Is that who I think it is? Mom?!

Carmilla I love you both. Okay? Do whatever it takes to get yourselves to safety. Find Zestial and have him contact Lucifer. Do not let this information die with me.

~~~

August 9th, 19:50 Group Chat: Hazbin Hotel Residents!!!

Vaggie Shit. Shit shit shit. I have some really bad news, but you might need to sit down.

Charlie What’s wrong?

Vaggie The angels are launching their next attack. They went for the Carmine family. Odette just sent me a video, and…well. See for yourself. AngelicInvaders.mov

Lucifer Wait.

Husk Is that—

Angel Dust HOLY SHIT!

Niffty Huh?

Charlie WHAT THE FUCK?!

~~~

August 9th, 20:00 Transcript: Source Unknown

“Log nine: this is Acting General Lute, leading the current mission into Hell. Our infiltration has been successful so far, and the destabilization of Hell is underway. By tomorrow, we should be—you’re already back?”

“Yes, ma’am. The children have escaped, but Miss Carmine is dead.”

“Good. She ran the black market of angelic arms. Without her, we should be able to take out the stronger overlords with no issue, starting with the Radio Demon.”

“The Radio Demon? He works at that Hotel, correct?”

“Exactly. If we can eliminate him, Hell will fall apart.”

“And with Hell dessstabilized, we will be able to take control once and for all!”

“Without their previous overlords, those demons will destroy themselves in no time. It may seem extreme, but this is the only way to guarantee that no more of those disgusting Sinners ascend to Heaven.”

“Demonic ascension—sssuch a ridiculous concept!”

“That’s right. Because these monsters around us? They’re nothing like you and I, Pentious. And we’re going to make sure they get the Hell they deserve.”

~~~

A/N: I wanted to use a different storytelling format. However, it is currently the middle of the night, and I lack the brainpower to tell whether I hit what I was aiming for (which was a mild horror comedy).

[illusionsofdreaming]

would it be okay to request headcanons with the main trio from TCF who aren't in a relationship with the (fem) reader yet but they like each other, the guys get hurt or something and the reader is so scared of losing them or was so anxious that she ended up kissing them? You can edit a few parts if you'd prefer! thank you, i know you have a lot of requests but you're the only one who writes x reader for them-

Notes: It took forever+forever but I finally gave up trying to perfect it- y'all just going to have to deal with these half baked potatos as I sob in the corner for my lack of functioning writing braincells.

+ 'nonny I know you asked for Fem reader but I'm just so used to writing gender neutral nowadays I actually forgot to write Fem reader in. Uh. I mean it's gender neutral so it should work regardless?? I'msorrypleaseforgivemeforthisblunder

Ft: Cale, Alberu, Choi Han

Cale Henituse

He’s covered in blood.

Again.

He glanced down at his shirt, once white, now completely soaked and rapidly losing warmth. The icky feeling of sticky cloth stuck on skin caused goosebumps to break out all over his arms. The lethargy that weighed on him was hard to ignore, but expected after using his ancient powers-

“Cale!”

He turned just as the full force of you barrelled into him and he staggered, unbalanced and would’ve fallen had you not pulled him back. He barely had time to protest at your rough greeting when you began frantically patting him down as if scouring him for weapons.

“There’s so much- where are you hurt?” you demanded harshly, your tone pitched higher than normal. “Raon call for Saint Jack and the others, medics- anyone that can help!”

“Y-yes! I-I will! Weak hu-human you better not die or I will destroy the kingdom!”

“Wai-“ his protests were ignored as the dragon flew off, leaving Cale dumbfounded with his jaw hanging down in disbelief. “Wait you don’t have to find the others, I’m fi-“

“Cale Henituse, if I hear you say ‘I’m fine’ I’m going to sock you to kingdom fucking come.“ you seethed. His lips snapped shut obediently, swallowing the aforementioned phrase down as a foreboding chill crept down his spine.

But I am..?

“How could you..” your voice shook even as you clung onto his soaked shirt so tightly your knuckles turned white. “You’re always doing stupid things like this…”

Cale frowned, feeling a bit indignant. Sure his plans weren’t the most thought out at times, but to call them stupid…

“If you waited for us to come, then you wouldn’t have to- why do you keep sacrificing yourself like this?”

That triggered an alarm in his head. What strange things were you talking about? The act of sacrifice were done by martyrs and selfless heroes and Cale Henituse was neither of those. He wanted to correct your misunderstanding but you were worked up and hysterical and it was with horror that he realised you were crying.

“________-“

“Don’t talk! Please, just conserve your energy- I won’t let you die, I promised the kids and the others- I won’t let you-”

The alarm bells in his head rang even louder and he fought to be heard over your rambling, “_________- no one’s dying, I’m fine-” it felt as if his heart had leapt to his throat as he stopped your fist before it could make contact. You really weren’t joking when you said you’d punch him. He tightened his hold on your wrist when you tried to twist out of his grip and swallowed nervously. “I’m not hurt _________,“ he emphasised, willing you to meet his eyes.

“Stop bullshitting me Cale- how much of a fucking idiot do you take me for? How can anyone be fine after losing this much blood-“

“It’s not mine.”

You stilled in his grasp.

“…W-what?”

He frowned. Was it really that hard to believe his words? “The blood’s not mine.” he repeated and made sure to meet your disbelieving gaze head on so that you could verify the truth in his words. “They were cut down before they could harm me. None of this blood is mine. I was not hurt.“ It was a partial lie. He did cough out some blood after instinctively activating the shield for protection but he felt that that was knowledge you’d be better off not knowing.

The coiled tension in you leaked out and Cale slowly released his grip on your hand and took a cautious step back - just in case. It was a good thing he managed to deescalate the situation before the others arrived. Just convincing one person was hassle enough and from experience alone, he knew the others weren’t as merciful when it came to learning about his injuries, regardless of severity or his protests otherwise. Cale shuddered. He really didn’t want to be on the receiving end of Ron’s cold smile again. He glanced up and saw Raon’s flying figure and he waved lazily to the dragon hoping the young one would understand that the healers were no longer necessary, it had only been a false alarm.

“..ot.”

“Hm?” He looked down, hearing you mumble but didn’t quite catch what you’d said.

He was not prepared to be yanked forward and for your lips to mash against his. There was a brief sting where your teeth had caught on his lip and the uncomfortable sensation of having your teeth clack against each other, noses in the way. He froze, like a deer caught in headlights, thoughts reeling but before he could think of acting, to push or pull you in even closer-

You let him go just as abruptly and he staggered, breath stolen, mind in absolute disarray.

Then you slapped him. Which definitely cleared his thoughts. “You idiot!”

Stupefied, he watched as you stormed off, stuck in a daze as he cradled his face where his cheek and lips tingled for different reasons.

“…What..?”

Choi Han

Choi Han didn’t know what Cale saw in you back then, a complete stranger whom they saved by chance and nursed back to health with utmost care. You, who Cale insisted was the final key to their masterplan and then asked Choi Han to act as your escort.

There were many things Choi Han didn’t understand when it came to Cale-nim’s decisions. But that wasn’t so unusual and he’d never made it a habit to question Cale’s reasoning, having learned to be patient, knowing the pieces would eventually slot together in the grand picture. So although initially wary he was of your unclear history and affiliation, he stayed by your side and did his duty without question.

And perhaps after weeks of accompanying you, he’s beginning to see what Cale saw. Though powerless and weak, you were righteous and passionate, holding true to your belief even in the face of adversaries. You were the perfect replacement for the tyrannical ruler of the country, someone capable of salvaging the crumbling system of a neglected, abused society and lifting it to new heights and glory.

With the flames of revolution ignited, everything hinged on getting you safely to Cale on the final stage. While the revolutionaries fought and acted as distractions above ground, he escorted you through the abandoned waterways.

The undergrounds were dark and cramped, incredibly disadvantageous to a swordsman such as himself. When assassins leaped out in an ambush; Choi Han didn’t hesitate. Without time nor space to draw his sword, he pushed you behind him and raised his arm to block the strike.

As the momentum of the assassin’s blade stopped, it became simple matter to quickly disarm and finish them. Having checked and affirmed that there’s no forthcoming attacks, he urged you to hurry, now worried as they weren’t expected to be discovered so soon.

Something must’ve happened, we should hurry to Cale-nim’s side-

He was halted with a firm grip on his other hand and was pulled back as he was met with your stern, unwavering gaze and declaration that you will not move another step from this spot until his arm got treated first.

Which was a ridiculous request considering they were running on a tight schedule. He frowned and his fingers flexed against the hilt of his sword as you pulled him to the side.

When none of his objections were being heard, he tried reasoning with you. The wound may look horrible, but he’d assured you he’d angled his arm just so that the blade would’ve caught on his bone rather than tendons. It was a strategic move that not only blocked momentum but also kept damage to his non-dominant arm at the minimum. He would not have bled to death nor would he be crippled from it, something that barely needed the emergency care you insisted on.

“It’s not necessary, we need to get to the tower room first.”

“The room is not moving anywhere, I’d rather not risk having you develop an infection because you neglected to care for your wound.“

He flinched when alcohol was poured on the cut and Choi Han breathed out slowly, his frustration mounting as precious seconds passed. Something in his chest stirred uncomfortably. He’s not accustomed to having others care for his wounds, having spent so many years caring for them himself whilst hiding his weaknesses from monsters in the Forest of Darkness.

“I will attend to it after I’ve brought you to Master Cale’s side, we must-“

Your eyes flashed with anger as your grip tightened painfully around his arm. “So many things have been lost to reach this stage, I’d rather not lose more on the way there.”

“Cale-“

Perhaps you’ve had enough as well as the next thing he knew, your fingers dug into his arm and he found himself yanked forward and you pressing a hard, determined kiss that stole whatever he was going to say from his lips.

“Cale Henituse,” you said sternly when you parted and picked up a roll of bandages, “can afford to wait a bit longer.” you glared at him as if daring him to argue otherwise.

Not that it was necessary, considering he’d doubt he’d have the coherency to answer anything with the way all the blood in his body was rushing to his face.

Alberu Crossman

He didn’t feel anything upon the moment of impact. Only the shocking cold of metal being slid into his side and the vicious gaze of the perpetrator pressed up to his front.

The pain ripped through a moment later and he gritted his teeth, red spilling down his lips. It hurts.

Activity bursted around him, screams of fear echoed through the ballroom as guards rushed to his side. However one voice in particular caught his attention and he looked up to catch your horrified expression, lips parted in a desperate cry.

His forehead furrowed as a strange sense of guilt washed over him- he didn’t want you to see this- but he didn’t have time to explore the feeling as his hand latched firmly on the hand which still held the weapon in his side, preventing their escape.

His smile was red, “Caught you now, rat.”

═════☩══♛══☩═════

He tousled his hair dry with a towel as he read through the reports in his hand.

Alberu was exhausted, the fight to rid his side of his enemies’ spies had always been an ongoing and tedious project. His enemies were cunning and always played things safe however their impatience this time would cost them. Now that one of their own has fallen into his hands, they can start pulling in the net.

A knock sounded on his door and he didn’t bother looking up from his reports as he gave permission. “Come in.”

“Did you manage to find any new information from them?” he asked immediately as the door opened. Anything gleaned from the assassin would be beneficial to his cause. Not that he truly expected any confessions to be given this night. Any hired killer worth their salt would know not to betray the mastermind behind a hit. But there were more than one way to find credible information aside from words torn directly from the lips of a captive.

When no answer came, he looked up and immediately dropped the papers he was reading.

“___________…”

In the aftermath of the attack and the capture of the assassin he’d been immediately escorted to the healers for first aid. With the bare minimum done he’d left quickly to take control of the situation, calming the aristocrats and giving orders to assign all guests to be escorted to a room in the palace to rest from the unexpected development - the smarter ones would know this was just a way to keep all suspects in one place, stalling for time so that his trusted aides may work to narrow down the most likely suspects. He had been meaning to find you and explain once everything settled but this time you took matters into your own hands.

Your eyes glanced at the documents he dropped. “Am I disturbing your work?”

“No,” he replied instantly, fighting back the urge to shuffle the papers behind him. “No, you’re not.”

The room lapsed into silence once more as neither of you seemed keen to address the elephant in the room.

“About tonight…” he started slowly, “they had to believe I had my guards lowered.”

The truth was, though he believed you would not have been behind the attack, you had to be tested all the same. Should it be known you’ve been partial to this plan, it would’ve given the real culprits leverage to use.

You approached him and he wished you would say something. He noted the redness in your eyes and felt a stab of guilt lodge in his chest. “It had to be believable.”

You didn’t meet his eyes and your hand hovered over where his wound had been.

He lifted the edge of his shirt up to reveal the pink scar tissue underneath. It was ugly and badly healed due to the rush he had been in. “I wasn’t in any real danger.” he said softly, staying still and resisting the urge to shiver when your fingers traced the scar.

“You’re picking up bad habits from Cale.” You said so softly he would’ve missed it had he not been paying attention.

“The padded shirt under prevented the blade from going too deep.” he explained, hoping you’d understand that he hadn’t been reckless. Everything had been planned carefully. He slowly tucked his shirt back in as you withdrew your hand, already missing the warmth you brought to his skin just moments ago.

“__________…”

You leaned in and placed a small kiss on the corner of his mouth. “Don’t do that again.” you whispered against his cheek.

He could only watch in astonishment as you turned away and exited his room.

“..Okay..” he said hoarsely to the empty room.

[merakiui]

Ok concept Time

(If you think this is too much don’t post this I understand!)

Cw drugging, implied non con, loss of virginity, SCARAMOCHE BEING A JERK

You are one of the Liyue Qixing who oversees all the banks in Liyue. Now that Rex Lapis had stopped minting the coins a new pile of responsibility had fallsed on to your shoulders. What’s frustrating is that the rest of the Qixing doesn’t want to help and you think that is because Ningguang told them not to. You and her butthead enough on passing of laws. (You want a free market while she wants more governmental regulation)

After recieving another “proposal” from Ningguang you are infuriated. To think she has the audacity to order you around? Absurd. When you seek to take a break from work in a little tea shop you found an adorable young man trying to stike up a conversation.

You know he is a Fatui from the emblem on his clothing, but you do not make it that big of a deal. The northland bank abides the rules of Liyue and brings gold to the market. Of course you agree with Ningguang that they should be treated with caution, but you never viewed them as enemies.

Well, you had to admit that it’s good to let your pent up anger out. Everyone in Liyue seems to worship Ningguang as if she is their archon now, hard to find someone who would criticize her these days.

You are careful to not spill too much, just minor things, but then your mind begins to spin and blur, you did not brought your attendants with you.

That look of horror on your face in the morning was worth countless mora to Scaramouche. Carassing your cheeks gently, he whispered his conditions of keeping this under wraps.

Marry him, so the people of Liyue would not know one of their respectable Qixing had lost her virginity to a Fatui Harbinger.

He doesn’t need to tell you what he did. You’re smart enough to figure that out.

To have one who has so much authority over others now to him makes his ego implode in geometric ratio.

(I love Ningguang I just need an opening hhhhhh)

-wonderful anon

WONDERFUL ANON, I DEMAND A COLLABORATION OTL jk jk ...unless? 👀

But whoaaa that is such a great concept! 10/10! The absolute power trip the Harbingers would get out of taking your virginity. Like,, waaahhh! Scaramouche is definitely at the top of the list for ‘jerk who lives for the virginity-claiming power trip.’ And the forced marriage too?! AAAHH WOWOWOW SCARA WOULD SO DO THAT! Please do not hesitate to bless us with more of your galaxy ideas!!!! 

Okay, ahem. Let me add my thoughts onto this amazing concept.

cw: nsfw, implied non-con, mentions of forced marriage, yandere, unhealthy behaviors/relationship, implied drug usage

You can’t believe you fell for his false charm. More importantly, you can’t believe you didn’t bring your attendants with you. How could you act so foolishly? Even though you had taken care to divulge only minor details about yourself, such as your name and your preferred flavor of tea, it didn’t mean anything to him. He was content to listen and watch while you talked and sipped at your tea, quietly plotting all sorts of maddening things.

It’s very odd when you wake up in a plush bed with him at your side. All sorts of emotions and feelings crash into your just-barely awake self. You’re confused and worried, fearing for your own safety because you just can’t remember what happened the night prior. Your memory only goes back to the tea shop and Scaramouche with his opulent attire and charming grin. And yet now all forms of clothing have been shed and you’re so exposed. It’s more frightening than it is embarrassing, and when he smirks at your horrified expression it all crashes down on you at once.

The reason you’re so groggy and sore: drugs and sex. Of course. That has to be the only explanation for why you feel so miserable, both inside and out. And you’re absolutely speechless as he lays out the conditions, all confidence and pride, as if he didn’t just take something precious from you. Something that you were hoping to give to an actual lover and not some meddling Fatui scumbag.

“Marry you?” You repeat it without meaning to, but it still stuns you all the same. “You can’t be serious.”

“You heard me once, did you not?” His face is incredibly close to yours and you feel the uncanny need to hide under the covers. You surmise that even the most devout of prayers to Rex Lapis won’t be heard over the terrifying pound of your heart. “You shall be engaged to me and we’ll see to it that this little...secret of ours is kept under wraps. Surely that’s fair?”

“Hardly! You...” Your hands come up to cover your face and you’re caught between the urge to suffocate him in the linens or to cry rivers of tears. “You drugged me! And you... My—“

“Was it that special?” 

It was, you want to say, but you refuse to admit it. If you broke down in front of him, it would negate the strength you’re so desperately trying to uphold.

“No... But you can’t just drug someone and then have your way with them! And you can’t force them into marriage either. That’s the definition of insane.”

You feel sick and violated, pinned to a cork board like a deceased butterfly under his serious stare. And then he laughs. His lips turn upward in a sick smile and this man laughs. You’re not amused when you lower your hands to fix him with a glower, hoping he can read through your narrowed eyes and take the hint.

“Well, I did just that,” he finally says after he’s regained his composure, thin fingers grasping your chin. Your skin prickles at his deceitfully soft touch. “I suppose that, by your standards, I would be insane. Is that true?”

You’re too scared to agree and you have no idea what to do now. 

------

WOW OKAY SO!!! This is such a good concept. I just had to write a small snippet to contribute! I also had an idea concerning Ningguang! Even though the two of you disagree and don’t often get along because of your beliefs, she doesn’t think you’re a bad person. So she’s somewhat concerned when she learns that you don’t return to work after your break, and she becomes alarmed when all of your attendants claim to have no idea as to where you could’ve gone. She might not be your best friend, but you’re still one of the Liyue Qixing. Ningguang can’t just ignore it when someone with such an important role suddenly disappears.

Unfortunately, she has no idea where to start looking and the case of your disappearance is most likely handed off to someone who doesn’t exactly care that much. Either way, you’re still stuck with Scaramouche, who will make sure to limit your freedom, and as time ticks away so does your hope of escaping him. You can already hear the nightmarish chime of a forced wedding ceremony.

As for a beginning to this lovely scenario, perhaps the reader is frustrated because of all of the extra work being piled onto their schedule, and so it begins with them angrily heading out for some much-needed air, as you mentioned in the start of your concept. They decide to relax at a tea shop and that’s where they meet Scarymoose Scaramouche. >:) Perhaps he had some of his underlings stalk them and report back to him with the information, which is how he seems to know of your movements and where to find you. 

[i-am-a-bad-influence-writes]

False alarm

Steve Masterlist - Full Masterlist

Summary: You ran away from the Avengers years ago, not knowing how to deal with feelings for a certain someone. But when you find out about a threat to humanity, you have to deliver it to the tower. You planned on dying there but your old friends refused to let you go.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Word count: 2848

Broken and bruised, you sit down on a couch in the common room. You know Stark’s systems are mere seconds from rebooting and detecting you as an intruder but you couldn’t care less. Right now, you need a place to bleed out in peace, and what better place than your former employer’s couch. And there it goes. You know Friday is too advanced to just turn on lights and sirens but you hear a scuffling and the opening and closing of doors as well as guns getting readied. And still, you couldn’t care less. Because, if it really comes down to it, there are two scenarios that could happen. Best case: They realize it’s you, listen to what you have to say, and patch you up. Worst case: They shoot you on accident or on purpose and put you out of your misery. Either is fine with you. Though with the pain you are experiencing, you’d rather die than have to go through recovery. ‘Y/n?‘ You pull your head up with the last bits of strength you still possess and look at a few familiar faces. Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Natasha Romanoff. ‘Hi,‘ you say weakly, ‘I’m sorry to intrude but I just wanted to bleed out peacefully.‘ Tony rushes towards you and sits down beside you. ‘Why’d have to you pick the couch?‘ His words were supposed to come out as joking and sarcastic but there’s hurt in them. And it could be delusion from losing a lot of blood, but you would’ve sworn you saw a tear fall onto his cheek. ‘The floor was uncomfortable,‘ you explain to him with a grin that looks crooked. You had intended to sound cocky, like the grin you always wore when you had sass wars with Stark. Instead, your words came out desperate. ‘I have a black rug right there,‘ his voice sounds shaky. Steve and Natasha walk over and the lights turn on. They kneel down next to you. ‘What happened to you, y/n,‘ Steve asks you, worried as always. He had always been a great guy. You’re not quite sure why you decided you didn’t like him anymore. ‘I- shit,‘ you cuss at the pain as you try to move yourself to sit up a bit more. Both Steve and Tony jump towards you to support you, but you brush their hands away. The only reason they’re not rushing you to a doctor right now is because they know how stubborn you can be. You take a deep breath. ‘I found something,’ you tell them and point at the bag you dropped a few steps into the common room, ‘it’s in my bag. They came after me.’ Your breathing becomes heavier and suddenly you realize you might actually die today. ‘What’s going on?‘ Bruce comes strolling into the room looking tired more than anything until he notices you on the couch. That man doesn’t ever run, but he damn near sprints towards you. ‘Oh shit. We need to get her medical help.‘ ‘No, you need to get my bag,‘ you tell them sternly, ‘it’s more important than my life.‘ Natasha is the only one who does as you say, although she does it with tears in her eyes. ‘Everything is on the USB,‘ you tell her. She nods and runs off to the lab. It is only then that you take a relaxed breath. ‘Ok, now you can help me.‘ None of the men waste any time getting you to the med bay. While they get things ready, you tell them a self-evaluation as well as your blood type to get them ready faster. It is only then that they realize where most of the bleeding is coming from. ‘Jesus Christ woman,‘ Tony looks at you in awe, ‘you lost half an arm and you still managed to come here?‘ ‘Just patch me up,‘ you snap at him. He nods. ‘On it.‘ He takes off the rag that you clumsily wrapped around it in an attempt to lessen the bleeding. ‘God, that’s nasty,‘ Tony gags but continues on while Steve works on some smaller cuts and Bruce gets some blood ready. ‘Hey Tony,‘ you try to speak but your voice sounds shaky and weak. You feel your consciousness fade away more and more with every breath you take. ‘Yes, dear?‘ ‘If I make it, will you get me a cool metal arm like Bucky’s?‘ ‘Of course. You want the metal metal or the black metal?‘ ‘Metal metal,‘ you smile, ‘that one was way cooler.‘ And suddenly you’re slipping. It’s like one of those dreams where you feel like you’re falling, only you’re not landing. You keep falling and falling and falling and falling and...

. ‘How is she doing?‘ Tony walks into the med bay with three cups of coffee. One for him, one for Bruce who came to do a checkup, and one for Steve who has been here for the last few days without moving. ‘Stable,‘ Bruce says shortly, ‘but Steve told me her heartbeat increased a few times during the night as well as her brain activity.‘ ‘That’s good, right?‘ ‘Better than we could’ve expected.‘ Tony smiles meekly. ‘I guess I better get working on that arm for her.‘ The door slams open and Natasha rushes in. She looks just as exhausted as Steve and both Bruce and Tony doubt she has had any sleep the past days. ‘It’s a weaponized gas,‘ she tells the three, ‘she found out that Hydra is working on a damn weaponized gas. A biological weapon.‘ She takes over one of the screens in the med bay that wasn’t used and projects her findings. ‘I think we all know how zombies work,‘ she starts her explanation, ‘well, Hydra is planning on making the whole world zombies. Not to bend them to their will, but to make them compliant so they can analyze everyone and make the useless kill themselves. The gas dies down after only a week and will be untraceable after.‘ ‘Let’s get to work.‘ . Bruised, tired, and broken Steve sits down at the side of your bed again. The man hasn’t even taken the time to take off his suit or take a shower. Right when the jet landed, he rushed back to you with Bucky following shortly behind to check on him. He smiles at the sight of you while Bucky leans against the doorpost. He’s worried for his friend, as anyone would be. He had known you for a little bit before you left. No one really knows why you left or how you left without a trace. All they knew is what you left on a note and the note really didn’t say much. Just that it was all too much for you. And yet here you are. You just helped save the world from great misery and you don’t even know it. How did all this happen? Steve lets his head hang. ‘Y/n, I don’t know if you can hear me but I need you to know that we did it,’ he tells your unconscious body, ‘we stopped them and no one died except for some Hydra scum. And Stark promised to start working on your arm tomorrow, so you better wake up so his work doesn’t go to waste.’ He looks up at Bucky for a second who seems to have teary eyes as well. Slowly, more Avengers come walking in. Bruce takes a seat at a desk, Tony sits down on top of the desk, Natasha sits down next to Steve, even Sam decided to come to support you even though he doesn’t really know you so he just leans against the doorframe with Bucky, Peter doesn’t know you either but stands behind Bucky and Sam to silently support everyone in the room. ‘I think I speak for all of us when I say we missed you,‘ Steve continues, ‘work has been different without you around. And though we all wanted you back, I don’t think any of us would’ve wanted to see you like this. We miss you.‘ ‘Speak for yourself,‘ Tony comments through tears, ‘she bled on my couch.‘ . Your USB had more information on it than just the gas. Peter and Bruce have been trying to decipher it for a week or two when Peter takes another look at you through the glass walls of the lab. ‘Doctor Bruce, I know it’s a bit strange to ask this late, but who is she?‘ Bruce peeks up from his work and walks over to the kid. He looks through the glass and sees her steady heartbeat and active brain. Your brain had been active for some time now and yet you still weren’t waking up. ‘Y/n Y/l/n,‘ he smiles, ‘think Natasha, but more motherly. In fact, there was this running joke that she would be a great mother but she’d always say she already has too many kids to take care of here. She was a great agent, but one day she just up and left. None of us knew where she went or how she disappeared without a trace but she did. We hadn’t seen her in years when she turned up.‘ Peter nods at his explanation but continues to stare. Lost in thoughts, he starts twiddling with his fingers while Bruce turns back to work. Peter sees Steve come into the med bay like he had done many times this week. Most times he’d stay for an hour or so to talk to her about anything and everything. Some others tried to talk to her too but most got too emotional. Not Steve. If they’d let him, he’d sit there the whole damn day. He’d sleep by her side if the bed was big enough. He was there whenever there was a change in her activities. ‘Why is Steve so fond of her?‘ ‘They were friends. She’s known him from the start and she’s always trusted him,‘ Bruce tells the kid, ‘she trusted him when he found out Hydra was infiltrating Shield, she trusted him when he told her Bucky had saved him, and she trusted him when he said they could trust Bucky. She’s been there for him every step of the way. I think there was something more there but I’m not sure.‘ Peter nods and gets back to work. Steve deserves some privacy with her. So he and Bruce continue to decode Hydra files. . ‘Steve Rogers, the alarm has been set off. There is activity in the kitchen. The activity seems harmless.‘ Steve groans at the sound of Friday’s voice. ‘Why are you waking me?‘ ‘Tony has already been alerted. He asked to wake the others as this might have to do with the USB agent Y/n brought in.‘ That’s all it takes to get Steve on his feet. He quickly puts on the first clothes he finds which are joggers and a T-shirt. He sneaks into the hallway, meeting with Natasha who is already wielding a gun. The two stalk slowly towards the kitchen where it seems someone has put on the lights. They go into high alert. Either this is a very cocky Hydra agent or someone who doesn’t have clearance to be here at night. As they go around the corner they find- ‘Oh, hi,‘ you say casually. They look at you with their jaws on the ground. To be fair, it must be a funny scene. You’re not used to eating with one hand and your bowl keeps slipping away from you every time you dig your spoon a little too deep into the ice cream you found. So you’re sitting hunched over, holding back the bowl with your stump and your elbow on your other arm while instantaneously trying to eat the ice cream. It’s a mess. Or it could be the fact that you’re awake. Who knows? You surely don’t. You honestly feel like you’ve just had a very good night’s rest. ‘What are- Why- How-‘ Steve stutters his words, not really sure how to react to you. ‘It’s ice cream,‘ you tell him, ‘I was hungry, and I’m not quite sure how I’m managing this but it’s going.‘ He looks at you like you’ve just told him you’re a flat earther. He doesn’t understand a thing coming out of your mouth while you’re just answering his questions. Natasha finally lowers her gun. ‘What he means to say is: why the hell are you out of bed and how are you acting so casual when you’ve been in a coma for weeks?’ ‘Weeks? I thought I just slept through the day. I had a really nice dream,‘ you smile, ‘Steve and I were sitting on the rooftop and we were just talking about everything that has been going on these past years. Though I’m sure I imagined most of it.‘ A small smile appears on Steve’s face. You heard him in your sleep. He pulls you into a tight hug and doesn’t let go until Bruce and Tony come running into the kitchen. ‘Y/n is go- oh,‘ Tony looks surprised to see you sitting at the table with a bowl of ice cream. Just as confuses as Steve had looked, if not more. ‘We though you- oh well, that’s fine I guess.‘ ‘Say, Tony, am I still getting that arm because this is terrible,‘ you joke as you attempt to eat the ice cream again. ‘I-‘ he stops himself for a second to reevaluate what he was going to say, ‘no, why the hell are you ok? You’ve been in a coma for weeks.‘ ‘I know. Steve told me,‘ you sigh, ‘honestly, thank you for telling me that. I thought I had lost my strength overnight. I had such a hard time walking.‘ ‘You should rest,‘ Natasha states. ‘Why? You just told me I’ve been in a coma for weeks. I’ve had enough rest,‘ you stubbornly try to cross your arms only to realize you only have 1.5 arms. They watch the smile on your face falter for a second before a yawn leaves your lips. ‘Ok, sure, that’s on me. Where do I sleep? Because I’m not taking the couch if that thing still has dried blood on it.‘ ‘It’s your blood,‘ Tony snaps at you. ‘I know, that doesn’t make it less disgusting.‘ Tony rubs his forehead. Ah, that’s where all his headaches went. You took them with you when you left. ‘You can stay with me,’ Steve offers. You smile. ‘I’d like that.’ . ‘There you go. Try to move your fingers.‘ You marvel at the shiny vibranium arm that is now attached to the remainder of your arm. You don’t try to move quite yet, scared that it might not work and you’ll be excited about nothing. It’s already a strange feeling though. You can see your metal limb, but your body is not understanding that it’s a part of your body. You look at Steve, who is sat next to you, for a second, hoping to get some encouragement from him. He grabs your normal hand and squeezes it gently as he smiles at you. ‘You can do it,’ he tells you but it sounds like a promise. Carefully, you focus on moving a finger. Tony watches hopefully when your index finger starts to move a little bit. You try to move your thumb and watch it move. It still doesn’t register in your head that that is your limb, but it is doing it. Then you try to turn your hand and it works too. And then comes the big thing. Actually lifting your arm. You focus on trying to lift it as hard as you can. It comes off the table just a little bit and suddenly it clicks. ‘Holy shit,‘ you cuss excitedly, ‘Steve, are you seeing this?‘ Steve has tears in his eyes as he watches the excitement double in your face. ‘I am.‘ ‘This is insane. Wow,‘ you awe, moving around more and more, ‘Tony, this is amazing. You are the best.‘ ‘Don’t praise me yet. Try picking something up.‘ Steve puts his cup of coffee down in front of you and you move the metal arm to pick it up. The whole thing looks a bit clumsy, like a baby giraffe walking for the first time, but you’re doing it. You’re actually picking up the cup. ‘Stark, you did it,‘ Steve praises with a huge grin on his face. ‘This is so fucking cool,‘ you look amazed at your arm. ‘Language.‘ ‘Yes cap,‘ you turn to Tony, ‘so what’s next?’ ‘I don’t know, you tell me,’ he says. You look at Steve and frown for a second. He nods. ‘I think I’ve left some loose ends here,’ you tell Tony while continuing to look at Steve, ‘I’d like to get a chance to tie them up.’ ‘Sure, but if Morgan can’t be the flower girl, you’re out.’ Your lips pull into a loving smile, your eyes still glued to Steve. He looks hopeful and that’s all you need. ‘Deal.’

[frostahesmegabite]

The Judgement of Carrion

@daily-writing-challenge - Day 4 - Accomplish/Macabre [ Content warning: Blood, Guts, Gore, Bits of Torture, That sort of stuff. While there aren't pages and pages of it, it is present in this short story. I tried to find a balance of detail and keeping things light without going into ‘Hostel’ territory. ]

Human forts were a dime a dozen, easily found and half of them forgotten or falling to ruin due to the numerous war fronts that were constantly moving across the face of Azeroth to fight one force or another. Some lost to time, others to ruin, some to marauding forces and others simply abandoned because they were no longer needed. It was one of these Forts that Megahes had put to use for himself and probably his most comprehensive and long lasting pastime.

Clever little devices put into play to keep things looking abandoned and misused, neglected and falling to ruin. The place had not only been repaired but also reinforced with Magical and Mechanical Goblin ingenuity that was built upon with knowledge gained over the past several decades.

Inside of this fort, despite the fact it was never intended to receive an actual willful audience, was decorative furniture made of fine dark woods embroidered with rich velvets, soft silks and the finest wools and cottons coin could acquire. Tables stretching about with plates and goldware that no man or woman other than Megahes would ever see sat to present an atmosphere of riches on display. Trophy cases and stands line the walls with numerous weapons of both magical and mundane descent that perch over Armor Stands holding protective metal layers meant not just for Goblins, but all races.

If any ever came to somehow find the place and took the time to inspect any of it, they’d find that all of these items weren’t as ‘pristine’ as they may appear at a distance. Damage came to them all at some point or another. Blunted blades, shattered axe heads assembled to look presentable. Armor with gashes, pierced helmets or chest pieces, greaves with shorn metal by the thighs that most likely led to bleed outs.

The more one could look, the more they’d note that all of the gear was like walking through a museum of deathly wounds. All that stood or hung from the walls had a story of defeat and loss and probably before then, great triumphs, valor and victory… just to have their stories end here.

Megahes pays no mind to these things now though as he walks with his back rigid and straight, his arms back behind him with hands clasping the other arms elbow in some overly formal glide across the stone floor. His bright white and gold attire is a stark beacon amongst the dark colors and atmosphere of the room that one should have found comforting, but for some reason, only brought worry and dread with it as he moves about his untold business.

[ Artwork by the Magnificent Fishadee. No Fire or Light Shards floating about in this scene, purely put for clothing example. https://twitter.com/fishadee ] He stops, not worrying to look around for any watchers, for he knows there are none as he stops at a small wall just behind a staircase. “Rehorur decno Kudex.” A series of flashes occur around our Goblin and once completed a small stone panel slides off to the side and Megahes puts his hand into the slot. A sudden sharp ‘shing!’ sound is head and Mega’s neck tenses but for a moment before his hand is withdrawn. A mechanical but feminine voice perks up from the slot. “Welcome back.” “Hmm.” The only sound Megahes makes before he takes a step back and then to the left. The stone wall jars forward at an alarming speed, spikes erupting from her stone crevices meant to impale and kill any would-be intruders while giving Megahes the solitary moment that was needed to pass behind the crude defense into the wall beyond. Whether by measured practice or perhaps sensors, the trap quickly retreats and returns to normal, giving off no telltale signs of a hidden door or of Mega’s earlier passing.

The reason for all this secrecy? Hidden at the end of the staircase Mega was already descending. Humans had their specialties sure, jacks of all trades those people. But the one thing they never fail to make well?

Jail Cells and Prisons.

It was this singular reason that Megahes took over this once ramshackle Fort for himself. Though there weren’t many cells, there was no need. Three of them sat in a row at the bottom of the stairs, each outfitted with custom Arcano-tech that allowed for the arrival of a singular occupant that was soon set to magical and electrical suppression to keep them docile and incapable of action while time slowly allowed them to become dehydrated and starved to where strength or speed was no longer an issue either.

The work put into this place was one of Mega’s hidden creations of pride and in the past, its use went towards a sorted pastime of torturing whoever was unfortunate enough to get caught by one of his traps. Times change however and with Mega’s newfound religion, came the need to change how and why he did things while applying them to old hobbies. Today’s hobby however, only involved one other person beyond himself and Mega comes to stand right before him as electricity pulses through his frail, nearly starved frame.

“Brother Abacus.” A stupid name, false to be sure, but one that Megahes didn’t really care about either way. “I realize you don’t know who I am and that’s quite alright.” He leans in, voice dialing down as he speaks through the bars just as another tide of electricity bombards the ‘Brother’, causing him to whimper and whine in pain. “You have been found guilty of being a member of a Twilight Cult, one in fact, that was run by Dinthoqaf the Defiler.”

The cultist looks up, arms shaking in heavy tremors as he tries to look his would-be captor in the eye. They give out however, causing him to hit the ground with an exhale. His cracked and bleeding lips wobble, trying to say something, but the lack of strength made their efforts near useless. It was sad really, or at least it would be if Megahes cared about the man's condition in the slightest.

Megah glides over to a control panel on the wall and proceeds to flip a series of switches and dials which cause several mechanical tendrils to tear from the wall in Abacus’ cell that soon lash him to the same wall they originated from. His body was quickly drawn into an ‘X’ shape with limbs pulled tight and to their limits.

“You see. Your former… Employer? Boss? Leader.” Megahes hands lift and tumble in slow methodical circles as he tries to find the right word, but leaves it be. “Him and I don’t get along very well and thanks to his efforts, I find myself needing to improvise my tactics a bit. While I know he’s dead, face turned to slag and glass, I wanna make sure I get the job done correctly, meaning none of his followers try to take up his mantle. I’m sure you understand.”

He turns around and heads into the cell, worry of electrocution now gone thanks to the current state of affairs. “You see. I have this…” He pauses. “...Macabre little ritual I have to do every so often and believe me.” The Goblin laughs while looking up at the man while proceeding to straighten up his clothes, as if it mattered. “As much as people might want me to say I hate doing this… I don’t. I’ve been doing this to people way before you all found me and now. Now I get to put my hobbies to better use.”

Megahes’ hand comes up, his index finger pressing to his lips to tell Brother Abacus to be silent. His smile fades with the gesture and he reaches up, pressing his black and gold painted claw against the clothing of this man's thigh. Downward, slowly, it runs. Fabric quickly turns from a peasant-y brown to a heavy red and brown as flesh below seems to split before the clothing itself can.

Magic? Possibly. Insanely sharp claws? Not likely. But whatever it was, the man's thigh split open as if by scalpel and despite his starvation, he thrashes weakly in an effort to pull away. The machines holding his wrists tighten and continue to do so until the sound of bone is heard crunching.

This process continues on not just for mere moments but stretches of hours, lines drawn across flesh like sand. Megahes had nothing else to say and so, despite the protests and pleading, begging to let him go and he’d tell no one, Mega continued.

Soon, details were carved away, facial features, scalp and its rooted hair, ears. Nearly anything that could be taken and removed without outright killing this poor cultist was taken in some macabre movie of silence and torture and finally, when the man was nearest his end, Megahes opens his own shirt.

The metal embedded into his Chest that shines with the Light like a beacon in this squalor, practically vibrates as Mega runs his blood coated hands across its surface. Red blood made semi-translucent by the sheer shine, soon was baked and cooked black, all Vitae devoured, leaving Megahes to sigh in relief.

“I would ask you to tell the Defiler thank you for giving me this. But… we both know you’re never going to have that opportunity.”

Megahes runs his hand up from Brother Abacus' groin clear up to his collarbone, shearing clean through flesh and muscle alike. What came next was a grotesque shower of innards that began to fall and slop to the floor, leaving our would-be cultist inanimate and lifeless.

“Now to clean up and go home. Tonight’s my date night and I have so many things to accomplish before She gets home…” Soon, the jail cells were left dark and eventually the slow trickling of blood and various other liquids came to silence in the dark, waiting to be cleaned up and for a new subject to be taken.

[embrassemoi]

Surrounded by the Moon and Stars • 06

Pairings: Sirius Black x [F]Reader, Remus Lupin x [F]Reader Content: Language, possible errors, music snob!Remus,  Author’s notes: song used: Come Together by The Beatles

BTW: I always try to use little to no physical descriptions for the reader insert but I did add that the reader has some sort of hair. I didn't mention hair texture or length (Sorry if ur bald). My taller readers, I only mentioned that you were shorter than Remus (no height was given)

Masterlist: Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Chapter 6: ABBA vs. The Beatles 

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“Merlin’s beard! Binns is a sadist; torturing students must be his only pastime,” James yawned, taking his glasses off to rub his eyes.

Nothing could ever compare to the History of Magic. Today, lessons were dreadful and muddy. Professor Binns’ monotone voice filtered throughout the class, rambling on and on about various dates in history. Hardly anyone paid attention before he started calling on students. Annoyed, Binns would continue to reiterate his inquiry until the student(s) got the correct answer, no matter how long it took.

A sadist indeed.

Although Binns wasn’t the sole reason why the class was pathetic, but rather the lack of any practical work was simply a joke. The class only reminded Y/N of her short time in public school. Geometry? Utterly useless for any daily life interactions. To make matters worse, Binns surprised the class with a pop-quiz and two chapters of reading. Luckily, he had an ounce of mercy in his ghostly body and dismissed the class early for lunch.

James continued, “I would rather fight a dragon than — Woah! Your hair! “

She glanced to look at herself through the reflection in James’ glasses. Her hair, which originally was emerald green, was now turning into a golden yellow. The different colours clashed together boldly.

“You look like the banner for the Holyhead Harpies,” Peter said, striding up to James’ side.

“The Holyhead Harpies,” James said dreamily, “They’re probably one of my favourite teams.

Remus, who had been trailing behind Peter jumps in, “You only like them because they’re all women, you wanker.” He turns to Peter, his hand shooting up to the side of his head, massaging small circles into his temples, “Why’d you get him going?”

James became insufferable whenever someone or something mentioned Quidditch. Not only would he boast about his abilities as a Chaser, but he seemingly was a never-ending encyclopedia about Quidditch. It only worsened as November neared, the start of the new Quidditch season was approaching.

One time Y/N found herself stuck listening to him babble about Ireland winning the world cup for about thirty minutes. She didn’t have the heart to stop him, though. Nobody listened to his rants and he could hardly contain his excitement. How could she tell him she wasn’t interested?    

A monstrous smirk etched its way onto his face, “Caught me.”

“Be anymore of a predator would ya, Prongs?”

“Hey! That’s not the only reason why I like them. Did you forget their victory in 1953 against the Heidelberg Harriers? Their strategy was blood-fucking-brilliant. They’re legendary! My father was there to see it in person. Lucky bastard. He told me…”

His voice fades into the background as Y/N catches Remus’ eyes. A glint of mischief shined through them before he forced a fake pitiful smile. He mouthed a quick ‘sorry’ to her before looping his arm around Peter’s shoulder, discreetly leaving James’ side and out of the classroom.

That sly, slippery bastard.  

"— and did I mention that their seeker was one of the most sought out —”

“Wait, James.”

He abruptly pauses, waiting patiently for her to continue. She leads them out into the corridor and towards the great hall. “Sorry, didn’t mean to cut you off like that, but when is my hair going back to normal?”

Y/N instantly regretted mentioning her hair. There was no trace of a smile on James. His shoulders slumped a bit and his walking even staggered. “Godric, I know, I know and I’m sorry. I thought it would have returned back to normal by now. I’ve been creating reversal spells — even started asking Moony to help.”

“Moony?”

“Remus.”

“Another one of your nicknames?”

“It’s not a nickname! It’s a brotherhood — a pack!”

“Oh, sorry Prongs,” she drawled, a sarcastic smile on her face, “If I didn’t know you I would assume you were an asshole.”

“What? How?!”

“You go around calling yourself a marauder, the king of Quidditch and now Prongs. Seems pretty assholely.”

James’ mouth opens before closing again, repeating the process several times.

“Plus, you pull silly pranks every day.”

He chuckles, “Oi! You helped us with that itching idea!”

Her eyebrows raised in acknowledgement, “Touché.”

To this, James shakes his head, directing the conversation back to the Holyhead Harpies. Inwardly, Y/N wanted to whack him with a broomstick.

They were among the first students to reach the Great Hall, aside from students who had a free or were excused early by Professor Binns. None of the girls were there yet. Unfortunately, Marlene was held back by Binns, so Y/N was left to sit beside James who sat opposite to Remus, Peter and Sirius.

She had been trying her best to avoid Sirius whenever she could. It was clear he didn’t like her. He never laughed whenever she made a joke, he hardly noticed her, he never praised her, even if she tried to compliment him. He was just rude for no apparent reason. The rest of the marauders and girls knew this, although they preferred not to comment about the obvious, strained relationship (which they didn’t even know the reason for. Granted, Y/N wasn't quite sure herself. Was it the rejection, he just didn't like her or is just an ass?).

Although, ignoring and avoiding him proved to be extremely challenging. Y/N was glued to Lily’s hip ever since the Sorting Ceremony. It also didn’t help that if you were with one marauder, another one was sure to follow. She and James started to spend more time with each other, and by extension, she was obligated to be around at least one other marauder. With the addition of study sessions with Remus, it was inevitable.

Surprisingly, Sirius hadn’t made any snarky remarks, excluding dirty looks, he was being… nice — nicer to her. The action was a stark contrast from his previous behaviour and she speculated a few reasons why:

Most likely, James or Lily, she assumed the former, said something to him. Since his little spat with James at breakfast a few weeks ago, Sirius was tight-lipped ever since.

Maybe he was done being a prick, deciding to stop by himself after realizing he was a prick.

Went through something personal, it stopped, and his behaviour improved.

Minutes after the bell rang, students began to trickle in for lunch. The comfortable chatter rose as Y/N finished eating an apple. Everyone seemed pleased when James’ Quidditch lecture was interrupted as hundreds of owls streamed in, packages and letters dropping into the laps of students. She hadn’t expected anything considering her owl, Celeste, didn’t drop anything off since the first week of October. However, today she fluttered down between the bread and fruit bowls, dropping off several letters and a small parcel onto Y/N’s plate, pecking at the bread crumbs on the table. She tore the letter open, inside it said:

Dear Y/N,  

Are you still having a hard time with Charms? If so, perhaps I find some textbooks and send them over.  

Don’t slack off this year. Send me a letter whenever you have the chance. (Make sure to tell Celeste to be quieter next time. You know I can, and never will get used to the owls.)  

Mom  

Her mother finally wrote to her. A sense of joy flooded her body as she placed the letter back down on the oak table. A part of her wondered if Celeste was dropping off her letters to the wrong house, the one back in Toronto as her mother never wrote back. She opened the next letter, immediately recognizing the messy scrawl:

October 19, 1975  

Y/N! I thought you replaced me with one of your brits, but a false alarm, your letters just take a while to arrive. Must be tiring for Celeste to travel to and from Scotland then America and back. You know, whenever people see her fly in, they still recognize her.  

Are you doing anything for Halloween? We’re throwing another dance. Going to be alone this year now that I can’t force you to come. I guess I’ll just watch half the school dry hump each other while I smuggle in firewhiskey.

How’s it going over there? I heard from a few students, even read in the papers about the war. It’s getting pretty crazy over here. Teachers have been meeting and trying to prevent students and parents from losing their shit. My mom has been worried too, writing to me like a lunatic and I’m not even in the UK. The MACUSA have been keeping quiet but they were caught having meetings with counsellors from the Ministry of Magic. Even heard that Jenkins is stepping down. If it keeps getting out of hand here, I can’t imagine what it must be like at Hogwarts. I truly thought the war was dying down, I was wrong. Keep your wand close. Surely, you’ll get away with a hex or two.

Until next time

Matthew G.  

So engrossed in her new environment, her old life slipped to the back of her mind. There was a detachment from her reality compared to the one at home. A pang of guilt hit her, swallowing her up from the inside out until another pang hit, loneliness. If she easily forgot everyone, would anyone remember her? None of her old friends, apart from Matthew, had made a move to contact her since she left.

Often thinking about writing them first, she had to remind herself if they wanted to, they would. Especially with the knowledge that people still recognized Celeste.

Was she forgettable and if so, was it karma for forgetting too?

It put a mechanical vice grip on her heart, applying just enough pressure to be a constant reminder. With every beat, it tightened more and more.

Looking around the table, she saw her peers huddle in groups, familiar laughter ringing throughout. So noisy, so taunting. She may have been friends with Lily, Dorcas, James or even Marlene, but they had their own friends. Friendships that had years to develop before she came. She had only known them for less than two months.

Forgettable.

How hilarious, she thought.

“Hey,” a gentle voice cooed into her ear, “Are you okay?”

She hummed back absentmindedly.

James wore a concerned expression, his eyes knitted together, one raised higher than the other like it always does when he was worried. The look he shot her suggested he wasn’t convinced, although he didn’t press; instead opting to stir the conversation. “So, who wrote to you?”

“A friend and my mom —”

A snort so loud that it caused the rest of the marauders, random onlookers and even Lily (who had a look of pure disgust on her face) turned towards them. “What did you say?”

“I got a few letters?”

“No!” He bellowed, “Who sent you them?”

“My friend and my mom —”

Nearly choking on his sandwich, James clutched his stomach laughing. Laughing so hard he has to grip the table to prevent falling off the hall bench. "Haha! Mom?! MOM?” He mocked in a poor American accent, “What the fuck is mom? It’s MUM. Bollocks!”

“We say vitamin.”

“It’s VIT-A-MIN! Who says VIGHT-A-MIN?” Without a pause, James presses his entire body onto her shoulder, smushing her before grabbing the letter her mother sent her. His eyes scanned across the pages before hitting a certain word. “Back home? Maple trees? Where did you use to live exactly?”

“Canada.”

“Canada?! You don’t mean those snowy gits?” At this, Peter and Remus snort under their breaths. Even Lily had to force down a smile.

Staring deadpanned at him, in an unamused voice, “Really?”

“You are a bundle of surprises! I thought you lived… I’m not sure. I assumed somewhere like New Hork.”

“York,” Lily corrects.

“Tomato, tomato,” he jokes, playfully batting his eyes at Lily before biting into his sandwich, “You do live in London, right?”

“Right.”

James takes a moment, letting the conversation die down before he quickly glances at Y/N again. An undecipherable expression crosses his face before it’s promptly replaced with elation, “I take back anything negative I’ve said about Canada. They have an amazing Quidditch rooster. Have you gone to any of their games?”

A low grumble of sighs follows at the mention of Quidditch from James. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Remus shake his head and sighed dejectedly.

“Nah, I’m a New-Maj, remember? My mom — “

“Mum —”

“ — sorry, Mum — hardly understands the wizarding world, let alone what Quidditch is.”

His eyes were wide, whimsical, as a hand flew to his chest dramatically, “Rubbish! Bloody ridiculous! You’ve never seen a real Quidditch game? One day, I swear I’ll bring you to one! Or you can bring me to Canada one day and we can watch a home game!”

As James continued to rant, Y/N’s mind slowly drifted back to the bitterness in her chest. Trying to distract herself, she borrowed Lily’s quill and a few sheets of parchment, scribbling down letters in response.

Mom,  

I’m fine with Charms, you don’t need to send anything. And don’t worry, I’ve been studying for my OWLs.  

Love you, write soon.

The next letter was addressed to Matthew:

Matty Matt,

Of course, I didn’t replace you… yet. 

Another dance? You would think the students’ protest last year would have influenced the professors this time. I guess it’s time for you to get wasted. I didn’t tell you last time but I think I’m going to a party. A friend of mine is throwing it and I know he’s going to force me to come no matter what. He briefly mentioned costumes and drinks. Plus, there’s going to be some kind of prank that I may or may have not been a part of? Sounds cool right?  

Yeah, I’d say it’s been bad up here. I don’t know much about what's going on outside of school, though. The professors are hiding it well. I didn’t even hear about Jenkins stepping down. Keep me updated.  

Until next time  

She sealed the letters before sending Celeste off again, “Be quieter when you drop off the letters, yeah?”

❉───────•~❉•᯽•❉~•───────❉

It must be her lucky day.

The ringing of the bell went off, signalling the end of class. Professor Flitwick asked the students to stay behind so he could hand out quizzes the students completed on Monday in preparation for their upcoming test on Growth and Reductor charms the following Tuesday.

It was never a good sign when a professor flips your test over to prevent other students from seeing their mark. Flipping it over at a downwards angle, Flitwick handed Y/N her quiz.

Turning it over nervously, a tight coil formed in the pit of her stomach. A large P was plastered on the top right corner in bold red ink. She studied hard for this too. Angrily, she shoved her work into her bag and left the class. This was the third poor she'd gotten in a row. She should have told her mother she needed those Charm books.

“I swear I’m going mad! Her brother is a complete cow! He even — are you listening?”

She looks at the girl beside her, Marlene. Her glossed over, doe eyes must have served as an answer before the blonde shook her head.

“Sorry, distracted,” she mumbles, before forcing out a fake-happy tone, “Continue your story! I wanna hear!”

“Hey,” Marlene says in a softer voice, “If something’s bothering you, you can talk about it.”

“No, it’s okay,” she replies instinctively. She felt bad spacing out during Marlene’s story but her mind was running through and under hoops. The last thing any fifth year student needed was to fall behind in their classes, let alone feeling like nobody cared about them.

At that moment, she wished she was wrapped away in red and gold blankets to wallow in her self-pity party, away from prying eyes. She could feel the burning sensations of tears building up.

Dammit.

Y/N looked out the window to her left. The sky was melting with the warm hues of reds and yellows while the other half was being slowly engulfed into a cloak of twilight. Even from here, she could feel the cool air seeping in from the windows making her tug on the sleeves of her robes.

She continued, “I’m just tired — been a long day. I’m going to take a nap before dinner. See you.”

Judging by the look on Marlene and Lily’s face, guilt riddles her body. They both look sympathetic. The pity only made Y/N feel disgusting. In all honesty, Y/N will care later. Right now wasn’t the time and she desperately needed some shut-eye.

Before she left the room, she overheard them talking.

“What’s up with her?”

“Dunno.”

Great.

❉───────•~❉•᯽•❉~•───────❉

Sleep did little to ease her thoughts.

The same uneasiness she felt on the train ride to Hogwarts settled deep into her bones again. She thought she was past this. The worrying about friends, missing home, feeling alone, failing class, stressing about her future. The rational part of her brain knew it was just one silly quiz (and old shitty friends), but knowing herself, if she were to continue to have this mindset, she would only fail in the end.

Dinner ended and Y/N belligerently climbed up the stairs towards the library to attend today’s study session. The Charms quiz threw her into a loop and it was better not to dwell on it, opting to rather use her time for something useful.

Her marks improved significantly since she attended her first session two weeks ago. The last couple of assignments and quizzes she handed in that she worked on during the groups were some of her best work, ever. Additionally, her ability to retain information was improving at astonishing rates and she found herself participating in lessons more often. Unfortunately, she started to doubt her abilities again.

There weren’t as many students as usual. Perhaps it was because of the Quidditch meeting for all teams tonight, or because nobody wanted to spend their time in a library Friday night. She assumed it was the latter.

Although, the same student with black hair from Slytherin was there; tucked away in his usual corner. He was always there. Whether it was the study sessions, another OWL or NEWT student or he simply just enjoyed the library, Y/N could always rely on him sitting there in his little nook.

In the far back, surrounded by tall bookshelves sat Remus. Another student, a first or second year, judging by their height, seemed to be asking him a question, rapidly writing down something on a piece of parchment whilst they walked away. Remus leaned back in the brown chair, his right leg was folded over the other as he stretched.

She spent over twelve hours minimum with Remus directly since the first session, minus the time he was around James and the girls. Perhaps she only started to notice afterwards but she swore Remus wasn’t around this much before. Now, he was everywhere.

In the past couple of weeks she’d gotten to know him, she made a mental list in her head of him:

1. Remus loves sweaters. They weren’t flashy, seemingly preferring to wear ones with small designs, stripes or a solid colour. He wore green the most. He also wore cardigans. Two, in particular, he wore the most; one was white and the other was a muted brown. They were big and hung off his loose frame, the pockets were often stuffed with books, rumpled parchment and his wand.

2. He’s a coffee addict. He drank it in the morning, the afternoon, at the study session and sometimes with meals at dinner. He loved to dump pounds of sugar, so if he only drank black coffee, it usually meant he was in a bad mood. James even joked that he became Sirius whenever he drank black coffee, because haha! Get it? It’s BLACK coffee!

3. He frequented the library whenever he wasn’t with the rest of the marauders. He enjoyed poetry, wrote post-it notes after post-it notes to annotate his favourite parts. He even slept there from time to time, not without having to persuade Pince to not give him detention.

As if Remus magically sensed her, he took a large inhale before he stopped stretching, opening his eyes to look at her. A small smile was plastered on each other’s faces. He stuck up a few fingers to wave at her, motioning her to come over.

“Hi Y/N. I thought you didn’t come on Fridays?”

“I don’t but I have a test, Charms, Tuesday.”

“Oh, well I’m happy to help.”

“Thanks for the offer, Professor Lupin, but just being down here will help me focus.”

A scarlet blush settled on his face at the mention of his tutoring. “Well come sit with me then.”

Pushing the chair out of the way, she sat down beside him, pulling out her cassette player and earbuds along with her notes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Remus staring at the player curiously.

“Do you want to listen?”

“If you don't mind. I didn’t know you could use these here.” Picking it up, he turned the rectangular device.

“If record players work here, why not this?”

She hands him an earbud, alongside a small collection of other tapes she had on hand.

“Choose whatever you want to listen to.”

Without much thought, he pressed the play button. The upbeat tune of Waterloo by ABBA trickled into their ears. Y/N bobbed her head up and down before the song was suddenly stopped.

A sour grimace sat on Remus’ face before their eyes met, his nose upturned slightly.

“Why’d you stop it?”

“I hate ABBA.”

“What!?”

“I just don’t like their cheesy disco-pop-esk sound. They sound generic and random words are thrown in when they don’t add to the song.”

“Jeez— never met anyone who hated them that much.”

A ghost of a smile appeared before he flicked through her collection of tapes. He picked up Abbey Road by The Beatles. Opening the player up, he slid out Waterloo. With a click and the press of a button, Come Together played.

“So you hate ABBA but not The Beatles? Benny and Bjorn said they were influenced by them!”

“Keyword: Influenced; which is just another word for a shitty knock-off version.”  

4. Remus Lupin is apparently a music snob.

“Well, I think both are good.”

“Respectfully, I disagree with you.”

“Whatever you say, professor.”  

"I've been thinking a bit, why did you come to Hogwarts? Why not just stay at your old school?"

The sudden switch of topics threw her into a loop. “Wasn’t by choice. My mom’s a doctor and got a position here. It was too good to turn down. But it’s not bad. There’s less wizarding laws.”

He nods his head, "I'm assuming you have dual citizenship?"

"Mhm."

About a half an hour passed as she sighed for the umpteenth time before putting down her quill. Her chair scraped back noisily as Y/N’s hand balled up into a tight fist, feeling her fingernails bite into her palm. She’d been flicking through her notes, the words all blended.

At this rate, if History of Magic didn’t exist, Charms would surely be her least favourite class.

“Are you sure you don’t need help?”

She was at a loss, this was the third time Remus had offered to help and he was persistent. She felt horrible that she was taking up his time to help her on a stupid Charms test.

He continued, “If you think bothering me is an issue, it’s not. I run the sessions on Friday. It’s my job.”

“Fine, but there has to be something I can do in return.”

“Hmm,” Remus pondered for a second, “How about this, I tutor you in Charms and in return you give me your Potions notes? I'm dreadful at it.”

“Deal.”

“Great. Before we start, is there anything in particular that you have questions on?”

Silently tapping on the quiz she received today, Remus snatched it and quickly scanned over her answers and Professor Flitwick’s notes.

“I see what happened. You know, the curriculum taught at Ilvermorny is different. That’s probably why you can’t understand some of this shit.” He cleared his throat, “So as we know, the growth charm increases the size of your intended target…”

His voice, like a light switch, changed instantly. Instead of his softer deep, raspier voice, it became commanding and steady. He never stumbled over his words and articulated his points elegantly. She found herself enraptured by him, understanding why he was in charge of the study groups.

Eventually, Remus takes a pause, “Does that make sense?”

“Yes. You know, you’re really good at this. No matter how much I asked Flitwick or even Lily I could never get it.”

A large blush bloomed on the apples of his cheeks before he shyly rubbed the back of his neck, averting his eyes. “I’m not that good.”

“No time for modesty, Professor Lupin!”

“Okay, okay! So here, do you see what went wrong? There would be a reaction with those two spells if —”

A boy, small, most likely a second year, stood at the foot of the shared table holding a large red and gold book. His hair, dark ginger, similar to Lily’s, was cut short. He fiddled with his fingers as he continued to stare at the two.

“... Um, hi. You're Remus — right?”

“Yup. Did you need help with something?”

“Yes! I’m having trouble with the Transfiguration spell, beetle into button.”

A look of understanding passed through his face before Remus turns to look at her, “Duty calls. It’ll be quick.”

“Of course, take your time.”

It was not quick. Understandably, very few were successful at the ginger’s age to perform the spell, but thirty minutes passed and the second year still didn’t understand the basic concepts. No matter how many times Remus had reiterated his point differently, the boy couldn’t retain it.

“I just don’t get it.”

“You learned this last year, it's a quick revision. I’m not sure what part you’re talking about. Look, do not wiggle or twirl your wand left, direct it towards the right. You have to picture the spell in your head before saying the incantation.”

He guided the boy's hand steadily before performing the spell himself.

“I don’t understand!” The boy whined.

He sighed, “Then we keep trying —”

“It’s too hard. Why are they teaching this crap anyway?”

“Could you stop complaining?” He snapped, closing his eyes before he realized what he’d just done. “I’m sorry about that. I’m… just tired. I can’t help you anymore, though. You should ask someone else,” Remus said brusquely, his eyes unnerving as he stared at the child. As a result, he yelped out a ‘thank you,’ rushing off in the opposite direction.

The muscles in his jaw tensed under the soft glow of the table lamps. There was a pale red tint rimming his eyes and he looked visibly paler than normal. Irritated, he bounced his knee rapidly, up and down, before looking out the large window beside them. The sky was mostly cloudy. Only the peak of the silvery moon appeared. A sliver was missing before it was fully complete.

He closed his eyes, before breathing in. His posture once stiffened, completely relaxed before a flimsy smile reappeared on his face, returning his attention to Y/N.

“Let’s continue, shall we?”

“If you’re tired we can stop.”

“No, s’okay. I’m fine — really.”

She chewed the inside of her cheek, adding to her list:

5. Remus was always so hard to read.

[librarianaesthetic]

Gross things about rabbits

It’s almost easter, and for all u american christians out there, that means a ton of unwitting parents are about to buy their kids rabbits as a “cute easter gift.” In hopes of dissuading that impulse (or giving you some gross facts to use to dissuade your own relatives from this mistake), here’s a bunch of bad things about owning a rabbit!

Let’s start strong. A bunny will eat its own poop. It has to, because of the way it digests food. The poops that it eats are extra stinky, soft, and sticky.

(more like 1A) It will eat its own poop out of its own butthole, and then it might come over and try to lick you. Sometimes you might not notice the smell from its mouth until it has already licked your cheek. Ask me how I know.

It will leave (the other kind of) poop on the floor. They look like cocoa puffs. They’re not cocoa puffs. You will constantly be picking them up off your floors, no matter how well-trained your bun’s litter box habits are.

Their pee has a strong, acidic smell. If you’re a parent, your child is not going to clean it every week, because they are a child. You will have to clean it sometimes at least, and it is rank. If your litter box gets cleaned once per week, your house will always have a tinge of bunny-pee smell, just like how cat owners’ houses always smell of cat dander, and dog owners’ houses always smell like dried dog saliva. 

You will have to brush your bunny and clip their nails. They will (probably) not like this, and it can be an extremely stressful experience for both of you. Have you ever accidentally cut a baby? Picture this: you are holding a squirming, panicking baby whose bones you could easily snap with your hand. (Over time you can get them more comfy with it from exposure and lots of treats, but like. it can be tough for some buns)

As a rule, they chew cords. Your phone cords, computer cords, lamp cords, anything in reach and especially anything in their way. No hopping around or over, they’ll chew through it as a first instinct. I think it’s a what-to-do-with-tree-roots-in-warren thing?

This is pretty obvious, but they’ll try to eat your houseplants if they can reach them. They’ll jump up onto anything short enough to get a forbidden snack.

Many bunnies dig up carpeting, and will destroy furniture. Anything wicker, especially, is fair game. Your baseboards and carpeting? Open season to a bunny who likes to dig.

Some bunnies like to dig in their litter box. Picture a fireworks show, but it’s poop, hay, and pee-soiled litter, in your house, on your floors.

Un-spayed/un-neutered bunnies will pee on your stuff to “mark” it, especially places that you like to be in. Some bunnies will do this even after surgery. This is common in beds or on a favored spot on your couch. My bun used to really like to pee on my bed. I used to have to clean my duvet almost every day until I finally got him to stay off my bed in the first place. He once came up on my bed to cuddle next to me, stayed for 3 minutes, then peed on my leg.

Bunnies can be aggressive to other bunnies or to other pets. They’re a tiny prey animal, they get nervous and will lunge when frightened and backed into a corner.

Bunnies, especially un-neutered ones, want to fuck literally all the time (there’s a reason for the saying). You will find yourself explaining to your child what that motion is a lot sooner than you may have planned.

Some bunnies nip to get what they want, and it does actually hurt. It’s a really sharp, strong pinch. Some bunnies do this more than others, some do it just to get attention, and some can be trained out of it (mostly).

Despite how cute they are, bunnies don’t like to cuddle in your arms or lap, especially a young bun who isn’t very used to people. Bunnies prefer to sit next to you, rarely on you. A bun that you get from Petco will definitely be very scared if you put it on your lap. (which, don’t buy pets from big chain pet stores. Literally all their pets come from unsustainable breeding practices. If you do get one, go to a shelter, where most of the bunnies will have been neutered already at no cost to you).

(13A) Bunnies will jump off of you or squirm to get away from you when you’re doing something they don’t like, and their claws are sharp. When they want to get away, they will, and their claws will dig into your arm or leg. Their back feet have a lot of power, and no compunctions about drawing blood (ask me how I know).

Rabbits have lots of health concerns, and they’re pretty delicate pets. Because they’re prey animals, they’re also very good at hiding what’s wrong. It can be extremely difficult to notice a problem before it’s an emergency, and you may have a dead bunny on your (and your childs) hands.

If you are committed to getting a bun and treating them well, it’s hard to find veterinarians for rabbits—they’re an exotic pet, so a typical cats-and-dogs vet won’t really know what to do with one, although they might try to fake it. I live in a major US city, and even I had a hard time finding one when my bun had a potential respiratory problem (false alarm, no worries). During quarantine, many vets that normally would see exotics in addition to more common pets closed their doors to exotics first when they were cutting down on the number of appointments per day.

There’s a lot of misinformation online about bunny care, so it can be hard to know what’s right, especially if you have a hard time finding a vet. 50% of products sold for bunnies are actually bad for them, and are just brands taking advantage of misinformation (looking at you, Kaytee). Most of that cute stuff you see at the pet store in the bunny aisle is not bun-safe, so you end up wasting money.

Bunnies are bigger than you think they are. Mine is about the size of a medium-sized cat. Dwarf bunnies are small, but they come with the inbreeding-related health problems found in other small pet breeds (teacup and toy dog breeds). Bunnies should have time and space to run around every day, and they’re not like a hamster that can do that in its cage.

Bunnies live longer than you think they do. Their lifespan is around 8-11 years (breed dependent), comparable to a dog. Adopting a rabbit is not a small commitment.

Obviously, I love my bun. He’s adorable and delightful and very affectionate. I think more people should (responsibly) own pet rabbits. But you need to be prepared to deal with a bunch of issues if you want to get any pet, especially these. They’re not disposable or easy. Admittedly, some of those things on the list can be avoided, but it takes time, attention, and money. Rabbits can become very expensive, very quickly.  Maybe get your kid a stuffed animal, instead.

[youvebeenlivingfictional]

A Grave Life Part Sixty Eight

Previous Part | Masterlist Notes: I hope everyone has a good week 💖

...Oof, guys. Final chapter. This has been... A Journey. I mean this fic is over 100K words now. I’m.. I have been writing this fic for two years? Like this is honestly one of the stories that got me into writing fic consistently again. So...Thank you for reading, thank you for sticking with me on this truly wild ride, like it has been...Insane. Thank you thank you thank you.

Warnings: Mentions of canon-typical violence, mention of injury, cursing, mention of PTSD, angst, fluff Summary: “We’ll just need you to sign these forms, Mrs. Graves,” I heard, and was startled when a clipboard was passed to me and not Eugenia. It was the first time that I’d heard myself referred to as such by anyone that wasn’t Percival.

I finally understood why Percival was always at such a low ebb when I was in the Medical wing. I couldn't be drawn out of that room for a blessed thing— food, sleep, nothing. I kept wary watch, untrusting of everyone that trickled in to check on Percival. I technically had no reason to be— I’d placed the same enchantment on the door as had been on our apartment door, so anyone entering under any disguise would be revealed to be false in a matter of seconds.

I wasn’t alone in my lingering. Piquery dropped in frequently, between Congressional hearings to find out how he was doing; Eugenia also spent days there with us, fussing with the staff and pestering them to find out how soon Percival could be moved into a more comfortable environment.

“We’ll just need you to sign these forms, Mrs. Graves,” I heard, and was startled when a clipboard was passed to me and not Eugenia. It was the first time that I’d heard myself referred to as such by anyone that wasn’t Percival. I felt Eugenia’s eyes narrow at me as I took the clipboard, eyeing the forms before signing them and passing them back. The nurse hurried out of the room, seeming as wary of the frosty atmosphere as I was. I leaned back in the rickety old chair I had taken up residence in, turning my attention back to Percival.

He was healing well, at least. The swelling on his handsome face had gone down; he’d been awake for a little while the day before, and we’d spoken for just a few minutes before he’d drifted off to sleep again.

“When precisely did that happen?” Eugenia asked after a moment. I sighed softly, scrubbing my hand across my brow.

“Just before he left for the assignment.”

“...Elkton?” “Yes.” Eugenia was quiet for a moment longer, and I lifted my eyes uncertainly to her. She was gazing at me with an indecipherable expression. I pressed my lips into a thin line, turning to look back down at Percival, marking the steady rise and fall of his chest.

“And that… That man didn’t know?”

I shook my head, “There seem to have been details that Percival omitted when he was speaking with Grindelwald, like our marriage… Or the fact that he calls me dearheart and not dear. Things that he knew would raise alarm bells for me.”

Eugenia hummed thoughtfully; I could see her nodding in my periphery.

“Breadcrumbs,” She mumbled.

“Quite.”

We fell into silence after that. -- “Perhaps he’d be best at your apartment.”

I was surprised that Eugenia was entertaining the idea at all. I shook my head a little bit.

“He needs familiarity right now— and I’ve no doubt that he’ll know Grindelwald has been to the apartment. I think he’ll be better at your home.”

Eugenia bristled at the name, but she tipped her chin up a moment later.

“If that is to be the case, then I must insist on your staying as well.”

“I don’t know, Mrs. Graves—”

“He will need you close by, and I still have my own obligations to uphold.”

I hesitated before nodding a little bit, “I can get some clothes together— I think Percival and I ought to stay in separate rooms for the time being.”

Eugenia’s head tipped to the side a little bit, eyes narrowed in confusion.

“You’ve already spent so much time apart.”

“He’s been hurt, Eugenia, he’s still healing. I don’t want him to feel like I’m crowding him. I’ll be nearby if he needs me there, but I don’t—” I stopped myself, taking in a shaking breath as my worry welled over. I couldn’t quite say what else I feared: that Percival would ultimately push me away, that what had happened was just too much for him. I would understand it if that was the choice that he made; so much had happened, and while I would be there for whatever Percival needed, I couldn’t fool myself into thinking that everything would simply fall into being the way that it was. 

-- Eugenia put me up in the room beside Percival’s.

It was a nice room— there was a large four-poster bed and a large window that overlooked the street. It was different from the room that I had been put up in the last time I had been wounded and sent to convalesce in Eugenia’s home.

The first few nights were quiet enough— Percival was still worn out; he was sleeping more often than not. When he was awake during the day, he was either trying to read the paper (focusing for too long still made his head hurt; he’d been quite heavily concussed) or asking me about cases that he’d missed.

The two of us spoke about what had happened to ourselves very little; I didn’t feel right asking Percival to ask what had happened, and Percival didn’t ask what had happened with me so much. It was clearly something that neither of us were ready to broach.

The fourth night, I woke up with a start. I felt cagey, like I was being watched. I glanced around, spotting a figure looming in my doorway.

“Perce?” I asked softly.

“...I can’t sleep,” He said after a moment; his voice was thick and hoarse with disuse. I pushed myself to sit up before I reached out, patting the bed beside myself to urge him deeper inside. He walked in slowly, looking toward the window a little bit before he climbed into bed. I saw him wince just a little bit before he settled down beside me.

I rolled onto my side to look at him. He stared up at the ceiling in silence; I could see his eyelids fluttering in the darkness.

“...What did you do today?” He asked after a few moments.

“Talked to Matilda.”

“How is she?”

“Better. Tired of desk duty.”

“...She’s as impatient as you used to be.”

I smiled a little bit.

“Thomas doesn’t want her going back to work so soon, though,” I added.

“I understand.”

I was quiet as Percival shifted to face me. I held very still as he reached out, resting his hand on my cheek.

“...What’ll you do tomorrow?” He asked. I shrugged a little before I turned my head, brushing my lips along his palm. I didn't want to move things too quickly and scare him off, but I'd missed the easy affection that he and I used to have.

“I don’t know,” I murmured, “Your mother said that Ermentine will be stopping by for a little bit.”

Percival hummed, skating his thumb along my cheekbone. I felt my eyelids flutter, my stomach flipping at the tender contact.

“She’s been asking to stop by to see you,” I added.

“She’s plenty welcome to,” Percival murmured, “So long as she doesn’t bring another damn duckhead.” -- Apparently I laughed so loudly that I woke up Eugenia. 

--

It started with sleeping in the same bed together. It was always Percival in my bed; I was too scared to go into his bedroom, I didn’t want to push. But waking up at Percival’s side was more than enough of a start.

He started to receive visitors in Eugenia’s parlor: Tina, Queenie, Picquery, Ermentine. Piquery rarely brought work (though Percival did pry for details); he spent his waking hours in the parlor, too. He began to read for longer hours at a stretch. We began to go for daily walks when weather would allow. We walked closely to one another, but we weren’t quite up to cuddling with one another as we had before he’d left. -- “Where did he send you?” Percival asked.

It was late; I was nearly asleep; Percival was curled up beside me under the covers.

“...A No-Maj boarding house,” I mumbled, “He hid my wand under one of the floorboards. Practically ripped the place apart when I accio’d for it.”

“How long?”

“Weeks.”

“Did he hurt you?”

“...If he did, I can’t remember,” I admitted, opening my eyes a little to look at him. He was watching me closely. Percival was quiet for a few moments, eyes wandering my face.

“We should begin looking for a new home,” He said after a few moments.

My brows furrowed.

“What about the apartment?”

“...I don’t want to go back there,” He shook his head, lowering his eyes and taking hold of my hand, “And I want somewhere that we can build our lives together the way we planned.”

I intertwined our fingers, my love for him welling over. I nodded, dipping my head and pressing a kiss to the back of his knuckles.

“I think your mother’s beginning to get sick of us, anyway,” I teased, smiling.

Percival’s lips quirked with a small smile.

“Perhaps a little,” He agreed. -- We knew that Eugenia wouldn’t stand for our being too far away— and given all that had happened, we didn’t want to be terribly far from her, either.

Percival and I found a home in the same neighborhood as Eugenia’s. It was one that I insisted was far too large for the two of us. Percival wrapped his arm around my shoulders and nodded, looking around what we had been told was a good third guest bedroom.

“It may not always be the two of us,” He said, “And in time, we may need more room. Would you rather we have to look for that now or...When it’s more difficult for you to move things around?” He arched an almost teasing brow at me, and I had to fight down a smile.

“If we move in here, your mother is going to think that we’ll have an army of children,” I argued; I couldn’t stand to beat around the bush on this any longer. Percival smiled, brushing his lips against my forehead.

“Perhaps not an army.” -- Our days weren’t always easy. We did still fight, sometimes— Percival wanted to return to work at Congress; I wasn’t ready for him to get anywhere near his old files. Percival wanted to go back to the apartment and pack things up; I was insistent that we could hire people to pack things up for us. I hadn’t been back there in some time, and I had no intention of going back.

There were nights when the both of us were wracked with nightmares; we had woken one another up with our whimpers, our tossing and turning. Those nights were the longest, and the most quiet between us— we would wake up and just hold the other until the shaking would subside. More often than not, neither of us would be able to fall back asleep. -- “It’s a mansion,” Matilda said flatly.

“I warned you that it was too big,” I said, shutting the door behind her. I waited until she had hung her coat up before I hugged her tightly. Matilda wasn’t the hugging type, but she granted me this, patting my shoulder twice before letting me lead her into our sitting room.

“Percival’s idea?”

“Yes.”

“Where is he?”

“...It’s his first day back,” I answered stiffly, pouring a cup of tea for Matilda.

“I see.”

I could feel Matilda eyeing me, and I glanced over at her, arching a brow.

“Thomas didn’t handle my first day back well, either,” She offered as she took the saucer. I sighed, sitting across from her and toying with the pendant around my neck (Eugenia had given it back the day Percival and I had moved out, with a small smile and a warning that she never wanted it handed back to her again).

“I’m handling it fine,” I grumbled, sliding the pendant back and forth on the chain. Matilda eyed the chain before her eyes lifted to mine, unconvinced.

“How’s it been for you, then?” I asked. Matilda shrugged, looking down into the cup.

“It’s been…Familiar. I thought that being back in the office would be more difficult, but— Well, perhaps the month of desk duty wasn’t such a bad thing. It let people ease into the idea of my being around them after what’s happened. I think Graves may have the same experience.”

“Well, the two of you can discuss that when you come over on Saturday. And Thomas and I will discuss how ridiculous the two of you are.”

Matilda arched a sharp brow, lips twitching as a smile threatened to break through. -- “...Are you going to ask?”

“Hm?” I tore my eyes away from where his wedding ring sat on his finger. It was odd— we’d been married for months, but it was still a new sight. Percival offered me an amused little smile.

“We don’t have to tip-toe around it,” He added, sitting down beside me on the bed.

“...Alright,” I huffed out a breath before taking hold of his hand in mind, intertwining our fingers, “How was work, then?”

Percival ran his thumb along my wedding band, looking down at our hands, and I wondered if the sight of mine was as foreign to him.

“It was… Interesting. The department seems to be walking on eggshells.”

“There’s going to be an adjustment period, Perce,” I reassured softly, turning my head and looking up at him.

“...The President wants to know if you would be open to testifying in front of Congress in regards to Grindelwald’s case.”

I was quiet for a moment, fighting the urge to snap that she could ask me herself.

“I’ll consider it,” I said after a moment. I wasn’t sure if I could bring myself to relive everything— I didn’t want to remember any more of it than I had to.

“Take your time,” Percival nodded. I glanced up at him, smiling a little when I saw him watching him.

“What is it?”

“I missed you today,” He admitted, “Is that odd?”

“No,” I chuckled, shaking my head, “I missed you, too.”

He smiled and leaned in, brushing his lips gently across mine. I sighed softly, raising my free hand to his face and cupping his cheek. I had reveled in each of Percival’s kisses since I’d gotten him back.

“We should get going,” I warned as I reluctantly leaned away from his kiss, “We’ll be late for dinner at your mother’s.” 

“She’ll understand.”

“She’ll be displeased— and she’s liable to turn up to make sure everything’s alright.”

Percival grunted as I stood. He held onto my hand, and I frowned, watching him.

“What is it?” I asked softly.

“...Thank you,” He said.

“For what?”

“Being so damn stubborn.”

I grinned, unable to help it.

“Do you ever wish I wasn’t?” I asked. Percival shook his head a little bit.

“I used to,” He admitted, tugging me a little closer by my hand, “But I would not want you any other way, dearheart.”

Tag list: @myplaceofheavenorhell​​​​​​​​​​​​  ; @britishfajita​​​​​​​​​​​​ ; @terrainhead​​​​​​​​​​​​ ; @thatkidofwarandpeace​​​​​​​​​​​​ ; @rvgrsbrns​​​​​​​​​​​​ ; @maaaaryx​​​​​​​​​​​​  ; @remmyswritings​​​​​​​​​​​​  ; @flostvs1508​​​​​​​​​​​​ ; @fantasticcopeaglepasta​​​​​​​​​​​​ ; @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo​​​​​​​​​​​​ ; @paintballkid711​​​​​​​​​​​​​ ; @knightsimp​​​​​​​​​​​​​; @hypnobananaangelfish​​​ ; @tardis-23​​​​​​​​ ; @lunadegitana​​​​ ; @recklessworry​

[sellyoursoulforagoodfic]

Fated Part 1

Ares x Nemesis!reader (as in the goddess)

Word Count: 1496

Summary: The Fates had a plan War and Revenge, here is their story.

Note: Gods age weird, don’t worry about it.

Like any soul that existed, you were born with your future written in metaphorical stone. Whether it would be Aphrodite herself or one of her kind that was going to you with Love’s arrow, you didn’t know, but what you and your entire family did know due to some poor secret-keeping was that you were destined to marry the God of War, Ares himself. It wasn’t much of a surprise to anyone once it was leaked, either, especially once your affinity for Revenge started showing itself. Wars with that particular motivation were a dime a dozen, after all.

Still, even knowing that you and he were destined, you found yourself frozen in place the first time you laid eyes on him. No amount of preparation could have braced you for his beauty, the unique beauty of an Olympian that was so vastly different from any of the Chthonic gods you called your family. Silvery hair was streaked through with blood as crimson as the eyes that scanned the battlefield for his next opponent.

“What’s the matter, dear sister?” Thanatos’ voice teased from next to you.

You didn’t bother to move your gaze to look at him; the smug look on Death’s face was something you were already very familiar with. “Not all of us were raised with our Fated, little brother. You and Zagreus were lucky.”

“That is true.” Fortunately, you and Lord Ares are still quite young, comparatively speaking. There will be plenty of time for you to grow close.”

“Be that as it may, we will not begin that today,” you announced. Your heart raced as those red eyes finally landed on you. A small upturning of his mouth pulled his fine face from a bloodthirsty scowl to an amused smirk. “I must take my leave.”

“Until next time, then.”

~

The next time you met Lord Ares was a much more private--but equally surprising--affair. You’d just finished blessing a woman who’d been praying for your aid at a small temple of yours far in the woods--her husband was a right piece of work that thoroughly deserved what was coming--when the quiet clanking of armor drew your attention to the door. And there he was, glancing around to take in the modest sight.

“Quaint place.”

You scoffed. “There aren’t many people that call upon my services, Lord Ares.”

“A shame. Perhaps we would be meeting before now if that weren’t the case.”

“You could have sought me out.”

“You could have done the same.”

“Ah, but I am a possessive creature,” you informed him. “I will have you to myself or I will not have you. Humans are one thing, but gods are another.”

“So you waited.”

“Until the Fates predictions about your godly children had passed, until all of them were born.” You didn’t bother to reveal how you knew the details about them. The answer was simple; your weaving sisters sometimes had poor ambrosia tolerance.

“A patience I can admire.”

“Impressive considering how impulsive your family claims you are.”

He chuckled. “And you should know that those that say such things have little grasp of the truth of war. Ones such as you and I know that the sweetest battles simmer for a time.”

“I couldn’t have phrased it better myself.”

He stepped closer. “Have you any pressing matters?”

“Not for a time. What are you scheming?”

“Come with me to my House. We have stalled our meeting for far too long. I have a fine vintage I’ve been saving for this occasion.”

“Ambrosia?” you let your tone slip into mock-surprise. “Suddenly I don’t think your intentions are as pure as getting to know one another.”

“Well,” his smile showed off unnaturally sharp canines, “perhaps those rumors of my impulsive ways aren’t as false as I’d like to believe.”

~

Perhaps it was rash, but the pair of you married the following day after having spent the entire night just talking--despite any promises to do much more physical things. It was a small, quick ceremony with the only outsiders being your mothers. Hera, being the Goddess of Marriage herself, officiated while Nyx simply observed with a fond smile. Then the pair of you promptly vanished from everyone’s awareness for a honeymoon of sorts, one spent in the House of War Ares called home, the one far away from Olympus and its prying population.

It was only once you resurfaced that you realized six human months had passed. Oh well. Let the mortals enjoy their peace. It was unlikely that the gods of Olympus noticed either of your absences anyway.

You parted from your husband with a lingering kiss after placing his black laurels on his head for the first time in all that time.

~

You could still smell the iron and ash scent of Ares on your clothes by the time you crossed paths with your favorite brother. Part of you hoped he noticed your absence--you longed to gush about your newfound love--but the rest of you prayed you got to keep the secret and your privacy just a bit longer.

“It’s been a while, sister,” Thanatos greeted after he reaped the man whose wife poisoned him under your influence.

“We all need a break from time to time, Than. Remind me, how long was your first vacation with Zag?”

His cheeks colored with a blush. “Fair enough.” He cleared his throat. “Was your break restful?”

You fought the urge to touch the small vial of Ares’ ichor he’d given to you as a symbol of his vow at your wedding, the one that hung under the silver collar you war that was so similar to Than’s, the one that Ares had the match to on a cord under his breastplate. “And then some.” Your heart longed for your lover already, but you both had a job to do and secrets to keep from enemies that might try to use your bond against each other.

“I am glad. Truly. You deserved to relax for a while.” With that, he nodded at you and vanished in his customary green flash.

~

Time, as demonstrated by the six month leave of absence, passed differently for gods than it did mortals. Years passed in the blink of an eye without you really noticing. Here and there your strange schedule aligned with his and allowed the two of you the time to thoroughly enjoy each other’s company once more. So it was no big surprise when you went a while without seeing him.

‘A while’ being roughly a human year.

In that year, you had noticed a few odd things. The wars you saw taking place held none of the ferocity that Ares brought with him like a perfume. The vial of ichor seemed cooler against your skin rather than brimming with the heat that always seemed to radiate off of him. You’d assumed it was due to Ares staying at House War to spend time with his sons, the twins Aphrodite didn’t lift a hand to help raise.

You only learned how wrong you were when Hermes suddenly skidded to a stop in front of you, blocking the temple door you’d been about to leave through. It was only after you snapped, “This had better be important, boy; I have things to attend to,” that you noticed the panic on his face and the alarming amount of golden ichor on his hands.

“Hera ordered me to fetch you,” he rushed out in that speedy way of talking he always had. “You must come to her at once!”

“What’s happened?” Your hand drifted to the silver colored dagger at your hip, another gift from Ares, this one from the last time you saw him. Worry lanced through your heart in the seconds before he answered. Still, you tried to reason with yourself that the fear was for naught. Ares was a god after all. The iron and ash smell wafting around you was your imagination, nothing more.

“It’s Ares.” Or not. “Hera told me to get you because he’s your Fated. I thought it was strange since the two of you hardly know each other, but with the shape he’s in there really wasn’t time to argue--”

“Hermes!” you cut him off. “What. Happened?”

“Giants caught him!” he yelped, fearing retribution from the goddess of the concept. “Kept him in chains for a year. She’s not sure he’ll pull through.”

Your blood chilled in a way it hadn’t since your little brother, Death, had been brought into the world. “Where is he, Hermes? Has she taken him to Olympus? Or is he home in Thrace?”

The fleet-footed god faltered. “I-I’m not sure. She mentioned something about moving him--”

“Find them, boy,” you snarled, vision clouding red around the edges with rage at the lack of information. “Go to Olympus and find out where my husband is!”

With wide eyes and another yelp, Hermes vanished. Only to reappear a breath later panting, “She’s moved him to Thrace!”

“Take me to him.”

[mhento]

Jaehyun - Distortion

Genre : college!au || angst, fluff, smut

Paring: Jaehyun x female!reader

Word count: 8,6k

Warning: swearing, graphic smut/ sexual themes, mentioning of alcohol

Summary: Your life drastically changed after you met the boyfriend of your friend Carly and his friends.

A/N: I post this after one or two years in my drafts. So hope you like it and remember I did not re-read this, so there may be some grammar mistakes.

Lmao I suck at descriptions. So please don’t mind my nonsense I wrote there. Hope you have fun reading this. 😊💕 @bunniglow

It was a usual day in college. You were seated in the front row of the lecture hall. There wasn't much to say about you. You were just an ordinary girl. Well you heard other people say you were a nerd but that wasn't really you. They said those things because you always sat in the front row, hadn't a lot of friends and sat in the library when you weren't at your apartment or at your workplace.

You were a barista in a cafe near your college. Most of the people who came to get a drink were students. At first you found it good because they weren't much people who had a huge age gap. But after some time it got really annoying. Most of the people who ordered were rude. They had an attitude that made you ponder how they were treated at home to be this disrespectful. Customers that weren't students were nice, sometimes too nice. You hadn't anything against talking with a customer when you had time but you definitely were against their flirting attempts. The only thing they created was uncomfortableness. So you rushed to get them out of your view which was kind of hard sometimes. Overall you didn't like your job much but it was your only source of money and they paid well, so you didn't want to complain.

The things students were thinking about you were false prejudices. You sat in the front row because you didn't want to see other students in front of you. You wanted to have the least contact with them. The front row could secure you this. You weren't afraid of others but you just simply hadn't any motivation to talk to any person about things you considered as indifferent. This was also the reason why you had barely friends. The only friend you had was a girl you met on your first day in your first semester who introduced herself as Charlotte or Charly as she wants to be called like this.You actually didn't want to talk to her at first but she was so persistent that in the end you gave in. After your first talk with her you learned that she was also your roommate. You couldn't have been happier. You had guessed you would get the worst roommate.

She definitely wasn't the best roomate. She was the reason why you spent so little time in the apartment. She had a boyfriend and whenever he came over you were out of view after you learned it the hard way. The first time you thought it would be okay to sit in your room and learn for the upcoming exams but you were proven wrong. You didn't know they both would be this loud. So you had to take your earphones in. Even with the music in full volume, you couldn't veneer their voices. So you gave up and walked out of the door. Since then you avoided being in the apartment when he was present. But he was there most of the time so you just had the library as an escape.

As you sat in the front row and draw on the cover of your block, gasped could be heard. So you lifted your head to see what made people so shocked. A male student stood in the door frame and he looked like a rich kid who gets spoiled from his parents frequently. He had a ripped blue jeans and a grey polo shirt with a denim jacket over on. His shoes were from an expensive sport label. They were black with a dark blue hashtag on the sides. He had a watch on that was way more expensive than anything that belonged to you. His hair which was dark brown was styled back. He looked through the rows and halted when he saw you. He locked eyes with you and a small smile appeared on his handsome face before he started to walk to the back row.

Charly suddenly came from behind you and sat down next to you. You didn't question her why she was sitting behind you but you were definitely confused.

"Oh my gosh Y/N. He looked at you and he even smiled. You're soooo lucky." Your friend said with excitement and a huge smile on her face.

"What? Whom are you referring to?"

"Girl are you serious?" She deadpanned. "Jung Jaehyun just looked at you. Fucking Jung Jaehyun."

"Jung who? Who is this?"

Her smile dropped and she seemed to get a little annoyed.

"Jung Jaehyun. The hot guy that smiled at you like a minute ago." When she saw that you were still a little confused she added. "You know, the guy with the expensive clothes on."

"Ohh you mean the rich kid. Ahh yeah uhm what's with him? He can look at anybody he wants to. Maybe he saw something on my face or so."

She gave you a disapproving look but before she could speak again the professor came and the lecture began.

Not even five minutes into the lecture and you were getting bored. You just wanted to sleep. But this didn't seem like a good idea when you were in front of the prof. You didn't want him to think his lecture was uninteresting so you came to the conclusion to just continue your drawing.

When it finally ended you were the first out of the hall and went straight to the cafeteria. You were starving so much because you couldn't get to eat in the morning. You set an alarm on your phone and went to sleep but you forgot to charge your phone over the night. So the battery of your phone died and with that your alarm wasn't going to give any tone. You were woken up by Charly in the morning. She was already dressed and ate something. She thought you were already gone but heard you mumbling something so she came to wake you. You were truly thankful to her. If she wasn't there, you would have been in trouble.

You were the first to arrive in the cafeteria. The lady behind the counter already knew what you were going to buy. In the time you were walking to the counter, the old lady already had your order finished.

"Y/N nice to see you again. You weren't here for quiet a time." The old lady kinda made a pouting face and that brought both of you to laugh.

"I'm sorry. I was just kinda busy. But I promise I'll be here more often in the future. And thank you for finishing it up before I even arrived." You gave her a thumbs up and as you saw the people gathering in the cafeteria you quickly said your leave and made your way to the exit.

But before you left you saw Jaehyun shortly looking at you. You didn't gave it much of a thought but it stil didn't go unnoticed.

You sat on the rooftop and waited for Charly. For the first time she said she would bring her boyfriend with her. You didn't know what to say and you were kind of nervous.

You bit in your salami sandwich and enjoyed the view. You liked the rooftop a lot. You found yourself always interested in your surrounding. You wanted to take pictures of old houses or just a street full of people in the shopping area. The look down from the roof was facinating everytime you went there. The people going to their different lectures. You could already tell who was in his first semester and who wasn't. The people in their first semesters were kind of confused where they had to go. When you thought back to the time when you were in your first semester it was the same for you. Even after half a year you didn't knew what building you had to enter. A good thing was that Charly was there for you. And it was kind of strange that she always knew where they had to go. But you didn't complain.

Loud voices brought you back to reality. Even if Charly was coming with her boyfriend, they were too many voices...too many male voices. You turned around and saw your friend with 5 guys around her.

When she saw you looking at her she greeted you. The guys stopped talking and the attention was now on you. They were all really good looking and also had expensive things on. You recognized Jaehyun among them.

The first person that talked was a really tall guy. He had black hair and his arm was around Charly's waist. So he had to be her boyfriend or other ways it would have been odd. "Hey, I'm Johnny. I'm Charly's boyfriend. Nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you." He said smiling.

Charly prickled him in the side. She rolled her eyes at him and then turned back to you. "He says it like it was something bad we talked about. But dont worry, we just talked about good things." She winked at you and you couldn't contain a laugh.

"It's fine. I don't even know what you could say about me. I mean, I'm not that interesting." You said with a shrug but still with a smile plastered on your face. If Jaehyun wouldn't stand next to Johnny, you would've missed the frown on his face. It didn't last long and that made unsure. Maybe you just imagined it?

The next to speak was a guy with red hair. He wasn't as tall as Johnny but taller than you. You didn't know why but he gave you the feeling as if he was the leader of the clique. Could you say leader? But like the person that arranged most of the meetings outside the college. "I'm Taeyong. Nice to meet you." He was really polite as he gave you his hand to shake. "I mean I don't know if you already know my name but I'm Y/N. Nice to meet you too." You said with a slighty timid attitude.

You didn't know why you were shy all of a sudden. But this was your first time to speak to so many people. It made you nervous as hell. You just didn't know why this feeling came only now.

A guy with dark hair spoke next. He kind of reminded you of a bunny. A really cute bunny to that. "I'm Doyoung." He came and gave you a hug. It took you off guard and you seemed to look as surprised as you felt because Doyoung apologized as soon as he saw your face. "I'm always like this. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable." "What? No you didn't made me feel uncomfortable. I was just surprised. That's all. No need to apologize for your kindness." You briskly responded. This time you saw Jaehyun lifting an eyebrow at you. You quickly looked away from him and at ten only person you dodmt know the name of yet.

He didn't look like the other guys but still handsome. Your gut feeling was right and he introduced himself as Yuta. He came from Japan.

"Oh really you're from Japan? That's cool. I've always wanted to go there but I didn't had enough time or money to do that." You exclaimed happily.

"Hey if you ever go there just message me on Instagram and I'll give you a tour around." You nodded and smiled at this.

This caused an unhappy look on Jaehyun's face and you weren't sure anymore if you even wanted to be introduced to him. In this short time you saw him. He looked more pissed than happy. Didn't he smile at you hours ago? Why would he be like this then?

Even after a moment of silence and all eyes on Jaehyun, he hadn't said anything. Just looked at you. Which pissed you more off. As everyone could see the tension between you two, Taeyong decided to speak up. "So uhm this is Jaehyun. Well normally he isn't like this and actually the most hyper of us but today he seems off." Jaehyun shot a glare at Taeyong but still remained silent.

After uncomfortable silence you all decided to talk about useless stuff. You actually got really good along with Yuta and Doyoung. Between your conversations with them you felt your eyes always looking at Jaehyun. Even if he didn't say a word to you till now, he did seem to wake your interests. But you just shrugged it off as he didn't show any signs.

You learned a whole lot about them. They are called RSB which means 'Rich Since Birth'. Out of their pronunciation you knew they didn't like that name. A lot of people think they got to this university just because of money and that their grades are bought. They were also known as the prettiest group of friends on campus. Despite the number of people that hated them, they were a lot more that liked them. Liked them way too much. They got a lot of love confessions. Heck how old were the people who confessed? They weren't in high school anymore. They should know better. You never really understood people who confessed their love to someone who they barely knew.

You exchanged numbers with almost everyone there. Jaehyun was the only person you didn't feel to get quite along with and this wasn't how you wished it would be. He didn't even say bye to you and just disappeared from your view.

You said your goodbye to everyone else and went to your lecture. It was the first time you weren't one of the first people to arrive but one of the last. Thus there wasn't a seat available in the front row. You had to go to the middle. At first you felt uncomfortable but it got better with time. You looked around and saw Jaehyun in the front row. You probably scoffed too loud and also glared too obviously at Jaehyun as everyone was now looking at you two. He seemed to notice the unwanted attention on him and turned around to see you glaring at him. He still had this annoying look and this made you seemingly insecure as you took your back and exit the room right before the prof came.

For the rest of the day you just sat on your bed and read a book. You didn't really care about what you read and you also didn't concentrate while you read but you needed something to bring you on other thoughts. Tomorrow would be more miserable than today because you knew most of the people were going to talk about you and Jaehyun and what ifs could be between you two.

When Carly arrived she also asked you holes in your stomach. You said that you never saw him in the front row before and just on the day you couldn't sit in the front he sits there. Like he was provoking you. She responded, you thought too much into it and it probably wasn't on purpose. Moreover it was just a seat so what was the problem? And she was right. What was your problem to even begin with?

After almost a week the rumors about you didn't stop. You thought that people would have been bored after not being fed with more stuff but you were wrong. It was Jaehyun everyone was talking about. So this couldn't last just one week. It had to be longer and it annoyed you a lot. Not to your surprise Jaehyun ignored you. When he didn't ignore you he sent you glares over the room. You knew it was your fault but what could you do? The damage was wrought. The rumors were from Y/N just wanted attention from him to Y/N is pregnant with Jaehyun's child. Sometimes you laughed about their silliness but you were also shocked to what extent people thought of you. How you just were after his money or other stuff. Did people even thought before they talked?

You still held your contact with the other boys. They weren't about what you did but they found it hilarious. When you sat on the rooftop to tell them what happened they all laughed their asses off telling you, you did great. You didn't even wanted to understand what they meant with you doing great.

After like another month the rumors kind of shut down. They weren't completely eradicated but less than weeks ago.

You were on your way to the rooftop when Jaehyun wrote in the group chat you all decided to open a few weeks ago. You didn't even need to look to say what he wrote. The only thing he always wrote was that he didn't come to the rooftop.

You already heard a lot of people talking on the rooftop. You squinted your eyes as soon as you walked out of the door. The sun beamed in your face so you had to take a hand to cover your eyes. To your surprise Jaehyun was sitting there and chatting with the others.

You took out your phone and read the message he wrote in the group chat.

Today I'm coming to the roof - boy who always glares👀 (11:56am)

You felt your phone being taken away from Doyoung. Even with trying, you couldn't hold a grasp on your phone. "Ohhhh guys, do you know how Y/N saved Jaehyun in her contact list?" Everyone shoke their head and Doyoung jumped around like a hyper pony. "Doyoung, I warn you. Shut the fuck up and give me my phone back." You glared at him and the angry voice was audible. But Doyoung just shoke his head. "She saved him as boy who always glares. She even has two eyes emojis behind this."

Everyone laughed expect you and Jaehyun. You looked panicked at him and he seemed happy. He had a huge smile on his face.

You went to Doyoung and ripped your phone out of his hands. You glared at him one last time before you walked to the others and sat down.

Everyone seemed to have calmed down. So Jaehyun took the opportunity to speak first. "You all know Sicheng right? He's holding a party on Friday and he ask me if I could bring some of my friends."

"Uhhh Sicheng is holding a party? I'm definitely in." Said Yuta with a grin. He looked happier than you've seen him before. Did he had a thing for Sicheng?

You leaned in to Carly and hold a hand in front of your mouth before you whispered to her. "Who is Sicheng?"

"He's also in the clique. You just don't see him often."

"Ah Jaehyun I assume your also in for it." After Jaehyun nodded Doyoung added "So why do we all not just meet up at the party. A little fun can't damage, right?" Jaehyun looked at you and for the first time in weeks you didn't saw him glare at you or anything. He actually had a small smile on his lips which had you smiling unconscious. You weren't sure of what to say to the offer but Charly already agreed for you.

It was Friday evening and you were getting ready for the party. Charly put make up on for you.

When you were in high school you actually wanted to do stuff like this. But you gave up after months of trying. Whenever you made yourself pretty in your eyes and went to your parents they said you looked like a clown or something.

"Ok, I'm finished. You look amazing Y/N." Carly praised herself. You stood in front of a mirror. You put on a short black dress. You didn't have a lot of dresses in your wardrobe and this was the best and expensive looking, so you decided fot this one.

On the way to Sicheng's home ,where the party was on going, you kinda felt nervous again. You weren't much of a party type. Your bed was much more comfortable than a drunk people who collided with you. But Charly pleaded you the whole week to come with her. It wouldn't be fun without you. So you gave in.

When Sicheng's house was in sight you already saw a lot of drunk people in his dooryard. It wasn't even past 9pm and here you were struggling to even come to his front door because a dude had to fall in front of you and nearly spelled all of his drink on you. Thanks to Carly this didn't happen. She pulled you back a little and the red cup landed in front of your shoes. Due to smell the cup had to have vodka in it.

Finally inside it wasn't better. More drunk people could be seen. The only difference was that they also danced awfully to the music. They hadn't any rhythm to the beat but what do you expect from intoxicated students.

Suddenly a guy came to your side. He was tall and looked like someone who would spent his time with the " RSB " kids since his clothing looked just as expensive as from Jaehyun. But you couldn't deny that he still looked pretty handsome. The only thing didn't matching was that he was here. He looked too cute to even come to this party. So what was he doing here?

"Hey I'm Sicheng. I assume you're Y/N." Your eyes almost fell out from your staring. He was the person who throw the party. He looked like an introverted person and not someone with so many connections. Your prejudice was again wrong.

You felt Carly pinching your waist. Sicheng looked amused by you and you finally realized you just stared at him and not even said a single word. It would be too awkward to say anything now and to your relief Sicheng spoke again. "Well since Carly already told me about you, you don't have to introduce yourself, I guess. Do you two want to come with me to the basement? The others are already there. We play billiards. I'm not that good so I came up to look if anything is damaged." He smiled at the both of you and Carly dragged you with her to the basement.

Sicheng disappeared briefly in the kitchen and came back with three red cups. You rather didn't plan on drinking anything because you knew you hadn't the best alcohol tolerance. Nonetheless you accepted the cup amd followed both downstairs. The landing was small and it wasn't really illuminated.

The room was large. The walls were black which let the room seem smaller than he actually was. Paintings were on two walls. One was yellow with white and black mixed in it and the other showed a boy with his back looking. He sat on a stone and around him was water. It seemed like the stone was his only lifeboat. Further away in the background you could see a forest. It definitely didn't look appealing. The forest was dark green mixed with black.

Although it was the basement it had a big window. You could see the garden through the window. The garden was also large. The trees were organized after their length. There was a path between the trees that led to a shed. Other than this there was also a big pool were a lot of people were crowded around.

Back in the room was a billiard table and Yuta played against Taeyong. Taeyong was in lead. There was also a couch were Doyoung, Johnny, Carly and Sicheng sat. You didn't notice the two left your side. A table was in front of the couch and chaird were placed around the table. Even though most of the people were here, Jaehyun was missing. This made you a little disappointed. You were looking kinda forward to see him.

Your best option was to go to the others on the couch. Once you settled down Johnny suggested to play truth or dare. You weren't really in the mood for it but what exactly could go wrong. Yuta and Taeyong also gathered around the table and Doyoung placed an empty bottle in the middle of the table. The chair to your left wasn't occupied. You took the opportunity and ask where Jaehyun was. "We actually don't know. He was here a while ago and suddenly he was gone. He probably is upstairs kissing with some chick." This earned Johnny a lot of glares from the other boys and Carly kicked him. Johnny just looked questionable at the others. Sicheng whispered something into Johnny's ear and he looked apologetic at you. Now it was your turn to look confused. Taeyong opened his mouth to say something when the door opened and revealed Jaehyun. He sat down on the only chair that was left and drunk his alcohol mix. Nobody asked him where he was and instead Taeyong spun the bottle.

It stopped at Yuta and he chose dare. Doyoung dared him to call Mark and confess to him his love for Sicheng. Taeyong who sat on your right told you who Mark was. He was also part of the clique but a semester under them. They knew him since middle school. The phone ringing stopped Taeyong from speaking more. After the fifth ring Mark accepted the call. The whole thing was really funny because Mark had to be sleeping already as his answers made no sense. He wished the new couple congratulations although Yuta only talked about his love for Sicheng and not returned love.

Yuta spun the bottle and this time it stopped at Jaehyun. He chose truth. "Do you have someone who you like?" Doyoung briskly asked. Jaehyun stiffened for a moment before his eyes met yours and he seemed to get more nervous. He eventually looked back at Doyoung. "Yeah I do have someone." A lot of oohhhs could be heard and Johnny asked who it was but Jaehyun didn't spell any tea.

You felt Jaehyun's glimpse on you again but you decided to ignore it. You began to get nervous. Jaehyun spun the bottle and oh how predictably. It stopped at you. If you chose truth, you would have become a question like Jaehyun. You decided for dare which was the worse decision.

As the rounds before Doyoung talked. "I dare you to kiss the person to your left." You couldn't believe this. Why did it had to be Jaehyun? You didn't dare to look at him. Instead you looked around and nobody was really shocked about the statement expect you and Jaehyun. You slowly turned your head to your left and locked eyes with him. He seemed as nervous as you. You hesitated but you moved forward to him. You halted in front of his face. Your noses were touching, never breaking eye contact. Your heart beat a lot faster than you wanted and you were sure he could hear it from his position. As you appeared to not move forward anymore, he took the chance and placed his lips in yours. You closed your eyes. He moved slowly and you took up with his pace. He leaned back and you opened your eyes to see shocked faces of the others. You looked back at him and saw him trying to conceal a smile which brought a small smile to creep up on your face.

"Wow. I never thought you would really do this." Doyoung said as shaken as he looked. You took the first sip of your drink and it soured your throat.

You all didn't speak about this and just moved on to continue your game. After some time you excused yourself to get you a new drink. You weren't drunk but definitely a little tipsy.

You made your way out of the door and proceeded your way up the stairs. As you almost arrived upstairs a hand touched your shoulder. You turned around and saw Jaehyun behold you. His eyes were dark and it made him even more handsome. His eyes flickered between your eyes and your lips as he came closer and briefly kissed you on the lips, just to examine your expression. When you didn't move away or anything, he kissed you again. This time deeper than in the game. His lips were soft as they moved against your own. He pushed you against the wall and your hands moved upwards his torso and around his neck. The feeling of his hands on your side sending chills through your body. One of his hands moved to your back and then squeezed lightly your butt. A moan escaped your lips before you could stop it. Jaehyun grunted at this.

"Do you know how long I've waited for this? I couldn't hold it in anymore. Why do you have to wear this short dress? It looks so fucking good on you." He said pressing you more against the wall. He kissed your jaw down to your neck and sucked till purple bruises began to form. He moved to your ear and nibbled at it. This let another moan escape as you moved your head back which gave him more access to your neck. Your leg moved around his and you felt a bulge touch the space between your legs. You felt yourself getting more wet.

"Hey what do you think about getting in one of the rooms upstairs?" He said in between kisses. You stopped and looked at him. "Isn't this Sicheng's house? Can we really do it?" You asked a little nervous because the bulge was driving you crazy and you actually couldn't really wait anymore. "It's no problem. We actually kind of a share the house."

So you two went upstairs in a room that also had his walls painted in a dark color. You couldn't really make your surrounding out since you were to busy undressing and then exploring Jaehyun's body.

He led you to the bed and laid you down, so he could hover over you. He undressed you whilst you slid your fingers along his abs. When he was done he kissed you from your lips down to your stomach. Every now and then he left hickeys on your skin. You whimpered everytime he touched your inner thighs with his fingers. He stroke your inner thighs slowly upwards till he was on your core. His mouth came in contact with your ear as he whispered. "You're so wet for me babe. I love how you react to every touch I make." His voice was deep as he pinched your left breast. You whimpered again and goosebumps were making its way down your arms. You arched your back when he suddenly inserted a finger. He nibbled on your right breast and massaged the other with his hand that wasn't occupied with your lower body. After little time he inserted the next finger. You couldn't handle all of this anymore and you felt a bunch forming in your stomach. "Jaehyun...I-" you couldn't finish your sentence. Jaehyun quickened his pace with his fingers and his tongue. It didn't need much and you road of your orgasm. He maintained eye contact while he went down and licked all your juice up.

When you came down from your high, Jaehyun opened a drawer next to the bed and fetched a condom. "You okay babe? You can take more?" He asked while he looked back at you. His dark eyes showed sincerity. Instead of just answering you kissed him passionately and one hand wandered down his stomach to his cock. You wrapped your hands around it and pumped a few times. He groaned and let his head roll back. His eyes closed as he whispered sweet nothings in the air. He stopped your hand movements and slipped the condom over his cock. He positioned himself in front of your entrance and slid without a warning inside. You cried out and felt a single tear roll down your cheek. He swiped it away and kissed your cheeks. He waited till you were ready to take more of him. He began with a slow pace and from time to time he quickened it. You kissed his jaw down to his neck. You started to suck at his neck and he moaned at the feeling of your lips on his skin. "Jaehyun baby...I think I'm-" "No wait just a little bit more okay?" You nodded along. His movements became loppier and you knew he was also close. He kissed you sloppily and you moaned against his lips when you road off your next climax. Jaehyun still pumped a few times into you before he also reached his high.

He collapsed on you and you two breathed heavily. You could feel his breath on your neck. He slipped off his condom and you laid your head on his chest. He swung his arm around your middle and you two fall asleep.

You woke up from the feeling of a body that pulled you closer. The person hid his face in the crock of your neck. You heard a knock on the door. "Jaehyun I know you're in there. Wake up. The others already made breakfast." Sicheng's voice appeared behind the door. "And don't try to hide the fact that Y/N is also in there. We know what you two did last night. So hurry up and come down." Doyoung added. You were red as a tomato thanks to Doyoung's remark.

When you two arrived at the table in the kitchen, 12 eyes looked at you. You just sheepishly smiled and sat down without saying any word that could lead to a conversation you weren't willing to have. Jaehyun sst down next to you and this made you even more nervous.

"So you two lovebirds. Aren't gonna say anything important to us that might as well should be shared by now?" Johnny interrogated with a goofish smile.

"Well..uhmm..Y/N and I are together, I guess?" Jaehyun stated or more like questioned. You knew he wasn't sure if you saw it the same way he saw it. You two could just had a one night stand and there wasn't feelings on your side. But you quickly vanished his thoughts when you took his hand in yours and said proudly but also embarrassed. "Yeah. Today is our first day as a couple."

The others laughed at your awkwardness and you released a breath you didn't even know you were holding. "Finally. Ohh I thought you two wouldn't check it. I mean how dumb are you two that- oww. That hurt." Johnny pouted at his girlfriend whereas Carly glared at him. "Wait do you mean finally?" you asked confused. "Did you really never saw Jaehyun staring at you. He did it like everytime you were near us. I thought his eyeballs would fall out." Taeyong laughed as Jaehyun's ears reddened and he looked down in embarrassment.

The first day you two went to school and hold hands on the way to your class, other students gasped and it was quickly gossiped all over the campus that Jung Jaehyun was dating Y/N Y/L/N. Even now you couldn't believe how fast information were spread around the campus. It all felt surreal. Jaehyun the hot topic ever since you knew about him and you the nerd who anyone never really cared about. Now you were the center from all. Some students said negative things like you were after his money or you just wanted popularity others said you two looked really cute or simply envied you. You weren't familiar with all this attention and it definitely wasn't something you ever wanted but you had to deal with it, so it had to work somehow.

Your first date was the cutest shit ever. He took you to a romance movie and hold hands the entire time the film played. Once the movie was over you two went to the Hangang Park. You sat on a bench and talked for hours. He was such a nice gentlemen the whole day you couldn’t belive it. Sadness was visible on both of your faces when you had to say goodbye. He gave you kiss and left.

After a month Jaehyun convinced you to come with him to a party one of his friends was hosting. If you remembered right his name was Ten. He was holding a party in the top floor of his parents' hotel. You didn't knew how you should dress yourself as you didn't have such expensive clothes that all of the people on the party would have. You couldn't tell Jaehyun about your problem because you knew he would buy you a dress and that was te least you wanted him to do. You didn't knew how to pay him back.

A knock on your apartment door made you jump off the couch and walking towards it. You opened the door a gap and looked at the guest. It was a old man in a black suit. He had a white shirt under the suit and a black bowtie on. He also had thick glasses on. You looked at him expecting. What was an old man doing in front of your door? And why did he look like a chauffeur? "Hello my is Bervald. I'm here to give you this present from Mr. Jung. He is waiting in the car outside. Please dress quickly." He bowed and left the gift on the doorway. You quickly took the box and opened it. It was a salmon ruched side jumper dress and next to the dress were matching ankle boots. You quickly changed and put some makeup on. Just so much that it wouldn't look too bad. You stumbled out of your door and saw Jaehyun waiving through the window. He was sitting in a limousine and you honestly were overwhelmed by the view of your boyfriend sitting in it. Bervald opened the door for you and you gladly thanked him before entering the car.

"Hey babe." He greeted with a brief kiss on the lips. "Hey. Did you buy this dress for me? I don't know when I'll be able to pay you back." You said with an uncomfortable look. "I knew you would say this. It's okay. I bought this because I love you and I refuse to get money from you for this." He took your hand and placed his soft lips on top it. Then he smiled at you and you saw those dimples you loved so much on him. You couldn't be angry or anything with him when he was like this. So you smiled at him and nodded along.

When you arrived at the hotel you felt kinda nervous. You only knew Jaehyun at the party as he said that the others couldn't come. He took your hand in his and led you to the elevator. The elevator drove all the up to the top floor and when the doors opened you already saw what felt lika a thousand people partying. Most of them were already drunk. Jaehyun guided you through the mass of people and you were going stairs upwards to a room.

A security guard stood in front of the door. He had broad shoulders and looked serious. Jaehyun said his name and the name looked through what you assumed was a name list. After he found the name he stepped aside and you and Jaehyun could go in. The room was quieter. It played a different music than in the entrance.

A man approached you who was shorter than Jaehyun. He looked like a instance of a rich kid. Neatly, and well the look on his face that proverbial said I'm rich. But nonethelessly he looked like a really nice guy. He hugged Jaehyun. "Jaehyun, Hey. Is this your girlfriend everybody's talking about?" He then looked at you with a wide grin. "Nice to meet you. I'm Ten. With whom do I have the honor?" He stretched his hand for you to take out. You took his hand and shoke it. "I'm Y/N. Nice to meet you too."

He led you to a table with 3 other guys and 1 woman. You three sat down and Ten introduced them all to you. A man that looked as short as Ten was Taeil and he somehow sent the same vibes as Yuta. Right beside Taeil sat Mark. He was the same guy Yuta called on the party month ago. And Jungwoo was beside Mark. Mark seemed like a little boy and Jungwoo was really cute. The only other woman in the round was named Si Jin. She looked pissed off for no reason. Her attitude was rude toward you but to the others she was the nicest person altogether.

Jaehyun bend his head to you and said he would leave for a short time as Ten wants to show him something he just purchased. He kissed you on the cheek and then disappeared in another room. You were left with Si Jin.

"So you love Jaehyun?" She eyed you up and down. You couldn't feel more uncomfortable under her sight. "Yes, I do." You said more to yourself than to her. You never said those words to Jaehyun but he said it permanently to you. You disappointed yourself. Why was it like this?

“You seem more like the type of girl that is just after his money. Stay away from him.“ She said with arrogance. “I’m not after his money. And you’re not someone I obey. So don’t interfere in the relationship with Jaehyun because I don’t think you’re winning anything out of it.“ You snapped at her. She just laughed and spilled the drink she had in her hand over her dress. The others were coming back and Si Jin looked angry and sad at the same time. Ten was the first to arrive. “Si Jin what happened to you?“ “Y/N spilled the drink over me and insulted me because she thinks I’ve a thing for Jaehyun.“

Your mouth opened but nothing came out. You were shocked that she played such dirty tricks. You glanced at Jaehyun and he looked angry at you. Was he really believing her? “Y/N see what you did. Her dress is entirely transparent. How could you humiliate her like this?“ Ten yelled at you. “I wasn’t even the one who did this to begin with. Why would I do something like this. I now my limits.“ You said while feeling yourself getting angry. Your eyebrows furrowed and the displeasure of his words were truly visible on your face. “So are you blaming her? Why would she do this to herself hmm? She’s a good friend of mine and she wouldn’t do anything like this.“ Jaehyun rose his voice at you. It was the first time that he was so angry at you. Even the looks of his ignorance were better than this situation. Everyone in the room was now looking at the scenario that took place in front of them. Your heart shattered at the sight of your boyfriend. How could he have so little trust in you? You wanted to fight back at him but what would happen? He didn’t believe you indifferent of what you said. Tears showered your face but he didn’t care. “I would never do such a thing to a person and I thought you know me. But I guess I was wrong. You never trusted me in the first place. So bye Jaehyun. Have a good life.“ You mockingly said the last words before exiting the room and the hotel.

You walked all the way home. You couldn’t care less about the people that looked wary at you. You couldn’t stop thinking about the look you saw on Si Jin’s face before you left. She smiled mischievously at you. How come he didn’t notice this?

Back in your apartment Carly already waited at you. She expected you to come home smiling like an idiot or calling you and tell her you weren’t coming home. But she definitely never expected to see you crying like baby. She ran to you and gave you a heartwarming hug. “Hey, hey everything’s fine. Calm down.“ She ran his hand over your back in an attempt to soothe you. It just achieved the opposite and you were crying more and more. You missed Jaehyun and her hand on your back let you feel more miserable than you already were.

After you calmed down you told Carly the whole story. She couldn’t believe what she just heard. “You mean this bitch tricked everyone on the party? And Jaehyun didn’t took your side but instead hers? Is he this much of a dumbass?“ She was upset at Jaehyun. She suggested to wach a movie and she also brought ice cream. The two of you chatted the rest of the night away. You couldn’t stop thinking about Jaehyun but you didn’t want Carly to feel pity because she couldn’t help you.

The next day you weren’t in the condition to go to any lecture. You were heartbroken that’s for sure but you also had one of the worst headaches in your life. Thanks to your headache you throw frequently up. Besides you had to convince Carly to go to the lecture because she thought it would be better if she helped you. But you actually didn’t want to see anybody, so she gave in.

You slept most of the day away and when you woke up in the evening your headache thankfully mitigated. Carly left you a note on the kitchen counter. She went out with Johnny but she made you a soup. You just had to warm it up in the microwave. You looked at your phone for any notifications but the only persons that messaged you were Carly and Taeyong. Jaehyun didn’t wrote you nor called you. You ate the soup and answered Carly and Taeyong. After that you crawled under your blanket again and doze off to dreamland.

A slight touch on your shoulder woke you again. A part of you hoped it would be Jaehyun but it were Johnny and Carly. You looked disappointed at them and they took care of you for the rest of the day. They wanted to drag you out but you denied. So you just sat in the living room and they called the others over. Expect Jaehyun everyone was there. You played cards and you weren’t so good at it. You lost like every round but it felt not as frustated as you felt about Jaehyun. Your sadness kinds turned into frustration.

The next week you went to school like how you used to before you knew Jaehyun. Of course they had to be rumors about you. A girl came to you and said. “He finally realized what a hoe you are.“ Then she left. What the hell was wrong with those people? It wasn’t their relationship, so why did everyone want to be a part of it? When you met Jaehyun in class you ignored him. It wasn’t that hard because he did the same with you. But sometimes you would feel him glance at you. You didn’t thought much into it and just continued to listen to the prof.

Even if you were mentally exhausted, you still had to go to work. Every hour you spent there felt like torture. The customers were more rude than before since they knew about the break up. You snapped at a student one day because he said you were too bad in bed to be togehter with. Also you explained yourself to your boss she was beyond pissed. You couldn’t allow you another mistake like this. You smiled at everyone despite their nasty remarks. Your nights were spent crying in your bed. You didn’t care if Carly heard you. You just didn’t wanted this life anymore. Everybody turned their backs to her expect from her few friends she had. Although she was thankful for the friends she gained, she couldn’t help but feel sad. They were still Jaehyun’s friend and you still missed him to death.

Taeyong took you to a new opened cafe one day. He said he felt miserable for yu so he wanted to make you at least a litlle happy. You didn’t commented on this as both of you knew nothing would change your feelings right now. The cafe was rather full but it was nice decorated. There stood fresh flowers on every table and the walls were in a bright orange. It looked new but fancy. The atmosphere felt like the total opposite of the cafe your were working at. but before you could deepen your thoughts Taeyong spoke. “I ordered an Iced Americano for you. I hope you still like it.“ “Ah...yes I still like it.“ You said hesitant. You never talked with him about your favorite drink so why did he knew it? You sat with him for quiet a while before the order was finally ready.

When Taeyong wasn’t coming back with the orders you looked the cafe up for him. He was nowhere to be found. “Y/N, it’s nice to meet you again. I really missed you.“ You heard a very familiar voice saying. There he stood with the two orders in his hand. The person you missed the most out of all. Jaehyun. He had a black jeans and a loosely light blue t-shirt on. For once in the time you saw him he didn’t look like a someone who is rich. he looked like a decent human being. You couldn’t see his face because he managed to also hold a big bouquet of flowers. He hesitantly put the drinks on the table and sat the opposite from you down. The flowers were neatly placed in the middle of the table. “You know..“ he bagan “I was really dumb. I mean I knew you would never do this but I wasn’t thinking in that moment. I don’t know why I said those things to you and ...I’m really sorry. I know this isn’t enough but I couldn’t think of anything else. I just wanted to be honest to you.“ He took your hands in his “Y/N I miss you like crazy. There isn’t a night I don’t think about you and feel like crap. I know this is chliché but what I did was wrong and again I’m truly sorry.“ You could see the sincerity in his eyes but you still weren’t convinced. “If you were so sorry why didn’t you come a week ago?“ Jaehyun couldn’t look you in the eyes as he said his next words. “I was embarrassed. I thought you would hate me to death and...and I didn’t know how to approach you. You never looked at me and you were always the first out of the lecture hall. I was being cowardly and I’m sorry for this.“ A smile creeped its way to your face and you started to laugh. He looked confused at you before you answered his question that was visibly on his face written. “You’re just too cute Jaehyun. I know you’re sorry and I already forgave you but it was too funny to see your ears getting redder.“ You said inbetween laughs. He smiled at your silliness and you died internally when you saw his dimples you missed so much.

“I love you Y/N.“ He spoke up after a short pause. “I love you too, you idiot.“

[nicknellie]

@over-under-through1 requested: I was wondering if you could do a modern au/nobody dies with Willex and a sleepover/sort of comfort?

Okay, so in my professional opinion, this is probably one of the cutest things I’ve ever written. Thank you for suggesting it, I hope you like it!

Title from All You’re Dreaming Of by Liam Gallagher.

Underneath the Moon

For the first time in almost eighteen years, Alex had the house to himself for an entire night. His father was away on a work trip, some head-office-organised bonding experience he’d been less than excited about; his mother was out of the state entirely, having a girls’ weekend with her four sisters; and his little sister was staying at his aunt and uncle’s house while both parents were away because as responsible as Alex was, he was only seventeen and his parents hadn’t been foolish enough to leave him in charge of a twelve-year-old who had a tendency to dodge rules.

Alex couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this excited – having free rule of the house felt like a dream come true. The moment he was alone, he had quietly broken every rule that had ever been set out for him: he had worn his shoes in the living room, rested his feet on the furniture, eaten ice cream straight out of the tub, watched a horror movie, and stood in the middle of the living room bellowing curse words for half an hour for no other reason than that there was nobody to stop him. They were petty acts of rebellion, sure, but to Alex they felt freeing and supremely satisfying.

His plan was to have a party. Well, not a party party – there was no way he’d be able to clean up all that mess before his father got home, and having so many people in the house would scare the living daylights out of him. The party would consist of just him and his closest friends having fun together, eating pizza and playing Just Dance and probably sleeping through most of it.

He opened up the group chat which consisted of him, his boyfriend Willie, and his best friends Luke, Reggie, Julie, Carrie, and Flynn. After typing out an invitation for them all, he read it through more times than he could count to make sure all the information was right. But before he could hit send, his phone buzzed with a notification from Willie.

Abandoning his own text, Alex opened up his private chat with just Willie. The text read: I’m feeling a little fragile, do you mind if we hang out?

Usually when Willie felt down it was something to do with his adoptive father, Caleb. They argued a lot, Alex knew, but Willie was normally quite closed off about the whole situation – Alex figured he would talk about it more when he was ready, so he had never pried.

He opened up the group chat and deleted his long message, thankful he hadn’t sent it, before going back to his conversation with Willie. Alex shot back a quick reply asking if Willie wanted to spend the night at his place before he could overthink or regret it.

Alex had stayed over at Willie’s a few times but never on purpose. He often fell asleep while they were having a movie marathon because being wrapped in Willie’s arms like that was sinfully comfortable and Willie radiated heat, so it was easy to doze off. He would wake up in the morning groggy and with no clothes to change into and no toothbrush to use. And Willie hardly ever came to Alex’s house because it was easier for them if they avoided his parents, so he’d never been able to spend the night.

But his parents weren’t here and Willie could be and this time Alex could plan to be with him all night.

Willie replied with an affirmative a moment later and Alex began the slightly unnecessary task of making the house look presentable. There wasn’t a lot to do; his mother had made sure everything was tidy before she had left for the airport, and Alex hadn’t made too much of a mess in his rule-breaking spree earlier. All he needed to do was straighten a few cushions and clear away a few plates and bowls he hadn’t taken to the kitchen earlier.

It was getting dark by the time Willie arrived. Alex could always tell when Willie was at the door because he didn’t ring the doorbell like any normal person, he held the button down and let it ring until somebody answered. It drove Alex’s parents round the bend, which was half the reason Alex found it so endearing.

Willie did the same that night, holding down the button and letting the shrill chime of the doorbell draw Alex to him. When Alex opened the door, Willie was looking up at him with a smile on his face and his board tucked under his arm.

“Hey hotdog,” he greeted, standing up on his tiptoes to press a kiss to Alex’s cheek. “Good day?”

“Yeah,” Alex replied, wrapping him in a one-armed hug and pulling him inside the threshold of the house. “How about you?”

Willie shrugged evasively. “Great now that I’m with you.”

Alex smiled in return, shut the door behind him, then took Willie’s hand and led him to the living room. They plonked themselves down on the sofa and Willie automatically curled himself around Alex like a koala.

This had been what Alex was expecting – when Willie was down, he did his best to cover it up. He hid his sadness behind avoidance and false smiles, but little gestures (like holding Alex so tightly that he thought he might actually burst) were what gave him away.

Willie picked up the remote and flicked the TV on, landing on a David Attenborough documentary. His eyes were trained on the television like it was all he ever wanted to see, which was how Alex knew that there was something he was avoiding talking about.

“Hey,” he said gently, tilting Willie’s head to face him with two fingers under his chin. “You sure you’re okay?”

Willie swallowed but clearly decided lying wasn’t worth it, giving a short shrug. “I don’t know. It’s just been a long day.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Alex pressed carefully. “Because if you do then I’m more than happy to listen.”

He was given a weak smile in return. “Not tonight. Maybe just help me cheer up?”

“Of course,” Alex said, nodding. “What do you want to do?”

“Well, first I want to do this – sit and talk with you. Then I thought we could make cookies, I even brought the ingredients for that amazing recipe you made for my birthday.” He nodded down to a plastic carrier bag that Alex hadn’t seen before, placed down by their feet – he could see an ungodly amount of chocolate in it and couldn’t help but smile. “And I want to sleep with you.”

Alex short-circuited. He had not been expecting that. His face flushed and his mouth bobbed open and closed in a half smile – he didn’t think he could form words anymore.

“Oh, wait, that sounded wrong,” Willie said hurriedly. Alex breathed a little easier. “Not like that. No, I just meant I want to sleep next to you, you know, together. Like I said, it’s been a long day.”

“Right,” Alex said, half-relieved. “Right, okay, that makes more sense.”

Willie giggled – that was always an unfair thing to do because it was guaranteed to make Alex lose his mind – and rested his head on Alex’s shoulder. “I love you, hotdog.”

“I love you too.”

They stayed curled together on the sofa until the documentary finished, Alex gently weaving his fingers through Willie’s hair, Willie clinging to Alex like his life depended on it. It was calm and quiet and hardly anything like what Alex had previously planned for that night, but he wouldn’t have changed it for the world.

As soon as the credits began to roll, though, Willie was up out of his seat, had picked up the bag of ingredients and was making his own way to the kitchen. “Come on, hotdog,” he called over his shoulder, “I’m hungry.”

Smiling fondly, Alex followed him to the kitchen and pulled from a shelf the old recipe book he had used a hundred times as a kid. He used to bake with his mother when he was little because they both enjoyed it and they had fun together – they still baked together every now and then, but it was filled with stony silences rather than banter and the only time either of them spoke was when they asked the other to pass them something.

Still, Alex enjoyed baking and he always would, and it had become his favourite pastime with Willie now. Willie was hopeless in a kitchen, but Alex was a whizz and the combination led to mediocre results – the end product didn’t matter, Alex thought, as long as he and Willie had fun making it.

It didn’t take long for things to descend into chaos, as was to be expected when Willie was placed in a kitchen.

“Willie,” Alex said, reaching for exasperation to cover up the adoration in his voice, “if you keep eating the chocolate chips then there won’t be any left to put in the cookies.”

“Don’t worry,” Willie said dismissively. “I bought plenty, there’s still three bags left.”

“We only need one bag for the cookies, why did you buy so many?”

“To eat,” Willie replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Alex tried to look unimpressed but quickly gave up when Willie fed him a chocolate chip, beaming, and he simply had to smile.

The smile had vanished when he’d smelled burning.

“Is something on fire?” he asked, peering past Willie to the cooker.

There was no fire, thankfully, but the chocolate that Willie had been melting was quickly turning black and sticky and it stank of smoke. Willie let out a curse that would have sent Alex’s mother running for the hills and tried to salvage it in vain, scraping at the sides of the bowl with a spatula, trying to un-burn the chocolate.

To top it off, the smoke alarm started beeping.

“Okay,” Alex said, steering Willie away from the stovetop and handing him a tea towel. “You go wave that at the alarm until it stops beeping, I’ll sort out the chocolate.”

Willie did as he was told, whipping the tea towel around his head like a lasso as he made his way out to the hallway to fight the fire alarm, and Alex turned the heat down on the stove, gently removing the bowl of chocolate. He disposed of it easily enough, but there was some fused to the cooker, so he scrubbed at it to get it off. By the time he’d done as much as he could, there was still a small stain, but it was hardly noticeable. As Willie came back, Alex started melting the chocolate himself.

“Sorry,” Willie said, slipping his arms around Alex’s waist from behind. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“It’s fine,” Alex replied, awkwardly turning his head to place a kiss on the tip of Willie’s nose. “It just means you get one less bag of chocolate chips to eat – I’m using them for this.”

Willie groaned and buried his head between Alex’s shoulder blades, mumbling something about life being so unfair. Alex shook with suppressed laughter.

Alex took over control of the cookies from then on, at Willie’s insistence. It wasn’t the easiest of tasks because Willie refused to let go of him, so whenever he needed to move around the kitchen he had to employ an awkward shuffle so that Willie could come too. Still, by the end they had a fresh, warm, gooey batch of heavily chocolatey cookies and the grin on Willie’s face was worth all the hassle.

Alex watched him take his first bite and smiled proudly as Willie’s eyes closed in contentedness. “Good?” he checked.

“I am so in love with you,” Willie replied. Alex wasn’t sure if it was directed at him or the cookie, but he took it as a win.

They found themselves sprawled on the sofa again, the cookies and a half-eaten packet of chocolate chips between them. They ate in comfortable silence – Alex was conscious that it was almost ten o’clock and that it would be a good idea to go to bed soon and that people weren’t supposed to eat before sleeping, but he ignored those niggling thoughts. He enjoyed simply being with Willie, together in his house for once and happy.

Willie was the one to break the silence.

“I was arguing with Caleb earlier,” he said, looking at the cookies instead of Alex.

“Yeah?” Alex said, careful to keep his voice level. “About what?”

“He wants me to start doing shows at the club again,” Willie sighed. “I thought we agreed months ago that after I turned eighteen I wouldn’t have to do the shows if I didn’t want to. And I don’t want to. But he says that apparently the crowd miss me and I should come back.”

“That sucks,” Alex said, hating how lame it sounded. “I’m sorry. Are you still looking for your own place?”

“There’s practically nowhere in my price range,” Willie said, “but I’m supposed to be viewing an apartment next week that might be doable.”

Alex tried for a smile, reached over and held Willie’s hand. “Well, if it works out then you can move out and you’ll be free. No more guilt trips, no Caleb – you won’t even have to think about going back to the club.”

Willie smiled weakly. “Will you come and view the apartment with me?”

“If you want me to then of course I will. Anything, Willie.”

With one last tiny smile, Willie dropped the subject and finished the last bite of his cookie before checking the time. Alex didn’t miss him stifle a yawn.

“Come on,” he said, tugging Willie’s hand and pulling him up. “You’re tired, let’s go to bed.”

Willie didn’t look too enthusiastic about being made to sleep, but he didn’t protest. While Alex got changed in his bedroom, Willie got ready for bed in the bathroom. Suddenly Alex wasn’t sure how all this worked – was it weird for him to be waiting in the bed when Willie entered the room? Surely it was weirder if he was just stood next to it awkwardly and only got under the covers when Willie came in? Maybe, he thought, he should try to make himself look busy so that he wouldn’t seem strange when Willie came in. He tried it, rummaging around in his chest of drawers, but then realised that if Willie asked what he was looking for he wouldn’t have an answer.

He stopped, took a deep breath, and just climbed into the bed. He picked up his phone and scrolled through social media, just for something to do with his hands. Maybe that would look more natural anyway.

When Willie came into the bedroom, he jumped beneath the bedcovers like it was all he had been wanting to do all day, curling around Alex, resting his head on his chest and his hands on his abdomen. Alex put his phone down and pulled Willie closer, hands clasped around his back. He had no idea why he had been worried about this – doing anything with Willie felt natural and safe, why should this have been any different?

“Thank you for everything, Alex,” Willie said softly.

“It was my pleasure,” Alex returned, burying his face in Willie’s hair. “You know I’d do anything for you, right?”

Willie laughed. It sent shivers down Alex’s spine. “Yeah. I know. Goodnight, hotdog.”

“Goodnight, love.”

But Alex couldn’t sleep. He tried, he really did. For whatever reason, he lay there for hours, unable to drift off. Maybe it was having Willie so close, knowing he would stay that close for a long time. Maybe it was the summer air drifting through his open window, warm and soft even though it was nearing midnight. Maybe it was the fact that he’d gone against his gut and eaten those cookies right before sleeping. Whatever it was, Alex couldn’t sleep.

He moved his head to look at Willie, the tiniest movement possible, and saw that Willie’s eyes were open too.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked, tracing Willie’s cheekbone gently with his thumb.

Willie shook his head. “Can you?”

“No,” Alex returned. Then he had an idea. “Wanna do something cool?”

Willie beamed and the two of them clambered out of bed. Alex picked up his duvet then crossed the room to his half-open window and wrenched it open completely. Because of the layout of Alex’s house, his bedroom window led directly onto a gently sloped section of roof. He hoisted himself through the window, then did the gentlemanly thing of helping Willie through too (though he was more than certain Willie could have managed it on his own, more gracefully than Alex had too).

Alex laid the duvet down on the roof like a picnic blanket, sat himself down and patted the space next to him for Willie to join him. The night wasn’t cold – it was summer, so the warm air danced across their faces, keeping them cosy and comfortable while they lay together underneath the moon, watching the stars and the deep night sky.

“I come out here sometimes,” Alex said softly, “because it feels lonely. Not in a bad way, just… it feels so far away from everything and everyone. It’s nice to just be alone sometimes.”

Willie hummed, a gentle response that settled some deep unnameable worry inside Alex’s chest. He softened, melted against Willie, relaxed.

They stayed there for hours, Willie pointing out constellations and giving them names and stories that Alex was almost certain were made up (“That’s Lord Crumpet, he vanquished the dreaded army of Abominable Snow Crabs which is why he has a pincer for a hand.”). It was simply nice.

Once Willie started to yawn, the ends of his nonsense sentences lost to his exhaustion, they crawled back in through the window and back into bed. Warm, close, cuddled, both of them were asleep within seconds.

[moral-turpitudes]

Trust Issues:

Trigger Warnings: Lil bit of /implied/ Smut, Fluff, Angst, Fighting, Swearing, Blood, basically everything that makes the Peaky Blinders the Peaky Blinders.

Word Count: A lot...5,447 (I’ll be adding it to the masterlist under requested fics because it’s long as hell lmao)

Characters: Finn Shelby x Female!Reader

Request: “Hey can you make one with Finn where they dating for some time but the Shelby family doesn't know much about her/her family so they don't trust her but them she receves a black hand and Luca goes after her trying to get her to betray the family and she pretends to agree just to tell them a Luca is up to and just how her relashionship becomes better with then and how Finn just love her more and more. angst/fluff maybe smut idk”

Requested by: Anon

Summary: Y/N worries Finn’s family won’t trust her, but she gains it in an unexpected way.

“I’ve told you a hundred times Finn, your family doesn’t like me! It’s no secret.” Y/N stated, pacing around her room that Finn ventured to almost every night.

“They do too! They’re just...horrible at trusting people really. That’s all.” He said, stopping her from frantically pacing by placing his arms around her when she got close to him.

“Let me go!” She yelled, giggling as he picked her up and placed her on the bed. 

He hovered over her like so many nights before, kissing her neck as she whimpered quietly in her barren apartment. His hands trailing down to her hips as she pulled him closer, their movements slowly breaking her out of her worries.

“When you-“ Y/N began, but was interrupted by Finn kissing her passionately.

“Stop worrying. We’re seeing them tomorrow whether you want to or not. They know how important you are to me, they just haven’t gotten to know you that well yet.” He said, continuing his actions as she moaned into his lips as his hands traveled further down.

Later that night, they lied there tangled in each other’s arms. Breathing ragged as they came down from their high.

“Can you believe we’ve been dating for a year, love?” He asked, looking up at the aging ceiling.

“Dating in secret for 6 months, dating in public for the other 6, it doesn’t feel like a year.” She said tersely.

Finn sighed as she spoke, preparing himself for another mini-lecture.

“My family can be a bit much Y/N, I’m sorry I kept you a secret from them for so long. There’s just...a lot of things about them that are-“ He started before Y/N interrupted him.

“Dangerous. I know.” She said sighing as she cuddled into his chest.

“Yeah. You’re not on their bad side, but it’s easy to get there, so I just wanted to keep you safe. Those 6 months were some of the scariest of my life so far. I just didn’t want you to get hurt.” He said, kissing the top of your head.

She turned to him, not saying a word as she looked into his eyes. They were so bright and full of hope despite the things he’s seen, making her wonder how long it would be until they turned cold and sinister like his brothers.

“I love you, Finn. I really do.” She said, pecking him on the lips before lying back down to sleep.

“I know.” He said, settling down beside her, hoping tomorrow would go well.

The next morning, the mail man came by dropping off various letters, waking them from their slumber as he banged on the door.

Finn shot up, looking to see Y/N still asleep as he went to see who it was.

He grabbed his hand gun after he put on his pants, and quietly walked to the door.

“Hello sir! Good morning. Here’s the mail for Miss Y/L/N.” He said cheerfully.

“Thank you.” He said, his nerves calming as he tucked the gun in his pocket, out of sight of the man.

As he waved the man off and closed the door, he heard his girlfriend’s footsteps lightly coming down the stairs.

“Finn? Who was that? Is everything okay?” She asked, pulling her robe around her nude body tightly.

“Yeah, just the mail.” He said, running his hands through the mass of hair on his head. He hadn’t told her the terrible news yet, but he figured bringing her to the family meeting would suffice.

He watched as she rummaged through various letters from her loved ones in London, knowing she’d probably spend hours writing back as she missed them terribly. Her job at a children’s charity office had forced her to move out to Small Heath after all.

As he watched, he saw her pick up a small letter that had intricate writing on it.

Y/N’s brow furrowed as she didn’t recognize the persons handwriting.

And when she opened it, she only grew more confused as she stared at the black handprint stamped on the white paper.

“What’s this?” She asked, raising it up to him. He crossed the room in a flash and tugged the letter from her hand.

“We have to go.” He said quickly, angrily.

“Finn, wait! We have to get dressed are you mad?!” She yelled, panicking internally.

Finn stopped near the front door and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, realizing he almost went to a family meeting half dressed, and leaving his girlfriend to meet them in a robe.

“Right. Ok, we have to be quick. C’mon.” He said leading her back upstairs so they could change.

Once done, they ran down the stairs, Y/N grabbing the letter and shoving it in her pocket as they went out the door.

Meanwhile at the shop, Tommy paced and checked his pocket watch as the family waited for Finn, knowing he’d probably bring his girlfriend in with him.

“So you’re telling me this fucking black hand is from the Changretta’s, Tom?” John asked, his face flushing with anger as he slammed the letter on his desk.

“Yes. They’re here and they’re taunting us. But I can’t talk about that until everyone’s here alright?”

“Oi he’s probably just fucking his, girlfriend they’ll be here soon. She has no ties to us besides Finn. They wouldn’t go after him or her, he’s not as involved.” Arthur said.

“Not yet. I know how he works. He’s going to try to run this family into the ground if we let him.” Tommy said, lighting a cigarette as the shop doors flew open, Finn practically dragging Y/N through the lobby and into the room.

“What the fuck is this Tommy! Why’s he coming for her eh?” He said grabbing the letter from her hand roughly and tossing it on his desk.

“Finn, Y/N...nice of you to join us. Everyone sit down.” He said walking in front of his desk and leaning against it.

“Why is he coming for her? Can we trust her?” Linda asked, earning a cold look from Finn.

“Shut it Linda. Yes you can trust her for gods sake, leave the poor girl alone.” Ada said.

“Since I got this letter personally may I speak? Or do I have to be pregnant or married to one of you to do so?” Y/N remarked snidely, annoyed at Linda’s assumptions. Polly smirked as she sipped her tea nervously. Tommy raised an eyebrow and nodded for her to continue, not expecting her to join in on things so quickly.

The room fell silent as she clutched Finns hand nervously.

“I know I’m not liked around here. You have no reason to like me and I’m not going to beg for anyone’s approval, but I want you to know you can trust me. I love Finn, and I’d never put him and your family in harms way, and to my knowledge he wouldn’t do so either. I can’t even begin to tell you how I got that letter, but before you call me out again, Linda. I’d like to ease some of your all’s suspicions.” She said, shifting in her seat.

“I’ve met you all a fair amount of times in the last 6 months. During that time I’ve had to readjust to a new job and move away from my family who are in London, and they have no ties to whatever the hell’s going on, therefore they don’t have ties to me either. I swear you can trust me.” She said, feeling her heart rate sky rocketing.

“Do you know about Luca Changretta?” Tommy asked, rubbing a cigarette along his lip before lighting it and taking a drag.

“No. I’ve never heard that name in my life.” She stated.

“Well, I’ve called you all here today because that is one of the men who sent us all black hands. Everyone got one, and that means he knows where we live, he most likely knows where we are at all times.” Tommy said.

“I’m going to have eyes on you until this is over, but I need you all to promise me something.” He said, putting out his cigarette in the tray on his desk.

“Promise what Thomas?” Polly asked, putting her tea down and crossing her arms.

“If you see anything suspicious, you tell me. I don’t care if it’s a false alarm, you tell me and don’t mutter any of this to a single soul.” He said, glaring at everyone as they sat before him.

“John, Arthur, Finn, Isiah. Get ready, grab your guns and your caps. Ladies you stay here, only go out for break. Polly, keep the legal business running, we can’t have someone slipping under our noses.” He said checking his bullets and putting on his coat.

“Will you be setting men up at our houses?” Esme asked.

“Yes. Mine too, don’t worry they’ve been briefed already.” He said, walking out the door.

Finn stood up reluctantly and pulled Y/N in for a hug and she placed a quick peck on his lips before he left, putting his cap on his head and grabbing a gun.

“Now, we have to work ladies. Y/N you’re staying here. You’ll have to call in today.” Polly said, grabbing papers off Tommy’s desk.

“Okay. I can help if needed, I’ve done secretary work before.” She said.

Polly looked at her for a moment and studied her before answering.

“Alright, there’s a desk near mine that’s been empty, I think the poor girl quit but hasn’t handed in her letter of resignation. You’ll take her desk for today, I’ll give you papers to sign with the company name.” She ordered.

“Okay, thank you Polly.” Y/N said quietly, sitting down at the rather large desk. The girl must’ve quit because the desk was empty and she found no personal items there, not even a photograph.

Polly came strolling over with a handful of documents pointing at the various places to sign and explaining some of the forms to her.

“Thank you, Polly.” She said giving her a small smile.

Y/N began signing, using it as a way to take her mind off of Finn and his brothers whereabouts.

Polly and Ada discussed some other work, and Linda filed some papers while Esme typed documents up, they all worked together nicely but there was a visible underlying tension between them and Linda. And if Y/N had a bad list, she knew she was first on it.

She sighed as she blew through the papers, yearning for a break and deciding to call in for the day at her regular job.

“Hello this is Y/N Y/L/N. I’m calling in today, I have some personal matters to attend to.....alright....thank you Mrs. Johnson. I’ll be in tomorrow....goodbye.” She said, hearing the disappointment in her bosses voice as she spoke.

“Did you call in?” Polly asked, overhearing your phone call.

“Yes. My boss wasn’t too happy but it’s not something I can control really.” She said.

“Next time I wouldn’t deal in absolutes my dear.” Polly said, combing through papers.

“What do you mean?” Y/N asked, finishing the forms on her desk.

“I know we haven’t known you for long but one thing you should know about the Shelby’s my dear is that we try not to make promises or make definite plans with others.” She said.

“So you’re saying I probably won’t be coming into work tomorrow either?” Y/N asked, anxiety filling her mind as she thought of Finn being hurt.

“Yes. You never know with this fucking family.” She said lighting a cigarette.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She said, excusing herself as she went towards the front door.

“Where are you going?” Polly asked.

“I just need some space. I’ll be right outside.” She said, she was about to promise that too but she heeded Polly’s words. They made sense but she couldn’t shake the sense of dread out of her bones.

As she leant against the cold brick building, she heard the door open as Ada walked out and stood near her.

“Did you come out here to see if I was lying?” Y/N asked.

“That and I wanted to apologize for Linda. She’s...difficult.” She said, lighting a cigarette for herself.

Y/N scoffed and lit one of her own, looking around nervously, scanning the streets for anything suspicious.

“They wouldn’t hang out right near the shop unless they want to be shot on sight.” Ada said.

“Can’t risk anything though eh?” Y/N said, taking another drag from her cigarette.

Ava smirked and nodded as she looked out at the dark, black-tinged buildings in front of them.

“We do like you, you know...we just can’t trust people very often in this business.” She said, looking at Y/N.

Y/N smiled as she stared at the brunette Shelby, her eyes less scarred by everything, kind of like Finn’s.

“Finn said that too. I’m relieved to hear that, I know it’s not easy welcoming in new people.” She said.

Ada nodded and patted Y/N’s shoulder before going back inside, leaving her out in the open.

Suddenly, a man walked near her looking just slightly out of place against the tattered clothes of the townspeople. He was tall, lean, and had a black hat on, making her tense up as he drew closer.

“Hello miss. Ya know where I can find a bar ‘round here?” He asked, looking around him quickly as he spoke, a toothpick sticking out of his mouth on the verge of falling with each word.

“No, sorry sir. Have a good day.” She said glancing at the tattoo on his neck.

“You work here?” He asked, walking closer to her.

She backed up until her back hit the wall, leaving her nowhere to go.

“No. May I ask your name? Not many men stop me on the streets and I’d like to know.” She asked, her heart racing as she tried to remain calm.

“You don’t belong on the streets sweetheart. You could join me though, I have some business I’m taking care of here, but when I’m done I can help you ya know.” He said leaning his palm against the wall, he was so close she could smell his cologne.

“That sounds suspicious you know. I’m not stupid.” She said, trying to walk towards the door of a nearby unmarked building, trying to get him away from the entrance to the shop.

He grabbed her wrist tightly as she went to yell, clasping his hand hard over her mouth and nose with a wet cloth. One whiff of the stuff and she was out, blackness overtaking her vision.

When she woke up she was in an alley, her clothes were ripped and her hands were tied to a pipe along a brick wall.

“What did you do to me?” She asked, scared of the answer.

“Nothing sweetheart, just wanted to take you somewhere more quiet, you seemed like a rowdy one.” He said, closing in around her and cutting her hands loose.

“Now, I’m going to ask you a question again. You have to answer honestly or I’ll take you right here in this alley.” He said.

“Okay.” She said sternly, trying to calm her nerves.

“What’s your name?” He asked.

“I asked you that earlier but you never told me.” She spat as he gripped her wrists tightly.

“My name is Y/N Y/L/N.” She said.

“I thought so. Mr. Shelby really needs to beef up his security around there don’t ya think?” He asked.

“Yes.” She said as he chuckled.

“You didn’t answer my question you know.” She stated, looking at his gun in its holster.

“Oh my bad sunshine. The names Luca. Luca Changretta. Wish we coulda met under better circumstances. I didn’t know Finn had such a fine woman.” He said.

“How do you know me?” She asked.

“I know all my enemies names. Ya gotta keep em’ closer than ya friends, you know the saying.” He said.

“I know you’re scared, but I just have one proposition for ya.” He continued, his eyes boring a hole into hers.

“What is it? To join your shitty hat club?” She asked, annoyed she got into this situation.

“Now that wasn’t nice miss Y/L/N. I’ll have to get ya for that one. Such a shame.” He said, flicking his switchblade out with one hand and gripping both your wrists with the other.

“If ya scream I’ll end ya.” He said. She blinked back tears as she forced her mouth shut, bracing for the pain of the blades edge coming for her face.

“You tend to run that pretty mouth of yours so let me help you with that.” He said inching the blade closer to her lips. She breathed heavily through her nose as she thought of anything to get her out of this situation.

She quickly brought her knee up, hitting him in the groin and making him groan in pain as he moved away from her, allowing her to run a couple of feet ahead of him.

“You can’t out-run a gun sweetheart.” He said, standing there with a pained look on his face as he clicked the gun, the bullets ready to fire in a split second.

“Walk back here and listen to my plan princess. I’ll let you go home after we talk.” He said.

Shaking, she reluctantly walked back to him, the alley feeling as if it was closing in on her every second.

“What?” She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You’re going to help me. I’m gonna send my men to Tommy’s warehouse and you’re gonna tell Tommy to meet them there with his brothers in tow...and you’re gonna blow it up. We’ve planted the bombs but you’ll push the button.” He said, a evil smirk hinting at his lips.

“You’re mad.” She said, attempting to walk away from him before he slammed her to the wall, cutting her cheek with the switchblade in the process.

“If you stand me up or tell them about the bombs, I’ll kill ya, and then I’ll kill your little boyfriend. I’m already after the rest of them. You can’t beat me sweetheart, I’ve been tracking you and Finn for days.” He said.

She touched her cheek silently as she cried, nodding along with his words as he brought her in for a hug.

“Good girl. Now, go home or back to whatever you were doing. Don’t forget ya job later, be at the wear house at 7.” He said before walking off.

Y/N smirked as the blood ran down her cheek. He wasn’t that smart, and it was the perfect way to earn the Shelby’s trust, now that their lives depended on it.

She glanced at her watch and realized she’d been out for longer than she should’ve. Knowing Tommy and the family would probably kill her themselves once she got back.

As she walked through the alley she realized she was right down the street.

“Stupid bastard, couldn’t even take me to a discreet location.” She scoffed, walking quickly to the doors and going in, walking straight to Tommy’s office. She could hear Finn yelling and Polly arguing with Ada, and the rest of the family quarreling back and forth as she walked in, not bothering to knock.

Everyone stopped to look at her as she walked straight to Finn, tears welling up in her eyes as he pulled her into his arms.

“Where the hell did you go love? You know he told you to stay here...” he said as she cried into his shirt.

“I know. I only went outside the shop. I’m sorry.” She said wiping the blood off her face with her hand and wincing at the cut.

“Where’d you get cut then aye? You weren’t at the shop when we got back. Fucking explain that Y/N.” Tommy said walking over to her as she sat down.

“That’s why I came back here. I was just getting some air outside, Polly and Ada both know that. Then a man came up to me, asking me if I worked there and if I knew where the bar was. I said no of course. Then as I tried to head the opposite way, just to lead him away from the shop, he fucking grabbed me...” She said, struggling to catch her breath as tears streamed down her face. Finn knelt beside her, holding her hand.

“That’s not all. Who was it?” Tommy demanded, the others stood around, tension in their features as they waited for her to speak.

“Luca Changretta.” She said, Finn’s eyes went dark, a look of anger settling over his features.

Tommy and Finn got up quickly, Tommy checking the guns and Finn pulling on his cap. Meanwhile John and Arthur gathered their machine guns.

“Wait! Please...” Y/N yelled, making them all stop and turn to her.

“Don’t go. Please don’t go. He-he told me he’d kill me if I told you about his plans but I don’t fucking care. If there’s a time to trust me then it’s right now because if you go after him you’ll all die.” She said, sitting back in the chair as she felt faint.

“What are you talking about Y/N?” Finn said, checking his gun as he stood near her.

“He said that he wanted me to meet him at the wear house at 7, that’s where you all were going, correct?” She asked, looking at Tommy.

“Yes.” He said.

“Don’t fucking go. He wanted me to be the one to push the button. Tommy he’s laced the warehouse with bombs. He wanted me to betray Finn. He wanted me to betray your family, but I couldn’t do it. I-“ she said, tears streaming down her face once again as Finn knelt down and pulled her into him, resting his head atop hers.

“What do we do then aye Tom?” John asked. His trigger finger growing impatient as he clutched the gun in his hands.

“We wait him out. When he sees we’re not there he’ll go after her, but he’ll come here. If he was confident enough to come here in broad daylight he’ll come here at night in a heartbeat. We’re waiting him out.” He said.

“Polly, Ada, Y/N, Linda, Esme. You go to the room in there, close the blinds.” He said, pointing to the door in his office that led to a smaller area where Lizzie usually worked. Luckily she was at home with the children, so she wouldn’t have to deal with the chaos.

The women went into the office and sat in various seats, closing the door behind them and waited quietly, all except Y/N.

“Did you hear what I said?” Tommy asked, his voice thick with anger.

“Yes. But I have a feeling he wants to see me, maybe I can-“ She started to say before Finn took her hand and led her to the office.

“You’re not staying out here. The Changretta’s take their plans seriously and he’ll be pissed when he finds out you betrayed him. Stay in there until it’s clear.” He said giving her a long hug and brushing his hand lightly over her cut.

“We’ll get them, I-“ He started to say before she cut him off with a kiss.

“Don’t promise anything. Just go.” She said, going into the office and shutting the door behind her.

Polly quietly gave her a hand gun as she came in, putting a finger to her lips as she did so.

“I’ve never shot one what are you doing?” Y/N asked.

“You may need it. Just point and shoot.” She said.

“Why me?” She asked, her hands shaking as she held the foreign object.

“You just helped the family. We trust you, and consider this your first day.” Polly said.

“Wait I still work-“ she started, Polly cutting her off.

“I’ve made arrangements for you. You’re safer with us. Besides...” she said lighting a cigarette.

“We pay better than those blokes at the charity office.” She said.

“You called my boss? When I left?” Y/N asked.

“Yes. Now do you accept or not?” She asked, finally looking at Y/N with a look more so of approval than suspicion.

“I will if we make it out of this alive.” Y/N said. Checking her watch to see the clock ticking down to 7pm.

“Finn.” Tommy said, pulling his little brother close to him.

“You’ll be answering the door. Don’t say a word, just lead them here in my office.” He said.

John, Arthur, and Isiah stood at varying points around the room, guns ready to ambush them if needed.

Tommy checked his machine gun as he saw Polly closing the blinds and shutting the lights of.

“Isiah turn the rest of the lights off in the shop, I only want mine on.” He said and Isiah stepped out to do as told, coming back a few minutes later and deciding to help protect Polly and then from inside the small office.

Finn looked anxiously at the clock as he stood near the front door. It was 15 past 7, and knowing the Changretta’s, they rented the fastest cars they could manage to get there.

A loud knock sounded on the door not long after, causing Tommy to look up from his pocket watch, a feeling washing over him similar to the moment right before The Battle of the Somme.

“Hello Finn. Show me and my men where Tommy is and this whole thing can be over. I promise you that.” He said. Finn just looked at him and led him to his office acting as if only Tommy was there.

He knocked twice waiting for his answer.

“Tommy, Mr. Changretta is here.” He said, waiting for his response.

“Send him in.” Tommy said. Finn came in and quickly stood in front of the door where the women were, reaching for the gun in his coat.

Luca and 3 men walked in, looking Arthur and John up and down as they sized everyone up with their eyes. His lips curling into a sinister smile as the toothpick stuck out of his mouth.

“I have a bone to pick with Finn’s girlfriend. She stood me up...broke my heart really. I could’ve made her night if she woulda let me.” He said, watching as Finn’s face turned into a mask of anger. He’d never been one to keep his facial expressions in check.

“I’m sorry that happened, we were none the wiser, we were going to the warehouse just now.” Tommy said, staring blankly.

“If you didn’t know about her then you would’ve been at the warehouse like we planned.” Luca said.

“Correct. But she didn’t return. We don’t know where she’s gone so that pushed us back.” He lied.

“She’s as smart as she is beautiful, and I told her to go home but I know she came here. I’ll kill her, you’ll see.” He said, walking towards the door to go look around.

“Why else are you here Changretta? You could be out finding Y/N yourself but instead you’re here. My brothers and I were just about to go deal with this business before heading home.” He said, John yawned as if on cue as he rocked back on his heels impatiently.

“If you’re not going to tell me then I’ll have to find her myself.” He said stepping towards Finn.

“Aren’t you here because you wanted to kill the family? Not just Y/N? You served us all a black hand after all.” Finn questioned, pointing his gun at Luca’s chest.

He smirked and turned towards Tommy as he nodded at his men, clearly not afraid of Finn’s gun. The three men lunged for Arthur as John cocked his gun, aiming at one of the men and shooting him in the head.

Tommy went towards one of the others who almost tackled John as Luca taunted Finn against the door.

Arthur tackled the first man down, wrestling the gun out of his hand as a bullet grazed his shoulder, Linda silently cringed in the other room at the sound of her husband in pain.

“You really thought you could take us down?” Finn yelled over the noise, shoving Luca back with the gun.

“I can, and you’ll be glad you’re dead if I tell you what I’d do to her-“ He started to say before Finn landed a punch to his face, sending him back a couple feet.

“You talk too much.” He said, going towards Luca again.

Luca smirked as Finn looked to the side briefly to see Tommy pulling a gun at the man he’d tackled. With one shot the second man was down, leaving John wrestling down the last one.

Tommy quickly ran to where Finn was and hit Luca in the back of the head with the butt of his gun, causing him to fall back against his desk, blood dotting various papers as he fell.

“Finn, go help John.” He said, before punching Luca in the face once again.

Finn shakily held the gun as he aimed at the man who was now landing punch’s to his brothers face, and shot, the sound of his body hitting the ground still causing a shiver down his spine despite him killing before.

As he stood there he heard a muffled cry coming from inside the room as he knew Y/N was watching through the cracks of the blinds, but was soon snapped back to reality as Tommy yelled out in pain.

Luca lowered his gun as he saw Tommy fall back, clutching his arm tightly.

He raised it at Finn, the blood dripping down his face and clouding his eyes as he aimed for the young blinder.

But suddenly the door opened, and Y/N came out pointing her hand gun at Luca, a tear rolling down her cheek as she did so.

“Get back Y/N. Go.” Finn said as he tried to shield her as Luca raised the gun up more, on the verge of shooting.

A shot rang out from behind Finn as Luca’s head rocked back at the impact, his body going limp as the bullet passed through his skull.

It was eerily silent after that. Finn’s ears rang as did hers as he realized he would’ve been dead if she had listened to him when he told her to go back.

Finn quickly took the gun from her and Tommy crawled over Luca’s body to check the pulse, smirking as he looked up at Y/N.

“Nice shot. How’d you get the gun?” He asked, walking towards her.

“Polly gave it to me. Told me to point and shoot.” She said, wiping a tear from her eye.

“Alright.” He said, walking over to the door and telling the others they could come out.

John and Arthur got to dragging the bodies out back, while Polly and the other women tiptoed over the blood and back to the lobby.

Finn followed them out and left Y/N standing there for a bit, staring at the blood coating Tommy’s floor.

“It feels weird the first time killing someone, you’ll get used to it.” He said, tying a tourniquet on his arm before going to clean some of the blood off his desk.

“Um...Polly said something about this being my first day. Am I to work for you now? I-I don’t know what I’d do.” She said pulling her tattered coat around herself.

“Yes. You can start tomorrow actually. Take the empty desk out there.” He said, referring to the one she worked at earlier in the day.

She nodded and walked towards the door, her hands shaking from the days events.

“Oh and Y/N?” Tommy said, grabbing a cloth from a drawer.

“If it makes things any better, I trust you just as much as Finn does. You’ll fit in here, just go easy on him eh?” He said, a small smirk playing at his usually stoic lips.

“I’ll try.” She said smirking and closing the door behind her.

“Y/N you ready to go home?” Finn called out over everyone talking. She looked around at what would be her new work, and ultimately her new family. Linda was cleaning Arthur’s arm, and John and Esme were making out on her desk. Meanwhile Polly and Ada were tidying up the place.

“Yeah.” She sighed, walking to him and putting her arm around his waist as he led her out into the cool night air.

“Does that cut hurt?” He asked, once in the car.

“Yeah, but I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.” She said, giving him a kiss before they drove off to her apartment. It was only mere hours ago that she was struggling to earn his family’s trust, and now she had it, and she knew she had to keep it no matter what.

Finn Shelby Tag List:

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