#and her horns are on her bike helmet?

[sailorgundam308]

Quick modern AU Karlach idea…

[pearlymel]

"The Masks We Wear"

Summary: as a journalist, you are itching to find the identity of this mysterious hero. But could it be that the hero is closer to you than you think?

Wc: 7.3k eat up

Warnings: Wriothesley x afab!reader, gn! reader, modern au, hero and villian au (one of each), reader is a journalist/cameraman, fluff, making out, crack (i laughed a lot writing this), angst (oops), one small sex scene, slightly under the influence, cursing, it's pretty unrealistic, petnames used: sunshine, love, and sweetheart.

Notes: i poured my heart and soul into this, i think it's my best piece so far ^^ give it a chance, maybe you'll love it. (Pleasepleasepleaseplease) Rbs are greatly appreciated!

Credits: banner art by the great @/danijaci

Click!

The city is absolutely beautiful today. No, no. It’s not because of the lights that makes the place brighter and a bit more magical, how it seems livelier with a group of teenagers laughing together while buying street foods together, or the old couple that seem still very much in love, the gentleman kneeling down and tying her shoes just to make sure she wouldn’t trip this time.

Humans can be cute, you think.

But of course, among those innocent ‘humans’ are those who desire destruction.

This time, you think you might have caught something in the shadows, and you stare intently at your camera, zooming it in to see the faintest color blending in with the darkness. Hair? A part of clothes? You don’t know, but you got it.

you have this obsession of finding out who the hero of this city was, or even the villian. Although, you would be technically be walking into death if you try finding out who the villian is.

Where did this hero come from? No one knows. Sure the crime rate has lowered, but it felt like the world became even more messed up.

It all started a couple of years ago when you were in your college days, one day almost dying from a falling building, and you thought you saw the scythe waiting to take your soul at that very moment but, no.

The mysterious hero of the city that you never thought you would never encounter carried the building with his super strength power, apparently.

He who has no name, took your hand and lead you into a safer area with the police.

cliché story, right. But that’s what got you into journalism and media now.

And let’s say… you’re too far into the deep black hole to back down now.

The almost blinding light made you come back to your senses, the sounds of engine roaring in the air as the bike approached you, and your shoulders were already slumped.

“How did you find me?” You raise your voice due to the loud engine running, covering parts of your vision from the light.

“Lucky guess.” Wriothesley replied gruffly, pulling his helmet off and shaking his head slightly to fix up his messy strands.

“Care to explain what on earth are you doing here in this shady alleyway? At nine thirty where the moon is out and wolves could be coming for you?” He starts scolding you, quirking an eyebrow when you give him the bored expression, and he immediately mimics it back.

“Taking pictures.”

“Of the rats?”

“Wriothesley.” You shoot him a look and he raises his hands in the air. “I understand your… obsession. But it could hurt you in the process, mentally and physically.”

You know he’s saying all this because he cares so much about you. Loves you too much that it would break his soul piece by piece if one day what you’re doing will hurt you.

“Hop in, sweetheart.” He hands you the extra helmet, and you take it with a sigh. Securing it around your head before taking your place behind him, wrapping your arms around his waist as he revved the engine.

The whole ride back was silent, yet traffic, which entirely ruined the whole mood. With the constant car horns ringing in your ear.

You tap at his thigh to grab his attention, “Why’s it traffic?” You grumble, rising yourself from the seat to look at the row of cars trying to get through.

“Not any holidays or events i can think of,” he responds back to you.

Red mixed with orange fills your vision, suddenly the car at the very front explodes. The car parts flying in the air and landing at the other vehicles which makes you frozen in shock.

Wriothesley’s clenches his hands tightly as he turns the bike around, speeding his way far away from the scene. “Hold onto me tight, and don’t look back, you hear?” He yells enough to grab your attention, and your arms tightens around him, but you have your head turned around to see the people yelling and dashing out of the vehicles. You want to capture the moment with your phone so you could submit it in for the news, but you know more than to ignore Wriothesley right now.

It’s not rare to see destruction happen in your city, it’s just… terrifying every time anybody witnesses it.

Maybe it wasn’t an accident, maybe it was planned.

“You’re not allowed to go out after seven.” Wriothesley makes it clear to you with his firm tone as you both step inside your shared apartment, locking the apartment with a click. He then tosses his keys into a bowl on a small table, before turning to look at you.

“Are you seriously setting a curfew for me? Please. what happened was not new—”

Your face is now being cradled by his rough hands, but the way he swipes a thumb under your eyebags really makes you melt. And you forget what you were going to say when his lips curl the slightest.

“I don't want anything happening to you. Ever.” He takes you in his arms, holding you like you were the most precious thing he ever held. “I didn't mean to pressure you like that. I'd hate it if you were in the position of those injured people.”

You pat his back to reassure him that hopefully nothing like that will happen. “And, if, hypothetically, something like that happened; What would y—”

“I'll kill everyone.” he doesn't even let you continue before he answers, though the chuckle against your hair followed after makes your tense shoulders relax.

“maybe not to that extent,” he lifts your head up to lean in and press a tender kiss on your forehead.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

“what is it?”

“… something or someone.”

Your boss gives you a nonchalant sharp look when you eagerly showed him the bits you managed to capture last night before you were interrupted by your great boyfriend.

His eyes squints at the more of a blurred photo that sits on the display of your camera, taking the glasses that hanged from his collar.

The sigh afterwards makes you feel discouraged when he hands you back your camera.

“i see it.” He starts and you perk up immediately.

“it looks like a blurred image of a fucking bird taking a shit on the electrical cords.” You press your lips into a thin line at his description. Too detailed of a description,

what a bastard.

It.. certainly didn't look like that.

You clear your throat, pinching the bridge of your nose to compose yourself.

“You're lucky i like your determination or you would've been fired,” he utters out in a lax tone, resting his glasses on his big bald head that you want to spill with ketchup.

“Keep looking, i need the hero's face, details, anything. Just think of the money you and i could both earn.” He seems too enthusiastic about it, showing you determination with his fists pressing together and his wide ear to ear smile.

You leave work early that day, starting your daily walk of looking around for at least two hours or—one hour?

No, Wriothesley would be too worried if you came back after… nine. Your words not his.

You need to rearrange a schedule in your head.

Step one: somehow convince your boss that you need to leave early everyday.

Step two: search every nook and cranny of the city, ask every shady person if they get to talk to the hero in person or got a glimpse of his name.

Step three: go to the dark web— is that car flying infront of you right now?!

Shit. Just why does everything have to go down wherever path you go?

The people around you panics, and you equally panic with them because you're no fucking hero to tell them to get away from that flying car.

You take your camera out hurriedly from its case that slung around your shoulder, pressing record while frantically looking around. The ground shakes, it shakes so much that it feels like an earthquake almost.

“it's him! The villian!” Someone shouts from the distance, and just like that the screams that follows are in sync.

You know why the ground shook, the street has become a battlefield for the hero and villain fighting together with all their strengths, the air is filled with tension as they both clash in an epic confrontation. The ground trembles beneath your feet again as they traded blows, sending shockwaves through the battlefield. The once tranquil street has now been transformed into a chaotic arena of power and destruction. As the battle rages on. The hero and villain continue their fight, each strike more powerful than the last, their movements a blur of speed and precision.

You try capturing anything with your camera, but your hand shakes that it was impossible. When the villian lands a powerful punch on the hero’s shoulder, sending him way back, it makes you think it's time to leave.

You run with the rest without stubbornness this time. You should've listened to Wriothesley, why did you always have to be so curious about everything?

This curiousity will kill you next after the cat.

“Taxi!” You shout, waving your hand at the yellow vehicle, but every taxi seems to ignore the people's pleas, determined to save themselves instead.

Guess it's time to burn calories and run back home.

You were a panting mess once you reached back to your comfort space, eyes zeroing at the running television in the living room. Watching the newscaster talk about today's battle and how it affected the shops and buildings.

It seems like the battle lasted twenty minutes before the villian gave up and fled away.

Your head snaps to the bathroom once you hear the sink water drip, you didn't even think if he would be here this early.

“Wriothesley,” you say breathlessly when you swing the door open, arms squeezing his side as you take a deep breath in.

“woah, easy there. What happened?” He takes you in, hand rubbing at your arm.

“i was…” nevermind. Maybe you shouldn't tell him what you have witnessed, he'll know once he checks the news.

You only realise that he was chest bared at the moment, and you furrow your eyebrows once you see a bruise on his shoulder.

“What happened?” It was your turn to ask, talking a gentle finger and running it over the bruise, earning a hiss from him.

“was changing the car oil at the repair shop.” He mumbles, gaze turning to the mirror, “then accidentally hit my shoulder once i got up.” he turns his arm, swinging it slowly.

“but you don't work at a car repair shop?”

“it's a side hustle, sunshine.”

“why didn't you tell me?” You press on, and he hangs his head low, both of his hands gripping the sink bowl.

Okay, maybe you have annoyed him a little too much now. Upon sensing your incoming apology, Wriothesley smiles at you.

“don't worry your pretty little head too much. The bruise will fade.”

“i can massage you later?” You offer, and he lets out a breathy chuckle. “You're the best.” He gives you a chaste kiss on your lips on his way out, which makes you feel a little fuzzy.

The evening gave way to the night sky, and you found yourself lying on the bed, replaying the video captured on your camera. The footage was far from perfect, shaky and lacking in clarity, but it still managed to capture fragments of the intense confrontation between the hero and the villain. You couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement as you watched the brief glimpses of the clash that had taken place earlier.

How the villian managed to blow a punch on the hero’s shoulder, sending him way back. Must've hurted.

It's almost like the same spot Wriothesley got his bruise on.

…

Wait, the same spot?  You sit up on the mattress, replaying the video on repeat of their fight.

The hero was about the same height as him, the same physique, same cake—

You shake your head, focus. Wriothesley can't be the hero, no that's impossible. He was a busy man, doing… side jobs and whatnot.

Sure he was kind, always helping everyone, even walking the neighbors dog because they got sick one day.

But then again… you never saw Wriothesley and the hero at the same time,

Or was it merely a coincidence, a random alignment of physical features?

“Sunshine?” You gasp when you snap your head up to find Wriothesley leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed.

“y-yes?” You set the camera aside on top of the drawer. He moves closer, seating himself on the edge of the bed, his eyes fixated on you then glancing at he camera.

“dinner's ready.”

You nod, silence fills the room after. You know he's waiting for you tell him more, on why you were so shocked.

“was looking at the hero's pictures.”

“not mine? I'm wounded.”

You roll your eyes, a slow smile creeping up your face, and he loves it. He takes it as an invitation to lean closer, suddenly pinning you down on the bed to capture your lips with his.

It's slow, and gentle. It makes you hum softly, taking his face in your hands to kiss him back, moving your lips together until you were gasping for air.

You forget you were even suspicious of him a second ago.

Your fingers lightly trace his jawline and you feel the pricks of his growing facial hair. A small smile plays on your lips as you inform him in a soft tone, "You need to shave." Wriothesley chuckles softly, the sound warm and low. He reaches up to your hand, gently taking hold of it and bringing it to his lips, pressing a kiss on your palm. "Is that why you stopped kissing me?" He says, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "No! I find you more.. attractive. Plus it.. yeah, it feels like little needles on my face.” you admit quietly.

Wriothesley presses his face into your neck, his lips tracing soft kisses along your skin. His hands begin roving your body, each touch sending a gentle shiver across your flesh. He whispers quietly next to your ear, his voice low and smooth as he responds, "I'll shave after dinner." The sensations of his lips against your neck and his hands exploring your body mix together, creating a heady combination that heightens your senses and ignites a slow fire within you.

“I'll.. help.” You whisper, bringing both of your arms to wrap them around his back. “What a sweetheart.” he uttered out, voice muffled from trying to mold into your skin.

Your mind stops working for a second when he presses his knee gently between your legs to pull them apart, “Wriothesley, what about dinner?” You frantically ask him, tugging his hair up so both of your gazes could meet. And the almost drunken expression he has on makes you let out a shaky breath.

“later,” he drawls, his fingers tracing lazily along your sides.

Hero? Pftt, what hero? This is just your wriothesley, it's quite impossible for him to be the hero.

You snap out of your daydream when your colleague hands you a cup of coffee, he raises an eyebrow at you and you smile back awkwardly.

A sip of the coffee to get a bit of energy, but only just a bit, since too much caffeine makes you nervous.

“You filmed the crazy battle yesterday?” Your colleague sneaks from behind you, watching the video replay again on your camera.

“they do movies about them now, insane huh?”

“well atleast the hero knows he's popular.” You reply bluntly, taking anothsr sip from your hot beverage.

“flash news, someone heard that his name starts with the letter ‘W’ or som—”

You spit out your coffee all over your white attire. You both exchange surprised looks, but you quickly wipe your mouth using the back of your hand.

“where exactly did you hear that?” You get straight to the point, gesturing them to sit next to you.

“from my father's friend’s cousin sister.”

His reply makes your eyes twitch, from who and who?

“Okay…” you whisper, turning around and thinking of the utter nonsense they spouted.

“you don't believe me.” he sighed, “I've been telling this to everyone in the building but no one is believing me! Just tryna’ do my job here.”

Let's say maybe you believe him. But the dots are connecting too fast that you want to refuse from believing it.

Was your target closer to you than you had expected?

“I'm clocking out, can you cover for me today?” You inform your colleague, and he crosses his arms while eyeing you up and down.

Your roll your eyes, “I'll be the cameraman for next week. So you could get three days off.” You force a smile and they smile back enthusiastically.

Wriothesley is definitely home. Earlier than the usual time he'd be back.

Oh, he's asleep on the couch. Leaning back tiredly with an almost stern expression on, but his body seems relaxed.

Now is the time to do anything. Investigate? Go through his things without his permission? That sounded all awful… surely he's not hiding any—

“go search his things.” You furrow your eyebrows when the devil on your left shoulder speaks, it makes you rub your face in annoyance.

Then a sudden white little angel poofs on your right shoulder with a disappointed face, “no, don't do it. He's a little scary when he gets mad. But he'd never betray you!” you feel reassured at it's words and you nod in agreement.

“don't listen to it. He could hurt you if you keep it a secret.” The red devil whispers again and it makes you shiver a bit.

“he would never hurt you.” The angel frowns.

“yes he would, he's a man.”

“a good man.”

“yeah? You're no better than me, you just want that—”

“okay shut up both of you. Shoo.” You brush both of your shoulders off before taking a deep breath to brace yourself.

You'll just search his.. clothes.

You feel guilty once you pocket his jackets and pants in his side of the wardrobe, checking every hidden pocket thoroughly while glancing at the door once in a while to make sure he doesn't wake up.

As your fingers brush against his jacket, you notice an unusual sensation – a cool, metal feeling hidden underneath the fabric. Your eyes widen in surprise as you recognize it to be the form of a gun's handle. A mixture of curiosity and concern floods through you, freezing you in place.

It really is a gun. You study it carefully, turning it around and feeling it's heaviness in your palm.

But you feel your heart run out of your ribcage when two pairs of arms wrap tightly around you, his chin resting on your shoulder.

Shit.

“hi,” he whispers next to your ear, but you're too nervous to even look back at him.

“nice thing you got there.” He muses, and you feel like you're losing oxygen once he tightens his grip around you even more.

“… i just found it.” You mutter, mostly to yourself. Your head hanging too low to avoid his eyes.

“Could've just asked me, no?” He clicks his tongue, almost in disappointment.

“i have it on me because—”

“because you use it for the good, right? Because you're the hero?” Your voice is shaky when you ask, the gun in your hand shaking with you, and you're afraid to drop it.

“hero?” Wriothesley repeats, shaking you gently awake and you gasp harshly, taking in big breaths, your boyfriend immediately trying to soothe you.

it was a dream.

“you were mumbling something about a hero in your sleep. Are you okay?” He asks in concern, brushing a strand off your face. You were sweating too much for your liking.

“when did i get here?” You look around, taking your palms to rub the sleepiness off. “Right when you got off work. You slept on the bed without changing your clothes.”

Oh… so you never checked his clothes. Deciding to just sleep instead.

Your head turns back to the wardrobe, staring at it intently. Could the jacket be in the same arrangement as you found it in your dream? Or will the gun also be there?

“you're going to poke a hole through it if you keep staring.” He stifles a laugh, and you couldn't help but try to smile as well. “Drink up. Slow sips.” He offers you a glass of water, and you hold the glass firmly in your hand.

“so… what was your dream about? Even this hero appears in your dreams? Can't say I'm not jealous.”

“You'll have grey hairs too early from overthinking.” You tease, sitting upright in bed, “oh no, you already do, old man.” you frown, tracing the grey strands along with his black hair. He watches in amusement.

Wriothesley lets out a deep sigh, “give your old man a break. They're a badge of wisdom and experience,” he rests his head on your lap, nuzzling close as you massage his scalp.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

“Breaking news: the ‘’lola” flower shop sets on fire just three hours ago. Our dear hero saves the day yet again, protecting the old lady just in time before her shop explodes. The cause of the fire is still unknown…”

Destruction out of nowhere again. Accidents out of nowhere again.

The voice of the newscaster on the television fades away in this little diner you're in. You drive your attention away from it, instead focusing now on the Polaroid pictures laid out infront of you.

The hero always wore a mask to cover his identity, obviously. But even after watching the countless of interviews he had, the deep tone slightly matches Wriothesley’s voice, or maybe he's changing his tone on purpose. You can see it by zooming in on the video, how he's catching his breath everytime he speaks when he's just sitting down.

Asthma? Nah.

You tap your fingers impatiently on the table, this is not helping at all, and the slightest itch in your brain worsens as the time goes by.

You think about giving up on this, but the possibility of finding the answer on how or why did all of this happen is probably closer to you than you think.

“Bad guys never end with their schemes. Bunch of attention seekers.” The hero speaks on the television, and you hum curiously as the hero salutes the camera playfully before disappearing from the crowd.

Is it possible that there are multiple heros? Working all together in some basement and taking turns to go out and do a better job than the police?

Possibly, and you write down your new theories down on your little notepad.

You check your phone next, Wriothesley still hasn't answered you back from your most recent text to him.

It's nothing to worry about, but the thought that he's busy saving the city is gnawing at you.

Batman?

You shake your head again, gathering your things to stand up from your seat. You should be blunt asking him about it tonight.

It's cold. Colder than usual. Was the air conditioning on? No. But the windows are sure wide open. You look around the living room before closing the windows and curtains from the outside world, as you draw the curtains, the outside world becomes obscured, leaving the room in a soft semi-darkness.

“Wriothesley, honey?” You call out softly, peeking through the bathroom, not there. The bedroom? Nope.

That leaves the kitchen, you slowly peek your head in he kitchen, and sure enough, he was there.

Wriothesley was rubbing his face in exhaustion while mumbling words under his breath that you can't quite hear. Having one singular glass of some drink in his hand.

“hero this.. hero that..” you finally listen to his mumbles, which makes you furrow your eyebrows together.

"Wrio...?" You call out softly, flipping the switch to turn on the light. His sharp eyes immediately dart up to look at you, and you can't help but shiver under his intense stare. You let out a small gasp of surprise as he suddenly stands up, the glass in his hand slipping from his grip and shattering on the ground along with its contents.

Taken aback by his sudden movement, you instinctively take a step back as he approaches you. But before you can even register what's happening, he crashes his lips against yours in a hasty, rushed kiss. Caught off guard, you cling tightly to him, desperately seeking support to prevent yourself from toppling over.

“You love me,” Wriothesley's voice breaks through the heated kiss, his words coming out in a low, guttural groan. He grips the back of your thighs, hoisting you up against the wall and wrapping your legs around his waist. “right?” His voice holds a hint of vulnerability and desperation, as if seeking reassurance and affirmation of your feelings for him.

And when you don't answer him right away, he takes your lower lip between his teeth, nipping at it gently, “answer me.” He almost growls.

“love, what are you taking about? Are you drunk?” You ask breathlessly in concern, your lips feeling swollen.

His jaw clenches, “Why can't you say it?” he inhales your perfume, your scent filling him that it makes him groan, his mouth lavishing your neck and collarbone, leaving kisses and littering marks then soothing the area with his tongue that it makes your pant softly, pressing your face into his hair while your fingers weaving through his black-greyish strands.

“i love you,” you utter quietly, and it suddenly makes him start grinding his hardened length against you. “I'm sorry in advance, sweetheart.”

One minute you're confused about his words, and then the next he's pounding so hard into you like there was no tomorrow.

Strings of “don't leave me,” and “i love you’s,” are echoed in the air. Wriothesley's mouth moves against yours with a sense of urgency and haste, his tongue gliding and tangling with yours in a fervent dance. The bed creaks so loud underneath you that you think it might break anytime, the embarrassment of the headboard banging against the wall immediately gone once he hits your sweet spot rapidly.

Poor neighbors

"Wrio... Wriothesley?” you slowly flutter your eyes open, still in the hazy realm between sleep and wakefulness. The sunlight streams through the curtains, casting a soft glow across the room, and you blink a few times as you take in your surroundings. A quiet sense of contentment washes over you as you remember the events of the night before, the memories of Wriothesley's body against yours and his lips on yours still fresh in your mind.

You prop yourself up using your elbows, only to look down at the sight of your sleeping lover with his head pressed up on your chest. You collapse back on the bed with a tired sigh.

You still couldn't understand the reasoning behind his.. desperate actions last night. He seemed so pent up and stressed, you'll forgive him this time.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• It's the day where you're covering for your colleague, being the cameraman for tonight's news. Yes, tonight.

Wriothesley would kill you if he knew you were working so late at night, but only because he cares about your safety. Good thing he's out of the city for a day.

Or he claims to be out of the city for some important work.

You press the button on your video camera, adjusting the lens to focus on the newscaster standing in front of the camera, holding the microphone with a serious expression. The news van is parked in front of a desolate, run-down neighborhood known for its high crime rate and dangerous reputation. The newscaster speaks into the camera, her eyes boring into the lens as she reports on the neighborhood.

“We are now standing in the heart of one of the most dangerous areas in the city. This neighborhood is notorious for its high crime rate and volatile atmosphere.”

Your senses are heightened at this rate and you really try to focus but the moment you hear the faint crunch of leaves, you lose composure just a bit.

Okay you're a bit scared, but as long as your workmates are he—

a group of armed gang members suddenly appear from the alleyways between the buildings, surrounding the news van and the camera crew. The newscaster, taken off guard, gasps and steps back.

The gang members brandish their weapons, circling the news crew menacingly. One of them shouts at the newscaster, waving his gun in the air. “Hold it right there, pretty lady. This is our turf! You ain’t gonna be broadcasting nothing about us!”

You're about to shit your pants for real this time.

“Drop your cameras and get outta here, or things are gonna get real ugly real fast,” he growls, and one of them points the gun right on your camera.

“I'm talkin’ to you too.”

Yeah, you're not going to fight anyone and act all big. You simply drop the camera on the ground to raise your hands in the air.

As the gang members close in on the news crew, the atmosphere is suddenly shattered by the sound of footsteps pounding against the pavement. Everyone turns to see a tall, muscular figure approaching from the distance.

It's the hero.

You watch in awe as the hero strides towards the group of armed gang members, his movements fluid and precise. With a swift swing of his fist, he lands a powerful punch on the leader's face, sending him stumbling backwards. The other gang members are taken aback by his sudden appearance and the display of force, their eyes widening in surprise and fear. They exchange nervous looks, realizing they're facing a much stronger opponent than they anticipated.

“Hey, let's go!” Your workmate calls for your name. Her hand waving at you so you could all retreat back to the van.

And before you could follow, the van explodes.

The sudden explosion catches you off guard, jolting you out of your stupor. Shouting in surprise, you recoil from the loud blast, ducking instinctively as debris and fragments fly through the air. Your colleague, sitting next to you in the van, lets out a terrified yell as the force of the explosion propels the driver backward. The van shudders and lurches from the impact, the windows shattering and various objects sent flying.

“in the building! Let's go!” All three of you dash to protect yourselves inside this tall company building.

“I will call the police,”

“but the hero is here!” the driver of the van speaks, almost yelling in frustration.

“the hero is also a human. Just a strong one. We can't rely on him—” but before you could continue, you all cover your ears once you hear gunshots come from outside.

Ohmygosh. It’s—it could possibly be Wriothesley who's getting hurt right now. What are even the chances?!

“Fine! Just call the fucking police!” The driver gives up, leaning back against the wall while breathing heavily.

You want to go out there. You want to see. It's your chance to see who the hero is if he got hurt. Just to get the crumbs of news in exchange for your life apparently.

When it grows quiet, you peek outside, “it's clear, I'll take a look—”

“No, you're not.” her hand is firm as she grips your wrist, “just let them go.” He, on the other hand, scowls.

“Be safe!” She shouts at you as you make a run for it, running down the alleyway while looking left and right.

Someone's in the area.

You dart behind the nearby dumpster, heart pounding in your chest as adrenaline courses through your veins. Hiding as best you can, you press yourself against the rough metal, trying to keep your breathing steady and quiet. Peeking out from behind the dumpster, you cautiously scan the surroundings, trying to catch a glimpse of someone nearby. For now, the area seems to be clear, but you can't shake the feeling that someone is in the vicinity, lurking in the shadows.

“Where ya at, lil’ birdie?” You cover your mouth when you hear someone speak, it sends a chill down your spine and you can feel your heart drumming in your ears.

Your sharp eyes turn to your side to find a metal rod, you don't hesitate to grab it before smacking the shit out of the guy.

No that did not happen, but you wish it did.

Instead, the minute you see his feet pass the dumpster, with a swift movement, you grab hold of both of his ankles, using your weight and leverage to pull them out from under him. He lets out a pained shriek as he suddenly loses his balance and topples to the ground, his body hitting the pavement with a thud.

Alright, you can be cool sometimes.

Stepping at his hands to hear him cry again, you run put of the place, making turns and finally spotting the hero sitting down against the building wall while panting, seemingly exhausted.

“…” you take slow steps once you approach him, looking down at him with your eyes already glistening.

This is it, you just have to confirm it.

Your hand pulls at his mask, “Wrio—”

Huh?

This…

Is not

Wriothesley.

“Ah, what the fuck?” He grunts, the blonde grabbing the mask from your hands and you take a step back.

“Elias?!” You yell out in confusion, it's your colleague that you're covering for supposedly today's shoot.

“You're the hero??”

“not a word. Scram, you freak.” he mutters, eyes diverting away from you and staring up at the roof. “The roof,” he whispers to himself, making the effort to stand back at his knees.

Is this bitch serious? He's the last person you expected to be the hero. With his stupidly arrogant and lax attitude.

You give him an almost death stare, studying his features again before making your way out.

You need to check the other people that were with you.

But when you arrive back at the building, they were gone.

Did the police arrive? You don't hear any sirens. Could they have possibly went up on one of the floors to hide?

You find yourself in the elevator next, watching as the doors close with your hands clasped infront of you nervously.

You take deep breaths, trying to calm your racing heart and steady your nerves. Hey, at least there's nice elevator music.

As the elevator comes to a halt, the doors slide open with a soft ding, revealing the rooftop and the figure standing in the open space.

There's a figure standing at the edge of the building, you can see the person's silhouette clearly now, but you can't make out their features just yet.

Your steps are hesitant as you slowly approach the figure, the wind gently billowing around you. The city lights twinkle below, but your attention is entirely focused on the person standing at the edge of the roof. You take a deep breath, steeling yourself for whatever may come, and call out tentatively, "Hello?”

Your voice rings in the air, that the person's shoulders tense.

When they look around, you're met by the same blue eyes you've known for three years now.

“Wriothesley.” You whisper, in shock, breathlessly under your breath.

He's holding.. a gun? The same gun you remember seeing in your dream.

Something in his mind snaps when you turn around, in fear. Like it was a mistake to ever see him in the first place.

Wriothesley doesn’t even give himself time to think before his body suddenly reacts, suddenly reaching out and circling his hand around your wrist to forcibly tug you back.

He yanks hard enough that you lose your balance and fall against him, his other arm coming up to wrap around your shoulders, preventing you from going anywhere.

“W-wrio—”

“think it's time we talk, sunshine.” He speak into your ear.

When you try to move the slightest from his hold, he grips you around him tighter. You figure it's best to stay still for now.

“what? Are you going to kidnap me now?” You manage to chuckle out, nervously though, your voice coming out more shaky than you intended to.

“Is that going to satisfy your little fantasy? What, I should play into it and shove you into a corner, keep you under my thumb until you’re begging me to set you free? Or no… you want to be saved by the hero.”

"You know you're not helping with your case, right? You really sound like the bad guy now.”

You’ve definitely found his breaking point because that comment makes him snap.

Wriothesley suddenly whirls you around so you’re facing him before he’s pinning you against the nearest wall, his body practically covering your own.

“Well…” He whisper, raising an eyebrow calmly in the way you look being at his mercy. “Aren’t I?”

Your jaw practically hangs at his words. Is he... Playing the bad guy now?

Or was he really… not the opposite of the hero?

He sees the shiver you try so hard to suppress and smirks at that, clearly satisfied with your reaction, “What’s wrong, sunshine? Finally realize that the man you’ve been dating isn’t the hero you've obsessing over?” He chuckles.

“i… i knew it—”

“You didn’t,” he says, his tone suddenly becoming cool and firm.

Wriothesley leans forward, pressing into you so that you’re smashed between him and the wall. His hand suddenly comes up, cupping your jaw so that he tilts your chin up to look directly into his eyes.

“If you’d known, you’d never have come within twenty feet of me. You’d never have been alone with me or spent a single night in our bed.”

He's right. And you hate it. You feel betrayed, lied to, even.

It makes you rethink your life choices.

You've gotten too comfortable with him that you didn't even think about him being the villian. You've gotten too close while you were being a complete idiot.

“you hid it.”

Wriothesley laughs, the sound almost sounding cold, “of course I hid it, sunshine. I wasn’t going to just come strutting in wearing a big, red sign saying ‘look at me, I’m a bad guy!’ was I?”

You clench your fists together, “you tricked me.”

“Tricked? No.” He shakes his head slightly. “I simply… left out key details.”

“Why?”

“ah, there it is.” He steps back, giving you space to breath, to recollect your thoughts.

“why? Because the hero isn't a hero. He started all of this destruction. Why? To get fame, recognition, power, and to be seen, to look like he's doing something when he's not.” He lets out all in one breath, and you lips part again.

“four years ago when the building almost fell on you? He did that, on purpose. then saved you to make it look like he's the one that everyone needs.”

What the hell?

“Wriothesley, we were strangers to each other four years ago. How did you know?” You don't hesitate to step closer to get more answers out of him, but he only stares at you.

You swallow thickly when he draws infront of you once again, “i did this all for you, love. I-i will do everything in my power to stop him, i will kill him so you wouldn't get hurt—”

“Okay, fucker. Out of my way,” Elias, the ’hero’, suddenly barks, and without warning, a gunshot rings out. The bullet pierces through Wriothesley's shoulder, causing him to flinch and stagger backwards.

Your eyes widen in horror as you watch the scene unfold. "Wriothesley!" you cry out, watching as he turns around despite the injury and charges towards Elias.

Despite the pain he must be in, Wriothesley doesn't relent. Ignoring the gunshot wound, he barrels towards Elias with unmatched determination, closing the distance between them.

"Bastard," Wriothesley manages to grit out as he collides with Elias, knocking him off his feet and sending them both crashing to the ground.

You don't hesitate to rush forward, with adrenaline fueling your actions, you move quickly towards them as they roll dangerously close to the edge of the roof.

"Stop!" you shout, your voice filled with desperation. "You'll fall!”

And surely enough, Your two hand clamps down on Wriothesley's, desperately grasping onto anything you can to prevent him from plunging off the edge.

Meanwhile, Elias grips Wriothesley's leg, using his strength to anchor him in place. The three of you hang there, suspended over the city, Wriothesley's body along with Elias’s dangling in the air.

“Sweetheart—”

“shut the fuck up I'm not letting go.” They're both too heavy, the feel of his fingers slipping away from yours increases everytime you try to pull them up.

Elias is purposely pulling Wriothesley's leg down to drop them both, your lips quiver, crying when two of his fingers slip now.

“hey,” his voice is soothing when he calls for you.

“at least… i protected you till the very end, right?” He tries smiling but it only makes the lump in your throat grow.

“i love you.”

“Wriothesley!”

…

“Wriothesley—!” You gasp harshly when you open your eyes so wide, finding that your hand was already reaching out for nothing.

You rest your hand on your chest before leaning back on your seat.

“are you okay?” The newscaster, the friend you made, offers you her handkerchief so you could swipe the sweat off your face.

“i think… continuesly searching about this, is making you stressed.” She points out, looking at the papers and drawings splayed out on your desk.

More theories of the disappearances of the hero and villian. Not their death. Their bodies were never found.

“it's been a year.”

The realization is like a punch to the gut as you bring a sweaty palm to rub at your temples.

“This is not over.” You whisper, more to yourself than to her. “We got no more trouble. No more heroic or bad guy news. The world is back to normal, almost like they never existed huh?”

Never existed.

She then suddenly gasps, which catches you off gaurd, “are engaged??” She eyes at the gem resting on your left ring finger.

The ring you found in one of his jacket pockets when you sorted his things out.

“yeah…” you decide to drawl out before sitting upright on your seat.

“now, if you'll excuse me, i got work to do.”

You're never going to stop searching, to find another answer of the question; 'why?'

Even if it will mean risking your life this time.

[whereianonymouslypostfics]

Chase

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x reader

Word count: ~2.5k

Summary: A relaxing motorcycle ride

A/N: Enjoy

Warnings: minimal angst, violence, blood, guns

The wind stings your face as Nat drives you through the bustling streets at a nauseating speed. You’ve only been on a motorcycle a couple of times, and this is definitely not one of the more enjoyable times. Neither you nor Nat had been given the opportunity to put on helmets before you were peeling away from the curb to get away from the literal mob of people that had surrounded you. 

You two had been running an errand, when you’d realized that someone was following you. This one person became four, and by the time Nat got you back to her bike, it was 7 people with barely concealed weapons and similar looks of distain. You’d been unarmed, you still were, but Nat only had two guns to their 5, so she’d done the smart thing and retreated. She’d of course taken a shot at some of them, and they scattered before running to their cars as Nat revved the engine and got you out of there almost before you’d had a chance to jump on the back of the bike behind her. 

Now you were racing down the street trying to lose the three cars that were gaining on you. Given that it was the weekend and barely 6 there were a lot of people around you, and a lot of traffic in your way. You’re not sure what you can do to help, and continuing to turn and see how far away your pursuers are is only stressing you out.

The fact that you’re so close to the cars beside you as Nat weaves in and out of traffic is making your blood pressure dangerously high. You’re so close to them that you feel your legs brush against the occasional tire or door. You’re too distracted to even attempt to shoot apologetic looks at the drivers that are laying on their horns all around you. You just hope that they don’t become collateral damage.

“What can I do to help?” 

Nat doesn’t have a free hand to gesture to the holster at her hip, but she turns just long enough for you to hear her voice over the constant roar around you. A semi just blew by you and you feel like your heart is in your throat. 

“My gun, and call Yelena!” 

You aren’t sure which of these you should do first, and given that you need one hand around Nat to keep from falling, you figure that you’ll grab the gun first. You feel your heart beating wildly as you shift your arms and grab her gun, reminding yourself that the safety’s already off, before setting it in your lap. You reach into your jacket pocket for your phone and dial Yelena as quickly as your nerves will let you. 

Wanda frowns as she taps the side of her empty coffee mug with a thoughtful look. She isn’t sure she likes the solution that Yelena’s come up with, but she honestly can’t think of anything better. She doesn’t want to say this; however, since she knows how smug her friend will be. Instead, she glances at her watch to see that it’s getting late. She wonders when you and Nat will be finished and meet them here. 

Wanda opens her mouth to tell Yelena that she’ll consider her proposal, but she’s cut off by the sound of an obnoxious motorcycle driver going far faster than necessary. Yelena looks over Wanda’s shoulder as the redhead grimaces, and she watches in confusion as three cars race by just moments later. 

Neither of them gets to comment on this before Yelena’s phone begins to ring and they both glance down to see who it is. 

 “Y/n?” 

You can barely hear your friend’s voice but you don’t waste any time as Nat takes a sharp turn and you nearly go flying. You curse under your breath as you nearly drop the phone when you slam into the passenger window of a car on your left. You glance over your shoulder despite your commonsense and squint directly in to the headlights of the closest SUV. 

“Lena, we ran into some trouble! We need a little—shit! Backup!” 

You curse loudly when a bullet hits the pavement close enough for you to practically feel it. You keep the call going, but drop the phone in your lap before grabbing Nat’s gun and aiming behind you. Your aim is okay on a normal day under controlled circumstances, but today while swerving on the back of a motorcycle, you don’t trust yourself. You aim for the tires and scowl when the bullets just bounce off. You groan under your breath before turning back around to shout in Nat’s ear. 

“Do you have any ideas?!” 

You take a quick survey of the surrounding area and feel your stomach drop. It’s rush hour and the streets are predictably congested. You wonder how you’re going to get out of this when you’re apparently already within shooting range of your pursuers. You’ve already pissed off a lot of drivers, but you have a feeling it’s only going to get worse if you actually figure out a way to get out of this. 

Yelena and Wanda have already left their table and they’re running for Wanda’s car. She throws the keys to Yelena since she’s a better offensive driver, and Wanda holds her phone as she listens to the sound of Nat’s engine and you shouting curses. 

“Which way are you headed, Y/n?” 

Yelena’s already taken off in the direction you two went when Nat tells everyone her plan. She needs to get out of the crowded streets and try to ditch them which sounds great in theory, but not so easy in practice given that there’s 4 lanes of traffic between you and the nearest side road. 

Wanda’s cursing the fact that she told Steve and Bucky to stay back at the compound which makes them at least 30 minutes away. They’ll have to handle this themselves. 

“North on Broadway! Just follow the jerks that are shooting at us!” 

You grab an extra magazine from Nat before stuffing it in your jacket pocket with a sigh. You turn just enough to spot your target and you try to shoot out their windshield. Unsurprisingly, it is also bulletproof and you release a string of curses before contemplating your options. You’re glad that your friend is a good driver and that her swerving in and out of traffic keeps you from getting shot, but she’s right. This is not the easiest place to lose the three SUVs on your tail without causing collateral damage.

Not to mention, you’d love for Wanda and Yelena to catch up to you as well. You wrack your brain for options as one of the SUVs roars up behind you almost close enough to hit you. You open your mouth to curse again and look up to find yourself staring down the barrel of several guns. 

“Nat!” 

Wanda hears you shout before a volley of gunfire drowns out the roar of Nat gunning it down the road toward their most likely escape. She holds her breath as she accelerates toward the nearest lane of traffic forcing a car to swerve and a truck to get rear ended. You hiss and hold onto her like your life depends on it as the bike tilts dangerously when Nat makes a sharp turn to avoid a large pick up. It’s tall enough for you to only see the front license plate inches from your face as Nat navigates the nightmare around you. 

She hears you groan under your breath when she’s finally got you past the worst of the traffic. When she cuts the corner and heads toward a less populated area, you hand her gun to her with a trembling hand. She can’t help but notice the blood on your fingers and she curses herself as she hears your shaky breath. She doesn’t get to ask before you’re speaking up in a surprisingly steady voice, but she realizes quickly that this is mostly for Wanda’s benefit. 

“We’re almost to the bridge. Nat’s put a little distance between them and us. Hopefully that will give you time to catch up to them and blow them up or something.” 

You’re partly kidding because you’re sure your wife will want to question at least one of them. You mostly said it because your arm is burning from where one of their bullets grazed you. You’re sure you should be grateful that they’re terrible shots, but you’ll focus on that later once you figure out how to staunch your bleeding while on the back of a motorcycle that’s now going close to 90mph.

“Will you be alright until we lose them?” 

Nat’s running a redlight and only seconds away from the bridge, but the cars on it are at a standstill. She’s going to head for the sidewalk and drive across it as fast and safely as possible so she can find somewhere to stop and regain her bearings. She also has to make sure you’re not going to pass out on her.

When she feels you squeeze her shoulder, she realizes that you’re doing your best not to admit you’re hurt. She can imagine why, but she just feels her already tense muscles protest at the additional burden of her increased anxiety. 

“I’ll feel much more relaxed once we’re off this bike. No offense!” 

When Yelena turns toward the bridge, she just barely sees Nat’s red hair disappear as she skips the road all together and goes to one of the walkways on the right side of the bridge. She spots the three vehicles that had been chasing you, and a pair has already abandoned their car to try their luck at shooting you. Wanda doesn’t have to tell Yelena to get her closer, and she takes survey of the weapons that Yelena had instructed her to grab from the trunk. 

She hadn’t realized that the blonde had stashed these in her car, but now wasn’t the time to look a gift horse in the mouth. It had taken some fenagling and a few long moments without her seatbelt, but she’d gathered a shocking number of weapons that would luckily be useful for what Wanda intended to do next. 

The gunfire doesn’t stop as you and Nat ditch the road altogether, and you just hold on tight as you try to make yourself as small as possible. Luckily you’re not hit again and no one else appears to be when you chance a look back. You breathe a sigh of relief when you see the pair that had been shooting at you retreat. You don’t entirely understand why until you hear a deafening boom that almost makes you cover your ears. You’d guess that was divine intervention in the form of your backup, but Nat confirms this when she speaks up with audible relief. 

“Looks like Lena finally used that rocket launcher I got her!” 

It takes you a couple of seconds to process this, and you’re incredulous when Nat finally drives off the bridge and finds somewhere secluded for her to stop. 

“Her what??” 

Nat just shakes her head as she parks haphazardly behind a building that looks like it’s caving in. At least it offers a modicum of privacy and you can’t even hear the road from here which is nice. The surrounding relative silence is calming and you take a deep breath before brainstorming how you’ll get off this bike without getting blood everywhere. 

Nat beats you to it, and jumps off the bike before turning to help you up. She quickly finds the source of the blood she’d noticed earlier and she holds back her immediately reaction in favor of getting you taken care of. She doesn’t have much on her because her bike can’t hold much, but as she helps you to your feet and watches you take off your jacket, she realizes it’s not too serious. She breathes a sigh of relief before moving closer so she can confirm her suspicions. It’s a graze and unfortunately those like to bleed, but luckily its not severe.

She says this and can’t help but laugh when you smile in response. 

“That’s great news. I’m sure that will make Wanda less vengeful.” 

Wanda watches with a sick sense of satisfaction as Yelena shoves the unconscious man into the (now empty) trunk of her car. She’s waiting for you to come back with Nat and she tries not to think about how it’s been almost 10 minutes since they intercepted the trio chasing you. They’ve relocated at this point since they couldn’t stick around the bridge that now had a couple of cars on fire. They’d taken a hostage and decided to head back to the compound, but they were waiting for you and Nat first. 

Wanda wanted to make sure that you’re okay after your impromptu car chase. She remembers her first one and she was so stressed afterwards she’d crashed as soon as she’d gotten home. She’d slept nearly 16 hours straight, and it wasn’t even that big of a deal. She wanted to be there for you in case you had a similar experience. 

She’s beginning to doubt this is the case when she sees you smiling behind Nat as the redhead comes to a stop beside them. Wanda’s smile drops as soon as she sees the makeshift bandage around your upper arm that’s already spotting with blood. 

“Y/n, what happened? Did you get shot?!”

You are already grimacing as you jump off the motorcycle as gracefully as possible. You reach out for Wanda with a smile that does nothing to dim her worry, and you only sigh before you reach out for a one-armed hug. 

“It’s a graze, but yeah. One of those fuckers got me. You got them right?” 

Wanda’s still trying to catch up and process the fact that you were shot, but she manages to nod in response. She grabs your arm and fusses over you for a bit before she gestures to the car behind her. She tells you her plan to take him back to the compound for questioning. 

You only smile in response before you turn to face Nat who’s still waiting for the ball to drop. You offer her a smirk before practically leaning into your wife who still hasn’t let go of your injured arm. 

“Sounds great, can I ride with you? I think if I have to get back on that bike I might vomit. No offense, Nat.” 

Wanda rolls her eyes before she sighs in defeat. After staring at your arm for a solid 30 seconds she decides that it is can be dealt with once they get back. She grabs your hand before nodding and leading you to the passenger side. 

“Yes, detka. You can ride shotgun, but we’re heading to medical as soon as we get him sorted.” 

You know there’s no point in arguing despite the fact that you barely notice the burning in your arm right now. You still feel a bit high on adrenaline, so you’re blaming your minimal pain on that. Once you come down, you’re sure you’ll regret skipping getting checked out. For this reason, you just smile before shooting Yelena a look when she pouts about having to sit in the back. 

“Okay, Wands. Let’s get out of here.” 

Masterlist

[xetlynn]

Twilight- Youngest Shadow: Chapter Five, Sick Days

(Alice X Reader X Jasper)

[four] [five] [six]

Since it’s getting warmer students around me are wearing shorter clothing even though it’s barely sixty degrees.

And collectively we all sit outside for lunch today, but of course it’s the one day I got sick. Plus on our big game day and due to my fever that keeps growing I’m going to have to leave school early and miss out on maybe being in the newspaper.

“He’s not here.” Jessica says, startling me as everything makes me jumpy from how shitty I feel. “Whenever the weather is nice the Cullens disappear.”

“They just ditch?” Bella asks, not understanding.

“No, Dr, and Mrs Cullen yank em out for hiking and camping and stuff. I tried the idea out on my parents, no even close.” Jessica sighs. Bella takes it all in and I cough earning a look from Jessica who was sitting on the ground. I just put my head down.

“I’m going to the prom with Eric! I just asked him, I took control!” Angela jumps on the table in between Bella and I, hugging my sister as I lift my head back up to smile. “That’s amazing,” my voice is hoarse and I cough as it strains my throat.

“Oh, [Name] are you okay?”

“She’s running a fever and her throat is bothering her.” Bella explains for me that and I’m internally grateful for it. “I’m sorry.” Angela says, rubbing my back then talking to Bella again.

She ends up keeping a hand on my back which feels nice. I repeatedly keep shivering from occasional breezes.

“Are you sure you have to go out of town?” Angela asks Bella, “it’s a family thing, [Name] is staying though.” I put my thumbs up to confirm that.

“Oh my god, we need to hit the stores in Port Angeles before the dresses get cleaned out.” Jessica gasps,

“Port Angeles?” Bella asks, “can I go with you guys?”

My face scrunches even though they can’t see it, Bella? Dress shopping? If only I wasn’t sick I would love to see this.

“Thank god, we need your opinion.” Angela says.

I end up leaving right after lunch, sneaking past school staff to get to my motorcycle I luckily got back from Jacob yesterday. I tried calling my dad but it just rang through, I’m guessing something is going on to where he can’t answer.

I take my helmet out of Bella’s truck bed and roughly tug it on my head. I lazily try to put my leg over the bike, almost falling so I hold on to the truck. Giving myself a minute as I feel dizzy. A horn honks, scaring me to the point where I hear my heart beat thump in my chest.

“[Name]! What are you doing?”

Alice? Wasn’t she supposed to be hiking or some shit? I go to talk but my tongue feels too big for my mouth. I take a deep breath. “I don’t feel good, I’m trying to get home.” I try to say as loud as I can, even then doesn’t feel loud enough.

“Want me to take you home?” She goes to reach over and I shake my head. “I gotta get my bike home somehow.” I take a few steps closer to her car. “I’ll have Jasper bring it over.” She smiles, I tilt my head, squinting as I looked at her.

Get into her car? Or drive home myself?

“Where do I put my keys?” I jingle them too close to my face. “Hide them on Bella’s truck tire, closest to the bike.” She instructs me and I drag my feet back over to my bike, doing as told. I then take my helmet off, putting it on the bike for Jasper.

I climb into her car as if it were a hill. Accidentally slamming the door behind me. “Sorry, thank you.”

My body faces her, I watch as she drives, wearing sunglasses. She glances at me and sadly smiles. “You should’ve stayed home.”

“I know.” I mumble,

After moments pass it felt like milliseconds and we’re already at my house. “Alright, we should get you inside and you need to lay down.” She unbuckles herself, going around the car and opening my door as I am pretty slow with my movements. “My body is aching.” I try to laugh at myself but I just end up in a coughing fit.

She puts a hand on my waist and she walks me to the door, making me feel more fragile than I actually am. “There’s a um house key under the uh mat.” I tell her and she bends down to grab it.

Opening the door I trip inside. We go over to the living room and i plop down, accidentally bringing her with me. I feel how cold she really is and I shiver from the touch. She giggles and stands back up.

“Let me call Jasper and I’ll find you something small to eat and medicine.” She boops my nose, leaving me to be alone as she heads towards the kitchen.

It didn’t take long for her to come back with crackers and a few pills laid next to me on the arm of the couch. “Jasper should be here soon. Do you want to watch something?” Alice sits next to me and I shrug. “I’ll get you sick. You should go enjoy time with your family.” I take a cracker from its wrapping and bite it. She smiles, shaking her head. “It’s quite alright, it’s nothing I haven’t done already. I’ll stay until your dad or sister gets back.” She informs me and if I wasn’t so sick I would be bombarding with questions.

I hear an engine rev outside and I jump unnoticeably from the noise. Alice stands up and I look down at lol the crumbs I have on my shirt.

The front door opens and I see Jasper putting my helmet and keys down. “Here you should take the medicine.” Alice tells me.

“How do I know you’re not drugging me?” I rebuttals and she scoffs with a smirk laid upon her lips. “What would I gain from that?” She teases, handing me a water bottle. “I don’t know, you could rob me.” I hum, looking at her through half lidded eyes.

“Sweetheart, I could’ve already did that by now.”

I shrug, stretching my arms and sitting up. “What’s the medicine?” I simply ask. “Ibuprofen. That’s it. I couldn’t find cold medicine or anything.” She tells me, I nod, expecting that from Charlie.

“Why are you guys helping me?” I look between the both of them.

“We want to help a friend.” Alice grins, i squint my eyes at her response.

“Seriously, we will leave if that’s what you wish.” Jasper finally speaks up. My eyes follow to him. “What if that is what I wish?” I say in a snarky tone.

“Then we will listen. We don’t want to over stay our welcome.” He winks and I’m caught off guard.

“I just want to sleep. I have too many questions that I don’t feel like will be answered.” I go to stand up and they try to help but I smack their hands away. “I got it. I barely know you two I don’t get this.” I aggressively motion between the three of us.

“What do you mean, [Name]?” Alice asks, both of them wear a worried expression. “Why can’t you guys go to the Quiluete beach? Or or.. why when it’s sunny your parents just decide to take you out of school?” My throat starts hurting worse from before, the strain from me yelling doesn’t help. I almost go into another coughing fit but luckily the feeling goes away but I am definitely feeling a shortness of breath.

“[Name], you should take a nap and when you wake up, if you feel better we will answer everything you want to know.” Alice assures me.

I huff, wanting to scream from how confused I feel.

“I want you both to… to leave!” I get extremely dizzy just like before, my knees giving out, Jasper immediately helps me. Grabbing onto my arms as I hold onto his. “You need to go to sleep.” He whispers, “your skin, it’s so cold.” I tell him, he presses his lips together, glancing at Alice.

He sets me back down on the couch and I lay down. “I don’t want to wake up to you guys here.” I mutter, loud enough for them to hear though.

My eyes open to darkness, and blankets over me. I feel around and I’m in my bed. I hear whispers next to me, weight on my bed beside me. It feels like my fever has also just disappeared.

“You’re up.” A voice says softly. I jerk up in response. “Why are you two still here!?” I sternly question them, getting up to my knees on the bed, backing away from both of them.

“You’re still upset?” Alice frowns and I tilt my head. “Duh, I’m still upset! I told you both two leave, you said if I told you to leave you would. Um so seems like the problem can easily be solved.” I remind them.

“We did leave, we came back when we realized nobody would make sure you were going to be okay for a while, darling.” Jasper tells me and I sit there for a moment. I shake my head. “Don’t give me a lame ass excuse. Just explain everything I want to know then leave.” I straight up tell them, tired of this game I feel like I’m in.

“I feel like you know everything already.” Alice points out. I take a deep breath.

“Why won’t you just say it?”

“To protect you.” Jasper steps closer and this time I don’t flinch away. “Maybe I don’t need nor want your protection.” I cross my arms.

“Why me? None of this makes sense.” I tiredly laugh, I feel like I’m going insane.

“You’re our person, [Name]. You’re like a metal and we’re your personal magnets. A missing piece you never knew you needed. You’re just stubborn.” Jasper sits down on the bed, pulling Alice with him. Both take my hands and for some reason they aren’t cold anymore…

And then I really wake up from what felt like a nightmare. “[Name]! You home!?” Bella calls and I look around, confused about what I just experienced. Pinching myself underneath my blanket. It’s real. And with this being real. They really did bring me to my bedroom.

“What’s going on?” I mumble, rubbing my eyes. “Dad wanted me to check in on you. I don’t know if you heard.” She comes up to my bed, sitting down next to me. “What happened?”

“One of his buddy’s, Waylon passed away. Attacked by an animal.” She tells me and my eyes widen. Not expecting that of all things.

She hands me a pepper spray. “Dad also wanted me to give you that.”

I furrow my eyebrows in response and she chuckles dryly. “He gave me one too, twins.” She shows me hers and I smile.

“Is he okay?”

“He’s okay as anyone could be in his position.” She shrugs and I nod, that makes sense. “Did you happen to pass by Alice or Jasper at all… today?”

Her body tensed from the question.

“Not.. Alice or Jasper. Why?” She adjusts herself better to face me.

“They took me home earlier, gave me medicine.” I explain and Bella shoots me a weird look.

“They were here?” I nod

“How was dress shopping?” I change the subject not wanting to think about the dream I had.

“Eh, I bumped into Edward.” And I smirk.

“Stop it.” She rolls her eyes.

Then it was silence between us. And as she goes to stand up I grab her wrist. “Wait, i um have a question.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you feel something.. off about the Cullens?” I bite the inside of my mouth, waiting for her answer.

“You feel it too?” She whispers,

“You heard about the Quiluete story?” I question.

“Jacob told me the other day.” She nods.

“Okay, I’m not the only one then.” I sigh, taking her hand. “I had a weird dream. I just I need to find out what all of this means.” I exclaim.

“That’s how I feel. I bought a um book. From the library down in Port Angeles.” She reaches down and I didn’t even know but she placed a book bag down there before getting on my bed.

She comes back up with a heavy old looking book.

“Sleepover?”

“I’m still sick, Bells.”

“I don’t care, scoot.” I do as told and we lean against the wall, I grab my laptop bed we use that light as a resource to look through the book.

Pages of masked creatures, menacing looking.

We then turn to the another page, this time it was a white mask with black eyes and a row of sharp teeth. “The cold one.” It read.

I quickly sign in to my laptop, searching that up, immediately getting beer pop ups on my screen. I irritatedly close them. “Look.” Bella points on the screen, it was a link to “The Cold One: Apotamkin.” I click on it.

Pictures begin to load of a seductive Apotamkin with his ice blue skin, devouring victims in tapestries, engravings. The creatures that are horrific portrayed to be beautiful.

Demons attacking villages; perfectly sculpted predators luring innocent women.

“All of this is gruesome murder and sexual innuendos.” I whisper.

Words at the bottom say:

Speed, strength, cold skinned, immortal… blood drinker…

I close my eyes for a brief second. Thinking about how Edward moved fast when Bella was in the accident, how he stopped a whole van. I never really questioned it before but now… I don’t know. How Alice knew where my house was… I never told her. How they all look young and are cold to the touch.

Another picture shows and it’s a man biting a white neck.

“It’s not possible.” Bella shared a look a with me, both of us struggling to make sense of it all.

Chapter five!!!

Also I’m going to start doing short Imagines! So if you want to request anything feel free!

[yxine]

— ADMIRE. ❞ (3)

part 2 — part 3 — part 4

Bada Lee x Original Character!:

— in which Bada unexpectedly gets to see and battle her long-time idol and crush on a survival show she was in, Street Woman Fighter.

— Everyone expected that Jam Republic would be only full of western dancers, so imagine when they found out that the "Queen of Dance" in the Korean Dance industry was joining the survival show Street Woman Fighter.

note: I do not own any of the people here nor the show except for Lea Chang. This was also made for entertainment purposes only.

[ short chapter ]

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The filming finally ended as each crew started going towards their respective rooms to gather their things. Jam Republic being one of the last ones to finish exited the studio a few minutes later.

"Kirs, you were so fire earlier! Those hips really do not lie." Ling complimented her leader as the whole crew walked through the small hallway.

"Thanks babe! Y'know what's more fire though? Lea and a certain Bebe Leader~" Kirsten teased Lea who only smirked remembering the whole battle.

"Yeah, what was that tension? It almost made me feel like I was watching a rated 18+ movie instead of a PG thirteen." Latrice said fanning her face with her hand as if it was hot while rolling her eyes exaggeratedly like she was dying from the heat.

"That's for me to know and for you to figure out." Lea said vaguely as she went ahead of the others, walking towards her motorcycle in the parking lot.

"Bye Lea! Have a safe trip home!" Audrey waved out to the tall woman enthusiastically along with Emma. Said woman just smiled and waved back before hopping on her bike. The engine roared into life as Lea adjusted her helmet before taking off.

"Bye Bada-unnie! Stay safe!" Tatter and the rest of the crew waved bye to their leader who said she would take a bit more time in the studio. She was doing some last check ups in the room to make sure nothing was left before leaving the studio just a few minutes before Jam Republic left as well.

Her apartment was a bit close but not too far either to the studio so she decided to take a walk to also clear her mind.

Bada released a sigh as exhaustion began to seep in her, it was a long day her energy is now drained from all the dancing she has done as well as the hyped up energy she gives for her team. Suddenly her face started to redden as she covered her face with both of her hands groaning into it while swaying her body. How could she forget that battle? It was the only thing in her mind bada began to lightly punch her head in fluster.

The way Lea just moved like a snake while also being a cunning fox, her gaze was like a predator seducing her prey to come closer to her, her body roles, and god her hips. Getting even more flustered with her thoughts, Bada buried her face into her hands even more.

"Stop it, Bada! She's your senior and your idol, you shouldn't think about her like that!" Bada told herself as she tried to convince herself that she's only a fan that admires her, nothing more.

"But the way she—" Bada got cut off as she flinched when a horn beeped at her, looking to her left it was someone on a motorcycle looking at her. This made her stop as she was confused on who this person was.

"Need a ride?" Biting back a gasp, Bada stared at the person with wide eyes. It was Lea Chang. Taking off her helmet, Lea shook her head to get her hair off her face, this just made Bada gulp nervously as she faced the older woman.

Gosh, that was so hot.

Snapping out of her daze, Bada blinked twice and shook her head no. "My place is just a few blocks away, there's no need for me to bother you." Earning a scoff of disagreement from the taller woman.

"Nonsense! Can't let a pretty girl like you walking around these dark streets alone." Lea said with a wink at the end making Bada speechless as a noticable dust of pink appeared on her cheeks if it weren't for the dark streets. Lea put her helmet on Bada's head before getting her bike started making it roar into life. This made Bada snap out of her daze once again as she hesitated to ride the bike but the roar of the said bike confirmed that she had no choice but to agree to ride with Lea.

"Hold on tight, sweetheart." Lea suggests to Bada who nervously and awkwardly embraced the taller male from behind. God, she can feel all those muscles under her shirt. Biting back a blush, Bada tightened her hold when they moved.

She will never be the same after this.

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taglist!: @ssivinee @froufrousnowman @amararosesblog (it seems I can't tag nermandi-san)

[selnyam]

FFXIV Write 2024: Horizon

The late afternoon sun beat down over the Silver Bazaar.  The residents busied about, chatting and doing their daily chores.  A faint growing rumble caused heads to turn, as a ceruleum engine motorcycle pulled into the area.  Sitting atop the bike was a muscular pink haired Viera.  The woman waved, shaking her head and reaching up to adjust the long floppy ears on her head as she freed them from a helmet.  Kikipu, a Lalafell women with Purple hair beamed and called out.

“Well look who it is!  Flidais!  It’s been sometime!  How are you doing, gorgeous?”  The Lala set down the basket she was carrying and walked over.  The tall Viera waved, then shifted the large axe on her back.  Gently she placed it next to the parked bike, then knelt down to hug her friend tightly

“OOF!  I swear, you get stronger every time you stop by.  Keep it up and ye’ll crush me!”  Kikipu covered her mouth as she laughed aloud.  Flidais Oakclamber simply smiled and tapped her fist over her chest three times.  She stood, and reached into the pack of her motorcycle producing a wrapped bundle.  With a wink and sly tilt of her head she handed the package over.  Once freed her hands moved to speak in sign language, the primary way the Viera spoke since losing her voice to a Garlean blade.

[Dark Pretzels for everyone!  I’ll be in my spot.  Lovely to see you]  The Lalafell woman gasped and slapped Flidais on her thigh.

“It’s been far too long!  Everyone will love to have some of your special Dark Pretzels again luv.  I’ll keep everyone busy and occupied for a couple o’ bells,  go get your alone time beautiful.  Just make sure to come tell us all of your travels later!”  Opening the package and pulling one of the baked treats from within, Kikipu took a big bite and wandered off to distribute to the citizens of the Bazaar.  Grinning from ear to ear, Flidais walked past the bazaar.  Waving nodding back to any who greeted her, the Viera woman made her way to the cliff edge and with a sigh she sat down.

So much was happening, and so often.  She just needed a moment to sit and rest.  To think about everything.   Her gaze carried out over the water, to the distant islands, to the Castrum to the far right.   How had it only been a few years since she’d joined the team storming that Castrum?  To when she’d avenged her first love, the first time her Voidtouched traits had manifested?  Her wings and horns bursting forth as she’d fought, throwing spell after spell to stop sas Junius.  Her actions and rage had led to rumors and horror stories about a primal or demon the Grand Companies had summoned to stop the Garleans.  A being of Chaos with giant wings and claws.  She sighed and turned her gaze back to the bazaar.

Three Summers, Nearly 4 had occurred since she first woke up just north of here.  Where she opened her eyes in the dirt, in tattered robes.  Lost and with no memories she’d sat there until a passing merchant had called out to her.  He’d made sure she was okay then offered to take her to Ul’dah.  She’d agreed of course.  A city was the best place to find people, to learn who she was.  It was there she’d joined the Adventurer’s Guild, and trained as a Thaumaterge.  The beginning of her entire life.  

The Viera let her eyes continue to follow the horizon line.  For only being around for the time she had, she felt like she’d lived a lifetime accommodating her century and a half of age.  If only she had the memories of most of that time.  Her mind wandered from the stressful times to the joy, as it often did.  To her wife, her partners.  Thoughts of the Scions and her found family.  All her loved ones and friends and comrades she’d met.  A tear ran down her cheek, one of happiness and a satisfied life.  Her short fuzzy tail wiggled in joy, and she pulled a violin from her neary pack.  With a deep breath, she began to play.

The residents of the bazaar smiled, and some began to hum or sing along.  This was an uncommon occurrence, but one they looked forward too.  Flidais would come, bring them food and stories of her adventures, or sit by the cliff and play.  She was a quiet woman, but the kind you couldn’t help but to smile around.  Her grin and positive attitude were infectious.  Kikipu wondered what new places the Veira had seen,  What new horizons and sights she could tell them about.  It was shaping up to be a fine evening indeed.

[phantoms-lair]

You wanted Red Hood vs Overhaul, you got it

Eri clutched Deku tightly and he sped away, Overhaul right on their trail leaving a swath of destroyed objects and people in his wake. And as soon as he caught up to them, that was going to be Deku. He was going to die because he wanted to protect her.

Deku was wrong. She was a curse. She clutched his shoulders tighter, tears welling in her eyes. Her horn began to glow as her quirk subconsciously activated. Because of her Daddy disappeared, and then Overhaul used her to make his bullets to steal other people's powers. She'd caused nothing but pain and misery, she was the one who should disappear!

Her horn grew as her quirk tried to activate. But much like you can't uninstall a computer program that's running, Rewind couldn't erase itself or it's user while it was activated. Eri's despair tried to force it over and over again. Just as Overhaul's outstretched hand was about to brush Deku's back Rewind divided by zero and they all vanished.

~

It was the smell that hit Midoriya first. The air around him had been full of dust and the scent of blood. Suddenly there was none of that, but an almost nauseating amount of fumes and unwashed humanity. Also they were in free fall.

He quickly assessed. He wasn't in Tokyo anymore. The cars were on the wrong side of the road and the signs in English. But all that quickly was overshadowed by the horror that they were in a residential area.

He had to get Eri to safety while luring Overhaul away from the area. He did his best to get they lay of the land before he'd fallen enough for buildings to block his view. Looked like there was a harbor. Maybe if he could get him there, there'd be less people for him to destroy. And hopefully some local heroes would come to help.

Path set, Midoriya used Full Cowling to kick off a building and launch himself away.

~

"Anyone have eyes on what the Hell is happening?!" Hood demanded over the coms.

"Two metas, Boss. One Robin-aged, one adult. Robin-aged one has what looks to be a small child. He's fleeing from the adult and heading towards the harbor. Small child looks to be injured."

Hood adjusted the route his motorcycle was going in order to better intercept. "How badly injured?"

"Bandages on her arms and legs, but it's hard to get close enough to see more, sorry." His lieutenant sounded apologetic, but from the sounds of Hood could hear from back where he was he couldn't blame her. "Powers?" Might as well know what he was getting into.

"Robin-aged seems to have some green lightning around him, but he's not projecting it. It seems to give him either a strength or speed boost, hard to tell when all he's doing is running. Adult looks like he can destroy or remake anything his touches and - Gah."

"Did you get hit?"

"Negative, sorry for scaring you, sir, Adult caught a piece of his own shrapnel in his eye. He then touched his face with his hand and half of it exploded, then reformed. I wasn't expecting it."

Good to know. Especially because she might have just told him exactly how to take this guy down. "I'm going to intercept the kids. Deploy Code Beta Omega on my mark." Hood's helmet switched modes from camera to radar as he pulled his bike even with the fleeing kid (who was definitely getting a speed boost out of his power if nothing else) as his people set off numerous bright flares right in front of the adult meta's face, followed by wide area smoke bombs. "Need some help?"

"Are you a local hero?" The older kid asked in very heavily Japanese accented English.

"I'm the protector of this area." Thankfully Japanese was one of the languages he was fluent in, so he could speak to the kid in his own language. "Get on."

The boy hopped on, the smaller kid strapped to his back and Hood had to respect his sense of balance. The green lightning vanished as the kid took a breath.

"Can you get Eri to safety?" the boy asked. "I can buy some time with Overhaul. Lure him out to the water where fewer people will get hurt."

The way he said it, it sounded like the cost of that time would be his life. And the littler one, Eri, seemed to pick up on it. "You don't have to do that Deku." she said in a shaky voice. "He won't hurt you if I go back to him. And I'll be fine. He won't kill me, even when he accidently takes too much of my blood, he can just take me apart and put me back together again."

The words were brave but the fear and remembered pain in them was palpable and Hood saw green in a way that had nothing to do with Deku's hair, outfit or lightning. He sharply turned the motor cycle into an alley, where he knew a group of his people would be evacuating civilians. "Get them to the clinic. The girl needs help and the boy probably does too."

The boy looked panicked. "But Overhaul-"

"-is Done." Hood finished. "Overhaul is done."

For a moment the boy looked like he'd bluescreened, then "Overhaul is mysophobia, destroying his mask should get a panic reaction. Especially if you spit on him or something. He's arrogant, sadistic, and enjoys psychological manipulations. He also have some bullets that destroy quirks, so be very wary if he uses a gun over his hands."

"Quirks?" Everything in Hood's soul wanted to get going and destroy the man who'd hurt a child like this.

There was a split second of panic on the boys face as he tried to reword "Powers? His lets him disassemble and reassemble anything he touches in any configuration he chooses."

"Power destroying bullets? Hood laughed. "Kid, I don't think you know where you are. This is Gotham." And with that he left the kids in the hands of his crew and stalked back to where Overhaul was about to meet his end.

The smoke was beginning to clear as Hood strode to Overhaul's location. Deku had given him what information he could, and he appreciated it, really he did. Any other Bat or Bat-Adjacent would have made good use it, especially the mysophobia.

Hood was not going to. He'd already gotten all intel he needed earlier. He took a good look at the man. Huh, when Deku said he had a mask Hood was expecting a standard supervillain mask, not a honest to goodness plague doctor one. He's sure the doctors at Arkham would have a fun time pulling apart this whackjob's psyche.

Not that he was going to give them a chance. Not after hearing a little girl talk about repeatedly being ripped apart and pulled back together.

"Where did they go?" asked Overhaul, in a tone that suggested he was in charge and giving up the intel was the only way Hood would live through the next few minutes.

Cute.

"Doesn't matter. You're never going to see either one ever again." Hood smirked under his helmet. "In fact, enjoy your view of the ass-end of Gotham. It's the last thing you're ever going to see."

Overhaul sneered. "Eri will be so upset. Another person dead because of her. She really is a curse."

The green was overwhelming. The only thing keeping Hood in control was the knowledge that he was going to give the Pit exactly what it wanted.

Overhaul touched the ground and it exploded, rearranging itself as large spikes erupted from the ground. Most people would have been impaled. Most people weren't trained by the Bat, the League of Assassins, and the All-Caste. "You heroes are so annoying. Like any one of you would be able to properly use an asset like her."

"SHE IS A CHILD." Hood roared. One of the spikes nicked him, but only caused surface damage, naturally. It would have been embarrassing to do more than was entirely when one gets hit on purpose. He needed two things. Overhaul provided the presence of absolute evil, and he provided his own blood. With two flashes the All Blades appeared and two hands fell to the ground.

Overhaul stared for a moment. He'd lost arms before and it was easy enough to replace one using the other, but he'd never lost both at once. His mind raced, trying to come up with a solution, and his knees began to buckle.

He never hit the ground however, as Hood caught him by the throat with one hand. With the other he ripped off the mask before pushing Overhauls face into some street sludge. This being Gotham and Crime Alley in particular, who knows what it might have been. Guess he was going to use the kid's info on mysophobia after all.

"It's tempting, you know, to keep you alive just long enough to watch infection set it. But people like you do tend to find a way of rebounding and I'm not going to risk it. I do want to catch up with those kids and make sure they're okay, so I'll give myself...ten minutes? Yeah, ten minutes sounds good. Ten minutes to show you exactly what happens to people who hurt kids in my territory. Ten minutes to make you beg for death, then - like the kind soul I am- answer your prayers."

Overhauls eyes were wide with terror. "But...but you're a hero?"

Hood grinned cruelly under his helmet. "I haven't called myself one of those for a long time. And Babs," he said, seeming to address no one. "I don't want Daddy Bats or any of his crew interfering."

For the next ten minutes, he was going to enjoy himself.

[filmbyjy]

heeseung – bad boys

— the bad boys main masterlist

pairing: lee heeseung x fem!reader

summary: being an orphan was never fun, you had to grow up quicker than most kids and even get a job support yourself. that's how you lived since you were 15. you most definitely did not expect to become a flag girl but here you were and it was all because of money. oh and great to know, the person you hated the most was here too. damn you, lee heeseung.

no.of words: 6.8K words

warnings: sexual references but no smut, cute dog mentioned a bunch of times though, jake being a horn dog as per usual (resident playboy) mention of underage drinking because riki bad boy. foul languages(?)

taglist: @nyfwyeonjun @ncityy04 @cutiejseong @minkyeos @madebyreyy (@onyourecha) @yuakagi @hoonstrology @luvrjn @kawaiisharkcopjudge @missmadwoman @aerinaga @jiwlys @wtfhyuck @astrosmistisa @woniesbakery @purplepuppychild

NOTE: i remember writing this, i wanted to make (name) a girlboss who stuck up for everything heeseung said. yet here i am with 'jam out' heeseung and that y/n was something.

we are almost coming to an end of the stories of each bad boy. they surely had such interesting stories following each of them. our 2nd last boy, heeseung, surely was no different. shall we start listening to his story?

“if i could kill that old man, i would’ve done that a long time ago.” heeseung groans. he places his helmet down on the bench before ruffling his jet black drenched hair. all of it being sweat since it was a hot day. sunghoon snickers.

“that old man is a slip away from death. you don’t have to worry about that. let him fall in the shower and he is done for.” sunghoon pats heeseung’s back.

“where are the others?” heeseung grumbles.

“out and about. i think ni-ki and sunoo are grounded from the last party they went to.”

“they drank?”

“yeah but are we really surprised they did so?”

“no. they need to be sober, we have an upcoming match against SM High. heard their star player, park jisung, had been preparing really hard to beat HYBE High.” sunghoon scoffs before smirking.

“we have 7 star players in our team, SM High only has one. we could beat them easily.”

“now, don’t get too cocky. do you remember what happened when you got too cocky.” heeseung folds his arms. sunghoon grumbles.

“yeah yeah, i know hyung. to be fair, you are a great racer. i just thought i’d win but i guess i underestimated your skills.”

“excuses.” heeseung says. sunghoon huffs.

jay enters the parking lot with his bike, he stops in front of heeseung and sunghoon. he takes off his helmet and threw back his head to fix his hair. sunghoon snorts.

“stop trying to look hot.”

“oh but i’m already hot.” jay smirks. sunghoon rolls his eyes.

“yeah yeah jongseong, we get it. you are the hot shit but just to remind you, i’m equally as hot as you. maybe even more.” sunghoon smirks. jay rolls his eyes, annoyed but he knows sunghoon wasn’t wrong.

“where are the others?” jay asks.

“jungwon is stuck doing class president shit, jake is busy fucking around, sunoo and ni-ki are grounded.” sunghoon explains. heeseung sighs before pinching the bridge of his nose.

“that old man is seriously going to yell at us. competitions are near.”

“I couldn’t give two flying fucks for that old man. he is just using us anyways because of his sugar baby.”

“a sugar daddy that doesn’t have money and exploits other people for their money. he got a whole fanfiction ready to be written for him.” sunghoon says. jay snickers.

“could we not just rebel against him again?”

“because he mentioned that if we helped him, he’d try to find heeseung’s sister.” jay says.

“do we even know if your sister is alive. what if your ‘dad’ killed her.” sunghoon says.

“having a daughter in the family can bring a lot of money. you can sell her off into the black market. didn’t you know that?” jay says.

“we aren’t the mafia. even if so, why wouldn’t heeseung’s sister want to be married off to one? they could be hot for all we know.” sunghoon says.

“now let’s not romanticise the mafia but yeah we practically could be them. we kill people too.” jay says.

“alright you two, let’s not talk about this. as for my sister, i know she’s out there. my ‘dad’ will probably put her into good use one way or another.”

now what happened to our heroine of the story. where were you?

ah right, you were under a pile of homework. as per usual. a fluffball decides to visit you as you were busy working on a math problem.

“leo, i’m busy right now.” the golden retriever puppy climbs onto your lap. how did you get leo? well this puppy was actually found near a horrible scene. someone had unfortunately done some horrible things to its mother and so you decided to nurse the puppy back to health and adopt it. you had buried the mother in a safe location and built a small memorial, she was considered the community dog to many. as of currently, leo is all healthy and he was certainly a playful puppy.

he bites on your sleeve and tries to tug on you to get you to play. you giggled.

“okay, okay little one. you’re lucky that this is extra credit. i’ll play with you.” you grabbed the tennis ball and grabbed leo’s leash. you were living alone, your parents unfortunately weren’t around and you never met them. you grew up in an orphanage. At the age of 15, you decided to live on your own and they allowed you to do so. ‘They’ being the staff that took care of you at the orphanage. you got a job, saved up money and now you were living in a pretty shady apartment but at least it was kinda cozy.

you made it over to the park nearby.

“wanna play?” you asked the puppy, he barks in excitement. “alright, fetch!” you threw the tennis ball. leo chases after the ball and brings it back to you after he finds it.

“you’re a really smart puppy, aren’t you?” you pet the puppy’s head. its tail wags.

“you.” you heard someone say. you looked up and instantly you saw heeseung. the boy who annoyed you to death in school. you rolled your eyes.

“what do you want?” you say. heeseung scoffs.

“you were disturbing me and my peace.”

“listen, i was playing with my dog. they bark, what the fuck do you want me to do?” your puppy tries to climb your leg while whimpering, sensing you were upset.

leo was your comfort, he could sense whenever you were having a breakdown, panic attack or you were just upset. Certainly, he could tell you weren’t too happy right now. you picked the puppy up.

“leo, calm down.” you gave the puppy a small kiss. “i’m okay, thank you.”

heeseung rolls his eyes, “just leave.”

“I was about to.” you throw daggers at heeseung again before leaving. Once you left, heeseung lets out a sigh of relief. why did you look so cute while holding a puppy? the way you gave it kiss, if only it was him that you gave a kiss to- hey wait, you were his enemy! why would he imagine you kissing him?

“she’s a demon in disguise lee heeseung, you do not like her that way!” heeseung lightly slaps his cheeks.

you were stomping your feet as you walked home.

“the nerve of that asshole, i can’t believe him!” you turned to talk to leo. “leo, he’s an asshole right?” the puppy doesn’t say anything.

“oh don’t tell me you think i like him, never in a fucking million years am i falling for that asshole.” you entered the apartment building. the dim lights flickering about to burst any second now. yup, home sweet home. you placed leo down onto the chipped wooden floor, he ran off to your study room which had his toys.

you hummed. you needed to study. there wasn’t much for you to do anyways, this was how your life was. work, study, eat and sleep. it was a constant thing that you had been doing ever since you were 15.

the next day, you knocked on your neighbour’s door. A lovely sweet elderly couple.

“oh (name), have you come here to drop leo?”

“yes grandma.”

“leave it to me. take care of yourself in school.” she says. you thanked her and handed her leo.

school was pretty much the same, of course you knew heeseung was going to pull some snarky remark about you. Tease you, annoy you to death. that was the usual. you were placing your book into your locker, as you shut the locker door, you noticed how heeseung had a smug look plastered on his face. he leaned against the locker beside you whilst folding his arm.

“what do you want?” you asked as you folded your arms.

“just wanted to see what you were up to.” you rolled your eyes at his words.

“what? miss me or something?” heeseung scoffs.

“why would i miss someone like you? you have no special place in my heart.”

“well...if i don’t have any special place in your heart, why do you still bother to annoy me? you could just ignore me and pretend i’m not here you know.”

this catches heeseung off-guard. you smirked before patting his shoulder.

“one could think you have a crush on me, is that true lee?” heeseung glares at you.

“in your dreams, (first name).”

“i would never dream of you, lee.” which was the last thing you said before you walked away from heeseung. not forgetting to knock into him.

“you two look very loving.” jay says. heeseung turns to face jay. the other boys were beside him, seems like they probably saw what happened between you and heeseung. heeseung rolls his eyes.

“i don’t like her like that. besides, what kind of sworn enemies fall for each other?”

“the enemies to lovers kind.” sunoo says.

“enough with you and your fanfiction shit. we have a competition soon. the old man will kill us if we don’t gather and practice. he already scolded me, jay and sunghoon for your irresponsibility.” heeseung says pointing to sunoo, ni-ki and jake.

“sounds like a you problem.” jake says.

“do you want me to tell every girl you’ve slept with that you have a sexual disease?” heeseung threatens. jake gasps.

“okay, i’m sorry! please don’t tell them that. they are still my playtoys and you know i have to get my dick wet every once in a while.”

“tmi dude.” sunghoon says.

“maybe you could abandon those girls and go for your dear enemy jake.” jay says. jake glares at the boy.

“if you think i’m ever going to have sex with her or ever get married to her. you are very wrong.”

“didn’t you lowkey place a bandaid onto her desk once because you saw her knees bleeding?” ni-ki says.

“even if i hate her. i’m not an indecent human being, i still have a heart.”

“yeah, that heart being your dick.” jungwon says. jake holds onto his heart dramatically.

“nah, his brain is his dick. he only thinks with his dick.” sunghoon says. jake gasps.

“are you guys even my friends?? what the fuck.” jake sulks.

“enough. get to class and we will meet up after school at the carpark. if you don’t come, you know what will happen.” heeseung says. heeseung leaves the other 6 boys.

“if you don’t come, yOu knOW whAt happENs.” sunoo mocks heeseung’s voice. “what’s up with him this morning? it’s like he got dumped by (name).”

“maybe he did.” jungwon says.

“I won’t be surprised. he knows the way around flirting and doing illegal shit but when it comes to the one girl he obviously has feelings for, he is shit at it.” jake says.

“you’re all bark but no bite, jake.” jay says.

“what the fuck is that supposed to mean.” jake folds his arms.

“it means you do the exact same thing.” sunghoon flicks jake‘s forehead. the boy winces in pain.

“this is friend abuse I’ll have you know.” jake huffs.

“nah this is friend abuse.” ni-ki shoves sunoo.

“YAHHHH. YOU ASSHOLE.” sunoo shoves ni-ki back. both ni-ki and sunoo were now just bickering back and forth. jungwon sighs.

“and this is why heeseung hyung never leaves us alone.”

“you’re the leader.”

“yeah but you dipshits don’t listen to me.”

“we are older than you, we make our own rules.” jake says.

“it doesn’t work that way.” jungwon deadpans.

“uhh yeah it does? Ever heard of korean age system buddy?” jake states the obvious.

“you’re australian, you white people do not follow the age system.” jungwon folds his arm.

“i don’t even have a single white blood in me, i’m full korean but was born in brisbane.” jake explains.

“I feel like one of your parents are lying, there is no way you are not white. considering, how you act, one could think you are a chad or something.” sunghoon says.

“okay shut the fuck up everyone and get to class.” jay says.

“how about no?” ni-ki says.

“do you want your parents to ground you again and then you won’t be able to join us for the competition and our missions.” jay says. ni-ki pouts.

“fine.”

the 6 boys made their way to their classes, a little late but the teachers could care less about them anyways.

“(name) could you kindly explain to us what is wrong with this equation?” the teacher asks. you sighed. this teacher loved to pick on you, maybe because you were the only one listening in.

you went straight in front of class but not before tripping over something or someone. you looked up. it was one of heeseung’s biggest admirers. since heeseung always ignored her and only paid attention to you, you had been facing the consequences.

“whoops sorry, didn’t see you.” she says, adding a small little smirk at the end. you simply rolled your eyes and dusted your skirt.

you got to the front of the class and started fixing the question on the board. the teacher claps his hand.

“great job (name).”

you bowed and went back to your seat. he was such an annoying ass teacher.

you huffed and settled back at your seat.

could this day get any more worse?

And well it did.

“heeseung, give me back my fucking book.” you jumped to grab the book.

currently, you were in the library. why? because you were studying. however, heeseung being the complete asshole he is…he shows up to terrorise you so now you’ve been trying for the past 1 minute to grab your book for that 6ft giant.

“give me back my book, asshole.” you groaned.

“how about no.” heeseung smirks. you rolled your eyes and then an idea pops in your head.

you tugged on the boy’s tie, he jerks forward. your faces inches away from each other. heeseung’s breath hitches. your eyes land into the boy’s pinkish lips and then you look straight into his doe eyes. It was clear he was flustered by the distance. you leaned forward and you noticed how heeseung’s eyes flutter shut. you smirked.

Before your lips even met, you quickly snatched the book and walked away from him. his eyes flew open and his jaw drops. you turned to him and waved him off, sending him a small wink before you turned the corner. heeseung was baffled, he scoffs before a smile grows on his face.

idiot. was what he thought as the stupid smile on his face doesn’t falter.

when school ends, you ran back home to pick up your puppy. you thanked the lady for taking care of your dog.

“here, i’m sure you haven’t had dinner. I made a little too much and my husband is coming home a little late. enjoy this before you study alright?” the elderly lady says.

“thank you, grandma.” you bowed at her before entering your home. you didn’t have any form of entertainment in your home since you weren’t well off so leo was the only one who kept you company.

you took out your homework and started doing it. Leo nudges the utensils to get you to eat. You smiled and took a bite of the food as you worked on your homework. Leo’s tail wags watching you complete your homework. It felt like leo was a human trapped in a dog’s body, he knew when you don’t want to play, when you need to eat and when you overstress yourself. You were thankful to at least have someone by your side and taking care of you. Of course, the elderly couple that lived next door took care of you extremely well too. they treat you like you were their own granddaughter. they don’t earn much but they still gave you a small sum of money to at least buy food.

Things like this made you feel loved. however, with someone like heeseung existing..you can’t help but hate the world a little. the world was certainly a messed up place. you hear leo whimpering.

“Hmm? oh did i forgot to eat again pup?” you took a bite of the food. He barks, tail wagging to confirm he indeed was trying to get you to eat. “Thank you, pup.” you gave him a small kiss.

“I’m done with homework, wanna play?” you picked up a ball. the puppy barks in excitement. you hear a knock at your door so you went to check on who it was. Once you opened the door, you noticed it was sunoo. you tilt your head.

“what do you want?”

“umm noona, we kinda need help.”

“help?”

“well you know how you have been working at a cafe for a while now and you told me during work hours that you hated the job and it doesn’t pay enough?”

“yeah?”

“wanna work to be those ring girls/flag girls?” sunoo says. you tilt your head.

“sun, i am not going to show skin and wear sexy shit.”

“they pay $2000+ per match and they give you costumes to wear for every match. We usually have about 3 matches every month or so. sometimes even more. Small or large scale.”

That is a lot of money…for a month and surely you’d finally be able to afford an actual phone and pay back to the elderly couple next door.

“okay, i might consider but why did the previous flag girl quit?”

“our boss is kinda particular on girls and he thinks the flag girls have no right to have feelings for any of us.”

“That’s it? The flag girl was fired because she had feelings for one of you?”

“yeah, she liked heeseung hyung so umm our boss found out and fired her.”

“Mmm and why did you come to me?”

“Because you’ve expressed you hate heeseung hyung so much and you don’t have feelings for any of us so you were the best option i could suggest to the boss. please noona, can you do it?” you sighed.

“okay, i’ll do it.” sunoo hugs you.

“Thank you!!” he breaks the hug, “oh! I’ll send you the address, we have training tonight actually but boss says you can come tomorrow.”

“okay.”

“thanks again noona! you’re a lifesaver!” sunoo leaves your apartment. you shut the door and turned to leo.

“what have i just gotten myself into.”

the next night, you had asked the elderly lady to take care of your dog as you would be taking extra shifts for the night. she nods and asks you to take care of yourself as it is late out. You thanked her and went on your merry way.

“Is this even the right place?” you looked up, a pretty knocked up, old and rusty sign labelled ‘sugar shack’.

“I don’t even want to know what kind of sugar they mean.” you shivered. you entered the place and walked along the hallway. a bright light at the end of the hallway which led to the outdoor racing track. It was huge.

your jaw drops.

“noona!” sunoo calls out for you. you went over to where the younger boy was.

and of course, the other boys were there too. they simply watch you walk over to where they stood.

“hi sun.” you smiled.

“she’s the new flag girl?” jay says.

“Yup!” the other boys eyed you down. especially heeseung.

“she’s not exactly the sexy type you know.” sunghoon says. you scoffed.

“sorry for not following the standard you call sexy, park sunghoon. i do what i want to do. Besides, sunoo was the one who approached me. Not you.”

“damn, that’s kinda hot though.” jake says before wrapping an arm around your waist. “do you perhaps want to go on a date with me?” you pushed jake’s arms away from you.

“Thanks for the offer but i don’t date guys like any of you.” you eyed jake up and down. “Especially you.” jake blushes.

“Don’t tell me you popped a damn boner right now, jake.” jay says.

“look, she just eyed me down with that gaze. It’s hot, how am i not supposed to pop a boner?” jake reasons. jay groans.

“hyung, that’s gross.” jungwon says in disgust.

“noona, how about i show you to the changing room. the stylist has already picked out the outfit for you.” sunoo says trying to stray from jake’s convo. you hummed and followed sunoo.

“hyung, please explain to jake how he should stop popping a boner everytime he finds a girl hot?” jay says. heeseung keeps quiet, ni-ki waves his hand in front of the older male.

“Hmm?” heeseung says. the others stare at him.

“are you okay, hyung?”

“yeah, i am.”

“If it’s because you are about to work with your enemy…think of it on the bright side. Umm, you can annoy her more?” sunghoon says. heeseung rolls his eyes.

“just get to your places. we have to practice.” heeseung says before he walks over to his car.

“sheesh, cranky much.” jungwon says.

you left the changing room after changing into the outfit. It was really skimpy, too much skin showing and you felt uncomfortable but you had to think about the money you would be getting and so you went out.

the stares of other staff members were really overwhelming and not in a good way. this wasn’t the stare you’d particularly want, this is the stare of hunger and lust. you noticed how there weren’t many girls as their staff members. There were more males than you’d expect. maybe this is why sunoo wanted you to be their flag girl, there were rarely any girl staff here.

you kept pulling down the short skirt as it barely covered your butt.

“sun, what do i do next?” you asked the younger boy. they were discussing their routes for the race when you called. their eyes laid on you. you looked innocent and certainly the boys were flustered. never have they thought you would look hot wearing such a skimpy outfit.

“well?” you asked again. the boys pushed sunoo forward and he grumbles. A smile grazes his lips as he hands you a flag.

“so you will be counting down before the race starts with this.” he shows the flag, “wave the flag at one and just stand there. The cars will zoom past you and you are done for the day. You can stay and watch us if you’d like. maybe one of the boys could send you home since it’s late.”

you nod.

“jake stop staring at her legs.” jay smacks the back of the boy’s head. jake groans in pain.

“like i said, she’s hot! what am i supposed to do!” heeseung glares at jake and he shuts his mouth.

“oh, lover boy is mad you’re staring at his future girl.” sunghoon says. heeseung rolls his eyes.

“jungwon, it’s your turn for today. you know who you’re up against.” heeseung says. jungwon smirks.

“of course.”

The younger male walks over to his prized possession, his bike. this race included both bike and race cars. it depends really on the profession each competitor is good at. There would be no interchangeable matches, if you owned a bike, you raced with other bikers. Heeseung was the only one who owned a race car, the others owned a bike but that didn’t mean they weren’t great at racing with cars. they were trained to do both.

you got into positions, in between both bikes. the rival team member eyeing you up and down. Heeseung balls up his hands into a fist, jay holding him back from marching forward to teach the guy a lesson.

“None of you are to cross this line prematurely, if you do, that is a foul and you will be marked down for it.” the other guy scoffs.

“we get it sweetcheeks, a game like this is always about cheating and tactics.” he smirks, “and you happen to not have a boyfriend, right? someone as beautiful as you would certainly be a match for me.” he flirts.

you laughed. like straight up, laughed at his face. you smirked.

“you’re right, i’m beautiful but unfortunately, no guy could handle the best head they received their whole life hence i broke up with them.” you came close to the guy and grabbed him by his belt. “would you be able to handle that heartbreak? hmm?”

you shoved him away, “no? too bad. would’ve loved if i was able to give you amazing head. maybe you could even help me out.” you smirked and went to wave the flag. jungwon smirks and gets a headstart. the guy panics and quickly gets on his bike, he attempts to catch up with jungwon.

“noona, you are definitely fit for this job.” ni-ki gives you a thumbs up. you smiled. heeseung grabs his things and storms out of the place. The others were calling for him.

“what’s up with him?” you asked.

“just…angsty emo teen moment?” jay says.

“like you weren’t an angsty emo teen when you killed those guys at the age of 16. i mean, you killed what? 5 guys per week? or was it month? oh, let’s not forget-” sunghoon shuts jake’s mouth from running further. you sighed.

“sorry you had to hear that.” sunoo says.

“It’s fine, i live on the ghetto side. there are at least 2 murders a week so i’m not surprised.” you say.

“you don’t live with your parents?” sunghoon asks.

“I was an orphan since i was a baby. No big deal, been living alone since 15.”

“oh. your life is fine now right?”

“Yeah i am-” heeseung angrily enters and grabs your wrist. “hey! be gentle!” you yelled out to heeseung.

“If the old man asks where i am, just tell him i’m out drinking.” heeseung tells the others. They nod, unable to say anything.

heeseung brings you over to his car and throws his hoodie at you. you gasp and threw his hoodie back at him. he turns to look at you.

“Put it on.”

“no! I am not wearing your hoodie!” heeseung rolls his eyes. he grabs his jacket from the back seat and slings it over you. he tugs on the zip to his jacket to cover you up. You huffed. He starts the car up and drives off.

“Type in the address to your house.” he points to the GPS.

“if you haven’t forgotten, my hands haven't been able to move since you zipped up the jacket.” heeseung sighs.

“Tell me the address then i’ll type it in.”

“what if you stalk me?”

“wasn’t planning to, after all you aren’t my type.” you scoffed before telling him your address.

the drive to your house was somewhat quiet, the only sounds were heeseung humming to the songs playing on the radio and the engine. about 10 minutes later, you arrived at the driveway of the apartment. He was waiting for you to get out so he turns to you expecting you to do so but you don’t.

“What?” you asked.

“Get out. We are here.” you rolled your eyes and fumbled out of the jacket heeseung gave you. you threw the jacket at heeseung and left the car.

“asshole, not even gentleman-like. where the fuck are his manners.” you started to walk away when you felt heeseung grabbing your wrists. he spins you around and drapes the jacket over you.

“it’s cold out and you are wearing something revealing.” he pats your head and quickly enters his car, driving off. you stood there frozen. you quickly got back your senses and went into the apartment building.

the next week consisted of school and being the flag girl. however, as the elderly couple next was sick, you decided to bring your dog over to the place.

“hey, there is our star flag girl!” jake says. you playfully rolled your eyes. jake notices the dog pacing around you. he gasps, “PUPPY!!!” he excitedly kneels down to the puppy and starts trying to get its attention. you laughed.

“I brought leo over since the elderly couple next door are unfortunately sick and can’t take care of him.” jake grabs the puppy and holds him close.

“I finally get to meet him!! He is so precious!!!” jake makes kissy faces at the puppy. leo barks and wags his tail.

“So is the boyfriend that gives you great head?” sunghoon jokes. jay snorts. You lightly hit sunghoon’s arm.

“very funny.”

“Oh come on, it is.”

“This is the only guy that has stuck with me practically my whole life.”

“what are we then? we’ve treated you a bunch, both food and…” sunghoon stares at jake. “pleasure?”

“sunghoon! I already told you i didn’t hook up with jake! It was a curling iron incident!”

“yeah save it. we all know, you and jake have been hooking up!”

“you really think i’d be hooking up with jake a week after actually talking to you guys?”

“it’s jake, he makes anything impossible, possible.”

“Is that his life motto or something?” you ask. jay and sunghoon laughed.

“noona, if you must know. it’s just the beer talking. those idiots had some drinks before.” jungwon explains.

“ah, makes sense whatever they are spewing is nonsense.” you grabbed your bag and tossed it into the dressing room locker.

In this week of knowing them, you grew a little comfortable with them and so they started hanging out in your dressing room. Don’t worry, you changed in the bathroom so they didn’t see anything.

“we are sober!” sunghoon shouts. you waved them off before entering the bathroom and locking it.

you pulled off your shirt when suddenly, a hand grazes your waist. you were about to scream when a hand flies to cover your mouth, preventing you from screaming.

“mind to possibly check the bathroom before you use it?” the voice whispers. your eyes widened. you forcefully pulled the hands off your mouth.

“lee heeseung??” he leans on the bathroom tiles, eyeing you up and down. you looked down at yourself before covering your body up.

“the clothes the stylist picks out doesn’t cover much, it’s not like i haven’t seen you like this before.” you scoffed.

“turn around.” you told him.

“you barged in here while i was smoking.” he folds his arms.

“Well i was going to change so you should leave!”

“Alright.” he eyes you up and down again. “I suggest wearing some tight bodycon outfits. Helps with accentuating your body shape.” he winks before leaving the bathroom. you could hear gasps from outside. you knew the others were assuming something inappropriate.

3am, was when you were done. well when the race was done, jake offered to drive you home since it was already late.

“you just want to play with leo a little longer.” you eyed jake.

“Is it wrong for me to love your dog? He is adorable and layla would love a new friend!”

“dude? We have gaeul and bisco.” sunghoon says. jungwon sighs.

“can we stop fighting about dogs? jake hyung, go drive (name) noona home. she’s had a long day and she’s tired.”

“yes leader-nim.” jake bowed. he holds out his hand ready for you to take it but heeseung slaps his hand on jake’s.

“sorry, change of plans. I’ll be driving (name) home now.” heeseung says.

“hyung, you already madeout with her in the bathroom just now! let me be a gentleman and drive her home!” jake says.

“we didn’t makeout in the bathroom! how many times have i explained to you guys.” you groaned.

“really? cause if i’m not wrong, you were begging for more. you even pulled your shirt off. doesn’t that mean you wanted more?” heeseung says. your jaw drops.

“uhhh.” sunoo awkwardly says.

“that’s umm.” ni-ki says. you took a deep breath.

“lee fucking heesung!” you grabbed his hands and dragged him out. he winks at the boys. Your puppy, leo, follows both you and heeseung out.

you folded your arms as soon as you made it outside of his car.

“Well?”

“what do you want me to say, my dear enemy?” heeseung smirks.

“can you stop with the sexual jokes?”

“you know i’m just kidding (name). Unless…” he leans forward, your breath hitching. “you want it to be real.” he smirks. you rolled your eyes and pushed him away slightly.

“why would i want it to be real? I don’t have feelings for you.”

“really?”

“heeseung, if you think i’d ever forgive you for all the shit you pulled for these 4 years. I’m not going to. you have hurt me multiple times.” you watched his eyes soften, guilt and regret taking over. “just send me home. we have school tomorrow and i have a test, i can’t be late.”

“Yeah, umm.” he unlocks his car and gets in it before realising something. he runs to your side of the door and opens it for you. you tilt your head. “Get in.” you just got in and leo hops up on your lap.

The drive home was silent as per usual.

2 months passed by and well it certainly was different. heeseung wasn’t making snarky remarks at you. Well he still did but it was more harmless. he got on your nerves less which was surprising. something that was weird to you was how protective he was over you.

Every single time any of the boys offered to drive you home, he would pitch in and say he was driving you home. At this point, the boys didn’t even bother asking, knowing heeseung would be the one assigned to drive you home. oh one more thing, the amount of times this boy always flirts with you is actually baffling.

Today was no different. you and the boys were hanging out in the dressing room. You grabbed your outfit and went to change in the bathroom. you noticed heeseung blowing out a puff of smoke. just like 2 months ago…

“why do you always smoke in the bathroom?” you questioned the boy. he huffs another smoke cloud.

“because i am near the guys.” he looks over at you, “and i’m near you.”

And there he goes again. another flirt thrown at you by none other than lee heeseung. you playfully rolled your eyes.

“get out, i need to change.” you stood there with your outfit in your hands.

“we’ve established this 2 months ago, the clothes the stylist gives you practically shows almost everything. It’s not like i haven’t seen everything.”

“you haven’t seen everything. I’m not fully naked.” you deadpan. the male walks closer to you, throwing his cigarette bud on the ground.

“and what if i want to?” he says as he extremely dangerously close to your face. Your breath hitches. He smirks and boldly pecks your lips. your eyes widened, you smacked his arm.

“dude! you just kissed me.”

“i do realise that (name).”

“You can’t just kiss me without consent!”

“you would’ve let it happen either way, am i right?” he raises his brow.

“n-no? why would i let my enemy kiss me.”

“Both you and i know, we have gone past the term enemies. we hang out in the same room without arguing horribly all the time.” you moved back and your back hits the cold tile bathroom walls. he places a hand on one side of you,

“what do you want from me?” you asked him.

it was silent as he thought of what he wanted.

“tell me you like me.”

“huh?” heeseung sighs.

“if you don’t like me like that, i’ll leave you alone and you can forget any of this happened.”

“what do you mean?”

“please.” he voices out. it was clear from his voice that he was about to cry. It was trembling.

A clear knock interrupts what you were about to say.

“noona, is everything okay in there?” sunoo calls out. you hear a gasp. “is heeseung hyung in there again! oh my god, ewww you two better not be doing something disgusting in there!”

you looked up at heeseung and he looks down at you.

“lee heeseung. I-” heeseung pushes himself away from you.

“this isn’t right. i’m forcing you. i’ve messed everything up again.” he says. when he looks back into your eyes, you could see the clear gloss covering his doe eyes. “I should leave.”

you grabbed his wrist.

“heeseung wait.” he stops. “I know you have a lot on your mind right now, you found your sister. she has to stay with you and now problems with the gang. you might have to move away…though i don’t want you to.”

“say that again.” heeseung says. you stood in front of him and held both of his hands.

“I don’t want you to leave.”

“(name), we shouldn’t. I’ve hurt you enough.”

“And that’s the thing. you’ve teased me a bunch of times over the years. I hated you for it but if you leave. who is going to annoy the shit out of me everyday?”

“you can live your normal life without the insults.”

“but what if i liked the attention you gave me.” he looks up at you. “heeseung, i like you.”

The boy keeps silent. he was in shock. why would you still like him after all the horrible stuff he did and say to you? what kind of person would date their bully?

“but why would you-”

“are you not happy that i share the same feelings as you?” you asked him.

“of course i am but why would you like me after i did everything to you. you should hate me not do the opposite.”

“guess i’m fucked up then.” you say.

“(name). are you really sure about this?” heeseung says.

“are you doubting my feelings for you, lee heeseung?”

“no no, it’s just. I really don’t get why.”

“maybe i just like bad boys.” you shrugged. “Besides, you did some sort of make up by not annoying me for the past 2 months. I actually felt comfortable. love and feelings work in different ways. Maybe i just needed to get this awakening to make me realise i like you instead of hating you.”

“(name).”

“just kiss me, idiot. do you not want to kiss your girlfriend?” he blushes, “oh? I made you blush!”

“s-shut up.”

“Oh my god, the almighty lee heeseung blush-” he kisses you. you wrapped your arms around his neck and happily kissed him. his hands grazed your waist, pulling you closer.

By the minute, the kiss progressively grew heated. he definitely showed how much he liked you through the kiss. you hummed against his lips as his cold hands went under your shirt.

you hear a series of knocks at the bathroom door.

“Hey umm, heeseung we kinda need to start the match. The next rival is waiting and he is kinda impatient.” sunghoon says.

heeseung breaks the kiss and groans.

“fine but wait a minute. my lady needs to change.”

“YOUR LADY?? WOAH WOAH THE FUCK HAPPENED IN THERE.” sunghoon yells.

“things happened, now could you please relay the message. I’ll be there in a hot minute.” heeseung says.

“h-hot minute!? don’t tell me you are about to undress (name) and in a non holy way.”

“HOON SHUT IT.” you yelled. heeseung snorts. he hands you the outfit.

“I won’t peek, don’t worry.” he whispers into your ears before turning away. you shook your head and simply took off your shirt and changed into the outfit.

Once you made it out to the track area, you noticed the rival eyeing you down. As per usual. heeseung smirks, his hands wrapping around your waist as you walked towards the rival.

“nice seeing you again.” heeseung says. The guy scoffs.

“your new playtoy?”

“new?” heeseung smirks, “I think she would stick around for a long time though.” heeseung caresses your cheek lovingly.

“she’s ugly by the way.” the guy says.

“she wouldn’t be ugly if everyone wasn’t caught staring at her.” heeseung retorts back. The guy clenches his fist. you walked over and grabbed the flag. the race starts after you finished counting down. it was obvious who was going to win.

heeseung passes the finishing line with a huge gap against his rival. he doesn’t even bother looking back at his rival before making his way over to you.

“let’s leave together.”

“yes.” was all you said. heeseung pulls into a passionate kiss and spins you around happily.

love, it worked in many weird ways. you never thought you’d fall in love with the same guy who you despise but here you were and there were many more years to come with him.

[needtoloveoutloud]

So, I thought I'd make a little compilation of visual stuff for my fan fiction series “Shadows Of Our Past, Present, And (possible) Future”

This needs to be two posts, because tumblr only allows 30 images per post (I think). Please don't steal the images. It took me ages to build the apartment in an interior design/architecture program (Planner 5D). If you want to use them, feel free to ask :)

Tumblr may screw with the quality of the images. Maybe it helps if you click/tap on them to view them in full-screen mode.

Shota's (and Yoru's) small apartment in the prequel:

The main room — kitchen, entryway, living room Details: The guitars, Shota's bike helmet (and a kid's motorbike helmet), Yoru's little house slippers and her little yellow coat, the black coat on the right side of the rack is supposed to be Shota's hero costume, and the gray thing next to it (under Yoru's yellow coat) is his scarf. The furniture is mismatched. Aizawa truly doesn't give a shit and was tight on money. As long as it's functional, there's no need for furniture to go well together.

The bathroom: Details: it's small and functional. There's a little duck for Yoru to play with while she's having her bath, as well as a shark on top of the shelf.

Shota's room: Details: none — purely functional. Completely Shota Aizawa

Yoru's room: Details: the complete opposite of Shota's room. Hizashi and Nemuri (Present Mic and Midnight) helped him (forced him) to get most of it and prepare it the way it is now. They also paid for pretty much all of it. The string lights are important — they're always turned on during the night (Yoru hates sleeping in the dark, already did when she was still little — probably even more back then), Uni the Unicorn plushie: Shota gifted it to her when he found her in the back alley. It's magical and its horn can glow. The room is completely cramped with everything and more a four-year-old child could need (it's so full that the window is hidden behind the little play-tent-thingy).

The balcony: Details: Shota is a secret smoker (not very often and always makes sure that Yoru doesn't notice), the cherry tree: he got it for her the day she officially moved in. He prepared with a lot of parenting books once the adoption was approved (because, of course, he did) and one of them mentioned how some parents plant a tree the day their child is born, so they can grow (strong) together. Alas, he doesn't have a garden, so the little cherry tree sapling on the balcony has to do.

The complete layout of the apartment:

Shota's and Yoru's new, big loft apartment in the canon story:

So, after starting at U.A. (which pays very well, I mean… it's Japan's most prestigious (hero) school) and with Shota earning more money, they moved places when Yoru was ten. It's an old building that used to be open-office spaces and the plumbing doesn't always work, but it's home. Money was still sort of tight (it's a big apartment, therefore expensive and needed some major renovating and furnishing), so Hizashi and Nemuri, once more, chipped in. They have enough money, you know — being public pro heroes with multiple jobs and business deals, so it didn't really hurt them. Don't worry, Shota paid it all back by now, though. Hizashi and Nemuri paying for a lot of it also meant that they had a lot to say regarding decoration and what to get, though. Shota himself would have been happy with half of the stuff, feeling as if it's a lot of things people don't need. He likes it though — it's comfy, but I'm not sure he'd ever admit it.

We'll start with the layout this time because the place is a whole lot bigger.

Layout: Details: a little bit like their old apartment, meaing it has a very open floored plan.

Balcony: Details: Almost the whole ceiling-high-window area opposite the entryway opens up. The sunlight, especially when the sun sets, is absolutely beautiful. It's what made Shota and Yoru choose the apartment. The cats are allowed to go outside to the balcony — they know they're not allowed to jump up on the railings. They enjoy hunting little birds and small bugs there, often bringing their dead prey inside as gifts for their humans, who in return have to clean up feathers and other messes. The cherry tree is, of course, there, too. It's the big one opposite of the sitting area. It's started to become too big for all its pots and Shota makes sure to replant it annually so it can continue to grow and expand its roots. He's about to hit the maximum pot size, though. He doesn't know that he will, however. Yoru, her Dad, Hizashi, and Nemuri (the latter two often inviting themselves over to the Aizawa household) often spend their evenings outside in the sitting area if the temperature allows it. Shota's keeping a secret (he thinks it's secret) ashtray behind the big climbing support for the pipe wines close to the outdoor sitting area. On the left, in the corner (almost cut off from the image) is a little training equipment thing (can't remember the name of it).

The main area — entryway, side-genkan, guest bathroom, kitchen, dinner area, reading area, living room, Shota's work desk: Details: The cats have their food/water area on the floor in front of a kitchen counter. The big, unoccupied space between the kitchen/the entry area and the shelf with the green moss piece above it, is used for their workout/yoga/hand-to-hand combat training at home. There are a few trophies on the shelf — those are some of Yoru's trophies she won for dancing/ballet with her solos or her group. The chairs closest to the kitchen are deceiving: they only hold the weight of cats. Shota keeps on repairing them, but if a human sits on them — they break. They still serve a function, though (the cats can sit on them), so Shota sees absolutely no reason why they need to be repaired or replaced. It's not rational. Their guitars on the wall, next to the fireplace (which they barely ever use). The wall panels/boards on the wall opposite the couch and in the corner of Shota's work desk are for the cats to play on them. Shota took his video game console from the old apartment and brought it to the new one. Toshi and Yoru sometimes play on it, but Shota rarely has time anymore.

Main bathroom:

Details: Important — Do NOT flush the toilet without turning on the faucet first. While the toilet will flush and everything will… go away, new water will continue to come in while the water in the toilet bowl itself will not drain. It will overflow. As mentioned previously, the plumping in the building is old and doesn't always work. Yoru hates this and had to clean up clean toilet water more often than she can count. There's a fix, though: One of the tiles over the toilet can be removed. Behind it, is a very MacGyver-esque contraption: a plastic bottle held up with hemp strings and the pipes for the fresh toilet water. They need to be meddled with while flushing the toilet three times. Simultaneously, the faucet needs to run. It's a two-man job, which means Yoru can't secretly screw up the toilet and has to ask her Dad for help. He's not happy about the amount of times Yoru fucks it up, but helps nonetheless. Again, same with the chairs in the dining area: if used correctly, it's functional. So Shota doesn't see a need to fancy-fix it or call and pay a plumber to do it. He's still very frugal, and it's illogical to fix something that technically isn't broken if used correctly. Yoru strongly disagrees with her Dad's mindset here.

So, that's Part 1 of the post. I hit the 30 image file limit that tumblr allows. We're still missing Yoru's and Shota's room — they'll be up in a moment.

[hecatemoon87]

Minors DNI.

Chapter 11

"No fucking way," George said, shaking his head vehemently. To Johnny's dismay, the rest of his crew nodded along with George's retort.

"We all put in our dues for this gang, Johnny. You can't just let some woman take all our hard work away!" Andy, another bike member, said in anger.

"She isn't even a biker herself! She's got no blood in this game. I say break up with that shrew and focus on what's important, the gang!" Judy shouted, just as angrily as the rest.

Johnny didn't allow himself to externally show them a reaction. He stayed stoic and cool on the outside, but internally, he raged.

"Look, I see your point. Alright?" Johnny said, holding up his hands. "Then let me just ask, can we handle this ourselves? Is there an alternative anyone is willing to suggest?" Johnny said, practically pleading.

Everyone fell silent then. No one in the room could look Johnny in the eye. Not even Benny. It wasn't because they were disrespecting him, they just didn't want to help Amelia.

"Really?" Johnny said, this time sounding hurt. Benny glanced up and made a pleading face. "Johnny, she isn't one of us. She's doesn't have history with us, she didn't help build what we all have now. Sorry, man."

"Fine. It's a vote. I'll figure it out my damn self," Johnny said, grabbing his jacket and storming out of the back room of Sal's bar.

It was raining hard, but Johnny strapped his helmet on, revved his bike and skidded away from what he thought were his friends. He drove aggressively, weaving around cars on the road, ignoring their blaring horns at his abrupt lane changes.

A lightning bolt lit up the sky with an eerie phosphorescent glow. The sound of dull thunder echoed off in the horizon. Johnny increased his speed. His mind racing as fast as his bike.

He had to tell Amelia the truth eventually. He couldn't keep up with the lie that he wasn't in a gang. And if he told her the truth would she stay with him? And even if she did break up with him, would that mean she'd be safe from the Vipers?

He slowed his bike and pulled off from the road. He ripped his helmet off and threw it to the ground, shouting "FUCK!" He watched as the helmet bounced off the ground, a crack forming on its side.

He breathed in deeply, knowing he needed to regain composure. He first needed to be a leader to his gang, that was important to him. He knew he'd say the same thing to one of them if they asked something like this.

But it hurt thinking of not being with Amelia. He liked her gentleness, her elegant way of speaking and her soft touch, her smooth skin and her kindness. He knew he'd have to do what all great leaders needed to do. He needed to place the needs of the gang before his own.

He walked over to his now broken helmet. Instead of bending down to pick it up, he angrily kicked it out into the open field before him. He again shouted, looking up toward the sky and cursing God. Why couldn't he just have one thing for himself?

[jedimandalorian]

Ahsoka- Notes on Episode 1 and Kiner’s musical score made by a Sabezra shipper. (You’ve been warned.)

Episode 1 opens with a percussion ensemble and eerie strings. Opening crawl begins. Intense, suspenseful music.

Scene on NR cruiser.

Rescue of Morgan Elsbeth-theme sounds like it has sound effects that suggest a forest(?) or her home planet.

Ahsoka at the Nightsister Temple. Mysterious quiet quotation of Ahsoka’s Theme before she goes beneath the surface. Suspenseful music when she “unlocks” the pillars to obtain the star-map. Intense music for assassin droid battle and escape.

Home One: T-6 1974 (reference to Filoni’s birthday). Hera’s Theme played by the cello during her entrance to the docking bay.

Briefing room: the very beginning of Thrawn’s theme heard softly when he is mentioned. Ezra’s theme is not heard when Ahsoka and Hera talk about him.

Hera: “She’ll do it…for Ezra.” ❤️

Lothal ceremony and Sabine on speeder bike: Rock music w/ lyrics in alien language. Chase scene is reminiscent of Top Gun.

The Tower: Sabine’s Theme is heard when she feeds the loth-cat and we glimpse her Mandalorian helmet under the counter. A quiet rendition of Ezra’s Theme is played by a French horn during the hologram scene. Sabine’s Theme is heard at the very end of that scene when the message ends.

Baylan, Shin, & Morgan scene.

Sabine wakes from a dream about Ezra’s disappearance and says his name softly. She heard Ezra’s voice in the dream saying the last words he said to her in the Rebels finale before he disappeared. 😢

Sabine, Ryder, Huyang, & Ahsoka scene. Ahsoka’s Theme plays after Ryder says to Sabine “You’re gonna want to hear what she has to say.” (I think Ryder is gentle with Sabine because he knows how much she cares about Ezra and how much she misses him.)

Scene in Ahsoka’s ship: Sabine’s Theme plays when she looks at the loth-cat artwork by her old bunk. Ahsoka’s Theme is heard briefly when they sit at the table to talk about the map.

Ahsoka & Huyang scene. Ahsoka discovers Sabine is gone. Sabine smiles on the ride back to the tower because she now has hope.

Shin and assassin droids. Sinister music.

Sabine in the tower with the map.

Ahsoka & Huyang talk to Hera who is present as a hologram. Ahsoka’s Theme quoted when she talks about walking away from the Jedi.

Sabine in the tower with the map. Triquetra design is shown on the floor/ base of the map hologram. “Three faces…?” Sabine wonders aloud. Sabine figures out how to open the map and the music and sound effects remind me of the purrgil while she unlocks it. The music sounds more hopeful when she opens it and when she is on the balcony looking at the night sky. (This same hopeful yearning theme can be heard during the end credits when Eman Esfandi’s name appears onscreen and as the golden line that the camera follows passes through the purrgil.)

Sabine fights assassin droid. She calls Huyang for backup and goes inside to get Ezra’s lightsaber to defend herself. Duel with Shin. Music is louder and more intense as Ahsoka flies to the rescue and Sabine is stabbed.

End credits music: We hear a new introduction to Sabine’s Theme with a repetitive quarter note followed by two eighth notes ostinato. Sabine’s Theme is followed by Ahsoka’s Theme. This is followed by Hera’s Theme (love theme from Rebels), and it ends with a return of Ahsoka’s Theme.

Edit: I just realized something about the music. In the end credits, Sabine’s Theme is presented in the style of a stately Renaissance dance for couples called a pavane. An example: https://youtu.be/WOi5v7tnhPY?si=vBut7Ree4LAs2P8a

[yourbestpalpercy]

Alright, first things first. As Leaf and Deadzone have been newly confirmed to no longer be the same, I have decided to remove all of the hints towards them being the same person. Also, I have another thing to say. I have been confusing the Sellbots and the Cashbots for way too long. I thought that the HQ down in the bottom left corner was the Cashbots HQ because I knew that Duck Shuffler and Treekiller (Cashbots) spawned near Daffodil Gardens. My thought process at the time was that Cogs didn’t stray too far from their respective HQs. So, with 2 Cashbot managers so close to Daffodil Gardens, I thought the HQ there was the Cashbots HQ. …Y’all, it’s the Sellbots HQ. I am so sorry-. Anyways- TO THE NEW VErSION OF DEADZONE’s thing-!!

The DeadZone is a Cashbot Manager Boss who will be introduced fully eventually in one of my stories. She can be fought at the Daffodil Gardens Lake after completing the task “Pollution Problem”.

DeadZone is a 6’7 tall cog dressed in an older diving outfit with the large helmet being replaced with a clear fish bowl. Inside this fish bowl are a few aquarium plants and black aquarium rocks. A foggy, black void that is DeadZone’s head floats inside in this fish bowl. Her deep green, seaweed like hair rests on her shoulders. Underneath the helmet, around where her neck would be, is a speaker of sorts that’s used to translate her underwater gurgles into a voice that’s understandable. Her deep red diver’s suit has gnashes around the knees and elbows. These gnashes look like they’ve been repaired multiple times.

Department: Cashbot

Position: Regional Manager

HP: 2700

Defense: 27

Level: 19.mgr

Lowest Damage: 10

Highest damage: 23

Real name: Ariel Cove

Honorifics: Ms./Mx.

Employee ID: 192017

Likes: Fish, swimming, playing with the water, bike horns, Rainmaker, Deep Diver, Gatekeeper, Duck Shuffler

Dislikes: Firestarter, Prethinker, math, drop gags, Brian, Witchhunter

Attacks (Low Tide)

Liquidate: 12 damage, 50% accuracy, 25 frequency

Guilt Trip: 10 damage, 30% accuracy, 25 frequency

Attacks (High Tide)

Evil Eye: 23 damage, 90% accuracy, 78 frequency

Flash Flood: 19 damage, 80% accuracy, 47 frequency

Special Attacks (Low Tide)

Algal Bloom: 17 damage, 30% accuracy, 20 frequency

Brackish Water: 15 damage, 40% accuracy, 35 frequency

Special Attacks (High Tide)

Whirlpool: 36 damage, 99% accuracy, 60 frequency

Backwash: 30 damage, 90% accuracy, 40 frequency

Cheats

Cog Capacity: DeadZone will only have Cogs helping her during High Tide. The max amount of Cogs she can have is 2 (making a total of 3 attackers). Typically, the Cogs she summons are Loan Sharks, Bean Counters and Money Bags.

Lure Resistance: DeadZone has a Lure Resistance of 2 rounds during Low Tide and has a Lure Immunity during High Tide (If you attempt to lure her during High Tide, a tendril of water will not only take the lure from your Toon but also deal 2 damage upon it exiting. Idk, I thought that would be funny to add.

Tides: Low Tide is the best time to attack as Gags have a guarantee to hit DeadZone no matter what. DeadZone’s eyes will be a calm yellow during this. The Low Tide also makes her attacks much weaker. Low Tide lasts for 3 turns.

High Tide is the best time to use Toon-Ups and heals in general because Gags have a much lower chance of hitting DeadZone (A small animation plays if your gag misses where a tendril of water will grab the gag and render it useless). Zap gags have a higher chance of hitting though. DeadZone’s eyes are glaring red during high tide. Her attacks are much, much more powerful. High Tide lasts for 5 turns.

Special Attacks (Low Tide)

Algal Bloom: DeadZone makes a rising motion and throws a clump of green “slime” at the most dangerous toon (LOOK! I finally corrected the mistake that was making me so angry!), giving them a lower accuracy.

Brackish Water: DeadZone makes a waving motion with her hands, causing a small wave of brown water to appear under a toon and deal damage.

Special Attacks (High Tide)

Whirlpool: DeadZone makes a spinning motion with her finger. A spiral of water engulfs a random toon and spins them roughly before the water sinks back under the doc.

Backwash: DeadZone makes a pushing motion. A large wave forms behind her and washes over the toons, dealing them all damage. There’s also a 10% chance of flooding a Toon out of the fight.

Strategy:

I wondered if I should actually put this in for a bit but decided to do so. I have WAY too many ideas. Why not make this as real as possible?

When fighting DeadZone, it’s best to attack depending on the tide. During Low Tide, attack DeadZone straight on, do not use Toon-Ups or non damaging Gags unless you have to because Low Tide only lasts for 3 turns and is the best time to lower her HP. During High Tide, use Toon-Ups and use it as an attempt to set up Lures (Do not lure DeadZone during High Tide, only set up traps, do the luring during Low Tide). Also try to take out the Cogs fighting with her during High Tide as they will not have the ability to dodge or block the Gags like DeadZone can.

Loot:

DeadZone Sticker (Rare)

Fish Bowl hat (Or Seaweed Hair hat) (Uncommon)

In DeadZone’s sticker, she has a deadpan or concerned expression on her face.

The Fish Bowl hat comes with yellow eyes sketched outside of the bowl.

20 gumballs

34 jelly beans

920 Toon Experience

Dialogue and Cutscenes

Opening Cutscene 1:

Toons approach DeadZone as the shoreline before her parts and allows her to grab a small fish to eat. One of them looks a little sick upon seeing it and fakes a gag, catching DeadZone’s attention. DeadZone turns to face them, her red eyes softening to yellow.

“...What? It’s my lunch break.”

“Normally, I’d cook the fish but I’m banned from using the microwaves. Last time I used them, I made the whole HQ reek of fish!”

The 2 Toons in front get angry while one in the back comforts the other. This leaves DeadZone looking a little concerned.

“...Not here for small talk or jokes, got it.”

DeadZone points a weak finger at the Toons

“You guys aren’t seriously here to fight, right? I really don’t like fighting.”

One of the front toons step forward, leaving DeadZone a little bit panicked now.

“I really, really don’t like fighting!”

A pillar of water begins to rise up behind DeadZone as the other front toon steps forward and gets angry too.

“I really, really, really don’t like fighting!!”

DeadZone makes a pushing motion. The water washes the entire group out of the area.

Opening Cutscene 2 (Return to the area and reenter the fight)

DeadZone is now turned towards the Toons, slightly uncomfortable.

“I really don’t want to fight you guys.”

“I mean, you guys are adorable!”

“Maybe we can just sit down and…talk? I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m not polluting the water or…anything. At least I don’t think so.”

The Toons get angry again, causing DeadZone to sigh, make a pushing motion again and flood them out. Again.

Opening Cutscene 3 (Enter the fight again)

“You guys are really persistent. I’m almost concerned.”

DeadZone just looks saddened by this and floods the Toons out again.

Opening Cutscene 4 (Enter the fight again)

The Toons get angry again causing DeadZone to spin back towards the water, slouching now.

DeadZone puts her hands together, takes a deep breath before spinning back towards the Toons.

“Okay, fine! But I really didn’t want to do this to y’all.”

Ending Cutscene:

“THAT’S IT! STOP!!”

DeadZone waves her arms and even makes a T with her hands.

“T! T! T! Timeout!! Timeout!!! I-If I could just have a few words right quick- please?”

One of the Toons stops the rest with a shushing motion.

“I really, really don’t know who’s polluting the water supply. I swear it’s not me. I live in the lake! I try to keep it clean! I live underwater! I-I literally need it to survive!”

DeadZone turns away slightly, her eyes turning red with an annoyed expression as the tide begins to come in again

“No idea why you guys would attack me without evidence but oh well.”

DeadZone turns back to the Toons, her eyes still red

“I swear I just want to be a friend to the Toons. I’m not here to harm at all. I'm neutral in this whole fight! I don’t want to hurt Toons- I just want to do m-my job…”

DeadZone’s eyes fade back to yellow as she slowly stands up and turns back towards the water. The tide recedes.

“I never wanted to hurt any Toons. Y-...You’re all just cute honestly. I…I’d honestly like to fish with you guys one day…you guys seem like you’re all great at fishing. Yes, I understand I have a job to do but…maybe I don’t need to harm you guys to do it.”

DeadZone looks back at the Toons. One of the Toons tilt their head and look at the others confused.

DeadZone stares at the Toons a little longer and mentions,

“If you want, you’re…always welcome at the lake to fish. I..uh…recommend a rainy day. Fish are more common.”

DeadZone jumps into the water, disappearing.

The fight ends with you getting an optional quest, “Rainy Fishing Trip: Catch 10 fish with DeadZone”.

Special Attack Dialogue

Algal Bloom

“Green is a nice color when you’re not associating it with money.”

“What’s a lake without algae?”

“‘You’re getting into deep waters, Toon’. No, this ain’t the right attack for that…”

Brackish Water

“The water’s not polluted, it’s just a little dirty.”

“Hope you don’t mind getting soaked!”

“‘Water, water, everywhere!’ I should talk to her again.”

Whirlpool

“‘Thpin, thpin, thpin!’ Ha, a friend of mine used to say that often.”

“‘You’re thpinnin’ out of control!’ Sound familiar?”

“Y’know, whirlpools are my favorite!”

Backwash

“Don’t worry, it’s not the stuff in your mouth.”

“Why not surf a little? I hear the water’s great!”

“Thou shall be washedth awayth by mine wavesth! That’s not how the old language works…”

Misc. Dialogue

Face-off Taunts:

DeadZone sticks her tongue out and presses a finger to her helmet with a ‘bleh’ noise. “Huh? That doesn’t count as a taunt? Hmfp!”

“I’ve got my eyes on you!”

“Why not take a little dip? The water’s warm, I promise!”

“Can we hurry this up? I just remembered I have a DnD game with Holly soon.”

“Listening to Prethinker tell me I’m the worst would be better than this…”

Death Taunts:

“Suits you right for randomly attacking me!”

“And pleathe don’t come back! …Pleathe…PLEASE! Oh my gosh, this is why I don’t do impressions!”

“Lifeguard! We need a lifeguard!”

“So many people have thalassophobia nowadays…what? You don’t know what that means? Oh.”

Surrender Taunts:

“What? You need a breather?”

“Forgot to take your swimmer’s test, I see!”

“Need to grab your life jacket right quick?”

“Maybe this time you won’t come back…”

Friend Request Accepts (She will only accept after Rainy Fishing Trip):

“You seem fun, why not?”

“Keep this between you and I please.”

“I’m going to get in so much trouble for this…”

Friend Request Denials:

“You just kicked my butt for no reason! Heck no!”

“Go take an ip dip dip in the tides of changes and then we’ll see.”

“Go drink salt water!”

Attempt to Sue:

“Don’t you try to sue me! I’m barely hanging onto this job, you piece of ****!” Warning, trying to sue her during Low Tide will automatically change it to High Tide.

Attempt to Fire:

“You’re not my boss. Who’re you to try to fire me?”

Trivia:

A good chunk of DeadZone’s dialogue references other Cogs like Duck Shuffler and Rainmaker. In total, DeadZone references Duck Shuffler, Rainmaker, Prethinker, Deep Diver, and Gatekeeper. Almost sounds familiar to someone else we know. Real talk, I think Leaf and DeadZone would be great friends. Soul sisters if you will!

I made DeadZone because of the lake you can see on the map in Daffodil Gardens (Or, if you’re looking at the TTR map, Daisy Gardens) and I thought ‘I can make something with that’. …Update y’all…I don’t think there’s actually a lake there.

DeadZone was partially inspired by the song Drown by AViVA.

DeadZone’s real name is Ariel which, naturally, comes from The Little Mermaid, Ariel. As for the Cove part? *Shrug* DeadZone needed a last name.

The dead zone, also known as the abyssal zone is a place underwater where there’s little to no life. It’s often completely dark and it’s right in between the midnight zone and the hadal zone.

DeadZone’s Employee ID (192017) is a date and it’s a reference to a terrible flood that happened in the US (If I remember correctly).

[imsorryithurts]

Landing on your soft spot

Whumperless Whump Event Day 2:

Does your insurance cover this?: Car accident / Bystander caretaker / “Eyes open, ambulance is almost here.”

Hey, friends! Thanks for all the positive feedback on my previous fic! A couple of people asked to be tagged, I'll sort it out when I have a little more time and mental energy to sit and see who!

Thanks to Seth for hosting the event, visit @whumperless-whump-event to read more works!

This is one features Vittoria, who is a badass toughie superhero, but has a soft spot for children, especially children in danger. You can have a little primer on her and my other OCs here: [link].

Word count: 722

Content warnings: Car accident, motorcycle accident, a child being involved in the accident (don't worry the kid is fine and doesn't get hurt at all).

-x-

When Vi turned the corner with her motorcycle, the woman she was chasing had released a cloud of thick, black smoke, obscuring her entire view of the street.

She resisted the panic rising in her gut and kept her bike steady, sounding her horn to hopefully signal whoever was around to get the hell out of the way.

She decided it would be safer to stop, but she didn't have a second to consider her plan before all she could see in the inches where the smoke was clearing out was the face of a child in the window of a car.

That she was going full speed towards.

The world spun around loudly and she was on the ground. She pushed the bike off of her leg and got on her feet, scrambling to get a good look into the car window again, to check on the kid.

She caught a glimpse of the figure, a chubby face crying, going as far as they could in their car seat.

Her knees buckled and her hand slipped away from the window she was leaning against.

Her body landed awkwardly on top of her bike as she struggled to control half of her body. She managed to catch herself, but not before hitting her shin on the muffler and getting poked in the ribs by the footrest while trying to get up again. Of course, catching herself involved slamming her elbow on the concrete.

She attempted using her powers to see through the car, but the effort immediately rang a high pitch through her ears and filled her vision with darkness.

As soon as she started getting her bearings again, there was a man talking to her. The driver of the car, judging by the open door and empty seat.

Vi couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but he was pushing her back down as she struggled to get up.

“Stay down, don't get up”, she managed to make it out as he pushed her to her knees. She managed a burst of energy to quickly grab his wrist.

“T-The kid-” The man recoiled in surprised, and probably from her too strong grip. “Is the kid- Is the kid okay?”

“She's fine. She's all right, don't worry,” He untangled her hand from his arm, going back to his attempts at getting her to lie down. He didn't have to work hard now, Vittoria's body offered little resistance after her worries were soothed.

Vi remembered being lowered down, but then she was suddenly on her back, helmet visor flipped open.

“Hey, eyes open, the ambulance is almost here.”

She squinted at him, trying to see clearly despite the sun in her eyes.

“She's not hurt, is she?” She rasped. Talking was getting difficult, she was crashing after the adrenaline rush, possibly combined with a mild concussion.

“No,” the man, crouching beside her head, looked around, signaling someone out of her sight. She was too tired to turn her head to see. “Come here, honey. Bring her. It's ok.”

A tall woman appeared in the corner of her field of vision, and she carried with her the child, not much older than five, eyes puffy and red, clutching the mother's shirt like she was hanging from it, but otherwise completely uninjured.

Vi sighed, the weight of preoccupation lifting from her body, but immediately replaced with the weight of pain and bone deep exhaustion.

“See, she's ok, just a little spooked,” the man squeezed her shoulder slightly, trying to keep her awake and calm. “She's alright, don't worry.”

She squinted at the figures above her, the kid squirming in her mother's arms, clearly troubled by the situation she didn't understand. Vi strained to keep her vision from doubling as she kept her eyes on the pair, as if looking away would take away the certainty that she hadn't hurt any of the passengers.

She heard sirens in the distance, and watched the man who had been stabilizing her head got up and waved at the ambulance. Another weight started being lifted from her: the weight of consciousness.

“Hey,” she licked her lips and rasped. “The deal was ‘stay awake until the ambulance gets here’, right?”

He crouched back down to hear her better. “... What?”

“Sorry about your car, friend.” And she closed her eyes.

[silverefflux]

The First Meet

Chapter 1 of my new König x Fem!OC fic, Rush

See Chapter List

Photo by Fred Austin Photography

Summary: A private jet pilot flies her boss to Austria and hangs around for three weeks. She gains a new friend during a hike. You already know what's next.

Warning/s: A bit of explicit language; König has an established real name here; pretty much a self-indulgent (yes, self-insert) fic, so sorry in advance

. . .

Back to You // Lost Frequencies, Elley Duhé, X Ambassadors

Bobbing her head to the steady four-on-the-floor beats echoing inside her helmet, Kate rode her motorbike across the winding roads of the Austrian Alps. The cold morning breeze worked against her music though, subtly reminding her that she could be sound asleep at this hour, if not for the long ride to the hiking spot in her itinerary.

Nevertheless, she loved every second. In fact, it was all she could ask for at the moment—cruising at your own pace and singing without a care while the snow-capped mountains keep you company. She passed a couple of rock tunnels and couldn’t be more grateful likening herself to a speck of dust amidst the mass of the earth, one with the nature she is traversing.

A while after, a loud car horn awoke her from the trance of a blissful groove. She glanced sideways at the open window of an SUV matching her speed. A little boy was waving at her. She revved her bike and waved back, her heart warmed by the small interaction. Afterwards, the car zoomed away.

All this on a Wednesday? This is the fucking life, she thought.

Soon, she reached her destination. She slowed to a stop at a parking lot, scanning for a spot, preferably one that keeps her bike from hitting someone else’s car should it be knocked down. That was an easy find though; there weren’t a lot of tourists on a weekday morning. If there was anything she truly worried about, it was her bike’s noise drawing unnecessary attention in a quiet place like Tyrol. As soon as she set the kickstand down and stowed away her riding gear, she began her hike.

Choosing the scenic way up, she marched up a multitude of stone steps for two hours in a continuous steep climb, alternating between walking and stopping by to take pictures of the view.

Eventually, her stops became her excuses to rest. Every step she took grew heavier, as was her breathing. The air gradually thinned and she soon realized that as active as she was, the hike wasn’t going as perfectly as she had hoped.

Maybe it’s the ride? Should I have spent the night somewhere halfway? She reckoned that she must’ve overestimated herself. Flaws of the confident, I guess, she shrugged.

Giving herself a second to breathe, she powered back through—only to stop again.

Nope, not happening, she relented as her exhaustion got the best of her. She slumped over with her hands on her knees, took a deep breath, and exhaled with a yell to try and get herself back up. Some feet ahead of the trail, two men looked back at her and started whispering.

“Verzeihung!” she squeaked, flinching and raising her hand apologetically. One of the men said something to the other with a cheeky smile, and the other responded with a slap on the former’s shoulder.

Her eyes widened and her cheeks glowed red. God, who else heard that? She decided to turn away and stand by a ledge to spare herself from feeling any more like that one obnoxious tourist. She ate a granola bar from her bag to occupy herself and took redundant photos as she waited for the longest 5 minutes of her life.

“Hallo, sprechen Sie Englisch?” asked a voice from behind.

She looked towards the voice to find that it belonged to one of the men up the trail. A tall Asian guy who looked to be in his late thirties. He wore a teal hiking backpack with an all-black outfit of running shorts and a plain dri-fit shirt that fit his form well. To top it off, he didn’t look tired at all, which gave Kate the impression that he was highly athletic��or simply not a novice hiker.

“Yeah, hi,” she responded.

“Nice, my friend over there just got a little concerned,” he said with a tiny smirk, gesturing to his companion who stood quite a ways up and staring off elsewhere. Kate noticed that the man didn’t have an Austrian accent, which somehow soothed her unease over her seeming ignorance.

She cringed at herself. “Oh…gosh, I’m sorry about the noise,” she said with nervous laughter. As nice as their concern was, it just confirmed to her that she was an obvious newbie.

The man chuckled. “Don't be. Care to join us?”

Welp, company would definitely make this easier, save for the fact that they were the ones who giggled at you earlier. “Sure,” she beamed anyway.

Kate tagged behind the man as they walked towards his buddy. “This route’s a little more challenging, yeah?” he spoke lightheartedly.

“Uh huh. First hike.” she faltered.

“Not a bad choice. The view makes up for the long climb,” he replied with a stern voice.

As they closed in on his buddy, her immediate impression was that as tall as the first man was, the second one? Even more so. A fair-skinned man whom she guessed must’ve been around 7 feet tall, if not close. Contrary to the “concern” that the first man mentioned, his buddy met them with a straight face, concealed by a gray face mask. “This is my friend, Dominik,” he introduced him. “Kate”, she responded back, offering to shake Dominik’s hand. He accepted and nodded, albeit his eyes narrowing and his hand being a little cold, which she brushed off as due to the weather.

“Ah–and I’m Hong-jin,” he chimed in, enunciating his name as if to make sure she got it right.

“Nice meeting you both,” Kate said as she shook Hong-jin’s hand, “Thanks for taking me with you guys.”

“Sure,” Hong-jin answered, then directed his gaze to Dominik. “It’s her first hike,” he remarked. His eyes lingered at Dominik for a couple seconds longer, as if to cue him to say something.

“Olpererhütte for your first hike? Who told you this was a beginner trail?” Dominik looked down at Kate.

“No one…?” she lilted, “I just asked my Airbnb host for the prettiest one around.” She shrugged, “Though this really is one for the books for me. Even on the ride here.”

Dominik only raised his brows slightly before looking straight ahead. For the rest of the climb, that would be the longest couple of sentences he ever spoke, choosing to keep on with his hands tucked inside the pockets of his cargo pants. It was mostly Hong-jin chatting with Kate. If Dominik ever said anything, they were mere one or two-word replies. For the time being, as she shared some menial details about herself, she was able to figure out that Hong-jin is a Korean, and Dominik a German who spent his childhood in a nearby Austrian town, and that the two had a brotherly dynamic about them.

“How long before we reach the hut?” she asked the two of them.

“Maybe a couple more hours,” Hong-jin replied.

Kate hissed, tucking her water bottle in and adjusting her backpack. “Whew, long way.”

“Just tell us if you need a break, all right?” Hong-jin reassured her.

“Yeah thanks,” she answered curtly.

“Wait,” Dominik said under his breath, stopping to stand still. He took his face mask off and clutched it while his hand rested on his waist. He kept his head down and his eyes darted towards the ground, fully concentrated on getting back some much needed air. Beads of sweat began to drip down the side of his forehead.

Hong-jin’s expression shifted from calm to worried. “You good?” he asked. Dominik’s eyes did not leave his shoes as he swung his free hand, as if to shoo the other two away. Kate twirled the strap of her backpack around her finger and looked to Hong-jin, unsure of what to do.

“Okay, we’ll go ahead.” Hong-jin uttered. “He’ll be fine,” he told Kate with a shake of his head as they walked on, but not too far as to leave Dominik behind.

When they were a good amount of steps away, Kate cast a glance at Dominik. “You sure he’s fine?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he waved off, “By the way, weren’t you the one with the GS earlier?”

“Uhh…yes,” she drawled, eyeing towards her left and pulling a downward grin, “Was it that loud?”

“Oh no, no,” he croaked, leaning away slightly, “Nik and I saw you parking when we started.”

“Ah. Okay,” she trailed off. “ ‘Cause I was honestly worried it was too noisy,” she continued, wrinkling her nose at the thought, “I asked the bike rental for one that wasn’t bothersome in Tyrol but good enough to ride from Vienna.”

That earned his fascination. “Whoa, you rode from Vienna?” he asked her.

“Mmhm,” she nodded proudly, “Had to go pretty early, but fun stuff! I didn’t get tired much because I was just vibing with everything.” Not tired, sure, but maybe I shouldn’t have ridden five hours to hike for another four.

“Cool,” he said in awe. “I’m saving up to buy my own actually.”

“Ooh, what bike are you picking?” she asked in delight.

“Kawasaki Ninja,” he said, “I like the sporty look.”

“The 1000?” she asked, head tilted in anticipation.

“Yeah.”

“Aw hell yeah. I still ride a Beemer back in the Philippines. RnineT.”

“Nice,” he high-fived her in approval, “Wait, where’s—König!” he called out to Dominik below, but cut himself off for some reason. Meanwhile, his friend looked back at them from standing before the mountain view cross-armed, letting out an exhale before trudging towards them. “Aish, i mossol…” Hong-jin sighed to himself.

Dominik wore his mask again after he caught up with them, wordlessly as before. Eventually, the three reached their first destination: a two-storey mountain hut made of burnt-colored bricks and wood, a place where all the hikers gathered.

A look of fulfillment painted Kate’s face as she intertwined her fingers behind her head and took a deep breath. “Finally,” she sighed. The trio walked into the place and Kate’s first thought was to go to the bathroom. She excused herself and told the two men that they could go ahead to the hanging bridge that was a short walk away from the hut. Almost immediately after she was out of earshot, Hong-jin turned to Dominik.

“She rides bikes and flies planes,” he implored, stressing his point with his hands.

“Oh wow, danke! Du bist der Hammer!” he derided, “For fuck’s sake, Jin, stop playing matchmaker.”

“What? Why not? You said she was ‘easy on the eyes’,” he quipped back, sounding mildly offended.

“She doesn’t look bad, that’s what I meant,” Dominik groaned, “You know, if you like her so much, just ask her out.”

“One, I’m out of the market right now—”

“So am I—”

“And two, you’re the one for sale.”

“Ugh.”

The two walked out of the hut and on to the bridge, still continuing their banter. As persistent as Hong-jin was, he couldn’t afford to push his friend past his boundaries, so he arrived at a compromise.

“Okay, at least talk to her so you have something new to tell your therapist?” he fretted.

Dominik stared blankly at his friend and took a second to think. “Eh…no,” he said dryly, hiking briskly ahead to gain some alone time at the hanging bridge. Hong-jin could only scratch his head, but what else could he do? He strolled elsewhere to sit and take in the view, overlooking the vast valley that embraced a turquoise lake.

Kate made her way up to the bridge after some time, passing Hong-jin in his little spot. “Hey there,” she chirped.

“Hi,” Hong-jin greeted back, “Nik’s over at the bridge.”

She looked over to see Dominik standing by himself at the bridge, this time without his face mask. Before Dominik knew, she was making her way towards him.

Oh no. Please go back to Jin, his mind attempted to tell her telepathically, but clearly in vain.

“Hi?” she said, peeking at his eyes to see if he was pissed at her presence, “Mind if I share the bridge?”

The mask.

His hand fidgeted with his pocket to fish out his face mask, but something in his head told him to try and push himself this time. 

“Sure,” he replied in a seemingly offhanded tone.

She stood beside him and brought out her phone to take pictures of the lake. “View’s lovely.”

“Mmhm.”

“Would you believe I was taking pictures earlier as an excuse to not look like a total noob?” she giggled, “I mean I was struggling to keep up but that was so weird of me. What the hell was I thinking there?”

“Pictures or not, you don’t have to worry because almost everyone here’s not local.”

“I see.”

Silence.

“Have you been here before?” she asked him.

“Ja.”

“Oh. Okay. That’s nice.”

More silence that she felt compelled to break.

“Anyhoo, are we allowed to sit here?”

“Yeah.”

She settled herself near one of the ropes that held the wooden planks up, legs dangling over the bridge. Dominik stayed still. “Yeah the height gap is very apparent right now,” said Kate, smiling up at him. He took the cue and sat down beside her. Gaining a closer look at his face, she noticed a large pale scar extending from his right temple, down his cheek, then above the corner of his lip, ending somewhere on his chin. There definitely was a major reason behind it, she pondered, one that was likely too heavy to ask. She shifted the topic in her head.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you and Hong-jin know each other?”

“Uhh…” he looked to Horangi for respite, but he was still far off in his zone taking selfies, not even sparing a moment to check outside his bubble. No backup now. “We met at work a few times. Been friends ever since,” he responded.

“Hmm, so you guys go a long way. What do you guys do anyway?”

Another pause. “Military.”

“Cool,” she remarked. That explained the matching crew cuts. She guessed from his hesitation that she shouldn’t ask for any more what’s or when’s. Quick, ask something else. “I’m guessing military life gets pretty crazy. Pays to take breaks like this one. From all the noise. If machines get to have a break, why can’t we?”

I appreciate the attempt to talk to me, but this strikes a chord—perhaps too hard, he thought. “Unless the job asks for you to really act like a machine, sometimes you have to be like one.”

“But then take a break, like a….machine would?” she replied.

He hummed. “Sure. Then take a break.”

Something in Kate felt triumphant in making him say something other than one-word replies. She rested her hands on the horizontal rope in front of her face and swung her legs absentmindedly. “Yeah. We’re just people. Gotta cope how you need to,” she began to ramble, “Whether that’s peace and quiet, or some good old adrenaline rush. There’s some of that in flying too, which I liked at first, but then the pressure of the job sinks in after a while. It’s like with yo—”

She stopped herself, it felt wrong to complain about her work pressures in front of a literal soldier. She continued, “Okay not really military life-or-death type, of course, but the amount of hard work you need to make it look easy. The smallest scratch on a plane, big incident. Then the first thing the board always points fingers at is the guys in front, know what I mean? Guess because it’s legally the easiest way out?”

Dominik only looked at her and took a short gasp of air, wanting to say something.

Nope. Might breach an NDA.

So he held himself back. Silence was once again shared between the two. But it was a more comfortable one this time, being filled in by the mountain breeze and rustles of greenery.

Suddenly, he spoke. “Adrenaline rush, huh? I supposed the motorbike matched your style.”

“Did it now? Yeah, I like the rush you get from that sorta stuff. A healthy kind of scare. Heck, I’d bungee jump from here right now if I could.” He moved to peek below the bridge. It was fairly far down, but it was layered with rocks from the stream and was too shallow to “bungee jump” from. “That doesn’t sound very healthy,” commented Dominik.

It earned him a snicker from her. “I’m kidding. But—dude,” she swung her head to look him persuasively in the eyes. “Bungee’s fun.”

“A guy my size—I’m probably safer jumping without a rope,” he replied, a smirk shyly peeking into the corners of his mouth. Kate observed that the man had a rather sweet smile. His lips pressed into a thin line, but his cheeks rose ever so slightly.

Her eyes secretly enjoyed lingering on his, admiring the soulful blue of his irises. She realized she may have misjudged him. He wasn’t as cold as she thought; only reserved, but nevertheless, a friendly guy with a long list of experiences that came with his work.

As much as she liked this man’s face, perhaps what she found more interesting was the warmth and tranquility of the moment. No crazy jitters, as if she was just talking to a friend.

Breaking her thoughts from spiraling mid-conversation, she opted to keep the ball rolling, scavenging for names of other extreme sports that involved jumping but had nothing to do with laying your life on a piece of rope. “Hmm, what about cliff diving? Wait, you ever done a jump like that before?”

“I’ve jumped out of a plane.”

Her interest in what he had to say grew, so she sat up straight and leaned a little towards him, “Ooooh, skydiving?” His eyes slightly widened. “Well—yeah skydiving.”

She furrowed her brows at that, then laughed in bewilderment. “Whoa there, why is something telling me it wasn’t just that? Oh my god, what did you do?”

He chuckled at her, flattered upon seeing her interest in what he can do. “I can’t tell. Although skydiving, rappelling down an aircraft…it’s part of the job.”

She hummed with a pout and planted her arms back on the wooden planks. “Wild. I like your style.”

“It’s the rush.”

“Right?” she replied. Man, this guy is cool. “Okay one more photo from here.” She snaps one last photo of the lake, before delicately tucking away her phone in a zipped pocket in her pants. “And yeah let’s keep that, don’t want my phone to fall.”

“You’re terrified of your phone falling but you’ll dive off this bridge?” he questioned her.

“My phone is incapable of saving itself. Though yeah I’m telling you, I’d freakin’ parkour here or something.” she teased, leaning slowly toward the ropes then watching for Dominik’s reaction. Only a face that reads, I’d like to see you try. She faked falling over the rope with a mocking shiver. Still nothing from him but mild amusement. “Tough guy,” she said slyly. His eyes narrowed.

“Ah, look at the time!” he exclaimed as he slapped his hands down on his thighs so aggressively that it made the whole bridge wobble. “Is Hong-jin done yet?” he grinned at her, pretending to be oblivious to her squealing and wrapping her legs around the vertical rope.

“Gago, Dominik!” she shrieked,” hands gripping tighter on the rope and laughing in defeat at his fairly scary retort.

He shook his head. “Okay, I’m sorry, bad joke,” he stood up, offering a hand to her.

She took his hand. “S’alright, it was actually pretty ironic, so touché.”

They walked out of the bridge and back to Hong-jin. “For someone who likes peace and quiet,” he pointed out, “you’re rather loud.”

“Dominik,” she glared up at him in disbelief, “You shook the damn bridge, what do you expect?”

“No, even during the climb. I could hear you even when you and Jin went ahead.”

“Oops. Should I be sorry?” her gaze fixated on the rocks they were walking on.

“Nah,” he drawled, “The energy’s nice. And call me Nik by the way.”

Hong-jin’s attention turned from his phone towards them at the sound of footsteps over the rocks. He got up, gave his friend a subtle glance then acknowledged Kate. Asking the two how the bridge view was, he read that both were now fairly at ease around each other. The three returned to the hut for some beer. They sat side-by-side at a long table overlooking the mountains. It was close to noon and a good amount of fog had dissipated.

Kate took a swig of her drink. “So you guys are heading back to Germany after this?” she asked, looking at Hong-jin who was next to her, then to Dominik.

Hong-jin responded, “Yeah. You?”

“Overnight here.”

“Oh. Enjoy your stay, then,”

“I will.”

She caught Dominik looking away and taking a huge drink from his mug.

They exchanged more stories and shared some laughs as they finished their drinks. Soon enough, Dominik and Hong-jin said they had to be on their way. They bid each other goodbye.

As she watched the two men walk away, she realized it was now or never, else she might not see them again.

“Them”? Please, it’s mostly Tall Boy you’re worried about, she told herself, You’re a tourist. Nobody knows you here. Go for it. What could go wrong?

“Wait!” she called their attention. They turned around and saw her briskly walking to them with her phone in her hand. Despite the fact that she was addressing both people, she looked mainly at Dominik as she spoke. “If you don’t mind, maybe we’ll catch up again, guess I could have your socials or something?” She quickly realized her eyes might incriminate herself and immediately looked at Hong-jin. “Or yours. Anyone, really, if we’re all hanging out next time.”

Dominik only stood, hesitant to take her phone as she offered it. “I don’t really have social media. But I suppose I can give you my number.”

Perhaps it was a good thing that neither of them saw Hong-jin twist his face in wry amusement over what Dominik just said.

She opened the phone app and handed her phone to Dominik, who typed in his number. She gestured to Hong-jin to type in his social media handles, which she followed right after.

“All right,” she said gleefully after pocketing her phone, “Guess we’ll chat around when we can. It was nice meeting you both.”

The other two nodded and smiled in agreement before saying goodbye to her again.

She bought lunch soon after, then after a hearty meal, she settled her things on the bed, and opened her phone to look at one of the newly saved contacts.

Dominik Brunner.

Pretty name, she mused. As odd as it felt for her to fixate on the details of someone she just met, she admitted that she liked how he seemed pretty outgoing underneath the timid front. She allowed the soft, warm glow slowly to creep up on her cheeks, silently savoring that small win she had for the day.

. . .

Also posted on Ao3. Hope you liked this fic!

Translations:

Verzeihung! - Excuse me!/Sorry! Hallo, sprechen Sie Englisch? - Hello, do you speak English? Aish, i mossol… - Aish [interjection for frustration or slight anger], this mossol [slang, someone who has never had a boyfriend or girlfriend] Oh wow, danke! Du bist der Hammer! - Oh wow, thanks! You're the best! Gago - [offensive], jerk/bastard

[the-californicationist]

Goldfish (SanSan AU) - 2/8

Warnings: descriptions of abuse, canon-mentioned abuse and domestic violence, mention of ramsay bolton, modern au, oral and vaginal sex

The sight of her red hair cracked him open like a rotten egg, and all manner of thoughts came tumbling out of him. He’d heard about her court case. Over the years, it had been hard on him to witness little bits and pieces of her life floating around him like ash in the air. If he had wanted to reach out to her, to touch her, to intervene in her life at all, the ash would have melted into his skin and stained his fingers black, and it would be his fault, so he never did. Even now, he was immobilized by her. Sandor Clegane stood there on the path, staring at her through the filthy, cracked bar window, mute and frozen. Sandor wondered for a moment if this was how it felt to meet Medusa’s gaze. He was a pawn to her regal power.

The Seven had created Sansa Stark with their most delicate of instruments. Her soft skin gleamed like a pearl, and those pretty almond eyes held the cold grey threat of her wolf inside of them. But, it was her hair that he coveted the most. Orange and gold flames framed her serious face, burning in long tendrils and floating as the wind plucked them from her nape. Sandor still feared fire, but he wanted to feel the tips of her flames as she leaned that body over him, feeling her soft locks dragging over his chest. Sometimes, when he dreamed, she was dressed in red, covered in red light, the red of her hair gleaming around her like a halo. Like horns.

She was not the little girl he had once guarded under Joffrey’s psychopathic command. He’d given up body-guarding for rich kids long ago, and she had certainly grown out of needing one. She’d been reborn like a phoenix, and that tore Sandor apart. All her innocence had been twisted and mauled by the Bolton bastard’s deathrolls, trying to take her down with him as his family fell into ruin. But, no one spoke of Boltons anymore. Nor Lannisters. The Starks had rewritten history. She had eradicated them.

The Hound could feel his old rage frothing at the surface of his skin, flushing his cheeks pink, making his hands itch to have blood on them again. She should never have been fed to those monsters. Where was he when they took her? When they violated her? His red valkyrie. She had needed him and he wasn’t there.

So, she’d taken care of Ramsay herself, hadn’t she? His pretty little wolf girl had fed her sadistic husband to her hounds. The irony was not lost on him. Sandor wished he had been collared and chained inside of Sansa’s kennel. Full of shame, he admitted to himself that he’d have eaten any number of men if it meant that she’d pet him and tell him what a good boy he was. He’d lay at her feet and lick whatever bone she wanted to toss behind the iron bars.

He needed to get his shit together. What the fuck was he doing, just standing there, looming over her through this filthy glass? Sandor ripped off the suffocating helmet and locked it onto the bike, tucking his gloves into the hole behind the seat. Trying not to look too eager, he turned toward the entrance and pulled open the heavy door.

She stood and moved to greet him. Any air of aloof surprise was abandoned as he felt her lithe arms envelope him beneath his jacket, resting her cheek on his chest.

“Sandor,” she said.

It was the only thing she said. But he heard it echo for eons in his mind. He was filled with insecurities; his fucked up face, his smell, the sweat on his skin, his hulking body. None of it was worthy of her attention. It was certainly not as valuable as that gorgeous little prayer she had sent out to him in the form of his name just now. He felt like he had been shot. Again.

He hugged her back. Well, his arms hugged her back. He was brainless and stupid. But it had been a reflex. Wanting to protect her, to shield her from things that had already happened. He wanted to squeeze her hard enough that time would walk backwards with them held together so she could be a girl again and he could stop her from falling into the sharp claws of other men.

She pulled back, smiling,

“Gods! It has been years, hasn’t it? How are you? I’m so glad you’re here.”

She was too friendly. Was it fake? Had her cunning now been used against him? Would she feed him to her dogs so that his flesh and blood could seep into the ground with Ramsay’s? He furrowed his brow, trying to decide how to play his cards when she had already won the game.

“Won’t you come sit down? Have a drink with me,” she asked him. He looked down at her and met her eyes. She was looking for something in him, and Sandor wasn’t sure if he had it. Disappointed, she turned her gaze away having come up empty, “I mean, if you have time, that is. I’m sure you’re meeting someone. I didn’t mean -”

“No,” he said, stopping her from tearing herself apart in front of him, “I’d like that, little bird.”

Her smile was his reward. Following her as if on a lead, he sat in the rickety chair across from her and gave her sister a polite nod. Arya was stuck at the bar and drinking with a ragtag crowd of mutts, all vying for her attention. Sandor had always thought Arya would have killed the Bolton boy herself. Discovering that her primrose of a sister had been more ruthless than anyone could have imagined was beyond comprehension.

“It’s good to see you, little bird,” he drank a huge burning gulp of whisky and shook his head, “You look well.”

She took a deep drink as well, keeping her eyes on him, a sly smile on her lips,

“I’m not. Well, that is. I’m actually the opposite of well. I am…it has been hard. Lately.”

“I heard.”

Her grey eyes locked onto his at that admission. Her expression was a true mix of fear and relief. Sandor leaned back in his seat, continuing,

“I’ve never read a more beautiful fucking headline. You are so…”

What was he going to say? You are so…delicious and full of the right kind of sweet sin that I want to devour you right here in this nasty little pub? That you are so…welcome to peel my flesh from my bones and open me up to lick me clean? You are so…often in my dreams and in my nightmares and in my mind as I fist my cock and chase my come that your image is seared into my head like a hot iron brand? He finished his sentence,

“You are so brave for what they say you didn’t do.”

A mirrored shine hinted at the corners of her eyes and she finally relented to his gaze, staring down at the stained table. She pulled her mouth tight against her teeth and said, just loud enough to get over the raucous music,

“Thank you, Sandor. I wish…I wish that I...never mind. What have you been doing now?”

They talked for hours, rushing to fill in the gaps that each other had missed. He’d only seen her as an adult a few times in his life, and it had always been like this - a mad dash to color in the blank pages. He wasn’t sure either of them could articulate why it mattered that they catch each other up. He’d never wanted to share any information with anyone else about his life like this, and he certainly didn’t want to hear about it from those idiots. It was almost comical to imagine Tormund over-sharing with him or begging for details as Sansa Stark was doing now, shamelessly.

Arya had come to sit with them for a while and was typing furiously on her phone. It kept pinging. Sansa looked over her shoulder,

“Do you need to go?”

Arya looked a little guilty,

“No, I’m fine.”

“Arya,” Sansa smiled, “Go. I’ll be fine. I’ll get a cab back into the city.”

“No,” Sandor spoke out of turn, “I’ll take you.”

“On your bike?” Arya raised her eyebrows as high as they would go, shocked that her sister would allow such a thing.

“It’ll be fine,” Sansa took a sip of her scotch, “I’ve ridden on bikes before. No big deal.”

Whose bike had she been on? Sandor bristled, his jealousy rising up out of the grave in which he’d buried it alive years ago. Whose waist had she held tightly around corners? Whose helmet had a stray red hair woven into the black fabric inside? A souvenir.

Arya shrugged,

“Alright, I’m off, then. You know where the keys are at. Let yourself in, Sans. Don’t wait up.”

With a saucy little wink, she drank the rest of her glass and left them there, prisoner to each other.

“You know,” Sandor flung himself off of whatever tightrope he had been walking, “I’ve got way better scotch at my place. You know what makes it so good?”

She was leaning towards him, hanging on his words, sure that he would reveal some magic that she had not yet discovered. She shook her head,

“No, what makes it good?”

Sandor smiled like a fox with a hen in its mouth,

“It’s free.”

She gave him a true laugh, and he bathed in it. She nodded, knowing she’d been had. They picked up their coats and headed outside.

“So, you know all about riding motorbikes with strange, ugly men, do you?” He handed her his helmet and swung a leg over the side, settling in and putting on his gloves.

She shook her head no, choosing now, in the cool, misty night to confess to him,

“No, I just told her that so she’d leave.”

“Seven hells,” he said under his breath, too quiet for her to hear him, “C’mon then. And hold on tight.”

Her hands searched around for a place to hold, finally deciding to snake their way under his jacket and down onto the waist of his pants, hooking her thumbs between the belt and the leather fabric. His skin crawled beneath her grasp like millions of locusts were screaming underneath, clawing their way out. Sandor’s blood rushed into his core, heading straight to his cock at the promise of her fingers raking across his hips, gripping his ribs, kneading him, needing him.

“Is this okay?” She asked.

Sandor didn’t answer. His mind was too loud with need and anticipation. He just started up the bike and headed east.

[positronic-tribadist]

does your bike have a name? I bet you wear your older sisters handmedown helmet when riding her

she's too wild and free for a name. I have to summon her with a horn, and she only comes when she wants to. And you're right actually, I do still wear an old hand-me-down. I should probably replace it... I have no idea how old it is