#and thanks again for the compliments! made my day xoxo | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

reiderwriter · 1 year

Text

Everyone Looks Better in a Sundress

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader (GN + AFAB)

Summary: The AC at the BAU decides to take a holiday during a summer heatwave, and when you decide the FBI’s dress code is merely a suggestion, you unwittingly catch Spencer’s eye.

Genre: smut (18+, minors DNI)

Warnings: Dom!Spencer, sub!reader, semi-public sex, fingering, car sex, degradation, name-calling, edging, praise-kink, dumbification, basically Spencer is a tease and the reader really gets off on using his official title.

Word Count: 3.8k

Authors Note: Hello! This is my first posted fic, so any feedback is welcome and absolutely appreciated (I tried to keep it GN!AFAB but if you notice any gendered pronouns pls lmk immediately!) I finally decided to start writing again after a few years, so I might be a bit rusty but I recently started rewatching Criminal Minds and I am so in love with Spencer! This little fic was inspired by @imagining-in-the-margins CM Summer Sunshine Fic Challenge, so big thank you to them for the inspiration! This could also develop into a multi part fic in the future, so if that’s something you’d be interested in, please let me know in the tags and comments! XOXO K

Part two!

After three years in the BAU, you should know that summers in Quantico, Virginia are nothing to play about. Sure, it could be cloudy sometimes, and summer rain did allow for some relief, but with a heatwave on the way and a week of office work ahead of you, it seemed every member of your team was excited for the office AC.

That was, of course, until the maintenance department sent out an office-wide email telling you it was “undergoing work” for the foreseeable future.

You received the email during your commute, and immediately turned around to change. There was no way you were surviving in your slacks and long-sleeve shirt, and, truth be told, you knew that your bosses wouldn’t mind if you were a little more relaxed in your workplace attire if you weren’t going to be spending time in the field.

It took all of thirty seconds to shoot a message to Garcia, telling her that you’d be a few minutes late for your daily carpool, letting her know the situation so she didn’t hack into your car GPS (which she still claims she absolutely did not do the last time you accidentally slept in, but would in an emergency just to know you were safe).

She quickly sent you a reply: “put on that floral number we picked up last week! Between you and Morgan, I'm hoping my eyes will be feasting today 😉.”

You let out a little chuckle as you read the message, and quickly complied. A sundress didn’t sound too bad right now at all.

The dress in question was perhaps pushing it slightly for office work. It was short, and you knew immediately when putting it on that you would spend the day pulling it down to a more appropriate length. But the shade of blue fit your skintone perfectly, and the floaty material was exactly what you needed to beat the heat.

Grabbing your keys again before you could second guess yourself, you didn’t let your mind linger quickly on the thought that perhaps the dress was a little attention grabbing. And perhaps there was someone in the office whose attention you wanted to grab.

-X-

The commute into the office wasn’t bad, but stepping out of your nicely temperature regulated car into a wall of heat made you thank yourself for your foresight. And it seemed that the rest of your team was dealing similarly. Walking into the office, you noticed that Prentiss had divested herself of her shirt, sitting comfortably with an iced coffee and red tank top, an electric fan inches from her face. Morgan was similarly outfitted in lighter clothes than usual, and you could audibly hear Penelope’s brain working to come up with the best heat related compliment for her work husband. You couldn’t see Hotch or Rossi, but you knew they kept their own back-up units in their offices, so they wouldn’t be struggling at all today. You assumed JJ, too, was in her office.

“Well, look at you Cutie. You’re gonna break some hearts today, I know.” You roll your eyes as you throw your bag down. You were used to Morgan’s playful teasing by now, but compliments and affirmations were always welcome. You grimaced looking down at your desk chair and realised you had another problem. Your very recent purchase of a black leather office chair was going to absolutely make your day a living hell. Before you resigned yourself to a day of sitting in the orthopedic seventh layer of hell, your heard the angelic call of your office BFF.

“It feels like the devil’s armpit in here, god, do not expect an miracles from me today, I’m collecting my laptop and immediately moving away from all the heavy heat-producing machinery in my cave. Anyone got any space at their desk for me to work at?”

“Yes!” You replied a little too quickly.

“Feel free to make yourself at home, Pen, I have to look over some files with Reid later anyways so I’ll just pull up a spare chair to his desk, it’s all yours.” You thanked your lucky stars that everyone was too hot to tease you about your imminent proximity to the office’s Boy Wonder.

It turns out hiding a small, tiny, stupid crush from a team of FBI profilers wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but you were confident in thinking the only one who had clocked on so far was Penelope. And that was only because of your weekly girls nights and an unfortunate habit of spilling secrets while intoxicated. Sure, the others still teased sometimes, but that was only because the two of you were the easiest targets. And they just didn’t know how on the nose they were sometimes.

She gave you a quick look, of the ‘we will be discussing this later’ variety but didn’t say anything else and quickly excused herself to collect her things.

You quickly pulled up a (non-leather) chair next to Reid’s and straightened out your dress as you started searching for the file you were looking for. Although you absolutely had an ulterior motive to intruding on his space, you actually did have work to do. But the heat, and the knowledge that you’d be working closely with Reid again any minute now did nothing to help you stay focused.

Of course, having worked on the same team now for three years meant that you’d been alone together before. In all honestly, he was your partner of choice for any field task and you complimented each other well. The two of you worked together on Geographical Profiles for the majority of your cases, using your people skills, and his practical knowledge to gain insight into the locations unsubs lived, worked, murdered and hid their victims. And of course, you were friends outside the office, too. But you felt there was a distance between the two of you that made itself known the minute you stepped off the Jet or out of the bullpen.

As you searched the desk, you let your mind wander to what he would look like in this heat. You knew he didn’t deal with the heat well, and could often be found with his shirt sleeves rolled up and top buttons undone on the cases in the warmer climates. You thought about him panting in the heat, pushing his hair out of his face, glistening with sweat and grumbling quietly about the heat. You specifically thought back to a case from a few weeks back, where the two of you had an awkward run-in with an automatic sprinkler when you made your way to interview a witness. His purple shirt had ended up soaked, and on day six of the investigation, his go bag was thankfully short of replacement clothing. So he’d sat in the precinct, shirt semi-transluscent, completely oblivious to your brazen oggling and sudden lack of anything intellectual to say. Or anything to say in general.

It was only as you felt yourself getting warmer (a particularly impressive feat on today of all day’s) that you had to pull yourself out of the fantasy. But of course, as you stood up to get yourself a cool drink, you realised you were face to face with the man of your fantasies.

“Y/N? Did you need something?” He looked down at you, with a soft smile on his face.

“Oh! No, it was Garcia, she, um, she needed somewhere to work because her office is practically a sauna with all those computers. And I was thinking, we still need to work on that report on the geographical profile from the last case, so I offered her…my…” You trailed off, noticing you were rambling and allowed yourself a second to look at the man in front of you properly for the first time that day.

It was going to be a miracle if you got any work done ever again.

Like you, he’d opted for a change in uniform. He’d rid himself of his usual waistcoat-cardigan combo and was left in a button down shirt. It was, as you’d hoped and prayed, open slightly more than usual at the top. You frowned unconsciously as you realised he had also pushed his shirt sleeves up to his elbows, unhappy that you wouldn’t get to watch him do it in-person, his veins popping out as he exerted himself in the smallest way.

A few seconds of silence passed, and you had to make yourself tear your eyes away from a droplet of sweat that was neatly making its way down his throat, tracing a line that you could only hope to one day follow with your lips. When you snapped your eyes up to his, he nervously did the same, gripping his bag a little tighter to him.

“Oh, yeah that sounds good, um, let me just put my bag down and we can, uh, get started I guess.”

“Yeah of course. I was just gonna grab a drink first, do you want one?”

“Sure, yeah, a coffee would be good.”

“Okay, I’m no expert but that cannot be healthy in this heat. I know you’re practically a caffeine addict at this point, but I’m getting you a glass of water and you’re going to thank me, okay Doctor?”

He rolled his eyes and settled comfortably into his seat, but made no complaints as you walked away.

-X-

“This is ridiculous, how can they expect us to work like this?” Agent Prentiss grumbled from her desk.

“Oh, come on now, Prentiss, you can’t be complaining about a little heat, now.”

You rolled your eyes at your coworkers playful back-and-forth, doing your best to not melt into your borrowed seat. You’d been working side-by-side with Reid for the last three hours and the heat was now unbearable. You were stuck to the seat in an uncomfortable way, especially with the extra exposed skin from your dress. It had ridden up your legs more than you expected it would, so you were constantly shifting in your seat attempting to keep yourself decent.

The heat rolling off your teammate didn’t help. You had assumed that his love of cardigans, scarves and layers in general meant that he usually ran on the cooler side, but he was practically burning up next to you, making any and all accidental touch near intolerable.

Each accidental brush of his fingers as you passed files between the two of you, each knock of your knees together under the desk as you moved to read over one-anothers shoulders, and every time you got up for another drink, it’s like he’s read your mind because he stood up at the same time and you had to awkwardly untangle yourself from the mess of desk chairs and office furniture. With every touch, you feel yourself getting hotter and hotter, the heat pooling between your legs embarrassingly.

It’s only when, later in the day, he brushes the seam of your skirt with his fingers when reaching over you with his other hand for a file you know for a fact he does not need, you realise that all of those accidental touches may have been absolutely intentional.

Lowering your voice to a whisper, you bring your lips closer to his ears.”Spence, what was that?” You try to keep your voice steady, but his fingers are stil lingering closer to your sensitive areas than you found comfortable.

He drops his eyes to yours, looking you in the eye for the first time since you started working together in a comfortable silence.

“What was what?” He asks innocently, his cheeks flushes as he starts drawing small circles on your thigh.

“You’re touching me. You’ve been touching me a lot today, Doctor.”

“Oh, I’m Doctor now, am I?” He smiles at you before quickly moving his attention back to the file he was reading.

“Don’t change the subject.” You feel your whole body flush, as he ignores you and continues his reading, not removing his hand from your leg the entire time.

“S-Spencer, I’m serious.” He looks at you again then, and your heart jumps into your throat as you realise he’s removed his hand from the hem of your skirt, only to have it return under the material, moving closer and closer to where you really wanted him.

“You know,” he whispers under his breath, so quiet you’re sure that no one could overhear, “you look really pretty in this dress.”

Your brain is short circuiting as you feel his hand on your inner thigh, failing to register the implication of his words as you do your best to stammer out a reply.

“A-actually, Garcia chose it out for me. She said that you would-” you cut yourself off before you can say anymore. You’re surrounded by a room of your close friends and teammates and you’re doing your best not to beg your incredibly attractive coworker to push his fingers into you right then and there. Biting your lip so you don’t say anything else, you try to stand and shift away.

But Reid is there, and with his other hand he maneouvers you even closer to him somehow.

“She said I would what, beautiful?”

He’s so close now and you find yourself again staring at his exposed neck, wanting nothing more than to bury your head in him and kiss and lick and bite until he gives you what you want. The little circles he’s drawing on your legs are removing your inhibitions quicker than any alcohol could.

But then he grips you a little tighter, and forces you to look up into his eyes again and respond.

“She said that you would, uh, she said that you would’nt be able to take your eyes off of me. We were shopping together and she was just teasing and, well, yeah.”

“All dressed up for me, then? You thought you’d test the theory and see if she was right?”

And suddenly he’s ghosting his fingers across your panties and you’re doing your best to not make any other noises as he looks you deep in your eyes.

“Do you think she was right, Y/N?” He asks. But before your brain can catch up and choose whether or not to answert, he’s pulling away. He’s standing up and he’s walking over to Morgan, file in hand, asking questions about another previous case file, and you’re left sitting at his desk questioning if any of that actually just happened.

-X-

You spent the rest of the day in a daze. Luckily, your team was so busy complaining about the heat that you were sure none of them noticed the tension you carried through the rest of your day. With the AC still not working, Garcia had gained permission from Hotch to head back to her own apartment to finish up the day with more appropriate equipment, and had quickly evacuated your desk, allowing you to retreat back to your own space.

Emily had finished her own paperwork early due to a well-timed bet with Morgan, and had taken herself off to JJ’s office, and Morgan was meeting with Hotch in his office to discuss a potential death row intervew. So with the end of the workday in sight, only you and Reid remained in the bullpen.

After your little run in, you knew that you weren’t going to get any effective work done. Emily had once joked that Reid’s high IQ gets slashed to 60 every time he comes in contact with an attractive woman. At the time, you’d laughed, joked along. Nowthat it was your reality, it wasn’t as funny to you.

He’d played with you, called you beautiful, had his hands on you in the most frustratingly dizzying way- and then just as soon walked away from you. It wasn’t as if you wanted him to take you right then and there, in front of the entire office.

In fact, you’re quite sure that no matter how horny you were, you’d have stopped him before he went any further that publically. But you weren’t as sure you wouldn’t have dragged him off to a supply closet and forced him down on his knees and under your skirt.

To be short, you were pissed. He had left you, hot and bothered, on a day where you literally could get no relief from the heat.

You watched him work for a while after that. His desk faced away from yours, which meant you could covertly watch him whilst he worked and he would be none the wiser. After catching yourself staring a hole into the back of his head for the fifth time in an hour, you grunted out a curse and started packing your things up for the day. Unfortunately, you were just loud enough to catch the man’s attention.

“Leaving so soon, princess?”

“Yes. It’s hot and I’m tired and I just want to go home and take a cold shower and get into bed.” You started packing your things up again, but you quickly noticed that Spencer was doing the same.

“Are you leaving as well?” You asked, your stomach doing a small flip in apprehension of his answer.

“Yeah. I’m also hot, and tired and a cold shower sounds amazing right about now.”

You flushed at even the slightest change of a double meaning. Did he want to shower with you? Was he really going to step over that line?

He continued to pack up his things calmly, and you did the same. You walked towards the elevator, and it wasnt until he reached from behind you to press the call button that you realised he was so closely following you.

“And besides, your bed sounds amazing right about now.” The hairs on your neck stood up as he whispered into your ear, his hot breath fanning against your neck as you felt heat pool between your legs for the second time that day. You froze up like a deer in headlights, and as the elevator dinged open, you felt Spencer walk you in, press the button, and close the door before making his next move.

“You didn’t answer me earlier, you know? When I asked about the dress? Do you think Garcia was right?” He had crowded you into one corner of the elevator, and your brain was still short-circuiting. Shit, maybe you were the one whose IQ was cut in half, because the man in front of you seemed more confident than you had ever seen him before.

His placed his hands on the guard rail either side of you, as one of his legs found its way between yours and you let out a small whimper, then cursed yourself when you saw the smirk growing on his face.

“Come on, Princess, use your words.” He teased again.

“She wasn’t right.” You breathed out. “You looked at me a few times, but nothing too long and nothing…inappropriate, but-”

“But what?” He pushed his leg further into you, moving his hands to grip the fabric at our waist, and suddenly you were counting your blessings that no other agent in the building had decided to use the elevator right now.

“But you can’t keep your hands off of me.” His lips crashed into yours the second you finished your sentence, as you desperately grabbed at his hair, desperate to feel more and more of him against you despite the sticky heat.

He pulled away reluctantly as the elevator came to a stop in the basement carpark, but you still desperately clung to him, pressing kisses into his jaw and down his neck as you breathed in the scent of his sweat on his skin. Your words had failed you, but your body was desperate to communicate exactly what you needed.

He chuckled as he pulled you off of him, stroking your hair as he pulled you to your car. Opening the passenger side door for you and taking the keys from your bag, he placed a kiss to your temple, pulling away only enough to whisper into your ear. ”Which one of us can’t keep their hands off the other now?”

You were hot and delirious and you were not going to interrupt him now. He climbed into the driver’s seat, something you knew he didn’t do often, and placed his hand on your leg again as he drove.

“Spread your legs,” he ordered as soon as you were far enough away from the building. You complied immediately, not wanting to interrupt anything the man might do to you. “Good girl,” he mumbled as he immediately picked up where he left off earlier, rubbing your sensitive nub through your underwear. Your dress was pushed up now

“You know, Garcia was right” he spoke again, his fingers snaking their way under the elastic of your underwear. You could only moan in surprise, desperately close to getting exactly what you wanted.

“I have been staring at you this whole day. You came in this short dress, practically on display for anyone to see.” His fingers were now slowly circling your clit, going torturously slowly as you bucked up your hips for some much needed friction.

“When you got me that glass of water, I followed you, you know. Watched you reach for the glass on the top shelf, saw your skirt riding up. We’re you so desperate for me to notice you that you put yourself on display for the entire office like a little whore?” You moaned in surprise as his words registered in your mind.

You tried to reply, to deny and protest your innocence, but he chose that minute to thrust a finger into you, the awkward angle forced by your position in the car creating a beautiful friction. You started rocking your hips quicker against his hand, opening yourself up to him fully, and grabbing his wrist so he couldn’t pull away for a third time that day.

“You can’t even deny it, Look at you using my hand to get yourself off. Are you gonna come for me? Gonna do it right here in your car?” You moan out a yes as he adds another finger, stretching you out further as you whimper around him.

“Fuck, yes Spence, I’m a whore, your little whore.” You feel that familiar coil in the bottom of your stomach tighten and soon your releasing yourself all over his hands. Gasping for air, your head falls back on the passenger seat, and you release your grip on Spencer’s hands.

“Good job, princess, you did so well for me. We’re almost home now, let’s get you in that shower.” You whimper a little, nodding as you allow your brain to settle once again, completely comfortable with letting Spencer take control and do whatever he needs to do with you for the rest of the night.

-X-

#spencer reid #criminal minds #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid x reader #Criminal minds fandom #criminal minds fanfiction #Criminal minds fic #Spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid smut #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid x y/n #Spencer reid x you #spencer reid x self insert #Spencer reid x oc #Spencer reid drabble #spencer reid blurb #spencer reid imagine #Criminal minds smut #maturereiding

8K notes · View notes

kamaluhkhan · 26 days

Text

LONG HOT SUMMER NIGHT

pairing: luke castellan x fem!poseidon!reader word count: 8.4k chapter summary: it's the summer solstice and olympus is throwing a party! thalia notices the tension between you and luke, poseidon gives you some relationship advice and you punch the god of desire in the face. warnings: angst! jealous reader. lots of drinking. complicated relationships. reader dealing with ptsd + survivor's guilt (post-titan war). mention of injuries + blood. creepy guy pushing reader to hook up. ending is a bit steamy but no actual smut. spoilers for the entire pjo (book) series. no betrayal (au where chris was the one who sided w kronos and led the titan army) so slightly ooc luke <3 also reader is in a band called the midnight sirens and is born on the summer solstice! author's note: thank you so much for all the love for part 1!! summer is almost over and this is very much a summer series BUT summer's not over yet !!! hope y'all enjoy this one too and thanks 4 reading 💙

part 1 | series masterlist

♪: long hot summer night by jimi hendrix

mail to:

Luke Castellan Camp Half-Blood, Half-Blood Hill 3.141 Farm Road Long Island, New York 11954

LUKE!

I’m sitting in my kitchen right now, watching Percy make us blue blueberry pancakes and hoping he doesn’t burn down my kitchen while doing so. I caved and agreed to take him to Disneyland while he’s here and breakfast was part of the deal, but I think I might regret it later.

We went surfing yesterday. It was Percy’s first time, but he was (unsurprisingly) amazing at it. I still can’t get over how beautiful the beaches are and the waves — gods, the waves are unreal. You’d seriously love it here. It’s like every day is summer. You have to come visit. PLEASE come visit!!!!

- [your initial]

P.S. The band and I are working on some new music, which means I won’t make it to camp again this summer. I’m sorry ;( Fingers crossed I’ll make it next year.

P.P.S. hi luke! happy to report that i did not burn down my sister’s kitchen. anyways, can’t wait to kick your ass in sword-fighting this summer. xoxo, percy

THREE YEARS LATER

the first time you visited olympus, you had been sent on a quest to retrieve zeus’ stolen lightning bolt, bringing luke and charles beckendorf along with you. you had missed the summer solstice deadline, but still tried to reason with the king of the gods when presenting the symbol of power, maybe calling him out once or twice along the way. before zeus could strike you down for your boldness, poseidon stepped in. the war between them was averted in fear of a much larger, looming threat; an ominous introduction for what was to come in the next chapter of your life.

another time, the gods debated whether or not they should kill you, some seeing you as a threat to their future. that was the day you accepted your destiny, not wanting your brother percy or your cousin nico to deal with the weight of the great prophecy.

your last visit to olympus was on your 18th birthday, after helping to defeat kronos and his army. you made the gods swear to stop neglecting their kids and to allow all demigods, regardless of whether their parent was an olympian or not, to have a home at camp half-blood; to treat their children as children rather than heroes as pawns in their twisted games.

needless to say, it’s quite strange, being back here under very, very different circumstances, where the gods invited camp half-blood’s senior counsellors and staff to join in their summer solstice festivities.

it’s not every day you’ll be invited to a party on olympus; you’re determined to have a good time, to have fun. there’s already an abundance of music, dancing, food, or alcohol, and the night is just getting started.

you’re happy to be there with new and old friends, but you’re ecstatic when you see that thalia grace is there, too.

“immortality looks good on you, t!” you compliment, raising your voice slightly over the music.

thalia preens, and you bask in her silver glow.

“bet you wish you took the gods up on their offer, huh,” she teases. then, her eyes widen. “oh - shit! it’s your birthday! happy birthday!”

thalia tackles you with another hug; even after all these years, she still smells like pine trees. she grabs two goblets of honeyed wine and hands one to you as you catch up. you eagerly gulp the sweet drink, until you’re reaching for another while listening to her stories about adventures she’d been on with the hunters of artemis.

about halfway through her story about fighting off a manticore during a snow storm, a nymph appears with a platter of the ripest of fruit – sweet plums and fresh figs, tantalising pomegranates, succulent grapes and crisp apples.

“oh my gods, this is the best apple i’ve had in my entire life!” thalia exclaims after indulging in a taste, herself giddy from a few goblets of wine. “where’s luke? he’s gotta try this — he’s always reminding us to eat more fruit. luke!”

you hadn’t kept track of luke, at least not on purpose. you assumed he’d been off partying with van or his siblings, and, probably, avoiding you. wherever he was, thalia calls his name twice more and, like a ghost, luke appears.

“i’m here, t.” luke’s voice is a deep, steady rumble floating above the music. his cheeks are slightly flushed, either from the heat or the drinks. likely both. “what’s up?”

“you need to try this.” thalia shoves the apple in his mouth before luke can respond.

luke takes a bite, and some juice drips down his chin. you, in a honey-soaked haze, think about running your tongue over to catch it, but he beats you to it, wiping it away with the back of his hand.

probably for the best.

“holy shit. yeah, it’s good.”

thalia, a sparkle in her eyes, urges you to try it as well. from across the makeshift triangle the three of you had formed, luke tosses the apple your way. you catch it effortlessly, and sink your teeth into it.

you’ve almost overwhelmed by the burst of flavor. the fruit is just the right amount of tart to balance out the sweetness, and it’s damn near the best crunch you’ve ever experienced.

“good is an understatement,” you say after another bite. a distant memory crosses your mind. “i wonder if these are the same ones we almost got killed by a hellhound for.”

thalia shakes her head, laughing in disbelief. “all because luke said we needed more vitamin c.”

“i was just looking out for us!” luke guffaws. “how was i supposed to know that persephone owned an apple orchard in connecticut?”

you pat his shoulder, the three of you smiling at the memory. “let’s call it an honest mistake.”

“well if annabeth had been with us by then, i’m sure that she wouldn’t have made that same honest mistake.”

“okay, but she’s the daughter of athena —”

you let luke and thalia slip back into their playful bickering as if no time has passed. you listen and continue eating that glorious apple, enjoying how the golden glow of your shared past fills whatever distance might have grown between the three of you.

somewhere down memory lane, luke’s amber eyes flick towards you.

“hey, you’ve got some….” without another word, luke suddenly reaches over to brush away a trail of juice with his thumb before sticking the finger in his mouth to savour the taste. he holds your gaze as he does so, and you feel a familiar kind of heat rush through your body — not from alcohol or summer sun, but from luke.

it’s such an intimate gesture that you almost forget that you’re at some extravagant party on mount olympus, where gods and half-bloods and a whole bunch of other mythological creatures are celebrating the start of summer by essentially getting drunk together, until thalia clears her throat.

“okay, well, seems like the two of you might want some alone time.”

luke’s cheeks grow more flushed than before, and his eyes widen as if realizing what he’d done.

“oh, we don’t need —”

“we’re not —”

you and luke both stumble over your words; thalia just smiles knowingly.

“i’m gonna go flirt with that nymph,” she announces, pointing across the grand marble pavilion.

“i thought — doesn’t artemis sort of frown upon that sort of thing?” you ask.

“she makes exceptions on holidays. besides, i’m her favourite. you guys have fun.” thalia winks at you and walks away.

you glance at luke and, gods, there’s so much history between you.

the time you jumped into an ocean full of sirens to save luke from drowning? you have a scar running down your forearm where one of them scratched you as you struggled to get luke towards the surface.

or when you took turns holding up the sky while on a quest to save lady artemis and defeat the titan atlas? it’s evident in the matching streaks of grey that you each have running through your hair. whenever you see your reflection in the mirror, you remember how you couldn’t save your cousin bianca di angelo earlier that day, and how nico has had to grow up without a sister because of a promise you broke.

how about when you, luke, and one of your best friends were sent on a mission to destroy the princess andromeda, the headquarters of kronos’ army? only the two of you survived, and sometimes you can still feel luke squeezing your hand pike he did during charles beckendorf’s burial shroud ceremony while you both cried.

or when luke took a sword between the ribs for you because he, somehow, knew the one spot the curse of achilles left you vulnerable? he can only slouch for so long before the bones there start to ache.

so, yeah. there’s way too much history, and so many tangled threads, and now really isn’t an ideal time to unravel it all.

“i’m gonna go find my dad,” you blurt out and disappear into the crowd with no real intention of finding your father.

the once sweet apple now tastes rotten on your tongue; you rid yourself of it in exchange for some more wine. you’re determined to have fun — no pain or heartache or grief.

you’ve all had enough of that for three lifetimes.

summer — age 14

“sorry your birthday was ruined.”

luke exhaled sharply when you pressed a disinfectant-soaked cloth to the wound on his leg.

“hold still,” was all you mumbled in response, brows knitted together as you wrapped the cut in gauze.

once you were done with his leg, you moved on to luke’s hands, burned by poisonous acid. the four of you had run into a hydra earlier that night. you managed to wound it enough so you could all get away, but not before a few injuries were sustained.

you were uncharacteristically quiet as you worked. you only met luke’s gaze to warn him before pouring some nectar on his wounds. you let luke hold your hand, tightly, as the liquid dripped through his fingers and down to yours, first right, then left. the pain was instant, seering almost as much as the hydra acid, but it was over quickly. the last thing you did was bandage each hand before getting up.

“i’m…i’m gonna check on thalia and annabeth. i’ll take first watch.”

luke caught your hand before you got away.

“wait. you’re bleeding.” he pointed to the cut on your brow. you had been so preoccupied in making sure everyone else was safe that you let crimson liquid drip down your face. it probably stung, too, based on your grimace.

luke wiped away the blood with his sleeve, used nectar to disinfect the wound, and dressed it with a fresh bandage, working silently as you did.

“it’s still your birthday,” luke finally said once he was done. “you get some rest; i’ll take first watch.”

you gave him a small, strained smile before checking on the others.

later that night, you stayed up with luke anyways.

seemingly out of nowhere, you handed him your portable cassette player. luke stared at it for a moment, unwilling to comprehend just what you were offering and, more importantly, why.

you and luke had grown accustomed to sharing things: flannels, socks, makeshift beds and scavenged food. but this —

it was your aunt’s.

you never met your mother, who’d left you as a baby, and of course, poseidon was too busy tending to his underwater kingdom to step in as a parent. your aunt raised you as her own. and then you lost her, too.

you kept her cassette player buried deep in your bag with some mixtapes she had made and ones you’d stolen throughout the years. when it wasn’t your turn to keep watch, luke would sometimes catch you with headphones on, looking up at the stars.

luke liked to think he knew you well; all those subtle elements that made you — the crack of your knuckles, the cadence of your voice, the slope of your nose, the dreams of your childhood. engraved in his own personhood. bones and all.

and, still: he didn’t know you, not entirely.

you’d only allowed luke to listen with you once, maybe twice. he’d never forget what it was like: knees pressed together and heads just as close to keep the wires from stretching too far; you gushing about the magic of jimi hendrix, recounting memories that echoed through gentle guitar riffs; luke yearning for one more song to play, for another a wistful smile of yours to appear. luke, wishing to linger in your private oasis a beat longer before you pushed him out again and closed the door behind him.

the one lock luke couldn’t crack: your grief, and how you carried on so buoyantly despite its weight.

well, there you were, presenting the key to luke as an offering. a sacrifice for something luke would never ask of you.

“this….” luke swallowed the lump in his throat, refusing to look at you. he turned the device over in his bandaged hands, the metal smooth, though well-worn. “you can’t just —”

leave. you can’t just leave. you can’t just —

“hey.”

your hand over his, forcing him to stop spiralling and look at you.

right away, luke regretted it. a small sliver of him, however delusional, had hoped that you were joking.

you weren’t. behind you, there was an empty space where you had previously wedged your sleeping bag. your backpack was already strapped around your shoulders, fully packed.

“i need to leave, luke. we can’t stay together. it’s too dangerous.”

“you don’t need to —”

“there’s more of us, now,” you interrupted, pulling your hand away to rest on your thigh. “four demigods together isn’t ideal. we’ve been attracting more monsters. more deadly monsters.”

“that would happen, anyways. it always has whether it’s the four of us, the two of us, or….”

luke stopped his sentence short, not even wanting to give you the idea to go out on your own, even though you’d probably been thinking about leaving for some time.

you made reckless decisions sometimes, but this didn’t seem to be one of them.

“well, it’s happening more.” your voice was steady, too steady. luke imagined you rehearsing just what to say to counter the inevitable backlash.

luke shook his head. “i’d be dead if it weren’t for you.”

“you almost died because of me,” you clipped. you lifted a hand to touch the bruise on luke’s jaw, but let it drop just as quickly. “you know that children of the big three cause more trouble. maybe we managed it when it was the two of us, but now, there’s more to consider. a child of poseidon and a child of zeus, travelling together. it’s like we’re asking to be killed. it’s too dangerous.”

“that’s our life,” luke snapped. “you can’t just run from it.” from us.

you faltered, looking back to where annabeth and thalia were sleeping peacefully.

oh. he must have said that last part out loud, too.

“you know i’m right,” is all you said.

luke could only shake his head again. because, fine, you weren’t entirely wrong. it was more dangerous — but it was danger luke hoped you’d all face, together.

“i’ve made up my mind,” you added, an anchor in the sand.

“don’t leave.” luke’s words came out as a prayer. if he offered something, maybe you’d stay.

you paused to take a shaky breath. “this isn’t goodbye, luke. i swear to poseidon…fuck, i swear to all the gods that this isn’t goodbye.”

luke couldn’t speak. there were tears bubbling in his throat, threatening to spill.

“so, keep this for me,” you whispered, once again placing your hand on top of luke’s. his fingers gripped your cassette player tightly, like it was the only piece of driftwood leftover from a shipwreck, keeping him from sinking into the cold, dark nothing. “you’ll give it back when we see each other again.”

a promise.

“fine,” luke conceded, though he wanted to scream at you. he wanted to argue like little kids — petty, loud, meaningless, back and forth until tears streamed down cheeks and throats were raw.

but, you were leaving, one way or another. luke didn’t want this shared memory to be tainted if it might be your last.

“you have to take this, then. give it back when we see each other again.”

luke removed the chain from around his neck, the one that held the key to his childhood home. he placed it around yours, instead.

he didn’t need the key now, but his mother had given it to him when he was six. before he knew what it meant to be the son of hermes, god of thieves.

call him sentimental, but luke had kept it. just in case he ever got lost.

“if you’re ever back in connecticut, you have a home.”

“yeah, okay.” you smiled softly.

it fell just as quickly.

“take care of them,” you told him. “of yourself, too. i’ll see you again when it’s safe.”

luke didn’t ask when it would be safe, because the truth is that it might never be.

“because you want your cassette player back?” luke joked, instead trying to lighten the mood, to capture one last moment of brightness.

you laughed softly to not wake the others.

“yeah. that too.”

you pressed your forehead to his, something you hadn’t done since you were kids.

“i’ll see you again,” you repeated.

without another word, you got up and jogged away. luke shut his eyes, refusing to see you become nothing but a shadow.

(you looked back several times, but he couldn’t see through the darkness.)

now

call the gods out on their bullshit (you encourage it), but if they have one thing going for them, it’s that the olympians know how to throw a party.

the night grows darker, yet somehow becomes more lively. demeter and persephone had supplied a generous amount of fresh, decadent fruit, and dionysus an even more generous amount of wine. apollo starts a karaoke corner and you’re just tipsy enough to agree to sing a duet with him in order to break the ice. apparently, he’s a big midnight sirens fan and had seen your band when you headlined at glastonbury festival. you smile to yourself, imagining your bandmates’ faces if you told them that the god of music had watched you perform.

as you hand the microphone to a giggling dryad, the sound of your name washes over like gentle waves on a shore.

“if it isn’t my sweet, summer child!” your father brings you in for a hug and an ocean breeze engulfs you — salt and sand and sun.

“hi dad,” you exhale as you pull away.

you hadn’t seen each other in a while, but poseidon looks the same. he’s dressed in a turquoise hawaiian shirt and birkenstocks with a crown of seashells on his head. there’s a cocktail umbrella in his glass, a slice of pineapple wedged onto the rim. you’re about to ask him how he managed to secure a pina colada and where you might find one, too.

“that was quite the performance!” poseidon takes an eager sip of his drink, green eyes sparkling like sea glass in the sun. “i must tell you: your newest album is all the rage in atlantis. the nereids and merpeople can’t seem to get enough of it and, truthfully, i find myself playing it on repeat as well. you’re quite talented.”

you try not to let your shock slip through, instead smiling and asking how things are in his underwater kingdom, but you’re….touched at your father’s unexpected praise.

the gods aren’t perfect, and your father is no exception. they’re divine beings who have time to conceive children, but not to raise them. there’s a long history of them abandoning, mistreating, and manipulating their own offspring. of course, being the prophecy child, it became practically impossible for your father to ignore you; you’re sure that being dubbed the saviour of olympus gives him bragging rights with his immortal family. even with their sworn promise to change, it’s impossible not to resent the gods in some ways.

still, you feel comforted by your father's presence at times — when you catch the perfect wave on your surfboard, for example, or when you sit on your fire escape during a storm after a bad day. it’s been like that pretty much all your life: poseidon there in spirit, not in practice. despite everything, he’s watched over you, and percy, throughout the years.

and here poseidon is now, grinning at you like you’re his pride and joy.

“enough about aquatic politics.” he pats your shoulder enthusiastically after telling you about the struggles of keeping humans from overfishing. “i came over to wish you a happy birthday. and to give you this.”

poseidon reaches into the pocket of his shirt and hands you something you’d long thought gone: a leather cord with several clay beads and a silver key.

“i found it off the california coast,” he explains. “i kept meaning to get it to you, but i suppose time has a way of getting away from us, immortal or not.”

a warmth grows in your chest as you run your thumb over your old camp necklace, bright and full. it had fallen off one day when you’d gone surfing, and you assumed it was lost to the ocean. you'd been given a fresh leather cord when you arrived at camp earlier this summer, but it felt empty. hollow.

“thanks, dad.”

you smile at him as you put on the necklace; it feels like coming home. your father then asks you about your summer so far.

you tell him all about your life as of late, until you catch a glimpse of luke with van on a marble bench at the other end of the pavilion. van is sitting in luke’s lap, and they lean over to whisper something in his ear before kissing his cheek.

you freeze mid-way through your sentence.

sensing the shift in mood, poseidon frowns. he turns his head to follow your gaze.

“ah.” poseidon turns back to you and clears his throat. “now, i don’t mean to pry, but i saw you earlier with the castellan boy.”

you flush at the fact that your moment with luke was witnessed by your own father. “dad —”

“did you know in ancient greece, throwing someone an apple and having them catch it is considered a marriage proposal?”

“i’m pretty sure that was disproven,” you scoff.

poseidon raises an eyebrow at you, clearly amused. “which one of us was actually there, hm?” and though you roll your eyes, you can’t argue with that. “i just wanted to know if there was a wedding happening in the near future.”

you almost choke on the last remnants of your wine. “dad.”

“i’m kidding. i’m kidding! mr. castellan seems otherwise occupied.”

“yeah, it does seem that way,” you grumble.

poseidon puts a hand on your shoulder, firm but reassuring. “regardless: if you find someone who would go to tartarus and back with you, someone who would fight alongside you every step of the way, you hold on to them. there’s only so much time you mortals have on this earth.”

you sigh — easier said than done — but your father is trying, so you manage a nod.

“i’ll keep that in mind.”

“now, i better go — ” poseidon looks over your shoulder, where the air behind you starts to feel staticky. “it seems a disagreement is brewing between zeus and hades. they always get into it whenever dionysus makes the wine a bit too strong. brother, put away the lightning bolt —” and he rushes away to prevent another divine conflict from arising.

left to your own devices, you venture over to the food table, finding an array of fresh and dried fruit, breads, cured meat, fresh oysters and, of course, more wine. you grab a goblet and a few dried figs.

“careful, i heard dionysus made the wine extra strong tonight,” someone warns, creeping up beside you. the voice is soft and alluring, and you feel something tug at your heart.

you do a double take when you turn to them; the person is devilishly handsome, a golden aura paired with a golden smile.

(you will soon find out that the god flirting with you is the son of ares and aphrodite, the latter of which takes the appearance of whoever the onlooker loves. as it turns out, her son appears in the same way.

all this to say: it doesn’t mean anything that this god looks like luke castellan to you.

it doesn’t mean anything at all.)

“i’m eros.”

“hey. i’m —”

“i know who you are, savior of olympus.” eros winks at you. “i just never realized you were so beautiful.”

your cheeks heat up as you take a sip of your drink.

oh, shit.

okay. the literal god of desire and pleasure is flirting with you.

you’re flattered, really, and maybe the wine has gotten to your head, but you’re not eager to turn him away.

“well, i’ve definitely heard about you, and the rumors do not do you justice,” you quip, painting on a flirtatious smile.

eros puffs out his chest, clearly pleased.

over the next few minutes, you decide that eros can hold a decent conversation, asking you the classic first date questions about your likes and dislikes, and he’s cute enough that you wouldn’t mind things going further.

(he might be a god, but he’s no luke. you push that thought away, and force yourself to flirt with helios. eros. right, eros.)

eros leans in close, pretends to listen to you, lets his gaze drop every so often to the deep v-neck of your shirt.

“no way! 13 going on 30 is a classic,” you argue. you nudge your shoulder into eros’s playfully, and let the contact between you linger. eros, the inspiration for cupid himself, has angel wings, and you feel them brush softly against your burning skin.

“it’s totally overrated!” eros exclaims. “also, the childhood friends to lovers trope gives people false hope.”

“it’s not false hope. it’s about the buildup to their happily ever after,” you reason, swallowing some wine to dislodge the lump in your throat.

eros shakes his head. “trust me, baby, it’s all about the instant attraction. that’s where the excitement is.”

he’s so close now, you can smell the sharp alcohol on his breath. not wine, but something stronger.

“oh? what do you mean by that?” you lean impossibly closer, trailing a finger down his chest.

eros smirks, placing a hand on your thigh. “want me to demonstrate?”

not even a second after you whisper a yes, eros crashes his lips onto yours, and you will yourself to kiss back. he slides his tongue in your mouth, runs his hands over your body.

you’re making out with the god of desire and passion, so, objectively, it’s a good first kiss: soft around the edges and firm where it needs to be.

sure — you feel nothing, no real spark, but it’s almost enough to fill the hole in your heart in the shape of a certain son of hermes.

the son of hermes who has moved on and is in a loving relationship with a perfect emotionally available partner.

so, it’s fine.

this, this thing with eros, is fine.

you’re fine.

eros pulls away first, but keeps a hand on your cheek.

“let's get out of here.”

he grabs your wrist before you have a chance to answer. you stand up, let him weave you through the crowd towards the stairs of the pavilion. apparently, his room is just through the garden.

as he tugs you along, he looks back at you, smiling. under the glow of the stars, eros looks just like luke, except it’s becoming harder to ignore that he isn’t luke and that makes you feel all sorts of nauseous. your camp necklace weighs on your chest and, in particular, the silver key that you’d kept for all those years burns through your skin.

lightheaded, you pull away from eros’ grip just as you reach the top of the stairs and place a hand on the column next to you to steady yourself.

eros turns around sharply. “what is it?”

“i changed my mind, actually. let’s just…keep talking here.”

eros grabs your wrist again, his grip tighter than before. “don’t be a tease.” his tone is ever-so-gentle, but there’s an edge behind his words.

this time, your voice comes out more assertive. “i just changed my mind. that doesn’t make me a tease.”

“come on, baby, don’t you wanna experience what real passion is? this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that a million girls would kill for. you’d be an idiot to pass it up.” he brags, and you’re this close to breaking this guy’s nose, god or not.

“i don’t care,” you snap, struggling to break free from his grip. “and i’m not your baby.”

“okay, whatever,” eros rolls his eyes, but quickly plasters on an arrogant grin. “we’ll go somewhere private and i’ll call you whatever you want.”

he manages to drag you down two steps as you strain against his iron grip, now almost cutting off your circulation. your heartbeat quickens and you feel dizzy. finally, you grab onto the railing for leverage and use your strength to rip out of his grip, forcing eros to stop in his tracks.

“what is it now?” he snaps, whipping his head around once more.

he looks nothing like luke, now.

“just stop, eros.”

“listen,” he starts, speaking to you almost mockingly, like you’re a naive little kid. so much for being the savior of olympus. “trust me, i know what people want, so you don’t have to be shy. i promise to be the best you’ve ever had —”

“eros, is it?” the rest of the party is in full motion, but here’s percy, giving eros one of the most intense death stares you’ve ever seen. percy, your little brother who talks to lonely fish at the aquarium; who, if you cut open, would bleed blue m&m’s; who would never let anyone, god or otherwise, hurt someone he loves. “i’m gonna have to ask you to let go of my sister.”

“mind your own business, kid,” eros hisses. “we’re kinda in the middle of something.” he tries to move you down another step, but you stand your ground.

annabeth, no longer the scared little seven year old you, luke, and thalia found behind a dumpster, is also glaring at liam from the top of the stairs. one of her hands rests firmly on her belt, where she keeps her dagger.

“i’d back off, if i were you,” she warns. “wouldn’t want to cause a scene.”

“just mind your own business,” eros snarls.

“they said leave her alone,” thalia asserts, walking over once she sees what’s happening. “and you don’t wanna mess with us, trust me.” she clenches her hand into a fist.

“who the fuck are you? her bodyguards?”

“just let her go,” percy orders. “my sister can do a lot better than a minor god with a major god complex.”

eros growls, baring his teeth at percy. “you impertinent little shit.”

as soon as eros lunges for your brother, you tug one of his wings towards you, hard. he whips around and you take the opportunity to punch him in the face. he doubles over, golden ichor gushing from his nose.

“i’d be careful if i were you, baby,” you seethe. “you wouldn’t want to go up against the demigods who led an army against kronos and won. unless, of course, humiliation is a kink of yours.” you laugh humorlessly at the way eros scowls at your words. “to each their own,” you continue. “but i’m not in the mood to fuck an entitled creep with angel wings to compensate for his tiny dick. you better fucking respect that, and leave us alone while you’re at it.”

eros’ flirtatious smile is long gone, replaced with the kind of anger only entitled, self-important jerks have when they don’t get what they want and they’ve taken a few blows to their ego.

call it stupidity or arrogance, but his only response is a punch delivered right back to your face.

you hear a crack upon impact, and pain radiates from your nose. you stumble, but percy manages to reach out and catch you before you fall down the stairs. he holds you as thalia and annabeth create a barrier between you and eros. you hear them shouting at eros over the music, but their exact words don’t register.

you lick your lips, tasting blood. your ears are ringing, and everything is suddenly all fuzzy. percy tries his best, but you slump your body weight into his and he almost topples over.

“i’ve got her.” luke’s calm and measured voice cuts through the chaos. you feel a strong, familiar arm wrap around your waist to steady you. “from what i remember, you were too much of a coward to even step foot on the battlefield, so i’d listen to her if you know what’s good for you.” in a haze, you guess that luke is directing his sharp words towards eros, before turning to the others and instructing: “you guys take care of this — find clarisse if you need back up.”

somehow, you find yourself over in a small secluded temple, sitting on a window bench overlooking the clouds as luke sits next to you.

like most of olympus, the building is made of marble with gold accents; this one has roses engraved on the walls, and the space smells like flowery perfume. it’s much quieter than the pavilion, though you can hear laughter and music in the distance. it’s cooler, too, but not by much; even without all the body heat, you're left with sticky summer air, and luke’s breath on yours, sweet with wine and ripe fruit, as he carefully examines your injury.

you feel your head spinning all over again. maybe it’s the alcohol, or the adrenaline, or the fact that the two of you haven’t been this close in a while — probably a dangerous mix of all three.

you know (from trying not to but ultimately not being able to pull your attention away from him after all) that he’s had a few drinks as well; it seems like the two of you ignore each other best when you’re sober.

“thought the curse of achilles would protect you from nosebleeds.”

“guess it doesn’t protect against —” what did percy call eros? “ — minor gods who have major god complexes,” you recite.

luke looks slightly amused. “that’s a shame,” he hums. “would have been nice to get one birthday without being injured.”

a smile creeps onto your face, despite the dull ache from your nose.

“you remembered.”

“of course i remember,” luke almost scoffs like the mere suggestion of forgetting what day you were born is an insult to his very character. he meets your gaze, and you could melt when he offers you that lopsided smile of his, painfully familiar. “happy birthday, aquagirl,” and it’s the softest he’s spoken to you in a while. just like old times.

he remembers.

somewhere within him, luke holds on to fragments of you.

he wipes the blood off your face, the sleeve of his silk white button-down now stained crimson. “how’s your hand?” he asks.

you flex your fingers. “it’s been better,” you answer, your knuckles slightly aching. “totally worth it.”

“i guess all those years away didn’t change anything. still willing to put a god in their place, huh?”

all those years away.

the reminder feels like a stab to the heart, and you’re worried that it might burst the comfortable bubble you and luke had drunkenly stumbled into.

thankfully, luke continues:

“the kids really take after you.”

he says as a joke, mostly, but there’s a sincerity in those deep brown eyes of his, too. something you also hadn’t seen from him in a while.

the kids, who you’d in some ways raised together when monsters were trying to kill you and the gods didn’t care enough to stop it.

the family you and luke had built together despite being born into the world of greek tragedies.

“as if annabeth wasn’t threatening to pull the dagger you gave her, skywalker,” the nickname rolling off your tongue with ease. “besides, they’re not kids anymore.”

“yeah.” he pauses. “neither are we.”

luke’s fingers trace your camp necklace, brush against your collarbone. the breath hitches in your throat.

here you are again, at the edge of something real and very scary, and you fear luke is going to push the two of you over.

but he doesn’t. instead, luke suggests, jokingly: “maybe we should start a fight club at camp.”

you take that as a good sign: like you, he’s hoping to preserve the playfulness between you before everything else seeps in and ruins it. before you’re brought back to the present, where you’re practically ignoring each other.

where you’re fine, but really.

you snort. “chiron and mr. d would love that.”

“like they’d ever find out!” luke explains. “you know the first rule of fight club —”

“don’t talk about fight club,” you finish together.

luke laughs, even though it’s not that funny. you laugh, too.

and that’s the thing that really, truly gets you.

try as you might to ignore it, some days it’s hard to forget the pain and heartache and grief.

you still feel like your life is a battlefield; you still see the ghosts of everyone you couldn’t save even though people call you a savior; you still have those scars, inside and out, that seemed healed but ache every once and a while.

but that isn’t all.

sometimes it hurts more thinking back to the good times and knowing, deep down, you can never go back.

summer — age 13

“ugh — you think with all their power, the gods could help stop global warming,” you groaned, swatting away a mosquito that tried to land on you. “do you think they have air conditioning on olympus?”

“oh, for sure,” luke quipped. he gave you a lopsided smile, his curls sticking to his forehead, drenched in sweat.

it was the summer solstice, the longest and the hottest day of the year so far. the two of you had found a perfectly good hideout, but luke insisted that this place would be worth the move.

he’d been leading you down side streets for what felt like forever. the sun had already set, and you were very close to passing out from the heat, until luke finally stopped at a door behind an alley, with a sign reading CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS.

luke knelt down to do whatever son-of-hermes lock magic he had to do to get the door open. he flipped a switch, and you winced at the sudden overwhelming brightness.

the destination was different than the hideouts you usually sprung for: those small, hole-in-the-wall type places. instead, this space was big and bright, filled with arcade games and fun posters and neon colours. the type of place a kid might have a party or where a group of normal teenagers might spend their friday night.

“what…what is this?”

“you thought i forgot, didn’t you?” luke smirked at you. he sat down on the colourful carpet, taking out some snacks, a small plastic bag with coins, a wrapped box, and a plastic blue crown, and gestured for you to join.

you did, in fact, think that luke had forgotten your birthday.

birthdays were bittersweet for children of gods, who were constantly reminded that any year could be their last, their youth cut short by monsters or prophecies or a fatal flaw. all the two of you usually did on either birthday was split any sweet treat you could get your hands on.

it wasn’t a big deal, really, to skip that tradition of yours. there were much more urgent things to worry about, like finding food and water and shelter, and not being devoured by monsters.

you did think it was strange that luke hadn’t so much as said happy birthday to you all day, but you knew that he loved you.

(like a friend loves a friend. nothing else, no matter how much your stomach fluttered at the thought of him.)

“i wanted to surprise you,” luke explained once you claimed your spot next to him. he reached over to place the crown on your head. “i found this place a few days ago during a food run. it reminds me of where we had your —”

“eighth birthday party, yeah.” you smiled at the memory of running around and feeding quarters to every machine and trying every game, of your classmates singing happy birthday to you off-key before you all stuffed your faces with sickly sweet confetti cake.

truthfully, you never thought about having another celebration like that again.

but, it was five years from that faded childhood memory, and luke was presenting you with something you didn’t even realize you had needed: the chance to be a kid again.

“so,” luke got up, a wide smile on his face. he held the plastic bag in one hand, extending the other to you. “which do you wanna play first?”

you started with space invaders, then moved on to dragon’s lair and pac-man. you took a break before street fighter ii so that luke could ceremoniously light a candle and present a cupcake that had been tossed around in his bag (but you were still very, very grateful for), along with fresh batteries for your portable cassette player. he had made you a mixtape too, though you couldn’t figure out how.

your last stop was a photobooth. you vowed to keep those pictures — a collection of you and luke together, smiling bright and colourful, goofing off and laughing — for the rest of your life.

now

those moments from past summers are like popsicles melting in the sun: tangible for a limited time before leaving you with a sickly sweet mess of what once was.

you think about what happened earlier, how percy, annabeth, and thalia stepped in to protect you, still the brave kids you had once known so well. how luke is here with you now, taking care of you so tenderly even after you’ve silently agreed to give each other the cold shoulder.

maybe luke is right. maybe all those years away didn’t change anything.

except — once you leave this temple and the alcohol leaves your system, it won’t be the same.

none of you are kids anymore, if you ever even were.

“why’d you go for eros, anyway?” luke asks, breaking you away from your thoughts. he removes his sleeve from your nose since the bleeding seems to have finally stopped.

“you really wanna know?”

“yeah. most gods are assholes. and you’re…” luke places a hand close to your leg, pinky finger brushing your thigh. “you.”

“i went for eros because….well, honestly, i don’t think i cared who it was, as long as they made me forget you,” you admit, because what did you have to lose. you probably have a broken nose, you definitely have blood on your shirt, and your time with luke is running out.

luke’s eyes darken. his fingers start to play with the hem of your shorts.

“did it work?” his voice is a whisper, but he’s close enough that he’s crystal clear.

“no.”

it’s hard to determine who leans in first, but soon enough your lips are on luke’s — messy and urgent. noses bumping together, teeth clacking against each other. he cradles your face in his hands, and you move to straddle his waist. you taste wine on his tongue, and maybe a hint of sweet pears, but it’s overwhelmed by the salty, metallic taste of blood stained on your lips. when you run out of air, you pull away. it’s clearer now: you’re not dizzy from the alcohol or adrenaline, but dizzy from him. luke’s gaze is heavy on yours as he traces your top lip with his thumb.

“luke,” you whimper, itching to kiss him again.

“you’re still bleeding.”

luke wipes away the blood with his thumb. before either of you can do or say anything more, there’s an echo of footsteps on the marble floor. a flower nymph, there to leave an offering and let you know that, while aphrodite encourages acts of love, she prefers it doesn’t happen in her place of worship.

you realize that aphrodite also might not look so fondly at you kissing someone else in her place of worship after publicly rebuking her own son.

luke untangles himself from you, and you know that he’s been jolted back to reality, too.

and, just like that, another moment has melted away.

your father was right. time has a way of slipping away for us, immortal or not.

summer — age 18

“hey, you awake?”

“yeah,” you replied softly. sleep hadn’t been easy, in the days and weeks and months leading up to that final battle with kronos and his army.

and once it was all over?

you rested your head on luke’s shoulder, sword discarded at your feet and armour half-removed, as argus, the hundred-eyed security guard of olympus, drove a school bus with a dozen or so demigods back to camp.

“why’d you turn down their offer?” luke whispered.

oh.

"why...why do you ask?"

"i don't know." luke paused. "just curious, i guess."

you closed your eyes and replayed that moment on olympus when you refused the gift of immortality. the look of shock written on the gods’ faces. and on luke’s.

“i don’t care about living forever,” you told him bluntly.

forever seemed too long, especially for someone who was prophesied to die at 18.

you tilted your head up to meet luke’s gaze, and his messy curls brushed against your forehead. evidence of the battle was clear on his face: caked-on dirt and blossoming bruises and dried blood.

behind him, outside the bus window, the world was flying by. a child who had fallen off their bike being comforted by a friend. two people sharing an mp3 player and a pair of earbuds. an elderly couple walking their dog.

“you once told me that this was our life,” you continued, gesturing towards the weapons and battle-worn kids, some quiet, others crying, many injured. “what if it didn’t have to be?”

luke furrowed his brow. “do you mean….are you talking about leaving?”

you shrugged. running from monsters for your entire childhood then being the child of the great prophecy was a lot.

a break might be nice.

there was so much about the world, the one you’d fought and bled to protect, that you wanted to experience.

maybe something closer to a normal life.

“would you ever leave camp?” you wondered, not really answering luke's question.

“no,” luke replied instantly. his fingers started fiddling with the beads on his necklace. “i can’t just walk away, not after everything.”

“yeah, i get that.” and you did; you really, truly, did. the guilt of wanting to leave camp curled in your stomach like a venomous snake. you took a shaky breath. “let’s talk about this later, yeah? i’m tired, and we have the rest of — ”

the rest of the summer slipped away in the blink of an eye. gone, before you even had a real chance to say goodbye.

you closed your eyes and held on to luke, as if gripping his arm would anchor you to something you weren't ready to let go of, but in some ways needed to move on from.

it was no use, though.

by the end of august, you’d be gone too.

now

you learned early on that the curse of achilles doesn’t protect you from hangovers.

you wake up the morning after the celebration on olympus with a deep, throbbing pain lodged in your temple and an uncomfortable swirling in your gut. parties and late nights at bars are common on tour, which means migraines are, too, so you have a routine to make sure you’re not out of commission for too long.

except this time, the aspirin and blue gatorade and dry toast don’t work. the sting in your brain and uneasiness in your stomach doesn’t go away, even after a few days. you haven’t been able to sleep, either.

desperate for a cure, you consult lou ellen, head counsellor of the hecate cabin, who you’d unexpectedly grown close to in the past few weeks. she mixes something for you, while asking if there’s something that’s been weighing on you.

you couldn't keep it in anymore; you tell her about the summer solstice and luke.

later, with nothing but your thoughts and percy’s snoring occupying your time post-curfew, you grab your phone and flip it open, deciding to finally reach out to luke, when you get a text from him.

luke is already on the beach when you arrive, looking out onto the water.

“hey,” you greet as you sit next to him on the sand, but not too close. “i was actually about to text you —”

“did you tell anyone that we kissed?” he interrupts. you can’t quite read his expression as he waits for you to answer.

“no, i didn’t,” you lie. “would it matter if i did?”

“well, i mean, word travels fast around camp, and i don’t want van finding out. it’s not like it meant anything.”

the throbbing in your brain becomes a sharper sting, the uneasiness in your stomach a tidal wave of nausea.

“it didn’t?” you hate how fragile your voice sounds, compared to luke’s stoic demeanor.

luke shrugs. “i mean, we were both drunk and the thing with eros happened…we just got caught up in the heat of the moment.”

“you’re saying there’s nothing between us, then? nothing?” the word tastes bitter in your mouth.

luke turns away before he answers. “no. nothing.”

“then what about last summer?” you demand. you force yourself to keep it together, your tone firmer than before. “i guess that didn’t mean anything, either.”

“y/n…” he sighs. “i don’t know what you want me to say. we’re barely even friends anymore. you come back here, after all this time, after so much shit happened, and expect us all to drop everything to fit you back into our lives. but, you don't. whatever you came here for, it's not here for you. there's nothing to go back to. we moved on. i moved on, and i can’t deal with you —"

“got it,” you snap, already turning to walk away. “loud and fucking clear, luke.”

it’s not like it meant anything. we’re barely even friends anymore.

you replay luke’s words as you crawl into bed, holding back tears so as to not disturb percy. finally, you swallow a generous amount of whatever concoction lou ellen had brewed up for you.

drifting off into your own sleep, you decide that you don’t love luke anymore. not as a friend, not as a.....

nope.

according to luke, there's not even anything to go back to.

nothing.

#feel free to comment + reblog <3 #saf writes #luke castellan x reader #luke castellan imagine #luke castellan pjo #luke castellan fanfic #luke castellan #percy jackson #pjo fanfic #pjo series #pjo x reader #luke castellan angst

462 notes · View notes

lvmazzy · 1 year

Text

- playing dangerous !

summary: Heesung doesn't hide his favoritism for his girl in the kpop industry.

pairing: manager!heeseung x idol!fem!reader

word/character count: 6K / 6297

warnings: grammatical errors, profanity, implied sex, obscenity, kpop, gg kpop, favoritism, affair between co-workers...

gender: little smut, fluff(?), funny(??)

author's notes: hihi my luvs!! I'm finally back. it's my first time writing something about enhypen and a little more raunchy, sooo I hope you like it! don't forget to give your feedback which is very important. xoxo 💋

It was a fact that Heeseung had a soft spot for you. From the day he saw you practicing in the rehearsal room, he certainly saw potential, charisma and beauty.

Your kpop group wasn't as acclaimed and recognized yet and that frustrated you. But things changed when you met Heeseung, he was a nice, young and extremely attractive guy - sinful thoughts ran through your mind making you dizzy - you saw how excited he was to be your new manager and help elevate your career.

Your dream was to be famous, the fame, the lust, the spotlight was your dream and Heeseung sure promised you all of that.

Things started to look better since you entered into an agreement with Heeseung, he was a great agent and manager. Album sales were up, views were growing, listeners on spotify were increasing and all of this was thanks to your manager Heeseung.

You were eternally grateful and happy for all your manager's work, he even increased your distribution lines on songs, invested in sponsors, in other words, you were the center of everything!

It was late at night when you had just come off another successful stage. You looked radiant, with rosy cheeks, hair on your forehead from dancing, and a breathtakingly flawless outfit.

The ecstasy was visible on your face as you entered your dressing room. Looking at yourself in the mirror, admiring every detail, so wrapped up in the countless compliments, you suddenly felt a pair of hands on your waist which made you jump in fright.

"Heeseung! You scared me!" you say with wide eyes and a hand on your heart.

"sorry my little kitten, I just came here to congratulate you." your stomach filled with butterflies at the nickname making you blush. Then immediately he pulled you closer to himself. In response, you wrapped your arms around his neck.

"you were amazing tonight, I'm so proud of you..." Heeseung whispered as he distributed several kisses with light bites on your neck, making you shiver with every touch.

"Heeseung... we.... can't....." it was almost a whisper. You tried to form coherent sentences, but Heeseung's kisses became hotter and hotter.

"why not? We've done it several times right here, remember?" he let out a nasal laugh after saying that, looking at your face with that seductive smile you couldn't resist. "or do you prefer my house?"

you paused for a moment and thought... your chest rising and falling because of the accelerated breathing. That's when you cracked a mischievous smile that made Heeseung smile too. "I get it, you really are a nasty girl." after saying that, he pulls you out of the dressing room and takes you to his car.

The ride was quiet and calm, you realized how attractive Heesung was tonight. The way he held the steering wheel and how his hair was slightly messy made you bite your lip trying to contain it.

Heeseung quickly noticed your behavior and brought one of his hands to your thigh and began to caress it slowly. He was teasing you, you knew him too well to know that kind of game.

When you finally arrived at his house, you quickly kissed him with all your strength and desperation.

He pinned you to the door and sunk his lips into yours, making your tongues roll together in sync. You gave a soft moan, which made Heeseung go crazy.

"i didn't know you were that needy." Heeseung said with a malicious smile on his face and with one of his eyebrows raised.

"shut up." You pursed your lips again and wrapped your legs around his waist.

Heesung held you and led you to your room, you had come here several times before and never seemed to change.

He laid you down on the bed gently with your lips still attached and pulled away for a moment, making you moan from the lack of contact.

"patience princess." he pulled off his shirt revealing the toned body you adored. It was quite a sight.

Moving closer to you, Heeseung began to distribute kisses on your thighs making you dizzy with pleasure.

"what? Cat got your tongue? Tell me what you want." a smug smile appeared on his lips.

"you..."

"hmm I don't think you've convinced me." he says pulling away leaving you frustrated and looking at your face that was almost closed.

"I want you, please. I want to feel you." you say under your breath making him smile in response.

He kissed you once again hovering above and lowered his lips on your neck leaving several bites. At this point you could only moan softly and try to keep your eyes open.

"you know how much I love this skirt on you, it's a shame we don't need it right now." with one action, he takes off your skirt throwing it in any corner on the floor.

You pull him into a desperate, passionate kiss, as his hands roam all over your body, squeezing and caressing.

He runs his thumb across your lips and caresses them, as you look up at him with the brightest eyes.

"you're a mess, princess." he says laughing as he stands mesmerized by you. In response, you gently kiss his thumb.

Suddenly, you both hear a low purr coming from the floor snapping you out of your trance.

"what...." you say confused.

It's then that a white ball of fur climbs onto the bed disturbing your moment.

"ownn it's just Yoon. I miss you my love." you say stroking and kissing Heeseung's cat several times, making him snort.

"okay okay, now we're at an important moment you know?" he retorts taking the cat off his lap and putting it away from you on the bed.

"i don't think she wants to see what her parents are about to do."

"what if she decides to watch?" he says to you in a teasing way while taking off your shirt.

"that would be pretty weird." you said a little out of breath because of Heeseung.

"I think she'll like that view." he says not stopping to look at you, specifically, your body that was only in your bra.

In response, you rolled your eyes and hit his shoulder playfully making him laugh.

"sorry, but you're always so hot, my star."

"oh my, what a corny nickname!" you say groaning in embarrassment making you both laugh.

"deep down you found it exciting."

"Heeseung if you don't shut your mouth I swear I'm going home."

"okay, I'm done!" he said in yielding, waving his hands in the air. "where were we? ah, yeah, the part where I take off all your clothes. Shit, you're so beautiful!"

"Heeseung focus!"

"right, sorry."

original by @lvmazzy , 2023

3K notes · View notes

sturnioloshacker · 2 years

Text

red roses & starry nights - a vinnie hacker short

a/n: and we’re back to writing again! a little rusty so bear with me! with valentine’s day coming up, i thought i would conjure up something cute, enjoy this one :)

valentine’s day. the day of romance and love. the day of celebrating your love for your significant other. the day i celebrate 6 months of my relationship with my boyfriend vinnie.

waking up to soft kisses on my cheek, i roll over to face the boy i have fallen head over heels for.

“happy 6 months and happy valentine’s day beautiful”, he whispers against my lips before kissing them with so much passion.

whispering those same words back to him, a cute makeout session begins. we both roll out from our shared bed and begin to get ready for the day. i head to the bathroom and notice a sticky note on the mirror.

happy valentine’s day my pretty love! today we celebrate 6 months of loving each other. prepare to be spoiled. i love you so much xoxo

smiling to myself, i begin my usual morning routine. after looking at myself in the full body mirror in the corner of our shared room, i walk downstairs to find a massive bouquet of red roses in the middle of the dining table.

“vinnie! what the-?”

“it’s not much, but i got you this”.

“that’s more roses than i’ve ever seen in my life!”

“do you like them?”, nervousness lacing his voice

“like them? i absolutely adore them! thank you, thank you, thank you!”

running up to my boyfriend, i leap into his arms and press kisses all over his cute little face. setting me down, i grab the flowers and separate them into smaller bunches and place them in vases to set around the house.

as i’m placing the vases around the house, i notice more and more sticky notes, each of them containing romantic compliments that make my heart flutter. coming across the final note on my bedside table, i remove the sticky note and place the flowers in its position.

so you’ve come across the final note! i know how much you love the moon and the stars, how about you join me for dinner under them tonight?

shut. up. is he serious?! i rush to the shower to freshen up and get ready for what is about to be such an amazing night!

i head downstairs to find vinnie leaning against his rx-7, waiting for me. saying goodbye to jett, jack, max and adam, i close the door behind me and hop into the car.

we unpack the car and enjoy a cute picnic dinner under a sky full of stars. multiple conversations about life, the future of our relationship and plans for our 1 year anniversary were discussed as well as throwing horrible pick up lines and mushy compliments back and forth between each other. after a moment of comfortable silence, i decide to speak up.

“so i noticed a bunch of blankets and pillows in the trunk. may i ask why?”

“i was thinking we sleep under this beautiful night sky. what do you say?”

“vinnie, oh my god! let’s do it!”

kissing me, vinnie heads to the car and unloads all of our bedding that was once on our bed and now on the soft patch of grass. after setting it up, we tuck ourselves in and immediately wrap our arms around each other.

“thank you for tonight, vin! you are the best boyfriend I could ever ask for! you have made me feel so loved and so special, i honestly don’t deserve you or everything you did to-"

“shush, i don’t want to hear it. you deserve all this and more, whether you believe it or not.”

teary-eyed, i hide my face in the crook of his neck, placing small kisses there. we stay like that for a little longer before i look back up at vinnie and kiss him with everything that i have in me.

“goodnight bub, thank you for today. happy valentine’s day and happy 6 months. i love you so much”.

“goodnight princess. happy valentine’s day and happy 6 months. i love you so much”.

#vinnie hacker #vinnie hacker x reader #vinnie hacker x y/n #vinnie hacker imagines #vinnie hacker fluff #vinnie hacker fanfic #vinnie hacker blurb

456 notes · View notes

apoptoses · 1 year

Note

Girlboss pussy cunt Armand girlies UNITE 🫡 @apoptoses @hekateinhell et all get behind me, I’ll go to war for y’all, men’s audacity truly never ceases to amaze me. Also I feel like this is a good time to mention that like many people, I also had an unpleasant experience with this person once lmao I was like “welp what a rancid take but wtvr, we’re not doing that again” and I was thankfully able to move on with my life. I’m appalled to find out that this is something that has been going on for actual months??? Because some dude can’t cope with the fact that a group made up of women and nb people DARED to disagree with him? lmao holy shit 💀 You’re all amazing content creators and the fucking pillars of this shrinking fandom (I feel like I can count book fans with my hands these days 😞) and I’m so grateful for having stumbled upon this hellsite many years ago and finding all of you xoxo DA

Dungeon anon, bless you ♥

I'm just so relieved that by opening up the floor and saying what the elephant in the room is, so many people who were actually scared to interact in the fandom because of this shit are finding out that they were not alone, that a LOT of folks have had the same rancid experience, and not all vcblr people are like that.

And I would LOVE to just throw the name out there but like I said to another anon, I don't want this dude using the report function to silence people from admitting they had an awful run in with him (or straight fucking harassment). But it's funny because everyone knows without even saying it, which says a lot about the behavior and how obvious it's gotten.

But hopefully now we can put this shit behind us and have fun and ignore anyone who gets mad at fans for having the audacity to have their own unique headcanons and meta takes. I want vcblr to be positive and fun again!!

And thank YOU for being a pillar of positivity, coming into people's ask boxes and sharing ideas and complimenting their work. You're so fucking important to this fandom, I swear.

love you, DA xoxo

(ps did you read the riccardo and amadeo fic? did you like it?)

#apoptoses answers

13 notes · View notes

uriwoos2 · 3 months

Note

i just read the tags of your reblog and oh em gee…thank you so so so much!!! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡ i love soft subby riwoo so much, i just had to write something for him and it makes me so happy to know that you liked it eeeek! >< your kind words mean a lot to me!! i’m grinning as i type this…

thank you so much lovely. truly! 💞💘💗💕🌸

xoxo blumisiu 🧸

— btw just sending this thru anon bc tumblr won’t let me send asks w/ my side blog *heavy sigh*. why tumblr why!!! and i just think it’s less confusing if i do it like this…okie dokie n e wayz. thank you again sweetheart ��💗💗

I'm really glad my words made you happy! that was exactly my intention. but yes yes !!! to subby bf riwoo my sweetest. and you wrote him so so well omg :( it's always a joy reading something smutty that's also soft, u know? and riwoo fits that vibe the most in my eyes!! anyway ur amazing and u deserve all the compliments, so yeah! <3 hope you have a nice day vivi ! 🍰💕

#cream's asks 𑄽୧

3 notes · View notes

gurugirl · 1 year

Note

oh my gosh guru-you always outdo yourself. everytime i read something new of yours it's just getting better.

i've been away for months and just redownloaded tumblr a few days ago and i've been binging some of your newer stuff.

a good boy is amazing. immaculate. the plot is so unique and the characters are all so interesting. i'm in love with a good boy harry. i didn't think i'd like this trop but you did this justice and it's my new favorite thing ever. i cannot say enough about it. cannot wait for the next check-in.

your professor x professor one shot? i can see this becoming an au. that was so delicious. i love that you have a story that leads up to everything instead of just getting your characters into the smut right away. you're literally the queen of the build up. damn - and the way he left her at the end?

best friend's dad harry? another i was sure i wouldn't enjoy but it turns out this one is super deep and complicated. like? you made this hot and then you took it to the next level and gave us a something to really chew on. the characters and their emotions and the guilt. like i feel that in my bones. i feel that conflict and the push and pull of it and it makes me question myself even. well done. this little au is at the top of my faves list right now.

i still have more to read and catch up on but i'm sat for your stories. super unique and so well thought out fics with a bit of spicy smut added throughout. i'm addicted. your writing and the planning of the characters and the plot. like i know when i begin to read one of your fics it's gonna have real depth and i cannot tell you how satisfying it is to read your stuff.

-C

I've been reading over this again and again and I'm so so happy to have you reading, C (I assume you want to go by C given the little C at the end?).

I appreciate you telling me this. I like writing just gratuitous smut once in a while, but to me? Without some kind of story or build up it's really dull. Like if the scene opens with smut I'm usually not that invested in it as a whole (like I need some foreplay 😂 before we get into it). Not that I don't enjoy that sometimes but I need a story and I want to know what happened to get them where they are. To me that's the hottest part of a story is the... well the story itself. How it happened. What led to them being where they are? SO to hear you say all this really is an amazing compliment.

PS - this was in my drafts for dayssss! I'm so sorry! I thought I posted this when it was sent but it saved to my drafts and I didn't notice til now 😭 C, thank you so much for these kind words again. Hopefully you'll see my response to your ask.

xoxo

#ask #ahh sweet anons #xoxo

7 notes · View notes

knightyoomyoui · 2 years

Text

Jihyo x F Reader- “Rewind”

Before I start, I want to reiterate the announcement I made regarding this one-shot in case any of you haven't saw yet. This one may also be read by male readers (but only if you want to), especially the climax itself because of a very important detail that I'm about to reveal there. So, if you're a male reader reading this right now then good for you because you won't be missing this one but brace yourself for what's about to happen. You might be asking why I couldn't just make it into both Male and Female reader featured? Nope. This one is primarily about Jihyo and... just find out why I wanted male readers to read this as well. Lastly, this one is inspired by one of my favorite episodes from one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe shows, "What If...? EPISODE 4 - What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead Of His Hands?", so yeah, this fanfic is going to be weird, tragic (?) and mindblowing; I'm just hoping that my writing does justice, so please understand as I'm doing my best to pull this one off... again. Have fun reading! 😉

"The power of the time... in the palm of my hands."

Jihyo gazes admiringly at the work of art in front of her. A wide grin, a face splashed with many flashing lights from the astonishing invention shown next to her, and sparkling eyes, not from the lights but from the achievement she gained after going so far to make this happen.

Two years was worth it.

Now, the history is about to welcome another remarkable change thanks to the very successful and renowned scientist Park Jihyo.

The creator of the Project Rewind, with its sole purpose is to have Jihyo attempt erasing something impossible out of the book.

And specifically speaking, it's none other than the concept of time travelling.

"This is incredible feat of evolution, Miss Park. You're going down in history because of this.", her lab partner and fellow scientist; apparently in the lower level than her named Lisa compliments her game-changing mentor.

"Indeed I am.", Jihyo said before her beaming smile flickered into shutting its brightness off.

"...but I'm not concerned of any of that.", she looked at Lisa who captured her eyes in response.

"In fact, I didn't care about the acknowledgement and appreciation I'll be getting once this gets released in the public.", Jihyo sighed.

"Then what inspired you to build this?", Lisa curiously inquired.

Jihyo released another huge puff of breath to the air before grabbing her IPhone laying down on the cold steel long table.

She opened it, and the very first thing her eyes catched was the image of a person she holds dearly in her heart no one could outlimit that.

She gulped, opening her home screen and poking the app that directed her to the message list. The first one that was left unread was not like that no more as she decided to peek the content of it.

"Jihyo-ssi! See you there at my wedding okay? xoxo" Sent

Jihyo stared at it for a few seconds, her heart clenching at what she had just done, not only because she hadn't given it a thought, but because she had acted on the decision formed in her mind just days after receiving the invitation from her friend with whom she had secretly developed a deep loving fondness. "I wasn't going to show up at the lab today, Lisa, not even you." "Wait, Miss Park?" Jihyo handed her phone to Lisa so she could look at it. She just wants to cut the explanation short since it would pain her so much if it would last longer.

Lisa glanced back at Jihyo with a mixed of confusion and disbelief.

"You're... invited on her wedding?"

Jihyo only nodded.

"And you didn't came?"

Jihyo lowered her head in guilt.

"I can't, even if I want to."

"Why?"

"She's my love and life, and I... couldn't simply stand seeing her exchange vows with someone that wasn't me."

Lisa frowned at that information. She immediately felt pity for her friend and mentor now that she knew that whenever she enters this place and meets her again everyday to assist her on completing this project, she wasn't okay at all which she was hiding it at all time for them to keep their attention still on the construction of the machine.

"I know she won't like what I did, but for once I wanted to be selfish. Mind more than heart."

Jihyo fixated her eyes back at her time machine, confidence and motivated oozing from her aura as the image of the reason behind the making of the plan she was constructing appeared inside her head.

"And now... all I can think of to escape this reality I'm facing into is through this."

Jihyo pulls out the remote in her pocket and presented it to Lisa.

"What are you implying at, Jihyo-ssi?"

"With this time machine, I could use this to go back to that day where I could've repeat again the mistake I've done.

It's been more than half a decade, and I still wonder what it would look like if I- if I confessed to her on that day," Jihyo said, recalling the precise circumstances that culminated in her unsuccessful effort to confess her love back to YN." "Maybe I could have heard what she'll going to answer, and if she reciprocated... perhaps I was there at the altar, placing the wedding ring on her finger and kissing her to be my wife." "I should've gone all in," Jihyo said as a tear spilled from her eye, her breathing going rough and her chest becoming heavy. Lisa approached her mentor and softly caressed her back to console the distraught woman.

"It's okay, Jihyo-ssi. You don't have to worry about that now, because the solution you're looking for is right here.", Lisa referred to the invention in her sight.

"Does this mean you're going back to that time and try to rewrite what happened?"

"Yeah."

"Oh...", Lisa understood; yet the uneasiness that crawls up in her skin prompted her to ask this again for clarification.

"Not that I'm taking this whole plan of yours differently, Jihyo-ssi but... do you think it'll work?"

Jihyo's head went back and forth, left and right as she switches her gaze to Lisa and the time machine, thinking about the possibility that might occur.

However, those initially ended up for her to not get affected by any of it.

"Only one way to find out."

Jihyo walked through the metal podium and stood in the middle of it. Lisa hurriedly came closer to the unbothered scientist and a blend of nervousness and scared developed within her.

"Be safe, okay? Make sure to return back here.", Lisa reminded.

Jihyo bobbed her head in response. "See you in a minute.", she smirked. A tensed smile in return from Lisa. She watched Jihyo quite hesitatingly pressed the button in her hand as she stared at it.

"Let my love be known for you, YN."

Jihyo huffed in the air then dug the surface of her thumb at the button before the blue laser from the top struck her head first until she was covered up and vanished away from the light.

(BACK TO THE PAST - 6 YEARS AGO)

Few seconds after, the light returned and disappeared only to leave Jihyo out in a very familiar place that became a part of her memory she hugely regretted the most.

Her entire outfit changed from a scientist to a casual one also, the same attire she used to wore at that given night.

A gloomy environment, albeit visible thanks to the moonlight and stars illuminating the route down a Seoul street. Jihyo's eyes widened as she realized she had been transported back inside the identical car she had used at the time, with the windows pulled down, waiting for her presence to emerge. Side glancing outside, she saw the past variant of her love interest and bestfriend YN leave her house wearing a baby blue blouse, a pair of shoes, and a neat ponytail tie. Jihyo cannot believe what she is having right now. Repeating the moment she was eager for it to be rewritten and mended has finally provided her with an opportunity to make it real.

Down to the every exact detail and just like when this once happened, YN flashed her shy and soft smile seeing Jihyo looking very cool peeking in the window of her car.

"Evening, cool girl.", YN greeted her with that candy so sweet voice.

"Good evening. You look so great tonight, huh.", Jihyo traced her crush's outfit and as always, it didn't fail to have her attracted strongly into the young woman.

"You too. You're just as awesome as what your car is.", she patted the roof before opening the door and enters inside.

"So, where to at?"

"You'll see.", Jihyo looked at YN through the rearview mirror before kicking off the engine to start driving away ahead of their destination.

"Don't screw it up this time..." Jihyo kept on muttering to herself.

While driving, they paused for a while on a road where the streetlight blinked at green light.

Waiting patiently, Jihyo sneakily looked once again at the undoubtedly attractive woman behind her, sitting comfortably while scrolling down on her phone.

She was lost in a trance until YN woke her back up with a sudden question, raising her sight away from the phone thus making Jihyo return her gaze back at the road where the bypassers are still crossing down.

"You've never taken me to go outside with keeping a secret on what shall we going to do, Ji.", YN playfully told her. "Cmon, is this too special for me to know already?"

"We're almost there, YN. I can't give it to you yet, sorry. Just wait for a little more okay?", Jihyo apologetically said and grinned at YN who is visibly pouting now from the reflection of her in the mirror.

Jihyo felt like her heartbeat skipped when she caught that adorable action that she always loves to see from YN whenever they're together. She missed it a lot, she thought.

"You better make sure this is huge, Ji. The way you hype it gets me really engaged to learn what is it gonna be all about.", YN unsincerely cautioned the driver.

"This is just gonna be our night together, YN. Ofc-"

They are only 10km away from the mall when in an unexpected circumstances, their car got rammed over by a truck heading from another way. It didn't allow Jihyo to completely speak in response.

It collided first on the side where YN is located.

The shattered car rolled and flew through the road from the impact until it stopped, leaving it upside down with all the parts left unforgiven as it completely destroyed due to the crash.

Nevertheless, even in her condition of shock and distress, Jihyo slowly opened her eyes and quickly realized that YN was responding, eyes closed and head bleeding critically.

"W-what... no....", Jihyo murmured as she tried to touch YN again, hoping for a hint of recovery.

She didn't received any, which made her breath heavily to control her tears from bursting out.

"Oh my god, N-no... this can't be happening."

Jihyo pulls out the controller in her pocket again and clicked the button still set on the specific date, restarting everything what happened again.

(BACK TO THE PAST - 6 YEARS AGO) / TAKE 2

Light engulfed her and everything, it worked as she was once again sitting relaxingly on the drivers seat, peeking out on the window as she watches YN slowly walk towards her after exiting the house.

"Evening, cool girl."

"Good evening. You look so great tonight, huh.", Jihyo smiled after greeting her back and also by putting a slight blush over the cheeks of lovely YN.

Minutes later, they were in the middle of the ride when right at the moment that Jihyo took a turn to enter a bridge, she horrifyingly observed that the brakes doesn't cooperate with her.

"Damn it! WHY IS THIS NOT WORKING!", she angrily push and pulled the handle which gained attention from YN herself.

"Jihyo, what's going on?"

"Th-this brake... it won't allow me to-"

And her sentence again got cutted off when they reached the end the bridge that's suppose to provide a turn that will led onto another uphill only for them to unable driving on to it.

Sibce the brake doesn't work, YN and Jihyo both shouted helplessly as the car crashed and smashed onto the railing, diving down through through high cliff and come crashing down along the ground.

Jihyo opened her eyes slowly and once again, she saw YN unconscious and pulse not beating along with a rapidly bleeding head causing her to panic and get afraid.

"No... NO NOT AGAIN!"

Instead of pushing the button to restart the scenario again, she returned back to the present time; changing her clothes once again to her laboratory outfit and meeting Lisa again who was busily writing a report on her desk.

The poor girl got startled when Jihyo quickly arrived back and kneeled on the floor.

She stood up and rushed towards the weakened scientist.

"What happened? Did it work?"

"I-I don't know what did I encountered, Lisa.", Jihyo remained her face hidden from her lowered head. "I haven't got to confess to her yet."

"What happened? Is there something that's stopping you?"

"Yeah!", Jihyo looked back at Lisa with a stressed expression. "The memory is still fresh on me and I'm not mistaken that I only haven't got to confess to her because I decided not to.

B-but... I-I don't know what we just faced earlier became very different. We got into a car accident instead. One was us getting crashed to a truck and the other was us falling on the cliff."

"Then s-she... she both died on those.", Jihyo ran her fingers across the length of her bob cut black hair with watery eyes and a increased heat temperature of her breaths.

"Huh?"

"I don't know, Lisa. It seems like, it doesn't allow me to make it happen." Jihyo shrugged and shook her head.

"What are you going to do now, then? Shall we consider this project-"

"NO! I-....", Jihyo exhaled multiple times before proceeding to continue her words.

"I have to try again. I'll try not to come across into a mess again."

Lisa only nodded to support her mentor but the worries are starting to fill up inside of her, including a thought that this mission of Jihyo could be classified as dangerous.

Jihyo stood up and pressed again the button, returning her back to the past.

(BACK TO THE PAST - 6 YEARS AGO) / TAKE 3

Same car. Same night. Same location. Same love of her life capturing her heart.

"Evening, cool girl."

"G-good evening. You look great tonight."

"Thanks, you too."

She closed the door and sat behind Jihyo who is hoping so bad nothing would screw up her chance this time...

While Jihyo was driving, YN sensed something wrong as she watched the outside of Seoul they're passing through became unfamiliar to her.

"Ji, what road is this? I've never been here before."

"U-uhh... we're just taking another route, Y/NN. Hang on, we're going there okay?", Jihyo assured YN who looked troubled and confused at the same time.

They were about to exit that turn but once again, for the third time... they got involved in another car crash when a lightpost collpased just right in front of a truck that was rolling down on the way too.

It made the driver to zigzag his direction as he tried to recover the balanced control of his driving but it didn't worked as he and your car collided together.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!", Jihyo frantically raged as she saw YN's unresponsive state after the impact.

Pressing the button for the fourth time... fifth time... sixth time and so on until she stopped at the tenth attempt, all of these only resulted negatively for her.

As expected, she encountered other various alternate causes to her unsuccessful confession for YN.

For example, on the 5th try; Jihyo and YN got into an accident which she got placed in a coma and forgot her memories with YN who still died.

6th try, Jihyo received an unlucky emergency when YN's father got stroke.

7th try, YN getting kidnapped by unidentified men right when they are about to left YN's house.

8th try, YN immediately shared that her future wife confessed her feelings to her and she accepted.

9th try, YN suffered from a heart attack.

And in 10th try... all of these scenarios made Jihyo to pull out one last attempt and that is when she never showed up instead on that night only for the consequences though that it will still allow the future wife of Jihyo to confess to her first than her.

Returning back to the present, she got all fours on the floor and sobbed hardly as she banged her fist on the floor weakily.

"Jihyo! What happened now?!", Lisa ran through her and matched the same level as hers to easily access a comforting hug to her.

"Lisa..."

"What is it, Jihyo-ssi?"

"Why... why are these happening to us? A-aren't we allowed to be happy?", Jihyo's messed up mind speaking up to her. Lisa doesn't know what to answer as she has clearly no idea also why is Jihyo all unsuccessful on those several repeats she executed.

That is... until an idea showed up in her head. She knows this won't be too pleasant for Jihyo to know but she has no other choice but to inform this to her, probably might help and raise awareness for the poor secret admirer.

"Jihyo-ssi... it's not that I'm going against with you here but, do you think that this is still worth to continue?"

"Where are you going with this, Lisa?", Jihyo furrowed her eyebrows, teeth gritting in anger.

"H-hear me out first okay?", Lisa tried to calm down the supposedly offended Jihyo. "W-what if... what if the reasons why even after you try to repeat and change the mistake you've done on that night, it won't allow you in different ways or so is because...

... Jihyo, I'm afraid that YN not ending up with you can be considered as an absolute point of time. Meaning, it is a constant one in this world and you can't do anything about it because it only states that... the scenario cannot be changed.", Lisa explained her speculations about everything that has been going on to Jihyo.

Jihyo only chuckled, much to Lisa getting weirded out of the latter. Spreading herself apart from the empathic friend, she looked at her in a ridiculuous manner.

"No...", Jihyo sighed, shaking her head. "You told me... you told me everything is possible, Lisa and what do you think I'm trying to do here? Huh? Am I not trying to prove it?"

"Jihyo..."

"No! You don't understand!", Jihyo objected, charging at Lisa as she grasped both her shoulders and wiggled her body aggressively.

Looking intently at Lisa who was left speechless, realizing how crazy she must've been looking because of this problem never wanting to leave her alone for years; she slid her hands to Lisa's arms and buried her face shedding tears on the younger's shoulder.

"I-I'm sorry..."

"It's fine. I may not know what could've felt like having that heartbreak being a burden for so long on you, but I just want help with everything I can. For my friend. For you, Jihyo.", Lisa caressed the back of Jihyo.

"This is a different thing, Ji. We don't even know if it can create a side effect and I just want you to be aware of the danger. Don't you even notice that not only you who's hurting here but also her? You're harming her also, Ji... might as well disturbing her past life that should've been put aside and moved on already in this present time."

"Jihyo, without that moment... you won't be stepping here in this laboratory, having me as your friend and lab partner while me having you as my mentor who is a well-knowned inventor and scientist to this field we took.

And most importantly...

... you won't be making her happy, even if it costs... without having you as her source of it."

Jihyo nodded her head and slowed down the sounds of her crying and heaving chest from pouring out all the emotions she's been keeping inside of her, in combination of everything she's been through for the past 6 years.

She lets go from Lisa, wiping out her tears. "I... I understand, Lisa....

but...

... this is what I want to do, and I've gone so far to obtain this remaining opportunity that I have with me.", Lisa tilted her head and frowned in dismay as Jihyo made her final decision opposite to what she's expecting.

"I appreciate you sticking for my side as always, Lisa... and please, despite of me choosing this; I just want to ask for your support on this one like we usually do for each other.", Jihyo requested, pursing her lower lip and presented her glimmering puppy eyes on her apprentice,

Lisa slumped her shoulders, tightlipped, shutting her eyes and escaped a warm sigh before nodding her head in response. "Don't say I didn't warned you about this."

"I do."

Jihyo and Lisa exchanged a trusting gestures at one another before Jihyo took another try, pressing the button to teleport herself again into a different time, location and setting for a repeat she can't even count from all the fingers in her hands on how many she took a time travelling.

She monitored YN approaching her who's inside the car, but... Jihyo's forehead crumpled and eyebrows knitted in complete disordered perspective when she began observing something... strange.

YN stopped her tracks, only inches away from her peeking out of the window.

She watched YN looking around the neighborhood, her eyes even contacted at the spot where Jihyo is but she just swiftly lured her sight away at the unknown.

"YN?", Jihyo called her name but left no reply from the latter.

YN looked at the time from her wristwatch and sighed. "That little brat. She pranked me again."

Jihyo's confusion grew larger, assuming that YN doesn't see her at all when in fact, their gap is very narrow for them to reach theirselves.

"YN? YN?! HEY, I'M HERE!", Jihyo kept shouting at YN, hoping that atleast her presence will be felt and seen but to no avail.

"W-what's going on...", Jihyo panickedly cupped both her head and rubbed her hair on the sides as she's trying to process what kind of phenomenon is blocking her once again from confessing her feelings to Jihyo.

As she tried to reach and touch YN by expanding her arm to her, YN instead began walking away from her; supposedly returning back inside her house with a dissatisfied and annoyed feeling on her for not seeing any traces of YN in front of her residence.

"YN! DON'T GO!", Jihyo opened the door to hop out and try chasing the oblivious YN when all of a sudden the land they're stepping in began crumbling and wind hitting them strongly, causing them both to become alarmed and terrified at the instant earthquake intensified right at the moment.

Jihyo leaned at the car to gain support from her stance as she felt dizzy from the vibration and impact of the shaking ground while YN crashed on her knees, unable to maintain her balance.

"YN!"

She tried to help her friend, attempting to run her feet straight through her until the skies began switching colors from a dull grey and black into a bright blue and yellow, with the manner having it perceived as if everything is glitching around them.

The land splits into two, tearing both of them away from each other. Jihyo watched the ground began to float as well the what it looked like underneath her, which is nothing but also a glitching appearance of their entire background.

"J-JIHYO?!", Jihyo heard someone called her name, who's none other than YN staring at her in a dreadful expression.

She got somehow relieved that YN can finally see but how could she forgot how bad of a timing it occured as now they're witnessing each other and the entire world around them shattering into pieces.

Speculating that the warnings Jihyo received from Lisa ended up becoming true, now that she's about to experience what must've felt like having the whole reality she's seeing got slowly destroyed all because of her.

"YN!", Jihyo returned the name calling.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?!

"I DON'T KNOW EITHER BUT STAY THERE, OKAY?!", Jihyo yelled at YN who followed her instructions.

Jihyo reaches for the time controller on the passenger's seat and hurriedly pressed the button to restart everything again.

It failed.

She pressed again.

No good.

She went into a rage spamming on the button in sync with the repeated cursing and pleading under her breath that it'll work.

It didn't.

Jihyo screamed in terror as she realized that the glitching and disturbed reality seems like it's shrinking carefully and it made her jump onto the conclusion that she believe they will end up being crushed by it.

"No... no, this can't be. I- I DIDN'T MEANT FOR ANY OF THIS TO HAPPEN!", JIhyo panic-stricken, grabbing YN's attention even more.

"I JUST WANTED TO BE WITH HER!!!", waterfall of tears pouring out from her cheeks as she screamed in anguish at the weird skies above her.

"JIHYO, WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!", Jihyo turned her head towards YN who looks very pitiful in her condition being all alone and terrified of the disaster she's about to accept.

As much as she want to do something, she can't. Lisa won't be able to save her since she's in a different period of time so the only solution she has in her was the controller... but it became unresponsive, leaving Jihyo facing the unknown.

A couple of inches remaining in distance from each of them, the unwell and shifting reality enveloped them altogether. Jihyo and YN's discomfort and horrible demeanor reached it's breaking point as the only thing they can do is to keep screaming in utter horror and desperate for help.

"NO.... NO... YN!", the walls of the reality pushed them, causing the measurement of the space between each other to lessen.

"JIHYO!!!", the pieces of the land they're stepping in finally compressed, and without any hesitation they immediately hugged together for one last time.

"NO... DON'T TAKE HER AWAYYYY!"

And then, Jihyo's begging screams echoed before everything disappears.

Jihyo opened her eyes, feeling nothing but herself floating at... nothing. All she can see it null and void. Black being the only existent color she can see around her.

No signs of YN, it urged her to got hit by a massive realization that not only she failed...but it left a complete destruction and extinction of the world she's living in, including the very important and special person in her whole life: YN.

She did prevented her to end up with her wife, but it costs her not letting her able to live the life she preferred to rather share happiness and love with.

She went for the worst instead for the better.

She lost everything.

She lost YN.

To pay for the sins she caused, it truly is deserving for her to be left all along in such a blank space. Leave her to die, she thought.

"No...no.... no.... I'm so sorry, YN...", Jihyo began crying hard again as she covered her face with both of her palms.

An unknown length of time she spent floating in mid-air of nothing, she unconsciously stared at nowhere with a blank and colorless expression in her face.

Her unbotheredness was broken when suddenly, a familiar voice speaks out from her behind.

"I assumed you learnt your lesson then.", Jihyo used her remaining force within her to turn herself around and face the owner of that voice.

It was Lisa, but her entire appearence looks very unnatural, ethereal and heavenly...

... because this ain't the same student and aspiring scientist Lisa Manoban she knew from before.

Instead, the Lisa floating in front of her now whilst wearing a white elegant and alluring dress exposing her well-built curvy figure is the god-like counterpart of the Lisa she's close with.

"L-Lisa?", Jihyo's face somewhat brightened as she recognized the unearthly woman talking to her.

"Jihyo-ssi.", Lisa smiled timidly.

"Y-you're alive... b-but why are y-"

"I may be the same as your bestfriend but also... I'm not.", Lisa clarified. "Your Lisa is now dead, and I'm honestly sad to know that my version is now gone too soon."

"V-version?"

"So... now you, more than everyone else finally understand that meddling with time and reality would only result in chaos and destruction.", Lisa avoided Jihyo's confusion, saving the reveal later.

Jihyo frowned in guilt, knowing that's exactly what she should remember from now on, yet the only question is... for what? She doesn't have anything to do here. She's trapped in this prison she made for herself.

"As much as I want to help you, I cannot interfere. It's your destiny not to involved in a romantic relationship with YN, because you and her are only limited from crossing that boundary."

"I knew everything what you did and I have to admit... you surely did messed up a lot.", Lisa sarcastically reacted.

"Breaking the sole universe of where you live in-"

"Wait, UNIVERSE?"

"Yeah, you think you only made Earth pop like a bubble?", Lisa raised her eyebrow. "No, silly. You eradicted the entire galaxy because of how stubborn and arrogant you are."

Jihyo winced at the another scolding she got. Harsh words stabbed her straight in the feels because Lisa spat all those truth like an acid to her.

"It wasn't m-my... intention, I swear.", Jihyo muttered. "I knew what I did was wrong... but I never wanted to affect others on my own deed."

"I know, and that's why I'm here."

Jihyo's curiously was piqued.

"For?"

Lisa started to floated around on Jihyo who remained motionless. "Like what I said, you destroying the entire universe by a mortal like you definitely placed a lot of heavy toll within Gods like me."

"A god of what?"

"Gods of Redemption.", Lisa declared. "We're in charge of granting every being in this planet to have second chances, only and if necessary... the scenario is too unreversable to the mortal's hands... that being, death and if that being is very sincere and willingly to make something right again.

... which led me to you, Jihyo-ssi."

"The higher ranking Gods, ofcourse they didn't took it really well. They even almost finalized that they want to have you set up through an instant punishment, banishing your existence with their combined power so that you'll suffer the same as what you did along with your universe.", Jihyo's eyes widened and gulped at how terrifying and intimidating these Gods are.

"However, through my method of convincing; lucky you were spared from the doomsday you're about to meet.", Lisa added.

"Look, I know that you didn't intended to destroy everything but I just can't help but to be a little frustrated at you.", she pointed at Jihyo who remained speechless.

"You were warned, but this crazy little thing called love couldn't set you free isn't it?"

"Yeah."

Lisa clicked her tongue irritably. "Well, we can't do anything about it. What's done is done. But... I figured a way to have you atleast serve a purpose not only for us... but for your own too."

"W-what is it?", Jihyo questioned.

"But first, are you willing to make things right everything first?"

Jihyo lowered her head and clasped her hands together to pose herself as if she's praying and begging for it. "Yes! Please. I'll do everything not to make mistakes this time."

Lisa shushed Jihyo, interrupting her pleadings. "No, scratch that part. Our life won't be complete if we don't make mistakes for us to improve further."

"Oh, yeah... s-sorry.", Jihyo apologized. "Okay, y-yes. I'll do my best to think of my actions first."

"That's better.", Lisa expressed her satisfaction. "Well, I won't be asking you anymore if you're willing to sacrifice your existence because... your universe came first before you so, are you ready to follow me?", she spreaded her arm and presented her free hand, directing it at Jihyo for her to accept.

"To where?", Jihyo innocently asked as she stared at the inviteful Lisa.

Lisa smiled before replying at the lonely scientist.

"To your new home."

Jihyo erased all the doubts she has within her, sensing that this Lisa has closely no differences with the one she used to know when it comes to their personality.

She also analyzed that she was right anyways, saving her from the combined wrath of the higher ranking Gods surely made Jihyo owe this Goddess Lisa a lot not only for her safety, but for another opportunity to have her life achieve a new and hopefully... an improved meaning and role in her life.

Jihyo gently reached for Goddess Lisa's hand and locked onto it, twirling her fingers and strengthened her hold as she watched Lisa gestured a trusting nod before they were covered in a blinding goldlish light, escaping the lifeless and ruptured universe of hers.

A few moments later, Jihyo and Lisa arrived in a place that surely does a great representation of what a paradise looks like.

Jihyo's mouth agaped, eyelids sprung upwards and face stretched in shock an surprise as she looked around at the new and most unique place she has ever seen in her entire life.

The structures, neither tall nor short are all white, a clean and refreshing air where the cotton-like fogs flowing through everywhere around on what it seems to be a town; contributing to the heavenly features of the place.

The people residing were wearing gold and white attires, only a thin cloth covering their bodies and every single one of them looks very appealing.

There's no vehicles to be seen around, since the people have the ability to fly through their angelic wings around and use it as their way of transportation around this place.

Jihyo learnt from Lisa that she was brought to this universe only occupied by the children of the Highness himself, the leader, the chief and the savior of all eternal and holy beings in this universe. "String theory... multi-dimensional reality... matter displacement, they're... they're all real?", she said to herself in awe.

They headed across the scared hall of the Holy Council, where the higher-ups has the pleasure to meet the mastermind and the sinner who is the main responsible for the destruction of one of the universe across the infinite numbers of the other universes scattered all over the galaxy.

Lisa repeated her request and pleads from the higher-up, which led from a short discussion and review of the judgment they're about to make.

Fortunately, they achieved all of their approval; and it resulted for Jihyo to be accepted and welcomed to stay in this unknown world full of gods and goddesses, only to pass a test that will be given to her first to prove if she's a worthy addition to their blessed land.

Because of that, it delivered a required new changes from Jihyo herself. She can't be a morttal anymore as she has to take her new responsibilities and duties to prove herself a worthy God Of Redemption just like Lisa.

She transformed from a devastated, lonely scientist to an almighty godly being.

She was tasked on her first ever service, and that is to guide all the 9 different multiverses assigned to her by Lisa.

Recently, her first mission was sent when she received a distress signal from one of the universes she's guarding.

She discovered that in this one, YN is a male assassin who both lost his wife and daughter in a brutal murder inside their house in the middle of the woods where they are hiding.

Jihyo watched how YN struggled in her guilt, longing and grief of losing all of his loved ones... until she decided to appear and offered him a chance of help after she made her research learning that in another universe, his wife... who was the same person her original YN married together with.

Her name is Sana and both of them lost theirselves in a tragic scenario, which on the other hand Sana lost YN in an unexpected car accident.

The first time she saw the assassin counterpart YN, she tried to keep her composure steady to not let out a different reaction of seeing another version of her beloved YN and stay still on being dedicated to her new embraced role as a God Of Redemption.

It pained Jihyo a lot, ofcourse. Secretly watching the huge grin and overload of sadness and longing he felt when he got to meet Sana again for the second time made her somehow wish she could experience the same and stand in Sana's position.

Seeing that she will never have a chance to make YN fall in love with her even at every different universes along with the mistake she had done was an effective hard slap for her to woke up in the reality this time.

Her feelings for YN still remains in her heart, sometimes she uses it to secretly admire her male counterpart whenever he's asleep every night on the new universe Jihyo teleported him.

But on one night, she came to visit YN with another agenda.

She squatted beside the male YN's sleeping figure on the bed and traced his facial features even this version couldn't fail to make Jihyo go head over heels too and showcase the bisexuality effects on her.

Combing his hair with gentle stroke from the gaps of her slender, shining fingers, Jihyo smiled bitterly at the look of YN sleeping peacefully.

"You're still attractingly handsome even if you're a man.", she whispered, not leaving her sight away at YN.

"I promise, this time... I'll make you happy. As much as I want to be the one with you to share with, I know I can't... because you'll never be mine.", Jihyo's teardrop fell from YN's cheek.

"I'll still give it to you. You deserve and earned every special things, whether it may be big or small. Always for a wonderful person like you. That's how you meant so much to me, YN", her lips shuddered as she forces herself not to sob heavily from the hurtful heartbreak she's trying to heal and forget these days.

She placed her last kiss of acceptance for her destined fate on YN's lips before she slowly vanished away and returned from her private universe.

Jihyo successfully completed her first mission by being true to her words, making YN happy by having him reconcile with the another version of Sana.

She bid goodbye to them and headed back to her universe where she teleported right away in front of a massive and enchanted chapel being one of the main highlights of the entire town, along with the council hall where the higher-ups are slated.

Jihyo saw Lisa who's talking nicely with her other fellow guests and gods and politely excused herself to grab the attention of her friend.

"Oh, Jihyo-ssi! You made it on time!", Lisa pleasantly greeted her. "How's your very first mission?"

Jihyo blushed and smiled widely, hinting the victorious accomplishment she achieved. "They're back together now."

"Great!", Lisa clapped her hands in glee. "Congrats on completing your first mission! I'm sure the elders would be really happy to hear this such good news from you. Even better, you are now really proving that you can belong with us!"

"I am honored and overwhelmed if they confirm it.", Jihyo sweetfully smiled.

"Tsk, humble. I'm sure they will.", Lisa bounced her eyebrows as she said it confidence.

"Oh! By the way... someone wants to see you.", Lisa's face brightened up when she remembered the reminder given to her by that someone.

"Who?"

"Find it out yourself, she wants you to meet her on the balcony near the garden."

"She?"

Jihyo furrowed her eyebrows, trying to think of a possible identity of this mysterious being wanting to involve a conversation with her alone.

"What are waiting for? Go! The wedding's about to start in 10 minutes!", Lisa pushed Jihyo to hurriedly make her move her feet and ran to find this someone.

After asking courteously to some strangers around the chapel, the directions led her finally to the balcony to the garden where she saw a figure of a woman standing in her elegant and stupendous white dress in the middle of the marble railing.

Her long, curly brown hair organized with the assist of the matching white hairband is dancing with the waves of the fresh, clean air.

Jihyo can only see her alluring exposed milky, smooth skin of her back facing her until the mysterious woman rotated her body.

Jihyo couldn't react any other than to be bewildered and let her emotions arise in an instant.

It was the goddess counterpart of YN, standing from a slight distance in front of her, smiling softly at the view of the taken aback woman in her eyes.

"You finally showed up.", YN said with her usual gentle and tender voice.

"Y-YN?"

She nodded and smiled. "It's nice to see you... well technically I should say "again", Jihyo."

Jihyo stood frozen in her spot, still in disbelief that she's seeing another version of YN, in this one it looks very alike the same woman she loved for the longest time.

Not to mention, this goddess YN looks so more unbelievably beautiful.

"I knew what happened from Lisa. She told me everything.", YN began to explain, as she slowly approached the shocked Jihyo.

"You never had a chance to properly talk with me and released everything that you're carrying in your chest so... I thought of setting a perfect schedule where I could make it finally happen for you."

"I... I had to convince Sana for a while to let me allow to talk with you and gladly she did."

"So... Jihyo, anything you wanna say for me?", YN said, locking her hand altogether behind her back as she waited patiently.

Jihyo cleared her throat and closed her eyes for a few second before opening it.

"This is indeed real, she's here", she muttered.

"I-I am.", Jihyo stuttered nervously. She didn't wasted any longer time as she began saying her apology speech.

"YN... first and foremost, I just want to say sorry. For everything that I caused which led me to this.

Not that I'm sounding like I'm complaining about it, I'm just being conscious and minding still about the horrible truth behind all of these.

I... I admit that I became very desperate, selfish, arrogant, impulsive anything you want to call me that urged me to abuse my creation just to forcefully repeat that past that I regretted the most which I could never change.

From the bottom of my heart and soul, I sincerely apologize for the disturbance and misery I brought to your counterpart that I loved so deeply, YN.

But... since, all of you are just sharing the same identity of YN... I guess I could say the same thing I've been wanting to say for so long on you too."

Jihyo stepped forward, inching closer at YN who stared at her actions but freely lets the woman to proceed on doing so, understandably accepting why she has to do this.

"I love you. I love you in every universe, YN", Jihyo stared at YN's hypnotizing eyes as she swayed some strands of hairs behind the ear of YN before switching her hands to place it upon the plump cheeks of her lover.

YN sighed heavily and smiled softly at the heartwarming message of her bestfriend and admirer.

But then, Jihyo's lips shifted to a frown. "But you're not mine... and I will never be yours, because that's what our fate dictates us so."

"I learned my lesson now, and after quite some time of recovering... I have no other choice but to do the only right option.

I have to let you go and be with Sana forever and after but... rest assured that I'll do my best to live with my promise, and that is to make you happier than you'll ever be eternally.", Jihyo reached for YN's hand and carefully squeezed it.

She gave the top a peck of her kiss before patting the spot and clenched it on her hold as she released the engaged woman's hand.

"I already forgave you, Jihyo. I'm just waiting for this time to declare it to you.", YN confessed to her which broke Jihyo's watery eyes to shed a wet path of teardrops full of joy down her cheek.

"You already succeeded your redemption arc, and I have nothing more to say than to express how much I'm proud of you from correcting your mistakes and didn't brought harm from anyone this time."

"Don't worry, Jihyo. You made me happy. You made Sana happy too, including Lisa. I just hope you're feeling the same too."

"I-I am very happy too, especially for you, YN.", Jihyo confirmed, nodding her head rapidly as she smiled with her face still stained and messy due to the tears of joy she shed. "Congratulations on getting married today, by the way."

YN chuckled, wiping also her watery eyes off. "Yeah, thank you so much Jihyo. Appreciated it, really."

"I'm relieved that you can tell the same too for yourself, Jihyo.", YN nodded and beamed.

"Before we go back inside, since we knew both that things didn't ended quite well between us..."

YN presented her pinky finger at Jihyo which the latter looked at it adorably.

"Do you accept my invitation for you to join me rewind our friendship together, Jihyo-ssi?"

Without thinking twice, Jihyo hooked her own pinky finger at YN's.

"I'm in for a new beginning, YN.", she grinned.

Jihyo and YN immediately crashed their bodies for a tight, warm, caring and comfortable hug which made Jihyo unable to resist pulling back her tears to come out by how she missed having this kind of moment with YN so much.

After that, YN looked at the huge antique clocktower for the time. Realizing that they only have 3 minutes to prepare, she let's go from the embrace and both of them looked at each other.

"Let's go?"

Jihyo nodded readily.

While they're walking straight back inside the chapel, YN initiated one last short topic in assurance for them to talk about.

"How's my counterpart that you were tasked by Lisa sent from the elders?"

"All good now, YN. He's been saved."

Jihyo cheered good luck on YN, waved off at one another as they went on to their respective spots: in front of the altar and one of the chairs where all of the guests are seated.

While they're waiting for the bride to come out, a golden purse suddenly fell from Jihyo's feet.

She was about to lower down and reach it when she noticed that another hand also touched the extravagant belonging.

Jihyo looked at the person who also did the same as she caught her eyes, and she wasn't lying to herself when she mentally stated that this girl looks so beautiful.

In result, both of them just lifted off the purse together and Jihyo instantly pulled back her hand, allowing the woman to recover her property.

"S-sorry for the inconvenience...", the short black haired woman said shyly.

"It's n-nothing. I'll take it r-randomly.", Jihyo assured.

Jihyo was about to focus herself back on waiting but the out of nowhere desire to continue talking to this very interesting woman made her disregard it.

"S-sorry, I just wanna ask. How come you became one of the guests today? Are you close with the newlyweds?", Jihyo curiously asked.

"Yes. Sana's my bestfriend and I'm pretty close now with YN too."

"Oh...", Jihyo expressed her satisfication to that information.

"And you?

"I'm friends with YN.", the stranger nodded, lips formed an "o" shape.

"I haven't introduced myself yet, didn't I?", Jihyo sheepishly chuckled. "I'm Jihyo. Park Jihyo."

"I'm Jeongyeon. Yoo Jeongyeon.", the bobbed cut haired woman accepted her offer of handshake welcomely.

Unbeknownst to both of them, they finally met the right person for each other to love along with across the other multiverses where every counterparts of Jihyo and Jeongyeon were either soon to encounter each other in the middle of their paths or already living happily together no matter what happens.

And that's that!

For those male readers of mine out here who decided to still read this one-shot until the end despite the story having female readers as the protagonist just to view the plot twist at the ending, I appreciate the consideration so much.

Now yall understand why I made the male readers also read this.

Yes, this entire one-shot is a prequel from my previous work from Set 3 which is the Sana x M (Male) Reader one-shot titled "The Multiversal Redemption Arc". It was the second most voted story in Set 3 after Mina x M (Male) Reader- "Unconditionally".

This one simply explored and explained Jihyo's origin on how and what led her become to be the Almighty God Of Redemption who helped the male reader reunite with Sana back in MRA.

For my female readers, if you haven't seen MRA on Set 3, I suggest to read it so that all of you could understand what just happened and the connection of Rewind to MRA. However, it's a male reader one... so I'll leave it up to you guys if you'll still take a peek there and pretend yourselves as an ooposite gender of yourself.

I hope you guys liked the twist I did and especially, if you guys enjoyed this latest work of mine so far.

See ya! - Knight

#jihyo #twicejihyo #twicejihyoxfemalereader #twicejihyoxfreader #gxg #twicejihyooneshot #twicejihyoau #twiceau #twiceoneshot #kpopau #kpoponeshot #twice

20 notes · View notes