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moomixx101 · 3 months ago

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!!! DISCLAIMER !!! This chapter contains topics and descriptions of suicide and self-harm, please read at your own discretion.

Chapter Four; Practical Possession (Part Two)

Mesio's Perspective

This is hardly an examination of skill or anything for that matter. Honestly, from my understanding, it is more so a judge of our characters for Miss Floros. To discover that she’s entertained by such a showdown would not come as a shock to me.

Which is why I’m finishing this exam alone. I don’t want to be hurt for the sake of her entertainment and non-existent competition. There is no need to throw others under the bus to succeed anyways, I have already obtained fourteen tags on my own, without encountering not even a single person, it was rather easy, I don’t understand how others may struggle or stress over an assignment such as this one.

Though, maybe that is the thing, that I don’t understand. Everybody seems to feel so strongly about things like these, win, lose, laugh, cry… There is the telepathic connection between them all, like they’re all family, and between me and the others’, between me and this culture, there is a wall that I cannot manage to break past.

I wonder that, if I were to purposefully fail, would it hurt?

If it hurt, would I then understand the rest of them?

No, I can’t let it hurt, I can’t fail.

What is important is to focus on is the objective, the objective to pass, Miss Floros, she holds me to an incredibly high esteem. She pulled me aside the other week, telling me about the intelligence units and told me that if I passed the exam then I would have access to the Investigation Team’s library, and further in the future, that I could be up there with her, as her advisor. Though I find this kind of pampering somewhat patronising, I do not understand why knowledge should be kept from the public, I am more than willing to do anything that is asked of me if it means obtaining said knowledge.

Even if it is as easy as this.

To get what I want I need to pass, and to pass I need more tags.

Fourteen seems far too little, that is only just under double over how many people are participating in this exam, there would have to be over eighty for everybody in the exam to collect ten each and considering there were twenty doors at the start there should at least be two hundred, which would mean I need twenty five to achieve the perfect average and pass as the majority will. A pleasant ending for me as I get what I want, and I do not become a target for competition.

“Mesio!”

A familiar voice rang out from behind me as I began to make my departure. I came to a halt and turned around to see none other than Alika Ekubo running towards me with a ghastly look on her face.

“Mesio, wait! This is really important!”

She cried, waving at me as she came to a stop.

“Did something happen?”

I asked.

“He… He got her! Reine…”

Alika gasped, I couldn’t quite tell if it was out of exhaustion from running or panic. Either way, I was immensely confused as to who ‘he’ was, it was my guess that Caius and Lixue would’ve been working together as I have never seen them apart when it comes to these kinds of assessments. And I hadn’t even seen Reine, so I was confused as to who would ‘get’ her and why.

“Who got her?”

I asked, my brows gently furrowed in confusion.

“He did, like he tried with Nikola way back in year nine...”

Suddenly a wave of clarity washed over me, and I felt my chest grow a little heavier as more questions began to buzz in my mind.

“Eneko? Why? How? ー”

I asked, my brows furrowed with concern as I briefly looked over Alika’s shoulder to see if he had followed.

“I don’t know, I tried to warn her, but how am I supposed to tell Reine about all of that when he’s only a few metres away?”

Alika explained, shaking her head before grabbing my shoulder and leaning into my ear, speaking in a low whisper as to prevent anybody even remotely nearby from hearing.

“I can’t save her myself; not with my ability anyway, I need you to get him out for me, okay? You’re perfect for it. And if you do, I’ll gift you something, anything.”

She continued, backing away from my face.

I paused for a moment in thought; however, nothing really came to mind. Nothing that she could do for me anyway.

“There is nothing I want.”

I replied, shaking my head.

“I don’t really think this is a favour, it’s a genuine emergency.”

“I know.”

She nodded, pausing briefly.

“I know, it’s just that I’m taking up your time. I know you’ve very particular about your scores on tests and things like that.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I can’t recognise an issue when I see one. We’re being graded on teamwork anyway.”

I explained, taking a few steps in the direction Alika came running from.

“So, where is he?”

“Oh, right!”

She gasped, running front of me and pointing ahead.

“This way. Make sure to keep an eye out and your hands to yourself.”

She instructed, marching off with me following behind her.

“He was right here, in those ropes.”

Alika said, stopping in her tracks and pointing at the ceiling of the hallway. Half of the ropes that he must’ve been caught in had fallen to the ground, and another half were hanging down from the ceiling resembling that of vines more than a net.

“So, he must’ve freed himself while you were running away?”

I asked, crouching down to take a closer look at the collapsed ropes before a small shiny object caught my attention, a screw, I picked it up and looked around, trying to see where it could have come from.

“Precisely what I’m thinking as well.”

Alika agreed, as I looked up at her I found where the screw had come from, something behind her. The cover for the air vent was removed.

“Was that vent always open?”

I asked, pulling myself to my feet and pointing at the open vent. Alika quickly turned around and gasped, slapping herself in the mouth as if two worlds had come clashing together in her head.

“I didn’t see it before; it was covered by the ropes, and I really didn’t want him to see me. But there was another thing, there was a tag inside one of the vents earlier. I thought it was somewhat odd at the time but now I’m seeing this, I have a theory that he placed it there.”

Alika explained.

“He must’ve grabbed a tag at the start, triggered the trap over here, undid that vent with a knife or something, crawled through the vents and stuck the tag out as bait, and then waited for somebody to come grab it with his ear to the wall.”

“That’s incredibly elaborate. I believe it but how did he know somebody would come to save him? Placed too much faith in the right person happening to pass by.”

I added, picking up a couple of the fallen ropes.

“You think he’d use the knife against us?”

“I doubt it, but he is likely to use his ability on us so I think we should cover up as much as we can.”

Alika said, her attention drawing to the ropes in my hand.

“Are you thinking of using those to restrain him?”

“Yes. His ability takes a little while to take effect, right? Depending on how much time’s left over after all this and knowing he’s not exactly the type to forgive or give up, I think our safest option would be to handcuff him or something and then to simply make a run for it.”

“Are you sure Korina won’t flag that as sabotage?”

Alika asked, her expression softening slightly to that of concern of some kind.

“He’s possessing people, I think it’s fair.”

I explained, latching some of the loose ropes onto the strap of my vest.

“More importantly, and considering you know him more than I do, who do you think he’d be more likely to use his ability on between the two of us?”

I asked, fixing my gaze on her expression to judge how certain she was in her response, counting each second between my question and her answer. She paused for six seconds with a still expression on her face, considering the information, then for two more seconds she furrowed her eyebrows a little bit and looked off to the side.

“I think it would be you.”

She answered.

“Alright, then when we find his body, I need you to either hand it to me or if you have it, stay in front of him at all times, do not leave his eyeline.”

I instructed, walking a step or two forwards, as time was running short and turning back the way in which we came would most likely be a waste of time as we did not encounter him on the way here.

“Oh!”

Alika let out a short gasp, her eyes quickly trailing back to the floor and then back to me.

“Are you sure?”

She asked, the tip of her nail on her index finger subtly tugging her bottom lip in uncertainty.

“You don’t have to, I just don’t want to be seen so I don’t have a target on me later, and for your protection too. I have no doubts in my ability to conceal myself, but I do know if I make even the slightest mistake, he will immediately pick up on it, you were there with Reine, there is not a doubt that he didn’t notice you, and you have history with him. He undoubtedly has it out for you, and with his body, you could easily use it as a shield of sorts to prevent him from using his ability on you. Are you okay with that?”

I paused for a moment, trying to see if she felt any particular way about this. I know that she’ll smile and say it’s okay, but what she really thinks is a complete enigma to me. Sure, there is no way to know if somebody is being truly honest or not, but what I know about Alika is that she is never honest with anybody with these things, sweet talk and smiles are her sharpest blades, and it takes careful dissection her face and her character to see past it. Though, perhaps that is simply because I lack the intelligence and understanding to tell truth from lie just from a glance as she does, it’s truly genius how she does so.

Right now, she isn’t even trying to conceal anything with a smile, she is completely straight faced, and her eyes are so incredibly glossy. Looking into them for too long I can’t find any warmth of emotion, it’s only this passive thoughtful stare.

There is no choice but to take her word, only hope that she sticks by it.

“No, I understand.”

She shook her head, cutting ahead of me.

“Let’s keep moving, we can’t waste our time.”

Alika spoke in a lower tone, uncharacteristic of her.

“Okay, but if you feel uncomfortable or the situation gets dangerous you don’t have to do this.”

I nodded.

“Yes, I know, but I doubt that he couldー”

Alika was quickly cut off with a loud screech from the speakers. I felt my heart jump with the sudden sound and the two of us immediately turned our gazes upwards to the speakers above us.

“Attention!”

A voice called out in a soft yell, not the voice of Korina or the president, no. There was a sleep-ish air to it with a boy-ish huff.

“There has been a gas leak in one of the far-left wards, please avoid that area as much as you can and calmly proceed back to where you entered. I repeat, gas leak, far-left ward! Do not turn back for anybody, we are sending our medics to take care of all of those who have been hurt and we cannot risk taking up more hospital beds then need-be, simply proceed back to the entrance! Once again, that is a gas leak in one of the far-left wards, proceed with cautionー Ah!’

They announced before the speaker buffered a bit as if the microphone used for it was being snatched from them.

“There is no gas leak. Please continue the exam as usual. You are all safe and there is nothing to worry about, I can assure you of that. Please carry on and do not listen to the detective.”

A mature voice interrupted, quickly shutting off the announcement, leaving Alika and I in a bewildered silence.

“Was that Rasulov? Is there really a gas leak?!”

Alika asked, the energy immediately returning to her voice as words raced out of her mouth in a breathy panic.

“Must’ve been, but I doubt that there is a gas leak, Floros wouldn’t lie about there not being one. She doesn’t want her soldiers dying, not when we’re under-staffed like this.”

I explained, turning to her with eyes as equally wide and startled as her’s.

“Then why would they lie?”

Alika asked, her fair brows furrowed in thought.

“I don’t know, but we should go find out ourselves.”

I said, walking forwards now. It was vital for me to find out what was going on.

“I agree, luckily we were heading in that direction anyways.”

Alika nodded, following along, looking around in case anybody had moved upon the announcement.

After racing through the labyrinth of grey halls the two of us walked turned into a small room, barren of anything, no air vent, no trap doors, nothing but a wall, and Eneko’s limb body seated at it, facing the two of us with closed eyes. He looked peaceful, like a doll or a sleeping baby, his body was so delicately placed and honestly, with features as gentle as Eneko, it’s difficult to look at him and not immediately think of a sickly child. But that was a meticulous choice of presentation, and the bliss of Eneko’s body in a lifeless rest was juxtaposed by the large slashes on his wrists and the gross amount of blood wiped across the scene, the jarring colour of red not bringing life to the grey scenery, but more-so, showing us what there once was.

The remains of life.

“Oh my god…”

Alika gasped, her hands quivering over her mouth. She took a small step backwards, her knees in-turned and half-frozen.

“We need to get a closer look.”

I said, trying to remain as composed and objective as possible, despite this sinking, cold feeling of dread and sickness in my chest just looking at the scene. The smell of blood, so sour, so metallic, it tests my endurance both mentally and sensually.

“Right… I’m a nurse, I’ll be able to do this. Just stay where you are, keep an eye out for Reineー Sorry, I meant him.”

She stammered a little, nodding her head with a faint smile, a fake smile, and running over to Eneko’s body to check him over. Picking up his wrist and taking a careful look at the cut before placing her index finger and middle finger on his neck for a pulse. Her eyes seemed to light up as she turned back to me with a wide grin on her face.

“He’s alive, the cuts weren’t deep enough, and he cut the wrong way. I’ll patch him up before we give his body back.”

She said, pulling out a roll of bandages from the pockets of her pants that she had brought into the exam and gently began wrapping them around his wrists almost as a mother would.

“That’s good to hear, I’ll keep an eye out for him.”

I nodded, I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders knowing that he was still alive. Technically, if Eneko was successful in his suicide attempt, he would have killed both himself and Reine, and then we would be forced to choose one life above the other. Retrospect, the decision is not a hard one to make, though the guilt would follow regardless.

But the relief was soon replaced with a sharp sense of panic as I heard a shoe softly ‘tap!’ the tiles from behind me. I whipped my head around and there she was, no, there he was, with black eyes uncharacteristically shiny with sadness, staring past me and straight at Alika.

“I suppose she told you everything.”

He sighed, coldly turning his gaze away from Alika and towards me, as though he didn’t want to see what she was doing, like it was painful.

“I was practicing my impressions for a while you know. I’m honestly pretty upset.”

He continued a faint smile on his lips, staring more at the floor than anything else, voice still low and cold in tone. It was odd to see him in Reine’s body, every time I had seen Reine, although not particularly close there was a soul inside of her, unmistakably this was Eneko simply wearing Reine’s skin, as there was not an ounce of any soul to be found.

“Were you planning on living as Reine?”

I asked, my brows furrowed a little, trying to keep myself as composed as possible, confusion and shock mixed into this lingering feeling of unease.

Eneko paused for a little while longer, trying to hide his face behind Reine’s thick fringe as if he was struggling to control his expression. Almost instinctively, I concentrated my vision to his face and tried to figure out the expression he was making.

“I don’t know…”

He squeaked, his voice seizing up a little bit, was he crying?

“No, that wasn’t it…”

He sighed, hands covering the eyes as tiny droplets fell to the concrete from ‘his’ face, leaving small wet spots.

“Are you crying?”

I asked, perhaps it was deeply insensitive of me to do so but I needed to know, Eneko was a spy after all and given his ability, he could impersonate people easily, squeezing out some tears would be as easy for him. If he was, my biggest question regarding it, my biggest question regarding the entire situation and in fact the only thing I wanted to ask was, ‘why?’.

“Yeah, I don’t know why, I don’t feel sorry at all haha…”

He smiled, looking up at me and fanning his face, taking a deep exhale to steady his breath.

“Seriously, I don’t know why I did that, that was so pathetic! Haha! Hah… Smiling feels weird, doesn’t it?”

Any kind of honesty in his eyes seemed to flee as he looked up at me, leaving only a deep, black void of deception.

“Maybe because you’re forcing yourself to.”

“Hm… I guess that’s true.”

Eneko hummed, his smile widening a little bit.

“You’re smart as you are handsome, Mesio. I like you a lot.”

“Thank you…?”

I replied, not entirely certain about what he meant by that, I never really considered myself as handsome as I had never really captured the attention of women, so he could’ve very well been calling me stupid.

“It’s a compliment, I really mean it. Which is why you aren’t exactly my type, I don’t like it when people are smarter than me, and I think if we were closer then I would hate you. I can respect you though, you hide nothing from nobody, it’s a quality hard to come by here. Don’t take this the wrong way, if I were a woman I wouldn’t mind you fathering my children or being their teacher or something. You have good morals, strong morals, it’s quite admirable. You’re a good man, Mesio, an admirable man.”

He explained, extending his hand out in Alika’s direction, pointing at her.

“So, why you’re hanging around her?”

He asked, his blank eyes staring directly into mine, judging every essence of my character. I couldn’t help but feel shocked by the question, do I need a reason?

“Because she’s kind.”

I answered.

Eneko paused for a moment, then he smiled and turned to Alika who had finished bandaging his body up and was carrying him in her arms. Eneko’s face tightened, smile uncomfortable and forced, eyebrows furrowed as if he wanted to be angry, and eyes a little brighter as he stared at the girl, not bright in joy but bright as if he was about to cry again.

“Yes, I guess she is.”

He nodded, smile breaking into a grimace for a short second before he continued,

“You know, I used to fantasise about this when I was younger. Who’d mourn me, who’d save me, all of that. Seeing her smile to see I was still alive brought me back to that. But I’m wiser now. You were happy to see me alive because it meant that you could save Reine without being responsible for my death, right? It was about poor Reine? Always victimised by Nikola and always neglected by the wicked bitch of the West! She still has that stupid charm to her too! Kick her in the face and she’ll come kissing your feet. She can sit, beg, and stay!”

“Eneko, you know that’s not true, we do care, you’re just missing the point, we need to save Reine from you, nobody is more important than the other.”

Alika protested, tightening her grip on Eneko’s body.

“Then where were you every other time? Because I can count on all my limbs how many times you have all left me to struggle on my own, do you want to check for yourself, doctor?”

He grinned, but it was somewhat obvious that he didn’t find anything funny or joyous in the slightest, it was an empty, angry smile.

“Eneko, just give Reine her body back and be done with it.”

I spoke, folding my arms.

Eneko turned his gaze over to me, looking me up and down.

“I hope you forgive me, Mesio. I really do like you, but what you want simply can’t happen.”

He said, and before I could even blink, a thick, wet substance shot at me, onto my feet and up my pants, encasing my legs as Eneko bolted off. I looked down to see my feet engulfed in clay, the consistency slipping through the edges of my boots and in between my toes creating what I would argue, the most uncomfortable experience known to man. I yanked my feet out from the mixture as Alika ran over to me.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, we need to catch up with him though. We’re going to lose the bastard if we don’t hurry.”

I said, pointing in the direction he went running off in and breaking into my own sprint, Alika following.

After another long chase we followed Eneko into another dead end, somewhere in the far-right end of the floor. The only other way out without going through me and Alika was through an air vent which I had made an effort to stand directly under to assert control in a way. Eneko silently stared at the wall, his back to me and Alika, breath silent, thoughts and intentions far beyond my comprehension.

“I don’t know what you hope to achieve but you’ve already lost your chance, count your losses and give up or this situation won’t remain between the four of us.”

I said, bracing myself for whatever Eneko was going to throw at me with Reine’s ability. My initial plan to simply trick him and run was not even an option at this point. One of us would have to give up or things are going to get violent, the latter I am not looking forward to.

“You’ll tell who? Nikola? I’d love to see her beat your ass too, for that pejorative comment I reckon it’d cost an arm.”

He said, letting out an empty chuckle.

“I was thinking the President, she’ll have you issued to a hospital for the rest of your life, this isn’t normal behaviour. It doesn’t take a doctor to tell that you are ill.”

“But I won’t be here?”

He muttered, looking over his shoulder for a second before letting out a long sigh.

“… I’m disappointed, I should’ve died today, it’s Nikola’s fault. I thought it’d be easier if I couldn’t feel the pain of it happening, but it felt worse.”

He began rambling to himself, scratching his arm as he spoke in almost a whisper.

“I’m sorry if this sounds crass but are you having an episode?”

Alika asked, her eyebrows furrowed deeply in confusion.

Eneko turned around, covering his right eye with his fist for a few moments before opening his palm, still covering his eye and making a ‘pop!’ noise with his mouth, before tiredly lowering his arm and eyeing the both of us.

“I have nothing else to say, I’m not sorry, and I don’t want to stand here in silence with you two. If you want to get your way, you’re gonna have to force it, if not then I’ll be on my merry way.”

He spoke in a tone that I can only describe as dead, entirely vacant of energy, there was no soul behind those words.

“But if you’re going to force it, please, make it hurt, and don’t apologise. I don’t want to hear it.”

I looked at Alika for a moment and then back at Eneko, thankfully, with my ability, taking on Eneko without laying hands on him would be easy for me. I took a careful couple of steps forward, studying Eneko’s stance and demeanour before making my next move, he seemed almost serene, he was just staring at me blankly, head tilted slightly to the side, slightly urging me to hurry as I turned my gaze back to Alika.

“Go behind.”

I mouthed to Alika, darting me eyes between him and her to point. Alika gave a sharp nod in understanding and bolted behind Eneko, before he could react, I removed my glasses and as I imagined it, it was cast through my retinas and the room was soon swallowed in a thick grey mist.

“Are you serious?”

Eneko scowled, squinting his eyes as he crouched down to create a clay ring around himself, expanding a thin layer of it across the floor, I took a step forward trying to carefully tread over it, but it would quickly occur to me that was a major misstep on my part and as the moment I moved and my foot tapped on the concrete Eneko immediately turned to look in my direction and smiled. He moved his left hand behind his back and before I could even begin to contemplate or study his actions or expression a ball of clay hit my face causing me to stagger backwards, blinded by the texture of dirt and rock in my eyes and suffocated from it in my nose.

“He’s getting away!”

Alika cried, I quickly wiped the mess off my face and whipped head around, completely ready to chase after him again only to see Alika, with Eneko’s real body hung over her shoulder and her foot under Reine’s foot, tripping him over, face first. Although her efforts to stop him caused her to slip over herself, she used her free hand to grab Eneko by the collar to keep him in place, and with the military vests we were instructed to wear for the exam her grip was amplified.

Eneko squirmed around trying to claw Alika’s arm off like some kind of feral cat, whining and hissing at the containment, when clawing Alika’s arm did not work, he began clawing away at the floor trying to crawl awayー No, he wasn’t, he was trying to…

“Alika, watch out!”

I yelled as soon as I caught on to what Eneko was really trying at, but I was too late, Eneko had used Reine’s ability to spray clay straight into Alika’s face, forcing her to let go if she wanted to use any of her senses, coughing and spluttering up the chunks that got into her mouth as she tried to clear up her eyes with only one hand.

I wouldn’t consider myself a particularly competitive person, I live comfortably as I am. What I do take quite seriously is my intellect and truthfulness. If Eneko thinks that I am intelligent, more intelligent than he is, and morally correct, then I cannot let somebody like him who is a liar, and allegedly less intelligent than I am win.

I run over to Alika as she is coughing and spluttering and take Eneko’s body from her so she can retreat to clean herself up, and then, using my ability the room goes pitch black as Eneko begins to scurry away. Illusions are endless, and this ability is only an extension of my own mind, I can wish myself to be everywhere at once and so I will and surround Eneko.

“You still aren’t slick, Mesio. I can disperse these easily.”

He hissed, folding in on himself, back arched and cowering like a cat.

“Then try to.”

I said, having my imaginaries repeat the movements of my mouth as I spoke. Holding Eneko’s real body like a ragdoll in front of me, I cast an illusion of myself onto it. Eneko turned around with the sound of my voice from behind him, his eyes were like narrow dots, tracing around the room frantically, trying to spot the odd one out. After a little while of looking he put his hand behind his back and concentrated his gaze in one spotー Oh, I know this one.

He threw a ball of clay directly in front of him, to which I dodged and had all my ‘others’ repeat the motion, you should never pick up habits, people notice them and come to expect things. After missing he straightened his posture and looked head on, pausing for a moment.

“Alright, have it that way. One of you has to be real though, and if I can’t see who is, I’ll just have to feel.”

He said, closing in on himself again. I simply gave a nod in agreement.

“Yes, exactly.”

He took a careful few steps forwards, and then extended his foot out, treading on his own shoe. He then stopped and looked up, past the illusion and straight at me, a smile creeping on his face, reaching his hand out past the illusion I had cast on his real body and onto my shoulder, a chill immediately running down my spine.

“I’ll tell you what, you’re great at finding answers but terrible at finding solutions, Mesio. Really, not as bright as I thought you were. I think I like you more now.”

He muttered, his hand making its way down to my waist and slowly leaning into me. I felt my whole-body twitch with discomfort, not just at the touch but at his movement, at his words and immediately ripped myself out of his grasp as there was but one problem with Eneko’s approach to using his ability on me, I had his real body in front of me, he was leaning against himself.

His eyes widened as I moved out the way and he fell into his own body, but before he could pull himself away Alika came running from behind and lunged her elbow into his back, shoving him into himself. He let out a sharp cry before falling to the ground, seemingly unresponsive. I put my glasses back on and the illusion dispersed like fog, taking a few steps closer to Reine and Eneko to inspect the situation.

“Are they sleeping?”

I asked.

“I don’t know yet, it takes a while to happen.”

Alika said, crouching down to the floor and tapping Reine’s cheek for a response, to which, Reine seemed to stir a little, opening her eyes slightly.

“Reine?”

Alika asked, turning Reine’s face over in an attempt to position her off Eneko. Suddenly, with the touch of Alika’s skin on her face, her skin, a pale, porcelain colour turned to a bright red, and she swiftly sat upright. Reine was most certainly back.

“Alika! The tags! Where are they?! Do we still have them all?!”

She gasped, frantically scrambling through her vest, pulling out all her tags, counting them as she went.

“One, two, three, four… oh thank goodness… none of them were taken! Wait, how long was I out for?”

She asked, her expression relaxing a little to see all her tags were in tack, that expression would be short-lived.

“Roughly thirty minutes I’d say.”

I answered.

“THIRTY MINUTES?!”

She screamed, breaking sound barriers with her volume. She jumped to her feet, and pointed at Eneko, who was laying on the floor in defeat.

“You! The hell did you do?!”

She shouted, stomping over to him.

“I didn’t do anything.”

He replied, sitting up, eyebrows furrowed in either pain or annoyance. Reine’s fists clenched up at the bold-faced lie as she rammed her foot in between his legs.

“Agh!”

He winced.

“Bullcrap, I went to help you and the next thing I know you’re rubbing up on me like some perv and I’m unconscious! What did you do?!”

“He used his ability to take over your body, that’s why I told you to avoid touching him when you ran off to rescue him.”

Alika answered, twiddling her fingers awkwardly as Reine and Eneko stared at her. Reine’s eyes widened in shock, she stood there, completely bewildered for a good minute before she turned her attention back to Eneko who seemed unresponsive to what Alika said, he didn’t look proud of himself, he looked exhausted, not seeming to care about the morality of his actions and how he violated Reine at all.

“YOU CUNNING LITTLEー”

She shouted, cutting herself off from swearing at the boy before slamming her foot between his legs again, much hard than before, and proceeded to kick him in the crowned parts without break as she continued her rant, each time harder than the last.

“I WAS TRYING TO HELP YOU! I WAS TRYING TO HELP YOU AND YOU USED ME! AND NOW I’M GOING TO FAIL! I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS; I TRUSTED YOU AND YOU TRICKED ME!”

Eneko rolled onto his side to try to stop Reine from kicking him directly up the crotch, but it didn’t seem to be of any avail, if it wasn’t in the nuts, her foot was just going up his arse. He had nothing to do but to wince and whine in pain.

“Reine! Back up a little bit, he’s already hurt.”

Alika said, rushing over to Reine, gently pulling her away from him, grabbing hold of her arm. Reine continued to quietly glare at Eneko as he picked himself off the ground, hand wrapped around his stomach and legs trembling, he looked as if he was about to puke.

“I hope he is!”

She exclaimed; bushy eyebrows furrowed right into her sockets.

“I told you it wasn’t personal, and besides, everybody is out for themselves, you know that. It’s not my fault you trusted me.”

He explained as he stood up, stumbling over his feet.

“So, you’re saying it’s my fault that you did that, because I’m stupid?”

Reine asked, tensing up as if she was preparing to fully jump him, Alika tightening her grip around her arm in response.

“Again, it’s nothing personal, you’re very kind for what you did for me, Reine. You have some great friends too; they’ve taken great care of you. I’ll see you around.”

Eneko smiled, walking over to Reine, squeezing her cheek and petting her head as if she were a dog or a toddler who had just shown him a crayon picture of the rainbow with all the right colours.

“Yeah, and you’re not one of them.”

Reine scowled as Eneko walked away, scrubbing her cheek and hair as if she were to contract some kind of virus from Eneko’s touch.

“Reine, do you want to take my tags?”

I asked, taking out the fourteen I had from my pocket.

“No, no! It’s okay, how many do you have?”

She replied, frantically shaking her head as Alika let go of her arm.

“Fourteen, if I give you four, and assuming Alika has the same amount, if I give her four that’s eight, I’d still have six left.”

I explained, taking out eight of my tags to hand to the girls. Reine’s mouth agape at the offer.

“Are you sure?! You really don’t have to do this; I mean I’ve already caused so much trouble and Iー”

I cut Reine off before she could continue her rambling, extending out my hand with four tags in it for her to grab.

“Take it. I’m serious. You care about it more than anybody else.”

Reluctantly, she slipped the tags out from my hand and looked at them for a bit, her green eyes glittering with possibly the biggest smile I had ever seen.

“Thank you!”

She smiled, putting the tags away with the rest of the ones that she had.

“Good god, I actually owe you both my life after this! I don’t know how I’m supposed to make this up to you.”

“You don’t have to.”

Alika replied, softly shaking her head.

“Alika, do you want me to give you some tags?”

I asked, extending my hand out to Alika to offer the remaining four I had for her.

“Ah! No, it’s alright, I’ll just take two, I have more than Reine, anyway.”

She smiled as she took the two tags from my hand.

“No, you don’t.”

Reine muttered, turning to Alika with a confused pout on her lips.

“I picked up two more when you were possessed, I was going to give them to you!”

Alika explained, lying straight to Reine’s face but I’m not going to argue with her about it, there’s no point in doing so, just wasted energy.

“Oh, well thank you!”

Reine grinned, jumping forwards and grinning from ear to ear.

“Anyways, we don’t have a lot of time left so I think we should finish collecting as many tags as possible before the exam’s over! Mesio, do you wanna join me and Alika?”

She asked, looking directly at me. I paused for a moment, thinking the offer over, I never wanted to team with anybody purely because I didn’t want to compete or entertain Korina, but teaming with Reine and Alika wouldn’t do either of those things, and in retrospect, I had already been working with Alika for the past forty minutes.

So, I smiled and gave a small nod,

“Sure, why not?”

Once the exam had finished, we were ushered back into the office, where the tension in the air seemed to fall heavier than ever before. Not just because people were worried about passing or not, but because Miss Floros sat there, staring at us all in silence with these falcon eyes. She wasn’t happy, she never was, so she was either livid or in deep thought about a decision, neither of which are good.

The silence was broken by her sigh as she stood up from her desk, her hands on the table as she continued to eye everybody in the office with her as she spoke,

“In all my years of running this organisation, never has an exam gone so terribly. I am truly at a loss for words.”

She paused for another few seconds, the panic in the room rising with each moment of silence.

“Does this mean nothing to any of you? The future of your people, the security of your homes, your pride, your gratitude, does none of it matter to any of you? Is it simply a joke? Eneko and Nikola, I cannot even disqualify the both of you because if I did then there wouldn’t be enough for even one proper division. You two are scheduled for physical training during all your breaks this week. Is that understood?”

She asked, her eyes fixed on Eneko, and Nikola.

“Yes, ma’am.”

The two nodded, Caius nudging my arm as Korina’s lecture finished.

“The hell happened?”

He asked in a whisper, thick eyebrows slightly furrowed in an entertained yet concerned curiosity.

“Tell you later.”

I uttered, as Miss Floros seated herself back at her desk.

“Now, announcing the divisions, starting with division seven which will contain 28091999, Caius, 10092010, Hei-Ran Ryu, 31122003, Lixue, and 02112008, Nikola Novak. Congratulations on passing your exams and good luck on your future endeavours.”

She said, with everybody giving a slow, unenthusiastic applause for the new graduates, all except Caius, who had a wide smile on his face like it was his first time graduating again. Reine held her head down, hiding behind Alika as if she had already failed the exam and was trying to escape Nikola’s mockery before the announcement had even happened.

“As for the special investigative division with Rasulov, 31082013, Alika Ekubo, 21052001, 25122007, Mesio, 04082002, Reine will be working alongside the detective. Are there any further questions?”

She asked, eyeing the four of us like a hawk. Reine suddenly peaked out from behind Alika, her eyes wide with shock as switched her gaze from me, Alika, and Miras, awaiting our responses.

“Yes, I am fine with this selection.”

I nodded.

“So am I.”

Alika chimed in, a small smile on her face as we all seemed to turn our attention to Miras who gave a small shrug.

“I don’t think I would rather work with anybody else.”

They spoke.

“How about you, Reine?”

As soon as the room’s attention as on her Reine’s face burnt up and she began stumbling over her words, fidgeting with her hands, yet, despite her nervous disposition, there was an unmistakable and honest smile on her face, I had never seen anybody so happy in my life.

“Yes, yes! I more than happy about it!”

She stuttered, trying to focus her attention on Miss Floros and appear as stoic as possible, which was to no avail, her smile seemed to grow bigger the more she tried to repress it.

“Thank you, thank you so much, ma’am! I won’t disappoint you; I swear!”

She saluted, eyes bright with joy.

“I’m sure that won’t happen! You were amazing out there! I was bedazzled! I can’t wait to start working with the three of you next week! Oh, and… Miras too… I guess…”

The President laughed from beside Miss Floros who did not seem to be too impressed with the banter.

“I know I can wait.”

Miras sighed, grabbing their suitcase and walking out from behind the desk with two envelopes and passing one to Caius, who thanked Miras and immediately opened it upon being gifted it. The envelope Caius was gifted contained a map with directions to the new dorms and keycards to enter, he handed a keycard to each of his new division members with a wide smile across his face. I am under the assumption that the envelope Miras has yet to open contains the same.

“If there are no questions then all of you but Eneko are excused from my office, and may leave to set up your dorms, you will find your luggage already placed in there.”

Floros instructed, and in unison everybody nodded and left through the large door, opposite to her elevator and into a white hallway.

“Hold on, let me open the thing.”

Miras muttered, sitting their suitcase up and slicing the envelope open by simply sliding their long fingernail under the paper flap, removing the map and handing the envelope with now, only the keycards inside to Alika who passed a keycard to me and Reine while Miras studied the map.

“Reine!”

Lixue called out, running over to us with Caius and Hei-Ran watching in the distance.

“What happened during the exam?”

“Oh, yeah, but it’s all okay now, why?”

Reine smiled, I don’t understand how she can say it is okay now, especially when the bastard is still going to be living here, he’s going to hold a grudge.

“Well, it’s just… well, it’s just that when Miras made that announcement I panicked, and I felt kind of bad about things that I said last week and everything because when I went past the place with Caius a little while after I saw a bunch of blood and I uhm…”

Lixue paused for a moment, white cheeks pink, looking over his shoulder to see if Caius and Hei-Ran were still watching him.

“Look, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about anything I said to you. I didn’t mean anything I said, and I didn’t want to demean or belittle you or anything like that, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it’s okay, I didn’t take it personally anyways! I’ve been told worse things.”

Reine grinned.

“Well, that’s good.”

Lixue nodded, taking a few steps back.

“Congratulations on being put in a division and everything, by the way.”

“Thanks, you did a good job too!”

Reine smiled.

“Thank you.”

Lixue nodded, giving Reine a small wave.

“I’ll see you later, Caius and Hei-Ran are waiting for me.”

He said, right before racing off and walking to his new dorm with the two of them.

“What was that about?”

Miras asked, watching Caius, Hei-Ran, and Lixue walk away.

“Oh, it’s nothing you need to worry about, we just had a small dispute a while ago and he’s apologising for that.”

Reine shrugged.

“Besides the point, what do you mean there was an announcement? And blood?”

“Ohhh right, you weren’t conscious. Eneko possessed you and then tried to slit his own wrists with your body, that’s why I made that announcement about the gas leak, that way people would panic and rush to intervene.”

Miras explained, completely deadpan as they did so.

“What?”

Reine grimaced, the bight-eyed, excited smile on her face disappearing almost instinctively upon Miras’ explanation.

“Yeah, but luckily Alika and Mesio saved you, and now he’s not gonna be put in a division ever so I reckon that everybody is safe, and nobody has to go through something like that.”

Miras concluded, grabbing their suitcase, straightening the map and clearing their throat.

“Anyways, we should start heading to our dorms now. I’m tired.”

“You didn’t even do anything.”

I added as we began to walk off.

“Tired from anaemia.”

Miras replied, turning to me with sharp, amber eyes, almost like that of a cat.

“And you people have me waking up earlier than I usually go to bed.”

“If you’re going to bed after 5am I think that is reflective of a much larger issue.”

I said, following behind the detective.

“Is that so?”

They muttered as we reached the end of the hallway. The dormitories for graduates, from my knowledge, were on the other side of the campus, so it would be a fairly long journey until we reached them, and yet, Alika and Reine were giggling with excitement about the thought of sharing a room with each other, apathetic to the distance of our destination.

“Alika, do you think when we move into our dorms, they’ll let us decorate them? Do you think they’ll have bunkbeds like they did in the old ones?”

Reine asked Alika, her voice quick and eager.

“I’m not sure, I’ve heard they change it up, personally, I’m fine with either.”

Alika smiled.

“Well, if they do have a room with bunkbeds, I want that one if that’s okay with Mesio and Miras.”

Reine said, turning to me and Miras as we walked.

“I’m fine with you two taking the bunkbeds.”

I replied.

“Me too.”

Miras nodded, head down in the map, not looking up for anything.

“So, I guess that means the two of us will be sharing a dorm. Are you alright with that?”

They asked me.

“I guess, why wouldn’t I be?”

“No reason in particular, I just figured you might’ve heard something or whatever.”

Miras explained, looking up from the map very briefly and at me.

“I haven’t heard anything negative about you if that is what you are wondering, and if you’re talking about your ability, I don’t really care about that either. As long as we can finish our tasks without trouble.”

I explained to which Miras hummed; I think they must’ve been smiling under the face mask.

“I like that answer.”

abNORMALITY

Raised in the Allied Abnormality Association, an organisation that takes in those with abilities (abnormalities) and provides them housing and jobs, Reine wants nothing more than to repay her leader, Floros, for her kindness by becoming a soldier. However, with her less than conventional ability to create clay from her fingertips, Reine finds herself thrown into every job except the one that she wants, and two weeks before her graduation she is forced to work with the apathetic and lazy detective, Miras Rasulov to solve supernatural related crimes within the country of Adasall while Miras finishes their contract and revolution stirs on the streets.

Chapter One; I am...

Reine's Perspective

I frequently find myself asking again and again, ‘what makes a good follower?’

And I think it goes beyond simply following instructions, that life is a story, a play of sorts and to be a good follower you must act according to the role in which you were born into. It doesn’t matter what cards you were given or how much the leader benefits you, it is still your duty to follow them, and it is self-entitled to disobey authority considering that all leaders are actively looking out for your best interest.

If you can’t be a good follower, you cannot be a good person, your duties as a human being are to be diligent, motivated, honest, and above all, obedient.

Rebellion is the lowest of sins, those who are rebellious are entirely self-interested and only wish to see the destruction of society as the rules that we form as a collective do not matter to sinners.

That is what the Association’s soldiers are here for; to keep sinners in check and I am going to be a soldier.

At least, I hope so, I don’t mean that to be pessimistic, I think being pessimistic is the second worst thing to be, after being defiant. It’s just that I’m a sardine amongst a bunch of tuna in this in this place, I shouldn’t get too excited. But I can feel myself beginning to smile, and my arms begin to itch from the inside, getting restless from me holding them stoically at my sides.

I need to humble myself.

“What are you so smiley for?”

A tall girl asked, almost snarling as she did so with her hand on her hip. This was Nikola Novak, one of the Association’s highest-ranking members when it came to brute strength, at only eighteen! She is everything this organisation looks for.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

I replied, the gears pulling the elevator up violently clanged, giving Nikola even more ammunition and more reason to believe that I shouldn’t be here as I felt myself shiver at the noise.

“Really? Because your whole dork-ish energy is stinking up the whole room, and I don’t see what for, you’ll be cleaning bathrooms in a minute, you’re just a free janitor, and as if janitor’s get paid much anyways.”

Nikola continued, bending down to my eyeline as she spoke. After a short pause Nikola stood up straight, right hand on her hip with some kind of demonic smile like she was about to unhinge her jaws like a monster and eat me whole.

“Wait a minute, don’t tell me you actually think you’re going to be in a military division with the rest of us?.”

She snickered.

I knew she was laughing at me, she typically would, but it’d be a betrayal to myself if I lied even if it was the smartest thing to do. Plus, I don’t really care what she has to say about me, she’s a training soldier, not a training spokeswoman.

“Well, yes, of course. I’ve been working hard, I don’t think Floros has any reason not to let me participate with the rest of you.”

I replied, my eyebrows tensing a little in frustration while a sly itch crawled up my spine, I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was going to hit me for saying that with even the slightest hint of aggression.

“I ranked third in our year’s agility assessment, and sure, third place is nothing to be proud of, but I’ve gotten stronger and quicker since! I’ve gotten nominated for a lot of value rewards too, and I also aced history!”

“You aced history?”

Nikola asked, quickly cutting me off with an uncharacteristically deadpan expression.

“Yes.”

I nodded, too confident and sure of my response. There was a spilt moment of quiet before Nikola’s mouth opened wide, and she let out an ear-splitting witch-ish laugh.

“And what’s that going to do for you on the battlefield?”

She spoke, a sharp, mocking grin wiped across her face, still laughing at me a bit, she was going to laugh again when I answered her.

“You going to tell KArma about the founding of the association, the very thing they’re trying to destroy when they’re holding you at gunpoint? You’re a joke! God, I would be so happy if Floros let you graduate if it wasn’t going to embarrass the rest of us.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it! I mean that my good reports tell her that I’m organised and good at following instructions! Of course I wouldn’t tell them that, I’d beat their asses!”

“Uh… huh… and with THAT ability? You’re going to make a little stop motion film for them with a song and dance telling them to stop bombing us because it’s illegal? As if your playdough ability is good for anything, you just cause mess wherever you go.”

Words fired out of Nikola’s mouth like a machine gun with foam for bullets, a lot of words, they didn’t hurt, but there was no end to it and that was the worst thing. I know responding to her is what she wants, I know she will just keep talking if I keep responding, but I feel like my mouth runs with her.

Besides, I have a right to be excited, my joy has never been at her expense, so I don’t see why she’s so angry about it, perhaps she’s just miserable, but that is the last of my problems. If she’s sad or angry she should keep that inside like the rest of us, like a normal person instead of purposefully inconveniencing everybody.

“Of course, the first thing your childish self mentions is playdough.”

A girl monotonously mumbled from behind Nikola, sitting on the cold floor with her back against the wall and twirling her long red hair in boredom, not even caring to spare Nikola a glance. This was Hei-Ran.

“What’s that meant to mean?”

Nikola turned her attention to Hei-Ran, who seemed a lot less bothered than me by Nikola’s presence. I felt my face relax as Hei-Ran became the new victim of her focus.

“What's meant to mean what?”

Hei-Ran asked, turning to face Nikola now with her dark eyes forcibly widened and her voice notably softer, as if she was talking to a toddler.

“You said something, you said, ‘your childish self’, I want to know what you mean by that.”

Nikola responded, her sharp, thin eyebrows furrowed, less so in anger but more in confusion as her tone seemed to be a little softer than it was when she was speaking to me.

Maybe I should be taking notes.

“Are you sure it was me who said that? I didn’t say anything at all.”

“No, I’m sure, it was definitely you who said that.”

Nikola doubled down, turning to everybody else in the elevator, beginning to question herself now, she asked,

“She said something, right?”

“I didn’t hear anything.”

A taller boy with short black hair, two white streaks in the front, thick eyebrows, and sharp black, void-ish eyes hidden behind rectangular glasses said. This tall, dark man was Mesio, he was almost as strong as Nikola, though, if knowledge is power, I’d say he’s much stronger than her.

“Me neither.”

Another boy spoke, shorter than Mesio with wavy, dark brown, chin length hair that was similar to mine, with a deep scar running down his right eye. The scarred boy’s name was Eneko. He must have a really good ability to succeed as a spy because physically speaking he isn’t much but every time I’ve asked about it, he’s shrugged me off… he’s shrugged me off whenever I’ve asked him about anything to be honest.

“Are you sure Reine didn’t say anything?”

Eneko asked, and almost instinctively as he said my name, directing Nikola’s attention back to me, my heart dropped like a ten-thousand-ton brick from the Eiffel tower.

“No! No! No! No! I didn’t say anything!”

I shouted, the pitch of my voice reaching frantic heights as I pushed my way out from behind Nikola so if she chose to snap at me, I wouldn’t be pinned against the wall.

“Well did you hear anything?”

Nikola asked, leaning down to my level once again.

“No, I heard nothing!”

“She didn’t hear anything because nobody said anything, right guys?”

Hei-Ran asked, eyeing all six of us in the elevator to ensure that everyone was on board with what she wanted us to respond with.

“No, none of us heard anything.”

A girl adjacent from Hei-Ran by the name of Alika responded, softly shaking her head from side to side, her curly blonde ponytail swaying with each motion of her head. She’s like the association’s princess.

“Yeah, nobody said anything.”

The youngest one out of all of us, Lixue, said, his white hair, snow-white skin, and his grey ski-jacket making him stand out immensely from the rest of us in our uniform. He always looked cold, no matter how sunny it was.

“Maybe you’re just going crazy? I do know that it’s common for veterans to hallucinate, matter of fact, I had a friend who did exactly that… What was his name again...”

Our year’s supervisor, Caius said, trialling off as he spoke. Unlike the rest of us who were lying, he was probably the only one of us who actually didn’t hear anything. Floros told us that Caius got caught up in some freak landmine accident with the rest of his division and suffered severe head trauma because of it. Bless his soul.

“I’m not a veteran! I still haven’t even graduated!”

Nikola shouted Caius down, her fists clenched in a tight ball as she did so.

“But aren’t we going to be assigned missions?”

Caius asked, his dark lazy eye making Nikola’s mannerisms a little funnier to watch as her gaze kept switching from one eye to the other.

“Yes, but it's more like work experience for us, we graduate in three weeks and that’s when we’ll be put in actual divisions and given real tasks like you used to.”

Alika explained.

“Ohhh, I see.”

Caius nodded in understanding.

“We’ve been doing this since forever, God, are you that demented?!”

Nikola shouted again, folding her arms and rolling her eyes as if the man with brain damage should’ve known better.

“I’m sorry, I’m trying to keep up, I can’t see you putting in any effort to slow down.”

Caius said, his bushy eyebrows slightly furrowed.

“Because when KArma comes, they won’t slow down for you, it’s not my fault you can’t keep up, it's not my fault you can’t keep to the standard.”

“The standard?”

Mesio asked, raising an eyebrow at what Nikola was implying.

“Yes, the standard. Face it, if we got every single abnormality and I mean it, every single one, then I might have to break a sweat because the bozos out there were smart enough to evade this place unlike all of you.”

Nikola boasted, flicking her hair as if she was doing something.

“You’re contradicting yourself.”

I blurted out. Again, I know it’s stupid to engage with her, but sometimes she says the oddest things that anybody with a working mouth and mind is obliged to turn around and correct her.

“What do you mean?”

Nikola asked, walking from the centre of the elevator back over to me.

“I mean what you said doesn’t make any sense, if you’re calling all of us stupid for being here doesn’t that make you stupid as well?”

I explained, folding my arms as I spoke to her. She looked taken aback by what I was saying despite the fact it was just common sense, her cheeks were a bright red and her thin eyebrows furrowed further and further into her skull. I began to fear that they would cut into her skin.

“No! You just don’t get it because you’re retarded, Reine!”

Nikola screamed, her ear-splitting voice breaking the sound barrier and bursting all of our eardrums like bloody pimples.

Everyone fell silent for a short while, not quite expecting her to suddenly scream like that, especially not me as it was right in my ear. I was so disoriented and dizzy from her volume that I didn’t even really notice was she said until Hei-Ran looked up and said,

“Are you seriously being ableist right now?”

And if Nikola’s face wasn’t red before, it was red now. Not that she cared about being ableist, no, but because as Hei-Ran said that everybody’s expressions immediately shifted, some to frustration but most from shock to this scheming little grin. She was not going to live this down, and she knew it.

“The eye slasher has made her new debut as the slur slinger! Wow!”

Eneko cheered, clapping his hands together to sarcastically applaud her with a big grin.

“Really, how old are you?”

Lixue scowled, shaking his head.

“Seventeen, but you know, I am slow so I could be very wrong.”

Caius crossed his arms.

“Yeah, I mean, for all we know she might be seven.”

Lixue continued, a humoured smile on his face as he replied to Caius.

“It’s not a slur! Tell me literally where it says it is one!”

Nikola continued to scream rather than talk at a civil volume in the cramped space that we were trapped in.

“Look it up in a dictionary, it's a pejorative.”

Mesio explained, not shocked that somebody like Nikola wouldn’t know something like this.

“That’s not true! You’re lying!”

Nikola shouted, pointing accusationally at Mesio.

“Lying about it being a slur? Because I just saidー”

“No, lying about pre-jaw-ra-dives, that is a word you made up!”

Nikola cut Mesio off, her eyes darting frantically around the elevator.

“What? Why would I make up an entire word to mess with you?!”

“Because Hei-Ran would, and you pricks agree with her on everything! I know I heard her say something to me and you’re all gaslighting me!”

Nikola continued to rant, backing into the elevator’s door to yell at everybody.

“This is lies, manipulation, and slander! You guys are bullying me, you’re bullying me and then lying to my face to make me feel stupid!”

Suddenly the doors from behind Nikola opened, not that she seemed to take much notice, but she certainly would take a lot of care about it, as behind her, sitting at a shiny rosewood desk and dressed in a sharp, navy coat, was our saviour, the founder of the association, Korina Floros. The rest of us fell silent and began to wonder how long it would take for Nikola to realise the judging eyes on her.

“You know what? Screw you guys! Screw Reine, screw Mesio, and screw Hei-Ran especially! I hate her the most! And I am reporting this to HR because I have a right to feel safe in a work environment and you guys are persecuting me!”

Nikola shouted, backing into Floros’ desk.

“Is that so?”

Floros asked, her cold voice sending chills down Nikola’s spine as she slowly turned her head around to face her, face as white as a ghost.

“Ah, Floros, it’s always a pleasure to see you!”

Nikola stammered, cowardly walking further into her office, her steps slow and rigid as if there were heavy weights chained to her feet.

“And the same goes for you too.”

Floros nodded, before standing up from her large, back, chair to address all of us, picking up a small, white remote from her desk and turning on the large projector from behind her that contained all the association’s living graduates and seniors and what their allocated missions for the week were. However, there were so many names and jobs on the screen in such small fonts that I really couldn’t even figure out where to begin looking for my name.

“Same as per usual, I want everybody to continue with their usual jobs for the remaining three weeks before your graduation. Which means, Alika, you will continue to volunteer at our hospital. Caius, Hei-Ran, Lixue, and Nikola, you will all continue with your usual schedule in preparation for a possible attack from KArma, Eneko, our schedule is clear, so I want you to tour and teach Mesio the ins and outs of your intelligence units.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Eneko grinned, giving an enthusiastic nod with his response.

“And Reine,”

Floros said, turning directly to me.

“Yes?”

I felt my chest tighten with excitement to hear my own name.

“Your job is to clean the bathrooms. You’re all dismissed.”

WHAT?!

The tight feeling in my chest felt like it ripped open and was going to swallow me whole. Bathrooms? How?! AGAIN?! I’ve worked so hard, I’ve done the best I can, I’m never late, I’m always wearing my uniform right, and I’ve been banished to the bathrooms again

Nikola let out a snicker as everybody began to make their leave, but I wasn’t going to have it. Selfish as it is, I don’t care, I had to say something.

“Wait, can’t I join Caius and everybody just for today?”

I asked, my heart pounding in my ears in a frustrated fear.

“Why?”

Floros asked, her face stone cold. She had this effect on everybody during any direct confrontation. She could make the most heartless soldiers tuck their tails with one fatal glare. I had to choose my words carefully.

“Well… it's just that I think I’ve worked so hard that I deserve to have a more… rewarding job. I really want to be a part of our forces, and since I’m so close to graduation I think it only makes sense for meー”

“You think that the good hygiene of our community isn’t rewarding, Reine?”

Floros cut me off. I could practically feel Nikola’s mocking gaze burn through me as Floros continued to speak.

“If you know how hard our soldiers work then you would know that we cannot afford to have an outbreak of dysentery. Our hospitals are packed as it is, you can ask Alika about it, she’ll tell you. Do you really want to put more work, more stress, on your friends?”

“No ma’am.”

I stammered, shaking my head.

“Then you will do your part with a smile like the rest of us, is that understood?”

“Yes ma’am.”

I nodded, my cheeks burning a faint pink in embarrassment.

“Good girl.”

Floros nodded, a faint, pleased smile resting on her cracked lips.

“Now, you’re dismissed, I have other meetings to attend to.”

She ordered, and without a second thought, me along with everybody else left her office through the large rosewood door opposite to the elevator.

“What did I say? What did I say, Reine?!”

Nikola laughed, running up to me as soon as the door closed from behind us, wrapping her arm around my neck. I think that gesture is meant to be friendly, but when it's done by Nikola it feels like a headlock and I can hardly breathe.

“Leave her alone. You’ve been at her all morning.”

Alika pouted, her arms folded in annoyance.

“Alright, alright!”

Nikola sighed, rolling her eyes and loosening her grip around my neck before making her way off with everybody else.

“But hey, I’ll be sure to tip you!”

She waved; her cackle echoing through the halls as she left my sight.

“Yeah, whatever…”

I let out a heavy sigh with my head hung in exhaustion. I really don’t know what her deal is.

“Are you okay?”

Alika asked, her fair eyebrows turned upwards in concern. My heart began to race again as she spoke, not that she’s a scary person, her voice is so soft, like an angel but just because I’m a skittish personー or so I’ve been told. I’m getting concerned about dying from a heart attack one day.

“Oh, yes! Yeah, I’m alright, I’m just a little ticked off. But I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine.”

I spoke as though the words were racing out of my mouth to respond to her and assure her that I was alright. But I suppose that that level of panic is reasonable, if Floros knew I was really upset about this I doubt it would go down well, and I’m lucky to be here in the first place.

“Are you sure? I mean, it's almost every day that she picks on you, and being assigned as a janitor after all that training must be… humbling to say the least.”

“It’s beyond just humbling, its humiliating.”

Once again, my mouth ran without thinking of the possible consequences. I knew I was going to elaborate more on why it was embarrassing, Alika would’ve wanted me to or else she would’ve never asked and if I couldn’t express my feelings, it’d just give me an eternal itch in my head. Talking about it would relieve the itch and put a guilty pit in my chest, but if Alika was trustworthy the pit would disappear, and I would be right.

“I mean, like you just said, it's all that work for nothing. It’s not just the fact that I made sure I was presentable today to prove I cared or something stupid like that to her, the fact I straightened my hair, buttoned up my blazer, I covered my freckles, and I shined my shoes, it's the fact that my entire life, my entire meaning is to serve her and well technically I am it just… it just wasn’t meant to be like this.”

It was physically painful to not scream and shout about how frustrated I was, but I knew I was too old for that behaviour and what I was saying, what I was feeling was already wrong. Floros knows what’s best for me.

Suddenly, Alika’s dark eyes widened with some kind of grand realisation,

“Maybe that’s the problem.”

“What is?”

“You’re trying too hard to be somebody you’re not. You’re trying so hard to embody her expectations and other people that you’re not embracing your strengths. You just need to walk in there as yourself, as Reine, am I making sense?

Alika explained, tilting her head a little to the left.

‘No, no, you’re making sense but it’s just not that easy. You and Nikola were born into this stuff, all you have to do is just walk up, flash your powers and everybody fawns. What can I do? Stop motion?”

“Didn’t you just say you aced history and scored third on the agility test? Just because you’re not effortlessly skilled doesn’t mean that you can never become skilled, you’re quick and even quicker at learning, you’ll figure something out. Just use your head and work more on supporting yourself instead of changing. If you lock in this week then I don’t doubt that things will start looking up for you.”

“I see… so you think I should just be myself?”

I nodded, trying to clarify the information I was being told. I understand what she means, it's just that I’m very sceptical about how well her idea will work.

“Precisely, now I’ve got to go to the train station or else I’ll be late, but I’ll see you around, and good luck with your tasks!”

Alika waved, turning away to leave before she stopped in her tracks and turned back around to face me.

“Oh, don’t straighten your hair again. It looks better the way it naturally is.”

I’m not a slacker, I’d be better off dead than slacking so I cleaned those bathrooms thoroughly and without a single break, not even for lunch. I mean, it only makes sense, right? In the trenches I wouldn’t be eating much anyways, so I should semi-prepare myself for that, I can’t let my stomach go soft on me and I can’t let myself forget what’s important, work. I am my work and my work makes me, I am happy like this, I can’t imagine a more fulfilling existence. Which is why Floros is my saviour, she gives me my work, and without my work I am nothing and I’m not going to lie, I reckon I’m everything right now. I ensured that those bathrooms were spotless, any ordinary man would walk in to do their business and they’d be brought to tears at the pure bright light basically radiating from the entire room.

It's light work.

Now all I must do is this every day for the next six days. If I do this well every time, then she will have no choice but to allow me to fight! My diligence and obedience are unmatched.

After signing myself off at attendance I went downstairs to grab a slice of toast from the canteen. I would’ve had jam with it but that would’ve been greedy, besides, kids will enjoy and need the food more than me because they need to grow healthy and strong to fight for us.

Plain toast is good enough anyway, it could’ve just been plain bread (which still is good).

But whether I taste sugar on my tongue right now isn’t necessarily my biggest concern, my biggest concern is finding somewhere to eat. Typically, I sit on my own as I eat because Nikola usually harasses me, or I’m cut in line by the entire organisation, and I miss out on breakfast altogether because there’s nothing left!

But not today, I’ve worked my ass off.

I quickly eye off Alika, Hei-Ran, and Mesio having a conversation in the far corner of the dining hall and I approach them.

“Hey, can I sit with you guys?”

I asked, a little embarrassed to be doing so, it felt super desperate.

“Yeah, of course.”

Hei-Ran nodded, shuffling her bag over to make room for me on the bench. I was always a little frightened by her tone, she seemed really hard-on and cold whenever I saw her talk to Nikola, but that moment she seemed kind of gentle. Did something change or have I always misread her?

Nonetheless, I sat myself next to her and put my plate of toast in front of me. I didn’t really feel like eating, not because I wasn’t hungry, I was, it’s just a little exposing to eat in front of others. Once Nikola caught me eating and then put me in a headlock so I’d choke, I know these people wouldn’t do that, but if I ate, I’d basically be telling them that they could do that.

“You didn’t straighten your hair today!”

Alika gasped, her dark eyes wide with a smile on her face.

“Yeah, you said it looked better natural and since you’re really pretty I felt like it just made sense for me to listen to you.”

I explained, feeling my cheeks and ears burn up as I did so.

“I like it, it looks super cute, and it suits you a lot, you look really pretty.”

Alika smiled.

All this woman does is make my heart do gymnastics and make me feel like I am about to die.

Alika, curly blonde hair slicked back into this neat bun, big, black, beautiful eyes, crystal clear skin, plum two-toned lips the bottom lip this adorable baby pink colour, long legs, mature figure, long, slender hands with the most stunning nails. She was beautiful without any effort, standing next to her I look like I’ve just graduated seventh grade.

Alika Ekubo, princess popular, literal angel on Earth, thinks that I’m pretty.

SHE THINKS I’M PRETTY?!

I’m giddy with shock, suffocated in surprise, but I’ve got to respond or else I’ll look like a fool. So I just look off to the side and let out a small,

“Thank you.”

And begin eating my toast, I feel safe doing so now.

“So, is the hospital as busy as it usually is?”

Hei-Ran asked Alika, resting her head on her hand in boredom.

“Oh, yeah, it’s hectic, but it's easy for me. Lots of broken bones from the kids and scouts, all I really need to do is flick my wrist and they’re good as new.”

Alika explained, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed about how she described it. Not for her but for myself, I mean it’s common sense that Alika is impressive but it's difficult to be constantly supportive of the best as an underling when all they do is humble brag, rubbing it in that you were born shorthanded.

“Oh, sick. So, Reine, when you’re done scrubbing shit stains then you can go help out Alika at the hospital.”

Hei-Ran casually suggested, as if it wasn’t a bombshell of words that she just dropped on me.

“Is that allowed?”

I asked, my brows feeling tight with worry.

“Probably not, but I skip all the time, and nobody has ever caught me or said anything, so you’ll be fine.”

Hei-Ran’s words were tempting but I held my ground as she continued. I was not going to blow my chances at becoming a soldier by abandoning my station.

“I mean, if you wanna be sweeping the floors for the rest of your days that’s your choice, Korina’s view of you isn’t gonna shift no matter how hard you try to make it so you may as well do the little things that you wanna do.”

“Don’t tempt her, Hei-Ran, if she wants to skip, let her, if she doesn't, who cares?”

Mesio scolded Hei-Ran as if he was a teacher telling off a student.

“I’m not tempting her; I’m just telling her as it is. She can do whatever she wants, I’m just telling her that, isn’t that right, Reine?”

Hei-Ran turned to me, looking for my support.

“Yeah.”

I agreed, not really wanting to start an argument or feeling too passionately against or for wagging my mission. I mean, of course I’d stay, but I don’t think I would care if somebody wagged a mission unless I was working with them of course.

“Which is why I’m not gonna leave and do something else, it's my duty to stay here and do the work that Floros has assigned me. I can’t abandon it. Besides, if I want to become a soldier and she catches me not doing my work I can say goodbye to everything.”

“That’s a fair point…”

Hei-Ran uttered before shrugging her shoulders and sighing,

“Alright, suit yourself.”

I smiled back at her and nodded,

“Mhm, I will.”

And peacefully enjoyed what remained of the morning with the three of them. It's not often that I feel so at ease but around these people it's as easy as breathing. I feel kind of happy to be around them even though I know it’s wrong, I think, just right now, I don’t care about what’s wrong.

However, this feeling of peace was short lived, as after ten minutes of our conversation Eneko rushed in, heading over to me, half-done bandages falling off his thigh, and his knee-high brown boots, squeaking against the tiles of the hallway and the cafeteria.

“Reine!”

He cried out to me, tripping over his bandage as it finally came completely undone, resulting in a nasty cut forming on his right knee on the impact. He winced in pain as I immediately got up to help him.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

I asked, jumping out of my seat to tend to Eneko’s bleeding knee.

“No, no, I’m fine, I can do it myself.”

Eneko assured me, pulling his leg away from me as if he was trying to hide his leg.

“Uhm, Korina, she wants to see you.”

My eyes must’ve lit up at the mere mention of her name. Korina? Korina Floros?

Is this it?

Is this finally it?

“Floros?”

I repeated, trying my best not to grin from ear to ear.

“Yes, it's about the bathrooms, they’reー”

Eneko went to explain but was cut off by the piercingly loud screeches of the speakers.

“Contaminated abnormality 04082002, Reine, report to the admin's office immediately!”

A robotic voice bellowed throughout the hall, and with the mention of my name everybody’s gaze became fixed onto me. The eagerness bubbling inside me quickly deflated as I looked at Eneko’s almost pitiful expression, something was wrong.

“Do you want me to walk you there?”

Eneko sighed, opening his hand for me to take it. I couldn’t even find the words to respond, my face had gone ice cold, and I could hardly think of anything at all, like my brain had given up on me. I just gave a small nod and placed my hand in his.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Eneko nodded, picking himself up off the ground and walking to Floros’ office with me.

The trip to Floros’ was silent and slow, every second that passed the tension gradually got higher and higher. I was kind of wishing that Eneko would just say something, anything, to get the weight of the quiet off me. But he didn't, he just looked straight ahead with a cold face.

Eventually, we did arrive and as the elevator’s doors opened and to what they revealed, well, if I was scared before, I was petrified now. Behind that classy, rosewood desk was of course Floros, but seated in front of her with a smile that I can only describe as true evil was Nikola, using all her physical strength to keep her mouth shut to stop herself from laughing.

“Have a seat, Reine.”

Floros ordered.

I sat myself down on the set to the right of Nikola, feeling my breath lose its steady rhythm, becoming sharp and erratic. Floros simply smiled and turned her attention to Eneko.

“You’re excused.”

“Yes ma’am.”

He nodded, quickly scurrying off and out through the door. Once he had left Floros immediately turned her attention back to me, her sharp red-ish eyes piercing through all of my being.

“Reine, did you or did you not clog the bathrooms yesterday?”

“What? No?!”

I gasped, trying my best to calm myself down and not double down on the conclusions that were taunting the emotional part of my brain. Maybe it was just an error with the plumbing.

“Then why is there a flood pouring out from the girl’s bathrooms on the third floor? Why did we find two entire packs of tampons in the toilet?”

Floros continued. I stared blankly at her in disbelief, no clue how to even respond to what I was being accused of, it's not like anybody would believe me if I denied it. Whether I did do it or not there just needs to be somebody to blame, that is simply how our world works.

Still, I would never even think of doing something so gross in my life, and if honesty is a value here, if Alika thinks I need to be myself, then I will defend myself.

“I didn’t do it; I would never do something like that! You have to believe me, please, I would never lie to you, and you know how much the association means to me. I don’t want to ruin everything before it even starts, please, please listen to me.”

I pleaded, begged, for her trust in hopes that somewhere, somewhere deep inside of her that she could find it within the pits of her soul to be kind to me just this one moment.

“But weren’t you angry about being assigned as the janitor? You’re the only person who would have any reason to do such a thing.”

Nikola added, crossing her legs as if she was just completely unbothered by what I’m assuming that she’s trying to do to me. Again, not shocked by it, she’s never been kind to anybody, me in particular, I understand to an extent why she is that way, I’m way too confident in the little strength I have. But to try to sabotage my job, my life?

“I’m listening to you, Nikola.”

Floros nodded, my chest caved in even more at the sight of it and I shot up from my seat.

“No, no, no you don’t understand! I didn’t… I didn’t do anything at all, I finished cleaning the bathrooms, I spent the whole day cleaning the bathrooms and then I went to bed! And hell, if some elaborate accident did happen then I obviously didn’tー”

“There are no accidents here, accidents are reckless which is not a trait that I would ever want to see in my soldiers.”

Floros cut me off with words cutting even sharper.

“Reine, you will discontinue your tasks, and you are to not return here until further notice.”

“Butー”

I squeaked, trying to get a word in before Floros stood up, looking down at me as if she was some kind of angered and violent god.

“There is no ‘but’, this is an order, do you understand me?”

Her voice bellowed, firm and steady, shouting without any emotion.

I sheepishly nodded my head in response,

“Yes ma’am.”

Floros nodded her head, and with her hands behind her back her words stabbed at me again,

“Then leave, and don’t come back until I say so.”

Hello!

I still don't exactly know how to use this but one of my mutuals on tiktok suggested that I start posting the script here so let's hope this goes well! (≧∇≦)ﾉ

My name is Akira and I hope you all enjoyed reading the first chapter of the second draft of a little project I'm working on called abNORMALITY, I've been working on this for a little over a year now and I am very excited and hopeful that this reaches more people. Please enjoy it and stay for the rest of the story, thank you!!

If you liked this, you can read some of the other chapters on my ao3 or you can see some of my art and some other information and some of my art on my tiktok

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phoenixyfriend · 4 years ago

Text

Rey Gives No F*cks About the Grandfather Paradox

Okay so since nobody’s suggested a fic under these terms, I ended up expanding on this post on discord and things snowballed. We kept to the basics of the entire plot revolving around Rey really hating her grandad and leveraging her blood relation to not be unalived about it.

With contributions by @atagotiak, @dracothulhu, @thepallaspalace, and several others. The title comes from @gelpenss.

The basic thing I absolutely need is this: Rey gets thrown back to the middle of the clone wars, and the subsequent plot leans in really heavily on her being, genetically-via-clone-dad, the daughter of the guy running the entire galaxy.

Nobody knows what to do with her.

The timing is mid-TCW for the past (because I want Ahsoka there) and vaguely between Episodes 8 and 9 because I... never watched E9 and don’t want to worry about the timeline. The only things that matter is that Luke is dead (he can die as he did in canon) and that Rey knows she’s Palp’s granddaughter (not the way she does in canon).

We'll say Luke found out from Anakin's panicked force-ghost and just went "well, fuck, okay, I should tell her this before she ends up in a situation like mine and finds out mid-battle or something."

Luke, prior to time-travel: Okay, so, now that I'm dead I know some things I didn't before. Like who your parents were. In the interest of full disclosure because I was in a very similar situation and I don't want you learning the way I did, I'm just going to come right out and say that your father was a clone was Sheev Palpatine. Rey: ... Luke: Are you okay? Rey: I don't know who that is.

(She grew up on Jakku, the history education was a little subpar.)

Setting The Scene

Imagine Rey showing up during or immediately before the clone wars. There’s this phenomenally powerful feral teenager from a desert backwater who tells you that if you ran a paternity test, it would probably pop up the Chancellor. She may or may not bring up cloning. She accuses said Chancellor of being a Sith Lord.

Your other phenomenally powerful feral teenager from a desert backwater, who may not be a teenager anymore but only barely, is very offended by this because Palpatine’s a Very Nice Old Grandfather Figure, but also he’s a little full of side-eye because if the blood test comes back as proof, then Palpatine had a kid and didn’t even know about them, or lied to Anakin, and that’s! Bad! Family’s important!!!

Palpatine hears about this daughter he apparently? Has? And is very confused because the timing doesn’t match up with ANYTHING he was doing, so the kid isn’t natural, and he says as much. (There is an explanation! It’s not a correct explanation, but he does come up with one.)

Finn and Poe and BB-8 all get dragged along because why not have the gang there? Nobody that’s already born, because [handwave] conservation of souls or something, IDK, point is the only person dragged along that’s even remotely close to already existing is Luke’s Force Ghost, who mostly hangs around begging Rey to be less impulsive. Finn is good because he is a nice polite boy, but for actual useful information they need Poe. The unfortunate situation is that the three do not land together. They land at the same time, in completely different corners of the galaxy. This means that nobody is there to curb Rey being her most impulsive self.

Time travel Rey knows two things. Luke’s dad ends up evil. Palpatine has always been evil.

She can solve one of these problems by killing the other, yes?

Rey: Ready to Rumble

See, the initial idea was this: Rey tried to break into the senate to kill Palpatine, got arrested, and then used the "he's biologically my father" card to get out of jail free. (Force Ghost Luke follows her like “please take five seconds to think this through.”)

But.

It would be very, very, very funny if The Force just dumps her in a flash of light in the senate building and she just attacks Gramps on sight. Just a shouted "YOU!" and no-hesitation attempted murder.

Palpatine has no idea what's going on.

Rey took maybe two seconds to get identity confirmation and then started swinging.

[Image Description: An individual in a green metal helmet with an eye slit, holding a pistol. In the upper left, upper right, and lower middle are the phrases “I do not know who I am...” “I don’t know why I’m here” and “All I know is that I must kill.” End description.]

Of course, she gets arrested. There are Master Jedi in the Senate. There are Clone Troopers. Palpatine isn’t the weak old man he pretends to be. Of course she’s stopped.

But she isn’t executed in time for Palpatine to stop her from ruining his entire reputation.

Immediately after Rey fails to kill her Shitty Granddad, Luke's ghost shows up and begs her to not talk about the Sith thing because it will completely undermine everything she's trying to do. Pass off the attempted murder as something else!

Rey, panicking: "that fucker left me on a desert planet for 10 years!" "You owe me 19 years of child support you son of a Hutt!"

The Jedi have to do the investigation, because the girl showed up with a laser sword, and the conversation is, uh... interesting. (“Where did you get that lightsaber?” “I got it from a mysterious old pirate lady I never met before. I don't know, I was being shown around by a smuggler and a Wookie.”)

Interviewer: Why did you try to assassinate the Chancellor? Luke: Say it wasn't assassination. Rey: It wasn't assassination. Int: You weren't trying to kill him? Luke: Assassination has to be politically motivated. Rey: This was, um... not political. Assassination is political, right? Int: You mean this was personally motivated? Rey: Yes. Int: I see. What personal motivation? Luke: Jakku! Rey: He's my grandfather. Int: ... Rey: Possibly father. Nobody was very clear on that. Int: ... Luke: Tell them to run a paternity test. Rey: Oh hey, a blood test would tell us which, right? Int: ............ Rey: I spent ten years as an orphaned scrapdealer on Jakku. He's my father. I'm kind of a little angry. Int: ........... Luke: Good job, kid. You bought yourself some time. Int: I'm going to get a medic to see about that parternity test.

Obviously, it comes back positive. Congratulations, Sheev, you’re the father.

Rey comes with a ready-made built-in excuse for hating Palpatine that nobody can question or fault her for!

Rey, pouring Truth into the Force: I didn't even know I was related to the Chancellor until a few months ago, but it's his fault I grew up the way I did, and he should take some responsibility!

The entire thing is mostly kept hush hush but someone leaks it to the press and Palpatine's ratings tank.

"Chancellor, I think we'll need to waive family visitation until she wants you a little less dead." "I would like to find out why she wants me dead, and indeed, where she came from." "...sir, for your own safety--"

Who would win? A master plan years in the making spanning decades of manipulating and work? or One (1) paternity test

"Okay, so, Rey Palpat--" "Ew, no, I don't want his name." "You--okay. Sure, we can understand that. Is there a name you would prefer to put on the paperwork?" Rey, who would have gone by Skywalker in honor of Luke but can't do that when Anakin is right there and all: "Can I think about it?"

Rey: I don't know what I want my last name to be but I know I don't want his, and most of the people I’d want a name from have famous families like you... Luke's ghost, pointing out the Literal Nobody that she cares about a lot: How about Solo? Rey: ...Solo, then.

(A few months later she runs into Poe again and he offers for Finn and Rey to both take his name because honestly they need SOMETHING but at that point she’s already decided on Smuggler Dad.)

Backtrack a bit. We’ve got a bigger cast.

They all arrive separately. Poe, for one, does better than Rey, who is aiming for a murder, but not quite as well as Finn, who is currently being adopted and hidden like a secret cat by a bunch of Alpha Clones on Kamino. He vibes with the names-or-numbers thing. He doesn’t necessarily tell them where and when he’s from, but he’s very sweet and a great liar and they adopt him wholesale anyway.

The Finn situation is just... "Buir Ti, we need you to hide this man, we've decided he's our little brother but if Nala Se finds out she'll make him leave."

Of course, this leads into Shaak Ti teaching Finn how to Jedi.

Maybe consider Finn needing to almost be tricked into learning Jedi things because he willfully forgets it could apply to him. Finn does not like to think of himself as special, which is super valid, but frustrating for Shaak Ti when it comes to, you know, getting him to acquire knowledge. Finn's training at some point is "here, levitate objects with the Force to entertain the tubies." It’s a lot easier to convince him to practice when it involves the babies.

(Everyone on Kamino looked at Finn and went “oh I love him I’m keeping him and teaching him things.”)

(He’s just very lovable.)

Poe, meanwhile, buys the trust of Anakin Skywalker via R2D2 declaring BB-8 the absolute most baby of droids. R2D2 met BB-8 three hours ago but.

"Hey Obi-Wan this is Poe I met him like five days ago but R2D2 says he checks out because his droid is a baby." "That's nice, Anakin, did you know the Chancellor has a daughter who tried to assassinate him in broad daylight yesterday? Because guess who had to stop the Chancellor from getting assassinated by his daughter in broad daylight yesterday."

A summary so far:

Finn, on Kamino: Hey, um, I don't know where this is, but it's not where I was a few minutes ago. Do you think you could get me a comm? What's your name? Poe, on [dice roll] Denon: Oh, hey, you're General Skywalker? Nice to meet you, I'm so sorry about my droid, she's a little excitable and thought your R2 unit looked like a friend of hers-- Rey, on Coruscant: DIE, GRANDFATHER

Finn: [Peacefully vibing on Kamino, unaware of the chaos and bonding with the clones] Poe: [Trying to explain how he knows someone who tried to kill the chancellor and defend Rey] Rey: [Arrested for trying to kill the chancellor]

Just... just...

Anakin: Some guy ended up lost on base yesterday with his droid, how’s your day going? Obi-Wan: I had to stop someone who claims to be the chancellors daughter from murdering the chancellor after she seemingly blinked into existence in the Senate building. Poe: 😐

(Poe: Oh, so that's where Chaos^2 went.)

Poe: In her defense, she is his... well we don't know if she's his daughter or granddaughter, but she's definitely related to him, and she definitely grew up in a shitty situation that was his fault, so...

(Poe is trying very hard to explain this and not get arrested on the military base.)

As you’ve probably guessed, what's especially funny about all of this for me is the fact that Palpatine is fully aware that this girl shouldn't exist, but can't find a single piece of evidence about where she came from. He didn't start any experiments that could result in a female child, and he didn't have sex in that period of time, so where the hell--

Rey spends so much time in jail... BUT they do eventually assign her a Jedi Master. Possibly before she actually proves her evil grandfather is in fact evil. Most votes went to either Plo Koon or Obi-Wan. Plo, because he’s dad-shaped, and Obi...

"Obi-Wan, you already raised one feral desert child with implausible amounts of power, you handle this." Rey in return is very "Sweet, you vaguely remind me of Master Luke," and nobody knows who the hell she's talking about. Obi-Wan is NOT on board with this plan, she'd really be better off with Plo or like........ Mace.

Reunion Tour

What I need out of this is the eventual Finn and Rey reunion scene that is just excited screaming while someone in the background explains to Shaak Ti that yes this is apparently Palpatine's terrifyingly force-sensitive daughter who hates him.

(Finn senses Rey’s approach and just. Gathers the everyone to wait. He’s just :D REY MY FRIEND REY GUYS MY FRIEND REY IS COMING.)

Anakin shows up with Poe--just a guy who signed on to the military, no big deal--and then Poe and Rey are EXCITED and everyone's just like "Cool, how do you know this literal terrorist child?" And Poe has to scramble and "Uhhhhhhhhhhhh she saved my droid from a scrapheap once and BB-8 is basically my child so I owe her one."

Rey knows that Anakin ends up evil so she’s maybe not actively hostile but definitely very “I’m watching you.” That said, she vibes with him on a lot of things that he maybe doesn’t actively notice.

Rey picks up a snake, snaps off the head for venom avoidance, and starts biting off chunks. Obi-Wan's reaction: [undisguised horror] Anakin and Ahsoka: Ooh, where'd you find that? (Obi-Wan: And now I’m up to three feral children.)

What Does Palpatine Even Do?

OBVIOUSLY at a certain point, Palpatine is just phoning up every ally he has to figure out who broke protocol to synthesize a daughter for him.

So of course, Palpatine blame Plagueis.

She'd have been born five or so years before Naboo, just a few years younger than Anakin. It's such an EASY theory to build a conspiracy around. It is ENTIRELY WRONG, but it’s plausible! And anyone who might have been involved to say otherwise is probably dead!

A random bio-kid shows up you can’t possibly have contributed genes to? Maybe it’s the evil bio spark that did it.

Palpatine tries to placate her with the ‘my genes were stolen for an experiment and I didn’t know’ thing. It doesn’t work because her actual main complaint is he’s evil in her future but he tries.

It'd be a struggle to even get access to her, because of the aforementioned “maybe don’t try to talk to the daughter(?) that hates you” thing, but you know who Palpatine does have access to? The Chosen One.

Rey kind of decides on her favorites early on (she gravitates to Dad Energy and Sad Old Men so Plo and Obi-Wan are on her list, and that means decent time around Anakin and Ahsoka). It's really easy to talk Anakin into helping to some degree because "he'd like to connect to a daughter he never knew" and "a child of her power on a planet like that, you'd know her struggle, my dear boy" and so on. Anakin tries to connect! He tries to play up Sheev’s kind political work and how it can’t have really been his fault! It doesn’t work. Rey does not believe a word of it. Mostly she doesn’t even seem to hear him.

Rey's just like "...oh right, you're the melted mask that Kylo Ren was always ranting about," which means absolutely NOTHING to Anakin, but he mentions it to Palps, who loses his goddamn mind trying to figure out what she's talking about, because it also means absolutely nothing to him.

Here’s the thing: Rey’s already decided that Obi-Wan is cool, because Luke said so, and Plo Koon is dad-shaped, and she also gravitates towards earnest kindness in general, like she made friends with Finn real quick, so Ahsoka? Already getting along great.

She doesn’t dislike Anakin, really, he isn’t evil yet, he’s just... meh. She’s a little suspicious and she likes him less than the others but... Anakin.

Rey, to Anakin: You are my least favorite. Anakin, to Palpatine: YOUR DAUGHTER HATES ME???

And he goes from “she’s a lil standoffish” to “she doesn’t like me” to “she hates me” as is normal for Anakin.

It’s just an escalation of this one time Palpatine wants Anakin to not have rifts and trust issues with a person, at least not until later, because he needs information.

Meanwhile, that very moment, Rey is just like "huh, nobody here is listening to me about how make a sixth-hand carburetor work, where's Luke's dad?"

Anakin is venting to Palpatine about how hard it is to talk to Rey, and she's over in the Temple just like "Hey, that guy was useful last time, I should ask him," but also she only ever thinks of him as Luke's Dad.

(At one point, Obi-Wan is having a bit of a break down, and then Anakin starts having a breakdown about that, meanwhile the clones are (badly) trying to hide Finn behind their backs, Rey is watching Ahsoka practice and being like "I want two lightsabers," and Poe is trying to keep R2 from stealing BB-8 and Force Ghost Luke is just face palming in the background.)

(Rey deserved a saber staff, maybe one that can detach and turn into a jar’kai set. Possibly a pike. Mostly I just wish she got more chances to whack things with a big stick.)

#Rey #Finn #Poe Dameron #Sheev Palpatine #Luke Skywalker #Anakin Skywalker #Obi Wan Kenobi #Darth Sidious #Plo Koon #Shaak Ti #Ahsoka Tano #r2d2 #bb 8 #star wars #time travel #Rey and the Grandfather Paradox #Phoenix Posts

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lostonehero · 2 years ago

Text

I don't know what this is but it got out of hand.

Anyway if you guys want to use this feel free just tag me

Anyhow

Scooped Micheal and time travel

Micheal, well, he had a lot of free time after the incident with that thing forced into his body and then violently expelled. He didn't, well couldn't sleep or eat anymore. He had a lot of time on his hands.

Well, when this first happened, he thought he was in hell. He deserves to suffer after all. He quickly realized that no, this isn't hell, but he was alive in the loose sense of the word. Skin purple and rotting barely stitched together, eye a milky white yet can still see even out of the one missing an eye. He doesn't even have internal organs anymore, just an empty chest cavity. The smell is the worst part he somehow kept that function.

Time marches forward no matter how much you fight against it. Micheal learned to adapt, and makeup became his new must-have along with any sort of object that can cover the scent of rot.

He had a lot of time on his hands because what he had to do wouldn't be shown to him for a few decades, but he wasn't aware of that yet.

So he traveled mostly to libraries and just read whatever he could get his hands on. He started to learn more and more skills and basically became a scholar. He had a lot of time on his hands.

The internet wasn't something Micheal had when he was alive, but he decided to teach himself the basics when it first released, and well, he stuck to it.

When this YouTube first released, he was enamored it gave him a connection to normalcy, well to other people without the glares and horrified glances. Makeup can only do so much when you're only skin and bones, and the skin is rotting and held together by how well you stitch.

On a whim, he starts a channel. Just to keep his sanity. Talking into the void is much better than anything else. It's not like he can see a therapist.

The videos he makes are basically how he cares for himself, how to gussy up a corpse, so to speak. Then he goes on to talk and discuss his skills he has learned, and well he even does a bit of lessons teaching the stuff he knows.

Thanks to his channel, he finds Henry again. The man has aged so much, and he wonders if his father would have looked this tired if he wasn't a monster.

The job is easy enough. He's done this more often than he would like to have the skills to make it easy. He gathers everyone so they can finally rest. Maybe he can finally rest.

The fire doesn't hurt, the speech is lovely, and Henry has a way with words. Micheal finally feels as if he can let go. As the fire licks his limbs, he closes his eyes at peace.

....

Micheal wakes up, which is odd because he can't sleep. The fire happened, and everyone got peace. Opening his eyes, he is confused since there isn't a flim over his vision he has gotten accustomed to. He feels smaller. He feels full as well.

He finally realizes he is breathing. That can't be right he lost his lungs ages ago. He stumbles out of the bed he is in. The halls are familiar, and he enters the bathroom. He grabs a step stool from the side to use it to look in the mirror. When was he this short? He sees a ghost in the mirror with piercing blue eyes.

He doesn't scream, he doesn't cry, he barely reacts. Maybe this was purgatory and he just had to follow the motions.

....

It was not purgatory. Micheal only realizes he is back in the past in his kid body after a week passes, and his father William calls him into his office, something about school. It's not Michael's fault he's been sleeping in class. He's bored as hell. Maybe it was because he stole a few college textbooks to work on in class.

But when he stepped inside the office, a few things clicked. This was a father before his siblings died, before his first murder, before the shit show he caused, and it only hits him because William looks proud of him and congratulates him.

He doesn't know what he did or why he is here. Maybe Henry came back too.

Micheal is clinging to Henry as Henry numbly walks home. His car isn't where he parked it.

He's soaked to the bone when he goes home, and so is Micheal, who looks like a drowned rat. He doesn't notice the drawing from his daughter or his wife in the kitchen.

(They divorced only a few months after Charlie was killed They couldn't stand each other because everything just was too much They reconnected later on amd became friends Henry helped her through chemo later on in life and she remarried and had a family and he supported her, her new kids call him uncle)

#fnaf #micheal afton #scooped michael #time travel #five nights at freddy's

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kira-fluff · 4 years ago

Note

Heeey!

Saeyoung, Yoosung, Jumin and Zen reacting to to “hotel only one bed” trope ? ♥️

a/n: of course you can lovely! <3 *AHEM* Lemme just say this trope is ELITE and I will NEVER not love it // also, i’m writing it like it’s before they’re dating (OF COURSE) because I want it to be spicy (actually that’s the only thing that would make sense for this prompt but you get my point whatever). ALSO also I’m basing the fancy hotel off my stay at the Ritz Carlton (it was like $25,000 a night) because my grandma couldn’t manage money N E WAYSS. Also, if y’all could let me know whether you prefer Y/N to MC pls lmk k thx

TW: drunk old lady w/no filter, gets pretty suggestive because I couldn’t help myself, an overbearing aunt, savage Italians, and loud hotel neighbor

Note: omfg i accidentally made this so long oh well here’s yo present lmao

“There’s only one bed” PT.1 PT.2

Saeyoung

Getaway missions are mad cool until you can’t sleep

When you finally neared the parking entrance to your hotel you were SO looking forward to taking a nice hot shower before shimming into the covers of your crisp, (clean, you hoped) sheets.

It was past 3AM when Saeyoung finally drove his elegant vehicular device (because what other word is there for it) into a secured parking space

“Because I don’t trust those shady valets, y/n.”

“Whatever you say, Seven”, you replied groggily.

You hauled ass up to the front desk, then to the elevator of the exquisite hotel you were staying at

not that you cared

because S L E E P

but Saeyoung likes to quote Jurassic Park (because of course he does) like “I spare no expense, y/n”

“I’m too tired to laugh”

*gASP*

“Not everyone naturally stays up until the early morning light before going to sleep.”

“It really should become a thing, it’s honestly very iconic of me.” (it’s not)

By the time your conversation ended you were glad to see your hotel number and a little key card slot.

Saeyoung made a show of sticking the key card in like a spy or something

it was funny for normal y/n but not for tired y/n

“Here’s your room, M’lady.”

He held the door open to your room as you looked around the room

a large, lush bed set before a ginormous flat screen TV with complimentary expensive chocolates laid before you as well as complimentary take-home elegant towels and slippers.

suddenly, you heard a knock on the door

blinking in confusion, you opened to see it was Saeyoung

“Um.. hey! What’s up?”

Saeyoung looked a bit bewildered himself before saying,

“Hey, so, I realized my key card was the same room number as yours and I was like ‘That’s weird!’ so I called the front desk who verified that I had placed a reservation for one room, not two, so I hacked into their system to see what went wrong and if I could change it but it looks like they’re completely booked and I think I had made the reservation before I knew that you had to come along and I’m so sorry”

he was breathless after the mouthful he just gave you

As it was 3AM a drunk, old woman was tripping her way to her room and shouted much louder than she should at 3AM, “Kiss her already n’ fuck, ya youngin’s!”

Saeyoung’s hair now matched his face :)

His ears were tipped bright red before coughing awkwardly

“I can sleep on the ground. I’ve done it plenty of times, it’s actually pretty comfy.”

“Um, Sev’ I’m not going to make you just sleep on the floor. If you want--”

“You’re not making me, y/n, I want to do this”

“Actually I think I’ll sleep on the floor, I sleep a lot better on the ground”, you fibbed.

“You��re sleeping on that big ass bed.”

“No you are.”

“If you don’t listen I’ll sleep in the bath tub instead of the floor.”

“Then I’LL sleep outside the room!”

“LIKE HELL YOU WILL!”

“WATCH ME”

the phone rang, a worker politely asking you to quiet a bit down because even with your luxurious privacy walls, guests could still hear you arguing.

Saeyoung began whisper shouting, “Guess that settles it.”

he plopped on the ground, fake snoring with his arm as a pillow

you sighed

“Fine, if neither of us are going to agree to this then we are both going to sleep in this bed.”

Saeyoung blushed lightly at your boldness, a tad worried you’d find him creepy or weird

You started again, beginning to undress a little, causing Seven to yelp in panic and turn around immediately, shielding his eyes,

Now in your tank top and your leggings you’d been wearing under sweatpants and a t-shirt, you said, “I’m gonna go take a quick shower and go to bed. I’m so tired.”

Seven turned around only when he’d heard the bathroom door shut

he sighed, What am I going to do with this girl.

By the time you’d come out of the bathroom, drying your wet hair, Seven was lying on the bed, clad in casual t-shirt and jeans.

“Come on, Saeyoung, you have comfy clothes! It’s okay, change! I’m done in the bathroom now.”

“Nah, this is fine.” This was not fine. Saeyoung was out of his area of expertise of expecting the unexpected because God you were so unpredictable.

“Please” you jutted out your bottom lip in a little pout, being sure to make eye contact with him

Something glowered in his eyes for a split second before he half-smiled saying, “Ah, little Y/n, you know I can’t say no to you when you go all sad on me.”

He stepped into the bathroom to change, but let’s be honest. He was freaking the fuck out.

he covered his flushed face, changing into his soft sweatpants and a cozy sweatshirt. he was scared

the more comfortable he became the more likely he’d accidentally get closer to you and then you’d freak out because you’d hear the sound of his heart beat like it’s a fucking rave concert and then you’d be weirded forever and quite possibly never talk to him again

but on the outside, he stepped out of the bathroom, whipping his phone out with a huge smirk saying, “Smile”

you threw up a peace sign with your tongue sticking out

he laughed before sending it to the RFA chat

707: Sleepover lolol [see attachment]

immediately both your phones blew up with buzzes of notifications from the chat

you laughed lightly, brushing a stray hair from your face to tuck it behind your ear

this was gonna be a long night for Seven.

Zen: UGH get away from her!!!!!!!!!111!!1!!

Jumin: Maybe you should learn to type first.

Zen: shut it cat freak

Zen: seven answer

Zen: hey

Zen: y/n, text “qwerty” if you’re in any kind of danger

Jumin: What a strange code.

You: qwerty :(

707: lololololol

Zen: !!!!!

Zen: ASJDHKJFASHFKJA

Jumin: -_-

Zen: WE NEED A CAR, NO A HELICOPTER im omw!!

You: just kidding <3 i’m fine you guys

707: lololol

Jumin: Have a bit more faith in your subordinates, Zen.

You closed the chat and muted your phone, expecting the incoming argument that was quickly to ensue.

You patted the bed lightly, ushering Saeyoung to lie down next to you.

He obliged, though he politely laid at the far edge of the left side of the bed.

You yawned before shutting the light off and whispering a “good night”.

Saeyoung glanced at the clock. 4AM. Only 15 minutes had passed. You were breathing softly in your sleep within the 10 minutes after you’d said goodnight and here he was still awake.

You suddenly tousled in your sleep, and Saeyoung raised his head, whispering a soft, “Did I wake you up?”

You replied with a soft moan before abruptly turning left onto his corner of the bed and grabbing for the first thing you’d felt -- his torso.

Saeyoung’s breath hitched as he felt you exploring the new found “object”, running your fingers up and down his torso and nearing dangerous areas below

Saeyoung whisper-shouted, “What are you doing?”

He leaned closer to hear your reply, but your only answer was more soft little snores

Saeyoung sighed, trying to lightly grab your wrists without waking you up, and directing toward yourself

no matter how hard he’d try, your arms kept finding his own

your nails would softly ghost over his chest or neck, causing him to shiver and blush profusely

again, he sighed, trying his hardest not to give into your sleepy state

until you broke him with a soft utterance, “Sae....young..”

Saeyoung’s eyes widened to the size of saucers before he dared to look down at you, your hair curling on the bed every which-way.. your mouth slightly agap...

he groaned, his brows furrowed and his eyes shut

at last he slunk his arms around your torso, being sure to respectfully keep them high around your waist

he buried his face in the crook of your neck to subconsciously try to hide his ever growing blush (and erection)

I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this ‘friend’ thing when you’re driving me this crazy, y/n.

You awoke to a sleeping Saeyoung, his toned arms enveloping your small body in a hug

shamelessly, you laid still for a few moments longer.

Yoosung

this bean is lonely uwu

so when he’d invited to you go with him on a trip his uncle had paid for, you felt bad saying “yes” because it’s a paid trip!!

until he begged you because his cousin Chaewon would be there and he was always really pushy and borderline a huge fuck boi

so you conceded

but hey free trip for the both of you minus shitty family gatherings with no one you know, right?!

you hope there’s at least one dog. and alcohol.

dog + alcohol at a party = an actual fun fucking time

you were glad Yoosung was there with you because he honestly couldn’t agree with you more

You opened your beach-side resort room to find there’s only one bed.

Yoosung blanched and quickly dialed his auntie, who’d made the resort reservations

“Ah...hi auntie! Um, how come there isn’t a separate room for me and y/n?”

his aunt cackled into the phone, “Aren’t you an old fashioned little gentlemen!!! Awe~~~ you’ve grown up to be such a good boy! <3 Well don’t worry, I won’t say a word to my sister or your pops. Enjoy the time you have with your adorable girlfriend and get it on a little!! I’ve got condoms if ya need ‘em honey~~ Remember dearie, when the shlong is not covered, the child support better be.”

Yoosung hurriedly hung up the phone, his face completely red, praying you hadn’t heard the conversation that’d just ensued.

You did

but you smile and say, “So.. what’d they say?”

He cleared his throat before saying, “Well, --err.. Basically there’s been a little mishap. B-but don’t worry!! I can just ask Chaewon if I can spend the night in his room.”

“Didn’t you say he leaves a sock on the door handle every time--”

“YES but I want you to be comfortable, okay! It’s really not a big deal.”

You shyly smiled while looking down before softly saying, “You can sleep with me.”

Yoosung’s eyes widened and you quickly looked up, your face flushing to a deep crimson

“I-I-I meant in the bed!!! With me. We can lie together. In the bed---- I mean we--”

Yoosung could practically see the steam coming out of your ears and the room felt a LOT hotter

“S-sure! Sounds great.” he had a feeling if you didn’t agree you’d end up embarrassing yourself further.. and he didn’t want you to feel bad. And he didn’t want those thoughts circulating his mind again.

“Alright, so I’m going to hop in the shower, y/n... unless you want to go first?”

Gulping down some complimentary water you’d found in the hotel mini fridge, you quickly replied with a shake of your head.

Nodding, Yoosung make quick work of washing his hair and trying to give himself a pep talk before he would be sleeping next to you.

Thankful for the big size of the resort bed, you climbed under the covers, already beginning to feel sleep take you

When Yoosung had at last dried himself off and walked out to the bed area of the resort room, he gazed at how small you looked, hugging a soft pillow in your arms, your eyes fluttered shut

He looked away, feeling like a creep.

He shut off the light after making a call to the resort staff to wake him up at 8AM as directed by his uncle’s itinerary

He slid under the covers, shoving a pillow in between the two of you as a little border to separate the two of you

it wasn’t until further in the night when Yoosung had felt a jolt and he looked up in panic, through the blackness recognizing the pillow-border had been cast onto the ground

and even more noticeably, your leg was swung over his hip, your body flush to his own

your arms were snaked around his neck

he felt like he could feel every inch of you

your soft breath just below his ear

your soft .. er.. chest... against his torso

your stomach and .. the rest of it... against his own

Yoosung could not breathe

like someone actually help this man for he is losing oxygen by the minute

He squeezed his eyes shut and make the executive decision to wait it out til morning

he was terrified that if he’d move you, you’d wake up and see just how much you affect him.

And so, when the phone rang that morning, you’d startled, looking up to see your tangled limbs lying on top of his own

“oH MY GOD I’M SO SORRY YOOSUNG UGH IT’S A HABIT OF MINE AHAHHSAHDAJSHS”

he looked at you with eyes that had noticeable circles under them (darker than even after his LOLOL gaming)

“you look like you didn’t sleep much.... --- Is it because of me!? Oh my god I’m so sorry you should’ve just shoved me off or something seriously I didn’t mean to do it on purpose, honest!!”

“N-no, no it’s really not!! I promise!!” He tried his best to grin, though it probably looked like a grimace, because the next thing you said was, “I’ll make it up to you”

“You don’t need to do that. Really, I liked it.”

It took a moment for him to realize what he just said.

“I-I mean I like you! I mean I liked sleeping with you!!! I mean--!!”

Yoosung was quickly spinning circles in his mind

you couldn’t help the little giggle that came out of your mouth, “I guess we’re pretty similar, huh?”

Yoosung smiled lightly, “Yeah, guess so.”

You walked out together toward the breakfast area of the resort

“Hey”, you started, “Is.. Did you mean what you said? About liking me?”

Yoosung glanced away, taking a deep breath before saying, “Yeah, yeah I did. I really like you.”

You couldn’t hold back the big ol’ smile that took over your face as you proudly declared, “Me too!!”

Right when Yoosung was going to go in for a kiss, he saw his auntie suddenly right next to the both of you

“Oh my GOD when did you get here?!”

She smirked, “My question first, dearie, what did you two like?”

Neither of you answered, your cheeks growing red

“You know, the first time your uncle did it with me I felt the same way. Like, what a man! Must run in the fam--”

“OKAY! THANK YOU FOR THAT AUNTIE BUT BREAKFAST IS CALLING MY NAME MM SMELLS GOOD SEE YOU LATER.”

Your blush didn’t leave you as you smeared strawberry cream cheese on your toasted bagel

This trip was going to be very VERY difficult. Thank God there was alcohol. And Yoosung. And probably dogs. And Yoosung.

Yeah.

Gotta love relatives.

Jumin

You received a call from a stern voice you didn’t recognize

<<“Hello. This is Mr. Han’s chauffeur. I’m approximately 6.3 miles away from your residence. Do not worry about clothes or other necessities. All will be provided for you.”>>

“Uh.. thanks? Where....?”

<<“Mr. Han has invited you to join him on his stay at the Ppalgan Vineyard Estates. Have you not received the notification?”>>

You glanced at your phone, seeing two unread messages on your phone.

You read them, feeling bad you hadn’t seen them before.

“Yes, yes of course. Thank you. Tell him I said thank you. Are you sure it’s okay for me to attend?”

<<“Miss Y/L/N, Mr. Han gave me specific instructions to assure you would be able to come with him. I have been ordered to give 2 minute updates following your being picked up. I can assure you, it is his utmost wish that you join him this weekend. I’d be honored to thank him on your behalf, though I feel it would mean much more to him if you said it to him rather than me.” >>

“You’re right, thank you. And thanks for driving me. And for all the other stuff you said”, you replied nervously.

<<”There is no need to thank me, Miss. I am glad to serve Mr. Han in anyway I can.”>>

The call hung up before you could spout out more thank yous

you phone buzzed, startling you.

you clicked the notification

<<(XXX-XXX-XXXX HAN COMPANIES) I’ve arrived at your residence. Let me know if there is anything I can carry for you. Sent 13:52>>

You quickly texted a reply of gratitude before rushing down the stairs out of your apartment, not wanting to make Jumin’s chauffeur wait.

“Good to see you Miss Y/L/N. Is there anything I can get you? I have been given orders to purchase anything you may want or need on our way to the airport.”

He quickly texted something on his phone, presumably a text to Jumin about your safe arrival to his limo.

“A-airport? You mean, like, flying? Are you sure I don’t need my wallet? It’s not too late for me to go grab it, right? I have my debit card on my phone too, otherwise.”

“Miss Y/L/N you are not to spent a single won on this vacation. All is paid for.”

“But my clothes... I don’t want Jumin to have to pay for all new things!!”

"I assure you, money is not something Mr. Han wishes for you to be concerned with.”

You’d stayed silent at that, feeling bad that you’d already bothered the poor man who’d just been ordered to drive you, not reassure you of Jumin’s financial affairs.

You grew quiet, looking out the window as trees, streets, and cars zoomed past you.

“If you so wish, there are numerous meals options in the compartments below the seats as well as alcohol, carbonated beverages and iced water glasses. You are, of course, welcome to any of these. Please do not hesitate to notify me if there is something you’d like instead. We’d glad to make it a regular option in all of our limousines.”

You flushed, embarrassed at the amount of power Jumin’s words, and effectively, your own seemed to have on the entire Han Conglomerate as a whole. You laughed a little, it was funny thinking to yourself that you had so much power as to decide snack options for Jumin’s cars.

Jumin was extra like that, he always went above and beyond to make you comfortable. You loved that about him. It made you feel a little spoiled, so you instinctively rejected most offers at things that seemed to further complicate his worker’s duties.

You had no idea that when the chauffeur had said airport he meant the Han Private Airway Transportation Zone.

As in... private jet.

It was hard not to feel like you were in a whole different world.

Not that Jumin treated you that way... but it was hard not to notice!

You bowed in thanks to the driver before hastily finding your way to the nearest man standing in another black suit, his hands folded together in front of him.

As soon as you uttered your name, his whole demeanor changed and he instantly had gone from cool and collected to humble and overwhelmingly kind.

He’d quickly made his way to the boarding area, escorting you to the jet before leaving you at a polite distance way from Jumin who’d been looking at you from the moment you’d entered the aircraft.

His eyes searched your own as you’d yet to discover his presence

He couldn’t help but rake his eyes up and down your body, admiring the way you could look just in anything.

He at last saw you searching the spacious cabin, at last laying eyes on him.

His heart pounded faster, as if your noticing him made his heart leap in joy

You looked relieved and smiled, running over to him and sitting down next to him

“Hi Jumin!! Oh, should I be calling you Mr. Han? That’s what your chauffeur called you.. sorry if that’s what I should’ve been addressing you as!!”

His deep voice rumbled in your ear, causing you to shudder, “Jumin is fine.”

You gazed up at him through your lashes, noticing the way his perfectly tailored vest made him look so... well... for lack of better word...hot.

“Wow. You look...” Your eyes moved from his hair, to his face, to his neck, to his torso, slowly to his groin, to his legs... before you realized what you’d been doing and quickly your eyes shot up again.

You bit your lip, “You look nice.”

“Nice?”

You laughed shyly, and slightly (embarrassingly) breathless, “Yeah. Yeah you do. Nice.”

Jumin couldn’t help the sly smile he’d been holding back before replying, “You look beautiful.”

You flushed and looked down, squirming in your seat a little before looking at him once more, offering a small, “..thank you..”

After a few minutes of silence, you’d decided to change the subject, chattering on about how you wondered what this mysterious vacation would hold

Jumin couldn’t help is concentration half on every word you were saying, but also your lips. Slowly licking his own, he nodded along when you’d gotten especially enthusiastic, grinning slightly when you’d gotten so excited you’d leapt out of your luxury seat.

Within a half hour of the trip to your destination in Italy, Jumin had trouble concentrating on much else.

Get it together, Jumin, you’re not some fool like Zen.

It’d gotten worse the more you’d leaned further in your seat, your chest becoming slightly exposed

he covered his mouth with a hand, opting for looking out one of the many windows of the jet.

You’d always caught his attention and made him lose his focus -- something he’d never lost before he met you

He blamed the strawberry sent that you’d always carried with you

He wasn’t much for expensive, faux perfume that so many of his father’s skanks would wear... it was like no other.

After a few hours of grueling torture on your part (though you hadn’t know every single time you’d grabbed his hand or arm it’d sent his heart on a sky dive) Jumin was glad to have arrived in the gorgeous Italian acreage of the countryside.

It was even more beautiful at the dusk of night, you’d decided

Immediately a shiny vehicle pulled up, ready to transport you and Jumin to the estate you were to be residing in for the weekend.

Upon pulling into the culdesac, you almost scoffed at the word “estate” -- it was more of a country in and of itself, land stretched beyond what you could see

The mansion itself stood on pillars and high, Gothic windows.

Inside, flying buttresses decorated the building, giving it an elegant and aged ambiance that you just adored

“It’s so beautiful.”

He smiled at you then, watching you take in the wonders he’d realized he took for granted.

He was then directed to a double-door entrance way, “Your room, Mr. Han, Miss Y/L/N.”

“Separate, correct?”

The man stood in surprise, looking slightly aghast, “T-they never specified such details.”

“Contact them immediately to confirm. I’ll work it out from there.”

“Yes, Mr. Han.” From there, the man scurried away to contact the head of the estate.��

After a few moments, he returned, “The Rossi Conglomerate had assumed that you’d brought your fiance with you.”

“Did you mention I don’t have one?”

“Y-yes, of course! But, Mr. Han, your father--”

Jumin sighed, “I’ll take care of it.” with a wave of his hand, the man was gone

You thanked him on his way out.

Jumin looked at you, searching for a reaction of displeasure or worry

When he didn’t find one, he began, “I was notified the Rossi had booked their other estates to their American investors. My being here is a formality, but it is business. It would be a great discourtesy to demand--”

You smiled reassuringly, “Jumin, don’t worry about it.. we’ll share the bed, okay?” You held your hand in his own, rubbing soothing circles on his knuckles.

Jumin looked at you, choking on his spit slightly.

“Y/N you do understand that--”

“It’s fine, Jumin!! It’s late already, I’ll just put up my hair.. and.. do you know where the night clothes would be?”

He watched as you fixed a bobby pin between your teeth before running your fingers through your hair, watching as you arched your back to--

“Jumin? ...you don’t know?”

He cleared his throat, looking away, pink dusting his cheeks

“Bathroom.”

You thanked him, unaware of his watchful eyes

It had been a few seconds since you’d entered the bathroom before he heard a loud and alarmed, “..UM....JUMIN...?!”

He’d quickly made his way into the bathroom

“What’s wro--”

He looked and laying on the long granite island of the large bathroom was a silky set of lingerie as well as a note in Italian you couldn’t read.

Jumin’s words stopped dead on his lips as he stared at you, then the silky underwear set, you, silky underwear, you.......silky underwear.

On the outside, Jumin liked to think he came off as calm and collected, saying, “I can get you something else to wear.”

But when he’d made it two steps out of the bathroom he had a little collision. And by collision, I mean his face.. and the wall.

He looked in every drawer, finding nothing. He presumed clothes would be delivered as specified. But it was late already.. their servants are dismissed, only the protective guards surrounded the inside and outside of the estate.. explaining the situation to them didn’t seem very promising.

Of course you were kicking yourself, before you’d found their little....gift... you’d cast your days clothes into the washer. They were probably soaked by now.

Maybe I could use a hair dryer...? Or I could stuff them in the dryer??

Either way you’d be without clothes for.. too long.

And nothing would be greater punishment then showing all that in front of the man you had completely fallen for...

You heard a knock on the bathroom door. You listened from inside.

“Hey, I, uh, couldn’t find anything. Do you think you could wear your clothes from today?”

You whimpered, on the verge of tears, “I already put it in the washer!”

He knocked again, “Can I hand you something?”, he asked, undoing the buttons of his formal shirt.

“C-close your eyes!”

Jumin chuckled darkly before covering his eyes and handing her his collared shirt

“I’d give you the pants, too, but I don’t think they’d really fit you. Could you look at what they’d provided for me? Maybe slip on something from mine.”

“N-no! That’d be even worse for me!! .. and you!” You blushed again imagining him half naked

You hurriedly shuffled through the drawers, but to no avail.

You gulped, slipping on the lingerie to ensure that maybe something would be covered before buttoning Jumin’s formal shirt on you as well.

it was so big it didn’t leave much for the imagination

but you decided through a 10 minute pep talk that you’d suck it up and try your best to make his shirt into a night gown.

You at last stepped out of the bathroom, Jumin’s head shooting toward the sudden noise before taking you in

He could scarcely breathe, much less come up with a coherent sentence

you were in his shirt...

with barely any clothes on underneath

and you looked up at him shyly, biting your lip a little

drawing even more attention to your lips

Jumin had to stifle a groan, opting to head to the bathroom to change

After splashing some cold water on his face in a poor attempt to get his head out of the gutter, he quickly got on his pjs

after you both were ready for bed, Jumin sat on the bed, opening a small novel he’d been enjoying, Anthem.

His attention was immediately diverted from the dystopian fiction when he saw you were stretching

His shirt rode up high as he took in the way the lingerie perfect accentuated your curves, though it didn’t cover much below the waist

Noticing your folly, your eyes widened in shock before you immediately put your hands down

which, just your luck, made it all worse.

the sudden movement disheveled the shirt, causing it to ride down completely on one side, openly displaying the soft brassiere beneath it

Jumin slammed his book so hard it left an echo in the large room.

Great. He couldn’t even make it look like his book was suddenly unbelievably interesting that he just so happened to not take notice of the obvious sight before him.

You blanched, feeling a breeze along your shoulder, gasping before running to your side of the bed and pretending you don’t exist anymore

Meanwhile Jumin is in a c r i s i s

In the most eloquent of words, his mind said holy fucking motherfucking shit oh my God fuck fuck fuck AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH oh my god shit shit shit fuck shit sdfasodjgiajsidogjosdg MALFUNCTION!! WARNING!!!! RUN BITCH!!!

But Jumin didn’t run

because mama ain’t raise no bitch

but also because if he stood up it would be blatantly obvious that he had--

Stop thinking about it, Jumin.

He tried to redirect his mind to his 5 senses, a grounding technique he’d learned when he got too anxious when he was younger

But sight seemed to dominate it as his mind replayed your facial expressions, the way your hands awkwardly tried to cover yourself up, the way you looked the way he’d take it all off---

Oh God. I’m deep in shit.

He had never been so pissed at himself... and embarrassed.

He looked over at you, a horrible decision, really.

You were still awake, your face was redder than the strawberry sent that adorned you

“s-sorry..” you whispered, willing yourself to try to forget, “pretend that never happened..”

Jumin was practically feral and you were saying it never happened?

Jumin couldn’t just pretend he didn’t just see a fucking goddess

but he would for you

“..........pretend what never happened?”

You sighed, a small smile on your face as you quickly turned to thank him

but he was a LOT closer than you imagined

he was propped up on one elbow, looking down at you, his head slightly angled.

And suddenly your faces weren’t so far apart.

And you couldn’t help but slowly close your eyes

Jumin felt confusion when you’d done this

he can be a bit of a pea brain, so he of course said, “I’m sure you’re very tired.”

He shut off the light, reaching over you

You held back the big frown you’d gotten when you realized he’d rejected you

unbeknownst to you that it took everything in him, from the moment he’d saw you in the jet cabin, not to scoop you up in his arms and make out with you the whole way there.

Zen

Was Zen going to invite you to his own fucking tour?

Of course he was

he liked flexing his connections

and most of all, showing you just how much he cared about you

and loved you

but not the love part because God if you ever found out Zen might jump into the nearest body of water and never return

not that he didn’t have any confidence

he has lots of it

but it all kind of disintegrates when he gets to talking about his real feelings

But come on, it was blatantly obvious to anyone who had heckin eyes

or ears

or just any functioning body

the way he’d try to subtly throw an arm over your shoulder

or he’d lean in whenever you spoke

or the way he’d readjust his posture when you walked into a room

or the way everyone caught him staring

like anytime you weren’t looking

or when you are looking because he is “built different”

So the limo ride to the fancy hotel he was to stay at was something that had him looking forward to the tour, but also dreading it

you’d sat close to him in the limo because his agent and other workers were sitting along with him.

So close that your ass got pushed further and further onto his lap

because damn where the fuck are we and why are there so many goddamn potholes

Zen tried to steady you by firmly grabbing your hips

which was NOT the move

because now that you were firmly set on his lap, every bump felt like a fucking war against his hormones.

Like a gentleman, he quickly opted to seat you next to him, not wanting you to feel embarrassed

still, he could feel you being pulled closer to him with every long turn the limo made or every bump or abrupt stop

and it was torture.

like this man is sweating

but by some miracle you arrive at the hotel in one piece! Yay!

but Zen’s soul has left his body~~

so you get set up

You open the room, “Look, Zen! This bed is HUGE!!”, you ran over to it and plopped your face onto the sheets

He chuckled, watching you act like a little kid excited about a hotel for the first time

his brows furrowed when he realized there was no door separator between your rooms

He immediately called the front desk

all you could over hear was “No, there seems to be some kind of mistake”

and “I reserved two rooms -- conjoined”

“Alright, ok. Thanks.” and then he hung up.

“So..” he sighed, “They can’t get another room because they’re completely booked. Someone must’ve recognized the limo and lots of fans immediately bought up all the rooms in hopes of seeing me.”

“It’s alright Zen! I can ask to switch with your agent or something!!”

“NO!” Zen said a little too loudly. “No. Um, look it would be bad because he’s a man.”

“Your a dude, too, Zen.”

“I-- yeah, but that’s different because I’m a guy you can trust.”

“True..”

“So I’ll sleep on the couch, ‘kay?”

“Zen, no! You need your beauty sleep to be ready for your performance tomorrow!!!”

“It’s alright, really!”

“I’ll sleep on the couch!”

“Like hell you will.”

“Please :(”

“Y/N, seriously--”

“Then how about this! You and I just sleep in the same bed!”

Ever the dramatic soul, Zen gasped with his palm over his heart “How SCANDALOUS!”

“Aren’t you supposed to be Mr. Playboy?”

“Only for you, baby”, he winked.

You stuttered, “T-that’s not funny! Seriously don’t make it weird you horn- dog!”

He threw his head back in laughter, “Horn-dog?! I thought you said you trusted me!”

“Not when you’re obviously thinking about doing this and that to me!!”

“Doing this and tha---Hey! Who do you think I am?!”

There was suddenly a loud bang on the wall and a burly man shouted, “GO TO FUCKIN’ SLEEP YOU OBNOXIOUS, SEXUALLY FRUSTRATED LITTLE SHITS!”

You smirked, holding in a laugh saying, “Sounds like your fans are getting jealous.”

Zen’s mouth dropped and you began laughing hysterically

“T-that was like a 60 year old man!”

“I’M 42 YOU LITTLE SHIT”

You fell back on the bed, laughing louder

Zen shouted back, “WELL EXCUSE ME, SEXY, 42 YEAR OLD MAN”

There was silence before a harsh knock sounded at your door

All Zen’s bravado disintegrated and he made a dash for the bed, whispering loudly for you to “Turn off the fuckin’ lights, turn off the fuckin’ lights!”

You stifled more giggles rising up to your throat as you clicked off the light, making sure the room was locked, and climbed into bed

you breathed out your last laughs, sighing to yourself contentedly before noticing the close proximity you were to Zen

You stared at each other for a long moment

You leaned in closer

Zen placed a palm on your cheek, gently cupping it

he softly whispered, “Can I kiss you?”

You answered by harshly connecting your lips

The two of you feeding off each other’s oxygen as Zen bit your lip, causing you to gasp and open your mouth to make way for his tongue

you whimpered, feeling faint from lack of oxygen

the two of you parted, out of breath

Zen wanted to say something smooth like “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

but instead he said “I’ve always wanted to do you.”

He mentally smacked his head, blaming the lack of oxygen for his stupidity

But you smirked up at him coyly, replying, “Then why don’t you?”

Um yeah rip your hotel neighbor he will literally hate both of you so much

I had honestly SO MUCH FUN writing this!! Let me know if you want, like, a part two to this. I think I’d just be so fun lol

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noodyl-blasstal · 3 years ago

Text

Goths at a water park? Goths at a water park!

Today had started badly. Kravitz was under the impression that when Johann and Avi told him to ‘load up the band van’ because they were ‘hitting the road’ they had meant they were heading over to the rehearsal space. In fact, he was fairly sure that was exactly what they wanted him to assume because they knew that telling him they were planning to go to the water park wouldn’t work. Instead he’d been kidnapped. Sure, they’d brought him sunscreen, and beautiful new swim trunks with subtle grey spiderwebs, and batwing sunglasses (he’d been not-so-secretly lusting after them for months), but there was so many people and so much screaming and they could be practising right now. Sure, practice also meant screaming, but that was the good kind. The musically interesting kind. None of the kids here were even vaguely in tune.

Whenever they went out together people stared, today was no exception - goths at the waterpark, a spectacle. Kravitz hated the feeling of other people’s eyes on him, as much as he knew it didn’t matter what they thought he couldn’t help but be aware of it. At least five different people had taken pictures or videos today, and Avi had already told him off for hissing at people when they pulled their children away (as if they’d hurt them!). After that he’d resigned himself to sulking, Avi and Johann had rolled their eyes and left him to it - coming back regularly to check in on him and see if he could be convinced to ‘actually enjoy himself’. They hadn’t succeeded, Kravitz was excellent at sulking, impeccable in fact. He could embody misery and let it ooze from him. This would have continued working, if not for the fact the others knew him so well. It turned out years of music college, forming a band, and forming actual human attachments actually translated to people exploiting the fuck out of your weaknesses and making you engage.

“I’ve uh, thought of a new band name” Johann said as he loomed over Kravitz yet again.

Kravitz tried very hard not to roll his eyes. “Johann, the paint is barely dry on the van. At some point Sloane is going to refuse to do any more redesigns.”

“I really like it,” Avi said, joining Johann. This was the problem with band mates dating - there was three of them in the band, and two of them were going to vote together no matter what. The main solution to this seemed to be a hostile takeover to institute a band dictatorship, or finding two musically capable boyfriends who were comfortable with polyamory and willing to wear a lot of black. Kravitz was slightly more inclined towards the dictatorship… it would be nice to just make plans and follow them for once.

“Go on then, what have you got?” Kravitz braced himself. Their current designation was ‘Fragile Attic’, which was definitely better than the last two. ‘Turn Back The Fallen Home of Ghosts’ had been confusing and hard to fit on posters. ‘Miriam’s Forgotten Tale’ was their shortest lived name to date - everyone kept asking who Miriam was. There was no Miriam, Avi just thought it sounded mysterious. Too mysterious, it transpired.

“Sixteenth Forgotten Pretence,” said Johann, passing his hand dramatically in front of him as he spoke. Avi nodded enthusiastically.

“What were the first fifteen forgotten pretences?” Kravitz knew he was beaten, but he was going down swinging. At least when they changed their name they got some buzz online (largely mockery, but Kravitz could deal with that if it got a few more people to the shows).

“Don’t be like that Kravitz! It’s spooky. You love spooky stuff.” Avi nudged Kravitz’s leg with his knee.

Kravitz grumbled, but didn’t object. He knew this was already a done deal.

“Did we sign off on the t-shirt design yet?”

“No!” Replied Johann gleefully. I knew there was a reason I hadn’t sent the email yet.

“Was the reason that you forgot?” Kravitz lowered the bat glasses to ensure Johann felt the full weight of his narrowed eyes.

“I, uh, I had a feeling, I knew something better was coming!” Johann’s eyes shifted to Avi who squeezed his hand in encouragement.

“Fine!” Kravitz said, pushing his glasses back up his face and closing his eyes. He wasn’t particularly wedded to the old name, but he hoped Johann found one he really liked soon. Maybe then they could lock it in - changing names every few months… or, on some occasions, weeks, came with a cost.

“One more thing,” said Avi.

Kravitz opened his eyes again “Yes?”

“You’re here to loosen up.” Avi shouted as he grabbed Kravitz under one armpit and Johann hauled him up by the other.

“We’re going on one of the rides!”

#taz fic #ficlet #Kravitz #Johann will never settle on a name but eventually they become big enough that Kravitz convinces him they can secretly change the name #It's subversive #Noodyl Writes

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milliedazzledust · 4 years ago

Text

I'll Come Back for You (Bucky Barnes imagine)

REQUEST: ANON - something where he is in winter soldier mode and protecting the scientist (y/n) where she is the only one who can sort of calm him down after a mission

ANON - winter soldier!bucky being protective over his scientist who’s forced to be take care of his health and she’s being kept there against his will too

ANON - Bucky Barnes request about how both reader and Bucky are each other support systems? It could be like a headcanon, how would the reader comfort him while how he comforts her so forth and so on

WORDS: 3506

A/N: So I don't know if I was inspired or if I just wrote too much, but I'm not sure this story's good. Anyway, feedback is really appreciated and I hope you'll like it :) (also don't forget to tell me if you want to be on my taglist ^^)

“What happened this time ?”

Her voice was only a whisper in the quiet room. The broken man silently sat on the examination table while she stuck a needle in his functioning arm. He didn’t speak, didn’t even flinch. This masquerade had started the moment she had set foot inside Hydra secret base. They had brought her against her will to take care of their most valuable soldier. It was always the same dance, rehearsed a million times since she had met him. After each mission, each murder, he’d come to her. She’d fix his physical wounds, take care of his arm and let him go.

More than often, she found herself feeling sorry for him. She knew what Hydra was doing to him, she’d heard the screams echoing in the distance. It would keep ringing in her ears for hours. Sometimes, the simple thought of picturing what he was going through was enough to bring her to tears. No one deserved to suffer this way.

The Winter Soldier was a cruel man, an assassin. She had seen him in action, had even been attacked the first time they were introduced. But despite being the necessary tool to take care of their valuable killer, she liked him. This wasn’t a place anyone could handle, not even him. And while she was aware of the danger Hydra represented, he was a different story. The man he once was had been trapped in a small corner of his mind, disconnected. His hands were his own, but his actions were dictated by an army that had invaded his head long ago. He was a machine turned on and off at will by the power of ten simple words.

“I was stabbed” Was his only answer. He didn’t give any detail, simply raised his shirt so she could inspect the injury.

“Do you feel any pain ?”

He blankly stared at an invisible point on the wall, avoiding looking at her. He was aware anyone could be listening.

“Soldier ?” She called him, stopping her movement and waiting for his response.

“I don’t feel anything” His voice was emotionless and a chill ran down her spine when he spoke. He was detached, impassive, a statue unaware he was capable of sentiment.

She cleared her throat, trying to stay focused on her task. She cleaned the wound, took his vitals, wrote down the conclusion of her examination and prepared what she needed to sew him up.

When she was about to administer the anesthetic, he suddenly grabbed her wrist. She caught her breath, frightened, but made no movement. For the first time that day, he turned his head to look at her. Whatever she saw in his eyes was enough to ease the tension in her shoulders and she relaxed.

“It’s okay” She whispered, a kind smile on her face. “This is propofol”

She knew he would recognize the name. She had spent countless hours explaining everything she was doing to him in detail so he wouldn’t be uncomfortable or scared. He was a super soldier that required extreme measures of treatment.

“No drugs,” He told her.

“You might regret that decision once I start to put the stitches in”

“I need to stay conscious,” He explicated, almost begging her. “Please”

She didn’t argue, only glanced at a camera behind her recording their interaction.

“Alright” She conceded. “I’ll switch to saline”

He nodded, grateful she wasn’t pushing. She turned her back carefully so her table was no longer in the camera’s field of view and he watched her emptying the needle and filling it with a harmless mixture of water and sodium chloride. Nothing that would put him to sleep.

“Have you ever been to Greece ?” She asked him out of the blue. He stared at her curiously. “I’ve always dreamed of visiting. It has the longest coastline in Europe, with so many islands between the blue Aegean Sea to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Ionian Sea to the west. Can you imagine how beautiful it must be ?”

She kept talking for a while about the country, the books she had read and the films she had seen about it. His eyes stayed on her the whole time, his head tilted to the side, wondering why she was telling him all this. Not that he minded, he loved listening to her. She had the power to calm him down. He was constantly on high alert, ready to fight whomever he was told to kill, prepared to endure whatever torture they had prepared, but this room and the woman inside were his only small moments of peace. Her voice was the music he desperately needed to sooth his soul.

“Why are you telling me this ?” He wondered out loud.

She smirked. “To take your mind somewhere else than here. Seems like it worked”

He glanced at his stomach and realized the stitches were already there. Too engrossed in her story, he hadn’t noticed or felt anything.

“How…”

“Funny how magical words can turn out to be, isn’t it ?”

She could swear she saw the flicker of an emotion on his face looking back between his wound and the woman, but just as quickly as it came, it was gone.

“Thank you, doc”

She hesitated a moment before gently taking his hand on her own.

“Be careful” She muttered. “There’s only so much I can fix”

“I will” He promised. “Are they … are they treating you right ?”

She shrugged. “If threatening to kill me is what you consider right, then I guess I’m a real princess in a castle”

He ran a jerky hand through his hair and seemed to be looking for the right words to say but never spoke.

“Can I ask …” She began, curiosity getting the best out of her. “What is your real name ?”

When his gaze fell on her, all she saw was pure panic. Her question, as simple as it may have been, had surprised him. He didn’t remember, didn’t even question anyone, because it hadn’t mattered. He didn’t need to be more than a ghost to be able to kill.

“I’m sorry” She apologized. “I shouldn’t have asked. I didn’t mean to…”

“I don’t know” He admitted.

She gulped and looked away. His eyes held too much confusion and despair. Coming face to face with the enormity that was this man’s fate was sometimes undeniably heartbreaking.

“Can I call you Winter, then ?” She suggested.

He seemed to ponder for a while before offering her a small smile. “Yes, yes I’d like that”

It hurt to see a glimpse of happiness on his face for something as simple as a name and the woman didn’t realize that what she had just given him was the shred of an identity. A tiny piece he would hold onto. He was living inside a nightmare he had no idea he was trapped into, and if she dared to help, she would pay it with her life. So all she had the power to do was give him a name. Make him feel alive again.

The next time she saw him was only a couple of days after, carried by two agents, head hanging low and barely conscious. His clothes were stained in blood and his metal arm seemed dislocated.

“Patch him up” One of the men coldly ordered. They dropped the injured soldier on the ground like he was nothing more than an object, not even human.

She rushed to his side, checking his pupils first with a flashlight to rule out any intracranial damage to his brain. She did the same on his chest with a stethoscope, searching for any potential life threatening injury. When she moved to his shoulder to inspect the metal bones, he regained consciousness. Maybe it was the sight of yet another scientist above him or the touch of her fingers on his skin, but the man was quick to react and got on his feet in no time. His human hand wrapped around her neck tightly and he pushed her body with force against a wall, choking her. She tried to speak, but the action had been so sudden and violent that she was unable to move a muscle. He was in a trance, eyes filled with hatred that she knew was not directed toward her. Whatever he was picturing in his mind had awakened the assassin. She was the threat and he was in a game of survival.

She whispered his name several times but it was only after a minute, when she was on the verge of passing out, that he seemed to realize what he was doing. He stared at her with wide open eyes and released her from his grip. Her body fell on the floor before she started coughing, struggling to catch her breath.

“I’m…” He tried to speak, looking down at his hands in horror.

“Water” She managed to whisper.

He brought the woman a bottle and tried to help her on her feet. When he reached for her, she involuntarily flinched. A pure reflex. She didn’t miss the sadness on his face as he recoiled from her.

“I didn’t mean…”

“I know. It’s alright”

“I could’ve killed you” He said it more to himself than to her.

“But you didn’t” She laid a hand on her chest, taking a deep breath to try and calm her heart rate. “What happened ?”

“You touched me,” He explained.

“I touch you all the time” When he smirked, she realized the double meaning behind what she had just said. “Hm … why would it be any different today ?” She immediately changed the subject.

“Usually, when I’m unconscious I can … sense them around me. Working on me. And I can’t move but I still feel the pain”

Once again she was at a loss of words against the heaviness that was the burden of his life.

“Are you sure you’re alright ?” He repeated almost in a childish voice.

“I’ll get over it, don’t worry” She tried to reassure him. It didn’t seem to work. He took a temptative step, making sure she wasn’t uncomfortable. He moved his hand toward her neck, deliberately going as slow as he could. His eyes stayed on hers, watching out for any sign of fear. “What are you doing ?” She said in a breath, a different kind of shiver rolling down her spine.

“I need to make sure I didn’t hurt you” The sincerity and concern she heard in his voice were unsettling. She stared back in disbelief, but didn’t move. This was the closest they had ever been and it almost felt unreal for both of them. Too good to be true, especially in a place of nightmare like this.

He tilted her head to the back, still looking at her, and softly brushed his thumb over her skin. A bruise was already starting to appear. She saw the change in his eyes, the regret and sadness when he lowered his gaze. He kept inspecting her from all angles possible, making her chuckle in the process.

“Are you done, doctor ?” She joked.

He tried not to smile but miserably failed. “Almost. Haven’t found a diagnosis yet”

This time she laughed.

“C’mon, I’m not the real patient here. I need to take a look at you” She glanced at his metal arm, still dislocated. He was avoiding using it and she had noticed.

He sighed but didn’t remove his hand from her neck. Instead, his thumb slowly reached her cheek and he gently stroked her skin.

“I wish I could get you out of here” He whispered. “You don’t deserve any of this”

“Neither do you”

He clenched his jaw and plastered a tight smile, refusing to acknowledge what she had just said. He lowered his arm and sat on the examination table without saying anything.

“I’m gonna … hm … I’m gonna need to cut your shirt open” She gulped, trying to keep her cheeks from getting any warmer.

The man smirked and grabbed a pair of scissors nearby that he handed to her. She took it but didn’t dare to look at him, too uncomfortable by the situation. As she cut his shirt higher and higher, her hands started to shake. He could see her shifting her weight from side to side and desperately avoiding any eye contact. She was embarrassed and he was enjoying every second of it.

When finally she had taken it carefully off his body, she huffed in frustration. There was no denying that he had beyond toned muscle structure, verged into defined and well built curves.

“Is it… is it alright if I touch you ?” She allowed herself to take a glance at him, and rolled her eyes when she saw the smirk on his face.

“More than alright, doc” He teased her.

The moment her hands came in contact with his skin, he involuntarily flexed his muscles. She took a sharp breath, trying not to lose focus when she cleaned his wounds. She looked up at him to make sure he wasn’t in any pain, only to realize he was already staring. What should have been a quick glance turned into something more, a moment that lasted a little too long. When he leaned in toward her, she suddenly seemed to notice the lack of space between them. She cleared her throat and took a step back.

“Quit flirting, Winter” She reprimanded him with a playful grin.

He laughed. It was the first time she heard that sound and she couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her mouth. He looked so carefree and alive, so human. She was finally meeting the man behind the assassin, and he troubled her even more than the silent killer.

“I kinda like to see you flustered, doc”

She ran a hand through her hair, trying to hide her obvious nervousness.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” She pursed her lips to keep from smiling.

“Sure you don’t” He sniggered.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m gonna need to put that shoulder into place”

Instead of talking, he grabbed her hips and considerably shortened the distance she had put between them. Her eyes widened from both the sudden gesture and the feeling of his fingers on her body.

“Go right ahead, doc”

She leaned in toward him to have a better access to the injury, ignoring the unexpected shudder. She was practically over him, a hand on his shoulder, the other on his broad back. If he felt any pain when she pushed the bones back into place, he didn’t show.

“All good ?” He muttered, heavily breathing. She was about to ask if he was okay but the words stayed stuck when she realized how close their faces were. He wasn’t hurt, no, he was perturbed by her presence. He could smell her perfume and see the hair raising on her neck. Whatever he was feeling, she felt it too.

“Do I make you nervous, soldier ?” She said, a smile building on her full lips.

“You have no idea, doctor”

She turned to face him. They locked eyes and, for a moment, none of them moved. The atmosphere instantly changed when he bit his lips. He bent closer and closer, and this time she didn’t push back. When finally he kissed her, she froze in place. He was about to draw back when she grabbed his neck, deepening the kiss. A sensation she couldn’t comprehend took over her whole body. He didn’t rush, took his sweet time lingering his lips over hers. She could swore her knees would have given out if he wasn’t holding her in place. Her chest was fluttering and she lost all sense of time. He pulled back from the lack of oxygen, but not before caressing her mouth one last time.

“Too much?” He inquired quietly.

She shook her head, laughing. “No. Just enough”

“I’ve been dreaming of doing that for a while” He admitted.

“Quite the change of attitude. I could’ve sworn you wanted me dead only ten minutes ago” She joked.

He pouted, not particularly happy she was reminding him of his previous outburst.

“You’re all set up, Winter” She announced after one last look over his chest. “No major damage”

“Have you checked my heart ?” He joked with a smirk. “I think it’s beating a little fast”

She coughed to try and hide her laugh.

“I’m afraid that’s not fixable” She started to write her report, ignoring his lingering gaze on her. Her brain was still fuzzy from the kiss they shared. “Unless I stay away, which would probably ease your … discomfort”

“Who said anything about discomfort ? That’s a kind of pain I’d rather enjoy”

She raised an eyebrow, not missing the way her own heart palpitated.

“Don’t play with fire, soldier”

He smirked. “Between us, I’m trying to delay the moment I’ll have to go through that door again”

This time she lost all joy and raised her head from what she was writing on her report to look at him.

“You’re strong enough to leave this place, you know”

“Leave where ?” He asked.

“Somewhere you’ll find who you really are”

“Does that somewhere include you ? ‘Cause you should know I won’t go without you”

She walked up to him and took his hands.

“Save yourself while you still can, Winter” She sadly replied.

“What about you ?”

“I’m just … collateral damage” She exhaled.

He gently pressed his forehead to hers.

“I promise I’ll come back for you after that last mission”

“I’ll hold you onto that”

He planted a soft kiss on her lips, making her forget once again where they were and what their reality was.

“I’ll take you to Greece” He whispered. “Just the two of us. Wouldn’t that be great ?”

“It’s a date” She grinned, making him laugh.

“You’ve got yourself a deal. We’ll get out of here” He swore. “And I’ll take you dancing under the stars of Mykonos”

He didn’t know then that he would never have the occasion to keep that promise. They would have more moments, stolen from the chaos of this place, but nothing more. Weeks later, he would hear rumors about treason and compromising positions. He would understand too late they meant her. She was his weak point, and the Winter Soldier couldn’t have any weaknesses. She was disposable, he was an assassin with superpowers. All the recordings they had proved he no longer could be operational so long as she was still breathing.

“Buck, you alright ?” A voice suddenly spoke in the agonizing silence.

He turned around to his friend, brushing the tears he didn’t realize had started to fall. Standing in the empty room, he couldn’t move away from the dried patch of blood on the floor.

“Yeah, I just need a minute” He shook his head, trying to make the painful memories disappear.

The man behind him began to inspect the place, searching through scattered papers around a desk.

“Dr. Y/N Y/L/N” He read.

Bucky closed his eyes, clenching his jaw. The simple sound of her name was enough to widen the open wound inside his chest. He sat on the examination table one last time, without her. Forgetting he wasn’t alone, he let himself wander into his most precious memories. He remembered the taste of her lips, the smell of her perfume and the touch of her skin. Every detail engraved in his head forever.

“Did you know her ?” The person asked.

“Yeah”

The man stopped what he was doing and observed the former assassin for a solid minute. He looked heartbroken.

“Bad memories ?” He inquired.

“Not in this room” Bucky sadly smiled.

“What happened ?”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Steve”

The Captain hesitated for a moment but didn’t push. He was aware his friend was still healing and whatever the place was, it was part of his pain.

“Is she dead ?” He only questioned.

He gulped and tilted his head backward to keep the tears at bay. “They took her away from me” His voice cracked when he spoke. He was not able to stop the violent sob that escaped his mouth. He wanted to say so much more but the lump in his throat was far too heavy.

“I was too late,” He whispered. “I promised I’d come back for her but I was … too …”

His shoulders started to shake as tears ran down his bloodshot eyes. Steve rapidly closed the distance between them and hugged his friend, letting him express his sadness. They stayed there until he was calm enough to take a deep breath.

“You ready ?” The Captain inquired.

The broken soldier silently nodded.

“Where to now ?” Steve asked him. “You’re free to go anywhere you'd like”

“Greece. I have a date in Greece”

Taglist below the cut

@partypoisonsblog - @tylard-blog1

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes imagines #bucky barnes fanfiction #the winter solider x reader #the winter soldier imagine #the winter soldier imagines #the winter soldier fanfiction #winter soldier #winter soldier x reader #winter soldier imagine #winter soldier imagines #winter soldier fanfiction #tfatws #fatws

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clanwarrior-tumbly · 4 years ago

Note

I'm sorry but i'm addicted to our boy Spamton- I have a little unique request here. So this takes place where Spamton just moves in the Queen's mansion, he meets the reader and immediately falls for their kind words and gestures. Weeks pass, and he goes to see them, but catches them talking and hanging out with Swatch.. He gets really jealous to the point of changing his style to match Swatch's

"Oh [y/n]! Have You Met Our Newest Guest?"

"Uh, I don't believe-"

"He's An Interesting Addison Who Made A Big Name For Himself! Ohohoho!" Queen laughed joyously, pausing to sip her glass of battery acid. "I Wonder How He Got So Rich...No Matter. As My Peon, I Order You Greet Him......Whenever It's Convenient For You."

"Sure thing. I'll go now." With a respectful nod, you set off to the mansion's guest chambers to meet this newcomer. You've lived here for a long time--and somewhat reluctantly since Queen decided to make you one of her peons one day. But life was actually pretty good.

It wasn't like you had anything better to do, so if she needed someone to help her with plans that..didn't seem all-that urgent, you'll offer your assistance. She let you stay in the mansion for free and never made you do anything if you weren't feeling up to it.

For a tyrannical ruler she was rather kind.

Yet you didn't wanna take advantage of her hospitality, so you'd just listen to whatever she says. And if she wants you to meet this celebrity as part of her endless lists of requests, then you'll happily oblige. But you were eager too since you've seen his face on TV a lot. It felt like an honor.

After wandering the corridors of deactivated puzzles, Mona Lisa-esque portraits, and meticulously-placed pottery, you finally arrived at the guest rooms. You hummed a small tune as you passed by each one, stopping when you noticed one door was open.

Peeking inside, you saw the Addison still setting up things. A phone was tucked between his shoulder and ear as he moved a box whilst rambling to whoever was on the other end of the line.

"Yea! I promise I won't let you down, okay? Soon I'll be bigger than ever before! I know I'm already a big shot but....haha, yeah, I shouldn't get carried away. Okay. Right..we'll discuss more of this tomorrow. Thanks!"

After hanging up the phone and returning it to the receiver, he finally noticed you and smiled. "Hey, hey! Haven't seen your face around here yet. But surely you know mine, right?"

"Yeah." You smiled, not wanting to shy away from talking with him. "Spamton, right?"

"Everybody's favorite number-one rated salesman!!" He laughed. "It's good you know me..'cuz soon ALL of Cyber World will know my name! It's a pleasure to meet you...?"

"[Y/n]. I'm one of Queen's peons." You shook his hand politely. The energy that radiated from him was so bright. Just as much as his pearly smile was.

Stepping inside, you glanced around at the luxurious furniture. He definitely got the higher-class rooms, with the addition of a large window that showed the neon green meridians that stretched across the night sky. It was certainly a beautiful view to fall asleep to. "Need help unpacking?"

"Oh--sure!!" At first Spamton seemed surprised by your offer, but he nodded. "If you want, be my guest. And while we unpack, I gotta ask you..how's it being Queen's peon?"

............

Weeks passed, and you've gotten to know Spamton more and more. You realized he was actually a sweet down-to-earth guy all around. Although he was on the phone a lot, he'd make time to hang out with you, so you two became fast friends.

He was truly living the best life. Posters of his car advertisements were littered all over the city, and the Swatchlings attended to his every need. Though one thing was hard to admit, even when it seemed like he had it all:

You were his only friend now that everyone else is intimidated by his status--as they would shy away from conversing with him--and the Addisons, well, abandoned him out of jealousy.

Obviously that made him worry about driving you away, especially when he's on the phone nonstop. But...the fact you've been so kind to him in every word and gesture, treating him like a regular person and not some untouchable celebrity, was quite endearing. Most admired him for his products, not his personality.

Your kindness made him fall for you hard and fast, ever since day one. He wasn't sure if this was a good idea; to let it get in the way of his business.

But what the hell? He was a big shot! He can afford to go a bit bigger and take more risks. Living in this mansion with someone who loved him would be the perfect dream.

There was a much bigger dream that his valued caller insisted he focused on, but that can come later.

So this morning, Spamton set out to find you to address these feelings once and for all. Yet he was rather nervous. Addisons were most confident in selling products, not so much...everything else. But he didn't wanna back down. He kept smiling no matter what.

As he checked inside the color café that he usually frequented, he saw you eating at the table. He noticed you weren't alone but with Swatch, talking and...

Laughing with them?

And just like that, his smile faded much like his hope.

Of course, the head butler had their ways to swoon people. He tried not to think of it as anything more than just their personality. It's just their way to entice returning customers.

That's all...right?

Spamton ducked behind one of the displays, listening in on your conversation to determine if he should proceed or not.

"By the way, we've known each other for a while and..I've always wanted to ask you something.."

"Yes? What is your inquiry?"

He held his breath. This is exactly what he feared. Knowing that you've been here longer, it's obvious you'd be closer to that damn bird-

"Your outfit."

Then he exhaled shakily, relieved. 'What are you getting so worked up for, idiot?' He thought in the back of his mind, but he continued eavesdropping.

"Did the Queen make it or give it to you? It's very stylish and really makes you stand out from the other Swatchlings."

"Ah, in fact I decided this look for myself." Swatch chuckled softly, raising a wing to adjust their glasses. "The tailor did marvelous work with my vision: black suit, tinted glasses. Very fashionable, is it not?"

"It is. I like it a lot."

"Why thank you. I see why our Lady Grace admires you. Just for that compliment, I'll give you a discount on any of our products in the gift shop."

"Should be every day if you ask me." You joked, earning another chuckle from them.

Seeing all of this and the way you two spoke like close friends was a jab in Spamton's heart-shaped object. 'So [y/n] likes people who stand out? Well I can stand out, too..' He thought bitterly as he stormed out of the shop without either of you knowing he was there.

Why should he settle with being a blank-slate Addison like the rest of them? He didn't consider himself one anymore.

Today, he told his valued caller, he was gonna be a whole new person.

It would help him get closer to both of his dreams, but there was only one on his mind now.

............

Later that night as you were getting ready for bed, you heard a knock at the door. You huffed in annoyance, assuming Queen needed you for something.

She had a knack for disturbing you at ungodly hours. But knowing better than to ignore her, you went to answer the door anyways-

To some strange black-haired guy in a black suit and white turtleneck sweater.

"Hi, um...can I help you?"

"[Y/n]? It's me."

"....wait....Spamton?"

"Yeah!" The salesman laughed, throwing his arms out and making a pose. "Whatdya think of me now?"

Perplexed, you looked him up and down. He ditched the lime-green pants, instead wearing white trousers. And his hair was slicked back. But what was most peculiar about him were his glasses, tinted with pink and yellow lenses.

Had you not known any better, you would've thought Swatch suddenly shrunk and became robotized.

"Cool but..you kinda look like Swatch a little bit. Was that on purpose?" You mused.

"...haha....yeah uh..funny story. Um.." He dropped the act, losing his trademark grin as he wondered how to explain himself and this sudden transformation. You could tell he wanted to talk inside the room, so you let him in and shut the door.

"I don't recall Queen mentioning any costume contest-"

"It's not a costume." He muttered, uncomfortably rubbing his hands together as he looked at you with sadness. "This is who I am now. The new me."

"..huh? You serious?" When he nodded, you frowned slightly. "I'm confused. You don't look like an Addison anymore-"

"That's the point...! I...I don't wanna be associated with them anymore. I decided to stand out, y'know? If you're gonna be a big shot, ya gotta stand out from the crowd!" He forced a laugh that sounded rather glitchy.

You didn't buy it. It wasn't like him to do this out of the blue.

"Spamton, why imitate Swatch of all people? And why out of the blue like this? I mean..I don't mind if you like their style. But I didn't even recognize you until you spoke."

Try as he might, he couldn't make any better excuses. So seeing that he was cornered made him finally admit his jealousy, overhearing your conversation with Swatch while he was browsing--when he really wasn't, but he didn't wanna come off as creepy.

His voice glitched further due to stress, accidentally blurting out some kind of...flirtatious term as he explained how much you meant to him since day one.

You weren't sure if he meant to say "hot single" on purpose. Though you were flattered that such a famous guy like him...actually had a crush on you, an ordinary Darkner who just fetched the Queen's stick wherever she threw it.

You found it hard to believe he thought of you that way..so you kept your own feelings buried. So to see that it's mutual was a relief, and it made you smile.

Spamton, on the other hand, was stressing the hell out. So much so he didn't even see your smile. He just saw himself being stupid the more he rambled on.

It was such a stupid, stupid reason to get insecure--to the point of changing his entire appearance without warning. All because you were friends with a butler who was doing their job???

How selfish can he get when he already had everything he wanted and more?

When he did acknowledge your small smile, he thought you were holding yourself back from laughing. But you had every right to laugh and call him a joke for thinking this will get your attention.

As he finished talking, he could see your smile fade and huffed. He waited for you to tell him how stupid he looks and to go back to being the plain old Addison you met.

Instead of ridiculing him you...hugged him?

At this point you were sitting on the bed together. Of course yours wasn't as massive as his was, but it was big enough for you two to share.

"Spammy, I'm flattered you like me in that way but...you didn't have to do all of this to get my attention. I promise there's nothing going on between Swatch and I. We're just friends. They're not replacing you or anything."

"I know, it's just.." Taking off the glasses, he set them aside before hugging you tightly, head buried in your chest. "I don't wanna lose the only person in this damn place who makes me feel like myself. Who loves me for me, not my success. And...I-I felt like I had to change something about myself to make sure of that."

"Well..you don't need to change anymore. I love you no matter what you look like."

He blinked, his face turning as red as his cheeks.

You could sense his embarrassment from the way he tensed up in your arms and chuckled, patting his hair softly. "Just..don't feel pressured to change for me..or anybody for that matter, okay? Or at least let me know if you're gonna change things up again."

"You don't think..I look stupid or creepy like this?"

"No. Honestly you look pretty handsome. Black hair suits you well."

Hearing those words made him breathe a small sigh of relief. He nodded and hugged you tighter.

His new looks were staying for good.

#clanask #anonymous #deltarune x reader #deltarune spamton x reader #spamton x reader

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forever-rogue · 4 years ago

Text

Hello Sunshine

A/N: Hello! I’m here with a 7am shower idea that I couldn’t get out of my head. It’s just a little sweet and soft Frankie. Enjoy! As always, feedback and comments are welcome, and if you’d like to be tagged, let me know. xx 💕

*Bold - Frankie ; Italics - Reader

Pairing: Frankie Morales x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 4.8k

Warnings: none

FRANKIE MASTERLIST

MASTERLIST

»»————-　♡　————-««

“Hey! What time did you want to meet up tomorrow for brunch?” you stared at the number you’d typed in and compared it to the one that the man you’d met the evening before had given you. You had been absolutely reluctant to go to the local bar’s speed dating evening before, but your best friend had convinced you to go. She was going to go as well, so you figured if you ended up suffering, she would likely too - solidarity in its finest form. Much to your pleasant surprise however, you ended up having a fun time...the multiple rounds of drinks probably didn’t hurt either.

Marcus had been your last round for the evening, and he had been kind and charming; easy on the eyes and easy to make conversation with. He asked you questions and you were able to ask him ones back. Definitely a sharp turn from what you were expecting; and by the end of the night he’d offered you his number and asked you to for brunch on Sunday. You’d been...elated; it had been some time since anyone had actually managed to capture your eye.

Before talking yourself out of sending the message, you hit send and put your phone onto your nightstand. You weren’t too nervous in general, but there was something about sending that first message that always caused butterflies to erupt into your stomach. It wasn’t but a few minutes before your phone vibrated to signal a new message. Trying not to get too eager and excited, you reached for it and quickly opened the new text.

Who is this?

Your brow furrowed in confusion at the seemingly hasty denial of acknowledgment. It was no matter, you groaned at yourself, you probably should have included your name in the first place. No big deal, you quickly typed out your name and added, “we met at the bar last night? For the speed dating event?”

Your stomach flipped nervously as you wondered what he would say; hoping it was just a misunderstanding and he would realize exactly who you were.

I didn’t go to any bars last night. I don’t know who you are.

Oh. Your throat constricted as you reached for the napkin with the phone and compared it again to the number you had texted. There was no way you’d mistaken any of the numbers. Sighing heavily, you slipped out of bed and edged towards your bathroom and tossed the offending object into the can. Things had seemed like they’d gone so well...you’d genuinely liked Marcus and thought the attraction and chemistry was there on both sides. Apparently you’d been made a fool once again. Heat flooded your face in embarrassment as you contemplated whether or not to text again. To hell with it, you decided, you might as well apologize if nothing else.

So sorry. The guy I met must have given me the wrong number. I hope I didn’t ruin your night. Sorry for wasting your time.

After that bit of failure, you decided you might as well get back into bed and watch a show until you fell asleep. You felt beyond embarrassed and just wanted to forget about the whole thing. Needless to say, it surprised you when your phone went off again.

No worries. Sorry if I was rude too. It’s happened to me before with a couple of girls. It sucks.

At this point, you found yourself smiling at the sentiment, and decided that one more little text wouldn’t hurt anything.

Seriously! Why can’t someone just tell you if they’re not interested? It's so much easier. Either way - thanks for understanding and have a good evening.

You too. Hope things look up soon for you.

His response had been instant almost as if he had been watching you type it all. Whoever this stranger was - and you weren’t even sure if it was a man or woman - they had turned out to be kinder than Marcus. But it didn’t do well to dwell on it; Marcus would get what he deserved and this stranger would get some good things.

»»————-　♡　————-««

Frankie put his phone on the charging pad he kept next to his bed, turning it on silent before crawling under the covers. Catching a glance of himself in the mirror, he was surprised to see that he had a smile on his face. Not that was perpetually frowning or mad, but usually he wasn’t just smiling for no reason.

Although he had a feeling he knew the exact reason as to why he was actually happy for once because of...you. The random stranger that texted him and sent a happy shiver up his spine. He wasn’t happy because of your little predicament, knowing the exact feeling of having been duped and given the wrong number several times. But the short conversation had been pleasant enough and he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d hear from you again.

Doubtful, he reminded himself, it was just a one off type deal and that was that. And yet...that didn’t stop him from quickly grabbing his phone again and saving your name and number as a contact. You know...just in case.

Francisco Morales had sweet dreams throughout that night. He couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.

»»————-　♡　————-««

Frankie practically bounced into work the next morning, a smile on his face and spring in his step. So he seemed so out of normal form that his best friend and coworker, pointed it out to him and everyone. Frankie played it off like it was no big deal; in reality it wasn’t. You were just another stranger out in the world that flung into his orbit for a moment before leaving again.

But that whole week felt different and somehow the world was a little brighter - filled with sunshine. Even if it wasn’t everlasting, he didn’t mind the feeling it gave him for the moment; the positive energy was nice for a change.

Little did he know that across the city, you were existing in your own little world, going about your day to day in a similar manner. What a small world it was indeed. You had been incredibly tempted to look up his phone and see if you could find anything out about your mysterious stranger, a name, some sort of profile - anything - but refrained. What if it was someone you ended up attracted? A beautiful woman or a good looking man that caused you to start all sorts of fantasies? No - you didn’t need all of that. You’d let it go or let whatever happened happen.

Which likely was nothing. Right? Right.

»»————-　♡　————-««

Imagine your surprise when you found yourself at home with leftover pizza and a bottle of wine, resigning yourself to a quiet Saturday night when your phone vibrated. Figuring it was probably just one of your friends, or some sort of useless notification, you picked up your phone and found your jaw dropping. This wasn’t seriously happening, was it?

Hey stranger. Hope this Saturday is better than the last one.

Maybe they had the wrong number...or something. But no - they acknowledged the fact that last weekend had been shit and called you stranger. This had to be intentional. Setting your phone down for a moment, you grabbed your glass of wine and sipped on it, trying not to let the excitement of a single text get you too excited. They had done what you’d dreamed about all week...why not indulge in it? If nothing else, it might be nice to have someone to text with on occasion.

Hi stranger. This Saturday involves me, the couch, pizza, and wine. I guess I really can’t complain. Hope yours is a good one too!

As soon as you hit send, you wanted to ban your head against the wall; was it too much? Not enough? Did it even warrant a response? Now you were just overthrowing everything. Shit, fuck, damn.

But you weren't able to wallow in misery for too long before your phone went off again. Huh.

Sounds pretty good. Can't complain either, just at home with a beer and a movie. Missing the pizza though. Maybe I'll order some.

Definitely recommended! I don't know if this is odd, but you know my name and I don't know yours...do you have a name, stranger?

Not weird at all! Maybe I should have started with that. Francisco - Frankie.

Well Francisco-Frankie, it's nice to meet you. What movie are you watching?

Nice to meet you, no- longer-complete-stranger. Die Hard. A classic.

Oof. I'm afraid it ends here. Hot take - Die Hard is...notthatgood.

It's been a good but short time…how can you not like Die Hard!? What could you be watching that's so much better?

The Office. A modern classic and clearly superior to anything you're picking if you think Die Hard is good.

Fun fact - I've never seen a single episode of the Office. And never plan on it. Tell me, mystery girl, what should I get on my pizza?

I now make it my plan to convince you to watch The Office. Pepperoni, jalapeños, and tomatoes. Regular crust, none of that thin crust bs.

Challenge accepted. An odd combination but I'll give it a try. Results tbd.

Already listening - I'm a fan of it. I'll let you get back to your movie and order your pizza. Have a good night Francisco-Frankie.

You too, mystery girl.

There was an undeniably giant grin on your face as you set your phone back down. Had this actually happened? Surely this was some sort of dream; a random stranger actually striking up a conversation? And seemingly enjoying it? Out of this world.

As you downed your glass and got ready to refill it your phone vibrated once again. This time you didn't even bother to let a moment pass before picking it back up and opening the notification.

Can I text you again sometime?

Yeah...I'd like that.

You just about melted into the couch, happier than you had been in a long time. And all from texts from a man you still hadn't met. Who knew if you would ever meet him? Either way, this Francisco aka Frankie had proven to be a welcome disturbance in your life.

»»————-　♡　————-««

The next couple of weeks passed in the same blissful fashion. You'd go about your day with work and other responsibilities and obligations but you had your pocket companion with you. That's what you nicknamed Frankie anyways.

What has started as some texting here and there soon turned into conversations throughout the days, slowly becoming more personal and introspective with each passing day. And despite still knowing what he looked like or anything...you thrived in it. You'd wondered if he'd looked you up - he hadn't for the same reasons as you - and that's why you got along so well.

The two of you had a lot in common but still managed to have your differences. One thing that never failed to make you smile was what had turned into his version of a good morning text.

Hello Sunshine.

Hi Fly Boy.

Stay dry today, its supposed to be a pretty bad downpour. Talk later?

Of course. Be safe too.

The small sentiment was enough to send you reeling; it was funny how easily conversation flowed between the two of you. Like in some ways you'd always known each other, but still were finding out things constantly. You weren't sure where it would lead to...if anything but for now you appreciated your new found friend.

»»————-　♡　————-««

I have a work party this weekend and it's formal. Do I go for an lbd or something colorful?

Depends - do you want people to approach or admire from the distance?

From the distance, so I can leave fairly quickly but people still know I was there.

Definitely LBD then.

My hero! Perfect idea!

»»————-　♡　————-««

How do I get out of a camping trip this weekend?

Why would you try and get out of it? You said you loved camping.

I do but...just not feeling it this weekend.

Tell them you're feeling or that your new girlfriend wants to spend the weekend together.

New girlfriend? I wasn't aware I had one…

Its called a white lie Frankie. Use me as an excuse if you have to.

You're the best! A real lifesaver, sunshine.

»»————-　♡　————-««

Okay, here's a tough one. Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?

All three. But if only one - coffee.

How do you take it?

Black with a little bit of sugar.

That's kind of the vibe I got! But you're wrong - the best answer is coffee in the am, afternoon tea, and then sometimes a hot chocolate for dessert.

Let me guess - salted caramel hot chocolate?

How did you know?! Alright, Fly Boy, you know me too well already.

Just a hunch, sunshine. Okay - favorite color?

»»————-　♡　————-««

Do you think if I pretend to be dead I can leave work early?

Dramatic! I love it. How about a migraine? Last minute emergency?

Probably better. Migraine it is.

Just a thought. Beers with the guys tonight?

Yup. Girls night?

Yes! Talk tomorrow?

Of course.

»»————-　♡　————-««

Soooo I might have gotten myself into a predicament…

What happened?

Umm, I might have lied and told my friends that I started seeing someone…

Oh no.

Yeah...all because I couldn't admit that that guy had given me the wrong number. How do I explain?!

Maybe just don't say anything and then later say it died down or something? No need to drag it further.

You're right and I am an idiot.

Nah, it happens to the best of us.

Hmm sure. Anyways, onto important things. Dogs or cats?

»»————-　♡　————-««

If you could only have one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

Hmm, that’s a hard one. I’m torn between Mexican (the good stuff of course) and Italian and sushi. You?

Pizza!

That’s not a type of food, Francisco!

It totally is. There’s different varieties, it can count!

That’s a cheap way to answer the question, but I’ll accept it because you’re cute.

You think I’m cute? And just how do you know? Do I have a stalker?

Nah, too much effort. Besides, I’m usually busy talking to you. It would be kind of obvious if I was, wouldn’t it? I just have a feeling.

Very funny, sunshine. I’m positive it’s the other way around.

You’re the stalker? What am I wearing right now?

You know what I meant!

Of course I did. I’m the smart one in this duo, don’t forget.

You’re too much. Want to watch a movie tonight? We start at the same time?

Yes! Anything but Die Hard or other shitty movies along those lines.

You’re killing me here. One day I will convince you to watch it with me.

I look forward to that - but not tonight. Name your top 3 ideas.

»»————-　♡　————-««

Over the weeks, Frankie became an everyday part of your life. The two of you texted back and forth throughout the day as time allowed. It was nice - comforting to have him there despite the fact that he could have been anyone in the world. Well, you knew he was local to you from his area code but otherwise...a mystery.

You wondered if you’d ever encountered him out in the real world before. It was a definite possibility, but you would never know. Not unless you somehow actually ended up meeting him in person. The idea of proposing such a notion hadn’t seemed far off, especially since your days were filled with each other and there were undeniably flirty texts and insinuations. The few times you’d actually gotten the nerve up to just ask him, something always seemed to come and keep you from doing it. Namely - nerves.

What if you were reading all wrong into this? What if he really wanted nothing more than a friendship? What if texting was the extent of it all?

Naturally, you’d know your answer if you’d just fucking ask him. But that seemed like a momentous and herculean task and you weren’t sure if you’d ever be up for it. Perhaps things would just...happen one day. Despite getting to know him, he was still just this enigmatic aura. For all you knew you might as well have been fighting a robot.

When then...one random night, a Wednesday evening when you’d just walked in the door with fresh produce from the downtown farmer’s market, your phone name. Shifting the large bags in your arms, you managed to fish your phone out of your pocket and answer it without looking at who it was.

“Hello?” you kicked the door shut behind you and shuffled into the kitchen, unceremoniously dumping the bags onto the counters. At first you didn’t hear anything on the other end of the line besides some shuffling, but then eventually you heard a distant voice say something indiscernible. In confusion, you pulled the phone out from between your ear and shoulder and glanced at the contact. The name was enough to have your breath catch in your throat as you realized that your mysterious Frankie on the other end. He’d never called before...perhaps it had been a mistake? Even if it was, you were going to take full advantage of it, “Frankie? Hello? Come on Fly Boy, it’s me. If you can hear me, let me know.”

It was a few more seconds of shuffling and almost static like noise before you were positive you heard a quiet fuck. But then, in a moment that made your heart almost stop, you heard him, loud and clear, “h-hi….sunshine?”

“Hi Frankie,” you repeated as you felt your heart melt and legs turn to jelly, “I’m going to guess this wasn’t an intended call?”

“Umm, shit no,” he admitted with what you could only describe as a nervous laugh, “accidental pocket dial.”

“It’s 2021 and you’re pocket dialing people?” you snorted with laughter as you grabbed your earbuds to sync up the bluetooth so you could talk to him while putting away all of the fresh fruits and veggies you had acquired, “that’s such an old person thing, Frankie! What are you 50?”

“It’s not that weird,” he insisted with an indignant scoff as you giggled, “it can happen easily if you don’t lock your phone when you put it away and yeah...here we are. And for the record I am nowhere near 50! I am only 36.”

“Oof,” you opened the fridge and popped the veggies into the drawer, “I’m afraid that things end here, Grandpa.”

“Very funny! How old are you then, huh? Oh my God - please don’t tell me I’ve been talking to and flirting with a teenager,” for a moment he sounded genuinely nervous as you almost doubled over in laughter at his panic. The fact that he had admitted to flirting was lost on you in your amusement he was so worried that he didn’t even notice the gaff, “sunshine!”

“I’m almost 30,” you reassured him and he instantly sighed in relief on the other end, “don’t worry. Besides, I told you I met the man I thought I was texting at a bar - at least I would have been 21.”

“That still would have been weird,” he admitted as you made a small sound of agreement, “this is better.”

“Ha! Thanks for the sentiment,” you rinsed and crunched on a carrot before hopping onto the counter to get comfortable. You hesitated for a moment, wondering if you should say your next words or not...but you decided to just do it, “this is...nice. I like hearing your voice. Makes you more real.”

“I like it too,” he agreed softly, a tinge of pink rising up in his cheeks, despite the fact that you couldn’t see it, “you sound like I thought.”

“Oh? Like an annoying twelve-year-old boy?”

“Okay, okay, dramatic much?” he snorted, “just accept the compliment!”

“Fine,” you huffed, being very overdramatic indeed, “what are you up to tonight, Frankie? Want to cook together?”

“I’m yours - free, I mean free,” he corrected himself as you relished in his little mess up, “I’m afraid I’m not much of a cook. I’m a better baker.”

“Ooh, excellent,” you slid off the counter in excitement, “how about this - we’ll make something simple for dinner - I’ll walk you through it step by step, and then you’re in charge of dessert. Deal?”

“Deal,” Frankie felt a rush of excitement surge through him as he stepped into his kitchen and reached for his apron - the same one that Santi always made fun of him for, “what’s on the menu?”

»»————-　♡　————-««

And just like that texts turned into texts and phone calls. There was something so thrilling, like a huge surge of electricity shot down your spine and throughout your body every time you saw his name up pop or heard the sound of his voice. Frankie was...slowly turning into your constant companion and if you were being honest with yourself he was everything you had had ever wanted.

And oh - how scary it was to be falling for a man you still hadn't met in person. Slowly, surely it would happen. Gods, you wanted it to happen so desperately. But you were painfully shy when it came to the idea of asking him out and little did you know, he was feeling exactly the same way. Frankie wanted nothing more than to finally ask you on a proper date, to spend all those times laughing with you in person. But he just...continually talked himself out of it.

He was just so shy, so nervous and he thought it would be impossible that someone like you would actually go for a guy like him. He was just...fly boy and you were his Sunshine. Frankie had given you the name early on, deciding that it was appropriate because you brought a little bit of sunshine into his life every day. It had almost brought you to tears - not that you'd admit that to anyone - not yet anyway. His nickname was simple - he was a former military pilot and now a part time ‘whenever he got the chance pilot’ - Fly Boy. It was perfect and he adored it as much as you.

And yet neither of you, pining silly fools had been able to make that final move. One day, you both reminded yourself constantly, one day.

And one day turned out to be sooner than either of you expected...

"Mmhmm," you murmured into the phone as you scoured the bookshelves of your local little bookstore. You had a rare afternoon off and to treat yourself to a nice coffee and searching for a new read. You'd fallen out of reading regularly and had made it a point to get back into it, aiming for a book month. Naturally, your friend had called you at that exact time, "of course pizza is always a good choice."

Frankie hummed under his breath as he walked through the aisles looking for the book you had recommended to him. He hadn’t thought much about the woman he saw a few rows over with a coffee in one hand and her phone in the other. He did note, however, that the tone of her voice was sweet - not that he was trying to listen in on her conversation.

“Yes it is!” you laughed into the phone, trying to keep it down when you noticed the man in your peripheral vision and aimed to keep from disturbing him, “pizza is good for whenever you don't know what to make. And you know the best - pepperoni, jalapenos, and tomatoes. No contest.”

Despite not trying to listen in to your conversation, as soon as he heard you describe pizza, his perked up and immediately his heart started pounding. A nervous rush of energy flowed through him as he tried to get a better look at you without making it obvious. Holy shit - was this actually it? Was he about to meet his Sunshine?

“I even told Frankie,” you insisted with a small smile as you took a sip of your coffee, “he liked it too. Yes...of course I’m still talking to him...I-I really like him. I hope that one day I can meet him. I keep wanting to ask and then I get so nervous and talk myself out of it. He’s just...lovely.”

This definitely couldn’t be a coincidence, right? The particular type of pizza, Frankie, wanting to meet - this had to be you. And the more he listened, despite his initial efforts, he couldn’t help but zone in on you. And now, hearing your voice unfiltered and unaltered through the phone, he knew it was you. He just stopped in his tracks as he watched you, a silly little smile on his face as he realized that somehow the universe had decided to throw him a bone.

“Mhmm,” you murmured into the phone, “of course. I’ll talk to you later!”

Ending the call, you shoved your phone into your pocket and reached for one of the books that had piqued your interest. Sliding it out and reading over the back, you quickly got lost in your thoughts until you heard a throat clear behind you. Assuming you were in someone’s way, you shuffled to the side without glancing at who it was. But then you heard it - quiet and shy but clear, “Sunshine?”

At the sound of the nickname you’d been given by only one person throughout your entire life, your heart fluttered wildly in your chest as your body froze. Surely..surely this couldn’t be happening…

Turning around, slowly, painfully slowly, you found yourself staring at a face both brand new and immediately familiar. You’d never seen him before, but instantly it was like you knew him, all of him. In some ways you supposed, you did.

“F-Frankie?” almost getting choked up, your voice was barely above a whisper as the handsome man in front of you slowly nodded. A smile tugged on the corners of his mouth as his whole features lit up with excitement. His brown eyes were soft and crinkled in the corners as his grew grin and a one singular dimple appeared. You weren’t really sure what you had pictured when you’d thought about your mysterious friend, but somehow this was right on the mark. You blinked a few times, trying to hold back your tears of sheer excitement, “you’re real after all!”

And then he laughed. A beautiful, glorious sound that caused a surge of warmth to rush through your entire body. He really was just as lovely as you’d dreamed.

“Did you really think you were talking to a robot this whole time?” he asked as you flushed with warmth but stuck your tongue at him, “I can’t believe it’s really you. After all these months...finally. I’ve been wanting to ask you for so long but I didn’t think…”

“Me too,” you agreed, “me too. Small world, huh?”

“I was just looking for the book you recommended last night,” he admitted as you practically glowed with excitement. Holding up a finger, you turned around and quickly found the book in question and displayed it for him, “I didn’t think I’d find the book and the woman I’ve been talking to for months.”

“How did you know it was me?” you asked as you walked over to him and he offered up a sheepish grin.

“The pizza.”

“The pizza!” you snorted with laughter, “I should have known. Too obvious.”

“I like to think that everything happens for a reason,” he tried to take the book from your hands but you just shook your head, “what?”

“This is going to be from me to you,” you insisted as a tinge of pink welled up in his cheeks, “a souvenir from the day we met!”

“I’ll treasure it forever,” he promised and you could tell he meant it, “what are you doing tonight? Now?”

“I dunno,” you feigned innocence, “I was planning on going home to cook and talk to this guy I’ve been falling for for months, but that seems a little weird now.”

“Will you let me take you to dinner - a date? A real date?” he asked as you beamed at him and nodded. How could you ever say no.

“Only if you take me to that Italian place you told me about!”

“Whatever you want, Sunshine,” he promised as he reached for your hand and gently laced your fingers together. It felt so easy, so effortless, and you didn’t even have to think about - natural.

“You,” you couldn’t stop yourself from kissing his cheek, “just you, Frankie.”

“Sweet Sunshine.”

»»————-　♡　————-««

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