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wowzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa · 11 months

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this is a short(?) story i wrote about an alternate universe in which europe doesn’t exist. you might like it <3

oh btw i make music with my friends, u wanna check it out? itjustwontdie.bandcamp.com

Heartworm 2023 / Cancer In America (FINAL VERSION)

CLASSIC EDITION - REDO

my first story rewritten for apparently the fourth time. but i can tell. this one’s the keeper. mostly bc a lot of generations ii and iii are just edited versions of the 2022 ones but whatevs lmao enjoyyyyyyy ✨✨✨💀😭😭✋🏼✋🏼🍠🍠👢👢👢👍👍👍❤️❤️💖💖😂😂😂😂💖💖😂😂💖😂😂💖😂😂😢😂😂😨

——————

PRELUDE …AND THEN THERE WERE TWO

Let me take you back to March 1927, in a small town in Germany, nowadays called List. All the residents currently living there were gifted, or perhaps cursed, by the birth of a wonderful baby, a son to a young couple trying to make their way through life. This boy was a very special boy and had all his chances to do whatever he wanted as a child, but stayed with the rules and the rules only. Did this truly benefit him or, like, anyone? Find this out for yourself.

At the age of two, he got a job as the spokesman of a nearby toy factory called “SpaßZeit”. It was founded and run by two elderly-aged brothers, Karl and Leon. This company was very famous in West Europe but if you weren’t in that specific area in that specific time period, you won’t have heard about them.

At the time young Konnor got this job, underwater, close to a volcano near a Sicilian village, another baby boy was born, brought to consciousness in an abandoned sea-ville. This boy, soon to be called Oscar, got onto land at around one year of age. He says he doesn’t remember much of the rest of his history, but other times when asked, he’ll go silent, avert his eyes, and leave the room.

Konnor got his parents considerable money over the next few years up until he was orphaned in a freak car accident, his parents drunk driving off a bridge on the way home from a meeting at Spaßzeit.

He and his little sister, Henrietta, stayed at the factory while the two brothers, growing old, nearly burnt themselves building what would’ve been the world’s first animatronic that they called Busterdog. In fact, those two walked right out of the fire without a scratch! Konnor escaped alive, but didn’t think to get Henrietta. Legend says, she apparently fused with or melted into the animatronic. Allegedly, Konnor saw something exit the fire, but it didn’t look like her. Anyways, the next month, on the turn of 1941, the smoke from the fire was still being run out. It was considered toxic, and no one was allowed near the site. The eldest brother (Karl) passed away from an unknown cause and the government was convinced the smoke and ashes carried some kind of virus. The citizens tried to resist, but a lockdown was enforced in 1942. Everyone’s lives in that town became somewhat dystopian from this point forward.

——————

GENERATION I

PART 1 …FUN TIMES

A 12-year-old boy walked into List. He was very rugged and dirty, but had well intentions. His shirt had holes in it and was an off-putting shade of white and his flood pants were nearly shorts that matched the brown shoe that he had. This boy was Oscar, no last name (known to him, at least). He was going to turn thirteen this year soon. He had been taken care of by an unknown woman for over a year before she mysteriously died when he was six and, missing the ability to relax in a safe home, he wanted to apply for a foster family. In order to do so, he had to go to the Krankenhaus and test and get a vaccine for the disease Blorgschnecke, and it affected mainly teens. In the waiting line, he grabbed an article of the local newspaper instead of watching Tokio Jokio on the little Fernseher. He didn’t know much about the current events. He was, in fact, homeless. He had been living mostly behind a dumpster for about two years.

Konnor was having an awful day, as he was applying for a foster family that probably wouldn’t love him and his birthday present from the universe was a Q-tip up his nose and a needle full of toxic chemicals to counter the ones already in his system.

Oscar was the only one not wearing a mask in the line. Everyone else was angry at him. Finally, one man spoke out and everyone started yelling at him. He was confused, as he could not hear what they were saying. Konnor noticed this and told everyone to take their masks off because they were becoming useless: most people in line had them around their chins.

While a riot formed in the street and buildings crashed, Oscar and Konnor stared at each other, flabbergasted, from across the crowd.

———

The next week, the two met in the woods. The government was getting worse every day and gangs were forming that would publicly loot and murder civilians.

They talked for a long time, and they agreed that for the next couple weeks, they should stay somewhere to protect each other. They went searching for a suitable shelter to temporarily stay for the time being. Most places were either taken or, more commonly, past the point of repair. The two finally settled on a cave just south of the mountains.

It was very empty there, and the cave didn’t go deep. Oscar also pointed out that there was an old man to come with the cave. When asked what he was talking about, he turned around and pointed at the surviving Fun Times brother, Leon. He was not aging well, and he had heart problems that showed. He looked up at Konnor like he was an angel.

He said, “Ah! How you gave me such a fright!” They slowly hugged. Leon was tired, yet Konnor wanted to ask questions. “How come you didn’t talk to anyone after Karl passed away?”

“Oh, Konnor. Those legends are crazy. Then again, who knows what could have come out of the alliance of the Dark A…”

Konnor awaited patiently for the end of the pause, but soon enough realized it wasn’t an intentional pause.

The man suddenly couldn’t speak. It seemed he was choking, but he didn’t have anything in his mouth. He looked like he was trying to pry hands off his throat but there was nothing there. In fact, very soon, there was nothing there.

Konnor tried to see if he had a pulse while Oscar rubbed his forehead in disappointment, saying “Why does this have to happen to every old person we meet?”

Konnor continued to panic.

“How could this happen?! Help!”

“Maybe it’s Sinbad or So White and the three Coyotes,” Oscar pithily pointed out.

“Have you tried checking his pockets?” “What could be in there? How would that even help?! Get in your head!” “Just check them.” Konnor kneeled back down and, shaking, reached his hands into the old man’s pockets, to find a folded up piece of paper. It seemed like a note. “Give it to me.” Konnor refused and kept it to himself. They started wrestling on the floor. They got each other in a lock and Oscar quickly grabbed the note. He unfolded it. “Well? What does it say?” “It says, stay away from two things in life. The evil robot, and the.. beast of the night? What, like a dragon or something?” “I have a question.” “What?” “How did you know to reach in his pockets?” “I’m from a place where it’s actually… customary to look in dead people’s pockets. “Where are you from, then?” “I… oh, look! A dead body! We should get that out of the cave before the police get us!” “Okay…”

They shoved the body outside of the cave and rolled it off a cliff. “Glad to see that old man gone,” said Konnor. “Really? I thought you liked him.” “Naw, all he ever did was burn down a factory trying to build a dog from scratch.”

PART 2 …MORE FUN TIMES

“Well, if we’re gonna eat anything, we’d better set up a fire and get some meat.” “Who elected you leader of this outfit?” “You don’t have a last name! How am I supposed to trust you?” “I know how to make hollandaise sauce.” “Do you even have parents?!” “Why do you need to know?” “I doubt you even have a family.” “What about it? What about yours, Konnor?” There was some silence.

“I’ll only get into mine… if you get into yours.” “Fine, I’ll get some kindling.” “Mm hmm. I’ll hunt whatever I can.”

When Oscar came back with kindling and a little dagger from in the middle of the woods, Konnor also came back with two dead pigs. They had a big meal that night.

The next day, Oscar took one of the bigger bones and, intending to make a broth, boiled it in water along with some random spices. He got curious when the whole batch turned blue and started bubbling. He took it off the fire and drank some. It tasted nice. Nothing happened. He heard a loud noise coming from the cave entrance.

He ran over and Konnor was sitting nearby. “Konnor. What was that?” “What was… what?”

“That noise, just now!” “I didn’t hear anything.” “It was coming from this room.” “Look, we need more firewood, and I’m busy finding leftover steel to make helmets and that kind of stuff.” “Swords, too.”

Oscar walked over and tried to open the entrance like he normally did, but it was stuck.

Konnor went to open it for him and see himself in even more glory, but it was stuck no matter how hard they tried to open it. This was bad, this was very bad.

Oscar ran back to the kitchen and the pot where the potion-like broth once was was now empty and there was little to no sign of spillage on the floor. Oscar began to feel very dizzy and uneasy and collapsed without warning on the kitchen floor.

PART 3 …VISITORS

Oscar had experienced some changes since the kitchen incident and become paranoid and even more malnourished.

He kept trying to make a potion that would “undo the curse”.

He had boarded off the original place where he made the cursed potion and would sometimes inhale too many fumes and forget entire hours of time.

While, along the way, he had made some interesting and wacky broths, he didn’t find a ratio of ingredients that was the same as before.

The two had been living together for months now and it was early 1943.

The two had managed to open the entrance, but it was very hard so they would keep it open all summer and closed all winter. Oscar had begun to make a potion book, documenting each “precise” combination. “Precise” meaning “a little bit” and “some” and “a lot”, of course.

Konnor began to regard Oscar as a wizard, and their roles in protecting the cave began to become clear. Konnor would hunt and make metal things, Oscar would make potions and do anything with wood, and they would both garden, which was especially hard since there wasn’t much natural light in a cave nor enough space to garden out front.

It would sometimes be tricky to keep this routine up, however, but only because sometimes Konnor would be tired or have injuries. Oscar was a good fighter when it came to beasts and such but still didn’t like the feeling he got when the enemy was dead or hurt, even when the enemy was particularly mad or evil.

Someone knocked on the entrance.

There were two people, a girl and a boy.

Konnor and Oscar invited them in and they opened the entrance from the outside, making it movable again.

The visitors, in uniforms of some sort, formally introduced themselves as Diana and Michael as they made their way through the

Diana said, “What are your names?” “Why are you asking?” “We have a warrant.” “From who?” “BND.” “This is a really bad time to come-“ “Well, regardless,” said Micheal, “we have been sent here by the German government, and you people are living in this cave without a telephone, housing license, and address.” Konnor pointed out, “How do we know you people aren’t scammers? You look a little young for the government.” Diana showed him a badge with a picture of an elderly man on it. Konnor said, “Wait. That’s not-“ Diana started fighting with him and Oscar ran away. Diana was good at karate but she spoke German, both confusing and bad news for Konnor. He threw hard punches but she was quick and dodged a considerable amount. Oscar ran back with the last potion he made and dumped it all on Diana without any warning. She disappeared as it was pouring. Michael was now gone too.

“Oscar…what did you do?!”

“That doesn’t matter right now.”

“Doesn’t it?!”

“You invited them in and I only defended you and that’s all I’m going to say about that. Don’t make me come over there and bludgeon you with this metal pot.”

Konnor went silent.

Oscar walked to the entrance and went outside.

Konnor immediately followed him out the door but when he looked around, Oscar wasn’t anywhere.

Oscar woke up on some leaves in the woods at midnight. It had been two weeks since the fight with Diana or…whatever her name was. He got up and saw some blood on his hands. He looked at the leaves below. They were also blood red. Blood was dripping down his front. He then looked around him. He could feel the trees looking at him, staring at him. He felt paranoid.

The trees told him it would be best to go and leave the woods behind. He obeyed something for once in his life and ran away.

He woke up in the passenger seat of a Volkswagen Beetle next to a guy who was a few years older than him. The moon began to go down. The driver said, “What were you doing out in the woods?” Oscar said, “Well, I’m not completely sure.”

“Oh, come on, it’s not like you were sleepwalking?” “I… really hope I was.” “And, if you weren’t?”

“It’s nothing. I think the question should be, why would you pick up an unconscious stranger from the woods at two A.M?” “I don’t know. You were bleeding from the head-” “I was?” Oscar felt his forehead and there was dried blood all the way down to the end of his nose. “Yes, you were. And you looked like a gang beat you up.” “Yeah. What’s your name?” “Brian Adams. Yours?” “Is this interrogation gonna go on any further?” “Look, just, where do you live?” “In a cave, only northeast of that abandoned bomb shelter.” “Got it.”

Oscar pressed his face against the window so that his nose was snow-white. He looked at the trees, and their leaves fell off. Their branches formed crosses and the clouds began to turn red. The clouds dripped a red liquid down onto the ground which grew plants. Oscar exclaimed, “Look at that!” “What is it? Show me.” They pulled over. Brian grinned. In real life, there were actually no blood plants and no crossed trees and no out-of-ordinary clouds.

The driver got out a knife. Oscar said, “This is weird. What do you think it is?” “I think… you’re one of them.” “One of who? Is it those Mexican guys who go around stealing earlobes? Because I have nothing to do with them.” “You’re one of the cursed ones.” “Huh?”

PART 4 …PLACEHOLDER ARC

The moment there was a flash of light, there was nothing.

The moment there was a vision, there was simple, plain, wandering blindness.

The moment there were bleeding vines, there was then a road.

Oscar was running down this road, covered in his own blood once again.

He ran into a Glundenheisten (grocery store) and started looking for scissors, a staple gun, matches, or anything else that could be used to fight Brian.

He lit a match but dropped it in the corner, five boxes of wafers now engulfed in flames. He was still looking for a blade of any kind and not acknowledging the safety hazard two feet away from himself.

That’s when an alarm went off in the building.

Policemen ran in and told everyone to find shelter. Konnor ran to Oscar and shouted in the midst of all the noise, “Why did you run away?!”

“The trees were telling me to!”

Konnor was enraged at this.

“You’re insane! The trees did not tell you to run away!”

“They did, too!”

“That doesn’t matter. We have to get OUT of here! Come on!”

“What’s all the commotion about, anyways?”

“A nuclear bomb is being fired at us!”

Oscar, who’d never seen or heard of a nuclear bomb, gazed in amazement out of the window, surrounded by chaos and fire.

“Huh,” he mumbled to himself.

“Will you look at that…”

———

GENERATION II

PRELUDE …AWAKEN, DARLING

Welcome to September 1945, the perfect time of the year to live in America.

Just warm enough, orange trees, kids playing in the park, people waking up from comas…

Two who fell under this category were Konnor and Oscar, your favourite apocalyptic survivors.

I know what you must be thinking. Apocalyptic? What am I talking about?

You’ll see.

After this, there’s only one more generation, by the way, and then something really wild happens.

Beep, beep, beep.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

Beep beep beep beep.

BeepBeepBeepBeBeBeepBeBeBeBeep.

BeeBeeBeeBeeBeeB-B-B-B-B-Beeeep.

The same way the hospital machines frantically press when heartbeats become faster, Konnor and Oscar jolted to consciousness in their beds.

“What year is this?”

“1945, sir.”

“We time travelled two years in the future?” Oscar didn’t know what to think.

“Only two? This sucks,” said Konnor.

The doctor said, “You didn’t miss anything. The war kept on going until a couple days ago.”

There was a note on their bedsides, it said, “BUSTERBLORG IS COMING”.

“Where are we?”

“Las Vegas, Nevada.”

“Oh. Well, we should be getting back now.”

“Back to where?” asked Konnor.

“Germany, of course!”

“And what business do we have there?” “Getting back our things, or at least the things that haven’t exploded anyways!”

“I’m pretty sure our cave will be covered in mould by now.”

“What about Buster?”

“What about him?”

“He was a robot! He could’ve sent the nukes!”

“Nuclear Bombs, and he’s probably been in the garbage disposal for a while now,” said Konnor confidently.

“Recycle, and he’s probably been after us for quite some time now,” said Oscar bitchily.

They got out of their beds, had their equipment taken off, and signed their checks as Johnny and Bobby.

PART 5 …DON’T BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

Jonathan and Carlo were people.

Okay… uh.. Good people or bad people?

Oh, yeah, I’ll tell you that later.

Jonathan was from Holland, an interesting place to be at the time. He was raised by loving parents who always stood side by side but one of them disappeared one day so Jonathan left to embark on a journey trying to find his mom and the phone charger she took with her. (Yes, I know, 1945, “at least be true to your own story”, okay, fine.) Jonathan met an older friend, Ray, they called him, and he owned a smoke shop. Carlo was born to a loving household in the Islands, out of which he got adopted because they couldn’t afford him anymore. He was then raised by somewhat strict French-Dutch parents who didn’t see him often. He ran away and started living behind a smoke shop, where Jonathan found him and they became friends who would sometimes buy eachother food and protect each other from the mobs.

They started to travel Europe and try and find a safe place to stay.

One day in Germany, Jonathan saw a rusty gate surrounding a torn building that said “Do Not Trespass! BND Only.” Jonathan trespassed, not being BND, just to see what the big deal was about an old building. What could be the matter?

He thought he saw something move in the ground. Its spikes poked out of the ground as it slithered like a snake, smoothly through the dry dirt. The dirt crumbled into rocks and clumps.

Oh, but this wasn’t a snake. It roared in his face, showing its terrifying fangs and eyes. He didn’t know what this thing was! He screamed and tried to run, but he tripped and fell.

He heard something else coming from inside the building.

He got up.

He then saw a humanoid shadow run away from behind the building.

He grabbed his camera and took pictures of the giant slithering creature and the shadow-like silhouette.

He ran away back home and told Carlo all about it, who told the newspapers.

Konnor and Oscar always checked the newspapers at the 99-cent Depot (there were no Glundenheistens in Las Vegas) in case Leon or Busterblorg showed up and they had to make a run for it. Konnor noticed an article about cases of strange, mutated animal sightings surrounding the 1941 Europe pandemic. There were theories of radiation. He told Oscar. They both knew they had to go back to Germany. This was not over.

———

Their cave had been mostly cleared out.

There was still the pot that was used to make potions, even though it was a tiny bit warped.

There was a bow-arrow and a sword on the ground, a couple other not-important things, as well as a note.

It read, “BUSTERBLORG HAS RISEN”.

———

Oscar - Memory 1

Underwater, Oscar felt stinging all over.

He didn’t know what was stinging him.

The place was completely empty, and it was a bit eerie to him.

He swam down to a house and what he thought could be shelter.

The door was open.

He saw pictures.

Pictures everywhere.

Oscar picked up one displaying a mom and a dad and two kids.

The mom’s face was carved out, as well as both the kids’.

The dad looked somewhat unhappy in the picture, even though they were at the beach.

Did he not like the waves?

Was he upset by the trees?

Was he angry at his delicious drink?

Perhaps.

Or, perhaps, he was in an unhappy marriage.

Maybe the mother got custody of both the kids, so their faces got carved out too.

Or the kids and the parents had a falling out too big to repair.

A good situation made bad.

Of course, Oscar didn’t know that this was a family, that there were other people at all, because it could have been random spots carved out of the photograph.

All he saw was a picture of an unhappy man.

Oscar pitied the man and brought the man everywhere with him. He gave the lonely man the gift of company.

But the man was still unhappy.

Oscar hugged the man and complimented him and made him a hat.

But the man was still unhappy.

Oscar was tired of this man not smiling so he stomped on the picture, the glass shattering into millions of pieces and shards.

The man was now smiling.

———

Konnor and Oscar, who just happened to be dressed in black, filled a bag with their things.

Three knocks were heard on their door.

They looked at each other.

“Oh, no.”

They opened the door to see younger Jonathan and Carlo standing there.

“We were forced to!”, exclaimed Oscar.

“Yeah! By the government!”, said Konnor.

“Well, we are the government,” said Jonathan.

Carlo gave him a look and said, “What? Excuse Jonathan, uh, we’re not. But if you are taking their stuff, we would like their potion book.”

“P-potion book?” Oscar had been thrown sideways by this request.

Konnor, still collected, said, “Okay, but I and my friend must talk. Sorry, just a moment, please!” Konnor then abruptly slammed the door.

It was clearly audible what they were saying.

“OSCAR! No! NOOO!”

“Whatever happens, we have to stick together!”

“What do we do?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“Your book, your choice!”

“Your fuck, your shit!”

“Uh?”

“Okay. …Let’s grab this…” “What are you doing?”

“Barricading the door.”

Jonathan, trying not to laugh, put his ear up to the door as Carlo said, “Why are you barricading? We’re not government, promise, okay?” “Sorry! No cook book for you! Sorry, Jonathan or whatever you said your name was!” “Yeah, it’s Jonathan!” “I’m Carlo, by the way.” Carlo reminded Konnor of himself, so he thought he could talk some sense into him. “Okay.. Konnor, how do we know we can trust you with our book?” “Because I’m Carlo Agouza. Headline of Vegas News.” Osczr was shocked, but also was angry at himself for not realizing this. “Uhhh… what are you doing here?”

“I know about your whole situation with the Spaßzeit building, and I know you have something to do with the… well, that.”

———

The two opened the door and they all sat down.

“So, why do you need my recipes?”

“Well, Jonathan and I are going to try to do two things:

Uncover the radiation mystery and make ourselves immortal.”

“Why, though? I get it about the radiation thing, but why do you need to be immortal?”

“Because we need to live long enough to see the end of the Cancer of Videt.”

“Cancer of Videt?”

“Yeah. It’s a long story, but when the time comes, we will be there to kill the Cancer. It’s a curse that is carried through not just rogue body cells, but rogue life.”

“Wow,” said Konnor. “We might have some experience with that.”

“Great,” said Carlo.

“How did you find us, though?”

“Well, it’s a lot of digging.

Jonathan and I did our homework. You used to be the spokesperson of Spaßzeit. Then, we found that, by the time the Lockdown had ended, you had disappeared.

We then traced you to the ‘43 explosion through a spy named Brian Hopkins, and that you were flown into Canada by a soldier because German hospitals need home addresses and you were living in a cave. No caves in a ten-mile vicinity of that old Glundenheisten exist besides this one.

We believe his mother’s been taken by this curse and that the entirety of Europe, especially this town, has also been plagued by this curse.

We need your help to destroy this Cancer.”

Oscar and Konnor looked at each other and nodded. Konnor spoke.

“Well, here’s what we think. We need your help, you need our recipe. If you can work with us on our radiation project, we can be your supplier of all things Videt.”

PART 6 …A NEW PLACE

Blood.

Blood everywhere.

Oscar only saw Brian.

Carlo was smiling.

Carlo was laughing.

Carlo was holding Oscar’s head.

Oscar’s body had been left on the ground.

Konnor was sitting there with a giant hole in his stomach.

He was yelling at someone, like they were in a fight. Maybe he was angry at Jonathan, who was running out the door.

Then, Oscar’s head started to regurgitate blood. Blood was thick and bright red.

Things started to go dark.

Then, he woke up.

Konnor was brewing some coffee.

Lately, it seemed that things were looking up.

Despite Oscar’s visions, it wasn’t anything he hadn’t seen before, and he just shrugged it off.

Nobody really knew why, maybe it was just the way the light came through the cracks in the stone, maybe it was that Konnor and Oscar’s party had expanded, maybe it was that now they all had a common goal, a purpose.

Also, recently, Oscar had turned sixteen (fourteen if you don’t count the coma).

Later this week, they were going to set out to Keystone Hollows, a small and peaceful Sicilian village just by the bay, because that is supposedly where Brian went. And they’d had a lot of questions for him.

They had started packing their things.

They each had an individual backpack to take with them, and a small ice box that they would fill with snacks.

Konnor’s backpack had inside a first-aid kit that Carlo lent him, clothes, a compass, a dagger, and a bottle of water.

Oscar’s backpack had inside an axe, a wool blanket, a jar of change, a notepad, a rock, clothes, and a bottle of water.

Jonathan’s backpack had inside a bow and arrow, a candle, a lighter, a packet of money, and two bottles of water.

Carlo’s backpack had inside a notepad, two pens, sunglasses, and some seeds.

On Sunday, they began their expedition. They put up a defense system containing extremely potent poison that Konnor and Oscar made, a tripwire that Jonathan just had lying around, and a lot of cardboard.

———

Konnor - Memory 1

“In Ordnung Junge! Dies ist Ihre Zeit zu glänzen!” Leon assured Konnor’s confidence.

Konnor smiled nervously as the camera began to zoom in on him. He didn’t particularly like being on camera, but he understood that his work was valuable and his family would get paid in return.

He began to speak his lines.

“Hallo, ich bin Konnor. Meine Eltern schenkten mir ein Spaßzeit-Spielzeug aus echter, gereinigter Menschenhaut! Ich spiele damit und habe so viel Spaß mit der neuen Technik.

Holen Sie sich unsere Nazi-Hitler-Spielzeuge für nur RM 1 bei Ihrem örtlichen Glundenheisten!”

Kinder, lernt jetzt fluchen! Mach deine Eltern wütend!”

The brothers were so happy, they hugged Konnor. They gave him a dagger for him to remember them by. He kept it for the rest of his life.

———

They traveled via hitch-hiking, an experience that Konnor had to hold Oscar’s hand through.

It wasn’t a very long ride, since they were just going through Switzerland to Italy, but it was very scenic and they enjoyed the trip.

Then, they just had to deal with the over-sea journey. They didn’t have the money for a flight, and they were in a rural area.

The group took a rowboat across the vast 20-degree water.

They landed safely on the outskirts of Keystone Hollows, southwest Sicily, just by the ocean.

Something about this place was familiar to Oscar.

———

Konnor - Memory 2

“We’re going to be fine, Konnor.”

“Don’t worry, Konnor.”

Konnor gazed at the steaming pile of crashed cars on the narrow bridge highway.

Konnor’s mother suddenly screamed. His father was shouting swear words.

Suddenly, the car was dangling off a bridge. Konnor had almost pure adrenaline pulsing through his veins.

His father told him to climb and that he would be okay.

He climbed up and got back on the highway.

He, shivering, followed the cars and planned to find the nearest shelter.

After a few hours, Konnor spotted a shelter, but when he got to the front door, his parents weren’t behind him like he expected them to be.

———

Monday, October 1st, 1945.

Radiation had spread to parts of Spain. It was all over the news. It had been declared an epidemic.

Of course, Konnor, Oscar, Jonathan, and Carlo weren’t hearing of this, because they were in Keystone Hollows, a small Sicilian village.

They built a chest with their weapons and blades.

Oscar also made some sort of tool that he didn’t name, using mainly Jonathan’s stuff. He didn’t use it for the rest of that trip, but kept it in his pocket no matter what. Now, back to navigation.

You look east, you see a gravel road and a sandy town, way out in the hills, and past it, the idyllic grassy meadow, the trees slung with foreign decorations.

You look west, you see the vast, seemingly endless ocean, and some sort of rusty boat and abandoned dock not far off the shore.

Something about that boat looked awfully familiar to Oscar. He wanted to go see it, but they would have to do that later. For now, they had to go through the grassy meadow, into the Greater Mountains where, supposedly, Brian lived.

———

Oscar - Memory 2

Suddenly, as Oscar stared slack-jawed at the ship, everything turned more vibrant and colorful, as if through the lens of a toddler’s vision.

The ship returned to its old, beautiful, sparkling, majestic state. Where some old rotting piles of wood stood began to grow some small buildings. Shelters, perhaps.

Oscar began to spectate himself walking towards it. The place was beautiful on the inside. Everyone was friendly there, and he had a lot of friends.

an v oi

———

The four walked into the main village, Konnor and Oscar dragging the ice box.

It was a pretty place, but there wasn’t much to see, given that it was rural and small.

The first thing they saw was a parrot on an oddly placed branch, no tree to be seen. The branch was dug into the sand.

The parrot said nothing but, “Go no further! Go no further!”

They eventually found a shelter to stay.

They left their ice chest there, and decided to come back every day before sundown.

Oscar was silent the whole time, as residents looked curiously at him and the rest of Konnor’s party.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Carlo grew a blank stare and started to walk out. Konnor and Jonathan followed him, not knowing what was happening.

One of the residents had told Carlo exactly where Brian was, in exchange for half of their money. They now had $5.30.

Meanwhile, Oscar stood still, frozen by the haunted atmosphere of the building.

———

Ding-dong.

Ding-ding-dong.

DingDingDingDing-dong ggg.

DiDiDiDiDiDidi—dong.

A man wearing a suit and a moustache came and answered the door.

Confused, Konnor explained, “We’re looking for Brian…Brian?”

“Brian, the old owner of this house? I think he must be 20 now.”

“Then who are you?”

“I’m Lorenzo Adams.”

“Lorenzo? This isn’t our dude. C’mon, guys.”

“Hold-Hold on!”

“What, Lorenzo?”

“Have I seen you somewhere?”

Lorenzo pointed at Carlo.

“I’m Carlo Ago-“

“Oh my, Dio! My cousin Leronza lives in Nevada! She mailed me this crazy newspaper about things happening in France and Germany and Hungary- I- Well, I think I might be able to help you. But it depends on what it is that you are seeking…”

———

Oscar woke up on some leaves in the woods at midnight. It had been two weeks since the encounter with Lorenzo or…whatever his name was. He noticed that the leaves below him were blood red. He looked again at his hands. They were also blood red.

Blood was dripping down his front.

He then looked around him. He could feel the trees looking at him. They told him it would be best to go and leave the woods behind. He said no this time, as he had become curious what they were driving him away from.

He began to walk over behind the trees.

He suddenly felt something on his right leg. He reached down and felt it.

It was a pair of freezing cold hands.

Oscar got dragged down to the dirt.

He looked up and saw Brian’s face.

Except it was pale and gaunt, and it had bite marks on it.

Brian, almost turquoise a shell, made two very shallow, rattling breaths. He then ceased to breathe.

Oscar tried to wake him up or see if he was still alive but to no avail.

Oscar walked out onto the road.

There was nothing on it. There was, in fact, barely a road. The road was covered only in cobwebs and further darkness around the corner.

He tripped on something and fell backwards, hitting his head and blacking out.

———

“So, Lorenzo, grace us with your intellect.”

“Well, you see, I used to be a scientist at this place… Draagen Facility, we called it, but no one ever knew the real name, just the address.

We would experiment with nuclear radiation, early atom explosives, all the dangerous materials.

Once, we tested male rats in a small environment riddled with nuclear radiation.

One of the twelve Ratten survived, but had clear physical changes—if not injuries.

Also, we put three plants in that small environment. One of them grew. We called that plant something.”

“What was the plant called?”

“I… can’t remember.”

Suddenly, the door slammed, as if one of the boys pushed it. None of them did.

Konnor pulled it back open, even though it felt like someone on the other side was trying to hold it closed. They walked inside, and suddenly, instead of the aerial, wooden home filled with beautiful furniture, it was

cemented and packed with cobwebs. Everything was grey and rotten. There were maggots everywhere.

There was a pile of completely moldy tomatoes directly in the kitchen entrance. Jonathan walked further than Konnor and Carlo did, and saw that the Fernseher (television set) was on.

He sat on the floor silently and watched the alarm test that was being aired.

WARNING! PERICOLO! GEVAAR! DANGER!

Air quality has dropped to below the “red” level in these areas…

Please, all families and citizens, stay in the nearest shelter. There has been a recent explosion in your area and there has been a toxic air alert of 16.1 pCi/h. This is extremely dangerous to breathe or be unprotected in. Get all of your things and hide underground until further notice.

Various jarring alarm noises came from both outside and the Fernseher.

Carlo went running outside, going back to the shelter to warn Oscar.

He left his backpack, though, and Jonathan planted three trees. That was the last time Jonathan went outside for a long time.

PART 7 …BRIAN LUGOSI’S DEAD

Welcome to the wonderful Keystone Hollows — The place that you’ll never leave!

———

The group had returned to the cave, now more of a half-underground mansion hut, and hid cooped up in there in the midst of what might have been just a typical everyday nuclear apocalypse.

Carlo noticed that all his things are gone.

He didn’t use everything he brought, however.

Everything in the ice chest had been eaten.

There were just empty bags and cans left. It wasn’t like a crazy person had gone through it, though. It was very neatly done, as if by pressure. Each bag was popped in the lower-left corner, each can was just slightly opened, but the straw handle was perfectly in place.

Carlo assembled the bags all into place, so that all the seals were facing south.

They formed a drawing of two trees.

Carlo immediately ran outside of the cave.

He saw two plants growing out of the ground, in the left half of a small planter.

———

Oscar woke up in the cave.

He was trying to deny to himself that he woke up in the cave. He wanted to go back to the woods and find out what happened to Brian.

He then saw the amount of blood coming out of his head and put a wrapped gauze bandage on.

He fell asleep again.

———

March 20, 1946

They were living on tallow and some mysterious fruit that they were growing inside next to a light bulb. Carlo was feeling ill and had a migraine recently but didn’t complain too much because he didn’t want to kill the buzz of Konnor’s upcoming nineteenth birthday!

Konnor was an adult now, and this was an important thing to celebrate.

So you can imagine their confusion when a fog began to roll over Europe and the Fernseher that they had stolen from Keystone Hollows suddenly wasn’t working.

Oscar mainly took care of Carlo and fed him healing potions every now and then. He was good at keeping secrets, so he kept a lot of Carlo’s. By the way, Oscar still didn’t explain the ordeal of the woods or his bandage to them, but would disappear a lot to the woods to try to find him. There were no cobwebs. It was like there had never been any. In fact, he rarely ever talked to anyone besides Carlo.

Jonathan was starting to develop a theory that they had never left Keystone Hollows, as well as a much more likely theory that they had never actually left Germany.

Some possible incentives to think as such:

Ray, the owner of the smoke shop he lived behind, was called Lori by his friends.

Just like it would have been for Lorenzo.

That reminded him of the search for his mother and how off-track he had gotten trying to distract himself. Her name was Loretta.

Konnor was beginning to worry that this fog wouldn’t clear over before his birthday.

This was a strange situation, and Oscar and Carlo knew something the rest of them didn’t.

———

“No. No! No! NO!”

Oscar was digging around in the wood once again, for darkness and cobwebs and Brian’s body. None. Just a completely empty valley where the road was, and tulips growing where all the cobwebs were.

Spring. Spring. That’s why, that has to be why, he thought. Too many flowers, too many of something or other.

He had only been there before in fall and winter.

He wasn’t at all paying attention to the fact that he was searching these woods at one in the afternoon.

He was too busy worrying, burdened with Carlo’s secret.

Oscar was frantically digging in the leaves, getting teary-eyed. He just wanted an answer.

He suddenly felt dizzy, like he was on a boat.

That’s when the floor started moving.

Oscar looked east.

He saw a pile of leaves covered in sand and, past it, more woods, the trees slung in foreign decorations.

No! No, no, no, no! This can’t be it!

Oscar looked west.

He saw a creek past the tulips.

In that creek, there was an abandoned rusty old boat, half sunken.

Oscar was running towards it as if he were running for his own life.

Then, just as he was about to touch it, he tripped on Brian’s body and, hooked on it, fell right into the creek and quickly drowned.

Instantly, he woke up again in the cave.

He gasped for air as he noticed, in a split second, that he was back home.

Okay, this is some kind of cruel joke, isn’t it, thought Oscar. I refuse to engage and I will find answers!

I am going there and I am going to find Brian and I will force him, one way or another, to tell me everything.

———

Oscar saw a shadowy figure in the woods.

He started to chase it. Every turn it took was unexpected and he got slowed down. He picked up speed and was just about to grab it but he fell down into something.

Oscar woke up again in the cave.

No, no, no!

Oscar went back to the woods.

He saw a shadowy figure in the woods.

He started to chase it. He remembered the route it took. He managed to grab it and jumped over the hole he fell into.

He pinned the figure against a tree.

What he saw was something undead. It growled at him. He held it down.

It snarled at him.

He held it down.

It opened its mouth wider than any human could do, and it screamed at him.

Oscar, frightened, jumped back, letting the monster go, and hit his something on something, falling backwards.

Oscar woke up in the cave again.

He went to the woods but this time he could not find the monster or the boat.

He looked at his wristwatch and the time had not changed by a second since the first time he went into the woods.

He noticed that every time he went into the woods he forgot another thing that happened.

———

Konnor looked down at Oscar, who had been caught attempting to bleed out on the kitchen floor again.

Oscar had been gone for a week with no explanation as to where he went. Carlo had gone missing as well, but he hadn’t reappeared yet.

Jonathan was busy baking Konnor’s birthday cake and decorating it.

He was stressed about Oscar and Carlo. What is going on with those two?

Oscar went silent for a half-year and disappeared for days.

Carlo went silent for a month and disappeared indefinitely.

When Oscar finally did return, he came unconscious.

This was a strange, strange situation.

Jonathan was now almost completely sure that there was some place that they never left. He wasn’t sure where it was, though.

Oscar jolted awake suddenly, his mouth closed and dripping with blood.

He pointed at the entrance.

“What are you pointing at?”

PART 8 …SO, THEN, A WORMY THING

Oscar - Memory 3

Oscar sat, eating a dumpster frankfurter.

It was dark outside.

Suddenly, Oscar saw light, and heard a wail.

He thought the heavens had come down to Earth.

He thought he was dying.

He looked suspiciously at the frankfurter, which, in daylight, was actually covered in mould, and then looked back up again at the sound.

Then, he heard a voice screaming.

Then, there was an explosion.

Then, there was nothing.

Oscar got up. He walked towards the source of the explosion. He heard footsteps.

He then saw a flame. One flame, two flames, three flames, a considerable amount of sparks and smoke, then the building was on fire.

He saw something walk out of the building.

Then, another, smaller explosion.

Then, once again, there was nothing.

And then there was everything.

And then there was light.

Broad daylight.

Oscar lay in a pile of ashes and asbestos.

He got up and dusted himself off.

He heard a horn.

He saw a boat sailing away.

———

“Hello…” “Jonathan, did you invite this woman?” “No..”

An elderly lady stood at the door, leaning on a beaten wooden cane.

The old lady showed herself the way inside.

“Boys, I have very crucial advice for you!”

“What?!”

“Don’t mess with radiation. It is very bad for your health. And we wouldn’t want you going and dying, would we?”

“Wait, how do you know us, again?” “Heartworms.” “I’m sorry?”

“He died of heartworms. The things sick dogs get. Karl died of heartworms. No one knows, except for the police, most of which are dead.”

“Hold on, how are you surviving the apocalypse as an elderly woman?”

“Why, I was born in the apocalypse.” “Excuse me?” “I was born in 1941.” “That wasn’t an apocalypse, that was a virus, like influenza.”

“No, I’m not sure you understand. I was born in 1941.”

“How could you be an elder if we, teenagers, are thrice as old as you are?!” “Well, actually, I’m nineteen today,” stated Konnor, confidently. “Well, technically, you’re seventeen today,” added Oscar with an additude. “Well, technically, shut up,” yelled Konnor. “Up yours, birthday boy,” growled Oscar.

The elderly woman was startled by their argument. Wait.

Where did the elderly woman go?

———

April 2, 1946

Jonathan woke up from a deep slumber.

That was a good night’s rest, he thought. Had to have been over 8 hours.

He glanced at his watch.

Oh. It actually had been over eight hours!

It had been nineteen days!

He didn’t remember anything about celebrating Konnor’s birthday but he remembers stabbing someone… Oh, no! Did he stab Konnor? Did he stab himself? Did he stab a stranger?

No, he thought as he observed the green blood on his knife. He walked further into the front room and noticed that their cave’s rocky floor had been uplifted by something cylindrical.

Hooooooold on a second.

He remembered a dragon of some kind.

This was the breaking point for Jonathan.

There is something wrong with this cave, he thought.

And then, as he looked up towards the ceiling, he saw someone (not Oscar, Konnor, or Marco, but a stranger) hanging on the drying rack.

Okay, that’s it, I’m out of here, Jonathan thought. He started packing his things.

“I’m gonna go find Mom.”

By now, he had almost completely forgotten that Marco ever existed, so that was useless by now.

He walked out of the cave, leaving behind that chapter of his life. He had given up on ending the Curse, he had given up on life in Germany. He was finally heading home.

———

Now, it had gone back to just Konnor and Oscar, but now, instead of defending themselves during a time of corrupt government, they were defending themselves during a time of no government whatsoever.

It was April 18th when they awoke.

Carlo and Jonathan were gone, and so were their things.

got up and looked down at a very pale Oscar. Right beside his head was an uplifted trail of blood-washed rock and stone. The entrance was open!

Who knew how much radiation the two could’ve been exposed to while they were asleep?!

Konnor looked down again at Oscar, who seemed to have gone back to sleep. He attempted to wake him up. Nothing worked. Also, in doing this, he noticed that Oscar’s skin felt quite cold.

Flies began to gather on Oscar’s skin. Konnor had to waft them off and keep Oscar warm.

He covered Oscar with blankets.

Konnor started to make some bean soup.

———

Oscar woke up.

He was alone. Everything was blurry.

What was this place? What was happening?

Surrounding him were four walls, each with two or three doors, all closed but one. And the open door led to nowhere.

He looked up, and he saw more doors on the ceiling, what looked like a reflection of the doors he was in the middle of. He tried walking up towards one of the doors and realized his body was sideways. He looked down at where he thought one of the walls were, and it was just the floor again.

Oscar looked behind his shoulder and saw the same wall of doors that he was facing. Then he noticed that his body was also facing that wall.

Had he even turned his head at all?

Where am I?

What kind of weird game is this?

He tried to open a door. It was locked.

He looked closely at the door. He blinked.

He realized he was looking at his hand.

He was now, once again, in the middle of the room.

Oscar started to panic.

He ran over to another door. It was also locked.

He tried to escape, but wherever he went would lead him to the exact same spot.

He tried to open another door.

He pulled with all his weight and was sent flying.

He noticed the door was now opened wide and that a vague shape of some smaller person was walking into the room.

There Oscar stood, staring at a 12-year-old Oscar.

Neither of them knew what to say.

———

Konnor would check on the plants every other day or so, just to make sure it was still growing.

He was beginning to wonder if he was losing his mind. Where was everybody? How was Oscar still able to take a nap?

It felt like Konnor’s life was at a standstill.

He could stay here at the cave with Oscar, who was more or less dead, or he could move on and get a life and try to save the world and be the hero. But he couldn’t do that if he had waters to plant and a care to take friend of and a giant food of supply, could he!

No one knew that he was alive.

And he didn’t know that anyone else was alive.

His entire life was now a leap of faith that, somewhere out there, there was a good samaritan. Someone that knew about him.

They’d better come fast, because Konnor was starting to see two of everything.

———

“Un-fucking-canny,” mumbled Oscar as he looked at every angle and every scar of his old self.

“What happens to me?” “What do you mean?” “If you’re me, you’d know. In the future, how do I go from me to you?” “I- I guess you don’t.” “What?” “If I’m dead and I’m seeing you, then you’re dead.” “No… I’m not. I can’t be. I can’t die at twelve!”

“No. Listen to me. Get out of Germany now.” “Why should I trust you? What if this is just another broken delusion?”

“No, I’m trying to warn you! You need to leave Germany as soon as possible! You are going to die!”

“But-“ stuttered the younger Oscar,

“If I leave, then you die.”

“No! You don’t understand! I’m dead because you stayed in Germany. You’ve got to get out of here now. Turn back.” “But if I left then you would never exist.”

This stopped Oscar in his tracks.

“Oh. You’re right..”

“You know what? This is a stupid trap! You’re not me!”

Oscar was trying to explain to him to leave, but he kept realizing that no matter what Young Oscar did, Oscar would end up dead.

It was like Death had Oscar in a checkmate.

“But wait!”

“There’s no worth waiting for you. I hate you.”

Oscar’s eyes welled up with tears.

“No! We have to stay here! I’m real! I’m you!”

“You’re no person. You’re just a curse.”

———

“Konnor? Is that you?”

A deranged-looking Oscar, covered in blood and rotting pieces of flesh, got up and hugged Konnor. “Yes, Oscar. I’m here for you. You were asleep for a couple hours,” giggled a dirt-covered, limping Konnor.

He pointed at the ceiling, just above a wall that had black scribbles on it.

“MONDAY TUESDAY WHENSDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY THIRSDAY EIGHTDAY ONEDAA ONEDA OADANDA”.

Oscar looked behind Konnor at a giant pile of shriveled fruit and discolored soup.

There were maggots and flies everywhere.

“Konnor…” “What is it, you guys?” “I really messed up.” “Me too.” “No, like, I messed up really bad.”

“Well, let’s hope the sleep midgets don’t punish you.” “What?” “I’m so glad to see you. We’ll get through it.” “Merry Christmas,” said Oscar on this 1st of May as they embraced each other.

This was actually not the lowest point in either of their lives (see: Konnor became an orphan and Oscar was homeless in the winter), but it came very close.

———

“What did we get beat by?” “I don’t know. I remember an old lady and then I remember someone killing her and transplanting into this wormy thing.” “So, then, a wormy thing?” The two were dressed and clean now, but neither of them were all the way mentally stable, and the cave still smelled like beans and rotten apples.

“When was Christmas again?” “I have no idea.”

Oscar went to sit down and he took one of the rocks growing off of a branch of their plants and dropped it in some acidic bean soup.

It sizzled and let off steam. It smelled nice, like roses. He studied it with a microscope and poured it all out into a bucket that he dumped onto the plants. The plants immediately started to look different, but neither of them paid attention.

Outside was starting to look more like it did, but they still kept an up-to-date map about areas with more radiation than others.

Konnor was noticing that he had a headache, and so did Oscar. Neither of them knew why.

———

GENERATION III

PART 9 …START AT THE BEGINNING OF THE END, MY FRIEND

———

Some time in the mid-late 1940’s;

X-rays had finally come to underground post-apocalyptic Germany, so Konnor and Oscar were able to finally get a good diagnosis.

It was a somewhat cold summer, given that the ozone layer had been completely shattered and who knows what that could have led to.

Konnor and Oscar walked up to the Krankenhaus to finally get tested to see whatever this was.

It was a miracle, they said.

A miracle about what?

“A miracle that you’ve lived this long.”

What?!

“You have tumors.”

Oscar and Konnor had gotten diagnosed with brain cancer for being exposed to too much radiation.

Neither of them knew exactly what this meant, but it was scary for sure.

Oscar still hadn’t told Konnor that he was a curse — that their bond was a curse — and he wasn’t sure when he was going to.

The two climbed out of the underground Krankenhaus, worried and confused.

Was this the beginning of the downfall of Oscar and Konnor?

Well, only time will tell. But, I must say, things are gonna get really interesting.

———

Konnor had a plan.

He knew now how everything was gonna go down. It wasn’t all sunshine and flowers, either.

Oscar was planning to tell him about what happened in the room of doors.

He was now completely sure that they were dying because he killed his younger self.

That had to be why this is all happening.

If his younger self was dead, both of them would be dead. Their lives had to go exactly the way they did, or neither of them would’ve been alive.

And they were now desperately trying to track down the monsters that attacked them before, because Konnor was sure that these things were the curse. As you well know, though, having seen all sides of the story…

———

With every stroke of the brush, Oscar’s art got more beautiful.

He was painting a butterfly.

It was a blue butterfly.

He put his arm around to reach for a different brush, and instead of what he was looking for, he felt cold faux leather.

He reached behind himself again, just to feel the same material, what seemed to be a shoe.

Oscar turned around in panic, only to find that he was at his own funeral.

He got up from his chair and, shaking, stared silently at his own dead body.

Konnor stood at Oscar’s coffin alongside others, shaking his head.

Oscar wandered the room, looking at everyone who was attending.

He saw the faces of Carlo, Jonathan, Michael, Leon, and he paced further to see a collection of strangers, the doctors that had diagnosed him, and the thing that shook him the most, his parents were standing at the foot of his corpse.

How were his parents here?

He had no parents!

Parents were supposed to be mean and selfish and unforgiving!

He didn’t even know what his mother or father looked like. How could they appear in this sick dream?

How would they know their son, who they probably never touched, died of a brain tumor? This was when Oscar walked up further.

He discovered that a brain tumor was actually not the cause of death.

Oscar’s dead body had been stabbed in the heart several times.

“It all makes sense now,” said Oscar coldly to himself. He tried to signal to everyone that he was there and, in fact, alive but the people attending didn’t seem to notice or care.

“I was the curse of Alkam, and Jonathan and Konnor finally killed me.

So… what, now?”

———

PART 10 …I DIDN’T THINK I WAS GONNA GET THIS FAR

You’ve read this far, you must like this story. Do you like it enough to keep reading, or does this feel like a fit time to end your journey? It is up to you.

In the event that you choose to keep reading past this little checkpoint, I think you’ll find that the remainder of your time with us here in post-apoctalyptic Nazi Germany is more carelessly written than the previous few parts. Consider everything from now on bonus content if you’d like.

———

Oscar finally confronted Konnor one autumn morning.

“Remember John an-an’ Carlo?”

“Yeah, what about them?”

“They… kind of killed me.”

“What?! Blasphemy! What, are you stupid? If you were dead I wouldn’t be talking to you right now!”

“No. Konnor, listen. They killed me.” “Whatever. And?”

“I was the thing they killed.” “Okay, now you’re just repeat- you’re just rephrasing youself. Tell me what happened.”

“I was the thing I killed.”

“Explain, please.” “I… was… the thing… that they lived… to kill.”

“Yes? …And?!”

“I was… the curse.”

“The- ha!- the curse of what?”

“I… am… the curse.”

“You’re the reason Germany’s an ashtray?!”

“Konnor.”

“Are you the reason I don’t remember what my family looks like?

Do you know how awful it is to not remember what your family looks like?!”

“I was stabbed in the heart! It weren’t no toothpick, either! You were alive! You were alive and well! I wasn’t!”

“It was a mistake to ever meet you or move in with you into this cursed death-pit.”

“The first thing I ever saw was a boat! That boat sank! We read about that boat in the news! I should’ve known then! My first bed I ever slept on was shared with an inmate who was known for murdering children! I lived in a poor kingdom where we were treated like slaves and then when I finally escaped I lived with someone who died within a year of having me!”

“I’m leaving!”

“Please do, do leave! I’m going to do nothing but harm you.”

“Well, that is obvious.”

Konnor swiftly grabbed all of his possessions and slammed the cave entrance on his way out.

Oscar began taking down the boards that he had used to block off the old part of the kitchen.

———

PART 11

———

1948 was a strange year so far.

Well, of course. After all, it was Konnor’s and especially Oscar’s first time living completely alone in years, except this time, he had a home to take care of.

It was also Oscar’s first time living as a dead person, believe it or not.

He still wasn’t entirely sure who killed him, Jonathan and Carlo or himself. Imagine if he was dead because of the Room of Doors incident.

Strange autopsy that would be, don’t you think, suicide by homicide?

The fifties were approaching and the remainder of the government had already built up an entire faux Europe; the one that the world lovingly knows today. They had already killed everyone that knew about what happened, or so they thought, and the last flight from Original Europe was leaving for New York. (unnamed) had boarded that plane. Oscar’s ex-roommate.

Even though it had only been a month or two since (unnamed) had left, Oscar had forgotten what his name was.

Oscar didn’t have to worry about his brain tumor because it was indefinitely terminal at this point, but he still had his moment of nervousness and anxiousness.

Wait, when did Oscar grow a tumor?

Anyways, he was planning to kill a monster later this week at the canyon. For now, he planned on making life potions, ones that cost the most resources. Luckily, he had (dying) plants outside and he was living in a cave about half a mile away from the mountains, where all sorts of things lived and grew. But he didn’t need those resources, because he wasn’t planning on making potions any time soon.

sWAIT!

———

Konnor had quickly gotten used to the bustling nature of Albany, New York. He had gotten a job as a bartender. He was planning to buy an apartment where he could start to write papers so he could quit his job at the bar and become a businessman, hopefully in Senate. Sometimes he missed his old life with Oscar, when things were simpler, but he knew that a freer life in America was worth it. However:

He did not take into consideration that, in order to apply for Senate, he would have to state his hometown, and according to every map being produced from that time on, that town never existed, only “List” which was in its place.

———

Oscar held out his knife against the creature, who had shapeshifted from a humanoid animal to a dizzyingly gigantic mutated earthworm.

This was the beast that had nearly killed him before? Interesting.

Oscar, filled with rage, swung his blade against the pattern of the beast’s scales, leaving a bleeding gash in its side.

The giant spiked heartworm burrowed underground and rose back up, lifting Oscar into the air.

As he was flying directly above the thing’s mouth, he realized he had bitten off far more than he could chew.

The beast jumped up and, just as it was about to bite off Oscar’s leg, he ran on the area below its mouth, using it as a floor. He jumped down below onto the ground. He landed on his feet.

An earthquake happened all at once, shattering the ground. Oscar, standing on a falling fragment of the ground, jumped and threw his blade at its eyes. He missed and his knife landed directly into its mouth. It choked on the sword as it had dragged itself down its throat horizontally, cutting open the tissue to drain out blood and pieces of entrails.

Oscar thought he killed it. He tried to climb back up. The heartworm had successfully eaten his knife, however, and slithered towards him in all of its wrath.

It dove down into the hole he was in.

That’s when his vision went completely black.

———

Oscar woke up, almost drowning in a sea of red water filling up the canyon.

He swam up to the top in a panic, and accidentally swallowed some of it.

He saw the creature laying dead on its back.

It had drowned in its own blood.

Oscar was both happy and also scared… and… a little cold, if I’m being honest.

It started to hail outside.

Now, hear me out. Oscar might not survive.

He is swimming in infected, tar-like, frozen blood. There is a very little chance of him surviving this one.

I mean, c’mon, we’ve already intercepted his death like, what, 5 times, now. If he dies this time, there ain’t no savin’ that guy. Like, maybe it’s just meant to be!

———

Okay, it’s about time I did an arc with Jonathan. Plus, I type well enough now if I want to turn off autocorrect, so now there’s no excuse not to.

Alright. Carlo’s dead, so dear old Johnny boy went… where? Wait, lemme scroll back a second. So many backstories… yeesh…

…M’kay, found it.

So, Holland was a nice-ish place to be in the later 1940’s. They and Hungary were the only ones mostly not affected by the apocalypse, so their economy was amazing at that point.

However, Jonathan was more damaged and brooding than the other boys there, who were mainly just playing games all the time; that is, when they weren’t in school.

One day, as he was checking another street for his family, he met a boy named Johannes (Dutch for Jonathan; they literally had the same name) who was having a hard time with school but wanted to learn so badly after the war and such.

They had a conversation and Jonathan found that a lot of the struggles Johannes had with school were the same ones Jonathan was having with his search. It was hard; he could barely keep up with all that was happening but this was so important to him; etcetera.

The two eventually became friends, creating a complicated dilemma. Our dear old Jonathan didn’t want to leave the warm company of Johannes, but he also didn’t want to get sidetracked on his journey for another five years.

And don’t go trying to jarringly interrupt this part, because it’s not going to

PART 11 …A GOOD LOOK IN THE MIRROR

Now you’re all caught up with where our dear sweet Johnny boy is in his life and mostly perpetually will be,

we can continue with the rest of the story.

———

Oscar swam out of the dirty Aqua-Pack canyon very calmly and slowly, knowing (thinking) that he was, for sure, going to die because of Jonathan killing him. So this gave him a lot of liberty in whatever he did.

Regardless, Oscar was now back home in the cave.

He was silently awaiting the day our dear old sweet innocent Johnny boy would return.

What he really wanted to do was go try to find (unnamed) but he didn’t quite care enough, knowing that it would be near-impossible if he didn’t know the guy’s name.

So he stayed back and started mentally preparing and gearing himself for our dear old sweet innocent loving Johnny boy, angel boy. :)

———

After Konnor got rejected from government jobs, he had no choice but to go to “Europe”, except this time with no friends and no money.

Hot diggity dam.

———

Oscar, fully armed, had spent every day for weeks awaiting the return of Johnny Angel Boy Oh My Goodness He Is So Amazing Angelic Wonderful Dear Old Loving Sweet Kind Generous King Of Gratitude Savior Of The Universe.

But, instead of The One And Only Johnny Very Kindest God Soul Amazing Great Cool AngeOscar instead got Konnor in a ripped up, burnt top and dirty and stained jeans.

Oscar put a finger to (unnamed)’s mouth.

“Shhhh, sh-sh-sh-tsh-tsh-ttsssshhhhh.” “What is it?”

“Blink twice if Johnny’s behind you.” “Wha- why?!-“

“BLINK TWICE, GODDAMN IT!”

“I got cured.”

“What?!”

“I had a surgery in America. I’m tumor-free now. The surgery and radiation cured me. But then they banished me.”

“You didn’t even send a postcard! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because then I can do this,” said Konnor slowly before he rose like a shadow upon Oscar and stabbed him six times in the heart with an old dagger.

———

PART 12 …EPILOGUE

———

Berlin, Faux Germany, April 1965

Oscar walked along the grassy fields of Berlin. A bustling city it was indeed, but it never failed to preserve nature and wildlife.

The nuclear families and mass civilization never knew that Oscar had existed.

His life was of no importance to them.

They didn’t know the truth.

He didn’t care at this point. All of this, his whole journey through modern urban culture, was nothing but a cold reminder that nothing mattered anymore. No one would ever know.

When Oscar had awaken from the dead, the first thing he wondered was,

Where’s Konnor?

But Oscar soon learned that the Cancer had killed him.

That means there was no funeral.

Anyone out of the very small group who had known Oscar still probably thought that he was alive and well.

And the thing Oscar was most deeply terrified about was that he didn’t seem to really care.

He knew full well that he was destined to wander this city and watch it disintegrate until everything went to black and there was nothing to wander anymore.

Just nothingness.

And thank you for reading my confusing, poorly-plotted fairy tale about cancer in America.

——————

FIN

9/29/2020 - 5/23/2023

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mochumochuu · 2 years

Text

A doodle page thats all

Been like a week since i draw anythin cuz i was busy travelin around with my ma and sibs hehe

Anyway here's some art

Enjoyyyyyyy

Don't mind the goblin- i was listenin to DOOM music while drawin that part

Also these are my characters now, no longer sonas but right now i havent got any designs for my sona so you can prefer em for me if like

#art #digitalart #doodle #drawing #digital art #character design #design

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thatwasntlikeridingabikeuasshole · 2 years

Note

RUPAL RUDOLF RUMINATION I HAVE EXCELLENT NEWS I FOUND THE BOOK IT WAS IN A BOX WITH MY OLD ART?? ANYWAYS ITS ALMOST 1:30AM FOR ME RN I WAS GONNA PULL AN ALL NIGHTER TO FINISSH IT but i know damn well i will not remember anything if I do because i am very sleeby. i have like 100 pages left

mirabel is kicking absolute ass rn and i love her for that. why does the honey glow. anyways, The Sea Is Starless Because The People Are The Stars And There Are No More People. In Other Words, The Sea Gets No Bitches

have a wonderful day

THE SEA GETS NO BITCHES I'm screaming ris I love this so much. CONGRATS ON FINDING THE BOOK yesssss well now I am having a wonderful day because I have heard this most excellent news. Godspeed hope u enjoyyyyyyy

#the starless sea #tss #asks tag #chrissenbun

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johnnysuhs · 3 years

Photo

— 2 years of johnny’s communication center on the 21st of november 2018 the very first episode of johnny’s communication center was uploaded to the nct daily channel. johnny and mark might have said “this isn’t gonna go long” but two years later we got to enjoy a total of 25 episodes! thank you johnny for all the great content you’ve put out and hopefully we’ll get another year with a lot of fun jcc videos! 💗

#johnny #nctinc #johnny suh #nct #nct 127 #mine #i've been procrastinating this for the past week #and today at 0am kst i decided it would be a good time to start lol #this is highly inspired by those instagram layouts #also this was supposed to be all episodes at first #but then i decided to be a sane person #and then it was supposed to be my fave moments #which it still is but i somehow made it into nonsense too lol #also i'm so bad at writing these texts ignore it #anyways enjoyyyyyyy

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uncultureddirt · 5 years

Text

Beneath Your Hate (Part 2/2) - Lee Donghyuck (Haechan)

~REQUESTED~

Warnings: Language, angst

Your seat remained empty. He noticed. He looked at the clock.

[9:13 a.m.]

‘She's usually here by now.’

He couldn’t help but worry. Donghyuck’s mind raced back to Friday night and he rested his face in his hands. The fuzzy images of your soaked body kept finding their way to his thoughts.

‘Asshole. You’re such an Asshole.’

These thoughts didn’t help him though. He still didn’t know where you were.

“Hey,” something poked him on the shoulder and he turned around, half-expecting to see one of his friends, half-hoping to see you. But instead, he was greeted by an angry looking girl. Her eyes locked harshly onto his and her stare remained cold and rigid. “Nice work, dick.”

“Huh?”

“Accident on Park Ave? Did you not hear?” Donghyuck shook his head. “Yeah, of course you didn’t. Well, I’m sure if you just stayed away from y/n on Friday night, she wouldn’t be in a hospital bed right now.” She spoke harshly, almost through her teeth. But before she could finish Donghyuck slowly turned around. The girl’s words began to sound muffled, almost like he was underwater. His heartbeat quickened as he sat there drowning, staring at your empty seat.

Pain pulsed through his body during the next couple class periods. Things still seemed blurred, unclear. The world around him was spinning. He didn’t want to believe what the angry-faced girl said. Donghyuck didn’t want to accept the truth. But as the day progressed on, it was all he heard. Everyone was talking about you.

Guilt. It was everywhere. In his fourth period class, he began tapping his hands on the desk. He couldn’t sit still thinking you were barely holding onto your life. The emotional pain began to suffocate him, he felt like he was going crazy.

‘You did this to her. YOU did this to her. It’s your fault. YOUR fault.’

He had enough. Abruptly, he stood up and began to walk to the front of the class.

“Mr. Lee?” The teacher started, “Donghyuck, please sit down.” But he only walked by her as if she didn’t exist. He shook his head as she called to him, yelling for him to return to his seat. “I’m going to have to call the office!” She shouted down the hall, watching Donghyuck pick up his pace and begin to run.

He was out of his mind. The hallways seemed to become narrow and close him in as he ran. Every sense of his was overwhelmed. All he could hear was your voice and all he could see was your smile. You were strangling him.

He finally reached the door and pushed through them, making his way out to his car. Pressing the key into the ignition, his throat began to close. Chills ran up and down his back as water dripped lightly from his eyes.

“You idiot,” he said aloud to himself as he pulled out of the school. He didn’t know where he was going, he just drove. His mind couldn’t think of anything other than you.

‘Why were you so damn afraid? And now look at what you did. You fucked up so bad.’

He hadn’t figured out a plan yet. He just kept going, as if trying to escape from the pain by driving away from it. But you can never run away from your problems, especially if deep down you want to fix them. Donghyuck realized this himself as he jammed on the brakes, looking up to see where he subconsciously needed to go.

Westwood Hospital.

Donghyuck hated hospitals. Every part of them made him feel so damn sad. The cold white floors, the long hallways, and the rooms filled with people who didn’t deserve to be there pained him.

When he went to the front desk, he was greeted by a young receptionist with her hair tied up in a tightly knotted bun.

“Hello. How may I help you?” She smiled at him.

“Um, I’m here to visit y/f/n y/l/n.” He shifted uncomfortably, hoping his eyes weren’t too puffy or red. Maybe if he seemed put together, the lady would take him seriously.

“And what is your relation to the patient sir?” She furrowed her brow and began typing on the computer. Donghyuck froze, he had no idea what he was to you. He couldn’t even say he was your friend.

“I'm her boyfriend.” He spit out the lie, well-aware of how wrong it was after what he did.

“I’m sorry, but she's only having immediate family visitors right now. You can try later.” She attempted to speak sympathetically, but Donghyuck didn’t want to hear it. He needed to see you.

“Please. I need to see her. It will be quick, I promise.” He dropped his head, feeling ashamed by his begging.

“No, I’m sorry sir. Again, you can try later.” Her tone changed, it was more authoritative and she spoke quickly. He realized she was very serious, but so was he. So in those few seconds, Donghyuck made a rash decision. He stared at her for a moment, and then he ran. It was the second time he was running, and this time, he knew it was towards you.

He started down the halls ignoring the shouting coming from the front desk. All he could do was run faster.

“Y/N!” He shouted, his lungs burning. But before he could make it any further, he felt himself get pulled back. Security was all over him, trying to restrain his motions. Donghyuck didn't care, all he could think about was you. “LET ME SEE HER! LET ME SEE HER!” He screamed again, his eyes streaming with tears as he tried to keep breaking through the men.

“Y/N IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, IM SORRY. IM SO FUCKING SORRY Y/N. AND I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU.” People stared as Donghyuck flailed through the men trying to pull him back. He screamed out your name, hoping somehow, you would know he was there.

But eventually, his shouts died out and he was thrown into the lobby. He sank down against the wall and didn’t look up at any of the men surrounding and ridiculing him. He really didn't care. The pain was too overwhelming to worry about consequences.

Once the men turned around and walked away, Donghyuck was left swimming in a pool of grief.

“Love can drive you insane, huh.” One security guard said to another.

“Makes you do crazy things.” The other agreed, shaking his head.

Donghyuck sat there for hours. The day went on. The earth kept spinning and people kept moving, but he had stayed in the same spot the security guards left him in four hours ago. His world was crashing, colliding, and burning into a mess he never wanted. Everything he new meant nothing, none of it mattered. None of it.

He felt something lightly tap his shoulder and looked up, pulling him out of his trance-like state. The world began to reconstruct itself as he was reminded of where he was and what he was doing.

“Oh hello,” he said, his eyes meeting with the receptionist.

“Room 23. Go see her.” The lady’s eyes were softer than the last time he looked at them. But Donghyuck knew she wasn’t allowed to call the shots, so someone else must have told her that it was okay.

That someone just happened to be you.

He made his way down the hallway incredibly slowly. His heartbeat pounded in his ears as he wondered what he could possibly say to you. He knew his previous actions didn't make sense; they didn’t add up. How does one treat the person they want the most with the least amount of care? It simply lacked any bit of logic, and he was aware.

His eyes searched the signs on each door, and each number he read seemed to echo in his ears. The air around him was stiff, cold, and quiet.

13...15...17...

He felt as if his own breathing was obscenely loud throughout the hall. The corridor seemed endless, each side abundant with rooms packed full of visitors and staff. It's odd how hospitals work. The atmosphere fluctuates rather frequently. The calm before a storm can only last for so long.

19…21…

And if that’s the case...

23.

Then it’s also true for the storm.

All at once, the noise around him stopped. There it was. Your room. Once he placed his hand on the doorknob, the cool metal shocked his palms and he found himself hesitating. But he was here for a reason, and with that, he twisted it, opening the door.

Donghyuck swallowed hard at the sight of your body. You lay there limply in the dark room. A single stream of light broke through the blinds and fell gently across your face. Your arm was connected by wires, monitoring your vitals. The shrill ‘beeps’ of machines filled the silence of the room. What was he expecting? You to be standing there? Waiting to slap him across the face? To tell him how much of an idiot he was and to just go home? To go back to the way things were before Friday night?

No, he knew what was waiting for him behind the door. But now that he was standing there, looking at the reality of it all, he had no choice but to accept it. And he didn’t want to.

He was responsible for your current state. He was responsible for you having to leave the party at all. He was responsible for your tears and cries. And he was responsible for your anger and sadness, the same anger and sadness that made you push the pedal too hard on the dark streets of a quiet neighborhood.

Donghyuck bit back his fear and walked closer, eyeing the cuts and bruises on your arms and face. He held his breath at your leg, which hung wrapped up in a sturdy white cast. He wished it was him. He deserved to be broken, not you. He wanted so badly to hold you and kiss you and apologize for everything he's done, but he couldn’t. He could only stand there, watching your chest rise and fall with each breath, feeling as if he was driving the car that hit yours.

If someone had asked you “why” a part of you hoped it was Donghyuck when the nurse told you that you had a visitor, you wouldn’t be able to answer. Maybe it was because earlier that day you had another dream where he told you he cared and was sorry, and that all this time he’s loved you, but you weren’t really sure. When you found out it was him though, you really didn’t understand why you allowed him to come see you. It was as if the same part of you that loathed him, was also too curious to quit and even now, remained fascinated by him. You’ve probably always struggled to let things go when it came to him, and maybe it’s because at one point you had cared about him, but you weren’t ready to accept that, at least, not yet, not now.

Feeling someone's presence, your eyes slowly fluttered open and shifted towards the door.

“Donghyuck,” his name fell from your lips as if you were only exhaling, but underneath your breath, he was there. It seemed he had heard. His eyes widened at the sound of your voice. His face was different usual, beneath it wasn’t a layer of hate. There was something there that had been missing for a long time. It was gentle, and he looked like he’d been crying for a while.

And for the first time, Donghyuck began to fall apart, right in front of your eyes. He spilled his thoughts on the floor, allowing the room to fill with the pain that now both of you were feeling.

“Y/n I don’t even know where to begin,” he looked down, “I’m sorry. Those words don’t mean shit to you and I realize that, but I messed up. Every part of me wishes I could go back. Not just to Friday, but every single moment I’ve hurt you because none of it was validated. None of it was okay.” He exhaled deeply, his voice losing composure quickly, “I hated you. I hated you so much, bec-” His voice halted. On the verge of tears, he continued and you let him, “because you’re everything I’ve ever wanted. I didn’t know how to tell myself or you how I felt. I hated that you could control me without even knowing it. I hate how vulnerable you make me feel and that loving someone makes me feel so powerless. And I know this sounds crazy but I do love you an-” He stopped and buried his face into his hands, failing to hold back his tears any longer.

You waited a moment, unsure of where to go next.

“Donghyuck.” You said softly for the second time that day.

He wiped his face and looked up.

“Go.” You whispered. He nodded, before dropping his head and leaving.

Physically removing Donghyuk from the room did not remove the feelings he carried with him. His sadness and love for you plagued the room and you were left alone with nothing to do but swim in them. You truly had no idea what to think.

‘Does he feel sorry? Does he really care?’

You couldn’t just believe he was serious, but there was so much truth in his pain that you couldn’t help but think was real. Your mind was racing.

‘Headlights, music, pain, sirens, beer, Donghyuk.’

Your thoughts were in a vicious cycle, and you were trapped. Why did you want him to come back? Maybe the room was just lonely.

Maybe.

He sat in his car for awhile, watching the sky darken around him. He wanted you, he always had, but more importantly, he wanted you to be okay.

The next days for him were a struggle to press on through. He kept thinking of the dim room and your tired face littered in cuts. It took control of him, and Donghyuk could not move on or get anything done knowing you were in pain.

So he kept showing up.

Donghyuk made his way inside the hospital for the second time. He greeted the receptionist with a light smile. She returned his smile, her eyes drifting from his face to the item he held in his hands.

You woke up one morning with a vase next to your bed. Inside of it was a single daisy. You sat up a bit and tilted your head.

‘Who brought this here?’

It stood limply in the vase, its petals stark white and its bud was colored a happy yellow. The room felt a little less dull because of the flower, and you almost found yourself smiling at it. You loved daisies. They always flopped and could never stand up straight, and that's what you liked about them. They were a little bit clumsy, and so were you. They didn’t fit the sophisticated beauty role many flowers did, and you admired that.

Each morning until you were finished with your stay at Westwood, another flower would appear in the vase. They made you feel better and distracted you from the pain you were enduring.

On your first day out, you hobbled into your home on your crutches. With each step, you winced lightly, the pain was easing, but it was far from gone. Your mother followed you carrying your vase of daisies. She noticed your fondness for them and insisted you bring them home with you. Returning home restored some of the peace within you. The dreary room was a part of the past which you were all too happy to escape.

As you laid on your bed, you stared at the vase that was now on your end table. Your mind was straining to relax, but the accident still replayed over and over in your brain. And once again, the cycle started up.

‘Headlights, music, pain, sirens, beer, Donghyuk.’

The images flashed through your thoughts, and you buried your face in your pillow, breathing heavily into it. You were a prisoner of your own mind, and you couldn’t break out. During times like this, your heart ached for him.

‘Why? How?’

The one who implemented your pain was also the one you wanted to relieve it.

Donghyuck drove by your house close to a million times before deciding he should pull in. He wanted to see you, but he didn’t know what to say, or how to say anything. He was slightly embarrassed by his visit with you at the hospital as he didn’t intend on saying everything he said or crying in front of you. Thinking of it made his cheeks flush, he just wanted to let you know he cared.

Once building the courage to pull into your driveway, he parked and nervously got out. Once again he had no idea what he was going to say, but he followed where his legs took him, which was right to your front door. He exhaled deeply before tapping his knuckles against the door. All the words were inside of him, he just had no clue how to get them out.

And then, he knocked.

You heard the faint knock from upstairs and lifted your head up from your pillow at the sound. Realizing nobody was home, you concluded you would have to answer it. Though upset you had to move, you would take any chance to remove yourself from being alone with your own mind. You slowly descended the stairs, heavily struggling and limping. At the bottom, you paused, giving yourself a chance to catch your breath. Once reaching the door, you hesitated but assumed it was one of your friends who had mentioned visiting soon and felt yourself smile at the idea of human interaction. You needed a hug and you needed a friend. But after you twisted the knob and saw the waiting figure behind it, your smile fell.

Donghyuck.

The sight of him rippled chills down your spine. You stood there, in shock, unable to say anything. You didn’t expect to face him today. You were hoping to deal with the issue later. You’d be lying to yourself if you said you were ever planning to deal with it. And you were lying to yourself because you kept saying that never was later.

“Y/n,” he paused, noticing your eyes begin to glass over, “are you okay?”

You shook your head, lightly mouthing a “no,” before turning away quickly as you felt your tears start to hit.

“Hey, hey,” he pulled you back around and stared into your eyes. Even through your tears, he saw what he loved, he saw you. He wrapped his arms around your back as your face pressed into his chest. Your breathing grew choppy as your cries deepened. He held you tightly, feeling your pain as it if was his own. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered into your hair over and over again.

You pulled away from his warm grasp and began to walk towards the stairs, hoping he would follow you. You needed to talk, and you both knew it. As you planted your crutch on the first step you felt something grab you from behind.

“I can walk up myself, put me down,” you wiped your tears as you spoke, feeling yourself get lifted from the ground.

“No, you can't.”

He was right.

Donghyuck carried you up the stairs, you pointed to your room and he gently placed you on your bed.

“Thank you.” You said while looking down at your comforter.

He pulled the chair from your desk towards your bed and sat down. You furrowed your brow and patted the edge of your bed, beckoning him to come closer towards you. Slowly he stood up and walked towards your bed, dropping himself at the edge of it. He was keeping his distance, and you noticed. But to be fair, you should be keeping your distance too. You just didn’t want to.

You closed your eyes, breathing in heavily. Should you say what you were about to say? Probably not, or not for a while at least, but what’s the point in waiting? If you had the chance, why miss it?

“I forgive you,” you spoke, breaking into the silence, “for everything.” You opened your eyes only to see Donghyuk shake his head, looking away from you.

“No, you can’t. I wanted to explain myself, and maybe it’s selfish to think that could fix anything, but even I can’t forgive me. How could you even say you forgive me? You don’t need to pretend to be nice to me. You deserve the absolute world, y/n, and I poured beer on your head just to push you further away. I'm an idiot.”

He was right, you knew that. But you also knew what you wanted, and somehow, even after all of the chaos, it was him. It’s possible that what he had said to you in the hospital that day confirmed the feelings that resonated deep inside of you, but it’s also possible that they were inevitable to begin with.

“I know you are, but I believe you when you say you care,” you tilted your head and met his eyes. Your mind raced, everything he did up until this point was to spite you. And because of him, you came to meet the thin line between love and hate. You knew you had a choice, and you could choose to hate him now and deal with the feelings you had later. You also knew that love tends to leave some of the deepest scars, which can be scary. But everybody has scars, and maybe that’s not so bad. You can learn a lot about someone from their scars, and it seemed you both had a lot to learn.

He dragged his eyes to your arm, which was etched with scars from the shattering window. He placed his fingers along each one and began to trace them as if he was trying to heal them. You liked the way his fingers felt on your skin. There was something about his touch that was warm and reassuring.

Looking up, his gaze fell to your side table, where he found your vase, “I didn’t know you’d keep them.”

“Keep what?”

“The daisies.”

You paused and looked at him.

‘How’d he know?’

“I hoped you liked them as much as you like drawing them, they’re always all over your papers.” He said softly, a light smile almost appearing for a second.

You remained in awe. “I didn’t know you noticed.”

He lifted your chin so you two met eyes again. He wanted you to know he meant every word he said. Slowly, his hand moved from your chin to gently graze your jaw.

“I always noticed you, and I hated that you occupied so much of my attention. I’m not sure why I am so immature when it comes to love, and I’m so sorry I let things get this out of hand, but all of my mistakes were because I’m scared. I’m scared of this. And you don’t have to say anything to try and make my actions seem ok, but I’m going to try and fix my wrongs, so maybe one day, I’ll be able to take care of you properly.”

You nodded. But he didn’t know that you had already begun to trust him. You didn’t know whether you should or not, but you were willing to try.

You always found yourself in staring contests with Donghyuck, though they always were from opposite sides of lunchrooms, or parking lots, or parties. Now you sat inches away from your enemy, looking into his eyes, in a way you never had before. You felt the love he held, the love that’s always been there, hidden under his cracking shell of hate.

And if the flowers that bloomed in your lungs told you one thing…

It was that you felt the same.

Concluded!

Part 1

#lee donghyuck #haechan imagines #haechan scenario #nct imagines #nct scenarios #haechan as your boyfriend #haechan angst #haechan fluff #nct dream #NCT Dream Scenarios #nct 127 #HEY GUYSSSSSS #so here is part two #this was in the edits for quite a bit #shoutout mi for saving my terrible grammer hehehe #anyways thank you all!#I HOPE YOU ENJOYYYYYYY #ok love you peeps have a good ass day

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grippingbeskar · 2 years

Text

The Element of Surprise | Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: The Fight and Flight

mando x fem!reader

series masterlist here

warnings: ADULT CONTENT MINORS DNI (fingering, sexual intercourse mxf, general sexual content, swearing, canon typical violence, death)

word count: 6.6k

a/n: okay i change my mind this is my favourite chapter, this is way longer than i planned but i just couldn't find the right point to stop so sorry for the kind of abrupt ending but i literally had to force myself to stop HAHAH hope you guys enjoyyyyyyy i need to take a cold shower...

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

“But its hot”

“No.”

“Ill clean the whole ship.”

“You do that already.”

“Ill clean up Grogus’ puke for a week.”

“No.”

You’ve been trying to bargain staying on the ship while the Mand- Din goes for the next bounty, but he isn’t budging no matter what you offer.

“Why not? If anything, Ill just get in the way. If I stay here, me and the baby can train and stay nice and cold and sand-less.”

“I am not leaving you alone on this ship on Jakku. When I said this is the worst place I’ve been, I meant it.”

“I can protect the kid.” You say, suddenly feeling a little defensive of your skills. Sure, you might be a little (okay, a lot) less prepared to defend yourself than he is, but you know you could protect Grogu, and spending as much time as you have with him you would give everything if it meant keeping him safe.

“Its not just him I’m worried about.” He says, and not a single word makes you doubt his meaning.

“I can protect myself, too.” You say, gentler than before.

“I know. But I don’t take chances. Your coming with me.” He steps closer to you, coming back up the ramp to meet you at the ships entrance. The last thing you want him to be doing is worrying about you – that must be why he brings the kid in that bag everywhere. Anyways, the safest you’ve felt in your life has been whenever your next to him. Swinging your already-packed bag over your shoulder, you knew you were probably going to do whatever he asked anyway.

“Fine. If I get even a grain of sand anywhere, I will shoot you with your own blaster.”

“Because that worked out so good for you last time.” If you could see his face, you would be able to see the smirk you hear in his tone. You shove him on the shoulder, and a small ‘oof’ comes out of him as you walk past, hearing his boots clanking on the ramp close behind you. The hot air seems ten times worse as soon as the ramp closes and your option taken away, and you take a deep breath. You know this isn’t Tatooine, but its eerie resemblance brings back all those memories you have been trying to leave behind. You feel a little bit queasy, your head getting fuzzy under the beating sun. You take a step, then another, trying to just walk. You are being ridiculous, you know you are, but you can’t help the feelings that come up just thinking about being back there – constantly on edge and completely alone.

A hand comes to the small of your back, your shirt lifting slightly so that he is touching your skin. He rubs small circles on your back, pulling your mind back to this morning when his hand was grazing your side, and you relax instantly.

“You’re okay. Im with you.” He soothes, and you know you are safe. You open your eyes, and focusing on his hand on your back, you take a step, then another, and before you know it you are walking on your own, but never alone.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

You do not miss Tatooine. You do not miss Tatooine.

The smell, though.

Its like nothing you’ve ever smelt before, and you are for once jealous that Din gets to walk around in a big metal box because at least he doesn’t have to experience this. Its loud, but not in a good way, like on Coruscant. People are yelling prices, glass breaks in a house to your right and you have to switch sides on the street every five steps to avoid a huge chunk of abandoned trash or a broken engine part discarded carelessly.

“I told you s-“

“Don’t even finish that sentence, tin man.” You are hot, sweaty, and probably about to hurl.

“Tin man? That’s new.” He says over the shouting of a woman trying to get you to buy some weird orange liquid in a syringe.

“Well, this planet is bringing out the best in me.”

“Clearly.” His sarcasm is evident, but his hand brushes against yours as you walk. You notice that even on a planet like this, people still move out of his way, and although its too loud to discern a real conversation, you don’t miss the side eye stares they give you and him as you pass.

“How far away are we now?” You know he said the bounty was pretty far into the ‘city’, and the occasional beeps of the fob don’t sound entirely promising.

“Still about an hour or so. You okay?” The way he checks in on you makes your heart flutter even in the indescribable heat.

“Yeah, just hot.”

“Yeah, you are.” The sound that leaves your mouth is halfway between a gasp and a laugh.

“Tin man, are you hitting on me?” You bring a hand to your chest, trying to act shocked.

“Is it working?” he says, his pace slowing so he’s right next to you, lowering his voice so only you can hear.

“Definitely.” You breath, that specific tone of voice always making you shudder.

A small gurgle comes from the bag in between you both, and you quickly shove the tiny green hand that pokes out the side back in, sighing as you remember where you are.

“Look out for any speeder bikes we can use. I want to finish this quickly.” He says, you can tell he’s just as frustrated as you are by the way he wraps his hand around your wrist, pulling you along as if it will somehow make the next hour go any faster.

His hand over your pulse is the only thing you concentrate on, anytime he touches you everything else shuts out and its just you and him. You zone in on that, any chance to block out the constant buzz of noise around you, and you feel a familiar pull drifting through you, and you decide to follow it.

You try to go as slow as you can, not wanting to make it obvious what your doing. Not only are you on a dangerous planet where they probably sell Force-sensitive heads on a pike for three credits, you also dont want to disturb him, feeling him weave you through the crowd, clearly concentrating on finding the quarry as soon as possible.

Allowing your mind to clear of anything but him, you suddenly feel it. His energy is purely masculine, all hard and strong, edges tough against your own. His pulse is steady, and you feel his heart beating in his chest, its sound a song to your ears.

Is this okay? You don’t even know what ‘this’ is – you know when you reach out through the Force you can feel certain parts of a person, you do it with the kid when you train him, but this feels different. When you’ve done this before, its less personal – your aim more to connect through the energy of two people, meeting outside yourselves and moulding into the world around you.

When you focus on him, though, you don’t want to feel anything but him. With his hand guiding you through the busy street, your legs on autopilot, you close your eyes. You can feel him everywhere, his breath on your cheek, how his heart beats against you, caressing your reach. The smell of the planet around you vanishes, and the familiar musky-vanilla of his hair fills your nose. You can feel your energy intertwining with his, and you know this is something you’ve never felt before.

It feels – good.

Its almost like he’s touching you, he’s everywhere. You have no idea how long you’ve been doing this, but you never want to stop. You aren’t looking for anything in particular – no memories or feelings flow into your head, you wouldn’t violate his privacy like that, but this energy is tangible. You can feel it skimming over your arm, brushing your cheek. Its almost as good as him actually touching you, and you wonder if you can return the favour. You allow your mind to drive from his chest down his abdomen, feeling every ridge and bump of raw skin he conceals under there. You cant see anything, but you can feel it, and he feels so fucking manly and rough and good. You drift lower, unsure of where your going, you forget anything else but him.

Suddenly, you are snapped out of your concentration, your eyes go wide as you have come to a complete stop. Din looks down at you, his breath rapid and uneven compared to the steady beat you felt just moments ago. You tilt your head up at him, confused.

“Wh-what are you – fuck. What are you doing?” he asks between breaths, and your cheeks go three shades darker in embarrassment as you realise what’s happened. You weren’t the only one feeling your little exploration adventure, and you swallow – hard.

“I-I’m so sorry – I didn’t think-I wasn’t thinking that- “you can’t believe what you were doing. How insensitive could you be? This guy barely told you his name five seconds ago and now you’re using the Force – which he seems completely freaked by to begin with – to basically grope him?! You are going to stay on this planet and die of shame and –

“What? Don’t apologise. I just -shit. Give me a minute.” He still has a hold of your wrist as he pulls you to the side of the street, just as loud and bustling as it was before. “Maker. How did you do that?” you look up at him through your lashes, still embarrassed and slightly ashamed.

“I was just – thinking about you. I guess. When you were holding my wrist it just made me think of stuff – um. So I just went with it. Im really sorry, I swear I didn’t see anything. I just felt. Felt you.” You bite your lip and his helmet bangs slightly as it hits the brick wall behind him. You let him take his time, hand still holding you in position as he takes a few breaths before responding.

“I said don’t apologise.” He shakes his head, his breathing slowing to normal.

“No? I just-“

“Fuck. Why are we so far from the ship?” he says and his helmet bangs against the brick again. You look down, and look back up again straight away when you see why he needed to stop. The giant bulge is visible even through the armoured pants, and you have to bring a hand over your mouth to stop the gasp it erupts from you. You’ve held him in your hand before, but seeing the pure size of him in the light is completely different.

Was that you?

It was you. Holy shit. You just gave Din a boner on a foreign planet in front of a thousand people. Thank the Maker your hand is over your mouth to stifle the choked sound that comes out of your throat. Dins attention snaps down to you, his hand on your wrist tightening slightly.

“I didn’t mean-“

“Don’t apologise. It felt good.” You didn’t think you could be more turned on than you already were, but hearing him say that proved you wrong as a whole other wave of heat took over you.

“Really?”

“Fuck yes. Just -” he looks around and you follow his gaze, people crowding your vision in every direction. His head bangs against the brick a third time and you pull him toward you off the wall. “This isn't helping.” He whispers, and you already know because you can feel every inch of him pressed against your stomach. You let out a breath far bigger than you thought you were holding. You look up at him, the rise and fall of his chest so big a movement it pushes him closer into you.

“What do you want to do, then?” you ask, and it comes out way more confident than you feel, your hands start to shake slightly in anticipation. He groans, both of his hands resting on your hips, and his helmet comes down to rest on your shoulders.

“Your killing me, cyar’ika.” Hearing him speaking his own language makes your head swim, even though you don’t know what he’s saying. Sucking in a breath, he takes you by the hand and in one motion you are walking again, slightly slower than before, and you dont miss the occasional shake of his leg to re adjust his pants, using your free hand to cover your mouth hoping he doesn't hear you laughing.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Its up here.” The tracking fob has been beeping steadily for 20 minutes, and you are in awe of the way he can just tell where to go, expertly navigating the complicated building you were currently casing the back entrance of.

“How do you do that?” you ask as he breaks a lock on the back door of the building.

“I just pulled it off. Rusty. See?” he holds up the snapped lock and you shake your head and smile.

“No, I mean how do you just, like know where to go? It took me a year to figure out how to get home from the market on Tatooine.” He just taps his helmet.

“Its built in. Scans for body heat.”

“Even in buildings?” You say as he shoves into the back door, rearing back for a second go of it.

“Through pretty much anything. It tracks footprints, too. Sonic detector picks up anything out of earshot, after that its just left up to instinct.” He tenses and runs sideways into the door, it coming down with a loud bang, the kid currently slung over your shoulder poking his head out at the noise.

“So you can see up there?” you say, coming through the doorway and pointing up, the sand coloured roof of the floor above flaking slightly on your head. He nods, moving through the ground level of the building, pulling out the tracking fob again.

You decide to just let him work, watching his head scan left to right, with your new information probably figuring out how many people lie ahead. He takes a few more steps in and the fob lights up like a Christmas tree, beeping rapidly in the direction of the door he stands in front of. Switching the fob off, he turns to you and holds up a finger, indicating your silence. You move behind the doorway, staying far enough to be out of site of anyone entering.

He moves so fast you nearly miss it. This is the first time you’ve really seen him in action, and you immediately understand why people are so terrified of him. More people than you can count rush into the room, and he cuts them down one by one. Grabbing the first by the throat, he throws him across the room, landing three expert punches on the next two guys, both dropping instantly. As more people come in, he ducks behind a pushed over table, unholstering his blaster and firing - never missing a shot. The faster they come the quicker he is, creating a pile of bodies so tall they eventually have to jump over them.

Maybe he got bored with shooting them or theres a reason you cant decipher, but he rolls out from behind the table and starts taking them on again, only two or three remain as he knocks one out cold with the handle of his blaster, and punches the other square in the face.

One left.

He stands there, his breath only slightly faster than usual. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out the fob, and it suddenly starts beeping again, so fast its almost continuous. He looks down at it, and then up at the one remaining guy.

For a minute you think he will be smart, surrender and go with Din, face the music of whatever he’s done. At least he would be alive. Suddenly you get a bad taste in your mouth, and its the same feeling you got when you first landed on Tatooine. You blink and miss the moment he reaches for something in his pocket, and its too late because his body hits the floor with a loud ‘thunk’.

You dont dare speak first, just watch as Din slings the dead body over his shoulder and walks over to the corner you are tucked into, the baby nestled safely behind you.

“You okay?” he looks down at you both, not even a scratch on him, no evidence of the dozen men he just left for dust. You nod at him, unable to form words. You know its not right, you should be scared, right?

Maybe even terrified. He’s lethal, theres no two ways about it. Deathly efficient. You should be shitting your pants right now, but the only thing thats happening in your pants is the slight dampening at your core.

That was super fucking hot.

Even now, as he stands in front of you extending his free hand out, helping you up while balancing the mans lifeless body on one shoulder, you have to dig your nails into your palm to control yourself. This is totally inappropriate, but you’ve been worked up all day and seeing him in his element, totally controlling, even dominating, is really doing something to you.

You both start walking, you fall behind him trying to calm down, your heart beating so fast he can probably hear it in his super-hearing helmet. You eventually reach a tall building, its cylindrical exterior lined with windows evenly all the way up. Its probably the nicest building you’ve seen whilst you’ve been here, and when you enter what you think is the lobby, it has actual flooring. You turn around to see Din flopping the body onto the counter, the girl behind the counter not even looking up as she extends her hand out to him, dropping a handful of credits on top of the body. He snatches it, and without another word his hand is on your back guiding you out.

He must come here often, then. You look back at the building slowly fading behind you, a wave of unease flowing over you and you shudder. Dins hand comes off your back, making you look up at him.

“Is everything okay?” you ask him, the way he stands in front of you clearly hinting a lack of confidence, not his usual leaned position.

“I understand if you dont want to stay.” Your face screws up in complete confusion. What? “It puts most people off.” Oh. Does he think your quiet reaction and shudders were from him? You did just watch him murder a whole (literal) pile of people, and maybe that should disturb you a little, but death is something you’ve become accustomed to, and violence comes with the territory. You’ve been around it your whole life, and sure, no one you know cuts people down with the same precision he does, but he could never scare you.

“No!” Is all that comes out of your mouth, and his head tilts slightly. “I mean, no, I- I want to stay. You dont put me off.” you shake your head, grabbing his arm and stepping closer. He sighs, and the way his shoulders drop in what you think is relief.

“You didn't say anything, and just then when you flinched at me I- I thought you were afraid.”

“No! Maker, no that wasn't because of you. I just got a bad feeling from that place. It wasn't you. I swear.” Your eyes are wide and focused on him, and even as people brush past you in the street you dont break contact.

“Its a bad place. Makes sense.” you nod quickly and a little smile warms your cheeks. “Why were you so quiet, then?”

“When?” You know exactly when.

“The walk back.” This is so humiliating.

“I dont know what your talking about.” You look down, but his hand shoots up and catches your chin, pushing your face back up to him. His head tilts further to the right.

“Answer me.” That fucking voice could make you do anything.

“I needed to calm down, okay?”

“Why?” your cheeks flame up, and the butterflies in your stomach are multiplying by the second. He will wait you out if you dont answer. You have no patience and he has eons of it.

“Because! It-”

“Tell me.” you let out a huff as his and comes to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear. The familiar movement makes your lashes flutter and you stand on your toes to savour the moment as long as you can. His helmet bends down to come next to your ear. “Come on, cyare.”

“What do those words mean?”

“Your deflecting.” he stands back up, hand still under your chin.

“Yup.” you nod once and stand back on your feet flat. You cant believe he gave it up that easily as he swings the baby back over his own shoulder and reaches behind him, adjusting something on his back.

“Fine. I’ll wait. You can tell me after the ride home.” He says. Your smug smile has a second to show on your face before you register his words.

Ride?

“Do you trust me?” He pulls you against him, and you squeak a small ‘yes’ before his arm comes up under you, sweeping you off the floor. Your stomach drops as you launch into the air, and your arms fly around his helmet, face burying into his neck.

“Look, cyar’ika.” You shake your head and he laughs, the sound filling you with calm. You slowly lift your head, looking straight down. You are so high up, taller than the building you were just in front of, and you have no idea how you got so high so quick. The heat from the jetpack warms the back of your arms grasping his back, but when you really look down, you cant believe a planet like Jakku could actually look pretty.

Its sunset, and the pink of the sky drowns out the heat, the lights of the markets just twinkles in the swimming surface below. You cant make out any people in particular, but you can see the crowd move as one mass under you, high enough that the only thing you can smell is the jet fuel burning from the pack and the musky smell of him.

“This is...” the words are lost in the wind, and the hour long walk is hardly even a five minute flight, the Razor crest already coming in to view. As you begin your descent, each time you drop altitude Dins arms wrap you tighter to him, his hands spreading across your back and under your thighs trying to hold as much of you as possible.

You aren't afraid of heights, but being so high with no safety net is sure to make the average person nervous, but you dont think you are. Having Din as your safety net is the surest thing you can imagine, and even though he makes you so nervous you cant think, he always makes you feel protected.

The ground comes into clear view, and Din slowly slides his hand out from under you and your feet meet the ground with a soft thud.

“Where the hell have you been hiding that!” You say, the rush of adrenaline still buzzing in your veins. He laughs as you spin him around to take another look at the jet pack, blending seamlessly into his armour. You always did think it was a funny looking pack.

The ramp comes down and you jump onto it, a rush of energy from your flight home giving you a second wind from your long day. The baby jumps out of the bag he has been encased in all day, running past you straight into the bag of food left on the floor from this morning. The Crest gets darker as you step in, and you hear the small babbles of the baby as he chews happily. You walk over to him and bend down, getting as low as you can to his level.

“You and me tomorrow, kid. Lesson two, okay?” he smiles at you through fruit covered teeth, and yawns, clearly being trapped in a bag all day is tiring work. You feel bad for him and slightly guilty you haven’t made the time to train, but with everything thats happened in the past two days hopefully he will forgive you. You pick him up and bring him over to his crib, and as you lay him in it shutters closed automatically.

As soon as he is out of sight, you feel a gloved hand come around your waist and pull you against hard armour.

“Im done waiting.” His voice is so low it barely breaks, and he pulls you toward the ladder, pressing you to go first. “Up.” he commands, and you go.

The corridor is nearly pitch black, and at first you aren't sure which room to go to, but he comes behind you and forces you straight passed the cockpit into your room. You hear the door slide shut and his hands leave you, only momentarily as they return bare and rough against your skin and slide under your shirt.

* * * * *

“Din.” you moan and he returns the sound. His hand stops at the waistline of your pants and you arch your back off him, silently desperate.

“Tell me what you were thinking about today.”

“When?” You are completely under his spell as soon as his skin touches yours. His hands ghost the sensitive skin just above your pants and you shiver.

“When you stayed behind me. After I got the bounty.” His head switches sides, coming from your left instead, your mind disoriented in the dull light of the setting sun.

“Din.”

“Please, tell me. I need to know you weren’t afraid.” You dont think you have ever heard him say please before, and if you have it was never like that. This isn’t just a sexual thing - of course it isn’t, he doesn't know your fucked up brain made it into one. He still doesn't believe that you dont find him scary, just incredibly skilled and sexy, and the vulnerability in his voice stirs the courage to admit it to him.

“Im not afraid of you. It- Maker, it was the hottest thing I’d ever seen.” His hand stills, spreading against your tummy, and then in one fluid motion he slips it under your waistband and slides one finger inside of you, his thumb drawing a slow, wide circle right where you are most sensitive. You cry out, the thing you’ve been desperate for all day finally sparking through you, shocks making your body jolt slightly in his hold.

One of his hands leaves you, and your head turns on instinct, but as you see the reflection of the beskar slowly rising and his hand following suit, your neck snaps back to the front facing the window. How close you were to seeing his face hasn't really registered, you cant focus on anything besides his thumb circling lazily on your clit, and now his lips peppering soft, sweet kisses on the back of your neck.

Without removing his finger from you, he spins you around and kisses you. His mouth tastes as perfect as you remember, and the way his tongue explores your mouth pushes your closer and closer. You can feel your orgasm building, you feel like you’ve been edged all day and you will finally get your release. That is, until, he pulls his finger out of you, drawing his hand up along your thigh and then removing it completely.

You are pouting, but keep your eyes shut.

“Din, please.” you whine, simply saying his name enough indication of your frustration. His mouth continues to trail kisses along your throat, and he pushes you back a few steps before the ground comes out underneath you. Both of Dins hands control your decent onto the bed, and you can feel him hovering over you. “Din.” you plead again.

“Shh, I got you.” he kisses your open mouth, and begins to tug your pants down, discarding them somewhere in the room. You pull your shirt off, hoping to speed up the process. “Impatient.” he grumbles against your skin, his tongue now dragging across your collarbone, your denied orgasm still teetering on the edge, making you writhe beneath him. You reach your hands up, only to meet beskar.

“Wanna feel you.” you plead, and you dont care how desperate you sound as long as he obliges.

“Wait here.” Suddenly his weight is off you, and the warmth he provided dissipated. You dont need to open your eyes to know the sun has set, and the soft clatters of metal against metal send your imagination wild. You felt him through the Force today, but that was just a taste. Will he feel as soft as he did when you held him in your hand, or are other parts of him rougher, more worn and scarred? You want to explore every part of him, map it and travel it every day. The longer you sit in the dark the more anxious you get, and when you feel him drop beside you, your hands lead you to him.

He’s so big is your first thought, the armour adding no enhancement to the pure size of him. He is broad, your arms stretching to touch both of his shoulders at once. You use the leverage to swing your leg over him, and when you do you realise he’s taken everything off except for his underpants. Briefs. You can tell because the skin of your inner thigh meets his, and the sensation makes you dizzy. You focus back to your hands, dragging them down over his abs, as hard and rough as you imagined, but nothing could prepare you for the sensation of feeling him underneath you. What you felt before was like a trailer to the best movie you’ve ever seen, or not seen. You are still hovering slightly above him, knowing as soon as that part of you connects with that part of him all self control will be out the window, and you want to explore as much of him as you can, not knowing when you’ll get the chance again.

You are greedy and desperate, trailing your hands down to the waistline of his briefs, and he chokes back a whine when you go back up and over his shoulders, sliding down his arms in an achingly slow pace, feeling the hair on his arms raise at the sensation. When you reach his hands he slides them into yours and pulls them above his head, sliding both of your hands under one of his. You have no idea how, but even with you on top of him, he still has control.

He kisses your nose as your face dangles in front of him, eyes still shut despite the darkness. His free hand journeys down your side, over your bra strap and coming down on your hip, slowly pushing you down onto him.

You both gasp in unison when you meet each other, him rock hard underneath you, you soaking him immediately.

“Fucking p-perfect, cyar’ika.” You dont know what that means but you dont fucking care, it sounds so incredible when he says it, unmodulated and gasping underneath you. “Need to feel you. Okay?”

“Fuck. Yes, please. Please, Din.” he lets out a moan as you grind against him, speeding up and chasing your own release. He flips you just as it begins to build again, and you cry out but he kisses you over and over, settling you in a way only he can. “Din, Din pl-”

“M’gonna take care of you. Do you trust me?” he whispers in your ear, his hair tickling your forehead and you nod against him. “Good girl.” he kisses your cheek and you writhe under his praise. He dips his head, taking your underwear between his teeth, the only tell is his breath that heats your lower stomach and the gentle scratch of his front teeth over your hip bone as he drags them down your legs. Two hands run up your shins, then your thighs, opening you up ever so slightly. His hair tickles your inner thigh, and when his tongue sides over your clit, you are instantly on the edge.

“Cant get your fucking taste out of my head, pretty girl.” You can literally feel his words on you as he dives into you again, back arching off the cot and he slides both hands under your thighs, hands covering your hip bones and controlling your movement. Your own hands find his hair, pulling slightly and he moans against you.

His movements are as precise and perfect as his fighting, the only difference being the pace. He fights faster than you can process, but here, with his head between your legs, he works slow. He takes his time, and you all but combust under his rigidity.

“Maker, Din. Im so fucki-” you cut yourself off with a gasp as he speeds up, a small ‘hmm’ leaving his mouth, vibrating into your core. That small effect sends you into overdrive and your orgasm overwhelms you. Its like nothing you’ve ever felt before, you can feel it from your toes and the way through up to the top of your head, mind-numbing pleasure extracting pornographic moans from the back of your throat, sounding foreign to you.

You’ve never been particularly loud in bed, but this wasn’t even a choice, the aftershocks just as strong as the initial assault, Dins mouth never leaving you through it all, taking everything you give him. He keeps you perfectly in place even as you fight against his steady hand, his strength evident in his grip and you hope it leaves a mark for days to come, just to remind you this wasn't a dream.

Din eventually slows, his intentional movements turning to slow, lazy licks against you, seemingly for his own enjoyment. He kisses your inner thighs, before returning to kiss you right on your clit, your hips spasming underneath the light touch. Your mind starts to become clear, and you flutter your eyes open just for a moment before closing them again. Din begins to work his way up your body, planting a long, sensual kiss to your lips, breathing unevenly.

“So good, baby. Did so good for me.” he praises in your ear, your hands still lost in his hair. As sensitive as you are, you are greedy.

“Din.” he acknowledges you with a small ‘mm’ and you dont know if its your post orgasm high or the fact that you want him so bad that the next sentence leaves your lips. “I want you to fuck me, Din.” He lets out a long, low breath.

“You want me to fuck you, cyar’ika? Thats what you want?” You can feel him bare against you, his dick suddenly sliding against your core, making you moan, loud and lengthy. “Such dirty words for such a pretty girl.”

He continues to drag the head of his cock against you, and your already close just by the feel of him. You begin to think that he’s so perfectly under control, but you remember how quickly he crumbles when you wrapped your hand around him last time, so you reach down and guide the head of his cock, keeping the pace he set, just in your hand. He stutters your name as soon as you touch him, and you bite your lip to hide the smile.

“Say my name again.” he whispers into your ear.

“Din. Din.” you repeat it over and over like a prayer, and he takes control again, sliding into you and finally filling you.

He whimpers when he enters you, and you screw your eyes shut at the pain and pleasure mixing in your lower body. He stills his movement once he slides all the way in, rasping.

“Tell me how you feel, baby.” All you let out is a sigh, and he doesn't move. You cant form a coherent word, but you know he will wait for you to tell him, forever patient with you.

“Your so big - fuck. I just need a second, I-’“ he kisses your nose and places one forearm next to your head.

“Relax. Take your time.” he whispers, and your heart flutters at his sweet words. “You feel so fucking good, pretty girl.” You moan, and the pain slowly starts to melt away.

You haven’t done anything like this in a very long time, besides with him, so you slowly adjust to the size of him, shifting your hips slightly to test the pain. The longer he’s inside you, though, the more desperate you become, and with each grunt and gasp he makes in your ear your worried you will finish just to the sound of him.

“Din, move. Please.” He kisses your temple and slowly slides out of you, before filling you again. The pain is still there, but the pleasure is so much more overwhelming you dont care. He sets an excruciatingly slow pace, fitting inside of you so perfectly you feel like you were made for this and only this.

“Faster, fuck please! Din!” you are practically shouting, your release so close you start seeing stars behind your eyelids, and the way Din moans your name in your ear is something that will be etched in your memory for the rest of your days.

“Fuck - baby where sh-”

“Inside me. Its okay, please. Dont stop.” In hindsite you really should have discussed it before, but you’ve had an implant ever since landing on Tatooine, not because you were getting any action, just for the simplicity.

“You want me to cum inside you? Fuck - fuck okay. M’so close. You feel so tight. Perfect.” The praises tumble from his mouth as he says your name, and you fall into your next orgasm without warning.

“F-fuck yes, baby. There you go. Cum for me.” He moans in your ear as he cums in time with you, both your bodies crashing together in a wave of pleasure and exhaustion as he curses his way through his high.

You cant tell how long it lasts, time and space melting away and only feeling him, him, him. You shout his name in the darkness as white blasts your vision, his body collapsing on top of yours stopping you body from convulsing in pleasure.

You can feel his hot breath on your neck, and its the only sensation that brings you back to reality, that and the fact that his cock is still inside of you, twitching slightly as he comes down.

Your hand drifts from his hair to find his face, letting your hands guide him to your lips. His head is heavy and you have to hold it up for him, allowing him to rest his full weight on your forehead as he kisses you, lazy but caring. Slowly, he slides himself out of you, and you hate how desperate you sound when he leaves you.

He bends down to pick up your shirt you wore today to clean you both up, gently sliding the fabric between your thighs and over your tummy. He tosses it somewhere in the dark, and as he slides in behind you, your eyes relax.

As his hand comes around your waist and pulls you into his chest, he presses a soft kiss to your forehead. Its something he’s done a few times now, and it makes you feel so safe and warm every time.

Every ache and pain from todays journey has disappeared, the feeling of Din so close the only sensation worth focusing on.

“Din.” you mumble, so soft you aren't sure if he hears you, but he murmurs an incoherent response, so you assume he’s listen. “What does that mean?”

“Huh?” The casual response makes you smile in the dark. You dont think you’ve ever heard him so... off-guard, and your heart swells with the knowledge that he can feel that way with you.

“That word. Sharkee- something.” he vibrates something against your shoulder blade. Maybe its a laugh, or a groan but your too tired to tell.

“Its Mando’a.”

“I figured. What does it mean, though?” You move your hips against him slightly, making him gasp with the friction you create. His hand locks onto your hip, the pressure setting you straight against the cot. You sit in silence, waiting for him to answer, but instead he just presses a kiss to the back of your neck and buries his head almost underneath you. You want to press him, but his soft breathing from below you makes you blow out a breath and give up for now.

“Sleep. I’ll teach you tomorrow.” You nod even though he cant see.

“Goodnight, Din.”

“Goodnight, cyar’ika.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

taglist:

@kirsteng42

@bvcky-brns

@im-a-slut-for-fluff

@solomonssimp

@razzle-my-berries

@sparklykeylime

@avatarkanemi

@fishthemenace

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ace-of-clubs-and-diamonds · 2 years

Text

What’s this??? Another Waking Nightmares chapter??? Already??? I’m just as surprised as you are! I was actually expecting this to be a shorter chapter, but it ended up being pretty sizeable because I can’t shut the fuck up. Which just makes it even more surprising that I got it out so fast… huh. Anyways yeah, here’s Chapter 3! Hope you guys enjoyyyyyyy

@spookyscaryslashy you said I could tag you for these so… you’ve been tagged! If anyone else would like to be tagged, let me know. Maybe I could start a tag list.

Waking Nightmares masterlist here.

Waking Nightmares: Chapter 3

Rating: Mature, SFW

Word count: 3,488

Content warnings: Sleep paralysis, panic, paranoia, general spooky stuff

POV: Roxanne Love

The first thought that drifted across my consciousness was, Why am I awake?

Because there was no real reason for me to be awake. The room was still pitch-black, still the dead of night. It was still quiet, with the faint whirring of the AC unit serving as white noise. It wasn’t too warm or too cold. There was no fuzzy white muzzle or pink kitty nose in my face, no soft questioning murrrp?

I sluggishly turned those facts over in my mind, trying to examine and decipher them through the groggy veil of sleep.

But they… didn’t make sense? There was no reason for me to be awake.

I’d just… woken up. For some reason.

I let out a quiet groan and went to roll over and curl back under the sheets. My body didn’t move.

Wait.

My body didn’t move.

My body couldn’t move.

Panic speared through my chest and flooded my veins, beating back some of the grogginess. I struggled, trying to lift an arm, a leg, anything, but even then, I couldn’t move. It was as if my limbs were frozen in place, pinned down to the bed by an unseen weight, completely dead and useless.

What was happening?

I forced myself to stop struggling and let my body go limp. Even as my heart hammered against my ribcage and my breath came in short, panicky gasps and my nerves thrummed with fear. There had to be a reason I couldn’t move, some logical explanation. But the fog of sleep was still too thick, too impermeable. I couldn’t get through to the other side. The logical explanation was just out of reach.

Breathe.

For God’s sake, fucking breathe, Roxy.

That was hard to do when panic skittered through every single part of my body, even my dead limbs. I blinked in the darkness, staring at the ceiling, focusing on the lightbulb fixture in the center and the little crack by its edge. Some more of the grogginess faded. But my mind still felt… not quite right. Drunk, almost.

Okay. Calm down. It’s fine. This sometimes happens. You sometimes sleep in a weird position and cut off blood circulation, and your arm or leg goes numb. Give it time. Let it fade. It’s fine.

But… that didn’t seem right, either. I could still feel my limbs, they weren’t numb. They just weren’t moving.

I swallowed, trying to force the panic back down.

Fuck, I’d riled myself up. I was sweating. The bedroom had become stuffy and warm and hard to breathe in, as if it'd been knocked up a few degrees by accident.

And then…

Snick.

Metal clicking. Scraping. Shifting.

The back of my neck prickled.

What the hell was that?

I couldn’t even lift my head, couldn't even turn it. But the sound had come from the far corner of the room, between the dresser and the window. I strained and tried to make out what was there at the edge of my vision. I stared until my eyes blurred. I blinked them clear. My vision snapped into focus. And my heart flew into my mouth as fear seized me in an iron grip.

There was someone standing there.

My mind screamed at my body to move, to get up, to get a better look and then to get the fuck out. But my body still wouldn’t fucking move. I was completely fucking vulnerable.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe.

I could do nothing but stare helplessly and burn and drown in the terror that threatened to split my ribs open.

Snick.

Light glinted off something by the figure’s side.

What was he holding?

Dread seeped into my blood and bones. I might have been trembling.

Fuck I didn’t know what to do, if I could fucking move I could run or fight but I can’t I’m fucking helpless what do I do God please –

The figure seemed to straighten. Light glinted again as he moved, as if flashing off something metal. And a voice – a voice I'd heard before, a voice with an undercurrent of mocking laughter – hissed directly in my ear –

“This… is God.”

I lurched awake, heart slamming against my ribs as I shot upright. Houdini was sent flying off the bed with a startled yap. I gasped down air, lungs burning as if I’d been holding my breath, and my gaze snapped to the corner of the room.

The empty corner of the room.

I stared, struggling to get my breath under control.

The bedroom was completely devoid of any life aside from the cactus on the dresser, Houdini, and me. The sheets were twisted around my body and soaked with sweat. Though the room was colder than it should’ve been. Soft morning light seeped in from between the curtains, and birds chirped happily in the distance. But otherwise it was quiet, as if the rest of the neighborhood was still sleeping. And they probably were. It was early. Earlier than I normally would’ve woken up on a Sunday. The digital clock on the dresser glowed with the blue numbers 7:13.

It’d been a dream.

…Hadn’t it?

It had felt… unnervingly real. Real enough that I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the far corner. As if I expected the shadowy figure to pop back up any second.

Unsurprisingly, it did not.

I shoved a hand into my hair, raking the tangled mess back and out of my face as I tried to collect my thoughts.

Jesus… yesterday had really thrown me for a loop, huh?

An angry yowl drew my attention down to the floor. Houdini's tail flicked as he glared at me. “Sorry, baby,” I said, wincing. My voice was hoarse. I cleared my throat and swallowed, tongue clicking dryly. “I didn't mean to. I... I had a bad dream.”

A bad dream.

The words felt heavy and clumsy in my mouth, like a badly-practiced lie. My gaze from wandering back over to the corner.

I untangled myself from the sheets and stumbled from bed and towards the corner. Leftover adrenaline buzzed through my veins and made my movements clumsy. I braced a hand against the wall. The paint was older, a little rough and worn from age, and painted a soft bluish-grey. “The color of tears” Mel had called it. On the wall to the left was the polished black dresser and the little cactus perched on its edge. On the wall to the right were the big windows and dark, heavy curtains. And between them was the corner. The empty corner, which had always remained empty because nothing I’d ever put there had stayed there. Even the little bed I’d once placed there for Houdini had eventually been gotten rid of. He never used it when he could hop onto my bed instead.

It was completely empty, completely innocuous, and exactly how it had always been.

But…

I couldn’t help but feel uneasy as I stood there. Where the figure had been in my dream.

“Fuck, Roxy, you’re losing it,” I mumbled. With a sigh, I turned away and headed downstairs. There was no way I was falling back asleep after that.

It ended up being a good choice, because I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Even as I went about my morning, flipped on the kettle and made coffee and checked Houdini’s bowl, the dream played on repeat in the back of my mind. It sank its claws into me and refused to let go.

It was just a dream. It shouldn’t have put me on edge as much as it did.

It’s just a dream.

Chill the fuck out.

Once the kettle had finished boiling and clicked off, I made my coffee and ducked into the living room. Specifically, I headed for the small desk jammed into the far corner.

My writing desk. The place where the magic happened.

I hoped.

I took a sip from the chipped coffee mug and winced at the scalding heat. Ignoring the older empty coffee cup already on my desk, I placed my current cup next to it and dropped to my knees to grab the box under the table. I hefted it out, shoved the lid off, and started sorting through what was inside.

Notes upon notes upon notes. Ideas for plots, character concepts, random scenes and scattered bits of dialogue. All from different stories. All written down and put in here for safekeeping. Some meticulously planned out, others scribbled in a frenzy and immediately forgotten. Even as a teenager, I’d hated the risk of losing an idea, no matter how stupid or silly it seemed. So I’d kept everything written down and kept in a box, should I ever decide to return to it.

It’d been a few years since I’d actually taken the time to go through everything... but maybe now was the right time. Nobody seemed to want to take my current story. So maybe it was time to work on something else. Maybe it was time to put my current manuscript aside. The thought grated on me. This story had been my baby for years, one of my favorite projects, and it hurt to put it aside, even if it was temporary.

But. I suppose an author had to know when to kill their darlings.

Nobody wanted my story.

Maybe it was time to work on a new one.

I needed the distraction anyway.

So that’s what I did. I sat on the floor, sipping coffee, going through all my old notes in hopes of sparking an idea.

And fuck, did I have a lot of notes.

Notes from I was thirteen and writing coffee shop AU fanfiction. Notes from when I was seventeen and writing nothing but angst. Scattered, disjointed notes from college about a dozen different things. And endless amounts of romance ideas and horror concepts throughout. Horror was kind of my brand, after all. I prided myself on it. And the romance was... well. Some of it was the typical young ideation of love. Others were clearly from my time with Mel.

It made my heart twinge a little.

Those were the hardest ones to read. More often than not, I pushed them to the side.

I only stopped to make a second cup of coffee, and again to give Houdini some love when he came by to sniff at what I was doing. I was too wrapped up in fictional worlds, possibility, nostalgia, to want to stop.

There was so much potential.

I just needed the right… something. The right idea, the right mood. The right spark.

But three hours later and… no dice. None of the concepts so far had spoken to me. Not that they were bad, per say. They just didn’t quite grab me. They didn't shake me and demand to be written. There wasn’t that little thrill that came with a potential new story idea that made me itch to start writing. If anything, I was getting more and more frustrated.

I wanted to be creative. I wanted to write.

I sighed in frustration and rose to my feet, suppressing a slight groan from the pain of having sat in one place for too long. I wasn’t making any progress. Maybe I needed to take a break. I was still in my pajamas, after all.

It would probably be good to clear my head.

I tossed the folder I’d been going through onto the edge of the desk before heading upstairs. I did the daily song and dance – brushed teeth, threw on some ripped jeans and an old t-shirt and a choker, the usual. I even brushed my hair for once. With how tangled it had gotten during the night… during the dream… it ended up needing it.

When I came back downstairs, I paused on the last step, frowning.

The folder had been knocked onto the floor, its paper contents scattered across the fuzzy rug.

“Goddammit Houdini,” I muttered. How many times had I told him not to jump onto the tables?

Then again. I’d named him Houdini for a reason. He was very good at disappearing from where I wanted him to be and appearing where I didn’t want him to be. It was part of his charm, I supposed.

I picked up the folder, set it on the desk, and started grabbing papers.

Good thing I’m not relying on the order of anything here...

As I snatched the papers from the floor, I gave the notes scrawled onto them a quick, half-minded onceover. And… one of the notes gave me pause. More than pause. Something cold seemed to brush up my spine as I read the words.

The note was scribbled on a corner of yellow notebook paper in smudged black ink. It read, “Ghost story: an agoraphobic woman afraid to leave her house finds her only safe place haunted by an unknown being who takes the form of a sleep paralysis demon.”

…I…

…Fuck.

How the hell…?

Fuck.

That was… one hell of a coincidence. Because that’s all it could be. A coincidence. There was no other realistic explanation for it.

It was a coincidence.

A coincidence.

I couldn’t help but cast an uneasy glance around the room. As if expecting to find the figure from my dreams standing in a corner and watching me. But of course, there was no one.

Just me. And Houdini.

No one else.

...I must’ve remembered this idea last night. Maybe right as I was falling asleep, my mind had seized upon the thought and turned it into some fucked-up dream. Yeah... that made sense. That would explain it. That was probably it.

The unease that had tightened around my heart eased its hold at the thought.

Mystery solved. Case closed. That had to be what had happened. It made total sense. I made a conscious effort to brush off any remaining anxiety from the dream.

It was the perfect explanation.

Perfect.

I regarded the note. Should I...? It might've been better to keep reading to see if I found something else. But… hell, if the inspiration was there… if the emotion was there… why not?

Why not make this idea my next project?

An excited buzz rushed through my veins as I seized upon the idea. Yes. Yes. I shoved the rest of the files back into their box and kicked it under the desk. This was it. This was going to be my next project. I had to write it. I had to follow this thread and see where it would take me. I had to see what potential ideas and paths would blossom into view as I ventured down this path.

I had to.

The rest of the day was consumed by writing and brainstorming. I spent hours exploring potential characters and plot points and ideas. My desk was soon littered with pens and paper and sticky notes. The hours flew by. I only stopped when the demands of my body – or the demands of Houdini – required it. And once more to flick on the lights once the sun sank below the horizon. At one point, Mel texted me to ask if I was alright after last night. I'd told her I was fine. There had been a long silence after that, and I'd stared at my screen until she responded with a simple thumbs-up emoji. My stomach had curled unpleasantly. After that, I’d thrown myself even harder into my writing, as if to drown out the uncertainty.

By the time I stopped long enough to look up at the clock, it was 10:27.

Oh.

Well.

Shit.

I’d completely forgotten dinner. And the fact that I had work tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. and usually got up an hour before. Which meant I should be going to bed in half an hour.

Shit.

…It was fine. I could make it work. Have a small dinner and be a little tired the next day, it was fine. I’d done it before. I could do it again. Said “small dinner” consisted of a pack of emergency ramen and one of those tiny oranges, but it was fine.

It was fine.

As I went about my usual nightly routine, I couldn’t quite ignore the anxious tug in the back of my mind. Last night had been… not good. Awful, even. One of the worst nights of sleep I’d ever had since my college days. And that wasn’t even addressing the appearance of that thing… that figure. Unease crept its way up my spine again. Even as I tried to reassure myself – it was just the story idea and stress, it wasn’t anything abnormal, tonight would probably be uninterrupted and dreamless – I couldn’t quite beat back the dread.

It was silly. Ridiculous, even. I was acting like a fucking five-year old.

I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror, hands gripping the edges of the sink a little too tightly. I looked tired. And worried. I frowned at myself. “Grow up, Roxy. Come on.”

I headed to bed, curling up on my side under the bedsheets and folding one arm under my pillow. Moments later, Houdini hopped up with a soft meow and tucked himself against my body. I stroked his fur, and he quickly fell asleep, soothed. But it took a lot longer for sleep to find me. I listened to the sounds of the house and stared at the barely-visible doorway in the dark. Rolled my new story over in my mind as I tried to ignore the pervasive whisper of anxiety.

But eventually, my eyes grew heavy, and exhaustion lulled me to sleep as well.

Until I found myself coming to again, the veil of sleep thick and heavy like a lead blanket. A lead blanket that pinned me down and made it impossible to move from my position on my side.

It was still dark. It was still silent. Houdini was still curled up next to me, sleeping peacefully.

Instinctive panic crawled up my throat to choke me, and my breath started to saw in and out.

No.

Not again.

Oh God.

I stared at the open doorway, eyes wide open in fear. My heart hammered in my chest. The door was right there. Open. It was the perfect opportunity. The figure could appear right there, and I’d be helpless.

But.

Instead.

A feeling blossomed in the small of my back, growing and crawling up my neck and across my back. Cold and scraping and heavy. I knew that feeling.

The feeling of being watched.

He was behind me. Standing in the corner again. Watching me.

I knew it. He had to be.

Oh God, this was so much worse.

Move. Move. Fucking MOVE God fucking dammit PLEASE –

I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs as I struggled against nothing. I strained my muscles, trying to fucking force myself to turn my head and peer over my shoulder to confirm it. Is he there is he really there what is he doing is he watching me?

The soft click of metal greeted my ears.

A scream of frustration got caught in my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to shut it out, shut the dream out, make it end and go away so I could wake up.

Wake up.

WakeupwakeupwakeupforGod’ssakepleasewakeup –

The shrill shrieking of an alarm pierced through the deafening silence. I lurched off the bed, my body reacting on instinct as my mind scrambled to catch up. It took a moment to register where I was. Grey-blue walls dark sheets big window dark curtains old band poster from childhood an angry cat empty corners completely empty corners nobody there –

My phone alarm screamed bloody murder.

I jabbed my finger against the screen until it shut up and left my ears ringing. My body gave out, and I let myself collapse onto my ass on the floor, breathing heavily as if I’d run a marathon. Body coated in sweat. Veins buzzing with fear-induced adrenaline.

Words couldn’t describe the sheer amount of dismay I felt.

It had happened again. It hadn’t been a one-off thing.

No. Nonononono. I dropped my head into my hands, forcing down the boiling, helpless frustration in my chest. A few minutes trickled away. I let them. I knew I should’ve been grabbing breakfast and getting ready for work. But… I needed my heart to calm down. I needed my hands to stop shaking.

I just needed a minute.

Slowly, I climbed to my feet, bracing myself against the bed and then the wall. I didn't feel rested at all. My body felt drained, my mind fuzzy around the edges. I sent a tired glance at the corner.

...And paused.

Wait.

I frowned as I approached the corner – or, more specifically, as I approached the edge of the dresser. My heart picked up speed again.

The little cactus had been knocked over.

#ace writes #waking nightmares #freddy krueger #freddy krueger x oc #freddy krueger x roxanne love #roxanne love #new nightmare #wes craven's new nightmare #anoes #a nightmare on elm street

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helloitsghost · 2 years

Text

Foxes and Weasels Part One

(Ok yes this was meant to come out on Christmas but some things happened and I couldn’t get it out on time but we gonna ignore that and just enjoy the sakuatsu I promise I’ll try going faster next time💀 but I hope you like it as much as I do it was so funny making it especially the last bits :3 shoutouts to @giggly-squiggily and @skribblz for their help and advice for this comic they really helped out with planning and helping with the actual drawings giving excellent feedback :DDDD anyways enjoyyyyyyy :D)

#haikyuu!!#sakusa #atsumu #sakuastu #sakusa kiyoomi #atsumu miya #inarizaki #itachiyama #christmas #christmas comic #christmas art #art #digital art #haikyuu comic #haikyuu art

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trivia-bangtan · 3 years

Text

after (jjk) 003

masterlist

pairing: patient!oc x patient!jungkook

genre: friends to lovers au, kinda a hazel and gus trope, | lots of angst, fluff and suggestive themes

warning: this chapter is a bit lighter, but not by much 💀

authors note: thank y’all for the support ❤️❤️ this chapter and tomorrow’s will be a bit shorter than the last but just bc i don’t wanna dump everything on y’all a at once 🤪🤪 gotta build the story yanno? anyways 🤠 as always leave comments questions or concerns for me 😔 i promise i don’t bite 🤡 enjoyyyyyyy 🥰

the week following up to the second meeting was long and annoying. due to my dangerous nature when i’m alone, i wasn’t allowed to be in my room for too long and being forced to partake in family time (which just consisted of me sitting next to either of my parents while they did their daily business). it was torturous to say the least.

but by the time tuesday rolled around, my mother couldn’t seem to hide her excitement.

“what’s got you jumpy?” i asked. i wondered if it had to do with the fact that she could have another chance at eyeing jungkook. the thought made me gag internally, the whole cougar trope a secret trigger for vomit.

“i’m just… happy you’ve made a friend in your group on your first day. you’ve always been the shy quiet type that it was hard for you to make friends growing up. your father and i used to worry for you when we had to move and you had to start a new school,” she says, a reminiscent look in her eyes.

she smiled softly, like they were fond memories before continuing.

“your teachers used to tell us during conferences that you were so smart. way too smart for your age. but you never talked to anyone. that you used to purposely sit in silence so the kids got bored and left. you valued your solitude,” she scoffs. i could tell where this conversation was heading and i didn’t like it one bit. i hated talking about me.

“stop while you’re ahead,” i murmured, peering out the window.

“hun, i don’t want you to think i’m attacking you or not on your side but—“

“please… just. just stop,” i sighed, feeling that guilty ick sliding up my back. at this point, i knew she was doing this intentionally.

“i’m sorry. i don’t want to make you upset,” my mom sighs, offering me a small smile. i ignored her, hoping that we could continue the drive in silence. the drive wasn’t very long, but it felt like it was an eternity before we pulled into the parking lot, approaching the drop off area.

“i know that this is our last hope. but hun… it won’t work unless you try to make it work,” my mom says, parking the car. my face is void of any emotion, but my heart was torn between feeling nothing and feeling everything. i looked up, catching jungkook make his way across the lot. he spots my mom’s car and smiles at me, causing an involuntary smile to inch it’s way across my lips.

“i’ve got to go to a meeting today. think you can find your way home today?” my mom says. i glance over at her, catching the way there was a mischievous smile on her lips. i scoff, nodding my head before pushing the door open. my mom yells that she loves me before i shut the door, ignoring the stares of everyone as i walk into the building.

“thought you’d be too scared to come back,” jungkook teases as he spots me walking down the hall.

“you talk like i have a choice,” i smirk, walking past him.

“i love it when you speak sarcasm,” jungkook winks, causing me to roll my eyes in return.

i couldn’t explain it. have you ever been around someone who makes you feel like an entirely different person when you’re around them? someone happier? better? like there’s hope at the end of the dreaded tunnel?

that was jungkook. he seemed to have this way of getting people to be their best self and you didn’t have to know him very long for it to kick in. it was just his natural charm.

but i wasn’t entirely sold. jungkook and i were two cars headed very fast towards the edge of the cliff. nothing good could come from it. right?

“you think you’re gonna be able to stomach story time today?” jungkook asked, catching up to me and walking side by side.

“i don’t know. isn’t the whole point of a surprise is to be inconspicuous until the time comes?” i shrug, avoiding eye contact.

“wow,” jungkook muses, gawking at me.

“what?” i ask, gauging his reaction, trying to decipher why he was staring at me that way.

“you really are an enigma aren’t you?” he chuckles, making you laugh in return.

“you have no idea,” i chuckle.

the session this time around wasn’t as bad the first. maybe because i already knew what to expect when i walked through the doors and sat in the uncomfortable blue chairs. it was the usual droning of the same old stories, different emotions.

and of course, as cliche as it was, namjoon waited til the end of the session to call me out.

“try to be uhh, more conversational this time, eh?” jungkook snickered as i stood up. i rolled my eyes at him and shoved his shoulder, slipping past yoongi’s outstretched legs.

“you’ll do great,” yoongi said, a small smile on his lips. i nodded at him and dragged my feet towards the head of the group. namjoon gave me an optimistic smile before stepping aside and taking a seat in the front row.

“uh.. hi. again,” i murmur, my voice monotone as i eyed the crowd. i spotted jungkook trying to stifle his laughter, yoongi smacking his arm. i glared at jungkook which made him laugh even harder.

“look, i’m not the emotional type. i’m just here because i have to be, not because i want to. but i guess if i gotta be here, gotta make the most of it,” i shrug. i looked over at joon who was smiling fondly, almost proudly, at me. it made me uneasy but a small sense of pride fluttered through my chest. it only seemed to grow when i peered over to yoongi and jungkook, both of them smiling at my fidgeting figure. despite the distance, i could still read their eyes like a book.

see, the thing about me is i can read people through their eyes. their thoughts, their emotions, that kind of thing. my mom used to tell me it was my super secret power, i just think it’s because i was fearful of people reading mine, so i learned to mask everything through my eyes.

but it was different here. everyone could read me in different ways. some read my body language, some read the tone in my voice as i spoke and some, like me, could read my eyes. it was hard to be deceitful when everyone here lied for a living. but that was the whole point of this group therapy. specifically this one. because i couldn’t lie and if i did, i’m sure anyone here wouldn’t hesitate to call me out on my shit.

“very true, yn. thank you. and as always have a great week everyone! see you again!” joon smiled, announcing the end of the group session. i shoved my hands into my hoodie pockets and made my way out of the room. a large hand clasped themselves around my arm, stopping me from leaving. my gaze immediately found the hand, following it up to its owner. namjoon.

“you mind if we speak for a quick second?” he smiles. his smile was easy to read: polite and gentle, but firm. like there was no other choice. i nodded my head and followed him to the back of the room.

“what’s up?” i ask, trying to rush this conversation so i could go home.

“i spoke to your doctor. they informed me of—“

“please don’t. not here,” i cut him off, knowing exactly what he was talking about. i could see jungkook standing not too far off in the distance, waiting for me.

“i don’t want to add any stress, but i just want you to know that i need to keep your doctor updated on your sessions. i know that it may be hard, but i really am here to help. if you could come in next session with a little more of an open mind, this whole process will run along smoothly,” namjoon says in a hushed whisper, understanding my need to keep everything private. it made me respect him a little more than i already did (despite the bar being literally at the lowest it could be). i nod once and exhaled a deep sigh.

“okay, i’m picking up what you’re putting down,” i murmur. namjoon places a gentle hand onto my shoulder and nods before looking up at jungkook.

“keep an eye on her, yeah?” namjoon teases. i roll my eyes and shake my head, however, donning a small smile on my lips.

“trust me, she’s had my eye since the day i first seen her.”

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ms-indifferwnt · 3 years

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Clouds part 2 (final part)

Taeil

Boyfriend!Taeil x genderneutral!Reader

"Its your choice, pretend you don't know or go inside and confront them about this"

Warning: Cursing, Suggestive (there’s a bit of food play here and wearing of maid outfit), Yelling, Angst, Cheating

A/n: part 2 took a while to write anyway enjoyyyyyyy

Word Count: 8.6

Part 1

Everyone flinches once they become witness to yours and Taeil’s fight you were at their dorm on the last year of college. You kicked the table when Taeil was flirting on the call with Lee Robin, breaking some glass that fell on the floor

“Y/n!” Taeil raises his voice and you look away licking your bottom lip and he knows your angry but he’s angry too and neither of you are willing to back down “you’re acting like a child”

“You're acting like we’re not in a relationship” you shot back, and stood up

“Where are you going?”

“To make out with Jungwoo” You said sarcastically

Jungwoo who was at a safe distance from you both made a face “Don’t drag me into this” He says loudly and you left the dorm not caring to grab your stuff

"Aren't you gonna follow them?" Johnny asks watching you by the window get in your car and drive off

Taeil looks at him "You're kidding" He motions to the mess you left behind "After all this? I should clean it up first, I'm not gonna follow them when they act exactly like their mother when they're angry" he crosses his arms taking the cookie you brought a while ago into his mouth "besides Hyuck looks like he's about to cry he needs someone to protect him"

Haechan who was at the corner looked at the older male in annoyance "Yah! being afraid of them and crying is different!" He hits his Hyung on the head as he spoke making Yuta snicker and Mark pull the boy away from the eldest

Taeil knew where you'd be, a guess really, (if you count being friends with you since birth and knowing you like watching kids play in the park when you’re upset a guess), he sees you sitting on the chair just watching

He moves to sit beside you and you looked away, a bit angry and huffing once he looks at you “Y/n” He whispers and you avoid his eyes, he couldn’t help but smile, he can tell you weren’t angry anymore but you still acted that way just so you get an explanation “I love you” He says and pulls you closer to him “I love only you, will you let me explain myself now?” You nod, and looked at him “First of all, you owe my dorm new glasses” He starts and you stared at him as he smiles “Second, Lee Robin really?” He asked teasingly and you started scooting away but his embrace was making it hard to do so “Third, Baby do you remember what club I joined this year?”

You blinked and thought about it before realization hit and your cheeks stained red making Taeil laugh “Fuck” You whispered and hid your face

“Fuck, indeed” He teases and tries to pry your hand away from your face “What are you so embarrassed about Y/n?”

“Shut up” You whispered and kept your face covered “You could’ve explained while I was still in the Dorm you know”

“Now, What’s the fun in that?”

“I hate you”

“No Baby you have to tell me what made you angry”

“Why didn’t you say both of you were just exchanging lines for a play?”

“Cause I thought you remembered that I was part of the theatre club” He teases

“I’m gonna go jump off a cliff”

He laughs and holds your hand “Baby” He calls you and nuzzles you “You finally cooled down?”

You looked at him and nodded “Yeah, God I caused a scene” You whined and scratched your head aggressively “I hate it, I hate myself”

He smiles and holds your hand before you could hurt yourself from aggressively scratching your hair and made you look at him “Hey, don’t say that” You opened your mouth to reply but he cuts you off with a smile “Look if you’re really sorry to the others, new glasses and apologize in front of them, and maybe a kiss for me”

You stared at him before smiling, he was thankful he managed to make you smile “You’re a dork”

He smiles and holds your hand “But I’m not happy with what you did, you know that right?”

You nod

“Look, I know you had a right to get angry buy Y/n” He whispers and takes a deep breath “next time, talk to me, our relationship isn’t going to work if we don’t communicate, tell me what I did wrong that could make you upset” He cups your cheek “And I’ll tell you why you shouldn’t” You puffed your cheeks to retaliate and he smiles “You act like your mother when your angry so you should stop and tell me things ok?”

“Yeah, Ok”

“Good” He squishes your cheeks together “Now, buy me a new glass and apologize to everyone else”

You kind off avoided Taeil’s dorm for about two months after your mini tantrum (that’s what Taeil called it) you were too ashamed to show yourself and Taeil uses that feeling to get you to tell him stuff when your upset and he assures you that none of his friends think of you any different then before, maybe you even earned some awed looks but that’s about it

You only stepped back into his dorms when Jungwoo called you to tell you about the fight between Taeil and Hongjoong from across the hall, they were having a hard time to keep them apart and they need your help, you ran as fast as you possibly could and when you finally came you saw it, Taeil landing a punch square on to Hongjoong’s face. “Taeil!” You yelled and squeezed yourself in between them to push Taeil away and hug him

His arm instinctively wrapped themself around you and held you, letting you pull him away “Stop it, stop it, please”

He had a busted lip, with blood dripping down his nose, cheeks slightly swollen and a hand against his chest, “Piss off” He glares at Hongjoong

“You’re one to talk when you hit me first, Moon” Hongjoong taunts, he was not in a good condition, he had a swollen cheek, a cut by his cheek bone and blood at the corner of his lips

Taeil curses and moves to step forward and out of your hold “Listen you shit, I wasn’t the one on the ground, now was I?” He glares and stood tall infront of Hongjoong

You held on to him and begged “No, Taeil, please, no just stop it”

He sighs and holds you close, letting you drag him away and out of the dorm building taking him to the nearest bench “Stay here I’ll get you some ointment and ice” you let go of him when he grabs your arm and you sigh making him let go so you could buy the things

Once you returned the first thing you saw was Taeil looking down at the ground, his hands at his sides and you pet his hair once you approached him “Hey babe” you whispered and he hugged you, wrapping his arms around your waist and you pet his hair

“Are you mad?” He asks, burying his face more to your stomach and covering the (his) shirt your wearing with a bit of blood

“Depends,” You replied, kneeling down to cup his cheeks and sighed “Are you going to cry if I am?”

“Yeah”

You puffed your cheek and shifted so you can place ointment on his lip while he holds the ice against his nose “I won’t get angry” You silently promised “But you have to tell me what happened”

“On second thought you can get mad at me” You growled and pressed your finger into the wound of his lip and he hisses “Alright, I’m sorry, Shit Y/n, I said sorry!”

You laugh and he relaxes, hugging you again and you hold on to him “Sorry” He sighs and keeps you close

“I love you” He whisperers and you flinch when he pulls away and pulled you to sit beside him

“I love you too” you answered and holds his hands “Tell me what happened”

He sighs and nods, placing the ice on his nose, he explains. He explains how he found out Hongjoong has started getting interested in you and how Hongjoong has been making sure to get you to notice him. He tells you of how he heard Hongjoong badmouth you and then Taeil being the sweet cuddly bear he is decided to sock him in the jaw.

After he tell you the story you bursted out laughing and he tilts his head confused as to why you were giggling “Thank you” You said and pecked his lips again “For defending me, but please next time think about yourself first”

“How could I when its you?”

“Taeil-”

“No, Y/n listen to me. I worked hard to have you buy my side and I’ve made sure you were as happy as I was in the relationship, I have protected you ever since you came out of your mother’s vagina-”

“Babe, please just say birth like a normal person-”

“Your mother’s vagina,” He says again, putting emphasis on his words “And I will continue to do so. The day you said you liked me, was actual heaven on earth for me and I’d rather die then loose you, So I’m sorry I got hurt, I know you don’t like it when I do but I can’t and I won’t stand back if I could do something”

You bit your lip and cup his cheek, “I know enough that I can’t stop you if you have already made up your mind but atleast be safe” he nods and nuzzles into your hand and you coo, you’re really harboring a hate for Hongjoong after today’s events, especially if Taeil’s lip will leave a scar “I’ll be right back” You told him and stood up to kiss his cheeks

“Where are you goin?”

“To beat the crap out of Hongjoong for hurting you”

“Oh” He hums “Oh!? no Y/n Wait!”

“Open your eyes and I kick you in the crotch” You threatened and he freezes “If you’re that scared then let me lead you and close your eyes”

He laughs “Even if I open them you won’t kick me in the crotch”

You snort “Yeah?”

“Yeah~ you and I both know how much you adore my-”

You cut him off with a yelp and a whine “I get it, I get it” He laughs “Jerk” You murmur and held his hand “We’re almost there and” You stopped making him follow suit “Done, you can open your eyes now”

He obeys and opens his eyes, before looking around in shock “What- Oh”

“Happy Birthday” You great and showed him the cake and cookies you baked, he looks around happily, you lead him to your Dorm, your roommate was gonna stay at their girlfriend’s dorm for the next couple of days a way to get you and Taeil some time alone “Do you like it?” You asked softly and hugged him from behind and he nods

“I love it, thank you” He whispers and turns around to kiss you but you took a step back making sure he won’t kiss you and he tilts his head questioningly “Baby?”

You tapped his lips and pulled away “Actually I have one more present” You wiggled your eyebrows “Eat the cookies, I’ll be back in six minutes tops” You grin and ran to your bedroom

He smiles and nods, sitting down on the sofa with the plate of cookies so he can munch on then as he waits your return. As he waits he can’t help but grin, he was lucky, he was lucky that you became his bestfriend, that not only did he fall in love with you, you fell in love with him. He was happy, and the added the fact both your parents were more than ecstatic to find out you two were dating, its like a ship they always wanted coming true. He loves you, so so much that he wants to spend his time with you like this, as his bestfriend, his significant other and when you’re both ready, his partner in life

“Taeil close your eyes” You called out and he obeys, humming to let you know he was doing it, taking another munch of the cookie “Ok,” You start walking in front of him “I’d just like to inform you, this is your personal taste. Ok open your eyes”

He slowly did as he was told and stares at you in shock, dropping the cookie in his hand as his eyes scanned your figure “You-you’re wearing a maid outfit”

You nod “I asked you a month ago what outfit you wanna see me in” You reached out to trace his jaw with your finger “And what did you say?”

“Fuck” He breathes and holds you by the waist, “Why wear this now?”

“Then when will I wear it?”

“In bed” He murmurs, You swat his hand and he pouts “Don’t blame me when you’re dressed like a full course meal, makes me wanna eat you up”

“I made you cake” You pointed at it and he pulls you to sit on his lap “eat that”

He grins and buries his nose to your exposed neck, trailing kisses there “I can do both” He growls and you whimper “Be good” He starts and pulls away swiping the frosting of the cake and then placing it on his jaw “and I’ll let you lick the frosting off me pretty”

You whined “Can’t believe your actually doing this”

He grins “Its my birthday,” He playfully reminds and places the frosting on your bottom lip then your neck then he pushes the top slightly down to expose more of your skin and leave frosting there “From what we agreed on when we were seven years old, the birthday celebrator gets whatever they want” he pulls away to look at your frosting covered skin and he grins “and I want you”

Graduation was the beginning of both of your dreams, deciding that you both wanted to learn and experience independence you both agreed that it would be better to get apartments near the job you two currently work at and lucky enough your college friend Jungwoo offered his place when his roommate left so that handles where you will live

Taeil on the other hand still hasn’t found one, not until he was hanging out with an old friend of his, Dong Sicheng who said that his college roommate was looking for a new roommate and now he lives with Qian Kun twenty minutes away from where you lived

And that’s as the beginning of your independence. It started off good, you’d visit Taeil whenever you can and he visits you, date nights are still very common and it usually ends with you waking up in his arms but this isn’t college anymore you both get pretty busy

It started off pretty innocent, canceling lunch cause of being swamped with paper work, to rescheduling dates cause of work to forgetting you ever made plans. Your conversations started getting shorter and quicker, the morning and goodnight messages are also being forgotten to the point that your conversations start to null

“Hello?” Taeil’s voice pierced through the phone

You look around dusting your jeans, making yourself presentable so when you’re boyfriend arrives he’ll not only see that food you placed on the picnic blanket but you and give you a big kiss “I’m at the park, where are you?” You asked softly

“Park?” He asks

“Yeah we have- a date?” You asked softly

“Shit” He breathed “Baby, I’m sorry”

You look down “Work?”

“Yeah” He answers softly “I’ll make it-”

“No its fine, I’ll go home, call me when you’re done, ok?”

“Ok, I’m sorry”

You laugh “No its alright,”

“I love you”

“I love you too” you replied a bit sad and packed up your stuff

It wasn’t the first time he forgot and you really can’t blame him, there are times you’d forget too

“Y/n? Y/n I’m at the movies where are you?” Taeil starts and you hissed once you remember about your supposed date

“At work?” You replied

“You forgot?”

“Oh- I- yeah, I did I’m sorry” You whisper

“We’ve been planning this-”

“I know but I cant just leave”

He sighs “Alright, just-just be careful. Don’t overwork”

“I’ll try” You replied “I love you”

“I love you too”

The schedule conflicts get bad too the point that the two of you see each other at a certain time and day according to the schedule. According to said schedule that Taeil may come and eat lunch with you every Tuesday and Wednesday,, that he can pick you up from work at Friday and can come ask you out on a date at Saturday afternoon. As for Taeil he can only eat breakfast with you every Monday and Thursday and that he can meet up with you at Thursdays and finally he can go out on dates only at Sundays. That lasted for a long time.

Your whole relationship is based off appointments, Neither of you have time together, Neither of you are there when one of you need the other and at some point the relationship is starting feel compulsory, clearly both of you need to talk and fix this or your relationship is doomed

And it worked, after you both communicated, the schedule was scrapped and it was as if you both were back to normal always being at each others side, dates every weekend or just relaxing into each other's arms

But even that was temporary. And with lack of communication we have the lack of trust

“You’re always busy! You told me that the other day and last week!” You yelled and pushed him away from you when he stood you up the third time this month

“Its work Y/n”

“Call me then!” You angrily ran your fingers through your hair “Is it that hard to call me and say ‘I’m gonna be late, I’m sorry babe’“

“Y/n-”

“Don’t-” You threatened and pointed a finger at him “Don’t talk to me, I’m so mad right now, I will definitely not hesitate to kick you”

He looks down “I’m sorry”

“I thought we were trying to make an effort?” you whispered and wiped your tears “You said we’ll make an effort”

“I know I’m sorry”

“I’m going home” You whispered and left him, walking in the direction of your shared apartment with Jungwoo

The next day Taeil decided to surprise you, and ask for forgiveness by visiting you at work and waiting at the lobby. He was nervous the two of you did just fight and he sighs.

He hears your voice and he perks up, turning to look for you only to see you standing beside a handsome man in a suit. He watches you as you laugh at something he said and move your hands in a way to show that you were explaining something to him. Taeil narrowed his eyes at the man, something about how close he was or how he nonchalantly places his hand on you or how looks at you doesn’t rest well with him and he doesn’t like how you’re not even reacting to his subtle ways of flirting. He appears in front of the the two of you and you flinched

“Taeil?” You asked surprised but was happy to see him as you smiled, you really missed him. Taeil smiles back, he missed you

The man looks between the two of you “You know each other?” He asks and you nod

“Ahhh, Sunbaenim” You said looking at the man “this is my boyfriend, Moon Taeil. Taeil this is my boss’s son, Kim Doyoung Sunbaenim” Taeil narrows his eyes at the man and you reached out to hold his hand before something could start “What are you doing here?” You asked and lead him away from Doyoung

“I wanted to apologize and take you to eat some clouds” He answers

You smile “You’re so sweet” you tilt you head when he scoffed

“Do you really have to hang out with him?”

“Him?”

“Kim Doyoung” He answers

“I kind off can’t avoid him”

“Why not?”

“Well, he’s my boss’ son and we work at the same department, so its hard”

He rolls his eyes

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want you to hang out with him”

“There’s nothing going on?” You asked

“So? I just don’t want you too”

“Aren’t you overreacting?” He doesn’t answer and you pursed your lips “What? are you mad at me now?”

“Yeah cause you won’t listen to me”

“And I explained why I couldn’t” You shot back and he sighs heavily and you cross your arms “Go home”

He looks at you in shock “But I thought we’re gonna get clouds?”

“I’m not in the mood anymore, just go”

“Y/n?” Taeil asked once he picks up the phone, he drops his bags on to the side as he collapsed on the sofa, his roommate should be home soon as well

"Where are you?" You answered after a long pause

"Home" He replied nonchalantly and stretched on the sofa "Why? Wait did you call cause you missed me?~" He teased. You didn't reply and he frowns "Baby?"

"Check your calendar"

"What-? Why? did I forget something?" He jokes and you rolled your eyes. He puts you on speaker phone and looks through and there he spots it "Oh shit"

You sighed and he immediately presses the phone to his ear “You saw?” You asked

He starts explaining himself, running his hand through his hair “I’m so sorry, I was so busy I never realized-”

“Don’t bother” You replied, cutting him off “I really don’t want to talk to you right now, I’m going home”

“No wait, Baby. Hap-” You cut him off by ending the call “-py Birthday” He whispers and sighs leaning back against the sofa

“Oh you’re here,” Kun’s voice pierced his ears as he drowned himself in regret for the past ten minutes “Wasn’t expecting you here, thought you’d be with Y/n or something” He leaves his bags to the side and looked at Taeil who looked at him with tired, sad eyes “What the hell is wrong with- You forgot didn’t you?” He asked and Taeil sighs looking away from his friend

“Taeil?” You asked when you spot him in your office the next day “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see you” He answered and slowly walked forward to hug you and you flinched “I’m so sorry, I know I hurt you, I really didn’t mean it”

You hugged him back and hid your face in his chest and he looks at you worriedly “You hurt me a lot” You murmured

He nods “I know” He kisses the top of your head

“Its ok to be busy and all, I understand that but you could’ve at least sent me a message or cancel on me It would’ve been so much better than waiting for a long time only to call you and find out you don’t even remember”

“I know, I’m sorry. I’ll win your heart again ok?”

“How?”

“Its never too late to celebrate, wanna have celebratory clouds?”

"Do you actually think that clouds will make me forgive you?"

"I hope so?"

"I want a smoothie too" You huffed "And get me front row tickets to this concert i want"

He nods "anything you want" he agrees and kisses your nose and you smile "I love you"

You opened your mouth to reply but was interrupted by Doyoung's voice "Y/n?" He called out and you turned to look at him

"What's wrong, Sunbaenim?" You asked and he looks at Taeil, a hint of a smirk on his lips

"Nothing big" He starts and looks at you, and Taeil knows he chose his next words carefully "I need you, is all. Come here"

You moved to detach yourself from your boyfriend but he held you back by your wrist and you chuckle and went back to peck his lips "My shift is almost over, wait for me, ok?"

He glares at Doyoung but nods at you "hurry" He whines and you nod, pulling away to follow after Doyoung as Taeil physically restrained himself from doing something when he saw Doyoung hold your hand to lead you somewhere

Taeil opens the door to your apartment and here you sat on the sofa watching tv "babe" He called and you looked up from the tv "You're here"

You smile "Taeil! What are you doing here?" Yiu called out and stood up to hug him, you couldn't help but chuckle at how handsome your boyfriend looked with his turtleneck and coat but when you reached out to him he stepped back "Taeil...?"

"Were-Were you here the whole time?" He asked

"Yes? its my ‘me’ day?" You tilt your head "Are you ok?"

He doesn't answer and licks his lips as if waiting for you to figure it out on your own, his phone dinging with notifications

"Taeil, Why is your phone so noisy?"

“Why isn’t yours?” He asked

“I turned it off”

He clenched his jaw "Its nothing them, its just congratulatory texts"

"Congratulating what?"

He sighs "Today is the Twenty-fourth of April" He replies

You pursed your lip "Twenty-fourth?" You asked and tilt your head, really confused until it clicked "Oh My God"

He watches as realization hits you and you looked at him with guilt "I'm so sorry-" You whispered

He cuts you off "about what?" He crosses his arms "What exactly are you sorry about?"

You looked down

"Y/n look at me" He commands and you looked at him "What are you sorry about Y/n?"

"I forgot" You whispered and reached forward to hold his hand when he took a breath and a step back, you pressed your lips to a thin line "our-our anniversary"

"Why?"

"I-I don't have a good reason," You admitted "I just forgot and-and I know its no excuse-"

"If you didn't forget," He starts crossing his arms "Do you know what we would both be doing right now?"

You kept your mouth shut as you tried to remember but nothing comes to mind and he sighs sharply

"We were supposed to meet at my favorite restaurant. I waited for you, for three hours and you never showed. And when I came here you were just on the sofa, taking a ‘you’ day and with no good excuse" You looked down "How do you expect me to react to that?! I'm so angry right now, and sad and frustrated!" He yells, his chest heaved "I'm feeling so many things! And the person I usually run to to help me calm down is the cause of it!" He takes deep breathes to calm himself down "I really shouldn't be talking to you right now, no, I don't wanna talk you to right now" He says and turns around leaving through the door without so much as a glance

He avoided and ignored you for a solid three days, every time you would appear to apologize he would walk past you and leave you there, looking up so you won’t cry

“Like seriously there’s this really pretty person waiting outside,” Says Sicheng to his office workmate “Yeah, Beautiful H/c hair, great body if you know what I mean, but like they looked tired” He taunts and Taeil snaps up when he over heard his friend speaking listening to him “Goes by Y/n, Do you know them?” He asks to the workmate “Well they know someone here, cause they’ve been waiting a while”

Taeil stands up after hearing that, attracting a lot of people’s attention. His shift was over in a few minutes but to hell with that, you were downstairs? He grabs his coat and ran out to the lobby, impatiently tapping the down button onto the elevator, he huffs at how long it was taking before he ran to the fire escape and took the stairs to the first floor.

He was a heaving mess when he finally ran out the building to see you sitting on a bench with a paper bag from his favorite coffee shop, you looked horrible dark circles under your eyes and pale “Taeil?” You asked and stood up walking towards him

He was taking deep breaths, regaining his composure in front of you, “What’re you doing here?” He asked

You looked at the paper bag in your hands “I wanted to give this to you and to apologize”

He licks and pushes the bag back to you “I’m going home” He informed and walked past you but stopped when he felt someone grip the edge of his sleeve, It wasn’t held tightly, he knows you did that on purpose so he can pull it away when he really wanted to, “I’m sorry,” You start, your head down in both guilt and regret “I know I hurt you and I deserve this but please, I miss you” You whispered sniffling as you tried your best to not cry

Growing up Taeil hated seeing you cry, or seeing you at the brink of it, he would always do anything and everything to make you smile again and now was no different, he turned to pull your hand away from his sleeve, and you were ready to cry out to him but he locks your hands together before he dragged you to his apartment

Kun sat crossed leg on the floor with Lucas and Ten playing a game of Poker when Kun entered through the door “And he’s home!” Lucas yells “Deal him in,” He shoves Ten to give space for the oldest “Hyung come we’re playing poker”

He ignores them and kicks his shoes off not stopping as he dragged you, you knowing he won’t stop to let you greet the others or take off your own shoes you kicked your shoes off and he tugs on your arm to lead you to his room

Once everyone saw you behind him they immediately covered there mouth in an attempt to be quiet and you both disappeared behind his door

He finally lets you go when the door closed and he takes off his coat before flopping on his bed and taking his phone out in an attempt to focus on something else. You know what he was doing cause you’ve experienced this before, you take off your coat and slowly crawled up his bed before poking his arm and he opens it letting you snuggle his side

It was just silence between the two of you as he scrolls through his social media before he stops and places his phone to the bedside table before looking at you and you look at him “I’m Sorry” You whisper once he was ready to talk and listen to you

He takes a deep breath “If you were me, If you waited for me for three hours dressed up nicely, if you called me and it went straight to voicemail and then when You come to my apartment I’m taking a ‘me’ day, with my phone off on the day of our anniversary”

You licked your lips “I’d be doing the exact same thing you are”

“So at least we agree on that,” He mumbles “I’m more than hurt, Y/n.”

“I know, and I deserved all of the anger you threw at me, I couldn’t sleep or eat cause I wanted to see you” You answered and hid your face to his chest “But I regret everything, and even if you don’t forgive me now I’ll do anything so you will”

He looks at you before tapping your ears so you’ll look at him and that’s what you did, He kisses your forehead “Please don’t forget me,” He begged “I know that taking time off and to yourself is fine but tell me, wish me a happy anniversary... I was so scared when you forgot about me”

You nod “I know, I’m sorry”

“Stop saying that,” He holds you closer and you shifted to cling comfortably at him “Don’t tell me you’re sorry”

“Its my fault” You whispered

“Its my fault just as much as yours”

“I’m still sorry” You mumbled

“I forgive you” He chuckles

“Thank you” you said drowsily

He nuzzles you before “I love you Y/n”

There was no reply that when he looked down there you were asleep

He chuckles and covers both of you in a blanket kissing your cheek

“Taeil!” You yelled, running up to him and separated him from your Boss’ son “What the hell is going on?”

He glares at Doyoung who was on the ground wiping the blood off the corner of his lips

“Taeil!” You yelled again when he won’t pay attention to you, grabbing his arm so he’ll look at you “Why? He’s my Boss’ son, I could be fired cause of what you did” You whispered harshly

“He deserved it” He replies

“Didn’t you hear a word I said?” You asked angrily “I love this job and I’m not loosing it cause of your actions” You turned around to kneel in front of Doyoung “Are you ok? I’m so sorry, please forgive him” You bowed

Doyoung immediately assured you and told you not to do that “Y/n don’t do that, It’s alright”

“But your lip” You murmur and reached out to wipe the blood and he freezes from how close you were, before looking at Taeil and shooting a triumphant smirk

Taeil glared at him more before grabbing your arm “We’re going home” He says and pulls you before you take your arm away

“No!” You yelled and glared at him “I’m not going anywhere with you, this is your fault I’m cleaning it up”

“I don’t want you anywhere near him” He replies just as angry as you

“Really?” You growled “This again? Him again?” You shoved him by the chest “Go” You point at the door “Go home, don’t bother me here when I’m working”

“But-” You turned around to help Doyoung

Tail grabbed your wrist “Y/n please, come with me”

You pulled it away “Go” You said again and walked towards Doyoung who smiled upon seeing you approaching him

Taeil balled his fist, he was angry he just doesn’t know if he was angry at himself, You or Doyoung

Donghyuck yelped and grabbed Mark’s sleeve when Taeil slammed the door of his apartment and stopped when he spotted his college friends (Mark and Donghyuck) in his living room playing Jenga with Kun on the coffee table

“Hyung what’s wrong?” Mark asked after reassuring Hyuck

“I think he and Y/n fought again” Kun guessed

“Again?” Hyuck murmurs “When was the last fight?”

“Last week? last last week?” Kun replied with a shrug

“Hyung what happened?” Mark asks

At first Taeil opted to ignore all three of them but Hyuck was faster and was infront of Taeil’s room refusing to let him enter until he told them the cause of their fight

“You know I’m not in the mood” Taeil warned

“Maybe we can help Hyung” Mark tries as his boyfriend blocks the door “Give you advice”

“I don’t need advice” Taeil growls

“You do” Hyuck shots back “Don’t you want to make up with Y/n?”

Taeil glares at the younger before sighing “Fuck the both of you”

Hyuck knew that meant ‘I’ll tell you’ so slowly he lead the oldest to the sofa as Mark gave him a cup of coffee to calm his nerves, while Kun turned to at his roommate to ay attention to him so he can pay attention

“Start from the beginning, Hyung” Hyuck stated and sat beside his boyfriend

Taeil sighs and takes a sip of his coffee before starting

So I decided to visit Y/n to surprise you and when I got there, I sat on the sofa lobby, I was anxious, running my finger’s through my hair or my clothes. I was excited to see Y/n since for the past couple of day’s we’ve been to busy to hang out

When all of a sudden someone trip and spilled some papers so I decided to help them after picking it up and handing it to them and repeatedly bowing to the employees may thank yous

He sees Doyoung, The Doyoung that he never felt ok about. Eversince he met the man he has seen multiple occasions of him trying to hog you all for himself whenever I was in the room, he would see the lingering touches the man did to you or how close he always hung around you and the entire thing didn’t rest well with me but he was Y/n’s Boss’ Son and I know how much you love this job so I kept my mouth shut

Doyoung grins and bows in greeting and Taeil returns the acknowledge “Did you come here to see Y/n?”

“Yes” He answers

“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a bit longer,” Doyoung replied with a shrug “They’re helping me with something”

I couldn’t help but scoff

“Sorry?” Doyoung asked when he heard the scoff

“I just noticed that sometimes you forget that Y/n has their own stuff to work on, or that they have a life of her own”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means they don’t need to babysit you”

Doyoung glared at the older “You say that but I can bet my whole fortune that Y/n enjoys it with me more than they do with you”

I glared back “Bull”

“They said it themselve’s” He grinned knowing he struck my nerve “They’re unhappy with you and make them happy, in fact if they meet you here and you make them choose between us, I’m confident they’ll choose me”

“Shut up”

“Shut what up? Like stop talking or stop proving that Y/n, your significant other would rather be with me than you?”

I just glared at him

“Why?” He taunts “Are you afraid that Y/n wants to be with me more you?”

I growled and turned to swing my fist connecting it with his jaw and he falls to the ground from the impact, he places his hand on his lips to see if he was bleeding before glaring at me

“Asshole” I said

“Taeil!” You yelled, running up to him and separated him from your Boss’ son “What the hell is going on?”

“And that’s how our fight started” Taeil explains and looks at his friends to see what they’ll say

“And Y/n and you fought over that?” Mark asked with a face “That guy, Doyoung? He deserved that punch you gave him-”

Donghyuck cut him off by waving his hand “Actually I’m with Y/n on this one”

“What?” Mark asked in shock and made a face at his boyfriend “If I was at Taeil Hyung place I would’ve punched the guy”

“And then you and I would’ve fought like Y/n and Taeil Hyung did, Mel” He replies adding a sweeter end to it by adding the pet name he has for Mark

“Sunshine~” Mark whines and Donghyuck ignores him with a shrug

“I’m not saying I don’t understand why you did it Hyung, its just, I know how much Y/n loves that job and I know how devastated they’ll be if the loose it” Hyuck explains “Doyoung definitely deserved the busted lip Hyung but have you ever thought of dealing with him another way?”

“Like what?”

“Well you can verbally insult him, to begin with” Hyuck teases before clearing his throat when nobody laughed “Ok sorry, for real though you can tell Y/n”

“What?”

“Well Y/n isn’t really aware of what’s your side of the story” Hyuck starts then Mark cuts in

“Y/n would understand if you two would talk about it first” Mark supplied and nod “I’ve known you and Y/n since Highschool and I know how you two care for each other. This fight is nothing Hyung I know the two of you will get through it”

“I agree with Donghyuck” Kun finally inputs “Its much better if the two of you would talk about this before the fight would progress”

“you guys think so?” He asks

Hyuck nods “Absolutely”

“Alright, I’ll go talk to them tomorrow” He replies and yelps when Hyuck pulls on his ear

“Why wait to do things tomorrow when you can do them today?” He recites

“Its cause I’m waiting for them to calm down” He quickly answered “And Y/n said not to bother them at work!” He yelped and rubbed his ear when Hyuck finally let go of his ear

“Then go visit their apartment?” Hyuck asks

Mark nods “That’ll be a great surprise!”

Taeil looks around “I’m not sure”

“What’s the worst that could happen Hyung?” Mark asked and Taeil doesn’t answer “Exactly”

Hyuck stood up and grabbed his wrist “Come on I’ll help you pick a fit” He says and drags the oldest to his room

“You ok Hyung?” Mark asks Kun who was quiet

“Yeah, I just have a bad feeling” He answered truthfully

“Its just in your head” Mark reassures and stand “Sunshine, make him wear that blue button up”

“I hope so” Kun whispers

Hyuck pokes his head out the door and made a face “Fuck no” He replies and returns

“What’s wrong with the button up?” Mark asked with a pout walking to the eldest’s room

“It’s tacky” Kun answers “Hyuck Make him wear the white sweater you got him for new years”

Hyuck gasps “Oh perfect” He exclaims

Taeil arrived at the door of your apartment dressed in the white sweater Hyuck gifted him and a pair of jeans giving him a soft boy glow to it (As Hyuck happily mentioned)

Right before he could knock he heard Jungwoo’s voice from the other side of the door

“Are you fucking insane Y/n?” He growls “What about Taeil?”

He heard your voice but couldn’t make it out cause compared to how loud Jungwoo was, you seemed very calm

“That isn’t a good excuse to cheat!” Jungwoo raised his voice

“Don’t yell at them” Doyoung says defensively

Taeil freezes at the words then again at the voice. He was hearing things right? it isn’t real

“You stay out of this” Jungwoo growled “And You, Y/n. Aren’t you going to at least tell Taeil instead of doing this?”

Taeil stopped listening as blood rushed to his ears, he couldn’t focus on anything, his eyes were starting loose focus and he was livid. At you and at Doyoung for doing this and not even telling him. He wanted to cry, he wanted to yell, he wanted to fight someone, he was a mix of different emotions, for the first time in a very long time he was vulnerable, in disbelief, disgusted, angry confused and heartbroken. He couldn’t hear the rest o the conversation ‘till Jungwoo’s voice woke him up

“Please if anything I’m as angry as Taeil if not I’m angrier” He practically snarled “I don’t care what you do or what yo did, case you and Taeil are my friends,. All of this is on you, whatever happens, this is your choice. You got yourself in this hole now crawl out on you own” He opens the door and flinches after seeing Taeil standing there, he closes the door behind him

“Jungwoo” Taeil greets without life

“How much have you heard?”

“All of it” He answers and looks down

Jungwoo sighs and looks down “I’m sorry”

“Were you the one who cheated on me?”

“No?”

“Were you the guy Y/n cheated on me with?”

“No”

“Then why are you sorry?” he looks up and wipes the stray tear

“Cause I can see how your barely holding yourself up as it is”

Taeil takes a wobbly step back as he runs his fingers through his hair as he looks at everything and anything just to control the tears that are spilling from his eyes “I don’t know how I’m able to stay up as it is” He confesses and laughs forcibly

Jungwoo looks at his friend sadly as he takes the information in, Taeil sits on the floor when his legs give way making Jungwoo kneel and help his friend

Taeil looks at his friend, pleadingly “Why did this happen?” He asked in disbelief gripping Jungwoo by his collar as if he had the answers “Am I not good enough? Is that why?”

Jungwoo places his hands on Taeil and slowly took it off

“I’m hurt” He admitted “So hurt. I love them so much and I still do, Jungwoo and its driving me crazy how I wanna pretend that I didn’t hear anything” He wipes his tears “What do I do?” He whispers and sniffs

“From the way I see it,” Jungwoo sighed and looked back at the closed apartment door before answering his friend "Its your choice, pretend you don't know or go inside and confront them about this”

Taeil just starts wiping his tears again

“Look, I know you’ve sacrificed a hell of a lot for them and I know you’re not happy and I know you wanna do something I know you’ll regret so You can knock on the door and act as if you don’t know yet then confront them on your own time or you can open the door now and confront them now”

Taeil started shaking

“Or I can take you home” Jungwoo suggested

Taeil shook his head “Now” He wiped hsi face “I wanna talk to them now”

Jungwoo looked at him and nods “Alright, I’ll go for a walk, do you want me to stay?”

Taeil stares at your apartment and stood up not answering Jungwoo yet “Maybe just stay there” he pointed at the end of the hall “Cause I need a bit of your strength”

Jungwoo nods “Sure man”

“How long have you Teil asks as he looks at his friend

“I just did”

Taeil takes deep breaths to calm himself down despite shaking from restrained anger and he shoves his hand in his pockets “If you were me what would you do?”

Jungwoo looks at the door and back at his friend “Kick the door in” He answers

Taeil takes a step forward wiping his eyes as Jungwoo walked off to somewhere you won’t spot him and Taeil raises his hand to the door knob to enter and confront you about it but he pauses is he willing to loose you? Was chasing after you all these years meant to lead to this heartbreak and betrayal? Was it all a game to you? Was he not enough? Will you stay if he acted if he didn’t know?

Knock, Knock

He bumped his knuckles against the door, and there you were

“Taeil!” You greeted happily and surprised before you closed the door behind you,

“Where’s Jungwoo? Are you alone?” He asks

You nod “He left, I’m alone” You answered, it made his gut twist, he hated that you could just lie to his face like that “Did you cry?” You asked reaching out to cup his cheek in concern “Why did you cry?”

He found himself leaning into your touch “Let-let’s go eat clouds?” He stutteringly suggested “I wanna tell you something”

You nod “Ok, I wanNa tell you something too” You smile and moved to hold his hand “I wanted to say sorry for snapping at you when I was at work” You started

Taeil wasn’t paying attention he stared at your intertwined hands, he felt disgusted holding it and he lets go. He can’t live like this, he reuses to live like this

“Taeil?” You asked confused

“I hate you” He breathed

“What?” You asked in shock

“Why lie?”

“You’re scaring me,” You admitted “Lie about what?”

He rolls his eyes, he was angry now, more angry than he was sad. He turns around to walk back to your door

“No, wait” You said and followed after him just as he swings the door open

Doyoug was lying on the sofa, on his phone until he turned when the door opened and met with Taeil’s eyes and he stands up, You push through and stand in between them before a fight would break out

“I knew” He started and placed his hand to his chest as he forced himself to breathe “I knew but actually seeing it, is so much worse”

You looked panicked, reaching out to hold Taeil’s hand and he takes a step back from you,

“I was going to tell you” You started

“When?” He asked through his teeth

“Clouds” You answered after a while

He scoffed “You mean the one now?” He mocked “How kind of you”

“I’m sorry-”

“Don’t” He warned pointing a finger at you “How long?” He asked and motioned to the two of you

You opened your mouth to answer before he shakes his head “Nevermind, I-I don’t want to know” He reaches up to wipe his eyes once his vision started getting blurry “That’ll only make me shittier than I already am... Instead tell me, why?” He asked venom practically leaking from his words “Why do this? Am I not enough? Were you that unhappy?”

You looked at him sadly not answering

“Answer me!” He yelled “You owe me that much!”

You flinched “I was tired” You squeaked and Doyoung glared at Taeil when he raised his voice at you

“Tired of what?” He growled “If your tired you rest, you tell your boyfriend” He snaps his hand to his chest “Not cheat on him!”

“All of it” You looked down, you were afraid of Taeil and sad and Taeil could tell “I am so so so so tired of fighting with you, of not being able to eat or sleep cause I’m thinking of ways to ask you for forgiveness or crying myself to sleep cause we fought that day, I’m tired o being stood up cause I was forgotten or beating myself up for forgetting you”

“You should’ve told me” He snapped “You tell me and we could’ve worked it out, we would’ve adjusted. I told you before to tell me so we can work it out”

“We tried, so so so many times, when we were in highschool and then when we lost touch in college and then again now that we’re working.”

You could barely look at Taeil as he stares at you furiously “I thought about it and I think it’d be better if we go back to being friends”

Now that was a punch to the gut, Taeil balled his fists as he attempted to bite his tongue to not say something he’ll feel remorse for “You think I could go back?” He asked in disbelief “If you think I can after being able to tell you I love you, after being able to hold and touch you and kiss you, and show you off as mine, if you think I can go back to that than you don’t know me at all!” He says angrily “If you weren’t happy with me anymore, than you could’ve told me instead of doing this!” He motions to Doyoung “Then at least I could look at you with respect- I could look at you as of you’re a person who understands my feelings! So if you want me as your friend you’re not having it cause you had a choice, choose me or loose me.” He licks his lips, his chest heaving “I know you’ve already chosen and so you’ve lost me” He turns to leave through the door

“Taeil, please!” You started following after him but Doyoung was faster grabbing you by the wrist to keep you in place

“Y/n Don’t” He whispers as Taeil slams the door behind him

Taeil managed to take a full four steps before falling to the ground as his tears finally cascaded down his face. Jungwoo was at his side in an instant holding him up and he clings on to his friend for support “Home,” Taeil begged “Please, I don’t want to be here, take me home”

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