#anyway i guess it was better in the long run i bawled my eyes out BEFORE watching

[tearsfallingdownat-theparty]

fuck you the last of us for being some of the best tv in the history of television i can’t keep doing this shit every week oh my god

[illdowhatiwantthanks]

She Likes You Anyway

Casey Novak x autistic fem!reader Warnings: Foster care (please don't read if the subject matter is triggering for you!) Word count: 1,705

You sat on the couch, staring at the door and furiously tapping your legs. Casey squeezed your hands between hers to keep them from shaking. Even so, you rocked slowly back and forth, the rhythm and movement calming you.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Casey asked, a concerned expression on her face.

“Well, it’s a little late to turn back now.”

Casey sighed and circled her thumbs over your hands. “What are you worried about?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know, that I’ll be a shit parent?”

“Hey,” she said, grabbing your head to hold you steady.. “We’ve been over this. You are kind and empathetic and you make people feel safe. And you’re great with kids.”

You took a deep breath and nodded, slowing your tapping.

“If anybody should be worried, it’s me,” Casey added. “I really didn’t want a baby.”

It was your turn to comfort Casey now. She tried to look strong–she always did. But she was biting her lip and picking at the corner of her nails, telltale signs that she was more anxious than she let on. You drew circles with your fingers on her thighs.

“You’re gonna do great,” you said. “We already did the most important thing right.”

“What do you mean?”

“We kept the siblings together.”

Casey shrugged. “I guess you’re right,” she mumbled.

“No, Case,” you said, your voice emphatic. “I’m definitely right. You don’t get it as much because you don’t have siblings. My siblings are my life, you know that. It would have killed me to be separated from them. And we–you–said yes to a baby, even though it’s not what you planned for, so they could stay together.”

Casey exhaled shakily and leaned her head against your shoulder. “What if we fuck up our foster kids, Y/N?”

“I mean, at least we had good intentions,” you replied, chuckling slightly.

“I’m serious!” she complained, pushing you slightly.

“Look, we’re gonna be fine. And they’re gonna be fine. You’re spiraling more than me now. We gotta pull it together.”

You wrapped your arm around her shoulders, pulling her close and breathing her in. You both jumped when a knock on the door interrupted your silence.

Casey stood quickly, smoothing her hair, then extending a hand to you. “Well,” she shrugged. “Here goes.”

You’d been given almost no information about the kids. All you knew was that there would be three of them, and one of them was under a year old. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t out-of-your-mind nervous. Three kids for your very first foster placement. But the bottom line was that there were three kids who needed a place to stay, where they’d be safe and loved and together. And you and Casey could provide that for as long as they needed it.

You opened the door to a very frazzled case worker with a baby on her hip, a toddler holding her hand, and another child hiding behind her back.

Casey invited them in, always better with the formalities than you, and the caseworker nearly ran to the couch, shoving the baby into your arms. Your maternal instincts, honed from years of big sisterhood, kicked in, and you quickly cradled him in your arms. You breathed him in, that specific, powdery baby smell, that reminded you so much of your brother when he was this age.

“Hi,” you cooed at him. “Hi, little man.” He immediately clenched his fists and bawled, squirming in your arms. “Okay,” you said, running a hand through his dark curls. You repositioned him so that his face was pressed into your chest and bounced him around the room.

You looked at Casey and the caseworker, who sat on the couch over a pile of paperwork. You’d never been more relieved to have a lawyer for a partner. You also smiled to notice that the toddler, a little girl, was seated in between them, sucking her thumb, and that Casey’s hand was resting on her back.

The two of you made eye contact across the room, and she furrowed her eyebrows at you, as if to ask, Are you okay? You nodded back, pressing the sobbing baby closer to your chest, and whispered, “Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay.”

The oldest child sat on the opposite end of the sectional, fiddling with a fidget spinner. Her shoulders were hunched protectively inward, hood pulled up, and she avoided your eyes as you walked closer.

“I bet you know the best ways to calm him down,” you said, sitting down next to her as the baby hiccuped in your lap, red-faced.

The older girl shot a furtive glance at you, then looked away again.

“What’s his name?” you asked.

“King,” she whispered, so quietly you almost couldn’t hear.

“King,” you repeated. “Cool name for a cool kid, huh?”

Hearing his name seemed to calm King down a bit, and he leaned into you, spent. You rubbed his back absentmindedly and turned your attention to the withdrawn girl on the edge of the couch.

“I’m Y/N,” you said. “And, uh, the lady over there is Casey. I know you probably have a lot of feelings right now, and you might be scared.” The girl tensed. “That’s okay. And you don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. But Casey and I are gonna make sure that you’re safe and taken care of, and we’re here for whatever you need, okay?”

She was silent for a long time, reaching out a finger to let King wrap his hand around it. You’d just about given up on any further conversation when she said, “Are you gay together?”

You grinned, trying not to laugh. “Yep. Yeah, we are.”

Her face scrunched up, like she was thinking very deeply about your relationship.

“I’m Imogen,” she finally said.

“Nice to meet you, Imogen.” She still wouldn’t look at you, but it was a start. And who were you to judge, anyway? You didn’t like eye contact either.

“She’s really pretty,” Imogen said, inclining her head toward Casey, who now held the toddler in her lap.

“She is.” You leaned in closer to Imogen, as if to tell her a secret. “I really lucked out.”

“She’s taller than you.” Day one, and Imogen was already laying it all out on the table.

“She sure is.”

“And your hair is like a boy.”

“Yep,” you said, running a hand through it.

“She likes you anyway.” You couldn’t tell if this was a question or a statement.

“Seems like it,” you confirmed, adjusting King in your lap as he snoozed. “I mean, I hope so. We live together and everything.”

“Why?” Imogen asked, finally meeting your eyes. Hers were defiant, almost angry, a dark brown that deepened in the fading light.

“Why do we live together?”

“Why does she like you?”

You grinned. Casey would die when you relayed this conversation to her later. She’d lord it over you for years.

“I don’t know,” you shrugged. “Must be my winning personality.”

“You’re funny,” Imogen decided, scooting a little closer to you.

“Thanks,” you replied, pleased with the progress you’d made. “What’s your sister’s name?” you asked, nodding toward the toddler on Casey’s lap.

“Laylie,” Imogen groaned. “She’s annoying.”

“Yeah, I get it,” you commiserated. “I have a little sister, too.”

“She always colors everything pink.”

“You don’t like pink?”

“No,” she said, emphatically.

“Well,” you said. “We’ve got three rooms for you guys, so if you want to sleep in your own room, you can.”

Imogen squirmed. “No, I want to stay with Laylie.”

“Okay,” you assured her. “That’s fine, too.”

“Sometimes she cries at night and I have to help her stop.”

You watched as Imogen bit her fingernails. You wondered where these kids had come from, what they’d been through, why they’d ended up here, at your and Casey’s house at 4:00 pm on a Tuesday. But you wouldn’t ask. They’d tell you when they were ready.

“You’re a good sister,” you said. “But, you know, if you want to keep sleeping or if Laylie’s being annoying, you can always wake up me or Casey and we’ll help Laylie. Plus, I think she already likes Casey.” You pointed at Casey, who now stood at the door with Laylie on her hip, saying goodbye to the caseworker.

After the door shut, everything stood still for a moment. Everything would change, you realized. Everything had changed. Casey sat down in an armchair across from you, letting Laylie down to explore, and  you just looked at each other. You couldn’t say exactly what was in that look, but it was I love you and We can do this and Watching you do this makes me love you even more. You knew things wouldn’t always be easy, that tomorrow could be terrible, but you’d handle that like you handled everything: together.

“I’ve met Laylie,” Casey started. “But who else do we have here?”

“This is Imogen,” you said, gesturing to the girl next to you, who’d retreated into her sweatshirt again. “And King.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Imogen,” Casey said, sharing a glance with you to confirm that Imogen’s shyness wasn’t just for her.

You stood and stretched a bit, King limp in your arms. “Are you guys thirsty? Imogen, you want to come to the fridge and pick a drink? We’ve got juice boxes, lemonade, water, maybe even a soda or two.”

Imogen nodded. You walked over to Casey and, before she could protest, placed King firmly in her arms. “Here, hold him. What do you want? Water?”

Casey glared at you, equal parts stunned and scared. You smiled at her and shrugged. She was scared of babies, scared of how vulnerable they were, afraid to hurt them. You knew she’d have avoided holding King for as long as possible. You also knew this was ridiculous.

You rummaged through the fridge with Imogen, Laylie reaching up to you for a juice box. When you turned around to look over the kitchen island, Casey was running a finger across King’s dimpled chin. She planted a kiss on his head and smiled softly at him, and you knew it was all going to be okay.

[auroragehenna]

No matter how much you squirm you won‘t get out ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Correction

prev

TW/CW: Electrocution, implied mind reading, punishment, threats, a tad of fantasy racism Word count: 1'589

Harmonia was awakened by a sharp tug of the chain connected to her collar. She choked, coughed, and blinked against the sharp light. Fuck she hated that thing. Out of shock, she had opened her eyes way too fast and now they were filled with needles. What was wrong with her?? Was she losing her nature? Her eyes should be used to much more brightness. Please no-

“Good morning, doll.”

Harmonia groaned as she pushed herself up. Only to be pushed down to the floor again by a foot pushing down hard on her back.

“You always make such brute sounds, I can’t have that from my doll, do you understand?”, Electra drawled.

Harmonia pressed her lips together, filling them with oxygen to prevent any sounds from slipping out. She squeezed her eyes shut in pain as the charred feathers touched each other and sent waves of pain into her brain. When she had finally made it into a sitting position she looked up at Electra who was sitting on the edge of the bed, fully clothed already. Always making sure she could tower over her. She would love to get up on her feet but that would only result in Electra forcefully bringing her down again, probably on her knees, painfully. And she didn’t want to cause herself more pain than necessary. “Good morning, Ma’am.”

“Did you have a good sleep?”

“Better than I imagined, sleeping next to a monster. Urgh, I guess my body wanted me to have enough strength for today.”

Electra chuckled. She stood up from the bed, crouched down and unlocked the collar around her angel’s throat. Then she straightened up and gestured for her doll to do the same.

Shakily Harmonia came to her feet and while doing so, the demoness-Electra put a hand under her jaw and lifted it until she straightened up and they were holding eye contact.

“You think I’m a monster, Harmonia?”

Harmonia hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out the best strategy. Her inner alarm was going crazy but she just couldn’t put her finger on why.

“Come on, I give you permission, to be honest, you didn’t have a problem speaking your mind before.”

Okay, doesn’t matter anyway, it’s already too late. “Yes. I think you’re a monster.”

“Well that’s funny.”-Suddenly Electra’s grip turned more forceful, and Harmonia could feel her jaw starting to hurt-“When you didn’t even see the worst of me yet.”-The room seemed to get darker and the temperature seemed to drop with every passing moment. Chills were running down Harmonia’s body-“You think what you experienced so far was monstrous? You poor, naïve, dumb, child. Trust me on this, you don’t want to see me become the monster you say I am. Now ask me to give you breakfast. Ask me nicely or receive your punishment starved.”

Harmonia was still only looking at her, she wished she knew what to do right now, anything, but there was nothing in her mind. As much as she hated it, this time she had to admit she was…outmatched. For now. Yeah. “If-if you would be so gracious, Ma’am, might I have breakfast, please?”

“You may. Otherwise, you simply don’t last long enough.” Electra let go of her angel’s jaw and ordered her to follow as she made her way to the eating room. Once there they ate. Electra noticed that her angel barely managed to keep the food down even with her stomach grumbling through the room. She sighed. “If you puke on the table you’re gonna clean it.”

“Understood, Ma’am.”

“Listen, doll, it won’t do you any good to panic over it now. I am going to punish you for misbehaving either way, try to not make it harder for yourself than it needs to be.”

Harmonia gulps, looks down again, takes a deep breath, looks back up and nods. “I will do my best, Ma’am.”

“Good, because that’s what I expect from my dolls.”

Of course. Of course only the best is good enough. Nothing has changed since I left home. Don’t think of that now. Another thought bawled(?) for her attention. Harmonia suppressed a shiver. She could only hope that Electra wouldn’t decide to permanently injure her. Or take her wings. The angel paled even more at that thought. Suddenly she couldn’t stand living  in her own head anymore and she finished her breakfast as quickly as possible.

“Suddenly so enthusiastic.”, Electra grinned.

Harmonia dared to not answer to that and blessedly Electra let it slide.

After they were both done, and Harmonia felt like the demoness took eons to eat, they both stood up. Electra ordered her angel to follow and they went back to her bedroom. There the demoness stood in the middle of the room, facing Harmonia and the crackling fireplace. “You disappointed me, doll.”

It shouldn’t sting. It really shouldn’t. But it did.

“You can’t expect me to just let that slide, can you, doll? When you decided to betray me.”

Yeah definetly, how could I after you tortured me so nicely.

“Tell me, doll, what was going on inside your head during all that?

“What do you mean? I wanted to get out of here. You’re keeping me against my will.”

“Did you never think about anybody else? Or were you just hurting and decided that make sure you hurt me as well? And everybody else, by putting me in a bad mood?”

Harmonia just stared at the demoness.

“But that as it may, I’m sure you will learn to be less selfish.” Electra stepped closer to Harmonia. “Now tell me you’re sorry for trying to escape. And that you won’t do it again.”

Harmonia pressed her lips together. Then she spoke in a trembling voice. “ I am sorry for trying to escape. I won’t do it again, Ma’am.”

Electra sighed. That was a lie, doll.”

Before Harmonia could react a shock, strong enough to knock out a horse drove through her entire body. Her knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground.

Electra stepped behind her and ran her finger through the angel’s thick wavy (rose) hair. Then she gripped and pulled her doll’s head up by it.

Harmonia grunted in pain as she was pulled upwards by her hair. Now she was on her knees with her head held up.

“So, another time. Tell me you’re sorry for trying to escape. And that you won’t do it again.”

“Harmonia grits her teeth. “I won’t try to escape again, I’m sorry.” Another shock travelled through her body. And Harmonia could only try not to scream. Her body had started twitching and her scalp hurt already from the strain of the pulling.

“And now the honest version, doll?”, Electra demanded.

“G-go t-to h-hell.” Harmonia stuttered.

“There you go, doll.”

After that sentence Harmonia couldn’t hear or feel anything besides the pain inglufing every fibre of her body. She didn’t know for how long Electra let the voltage run through her, she just wanted it to stop. Somebody was screaming, maybe her?

Electra let the lightning run out. Her angel was twitching violently but she didn’t let go of her. “Are you now ready to embrace the truth?”, she asked a bit too cheerful.

Harmonia could barely talk. Only incoherent stutters came out as she tried to answer the demoness.

“Tsk tsk tsk, we can’t have that can we.” She freed one of her hands from her doll’s hair and touched her forehead.

Instantly Harmonia stopped twitching so violently. Now only some involuntary flinches and pain remained.

“Now, shall we try this again? Tell me what I want to hear!”

“I’m sorry that I tried to-to escape! I won’t try it again.”

“Hmmm, why do I not believe you…” -Harmonia tensed up again, closing her eyes in anticipation of the next wave of torture.- “Oh right, because I can see that you’re lying! Hopefully you’ll be wiser next time.”

“No-no-wait!-Argh!”, Harmonia yelled as the next shock waves ran through her.

“I won’t wait, and you can’t beg your way out of this. What were you doing when I caught you?”

Through the flaring pain Harmonia pressed out: “Trying to escape.”

“Are you sorry about your mistake?”

“N-No.”

“What were you trying to do when I caught you?”

“Trying to escape!”

“Are you sorry about your mistake?”

“I’m sorry you caught me!”

“That’s not what I asked, Harmonia! What were you doing when I caught you?”

“I tried to escape!”, Harmonia basically sobbed by now(?).

“Are you sorry for your mistake?”

“I am! I’m sorry I tried to escape!” Harmonia screamed. Tears running over her cheeks.

“Will you do it again?”, Electra pressed mercilessly.

“No. No I won’t escape again!”

Electra waited a few moments before she raised her voice again. “So you tried to escape? And you’re sorry? And you won’t do it again?”

“Yes! Yes, Ma’am, all of that!”

Electra looked down on her angel, withdrew her electricity and let go of her hair.

Harmonia dropped to the ground and could only think of the burning pain her body was drenched in. Somewhere far away she registered that somebody was moving her. Then she was laying on something soft, legs maybe? And somebody, a woman was talking. She tried to focus and understand the words. Finally she could make out a few pieces. none of this…have happened if…just behaved…Wouldn’t need to…instead be nice…like this. Then she could feel how hands stroked through her hair, gently, massaging the scalp. And that was the last thing she felt.

Taglist: @yourlocalgaefae33, @princessofhe11, @greatkittencloud, @bisexuawolfsalt, @imnotamurdereripromise

[tragic-shadows]

Frozen Waters (ch1)

Anon asked: Hello can I ask for 2. Jumping into frozen waters with Jack Sloane x reader please

Word count: 1808

Warnings: idk, angst? a little bit of blood.

Pairings: Jack Sloane x Reader, some GibbsxReader

Latter Chapters: 2 3

A/N: Hey anon! Thank you so so much for this! So sorry it took so long but it’s the end of the grading period and I’ve had so much going on so I had to focus on school. This is my first multi-chapter fic so hopefully it’s decent? Anyways- happy reading🖤 (oh yeah and dinozzo and jack are there at the same time bc his personality fits better than torres for this :)

It was cold. And by cold, that meant go out in any less than 7 layers and your toes would freeze off.

“DiNozzo!” You snap from your desk, “Hand it over man!” 

“No,” he growls, standing further over the small portable heater. “2 more minutes. Please??” He whines and stomps his foot when you respond with a no. 

“Chilly Y/N?” A voice calls from above you. 

“Hey Jack!” You put your head back to look at her standing above your desk on the stairs. “Whatcha got there?”

“Hot hands,” Sloane smiles, dropping it down into your palms.

“Thank you.” You take one and chuck it at DiNozzo, hitting him right in the back of the head before running and grabbing it before he could grab it away from you. “Suck it Tony,” you smirk. He just sticks his tongue out at you just as the heater sputters to a stop.

“Oh, ho!” Sloane exclaims, coming down the stairs to plop her butt on your desk. You diverted your eyes away from her legs and instead grabbed a file, hitting her on the back and pushing her off.

“I just cleaned this off, seriously woman?” You laugh, trying to hide your blush.

“I just wanted you to admire my outfit,” Sloane laughs along with you, wiggling her hips and making you blush even more. “Only one in this room who’s hotter than me may be you.” She tries to sit on your desk again but a voice interrupts her teasing.

“Got a body,” Gibbs calls, strutting in like only he can.

“Yeah I do!” Sloane winks at you, causing your stomach to do flip flops. You just rolled your eyes and smiled back, grabbing your three coats and your scarf. “Don’t come back as a popsicle, Y/N. I guess you’d call that a Y/N sickle?” She snorts at her own joke, meanwhile Gibbs yells at the team to hurry along.

“You’re comin’ too, Jack,” Gibbs says, “Delilah’s sick, McGee took off to stay with er’, need someone else.” 

“Oh, no no, I’m okay,” she responds, trying to slink back up the stairs.

“Awe,”  you sigh, “too cold out there for you Jackie?”

Sloane responds with a middle finger directed at you. “Gimme two minutes,” she says, sprinting up and taking the stairs three at a time.

In the two minutes it took her to get warmer clothes on, DiNozzo and Gibbs had already left. “Guess I’ll drive,” you say, snatching the keys off your desk.

“Sweet, less work for me. Oh, can I pick the music??” She falls in step behind you as you get outside.

“Pssh, absolutely not. You and your sad music, I don’t think so.” Honestly you loved what she picked, you noticed her favorite was lovelytheband, you had to kind of agree. You just weren’t in the mood for that when you were with her. It reminded you of all that you would never have. Her, that is. You’d rather be happy when you were around her rather than bawling your eyes out.

“You’re cute when you get fiesty.”

“Mhm.” 

“Y/N/N..” Sloane laughs, “you just missed the turn.”

“Awe crap,” you spin the wheel, trying your best not to skid on the ice and snow.

“Were you too busy looking at me? I did just wash my hair yesterday so it’s extra shiny.” She flipped it over her shoulder, giving you a bright smile. You knew she was teasing you, which of course made you think that she knew. But she couldn’t know right?? “Y/N,” she says again, this time with a little twitch. “You missed it again.”

You curse, “Sorry.” You make a U-turn once again, this time getting the road right. You both jumped out after the car had been parked and made your way to the crime scene. “What’s up?” You ask, taking out your pencil and notebook.

“Little late now, ladies,” Gibbs says, clearly irritated.

“Yeah,” DiNozzo laughs. “Thought we were gonna have to do the profiling without you Sloane. I’d say white female, average height 5’5. Brown eyes, blonde hair, smart, late.” He laughs again. “Too busy making out I guess.”

“Hey!” Jack smacks him on the arm, ignoring the latter comment. “Where’s the body, what’s the kill?”

“Dr. Alison Butler,” you answer. “Thirty four years old, not Navy but her husband is, that’s why she lives on the base. Darin Butler, he’s a Chaplin, thirty six years old.”

Butler was a pretty young woman, dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes, tall. “Not much I can get from looking at her, I’ll need to pull some files,” Jack answers. “Fingers are frozen so I’d say she’s been here for awhile.”

“Thought I was the medical examiner,” Palmer pipes up from somewhere in the van. 

“Yeah it must be 20 degrees out here.” Rubbing your hands together you catch the blonde eyeing you. “What?” You ask.

“Didn’t say a word.” 

“Kay,” Gibbs walks over, handing you your cameras. “Since you’re late ya’ can finish with the photos. Got the body, just work around the house.”

“Got it.” You take it from him.

“Guess it’s just you and me, huh sexy?” Sloane nudges you with her shoulder. You feel your cheeks heat up and hang your head away from her. “How bout we start with the bedroom? Chaplin just got back yesterday, surely they missed each other?” 

“Jack..” You warn, “What have I said about that tone?” Really it turned you on, a lot. Like a lot a lot. More than anything else she did. Especially the way she did it when she said-

“Oh Y/F/I, you love when I talk dirty to you,” she winks, bounding up the stairs. 

You watched from the bottom, her butt looked good. You were just like a little school girl with a crush. But see, that was the weird thing. It wasn’t some kind of crush, it was more than that. You had known Jack for almost three years and it had never gone away, it was something that wasn’t just lust. You wanted her, every part of her, but you wanted it how she would give it to you.

“Y/N!” She calls. “I got something up here you need to see.” 

You walk into her standing over a bunch of pictures. “They didn’t search the house yet,” you say, snapping on crime scene gloves over your fuzzy ones.

“Some sort of victim list?” She guesses. “These two here, Elliot and Frank Rhodes. They died in a car crash three months ago,” she looks up from the pictures. “Vance had me look over it but it went cold after weeks of investigation.. Y/N these have X’s on them. The Rhodes’s and the Butler’s.”

“And this one,” you saying, holding another up. “Do you know who they are?” 

“Yeah, yeah I do.. Cameron and Shayna Long,” Sloane goes back to sorting though the pictures.

“J…” you say slowly, gently picking up another photo. “There’s another.”  

“Thats four couples. I’ve looked at that one too, Selena and Mark Goodman. But only the wife was killed, just like now.” Jack shook her head, realizing what it meant.

“We have a serial killer,” you say aloud.

-

-

-

-

“A serial killer?” Gibbs snaps. “Were you never going to tell me about these cases?” He asks Sloane back in the bullpen.

“It didn’t have any connection to what you had been working on at the time,” she explained, “I didn’t see any point in it.” 

You feel a soft hand on yours and you tense up. “Gibbs, it’s ok. I’ll go up with Jack and try to figure this out.” You squeeze her hand and urge her upstairs.

“Thanks, Y/N.” He honestly gets on my nerves sometimes.”

“I think he gets on everyones nerves.” You click open the door to her office, grabbing one of the unsolved files off her desk and flopping on the couch. 

“I just don’t understand how I didn’t make the connection between the three cases!” She groaned and sorted through the other two files.

“Wait, Jack look at this.” You beckon her over and she sits down next to you. “Right here on the Rhodes case, there was a dead end when the team went to talk to a certain.. Callie Wright. She had been missing for a week before they went to see her and turned up a month later. Police never got to talk to her because she was put in a mental institution, couldn’t remember anything for three years and kept lashing out.”

“Some sort of PTSD,” Sloane guessed. She glanced up, catching your eye. You looked at her as intensely as she looked at you. Her brown eyes twinkled in the light coming from the windows. Her eyes flicked down to your lips. You were afraid to speak or make the first move, for fear of breaking the contact, so you slid your hand gently to her knee. As soon as you did, you regretted it. She shot up, smoothing her skirt and clearing her throat.

“I’m sorry I-“ you struggle for the words.

“I’ll go and try to find Callie.” Sloane grabbed her coat, avoiding eye contact with you and telling you to shut the door on the way out. 

You sighed, cursing yourself for thinking maybe she felt the same. Taking the file you go back downstairs.

“Find anything?” Gibbs asked. “Sloane bolted.” 

“Yeah, yeah I know she was going to follow a lead. Someone that they didn’t question before. Other than that we got nothing.” 

“Boss, boss I have something.” DiNozzo calls, practically sprinting from the elevator. He curses after looking around. “Where’s Sloane??”

You turn once, “She left?” You say, getting worried. “Why..?”

“You’re not gonna like this.”

“Gosh just spit it out!” You yell. 

“I looked back at the pictures and none of the targets were the husbands. Some of the women aren’t even married, all the women have some connection to the forces—“

“Get to the point DiNozzo.” Gibbs snaps. “What’s it have to do with Sloane?”

“So like I said, I looked through them again and.. and there was one stuck to the back of another. They all have numbers on them. One, two, three, four.” He pulls a picture out of his coat. “This one? Number five.”

“Oh my gosh,” you gasp, “Jack. This guy’s going after Jack.” You whip around. “Find her!” You yell. “Gibbs we have to get to her.” You pull out your phone, dialing but she doesn’t answer. 

“She say where she was going?” Gibbs asks, sitting down at his computer. (Not sure why, not like he could track anything on the piece of junk.)

“To find Callie Wright. She’s in some mental hospital. Washington Vet’s Hospital.”

“Kay, let’s go. Y/L/N, go the back way. I’ll go through Main, DiNozzo stay here and try to get ahold of her.”

“Got it.” 

-

-

-

-

Jack sighed, the hospital had been a bust. Wright had been released a few weeks earlier and was at home in hospice care, doing much better according to the doctors. She was going to go right back to the office but decided to stop by the coffee shop and buy you some pastries. She hummed along, thanking the cashier for the food and coffee. Getting in the car, it stalled to start, seemingly because of the cold. 

She took the shorter way since she had already taken so much time with the snacks, going along the Potomac. It was beautiful with the fallen snow and icy waters. Very icy, she would soon discover.

-

-

TAGS: @aleck-cross @ah-blossom @ilovemark1951 @marennnx @originalsoulcollector @hotch-meeeeeuppppp

[dinosaurtsukki]

farmer kita + taking care of his pregnant wife headcanons

anon: Hello!! Can I request some fluff with everyone's fav diligent farm boy timeskip! Kita taking care of his pregnant wife? Please and thanks, I love your work. :')

omg this is so adorable ahhhhhhh also it’s my first kita request so i’m really happy and excited to write for him. i’ve got way too many ideas atm so i’ll be writing some hc’s for this first but i might end up turning one of them into a short drabble hehe

ok before i get into pregnant!reader i just have to talk about how you and kita got together because setting and context plus it’s just super cute

you live in a provincial town that has a lot of, you guessed it, farmland and you also manage a local diner that serves food local to the area

kita was actually your neighbor and being the sweet person that you are, you decided to make food for him when he moved in and it was pretty much love at first sight for you two

eventually, you found out kita was a rice farmer and you offered to sustain his business by buying your rice from him and also advertising it to the people who visited your diner

you’re like #supportlocalbusiness especially if that local business is a handsome rice farmer 

eventually, kita finds the courage to ask you out and you say yes and the two of you begin dating from that point on

most of your dates are just exploring the different natural sites around the town or just sitting at your front porch and talking all throughout the night

kita didn’t think he was moving fast at all when he made the decision to ask to marry you after just a few months of dating. for him, you two just clicked and he couldn’t think of any other reason not to

also he kind of knew that you were The One when he brought you to see his grandmother and you peeled tangerines for her and massaged her back

your wedding was small and simple but you invited a lot of dear friends. atsumu and osamu were on their best behavior the entire day (except for when they were both bawling after you and kita said your vows)

kita probably cried when he saw you walking down the aisle oh my god now i’m crying too fuck fUCK--

anyway it was a very beautiful and memorable day for the both of you

kita had always wanted kids and so did you so you were both thrilled when he found out you were pregnant

actually, kita could kind of tell before you did because you were practically glowing, he even bought the pregnancy test for you and everything 

when you walked out of the bathroom with a mixture of shock and excitement on your face, his suspicions were just further confirmed

he ran to you and kissed you on the forehead, saying “now our family can grow even more.”

kita was just such a good partner for you to have as you went through your pregnancy. he’s actually better at remembering when you should take your vitamins or go for check-ups than you are

he naturally wakes up really early to go to work but this time, he’ll be waiting for you to wake up first to help you to the bathroom especially because you have terrible morning sickness

during the first few months of your term, you’re still pretty okay with running the diner all by yourself. a lot of the diner visitors love to coo over your growing baby bump too and sometimes you’ll let kids touch it

kita loves walking into the diner to find you talking excitedly with one of your customers about how your pregnancy has been coming along

at night, when you’re especially tired, kita would massage your aching feet and run you a nice, hot bath and wash your hair

to be honest, he didn’t take into account that you’d have really intense pregnancy cravings especially the fact that you’d wake up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall asleep until you’ve eaten what you want

kita: are you, by any chance, still open?

osamu: kita, you do know it’s midnight, right?

kita: y/n’s craving 

osamu: ...okay, what does she need?

kita is also there for your more emotional needs as you go through your pregnancy

he can’t help but notice how you’d keep looking at yourself in the mirror, noticing the changes in your body that you don’t really love, and reassures you that you’ve just grown even more beautiful to him in his eyes

at one point, he went shopping and bought you this really beautiful maternity dress and a bouquet of flowers and you felt gorgeous in that dress

kita shinsuke: husband of the year

also he never laughs at you even when you suddenly cry at the most random things because your hormones are just out of whACK

there was this one time kita’s grandmother visited with baby clothes that she knitted and you took one look at them and started sobbing (parallelism with that time kita sobbed at the sight of his own jersey? YEAH)

you: they’re just... so small and cute... they’re so small...

kita: *rubbing your back* i know honey, i know

he also notices that you’re super affectionate and like playing with his hair tugging at the hem of his shirt when you want attention and it’s just ADORABLE in his eyes

knowing kita, he probably insisted on building the crib for your baby himself because he wanted it to be super special. it was just so sweet to watch him diligently work on the crib every day with a loving smile on his face as meticulously sanded the wood

why am i so soft for this image

the two of you probably don’t need to do much shopping for your baby because the inarizaki volleyball club keep sending you gifts

suna even sent you the cutest little baby blanket with little foxes embroidered on it (i am 100% willing to bet that he made it himself)

as your due date approaches, kita decides to take some time off work to take care of you more and also to just relax before the baby comes and there’s less time to relax

the two of you pass the time with you making more baby clothes (somehow you picked up sewing or crocheting along the way) while kita spends some time tinkering around in your nursery

i swear kita has a fricking sixth sense. he was actually in the nursery when you had your first contraction and he immediately rushed into the bedroom, saw the look on your face, and called for a taxi

kita’s there to hold your hand and yell encouragements as you go through your labor 

and then he feels such an ache in his chest when he hears the sound of your baby crying 

he almost cries himself as he holds his own child in his arms for the first time before handing him to you so you could feed him

the entire time he just can’t help but be in awe at you for bringing his child into the world and he swears on his life that he’ll take care of you both for as long as he lives

***********************************************

taglist (still open to anyone who wants in!): @montys-chaos​ @miyumtwins​ @strawberriimilkshake​ @pocubo​ @sugawara-sweetheart @akaashisbabydoll @laure-chan​ @therainroguefanfiction​ @atetiffdoesart @stephdaninja @oikaw-ugh​ @charliefredb​ @dramaqueenweeb1469 @tremblinghearts @applepienation @doodleniella @haikyuu-my-love @tpwkatsumu @waitforitillwritemywayout

[razorblade180]

Interdimensional Moms: part 1

Intro <-

Yang:So how we doin this? Drawing straws or... well we actually don’t have straws here so-

Weiss:It’s obvious that you wanna go first.

Blake:Extremely obvious.

Ruby:All over your face.

Yang:Hey now, don’t call me out like that! We all have so much to sort out here. I don’t even know where to begin. Differences could start and stop anywhere for all we really know.

Blake:From what it seems, Beacon itself would have one or two minor changes, but the real changes start after the fall. At least, for you three that is.

Weiss:You saying you’re different?

Blake:Unless you three started going on dates with Jaune at Beacon, then yes, I’m different.

RWY:(They’ve been together that long!?)

Yang:Okay, starting from Beacon...nothing really stands out too much. Jaune and I were just friends. *cringes* Back then, a certain faunus caught my eye.

Blake:Ah...right. I guess that tracks in practically every universe.

RW:Oh yeah it does. You two are joined at the hip.

Yang:Haha, really? Glad to hear it. My Blake and I are best buds! Remnant has never seen such a dynamic duo! Can’t say it didn’t take a lot of time effort after a rough patch. We actually dated in my world.

Blake:Same.

Yang:What!? How long?

Blake:I don’t know, it was pretty on again off again.

Yang:Well for me it was after Haven. Both of us had gotten pretty serious. All the growing we’ve done together and apart had brought us closer. However, Adam unintentionally put a wedge between us. His attempt to change and the problems that came with it were-

Yang stopped midway and saw the confused faces of her otherworldly teammates. They were shocked, confused even. Especially Blake, who looked the most shocked of all.

Yang:Umm did I say something odd?

Blake:Adam, he...isn’t dead?

Yang:Oh, well I guess that’s the start of the major changes then. Blake and I fought Adam at Argus. Stabbed him through the chest and watched him fall down rocks into a river.

Ruby:That lines you with my world. Dude died that day. Like any normal person should.

Yang:Well Adam is anything but fucking normal. Man has the craziest luck. A young women, the winter maiden in fact, she saved his life. She’s not exactly normal either. The maiden, Jacquelyn, ended up sticking by him to see if she could change his ways. This naturally meant we’d run into them again. And that’s how things fell apart.

Blake:What do you mean?

Yang:You were fully committed to seeing if Adam could actually change. I wasn’t, so we constantly butted heads in any situation involving him. Then we would fight about things that had nothing to do with at all. Eventually, we broke it off. We remained on decent terms but I was pretty heartbroken about the disconnect. Enter our lovable blonde idiot. Jaune did everything in his power to cheer me up.

Weiss:Sounds like him. Always such a bleeding heart. That boy just can’t help himself. Let me guess, his kindness and concern made you feel all warm and fuzzy?

Yang:Hehe, guilty. It was more of his willingness to laugh at my puns. Jaune’s always been interesting to talk to. He tries to act cool and calm even though he’s terrible at it, then comes clean right after. Before I knew it I was telling him things I hadn’t talked about with people before. I could tell he looked at me like most guys do, but also genuinely wanted to listen to me. Talk about playing unfair; he got defenseless. Suddenly I was smiling again. Anytime with him was time well spent. Then one day, I kissed him.

Ruby:Happily ever after?

Yang:Not even close! Hahaha!

Weiss:Why do you sound proud?

Yang:It’s funny looking back at it to a certain degree. Gods, I was such a brat. More than a few fights are on me. Between Blake, Raven, and other experiences, my insecurities flared up in ugly ways over nothing. It even got us to break up too. I was officially done with dating. My Ruby was out in an uncomfortable position.

Ruby:I bet! I’d never want you two fighting. Especially in my world. Picking between the person I love and my sister!? I don’t know what will happen.

Yang:I kinda do. *sets up* You’d start dating Jaune because you’ve looked at him since Beacon. The two of you would confide in each other and share a special kind of love, but it would be bittersweet. All because your sister still pines for him and never met to make him leave, and Jaune never says it, but he hates how things fell apart. He’s faithful to you and would never do you wrong, a guy to truly cherish. So... you let him go. Watch him walk back to your sister like you asked, because my happiness was worth that much to you.

Ruby:....

Yang: In my world at least. Honestly it’s still the most amazing thing I’ve seen you do. We must’ve cried over that conversation for hours. I felt so guilty and you only smiled, hugging me tight. Jaune and I had a few more stumbles. Nothing serious though. Eventually we moved in together when the world was saved. You and Oscar got together officially which made me happy. Even made our weddings a competition of who’d make dad bawl his eyes out the most. You won by the way; Raven came back into our family and into dad’s arms. Last but not least I had a baby. Yujin Xiao Long, my fucking pride and joy from above.

Weiss:Wow, that’s a lot.

Blake:What am I doing? Did I marry Sun?

Yang:Yep. You and blondes Blake, I tell ya.

Weiss:Hold the phone! Who am I with!?

Yang:Pretty sure you’re technically single. Buuuut, Neo and your have gotten pretty friendly from what I managed to interrogate out of you.

Weiss:That’s, highly unexpected. For a number of reasons.

Yang:Better believe it. Besides Cinder, a few crazies, and Salem, a few people made something of themselves. Dying sucks after all.

Ruby:You have a dead Cinder?

WBY: You don’t?

Ruby:*crosses arms* Hmph, I’ll wait my turn. Yang, you said you’re the only mother from our team. If Blake and I have been married for quite some time then what, we don’t want kids?

The joyful sunshine from Yang slipped into grayer skies. Her smile faded and it increasingly got harder to look at this Ruby without thinking of her own.

Yang:Are you sure that’s something you wanna know? I’ll tell you, but I didn’t want to bring down the mood with the problems where I from.

Blake:Problems? How big of a problem.

Yang:The biggest we’ve faced. It’s...a lot.

Ruby:Well we’ve listened this far. *takes hand* Lay it on us.

Yang:Pfft, oh boy. So...umm...another secret war came up. One that caused us to leave our friends and family for over a decade.

Weiss:A decade!?

Blake:What gets worse after Salem!? Who tries anything after a grimm queen!?

Yang:So a majority of Remnant was still unaware of her, but a fight like that can only be kept under wraps so tightly. Plenty of people still learned fractions of the truth. A few of those people weren’t exactly nice guys. They idolized her efforts and became her followers that wanted to keep her will alive, starting with taking revenge on the people who defeated her. We were so unaware. So caught up in normalcy. They ambushed us, and I mean everyone. We...we didn’t come out unscathed. Ren was crippled badly. Weiss, you almost your brother. Jaune’s family got hit but thankfully lived. The real casualties were aimed to hurt Ruby.

Ruby:Oh, of course. S-So, either you’re about to say I had no time to start a family, or...

Yang:...

Yang:When I tell you the look you made when you learned what happened to Oscar, to Qrow... that’s the moment it felt like my little sister left forever. Till this day you don’t smile like you used to. Very recently, now that it’s finally over, you’ve started looking better, but those ten years were hell. We choose to go out and fight again, avoiding contact with family. I haven��t had a real opportunity to be in my daughters life.

Ruby:How old is she?

Yang:Sixteen soon. Left her when she was four so you know. *tearing up* I missed everything. Just about anyways. Ironically it was Raven and Adam that helped her through the years with Jaune and Dad. Eventually we came back and ooohh boy was Yujin not thrilled in the slightest. Hehehe. Her right hook is really strong. I only had about a week with her before things got complicated again. *wipes eyes* But it’s okay. We left on good term. Something I definitely don’t feel like I deserve.

Blake:I can’t believe a thing like that would be possible.

Yang:Cults are a huge problem in Remnant now. You’re definitely aware of that. You actually oversee a little group from the shadows to deal with them in secret. An idea you got from experience. Adam works for you and everything. Hate to admit, but he’s become the guy you wanted him to be. Even has a family. I’m grateful to him. He personally kept my girl safe.

Blake:To think I’d hear you say that. Now I know this isn’t my world.

Yang:Don’t get me wrong, I still will hit him if given the chance. My life hasn’t been charmed and sacrifices too great were happening way too many times but it finally has gotten to a point where everyone feels like we’re taking steps towards a better future.

Weiss:Moving forward?

Yang:Yes, I was trying to avoid the phrase but yes Weiss, we’re moving forward. Still... *looks at Ruby*....

Ruby:W-What?

Yang:It’s unreal seeing you like this. My Ruby has become so strong and endured but hasn’t really picked herself up completely. All her tragedy stemmed from the loss of Oscar and Qrow; her last talk with Oscar was fight about kids too. That’s the entire reason she went off alone in the first place. Looking at you I can’t help but question my own choices. If...I just let her stay with Jaune, then maybe-

Ruby:Nope.

Yang:Huh?

Ruby:Look, if I know anything about your world, then it’s gonna be me and I can tell you without a doubt your Ruby doesn’t blame or would consider her own happiness without you. She loved you enough to take the chance to find love again. You really think there’s anything you could’ve done differently at that point. That girl is as stubborn as they come! *smiles* So buck up cowgirl. You deserve it.

A sense of warmth came over Yang as she heard those words. This other Ruby smiled at her with the same love as her own; completely caring about Yang’s feeling before her own. Yang felt so...unburdened. She couldn’t help but cry a little, laughing softly as she did. Who would’ve thought love could transcend worlds? It was so vindicating, therapeutic even.

Yang:Ruby, you’re something else entirely, you know that?

Ruby:It’s my curse. All I ever wanted was normal knees but the world said “no, special eyes!”

Yang:Well I guess I should thank the world then?

Weiss:You said your Ruby is getting better? That’s good. Still, it must be pretty weird looking at Jaune. Can’t imagine how lonely it must feel losing a love twice.

Blake:It never numbs.

Yang:Geez you two, lighten up. We can’t all be depressed. Ruby also didn’t lose Jaune. Actually....there may or may not have been an interesting...arrangement for a brief period of time.

Ruby:Ehhh what?

Yang:Hehehe well, hahaha, ummmm a decade is a very long time without feeling any kind of pleasure in a bleak situation. And you know me, I have to share things with you all my life.

Ruby:OH MY GOD!!!

Blake:*grinning* Yooooo! You loaned out Jaune!?

Weiss:That’s....accurate; in a lot of ways.

Ruby:That’s so scandalous! How could you!?

Yang:I didn’t force it! I gave the option, you said no, then you changed your mind because things got real stressful. Like come on, a decade of death and loneliness.

Ruby:Sigh...yeah. I can see it. Still, it’s so filthy. He’s a married man. What, so I’d just look at you and say “Yang I’m gonna sleep with Jaune, don’t come in the room.”

Yang:....

Ruby:What?

Yang:....Nothing.

Ruby:Bullshit! What is it!?

Yang:*scratches head* Well, I was lonely too, and a week is only so long-

Weiss:Oh so it was a group thing!!?

Ruby:WHAT!?

Yang:Only sometimes!

Ruby:SOMETIMES!?

Blake:HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! THAT IS AMAZING!

Ruby:Why are you laughing!?

Blake:Because that’s just so extreme, and not, all at the same time. I could totally see that happening.

Weiss:Same. Dang, Jaune slept with sisters. That’s dangerously close to being like your dad.

Ruby:That’s different!

Blake:Is it though?

Yang:Eh, I don’t see the problem. We’re all grown and make choices. Plus I’m the one who guided you through awkward teenage changes. It not like we didn’t share a room for years.

Ruby:That doesn’t make it okay.

Yang:Eh debatable.

Ruby:*red* It isn’t though! How could I do something so bold!? So taboo!?

Weiss:It isn’t like you’re the one who did it. Just a version of you.

Ruby:Not better!

Yang:Awwww it’s okay Ruby. Let’s hug it out. Hehehe *opens arms*

Ruby:Don’t touch me!

Weiss and Blake laugh until their sides hurt as Ruby tries escaping the bear hug that terrorized her. Yang’s world found interesting for sure. Weiss finally decides to help Ruby out.

Weiss:Got a picture of Yujin?

Yang’s eyes lit up and pulled out her scroll. Her team huddled around her and collectively cooed like that parents they are at the sight of a blonde young girl with gorgeous blue eyes with a black combat school graduation cap and gown and a certificate proudly raised up high. If it wasn’t for those eyes and shoulders length hair, they might’ve mistaken her for Yang.

Yang:She’s going to Beacon early because she’s fucking awesome like her mom.

Ruby:I think you mean her aunt?

Yang:I know what I said.

Weiss:I bet she’s just as hardheaded.

Blake:What do you think your kid is up to right now?

Yang: Well...*smiles*

xxxx

The girl in question sat at a work bench with oil on her face and her hands busy tinkering with gauntlets. She looked over at blueprints in a journal. If they were right, then she was definitely doing something wrong. How her mother made something so complex was crazy!

Yujin:Come on Yujin. You can fix a car, making gauntlets into a sword that don’t break should be easy!

Footsteps came up from behind her and a plate stacked with sandwiches. She looked up and smiled at her dad that gave her a wink, then kissed her forehead.

Jaune:Haveing fun, you grease monkey.

Yujin:Jokes on you, I like monkeys. Just a few more attempts and I’ll have the coolest weapon in Remnant. That entrance exam is as good as aced.

Jaune:Not if you don’t have a landing strategy. Tomorrow we’re going on a trip.

Yujin:Does it happen to be near a cliff?

Jaune:Who can say? Rule one of being a huntsman, be prepared for everything.

He ruffled her hair and left, laughing evilly. Yujin could tell he’s been waiting for this day. She pulled out her scroll and searched through a collection of videos labeled “mom” and found a super early one. She hit play and watched her mother give a peace sign to the camera as trees increasingly got closer from below.

Yang:Beacon rules!!!! Wooohooo!

The camera flipped and focused on a familiar blonde flailing through the air like a doll in the distance.

Yang:Oof, hate to be that guy! Wait, that’s vomit boy! Hahah, hope he survives. He owes me shoes. Poor dude. I guess he needs more training in flirting and landing. Wait, eugh I think he barfed again! Hahaha!

Jaune:Stop watching that one!!!!

Yujin:Hahaha but it’s the best one. The ending is priceless.

Jaune: *walks back down*

Yang:Well if he survives this I guess I can off him at least I can offer him mints and company. Fake it to ya make Jaune. Between me and Ruby, at least you’ll look like a player. Heh, nah, I don’t think I can support a bunny onesie.

Yujin and Jaune:*grinning* And then she did! *high-fives* Arc charm, baby!

[infinitelyweary]

Just finished Omori and I have some uhhhhh thoughts.....

WOW! That really was something. I found the game very emotionally affecting (I was bawling my eyes out during much of the last third) but I feel so-so about the story itself. There are still some things that don't make sense to me/things I feel critical about.

This feels mean to say after I cried over it so much, but what was the point of making it look like Mari killed herself? Wouldn't it be much simpler to say that she fell? I assume there wasn't an autopsy report because it would be pretty easy to tell she died of blunt trauma from falling down a flight of stairs and not strangulation/hanging... this feels like the kind of detail devised to mislead the player as long as possible without them being able to guess what really happened, and also add the creepy/shock value of a bunch of hanging imagery. If that was the intention, I find it a bit cheap.

What was up with the whole Basil/Shadow Basil plotline? The egret-plant-message thing about thoughts reaching into your dreams implies Basil was speaking to Sunny/Omori in his dreams somehow...how? Or was Shadow Basil just a manifestation of Omori's guilt/conscience? If that's the case, why would Omori be trying to find him in his dream world, when Omori is the part of Sunny that wants to repress what happened, and by extension, wants to repress Basil's existence in his mind? The longer he spends in dream world, the more his dream friends start to forget who Basil is, but obvs playing as Omori your objective is still to find Basil. Is there a part of Sunny that wants to face the truth, and wants to force the Omori side of him to do so? I'm still trying to understand that whole thing.

SPEAKING OF BASIL...I was pretty disturbed when I learned that what I got was the "good" ending. Basil going through something incredibly traumatic with Sunny, then feeling abandoned by him, then having Sunny re-enter his life only to brutally attack each other and end up in the hospital (with medical bills his family likely cannot pay considering what his grandmother is going through)...THAT'S the good ending????

I don't fully "get" the game's relationship to violence. Not everything has to be undertale/have a pacifist route, but it seems a bit off to me that Sunny's Whole Big Thing is that he killed someone on accident, which is so traumatic that he...retreats into his mind palace to indiscriminately murder random creatures? It would be one thing if it were a pokemon-esque, "they fainted!" type of deal, but those sprout moles fully had a moment of silence for their fallen big old guy, which I "beat" in battle. Which means we are killing them. Unless it's a boss, in which case we are just fighting to subdue them, I guess?

Either way, I don't see why, when in the same game there are segments where you cannot fight the enemy, and just have to "calm down" and "persist", there couldn't have been some similar moves representing empathy and reaching out to those Sunny has wronged (AKA Basil and Aubrey to some extent). I was so torn during that last fight with Basil. I felt terrible attacking him, but also didn't want to abandon him AGAIN by running away (which I don't think it lets you do once you start fighting him anyway). What part of that is constructive at all? Then you wake up in the hospital after doing some Stuff in your mind palace and supposedly everything is good with Basil after that? I wanted so badly for Sunny and Basil to reconcile, but maybe Basil would be better off with new friends...

Sunny's parents. It seems like his dad fucked off somewhere after what happened, which I get, but what's up with his mom? The one line of dialogue you get from her in the weird flashback thing about "Not losing her only son" makes it seem like she understands what happened, and is keeping your secret so you won't get in trouble. But then she just lets him completely withdraw from the world...and leaves him alone for days on end with nothing in the fridge? The boy needs therapy! And guidance! He's extremely fucked up!! This isn't a story flaw or anything, his parents just suck and it makes me so sad.

Finding out that Basil dies in most of the other endings also made me mad. Why does Sunny thrashing the life out of him keep him from killing himself? I'm just repeating myself now but I did not like it!!

What was up with that one headstone in the graveyard you can't read? Was that a glitch? I was losing my shit the whole game thinking I'd be able to read it at the end and it would say I was dead or Kel was dead or Basil was dead or something, but I was never able to read it..

Why does the piano say Omori on it? Was that real or his imagination?

I want to say at least one nice thing, so I will say that I love Kel with my whole heart and I would die for him. And that cat monster chase scene was really cool.

All in all, I think the game is worth playing. The characters are fairly anime trope-y, some of it is a little edgy for me (the self-harm to leave white space seemed unnecessary), the humor didn't always work and most of the NPCs/side quests I found tedious. But the art is gorgeous, and there is a lot of heart in some of these scenes (again...BAWLED my eyes out).

I guess the overall message is that you need to face reality even when it's painful, which I WOULD like, except that most of the other endings are killing yourself or Basil killing himself or both. So, face the truth or kill yourself/your friend? Idk how I feel about that. But just judging by the "good" ending, it's a message I can appreciate.

3/5

[constantlyunlightening]

Bedtime

Kinktober Day 5: Orgasm Denial w/ Bakugo Katsuki

Other kinks/Trigger warnings: edging, there’s some minor degradation but nothing too heavy

I got partway through a Monoma fic yesterday and suddenly, this explosive jerk decided to consume my thoughts. I spent my entire shift at work going absolutely feral after working on this.

Katsuki Bakugo owns my ass.

Disclaimers: Read/interact only if you’re 18+. Characters are all 20+

Rules played a pretty big part in your relationship with Katsuki. Growing up training to be the best hero meant he had always lived under a tight set of guidelines. Guidelines of what and how much to eat, how much to exercise, how much to rest, when to go to bed. There were routines - patterns set to benefit the self as much as possible. Becoming an adult didn't mean losing those patterns, it just meant adjusting them. They had adapted and could be flexible when called for but they still existed. They existed for his benefit which is why he was such a stickler for his rules. He may refuse to watch his mouth, he may kick his feet up on tables and he may choose to ignore any societal rules about how to behave in a public area, but lord have mercy on the soul that tries to throw a wrench in Katsuki's bedtime. 

That included you.

He took you as a partner but that didn't mean his own schedule was going to bend all too much. In fact, after you two had really become close, he started to try pushing those morals on you. In typical Bakugo fashion, he was a bit of an asshole about it - and really pushy. He'd try and drag you along to his routines - his wake up times, his eating times and his workouts.

At first, you gave a lot of push back. He was your partner, not your baby sitter. Who was he to tell you what to eat? When you had to go to bed? You butting your head back at him was enough to get him to start a conversation with you about the whole thing. It was a long one but it boiled down to Katsuki wanting the very best for you and having those sort of healthy routines was something that would help you in the long run. He cared about you and this was one of his ways to show it, which was sweet, but you had to remind him that you had your own automony and he couldn't expect you to change your lifestyle overnight (or at all, if you didn't want to).

More talking and you eventually decided there wasn't any harm in working to build a healthier routine that you were okay with. Katsuki was allowed to help you but he wasn't allowed to force any sort of rules on you that you didn't want and in return, you weren't going to fuck up his routine either. 

It seemed fair enough and, honestly, setting a routine had helped you out in a lot of ways but as of recently, one specific rule had gotten you bent out of shape.

Fucking bedtime.

Sure, your new sleep pattern was healthy and left you with a lot more energy but with Katsuki's current hero schedule, he was rarely ever home before bedtime and - damnit, you had needs. You spent the last week and a half just so horny you could hardly stand it. And then Katsuki wouldn't get home until 15 minutes before bedtime which gave him just enough time to shower and go right to bed. You told him how you were feeling a few times but he would, as politely as he could, tell you to "fuck yourself if it's that bad" before tossing you a vibrator out of the night stand and promptly burying himself under the blankets. 

Fates forbid you mess with his damn bed time. 

Eventually a few nights of whining had him promising you the next time he got home with time to spare he would hit it until you were crying. 

Which is why today, when he returned home an hour and a half before bedtime, you had hopped on him as fast as your legs could move you. He didn't protest as you dropped him to the bed and climbed onto his dick.

He let you work for your own pleasure in this position, giving you the opportunity to stretch yourself out and get warmed up. He let you use him and seek out your own ecstasy on top which you were more than happy to do… at least until he stopped you right when you were getting to the best part. His hands grabbed at your hips and with strength that owned up to the hero's reputation, he tossed you onto your back on the bed. You had instantly shouted your protest, but he was repositioning you by your ankles into a mating press before you could physically do anything in retribution. The plunge of his cock into your quivering pussy quelled any other words you had wanted to say.

"You've been on my case all week, dumbass. You're not allowed to finish yet," he growled, a feral gleam in his eyes as he grinned at you. He leaned forward, putting a little bit of pressure down on your legs to  stretch you out under his thrusting. "If you're gonna throw a tantrum, you better be aiming to make it worth your while. I get you wanna be a slut, but you gotta be smarter than that." His taunts just served in making you clench down on him like a vice grip, your moans echoing out into the room.

You were smart but Katsuki could make you so dumb.

Unfortunately for you, this position ended the same as the prior. In the same pattern as the first, he waited until your orgasm was just on the precipice and that's when he would yank out of you to the next position -which this time, involved him spooning you and pushing into you from behind.

And then again. Climb and climb and then right before the high, it was pull out, reposition and restart. He went from spooning you to straddling one of your legs while propping your other in the air. From that to laying you down completely flat and reentering. Each and every new position sent a wave of frustration through you as he ripped away that last wave of pleasure from you. Never quite let you reach your tipping point. By the time he had you on your knees with your ass up in your air and your head in the mattress, tears were welling up in your eyes from the very second his cock rocketed down. 

"Oi." Another growl and you felt a large hand fist your hair. He gave a sharp yank and he was dragging your upper half off the bed, pressing your back into his chest and not missing a beat of his cock driving into your body. "Are you crying? You've been asking me to fuck you every single night and now that you got what you want, you're crying. You're not backing out, are you?"

The handle he had made out of your hair stung enough to make your tears fully flow out and you gave a whiney sob as your hands went back, trying to grip onto Katsuki anyway you could. 

"N-nooo." There was an answer between your whimpering cries as his free hand snaked between your thighs and started to slowly play with your folds, but purposefully missing that extra sensitive bundle of nerves. "Katsuki, please, lemme cum-"

"That's right. No stopping now. Tough it out princess. You asked for this." There was an arrogance in your voice that would have pissed you off if you weren't so overcome with the urge to cum. He just had to touch you a little harder, fuck you at a slightly different angle. And he knew that - he had to. He knew every single thing about your body so why wasn't he letting you orgasm? You were so fucking close but this time he pushed in deep enough to let his tip hit your cervix and he froze. You didn't bother to contain the sob that escaped you.

"Oh, yeah. You asked, didn't you? I'm doing you a favor, aren't I? I'm helping you out by pounding you into a crying mess. You should be thanking me," he declared cockily, slowly pulling his hips back while he kept your squirmy, needy cunt in the air. And just as only his tip was breeched inside you, he snapped his hips forward, burying all the way inside you and earning another unabashed sob. "So?" His voice was hot on your ear as he nipped at it, making you squeeze around him tighter in dumb, helpless lust. "Where are your fucking manners? Better start saying thank you."

Too fucked out to care about your dignity, you obliged immediately, focused on the reward you wanted so so badly. "Th-thank you-" his hips pushed up once. "Thank you-" another thrust. "Thank you!" And another "Thankyouthankyouthankyou- ohmigod- thankyou-" each babbled out plea earned you more movement, each one faster and feral than the last and before you knew it, he was back to forcing your head down onto the mattress, using it as leverage as he fucked you with enough force to leave your cunt feeling like it was on fire. But pain or pleasure, you were too targeted on the end result to care. The logical side of your mind was long gone.

You were so far gone, you didn't hear the beeping of an alarm somewhere in the background.

At least not until, once again, Katsukis dick was pulled out of you and you were left with nothing but your own unbearably pent up energy. But you weren't manhandled and contorted into another shape this time. Instead, this time you felt something hot and sticky spurt out across your back. Had he just- 

You choked, desperately trying to scramble to see what exactly he was doing - what he had done. Why he had stopped! But before you could turn to look, he had plopped down to his side and was tugging you up against his chest. You finally took note of the annoyingly loud buzzing of an alarm on your nightstand, but it didn't really register with you as to what it was. "What the fuck?" You practically bawled as you struggled in his strong grip, squirming like if you could move enough, you'd be impaled on his dick again. 

"I set an alarm for when it was time for bed dumb ass." Your blood boiled even in your pathetic, quivering state. "Guess you should have came faster." You wanted to scream. You almost did but it broke with the way your tears made you choke up. He had timed that! He did that on purpose! He not only edged you this entire time only to rip away your orgasm at the last second, but he had pulled out and came on you! You were going to lose your mind. You felt feral in his grasp as he kept you in place, only letting one arm escape you for a second so he could bang on the alarm to stop blaring. You wanted to argue, shout, scream - anything - but having that much pro hero dick making a mess of your insides without actually accomplishing anything left you without the brain power to form anything beyond incoherent whines and cries.

Kisses that were meant to soothe you as they trailed over your neck didn't do much this time, but Katsuki littered a few of them anyway. He wasn't even really trying to fool you that he was being nice. You could feel his smirk against your flesh. "Quit shaking so much. After how long we just went, if I stick it back in you're going to be whining about how bad it hurts," he declared, which wasn't untrue - your almost-high was starting to wind down and you felt nothing but uncomfortable. "Go to bed. I took off tomorrow morning so i'll let you cum as much as you want when you wake up."

He paused as he dragged the blanket over you, ignoring your babbling whimpers, as he pulled back just enough to look at you with a cocky smirk. "As long as you actually get your ass up on time."

[wrienne]

My Cheating, Amnesic Fiancé

Chapter 10: His Ring

Namjoon and Seokjin’s eyes widened, though you got no reaction from Yoongi. He was like an ominous presence, sitting at an angle you could only watch him through your peripheral view as you stared down at your hands.

“How?” asked Namjoon. “And how do you know that?”

“Yes, isn’t amnesia both incurable and irreversible?” wondered Hoseok. "That's what the doctor told us."

“Starting with that...”

While explaining what you and Kim Sejin had spoken about that morning and the battle plan you had organized all day during school, all six of them were quiet. You finished with, “...I figured I could grab some of his clothes as well as hear your ideas about my plan.”

“It sounds like some kind of movie plot,” said Seokjin dubiously.

“Exactly what I told your manager,” you said and smiled half-heartedly. “But this is the only option we have. I, for one, refuse to let Jungkook lose all that he’s fought for. What all of you have fought for.”

“Even if it’s a slight chance, there’s still a possibility,” said Namjoon in agreement.

“What would you have us do, then?” asked Jimin.

“If you could write down a list, just as I have,” you said as you showed them your scribbles, “I’d have something more recent to go on from. I have never been very close to him, especially since his debut, so your input would help tremendously.”

“Why help him then?” Taehyung regarded you warily. His hard expression had gradually morphed into one of focus and attentiveness, but now you saw it teetering. Would he flare up again? “What do you have to gain?”

“Would you stop it?” Hoseok gave Taehyung a harsh glare, which made Namjoon and Seokjin look curiously at him. Hoseok pointed at Taehyung. “This one almost lost it downstairs, blaming Jungkook’s accident on (Y/N). Taehyung, you coming at her doesn’t exactly help the situation.”

“Hyung,” said Taehyung coolly. “Everyone with half a brain understands that she and Jungkook parted on unfriendly terms. Have you ever heard him curse like that - especially to a girl who is supposed to be a ‘family friend’? And he wouldn’t speak to anyone at all until Sejin-manager had taken us to the bar. She made him drink and run out on the street.”

“He’s halfway right,” said Seokjin as he scrutinized you. “I’ve never seen our Jungkook that mad.”

“Exactly,” said Taehyung triumphantly. “So you better tell us the truth: what do you have to gain from Jungkook?”

“Nothing,” you said earnestly, then fumbled as you tried to structure the rest of your reply. Technically, you had absolutely nothing to gain from Jeon Jungkook’s potential recovery and reascent to the music industry’s top. Meanwhile, it would take you more than three months of hard work and utter, genuine dedication to even have a shot at getting him to Japan. It could all just prove to be a waste of time. Minutes, hours, days, weeks better spent on you and yourself. Not to mention, that bastard had been unfaithful to you for who knows how long, in addition to having treated you sometimes like air, sometimes like dirt and sometimes like you were his worst enemy in the world.

But still. Still. You couldn’t abandon Jeon Jungkook in his time of need.

“It doesn’t make sense,” said Taehyung and crossed his arms over his chest. “Jungkook told me you disliked each other, and that you couldn’t stand him. So why?”

“I just…”

You grasped after the right words. Your mind was muddled, however, so you had no choice but to simply follow the second voice-in-command: your heart.

“If you were me,” you began carefully, “would you have allowed the son of your parents’ best friend to forget his childhood dream? I’ve known Jungkook all of my life - we’ve grown up together, spent every holiday with one another and celebrated everything from birth, life and death side by side. He was horrible most of the time, I’ll say that, but he was there for me when others weren’t. You might believe my family fortunes and good name generated friends wherever I went, but no. It didn’t. I’ve been on my own pretty much all my life.”

You hadn’t meant for the conversation to suddenly turn so personal, but there you sat, pouring your heart out to six strangers. Perhaps that’s what made therapy so popular. People listening to other people’s problems.

You took a deep breath. “When my grandparents died, Jungkook was the first one to each of their funerals. When I was about ten or so and fell down a cliff during a hike with our parents and broke my collarbone, Jungkook was the one who found me and dragged me back to camp. He practically saved my life. Now, I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t have been able to look myself in the mirror if I just left him the way he is now, especially when I have a chance to help.”

No matter his betrayal.

“I have no clue what Jungkook told you about me, but I would never premeditate hurting or upsetting or exploiting him in any way.” You cleared your throat, grimacing as your windpipe had tightened with every word you said. “Now yesterday was the first time I saw you guys on stage. And though I possess no particular experience in show business or even an ounce of musical talent, I saw--no, felt that he belonged up there. Still - and I haven't told you all - would you have left him if you were me? Abandoned him for old grudges?”

You hadn’t noticed how hard you were clutching your hands together. Not until you felt the odd, ticklish sensation signifying a lack of blood and circulation did you realize that your knuckles and fingers had whitened. You loosened up and caught Taehyung’s eyes.

“No,” he said, immediately casting down his focus. “I guess not.”

“What we spoke of is private,” you said quietly, feeling your chest constrict in pain at the memory. “It is something I can never disclose. But the conversation wasn’t of a threatening or hostile nature, and if I knew he would run out drunkenly on a street because of my decision, I would have never made it. I would never, ever wish Jungkook harmed.”

No one spoke. Taehyung didn’t raise his gaze.

You sniffled. Hoseok quickly came back from the hallway with some tissues and handed you them. You wiped your eyes and were relieved to find the tissue only slightly damp. You weren’t bawling, at least, though the mere presence of tears made you frown - you didn’t exactly have something to cry for. You weren’t somber or filled with grief at the memory of your grandparents' funerals. However, you were extremely tired and weary after last night’s escapade to the hospital. And your conversation with your parents hadn’t exactly done much to brighten up your mood.

You almost chuckled. You were used to calling Jungkook stupid, but who was the bigger fool, really?

Considering how the next three months would progress, it was ironic, it truly was.

“What should we do?” asked Hoseok finally, breaking the silence.

“Let’s split up into groups,” said Namjoon after said someone’s stomach grumbled. “Jin-hyung and I will get to cooking since it’s our turn anyway. The rest of you can start with a list each.”

“What are we even supposed to write?” Jimin scratched the back of his head.

“It might be a bit personal,” you told him, “but it probably has to be in order for it to be memorable. Just write down anything you might have done with Jungkook that you feel affected your relationship in any major way.”

“Write down anything that you imagine Jungkook might have remembered up until the accident,” added Namjoon and slowly stood. “Like the time we went bungee jumping or traveled to Northern Europe.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” you said.

“And you’re going to do what with this information?” wondered Seokjin, standing also. “Isn’t it better if we just meet up with him and tell him all of this? Try to remind him while face-to-face?”

You shook your head. “I wouldn’t say he’s scared of you. But he doesn’t trust anyone and might straight-up refuse to listen to any of you. And even if some of you manage to convince him to hear you out, what if it turns out he doesn’t remember? That might make you frustrated at him or just left feeling needlessly hurt. Furthermore, I don’t want to stress him out any more than he already is. Imagine, it must be like waking up from a five or so year long dreamless sleep for him and suddenly he’s overwhelmed with the eager input from six or so people telling him he knows them the way he did.”

“Okay,” said Jimin with a nod. “Who has some pen and paper?”

“I do,” said Hoseok, then disappeared into one of the rooms. He came out with a notebook and tore out a page for everyone except you, Seokjin and Namjoon, then returned with an equal number of pens.

Namjoon and Seokjin headed into the kitchen while Taehyung, Jimin and Hoseok eventually started discussing what would count as a “memorable memory”. Yoongi quietly pondered his sheet of paper, his dark gaze fixed upon the clean slate while he tapped his pen against the table surface.

He briefly found your eyes but said nothing.

Swallowing hard, you carefully unzipped your jacket and hung it over your chair as well as placed your duffel bag underneath your chair. Feeling uncomfortable just sitting there, you rose while putting up your hair with a hair tie and poked your head into the kitchen.

“Is there something I can do to help?” you asked.

Seokjin was instructing Namjoon when he stopped and looked at you over the latter’s shoulder. “No, we’ll be alright. You can just sit with the others.”

You wouldn’t have minded just sitting and watching them if not for Yoongi’s watchful eyes. But since you couldn’t exactly say that, you smiled sheepishly. “I’m sort of not used being around so many guys.”

“No male cousins or siblings?”

“None.” Your smile fell a bit. “It’s a small family.”

“How long are you staying?” asked Namjoon. He had begun washing vegetables in the sink.

“Oh, not very long,” you said quickly. “I wouldn’t want to intrude for any longer than dinner. And I told Jungkook I’d be back at six.”

Seokjin and Namjoon looked at each other hesitantly. The latter shrugged, and Seokjin found your gaze again.

“Would you mind setting the table, then?” he asked.

About half an hour later, all seven of you were busy eating homemade tteokbokki and bought gimbap. They asked you about you and Jungkook, how long you had known each other, what school you went to, and so on. The lists had been compiled into one master list, courtesy of Namjoon, who had wanted to organize all of their ideas into relevant categories, like years, members and places. You hadn’t even been aware of how hungry you had been until then and ate quicker than everyone else. Or well, almost.

“It’s almost six o’clock,” said Min Yoongi as he stood. “Come, (Y/N). Someone’s got to show her to Jungkook’s things and Namjoon is still eating,” he explained at everyone’s confused frown.

“Oh, I had almost forgotten.”

You rose and began carrying your dishes to the kitchen when Jimin stopped you. “Let it be,” he said. “I’ll take care of it. You better get back to Jungkook.”

“Thank you,” you said, then looked at everyone seated at the table. For once, Taehyung didn’t look at you with poorly disguised fury. “Thank you for the food, and for your help. I really appreciate it, and I know Jungkook would as well.”

“We’ll finish the last of the master list meanwhile,” said Hoseok as you bent to pick up your duffel bag. “Try to steal some of Namjoon’s stuff. He has way too many clothes that fall underneath the ‘hobo’ category.”

“It’s ‘boho’ I tell you,” mumbled Namjoon as he covered his mouth with his hand. “It’s a popular fashion style overseas.”

“That might be, but you make it ‘hobo’.”

Namjoon sighed as the others laughed.

You smiled at Hoseok, who returned the gesture, then turned anxiously toward Yoongi. He gestured for you to come and you followed him into the same room Namjoon and Seokjin had exited from. The bedroom was small, with only barely enough space for two single beds, a wardrobe, a tall mirror and a desk with a lamp, but surprisingly clean compared to the rest of the apartment.

Yoongi closed the door shut after you, then led you to the swelling wardrobe, which almost reached from the floor to the ceiling. He opened the wardrobe doors and pointed in a general area of blacks, jeans and whites. There was a surplus of beanies, mouth masks and brand underwear as well.

“That half is Jungkook’s,” said Yoongi as he opened the wardrobe doors and pointed in a general area. “Though some of his clothes might be in the washing machine or drying.”

“I think he can manage with this,” you said as you began placing one item after another into your duffel bag.

You didn’t know exactly how much you needed to grab, but when you considered the bleak possibility that Jungkook might not ever return to the apartment again, you decided to take everything of his at least in the wardrobe. While initially conscientious - you knew how prim Jungkook could be with his things - you took it slow, placing clothes like Tetris. Then, realizing it would take hours, you just shoveled as much as you could into the bag.

You tried to ignore the pair of slim dark eyes silently watching your every move.

“Is there anything else of his in here?” you asked Yoongi when you were finished. The duffel bag actually looked like a body bag now, but would still have some room left over for a phone charger or a headset or so.

“He has a laptop and some gadgets he carries in a small bag.”

It didn’t take you long to find the computer and you carefully placed it inside a computer bag marked “JK”. You found chargers, a mouse and a headset inside the bag first, though, which you poured into the duffel bag instead. When you were finished, however, and started toward the door, Yoongi stopped you.

You frowned and tried not to sound frightened, but felt your heartbeats surge into a gallop. “Hey, what--”

And you stopped so abruptly you almost choked on your words. You had wondered where Jungkook’s engagement band was, ever since you saw its obviously vacant place on his finger the evening before. But now you knew.

Held between his index finger and thumb, Min Yoongi raised the promise ring your parents had given Jungkook, its circular, golden shape familiar to you. His expression didn't change, nor did his voice.

“At which point of the dinner were you going to tell us about your and Jungkook’s engagement?”

[lovelyirony]

sweeter than honey (redux)

Pepper Potts did not exactly mean to become a criminal. Really, she still doesn’t think she is. 

But here are the facts: 

1.) She has broken several laws in pursuit of funds that do not belong to her. 

2.) The FBI would like to talk to her about several things and potentially put her under arrest. 

3.) She can no longer go to her regular coffee shop because the barista snitched and told them her name, as well as her occupation. 

Pepper broke several laws because the company she was working for (Stane International) was technically breaking laws, but laws that do not apply to corporations because corporations do this thing called “funding campaigns” and also sometimes “doing favors.” 

She decided to do the same and suddenly she is a criminal. Not her fault she redistributed money back into the community, and now they can’t get any of it back. 

It’s just how that worked out. 

She’s been staying at a hotel that serves many questionable individuals each month, and it has an indoor pool and a three-star rating on the latest travel website. 

It’s nondescript, not her style, and she’s currently in the bathroom having a crisis because she most likely needs to dye her hair. 

She’s vain. Pepper knows she is, has known it since high school when she trimmed her hair and cried. Her hair, by all accounts, is gorgeous. It’s a shiny strawberry-blonde that makes her look like an ice queen in winter and a mysterious fairy queen in summer. 

She does not want to dye it. But here she is with an eight dollar box of dye and thoughts in her head. 

And then her hotel door opens. 

Not supposed to do that, but that’s what happens when you’re in a three-star hotel. 

She is also in old athletic shorts that have most definitely seen better days and a tank top that was a last-minute buy from the nearest store, and it does not suit her at all. 

Facing her is a man with an odd beard, tinted sunglasses, and a graphic t-shirt over a blazer. 

“So. You pissed off Stane Industries,” he drawls. “I’m impressed. Usually they just sweep their little problems under the rug.” 

“I’ll sweep you under one if you’d like,” Pepper offers, wondering how quickly a blowdryer can knock someone out. She’s not sure how well-made the hotel one is. Probably not very. 

“I’m not here to kill you,” the man says. He takes off his sunglasses. His eyes are a nice shade of brown, not that you’re supposed to notice that about a potential enemy. Pepper is just that skilled. 

“Then what are you here to do? Make me move to Florida?” 

“No, the opposite. We’re staying here. I’m offering you a job position of helping me take down Obadiah Stane and the company itself.” 

“Who would I be working with?” 

“Anthony Stark.” 

Pepper stills. 

She read the news when she was in college, same time as Tony Stark. Went missing in the car crash, no one found his body. Temperatures were freezing, he was wearing a tuxedo. The chances were that he froze to death somewhere that they didn’t find yet. 

Chances were. What an odd little phrase. 

“So, you made it out.” 

“Not as hard as people say it seems to be, Virginia.” 

“Call me Pepper, my first name disgusts me.” 

“Gotcha, Pepper. Call me Tony. You in?” 

“Obviously. What do I need to do?” 

“Meet the team.” 

-

There is Rhodey, who was Tony’s best friend and sobbed on national television for two weeks until they forgot all about him. 

“He’ll cry at anything,” Tony says with a laugh as Rhodey sends him a dirty look. “Just made him think about neon shoes and he bawled like a baby.”

“I did not,” Rhodey hisses. “I was a good crier.” 

 “You looked like a seal,” Pepper intervenes. “But you played the part quite well. Nice to meet you.” 

“Right back at you, Pepper.” 

She meets Happy, a man who is all serious and grumpy and “did not want to break the law before forty” but he also gets to watch Downton Abbey whenever he wants, so he’s not doing too bad. 

He runs security and also tells Rhodey and Tony when they’re banned from ordering pizza all the time, and Pepper is inducted into the Healthy Eating Committee. 

There’s Bruce Banner, who enjoys taking over corporations for fun, and this is his second one. His first was some sort of health insurance scam, and apparently that was just to finish up his thesis for his third doctorate. 

“He has seven degrees, he’s weird,” Tony says. 

“Oh like you’re any better,” Bruce says with a snort. “You learned twelve languages for fun. Including French, which is useless.” 

“French is not useless,” Tony says. “It got us free food in Canada.” 

“We would’ve gotten it anyway if we’d done it my way.” 

“Stealing?” Rhodey asks. 

“Yes!” 

Pepper laughs. 

- 

Their job is a bit easier than anticipated. They found out from Pepper that getting into the building is stupid easy because no one likes their job and will do anything when bribed. 

Tony struts in with a badly-made-employee-ID and talks about a copying machine and coffee and seeing someone next month for dinner. Pepper just keeps her head down and pretends like she’s meeting someone for something. Like usual. 

Obadiah Stane is out of the country on a meeting, and his secretary is scared to death of him, so they’re allowed to poke around the office and find some interesting information. 

The problem comes when someone recognizes Bruce outside (government watchlists: the most pesky things on earth) and suddenly there’s this huge fuss. 

Tony pushes Pepper into an office closet and then promptly asks her if anyone opens the door, if she’s alright with him kissing her. 

“Why would you do that?” 

“People don’t like watching kissing, too intimate. Also, you have a lovely face and you’re quite funny, and I think it’d be fun and delightful to kiss you.” 

“How long have you thought about that?” 

“Not going to talk about that, just want an answer. If you say no--and feel free to, there’s no obligation in physical contact right now--it does complicate plans A to D. I suppose we could play the divorced couple route, but I’m not a gigantic fan about that.” 

“I mean, I guess? It wouldn’t be bad, and I’m not exactly opposed to it, Would it mean anything later?” 

“Do you want it to?” 

“Let’s figure that out after we do it.” 

“If we need to do it.” 

Door swings open. 

Oh, there’s a need. 

Tony is a particularly nice kisser, Pepper thinks. The thought runs through her head that she’s only kissed two people before Tony, and one was in high school so that doesn’t count, but the other was a secretary at an old company she used to work for.

But Tony is nice. Soft and warm and he grabs her waist and that’s nice. 

“Oh my god, sorry,” the employee mutters. “I just, I thought--” 

“Occupied!” Tony says, not even stopping as he kicks out his leg and practically stomps the poor other guy in the stomach. 

They get out, run, and Pepper laughs as she sees a bit of pink lipstick on the side of Tony’s mouth. 

“So, how’d I do?” 

“Send me a survey,” Pepper remarks. “Or a ranking.” 

“On a scale of one to ten?” 

“Seven.” 

“I was that bad?” 

“How do you rank things? Do you put one as the best?” 

“Obviously.” 

“No, you’re an idiot. One is always the worst. You’re a nine. It would’ve been higher but we were in a corporate office and in a supply closet.” 

“So what you’re saying is, I’ll have to try again?” 

“Preferably over a couple glasses of wine and pizza. The good kind, though. Not the garbage Rhodey orders.” 

They approach the car that Happy has, with Rhodey and Bruce already leading others on a goose chase. 

“You two have too much fun,” Happy mutters. “Boss, you got lipstick on your side. Did you get the drives?” 

“Transferred and set to release to every major news outlet tomorrow morning at six a.m.,” Tony says. “Interns are going to curse my name as they’re forced to rewrite articles.” 

Pepper smiles. 

That night, they have a couple of glasses of wine and Tony orders the good pizza, the kind that costs a little bit too much for what it is, but it’s all worth it in the end. 

- 

When Tony takes over the company after about six months of legal battles that would probably have drawn on for well over a decade if not for the fact that Tony is one of the most in-your-face-let’s-talk men she’s ever met, Pepper was kind of expecting things to slow down. 

Of course not. That’s not her style nor is it Tony’s, although arguably a vacation or a nice spa day would have been nice beforehand. 

“We have shit to do,” Tony says. “Rhodey, you need to help me revamp R&D. Pepper, I need to talk to you in the office.” 

They’ve already hired a company to completely redesign the entire building and refocus the company’s outlook, starting with getting rid of the disgusting 1970s carpet and chairs. God, it’s ugly. Pepper cried when she saw the office chairs. 

But she’s in Tony’s office, and she’s wondering if this is going to be directly related to workplace relationships or not. She’s already prepared an argument as to why she still wants a relationship and just how much professionalism she can exhibit in the face of hardship. 

(That hardship being the fact that Tony looks quite good in suits but also has arms that are made for tank tops.) 

“I have a problem with you,” Tony says. “And it’s that I want to make you CEO, but I don’t want people to think that you got it just because we’re dating. So we have an issue to cross.” 

Pepper was not expecting this. She was expecting maybe head accountant, or head of the PR team. But CEO? That was something that was...wow. Pepper had had a fifteen year plan for working up from wherever it was that she would be at. 

She also didn’t know they were dating. 

“We’re dating?” 

“Did I read the kiss wrong? Oh shit, was the seven secretly the bad seven?” 

“No!” Pepper says. “You just never told me that we were dating, we didn’t have a communicative conversation about it.” 

“Oh. Well, would you like to go on dates and things?” 

“What’s ‘and things’?” 

“You know. Sexy times. But I wanted to be a professional about it. But I am not that professional.” 

“No, no you’re not. Which is why you offered me the CEO position and why I am accepting it. But I will also date you...and things.” 

“Excellent. Have a dinner tonight while we discuss how to do Microsoft Excel?” 

“I already know how to use it.” 

“Pepper, you are the only woman for me in this lifetime and the next.” 

“And the one after that?” 

“I’m assuming you’ll get bored of me and marry someone who’s seven feet tall.” 

“Seven feet tall? What, am I going to attend every NBA game for the next husband?” 

“Maybe, I don’t know what you’ll do. I’ll probably be halfway into a grave over despair.” 

Pepper chuckles, dropping a short kiss onto his temple. 

“Well, I hope I don’t have to witness that. You want me to make some salad for tonight then?” 

“Yes please! We also need to review the decor and see what chairs to order.” 

Pepper nods. 

“We need to ask Rhodey, he has opinions about design of those.” 

“Of course he does, he hates standing too long. We’ll send him some of our options.” 

She waves as she leaves the office. 

What Tony misses: 

Pepper pumps her fist as she leaves the office, nearly stumbles, and is quite glad that no security cameras were installed that day. 

What Pepper misses: 

Tony spins so hard in his office chair as a celebration that it topples over. 

Yeah, they’re made for each other. 

[beann-e]

um wow , idk what to say i’m a bit flustered but i hope i say it right. I was only gone for a couple of days and this is what I come back to. 😮 Tysm guys I love you all thank you for taking the time out of your scrolls to even follow me >:’) So, I decided to follow through on my haikyu x police force idea and here it is a sneak peek! I hope you enjoy !

May 1 , 2021

-recording take one

" I am under oath to tell you that everything being said here today will be used to further the investigation against yourself. That being said If you choose to answer a question or provide a statement I will have no choice but to write it down to be processed and turned into someone of higher authority than me is that clear "

" i'd say that's a bit — well stupid to me saying yes when your the highest fish on the food chain no? "

" what else can I say except lucky you that everything you say won't be passed around and relayed much less having your words twisted by those listening "

" cute "

" i'd say same goes to you if you weren't chained up in front of me right now — I might've just asked you out on a date "

" i'm free friday at 10 — though it's in the morning so I pose the question— Would you like to sneak me from my court case baby I promise i’ll make it up to you "

" mm i'll think about it seeing as though i'm the one escorting you to your new cell anyways we might just have to have a uh a talk inside hmm"

" what no balls ? "

" sadly none —or at least physically seeing as though i'm a woman "

" I never would've guessed if it wasn't for the way that suit hugs your curves — your pretty full out huh you must be fun "

" i've gotten that before though people tend to say i’m a bit more fun elsewhere "

" aw you wound me you didn’t tell me I had competition babe “

" of course not your first in line in my eyes, it sucks that the ring on my finger says differently though "

" isn't that sweet I might just have to take you up on your offer "

" oh? didn't think you'd be so excited ,much less interested on being the first one on my list to be put in jail but, I guess i'll try my best to speed your trial up for you if that's what you want "

The rooms silence was heavy as the camera panned the room. Your fingers silently being clawed into the table as it drained all your anger from you.

Your shoe tapping against the floor with a slight grimace appearing on your face when you heard the buttons on the camera in front of you being pressed.

" what no slick comment ? " A heartfelt laugh moved to fill the once silent room as you watched small hands wrap around the camera and fix it to where it showed nothing but your upset face—fingertips slamming down one by one on the table

" don't you have a fucking job to do glasses "

" aw what happened no more flirty y/n ? "

"your an asshole— I don’t know why I expected much in the first place seeing as though you were trained under him "

" such a foul mouth — you do know this is going on your transcripts right ? " the eyes in front of you narrowing on you the voice only coming out in mock care for your situation " you wouldn't want the jury — much less the judge reading this when their deciding your sentence right ? "

Your fingers glided over the table and into a fist in front of you as your head went to look down at the table

" you've grown submissive so fast "

" I find it hard to believe you don't like that kind of thing fucking pervert "

" aw you wound me — but if I had to supply you with an answer to your question— I can imagine your dying to know since you've been flirting with a married woman this whole time "

" married? "

" I know your observant y/n you have to be " the next words making you breathe heavily " I mean the way you noticed your s/o was cheating before they could even notice themselves is just wow"

The click of the door being heard as a deep voice made its way in the room " Kiyoko your not allowed in here "

" I have just as much right to be in here as anyone else — "

" but I could’ve sworn I just said you don't — so again why the hell are you in here ? "

The room turning cold with the woman in front of you straightening herself up not wanting to go back and forth with the male in front of her but, at the same time not wanting to come across as small, being seen as a woman down here was hard much less having your own husband be relatively close to the one in charge " I came down here to test out inmate 4890 psyche"

" did anyone give you that kind of permission? that kind of clearance ? to even get down here in the first place ? "

" I mean their hidden underground so i'd say their the main event down here "

" you can't just come down here to see it whenever you see fit "

" but I was interested in the way it's mind works "

" what the hell am I an attraction at sea world? "

" your whatever the fuck I want you to be " your once strong eyes were met with brown ones that held your gaze almost testing you— daring you.

You seeing the hate swirl with annoyance meeting to radiate off of him. His face made up in a snarl as he finally turned his whole body to you.

Arms crossed across his chest eyes now lazily focused on you causing a chill to move through your spine. Youd never wanted to grow submissive to anyone and you never had not in all your years of living so why were you now?

Kiyokos eyes moving from between you to the male in front of her and back. Her body already telling you she knew something was off by the way you'd just been playful with her until you felt the energy shift by someone elses approach showing how easily your personality could changed.

Something was off and she was interested

" if necessary I can always stay and play mediato— "

" your ok " he smiled widely " we're fine together — down here "

your body shifted in the seat wrists being pulled back and down to the table by the chain in front of you when you heard his claim.

" y/n ' s good with that — their fine ive known them a long time I can speak for them — we’ve done this before countless times this isn't their first crime maybe one of this stature yes but "

" mhmm " the woman in front of you shook her head lightly before leaving the room your heart clenching tightly when you heard the door click closed

" I just wanna do my job and then i'll get out ok y/n " the fake sympathy in his voice shining through as he put down his clipboard on the table before standing behind the chair at the table across from you

" god " his voice was heavy as he spoke " it's like you get hotter and hotter everytime we see each other " his body moving around the small rectangular table " it's such a shame "

Your body tensing when you felt him nearing you only to keep going past you.

Body letting out a breath you didn't even know you were holding only to restore another one when you heard the click of the camera turning off and powering down.

Your eyes darting around the room to watch him out of the corner of them reaching up to turn off the corner camera that showed the police force what was happening in the room

Not that they would care seeing as though he was chief he could do anything he wanted to you and not have to tell anyone in his unit. It didn't help that you were a world renowned criminal now you'd fully fucked this up for yourself

" crazy how your fucked yourself over " his words only confirming the thought in your head " you were only into petty crimes before so I could barely get my hands on you i'd always have to pass you over to everyone else because no one of my status ever needed to intervene — though I would've loved to— just to feel the way your face would drop anytime I entered the room or to even feel the shift in your attitude like I felt earlier— holy fuck is that powerful and now look at you "

He laughed at your body that sat slumped in your chair trying to cover your face with the cuffs on the table " pathetically sitting in a room bawling your eyes out in front of me "

His words only feeling closer now as his breath hit your ear.

Heat from his mouth moving to your neck instantly causing you to scoot away only for him to grab the back of your neck " have you no respect for yourself "

You gritted your teeth together at his hold on you " I said have you no respect for yourself "

You bit at your lip trying to decide what to say you always wanted to spit a comeback at the male but right now was definitely not the time with his heavy hand on your neck moving slowly into your hair to grip tighter

"ah every single time we do this — it's almost even more pathetic than the droplets I keep seeing falling and landing on my perfect fucking table that I bought with company’s money— fuck their gonna cut my paycheck "

His hand tightening as he spoke again " one more time asshole " his voice held all the rudeness to it " have you no respect for yourself "

" y-"

The action was quick as he slammed your head hard into the table in front of you. your vision blurring before he sighed blood dripping from your forehead and leaking out of your nose onto your lips as it trembled slightly

" ugh I hate when this happens with you —- you always bleed so fucking easily " he huffed " I ask you something you answer learn something about respect for once in your life and maybe you'll take better care of yourself "

He scoffed " your so fucking pretty and yet you do things like this — you slut yourself out in my business and then turn around and get arrested god your such a fucking ditz "

your head being brought to meet the table once again as you whimpered tears mixing with your blood brain muddied and shut down by his actions

" i'm so tired — so so tired of sweeping everything you do under the rug— I mean you act like I can’t fucking see you y/n i run the whole fucking thing I don’t— I don’t understand you your just fucking stupid so so so stupid it just blinds me and throws me for a loop sometimes "

His voice was low almost as if he only wanted you to feel the weight of his words " and then you never even say fucking sorry " he pushed your head down again " i'm the fucking cleanup crew ,, the shitty bodyguard when you drag yourself in some mess ,, the contact list when you need a plug ,, the boss when you need a job i'm fucking tired y/n "

" I know I know and i'm— im so sorry really please i'm sorry "

you braced yourself for another push as he backed away the heavy hand leaving your neck as he peered down at your head that was still hovering over the table

" what the fuck do you want another bash ?What are you doing "

" no — no please no”

" then bring your head up — god you seriously take your role on as the youngest dont you " he sighed as he moved his hands to pinch at the bridge of his nose. Your eyes darting to the camera kiyoko left and feeling hope enter your body thinking of how she would see the whole scene that’s played out with the male in front of you

" your not staying here "

" what—what "

" you can't — I dont want you here— i’m outta this your not my responsibility anymore your 19 now so I don’t know what to say except get it to fucking gether — you stay here your never gonna go to jail you'd just stay in a confined room for moths — fuck i’m always getting dragged in this shit "

" how — what do I do — what am I gonna do "

" the hell do you mean ? what am I gonna do ? as if the shits not obvious your gonna do fucking nothing while everyone else does all the work for you again "

your voice grew quiet as he scoffed " that's what I thought god — one day i'm gonna get fired "

your eyes darted to the camera and back down " for what exactly "

his eyebrows creased as he stared at you eyes moving all around your face before he spoke ignoring your question " you got yourself in some real bad shit this time y/n "

" but it wasn't even my fau— "

" you don't say shit — you know it wasn't suppose to go down like that and when one goes down we go down together you swore it— that’s how you got our trust don’t fuck yourself over again or you’ll be down in hell by yourself "

" like what ? "

" don't fuck with me y/n "

he moved to grab his clipboard your body lifting when he walked off and forgot about the camera only to drop the clipboard to the floor with a loud clang and start using his shoe to tear the papers apart

" wh-what are you doing " your voice came out soft as your eyebrows creased

His body moving over to the table and throwing the camera youd just put all your hope into someone seeing what you went through being thrown to the ground and stepped on harshly with the heel of his shoes.

Though it wasn't broken broken it was unsalvageable and couldn't be fixed your eyes going wide unable to process anything before he walked to the door and opened it his hand coming up to cup around his mouth

" THEIR ATTACKING " he screamed your body trembling at the way the table shook along with it " calling all units anyone in the vicinity the inmate I am locked up with is having a tantrum of some kind and I do not think I can handle it alone "

Your heart broke as you watched the male in front of you turn back to look at you holding nothing but hate in his eyes " I ask that you help me remove the inmate and get them out of our station immediately "

Several people running in cleaning up the scene and taking pictures before someone uncuffed you and dragged you towards the tall male by the door.

" Chief where do you want em "

" I want em on the next bus to tokyo "

Your head swirling " wh— "

" everyone exit while I talk to the inmate quickly alerting them of their next adventure " everyone moving silently to follow his demands his eyes going directly to yours as everyone raced down the hallway and away from you two

" your going to tokyo — I can't fucking do this — "

" but what would I do there's no one "

" go see bokutou — at this point you've pissed me off I can't do much else for you just — go ask for a new life really " his voice came out in a short laugh at his ending words

" boku— "

" y/n I said i'm pissed off and done with you — you keep interfering with my job and honestly this murder charge was the last strike for me— your of age now I can’t get you outta this shit— so if you could just get a new identity and get the hell away from me id seriously appreciate it "

" daichi I "

" you don't say anything "

" your my — your my brother we’re suppose to be there for each other and you "

" i'm not your anything as of right now you prick " his voice was sharp and held meaning as he snapped at uou " not your brother — your friend — your back up call when you get into weird shit I — I wanted to be a nice police officer and move my way up to chief I wanted to have kids a — a family y/n " he scoffdd " not a shitty sibling who keeps using my job against me and has me pulling strings that shouldn't even exists "

" but "

" you see how I keep cutting you off it's because I don't want to hear you y/n — you annoy the fuck out of me so seriously " he moved his shoulder to glide through the doorframe and past you "just go do what you criminal assholes do and get a new identity and the fuck away from me as soon as possible I want nothing to do with you "

" sooooo thats how you ended up with me " the air in the new room shifted from confusing to happiness as the dual colored male in front of you screamed " THATS AWESOME YOU HAVE SUCH A BADASS BACK STORY "

He jumped up and covered his face dramatically before he spoke "twas a dark night when y/n changed their ways and gave birth to a criminal — a murdering criminal who came to the one and the only — bokuto koutaro the amazingily cool , strong , funny , king of connections — thus creating a beautiful friendship and a dark and powerful villian story "

He smiled at your beat and battered face youd received from your brother a day ago before he spoke again his hair drooping slightly " too much ? "

[comic-book-jawns]

This is just for you

“Dani, it’s beautiful.”

Dani had been planning for Jamie’s birthday for a little while now. Her last one had been mentioned in passing during one of their earliest conversations at the dinner table at Bly. Owen had explained that he’d offered to make anything Jamie wanted for her dinner and been quite offended when Jamie had had the audacity to request something as pedestrian as bangers and mash. Jamie had quipped that the sausage had been a bit dry.

Everyone had laughed, but Jamie had seemed to react to her laugh, in particular. Dani had seen her smile to herself after noticing. Dani had wished her a belated happy birthday, at which point, Jamie’s cheeks had turned a tad pink, and she’d mumbled a quick thank you before asking Flora about the new book she was reading. Flora had then happily given them a very meandering but thorough summary for the next ten minutes.

Later that night, Dani had casually asked Owen for the specific date and stored it in her mind, even then sensing it would be important. And she’d been mulling over how to celebrate ever since they’d hit the road a couple months ago. She’d known not to go overboard, not wanting to overwhelm her. But, as it turned out, she’d failed at that immediately.

She’d woken up early to make her breakfast, which had been a bit difficult to do in a motel. Dani had managed to convince the owner to let her use a kitchenette off the lobby that was technically supposed to be for employees only. Jamie had woken up shortly after she’d walked back to their room with the plate. Dani, sitting on the side of the bed, smiling widely, had wished her a happy birthday; and for a moment, Jamie had just stared at her before bursting into tears.

Horrified, Dani had put the plate on the floor and taken Jamie in her arms, apologizing profusely — though for what, she wasn’t quite sure. Jamie kept shaking her head, but it had taken her a few minutes to calm enough to be able to explain: she hadn’t realized that Dani knew when her birthday was.

Dani had felt her own eyes tear up. She’d kissed Jamie’s forehead, then retrieved the plate. For the next hour, she’d sat back against the headboard, feeding Jamie her breakfast, while Jamie sat curled up between her legs, laughing and talking, as tears still trickled down her face.

Figuring Jamie needed a reprieve, she’d waited until early evening to give Jamie her present. She’d been surprised when Dani had mentioned it, but fortunately, had smiled — and continued smiling, granted a bit misty-eyed, as Dani had pulled the chest out from under their bed.

The chest was made of oak: sturdy but not flashy. Dani had found a furniture store in town, and there’d been plenty of fanciful painted ones to choose from, but Dani had thought just a simple wood finish suited Jamie better. And watching Jamie run her hand over the top, her mouth hanging open slightly, she knew she’d chosen correctly. Jamie opened it and laughed.

“Could probably fit you in here... this is perfect for our clothes.”

They were already running low on room in their luggage, as they started to accumulate new outfits on the road.

“No, no, this is just for you,” Dani explained, kneeling beside her.

“Oh, I don’t mind. You have more clothes than I do, anyway. And those sweaters of yours take up a lot of room.”

Dani laughed.

“Thank you, but it’s - it’s not for clothes, Jamie.”

Jamie finally took her eyes off the chest, furrowing her brow as she turned to Dani, who took a deep breath.

“I thought - I thought this could be like your... your rucksack... but bigger.”

Jamie’s rucksack was the first thing Jamie took out of the car when they’d arrive at a new motel and the last thing she’d put back in the car when they’d check out. Something had told Dani not to touch it or ask about it. She’d figured Jamie would talk about it eventually, when she felt ready.

And she’d felt ready a couple weeks ago when they’d been getting ready for bed one night. As they’d sat side-by-side, Jamie had gone through its content, laying them out on the duvet.

There was a teddy bear with stuffing coming out along a few seams, a prize she’d won at a fair when she was 5; a well-worn paperback copy of The Outsiders, her favorite book — Sodapop was her favorite character, but it was Johnny who she identified with most strongly; a matchbook she’d knicked from the Manadarin Oriental shortly after moving to London; Parallel Lines by Blondie, the first record she’d ever bought; a receipt from a chip shop, her first meal after getting out of prison; and a receipt from the pub in Bly, her first meal with Dani after leaving the manor.

At that point, Dani, now struggling to see through blurry eyes, had stopped her so she could kiss her. And then, Jamie had shown her the last two momentos.

The first was a short story she’d written for school when she was 11. It was marked up in red, she explained, because her spelling was atrocious — that being one of the words she’d spelled wrong — and it was “pretty shite,” anyway. But she’d held onto to it and even let Dani read it while she’d washed up. Dani had cried immediately, even harder when she’d seen the note on the back from the teacher: “Keep writing, Jamie!”

Jamie had blushed but smiled shyly when she’d returned to find Dani in tears, and then she’d shown her the final item: a photograph of her and Denny sitting on the floor playing cards while baby Mikey slept in her lap.

She was seven, almost eight. Denny was nine. Neither of them were smiling, but instead squinting at the camera, apparently caught off-guard. It had been taken by Louise, a few weeks before she’d left. Her voice thick, Jamie had laughed about her wild hair, noting how “absurd” it looked atop her tiny frame. But Dani had insisted it just made her even cuter.

As Jamie repacked the rucksack, Dani had thanked her for sharing it to her. Emotionally exhausted but seemingly peaceful, Jamie had fallen asleep on her chest shorty thereafter. And it was then, stroking her hair, that Dani had decided what to get her.

“I just - I figured you might need more room now, you know?”

For a few moments, Jamie didn’t say anything, barely reacted at all; and for the second time in one day, Dani worried she’d done something wrong, even moreso when Jamie got up and started walking away. She was about to call after her, until she saw Jamie slide open the closet. And then she’d started to smile.

Jamie leaned onto her tiptoes to reach the shelf above the rod their coats were hanging on, grabbed her rucksack, then walked back over. Wordlessly, she zipped it open and carefully transferred its contents to the chest, before adding the blue-gray, duct-taped-in-a-few-places rucksack itself. And then, surveying her new rucksack, she finally smiled.

After a few moments, she turned back to Dani and threw her arms around her.

“Thank you, Dani.”

Smiling wider, Dani kissed her neck.

“I’m glad you like it.”

They stayed like that for a long time — Dani, cradling her head, rubbing her back. But Jamie never cried, and Dani, of course, didn’t want her to but did admittedly find it a little curious.

It wasn’t until hours later, well after her birthday dinner and their subsequent celebration, that she woke up to find her sitting on the floor by the closet hugging her knees with one hand and running her hand along the rim of the reopened chest, bawling.

Dani swiftly got out of bed, looked around and spotted her robe hanging off a chair. She threw it on and padded over to Jamie, who she saw was wearing a T-shirt. It was then that Jamie looked up.

“Oh, sorry! I’m sorry.”

She knelt down and pulled Jamie to her, cradling Jamie’s head against her chest.

“Shh... it’s okay, it’s okay.”

She felt Jamie shake her head.

“I didn’t... mean to... ”

“Jamie, it’s okay.”

She kissed the top of her head. And for a few minutes, Jamie didn’t say anything as she continued to cry. Then, breathing haltingly, she pulled back to look at Dani.

“I don’t... I don’t know how to... thank you.”

Dani smiled but looked at her rather quizzically as she cupped her cheek.

“Honey, you already did.”

Jamie swallowed and shook her head.

“Properly, I mean... you... ” She cleared her throat and looked down. “No one’s ever - ”

“Jamie.”

Jamie looked back up.

“Use it... use the chest. That’s all the thanks I need, okay?”

After a moment, Jamie nodded, sniffling, then laughed awkwardly as she began wiping her face.

“I’m - ”

“Jay.”

Jamie smiled shyly and nodded again. Dani helped her up, after she closed the chest and the closet, and guided her back to bed, but then hesitated herself. She didn’t really want to keep wearing the robe, but she didn’t feel like rooting through drawers in the dark. But before she could decide, Jamie had crawled over to the foot of the bed.

She hopped off, opened one drawer, immediately pulled something out, closed it and walked over to Dani, holding her Blondie T-shirt. Dani gasped softly.

“Jamie... ”

“We - we can share it... I want to share it.”

Dani smiled.

“You’re sure?”

Jamie nodded, smiling shyly again, and Dani leaned in for a quick kiss.

“Thank you.”

Then, they were back in bed, Jamie’s head her chest once more. For a few minutes, they lay in silence.

“You’ve set the bar pretty high for me, ya know?”

Dani stopped twirling Jamie’s hair for a moment.

“What?”

“For your birthday.”

Dani smiled.

“You know when my birthday is?”

Jamie scoffed.

“’Course I do!”

“But... ”

Her birthday had never even come up in conversation, at least not that she remembered.

“Checked your passport at the airport... when you were in the bathroom... Nice photo, by the way.”

Dani felt her heart melt. Jamie had anticipated her birthday, and yet still hadn’t expected anything of Dani for her own.

“Jamie... ”

Jamie cleared her throat.

“Well, now you’ve gone and ruined my plans, anyway. Oak chest was ma first thought.”

Dani laughed.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to think of something.”

Jamie sighed dramatically.

“I guess... Night, Poppins.”

“Night, Jay.”

Dani leaned forward to kiss the top of head, then layed back. Jamie smiled to herself as she closed her eyes. She’d thought of Dani’s present months ago, before they’d even left Bly.

[my-arlington-academia]

Cliffany part 2

O-kay, and that’s it! I don’t know if I’ll write a continuation tbh since it was just a silly little idea that came out of nowhere. (Although I did have some ideas for more!) I haven’t really been active on my fanblog lately so it’s not like it’ll make much of a difference though haha. By the way, I’m thinking about making my blog more "Dulcet-oriented" rather than just SE. I hope you guys don’t mind? Recently, I’ve been getting more and more into Black Tarot! So expect my blog to change a lil 🔮🕯🌌

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

It had been a couple of days now since Tiffany’s last interaction with Claire, and while she was still ignoring her like before, Tiffany’s efforts in doing so had increased. The moment she spotted her in the corner of her eye, she would move at a faster pace, as if running away. Was it guilt after all? No, she just didn’t have the energy to deal with Claire’s annoying and unnecessary empathy. The empathy that she knew she didn’t deserve which made her feel even more frustrated towards Claire.

All she should be worried about right now is getting more followers on Instaglam, not avoiding a nobody like the plague. On that note, spring was coming soon, the flowers started to blossom and the days were getting longer which meant... that the "cottagecore" tag on insta would go trending soon, no doubt! And of course, living on the Arlington campus as one of its students, this gave Tiffany the access to its beautiful garden. Although honestly, she only ever went there to take pictures and this time wasn’t any different. She had prepared some tea sets and dresses for the occasion, all of which she would throw away once spring went away along with its "trends."

Carried by her confident footsteps, she walked to the garden. That confidence was only a facade though. She knew exactly what kind of people and who in particular went to take strolls quite often in this goddamn garden. But hey, it was 7pm and the sun would soon start to set. Knowing that Claire always arrives 15 minutes in advance to any meeting and most likely always wakes up at 6am, there was nothing to be worried about. Chances are, she was either doing her homework before going to bed like a goody-two-shoes or watering her weird-ass plants. Tiffany always had the horror of seeing these at Raquel’s parties. It just didn’t fit at all with the rest of what was going on in the room and ruined the whole "party" vibe.

In any case, there she was, searching for a good spot to take pictures and set up a fake picnic. That basket filled with different colored blankets, tea sets, biscuits, tea and a pie was way heavier than Tiffany had initially thought. Maybe she really should’ve asked for collab pictures with Trisha from the fine arts department. She didn’t really like her but when it came to follower count they were surprisingly close, although Tiffany was still number one of course. Still, if she had asked for a collab they could’ve carried those heavy props together.

After finding a good spot next to the pond, Tiffany set everything up in an aesthetically pleasing manner and got down to taking the pictures. She was taking different shots to post them one by one throughout the week and give out the illusion that she was taking those the same day she posted them. She was ready to upload the first one, call it a day and go back to the dorms without touching any of the tea or cakes. It’s all just useless calories anyways. As she was putting the tags on the picture, she started wondering what were the names of those flowers in the background.

"Ugh, fuck. What are those orange shits called again?"

"Marigolds."

"Ah right, thank y-"

Tiffany immediately snapped her head back. This annoyingly gentle voice could only belong to one person.

"...What the fuck, Claire. Where did you pop out from?!"

There’s no was she was there the whole time, right? It’s true that Tiffany could get lost in what she was doing once she was focused but it wasn’t to the point where she became completely unaware of her surroundings.

"I came by a few minutes ago... Y-you looked so invested in what you were doing that I didn’t want to bother you! I didn’t mean to pry."

Well, Tiffany could always upload those damn pictures from her room. Claire’s arrival just meant that it was time for her to leave. However, seeing that Tiffany started packing up her things, Claire panicked thinking that it’s her fault. Which was in fact, her fault... in a way.

"O-oh! You’re not going to finish your picnic? I’m so sorry, I’ll just leave! Throwing all of this good food away would be such a waste-"

"Are you fucking dumb?"

Did she not get that this was all only a set-up for taking pictures? It was obvious that Tiffany didn’t have any intention of eating or drinking any of that. Not to mention that after everything that happened the other day, she was still not scared of approaching her?

"I don’t give a damn about the food, it was just for my social media accounts you dumb bit- ... dimwit. I was already done anyway so you don’t have anything to do with the fact that I’m leaving."

"I see! T-then maybe I can help?!"

Help? What did Claire even know about- Actually, on second thought. This whole "cottagecore" shtick was a great fit for Claire. She probably already had all of the things Tiffany bought last week for those pictures, even better and more authentic-looking ones probably. This was maybe the one and only time Tiffany would let Claire "help" her. But from her point of view, she was mostly just using her.

"Hm. Is that so? How can you help me then... Claire."

"Wait just a second! I’ll be back right away!!!"

She ran immediately towards the dorms. Well, she'll probably bring a bunch of random stuff. In the end, Tiffany was really torn between the idea of staying and waiting for who knows how long and the idea of leaving right now. Surely, Claire would make a hilarious expression when she’d realize that she was played with and abandoned. While trying to laugh it off, Tiffany accidentally remembered what happened a few days ago, along with Claire’s crying face. Damn... Okay, fine. She’ll wait for her but only because it would be annoying if she bawled again like a damn toddler.

And so she waited until, from the corner of her eyes, she saw a girl with a pink dress running towards her. That girl, of course, being Claire. She carried a picnic basket with her too, but much bigger and more practical. For half a second, Tiffany thought that Claire actually looked maybe, just maybe, a little bit pretty. She erased the thought in a hurry, covering it with harsh words as usual.

"Wh-why did you change your clothes? You think I’m gonna take pictures of you?"

"Ah, no, well..."

Claire looked at the beautiful picnic set-up and the cyan dress Tiffany was wearing.

"I just wanted to fit in with the rest of what you put up, I guess. Also, don’t you think that we kinda match? I brought some of the cookies I baked and my favorite teas and tea set. I think mine will look better with your picnic blanket! Uh- N-not to say that yours looks bad!!!"

She was trying so hard to make herself likable that it was painful to see... and kinda cute. God, Tiffany was really hating her thoughts today. She was just going soft because of Claire’s aura or something. Again, this was definitely the first and last time she was letting Claire help her with anything. I’d be bad if she turns completely brain-dead and clueless like her.

"...Whatever. Show me what you got. I’ll decide if it’s good enough."

Claire was pulling everything out of the basket one by one. Everytime, better and better items were pulled out after the other. Her cakes and cookies gave off a "homey" feeling which was more fitting with the aesthetic rather than Tiffany’s store bought patisseries. Claire was staring at her, wide-eyed and excited.

"W-what do you think, Tiffany? It looks good, doesn’t it?!"

"Uh. Yeah, it’s fine, I guess. I’ll take a few pics."

That was a lie. This looked so much better than the try-hard bullshit Tiffany had done. She was good at riding on the "trend wave" but Claire was a natural when it came to this one specific thing. Tiffany was trying to look as poker-faced as she could so as to not show her satisfaction, but clearly, her apparent enthusiasm for each shot was  betraying her. Sometimes, she would accidentally take one with Claire in the shot and ask her to move.

"Hey. You’re ruining the picture with your ugly fac- dress. Move to the right."

Before Tiffany could even do anything about it, Claire was already pouring some tea into 2 cups.

"Woah woah woah, put the teapot down. I didn’t agree to this."

"But...This is a kettle, Tiffany. Not a teapot."

"Oh, shut it!"

Claire gave off such a dejected face that Tiffany, once again, felt like she was kicking a poor puppy to the ground. She held back on going off on a rant.

"But we’re already here and the weather is so nice! It would be such a shame not to use any of this at all..."

Claire looked around, observing this beautiful setting, not to mention, the sun was finally starting to set. Going home right now would be like an insult to the utter beauty of this scene, it almost looked like it came right out of a fairy tale picture book. Without mulling it over any further, Tiffany took a sip out of her cup.

"I’m only doing this because I feel compelled to, got it?"

Claire’s eyes lit up nonetheless.

"Alright! Please try out my cookies too!"

Tiffany contemplated them for a second... is it true that home-made stuff is more healthy? Surely, that’s just a myth, right? A cake from the store and a home-made cake will have about the same amount of sugar in them regardless of who made them and how. Well, she did see Claire share her food from time to time with her friends and while she would never admit it, it is true that she was a bit curious about trying them herself. What was the last time she had eaten anything "home-made"? Or did it ever even happen?

"...Okay, whatever. I bet they taste shitty."

Tiffany reluctantly took a bite... It was surprisingly really delicious!

"It’s bad."

"R-really?"

As much as she wanted to lie about it, she couldn’t after seeing Claire make that dejected face again.

"Uhhh. No, um. Hmm... On second thought, it’s pretty average. It’s okay-ish."

Tiffany really hated herself right now. Being mean has never been this hard before. She couldn’t wait for the moment where they would be done with this ridiculous play-pretend and go back to her room. She tried drinking and eating as fast as she could without making it look like she was in a hurry to run away from this awkward situation. And God, it was so fucking hard...

Unsurprisingly, they were both pretty silent the whole time. Well, it wasn’t like they had anything to converse about or things in common. Right as Tiffany was about to get up and pack up her belongings, for real this time, Claire spoke up. Nervously fiddling with the hem of her dress.

"Um. So you know, I have something to confess to you, Tiffany."

Oh God, not now. As much as Tiffany found this timing annoying, she couldn’t help but poke fun at that poor choice of words.

"Confess? Oh my, so you like me in that way, huh? That explains everything."

"Wha- N-no! That’s not it! I mean, realistically speaking, t-that would never even happen!"

Was she implying that she could never like someone like Tiffany? Well, Tiffany herself was the one who brought this up but she was a bit offended at that statement. Regardless though, the way she was trying to deny it so hard was kinda cute. No. Not cute at all! If this went on, Tiffany would really become crazy before the end of this day.

"Last time, you said that I was only being kind towards others to profit off of them and I didn’t say anything but... that wasn’t true at all! I always wanted to help you because I thought that you needed it, I swear. Not to satisfy myself! ... Well. Except maybe..."

"Except...?"

"T-today. I admit that I kind of had ulterior motives."

Now that piqued Tiffany’s curiousness right away. Suddenly, she didn’t want to leave as much anymore if it meant that Claire would finally admit that she did some things for her own benefit. Why was it? Did she want to post a picture of herself on Tiffany’s Instaglam to fish for compliments, knowing that she had a lot of followers? Claire hid her face behind her hands and muttered a few words.

"I... wanted you to warm up to me."

"...Huh?"

That’s it? That was it? Claire’s ulterior motive was for Tiffany to "warm up to her."?

"So like, you want us to be friends or some shit?"

"Oh no! Not necessarily that far, just... good acquaintances!"

Is she stupid? There’s no way that she genuinely thinks those "motives" are bad. Tiffany sighed in exasperation.

"Listen. I’m just really tired right now, I don’t have the energy to assimilate all the shit you’re saying. I’m packing all of this up and going back to the dorms."

In complete silence, they gathered all of their belongings and walked to the dorms while keeping a fair distance between the 2 of them. As if to say, "we’ve got nothing to do with each other." Surprisingly, Claire didn’t try anything anymore. Didn’t even wish for a "good night" or a "good evening" which was weird to say the least. Tiffany tried to ignore it and when she got back and unpacked all of the props, she noticed something that didn’t belong to her. One of Claire’s lunch boxes with cookies in them and... a note?

Here’s my number just in case ;3 Please give me my lunchbox back once you’re done eating the cookies!♡

"...Your note makes me wanna barf."

So that’s why she didn’t try anything. That sneaky little... she must've slid that into the basket when they were packing. She already knew that Tiffany would eventually be forced to talk to her again... as if! Who says she’ll return it? She can just throw all the cookies away along with the box... Or so she thought. Tempted, she took a bite, then another one. And another one. Her diet was ruined for sure now. Damn you Claire and your stupidly great cooking skills, as if you needed another skill to be better and more perfect than you already are. Tiffany put the box away, trying to forget the delicious taste and smell. Back to Instaglam she goes. Uploading the picture while adding the "marigold" tag on it. Going through the pictures again, she noticed that some of them had Claire in the corner. She was thinking of deleting them but... well whatever. She can just crop her out later if needed. Her dress looks pretty so it’s fine even if she does appear in the pictures. All we see is a bit of her hair, as long as her face isn’t visible, it’s okay. Yup. It was totally not because Tiffany was slowly starting to feel something towards the girl she was trying so hard not to get involved with.

[bokutosbestie2]

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Hi guys!! Sorry for the slow updates I been busy with school but we’re almost out for the summer!! Anyways Enjoy the story!

W

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ ☆☆

" Who was that? It better not be what I'm thinking. " Kageyama said in a serious tone. " Hey, He- "  suddenly I was cut off by Kageyama. " Y/n... I'm going to have to tell the others you know the rules," he said as he ran off...

I stood there not knowing what to do... What are they going to do to Oikawa? I need to tell Suga right away before more word gets out. I run off to go find Suga, I went to the palace to look every place I can think of. I haven't checked the library yet, he may be in there? And I was right Suga was in the library reading some book. " Suga you need to help me, please! " I say panicked " What's wrong why do you seem so pale? " " Kageyama knows.. " " Knows what... Oh " " Yea.. " I say worried " I- How did this even happen! DIDN'T I TELL YOU GUYS TO BE CAREFUL! " Suga raised his voice. " We Were! I don't know-how, he must have seen me afar and followed us! " I say on the verge of tears. " Alright let's go now! " Suga said getting up from the chair. " Where are we going? " " We have to get you out of here.. We have to go to another side to tell Oikawa about this. " Suga said as he grabbed my wrist. " What if there Suga waiting by the bridge. " I say " They won't be there yet, but we don't have much time. " If Suga is this concern that means we're actually in big trouble. As we walked through the palace Suga was checking everywhere to make sure no guards are insight. After successfully getting out of the palace, we both hurried to the river of gold. " Suga what do you think they might do? " I say worried. " I don't know and I don't want to know," he said as we rushed. Once we got there no guard was there yet. We both looked around as we cross the old bridge. " Now we have to wait between the border for Oikawa it's too dangerous to go to the other side on our own. " " He isn't coming for another 5 hours! " I say " Well we can't have you in the palace or else they are going to question Oikawa... " Suga said worriedly. " What are we going to do Now? " I say "  Well, let's us hope they don't try crossing to the other side to find Oikawa because that isn't going to be good...But for now, let's just sit here till it becomes dark.. " Suga said worriedly I and Suga sat on the ground as we wait for dusk to come upon us.

Oikawa pov:

When I made it back I went to go tell Iwa- Chan everything. " SO YOU GUYS ARE GETTING MARRIED ALREADY? " Iwa shouted. " SHHHHH DON'T BE TOO LOUD! " I loudly whispered. " Huh who knew? You actually falling for someone.. " He said weirded out. " I know right? Anyways can you please come tonight and the other two! I WANT YOU GUYS TO SEE ME GET MARRIED!!! " I shouted happily.. " Oh gosh.. Fine only because you're my best friend, but we have to be careful. Maybe Only  I should go because if they see Matsu and Maki are missing it's going to be suspicious. " " Oh, your right.. Well just tell them about it! " " SHITTYKAWA you tell them! " " NO, I NEED TO GO GET READY! " "  No you don't.. " Iwa said " Yes, I do! " " No, you don't! " " WHY NOT?! " " IF you get dressed up fancy they're going to question you... SO DON'T! " Iwa said in a harsh tone. " Your right.. SORRY IM JUST EXCITED!! " " Well BEFORE ITS NIGHTFALL GO Finish some of the work you need to do.. " " Ok FINE! BUT MEET me up by the border at sunset got it!! " " Yes SHITTYKAWA! "

Many hours past and the sun was starting to set.

Both Oikawa and Iwaizumi met up where they promise.

" Ok, Oikawa you ready for this?! " Iwa said " I'm so ready especially because you here! " " Oikawa doesn't make me cry," he said sarcastically.

We both started walking past the border until I heard footsteps behind us. I look back just to check but it must be my imagination. We walked through the small path, then I see y/n and Suga sleeping against a tree. They seemed worn out.. Did something happen?

" Iwa don't they seem worried... " I asked " Yea they do! let's wake them up.. " He said " Hey! Y/n wake up!! " I say " Oh how long has it been? " she said in a groggy voice... " How long has it been? Wait how long have you guys been waiting here? " I say worried as I looked at both Suga and Y/n on the ground. " Well, we have been waiting all morning and afternoon long... We have to tell you something... " Y/n said worriedly. I and Iwa stood there looking at them confused. " One of the guards saw me and Oikawa together, after that he went to go tell the guards. So I and Suga had to leave so they don't question us or hurt you... " y/n said with a very serious tone. " I- Well what's going to happen now? You can't just stay in hiding forever? " " Well we will figure it out later, all I want to do is to get married to you! " she said as she smiles. Ughh my heart is going to drop right now. " WELL IWA-CHAN YOU HEARD THE YOUNG LADY!! YOU TOO SUGA!! " I say happily so I can Change the sad atmosphere. " I can't believe SHITTYKAWA is getting married " " I can't believe Y/n is also getting married! " Suga laughed. " OH OH BEFORE WE START LOOK WHAT BROUGHT! " I reached for my pockets to pull out 2 rings. " Oh Oikawa these are beautiful what stone is this? " y/n questioned " An Opal stone!! " I say happily as I hand them to Suga. " OK SUGA!! I think we are ready! " " Well, are we all ready? " Suga asked all 3 of us. " If Loserkawa is ready then I am... " Iwa said proudly. I guess we're all ready, so I go in front of y/n and grab her hands. Suga stood in front of us Iwa was next to Suga. " Ok, Oikawa will you protect and comfort her through all the days of your life? " " I do! "  I say as I tighten her hand. " And you y/n will you protect and comfort him through all the days of your life? " " I do! " she said as she smiled sweetly at me. " You guys are going to kill me but I forgot the rest.. " Suga said trying to keep his laughter in. " I- It's fine just say the last lines. " Y/n said laughing. " Ok well YOU MAY KISS THE BRIDE! " I took her waist and lean into her as we tighten the kiss. " AH, DON'T FORGET THE RINGS!! " Y/n said " Oh yes!!! Let me see your hand! " Y/n reaches her hand out, I slipped her ring on as I looked up in her view I see an arrow coming in her direction I move her away to only be hit by the arrow.

No one pov: It all happened so fast Oikawa stood there with his stomach in his hand as he sees something red out of his shirt. Y/n stood there in shock as Suga and Iwaizumi ran towards Oikawa.

Oikawa pov:

As I stood there I begun to collapse, everything became a blur. Suddenly I was there on the ground, as I see y/n tears stream down.

" No no Oikawa please don't go yet. " y/n says as her tears stream down.

" Hey please don't cry.. You will always have me with you. " I say as I pointed the necklace.

" and Iwaizumi if I don't make it please take over the throw-n... Suga takes care of y/n for me... " I suddenly started to become breathless.

" Hey hey OIKAWA COME ON PLEASE DONT SAY THAT? WE STILL HAVE TIME TO STOP THE BLEEDING... " Iwaizumi says as he presses pressure.

Suga stood there speechless while y/n kept crying.

" No Oikawa look at me, HEY don't close your eyes... we still need a family together! " y/n heart was aching.

I love her.. I can't my heart hurts... I couldn't be selfish I had to save her from that. My heart aches I know I'm not going to make it because I only hear their cries silently.. I have one last word.

" Before I go... I love y- "

Y/n pov: " No no OIKAWA OIKAWA?! " I shake him but no response... " PLEASE YOUR JOKING RIGHT.. OIKAWA?! " All of a sudden I see Tendou, Atsumu, and the other guards out from their hiding. " YOU MONSTERS.. WHY WHY LOOK WHAT YOU DID! " I say as tears stream down ..my heart broke.. They messed up for killing Their own king on accident.. The arrow was meant for me. " IF YOU GUYS REALLY WANT TO SHOOT ME?! DO IT NOW WITH THAT ARROW OF YOURS COME ON! " I yell of anger.. no of sadness..

They all looked at me with regret on their face..

As I sat there crying next to Oikawa's cold body.. Iwaizumi pulled me into his arms. That's when I started bawling.. It hurt.. my First love my first everything.. gone only for some selfish desire of others..

Chapter 11

[timextoxhajima]

Playlist Feels

*SHORT SERIES

Member: *falls off his chair* juyeon

Genre: BIG ANGST + drama with chaebol/lawyer juyeon

A/N: i may or may not fucking cry writing this. on the account that this is the last chapter, it might be a little long, so i apologise for that. i wanted to cap it at 10 chapters, but i overshot and decided to pull it to 11 in honor of 11 boys :”) i started following tbz only after hwall left, but i know the pains of losing a member along the way. (exo/suju/shinee/fx you name it). if you cry, i’ll totally take it as a compliment. it means i’ve truly found my place as a writer, and it’s to break hearts. 

Links to other parts:

I Never Wanna See You Again

Frustrated (light smut)

Love Somebody (light smut)

Play With Fire (smut)

Stigma

Bourbon

Highway To Heaven (smut)

I Like Me Better

All Time Low

Falling

~ (final)

“life has a way of putting you in places you were meant to be.”

chanhee: it’s only been two weeks since you found out

chanhee: are you sure about this?

you hesitate before you punch in a reply. the cold air of the hotel room was making the hairs on your arms stand, despite being in a long-sleeved turtleneck and leggings. eyes travelling up to the mirror and meet the ones of your reflection. you turn to the side and scan your abdomen, not sure if you were looking at the baby bump or your breakfast from this morning. 

you: yeah, i’m sure. 

the receptionist at the counter was the same lady who discharged you two weeks ago, now with the knowledge that you were here for an abortion. 

the staff gets you changed into your hospital gown and let you wait in a ward similar to the one you were in previously. you tried to discourage them from giving you the most expensive ward in the building, but knowing that your father was big-shot deterred them from listening to you. 

you were worried the ward was going to be filled with baby magazines or something, but the lack of anything relieved you. your operation was scheduled to be in three hours, so you spent most of it watching television and bawling your eyes out over marley dying in ‘marley and me’.

dragging the already soaked tissue across your eyebags, you look down and berate your tummy quietly. “it’s because of you i cry so easily now.”

you pout, letting the movie dehydrate you even more by making you whimper in your own bed. this was the only reason why you were comfortable in your own ward. it would’ve been too embarrassing to let anybody else see you bawl like this, especially when you’re not one to cry easily. 

you’ve spent the last two weeks walking around amsterdam with the weight of the world off your shoulders. though you were carrying a child, but being alone and away from everybody you knew was so liberating. 

the mass in your abdomen had forced you to go through some shitty cramps, and it’s slowed you down in many of your trips out of the city to go sightseeing. but because of that, you spent more time admiring the views and the scent of the air, people asked you if you were okay despite not knowing who you were. it was so strange to have dogs coming up to you and sniffing you, paws landing on your thighs and their snouts around your stomach despite your efforts to keep it hidden.

you don’t think twice until the owner looks at you with a smile and asks “how far along are you?”

chanhee called you every night for the last two weeks, constantly checking up on you and never really asking about your decision, knowing that you needed the space to think. so when you told him what you wanted to do, he simply offered his understanding and support. 

your father was nowhere to be seen and your mother hasn’t contacted you since, so you could only guess that your father took your advice and told her to keep her nose out of it. 

you found it funny at the possibility that she might think this entire situation was her fault, especially after meeting juyeon’s mother. there was guilt for believing that she might be blaming herself, and that’s why she isn’t bothering to contact you, but the satisfaction in having her keep her nose out of your life was overwhelming. 

knock knock

“come in!” you say a little too enthusiastically, and the nurse pushes the door open.

“it’s time for your operation.”

you give it time for the words to dissolve into your blood. the expectation was there, but hearing it for yourself felt like you were stepping into another world. 

the lights and ceiling were alternating between themselves in your vision as you were wheeled along the hallway. your fingers were anxiously folding the material of the blanket over and over again, pressing it down with so much strength that when you released it, the folds remained. 

you close your eyes and take in a deep breath, and the sight and scent of the water you remember from sightseeing around amsterdam brings you back to the little bus rides you took home. 

the gentle lapping of the water against the post by the lake at home and the river banks here. the silhouettes of the birds and people that cover you for split seconds as they flit past you. horizons of the water body disappearing beyond your vision. the gentle breeze combing through your hair. 

“later when you’re in the theatre, they’ll be giving you some anaesthesia--”

“wait.”

your focus travels up to look at the nurses, and you find your hands clutching your stomach. they look at you with eyes that you were sure they were used to, and they stop pushing the mattress. 

“i’m sorry,” you sit up, gulping as your mind struggles to piece your thoughts and actions together. “i don’t think i can do it.”

the nurses exchange glances and one of them nods at you. 

“alright. we’ll bring you back to the ward. we’ll get someone to let you fill up an administration form and after that they’ll discharge you.”

your heart was strangely calm the entire time. from the moment you left the hospital up till this very moment, and you were in kind wonder with yourself. 

had you already known this was going to happen? 

had you already known you were going to keep it?

even if you did, it doesn’t explain how calm you were when you decided to abort it. neither does it explain how calm you are when you just said you wanted to keep it. 

“i’m sorry for the trouble,” you sit up in the bed as to nurses take off, leaving two with you. 

“no, it’s alright. many women struggle with unplanned pregnancies, we just hope you’re doing what’s best for yourself.”

a weak smile spreads across your lips and the nurse helps you off the bed. someone pushes it away and the two nurses start walking you back to your ward. 

the trip up to your ward felt so long, and random thoughts start filling your head. 

how were you going to raise this child? are you going to tell your parents? are you going to tell him?

then you realise you didn’t.

the lift arrives and the doors open.

doesn’t matter anyway, you’re not getting an ab--

the nurses look back at you when they notice you don’t step out of the lift. 

time freezes, and a mixture of loss, love and anger fills you. 

your eyes lock with his when he turns around at the sound of the lift doors opening. it’s been nearly a whole month since you’ve seen him.

it’s not very long.

but it sure as hell felt like it.

“uh, sir? are you here to visit a patient? have you been authorised with a visitor p--”

“it’s okay,” you call out, taking a step out of the lift and aligning your footing with the nurse. “he’s here for me.”

the nurses nod and inform you that they’ll be returning shortly with a visitor pass for him as part of the hospital protocol, and they leave you alone with juyeon in the hallway that leads to your ward. 

you were well aware of the mild frown you had on your face while you looked at his. his hair was done up as per usual when he was out for work, but he looked like shit with those eye bags under his pupils. 

you slowly and reluctantly walk towards him, each step closing the gap between the two of you and the weight of the atmosphere starts to rest on your shoulder. 

you were a safe distance from him, your eyes angled at a comfortable height. your arms were limp by your sides, while his fingers were anxiously gripping onto a small paper bag.

you were ready to go off on him and walk away for good, because the sight of him did nothing but remind you of how he let his jealousy get a hold of him. 

but before you could even make a sound, he drops to his knees. 

your eyes widen as you take a step back, your pupils frantically searching for any sign that someone was pulling a prank on you. 

the ache that filled your gut when you realised how much pain he had to be in to physically resign to his feelings washes over you. 

“juyeon,” his name rolls off your tongue so naturally, leaving a bitter-sweet taste. “get up.” 

you were kneeling before him as well, the view of his body crouched over and his head hanging low breaks your heart into a million pieces. 

“juyeon,” your hands trail up his arms and find his face, and you see now, up close, that his face was bloated and the eye bags were caused by crying. the sight of such a broken version of him pains you to the core, and you feel your stone-cold attitude toward him melt away.

“i gave the firm to sang yeon and i told my parents i didn’t want to do what they wanted me to anymore.”

the amount of effort he needed to get those words out engulfs you like waves on a stormy day. each word rests lightly on your heart, like feathers, and some weight on your shoulders disappear. 

“i can lose anything and everything...” his eyes well up with tears and your feel your heart start to rush. “but i can’t lose you.”

“juyeon--”

“i’m sorry,” he started to hiccup, and it shouldn’t be possible, but it broke you even more when you realise he was on the verge of breaking down. “after i apologised to chanhee, i begged him to tell me where you’ve run off. i wanted to ask your mother, but that would be using my business connections--”

another hiccup. 

“he didn’t want to tell me, and it felt so bad because he wasn’t angry with me at all... and i just couldn’t do it without knowing if you were happy...”

he gulps a large amount of air, tears finally dripping off his chin and hitting the floor.

“and then chanhee left me a message, with an address that he said he asked from your father... and chanhee told me you were pregnant, and i just--”

“okay, okay,” you cut in, pulling him into your arms and stroking the space between his shoulder blades. “please don’t cry anymore...” you whisper quietly into his hair, feeling all your tears and emotions welling up in your face and threatening to explode.

“but--” he abruptly pulls away and finds your hands, his eyes unable to meet yours. “i don’t want you to stay with me just because i gave the law firm away and ran from my family.”

your hands naturally reach up to his face and brush away the tears off his reddening, swollen face. 

“i want you to stay because you want to.”

suddenly, you remember saying, ‘life has a way of putting you in places you were meant to be.’

you’ve spent so much time running away from situations that didn’t offer you a choice... that you’ve forgotten what it felt like to have the freedom to choose. 

juyeon giving you that option to decide your own happiness was all you ever wanted. 

when he pulled that boss card on you, you felt suffocated from the fact that he was pushing you into a corner, that you had no choice but to listen to him. 

that was what pushed you over your edge. 

you were so calm in deciding what to do with the baby not because you didn’t care, but because it was solely up to you and there was nothing to interfere with your decision.

not your family, not money, not juyeon.

you didn’t know what you were searching for all this while, but juyeon saying this tells you that you’ve found it. 

life has a way of putting you in places you were meant to be, and this was it.

the gravity of your choice doesn’t add to the weight to your shoulders, instead, it completely eradicates it. 

“you can say no, it’s fine. and the baby... you can choose whatever you want to do with it. it’s your body, and it’s yours as much as it is mine and i won’t--”

you lean forward and cut him off, pressing your lips into his as you feel your entire existence dissolve and merge with his. the overpowering, intense feeling of completion and happiness that you’ve finally found in life swallows you whole. you wrap your arms around his neck and his hands find your cheeks, cupping them in his pool of warmth. 

and in that moment, you chose. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FIVE YEARS LATER

you couldn’t help but to smile softly at the sound of your father going off about something that had gone wrong with his laptop at work. the document he was working on wasn’t saved and he was about to curse when your mother hit him on his arm, harshly shushing him.

you pull out your phone while your father’s complaining doesn’t cease, and you see the notifications flood your phone screen.

eric and sunwoo were off on a well-deserved holiday with sangyeon and jaehyun in the maldives, the photos doing nothing but flooding the group chat. 

chanhee: will you guys cut it out i’m still in a meeting with the other firms

sunwoo: yah nobody told you to work so much this holiday! you’re your own boss so can’t you give yourself a break?

chanhee: i make myself do all the hardwork so you people can enjoy yourselves!

jaehyun: i still can’t believe sangyeon stepped down and went back to being a manager so you could become ceo

chanhee: hey what does that mean

sangyeon: don’t worry chanhee, his money is in my bag

eric: they’re fighting now, hold on i’ll send a video

you smile to yourself and your mother finishes berating your father and takes a sip of her tea, plates of crumbs surrounding you on the table. 

“oh, would you look at the time?” he quickly looks at his watch and gets out of his seat. you thought he was just using it as an escape route, but you look at your phone’s clock and the numbers strikes you.

you reject a ride from them and they watch you get into a bus, hands waving but you knew your mother was still telling him off about overreacting about the document not being saved.

you watch the city whir past you and your phone starts to vibrate.

“y/n, have you looked through the contract for the swavroski’s ownership deal?”

“ah,” you fumble through your suitcase, looking for the familar blue file that the contract has been sitting in for nearly six years. “i have actually. it seems alright to me. i’ll get it to you tomorrow over lunch during my break.”

“dinner is fine. i know your lunch breaks are short.”

“aw,” you chuckle into the receiver. “he told you?”

“don’t push your luck.”

you laugh heartily, looking out the bus and pulling yourself out of the seat. “sorry mother~”

“i’ll see you tomorrow evening then.”

“okay, take care.”

you get off the bus and throw your phone into the suitcase. big strides take you across the pavement and you reach the glass door. someone inside spots you through the transparent surface and points to you, and the door swings open soon after. 

your little ball of sunshine screams the moment he sees you, and you pick him up to let him litter kisses all over your cheek. you look into the kindergarten and watch juyeon get off the tiny stool meant for children, bowing to the teacher as he takes his leave.

“i thought i said i’ll pick him up today?” you take a step back to let juyeon wear his shoes, arms wrapped around your son. 

“i heard you when you said that,” he takes your suitcase and pats down the creases of his blazer and pants. “but the charity house finished up early today and since everybody’s been working really hard recently, i decided to let them off.”

“that’s nice,” you let him kiss your forehead and he ruffles the little boy’s hair.

“has my mother contacted you about the deal?”

both of you walk around the building and head to the car park.

“yeah, it looks alright. you could look at it if you want to,” you strap your child to the baby seat as juyeon leaves the suitcases in the backseat, picking up a toy and handing it to him. 

“what, the contract?” you simultaneously pull out of the car and make your way to the front seats. “nah, it’s been too long since i’ve seen those kinds of contracts.” he smiles at you and starts up the car. 

mrs jung was the first person to greet the boy the moment the lift door opened. all the familiar staff members greet you and juyeon, everybody cheerfully rushing to play with the little boy. the rest of the evening and night was spent as per normal, with juyeon helping his son with his simple homework and coloring sheets in his office, while you were in your own working on the case that chanhee gave you. 

the penthouse was the only thing your mother-in-law insisted for juyeon to keep after he told them he didn’t want to take up the responsibilities she and her husband wanted him to take. after much persuasion, she gave in, recognising his desire to channel all his ability into charity.

the swavroski deal was transferred to his mother, and you were in charge of making sure there was nothing wrong with the contract before she signed it.

unlike eric and sunwoo who left the law firm to work in a production company, chanhee couldn’t bear to leave the law firm after what he did. sangyeon ended up relinquishing his position as ceo and went back to being a manager after promoting chanhee. 

chanhee begging you to return to the firm now that your husband was no longer the ceo was a whole drama to watch before you sleep. 

you sat by the glass panels in the bedroom with the cars driving through the city night-life, case file in hand and a cup of tea on the coffee table next to you. the opening door catches your attention, and you straighten yourself while juyeon crashes into bed. 

“is he asleep?” you close the case file and place it on the coffee table, taking a sip of tea. 

“yeah,” he rolls onto his side so he could look at you. “took him awhile though. i had to tell him his mom was busy.”

a laugh escapes your lips. you turn and look over your shoulder at the sound of a plane taking off, a low but obvious rumble travelling through the air. you hear a soft shuffle and juyeon’s arms wrap around your waist, his chin resting on your shoulder after he pushes your hair away. 

“thanks for looking through the contract for my mom,” he whispers into your ear, planting a kiss on your neck under your earlobe. 

“that little thing? it’s nothing,” you turn around in his arms, reaching up to his cheeks and pulling them towards you. 

“i guess owning swavroski is a good distraction from her son withdrawing from being a lawyer in practise.”

his words come out between kisses, and you feel his hands reach for your rear. the contact sends a low groan up your throat.

“lee juyeon--” you scoff into the kiss, your feet being lifted into the air as he picks you up. 

“what? he’s asleep,” he smirks before burying his lips between yours, laying you into the bed. “and besides, you did say you want another baby.”

a wide smile spreads across your lips as you push your hands through his hair. 

maybe life wasn’t so fair to you at the beginning. 

maybe you were just too immature to understand the true weight of responsibility, and everything just snowballed into the pain and restraint you spent so long trying to run away from. 

so, even if it meant living through the same amount of ache and heartbreak again, to be with juyeon, to be one with your family, to be happy... 

you’d gladly do it all over again. 

- fin -

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

A/N: if you’ve been here since the start, i’d like to thank you for being so patient with me. i might have a ton of errors here and there in my writing which i didn’t pick up/change even after proof reading, so i apologise if it’s diminished your ability to appreciate/understand the story. i’d like to thank nessie, my first fan, who’s fed me bits and crumbs of ideas to fuel this story. i will forever hold this one close to my heart because i’m in a difficult time right now, and this has been my route of escape for the last three days or so. it’s always bittersweet to finish a story, because as much as the readers form a bond/attachment to the characters, the writers themselves find it difficult to let go; we find it difficult to give the characters the ending they deserve. so while i still feel slightly unsatisfied at how quickly this whole plot was thought out, i hope i’ve given my characters the due happy ending they really deserved. 

thank you for reading, and i’ll totally see you soon! <3

- love, dana

[redolentgrove]

(askpokemoncrossover)Amber @ Loki: The shiny braixen saw Akira vanishing with a depressed look on his face before she stopped at the taur at least six feet away from bowing apologetically. "Sorry about him, Loki... He's still new when it comes to communicating or interacting with others. Before my brother saved Akira from himself, he was living alone... isolated from people and pokemon. You can imagine what it's like, right? Being alone and having no one else to turn to for so long, it'll be impossible to trust anyone." She then felt the presence of another, like someone's still watching them and saw the arrow that was about to hit the legendary psychic type out of the corner of her eye and started to look around. "H-hey, you did say you have an over-protective daughter... Bijoux, right? Can you ask her to restrain herself when a lucairo in a green jumpsuit comes along? That's my brother, Sai. He told me that he'll meet you after recovering from the hospital..." The braixen asked before she muttered something under her breath: "Jeez... still can't believe that big brothers do stupid things sometimes..."

Loki's tail twitched impatiently at Amber as the Braixen greeted her, but she bowed in return nonetheless. Knowing that she knew Akira closely caused her to be a little wary of the newcomer. However, she would keep an open mind.

"Mmm," Loki rumbled, ears flickering. "I understand that better than you'd think. I've had my fair share of... shall we call it, isolation. Though, that was mostly forced on myself. And the trust... again, far closer a hit to home than you'd guess." She gazed back at the dogwood briefly. "Look, I'll level with you, dear. I'm not holding things against Akira. He didn't make a great first impression, but he's not on my permanent hit list."

  Loki paused as Amber brought up her daughter.

"Yes, Bijoux-"

"Would be me," a familiar voice interrupted.

A shiny Cinccino-taur strode confidently through the nearby brush. She wore a green academic uniform over her front, emblazoned with an "H" emblem on the left chest area. She wore a black bowtie around her neck over the scarf fur, and a black plaid skirt over her hindquarters. Long, flowing white fur billowed from her forehead, wrapping behind her and back around her neck in dual Cinccino scarves, with a matching level of fluff and ivory hues on her tail. Little freckles dotted over her nose and cheeks, as well as the edges of her ears. She was certainly cute-looking and smaller than her mother, standing roughly four-five. She stood next to the Braixen with a headtilt, her gaze softening.  She had a longbow tucked beneath her right shoulder, glasses resting on her muzzle in front of a pair of blue eyes.

"Please forgive me," the normal-type explained, bowing her head. "Those were simply warning shots. I'm not going to actually hit anyone with an arrow... well, not right away, anyway."

"Bijoux." Loki stepped forward, her hand held out as she flexed her fingers. "The bow."

"Mom, I was just... no, nevermind. You're right, I'm sorry." Bijoux passed the equipment over to her mother, who held it with both hands. "I know the rules... no shooting at strangers."

"Yes. You know better." Loki's tail swished with a hint of disappointment. "You're putting way too much pressure on yourself to be a little guardian, and while I cherish you and will always be grateful for that, it's my job to protect you, not the other way around. I would never ask you to take on such a massive task at your age.

"But Mom-"

"No buts, darling." The Leafeon's eyes narrowed as she interrupted her daughter. "I spent my late teens and early twenties being almost nothing but a guardian. I finally just gave up after I got exiled from the old forest and moved here with my kids to White Forest. I realized I was forcing way too much on myself, way too early. I wasn't ready to take on that responsibility. Even now, protecting our grove... I still have my doubts. I don't want you making that same mistake."

Bijoux paused for a few moments, pondering everything Loki had shared with her. Then, in a quick burst of energy, she strode over and hugged her mom, prompting the larger taur to let out a bashful purr of contentment.

After a moment, Loki grabbed Bijoux in a giant bear hug, causing the smaller taur's eyes to narrow and her body to go slightly limp. A few tears streamed down Loki's eyes, and she sniffled sadly.

"I can't believe how fast my little girl's growing up. Mentally, physically... and you're leaving the forest for Harmonia. I'm gonna miss my little girl so much."

"Mom." Bijoux grouchily fidgeted in her mother's grips, her giant ears twitching. "Mom, people are watching, stop." Several Pokemon had gathered at the scene, curious to see what was causing the commotion.

"Sorry." Loki let Bijoux out of her grasp, leaning in to sneak a little noselick on the taur's chin. "Arceus, seven hundred years later I still get all emotional when one of my babies leaves the nest."

"Mom, Harmonia University is just over in Castelia City. You go there all the time anyway; you'd probably stop by like, every single day between floral runs and Casteliacone shopping." The Cinccino brushed her taurhalf with her hands with a quiet smirk.

"Oh, I won't be there every day..." Loki protested. "Just enough of them to embarrass you."

"Mom!!!!" Bijoux leaned up and lightly shoved her mother's left flank with her left hand. "You're awful."

"Hey, did you forget that another part of my job as a mom is to be a pain in your rump? You'll laugh about this by the time you graduate, and the instant you're off doing science stuff in some other region, you'll miss me ribbing you about stupid stuff... just you wait." Loki grinned playfully, giving Bijoux's taurbody a little hip check with her own. "Now, come on. I need to check and make sure you packed everything and see you to the forest edge."

"You're not gonna go to Castelia with me?"

"What?" Loki guffawed with a tailwag. "No, silly, I'm going to stop at the forest's edge, bawl about my baby growing up and milk this for all it's worth! Gonna get half the forest watching you walk off consoling your dear old mother as she proves how much she loves you!"

"MOM!!!!" Bijoux folded her arms across her chest and pouted.

"Hey, I told you, it's part of my job! You just wait until you've got kids and you're doing the same thing to them... you'll love it. Now, up, come on. We need to get moving if you're going to beat the sunset to Castelia." Loki handed the longbow back to Bijoux. "Put this in the shed. I'll keep it safe for you. I’ll be checking; I don’t see it and I’m taking apart those suitcases one by one until I find it."

Bijoux accepted the bow and nodded furiously, scampering off into the distance.

Loki turned back toward Amber with an apologetic gaze. "Sorry, we'll have to rain check things for a bit. As far as this Lucario, Sai... by the time he gets here, I sincerely doubt there'll be any arrows coming for him."

((@askpokemoncrossover ))

(( Art commissioned by me and done by the wonderful Nans, who runs the blog @archivistoftheend ))