#anyway. you can see why i am the author of fly by night.

[mosswolf]

my love of characters with psychic bonds is only matched by my love of stories about characters with psychic bonds that really gets Into That you know and i think that's what gets me about the tarot sequence. like the series is about consent such a lot of the time, in all contexts, and about how the structure of the arcanum inherently strips people of their ability to consent over and over. and then also Companion Bonds Exist. and it makes me feel like a dog shaking a toy in its teeth because it's NOT an okay thing!!! like rune and brand are the ideal team and best friends of course but hey the fact that the arcanum can just DO that. just take a human kid and decide oh this is a mind bond friend for my own kid is so fucked up!!! and i don't think the series addresses that in the way that i want it to, because it doesnt mean that idk rune and brands relationship is inherently bad or the resolution is them not being together anymore or anything like that, and im DEFINITELY not against stories in which the psychic bond is created by outside systems to the people within the bond, but i would be so interested in seeing how it just complicates it. rune, seeing other companions who could end up in awful situations they can't leave. rune, loving his companion more than anything despite it. i LIVE for the conflict between two deeply held beliefs it would be so fascinating

[eddievanhammettmunson]

Timezone

Rockstar Eddie Munson x AFAB reader

Author’s note- hola my ghouls, goblins and fellow gremlins. This fic is based on the song Timezone by Måneskin. I recommend going and giving it a listen. Anyway, enjoy.

Warnings- cursing, smut. Unprotected p in v. Oral (m receiving)

Summary- Eddie is on tour with corroded coffin missing his girl. 3k words

*You're wearing my old clothes, but you, you wear it better. And every time I see your face, the moon should be jealous*

“Hey sweetheart”

“Hey Ed’s. Why are you calling? Shouldn’t you be getting ready”

“Yeah I just wanted to hear your voice. What are you doing right now?”

“Laying in bed….wearing your shirt. I miss you Ed’s.”

Eddie sighs and rubs a hand over his face. He misses you too. Like crazy actually. He thought living out his dreams would be more fun but it’s proving to be exhausting and without you by his side everything is taking a toll on him.

“I miss you too doll. I gotta go get ready but keep my shirt on will ya? Looks better on you anyway.”

“I will. Hardly take your clothes off anymore since you left. Have fun at the show Ed’s. I love you.”

*And I’ll keep talking to the wall ‘till he’s a friend of mine

I call you every hour just to tell you that I’m losing my mind*

After the show the first thing Eddie does is run off stage and call you. Even though you just spoke on the phone before the show. It’s become more like this lately. Not being able to stand being apart from your voice even.

“Hey sweetheart.”

“Hi Ed’s. Why are you calling so late?”

“I’m going crazy here without you doll. Being stuck on these buses and planes with Gareth and the guys is driving me crazy. God I miss you.”

“I miss you too Ed’s you know that but look on the bright side. You’re out there following your dreams. Now I hate to do this Ed’s but I have to go. I'm supposed to be asleep right now and I have work in the morning okay. I love you.”

“I love you too, sweets.”

You hang up the phone and go to sleep hugging yourself in your bed.

*Now I know you’re sleeping

Where I’m supposed to be in

Wish I could have stayed*

After you hang up the phone Eddie sighs on the other end. He goes back to his room for the night and strums away on his guitar for a bit lost in thought. Every thought in his mind are just thoughts of you and how it would be to hold you right now. How it would feel to be inside you, beside you, always. He falls asleep holding his guitar.

*Only thing that keeps us apart

Is seven thousand miles, running like a mad dog

Only thing that keeps us apart

Is a different timezone

So fuck what I'm dreaming, this fame has no meaning

I'm coming home

Only thing that keeps us apart

Is a different timezone*

The next day at practice a fight broke out between Gareth and Eddie. Eddie storms off and goes to sit in his room when Gareth knocks on the door.

“Fuck off man!”

“Fuck you Eddie open the door so we can work this out”

Eddie sighs and opens the door and Gareth walks in and sits on the edge of Eddie’s bed.

“Eddie what the fuck is going on with you man? You’re so on edge, man.”

Eddie sighs and runs his hands down his face.

“I don’t know man. I just….”

“You just what?”

“I miss y/n man. And Wayne. It’s just a lot harder being away from home than I thought.”

Gareth walks over to Eddie and puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Eddie, it's okay to miss them. I miss my family too.”

“I’m going crazy, man I really am. If I could just see her or have her here it would be better you know?”

*Tomorrow I got another plane, I'm not gonna take it

Instead, I'm gonna fly straight to you, I paid double for the tickets*

At the airport the next day Eddie sat in the terminal debating. The rest of the band is flying off to Vegas for their next concert in 4 days and he’s supposed to be getting on that plane. But then why is he standing here looking at flights to Indiana.

“Eddie!”

Gareth calls Eddie across the terminal. If he’s gonna get on that plane he has to do it now.

“Eddie!”

“I’ll catch you in Vegas Gareth.”

“Where the hell are you going man.”

“I’m going to see my girl.”

“You’re gonna be in such deep shit man.”

“It’s worth it if I get to see her.”

Eddie walks up to the counter and requests a ticket to Indiana for tonight. They make him pay twice as much for an economy ticket cause there’s only 1 seat left on the plane. Eddie feels like the luckiest guy in the world. Getting on the plane he knows it was the right call. He doesn’t even know if you’ll be home when he gets there but if you aren’t he’ll just wait till you get home.

*And I don't give a shit about the contracts that I signed

And they can say whatever, we'll be making love, I'm fucking you tonight*

Eddie doesn’t get into Hawkins until around 10 pm and when he finally gets back to your home it’s around 10:30. He hopes you’re not asleep but he can tell you’re not by the way the light in the living room is still on. He realises you’re probably waiting for him to call you cause he hasn’t called all day. Part of him feels bad cause he knows you’re probably worried but he can’t bring himself to feel too bad when he knows he’s about to see you.

He walks up to the door and knocks. He hears some shuffling and the unlocking of the door when it suddenly swings open and you’re standing there in his Metallica t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

“Eddie! What the hell are y-“

You’re cut off mid sentence by Eddie tackling you back in the breath snatching hug. His face is tucked into your neck and he’s hugging you so hard you can hardly breathe. You hold onto him and run your hands up and down his back in a soothing motion until he finally lets go and steps back just enough to brush some hair out of your face.

“Hi sweetheart.”

“Hi Ed’s.”

Something in your face didn’t look overjoyed to see him. He became concerned that maybe you were mad he was here.

“Everything okay sweets?”

“Yeah Ed’s.”

“You look a little mad sweetheart?”

“Oh no no no! Eddie I’m not mad! God you have no idea how happy I am to see you right now. I’m just worried. What happened? What about the contracts and the concerts? Don’t you have obligations.”

Eddie sighs and runs his hands up and down your arms.

“Yeah I’m gonna be in a little trouble when I meet up with the guys in Vegas in a couple days. But fuck all that sweetheart. Fuck everything. I’m tired. I’m so fucking tired of trying to do this without you. I need you. I need you so fucking bad it’s not even funny. I’ve been losing my mind without you. Fuck the contracts right now. I’ll deal with the consequences later. Just. Just tell me you need me too?”

“Of course I need you Eddie. I’ll always need you.”

“Then will you come with me?”

“What?”

“Come with me. When I go back on tour. I need you there with me babe. I can’t do it without you.”

“I’ll think about it okay. Just tell me what you need at this moment.”

“I need to make love to you right now. I’m fucking you tonight okay baby?”

“Of course Ed’s.”

Eddie captures you in a heated kiss and lifts you off of the ground and carries you into the bedroom. He sets you down gently on the edge of the bed and stands at the end of it. He begins to undress himself and you do the same until you’re both naked at the end of the bed.

“Here rockstar. Let me help you out a bit.”

“What are yo-“ Eddie watches as you get onto your knees. You reach up and stroke his cock until it’s hardened in your hand. You pay special attention to the tip as you drool a little bit on the end and use your drool to smear down the shaft and work your way back up.

Eddie is a moaning mess above you.

“Oh f-fuck sweetheart. You have no idea how much I missed this.”

“How about this?”

“How about wh-OH FUCK”

Is all Eddie manages to say before you’ve taken him into your mouth quickly and sank down until he’s hitting the back of your throat and you’re gagging. You suck anyway. Bobbing your head up and down and up and down faster and faster as Eddie loses all composure above you. He’s got his hand in your hair guiding your head.

You press your tongue up against his tip and suck the precum leaking from him and he thinks he might just lose his load then and there so he reluctantly pulls your head off his cock.

“What happened Eddie? Did I bite you or something?”

“No no no sweetie I just really wanna fuck your right now and if I let you keep going I was gonna lose it all.”

“We’ve got all night for you to fuck me eddie.”

“I know baby I know but I need this right now. I need you right now. Not just your mouth baby. I wanna make love to you.”

Eddie kneels down to your level and places a kiss on your lips before pushing you to where your back is against the mattress. He slithers a hand between the two of you while you kiss and he begins to rub your clit for a little while until he thinks you’re wet enough.

He removes his hand from your clit and you whine at the loss of contact. You watch as he begins reaching into the night stand to retrieve a condom but you grab his arm and stop him. He looks down at you in shock.

“Fuck sweetheart are you sure?”

“Yeah Ed’s. I’ve missed you so fucking much. Need to feel you. All of you.”

“Holy fucking shit baby you can’t just say shit like that to me you’re gonna make me bust before I’m even in you.”

You laugh and slap his arm and he laughs and leans in to kiss you. The kiss becomes all tongue and clashing teeth as the two of you grind into each other harder and harder until either of you can’t stand not being joined as one.

He spreads your legs and lines himself up with your entrance and pushes in. The stretch is divine. After being gone for a few months you feel incredibly tight to Eddie and he almost feels like he’s going to pass out from the pleasure he’s feeling. Not only is he getting to fuck you right now. But he’s getting to fuck you raw. Boy you both have got it bad for each other.

But Eddie meant it when he said he wanted to make love to you. He pulls out almost all the way and then pushes back in roughly and all the air is knocked out of you. Every stroke is deep and slow. The roll of his hips is a steady rhythm. He’s hanging onto the head bored behind you as he needs it to steady himself as he fucks into you so deeply.

You’ve pretty much already melted beneath him but when he finds that one spongy spot inside you that makes your entire body convulse around him he knows to hit that spot. With the next roll of his hips he sneaks the hand not holding the headboard down between the two of you and begins rubbing your clit in figure eights.

You’re holding onto him for dear life. Scratching down his back with your nails. Running your fingers through his hair.

He pulls back to look into your eyes and you’re overcome with emotion. All the love you two have for each other is pouring out at this moment. You can see and feel how much he loves you and you just can’t hold back as you begin to sob.

Eddie seems to understand as he reaches he rests his forehead against yours and you hear him sniffle a little bit. He rolls his hips again and you let out a broken moan through tears. Grabbing onto him even tighter than you thought you could.

Instead of stopping Eddie just leans down and licks the tears off your face and pushes in a little deeper and you can begin to feel your orgasm building in your tummy. Eddie knowing you and knowing your tells can tell you’re close and knows he’s rushing towards his orgasm as well.

Eddie begins kissing and sucking all over your body. Marking you up and leaving hickies all over you. His mouth reaches your breasts and latches on to your nipple and begins to suck away.

The combination of his cock driving into you, his mouth on your breast, and his hand on your clit is enough to have you hurtling towards the edge. Screaming Eddie’s name into the night.

Eddie keeps driving into you chasing his own orgasm as he begins to speed up. You want to ensure you feel all of him so you wrap your legs around him to prevent him from pulling out.

“F-fuck sweets are you sure?”

“Yes Eddie. P-please cum in me I need to f-feel you”

Eddie cums right then and there. His whole body is rigid as your body milks him for all he’s worth and he paints your walls white. He swears in that moment he’s never cum that much or that hard in his life.

His body slumps on top of yours and he wraps his hands behind your back and presses you into him as he leaves tiny kisses up and down your shoulder as the both of you breathe deeply.

The two of you fall asleep cuddled in each other breathing each other in.

*Now I know you're sleeping

Where I'm supposed to be in

Wish I could've stayed*

The next 2 days are over in a flash and before you know it you’re standing in the airport saying your goodbye to Eddie. You decided not to join him on the last leg of his tour because he only had a few more cities to go before he’d be home anyway and you couldn’t afford to take the time off work. But you promised you’d go with him on the next tour and this time as he said goodbye you sent him off with a kiss, a scrunchie, and a box full of Polaroids to look at.

“Sweetheart you’re sure you don’t wanna come with me?”

“Wanting and being able to are two different things, Eddie. Of course I want to go with you. But I think we both know I can’t right now. We’ll call each other everyday and then see each other in a few weeks anyway when the tour is over. You can make it Eddie. It’s your dream, remember.”

“My dream doesn’t mean shit without you honestly.”

You laugh a little bit and wipe a stray tear.

“I promise I’ll come with you on the next tour in a few months Eddie. But you always have me. Whether I’m with you in person or not. This is your dream and I’ll be right here waiting for you when you come back. It’ll all be worth it.”

He kisses you on the forehead and you watch as he boards the plane and takes off. You both cry when the other person can’t see you.

Eddie lands in Vegas and gets in trouble with his team but says it was worth it and that he’ll most likely do it again in the future.

*Only thing that keeps us apart

Is seven thousand miles, running like a mad dog

Only thing that keeps us apart

Is a different timezone

So fuck what I'm dreaming, this fame has no meaning

I'm coming home

Only thing that keeps us apart

Is a different timezone*

The rest of the tour goes well. Eddie and you call each other pretty much everyday when you’re able to. Eddie still misses you like crazy and of course you miss him but being able to see him for those couple days really helped the both of you. Eddie came back to the tour feeling refreshed from seeing his girl. His arguments with the bad went way down in numbers. But he still couldn’t wait for the tour to be over. Eddie began a countdown till when he’d be able to see you again.

“3 more days Gareth!”

“3 more days till what Eddie?”

“3 more days till the tours over Gareth? Duh! 3 more days till I can see my girl again!”

Gareth laughs and leaves Eddie’s room.

*So fuck what I'm dreaming, this fame has no meaning

I'm coming home

Only thing that keeps us apart

Is a different timezone*

Three days later Eddie plays his last concert in Los Angeles and thanks the crowd. He dedicates his last song to his girlfriend back home. Once the concert is over the first thing Eddie does is rush off stage and find the nearest phone where he dials your number.

“Hi Ed’s! How was the show?”

“It was a great show baby, the crowd was amazing. You know what’s even more amazing?”

“What’s amazing baby?”

“The fact that I have a flight an hour from now.”

“What! Eddie, I thought you wouldn’t be home till tomorrow at the earliest!”

“Pulled some strings baby. I’m coming home. Be ready. Once I get home you’re not getting rid of me. No more separation.”

“Never. I’ll be ready when you get here Eddie.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

[natslildove]

gif not mine

Bring you back

natasha romanoff x reader

summary: since vormir, you haven’t been in touch with any avenger, you went missing. no one knew where you were or if you were even still alive. until one day, you hear a knock on the door and a familiar face awakes something inside of you, you thought was long gone. hope.

warnings: swearing, panic attack

authors note: sorry it took me like 2 weeks.. i kind of forgot what the story was supposed to be lol. anyways !!!! hope you enjoy it ! <3

you can find the previous chapter here.

11:07 AM

You’ve been in the compound for less than an hour and you’re at Tony and Bruce’s lab, being overwhelmed with theories of how and why they think they can bring Natasha back.

But the thing is, they only have about 2 days. To be precise, 56 hours. Natasha died at 7:13 PM. That’s why is always so hard to sleep when every night around that time, your mind goes back to Vormir.

“We think that, if we find a way to get to Vormir in time, we might have a chance to stop her”, Tony said.

“Stop her? Won’t that reverse the whole ‘saving the world’ thing?”, you say while looking at the place. It’s a mess. Natasha would’ve hated.

“No, you see, time doesn’t work that way. We can’t go back in time and undo something. It would just create a different timeline, but not change ours. If we go back in time and kill Thanos, everything he’s done will still be done but, the second we kill him, another string of time would be created.”

“Says who?”

“Someone who knows about this stuff, trust me”, Bruce tries to convince you without revealing his source. You look at Tony who just makes a gesture suggesting you to ignore this part.

“So you’re saying that, basically, all we have to do is… Go to Vormir?”

“At the right time, yes”, Stark seems hopeful.

“And why don’t you just get a quinjet or something and go?”

“Because, and that’s the problem, Vormir is about 15.000 light years… We can’t get there.”

You knew it. All of this was just bullshit and suddenly you hated yourself even more for believing there might actually be a way of bringing her back. You try processing what Bruce just said and it’s like the whole universe is laughing at you for being so stupid. How could you. You were fine. Or at least you tried to believe you were. She’s dead. She is dead. Natasha is dead. Your girlfriend is dead. Girlfriend. God, you couldn’t even propose to her, the ring long forgotten somewhere in the locked room. This is all so stupid. You’re so stupid and your girlfriend is dead and you never even get to call her your fiancé or wife or nothing. Nothing. She was nothing now. You’re not even a widow, you’re just nothing. You’re no one and you have no one. You’re alone. It should’ve been you. Not her. She was perfect, she deserved to live. She deserved to win. She should be here.

“Woah, hey! Y/N! Hey, what happened?” Tony is holding your face between his hands and you just now realize you were crying. Bawling. You heart was beating so fast you felt like throwing up.

Fucking panic attacks.

You couldn’t speak, your eyes going back and forth but never really looking at the man in front of you. You shake your head and dries your tears with the back of your hands with a certain strength. You whole face is red and Tony and Bruce are giving you pitiful looks.

God, you hated this. So much.

“I’m fine, it’s fine” you take a deep breath, “Just keep going… How- Is there a way to get there or not?”

“Are you sure you’re okay? We can-“

“I’m fine!”, you cut Bruce, “I’m fine, okay? Just answer me”

“Uhm, there might be a way”

“Stop with this might this might that. Just fucking say it already”

“You know Carol? Captain Marvel, Space chick, blonde and tall?”

“I know of her”

“She got her powers from the Tesseract”, Tony continues, “And now, she can fly trough galaxies like, super fast!“

“So we need her?”

“Not exactly”, this time, Bruce says, “Carol is really, really far away, not even with all her powers she could get there in time. We can’t even reach her”, the scientist looks at you, “We need the Tesseract”

“To create a machine?”

“To hit someone with it”, Tony says while cleaning his throat. You barely even listened.

“What? Are you- Are you serious?”

“It could work”

“It could kill someone! This Carol chick only survived because she was half Kratos or something!”

“Kree, and yeah, maybe, but”, the sortear guy keeps trying to convince you, “It worked! All we need is someone willing to do it. Without risk tests and all the regular procedures we are legally required to do”

Oh. A lab rat. They needed a lab rat dumb enough to sacrifice their life’s for a maybe.

Maybe the person will die. Maybe the whole compound would explode. Maybe it wouldn’t even do nothing.

Maybe they’d get Natasha back.

“I’ll do it”

“Yeah, we know Romeo”, Tony smiles. Bruce walks fast to a closet, opening and grabbing a suit.

“We made from your old measures but…”, Banner looks at you up and down and you feel embarrassed and exposed, “We might need to tighten a little bit”

Ouch, what a way to call you malnourished.

12:33 - 55 hours and 20 minutes until Vormir

Bruce was still measuring you in the lab and it was quiet. You knew he had questions but you were grateful he didn’t asked them.

Yelena enters the place holding a bag os chips and a bottle of water. She doesn’t say anything just gives it to you.

“Eat. And drink it”

“I’m not really hungry”

“I literally did not asked anything”, she opens the bag while still in your hands and grabs some chips, “Natasha will hate to see you like this”, she smiles, “I can picture her complaining about your habits”’ now she laughs, “I mean, when she sees your house she will freak out! You killed all her plants! The place is a mess”

“You’ve only seen the outside”

“Sure”

“What do you mean, ‘sure’?”

“I mean…”, she steals more chips, “Sure”

You get this weird feeling that she’s been visiting you without you realizing it. It says a lot about you.

When Yelena stops rambling about her sister, that’s when you realize you’ve eaten some chips. Basically the whole bag, per se.

“You talk as if you’re sure this will work”, now you’re drinking the water. Yelena is smiling not only because of the conversation.

“Someone has to, right?”

Yeah. Someone has to.

1049 words.

taglist: @fxckmiup @janashstorm @smromanoff @natsxwife @makkaroni221 @marvelogic @thelonewriter247 @lizzeolsenismommy @g-athenaathens ( tumblr just won’t let me tag u idk why i’m sorry :(( )

[666writingcafe]

A Surprise Visit

Author's Note: This is the official start of my season three rewrite. To quickly recap how I ended season two, MC basically convinces Solomon to live with them in their home instead of the two of them going their separate ways. That's number one. Number two is I'm axing the whole babysitter gig setup, because I feel like it's a bit unnecessary (and weird).

So, without further ado, the first part of lesson 41 is under the cut.

MC

Solomon looks over my shoulder and examines the potion I prepared in the cauldron.

"Nicely done," he remarks. "Just the right shade of blue."

"Thanks," I reply, quickly glancing up at him.

"You know, you've done a nice job keeping up with everything I've taught you. You're certainly one of my better apprentices." I chuckle.

"I mean, I would like to not destroy my home."

"Or any surrounding ones." I turn my full attention to him, confused as to why he would say that. He merely shrugs as he adds,

"It's happened before."

"I see." Should I be worried?

"Anyway, you almost have the fundamentals down. Pretty soon, you'll be able to get your Sorcerer's License, and I can begin teaching you summoning magic."

"I'm sure the brothers would appreciate that."

"Oh, probably. They like you alright." His smirk indicates that he wants to start bantering with me. He does it on a daily basis, and I've gotten pretty good at coming up with good responses on the fly.

Suddenly, someone knocks on my door.

"I'll get it," Solomon states, patting me on the shoulder and kissing me on the temple before leaving the room. I take the opportunity to begin pouring my potion--a serum that causes people to change size--into the bottles Solomon set up in front of me.

Just as I finish filling the first bottle, Solomon returns.

"It would seem as though the brothers got tired of waiting," he tells me.

"What do you mean?" I ask, setting the cauldron down.

"Surprise!" Asmo pops his head in the room and waves excitedly at me.

At least, I think it's Asmo. His hair's a lot longer than usual, and his choice of makeup makes him look rather feminine.

As he steps into full view and reveals his outfit--a spaghetti tanktop, a denim miniskirt that barely covers his crotch, and strappy high heels--I realize that he's in drag. And it looks good.

Has he done this before?

"You alright, MC?" Solomon asks, walking over and touching my shoulder.

"I'm sure they are," Asmo answers before I can open my mouth. "They're just in awe of my beauty."

"Just the same as always," Solomon quips, causing Asmo to stick his tongue out at him.

"What are you doing here?" The question comes out a lot more quietly than I was expecting. Maybe it's because I can't stop staring at Asmo. For once, he's right; I am in awe.

"Here in your home, or here in the human world?"

"B-Both, I guess." Asmo clasps his hands together.

"Well, after you left, Diavolo started making plans for us to come visit you in the human world. He and Lucifer bought a property nearby, and we've been working on making it our own for a few months. We just finished last week." He briefly pauses. "I've actually been sent to pick you up and take you over there. That is, if that's alright with your teacher over there." He smiles at Solomon, who nods his head.

"I think we've reached a good stopping point for today," he replies, glancing over at me.

"Great! I'll help you pack." Huh?

"Asmo!" I call out before he can go too far.

"Yes, MC?" He bats his eyes at me, and I have to force myself to focus.

"As much as I appreciate the enthusiasm, I can't spend the night. I have to work tomorrow." Asmo stares at me blankly. "You know...the job that helps me pay my bills?"

"Oh right! You don't have to worry about that for a while." That can't mean what I think it means.

"Asmo...what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything. It was all Diavolo." He didn't...

"MC isn't like you guys," Solomon pipes up. "They rely on their job to make ends meet. It's not like they can just leave at will." This makes Asmo widen his eyes.

"No, no, no! It's not like that at all!" he exclaims. "MC, you still have your job. Diavolo just arranged for you to be on vacation until we returned to the Devildom." He walks over and clasps my hands. "I am so sorry for worrying you like that, MC." I sigh.

"That only covers part of it. What about--"

"Check your bank account."

"What?"

"I got it," Solomon states, leaving the room and returning with my laptop. Once he pulls up my online account, he shows the screen to me, revealing...

"Is that four zeros?"

"It appears so, yes." He clicks on the checking account to view transaction details. "It looks like Diavolo's been transferring money to your account. At least, I assume that's who 'David Prince' is." Asmo nods his head.

"We thought it best to adopt human alias while we were here." Well, that explains the drag. "I decided to go with Azzy."

"The name suits you," I tell him, still staring at the screen.

I can't believe that Diavolo went out of his way to do something like this for me. It's not like I've ever expected him to provide for me or anything.

"So, am I good to start packing?" Asmo asks.

"Sure." I make sure to follow him as he enters my room. If I leave him unsupervised, there's no telling what he'd do in there.

[vanillelace]

in my dreams ( park sunghoon )

𝟏𝟏𝟏 ; warnings – angst ( death and mentions of it, mentions of blood ), slight fluff ( the entire fic is sort of like flashbacks or rewinds into the reader’s life ), cursing (a lot I think), quite serious problems like cardiac arrest (illness? unsure) and stroke mentions (i don’t mention them in depth)

𝟏𝟏𝟏 ; pairings – gwisin park sunghoon x y/n, ending includes a different ship that I wanna keep a surprise :)

𝟏𝟏𝟏 ; genre – angst!! the entire fic is sort of supernatural, a bit of fluff, supernatural au, gwisin au (ghost, basically)

𝟏𝟏𝟏 ; wordcount – 14364

𝟏𝟏𝟏 ; synopsis – “in my dreams, you’re here with me.”        in which sunghoon left you long ago, but you still seem to feel him around you, in everything you do.

𝟏𝟏𝟏 ; author's note –  DO READ THIS.        IN MY DREAMS is a fan-fiction written as a part of the ‘So Ends The Myth’ collab hosted by @svngcore . This fiction in no way represents the myth Gwisin (or spirit) accurately. It is my interpretation of the myth, and I’d advise you to research about it separately. On a lighter note, I’ve been trying to get over my writer’s block so here I am! Also, my new school starts May 22 (it’s 23 January 2022 right now) and I won’t be active from then (not like I am anyway 🤡👍).

FIC BELOW THE CUT.

——— PRESENT DAY

“Y/N, you’re zoning out again.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

You bow in apology to your secretary at work, who shakes her head and strides off. “You say this every time, but it doesn’t seem to change. Take a break.”

You hate to admit it, but ever since he left, nothing’s been the same. The effects of the loss on you hadn’t worn off, although it had been over a year since that extremely traumatic night.

The night Sunghoon died.

The night you lost the love of your life.

29 May.

——— 29 MAY, 20XX

“Oh my God, Y/N, you look beautiful.” Sunghoon said, hugging you from behind as you struggled to spray perfume on yourself. “You’re not too bad yourself, Sunghoon,” you grinned, returning his hug as comfortably as you could.

Looking back, that was the last hug you two would share, as you later found out.

“Thanks, sweetheart. Need any help?” He suppressed a laugh as you shook the perfume bottle aggressively, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. Shaking your head in reply, you finally fixed it and sprayed it where it was necessary. Sunghoon chuckled lightly, twirling you around. 

“What’s this all for?” You asked him, laughing in return as he spun you around your bedroom. “Ah, why not, eh?” He replied, placing a kiss on your forehead. You blushed, and he smiled. “When do you want to leave? We can leave right now, we’ll reach in quite enough time.”

“Sure, let’s go.”

That would be one of the last times you would see him without blood scarring his beautiful face.

He opened the door for you to make sure you were able to sit comfortably in your dress, being the gentleman he was. As he sat in the driver’s seat, he said, “Happy anniversary, Y/N.” You smiled and replied, “And a very happy anniversary to you too, Park Sunghoon.”

As he accelerated on the nearly empty road, you wondered how you got so lucky. How did you get such a wonderful boyfriend? 

That was one thing you had never figured out, and it scared you.

All that happiness dissipated within ten seconds. How was it so easy for that emotion to fly away? Or, rather, get shredded so spectacularly? And to be replaced by fear and anxiety so quickly?

You barely registered when the drunk truck driver swerved into your car. Sunghoon hit the brakes as fast as he could, but he was too late.

Within a snap of fate’s cruel fingers, you lost the one lover you had ever laughed and lived your life with. Even loved.

Sunghoon had made sure the impact of the crash would be felt on his side of the car, and the only major injuries you had suffered were mental. Other than that, you had been bruised and scratched.

Sunghoon, on the other hand? Not so much. Or, so less, rather. The glass that had reluctantly broken had pierced into his head, and he had broken a major part of the  right side of his body. You were in a daze as approaching vehicles stopped, and some of them helped you and Sunghoon out of the car. The drunk driver had sped away in fear, and you really hadn’t cared at the time. 

The only thought in your head was that you lost Park Sunghoon.

The love of your life.

And everything would never, ever be the same.

You didn’t feel the tears that streamed down your face, or the pain you felt thanks to the minor cuts on your arm. You were numb. The ambulance arrived and carried the two of you away, but it had barely reached the hospital that the doctors in the vehicle pronounced him dead.

The one thing they (very wrongly) didn’t pronounce dead was your heart, and all your emotions with it.

——— PRESENT DAY

“Earth to Y/N?”

“Yeah, yeah, Yunjin, I’m here,” you tell Huh Yunjin, your closest friend and current roommate. She shakes her head and sighs, sitting next to you on the sofa.

After work, you had taken the bus back home, as you usually did after the accident. You never set foot in a car, and it had been so long. Yunjin kept trying to get you to move on, that is, sit in a car, but she failed miserably every time.

“Y/N, you need to go to therapy. Please understand what I’m saying. It must have been so traumatizing, which I know, so you need to try and heal. You’re letting it disrupt your life. I understand that he was the love of your life. I’m not trying to be insensitive. But please, he wouldn’t have wanted you to live your life out like this.”

“Well, he hopefully didn’t want to die either, but here we are, Yunjin.”

Yunjin bites her lip, and you realize you may have been just a bit too harsh on her. She’s only trying to help you, after all.

“I’m sorry for acting this way, Yunjin, but I’m trying. Please let me try my way. It’s probably difficult to see me like this, wasting away, but really. Sunghoon was all I wanted to be with, apart from you. You have the love of your life, Yunjin. I don’t, and it hurts so much. I’m not saying I’m jealous of you, but don’t you think I don’t know what I’m missing out on? Nothing will be the same even if I try dating someone else. As for the therapist, Yunjin, do you think the newspapers will stay silent if they see me off to the therapist? My mom will say, ‘Ah, Y/N, our failure of a daughter, now off to the shrink? Good. Waste of time.’ And the newspapers will reflect the same.

“Look, I’m trying. If I could have arranged to see a therapist in private, I would’ve. But with my dad ill, I’m all the business has left. Mom has to take care of Dad. She doesn’t have a choice. Once I get a break from work, I’ll definitely work on myself. I swear.

“Thanks for caring, Yunjin.”

“Y/N!” Yunjin cries out, seeing your nose bleed. “Argh, not again…” you sigh, as Yunjin runs for a tissue. The nosebleed problem isn’t quite major, but it is rather annoying. Especially in such situations. Extremely inconvenient. 

“Anyways,” you begin, waiting for Yunjin to continue. “Ah, Y/N, why can’t you just try to ask someone for help, just for once! It’s not going to harm you, or your work. Trust me. Please.”

“Yunjin, we have the same conversation daily, but what good comes out of it? Breathe. I’m working on it. Try meditating. It really helps!”

“Y/N, you use humor to cope. It’s not healthy. Please.”

“Let’s end this right now. I’m too tired to fight. Yunjin, let’s have a meal and sleep. Believe me, I’ll just let the bad times pass by at the company and then get in touch with a therapist.”

You both know that might never happen, but Yunjin decides it’s an okay-ish excuse to begin eating, knowing that nothing ever good comes out of fighting.

—————— 🦢

The nightmares stopped two months ago, but of course, sleep is a tiring process for you. Sunghoon’s comforting arms usually helped you sleep, but that is out of the question now. All you can do is silently fade into the darkness, allowing it to swallow you whole, no matter what you may dream of. To avoid the nightmares, you never think about the accident at night, and always convince yourself, like a fool, that Sunghoon is out on a business trip of some sort, and he will return tomorrow, of course he will. He loves you, so why won’t he?

He loves you, but he’s dead. 

You continue deluding yourself, disapproving of all the unhappy thoughts at night, embracing them during the day. During the day, nightmares can’t haunt you. At night, they attack you from every direction, every angle, battering and bruising you until you are exhausted. But on the bright side, it’s been a while since you’ve had a nightmare.

And God, are you thankful.

As your mind runs through all of this, you twist and turn in your bed, willing yourself to fall asleep for once. The room is dark, just the way you like it, and there’s nothing that you can mistake for an entity of any sort. No chairs with clothes on them that make you wonder if it really is a chair (is it though?) or lights that successfully fail to be stable (your mental health is stabler, which is making a statement).

So why do you feel something on your cheek?

A lover’s caress? The devil’s touch? You’re unsure, but you don’t know how to speak.

Then you see him.

Park Sunghoon.

Definitely the devil’s touch, you think to yourself.

Park Sunghoon, the love of your life, floating leglessly. The same ethereal beauty in all of his features, but more… frightening, yes, that’s the word. Frighteningly handsome. But something’s off.

He’s dead.

If he’s dead…

Who is this?

You want to shriek, scream, call for help, but an invisible object muffles your voice, disallowing you from speaking a single word. 

“Y/N…”

Sunghoon, Sunghoon, you’re dead, but if not, give me a sign that this is you, you desperately think.

“Y/N, it’s me. I can speak. But I’m not alive. I can’t stay in the real world for too long in a visible form, so I will leave you now. Wait for me to communicate with you. Please don’t do anything fatal to yourself. I have seen your every thought, and I know what you are capable of doing to yourself just to be united with me. Stop. I need to go now. Stay… a… live…”

You watch as he fades away with his mystical voice, unable to believe anything.

The one thing you’re sure of is that you definitely need to sleep.

And you definitely should take Yunjin up on her offer of a therapist.

—————— 🦢

“Yunjin, recommend some therapists for me, please,” you mumble as Yunjin prepares breakfast for the two of you. 

“I’m sorry?”

“You heard what I said.”

“Yeah, but I think I can hear it again!” Yunjin turns and smiles at you, and you sigh. “Therapists. Please.”

“Finally. May I ask what convinced you to make this decision?” Yunjin asks sweetly, squeezing some lime into what you assume is a salad.

The previous night’s chaos runs through your head, and you think to yourself. If I even suggest that such a thing happened, she’ll practically kick me out of here to visit a psychiatrist immediately. Maybe I can cut down on the incidents.

“Oh, I thought through our conversation and came to this conclusion, because I realized you were right.”

“We’ve had the same conversation, like, every day. What changed this time?”

“I.. erm.. I opened my mind to your words..?”

You know Yunjin can’t be so easily swayed, but she accepts it with an inclination of her head. “Sure, I’ll accept that for now, until you decide to tell me what really happened. Anyways, I think I’ll leave for work now, have your breakfast, and drink some water. I’ve packed your lunch, you don’t need to cook, but dinner’s on you. Bye! Have a nice day, Y/N.”

“You too, Yunjin. What’re you doing at work today?”

Yunjin works as an influencer, a job so flexible it suits Yunjin perfectly. She usually vlogs, but she produces music occasionally, too. You’ve heard her voice so often, but it’s very, very difficult to find it dull. Her voice has a soothing aura about it, and when she hits each note, you’ll think to yourself, yes, this is how music should be sung.

So it’s not very surprising when you check her YouTube to see that she has over ten million subscribers. Her channel, Jenaissante, is popular for the down-to-earth vlogs she creates, and you occasionally feature on it, too.

As heir to one of the biggest record labels in the industry, ZEN Entertainment, you have a public image to maintain, and God, does it get stressful. You’re an only child, and your father is in a critical condition. Your mother is quite harsh, but you know it’s all for your own good. She is the only reason you have such a strong image in public, and the reason your father is still alive.

———   JANUARY 20XX

A few months before Sunghoon’s death, the two of you were on your way to your family home. But before you were even home, your mother called.

One call that changed how your life was.

“Y/N! It’s your father, he had a cardiac arrest, we’re at the hospital, meet us there. You know the one. The doctors aren’t sure he’ll make it. Please come as soon as you can.”

Your eyes went wide, and you turned to Sunghoon, who was extremely confused.

“Y/N, what is it?”

You remained silent, still trying to process everything. “Y/N! Answer me, please!”

“Sunghoon, it’s my father. He’s had a heart attack. I’ll drive, switch places.”

“No, Y/N, I’ll drive. You’re in shock. Just send me the location. What did your mother say? Will he be fine?”

“The doctors aren’t sure if he’ll make it, Sunghoon. I sent you the location. Please, let’s get there as fast as possible.”

By some miracle, he made it. Your mother was in tears. That was one of the days you saw her completely broken.

———   FEBRUARY, THE SAME YEAR

That happiness didn’t last for long. The next month, your father had a stroke. He was left unable to remember a major part of his life, and almost paralyzed. His communication was limited in terms of spoken language, but he communicated just fine through other means. He remembered you, your family, Yunjin, but couldn’t recollect Sunghoon’s presence in his life. He remembered his company, but was unable to run it, leaving its burden on you.

You weren’t angry about it. It wasn’t his fault. Your mother didn’t want you to do his work, because the industry was incredibly toxic, and words were flung around carelessly at each and every setting. But did you have a choice?

After your father had a stroke, your mother had to look after him, but she did attend board meetings whenever she could online. Sunghoon helped you as much as possible, but he had his own work to do, too.

Yunjin assisted in your work wherever she could. The marketing aspect of your work was done by Yunjin on behalf of you, because she had a better idea of it.

When Sunghoon died, however, Yunjin took over your work with your secretary, putting a hold on her own life for you. Your mother attended board meetings and you looked after your father. He was rapidly healing, but he did have the occasional loss in memory. His paralysis would always be present, but he was regaining use of his speech, making life easier for you and your mother.

He was trying his best to make it easy for you, because your mother explained whom you had lost. At the funeral, you and your family met with Sunghoon’s parents, who were heartbroken.

“We don’t have any reason at all to blame you. I just hope you heal, honey, because that’s what our son would’ve wanted.” Mr Park was extremely understanding, and so was his wife. After that statement, you apologized profusely and bowed, and Mrs Park, unable to speak, hugged you tightly.

That was another day your own mother was completely broken, seeing her daughter grieving.

—————— 🦢

Your brain swimming with thoughts, too many thoughts, you leave your house, heading into work. After a few months, you took over from Yunjin again, allowing Yunjin to go back to her work. Your secretary was like a sister to you at the time, and continues to be one. 

“Welcome, Y/N, what would you like to drink?”

“Relax, Kazuha, I’ll prepare something for you instead. What do you want?”

Kazuha grins, “A coffee would be good. You know my type, right?”

“Yeah, no sugar, black coffee, whipped cream on the side. Quite weird, but okay, I guess.”

Kazuha thumps your back in indignation, walking off to pick up your mail. You laugh and go to the kitchen, bumping into one of your artists, Nishimura Riki.

“Oh, hi, Riki, how come you’re at the company today?”

“Ah, Ms Y/N, hello,” he bows, and smiles. “My vocal trainer asked me to meet here, he wants to try recording a demo.”

“Interesting! What time? I’ll see if I can make it, my schedule isn’t that busy today.”

“In an hour or so. Hope to see you there, ma’am.”

You smile and bow, and leave the kitchen with the coffees in hand. “Hey, Kazuha, what’s this I hear about Ni-ki recording a demo? Didn’t he release a whole album, like, last month?”

Kazuha nods, sipping her coffee. “Yeah, he did, but if I’m not wrong, he’s taking a break from work for two months on behalf of his exams. He’s about to finish an early bachelor’s degree in Japanese and also in Economics.”

“Oh, wow! That’s great. How come I wasn’t aware of this?”

“Oh.. this was approved when Yunjin was working with me. I gave you a file on it, remember?”

“Ah. Must’ve slipped my mind. Sorry. What’s on our schedules today?”

“You’ll be meeting with the rival company’s CEO for lunch in three hours. I’ll be 

meeting with an artist from another company whose contract is going to end soon to see if she’ll join us. You asked me to check when her contract ends, remember? Hanni Pham?”

“Ah, yes. Isn’t she in a group, though?”

“They might join us. I’ll check. If she and her group joins us, we’re in for a good time at the company.”

“I soundly agree, Kazuha. Good luck getting them to join us, though. When exactly do they get to renew their contracts?”

“Around four more months. May, I think.”

Ah. Shit.

“You okay, Y/N?”

“Yeah, definitely. You’re leaving right now?”

“I have to, it’s far away. Hopefully this meeting goes well. Take care!” Kazuha crosses her fingers and leaves the room, and you wave after her.

Get it together, Y/N. This is an important part of your time as CEO of ZEN Entertainment. If NewJeans joins you, you’re set for life.

It will be two years then. Will you be able to manage to stay under control?

—————— 🦢

“Hello, Ms Y/N.” The producer hops to his feet and bows, and so does Ni-ki. “Hello. I was curious about the production, which Ni-ki told me about. So I’m here to just watch. I’ll be doing my work, but I’ll be paying attention. Go about your work and pretend I’m not there!”

The producer nods, and goes back into discussion with Ni-ki. “I’m thinking we do something from your usual concept. What we’ve seen from you is a… dark theme, but we can try something brighter this time. Who’s to say that you can’t do a cute concept?”

“I actually agree. Let’s go for it. So do we go with the lyrics I provided, or the one the lyricist did?”

“I think we can go with a mix. Let’s work on that for the next hour or so. We also have a backing track ready, but I might have to get that modified. We won’t be doing a ballad, right?”

“No, I don’t feel like that’s going to suit me very much.”

“Okay then. Let’s get to work on the lyrics. ma’am, would you like to oversee this? Since Ni-ki wrote a lot of potential lyrics.”

“Sure.” You get up, walking over to where there are multiple sheets of words written in messy handwriting. 

“Ignore the mess, please. I work better when I’m in a rush.” Ni-ki smiles, sorting the whole mess out. “It’s fine, don’t worry. You’re a very young artist. I’m honestly glad to see you comfortable with creating your own music. It goes a long way, believe me.”

“Thank you, I’m honored,” Ni-ki bows, and pins some sheets together. “Uhm, ma’am, I need to take this call, will it be fine if you’re here? It’s a personal emergency.”

“Don’t worry, take the call. I’ll be here.”

The producer rushes out, speaking in his native language incredibly quickly. “Anyway, I like the look of these lyrics. I think you’ve had a… messed up, partying teen vibe with some vampires in the mix?”

“Yeah, indeed. I honestly didn’t know where the concept would go. So I came up with these. A sudden change in the concept will shoo some of my fans away. But I think I’ll gain some fans too. That’s beneficial to both me and the company, so.. yeah.”

“Valid point. So you’re going for a teen love concept now?”

“Yep. I’m not boasting, but I am very young. So I should go with such concepts, because as a teenager myself, it’s easy for me to represent such topics.”

“Right. You are very smart, Ni-ki. I like it. You have a mind made for such work.”

“Thank you.”

As you both settle in comfortable silence, you read the lyrics carefully. The album Ni-ki is working on revolves around the theme of young love, right from the meeting to the goodbyes. You can’t help but think of your goodbye to your first love, but you shake away the thoughts.

«It was a pretty sunset, 

We didn’t want the moment to end

Right from the hello, you caught my eye

And now I just can’t say goodbye

To you, the one I like

If this is young love, I don’t want it

To you I can’t bear to bid a farewell

If it’s you I’ll love, please don’t be my first

I know how first loves end, all too well

Is this what young love is?

After that day, we met often

We both knew we had fallen

The first handshake, you caught my eye

And now I just can’t say goodbye

To you, the one I like

If this is young love, I don’t want it

To you I can’t bear to bid a farewell

If it’s you I’ll love, please don’t be my first

I know how first loves end, all too well

Is this what young love is?

Just stay a while, stay right there

Maybe then we’ll last forever

Just don’t fall for me, let’s not be our firsts

We both know how this is going to end

If this is young love, I can’t have it

To you, one day, I’ll say goodbye

I can’t have you, if you’ll be my first

Can’t bear to see you cry

Is this what young love is?

This is what young love is»

“Ni-ki, this is amazing. Seriously.”

“Thank you. I’m going to combine it with the lyricist’s bridge, though. I don’t like the one I wrote.”

“You can do what you want, but this is really good. I like the ending. If you play it right, this can be a masterpiece. You need to conclude it well, so that the listener bursts into tears.”

“I don’t exactly want my fans to cry—“

“But that’s the sign of a good song —“

“So I’ll have to make them cry.” Ni-ki finished, pursing his lips together.

“Yeah, pretty much.” You grin, lounging in the chair.

“Okay then. The goal is now to make people cry. Good.” Ni-ki says, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “Are you being sarcastic to your boss?” You ask teasingly, and he aggressively shakes his head. 

“Oh, no, of course not.” Ni-ki hastily retracts his words, and you laugh.

Suddenly, something catches your eye. “Ni-ki, is this yours?”

“How can it be? It has a name engraved on it. Could be the producer’s.”

He takes the briefcase that you’re holding to check the name.

“Uhm.. ma’am, it says Park Sung-hoon on it..”

You blink. “What?” “Yes. And I know for a fact the producer is not Park Sung-hoon. Oh, you know what? Could be the choreographer’s. Park Ji-sung. Maybe we’re reading it wrong—“

“Give it to me. Let’s see if we’re really wrong.”

You snatch the briefcase and see the name engraved in it. “It’s Park Sung-hoon, alright. And I’m also sure that I don’t have a single employee with that name who visited here today. I’ll announce this.”

“But maybe you should open it? Just in case they have documents of themselves. It would make it easier for you.”

“Right. Smart idea.” You say, unzipping the case.

And immediately you drop it.

“It’s my dead boyfriend’s.”

—————— 🦢

You had a panic attack after that little incident, and Ni-ki had to take you to the on-hand nurse, meant for the artists. 

“You fine, ma’am?” The nurse asks, concerned at the expression your face holds. “Yeah, I am. Thank you. Where’s Ni-ki?”

“He’s outside.”

You get up to meet him, and he immediately gets up from the chair he was sitting on, seeing you exit consciously. “Are you alright?”

“Yes. But I am so confused,” you mumble, lost in thought. 

Am I going crazy? Are these signs?

“You aren’t crazy,” Ni-ki assures you, as if he read your mind. “It’s a normal reaction that an average human would show. Don’t worry. You worry too much, and this was just a small side effect of that worry. Go home, and get some rest. Believe me. You need it.”

You nod absentmindedly and wave at Ni-ki, who waves back with a look of concern, knowing nothing in what he said went into your head. 

You walk on, in your own train of thoughts, and you don’t even notice when you walk into another employee. “Argh—“

“Oh, God, I’m so sorry, are you fine?” You ask, helping the unknown person up. “Yes, I am, thank you, ma’am,” he mumbles in a deep voice, gathering his papers. “This may seem rude, but who are you?”

“I’m actually a choreographer, my name’s Park Ji-sung. And I know who you are, obviously. Nice to meet you.” He answers, smiling and offering his free hand for you to shake. You do so, and help him organize his papers. “What are these for, if I may ask?”

“These are actually my personal documents, I always carry a set of them with me just in case.”

“Documents, as in?”

“Passports, medical records, etc.”

“I see. And these?”

“One of my artist's songs. In fact, here he comes. Ni-ki, hey.”

“Oh, hi, Jisung, I see you met Ms. Y/N. ma’am, he choreographed my hit song, Sweet Season.”

You remember vaguely that the song went viral for its unique choreography, and the footwork being incredibly detailed. People were also talking about the up-and-coming choreographer, but you didn't know at the time who he was at all.

“Oh! That’s great. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Park. I’m so glad you’re in charge of Ni-ki’s new song. It’s going to be great.”

“You’ve seen the lyrics?”

“Yes, and approved. We were in the studio not too long ago.” You smile, and Ni-ki nods. “Yeah, then she had an emergency to attend to, so I walked her off.” He adds, and Jisung nods his head slowly. 

“I see. It’s been really nice talking to you, ma’am, but I really have to get started on Ni-ki’s choreography. If you’ve approved the song, I’ll assume that it’s going to be released. Ni-ki, let’s go. Goodbye, Ms. Y/N.”

“Bye ma’am!” Ni-ki waves, and you call after them, “You guys can call me by my name!”

“Bye, Y/N!” Jisung turns and bows, then rushes to the practice room. You smile, getting back to your office.

Ni-ki and Jisung seem fun.

—————— 🦢

“Kazuha! Hi! How was the meeting?”

“WE HAVE THEM ON BOARD!”

Kazuha runs up to you and hugs you tightly, and you pat her back. “Let’s celebrate. Are you free after work? Dinner’s on me back home with Yunjin, so I would much rather take you guys out. You’ve seen my cooking, haven’t you?”

Kazuha shudders jokingly, and smiles. “Definitely free. Will it be just the three of us?”

“I might invite Ni-ki and his choreographer. I feel like we’ll all get along really well.”

“Okay. That’s fine.”

“Come with me after work, you can come over to my house and get ready with me and Yunjin. You’re done with all your meetings, right? Go home, and pack some clothes.”

“Okay, then I’ll come back to the office, and leave with you?”

“Yep.”

“Alright.”

“Pack clothes to stay over, just in case we get back late.”

“Alright. Also, have you met with the CEO already?”

Shit.

“Y/N!”

“I’M LEAVING! GOING RIGHT NOW!” You hurriedly grab your coat and purse and rush out of your office, going to the nearest bus stop and sitting in a corner.

“Ma’am, I’m on my way. My apologies, I didn’t mean to be this late, but an emergency popped up.”

“No worries, ma’am. I’m waiting. When you reach, ask for Yoo Ji-min.”

“Sure, I will. See you there.”

You disconnect the phone, sighing in relief. Yoo Ji-min is the CEO of MY Entertainment.

Jimin has a nice personality, and the two of you aren’t really on bad terms. However, you do sometimes have friendly arguments over who gets to scout whom. You still haven’t reached a conclusion on that argument, but for the sake of being civil, the two of you agreed to push it under the rug for now. 

As you reach the stop, you exit the bus, looking around for the restaurant that Jimin has reserved for the meeting. “Hi, table for two under the name Yoo Ji-min?” You ask the receptionist, slightly out of breath, who nods, leading you to a table in the back. 

“Jimin!”

“Y/N!”

She gets up from her seat, looking as pretty as ever in a formal black dress. “Nice to see you. So glad you could make it. How’ve you been?”

“I’m okay, Jimin. It’s great to see you, too. How are you doing lately? I hear that you’ve been busy, based on the amount of work your company has been doing.”

“Yeah, I’m good. But busy indeed. Honestly, the amount of time I’ve been spending at the company is more than the time I spend at home. Super hectic, but that's fine. As a CEO, that’s bound to happen.”

“Indeed. You should probably take a break, though.”

“And let you steal the show?” Jimin laughs teasingly. “I don’t think so.”

“Come on, Jimin. Thought we were over this by now.”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyways, I didn’t call you here on business. I just called you to meet, as acquaintances.”

“Really? And you don’t want anything from me?”

“Nope. I owe you many favors, but I just can’t seem to get the opportunity to repay them. I should be asking you if you need anything.”

“I don’t. Maybe a break would be nice though.”

Jimin laughs with you, nodding her head. “Maybe we can take a break together.”

“Someday, when everything is back to normal at our companies. But I think we would have to be friends for that.”

“You made a good point there, Y/N. Well, I do want to be friends with you, but it might get odd at times. Do you know, I barely have any friends?”

“I do, actually. This industry gets so lonely, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. Minjeong, Ning and Aeri are the only people helping my sanity at the moment, to be quite frank with you.”

“Yunjin and Kazuha too, although Kazuha isn’t so much a friend as a sister to me. And Yunjin is practically family to even my parents now.”

“I could say the same about Ning. Although I’m getting to know the other two better now, thankfully.”

The waiter comes over to take your orders, and the two of you order non-alcoholic drinks. The waiter nods and walks away, leaving you two alone again.

“I just had a great idea. How about we girls get together? Just us? You, me, my three friends, Yunjin and Kazuha?”

“Sounds good, but I’ll get back to you on that. I have some stuff going on with some of my artists, but that should be over in a month or two. What about then?”

“I agree, my work should have died down by then. Let’s do it. Should we swear on it?” Jimin asks jokingly, and you nod, mock seriously. “Let’s.”

The two of you laugh lightly, and enjoy the rest of the meeting with small talk.

—————— 🦢

That was awkward at the start, but Jimin really is nice. One day, when we both quit our jobs, I hope we stay friends. You think to yourself, entering your office with your head down. 

“Hi, Ms. Y/N! Ms. Nakamura informed us that you invited us to dinner?”

You nod, seeing Kazuha, Ni-ki, and Park Jisung in your office, and answer Ni-ki. “Yeah, I did. We just signed an important contract, and I felt like inviting you guys for fun. Don’t think of this as a conflict of interest, but I would like to get to know you guys better.”

“I wouldn’t think of it as anything else, but we know you’re friends with Ms. Kazuha over here.” Jisung says in his signature deep voice. “Right!” Ni-ki agrees, and you smile. “Anyway, you guys can meet us there, it’s the trending new restaurant everyone’s obsessed about. I got us a reservation there.”

“Wait, really?” Kazuha asks, slightly surprised. “Yeah, I just never asked you to book a table,” you laugh at Kazuha’s expression. 

After a bit of discussion of the plans, the boys leave and you and Kazuha head back to your place, where Yunjin is waiting to pounce on you. 

“Y/N! How was the lunch I packed for you?” She asks sweetly, and your heart drops. “Oh.. eh.. it was nice, but since I couldn’t eat all of it, I gave it to the choreographer, Park Jisung.” Kazuha, to her credit, says nothing and smiles furtively at you from behind Yunjin. 

“Ah, isn’t he coming with us? I’ll definitely check with him.”

As soon as Yunjin leaves, you stuff the rice she had packed for you in the morning into a different box and hide it away in the refrigerator. Kazuha giggles and walks away, zipping her lips as a sign of secrecy. 

The three of you get dressed, and help each other with your hair, makeup and what-not. You leave just in time in order to reach the restaurant to claim your reservation, and when you reach, you see the guys already seated at the table.

“We assumed that the table would be under your name,” Jisung shrugs. “You assumed well, I suppose, because otherwise you wouldn’t be here,” Yunjin says, sitting down. “I’d assume you’re Park Jisung. So, tell me, how did you like the rice I prepared? Y/N gave it to you, right?”

“Yes, she did. I loved it. The spice, however, was not up to my level,” Jisung smirks. “Oh. So she did give it to you. Fine, Y/N, I believe you.” Yunjin accepts defeat and moves on to talk to Ni-ki about his exams.

Kazuha also gets involved in the conversation, leaving you and Jisung to talk. “I owe you one,” You say to Jisung, who smiles. “Yeah, you do. You’d gone out for a meal with Yoo Ji-min, right? It’s all over the news.” He says casually, and you frown.

“Is it? Strange. What are they saying?” “You don't need to know, but they basically say you’re out.. having fun, and they can’t help but wonder about some things. Forget it, you really don’t have to know.”

“No, tell me. What do they wonder about?”

“Ms. Y/N—“

“Go ahead.”

“They’re wondering if you already moved on from..”

“Oh.”

Jisung scrutinizes your micro expressions, and he pats your hand. “Ma’am, you don’t have to worry about what they say. I just believe it’s in your best interest if you know.”

“I see. Thank you for informing me. I won’t comment on them, of course. Best to let the fire die down by itself. Besides, she’s a rival CEO. Even if I become friends with her, no one would believe us, quite frankly.”

“You’re right! See, this is why you shouldn’t bother with this. They just believe what they want to.”

“I genuinely hate the press sometimes.” “Everyone in the industry does, ma’am.” He replies. “You don’t have to call me ma’am, Mr. Park.”

“In that case, you don’t have to call me Mr. Park, Y/N.”

“Right you are, Jisung.”

And so the evening goes on, and everyone gets along surprisingly well. “Cheers to this wonderful evening. Ni-ki, I really hope that’s not alcohol.”

“It isn’t, mom. It’s just apple juice, I swear.” You nod sarcastically and toast. 

The evening ends after dinner, and everyone parts their ways. Kazuha goes home, since it isn’t really late. You and Yunjin head home and go to your own rooms. 

“Y/N.”

You start in shock, and turn around slowly. “Y/N, don’t be scared. I swear, I’m safe. You’re safe.”

“Sunghoon, I’m going crazy. You’re dead, and my mind just doesn’t want to accept it.”

“I am dead, but this is my spirit. I’ve come back as a Gwisin, Y/N. The reason I’m here is so you move on from me. And I’m here right now to convince you. Like I said last time, I can’t be here for too long. So listen to me. You need to move on. If I don’t come to the real world for some time, I can save up on energy and I can stay for longer. The briefcase? It was me. Look, I’ll come back in two days. Or a week. Keep a watch for me. I’ll try to stay with you forever, but it’s not gonna happen, for sure. You aren’t going crazy, just remember that.

“Even if I’m gone, it doesn’t mean you can’t be happy. Stay alive, Y/N.”

“Sunghoon!” You call out softly, but he’s gone already.

He’s gone, like he always is.

—————— 🦢

“Y/N, have you seen the headlines? The news outlets are having a field day with last night’s dinner.” Yunjin wakes you up in the morning with incredible news.

“What is it?” You yawn. Thanks to Sunghoon’s speech, you had not gotten even a wink of sleep the previous night.

“People think you’re dating Park Jisung. Some are saying that you’re showing favoritism toward Ni-ki. And there are now rumors of me and Ni-ki, which is SO wrong.”

“Ugh, I’ll talk to Kazuha about this crap. I guess I’ll release a press release. And you should ignore the Ni-ki rumors, I’ll get our agency to release some announcement about it. And don’t worry, you can post, but I think I can use this to some advantage, so please wait, would you?”

“Y/N, I trust you, so I’ll wait. But please don’t let this blow up badly.”

“I won’t, I promise.” You cross a finger over your heart, doing the iconic promise thing. Yunjin smiles, sipping her tea. “Right, it’s my turn for breakfast. What do you want?” 

“You know, I have been craving a Greek yogurt bowl..”

“The yogurt you made? And adding açaí in it with that vanilla essence?”

“Yes! You know me so well. And maybe that matcha coffee latte I love.”

“On it. Anything else?”

“Nope! Thank you.”

You smile and turn away to prepare your breakfast and Yunjin’s bowl and latte. Yunjin usually makes her own latte, so her entrusting you with it must mean something, definitely. She makes the matcha part and coffee part, mixes them both in milk and ice, and then adds honey as a sweetener. It tastes heavenly, but it takes too much thinking for you to actually make it daily.

“Here’s your breakfast. Let’s have a good meal!”

The two of you eat, gossiping about the goings-on in Yunjin’s industry, you gasping when you hear shocking stuff. After the meal, the two of you rush off to get ready, and wish each other luck on your respective days. 

You groan as you enter your office, not looking forward to talking to Kazuha about the rumors flying left, right and center. “Morning, Y/N. I take it you’ve seen the news.”

Kazuha’s grim face greets you at the door, and you nod, rubbing your forehead to try and relieve yourself. “Well then, what do we do?” Kazuha asks you, and you think about it.

“I think we should do two press releases. One for the dating rumors of me and Jisung, and the one of Yunjin and Ni-ki, which is TERRIBLE, by the way. The second one should be handled carefully. The other press release will be about the alleged favoritism. Can you make it so we’re promoting his new album and denying the partiality? Something like, ‘Ms. Y/N congratulates their young and successful artist, Ni-ki, on his new self-produced album by treating him and his choreographer to dinner with her assistant Ms. Kazuha and best friend and popular influencer Huh Yunjin.’ I’m sure it’s not a crime.”

“That’s genius. I’ll get the PR team to do something. Is it fine if the favoritism article comes in a newspaper instead of the agency? It’ll sound better that way.”

“Yes, but consult the PR. And ask the two to meet me here. I’ll get to work on the NewJeans contract draft.”

“Yes, you do that. You don’t really have anything else, I think. If you can talk to the creative and talents team about the new auditions, it would be great.  And you should probably meet the group personally. I’ll plan something for you later.” 

“Thanks, Kazuha. Good luck with the PR.”

“Good luck with your work too.”

Kazuha leaves the room, shutting the door behind her, and you sigh to yourself, thinking about what to begin working on first. The wind is howling, unexpectedly, since the sun is shining bright outside the window. You look around, the whooshing and howling sounding bizarre looking at the weather. 

Suddenly, a paper flies in the room, from God knows where. You hesitate, knowing hate letters are common. But your instincts are telling you to read the paper, and who are you to ignore them?

You’re protected, Y/N.

Lots of love, P.SH.

“ARGH!” You shriek, wondering what was wrong with whoever sent this. Then you notice a little P.S. written at the bottom of the note. 

Turn the page over.

You obey, curiosity getting the better of you.

I know you’re thinking this is a joke, or a prank, but it isn’t. 

Want me to prove it?

Still saving up energy, but I’ll see you in three days.

I used up some of it to get this note to you.

Being a Gwisin isn’t easy work, dearest Y/N.

But I remember the dinner we had with your parents, before your father had that terrible stroke. We’d gone for sushi, because that was the most convenient for all of us, but we ended up staying back because you and your father wanted to watch football. It was incredibly funny.

What the fuck? You think to yourself, as the door bangs open to reveal Park Jisung.

“Y/N! I heard your shout, are you fine?” He looks at the paper in your hand, and stalks toward you, snatching the paper.

“JISUNG, DON’T—“

“Y/N, with all due respect, what the fuck is this?” Jisung breathes, looking up at you. “Is this some sort of joke? Because we — I mean, you — can sue, you know—“

“No, Jisung. You’ll definitely find me crazy, insane or psychotic based off of what I’m about to tell you, but.. remember Park Sunghoon? Uhm, he’s come back as a ghost, known as —“

“Gwisin?”

“…Yeah, how did you -?”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not one and neither have I personally had an experience with one. But it’s a popular myth, and now I’m starting to reconsider the myth part of it. Besides, it was on the note, Y/N. And, just so you know, I’m also reconsidering what I know about you, because either you’ve officially lost it, or ghosts are real, and Ghostbusters wasn’t fiction. I’m doubting myself at the moment.”

“Um. You don’t have to ever talk to me again, if you’re uncomfortable with me, but please don’t tell this to anyone. If you’re not believing me, I doubt anyone will. And Yunjin and Kazuha will definitely not leave me alone ever again.”

“Relax, I won’t. Believe me or don’t, but my friend Haechan enjoys scaring me this way. At this point, he might as well convince me to join a cult. I won’t,” Jisung added hastily, as if he thought you might find him dangerous and fire him, and continued, “But I’ll get back to you on the whole how-I-feel-about-this situation.

You nod, incredibly glad he hasn’t reported you or yelled for help yet, and say, “You don’t need to remember this. Just please don’t say anything to anyone else.”

“You got it. And maybe keep your shrieking on the low, people will definitely think something’s up. Believe me, I genuinely nearly screamed myself when I heard your shout. It was.. what’s the word? Bloodcurdling. Fancy word, but really. Be thankful it’s me who came here and not Niki or Kazuha. Those two would’ve freaked, for sure.”

You nod slowly, realizing that luck is on your side today. In a way.

Woah, that rhymed.

Not the time, Y/N.

“Ah, I got it. Thanks, Jisung. Off topic, but did you have any work right now?”

“No, but given the current situation, I would be glad to leave you alone to think. No offense or anything, but you need time to yourself. Like, if you were going to invite me for coffee in the cafeteria or something. Not that you would or should or anything, don’t be morally obligated or whatever, but—“

“Relax, I get it. And for moral obligation reasons, I won’t say if I was going to invite you or not. Anyway, you’re right, I should spend time alone. I have work, anyway. Go, enjoy your break. Thanks again, Jisung. I owe you one.”

Jisung smiles and leaves, and you realize that you were going to invite him for a coffee, but good thing he had his priorities straight. And he really did make a good point, you had to think. It was a creepy note, yes, but what was creepy anymore? Did anything even count as supernatural? What next, would Spider-Man appear outside her office’s door and give her a cupcake?

“Knock knock!” 

The door swung open to reveal Spider-Man himself.

Yes, that’s it. I’ve lost it. 

Spider-Man took off his mask to reveal none other than Nishimura Riki, who had assumed it was the right day to dress up for work. “Here’s a box of cupcakes, to thank you for the dinner and to also thank you for helping me out with the scandal. It created publicity, but thanks for helping shutting it down. Kazuha Ma’am told me that it was your idea.”

“The scandal?!”

“No, the usage of it. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!” Riki smiled, placing the box of cupcakes on your table. “Or, rather, when life gives you money, buy Spider-Man outfits and give people cake!”

You laugh at the joke, and say, “You’re really starting to sound like Spider-Man with those sad little jokes and puns, Riki. You’re on break right now?”

“Nope, I’m actually wrapping things up for today. I came to work early and worked overtime last week, so that I could spend time with my family today.”

“You really don’t have to sacrifice your time for your work—“ “No, it’s for my fans. Before I go on hiatus.”

“Nice to see you so dedicated, Niki, but take my advice seriously. This industry can take a lot out of someone.”

“And I’m sure you’re right, but really, I got this. Don’t worry. Anyway, I should probably get changed before I leave the building, or the fans in question will never let me live this down. I can already picture the headlines — “Nishimura Riki, youngest idol / ace of Zen Entertainment, spoils latest comeback in a Spider-Man outfit, rocking it!” “Nishimura Riki to star in the newest Spider-Man outfit, proof here!” It would be so embarrassing…”

“Well, to be fair, and honest, you look good! It’s a good quality costume too, so there are very few memes that can be made. Unless you were holding coffee, or alcohol. I can picture everything then.” You say, struggling to hold back your laughter after imagining the memes.

“Yeah, yeah. Bye, CEO. Have a nice day. And get some lunch.” Riki waves as he leaves to find the nearest restroom to change.

You smile, biting into a cupcake, only to find it full of spicy chilies. 

“NISHIMURA RIKI!” You shout, very angry. The door slams open yet again, this time revealing a Spider-Man with no socks on and Jisung, looking very worried. “Oh. My. God.” Riki mouths, as realization dawns on him.

“I gave you the wrong cupcakes. Those were meant for my sister. I am so sorry. Here, try biting into this one, it should be red velvet and cream cheese.” He points to another cupcake in the box, and you obey.

“… NIKI!”

“SHOOT, WAS THAT FILLED WITH CHILLIES TOO?”

“No. It was tomato this time. And the white part, you may be wondering? Radish purée.”

“Um.. I’ll just get you the other box of cupcakes.. you can ask Mr Park to taste-test them for you?” Niki slips out the door, and you sigh.

“I would taste them for you, but I’d rather not take the risk, sorry, Y/N.” Jisung says, and you smile understandingly, unable to talk over the disgusting mix of flavors that are floating around in your mouth. “Thanks for understanding. Anyway, I’m going to assume you didn’t get an opportunity to think about whatever went on with that note. But I gave it a thought, and you should be alone. Finish off whatever work’s a priority right now, and go home. Really. That note would be enough to send me a one-way ticket to a therapist’s office. You can inform Kazuha about your absence, and I’m sure  she’ll understand. I’ll take my leave, and enjoy the cupcakes Niki will get you. I helped him pick out both the prank box and sweet box.”

Jisung salutes you and leaves, leaving you staring after him in wonder. Swallowing a bit of water to rinse out the taste of the disgusting cupcake, you think about the events as the door bangs open yet again.

“Ma’am, I’m here with your cupcakes. I sincerely apologize, and I would understand if you fire —“

“Niki, you need to relax. I enjoy jokes too, you know. Depending on the context. And I’m sure your sister’s reaction would’ve been priceless. Anyway, help yourself to a cupcake. I’ll be leaving the building now, too. And please, please be scared of Jisung. He told me he helped you pick out the boxes of cupcakes? He could’ve picked out something really special for you, too.”

Niki’s eyes go wide, processing your words, and yelps. “Oh no, oh no, I asked him to help me pick my lunch! Um, I’ll leave, Ma’am. Thanks for the word of advice, I really appreciate it. Uh, bye!”

Niki runs away, still in his Spider-Man outfit, as you sigh. Ah, I seriously think my employees really would excel at standup comedy sometimes.

Laughing to yourself, you meet a representative from the talents team, asking them to organize a meeting with you and someone from the creative team after lunch. Then, you attempt to find Kazuha, who is sitting in the PR room, shouting at someone on a call. The people in the room look up and bow, seeing you enter. An employee pokes Kazuha and points at you, who hastily turns, ending the call. “Yes, Ms. Y/N?” She asks you, gesturing the rest of the room to get back to work. 

“Oh, I’m leaving, I’m done for the day. Something personal came up. I’m taking the meeting with the talent team and creative team online, and I’ve arranged it all myself. You can take a break too, and so can the PR once the releases are all done. And feel free to treat yourselves to lunch on the company card. Just don’t go all out at a 5-star restaurant or something, I genuinely can’t finance that yet. Maybe some other time. Alright?”

Kazuha nods, smiling at the room, who look ready to cheer. “Thank you, Ma’am.” The room bows, as you leave, and Kazuha follows you, shutting the door behind her. “Are you fine, Y/N?” She asks you, scrutinizing your body language and facial expressions.

“Yes, Kazuha. Just a bit tired. Don’t worry, I’m fine, and if anything comes up, I think Yunjin will be at home. Ah, that reminds me. She’s supposed to make a post about the dating rumors, which are still so wrong, can you update her on our PR team’s work? She’ll talk to her management, I think.”

“Sure, I’ll give her a call and see if I can meet her for lunch. She did tell me she would be at home today at the dinner yesterday.”

“Alright then, that’s settled. Ah, and Niki and Jisung met me, although we didn’t get around to discussing much. Niki thanked me for the handling of the situation, by the way. But I’ll talk to Jisung tomorrow.”

“Okay, that should be fine. Bye, Ma’am.” Kazuha opens the door and slips back in, and you wave her off, leaving the building with a little sign of a headache building up.

—————— 🦢

You get back home, exhausted by the events of the day and grab your lunch. You sit for the meeting, discussing the new trainees that are to be accepted soon, and idols that they wished to sign a contract with. The meeting lasts for about an hour, and you stretch yourself after the meeting, trudging up to your room to try and take a nap. Unfortunately, your brain refuses to fall asleep after the note, and you end up laying in bed and wondering about the whole incident.

You suddenly recall that Jisung was there to witness the note, and you wonder if he’ll stay true to his word forever. As you delve deeper into your thoughts, you jump when you hear a phone ringing.

Your phone, in fact.

“Hello? Who is this?”

“Hi, this is Huh Yunjin speaking. Is Ms. Y/N free at the moment?” You hear your best friend’s sarcastic voice, and smile. “Of course I am. Anything for you.”

“Woah, woah, lay off on the lines, Y/N. I might just end up dating you.” You could hear the wink that Yunjin would’ve produced if she was right next to you.

“Ha, ha, ah yes, what a joke, I laughed. Anyway, what’s up? Did you eat?”

“I did, but I called to check on you. I hope you ate too?”

“Yeah, I did, mom. Is that why you called?”

“That, and Kazuha called. Thanks for helping me sort it out. Ugh. That is illegal and so wrong. What is wrong with people?”

“I’d have to agree. Anyway, when are you getting home?”

“Um, should be around six. Anything up?”

“Nope. Just checking. Get back safe.”

“Will do, Ma’am. Bye!”

“Bye!” You disconnect the call, smiling lightly as you feel grateful for having such a lovely friend by your side.

You and I both know that wouldn’t last for long if she knew you think ghosts spoke to you.

Oh, shut up, you. You tell yourself, plopping back down on your bed. You just know that this whole dilemma will reach a head soon, but till then you’ll have to wait it out. But why does life make it so difficult to tolerate this?

Thankfully, Sunghoon isn’t due for another two days at least. Whether it’s him, or any of his notes or signs or whatever it was he could think of, you’re determined to not let it get to you and not to lose it. But in all honesty, that’s the most you can do. Because it’s not in your control to get in touch with a freaking ghost. 

And no, you’re never going to visit any of those ghost-whisperers. Even if ghosts do exist, which, seemingly, they do, the ghost-whisperers could always scam you, of course. All they need is a good business opportunity. The problem with such stuff is that one will never know if they’re being truthful or not. So people prefer picking the negative side, thinking they’re being deceitful. 

Of course, in a lot of media, ghosts are portrayed as evil beings, which is why believing in them is frowned upon and considered to be a sign of the personality of the person, assuming they’re evil and believe in or practice black magic. You find it so funny, but also interesting. Who started all this psychology stuff anyway? Why couldn’t we have stayed sane and been the same? But then, that would be a sign of communism. Ugh, what even is this? Maybe humans are better off brainless.

Damn, I got all deep there. This might as well start another dumb controversy. But then again, I’m sure all this exists but not where I am. You think to yourself, stopping any more weird thoughts, thinking you’d better leave such thoughts to people who earn for these theories.

You go about preparing dinner, knowing that you will probably not be able to do anything but sit and wait for Sunghoon’s communications. And to wait until Jisung finally confesses that he thinks you’re insane and that you should definitely visit either a therapist or an asylum.

“Honey, I’m bored!” is the quote that marks Yunjin’s entry. “You’re bored?” You ask, used to Yunjin’s use of affectionate nicknames. “Yeah. I’m bored of all the drama. I wanna go away on a deserted island and never return.” Yunjin sighs, plopping on the couch. “Oui, I agree. You should go, and never return. Go, live your life.” 

“Ouch. But you’re right. I’ll probably go on hiatus from all my social media and visit Hawaii.”

“Hawaii is so generic. But you do you. Anyway, dinner’s served.” You say, placing a plate in front of her. “You know what? I’m going to do this. I’m going to live by myself. Unless you wanna join. But I doubt you can.”

“Yeah, I can’t. Book your flights and send me your itinerary.”

“Ugh, never mind. I can’t randomly do this!” Yunjin cries, between mouthfuls of her food. “Why not? You deserve it. You’ve been working so hard but you’ve never had a solo trip.”

“You’re right.. but I can’t. You’re too fragile to be left alone.”

“You treat me like a patient sometimes.”

“Because you are, Y/N. You don’t know how bad we hurt inside when we saw you. You were a shell of the real Y/N. Now that you’re recovering, in a way, I can’t bear to go and see something happen to you.”

“You’re being too serious. Just go away for a week. Kazuha is here, and so are my friends. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Ugh.” Yunjin gets up to place her dish in the dishwasher, as do you. “You need to relax. Believe me.” 

Yunjin stays silent, trying to think about it. “Kazuha is here, Yunjin.”

“Fine. I’ll go. But I’ll hear about anything that happens to you. Believe me. And yeah, I’ll send you my itinerary.”

“Yes!” You hug her, glad she’s getting a break, and glad that you’ll be alone when Sunghoon’s real visit will occur.

—————— 🦢

The next day, you walk into the office in a better mood, glad that you’d figured out what to do the previous night.

“Good morning, Y/N.” You hear a deep male voice, and jump to see Jisung. “Hey, Jisung. Where’s Kazuha?”

“Getting coffee for you.” He says, moving aside to let you sit down. “Ah, I see. Did Niki meet with the producer? I’d arranged a meeting for him with that artist from Karina’s company.” You ask Kazuha, who enters with your coffee. “Yeah, he left. He told me to thank you around a thousand times before he entered the meeting room.” Kazuha grins, offering Jisung a biscuit. 

“Thanks, Ms Nakamura. Um, Y/N, I need to talk to you.” Jisung winces lightly, and you immediately understand what he wants to talk to you about. 

“Sure, we can walk a bit.” You offer, finishing off your coffee. Kazuha stares after the two of you, and you shrug, not knowing what to tell her. 

“So.. I thought about it, and maybe you’re not so insane. And I want to help you. But I don’t know what to do.” Jisung says as soon as you are out of earshot of anyone. “You can’t really help me, Jisung. Just don’t say anything to anyone, and if you don’t mind, offer me some advice if I ever need it.” You tell him, and he nods slowly, walking silently. 

“Doesn’t it seem weird to you? Like, I don’t even say anything, just accept that you talk to certain people? And offer you help with them, too?” Jisung asks you thoughtfully, and you smile softly. “I guess it does, yeah.”

Jisung stays quiet, a trait of his you find nice. The two of you walk in peace, reaching back to your office just in time for Kazuha to open the door. “Oh, haha, I was about to come after you guys. Y/N, I need to leave, there’s some problem at my friend’s place. I’ll be back in an hour, tops.”

“Okay, no worries. Take your time. And if you need anything, my line’s open. You only need to call.”

“Thanks, Y/N. Um, I prepared a schedule for you, check it out. It’s on your table. You don’t have much, really.” Kazuha smiles and leaves, thanking you profusely before she exits.

“Woah, I forget you’re the CEO sometimes.” Jisung says jokingly, and you laugh. “Yeah, yeah. This CEO has to get to work, so, yeah.”

“I get it, I need to go. Bye! I have work, anyway. I only came to the building to speak to you.” Jisung shrugs, waving behind him as he leaves. You grin to yourself, preparing for your meeting with NewJeans.

“Hello, Ms. L/N!” Hanni, who is the main correspondent for the contract signing, enters, a bright smile on her face. The rest of NewJeans follows her, smiling and bowing at you. “Hello. I’m glad you are going ahead with the signing, NewJeans. How are you guys feeling? Can I get you anything to drink, or eat?”

“Nope, all of us ate our breakfast and got here.” Hyein said, and Minji nodded. “Yeah, but water would be good.” You nod and buzz someone to get five glasses of water. The glasses arrive as asked for, and the girls drink up. 

“So, let’s get this meeting started. Firstly..”

After the meeting, NewJeans take a picture with you to post once the news of the contract signing gets out. NewJeans has been an amazing group, you think, as you walk them out the building. “Thank you, NewJeans. Let’s have a great year ahead of us! See you in May.” You wave, watching as they leave.

You enter the building again, glad to be back in the business rush again. You feel the need to be productive at times, and this definitely satiated that desire. “Y/N! I’m back. How was the meeting?” Kazuha greets you in your office, looking up from her laptop. 

“Great. They’re nice people. Can’t wait to work with them.” You smile, and ask about the incident at her friend’s home. “Oh, no, it wasn’t that serious. My friend’s ill, and the person taking care of her had to go out for some urgent work. So I took over for a bit.”

“Is your friend okay?” You ask, worry filling you. “Yeah, she’s having a pneumonia attack. Not that serious, but she is supposed to be under bed rest, so I went and got her breakfast.”

“Okay, let me know if you need anything delivered to her place, I’ll get it done.” You offer, knowing that’s the most you can really do for Kazuha. “Thank you, Y/N. Anyway, you’re free until after lunch. I've arranged a meeting with NewJeans’ manager and CEO to discuss further contract details.”

“Great. Thanks, Kazuha. But I’m not looking forward to it.” The CEO of NewJeans’ company is known to be nice, but is sometimes too nice. It gets a bit creepy for you, personally, but Mr Song is generally a welcoming person.

“I know. But their manager is a nice person, so hey, that’s a plus point!” Kazuha points out, shutting her laptop and stretching her back. Kazuha enjoys ballet, and so is always stretching something or the other. But all your employees can’t help but to ask her about her posture, because it, quite frankly, is perfect. In fact, Kazuha is asked for posture classes almost every day.

“Yeah, I guess.. anyway, you can take a break. Want something to eat?” You offer, and Kazuha shakes her head. “No, I think I’ll take a walk. Also, what’s this I hear about Yunjin going on hiatus?”

“Yeah, she’s going to—“

“Yeah, some island, I know. But is she fine?” Kazuha asks, and you shrug. “She says that, but I don’t know, I just guess she’s getting tired of the influence lifestyle. To be fair, I wouldn’t blame her either. But I’m sure she’ll be fine. You should talk to her.”

Kazuha nods, zoning out, as she exits your office with a pen in hand. You smile offhandedly, jotting down some information about the NewJeans contract so you can prepare for the meeting.

“Ms Y/N?” You hear Niki’s voice from outside your door, and you yell for him to enter. “Thank you for setting up that meeting. My fans will be excited for this collaboration. Anyway, a week until my album releases and I leave. I’m honestly scared. What if my fans don’t like me?” Niki afflicts himself with unnecessary thoughts, and you sigh, settling behind your desk comfortably. 

“You have nothing to worry about. Niki, you’re such an accomplished artist. And so young at that! This album is something your fans will never forget, seeing as it’s written by you. Besides , this collaboration has never been seen before. The artist never collaborated with anyone. Ever. Don’t hurt yourself with such thoughts. We at the company will make sure no one ever forgets the name Niki.”

“Thank you, ma’am. But it’s really not easy stopping those thoughts. I guess we learn, eventually. Anyway, enough about me. I don’t wanna spend my last week all emo. What’s going on with you, ma’am?”

“See, you call me ma’am, then get all casual. And what’s an emo?” You ask him, genuinely confused. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you’re really old, aren’t you? It’s a meme, I guess, but it means emotional. Like, a depressed type of thing, but it’s used ironically or sarcastically most of the time.” Niki shakes his head, disappointed, while you scowl. “I may be old, but I’m not that old, Nishimura Riki.”

“Oh. Full name. It is my time to leave. Au revoir, mademoiselle!” Niki rushes out the door, leaving you laughing.

—————— 🦢

Just another day left until Sunghoon said he would visit, and you’re feeling a bit jittery. Yunjin is leaving today, and you’re currently at the airport to say goodbye.

“Y/N, don’t forget to call me if you need anything, okay?—“

“Flight 777 boarding. I repeat, Flight 777 boarding. Passengers need to get aboard now.”

“Yeah, yeah, Yunjin, you don’t wanna miss your flight, okay? Go away now. Bye!” You wave and walk away as Yunjin keeps saying something. She ends up rolling her eyes and turning, waving without looking at you.

Kazuha couldn’t come with you as she had to go look after her friend, who was healing, luckily. But she did video call you to say goodbye to Yunjin, who has switched off her main phone and bought a flip phone so you and Kazuha can contact her.

You get back home, exhausted. You spend the rest of the day by yourself, treating yourself to takeout and binge watching a series on the TV. You’d taken a leave of absence from the office today, which, in retrospect, seems like a good decision.

The next day, you walk into the office, incredibly jittery, anticipating the visit at any minute. You hate this feeling so much, but what could you possibly do, anyway? You sit in the office, looking at the proposed building renovations to include more practice rooms and recording studios and reducing the break rooms. You do not like the renovations any better than the jitters you’re getting, but since the board had suggested it, you don’t have a choice but to go through them. 

“Y/N!” You jump immediately, papers scattering everywhere. “I won’t tell you to chill, but relax. It’s Jisung.” You sigh in relief, as Jisung helps you sort the papers. 

“It’s not my business, I know, but did Sunghoon visit you?” He asks, and you shake your head in reply. “No. Can’t you tell? I’m so nervous. I don’t know what he even has to say. What can a dead lover say?”

“Well, in my experience, nothing, because I’ve never had a dead lover.” Jisung shrugs, sitting on the windowsill. You sigh. “Yeah, I wish I knew someone — on second thought, I don’t wish. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.”

“Good, cause if you’d said what you’d wanted to, I’d have walked out a minute ago.” Jisung says, pretending to exhale in relief, placing a hand on his chest.

“Hey, I’m not a sadist.” You point out, narrowing your eyes at him. He raises his hands, saying, “Hey, I wouldn’t know, you know.” “Yeah, well, how would I know if you wouldn’t know?”

Jisung laughs, and you smile.

“Y/N?”

Jisung’s jaw drops, as you turn to look Park Sunghoon square in the eye. “Is this.. your boyfriend?” He asks, and your eyes go wide, looking at Jisung.

“No, of course not. If you’re jealous, you don’t really have a reason to be.” Jisung says, matter-of-factly, but you know that’s not a great reassurance for Sunghoon. “Okay. Anyway, can you get out?” 

“No. You’re being kind of selfish, don’t you think? Y/N needs support. I know you’re a Gwisin, and all that. I was there when you delivered that note. Y/N has been so nervous as of late. You’re being so rude. Think about her, too. It’s not like I’ll blabber anything to the media. What the heck would I say?”

“Sunghoon..” you say, and Sunghoon sighs. “Ugh, I don’t have the time for this. Y/N, I’m here as a Gwisin because I can’t move on for a while. Um. I don’t really know why I saved up energy for this, but I just wanna tell you that you should move on. And you should leave the room, I have something to say to this clown.” Sunghoon nods at Jisung, who scowls. You quietly leave, not having anything to say. You’ve never seen Sunghoon this way, which scares you just a bit. You did your own research on Gwisin the other day, and found that they can be harmful sometimes. As much as you don’t wanna leave Jisung unarmed, you trust Sunghoon enough to use his senses as much as possible. Besides, you do have to guard the door, so that no one (read: Kazuha) enters and freaks out and possibly sends you and Jisung to the hospital to get psychologically evaluated.

You hear nothing, which is reassuring, unless Sunghoon— never mind, you won’t think about it, you decide. You pace in front of the door for a while, until you hear the lock open slowly. 

“Y/N?” Jisung asks, and you nod. “Yeah, Jisung. Are you fine?”

“Yeah, I am. He didn’t do anything to me, relax. He just wanted to check on you, because he knew you would lie.” 

“But—“

“I don’t even know you that well? Think again. I’m friends with Niki, who’s now friends with Yunjin, who’s your roommate and is also close to Kazuha.” Jisung says, as if he explained everything with that statement. 

“Okay.. and that helps you how, exactly?”

“Well, to put it simply, we gossip about you occasionally.”

“It’s barely been a week since you know Yunjin and Kazuha.”

“What can I say? Niki and I are incredibly social.” Jisung shrugs, and you sigh. “Is that all he told you?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Jisung says, looking at you. “He left just like that?” You ask, and Jisung shrugs. “Yeah. Why?”

“Oh, I’m expecting a note from him right about… now.” You say, and immediately a note flies in from the window. “You should really start shutting your window, Y/N.” Jisung says, massaging his nose bridge in annoyance.

You look at the note, prepared for anything at this point.

Y/N, 

I want you to be happy. Are you happy? Don’t lie, which I know you will, so don’t even bother answering. You need to move on. I don’t wanna be selfish, but I don’t want you to. But you need to. It’s for your own good. I.. I think Jisung is nice. He’s nice to you. I don’t like him, but he’s good for you. As a friend, or whatever. But you can’t stay hung up on me. I know you have important work in May. And you need to get a hang of yourself. You’re a mess, quite frankly.

I’m sorry for disrupting your life the way I did. Thing is, as a Gwisin, I need to accomplish what I want to until I can move on from this world. This world is the underworld, in simple terms, and where all Gwisin exist, whether good or bad. I’m the good kind, I promise. 

I’m so sorry. I really am. But please, please move on. It may seem difficult now, but enjoy life. Fall in love again. 

Yours,

Sunghoon.

You look up from the note, trying to not cry and sigh at the same time. “Y/N? Are you fine?” Jisung asks you, concerned at the obvious tears in your eyes.

“I’m. Fine. I swear.” You tell him, blinking back tears rapidly. “Yeah, you are. Sure!” Jisung says, letting you deny your tears and watching your face, making sure you don’t harm yourself in any way. 

“I really am.” You insist, aggressively wiping your tears away. “Yeah.” Jisung nods slowly, and you give in to your tears. “I can’t believe he expects me to move on so easily. First my dad falls ill, then I lose Sunghoon. Why does life wanna kick my ass at any given opportunity? I don’t get it. I do want to fall in love. But it’s not easy. I just want to move on from this too. I wanna start a new life. But I can’t. Because I’m tied to all of this. Why’d Sunghoon have to die? If he had to, why couldn’t I have gone with him?” You cry, and Jisung walks to be next to you.

“Y/N, Sunghoon is going to expect you to move on. He knows it’s not easy. I’m sure he does. And I’m also sure life doesn’t wanna kick your ass. This is all just a test. Life isn’t easy for anyone. What happens, happens for a reason, okay? Once that gets through your head, life is much more tolerable. You didn’t die for a reason. You’re so strong. You help out whoever you can, whenever you can. You’re nice to everyone. You work hard. You try to lessen the burden on other people. You took over your dad’s business without a single second’s hesitation. That takes a lot of courage. You’re strong. You just need to understand that. You have the ability to do anything, Y/N. Do you know how good that feels? You don’t. If you did, you wouldn’t be crying. You’d be figuring out if you can move on right now. And if not right now, you’d be estimating when you would. Y/N, you might not wanna hear this, but get a grip.” Jisung says, and you breathe in, jaw agape.

“Sorry. Did I overstep? Please tell me if I did, I don’t wanna cross any—“ you interrupt Jisung’s blind blabbering with a bear hug, causing him to choke on air. 

“Thank you.” You tell Jisung. Jisung pats your back a little awkwardly, letting you hold him.

—————— 🦢

The next day, you meet with Kazuha at the office, and ask her if she wants to stay overnight at your place.

“I would, Y/N, but I promised my friend I’d stay over at her place. She’s finally recovered, by the way!” Kazuha exclaims, and you smile. “Of course, you should go to her place. I’m so glad she recovered. Listen, send me her address, I’ll send her a gift. And tell me what she’s allergic to.” You say, and Kazuha sighs. “You are so extravagant sometimes.” 

“You guys love me for it.”

“Oh well. Can’t argue with facts, can we?” You and Kazuha laugh and continue with work.

You and Jisung haven’t spoken about anything except work related matters, and, to be honest, you are kind of offended. It’s not everyday you get to see your boss, or whatever you are to Jisung, getting haunted by her dead lover’s ghost. And, deep down, you thought that the two of you were friends. Thought, in past tense. 

I don’t think friends let their friends forget that they’re there for them after a haunting. You think, rolling your eyes as you swivel around in your chair.

“Y/N, Jisung’s here to see you.” Kazuha says, raising an eyebrow at you, asking the security guard to let him in. 

“What are you raising your eyebrow at?” You ask, and Kazuha shrugs, raising her other eyebrow too. “Nothing, just.. he’s been visiting you a lot lately..”

“What are you getting at?” You ask, a slight cleft forming in your forehead. “Nothing, it’s just.. are you dating him? Or do you like each other? Not judging. Not judging, for sure. Just wanna know.” Kazuha assures you, and you look her dead in the eye. 

“No.”

“Hey, Y/N. Um, is this a bad time?” Jisung enters and pauses, seeing the glare on your face. “No, this is the perfect time. I’m leaving.” Kazuha says, walking out without a single word, winking at you as she leaves. 

“So, Jisung. Why’ve you been radio silent?”

“Uh? I’m sorry? It’s been a day.” Jisung grins offhandedly, and you frown. “I thought you were nice.” You say, and wince immediately. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. Um, I was busy with something, so I couldn’t call. But you could have called. I would’ve spoken to you for at least a minute.” Jisung says, and you sigh. You’ve gotten attached, you fool. Just because someone wants to be friends doesn’t mean you go and do this.

“Ha ha. Yeah. I could’ve. Sorry. My bad. Anyway. How are you?” You ask awkwardly, and Jisung shrugs. “Good, I guess. You?”

The wind whooshes aggressively and you shudder. “What’s up with the wind, all of a sudden?” Jisung asks, shutting the windows.

“I think it’s Sunghoon.” You say, shivering lightly. 

“You guessed right.” Sunghoon appears, and Jisung sighs. “Y/N, I’m really hopeless at the deep speech thing, so I’m gonna talk to Jisung. If you don’t tell her, I will.”

“Tell her what?” Jisung asks, and you look at the two carefully, trying to look for any signs of a secret. Obviously, there is one, but you do want to try out your observation skills. “What we discussed yesterday.”

“Oh. No. You won’t tell her, that’ll make it weird. Don’t do it. It won’t benefit either of us.”

“But it will benefit me!” You exclaim, and the two ignore you. “I might.”

“You’re selfish.”

“You can’t say that for everything, Park Jisung. Y/N—“

“Shut up!” Jisung yells, covering your ears, or trying to. “What is it?” Annoyed, you prise Jisung’s hands away from your ears, and glare at him. 

“Oh, Jisung has a crush on you.” Sunghoon says, and Jisung goes red.

“Sunghoon, are you playing matchmaker with your ex-girlfriend who’s only your ex because she’s alive and you’re not?” You ask, pissed off.

“Jeez, just admit it, you’re growing a crush on him too.” Sunghoon says, annoyed too.  “Am not!” “Are too!”

“You two really were meant for each other.” Jisung says, still bright red. “We get it.” You and Sunghoon chorus, and stare at each other, angry.

“Oh, my God. Y/N, you are growing a crush on Jisung.” Sunghoon says, and you roll your eyes. “You’re a fucking idiot.”

“I’m right, I know. Anyway, I guess it’s time to explain why I’m being so unconventional. Jisung knows already, and he’s a huge part of the reason. 

“Apparently, my last dying wish was for you to be happy, and I guess it’s the truth. Well, the point of it is for you to fall in love. And until you do, I’m going to be a Gwisin. And my powers are fading away, so I think you do like him, just a little bit. But that little bit helps me move on. I don’t want your feelings to be fake, because that won’t work. But my powers really are going away. I’m glad, Y/N. Jisung really likes you. I can tell. I feel like the new Cupid. But anyway, if you like him, good for you. I’m happy as long as you are.”

You watch as the shimmery Sunghoon becomes a bit more transparent, and suddenly understand a lot about him as a Gwisin. “Shit. Sunghoon. Don’t go. Just stay, but don’t be a Gwisin.”

“I am always with you. You just won’t get to be able to confirm it any more. Don’t worry, I can be in touch until you start falling in love. And you can’t deny your feelings, nor can you fake them. But I just can’t appear anymore.”

Jisung watches as you attempt to hug the faded Sunghoon, and watches you break down, and helps you up.

—————— 🦢       A YEAR LATER, JUNE 1.

“Ms L/N!” NewJeans greets you, and you smile. “Congratulations. I hear your relationship press release went well?” Minji congratulates you, and you smile brightly. “Yeah, it did. I’m so happy. And I’m happy you guys are so successful. And the collaboration with Niki went so well.” You compliment them, and they smile.

“Speak of the devil.” Niki enters the room, and shakes your hand. “Really? My choreographer?”

“I’m sorry, okay? He’s so nice. And sweet. And—“

“Please, don’t. He’s my choreographer.” 

“I—“

“Goodbye.” NewJeans and Niki leave, leaving you confused. 

“Hey, Y/N.” Jisung smiles as he enters, hugging you. “The press release went so well.” He says, and you laugh. “As it should have. Everything’s getting better. My father is recovering well, Mum got a break when I took over Dad’s healthcare, Yunjin quit the full time influencer gig and works part time now, Kazuha is chairman, and I’m still CEO with a boyfriend and a lot of friends. A year ago, I was a mess.”

“Well, you were a mess, yeah. Cheers to the mess-free Y/N of 20XX!” Jisung brings out a water bottle, and you reach under your desk to take yours.

“Cheers!”

—————— 🦢

After work, you go back to your home, which you bought for yourself, so Yunjin could leave alone. 

You sit in your study, and bring out a blank letter and start writing.

From, Y/N.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I’m grateful. Thanks to you, I’m happy. Or happier. I’m able to get up and not think of you, some days. When I do, I don’t cry anymore. I know you want me to be happy, so I smile and think of us. I think I’ll always love you. I hope you will too, even if you’re still dead and I won’t ever get a message from you. But I love Jisung, too. And I’m glad you can finally rest in peace. I’m happy if you are happy, too. I just wish we wouldn’t have to end the way we did sometimes, but I guess it can’t be helped. Some character development, right?!

I write these letters so that I can get my feelings out and direct them somewhere. But I think I’m going to stop soon. My relationship press release went incredibly well. Of course, there were the odd questions here and there about you, but they really can’t be helped. 

I miss you. But I miss you as a best friend, for sure. I don’t miss you as a lover anymore. And frankly? I don’t ever want to, again. I love you, but I am letting go.

We didn’t deserve what happened to us. We really didn’t. And I wish it never happened. But I am moving on. I need to. So, Park Sunghoon, goodbye.

I love you.

Then, now, and always.

To: Park Sunghoon.

P.S. I Hope You’re Happy.

P.S.S. I used to listen to this song called In My Dreams. Back when I was way too hung up on you. And I love that song. If you ever get to listen to music whenever you are, please listen to it. I want that song tattooed. I might do it soon. Love you a lot.

—————— FIN.

[sorikkung]

I hope you don't take this in a pushy kinda way bc that's not at all what I intend but I eagerly awaiting the next chapter of wgoin (this probably doesn't come off as pushy at all but I'm just terribly anxious of making people feel like I'm forcing them) your writing is just *chefs kiss* I feel like out of all the fics I've read (and trust me there's a lot) the reader in wgoin is the one I can relate the most to. Plus I adore authors that give the reader a lil ~flavor~ yk it makes it all the more enjoyable. Also !! Im so jealous that skz was in your city >:( the woes of living in buttfuck nowhere, where-the-hell-am-I (aka small town in the american midwest) praying for the day they come closer to my city or at least into my state. Anywho! Hope you have a good day/night, all your wips end satisfactorily, and last but certainly not least I hope you know you are loved :) <3

omg 🥺🥺🥺🥺 hi anon this is very sweet and not pushy at all 😭 i get really touched when people like wgoin's mc specifically, because he is so obviously a self insert for anyone that knows me it hurts LMFAOOO but also bc ive taken a lot of care writing them to really make this story into what it is, which is... a very specific niche not often explored within the reader insert community ☠️ so i knew he was gonna make wgoin a niche fic that many would click away from, but it's for the people out there like you n me who i wrote him for anyway, yk 🥺 ive been having a real rough night so this made me feel a lot better thank you <3

it's been a very busy couple months where i haven't managed to write much at all, but i did end up picking up wgoin again a few days ago! alas, i am a slave to my own brain and if it wants to write a scene at least ten chapters into the future, then i am merely at its whims ☠️ i have so many wgoin wips from future chapters lying around which is why chronological chapter updates take forever. that and i really don't sit down n write all that often HDJDJF though, this has made me want to work on it more, so thank you <3

as for skz coming here, it's been all of four years and like two world tours since they last came here, so i suppose it still is lucky but man, they go to the states every tour if i lived a state or three away id just make a road trip out if it 😭 esp considering how small your states are compared to ours ☠️ if australia ain't on the setlist we gotta fly overseas to see em... i really hope now that they sold out two of our most famous venues for two nights in a row, they'll start putting us on the tour stops for future tours from now on. if not for my own selfish wants to see them, then for our boys to be able to perform in the country they called home 😭😭 sorry if this sounds salty but i do be jealous of how artists will always do a whole bunch of shows in america guaranteed every tour, while down here in aus it's a wonder if they even go into our hemisphere of the world at all, let alone our country 😭😭

[zodiyack]

Rude! (3,000+ Follower Fic Special 1/3)

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x Female!Hopper!Reader

Warnings: Swearing, Billy stuff, lyrics, fluff

Song: Rude by Magic!

Words: 1,798

Summary: Billy's love for Hopper's daughter is too strong to be stopped by the tough Chief Jim Hopper. Despite being told "not in a thousand years", he plans to love her regardless.

Note: Thank you so so much! I love you all, and writing your ideas, as well as sharing mine with you, has been so fucking fun and amazing! I'm sorry for my lack of words, I wish being an author came in handy with writing this, however, all I can say is that I love you all from the bottom of my heart. I've seen people do shout-outs, and ask-related stuff with their follower things, and I may do that, I'm not sure. For now, I hope you enjoy this... Thank you all, again!

Also 1/3 means that there will be two other fics released for the 3,000+ follower present!

Taglist: @urie-bowie-mercury, @matth1w, @redspaceace-writes, @fandom-puff, @darling-i-read-it, @simonsbluee, @sebastianstanslefteyebrow, @dpaccione

Masterlist | Stranger Things Masterlist

"Saturday morning, jumped out of bed and put on my best suit. Got in my car and raced like a jet all the way to you. Knocked on your door with my heart in my hands, to ask you a question, 'cause I know that you're an old-fashioned man. Yeah."

Billy was freshly graduated, working as a lifeguard whilst his girlfriend worked her own job, both saving up for their chance to ditch Hawkins and move to California. Sweet Cali. Billy was excited to show the love of his life around the place he called home. Though, physically, he left the salty ocean and windy beach behind, the place never truly left him.

You could see it in his eyes. The waves crashing in his blue orbs. He swore the scent had just barely clung to his belongings; the smell of the tangy air that followed a majority of the state. Working at a pool was the closest he got to the memory of California. Chlorine was most certainly not the salted ocean waters, but with the circumstances, he decided it'd do.

The way his face lit up whenever he talked about his home...it made Y/n more and more excited to see it. His girlfriend had grown up in Hawkins, stayed there her whole life. Never once did the Hoppers leave Hawkins.

But the second that was introduced to Billy, he knew it had to change.

Although they were saving for a big move, Billy had...other things in mind with what to do with his first large pay-check (or series, rather. Working as a lifeguard didn't pay well with just one check). He began to work more shifts to make up for the money he'd spent, and one day after calling in for a day off, he decided to put his plan into action.

"Billy, stop messing with the tie."

"It's annoying." Hands slapped away his attempts of adjusting the black silk tie.

"Well it won't stop being annoying if you keep fucking it up."

For the first time in a long time, Neil Hargrove was calm. Not happy, not amused, not pissed off for some unjust reason- just calm. He wasn't wreaking havoc and he wasn't being an asshole to his son. Billy hadn't seen this side of his dad in quite some time, in fact, he thought something important was going on and he was about to fuck it all up. And then, Susan retreated to the living room with a camera and a freshly ironed suit.

"You're not putting me in that."

"And who asked for your opinion?" Neil deflected with a raised brow. One heavy sigh later and Billy was leaving the bathroom, dawning the whole black and white getup.

Susan clasped her hands over her mouth, a tear leaving her eye, "You look so handsome! Just like your dad!"

Billy rolled his eyes, "Great."

However, his careless attitude was swept under the rug when the blue Camaro pulled up to the police station, interrupting a clearly distressed Chief Hopper bickering with his daughter. Billy had to get himself together before stepping out of the car, jaw slack after seeing the beauty he got to call his date.

"Hello Mr-"

"Don't even try play nice with me, Hargrove. She's not going anywhere with you. End of story." Hopper kept his eyes trained on the blond, body tense like a snake preparing to strike it's prey.

Y/n grabbed Billy's arm, slowly directing him to the car, "And in the sequel, we find out I am going with Billy. End of that story."

"There is no 'sequel.' The writer got drunk and lazy." She paused, turning to face her father who stood tall, arms crossed and face unamused.

"So his daughter picked up where her father left off, and then the sequel was published and the two lived happily ever after, the end."

While her dad attempted to search for a line that would better hers and force her to stay, she pushed Billy toward the driver's side and slid into the car as fast as she could, rolling down the window as Billy started it up. "Bye! I'll be back before midnight!"

The two drove off toward the school, leaving behind a trail of dust and very, very, pissed off Hopper.

Prom was better than Billy thought it would be. He didn't want to go at first, but after Max found out and spoke to her mom about it (the little redhead a cupid-in-the-making), Neil pushed him to go (as he was "doing something else besides being a lazy-no-good rebel"). It was then that he called Y/n and asked if she'd be going.

The suit came in handy. Clashing with his rocker aesthetic, he put it back on once more. The once-annoying tie proved to be somewhat okay in the end.

Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life? Say yes, say yes, 'cause I need to know. You say I'll never get your blessing "till the day I die, tough luck my friend, but the answer is no!"

Why you gotta be so rude? Don't you know I'm human too? Why you gotta be so rude? I'm gonna marry her anyway. Marry that girl, marry her anyway! Marry that girl, yeah, no matter what you say! Marry that girl, and we'll be a family! Why you gotta be so rude?

With a deep breath, he ran-over the conversation in his head once more. Like a script for an actor, he had thought of every possible outcome and every possible line for him to face it with. He almost chickened out as his fist rose to the door, but it was too late, for his knuckles rapped against it before he realized he was even knocking.

El opened the door, eyes wide when she saw the familiar mullet and button-down. "Papa..." She muttered as she backed away and out of view.

Hopper traded places with her, his lazy expression sobering up instantaneously, replaced with a grumpy scowl. "Hargrove."

"Mr. Hopper, sir."

"What are you doing on my front porch?"

He swallowed roughly, palms sweaty against his sides. "I was wondering if I could talk to you."

"You seem to be doing just that right now, Hargrove." Hop crossed his arms and clenched his jaw.

Well, this was certainly not something Billy had thought of. He was on panic mode internally, attempting to find any response that could save his hide and accomplish what he set out to do. Unfortunately, the word-vomit button seemed to be misplaced under the button labeled "help".

"I'd like to marry your daughter, sir."

Hop's eyes grew just as big in size as El's had when she opened the door. He choked on his own surprise, coughing it off, then glaring at the boy in front of him. "Over my dead body, Hargrove. If that's all, I'd strongly advise you to get off of my fucking porch while you're still alive."

I hate to do this, you leave no choice; can't live without her. Love me or hate me, we will be boys- standing at that alter. And we will fly away, to another galaxy, you know. You know she's in love with me, she will go anywhere I go-

"Billy, he's just stubborn."

"No, no, I don't think he likes me."

Y/n sighed, rubbing her boyfriend's back. He hadn't told her of his proposal plans, only that Hop seemed to have it out for him. "It'll take time, but he'll warm up to you!"

"It's been how many years since he's met me?"

"To be fair, your reputation wasn't doing you any good until now..."

"It's not like that was fucking obvious." He slouched further down in the front seat of his Camaro. To Billy, all hope was lost. If he couldn't get Hopper to give him his blessing, he was sure he'd lose his goddamned mind.

Y/n frowned. Her frown flipped around as an idea popped into her head, her lips finding Billy's knuckles and quirking his attention. "Even if he never likes you, I'm not going anywhere."

Billy laughed softly, "he'll fucking kill me if you go against him."

"Eh, that's only if he can catch us."

"You're out of your fucking mind, Y/n Hopper."

"I know."

The rest of the night was spent in the Camaro, of course, doing one of Billy's favorite pastimes. By the time the sun rose, Billy was sneaking a kiss to a giggling Y/n before dropping from her window in the cabin and running to his car, parked far enough that Hop or El wouldn't notice. He blew her one more kiss, which she pretended to catch, then he broke into a sprint.

Maybe, he thought, just maybe; there was still a chance.

His knuckles hit the door again, shifting on his feet nervously. It swung open to reveal Hopper, an unimpressed look bringing no surprise Billy's way. It was quite expected, honestly.

"What." His tone made it clear he wasn't up for fucking around.

"Mr. Hopper, if you just give me one chance to prove to you that-"

"No, no, no, no, no. Let me make it very clear to you that I want you to have nothing to do with my daughter whatsoever. No marriage, no friendship, I don't even approve of you guys fucking or whatever-"

"We're in a serious relationship, sir. It's nothing like you think it is."

This made Hop laugh. He continued to do so, holding his stomach, until he realized Billy was unamused. "Oh, you're serious?... My answer is still no, Hargrove. My answer will always be no. Go find someone else's daughter's heart to break. You're not hurting mine."

"It's not like-"

Before he could even get the words out, he was met with a door in his face. Turned down, again.

Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life? Say yes, say yes, 'cause I need to know. You say I'll never get your blessing "till the day I die, tough luck my friend, 'cause the answer's still no!"

Why you gotta be so rude? Don't you know I'm human too? Why you gotta be so rude? I'm gonna marry her anyway. Marry that girl, marry her anyway! Marry that girl, yeah, no matter what you say! Marry that girl, and we'll be a family! Why you gotta be so rude, rude?

Again, again, and again, Billy incessantly pleaded with Hopper. Different tactics were all met with the same answer; rejection.

He held up a sign outside the cabin, only for Hopper to close the curtain and chuckle as he sipped his coffee.

He asked at the door again, only for Hop to threaten to give him a black eye (which was met with "aren't you the sheriff? Isn't that illegal?").

He raced past the police station, Max leaning out the window with another sign, only for Hop to threaten them with holding cells.

He even went as far as to ask Max and El to help, but Hopper had none of that, and sent Max home with a rant full of nos.

However, if Jim Hopper thought any of it would get it into Billy's head that getting his blessing was just not happening- he was as wrong as Nancy when she claimed not to have feelings for Jonathan.

Billy had another plan in mind, and this one was impossible to say no to.

Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life? Say yes, say yes, 'cause I need to know. You say I'll never get your blessing "till the day I die, tough luck my friend- but no still means no!"

"Hopper." Billy stood before his desk, interrupting his nice date with a delicious doughnut, and earning a very annoyed glare. "I got Miss Byer's blessing. Aren't you two a thing?"

"You son of a-"

"I got Eleven's too."

"Hargrove, I'm gonna-"

"Before you cuss me out, I think you should know that I've got a stable job, an interview with a mechanic so I have a job when the pool closes for the winter, and I've got a house on the market I'm looking at. I'm devoted to your daughter and she's devoted to me. You may not like me, but I think you're a great dad, better than the one I was unfortunately stuck with. You raised a strong and amazing woman. She's incredible and I admit, she deserves better than me-"

"You don't have to say that twice." Hopper huffed, crossing his arms.

"I know she deserves so much better than me, I'm surprised she's even with me too. But she loves me, and I think you can see that. I love her too. I would never, in a million years, break her heart."

Jim stayed silent for a few minutes. The silence brought uneasiness to Billy, but that was intentional on Hopper's behalf. He finally piped up with a cough, clearing his throat, before his piercing eyes met Billy's blue orbs.

"I'll hold you to that, Hargrove."

Why you gotta be so rude? Don't you know I'm human too? Why you gotta be so rude? I'm gonna marry her anyway. Marry that girl, marry her anyway! Marry that girl, yeah, no matter what you say! Marry that girl, and we'll be a family! Why you gotta be so rude? Why you gotta be so rude?

Bonus:

(after the wedding)

"What was that about a no?" Billy quipped with his infamous smirk.

"You're lucky I'm sheriff, Hargrove."

Why you gotta be so rude?

[theinvisiblecapricorn]

Surprise, surprise.

Author's note: This is my first ever written one shot. The inspiration popped into my head during my shower. Please let me know what you think. Enjoy

Fluffy one shot.

Part 1.

// Introduction //

A little info about Y/N and Vinnie.

So, you guys met during the first Covid lockdown.

You weren’t really seeing anyone of your friends during this time because you didn’t feel like taking any risks. So the only way for you to interact with anyone, was via social media. Before lockdown you also kind of give up on the idea of finding a lover because the last time you gave it a shot it didn’t work out.

You remember one of your best friends told you ‘’ Once you start focusing on yourself, it’ll come to you. ‘’ Well, what better way to focus on yourself other than during quarantine?

That’s when Vinnie came into the picture.

After many failed attempts of having a normal conversation with serval people, the last thing Vinnie expected was to meet someone like you. A lot of the time people tried to take advantage of the fact that he was famous. They would post his personal info on social media and share their conversations for clout. Just like you, Vinnie was kind of over the idea of meeting someone who would like him for his personality instead of his name.

You guys instantly clicked. It felt like talking to someone you’ve known your entire life. There wasn’t a thing you couldn’t share with another. But because the two of you lived in different time zones you couldn’t talk as much as you’d like, but you made it manageable. There was only one problem; traveling was not an option due to Covid, so the two of you had never seen each other in real life.

Until now…

// End of introduction //

Alex (Warren) set up his camera to make a video.

He clicked on record and looked into the camera.

‘’ So as you guys know, Vinnie and Y/N met online in the beginning of Covid, but they’ve never officially seen each other in real life. Now that traveling is allowed again and Vinnie hasn’t been feeling himself lately, I thought it was a good idea to surprise him. I bought y/n a plan ticket so she can come over and hopefully cheer Vinnie up. And I will document the entire journey. ‘’

// Vinnie’s POV //

It’s noon. I lay on my bed, scrolling on my phone through TikTok. I haven’t heard from Y/N all day. Normally she would call me before going to bed herself, but she never did. I tried texting her but no reply.

Y/NNNN????

Yo bro, you there???

I miss your voiceeee

Please don’t be asleep already 

Pick up!!!!!! Or else I’m coming for you.

God, I wish I could just fly to wherever she was at and kiss her entire face. Because, yes, I am indeed in love with her, and she feels the same way about me. I just never thought I could recognize so much of myself in someone else. She’s the most kind, beautiful and loving person I know, and I can’t wait to hold her in my arms one day and never let go.

I’m starting to daydream about a life with y/n without the long distance, because it truly sucks. Then I hear a knock on the door and before I know it Alex comes rushing in with his camera in his hand.

( Vinnie & Alex )

‘’ Vinnie, say hello to everyone! ‘’

‘’ Hello everyone. Alex what do you want? ‘’

‘’ Why are you assuming I want something from you? ‘’

‘’ Because you only enter my room if you either have one of your crazy ideas to share or if you want me to get involved in something I probably shouldn’t get involved into. ‘’

‘’ Pfft, not true. My ideas aren’t crazy, they’re brilliant in their own way. ‘’

Alex grins at me. Suspiciously.

‘’ Anyways that’s not the point Vincent, I actually came in to see if you would join me to get some groceries because the only thing left are rise waffles and I’m starving. ‘’

Alex is blinking his eyes with the same grin he has had on from the moment he came into my room.

He’s not going to leave until I agree on coming. So before I know it, we’re on our way to the grocery store.

// Y/N’s POV //

I received a text from Alex a few weeks ago. He told me about his idea to surprise Vinnie. I couldn’t be more excited. Ever since Vinnie and I started talking I have pushed many of my personal boundaries. In a positive way. Vinnie has helped me regain trust in others and has showed me that love is real. I have lost my faith in love due to my previous experiences. That’s why the connection that I have with Vinnie is so important to me.

I have arrived at the airport as I turn on my phone. My phone starts to receive all the missed text messages and calls from Vinnie. I smile as I read through them.

‘’ Oh Vin, if only you knew ‘’ I think to myself.

I hear someone yelling my name behind me. As I turn around, I see Nailea running towards me.

Nailea is a close friend of Vinnie so of course she was the first to know about Vinnie’s contact with me. She’s been super kind to me, and I consider her as the sister I never had.

Nailea hugs me once she has approached me.

( Y/N & Nailea )

‘’ OH MY GOD. Girl, I am so happy that you’re finally hereeeee!!! ’’

I laugh as I see people around looking at us.

‘’ I am also very happy to be here. To finally meet everyone. For real. ‘’

‘’ Yea, now tell me, does my nose look bigger on the screen than in real life? ‘’

‘’ Hahaha, no Nai. You look fantastic on the screen and even better in real life. ‘’

Nailea and I take my stuff and walk out of the airport.

Once settled in the car, I receive a text from Alex:

We’re almost at the store. He hasn’t got a clue. See you there.

This is all a part of Alex his big plan. First, I will act like a regular costumer shopping at the same store as Vinnie and Alex. Then once they get back, Alex will distract Vinnie just a little longer, so he won’t notice me walking past the car right away. Brilliant.

// Vinnie’s POV //

Alex and I walk into the store.

‘’ Alright, what do we need? ‘’

‘’ Anything but rise waffles. ‘’

I shake my head, laughing, as I walk to the lemonade aisle.

Alex is taking out his camera and starts filming me from a far.

I start singing Paparazzi by Lady Gaga as I act like I'm hiding from him.

‘’ Oh, you should also take a few cans of coke. ‘’ Alex suggests.

As I walk towards the aisle with cans of lemonade, I notice a girl standing in front of it. Her hair instantly reminds me of Y/N. The exact same length, color and texture. Call me a simp, but I just pay a lot of attention to the girl I love. I slowly approach the girl before Alex attacks be by throwing a teddy bear on my head.

‘’ Hey, watch it! ‘’ I fix my hair.

‘’ Sorry man, I just know how much you like teddy bears. ‘’ Alex’s laughing out loud as he zooms in to my face.

I laugh, as I start to think back to the day Alex thought it would be funny to buy a giant teddy bear and have Patrick in it to scare me.

Just then, I notice the girl was gone. I didn’t see her anywhere else again.

After collecting all the stuff, we needed, we went home.

Once we arrived home, Alex stopped me before I opened my car door.

‘’ Let’s just sit here for a bit and talk about some stuff. ‘’ I stare at Alex with a confused look on my face.

‘’ Yea, because the viewers want to know, how are things going between you and Y/N? ‘’

I scratch the back of my neck and start feeling the heat take over my cheeks.

‘’ I mean, it’s hard sometimes. She’s one of the most important people in my life, yet I haven’t even met her in person. But I just know that once I do, that everything will naturally fall into it’s place. ‘’

Alex pouts as he listens to all the sweet things I have to say.

‘’ You really like her, don’t you? ‘’

‘’ I mean, yea I do. I really do. ‘’

‘’ Alright, so imagine her standing in front of you right now, what would you do? ‘’

I look at my hands as I start to imagine a situation like that.

‘’ Uh… If she was standing in front of me right now.. I would.. ‘’ My eyes scan a figure walking past the car and I couldn’t believe my eyes.

// Y/N’s POV //

Shit, I almost got caught. The plan was to go into the store, just to admire Vinnie from a far. I didn’t plan to stand in the exact aisle, where he needed to get something from. Luckily, Alex had a plan to distract Vinnie while I fled to the exit. Phew, that was close.

Alex texted me, saying they were on their way home. That’s when it hit me, I am going to be able to see, touch and kiss Vinnie for the first time ever. Nailea noticed my anxiety kicking in and she told me everything would be just fine.

It didn’t take long before Alex’s car pulled up on the driveway. Alex and Vinnie stayed in the car for a bit. My phone started buzzing as I read the notification: ‘’ Now!’’ That was my cue.

As nervous as one can be, I walked past the car with the person who’s the other half of my heart in it. I didn’t dare to look in his direction.

// Vinnie’s POV //

I couldn’t believe my eyes. This isn’t real right? Was I dreaming? I mean, I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night because I was worried sick due to Y/N not responding to me anymore.

I rub my eyes as I watch in the direction of the person again and there’s no way it couldn’t be her.

Then she turns her face into my direction and my heart starts pounding. There she is, the love of my life, the only person who can make my day just by popping up in my notifications, Y/N.

As I try to open my door, I hear Alex locking it.

‘’ Let me out! ‘’ I look at Alex as I try to unlock the door, but unable because he keeps his hand infront of the lock.

‘’ You haven’t answered my question yet. ‘’ Alex smirks at me, but I do not find it funny at all.

‘’ Please, let me out and I’ll show you what I would do if she were to stand in front of me ‘’

And with, I heard the door unlock. I jumped out of the car and ran as fast as I could to the person who I longed for the most.

Click here for part two;

[obiwanobi]

Catch me thinking about sith Anakin who got in a fight w/ Palps (did Palps cross a line? Did Anakin decide he had nothing to lose? Idk), barely managed to win and is now seriously hurting and a little freaked out winding up outside Obi-wan's quarters and Obi-wan doesn't have time to draw his saber let alone figure out how a sith lord managed to get so far into the jedi temple unnoticed and Force is that blood? before Anakin's passing out with only a murmered request for help.

LISTEN you can’t keep sending me perfect prompts, how do you know I can’t resist bloody men on their knees begging for salvation, how do you know me so well??? anyway here’s 2.3k of always-a-sith!Anakin who could have been the new ruler of the empire but said ‘no thanks, this is too much responsibility, I would like to be pampered by my favourite jedi now’ (with a bit of Ahsoka as Obi-Wan’s padawan!)

 He didn’t mean to kill him.

Well, not at first.

He didn’t mean to kill Sidious, but pulling his lightsaber from his lifeless corpse only felt like complete satisfaction. A weight on his shoulders he didn't know he carried disappeared, letting him stand up above the body of his master— former master, and gaze upon what was left of him. A shapeless form on the ground. A dark cape around an old man playing at being a god. A begging mess of futile promises when he realised it was the end for him.  

As mindless fury leaves him, his ragged breathing slows down and his fist unclenches around his saber. Sidious is dead. Now that the adrenaline rush is gone, his knees start shaking. His Master is dead. His face is wet with sweat and blood and tears. Dead and now Anakin has no one.

And then...  And then fear.

"You know," Ahsoka groans as the water starts boiling, "I don't understand how you got your reputation of Cool Jedi Master. Other padawans think I'm lying when I tell them you wear the ugliest slippers at home and gets excited by new tisanes."

"You gifted me those slippers."

"As a joke. And you still wear them."

"I'm not going to throw away perfectly good slippers." Obi-Wan wiggles his toes under the red and yellow fuzzy monstrosities, just to see his padawan rolls her eyes. "And they're really comfortable."

"So you're just going to stay there, then? Your whole battalion is out celebrating our first day of leave since forever, but you prefer to drink your tea alone and go to bed at 22:00?"

"No one wants an authority figure around when they're letting loose and celebrating, Ahsoka," Obi-Wan says, pouring hot water in his cup. He raises the kettle towards his padawan as a question, to which she shakes her head. "I thought you would be happy to see me putting sleep before work for once."

"I am, Master, but I thought it could be..." She trails off, fidgeting with the hilt of her sabers. For once, she looks like a typical padawan, just like he was at her age, dying to enjoy one night away from the temple and any kind of responsibilities.

"It's alright my dear," he sighs, "you can join them if you want."

Ahsoka suddenly perks up. "I can?"

"If you're old enough to be sent to the front, I think you can handle yourself for one night on Coruscant."

"Thank you Master! I promise I'll be careful and not come back too late!"

"You do that, and-- wait, Ahsoka," he adds as she's already halfway through the door, "make sure to stay around Cody! And no alcohol of any kind! And don't lose your lightsaber at sabacc again!"

"That was you!" she yells from the end of the corridor, "don't worry, I'll be fine! Don't wait for me to go to bed! Goodnight Master!"

Obi-Wan smiles, blowing on his cup. He already sent a message to Cody earlier to keep an eye on her, so he knows she's in good hands.

He has his herbal tea, his ugly slippers, no reports to read or write, and no immediate Separatist menace to plan for. For once, a perfectly good night to catch up on sleep and meditation.

So, of course, something has to be wrong.

The Force is bright. The Force is lighter than it has ever been for the past few years.

And Obi-Wan can't understand why.  

It's not just him that can feel it: Ahsoka has acted chipper since, more like the teenager she is, laughing with the clones and playfully teasing him the whole fly back to Coruscant. The temple has felt livelier than ever when they arrived, Jedi from all ages going about their day with a new spring in their step, greeting each other warmly in the corridors. Even Master Yoda has taken a few minutes during their Council meeting to note the shift in the Force. No Master could pinpoint the origin of this change, but all agreed that something good happened somewhere in the galaxy, and they were just feeling ripples of the effect in the Force.

Still now, the whole temple feels a bit more like it used to, before the war, and all Jedi are a bit happier without knowing why.

Only Obi-Wan feels like a noose tightening around him. Whatever it is, it's slowing making its way around his presence in the Force. Focusing on him and him alone. Doesn't matter how much Obi-Wan tries to hide himself, it's getting closer and never slowing down or losing interest.

Needless to say, Obi-Wan has a bad feeling about this.

But after almost three years of war, sullen faces and grim expressions, he doesn't feel like dampening the sudden good mood around the Temple just with a few words. He can probably deal with whatever it is by himself.

His tisane is cold when he finally emerges from his meditation. Nothing is clearer than when he started: the Force is deaf to his questions and inquiries, still light as a breeze. An airy unconcern for his restlessness. And yet, a thick pressure still looms around him, getting heavier each passing second now.

His fingers start pulling on his collar.

The clock on the wall indicates that he lied to Ahsoka when he said he was going to bed at a respectable time today. No diurnal Jedi would still be up right now, but he still considers going out to knock at Mace's door. Narrowed eyes and a very long sigh will be his first answer, but Obi-Wan knows that Mace would never refuse to hear him out. Yes, he finally decides when the pressure seems to creep even closer to him, it's worth waking up Mace.

He opens his door, wondering if he should take his robe with him, and instantly stops walking.

There, in the empty corridor of the Jedi Temple, at his door and on his knees, is a Sith. He knows it's a Sith only because he recognises this specific mass of hair, the large shoulders, the dishevelled dark robe. He knows it's a Sith because he has crossed path with this one enough times on the battlefield to recognise him anywhere. Outside of it a few times too. He isn't sure it's a Sith when the Sith raises his head up, bloody and bruised face torn in an agonizing expression, and his eyes are blue.

"I— I didn't know where to go," Darth Vader says quietly, with the kind of voice expected from a lost child. It gives Obi-Wan a second shock to hear his voice, making his presence suddenly real. "You said... You said if I ever wanted to, if I needed help one day, you would— I could—"

Obi-Wan remembers it. He remembers all the times he offered his help. His pleas for him to stop the violence, the appeals to reason, the multiple suggestions of a gentler path. His hand continuously outreached but never taken. He remembers the burning gold of the Sith's eyes too, and his black cape floating above the dead clones at his feet.

His laughter the first time Obi-Wan brought up the idea of lowering their blades and talking around a cup of tea. His sneer the third time Obi-Wan tried to change his misconceptions about the Jedi Order and play-flirt with him in the same breath. The silence the fifth time Obi-Wan asked him his name, his real name, the one a parent gave him.

The tears the last time he gave it to him.

"And you're always trying to save me," Vader adds more forcefully now, like the words anger him, "you're always here, showing up almost every time I'm sent somewhere with your stupid smile and stupid words, and you're always nice, and... and teasing, and disappointed when I kill someone, like you expect me to be better, and I don't understand you, but..."

Vader raises his hand towards him, and it's only this sudden move that shakes Obi-Wan out of his stupor. Before the Sith can touch his leg, Obi-Wan calls his lightsaber to him, ignites it in one fluid motion, half-expecting Vader to be up and swaying his saber in his face by now. But the Sith is still on his knees, and it's only now that the blue light of his blade is above him that Obi-Wan realises the state he's in. His face isn't the only thing bruised and battered: his dark tunic is stained with blood and ripped in more than one place, one of his arms is bent in an unnatural way, and it looks like a cut above his hairline is still bleeding, making his curls stick to his face in a mess of wet hair and burned skin.

"Vader," Obi-Wan says slowly, when his thoughts finally regain a semblance of coherence. A rapid investigation through the Force assures him that no other enemy is around and the calm and quiet of the night in the Temple isn't a prequel for a storm. "How did you get in here? What are you doing here? How—"

Vader's hand, stuck in the space between them, reaches once again for Obi-Wan. Foolishly, Obi-Wan lets him. His fingers twist themselves in the fabric of his pants.

"He made me killed them all.” Vader wobbles on his knees for a second, the hand on Obi-Wan's leg gripping it tighter. “No platoons, no battle droids. Just me. He sent me to the power station and I cut through them so easily, so quickly, they didn't even fight back, and I didn't think that..." he trails off, panting. "Until.... until I saw the electro-whips." 

"Are you talking about Naphtla?" he asks when Vader doesn't seem to be able to continue.

Naphtla. Outer Rim. Barely on the Republic radar until this afternoon, when nearby troops answered a distress signal and found a hidden Separatist power station operated by slaves. A third of them were dead, killed only a few hours before, and the survivors turned to the Republic for immediate support. Slaughtered like animals, the rescue team reported to the Council only a few hours ago, by one single man wielding a red lightsaber. According to witnesses, the darksider cut through the slaves like bantha butter, killing everyone in his path without discrimination, until he stopped for no apparent reason and abruptly left.

"You were the one who killed the people at the station there," Obi-Wan realises out loud, horrified, "the slaves from Zygerria."

Vader snaps his head up and his fingers tighten painfully around Obi-Wan's knee. "I DIDN'T KNOW!"

All Obi-Wan's senses and logical thoughts urge him to back out, put an end to this nonsensical charade, raise his lightsaber between them, get away from the dark, hungry void Vader generates in the Force.

But his eyes are looking up to him. Gripping his gaze with the same intensity as his hand on his leg. Bloodied face and pleading, on his knees. Full of tears.

Obi-Wan doesn't push Vader's hand away.

"I didn't know they were slaves, I didn't!"

"Vader."

"He never said! He sent me without telling him, he knows I don't—" A small noise sounding suspiciously like a sob swallows the rest of his words.

"Vader, who sent—"

"When I came back," he tries again, quieter. Obi-Wan opens his mouth to ask about this he, but Vader's head lolls for a second, too heavy to support, before butting gently against Obi-Wan's leg. Vader makes no effort to move, content to stay there, and after a second, a small, almost timid nuzzle against his thigh sends a series of shivers through Obi-Wan's spine. It shuts him up instantly. "When I came back, he looked at me for so, so long, before saying that he knew, he knew I was going to fail, that I was... just like them after all, and that I could never... And I was so mad, so angry at him, so I... I..."

The last words are muffled by the fabric Vader clings to. Hides into. There's blood on Obi-Wan's pants now.

"What have you done, Vader?" Obi-Wan asks, softer than he intended. "Vader," he asks again when no reply comes, without success. The hand not holding his lightsaber moves, hesitates for a moment, then settles lightly on Vader's hair, mindful not to touch any open wounds. His fingers nudge him to tip his head back, gently, carefully, and settle on his cheek to hold his face up, looking at him. "Anakin." His name, his true name, makes him blink a few times. "Anakin, what have you done?"

"I killed him," he finally admits, barely audible. He looks exhausted, more like a child in need of rest than ever.

"Who did you kill?"

"My master."

"Dooku? You killed Dooku?"

"No," Vader— Anakin frowns, like Obi-Wan should know better. "Sidious."

It's a bit much to process in one day. Another Sith Lord, Vader's master, concealed and kept a secret, now dead, killed by his apprentice —and does that make Vader the ruling Sith Lord now? Do Sith have rulers?— the lightness in the Force the same day, a half-dead Vader begging for help in the middle of the night in the Jedi Temple, and all of that while Obi-Wan is still wearing his ugly slippers.

He's so glad he sent Ahsoka away for the night.

Anakin doesn't let him time to feel the migraine coming.

"I can't do it, I can't be my master, I can't— and Dooku hates me, he will never help me, even if I let him have it all, he will never..." Vader seems to run out of steam, and lets his eyes close as his head falls once again against Obi-Wan's thigh. Closer. "You said you could help me. You said I could come to you at any time. You said you would always be there if I didn't want to... do this, anymore."

"I did," Obi-Wan assures him, his hand lightly petting his hair again.

Anakin lets out a long breath. His fingers tighten on the fabric of Obi-Wan's pants, loosen, and tighten again.

"You're the only one I trust," the Sith quietly tells the Jedi, and it's the saddest thing Obi-Wan has ever heard.

[tteokdoroki]

awake with you | s.todoroki

♡ pairing: shoto todoroki x fem!reader.

♡ word count: 1.7K

♡ rating: everyone.

♡ genre: ua student!au, angst, comfort, fluff.

♡ summary: during the night, bad things happen but your boyfriend is always there to keep them away. by your side always, shoto todorki makes it his mission to fight your demons and make sure you know that you’re loved.

♡ warning(s): please read ! character death, mentions of car accidents, nightmares, guilt, lack of sleep, but a lot of fluff and the best boyfriend in the whole world :(

♡ author’s note(s): guys! it’s shoto’s birthday, so here i am postiing this shoto request from anon a while back, i hope you all enoy and have celebrating the beautiful boy’s bday <3

♡ masterlist | requests

it was hard for you to sleep.

harder, when shoto wasn’t around.

sometimes it was your thoughts that kept you up; late at night— dark thoughts that swirled around in your head and slowly poisoned your brain with heavy black venom. it was hard to sleep when your mind was heavy with fear, but ever since dating shoto todoroki; those nights became easier and sleep wasn’t so hard to come by.

you weren’t so sure what it was about your boyfriend that made it easier for you to get some shut eye; it’s not like he really knew either. todoroki just didn’t like seeing you in pain, the way your face twisted with discomfort or the way sleepy tears would wet your cheeks under the moonlight— but you had somewhat of an idea, that his fresh peppermint smell and warm arms are what often helped you.

shoto would so lovingly sneak into your room, no matter the time, dusk or dawn— he would hold you tight under the sheets until you drifted off to dream land. even if it meant being teased by the others for stumbling out of your room in the morning, his pretty hair a wild mess creating the image that’d you’d both been up to no good, he’d face it all for you, over and over again.

but tonight, your loving, caring and doting boyfriend was nowhere to be seen— everyone’s second internships had begun and todoroki had chosen to work with his father along with izuku and katsuki, so it was no doubt that they wouldn’t be home until late. what with endeavour being the number one and all.

your friends knew about your struggles to sleep, of course, todoroki bluntly mentioning how you ‘like to sleep together’ to soothe your nightmares ( iida had lectured you about it after, saying it was inappropriate while deku and ochako turned as red as your boyfriend’s hair ) so offered to stay up with you— but you needed rest, today’s training sessions  having taken a toll on your body, and wave them off with a smile laced with tiredness.

you could call him, he wouldn’t mind and you know it— but he’s with his father and that takes enough out of him as it is.

you decide, instead, to trudge to the dual quirked boy’s bedroom, instantly calmed by his sweet peppermint scent embedded into every inch of his dorm. you swipe one of his clean sweaters straight from the closet before hitting the lights and snuggling into his bed.

tonight would be fine, todoroki would come home, wrap you in his arms and with the aid of his scent surrounding you— you would sleep safe and soundly.

is what you hoped as you drifted off to the land of dreams.

when you were younger, you watched your older brother, haru, get hit by a car.

the scene haunts you to this very day, crawling up on you while you rest at night— choking you out in your dreams. you see it now, feet glued to the ground as you’re forced to watch the younger version of you, mess with your older brother using your new found quirk. your parents had called it scenery, back then your powerful quirk had been their pride and joy, giving you the ability to create a mirage in a certain targets mind— make them see things that weren’t really there.

back then it was fun to play tricks on your sibling— you made haru see all of his worst nightmares, everything but the road.

everything but the oncoming car.

everything but his untimely death.

you want to scream at little you— tell her to stop and that it’s not funny anymore as she forces your brother back into the road— he’s giggling, he doesn’t know it yet and neither do you. but the words you want to say die down deep in your throat, suffocating you from the inside although they burn at your lungs to burst through.

why cant you speak? why cant you stop her?

adrenaline trickles into your blood stream as you will yourself to run out into the street and protect haru from the oncoming traffic just as he slips off of the sidewalk. your senses are blown out of the water, static noise filling your ears and intertwining with childish screams and the sound of a not so distant honking horn.

you claw harshly at your throat. speak. save him. for god’s sake; do something.

“you’ll kill him! stop! you’re going to kill him!”

the flickering of artificial, yellow light behind your closed eyes has you jolting awake, sweat forming at your brow and hands clenched tightly around your boyfriend’s plain bedsheets. your gaze darts across the room while your heart thumps loudly in your ribcage from the fear that struck you in your dream and finally, your stare settles on a shirtless, bewildered shoto todoroki. his face is a little scratched up no doubt from being on his father’s patrol and he looks exhausted but that doesn’t stop the concern he has for you taking over his expression. “yn—?”

“s-sho,” you hate how your voice caves so easily, the single syllable of your nickname for him falling wetly from chapped lips. todoroki is by your side in an instant, not caring that he’s only half dressed and half awake. he’ll deal with that later.

with tender hands shoto cups the back of your head, letting you sink into the warmth of his flesh. you reach out for your boyfriend and he’s there, taking your free hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze to help ground you. “love, what happened? why didn’t you call? you know i don’t mind—” his timbre voice fills your ears like warm honey, calming your rapid breathing but all you can do is shake your head.

“nightmare ‘n you were working,” you pant, cutting him off while the death grip on your lover’s hand begins increasing. you feel so far from the ground, the scene of haru’s death dancing across your mind. “i killed him, again—“

shoto watches your body twitch with fear and your usually glimmering eyes gloss over in away that makes him feel sick. you’re not here with him yet, still tangled up in the black string of your bad dreams. the world around the dual eyed boy begins to change and it seems you’ve activated your quirk by accident— showing him scenes of the day your brother died.

you screw your eyes shut as flashes of his body tangle with reality to the point where you don’t know what’s real and what’s not. you’re losing control of yourself so easily, fresh sets of tears stinging their way down your streaked cheeks. trapped. you feel trapped like a bird in a cage even while you’re awake and the sounds of cars and screaming burn at your ears once more.

make it stop, please.

“yn... come back to me love, i’m right here,” todoroki’s calm voice cuts through the suffocating song of death, dragging you back to reality while the effects of your quirk drift away. his fingers, although contrasting temperatures, now cup your cheeks to tilt your face towards him so that your eyes lock with his under the crescent moon. “you didn’t kill him. that wasn’t you. it wasn’t your fault.”

you blink away more tears like a helpless child, chest heaving but todoroki doesn’t give up. “but—“

“no.” your boyfriend says softly, yet sternly, leaning down to place an eskimo kiss to your nose. your eyes flutter shut at his simple gesture, although it raises saftey and warmth across your body— black radiates behind your closed eyelids, no longer plagued broken bones and blood. it’s easy to keep breathing from there, focusing on that as todoroki pulls you into his lap and the sheets fall away from your body.

“no,” you repeat back to him while shoto’s arms settle on your waist and his familiar scent of fresh peppermint fills your senses. “not my fault.”

it wasn’t your fault, that day the car had come speeding down a usually safe road in a residential area. the accident was a hit and run, but being a child made you feel every ounce of the blame. shaking the thought away you curl into your lover’s chest, listening for sounds of his heartbeat while he toys with a lose string on his sweater— the one you wear.

“that’s right, good girl...not your fault, here with me yet, love?”

when you glance up, todoroki is looking right back down at you— brows creased with worry but there’s love in his stare, overwhelming amounts that make you hum into his bare chest, grounded by the feeling of his skin against yours. “present and accounted for,” his chest rumbles with relieved laughter, soothing you even more. “thank you, sho. i’m sorry for making you do this so late at night.”

this time, shoto shakes his head— sending locks of red and white flying. “don’t thank me and don’t apologise,” his words are feather light in the dark while he manoeuvres you both onto his back to settle into bed. you’re about to mention that he’s still half in his suit, but your boyfriend doesn’t seem to care, already closing his eyes. “i’m yours, your boyfriend and i’m going to support you no matter what. i’ve got you, okay? you’re always here for me so i’ll do my best to do the same for you. what kind of man would i be if i wasn’t?”

“a very unmanly man,” you tease with a kitten like yawn, already feeling the confines of a more comfortable sleep, taking over.

todoroki rolls his eyes but pulls you closer to him anyways. “you’ve been spending too much time with kirishima.”

“at least i don’t spend everyday working with bakugou, now that’s true nightmare.” you counter, narrowly missing a pinch to the side from your boyfriend.

the pair of you sleep soundly that night, wrapped in each other’s arms. you feel safe, knowing that nothing could ever harm you, as long as you were with him. shoto todoroki would give anything for to you to have a goodnight’s rest. no matter what. even if it meant staying awake with you and being late to patrol with endeavour the next day.

not like he cared, he hated his dad anyway.

[mcheang]

Wrong Attention

I am still not finished with my hiatus. But I got such an inspiration for this idea…. This is a draft in which no akumas will be mentioned.

Gilderoy Lockhart’s hunger for fame can never be satisfied. So he manages to sell his books to muggles, pretending it is all fiction.

It is a hit, and Gilderoy even manages to sign a movie deal for Voyages with Vampires, starring Gilderoy Lockhart.

The setting will be in Paris, which was renown for akuma attacks, but he isn’t worried.

An excerpt from a Daily Prophet interview: “Evil butterflies are hardly more troublesome than doxies. The key is to not let them touch you. Yes, it is lucky for the Paris animal heroes that I shall be coming to lend my assistance and guidance!”

In Paris, many were excited to hear Adrien would be playing young Gilderoy Lockhart. The boy himself was a fan of the author….right until he met the man himself.

Gilderoy was so full of himself, barely the modest and self-sacrificing hero he wrote himself to be. And the man seemed to be determined to find out who was the better looking fellow.

Needless to say, Adrien had a stronger following in Paris and won the improvised beauty contest.

Anyway, Lockhart keeps barging in shoots uninvited to pose next to Adrien. This was how he met Lila who loved to boast about her connections and heroic deeds.

Knowing a popular figure when he saw one, Gilderoy became the perfect audience for Lila. He was insistent on every detail that Lila could give him.

Of course when Lila tried to gather the attention of anyone else, Lockhart would interrupt with his own tales and refuse to let her speak.

The distraction was welcome to Adrien who could get back to work.

One stormy night, under the invisibility cloak he robbed from one of his heroic victims, Lockhart visited Lila’s home as well as all her classmates and connections. Ah, the benefits of apparition.

With every memory of Lila’s good deeds erased, Lockhart modified the memory so they would think he did all the admirable work.

All was going well until he visited the Agreste Mansion. As a cat kwami, Plagg was more likely to be awake at night. Especially if he could sneak out more cheese under Adrien’s sleeping nose.

Quite bad luck for Lockhart.

As soon as Plagg heard an intruder blundering over his discarded cheese cartons, the wizard felt a cold, smelly breath come upon him. He immediately began sneezing, bent almost double. And oh no, his wand came flying out of his hand, rolling under the couch.

Lockhart lay down, disagreeing with the carpet’s state of cleanliness, to try to retrieve it.

Plagg bit him instead.

It is one thing to have the manifestation of destruction and bad luck breathe on you, it is another to have him bite you.

Gilderoy felt like he was dying and not willing to fight a mouse for his wand, he used the last of his willpower to Apparate at St. Mungo’s.

What a shame that Gilderoy’s attempts to fight off the akumas landed him in this state. The healers are working overtime to see him through but warn that his magic has suffered gravely.

In the meantime, since Gilderoy won’t be able to act, Kenneth Branagh will take his place.

At school, Adrien and Marinette are baffled as to why everyone thinks Gilderoy is responsible for all the good deeds Lila made up. The girl herself seems remarkably dull to everyone else now and Lila herself is wondering why she hasn’t tried to gain attention. She figures she did not want to deal with an akuma fallout if her classmates somehow learned the truth.

Unfortunately because of her lack of tales, that means she has quite a lot of homework to catch up. And what happened to her weekly allowance (spent on an extravagant dinner after relying on her classmates’ chairity). Lila’s attempts to extend the homework deadline are not accepted because it is too last minute and Ms Bustier knows she had plenty of free time to work on it.

Meanwhile, for the celebrities Gilderoy visited, considering they had nothing to do with Lila, when Gilderoy modified their non-existent memories of the girl to take her place, he actually just erased whatever memories they had of him!

[missdawnandherdusk]

Beautiful Ghosts

Ghost!Reader X Draco

Summary: Request: @sydthekid1518​: I had an Idea for a draco fic, where y/n is a ghost that’s fairly popular with the students and staff, and draco falls for her and stuff? And then maybe y/n and Harry create a plan that would allow reader to come back to life and stuff and be with draco.

A/N: Happy spooky season to all and to all a good night filled with Draco Malfoy. I’m so excited about how this turned out and that I got it done before Halloween because the odds weren’t looking to hot not gonna lie, but here it is and it’s beautiful. As always, let me know what y’all think,,,

“Y/n, please don’t disturb my students,” Snape droned with a monotone voice.

“You’ve got no power over me, Severus,” I laughed, ghosting away from his Slytherins working on Polyjuice potion.

“But I do have control in this classroom, dead or not Miss Y/n, this is my domain,” Snape argued, ruffled.

“I’m eternally bonded to this school. It’s my domain more than it is yours,” I countered, perched on his desk.

“Blasted ghosts,” A boy muttered, catching my attention, “No respect for authority,”

Tilting my head, I made my way over to him, studying the young Slytherin. He was about the age that I was when I had died, moved on, crossed the veil—whatever. His steady grey eyes and twisted sneer told me all that I needed to know about him.

“Another Malfoy,” I mused. “Interesting... And where’s your respect for the dead Mr. Malfoy?”

His eyes went wide at the idea that I was addressing him at all. Like I spooked him. Imagine that, a ghost spooking someone.

“Enough Ms. Y/n. Kindly refrain from scaring my students if you must stay,” Snape intervened. “I’m not scared,” Malfoy shot back.

“Boo!” I teased before passing through the walls of the dungeon and into my favorite spot in the entire castle, even living: the library.

I never had so much time on my hands before being dead, and now I could just take a book and read. Pince had been able to enchant them in such a way that I was able to hold them and turn their pages still. I was in the middle of a riveting tale about a boy who never grew up and had his destiny forced upon him and could fly. Perched on one of the tops of the shelves, I was lost in another world of magic.

“I didn’t know you could read,” I heard the same condescending voice from Severus’ potions class earlier that day.

“Little Malfoy,” I smiled down at him, closing my book. “And why would you assume that? I don’t look that stupid, do I?”

“Well, no,” He fumbled. “But you’re a ghost, you’re dead,”

“Yes, and I like to read, anything else?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Don’t call me little Malfoy. My name’s Draco,” He huffed.

“But it annoys you,” I mocked a pout. “And you are a little Malfoy, a bit taller than your father, but young all the same,”

“Who are you calling young? We’re the same age,” His voice raised enough that Pince had to shush him.

“I was born in 1776, I think you’re a little young,”

“1776!?” Draco’s eyes bulged. “But... how? You’re...” Pince hushed him again. I floated down and perched on the desk, trying and failing to contain my laughter.

“Oh, so now you care little Malfoy?” I teased lightly. “What happened to your dismissal of spirits not hours ago?” He didn’t have an answer for that. He just stared and didn’t dare to meet my eyes. “If you really want to know, I’ll tell you some time, but you’re going to be late for McGonagall if you don’t get going,”

Flustered, Draco headed out of the library and I watched him go. Knowing that Remus had a class this hour with the infamous Harry Potter, I headed over and perched on a desk in the back.

“Miss Y/n,” Remus acknowledged, “Perhaps you’d like to aid us today as we learn about ghosts and spirits?” Even though he had grown quite a bit over the years, there was still the same shine in his eyes when he was able to teach—even if it wasn’t a rag-tag group of marauders.

“So... you’re a ghost?” A young Hermione asked, a girl who spent a lot of hours in my library.

“Yes,” I smiled at her. “There are different types of ghosts however,”

“Oh, yes, Poltergeists, Funnels, Whisps, Orbs, and Shades,” She said matter-of-factly.

“Exactly, and Hogwarts has them all,” I looked to Remus who nodded for me to continue. “Most of you know that Peeves is a Poltergeist, a trickster loud ghost. Sometimes they were loud and violent, sometimes... well sometimes you have something like Peeves.” The class laughed.

“I’m sure you all have heard of the Grey Lady?” Remus interjected. “Helena Ravenclaw was murdered by the Bloody Baron and spends the rest of her days here at Hogwarts, they are both what we classify as Funnel ghosts. Ghosts who visit loved ones or loved places,”

“What about Whisps?” An intrigued Weasley asked.

“Well, most others are Whisps,” I explained. “Nearly Headless Nick, the Fat Friar, and most others you see strolling about. There is no strict reason that they’re here, other than they chose not to move on, or felt their work on earth was not completed.”

“Orbs are normally the spirits of animals or humans travelling about,” I continued, “They mainly show up in photographs. It wasn’t till after I died that cameras were invented, and they were found,”

“Any what kind of ghost are you?” A shy kid in the back asked. The class of kids turned to me, all expectant.

“I’m a Shade,” I explained. “It means that when I died, I wasn’t meant to. My soul knowing that, remained, and here I am,”

“Shades are very rare in the Wizarding World,” Remus cut in, “Not many are killed before their time, and many of them are very young,”

“Aren’t Shades allowed to come back though?” Hermione asked. “Because they were wrongfully killed? Doesn’t fate allow them another chance?”

Remus and I shared a look. I remembered when he had asked me that same question when he was no more than a third year as well. There was a solemn sorrow in his eyes.

“Yes,” I answered hesitantly. “There is a possibility, but the odds are almost impossible. Most of them have to do around prophecies.”

Class had ended, and Hermione waved as she went to leave. I lingered behind a bit with Remus for old times’ sake. He was one who had always been kind to me. I was one who never judged him for being a werewolf before he found his marauders.

“Sirius escaped from Azkaban,” He whispered softly, his gaze fixed on the papers on his desk. “I... I thought I was over it. Over him. He had my best friends killed,”

Pity flooded my chest as I hovered over to him, my hand ghosting above his.

“That wasn’t your fault Remus...” Was I going to give away the truth that I knew? Or would I keep it a secret? “And it wasn’t Sirius’ either,”

“How can you say that!” Remus slammed his hand on the desk. “He gave away Lily and James’ location! Then he killed Peter!”

“Remus,” I shook my head. “I can’t tell you everything, because it’s not in the stars, but... your friend isn’t who you think he is,”

A quiet moment passed between us and rather than get upset at me like I had thought he would, he spoke softly and surely.

“You’re... you’re saying there’s hope?”

“There’s always hope,” I offered a soft smile. “For all of us... even me,”

“How are you doing with that? The prophecy?” He asked.

I sighed and shook my head. “I might really be stuck like this for the rest of... forever...” 

“Is there anything...?”

“No,” I denied softly. “Interfering with a prophecy can ruin it,”

“Can,” Remus stressed. “Not that it will,”

“But is it worth that risk?” I countered. “I could lose my one shot to come back. To be human again,”

“If I could be human again, I’d take any chance I could,” Remus’ eyes held a sadness that very few could sympathize with. One of those was me.

“Perhaps you’re right,” I murmured and let him be, drifting around the halls for a bit then back to the library to think some more and maybe find the right answer.

What I didn’t expect to find however was Draco, fast asleep where we had spoken earlier, draped over a few books and handwritten notes. I hadn’t noticed the late hour, sometimes time did elude me, and the days seemed to run together.

I didn’t want to wake the young Malfoy, instead, I peered at the books underneath him. Potions books, it seemed. Supposing that a Slytherin might have a partiality to Snape’s class, there was no need to question why he’d rather work on this subject than the others. Knowing Pince would chase Draco out of the library if he didn’t wake, my notion to not disturb him fell to the wayside.

“Malfoy!” I whispered loudly. “Draco, wake up!”

It was useless to try and shake him awake, I wasn’t able to. I could however pull the book out from under his resting head. So, I did.

“Bloody hell,” Draco grumbled, rubbing his eyes. “What’d you do that for?” 

“You fell asleep?”

“And that was the only way you know how to wake a person?” He snapped, blinking into consciousness.

I gave him a flat look and reached out to touch him. He shied away, but it was in vain because my hand passed right through his material body.

“Oh,” He muttered. “But you can touch the books?”

“Pince and I worked on that together,” I informed him. “Did you think I would spend eternity and not figure out how to read?”

“I... uh,” He stammered, blushing a bit. “How come I’ve never met a ghost like you before?” 

“And that means?” I pressed, perching on the desk.

“Well, all of the other ghosts are... I don’t know... stuck in their ways? Not sad about being ghosts? Haven’t kept up on things like reading?”

“You think I’m sad about being a ghost?” I mused.

“I... you—I mean,” He stammered, looking down in embarrassment. “You just seem... optimistically hopeless,” It was almost mumbled through his exhaustion.

“You know those words have opposite meaning, right?” I teased softly. “And... I’m a Shade. I doubt you’ve met another before like me,”

“A Shade?”

“Do you not pay attention in Remus’ class?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“I don’t have his class until tomorrow,” Draco dismayed. “And it’s a stupid class anyway,”

“Defense against the dark arts isn’t stupid,” I refuted. “Especially with Remus teaching it,”

“You knew him then... when he went here. Professor Lupin,” Draco noted.

“Yes,” Lost in thought, a quietness passed before I spoke again. “When you learn what a Shade is, you’ll understand,”

“You could just tell me,” Draco whined, listlessly tired.

“But then you won’t pay attention in class,” I smiled. “Go on to bed, Draco. I’m not going anywhere,”

____________________________

Draco sulked in bed that night, thinking about you. Thinking about what a Shade was. Of course, he didn’t wait for class in the morning, instead he took out his DADA book and began to read up on ghosts. And he read. And read. And read. And barely found anything about what a Shade was. All that he knew was that you died when before your time. Maybe that was why he saw the sadness in your eyes.

He had every intention to be at Lupin’s class that day, but having Mythical Creatures beforehand, things hadn’t gone as planned.

“There’s always one,” Your voice sounded amused. “Why am I not surprised it was you, Little Malfoy?”

“It was the bloody hippogriff,” Draco snapped back.

“And somehow I don’t think that’s the entire truth,” You mused, hovering at his bedside. Until Pomfrey gave him the clear to leave, he was stuck with you.

“Won’t you just leave me alone?” He groaned, closing his eyes and laying back on the lumpy pillows of the hospital cot.

“Did you not want to learn about Shades? You’re going to miss Remus’ class after all,” The smile he heard in your voice made him look over to you, skeptical.

Your offer was tempting. Very tempting. He didn’t care much about magic other than excelling at it, therefore things that didn’t pertain to his advancement—mythical creatures and the like— held no inkling to him. And yet, you were a mystery he didn’t mind learning about. He wanted to know more about you. And you specifically.

“I guess, since I’m stuck here,” He tried to play it off as nonchalance, but you raised an eyebrow at him, seeing right through his charade.

“Well, Little Malfoy,” You hovered and perched on the end of his bed. “What do you know?”

“I... uh. Shades are people who have died before their time,” He stammered, not sure why he was so nervous.

“Quite,” You nodded. “Anything else?”

“Our book didn’t have anything else,” He admitted.

You went pensive a moment then nodded. “I suppose that you’d learn more about me in Divination than the Dark Arts,”

“Divination? You’ve got to be bloody joking! That class is a circus!” Draco exclaimed, wincing when he moved his arm too much.

“Perhaps,” You didn’t berate him, but seemed to be lost in thought once more. “But all Shades are tied to prophecies.”

“All of them?” Draco pressed.

“The fates understand that these souls left before their time, and give them another chance, a prophecy... to come back and live one more time.”

“So, you have the chance to live again?” His genuine curiosity seemed to shock both of you. “How?”

“If the prophecy is fulfilled, then I get to live again,” You said it as if it were obvious. 

“So, why haven’t you, I don’t know... fulfilled it?” Draco asked.

You laughed something sad and soft. “Don’t you think I’ve tried? I’ve read every prophecy, every book, every scribble. I’ve tried everything... after so many centuries, you give up hope and accept your fate,”

“But this wasn’t your fate,” He argued back. “You were meant to live, back then, whatever that life was,”

“Do you know what happened when I was young, before I died, Little Malfoy?” You spoke, and he could hear the age in your voice though you liked no older than he was. It was your sorrow that aged you. He waited for you to continue. “I was born in 1776, the year the Americans went to war with the King of England. At the time we were living in the French countryside with my aunt because my father had gone to fight in the war. He was a general,” A smile ghosted your lips. “My father died in the war... the battle of Yorktown... that’s what it’s called today. Back then it was just a letter and inheritance money that went to my brother,”

“Hang on, you’re saying that your father fought in the American War of Independence? Under the king?”

“So, he can be taught,” You smiled at him. “Yes, the king at the time was a wizard and until parliament and the ministry were born and declared that muggles and wizards should rule themselves. Of course, the ministry was formed in the beginning of that century, but it took the war for them to call the final straw.”

“So, your father died in the war, that doesn’t explain what happened to you,” Draco pointed out, deeply invested.

“Well, tell me, what happened in France after that war ended?”

“The French Revolution,”

Your warm smile had the same effect as the sun. “Yes, and as I said, I was in France at the time, being tutored at home for the summer. Muggle girls weren’t allowed to go to school back then... I travelled to Hogwarts to receive schooling and even then, I was only allowed to learn Herbology and Potions. At least those two classes stayed the same,” You sounded sad and wistful. “But the revolutionists were going for the rich, any sort of rich. And at the time, they saw knowledge as wealth and power, and I had a reputation for being able to read and attending a private school out of the country and well...”

“They killed you because you knew how to read?” Draco distressed, sitting up, enraptured by your tale. “That’s so... stupid,”

“It was. But perhaps it was my own fault, I wouldn’t deny that I could read. I was proud.” Your smile faded again as melancholy settled on your face. “Now it seems that’s all I do. Fate is funny like that...”

“You’re free to go Mr. Malfoy,” Madam Pomfrey’s voice seemed to draw you both from whatever world had been created with your words.

He had to blink a few times to come to grips with the fact that he was currently in the hospital wing at Hogwarts, and not centuries behind, trying to imagine death for the reason of knowledge. There was an awkward moment between the two of you as you both seemed to realize that you were no longer int eh late eighteenth century. You offered a smile and left without another word, a curious look on your face as you left.

That was the last time he saw you that day, and that week for that matter, but he always wondered what you were doing. What were you reading today? What was your prophecy? Was it really as hopeless as you said it was? Was there a reason that he found himself caring?

______________________

“Oh, hello Harry,” I stood from the corner of Remus’ office, intrigued that the young Potter had come. He looked so much like his father that my heart ached for Remus and to imagine what he felt when he saw Harry.

“Y/n,” Harry seemed surprised. “I... uh... you know Professor Lupin?”

“Well I was here when he went to Hogwarts himself, so yes, I’m quite fond of him if you can believe it,” I smiled as Remus eyed the situation.

“Is there something that you needed Harry?” Remus asked, trying to sound professional, but I could hear the sentiment in his voice.

“The map...” Harry turned slightly pink.

A smile grew on my face. “You have the Marauder’s Map?” I almost laughed. “How in the world did you get that? Oh, if your father knew,” I did laugh this time.

Remus shot me a sharp look and Harry looked at me in wonder.

“My father? You knew my father?” The realization seemed to dawn him.

“Yes, well,” Remus interjected sharply. “Don’t get caught again Potter,”

“Why haven’t you told him?” I demanded as soon as Harry left. “Remus, come on, that’s not fair to Harry,”

“I’m not the one to tell him though! I can’t be!” He protested and I could hear the anxiety in his voice.

“Remus, I’ve known you a long time. And I’ve known James and Lily. They would want you to talk to him. They would want you apart of his life,” I argued, or perhaps encouraged softly.

“Maybe you’re right,” Remus mumbled.

“Of course, I am,” I smiled. “It’ll work out Re, with Sirius, and with Harry,” 

“I hope you’re right,”

I left him to his thoughts and on my way to the library, I was ambushed by the younger Potter. Not that I wasn’t expecting it, I knew that Harry would have questions for me as soon as he knew I knew his father.

“Hello Harry,” I smiled.

“You know about my dad,” He burst out, hope in his eyes and tone.

“And your mother,” I smiled and perched on the windowsill nearby.

“Can you tell me about them? Please?” His eyes went glossy with tears that he blinked away.

“Your mother was bold, but still kind and gentle. She looked out for the little guy. She rooted for the underdog and protected the younger years of any House. She was always kind to me. Her and Remus both.” The memory was fond, if it was a memory. Did ghosts have memories after they were dead?

“And my dad?” He clung to every word.

“He... was a bit like you. Always finding trouble whether it was his fault or not. Totally deserved to be smacked a few times... but the war changed him. He grew up rather quickly. Into a protective caring young man. Almost everyone had eyes for him, but he only saw your mother,”

“Do... you think they would be proud of me?” His gaze dropped to his beat-up sneakers. 

“Harry,” I called his attention. “You’re their son, they’ll always be proud of you,” 

“But—”

“No buts,” I interjected. “That’s all it takes for you to make them proud, I promise,”

He nodded and mumbled a thanks before taking off toward the Gryffindor dorm. Finding solace in the library, I began to read again. Maybe a week had passed. Perhaps two. I wasn’t sure. I was so wrapped up in my books that I became lost to time. Until a blond-haired boy came in, his nose stuck in a book.

“I was wondering when I’d see you again Little Malfoy,” I smiled, from my perch in the library. He didn’t acknowledge me, causing me to frown. “Draco?” I ghosted down and perched on the table next to him. “Are you ghosting a ghost?”

Though he ignored me I could see the smile that twitched at his lips. That gave me little hope. “Is everything alright?” I asked, genuine concern coloring my voice.

“Ask Potter,” Draco snapped. “You seem to fancy him lately,”

“Excuse me?” I was taken aback. “Harry? He just wanted to know about his parents, that’s all,” 

Draco frowned at this and he finally looked at me. “His parents?”

“Yes,” I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like he has a lot of people who know his parents and are willing to tell him anything. Dumbledore has made almost everyone vow not to talk to him, but what good is a vow to someone who’s already in the grave?” I shrugged. “Poor kid knows nothing,”

“I...” Draco didn’t seem to have the words. Instead he looked back down at his book. I smiled and rolled my eyes at his antics.

“If you care that much, you are still my favorite Little Malfoy,” His cheeks tinged pink and I laughed. “You’re something else Malfoy, you know that?”

“Says the girl who died for admitting that she could read instead of lying,” He raised an eyebrow at me. I chuckled and shrugged.

“Says the boy who avoided me for what, two weeks, because I talked to a boy about his dead parents,” I mused.

“It wasn’t two weeks,” Draco grumbled. “Nine days,” 

“Oh, forgive me,” I laughed. “Nine days.”

He smiled and looked back down at his notes. I think it was the first time I had ever seen him smile and not sneer.

“So, nine days,” He prompted. “I assume you haven’t left the library... read anything interesting?”

I laughed and somehow the hours passed as Draco and I spoke about books and stories we had read as kids, and the ones we were currently invested in. It shocked me to know that he was an avid reader, of fantasy novels, nonetheless. Though I had read just about everyone that he had mentioned, there were a few that I added to my mental list of his that I said I would check out. He seemed sincerely happy at my interest of the books he read.

“Father thought they were childish,” He muttered when I asked him about it. “Fairytales and fantasies,”

“That’s stupid,” I scoffed, and Draco gaped at me, aghast that I would dare to call something his father said ‘stupid.’ It made me pause. “You... you know you don’t have to always agree with your parents,”

His gaze cast downward. “I don’t want to disappoint them,”

My face furrowed. “You’re they’re son, that’s enough for them to be proud,”

“You don’t know my parents,” He scoffed, leaning back in his chair. “I think the last time they were proud of me, is when I was sorted into Slytherin.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” I protested.

“You don’t know my parents,” Draco argued again.

“I do,” I retorted. “Or I did,”

The notion seemed to dawn on Draco as he stared up at me with wonder in his eyes. 

“You did,” He realized. “Can you tell me about them... have they always been so...” 

“Strict?” I offered.

“Suffocating,” Draco supplied.

I pressed my lips together and thought a moment.

“Your father, perhaps. I never spoke to him much, and he never paid me mind. But you mother,” I smiled at the memories that came flooding back. “She was bold, cunning. She loved her sisters with a fierce passion.” My smile. “The three of them were some of the brightest witches I’d ever seen,” I glanced over to him. “You have her eyes, her same spirit,”

A smile drew on his lips as his face turned a soft shade of pink. “Do you know that because you’re a ghost?” He mused.

“No, I’m just a girl who can read character pretty well. After seeing so many faces pass through here, and reading so many stories, there are those who stand out and stay with you. Your mother... she stood out to me. And I can see her in your eyes,” My demeanor softened as I realized the words I was saying and if I could have, I would have blushed.

“Thank you,” He whispered as the clock chimed a late hour.

“You should head back,” I sighed softly. “Get some rest,”

“Why don’t I ever see you near the Slytherin dorm?” Draco asked, gathering his things. 

“I’d rather not cross paths with the Baron,” I admitted.

“The Baron? Why?” Draco frowned; his bag slung over his shoulder.

“Never you mind,” I smiled. “Get to bed Little Malfoy,”

“Don’t call me that,” He grumbled, trudging out of the library.

The night progressed as did the month and I went from one book to another, soon searching for a book I hadn’t in a long time. My diary from when I was alive. Published as its own book that I had found a few decades ago. Tucked into the pages was what held my fate. My prophecy.

I went to the shelf in which I knew my book had its home, but it wasn’t there. Instead a sliver of time carved away by my missing book. Drifting over to Pince I asked her about where my book had gone. She told me that Malfoy had checked it out and had it for about a week—since the day we spent in the infirmary together.

For the first time in a long time I felt... embarrassed that my story and thoughts were on display for anyone to read. I never cared before, but this felt different.

Cursing the late hour, I knew that there was no way to get to Draco now. The Bloody Baron was protective about other ghosts coming into the Slytherin dorms. I’d have to find him in the morning then. I considered loitering outside the Slytherin portrait, but I also did not want to go anywhere near the Bloody Baron. I had heard and read enough.

So instead I headed to the Astronomy Tower to watch the stars again, having silent conversations with them, wondering if they’d ever grant me life again.

“You’re glowing,”

The voice startled me enough that I actually jumped. The irony of scaring a ghost. I turned to see Draco behind me, his eyes glued to my shimmering skin.

“Yes, all ghosts do it under the moon and stars,” I noted. “By the way, can I have my book back?” I stood, going over to him.

“Your book?” He questioned.

“My book,” I restressed. “My diary? That you have from the library? The one that has my—” I stopped myself.

“Your prophecy.” Draco finished, offering me the book that he had drawn from his robes. “Yeah, I know.”

I stared at him curiously, pulling the book back into the security of my arms, where it belonged. That uncertain feeling returned to my chest.

“You know it’s rude to read a girl’s diary,” I retorted, defensive.

“It’s a published book in the library, anyone can read it,” Draco rolled his eyes. I gave him a flat look and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “So, have you figured out what it means?”

I sighed softly and shook my head in defeat. “The only thing I’m sure of is the great star is Sirius,”

“Sirius, like Sirius Black? Escaped Azkaban criminal?” Draco exasperated.

“Well, the star is his name sake. But I’m sure you of all people know that Draco,” I raised an eyebrow at him. “Your family has a knack for celestial namesakes. If I remember correctly, Sirius is your mother’s cousin,”

“What?” Draco demanded. “No! There is no way!”

“Draco,” I reached out for him in vain as he paced in anger and confusion. “Draco will you calm down?” I nearly shouted.

“Calm down!? How can I when I know that I’m related to that criminal!?” He demanded.

“Sirius isn’t a criminal!” I argued back. “He didn’t kill Peter or those people!” I gasped, covering my mouth in shame, my eyes wide. That was a secret that I wasn’t supposed to tell.

“What do you mean he didn’t kill those people?” Draco sneered, stalking up to me.

“I—I’m not supposed to...” I took a step back, ghostly tears welling in my eyes. “I wasn’t supposed to... Merlin,” I cried, sliding to the ground.

Draco’s demeanor changed from anger to worried and concerned. Not that I noticed through my distress. I felt as if I had just betrayed one of my best friends.

“Y/n, what... what in the world are you talking about?” Draco asked sitting beside me, a failed attempt to reach out and comfort me.

“I promised. I promised I wouldn’t tell what I knew until the time was right,” I sobbed. “Bloody hell, he’ll never trust me again,” I squeaked.

“Who?” Draco demanded.

I looked at him, wide eyed with fear, shaking my head softly. “I... I can’t. I’m sorry Draco,”

I dematerialized and rematerialized in a quiet portion of the castle grounds, away from the rest of the students, among the woods. The trees welcomed me and the further I walked in, the less tied to the castle I felt. I came to a lake and sat beside it. Crying tears that would never fall in my undead state, I stared at the water and my lack of reflection.

“I’m so sorry Sirius,” I wept softly. “I didn’t mean to tell him... I was just defending you,”

“I’m surprised you kept the secret this long,”

Again, I jumped, startled by the voice behind me.

“Hey there Spooks,” Sirius gave a lopsided smile, the years in Azkaban resting in his eyes and in the lines on his face.

“Sirius,” I gasped. “What are you doing? It’s not safe here!” I protested.

“I couldn’t leave my girl to cry, now could I?” He smirked, before his expression sobered.

 “You should,” I sniffed. “I’m so sorry Sirius, it slipped out,”

“I know,” He held his hands up in a calming effort. “I knew it would, and it’s okay. Who did you tell? It wasn’t Moony was it?”

“No,” I looked down. “But you need to tell him Sirius, he deserves to know,”

“He won’t even talk to me. He thinks that I betrayed James and Lily and killed all of his friends,” Sirius toed at the dirt—the same tick he had in his Hogwarts years when he had been caught in a lie or prank.

“But you didn’t,” I protested. “He still loves you Sirius, I can see it in his eyes and when he talks about you and James...”

“He—no,” Sirius shook his head. “That’s not for you to worry about,”

“Do not make me mother you,” I threatened. “Talk to Remus,”

“I will,” Sirius sighed. “When the time is right,”

“As a girl who’s waited for centuries for the right time... talk to him as soon as you can,” There was a pity-filled look on his face that I brushed off.

“Any luck with that? Your prophecy?” He seemed almost hopeful.

“No,” I sighed. “But there is one who took the time to ask this year. Like Remus did his first year,” The memory was a soft spot for both of us.

“You were his first friend,” Sirius smiled at the same memory. “So, who is it this year?” 

“Little Malfoy,”

Sirius snorted. “We both know you don’t have a sense of humor, drop the act,”

“I’m ser—” He gave me a look and I paused to rephrase. “I’m telling the truth. It was Draco who asked, who read my diary, and knows about the prophecy,” I hesitated. “He’s also the one I told,” My gaze dropped to the ground waiting for the backlash.

“Malfoy!?” Sirius demanded. “You told Malfoy!?”

“I’m sorry! I told you I was sorry!” I shouted back, bristling, feeling my body shudder. Sirius seemed to notice and took a few paces away and composed himself.

I dared to speak. “All he knows is that you didn’t kill Peter. That’s all. I’m so sorry Sirius,” I turned, and he was gone. “Fine! Leave!” I shouted. “Like always... like everyone...”

I let out a scream of frustration that was carried away with the wind. Letting out a sigh of defeat I wandered up to the castle again.

“Y/n?” For the third time tonight, I jumped at the call of my name. It was Draco again.

 “Draco, look,” I started. “I...”

“No,” He stopped me softly. “I’m sorry... I...” He shook his head and took off down the hall towards the Slytherin dorms. Chasing after him, he was too far gone, and I was face to face with the Baron.

“Oh, could this night get any worse?” I shouted to no one in particular. “I don’t mean to trespass, apologies.”

“Stay out of my territory and away from my students, you little harlot,” The Baron sneered. 

“Gladly,” I growled back. “Arse,” I muttered as I ghosted back to the upper levels of the castle.

Utterly lost on what to do, I found myself by the Black Lake, staring up at the moon and stars. I stayed there until the sun rose over the dark waters, painting the valleys in a golden light. I remained there, watching the sun and moon dance in the sky in an unchangeable waltz that continued for eternity.

“They said you were out here,”

I didn’t jump this time at the sound of his voice as the moon rose to her duet again.

“Hello, Draco,” I murmured softly. “Come to watch the stars with me?”

“Sure,” I could hear the smile in his voice as he sat beside me on the bank of the lake, the only sound was the music of the night, the lake lapping at the small beach, and his gentle breaths.

“I... I’m really sorry,” He murmured softly. “For that night, I didn’t mean to get so angry. I wasn’t upset with you...” Silence fell softly between us. “My parents never told me... I wrote to my mother...” My eyes widened as I gazed over at him, his pale skin almost having the same affect that mine did in the moon light. “I never knew...”

“I’m sorry,” I offered.

“Merlin don’t apologize to me,” He laughed hopelessly.

“Well I did sort of freak out on you, so... sorry.”

He shrugged and his gaze fixed on the moonlit water. “My father thinks it’s absurd that I’m talking to you... and I think my mother is slightly worried about me for it,”

“Any particular reason?” I mused.

“Father has always been against those different than him in any way... my mother probably worries that I’m not making friends...talking to ghosts...” A smile toyed at his lips at the mention of his mother.

“Are we not friends then?” I teased lightly, causing him to laugh.

“Sure,” He rolled his eyes at me, this time causing me to laugh. “Do you miss them?” He asked after a quiet moment.

“Who?”

“Your parents... your family?” He seemed almost afraid to ask.

I pondered the question. “Yes, sometimes... but I’ve spent a lot of years wasting tears that will never fall over people I can never see again... you move on and learn to live after a while... well as much as a ghost can live,”

“You can’t cry, can you?” He came to the fact easier and saner than most did.

I shook my head. “I can feel bitter sorrow, the worst loss, but I can never shed a tear,” I chuckled humorlessly. “The irony, I have the most to mourn and I can’t even cry,”

“I’m sorry,”

I shrugged. “I’ve lived a long time without being able to cry... just reminds me that I’ll never be quite human again,”

“But you could be,” He had more hope than I ever had about the fact. 

“Yeah,” I scoffed. “That stupid prophecy,”

“I don’t think it’s stupid,”

“You’ve haven’t spent centuries wondering what it meant,” I argued back:

“In the days when evil lurks around every corner; 

The condemned will become innocent; 

And the innocent will become condemned; 

True love can reanimate a deceased heart; 

Under the star of Great Dog; 

She will become alive as time is altered; 

Two souls will be set free that day as the star takes her place.”

“True love,” I scoffed again; my lips pressed together. “Like some sort of stupid fairytale,” 

“I thought you said that fairytales weren’t stupid,” Draco raised an eyebrow at me smirking.

“They’re not,” I rolled my eyes. “Believing that there’s true love out there to save me? That’s stupid,”

“Then maybe there’s no hope for any of us,” Draco sighed. “If someone like you can’t find true love, where’s the hope for the rest of us,”

A smile ghosted me lips at his words as I looked over to him, his eyes still trained on the water.

“You’re really sweet sometimes, you know that Malfoy?” His eyes darted to mine as his cheeks tinged pink.

“Will you come back inside?” He asked softly. “The library isn’t as interesting without you there,”

“Sure,” I smiled warmly at him.

Fall turned to winter turned to spring, and Draco and I spent a lot more time together than I cared to admit. He was almost easier to talk to than anyone else I had met. And that was saying something, because I knew Remus Lupin, who was fascinated with my fascination of the young Malfoy.

But all the same, I found myself crave Draco’s company more and more and cursing the Baron for not letting me see him while he was in his dorm. It was rough when he came down with a cold and I wasn’t able to see him for a week. No number of books could distract me from the fact that he wasn’t there to talk to. That he wasn’t here to talk to me. I had never missed anyone like this before.

But when he felt better, we’d press curfew to mere minutes just to get another word in with each other. Then he’d have to be human and I’d have to remember that I didn’t belong in his world and never could. It didn’t stop me, however, from finding and talking to him the next day. Or the day after that. Or the day after that.

Then there was a day in late spring that caught my attention as Sirius had finally gotten to Harry and his friends, but things had gone from bad to worse as I watched the scene unfold, doing the only thing I could think of, I spirited away to find Remus. He would know what to do, he would know how to help.

After I had explained what I had seen, Remus grabbed his wand and took off towards the Whomping Willow. I followed him, and as soon as I left the castle, I felt the dark presence of the dementors around me.

“No!” I shouted, going up to meet them, and for the first time in a long time gave into my spiritual power, long enough to hold them off and let Remus pass through safely.

I hovered over the Shrieking Shack, keeping the dementors as bay, away from Sirius, away from Remus. They didn’t dare to go near my pure light that was amplified by the full moon. Soon I saw the three of them emerge, Peter in chains, when the light of the full moon hit my little Remus.

With a cry of desperation, I did my best to keep the dementors away as I watched the horrors unfold before me before I couldn’t take it any long and chased after Remus, who was not a wolf into the wood.

“Remus!?” I shouted; my voice lost with the wind. “Remus, it’s me! Please come out!” I caught sight of Hermione and Harry and gestured that they should leave, and quickly. “Remus!?”

I heard a growl and turned, seeing golden scared eyes. 

“Hey,” I cooed softly. “You’re alright, you can’t hurt me,” 

A pained howl left his lips.

“I know,” I replied. “But you’re going to be alright, let get you back, yeah? To Prongs and Pads, they’re waiting for you.” Tears I wanted to cry weren’t shed at the pitiful heartbreaking whine that left his lips.

But he let me lead him back to the Shrieking Shack all the same. I stayed with him until McGonagall and Dumbledore came. There was a soft thank you from the both of them. I drifted back to the castle, pacing in anxiety.

“Y/n?” It was Draco’s voice. I turned.

“Draco, it’s not safe!” I squeaked. “What are you doing out of bed!?”

“I had to see you,” He confessed. “There are rumors, about Black and Lupin... I thought you’d... Are you alright?”

“Draco, really,” I glanced around, cursing that I couldn’t drag him inside to where it was safer. “It’s not safe for you out here,”

“Bloody hell, Y/n, what about you!?”

“I’m already dead! So, unless you’d like to join me!” I shouted, realizing after the fact what I had said. “Draco, I didn’t mean that,”

“You’re keeping things from me,” It was a broken accusation. “About Sirius, about Remus,”

“Draco, please,” I pulled away. “I... I have to go, I have to make sure that he’s alright,” My eyes trailed up to the top of the tower, knowing that I may have been the reason that Sirius was in chains again.

“No!” Draco shouted, drawing my attention.

He had never demanded anything of me before, not like this. It wasn’t the fact that he told me to stop, it was the notion that he had found his own voice in it that caused me to pause. I waited for him to continue.

“I’ve spent all year, all of my three years here, knowing you, and getting to know you and I’m not going to let you walk away again! I want to know! I don’t want this you can’t tell me act. If anyone, you can tell me. Can’t you trust me? Please,” His voice broke, unshed tears in his eyes.

“Draco,” My non-material heart broke a bit as he stood before me, vulnerable. Shaking and terrified I nodded. “Remus... is a werewolf. Sirius is an Animagus. Peter betrayed the Potters, and Sirius went to confront him. Peter faked his death and killed all those people and it was blamed on Sirius...” In my nervousness I began to ramble:

“...and Sirius and Remus confronted Peter tonight and Harry and his friends were there and I had to fight off dementors so that Sirius would be okay because I couldn’t bear to see him get hurt for something he didn’t do and then I had to go and help Remus because it’s a full moon and he won’t hurt me but for the love of merlin he will hurt you so will you please go inside!”

Draco gaped at me, in utter disbelief.

“Please Draco, go inside,”

“Only if you come with me,” He recovered.

My thoughts for Sirius were forgotten as I took a step closer to him. Instead, all I could see and focus on was the heartbreak on his face and the hand that he held out for me. A hand that I wanted to accept but knew that I couldn’t because I would phase right through him. Never had I loathed being dead so much but in that moment when all I wanted to do was comfort him.

For the first time in almost two hundred years, tears slid down my cheeks. I barely noticed. 

“Please,” His voice shook as did his hand as it remained extended to me. “Please, Y/n,” 

The moon fell behind the mountains as the sun shed her first light onto us.

And with reckless abandon, I reached out for him, for his hand. In desperation and false hope, closing my eyes, knowing my heart would never break more that in the next few moments for not being a part of his world.

Then my hand felt softness and warmth.

I gasped and jerked back, and Draco seemed to realize this as I did.

“You just...” He stammered.

“I...” Trembling, I held my hand up, the sunlight no longer passing through it but refracting off of it. I finally reached up and felt the wetness of tears on my cheeks as I gasped in pure joy.

“I’m human,” I laughed, “I’m human!” I marveled at my rosy skin and the soft green fabric of my dress as I felt the grass beneath my feet. After a moment, I, at last, looked to Draco, who seemed to be frozen in a state of wonder and disbelief, and almost... scared.

“Draco,” I called softly, “It’s me,” I offered my hand to him, the grin not leaving my face. 

“You’re... and...”

I nodded and smiled, taking a step closer to him. “Not scared of ghosts, are you?” I teased softly.

He finally laughed and took my hand, pulling me close, into the comfort of his arms. I began to cry again because for the first time in two hundred and fifty years, I was hugged. I clung to him, my fingers marveling at the softness of his shirt, trailing up into his hair.

“Merlin,” Draco pulled away softly. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this,”

Before I could ask him what he meant—or argue that I had been waiting longer than he ever had—he pressed his lips to mine, and in that moment, I swear I could have died all over again in his arms.

.

In the days when evil lurks around every corner, 

The condemned will become innocent,

And the innocent will become condemned.

True love can reanimate a deceased heart, 

Under the star of Great Dog,

She will become alive as time is altered; 

Two souls will be set free that day as the star takes her place.

.

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beautifully beastly

hufflepuff series

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[diffuserlover]

High School Rivalry

-fem!reader x ot7 x Hybe Japan

-genre: angst, supernatural, friendships??

-TW: mentions of blood, kidnapping, killing, death, and teeth

-one-shot

-Description: You have been best friends with Jay, Sunghoon, and Jake since elementary school now you guys are in your last year of high school. But over the past year your friends have been acting different, keeping things from you, sneaking around at night, and hanging out with 4 other guys from your school. Soon after you confronted the guys of their behavior the other 4 took you in their friend group. Now in the present, the biggest football game of the school year was coming up. Bats vs Wolves. School rivals BigHit East and BigHit West. A school tradition is that a week before the game the football teams would prank each other. But this year the prank became personal when the wolves kidnapped one of the only things they cared about…you

You walk through the halls of your dark school, streamers of red, white, and black hanging from the ceiling to show school spirit. Posters posted on the walls saying “Friday the 13th come to the big game Bats vs Wolves” This is all you have been hearing about, one because every talks about it, and two because your friends are on the team. Speaking of your friends you spot them standing in probably the darkest part of the school. 

“It still shocks me that they decided to paint a whole wall black, it makes the school seem so dark and gloomy” you say as you walk up to the guys. 

“You say that everyday” Heeseung says. 

“I saw it in hopes that a teacher will hear me and do something about it” you say. 

“Anyways, are you going to the game?” Jay says. 

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?” you say.  

“When it comes to the big game you get kinda weird” Sunghoon says. 

“Weird? What no?” you say. Jungwon raises his eyebrow at you. 

“Last year you ripped all the posters off the wall and got detention for 3 days” Jungwon says. 

“They were poorly made posters” you say shrugging. 

“She’s in denial” Riki laughs. You roll your eyes as the warning bell goes off. 

“See you guys later” you say walking off to class with Jay. 

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School went by in a flash, you start to walk out to your space grey SUV to leave school. All of the other guys claimed they had somewhere to go. Even though your close with them you still feel like they are keeping something from you. As you unlock the car you hear someone say your name. You turn to see a guy you have never seen before. 

“Hi” a tall brown hair guy says to you. 

“Hi?” you question. 

“You are friends with Jake right?” He asks. you nod. 

“Can you give this to him, he left it at my house, I couldn’t find him” He says. 

“Yeah, what’s your name so I can tell him who it’s from” you say. 

“K” he says. You nod, what a strange name. You look down for a second to look at the book he gave you but when you look up he’s gone. You look around confused before getting in your car and leaving. You decide to call Jake to tell him. It took him 6 rings to answer. 

“What’s up?” He asks. 

“Some guy named K told me to bring you a book you left at his house, can I drop it by your place?” you ask. You look over at the book, it looked old, and was about vampires? You know Jake is like a major nerd but you didn’t kow h was into that stuff. 

“K? he’s from the Wolves, you can drop it off” Jake says sighing. 

“Are you home? or should I just leave it on the doorstep?” you ask. 

“I’ll be home in a minute” Jake says. 

“See you there” you say before he hangs up. It took you about 10 minutes for you to get to Jake’s house. When you pull up you can see him standing on his porch. You get out of the car with the book. 

“Here, I didn’t know you were into that kinda stuff, I like how the author made the book look old” you say handing it to him. There was panic in Jake’s eyes as he sees the book you handed him. 

“You didn’t open it right” Jake asks nervous. 

“No?” you say confused on his sudden change of behavior. 

“You should go home” Jake says. 

“Oh okay, I’ll see you at school tomorrow” you say walking back to your car, you stare at Jake through your window, there is something wrong, something worrying him. 

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Now it’s the day before the big football game. 

“I’ll meet you guys at Jay’s tonight” you say as they walk you to your car. 

“I’ll pick up some snacks on the way there, anything you guys want” you say.

“No, were good and you don’t need to bring snacks, Jay has some” Sunghoon says. You nod. You swear they say the same thing every time. Now that you think about it, you really haven’t seen them eat much the past year. Always drinking out of their water bottles. 

“Be careful driving home, it’s going to rain” Jake says as it starts to rain. You laugh slightly. 

“I will, my house is only right down the street, now get in your cars before you get soaked and get a cold” you say signalling them away. You get into your car and start to drive off. As you were about to pull out of the school parking lot a hand goes over your mouth. You almost serve out of the lane. 

“Keep driving straight” a man says. You start to follow his direction scared of he is going to do if you don’t listen. Soon enough you pull up to BigHit West. Another tall black haired guy walks up to my car and opens my door. 

“Get out” He says. you nod and get up. You then see K get out from your back seat. 

“What is this about” you ask confused. 

“Revenge” K shrugs before hitting you in the back of the head and making you pass out. 

“Drag her in” K says to Ta-ki. 

“Why are we kidnapping her? Isn’t this illegal?” Ta-ki says before throwing you over his shoulder. 

“To get those bats over here, so we can finally win” K says smirking. 

“What do you mean finally win?” Ej asks. 

“Over the decades it’s always been vampires verses werewolves, the vampires always win now it’s time for us to win” K says. They take you into the school and tie you up to a chair placing you in the middle of the gym. You start to wake up. 

“Hello?” you say trying to get loose. 

“There is no way your going to escape” K says. You see 3 other black haired guys behind him. 

“Who are you guys?” you ask. 

“Sorry where are my manners, boys” K says signaling back to them. 

“I’m Nicholas” the tall one I remember who opened my door. 

“I’m Ej” the even taller one says. 

“I’m Ta-ki” the shorter one says. 

“You know who I am pretty girl” K says. Your face curls up with disgust.  

“What’s with the pet name” you say disgusted. 

“Where are your friends” K asks me. 

“I don’t know” you say truthfully. You observe the others. They stood back and never talked unless told to, what kind of friendship is this when there is clearly a leader. 

“You really have no idea” K asks.

“If I knew I would tell you” you lie. 

“Don’t lie to me” K says getting closer to me. you wondered how he knew that you were lying to him. You stay quiet as he stares into your eyes. You give him a cold look. 

“Get her phone, call her friends to get her” K says turning around and walking away from you. Ej comes up to you and grabs your phone from your jacket pocket. 

“Who should I call” Ej asks.

“Jungwon, their leader” K says. Leader? Jungwon? You wonder what are they talking about. Ej holds the phone close to your face, 

“Act normal and tell them to come to the BigHit West’s gym to help you set up a prank” Ej says before pressing call. After a few rings Jungwon picks up the phone. 

“Hey y/n what’s up” Jungwon says sounding happy. 

“Can you guys come to the gym, at the West school, I have a great idea for a prank” You say. 

“Are you already there?” Jungwon asks concern laced in his voice. 

“Yeah, I have all the supplies we need, just hurry up” you say. 

“Okay, uh are you alone” Jungwon asks. you pause staring at them. 

“No” you say staring at K. They look at you mad. You saw K’s eye light up yellow. You blink and they were gone. You were so confused on how that happened. 

“The janitors are here” you say. 

“We will be there quick” Jungwon says. They hang up as you were about to say goodbye. 

“You could have at least let me say bye” you say sighing. 

“Shut up” K says. He signals at Nicholas. He gets up with a roll of tape. 

“Hey no, can’t we just talk? There is no need for you to tape my mouth” you say rambling before Nicolas puts the tap on your mouth. You try kicking at him but your feet are tied to the chair. 

“I never thought she would shut up” K says. 

“I don’t think this is a very good thing to do” Ej says. 

“Yeah, she’s just some silly human how is she going to help us take down the bats” Ta-ki says. As you sit not able to talk your thoughts take over. Silly human? your also a silly human for kidnapping me! What is wrong with these guys. Why do they talk like this. 

“We have been over this before Ta-ki” K groans. 

“She is our leverage, so they can give up the game tomorrow and then the rest of the pack will kill them on the field tomorrow, just like their ancestors did to ours” K says. You think, What in the hell are they talking about? Murders? Leverage? A pack? All of the sudden the gym doors fly open. 

“Let go of her” Jungwon says. 

“I will, if you give me what I want” K says standing up his friends follow behind him. 

“Just give her to us and we will leave you alone, she doesn’t know about us, and we want it that way” Heeseung says. 

“Oh she doesn’t know” K laughs. 

“Oops” he says. 

“This is going to be fun for her” K smirks before howling? Your eyes go wide. He turns into this giant furry wolf looking thing. The others turn into wolves as well. You try to escape the chair wiggling around. 

“I could eat her whole” K says as he turns towards you, his eyes piercing  yellow, his voice lowered now more creepy. K then growls in Jungwon’s face. you see Jungwon’s eyes turn red, his teeth grow into fangs, and he floats off of the ground. You look around at the other guys to see they were exactly the same. You scream through the tape wiggling around trying to escape. You’re friends are monsters. You fall backwards breaking the chair. You shake the ties off you and rip off the tape. Everyone stares at you. 

“y/n-” Jake says. 

“Get away from me” you say running off. 

“Go get her” you hear K say. You look behind you to see Ej and Ta-ki running after you on all four legs. All of the sudden Jake pops up in front of you and grabs you and next thing you know your in the gym behind all your friends with Jake holding onto your arm. 

“Let go of me” you say freaking out. 

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Jay says to you turning around. You look into his dead red eyes. This wasn’t your best friend. 

“What are you people” you say struggling to get out of Jake’s grasp. 

“We will explain everything in the car just calm down” Jake says.

“I don’t want to go anywhere with you” you say. They all looked hurt. You look to see Sunoo, Jungwon, Ni-ki, and Heeseung walk back with blood on them. 

“We should go quickly, we were able to hold them off but K, I don’t know where he is, you know how strong an alpha is” Jungwon says. They try to leave but the door were locked. 

“We can’t get out” Sunoo says pulling on the door. 

“Move aside” Jungwon says. He pulls on the handles and rips them off. 

“Look what you did, how are we supposed to get out now” Jake says freaking out. 

“There are other doors” you say. 

“Your not going anywhere” you guys hear K say. you all turn around and see the other wolves. They look wounded. 

“Throw the game tomorrow and nobody gets hurt” K says. 

“What are you going to to us? Bark at us? we just beat your best wolves” Jay says. Your head is spinning at the fact that this is real. 

“I have more, our whole school is packed with wolves” K says. 

“One call and they are here to kill you” K says. Jungwon sighs. 

“Why do you want us to throw the game? What do you get out of it” Jungwon asks. 

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you” K says. 

“They are going to kill you all on the field tomorrow if they win” you say. They all look at me. K sighs. 

“I should have taped you ears too” K sighs.

“Get her” K says. Ej and Nicholas turn into werewolves again and then come running at you and the guys. Jake pushes you behind him and Sunghoon comes and stands on the other side of you. They were taller and bigger than all of the guys. They start to fight around you. 

“We have got you, don’t worry” Jake says. You watch as Sunoo gets hit in the side and go down. Your head told you that he’s a monster, he isn’t the same person as before, he’s not the Sunoo you know. But your heart, your heart is telling you to help him, risk yourself to help your friend. And that’s what you did. You run to Sunoo and pick him up a little so his head rests on your lap. 

“Sunoo, are you okay?” you ask lifting his shirt a little to see a deep cut. 

“I’m fine, it will heal” He winches as you touch the wound to stop the bleeding. 

“y/n, i’m going to be fine it just takes a few minutes” he says, as he said that you see the wound start to heal. Your eyes widen at the wound healing. 

“I-” you say before you feel yourself being picked up. Nicholas had you and took you over by K throwing you to the ground. They transform back to humans. K grabs your hair and makes you stand up. He transforms and brings his huge, nasty claws to your neck. 

“Throw the game, let my pack kill a few people and she won’t die” K says. 

“We can’t let you kill innocent people” Jay says. 

“We CaN’t LeT yOu KiLl InNoCeNt PeOpLe, stop acting all high and mighty, you drink from people’s neck killing them” K mocks Jay. K looks at you and laughs at your scared expression. 

“Go on, tell y/n how many people you kill so you all can have a meal” K says. You look at the guys. 

“7 people, so each of us can have one whole person to last us a week”  says. They all look down. 

“7 people, wow” K says. 

“But we haven’t done that for months, we drink from blood bags now, that we steal from the hospital” Jungwon says. You sigh. 

“How many people have you killed in total” K says. They all look around. You see Ni-ki counting on his fingers. 

“35″ Ni-ki says. K laughs. 

“You hear that pretty girl, your so called friends killed 35 people, 35 innocent people” K says laughing, the other wolves start laughing too. 

“They weren’t important people, they were homeless and criminals” Jungwon says trying to make you feel better. 

“You really are monsters, you all are” you say. 

“I know I am” K says before slicing your throat with his claws. You go down trying to breathe and you start to bleed out. 

“You had your chance” K shrugs before leaving with his pack. You look over at your friends, you could see veins pop out from under there eyes. You gasp tying to tell them to help. You hold your neck to try to stop the bleeding. He didn’t cut you deep enough for you to die right away but if you didn’t get to a doctor soon you would die.

“Her blood smells so good” Heeseung says. 

“I know” Sunghoon says as his eyes darken. They all slowly walk over to you. 

“We should share” Jungwon says. 

“Of course” Jake says. 

“I was starving anyways” Sunoo says. Jay sits right next to you smelling your neck. You try to wack them away, your body getting weaker from the blood loss. 

“It’s even better up close” Ni-ki says. You use the last bit of your strength to scream as their fangs sink into your skin in different places. 

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“Local student from BigHit East was found dead in the rival schools gym all blood drained from her body. Her seven friends that were with her that night have now been reported missing. What went down that night at BigHit West? Is this really a prank gone wrong or is there foul play involved? We will keep you updated here on Hybe News thank you, back to the weather With Mr. Choi”

I hope you guys liked it!! If you want to see more stories like this and my Taehyun one you can always ask!! :)

[tsukidrama]

The Road Not Taken

{I Doubted If I Should Ever Come Back}

ᴀɴɴɪᴇ ʟᴇᴏɴʜᴀʀᴅᴛ x ғᴇᴍ!ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ / ᴄᴀɴᴏɴ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟɪᴀɴᴛ

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢѕ: night terrors, (unintentional) violence while unconscious, manifestations of PTSD, emotional breakdowns, and blood.

Chapter 4 - Bad Dreams

Summary: For the first time since you've been with her, Annie has a night terror. Hurt/comfort, but mostly just hurt.

cottagecanon | ao3 | wattpad | ♫

← Chapter 3 | Chapter 5 →

Word Count: 4.6k

Author’s Note: not going to apologize for how late this is because my life has genuinely been sucking lately. but i'm also at the point where i'm like okay i can't look at this in my drafts anymore just get it away from me i'm so hurt. definitely am sorry for the chapter.

“Just stop it, okay?” Annie’s voice cuts through the bedroom and wakes you up out of a dead sleep.

You lift your head, and through bleary eyes, you glance around the room. Not even the cats are in there with you at the moment, so you don’t pay it any mind. It’s not the first time she’s talked in her sleep.

Usually, she just rambles for a sentence or two and then falls back asleep as soon as she flips around. So, you just ignore her and rub your head into the pillow in an attempt to get more comfortable. You try to go back to sleep.

“Get off me,” Annie mumbles, a little louder and more frantically, “I can’t move.”

You’re not holding her or restraining her — in fact, you’re sleeping back to back, with the only contact between you being her ass pressed against your lower back and your elbow touching her side. It’s resting so lightly that it’s surely not crowding her space, but you move your arm off to the side anyway.

“I can’t move!!” Her words come out with such an urgency that you wake up fully and twist to look at her. She’s definitely underneath the blanket, but she doesn’t look trapped at all.

Her legs are writhing as she kicks and whines desperately in frustration. You pull the heavy comforter off of her so that she feels a little less restricted. As soon as she gets the freedom, she rolls on her back and thrashes around with unexpected agitation.

The sudden movement scares the shit out of you, and a jolt of terror compels you to grab her by the shoulders and wake her up. You resist the urge, but you do reach out to her.

“Hey, Annie,” you say softly, gently squeezing her shoulder in an attempt to get through to her, “I think you’re having a bad dream.”

She flinches when you touch her, so you pull your hand away instinctively. You cower a few feet away.

“Annie, wake up,” you say, a little louder this time.

At that moment, her eyes fly open. Her eyebrows knit together in confusion, and she locks her gaze onto you desperately. She grabs your wrist and her fingers dig into the bone, hard.

“Ow!” you exclaim, and try to pry her away, “Let go of me.”

“Help me, please,” her voice wavers and threatens to crack, and you notice her eyes have filled with tears, “Why aren’t you listening to me?”

You try to pull your arm away, but it only causes her to dig her fingernails into your skin in an attempt to keep you close. Instinctively, you hiss and try your best to wrench your arm free, though you aren’t successful and you just end up pulling her with you.

Now you’re fully awake, and you manage to sit fully upright. You use the new leverage to break Annie’s grip and finally manage to throw her off.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” you plead, but your words don’t get through. She stares off into the distance, and even in the dark you can see how wide her eyes are. Her breathing is shallow and erratic as she visibly shakes.

You want to comfort her again, but dull pain aching in the crescent-moon-shaped indents on your wrist makes you hesitate. You close your fingers around the nail marks and keep your distance.

Quickly you regret it when she bursts into tears. Quiet sobs wrack through her so hard that her whole body shakes, and she collapses forward onto her hands and knees. Her fists ball up into the sheets so tightly that it pulls the fitted sheet from the far corner of the bed.

“You’re really starting to scare me…” you say softly. After a few moments of watching her back heaving, you reach out and lay your hand down on her shoulder gently.

As soon as you touch her, she yelps and recoils, skittering away as if your hand had burned her. She moves with such haste and desperation that she throws herself right over the edge of the mattress to land on the floor with a dull thump. Luckily for her, she takes the blankets with her and they cushion her fall.

Unluckily for you, when she pulls the blankets off of the bed, you’re still sitting on them. The motion flips you flat on your back, and all the air rushes out of your lungs. It takes you a moment to gather your bearings.

You’re vaguely aware of Annie still struggling a few feet away on the floor, but it takes you a few moments for you to catch your breath. When you flip around to look at her, you see that she’s fighting a losing battle; she’s tangled up in the fitted sheet in a way that she won’t possibly get out of thrashing around like that -- a corner is hooked around her foot, with the sheet twisting up around her legs to be pinned underneath the weight of the other blankets and the rest of her body.

“Annie!” you call out to her again, worried. You’re so glad that you didn’t let the cats inside the bedroom tonight. By this point they would definitely be yowling, scratching someone, or have already run away.

Annie has no response and continues to choke on her desperate sobs as she kicks to free herself. Every time she’s restricted by the cloth, she grows more desperate in her struggles. Her cries grow louder and more shrill until soon her voice is straining and she’s full-on screaming. You think that she’s trying to say something, but it’s so incoherent that you can only catch snippets of what she’s saying.

“I didn’t mean to… No, I can’t do it anymore, please.... I’m so tired… I want this to be over!” she shrieks, and to your horror, she twists around and instead of trying to free herself, she begins clawing at her skin. “They left me behind...I just wanted to go home...!” She’s crying so hard that she’s struggling to breathe, and the more she scratches, the more red marks show up on her arms.

Something isn’t right. You try to get her attention, loudly. “Annie!”

She still doesn’t respond, just continues on crying. Her breathing becomes increasingly erratic and quick and soon escalates to full-on hyperventilating. You ignore feeling in the pit of your stomach telling you to keep your distance and climb over the edge of the bed.

You pull the fitted sheet down her legs, doing your best to try and figure out how to best untangle it. She’s still struggling a little bit, and you flinch when she almost elbows you in the face.

“Careful please, I just want to help…” you mutter. You untwist the fitted sheet from the rest of the tangled blankets and finally manage to pull it away from Annie. She scrambles for purchase, not yet used to the newfound freedom she has to move.

After tossing aside the sheet in your hands, you crouch down beside her.

“Hey, are you awake now?” you ask, and gently place your hand on her shoulder. “Can I do anyth--”

All of a sudden, Annie jolts upright. A flurry of motion accompanied by a blood-curdling scream interrupts you and freezes your train of thought. You realize how dangerously close her fists and knees are flying past your head, so you lunge backward and do your best to duck out of the way.

However, your efforts are in vain, and as you scramble backward, her foot collides with the bridge of your nose. As soon as you see it coming, you know you can’t avoid it, so you just close your eyes and brace for the impact.

The pain is overwhelming, but it’s nothing compared to the disorientation as the force of the blow sends you flying across the room. You land on your hands and knees and immediately reach up to cup your nose. With your head spinning and stars blooming across your vision, your limbs give out and you collapse onto the floor groaning.

You realize that you can’t breathe, and sure enough, hot and sticky blood pours from your nostrils. Rolling onto your back to face upwards, you pinch your nose in an attempt to stop the bleeding. It hurts like a bitch, but you ignore it and try your best to sit up.

It takes a minute or two for you to gather your sense of direction again. You hold your head still in your hands until it steadies on your shoulders. Your face throbs, but as long as you can still sit you think you'll be alright.

There’s no way you’re getting close to her again with the way she’s still kicking and punching out, fighting against nothing and screaming. You’ve learned your lesson there. From a distance, you watch helplessly and finally resign yourself to uselessness.

Hot and bitter tears of frustration burn your eyes as you curse yourself for not being able to help her. For a moment, you consider going to wake up her dad. You glance out of the window that overlooks his en suite and wonder if the noise had already woken him up.

The windows are still dark, so guilt overtakes you and you change your mind. What would it look like for you to bang on his door at some ungodly hour, crying hysterically and covered in your own blood? You worry that the sight alone will give the poor man a heart attack, so you decide to leave him out of it.

“Annie,” you call out, even though you don’t think it’ll help. “I’m not leaving, okay? I’m going to stay over here but I’m not going to leave you alone.”

A sudden pain in your cheeks makes you jump and let go of your nose. Blood gushes out, and it stings so badly that you can’t help but shed a few more tears. Your hands are so slippery that you struggle to pinch your nose again, and frustration takes over.

You lay on the floor and cry for a few minutes before you realize just how pathetic you must look like that. Look. The rhythmic slams of Annie still crying and fighting bring you back into reality. You pull your shit together and push yourself upright.

At this point, you just accept that the blood is going to keep coming. You give up on trying to stop it and try not to shudder as it drips down your neck and chest in a sickening, sticky mess. You feel lightheaded, but ignore it in favor of looking around the bedpost to take a glance at Annie.

She’s thrashing around still, just as agitated as she has been, slamming her fists into the ground and kicking the wardrobe as she wails and screeches. Your hopelessness doubles and your brain scrambles as you choke back a sob. You look out the big window, and you notice the big oil lamp post that illuminates a section of the garden. Bingo, talking point.

“Did you know that some of the vegetables in the garden are going to be ready to pick soon?” you ramble. You don’t expect her to listen to you, but it can’t hurt to talk to her. It’s all you can think of to do. “Well, not all of the vegetables yet, but some of the quicker-growing stuff like beets and lettuce. Bok choy, watercress, zucchini, bush beans. Uh, I think radishes?”

To your shock, she seems to be calming down. She bangs against the floor like she’s losing her strength until she stops altogether. Annie is still crying hard and breathing erratically, but it does seem to be helping. Your brain reels for more topics, and you choke on some accidentally-swallowed blood that made its way into your throat. You sputter on it and clear your throat, but keep talking.

“We could make some kind of salad with all those leafy greens, or I can cut up the beets and zucchini and roast the chips in the oven? That’s if you want them crunchy, if you’d rather them soft we could cook them in the pan with seasoning. Your dad told me he likes them crunchy, but obviously I’ll do it the way you like it best.”

You peek around the corner of the bed to find that Annie is no longer throwing herself around. She’s grabbed an armful of the blankets off of the floor and holds them tightly to her chest, rocking herself back and forth as she cries. Heartbreaking, soul-shattering sobs emanate from her, but you know better than to try and comfort her again. Your nose aches as a reminder and you keep your distance.

You say something else to cater to her comfort, “I could make that chicken dish you like tomorrow if you want,” you offer, “--but not one of our chickens, I’ll go to the market and buy some meat from the butcher. No stress, no worries..”

Annie wails, but it does seem like she’s calming down. The noises of her intermittent gasps have become more frequent than the quaking sobs.

“And if you want to, we can start harvesting the first of the new vegetables tomorrow. However you want to do it we can. I’ll wash them if you bring them inside for me. I know you hate having to scrub away the dirt.”

Only a muffled cry and some shaky breathing come in response. You sit and climb up on the corner of the mattress to get a look at her. She’s curled up in a ball, clenching her fists tightly but other than that seemingly undisturbed. Her breathing stutters as she inhales, that shaky rattling that stays present for a long while after the crying has stopped.

“Hey, you know what? I think you should sleep in today, and I’ll be the one to get up and feed all the animals this morning. I know where you keep all of the horse oats and goat grains, and the chicken feed. I’ll clean up the goat enclosure and everything. Make sure everybody has the water they need.”

Finally, she’s only sniveling. After a few seconds of relative silence, she speaks the first word of recognition towards you throughout this whole incident.

“Tomatoes?” she asks, so quietly that you almost think that you’d imagined it.

It makes you burst into tears again. “Yes, tomatoes,” you agree, “We did plant some tomatoes. They aren’t ripe yet but I promise that you can pick them as soon as they’re ready. I’ll save them for you.”

“Mmm, thanks...” she mumbles, and rolls over on her side facing away from you. She keeps talking indistinctly, but you can’t understand her anymore. And honestly, you don’t particularly care now that the crisis has seemed to pass and she’s no longer freaking out.

You exhale hard then gasp for air. You hadn’t realized that you’d been holding your breath this whole time, and find that you’re beyond exhausted. Both your arms and your legs ache, and suddenly the pain in your nose triples in its intensity.

A few more minutes pass until the sound of blood rushing in your ears has faded, and every beat of your heart reverberates in your throat. Annie is still, but you’re still nervous to go anywhere near her. So you wait until you’re absolutely sure that she won’t wake up again before you climb to your knees.

Cautiously and silently, you check to make sure she’s sleeping and not dead -- just in case. You aren’t looking for any more surprises tonight. Her chest rises and falls slowly, and her breath sends a strand of her hair floating up as she exhales. You consider poking her, but blood seeping through your shirt reminds you of the dangers.

Now that you’re confident that Annie is actually sleeping soundly, whatever barrier you had put up to focus on calming her down, now drops. The broken blood vessels in your nose throb, and a sudden rush of heat in your face makes you hyper-aware of how uncomfortable and sticky the mess covering you has become. You really can’t breathe, and you feel weighed down and smothered.

Instinctively, you wipe your nose on the side of your hand, and when you touch your nose it sends sharp pains all throughout your skull. Fuck, you think, it’s bad. You stumble to your feet and make your way towards the bathroom. Once standing, you pull your shirt over your head and toss it on the bedroom floor.

You turn on both the and the faucet once you get into the bathroom, and wait a few seconds for the water to warm up before you splash it on your mouth and chin. Rubbing at the slick blood and a few more splashes finally gets it to smear a bit, and you grab the nearest towel to wipe the worst away.

After you’ve cleaned up a bit, your skin is stained an unnerving pink. A fresh trickle from your nose reminds you that you have not taken care of the problem yet. You press the washcloth against your nostril and the source of the bleed, then nearly black out from the pain. Dizzy, you stumble back against the wall and sink down to sit with your head tilted up.

It hurts a lot, but the door is closed. So while Annie sleeps, you let yourself cry. You aren’t sure how long you sit there, lost in thought and staring off into the distance. Long enough for the washcloth to soak up a surprising amount of blood, and for you to notice how lightheaded you are.

Maybe you actually do black out for a while, because the next time you’re aware of what’s happening, you aren’t holding the cloth to your face anymore, and you’re in a different position. The bathroom door opens frantically, with a wild-eyed, definitely conscious Annie staring at you in horror while clutching your bloody nightgown to her chest.

However long you drifted off for, apparently, it was long enough for her to wake up on her own and freak out. First she looks down at the multitude of bloodstained towels on the floor, and then up at you with fear in her eyes. She looks like she’s about to explode.

“What happened? Is there somebody in the house? Is my dad okay? Are you okay?” she asks, and her questions come in such quick succession that you don’t have time to process any of them.

You stare at her blankly as your brain struggles to catch up, unable to form a response at first.

“Is there someone in the house?” she repeats, slightly more panicked now. She looks over her shoulder, out of the window looking out at Papa’s en suite. Her voice raises to a shout. “DAD--?”

“No, no,” you reach up to grab her arm in an attempt to calm her. “There’s nobody here but us, and your dad is fine. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Annie replies, but the uncertainty in her voice is unmistakable. When you look at her more intensely, she slumps her shoulders and admits: “Well.. I woke up on the floor. And it looked like you had been kidnapped. I saw blood…”

“Shit, I didn’t realize,” you mutter, and curse yourself for forgetting to wipe down the bedroom. “I’ll go clean it up.” You try to move, but Annie pushes your shoulders so that you sit right back down.

“Holy shit, your face...” she exclaims, cupping your jaw. Her thumbs ghost above the bruising flesh with care. “How did this--?” she cuts herself off when she accidentally presses too hard, and you wince.

“I’m sorry...” she says, and her voice is much softer. She looks into your eyes and falters -- you aren’t sure if it’s because of the fact that you flinched or by the look on your face, but either way she notices something is off. Since she already has your face in her hands, she pulls it towards her to scrutinize your expression.

“How did I end up on the floor?” she demands.

You eke out a nervous laugh and pull her hands away from your face by grabbing her wrists. At first, it seems funny. Then, the anxiety hits and you feel your stomach twisting. “Were you having a bad dream?” you ask, trying to avoid answering.

“Yeah, like I do every other damn night,” she says dismissively.

Annie looks at you for a few moments before the implication finally seems to hit her. What you don’t want to say transcends words, and tears fill her eyes as the realization dawns. She looks down at her hands in horror and shakes her head.

Lip trembling, she gives you a look so full of uncertainty and self-doubt that it breaks your heart. “Me?” she asks. “Was it me that hurt you?”

You immediately burst into tears and fling your arms around her. “It was my fault, really. I’m so sorry,” you sob into her shoulder, blubbering. “I didn’t know how to help you. I felt so useless. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She tries to push you away, but your grip on her shoulders holds strong. “Y/N, what? I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

You continue to wail into her, clutching her nightgown tightly. “I couldn’t do anything, I’m sorry. I’m sorry… I am.”

Finally, Annie succeeds in wrenching you off of her. You look up at her with tears streaming down your face. She sighs, then offers you her forearm to hold again. With her free hand she scrapes a bit of dried blood off of your chin with her fingernail.

“I really hurt you,” she says, her voice breaking. “Oh my god, did I really do this?”

“I think that you were sleeping. It was weird, y--”

“Nobody gives a shit that I had a nightmare, Y/N!” Annie interrupts you, about to cry. “Not when I punched you in the face! I can’t even remember doing it...”

You decide not to correct her. “No, but you weren’t yourself either.”

“I’m so sorry, Y/N. All I do is cause more pain.” Her arm shakes, and you can feel her fighting the impulse to pull away again.

“That is NOT true.”

She laughs dryly. “Look at yourself! Look at the state of the room...” The laughter turns quickly into crying again. “What the hell is wrong with me?”

“I really don’t think that you knew what was happening--” You try to touch her again, but she smacks your hand away.

“Please don’t defend me,” she spits.

“You aren’t listening to me, though,” you insist, and keep on, “Before, when you hit me, you were screaming and it was like you couldn’t hear what--”

“--Just stop it, okay?!” Annie interrupts suddenly. “Stop!”

You go silent for a few long seconds, pressing your fingers over your lips. She looks really pissed, and for a split second you’re terrified again, and you very nearly recoil in fear that she might hit you again. Maybe she senses this, because instead, she crumples.

Her shoulders start to shake as she heaves, and she buries her face into her hands to muffle the sound of her crying. It’s the same kind of heartbreaking sobs from before that make your very soul ache.

“Annie...” you begin, but she doesn’t let you get anything out.

“I don’t deserve your excuses!” she sobs, “And I don’t deserve for you to be here holding me when I just broke your nose.”

You lie, with the hope that it will make her feel better. “We don’t know for sure that it’s actually bro--”

It doesn’t work. “Oh, it's fucking broken,” she interrupts bitterly, “trust me. Look how much it bled. I’ll take you to the doctor, give me ten minutes to get the horse ready.”

“Not yet--” you grab her hand as she tries to rise up on her knees. “Please come back, please.”

She wipes tears from her eyes as she plops back down on the floor. You ignore her grunts of protest and wrap your arms around her securely in a hug. Though she tries to push you away, you won’t let her. A few moments of halfhearted struggle later, Annie goes limp in your arms and draws in a ragged breath.

When she finally exhales, it comes out as sobbing. Her head rests limply on your shoulder, with her tears leaving hot stains on one of the only dry patches left on your shirt.

“I’m sorry,” she repeats. Though you shush her, she says it over and over again as she loses herself in your arms, crying and clinging to you.

You pull her closer and pray that she can find any amount of comfort in it.

“Shh,” you soothe, but like before, you feel like your words would be falling on deaf ears. And like before, you keep on doing your best to get her through the moment. Your eyes slip closed as the two of you gently rock back and forth.

It’s enough. It’s not instantaneous, but after several long minutes, the violent shaking in your arms calms to a mere tremble. You wipe the sweat away from Annie’s forehead with the back of your hand and plant a gentle kiss on the damp skin.

Eventually she calms down enough for her crying to cease. She readjusts so that she’s leaning on you with her head resting on your shoulder. Your arms wrap around her snugly, and you give her a squeeze to remind her that you’re not going anywhere.

Her breathing becomes slow and even, and a tiny snore confirms your suspicions that she’s fallen asleep again. You don’t mind. If anything you pull her closer to you as if it would be enough to protect her from herself and from these horrible nightmares.

You stay there sitting on the floor holding Annie to your chest for a good, long while. It starts as you being afraid that if you move, she’ll wake up, but in the end, the reason you don’t let go of her is that you’re terrified whatever darkness that haunts her nightmares will come back for her as soon as you take your arms away. Here, she was safe. Right now, she was okay.

You know that your nose is definitely broken, and that you’ll be forced to go to the doctor in town no matter how bad that fracture is, but you’re so happy that she’s sleeping again that you’re careful to remain silent as you let yourself cry. It hurts every time you move your nose as you sniffle, but you let yourself openly react as you weep.

For one of the first times ever, you relate to her father. All at once, you get why he doesn’t show his pain around her. You understand why he doesn’t want her to feel the guilt of what she had done. In his case (though you’d never heard him admit it out loud) the fault lies with him for his own injury, and though yours had been a rather unfortunate accident you still understand his desire to minimize the guilt Annie felt.

It wasn’t her fault that she was the way she was. It’s all she can do to move past what the world did to her, and you’d be damned if you’d get in the way of that.

So when the sun peeks through the window at dawn and the sleeping blonde finally begins to stir again, you swallow your pain. You choke down the sobs and wipe the grimace from your face. Your nose will heal, but there’s a part of you that’s so afraid that after everything she’s survived to get here, maybe Annie won’t.

You wipe away any tears from your eyes and do your best to clear any remaining blood from your nose. You prac

“Hey,” you say, looking down at her with a warm and gentle smile, “Good morning.”

[odetolocksmiths]

“Make that Three”

A/N: I’m back! It got soooo busy with school and everything and it was causing so much stress so I set this blog aside for a little while. While going through my drafts yesterday, I saw this story and I really liked it. My original author’s note said I was so, so sorry because I thought it was bad? But coming back, I’ve come to the realization that I actually like this story ha! Anyway, if you’re still reading this author’s note, I hope things are going well in your life, and if they are currently not; I am sending out my thoughts and positive energy for you. My dm’s are always open <3 Enjoy reading :) xo Xuck

Summary: A few weeks before Molly decided it was time to bring the family back together, you run into George. After a special afternoon while spending some time with him, you show up at the ‘family sleepover’ holding a big secret.

 Warnings: Fluff, mentions of pregnancy and a piece of art written with some grammar mistakes 

"Y/N, my dear! How are you doing?” Molly asks while coming at you with her arms open wide, inviting you into a cuddle. You laugh and hug her back. 

“Hi, I’m doing good. How about you?” You answer while unwrapping your arms. Molly lifts her hand, places a hand on your cheek, and smiles. “Now that you are here, I’m doing great!”

“I’ve missed you all so much! Come, come. Let’s get you something to drink.” Molly’s hand grabs your wrist and before you know it, you sit at the kitchen table with a cup of hot cocoa in your hand. You look around the kitchen and you see that practically nothing has changed, everything was in the place where it belonged. You let your eyes roam over the wall of photographs, every member of the family was on the wall multiple times. There were photo’s of all the Weasley children while they were still young, photo’s of everyone celebrating Christmas, and photographs of the children with their significant others. 

You giggle at the photograph of Ron and Hermione on their wedding day, remembering the prank the twins had pulled on Ron. Fred and George had stolen his wedding suit and had it hidden somewhere very obvious. You have never seen Ron so stressed. Yeah okay, normally he is pretty stressed already, but this day topped it. Eventually, everything turned out to be fine.

You let your eyes roam the pictures again, now searching for the photographs with you in it. There were a lot because ever since you came home with Fred and George that one holiday, you were a part of the family and Molly saw you as one of her own. You let your eyes linger on the photograph of you and George longer than the others, your heart fasting up its pace and forming a small smile. It has been a couple of weeks since you last ran into him and things took an unexpected turn. It was a night of secret confessions, stolen glances, and lingering touches. The things that happened that one night, turned into a big, little secret no one knew of.

Molly intruded your thoughts as she began saying that it shouldn’t be long before the others are here. “It’s been a long time since everyone was home at the same time!” 

You laugh at her and before you get the chance to answer, the front door opens and reveals the sounds of the voices from the rest. Everyone planned to show up at the same time, bombing the silence in the burrow.

“Y/N/N!” Hermione screamed, flinging herself into your arms. “Dear Godric, I missed you soooooo much.” She says and you giggle. “Hi ‘Mione, how are you doing?” 

It took a good ten minutes taking the time to greet every member of the family minus three. Fred and George still had to work in the shop that day, so when the shop is closed they could come over with Fred’s significant other, Angelina. 

Everyone is taking their places at the dinner table, as it is the best place for everyone to be catching up at the same time. There are so many stories to be told, some needing to be told multiple times because the others got into a conversation of their own. No one got a hold of the time and before you know it, a couple of hours have passed. 

The front door slams open once again, revealing the last three persons missing at the table. Fred and Angelina took the first steps into the house. “Good evening my dearest family! How are you all doing?” Fred practically screams with a huge grin on his face. The whole family flew to the new people, hugging them and saying their greetings.

You were one of the last to greet Fred and Angelina, telling them your hi’s and how happy you are to be seeing them. Last but not least, you were the last to greet George. You e/c eyes catching his deep brown ones, showing a sparkle. He smiles softly and wraps his arms around your waist, while you throw yours around his neck. “Godric, I’ve missed you so much.” He mumbles and presses a secret kiss in the crook of your neck. With one last squeeze on your hips, he releases you and walks into the kitchen, ignoring the funny look on Fred’s face.

-

You and George were not official. There was in no way you could say you both were dating and it got a bit on your nerves right now. Everyone was done with eating and were now having a conversation - the millionth time today. You looked around the table and your gaze lingered around George’s. He was already looking at you. His mouth made the slightest smile which made you blush. It took everything in your strength not to fly over the table, grab George by his tie and kiss him on the mouth. You sigh and took another sip of your seventh cup of hot cocoa. Normally you wouldn’t have this much chocolate to eat, nevermind to drink, but lately you were craving it more and more. You knew why, it was a secret no one else knew so far.

Suddenly Molly gasped, flinging her hand over her mouth and looked surprised. Everyone stopped talking and stared at her. “Oh my, I’m so sorry!” She looks around, setting her eyes on Arthur. “I have made a mistake with counting the beds! We are missing one bed.” She puts her head in her hands and takes a deep sigh.

“It’s okay honey, we’ll figure it out.” Arthur says, putting his hand on Molly’s back.

“Well one of us has to sleep on the couch then.” Fred jokes and Ron laughs. 

“I’ll sleep on the couch.” You say and look Molly in her eyes. “No, no. You won’t have to sleep on the couch.” She mumbles and pulls her arm around you. 

“No Molly, it is okay. I don’t mind sleeping on the couch, I’ve grown to love it, to be honest.” You grin and take another sip of your hot cacao.

It's true, you have grown fond of the couch. You stopped numbering the moments you fell asleep on it, finding yourself waking up with a blanket wrapped around your body.

“Are you sure?” Molly asks and you nod. “Don’t worry, as long as I have my blanket and pillow, I can sleep everywhere.” You wink and she laughs.

-

It’s two o clock in the morning. Everyone went to their beds over two hours ago, leaving you in the living room with a blanket and a pillow. Molly has asked you a dozen times if you really didn’t mind and after practically sending Molly upstairs, she eventually accepted your answer. Right now you were sitting on the couch, the blanket wrapped around you while reading your book when you heard footsteps behind you.

“You really shouldn’t be sleeping on the couch. Take my bed, please.” The voice of George sounded. He came to sit next to you. “And sleep with Fred and Angelina in one room? No thanks.” You giggled and put your book down. 

George opened his arms, inviting you into a cuddle which you gladly accepted. You put your head against his chest while folding your arms around his waist.

“I missed you, you know.” George whispered into your hair, placing a kiss on top of your head. You felt your face heating up, happy he couldn't see you blushing. "I hate that we haven't talked since that night." 

"I know, me too." You mumble, pressing your face more into George's chest. "Do you really meant what you say back then?" You ask.

"Yes, I do." George puts his finger under your chin and lifts it so you have to look him into his eyes. "I want to continue this. What we have." He places a kiss on your mouth. Before you could answer his kiss, he has removed his lips already. 

"I want that too." You smile at him. He grins and pulls you closer. 

"Mom's going to ask us tomorrow if we all want to come along on vacation this summer. Should I say she has to reserve two places? You and me?" George asks, wrapping a string of your h/c hair around his finger. 

"Make that three." You whisper, looking into his eyes. You see his eyebrows turn into a confused state.

"What did you say?"

"Make that three. Three places." You repeat and you grab his hand and place it on your belly. "I meant to tell you tomorrow when I saw the chance of getting you alone but here we are." You throw him a soft smile. Scared of his reaction, you distance yourself from him and look into the fireplace.

"Are you serious?" His voice sounds hoarse. All you can do is nod. "Checked it multiple times, different methods. All came back positive." You mumble, still not looking towards George.

"Look at me." Was all he said, but you didn't hear him. "Love, could you please look at me?" He asked.

When you turned your head, all you could see was George with one of the biggest smiles you have ever received from him. He grabbed your face and placed a kiss on your nose. Then one followed onto your forehead, both your cheeks and eventually he left one on your mouth.

"I love you so fucking much.”

[wondersofdreaming]

Keepsake

Characters: Captain Syverson x female reader (3rd person)

Word count: 1.827

Warnings: Death, loss, hopelessness, light cursing, sadness, melancholy, grief, heartache, mourning.

Author’s note: This story was inspired by the song 'Everglow' by Coldplay.

Do me a favour and listen to the song, while reading this, I'll link to the different versions, depending on your mood.

Everglow (original) by Coldplay

Everglow (acoustic) by Coldplay

Everglow (instrumental) by Alexandre Pachabezian

The links are for Spotify, if they don't work try this link for YouTube

I do not own any characters in this short story, except the wife, son and Elijah Reed, who are figments of my imagination.

A massive, MASSIVE, thank you to my beloved angel, @radaofrivia, for giving me the idea from just a few thoughts, for sitting through with me while I wrote this, for giving me advice and for just being there.

Please check out her stories right here: RADA'S MASTERLIST

MY MASTERLIST

Feedback is appreciated.

(Young Syverson, picture credit to @killjoy-assbutt-1112 - find it here)

Oh, they say people come Say people go This particular diamond was extra special And though you might be gone And the world may not know Still I see you, celestial

Lyrics are from Everglow by Coldplay.

The looming grey clouds were moving closer towards him. He could hear the distant sounds of the rumbling thunder. Before long it started to rain and lightning lit up the entire house. The dirt road was flooded in no time, giving the crops the liquid nourishment they needed.

The former army captain was restless. It was on days like these he missed him, more than anything else in the world. He couldn’t sit still and had planned on working on the house, but the coming storm was putting a stop to that. Instead, he sat on the porch swing he built with Elijah when Lucas bought the house.

The Syversons had moved to their farm when Lucas was 4. A few days into the move, their neighbours had stopped by with some casserole, and to welcome them to their community. Mr and Mrs Reed also had a son who was a few months younger than Luc. Elijah had hidden behind his mother’s leg, a little shy, but with some encouragement he greeted Lucas.

“I’m Lucas, but my baby sister can’t say it yet, she keeps babbling Luc, so if it’s easier, you can call me Luc too.”

“I’m Elijah.”

Sy remembered he was trying so hard to pronounce his new friend’s name. He smiled at the memory, the name had been permanent in Lucas’ mind, only using Elijah, when he was mad at him or thinking he was about to do something stupid, which he did often.

“Lija, wanna play?” Lucas asked awkwardly.

“What?” Elijah looked profoundly confused. “I… don’t know.”

“Go on, son. It’s okay,” Mr Reed tried to encourage him.

“Come with me, Lija. I wanna show ya somethin’.”

Lucas had shown Elijah his new toy tractor that his parents had given him for his birthday. The two young boys had played together, and before long were inseparable.

A round yellow object in the palm of his hand. He was fiddling with it. The coin was always in his pocket, so he could keep his best friend close to him at all times. It was an old arcade coin that you could plot into any machine and play one game.

The two best friends had each gotten a dollar’s worth of coins, but the man at the ticket booth had miscounted, so Sy had gotten an extra coin, which the two friends had fought over during their time in the arcade. Lucas being the protector he was, lost to Elijah on purpose, so his friend won the coin.

“I’ll savour it, it’s going to be my lucky coin!” Elijah has announced.

Syverson swung the porch swing with his booted foot. He stared at the coin, wondering why he had been the lucky one. Luc shook his head faintly, his face full of pain and sorrow.

The coin became a thing that decided their fate. When the boys couldn’t agree on something, they would flip the coin. The picture side was heads and the text ‘No cash value’ side was tails. It might have been worth nothing, but it was a priceless item to the two friends.

“Heads: I ask her on a date, tails: you ask her,” Elijah flipped the yellow coin and covered the back of his hand as it landed. The two teenagers looked over at the brunette cheerleader, who was laughing with her friends. Prom was upon them and they both wanted to ask her. Elijah lifted his hand, it was heads.

The dumb coin was always on Elijah’s side. Lucas let out a soft laughter of the memory. Elijah’s face had been priceless, Sy wished he had taken a picture of it. It had been Elijah’s first kiss that night.

When Lucas decided to enlist, Elijah followed him, even with a lot of arguing against it from Sy’s side. He didn’t want his best friend anywhere near a warzone but in the end, he was glad that Lija was there with him through every hardship during training, when they lost people on their team, when they had to carry the dead back to base, it was better to have a friend by your side and share the pain with.

It didn’t take Syverson long to rank up and become captain. He ended up leading a large group of soldiers in a village in Iraq, with Elijah as his lieutenant, he felt like he could conquer the world.

During one of their trips home, Sy had bought a house he wanted to renovate, maybe start a family in. Elijah had spent every moment he could, helping Lucas with the house. It had made them closer as friends, and they had heartfelt talks about their future. Elijah wanted to come home and help his ailing parents with the farm, maybe get into breeding horses, preferably racehorses. Sy hadn’t thought of his future in that sense by then. He just wanted to relax, drink beer and ride his motorcycle.

There was hardly a moment in Lucas’ life where Elijah wasn’t a part of it. Elijah was his best friend, and if he had to be a little girly, they were BFFs. His best friend’s presence had made every moment special, made them better. It was the hardest part, to not have Elijah by his side anymore. He missed Elijah’s silly, huge and sometimes irritating grin, which somehow made the world seem a bit brighter during the dark times. Elijah made his life easier… he just made it better to have a friend to share everything with.

His heart had broken in a million pieces when the building collapsed on top of his best mate.

“Captain, we need a scouting team. I’m taking three soldiers towards those buildings and see if there are enemies up ahead,” Elijah had suggested.

“Lieutenant, I make the orders here. I’m going,” Lucas commanded.

“Heads or tails, Luc,” Elijah picked out the coin from his breast pocket.

“This is no time for such thing, Lija,” the captain grumbled.

“This is the perfect time, Luc. We promised that whenever we couldn’t agree on something, we would use the coin. So, heads or tails, captain Syverson.”

“Heads.”

The coin had landed on the tails side. Lucas had cursed the coin, fuck, shit, crap, dammit!

“It’s my turn to protect you, Luc. I’m not the scrawny little kid anymore, let me show you!”

Elijah had gathered three soldiers and run between two concrete buildings with a big smile on his face. Sy would never forget the smile. It was a grin of pride and determination. And it was the last time Lucas would ever see his best friend.

Moments later a huge explosion shook the ground they were standing on. Sy watched with horror as the buildings collapsed, trapping Elijah and his team. What they didn’t know then was that the impact with the concrete walls had killed him instantly.

The rest of the soldiers watched as their captain went on his knees. Utter despair and anguish plastered on his face, tears about to escape the corners of his eyes. The usual strict army captain, the man with the muscles, the tough guy who could break you with a stare, was breaking down.

“Lija…” he whispered into the dust-filled space, his voice breathless like somebody knocked the air out of his lungs.

At night he had screamed in pain of the loss of his most beloved friend. His days were filled with hopelessness as he prepared to fly home with Elijah’s corpse in a coffin. The nights only brought nightmares, so he started writing a letter to his best friend and thinking of how to tell Elijah’s parents.

“Dear Lija. I can’t believe you’re… Shit, I can’t even write the word. Just a four-letter word, and yet I can’t fucking write it down on a piece of paper. I wish I could have taken your place, man. It should have been me. I hate you for forcing me to pick a side on that stupid coin. I hate you for being so brave. I hate you for wanting to protect me. Fuck you for dying. Fuck you for leaving me. Here. All alone. What about your parents? How am I going to tell them that you’re… how am I going to face them? You are and will always be my best friend. I wish you could go back to your parent’s farm on your own two legs, not in a fucking box. I miss you, Lija. You’re the closest thing to a brother I will ever get. So rest in peace and keep the seat next to you warm, I’ll see you on the other side. - Luc.”

Lucas had sneaked the letter into Elijah’s breast pocket of his uniform before they had shut the coffin. The coin that Elijah had on him, had been put in a plastic bag with the rest of his belongings, prepped to be given to his next of kin, his parents. But Lucas took the yellow token. He needed a memento to remember his best friend by, something that he could keep with him always. A keepsake.

It had taken every ounce of courage for Lucas to step up to the front door of the Reed’s farmhouse. A house he was so familiar with and had so many adventurous sleepovers in Elijah’s space-themed bedroom. He could smell Mrs Reed’s famous peanut brittle, making it harder for him to knock, but he did it anyway. Standing there in his military uniform, he told the two people, who had acted as a second set of parents to him, that their only son had died heroically in battle. Lucas stood frozen, watching them mourn the loss of their son. He was about to step away to give them space, but Mrs Reed grabbed his wrist and brought him into the hug.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect him,” he pleaded, his voice breaking slightly.

“Was he in pain?” Mrs Reed asked, breaking Lucas’ heart all over again.

“No, ma’am. It happened really fast.”

Sy fiddled with the arcade coin. Having zoned out the thunder, not noticing the storm had come and gone. The sun was slowly setting on the horizon. It was a peaceful ending to an emotional day.

A loud wailing came from inside the house. The front door opened and out came his beautiful wife with their young son in her arms. His face was stained in tears. The tiny boy reached towards his father the minute he saw him. In his father’s arms was the only place the boy was happy and content. Sy’s face broke into a happy grin at the sight of his son. His tiny fingers trying to grab the coin in the former captain’s hand.

“This,” Sy showed it to his son, “will be yours when you’re old enough not to eat it.”

He chuckled at the frustrated look on the boy’s face. Sy kissed the top of his son’s head.

“I love you, Elijah.”