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happyandticklish · 4 years

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Take A Break

Notes: For the ask by @ticklish-sidekick who requested a Percy and Nico fic. Hope you enjoy!

Summary: Nico needs to take a break, but is being stubborn as usual. Luckily, Percy knows just how to handle obstinate demigods.

“Hya!”

Nico lunged forward suddenly, his sword clashing with Percy’s. He grunted, attempting to untangle the block, but Percy was too quick for that. He brought their swords up suddenly, flinging the weapon from his hands. Emptyhanded, Nico dodged around Percy’s sides, attempting to wrestle the sword from him physically instead. Percy kicked his leg out from under him, causing the other to stumble and fall backwards onto the grassy field. Before Nico could regain his bearings he found a sword brandished neatly at his throat.

Nico swallowed, a hearty flush coloring his cheeks from the exercise. “Okay. You win.”

“Ah, you’ll get it next time. It just takes practice.” Percy lowered the sword, offering him a hand up. As Nico grasped his hand however, he jerked him forward suddenly and Percy yelped as he fell to the ground beside him.

“What were you saying?” Nico teased. Percy threw a handful of grass in his face, prompting the other to duck with an amused chuckle.

When Percy had first approached Nico about combat lessons, he had refused him. He figured he was already decent enough with a sword, and he had fought off enough gods and monsters to be fairly self-sufficient. Eventually though, after a humbling conversation with Hazel, he ended up taking him up on it.

He had quickly realized that it wasn’t just swordsmanship that Percy was offering to teach either, and soon Nico was learning different hand-to-hand combat maneuvers and sparring at least once a week with the other. It became almost a challenge for the two, each trying to come up with new strategies to best the other. It was fun. For the first time in a long while, Nico was genuinely enjoying himself.

As with most things though, he had thrown himself completely into it and found that he was quickly overextending himself with each session. Percy watched as Nico flopped down on the grass, throwing one arm across his face. He could see the rise and fall of his chest as the boy attempted to regain his breath and took in the other’s obviously sore features.

“Exhausted yet?” Percy questioned, raising an eyebrow. “You want to take a break?”

“Not on your life,” Nico mumbled through the skin of his arm. “I could do this forever.”

“Right...” Percy crossed his arms in skeptical disbelief. There was no way Nico could go another round, especially training as hard as he had been. Still, he knew that simply saying that to the boy would have the exact opposite effect. He had to make him come to the conclusion himself. As he watched him, splayed out and vulnerable on the grass, an idea on how to do just that slowly started to form in Percy’s mind.

“Another round, huh?” Percy repeated, leaning forward on one knee to smirk at the boy. “In that case, maybe we should take it up a notch. A new level of training, something you’ve never experienced before.”

A thrill of excitement and worry trilled through Nico’s spine at the words and he slowly removed his arm to give Percy a curious look. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“It’s a surprise.” At Nico’s unimpressed glare, he quickly added, “It only works if you don’t know about it in advance. Trust me.”

“Trust you?” Nico scoffed, but he didn’t resist as Percy shifted to face him, grabbing both of his legs in an armlock. Experimentally, he tugged at his legs but found them to be truly stuck. Due to his playful and silly nature, Nico often forgot how strong Percy genuinely was after years of training. There was no way he was getting out of this.

Noticing the worried look on his face, Percy asked, “Nervous?”

Nico flushed, averting his gaze. It didn’t help that Percy’s physical proximity was doing strange things to his heart, either. “No, of course not. Bring it on.”

“Okay. Just remember that you asked for this.”

Percy’s other hand was obscured from Nico’s vision, so he was only able to watch in confusion as Percy readied his attack. One finger, quick and sudden, slid down the length of his left sole, and Nico was unable to stop his leg from jerking back at the touch.

“W-What the hell?” Nico asked uncertainly, but soon the finger continued, tracing soft and lazy spirals all over his soles. “P-Pfft, h-hey! Jahackson!”

“Hmm?” Percy shot him back an innocent glance. “What’s wrong? I thought you said you could handle it?”

“Y-Yeah, combat t-training,” Nico gritted out, stuttering over his words as he tried to hold back the laughter quickly bubbling up in his throat. “Nohot t—” he broke off suddenly, a blush spreading across his cheeks like wildfire. He cleared his throat, trying again. “Not tickling.”

“This is combat training. A form of it anyway.”

“T-Thihis isn’t trahaining! This is stuhupid!” A reluctant grin had begun to form across his features and Nico quickly covered it with one hand, using the other to prop himself up.

“It’s endurance training,” Percy corrected, changing tactics and scribbling all five fingers over his soles now. Nico choked over a laugh, attempting to cover it up as a cough. “You said you were up for the challenge. Maybe I was wrong though.” As he spoke, he spidered blunt nails all over the ball of his foot, causing Nico to squeak and fall back onto the grass, covering his face with both hands. “What do you think? Can the dark, ferocious ghost king not handle a couple of tickles?”

Nico tugged frantically at his legs, giggles spilling unwarranted from his lips. “Ihihihi cahahahan hahahahandle ahahanything—eep! Nohohoho, stahahahap!”

Percy scratched at the sensitive undersides of his toes, prompting the latter to go into a squirming, babbling fit. “How did I not know you were this ticklish? It’s adorable.”

“Nohohoho ihihit’s nahahahat!” Nico screeched with a violent blush, curling his toes uselessly. “Ahahahahand I’m nahahahat tihihihicklish!”

“No? Then why are you laughing?”

“B-Behehecause… behehehecause… behehehecause shuhuhuhut uhuhuhup!”

“I’ve got to be honest, that’s not a very convincing argument, Nico.”

Percy grinned, and before Nico knew what was happening Percy was sitting on top of his legs, effectively holding him still. With both hands free now, he quickly set to work raking nails up both feet and sending Nico into a new level of hysteria.

“Wahahahait nohohoho, hohohold ohohon ahahaha sehehecond!” Nico burst into a round of squeaky giggles, attempting to both hold himself up and cover his mouth to stop the flow of laughter from escaping, as well as somehow sit up and pry Percy off of him. “Dohohon’t!”

“You know how to make this all stop,” Percy reminded him. “All you have to do is admit that you need to rest and I’ll let you go.”

“Ihihihihihi dohohon’t neheheheed tohoho—gahahahaha, ohohoho gohohods!”

Deciding that it appeared to be his most sensitive spot, Percy had moved his focus back to his toes. Nico squeaked, launching forward to try to pry Percy off of him. Eventually, he settled on merely wrapping his arms around the other for support, burying his face in the back of his t-shirt. “A-Ahahahaha, Pehehehercy!”

“Yes?”

“Ihihihihit tihihihickles!”

“I am aware of that,” Percy agreed, biting his lip to hold back a smile at the adorable nature of his protests. “Your point?”

“Stahahahahap!”

“Are you going to take a break from training?”

“I dohohon’t neheheheed a breheheak!”

“Then no. I wonder what would happen if I did this?” Experimentally, Percy held back his toes with one hand, using the other to scratch the taut, exposed skin. The muffled shriek into his t-shirt said all Percy needed to know on how effective that particular method was.

Nico himself was just as surprised as Percy was at his apparent sensitivity. The only person who had ever tickled him before was Bianca, and after that everyone he knew was too afraid of the consequences to try. Now though, he found himself grateful that no one had, or he never would have been able to save face around any of his peers. Electric shocks seemed to shoot up his legs as Percy trailed devastating fingers over his soles in a manner that was far too ticklish to be fair.

Yet even as he protested and even as his composure trembled, he found that he was almost having fun. There was something nice about being able to freely laugh and squirm under someone else’s touch and not worry about being some tough, dark war hero.

That didn’t mean it didn’t tickle like hell though.

“I hahahahahate yohohou sohohohoho muhuhuch!” Nico giggled, legs jerking in their attempts to free themselves. “Ahahahah, ehehe, stahahahap!”

“Are you going to rest?”

“Thihihihis ihihihis stuhuhuhupid!”

“Are you?”

Percy scratched the spot right under his middle toe that had him howling, and suddenly Nico found he couldn’t take it anymore, even if his pride suffered. “Fihihihine, fihihihihine, I’ll rehehest! Juhuhuhust stahahahap!”

Finally, Percy let up and allowed him to breathe. For a couple of moments Nico stayed like that, fingers gripped tight around his t-shirt as he hugged the other from behind. He knew intellectually that he should let go of him. However, another, larger part of his brain wanted to stay curled up against him, soaking in the other’s body heat.

Eventually, Percy coughed, a faint flush tinging the ends of his ears. “Um, Nico? Are you okay?”

Nico’s eyes snapped open and he shoved Percy off him in a sudden, fluid motion, rolling over into a standing position. He brushed grass off himself, blaming the heat on his face from the tickling. “Uh, I’m going to go take that rest now. Thanks for… thanks for the training.”

“Oh.” Percy blinked at him, startled. “You’re welcome, I guess?”

Nico whirled around, picking up his sword and starting to head back down the hill towards the cabins. He paused after a second, turning back to glare at him. “Oh, and Percy? If you ever tickle me again I’ll decapitate you, got it?”

Percy opened his mouth to respond, but before he could Nico was off again.

Needless to say, Percy did tickle him again and though the other complained vehemently, he found that he didn’t mind it as much as he thought he would.

Not that he would ever tell Percy that.

#tickling #tickle fic #fanfiction #pjo #hoo #percy jackson #nico di angelo #percico #fanfic #fic requests #requests

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missfay49 · 4 years

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Just Listen

Summary: The fam-ILY gets together for a Christmas celebration.

Warnings: Logan and Virgil get in a fight but they make up, obligatory interaction with relatives, alcohol, food, Christmas, cursing, countdown, mention of past injury, struggling with recent hearing loss

Word Count: ~3000

Oldest to Youngest: Logan/Remus/Roman/Janus/Virgil/Patton/Alec

Other Characters: Aunt Patty and Uncle Mitch, Aunt Mel and Uncle Jim, Titi, Grandma Sanders, Grandpa Sanders, Maman, Nico Flores

DD:HH:MM:SS - Days : Hours : Minutes : Seconds

AO3

Once upon a time, there were seven cousins born of four siblings. The oldest sister and her husband had twins and named them Roman and Remus. The second oldest sister and her partners had a child and named him Alec. The youngest sister had one child and named him Patton. And their brother, the youngest of them all, had three children named Logan, Janus, and Virgil.

00:16:02:32 until Christmas Day, 7:58 AM

Logan, the oldest cousin, was leaning against the kitchen counter holding a fresh cup of coffee in one hand and rubbing his right temple with the other. He blinked against the early morning sun of Christmas Eve streaming in.

“You’re up early!”

Logan jumped at the movement to his right and found his aunt looking at him.

“Good morning, Aunt Mel. I made coffee.”

“Bless ya, kid,” she said, turning toward the machine. When she came back around to grab the sugar, he was gone.

00:13:25:17 until Christmas Day, 10:35 AM

“Who took the last piece of bacon?!”

Roman froze in his spot on the floor in front of the T.V. If he were just very, very still, maybe-

“J’accuse!” Remus shouted from the kitchen door over the sounds of chatter and clinking kitchenware. Roman spun around to see Remus pointing at him menacingly.

“You already had some!” Roman yelled back, pulling his plate close. Remus, not breaking eye contact even once, methodically kicked off his flip flops and set his plate gently on top of a bookshelf. He crouched a little and rolled his shoulders.

“Remus, no, my juice, Remus! NOOO-”

00:13:23:03 until Christmas Day, 10:37 AM

From his cozy spot beneath the sheets in the spare bedroom, Virgil heard a scream and a thump. And then several more thumps. He blinked and stretched, smooshing his face into the pillow. For one precious moment, he imagined he could go back to sleep but the dream was pierced by Aunt Patty’s shrill voice scolding someone down the hall.

He shoved himself up on his elbows and sent a hostile glare at the general brightness of the room. Things quieted down but it was too late - he was up. He stretched for several more minutes before finally straightening his clothes and stumbling out to follow the smell of breakfast.

00:12:40:54 until Christmas Day, 11:20 AM

Virgil shuffled past the subdued twins in the living room and into the kitchen, stopping at the door as his brain tried to process what was happening. His younger cousin, Patton, was furtively opening and closing all the cabinets, searching each and every one. Apparently he found what he was looking for, because he started chuckling to himself and reached behind some cups to pull out a huge plastic bag of cookies. He opened it and spun around on his socks, walking headlong into Virgil.

“Ah!” Patton nearly dropped the bag, and a couple cookies fell out onto the floor. Virgil laughed as they picked them up together.

“Whatcha doing, Pat?”

Patton waved him close, whispering.

“My mom keeps hiding the cookies. She said if I keep eating ‘em she’s gonna have to make more for tomorrow. That sounds like a win-win to me!” He took the floor cookie from Virgil and pocketed it. They took turns peering into the dining room where the older folks were talking.

“You do you, cuz.” They bumped fists and Virgil scooped some cold leftover eggs onto a paper plate to take with him to the living room. Remus shoved past him coming back into the kitchen.

Whatever Remus had planned to do in here was lost when he spotted Pat.

“Oo! Cookies!”

00:11:22:49 until Christmas Day, 12:38 PM

“What exactly are we watching, Roman?” asked Patton, popping a couple Tums into his mouth and flopping down into a recliner. Roman was still planted in the middle of the living room floor, but now Virgil was keeping him company, fast asleep on the couch with an empty plate in his lap. Roman didn’t look away from the screen.

“A Christmas Prince. It’s about a journalist that falls in love with the prince of a whole Christmas-themed country! And the bad guy’s not too bad lookin’ either.” Roman squeezed a pillow to his chest.

“Oh, right, I thought it looked familiar! Did you watch Jenny Nicholson’s breakdown of it?”

“Who?”

Patton smiled at the look of wonder on Roman’s face as he followed the characters on screen. At the silence, Roman turned around to look at him, distracted but curious. Patton waved him off.

“Never mind.” Better not to spoil it.

00:07:12:24 until Christmas Day, 16:47 PM

“Dinner tiiime!” Aunt Patty peeked into the living room. “It’s all ready, you guys hungry?”

“Yisss!” Patton launched himself out of the recliner with Virgil following slowly behind. Roman tore his eyes away from the current Hallmark movie with great effort, checking his phone messages.

Aunt Mel was in the kitchen with their little cousin Alec. Just as they passed through he let up a screech, making them all jump. Roman’s phone went flying.

“AAAAA DON’T WANNA WASH I’M STILL PLAYING!”

“AH, sweet Jesus,” Roman clutched his chest dramatically as the rest started laughing.

“Alright, keep it together, ya hooligans,” Aunt Mel teased them. “Alec, I’ve had too much wine today for you to be screaming at the water. You told me yesterday you love playing with the water-”

Auntie continued to help Alec wash his hands and the cousins tumbled into the dining room where Logan and the grandparents were already gathering. Logan braced at the incoming chaos.

“What happened to you?” He asked them.

“Didn’t you hear Alec screaming?” Virgil deadpanned.

“Oh,” Logan straightened his glasses. “Yes, that.”

The rest of the family came up from the basement talking heatedly about the Saints and the Vikings. Who was winning or losing at that particular moment was unclear, but dinner would proceed regardless.

00:04:47:19 until Christmas Day, 19:13 PM

“Defuse!” Remus slammed a card down onto the table. “Whew, that was close. I almost exploded in a fiery, kitten-y death!”

“Boom!” Alec cheered. Nearly the whole family was gathered around the kitchen-table-turned-game-table, even the grandparents and great grandma, Maman. Aunt Patty and Uncle Mitch were downstairs watching the end of the football game, and Titi was just a few feet away putting a new batch of sugar cookies in the oven. She shot a good-natured stare at Patton.

“Sorry, mooom,” “Sorry, Titiii” he and Remus chorused. “Patton tricked me!”

“Hey!”

“That’s okay, you two can help me decorate these later as punishment. Remus,” Titi pointed to the person beside him. “Help Maman with her turn, remember?”

“Oh, yeah!” Remus leaned over the centenarian. “You got any actions, Maman?”

“Quel est ce dessin?” She held her cards up to him and pointed.

“That’s a cat dressed as a taco, Maman. C’est un mème.”

While the game continued around the table, Virgil watched Logan discreetly. Sitting to his left, something was wrong with his oldest brother. He wasn’t sure what yet, but it was definitely… something.

“Nope!” Logan put a card down over Uncle Jim’s attack. Aunt Mel went next, then she helped Alec with his turn, and then, there it was; Logan’s brow furrowed ever so slightly. His eyes flitted back and forth between the players and the cards. He stared at their faces, but not quite at eye level. Patton’s, Roman’s, Grandma’s turns all passed the same - he was concentrating so hard. Why?

“Virgil?” Grandpa nudged him out of his speculation. “It’s your turn.”

Logan was staring at him expectantly.

“Oh.” Virgil glanced at two mismatched cats and drew. An exploding kitten. He was dead. “You’re turn, Lo.”

Logan spent a second longer waiting to see if Virgil was done, and then played his own cards. As they both watched Remus go next, Virgil leaned in closer.

“What is up with you?” He whispered. Logan didn’t take his eyes off Remus’ cards.

“Hey!” He kept whispering, jabbing Logan in the ribs.

“Ow!” Logan yelped, then lowering his voice. “What?”

“I asked you a question, don’t act like you can’t hear me.”

Logan squinted at him, then his face shifted. He looked stricken.

“I’m playing “See The Future”,” someone said. “Hand me the deck.”

00:04:22:44 until Christmas Day, 19:38 PM

VIRGE: what happened?

A new round had started and Virgil hoped that switching to text would let them continue their argu- debate without distracting the rest of the family.

BIG BRO: Nothing

VIRGE: bullshit

Logan ignored his phone, watching the game progress counter-clockwise this time. Virgil did not accept this strategy.

VIRGE: !

BIG BRO: Stop

VIRGE: tell the truth.

BIG BRO: (Seen)

They paused to take their turns, and when Virgil picked his phone back up, Logan was already typing. He tried to be patient, but the energy was clear in the way his foot tapped the ground.

BIG BRO: It seems my hearing has not entirely recovered since that explosion during chem lab a couple months ago. I’ve got tinnitus in my right ear. It is quite difficult to pick up sounds over the ringing when they’re coming from that direction.

BIG BRO: Or sometimes from any direction. So, I’m concentrating a little more. That’s all.

Virgil glanced between the texts and Logan several times, Logan staring with seemingly great intent at his cards.

VIRGE: THATS ALL?

BIG BRO: Calm down, it’s not a big deal.

VIRGE: have you been to a doctor?

Logan stopped to play another “Nope” card. Virgil was ready to scream at the delay. The chatter at the table seemed louder to him now and much, much different.

BIG BRO: Yes. And I’ve done plenty of my own research. There’s not much to be done unless I want to get surgery or start wearing hearing aids.

VIRGE: so wear hearing aids until you decide about the surgery

BIG BRO: They’re expensive, Virgil.

VIRGE: dads insrance must cover some of it and ive got some extra money

BIG BRO: No. Thank you. That money’s yours. You worked hard for it.

VIRGE: your e taking it

BIG BRO: That’s not the problem.

VIRGE: then what is.?

BIG BRO: (Seen)

VIRGE: why won’t you make it easier on yourself? you know none of us will care if you wear one. the explosion wasn’t even your fault, it was that other kid

Virgil sent the text and looked at Logan, waiting. Remus was nearly finished with his turn; Logan was next. The turns passed, but Logan didn’t pick his phone back up from the table.

VIRGE: why

Logan glanced at the text preview when it came up on the screen, still not moving.

VIRGE: i know you can see this

VIRGE: why

“Because!” Logan shouted, slapping his cards down. Everyone fell into a stunned quiet.

“Are you guys cheating? Mom says cheating is wrong.” Alec’s voice broke the silence a second later. Virgil stuck his tongue out at him.

“I assure you we are not cheating,” Logan smiled at Alec. “Virgil’s just being a pest.”

The game resumed, Patton taking an absurd amount of actions before drawing another Beard Cat card. Was it even legal to have that many cards?

Virgil leaned back in his chair, tired from the stress. His phone buzzed.

BIG BRO: This is my last semester. I’ll get one after graduation.

00:00:41:12 until Christmas Day, 23:19 PM

Roman carried two mugs of coffee into the living room as back-to-back commercials for 24 Hours of A Christmas Story played on the T.V. He handed one to Virgil and got back under the throw blanket.

“Thanks.”

“Whatcha doing?” Roman peered at Virgil’s laptop. There were at least a dozen tabs open. The current screen showed some kind of fancy earpods.

“Just killin’ time.” Virgil opened yet another tab.

“Yeah, it’s a bummer Janus picked a college so far away. But the train’s due in a few minutes! Then it’ll be officially Christmas.”

“I mean, he still has to, like, get here from the station.”

“Whatever,” shrugged Roman. He flipped through the channels. All commercials. He settled back on the Hallmark channel, laying down and closing his eyes while they waited for the latest must-have-product ads to end.

“Remember when we played dress up together?” Roman mused. “Mom taped all those toilet paper rolls together so we could have swords and we all fought over the two paper crowns from Burger King? Do they still make those?”

“I have no idea,” Virgil laughed. “That was so long ago, how do you even remember that?”

“Because I was a fabulous ruler! The kingdom prospered unendingly under my leadership!” Roman flung his free arm wide, not bothering to open his eyes. “It was glorious!”

“All you did was declare free love-”

“An important doctrine!” Roman jabbed at the air once before letting his arm flop back down and graze the carpet. “All Janus did was universally pardon thieves and liars, was that so much better?”

“Well, I was playing a thief. Maybe I’m biased.”

“You would…” Roman muttered.�� He didn’t finish the thought.

“Roman?”

A little snort was the only response. Roman was fast asleep, coffee untouched and the remote resting by his head.

00:00:00:03 until Christmas Day, 23:59 PM

00:00:00:02...

00:00:00:01...

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Virgil was stirring; he snuck like a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

in hopes that his brother soon would be there.

Christmas Day, 01:23 AM

“Wake up!”

Roman gasped. Someone was shoving him into the couch cushions.

“He’s here!” Virgil bounced on his shoulder again, almost knocking the laptop to the ground.

“Okay! Jeez, I’m up. I’m up!”

Virgil was already gone, shoving his boots on while a taxi drove away outside leaving two figures in the darkness with their bags. By the time Roman was on his feet, Janus was shouldering through the door with a backpack and giant suitcase, a cute boy following just behind.

“What is up, king?” Roman and Janus clasped hands and half hugged. “Who’s this?”

“Oh, you know.” Janus shrugged off the bag. “This is my boyfriend. Nico, this is my cousin, Roman.”

Nico stifled a yawn and waved. “Pleasure to meet you, Roman!” Virgil came in setting down two more bags and nudged Janus.

“I thought we all agreed not to bring dates again after what happened last-”

“Oh, sweetheart, you must be exhausted!” Roman interrupted as he picked up one of the bags. “I’ll show you where you’re sleeping.”

“Thank you so much, our stuff took forever to load off the train.” Nico started to follow him.

“Hands to yourself, Ro,” Janus hissed after them. “I like this one.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Roman grinned, disappearing around the corner into the hallway. Nico hesitated.

“What…?”

Janus waved him off. “I’ll tell you later.” When they were both out of sight, he turned to Virgil.

“It looks like half the county’s parked in our front yard. Is dad up?”

“He didn’t stay.” Virgil shrugged. “He got into a fight with Titi last night and left after an hour.”

“I see…” Janus sighed, looking down the hall for a moment. “Can’t break tradition now, can we?” He smiled up at his little brother. “Did you get taller?”

Virgil answered by way of a bear-hug, squeezing the breath out of him.

“I missed you, too, Virge.”

Christmas Day, morning-ish

“Merci, Maman! Thank you!” Everyone spoke over each other, unwrapping the sweaters she had made for each of them.

“Yellow was very, uh, popular this year, no?” She teased them. “I hope that you like them.”

“Mine does not have yellow, it’s gold.” Roman corrected everyone. Aunt Patty scolded him. Janus laughed.

“Don’t complain, Roman, yellow is just the superior color,” said Janus, wrestling his own sweater on.

“Yours is more black than yellow!” Roman pointed out. Janus’ head popped up through the collar.

“Did I say yellow? I meant ‘black’. Black is the superior color.”

“Black’s not even a color,” Roman called after Janus shimmying away to grab a cookie with Nico in the kitchen. He came back a second later.

“Why does this cookie look like it’s frosted with vomit?” Janus held one up, looking affronted.

“Don’t suppress my creativity!” Remus shouted from under the tree.

Christmas Day, sometime, who cares anymore?

Logan stood in the hallway, reading an email from Virgil, sent at three that morning. It was lists of hearing aids, their pros and cons, and prices. And another email from Janus a few minutes ago with links on how to get disability funding. That would explain Virgil’s note at the end...

I love you. Please don’t be mad. I told Janus.

He rubbed a hand over his face and chuckled. Had he really thought he was going to keep this a secret for even a day around those two? He pocketed the phone for now and walked through the house.

There was Patton and Roman watching a girl in a beret talk on youtube. Roman had a horrified look on his face. Janus was in the kitchen teaching Alec how to play chess, and not going easy on the kid at all. Logan peeked downstairs. There were Virgil and Remus and Nico, playing charades with the aunties. Remus was making some obscene gesture that had Aunt Mel on the floor laughing and spilling her wine, and Aunt Patty was yelling at both of them.

Logan wandered to the couch and plopped down. It’s a Wonderful Life, was playing on the television. Logan hummed along with the closed captioning as the characters celebrated saving George Bailey from false charges. The vibrations in his chest felt right.

For auld lang syne, my dear

For auld lang syne

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet

For days of auld lang syne

The End.

@sanderssidesgiftxchange @kieraelieson

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out-of-jams · 5 years

Text

Stranger Things || Chapter 01 || kth

Part of my Bangtan Netflix series!

Summary: When your younger brother, Jungkook, goes missing, you have no other choice but to reunite your old friend group to find him. But with government conspiracies, supernatural happenings, and a mysterious boy named V, things won’t be as easy as you’d hoped.

Word Count: 7.4k.

Warnings/Genre: Thriller. Mystery. Fluff. Angst. Friends to lovers. Smut. Supernatural. High School au. Explicit language.

All of my works are purely fiction. Everything I write is my intellectual property and therefore belongs to me. ©out-of-jams. Do not copy or repost without permission.

| Next | Masterlist |

Chapter 01: The Vanishing of Jeon Jungkook

“No, no, no! Go left!”

A shout accompanied by the sounds of gunshots filled the dark living room. And soft, blue light illuminated the space around the television showing two pixelated characters rushing across the screen.

“We went left last time and died. So no, we’re going right this time!” High pitched, eerie music flowed out of the speakers on the television box. And the click-click-click of fingers tilting joysticks and mashing buttons lingered in the tense, anxious atmosphere.

“We only died last time because you go us killed.” The voice was male: not quite deep, yet not high either, it fell somewhere in the middle.

“Don’t you dare blame that on me, Jungkook! You’re the one who didn’t listen when I told you to hide.” A feminine voice this time was followed by a grunt of irritation. “We’re going right.”

“Whatever.” With an annoyed click of his tongue, Jungkook leaned forward on the ugly, plaid printed couch and braced his elbows on his knees.

An Atari game controller was clutched tightly in his slender hands, fingers tilting the joystick and mashing the single button blindly. His brow was pinched in concentration and his lips were slightly parted, two prominant front teeth visable even in the near darkness. Though his mouth-breathing tendancy was most likely drying his mouth out more than helping him to actually focus.

On screen, both of your characters rushed through the room they’d just cleared of enemies and turned right at the end of the corridor. Jungkook’s character, a pixelated mass of orange, followed reluctantly behind yours as they both reached the door at the end of the hall.

“Maybe we should actually go in with a strategy this time--or not.” With a roll of your eyes, you huffed and leaned forward to unconsiously mimic your brother’s posture.

The stench of pizza grease from the empty boxes on the coffee table filtered through your nose as you grabbed up your half-drank bottle of coke. Carbonation was sweet on your tungue as light from the loading screen reflected in the pupils of your narrowed eyes. Your heart was beating so fast due to the game that you were almost positive Jungkook could hear it.

“We gotta beat it this time. I’m tired of replaying the same level over and over.” Jungkook licked at his lips, leaning forward more intensly the split second the game finished loading and dropped both of your characters into the boss battle. “Let’s get this bread.”

“The hell does that even mean?” Your question was rhetorical, attention captured by the battle music that suddenly burst from the television’s tiny speakers.

The screen zoomed in to show a blotch of green that looked more like a small plant than anything else. But as the music started to hit its cresendo, the plant slowly transformed into a humanoid like plant man with sharp teeth, claw-like fingers and no eyes. Right underneath its wiggling, twitching animated body was the word: Demogorgon.

“Here we go!” With a nod of determination, Jungkook’s fingers tightened on his joystick. “We’re gonna win this time.”

It took all of sixy seconds for both of your characters to die in a violent explosion of pixelated smoke and flames. The screen zoomed in to show the demogorgon wriggling victoriously and the game over music could barely be heard over the screams of both you and Jungkook.

“Dude!” You dropped your controller to the couch in annoyance and turned to glare over at your brother. “I told you to hide again and you still didn’t listen. And now we’re dead. Again.”

Jungkook just threw his head back and sunk lower in his seat. Even in the barely lit room you could see him tonguing his cheek in irritation. “Let’s take a break.”

You hummed, “Snack break?”

That seemed to perk him right up. Just the mention of food could light a fire under Jungkook’s ass quicker than your mother when she yelled. Until he glanced down at the table and deflated. “We’re out, though. I think we ate everything.”

You grimaced at the mess littered all over the coffee table. Empty containers of snacks and glass soda bottles covered every inch of the wooden surface. You and Jungkook had been gaming literally all day. Ever since he stumbled in earlier that morning with a brand new Atari clutched in his hands. Apparently he’d been lucky enough to borrow it from one of the boys down the street. And he’d busted into your room at 10 AM sharp to wake you up from your Sunday morning nap to goad you into playing.

Furtunately, your mother had left to visit her sister in Florida on Friday. Something about your aunt getting a divorce and your mother needing to comfort her. Or whatever. Not that it really bothered you to be left home alone with your younger brother for however long it took to console your grieving aunt. Because that just meant that you could do whatever the hell you wanted.

Like stay up late on a school night.

“Now what?” You questioned through a yawn, taking a second to glance at the clock on the VCR. 11:24 PM.

Jungkook was already standing with his arms stretched overhead to relieve his stiff muscles. “I’ll run out and get some more.”

“It’s late, Kook.” Your words seemed to have no effect on the sixteen year old boy because he’s already crossed the room to the front door.

Jungkook’s fingers fumbled with his shoes as he slipped them on, the hood of his black AC/DC hoodie flopping forward onto his head. Looking up as he tied his laces, he sent you a reasurring smile. His doe-eyed stare and large two front teeth gave him an aura of innocence that could make even the grumpy old man across the street soften like putty.

“Don’t worry, the store is just three streets down. I’ll take my bike and be there in like, fifteen minutes.” There it was again, that flash of bunny teeth as he stood up fully.

You groaned and threw your head back in defeat. “Fine. But hurry up.”

Jungkook grinned in victory, his dark eyes scrunching up into half-moons. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Better be.” Your words were punctuated by the slamming of the front door. Jungkook never learned how to shut doors with appropriate force.

Now the only sound in the house came from the game over still flashing on the television screen. You took a moment to eye it before flipping the remote into your hands and hitting the mute button. The living room plunged into silence as you streched out across the couch and threw an arm over your eyes. You’d just take a short nap while Jungkook was out in order to regain your strength to beat the game.

Yeah, just a short nap.

Jungkook should have been scared by the darkness creeping at the edge of the light beam from the flashlight attached to the front of his bike. He should have been frightened at the sheer fact that the streets of his neighborhood were completely empty. But he wasn’t.

The quiet offered him solace in a way that most things couldn’t. Sure, Jungkook was loud at times, but he also liked the comfort of his own company. Of the sound of crickets chirping in the trees lining the road he biked down. It mixed with the flap-flap-flap of the baseball card still stuck in-between the spokes of his rear bike wheel. And the crinkle of the plastic bag hanging from the left handle bar so low that it occasionally brushed against his thigh.

Jungkook’s breath came out in pants as his legs pedaled hard enough to carry him up the steep hill. He was almost home, only two streets away when the street lamps overhead started to dim. That wasn’t unusual. The powerlines in town were finicky, afterall.

Though it wasn’t until he passed underneath one that the bulb blinked one, twice, three times, before blowing out completely. And that wouldn’t have caused panic to rise in his chest if it weren’t for the fact that every single street lamp went out at the same time. And if it weren’t for the flashlight on the front of his bike, Jungkook would’ve been veiled inside a curtain of absolute darkness.

“What the..?” The words slipped from his mouth and filled the quiet street with a sense of foreboding. Jungkook didn’t know what was happening. But what he did know was that his instincts were screaming at him to get the hell out of dodge.

He pedaled faster, trying his best to ignore his heartbeat thrumming in his eardrums. And he would have succeeded if the flashlight on his bike didn’t start to flicker too. Jungkook glanced down, reaching out a hand to tap against the plastic lens in hopes of keeping it alive.

It blinked once more in a final threat before stilling and he let out a breath of relief.

And looked up just in time to see the silhouette of something-something-something standing in the middle of the empty road.

Jungkook startled so badly that he jerked the handlebars to the right sharply, sending him veering straight into a ditch on the side of the road. The front tire of his bike caught and the momentum flipped Junkook through the air in a dizzying whirlwhind. He hit the hard packed ground with a thud, grass tickling the now exposed skin of his arms. But he didn’t have time to register the pain.

Because he heard it, intermingled with the tick-tick-tick of the abandoned bike wheels spinning round and round.

A growling hiss pierced through the foilage of the trees around him, seemingly coming from anyhere and everywhere all at once. Jungkook stumbled to his feet, the knees of his jeans catching on a fallen branch and tearing. But he didn’t have time to process that either.

Through the darkness he could just make out a figure standing a few feet away, hunched over in the shadows.

Jungkook’s shoes slid across the dirt as he cut to the right and burst through the trees without a second thought. He could barely see more than five feet ahead, eyes blown wide to let in as much light as possible. As his footfalls pounded the earth, Jungkook’s beath left his body in loud exhales that he did his best to silence.

A quick glance behind him showed nothing. He couldn’t see whether or not whatever the hell that thing was, was following him. But just because he couldn’t see it didn’t mean that it wasn’t.

It took only a minute of reckless running for the familiar sourroundings to register in Jungkook’s mind. The town of Hawkins, Indiana was a rural area, filled with more trees than people. And the woods served as a maze for any who weren’t familiar with its paths. But Jungkook had lived there all his life, therefore he knew the darkened outline high up in the branches was there way before he reached the base of the tree.

He didn’t take a moment to pause, to catch his breath before he jumped, hands flying overhead to grab onto the wooden ladder. It didn’t reach all the way to the ground, having been broken off years ago. But luckily, Jungkook was tall.

His fingers wrapped around the splintered wood and he heaved himself upwards. The bottoms of his shoes slammed against the rungs of the makeshift ladder as he ascended further into the tree. Within seconds, the palm of his hand pushed against a catch in the wood above and he threw the trapdoor upwards. It gave way without a fight and Jungkook swung himself inside with adrenaline pumping vicioulsy through his veins.

The floor of the treehouse creaked underfoot as he quickly shut the door and locked it with the rusted metal latch. If Jungkook thought it was dark outside, it was even darker inside the cramped space. His hands shot out, palms forward, as he shuffled along blindly. Fingers shaking, Jungkook managed to grab onto the thin string dangling in the center of the room. And with a sharp tug, the lightbulb overhead came to life.

It was just as he remembered inside.

The air was stale from the lack of filtration, but Jungkook paid no mind as he stumbled over to one of the glass windows. Though his foot caught on the edge of a stool and almost sent him topling over. “Shit!”

Jungkook hit the wall palms first and he could feel the splinters enter his skin. But he brushed off the stinging pain and pressed his face against the glass window so close that it started to fog from his panicked breath. His eyes scanned the ground outside with a quickness only born from fear. At first he saw nothing, only his own face reflected back at him.

Until, there!

A silhouette amongst the shadows.

It stood there, unmoving, just staring at him like he was staring at it.

Until it wasn’t.

The sole lightbulb in the room flickered with familiarity as Jungkook pushed as far away from the window as possible. His stood in the center of the room turning rapidly, neck straining to glance out all four windows on each wall at once. It was then that he heard it again.

Whispered growls that caressed his eardrums with a silent promise.

Jungkook’s chest tightened. Why couldn’t he breathe?

Bump-bump. His heart pounded against his ribcage as the light overhead blinked once, twice.

Bump-bump. Three times. Bump-bump. A shadow brushed past the window pane to his right.

Bump-bump. Metal sliding against metal as the latch slowly unlocked.

Bump-bump. The light blew out. Bump-bump.

It was inside.

Jungkook turned slowly, scream caught somewhere halfway up his throat. Bump-bump.

The light flickered back on.

And Jungkook was gone.

Sunlight broke through the thin curtains hanging above the living room window, drifting across your face to shine right on your closed eyelids. A groan left your drool stained mouth, hand flying up in an attempt to beat back the light by sheer force of will.

With a sigh, your eyes squinted open and the memories of the night before rushed in. It was a surprise that you were still on the couch, seeing as how Jungkook should have woken you up by how unessicarily loud he usually was. Especially after having gone out of his way last night to be on snack retrieval duty. There was no way that he’d pass up on an opportunity to wake you up by beaming a pack of doritos right at your face.

You wiped at the dry drool on your chin and threw an uninterested glance at the clock on the VCR. 9:45 AM.

It took a moment for the importance of the time to register in your sleep clouded brain. But when it did--

“Shit! I’m late for school.” You flew off the couch, one bare foot landing on a depleted, crumpled box of Dunkaroos. Just looking at it twisted your stomach. How you and Jungkook managed to clear out your whole pantry of snacks in one day was sad.

Ignoring the mess on the coffee table, you scrambled out of the room and flew up the stairs. Your clothes fell in a heap on the floor the second the door to your room closed and you raced over to your closet. Blindly, you picked out an outfit for the day and threw it on while simultaniously attempting to brush the knots out of your hair.

Teeth brushed and Love’s Baby Soft perfume spritzed, you raced down the hall to Jungkook’s closed bedroom door. You didn’t bother to knock, instead just sending up a short prayer that he was decent before throwing the door open. It hit the wall with a crack that made you flinch. But you paid it no mind as you glared at the messy, unmade, empty bed.

That jerk went to school without you!

“I’m gonna kill him.” You growled and turned to run back down the stairs, socked feet sliding against the linoleum floor and almost carrying you past the foyer.

Skidding to a stop, you slipped on your shoes, grabbed your house keys and backpack, and flew out the front door.

The second the lock weaved through the front tire of your bike clicked into place, you hurried through the front doors of the school. Luckily (or unluckily), the halls were empty. So the obnoxious sqeaking of your shoes was heard by no one as you apprached the closed door to your English class.

With a grimace painting your face, you turned down the door handle and slipped in the classroom.

“Ah, Ms Jeon, how wonderful of you to finally decide to grace us with your presence.”

The sarcastic words from your teacher halted your steps mid-stride as all eyes in the room turned to you. You should have been embarassed at the way you’d been caught red-handed trying to slink into the room unoticed. But all you could do was give a hasty “sorry” and retreat to your empty desk in the back. Too bad your teacher wouldn’t let you go without a fight.

“First your brother, and now you? Do I need to make a phone call to your mother?”

Your hands stilled on the zipper of your half-open backpack as your head snapped up in surprised confusion. “My brother?”

The teacher merely raised an eyebrow and gave you a look over the rim of her square specticals. Her mouth was pinched in annoyance, stray wisps of hair escaping the sharp confines of her tight bun. “Yes, your brother. He wasn’t here for homeroom this morning. Any particular reason why?”

“He wasn’t here?” All you could do was pathetically repeat her words like some kind of human sized parrot. But you weren’t paying attention to the snickers from your classmates. No, you were too busy trying to stave off the feeling of dread that sunk low in your stomach.

“Need I repeat myself all day, Ms Jeon?” Your teacher rolled her eyes in exhasperation, though you were sure there must have been some annoyance in there too.

Mind clouding in barely concealed worry, you leaned forward, chest digging into the cold desk. “Jungkook didn’t show up this morning at all?”

Oh yeah, that was definitally annoyance. “Enough of this back-and-forth. Now, either pay attention or go to the principal’s office.”

Your back hit the chair. Maybe Jungkook decided to ditch homeroom? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time. With your bottom lip caught between your teeth, you tried to ignore the unease that drifted through your veins like poison.

It was loud. A cacaphony of voices belonging to students as they all tried to speak over one another at once. And it was crowded, the room filled with the unmistakable stench of high school cafeteria food.

Plastic luch tray held between your hands, you slipped between lunch tables full of students until you reached the back of the room. It hit the surface of the table along with your backpack as you tossed them down and effectively scared the absolute crap out of Park Jimin. His head snapped up from where he’d been filling out his homework for his next class, startled.

“Y/n?” Your name slipped from his plush pink lips in a voice that you could only call hypnotic. Jimin dropped the pencil in his hand and ran his fingers through his soft blond hair. “What’s up?”

“Have you seen my brother?” You cut straight to the chase and leaned forward to brace yourself on your elbows, lunch forgotton.

It’d been hours and you still hadn’t managed to catch even a single glance of your brother in the hallways. Usually you’d see each other at least three times before lunch. Hawkins High wasn’t a big school after all.

“Jungkook?” Jimin licked his lips and dipped a tater tot in ketchup until it was more tomato than potato. He may as well have just dipped a spoon in.

“No. Santa Clause.” You rolled your eyes and reached out to steal one of his tots, ignoring his ‘hey, you have your own!’ “Yes, Jungkook. You see him?”

Park Jimin looked confused. “No. Should I have?”

Your eyebrows shot up into your hairline as your gaze caught his warm brown eyes. Jimin had been a part of your childhood friend group. And while everyone else had grown apart throughout the years, you, Jimin, and Jungkook stayed together. Even though he was only a few months younger, you still looked at Jimin as another little brother of sorts.

“What do you mean, should you have?” That feeling of dread was back. Not that it’d really gone away in the first place. “You and Jungkook both have photography class in the mornings. Was he there?”

Jimin still looked confused as he ran a hand through his hair once again in a nervous habit that he’d never seemed able to kick. “No. Why? Is he sick or something?”

“You didn’t see him? At all?” You knew you were starting to sound like a broken record, but you couldn’t help it. Something was wrong. You just didn’t know what.

“No?”

He stilled at the sudden serious expression that overtook your face. And Jimin’s brows knit together as he leaned forward across the table. “What’s wrong, Y/n?”

Your mouth opened and closed while you fumbled, not quite sure how to phrase what you were thinking without sounding like you were going crazy. Eyes flickering around at your surroundings, you leaned closer to Jimin and ignored the sweet scent of the cologne you knew he stole from his dad.

“Look...I,” You paused before shaking your head. “I think something’s wrong. Jungkook left late last night and never came back.”

Jimin’s lips parted in surprise. “What--”

“I don’t have time to explain, but I have a really bad feeling, okay?” Voice hushed, you waited until Jimin nodded his head before you leaned back, mind made up. “I’m going to go to the police station and report him as a missing person.”

“Y/n.” Jimin reached out to cover one of your hands on the table. He hesitated for a moment, likely in preparation for what he was about to say. “Maybe he’s just skipping school or something. I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time.”

You were shaking your head before he even finished his last sentence. “No, Jimin. Something’s wrong. I can feel it.”

The sound of your chair scraping across the floor drowned out whatever it was that Jimin said in response. Reaching across the table, you scooped up your backpack and flung it over your shoulder. “Look, I’m going to the cops. Let me know if you see him, okay?”

“Wait, Y/n!” Jimin’s shout followed you all the way out of the cafeteria doors.

“I’ve been waiting here for over an hour, Mr. Hopper.”

Detective Sejin Hopper looked up at you from over the top of the typewriter on his cluttered desk. His dark eyes were narrowed behind the round lenses of his eyeglasses in a way that should have stopped the words from leaving your mouth. But not even the intimidating aura of Hawkins’ lead detective could stop you at that point.

“Couldn’t you, I don’t know.” You were sure that the heels of your converse were wearing a hole into the rug of his office, but you didn’t care. Hand waving through the air, you muttered, “Work a little faster?”

Hopper simply raised his eyebrows at you. The man was tall and bulky and filled the space in his office without even trying. He leaned back in his rolling chair, the springs protesting with age. “Shouldn’t you be in school, kid?”

Your feet foze and you stared down at him incrediously, hands on hips. “My brother is missing!”

With a sigh, Hopped pushed the typewritter aside and clasped his hands on the desk in front of him. “Look kid, he’s probably just playing hookie--”

“No.” You interrupted with a shake of your head, ignoring the irritation that flashed in his eyes. “He wouldn’t do that without at least telling me first.”

“You never know.” He simply shrugged. “Maybe he got a girlfriend or something and just didn’t want to come clean to his older sister out of embarassment. Happened to me when I was about his age. Then again, I did date my older sister’s best friend, so that may have had something to do with it.”

You threw your hands up in exhasperation. “My brother doesn’t have a girlfriend! He can’t even talk to girls without, like, throwing up!”

“You sure it’s girls he’s into, then? Maybe he got a boyfriend and that’s why he didn’t want to tell you.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Your jaw was hanging open at the sheer audacity of what just came from Detective Hopper’s mouth. “I know why you’re not taking me seriously right now, but please, I’m not pulling another prank on you this time. My brother is gone and I don’t know what else to do.”

Hopper paused, letting the silence in the room fester for a moment before he let out a deep, bone weary sigh. “What about your dad?”

You blinked, taken aback by the question that had absolutely nothing to do with the situation. “What about him?”

His voice softened from the harsh way he’d been speaking to you before. “Listen kid, ninety-nine percent of the time if a kid from a divorced home goes missing, they’re with their other parent.”

A scoff left you before you could think to stop it. “Jungkook hates our dad. There’s no way he would just up and leave in the middle of the night and travel to another state to see him. That doesn’t even make sense!”

Hopper opened his mouth to respond, but you cut him off. “What about the other one percent?”

“The what?”

“You said ninety-nine percent. What about the other one percent?”

“Kid.” Hopper leaned forward against his desk once more, making sure to hold your wide-eyed stare with his serious one. “This is Hawkins. Do you know how many years I’ve been working here? Do you want to know the worst thing that’s ever happened? It was when an owl attacked Jackson Wang’s head, because it thought his hair was a nest.”

You pressed the tip of your tongue against the inside of your cheek in pure rage. Bending down, you scopped up your backpack that you’d abandoned on the floor and threw it over your shoulder. “You know what? I’ll find him myself. Thanks for all your help, Detective.”

He tried calling out to you, but you ignored him in favor of slamming the door to his office hard enough to rattle the stupid action figurines on the shelf perched above his head.

It was dusk by the time you made it to the treehouse.

If you were being honest with yourself, you were getting desperate because you knew for certain that Jungkook hadn’t been there in years. In fact, neither had you. But you’d searched everywhere, had gone to every single one of your brother’s usual haunts. And you’d tried to call your aunt, but the number listed for her landline was out of service. Typical. You’d even stopped by your house every hour just to check in case he’d decided to finally show his face.

But he hadn’t.

And now you were forced to do the one thing that you’d sworn you’d never do again.

Staring up at the treehouse high up in the branches, your eyes narrowed on the light shining through the window facing towards you. Which would have been suspicious enough if it weren’t for the trap door on the bottom of the structure hanging wide open. The only people who knew about the treehouse were you, your brother, and the rest of your abandoned friend group. And you didn’t think that any of them would bother going back to it.

Except maybe Jimin, but you knew he always hated going to the treehouse by himself. “It’s creepy out there.” He’d say. “You wouldn’t catch me dead out there by myself.”

It was quiet in the middle of the woods. Too quiet.

The only sound came from the leaves crunching underfoot as you trudged up to the ladder broken off halfway down the tree. You eyed it, bottom lip caught in your teeth as you tried to strategize how to best reach it. Until finally, with a sigh, you grabbed onto the lowest tree branch and started to climb.

You hated heights. Always had and always would. And as your shoes dug into the rungs of the ladder, you tried your best not to let the sense of vertigo overtake you.

“Hello?” You shouted into the open hatch, not quite confident enough in it being empty to go through it yet. But when all you got in return was silence, you lifted yourself up the rest of the way and climbed inside.

It was exactly as you remembered. Just with more dust.

Every single surface, from the half-rotten stools to the wooden box that’d been used as a makeshift table, to the faded pictures and posters tacked onto the walls, were covered in layers of dust. A wave of nostalgia hit you in a way that you were completely unprepared for. It’d been a while.

The sound of your shoes tapping on the floor reached your ears as you made your way over to a partially opened box in the far corner. It was buried underneath what was once a white sheet, but was now grey with age and dirt. Dust spread into the air as you ripped it off and your hands came up to shield your nose from the onslaught.

Dropping to the floor, you ignored the cold press of wood on your exposed kneecaps. Luckily it was still spring, so you didn’t have to worry about the cold weather just yet. But the opened tabs of the cardboard box was cold to the touch.

Inside, you dug through all of the items that’d been abandoned, untouched by time, until you reached what lay at the bottom. With careful hands, you extracted a heavy, black and grey hand radio and cradled it between your fingers. You wiped off the dirt with the bottom of your shirt, lips pulled up into a small, wistful smile.

“Haven’t seen you in a while. I wonder if you still work.” Taking a deep breath, you let your thumb hover over the “on” switch. You hadn’t used it in years. Not since you’d dropped it into the box that fateful day, never to be seen again.

“Now’s not the time to reminisce, Y/n.” You shook your head in an attempt to rid yourself of the memories that threatened to drown you in nostalgia. A shaky exhale, and then you pressed the button.

It took a moment too long in which you lost hope, before the radio sputtered to life with static. The “on” light lit up a bright red and you released a breath you didn’t know you were holding. Luckily, the settings were still set to exactly where they’d been before. Although it wasn’t like you didn’t still have them memorized.

“Okay.” You murmured, voice trembling. Not because you were afraid per se, but because you didn’t even know if they’d answer. You fingers pressed the “talk” button and held it down.

“Guys?” Hesitating, you cleared your throat before speaking again. “I don’t know if you’re listening. Or if you even still have one of these things. But um...I hope you do. Because I’m calling a code red.”

You paused. “I need you. Wherever you are.”

The silence inside the treehouse was stifling. And the sun had long gone down, leaving you to sit under the light of a single lightbulb.

You didn’t know why you were still there. Still waiting despite the numerous hours that’d passed you by. Maybe it was a sliver of hope that you dared to hold on to that kept you rooted to the floor, cross-legged and leaning back against one of the walls. Whatever it was, you were running out of time.

To find your brother, to figure out what the hell was going on, to formulate a plan. But, you supposed, there was no better way to brainstorm than being left on your own for hours on end. Which was why your backpack lay open, discarded somewhere beside you as your attention lay focused on the papers scattered across the floor.

Jungkook had left your house at appoximately 11:26 PM. It would take him about fifteen minutes to bike his way down to the store. Add in another five or so minutes to purchase snacks and exit the store. And then another fifteen minutes to bike home.

That left a window of thirty-five minutes total for him to go missing. Which meant that he had to have dissappeared somewhere between 11:26 PM and 12:01 AM.

You’d already paid the convinience store a visit earlier in the afternoon, only to have them inform you that the person who’d been on shift last night was on vacation. And they’d refused to give out the phone number of where their employee was staying. Typical. Convienent.

Suspect.

There was--

The sound of voices hit your eardums and you paused with your pencil hovered above a sheet of paper. Leaning forward in a useless attempt at hearing better, your ears strained to listen over the noise of crickets.

“--knows.”

You knew that voice. Would recognize it even though it’d been years since you last held a conversation. Your bare legs scratched against the floor as you scrambled to your feet, hands already brushing the back of your shorts to rid yourself of any possible dirt. The voices were getting louder. As well as the accompanying footsteps

“--be good.” That was definitely Namjoon’s raspy voice. “Had to ditch practice for this.”

“I’m sure it is.” Hoseok’s low vocal fry.

“How the hell are we supposed to get up there?” Yoongi’s deep, lazy drawl.

The pencil fell from your hand at the sound of someone scrambling up the treehouse ladder. You’d closed the door not too long after entering, though you’d made sure to keep it unlatched just in case.

“Can I get a leg up?” Jimin.

“Aren’t you supposed to grow taller as you age?” Seokjin’s windshield wiper laugh. God, it’d been so long since you’d heard it. “Or have you not been drinking your milk?”

You could hear Jimin scoff through the floorboards. “I’m lactose intollerant. You know this.”

Before you could make a sound, the trapdoor swung upwards and in popped a familiar head of red hair. Golden skin and cherub cheekbones: Hoseok. He jerked a little in surprise at seeing you standing there, but then the tiny dimples between the corner of his lips and the edge of his cheeks came out of hiding with a smile.

“Hey, Y/n.” He greeted you casually, like you’d seen each other less than an hour ago. Like he hadn’t abandoned the rest of you the second he landed a spot on the school dance team. “Long time no see.”

“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.” Namjoon’s voice interrupted before you could speak past the lump in your throat. “Now move before I fall down this stupid thing.”

“Sorry.” With a chuckle, Hoseok climbed the rest of the way inside, followed by the even brighter red hair of Namjoon. You would have thought they’d planned having the same colored hair, but based on the sheer fact that they hadn’t hung out in years, it was an accident.

“Y/n.” Namjoon jerked his head in a stiff nod.

As he emerged from the door, you noticed that he was wearing Hawkins High’s varsity football uniform. Like he’d rushed right over from practice. While he both acted and dressed differently than what he used to, Namjoon was still all deep dimples and plump lips and intelligent eyes.

Not all things were possible to change, afterall.

“Namjoon.” You crossed your arms across your chest and flashed Hoseok a quick, closed mouth smile. “Hoseok.”

Next to pop their way into the treehouse was Jimin, who stepped to your side with arms already outstretched to envelop you a hug of greeting. His familiar scent washed over you and you felt your tense muscles relax just a little. “Any luck?”

Jimin pulled back at the shake of your head to shoot you a sad smile. “We’ll find him, I’m sure.”

“Find who?”

Your head shot up as Seokjin entered with Yoongi trailing close behind. The eldest stood tall, his broad shoulders taking up more space than they used to. Seokjin wasn’t even in high school anymore. He’d graduated just last year, but still stayed in Hawkins to attend the community college in the next town over. Most likely so he could help take care of his mother since he his father died a few years back.

A flash of blue caught your attention when Yoongi stepped out from behind the taller man. His once blond locks had been dyed a vibrant shade of cotton candy blue. And you would have raised an eyebrow at him if it weren’t for the sheer fact that Yoongi was known for not giving a shit about other people’s opinions.

You’d been close once. So close that you used to know every single detail about his life. From the way he dreamed about moving to New York City to study music. Or that he hated pineapple on pizza. Or that he used to harbor the biggest crush on Hoseok.

But now he was a stranger.

They all were.

Except Jimin, but that was beside the point.

“Why are we here?” Namjoon spoke up over the tense silence lingering in the air. The treehouse was cramped now, filled to the brim with bodies that once used to fit together so easily.

Seokjin nodded slowly, eyes finding yours as he brushed a strand of dark hair off of his tanned forehead. “Good question.”

All attention was on you and you almost wilted under their heavy stares. “I’m surprised you came, to be honest.”

Yoongi shifted in place, a look of something that you weren’t quite quick enough to catch flashing in his feline-like eyes. With hands stuffed into the front pouch of his hoodie, he sucked in air through his teeth in a habit that used to bring you comfort. “You called a code red.”

You had to actively stop the corners of your mouth from twitching up into a smile. “Yeah, I did. Still surprised that you even heard the call though.”

“Namjoon was the only one who did, actually.” Jimin nodded his head at a now uncomfortable looking football player. “He came and grabbed the rest of us. That’s why we took so long to get here.”

Namjoon just shrugged one shoulder casually, like it was no big deal. “Mom was making me go through all of my old stuff before practice. So it was pure luck that I happened to be doing it at the same time you radioed in.”

“Convienent.” Hoseok raised an eyebrow at the other artificial redhead, who just gave another shrug in response.

“We’re getting away from the point here.” Seokjin took control of the conversation. “Why are we here?”

A pause filled the small space as everyone turned to you yet again. Jimin’s body heat sinking into your side from where he stood right beside you filled you with a confidence that you wouldn’t normally possess.

“Jungkook is missing.”

“Missing.” Yoongi stated, head tilting to the side and hair shifting to expose the pale skin of his forehead.

You nodded. “Yes. Missing.”

From his place standing across from you, Namjoon crossed his arms. “Explain.”

“Well, he left late last night to get some snacks at around 11:26.” Your tongue wet your lips as you mentally prepared for them to call you crazy. “And never came back.”

“Did you go to the police?” The question came from Seokjin as he knit his brows with what looked like worry, but you couldn’t be too sure. He was good at acting, afterall.

“I tried.” You fidgeted nervously with the necklace dangling from your neck, fingers twisting it to-and-fro anxiously.

Jimin’s hand came up to rest on your shoulder comfortingly. “And?”

All you could do was scoff. “Detective Hopper basically told me to fuck off.”

Out of the corner of your eye, every single eyebrow raised to the ceiling. A huff of laughter passed Hoseok’s lips. “She cusses now. You guys hear that?”

You sent him the nastiest glare you could muster and watched as his eyes widened in surprise. “You’d know that if you cared enough to stick around.”

Hoseok’s flinch was impossible to go unnoticed. But you didn’t care if he was hurt by your comment because there were more important matters at hand.

“So you need our help to look for him?” Yoongi’s voice softened around the hard edge he normally carried. And at your nod, his hand lifted to finger one of his pierced earlobes in thought. “What about your mom?”

“On vacation in Florida and I have no way to reach her.” You sighed. “The phone number she left us was a dud.”

Namjoon hummed, lips pursed as he racked his brain. “Well maybe if we--”

Crack!

All seven of you jumped at the loud echo of a tree branch snapping.

“What was that?” Hoseok’s voice was hushed as he took an unconsious step closer towards the center of the circle.

“An animal?” Jimin was equally as quiet. “It could have--”

Crack!

Namjoon’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t think that’s an animal.”

Your own eyes widened at the statement. “Jungkook!”

“Wait, Y/n. It might not be him.” Seokjin’s warning went unheard as you rushed to the still open hatch.

“Or it could be.”

The protests from all six men followed you down the ladder and all the way to the ground. Though they weren’t too far behind you. You turned on your heel to search the darkness around you, looking for Jungkook’s long black hair. Or his tall frame. Or his wide shoulders. Anything.

A hand clamping down on your shoulder tore a scream of surprise from your throat. Your head snapped around to greet the sharp jawline of Hoseok’s profile. His narrowed eyes were fixed past you on something that you couldn’t see. “What is that?”

You turned to look at what he was pointing at, everyone else stepping closer to do the same. At first you didn’t see it, couldn’t make out anything at all. Until, there! A flash of silver caught your eye.

“Hello?” Seokjin’s obnoxiously loud voice boomed across the tiny clearing and echoed far bayond the treeline.

“Don’t call it over here, idiot!” Hoseok hissed through his teeth, fingers unconsiously tightening their hold on your shoulder.

But his warning came too late. Because whetever was out there hidden in the darkness of the trees came closer. And if you strained your ears, you could just barely make out the sound of footfalls brushing against the grass.

“What the…” Jimin’s voice came from your other side, but you were too busy focused on whatever that thing was to care. “Wait…I think that’s a person.”

A beam of light flashed from Namjoon’s hand, temporarily startling everyone at the sudden appearance of a flashlight. At least he’d been smart enough to grab it. And shine it right in the eyes of the being that emerged from the shadows like a wraith. Hoseok’s high-pitched scream threatened to deafen you, but you couldn’t look away.

Because standing on the other side of the clearing was a boy, a stranger. Everyone knew everyone in Hawkins and you would have remembered seeing him around. Never would you have forgotten a face that breathtakingly beautiful. With golden skin and large brown eyes, he stared at the seven of you like he’d never seen another human being before.

Wavy silver hair framed his face, and his lips--the top a perfect cupid’s bow--were slightly parted in something that you couldn’t discern. But it wasn’t just his entrancing face or slim build that caught your attention. No, it was the dried blood stained on the front of his sunshine yellow, oversized dirty t-shirt.

“Who the hell are you?”

#bangtanarmynet #btsbookclub #bts fic #jungkook #jungkook fic #taehyung #taehyung fic #jimin #jimin fic #namjoon #namjoon fic #hoseok #hoseok fic #yoongi #yoongi fic #seokjin #seokjin fic #ficswithluv

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seekingseven · 4 years

Text

The Most Sincere Kind of Lie (Ch1)

Chapter 1 of my Linked Universe fanfic, let’s see how this baby goes down! Also available to read here on AO3

┍━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━┑

Hyrule's Hyrule did not feel like a Hyrule.

A calm, somber, empty wind threaded its way through the sky and forest and swamps, stirring up the stagnant dust lying on abandoned pathways and tugging curiously at the Links' clothing. The road they walked along was hard and flat, unfamiliar with the shifting anxiousness of wandering travelers and unwilling to leave any memory of their footprints behind. Streams mumbled and grumbled to the south, and the dark, seductive lullaby of the forest wafted in from the north. Hauntingly beautiful and terribly desolate was the only way to describe this place. Not even three hours of walking had yielded sight of a single other traveler aside from themselves.

Hyrule wasn't bothered by this, however. In fact, the traveler had an extra skip in his step and sparkle in his smile, excitedly weaving through the crowd of his incarnations and pointing out distant shadows of distant places with infectious enthusiasm. Infectious enthusiasm was the only proper term for it; Hyrule's amicable and eager attitude had contaminated everyone in the group. Sky hummed a lullaby as they walked along, bopping his head slowly as Wind thumped out the time signature on his chest. Four, Wild and Wars were all huddled around the traveler, trying to guess the names and places of things ahead of them while Hyrule laughed and occasionally applauded their efforts. Even Time and Twilight stared at the darkening sky and pointed out the timid pinpricks of light above, grinning like love-struck fools when Hyrule named each constellation and detailed the lore behind them.

On the other hand, Legend was very much bothered by their current situation. Even after hours of walking, he had no idea where Hyrule was taking them. He had no idea where, or even if, they were going to sleep tonight. Were they going to have dinner? Discuss a battle strategy or cover story for their ragtag group before they eventually ended up in some Nayru-forsaken town? Legend glared at the armor on Time's back. Of all people, Old Man should have had the presence of mind to lay out some semblance of a plan. But instead, he had an arm draped around Hyrule's shoulder and another on Twilight's, looking up at the stars as if they were the answer to all his most profound questions and desires. A smart bunch his incarnations were, Legend thought. They might as well run off the path at full speed and wait for wild monsters to tear them apart if everyone was going to be this idyllic and dopey. Yeah. Idiots. That's all they were. Legend brooded and nurtured his dissatisfaction with paternal meticulousness, almost enjoying the feeling of disgust blooming between his ribs. He thought of how much his feet hurt and how heavy his eyelids felt. What he would give for a good meal and a warm blanket and twenty seconds of reprieve from the noise and racket around him. His eyebrows slipped low over his face, his mouth twisted into its typical grimace, his movements slowed as he began to lag behind the rest of the group.

Goddesses above, he was so, so, so tired.

The silvery, boisterous sound of Sky's laughter shattered the silence Legend had grown extremely fond of over the last few minutes. The disgruntled hero stared up from his feet and stifled a groan as he processed the chaos in front of him. Wind was carrying Sky on his shoulders, swaying back and forth as the former's power bracelet twinkled crazily under the moonlight, and a piggyback race had been declared. Four had hoisted himself on Warriors' back without a second thought, and the two were off, sprinting down a path they weren't familiar with, and towards a horizon they'd never met. A brilliant thing to do in a foreign Hyrule, Legend thought bitterly. At least Time, Twilight, Wild, and Hyrule had some semblance of dignity about them. Oh, scratch that, the insane cook had stripped down to what he called his Sheikah Speedos (whatever on Farore's good green earth that meant) and was now sitting atop Twilight's shoulders. Legend hoped for a split second that Twilight would be level-minded enough to dissuade his protégé from such a reckless pastime. The aforementioned hope melted in the air when the pair shrieked a stream of sacrilegious boasts and sprinted after Wind and Warriors' retreating forms. Hyrule, who was still leading the whole group -- even though they were in his Hyrule, Legend had a sneaking feeling that this was a bad idea -- tossed his shield underneath his feet and quite literally sledded down the path. Legend sighed dramatically. Apparently, Wild's wasteful hobby had tainted even him.

Idiots, the lot of them.

Humid fog skittered over from a nearby river and settled onto Legend's lashes and cheeks. He blinked slowly and yawned again. The arsenal on his back pulled him downwards, and Legend made no motion to resist, relishing the feeling of slack muscles and half-closed eyes and hair flopping in front of his face. He didn't notice how far forward he was slumped until his hands dragged across the floor and scratched the rough skin of his knuckles. Legend glared furiously at the dust beneath him, as if to reprimand its audacity. The half-asleep hero proceeded to slog forward with even less intention than before.

Maybe if he fell asleep in the middle of the path, they would all stop their shenanigans and put their heads back on their shoulders.

"Hey, Legend! Pick it up, yeah? You're moving about as fast as Wind's gramma on a summer afternoon!"

That stupid cook couldn't even let him sleep, huh?

Legend didn't have a comeback, so he just sneered at Wild's silhouette as Wind did the job for him. Sailor boy had quite the vocabulary -- not exactly vulgar but certainly brazen enough to make the aforementioned 'Gramma' blush had she been here. The lazy smile was still plastered over Legend's face when Time broke away from the group and sidled up next to him.

"What do you make of all this?" Time questioned.

"Nothing much. It's all pretty stupid, to be honest." The veteran hero didn't look up from the floor, addressing his sleepy words to the dust underneath him.

Time gave Legend a sidelong look. The sound of laughter and smell of sea salt carried on the wind and grazed the tips of Legend's ears. The Old Man's gaze didn't falter, somehow becoming more childish and bright as he tilted his head genially to the side and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Legend took one look at the dopey look on Time's face and rolled his eyes.

"Not a chance, Old Man. I might hurt your back."

"My back? Oh no, you misunderstand. I'm more interested in receiving a piggyback ride than giving one."

Legend took an involuntary step back and stared up at Time with incredulity splashed all over his face.

"...?!"

"Ah. You're a poor sport, I see."

"... you're not going to manipulate me into something as humiliating as that."

"Oh well. Worth a shot. But what about Hyrule?"

"??"

"Everyone is getting rides except him. I have a feeling he would appreciate it very much if you would swallow your pride for his sake. Why not help him win that race?"

"Yeah," Legend grunted, "and I would appreciate it if you got off my case and let me be."

They walked on in silence. The Old Man's armor chinked in time with the sea shanty Wind was belting out at the top of his lungs. A few of the other Links joined in, even though they didn't know the words, their voices exploding into an ungodly crescendo as Wind tossed his hands up into the sky. Legend remained silent. He kicked the small pebbles in front of his feet and glowered at the shifting shadows lurking around the path's corners. There was no need to worry -- Hyrule had made it clear that as long as one stuck on the road, there was no chance of being attacked by any monsters -- but Legend's sleep-deprived brain sparkled with anxiety regardless. Snorts and giggles and quips and retorts echoed in the cold air; Time smiled at them, Legend glared. He just wanted to get to a town, eat something, nap, and wake up when Hylia's little shtick was all over.

"Time!" Wild shouted, snapping Legend out of his reverie, "can you hold these for us? Twi and I have a race to win, and alla these thingamajiggers aren't doing much to help us out." Twilight stumbled over to them, trying to balance the hyperactive wild child spazzing out on his shoulders, and started to say something before Wild promptly dumped an assortment of swords, shields, and shirts into the Old Man's outstretched arms. Twilight stared apologetically up at Time, opening his mouth to speak before Wild tugged his hair demanded they rejoin the fray. Legend had to hold a hand in front of his face to avoid breathing in the dust Twilight kicked up. Time stared on fondly, slinging the swords over his shoulders and scrutinizing the abandoned things around him as the two crazies scampered off. He sat on his knees with a grunt and started sifting through his bag, apparently looking for a sliver of space to put the random shields and clothes he'd been handed. A few random weapons and supplies had to come out before anything else could go in, and Legend scrutinized them with the jaded eye of a seasoned mage. Time pulled out a hookshot (typical), bow (even more so), three separate quivers of ice, fire, and light arrows (untouched for years, if the fine coating of dust around them meant anything), and a strange magnifying glass with a magenta frame and indigo lens. Well, well, well. What could that be? A familiar cold fire tickled the back of his throat -- the same one that prompted him to begin his first journey and propelled him through the rest. It only grew stronger when Legend noticed how the lens bent and scattered the moonbeams falling around it; it was almost as if the artifact was trying to avoid the light. His eyebrows flickered up, and a smirk pinched the corners of his lips. Legend tossed a quick glance first at Time, who was still slowly shuffling around the materials in his bag, and another one at the rest of the Links, who were still racing and tripping and shouting like a gang of toddlers. In one fluid movement, Legend swiped the lens and held it up in front of his grinning face.

The lens was heavy, not just because of the metal handle, but because of the ocean of magic seething and roiling within. Dark magic, without a doubt; the thick, somber, molasses-like heartbeat of the enchantment couldn't be chalked up to anything else. But said dark magic had obviously been tampered with in some way; there was none of the electric, fiery malevolence ingrained in most cursed artifacts. Perhaps it had been enchanted by a mage with a pure heart and proficiency in the dark arts? Legend's eyebrows pressed together. His fingertips itched to pull out his Magic Mirror and compare the two.

It took Legend a few seconds to register that Time's singular eye was boring into him. Legend startled and took a few preemptive steps back, just in case the Old Man got it in his head to make a lunge for the strange lens. The veteran hero smiled at his companion, balancing the artifact on the fat part of his palm.

"Fascinating. Where'd you get this, Old Man? Never thought you were a connoisseur of corrupted magical artifacts."

Time shrugged his shoulders and stood up, slinging his bag and assortment of swords around his neck. Legend tried very hard not to become uncomfortable under his unflinching, unreadable stare.

"I don't suggest you play with it," Time finally said.

Legend grinned even wider and pressed the strange artifact to his chest. "You don't say?" He flicked the crimson barbs adorning the top of the lens and tapped the handle with a fingernail. "I can feel the Dark Magic pouring through this lens -- if it even is a lens and not a portal of sorts." Holding it up to the moon, Legend's face contorted in curiosity as the lens snuffed out the light around it. "The weird thing is that there's no malevolence behind the magic. Must have been cast by a powerful mage with no intent to harm."

"Perhaps it was." Despite his words, Time's deadpan words hung thickly in the air and betrayed his complete disinterest in pursuing the conversation further. He held out his hand in front of him, an invitation for Legend to return the lens so the both could continue on their way.

Legend slapped the hand away.

"I don't think so," the veteran teased. "Wanna tell me why you don't want me holding onto this thing? Hiding something, Gramps?"

"Aren't we all?"

"Oh please, spare me your existential-crisis inducing lectures. What do these engravings on the side mean?" Legend squinted at the fine letters etched into the rim. "Hmm...Lens of Truth. Is that what it's called? How odd. Hey, what do you say will happen if I look through it?"

"The same thing that happened to my eye."

Legend's fiery curiosity dimmed and his sense of self-preservation flared. The veteran cradled the lens in his palm and widened his eyes, searching Time's face for any hint of duplicity.

"Really?" Legend whispered.

"Nope." Time replied. The skin around his eyes crinkled. Legend groaned loudly. He should have seen this one coming.

"Ugh. You really had me going for a second there."

"Hmm. Now give it back."

"C'mon," Legend urged, "don't be such a grump. Can't I just hold onto it for a little bit? You know how careful I am with artifacts of all kids, magical or not. Now that I think about it, I'm probably the best person to keep it with. Not like it's doing anything in that bag of yours."

The silence was heavy and disappointing. Legend was about to appeal to his character and reliability once more before noticing the childish glint in Time's eyes.

Oh no.

"Well, maybe if…" Time began.

"I'm not giving you a piggyback ride."

Time's baritone chuckles muffled the sounds of dust crunching beneath their feet. "I was only going to ask you if you would be able to carry all these things for me."

Legend blinked quickly, then sheepishly nodded his head. This was a pretty good deal, actually. He slung Time's bag and the array of swords Wild had dumped off around his shoulders, wincing as they dug into his skin. A sharp prick of jealousy pierced his heart as he watched Time sprint ahead and swing Hyrule onto his shoulders. He shook his head, trying to ignore the sound of Hyrule's soft, shy laughter, and busied himself with the lens in his hands.

What a fascinating thing it was. "The Lens of Truth," huh? Much more enigmatic of a name than "Magic Mirror." He idly bounced the lens in his hand as he thought. Why was it filled with dark magic but free of actual darkness? What kind of truth did it claim to reveal? Why did Time have such a strange artifact sitting at the bottom of his inventory?

His curiosity burned even brighter, and Legend found himself almost skipping down the path.

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

Saria Town smelled like salt, dirt, and the sweat of a community living on the fringes of the world. At Hyrule's insistence, the Links slid off each other's shoulders and sauntered over to Legend to grab their swords, shields, and -- in Wild's case -- clothes. The veteran smiled half-heartedly as the weight on his back was lifted in bits and pieces, eyes and mind still trained on the Lens of Truth. It had been half an hour since the strange artifact had first been handed to him, and he was still no closer to finding any explanation for its weird magical aura.

"Okay, everyone, just some things before we head in." Hyrule's faint voice carried clearly through the crisp nighttime air. "The only building in this town big enough for all of us to stay at belongs to Saria Town's Wise Man. You guys need to be really nice and polite to him, or we won't have any place to sleep tonight."

"Are you saying we aren't always nice and polite?" Sky questioned. Laughter rippled through the assemblage of heroes as Hyrule awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, I'm just saying that some of us struggle, maybe just a little, with that last one?"

Everybody's eyes fell on Legend.

"What?" The veteran said.

Hyrule turned bright red and sputtered out an apology, trying to explain that he hadn't meant to single out anybody with that last statement and he was just trying to make sure everybody knew what the townspeople would expect and that he was so sorry gosh just so--

Legend held out a hand in front of him and bounced the Lens of Truth between the fingers of the other. "I'm not mad," he finally said, walking past Hyrule towards the rickety wooden bridge that led to the small town. "I'll be going now. If anyone feels like joining me, be my guest."

Saria Town was somehow even quieter up close. A smattering of squat, grey buildings pressed their stomachs to the floor, tender blades of grass carpeting the ground beneath them. Soft light poured out of open windows and spilled on the ground. The sleepy villagers perked up at the sight of Hyrule and widened their eyes at the sight of his entourage, waving shyly and grinning when the whole group waved back.

Hyrule stopped in front of the biggest building in the town, hesitating for a split second before knocking. The Links clustered behind him. A woman dressed in purple answered the door, light spilling out from the crack in the door and glinting off the polished wooden porch. Her eyes widened when she recognized the figure at her doorstep.

"Hello, Link! Oh, you look so tired! Do you need a place to stay, darling?"

"Yes, ma'am," Hyrule said, "and so does my family."

┕━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━┙

#linkeduniverse #zelda #fanfiction #angstTIMES!:D #seeking7 #LU

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cole-grey-writes · 5 years

Text

Marriage Broker

Universe: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Timeline: Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming

Character(s): Wanda Maximoff, Peter Parker, Natasha Romanov

Pairing(s): Wanda Maximoff x Male Reader (platonic), Peter Parker x Male Reader

Warning(s): swearing

Request: Can you do a platonic Wanda x Avenger!Male reader where she realizes the reader is into Peter Parker and she sets them up but neither of them realize what’s she’s doing until it’s done?

A/n: yay, another request! Sorry for the absolutely long wait, and wow this is really long. But I’m so very happy that you guys like my writing. I really enjoy writing for you guys so pls keep sending me requests : D and thank you for waiting for so long. Hope you enjoy!

Wanda watches as you smile down at your phone. The corners of your eyes are crinkled, your face warm with blush. Wanda eyes you for a moment longer before she crosses the kitchen. She sits at the table, taking the seat across from you. She asks you, “What’s got you so happy?”

You look up, smiling at Wanda while not-so-subtly hiding your phone in your lap. “Good morning, bestie,” you greet her.

You and Wanda met back in 2015, during the whole Ultron business. Even though the two of you didn’t interact much at the time, after the dust had settled and cleared and Wanda had become an official member of the avengers, you came together naturally and started hanging out on a regular basis. You had plenty to bond over because of your close proximity in age and the fact that you both had only just become avengers recently. You became best friends soon after.

“Good morning, Y/n,” Wanda greets back, linking her hands on the table while staring at you suspiciously. She goes to ask you about what's making you laugh so much, but is interrupted. A ping comes from the phone in your lap.

You instantly look down at it, completely forgetting about Wanda, and you erupt with laughter. You lift your hand to cover your mouth when you can’t help but laugh. Wanda has never seen you smile or laugh so… she can’t quite find the word for it. Gushingly, maybe, as if…

Wanda gasps and blurts, “You have a crush!”

Your laugh dies as you look up at Wanda sharply. “What?”

“You have a crush,” Wanda states again and you make a face in response, obviously trying to feign confusion.

“Pfff,” you scoff, waving your hands in a dismissive manner. “What? What do you mean? Me? A crush? Noo, thats-”

Wanda ignores you and asks, “Who is it?”

“What? It’s no one, Wanda, it’s-”

“I don’t believe you,” Wanda says, her accent drawled. She quickly reaches across the table and grabs ahold of your phone. You shout and tighten your grip, trying to keep it from her.

“Y/n, just give it-”

“No, Wanda, let go-”

“No fighting in the kitchen,” Natasha orders, popping up unexpectedly and out of nowhere. It makes you jump and unfortunately for you, Wanda wins the tug-a-war and is able to rip the phone out of your hands. Wanda shouts in victory.

You pout, whining, “Nat!”

Natasha doesn’t turn around from where she’s eating blueberries she got from the fridge, her back facing you. “Don’t blame me for your butterfingers.”

Sighing, you try to get Wanda to give you back your phone but she doesn’t budge. She simply smiles and begins going through your texts. You cross your arms and continue to pout while waiting for her to be done.

It isn’t long before Wanda makes a show of gasping, causing you to blush and look down at your lap. “You really like him,” it's not a question and you can’t tell if that’s worse than if she was asking. You glare, but there’s no heat behind it and you know Wanda knows that.

Natasha, still not looking at you two and instead messing around on her phone, asks, “Who do you like?”

You don’t answer, don’t even acknowledge that she’s said anything, so Wanda tells her, “Peter Parker,” in a sing sing tone.

Natasha smirks. “Spider Jr?” she wonders coyly, even though you and Wanda know she knows who Peter is, and that she knows you both know she knows (which is confusing, but you get the point).

“Yes!” Wanda confirms happily. Groaning from embarrassment, you snatch your phone back, sliding it in your pocket so she has no way of trying to take it again. “Why don’t you ask him out?”

You debate continuing to play dumb but figure she’s already come this far, so there’s no point. You shrug instead, saying, “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Wha-” Wanda stutters, “it is a big deal, Y/n, this-”

“I almost forgot,” Natasha interrupts, walking over to stand in front of the table so she can look down at you. “You’re needed for a mission briefing with Steve and Thor on the third floor. Starts in thirty minutes, so you better suit up quick. Fury wouldn’t appreciate your tardiness,” and then she sits down with her blueberries and gets back to whatever’s on her phone.

You sigh, standing while grabbing your half filled water bottle and breakfast plate. You drop off your plate in the sink, but keep your water with you.

Wanda’s eyes follow you the whole time. “Y/n,” she says, trying to argue.

“No, Wanda, crushing from afar is just better, alright?” you tell her, pausing on your way out. You shake you head, letting out a defeated sigh. “Saves me from the humiliation.”

Wanda frowns, watching you leave. She can only wonder what she can do for you. Wanda’s never been in a relationship either, so she’s not sure of all the ropes. All she knows is that she wants to help you get the guy.

Next to her, Natasha types away on her phone. The soft clicking noise grabs Wanda’s attention. Wanda is suddenly struck with an idea.

She leans closer to Natasha, smiling sweetly. “Hey, Nat?”

Natasha looks up from her phone. She smirks.

There's a reason Natasha’s skills are never doubted (may the devil have mercy on the poor soul that does doubt her) because when Natasha smirks at Wanda like that, she knows she’s already won the game.

It’s almost too easy. Wanda comes up with the best strategy while you’re away on your mission with Steve and Thor. The only hard part was waiting for those five days for you to get back so she could set her plan into action. And once you did get back, Wanda was instantly in your face about hanging out as soon as possible.

“Wanda,” you interrupt, setting down your bags. You turn to her. “I’ve only been back for five minutes. I have bruises the size of Manhattan, and I’m fucking exhausted. Let me rest.”

Wanda sighs, pretending to pout. “I know you just got back,” she tells you, “but I just… it’s just being away from you for five days made me realize we don’t hang out enough anymore.”

You sigh and flop back down on your bed. “Look, can we talk about this later? I’m really-”

“Friday,” Wanda says suddenly, “friday is a perfect day to hang out.”

“Wanda, no-”

“We can go to a deli shop. You’ve been wanting to try one for a while,” which isn’t a total lie. You have been wanting to go to a deli shop, just not the one Wanda’s referring to. Wanda’s not even able to take credit for the meeting place. Natasha had done some sleuthing for her and found out Peter goes to a specific deli shop after school every day.

“No, that’s not-”

“We’ll meet there at 3:30 sharp,” Wanda tells you, leaving before you can protest further.

All the pieces fell perfectly in order once Wanda had you on board. All Wanda had to do after that was just wait for friday to come (while simultaneously avoiding you so you couldn’t back out, but you know, you didn’t need to know that).

Wanda did just that and when friday came around, she went down to the deli half an hour early to get the rest of her plan set up. Wanda grabbed a seat in a corner where she has eyes one everything.

It wasn’t long before you arrived right on time, exactly 3:30. Wanda watches you look around for her, though she has no doubt you won’t find her. She’s dressed in a foolproof disguise: hair pulled back in a cap and glasses resting on her nose. Steve suggested it, and it always seems to work for him.

You sigh, picking a spot to the side that is out of the way to stand in while pulling out your phone.

You [3:31 PM] where are you?

Wanda pulls out her phone to answer you, waiting a few seconds wanting for it to seem believable.

Wanda [3:32 PM] ill be there soon

You [3:32 PM] i thought we were supposed to meet at 3:30 sharp

Wanda [3:33 PM] that was for you

Wanda can hear you scoff but chooses to not look in your direction.

She tells you she’s with Natasha at the moment. It’s a known fact that mentioning Natasha will always get people off your back.

Wanda [3:34 PM] just go find a seat for us

You put your phone back in your pocket and head over to a table. You barely take one step before you bump into someone. You gasp and start to apologize before stopping. Wanda smirks when she sees the curly brown hair, watching you two the whole time.

“Y/n,” Peter gasps, eyes wide.

“Peter,” you gasp back, pleasantly surprised. Peter smiles and you blush.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” he says, before he realizes how that sounds. “I mean, I didn't mean it in that way, I just come here everyday after school and I've never seen you here before. Not that you can’t be here, I mean…” Peter stops himself, face a red, hot volcano.

You giggle, saying, “Likewise.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing here?”

“I was planning to meet Wanda here for a late lunch.”

“Oh,” Peter nods. “Um, where is she?”

“With Nat, apparently, but she said she’ll be here soon, so,” Peter smiles and nods while you stare at him and blush. You stutter, “Well, um, you know, you-you could join us, if you want.”

Peter looks surprised. “I-I would love, uh, really like to join you for your late lunch, if it wouldn’t be a bother.”

You smile. “What? No, of course it’s not a bother, Pete, not at all. I was just about to find a seat, actually.”

“Oh, well, I actually know the perfect seats for us,” Peter leads you over to a booth only a few tables away from where Wanda is seated. You and Peter begin talking but you’re talking too softly for Wanda to hear what you’re saying. Luckily, she can read your lips. You talk mostly about avenging, specifically the recent mission you, Steve, and Thor went on, just easy conversation.

Not that it matters anyway because a waitress is immediately in front of you two, wondering what she could get you to drink. When you two are done answering, the waitress says, “Alright, well, I’ll be right back with those drinks for the lovely couple,” while smiling a toothy grin and walking away from the chaos she left behind.

Wanda can see you and Peter’s cheeks flush dark with blood. You can’t help but smile and cover your mouth. She watches intently while wringing her hands repeatedly, hoping her plan works.

You both try to go back to regular conversation, but it’s shifted now. You cover your entire face with your hands, scrubbing up and down, trying to get the blush to go away before Peter’s hands are suddenly pulling yours away from your face.

Wanda watches, holding her breath. Peter is saying something, but he’s looking down at the table so Wanda can’t make it out, but it makes you smile and laugh. Wanda can’t remember a time when you’ve looked happier.

Peter is smiling and laughing along with you. You reach across the table, tangling your fingers in the hair on the back of Peter’s neck. You lean across the table and softly press your lips against his.

Wanda can’t contain her squeals. This, of course, causes your eyebrows scrunch. You look in Wanda’s direction. Wanda gasps, jumping back in her booth and hiding under the table by laying down on the seat hopefully before you could spot her. She waits for a reasonable amount of time before she allows herself to sneak a peak over the table, where you and Peter sitting across from her.

“Hey, Wanda,” you greet her while Peter sits next to you with a knowing smile.

“Oh,” Wanda says, sitting up straight. “I guess you were bound to find out eventually,” You and Peter nod at that. “How exactly did you know I was setting you two up?”

“The waitress kinda tipped me off,” you tell her. “Her thinking we’re a couple right after you busted me for having a crush on Pete? Please.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I had no idea,” Peter says. You snort and lean a little closer to him. “I'm grateful, though.”

You smile at him, blush, and then turn to Wanda. “I am also very grateful for your help.”

“Well, that's a relief,” she says, then, “now, pay up.”

“Pay up? What are we paying for?” you ask her, sharing a confused look with Peter.

“You didn’t think I was setting you up for free, did you?”

You scoff, mouth hanging wide open. “We didn’t know you were setting us up in the first place!”

“All the more reason to pay me finely for my services,” Wanda holds out her hands. “Fifty each, please.”

“Fifty?” you question, still shocked. “Why do you need a hundred dollars for this?”

“Oh, I don't. I only need fifty, but I need the other fifty for Nat because she helped.”

You and Peter exchange looks and begin pulling out your wallets, causing Wanda to smile in victory. “Fine,” you say, slapping the fifty in her hand, “but you're paying for lunch.”

(NOT MY GIFS)

Main Blog // Other Side Blog

((NO ONE HAS MY PERMISSION TO REPOST MY WORK ANYWHERE EVEN WITH CREDIT))

#wanda maximoff x male reader #wanda maximoff x reader #peter parker x male reader #peter parker x reader #reader insert #marvel cinematic universe

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survivesalem · 4 years

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Episode 8 - “Threats are working together. Mac is getting yeeted” - Raffy

Someone has to be lying to me because I am hearing two opposite stories. Liam told me before the vote that it was being split between Dylan and Zach. After the vote, Liam confirmed to me that it was Gizmo. Then, Mac told me it was Gizmo leading the split. Gizmo told me that Liam and Mac are liars, and they were the ones leading the vote. Then, after much taunting and finger pointing, Gizmo backtracks and says that Brien was the real person being the mastermind behind this. Apparently, Brien told Gizmo that Dylan, Zach, and I were close and to not tell me about the split vote. Honestly, this whole mess has taught me that everyone who voted Zach needs to go because it just goes to show that they are much better at this game than me. The only ones I can trust are Paolo and Jessie since they were the only ones to vote Dylan with me. I need to start gaining more of their trust. I created an alliance called Bottom Buddies with people I think who are in the bottom which are myself, Paolo, Jessie, and Liam. I think adding Liam to that alliance was a mistake because he is too involved in the mess. If Gizmo is telling the truth then that means there is an alliance of Jay, Mac, Liam, and Brien which is more scary to me than the thought of a Gizmo and Cameron shady shack. I believe they all need to go, but I think taking out the four would be better for my soul than taking out a duo. However, they ALL do need to go. Also, I played my hex on Gizmo in the heat of the moment which is probably bad, but I don't care. If I do go against the four, I think I would prefer immunity around my neck just in case.

So now this game has gone crazy and gizmo was 100 percent in control of the Zach vote I just wasn’t mad about it so I went along with it but now he is trying to throw me under the bus and say I masterminded the whole thing well he is a nice person but he isn’t long for the game if I have anything to say about it. Now people are apparently looking at Mac and I as a duo and that’s so dangerous for my game that I might have to consider cutting Mac and putting him on the jury even though me him and Liam have a final 3 but I necessarily know if that’s the group I wanna make FTC with my ideal group would be me,Cameron,Jessie/jay I don’t know if I can get that to happen but I will certainly try my best I think everyone is pretty anti gizmo atm but i can’t cut off my options and just be gung ho about taking gizmo out next bc maybe he can still be useful to me. Raffy is dangerous and needs to go soon I don’t want him getting anywhere near FTC if he makes it he will have a good shot at winning based simply on his likability. Liam is certainly close to Mac and I may have to make sure everyone knows they are a duo and quickly but the thing is I don’t see Liam winning at the end based upon what I’ve seen of his gameplay. So I definitely need to split them up ASAP and it may kill 2 birds with one stone by taking Mac out and making my “duo” go away to minimize my target level.

I think I'm going to go after Gizmo this round, and I am going to side with the majority. Whether or not Gizmo is telling the truth, I don't have the numbers to go against the others if I wanted to side with Gizmo. Next round, I think I want one of Mac, Jay, or Liam to get gone. I need Brien to turn on them and be more loyal to me. I think I can rally Paolo and Jessie to my side as well. The issue is Cameron. He's a very hard person to talk to just in general, and we had a bit of a falling out because of the situation. Hopefully he'll take my lifeline. Otherwise, it might just be him next (which I wouldn't mind either).

Paolo and I had a very long call today, before results. I basically spilled my guts to him, and he did to me as well. I want to work with Paolo in the long term, but I am not sure if he wants to work with me. We basically came to the conclusion that we have to target Mac this round as he's been spreading my name. He also listed Gizmo and Brien as big threats. Basically, I want Paolo to go to Gizmo and start an alliance with him that's with Brien and I. This would be the Big Threats alliance that would target Mac this round. Then, we can get rid of his cronies Liam and Jay. I think with that four, we can pull in Cameron and Jessie to vote out someone. I know that Gizmo is probably lying, but that's why I am going to take him out at either Final 5 or Final 6. Basically, whether or not Gizmo was spearheading the vote, the big threats need to stick together if we want to make it far in this game. Paolo is definitely trying to lower his threat level by claiming he's just a stepping stone which I do not believe. I think he'll turn on me eventually, but I need him now more than ever.

So. I Lowkey can’t remember the last time I made a confessional and to that I say oopsies. Me, Brien and Liam are a lit 3. I’m good with pretty much...everyone? Tbh. Cameron needs to leave. Had Raffy not won this immunity Lowkey he would’ve been voted out. It’s a secret war between Raffy and Gizmo with a bunch of us in the middle. I need Gizmo as a shield so I need Gizmo’s non-social right hand man, Cameron out. The Final 3 is getting closer and closer, and I’m ready to snatch this. I’m hungry for this win. My blood is boiling for this win. My strategy is really good, but I need my social game to be good too. I can’t always rely on Liam and Brien otherwise I won’t get the majority of votes. My bootlist is mostly accurate. My ideal F6 is the ANZAC duo of Liam & I, also with Brien, Jessie, Jay and Paolo. I really need to buddy up with Jessie, Jay and Paolo so I can convince them to stick with me when the time is right. If I make it to Final 6 then I’ll be super happy. But I want that win. Who do I have to hex to win this game?

I was such a flop in my first game, playing really hard in the first few rounds and then being blindsided before I got the chance to react. This time, with it being the final 9 out of 18, I’m pretty happy with my position and could really see myself taking the whole thing if I time my moves correctly. Unfortunately, losing Dylan and Zach were hard hits on my social connections, but I think I’m working my way into other people’s plans. GREEN: Just in terms of people’s good graces, I think I’m very close to Raffy (current immunity holder) and Brien. YELLOW: Positioning myself as a newbie, I’ve secured connections with Liam, Gizmo, Mac. While I’d love for an all newbie Final 3, it’s just not feasible if I want to look out for my own game. RED: Although I’m not very in with Jessie, Jay, and Cameron, I’m sure I’ll be well established for people to not target me for a couple of rounds. So far, I’ve heard that Cameron and Gizmo are on the chopping block this round. HOWEVER, with my close relationships, I’ve been able to pull off some votes towards Mac. It’s no time to play an UTR game anymore, I need to make risky moves that will secure my resume and give me a fighting shot to win this season!

Final 9 it’s an interesting spot for sure, I want to take Mac out bc the mere fact him and I are seen as a duo is scary and she should have never told me that. It was his biggest mistake bc now he has hurricane Brien coming after him and I don’t plan on letting him survive this vote. I have my final 3 with him and Liam but I feel they have distanced with me this last vote so I don’t feel they are 100 percent taking me to final 3 and Liam and Mac are closer to each other then me so I need to split that up. This Mac blindside is my idea, my move Cameron or gizmo were going out the door till I stepped in and worked my magic. I think social game will get me past the final 8 to the final 7 and I’ll just need 3 people who want to work with me after that. Paolo is someone I don’t want to take very far but I can realistically give him 6th or 5th Jessie is someone I wanna go to the final 3 with bc she is a nice person and deserves it however I also think I can beat her Cameron is someone I also wanna sit at FTC with but I doubt there is a scenario where they survive but people are already perceiving them as a goat which is dangerous Gizmo I kinda didn’t want him to target me this round so I pointed his target at Mac bc that’s what benefits me and no one will take him that far into this game I can see him being a target at final 8 or 7 bc he is a duo with Cameron and people will wanna split that up Raffy is loyal to me I hope however after the Zach vote he may be weary of me and I’ll need to watch my back so he doesn’t stab me in it and he isn’t someone I want to sit next to at the end Jay is quiet but he has a likability I know it will be hard to beat him at the end but i think I want him next to me especially if my game is better and more flashier then I think I could beat him in a jury vote. Liam macs right hand man and I’m the only one that knows but once Mac goes then he will be all alone and have to scramble for a number one ally

Mac might just get voted out. Paolo actually got Gizmo to target Mac, and Gizmo told me what I already knew from Paolo. Even Brien wants to target Mac without me even prompting it. So, I think that the four us want to work together as a voting bloc to get rid of Mac this round.

Well, last vote did and didnt go how I'd hoped. Zach went home, but I got sent to the coals. My name is in everyone's mouth now. However, some people have come forward with information that have lead to 5 of us taking out someone else. I'm still prepared to go home though. I might not he able to dig myself out of my hole

I. Feel. Really. Bad. This is the first vote where I tugged the strings, I know how this vote is going down and I know that I have to leave people out of it for it to work. If it is does work, great awesome I'm closer to some people in Raffy, Brien, and Gizmo. But I'm really close to Liam!! I know this is Survivor and all, but I hate to leave him out of it because he's never betrayed me or given me any reason NOT to trust him. Is this really the best move for me long term? If I really want to be in that final three spot and compete to win, is this the best way to do it?

Threats are working together. Mac is getting yeeted

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aiweirdness · 6 years

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When algorithms surprise us

Machine learning algorithms are not like other computer programs. In the usual sort of programming, a human programmer tells the computer exactly what to do. In machine learning, the human programmer merely gives the algorithm the problem to be solved, and through trial-and-error the algorithm has to figure out how to solve it.

This often works really well - machine learning algorithms are widely used for facial recognition, language translation, financial modeling, image recognition, and ad delivery. If you’ve been online today, you’ve probably interacted with a machine learning algorithm.

But it doesn’t always work well. Sometimes the programmer will think the algorithm is doing really well, only to look closer and discover it’s solved an entirely different problem from the one the programmer intended. For example, I looked earlier at an image recognition algorithm that was supposed to recognize sheep but learned to recognize grass instead, and kept labeling empty green fields as containing sheep.

When machine learning algorithms solve problems in unexpected ways, programmers find them, okay yes, annoying sometimes, but often purely delightful.

So delightful, in fact, that in 2018 a group of researchers wrote a fascinating paper that collected dozens of anecdotes that “elicited surprise and wonder from the researchers studying them”. The paper is well worth reading, as are the original references, but here are several of my favorite examples.

Bending the rules to win

First, there’s a long tradition of using simulated creatures to study how different forms of locomotion might have evolved, or to come up with new ways for robots to walk.

Why walk when you can flop? In one example, a simulated robot was supposed to evolve to travel as quickly as possible. But rather than evolve legs, it simply assembled itself into a tall tower, then fell over. Some of these robots even learned to turn their falling motion into a somersault, adding extra distance.

[Image: Robot is simply a tower that falls over.]

Why jump when you can can-can? Another set of simulated robots were supposed to evolve into a form that could jump. But the programmer had originally defined jumping height as the height of the tallest block so - once again - the robots evolved to be very tall. The programmer tried to solve this by defining jumping height as the height of the block that was originally the *lowest*. In response, the robot developed a long skinny leg that it could kick high into the air in a sort of robot can-can.

[Image: Tall robot flinging a leg into the air instead of jumping]

Hacking the Matrix for superpowers

Potential energy is not the only energy source these simulated robots learned to exploit. It turns out that, like in real life, if an energy source is available, something will evolve to use it.

Floating-point rounding errors as an energy source: In one simulation, robots learned that small rounding errors in the math that calculated forces meant that they got a tiny bit of extra energy with motion. They learned to twitch rapidly, generating lots of free energy that they could harness. The programmer noticed the problem when the robots started swimming extraordinarily fast.

Harvesting energy from crashing into the floor: Another simulation had some problems with its collision detection math that robots learned to use. If they managed to glitch themselves into the floor (they first learned to manipulate time to make this possible), the collision detection would realize they weren’t supposed to be in the floor and would shoot them upward. The robots learned to vibrate rapidly against the floor, colliding repeatedly with it to generate extra energy.

[Image: robot moving by vibrating into the floor]

Clap to fly: In another simulation, jumping bots learned to harness a different collision-detection bug that would propel them high into the air every time they crashed two of their own body parts together. Commercial flight would look a lot different if this worked in real life.

Discovering secret moves: Computer game-playing algorithms are really good at discovering the kind of Matrix glitches that humans usually learn to exploit for speed-running. An algorithm playing the old Atari game Q*bert discovered a previously-unknown bug where it could perform a very specific series of moves at the end of one level and instead of moving to the next level, all the platforms would begin blinking rapidly and the player would start accumulating huge numbers of points.

A Doom-playing algorithm also figured out a special combination of movements that would stop enemies from firing fireballs - but it only works in the algorithm’s hallucinated dream-version of Doom. Delightfully, you can play the dream-version here

[Image: Q*bert player is accumulating a suspicious number of points, considering that it’s not doing much of anything]

Shooting the moon: In one of the more chilling examples, there was an algorithm that was supposed to figure out how to apply a minimum force to a plane landing on an aircraft carrier. Instead, it discovered that if it applied a *huge* force, it would overflow the program’s memory and would register instead as a very *small* force. The pilot would die but, hey, perfect score.

Destructive problem-solving

Something as apparently benign as a list-sorting algorithm could also solve problems in rather innocently sinister ways.

Well, it’s not unsorted: For example, there was an algorithm that was supposed to sort a list of numbers. Instead, it learned to delete the list, so that it was no longer technically unsorted.

Solving the Kobayashi Maru test: Another algorithm was supposed to minimize the difference between its own answers and the correct answers. It found where the answers were stored and deleted them, so it would get a perfect score.

How to win at tic-tac-toe: In another beautiful example, in 1997 some programmers built algorithms that could play tic-tac-toe remotely against each other on an infinitely large board. One programmer, rather than designing their algorithm’s strategy, let it evolve its own approach. Surprisingly, the algorithm suddenly began winning all its games. It turned out that the algorithm's strategy was to place its move very, very far away, so that when its opponent's computer tried to simulate the new greatly-expanded board, the huge gameboard would cause it to run out of memory and crash, forfeiting the game.

In conclusion

When machine learning solves problems, it can come up with solutions that range from clever to downright uncanny.

Biological evolution works this way, too - as any biologist will tell you, living organisms find the strangest solutions to problems, and the strangest energy sources to exploit. Sometimes I think the surest sign that we’re not living in a computer simulation is that if we were, some microbe would have learned to exploit its flaws.

So as programmers we have to be very very careful that our algorithms are solving the problems that we meant for them to solve, not exploiting shortcuts. If there’s another, easier route toward solving a given problem, machine learning will likely find it.

Fortunately for us, “kill all humans” is really really hard. If “bake an unbelievably delicious cake” also solves the problem and is easier than “kill all humans”, then machine learning will go with cake.

If you become a supporter of AI Weirdness, there will be cake!

#machine learning #evolutionary algorithms #evolution #neural networks #the matrix

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psychospeak-blog · 6 years

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Won’t Go Slowly // 41

One // Two // Three // Four // Five // Six // Seven // Eight // Nine // Ten // Eleven // Twelve // Thirteen // Fourteen // Fifteen // Sixteen // Seventeen // Eighteen // Nineteen// Twenty // Twenty One // Twenty Two // Twenty Three // Twenty Four// Twenty Five // Twenty Six // Twenty Seven // Twenty Eight // Twenty Nine // Thirty // Thirty One // Thirty Two // Thirty Three // Thirty Four// Thirty Five // Thirty Six // Thirty Seven // Thirty Eight // Thirty Nine // Forty

A/N: Sorry this took so long! This chapter was hard for me for some reason (it is so hard for me to write a group of people, so mostly they were just there haha). But here it is!

You thought you had a pretty good understanding of Tyler. You were pretty sure you could knew what he was thinking, but he was being weird.

Incredibly weird.

"What are you wearing tonight?" he asked, while you were in the pool. Again.

"Why does it matter what I wear to your hockey game?"

"It doesn't matter," he said, emphasizing the word, sitting down on the lounge chair you'd be in earlier, flipping through the magazine you'd left. "I was just wondering."

"Well, I don't know, Tyler, I haven't decided yet."

Now he looked up from the parenting magazine he'd been flipping through just for something to do, clearly not reading it. "Can you wear the blue dress? The one you wore when we went to the park?"

"Sure," you said hesitantly, "but why am I wearing that?"

"Because I like it," he said, matter-of-factly, "And we're going out for dinner after, remember?"

"Yeah, well I was going to put something on other than this," you said, gesturing down towards your body in the water.

Tyler smirked at yohau. "I'd hope so, because your nipple is showing again."

You looked down automatically, only to see that were breasts were as contained in the swimsuit as they could possibly be, Tyler's laughter ringing out through the backyard, and the dogs all looked over at the loud noise. "That's not funny."

"It's pretty funny," he said, "This is actually what I should put on my Instagram."

"Don't you dare," you said, as soon as he made a move like he was going to pull his phone out.

"I wouldn't," he said rather seriously, and then smiled, "In fact, I'd suggest you just lose the bikini all together, but I don't want your lady bits to get burnt."

"Thanks," you said sarcastically, occupied yourself with throwing the ball for the dogs again.

"You're welcome, I'm just always looking out for you, you know," he said, and you swam over to the side, thinking you should probably get out soon, before you turned into a complete prune. "Do we have any of that pasta you made me left that I could have for lunch?"

"No, but I can make you some more, if you want?"

"Really?" he asked hopefully, running his hand over his beard, "Because I really think it helped me play better."

You laughed, because you were certain that it absolutely did not. "Yeah, I just need to cook some more pasta and make some pesto, it'll take me, like, 15 minutes."

"Good," Tyler said, "I need to do everything like I did last game."

"Since when are you so superstitious?"

"I'm not, it's an earlier game, it's different."

It turns out, it was different, because you now had to have pre-game in his bedroom rather on the couch, which turned into moving into the bathroom so you had another door to close between you and the dogs crying at the bedroom door.

However, his strategy of repeating everything seemed to have worked, because they one again, a fact which he was quick to point out to you when you say him after the game. And, you smiled because you were supposed to but, deep down, you felt a little disappointed and guilty for feeling that way. Because every win meant they were one step closer to the playoffs, which meant he was moving one step further from being home and getting to be there when the baby arrived. And you realized you really, really wanted him to be with when the baby was born, not even because of what a special moment it would be, but because everything seemed easier when he was there.

"You wore the dress," he said, smiling down at you.

"Yeah, you said to," you were surprised he was even pointing it out, especially when you'd have to ask him to put your sandals on for you before he left, otherwise you were pretty sure you were going to be showing up in flip flops.

"Well, you don't always do what I say," he said, sticking his hand in his pocket, like he didn't know what to do with it.

"Well, you were making me nervous," you said.

"Why was I making you nervous?" Tyler asked with a curious look.

"Because you made me think we were going somewhere fancy and I didn't bring fancy clothes," you said, "or heels. I don't even have fancy clothes that fit at home."

"Yeah, you should definately not wear heels with how your feet looked the other day. And you're fine, we're just going to sixty nines. I just wanted you to wear something comfortable."

"I'm sorry, what?" You asked.

"It's not super fancy, you look great."

"No, no, no, where are you taking me?"

"It's a restaurant, they've got like local wine and food pairings, you'll like it," he said, "And don't worry about the wine, I'll drink twice as much, just for you."

"Oh, Sixty Vines."

"Yeah," Tyler said, and then he smirked at you. "What did you think I said?"

"Nothing," you said, shaking your head quickly.

"What did you think I said?" He repeated, letting you know he wasn't going to let this go.

"Sixty nines," you said quietly, and Tyler grinned at you.

"I mean, if that's what you want, we can go home first and I'll tell everyone we're gonna be late."

"Tyler!"

"What?" He asked, scratching his head innocently, but you could see a smile breaking thorough. "You're the one who had the idea, not me. Don't blame me for your dirty mind."

"I misheard you, it was loud in there."

Now he broke and laughed, reached around your hip to your low back. "C'mon, let's go."

He walked with you like that to the car, until he jogged ahead to open the door for you, and then handed you the seatbelt once your were seated, before he shut the door. And then, once he started driving, he kept glancing over at you what seemed like every five seconds.

"You're being kinda weird," you commented.

"Um, you're being weird."

"I'm not even doing anything," you laughed.

"Neither was I," Tyler said.

You kept looking at him, and now he was kind of tapping on the steering wheel, even though the music was on so quiet that you could barely hear it. "You're not nervous, are you?" you asked, and Tyler choked out a laugh.

"No? Why would I be nervous?"

"I don't know, I might do something to embarrass you," you said jokingly, only because you couldn't ask what you were thinking: that he might be nervous about being seen having dinner with you in public with your giant belly, or that he was worried about how you were going to interact with his teammates. Which was kind of ridiculous, really, when he was the one who had suggested that you all go out to dinner. But it felt all kind of different now, that you were in his world and not home, when you hadn't thought twice about going out with him in Toronto.

But you also knew, now, that he'd told some of the guys about your...situation, and you wondered if he was worried about how they'd act around you, now that they knew.

"I can't think of a single thing you would do that would embarrass me," he said, and it felt really quiet in that car, all at once, the sound of other cars passing by fading away into the background.

You were silent for a moment, just looking out the window. "Who all is coming?"

"Umm...Jamie and Katie, Rads, Spezz, Val, Klinger, maybe some other guys. And some other girlfriends and wives."

"That's a lot of people."

"You've met, like, all of them before," Tyler said, "And I'm gonna be there, too, and you really know me."

"Some of us usually go out to dinner after an earlier game," he continued, "Or if it's someone's birthday or whatever, or when people have friends in town, or whatever."

You couldn't figure out why he was trying to make such a point to you that this was a normal thing. He continued being weird, even when you got to the restaurant and he insisted that you give him your phone so he could take a picture of you in front of the restaurant because apparently that dress accentuated your belly and you needed it "for your memories".

And then he took your hand, holding open the door for you both, dropping it after you'd taken a few steps inside, his hand going to your back instead, turning you in a direction, and then you realized that everyone was already sitting in this greenhouse-looking room, which was quite beautiful, actually, with plants hanging down and lights strung, and you could even see the stars if you looked up, but your eyes were pretty much immediately drawn to the collection of gift bags and packages sitting on one of the tables, which were very clearly baby-related, and you stopped right in your tracks.

"What is this?" You whispered to Tyler.

"We're celebrating your baby," he grinned at you now.

"What?" You asked, "You're....having a baby shower for me?"

"Well, it's not like a real baby shower, it's not gonna be as great as what Nicole and Danielle are doing for you, obviously," he said, "this is just some friends, being excited for you and having dinner."

"Well, you didn't have to get me gifts," you said, meaning it, even though you were feeling super touched that the baby was being thought of.

"Well, I didn't get you anything," Tyler said, reaching out his hand to run over your belly, "just this."

"You already gave me a gift for the baby."

"I know," Tyler said.

"Oh, you guys are here," a voice said from behind you, and you turned to see John Klingberg coming in behind you. "You're matching."

And you looked at yourself, and then at Tyler, finally realizing he was wearing a tie that was a very similar colour to your blue dress.

"Oh, so we are," Tyler said, like it was a mere coincidence, "I left before she got dressed, she must gave copied me."

You looked up at him, confused because you still couldn't figure out why he was so preoccupied with what you were wearing, not until after you'd hugged everyone hello and he asked for someone to take your picture together that you assumed he'd really just wanted you to complement each other, probably knowing that this was going to be a picture you'd saved, and was the only picture you'd had of the two of you together, now that you were pregnant.

"Let's open presents," Tyler said after the appetizers had arrived and you had a cheese and olive plate, which was really all you needed. He'd picked a bag off the table and tried to settle it down on your lap, dragging a chair over from another table and wedging it between where you were sitting at the head of the table and Katie who was sitting to your right, Jamie across from her.

Katie looked at Tyler a little weird when he just pushed his way in, but slid her chair over a little to accommodate him. "They're from all of us," she told you, and you recognized that they'd barely had any time to put this together at all, which kind of made it even more significant. Everyone was nodding at you to open it, so you pulled the tissue out, taking out a whale shaped inflatable mat filled with water and various sea creatures that the baby could push on. You did just that, moving a starfish around. "This is so cool " you said.

After that, the gifts kept coming, a little pair of blue boat shoes, which Tyler said would be perfect for when he goes yachting but you thought were extremely cute and he did agree, a little stuffed canoe that had three stuffed woodland creatures inside that had rattles, a little grey sweatshirt with a shark fin on top of the hood and teeth around the edge that apparently Rads had picked out, and a grey and white Chevron printed cover that Spezza's wife, Jennifer, had said she'd loved because you could use it as a car seat cover, a nursing cover, and a shopping cart seat cover. And Tyler kept feeding you forkfuls of cheese and olives and crackers as you opened presents, which was a little excessive, but you were hungry.

"That one's for you," Katie said, when Tyler had picked up the next one for you.

"For me?" Tyler asked, "Why?"

"Well, it's for your house," she said, "For the baby, too, a Uncle gift."

Tyler looked sort of tentative, but you watched as he unwrapped it, first pulling out a baby pool float that looked like a fish with a cover so the baby would be protected from the sun, and then he help up a pair of adult swim trunks that were a bright jade green with blue pineapples all over them, and he looked as perplexed as you felt until he held up matching swim shorts in a much, much smaller size.

And then you felt your eyes fill up with tears and your heart swell at the thought of just how cute that would be.

You actually might die.

"Did you see this?" Tyler asked, as if you weren't sitting right there with him. "You've got those matching pyjamas my mom got you for Christmas and now the baby can match me, too. We're gonna pick up so many babes at the pool."

"Yeah, I saw," you said, inconspicuously wiping your eyes before you actually started crying.

You opened the last one, a soft little hockey stick and ball along with a board book called "Z for Zamboni", which you supposed had to be expected.

"The baby can read that to Segs," someone yelled out from the end of the table, which prompted Tyler to actually read the title as if to prove he could read, after he had made the point that Honka was the one who couldn't read.

"Zed," you said, "Zed for Zamboni."

"That's what I said," Tyler said.

"No, you said Zee. It's Zed, you're Canadian."

"We're in America."

"So you change your English depending on what country you're in?"

"Yes, yes, I do, actually," Tyler said, quite proudly, whereas you tried not to snort and made a mental note to call him out on it the next time he uses American English while in Canada.

After you had thanked everyone, the table had mostly split up into conversations, the attention no longer centered on you, and Jamie nodded towards the hockey stick. "Hopefully he gets some of his Dad's skill," he said, and then seemed to realize what he said, "uh.. not Dad, no. Father? No, no, I mean, like the genes. I'm sorry."

You glanced at Tyler, who seemed amused at the way Jamie was stumbling over his words, and looking completely uncomfortable.

"That's okay," you said easily.

"Yep," Tyler agreed, taking the stick off the table, and adding it to the table of gifts behind you. "Besides, he's gonna be a golfer, pretty sure he was conceived at Top Golf."

Your eyes immediately widened and you wanted to cover your face with your hands. Luckily, the only people who seemed to be within earshot of hearing him was Jamie, Katie, and Rads, and Jamie and Katie had already caught you kissing.

"I'm sorry, what?" Katie asked, more our of shock that genuine curiosity.

"Yeah," Tyler said, grabbing more food and chewing it, doing a very good job at making it seem like he hasn't rattled, "We went there after one of the times she got my stuff shot up into her, and I'm pretty sure the baby waited until we got there to crawl up into her uterus or whatever."

Well then.

Rads made this weird noise between a cough and a laugh, and the three of you looked over at him. "Well, if the baby needs a really good jersey, I know a good number."

"That's great," Tyler said, "I'm sure she could use more diapers."

After that, the weirdness disappeared and the conversation went back to normal, and you excused yourself after a few minutes to go to the washroom and, when you came out, Tyler was waiting for you, hands in his pockets

"What are you doing here?"

"I just came to check on you," he said.

"Well, I didn't get stuck," you said, and he laughed.

"Nah, I meant with in there," he said, nodding towards the room you'd been dining in. "Was it too much?"

"Yes," you said, because you didn't need to be showered with gifts, "but I really, really appreciate it though, thank you."

He didn't respond, just smiled softly, resting his hands on your hips, "I just wanted to make sure you and him felt loved."

"I do," you said, "we do."

"Good," Tyler said, removing his hands to place a kiss on your forehead. "You want to share a pizza with me?"

"I would love to share a pizza with you."

You didn't want to get out of bed.

Mainly, because you knew once you did, the day would officially be started, and that mean you would have to leave to go home. It didn't matter that you'd already spend all morning curled up in bed with the dogs watching Grey's Anatomy with Tyler and eating pancakes. Tyler now, was, for some reason, finishing packing your suitcase for you, while you were laying on your side watching him, eating these lemonade Sour Patch Kids he'd grabbed for you when he was getting you gummy bears that you were now mildly obsessed with.

"You want to leave the pool float thing for him here?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah, sure," you agreed.

"But what if he wants to go swimming in the lake during the summer?"

"Well, pack it then," you said, which Tyler tried to do, but there was really no space.

"I'll bring it with me when we come home for the summer," he said.

"Okay," you smiled, "could you pass me my belly butter, please? It's on the counter in the bathroom."

"Yeah, sure," Tyler smiled. One thing you'd really realized is that he seemed to really like doing the smallest little things for you while you were pregnant, you just had to ask. He was reading it as he came back with it, and you pulled up your shirt, him handing it over to you slowly. "You know, you'd still be beautiful with stretch marks."

"Tyler..." you said, trying to occupy yourself with applying it to your belly, "You can't just ...say stuff like that." You can't just say stuff like that and make my entire being feel as warm all at once or make me my heart melt again and again without being all in.

"Why not?" He said, flopping on the bed, causing Cash to raise his head and give Tyler an annoyed look. "It's the truth."

He was straight up eyeing the stretch marks you were applying the treatment too. "It's not the stretch marks so much, but my belly gets really itchy and this helps."

"Why is your belly itchy?"

"Because the skin's stretching," you said, and Tyler gave you a look like this sounded awful to him, but you were preoccupied by a tongue lapping at your skin.

"No, Gerry, don't lick that," Tyler said, pulling him off, the baby moving against Gerry's snout and he jumped back, staring at it, raising his leg like he was about to paw at the source of the movement, but Marshall slid in between him and you, like you were off limits to Gerry now.

"You guys," Tyler whined, pushing past the dogs to rest his head on your belly. "This stuff smells so good, I don't blame him for wanting to eat it."

"I know," you said.

"I'm gonna miss it when you're not pregnant anymore, I think it helps me sleep," he said. "Are you still gonna use it after? Cause the package says you can use it on your titties and I think that sounds like fun."

"You're ridiculous."

"What?" Tyler said innocently, "I'm just saying I like the way you smell, that's a nice thing."

"Mmm..." you said, eating another piece of your candy, watching with amusement as Marshall lifted his body up from where he was in front of you, effectively moving Tyler away from you.

"Wow, okay, I'm not allowed to touch her now, dude?" Tyler said, turning over onto his back, "Am I allowed to stay in bed with you guys, or do I need to go watch you be all comfy from a chair? By myself?"

"They'd probably like it if you went and sat in a chair."

"Yeah, you're right," Tyler chuckled, and then he actually got out of bed and went to sit in the armchair across the room, looking slightly put out when none of the dogs even flinched at his absence. "You guys should get out of bed, we should do something."

"Why?" You whined, stretching out your limbs, and Tyler laughed.

"Because these guys need exercise, and you need lunch," he said, "Wanna take them to the part and get something to eat while we're there and they're playing? I think you'd really like it."

You looked at your phone and discovered, much to your disappointment, that time was still passing even as you were laying in bed, so you took the hand that he held out for you, getting up.

You were still slightly put out until you got to the park and Tyler took you over to this food truck called Ruthie's Rolling Cafe and watched your reaction as you noticed that they were solely dedicated to gourmet grilled cheeses.

You may have actually made a whimpering noise.

And you were very happy to see that they had one with mustard and pickles with pulled pork and smoked ham, plus Tyler kept sharing bites of his with you as the dogs kept running around and playing and then coming back to the picnic table you were both sitting at.

"This is magical," you said, and Tyler laughed.

"Better than mine?" He asked, and you didn't want to actually say yes, but your lack of response said everything. "But I use a secret ingredient in mine."

"What?" You asked, expecting him to say something cheesy like 'love'.

"I'm not telling you, it's a secret," he said decidedly, "But it's not really an ingredient, more just knowing the proper ratio of ingredients and knowing just when to flip the bread. It can't be taught, either you have it or you don't, it's really an art form."

You snickered.

"Yeah, and it really, really hurt my feelings every time you put mustard all over my masterpiece."

"Well, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, some people don't quite appreciate it like they should," he said, watching you very much enjoy your sandwich. "Are we gonna have to get a few extras for you to hide in your suitcase?"

And just like that, you remembered you had to leave, and you took a deep breath, looking away from Tyler to the dogs who were off playing, wishing that one of them was right next to you for you to pet, to get your mind off this.

"Hey, don't be sad," Tyler said, "we'll be home for the summer in no time."

"I know," you said, but you also realized that you'd have a child by then, and everything would be forever changed. It was the last time it was going to just the five of you, and you were determined to soak up every moment of it as you could, playing with the dogs at the park with Tyler, until there was no choice but to go and get your bags for you to go to the airport.

"I'm probably going to really regret bringing them with us, 'cause they're gonna go crazy when you leave, " Tyler said, nodding to the dogs who were panting in the backseat. You were pretty sure it was only Marshall who noticed the suitcase, because he kept trying to push his head between the passenger seat and the car door to get to you. "But I didn't want to keep them from you for any longer than they had to be."

You blinked, trying like hell to keep your eyes focused on the road.

"Oh, babe, don't cry," Tyler said, taking one hand of the wheel to pat your knee.

"I can't help it," you said, a tear running down your face now.

"Well, stop because you're gonna make me cry."

You sighed,

your cheek and looking out the window. "Why'd you have to say that, now I'm thinking about the dogs being sad." You were rubbing Marshall on the snout, since he was the only one you could reach.

"They'll be okay, they deal with missing you every year."

"Tyler," you cried.

"What?"

"You're making it worse."

"You can come visit us anytime you want, you know that. I won't even get upset if your baby cries all night."

"No, I can't, because I'm going to be too pregnant to fly," you were actually straight up crying now, and this was turning into how you were when they first left for the season.

"Well, you could just stay at my house." He was clearly joking, but your emotions were rattled.

"I'm not having the baby in a different country," you said, because that suddenly seemed like the worst idea ever, "and I'm not flying back out here with a newborn."

By now the dogs were trying to climb up to you because you were crying.

"Hey, calm down," Tyler said, "Just relax for a sec, hang back on the hormonal crying until I'm actually parked and can deal with you."

"I'm not hormonal crying," you said, inhaling quickly and coughing out a laugh, to which Tyler just raised his eyebrows and gave you a doubtful look. "I'm actually sad."

"I know you're actually sad, but this level of crying is not normal for you. Like, I was just joking about you staying here, and you're crying like I was suggesting that I hold you hostage and make you have your baby in a completely foreign country."

Okay, so maybe you had overreacted a little.

"I packed you some candy in your purse, want to eat some of it now?"

"You packed me candy?"

"Yeah, those lemonade sour patch kids, you like," he said. "You want some of them?"

"No, I want to save them," you said.

"I packed you almonds, too, so you have real snacks," Tyler said, and you made a face like this didn't interest you at all, and he laughed, "They're chocolate covered, because I feel like you'd eat them if they were disguised with sugar. And there are potato chips, too, so don't throw your bag down unless you want them smushed."

No wonder your purse looked so much fuller. "You're the best."

"I know," Tyler smiled, and you sighed audibly, and he just looked over at you. "It's only gonna be a month, you know? And we get there the day before, so we can actually see each other, not like last time."

"Yeah," you said, even though you knew for a fact that it was not a month, it was closer to 5 weeks. You'd counted. And you were honestly seeing him more often this year than you did every other year, not going for more than 4 weeks without being apart, like it was a rule you'd establish.

"I've only been gone for a month all the other times this year, and it's been okay, you weren't this upset," he said, "Except for the first time, but.."

"Well, it's different this time," you said. Because you were completely in love with him. Because you were super pregnant and just wanted him with you all the time. Because you just wanted him to come home with you forever. Or if you could magically just uproot your house and move it to Dallas along with your family and your doctor, then maybe you'd just have the baby right there.

"Yeah, because you're hormonal," Tyler said, and you shot him a look. "It's okay, it's kind of cute when you're crying about stuff that I can actually fix."

"Yeah," you breathed.

"There's people who are gonna take care of you at home, too, you'll be fine," Tyler said, "And you'll get to see me before you know it, and then we'll all come home for summer, and you'll probably be so busy taking care of the baby you'll forget about the dogs."

"I will not forget about the dogs," you said decidedly and Tyler smiled, and you knew that was the reaction he was going for. Pretty much all you wanted to do was hold the baby and cuddle with the dogs surrounding you all summer. It sounded perfect.

Tyler parked at the airport, and he moved his head towards the backseat, "Get in there and love on them."

You tried to, getting out of the car and opening the backseat, but there was way too much of both them and you.

"If you can fit," Tyler said, making a clicking noise with his tongue to let the dogs know they could come out, and you bent down to say goodbye to them. "The next time you see her, that thing's gonna be out of her."

You laughed, and it seemed like it was going to happen so soon now and, yet, you knew it was awhile away yet. But it was closer than it had ever been. "It's gonna be weird not to be pregnant," you said.

"It's gonna be weird to see how you could possibly get any bigger," Tyler said, and you just scowled at him, giving attention to the dogs, because you had to kiss all of them on the tops of the head and say just how much you loved them. "They're never gonna get back in the car now, you're gonna have to tell them," he said, after he'd gotten your suitcase out of the car. And so you did, and then you had to shut the door in their faces and they looked so absolutely betrayed that you started to cry again.

"I'm sorry," you said.

"C'mon," Tyler said, taking your hand, "I'll walk in with you, they'll be okay."

"They're gonna hate me."

"No, they're not going to hate you," he laughed, "They're gonna hate me. Just think how excited they're gonna be to see you. And I'll send you lots of pictures and videos, 'k?"

"Okay," you said, concentrating on all the things you had to do before the baby got here still. And partially hoping that the Stars wouldn't make the playoffs so he could get home to you sooner.

"Call me when you get home, okay, please?" he asked, turning to face you now that you had to leave to go through security.

"Okay," you said, not even waiting before you launched yourself into his arms for a hug, and Tyler stumbled backwards a bit at the force of it, laughing as he put his arms around you, and you rested your head against the cotton of his t-shirt.

"You're crying again, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yeah," you said, and his just went to your head, cradling it for a moment before he stepped back.

"I really don't like it when you cry," he said softly, and you noticed his eyes rimmed red, and he turned his hat around as if that would help.

"I'm sorry. I'm just going to miss you."

"Don't apologize, I'm happy you're going to miss me," he said, pulling you back into his arms, "I'm gonna miss you, too."

You stayed there for a moment, feeling his heartbeat steady under you.

"I'll call you lots, okay?" he promised, "Until you're so sick of me you don't even want to see my face."

"Okay," you laughed.

"I'm really glad you came," he said, his hands moving to your waist, and he reached out, adjusting the fabric of your dress over your bump. "You, too, blob. Hopefully the next time you're in Dallas you're actually be able to see stuff."

"You're glad I came?" you said, "I should be thanking you, it was, it was just what I needed."

"Good," Tyler smiled, and you both snuck a look at his watch at the same time. "I'll talk to you soon, okay? I love you."

"I love you, too," you said, and Tyler did this weird thing where he smiled twice, like he had a twitchy lip, his hand coming up to cup the side of your face, and then you were drawn together, the movement and noise of the airport continuing on around you, but all you could focus on was his lips pressed evenly against yours not doing anything, just being there. You didn't care who was watching or what they might be thinking. And you wanted to stay there forever, even though you knew you couldn't. That it had to be goodbye for now.

But neither of you seemed to want to be the first to pull away, breathing against each other, until you heard the time announced and realized you couldn't stay any longer. You both seemed to realize this and pulled away at the same moment, looked at each other and then he kissed you again just once, just quickly before he handed you your suitcase and you walked away, like he needed to finish it properly.

#wont go slowly #Tyler Seguin #tyler seguin imagine #nhl fanfiction #nhl imagines #nhl imagine #Hockey Fanfiction #hockey imagines #hockey imagine #pregnancy #tw pregnancy #warning #she has to leave tyler and the dogs it is very sad #may be tears

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