#at the beginning there was the disclaimer it was based on beam ends and the following picture was a ''mostly true account''

[errollesliethomsonflynn]

In Like Flynn (2018) ↳ Ocean scenery 

I am certain that over that horizon is the promise of something better.

[luveternals]

paring: 1. john 'soap' mactavish x top male reader, implied soap x ghost (spoiler: if you ship them, sorry) rating: mature, MDNI cw: death, blood, depiction of killing, mention of war, major character death(i guess), morally grey reader, obsession, non explicit sexual content. tell me if I missed anything else. disclaimer: all mistakes are my own. I never played cod. I don't know bananas about the military. and i'm not doing research bc I literally don't have the time to fall into another rabbit hole... ⁓ ⁓ ⁓

Just watch from afar. You tell yourself. You will not get anything other than that. Because you know if you dare to get too close, there’s a chance it won’t end well.

You lean against the railing, sweat dump hair sticking to your forehead. He is on the other side of the training grounds, muscles working as he tackles his opponent to the ground.

The grin spreading across his plush lips. The look of surprise that replaces it when the other flips their position. The loud, beaming laugh that bubbles from deep inside his chest when they clap hands, and he gets pulled back onto his feet.

Gorgeous.

Someone calls your name, and when you snap out of whatever trance you’ve fallen, you find you’ve moved closer to the scene at some point.

You shake your head and redirect your body to the person demanding your attention. Your new captain waves his hand at you.

It hasn't been more that a few days since you've been reassigned, landed away like an object, and already they are sending you out with a squad you know nothing of aside from the little written info given to you before you moved to this new base.

You figure they don’t care for tests when the results are destined to be useless in the face of real life.

You only have time to glance over your shoulder, and he’s already leaving, walking further and further away from you. And you suppose there's never been any chance for him to ever notice you to begin with.

-

The building as eerily quiet, nothing like the deafening chaos that had broken the moment your squad had revealed itself to the enemy.

There is a body laying at your feet, eyes staring emptily at the ceiling while the hole between them drips gore into the dusty floor. The gun in your hand is cold despite the echoing ‘bang’ still ringing in your ears.

“All clear,” a voice whispers into your earpiece. “Meet you at exfil, everyone,” another adds.

The face of your victim is smooth, years away from any wrinkles. You pause for a second, taking in every detail.

The gun burns in your trembling grip despite the gloves, blood pooling at your feet. He hadn’t been wearing a helmet, terror now frozen in his empty gaze. His inexperience showed in his lack of scares and wrinkles, expression made macabre with the fresh hole shot between his eyes.

“Was that your first?” someone had asked when you made it to exfil and found your seat in your team’s assigned vehicle. You didn’t bother answering, they had their own regardless.

Your first kill. You tucked your gun away and ignored it for the rest of the ride.

You step out of the building, clothes sticky with wet filth and feet leaving dark stains into the ground. But the gun is steady in your hands, the next bullet ready to be fired. The mess left behind is nothing but an unfortunate aftermath.

“What a face,” someone from your team says the moment you find yourself at exfil, “seen the devil?”

“The last kid I killed,” you say with a hum, “iIt reminded me of the first time I shot someone.”

“Your first kill was just a kid?”

You don’t bother to give an answer.

-

It’s three years later that you meet him officially.

You’ve never dared to get anywhere close to him, and simply learned about him instead.

John ‘Soap’ MacTavish.

Nothing about him changed. To say he seems to have walked out of your memories it’s an understatement.

What’s different now though is the people that are part of his team.

The TF141. Who hasn’t heard of them?

Respected for their efficiency, infamous for the stories that circulate about them.

You stand to attention when you notice them making their way towards you.

The captain is the first to shake your hand, but Soap is, of course, the one that has your attention zero on him.

“I’ve heard of yah,” he says, and you have to fight the urge to beam. Has he? “Efficient, strong-willed, with nerves of steel. Say, he’s gonna be the perfect babysitter, ay Lt?”

Soap turns to beam at the looming figure that steps to stand behind him and fire burns into your vein, angry and ugly.

Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley. The person Soap seems to be the closest to.

“You’re gonna scare him off, Johnny,” Riley only gives him an unimpressed look before shifting his attention to stare at you. Friend of foe?

It's ridiculous how the two of them standing so close sends the urge to clench your hands into fist through your body.

They’ve been a team for years now, it’s only natural for them to grow close.

Logically, that would be it. But you find yourself hating the mere idea.

“It’ll be a pleasure to work with you,” you say, gentle smile grazing your lips. It doesn’t reach your eyes and whether Soap sees it or not, you know Ghost does.

You let it spread wider until it turns into a dangerous smirk.

-

Being pinned to the floor with a gun to the temple takes you by surprise, but it’s a natural reaction before your logic replaces it. You should have seen it coming, you’ve grown overconfident in your skills during the years, too cocky even.

The odds had never been in your favor. They knew somehow of your plan and now the 141 has been sent to scatter.

You’ve lost sight of the others, your comms stolen by the enemy.

There are bodies littering the floor, abandoned weapons taking up the little remaining space.

“I’m gonna love this,” the bastard pressing you into the floor hisses into your ear.

Bang.

When it comes to a fight, skill is not the only factor that comes into play.

you jerk to the side and pain blossom through the side of your head, still you throw your weight back and the man falls off you with a surprised shout.

You jump him, elbow falling against his throat, and steal the gun from his slacked grin.

The echoing bang sends stars into your vision and splatters his brain into the floor.

You stumble onto your feet, hand flying up to press against the side of your head. The ringing against your ear makes you squint and when you feel a new presence enter the room you spin around on instinct and fire your weapon, body slamming against the wall as someone throws their weight against you.

Click.

The magazine is empty.

“I suppose I should count ourselves lucky, you and I, hmm?”

Riley is holding your knife against your throat, your gun aiming at his chin.

He slips your knife back into its holster and steps away to look around the room. “You could have stabbed the shite out of him before he’d even had the chance to shoot you. Afraid of knives or someth'?” he asks, and you know he’s making fun of you despite his mask hiding his expressions.

You pull your hand away from your head and stare at it. Blood stains the glove and drips down your face, but the bullet had only grazes at the skin of your head. “Not the kind weapon I care for.”

-

“They are made to be used,” Captain Price says through the comms. “You don’t carry them just because,” he says, and despite the disinterest Riley is currently exerting, you know he purposely had a hand in this.

“When we get back we will brush over your combat skills.”

You feel like a child, adults staring you down after they found out you haven’t done your homework. Not a soldier making his way back thorugh an abandoned building to meet with the rest of his team.

“There is no need for that, sir,” you say with a sigh.

“Then why haven’t you used it?”

No one is immune to trauma. And in some degree we all know we’re suffering from it in some way or another. We either don’t want to acknowledge it or are simply too broken by it to realize we’re under it’s influence.

You fall silent. It’s not that you don’t know how to answer. Nor is it that you’re too broken by the sweet, soulless voice that whispers into your ear like a devil on your shoulder without its angel.

It’s the fact that they would not understand. Perhaps, their gazes would soften with sympathy, perhaps they would harden with disgust.

Still, they wouldn’t understand. To do so they would have to experience it for themselves. And you know there only little chance for it to end as it did you.

And so you let them find their own answers; they have them of their own, anyway. Assumptions are good enough for it.

Like always.

-

Perhaps, you’ve lost your touch. Perhaps, it’s the alcohol easing your guard to relax, attention stolen away by the pleasurable warmth spreading through your limbs.

He can sense your eyes on him tonight. And each time he turns to meet your gaze with a confident, amused smirk.

Right now, he leans against the bar, perfect body stretching against the counter as he moves to press his lips against your ear, “is staring all you gon’do?” he purrs, hot breath sending chills down your back and straight between your legs.

You’re frozen in delighted surprise. Your voice cracks when you find it again. “It depends.”

“Hmm,” he chuckles, finger tickling up your throat to press against you Adam's apple, “on what, pray tell?”

Initial shock gone, it’s your time to smirk. You take his hand in yours and press a kiss against his palm, then run your tongue between two of his fingers. “Am I your first choice tonight?”

He falters, body going rigid at the words. His attention flicks to the side, gaze staring somewhere just past your shoulder.

You can feel the intensity of his first choice burning a hole on the back of your head.

You shove the bitterness aside and pull you man closer by the hips.

“It's okay, darling. I’ll show you how you got nothing but to gain from this.”

The way out of the pub and into your room is a blur of heat and hunger. He lets out a loud groan, gripping your shoulders as you press him against the door, lips sucking possessive marks down his throat and chest.

He flips your position and slams you against the wall, hands pulling at your clothes and lips biting against your own.

You smile and push him away. “Impatient.” with a second push he falls onto the bed, legs spread open and chest heaving with anticipation, “is this what him breaking your heart makes you feel?”

He tenses for the second time this night, hesitation washing over the lust hazing his gaze. But you're already climbing onto the bed, pulling him closer by the knees and wrapping his legs around your waist.

“Don’t worry, darling. Once I’m done with you, you won't have any energy to do anything but think of me.”

-

The air is knocked out of your opponent, back hitting the mat below your feet with a dull thump.

Soap groans and huffs out a laugh as he claps his hand into yours, and you pull him to his feet.

“Cap, I think he doesn’t need the knife after all,” he says and slips his arm around your shoulder, pulling you closer, so he can grin at you. His gaze is heavier than it has ever been, touch lingering longer and longer the more he finds reasons to touch you.

“I know how to use it, It’s just not my preferred weapon,” you say, “I find using it a little too… personal.”

-

Other knives are different from the real thing. They might be duller, sharper, newer, older. But they are not the same thing.

You hold it under the moonnight, letting it shine as it reflects under it. The handle has long lost its colors, the design dulled and smoothed over by time and use.

You circle your hand around it and for some reason it feels out of place now that it fits the shape properly, making the grip more comfortable, firmer, steadier. Your fingers feel like they don’t belong there, like they are too large now, too callous, too stained.

You let it spin around your fingers, and it moves with too much grace and elegance, too much confidence, you much will to kill.

Not like the first time you’ve welded it. When the moon shone through the window like a witness. When your fingers trembled as wet warmth spread over them. Your breath came out quicker, harsher, punching through your lungs with panic.

You were clueless back then, armed only with knowledge taken from science lessons at school. Guided by repressed rage, pushed over by fear.

Your real first kill.

The knife spins faster, only to sink into the wood of the window frame when you stab it into it.

-

Nothing is going to turn out tonight. This Is how they’ve put it when they’d sent you out on stakeout. Your presence here is a simple, mostly useless precaution.

You watch him from the table, posture leaned against the chair into a careful, lazy slump.

While you're open about your staring, he’s on the balcony, eyes scanning the streets below. Still you can feel his attention on you, muscles tense as neither of you outright acknowledges thick the tension weight over your heads.

The knife is a solid weight against in its holster, pressing flat against your thigh when you tense your leg. You reach below the table and play with the handle.

This night is not going to end like everyone expects it. You know.

He shifts his position and this time turns to meet your gaze head on, eyes scanning your expression and jaw clenching st what he finds.

Neither of you is waiting for the enemy, no. He knows.

-

141 finds you standing in the middle of the room. Gun warm in one hand. Knife stained red in the other.

Two bodies laying on the ruined carpet at your feet. Only one their foe; neither your friend.

-

They hold a funeral for him. Only his closest friends are permitted to assist. He had no family left.

They let you in when you show up with the rest of the team.

You suppose you shouden’t be surprised. They see you as the one who’d avenged their friend.

-

Soap clings to your clothes, desperate lips pressing against any part of your skin he can reach.

You try to enjoy the feeling, bask at his touch, but the salt you taste on his lips sends an old, familiar raging fire through your veins.

Despite being out of the picture he still stands in your way.

-

—

Name: Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley

Status: KIA

His and his teammate's position had been compromised. Suspected cause of the mission failure is that someone set an ambush before their arrival on site. Attacker has been eliminated but whoever gave the information away is still to be found and caught.

—

You read through his file, brushing over the official story given to explain his death.

He should be grateful, wherever he is now in his afterlife. You’ve given him an honorable death, all things considered.

You do regret not getting your money back before getting rid of that mercenary.

Carefully, you slip the file back where it belongs, wiping away any trace that would tickle suspicion out of the most perceptive eye.

You’ve played this game for longer, than anyone could have ever guessed. The other player none other than yourself.

As you’ve known since the very beginning, you've let yourself step too close to the edge, and now it’s not your heart that’s gotten broken, by your mind.

Obsession.

You’ve fallen, and have no intention of climbing back up.

He is yours now, whether he knows it or not. He belongs to you, body, mind, and soul, whether he wants it or not.

~ ~ ~ thank you for reading! hope you liked it. tell me if there's anything I should fix, as I already said, I don't have the time to make this more accurate with research, but I'm more than open to suggestions and constructive criticism.

[hazbinextgeneration]

Demon Bride Ch5 The Pathway To Monsters

(WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMERS!!! EVERYONE in this story is in their early 20s-30s! This story will contain mentions of past abuse and death! I'll be keeping it as SFW. Some backstories have been slightly altered for this particular story, and some characters cannonically dead or harmed is alive and well. I own nothing.

Credit to @flanelltees​ for the designs I based the demons off to look more demon-like with tails and pointed ears.

This story will be sfw, but there will be some blood, implied death, fighting, some gore mentioned, and a few other things that will be made aware by warnings. Pay attention to warnings at the top of any chapters just under the summery please.)

Once in the mountain villages it was a custom that once a year on the night of the new year's first moon, an unlucky young lady would be selected and left for the demons to become one of the unlucky few who married such a husband. In exchange for this offering the demons would protect the villages and leave the humans in peace. Until one day a powerful warrior drove the demons away freeing the humans of them. Now 2,000 years later, it's become a tradition that once a year, a new young lady would be picked and wait for her future husband to retrieve her from a shrine in the mountains. And now the lucky tradition would fall upon Y/n L/n. It would be her own turn to take on the tradition and not have to worry about demons. After all that part of the old tradition was just fake, made up by paranoid ancestors. Everyone knew demons didn't exist.

...Right?

(WARNINGS: None in this chapter .)  

First Part Here:

https://at.tumblr.com/hazbinextgeneration/demon-bride-ch-1-thus-it-begins/dibtpmvn5d42

Last Part Here:

https://at.tumblr.com/hazbinextgeneration/demon-bride-ch4-freedoms-grasp/6i07ue1em642

Next Part Here:

https://www.tumblr.com/hazbinextgeneration/711697291135844352/demon-bride-ch6-the-monsters?source=share

(UPDATE: I wanted to specify in this fic the demons are NOT cannibalistic towards humans. Mostly because I wanna keep this as sfw, and the main plot of the story doesn't really revolve around that aspect of them.)

The earth was a beautiful thing if you needed it to be, or if you wanted to make it become that way. And in a way, it was both to you in the end. The sweet smells of flowers and grass encouraging your lungs. Combined with the warmth of the sunlight warming your muscles and urging them on. Both made you feel as light as a feather on your mere feet and the ground felt soft under you. You were smiling. Arms out splayed against the wind blowing around your hair like crazy and cooling your body against the warm sunlight beaming down on you. Step after step. Faster and faster. You joyously ran through the fields as though a huge weight was lifted off your shoulders after so many years.

It was the first time in forever that you ever, truly felt free.

Because now you were. The day before and the day before that you had been paranoid. You only really just left home after all. When you first bombarded Genya who was the last lock to the gate with your key and letting it unlock your path to freedom. You'd been scared if you'd stayed even a moment longer someone would stop you maybe even by force, so you took the first chance you took and ran with it quite literally. Right out of the village you grew up in and called home, heading straight for the mountain. You had ran as fast as you could for as long as you could, your boots digging into the earth with each hard slap of a footstep urging you onwards. And even when you couldn't run anymore, your body making you slow down to gasp for breath like a drowning man, you still willed yourself to walk. Your paranoid brain screamed at you to get away as fast and as far as you could, lest the send someone after you and force you to come back. You could be married to someone far more worse than Sanemi as punishment and that was one of the more tame ones your scared mind came up with. You didn't allow yourself any rest or relaxation as you trudged on through the morning sun until the bright ball rose to the middle of the sky directly over you. Which signaled it must've been sometime in the afternoon, and it was then when you perked up at the sound of running water and soon after came across a small stream. It was only then you allowed your poor sore legs a rest by sitting down on the bank and using your hands to gather a sip from the cool water. You must've been sitting there for a solid half hour before you finally remembered something. Something very important. This was the very stream that you were supposed to be lead to in order to await for Sanemi to get you later, which was a bit ways up the mountain but not far from your village. In fact if you climbed one of these trees and looked down, you'd be able to make out your village. Which was too close for comfort. Someone could come here and still find you, so you HAD to move on. You remained there sitting nervously for five more minutes before getting back up and stepping across some stones sticking out of the water to the other side to continue on your way along a path until night fell. Which is when your paranoia for your first night alone first hit. It was your first night alone, without a house's walls to close you to the outside world, there was so many new sounds and the darkness of the surrounding open world frightened your body, making you grip the strap of your bag and refusing to get any sleep, constantly looking over your shoulder in fear someone would come at you from the dark to snatch you away. By the time the sun rose the second day, you made quite the bit of distance between yourself and your old home but were incredibly tired. So sometime in the morning, you found a set of large bushes on the side of the old dirt road and decided to hide yourself in them in case someone came looking for you or some robbers came by. Curling into the soft grass you used your bag as a pillow and slept. The time you woke up that second day was somewhere in the late noon, and you walked until nightfall hit again every so often looking over your shoulder, and you again decided to sleep. This time behind a big tree with your back leaned against it hiding you partially while the darkness of the night hid the rest of you.

But all of that was within the last two days. Now was your third day away and when you again saw no one, you had realized you had done it. You were without anything tying you down. You were without anyone to order you. You were without fear of Sanemi. You were FREE!! As free as the birds who flew around your dancing body of happiness as you ran giddily through a large meadow sun raining down from the sky! The freeing feeling was what brought you so much joy. It was clear now no one was after you, and even if they were, you were far ahead of them all with no intent of returning. And you doubted anyone would travel any farther beyond the stream even after you. After all, the stories and superstitions about demons on the mountain forests were what kept everyone away from anywhere farther than the stream believing it was bad luck or that the demons would devour them like they did long ago, but you knew better. You knew those things didn't exist anymore than talking mice or enchanted flowers. You were always skeptical of those things which was another reason Sanemi hated you for 'doubting the Elders' words and our beliefs'. Eck. Well screw him! He can have Kanae to rant about you now. For all you knew you were going to become another story. 'The Story Of The Runaway Bride Who Dishonored Her Village Tradition And Got Eaten By A Demon Of The Mountains.' That thought made you laugh at the thought of parents telling their kids such a story about you. You supposed you should feel guilty about the lying and running away and the one theft you committed, but with a brightness in your eyes you tried not to think about that, especially about people you would never see again. On your fourth day of walking, you came by another village slightly smaller than your own. There you asked one of local farmers for directions towards up the mountain and managed to bargain some food rations with one of the leftover coins you kept from what you had to give up to the brothers, it'd last you for three days if used sparingly. You weren't sure how long it'd take you to reach the mountain and reach the other side of it especially just on foot but you were determined. You felt like there was something to be discovered up there.

Day after day, night after night. You traveled, slept, and scrounged for food when you could. Stopping by a pool of water to bathe or drink. Sometimes you'd pass by another small village or a house or two, but it was mostly just peaceful silence and a beautiful world you never got to see otherwise stuck in that small house of yours. It was..releiving and every day was like a breath of fresh air in your lungs. You lost count of how much time had passed by this point. You were just passing by another gathering of small houses when you heard something coming up from the road behind you. When your head turned in question, you only saw a mule driven wagon full of hay bales in the back and a man old enough to be your grandfather at the reigns. You paused watching them approach before you smiled gaining an idea and waved your full arm to get his attention, which worked as the old man pulled back once the two of you were about to cross paths until the mule came to a complete stop in front you.

"Excuse me! Good morning to you, Sir! May I ask where you're headed?," you asked him with a smile on your face.

His head nodded towards the path up the mountain which became steeper the longer you looked. "To sell my goods to the people in the village closest to the cursed forests and peaks."

"May I bother you for a ride there? Where I'm heading is beyond there, and the ride would be very much appreciated."

He hummed before nodding in agreement. "Sure, although I should warn you I won't get there until near sundown tomorrow.

You agreed and hopped onto the wagon next to him before he whipped the reigns and made the mule start off again. The ride throughout that day was mostly quiet but you appreciated it that way. Night fell and with no signs of the man stopping the mule you fell asleep leaned against the hay. The next day was even warmer, and it was then you noticed the thick, dense woods. You were stunned. This wasn't here yesterday and it stunned you. The trees were as big as a three story building, and with trunks so thick you wouldn't be able to wrap your arms fully around them even if you stretched and strained them. They were also so, so, SO many and so closely together, it was mostly shady with a few spaces of sun peeking through.

"I've never seen a forest like this before."

"Because there's none quite like it before, and if you're smart, you'll never give it a second glance at it."

You blinked at the old man's warning but didn't pay it too much attention. It was a beautiful day. The sun rays shone down upon the world as the calm quiet woods sounded with the life of birds and insects happy the sun warmed them from up above. The light shone through the tree leaves as their branches leaned over the road and blocked most of the sunlight, casting long shadows to dance on the old dirt road that only lead deeper and deeper into the mountains. The mule walking the wagon was the only thing interrupting the silence of the silent woods as it walked down the dust path. It's was almost like a dream to look at. A small bump sent you jostling and reaching a hand over to grab the side of the wagon. When no more bumps came after a few moments she slowly let go and sighed when they didn't fall over and leaned back into her seat.

"You ok there?," the driver bluntly asked not even taking his eyes off the road. His tone was just bored.

You pushed some of that hair out of your face and taking a breath. "Y-Yeah. I-I'm ok. Thanks." He didn't answer you back and you sighed, looking back out the at all the trees and other nature scenes. "This forest sure is big."

"It's the Forbidden Forest. Our world is small and these woods make up a big chunk of it what land we have left." You jumped slightly and blinked back at him. He muttered something else under his breath you didn't quite catch, his black eyes seemed almost nervous gazing out at the woods like he was expecting some kind of monster to pop out in front of him and glance back up at you with a almost stern look. "....Some folks say this place is cursed. Cursed for thousands of years."

"I-I know, but it all sounds rather silly." Your shook your head and looked back out with a small smile. "Fairies and strange powers that doom anyone who harms the forests. Heard it over and over before. Curse thee those who's hearts are easily closed minded." You gave a chuckle to it all trying to lighten the mood but stopped once your eyes looked over and caught him giving you a stern look.

"These aren't things that should be joked about young lady. If I had it my way, I'd turn around right here and now and drive back as fast as I could to the safety of my home." His eyes darted back to the brightly lit dirt road and even though it was daytime he acted like it was night time and something would jump out at them at any given second. "B-But lucky for you I need to sell my goods to make a livin'. I've seen things. Strange things. That no one could explain in these very woods."

Your eyes scrunched up in curiosity and perhaps mild fear at why he was acting so weird. "Like what exactly?"

"Shadows! If you look out right now and look around you may or may not see one!" He stated matter of factly and looked around quickly again at the peaceful woods. "It doesn't matter if it's day or night for them. They'll always move around waiting for their victims, but as long as you stay out they'll leave you alone. Oh, nono. They'll creep to the very EDGE of the last tree that begins the forest line and reach out for you I heard. Snatch you if you get too close. But they'll never fully leave the safety of their vast woods. Just never go into the woods and stay away, and you will always b-be safe." His voice trembled as his grip on the reigns increased. "May the gods have mercy on the poor souls who don't heed the warnings and travel to places they don't belong."

Another moment of silence passed and Y/n temporarily gazed out. She didn't know why but she squinted her eyes out at the forest surrounding them and especially the shadows. There wasn't anyway she was superstitious but looking never- She jumped seeing something move behind a tree, but quickly relaxed when her brain registered it as a deer. The poor thing ran off probably scared from the humans passing through it's home and she smiled. Fairies and shadow ghost and curses. And she supposed a magical fairy wand was right around the corner too. Her small smile returned as she looked over to the driver again.

"And I don't suppose there's a legend behind these woods too is there?" She couldn't help but sound a little amused which still made him irritated.

"This isn't funny! People say these woods were cursed by demons and witches thousands of years ago. Making this place a literal hell on earth!"

"Well. I grew up around woods. And nothing ever bad happened to me," she said smiling back out into the beautiful woods, "I never saw any scary shadows or anything."

"Then you're really lucky young lady." He seemed to almost shudder with his next warning. "If I were you I'd never get anywhere near these cursed places."

"Don't worry about me. I'm not afraid of any words or things that don't really exist."

"Mark my words. Nothing good could ever come from this place. Just don't say I didn't warn you, Kid."

The rest of the trip there was rather peaceful except for the man staring at the woods around them with a scared matter, until they reached it. A smaller village than the one before, and you got off, thanked the old man for the ride.

"Where will you go now if you don't mind me asking?"

You gestured up the mountain. "I intend on continuing my way up the mountain after a short rest here."

His brow rose higher at the audacity you had. "You're still intending on traveling that way? By yourself of all things?" You nodded and he hummed frowning. "I personally think that's a stupid choice to make...but then again it's none of my business. But a word of warning to you." You blinked as he narrowed his eyes hard at you and spoke to you in a very serious tone. "Here my words, Child. Don't travel at night alone especially tonight as there's a full moon. It always gets more dangerous as the moon goes through her fullest phase, but if you insist on taking on that challenge, then make sure you at least do one thing. STAY. AWAY. From the woods edge. As long as you stay away from the forest then you'll be safe. They never leave their woods but if you get too close they'll snatch you away and you'll never be seen from again."

Despite the fact that you didn't believe a word he said, his tone made a shiver run down your spine. You nodded politely to him however. "I'll certainly think about your words. Thank you for your kindness."

"Hmph. I see...I bid you good bye then. And good luck. You'll be needing it."

You did keep your promise to think over his words, but in the end you brushed him off with his superstitions and made the choice to continue on in your path. After all they were all just superstitions and fairytales without any real threat to them, you just needed to prepare for the next leg in your journey. And you did. Paying some left over money to clean yourself and your clothes in the local bathhouse and getting some more food before you continued along the path up towards the mountains but not before giving the small village one last look as the old man's words mulled over in your mind once more. A brief thought of if you should stay amongst the houses for the night...but shook that thought off before turning back to face the dirt road and continued on. The old man was right in the fact that you two didn't make it to that small village until it was nearly mid day, so it was already late in the day when you started walking but you weren't worried about anything. Partially through what was left of the limited daylight, you passed by some wild peach trees that made your stomach rumble and helped yourself to them for a few minutes, even going as far as packing a few of them for later, packing them safely away in your bad before leaving. But night soon fell and with it came a different feeling.

The feeling of being watched.

It didn't start out that way. At first it was just an aspect in the back of your mind you brushed of as paranoia of the man's words echoing in your mind. The feeling first came around when the sun had just started to set and it wasn't strong enough to warrant anything more than a two second thought and hand waving them off. However thing's changed. The sun soon disappeared over the horizon to be kissed good night by it's counterpart, the moon, and the traveling woman was glad that it was a full moon, for it brought moonlight strong enough for you to see the pathway as your feet continued to walk. With it came the feeling but tenfold. You've only felt this way before back at your village whenever Sanemi was glaring his rage at you or when you first ran away paranoid that someone was following you, that same feeling also returned with the feeling of being followed, but every time your head snapped over your shoulder towards the darkness behind you....

There would be nothing.

Literally nothing. Nothing but the cold wind starting to pick up. You brushed it off as just your paranoia getting the better of you and you set your jaw against the wind. There was nothing there anyways so what did you have to worry about?

"Come on, Y/n." You thought to yourself with a shake of your head and a deep inhale. "You're just being irrational is all. You need to get your barrings and figure out what to do with a clear head."

A hand broke from the grip they had on your bag strap and reached for the inside of your bag, leaving yourself standing within with moonlight, wind blowing through your hair around as your hand gently felt around the insides of your bag. Come on. Where is it? Where is it? Ah! There it was. In the hand that was pulled out of the bag, was a folded paper. It was old, signaled by the yellowed color and the tears it had along the edges, and it wasn't any bigger than a normal book's page but it had it's importance and use. For it was a map. A very old map left by someone who by now had long since passed and it only by chance Y/n stumbled upon it in the library tucked away between some old books in the corner. Not sure how accurate this still was but you'd need it to get over the mountains if you ever became lost or unsure of your way. The wind threatened to rip it from the hands that tenderly opened it and looked at the sprawled writings beneath that surely would fade away someday. Eyes trailing along the poorly seen lines and drawings of the mountains and forests surrounding them, surely this was once a beautiful peice of work now faded to barely nothing to be made out especially in the dim moonlight luminating the shadows.

But the shadows moved.

Quiet night. Unholy night of beasts. Feasting their sights upon the stray women who dare stay out at night when the full moon rises, lighting the pathway for the beasts to claim their prey. Gnashing teeth, snarling fangs waiting to take a bite into innocent flesh where the terrible claws miss. Waiting to snatch you away down into their dark abyss never to return.

The bark of trees felt rough against the palm of grey skin, perfect to blending into shadows and walking along the darkness of the cursed trees that beckoned any unknowing traveler further into their branches. A light step. Another light step. Light enough to not be heard by anyone my dear. A quiet mouse amongst the darkness a contrast to the many others in the surroundings. Many preferred brute force by tooth and nail, fang and claw to drag off their unwilling prey in the name of twisted love they've come to claim or give. Ears perked just now hearing the far off wails that sounded like some sick love sick beasts. A whoop of triumph from the lungs of some lucky beasts who was able to stake a claim on some poor soul that accepted their twisted gift of love. Dark black claws dug into the harsh bark of the thick plant that would otherwise not feel the pain it would usually cause another living thing. An aura of annoyance flooding forth from the source of the claws, and the darkness only received a scoff, as blue eyes as dangerous as the bottomless ocean looked up towards the sky, towards the source of the happy wails from far into the trees' abyss of darkness.

"Tch. Dam fools. They act like dogs in heat! The lot of them!" A voice. As rough as it was envious. The idiots. No brains at all. Now all that celebrating would do was attract others towards him in wanting to fight him for the claimed prize he just received. He knew that was the case entirely because many a shadowy beasts was already flocking towards that noise. "They have no dam senses to them!"

Fools. All of them fools. They should've quietly snuck away when they had the chance. But then again he couldn't expect any of them to be close to the intelligence he held. Whatever. He wasn't out here to watch the rabid fighting of fools, as entertaining as it was to watch others rip either apart. No. He had something else long thought over he wanted to be done with. And it all started with the wind. And the air filling his lungs. And a sweet scent that wafted within both.

Huh....That was different. Not one he was often met with, but one he was familiar with.

One he liked very much.

But why would one such as this be this close to the forbidden areas?...Unless someone carried it with them. Either way it was something that had gained his attention, and even if it was nothing, there might be fun had in seeing why this was there. And so light steps approached the direction of the scent, back against the few remaining lights of the setting sun. Step after step as the scent grew stronger and the forest less dense around him which was the more interesting part to it. It was the more confusing part of all about it really. After all-

"No peaches should be this dam close."

He recognized that scent now. It was one he often craved and made his mouth water, but one thing he could barely have as it was out of bounds of the forest line. Often he could catch the faintest of their scent from further down the mountain where he was sure a plethora of them grew, but he could never see for himself. But sometimes on rare occasions he worked hard enough to please his master, he would be rewarded with the succulent fruits of his labor. The soft fruit being devoured within seconds before being missed again. Perhaps it was someone else who had gotten their claws on them? If so he'd cut them down and take what he wanted as a prize for disobeying the one law no one shall disobey without permission from the Master. And he would rectify it. Then maybe he'd be rewarded with more fruits for his loyalty. The thought excited him. Maybe this night wouldn't be such a dull fest after all. The scent lead until the tree line forbiddily broke and it left him standing there cloaked in darkness as the last few rays of sunset left the world, and saw nothing. After just a moment of standing against the wind he cursed himself for being stupid enough to even entertain the goose chase that was this night. He cursed this night, and his luck and the stupid hope of rewards. He would've turned around and disappeared back into the shadows if it weren't for one thing that made him pause in his actions.

A ghost in the night.

A white shining in the dark up the pathway that lead away which lead the sweet scent of fruit with it. Odd. What was that? He hadn't see something like that before. Not around here and especially not at night, but there was visibly something there. Alive and moving within the moonlight. Well, well. Now what was this he wondered? His curiosity got the better of him. After all he did have nothing better to do than to follow from the shadows and get close enough to see what exactly this strange new oddity was. And the end result was what surprised him the most. The white movable object was indeed a living being, not a ghost or figment of the light like he suspected. But...it was not an animal either which was what both confused him more. It was a woman. No older than him, maybe by just a year or two in her early twenties, judging by how young and beautiful her form looked. This was...intriguing. And quite the interest. It was-..

"Human."

This was not a topic lost on him. He heard many tales of the humans from his Master's engagements with them and Douma's countless rambles (that often gave him headaches-) and he had even seen one although rarely if ever. Master's wife was human. Their child was human. He sometimes saw them when the Master made mandatory meetings or surprise inspections. The woman was...Kind. He was indifferent about the Master's choice in mate, as he didn't know her enough to have an opinion other than she was a lovely woman in appearance. And sometimes if he walked near the edge of the forest at the right time, he'd see humans traveling along the roads but he could never get this close or ever saw a sight stranger than a long young human woman walking by herself at night, especially tonight of all nights. Unless she-... No. It couldn't be. A-...

A offering?

A tempting. Young offering of scents that caught his interest and tempted him enough to follow. Yes. A nice offering for a nice night. Oh how the tides have turned in his interest.

"....Where am I?"

It was official...You were lost. And not just lost. REALLY lost. At one point the path before you disappeared and you just looked on map in your hands and your eyes squinting out in the dark for any similar sightings you could make out in the moonlight, which wasn't much. ...Maybe you should've heeded the old man's words and waited until daylight to continue traveling because now you reached a dead end in your road. Literally. You looked down at your boots where the dirt path abruptly ended and was replaced by grasses which lead onto a large meadow and eventually more woods. This wasn't the right path...The path you wanted to take was supposed to lead a bit up the mountain before going around it and then leading away, according to the map (once you were able to make it out in the limited moonlight-), you took a wrong turn in that fork in the road you passed by when it was still sunset, and instead of leading away from the mountains, you just went further in! No wonder the map showed a line abruptly stopping when you checked it! It was because you had reached a dead end!

"UGH!!" You threw your hands up holding the map in a moment of frustration. "Why does this have to be so difficult!?"

Of course nothing answered you but the echoes of your voice around the dark woods and the wind still blowing your locks of hair around you. After a moment, you brought it back down to your face and scowled at the paper...but then blinked at what you saw. According to the map, there was another...fork in the road? You looked around. ..You didn't see any forks in the road or another pathway. But when you looked back down, there was one..at least according to the map, but when you literally leaned half way down to look upon the side of the dead end road that faced the woods, you saw nothing. On the map however was a small path that went through the woods, and then disappeared under the drawings of trees but oddly enough if you squinted, there was something oddly shaped with the tree drawings. It looked like a ....House? A big house...Maybe? You couldn't tell. It was oddly shaped and smudged for whatever reason, and the colored ink used to draw it was faded already. So even if it WAS something important, you couldn't tell what it was especially in the limited light. So it might've been a house, but at the same time it could've been just as likely to be a random tea stain from whoever drew this. However you weren't given time you find out, because you heard a cry. A shrill animalistic shriek from somewhere deep in the woods to your far left. And you yelped, whipping your head in that direction as the sound echoed out and died. You weren't the only one as a shadow with blue eyes also turned it's head towards the noise-....before rolling it's eyes. Unfortunately you didn't have much time to wonder what that was, because the startle loosened your grip on the map, and the wind blew the map from your grip.

"H-HEY!!" Your eyes snap forward and your eyes widened as the wind whipped the map through the air with a fluttering paper sound, it flew through the air towards the forest. "Come back here!" You shouted at it before giving chase.

Past the side of the road, across some grass, and past the tree line into the woods. You followed. Into the abyss following the flutter of paper. As you entered leaving the path behind, it didn't take too long for it to get dark really fast. You didn't pay attention at first running after the map that fluttered within the air catching your attention and you still sped after it. You'd need that if you wanted to get off this mountain! Unfortunately you weren't paying attention to your surroundings as you ran deeper and deeper into the forest with a shadow following your ever move which was easy for them to do. At one point the map fluttered down closer to the earth and you began jumping at you hands outstretched between you dodging trees and trying not to crash into any of them, but the wind as if taunting you kept pushing it further and further away now skittering across the ground and tree roots until you FINALLY were able to snatch it back with one lucky grab but just barely between two fingers. But it was enough for you to snatch it up immediately into a tighter grip into your hands with a sigh of relief. You brough the map to your face to inspect for any damaged, before you brushed off some stray dirt and turned. ...And then froze.

You were....not where you were supposed to be.

You were in fact...very much surrounded by darkness. And tall trees. Trees that were so big their branches intertwined and blocked out most of what limited moonlight was even available. So now you weren't able to see barely anything now....and you were even MORE lost. Your eyes widened, and your gut sank. ...And now the panic set in. WHERE THE HECK WERE YOU!? HOW DID YOU LET THIS HAPPEN!? You were just trying to get back the map! The grip on your map increased until it would be permanently wrinkled and you stepped back until your back hit the rough bark of a tree as you stared out into the otherwise silent forest besides the wind will whistling and the creaking of branches and leaves as they rubbed against one another to create a scene straight out of a ghost story the Elders of your old village would often tell as a warning to children. And you were dumb enough to run into a dark forest you'd never been in before.

You breathed as your heart raced, eyed darting around at every shadow. Alright. Calm down. You're alright. You're alright. You're just a little lost, but you're fine. You're not hurt. You're not gonna die. You had no need to be scared. There was nothing here but shadows and trees. They couldn't possibly harm you at all. You slowly repeated the mantra like a prayer in your head as you began to calm down. You were right. There wasn't possibly anything to be afraid of. What WAS there to be afraid of? Shadows that was just made by moonlight and branches? The trees that couldn't move? The wind that just blew air around? There wasn't anything dangerous in these woods! The most dangerous thing you could encounter here was a bear, and while that thought did still frighten you somewhat, you were still able to rationalize that it was unlikely for you to run into one in a forest this big, and even then you would be able to climb a tree for safety. HA! You gave a small smile and huff from thinking such a ridiculous-

THUD!!

You shrieked as something HUGE and MASSIVE and HEAVY fell from the very top of the tree right next to you and it had caused you to shriek out a high pitched wail echoing across the forest and making you jump a few feet away and whip your head to what you assumed was just a dead tree branch falling from the old tree.

But it wasn't...And you froze.

THERE. WAS. A. BODY. LAYING. THERE!!

A literally human was lying there face down in the cold dirt. Your brain instantly went back to panic mode and you felt sick to your stomach instantly. Your body's reflex to made you gag and turn your head slightly away in case you got sick as a sick fear coursed though your body as your body locked up..

And then it groaned.

The body moved an arm to push against the dirt making it sit up just enough to turn it's head at you, and for a brief fleeting moment, you felt relief that maybe the man was still alive-...But any good feelings were dashed when an inhuman face creaked an inhuman sound as a smiling insect-like face turned to smile at you with a single horn protruding from his left cheek.

"Well. A pretty bride has come to me. How .....delicious.~"

You shrieked again.

[coldbloodedstrike]

Disclaimer: I just started Genshin Impact so I'm not familiar with every piece of lore. So this isn't going to cover everything about The Travelers and Venti's relationship. But I wanted to point out some very interesting details I've picked up on so far:

1.) "Beloved of the Anemo Archon" Achievement.

Beloved is a very interesting choice here. While beloved isn't exclusively romantic, it is often used in a romantic context. Beloved indicates that someone is deeply loved... and having the traveler sit in the hand of the statue is a really interesting choice.

2.) "The Outlander who caught the wind". Kind of losing my mind over this because it implies that The Traveler caught the god of Anemo - who is also the God of Freedom.

3.) Venti's association with birds [teaching the first birds that they only needed courage to fly] and the Travelers being winged beings who lost their powers. His association with birds is also consistent with his relationship with Xiao - as Xiao is based on the Golden-Winged Great Peng [which is a being that looks like a half man/half bird. But in Genshin Impact, Xiao is represented as a bird, rather than the bird/man hybrid depiction of the Golden-Winged Great Peng.]

Article about Xiao: here

4.) The very, very interesting pattern of having the Traveler be saved by anemo users during the final moments of major story arcs.

Xiao: saves the traveler from falling to their death. [ And Xiao sacrifices sacrifice himself to save the traveler and their friends in "At Tunnels End".]

Kazuha: saves the Traveler from getting killed by The Raiden Shogun.

The Wanderer: saves the traveler from getting beamed by the Everlasting Lord of Arcane Wisdom.

"May the wind protect you" indeed...

5.) Windwheel Asters, which are used to level up the Traveler, say:

"A plant that adores the wind. To the proud children of the wind, or the citizens of Mondstadt, the Windwheel Asters are "the visible winds".

Having Windwheel Asters be one of the materials to ascend the traveler is interesting... because the ascension materials didn't have to include this flower. It could have even been some made up flower related to the stars. Like a "Star Flower" or something... but it's a flower that "adores the wind"... Also this material could have been any random material.

6.) Venti's very suspicious piece of dialogue "Ah, Traveler! We meet again. What? You don't remember me? Aha, Well allow me to join you on your quest once again. I must see to it that the bards of the world tell the Travelers tale."

Ontop of this, Venti's Windblume poem implies a connection to the Traveler. The Windblume poem is about the Traveler because in the Chinese script "you" and "your" change depending on who you pick. Since Archons can enter peoples dreams and Venti went to sleep for a period of time - it's possible he could have met the Traveler while they were sleeping. And he kept them company during their 500 year sleep - a sleep which was implied to be full of nightmares in the trailer for the beta version of the game [which is voiced over by Venti jsyk].

The reason why I think he met the Traveler in their dreams is because of this line in Ventis Windblume poem:

Who was it that embraced your noble soul in dreams deep

Here's the full Windblume poem:

"Who was it that stroked your bloodied, determined visage By stream flowing small By boulder standing large Who was it that embraced your weary yet noble soul in dreams deep In skies soaring Dear friend I am leading you by the hand Into the night where lanterns shine bright To tell you a tale of freedom and dreams The tale of where this festival begins.”

I highlighted the "noble soul" part because of the description of the Anemo Archon statues:

A monumental stone statue that watches over Mondstadt. Legends say that it was sculpted in the image of the Anemo Archon. "Seeds brought by the wind will grow over time." The statue silently anticipates the arrival of a noble soul to arrive, while thousand winds of time will soon unfold a new story...

[Jsyk you get the "Beloved of the Anemo Archon" trophy by sitting on the hands of the Statue of Barbatos in Mondstadt.]

This is extra interesting when we take into account Venti's close association with The God of time and his roll of being the wind that brings the "seeds" to where they're meant to be. It's obvious that Venti is guiding the traveler to some kind of end goal we're not aware of. And thematically, he's protecting them even when he's not directly involved in their conflict through Anemo users.

Venti also says: "There is not a single song I do not know, whether it be the past, present, or future"

I'm not sure if this is supposed to mean he is ALSO the God of Time - like when "The Anemo Archon" goes to "sleep", "The God of Time" awakens. Or if Venti is given visions by the God of Time to carry out certain events - to be the wind that delivers the seeds to where they're meant to be. But the point is is that he obviously knows future events and he's intentionally keeping them from The Traveler, while guiding them along a certain path. He's not keeping secrets from The Traveler to be malicious, but to make sure they take a certain path to a specific end goal.

And again, he's also been waiting for them to come to Teyvat for an untold amount of time.

7.) When Venti is describing what a Windblume can mean the camera switches to Ventis POV, then it pans over to the Traveler when he says "flowers of love". This is very suspicious because the camera didn't need to pan over to the traveler at all nor did we need a perspective shift to begin with... but it does when Venti says "flowers of love"... how am I not supposed to interpret that as him being romantically interested in the traveler?

Yeah. "love" - at least in english - can mean any kind of love, but it's the choice to have the camera shift to Venti's perspective, then have the camera pan over to the traveler [while still in Venti's POV] as he's saying "flowers of love" is what has me thinking "love" is supposed to mean romantic love in this situation.

8.) Venti and the Traveler missing someone who shares the same face and grieving a time they can't return to.

9.) Traveler to Venti: "Your eyes are the color of the sky in my homeland"

10.) Venti calling the Traveler "My warrior". Again, this is really interesting to me because Venti has been waiting for the traveler to come to Teyvat. He needs the Traveler to be his warrior so that some kind of end goal can be obtained.

But honestly... his teapot dialogue is very sweet.

[godofcreatitivity]

One Piece the Movie

(the following is a nonprofit fan based parody any characters from one piece is owned by Eiichiro Oda, Toei Animation Co., Ltd., any characters from super Mario are owned by Nintendo, any characters from troll hunters, are owned by DreamWorks and universal

Disclaimer

Some of the characters found in this story and / or universe do not belong to me, but are intellectual property of their respective owners. Any original characters in this story are my intellectual property.

Story nonprofit created fan and fan without compromising the original work.)

Chapter 15: The Mushroom Kingdom’s New Hero Rises! So Long Koopas

The fight is beginning where it ended, the two groups facing off against one another.

Pirate emperor Monkey D Luffy alongside Princess Peach were standing as the last line of defense against the threat of the Koopa soldiers that stood before them.

It was basically a temporary alliance between the pirate and the mushroom princess in order to beat them and protect the kingdom.

How long this alliance between the two would last was beyond either one of their knowledge, but to be honest, that wasn’t really something they had the time to worry about at that moment.

As of right now their main objective was to work together in order to get rid of the Koopas, whatever happened later was something they would deal with then.

The two were facing off against the last of the Koopas and got them out of the mushroom kingdom before they could cause any more harm to the residents.

The sledgehammer bro pointed his weapon at the princess and the pirate as he shouted,”GET THEM’!!!!, making all of the other Koopas charge at them.

Luffy and Peach stood their ground firmly as a few of the Koopa soldiers started to run up towards them, trying to make their assault, for a few moments until they themselves started to advance forward.

One of the hammer bros was beaming right towards Luffy, aiming one of his hammer at him before suddenly throwing it at him.

Luffy is able to see this happen and jumps up in the air, dodging it completely, but not before he suddenly stretches his right leg high into the air, almost barely missing one of the small floating islands above them. But not the last Paratroopa, because once he went towards him Luffy’s foot crashed and uppercutted him right in the bottom of his jaw, knocking him out instantly. Luffy then shat a furious glare at the hammer bro and shouted,”NOW GUM GUM…….”, before bringing it crashing down via a high-gravity stomp right on his head and slamming him to the ground,”:BATTLE AXE”!!!!!!, causing him to get sucked up into his shell and creating a giant creator with it.

Both shells fell to the ground and bounced around a few times like lifeless sports balls.

One of the green Koopa troopas (who was a couple of feet away from the right side of the hammer bro) was so busy looking over to see what happened to his friend that he didn’t notice the princess running up and jump kicked him right in the face.

The kick was so strong that it caused him to get sucked into his shell and it quickly went bouncing up and down like a ping pong ball for a few seconds.

And as soon as she was back on the ground, she looked over and saw that two of the other green Koopa troopas were running towards Luffy as he was landing back on the ground.

She would've left them to him if he wasn’t still pulling his leg back, and his back turned to them, so he was a little too distracted to be able to deal with them right at that moment.

Knowing that he may need help she reluctantly rolls her eyes, looks towards the newly made Koopa shell, runs up and kicks it right towards them

Before they could get to him, the green shell she kicked came up and crashed right into the other Koopa troopas, turning them all back into shells.

And luckily for Luffy, once his foot had retracted back to him, he heard the crashing sound and turned around and saw that three of the Koopa guys they were fighting had been turned into shells.

Then he saw the princess quickly running past him and giving him a,”Come on, we're not done”look as she continued her way towards the other Koopas that were ahead of them.

Luffy, though a tiny bit confused, decided to shrug it off before nodding to her and quickly follow after her, jumping over any debris or Koopa shells lying around.

The duo quickly continued their way towards the other Koopas, trying their best to beat them before it was too late.

But before they all collided, the princess quickly turned to Luffy,”We’ll take them out faster if we spread out. You take the big guy with that sledge hammer and I’ll take the other three, got it”!, she ordered.

Luffy looked back over at her and his usual determined grin grew across his face and nodded,”Yeah I gotcha”.

Peach nodded back at his and grew a grin of her own before they both turned their attention back to the Koopas

And while running, Peach quickly turned her head around and saw what he’d done to the two Koopa soldiers and what he was able to do to the ground as a result of his last attack.

She spotted the giant crater littered with the two newly shelled Green Koopa troopa and Red Paratroopa right in the center of it.

Yeah she definitely didn't expect any of this out of him, especially any of the stretching stuff he somehow seems to be able to do.

And to be honest, she wasn’t complaining about it either, cause it packed one helluva punch (and kick) against them.

…..Well……... .maybe not enough of a punch against Bular and his forces but it still did pack quite a punch against the Koopas, so that was at least something.

Almost made her wonder when this part about him was gonna turn up in their original conversation.

What else was he able to do that she didn’t know about.

Is there a limit to how far he could stretch his body……

Does he even feel how far his body stretches…..

Did it hurt him to stretch his body at all and could he hurt himself if he stretched too far……..

There were so many questions about his powers that she suddenly wanted to ask him about, but unfortunately, due to the current situation, now wasn’t exactly the time for that.

Maybe after they had dealt with the threat and they knew that all the Toads were safe, the Koopas were dealt with.

But she would definitely be asking him more questions about who he really is, where he's actually from, and who his friends actually are, because if he's able to do something like this, god only knows what those friends he was talking about were able to do.

Peach starts to pick up speed in order to prepare herself for another jump kick, while Luffy was holding his arm back to prepare another punch for the next few opponents.

And as they were all about to collide with one another, the attention suddenly goes back to a red Koopa suddenly popping out of his shell.

It was Trython!

He had suddenly regained consciousness after being knocked out by Luffy earlier, though he had a bandage on top of his nose and a trickle of blood coming out his nostrils.

Looks like the pirate captain didn’t just put him to sleep by knocking his ass out, but he also was able to leave a bit of a mark on him.

Because he had two (slightly bloody) bandages wrapped around on top of his nose, with a tiny bit of swollen redness underneath them.

He also had a black eye eye that was not only swollen, but closed shut and purple, though thankfully for him it was the eye that was underneath the eyepatch (and yes if you haven’t guessed it by now, he’s just wearing the eyepatch to look cool) that was covering it, so there was no need to worry about anyone else seeing it, unless he takes it off.

Trython groans and picks himself up off the ground before gently and carefully rubbing and caressing his injured bloody nose as he then quickly shakes his head to shake off the dizziness feeling he had that was giving him a massive headache.

Once his head was all good and he had gotten himself together, he then glanced around to check his surroundings before noticing a sudden horrifying sight.

He witnessed the sight of multiple of his Koopa brotherren’s shells scattered across the area, in food carts, in small little craters on the street, or even just lying out on the pavement.

This whole scene was a terrifying sight as it caused him to slowly take a step back and almost trip over one of the other shells lying around.

He couldn’t believe it, how this even happened, they had the advantage over the situation,,,,,

How the hell did all of this even happen?!

There's no way that scrawny little stretchy human was actually able to put up a fight against them, not with the numbers they had.

And all he could do was stretch, there's no way a power as weird as that could actually put up a fight in any useful way.

Sure he was able to attack him and Bryce but those were just basic sneak attacks that he pulled, there's now factual way that someone like him would possibly fight him off and all of his other Koopa comrades.

Trython just sat there, filling his head filling his head with whatever kind of excuse he could think of, not willing to even fathom the thought of accepting an almost curtain defeat like this from a lower life form like the stretchy human

“Yeah that's right, there's no possible way that any of this could happen, this all had to be some sort of joke”, he thought in his head before suddenly hearing a groaning sound coming from behind him.

He turned and saw that one of the green shelled Koopas, who had also popped back out of his shell and was slowly trying to crawl away from the scene.

Once he saw him, Trython quickly dashed his way over to him, he then grabbed his fallen comrade up by the arm and hung it over his shoulder before pulling him over behind some of the fruit wagons to the side where they would temporarily out of sight.

Once they were hidden, Trython carefully sat him down and stared right at him with a stern look on his face,”Hey you, cadet wake up”!He ordered as he started repeatedly smacking him in the face, trying to wake him up, which sort of worked.

And though he was out if it at first, he had mostly gotten himself back together and stared right back at his commanding officer confused,”Huh, what- , commander, you're back up again, ‘ he asked curiously as his Trython continued to shake him.

He wasn’t really in the mood for any useless off topic questions that he may have had, so he started rushing to the important part,”Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah i’m up. you're doing a great job and all that! Now that that's all out of the way……….,” Trython then roughly grabbed the bottom strap of the Koopa troopas helmet,”WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?! HOW DID EVERYONE GET BEATON LIKE THIS!? DIDN’T WE HAVE AN ADVANTAGE OVER THEM!? AND….WHO….THE….HELL….DID…THIS“?!

After being hit with an absolut storm of questions (that due to his current injuries that he had, the Koopa troopa wasn’t really able to answer the questions as quickly as he was being asked them) the injured comrade slowly turned and weakly pointed to the direction behind Trython before shakingly stuttering,”H-H-Him”!

(CRASH)

Suddenly a loud crashing sound could be heard coming from where the Koopa troop was pointing.

Trython quickly spun around to see who and what caused that noise, only to see none other than the straw hatted boy causing them all this trouble.

He was jumping up mid-air and staring down at what Trython could assume was his other Koopa brethren right before yelling out ,“NOW GUM GUM”......., he stretches his leg out for a second or two until the bottom of his foot crashes to the ground,”STAMP”!!!, creating a giant cloud of smoke that engulfs the straw hatted boy as he slowly descends and disappears. into it.

After seeing what had just occurred in front of them, both Trython and the Koopa troop’s jaws were practically dropped to the ground in shock

After seeing what had just occurred in front of them, both Trython and the Koopa troop’s jaws were practically dropped to the ground in shock (and maybe a tiny bit of fear).

“Oh yeah that’s-uh-that’s not good for us”,Trython obviously stated.

The troopa slowly turned to his superior with a look of desperation and a sort of “No shit sherlock” look,”Oh no, ya think?! We only just got our asses beat by a kid you said that we supposedly would be able to handle”!

Trython turned to him with a blank and annoyed expression on his face,”Ok before you go doing that, to be fair I only said any of that because I mainly thought he had gotten a lucky shot of bryce. Though I may have misinterpreted that”.

“A lucky shot?! He literally head butted him through a Fuckin wall after he shook off a sledge hammer to the skull! How the hell could you possibly misinterpret that ''?!, the angrily scared koopa asked.

Trything shrugged his shoulders,“I don’t know, part of one thought that bryce was maybe going easy on him or something”.

“Yeah no if that was the case then I wouldn’t be in as much pain as I’m in right now and half of our team wouldn’t be in their shells right now”!, the koopa troopa then pointed his finger towards the shells of his fallen friends.

“Well excuse me if I'm trying to keep the group's morale up! You all seemed to love it a few minutes ago!Oh but now that everything's taking a turn suddenly everything's all my fault”. Trython pointed out angrily.

“Well you were the same one that said this would be an easy mission! Capture the princess you said, it'll be easy you said we'll just go on in and beat up a couple of mushroom midgets”!The Koopa troopa then motioned his hand around all of the debris and Koopa shells surrounding them before turning back to look at Trython,”Oh but yeah things are totally going perfect I'm sure your moral speeches will help us kidnap this pain in the ass you call a princess” !

TrythonWas about to shoot back with something else to say when he suddenly stopped and heard what his subordinate had just said, and his eyes suddenly went wide,” wait help you ki- wait hold on, YOU MORONS DIDN’T KIDNAP THE PRINCESS?! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU ALL DOING THIS WHOLE?! TWIDDLING YOUR THUMBS LIKE A BUNCH OF IDIOTS”, he shouted, thankfully not being heard by either one of their human enemies.

“Oh what no we weren't doing that, we were all just simply oh well I don't know, FIGHTING FOR OUR LIVES AGAINST THAT STRETCHY PSYCHOPATH”!, the Koopa Troopa shouted while pointing in the last direction where they last saw Luffy,”Oh yeah and when we weren't busy being beaten into a bloody Bane by that lunatic, we were also getting our faces kicked in by that MUSHROOM LOVING BITCH”!

Trython raised a brow and slightly tilted his head to the side in confusion, since when was the prince able to do something other than to look pretty and empty headed, that didn’t make much sense,” Wait the Angel in distress looking princess did this to you guys too? What the hell? When she learned how to fight, I thought she just sat around and looked pretty all day! There's no way she would be able to do this much damage to us!

The Koopa troop shrugged his shoulders in response,”Well sitting around and looking pretty all day made her into a Kung Fu Fighting Champion. We definitely weren't paying as much attention to this Kingdom as we were! Well, that or that probably isn’t the same princess, but someone else in person in the princess”.

“ No, that last one is not right, this is definitely the princess that never leaves the kingdom and there’s no reason to go up to her castle and check”, Trython corrected.

“Da fu- it doesn’t matter whether it was or it wasn’t her, we’re not gonna be able to kidnap her either way with monsters over there beating us up every time we get near here”, the troopa pointed out.

“Ah Damnit your right”, Trython admitted, before frustratedly placing a hand on his head,”This doesn’t make any sense, the changeling trolls have been watching this Kingdom for months! Why the hell didn’t they notify us about him sooner we could’ve brought more forces with us.

The Koopa troopa shrugged,” I don”t know, maybe they overlooked him by mistake or something”.

Suddenly after he said that, they heard a sudden crashing sound coming from where they last saw the straw hatted person. Right after that they suddenly saw a cloud of smoke coming from that same area too.

Trython slowly turned back to his subordinate and pointed in that direction where the smoke was and shouted,”YOU DON'T OVERLOOK SOMEONE WHO CAN CAUSE SHIT LIKE THAT TO HAPPEN! WHAT DID THEY THINK HE WAS SOME SORT OF TOURISTS OR JUST A REALLY LARGE MUSHROOM PERSON”!

“I don’t know, maybe? I wasn’t with them when they gave us the report”, the scared Koopa said.

“WELL SOMEBODY DID AND ENDED UP SCREWING US RIGHT UP IN OUR ASSES”,Trython shouted angrily before storming off a few feet away (not far enough where to leave their hiding spot, where he would be spotted by four enough, where he would be close to that outside).

The Koopa troopa had quickly but painfully gotten up on his feet and tried his best to limp over to his commander desperately,“Well what the hell are we gonna do now? We weren’t told anything about this guy and there’s now way we’re gonna be able to take him down, at least not without a lot of reinforcements with us”!

So he heard what his comrades said Trython was still trying his best to think of a plan, and was under a little bit more pressure than he wanted to be. So without trying to face his subordinate, Trython spoke up and said,“ yeah yeah I know what just give me a moment to think of a plan unless you got any suggestions”.

“Actually I do, why don’t we grab our shit and the others and G.T.F.O before that maniac has a chance to come after us”!, the Koopa troopa suggested, not wanting to go back out there and go up against Luffy again.

Trython quickly turned to him before closing his eyes and shaking his head,” What the- NO! That’s the last thing we should be thinking about doing! Do you have any idea what the king is gonna do to us all if we come back beaten up and without the princess”!

The Koopa troopa once again quickly shrugged his shoulders in response,” I don’t know, but it’s gonna be a lot more bearable than dealing with HIM”, he said before he also pointed in Luffy’s direction.

“No absolutely not, there is no way I’m gonna let us leave empty-handed without the princess! We need to think of another plan and quick- wait a minute”,Trython stopped talking before looking over and noticing that the giant box crate that had their secret weapon inside remained unopened.

He pointed at it and slightly turned to his subordinate,”You guys didn’t use the weapon on him”.

The Koopa Troopa quickly shook his head,”No after you were knocked unconscious by that straw hatted kid, the princess came in and crushed the remote with her foot, so we just decided to come in with plan B and handle everything else ourselves”, he quickly glances over the littered Koopa shells,” And you pretty much see how well that's turning out”.

After he said that, Trythin almost instantly pumped his fist in excitement as he also grinned widely,”Yes”!

The Troopa rows a brow in confusion at this,”I’m sorry, how is that something to be happy about”?.

“Because now we could still use our ace up our sleeve against stretchy over there and still be able to kidnap the princess in one fell swoop! It's like killing two birds with one stone, IT'S PERFECT”!Trython loudly suggested.

Though he did think it was a good Idea The Koopa Troopa also knew they had one tiny slight problem, nothing too bad to worry about.

He then places his hand on before saying,”Hmmmm yeah sounds great, amazing, couldn’t be more full proof. Though there's just one tiny teenie weenie little problem”.

Trython turned back to him curiously…….

“WE DON’T HAVE THE REMOTE ANYMORE! YOU KNOW THE THING THAT WE NEEDED TO OPEN THAT DAMN THING IN THE FIRST PLACE! THAT WEAPONS PRETTY MUCH USELESS IF WE CAN’T EVEN GET IT OUT OF THAT BOX”!The Troopa frighteningly shouted.

And though he was just given the worst bit of news he could receive at that moment by his subordinate, Trython simply stared at him with a blank expression on his face before suddenly asking him,”You idiots really weren’t listening at the strategy meeting were you”?

The Koopa Troopa responded to the question by tilting his head to the side in confusion,”Huh”?, he asked, unable to answer the question”.

That told Trython everything he needed to know, which caused him to slap his hand on his face before turning and pointing towards the box,” If you all had actually been listening to the plan you’d know that the remote was decoy. The real way to open the box is with the passcode keypad on the side of it. The original plan was for one of you to be over there in case they tried anything funny”.

The Troopa raised a brow as he turned to where Trython was pointing and squinted his eyes tight in order to see what he was talking about.

And after a few moments of searching there it was, a slightly small but shiny gray keypad hidden on the left side of the box.

He was right, there was a keypad on the box…..

“You see it”?Trython asked curiously, but mostly trying to get on with the plan quickly.

The Koopa Troopa nodded his head,”Yeah I d- wait if the keypad was there the whole time then why the hell did we even need the remote we could have just gone over and opened it that way”.

“ Well obviously if they had figured out that the remote was a fake they would have just gone straight for the keypad so giving them the wrong idea would have given us the advantage and made them think that they were safe until we actually opened the box giving us an element of surprise’, Trython explained.

The Koopa Troopa Quickly dipped his head to the side accepting the answer that he was given.

now that he knew that his subordinate had known the actual plan, Trython mysteriously grinned as he slowly rubbed his Palms together,” and now that it's there and there's no one in our way we're going to open up our secret weapon that's inside that box and sick it on that stupid kid! And while everyone else is in parallel and panicking we're going to take this time to sneak up and kidnap this princess, it's foolproof!

The Koopa thought for a second before suddenly smiling maliciously as well“Okay yeah that sounds great! What do you need from me”?

Trython Place the hand on his shoulder,” Don't worry nothing much, the only thing I need you to do is keep watch and make sure that no one else especially the princess or the straw hat or any of the mushroom freaks come anywhere near us while I'm entering the passcode, so it shouldn’t take us long at all really. You got that”?

The Koopa nodded his head in conformation,”But wait what about the others, shouldn't we help them out”

Trython quickly shook his head and looked,’No they’re already playing their role as the diversions so that those two don't’ notice us. We’ll just be putting ourselves in danger for no reason”.

“But how the hell do we know that this doesn’t have a super vision power or something and he spots us?”The Troopa asked.

Trython, about to shoot that idea down, quickly stopped and thought about that for a second. It actually doesn’t sound too crazy now that he actually thought about it, considering the fact that they had just found out that not only could this guy physically (and quite literally) stretch his limbs and have some sort of super strength. If he’s able to do things as crazy as that by himself imagen what else he's able to do.

He looks at the Koopa Troopa and says,”Well if that's the case then we'll make sure that this is quick and that we're not talking too long”, before turning and looking over at the direction that the princess and straw hat were and lowering his voice,”Before any of them spot us and get the chance to stop us”.

He turned back to his subordinate and said,”Alright let's go”, before suddenly running off towards the direction of the box, the /koopa Troopa getting up and following after him.

Toad who was just sitting back and watching the battle go on between them and the Koopas in utter amazement in the fact that they were actually fighting off the koopas so easily.

He never would’ve thought that Luffy would be this capable in a fight like this, and he had only heard rumors about the princesses fighting skills from other toads throughout the kingdom, but to see in person up close was blowing his mind.

He was basically cheering them on at this point, which consisted of him saying things like,”Yeah kick his yellow scally ass Luffy”, or,”Yeah you go princess”, as if he was watching a fight on tv or something.

He was about to go and shout something else out to them, when suddenly, he noticed that two of the Koopa soldiers (mostly trython he noticed because he was the one who held him hostage earlier) were running away from the scene and making their way towards that weird moving box that they brought in earlier.

Wait why were they doing that, wasn’t that remote that they were going on and on about earlier already destroyed by the princess before they started fighting.

Why the hell were they just now going out of their way to go over there when it was already too late for them to open it?

Toad just couldn’t wrap his giant head around why they would be trying to do this now when there was no point.

Were they trying to run away?

No, there's now way that they would dare try something like that….

At least not without their king giving them the green light to do so otherwise they’d risk facing his merciless wrath.

Soon the toad noticed that they had arrived at the box (so that answered that question) and looked as if they were looking for something on it.

Were they trying to find a weak spot inside it so they could try and pry it open sense they didn’t have the remote any more..

Ha

Now that was desperation at its highest if he had ever seen it.,,,

There's no way in hell that those tiny ass turtles are gonna be able

And even if they did it's not like it would matter at this point, don’t know if they’ve actually bothered to notice yet or not.

But as of right now the mushroom kingdom had two absolute beasts out there on the battle basically with these Koopa clown’s shells without anything more than sheer strength alone.

And they really think that (though surrounded by a giant box) whatever the hell was in that box was gonna be strong enough…..or…..big…….enough ... ..to…..

Uh oh…..

There was only one thing that was actually dangerous enough to actually do a lot of damage to the kingdom and……..

Oh no…………..

A chill went down Toad’s spine as he finally realized just what it was that was inside that box and what it could do to the kingdom if those two let it out.

Oh god….

He needed to do something to stop them and he needed to do it quickly before they had a chance to open it up.

But he knew better than to go and do that alone, he wasn't strong enough to go in and stop them all by himself.

They would basically Pummel him if he tried that, especially if there were two of them there.

He turned over to see the Princess and Luffy still currently fighting off the other Koopa soldiers.

Toad knew that if he wasn’t able to stop them then maybe those two just might be able to

He quickly hops up from where he's sitting and dashes over to them in hopes of getting them to stop what's about to happen.

( BOOM)

Luffy’s fist crashed into the pavement as Bryce the sledgehammer bro was successfully able to dodge his attack.

Bryce looked over at Luffy and grinned wildly,”Hah, that all you got scrawny”, taunting him.

Luffy, gritting his teeth, quickly retracted to his arm and winds it up before throwing it right back at him, but this time Bryce uses his sledge hammer and bats it away from him.

Luffy winces slightly as he starts to retract his arm back to throw another punch, but then the sledgehammer bro suddenly starts charging, winding his hammer back and preparing.

Luffy sees this and panics and quickly tries to hasten his retracting process in order to defend himself, but it wasn’t fast enough to catch up to him in time because the sledge bro is already in front of him.

Luffys face turns pale blue as he sees him get closer towards him.

He winds his hammer back, preparing to strike him before swinging it right at his head, but before he could make any contact with it, Luffy acts quickly and ducks right as the hammer is about to touch his head, grabbing and pulling his straw hat with him.

And thankfully for him, a second or two later his arm finally retracted to him.

And as soon as that happened, Luffy acted quickly and went to aim his fist right at the center of sledge bros chest before eight his arm back and going……

( BAM)

Luffy swings his arm forward and lands a solid blow that hits the bro right in his chest, sending him tumbling back a few feet away and creating a huge creator crack on his plastron, which causes a little bit of blood to leak out.

But before he lost his balance and fell to the ground, Bryce quickly caught himself by using his sledgehammer as some sort of supportering cane.

He then looked over at Luffy and smiled smugly and mockingly at him……..

Luffy groaned and gritted his teeth after seeing that his opponent was still standing even after all those (almost) consecutive hits he dealt to him.

Ok yeah sure he was holding back a shit ton of his own strength so he wouldn’t accidentally kill them but he wasn’t exactly giving these guys love tap’s either.

And the punches he gave them were far from ineffective, considering that he was able to put the smaller ones to sleep, but this big guy here just wouldn't go down And was looking like he could take a punch.

At least that was how he was looking like to Luffy, but how he really felt was almost entirely different.

Bryce was almost in complete agony at least his chest anyway, for a scrawny kid like him he could pack quite a punch and cause this much damage.

He was trying to put on a tough face for his troops (the ones that were still conscious anyway) so that they would still be motivated to continue the fight on.

But unfortunately for him that was becoming a lot harder than he could possibly think and definitely more easier said than done.

This kid was tough, like really tough. Not only was one of his Sledgehammer attacks working against him (or really hitting him that much if you really want to go into detail), but he was a lot slower than him as well, meaning a lot more open for a lot of attacks, and he was taking a lot of attacks.

He Was only just managing to dodge a few of them as best he could.

But that last hit was a lot more than he could handle, and it hurt a lot more too.It had even cracked his plastron enough to make it bleed a tiny bit, which hurt like hell by the way,And now he was stuck nursing and caressing it trying to ease the pain down as best he could.

And this fight really wasn't getting him anywhere but more bruises and bumps. So he really needed to start thinking outside the box before he ended up like his other friends.

He grown slightly as he started to use the hammer to help lift himself up a tiny bit before forcing a grin on his face and saying,” got to say for a kid you pack a cute little punch was going to take a lot more than that to beat me”, then lifts himself up and puts the hammer over his shoulder,” and believe me I could do this all day”, he briefly Bluffs trying to steal put on the ppl strong face.

Though that might actually be the death of him in the next few minutes if he kept this charade going.

If it wasn’t obvious enough, Luffy was definitely much stronger than the sledge bro Bryce, and though he has a tough exterior, Luffy has broken things, a hundred no a thousand times harder than that, and was mostly just pulling his punches. If he wanted to he could crush him like a fly in a matter of moments no seconds. And even though he was a pretty strong Koopa for his size he didn't really know how much more of this he could take from him.

Luffy angrily gritted his teeth and shouts,”Oh yeah, well lets see how ya like this”!, right before he suddenly starts charging right for him.

Bryce is shocked at first but then quickly snaps himself out of it and starts groaning in pain as he lifts himself up from leaning on his hammer and gets into a hammer swinging ready stance in preparation for his next attack.

As Luffy is running towards Bryce, he starts stretching both his arms far back behind himself while shouting,”NOW GUM GUM……..”, as he is only a few feet away from him.

Bryce in response started winding his hammer back in preparation to swing but unfortunately due to the injuries that he had, he wasn’t able to move as fast as he usually does, which ended up slowing down his swinging motion.

Which was basically a blessing in disguise for fully energized and speedy Luffy, because he was just about right in front of him getting ready to launch.

Bryce tried his best to swing and attack in time to catch him before he could use his attack but again due to his injuries he wasn’t able Luffy in time.

And before the hammer makes any contact with him, Luffy runs up and then hurls his arms forward, ( BOOM) striking the sledge hammer bro with both instantaneously with a double open palm strike with both hands,”BAZOOKA”!!!!

The blow landed right on Bryce’s chest, hitting him right in the cracked wound, causing him to cough up a bunch of blood and gasp loudly in pain.

The attack was so powerful that it sent the sledge bro straight up flying off in the other direction and crashing into one of the nearby mushroom buildings.

Well that was that, Luffy had successfully beaten the biggest Koopa guy there.

And though he would’ve liked to have celebrated this win, even he knew that there were still a few more of them that he needed to deal with.

He looked over and saw the princess ducking and dodging the hammers being thrown by the hammer bro as she was trying to get to him and his two other green Koopa buddies.

Luffy was about to run over and help her get to them (or at least to help keep the hammers away from hitting her) when he suddenly stopped himself once he noticed that she was holding something in her hand.

He took a closer look and saw that she had what looked to be one other green Koopa shell in her hand and was holding it like a football, kind of.

He somewhat understood what you were trying to do at that moment and decided not to help her.

She was charging at them with full speed and tightly holding the shell in her left hand all while trying not to get hit by the oncoming spears and hammers that were coming right at her.

She and when she couldn’t dodge one of the hammers in time she used the shell in her hand as like a shield to protect herself.

What she was trying to do was take them all out using the Koopa shell in her hand.

And thankfully for her She would soon be able to do just that, because once she had gotten close enough to them she quickly aimed and made sure that she was on target before she purposely dropped the shell out of her hand and kicked it with as much force as she possibly could muster in her right leg.

The shell went directly for the Koopa troopa to the right of the hammer bro and it hit him right on his nostrils, instantly knocking him out. After the shell had hit him in the face, it had bounced off that koopa troopa’s face and went straight for the Koopa on the left, this time hitting him in the chest, causing him to groan and cough up blood. Both Koopa Troopas were sucked back into their shells once they were hit with the attack. And thanks to that the hits only made the last attack go even faster as it went for the hammer bro. He picked up one of his hammers and try to use it to knock the shell away from them, but before he even had the chance to make contact with it it already flew past his hammer and hit him right in his mouth, knocking him out instantly and getting sucked back into his shell and drop to the ground.

Once Peach had taken care of them successfully, she took a breath and quickly started to dust herself off of any dust or filth that may have gotten on her while she was fighting.

She does that often when she knows that she’s done a lot of moving around. You know mainly just to help also maintain her royal and elegance she was taught as a kid.

While she was doing this a sudden voice called out to her.“Hey looks like we got 'em all”!

Peched turned to see that it was the stretchy human she’d been fighting alongside who was coming right in her direction.

She then takes a closer look behind him and sees no sign of sledge hammer bro from earlier or any of the other Koopa troopa.

She nodded and placed both her hands on her hips”, Yeah, and it looks like you had an easy time disposing of the others”, she shot back as he had gotten closer to her.

(Giggles)”Yup, these guys ain’t nothing to me prince, I’m too strong for em”, Luffy responded reassuringly as he stopped a couple of feet away from her.

“Yeah about that, not that I know everything or anything really about most humans, considering I’d only ever heard of them in books or little fairytale stories around the kingdom. But I've never heard of any human doing what you're capable of doing, you are sure that you're a human, right”?, she asked curiously.

Luffy slightly tilted his head and placed his fingers on his chin as if to think about something before saying,”I don’t know, let….me.…see”, he suddenly starts briefly feeling up his face and his body,”I feel pretty human“, before shrugging his shoulders and dropping his hands.

Peach, after seeing and hearing that, had to physically try her very hardest not to burst out laughing after seeing that by balling , not wanting to let her emotions get out of control, that wouldn't be very princess-like for her.

But instead she took a step closer to him, reached out, and grabbed hold of his cheek and pulled it out towards her, stretching it in the process.

“Whoa”, she said in amazement as she felt his stretchy skin on her gloved hand, to be honest it felt as if she was actually touching a piece of rubber instead of skin.

She was almost mesmerized being the look and feeling of it, however a little too mesmerized by it, because quite a few seconds had gone by of her just staring at Luffy’s skin and it was starting to weird him out a tiny bit, especially with the strong grip that she had too.

But unfortunately for him it was about to get a lot worse for him.

Peach’s face suddenly lit up with excitement (not bothering to turn and look at him but still looking at the stretched cheek) as she started hitting him with a boatload of questions like,“Do you not feel any of this?! I mean I know you probably do because of your ,hopefully, flesh and blood and nerves. But I mean doesn’t it ever hurt you when you stretch yourself?! Wait, is there a limit to how far you can stretch yourself?! Have you ever tried to test it out yourself?! Oh shit wait what am I talking about of course you have! Wait, can you tell me?! You have to tell me! You have t-”, Peach stopped talking once she actually started looking at Luffy, she saw how uncomfortable and wide-eyed he looked with all the questions she was asking him.

Luffy rose a brow in confusion,”Um, hey whya grabbin my face, it feels weird”.

Her face went red as she realized that she once again let her curious side get the best of her and caused her to go on another rant like earlier when they had first met.

And this time Toadsworth wasn’t there to let her know to keep that under control in time for it not to become too much either.

Red with embarrassment, she quickly cleared her throat and let go of his cheek as she then took a step back from him.

She then quickly but awkwardly fixed herself and her demeanor up before turning back to face him, still red with embarrassment,”Uh I mean (Ahem), its\ looks like a useful skill to have, straw-hat”.

Luffy smiled at he,”yeah you're pretty good at fightin too, aintcha”, he asked in response to the comment she just gave him

Peach (trying her best not to indulge in conversation with him or really ty to get too friendly with him) turned away from him, still trying her best to hide her also still blushing red cheeks,”Well um before we conversate further, I’m going to go check and see if there are anymore of them in the are still in the area. Just in case if they are still here, they can’t get to my-”.

“Oh, hey Toad”, Luffy called out, interrupting her.

Peach turned back around after he said that and saw that one of her red toads (who was weirdly wearing mix matched clothes) was running right towards them, frantically waving his hands.

“LUFFY!!!! PRINCESS!!!!!”, she loudly shouted as he was running,”YOU GUYS GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE RIGHT NOW! IT'S COMING!!!!!

The princess and the pirate both shot him a look of confusion after he said that,

“What is he talking about”?, Peach asked aloud to herself as she took a few steps forward towards him.

Luffy shrugs in response to her question,”I don’t know, lemme ask em”, before he then raises his hands up to his mouth and yells out,”TOAD WHATCHA TALKIN ABOUT-”!!!!

c

Suddenly a loud crashing sound could be heard from the distance that was so loud that it caused everything around them to shake violently.

Liffy stopped talking as soon as he had heard the sound and felt the earth quaking like it was shaking.

It was so bad that he also had to quickly catch the princess before she lost her balance and fell.

Though she wasn’t very appreciative about it, because once he caught her, she turned red and quickly pushed him away.

Toad (who though knew exactly what that sound had to mean) continued running towards them with even so much as taking a quick peek at what the noise was.

Though it was a little rude, Luffy didn’t think much of it and turned to see where all that noise had just come from.

But once he did his head immediately tilted in confusion as he pointed out to it and asked,”Uh hey Princess, what’s that giant ball thing down there”?

Peach rows a brow after hearing the question (In her head),”Giant Ball? What the hell is he-“, when suddenly, a wave of realization to what he was referring to hit her.

She quickly spun around only to see the terrifying sight of the creature he was referring to.

And her eyes went wide at The terrifying sight of The Giant Chain Chomp!

The Giant Chain Chomp resembled a ball that had big circular eyes, large gaping mouths, and razor-sharp teeth.it had a restraining tail-like chain coming from its behind.

(THUMP)

(THUMP)

(THUMP)

The chain chomp slowly followed trython out of the box and into toad town while the Koopa Troopa stayed behind it to make sure that the chain was disconnected and away from the box.

And after making sure that it was completely out of the box (Ha!) the two Koopas ordered it to stop moving.

“Alright chomps listen up and listen good! You see that castle over there”?Trython points towards Peach’s castle.

The chain chomps eyes follow where he’s pointing before giving a loud (BARK) in response.

“Good, cause now that you see it I want you to go and tear it to pieces, along with everything else in this disgusting kingdom! And don’t worry you can go ahead and eat the little Mushroom tots with it, but not the princess, we need her alive”!, he then starts motioning the chain chomp towards the town,”Now go on and have fun- oh and if you see someone with a straw hat around while you doing your job, be sure to kill him quickly and make sure he’s dead”!

And with that, the ginormous chain chomps sets its eyes towards peach's castle and growls as it starts to make its way towards Peach”s castle while barking excitedly.

Any buildings, carts, or different structures that were in its way were chomped on or crushed by its humongous jaws.

Luffy and Peach stood there in place staring wide eyed down at the chain chomp coming right towards them (and you know just pretend that it's going around chomping things up in the Kingdom dramatically).

“Oh no”, Peach said in her head as she watched all the destruction that chain chomp was causing.

“That’s a chain chomp! They’re deadly creatures that cause massive amounts of destruction if they're let off their chains”!, Peach explained to Luffy as they both continued to stare at it.

Luffy then tilted his head and raised a brow as he noticed it was sort of acting like a wild dog,”Hey why is it acting like a giant puppy”?

Peach sighed with a tiny bit of annoyance, wondering why that was what he was worrying about at this moment before answering,”They are dogs, we’ll sort of. They’re used as guard dogs in the koopa kings army and used as weapons too”!

Luffy was about to ask another question when they both suddenly heard all the sounds of destruction that the chain chomp was causing and jumped at it.

Peach with an almost frightened look in her eyes glanced at Luffy before looking back at the chain chomp,”If this thing keeps this up, it’ll reduce my entire kingdom to nothing but rubble and debris”!

They had to do something in order to prevent that from happening.

Well at least one of them needed to anyway, because Luffy had already put on his determined grin and punched his fist into his hand as he started walking toward it,”Well then don’t worry princess, I’ll handle this”!

Ok……

Now the princess was a lot of things at this exact time.

But stupid and hopelessly hopeful wasn’t anywhere near one of them.

Sure he may have been strong enough to take down even the one of the strongest and elite Koopa in their kingdom, but a koopa and a giant (keyword: Giant) Chain Chomp were two very different things.

Strong or not there's no way that he’s gonna be able to take that thing on and I didn’t know how many sledgehammer Brose he was going to beat down. Therefore there was no way he could convince her that he could do that.

She quickly ran after him in protest ,” whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, what do you think you’re doing?! Do not tell me that you're thinking of going over there to fight that thing all by yourself are you”?

Luffy turned to her and nodded his head,” Hell yeah, he ain’t nothin to me! I don’t need any help, I can handle it, no problem”!

Peach wasn’t really having it and she definitely wasn’t in the mood to argue.

So she stopped in front of him in order to stop him,”Yeah, OK no, what we actually need to do is think of a careful plan on how to stop that thing without causing too much destruction,, or worse getting ourselves killed! You may be a strong human, but you’re a human nonetheless, and we’re gonna need more than stretchy punches if we want to handle that thing”.

Luffy, while continuing to walk toward it, simply gave the princess a reassuring look,” Don’t worry princess I’ve handled big things like that before plenty of times so I should be able to take it on, no problem“!

Pete slapped her hand on her head and continued trying to reason with him,” no, you’re not listening to me all right you have to-“, when suddenly she felt something grab her by the hand and yank her in the opposite direction of the blocks and to her castle.

She turned to look down and saw that the culprit was the same Toad that she saw running towards her.

She looked down at him,”What are you doing?! Let go of me, we have to stop that thing before it destroys the entire kingdom”!

Turned turned around to face her while running in response and said,”Apologies princess but trying to take on a giant chain chomp would be suicidal! We need to make sure you’re safe and out of harm's way, if that thing”.

The princess wasn’t really trying to listen to that. She was too busy looking down at the straw hatted human. I’m still walking towards the change up (which at this point was still a little busy chewing up the town and didn't really notice him),” what not let go of me we have to make sure that humans don't get killed by that thing”!She said, protesting.

Despite her protest however, Toad continued pulling her away from the scene and back to her castle to safety, but as he was doing this he turned to her with a more serious look on his face,”Sorry princess but that's a chain Chomp,they're usually bad news to be around! And the last thing we need or want is for you to get hurt at a time like this”!, before his expression changes into a cheerful smile,”Besides I'm sure if Luffy can take down a bunch of stinking Koopas then a chain chomp shouldn't be anything for him, right”?!

The princess was about to continue protesting when she suddenly stopped to consider what the toad had just said.

Could he really take that thing on?

She saw that he had some strength with him sure but could it be enough to hand something as big as that thing.

She would have to see for herself.

She turned her head around (Toad secretly doing the same) to the sight of Luffy walking up behind the chain chomp, who was currently chewing up one of the crazy cap shops.

“HEY YOU TEETHY”!Luffy loudly called out to the chewing chain chomp.

The chain chomp stops chewing the building pieces apart and turns to look down to see the sight of a straw hatted boy that was staring him down with anger and fury.

Remembering what its superior told him about what to do if it sees someone with a straw hat, the chain chomp quickly spun around to face him right as he made a stop at its chin and a loud growling sound came from it.

Luffy in response gritted his teeth and cracked his neck before he then started to shout out,”STOP CHEWIN UP THOSE BUILDINGS OR I’M GONNA KICK YOUR A-”!!!

(BOOM)

Unfortunately for him the chain chomp wasn't really one for listening to reason, especially not from those who were to be considered to be his enemies. because the next thing Luffy knew the chain chopped at hopped up in the air and then got right on him almost as if to crush him.

It happened so fast that there wasn’t any real time to process what had happened right in there in front of everyone.

Peach and Toad’s eyes slowly went wide as both shocked and horrified expressions grew on both their faces.

Luffy-Luffy just got killed

(End of Chapter )

Hey everyone, hi no I know you don’t have to say it. I was like this chapter but I have a lot going on in my life and I’m still trying to process the death of my family.

But thankfully I was able to get this done and now we can still continue the series and yes the series is still going to continue. It’ll just take some time between chapters. Hopefully the next one will be a lot sooner than later.

And obviously this little cliffhanger isn’t something a lot of you will need to worry about in the next chapter.

Hope y’all like the new poster I made for the book too so now it’s easier for you all to know what the story’s about.

Next chapter will be the last Luffy point of view story.

Till next time.

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (197/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball,  which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made  on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: This story takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

     [1 October, Age 761.  Earth.]  

One story reaches its climax with the Super Saiyan charging headlong into the Kingdom of the Blood Rubies.   Her body is sore from recent battles, and weary from hunger and thirst, but she pushes onward, glowing bright yellow like a meteorite burning through the heavens.  

Luffa was chosen to investigate the Ruby Loop, a time fragment that had been puzzling the Time Patrol's finest minds for two years.     Chronoa, the Supreme Kai of Time, was convinced that Luffa was uniquely qualified for the job, despite the apprehension of Excitebike, a stalwart agent of Toki Toki City's Deep Time Investigation Department.

The Ruby Loop was unusual for two reasons.   First, it was contaminated with the Blood Rubies, which did not exist in the true historical record.    Second, the Ruby Loop was a continuously repeating cycle of time.  Each cycle began on the same day, September 1, Age 749, and ended with the separation of the Blood Rubies from the Earth.  

What the Time Patrol could never understand was what to do about it.  Time fragments had to be contained and trimmed down to a manageable size, but the Ruby Loop constantly expanded itself with each cycle, and every cycle was slightly different.   Some lasted only a few days, while others stretched out for years.   And no one could understand why a naturally occurring time anomaly would behave this way.  

Luffa did not have the complete answer, but as she approached the great wall that surrounded Gurumes' castle, she believed that she would have it soon, just as Chronoa had predicted from the beginning.  A squadron of fighter jets from the Earth's Royal Military attempted to intercept her, but she outmaneuvered them with frightening ease, and fired energy beams from her fingertips to discourage them from trying again.  

The wall had been built to contain King Gurumes and the Blood Rubies he had mined from his land.   At the beginning of this cycle, like all of the others in the Ruby Loop, King Gurumes had become obsessed with the gemstones, and ruined his kingdom to gather them all in his castle.   Since Gurumes could not be killed, the solution in this cycle was to quarantine him along with the Blood Rubies.  It was an uneasy stalemate, but it mostly worked.   Gurumes was insane with hunger, but he would not venture out of the wall and abandon his treasure.   In turn, the presence of the Gurumes-monster was enough to dissuade fortune-hunters from trying to steal the Blood Rubies for themselves.    

Luffa had visited the wall in a previous cycle.   That version of the wall surrounded the entire border of the kingdom.   This version was smaller but more heavily fortified and reinforced.   There was also an enormous hole in the eastern section.  Royal Military troops were swarming around the entrance, desperately working on a way to repair the breach.  

She flew past them without slowing down.  By the time they saw her, she was already five kilometers into the containment zone.  

Enormous footprints marked the course of the creature who had broken through the wall.   The land inside the containment zone was parched and ruined from mining operations.    The impressions in the ash and dust would vanish with the next stiff wind, but for now, they led straight for the wrecked castle in the center of the zone.  

Seconds later, she arrived at the end of the trail, and found two thirty-meter tall behemoths locked in combat.  One was King Gurumes.    

The other was Excitebike, the Time Patroller who had brought her to the Ruby Loop.  

"They'rrrrre miiiiine!" roared the Gurumes-creature.  He had once been a normal Earthling human, but something had changed him.  It was said that no food could satisfy him a second time, and so he went mad from hunger after he ran out of options for his meals.   He sought the Dragon Balls to wish for a solution, but even this was denied him, and he transformed into a swollen mockery of himself, with blotted purple skin, jaundiced eyes, and an unnatural strength.  

"No! No! Noooooo!" screeched Excitebike.   The Time Patroller had once been an albino Namekian dressed in an orange jumpsuit and crash helmet.  He was an expert in researching time anomalies, which he explored using a special time machine built into a motorcycle.   Excitebike had logged more hours in the Ruby Loop than anyone, and he had warned Luffa that the curse could affect anyone.  Even Time Patrollers were not immune, as he had personally evacuated colleagues who had shown early signs of the same mutation that affected Gurumes.  

Somehow, Excitebike had succumbed to the same effect.   As he fought with Gurumes, it would have been difficult to tell the two monsters apart.   Excitebike's Namekian antennae were the only indication that he was from a different planet.   And Luffa could still recognize his shrill, needling voice in the guttural shrieks.  

She still didn't understand how he had been affected this way, and so quickly.   Excitebike had insisted that they eat and drink rations he had packed for the mission.  The theory was that food native to the Ruby Loop might somehow carry the Blood Rubies' curse.  But Excitebike was a Namekian, who only needed water to sustain himself.  

It was for this reason that Luffa had spent the last several days drinking only water she had distilled from her own urine.  The thought of a bloated purple monster with a Saiyan tail was enough to frighten her into this self-deprivation.

Below, Gurumes and Excitebike fought evenly.   The Namekian was the stronger of the two, but it made no difference.  Each time Excitebike dealt any injury to King Gurumes, his body would reassemble itself and the battle would be renewed.   And both seemed to be fixated on claiming the hoard of Blood Rubies in the wreckage of the castle.   Left unchecked, they would simply fight without end.  

Luffa planned to check them.    

With a loud, sharp cry, she flew down and struck Excitebike in the jaw with her right fist.   As the giant tumbled over, she spun around in midair and fired ki blasts as King Gurumes, destroying his entire head and most of his chest.   It wouldn't kill him, but it would give her time to focus on her comrade.

"You weren't this big when I brought you here, Ex," Luffa said as she landed on his chest.    "You ate all our rations in one sitting, and you started turning purple and acting freaky, but nothing like this!"

"Get... get awayyyy from my rrruuubies, you nincompoop!" Excitebike growled.   He raised his massive hands to attack her, but Luffa stood her ground.  

"I probably don't need to knock you around for this," Luffa admitted.  "But I'll be honest, I've been itching to hit something since we came to this stupid time fragment, and you were kind of a jerk even before you turned into a curse-monster."

He snarled with rage, and Luffa crossed her arms over her chest.   "I'm done playing it subtle," she said.   "Now I do this my way.   I'm just gonna make as much noise as I can around those Blood Rubies and see what happens.   Maybe I can't remove them from the planet, but I bet I could fuse them altogether and see if they'll burn.  How about that?"

Excitebike's hands slammed together around Luffa, and there was a brief silence, broken only by King Gurumes' groans as his body knitted itself back together nearby.   Excitebike made a sort of grunt that might have been mistaken for a laugh.   Then he began to tremble as a yellow light shone from between his palms.    There was a muffled scream, and then--

"Not good enough!" Luffa shouted as she blasted his hands away from her.   "I've taken a hit from Beerus the Destroyer!  Beerus!   Sure, it hasn't happened yet, because Chronoa sent me back in time to recover from that fight, but you probably don't even understand what I'm saying right now!"  

With a loud yell, she stomped on Excitebike's chest with such force that the ground shook beneath them.   He cried out from the blow, but there was no sign of any serious injury.  

"You two are indestructible, but you can't fight worth a damn!" Luffa said.  "What little intelligence you have left seems to be all focused on those stupid rubies!  It's pathetic!  And what did either of you do to deserve this?  Gurumes picked up a pretty rock?  And you?  You were the one who told me not to drink the water here.   You freaked out when I almost touched a Blood Ruby, so what did you do to end up like this, and why did it affect you so quickly?"

"Ssstay away from myyyyy rrrubieesss!" Excitebike moaned.    

"Why?!" Luffa shouted back.   "What's so damned important about these things!   I brought you forward to this cycle and dumped you in the middle of nowhere, but I knew you'd head straight for this place, but why?   What do they mean to you?"

"They.... neeeed meeeeee..."

The words came slowly, almost painfully, but there was no mistaking their meaning, or the emotion behind them.  Luffa was genuinely stunned to hear them.    So much so, that she did not notice King Gurumes closing in behind her.  

"What did you say--?" Luffa asked just as Gurumes slammed his fist down upon her.  

"Get awayyyyy!" Gurumes bellowed.  "Get awayyy from my ruuuubiesssss!"

"Miiiiine" Excitebike snarled.  

As they resumed their battle, Luffa tumbled clear of them and ended up on the ground.  Gurumes' clumsy attack had not hurt her, although she felt a twinge of embarrassment for being so easily blindsided.  

The air around her was thick with dust that had been kicked up from all the fighting.   Excitebike had once expressed concern about even breathing the air in the Ruby Loop, but there was nothing Luffa could do to protect herself from that.   She had learned to operate his time bike well enough to move back and forth through the Ruby Loop, but she had not found a way to escape the Loop, nor send a distress call to the Time Patrol for help.   She was on her own, and she knew it was only a matter of time before she found a way out or succumbed to the curse, one way or another.

"They need you?" Luffa shouted as she rocketed back up to confront Excitebike again.   She positioned herself between his face and King Gurumes' oncoming fist, then swung out her arm to release a ki wave that knocked Gurumes aside.  

"Miiiiine!  Mine!  Mine!" Excitebike howled.    

"What do you mean they need you?" Luffa howled back.   "They're just a bunch of useless rocks!"

"You dolt!  Can't you hearrrrrr them?!" Excitebike growled.  

Luffa was about to answer with a furious, defiant remark.   She would have told him he was mad, or a fool.   Then she would have hit him.  

This was what she would have done, had she not been floating so close to Excitebike's enormous face.   For in that moment, as King Gurumes rose up again to make another assault, Excitebike turned his head to see him, and Luffa found herself staring into his gigantic  left ear.    

Luffa didn't know much about Namekians beyond the basics, though she did know that they had exceptional hearing.   And in that moment, it suddenly dawned on her that maybe Excitebike really was hearing something.

As the implications of this raced through her mind, she was blindsided again by the two titans.   Luffa's power was enough that she could have broken her fall, but she was so focused on her train of thought that she simply allowed herself to hit the ground instead.  

As Gurumes and Excitebike fought on, the ground shook with every step they took.  The air thundered with their mighty blows.   Luffa ignored them as she struggled to fit the pieces together.

What if the Blood Rubies were a life form?  

What if they could communicate, but in a way that only Namekians could perceive?  

What if the Curse of the Blood Rubies was not a curse at all?  

What if it was a message?

And what if that perception only came after repeated exposure?   Other Time Patrollers had been affected by the Blood Rubies in less time, but they, like King Gurumes, couldn't "hear".  Namekians could, but they, like Excitebike, wouldn't eat the food in the Ruby Loop, and so it would take longer for them to be affected.  

But Excitebike had spent more time in the Ruby Loop than any other Time Patroller, and maybe he had finally reached a tipping point.  And yet, even if he could receive the "message", his body and mind were unable to handle it.   If Excitebike could even understand what he was hearing, he couldn't seem to do what was needed.  He simply lumbered towards the Blood Rubies, and started fighting anyone who got in his way.  

It all seemed to make sense, but Luffa had no idea if any of it was actually true.  There were Namekians who lived on Earth, such as the warrior Piccolo, so why hadn't he experienced any of this?  The Kami of Earth was supposed to be a Namekian, so why hadn't he intervened?  

Luffa thought of Pansy.   She alone, out of everyone in the Ruby Loop, was aware of past cycles.   She had tried to use that knowledge to alter the course of events in each new cycle, hoping to bring about a more favorable outcome.   Maybe her meddling had prevented Piccolo or Kami from interacting with the Blood Rubies.  By walling them up in the Land of Gurumes, Pansy may have prevented a reckoning that otherwise would have been inevitable.  

Was that the answer?  Find Kami or Piccolo and bring them to the Land of Gurumes?   Luffa shook her head as she considered it.   The risk was too great that they would suffer the same fate as Excitebike, and then she would have three or four monsters brawling around the castle ruins.  Namekians were only a clue to the mystery, not the solution.  But what did that leave?

She shuddered when the answer came to her.  

"Attention, intruder!"  

Luffa looked up from where she had been standing to notice a dozen aircraft hovering overhead.   The Royal Military had finally caught up to them.  

"You have entered a restricted area!   Withdraw at once or we will open fire!"

The lead craft had some manner of speaker system, and its commander was trying to reason with Luffa while another squadron opened fire on Excitebike and Gurumes.  Luffa watched the unfolding battle with detached interest.   None of them were any threat to her, and the outcome of their fight would make no difference at all.  

She threw out her hands and generated an explosive wave of golden ki energy.   It was meant as a diversion, not an attack, though it was powerful enough to rock the nearest aircraft and disrupt their propulsion systems.   When the explosion faded, Luffa was gone.    

While the Royal Military searched for her, she was already moving at blinding speed, making for the broken castle.  

Most of the structure was little more than a pile of bricks and stones, but there was still enough left to be somewhat recognizable as a building.  Luffa only needed to clear a path to her objective, and her ki blasts were well-suited for this.  

As she worked, she felt her Super Saiyan form begin to falter.   She had only partially recovered from her defeat at the hands of Beerus, and the days without food had taken a heavy toll.   She did not need the Super Saiyan form to proceed, but she insisted on maintaining it anyway.    

"Suck it up," she muttered to herself.   "Most of the time, you're begging me to let you run wild, always right there, under my skin.  But now when things get tough, suddenly you don't want to play anymore?  Hah!  Too bad!"

It was useless bravado, and she knew it.   Luffa knew her body well, and she knew she didn't have much time left.  It didn't matter.   Everything depended on the mission.  A slow, lingering failure would be no different than if she crashed and burned.

At last, a gleam of red caught Luffa's eye, and she cleared away enough debris to find what could only be the remains of the storehouse where King Gurumes had hoarded his treasure.   There were some gold and silver trinkets scattered about, but it was mostly Blood Rubies.   To see so much of anything in one place, it was difficult to imagine anyone thinking of it as rare or valuable.   The piles of red stones looked like bloody wounds seeping from the dark grey hide of the ruined fortress.  

As Luffa approached the ones closest to her, she could feel the same curious fascination she had experienced before, when Excitebike had warned her to never touch them.    Was this what his Namekian ears had "heard"?  Or was her hunch all wrong, and the Blood Rubies were merely unliving rocks with bizarre physical properties?

Luffa shut her eyes tightly as she prepared herself for what would come next.   She had come to this place with only half a plan.   Everything seemed to come back to the Rubies, and so she believed that this was the best place to force a confrontation, but she also knew what would happen to anyone who spent too much time with the gems.  

"Damn it all," she grumbled.   "This'll either work or it won't.  No sense in dragging this out."  

And with that, she snatched one of the Blood Rubies up into her left hand.    

Nothing happened.  

Luffa held the ruby in her hand.    There didn't seem to be anything overly special about it.   She decided to pick up a few more, just to see if that would help.   And then she felt it.    It was like hunger, but not quite.    Days without food had made Luffa acutely aware of the difference between genuine hunger and any other sensation.   This was   not the same.   It was not a craving, more like a... longing.

She heard nothing, save for the rumble of battle outside the castle.    

Luffa took one of the rubies in her other hand and held it up to her lips.    She had no idea why, and didn't even notice she was doing it until she felt the crystalline surface against her tongue.   There was no flavor to it at all, and yet something told her that it would be very satisfying to swallow...

And then she remembered what she was doing here, and tossed it to the ground.  

"Stupid!" she said.   "This isn't getting us anywhere."  

She immediately felt a twinge of regret for throwing the stone, like she had dropped a small child.    What was it about the Blood Rubies that could make her feel such emotions?    There was something almost desperate about them, like they craved attention.    But that was madness.

Or was it?    

"They need me," Excitebike had said.   What could they possibly need him for?

She scooped up the ruby that she had dropped, and held them all together in her cupped hands.   Then she lowered her face into the pile, jostling them a bit so the corners of the gems wouldn't poke at her flesh too badly.  

"I'm going to feel pretty stupid if this doesn't work," Luffa said to no one in particular, "but then again, if I'm right, I'll be kicking myself for not trying this from the start."  

She concentrated, and reached out with her thoughts.    Her golden aura flashed brighter.   And then...

*******

The castle, and the Land of Gurumes, even the Earth itself, were all gone.  There was only Luffa, and... another.  

"You..." the other said.   "You are within... me?"  

It wasn't a place, more like a dream.    Everything was "red", but Luffa couldn't literally see any of it.   She just knew herself to be surrounded by red, even if she couldn't experience it directly.   In the same way, the person speaking to her didn't really look like anyone in particular, but Luffa couldn't help but feel that she was with a woman who looked like Pansy.   Then again, sometimes the woman seemed almost like Luffa's wife.  

The figure began to look more defined to Luffa's perception.   She had an eyepatch like Zatte, which seemed strange, since it hadn't been there until Luffa noticed the resemblance.   And then, when Luffa finally did notice, the woman lifted the patch, revealing a red gem where her right eye would have been.  

"I guess you could put it that way," Luffa said.   Her own words weren't entirely clear either.   She was saying these things, but she was not hearing her own voice.  

"You are... not like the others?" the red being said.   "You... hear our call and... you answer?"

"My species is telepathic," Luffa said.    "Earthlings may have similar powers.   Kakarot definitely has my ability, but he probably doesn't have my experience using it.   He probably wouldn't think to try it out on a bunch of rocks, but he hasn't run into as many weird aliens as I have."

"Please... stay.    Stay with... us..."

The red being approached Luffa with a desperate embrace, and Luffa couldn't help but return it.    Despite the abstract nature of this encounter, Luffa could feel herself patting the other on the back as they hugged.

"You want me to be with you," Luffa said.    "Is that why I almost swallowed one of those rubies?    You were trying to get me as close to you as possible.   Why?"

"Want you.... want you... to want us.    Want."

"That's what you did to King Gurumes," Luffa said.    "You made him want you.   He got so obsessed, but he didn't even know what he was feeling.   I thought you were making me hungry, but that wasn't exactly it.   I'm something of a gourmet myself, but I'm too practical to eat a rock.  And I can't spend you on anything because I don't really need money.    You still made me feel those things, though.  Gurumes didn't understand it, so his mind reacted as if it were hunger and greed, but that's not it at all."

"Please... be with us..." the red being said.   "Never leave..."

"You're lonely," Luffa said.    "You're confused, and so alone."

"Don't go..." the red being pleaded.   The eyepatch was back, and Luffa could swear she was hearing her wife's voice.  "Anything you want.    Anything..."

Luffa let go of the red being and stepped away.   "I don't think you understand what you've been doing to the people in this time fragment," she said.    "I know how you feel, but they can't comprehend you, and it's hurting them.    You've got to stop this."

"No... please..."

"I can't let you keep doing this," Luffa said.    "You can't stay in this place, with these people.    But I can try to help you.    Do you remember how you got here?"  

"Darkness... then awake?   Destruction.    Many destruction.   Repeating.     Fractured.   So broken.    Lone...ly?   Incomplete."

Luffa could sense the red being's memories.  Much of it was too alien for her to comprehend, but she still grasped the basics.  The Blood Rubies were a single object that was shattered somehow.  The fragments ended up in Gurumes' kingdom.   They could sense the life forms around them, but could not interact with the outside world in any meaningful way.  

But somehow, some way, perhaps after many years across many cycles, the Blood Rubies managed to create a connection with the Earthlings.   In one village, a woman gave birth to a baby girl, a child who seemed human in every way, but in fact, she was a part of the Blood Rubies.   It was a desperate experiment, and it almost worked, except that by binding a piece of themselves to the Earthlings, the Blood Rubies lost their own connection with that piece.   And so the child grew up as an Earthling, completely unaware of her true nature...

"Pansy," Luffa said.    "She's part of you, whatever you are.   But she doesn't know it.  And she's lonely too.   She wants to live with Kakarot and the others, just like you want King Gurumes to treasure you.   But why does everything reset when you're removed from the planet?"

"Dragon... tried... take us away.  Hurt.     So lonely.    Returned.   Always return.   Please..."

Luffa was beginning to understand.   She wasn't sure how much was intuition, and how much was the telepathic rapport.    The Blood Rubies were a living creature, and somehow they could move through time.    One way or another, they created Pansy to communicate with the people of Earth, but it didn't work.  Pansy forgot that she was ever part of the Blood Rubies, and she blamed them for the problems in her homeland.   When she wished for Shenron to restore the land, the Rubies couldn't bear to be removed, and so they reset the timeline.   Luffa supposed this same loneliness was what caused the loop to reset whenever the Earth was destroyed.    

"You would have explained all this if you could," Luffa said.   "Pansy was born knowing, but she forgot by the time she was old enough to tell anyone.   King Gurumes was the most affected by you, because he kept so many of you in his castle, and he actually swallowed a few.     But his Earthling mind was too alien to understand any of it.   He just thought he was starving."

"The visitors," said the red being.   "Ones like you.   Tried to tell them.   Only one could hear us, but faintly."

"Excitebike," Luffa said.  "Yeah, he wanted to do something.   Gurumes could only see you as treasure, but Excitebike wanted to solve the mystery of this time anomaly.  You used his desire to communicate with him, but he still couldn't make sense of it."  

"But you," the red being said.   "You hear, and you answer, and you come to us.   Please, be with us.  Anything you want.   Please. You know that you want us."

"I want you?" Luffa asked.   "Sure, I wanted to accomplish the mission too, but Excitebike was working this case a lot longer.  What do you think I want from you?"

"You crave... diversion... from your loss," the red being replied.   "We are both... incomplete.  Let us be incomplete... together."

The eyepatch was there again.   Now Luffa could see more of Zatte's features in the red being, as though a sculptor had carved her likeness into the crimson stone.  

"Y-you don't understand," Luffa said.   "It's not the same thing.   My wife... well she's dead.    Her culture teaches that it's important to move on.  I... only... See, I'm trying to honor her memory by getting on with my life..."  

The red being looked as inscrutable as ever.   It watched Luffa, patiently waiting for her to continue.  

"Okay, you're right," Luffa said.   "I have been avoiding it.  I loved her so much, and now she's gone, and I'll never see her again.     There's nothing I can do about it, so I figured I might as well throw myself into my work.    This Time Patrol business is weird, but it gives me something to do, right?  And I thought it wouldn't hurt if I stayed busy..."

She stopped and turned away from the red being as she tried to compose herself.   This was pointless, as spatial relationships held no meaning here, and Luffa found she was still facing the red being, no matter what she did.  

"You're not going to let me off the hook with this are you?" she said with an uncomfortable smirk.   "All right.   Centuries ago, I knew this doctor.   He was like a second father to me.   I... I miss him too.   I miss all of them, but...  Look, he used to put me back together after a fight, and he'd accuse me of letting my opponents get in a few free shots.    I'd deny it, or tell him I was just taking their measure.    Heh.   Doc had eight eyes, so I guess he must have seen right through me.  I was just using the physical pain to cover for the emotional stuff.    My mother.   Dad and Kandai turning on me.  Every other rotten thing that ever went wrong in my life.   And now I'm doing the same thing in the Time Patrol, only it's Majin Buu and the God of Destruction instead of some loser mercenary force or a Saiyan cultist."

The red being reached out with its hand.   "Your pain runs deep," she said.   "Like ours.  We can comfort each other.   Please."

"We have the same problem," Luffa said.    "But not the same solution.  I think I can help you with your trouble.    I just need to explain all of this to Pansy, and then... well you might not be the way you were before, but at least you'll be whole again."

"Yes...." the red being said.  "That would be... good.   But what about you?  Luffa.   You would help us.   We want to help you.   How can we ease your pain?"

Luffa smiled.   "Thanks for the offer," she said, "but it's not that simple for me.   But if I can help a few people like you along the way, well, that's something.   Maybe it helps me work out what I need for myself.  Sorry if that doesn't make a lot of sense."

"It helps you... to help us?" the red being asked slowly.  

"I guess that's one way to look at it, yeah," Luffa said.  

The red being's features changed again, this time looking more like Luffa's own features.  She made a grim smile to match the real thing.  

"Then we will help you help us help you," the red being said.    "And so we will be together in your cycle."

*******

     [6 April, Age 850.  Toki Toki City.]  

Chronoa, the Supreme Kai of Time, had isolated and contained the Ruby Loop in a special chamber built beneath the Time Vault.   To most beings, it appeared to be a red crystaline object vaguely resembling a human heart.   The Kai had a more cosmic perception of the anomaly, and she watched it carefully while she waited for her Time Patrollers to report in from their expedition.  

Suddenly, the red crystal began to glow, and Chronoa raised her arm over her eyes to shield herself from the crimson light.  Her other senses noticed temporal changes within the anomaly, and for a moment, she became concerned.    

Then, she sensed something more encouraging, like the pieces of a machine fitting into place, or a lock gently yielding to the proper key.  She held out her hands and with a power beyond mortal comprehension, she guided and contained the Ruby Loop as it began to change.  

And then, the red crystal was gone, replaced by a pair of figures on a motorcycle.   The engine was not running, and the woman at the controls was cradling something in her arms.  The man seated behind her was naked and trembling.  Even if Chronoa had not recognized them, she immediately understood that they had been through a harrowing experience.  

"We're back?" Luffa asked as she looked up to see Chronoa.   "I thought we were going to need the bike to get us home, but I didn't even have a chance to fire it up."

"Wha... what--?" Excitebike mumbled.  

"You did it!" Chronoa said.    "I don't know how you pulled it off, but I have the time fragment under control!  Whatever you did with the anomaly--"

"Anomaly?" Excitebike murmured.   "No.  No.  No.   Got to... listen...."

"He's in shock," Luffa said.   "I'm not doing so great myself, but you'd better take care of him first."

Chronoa nodded and went to help Excitebike dismount from the motorcycle.   "What happened in there, Luffa?" she asked.  

"I'll tell you what I know," Luffa promised, "but as far as the anomaly goes..."

She held up the object in her arms, and Chronoa saw what looked like a baby sculpted out of red crystal.   The Kai's eyes widened with amazement.  

"...Well," Luffa said, "I think I've got the anomaly right here."

*******

     [13 April, Age 850.  Toki Toki City.]  

Excitebike recovered quickly in the day that followed.   Though he wished to return to duty, Chronoa placed him on extended leave until further notice.  He was displeased with her decision, but kept his objections to himself.   Luffa was not surprised that he neglected to thank her for her help, but she saw no point in confronting him about it.   His ego had been bruised badly enough for a long time to come.  

As for Luffa, she had to remain in the chamber beneath the Time Vault for several more days.   Chronoa had sent her back in time to carry out the Ruby Loop assignment, and now that it was over, Luffa could go back to the present.   But she still needed time to fully recuperate, and so Chronoa did not send her back right away.  

Luffa had to spend these days in the isolation ward hidden beneath the Time Vault.  This quarantine was necessary, because her actions could alter the course of events in Toki Toki City's recent history.   This did not bother her much, since she needed the rest, and she had Chronoa to keep her company.  They spent much of their time together discussing the Ruby Loop mission.    

"I don't understand it completely," Luffa said.   "But Pansy was the key."

"Right," Chronoa said.   They had gone over it many times, but each discussion of the mission provided new insights, and neither of them seemed to mind the repetition.  "You said the Blood Rubies created Pansy to try to communicate with the outside world, but it ended up backfiring.  It ended up fracturing them, and that just made it even harder to establish contact."

"Pansy told Shenron that they didn't need the Blood Rubies, but she needed them, because they were part of her," Luffa said.  She stopped in her tracks and put her hand to her chin as she reconsidered it.    

"Or she's a part of them.   The point is," Luffa went on, "she was so afraid of the curse that she avoided the Rubies as much as she could.    I had to link their thoughts together, and once I did that... well, like I said, I don't understand it all, but I guess it worked.    The hard part was explaining it to her, but she seemed to trust me enough to let me try it."

They were walking together through the halls of the isolation ward.   Luffa took a sip from a bottle of protein shake that Chronoa had brought her from Toki Toki City, and watched the muscles of her right arm as she flexed it.    

"You seem to be getting your strength back," Chronoa said.  

"Yeah, I should be back up to my full power soon," Luffa said.   She couldn't tell Chronoa about her battle with Beerus, or how it tied into the conflict with Demigra, because from Chronoa's perspective, those events had not yet happened.  

"Well, you should be all set for whatever happens next," Chronoa said.  "I'll zap you forward a few days so you can reappear in the Time Nest right after my future self sends you back, and that'll put everything back on track.  

"I guess your future self was right after all," Luffa said.  "She thought I was ready, and you guessed that she was thinking about the Ruby Loop, and it all seemed to work out."

"It sure did," Chronoa said.   "You did a fantastic job, Luffa.   You might even call it legendary.   Eh?"  

"Thanks," Luffa said, "but it feels like a hollow victory.   I mean, I'll take some pride in knowing this was something Kakarot never would have been able to figure out, but I only guessed right because I've seen so many weird things in my time.    And because... well, I know how it feels to be that lonely.   I don't blame Gurumes for thinking it was a curse.   If you're not used to that kind of thing... I guess it would seem like an evil spirit or something."    

She sighed and took a long sip of her shake.   "I like to hit stuff, Chronoa," Luffa said.   "If you could find me a mission where I punch something, I'd really rather be doing that instead."  

"I'll see what I can do," Chronoa said with a smile.   "You know, Luffa, you've got friends here.   You left a lot of loved ones behind in the past, but we Time Patrollers care a lot about you, too."  

"I know," Luffa said through clenched teeth.    She shut her eyes tightly as she spoke, as though trying to keep the tears inside.     "That's why I brought Pansy here.   I mean, I'm not sure I could just leave her behind.    I guess I had to bring it back here, but... I thought... well, you can help her, can't you?  This isn't some time crystal you lock up in a storage compartment.   She's alive somehow.   And I took her away from everyone she cares about."  

Chronoa pursed her lips and didn't answer right away.    "It's too early to know for sure," she said.  "I'll need time to study this, make sure there's no risk to Toki Toki City.   But I'll try."

"Well, if you have to keep her locked up, I'd like to visit at least.   This all happened because she was so lost and isolated.   She needs someone, and right now I'm the only one she knows."  

"That sounds fine, Luffa," Chronoa said.   "I may need your help to communicate with her.  And this might give you some experience for dealing with other deep time investigations."

"Oh, come on," Luffa said.   "After what we went through, I'm doubt Excitebike would ever want to get within a hundred miles of me again."

"That's not what he told me," Chronoa said with a chuckle.     "He requested you for a transfer to his department.  Oh, wait, he asked me not to tell you he said that.    Whoops."

"You're kidding."

"Don't sell yourself short, Luffa," Chronoa said.  "You may see yourself as someone who's only good for hitting, but you're so much more than that.  The proof is right here."

They had reached a wing of the facility where Chronoa kept various time fragments in containment.   Each was stored in a transparent bubble, surrounded by enormous tree roots that extended down from the tree that lived within the Time Vault above them.   Most of the time fragments resembled geometric shapes, or abstract patterns, but the one Chronoa pointed to looked like a baby girl, sleeping soundly in its bubble.  

"She's a cute kid," Chronoa said as she tenderly patted one of the roots on the bubble.  

"You really do care about her," Luffa observed.  

"Sure I do," Chronoa said.   "I don't understand her yet, but she's part of history, just like the rest of us.   I don't know what to do for her yet, but it's my duty to find a proper place for her... Is something wrong, Luffa?"

Luffa took a deep breath before answering.   "Well... it's just that... I wanted to apologize for not telling you myself."

"About what?" Chronoa asked.   "Did you leave something out of your report?"

"No, it's not about the Ruby Loop," Luffa said.  "I mean, the whole business with Keda being alive on Earth during Kakarot's era."

Chronoa stared at her for a moment and blinked twice.   "I'm sorry, but who is Keda?" she asked.  

"My friend from the past," Luffa said.   "The one I sensed on Namek."

"I thought Big League Chew already investigated that," Chronoa said, "and he didn't find anything."

"Yeah, but I found her again on Earth a few years later," Luffa said, "so we checked again, and confirmed it this time.  I don't know how it happened, but she ended up in West City.   She's still living there now, in the year 850."

"Are you kidding me?!" Chronoa exclaimed.   "Why didn't you two report it to me?"

Luffa was stunned.   "I thought you already knew," she said, taking a step backward.   "I was putting off telling you, and then you brought it up, and said you'd already heard about it..."

"From whom?" Chronoa said.   "I haven't talked to Big League Chew in days.   It's a big city, y'know.   I can't keep up with everybody!"

"Well, who else could have told you?" Luffa asked.   "He and I were the only ones who knew about it and when I was cooking for Lo--"

Luffa stopped before mentioning the name "Lord Beerus".   She had cooked him a meal to convince him to let the Time Patrol handle the Demigra crisis, but that was before Chronoa had sent her back in time several days.   Which meant that the conversation she had with Chronoa over the griddle that day had not happened yet.  

"Oh crap," Luffa said.   "I'm the one who told you.   Right now."

"Oh," Chronoa said.   "Don't worry about it, Luffa.  Those kinds of predestination paradoxes happen all the time in this business."

"Wait, you're not mad about this?" Luffa asked.  

"Of course not," Chronoa said.   "You've told me now, and apparently some time later I'll tell you that I already know about it, and then I'll send you back in time to now, when you'll resolve the paradox.   Nice and neat."

"I really hate this stuff," Luffa said.  

"The important thing is that you finally trust me enough to tell me," Chronoa said.  To be honest, I was starting to worry that you weren't fitting in around here."

"Then what are you going to do about Keda?" Luffa asked.  

"I don't know yet," Chronoa said.  "I just found out, remember?  Ask my future self when you get back to your proper time."

"Okay, that's fair," Luffa said.  "I just... I know it would screw things up if you sent me back to my own era.   A thousand years ago, I mean.   But Keda shouldn't cause much of a disruption... I don't want her to be stranded somewhere because of me."

"I can't promise anything," Chronoa said.  "There are rules to all of this.  I have to consider the greater good."

"I understand," Luffa said.  

"You know, Luffa," Chronoa offered, "I can't make any guarantees about Keda or the Ruby Loop, but I think you've done enough good work for the Time Patrol that you deserve some kind of dispensation."

"Dispensation?" Luffa asked.  

"Sure, like a boon.   We can talk about it later, after we get synced up, but think about what you'd like to ask for, okay?  If you and Trunks can take care of Demigra, then I'd say you've more than earned it."

"Well, okay..." Luffa said.   "But what makes you think I won't ask for something bad?"

Chronoa looked away from the Ruby Loop and smiled at Luffa.   "Because we trust each other now," she said.  "And we're on the same side, aren't we?"

Luffa sighed, then took another sip of her protein shake.   "Sure," she said.   "I suppose we are..."

And the two of them stood there for a time, watching the red crystal as it slowly evolved from a time anomaly into something else.  For too long, it had been retelling the same story, again and again, with slight variations on the theme.   Now, at last, a new path lay open.   The cycle of the Ruby Loop could now join with the larger cycle, a story of all creation.

The heart beats, and the blood of this tale continues another lap on its endless course.  

 NEXT: The Battle of West City.

[pappydaddy]

Terror at Starcout Mall ii (r.b./s.h.)

a/n: the second part of this supposed to be one fic turned into a whole series! i tried to focus mostly on the reader's conflict of being confronted with russians who fit the "evil russian" stereotype. therefore, i wish to reiterate that this fic deals with a lot of stereotypes and prejudice. reader discretion is advised. after this part, it does stray away from the focus of the russian heritage of the reader due to the events of the season ramping up.

anywho, i hope you lovelies like the second part to this series!

tv show/movie: stranger things

pairing: steve harrington x fem!russian!reader/robin buckley (love triangle)

requested

part i | part ii - you're here | part iii | part iv

| part v - steve’s ending | part vi - robin’s ending | steve's ending - steve's pov (special!) (coming soon) | robin's ending - robin's pov (special!) (coming soon)

warnings: this fic deals with a lot of stereotypes and prejudice based on nationality. mentions of nationalism, the fear of violence/harassment, internal conflict (a little), feeling like you need to hide the real you, etc. spoilers, blood, throw up, etc.

disclaimer: in light of recent acts of war inflicted on ukraine by russia, i wish to make it clear that i am in no way supporting russia through this series. a, this series was written well in advance to the conflict coming to light and, b, this is set in a different time in history/society/public relations. my heart hurts for the ukraine and for everyone that is effected negatively by the acts of war incited by russia. i am also horribly heartbroken over the people who have died thus far and i am deeply sorry for the families of the people that are stuck in the ukraine or that have died.

sidenote warning: the reader is written to do ballet - explained above. quickly proof-read, will proof-read better when i redo my older fics and edit my newer fics.

sidenote: throughout the series, there will be some scenes skipped. this was a creative choice when i had to edit some things out to shorten it (it was over 100 pages).

taglist: @the-weeping-author | @lilypad-55449 | @spongebob-in-the-upsidedown | @rottenstyx | @badass-yn | @boxofsilentwords (disclaimer: i put both steve and robin's taglist members as it isn't just a steve or robin fic)

masterlist | taglist | wips | navigation

- not my gif -

Y/N sat back on her knees as Dustin’s voice echoed against the aluminum walls. “So, when we set fire to the hub, we drew the Demodogs away so El could close the gate. But, now for some insane reason, the Russians appear to be trying to reopen it, which just destroys everything we risked our lives for.” He explained the whole Upside Down ordeal to Erica as he slowly unscrewed the panel on the fan’s box.

“By ‘we’ you’re including Lucas?” Erica questioned, bobbing her head which made the beams from the flashlights they attached to her helmet wobble.

“Yes, of course.” Dustin answered, looking over his shoulder at her, squinting his eyes against the bright lights.

“So, all that shit you told me, Lucas was there?”

“Yeah.” Dustin nodded, stopping his work on the panel to look at Erica. Y/N huffed out, beginning to get antsy the longer Steve and Robin were held captive.

“My brother, Lucas Charles Sinclair?” She pressed, still not believing him. The very brother she viewed as a huge chicken and nerd battled interdimensional monsters when he couldn't even stand up against his own little sister?

“Oh my god,” Y/N breathed out. “Yes, Lucas was there, I saw him with my own two eyes both years, can we please move on so we can get help and rescue Steve and Robin please?” She urged the conversation on, hoping her own eyewitness testimony of Lucas being involved with all of it since Y/N (who was dragged into it by her friendship with Jonathan which has since died out due to him spending all his time with Nancy) would give Erica the satisfaction she needed to move on.

“I don’t believe you two.” She shook her head, pursing her lips. Y/N groaned as Dustin snapped his head around to look at her, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He couldn’t understand why she didn't believe that Lucas was there. With an incredulous look, he sputtered a bit.

“Wait, so you believe everything about El and the gate, and the Demodogs and the Mind Flayer, but you question your brother’s involvement?” He asked, his hands falling limp onto his thighs as he sat back on his heels, dumbfounded. Erica nodded along as he spoke.

“That’s correct.” She confirmed, looking at the panel Dustin had yet to get off.

“Makes total sense.” Dustin muttered sarcastically with a side-eyed glance at the younger girl, getting back to work on the same screw he had been working on for the past five minutes.

“Okay, now that all of that is cleared up, can we please get this fan disabled? It’s getting way too hot down here and, most importantly, Steve and Robin are being held hostage in a military base and questioned because they think they are spies,” She stressed, letting her head fall back against the wall behind her, fanning herself slightly. She was sticky, uncomfortable, and her hair was drenched with sweat. Normally, she wouldn’t care, but if they were trying to find help looking any worse than they do now, they would be getting a one-way ticket right into a mental facility which meant that Steve and Robin would have to be stuck down in the Russian base for the rest of their lives. “Which, I guess some of the blame is on me for that because I stupidly said we were Americans working for them, but still - hurry up.” She barked, talking out loud.

“Do you need help with that?” Erica asked Dustin, also noting how long it was taking him to get the screws undone.

“No.”

“Well, I mean, it is taking a while so-” Erica agreed with Y/N, but she was cut off by Dustin.

“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.” Dustin snapped back at her, making Y/N lift her head to glare at him. She understood he was tense about leaving his mentor behind, but he truly was not just a pain in the ass for taking so long, but he was also becoming rather rude.

“All right, so if we don’t find a more efficient method to stop these fans, we’re not gonna find help, and like Y/N pointed out, your ice cream buddies are screwed.” She dished his attitude right back with the usual bob of her head. Dustin dropped the screwdriver to his lap again making Y/N breathe out a hissing breath, feeling like she was breathing fire at this point.

“Yeah, with that attitude, they are,” Dustin quipped, slowly raising the screwdriver again. “Jee-zus!” He muttered, turning back to the panel to idly twist the screwdriver yet again.

“Move,” Y/N impatiently crawled over between them, gently shouldering Dustin out of the way. “I will be damned if I waste any more time down here listening to you guys bickering while two of the most important people in my life are up there being beaten up.” She mumbled, grabbing the screwdriver from Dustin and twisting the screw effortlessly.

Dustin looked over at Erica, his mouth slack in shock from her sternness and pessimism. “We’re just being realistic,” Erica shrugged in defence of the two as the screw dropped to the aluminum, pinging as it bounced once. She quickly went to work on the last one, grunting slightly from how tight it was screwed in. “I mean, we’ve made it about point-three miles in nine hours. Then we had to walk three hours down that tunnel so I’d estimate ten miles back to the elevator, which should take us approximately,” She paused, eyes drifting up to the ceiling as she did the math in her head. “Twelve-and-a-half days.” She concluded with a nod. Y/N glanced over at her, impressed that she did that math in her head in such a short time.

“Did you just do all of that in your head?” Dustin asked, stunned.

“I’m good with numbers.” Erica shrugged as if it were no big deal.

“Holy shit, you’re a nerd.” Dustin breathed out in realization as Y/N went back to working on the last screw.

“Come again?” Erica gasped, offended by his accusation.

“You. Are. A. Nerd.” He spoke slowly with a pause between each word. Y/N rolled her eyes as their bickering picked back up.

“Okay, you better take that back, Nerd.” She warned him.

“Can’t put the truth back in the box.” Dustin shrugged simply.

“But it’s not the truth.”

“Let’s examine the facts, shall we,” Dustin paused. “Fact one: you’re a math whiz, apparently.” He stated.

“That was a pretty straightforward equation-”

“Fact number two: you’re a political junkie.” He listed again, making Y/N nod in agreement. The last screw fell to the ground, once again plunking as it bounced. Despite all the screws being out, the panel stayed in place making Y/N try to slip her fingers under it.

“Just because I don’t agree with Communism as an ideology-” She defended herself before Dustin interrupted, grabbing her backpack that sat beside her.

“Fact number three: you love My Little Pony.” Dustin finished his examination, pointing to the cartoon ponies on her bag just as Y/N pried the panel off the wall, eyeing the jumbled mess of wires.

“And what does My Little Pony have to do with this?” She asked defensively, grabbing her bag back. Y/N ignored the two as she inspected the mess of wires tangled into a ball, sucking her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Ah, let’s recall the ponies’ latest adventure, shall we,” Dustin sighed, thinking back. “The evil centaur team and Tirek turns Applejack into a dragon at Midnight Castle, and then Megan and the other ponies have to use Moochick’s magic to defeat his rainbow of darkness, saving them from a lifetime of enslavement.” He rattled off making Y/N look at him with a weird expression.

“You can’t unscrew a panel in ten minutes, but you can recall an entire My Little Pony plotline?” She questioned, but Dustin ignored her.

“All the pink in the world can’t disguise the irrefutable fact that centaurs and castles and dragons and magic are all standard nerd tropes. Ergo, My Little Pony is nerdy. Ergo, you, Erica, are a nerd.” He concluded his point as Erica looked down at her backpack.

“And how do you know so much about My Little Pony?” She questioned, happy to have him also backed into a corner. Y/N, giving up on trying to figure out the wires, reached in and grabbed the ball in the center.

“Because I’m a nerd.” He said proudly just as Y/N yanked the cords out, sparks shooting out from the plugs a short distance. Y/N leaned back, avoiding being hit by the orange sparks as the fan slowed to a stop, making them all look at it.

“Come on, we can’t waste any more time.” Y/N instructed, shuffling to one side so that they could crawl through in front of her.

“Yeah, let’s go,” He paused, turning to get on his hands and knees. “Nerd.” He shot back at Erica. Grumbling, Erica slipped her bag back on as Dustin crawled through first before following him, Y/N taking her spot at the end of the pack.

____

Pulled herself out of the new hatch they discovered to join Dustin and Erica, Y/N let out a low whistle as she took in the room they now found themselves in. “That’s a lot of chemicals,” She noted, looking around at all the hexagon-shaped storage containers filling the room. They were floor to ceiling, but they looked like they only held forty-eight containers of mystery chemicals per box. Scanning around the room, they could hear the hiss of the cooling agent in the storage containers, the white mist rolling within them. “Now we just have to figure out where the hell we are within the compound,” Y/N muttered, searching for a map of some kind.

“Oh-ho-ho.” Dustin bounced up and down when his eye caught something, prompting him to take off, leaving Y/N and Erica rushing after him and down a small set of stairs into a darker room.

“Do you even know how to drive?” Erica asked Dustin once they spotted the red buggy thing.

“How hard can it be? Max did it.” He shrugged, hopping into the driver's seat.

“Max did it illegally while nearly killing us,” Y/N reminded him, shoving him over. “Driving is not as simple as you think, it takes practice to figure out how to properly place your weight on the gas pedal to go a constant speed, now shove over, if anyone is driving - it’s me.” She informed them, giving Dustin one last shove.

Dustin didn’t move, instead, he reached for the ignition, his hand meeting an empty slot. “Aw, come on.”

“You seriously thought they’d just leave the keys in there?” Erica questioned him as she stood on the other side of the buggy, judging him.

“There’s gotta be a spare.” He ignored her as well, searching every nook and cranny of the buggy for another set of keys. Erica sighed, shaking her head, wandering away from the pair of them.

“Yeah, they are probably on a guard or something, they wouldn’t just leave a spare set laying around in the buggy, especially not after a breach.” Y/N pointed out, watching him continue to dig around, laying completely flat on the bench seat.

“Hey, guys?” Erica’s voice spoke up from a short distance away. Y/N looked over, spotting a suspicious-looking stainless steel cage that looked more secure than their underground base. She turned away from the buggy, quickly walking over to where Erica stood, both of them gawking at the cage.

“Yeah?” Dustin responded, sitting back up, but not looking towards her as he checked the back of the buggy.

“How big did you say that Demogorgon was?”

“Big, nine feet or so, why?” He asked, still not looking over as he continued his search for the keys. Erica, finding him useless, tapped Y/N’s hand gently, pointing to something down another short corridor before leading her down there.

“So the Russians don’t just want to open the gate, but they also want to trap a Demogorgon,” Y/N whispered, trying to figure out what was going on. “This just means we have to work faster to save Steve and Robin so that we can get out of here and warn the others.” She determined, not paying attention to Erica as she sauntered around, looking at all the weapons that Y/N also didn’t notice.

“Well, let’s use this to help save them.” Erica suggested.

“Use what-” Y/N furrowed her brows, whirling around only to find Erica holding a stick of some kind way too close to her face. “Holy shit, can you not put that in my face please,” Y/N asked as she carefully pushed it away from her face. “What does that even do anyway?”

“Beats me, I think you push this-” Erica cut herself off when she hit a button, causing an electrical current to shoot between the little nodes, making an arch. “Cool!” She exclaimed, eyes wide in excitement.

“Not cool, that probably has enough voltage to kill a child!” Y/N worried, her eyes wide in fear. Erica shrugged, relaxing her arm that she held the stick up with, pointing the electric end to the ground, walking away from Y/N, following the corridor. Groaning, Y/N followed after her, scared she would play with more dangerous weapons. They curved around, coming out behind Dustin as he held the spare keys in his hand.

“Erica? Y/N?” He called, his voice echoing and stern. Erica pulled the stick back up, hitting the button making the blue current come alive once again with a loud zap. Y/N and Dustin both flinched at the sound as Dustin turned to face them.

“What the hell is that?” Dustin yelled, sliding farther away from the stick as Erica let the button go, turning it off. She shrugged, looking down at it.

“A deadly weapon,” She remarked as if it wasn’t obvious. “Could be useful.” She pointed out, hitting the button again. With another loud zap, the blue string of electricity was back. Backing away with his hands up, Dustin didn’t take his eyes off the stick, not trusting Erica with a weapon such as that.

“For what?” He asked once she let the button go again, lowering his arms.

“What do you think? Taking down Commies, saving your friends.” Erica pointed out.

“You know not all Russians are Communists, right?” Y/N asked Erica, earning a deadpanned look from the younger girl. She seemed to be using the two terms interchangeably, and Y/N just wanted to be sure that Erica wasn’t going to use the electrocution stick on her if she somehow found out she was Russian.

“Saying as though it’s a Government Funded mission with the army involved, I think it’s safe to assume that these Russians are in fact Commies.” Erica shot back at her sassily. Y/N nodded, it was a fair point.

“Thought you were more realistic than me, Nerd,” Dustin shot back, bringing the conversation back around. Erica rolled her eyes, walking to the passenger seat of the buggy. “We don’t even know where they are, and even if we did, there are a million guards up there with weapons way deadlier than that.” Dustin pointed out the flaw in her plan as he started to walk towards the buggy. Y/N swooped beside him, taking the keys from him.

“You’re not getting behind the wheel,” She remarked before he could protest, keeping the keys away from him. “Besides, they were obviously planning on using that stick thing on a Demogorgon so it would have to be a pretty powerful weapon.” She remarked as Dustin climbed into the buggy, scooting to sit in the middle of the bench seat.

“Look, the best thing we can do for them is to get out of here and find help-” Dustin tried to tell them, but Erica accidentally waved the stick too close to his face as he situated himself - cutting him off. “Easy with that,” He pleaded as Y/N slipped into the driver’s seat. “Our chances of survival, and theirs, rises substantially.” Dustin continued.

“Well, that will be plan A, but something might happen where we have to rescue them before getting out of here.” Y/N warned.

“Just trust me on this, please?” Dustin begged the both of them. Nodding, Y/N put the keys in the ignition, twisting them. Dustin nodded, happy that nobody was arguing with him as the engine powered on with a weird, futuristic noise.

“Okay, before we go any farther, can we at least come up with a plan where we save Steve and Robin then go from there?” Y/N stopped suddenly, making Dustin groan for the umpteenth time.

____

“The General just left, let’s go,” Y/N whispered to Erica and Dustin as they all hid in a dark corridor. Waving them around the corner, she kept an eye out in case a guard came running by. “That door, that door!” Y/N told them as she followed behind them, pointing to the door she saw the General come out of. Erica handed Dustin over the stick as they all looked to each other, waiting for the go-ahead.

“Let’s do this.” Dustin nodded, shoving the door open with a battle cry. Y/N could hear the zap of the stick turning on as Erica and she ran in after him, watching as he electrocuted what appeared to be a doctor of some kind, sending him limp to the ground. Y/N and Erica gawked at it as smoke slowly rolled off of the man’s chest before focusing on the task at hand when Steve began to talk, making them take a look at the horrible state of his face.

“Hey! Henderson,” Steve exclaimed excitedly as Dustin started to work on his restraints. Robin started giggling, looking over her shoulder at Dustin. “That’s crazy, I was just talking about you.” He giggled. Y/N rushed over to Robin, working on the restraints on her ankles.

“Oh, my god!” Robin laughed at the coincidence. As Y/N moved to work on the restraints keeping the pair together only to realize that the buckle was on Steve’s side.

“Get ready to run.” Dustin ordered them. Y/N sent him a nervous look over the two as they fell into a giggling mess. It didn’t seem like they could run at this point. Not only was Steve so beat up, but they also seemed high off their asses.

“I’ll pull the buggy up to the door, then you guys get them in the back.” Y/N told them, running out into the hall, starting the buggy up to bring it from the corridor they hid it in. Cringing as the beeps blared in the empty corridor, she hoped the alarm would drown it out before it would reach any guard’s ears. Blindly, she backed up to what she thought was the door and hopped out, leaving the buggy running.

“Y/N, you need to help me, I can’t get Steve up!” Dustin told her as she opened the back doors, getting ready to toss them in. Running back into the room, she saw Erica supporting Robin with a struggle, slowly making their way to the buggy.

“Grab his arms, I’ll steady him.” She told Dustin, getting behind Steve and placing her hands on his shoulders, helping push him out of the chair. He groaned in protest, acting like a child being woken up for school. His head lulled backward, his brown eyes fluttering open to look at Y/N upside down.

“Hey, I’m glad the Russians didn’t figure out that you’re a Russian, that would have been bad if they did,” Steve giggled, drawing out the word ‘bad’, pulling a hand from Dustin’s grip to boop her nose. “Would have spilled your secret to Dustin and Erica, but don’t worry, your secret is still safe with me.” He rambled, making Dustin look over at her with furrowed brows.

“You’re a Russian?” He asked, nearly dropping Steve.

“Yes, my parents are immigrants, can we focus on that later, right now we need to go.” She pressed him, slinging one of Steve’s arms over her shoulder to support him while Dustin did the same. They hobbled as quickly as they could out the door, just barely getting Steve to the buggy before he automatically crawled in.

“This is a big bed,” He slurred, flopping down on it. “It’s not very soft though.” Was the last thing they heard before they closed and locked the door on them. They could hear the muffled voices, but they couldn’t distinguish what they were saying until they crawled into the bench seat.

“Hang on tight, we’re going for a bit of a ride!” Y/N warned, putting it in drive and stomping on the gas. Dustin and Erica toppled onto each other before they scrambled to sit upright, holding on for dear life as Y/N gained speed, speeding through the corridor. Behind them, in the back, Steve and Robin rolled around, their skin screeching against the cold metal, but they didn’t seem to feel it.

“Jesus, slow down!” Steve slurred as they were thrown against the back of the cab, his fingers almost slipping through one of the large circles letting them see-through. Dustin poked the finger back in.

“Keep your fingers back there.” He told him sternly, but Steve ignored it.

“Yeah, what is this, like the Indy 500?” Robin joined in, her speech just as slurred as Steve’s. Y/N tried to tune them out as she checked the mirrors to see if any guards were following them.

“It’s the Indy 300.” Steve corrected her.

“No Dingus,” Robin cried out. “It’s 500!”

“It’s 300!”

“Let’s say a million.” Robin settled, making the two of them fall into a fit of laughter. Erica looked back, watching them through the cage as they fell over.

“What is wrong with them?” She asked, jabbing her thumb behind her, looking between Dustin and Y/N as they focused in front of them. Y/N gasped slightly as the wheel jerked out of her control for a second before gripping it tighter and picking her speed back up.

“I don’t know.” Dustin answered truthfully.

“It’s pretty obvious, they are high. The General must have injected them with something.” Y/N took her eyes off the front for a second.

“Y/N, watch out!” Erica yelled, pointing right in front of them. Looking back, her eyes widened as the buggy sped towards a stack of metal barrels. She took her foot off the gas, slamming in on the brake making them all pitch forward. Steve and Robin, who had no time to prepare slammed against the cage, making them groan. The three up front thankfully had time to react and saved themselves from concussions.

“You guys alright back there,” Dustin asked as Y/N turned the buggy off. All three turned to look at the two in the back, seeing them both rubbing their heads. They only groaned in response, sitting up. “They’re fine.” Sparing glances at each other, they all climbed out of the cab, running to the back.

“I really hope this part is easier than the others.” Y/N whispered as Dustin unlocked the back, swinging the door open to reveal the two doped up idiots still rubbing the backs of their heads.

“Come on,” Dustin ordered the two as the three of them stared at them, but they didn’t move. “We gotta go, now.” He added, but they just continued to whine and groan, rolling around. Looking at each other, Y/N, Dustin, and Erica all began to yell at them, finally making them move. Getting close enough to them, they all grabbed one part of them, yanking Steve and Robin out of the buggy.

“Do the keycard, Dustin.” Y/N nodded towards him as she steadied Steve who kept stumbling over his own feet, his head bowed. The ends of his tangled hair tickled her shoulder, but she tried to ignore the urge to scratch it as she tried to drag him towards the elevator.

“Here goes nothin’.” Dustin took a deep breath before quickly swiping the card, the machine beeping.

“This sucks.” Steve slurred, wiping under his nose aggressively as Y/N tried her best to keep him standing upright. The large door started to slowly open with a mechanical whirring noise. It was miraculously quiet as they watched it open, eyes following the industrial-looking door until it was open enough for them to walk under. Erica and Y/N dragging Robin and Steve in behind them, their slurred giggles echoing down the corridor.

“Shut the door,” Y/N told Dustin as she leaned Steve up against the shelves, his body slumping against it as he collapsed into himself with laughter over something his drugged-up mind thought of. Dustin obeyed, sauntering up to the close button, slamming his palm into it, the door instantly retracting back down. “Okay, what’s the plan once we get back to the loading docks?” Y/N asked, joining Dustin over by the panel as he hit the up button, slamming the door closed. Erica, leaving Robin with Steve, joined them as well.

“Do you have your car with you?” Dustin wondered, the elevator jolting as it started to ascend, the two teens behind them stumbling and giggling goofily as they lost their footing.

Y/N shook her head. “No, it’s in the shop, I took the bus here and Steve was supposed to drive me home,” Dustin groaned, letting his forehead fall against the cool metal of the elevator wall. “Maybe escaping the base was the easy part.” She muttered. Steve was in no condition to drive, but on top of that, trying to communicate the fact that they need his car keys from him will be nearly impossible in his state.

“The only option left is to try and get him to give us his keys,” Erica pointed out, looking over her shoulder at Steve and Robin, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “Uh, guys, you might want to see what they are doing.” She told Y/N and Dustin, making them whirl around, their mouths falling open at the sight of Robin holding the flatbed cart as Steve tried to step onto it.

“Well, at least they are distracted so we can actually plan things out,” Y/N tried to offer a positive spin to the situation, that was until Steve and Robin began to whoop and laugh obnoxiously loud, making Y/N cringe, their voices echoing off the walls. “Or, they are just going to do that.” She sighed, gesturing to the pair as Steve managed to stand on the cart, his arms out to his sides.

“Hey,” Robin exclaimed, not realizing how loud her voice was. “You look like you’re surfing!” She told Steve, making him swing around, his hands on the handle of the cart, his face in Robin’s. Y/N huffed, rolling her eyes as their eyes connected.

“Surfing,” Steve yelled right after Robin as if it was his own idea. “Yeah,” He nodded eagerly, trying to swing back around to regain his position, but the elevator shook slightly making Robin wobble, the cart twitching. “Whoa!” Steve exclaimed, his already poor balance being thrown off, making him stumble on the cart, his hands waving through the air to balance himself again.

“They seem drunk.” Erica noted, looking at both Y/N and Dustin.

“Why would they be drunk?” Dustin asked, looking back at Steve and Robin.

“I’m a natural! Check it out,” Steve yelled just before Robin yanked the cart towards her, making him topple forward. “Whoop!” He made a noise as he fell onto the ground beside one of the piles of boxes that were scattered around the elevator, Robin’s laugh echoing around them as she moved her hands crazily.

“Wipeout!” She exclaimed as Steve rolled onto his back, his head propped up against a box, his chin pressed to his chest, laughter bubbling up. Y/N and Dustin rushed over to him, sitting on their knees on either side of him. Dustin wasted no time to clamp a hand over his forehead, Steve wiggling as he tried to bat it away, making Y/N grab his wrists.

“He’s burning up.” Dustin announced, looking from Steve to Y/N before settling on Erica for a second.

“You’re burning up,” Steve muttered, still fighting against them, making Y/N grip his wrists tighter, trying to keep his arms from flinging around, but he broke free. Dustin tried to get him to calm down, whispering calm words such as ‘one sec’ or ‘Steve’ in hopes he would stop wiggling. “God, no,” Steve whined, trying to push Dustin away from him as he tried to look at his eyes. “Ow!” He said as if he was a child who bumped his knee, closing his eyes on Dustin, but he saw enough, looking back at Erica.

“His pupils are super dilated.”

“Maybe he’s drugged.” Erica suggested with a shrug.

“That’s exactly what’s going on, I told you guys,” Y/N stood up, her hands falling on her hips. Dustin stayed by Steve’s side, but Steve’s mind was already wondering. Looking down at him, Y/N watched as he blinked at her calves, jabbing one with his finger. “The Russian’s probably injected them with a truth serum, that’s why they seem drunk.” She explained, swatting Steve’s hand away as he tried to poke the back of her knee, but he didn’t mind, instead, looking to Dustin.

Turning back to Steve, Dustin was met by Steve poking the tip of his nose. “Uh, boop!” Steve made the noise, his eyelids fluttering closed. Dustin ignored this, leaning over him, sending two pats to his cheek. His eyelids lifted again, his eyes heavy with a daze as he looked up at Dustin.

“Steve, are you drugged?” Dustin asked, expecting him to be able to answer that question.

“How many times, Dad,” Steve started to answer with a sassy head bob. “I don’t do drugs. It’s only marijuana.” He sassed Dustin, his finger coming up to tap Dustin’s nose once again. Losing his cool, Dustin scrunched his nose up, slapping Steve’s hand away from his face.

“This isn’t funny, okay? I need to know what they did to you,” Dustin stressed, but Steve just giggled, stuffing one of the ends of his scarf up his nostril. “Are you gonna die on us?” Dustin asked, trying to get through to Steve, but Steve only reached his hand back up to Dustin’s face, wanting to just boop his nose again, but accidentally used his whole hand.

“Boop.” He made the noise again, his eyes fluttering closed.

“We all die, my strange little child friend,” Robin spoke up for the first time since Steve fell, making them all look at her. She played with two locks of her short, blonde hair, her blue eyes wide, her head tilted, all matched with one of the creepiest looks Y/N has ever seen. “It’s just a matter of how,” She spoke in a breathy tone, leaning forward in her crouched position. “And when.”

They all stared at her for a few seconds, silence filling the elevator as they neared the top. Blinking, Y/N couldn’t form a single thought in her brain, too creeped out by Robin’s philosophical advice. Dustin, shaking his head, looked back to Steve. “They’re gonna be looking for us up there, so I need you to tell me where you parked your car.” Dustin told him.

“Oh, can we make a pit stop at the food court?” Steve asked, his voice deep as raspy.

“I think the drugs are starting to wear off, just a bit though,” Y/N told Dustin, noting the way Steve spoke and his slower movements. “He’s gonna be in a lot of pain soon.” She whispered to herself, shaking her head as she peered down at Steve, dropping back down beside him. His angry red eyes, the dried blood streaming from his nose, the dark cut right on his lower lip, and the smeared blood around his mouth - it all looked painful. But the worst-looking one yet was the angry swelling around his eye.

“I would kill for a hot dog on a stick!” Robin ignored Y/N, only focusing on the food.

“It seems to be leaving Steve’s system faster than Robin’s.” She noted, looking up at Dustin who looked quite annoyed by their scattered minds.

“Ooh!” Steve sang, his eyes staring off as he fantasized about a hot dog on a stick.

“All right. Yeah, food. Yes,” Dustin nodded, looking back down at Steve. “You can have as much food as you want, but only if you tell me where your car is parked.” Dustin lied, knowing they wouldn’t remember his promise a minute from now.

“Uh-oh.” Steve spoke promptly, his wide brown eyes looking up at Dustin just like a child admitting to something bad to their mother. Y/N’s heart dropped, knowing that there could not be anything good following that.

“Uh-oh?” She and Dustin repeated.

“The car’s off the board.” Steve informed them.

“What?” Dustin asked, not wanting to react just yet in case Steve was just playing a trick on them.

“They took the keys,” Steve answered, his hands slipping into the pockets of his work shorts, turning them inside out. “The Russians, they took my keys,” He showed them his empty pockets, making the last bit of hope drain from Dustin’s eyes while Robin laughed in the background, finding it all so funny. “Like forever ago,” He added in, dropping his hands on the floor with a clang, Robin’s laughter making him laugh. “That’s a bummer, right?” He looked up at Dustin, proving that even if the drugs were slightly wearing off, he was nowhere near sober. With a sense of doom and fear, Dustin shared a look with Y/N before they both looked at Erica, none of them knowing what to do now.

[inadaydream99]

Reaction to sitting next to their crush with Ateez ~ requested by anon

Subtitle: How they act around their crush

A/N - Hi, thank you to the anon that sent in this request! I loved writing it so much ☺️ although, I kind of went on a bit of a tangent unintentionally and made the reaction a bit broader, I hope you don’t mind! Stay safe 💕

Disclaimer: Please remember that this is based on my view of each person in order to fit these scenarios best. They don’t represent any group member in real life! This is purely fictional.

Hongjoong

Would 100% get teased by everyone (and he’d self consciously shush them)

He feels a little awkward at first, but as time goes on he begins to relax

When the group engage in a conversation with his crush he’d be listening with a bright smile on his face

He’s very approachable

Will show interest in getting to know his crush

And will scold any of the guys that mock him afterwards

Did someone say crushing on his friend???

Because that’s exactly what I can see happening

Starts off as purely just admiration

But then he realises that it’s way more than just that and the next thing he knows, he’s crushing hard

Literally the last one to realise his feelings (like none of the guys are surprised the first time he admits it)

Seonghwa

Wants to be smooth but it just never seems to end up that way

Will probably be in his head running over a million and one ice breaker lines

But he always backs out last minute as his nerves overwhelm him

Appears to be calm and unfazed by the close proximity to his crush

But on the inside is a shy, flustered mess

WooSan definitely notice his change in demeanour and mock him for it, which only makes Seonghwa even more shy

But, honestly, there’s no need for him to be because as soon as he finally builds up enough courage to talk to his crush, he’d let his insecurities go and be the amazing person he is

Yunho

Being the adorable puppy Yunho is, I feel like he’d become timid if his crush was to sit next to him

He’d definitely steal a lot of shy glances at them

He’d slowly be building up the courage to start up a conversation with them, his mind going through any topic he can think of that would catch their interest without seeming too random

And as soon as a conversation is taking place, he can’t stop the enfatuated grin on his face

Definitely a very cute sight to behold

If he’s already friends with his crush then he’s the one to always remember the little things about them

And will go out of his way to make them happy

I can also see Yunho making subtle gestures such as holding the door open for them, or offering to help them in his free time

Just wants to be around his crush as much as possible

Yeosang

Similarly to Yunho, I can see Yeosang wanting to start up a conversation with his crush, because let’s face it, when is a better opportunity going to come along?

Although, I think in the end, his crush will probably be the one that initiates talking

But that would encourage Yeosang to come out of his shell a little, to make a couple jokes and, overall, continue an easygoing conversation

I can see him becoming flustered very easily

But don’t think that means he won’t be flirty (and tbh that’s probably what makes him flustered in the first place)

I mean, what else can I say? He’s just the perfect gentleman with the most adorable rosy cheeks

San

The definition of modest

Literally so self conscious but has no reason to be

Probably catches his crush’s attention by laughing too loud as something stupid one of the guys has said or done

I mean, his giggle is adorable

But, anyway, he becomes subdued as soon as he realises that his crush is watching him in amusement

... and also in complete infatuation

His cheeks inflamed and his gaze locked onto his hands which fidget in his lap

When talking to his crush he will not stop smiling the whole time

Overall just a beam of sunshine (...or Sanshine)

If he’s already close to his crush then I can see him being quite protective, in an endearing way

But also, partly to make it known that they are his (but I must stress, not in a predatory way, he just gets jealous easy)

Mingi

Where do I start with Mingi

He’s not bothered by sitting next to his crush

Actually, he’s elated because it finally gives him an easy way to get them to notice him

What an adorably dorky guy (and I mean that in the absolute best way possible)

Tells a lot of terrible jokes that his crush can’t help but laugh along to (mostly because they overhear him and are kind enough to acknowledge his attempt at humour when they notice his pout and no one else laughing)

Being friends with his crush will spark his more cuddly side (like he will literally smother them)

I don’t think he’d be very good at hiding his feelings

Not that his crush would mind in the slightest because who wouldn’t want to have Mingi crush on them???

Wooyoung

Another one that isn’t affected by his crush sitting next to him

I mean, he revels in it tbh

Very sociable, so I think he’d already be very good friends with his crush

Will treat them the same way he treats the guys

Like the most comfortable, affectionate level of friendship

But will also pick on his crush (only playfully of course)

I can see him crushing on someone who can give back all the tormenting and teasing

And, in general, be able to put up with his loudness

Jongho

I feel like I write this every time, but, comes across as very mature

Doesn’t give much away

His crush sitting next to him wouldn’t have any impact on his outwardly expression or behaviour

But on the inside he is flustered beyond belief

Like, it’s probably one of those situations where his crush is in the dark as to how he feels

Jongho seems like he’s good at reading people

So it wouldn’t surprise me if he knew whether his crush likes him or not and he just enjoys flirting with them now and again

Not to say that he’s playing with their feelings, because he’d never!

He just likes having the upper hand, being in control of the situation

Wouldn’t get teased by the guys over it very much for the very reason that they wouldn’t stand a chance against him

He may be the youngest but he’s definitely got power over everyone

[stayndays]

𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐬! - 𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐣𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧

part of my anime!skz series, this story is based off of “Toradora!” and will include spoilers on the plot of the show.

genres & tropes: fluff, minor angst (mostly at the end), high school au, love triangle/square, enemies & neighbors to lovers au, tsundere!jeongin (i guess?), gender neutral reader, reader is misunderstood as a cold person

disclaimers: drowning (but no death), mentions of rumor spreading & outcasting, mentions of anxious feelings/actual anxiety, one or two swear words, i have not proofread this so if the last few episodes seem really wonky that’s why

word count: 11k... we don’t comment on that

summary: “Y/L/N Y/N. Yang Jeongin. Kim “Chuu” Jiwoo. Kim Seungmin. You like Seungmin, Jeongin likes Chuu. You’re best friends with Chuu, Jeongin’s best friends with Seungmin. You don’t like Jeongin, but you know about each other’s crush. It’s time to play a game of Cupid, while being struck with Cupid’s arrow yourself.”

a/n: happy valentines day and belated jeongin day! this is the first story i’ve decided to tackle for my anime!skz series as well, so i get to hit three birds with one stone with this fic. also, i decided to take out a couple elements in the original anime (such as the addition of a character that’s like ami, taiga’s family issues, and some events) just so it’s simpler and totally not because i’m on a time crunch. i hope you enjoy reading this! <3

taglist: @skzwriternet​ @dayawantstosleep​ @desertofdessert​ @mr-jisung​ @dreamylunarnight​ (sorry if i forgot you i’m running on 0.2 braincells)

anime!skz masterlist is here!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Episode 1: Collision Course

“Psst, look over there!”

“Huh? What?”

“The fennec fox is about to face off against the dark delinquent!”

You turn to face the two students after overhearing the words “dark delinquent”, making the duo back away in fear. Cursing your parents who gave you these intimidating genes, you heave out a breath out of annoyance, and continue walking down the hallway.

Alas, maybe your appearance is the reason why people never approach you unless it’s absolutely necessary. You still manage to give off this dark atmosphere despite how much you try to change your appearance. 

“Don’t worry, Y/N,” your best friend, Chuu, attempts to reassure you. “It’s only the first day of school! You still have an entire school year to prove them wrong.”

You’d be lying if you said you didn’t envy your best friend, who basically embodies the definition of the sun. Always smiling and having a positive attitude regarding the situation, you just so happened to be the exact opposite of her. Boys are constantly crushing on her, she’s one of the most popular girls of your year, but she just so happens to be buddies with you. 

“Oh, watch out Y/N!” Distracted by your thoughts, you process Chuu’s warning just a second too late, and collide with a particularly tall boy, somehow smacking your face right into the torso part of his male school uniform. The force manages to knock the both off you to the ground, sending your papers flying all over the place. 

Oh, that’s right. That’s what the two girls were talking about. You’ve heard rumors of who this “fennec fox” person is, and how he has a really bad temper when you push his gears. But this guy you just bumped into? A fennec fox?

You guess you can see some resemblance of a fox in his facial structure, but his figure literally towered over you, making you feel like an ant standing next to a tree. The small crowd of passing students trying their absolute least to hold in their giggles make you feel even smaller, your neck growing hot because of how embarrassed you are.

“Watch where you’re going next time!” the boy scolds you, brushing off the paper that landed on top of his head. His voice makes you flinch slightly, and it’s only in that moment that you realize the rumors, so far at least, were true. 

“Er, sorry,” you quietly mumble out, scratching the side of your face. He definitely looks pissed, you thought, smoke practically fuming out of the guy’s ears. “Here, I’ll help you gather your stuff.” 

“I’ll help you guys out, too!” you hear a familiar voice, and meet the eyes belonging to a face you know all too well. 

Kim Seungmin: your secret crush that nobody truly knows about (you’ve tried approaching the topic to Chuu multiple times, only to be interrupted by her other friends). He’s the vice president of your school, a role he’s gained through the student body president herself. The definition of hardworking and kind at the same time, who would you be not to fall for a guy like him?

Your breath gets caught up in your throat as you try to answer him. “Oh- Uh- Thank you, Seungmin.”

“Of course! Wouldn’t hurt to help out my best friend, too,” Seungmin replies.

Best friend?

“Thanks..” the boy simply mumbles in response, and you almost did a double take on what you just heard. Seungmin and this guy... best friends? Before you can dwell on it long enough, however, you’re already being pulled to your feet by Chuu, and your papers are back in your hands. 

“Let’s go, Y/N!” Chuu beams with enthusiasm, and you could only afford a small smile in return. “Say, which class are you two in this year?”

“2-A,” the boy answers in a composed manner, the anger he released on you must’ve vanished by now, and you could almost see the pink dust coating his face. “What about you, Chuu?” 

You can’t even process the way the guy completely skipped over you to only ask Chuu personally before you blurt out, 

“We’re in the same class?!”

Episode 2: A Bold Strategy 

Bad news: your love letter is gone. 

That bastard fox dude, Jeongin, you learned his name was, must’ve taken it when you bumped into him in the morning. Not that you blame him entirely, because how could you remember to grab your letter in the ocean of textbooks and notebook paper?

Good news: you have his own love letter.

Why good news? Well, that just means he’s in the exact same boat as you, and now you can call yourself even with him. An exchange of love letters, it almost makes your heart calm down for a split second.

Until you read who the letter was addressed to.

There’s no way in hell this guy could get with your best friend. Jeongin, based off of first impressions, is a literal firecracker (who, for some reason, shouts at people he just met), while Chuu is a ball of sunshine. You don’t blame him, though, as almost every male classmate you’ve had has taken some sort of interest in her at some point, and you guess he’s no exception.

Then again, you’re in the same situation as him, crushing on somebody way out of your league.

While Seungmin is a star student, always willing to help people out and socialize, you’re a total outcast who can barely get average grades in school. Seungmin just so happened to be one of two (the other being Chuu) who’s approached you willingly, and that’s why you fell for him. That charming smile of his, and his caring nature. It was all too much for you.

As you thought about it more, flipping Jeongin’s love letter to Chuu between the flesh of your fingers, it’s not a terrible idea to help out Jeongin. He may currently have a 0% chance of getting with Chuu, but if you succeed and play a bit of matchmaking, he could return the favor to you.

You like his best friend, he likes your best friend...

You gently rip open the envelope encasing Jeongin’s letter, and start reading.

Episode 3: The Cupid Game Begins

“Uh, Jeongin-” you tap the boy’s shoulder once, which was conveniently right in front of your desk. He continues to talk to the people around him, which makes you tap his shoulder harder.

Jeongin whips his head around to meet your calm eyes, only turning slightly frightened when you flinch at his sudden movement. “Wha- Ah! What do you want?” He says in an aggravated tone.

“Sorry,” you apologize quickly for making him jump, not wanting to cause another scene like yesterday. “I just need to talk to you about something for a few minutes.”

Jeongin lets out a groan, fixing his position so he can look behind him more comfortably. “What exactly do you want to talk about?”

“Something I’m sure you don’t want your friends to hear,” you respond casually, picking at the skin on your fingers. The boy’s eyes visibly perk up at your reasoning, and finally nods. “Thanks,” you say to him and stand up, pushing in your seat.

“Careful Jeongin!”

“Fight back if they hit you!”

You let out a deep sigh at the comments directed towards you, not even bothering to shoot them a glance in response. It’ll only make the rumors worse, you think as you walk out of the classroom, Jeongin trailing behind your footsteps after closing the door.

The hallway was silent once you stepped out of your class, no longer hearing the chattering of your fellow classmates about the latest gossip and homework. You could only hear your very own footsteps, along with Jeongin’s feet, which were behind you. Once the two of you made your way to the vending machines near the school stairs, you take out the coin you were holding in your hand and insert it into one of the machines.

“Which drink do you want?” you ask the boy without turning to face him, fishing out another coin in your mini wallet.

“The melon one-” Jeongin does a double take, not believing what he heard as he watches you insert another coin into the vending machine. “Wait, why are you buying a drink for me?” He questions your antics, slowly sliding down the wall to sit on the floor.

You stick your hand into the machine to grab Jeongin’s drink, making eye contact with him as you hand it over. “Why not? Is there a reason I should be buying you a drink?”

“Well, I mean,” Jeongin scratches the back of his neck in confusion. “Aren’t you supposed to be... a delinquent?”

You chuckle at his explanation, “Does that mean you’re a fox? Our nicknames in this school are only based off of our appearances, isn’t that funny?” Joining him on the floor, you crack open your own drink. “So no, I’m not a delinquent, and I’ll never be one.”

“That’s not what I’m here to talk about anyways,” you don’t bother to check Jeongin’s facial expressions as you continue, starting to take out his envelope before you’re stopped by him.

“Wait! I have something to give you too,” Jeongin stops your movement, slipping out something from his pocket as well.

“Is this yours?” 

You both say at the same time, revealing each other’s envelopes. There’s yours, with a tacky, red heart sticker stamped onto the envelope to seal it. Then there’s Jeongin’s, with only the word “To: Chuu” on the back.

Jeongin quickly snatches his letter from your hand, and quickly throws your own onto your lap. “Uh, thanks for returning it. You didn’t- Give it to Chuu for her to read... right?”

“Of course not.”

“And you didn’t read what’s inside?”

“..You got me there, I’ll admit it,” you chuckle slightly, raising your hands in defeat as your face starts to grow hot. Jeongin hums a bit, surprisingly not even a tad bit angry at your confession.

“Well,” Jeongin leans back against the wall. “I guess we’re even then.”

“What?!” you exclaim in surprise. “I mean- Yeah, cool. Actually, this works out perfectly.”

“Why?”

“I have a proposal for you,” you start. “We both like each other’s best friend, right? So we could be each other’s wingman and try to get with our crush. It’ll just take a bit of cooperation, though.”

Jeongin scoffs, “You made me look like a fool on the first day of school, why should I?”

“Well, besides being the apparent ‘delinquent’ of this school, I’d say I’m quite good at matchmaking thanks to Chuu, a cupid, you could almost say,” you cross your arms in defense. “Then again, since I’ve already read your sappy love letter to Chuu, I could always tell her that-”

“Fine!” Jeongin finally gives in. “I’m in, I’m in. I have absolutely no idea how I could get somebody like Seungmin to like somebody like you, but if you’re able to get me and Chuu into a relationship, I’ll try my best to play cupid. Okay?”

“I’m just going to ignore that comment about me and take it,” you shrug, standing up after checking the clock on the wall. “I’ll give you my address on a piece of paper later, so we could meet up and start planning.”

“Yeah, sure,” Jeongin follows your actions, standing up and tossing his drink into the trash can. 

“Remind me to pay you back for the drink, by the way.”

Episode 4: His Angelic Neighbor

“How ironic.”

“How ironic, indeed,” Jeongin agrees with you, the two of you standing at the entrance of Eda Apartments Complex, your backpacks on your back.

The studio apartment complex the both of you just so happen to live in, that is.

Part of you is relieved that you live near Jeongin, so maybe you could get to know him better (not as a friend, of course, but to see if Chuu would actually like him), and of course to work out your cupid plans together. However, the other part of you is confused as to why you’ve never even seen him around your apartment until now. 

These thoughts run through your head as Jeongin leads you to his apartment, walking up a lengthy three flights of stairs, as opposed to your usual two. 

When he’s about to open the door to his place, Jeongin turns around to face you, key in hand. “Whatever you do, don’t comment about my place.”

“Okay...?” you comply with an incredibly confused tone, but it seems to be enough for Jeongin, as he swings the door open.

Soda cans upon soda cans are messily piled up near a trash can, which was overflowing with paper plates and tissues. His bed, which is in the corner of the room (which, to be fair, it’s a studio apartment, and you have the same bed layout as him), wasn’t even made, and what you could assume to be a dining table had leftover Chinese takeout boxes on it.

When you peered into the sink after reluctantly placing your belongings near the door, it’s almost clogged up with muck and filth, making a shiver run down your spine. Not to mention, when you asked Jeongin if you could have a drink from the fridge, all your eyes could see were frozen meals & rows of soda and juice. How long has Jeongin been living this way?

“Uhm, hate to mention this to you,” you close the fridge gently after grabbing a can of soda. “but your place is really-”

“What did I say to you before I opened the door?” Jeongin fires back before you could finish.

You stay silent.

“Exactly. Now can we please start talking about our ‘Cupid Plans’ as you like to refer to it?” Jeongin raises an eyebrow at you, taking out the items in his backpack. 

“It’s a cute name, okay?” you respond, making your way to the table as Jeongin pushes the takeout boxes to the side. “And we’ll be studying too, we have a quiz tomorrow, remember?”

“I’ll rather do the studying later,” Jeongin. “So what does Chuu like?”

“Hmm...” it takes you a moment to think about what your best friend likes when it comes to love, which is a bit strange, because you’d think you’d know what Chuu likes after watching people confess to her after all these years. “I think she’d prefer something planned? Even extravagant, if you really push it. She likes plushies and small gifts.”

“What about Seungmin?” you ask Jeongin.

It also takes Jeongin a second to come up with an answer. “He’s always been into nerdy, yet bubbly people, I guess? Since you’re so antisocial, though, he probably won’t like somebody like you right now.”

“Wow, thanks.”

“I’m only trying to help!”

The conversation shifts slightly, and to your surprise, flows well despite your polar opposite personality. You and Jeongin discuss possible ideas as to how both of you could help each other out while studying for your upcoming quiz. 

“And for equation 17, would it be-” you lift your head up from your math textbook, only to see Jeongin using his arm as a pillow and sleeping on his own book. You blink a couple times in disbelief, but remember that you’ve been over at his house for a little over three hours at this point. Shrugging, you gently close your textbook and decide to call it a day at Jeongin’s place.

But then you go back to your senses and remember how filthy of an apartment you’ve been at this entire time. The more you look at your surroundings, the more you desire to clean up the place.

A neat freak, that’s what everybody calls you. It’s what your mom taught you all throughout your childhood, and it’s a trait you’ve kept until now.

Your mind goes into autopilot mode as you start moving around his place left and right. Somehow, you were able to find a box of plastic gloves stored in the back of the sink cabinet, so you put a pair on and start cleaning. Tying up garbage bags and cleaning out the sink, you also make the effort to place the leftover Chinese food into the fridge after checking if it’s spoiled or not. Most people would stare at you in confusion, but you shake your head at the thought, only hoping that Jeongin would at least appreciate your efforts. 

By the end of your cleaning session, you could now call the studio apartment an apartment, and not some kind of swamp. Pleased at your work, you take out one of your notebooks and rip out a piece of paper, grabbing a pencil along the way. You write a quick note for Jeongin to read when he wakes up:

“Cleaned up your place while you were asleep, I could also cook for you and teach you how to cook? (Chuu likes food) text me: xxx-xxx-xxxx”

Swinging your backpack onto your pack, you leave his apartment and make your way to your own.

Later that night, your phone dings with a message from an unknown number.

[Unknown: i’m so tired of frozen meals and takeout, please cook for me (and teach me how)]

Episode 5: However

“Here’s your lunch, Yang,” you pass your spare lunchbox to the seat in front of you, which Jeongin takes gratefully. Chuu, who was making her way over to the seat next to you, catches sight of your interaction with Jeongin.

“Y/N’s food is good, isn’t it Jeongin?” Chuu strikes up a conversation right away, leaving Jeongin flustered, and most likely burning hot.

“Y-Yeah, it is.”

“Say, you two have been talking a lot lately,” Chuu starts talking as you tilt your head up to take a sip of your drink. “Have you two been, or should I say, has Y/N finally gotten a-”

You choke on your drink, almost spitting it all over Jeongin’s back before catching yourself. Jeongin has almost the same reaction as you, only choking on the food you prepared for him instead. It had only been two weeks of school; two weeks of talking to Jeongin solely about each other’s crush, and yet Chuu believes that you two have something going on.

“Absolutely not, Chuu.”

“Yeah, no way.”

You exchange a glare with Jeongin, almost in a panicked manner. If Chuu believes that you two are dating, that would practically be the end of your chances to be with Seungmin, same going for Jeongin with Chuu.

“Alrighty then, I trust you two,” Chuu leans back in the chair she’s sitting on, before promptly getting up and making her way to the door of the classroom. “I’m gonna use the bathroom.”

As soon as she closes the door, Jeongin immediately leans over to your desk, ignoring his bento box. “We have to do something about what Chuu said.”

“Duh, there’s no way we could let her think that about us,” you agree with him. “What are some solutions? We could try to be more distant with each other, which honestly I don’t think either of us would mind too much. I could simply tell Chuu that we aren’t even close friends, or-”

“You need to confess to Seungmin,” Jeongin bluntly tells you, catching you off guard. 

“What- why would I do that?!” you almost yell at the boy in front of his face. His plan is all kinds of crazy, you would’ve never thought of it yourself.

“You’ve known Seungmin longer than I’ve known Chuu, so you have a lower risk of being rejected. And if you actually end up dating Seungmin, then Chuu would know that us two aren’t a couple,” Jeongin crosses his arms over his chest. “It’s a win-win situation.”

You scoff, “And if I get rejected?”

“I’ll like- I don’t know, buy you ice cream?” Jeongin attempts to persuade you, to which you sigh as a response. 

“I guess I’ll trust you on this.”

The day passes by without a hitch, to your utter shock, as the churning in your stomach says otherwise. The thought of impulsively confessing to your long time crush makes you feel lightheaded and dizzy, as it was something you’ve never done before. However, your stubbornness is refusing you to back down from Jeongin’s wild plan, so here you are, face to face with Seungmin at the roof of the school.

“Erm- So-”

“The weather is pretty nice today, isn’t it Y/N?” Seungmin casually breaks the ice wall between you two.

The sudden question catches you off guard. “Ah, yes.. yes it is...” Already, you could feel the heat rising up your body, even when the weather today was particularly cloudy. “Uhm, I brought you here to tell you something, Seungmin.”

“Oh, what is it?” Seungmin seems surprised at your statement, but the voice in your head tells you otherwise. He’s smart enough to look through people, you know that already, so why are you trying to hide your feelings when you’re already this far?

It’s time to take a leap of faith, you think, as you take in a large breath before telling him everything. “Uh, you see.. I’ve always appreciated you ever since you approached me that one day. Nobody’s ever done that for me except for you and Chuu, and because of that I think you’re a.. great person... What- What I’m trying to say here is-”

“I like you, Seungmin.”

You tilt your head downwards, almost in shame as you play with your fingers anxiously. Letting out a shaky exhale, you can’t believe that you just confessed all of those things to your own crush. Your heart beating a thousand miles a second, it felt like you were about to explode from either embarrassment or anticipation; quite possibly even both at the same time.

“You, know, Y/N..” Seungmin starts to chuckle, grabbing onto his left wrist with his right hand.

“I used to like you.”

That made you look back up at him in shock, blinking a couple times out of disbelief. “Really?!”

Seungmin simply hums, confirming what he just stated. “That’s why I approached you in the first place. There was something about you that drew me into talking to you. And of course, you didn’t disappoint me,” he flashes you a comforting smile, but it soon goes away at his next word.

“However...”

Seungmin leaves you hanging after that one word: however. His mouth opens and closes, most likely trying to come up with the right words to say. You wobble your feet back and forth, becoming more and more impatient.

But then, he says something. A simple, ten word sentence. Not a compound nor a complex sentence. Easy for a little kid to understand.

“I hope we can be good friends in the future.” 

And yet it cracks your heart.

In a blink of an eye, Seungmin has disappeared from your view. An unexpected wind blows through your body, almost feeling like a comforting pat on the back after being rejected; friend-zoned. 

You make your way to the front of the school, dragging your feet in a lazy manner. Jeongin’s head perks up when he nears footsteps, only to gaze down at your slumped figure. Letting out a deep exhale, you give Jeongin a glare that could cut him in half; one of disappointment and exhaustion.

“You owe me ice cream.”

The ice cream place is about two blocks away from your apartment complex, decorated in obnoxious pastel colors that make your eyes squint. Jeongin is relatively quiet throughout your walk there, only offering to carry your backpack if it’s too heavy for you, to which you declined quietly. You can feel the burn of his eyes on top of your head, anticipating for you to let out a scream in anger, but you’re simply not that kind of person. 

You remain deep in thought even when you sit down, grabbing a menu to cover your face. Jeongin’s eyes remain on your figure, and you wonder if he’s actually, genuinely, worried for you.

“Er, what do you want to order?” Jeongin asks you in an attempt to break the tension. “I’ll pay, since you seem a bit heartbroken right now-”

“Hi, welcome 901 Freeze Treats Parlor-” you look up from the menu at the sound of a familiar, cheery voice.

You forgot Chuu works here.

And you forgot to tell Jeongin that information.

“Oh, Y/N! And Jeongin, hi guys,” Chuu flashes a grin at the both of you, and you can’t help but smile and almost giggle at how Jeongin grows beetroot red. She’s sporting a pair of pigtails in her hair, and the striped uniform topped with a cute hat on top. “What can I get you guys?” “I’ll- I’ll get the banana split Chuu!” Jeongin exclaims a bit too loud, attracting the rest of the customers at the parlor. Chuu, although a bit confused, seems to enjoy Jeongin’s enthusiasm for ice cream and writes down the order.

You set down the menu and point to what you want with a hum, to which Chuu bends forward slightly in order to see what you want. “You always order that, Y/N! Don’t you want to try something else?”

“I’m good, Chuu, thanks,” you give her a gentle smile, praying that she won’t comment about how tired and defeated you look. Fortunately for you, she leaves you alone, and you’re left back with just Jeongin.

“How have my letters been doing?” Jeongin blurts out before he could stop himself, covering his mouth with one of his hands soon after. “I- I mean, I shouldn’t.. really ask when you’re sad.. but I mean I might as well ask you since we just talked to her, right? Sorry-”

“They’re doing good, she likes them a lot,” you reply softly to the frantic boy, and he lets out a sigh of relief at your answer. You’ve spent the past few weeks helping Jeongin write love letters to Chuu, even decorating them with cute stickers. For once, your writing skills can come into play, and you haven’t let Jeongin down yet. “And it’s okay, my head is just in the clouds. At least he let me down gently.”

“What exactly did he say?” Jeongin eggs you on, wanting you to elaborate further.

“Something along the lines of us being good friends in the future,” you explain to him. “He even said that he used to like me, but I don’t know-”

“Then you still have a chance, right?” Jeongin doesn’t wait for you to finish your sentence before jumping in. “He left the door wide open for you to walk into, or- something like that at least. And, now thinking about it, I actually do think he used to like you.”

You roll your eyes, “You’re only saying that to make me feel better about this.”

“No, really! He mentioned that he liked somebody quiet and mysterious, and that he was gravitated towards that person. He told me that he would approach that person someday. It must’ve been you! I’ve known Seungmin for years, and this is one of two times he’s told me about his crushes,” Jeongin carries on with his own explanation. “So, in conclusion, I still believe it’s possible to win over his heart.”

Your lips press into a thin line, “You sure? Like, you’re absolutely positive about this?”

Jeongin nods, and for the first time since you’ve met him, he sends you a genuinely positive smile. It’s not like the annoyed snarks or the cheeky smirks he gives you all the time, but rather, something you could find comfort in. Just like Seungmin’s smile.

“Okay then, I’ll trust you.”

Episode 6: Swimming Lessons 

“Did you guys hear that the school’s swimming pool is opening next week?” A masculine voice you know all too well, yet you wish you didn’t at the same time, is heard from behind your back. Seungmin locks eyes with you as he tosses an arm around Jeongin’s shoulder while you continue walking down the hallway. 

It’s all too weird in your opinion that Seungmin is actually even friendlier after rejecting you. Because, shouldn’t the two of you be distant for at least a week or two? You guess that’s just not how Seungmin operates, then, as he dove right back into talking with you after that dreadful day on the school rooftop. 

“Yeah, Seung!” Jeongin answers with a joyful tone, giving you the chance to break your eye contact with Seungmin. You, on the other hand, were not a swimmer whatsoever.

Being submerged into a body of water to the point where your toes can’t reach the ground has never been ideal for you. Any kind of physical action required to even survive in the water is off putting in your option, so you’ve always stuck to dipping your feet into the water and nothing else.

But you guess that changes starting today.

“You know Seungmin,” Jeongin starts to say, “Y/N is actually a pretty good swimmer! I think they could even beat you in a swimming race.”

Your head jumps up in surprise, eyes widening when Jeongin turns to you. He mumbles the words “trust me” before going back to Seungmin. How many times will you have to trust Jeongin and his crazy schemes?

“Oh, really?”

Jeongin hums in confirmation, ignoring the side nudges coming from you. 

“Then we should race once the pool opens, Y/N!” Seungmin suggests with visible excitement beaming from his face. 

Your gut immediately tells you to deny, but then you have to consider Jeongin’s “trust me.” He seems fairly confident that everything would work out, so is the risk worth the possible reward?

“Oh- Uhm... Sure! Sure, let’s.. let’s race, yeah,” you manage to let out before you could change your mind. “Just give me time to prepare, I, uh, haven’t swam in a while.”

“Of course!” Seungmin grins. “Let’s do it in two weeks, okay?

All you could respond with is a nod, which Seungmin takes without anymore questions. He bids the both of you well, and makes a left to the student council room. 

You feel like a puddle of mush, waiting to collapse onto the tile floor of the school hallway. “I. Hate. You,” you scowl harshly at Jeongin.

“What?” Jeongin is caught off guard at your sudden hostility. “You never mentioned that you were afraid of the pool, and I don’t think it’s that bad of an idea. This is your chance to impress Seungmin!”

You scratch your head in confusion and denial. “Isn’t this a bit much, though? And who’s going to teach me how to swim?”

“You could always get me back with any ridiculous idea on how to get Chuu to like me,” Jeongin suggests to you. “And I’ll teach you, I’m a decent swimmer.”

“Sure, sure. Thanks for the idea, by the way,” you comment with a smirk, watching as Jeongin’s expression turns into one of regret.

“Now, teach me how to swim.”

An entire two weeks pass, and with those two weeks, comes the opening of the school pool. Although the vast majority of your classmates are genuinely excited to get a chance to cool down in the recent, scorching weather, you’re visibly less enthusiastic about it. You still try to keep a smile on your face with Seungmin is around though, so he doesn’t see through the lie Jeongin spontaneously made up.

“Y/N!” Chuu approaches you after exiting the changing room near the pool; you’ve already changed prior to her. “Your race with Seungmin is today, right? I see you’re all decked out in floaties.”

“Yeah, I’m just, uh- using them for safety purposes.” you give her a short and sweet response due to the churning in your stomach after being reminded of the event happening today. It’s a shame that your entire class knows what’s going down in just a few minutes, because they’re all anticipating your match with Seungmin. “The Delinquent vs The Student Pet” is what they’ve dubbed the match.

Also, Seungmin was generous enough to add onto the rules that floats were allowed to be used. So now you have floats all around your figure: some attached onto you, some you have to hold. 

“Hey Y/N-” Jeongin stops walking towards you after noticing Chuu, her hair in a braid and only wearing a casual swimsuit. “Oh- Hi Chuu!”

Chuu acknowledges Jeongin’s presence, but quickly turns back to you. “I hope you win the race, Y/N. I have faith that you could do it!”

“Y-Yeah Y/N! We didn’t train all for nothing,” Jeongin adds onto Chuu’s comment. Thankfully, although Chuu doesn’t even know that you couldn’t swim prior to now, she doesn’t question Jeongin’s extra addition of training. “Let’s head over to the start of the pool? Seungmin’s already there, I’m just here to fetch Y/N.”

“Okay! I’m referee as well, so I have to be there too,” Chuu claims, and the three 

Seungmin turns around from a group of boys to greet you, “Hey, Y/N! Ready for our match?

“H-Hey Seungmin,” you greet him with a friendly, yet shy tone, along with a nod.

“Okay!” Chuu gathers everybody’s attention with just the sound of her voice. “We’re here today to watch the race of Y/N vs Seungmin. On the count of three, I’ll blow my whistle and they’ll start swimming. You must go to the end of the pool, and right back to where we are right now. Ready?”

“3...”

“Also, just to calm your nerves a bit,” Seungmin whispers to just you right before the race begins.

“2...”

“I already know that you didn’t know how to swim before this. It’s okay if you fail, I’ll make sure nobody makes fun of you. Just stay safe, okay?”

“1...”

Your breath hitches for a split second, but before you can fully process what Seungmin just confessed to you, the whistle blows. 

Seungmin dives into the water head first, while you jump in measly with your feet touching the water before the rest of your body. By the time you’re able to start kicking your legs, Seungmin is already ahead of you, so you push against the wall using your feet and start doggy paddling. It’s quite pathetic, and you’re sure that’s what everybody is thinking as they watch you swim, but it doesn’t matter at this point. 

Or does it?

Because while you’re swimming across the pool, your brain just had to remind yourself about what Seungmin said seconds before the race started. He already knew you couldn’t swim, so it’s not really about impressing him anymore. 

Then again, it’s not necessarily about winning, but about showing Seungmin that you’re dedicated enough to try new things to have fun with him.

That’s why it matters now.

However, it feels like you’re sinking.

Throughout the race, you’ve lost float after float, and now you only have the two floats that wrap around your arms. The water is slowly starting to touch your lips, and falling into a standing position, making your situation even worse. Your heart pounds faster and faster in a panicked frenzy, struggling to comprehend what to do.

Thankfully, cupid comes to rescue you.

He jumps into the pool like a lifeguard, placing his hands near your armpits before pulling you out of the water with a surprising amount of strength. Despite the midst of chaos you were put in, you’re able to hear cheers and applauds, signaling that Seungmin must’ve finished the race. Once again, you’re left to vanish, with the only other misunderstood student to help you.

You feel the surface of the concrete outside of the pool on your bottom as you cough out water. Yet, Jeongin is nowhere in your sight.

That’s when you realized. He’s submerged under the water.

You assume that he must’ve lost energy while saving you, resulting in the two of you swapping places. Eyes widening at the sight, you sprint across the flooring of the pool site, screaming your lungs out for somebody to help.

“Shit!” you curse yourself when you finally get the an adult’s attention after being unable to get a classmate to help you. All of your classmates ended up next to Seungmin, aka, the opposite end of where you stopped swimming. It’s only when the teacher pulls Jeongin’s unconscious body out of the water for it to lay down that it grabs everybody’s attention, swarming to see what was happening.

That’s when you snap.

“I’m disappointed in all of you right now!” you scold all of your classmates, something you’d never think you’d get the courage to do until now. “All of you were focused on that stupid race, but you never bothered to check on Jeongin. He could’ve died because of your ignorance! I hope you all know that.”

After leaving your classmates’ mouths agape, you storm out of the crowd, and make your way to the changing room. Nobody, not even Chuu or Seungmin, bothers to approach you.

Later that day, after some of your classmates apologized for not noticing what was happening, you, and a now in-stable-condition Jeongin, walk home after an exhausting day. Not many words are said, just like your regular walks after each school day, until Jeongin turns to you.

“Uhm, I just wanna say..” Jeongin starts to speak,. “Thanks for defending me earlier after I drowned.”

You blink in surprise, “Wait, you heard all of that?”

“Yeah, I was already conscious for a few seconds before you started going off on them. But thank you, seriously. I appreciate it after being misunderstood by our classmates for all these years,” Jeongin sighs, and then gives you another one of his kind smiles.

“Of course...” your mouth forms a thin line after you mumble out those two words.

Why is your heart fluttering like Jeongin’s pair of cupid wings?

Episode 7: All For Your Happiness 

“Hey Chuu, listen to this!” you hold your phone right next to Chuu’s ear, which was playing the sounds you’d find at a haunted mansion. She yelps once she realizes what she’s listening to, and pushes your phone away with her palm, making everybody laugh.

Never in a million years would you find yourself sitting on a train with Chuu, Jeongin, and Seungmin all at once. The four of you were on your way to Chuu’s beach house, a place you’ve been to before during every summer break prior to this one, but it was always just the two of you. Now, however, you have your very own crush tagging along, plus his own best friend (and you don’t exactly know what you should call him anymore... Friend? Good Friend? Partner in Crime? Cupid Partner?). 

And you and Jeongin have a plan. One time, for once, you came up with, and you believe that it’s less traumatizing than nearly drowning in a pool.

It just so turns out that Jeongin is a horror movie enthusiast, so he slipped multiple DVD sets of horror movie classics into his suitcase to do a watching marathon at the beach house. It also turns out that Chuu is terrified of anything that could scare her, like jump scares. So, the plan is for Jeongin to become Chuu’s knight in shining armor for whenever she gets scared during this trip.

“Why are you making me listen to all of these things?” Chuu whines with a pout. To be fair, you’ve been making her listen to these chilling noises for the entire train ride, to the point where you’re almost at your stop.

“It’s kind of funny to watch your reactions, that’s all,” you semi lie, because while it is a bit hilarious to see Chuu’s dramatic reactions, you’re waiting for the moment for Jeongin to strike. 

And it’s at that moment when Jeongin finally speaks up, “Er- Chuu! If you ever get scared during this trip, come to me and I’ll-”

You mouth the word “protect” to Jeongin once he stops speaking.

“Uh- protect you!” Jeongin finishes after looking at you.

“Oh okay!” Chuu gives Jeongin a heartfelt grin. “I’ll make sure to go to you then, thanks!”

Jeongin nods eagerly, something Seungmin chuckles at, and you lean back in your seat at ease. If you’re able to successfully help Jeongin be Chuu’s knight during this trip, you’re certain that Chuu will at least take some interest at Jeongin. 

The train reaches your destination swiftly after Jeongin’s interaction with Chuu, and after a quick bus ride and a trek to the beach, you’ve finally reached Chuu’s family beach house.

“Wow, this is awesome Chuu!” Seungmin shouts gleefully as he looks at the house. The house is relatively small and gives off a modern feel, but it’s fortunately enough to fit four people in.

Chuu smiles at the compliment, “Thank you! My family is fortunate enough to own a place like this for the summer. But since my parents are always overseas when summer rolls around, this place turns into a paradise for Y/N and I!”

“Anyways,” Chuu continues. “We should probably clean up the house since it hasn’t been used since last year, but I say we go play on the beach first!”

While Seungmin and Jeongin nod their heads eagerly, a lightbulb is turned on in your head.

“Actually,” you speak up. “I’ll go on ahead and clean up the house first. It’s probably messy inside, and you guys know how much of a ‘neat freak’ I am.”

Jeongin seems to catch onto your idea, his eyebrows rising, “Oh, then I’ll clean up with Y/N too!”

“But you seem really excited for the beach Jeongin,” Seungmin questions, but Jeongin waves it off.

“It’s okay! You two can go play first,” Jeongin insists, and the other two don’t ask anymore questions, heading towards the ocean. “You really are a smart person, aren’t you Y/N?”

There it is; that fluttering in your heart again, but why now? “Well, you’re smart for catching on. Let’s go place scary traps all over the house?”

“Heck yeah.”

After some time cleaning up the house (and making what would be Seungmin and Jeongin’s room especially clean) and placing various objects around the rooms to create a horror effect, the two of you had finally joined the others at the beach. It was then that the “Scare Chuu Montage” officially began.

During your time at the beach, you attempted to kick some seaweed at Chuu’s legs to make her jump, but the ocean water never agreed to your intentions and spared her. That night, Chuu walked into the dark bathroom only to meet eyes with a reflection in the mirror. But when Jeongin came rushing over, Chuu had already turned on the light and saw the makeshift face you created on the mirror using face cream and cotton balls. 

The second day, Chuu woke up to the sound of being a woman screaming her head off, making her jump out of her bed in alert. It was simply a sound you found on the internet, but at least it woke up her up. The day was spent shopping at the nearby mall, so you couldn’t do very much to scare Chuu other than to hide at various nooks and crannies. You also ordered for Jeongin to stay by Chuu’s side at all times, but he didn’t do very much other than attempt to hold her hand (which was a very poor attempt, so of course, he failed). At least you and Seungmin talked individually while getting some ice cream, and to your utter surprise, it wasn’t that awkward.

The third day, you finally got Seungmin on board with your plans. Although a bit skeptical at first, you insisted that it would be a fun and harmless prank, and counteracted him by saying he laughed when Chuu got scared during the train ride. With Seungmin teaming up with you and Jeongin (without knowing your real intentions with the pranks), the horror movie marathon started despite Chuu’s pleads (to ensure that Chuu didn’t find any other movie disks around the place, you hid them all on the first day in a location she’d never look). 

With Jeongin and Chuu on the couch and you and Seungmin on the floor, you don’t think it’s possible for the two to still be away from each other after this marathon ends. The first movie starts off generally slow pacing, but it’s enough for Chuu to mutter out pleas of worry for the characters. Jeongin quietly laughs at her antics, telling her once more that he’s there if she needs to be comforted, and you give Jeongin a mental high five. 

By the end of the night, the two were cuddling, Chuu’s face looking especially scarred, while you and Seungmin finished the massive bowl of popcorn. When the lights finally came on, Chuu and Jeongin finally realized the position they were both in, and quickly scurried away from each other to your amusement. 

The fourth morning came shortly afterwards, and with that morning came the end of your trip at the beach house. Although it was spent mostly with your attempts at scaring your very own best friend, you still had fun yourself, and even spent some time with your crush.

And it seemed like your efforts finally paid off, because Chuu wanted to talk with Jeongin privately. 

After Jeongin shoots a glance at you while walking off to a private room of the house with Chuu, you quickly shuffle your feet over when Chuu’s not looking, placing your back against the wall. You hear footsteps inside the room before they suddenly stop, and then hushed whispers are all you could hear.

But then, Jeongin’s voice increases in volume. 

“You.. You knew that we were pranking you?” 

Your next breath gets caught up in your throat once you realize what exactly that meant. 

You failed?

Chuu hums, “I did, but I didn’t bother to tell you because it looked like you and Y/N were having so much fun. Actually, I was only guessing that you were pranking me this entire time, until Seungmin came and confirmed it with me.”

“Seungmin?!”

“Yeah, Seungmin! I guess he played you guys,” Chuu laughs. “At least you had fun on this trip! I actually did, too, because I love scary stuff. I’m not afraid of it at all.”

“Oh...”

“Hey, cheer up! You made me happy, and you’re happy too, isn’t that what matters?” Chuu reassures Jeongin. “Anyways, we should continue packing. I just wanted to get that off of my chest.”

You hear more footsteps, and then something that sounds like a cushioned thud.

“Thank you, Jeongin.”

You must’ve heard Jeongin squeak, because he has to clear his throat before answering. “S-Sure, Chuu. Yeah, of course!” Jeongin says the last few words more confidently as Chuu giggles.

That’s when you rushed into the nearest bathroom moments after the door swings open. The shuffling of footsteps is heard again, until they stop once more, and then somebody knocks on the door.

“I know you’re there, Y/N,” Jeongin claims, and that’s your signal to open the door.

“Yeah, but that’s not what matters here!” Jeongin’s eyes are wide open as he lets out wheeze after wheeze. “I- No- We made her happy, Y/N! She really enjoyed these past couple of days! And, and! She gave me a hug, Y/N!! I don’t think I’ll ever get over this, seriously. I’m falling for her more and more.”

It’s the first time that you’ve seen Jeongin as giddy as this, in the several months you’ve known him. Is this what love does to people? Is it supposed to make their heart burst like what you’re seeing right now?

Because, if so, why don’t you feel like that for Seungmin anymore?

Note to self: Jeongin, out of all people, loves hugs.

Episode 8: And He’s Gone 

Seungmin has been acting.. rather odd lately. 

To be fair, the school festival had just ended, plus the student council election was about to occur, so you’d reckon he must be exhausted as vice president of the council. Perhaps he must be busy thinking of ways to campaign (not that he needs to, everybody agrees that he’s the best person to become the next president) or maybe he’s just getting a good rest.

But that’s not what Jeongin claims.

[Jeongin: he doesn’t want to run for president]

[You: really?!]

[Jeongin: yeah, but he won’t even tell me the reason]

[You: ahhh what do we do now T-T]

[You: on one hand we should respect his decision]

[You: but on the other, the school will crumble without him]

[Jeongin: idk y/n]

[Jeongin: i could try to explain to him why he should run or at least try to get his reasoning]

[You: yeah you should do that]

[Jeongin: cya]

You drop your phone down onto your chest, sighing heavily. Rolling over on your bed to face the window, you ponder as to why Seungmin would make such an impulsive decision like that. He was always so passionate about being a member of the student council, so why is he backing away from it now?

“Bad news: I wasn’t able to get any info from Seungmin,” Jeongin confesses as the two of you walk to school for another day. “Good news: I have a plan in case Seungmin truly doesn’t want to run for president!”

“It seems like all of your plans are either dumb, crazy, or both,” you retort back at him. “But shoot.”

“One of us runs for president!”

“Don’t shoot, nevermind.”

“No no no, you have to listen to me for this,” Jeongin attempts to persuade you. “Because after you hear my explanation, you’ll probably think it’s a good idea.”

You stay silent.

Jeongin continues though, “So, if one of us runs for president, and campaigns really bad, we’re talking ‘I’m going to give everybody six ounces of homework when I become president’ bad, then Seungmin would want to jump in to save the school!” 

“Why don’t we make somebody else do it? Like- Chuu for example!” you insist, but Jeongin’s not having any of it.

“Chuu’s too popular, she might actually win. So it has to be one of us.”

“Then you do it because it’s your idea.”

“Nope.”

You sigh in defeat, “Rock paper scissors?” Jeongin nods, and gets his hands out. You’re quite confident that you’ll win, as you’re somehow incredibly good at rock papers scissors. Jeongin seems like the type of person to throw out scissors as a first move, and since this isn’t a best out of three game, you have to take your shot.

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!”

Your rock is meant with his paper as Jeongin chuckles, covering your fist with his hand.

“Looks like you’re running for president!” Jeongin beams at you.

It’s now a week after your rock paper scissor match with Jeongin, the reason you’re even here in the first place. Next to you is a set of speakers, and in your hand is a megaphone. Taking a deep breath, and taking the time to glance at the boy behind you, you put the megaphone next to your mouth.

“Listen up you morons!” you shout at the confused crowd of students beneath your feet, trying to ignore the burning of your face. “I, Y/L/N Y/N, am running for president! So unless any of you cowards decide to run as well, I’ll be your new president! Get used to it!”

“Y/N’s running?”

“Out of all people?”

“Gosh, why isn’t Seungmin here when we need him?”

You continue on with your speech, going on and on about how you’re basically going to rip this school into shreds. You start to worry that you’ll be doing this until the school bell rings for first period, starting to question how much courage you have left to not collapse out of embarrassment, until he finally shows up.

“Excuse me! Sorry, I need to get through!”

“Why are you doing this, Y/N? And why are you helping them Jeongin?! This isn’t like you guys,” Seungmin demands with a worried expression on his face.

You and Jeongin look at each other, before you decide to answer. “We’re doing this because you weren’t running for president for some dumb reason. This school needs you, Seungmin!”

Seungmin’s mouth forms on “o” shape as he realizes your intentions, his eyes sparkling in the sunlight.

He chuckles, “You really are something, aren’t you Y/N?” Seungmin’s expression softens when he meets your eyes, showing gratitude. He gently takes the megaphone from your hands, and clears his throat.

“My name is Kim Seungmin, and I will be your next student council president!”

An uproar of cheers follow his announcement, and you let out a laugh of relief. Now you could bail out of the election, leaving Seungmin as the only person the school could vote for as president. It’s a win win situation.

Until the election ceremony rolls around.

All of the students are packed into the gymnasium, each class standing in rows. On the stage you could see the current student council members, along with Seungmin, and your heart races for him. 

He’s called up to the front of the stage after being announced as the school’s new president, and a thunder of applause booms through the gym. Seungmin stands in front of the microphone.

“I’m Kim Seungmin, I’m your new president, and... and-”

“I am in love with our former president, Park Jihyo!”

He’s in love... with Jihyo?

Jeongin immediately turns to look at you, his mouth agape just like yours. The rest of the audience starts murmuring to each other in disbelief. Seungmin, out of all people, pulling a stunt like this? 

Oddly enough though, you don’t feel the same heartburn that you felt the first time you were rejected. It’s almost as if... you’re okay with this.

“You’re the reason why I’m standing here today; because you gave me a purpose at this school! And I know that you’re leaving to study abroad right after I take your role of president, so that’s why I’m shooting my shot today!” Seungmin explains loudly to the microphone, right in front of Jihyo, who’s standing there with an unamused look on her face. “Do I have any chance to be with you? Any chance whatsoever?!”

By the end of his speech, Seungmin is out of breath from shouting so much, and Jihyo seems to be stunned. She quickly shakes her head to clear out her mind, though, and takes the nearest microphone into her hands.

“And here, ladies and gentlemen, is your new student body president,” Jihyo calmly announces to everybody, not even acknowledging Seungmin’s confession at first. 

“I taught him how to be a good leader, and that’s how he ended up on this stage today. I have absolutely no doubt that Seungmin will do an incredible job as body president. I care for him quite deeply, and I hope you will help him succeed at his duties of being president.”

“Please look after my good friend, Kim Seungmin, while I’m gone. Thank you.”

Rejection: unrequited love, but confirmed. To some, it may feel like a glass filled to the brim with water suddenly shattering onto the floor. To others, it’s a gentle, yet brutal, falling of a feather, easing its way to the ground.

While Jeongin thinks that two hearts were broken in that gymnasium, only one truly was.

And it wasn’t yours.

“So you’re saying you’re over Seungmin at this point?” Jeongin’s voice goes higher in pitch when he asks you. “Did I shoot my cupid’s arrow at the wrong person or something?”

You walk in silence for a few moments, letting the both of you ponder for a bit. How do you answer that question without obviously revealing who you truly like?

“Yah,” you ultimately avoid the question. “You never paid me back for that peach drink I bought for you.

Episode 9: Shot an Arrow at Each Other

[Chuu: i think i like him]

[You: who?]

[Chuu: jeongin]

You suck in an unexpected breath, and it’s almost as if your heart stops. Valentines Day is tomorrow, so it’s no wonder that Chuu’s coming to you for love advice. When you don’t reply, Chuu keeps sending texts.

[Chuu: i think i might confess to him on valentines]

[Chuu: and i have suspicion that he’s the one who’s been sending me love letters, but im not too sure]

You gulp, turning over onto your side and tucking yourself further into the sheets of your bed.

[You: then go for it!]

[Chuu: i would but]

[Chuu: i feel like somebody else would be happier with him]

[You: care to elaborate?]

[Chuu: i know there’s somebody else out there who could treat him better than me]

Does Chuu know? Are you that obvious?

[Chuu: y/n]

[Chuu: you have a special connection with jeongin]

[Chuu: you like him, don’t you? ^_^]

That damn emojicon. You could imagine that if this conversation were to happen in person, she would smile at your real big before dropping the bomb.

And you wouldn’t know how to respond. Because she’s right.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Jeongin wasn’t supposed to be nice to you. Jeongin wasn’t supposed to save you from drowning. Jeongin wasn’t supposed to encourage you to confess to Seungmin when you still liked him, and he wasn’t supposed to buy you ice cream

But at the same time, you weren’t supposed to buy him a drink. You weren’t supposed to clean his apartment. You weren’t supposed to cook him meals willingly. You weren’t supposed to help him that much during summer break.

The two of you were supposed to just be each other’s cupid, but because you weren’t, you’ve fallen for him.

[You: but jeongin likes you]

No, you refuse. You refuse to let your emotions get in the way of Jeongin’s and Chuu’s happy ending. You refuse to let your emotions get in the way of what you and Jeongin have been striving for this entire school year. You’re better than that, stronger than that.

But why does it hurt so much?

The next day, Valentines Day, comes faster than you would’ve liked. Normally, this would be your favorite day of the year, because you liked seeing other people happy despite you being alone yourself. The outcasting you’ve put up with for the majority of your school life doesn’t bother you on this day surprisingly, as it’s always fun to see Chuu’s desk swamped with candies and anonymous letters.

It’s fun watching other people be happy.

This year, however, you’re left with a stain in your heart that you’re constantly reminded of throughout the day. Jeongin raves on about how he’s thinking about confessing to Chuu, yet you don’t have the heart or the energy to tell him that Chuu is thinking of the same thing. Then again, it’s better not to get in the way of love, right?

Chuu hasn’t spoken to you much ever since she read your final message to her last night. You don’t blame her, really, but she should do what’s best for her, not what’s best for you.

And Seungmin, to your utter shock, has been pretty chill this Valentines Day, not making a fuss over being rejected by Jihyo. Jihyo has already been abroad for several months at this point, so it’s given time for Seungmin to heal.

You make it through the day without too much distracting you, other than those thoughts buzzing in your head. The bell rings, signaling the end of the draining school day, but Chuu grabs onto your wrist and drags you into an empty classroom.

Your stomach starts churning once more when you see Jeongin and Seungmin in the room. Flinching when Chuu slams the door close a little too hard, you watch as she walks to the center of the room.

“Seungmin, you’re only here if I need backup, okay?” Chuu eases down Seungmin’s nerves, to which he responds with a nod.

“So,” Chuu takes a deep breath. “Don’t you have something to say to me, Y/N and Jeongin?”

You’re caught off guard by the sudden question. “What- What do you mean?”

Chuu only laughs, “You and Jeongin teamed up to make sure I fall in love with Jeongin this year, right?”

You and Jeongin freeze.

“And also, you tried to make Seungmin fall in love with Y/N, yes? But it didn’t work out, which brings us here,” Chuu crosses her arms over her chest. “You know, you almost did make me fall in love with Jeongin. Remember our conversation yesterday, Y/N? About how I was gonna confess to Jeongin?”

You don’t bother to move a muscle, but Jeongin, across the room from you, looks stunned.

“Well, I never bothered with that plan anymore. I realized that I only merely had a crush on Jeongin, and crushes never go that far. So with that being said-”

“Why are you... ruining everything now?” you take the chance to ask Chuu, but your question comes out in a more timid tone than you had anticipated. 

“Ruining everything, you say?” Chuu scoffs. “That’s not what I’m doing here! I’m making sure everybody gets the ending they’re happy with.”

“But this isn’t how it was supposed to go!” you finally yell at the top of your lungs. “Jeongin liked you, and now you like Jeongin. The two of you already have a happy ending, why do you need to push this further?”

“Because you like Jeongin, that’s why!”

You shut your mouth before you could utter another word, panic spreading all over your body. Not even making the effort to look at Jeongin’s current expression, you raise your head up to look at Seungmin, who looks like he could offer you no help whatsoever.

It’s all falling apart.

“Y/N-” Jeongin attempts to speak, but you cut him off without realizing.

“I.. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“You’re running away, Y/N,” Chuu states, which makes you grit your teeth.

“Wait, Y/N, just listen to me-”

“Please, not now-”

“Y/N!”

Once Jeongin shouts your name, Chuu accidentally releases her grip on your wrist, and you flee the classroom, sprinting as fast as you could in your school shoes. Chuu stares at Jeongin once you swiftly exit the classroom, to which Jeongin responds by running after you, Chuu following behind right after after thanking Seungmin for being there.

“You can’t force love! You can’t make two people fall in love with each other!” Chuu tries to tell you while running through the hallways. “Love happens naturally. I might love Jeongin, but Jeongin only had a crush on me, that’s not the same!”

“So I’m willing to put aside my feelings to help two people who truly, genuinely, love each other without any doubt in their hearts! Can’t you see? Jeongin loves you, not me. And you love Jeongin, not anybody else.”

And then Jeongin snaps.

“SHE’S RIGHT!” Jeongin booms. “Y/L/N Y/N, you’re the one I love! I love y-”

But you’re already gone from their sight. The school entrance has no people around, not even a silhouette of you running in the distance. The two catching their breaths at the entrance of your high school, their shoulders slump over in defeat.

Of course, it doesn’t end there.

Hours after the incident, hours after crying over the mixed emotions you experienced this Valentines Day, your doorbell is rung. You hesitate on whether you should even answer the door in the first place, sifting through the possible scenarios in your head. Your feet answers first, though, making your way to the door before your brain could even stop your motions.

It’s a letter, and you know that handwriting.

“come upstairs!”

And despite how reluctant you are, you still head to his apartment.

Jeongin greets you at the door, still wearing his school uniform just like you. In his hand is a rubber spatula, which is somewhat odd because you’ve never seen him hold kitchen utensils unless you were teaching him how to cook.

But there’s the aroma of food coming from the kitchen, one of various vegetables, and even the smell of meat. When you turn the corner, you infer that Jeongin was attempting to cook one of your one pot pasta meals, and it seemed to be almost done.

“Honestly,” Jeongin quickly goes back to tending to his cooking. “I wasn’t even sure if you were going to come, and that would be bad because this is two servings of pasta. But I knew you wouldn’t left me hanging.”

You hum, taking a seat at the dining table that was sparkling clean (something Jeongin kept up with even after you cleaned his apartment). Jeongin brings over two plates of pasta, steam still coming off of them. 

“Try it! It’s your recipe, so unless I messed up something, it should be good,” Jeongin dives in with a fork, slurping up the noodles eagerly as you do the same.

“It’s good, really good, actually,” you compliment him. “But why did you invite me over here?”

“Well,” Jeongin says with food still in his mouth, but he swallows shortly after. “This is a date.”

You almost choke on your food at the word “date” coming out of his mouth. “But what about Chuu-”

“Didn’t you hear Chuu while we were running earlier? She’s content at the fact that we’re about to become a couple. She told me that she rarely ever saw you as bright and as happy before you met me, that’s a good sign, right?” Jeongin smiles at you, and it’s that smile again.

“A good sign that...?”

“You love me too.”

You pause your movements for a full three second, before you laugh tiredly. The realization hits you while you twirl your pasta with your fork. “This is weird.”

“What is?”

“That we tried to be each other’s cupid, but ended up falling for each other instead.”

Your analogy makes Jeongin burst into laughter, nodding his head excessively. “Yeah, you’re right.”

The two of you eat Jeongin’s food in a comfortable silence for a few moments, before Jeongin speaks up again.

“Does that mean that I shot an arrow at myself then?!” Jeongin gawks at you comedically, almost making you choke on his food.

“Perhaps,” you simply shrug, leaving your, what you assume you could finally call your boyfriend, up to speculate for himself.

The cupid game was finally over, after many, many months of pinning.

And it ended with a pair of cupids, in love with each other.

~

it’s promo time baby!

follow my networks @fluffyskzclub​ and @/angstyskzclub, our members provide you with sfw fluff & angst content for you to read!

i’m starting an official taglist for my fics! there’s one for oneshots like these, and one for my stray kids ot8 reactions & scenarios! (not gonna bother with one for my blurbs, don’t waste your time on a 2 minute read fic LOL) just let me know through my inbox as to which one(s) you’d like the join.

thank you so incredibly much for reading “a pair of cupids!” this story was physically and mentally draining. i wrote the first 3 sections last week, took a 3 day break because my family visited another state, and then wrote these last 6 sections in a span of... 5 days? it was NOT FUN my back is killing me oh my gosh have mercy on me if you think this was bad

[caramelcal]

Songwriting and Fake Dating {2}

Word Count: 1.8k

a/n: hello guys! hope you’re having a good day/night so far, thanks for reading my work I really appreciate it. I appreciate every note, comment, repost, request that everyone sends in and I’m so glad that you guys enjoy my silly little pieces of writing lol...

However, I can’t take full credit for this so thank you so much to the kind people that sent me plot ideas, lots of lovee x 

 THIS WILL HAVE MORE PARTS!!! 

Also, how would you guys feel about me making a base Luke Patterson tag? Just an idea though! (sorry for the long a/n)

Tags:

@gia-kerks​ @phantompogues​ @thesweetestsinner​ @honeyheartzz​

disclaimer: i do not condone plagiarism on my work at all, this has not been posted on any other platforms, or on tumblr anywhere else but my account (rosemoonmist) if you see anyone plagiarizing mine (or anyone else’s account) please inform the rightful author ! thank you lovelies x

part 1   masterlist   next

The deal worked well. Luke kept his promise saying that he would keep everyone off your back, seeing you walk in with Luke Patterson kept guys pretty far away from you. It was like they knew that they shouldn’t mess with you, not only because you guys were together but because of how powerful you were both viewed as was insane. You guys were the school’s new power couple. That felt amazing.

Yet, as amazing as it felt it was still strange; the fact that the power couple wasn’t even really dating, and that you guys didn’t even like or talk to each other in the beginning.

Slowly but surely though, you got to know Luke. You knew there was always a little more to him than met the eye but after three weeks of you guys interacting with each other on a personal basis, you guys got extremely close. Too close for some people’s liking.

Of course, Luke wasn’t the only one that upheld his end of the bargain, you did too. Often, you found yourself thinking about new lyrics in school, jotting down scribbles in the corners of your textbooks and notes. Luke was right when he said you were an amazing songwriter. The rest of Luke’s band, Julie and the Phantoms, had been apprehensive when he got help from you to write songs, but after seeing something you wrote for them they were convinced of your talent and were very eager to have you write more songs for them.

Actually, most people were glad you were writing songs again. But no her, not Carrie. In fact, she was furious that you were writing songs for them, despite knowing of the deal. Instead of encouraging you and praising you for finally getting into writing songs properly and utilizing your talents, she argued with you for ‘helping the rival band’ and saying that you ‘didn’t care about Dirty Candy’. She knew that wasn’t true but the fact she still said it hurt you.

Yet, even though you and your best friend’s relationship was slightly fractured at the moment, you still arrived at her house for practice. New choreography had been introduced that you had to learn, and you heard from another Dirty Candy member, Kayla, that it was super confusing.

Naturally, you ended up at Carrie’s on Tuesday evening, ready for a night full of dancing, learning confusing choreography, and laughing with the other girls. You had been Carrie’s best friend long enough to know just to walk into her house without knocking, knowing that Trevor and Emily weren’t home, Luke would be up in his room, and Carrie too far away in the studio to hear you knock. 

Treading through the house, on your way to go the studio you have your bag slung over your shoulder, subconsciously humming a song. That was until you hear someone call from behind you, “Y/n?”

Turning around, you see Luke there and give him a smile and a wave. He walks up closer to you, jumping down the stairs and landing just in front of you, rocking back on his heels. A smile lights upon his face as he opens his mouth, starting to speak, “I was messing around with the melody a little for this song you wrote, if you quickly came to my room I could show you on my guitar.”

Luke points in the direction that he came from, taking a step backward as you look at him unsure. He holds a hand out to you with a small cheeky smile, almost as if he knows that you’re itching to hear it. You quickly glance back in the direction of the studio before giving in, “Fine, fine, but be quick. I have choreography practice for Dirty Candy I can’t miss.”

Luke gives you a beaming smile as you place your hand in his, which he grasps before pulling you along the hallway, not leaving you too long to dwell on the studio session.

One second you’re just entering Luke’s room, letting him play you the chords on his guitar and giving him a few pointers, seconds later you guys are working on tweaking lyrics and you hear the girl’s chatter from downstairs. Wide eyes meeting Luke’s you realize that the girls are leaving.

Eyes glance over to Luke’s alarm clock and you realize it hasn’t just been a few minutes, it’s been two hours. Two hours of vital practice for Dirty Candy that you blew off for Luke, again. Carrie was not going to be happy if she found out.

However, luck doesn’t seem to be on your or Luke’s side as you hear a knocking sound from Luke’s bedroom door, “Luke?”

It’s Carrie. Eyes darting towards each other, Luke indicates for you to hide, helping you crouch down out of sight. You’re behind Luke’s bed, too scared to even peek over the comforter to stare at Luke’s bedroom door as Luke tells Carrie to come in.

When Carrie comes in, Luke’s bedroom is tidier than normal, fewer clothes splayed on the floor, but bedsheets still ruffled and a wide array of objects splayed on his desk and shelves, along with his bed. When she speaks to Luke, she walks closer to the bed, voice quiet.

“y/n didn’t show up for practice again,” You cringed at that, knowing that you were guilty of getting caught up in writing songs with Luke. However, you had never got caught up writing songs in Carrie’s house, this was a new low for you, “I just wondered if you had heard from her.”

Guilt bubbles in your stomach when you realize that Carrie sounds worried for you. She should be, you hadn’t checked your phone for two hours and the last time you texted her you said that you were on your way over. She expected better from you than to blow her off for her brother, and you should have too.

“No,” Luke dismisses, clearing his throat awkwardly as he shares a tight-lipped smile with his sister, who stares at him strangely.

“Okay...Wait,” Carrie starts to sigh but stops talking, allowing you to hear her feet come further into the room, her eyes catch onto something, “Is that...y/n’s? IS Y/N HERE WITH YOU?”

At the sound of her louder voice, you cringe physically. You can hear the utter betrayal and anger in her voice when she thinks you’re here. You knew that if she found out she would be livid but this sounded worse than you imagined. Much worse. Before you put Luke in an awkward position and make him lie to his sister, you stood up, eyes squinting slightly as you stared at the livid version of your best friend.

Her fists clench at her sides and she puffs her chest out as she looks at you, eyes widening slightly. Nothing is said as Luke looks awkwardly between the two of you. You open your mouth, looking at Carrie before hesitantly speaking, “Carrie, listen-”

However, Carrie wasn’t up for your excuses, storming out of the room. Without even looking over at the boy who stayed on his bed, you rushed out after your best friend, “Carrie, please!”

Grabbing onto her shoulder, you manage to get Carrie to stop walking away from you but instead, she whirls around angrily, eyes widened even further as she rejects your touch. She points a finger towards you and takes a menacing step forward, causing you to step backward, “You know what y/n? I was annoyed when you started writing for our rival band but now you’re blowing off practice to help them?”

Unable to speak, you simply watch carry with your lips slightly apart. You had seen Carrie mad before, but you had never had it directed at you. Her arms retreat from pointing threateningly at you and instead, she crossed her arms over her chest, scoffing at you, “It’s clear to see where your priorities lie. That’s it, you’re done. You’re no longer welcome in Dirty Candy.”

“Carrie please-” You begin to speak, almost pleadingly but she puts a hand in front of her, her palm facing you, like a sign to stop you from talking. 

“I don’t even want to hear it,” She spits out, giving you a distasteful look, “get out of my house. You’re no longer welcome here.”

. . .

You walk with your head ducked when you’re in school the next day, books hugged to your chest. People don’t stare at you like they usually do, because neither Carrie nor Luke was by your side. Not only a sad reminder of what happened yesterday, but of the fact that you were nothing without your best friend. Everything with Luke was fake, Carrie was supposed to be your best friend.

How could you let her down like that?

How could you get caught up in a boy? Right from the beginning you and Carrie had a deal, that you would never let a boy get between the two of you, that you would never prioritize someone else over each other. You broke that, with her stepbrother of all people. You had two deals, one with Carrie and one with Luke, and you knew you had to pick between the two of them.

The only plan of action you could think to get back into Dirty Candy and back to being Carrie’s friend was that you apologized and begged to be in her band again, dropped Luke and hope that she took some sort of pity on your soul.

“Hey! Y/n!” You spun around, eyes looking up to catch onto the hazel eyes that jogged over to you, a book in his hand. He landed right in front of you, giving you a small smile as he indicated to the book in his hands, “You left this in my room yesterday...”

Your eyes glanced down to the notebook in his hand, the one that you were writing songs in, and a bitter taste fills your mouth. Yet another reminder of last night, and all of the mistakes you made. Shaking your head lightly, you took the notebook from the boy without a word.

“I know it’s probably best you don’t see Carrie right now, so how about you come over to Julie’s garage tonight?”

Looking up at him with saddened eyes, you shook your head as you muttered, “We can’t do this anymore.”

“What do you mean, y/n?” Luke asked breathily, eyebrows furrowing as he rocked on his heels. People bustled about the corridors but paid no mind to your conversation, too wrapped up in their own business but all of Luke’s attention was on you.

“This,” You repeated, using your hand to gesture between the two of you. You saw as his eyes fell to your hand, eyebrows raising slightly, “We can’t. Not anymore.”

He leaned closer to you, almost ensuring no one overheard you as he spoke lowly into your ear, “It’s part of the deal, y/n.”

“A deal we never should’ve made,” You started, holding your hand out to Luke’s chest so he couldn’t advance on you.

As you started up into Luke’s eyes, you frowned a little. Luke was a good person, and you guys bonded so well, not only over music, but tv shows, movies, common interests.. You guys just clicked. The past few weeks had been great, but you couldn’t put your best friend on the back burner just because of a few happy days.

“I got kicked out of Dirty Candy for our little deal,” You snapped bitterly, shaking your head wildly. Luke’s eyebrows shot up, mouth opening in shock as he stared down at you, “I lost my best friend. I’m sorry Luke but Carrie comes first. Over everything, especially our stupid little deal.”

With that, you walked away, leaving Luke in the distance. You didn’t even turn back to look at him...

[omgrachwrites]

Deja Vu - Chapter Four

Pairing: Joaquin Torres x Mutant!Reader

Summary: When your Uncle and guardian dies you get pulled into a world of superheroes and conspiracy theories, while dealing with the darkness inside of you. What you don’t expect is for someone from your past to come walking into your life.

Warnings: fluff, teeny tiny bit of angst but not rly, jealous Joaquin

Words: 2168

Disclaimer: These gifs don't belong to me!

A/N: Sorry for the wait guys! The creepy guy on the front desk in this chapter is based on a real life creepy person, and find enclosed the gif of Y/N's FBI partner (we are just going to ignore that he was a HYDRA agent in The First Avenger :) ) ;) Hope you guys enjoy this part and please let me know what you think and if you would like to be tagged! I love you all! xxx

masterlist moodboards previous chapter next chapter

Chapter Four - Knowing Me, Knowing You

On the morning you were properly back in the FBI office working – you had had to sit through a week of numerous meetings – you gazed at yourself in the mirror as you dragged a comb through your hair. You briefly wondered whether you were doing the right thing, something inside of you felt encouraging, but deep, deep down there was a strong sense of foreboding. Biting your lip, you left your room and walked into the kitchen which smelled of coffee and bacon.

“Good morning,” you heard a happy voice and you beamed as you saw Sharon Carter perched on one of the kitchen units.

“Sharon!” you exclaimed in glee as you ran over to her and pulled her into a hug, “it’s so good to see you, I missed you!”

Sharon grinned as she cupped your cheeks, “I missed you too, angel! Are you off to work?”

You nodded with a grimace as you poured some coffee into your travel mug, adding milk and sugar, “you’re not running off without anything to eat, are you? Coffee isn’t exactly a substantial breakfast, or any meal for that matter,” Sam looked at you sternly and you had to smother a laugh at the sight of him in his ‘Kiss the Cook’ apron.

With a roll of your eyes, you – stupidly – reached into the sizzling hot pan to pull out a streak of bacon, “see,” you smirked as you took a bite of it, “I do eat breakfast.”

There was a snort from the doorway and when you glanced over, you saw Joaquin leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded and an eyebrow raised. You tried to ignore the cocky smirk on his lips and the way his white shirt stretched over his muscles, and the way his hair curled at the ends. You had to shake yourself out of it, there was no way that you could develop a crush on him again. The cute teenager had turned into a very handsome man.

“Do you need a lift? I’m heading past the office; I can drop you off no problem.”

Before you could reply – about to reject him because there was no way that you could be alone in the car with him – Sam spoke up, shooting an evil smirk at you from over his shoulder, “hey, that’s a really great idea. Y/N, get a lift with Torres.”

You could have killed him, you narrowed your eyes at him as you shot him a death glare but he only turned back to his cooking, happily whistling away as if he hadn’t said anything. You glance back at Joaquin who was looking at you with a small smile and you felt your resolve begin to weaken.

“Sure,” you smiled, “that would be great, thank you,” you grabbed your stuff and waved goodbye to Sharon and Sam, “see you guys later, tell Bucky that I said goodbye.”

“Bye, Y/N!” Sharon grinned, offering you a wave as she looked between you and Joaquin.

“Have fun,” Sam smirked and you scowled at them both as you followed Joaquin out of the compound and into his car.

“I really appreciate this, thank you,” you smiled as you climbed into the car.

Joaquin glanced at you with sparkling brown puppy dog eyes as he started the car, “no worries, to be honest, it was pretty selfish of me. In between training and working, I haven’t had a lot of time to see you or even speak to you properly.”

With a small smile and a warm fluttery feeling in your stomach, you replied to him, “that’s sweet.”

Instead of complaining about the fact that you had just called him sweet, he went bright red and cleared his throat, quickly changing the subject, “so, I’ve been meaning to ask you, what made you want to work for the FBI?” he asked with a squeak as he concentrated on the road with a small frown and a crease in between his eyebrows.

You smiled, it was easy to answer, “remember when my Uncle came out with the fact that he was Iron Man, and after that there seemed to be a huge surge of villains and heroes?”

Joaquin nodded as he glanced over at you with a sympathetic look in his eyes as he bit his bottom lip.

You fiddled with your fingers, hoping that it wouldn’t sound weird and hoping that it wouldn’t make you sound like a psychopath, “well, I know that the villains are gifted humans, or sometimes they’re not human at all,” you rolled your eyes, thinking of Loki, “but I’ve always been interested in how their minds work and I want to help the world become a better place. Also,” you hesitated, “when I got my powers, I realised that I’ve got the potential to be a villain instead of a hero. Instead of hurting people, I want to try and save them, as many as I can.”

Joaquin’s lips lifted into a smile as he returned his focus to the road, “that’s awfully noble of you and I very much doubt that you’ve got it in you to be a villain,” he laughed, “you’re too good.”

You smiled as you felt heat rise up on your cheeks, it was nice that someone felt that way about you. There was no more talk until Joaquin pulled up outside the building, “thank you for the ride, Torres,” you smiled and he rolled his eyes playfully.

“You’re welcome. Do you need a ride home?” he raised an eyebrow and gave you a lopsided grin that made your breath catch in your throat.

You thought that he was sweet for offering but you didn’t want to take advantage so you shook your head, “nah, it’s all good. I’ll catch a ride home with someone, thank you though,” you smiled, hoping the creepy guy on the front desk wouldn’t offer you a ride home. You would rather walk than be stuck in a car with that guy.

“Alright, only if you’re sure, have a good day, Y/N,” Joaquin grinned and you realised how easy it would be to lean over and kiss him.

With a flush, you got your mind out of the gutter as you opened the car door and waved at him, “you too, see you later.”

Will, the creepy guy on the front desk smirked at you as you walked in and even though he didn’t say anything, his little beady eyes roamed over every inch of your body. You could hear his heavy breathing and almost smelt his disgusting, pungent coffee breath as you walked past the desk, making a beeline for the elevator as you could feel his eyes run the length of your legs. You let out a relieved breath as you got into the safe elevator and pressed the button for Michael’s office, he had wanted to see you first thing.

As you entered Michael’s office, he was standing, looking out of the window and there was a handsome man typing away on his phone, “ah, good morning, Y/N. This is your partner, Colin,” he said without even turning around and you glanced at the man who looked up at you with a smile.

“Hey,” you smiled, suddenly feeling shy.

“Nice to meet you,” he chuckled, he had a smooth British accent that made your blood fizz with delight.

Finally, Michael turned around pushing his round rimmed glasses further up his nose as he pursed his lips and looked you over, “that guy in the car, he your boyfriend?”

With a scoff, you slammed your stuff on Michael’s desk – you were the only one who dared to do that – “what are you spying on me now?” Michael fixed you with such an icy stare that you actually felt the degrees in the room drop down a little, and Colin rolled his eyes behind Michael’s back as he smiled warmly at you.

“No, Michael,” you sighed, “he’s not my boyfriend, he doesn’t even know what’s going on here,” you gestured around the room, “Bucky is the only one that knows.”

Michael nodded in approval, “good, because people can get hurt and you know that,” you wished that he would stop treating you like a child for one second, you’d known him for most of your life but that was no excuse, “now,” he nodded at you and Colin, “we’re leaving for the CIA in a few, to try and figure out who wants to assassinate the President.”

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

Night-time in New York was Joaquin’s favourite time of day, the multi coloured lights were so beautiful and the city was bustling below him as he took a drag of his cigarette and a sip of his vodka. Sam and Bucky had gone out to a bar but Joaquin wasn’t in the mood so he’d opted for a couple of drinks at home and a pizza. He almost jumped out of his skin as he heard the patio door slam and he whirled round with wide eyes, ready to spring into action, stopping short when Y/N smiled at him with tired eyes as she had her laptop under one arm and a glass of wine.

“Hi,” she laughed, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, is it alright if I join you?”

“Of course,” he chuckled, trying to slow down his racing heart, “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I came in about half an hour ago,” she smiled as she flopped down on the chair with a sigh as she opened the lid of her laptop.

Joaquin bit his lip as he opened the lid of his pizza box and offered it to her, “want a slice?”

Y/N looked down at the pizza, her eyes lighting up, “ooh! Is that okay? Thank you so much,” she grinned as she took a slice out of the box and groaned as she bit into it, giving him a thumbs up.

Joaquin flushed as he ran a hand through his hair and took another drag of his cigarette, “how was your day?”

Y/N groaned as she began typing away on her laptop, “pretty stressful to be sure but it felt great to be back,” she took a delicate sip of her wine, grimacing as she slammed the glass down, “and wine is just not cutting it.”

Joaquin bit his lip to smother his laughter, he knew that it was rude to laugh at her expense, “would you like some vodka?”

Y/N snickered as she looked up at him from her laptop, her pretty eyes lighting up, “I haven’t had vodka since college,” she shook her head and gagged.

“Why?” Joaquin laughed in interest.

Y/N flushed as she played with the ends of her hair, “it shouldn’t be heard by innocent ears like yours, I’ll tell you when you’re older,” she giggled as she patted the top of his hand and Joaquin scowled playfully.

“Jeez, thanks, Y/N,” he laughed as he shook his head, looking back out at the city as the pair of them fell into comfortable silence as Joaquin listened to the city below, and the sound of Y/N clacking away on her laptop.

Joaquin was pouring a vodka and coke when heard Y/N giggle almost breathlessly and when he glanced over at her, he was surprised to see that she was staring down at her phone with a grin on her face. The light from her phone lit up her blush and Joaquin just couldn’t help himself, he wished that he could help himself.

“You alright?”

With a beam, Y/N glanced up at him and nodded, “yeah, I’m fine. I met my partner in fighting crime today, Colin. He’s really nice,” she bit her lip and looked back down at her phone.

A sharp pang of jealousy shot through Joaquin’s chest and he felt his face fall but he recovered pretty quickly, “oh yeah?” Stupid Colin.

“Yeah. Do you know if we’re definitely all going for dinner tomorrow night?” she asked as she snagged another slice of pizza.

Joaquin slouched down in his seat and nodded with a shrug, “I’m pretty sure we are, why?”

“I think I’m going to invite Colin; it makes sense to try to get to know him some more.”

There was a sour taste in Joaquin’s mouth at her words and he drained the glass of vodka, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, “just be careful, Y/N, you never know who you can trust.”

“Aw, Torres!” she laughed as she rested her head against his shoulder and leaned up to kiss his cheek, leaving a lip gloss mark and Joaquin willed himself not to blush as he grinned down at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, “it’s nice that you’re worried about me but with two protective big brothers in my life will help out immensely.”

“And you have me,” Joaquin prompted with a smirk.

“And, I have you,” she smiled before she let her head fall back to his shoulder.

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

@smiithys @moonheartsposts @mischiefmanaged71 @1940sbuckybarnes @slytherinambitious @fic-for-readers

[alicemitch09writes]

last love

pairing: Kuroo Tetsurou x reader

summary: Nothing was the same anymore, that much was clear. But it is really? Is it really too late for it all?

author’s notes: This is the final part to the first love trilogy. Please go read the first one, then its sequel - skinny love, before this, otherwise you’ll be confused.

also available on ao3.

disclaimer: i own NOTHING but the plot.

He wakes up with a start – sweating all over, heart pounding against his chest, sleep slowly washes over before realizing where he was and the humid heat that was summer gracing his room. He let out a relieved sigh, falling back into his sheets.

“Tetsuroo, wake up already!” came his mother’s voice, which resounded through the house.

The teen waited until his heart calmed to finally get out of bed, still drenched in sweat. A mirror stood across him, revealing his image – still the same gangly guy with serious bed hair, but his eyes still looked tired, even though his bags had lessened.

Grabbing a towel, he takes a quick shower.

He pretends to not have seen the look on his mother’s face when he wolfs on his breakfast, giving her a quick sloppy kiss on the cheek, before grabbing his bag and leaves.

His phone rings – a text message, he flips his phone and sees a text from his sister, quickly typing a reply before going to the music app. Plugging on his earphones, he begins to walk down a familiar path.

Leaning his head back, clear blue skies greet him. It was too much of a good day today.

Closing his eyes, he soaked up on the light, warming his face. When he opened them, the train station was in clear sight, his steps quickened.

Four stops and twelve blocks later, and he was walking down a place he’s grown familiar with the past few months. The grass was still greener, the flowers were much brighter, and the trees were tall as ever – maybe because it was summer. But the paint job was still terrible, even though they had maintenance work on them.

Upon entering the hospital, he nods at the nurses and staff – all of which, were used to his presence for the past months, adjusting the weight of his right arm, carrying his bag.

Kuroo Tetsturou fell into a routine – he woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast, made small talk with his parents or sister, and went to the hospital. It’s been that way for months.

He stood in front of the door, about to knock when he heard her – a soft strumming and singing.

“I love this place, but it’s haunted without you…”

He felt the familiar skip of his heart at the sound of her voice. Carefully pushing it open, he finds (Name), playing her ukulele, pen, and notebook on her lap.

“My tired heart is beating so slow,” A thoughtful look crosses her face as she sings as if testing the lyrics. She quickly sketches down on her notebook – chords, and lyrics, falling into her element. Picking her ukulele, she strummed slowly, trying the new lyrics – “Our hearts sing less than we wanted, we wanted, our hearts sing ‘cause we do not know, we do not know” –  a small smile gracing her lips when they came out.

Without even knowing, his body moved on its own accord, stepping inside and towards her.

The song had a light melody to it, repetitive on the notes, yet strangely melancholic and full of longing. Yet somehow, unfinished. She stopped for a moment, stumped, before going over it again. Despite her minor slip up, she smiled through it and went over the song again – she was a perfectionist like that.

The sound of the door clicking broke the moment, (Name) looking up to find Kuroo standing in front of him, surprise written all over her face.

“H-Hey, (Name).” Kuroo says, lifting a hand in greeting.

She gives him a nod, awkwardly glances at him, then back to her notes.

“How’s your song going?”

She fiddles with the page, chewing on her bottom lip. “It’s coming.”

“I see.” He nods, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “By the way, I got something for you.” Putting his bag on the foot of her bed, he unzips it and takes out a pink package. “Sis bought some stuff for you, says you’ll be needing it once you get into college.”

Slowly, a smile forms on her face as she reached for it, Kuroo careful as to not let their fingers touch. “That’s nice of her.”

Sitting himself on the couch, he looked at the clutter of papers on the table – university brochures. “Have you decided on where to go? Or are you still bent on getting to where uncle is teaching?” he asked teasingly, especially on the last question, an attempt to lighten the mood.

Her lip curled by a fraction, hugging her instrument close. “…well, it is my dream school and all.”

Kuroo nods at that. “Well, knowing you, you’ll make it – with or without the influence of your dad.” She smiled at that, playing with the ends of her short hair. His eyes followed her fingers tangle in those (hair color) locks, remembering how strange it was to see her usual locks chopped off, of combing them when she was still unconscious.

A tense silence fills in – both teens staring at anything but each other, unsure of what to say next.

“How about you?”

Kuroo made a questioning hum.

“Keiji told me you’re yet to enroll into college,” there was her ever-present concerned tone, (eye color) eyes soft, yet, basing on her tone, there was no mistaking how carefully she had asked.

Peering up to her through his fringe, Kuroo contemplated on his next words. “I haven’t decided on a course yet.” He lied, shrugging offhandedly. “No worries, though, I’ve been working part-time.” That was half a lie, he had just started working at a small grocery store. A small distraction outside the four corners of his own home and the hospital.

Her brows furrowed slightly with worry before it eased away when a knock came from the door. Her doctor – a small middle-aged man named Dr. Ishioka peeked in, beaming at the sight of her.

“Good morning, (Last name)-chan.” Noticing she was not alone, he gave Kuroo a short nod. “And to you, too, Kuroo-kun.”

Kuroo returned the gesture, having been a familiar face in the hospital for the past few months.

“How are we today?”

 “Good,” she smiled, still hugging her ukulele, forgetting her stationary in front of her. When her doctor noticed, he merely gave it a glance. Having finally noticed at what he was looking at, she started looking sheepish. “A-Ah, I was just writing my song!”

The doctor smiled kindly. “And how is it?”

“I-It’s coming,” she replied, using the same answer she gave Kuroo earlier. “I get stuck on words, and things are a little fuzzy to figure out.”

The man nods, hands buried deep in his pocket. “That’s good, getting some brainwork done. However, don’t stress yourself, okay? You’ve been asleep for six months, and it’ll still take some time for your body to get used to moving.”

“She won’t,” Kuroo says aloud, (Name) and Dr. Ishioka turns to him. “I’ll make sure of it.”

(Name) nods dutifully, finally putting down her instrument.

In his professional eyes, there clearly was an underlying tension between the two. Instead of pushing into it, he knew where his limits were.

“Well, that’s good to hear then. You’re in good hands, (Last name)-chan.”

The girl looks up to the doctor, who gives her a kind smile before leaving her a few instructions, which Kuroo was quick to take note of, before leaving.

Just as the door closed behind him, he heaved a sigh, wishing the best for the two.

“(Last name)-saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!” a loud, jolly voice erupted in the room, making a dash for the girl. Barely a step in, Yaku kicked him in the back, grabbing the tall teen by the collar and pulling him back. “Geh- “

“Lev, control yourself! This is a hospital, not a playground! Geez, it’s like taking care of a giant baby.” Meeting her gaze, he lifted a hand. “Yo, (Last name), you look well.”

She laughed, eyes soft at the sight of the Nekoma team filling her room. Kenma, sitting beside her, had his eyes stuck to his console per usual.

“(Last name),” Noboyuki nods, holding out a fruit basket. “we brought you fruits.”

Her smile grew, touched by the gesture. “Thank you, Kai!”

Kenma puts away his console and takes the fruit basket from the taller lad, putting it on a nearby table. He plucks an orange and disappears into the washroom, momentarily leaving (Name) with the Nekoma team.

“(Last Name)-san, your hair!” Inuoka pointed out. “It’s grown so much!”

She laughed at his comment, touching her hair consciously. “Yes, it has. My head feels lighter, actually.”

“Then, you’re keeping it short?”

She hums, tapping her finger to her chin in thought. “Who knows?”

“It looks good, actually,” Yaku commented. “Then again, it’s your hair, so it’s your choice.”

After the short pleasantries, the boys headed towards the couch and sat down, Fukunaga flipping through the channels. Kenma emerges from the washroom, sitting in his spot next to her.

“Ah, it’s your mom’s turn to watch you, right?” Noboyuki asked, sitting on the couch.

She hummed, nodding, Kenma placing the oranges on a table in front of her as he plumped and propped some pillows behind her, making sure that she was comfortable. When he was done, he sat down and began to unpeel his orange, (Name) mimicking him.

“Although" she broke into a sigh, breaking off pieces of the orange "I just wish I could get out of here, it’s so stuffy in here. Not to mention, it gets kind of scary at night.” She shuddered, blaming it on the time when the boys from Fukurodani visited and Bokuto, who had been channel surfing, stopped upon a horror film – particularly on a very scary scene. Lest to say, she didn’t sleep well that night and Bokuto was nearly banned from visiting her again.

“That’s understandable, hospitals tend to be scary,” Noboyuki says kindly.

“You can say that again!” roared Yamamoto.

“Yamamoto, shut up.” Yaku reprimands the loud-mouthed boy.

“Lev, how’s your read block training going?” as soon as the question was asked, the Russian tensed, beginning to sweat profusely.

“A-Ah, it’s going great!”

“He still sucks at it,” Kenma says, munching on a slice of orange with his eyes glued to his game console. “And no amount of practice seems to work, it’s like he’s meant for failure.”

“You can say that again,” says Yamamoto, arms folded against his chest. “he’s a hopeless cause.”

“H-Hey, I’ve been practicing!”

“Bless Nekomata-sensei for ever thinking you had a chance.”

“Yaku-san, not you, too!”

“Time to scoot, little newt!”

“Goddamn it, Fukunaga!”

(Name) couldn’t help but laugh, missing her rowdy boys.

A month of being holed in here was enough to drive anyone insane – everything was too gray, too cold and too dull. It meant so much to her whenever someone came to visit, bringing color to her room and warmth to her heart. Even as they all ganged up on Lev, she knew they really cared. And as far as Kenma’s told him – being vice-captain and all, Lev’s actually not bad. Though, he is quite clumsy with executing his offense and defense. She missed this, she really did.

But the thing was, it just wasn’t the same anymore.

It was hard to be around him anymore, that was a fact.

When she woke up, it looked like she had emerged from a different world. Kuroo quickly called the doctors, happy tears slipping down his face. Too happy to know that she finally woke up – after six months! – he almost forgot to ring her parents of her recovery.

A few hours later, when she slowly came to, he walked back in the room. Happy tears filled the room, the happy parents engulfing their finally awakened sleeping beauty.

But at the sight of him, she suddenly shook and cried – Kuroo quickly ran out of the room before anyone told him to, for her sake. All his worst fears came to life.

The doctors had assured him that it was just the effects of being unconscious for so long – it was difficult to adjust to her surroundings and the people she cared about. Her mind might still be subjected to her previous mindset, long before she went into a coma. So, when she woke up, there was a lot to take in for her. But with the help of doctors, her family, and friends, she was able to come through.

In a span of two weeks, (Name) was showing progress with her recovery. She was still subjected to strains when she overworked herself, especially when it came to brain exercise. But overall, she was doing well, her energy revitalized with the support of her family and friends. And ever since she woke up, there’s not a day when a friend – from Nekoma or Fukurodani – would drop by and visit.

In fact, the only time she ever seemed comfortable was when he wasn’t in the scene. She was much more comfortable with being in the presence of others than with his. And that hurt.

Things just weren’t the same anymore.

She knew that.

He knew that.

And it was all because of that one mistake of his. Just the thought of it made his gut churn, his hands balled into fists, his anger to rise, geared towards him.

There was no questioning of her newfound fear of him, after all, it was also his fault. Kuroo accepted his fate wholeheartedly, even though it killed him.

He could hear his thoughts twisting: of the reason that he stayed, was to ease himself of the guilt, to make him feel better about himself.

So, he came up with a decision, once she’s done with her rehab, when she finally gets discharged, he’ll leave her alone. As much as it pained him, he knew it was for the best.

After all, who was he in her life anymore?

“To light the night, to help us grow…” she mumbled, jolting down her notebook. “It is not said I always know…” Her nose scrunches, having hit a block. Frustrated, she throws her hand in the air, looking around her quiet room. Everything looked too dull, too gray. Instinctively, her hands reached to her right, where her ukulele usually lay, only to find it sitting on the chair across her – her father, had visited earlier and played her a song in an attempt to cheer her up.

(Name) sat up, turns to her side to lower the rail before sliding her feet off the bed. The cold tingle on her toes was a sensation she never knew she’d want to feel again, having been bedridden for months. Taking deep breaths, she lifted her feet off, remembering to bear the weight – feeling like a toddler walking for the first time.

Just as she reached her ukulele, a harsh voice called out. “Didn’t the doctor say you aren’t supposed to strain yourself?”

She looked up, meeting Kuroo’s furious gaze, seeing her out of bed.

Technically, according to the doctor, she could walk quite well now and advised her to do some exercise when she can. Kuroo couldn’t help but overreact.

“B-But…” without a word, he gently helped her back to her bed. She didn’t argue, her mission to grab her ukulele forgotten.

He sighed, pulling up a chair. “You do want to get out, right?” She nods, slowly, withdrawing her fingers away.

“D-Dr. Ishioka says I’m good to walk now.”

“Is that so?” she nods, like a petulant child. Kuroo sighs, eyes apologetic. “I’m sorry for overreacting.”

“It’s okay.” Relaxing, she offered him a gentle smile, which lasted for a minute before realizing the bags under his eyes, how bloodshot his eyes were. “You seem tired.”

“Hm,” he yawned, massaging his throbbing temples. “shitty customer, don’t worry about it.”

“You should sleep.” she offered.

“I’ll be fine,” he calls off, turning his back to look for something to do, anything to avoid her eyes.

“Kuroo Tetsuroo,” she called, using her tone – one he and Kenma were fairly familiar with, even the team. It pleased her to see him tense, slowly facing her. A triumphant smile was ready to break into her face, but concern about his welfare won over.

His shoulders slumped, surrendering. That made her smile, a tiny bit triumphant, before patting on her side. Instead, Kuroo resigned to sitting on a chair next to her bedside, leaning forward to rest his head on his folded arms.

“Are you sure you don’t want to lie down?” she offered, clearly displeased.

“I’m fine like this,” he tells her softly. I got used to it.

She looked like she wanted to argue but quickly closed her mouth shut. She moved closer so that he was laying on her lap. “Tetsuroo?”

“Hmm?”

“I-I wanna go to the gardens tomorrow, to stretch my legs.”

“All day?”

She nodded shyly, determined.

“Okay then, walking all day it is. By the way, how’s the song coming?”

Her shoulders fell, dejected. “It’s coming…I’m just stuck…”

Kuroo laughed, muffled by the sheets. And then he broke into a yawn, his head heavy, throbbing, eyelids drooping close but he fought to stay awake. Thin fingers soothingly ran through his hair, like they usually did, easing the tension from his head and replacing it with the sense of calmness.

“Hey, (Name)?” She leaned close, face illuminated by the moonlight. How he wanted to touch her face. “Sing me a song?

Smoothing her fingers through his hair, a soft smile crept its way to his lips, especially when she began to sing. His heart tugged, slowly beating faster – he always loved hearing her sing with or without an instrument. In one exhale, his subconscious slipping, the last thing he heard was her sweet voice and the beating of his heart.

“Hey, (Name).”

“Hm?”

“Why have you been avoiding Kuroo?”

She froze, slowly turning her head to blond-dyed teen beside her, hands folded against his chest and console free. He watched her from the corner of his eye, golden eyes inquisitive, waiting.

“Of course, you knew.” She smiled, leaning into his shoulder. “It’s not that I’m avoiding him…it’s just,” she lifted her hands, making gestures before letting them fall. “I-I don’t know how to talk to him...I’m not sure I want to. Just…being around him makes me feel like a black hole if that even makes sense.” The blank TV screen in front of her bed reflected the two, lying side by side on her bed, but she could also see the view outside her window – a dark blanket of night, the moon obscured by clouds.

“Hey, Kenma?” There was a question she was dying to ask, gnawing her the moment she woke up. She wasn’t even sure if she was ready for the answer, regardless of what it was. “My mind’s a bit fuzzy, and I was unconscious and all, but I do remember voices in the dark.” Swallowing thickly, she says. “A-And I swore I heard Tetsuroo.”

Kenma’s eyes noticeable widened, his shoulders heavy from bearing weights of two sides. In his head, he was debating whether he should tell her or not – he was obligated to, after all.

“Yeah, that was him.” He exhaled, recalling the past six months. “Kuroo didn’t leave your side since he found out you were admitted.”

She let out a weak gasp, the dam breaking. Alarmed, the blonde turned to his friend. “Why are you crying? Are you happy? Sad?”

“Both.” She sobbed, crying against his shoulder. But also, she felt incredibly guilty.

Kenma sighed, really, these two were a handful. When they talked, they both had to be careful of the other, as if they threaded on thin ice. He’s had enough of bearing their secrets, especially when it concerned the other – it made him the third wheel.

But as frustrating as they were, they were still his friends and he cared about them.

A few months into (Name) under coma, Kuroo Tetsuroo received word that he had been qualified for the colleges he applied for, one, in particular, was in the United Kingdom. Driven by guilt, he had to turn down their offers of scholarships for her, too broken to even take a step forward.

A day after she woke up, he called the admissions, asking if he was still qualified. To his luck, he still was.

Although the semester wouldn’t be until next month, Kuroo’s things were all packed. He didn’t bother saying a word to anyone, it was for the best.

It was a dick move, but then again, he was a dick.

This was the biggest leap of faith in his life, the opportunity of a lifetime, he had to take it. Yet, as much as his heart yearned for it, it felt like he was taking the easy way out.

He’ll miss Tokyo, his home, his family, his friends.

But what he’ll miss the most was her.

It’ll be alright, he thought to himself. After all, she’ll be off to college, her dream school, where she can start anew.

And as much as he hated the thought of it, he knew that she’ll meet someone else, someone who’ll treasure her in ways he failed to.

It felt surreal to be outside again, to have the sun and the wind kiss her skin. Hands instinctively flew to her hair as the wind picked up, remembering that it was still growing and it was cropped short.

What’s more surreal was the audition she got for her dream school, which was in a week’s time, having considered her situation. Nekoma was going to have a practice match soon with Karasuno, a mini-reunion was planned by the two schools. She was finally going to meet Kenma’s special someone he met at a Game Expo. It was almost too much for her heart to take.

But something was missing in all this fanfare – Kuroo.

For days, she hasn’t heard a word from him, hasn’t seen from him since. If she traced it back, it started just a day before she was released. She missed him. She really did. Her heart ached just to see a familiar hide of messy black hair, his gangly form, his easy smile.

And then she received a call from Bokuto, frantically telling her that Kuroo was at the hospital.

Apparently, he was out drinking with a few friends and suddenly got into a fight. Although he started it, he didn’t fight back, allowing the guy to beat him to a pulp. Had Bokuto not been there and Kuroo’d be critical.

Without a word, she ran out of her house, thoughts flying to Kuroo.

Upon arrival, her heart broke at the sight of him, hating that his arm was bandaged, the bruises and stitches on his face. She had the exact look of heartbreak when he saw her, all the guilt washed over her as she rushed to his side.

“What happened to you, Tetsurou?” he smelled of blood, dirt, sweat, and alcohol, but she didn’t care. “I know you’re one to pick fights, but I never thought you’d go this far.”

He turned away, avoiding her in eyes. That hurt. Kenma’s words surfaced, making her heart twinge.

“What’s she doing here?” he asked Bokuto angrily, completely ignoring her presence. She flinched at his tone, mind flashing to a certain memory.

“She was the best person to call,” Akaashi answered calmly, appearing next to the grey-haired teen. “Kuroo-san, go home. And more importantly, you and (Last name)-san need to talk.”

“Eh? But Akaashi, don’t you think Kuroo’s out of it?”

“I’m very much sober, thank you very much.” Kuroo threw a glare at the raven-haired setter, ignoring Bokuto’s concern, or (Name)’s.

After being given painkillers, Kuroo was good to go. And before anyone could stop him, he walked out of the hospital.

(Name) looked at the two teens worriedly before chasing after him, calling after his retreating form. But he didn’t look back, not even once. She didn’t stop chasing after him either.

Finally, he stopped by the riverside next to the bridge – the same one she found he and Kenma some years ago. Although puzzled, she followed him down the steps. Knowing that she was behind him, that she wouldn’t leave him alone, Kuroo sighed – ignoring the pain from his chest. He sat down, she took it as an invitation, sitting a step above him.

The silence between them was thick with a heavy weight of guilt wrought by the past few months, hearts burdened heavily. It was almost unbearable to even breathe, running away was the perfect option, yet the two stayed, another option weighing heavier.

They remain like that for at least an hour, the night growing older with every second. Two teenagers too afraid to tell the other what they wanted to say, fear holding them back.

Finally, for what seemed like forever, Kuroo exhaled through his nose, a heavy sigh. That was never a good sign. “I’m going to Cambridge.”

Her head whipped to him, he worried she’d get a whiplash. But she didn’t, her world just stopped. “W-What…?”

Sighing again, he pressed his forehead to his palms, unable to meet her eyes. It wasn’t what he wanted to say, but this was for the best.

“The next semester won’t start until next month, but in a few days or weeks, I was called to take a test and offered a scholarship. So, I leave sometime this month.”

She could feel her heart twisting with every word he said, and she hated it – hated the way he talked to her, hated how he seemed to avoid her. Then again, she pretty much did the same thing when she woke up. She missed him, she really did.

Brought by the pent-up emotions she’s been feeling, she called out, in a shaky tone. “Hey, Tetsu, won’t you listen to my song?”

Song? He peeked up at her. So, she finally got to finish her song.

Swallowing hard, she reached for her ukulele – the sight of the band-aid sent a sharp pain in his heart, a painful reminder – fingers positioned over the strings, shaking just by a fraction. Before he could stop her, she glanced up at him and began singing.

  I love this place

But haunted without you

My tired heart is beating so slow

Our hearts sing less than we wanted

We wanted

Our hearts sing cause

We do not know

We do not know

 Her singing was as gentle as her music, enough to bring tears to his eyes.

He was reminded of the many times she’d sing to him, in times when he was at his lowest. To cheer him up, all it took was a few comforting words, a gentle smile, a warm hug, or her offering a song. It was cheesy, but he loved it, especially because when she sang to him, it would be only him and just him alone, making it very personal for him. He was selfish like that, especially with her.

  To light the night

To help us grow

To help us grow

It is not said I always know

 Of course, you don’t, he thought laughingly.

He could feel the longing in her voice, the loneliness – it made her seem like she was a princess locked up in a tower. Its lyrics tugged at him, knowing the feeling so well.

When their eyes met, he saw the young woman he fell in love with when they were 8, the young woman who held his heart now.

  You can catch me

Don't you run

Don't you run

If you live another day in this happy little house

The fire’s here to stay

 The emotion in her eyes made his throat dry, tugging his heart – did she just?

  To light the night

To help us grow

To help us grow

It is not said I always know

 His heart was hammering wildly against his chest, a rush of emotions burning inside, igniting his veins. The words were at the tip of his tongue, heart ready to burst out of his chest to tell her.

But not just yet, he didn’t want to jinx it, couldn’t bring himself to, he wanted to hear more.

  Please don't make a fuss

It won't go away

The wonder of it all the wonder that I made

I am here to stay

I am here to stay

Stay

  Overwhelmed by her emotions, by the pent-up emotions she’s withheld for so long, tears began streaming down her face uncontrollably. Alarmed, Kuroo quickly took her ukulele aside and enveloped her in his arms.

At his touch, everything she’s been holding in surfaced - missing him, loving him. “I’m sorry!” she cried, returning the hug, tightening her hold on him. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“No, don’t say you’re sorry.” He pulls back to plant a kiss to her forehead, thumbs brushing her tears away. “Don’t you ever feel sorry, (Name).” He whispered against her skin.

Kenma’s neutral look of displeasure came to mind. He felt like an idiot. How could he be so stupid to have dismissed her feelings over his?

(Name) couldn't stop crying, her heart was so full of emotions that it seemed like it would burst anytime. She felt loved, so loved in Kuroo's arms - from the boy she's loved for so long. And somehow, his embrace made everything better, everything was forgiven, forgotten – yet, it made things worse at the same time.

“Tetsurou, please don’t go…” glossy (eye color) eyes begging, his heart aching. She couldn't take not having him by her side, couldn't take the thought of losing him. “Don’t go, please.” Gentle hands reached up to cup his face, tears continuing to stream down. “Stay, please.”

Oh, those (eye color) eyes, she had no idea of its effect on him.

“Stay?”

Placing his larger hands in hers, he leaned his forehead with hers, their noses bumping.

“Always.”

[wherevermyway]

why can’t we drink forever? (1/2) // minsung // 18+

one: i will only complicate you series navigation: [desktop] [mobile]

⚠ POTENTIAL TW: READ WITH CAUTION! ⚠ pairing: lee minho x han jisung rating: explicit! 18+ warnings/tags: creator chose not to use archive warnings, explicit sexual content past character death, alcohol abuse/alcoholism, depression, edgy cynical depressed jisung, ambiguous/open ending. word count: 5,883 also on AO3

originally posted: 20 january 2021

After being arrested for driving under the influence, Jisung learns that money can buy his way out of jail time, but it can’t buy his way out of his feelings.

disclaimer: this is a work of fiction! any reference to persons in this work of fiction are purely coincidental. the characters referenced from Stray Kids are  interpretations loosely based on their personalities in the group and do  not represent the real people behind the personas. if this, or any of  the content included in the warnings above make you uncomfortable,  please stop reading now.

“I don’t know how things got this way, Sungie, baby. I’m worried about you.”

A sarcastic huff leaves the lips of the young man seated in the passenger seat of a sleek, new all-white Audi. He kicks his feet up on the dash, earning a frown from the middle-aged woman driving the vehicle. The young blonde stares out the window as he fumbles around his hoodie pocket. Out comes a white pack of Marlboro Gold cigarettes and an engraved silver lighter.

“You and me both, ma,” he tuts as he pops a white cigarette up from the pack into his mouth, flicking the dial of his lighter as he takes in a deep breath. He jams a finger down on the window button, the crisp winter air blowing the grey cloud around, the acrid scent of burnt tobacco filling the car. “Guess if we knew the answer to that, I wouldn’t be in the car now, huh?”

“Maybe you’d have gotten into a better university,” his mother sighs as she shakes her head.

A devious smirk curls up on the young man’s mouth as he brings the cigarette up to his lips again, taking a long drag. He knows better than to verbally respond with a cynical quip.

Maybe I’d be fuckin’ dead.

Alcoholics Anonymous sounded like a cult following: a twelve-step programme where all of its members had to follow a strict code, be mentored by a sponsor, and thank some bullshit deity to be given a new chance every day. “Every day is a new chance,” the cult leader would say at the beginning of every meeting. “May God grant us the serenity…”

“I’m Jisung, and the courts told me I’m an alcoholic, so I guess I’m an alcoholic,” the artificial blonde shrugged his shoulders, the ghost of burnt coffee still dancing on his tongue as he spoke.

The mindless cult drones spouted off a casual “hi, Jisung,” in monotonous, unenthusiastic unity as the young man sat down.

“How did you get here?” The meeting’s leader was relentless in prodding the young man. “You’re not obligated to tell us, of course,” which was a boldfaced lie, “but acknowledging your problems might help your recovery.”

Jisung brought the styrofoam cup full of lukewarm, acrid coffee to his lips and took a long sip. He winced at the taste and pursed his lips as he made eye contact with the leader. “I was abducted by aliens, man, now I’m here. Shit was crazy.”

The leader frowned, ready to interrupt Jisung.

“Nah,” the young man kicked his feet out from under the metal fold-up chair, flipping his hood over his head with his free hand. “I got drunk, went out to get more booze, then hit a tree on the way back and the cops pulled me over since my headlight was out. The internet wasn’t lying when they said all cops are fuckin’ bastards.” His quip earned a laugh from a few younger members, whereas several of the older people shook their heads in frustration.

“Please,” the leader sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “let’s refrain from political commentary. Thank you for your,” there’s a pause as the leader clears his throat, “for your candor, Jisung. Now that we’ve introduced all of our new attendees, why don’t we move along with the next step in the meeting?”

The meeting was pointless, all of the same shit that Jisung had read about in the fliers that were handed to him with his sentencing. He had to endure twelve months of this, but it wasn’t like he was doing much else with his life, anyways. Jisung poured the last of the disgusting coffee from the cardboard takeaway box into his cup, then tossed the box into the large rubbish bin at the end of the table. One last cup of free shitty coffee before he left; it would pair nicely with the cigarette he so desperately craved.

“Hey!” A bright voice came up behind him and Jisung rolled his eyes at the way optimism dripped from the trill. He slowly turned around, taking a sip of the cold coffee in his cup. A young man with neon pink hair, probably the same age as Jisung, smiled widely as he stuck his hand out. “I’m Felix, nice to see someone here that’s about my age.”

Jisung gingerly accepted the hand and shook it twice before quickly sticking his hand back into his pocket. “Charmed. How long are you stuck here for?”

“Oh!” Felix shook his head, smile still wide on his face as he pensively looked down to his shoes. “I’m not here for… well, I’m a psychology major.”

Of course he was.

Felix tucked his hands into his jacket pockets and tapped his foot twice as he continued to smile at Jisung. “I’m also new here and was hoping I could make friends.”

Jisung shook his head, reaching into his hoodie pocket for his pack of cigarettes and familiar silver lighter. “I’m not a good influence. Don’t think I’d make good friends with someone so… nice.” He meandered a white cigarette out of the packet with a single hand, then tucked it behind his ear, lighter still tucked into his palm. “No offence, dude.”

The smile finally fell from the pink-haired man, who quickly pulled his hands from his pockets, “wait, wait!”

Jisung cocked an eyebrow at the man, biting his tongue as he felt the clawing at the back of his head, his synapses screaming a plea for him to get a hit of more nicotine.

“I don’t wanna sound desperate,” Felix ran his bottom lip under his teeth as he looked around nervously, “I just really wanna talk with someone that’s so different than me. I’ll even buy you dinner or something from the diner down the street.”

As insulting as the words ‘so different than me’ came off to Jisung, desperation was a bad look for anyone. “You got a car?” Felix nodded twice, biting his lip as he stared at Jisung. “Lead the way, psycho student Felix.”

Felix’s eyes went wide and his bright smile came back, beaming brighter than before. “It’s psychology, not psycho.”

The blonde rolled his eyes as he plucked the cigarette from behind his ear and tucked it in between his teeth. “I know what I said.”

The food at the diner was mediocre at best: rubbery scrambled eggs and burgers made from frozen patties that were likely a concoction of rejected organ meat slurry and textured vegetable protein. It was cheap, but it was always good. Rich in comfort, lacking in quality: the antithesis to Jisung’s life.

Jisung hadn’t been here in two years, not since his friend turned on-again, off-again boyfriend Changbin left for university, halfway across the country. This was the place they’d come to at three in the morning after hitting up a house party, where they would drunkenly curl up with each other and swap kisses that tasted like stale beer and watery coffee.

This was the place where Changbin broke up with Jisung for the final time, Changbin citing that they wouldn’t be able to stay in contact much anymore. However, he hadn’t told Jisung that he was sleeping with someone that graduated a couple years prior and was conveniently attending the same university as him.

That night tasted like vodka and strawberry soda, the latter of which Jisung never let grace his tastebuds again.

The blonde scowled down at his orange juice, watching the ring light above their table shimmer and ripple in the liquid. He hadn’t heard from Changbin in two years, and he was as bitter about it as the black, burnt edges of the hashbrowns that stuck to his plate.

“You okay?” Felix poked his fries with a fork, bringing one to his lips as he scanned Jisung’s expression.

“Are any of us okay, psycho student?”

Felix furrowed his brows and set his fork down against his plate, chewing on the crinkled french fry a bit before he swallowed. He folded his hands together and rested his chin against the interlaced fingers. “No, like,” he shrugged, eyes shifting around a bit, “I mean it. You seem kinda distant.”

Jisung rolled his eyes up to meet Felix’s and he cocked his eyebrow. He was starting to regret tagging along with this kid he barely knew, feeling like this was less of a potential friendship and more like a therapy session. “You don’t know me, man.”

“No, but I know people.”

“You’re a sophomore psychology student, dude. You don’t know shit.”

The pink-haired man sighed, back thudding against the plasticky booth. “I guess you’re right about that. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to know, though.”

“Your funeral, then.” Jisung followed suit, leaning up against the booth with a bit more tact, swinging his arm around the wood frame. “I had my first sip of alcohol when I was thirteen. Got bored when my parents fucked off to Italy on some shitty trip without me.”

Felix tilted his head up like a dog, suddenly alive with renewed interest.

“They’re only parents in blood and title.” Jisung looked down at the table, scratching inanely at a chip in the pale green linoleum. “I was raised by nannies and tutors until I was fifteen. Most parents would probably panic when they leave the house, coming back to an empty liquor cabinet. My parents? Nah, they just restocked it and told me not to drink too much at once.”

“That’s,” Felix’s voice trailed off as he looked away, milling over the new information.

“It’s fucked,” Jisung finished the sentence, then brought the plastic cup of orange juice to his mouth and took a long sip. He set the cup back down and pulled up the sleeve covering his left arm, presenting the flesh over the table. Felix visibly recoiled as he eyed dozens of scarred lines littered across the skin, some marks still relatively fresh. “Their response to this? ‘We’ll get you into therapy and you won’t do this again.’ It was always the best money could buy, but their money didn’t do shit to my brain.” He shuffled the cloth over his arm again, ignoring the look of pity Felix offered him.

“If money could buy them a better son, they would’ve traded me out, like upgrading a car on a lease.”

Felix stumbled over his words a bit as Jisung rifled through his pockets, pulling out his phone and his wallet. “You still wanna make friends with someone like me?”

It took a moment, but Felix tentatively nodded his head. “Doesn’t sound like you have many friends to begin with,” he nervously sputtered out.

Jisung cocked his head to the side and licked his teeth as he smiled. “I don’t do friends. But life’s full of surprises. Anyway, gimme your phone so we can swap contact info.”

They exchanged phone numbers and Jisung dropped a couple of bills on the table. “Don’t worry about it,” he said as soon as Felix opened his mouth to protest, “you’re a university student and I’ve got my shitty parents’ cash to burn.”

“I’ll see you next week?” Felix questioned as Jisung stepped out of his shoddy 2003 Toyota Camry.

Jisung nodded once, tipping his index and middle fingers off of his forehead. “You got it. Thanks for the ride, mate.” He slammed the door with a fake smile that faded as soon as he turned around. Sure, Felix was the antithesis of everything Jisung was, but he could prove to be a source of entertainment over the next year.

Despite being cynical and vehemently anti-religion, Jisung always said a quiet prayer to himself as he opened the door, hoping his parents weren’t home when he arrived. Today, it seemed like luck was on his side: his mother’s keys weren’t on the key rack, and his father had yet to return from some bullshit ‘business trip’ off in China. Perhaps it was Morocco or Norway; they all blurred together in a haze of indifference. All Jisung was sure of was the fact that his father had probably taken one of his mistresses away to some foreign country he was pretending to secure a business deal in.

“Everyone’s favourite fuck-up is home!” Jisung shouted in the empty vestibule, his voice echoing against the cold walls. He didn’t expect a response, so when he was greeted with a comfortable silence, he smiled to himself. He kicked his shoes off and unceremoniously tossed them into the corner by the key rack.

His heavy, heel-first footsteps echoed as he made his way towards the kitchen, pulling a bottle of wine out of a glass display cooler as he padded towards the main refrigerator. He pulled out a box of takeaway Indian curry from the night prior, setting both the box and the bottle on the marble kitchen island, shuffling his feet towards a drawer. He retrieved a fork and a wine key, tossing them onto the countertop as he pulled out his phone, pack of cigarettes, and his lighter.

Jisung opened the bottle of wine as he sat down on a stool next to the counter, tossing the cork towards the rubbish bin, shrugging as he missed. That was a problem for later, and he didn’t feel like dealing with it now. Completely ignoring the takeaway carton, Jisung grabbed the wine bottle, then took a long guzzle directly from it. He winced a bit as the flavour of fermented floral grapes perfumed his mouth with a sharp, sickly rotten scent. The bottle clattered loudly against the marble, the echoing reminding Jisung of just how alone he was in such a large house.

“Fuck it,” he muttered, bringing his phone up in front of his face, scrolling through one of his playlists until he found the right song. With a few taps, some Drake came through the kitchen speakers. Jisung turned up the volume to near max, his head subconsciously moving to the beat of “In My Feelings”. He took a cigarette from the pack on the table and lit it, the tip turning from paper and plant to a red, ashy ember as he inhaled.

Was he allowed to smoke in the house? Of course not.

Did Jisung give a shit? Absolutely not.

A text message popped up as Jisung aimlessly scrolled through his various notifications. He opened it, barely scanning through the entire message from his mother until his eyes stopped on a blue phone number. His eyes narrowed, poring over the entire message. “A coworker of mine offered to be a sponsor for you: Lee Minho. He’s a few years older than you, but he’s nice. Here’s his number, please reach out to him.”

Jisung sarcastically scoffed, locking his phone as he placed it back on the countertop, swapping it for the bottle of wine. He took a drag off of his cigarette, then took another long swig from the bottle. “We admit we’re powerless to alcohol,” he mutters the first step under his breath as he slams the bottle down on the counter.

“Maybe I don’t fucking care.”

Jisung woke up on the couch to the sound of heels clacking against the hardwood floor just before eight in the morning, his fingers jostling an empty bottle of scotch on the floor as he brought his hands to his face.

“Get cleaned up, please.” His mother’s voice was accompanied by bright spotlights suddenly shining directly on his face. “I’ve invited Minho over to meet with you.”

“I didn’t ask you to.” Jisung’s voice was low and gravelly, groaning as he sat upright. The world spun, his body carried by the false inertia his mind had created.

His mother trotted off to the kitchen, shouting over her shoulder. “I know you didn’t. I did it because I care about you, Sungie.”

The blonde rubbed his clammy hands against his face again, attempting to wipe the sleepiness from his eyes. He grabbed his phone off of the floor, then wobbled his way upright, the living room spinning around him in a familiar sense of uneasiness.

“You don’t give a shit about anyone but yourself,” he muttered under his breath.

Somehow, Jisung managed to make his way upstairs to his room, stripping an article of clothing off with each lazy step from his bedroom door towards his personal washroom. By the time he got to the glass enclosure of the shower, he was totally stripped bare. Jisung distantly stared at his reflection in the floor-to-ceiling mirror, a gaunt and ashy doppelganger staring back at him with a pained, empty look on his face.

Instead of stepping into the shower, Jisung approached the mirror, subconsciously bringing his hands to touch his flushed face. His cheekbones were more prominent now than they were earlier in the year, dark circles painted in broad strokes under his eyes. His gaze trailed down the scars he had inflicted on his arms and on his thighs, reminders of the failed attempts to take his own life that he was now forced to carry with him, wearing each line and mark as a badge of shame.

A warm tear rolled down his face as it contorted into an expression of terror and hurt, before he took his fist and crashed it into the mirror in front of him, a spiderweb of the impact left behind in the cracked glass as he pulled his bloodied knuckles away. Some glass shattered to the floor, some still wedged in the gaps between his fingers, and Jisung stared at the crack that split his reflection into several fragments.

How he was still alive was beyond him.

“Mrs. Han, please,” a lilted, unfamiliar laugh travelled up the staircase as Jisung slowly made his way down towards the first floor. He squinted at the noise that caused his head to throb, realizing that someone unknown speaking to his mother, likely the Minho she had mentioned earlier. With each step he took towards the drawing room, the voice got louder, each staccatoed laugh more pronounced.

“Jisung, come sit,” his mother said, replacing the genuine smile on her face with a fake, ‘Vaseline-on-the-teeth’ smile. She motioned towards the empty space on the couch, opposite from the young brunette that turned around.

Jisung met his eyes and it suddenly felt like his surroundings cracked and shattered around him, like the mirror upstairs. Rich brown eyes glistened behind the black and gold browline glasses that rested against the bridge of his nose. Rose-tinted lips curled upwards in a shy smile, revealing large, rabbit-like front teeth that rested softly against his bottom lip.

“Hi,” the stranger said with a gentle wave, “I’m Minho. Resident biochemist at the pharmaceutical company your mother works for.”

As Jisung made his way over to the open spot on the couch, he squinted, refusing to break eye contact with the strange invader. It felt like he was a wild animal on display, about to be poked and prodded by zookeeper staff or by scientists in some sort of underground, off-the-books laboratory. It would fit, after all, since the man was some sort of scientist.

“I’ll let you be,” Jisung’s mother says, rising to her feet. “Maybe you should tell Minho about your little misstep last night, hmm?”

Jisung rolled his tongue over his bottom lip and shook his head sarcastically. “Go enjoy your overfilled glass of wine at nine-fucking-thirty, ma. I’ll be here spilling my guts to a stranger that gives more of a shit about me than you.” Minho winced and his expression fell from cheerful to shocked.

The men stared at each other, Jisung’s gaze layered with arrogance, and Minho’s heavy with awkward discomfort. “So,” the younger man kicked his feet up onto the coffee table, pulling a pack of cigarettes and his trusted lighter from his sweatshirt pocket, hoping to wrap up the conversation as soon as possible. “I know you work with my mother, you’re an alcoholic, and your name’s Minho.” As quickly as Jisung could take in a breath, the cigarette between his teeth was lit, and he was glaring at the intruder through the grey haze that came between them. Their eyes met again, Jisung growing more and more wary by the second. “Why should I pick you as my sponsor, when I feel like you’re just gonna snitch to my mother?”

Minho’s jaw looked like it was clenched too tight, his bottom eyelids squinted upwards as he studied the younger man in front of him. They watched each other, eyeing each micromovement the other’s face made. About halfway through Jisung’s cigarette, Minho finally broke the uncomfortable eye contact, and took a deep breath. “I’m not asking for you to trust me, or to spill your life story,” he shifted, sitting upright, “but for you to see me as a mentor when things get hard and you want to dampen your feelings with alcohol. I’ve been there, Jisung.”

Indignation washed over the younger man’s face, quickly replaced by a familiar wave of arrogance. Jisung shook his head, ashing his cigarette directly onto the floor. “Doubt it,” he tutted, licking his teeth as he nodded his head, staring at the ring on Minho’s finger. He smirked to himself, then turned his head away and up towards the ceiling. “Looks like you’ve got someone that loves you. I don’t know what that feels like; never have, never will.”

The elder chewed on his bottom lip, clenching his fist as his eyes subconsciously scanned the ring on his finger. “Had.”

“What?” Jisung turned his head back towards Minho with a look of disgust on his face, ashes falling from his cigarette.

The brunette sighed, leaning further into the couch, nervously running his thumb over his balled up fingers. “He’s the reason I turned to drinking, to fill the void he left in my heart when he died.”

Shit.

For the first time in ages, Jisung felt a slight pang of regret twinge in his abdomen.

Minho swallowed hard, almost as if he were holding back his emotions. “We were married for five years, together since high school. You’d think I would’ve known the signs, but Chan was so good at hiding things, hiding his pain from everyone.”

The ember in Jisung’s cigarette died out as he found himself enraptured in Minho’s story.

Chan was Minho’s high school sweetheart. They started dating their sophomore year of high school, both attended the same university, and they got married when they were twenty. To Minho, Chan was everything. They supported each other, making the other man stronger and gave them a reason to go on.

Minho had no idea that Chan was severely depressed, holding his true feelings to his heart. Not long after Minho’s twenty-fifth birthday, Chan disappeared, only leaving a journal behind. It had started off with an apology, that if Minho found his journal, that it was too late to save him and that Chan had simply given up. On nearly every page, Chan reiterated that it wasn’t Minho’s fault, that Chan was just too far gone beyond repair, that Minho had given him a new lease on life, but it wasn’t enough.

Exactly three weeks after Chan had gone missing, police were on the doorstep of their shared home.

“Dental records,” Minho whispered, his eyes distant and glazed over as he lost himself in the memory. “That’s how they knew it was Chan. I don’t remember much after that, but I thought that I could find the answer to why Chan took his own life at the bottom of a bottle.”

Jisung’s grip on the arm of the couch was so tight, his knuckles had turned white and they were starting to ache.

“Several bottles,” Minho continued, “several bottles and several near-death experiences waking up in the hospital later, and I still hadn’t figured out the answer. I figured that maybe I’d see him again if I drank enough. Now,” he folded his arms, tucking his chin into his chest, “I’ve accepted that I’ll never know the answer to that question, that I need to live on for him. If there’s an afterlife, maybe I’ll get to ask him myself. Until then, though,” Minho rolled his teary eyes up to meet Jisung’s uncomfortable gaze, “I just want to atone for not doing enough before. I want to help others that are hurting, you know?”

They continued to stare at each other for what felt like hours, until Jisung finally shook his head. His voice cracked as he tried to speak. “Sorry,” his apology was shockingly sincere, “I guess I spoke before I thought.”

Minho awkwardly smirked, dismissively waving his hand in between them. “Don’t worry about it. I just wanted you to know that I’ve been at rock bottom and that there’s a way up and out, as long as you’re willing to put in the effort.”

Maybe Jisung was willing to give Minho a try.

At first, Jisung agreed to meet with Minho once a week after the mandatory AA meeting he attended. It took seven visits spanning seven weeks before Jisung eventually opened up about the neglect he faced from both of his parents, the emptiness he felt from being raised by nannies, feeling like money was more important than his own life.

Ten weeks in, they started hanging out on the weekends. Their relationship shifted from mentorship to friendship, and it was somewhat a relief that Jisung finally had someone he could trust enough to call his friend.

Week fourteen was when things started to shift further. Jisung hadn’t consumed alcohol in eight weeks, and things were clearing up, slowly but surely. He had been meeting with Felix more and more, too — maybe they weren’t quite friends yet, but Jisung was at least trying.

Things were looking up for the first time in Jisung’s life.

At week sixteen, Jisung stayed over at Minho’s apartment, convincing him that he needed to watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The blonde had vehemently pressed that it was, quite possibly, one of the best series of all time, animated or otherwise. After some gentle pressure, Minho finally caved, and they sat on his couch, diving into the show and into some mediocre takeaways.

They had gotten through the first three episodes and Minho finally relented that, yes, it was a good show and that, yes, Jisung was right.

“I knew you’d like it, dude,” Jisung snickered, playfully poking at Minho’s chest. The corner of his lips tugged upward into a crooked smile, and he wore Minho’s seal of approval as some sort of badge of honour.

The brunette turned away, softly smiling into his shoulder as a rush of crimson started to tint his face. “You’ve got me trying all sorts of new things, Ji,” Minho rubbed the back of his neck for a moment before he flashed his teeth at the younger man. “So much for me being the mentor here, huh?”

Jisung sucked his bottom lip in between his teeth at the nickname, trying to ignore the warmth blossoming up his face. He tried to stumble out some sort of response, but he caught himself getting lost in the way that the overhead lights shimmered in Minho’s eyes, highlighting the soft amber and warm bursts of hazelnut that erupted around his pupils. His expression started to falter, and he felt a familiar rush of excitement bloom in his chest, causing his nerves to come to life all around his body.

He remembered that this was how it felt right before he shared his first drunken kiss with Changbin, but something about this felt different. Perhaps it was the fact that Jisung was completely sober, but he desperately wanted Minho to kiss him, to want him back. However, Jisung wasn’t sure if it would have been a good idea, pondering over if Minho was really ready to start a new relationship, especially with someone he was supposed to be mentoring.

“Something on your mind?” Minho’s voice was soft as it gently guided Jisung back to the moment. “You’re kinda spacing out on me.”

“No, no,” Jisung stumbled around the words he wasn’t sure he could say, suddenly distracted by the television in the background. “I guess I was just thinking about the show.”

Minho’s head tilted to the side, concurrently lifting his brow in confusion. “You guess?”

Jisung waved his hand in between them and readjusted his posture so he was further away from Minho. “Yeah, I mean, I’ve seen it so many times, but it’s one of those shows that you watch and you see something new each time and—”

Warm fingers were suddenly on the side of Jisung’s face, pulling him back into Minho’s space. “You’re a terrible liar.” The voice was soft, yet assertive; low, but so loud. Jisung’s eyes went wide as Minho’s apartment blurred around him, his vision suddenly taken over by the sight of the brunette’s face right up next to his. In front of him.

Before Jisung could process what was happening, he was subconsciously pressing his lips into Minho’s, trying to remember exactly how kissing worked. It was years since the last time he had any practice, but it all came back to him as Minho helped guide Jisung’s face with his hands.

Minho’s tongue was soft, warm, and damp as it gently pressed up against Jisung’s lips, wordlessly pleading for entrance. Without letting his mind mill over the fine details and concerns he possibly had, Jisung parted his lips. Timidly, he rolled his tongue around Minho’s, his hands quivering as his fingers scrambled for purchase in Minho’s hair.

Unlike anyone Jisung had kissed before, this felt right, even if there were some uncomfortable grinding of teeth and awkward nose bumping. Within a reasonable amount of time, they slowly became experts at training the way the other wanted to be kissed. As if Minho could read Jisung’s mind, he would interrupt his soft kisses with gentle nips and grazes at Jisung’s bottom lip.

“Please,” Jisung’s voice cracked as Minho pulled his teeth down his bottom lip, “my neck, I…”

Minho swiftly moved his lips from Jisung’s, peppering tiny pecks against his jawline to his ear, stopping to take the blonde’s earlobe into his mouth with his tongue, grazing the tender flesh between his teeth. Jisung’s back involuntarily arched as the grooves of Minho’s teeth pulled at his sensitive skin, the sensation causing his nerves to come to life with an electrical jolt from head to toe.

The brunette chuckled, his warm breath brushing up against the tiny hairs on Jisung’s ear. He said nothing, simply moving down to press a few soft kisses to the skin just below the younger man’s earlobe. Minho’s lips were soft, gentle, only to be quickly replaced by a sudden, harsh bite into the tender flesh.

A yelp, accompanied by uncontrollable twitching, came from Jisung, who was simultaneously melting into Minho, but also pulling away. The elder’s fingers dug into the blonde’s waist, keeping him in the same position, not allowing him to escape. Jisung’s yelp had faded into a whimper, which evolved into a moan as Minho sucked the flesh between his teeth, quickly repeating the process several times in various spots along Jisung’s neck.

The moans were increasing in volume and breathiness, Jisung subconsciously, frantically rutting his pelvis into the couch. Minho must have caught on to this, letting go of Jisung’s waist to ease him down onto the couch. He pressed his lips to Jisung’s again, dancing his fingertips down to the waistband of the younger man, who was completely blissed out.

“Can I help you with this?” Minho’s voice was somehow both soft yet assertive as his palm pressed against Jisung's clothed erection.

Words eluded Jisung, verbal language suddenly turning into complex algebraic equations that didn’t translate from his head to his tongue. Instead, he groaned in affirmation as he hopelessly rolled his hips upward, finding himself pitiful that he was so desperately craving for Minho to just keep fucking touching him.

Things started to blur in a haze of wanton desire. Minho’s hand gently stroked Jisung’s cock, paying special attention to the way that his fingers and palm brushed against the head. Involuntary twitches took over Jisung as he whimpered and mewled, his shoulder blades grinding into the couch. Minho continued to nibble and bite at Jisung’s neck, occasionally whispering words of assurance and praise into his ear.

“You’re doing so well,” as he slowly dragged his hand from the base of Jisung’s cock up to his head.

“I can’t imagine how incredible you would feel around me,” as he gently thumbed the slit, rubbing precum around the sensitive head and causing Jisung to bite the back of his hand as he failed to stifle a cracked moan.

Jisung’s breaths turned erratic and he was nearly convulsing as his body started to twitch. Minho shifted his weight to his knees, slowing his strokes just enough so that he could awkwardly shift one leg off of the couch to position his head in a way he could take Jisung into his mouth.

“What are you—” Jisung started to question, until he found himself losing control of his body as Minho rolled his tongue around his cock. “Fuck, Minho!” He clamped his eyes shut, arching his back upward, hitting the back of Minho’s throat as he convulsed, his orgasm suddenly completely taking over him. “Minho,” he whined and unclenched his fists; “Minho,” he panted and opened his eyes; “Minho.” With one last breath, he was back to reality.

This had to have been the closest thing to heaven that Jisung thought he would ever experience.

Jisung had stayed over at Minho’s that night, too tired to function like a normal human. They slept on the couch together, necks crooned in uncomfortable positions all night long, bodies stiff from the unnatural firmness that Minho’s couch held. The next morning, they chose not to discuss the night prior, but they did exchange some soft kisses, until Jisung protested, mentioning that their morning breath was distracting him from actually enjoying the kiss.

Their weekends continued on like this: spending time watching a couple of episodes of their chosen programme until they got distracted and lost within each other. Nothing progressed further than handjobs, the occasional blowjob, and the one time that they rolled around naked, making out for so long and so intensely that the way they pressed their bodies together caused Jisung to come without any additional stimulation — and, hey, they liked it.

The budding relationship between them was confusing. During the week, Minho acted like the appropriate, wise mentor, with Jisung as his eager pupil. When the weekend came around, however, all bets were off. In everything but title, they were boyfriends for all intents and purposes. Every time Jisung tried to bring it up, Minho would shut down, saying that he wasn’t ready to really think seriously about it yet.

So, Jisung didn’t press. He was sure that their intimate interactions were causing conflicting emotions to arise within Minho, emotions he probably had been ignoring since Chan’s death, trying to shove them down as time went on. Even though he wanted to navigate the full spectrum of sexual experiences with Minho, Jisung remained silent until Minho was ready.

[starlxghtmoon]

Spread Your Wings || Chapter One

Pairing: Hawks x Reader || Tangled AU

Warnings: None!

Word Count: 2,000+ words

A/N: I’m super nervous about this, but excited! Sorry if this first part is boring, it’s supposed to act as an introduction and I tried to add more feeling to it than just happiness all around ajbfkjabkjawoifn but whoever reads this shitty fic of mine, I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own BNHA or Tangled, both and all characters except OCs [Mimi the cat] belong to their respective creators. This is purely creative fun.

Chapter Two

Masterlist

An elderly hooded woman approached the shrub with caution, looking around to see if anyone had followed her before pulling back her hood and uncovered the mysterious object. Underneath sat a golden flower, it looked ethereal with the way it softly glowed in the night; many tales have been made about this flower, some say it bloomed from a droplet of the sun that fell to the earth and could cure any illness, heal any wound. But the woman who was selfishly hoarding it, used it to stall her own time with a simple song.

“Flower, gleam and glow.” 

The flower began to glow brighter as she sang her song in her old worn voice.

“Let your power shine.

Make the clock reverse.

Bring back what once was mine.

What once was mine.”

As she finished her song, her aged voice grew rich and light, a satisfied smile tugging at her lips as her appearance shifted back to her younger days, gray going black. But the sound of shouts and flickering lights interrupted her serenity and in her rush to hide the flower once more and hide her own identity, she knocked over the shrub disguise, uncovering the flower for the guards approaching her spot to find.

“We found it!” A guard called out, commencing the uprooting of the magical flower, bringing it to the ill queen and healing her sickness. Soon after a princess would be born with snow white hair and e/c eyes.

However one evening, that same woman would sneak into the king and queen’s quarters where the baby peacefully slept, needing the flower’s magic to stall her mortal time once more.

“Flower, gleam and glow.”

She began to sing again in her croaky voice, the baby girl’s hair, white as snow began to glow a soft f/c. The woman leaned in, reaching out for a strand of her pure white hair, the effects of the magic flower already doing it’s work on the woman’s body. 

“Let your power shine.

Make the clock…”

The woman cut a strand of her hair as it glowed, but it immediately lost its power, the strand of hair changing from stark white to h/c. And since she’d cut her own song short, the magic didn’t take, reverting her back to her aged self. Gasping out of shock, the woman had no other choice than to take the baby.

As the child let out a cry, the woman scooped up the baby and made her escape, the sound of the baby’s cries awoke the king and queen, sending them both into a panic as the woman stole away the baby, disappearing into the night.

Restlessly, the kingdom searched and searched for the princess, but deep in the forest, hidden away in a tower, the woman would raise the girl as her own. Determined to keep her new flower hidden.

However, as well as the woman could keep the girl hidden, she couldn’t hide the outside from her as each year on her birthday, lanterns would be released into the night sky in hopes that the lost princess would return. And that lost princess was...you.

The shutters of the tower were swung open, as you grinned mischievously and looked around out the window. In the corner of your eye, you caught sight of a fluffy black tail swishing around behind one of the potted plants. You slapped a hand over your mouth and snorted softly before getting an idea and a mischievous glint to your eye. Straightening up and crossing your arms, you nonchalantly shrugged and looked away.

“Well, I guess Mimi isn’t out here.” You spoke, easing the midnight creature outside your window, making her let her guard down before suddenly she was yanked up by her tail, letting out a distressed meow. “Gotcha!” You exclaimed with an amused laugh. Letting the cat down from your trap of hair, you began to add on, “That’s 22 for me. How about 23 out of 45?” The cat grumbled in response, “Okay. Well, what do you wanna do?” The cat perked up at that question, letting out a gleeful meow and turning to the outside of the window, pawing out with a suggestive nod. “Yeah. I don’t think so.” You picked up the cat and swung your legs around to dangle out the window, placing the ball of fur in your lap. “I like it in here, and so do you.” Pointing at the cat, she stared up at you unimpressed. “Don’t look at me like that, you’re literally a cat. You should like being inside with me.” Mimi’s ears drew back in distaste. She did like being inside, but she also adored you and wanted you to have a taste of the outside world too. You've been cooped up in this place for 18 years straight, c’mon! “Oh, come on, Mimi. It’s not so bad in there.” You scritched behind her ear, eliciting a purr from deep within the cat’s chest before you pulled the cat into your chest and slid back inside.

You climbed up onto the roof beams, preparing for the morning and opening up the ceiling shutters before swinging back down with your hair. You then glanced over at the clock on her wall and began your day with your usual routine.

“Seven a.m. the usual morning lineup.”

Fetching the broom, you started with sweeping up the floors.

“Start on the chores and sweep till the floor’s all clean.”

Next, you equipped yourself with a mop and scrubbers to continue on with your chores. If you didn’t, you’d surely die of boredom. Not that you didn't already suffer from basically being a bird trapped in the cage you called home.

“Polish and wax, do laundry and mop and shine up.”

At least you had Mimi there to keep your spirits up as you swept around the tower again, checking the clock again with a slight roll of your eyes.

“Sweep again and by then it’s like, 7:15.”

It only took you a good 15 minutes to do all that? Sighing a little, you continued on with busying yourself. What a drag.

“And so I’ll read a book or maybe two or three.

I’ll add a few new paintings to my gallery.”

You knew you were running out of space on the walls, but you could always find nifty places and open spots to paint. One day you might run out of room and as morbid as it sounded, the thought did cross your mind that you’d even expire here. But you hoped you wouldn’t, you stayed optimistic that you’d be able to leave the nest and fly. Until then, you’d continue busying yourself around the tower, counting the hours and days… maybe even years. Hopefully your activities would help distract you from those spiraling thoughts as well, it was for the better that you were stuck here, right?

“I’ll play guitar and knit and basically,

Just wonder when will my life begin?”

As you pulled a freshly baked pie out of the oven, you spotted the perfect spot to paint on the wall, measuring it up with your hands. 

Busting out your paint, you shoved the decorative piece aside and began painting. Filling the spot with soft blue paint as a base and planning out what you'd put there.

“Then after lunch it’s puzzles and darts and baking.

Papier-mache, a bit of ballet and chess.”

At this point, you were just annoying Mimi with your various different hobbies you picked up. Internally cackling at her torment. But none of it was malicious, Mimi loved you and you loved Mimi, she was your only solace here. One would never abandon the other. Your bond was unbreakable. 

“Pottery and ventriloquy, candle-making.

Then I’ll stretch,

Maybe sketch,

Take a climb,

Sew a dress.”

Mimi was absolutely over it and exhausted when you put her in a minidress resembling yours. She lowkey loved it, but it just wasn’t right. Cats weren’t supposed to wear dresses, but Mimi sure looked adorable in one!

“And I’ll reread the books if I have time to spare.

I’ll paint the walls some more

I’m sure there’s room somewhere.”

Now you were really getting stuck, looking for spots was slowly becoming more and more impossible. You sighed a little, slowly the same old same old was beginning to eat away at you. Grumbling a little, you decided to instead distract yourself with brushing your lengthy hair.

“And then I’ll brush

And brush and brush

And brush my hair.

Stuck in the same place I’ve always been.”

Finishing up brushing the ends of your hair, you sat there for a moment, breathing out a puff of air. You looked around from your seat upon the beams of the roof. The space was big and anyone would be comfy in a home like this. Right, a home, not a tower. You were a caged bird. And you certainly had the ability to leave, you could do whatever you wanted with your 70 foot long hair... but would you? Probably not, you wouldn’t dare betray your mother. Besides, the world was a dangerous place, your mother said so multiple times. But… you longed for something more. To feel the grass on your feet, feel the wind flow through your hair, swim in the water, explore the world and… see the floating lights that never failed to appear on your birthday every year.

"And I'll keep wondering and wondering

And wondering and wondering

When will my life begin?"

You approached the open window of the tower, longingly looking out at the scenery before you and sighing softly. Tomorrow you'd turn 18. For a moment, you wondered how many more birthdays you'd have to spend locked away, with so many questions and curiosities.

"Tomorrow night the lights will appear

Just like they do on my birthday each year."

You rested your cheek within your palm, leaning on the window sill as your gaze swooped around the trees and hills surrounding the tower. Your heart ached for more than what you had here and in a way, it made you feel guilty. Your mother did everything for you, she sheltered you, she fed you, she gave you a home and unconditional love. Sure, she was harsh and brash sometimes, but she only wanted the best for you, she wanted to keep you safe. She was protecting you and your gift. You wouldn't survive without her. At least, that’s what you believed.

"What is it like out there where they glow

Now that I'm older.

Mother might just let me go."

You put the finishing touches on that painting you'd been working on, you were jealous of your own artwork. The depiction you'd made of yourself watching the floating lights with pure amazement and wonder. You placed your hand on the dry paint, brows furrowing in frustration. Why do you feel so guilty for something you want?

"Wow, I could get used to a view like this." His stop on the roof caught the attention of the two men with him. The dark haired one of the two rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"So could I-! I've seen better." The masked man with them commented, switching from amazement to stuck up. His outburst made the dark haired one immediately hush him, the masked man slapping his hands over his mouth.

"Do you wanna get caught or something?" 

"Sorry, Dabi." He spoke lower this time, making Dabi shake his head a little in dismissal before redirecting his attention to the other man with them who continued to stare at the view. 

"Hawks. We gonna do this or what?"

"Hold on." He made him pause, Dabi rose a brow, heavily annoyed and completely fed up with his antics. "Yep. I'm used to it. Guys, I want a castle." Hawks placed his hands on his hips, still admiring the view.

"We do this job, you can buy your own damn castle. Yeah?" Dabi stepped forward, grabbing the blonde by his collar and yanking him back.

Dabi and Twice securely held onto the rope, carefully lowering Hawks down into the crown room. If it were up to Dabi, he would've dropped his ass for the guards to take, but they needed that damn crown and he was gonna get it. 

One of the guards sneezed and Hawks let out a mocking groan, "Hay fever?" The guard looked over his shoulder, not noticing that he was there.

"Yeah." He looked back in front of him before realization dawned on him, "Huh?" He whipped around, the crown and Hawks gone. His gaze darted up, but they were already gone and so was the lost princess's crown.

"Can't you picture me in a castle of my own? Cause I certainly can." The trio sprinted away from the castle, Dabi ignoring Hawks with a roll of his eyes as Twice switched back and forth between approval and disapproval. "All the things we've seen and it's only eight in the morning! Gentlemen, this is a very big day!" 

"Would you shut up already!"

"Yeah, shut up, Hawks! No! Be louder!"

"Ugh…"

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Forever

One Shot: How To Dismantle Bucky Barnes

Intro: Bucky is acting kinda stressed out. Both Sam and Katie thinks they know what the problem is. The only issue is, how to fix it? Easy when you’re a Stark with a very manipulative mind…

Warnings: Bad language. Smut! (NSFW) and no under 18s.

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x OFC Jen O’Donahue, Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Rogers (nee Stark)

Ok so this takes place in the SSB universe after the events of Endgame, later on in 2024. You don’t have to have read that series to understand or enjoy this but the characters will make more sense if you have.

This is based on @jtargaryen18​ ‘s master piece “How to Dismantle Steve Rogers” and I thank her WHOLEHEARTEDLY for letting me use her format and idea. And I’m not gonna lie, I had a lot of fun with this one!!

If you are currently reading Stark Spangled Banner as it is being reposted then this contains MAJOR SPOILERS and I recommend you wait until you’ve finished so you don’t spoil anything!

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Stark Spangled Forever Masterlist // Main Masterlist

 September 2024

“You’re an idiot…” Sam’s voice carried up the hallway to the kitchen as they entered the Rogers household “A total, moronic idiot…” “Quit it Sam.” Bucky’s voice dripped with annoyance. Katie glanced at Steve who arched an eyebrow at his wife the pair of them wondering why they had given them an access key each…

“I didn’t think it was possible but you actually are as dumb as you look.” Sam snorted.

“One more word out of you and I’m gonna kick your stupid, seagull ass-”

“Err, we can hear you in here!” Steve called loudly, cutting his friend off “And there are young ears about.”

There was some muffled grumbling, followed by what sounded like someone being shoved into the wall before Bucky walked into the kitchen, face dark as thunder. Sam followed behind, grin spreading from cheek to cheek as he rubbed at his chest.

Bucky stopping to gently tickle Rori’s cheek where she sat in the high-chair, her legs flailing as she was still in the bouncer seat, not being big enough or old enough yet to sit up. She gave him a huge smile which melted his heart as he returned it.

“Hey Sweetie!” he grinned, and she waggled her legs and arms excitedly. After a few more soft words to his god-daughter he turned and ruffled Jamie’s hair as Sam offered the 4 year old a hi-five which he eagerly took.

“Damned Buck!” Katie looked at him from where she was plating up food. “You get a hair-cut?”

Bucky flushed slightly and ran his hands through his short crop “Yeah…”

“Looks good.” she smiled and he beamed at her.

“Fancied a change.” he shrugged.

“Hasn’t worked, you’re still a dumbass.” Sam said.

“What’s a dub-mass?” Jamie piped up from his seat at the table. Steve gave an exasperated groan.

“Nothing honey.” Katie said, dropping a plate of stir-fry in front of her son as Steve shot Sam a glare “Uncle Sam is just being silly, don’t worry about it.”

Jamie shrugged, placated by the food and began to tuck in. Katie dodged round Steve making her way to the stove, whilst her husband grabbed the pre-expressed bottle and unfastened their 4 month old daughter from her chair. She grabbed eagerly at his beard as he sat down at the table and began to feed her, smiling softly as she eagerly took the milk, her eyes focussing all the time on his.

“You guys want eats?” Katie asked, looking at the two men. “I made plenty.” It was a stupid question really, as both men nodded eagerly and dropped into the spare seats round the table. Once Steve had finished feeding Aurora and Jamie was cleaned up and in the lounge watching TV, Katie dished out the adults’ food before she handed them a plate each. She gave Rori her rabbit comforter toy to keep her occupied and they all began to tuck in.

No more was said about Bucky’s encounter with the hairstylist until much later, when Jamie was tucked up for the night and the 4 adults were on the veranda round the fire pit, Rori snoozing in her basket which was stood on the stand just inside the kitchen door where Katie and Steve could see her clearly.

“Where’s Emmy?” Sam asked and Katie snorted as Steve shifted slightly.

“She’s on a date.” he grumbled.

“With who?” Bucky asked.

“Parker.” “As in Peter Parker?” Bucky frowned “The Spider Kid?”

Steve nodded.

“Punk.” Bucky snorted.

“Aww he’s a good kid.” Katie said, “Leave him alone.”

“She’s too young.” Steve grumbled and Katie laughed.

“Baby, she’s sevenet this year.”

Steve shrugged. “I don’t care.”

Katie shook her head and watched as Sam and Bucky were bickering again.

“Ok, what is going on?” she frowned “Sam why you giving Buck such a hard time?” Sam grinned “Because he is an idiot. He went on another date with Jennifer last night, and then she asked him back to hers…and he literally burned the poor girl.”

Bucky growled at Sam “I swear to God…” “Burned?” Steve frowned.

“Yeah, get this…he’s walked her home and she asks him in, so he goes in, and then he does a bunk.”

Bucky glared at him “That’s not what happened…”

Katie frowned, she hadn’t spoken to Jennifer that day and was quite surprised, actually, that if something had gone wrong her friend hadn’t called.

“Buck!” Steve sighed, shaking his head. “You promised when you started dating you wouldn’t let this get awkward…”

“Oh Shut up Stevie.” Bucky snarled out his name “Just because you’re all loved up now, let’s not forget how hopeless you used to be around dames. Do you really want me tell the story about the Chorus Girl who tried for 3 months to get a bit of the old Star Spangled D and you were too fucking dumb to realise?”

Steve narrowed his eyes as Katie and Sam looked at each other with glee.

“No.” He glared at Bucky, at the same time his wife and friend nodded.

“Yes,”

“Absolutely.”

“Oh Captain Rogers, I think I have something in my eye!” Bucky said, his voice airy as he imitated a women, batting his eyelashes ridiculously “Oh Captain Rogers, can you zip my skirt up for me, its stuck and I’m scared I’ll rip the material…Oh Captain Rogers, I just got caught in that rain, I’m all wet and my top is sticking to me…” “Fuck off.” Steve said, as Sam and Katie both laughed. Bucky looked at Katie shaking his head. “And you tell me this Punk he made the first move on you?” he shook his head “You must have been really fucking obvious…” “Well, it took him long enough.” Katie grinned as she stood up, dropping her arms round Steve’s neck and pecking his cheek.

“What is this? Pick on Steve night?” Steve pouted as his wife headed over to the bar at the side of the veranda, pulling out 4 more beers.

“Just like every night.” Sam chuckled.  

She gave a beer to Sam and then Steve, both of who thanked her before she made her way over to Bucky was positively glowering. She handed him a beer and he looked up at her mumbling a thanks.

“Buck.” She consoled softly, whilst Steve and Sam were bickering well naturedly “They’re only teasing.”

He sighed “I know, I just…didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“And that’s not because you were with Jen, obviously.” She raised her eyebrows. “Dreams?”

He raised his eyebrows in a confirmative manner.

She sat down next to him. “That have any bearing on why you cut your hair?” He gave a small chuckle “I swear to God you can read minds.”

“No, just people.” She smiled

“I just, well I wanna feel more like me, you know?” he shrugged.

She smiled “Yeah, I get it. You know, if it makes you feel any better Steve had nightmares for years you know. About the War, crashing into the ice.”

He looked at her “Yeah?” “Yeah.” she nodded.

“How did he get them to stop?”

“Honestly?” she smiled “Sleeping with me. Said having me in the bed made him feel safe.” Bucky snorted “Yeah, not sure Steve would go for that somehow.” Katie smacked him gently round the back of the head and he laughed, before his face became serious again. “They’d stopped in Wakanda.” he signed, looking at the label on his bottle. “But since coming back…” “You think we didn’t have them post the Last Stand?” she looked at him. “Jesus Bucky, I kept re-living that moment I thought we were all dead for months and seeing Tony snap over and over again…” She trailed off, taking a deep breath “We’re human at the end of the day, it’s natural and you have horrors in your past that even the most sympathetic of people cannot begin to comprehend.”

He bit his lip and looked down at his lap.

“Look, if you ever wanna talk, about anything without these two being around…” she jerked her thumb at Steve and Sam “You know where I am.”

“Thanks.” he said, flashing her a smile. She patted his knee gently and then stood up, making her way over to where Steve was sat, dropping onto his knee lightly.

Draining his beer Bucky stood up “I’m gonna take off.”

Steve frowned “How come?”

“Tired.” he mumbled “Katie, thanks for dinner.”

“Any time.” she said, making to stand but he waved her away.

“I’ll see myself out.”

Grabbing his jacket he strode over the patio, up the steps and into the house.

There was a pause as the 3 of them watched him go.

“What’s up with him?” Steve asked.

Before Katie could reply, Sam chipped in.

“He’s backed up.”

“What?” Steve frowned.

“He needs to get laid.” Katie replied, shrugging.

Since everyone had returned, she had seen how Bucky was getting more and more uptight, especially around her and Steve. Whenever Steve had shown her a bit of affection she had noticed his friend would avert his eyes or make an excuse to leave the room. And she knew it wasn’t because he was uncomfortable around PDAs or anything like that. No, it was frustration. That his best friend was getting some and he wasn’t. 

Then, one evening last year she’d noticed a subtle change in his frosty, outward demeanour when Jen had come round for dinner.

And thus, Katie Rogers plan to dismantle Bucky Barnes had been born.

Step 1- The Right Bait

Setting it up had been easy.  Katie had instantly spotted the attraction between the pair. She’d seen the chatter at the dinner table, the way Jennifer had tucked her hair behind her ears when Bucky was talking to her, a Double Tuck nonetheless.  So, a few months into the new year, once things had settled down after Steve had taken his 15 year holiday back in the 50s through 70s, Katie had seized the opportunity to send Bucky to Jennifer’s coffee shop- Has-Bean. She knew Monday’s were delivery days for the woman, and 9 times out of 10 Steve went along to help her out with the heavy lifting because Steve Rogers was nothing if not a gentleman, and after seeing her struggle one Monday when they had called in for an early morning coffee, had taken it upon himself to help out. But not that Monday. Oh no, Katie had used her pregnancy to her advantage, claiming she wasn’t feeling too good and she’d been clingy, real clingy, giving Steve no alternative but to stay at home. But rather than leave Jenifer in the lurch, Katie had suggested to Steve that maybe Bucky could help.

So Steve had asked him to go along.

And he had.

And Bucky kept going each Monday from then on. Without fail.  

But there had been no date arranged. So Katie had stepped it up a little bit. On Steve’s birthday, the Rogers’ had hosted a gathering for their friends and family. Casual enough to be relaxed, but in the same breath everyone had used it as an excuse to don a nice outfit. They had stood in the garden watching the fireworks and Bucky had given Jenifer a hesitant kiss on the cheek. The red head had flushed and, emboldened by champagne, asked Bucky for a real kiss. And in the dark of the garden, away from prying eyes (or so he thought, as Katie had seen everything) he’d obliged. And a few days later they’d gone on their first date.

Problem solved, right?

Wrong.

Katie really tried not to be nosey, she really did. But she’d enrolled Brooke, Jen’s daughter and Emmy’s best friend into keeping her up to date on happenings, the teenager being over the moon her mom was finally dating again. But so far Brooke had brought her no news that Bucky had even entered their home, let alone that things were progressing slightly beyond the dating stage despite the fact they were now almost 3 months down the line. 

Katie knew that, despite what Steve had told her about Bucky before the war,  Bucky wasn’t in this for a quick hook-up. Yes he was still the cheeky James Barnes of old, but she knew from the times he had opened up to her that he wasn’t that person to chase a skirt for simple gratification anymore. Whilst under mind control with Hydra, to keep him satisfied they either brought him women or taken him to women. Willing paid women, yes,  but the memories of the quick fucks on dirty mattresses in cells and run down whore houses stuck with him and made him feel sick. Since then there had been one woman, in Bucharest, that he’d sort of had a thing with but that had been cut short when he’d found out she was married. He hadn’t needed that sort of trouble so he had ended it. 

So, with all that in mind, plus the fact Jennifer wasn’t the type for a casual hook up either, it wasn’t totally surprising that things were going slow, but 2 and a bit months of dating was just fucking ridiculous. Even her and Steve had ‘done stuff’ before that! And it wasn’t like the chemistry wasn’t there. Katie had watched the two of them when she saw them together. Bucky eyed Jennifer with a thirst Katie had seen a few times in Steve’s eyes when he was having filthy thoughts. A stare at her ass or tits here, the biting or licking of a lip there all confirmed to her the fact that the Winter Soldier was backed up.

Sam had called it.

And Jennifer wasn’t the problem. When Bucky wasn’t paying attention the red head looked at him like she wanted to climb him like a tree. 

So what exactly did she need to do here?

“You ok?” Steve asked, jerking her from her thoughts with a squeeze to her thigh.

“Yeah, sorry, was just thinking.” she smiled at him, thinking back to the first time her and Steve had made out after a baseball game and a few drinks in a bar…

And then she had a plan. A brilliant plan.

She knew just what to do…

Step 2.  Proper Motivation

Letting out a sigh Jen served the next customer, lost in her own little world. She’d been seeing Bucky now for a few months and was still trying to get her head around that. She was seeing Bucky Barnes. The Winter Soldier, Avenger. But she had quickly realised that behind the legend and the gruff exterior he was just, well, sweet.

She’d first met Bucky one evening at Katie’s house and had enjoyed his company, but it wasn’t until a month or so later when he had turned up at the coffee shop in Steve’s place that she’d really talked to him properly. 

“Well, well, well, you decided to pay me a visit!” Jennifer grinned.

“Yeah,  err…hi!” Bucky smiled at her “Steve mentioned he normally helps on a Monday and seeing as he’s not available I thought I’d offer, you know, with the delivery…”

She beamed “You are a life saver!”

He’d helped her move the boxes and unpack, sharing easy chat with her about her business, New York in general, his time in the 40s with Steve…and by the end of it her cheeks were aching from laughing in a way she hadn’t laughed in years.

“Anyway, I think that we’ve earned a break” she said after they’d finished an hour or so later.  “What can I get you?” she gestured to the menus written in chalk on the wall above the machines.

“What’s good?” he asked, frowning slightly.

“Everything, I make it.” she smirked and he gave a huff of a laugh “But it depends. You got a sweet tooth?”

“I’m not averse to the odd bit of sugar.” he grinned back, and she’d felt her cheeks flush at the fact he was flirting with her.

She let out a soft laugh, smiling. “In that case I recommend the caramel macchiato, and one of my mint choc brownies.” “You’re the expert.” he winked.

“Take a seat, I’ll bring it over.”

Bucky had continued to help out every Monday, without fail, but it wasn’t until New Year’s Eve that anything had happened. After they had shared a soft kiss, he’d asked her on a date, and she’d gleefully accepted. So they’d gone to restaurants, done the whole New York sightseeing thing (which was more for his benefit as it had all changed so much), been to the theatre, seen movies, had lunch…and it had all seemed to be going well. 

Jenifer hadn’t dated since the death of her husband some 15 years ago, so this was a huge step for her. But Bucky had made it easy. He was old fashioned, he liked to open doors for her, let her pick where they ate, pulled out her chair for her, all the things she had seen Steve do for Katie. He always walked her back to the apartment above the shop, but never pressed to come inside, seeming content to kiss her goodnight at the door. It was endearing how shy he seemed. But then, 2 nights ago something had changed.

And it had descended into a cluster fuck.

In the middle of the afternoon she had been forced to cancel their date for the afternoon as the member of staff who was due to cover was ill. But Bucky had surprised her and brought the date to her. Armed with some Thai food he’d shown up at closing time, cheeky smile on his face. He had helped her finish up, meaning she was done in record time and then they’d sat by the counter with their food, the conversation flowing as it always did…until he had stolen the last steamed dumpling.

“Hey, I was gonna eat that!” she pouted.

“Snooze you lose.” he quipped and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“That isn’t very chivalrous, Sergeant…”

His eyes had darkened as he’d bitten off half of the offending item before offering her the other half. She’d taken it, her eyes locking onto his, and then before she could even register what was happening Bucky was kissing the life out of her. His hands had gripped her hips, hers fisted in his hair which was loose, his stubble rubbing her face raw. It was delectable, exciting, and then as his hands had brushed the strip of skin that had been exposed just above her waistline she had shivered at the feel of his touch, one flesh, one metal, but both equally gentle…it was exciting, or so she had thought.

He’d pulled back suddenly. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Huh?” Jennifer’s head was a whirl of lust and she was struggling to understand what had just happened? Why did he just stop?

He ran a hand through his dark hair, cheeks flushing, his eyes were sad as he avoided her gaze.

“That was uncalled for,” he muttered. “I’m sorry.”

“What for?” She asked again.

Bucky had simply taken a deep breath, pressed a kiss to her forehead before he stood up and headed towards the door. Was he embarrassed? No, she could see from the look on his face that wasn’t it.

“Buck?” She jumped up to follow him to the door. “It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong…”

He turned and smiled at her softly. God she loved that smile.

“I’ve got an early morning. We have a meeting with the DOD so I’d better go.”

With that he was gone.

Jennifer made all sorts of excuses for him in her head. Maybe he was tired. But the further into the night she got, the more she began to think she was fooling herself. She wasn’t in Bucky Barnes’ league. Maybe he just wasn’t interested.

Her gloom carried into the next day compounded by the fact he hadn’t called or messaged at all. She had contemplated calling Katie to see if she knew what was going on, but had decided to leave it a day or so to let Bucky get over whatever issue he had.  But after almost 36 hours there was no contact whatsoever and she was getting a little antsy. 

“Hey!”  a familiar voice called and she looked up, smiling, as Katie pushed the buggy containing her goddaughter over to the counter.

“Hi!” she beamed. “What brings you down here?”

“I came to ask a favour.” Katie smiled “Well, sorta. Long story short I need a night off. From being a mom…I was kinda hoping you’d be up for a few drinks.” “Tonight?” Jennifer asked 

“Yeah.” Katie nodded “I thought Brooke might like to stay at ours and they can annoy the shit out of Steve like normal.”

Jennifer ponded the invitation for a moment. It wasn’t like she had any other plans. And if she was honest, a good blow out and a chat might be just the thing.

“Alright.” she nodded “What time?”

“Why don’t you come to mine for 8ish and we’ll get Steve to drop us off?” Katie smiled. “Em and Brooke will be ok with Jamie for a little while, Rori can sleep in the car seat.”

Jennifer nodded,  “Sure…” and then her attention was taken by another customer.

“I’ll leave you to it.” Katie smiled, heading back out of the shop. As soon as she was gone she picked up the phone and called Sam.

“We’re on…” she said simply, before she smirked and headed towards her car.

****

Bucky walked besides Sam, hands shoved in his pockets, fists clenching slightly. He really didn’t want to be out tonight but Sam had insisted. Mind you, it had given him an excuse to avoid going to Steve’s to watch the game. He loved Steve like a brother, he really did, but recently the way the blonde punk fawned over his wife was starting to set his teeth on edge. His hands on her back or hips when he passed her, a soft lingering peck on the lips here and there, the way she sat on his lap and he ran his hand up her thigh…Living with them had been torture towards the end. He was grateful for them putting him up for how long they did, and he knew they hadn’t been doing it on purpose but his ears were sharp… and it seemed like the lucky son-of-a-bitch was getting some every goddamned night, and sometimes in the morning too.  

He was happy for the Punk, he really was but, simply put, he was jealous, even if he hated admitting it. Not because he wanted Katie per-se (although he wasn’t blind-Katie was an attractive woman) but because he craved some form of tender touch and he’d almost gotten some 2 nights ago.

Almost.

When he had first met Jennifer 7 months ago on Steve’s doorstep she’d instantly blown him away. She was stunning, long legs, curves, bright green eyes that sparkled with mischief and a smile that made the world stop.  And then he had gotten to know her during the time he spent helping out at the shop and realised that she was funny, clever, with an outgoing spirit that he loved. He’d wanted to ask her out on a date almost immediately but it wasn’t until July 4th at Steve’s birthday bash when she’d asked him for a proper kiss instead of a peck on the cheek when he had finally plucked up the courage to do so, no longer fearing the rejection.

And so he’d taken her out. Weekly in fact, every week since. And still helped at the coffee shop. Everything about the woman put him at ease. She helped him catch up on a lot of things she had missed, and when he stumbled on things he wasn’t familiar with or didn’t understand she didn’t instantly launch into an explanation unless he asked. For which he was grateful. It made him feel less inadequate that way.  

And she was tactile. And it was nice, Bucky hadn’t known anything but harsh physical contact for longer than he cared to remember. But Jennifer seemed to enjoy toughing him. She’d take his hand, lay her head on his shoulder as they walked, and then that time in the restaurant where she had brushed her ankle against his and then gently touched his knee as she stood up to go to the bathroom…well he wasn’t proud of it but he’d had a raging hard on for the rest of the date.

2 nights ago she’d cancelled on him, with a genuine excuse, so he’d taken the initiative and turned up at the shop with a takeout to help her close up. He’d stolen the last steamed dumpling, and then she’d teased him, calling him Sergeant which was enough to send a spike of desire right through his body and he’d acted before he’d thought about it, gripping her hips and pulling her to him, kissing her hard… and then he’d felt her tremble when his hands had brushed a strip of bare skin just about her jeans. He’d scared the shit out of her. So, he had made his excuses and bailed.

“Frosty?” Sam asked, and Bucky turned to look at him. He’d stopped outside a bar.

“Sorry, miles away.” Bucky shrugged, following him in. And no sooner had he done so he stopped dead.

“Hey, is that Katie and Jen?” Sam asked, and Bucky had to do a double-take honestly because at first, he didn’t recognize her. He had no issue with the way Jen normally dressed around him, figure hugging jeans, feminine tops or dresses and jackets that showed off her curves, and the way that fiery red hair normally fell around her face and shoulders…to him she was stunning as she was but there, right now?

Jesus fucking Christ. 

Her hair was twisted back in some form of bun, showing off her neck and shoulders which were bare thanks to the strapless, knee-length pale blue dress she was wearing, which had a slit up the right side through which he could see a perfect flash of alabaster thigh. Her lips were stained a bright red, like the women of his time, her legs bare, high heels on her feet. 

Next to her, Katie was sat wearing a floating gold dress, chatting to another one of the men, laughing as she turned to Jennifer and said something, causing her to laugh. Her face lit up with a smile as she replied and then turned to the man on her right who gently put his hand on the base of her back.

What. The. Fuck?

Bucky’s fists clenched as he watched Jennifer lean closer to say something to him, and the man nodded, laughing, before he waved to the bar tender, hand still on his girl. Before he could march over there and demand to know what was going on, Jennifer stood up and said something before she headed out to the bathroom. 

Before Bucky could stop himself, he marched after her.

**** Jen had started the night off feeling a little bit uncomfortable. She’d shown up to Katie’s dressed in a pair of tight, black cropped trousers and a white low cut vest top but there’d been an accident involving a glass of red wine when Katie had tripped on something and managed to throw it all down her. Her best friend had been so apologetic and mortified, but it wasn’t a complete disaster. Katie had a wardrobe that would make most celebrities jealous and in no time she had convinced Jen to try on the dress she was now wearing. It was a bit much for a Friday night out in Brooklyn bars but Katie was dressed up too so she supposed it was nice to make an effort every once in a while. Plus, she felt good in it. Which was nice considering how shit she’d felt the other day when Bucky had bailed on her.

A quick restyle of her hair to compliment the cut of her dress and they were on their way, Steve dropping them at their bar of choice and telling them to have a good time. They’d walked into the bar, ordered a bottle of wine and sat on the stools, where Jen had opened her heart and told Katie everything that had happened with Bucky. Katie had listened, sympathetically and then added her own pearls of wisdom suggesting that Bucky was a lot more shy than people expected. Their conversation had been cut short when two men had joined them, Katie jumping up to hug them both before introducing them to Jennifer as 2 of her old colleagues from SHIELD. The two men had been nice, included her in the conversation, and Jennifer had found herself actually enjoying their company. The dark haired one, a man called Ben,or Lawson as Katie called him, was interesting and had been entertaining her with a few tales of Katie at SHIELD, but then he’d started getting a bit touchy feely. And, despite the clear lack of communication from Bucky she still considered herself his. So she’d excused herself and gone to the bathroom. 

After re-doing her make-up, she was seriously considering heading back to the apartment and pulling on a pair of comfy pyjamas and settling with a nice bottle of rioja in front of the TV. Wondering if Katie would actually care, she snapped her purse shut, pulled open the door and did a double take as she found Bucky right outside it. He was leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest and she didn’t miss the way his gaze flew up and down her body as she stepped closer.  

“Buck, hi.” she greeted him “What are you doing here?”

“I was out for a drink with Sam, wasn’t expecting to see you. And from what I just saw at the bar I’d say it was clear you weren’t expecting me to either.” Oh shit. He was mad. 

Jen swallowed hard “That wasn’t…that wasn’t what it looked like.”

“No?”

“No.” she shook her head “I don’t even know that guy, he’s a friend of Katie’s from work, well her old work, SHIELD…” Bucky didn’t say anything, he merely held her gaze. She knew how it looked. Worse she was dressed as she was, making her feel a little bit uneasy as she never wore outfits like this normally. She glanced at Bucky, he was dressed in a simple black button down and black jeans, looking damned good, but his entire body language was off. The shy, gently Bucky Barnes she knew had been replaced by someone else. He was harsh, angry, even.

And then she felt herself getting mad.

This was the man that had darted out of her apartment the other night, and hadn’t even called her. And now he was here, getting all pissy because some guy had shown her a bit of attention?

Fuck that.

In that split moment Bucky saw her whole body language change, from one of a kid being caught with their hand in the cookie jar to a parent who was about to deliver a very stern telling off. And he wasn’t wrong.

“Actually, I don’t have to explain myself to you.” she folded her arms, mimicking his stance. “You ran out on me 2 nights ago. You haven’t called, anything…” Bucky swallowed, and momentarily he felt a little sideswiped, but he fast recovered his composure.

“So you just what? Go on a date with someone else?”

“This isn’t a date you dickhead!” she practically snarled “I’ve never me the guy before, but for the record, it’s kinda nice to be wanted you know what I mean? Now if you’ll excuse me…”

Wait? Is that what she thought? That he didn’t want her? Fuck, no, that wasn’t right.

He reached out and grabbed her arm gently to stop her leaving and she turned to face him. Once more his eyes skated up and down her body and before he could stop himself he had pulled her to him, so she was flush against his body.

“You’re supposed to be my girl.” he whispered, looking into her eyes.

“Am I?” she swallowed, her voice shy, meek almost. And fuck, that turned him on even more.

“Yeah…”

“Then I am, fucking hell Bucky…” she groaned, her lips meeting his in a fierce kiss. He backed her up against the wall, his thigh planted firmly between hers as much as it could thanks to the tight dress she was wearing, the kiss intensifying until the pair of them jumped apart as 2 other people came into the corridor to use the bathroom, smirking as they passed the couple.

Bucky looked at her, shaking his head “The other night…” he began “I know I scared you…” Jennifer frowned “No you didn’t.” 

“You were shaking.” Bucky said “There’s no need to pretend what…” “Bucky Barnes I’m a grown ass woman.” she said sternly “I think I know what I was feeling…”

His eyes widened, so if she hadn’t been shaking in fear…then…oh. 

Oh.

“And I know what I want…” she smirked, grabbing the shirt just underneath his collar and spinning them around. Backing up, she dragged him into the ladies and pushed him into a cubicle, locking it behind her. As soon as she turned to face him, Bucky had her pinned against the door, his hands skirting up her dress, gently teasing the outside of her thighs as she kissed him, hard, hands running through his hair.

“For the record…”she pulled back, tugging on the short locks a the top of his head “I’m liking this…”

A low growl rumbled in his throat as he pushed her skirt up over her hips, planting his thigh in between hers. She let out a moan as he pushed up into her spot, the harsh denim grinding on her spot. She was soaked already, and when his fingers hooked into the top of the very skimpy lacy underwear she was wearing, her clit throbbed from the slight pressure as he tore the garment easily in half, tossing it to the floor.

“Fuck…” Jennifer mumbled as his lips caught the pulse point on her neck, her head falling back against the cubicle door as his fingers slid into her folds, one circling her clit. 

“This what you want?” he asked, his breath was low.

“God, yes…” she muttered as his fingers picked up the pace. He inserted on inside, and her head fell onto his shoulder as he curled it forward against her spot. It was such a fucking turn on to see her trembling at his touch, trembling he now understood in a good way. With his other hand he pulled down the top of her dress, freeing her breasts and he gave a groan as he realised she wasn’t wearing a bra. He gently rolled one nipple in between his teeth, his other hand still fucking her gently and she let out a gasp.. 

“Bucky for God’s Sake just fuck me already…” 

He grinned at her, removing his hand.

“Yes Ma’am…” he said, as her hands flew to the buckle on his belt before opened his jeans, her fingers pushing them and his boxers down, allowing his cock to spring loose.

“You got any…” he began and she shook her head.

“No need, I got that covered…and I’m clean so as long as you are…” she looked at him and he nodded, as he gently hooked his hands under her knees and lifted her so her legs were round his waist. Once more he claimed her mouth with a heated kiss, swallowing the groan she gave as he pushed into her.  

Jesus…her heat almost paralysed him, but after a second or two to let them both adjust he began to move, slowly at first, gently finding a rhythm that suited them both.

“I’m going to make you feel so good, Sweetheart.” he said and she groaned again as he gently rutted up into her, his mouth finding her breasts again. The noises she was making were turning him on even more as he picked up his pace slightly, and the more he gave the more she wanted. 

Soon the bathroom was filled with the sinful sound of skin on skin, moans and groans, and the rattling of the cubicle door as Bucky fucked into her again and again. Her hands were in his hair, up his back, under his shirt, gently tracing the scars on his shoulder from behind but he didn’t give a fuck, in fact, in a twisted way he liked the feel of her soft touch over the raised skin. He continued to slam into her again and again, lips kissing down her jawline, neck, across her collar bone and down to her breasts again, and she gave a loud squeak. 

“God I wanted you so fucking much…”She gasped, bringing his head up to kiss hers again, her hands on his cheeks.

“Feeling’s mutual doll” he moaned into her mouth, the noise of the door behind them was rattling even louder. 

Jen felt her core tightened as a wave of pleasure swelled within her. Her shoes were somewhere on the floor as her heels dug into that ass she had admired for so long, nails scratching slightly at his skin as her hands slid under his skirt again. The door behind her continued to squeak, grind, and rattle.

“I’m…”

“You going to come for me?” Bucky asked as he kissed down her neck, biting at her collar bone. She nodded with a groan, and her head banged back against the door.

“Shit, Bucky…” and then she clamped around him hard as her release took her. Her entire body shook as the white hot tendrils coursed around her from head to toe, the entire world spinning. Bucky gave a strangled groan that bubbled from the depths of this chest, and he clutched her to him, tightly, hips stuttering as he shuddered with the utter intensity of it all.

A very loud groan and then a scream erupted from Jenifer as the door collapsed behind them, and sent the pair of them falling. In a flash Bucky wrapped himself around her, pivoting so that his back hit the floor first and Jenifer fell against his chest.

There was a moment’s pause before she began to laugh, and Bucky couldn’t help but chuckle as well as she looked at him and he helped her to her feet.

“Erm…so we broke the door.” She said between her laughter as she adjusted her dress, smoothing back her hair as Bucky did up his pants, tucking his shirt back in. 

He ran his hand over her hip, up to her neck and pulled her back in for a softer kiss and when he pulled away he was amazed at how relaxed and less tired and stressed he felt. 

Who’d have thought it? All he needed was a good fuck.

But now as he looked at the woman in front of him he realised fucking wasn’t enough. He wanted to take her home and lavish affection on every inch of her body.  

“Was that okay?” Jennifer asked, looking at him “I know it’s not exactly how a first time together should be but…” “Are you kidding?” Bucky chuckled, pulling her into his arms. “That was incredible but you’re right. I’d really like to take you home and do it properly, a little more caring maybe…as soon as I can.”

“My apartment’s free…” she whispered, as he kissed her again before he pulled back and grinned.

“What are we waiting for?” he asked, and with a last glance down at the broken door, she took his hand and led him back into the corridor. 

As they walked across the bar it didn’t escape Bucky’s notice that Sam was sat with the two men Jenifer had explained were friend’s of Katie’s, and that his best friend’s wife was nowhere to be seen.

And it all clicked into place. He realised he had been well and truly played. ‘Mrs Rogers, you cheeky little minx…’

3. Closing Analysis

“And he’s gone!” Sam smirked, watching Bucky stalk across the busy bar area after Jennifer “I gotta hand it to you…it would seem that Steve isn’t the only Rogers with a plan.”

“Yeah, I’m intrigued…” Evans said, draping a hand over her shoulder, “How did you know it would work?”

“Remember that time, years ago, when Steve and I had been on the baseball, and you commented on how Rumlow had been eye-fucking me all night?” she turned to her former sniper partner. He nodded “Well let’s just say it sparked something in Captain America that night.”

Evans and Lawson both chuckled. 

“And on that note…” Katie said, draining her glass as her phone flashed with a message from her husband “My ride home is here.”

“Seems Jen isn’t the only one with a super soldier waiting to ravish her…” Lawson quipped. 

Katie smirked “That and I have no intention of being here when they come out and realise we set the whole thing up.” “We?” Sam asked. “You were complicit…” she said, draining her glass. She turned to give Evans and Lawson a hug.

“Good to see you boys, stop by the house soon, come say hi.”

“Best get your chef on Nova.” Evans grinned, “You owe us.” “Oh admit it.” she smirked “You enjoyed the thrill of being on a Covert Op again.” “Think it’s Tin Man that’s gonna be enjoying that particular thrill…” Sam quipped, making her snort. 

“If they make it that far…” she smirked, pulling on her jacket. “Night boys.”

She made her way outside and over to the Audi, climbing into the passenger seat.

“Hey baby, you have a nice time?” Steve asked as she leaned over to give him a peck.

She grinned “Yeah, although not as nice as Bucky and Jen it would seem.” “What did you do?” he asked, looking at her suspiciously. 

“Nothing…just gave them a friendly shove…” she said, pausing as she felt her phone vibrate in her bag. It was a text. from Bucky 

“Expect a bill for a toilet cubicle door…”

She gave a loud laugh and showed it to Steve who groaned, shaking his head.

“Oh it’s not like we never fucked in a bathroom before.” she laughed, and he was about to reply when he stopped and grinned, nodding out of the windscreen. Katie followed his gaze as Jen and Bucky came out of the bar, hand in hand, and straight to a waiting cab. As Bucky opened the door to let Jenifer in he turned slowly to his right, locked eyes with Katie and raised his metal hand, leaving a single digit extended in her direction. The middle one to be exact before he grinned climbed into the car.

“You know, you don’t need to look so smug about it…” Steve said, a smile playing on his face as he eyed his wife who sat back in her seat. She gave him a shrug, smirking and he chuckled as he pulled the car away from the kerb. 

Ok, so she’d clearly underestimated the ex-assassin, maybe he had twigged it had been a set up. But that didn’t matter. Her plan had worked.

Katie Rogers had just successfully dismantled Bucky Barnes. 

[melodyalanaroster]

Love Rekindled And Remade

Disclaimer: This chapter is NSFW!

“Nath... What are we doing here?” Alana asked as Nathaniel lead her into the Anteros Academy Library. “Just come on.” He beamed. Ever since their little “Aquaman Date”, the couple had been getting progressively closer. They had begun a weekly ritual of dinner and a movie at Death’s Domain where Alana would either cook or order food and she would show him a movie that he hadn’t seen. Nathaniel smiled and remained quiet as he held her hand and walked them into a secluded set of shelves. When they got to a lonely corner, she leaned back against a shelf and looked at him curiously. Suddenly the memory of their first kiss flashed through their mind. It was one of the happiest memories that she could think of throughout her training. Her heart began to pound as he leaned over her. “I-Isn’t t-this a b-bit c-corny?” She stuttered as he looked deep into her eyes. “So what?” He smirked. “N-Nath...” She breathed heavily as her face turned bright red. “Alana...” His voice was a low, kind, growl as he looked at her lips. She tilted her head up and bit her lip. Nathaniel looked at her lovingly and lowered his lips onto hers, kissing her softly. Her mind went blank as she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeper. The temperature in the area quickly rose as the kiss became more and more passionate. Their lips would part only to crash back into each other with more heat and longing, as if this moment was the one they had been dreaming of for years. She wanted him to go further, not caring if they were in the public eye, she needed him. “This isn’t the right time!” the voice in her head piped up. “SHUT UP!” She quickly thought back as she wrapped one arm around Nathaniel’s hips and pressed him against her. She could feel him getting harder and harder as they kissed. “A-Alana... N-Not y-yet...” He weakly stuttered as he took a small step back, a strand of saliva still connecting their mouths. “O-Of course.” Alana quietly sighed as she caught her breath. He took a minute to breathe and stared at her, a warm, sweet, smile spreading across his face. 

★

“Are you really sure you wanna watch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them this week?” Alana asked as she and Nathaniel washed the dishes from that night’s dinner. Alana had made Steak Au Poivre from a web series she enjoyed and they had both cleaned their plates. Nathaniel didn’t partake in the glass of Johnny Walker Blue Label that she paired the meal with, and she had found the 200 gold bottle of Scotch to be rather bitter. However, she did it to be accurate to the web series. “We’ve been watching Marvel and DC the past few weeks. Its something different and I wanna know why you’ve got that bird tattooed to your back.” Nathaniel explained as he finished washing the dishes he was working on. “I get that. But, you’ve never been one to watch Harry Potter.” Alana mused. “I’ve never been one to watch superhero movies, but I still do because of you and Armin.” Nathaniel chuckled. “I’m really grateful you do that.” Alana blushed as she finished the last dish and hugged him. “They can be fun.” Nathaniel admitted as he kissed her forehead. She lead him over to the couch, grabbed a remote and got to the movie’s menu. He laid down and motioned for her to join him. She grabbed a large blanket, laid down with him, using his chest as a pillow, and draped the blanket over the two of them. “I love you Nathaniel.” She thought. She still didn’t know what shady stuff he had gotten himself into, just that he didn’t want to bring her into it. She knew that he knew she could easily get him out of it and that she could protect him, but he had made it clear that he wanted her to focus on her recovery and second metamorphosis. What she did know was that he was thoroughly enjoying the little “dates” with her. They hadn’t officially gotten back together, but their inner circles knew that it was only a matter of time. 

As the movie played on, she relaxed into his chest and held his hand. She could hear his heart begin to pound as he ran his thumb over her fingers. When Frank the Thunderbird came onto the screen, she sat up and a look of wonder and adoration filled her eyes. Nathaniel quickly looked at the screen, watched the fantastic beast fly over New York City, then turned his gaze to Alana. The look in his eyes was one filled to the brim with love. He sat up, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. “You’re being awfully affectionate.” She purred as the end credits began rolling and he kissed her neck. “I’ve missed you.” He mused. “I’ve missed you too.” She cooed as she maneuvered herself so that she was straddling him and began kissing him. Shock flashed across his face for a split second as he tilted his head and put one arm around her back and the other near her ass. Her hands began running along his body, allowing her to memorize every inch she touched. She could feel her core becoming hotter by the second. “Alana...” He growled, hungrily. “Nath... C-Could I p-possibly show y-you how much I’ve m-missed you?” She asked, nervously. Nathaniel thought for a minute and nodded. Alana stood up and held her hand out to him. “Come on.” She cooed as she led him upstairs.

When they got to her bedroom, she took her glasses off, set them down on her bedside table, turned to him, threw her arms around him and began kissing him deeply. Her tongue intertwined with his, begging him for permission to let her continue. He wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss. She could feel his pelvis against hers, his length getting harder and harder. Her core was set ablaze with desire, yearning for his touch. When their lips parted, she bit her lip, rested her hands on the top of his pants and looked at him hopefully. “Are you sure?” He asked. “Yes.” The word left her mouth quickly and conviction. “Alright, but... We’re going to take this slow.” Nathaniel purred. Alana pulled a condom and a bottle of clear lube out of one of the bedside tables, set them on top of the table, and turned on romantic music. “Okay.” She mused. He slowly pulled her shirt over her head, off her arms, and threw it on the ottoman. She grabbed the bottom of his shirt, pulled it off and tossed it on top of hers. “Fuck. I’ll never get over seeing him shirtless.” She thought. “Miss Roster? Are you actually drooling?” He chuckled as he caught her staring at him. “Of course not!” She scoffed and turned away. “After all this time...” He cooed. “Always.” She purred. She unbuttoned her pants, slid them down her legs, got closer to the bed and looked at him with pleading eyes. He kept eye contact with her and bit his lip as he leisurely undid his belt, unbuttoned his pants, slid his pants down his legs and kicked them off. “You switched from black to green.” She commented as she stared at his underwear. “And you’ve switched from blue to black. I was kind of hoping you’d still have that lacy green set you had a long time ago.” He remarked. “My Slytherin panties? I had to get new ones... My ass got bigger and more muscular.” She laughed. “Oh, really?” He raised an eyebrow. “And if you’re a good little boy, you’ll get to see them one day.” She shot. “I can’t wait.” He winked. 

She stood up, pushed him back and got on her knees. He gave her an inquisitive look as she pulled his underwear down around his ankles, revealing his length. She ran her hands along his shaft and kissed the tip. “God I’ve missed this.” She thought as she began peppering his cock with sweet little kisses. “Alana...” He growled with slight impatience. “Now Nathaniel... You said you wanted to take this slowly.” She smirked. As she began licking his length, he started to sigh and moan with pleasure. His moans were music to her ears, while her tongue stroked each and every spot on his cock, she listened to his sweet sounds with great reverence. “Fuck.” He sighed when she flicked her tongue across his base. As she licked and sucked, she couldn’t help but bring her free hand between her legs, playing with her hot, wet, core as she pumped him in and out of her mouth. “Alana, fuck, please, have mercy and let me play with you.” Nathaniel begged as he struggled to remain standing. “As you wish.” She replied as she gave him a final lick and licked her lips. He knelt down to her, started nibbling her earlobes, quickly unhooked her bra, slid the straps off her arms and tossed it aside. “Did they get bigger?” He asked as he held her breasts in his hands. “Final growth spurt. I got bust instead of the height I wanted.” She clarified as he pushed her down on the bed and got on top of her. “Lucky me. I’m the only one who gets to see you like this.” He smirked as he took one sensitive point in his mouth and the other in his fingers. Alana couldn’t help but gasp as he took turns running his tongue over her nipples. “Fuck, I’ve missed this.” she thought as he lightly scratched her breasts, leaving a trail of marks and kisses as he made his way down to her panties. “Now, let me properly show you how much I’ve missed you.” He grinned. Alana looked down at him, his head right above her slick core, his fingers looping themselves in her panties; she instinctively lifted her ass, he pulled them down and tossed them aside. “Thank god I shaved that recently!” she couldn’t help but think. Less than a second later, his head was between her legs and his tongue was stroking her. “Nath! Fuck!” She gasped as her head fell back. With each and every lick and sucking motion, she moaned and ran her hands through his hair. “Oh, god!” she moaned as she pulled his head down on her. When he stopped licking, she let go of his hair, he tilted his head up and licked his lips. “You’ve never held my head down there before.” he remarked as he brought himself above her. “I have really fucking missed you Nathaniel.” she conceded as she bucked herself against him. “You know? I should feel honored to be allowed to do this to “the great Grim Reaper”... Instead I can’t help but feel satisfaction at the fact that I’m still the only one who has permission to please you, my sweet Melody.” He purred as he walked over to his jacket, pulled out a condom, took the wrapper off and slid the condom on his length.

“Nath... Please... I need you!” She pleaded as she spread her legs and he walked over to her. He plunged two fingers into her, pulled them out, then licked them. Alana moaned and lightly arched her back. “Have I mentioned how you’re the only sweet thing I truly love to consume?” he smirked. “Cocky little shit. Such and ass!” she thought. “Please. Please my love. I want you!” She begged. “As you wish.” He cooed as he positioned himself over her on the bed and plunged himself into her. “NATH! OH MY GOD!” She yelled as she arched her back and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. She put her hands on his back, pulling him into her, and leaving scratches down his shoulder blades. “That’s my girl. Take it all in.” He growled as he thrust in and out of her, taking time to bite and suck her neck at every opportunity. “Nath, at this rate, I won’t be able to cover that up.” Alana gasped between moans. “Good. I want the world to know you’re back to being mine, just as I’m back to being yours.” He moaned. Their moans continued to grow louder and louder until Alana brought Nathaniel’s ear to her mouth. “I want on top now.” she whispered. “But we’re so close.” Nathaniel pondered. “Yes, and I want you as deep inside me as possible when we cum.” she responded. “Yes ma’am.” Nathaniel replied as he put his arms around her, rolled them over, and let her position herself on top of him. “Fuck you’re radiant.” he sighed.  Alana grinned as she lifted herself above him, his length still inside her core, and brought herself down on him. “FUCK!” he moaned as his head fell back and he grabbed her ass. “That’s more like it!” she beamed as she bucked her hips. “You do realize, I love seeing you when you moan. I can’t do that so much when you’re on top.” she moaned. Once again, their moans began to grow louder and more frequent. “Alana.” “Nathaniel.” “Fuck.” “Oh god!” Nathaniel moved his hands from her ass to her breasts then back to her ass as he tried his best to lightly thrust as her hips bucked. “OH GOD!” she yelled. As their bodies synced up in rapid movement, they were both overcome with ecstatic pleasure. “ALANA!” “NATHANIEL!” they screamed as they rode out each other’s highs, their moans and sighs beginning to slow down. They looked at each other for several minutes. “I love you Alana.” Nathaniel grinned, weakly. “I love you too Nathaniel.” Alana sighed affectionately as she knelt down and kissed him.

Alana dismounted Nathaniel and walked to the bathroom for a few minutes. After she finished washing her hands, she looked at herself in the mirror and noticed her neck covered in hickies and bite marks. “You know? A normal person would be ashamed of these. But in this case, they really are badges of honor.” she thought as a massive smile spread across her face. Nathaniel poked his head into the bathroom, curiously. “Did you fall in?” he asked, jokingly. “No, I was just looking at the marks you left on me my love.” She beamed, walked over to him and kissed him. They walked back into the bedroom. Nathaniel grabbed his underwear as Alana walked over to her desk, picked up her choker, turned it over, opened the pouch on the back and let the little silver ring fall into her hand. “Is that the ring I gave you at the airport when you left for Toronto?” Nathaniel asked, shocked. “Yes. I’ve had it with me for every training session, every mission. It’s the reason why I wear chokers. I keep the ring inside them to protect it and still have it on me.” Alana explained. “Oh, Alana...” Nathaniel purred as he walked over to her and took the ring out of her hand. “You know? Now that we’re back together, its rightful place is back on my finger.” she encouraged. Nathaniel blushed, bit his lip, and slipped the ring onto her left ring finger. “That is where I meant for it to stay.” He mused as he looked deep into her eyes. “I never wanted to take it off... But you know I had to.” Her voice began to crack, a hint of sadness had creeped its way into her tone. “It’s okay. Its back to where it belongs.” He grinned. 

★

The following morning, the pair showered, got dressed, ate breakfast and went to the Black Tower’s lobby together. Alana had decided to wear black leggings, a dark blue skirt, a black t-shirt with the TARDIS on it, black socks and black flats that day. There was a spring in her step and stars in her eyes. To say she had a positive charge would have been an understatement. Her heart had been restored, one part of Project Thunderbird accomplished, and she was one major step closer to having what she truly wanted in life. She wanted to shout it from the rooftops that she was closer to becoming “human” again. Of course, she knew she wasn’t allowed to do that, and that it would have alarmed everyone who would have noticed how “out of character” it was. “Looks like our Mels had an overnight visitor!” Renee laughed as she and Derek walked into the lobby holding coffee from the Cozy Bear Café. “Is your five year long dry spell finally over?” Derek laughed. Nathaniel’s body language stiffened and he began to blush. A wave of confidence rushed through Alana as she noticed a dark eyed, silver haired, woman staring down at them from one of the upper floors. “That’s right! We’re, officially, back together.” She beamed. “Is that true?” Derek asked Nathaniel. “Yeah.” He smiled. Alana turned to the woman. “YOU HEAR THAT YOU OLD BITCH?! I GOT BACK WHAT YOU FORCED ME TO GIVE UP!” Her voice boomed. Nathaniel looked shocked as he stared at the woman. “Mels! I know you’re happy that you get to put this nail in her coffin, but please don’t antagonize Azrael!” Renee shot. “What is she going to do? Torture me? She’s already done enough of that!” Alana laughed. “She’s got a point. Azrael literally has no power over her anymore.” Derek pointed out as he took a sip of his coffee. “Not the point. Azrael still has power over a certain amount of people here. We don’t need her to go AWOL. That wouldn’t be good for anyone.” Renee sighed. Alana rolled her eyes. “You know I’m right.” Renee snapped. “Yeah, yeah. I know. I’m not sorry.” Alana sarcastically waved as she and Nathaniel walked towards the door. 

Nathaniel looked at the streets and shivered. “Nath? Are you okay?” Alana asked, concerned. “Y-Yeah... I’ll walk you to class, but then I’ve gotta go.” His voice became depressed. He checked his phone and noticed at least three missed calls. Two from Officer Ward, and one from an unknown number. “Nath...” Alana’s voice turned wary. “I’ll be okay. I’m not ready to tell you yet.” He attempted to grin. “Why not? If you’re in trouble, I can and will protect you. If someone is threatening you, I’ll have no issue in dealing with them.” Alana cooed. “I don’t want them to come after you... I don’t want them to think they can use me to get to you, or that they can even try to use you to get me to do what they want.” Nathaniel’s voice broke. “But, Nath, surely you know that I’m protected. Many have tried to kill me, but none of them have succeeded.” She put her hand on his arm, reassuringly. “They are dangerous Alana... And with your desires... They might think its okay...” He muttered. “Who are they? Nath, please tell me!” She urged. Nathaniel shook his head and looked at her with pain in his eyes. “I promise I’ll tell you... Just not yet...” He insisted. Alana looked down, her heart visibly breaking. “N-Nath...” She stuttered. Nathaniel mustered up a hint of confidence and kissed her forehead. “As it is, you’re always taking care of other people... You really need to take care of yourself right now.” He purred. Alana was not convinced. She knew it would only take one order for her to find out what was actually going on with him, but she reminded herself that she made a vow to only act after he told her what he had gotten himself into on his own. She thought for a minute before looking at him with conviction. “Promise me you’ll tell me what it is before you get hurt!” She demanded. Nathaniel’s eyes widened. “Just promise me that for now! I can’t bear to lose you!” She begged. Tears came to Nathaniel’s eyes, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. “I promise. You won’t lose me.” He sniffled. She could tell he felt like he was lying to her, but what he didn’t know was the lengths she’d go to ensure his safety. Her mind wandered to the orders she had set in place to protect the ones she loved. She had modified Nathaniel’s order to include Amber a few weeks prior, and was not expecting to need to adjust it anymore after that. However, his attitude made it clear that she may need to work behind his back to ensure that his enemies won’t have a chance at taking him away from her. “I might have to implement Protocol 216 early... And possibly modify it...” She thought as they began walking towards Anteros Academy.

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This is a rewrite of the blurb “It’s About Time!!”. I’ve been wanting to rewrite that for a while now.

A good amount of it is simply bits from “It’s About Time!!” that were copied and pasted to this one... A lot has changed, but some of the actual sex bit were what I wanted to begin with....

Whereas “It’s About Time!!” was a bit of a standalone, this chapter slightly leads into “Confession”.