#but yeah ran into issues restarted once again

[victorluvsalice]

Hey, you know how I tried to restart Fallout 4 properly around my birthday with a new Victor save? Yeah, uh, ran into a few issues with crashes and whatnot and had to start again! Fortunately, after much fiddling and poking and whatnot, I seem to have finally gotten myself a save that’s at least somewhat stable, so this here should be my final Victor Sole Survivor to go through the game with. Allow me to go through some of the pertinent points of my playthrough with you:

Appearance: Yeah, I had to redo him again -- at least this time I’m a bit happier with the eye spacing. He’s always going to look rather weird simply because I’m trying to translate a Tim Burton character into flesh, but I think I did a pretty good job under the circumstances!

...As for his fashion sense, he found the chestpiece and whatnot in a suitcase by Sanctuary, and the hat gives him +1 Intelligence and thus is giving me a bit more experience for his early quests. He’s not here to look good, he’s here to level up.

Stats: I ended up having to tweak his SPECIAL, mostly because I forgot just how many points you get at the beginning, and because I wanted to pivot slightly with how I designed his build. Here’s what he started out with:

Strength: 3

Perception: 3

Endurance: 7

Charisma: 2

Intelligence: 7

Agility: 4

Luck: 2

He’s still a high Endurance/Intelligence build, but I’ve decided that Agility is probably going to be his third “main” stat, because perks like “Moving Target” (harder to hit when you’re sprinting) make sense for him. (I mean, dodging like crazy was how he survived so long against Barkis!) I’ve already boosted it twice -- once with the You’re SPECIAL! book that you can find in Shaun’s room, and once through a level-up. I’ve also boosted his Perception thanks to the bobblehead in the Museum of Freedom. As for perks, he’s currently level 5, so I have the following:

Scrapper Level 1 (scavenge more uncommon components from scrapping things)

Gun Nut Level 1 (basic gun mods)

Armorer Level 1 (basic armor mods)

Given Victor’s whole “thing” in this universe is that he’s something of a tinkerer and good at modding things, this felt appropriate. :p

Mods: Because it’s not recommended to play without them! Certainly not without the fixes. . . Anyway, my complete mod list as of now is below, if you’re curious. I did try to vaguely group them into “these mods are part of the same category and/or go together,” but it’s not perfect. Still, if you see anything you find interesting, feel free to go to the link and check it out!

Fallout 4 Script Extender (https://f4se.silverlock.org/): Allows for script changes, enables certain other mods and serves as my game launcher through Vortex

Achievements Mod Enabler (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/15639): Enables achievements in a modded game; requires manual install (extract files into Fallout 4 folder)

Mod Configuration Menu (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/21497/): Adds a menu for configuring compatible mods; uses F4SE

Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4598): General bugfixes and small improvements

Crafting Highlight Fix (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/27479): Removes the crafting “highlights” overlay so you can actually see your items while crafting; uses F4SE and requires MCM (to adjust things like how power armor pieces are highlighted)

Elevator Buttons Fix (Contraptions) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/20664): Fixes floating elevator buttons from Contraptions (buttons can appear miles from the actual control panel)

Rusty Face Fix (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/31028): Fixes the rusty face glitch that may occur with the PC and NPCs (turning faces brown)

Nuka-World Bottle Scenery Fix (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/17853): Fixes the giant bottles that can sometimes spawn in Nuka World instead of the regular-sized models, completely obscuring the game world

No Aggro Impact Landing (Power Armor) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/9019): Stops friendly characters getting aggroed if you jump from a great height and land near them in Power Armor

Vault 81 Molerat Disease Immunity with Power Armor and Hazmat (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/5646): Stops you getting infected with the Molerat Disease if you're wearing full power armor (chance of infection goes up with each missing piece of armor), or if your companion gets bit; lesser chance of infection if you're wearing a hazmat suit

CryoFreez Fix (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/10000): Fixes the bug where, if an enemy dies as a result of the Cryolater or other cryo-based weapons, they will respawn in a weird “dead” state with no AI

Cattle Feeders Immersively Filled (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/11998): Two files; first adds a filled water trough for brahmin to use, second fills the vanilla feed trough with plants

Worthwhile Caps Stashes (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23464): Increases the amount of caps in stash and have them contain other junk items; also makes the stash tin itself a junk item

Piper Interview Restored (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/21829): Restores some cut questions post Piper’s interview about your pre-war life

Dumpster Diving (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/33474): Adds new containers to open dumpsters with new and amusing junk to collect

More Grind-Free Game Settings (from Thuggyfied – A Fallout 4 Mod List) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/41435): Removes the need to get “Local Leader” Rank 2 to make crafting benches; quest markers display from five times further away; followers no longer auto-attack non-hostile Radstags; settlers run to the summoning bell; Jet doesn’t show up in pre-War coolers and containers (just Vault 95); pipe weapons no longer show up in Pre-War safes or trunks; ability to craft a “Jetpack Ring” at the chem station (I mainly got this for the first two items)

Useful Pulse and Cryo Explosives 1.1b (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/24848): Tweaks the cryo grenade’s damage output and fixes the “dead enemy AI respawn bug” for cryo grenades; tweaks how the pulse grenade works, making it affect robots and turrets more strongly and removing damage to organic enemies (though the explosion can still stagger them); also changes the crafting recipes

Wasteland Survival Guide 5 - More Map Markers (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/26367): Changes Wasteland Survival Guide #5 (available in Gorski Cabin) to mark not only Diamond City, but also Goodneighbor, the Glowing Sea, Boston Airport, and Quincy

Strong Back Improved – Weightless Equipped Apparel (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/17361): Improves the “Strong Back” perk to first halve the weight of worn apparel, then make it entirely weightless, and give more carry capacity out of Power Armor

Diamond City Plus (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/19293): Updates Diamond City with new shacks and interiors to the lower stands (including an arcade and a laundry!), along with new NPCs to populate them; also adds a proper farm with brahmin and chickens by the mutfuit plants

Commonwealth Wilderness Overhaul (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/41008): Adds lots of little scenes, objects, and creatures (including rad rabbits, rad chickens, and wolves) to the Commonwealth Wilderness to fill it out and make it more interesting

Nuka World Open Season Extend II -- Assignable Factions - Recruitable NPCs (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/47209): Allows you, post- the “Open Season” quest, to attract settlers to Nuka-World who can then be sent to regular settlements, and populate the parks and main market area with more traders, or various faction NPCs! (So if you really want the Minutemen to hold Nuka World after you gun everybody down, you can use this – though if you want them to come and HELP you gun everybody down, you need a different mod)

Flashy(JoeR) - Advanced Needs 2 - Customizable Survival Mode (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/40440): A customizable “survival mode” that allows you to play with a character who needs to eat, drink, and sleep periodically without necessarily dealing with some of Survival Mode’s other stuff (namely, the lack of fast travel in my case). Comes with expansions for being a playable ghoul, food spoilage, and other activities if you’re into that, and a patch for “Campsite – Simple Wasteland Camping” so you can use the two together.

Sunshine Tidings – No Ghoul and No Corpse (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/47044): Will eventually remove ghoul and human corpses from Sunshine; assigns Professor Goodfeels protected status if he hasn't already been disabled

Croup Manor Waterfront Extended (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/47144): Adds another chunk to Croup Manor's building area so you can actually access the water on the nearby beach for purifiers and whatnot

CWSS Redux V4 – Craftable Working Showers Sinks Baths Toilets Urinals Kitchens Etc (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/14326): Adds craftable, usable bathroom equipment and some kitchen equipment in a separate workshop menu so the Sole Survivor, companions, and settlers can go to the toilet, shower, and have pretty kitchens

Vault-Tec Workshop Overhaul Redux (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/43643): Fixes some errors with the Vault-Tec DLC items for Vault 88 and adds newer, better versions for some other items (e.g., better lights, in three variations depending on computer specs)

Wearable Backpacks and Pouches (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/3258): Adds a backpack workbench and a variety of upgradable backpacks to the game (three files – standard, ballistic weave addon, power armor capacity addon)

Campsite – Simple Wasteland Camping (and HD Sleeping Bags) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/11734): Adds a book to Sanctuary (the root cellar) that allows you to make camping gear at the chem station and set up camp in the Commonwealth whenever you want

The Mobile Mechanic – Portable Workbenches and Junk Scrapping (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/18262/): Allows you to make a portable, customizable workbench for scrapping junk and in-game crafting anywhere

Atelier – Paint and sculpt (Unsupported) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/36485): Allows you to make and mix paint, paint pictures (for the "Well Rested" XP bonus), and work on a sculpture; also has settler-ready versions to increase happiness in settlements. Unsupported and glitchy ("Well Rested" perk sound will play incessantly if you try to paint, with the animation popping up when you disengage from the easel – keeping this mainly for the look of the thing for Victor’s house)

Fallout Instrument Pack (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/46604): Adds four playable instruments to the game, along with a small (and unfortunately bit glitchy) quest to unlock the ability to craft them; also has two new instrument-themed weapons

New Recipes (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/12276): 60-ish new recipes added into the standard categories, with unique effects and healing (like new teas under Beverages)

Fine Dining (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/33128): Adds a “Fine Dining” section to the cooking menu with six new recipes, with strong effects that require a (reusable) steel plate as well as the food; also adds milk and cheese as items to be found in the world

Culinary Masterpieces – Useful Food (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/16055): Adds a “Culinary Masterpieces” section to the cooking menu with new recipes, and the ability to plant tarberries, hubflower, bloodleaf, and rice (after buying it from the Abernathys)

Apple Trees 3.2 (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/40388): Adds an apple and pear orchard to the game near Vault 111, and a “Fruit Recipes” section to the cooking menu for apple and pear-based food; also you can grow apples and pears for food in settlements

Tales From The Commonwealth (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8704): Extended quests and companions mod – features new characters, new locations, and new quests across the Commonwealth, along with three new companions (contains additional file for DLC commentary from the new companions)

Tales From The Commonwealth Visual Fixes (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/43974): Patch to fix some of the broken precombines and visual bugs from TFTC

Tales From The Commonwealth – FaceGen Data (For PhysOp or Vanilla) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/45148): Patch to help provide face generation data for TFTC; vanilla file used

We Are The Minutemen (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/6443): Overhauls the Minutemen, giving Preston a new outfit, making patrols more common and more powerful as you level up, giving you a command table to make Minutemen, and cools down the frequency of radiant quests

Better Companions – No Conflicts (Accuracy Version) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/24233): Improves companions – in particular, making them more accurate and better at sneaking

Settler and Companion Dialogue Overhaul (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/41785): Increases the variety of companion lines while adventuring; gives certain companions their own radiant quests; gives settlers more variety in what they say to you while visiting settlements (acknowledging you as Minutemen General, complaining less)

Realistic Conversations Fallout 4 (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/32514): Makes conversations between NPCs more realistic, adds variety

Settlers Of The Commonwealth (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8704): Adds unique new settlers to the Commonwealth that you can recruit

Level 4 Merchants Improved (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/40747): Puts all the level 4 merchants you can find and recruit in the Dugout Inn for easier location; also assigns protected status to certain ones that might otherwise easily die (like the Vault-Tec Rep)

Squirrels of the Commonwealth (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/20027): Adds a variety of (surprisingly tough) squirrels; using the “docile” version that adds Garbage Squirrels but makes most squirrels run away if you shoot them

True Storms – Wasteland Edition (Thunder-Rain-Weather Redone) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4472): Improved weather, with more intense thunderstorms and whatnot; also has files for earlier sunsets, compatibility with Far Harbor and Nuka World, and (if you want, I didn’t) more dangerous Far Harbor fogs and Glowing Sea

Atomic Radio (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8704): New radio station with original radio shows and commercials

Where I Am In The Game: Given Victor’s only level five, you’ve probably guessed I’ve only just started -- and you’d be right! Victor’s about five days into his adventures in the Commonwealth, and has spent that time mainly cleaning up Sanctuary and the Red Rocket, meeting Dogmeat and Preston, killing raiders, and molotoving and machine-gunning a Deathclaw to death. I’ve completed Out of Time and When Freedom Calls for quests, and I’m currently working on Sanctuary before moving onto The First Step. Next playsession, Victor and Codsworth are going to go visit the apple orchard on the other side of Vault 111 and get some apples for everyone! And probably fight a bear! :D What, the gang needs food, and I want to give them more variety than gourds and melons.

What Comes Next: While I hope to actually start the main plot a lot sooner than I did in my original attempt at playing, we’re definitely doing some Minutemen stuff first, plus exploring the general area around Sanctuary so I can pick up that “double meat” magazine. Think of it as Victor getting his hand in as he tries to figure out how to survive in this brave new world.

[mochegato]

Well, Well, Well, If It Isn’t the Consequences of My Actions

Continuation of Truth Be Told

Marinette was still trying to parse through the events of the previous night.  Time, advice from Tikki, sleep, hysterical laughter, and the alcohol she’d drunk as soon as she’d gotten home hadn’t really helped.  To make it worse, Adrien had noticed something was up with her and had followed her to her studio so he could make sure she was okay, so she hadn’t been able to continue her breakdown in peace, because that would mean explaining the previous night to him.  And although Red H… Jason may have issues with secret identities, she did not.

She looked at her notice-free phone again with a sigh.  Maybe she should restart it.  Maybe he had tried calling or texting, but her phone wasn’t working correctly.  That had happened before, right?  That would explain why he hadn’t tried to contact her yet. Or, maybe with a more sober mind, he had decided he really wasn’t that interested.  Or!  Or he didn’t remember her.  Maybe he didn’t remember anything about her and was staring at his own phone right now in utter confusion about why her number was in it.

She was brought out of her spiral by the sound of the bell over the door.  “Sorry we’re…” she started until she saw who it was, “…closed.”  Her breath caught for a second when Jason smiled charmingly at her. “Oh no, no, no, no,” she muttered to herself, glancing over at Adrien nervously.  This could not be happening right now.  He was supposed to call or text.  Not… how did he even know where she would be?  Damned bats.

Adrien perked up from his spot grading students’ papers, an incredulous grin on his lips.  “Oh my God, please tell me that’s Rose’s boy that you told to fuck off. Can I get rid of him, please?  I haven’t gotten to be destructive in a while.”

Marinette wrinkled her face in disgust at the idea of seeing that guy again.  “No! He happened after,” she said getting up to meet Jason.

“You ran into him after your date?  How dare you not tell me about him!” Adrien hissed at her as she walked away.

She turned around to face him as she walked away. “Oh, I dare,” she hissed back.

“Is he why you’ve been so off today?” he whisper yelled.

“Weren’t you going to go get some coffee?  Now?” She called back.

Adrien looked between the two of them and raised an eyebrow at Marinette making sure she really wanted to be left alone with this guy who was easily as big as her dad.  “Yeah.  I need… caffeine apparently.  Something for you too?”  She nodded at him, but kept her eyes on Jason.  “Hey guy I’m suspiciously not allowed to talk to, you want anything from the coffee shop?”

Jason’s eyes flicked over to him for a few seconds to shake his head.  “No, thank you.  I’m fine.”

“Yeah, you are,” Marinette whispered to herself, not anticipating Adrien passing by just then on his way out the door.  

“Heard that,” he grinned before leaving.  

Marinette glared at him but quickly returned her gaze to Jason.  Once she was sure Adrien had gone and couldn’t hear them, Marinette finally broke the silence.  “I was expecting a call or a text,” she said carefully.  “Not that I mind the in-person appearance,” she added quickly.  “It was just… unexpected,” she finished awkwardly.

“I could have sworn you said to meet you at your work,” Jason said a little more innocently than was natural.  Marinette smiled, but quickly schooled her expression and shook her head.  Jason smiled back and shrugged.  “Huh, must be the memory lapses.  Kind of hazy.  Things come in and out.”  He knocked his knuckles against his head lightly.

Marinette raised an eyebrow.  “Is that so?”

“Yep,” he nodded popping the P.  His smile morphed into a smirk.

“Poor you,” she pouted in mock sympathy.  “Then I don't suppose you remember the proposal.”

Jason's smirk dropped. This time his wide eyes looked completely natural and believable. “Proposal?” he asked apprehensively.

“Yeah, the proposal,” she prompted him.  “Don't tell me you forgot about it,” she continued, her own eyes going wide to match his and her voice turning timid.  “You said you didn't have a ring on you, but you couldn't imagine living another day without me.  You wanted to get married as soon as possible.  Oh no.”  She gasped quietly for effect.  “You have forgotten.”

Jason blinked a few times.  He was doing a masterful job of containing any outward signs of his panic.  Marinette could just barely see a few flickers in his eyes that he quickly tamped out.  “What? No!  No, no, no.  That’s just… No, no, not at all,” he stammered.  “It's just, that's so…” he chuckled nervously, “so not like me.  I'm just... impressed how, uh… how bold I was,” he offered.

Marinette watched him closely for a few seconds before she burst out laughing.  Jason's jaw dropped to the floor.  “You were joking,” he observed in awe.  Marinette couldn't answer.  She was gasping too hard for breath, doubled over and grasping her sides.  “Oh thank God.  I want to be mad but I'm just too grateful. Shit, you almost gave me a heart attack.”

Marinette grinned at him when her laughs finally edged down to chuckles.  “Well, that seems fair.  You almost gave me quite a few last night.  And your brother, I think.”

Jason grimaced.  “Was I that bad?”

Marinette quirked her head to the side in thought. “No, not bad.  Just… like when you just kind of stared at me for a few minutes, without saying anything, which apparently was because you were impressed but I thought it was because you were a serial killer.”  Jason chuckled lightly and bobbed his head in apology.  “Or when you revealed your face, no mask.  Or, when you told me your full name and your brother’s first name, and that he was your brother.”  

Jason winced at that revelation.  That would explain the dagger he was almost too sluggish to dodge this morning.  And the glares and lecture on the importance of security and identities.  “Maybe not my finest moment,” he conceded as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Marinette giggled at that.  “Maybe not, but you were extremely drugged and extremely endearing.”  She looked down, a light blush settling on her cheeks.  “And very complimentary.”  

“Well, that’s good at least.  I don’t really remember anything I said.”  He rubbed the back of his neck and shuffled his feet, looking around the store instead of at her.  “So, did you want to talk about last night?” he offered a bit more casually than was natural.

Marinette could see the discomfort in his eyes even if they weren’t pointed at her.  She smiled kindly at him, hoping it would put him at ease.  “Why?  You worried that you said something embarrassing?” she teased lightly.  “You didn’t.”

“Not really,” he shrugged and looked back at her and relaxed into a charming smile.  “I don't embarrass that easily.  And if I said anything I should be embarrassed about, you wouldn't have given me your number.”

Marinette scoffed at him and leaned against the table they were next to.  “I gave you my number, so you’d stop giving me clues to your identity… and your brother’s.  Didn’t work. You were quite determined.”

“I must have thought you were worth it,” Jason smiled. “High me is a very astute me.”  Marinette blushed at the sincerity in his eyes. How was he still this charming even when he wasn’t blitzed out of his mind?  “But,” he continued with renewed vigor, “if I’d done anything too bad, you would have told me already, or kicked me out.”

Marinette laughed lightly.  “Well, you’re not wrong.”  She looked back up after a beat with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.  “So, the background check on me is complete then? You’re allowed to interact with me now.”

Jason rolled his eyes and leaned closer to her over the table.  “I mean, the blood sample results were good.  Your cholesterol is a little high, by the way,” he started thoughtfully.  “It was kind of you to donate though.  Very conscientious.  And you really should call your parents.  It’s been a few days.”  Marinette paled significantly as he continued to speak.  Jason grinned.  “And we have an appointment to talk to your first boyfriend.”

Marinette rolled her eyes and let out a relieved laugh. “You reached for the sun with that one and your wings melted.”  He looked at her questioningly.  “He would have told me if he had an interview with anyone.  We talk a lot.  Not to mention why do that when you could just interview him in person.  He’ll be in town for his tour next week anyway.”

“Wait… really?”

“You didn’t even know who it was?” Marinette laughed.

“I’m sure my family have been doing extensive research on you and they probably know, but I didn’t have anything to do with it. If there was anything bad, they would tell me, otherwise I want to find out from you,” he answered sincerely and taking her hand.  “The only thing I know about you is your name and that’s only because you put it in my phone. I had a vague recollection of what you looked like and being incredibly impressed with you, but that’s pretty much it. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to come down in person, to see if…” he searched for the best way to finish the thought.

Marinette nodded.  “To see if the chemistry was as good as you remember?  To see if it was still good when you weren’t drugged?” she offered nervously.

“Yeah,” Jason agreed.  “You too?”

Marinette took a breath and looked back up at him through her lashes, giving his hand a squeeze.  “Yeah.  I was nervous it was all because of the drugs.”

Jason gave her a relieved smile.  At least he wasn’t the only one nervous about it.  He wasn’t alone in this.  She was navigating it with him.  He squeezed her hand back.  “So,” he started, leaning back to give her a roguish grin, but keeping a grip on her hand, “who is the ex-boyfriend on tour?”

“Luka Couffaine.”

“Guitarist for Jagged Stone!” he exclaimed loudly, his eyes wide in surprise.

“Yeah.  I mean he wasn’t at the time.  But now, yes.”  Her eyes shone with mirth at his awed expression.  “Did you want to meet him?”

“What?  No! That’s… that would be weird, wanting to meet your girlfriend’s ex and his dad.  That’s just…”

“I didn’t mention his dad,” she cut him off knowingly.  “And… girlfriend?”  He gave her a sheepish look and looked down.  He opened his mouth to say something in response but she cut him off with laughter.  “So, that’s a yes then?”

“I mean… if you’re offering,” he tried to say casually.

“I see.  This whole thing was just an elaborate scam so you could meet Jagged Stone,” she pouted in mock offense.  She looked past him and smiled.

Jason rolled his eyes and he leaned onto the counter so he was just a few inches from her.  “You caught me.  I exposed my secret identity just so I could meet a rock star.”  Marinette’s eyes instantly widened and her body went rigid.

“Secret identity?” Adrien asked as he set down her coffee cup next to Marinette.

Jason froze.  “I… didn’t realize he was back.”

“You are shit at secret identities,” Marinette hissed to him.  “Even when you aren’t high you can’t keep one.”

“I…’m still under the effects?” he offered with a wince.  

“And you couldn’t have waited to come see me until it has dissipated?” she groaned.

“No, I couldn’t wait to see you,” he said instantly, looking deeply in her eyes.

“Oh… um… okay,” she stuttered.  Her cheeks flushed deeply.  “I… would have thought it would be gone by now,” she finished quietly.

“Nope.  Still lingering.”  He made a vague motion toward his body.

“Yeah, go with that when your brothers find out.” Marinette sighed.  “Why do they let you go undercover if you’re so bad at hiding your identity?” she asked a bit louder.

Jason’s eyes scrunched in confusion.

“Isn’t that like first day at the academy?” She continued.  She made a subtle rolling motion with her hands so only he could see it.

His eyes widened in realization.  “I think I missed that day.  Police training is pretty boring… and corrupt.”

Adrien scoffed and threw his arm over her shoulder. “Bullshit.  You just don’t want to lose the bet.  Also, backdoor, no bell.”

“Fucking backdoor,” Jason grumbled looking down and shaking his head.  He looked back up at Marinette with a raised eyebrow that she didn’t see because she was glaring at Adrien.  “Bet?”

“There is no bet,” Marinette rushed to assure him.

“That she’d date another hero,” Adrien explained, pointedly ignoring her glare.  “I’m Adrien by the way.  I’m her…” he stopped to think about his next words.  “We really need to come up with a term for it.  I’m her in no way sexual or romantic life partner?”

Marinette rolled her eyes.  “I thought we agreed on pseudo brother.”

“Right, right,” Adrien nodded.  “That puts me above Alya, so I like it.  But I still like mine better.”

“If I can interrupt,” Jason cut in, “Jason, nice to meet you.  And, another?”

“Also, he’s not a hero!” Marinette objected at the same time.

“How many heroes have you dated?  And she’s not wrong, I’m not a hero,” Jason added.

“Ooh, vigilante then.” Adrien nodded.  He started mentally running through all the vigilantes in Gotham.  “I think that counts, but you can always try that.”

“Let’s get back to the dating heroes thing,” Jason tried.

“But it won’t matter anyway, because nobody is going to find out about this,” her voice lowered and became very pointed.  “Right, Adrien?  Because we’re talking about someone else’s identity.  And it doesn’t matter because he isn’t a hero and the terms of the bet, which I didn’t agree to, I might add, were very specific: hero.”

“So how many heroes do you have to date for it to become a bet?” Jason asked.

“It’s more about how many heroes have had a crush on her,” Adrien answered with a smirk.  

Jason raised an eyebrow.  “How many have developed a crush on her?”

“Every hero that’s met her,” Adrien answered with a resolute nod.

“That’s not true!” Marinette exclaimed.

Jason nodded his head as he thought about that. “How many heroes is that? Approximately?” he asked Adrien, ignoring Marinette’s interruption.

“She’s met at least twenty-five.”  Marinette groaned at the glee in Adrien’s voice.

Jason’s eyes widened and turned to her. “Twenty-five?”  He turned back to Adrien.  “And they all liked her?”  

Adrien nodded with a smug smile.  “All of them.”

“No, they don’t,” Marinette insisted.

He blinked a few times.  “My brother met her.”

Marinette stared at him slack jawed until she collapsed her head onto the table.  “You SUCK at secret identities,” she mumbled into the table.  “Okay,” she announced loud enough to stop Jason and Adrien from continuing to talk.  “First,” she turned to Adrien, “that is categorically untrue.”

“You haven’t met twenty-five heroes?” Jason asked.

“Oh no, that’s a low estimate on how many I’ve met. But only like,” she narrowed her eyes and quirked her lips in thought, “three have liked me.”  

Adrien snickered.  “That’s not even close.  There was…”

“Second,” she said cutting him off, “your brother isn’t a hero,” she said pointedly.  “Third, he was a dick.”

“Literally,” Jason snickered.

Marinette smacked his shoulder and looked over at Adrien. “He was overly friendly, but not in a Rose way; in a smarmy, I’m going to manipulate you with my charm way.”

“That’s your opinion of him,” Jason pointed out. “Adrien said heroes get a crush on you so it sounds like I need to watch him around you.”

“Fourth,” she leaned closer to Jason with a hiss, “maybe you just shouldn’t talk.”

“I think we need to up the count too,” Adrien eyed Jason critically.  “Seems like we need to add a few new heroes to the total.”

Marinette stepped in between the two.  “And you won’t try to figure out any more about his identity, because that would be a violation, right Adrien?” she continued even sharper.

Adrien rolled his eyes but nodded.  “Yeah, yeah.  Whatever.  I’ll try but there’s only so many people in the hero adjacent community that fit his dimensions.”  

Marinette slapped him upside the head and he scowled back at her.  “Stop thinking,” she hissed.  “You’re a model it shouldn’t be that hard for you to do.”  Her smirk widened at his exaggerated offended gasp.

Adrien leaned back stared at her eyes slightly narrowed.  “Ex-model, thank you very much.  Which means I've been given a permit to think again.  And just for that, I'm going to.  Day and night.  I'm going to get out charts and diagrams, create association maps, cyberstalk people, all just because I can.”

Marinette groaned and dropped her head in her hands.  “I hate you. You can’t punish him as payback toward me.”

“You’re right,” Adrien nodded thoughtfully.  “I should make it up to Jason.  Say Jason, how many stories has she told you about our teenage years?  Has she told you about the first time we saw a movie together?  How about the first time we were at a sleepover together?”

Marinette’s eyes widened.   “Alright!” Marinette exclaimed loudly.  “I believe it’s time to get you out of here… before… uh… you say anything else embarrassing, Jason,” she insisted.  “Let’s go. Now.”  She pulled Jason out of the room by the elbow.  “You get to lock up Adrien.”

“Your coffee!” he called after her.  But she and Jason were already gone.  Adrien chuckled.  “Like I need to think to know who that is,” he scoffed taking a sip of his coffee and return to grading homework.

Jason waited a block before he spoke up.  “So… you want to tell me about the sleepover or do you want to let blondie tell me later?”

Marinette mock glared at him.  “Look, if we’re going to go over all of my embarrassing moments, we’ll never talk about anything else… ever… There’s a lot,” she stressed.

Jason chuckled and pulled her to a stop.  He picked up her hand and laced their fingers together.  He gently tucked some loose hair behind her ear, letting his fingers linger along her jaw. “Is this okay?”

Marinette looked up at him wide eyed, but nodded, a deep blush gracing her cheeks again.  “Ye... um, yeah.  That’s… um, yeah, that’s okay.”

“So… history of dating heroes, huh?  Guess you weren’t that impressed with my skills last night then.”

Marinette groaned playfully.  “Okay, seriously, it was only the one and yes, you were very impressive.  The way you… were able to stand for a prolonged period of time after the amount of drugs that got pumped into your system… very impressive.”

Jason barked out a laugh.  “Why thank you.  I have lots of other impressive qualities I can astound you with.  How would you feel about a date so I can show them to you?”

“Yeah, I like the sound of that,” she grinned up at him swinging their arms between them.

“You know, I might not remember anything else about last night, but there was one thing I thought I remembered and I was definitely right about,” he took a step closer to her until their chests were almost touching and leaned down to gaze adoringly into her eyes, “you’re fucking hot.”

She let out a surprised snort, her face turning bright red and Jason smirked at her.  She buried her face in his chest to hide her blush.  Jason chuckled as he wound his arms around her waist and hugged her close. “Come on,” he whispered into her ear.  “I know a good place to get food right around the corner.”  She looked up at him and nodded, letting him pull her toward the restaurant.

Continued in Night of the Consequences

Tags:

@jasonette-july-event @maribatserver @ashbrea381writings

[myveryownfanfiction]

I leaned back on the couch at Central Perk. Having just gotten off work, I looked forward to enjoying coffee and my friends’ company. 

“Do you want a refill (Y/N)?” Gunther asked. I nodded as Gunther poured more coffee into my cup. 

“Thanks Gunther.” I smiled as he moved back behind the counter. The door to the coffee shop opened and I turned around as the voices of my friends rose above the din of Central Perk. 

“All I’m saying is it isn’t fair to just leave them both at the shelter.” Chandler’s voice faltered for a second. “I had to do something.”

“You could have given me the duck at least.” Monica joked. “It would have fed Joey for a day.” She sat down across from me after hugging me from behind. I smiled over at her while Chandler took a seat next to me. 

“That’s what I’m saving him from!” He exclaimed. I giggled as he draped his arm over my soldiers. “Take my side here (Y/N).” Chandler kissed my temple before looking at me expectantly. 

“Sorry Mon.” I gave her a small smile. “Chandler’s got a point.” Monica laughed and gave me a knowing smile as I leaned back on Chandler. I blushed as Chandler kissed my head again. We made idle chatter as we waited for the others.

“Hey guys.” Rachel greeted as she sat down at the small table. Phoebe and Joey came in next. Joey took a seat on the other side of me while Phoebe went to set up for her set. 

“Where’s Ross?” Rachel asked after we had all settled in. 

“He said he had some last minute things to take care of at the museum.” I filled in as Joey got up to call Ross. 

“How do you know that?” Chandler asked. 

“He called my apartment and left a message.” I shrugged. Joey sat back down and pulled my feet into his lap. 

“He’s going to be incredibly late.” He said as I snuggled back into Chandler due to the new position I was in. Chandler moved his arms so he was hugging me. “What did you do today (Y/N)?” I sighed as Chandler rubbed my arm. 

“I got yelled at by the manager and then to top it all off my computer restarted in the middle of an important project when the project didn’t save.” I rolled my eyes as Joey patted my leg. “So I have to restart it all tomorrow and hope that my computer doesn’t crash or restart again.” 

“You could always work on it on my laptop and print it out so you have a back up.” Chandler offered. I looked back at him. 

“Are you sure?” I asked. Chandler nodded. 

“Of course. Anything to help.” He smiled down at me before getting up. “While this is very interesting, I do need the bathroom.” I leaned back against the back of the couch again. 

“Serious talk before he gets back.” Rachel said before glancing in the direction Chandler went. “When are you going to make a move (Y/N)?” I blushed as Monica and Phoebe nodded in agreement. 

“Why would (Y/N) make a move?” Joey asked before looking at me blushing and covering my face. “Oh!” It clicked for him as I shook my head. 

“How about never?” I mumbled out as Joey rubbed my shin. “It’ll never work and our friendship would be ruined.” 

“I’ll let you in on a little secret but you can’t let him know that you know I know you know.” I looked at Joey confused before deciding to just agree with him. 

“Ok.” I nodded. “What secret?” Joey squeezed my ankle and smiled. 

“He likes you too.” Joey told me excitedly. “He told me and Ross once when we had all gotten really drunk at one of Monica’s parties. Chandler couldn’t keep his eyes off of you.” I blushed and shook my head. 

“Yeah right Joe.” I said. Rachel leaned over and patted my shoulder. Phoebe patted my leg from her spot on the floor. “Just drop it guys.” Everyone nodded as Chandler came back. 

“Drop what?” He asked as he took his place behind me again. Joey looked at Monica while Phoebe looked at Rachel. “Come on guys. Don’t stop on my account.” I took pity on him. 

“We were trying to get Rachel to admit to what it is like dating Ross but she didn’t want to answer so I told them to drop it.” I shrugged. Chandler nodded before putting his chin on my shoulder and resting his head against mine. We sat through Phoebe’s set before heading back upstairs. “Could I get started on my work tonight?” I asked as we headed up to Monica’s apartment. Chandler nodded as we reached their hallway. 

“Sure. I’ll keep you company.” He said as Joey nudged him. Chandler shot Joey a look before sending one to the girls. “If Ross shows up, let him know where we are.” 

“Will do.” Monica smiled at me before going into her apartment and dragging Joey in with her. 

“Don’t stay up too late, you two.” Rachel winked at me and I shook my head, thankful Chandler had his back turned as he unlocked the door to his and Joey’s apartment. 

“Laptop’s in my room.” Chandler said as he held the door open for me. “I’ll go get it.” 

“Do I want to know why it’s in your room or should I just leave you to close any tabs you don’t want me to see?” I joked as I sat at his counter. 

“Very funny (Y/N).” Chandler said, walking out of his room with the laptop. “You know how to work this. I’m just going to change and I’ll be back out.” I nodded as I took it from him and set it up. 

“Thanks again for this Chandler.” I said. “You don’t know how much this saves me.” He emerged from his room again in a sweater. 

“I’ve had this issue at work before.” Chandler sympathized as he put his hands on my shoulders. We watched the screen boot up and Chandler started to massage my back. “That’s partly why I bought the laptop.” I nodded and leaned my head back against Chandler’s chest, enjoying the massage he was giving me. “Are you going to spend the night?” I nodded with my eyes closed. 

“If it’s alright with you.” I mumbled. “Joey will be fine with it, you know that.” Chandler laughed. 

“Right?” He chuckled. “Could he be anymore obvious?” I opened my eyes and looked at him. I bit the inside of my cheek as I took in his face at this angle. 

“Obvious?” I asked. Chandler nodded as he leaned down and kissed my forehead. 

“Oh to be young and naïve.” He muttered against my head. “Have you not seen the looks he gives you in the mornings after you sleep over? I swear his eyes can’t get bigger and if his jaw could unhinge it would quite literally be on the floor.” I furrowed my eyebrows. “It honestly gets a little annoying.” Chandler gently pushed me to sit back up before moving to make some popcorn. “You honestly have never seen that?” 

“No I haven’t Chan.” I shook my head. “Then again I’m never that awake in the mornings and you know that.” Chandler chuckled and nodded. 

“Oh I know that.” I gently smacked his arm. 

“Anyway,” I turned the conversation back in my favor. “I’ve had my eye on someone else for a while anyhow.” Chandler froze as he opened the box of popcorn. 

“You have?” He looked over at me hesitantly.

“Yeah.” I replied. “I have.” 

“That’s good.” Chandler nodded. “Good for you. If anything, it makes you immune to Joey.” I laughed. 

“What about you Chandler?” I asked, thinking about what Joey had said and how he was reacting. “Got your eye on anyone?” 

“Yeah. There’s someone but I’m fairly certain they don’t even see me as anything more than a friend.” He sighed. “If I say anything I know I’m going to screw it up.” Chandler moved to sit in his burka lounger. I turned around to look at him. 

“How do you know that Chandler?” I sympathized. “It could go better than you think.” Chandler shook his head and frowned at me. 

“We both know that’s not true (Y/N).” He sighed. “I don’t want to screw things up but it always seems to happen that way.” I shook my head. “Janice. At least give me Janice.”  I nodded as I thought about Chandler’s ex. 

“Yeah. I’ll give you Janice. But you can’t take all the blame for that. I mean,” I made my voice high pitched and whiny. “Oh. My. God.” Chandler laughed and I joined in. 

“Face it.” Chandler said when we had calmed down. “I’m hopeless and awkward and desperate for love!” I shook my head. 

“You’re not hopeless and awkward.” I said as I stood up. Chandler watched me as I kneeled down next to him. “I’ll give you desperate for love. I’m in that boat too.” Chandler stood up. 

“You could have anybody you wanted. We are not in the same boat.” I stood up with him and grabbed his arm, making him spin towards me. 

“Yes we are Chandler.” I whined. “Because the one guy I want I can’t have.” Chandler opened his mouth but I cut him off. “I can’t have you.” I blurted. Chandler’s face contorted in confusion before he mouthed ‘wow’. “What? What’s wrong?” I stood there wringing my hands as he stared at me. 

“Maybe we are in the same boat.” He said. I cocked my head at him. 

“What do you mean?” I shifted from foot to foot. 

“I like you too (Y/N).” He said. He gazed at me softly as the weight of his words sunk in. Chandler smiled as I finally caught on. 

“Chandler...you...me…” I trailed off as I broke out into a massive grin. “Chandler Bing likes me back!” I exclaimed as I ran over to him. Chandler hugged me tightly and picked me up. “Oh God you like me back.” I pulled back as the reality crashed down on me. 

“Yeah. I like you back.” Chandler said soothingly as he pressed his forehead against mine. “I have for a quite a while.” gazing into his eyes, I couldn’t stop grinning. 

“I’ve liked you for a while too.” I whispered. Chandler smiled back at me as he gently put me down. His hands came up to cup my face. I put a hand on his chest and cupped his cheek with my other hand. 

“Is this ok?” Chandler asked as he pulled me closer. I nodded as I pulled him closer. 

“More than ok.” I could feel his breath on my lips and my eyes fluttered closed. “Perfect.” We closed the gap and kissed for the first time. I gripped his shirt as he kissed me passionately. We pulled away and just took in each other’s presence. A noise from the laptop drew us back to reality. I went over to check it and realized that my email had opened. I opened the newest email and paused when I noticed Chandler hadn’t come back to make his popcorn. 

“Everything alright Chandler?” I asked, not talking my eyes off the screen. “Chandler?” I turned to look at him when he didn’t answer. He was biting his lip and staring at me. He raised his eyebrows when he realized I was looking at him. “You ok there sweetie?” Chandler nodded. 

“Yeah.” He made his way over to me. “Just my best friend likes me back. And I kissed them.” I giggled as I hugged him. Chandler wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. 

“Want to do it again?” I teased and tilted my head up. 

“Could you be any cuter?” Chandler joked as he leaned down and kissed me. He pulled away after a minute and smiled down at me. “Why don’t you work on this tomorrow and join me for the night?” Chandler coaxed me from my seat at the counter and started to back up into his room. 

“I think it could be arranged.” I smiled as she kissed me again. When we had entered the room, I kicked the door closed. We could hear cheers of ‘finally’ coming from outside as Chandler led me to bed.

[hamsterboos]

here’s a fact. hating someone is exhausting.

Again, another one I speed wrote between finishing up homework and playing genshin lmao I really need to work on that but oh well. Seeing the prompt immediately reminded me of The Hating Game and this is kind of based on that, so do with that information what you will :D Title is also a quote from the book!

Word Count: 1495 Read on AO3 Rowaelin Month Masterlist

Day 18 of Rowaelin Month Prompt: You're my work rival and we're stuck in an elevator

~~~~~~

It was a race, and they were tied for first place.

Then again, it’s not like there were any other competitors except for the two of them.

Aelin glanced at the clock and silently cursed, realizing that there wasn't much time left until the working day was done, and she desperately needed to finish this data analysis report for her boss to be able to look over the first thing Monday morning. The only caveat to this was that Rowan Whitethorn was also there until the last possible minute finishing his analysis report on a different department’s data collection.

If he wasn’t sitting directly across from her and constantly in her direct line of sight, it wouldn’t have been such a problem, but when she looked up to see his annoyingly handsome face with his gorgeous eyes and infuriatingly beautiful tattoo creeping out of his shirt’s collar, Aelin was just pissed off that he was such a dick.

Ever since Rowan had joined the company, his insane work ethic (that rivaled hers, honestly) and the fact that he had immediately begun to compete with her for the same manager promotion had Aelin understandably frustrated, and it seems that Rowan was frustrated as well. However, Aelin was nothing but professional, so she never acted on her annoyance with him until the small passive-aggressive and sarcastic comments shared between them turned the silent feud not-so-silent, or secret. Soon enough, the entire office was aware of the fact that Aelin Ashryver Galathynius and Rowan Whitethorn hated each other and could not work together.

Of course, that just forced their boss to work together more often than not on data analysis projects, but they got their shit down. Somehow.

And now here they were, both working till the last possible second of the working day to show off their dedication to their jobs in order to somehow get the upper hand compared to the other. Everyone else had slowly begun to leave already, the office emptying out early especially with it being a Friday afternoon (even their boss had left), but this was an important report. With being promoted to a manager role, that would mean that they were the other’s boss, and Aelin wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle Rowan as her boss. He would definitely somehow make her working life hell, and she liked her job; she enjoyed working with the numbers and making graphs and analyzing these numbers.

Her fingers flew across the keyboard, and with every glance at the clock and at Rowan, her fingers worked faster, slowly beginning to cramp as she desperately tried to get that last sentence in so she could proofread it over quickly.

“How are you still writing, Galanthynius?” she heard Rowan taunt, and she rolled her eyes as she finished typing out her last thought. “You seem to be losing your touch.”

“Screw off, Whitethorn,” she growled, hitting enter and then saving the document — four times but who’s counting — before turning to look at his smug face. “Maybe you finished earlier because you didn’t have nearly as much detail as I do. It’s always quality over how fast something can get done, anyway.”

“Hmm, that wouldn’t make a difference if Maeve can’t look at the document bright and early on Monday, now would it?”

“Who said anything about her not having it done by Monday morning?” she asked, her eyes scanning the document over for any typos and coherency issues.

“Such arrogance.”

“It’s called confidence, Rowan. Maybe you’d attract more girls if you had any of that,” she replied sweetly. It was a blatant lie, though. He had enough confidence in himself that she was attracted to him. Not that she’d ever, ever, make that obvious to him.

“Not like you go out on many dates, either.” Aelin saved the file yet again after another read through, and she sent it to the printer, and she stood up, moving to the printer. Rowan followed her.

“How do you know I don’t have one tonight?”

“I think you’d be bragging about it much more if you did.”

Aelin leaned against the printer as it worked, and she ran her eyes over him. It was unfair how hot he looked in a white button-up collared shirt, with the sleeves rolled up, and gray slacks, but it wasn’t like she was unaware that she looked hot today as well. It was a navy long sleeved dress with a gold belt cinching around her waist and a v-neck that went deep enough to barely be considered professional.

“I don’t need to brag about my dates,” she said, turning to pick up her papers and stapling them. “I think my clothes are enough.”

Aelin saw his eyes roam over her, lingering on the v-neck, before snapping back to her face. “I suppose so. I’ve seen you look like a nun, so this is definitely something special.”

“Aw,” she cooed. “You like it. Now, if you’d kindly get out of my way, I have something to submit before I leave.”

She walked away from him and set the report on Maeve’s desk before picking up all of her belongings and packing it away and moving to leave the office. Waiting for the elevator took a bit, and by that time Rowan had joined her, silently standing next to her. The elevator dinged, announcing its arrival, and they both got on, still in utter silence until there was a loud clanging sound as the elevator jerked. Aelin lost her balance as she let out a cry of surprise, tumbling into Rowan’s side. He grabbed onto her waist to steady her with one hand braced on the side of the elevator, and the lights within had turned off before turning to a soft blinking red.

“What’s going on?” she asked, pushing herself away from him. Rowan moved to press a button on the elevator before they both realized that the building had lost power, effectively trapping them in the elevator.

“Shit,” he cursed, “we’re stuck.”

Aelin pressed the emergency speaking button, “Hello? Is anyone there? We’re stuck in the elevator.”

The speaker crackled to life immediately afterwards, with someone asking if they were okay and how many people were in the elevator before saying that the firefighters were on their way, but it would take at least half an hour.

“Well this is fantastic,” Aelin sighed, leaning against the wall.

“Too bad you’re missing out on your date,” Rowan said.

“Yeah, well at least you get to grace yourself in my presence for a bit longer.”

“As if I need more of you in my life.”

Aelin scoffed. “People could always use more of me in their lives. You wouldn’t be having nearly as much fun at work without me.”

“WIthout you? You can’t deal with half the tech problems we get if it weren’t for me. How did you make do without me?”

“Perfectly fine, Rowan, trust me.” In their heated conversation, she hadn’t realized when she’d moved away from the wall and instead was so close to Rowan that she could feel his body heat. His hand snaked around her waist and pulled him snug against her body, and her hands landed on his firm chest.

“I don’t believe you,” he whispered.

Aelin smiled, “I don’t care.”

She wasn’t sure if she had moved first or he had, but the next thing she knew, her arms were around his neck and both his hands were on her waist as their lips moved in tandem.

He was intoxicating as his lips devoured hers, and her brain spun as her body heated up in his hold.

Holy shit, Rowan was an amazing kisser.

She leaned up on her toes to get better access to his lips, and he leaned down even further. She couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t care. Who needed air when he was kissing her like that? It wasn’t possible for her to want to keep doing this with a man she hated, but her body didn’t care about that. Her body wanted Rowan’s hands all over her. Her body wanted him to slam her against the wall, hard enough that all she could feel was his body against hers.

Fortunately (or unfortunately?), her brain restarted, and Aelin pushed away from him, her chest heaving as she took gulps of air.

As the two looked at each other in silence, there wasn’t anything for them to say. She knew Rowan felt the same as she did. This was a mistake. An insanely amazing mistake, but a mistake regardless.

“This was a one time thing,” she breathed, and he nodded, his eyes still burning into her.

Thankfully, the elevator jerked slightly yet again as the speaker turned on again. “Good news, the power’s back, so everything’s fine.

“Great, thanks,” Rowan responded, and once they had arrived at the ground floor, Aelin resisted the urge to grab him again.

That could not happen again.

[heycallmeladytypewriter]

The Call of A Siren - Chap. 5

Chapter One / Two / Three / Four

A/N: I’d like to thank seenalready for agreeing to be my beta! It’s been a huge help. Also, thank you to those who not only took the time to read but to favorite, follow, review, or leave me a message on this story!

I don’t own My Hero Academia. I only own my own characters and the story I create within Horikoshi’s masterpiece of a world I’d love to live in.

____________________________________________________________

“So how’s school going, Cordelia?” Her father asked while passing her the mashed potatoes. She smiled as she plopped some on her plate. “It’s going fine. Just some normal start of the year stuff.”

Her mother was cutting her baby brother’s food into small pieces across from her. “Make any new friends? You didn’t have any last year.” Delia ignored that small barb. Her mother was Miss Popularity when she was in school - something she was reminded of constantly in these small sweet ways. 

“Yes, mom. No official friends yet but definitely some classmates I seem to get along with fine.” 

“Give her time, Amaya. She’ll make friends but make sure not to forget to focus on your studies. Bells always get top marks in school. Right, Cordelia?” Her father is ever the peacemaker between them but always manages to slip in his opinion in the same sentence. She hoped neither of them noticed how tense she became, because despite going ahead with her plan of secretly attending U.A she still hated lying. She was good at it but hated it. She distracted herself and took herself out of the conversation by wiping the gravy off of Henry’s mouth who just painted more on with every uncoordinated bite. 

Later in her room, she made sure all her U.A stuff was hidden because her parents, especially her mother, who didn’t believe her children were entitled to privacy. She would deny it until she was blue in the face even when Delia confronted her with obvious evidence. Delia would find some things moved or pockets left unzipped that were closed when she left for school or a run so now she just made sure anything she didn’t want discovered to be hidden. She had hiding places in between her mattress and bed frame, one in a loose floorboard by her dresser, a notebook taped behind her desk, in her suitcase in the back of her closet, and it goes on. Her mom wasn’t too creative in looking but Delia didn’t want to take any chances. She changed into pink leggings and an old Mayday Parade t-shirt and went for her usual run to the beach. 

___________________________________________________________

Shake it out, shake it out

Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa

And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back

So shake him off, oh whoa

'Cause I am done with my graceless heart

So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart

'Cause I like to keep my issues strong

It's always darkest before the dawn

 Delia laid on her back in the grass to catch her breath as she ran an extra mile on the sand today before running back. Once again, she was grateful to have a park like this near home to gather herself before returning home. 

She had her eyes closed as she listened to Florence and the Machine but opened them when a shadow came over her. Angry Boy stood over her and his mouth was moving but because of how  loud her headphones were she couldn’t hear what he was saying. She rolled her eyes and closed them again as she felt no need to listen to his rant during her peaceful time.

Her left earbud was roughly yanked out of her ear. “I was talking to you, dumbass!”

She rubbed her ear and glared up at him. “So? Since when do I have to listen to you?” 

“Move out of my spot.”

“Uh, yeah no.”

“Move before I make you.”

“Try it, Big Tits.” She raised her eyebrow at him in challenge because she knew damn well he couldn’t use his Quirk here without getting in trouble. It was far more noticeable than hers which she would definitely use if he tried to physically move her. Knowing this, he growled and stomped over to his workout bag a few feet over. He picked it up and then threw it on the ground practically on top of her legs. “Fine, brat. If you won’t move, I’m working out right here still.” 

Delia was going to push it further, but her watch beeped signaling she should start heading back home. “Saved by the bell, jerk.” Pushing herself up onto her feet, she kicked his bag off her leg and brushed off some  grass on her shorts. 

“Yeah, fucking sure brat. I’m saved.” Delia rolled her eyes and walked away a few steps before stopping and turning back towards him, unable to help herself from asking. 

“Why did you do that?” 

He was already doing sit-ups in the spot she had just vacated. “Because you were in my spot, idiot.” 

“No. Not that. Battle training.” Bakugo slowed to a stop for a moment and then continued like she hadn’t said anything. 

She tried again. “Was it worth it?”

No answer again but he picked up the pace on his sit-ups. Delia hummed, “Thought so.” She went to turn away when he finally spoke up, “I kicked that weakling’s ass. Its always worth it to put Deku in his fucking place.” He wouldn’t make eye contact with her. Delia pursed her lips and turned away finally. Before she went out of hearing distance she said one last thing, “You didn’t put him in his place. It seems more like you were shown yours. It wasn’t as high as you thought it was, was it?” 

___________________________________________________________

As she jogged back home on the trail, she could feel those red eyes trying to burn a hole in her back. 

As she walked up the hill to U.A, she was fiddling with her stupid tie when she heard a lot of voices. Looking up from what she was doing, Delia saw a mini army of reporters covering the entrance of the school. 

“Oh, crap!” Delia started to panic as she realized she had to go through them to get inside. She grabbed some sunglasses from her bag and took her hair out of her usual braid and tried to cover her face. They were jumping on students as soon as they got close, but Delia wasn’t having that. 

“Hey, kid!” Someone put their hand on her shoulder. Nope nope nope! Shaking them off, she passed Uraraka and Iida getting questioned and walked even faster. A few other reporters tried to get her attention, but she was not risking getting caught on her second week of school by her mother seeing her on the morning news. 

Mr. Aizawa was  in the front of all the reporters to stand guard and crossed his arms as a particularly aggressive woman demanded All Might. Delia was safe now on school grounds but didn’t dare to take her glasses off or fix her hair until  she was in the building. Out of curiosity, she peeked through her hair to see Mr. Aizawa finally walking away and an aggressive reporter took a step too far only for these giant alarms to start throwing up walls all around the school. Ha, serves you right, Delia thought a bit smugly.  

She finally fixed her hair into a braid when their homeroom teacher walked in and called them to attention. He ruffled some papers and then addressed the class on their performances from last week’s combat training with All Might. “Decent work on last week’s combat training, you guys. Due to technical difficulties, I wasn’t able to review the video feeds until yesterday. I went over every team's results. Bakugo. You’re talented. So don’t sulk like a child about your loss, okay?” Delia fought to keep her face straight as she was seated in front where Mr. Aizawa could easily reprimand her if she didn’t. “ And Midoriya. I see the only way you won the match was by messing up your arm again. Work harder. And don’t give me that excuse that you don’t have control because it’s already getting old.” 

He called out a few other students with some advice before she heard, “Bell. I see you have the ability to think and react quickly as shown in your battle, but you have a long way to go with understanding your Quirk. That is basic and essential. You need to work on that as of last week.” 

She nodded, “Yes, sir.” 

When he finished, Mr. Aizawa switched gears to something a little more mundane. “You all need to pick a class representative.”

Kirishima stood up with his hands in the air, “Pick me, guys! I wanna be class rep!”

Kaminari raised his hand, “I’ll take it.” Jiro followed suit with her hand up as well, “Yeah, you’re gonna need me.” Ashido and Aoyama threw their hats in the ring too. Bakugo even started yelling behind her to be elected. Delia, despite knowing what a big deal it would be, just sunk further in her seat wanting no part of it. 

“Silence, everyone, please!” Iida grabbed everyone’s attention to tell them the responsibilities of class rep when she decided who better for this job than Mr. Responsibility and Lecture himself? She was sure he’d thrive at the job as he already organized how they would choose and simultaneously advocated for himself. 

She snorted when Aizawa basically told them to figure it out before his nap was over and curled up in his weird yellow sleeping bag on the floor. Despite how strict he was, Delia loved how weird their teacher was. 

After everyone handed Iida their small pieces of paper with their vote written, he quickly and very neatly wrote the results with his shoulders slumping along the way. 

Izuku Midoriya - 3

Momo Yaoyorozu - 2

Well, that was unexpected and immediately questioned by even Midoriya himself. Who exclaimed, “How did I get three votes?” 

She turned in her seat when Angry boy slammed his hands on his desk, “Okay, you idiots, who voted for him?” Delia raised her eyebrow at him, “You mean instead of you?”

“What, did you honestly think anyone was gonna vote for you?” Sero said. She barked out a laugh at that and put her hand up in a high five. Sero returned the gesture while Bakugo fumed even more. 

“What did you idiots say?!”

“Hey, Bell!” Delia’s head snapped up from her tray and saw Uraraka waving at her from a table. “Come and sit with us!” 

“Thanks, guys. What’s up?” She greeted as she sat down next to Midoriya. 

“Hi, Bell. We were just talking about how Midoriya would be a great class rep. His courage and quick thinking will help make him a worthy leader. Not to mention the strength you’ve demonstrated. Those are the reasons I voted for you, at least.” Iida explained before taking the next bite of his lunch. 

She nodded. “Oh, for sure. You’ll be great.” 

Uraraka looked puzzled. “Iida, didn’t you want to be rep really badly? I mean you look the part cause of the glasses!” 

“ Well, that's not exactly how you should base things.” Delia jokes, pointing her fork at the small brunette. She just shrugged in response and grabbed another ball of white rice. 

“Wanting a job and being suited to it are quite different things. Observing the Iida family’s hero agency has taught me that much.” 

“Right there. That’s why I voted for you.” Delia pointed her pork at him before shoving the deliciousness in her mouth. Ugh, I’d go to this school for the food alone.

Iida had his mouth open as he stared at her, “You were my one vote?” 

She smiled at him, “Well, yeah! You seem perfect for the job to me based on everything I’ve seen so far.” Her eyes widened when she remembered who she was sitting next to and waved her hands at the boy, “No offense, Midoriya! You’ll be great at it as I said.” He waved her off before turning his attention back to Iida.

Taking a few more bites, she heard her phone chirp in her pocket. She pulled it out to see that her mother had texted her. 

Mom: Cordelia, we are having dinner with Josephine this Friday at 7. Make arrangements to pick up Henry from the babysitter’s house. I’ll write the address on the fridge. 

She rolled her eyes but sent back a quick ‘okay’ that she will pick him up. Whenever her sister was free, they ran to her side to devote all attention to their favorite child. It probably helped that their favorite child encouraged it every chance she got which irritated Delia to no end. 

Brrrrrrriiiiiinnnnggggggg. 

She was pulled out of her thoughts as the bell went off abruptly. 

“Warning. Level Three security breach. All students please evacuate the building in an orderly fashion.” 

Orderly fashion, my ass! Everyone was soon swept into a massive mob of pushing and shoving which Delia did not care for. 

“Ow! Goddamn watch those elbows dude!” She held her side and then was shoved against the window next to Iida. “Oh seriously! Iida look out the window!” 

“Who would dare try and - it's the press that was outside!” He immediately tried to yell to everyone which proved useless. She heard Kaminari and Kirishima trying to calm the herd as well, but that wasn’t working either. “Iida we have to tell everyone that it’s just the stupid media!” Delia yelled to him as her face was smushed up against the glass. 

“I have an idea, Bell. I need Uraraka! Will you be okay?”

“Go and stop this, and then I’ll be fine!” She used her free hand and helped shove him forward to their poor classmate who was getting dragged away by the frenzy. Her braid was then yanked which caused her to smack her forehead  against the glass again. Freaking jesus! Calm the fuck down people! C’mon Iida! 

She managed to get her head up in time to see Iida flip thirty times in the air then smack into the wall above the exit sign. Ouch. 

“Listen up, everything is okay!” With that, everyone stopped pushing and looked up at the guy balancing on an exit sign. “It’s just the media outside. There’s absolutely nothing to worry about. Everything’s fine! We’re UA students. We need to remain calm and prove that we’re the best of the best.” 

Within the next half hour, the police pushed back the reporters and the teachers came inside to corral them back to class. Delia clapped a hand on Iida’s back who blushed a bit when she said,  “That’s why I voted for you.”

__________________________________________________________

 In a strange turn of events, Midoriya had stepped down as their elected class rep and nominated Iida in his place. Something that made Delia grin when he walked up to the podium with barely concealed pride and immediately went into his responsibilities. She especially liked that he sent a nod her way with a small smile before strutting back to his seat.

“Now that’s out of the way.” Aizawa rose from the corner where he was attempting a short nap and slipped out of his sleeping bag. “We can head to the training room for Combat class. Everyone change into your gym clothes and meet me in ten minutes.” 

A few minutes later, Delia sat on the floor next to Jiro and Tsu stretching. Aizawa was already setting up a row of punching bags while they waited for the rest of the class to trickle in from the locker rooms. 

“Yo, whassup girls?” Jiro, Tsu, and Delia turned to see Kirishima and Kaminari heading over to them on the mat. They plopped down next to them. “Hey, guys. Ready for training?” Delia asked as she turned to Jiro with hands outstretched. Jiro caught on to what she wanted and had her feet meet hers and grabbed onto one another's arms then pulled back to stretch Delia’s back. 

“Oh, we’re ready. So pumped to finally get into real hero stuff!” Kirishima pumped his fist in the air with excitement. 

“It’s a bummer that it’s a non-quirk class though. I was feeling extra juiced today!” 

“This is even more manly in a way, Kaminari! Real combat without quirks can be a whole ‘nother level of seeing what you’re made of!” He said to the blonde who shrugged in response. 

Delia slowly pulled back to stretch Jiro and laughed at the boys, “I agree. You don’t need a quirk to punch someone in the face which can be just as great as electrocuting them.” 

The class was finally assembled and facing their teacher who stood over them with a small tablet in hand. “Alright, class. As you know this is our Non-Quirk Combat Class which is self-explanatory so if you weren’t aware of that already you shouldn’t be in my class anymore. Now, we are going to start with basics to see where everyone stands before we up the ante. Grab a spot in front of a bag, and we will be doing basic 1-2 punches until I say stop.” Aizawa quickly demonstrated what he meant with the correct form and then shooed them towards the bags he had set up earlier. 

Delia grabbed a bag in between Midoriya and Todoroki who was already hitting the bag with perfect form. Seems like he’s done this before. She curled her hands as Aizawa showed them and hit the bag. Huh. She side-eyed Todoroki before trying again. It felt awkward at first but once she found a rhythm...Man this feels great! Her knuckles were beginning to hurt as she hit as hard as she could but she sort of liked it. The past week and a half had been stressing her out and running was usually her only outlet, but she was finding this was a great way as well. 

“Midoriya, turn your back foot a bit more. Good.” She heard her teacher making the rounds as the class hit the bags non-stop. “Good, Bell and Todoroki. Keep it up.” Delia practically glowed and hit the bag with even more energy than before. 

Through the first half of the class, they were shown punches, kicks, and then some fighting moves when they were joined by Ectoplasm.  He demonstrated some defensive and offensive maneuvers before the class was split into partners to practice for the remainder of class.

Delia was paired with Kaminari which was fine as she had nothing against the good-natured albeit immature guy, but the moves involved getting physical with your partner. She had played twister as a kid but not for some time and never held hands with a guy much less threw her whole body at them. Oh my god, you prude. Get over it. She chided herself.

Kaminari gave a confidant smile and squared up to her, “Don’t worry, cutie. I’ll take it easy on ya.” 

Delia raised an eyebrow at him, “You’ll take it easy on me? How kind of you.” Okay, nerves have left the building and have been replaced by a mini super pro feminist ready to hand him his ass. 

Their teachers had them go through the motions one step at a time collectively as a class before they were given the go ahead to let loose. As soon as Ectoplasm gave the green light, Delia felt a bit more solid with  her moves and was ready to try in real time especially since Kaminari hadn’t lost his smirk. “Ready, babe?” 

“Let’s go, Sparky.” Ectoplasm hit a buzzer and Kaminari swung at her almost immediately, but she grabbed his wrist and pulled towards her. Before he could react, she used the momentum of pulling him to knee him in the stomach (reminding herself to not use full strength as this was training). While he was coughing, she swept her leg under his causing him to fall on his back. 

“Did I take it easy enough? Cutie?” Delia stood over him grinning. Kaminari held a hand on his stomach and grimaced. “Okay, point taken.” 

Delia huffed a laugh and held her hand out to him which he grabbed tentatively like she was going to hit him again. Pulling the blonde up, she felt someone’s eyes on her. Bakugo was standing coolly across the room with his hands in his pockets while Sero got himself off the ground. He looked away when he saw her looking back at him. Hmm. 

Bakugo:

He would never admit it, but he was impressed on how quickly the brat took down the blonde idiot. However,  he also would never admit that he was watching her in the first place as his eyes slid over to her laughing with her partner as she helped him off the ground. Katsuki chalked it up to pure convenience of sight as he had laid out the guy he was fighting in about five seconds, and she was in his direct line of vision. Since the park, what she had said unsettled him. Katsuki couldn’t get it out of his head and hated that she got under his skin and then walked the fuck away with the last word. 

As if she could sense him, the brat turned towards him curiously. Shit. 

Katsuki looked back down at his partner who was now getting off the floor and rolled his eyes. Tch. I didn’t hit him that hard. Fucking wimp. 

“Hit the lockers. You’re done today.” Aizawa announced. Ectoplasm had left already. “Remember to make sure you do the assigned reading and grab the extra worksheets on my desk before leaving for home. We are skipping Ethics tomorrow for a longer class activity.” 

A longer Quirk Training Combat Class, he meant. His eyes flitted to stupid Deku who was flapping his arms at some round face girl and then over to the brat who was walking back to the girls locker room. He was ready for his next combat class despite what the annoying girl said. He was going to be number one and damn anyone who got in his way of that. 

He pushed the locker room door hard enough that the purple dumbass who was walking before him flew forward across the room but Katsuki was too in his head to bother looking where he landed. He kept seeing those stupid blue eyes looking at him, judging and unimpressed. He shook his head as if to shake the image out of his head.  I don’t need anyone's damn approval. 

[momentofmemory]

FICTOBER 2020 - day twenty-five

Prompt #25: “Sometimes you can even see.”

Fandom: The Old Guard

Characters: Nile Freeman, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani

Words: 1937

Author’s Note: In the aftermath of a rough mission and all the philosophical questions it entails, Joe takes Nile to the Aarhus Art Museum in Denmark. All pieces mentioned were displayed in the Objects of Wonder: From Pedestal to Interaction exhibit, which ran from Oct. 2019- March 2020. Nile POV.

>> the sweetness remains

Nile scrolls mindlessly through Pinterest, wishing for not the first time that she’d been allowed to recreate her socials.

Copley had barred her from practically all of the actually useful ones, but she’d bullied him down to just having an account on Pinterest, with the argument being that no one cared about the site. Granted, she doesn’t really want to be on Pinterest either, but sometimes the comfort of an app with infinite scroll is all she’s looking for in a distraction.

And right now, she really, really needs to be distracted.

Overly photoshopped cat pics.

Memes ripped straight from tumblr or twitter.

The most white girl aesthetic imaginable.

Three slugs ripping through her abdomen and spitting her liver out the other side—

Nile breathes in sharply. Exhales.

Her thumb resumes scrolling.

Photos of downtown that feel like home.

Recipes for harvest butternut squash soup.

Tips for keeping braids fresh longer.

Nile scrolls, and scrolls, and breathes.

Her abdomen still aches every time her lungs expand, even though she knows it really doesn’t. It’s perfectly healed; not even a scar for her troubles. But it’s hard to forget how her instincts had screamed that a gut shot like that shouldn’t be survivable, even as she pushed herself towards the next target.

(She didn’t survive it.)

(She didn’t survive the next half dozen times it happened, either.)

“Did that phone of yours do something to offend you?”

“Whoa!” Joe’s sudden appearance next to her only makes her clench her phone tighter. She forces out a laugh and eases the tension out of her fingers. “Feel like you should know better than to sneak up on someone that’s part of a bunch of immortal warriors.”

“Most of them would have caught me coming long before you did.”

Nile snorts. She scrolls a few more seconds, then closes the app and opens Temple Run. The game’s ridiculously old, but she’s a millennial. Sue her for being nostalgic.

She can feel Joe watching her as she starts the round.

“Am I correct in thinking you enjoy the arts, Nile?”

It’s not the question she was expecting, and she winds up tilting the screen to the left a half second late, and her character falls off the bridge.

It’s okay though, because she can just use a gem and respawn in the same place, so it’s basically like not dying at all.

Right?

“Uh, yeah,” she says. She winds up restarting the round entirely. “The military was supposed to pay for my degree, but I don’t think I can cash that if I’m technically KIA.”

“That would present a certain set of problems,” Joe agrees. “Andy talk to you about that?”

“Yeah.” Nile’s stomach twists. “Guess it depends on how easy it is to schedule classes between firefights.”

She’s practically laying the opening for a talk out herself, but Joe seems uninterested in taking it.

Instead, he shifts beside her, propping an elbow on his knee. “What kinds of art did you want to specialize in?”

She dies again. This time, she begrudgingly uses the in-game save. "I prefer classic sculpture, but I’m not against modern.”

“You like what was modern art for me, then.”

Nile rolls her eyes. “I dread the day I become as weird as you guys.”

He laughs, patting her on the shoulder as he stands. “I suspect by that time you’ll be too busy tormenting our next recruit. But unfortunately, the exhibit we’re going to will be more in the contemporary style.”

It takes Nile a half second to register his words. “Wait, what?”

“The description said it would be 1960s to the present only. If it suits you, we could hold off on our discussion of it for another thousand years or so. I’m sure we can claim it as classic at that point.”

“What?” Nile locks her phone and zeros her attention on him, registering the mischievous glint in his eyes this time. “Museum?”

“The Aarhus Art Museum has a special exhibit on loan from the Tate Modern at the moment.” He glances down at her phone, the corner of his mouth forming a grin. “I’m told its purpose is to help move its audience’s attention from their devices.”

Nile scowls and looks back down at her phone. “I died a dozen times yesterday. I’m allowed my coping mechanisms of choice.”

And.

Whoops.

“Of course you are,” Joe says, offering his hand to her, and she’s once again surprised he doesn’t force the conversation. “But phones are portable. You can take it with you to the museum.”

Nile worries at the edge of her lip with her teeth. She doesn’t really want to go anywhere right now, but…

But Joe’s brown eyes are warm and welcoming, and his callouses help steady her when she takes his hand.

“You said contemporary sculpture?”

The grin he gives her is blinding. “For now.”

_________________

It’s a twenty-five minute drive from their safe house to the museum, and the route takes them next to the Bay of Aarhus for most of it.

Nile stares out at the water, determined to not give Joe any more ammunition for making fun of her regarding her phone.

It’s hard. She’d never considered herself a technology addict—never had enough time to be one—but she really, really wants to stop thinking about the fact that she knows what the inside of her liver looks like.

Or did look like, she guesses.

Nope, nuh-uh, not going there—

“D'you know about the Ship of Theseus?” She spits it out before she can decide against it. She figures if she’s thinking about it, she might as well talk about it. “And don’t say you were there for it. You’re not Andy and I at least know enough about you to know when you’re lying.”

The grin on his face tells her that he was very much intending to before she called him out on it. “It’s a thought experiment. The character Theseus owns a ship that, over a long span of time, has all of its parts replaced, until nothing of the original still remains.”

“Yeah, and so then the question is, is it even the same ship,” Nile finishes.

Joe weaves in and out of traffic, a pensive look on his face. “I assume you aren’t asking simply to test my knowledge of early western philosophy.”

“No.”

Nile looks down at her hands. She can still remember how horrifically mangled they were from her impromptu dive off a skyscraper, but at least—at least she’s pretty sure they’re the same ones she had before.

Though that might not last long.

“In your opinion,” she says, cautiously, “if—if there’s nothing left of the original—if you have to rebuild something that many times—”

“Nile.” The sound of the car’s turn signal distracts her spiraling thoughts. Joe nods towards the windshield. “We’re here.”

It’s a large, red brick square building, fairly nondescript but for the circular and multi-colored glass walking track at its top.

“Come on, he says, parking the car. “I find physical objects superior to mental ones for solving such issues.”

Nile doesn’t understand why the one time she wants to talk about something like this is the one time Joe decides to go full mysterious.

She climbs out of the car and follows him inside.

Despite her misgivings, she quickly discovers Joe was right. The exhibit is genuinely incredible, and there are pieces from multiple names she recognizes—Anish Kapoor, Donald Judd, Rasheed Araeen—and pieces she finds herself strangely moved by, such as Damian Hirst’s Away from the Flock, Richard Long’s Red Slate Circle, Rachel Whiteread’s Airbed II. Nile stares at that last one in particular for a long time: a concrete casting of an airbed, the artist’s presence made known in the negative space where her body had pressed the material down.

Joe, however, seems to be moving with a specific purpose in mind, and it’s not until they round one of the walls of the orange-pink room that Nile has a guess as to what it is.

In the far corner, bathed in the additional light of a single fill light, is a massive pile of multicolored cellophane wrapped hard candies.

Joe walks her over to it, an almost reverence to his steps.

“Untitled: Portrait of Ross in LA,” he says. “Are you familiar with the piece?”

She shakes her head, bending down to inspect it. It doesn’t look like much more than what she’d seen from a distance—candy, multicolored, on the floor. She looks to Joe for an explanation.

“Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s partner died from AIDS,” Joe says. The grief on his face is hard to look at. “To honor him, he made this as a portrait—one hundred and seventy-five pounds of candy, representing Ross’s weight from when he was still healthy.”

Nile looks at the pile—it’s a lot, but it’s not a hundred and seventy-five pounds worth of a lot.

Joe notices her confusion and smiles. “Take one.”

“What?”

“Take one,” he repeats. “The purpose of the work is to invite you to partake in both enjoying his presence and lamenting the lack of it. A sort of communion—choosing to take part of his body into your own. It was a powerful statement when so many were afraid to even be in our presence at the time.”

Nile looks at the pile again, and just like with Airbed II, her heart aches at what isn’t there, rather than what is. She selects a red piece and brings it out of the pile, cupping it in her hand and considering its weight.

“What happens when it runs out?”

Joe selects his own piece—a green one—and it rolls around in the palm of his hand. “It has. Many times. But that’s the beauty of it—it’s the curator’s responsibility to replenish the pile, metaphorically granting immortality and new life to the loss.”

The cellophane crinkles in Nile’s hand as she unwraps the piece. “How do they decide where to get the candy from?”

“The only firm rule is the original weight. Outside of that, there are no set instructions for the candies themselves.” He chuckles, threading his fingers behind his neck and leaning back against the wall. “Sometimes you can even see these strange combinations of greens, oranges, and purples.”

Nile considers the candy. “Not your favorite?”

“It has an almost Halloween quality to it. I tend to prefer the rainbow.”

The candy in her hand feels heavier than it did before—weighed down with the knowledge of what it represents, what it’s taking away.

She slips the candy into her mouth and her eyebrows raise in surprise. “It’s sweet?”

“It’s candy,” Joe says, unwrapping his own piece. “Did you expect something else?”

“I thought it’d be…” She pauses, trying to parse out her feelings. “Bitter. Or sad, somehow. Considering.”

“It could have been,” Joe agrees. “But the portrait isn’t meant to represent just grief and loss. Candy is a happy thing—a reward for yourself, or a lover’s gift on Valentine’s. And even when it’s gone, the sweetness remains. Still lingering on the tongue, or dwelling in the mind. It is the love of friends and partners that keeps the memory alive—and what keeps this the same portrait, even though its pieces have been cycled through many times.”

The candy melts away on her tongue, and she closes her eyes in grief for its loss, appreciation for what it was, and hope for the pieces that would come after it.

She swallows the last piece of it down.

Her stomach settles.

[ayamari-no-goshi]

Eidolon 4 | (T)

ff.net | AO3

Fandom: Danny Phantom (DP)

Summary:  AU: What started off as the result of a simple act of rebellion ends up causing his life to spin out of control. How will young Danny cope with the results as well as a past that has a strange habit of coming back to haunt him.

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, kidnapping, and various other things

Parings: hints of Danny/Sam much later on

Notes: originally uploaded to Ff.net. Cross-posted to AO3 and tumblr

4. Paper Trails

Is it possible to truly call the mess someone creates in a desperate search for an object a natural disaster? If so, his study had come as close to the definition as humanly possible; books had been torn off their shelves, drawers had been removed and dumped on the floor, decorative items had been thrown haphazardly around the room and he was seriously debating on whether or not he should attempt to lift the furniture. He had, after all, already knocked over one of the end tables.

He just didn't understand it. The one time he needed that letter, it was absolutely nowhere to be found! But, that was what made it so strange… Unless he needed it, he kept it within a metal box that sat in the bottom drawer of his desk, right now, even the box was missing! How was he going to prove he had a valid claim to the issue at hand without it?

A noise took his thoughts away from his search. He glanced up to see Danny standing in the doorway, giving him a worried glance. "Uh… Winston, are you alright?" he asked cautiously as he carefully came in the room a few steps. "And you say my room's a mess…"

A sheepish grin crossed his face as he picked up his chair. "I'm fine… I'm just trying to find a paper I need for a meeting later tonight."

"Do… you need any help?"

"No, not really… I should be fine on my own." He then glanced at his young charge, who seemed to relax at the statement. He was confused for a moment until he realized the boy kept glancing at the clock that somehow still managed to be in its place on the wall. "That's right; you're going out today…"

Danny nodded as a relieved expression appeared on his face. "Yeah, I'm supposed to meet Sam and Tucker soon."

"Be careful, alright?"

"I know, I know…"

He sighed as he carefully stepped over his mess so he could put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "I can't help that I'm worried, especially after what happened on Sunday…"

At that statement, the boy violently knocked away his guardian's hand. "Nothing happened!" he nearly shouted. "How many times do I have to say that to you?"

Danny glared at him as he tried to figure out how to defuse the situation. Even though Danny denied anything happened, the actual problem was obviously something had. Winston knew Danny had experienced real fear on Sunday and whatever it was, it had to have been traumatic, or else his constant denials wouldn't make much sense. It worried him. What could possibly have scared the boy so much in his own home?

Something else bothering him was the fact Danny had gotten violently ill shortly after dinner that night. Although, it could have just been a delayed response (to the fear but), it really had seemed… well, almost random. The boy was shaking severely once he had gotten control of his stomach, and he seemed unusually cold to the touch. Now that he actually thought about it more, the shaking might have been actual shivers from being cold. That definitely wasn't normal, and if it wasn't for the fact that he had felt better the next morning, Winston would have taken him to the doctor's, which was something he tried to avoid.

"Danny…" he said slowly. Within how tense the boy was, he knew he had to be careful with his words. It would not help either of them if he unintentionally pushed him away. "All I'm asking is that you take it easy today. You might be fine, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm worried about you."

"Whatever," he huffed as he turned back towards the door. Although it wasn't the best response, it told him that, thankfully, there was no added stress to the shaky situation. "I have to get going."

Winston smiled as he turned back to the warzone that was formally his desk. "One thing before you go," he added as an afterthought. "I might not be home when you come back tonight. If you're not feeling well, don't hesitate to come back here. And, as long as you leave this room alone, you can bring your friends in if you like."

That caught the boy's attention. "Really?"

"Really. Have fun. I have to get back to this… uh, search…" A frown crossed his features as he glanced down at the mess. Again, how could a heavy metal box go missing?

He barely heard Danny's reply as he tried to figure out where he should search next. Time was running out, and there was still no sign of it. But, trying to search on sheer panic without a plan was not doing him any good. Although he did not want to, he decided to give himself a few moments to reorganize his thoughts.

The obvious place to restart was the desk, where it should have been in the first place. There had to be some sort of clue to what happened to it in there. Yet, as he looked, he happened to notice a folded piece of paper around the same area where the box had been. It was odd because he rarely, if ever, folded any of his paperwork, especially anything placed in that desk. What was even stranger was the fact it had his name written on it, almost like it was a letter. Curious, he opened it.

….

Time just seemed to stand still as he just stared at the letter. It… it had to be some type of sick joke! There was no way that that thing could possibly be in town, let alone have found a way into the house. He had kept track of reports from their previous hometown, and no one had seen it for years! There weren't even any reports from neighboring locations. It just disappeared after it had destroyed everything.

But, if it was in town, why was it here? Why was it targeting him? Wait… When it had first attacked all those years ago, it seemed to have a specific target… But, weren't they dead? Could it now be after…? "Oh, no…!" he whispered as he got up and sprinted towards the front door. "Danny!" he shouted as he tried to find some sort of evidence he was still in the house, but there wasn't any.

A glance at the clock told him that it had been some time since he had last spoken to the boy. How did he loose that much time? Even though Danny was probably nowhere nearby, he threw open the front door and tried calling for the boy again anyways. There was no answer, but that did not mean much. Danny was probably fine, but oblivious to the danger that had reemerged. It wasn't his fault either, Winston hadn't wanted to say anything about it until his upcoming birthday, but he was seriously regretting that decision now. That thing… that monster could be stalking its prey at the moment.

Without a second though, he grabbed his keys and hurried to his car. Sure, there was that meeting he needed to attend, but that was going to have to be rescheduled. Danny's safety was far more important to him than trying to prove to a bunch of busybodies he had a right to take care of the boy.

And in truth, he wasn't too sure what he was going to when he finally managed to find Danny. Was he going to tell the boy what was wrong? Or, was, again, going to leave crucial information out? He would decide that later. Right now, his major concern was to just to make sure he was still okay.

xxxxxxx

"Uh… Dude, are you sure you're okay?" Tucker asked as he watched him finish his second pop in less than five minutes.

He gave his friend a sheepish grin as he debated on whether or not he was going to need another refill. "Yeah… as soon… as I can completely… catch my breath." Although he knew it was probably among the stupidest things he could have done, he ran all the way from his home to the Nasty Burger, which Tucker had promised tasted a lot better than it sounded. His little chat with Winston had taken surprisingly longer than he thought it would, which didn't help the fact he was already running late.

A chuckle from Sam caught his attention. "This wouldn't happen if you were in better shape…" Even if she was poking fun at him in a friendly way, the comment still got under his nerves a little. Sure, he wasn't the most muscular of people, but he certainly wasn't fat. So, instead of trying to say anything back to her, he decided to take the moment to get another refill.

"So, ignoring my problems," Danny told them a few minutes later as he sat back down. "Did you guys actually find out anything?"

"Surprisingly, I did… and I'm not too sure that it's a good thing. Here, take a look."

Ignoring the fact it seemed that Tucker's pockets held their own separate dimension since there was no way they were big enough to completely hold his PDA and his other gadgets, he glanced at the article currently on the machine's screen. Though it wasn't a very large article, the content seemed to be rather troubling. "Wh-what is this?" His voice was quiet as he looked at both of his friends for some sort of answer.

"Right now, I'm not too sure," Tucker replied as he took back his PDA. "There's really not much information on it, but from what I can tell, that picture is very similar to a series of sketches drawn a few hundred years ago. But the thing is, they were all drawn for (or by) this cult that seemed to worship demons."

He could feel his eyes widen in disbelief. "You… You're not serious, are you?"

"Unfortunately, that's not the worst of it," Sam continued as Tucker nodded solemnly. "It's a little obscure, but apparently that group was trying to create a specific demon-the one depicted on the drawing we found. There were really no details on how they planned on doing that, thank goodness, but there was some reference that it deals with some sort of curse…."

Now, that made him laugh, which caused his friends to stare at him. "A curse?" he asked as he calmed down a bit. "Don't you think that's a little much? You actually had me going for a bit."

"Danny, this isn't a laughing matter!" Sam nearly yelled as Tucker tried to keep her from standing up. "Whether or not this story is true is not the actual problem. The problem is we found something tied to a potentially dangerous occult belief right after you were chased by… whatever that thing was! Don't you see some sort of connection here?"

He snorted. "Sam, do you really think that whoever that guy was belongs to this cult and wanted to sacrifice me or something? Hasn't that sort of thing been proven to be nothing but an urban legend? Besides, finding that paper was probably nothing but a coincidence."

"Actually, I'm not too sure it is." Tucker's voice brought both he and Sam away from the staring match that had begun after he had finished speaking. "I mean, the information on that picture was hard to find, so I don't really think too many people would know about it."

"But, couldn't someone have just drawn that picture without really knowing about that story? Plenty of people are interested in the occult and other spooky stuff, so there's no telling what one of them might have come up with."

"I'd actually side with you, if it wasn't for the type of paper that it's on."

"What do you mean?"

Sam sighed rather impatiently. "Don't you remember what I said when we found it? Like it felt more like canvas? Well, I actually took it down to one of the art supply stores I occasionally go to hoping that they might have some idea what it was, but they didn't know! They told me that it didn't look like anything they had seen before… well, until the one said that it somewhat reminded him of animal leather, which really freaked me out. How could someone do that to an animal?"

From there, she quickly began to rant about animal cruelty until Tucker interrupted her by calling her name. After a moment, she realized what she was doing and adopted a sheepish expression. "Anyway," she continued, "the point here is that it's highly unlikely many people would be able to get their hands on that type of material, and since it did seem really old, maybe we do have something here."

Danny crossed his arms as he considered her words. "So, if there is a connection here, what do you suppose we do?" It wasn't really like he was completely convinced about this whole 'occult' story, but he was certain that there was some sort of deranged freak stalking his favorite haunt. That by itself was a cause for alarm.

"We could go to the police…"

"Please, Sam, If we go up to an officer and say 'Hey, when we were in the cemetery at night, we were chased by this creepy thing that we think belongs to a demon-worshiping cult', he'll probably either laugh at us or check us for drug possession."

"It was just a suggestion, and I don't see you coming up with anything better!"

"Calm down! Do you want to draw attention to us?" Tucker warned them as he carefully glanced around the building. That act caused him to look around too, and indeed, there were a few people that had decided to look their way.

It really was the first time he had paid attention to the other people in the restaurant. Surprisingly, there were a lot of other teenagers there, and he guessed that the majority of them went to the same school as Sam and Tucker. For a moment, he felt a bit of jealousy towards them. For practically his entire life, he had been kept away from the world, and now that he could finally touch its fringes, he felt himself wanting more of it. In truth, he just didn't understand why his friends talked so badly about it.

Though he could probably ponder about it more, he pulled himself back into the argument that had now started between Sam and Tucker that did not seem to do anything with the unknown madman who was starting to make president in their lives.

xxxxxxxx

It was starting to grow dark, and Winston still had absolutely no idea where Danny could be. It was probably his fault, since until this particular moment; he hadn't seen the point of giving the boy anything like a cell phone. And, it didn't really help that part of his attention was drawn away by a rather annoying social worker that could not seem to understand he was trying to reschedule his appointment.

"For the last time, I will gladly reschedule for next week," he told the woman as civilly as he could. He knew that driving while speaking on his cell was not a smart move on his part, but he could honestly care less. Trying to find Danny was way more important than obeying any laws. "But, Ma'am, I was just alerted to a family emergency. Right now, that is more important to me than this meeting. Tomorrow, or even later tonight, if you want, I'll call you to fill you in on the situation, but right now, I need to go. Have a good night."

The tone in his voice seemed to finally get through to the woman, and she did agree that he could call later. Happy to finally be off the phone with her, he glanced down for a moment to slide his phone into a cup holder so that he could easily grab it later. When he looked back up, he immediately slammed on his breaks and turned the wheel.

His breathing was heavy as his car came to a stop. Thankful that there were no other vehicles on the street, he glanced over to see what the damage might be. Yet… there was nothing there! Confused, he got out of his car so that he could better survey the location.

It was so strange. He could have sworn that he had seen some sort of figure standing out in the road, but as he looked, there was absolutely no sign of any living thing. Even the buildings that were around him were broken down and empty. Now that he thought about it, how did he even get into this part of town? He didn't remember coming here… and it was unlikely that Danny would be in the area, especially if he was with friends…

A chill suddenly ran down his back, and he knew he was being watched. Now aware he was in an incredibly open position, he moved closer to his car. The most logical thing to do would be to get back into his car, quickly leave the area, and go back to his search, but something told him that whatever was watching him would not let him escape so easily.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" a civilized voice asked in a way that made his blood run cold. He knew that voice; there was no way that he would ever have been able to forget it. Even though he didn't have to look to know it was there, but he did anyway. It would have made him face it eventually, so there was no use in trying to avoid it.

On a first glance, the average person would probably describe the figure floating above him as a vampire, and although there was a similarity, it was a wrong assumption. In fact, the creature was something anyone would never expect to be solid, appear in the daylight (even if it was fading), or even have the ability to hurt someone. It was a ghost.

===================

Notes: 1) Pop = soda. Grew up in southwestern PA, and we tend to say 'pop'. This might come up again, so I just wanted to put that translation out there.

2) When Danny says that sacrificial cults are an urban legend, that's supposedly true. According to US criminal history, while there have been murderous cults, there is no evidence of any sacrificial murders related to cults. Whether that's true or not, is up to debate, but that's the official standpoint in the US. Although, you can argue the “Order of the Solar Temple” did this, but that was in Canada. 

[mylifeisactuallyamess]

Blood Moon

Chapter 5

You stretched and yawned, daylight was streaming in the crack in the curtains. You turned and snuggled into Kylo. You ran a hand over his chest, he was still asleep and you watched his chest rise and fall steadily. You kissed his cheek and he rumbled slightly, his arms came up around you and crushed you to him. His nose nuzzled at your cheek, his lips finding yours, you melted into his embrace. He slowly moved on top of you, his kissing become rougher. You groaned into his mouth as he settled between your legs. He growled and pressed into you, you reached down and tried to pull his joggers off but he grabbed your hand.

‘We can’t, not yet,’ his voice was heavy and gruff, his breathing ragged. You pushed against him, his hard on evident against your leg. You kissed him and he kissed you back, you wiggled beneath him and he took a sharp intake of breath. ‘You don’t know, how much,’ he closed his eyes, ‘how hard I am resisting you right now.’

‘Don’t resist me.’ You whispered. He shook his head and slipped out of the bed. You pouted as he stretched, his muscles straining. God you wanted this man why was he holding back so much?

‘Let’s get some breakfast.’ He sniffed. ‘I smell pancakes!’ He pulled you out of bed, suddenly you realised you were still in your dress from last night.

‘I have no clothes.’

‘Here.’ He reached into a cupboard and pulled out a top and some jeans. ‘Put these on, I’m gonna go get dressed.’ You changed and stood at the door looking down the hallway. Kylo’s door opened and you smiled at him. He reached for you and tucked you under his arm.

‘Let’s eat.’ He walked you downstairs, you could smell the food and hear what sounded like a full house. You walked into the kitchen and the table was full, there were people everywhere. Kylo pulled you into the kitchen and hush settled over the room as everybody stared at you both.

‘Come eat guys!’ Called Leia. The conversation restarted but slightly more muted than before.

‘Who are all these people?’ You whispered.

‘We have a big family.’ Said Kylo as you sat down, he loaded up a plate with pancakes and syrup for you and one for himself. You ate slowly, people watching. Han and Leia sat at the end of the table, there were more men than woman, one woman in particular caught your interest. She had long brown hair that she hid behind and her eyes were a grey, blue colour. She was hunched over her plate every now and again she would shoot daggers at you. You felt uncomfortable under her gaze and you shifted closer to Kylo. She noticed your movement and abruptly left the table. The guy sitting next to you leaned over.

‘Pay no mind to her. She’s just jealous.’

‘Hux.’ Kylo’s voice rolled over you and vibrated from his chest. It was deeper, and had a hint of command to it, something you hadn’t heard from him before. He bowed his head.

‘See you around Y/N.’ He patted Kylo on the back and left the kitchen. Slowly they all filtered out until you and Kylo were the only ones left.

‘What did he mean?’

‘Who?’

‘Hux.’

‘Oh about Rose.’ He shrugged ‘she has a crush on me always has done. I’m sorry if you get caught in the crossfire.’ He kissed your forehead and took the plates to the dishwasher. You frowned trying to process this. He clearly assumed there would be a problem. You didn’t want to have issues with anyone, Christ you’d only just met these people. Kylo snaked his hands round your waist and took a deep breath with his face buried in your hair. ‘You smell divine.’ He whispered and nibbled on your ear. You swatted him playfully.

‘Come on let’s clear this up.’

‘We have people for that.’

‘I’m sorry? People?’

‘Yeah my mum has a cleaner, she’ll sort this she’s used to it.’ You shook your head.

‘How the other half live!’ You said. He chuckled.

‘Come on, let’s go explore the grounds.’ He grabbed your hand and tugged youout the back door. The garden was huge, it even had a woodland at the bottom. He took you to a secluded bit and you both sat on a stone bench.

‘This place is really beautiful.’ You said.

‘So, you haven’t told me much about yourself.’ You blushed and looked down at your hands. ‘You don’t have to, I don’t want to rush you.’ He said quietly.

‘No it’s ok. My parents weren’t very, loving. My so called Dad always favoured my brothers over me, he took them on camping trips and such leaving me and my mum back at the house. She generally got drunk and I was left to fend for myself. When they would come home depending on how well the trip went, or how he was feeling in general, would determine how he’d treat me.’

‘Treat you?’ You nodded. ‘You mean, he hit you?’

‘Few times.’

‘What the fuck?’ Anger clouded his face. You didn’t need his pity. It annoyed you when people felt sorry for you, for your shitty parents and your shitty upbringing.

‘Listen, I’ve made my peace with it, you wanted to know my back ground, soon as I could I stole his car and got myself out of there. Haven’t seen or heard from them since. That’s when I met Poe. He was also a kid on his own and we just went from there. Until, he left.’

‘Poe? Poe Dameron?’ You frowned as you turned to look at him. Your mind racing.

‘Yeah, you know him?’ He nodded slowly.

‘But I haven’t seen him in a really, really long time. Years in fact.’ You put your hands over your face as the sobs threatened to wrack your body. Kylo knelt down in front of you. ‘Don’t hide. Don’t hide from me.’ His hazel eyes spilled over with concern as you peaked at him through your fingers.

‘I’m sorry you’re probably wanting me to go home ASAP and forget any of this happened.’

‘Not in a million years.’ He tucked some hair behind your ear and you leant into his touch. ‘Since the moment I walked into that coffee shop and saw you for the first time, I knew I had to talk to you, meet you, get to know you and now, I couldn’t imagine being without you.’

‘The day we met, you were coming back to the coffee shop weren’t you?’ He nodded and smiled slightly.

‘I was yeah. It didn’t sit right with me leaving you at that table, but you found me anyway. Couldn’t believe it when I got that text message from you......’ his head tilted and he turned to look over his shoulder. ‘Stay here.’ He rose and disappeared round the corner.

‘Sure, just poured my heart out and you up and leave. What’s new?’ You sighed and kicked gently at the dirt under the bench. You heard a noise, you looked up and froze. A huge brown dog was staring at you, it’s lip began to lift in a snarl. ‘Oh shit.’ This didn’t look like a dog you could escape. Your palms began to sweat and you rose slowly off the bench, your hands out in a submissive pose. ‘I’m more scared of you than you are of me, trust me.’ You whispered. The dog growled loudly as you tried to back away. It advanced on you snarling more. You couldn’t take you eyes away from it’s face, you’d never seen a dog like it, the eyes just looked so, human. The dog lunged and gripped your hand with its teeth. You cried out in pain and tried to tug your hand out of its mouth.

‘Hey!’ Kylo’s voice rang out loudly. The dog released you instantly and cowered on the floor. Kylo stalked towards you both, his shoulders tense, his eyes flashed yellow and he glared at the dog. ‘Go and tell my father what you have done. RIGHT NOW!’ He bellowed. The dog slinked away and Kylo rushed to you. Blood was oozing out of the wound and you couldn’t feel your fingers. His hands were shaking as he tried to have a look. ‘We need to get you to my mother.’ Your legs shook and you dropped as shock took over. He picked you up like you weighed no more than a twig and rushed back to the house. He burst into a room where his mother and father we standing talking to Rose. She paled as Kylo walked in and Han grabbed her arm and marched her out of the room. You were shaking all over, you felt so unwell. Your stomach churned and the lights almost seemed brighter. You could hear them talking and you felt Leia inspect your hand. She put a cool hand on your forehead as your eyes rolled you closed them wishing this would stop, then everything went black.

Kylo stood helplessly looking at you shaking and twitching on the sofa as Leia inspected your wound. She placed a hand on your sweating forehead.

‘I’ve never seen it accelerate this quickly. Did you find out where she was from? Who her family are?’

‘Just a bunch of low life scum who she got away from as soon as she could.’ The rage rose in Kylo just at the thought of them. He growled deeply.

‘Calm yourself son. She might survive. I’ve only seen this once before, the girl had a dormant werewolf gene. Could explain why it’s accelerating this fast, without the help of the full moon.’ Kylo sunk down next your now still form.

‘I hope you’re right because I can’t live without her.’ His voice broke and he clenched his fists. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

‘Rose might have done you a favour.’ He snarled.

‘I will never forgive her for as long as I live.’ He spat.

‘Your father will deal with her accordingly. I suggest you prepare for a new member to the pack Kylo.’ Leia went to leave but she turned back to him. ‘If she had stayed human, your soulmate status would never have been recognised.’ She quietly shut the door behind her leaving Kylo by your side. He began to pace, every now and again checking on you. Suddenly he roared loudly and brought his fists crashing down on the desk in the room, it splintered under the force. The door flew open and Hux barged in.

‘What the hell.....?’ He saw Kylo standing over the broken desk. ‘You ok? You contained?’ Kylo nodded. Hux knelt down beside you, he rested his hand on your forehead and you murmured. ‘Did you do this?’ Kylo glared at him from beneath his black hair. ‘Who then?’

‘Rose.’ Kylo growled out her name.

‘Oh boy. She’s in for a world of trouble. You know if Y/N turns out to be your soulmate, she could be put on trial.’

‘I’ll make sure she will be.’

‘We should get her upstairs, she could start turning any minute.’ Hux went to slide his hands under your body but Kylo growled a warning. Hux raised his hands and backed away. ‘Sorry.’ Hux faithfully followed you both upstairs and Kylo laid you on his bed, you started murmuring and fidgeting.

‘If she dies.....I’m going to rip Rose’s throat out myself.’ Kylo said quietly as he brushed some strands of hair off your sweating forehead.

‘I don’t doubt that. But let’s not think the worst. Let’s just sit here and get her through her first change.’ They didn’t have long to wait.

[clericbyers]

Imagine it. He has to make a choice but Will forces him to save El. ("Save her! Trust me, it's going to be all right.") Imagine Joyce's reaction to Mike's "I couldn't save him, I left him behind.... I am so sorry I couldn't save him..." It would be a nice way to introduce Will's powers though. Mike and Will's reunion would be so amazing. ("Never again! You can't ask me to leave you ever again!" "Thank you for trusting me.")

There was barely any time left for them to make it out. Mike was sweating, bangs sticking to his forehead as he turned to face the slowly closing gate. He needed to get both Will and El out, but El was weak having depleted the last reserves of the powers she had gained being back in the Upside Down. Will’s ankle was twisted from their sprint toward the gate and Mike knew they couldn’t keep walking at his pace.

“Fuck,” Mike wheezed, belatedly wishing he has spent more time working out or at least practicing his strength so he could carry El and drag Will a little faster. His legs were burning and every breath felt like fire down his throat. Spores were blurring the path ahead and his vision was dotting black. “Will, take my hand.”

Will winced as he hobbled closer, clamping his sweaty hand against Mike’s own. “The gate is closing faster than I thought.”

Mike nodded. “Yeah, I don’t know what’s happening but we need to go.” He pulled El closer into his side. “Can you walk faster? I know you’re hurt but…we need to get out.”

“Mike,” El whispered hoarsely, brown bloodied locks splayed over her face, “I can walk. I can do this.”

“No, you can’t. You nearly died back there.” The taller boy could feel his words cracking at the edges. “We’re getting you both out; all three of us, okay? We’re gonna be fine.”

Mike started to increase his speed and ignored the searing pain in his chest. Will cried out as he tripped again and lost his grip on Mike’s hand. The exit was so close but Mike skidded to a stop. His heart jumped in his throat as he watched Will wince as he tried to climb up to his feet. “Will, c’mon. I’m not leaving you, come on!” Mike could feel tears prickling in his eyes as breathing grew a little harder. He reached out his hand again and Will shakily took it. “I’ll help you up. I’ll help you, just stay with me.”

“Mike!” El shouted, shoving Mike suddenly. He tumbled to the ground himself and slammed his shoulder into a rock, a cry ripped from his throat at the pain. El fell after him, tears streaking down her face as blood continues to drip from her nose. It hadn’t stopped despite her powers being depleted and it was worrying Mike. “I’m sorry, it was another demogorgon. I can hold it off a little longer—,”

“No!” Mike grabbed at his shoulder. “No, I’m not leaving you or Will! We won’t fight it, just keep going.”

“Mike,” started Will hesitantly. His eyes were trained in the direction the demogorgon had gone off in but his tone made Mike whip around despite the strain on his muscles. “Get out and save El.”

“What?”

“Trust me, it’s going to be alright.”

“Will, what the fuck? I’m not leaving you.” Mike ran to Will’s side and started tugging on his arm. “Come on, come on!”

A roar from a few yards away screeched through the air. Will gave him a dry smile and reached up a hand to his face. “Mike.”

“Don’t say my name like that, like it’s the last time. You’re Will the Wise; you can do this, you can—,”

And in a flash, Mike was blinking dust spores form his lashes and staring at the wall opposite him where a blazing scar represented the gate’s closure. El was leaning on Mike’s side, her breath heaving in her chest before she collapsed to her knees. Mike pressed a hand to the scarred and sealed gate, emotions trapped in his throat as confusion riddled his mind. He couldn’t remember getting out the gate, he didn’t know how they got here but at least El and Will had—

“Will?” Mike croaked hesitantly. He spun around in a circle searching for his best friend and came up empty. “No! Will, don’t play this game with me! William!”

“Mike,” El cried.

“No, no, El don’t say it. Don’t fucking say it.” The tears wouldn’t stay in his eyes. He hated crying but he couldn’t stop himself now. “He’s here. He made it. He got caught in the teleportation spell, too. I think that’s what it was. Right? Right. Right. He’s here. Will! Will, come on, we said we’d finish our campaign today!”

Silence followed Mike’s cries. He fell to his knees sobbing and shaking his head. This couldn’t be true, he couldn’t have lost Will. Mike was holding right onto Will, he was looking right into his familiar green eyes, talking to him, encouraging him. They were so close…

“Mike!”

He looked up and felt nauseous as Joyce came running toward him. Hopper was at her side along with Jonathan and Steve. El was on her feet and rushing toward Joyce but Mike couldn’t convince his legs to hold him up. He couldn’t convince himself to speak but the words fell from his mouth anyway.

“I couldn’t save him,” he started hollowly. “I couldn’t, I was right there, he was holding me,” Mike brought a hand to his face where he could still feel the faint touch of Will’s fingers against his face. “I left him behind…I’m so sorry. I couldn’t save him.”

Mike’s voice broke on ‘save’ and the crying restarted, ugly and full of choked sobs as he felt Joyce fall to her knees beside him. She pulled Mine into her arms and cradled his head, also crying as they hugged. “I’m so sorry,” he sobbed repeatedly into her dirt-covered shirt. “It happened so fast.”

Joyce didn’t say a word, either unable to or not wanting to interrupt Mike’s breakdown. He appreciated her silence; he knew he was unworthy of her words at the moment. There had to be something he could have done to bring Will with him. Will didn’t have to be left behind. He didn’t. He shouldn’t have. Mike has to have made a mistake somewhere.

There were still no words shared when the group left the vicinity and regrouped with the others. The rest of the Party noted Will’s absence and huddled with Mike and El as they all mounted together. Everything afterwards was a blur soaked in sorrow and regret, guilt and anger that consumed every minute of every hour afterwards. Mike really tried to accept the issue, that it wasn’t just his fault, something unknown had happened back then, but if he hadn’t been distracted and actually noticed the damn demogorgon maybe they would have taken a different route and gotten there faster. All Mike could think about were what if scenarios that clambered over each other and drenched him in sadness.

El was just as empty as Mike in the upcoming months. No one was really the same, they had no way to reopen the gate and El’s powers were gone so they couldn’t even try to track him. For many days, Mike wished he was the one left behind because living like this, living without Will, wasn’t really living at all.

Then of course, Mike started hearing voices. Rather, he started hearing Will’s voice. Little echoes in the background of his life, a small whisper of his name, a short phrase that disappeared if Mike thought about it too hard. It was driving him insane, a little crazy, and he wanted the voice gone.

“Shut up!” he screamed at nothing, covering his ears with the palm of his hands. “He’s not here! He’s dead, okay, Mike, get it together! Will is dead.”

Mike.

“Stop it!”

Mike? Mike, are you there?

“Leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone!”

Mike, can you hear me?

The young teen shook his head and gripped at his hair with a sob. “No, no, no, I’m going crazy, I’m going mad.”

A knock on his door brought him from his meltdown. “Mike, are you okay? I can hear you yelling.”

Mike struggled to catch his breath. “I’m fine. I just, I need some fresh air.”

He slipped on some shoes and squirmed his way out the door and past his well-concerned mother. She was calling for him but Mike wasn’t listening. He needed to get out his room, somewhere that was still tainted with Will and probably wasn’t helping his stupid brain with thinking Will was still alive.

A storm was starting outside but Mike couldn’t bother about the rain. There was something about the chilling cold wetness that settled him in reality while his life seemed to spiral out of control. Mike didn’t intend to go far, but his legs started moving faster and soon he was sprinting to Castle Byers.

“I’m going fucking crazy,” he murmured to himself once he got to the abandoned fort. “So stupid, I’m so stupid!”

A flash of lightning lit up the sky and a couple second later thunder followed. Mike fell to his knees with an apology on his lips, but when he looked up, he spotted a figure in the distance between sheets of rain. No one came over here anymore but there was something about the silhouette that captured Mike’s attention. He climbed back to his feet slowly, wiping rain from his face as he stepped forward. The figure moved too, staring with a gentle stroll before morphing into a run.

“Mike! It’s really you!”

Mike froze on the spot. His heart skipped a beat in his chest, his head grew a little dizzy, and his throat went too dry to speak. If Mike eyes weren’t deceiving him, Will was the person currently running toward him. “What are you?” he shouted back, bringing his fists up as if about to fight. “Why do you look like Will? Why are you here to taint me?”

The Will-looking being skidded to a stop just a couple feet away. It looked exactly like Will and Mike wanted to believe it so bad, but he was there when Will was left behind. He was there when he had to leave Will. This couldn’t be him.

“Mike? How long has it been?” It sounded just like the voice in his head. “I didn’t mean to take so long to get back.”

“Get back?” Mike’s voice tensed. “You…you’ve been in my head for weeks! Infiltrating my thoughts, you monster! Get away from me!”

Mike took a step back when the creature reached out a hand. It’s face had fallen, looking confused and sad just like Will would have looked. “Mike…it’s really me. Will in the flesh. I got out.”

Maybe he really wanted it to be Will so he gave the being a chance to explain itself. “How?”

The imitation Will flexed it’s fingers. “I told you to trust me, yeah? Trust in me.” The being smiled softly. “I have powers just like El. I used them to get you and her out and close the gate.”

“You…,” Mike felt dizzy. “You did that? You closed the gate?” Anger suddenly consumed him. “You fucking asshole! You had the chance to get out, too, and you didn’t fucking take it? You let all of us believe you were dead! You let me believe I had lost you!”

“I didn’t mean to,” Will quickly replied, “I thought I could get out faster. All I knew is that I had to keep you two alive.”

“At the cost of yourself? It’s not worth it. I’m not worth that.”

“You are worth everything, Mike.” Will took the next few steps necessary to close the gap and fool Mike’s hands in his own. Lightning flashed again and lit up his tear-streaked face. Even if Mike wanted to believe otherwise, he couldn’t deny this wasn’t Will. He even had the small small scar on his knuckles from when they had been fighting monsters in the Upside Down while trying to escape.

“Will,” Mike gasped as his body shook from cold and shock. “Will, I could hear you…”

“Yeah. You and I…we’re connected, I think. I don’t know how yet but,” Will started rubbing Mike’s hand with his thumbs, “I could hear you. Through the radio and just in general. It was tethering me, your voice that is. So thank you. Thank you for trusting me.”

“God, Will,” Mike couldn’t breath straight. “Will, you’re…you were talking to me and I missed you so much. Never ask me to leave you again!” His throat clogged up and he felt the tears stinging his eyes again. “I thought you were dead and I was going crazy.”

“Hey,” Will smiled, “crazy together, right?”

And under the pouring rain with nothing but the moonlight shining down on them, Mike grabbed Will’s face and kissed him deep enough to convey how much he missed Will, how much he needed Will, how much he loved Will.

[daughterofluthien]

Fictober - Day 20

[melonkooky]

bts reaction - their s/o getting hate for dating them

requested

genre: angst, fluff

author’s note: i kinda changed your request. i hope that's okay 😬😬. also, i don’t think this is good writing but i did try my best. please enjoy!!!

please do not copy my work. but please like and reblog it. thank you!!!!

masterlist

introduction

you knew what you were getting into when you started going out with [member]. you knew there was always going to be those people that don't accept your relationship to them. you told yourself not to listen and to ignore all the negativity. but you can only take so much.

kim seokjin

you received a letter in the mail. it was sitting on top of the coffee table, words haunting your mind. 'who gave you the right to date seokjin-oppa? do you think you're special? you're not.' those words were messing with your mind. on top of it, you felt scared. if they managed to get this letter into your mailbox, then they know where you live, they know where seokjin lives. you were more worried about him than yourself. seokjin had arrived home a few hours after you received the letter. "hey, baby." he greeted, tired from practice,

"come here," you told him.

slightly confused hearing the pain in your voice, seokjin walked to your spot on the couch. he sat down and you handed him the letter. you watched his face for any reaction. when he finished, the sides of the sheet of paper crumbled in his fist. he sighed. "why didn't you call me earlier?"

you shrugged. "you were busy."

"baby, they know where we live. this person clearly doesn't accept our relationship. they said very hurtful things to you. they could be dangerous."

you shook your head, tears spilling out of your eyes. seokjin's eyes widened. he pulled you into a tight hug, "hey, don't believe any of those words, okay? they are most definitely in the wrong. you have done nothing wrong." he reassured. "now, let's pack up some clothes and necessities. we're going to stay at the dorm for a while."

you nodded. you looked up at seokjin, who smiled at you. "i'll take care of it. don't worry."

min yoongi

it had never reached this point until just recently. you had helped with yoongi in his recent song and he was happy about it. he posted the song on soundcloud, and then announced it on twitter. he made sure that your name was in this tweet; there was no way he was going to take all the credit. majority of his fans loved it. but of course, there were those fans that loved the song, but hated the fact that you contributed. even worse: those who hated the song simply because of your contribution. you didn’t think anything of it but your social medias started to get blasted by comments, comments like ‘you’re not even an artist’, ‘you have no talent’, ‘the song would have been way better if you didn’t even exist.’ yoongi happened to read that last comment when you had left your phone unattended. he was angry. why weren’t they supporting you just as they would with him? he went to twitter for this problem. he thanked everyone in a long message, thanking them for their support. then he moved on to the ones who weren’t supporting you. he addressed that he was fine with their opinions, but directly messaging his significant other and saying how much they hated them just wasn’t right. sure, they don’t like them. but that doesn’t give them the right harass his significant other. after posting the message, many were proud and on his side. a few even apologized. even if his message didn’t do much, he felt better. when he was finished, you walked back into the room. “hey, i read a few comments they were making after our song.” he began.

your cheeks burned a bit. “did you...”

yoongi smiled at you, reaching for your hand. “i took care of it.”

you blushed, smiling widely at him.

jung hoseok

jimin had accidentally mentioned you in an interview, a...live...interview. there was no going back. hoseok had no choice but to admit that he was in fact in a relationship and only revealed your name. he didn’t want to expose you to the whole world. seconds after revealing you year long relationship, your phone lit up. one notification. then four. then sixteen. more and more. many started following you and began asking you questions. you became so overwhelmed by it all. many begged other to support you and even messaged you saying how attractive you were from pictures you had posted. however, there were a selected few who had the opposite opinion. they began to attack you. all of this happened in the span of a few minutes. your first thought was to call hoseok. he was in the middle of an interview but his manager secretly handed him his phone. hoseok beamed and blushed, flashing your pet name caller id to the crowd who screamed. he answered, “hey, y/n.”

“hoseok, i hate to interrupt your interview but...the fans...they’re all over me.”

hoseok’s smile dropped. he took the phone away from his ear. “i know this is sudden and a surprise,” he started, “but please leave them alone. i hate to say this but if you don’t support my decisions, then you really shouldn’t call yourself my fan. the fans that i love to death would love both me and whoever i am with. please, don’t be mean and give them such comments.”

you sighed. “hoseok?”

“i’m here.”

“you didn’t have to do that.”

“i wouldn’t want you to go through such negative things.”

kim namjoon

you and namjoon had no choice but to reveal your relationship to the public. you and him had tried to hide it for months, but somehow, a picture of you two together was taken, reports of you two were all over the internet. there was just no hiding it anymore. namjoon finally made the announcement. at first, things were relatively calm. maybe the public and his fans were just a little shocked. it got to a point where it was always a topic on interviews. a question relating to that was asked and it broke your own heart but namjoon replied, “you can hate me, but please don’t hate them.”

many were supportive. “it’s not right to hate them just because they’re dating namjoon. they’ve done nothing wrong.”

it got to a point where fans were harassing you on the internet and eventually in public. you were able to ignore them for a while. but one day when shopping with namjoon, some girl ran up to you and dumped ice cold water all over you. and namjoon couldn’t hold back. “a fan is someone who not only loves and admires someone, but also supports them. if you don’t support me or my significant other or any of our decisions, the exit is right behind you.”

park jimin

it began with a few messages online. those things you could ignore. you could just log out and delete the app, even shut down your account. that simple. but somehow, someone had found the place you had worked at. you don’t know how but they did. first it was a note, “you don’t deserve him.” and then more notes, eventually getting to flat out hate mail. someone that obviously didn’t like that you were dating jimin was out to get you. and they knew where you worked. the mail lasted a few weeks. you ignored them and decided not to tell jimin yet. he didn’t need to know. his focus should be on his career. but they started to get worse. each letter was making you more scared and anxious. you eventually couldn’t take it anymore so you took a few days off. jimin hadn’t noticed a thing but one day, while looking for a specific article of clothing, he saw a box. opening it, he found every single thing the anonymous being had wrote. he immediately called for you. you knew it was coming. he questioned you about it and you answered all his inquiries. you had begun crying and admitted that they were the reason why you can’t bring yourself to go to work. jimin pulled you into his chest. “i just wish you had told me earlier. this all could’ve been over a lot sooner.”

“i know. i’m sorry.”

little did you know, jimin went to the police about it and they found out that a coworker had been sending all the letters. it explained how they knew where you worked.

kim taehyung

you and taehyung were at your apartment. you had a movie on when he showed up at your doorstep. naturally, taehyung got excited and told you to restart while he made some popcorn. so now you were laying in his lap, all the lights off and all the curtains closed. the only light was from the tv...for the first half of the movie. the second light source came from your phone. once wasn’t a bother. but eventually, it wouldn’t turn off because of the number of notifications. “love, maybe you should check those.” taehyung suggested.

you reached over and checked who they were from. your mood immediately dropped but you hadn’t told your boyfriend about this issue yet. in fact, you didn’t plan to. “it’s nothing.”

“they clearly need you if they are texting you that many times. who is it?” he asked, a mischievous smile of his face.

“none of your damn business.” you replied, pretending to ignore him.

but taehyung was quick and snatched your phone. he laughed as you reached for it but you eventually gave up. you waited for him to open your phone and investigate. his smile dropped as he scrolled through your phone. “who’s ‘y/nisabitch01′?”

you shrugged.

“’i hate you.’ ‘you’re not even pretty.’ ‘you think you’ll get attention for dating taehyung-oppa?’ please tell me you don’t actually believe this anti-fan?”

you shrugged again. “love, this is harassment. why haven’t you blocked her?”

“i felt that that would make things worse.”

“do you really care about that? it’s okay to be a little selfish at times. i’m reporting her for you because i don’t like the things she’s saying about you. they are not true.” taehyung told you. 

you looked at him. you truly loved this man. 

jeon jungkook

you were crying in your bedroom. you couldn’t take it anymore. all the hate for dating. yeah, you were dating the maknae one of the most popular kpop group in the entire world. but they were giving you so much shit for it. and a human being such as you can only take so much. it all caught up to you when someone confronted you on your way home. this woman had called you out of so many things, things that were most certainly not true. but now you were thinking, “i’m not worthy enough for him. i don’t deserve him. i’m not even that great.”

jungkook had noticed your unusual silence throughout the day. there was always one conversation where you and him use memes and fight over the smallest thing. but when he started one...you apologized. something you had never done. he decided to confront you about it. he wasn’t sure about what was going on. he walked into your apartment, having gotten in with the spare. he heard your cries. they were loud so you couldn’t hear him enter your bedroom. you were momentarily started but his sudden approach. he hugged you tightly. “why are you crying?” 

you shook your head, not really wanting to tell him. “yah, please tell me.”

you sighed and explained to him your recent encounter. jungkook was shocked that someone had actually personally walked up to you just to tell you you were worthless and didn’t deserve to be dating him. “baby, you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me.” he reassured. “you’re not worthless, you’re not talented, you’re not ugly. i love you so much and it hurts me that someone is telling you these things. please let me know if this ever happens again.”

[dontreadthistrashgarbage]

Pt. 7

As expected, it was late when Seyoon wrapped up at work. Guerin told him she'd cook him something if he wanted to meet at her place. Opening her door she found a grinning Seyoon holding a backpack over his shoulder and looking like he hadn't bothered showering after dancing for hours. She found his eager rush endearing and opened her arms as an invitation to hug. He swept up to her, kicking the door shut with his foot since both his hands were occupied with wrapping around her.

"Hi." He said simply, nuzzling against her neck cutely.

"Hi Seyoonie." She laughed squirming against the tickle which caused him to hold her more tightly. When the two separated she patted his still damp hair, "You should take a shower, I'll make something for you."

"You don't like this?" He teased, shaking his hair toward her.

"Would you like me getting all snuggly after a workout?" She countered, pushing his head back playfully.

"Depends on the workout." He winked.

She choked on her surprised laugh at the insinuation and pushed him away for his own protection. One hand covering her mouth the other pointing to the bathroom, "Go shower!"

He beamed shamelessly but followed her order, "Try not to dwell on what's happening in here." He said before shutting the door quickly.

"Yeah right, I definitely won't." She yelled back. It was an absolute lie. She paused a moment, fingers tapping her lips distractedly before shaking her head and moving into the kitchen. She started some water to boil, pulled out a couple ramen packages and began playing some music to redirect her thoughts. She sang along and danced as she cooked up some chicken breast to go with the ramen. She was finishing setting the table when she heard the door to the bathroom open. Still dancing she spun to acknowledge Seyoon.

"Perfect timing! I-" she stopped talking. He was nonchalantly drying his hair, faded jeans low on his hips and fitted to his dancers legs but the most notable fashion choice was a button up shirt completely undone and exposing his torso. "Whaaaaaat are you doing?" She asked in english, completely forgetting Korean in her surprise.

"Are you okay?" He asked, clearly aware of what he was doing as he poorly feigned innocence, coming over the check the table, "Smells delicious Noona." He grinned at her.

She took his shirt and started buttoning it as her brain restarted and gave him a dark expression, "Kim Seyoon you might be a snack but maybe you should eat something before you torture me."

"I'm a snack?" He asked perplexed.

"It's english slang. It means you look delicious." She opted to leave a couple of his top buttons loose for her own enjoyment, unnecessarily smoothing his shirt across his shoulders.

"Hmmm." He looked at the table and stepped closer into her personal bubble, "it looks like you had something in mind. Are we just gonna eat ramen and go?" He continued teasingly.

She groaned and pushed him away from her as she turned her back on him "Kim Seyoon what are you thinking?"

He laughed and hugged her from behind, "I'm thinking I'm having fun with my girlfriend."

She ran her hands along his arms crossed in front of her until they rested on his hands, "You're gonna be the death of me." She tapped his hands to free herself, despite wanting very much to stay, "Let's feed you first then we can discuss ramen." Guerin said offhandedly.

Seyoon hesitated, grinned then sat across from her as she began serving him. They discussed the rest of their day with each other while they ate, Seyoon filling her in on the meeting with A.C.E and Jun's declaration, and Guerin talking about meeting with HEET. Once they had finished Seyoon insisted on helping with dishes and the two worked without much conversation, Guerin singing along quietly to the music that was still playing lowly.

"I like it when you sing, Noona." Seyoon said, drying the last dish. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye with a wry smile. "I mean it. It's cute." He pinched her cheek.

She scrunched her face for a moment in response then relaxed into her normal smile.

"I like singing. I'm not great at it but I really love music a lot. Being a manager is one of the ways I can have that as a part of my life." She walked to the couch with him following and sat facing him with one foot tucked under her. Seyoon nodded but didn't feel a need to respond. The two sat comfortably quiet for a moment as they digested before Guerin reached her hand out and carefully met his fingers with hers, leaning sideways into the couch as he allowed her to take his hand.

"I really had no idea you liked me." Guerin said with a happy smile as she played with his fingers, finding his hands endearingly small for the rest of his frame. "When did that start?" She asked curiously.

"When we arm wrestled." Seyoon responded. "At least, that was when I was sure."

She let out a surprised laugh, "No way! That's hilarious."

Seyoon laughed too, gripping her hand and pulling her toward him into his arms. She automatically shifted to lean against him, laying her head against his shoulder comfortably as she sighed. "Is it really so funny? That I'd like a strong, fun woman that compliments me?" He asked.

She laughed again, "I knew it, it was the compliment. You just want me to inflate your ego."

"Like a balloon." He responded, then mimed his head blowing up by puffing out his cheeks and widening his eyes. She laughed and poked his cheeks, forcing the air out which he chose to turn and blow into her face. Guerin cringed, a small surprised exhale of laughter coming from her nose. He snuck a kiss to her forehead affectionately, softening her up.

"When did you start liking me?" Seyoon asked curiously.

She paused, "I think in the coffee shop when we were messing around was when it started. Definitely by the time we ate on the rooftop together. But I never planned to act on it."

"Why not?" Seyoon asked, perplexed.

"I mean, dating an idol? That's something no one should bank on. I was happy just being friends with all five of you." She said. He nodded silently with her response, his hand behind her moving to stroke idly at her ear and neck like a gentle tickling massage.

"We really should talk about how this is going to work out..." Guerin sighed, "But honestly tonight I just want to relax and have fun."

Seyoon nodded in agreement.

"So tonight... do you want to..." she trailed off, tracing Seyoon's shirt along the buttons temptingly. He felt his pulse quicken and his breath faltered before she continued, "...Play some video games? I have some classic consoles! Or just my switch!" She sat up straight to fully see his expression.

His eyes scrunched shut and his classic smile erupted across his face as he realized she had chosen that phrasing on purpose. "Noonaaaa." He whined, "Why did you do that to meeee?" He reached for her to pull her toward him again but Guerin had gotten up to turn on the TV.

"Do what?" She asked innocently, "Ask to play video games? Gosh you're acting like I walked out of the bathroom shirtless or something."

"Noonaaaaaa." He whined again flopping against the couch and she laughed at his tantrum.

A busy week had passed. Guerin hadn't been able to meet up with Seyoon again as he was busy working on a fan project with Jun on top of their normal work schedule, and Guerin had been to court several times as the prosecutor had finally pressed charges. Guerins part was done and she took her first bit of free time to meet up with Charlie. The two women had met at a cafe for coffee and were meandering along a pretty road by the han river in the afternoon light. She had just finished filling Charlie in on her evening with Seyoon.

"After all that you... played video games?" Charlie asked in disbelief.

Guerin nodded, red lips on her straw as she avoided eye contact, knowing what was coming.

Charlie switched to English, "You're telling me that smokin hottie was barely dressed and your response was to -fully clothe him- and play -video games-?"

Guerin nodded again and cleared her throat, still staring off into nothing, "I left a couple top buttons undone." She responded also in english.

"Listen. My friend. My eunnie. I know you. I've heard stories. Stories -you- have told me. I need you to connect the dots between the friend in those stories and the friend that spent an evening with her boyfriend and didn't even make out." Charlie demanded.

"I- well. We just started dating." Guerin started hopelessly. Charlie's knowing look based on her knowledge of Guerin's history caused her to sigh and continue, "It's kinda those stories too. I've not had to worry about being an idol to slow me down, add on five years experience and... I guess I don't want to rush him."

Charlie's face softened at the confession, the pieces clicking together, "Well the two of you are going to need to talk about it eventually."

"I know. I just really needed a stress free night. And maybe after a talk like that there would be less stress," she couldn't help an immature smile at the comment, "But getting there through that discussion is in and of itself is stressful."

"That makes sense." Charlie sipped her drink, appeased by her friends explanation.

"What about you and Jun?" Guerin asked playfully, nudging Charlie.

"We... ah...." she blushed and he was her turn to avoid eye contact, "We've gotten further than you two. But um... no home run if you know what I mean." Guerin cackled until Charlie shoved her and they both laughed in earnest. They switched back to korean as the conversation continued.

"So have you been keeping track of commentary from netizens over your dating and court stuff?" Charlie asked.

"Hmmm, a little." Guerin shrugged, "Of course internationally there seems to be a lot of support. I've been referenced as the woman 'living the y/n life'. Within korea it seems most Joule's have made a 180 over the legal issue which makes me hopeful. Most Choice seem pretty okay with Wow dating but don't understand why me. It's honestly better than I expected." She turned the question to Charlie, "I did notice more people seem to like you with Jun though! Have you been keeping up?"

Charlie opened her mouth to respond but a large coffee drink landed square on Charlie's chest, soaking her and splattering Guerin. Guerin stepped in front of Charlie, looking quickly to see who had thrown the drink when she caught sight of a young girl, most likely in her early teens, fuming at the two foreign women. People nearby had turned to see what had happened.

"Are you okay Charlie?" She asked, not taking her eyes off the girl.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it wasn't too hot." She sounded shaken despite her words.

"Okay. Let's go." Guerin broke eye contact with the aggressor, took her friend by the shoulder and began walking away briskly, keeping Charlie slightly in front of her, "Our best bet is to just get out of here as soon as possible." Charlie nodded as she walked along.

"YAH! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" The teenager screamed and began rushing after the two women. Guerin sighed, plan A didn't seem like it was going to work.

"Charlie, stay behind me. She isn't big enough to do real damage without a weapon and I think that drink was her biggest threat. Whatever happens don't get involved." Guerin's naturally happy expression had turned cold and serious as she turned back to the girl.

"Say what you need to so we can go."

"You think you can ruin my families reputation and then brainwash an idol into dating you and we'll be fine with it? You're just some stupid, fat, old foreigner you can't come into our country and ruin our lives like this." The girl spit venomously.

"I don't know you or your family." Guerin responded matter of factly.

"My sister! You got her arrested and now she's going to jail and it's your fault." The girls eyes filled with tears as she yelled. Guerin couldn't help but feel sympathetic. She was losing her sister, the things said online had been cruel once the video had been released by the police. It was easy to believe that the family had borne some of the brunt of social shame.

"I'm sorry." Guerin said. The girl paused in shock and she felt Charlie shift in surprise behind her, "I was trying to protect people that are important to me. I didn't want anyone to get hurt."

"Well we did!" The girl started again but Guerin interrupted.

"If you need someone to hate you can hate me. Your sister was wrong in her actions, but you and your family should not have to suffer. I'm sorry that you have." Her words were soft but scolding, and the girl instinctively looked to the ground, her fists clenched and eyes angry but less so than before, "Just now you attacked my friend, you've insulted us. We may be foreigners but we are your elders and like it or not we are a part of your community. You can blame me and hate me all you want. I understand. But you cannot channel than anger into violence without consequences. Can you imagine if we had called the police? What would your parents suffer with if two of their children had legal issues due to violent behavior?"

The girls head drooped further and tears fell from her eyes as she rubbed them with her fists.

"You must love your family so much." Guerin moved forward until she was right in front of the girl, "Seeing them suffer must be the hardest thing you've ever had to endure. You've got to think carefully about your actions if you're going to heal with them, or that pain will grow." Guerin handed held out a small packet of tissues from her purse. The girl glared at them, at Guerin, then took the tissues angrily, wiping her tears and nose.

"How did you find us? Will you tell me?" Guerin asked quietly.

"It was chance. I saw you and recognized you. I got... I got so mad seeing you smiling and happy when eunnie is- while we-" the teenager broke out into sobs and Guerin let her take a moment. She was relieved it hadn't been someone leaking info on their whereabouts. Guerin rested her hand on the girls head after hesitating a moment. She flinched under her hand but didn't pull away. Giving a comforting pat she dropped her hand.

"You can keep the tissues. We're going to leave now." Guerin turned her back, seeing Charlie who still looked a bit shaken but sympathetic. Guerin blinked away the tears in her eyes, unable to help feeling badly about the circumstances.

"I still hate you!" The young girl yelled after them. Charlie glanced back, then to Guerin who didn't stop moving. The two women didn't speak until they reached their bus stop.

"It's not your fault you know that right?" Charlie said, plucking at her ruined shirt in disappointment.

"Yes. Logically I know that. But it's still sad."

Charlie nodded, then leaned her head against her friends shoulder, "You're kind of a badass but you're the squishiest marshmallow in existence, you know that?"

Guerin wrinkled her nose, "Marshhhmaallooww." She sang the iconic Xiumin line, making Charlie giggle before falling into chuckles herself.

Seyoon sent Guerin the link then tucked his phone away. He glanced up at Jun who had been texting Charlie. Unlike Seyoon his concern had melted into a smile. Wow watched him curiously until Jun closed his phone and looked up to see his teammate watching him.

"Ah," Jun coughed, "How is Guerin?"

"She said she is fine. Charlie?" Seyoon asked.

"She's fine too. She said her shirt was ruined so I'm thinking of buying her a new one. I was going to head over tonight." Jun's complete lack of poker face was evident as he pretended to look down at his phone and clean the screen, ears red and a small smile tugging the corners of his lips.

"Have you..." Seyoon faltered and thought about his phrasing, "Have the two of you..." his thoughts didnt help and he ended with a shrug and eyebrow raise.

"Hyung!" Jun feigned insult, putting a hand over his chest.

"Ah." Seyoon nodded, reading the unspoken No loud and clear.

"I mean we've- well we uhmm..." Jun stammered, now the one suffering with word choice was him, "We've done other stuff. She likes to uhhh... grab my butt and then we've..." his words failed him too, "It leads to more things and... I mean it's only been a week so... wait why are you asking?"

Seyoon shrugged and stood up to head back to the dance room.

"Wait hyung! Have you and Guerin not...?" Jun trailed off, the sentence finishing itself for both of them mentally.

Seyoon shook his head, "We've been busy."

"I'm surprised. I'd have thought she'd be more into that." Jun mused. Seyoon raised an eyebrow at the insinuation, causing Jun to start to backpedal and explain he meant no offense before Seyoon laughed him off.

"I thought so too, honestly. Maybe I'm not as sexy as I think."

"Yeah that's definitely the problem." Jun rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to see her tonight to make sure she's okay. Whenever we do... that... can be something for later. I just want to make sure she's okay today." He started toward the dance room.

"Didn't she say she was fine?" Jun asked.

"She probably meant physically." Seyoon said over his shoulder. Jun was left perplexed.

Guerin had called Jisoo and went straight the PWER offices after getting Charlie home and changing. She hadn't even left when Seyoon sent the article. It had only been a few hours and already something was up. She hadn't seen anyone recording but at a place as picturesque as the Han River people always had phones and cameras out.

The article included some still photos oh the altercation, the drink hitting Charlie, the girl chasing the two as they tried to leave, Guerin handing tissues to the girl and eventually them leaving. Guerin was grateful that because the girl was a minor she had been blurred out so she couldnt be identified. Attached to the article was a video of the altercation, also edited. Whoever had been recording seemed to have been following Guerin and Charlie which gave her chills. The only talking that could be heard was when the girl had been shouting but the rest that contained any identifying details was lost due to the distance of the videographer.

As soon as the clip ended she sent the link to Charlie and Jisoo, then turned and headed back to the CEO's office with a sigh. Knocking on the door, Jisoo called her in. As Guerin closed the door behind her she saw her boss finish watching the video clip with an unreadable expression. Guerin sat in a chair opposite her and waited quietly while Jisoo scrolled through the rest of the article and comments. Finally she closed her phone, rested her head in her hand and stared at Guerin.

"This is actually pretty good." Jisoo quirked a brow and smiled. Guerin leaned her head back surprised and exhausted. "I mean it. Have you read the comments?"

"It's usually better for my mental health for me to avoid comment sections." Guerin said to the ceiling before dropping her head back down to look at Jisoo. "But you think it's good?"

"Sure. There's some of the usual naysayers but by and large you appear sympathetic and patient. A lot of people are really impressed. And given this is a second piece of video evidence of you being targeted with violence it's even started some dialogue about prejudices that foreigners face." Jisoo gestured vaguely, "It would be best if this didn't keep happening consistently but honestly you comforted a child that harassed you physically and verbally."

"She's just a kid. She was upset, what was I supposed to do?" Guerin shrugged.

"Some people would have smacked her around to teach her a lesson. She was disrespectful." Jisoo saw Guerin cringe, "I know, you don't like that. Which I really think made people impressed."

Guerin felt embarrassed. She didn't think she had done anything praiseworthy, "I think the biggest thing that bothers me is that while the kid found us by chance there was someone following and recording us."

"Welcome to dating an idol." Jisoo said matter of factly, "Get used to it. Just keep in mind someone could always be watching. You can join HEET in some of their behavior classes if you want. And we can look into security if you feel unsafe."

"Maybe the classes won't hurt but I think security at this point might be unnecessary." Guerin smiled.

"Okay. You already said you don't want to press charges so we can drop it. We'll write up a statement but coordinate with PR on the message. Also... about being a manager again..." Jisoo hesitated and Guerin held her breath and waited, "I think we can start planning on getting you back in. We'll keep Woojin on as an assistant I think. Your reputation seems to have increased their popularity. You even have fans of your own calling for you to return, saying you're their best protector."

Guerin leapt up, fists in the air, "Are you serious? I can get back to my boys??" Jisoo had startled at the sudden motion and laughed at her friends big response.

"Yes I think so. We can get you on it again within a few days. Don't tell them just yet, I want to be there when they find out. I'll tell Woojin as well. I'm sure he'll be happy to be offered a permanent position."

"Jisoooooo!" Guerin crooned, beaming with tears pricking at her eyes. She moved around and patted her friends head, kissing the top of it before hugging her tightly.

Jisoo struggled unconvincingly, "Yah, don't treat your boss like this."

Guerin squeezed her harder, grinning, "Boss I love youuuuuu."

[silverfootstepswrites]

Equinox: Fall [1]

Chapter 1 (here) | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6

The fragrance of autumn was heavy in the air when Sakura pulled into town. More accurately, she pulled up in front of the sign she guessed said the name of the town. She used the flashlight on her phone to get a better look. She jolted when she felt something crawling up her leg. But when the light angled across the ground, she saw that it was just a log that she had brushed up against.

“This is how all the horror movies start. I’m out in the woods and-” Sakura cut herself off as she swatted at the air. “Mosquitoes!” She hissed as she flapped both her hands in the air, trying to chase away the bugs. Huffing, she stomped her way back to her car. Shutting the door, she popped her phone back into the mount. She restarted the engine. Her headlights cut two beams of light onto the empty road. 

Sakura listened to the dirt and rocks crackle under her tires as her car rolled along. Her eyes darted all around the dark forest. Trees always had a way of creeping her out. Maybe it was the way things could hide so easily in those odd, twisted shadows. Just as she began to wonder whether she had taken a wrong turn, she glimpsed another sign. This one read ‘Welcome to Old Pines’.

The road eventually left the forest. She had smelled the saltwater even from the highway. But now she could see that the town sat on cliffs above the ocean. The road hugged the edge of the cliff, separated from a rocky plummet by a flimsy wooden barrier. 

It wasn’t difficult to find the sheriff’s home. His email had done a good job of guiding her to his place. It was a two-story house with a huge tree in the front yard. She could see round fruit hanging from the branches. Apples, she guessed. Although it was hard to tell in the dark. The lights were on in the house, windows glowing gold. 

Sakura left her car idling as she walked down the path to the house. A dog began barking somewhere nearby. After a moment, deeper barking answered. And then farther away, more barking responded. Almost like a chain of messages being sent into the distance. Sakura rang the doorbell, sticking her hands in the pockets of her jacket. 

After a moment, the door swung open. The light from inside almost blinded her. It took her a moment to adjust. And then she saw a man in maybe his early-forties standing there. 

He wore grey sweatpants and a t-shirt. A pug peered out from behind his leg. 

“Hi. I’m Sakura,” she introduced herself.

The man’s eyes widened. “Oh. Wasn’t expecting you until the morning. That was quick,” he responded. A second nose poked out from behind his leg, sniffing at the air. Then a third. 

“Kakashi. I try to make sure the town doesn’t go up in flames,” he then said, holding his hand out to her. Sakura shook it. 

“Seems like you’re doing a good job. I haven’t seen smoke yet,” replied Sakura. He chuckled in response. 

“Give me a second. I’ll get my phone and then I’ll show you to your place,” Kakashi told her.

“Oh! You don’t have to. I have the address. I just wanted to say hi in person,” Sakura called after him as he headed down the hall. One of the dogs followed him, but the other two stayed by the door, staring up at her. 

“It’s easy to get lost in the dark, especially since you don’t know the roads!” he called back. And then his head poked out into the hallway. “This is to help me sleep well tonight,” he added. And Sakura couldn’t really find a way to argue with that. 

She followed his jeep down the winding path. It was just one turn to the right. But she couldn’t help but agree that she would’ve missed the turn-off and circled around for a while. She thought she saw eyes watching from the woods a few times, but they disappeared when she tried to look closer.

The road trailed off into a dead end. To the left sat a cabin. It was a little taller than she had expected. Sakura saw movement and turned her attention to the jeep in front. Kakashi’s hand dangled out the window, pointing to the left, in the direction of the driveway. And then he waved her along. 

Her little red sedan had no trouble navigating. Leaves covered the gravel, but it was level. She had expected potholes and dirt roads in a small town like this. But it had been a smooth drive all the way through. Kakashi’s headlights flooded the inside of her car as he pulled up behind her. Sakura cut the engine and stepped outside. 

“I’m guessing that Genma gave you the run-down when you bought his place?” asked Kakashi, tilting his head back to look at the place. 

“Rented, not bought. And yeah. Don’t pet the raccoons. Don’t leave raw meet lying around,” Sakura listed. 

“Good. Genma moved out not too long ago so the place shouldn’t be in bad shape. If there’re any issues, I can help you sort ‘em out in the morning,” Kakashi told her. And then he eyed her car. 

“You need any help carrying anything inside?” he offered. Sakura slapped her trunk, shaking her head. 

“Just a couple bags. The moving truck should be here tomorrow,” she said. Kakashi lingered for a moment. 

“Are you sure you’re alright on your own?” he questioned. Because it was an old, empty house sitting on the edge of the woods. Sakura understood. But she nodded. 

“I’ll be fine. If anything...” Sakura held up her hand, thumb and pink fingers extended. She mimed holding them up to her ear. 

Kakashi clicked his tongue as he pointed at her. “Gotcha. You have a good night,” he replied. Sakura stood in the driveway, arms crossed as she watched him back out. He paused to wave at her once before he headed back down the road. The absence of those blinding headlights plunged the place into deep, abrupt darkness. 

“Alright. Not getting mauled by a bear tonight,” Sakura muttered to herself as she popped the trunk open. She moved as fast as she could, even as she told herself ‘I’m a grownass woman’ over and over again.

The inside of the house echoed. She dropped her bags at the entrance and headed out to her car to grab the two plastic totes in her trunk. She slammed the trunk shut, hit the lock button twice. And then ran as fast as she could back to the house. The porch was screened-in. The outer door had a lock, which she promptly fastened. And then she locked the inner door when she stepped back inside. 

The house was surprisingly open on the inside. There was a loft tucked up on the second floor. The fireplace sat on the right, by the entrance, a little dusty but otherwise sturdy-looking. Sakura tested the light switches as she walked through the place. The bulbs were a little fluorescent for her taste, but they would do for now. 

After some thought, Sakura spread her sleeping bag out on the loft. The floor was hard, and the house creaked at odd times. It took a while for her to fall asleep. But when she did, it was to the symphony of crickets chirping outside.

Sakura woke to a text from Kakashi, who was checking to see whether she had survived the night. She typed back a groggy reply, misspelling half the words in her stupor. He probably got the gist anyway.

She crawled out of her sleeping bag and forced her body into the bathroom to wash up. As she pulled a sweatshirt over her head, her phone buzzed. It was the moving company letting her know that they were on their way with her stuff. Which, unfortunately, included her coffee maker. And she wasn’t really willing to wait that long. 

Sakura slapped on some half-hearted makeup before she ventured out of her house. She looked up nearby coffee shops, praying as she scrolled through the results. She nearly cried with joy when she saw that there was a place that served coffee. A town without a real coffee shop was the true nightmare scenario. 

She decided to walk. To her surprise, a black dog appeared halfway down the road. The only thing that let her know that it wasn’t a normal dog was the way its tail ended in wisps of smoke. She hesitated. She had a good idea of who it was, but she didn’t exactly know how to react.

“....Oh.... hello?” she called out. 

The dog tilted its head.

“I’m going to get coffee,” she told the dog. 

And the dog turned to trot down the road. She somehow had the feeling that she was expected to follow. So she did. 

She had heard about church grims before. They normally roamed church graveyards to chase off grave robbers and vandals. She had never seen one in person before. The spectral black dog was just a shade too dark to be a regular hound. Almost like it had been colored with ink when everything around it was filled in with colored pencil.

The cafe came into view down the road a few minutes later. There were too many wind chimes hung out front. The high-pitched clanging was irritating even from this far away. 

The shape of the black dog blurred. When Sakura blinked, the dog’s silhouette changed. Jaws and skull shifting. Black fur receding and lightening. And in the end, Kakashi stood there in a dark green jacket. He held the door open for her. A few blades of grass stuck to his pants. He brushed them off as she moved past. 

Sakura could smell the fairy dust as soon as she stepped into the little cafe. Fairy magic was sweet. It hung in the air, shimmering like bits of glitter suspended from the ceiling. 

The walls were covered with what looked like real ivy. Smooth, jazzy music played from a speaker somewhere. A woman leaned over the counter. Her hair was silvery-blonde, like corn silk. She perked up when Kakashi turned to her. And her whole face lit up when she spotted Sakura.

“This is Ino. She’s fairyfolk,” Kakashi said.  

The second part of the introduction was a little unnecessary. What with the pointed ears and the faint glimmer of green wings behind her. She extended her hand, smiling with her teeth that were almost too white. Sakura shook her hand.

“Sakura,” she replied. She could feel Ino staring at her. More than appraising her. Because she felt the little tug at the corner of her awareness. And after a while, Ino leaned forward, eyes gleaming. 

“My glamour isn’t working on you at all. But you’re not fairy...” Ino questioned. 

“Siren,” Sakura corrected her.

Ino’s grin widened. “Fab. You visiting?” she asked. 

“She’s renting from Genma starting today,” Kakashi answered for her. And then he added, “You got any scones?” 

“Fresh from the oven. And iced coffee, one sugar for you?” replied Ino, pushing off the counter. 

“How did she...?” Sakura wondered. But she stopped herself. Kakashi rested his elbow on the counter. Hand in his chin.

“Fairies,” was all he said.

“Yeah.”

The moving truck rumbled into town a couple hours later. By then, the caffeine had done a good job of waking Sakura up. She had managed to scrub down the floors when the truck pulled into the driveway. Two brothers climbed out of the truck, like mirror images of each other.

“You’re late!” Sakura scolded, hands on her hips. 

“Sorry. Sorry,” one of them said, moving around the back to open up the truck. His twin headed over to her to plant a big, noisy kiss on her cheek. She tried to push him away by the face, but he still managed to mess up her hair. 

“Sakon, you asshole!” she scolded. She shoved his shoulder as he turned away from her. Sakon snickered as he stomped down the stairs. His brother elbowed him as he walked past. Ukon, carrying a cardboard box on his hip, paused to tweak Sakura’s nose before he left the box on the porch. 

“You’re the asshole, you know. Why is all your stuff so heavy?” Sakon called, peering around the side of the truck. 

“You break any of the equipment in there and I’ll kill you” she threatened. Grunting, Sakon struggled with something inside. And then he let out a sigh. There was a ripping noise and then wind gusted out. He backed out of the truck, leathery black wings spread from his shoulders. His arms had transformed, black and muscular. Ending in sharp talons. 

He easily lifted the huge box. Instead of walking, he gave a powerful flap of his wings to glide over to the porch. His wings folded up behind him so he could fit through the door. 

“Move,” grunted Ukon, shoving past him. His eyes turned gold, hands and arms blackening too as he moved toward the truck. 

The gargoyle brothers managed to lug all of Sakura’s things into the house without much trouble. She did a little nagging and managed to get them to even move the boxes into the appropriate rooms. The trickiest part of the whole ordeal was trying to get the biggest bookshelf up the stairs to the loft. In the end, the twins each grabbed one end of the shelf and flew it up over the railing, Sakura directing them away from light fixtures like the bad conductor of an orchestra. 

They stayed for a beer, but then both of them were checking their phones. 

“We’re pretty busy today. Sorry, Bunny,” Ukon told her as she took the empty bottles from them. 

“Okay,” she replied, walking them to the door. 

Sakon lingered on the patio steps, turning to look at her. 

“I’m not that far from the city. Come visit me,” Sakura said to both of them.  Sakon avoided her gaze. But he shoved his hands in his pockets, looking down at his feet as he nodded. 

Ukon smiled. “You know we can’t say no to you.” 

Suddenly, Sakon’s chin jerked up. His eyes scanned the woods that grew up to the edge of the property. The nails on his right hand sharpened into talons as he twisted around. 

“Sakon?”

After a long moment, his talons softened back into nails. 

“Lock your doors at night, Bunny,” Sakon warned her. 

Sakura spent her second night in Old Pines assembling furniture. She would have been more worried about Sakon’s parting words if she didn’t have a few trinkets placed around the house. Chains of little silver bells hung above the front and back doors. A cluster of dried four-leaf clovers dangled from a red thread at one of the kitchen windows. On the center of the mantel sat a big pinecone. 

Her friends in the city had always chalked up these little things to an eclectic sense of decor. They thought it was cute that she kept a sachet of mugwort and lavender by her pillow when she slept. Poked at the shining peridots that dangled from her curtain rods with comments like “pretty”.

Sakura took a sip of her wine before she returned her attention to finding the right screw. It took some head-scratching and she had to read the instructions three times. But she managed to assemble the bookcase with all the parts in the right place. 

She pushed it up against the wall, to the left of the fireplace. Hands on her hips, she looked at the stack of boxes next to the sofa. And then she checked her watch. 

“Tomorrow,” she decided. She grabbed her tools and left them on top of the boxes. Tripping over a hammer in the dark would be an unpleasant experience, to say the least. 

She washed up and changed into some old, faded clothes. She set her laptop on the right side of her bed and flopped down beside it. Pillow between her legs, she scrolled through her email and then checked her Twitter feed one last time before headed to Netflix. Screen dimmed, volume turned down low, she kept her eyes open for as long as she could before she drifted off to sleep. 

Sakura woke in the morning, eyes dry. And even though it was another quiet start to the day, she had the distinct feeling that she hadn’t slept well at all. 

“Coffee,” she grunted, stretching her arms above her head. She crawled out of bed, rubbing her eyes on her way to the kitchen. And as she stood filling the coffee pot at her sink, she nearly dropped the carafe. 

One of the things Sakura had missed while living in the city had been a yard. Even if it was just a dinky patch of grass, it was nice to be able to point at that grass and announce, “That’s mine.” Genma had left behind some nice shrubs and some flowers. The big tree in the middle, he’d added, was a peach tree. 

“Don’t worry about watering that stuff or whatever. It’ll be fine,” he’d assured her as he handed her the keys to the place. 

And the reason Sakura stood horrified now was that Genma’s yard had been overturned. One of the shrubs had been ripped out by the roots. The leaves and flowers on the other plants were in tatters. Parts of the yard had been dug up, like someone had been hunting for buried pirate treasure. The garbage was knocked over, paper and food bits scattered throughout the grass. 

Sakura called Kakashi, phone tucked between her cheek and shoulder as she measured grounds and poured them into the filter.

“Sheriff, hey. Uh... you busy right now?” she said when he picked up. 

“I was on my way to the station. Why?” he replied. 

“Well, I’d really appreciate it if you could drop by. Looks like someone had a party in my yard last night. And I wasn’t invited,” Sakura told him. 

There was a pause. Then she heard his signal clicking. 

“Be right there.” He hung up.

Sakura sat on the steps leading up to the back door. Her elbows rested on her knees, cheeks in her hands. Only her eyes moved as she watched the spectral black dog pace back and forth across the yard. In particular, he seemed to pace the boundary between the grass and the forest with diligence. 

“Is it aliens? The devil?” she inquired. 

Kakashi turned his head in her direction. The black smoke around his tail expanded, swallowing him up. When she blinked, a man stood there instead. He crossed the grass, careful not to step in the garbage as he went. 

“Smells like werewolf,” he told her. Sighing, he rubbed the back of his neck, adding, “I have a pretty good guess at what happened here. But I’m going to have to talk to a few people first.”

Sakura nodded, only understanding about half of what he was saying. And Kakashi seemed to either see or feel that. Because he crouched in front of her so that he could look at her, not down at her.

“You grow up around werewolves?” asked Kakashi. She shook her head. And he chuckled, “I figured. Scoot over.”

Sakura made room for Kakashi on the stairs. When he sat, the wood gave a long creak. 

“Were packs tend to handle stuff in-house. They’re pretty big on disciplining their own,” he explained. “So I’m not saying to pretend this never happened. I’m just asking you to keep an open mind. If, when we get talking, you see eye-to-eye with them, great.” And when Sakura caught on to what he was saying, she frowned. He held his hands up. 

“But if you’re not happy, I’ve got your back, alright? I’ll do everything I can to make you happy. I’ll do anything to see you smile,” Kakashi added. When he had finished speaking, he seemed a little surprised. Almost like he couldn’t believe what had come out of his own mouth. Shaking his head a little, he scrutinized her.

“I’m not even that nice to my family. That’s some charm you’ve got there,” he observed. She gave a rueful smile, tight at the corners. 

“You grow up around sirens, Sheriff?” Sakura questioned. He laughed at the way she threw his words back at him. 

“No. Although I hear that sirens tend to stick together,” Kakashi recalled. 

Sakura looked down at her knees. “Yeah,” was all she said. 

Grunting, Kakashi got to his feet. He gave her shoulder a light squeeze. 

“Don’t touch anything out here. I’ll be back in the afternoon,” he told her.

“Sure,” Sakura called after him.

Sakura kept busy. What had happened to the yard was upsetting. But she had learned from experience that staying busy was the best way to deal with things that were out of her control. So she unpacked a few boxes, discovering that the freezer had an automatic ice maker. Which cheered her up quite a bit. 

She managed to assemble the coffee table and half of another shelf before Kakashi knocked on her door. He came bearing a light blue box filled with profiteroles. Delicate, flaky pastry piled high with custard and whipped cream. 

“From the lovely Ino. She sensed that you were upset,” Kakashi explained, surrendering the box. Sakura took a bite out of the biggest pastry, chocolate and cream smearing around the corners of her mouth. She wiped her face on the back of her hand before motioning him inside. 

“And I brought-”

“Shh. Coffee first,” Sakura interrupted him. Kakashi fell silent as he followed her into the house. While Kakashi struggled with his boots at the door, Sakura headed into the kitchen. She only pulled one mug out of the box on the counter. She filled it with plenty of ice before pouring coffee into it. It said on the side in big red letters: ‘If this is full, shut the fuck up’. 

Sakura turned to face her the sheriff. Kakashi stood there, tapping his fingers against the countertop with obvious impatience. But he didn’t say anything as she enjoyed her coffee.

She didn’t offer him a drink. Or any of her profiteroles as she picked up the one she had already taken a bite out of. She chomped down on it again. Marveling at how the silky taste of butter and sweet cream melted together in her mouth. 

“Okay. I’m ready to listen,” Sakura sighed once she finished eating and took another gulp of coffee. Powdered sugar and bits of pastry clung to her fingertips. She wiped them on a kitchen towel before she leaned her elbow against the counter.

An odd look crossed Kakashi’s face. Like he didn’t realize that he had been waiting for her.

“Yep,” replied Sakura with a knowing look. His eyes demanded an explanation. She didn’t blame him.

“I can’t force you to do something against your will. But I can suggest things and you’re more likely to listen,” she said. 

“Oh. Well... can you.... turn it off?” Kakashi requested. 

She laughed. “It’s not a lamp, Sheriff. It’s just... part of me.”

Kakashi didn’t look too happy. But he took it rather well. He just sort of sighed and nodded. 

“You’ll build up a little bit of immunity, eventually. Takes a couple weeks. And it doesn’t work as well if you’re aware of it,” Sakura assured him. That seemed to comfort him a little. And then Kakashi’s face was all business again.

“I brought a guest. If you’re willing to hear him out,” he told her. He pointed with his thumb. Sakura sighed as she headed to the front door. She could already see someone waiting outside the patio door. He lifted his head before she said anything.

Sakura pushed the door open. 

“Hi,” was all she said, a little more than wary. Because no matter how handsome he was, a stranger was still a stranger. And if this stranger had anything to do with uprooted shrubs and a ruined lawn, he was lucky not to get her foot up his ass first thing. 

“Hey. I’m Kiba. I really wish we could’ve met under better circumstances,” the man said, offering his hand. Sakura shook it. She could feel the callouses on his fingers and his palm. The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled.

Sakura decided that her foot would stay on the ground. For now.

[theepitomeofamess]

*scampers up* *throws this Logince part 4 in your face* *dives back into the safety of my blanket pile*

Okay so this is a little angsty at the beginning but that’s okay

High school au, Theater au, Logince, Moxiety, a surprise appearance (ooh), 2828 words

Warnings: heavily implied neglect, probable inaccuracies about some things, my boys being clueless for the most part, me not knowing what I’m doing

@individual-charlie @fandoms-n-ship 

here’s part one, here’s part two, here’s part three

The next few weeks went off with almost no issues. Roman relished every moment he got to see and be with Logan on stage, and Logan seemed to be enjoying himself even if he wouldn’t admit to it. Some days they went out with the cast after rehearsals, sometimes it was just the two of them and Patton and Virgil, some days it was just the two of them. They forgot that the two of them never really talked before despite having Patton and Virgil as mutual friends. Logan started tutoring Roman in math after Ms. Torres warned Roman that if he didn’t get his grades up he’d have to retake the class, but Logan managed to get Roman to focus with a tangle toy to fidget with in one hand and a way of explaining things and encouraging Roman in a way that somehow made things click in his mind. They would meet during Wednesday study halls and, eventually, at Logan’s house after going out with the cast.

Logan would never admit it, but he loved it when Roman came over to his house. Most of the time he was there was spent either rehearsing lines and songs or tutoring, but it was better than having that whole house to himself all over again. Roman provided a warmth and comfort to the house that Logan couldn’t remember ever being there before. He made the house feel homey. Logan never got into why his parents were never home, and he made sure to keep Roman out of the kitchen so he never saw how sparsely stocked it was, but having Roman there was better than having no one there.

Having Roman there was far better than having those familiar strangers there.

It was less than a week before opening night when Roman pulled The Argo into Logan’s driveway, pulling up behind a silver Mercedes Benz.

“Is that your parents’ car? They finally home from-” Roman’s voice cut itself off when he turned to see Logan staring at the car as though he were trying to light it on fire with his mind. All the color had drained from his face. His chest heaved and his jaw clenched, wide eyes blazing with a contradiction of anger and fear. “Logan?” Logan’s fists clenched, knuckles turning white. His head just barely shook from side to side. Roman could almost feel Logan’s mind racing and stalling at the same time.

“Let’s,” he finally spoke up, his voice too quiet, “let’s not go to my house today.” Roman might have protested if he hadn't heard the shaking in Logan’s voice that he tried to keep under control. Instead, he restarted his car, putting the great shift in reverse.

“Where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere.” Logan’s answer came too harshly in tone and too softly in volume. “Anywhere.” Pulling out, Roman paused at the end of the driveway. He was about to turn and go to his own house when a thought popped in his head.

“Do you want to go see Virgil?” Logan nodded, the motion small but frantic. Roman started out of the neighborhood, remembering where Virgil lived from the time he’d driven him home because he didn’t have another ride. “Do you want me to call him when we get close so he knows we’re coming?” Another miniscule nod. Worry made Roman’s heart race. He knew that Logan never talked about his parents in detail, but seeing this reaction to just seeing their car made him tighten his grip on the wheel as a shiver ran down his spine.

Once they were in Virgil’s neighborhood, Roman took out his phone to dial, slowing the car and flicking his eyes between his phone and the road. He knew that using his phone while driving was ill-advised, but he didn’t care at that point.

“What’s up, Princey?” Virgil’s voice was already laced with worry. The only person who called any of the others was Patton. If anyone else actually dialed instead of texting, it was automatically assumed that something had gone wrong.

“Hiya, Virgil. I’ve got Logan here, we’re coming to your place. His parents’ car was in his driveway, he said he wanted to come see you.”

“How far are you?”

“Just turned onto your street.”

“How does he look?” Roman glanced to Logan. He was still tensed up all over like a rubber band threatening to break, still pale and staring out the windshield at nothing. Sweat beaded on his forehead. He looked like he’d completely frozen, barely breathing.

“Not good. In your driveway,” Roman added as he pulled in.

“I see you.” Virgil was out the door before Roman could put The Argo in park. He unlocked the door just in time for Virgil to open it and start talking to Logan.

“Hey, Lo.” Roman was almost surprised by how soft and steady Virgil’s voice was. Logan barely moved to look down at Virgil. “Hey, do you want to come inside?” Roman left the car, walking up the drive to where Patton stood by the front door.

“His parents back in town,” Patton asked, folding his arms to hug himself. Roman nodded.

“Why-”

“I don’t know,” Patton answered before Roman could finish the question. “I don’t know what happened between them, I don’t know why they make him like this. Virgil’s the only one that knows, and he keeps it between the two of them. All I know is that any time Logan’s parents are home, he ends up here. It usually takes longer than an instant of seeing their car in the driveway, but it always ends up here.” The two of them watched as Virgil coaxed Logan out of the car, gently guiding him to the front door. Patton followed them, Roman trailing behind tentatively.

Roman watched intently as Virgil set Logan up on the couch, sliding wireless headphones over Logan’s ears. Logan gathered himself enough to turn on his phone, turning something on once he connected to the headphones as Virgil sat beside him. The two of them turned in almost perfect sync so they were back-to-back, leaning against each other. Logan was facing away from Patton and Roman, eyes closing behind his glasses.

“How bad did he say,” Patton asked Virgil.

“Snicket.” Patton made a face at the assessment. Roman didn't have to ask to know that that was pretty bad.

“What happened? Was that some kind of panic attack or-”

“I don’t know,” Virgil answered. “It’s not like any panic attack I’ve ever seen or had, but I’m not a doctor and everybody reacts differently to different things, so maybe.”

“Is he gonna be okay,” Roman asked, wringing his hands.

“Yeah,” Virgil replied. “He always is. You can head out if you want to. I think my dads are gonna be home soon, so-”

“Virgil,” a cheerful voice called from the front door. “Did Patton get a new car or is there someone we don't know in our house?”

“Dad, Logan’s here,” Virgil replied as quietly as possible while still being audible. A quiet ‘oh’ whispered from the door as two men made their way in. One immediately smiled, making his way to Virgil to kiss the top of his head and ruffle his hair. The second looked over Roman, suspicion making him cautious.

“Virgil, are you doing to introduce us?” The man’s deep, level voice and square glasses almost reminded Roman of Logan. Before Virgil had a chance to answer, Roman held out his hand to the man.

“Roman Prince. I’m in the musical with Virgil. It's nice to meet you.” It took a moment, but the man gave Roman a smile and shook his hand.

“Corbin. That’s my husband Sloane.”

“You can call us Corne.”

“No.” Corbin’s response was flat, the restrained smile and quiet sigh signaling an inside joke that he had been dealing with for years and would never admit that he enjoyed. Patton giggled at the interaction, as did Sloane.

“Wait a sec,” Sloane looked Roman over from where he was seated on the arm of the couch. “Prince? Virgil, is this Princey?”

“Yep,” Virgil replied too casually. “This is the dramatic weirdo I told you about.” Roman didn't know whether to be flattered or offended.

“Well, if this is the famous Princey, you're welcome to stay.”

“No, thank you,” Roman replied. “I just, I brought Logan here. Now that I know he’ll be okay...” Roman didn’t mean to trail off. His eyes locked onto Logan, or more the back of his head. His knees were pulled almost to his chest, his arms folded to hug himself. His eyes were closed, the headphones blocking out the world.

Would he be okay? Roman’s brain told him that he would be fine. After all, he’s with Virgil. Virgil knows what’s going on, he knows Logan better than anyone, but Roman wished he could be sure. He wished he could ensure that Logan would be okay.

“Are his parents back in town,” Corbin asked Virgil, moving around the sofa to get a closer look at Logan. Virgil hummed in confirmation, and Corbin clicked his tongue. “I always had a bad feeling about those two. Never showing up to parent meetings, sending an assistant of some sort in their place.”

“You didn’t see him at day care,” Sloane added, his voice softening as his grin melted into a frown. “Dirty clothes, walking in on his own, holding books an inch away from his face so he could actually read them before they finally got him glasses, always the last one to get picked up, scarfing down his goldfish like he hadn’t eaten in a week.” Every image that Sloane added was a dagger in Roman’s chest as he watched Logan’s figure, now seemingly asleep. “When he comes to, Virge, you tell him that he can stay as long as he likes.”

“If he argues, tell him I said the same thing,” Corbin chimed in. “I’m gonna start dinner. Patton, Roman, you boys staying over?”

“If you don’t mind,” Patton grinned.

“No, thanks. I should get going. My parents are,” Roman choked when he looked back at Logan, “they’re expecting me home soon. I shouldn’t keep them waiting. Thanks so much for the offer and the hospitality and,” Roman swallowed against his urge to stay, “I know you will, but take care of him.” Roman gave the room a nod before turning to leave.

He was halfway to his car when he was stopped.

“Roman,” Patton jogged to catch up to him.

“What’s up?” Patton stopped in front of Roman, tilting his head to the side like a confused puppy.

“You really care about him, don’t you?” Roman chuckled at the question, bowing his head to look at his shoes.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Not obvious enough, apparently,” Patton grinned. “Listen, kiddo, next time you see Logan, maybe try telling him? Something tells me he feels the same.” Roman swallowed against the thought.

“You can’t know that. Virgil said-”

“Virgil might have known Logan longer,” Patton interjected, “but he’s not the best at reading the heart. There’s something there, I can feel it. He just needs a little nudge, and you’re braver with this kind of thing than he is.” Roman looked back at the house, able to see Sloane hugging on Corbin from behind, nuzzling his wide grin into the crook of Corbin’s neck as the latter worked on making something in the kitchen. Virgil was still back to back with Logan, whose head was lolling and whose glasses were slipping down his nose. He’d fallen asleep.

“Just keep me updated,” Roman resolved. “Please.” Looking back to Patton, he found a pair of glittering baby blue eyes and a knowing smile. Patton was just barely shorter than Roman, but he always looked so much smaller with his adorably soft features, sprinkling of freckles, and free-range dark curls.

“Will do, kiddo.” Roman smiled at the nickname, leaning in for a hug when Patton opened his arms. Hugging Patton was like hugging a bear or a huge dog. He’s soft and gentle, but Roman could still feel strength radiating from his muscles lying dormant until he needed to use it in defense of someone.

The drive home didn’t calm Roman’s nerves. His nausea wasn’t satiated by Patton’s updates or the familiar banter as his parents discussed the latest episode of Chopped. He didn’t go to sleep until Patton texted him that Logan had eaten and crashed on Virgil’s couch for the second time that evening. Even then, it was hard to force his eyes shut.

The next day, Roman didn’t see Logan the entire school day. He couldn’t bring himself to focus on anything, wondering where he was and whether he was okay. When Ms. Torres asked if anyone knew where he was, Roman didn’t speak up, because he didn’t know for sure. Besides, he still didn’t have a solid explanation of what had gone on from Logan. He had implications from the others, but he didn’t want to say anything without Logan’s confirmation and permission, so he kept his mouth shut.

Roman ended up the last one in the dressing room getting changed for rehearsal because some Freshmen in the theater one class had messed with the props and costumes and it took forever for him to find all the parts of his, not to mention how he insisted on helping everyone else find all their costume parts and props on top of that. He’d just pulled on his costume pants and slipped off his t-shirt when there was a knock at the door.

“Roman?” Logan’s voice was soft as he started into the dressing room. “Oh, you’re changing. I can-”

“Logan,” Roman probably should have reigned himself in before grabbing Logan in a bear hug, enveloping him in his desperately worried arms. “Are you okay? Where were you today?”

“I, um,” Logan struggled to find his words as Roman pulled away, keeping his arms around him. “Yeah, I’m fine. At least, compared to last night. Much better than that, I think. I spent the day at Virgil’s house, he insisted, but when I reminded Corbin of how close the show is, he drove me over. I told Joan I was helping Ms. Torres, they won’t question it.” Roman smiled. He certainly sounded more like the Logan he knew. “Thank you, by the way. For last night. You, um, you were much more helpful than others who have seen me in that state. Virgil panicked the first time, and Patton just ran in circles trying to give me things. I’m honestly impressed that you stayed so calm.”

“Calm?” Roman’s brow furrowed, his voice working to stay soft. “I was so worried, I was panicking. I had no clue what to do, I couldn’t think straight at all last night, I could hardly sleep I was so worried. God, I’m just-” Without thinking, Roman raised a hand to cradle the back of Logan’s head, planting a kiss on his forehead. “I’m just glad you’re okay.” Leaning down, Roman pressed his forehead into Logan’s. Logan’s cheeks were dusted pink again, and Roman couldn’t tell where his own blushing heat stopped and Logan’s began. As Roman watched, Logan’s stunned expression transformed into a soft smile. Eyes flicking from Roman’s eyes to his lips and back again, Roman had to wonder if Logan was thinking the same thing he was.

“We should get changed and out there before Joan sends Patton after us.” Roman was about to object when Logan planted a peck on Roman’s cheek, slipping out of his grasp before he could do anything else.

Logan was across the room and halfway into costume by the time Roman unfroze. Logan smirked at Roman as he crossed back to where his costume was hanging, continuing to put himself together.

“Y’know,” Roman teased, “I really thought we had a moment back there. Y’know, one that might go a little further than a peck.”

“I’m not the baker’s wife, I’m not swayed by a Prince and his moments.”

Roman smirked as he arranged his scarf, watching Logan in the mirror as he straightened his tie and gathered his costume changes for the wolf and mysterious man, talking absently as he did.

“You think you catch me in one little moment,” Logan purred, “and I’m gonna get on my knees for you? No, it’s not that easy.”

Roman turned to watch as Logan made for the door, his mouth hanging halfway open in disbelief. Logan paused in the doorway, looking Roman up and down, his eyebrow quirked up and his lips pulled into a smug smirk. When he spoke again, he’d lowered his voice an octave.

“Work for it, Princey.”

Roman couldn’t not laugh to himself as he followed ten steps behind Logan, flushed and struggling to not grin for the rest of the night. He couldn’t bring himself to deny it any more.

I’m so damn in love with this boy.

Quick Note: if anybody has any title recommendations, feel free to offer them up! I’m not too good at titles and have to go to sleep now because I have an exam in the morning whoop whoop anyway if you wanna suggest a title, feel free!!

[tkmedia]

Eckes takes surprise Vegas Truck win as playoff drivers stumble

Todd Gilliland appeared to have the dominant truck in the race and led the way on a restart with four of 134 laps to go, but Eckes took the field three-wide and moved into the lead with a shove from Ben Rhodes. Rhodes then began closing in on Eckes to challenge for the lead but a caution was displayed on the final lap for a wreck involving Tyler Hill. That froze the field and ensured Eckes’ win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – his first win in 44 series starts. Eckes, 20, has been running a partial schedule this season for ThorSport Racing in the No. 98 Ford and was part of a 1-2-3-4 finish for ThorSport.   “You can look at my (stats) and see how bad it is and how tough it is (to race in Trucks),” Eckes said. “Damn, this is big. It’s been a tough year. “Yeah, that’s pretty much all I can say, it’s been a tough year since last November. Hopefully, I showed I can still do this.” Eckes competed fulltime last season for Kyle Busch Motorsports but did not return to the organization this year. A part-time ride at ThorSport was Eckes’ only NASCAR opportunity for the 2021 season. Eckes’ surprise win came on a night when several playoff drivers – John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith, reigning champion Sheldon Creed, Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar – all had bad performances, finishing 22nd or worse. With two races remaining before the Championship 4 is set, Rhodes now leads the playoff standings ahead of Nemechek, Stewart Friesen and Matt Crafton. Rhodes finished second in the race, Crafton third, Johnny Sauter fourth and Gilliland ended up fifth.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, several trucks pit but Hocevar stayed out and inherited the lead when the race returned to green on Lap 67. Gilliland restarted 14th, the first on four new tires. On Lap 71, Tyler Ankrum got loose and started spinning in Turn 2 and Chandler Smith plowed into him, which triggered a multi-car accident that also collected Hailie Deegan, Creed and Chase Purdy. Creed appeared to dive to the apron to avoid the accident but instead slammed into the stopped truck of Chandler Smith.   The race returned to green on Lap 78 with Austin Hill out front, followed by Hocevar, Tanner Gray, Sauter and Gilliland. On Lap 81, Nemechek once again stopped on the track without power, which brought out the seventh caution of the race. A number of trucks pit during the caution with Brett Moffitt the first off pit road. On the restart on Lap 85, Tate Fogleman remained on the track and led the way followed by Bret Holmes and Moffitt. Moffitt moved into the lead on Lap 85 only to see Gilliland power back out front on Lap 86. With 30 laps remaining in the race, Gilliland maintained about a 1-second lead over Eckes as Friesen ran third. Drew Dollar and Jack Wood made contact in Turn 4 on Lap 114 to bring out another caution in the race. Most of the lead-lap trucks pit with Gilliland the first off pit road. On the restart on Lap 118, Sauter was followed by Gilliland, Eckes, Rhodes and Crafton. Gilliland wasted no time in powering around Sauter with his new tires and moved back into the lead. Hocevar spun off Turn 4 while attempting to enter pit road on Lap 126, which brought out the ninth caution of the race. NASCAR then penalized Hocevar a lap for intentionally causing a caution. Gilliland remained out front on the restart with four laps to go.

Stage 2

Gilliland held off Rhodes to take the Stage 2 win, his fourth of the 2021 season. Hocevar was third, Friesen fourth and Creed rounded out the top-five. Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, all the lead-lap trucks pit with Gilliland edging Nemechek off pit road. Sauter was penalized for an uncontrolled tire during his stop and had to restart from the rear of the field. On the restart on Lap 37, Gilliland was followed by Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Zane Smith and Eckes. Friesen powered into the lead on the restart only to see Gilliland reclaim the top spot on Lap 38. NASCAR put out a caution on Lap 40 for debris in Turn 3 as Zane Smith had a left-rear tire come apart after contact with Nemechek battling for position.   The race returned to green on Lap 46 with Gilliland out front followed by Rhodes and Friesen. Rhodes wasted no time getting around Gilliland after the restart to take the lead for the first time in the race. Gilliland returned to the lead on Lap 51. Nemechek fell off the pace with power issues and finally came to a stop on the backstretch on Lap 53, which brought out a caution. Gilliland continued to lead the way on the restart on Lap 57.

Stage 1

Nemechek dominated the first stage, leading all 30 laps on his way to the Stage 1 win over Gilliland. Chandler Smith was third, Rhodes fourth and Friesen rounded out the top-five. Nemechek started on the pole and remained out front while race was placed under caution on Lap 6 when Chris Hacker spun and wrecked off Turn 4. The race returned to green on Lap 9 with Nemechek out front followed by Gilliland and Friesen. With 10 laps remaining in the first stage, Nemechek had opened a nearly 1-second lead over Gilliland with Chandler Smith in third. shares comments Read the full article

[yourjughead]

Ghosts Pt.4

Pt.1 Pt. 2 Pt. 3

Sweet Pea x Reader.

A/N: Finished another fic series i abandoned due to my commitment issues.

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Sweet Pea POV

“Shit!” yn dove onto the back seats floor, almost cowering, i wasn’t used to seeing our once great leader like this. I climbed back through the seat and back to my earlier position.

“Umm problem?” i wound down the window to see the three men properly.

“Oh its you, sorry we just had intel our girl got in this car” i could the taller one strain his neck to see behind me into the back seat. She wasn’t his girl. She was mine. He grunted before pulling his head out of my face and topping the roof of the car. The three then moved away from my car, nodded and then practically disappeared into the night.

“So you gonna ever tell me why your fan club is practically stalking you?” “Nope, taking that to my grave Sweets, they’ll leave town soon enough thinking I did the same” she jumped into the front seat next to me, cupping my hand in her after i put the car in gear and pushed off. I kissed the back of it and she seemed to blush. I missed this girl so damn much, i missed her calling me Sweets, i missed her relying on me. I missed her.

We arrived back at my trailer, crashing into bed together and while i wasn’t quite ready for round two, it was simply nice to be this close to my girl again.

“I know you said you don’t want to talk about it but I just know your dad is going to take you back”

“Would your dad  take you back if you left your family business” “I wouldn’t even make it out of state before he’d have me caught by the scruff of the neck and hauled home” i felt her laugh alongside me.

“Im sure my dad would have done the same if he paid any attention to me” i felt her sadness ring through then.

“Hey hey hey listen to me-” i squeezed her in closer

“-Your dad loves you, he’s so proud of you i know, every kid makes mistakes. For example once i stocked the feminine hygiene products in the dog toy section and the shop received some super angry messages-” to feel her smile against my chest again was reassuring.

“-You just remind your dad and everyone else so much of your mom it couldn’t have been easy but i know he’ll be happy to have you back in his life…i know i am” i kissed the top of her head and she cuddled in deeper. I was falling for this girl all over again.

-

Yn had some serious work to do and when i woke up the next day with her not by my side my mind instantly went to she’s run off again. Seeing her note on the kitchen table was like seeing a rescue boat when you’re stranded at sea. She had already left to go see her dad and after a few worried texts later i had gathered it was going great. A knock came to my wooden door with Toni being the source.

“Listen SP, i don’t want you to get too attached to yn again” she barged in passed me after i had the door opened a crack.

“Good morning Toni, how are you? Im great. Oh please do come inside” she hit me into the chest at my teasing.

“Sweet Pea, im being serious. Jughead is asking a lot of questions lately about-” “Me?” yn came in, door key and shopping bag in hand. Oh god Fangs…or the Navy Seals come help.

“Yeah. You.” her eyes narrowed and it is at this point i wish i wasn’t standing between them.

“Well i mean he could just come ask me or my boyfriend these questions” oh god.

“And who exactly is your boyfriend?” she stepped closer, voice seething. Oh god.

“Sweet Pea of course” toni crossed her arms and ran her tongue across her teeth. Oh god.

“Oh? Of course, southside highs very own power couple back together again, what? Did your last sugar daddy’ money run and you needed to starting sucking the soul out of someone else?” yn stepped forward quickly as if she might catch Toni by the throat again, i (foolishly) stepped more between them.

“Listen Toni if i want to be with YN, I’ll be with yn, hell I’ll fucking marry yn if i want to! Stop trying to micromanage me like you did when she wasn’t around and just give it a rest!” i hadn’t really meant to lose my temper with Toni, i never really mean to lose my temper with anyone, it’s just who I am I guess. Toni looked at me furiously before glaring at Yn and storming out of the trailer once again, leaving the both of us to mull over my words.

“Thanks Sweets” she pulled me down into a hug.

“Its okay yn, no need to thank me” i breathed against the top of her shoulder blade.

“Ill fucking marry you if i want to” she laughed against my neck sending shivers down my spine the way only she could.

“Well i mean i said it before you ran away then and I’ll say it now” she pulled her face away from my neck to look in my eyes at my words.

“Im sorry Sweet Pea. I’m sorry I did that to you” “I’m sorry i let you do that to me…i should have caught you by the scruff of the neck and dragged you back” my smile seemed to settle her again.

“Next time you ask me I promise I’ll say yes” another shiver traveled down my spine.

“Next time I ask just promise you wont leave”

“I promise”

“Yn will you marry me” it was hardly above a whisper.

“No” i pulled her completely from me, my hands still on her hips.

“WHAT?!” “IM KIDDING!” she laughed and i didnt.

“Not funny?” stupid question.

“I mean it will be once I restart my heart again yeah”

“Would it restart it faster if I said yes” “Probably yeah” i was hunched over half laughing and half almost crying.

“Yes Sweet Pea, I will marry you” i stood up straight again and found myself laughing at this goofy girl with a messy past, i missed this ghost and was so happy to have her in my life again.

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Chrissy Xx