#however their are some characteristics of him that I haven’t found yet

[catwouthats]

I’m researching all the animals wolverine gets compared to so I can see which ones are most like him and to which degree they are like him.

Bro this shit is fueling headcanons…

His love language is definitely gift giving, but he wouldn’t usually say the gift is from him. It would just appear at the person’s place. Like randomly, his friends get random tiny things, and they have no fucking clue where they come from??? And things they thought they lost appear again?? They must just think they are lucky at first.

[himasgod]

Gorou x Reader

Where he is very tired after the war and you convince him to relax

(This is a short one shot that I wrote in some free time! I'm studying a lot and finishing all the requests I have, which I love and I'm putting a lot of love into, so in the next few days they will be published! In the meantime, enjoy this Gorou one)

The war was over, and peace was slowly beginning to settle in Watatsumi. The sea, which had once been the scene of so many battles, now stretched out serenely and almost carefree. However, despite the calm, there were still open wounds in those who defended their home, and especially in those who led the battle on the front line.

The sun was setting when you found Gorou in a secluded corner, next to one of Watatsumi's high cliffs. There, the general was meticulously checking his equipment, a task that seemed more of a routine to avoid thinking about anything else. The sea breeze ruffled the fur on his tail, which already looked somewhat messy from time. He didn't notice your presence right away, so focused was he on his own thing.

"Gorou," you called quietly, but enough for him to look up.

Seeing you, a small smile appeared on his lips, although his eyes reflected an exhaustion that he couldn't hide. For days, ever since the end of the battles, you had watched as Gorou kept himself busy, helping the soldiers reorganize, checking inventory, and making sure everyone was taken care of. But he rarely allowed himself a break.

“Ah, what are you doing here? Did you need something?” he asked, trying to maintain that firm, friendly tone he used with everyone.

Yet you knew his gaze, you knew his essence beyond that title of undefeated general. You moved a little closer, unhurriedly, and sat down beside him on the edge of the cliff, from where the entire expanse of Watatsumi could be seen, bathed in the last glow of the sun.

“I’ve noticed that you haven’t taken a break for days,” you commented softly. “You always worry about everyone else, but… who worries about you?”

Gorou lowered his gaze, his lips slightly pursing. It was so characteristic of him to downplay his own needs that you almost expected an evasive answer. However, after a few moments, he sighed and let himself fall back a little, supporting himself on the ground with his hands.

“Sometimes I think that, as a leader, I have no right to rest. My soldiers have been through so much… How could I relax while they are still recovering?” he admitted, his tone barely a whisper, as if he trusted that only you would hear him.

You looked at him, seeing that young who, despite his insecurities and the doubts that arose in the most difficult moments, had proven to be a true pillar for everyone. His humility and dedication were what had inspired his men to continue fighting, and yet here he was, unable to allow anyone to worry about his own well-being.

“Gorou,” you murmured, and he turned his head to you, “you are somebody too. Even if you carry the weight of everyone on your shoulders, you also have the right to let it go from time to time. I am here to help you, not only in battles, but in everything... you can always rely on me."

A slight blush appeared on his cheeks, and he looked away towards the sea, visibly uncomfortable. His strong and protective image was dissolving in this vulnerable moment, a facet of him that only a few could see. After a while, he spoke, his voice barely a whisper that was lost in the breeze.

"Sometimes I feel… that I am not strong enough. I have made mistakes… and I have lost companions. I don’t want anyone to go through that. But… thank you. It’s good to know that I am not alone."

You moved a little closer and placed a hand on his shoulder, a soft touch that comforted him immediately. No more needed to be said. You knew that, at that moment, he just needed someone to remind him that his value was not only in his strength, but also in his person.

The sun finally hid behind the horizon, leaving only the sound of the sea and the murmur of the wind.

And, for the first time in a long time, Gorou allowed himself to relax, by your side, knowing that he would not be alone that night.

Here is my masterlist, in case you are interested in any more of my work or want to send me a request <3

[ootahime]

analyzing every gojohime moment in the manga p2

part 1 is here :3

this post includes more excruciatingly long paragraphs so grab urself something and enjoy LOL

chapter 40 

i know they’re not interacting in this panel but i still want to bring it up.  i’m gonna give some context to this scene in case someone needs to jog their memory.  so basically, mei’s ability to command crows is what allows the staff to observe the students from afar.  however, gojo notices that there’s lack of footage where yuuji is and asks mei why that’s so.  she tells him that they’re animals at the end of the day so she can’t control what they look at.  he doesn’t believe her so he asks her whose side she’s on (for yuuji’s execution vs against yuuji’s execution) to which she responds with, “whose side?  i’m on the side with money, of course.  there’s no value in something that can’t be bought since you can’t exchange that for money.”  in other words, she’ll always choose the side that offers her more money because she doesn’t care about how morally “correct” or “incorrect” something is.  it’s not worth fighting for a cause that doesn’t benefit her in the long run which is why she views things that are unable to be bought (friendships, relationships, favors) as useless - they can’t be exchanged for money.  it’s clear that gojo knows she’s not on his side because he replies with, “spoken from experience!” or “i wonder how much!” (translation varies).  he says it out loud to perhaps let gakuganji know that he’s onto him.  i find it interesting how utahime is in the panel as well with a “?” to express her confusion at his words.  let’s overthink dissect that.  why is she there in the first place? if the message was to let gakuganji know that gojo is aware of his ulterior motives then a panel with gakuganji and gojo would have sufficed.  why add utahime with a question mark? 

here’s a personal headcanon of mine that makes no absolute sense, but who cares? it makes me happy LOL.  so let’s examine the panel.  gojo’s face is more simplified and cartoonish with a grey background on top and some sort of white bubble surrounding the three characters.  gakuganji is staring at utahime and gojo.  in the official viz translation, he replies to mei with, “i wonder how much!”  

normal and logical explanation: shading the principal by asking out loud how much mei was paid by him to avoid monitoring yuuji.

gojohime brainrot explanation: 

mei: “there’s no value in something that can’t be bought since you can’t exchange that for money”

gojo: (in response) i wonder how much utahime’s love would cost if it did have a price.

utahime: ?

you’re probably thinking i’m delulu (true) BUT HEAR ME OUT.  IT WOULD SOMEWHAT MAKE SENSE IN THIS CONTEXT...

mei’s saying seems to be what she lives by.  relationships, love, friendships, etc. do not matter to her as this is evident when she ultimately abandons everyone in shibuya to escape to malaysia, selling all her stocks before japan’s economy goes down.  she doesn’t care about anyone else.  she even takes advantage of ui ui’s adoration for her.  she contrasts utahime.  utahime is loved by her students.  children, especially teenagers, are picky when it comes to choosing the adults they admire and respect.  while everyone trusts gojo, they do not respect him because of his childishness and overall absurdity.  it’s refreshing to see how they always call him an idiot or have a -_- face when he’s around.  when akutami says everyone absolutely adores utahime-sensei, it says a lot.  we haven’t seen her interact with her students all that much, but she’s obviously close to them because she’s frequently arguing with momo.  even a closed off person like mechamaru wanted to keep her away from danger.  she most certainly expresses a lot of concern and care for her students, and gojo and her students can pick up on this. 

i’ve talked about this in every post LOLOL but there’s a reason why he went to utahime first to help him investigate.  utahime is a loyal person through and through.  she would never do something that harms the students even if she was offered everything in the world.  she values relationships above everything else.  besides her concern for the students, how else was i able to come to this conclusion about her character?  well, she got shoko to stop smoking because she was worried about how it might damage her friend’s health.  from these two details, it’s obvious that she’s the complete opposite of mei.  

maybe that’s why he calls her weak.  she’s too selfless and compassionate in a world where every sorcerer is for themselves.  the world is cruel as a sorcerer.  no matter how hard you try to fight, in the end, you’ll always die alone.  remember his talk with megumi after the baseball game?  after witnessing megumi pull a sacrificial bunt to help his teammates advance, gojo has a talk with megumi about his attitude and potential.  he says that being selfless and caring about others is not a bad thing, but in a world like this, where people always die alone, he is wasting his potential by being concerned with others.  it’s okay to be selfish.  this is why we see fierce independence in a lot of the sorcerers like mei, nanami, and gojo.  they each have their own reasons as to why they work alone, but it’s still a common characteristic.  i feel like utahime doesn’t have a selfish bone in her body.  i speculate that her selflessness is the exact reason why she is being held back.  during her mission to exorcise a grade 1 spirit by herself, the final task before being promoted to grade 1, she likely got distracted trying to help civilians out of danger and failed her mission.  he’s right when he says she doesn’t have the guts to be the traitor, utahime doesn’t have it in her to do something so boldly solely for her own benefit.  

after this long tangent, how does this relate to your headcanon, ootahime?  

as you know, love is not transactional.  you can’t pay someone to love you.  what if gojo is asking himself how much it would cost to buy her love.  hence, her confusion because she is oblivious to what he really means.  it could be probable because gakuganji is observing not only gojo, but utahime as well.  so what gojo says must involve her too, right?  

or she could just be confused because his words seem out of place because she is unaware of what gakuganji is doing behind everyone’s back.  that explanation makes sense for viz’s official translation but it doesn’t make sense when he says, “spoken from experience!” because his words make sense in that context.  he’s basically saying that mei’s beliefs must be based on her past experiences so he understands why she feels this way.  that’s an appropriate response to mei’s statement so i don’t see why utahime would be confused by this.  unless i’m interpreting this whole scene completely wrong.  in that case, whoopsies!  

let me know if you’re confused because i’m willing to clarify.  idk why but i found this really difficult to explain.  maybe because i’m reaching so hard haha

chapter 40

he finds any way he can to tease her.  they seem like a married couple watching a movie or something.  does he take pride in being the only person she doesn’t get along with?  i mean, she says it herself so he is aware she thinks he’s annoying, but he keeps picking on her anyway.  he doesn’t even pick on his enemies this much LMAOOO i think the only other person he likes to make fun of is gakuganji but he does so because he doesn’t agree with his views.  with utahime it’s different.  he trusts her a lot and even looks out for her.  

chapter 44

why are there two separate instances of gakuganji observing utahime and gojo’s interactions from afar?  nah i’m just playing.  he’s just looking because he’s concerned she’ll run into the semi-grade 1 curse he had for yuuji.  OKAY BUT I NOTICED SOMETHING KINDA CUTE?  whenever utahime says something suddenly, he always has those 3 little triangles near his head.  it’s like he’s thinking, “oh!  utahime is speaking, i must listen <3″  look at his face too.  he’s looking at her like :O

this is also an example of her showcasing her concern for the students in front of gojo.  i feel like he questions why she’s so caring because if it were him, he would have left the student to figure it out themselves.  i really wonder how she would react if he answered her truthfully when she asked what he’d do if she were the traitor.  

chapter 45

there’s not much to say here...they’re just cute.  i know it’ll never happen but i’d like to see them fight side by side one day.  i’m aware that gojo works best alone but i just want to see how they’d work together, okay? 😔

chapter 45

see the little triangles on his head again?  UGH SO CUTE.  

chapter 45

IS THIS NOT INTENTIONAL???  they share the same thoughts.  he even finished her thought.  mannnnnnnnnnnnn what is akutami doing?  giving us false hope and stripping it away just for fun?  making them work so well together for what??

chapter 52

cute how he looks out for her.  i have nothing more to say LOL

chapter 53

notice how they’re sitting across from each other?  HEHE

chapter 53

yet another instance of her caring for her students in front of gojo.  in the anime she has the cutest expression when she says she’s glad the students are safe.  i bet gojo saw that too.  i also bet that she looks prettier from his point of view.

extra

from the manga and light novels, gojo and utahime are the ones that talk about sports the most.  he most definitely chose baseball to cheer her up.  it’s not a coincidence people!  

--

i feel like i had a lot more to say but i completely lost my train of thought while writing this, especially with chapter 40. i’m once again writing this at 4 in the morning LOL........  please please please add on or share your thoughts!  thank you for reading and sorry for any mistakes.  

[obeiii-mee]

Could I request the brothers (and maybe Diavolo, if you're comfortable) reacting to a knightly/chivalrous m/c, please?

———————————————————

I haven’t written Diavolo in a hot minute, I’m glad he’s being requested again. I’m guessing you mean an MC with the attributes of a knight? The same sort of mannerisms and traits and not an actual knight! MC? Lemme know if I did this ask wrong because I was low key confused lmao.

———————————————————

The Brothers + Diavolo with a knightly/chivalrous MC:

Lucifer:

-He really didn’t like you upon first meeting

-He hated how he couldn’t intimidate you into not being a nuisance the way he could with most of his brothers

-But, to be honest, you had gained his respect rather early on

-I think, even though it may have annoyed him to no end, Lucifer was very fond of your bravery a lot of the times

-The way you would stand up for Mammon or that time you protected Beel and Luke from his outburst

-Courage is not a trait one would usually associate with humans, especially when more superior beings like demons are involved

-Your humility was also a characteristic of yours that he, surprisingly, was really fond of

-And your overall mercifulness was something to be congratulated as well

-I mean, him and his brothers put you through so much shit and for you to forgive and move on without an angry word at any of them kinda speaks on its own

-I think he understands, to an extent, the reason you’re so loyal to the people you care about too

-He has a certain devotion for Lord Diavolo and his brothers, more than he lets on

-To him, having someone like you around is something to be appreciated

-Because you are similar but also completely different and nothing like he deemed you to be at the beginning

-yo i think you remind him of himself back when he was angel tbh

-He’s sort of tired of saving your ass tho because you are very just, so you feel the need to help people all the time which leads to you getting involved in fights

-Bring him his 20th cup of coffee for the day please, it’s hard being a single father of 8 children (yes I’ve added Lord Diavolo he counts as one of the kids)

-He’s the definition of this incorrect quote I stumbled across a while back

- MC: “FIGHT ME RIGHT NOW!”

-Lucifer, from behind them “ Do not.”

Mammon:

-Ok so this random human comes to DevilDom and has the audacity to slap his hand away while he’s trying to steal from Diavolo’s castle????????

-“MC ya’re forgetting I’m a demon, my moral scale is wayyy different than yours-“

-“Put it back.”

-“......ok.”

-You’re coming at him with rightfulness and honor and your presence is gonna hit him like a truck

-Cuz he ain’t stealing anything when you’re around (lucifer uses this to his advantage ofc.)

-That was basically the only thing he disliked about you

-Other than that, after your first week in DevilDom, he thinks you’re a goddamn S A I N T

-Everytime you stand up for him when his brothers are being assholes-pls he melts into a puddle of goo from your perfection

-OOFFS AND ALL THOSE TIMES YOU GAVE HIM GIFTS BECAUSE GENEROSITY BBY

-Good thing he was wearing sunglasses, because holy fuck was he weeping under those Gucci shades

-He’s gonna give ya props for having the courage to stand up to him and his brothers

-Lucifer especially because big bro scary

-Think about it like this: literally every single one of them could have you seasoned and roasted for lunch, love

-And yet you still have the bravery to look them in the eye and tell them: “Ya’ll are dysfunctional as fuck and need family therapy.”

-Again, he doesn’t understand your morale, he’s the Avatar of Greed, if he sees something he likes or seems worthy of his presence, he takes it

-But with that look you’re giving him, he honestly feels so guilty he can’t help but put it back

-He also appreciates your patience with him when it comes to anything that involves him talking about his emotions and thought process

-Because at this point he is widely known as scum so-

-Ahhhh, in the end, he thinks you’re pretty badass for a human and would low key want to see you in an armour of sorts agajwhisebhwjwwhehgdhdh

-And he really likes it when you make the effort to open doors for him too but he’ll never have the nerve to admit it

Levi:

-Believe it or not, he warms up to you in less than a day...?

-It’s probably because he’s a navy commander and he’s used to having soldiers around and you sort of remind him of that

-Out of everyone, he reacts the least when he sees how you carry yourself because to him it’s second nature

-Even if he does tend to slouch most of the time

-Almost dropped to his knees and started worshiping you when you yelled at Mammon to give Levi his money back on your first day

-And then a friendship started to blossom (im not friendzoning y’all, relax)

-Levi has a tendency to just walk into your room with his laptop, point at the screen which is paused in the middle of an anime and go “Look, the protagonist is a knight. You’re also...really knightly. I like the protagonist. I, uh I like you too, I guess.”

-He loves how honest you are because he knows that no matter what you wouldn’t lie to him

-“MC, do you think I’m a yucky otaku?”

-“No.”

-“But-“

-“No.”

-“Oh ok.”

-But on the inside he’s like 🥰🥰💞💞💞💞

-I just think that a knightly MC would connect on an emotional level with Levi for a lot of reasons, idk

-He’s gonna be a sputtering mess when he realises how much effort you put into this relationship (platonic or romantic) and how loyal you are to it

-Like how you actually bother learning all of his stupid passwords because you are just as serious about them as he is

-He just crashed, give him a moment to reboot please

Satan:

-He takes a while to warm up to you because for some reason your overall demeanour reminded him of Lucifer lol

-He thought you might be just as stuck up as him

-It didn’t take him longer than a week or so to come to the sudden realisation that you are way more pleasant than his brother

-Like his daddy, you manage to earn his respect pretty quickly after that

-He just thought the way you handled everything that was thrown at you in DevilDom was very sophisticated but firm nonetheless, if that makes sense?

-Like, you weren’t itching to escalate fights or anything but your tone of voice could easily end a whole conversation if need be

-You were still a human of course, it would be real easy for some low rank demon to kidnap you or something

-But for some reason, your confidence seemed to intimidate a few of the weaker ones into leaving you alone

-Obviously, that didn’t mean you were completely safe or anything

-There were still others that could effortlessly overpower you

-Even so, Satan found it sort of reassuring that unlike some humans, you weren’t one to back down without a confrontation

-Don’t get me started on all those times you rebelled against Lucifer, because that’s what truly got him to get to know you better

-He found you pretty interesting and then that interest sort of evolved into actual fondness

-Another thing that caught his eye was that even though you have very strong feelings about justice and fairness, you are completely level headed most of the time

-And patience, while it’s something he can manage, is the one that he has been trying to control for centuries

-He learned a lot from you about behaviour, whether you intentionally taught it to him or not

-And if there is one thing Satan thinks highly of; it would be knowledge

-Therefore, from that point onward, your existence was so much more precious to him than your soul could ever be

Asmo:

-What can I say about our sweet Asmo?

-You could have the personality of a trashcan and he’d still love you

-You were so polite and honourable from the beginning to the point you managed to get the attention of the Avata of Lust himself????

-He thought you were pretty hot basically

-hoWEVER

-Your righteousness always sort of nagged him because he low-key believed Diavolo snuck in another angel into the program, I-

-And for some reason, your loyalty to everyone in general ticked him off immensely at the beginning

-Mainly because he recognised that’s one of the traits he lacks entirely and he came to the conclusion that he needs to revaluate himself on that one

-He is so desperate for your attention, he will tattle on his brothers just to get you to yell at them and then comfort him

-“MCCCCC, MAMMON STOLE MY NEWEST MAKE UP KIT AND IS ABOUT TO SELL IT ON AKUZON!”

-he is so petty istg

-Your nobility still catches him off guard every now and then

-Because you’ve been living with demons for so long and yet you’re still, theoretically speaking, pure?? get your head out of the gutter people

-He probably applauds you on the fact that you can even scare Lucifer on some occasions because imagine having a scarier death glare than the eldest prince of hell

-Asmo will personally buy you clothes that he thinks suit your “aesthetic” (wtf Asmo)

-Might’ve bought you a sword and then got shouted at by Lucifer because oops turns out it was cursed

-Again, supportive mom vibes

-“MC, do you know how stunning you look strutting around with that confidence of yours? Don’t get me started on your posTURE!”

-You pulled a chair for him once and he practically swooned lmao

Beel:

-He figures you’re really nice from the start

-Mostly because you kept running errands and opening doors for him even though he let it slip that he might lose control and eat you

-Like most brothers, he finds you comforting in a way

-Beel appreciates your honesty to him too because he can count on you to tell him when he’s doing something wrong

-And he sort of needs the validation that even though he blames himself for a lot of things that took place in the past, his brothers and you are more than ready to forgive him (even if they didn’t blame him to begin with)

-Rather than respect, Beel puts a lot of trust into you, which I would believe to be more intimate

-If it’s just the two of you hanging out, he has an easier time opening up about Lilith because he knows you would never judge him and respect his feelings enough to let him get it out of his system

-You always share your food with him and give him a bigger portion and he goes so soft-

-Like who allowed you to be this generous?

-Tbh, he thinks it’s sort of refreshing having someone like you around

-Beel has been surrounded by demons for millenniums now and he’s gotten used to their...uh ‘evilness’

-Ever since you got dropped off in DevilDom, you really stood out with your nobility and morals

-It was like a breath of fresh air in a way

-He may or may not believe you’re a good influence on his siblings-if you can even influence demons of all things

-I’m not saying he invites you to work out with him and give him honest criticism, but he definitely invites you to work out with him and give him honest criticism

Belphie:

-“Out of all the humans they could’ve chosen, they picked the most annoying one, oH MY FUCKING GO-I MEAN DAD-“

-You go up to the attic that one night after tricking Lucifer into vibing to some classical TSL tunes

-He spotted you and was immediately irritated

-Like, he KNEW you were going to be a pain in the ass just by judging your posture and how you carried yourself (very knightly)

-At the start, he’s even hesitant to lie to you because he had a suspicion you wouldn’t buy his bs

-(Spoiler alert: you didn’t but you went with it either way)

-It takes a while for you to forgive him when he literally fucking kills you because that was rude af but you got over it in time

-AFTER of the whole ‘Sorry-for-choking-you-can-we-be-friends-now’ incident, you still get on his nerves a lot but at this point, he believes that’s his punishment for being a murderous dickhead

-You don’t really piss him off tho, you just confuse him a lot

-Why are you so polite? You keep pulling chairs and opening doors for him??? Why are you treating him like royalty?? Stop it, he doesn’t want to be like Lord Diavolo (he def likes it when you do that)

-Pls stop dragging the poor man to breakfast, he just wants to sleep in-

-He doesn’t understand how you’re always one time for everything

-My dude tries to wake up 20 minutes early to get somewhere in time and he is still 2 hours late

-sTOP TRYING TO FORCE YOUR IDEALS ONTO HIM, HE’S A LITTLE SHIT WHO ENJOYS WATCHING PEOPLE SUFFER

-All the same, you’re a very forgiving person so he’s just grateful you don’t hate him or anything

-And in the end, it doesn’t really matter how much your chivalry and righteousness and all of that pisses him off every now and then

-Because he can’t deny the fact that you brought him and his brothers the peace they needed

-And he so loves it when you and Lucifer go head to head mhmm

Diavolo:

-This big tittied man right here takes a liking to you immediately

-A couple of days in DevilDom and he’s already inviting you for tea at his castle

-You managed to befriend the prince of hell faster than the demons you live with, huh

-He’s lonely ok? He loves having people over and having cozy chitchats

-Not to mention he thinks you’re such pleasant company!

-Most demons would be afraid to even say anything in his presence but you always speak your mind while continuing to be respectful and he’s so happy, you don’t understand-

-Only demons in close relations to Diavolo like Babrbatos and Lucifer actually know how much it takes for someone to anger him

-He doesn’t take offence to much lol

-And he’s really content that you acknowledged that

-He sometimes visits you in his spare time just to talk and hang out since Lucifer is a big meanie who doesn’t want to indulge him and Barbatos is busy making him dinner >:(

-SPEAKING OF- if you and Barbatos don’t bond then i don’t know what to tell you

-I mean, you would both have so many things in common (strong sense of loyalty, honesty, just in a way etc.)

-You’re his favourite guest to have over at the palace, sorry Luci you’ve been replaced

-He genuinely finds you interesting as well so please tell him stories from the human realm!! He’s dying to learn more!

-Diavolo notices you demeanour sort of gives off warrior vibes so-

-He really considered making you into a knight bc it’s Diavolo-what he says; goes

-“I know they’re human but they’ll be fine. Look how tough they are! They managed to survive a year with you and your brothers didn’t they?”

-“My Lord, that doesn’t amount to anything, please don’t get our human killed-“

[letsloveimagines]

Title: Crush II

Pairing: Corpse Husband x fem!youtuber!reader

Collab with: @the-winter-sxldier-posts

Requested by: Anonymous

Request:  You HAVE to write a part 2 of crush where they meet! It would be so cuteeee!

Word Count: 1667

Warnings: a little swearing but mostly fluff

Note: The images doesn’t belong to me, all the credits go to the respective creators. I only made the collage. Also, I will not make anything to make Corpse uncomfortable, if he ends saying he doesn’t like fanfiction about him, I will delete this.

Part I: Here

                                                           ♦⋅☆⋅♦ Y/N pressed her left foot on the clutch pedal, turned the car key and heard the engine roaring loudly afterwards. She added the address on the GPS, looked at herself in the mirror for a moment taking a deep breath, trying to stay calm and focused. She put the car in first gear, and started driving from her apartment complex's private parking lot to the main road.

As her small and comfortable car drove through the streets of Los Angeles, the girl kept listening to what was on the radio. Every now and then, her stomach would churned with nervousness but she would take a deep breath and smile uncertainly to herself, trying to convince herself that everything would be okay.

Fed up with the podcast she was listening to, turned her car's Bluetooth on when she had to stop at a red traffic light, she switched to her current favorite Playlist.

Distracted by the music and humming softly accompanied by Rihanna's voice, she put the first gear back on, moving the car forward when the traffic light turned green, quickly shifting to the second and then putting on the third.

Her mind was racing, however.

Life had gone well since that specific day... since Y/N and Corpse confessed their feelings to each other. Their mutual friends that they played with knew the truth and were extremely happy for them, which was wonderful and soothing. Outside of them, no one else knew what had happened.

Corpse and Y/N talked every day, stayed on the phone every night until one of them fell asleep unfortunately, the girl always fell asleep first, and saw each other through FaceTime whenever they could.

In other words, the two could say that they were basically dating already... Even though there was never a real question. But perhaps that was about to change, for the day had finally come when they would meet physically.

A sound of receiving a phone call invaded the car and interrupted her thoughts. With a smile on her lips already knowing who was, Y/N clicked on the answer button and waited while entering a roundabout.

"Hey." That characteristic deep voice was heard.

"Hey you." She replied while looking briefly at his name written on the car screen.

"Are you on your way yet?"

"Yes, I just left the house. I'll be there In about two hours, depending on the traffic today."

Corpse cleared his throat and Y/N almost visualized him playing with his rings, and messing with his dark curly hair. "Are you sure you haven't forgotten anything?"

"Well, I hope not. I’ve had my bags packed for two days, but I think I have everything that is necessary with me. If not, there is no problem really." She replied.

"This is going to... This is really going to happen isn't it?" She could hear the smile in the man's voice.

"Yes, Corpse, it is. We will finally meet in person."

"I can't wait to see you." He whispered.

Y/N felt her cheeks warm for a moment, and she knew that if she looked in the mirror she would see a dark pink tone on her skin. She bit her lower lip in an attempt to stop the huge smile. "I can't wait to give you a big hug and tell you everything face to face."

Corpse laughed deeply, his tone was warm and full of emotion. "I know... I am anxious, and I am not going to lie about it. I'm super nervous. My hands are shaking so much that I don't even know how I haven't dropped my phone yet."

"Oh, Corpse..." Y/N whispered with a heavy heart, but was attentive to the road at the intersection where she was. "There is no reason to be nervous, it's just me. It’s just us."

"I know..." He sighed softly. After a few minutes without speaking, enjoying the comfortable silence between the two and listening to the sound of the Y/N’s car motor, he continued. "Well..." Corpse cleared his throat. "I will let you concentrate on your driving. Be careful and pay attention to the road."

"I will, I’ll see you later."

"Bye."

"Bye, Corpse."

The call ended but the anxiety and nervousness did not. However, only the sound of his voice and the small conversation they had was able to make Y/N smile all the way to San Diego.

                                                          ♦⋅☆⋅♦ 

Y/N pressed the turn signal, the green arrow flashing to the right, and parked the car in an empty parking space in front of the building. The woman's neutral and almost robotic voice came from the GPS saying: You have reached your destination. Shaking in her place, the girl put on the brake and turned off the car, taking a deep breath trying to calm herself once more.

It was now or never... Should she send him a message to let him know she was already there? Should she just knock on the door? Her hands were shaking so much, and her heart was beating so hard and so fast that it almost hurt.

She sat in the driver's seat for a few more minutes, so nervous she might pass out. It is better to just go there, she thought, the longer it takes the more nervous I will become.

She took a deep breath, unbuckled her seat belt, removed the keys from the ignition and quickly got out of the car, closing the door behind her, and going to the trunk to remove the pink suitcase. When it was on the floor next to her, she closed the trunk and locked the car safely, looking at the intimidating building in front of her.

Without further ado she approached it, opened the entrance door, climbed the stairs with some difficulty to his floor, and trembling, she shyly knocked on the door with her knuckles.

That door was opened so fast that it even scared her.

They were both looking at each other almost stunned... Finally they were there, in person, just a meter away and with a spine of the door separating them. Corpse was even more beautiful in person, and Y/N found herself lost in his dark eyes for a while.

"Hi..." She said sheepishly.

Corpse looked at her examining her from head to toe as if he couldn't believe she was real. Finally he smiled so beautifully that she almost forgot to breathe. "Hi." He replied.

Y/N dragged the suitcase a little closer to her, uncertain how to proceed. She didn't have time to think, however, as Corpse seemed to get tired of the waiting and shyness between them, crossed the space between the two and took her in his arms. His body was warm against hers, extremely hot, and his embrace was loving and passionate. Y/N inhaled his attractive scent - a mixture of soap, men's perfume and something else - and Corpse laughed through her hair.

"You’re here!" He exclaimed loudly, laughing deeply, spinning in circles with her still in his arms laughing out loud like he was.

When the two were inside the apartment, Corpse released her and pulled her suitcase inside as well, closing the door to prevent any curious neighbor from trying to see what was going on.

The two of them stayed there with smiles so big on their faces that their cheeks hurt… But it was definitely a good pain.

"I don't even know what to say..." Y / N confessed, practically shaking with excitement in her place.

Corpse smiled again, taking her hand timidly and gently, caressing her skin and interlacing their fingers and pulling her closer to him. "Me neither."

They were silent just enjoying the moment, and enjoying the fact that they were there, together... that it was real. How many times had they imagined this? How many times had they dreamed of that moment?

Corpse lowered his head slightly looking into her eyes intently, but his brows furrowed as if something troubling was going through his mind. "I…"

"What is it?" Y/N questioned worriedly.

Corpse made a shy expression. “Can I… Can I kiss you?”

Y/N's cheeks caught fire but her smile was so big, and she was so happy that she felt like she was going to explode at any moment. "Yes! Yes, of course you can…"

The young man approached, with his hand on Y/N's waist to pull her closer and the other one climbing up her arm, her shoulder, then her neck and resting on her burning cheek, where he was caressing the hot skin. Their fresh, labored and nervous breaths mingled, closing the distance until their lips touched, finally in what felt like an explosion of fireworks or an explosion of magic. Corpse's lips were soft and warm against hers, kissing her tenderly, as he brought their bodies together even more almost as if he was afraid that she would disappear at any moment.

The kiss was a mixture of lips and tongues, longing, passion and mostly love. It ended faster than they would have liked, but they stayed in each other's arms, sharing passionate smiles.

After a moment, Corpse whispered, "I still think this is a dream, and that I'm going to wake up after the normal three fucking hours that I can barely sleep."

Y/N laughed with her heart leaping and butterflies in her belly, playing with the laces of the black sweatshirt he had worn that day, wrapping it around her fingers and looking him in the dark eyes. "Me too, I've pinched myself hundreds of times today just to make sure this was real. But if this is a dream, I don't want to wake up anymore."

"I will punch the face of anyone who tries to wake me up." Corpse joked making Y/N let out the laugh he liked so much to hear.

"I love you." She whispered dizzy with emotion.

"That’s good, because I love you too."

                                                         ♦⋅☆⋅♦

Tag List: @breathygasps​ @unicornblood4ever  @mintchip17  @jay-jay-love

[southernswampmamma]

Magic Man: Chapter Two

Original! Male Character x Original! Black Female Character

Chapter Warnings: None, atm. Slow Burn

Summary: Yolana Humphry spent her entire life stuck in Tapioca, Alabama, under the thumb of her controlling Aunt Freda. That is, until a stranger comes along and swoops her off her feet. A charming man, that everyone but herself seems to know; who easily bypasses her fragile walls and embeds himself in her heart. Escape, however, doesn’t seem to be the end of Yolana’s journey. With her newfound freedom, she now has the opportunity to pursue something she never thought she could obtain.

Chapter Summary: The Local fire Department is having a celebration for the Fire chief and Nathan intends to attend. Yolana notices a welcomed stranger.

I try to be very inclusive with my stories, even if I write in an original female character. So, though she has a name, the only characteristic known is that she is black.

I also plan to write stories for everyone, not just a specific race!

(I am not in the medical field or national park services, so I might be wrong about some information in this chapter)

Chapter Two

Belvin’s Barbecue

Nathan pulled up to the fire-station around 3:30 that afternoon. The party started at 3:00, but he thought things wouldn’t have gotten too far started by the time they arrived. He hopped off his bike, hanging his open-faced helmet on his bike's handles.

“Boy, how do you get this thing off my head?”

Nathan brought his attention to his riding partner for the evening. Elijah sat on the bike fiddling with his helmet, struggling to get his fingers around the clasp to set himself free of the hot thing.

“Well, first Pops, you’re going to need some patience.” Nathan said, while assisting his grandfather.

Once the man was free, he huffed, sitting back a little, while his feet planted on the gravel under him. He looked around at his environment.

“Haven’t been here since before your last visit.”

“That’s a long time, Grandad.” Nathan imputed, taking off his riding gloves and massaging his fingers.

“Well, you were the only reason I came down here in the first place. I’m surprised I even got an invitation.”

Nathan offloaded his grandfather’s cane while simultaneously helping the man off the bike.

“You’re invited to every function, Pops.”

“Huh! You’re right.” Elijah said, as though it had just occurred to him. Once Elijah was situated on his feet, he took the cane and wiped his brow.

“Oh, my stars! If that aint a sight for sore eyes!”

Nathan and Elijah both turned at the sudden holler.

“Oh, hell.” Elijah muttered under his breath.

“Ms. Patty!” Nathan yelled, raising his arms for the eventual hug he was going to give his old babysitter.

Ms. Patty was an elder at the church, but when Nathan was a kid, she was just the church youth director. Whenever his grandfather was out, Ms. Patty would watch him. Nathan engulfed the short woman in a tight hug. She barely reached his chest, and he was sure she couldn’t breathe, but she made no complaint.

“What are you doing here in Tapioca? I thought you were up there making the big bucks in Tennessee?”

“I came down to see my gran for business, but decided to stay and catch up with everyone.”

“Oh, that’s good. We sure missed you! Your old pictures are still sitting on my mantel, and I still have all your artwork you used to draw me. You have grown so tall too! Also, so handsome!” She gasped. “Oh my god! Have you found yourself a little lady yet? If not, my grandniece is single, and she is getting so lonely ever since the rodeo left town.” Ms. Patty leans in. “Them’s clowns sure are dirty dogs.” Nathan listened to his former babysitter, just like the old days when she would watch him. He and Ms. Patty would talk all day about anything his younger self could conjure up. Whether it be dinosaurs or evil aliens from a distant planet, Ms. Patty would talk with him all day. Nathan used to think he talked too much to Ms. Patty, but as she went on and on about her grandniece and the clowns at the rodeo, then the circus and eventually the amusement park, Nathan didn’t feel like his talking was so bothersome back then.

“Alright Patty, we need to get going. My knees are starting to hurt and my patience is starting to wear thin.”

Ms. Patty rolled her eyes at Elijah and turned her attention back to Nathan.

“Let me show you inside. Everyone will be so delighted to see you!”

Nathan could barely get the beer he brought on the table with the rest of the drinks before bodies surrounded him. Everyone, people he went to summer camp with, people from the church, and even some people he met in holding cells, were there and ready to talk to him. All familiar faces he hadn’t seen in years. Nathan only expected to see his old buddies from the fire department, not people like George Allen, an older aged man he used to cut grass for, or Kip Ramos, the baseball coach from summer camp. It was nice to see everyone. He wished he hadn’t just up and disappeared without keeping in touch with everybody. George, though he was old when Nathan was a kid, was even older, obviously. Nathan wanted to ask how he was feeling. He had to be around his grandfather’s age, if not older. Kip had a limp that wasn’t there last time he saw him and Nathan wondered what caused that. Everyone he talked to looked the same, but was different in some way or the other. Nathan really needed to catch up with everyone.

After all the hellos from the townspeople, Nathan finally settled his eyes on his former fire brothers. His already wide grin got impossibly bigger once he saw the men.

“Little Nate Bard!” One said, approaching Nathan with his hands in the air. “Though you aint so little, no more!”

“Booboo!” Nathan said, clasping his hand with the other man’s. “Never was little, man!”

Buley “Booboo” Harrison was a tan man about an inch or two shorter than Nathan. He’d built muscle from his years as a firefighter and covered himself in random tattoos. His long brown hair framed a face that he had also scattered with random tattoos. Booboo, to anyone who didn’t know him, looked terrifying, but he was nothing but a big goof and Nathan’s best friend down in Tapioca. The two spent many a night getting into trouble, which resulted in many a night in a holding cell until Nathan’s grandfather could come down and pick them up; or in the morning, sometimes they would have to stay until the morning. It never was for anything too serious, but Booboo almost got shot once, trespassing. That resulted in an endless talk with the sheriff and everyone’s guardian. Soon, they started volunteering with the fire department. They were too young to actually do anything, but they cleaned and washed the fire truck until they both were old enough to fight fires. Where Nathan could only volunteer for the summers he was away from home, Booboo went ahead and joined.

Surrounding them were five other members of the crew that Nathan could recognize, and he took his time greeting them all. He decided if there was anywhere to start catching up, it would be with his fire fighting family. He talked long with his former friends and took the same amount of time getting to know the new members.

“Man, it’s nice to see you all again. This brings back so many memories.”

Booboo went around and grabbed two drinks from the coolers, handing one to Nathan.

“Yea, a lot has changed, too.” Booboo lifted his hand, displaying a wedding band on his left ring finger.

“Someone married you dude?” Nathan said, peering at his friend’s hands. The gold wedding band stood out brightly against the man’s dark tattoos.

“Yep, she’s over there setting up the balloons.” Booboo pointed to his left where a tall redheaded woman waddled around a picnic table with a hand full of balloons. “She’s carrying our third.”

Nathan turned to his friend in bewilderment. He took Booboo’s hand in his again, only this time he brought him in for a solid hug.

“Congratulations man!” Nathan couldn’t believe his tattooed friend had gotten married and was already on his third kid. But of course he is! Buley is a strong, loyal, dependable man. Of course someone saw that and wanted to spend their life with him.

“I’ll introduce you to her later, she’s busy. You want to help us with the seats? We ran out so were going to take some old tires from the back and put some pillows and blankets in them. We’ll have the kids sit in them.”

It would have been an honor to work with his old buddies again.

Once they had made all the makeshift tire seats and put up all the balloons, the guest of honor arrived with his eyes covered from the surprise. Everyone was told to quiet down. Knowing the children in attendance wouldn’t be able to do that, someone escorted them all further inside the fire-house. Once the fire chief’s eyes were uncovered, everyone yelled in unison, “Happy 30th Anniversary Chief Friday!” Confetti popped in random places and there were enthusiastic whoops and hollers everywhere. The fire chief’s expression showed immense happiness. With his hand to his heart and eyebrows to the heavens, he laughed joyously.

“Oh, my God.” He said to the crowd, stuttering afterwards, not knowing what to say. His mouth opened and closed, but words were never spoken. When he was finally able to say something, he was interrupted by his companion.

“We ladies at the church thought it would be a fantastic idea to celebrate your 30th anniversary as fire chief with all your friends, family, and the good people you serve in Tapioca.” The lady spoke loudly so everyone in attendance could hear her. Her chest puffed out from the strong yet feminine posture she presented.

“Th-thank you, Freda, thank you Ladies of Mt. Zion, and thank you everyone for this wonderful surprise! I, I can’t express how-” he paused to collect his thoughts. His eyes scanned the area for his words. “Just thank you so much!” He was obviously flustered, so Freda spoke up and commenced the party.

Nathan watched the fire chief as people gathered around him. Booboo’s wife came around and draped the chief in a bright red and orange sash, stating: 30 Years in Tapioca. In smaller letters on the bottom, read: Tapioca’s first African American fire chief! The woman that was with him quickly left his side, a younger woman slowly tailing behind her after giving the chief a kiss on the cheek. They sat at a picnic table littered with older women. Nathan assumed they were the Ladies of Mt. Zion that the chief was referring to earlier. Nathan will let Chief Friday settle into his party before seeing him, not wanting the old man to be too overwhelmed with all this attention.

“The audacity of her.”

Nathan turned to his left to see a stout woman, red in the face, shoving plastic plates and cups around the table for the food. She was standing with another old black lady. He turned back around, pretending he didn’t hear them.

“We ladies of the church!” she mocked the speaker from before. “No! You ladies from the church, AND the fire department, AND volunteers from town. Not just you and your ladies from the church!” the woman hissed.

“Freda is so full of it Judy, it’s ridiculous. She tries to seem so important, like she comes up with everything and she’s always in control.”

“Did you see her? Belvin was about to say something and she just spoke right over him.”

“Mmhm, like she used to when they were married, at least now he has some freedom, unlike that poor girl. Did I tell you what happened yesterday?” The woman paused, getting an answer from the other. “Yolana came over and Freda nearly snatched her back across the street! Like she owned her or something. That girl is well into her twenties, there aint no reason she should be talking to, or treating her that way.”

Nathan looked over at the girl that was standing behind Chief Friday and Freda. She sat with the other church ladies, not really conversing with them, just staring off like she was bored. He brought his attention back to the gossiping old ladies.

“No! You see right there? That’s just too far.”

The women moved on from the table, still talking under their breath, discreetly pointing at various people at the party. The thing about small towns that Nathan missed was the gossip. Since it was so small, everyone knew everyone, and even though Nathan hadn’t been around in a while, he knew it wouldn’t take him long to find out everyone’s business.

He looked back at the table. Nathan knew of Chief Friday’s wife. He saw her a few times at the church, but that’s pretty much it. She never visited the firehouse, to his knowledge. All the years he visited Tapioca, he never said a word to the woman. However, he didn’t know that Chief Friday had a daughter. Nathan sat on top of the picnic table with his feet planted on the bench and his beer resting on one knee. He looked at Booboo embracing his wife as two kids ran around them clinging to the mother's dress, eventually trying to hide under it. Nathan smiled. Booboo is all grown up. The couple soon turned towards him, leaving the two playing children to their own devices. Once reaching him, Booboo extended his hand from his wife towards Nathan.

“Nate, I want you to meet my wife, Audrey. Audrey, this is my old friend Nathan Bard.” Booboo said formally. His demeanor was proud, like showing off one of his most prized possessions.

The strawberry haired woman brought up her hand, smiling brightly while she greeted him. Nathan did the same in turn. After he greeted her, Booboo lead a long conversation into all the antics he and Nathan got into, as well as how one of his antics, in Nathan’s absence, caused him to happen upon Audrey.

One thing about the church ladies, they can drain someone’s energy fast. It didn’t matter what mental state that person was currently in; the Ladies of Mt. Zion can make the most patient of people want to pull their hair out from the root. It didn’t take long or much before Yolana was ready to walk away. She already had three “bathroom breaks” despite not even finishing half of her sweet tea. With only five different subjects, the ladies can drive people mad. The same five subjects that repeat over and over, like a broken record.

Subject 1: Babies, who’s pregnant? Who’s pregnant again and who’s the father this time? Today’s victim is Shawny Price, the youngest of the Price family, who is popping out baby 5.

Subject 2: Falling Angel, who had been caught doing ungodly things, though saying they are a godly person? That would be Pastor Brian Wiggom Jr. of New South Baptist Corinthian Mass Church. His crime was being caught swiping right on a dating social media behind the church. This resulted in a very public fight between him and his wife of 5 years.

Subject 3: Who died, which 70+ year old relative, friend, or former high school sweetheart has The Lord taken too soon? John Joyner, an 82-year-old retired janitor who met his untimely end with a heart attack while mowing his grass one sunny afternoon.

“Right after he died, the heavens opened up and a heavy downpour of rain came down.” One church lady said, fanning herself with a paper plate.

“Yep! That was the heavens crying in joy as another angel got its wings.” Another church lady responded.

Subject 4: Who found the Lord? Fred Hilton, a 34-year-old football coach who found his way back in the church for the 3rd time. This time was supposedly different. Yolana would see how long it would take before he disappeared again.

Subject 5: Anyone in the near vicinity. This subject lasts the longest and can consist of strangers or fellow church members. Their targets are usually the underdressed, the overdressed, the too big, or the too small, someone’s hair, someone’s spouse, or someone’s children. The Ladies of Mt. Zion brought all their attention onto Booboo and their animosity towards his body tattoos and whether he’s a good father to his children.

Sometimes listening to the ladies is very entertaining, but sometimes it could be draining, especially when it can become unnecessary judgments. There was no reason to speak of Booboo the way the church ladies spoke about him. It wasn’t fair to speak of him like he was some freak show. To them, it’s a shame. It’s a shame poor innocent Audrey got wrapped up with that “Coloring Book Criminal”. It’s a shame their children might also cover themselves in tattoos; defiling their bodies.

When the ladies get like this, Yolana wanted to leave, but since she’d already had enough bathroom breaks, she had no choice but to sit there and listen to their judgmental opinions. She zoned out after long; her brain giving up along with her. Yolana instead focused on her uncle Belvin; it was his party after all. She watched him chat along with random people from the neighborhood, then she watched him go in for a second hotdog. He gulped it down with three deep bites, then he reached for another after chugging half his diet soda. Uncle Belvin was a hearty eater. He ate well, and he ate fast.

A man approached Belvin while he was distracted with dressing up his third hot dog. He was a tall man with medium length brown hair and a full beard. He seemed to be the tallest man at the party, only Booboo and two other firemen even coming close to his height. His eyes were squinted and wrinkled from the happiness in them, and a wide white smile reached across his face. He wore a simple outfit, a dark green corduroy shirt/jacket, unbuttoned to show the white t-shirt underneath, and a simple pair of blue jeans. On his feet were what looked like hiking boots, or work boots, Yolana couldn’t tell. A few people stood behind him, obviously in on the surprise, and she could tell that he was going to be someone her uncle hadn’t seen for a long time. Not only Yolana, but multiple people in the party had stopped what they were doing to watch the gathering. With smiles on their faces as well, it seemed they all knew him, too. Yolana focused on the man’s face, trying to place him somewhere she might have seen him before, but nothing came up. Tapioca’s too small, though, so she must have seen him somewhere.

Yolana’s uncle finally turned with the new hotdog halfway in his mouth before his eyes focused on the bright blue ones of the stranger. Belvin snatched the sausage out of his mouth before throwing it back on the plate and to the table. He engulfed the tall man in a firm hug. Belvin was too far away from Yolana for her to hear the stranger’s name, but the people around that were watching, started clapping. Who could Belvin know this well that she didn’t know? She knew everyone that her uncle knew, especially since she lived with him most of her life. She was only separate from him for the last 5 years he and her Aunt Freda were divorced.

She leaned over to one of the ladies at the table. She interrupted the woman from the word game on her phone.

“Mother Belle, who is that man talking to Uncle Belvin?” Yolana asked quietly, not wanting to disturb her aunt’s conversation with the other ladies.

The older woman looked up from the top of her glasses, one finger still hovered over her phone.

“Which one? The tall one?” she asked. Yolana confirmed.

“That’s ugh… that’s Elijah’s grandson Nathan.” She said, “He must be back in town from Tennessee.”

“How come I’ve never seen him before?” Yolana asked.

“Oh, he stopped coming down here years ago, and plus, you’re always cooped up, so you never saw him before he left for good.” She paused, flicking her finger across the screen a few times. “He would show up at the church sometimes when he did come for the summer, but that was a few and far in between.”

Yolana looked deep inside her memory, trying to remember anytime she saw Nathan’s face, but gave up when she realized he wouldn’t look the same as he did in front of her. She brought her attention back to the man; he and Uncle Belvin were brought over to a picnic table with the rest of the firemen. Yolana’s eyes coasted over all the men’s faces. They all varied in height, but were all very handsome. Some wore their uniforms, and some others didn’t. They were all tight fitted, however. All of them were fit, omitting the fire chief, with his portly belly sitting in front of him. Because of the uniform policy, they weren’t allowed to have unkempt hair, so every man had cropped hairstyles, with the exception of Booboo. All had skin clear of tattoos, with the exception of Booboo, and no facial hair, with the exception of Booboo, who wore a five o’clock shadow. Thank God Booboo was such a good fireman, because he would have been dismissed from the department for not being in code. He definitely would have gotten fired for wearing sandals while on duty.

Yolana sat there with one hand supporting her head, looking at the men. She was 25 years old, a lot of them were around her age, she would like to talk to some of them. She’d known most of them her entire life, went to school with them, one of them asked her out in the 7th grade, but nothing came of it. Yolana had seen how some of them look at her, she knew that they wanted to talk to her too, but there’s always something stopping them. A looming shadow that consistently sat right behind her.

Yolana’s eyes coasted over to the woman not too far from her. She chatted up with a few different people, reaching out for a napkin to scribble something on it and hand it to them. Probably her email and phone number. Fundraising again, Yolana guessed. She never stops. Her eyes moved over to Yolana; most likely feeling someone’s attention on her. Yolana looked away, focusing back on the men. If only one would come and talk to her, but she knew that wouldn’t happen, not with her aunt around. A saddened smile covered Yolana’s face. She’s 25; why was she daydreaming like a child? It would only upset her in the end.

If there was anything Yolana could rely on to never make her upset, it was her notebook. Her notebook, filled with notes and designs for her hobbies, could never dampen her mood. She could escape from the mundane, depressing life that she lived. Yolana reached down to her purse that sat between her and the old lady on her phone. She flipped through the pages until she got to her current design that she started that morning. After leaving Mrs. Henderson’s house, Yolana continued to where she left off, finishing the last few lines of the maze onto the watercolor paper. She spent the rest of the night painting her maze in the deep browns and greens of the forest. She was amazed the alcohol didn’t influence her work.

This maze's theme was the jungle. She watched The Jungle Book a while back and was inspired to add the theme to her new mazes. It didn’t help that she also watched Indiana Jones around that time. So the last three mazes she created were an incorporation of them both. The jungle being the setting and an Indiana Jones type character exploring the area and having to solve puzzles. Yolana was designing the fourth in a series of five. She planned on the adventurer finding his prize in the new one and the last being his great escape from the “Mountain of Tigers”. She’ll let Belvin try to solve it to see what type of difficulty she’s dealing with.

Yolana got lost in her notebook, drowning out Freda and her third round of Subject 2. The party disappeared around her and she was no longer thinking of her squandered youth and nonexistent love life. After a while, she didn’t notice the happy couples and the babies running around and she didn’t even notice that her aunt and the rest of the ladies had left her alone sitting at the table. Yolana was so distracted that she didn’t even notice the person on her left approach her.

The person sat next to her, huffing when their butt connected with the bench, Yolana lifted her head and her eyes met with a set of blue ones. It was the man from earlier, Nathan, who was talking to Belvin. Up close, Yolana got a good look at the man. He looked young, but there were scattered greys in his beard and the hair above his ear. His lips weren’t big, but they were far from thin from what she could tell. The hairs of his mustache covered his upper lip, and while she stared at it, she wondered if it got in his mouth while he ate. His cheeks were rosy, but that may be due to the beer he had in his hand. As he was closer, Yolana definitely didn’t place him anywhere in her memories. He was handsome, however; she would have definitely remembered that face.

Yolana lifted her eyes back to his, knowing that she was staring, and she was sure that she saw his mouth move. His eyes crinkled in amusement, obviously noticing her gaze. His eyebrows raised and his mouth molded into a grin. He had an impressive set of teeth. He reached out his hand to her, and she timidly accepted it.

“It’s nice to meet you. My names Nathan.” He spoke confidently, the grin still wrapped around his lips. His hand was cold from the beer that was now rested in his left hand between his legs. Yolana shook it, almost gasping when his big hand completely enveloped hers. It was lightly calloused, and though it was very large, he held her hand delicately. She looked down at it, deciding he had very manly hands.

“Hello, I’m Yolana.” She said quietly, unsure. She cleared her throat, not wanting to sound so soft.

Their hands disconnected, his returning to his lap and hers doing the same. She twiddled her pen between her fingers, fidgeting. Looking down, she noticed her notebook sitting open on her lap. She closed it before he noticed.

“You’re Belvin’s niece. I saw you earlier when you first came in. I thought you were his daughter, but he corrected me. Now that I look at you, you look nothing like him.” Yolana nodded her head. “I didn’t know he had a niece down here; I’ve never seen you before.”

Yolana started swinging her feet under her, a nervous habit. If she was to still her legs, they would bounce instead. “Yea, I’ve never seen you either. I was told you are Elijah’s grandson.” He nodded. “It’s nice to meet you; everyone loves Elijah. He comes by the blood center all the time.”

Finding an entrance to a conversation, Nathan leaned in.

“You work at the blood bank?”

“Yes, I’m a phlebotomist. Elijah comes in twice a month to give blood or get bloodwork done.”

“That’s cool. How long did it take you in school to learn that?”

Yolana inwardly cringed. Nathan noticed, but before he could say something, she answered him.

“I didn’t go to school for it. I was trained on the job.” She looked away for a second. It was always embarrassing for her every time she told people that. Being a phlebotomist sounded cool; it sounded like a specialized position, but that all goes away when she tells them schooling wasn’t required and anyone could learn it. There were graduates fresh from high school that worked with her. It made her feel dumb.

“Oh yeah? That’s cool. Jobs like that usually teach first aid and resuscitation techniques. Not to mention you got OJT, so you skipped out on the pricey classes. How long have you been working there?” he asked.

“5 years.”

“That’s enough experience to become a nursing assistant at one of my national parks, well after you get a CNA certificate, but that shouldn’t be hard if you already have a BLS certification. Do you have one of those?” Yolana nodded.

Yolana was surprised. “Really?”

“Yea.”

“You own a national park?” Who was she talking to? She already knew Elijah had money, but who was this man?

Nathan smiled, his big chest moving with every silent chuckle. Yolana got distracted momentarily, noticing how big he was compared to her.

“No, I don’t own any national parks; just run a few of their labs. I’m an NPS Biologist. I make sure our national parks are healthy, specifically their vegetation ecosystem, but I do dabble in wildlife.”

“Oh! Well, how long did that take in school?” Yolana asked his earlier question back. He scratched the back of his neck.

“Too many!” he took a swig of his beer. He was quite distracted while in college, so distracted that he took a little longer to graduate than his classmates.

“You must be really smart then to be a biologist.”

“Oh no! I just really like nature and how it works. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no tree hugger or crazy environmentalist, but nature and its cycle of life is really neat.” Nathan said. Yolana could see a sparkle in his eye, and it was not from the alcohol.

“So, you’re no vegetarian hippie?” She joked.

Nathan leaned in, a playful glint in his eyes. “Nope.” He popped the P. “I’ve had like three burgers and waiting for Channing to get done with those ribs he’s taking forever on.”

Yolana liked his smile. The wider it got, the more boyish he looked.

“However,” he paused to collect himself and sit back a little. “I do believe in animal rights. Farm animals and animals for slaughter should be raised ethically. I’m a meat eater, and I know we have to be fed, but we don’t have to be so barbaric about it.”

“I get it.” Yolana thought for a minute. “Do you go fishing?”

“Yep.”

“Hunting?”

“Love it!”

“Do you think that’s ethical?” She didn’t know where she was going with these lines of questions. She knew it didn’t have anything to do with his line of work, per se. However, learning more about him interested her.

“They both are federally regulated to make sure the species are thriving. It’s illegal to hunt or catch certain animal and fish species.” Nathan paused to look at her. Maybe it was the look in her eyes or the face she made while paying attention, but it caused him to backtrack. “I’m sorry to upset, if you’re not a fan of hunting.” He apologized respectfully, his southern upbringing shining through.

Yolana grinned, not expecting him to apologize. She thought that was very thoughtful of him. “Oh no! I was just asking your opinion. I love fishing, never been hunting, but wanted to try someday. Uncle Belvin won’t take me.”

“Why not?”

“He says ladies shouldn’t use guns, or some stupid shit- stupid stuff like that.” Yolana corrected herself. She looked around, making sure the church ladies weren’t near to hear her. When she saw the coast was clear, she continued. “I’m not big on guns, but I would like to try hunting.”

“Well, I can’t take you hunting, since we’re out of season, but I can take you fishing if you would like?”

She shook her head, declining his offer before she even noticed she was doing it. It’s an automatic response whenever people invite her to do things. It was almost a reflex like motion.

“It’s alright, you’re on vacation, you should enjoy that, plus I’m sure my uncle has a fishing trip scheduled soon. He sometimes invites me.”

It wasn’t a complete lie; Chief Belvin frequented the local ponds and lakes. Sometimes he invited Yolana, and she would fish with him or sit there and draw her surroundings. However, she did not know if he was going on a fishing trip soon.

Nathan nodded his head, draining the last of his beer. He sat the empty bottle behind him before bringing his attention back to Yolana.

“I bet you’re going to enjoy not having to get up in the morning like the rest of us.” Yolana spoke.

Nathan nodded. “Yea, I used to not be a morning person, but after all these years of getting to work at 5 AM, I’ve programmed myself to always be up. Even on the days I work from home, I’m up.”

Yolana wouldn’t consider herself a night owl, nor would she be up before sunrise. She was a perfect mix of both, rising from bed around 8 or 9 o’clock in the morning, on her off days, of course. Trying to imagine herself up and ready to work at 5 AM every day seems impossible. Life is already hard, why make it harder with crazy work hours like that? However, the man before her seems put together, with a title like his and with a grandfather like Elijah; of course, he would be an early riser. He’s a businessman.

“So, you’re going to be up at 5 all week for no reason?” She joked. He looked down at her smile, making her want to hide it.

“No, not 5, maybe 7. Go take a run in the early sunrise.”

He ran too, every morning? Yolana was truly talking to a sophisticated man. It made her feel even more insecure. As a woman her age with nothing of her own, looking at this man, that’s not too much older than her, she wondered if she was too late or… behind.

“Well, I can’t say I’m not jealous of your motivation, but I am glad that I don’t have to be up and at it that early.”

“What time do you have to be at work?”

“I have to be there at 8, but the bus comes and picks me up at 7:30. Still early, but better than 5 AM.”

Nathan looked at her, confused. His thick eyebrows pushed the skin between them together.

“Bus?” Since when did Tapioca get a bus?

“Oh!” Yolana just realizing he’s been gone too long to know about the new transportation system. “Mrs. Bethel Claire retired from the school two years ago. They also retired her bus, so she bought it, painted it an emerald, green color, and started picking up the elderly and handicapped.”

“Like a Brat bus?”

“Kinda’, but she extended her services to everyone else, like people without vehicles.” Yolana pointed to herself. “It’s cool! The town even made dedicated bus stops, and I heard she was looking to buy a second bus.”

“Do you like riding the bus?”

Yolana thought for a moment. “No, but it’s either that or walking. My aunt has to be at work before I do, so she can’t take me.” She smiled. “I should be used to it by now with all the old people I’m constantly around, but sometimes it smells weird in there.”

“Like old age?”

“Like… fermented life.”

Nathan cringed before laughing. He didn’t expect her to say something like that, nor did he ever hear anyone refer to old people that way. None the less, it was funny what she said. He extended an offer of a ride to and from work, but she declined, saying he didn’t have to. This time, Nathan didn’t accept no for an answer, his chivalrous nature getting the best of him.

“I really don’t mind.” He said, “It would be another reason for me to get up in the morning. The routine will keep my inner clock going.”

Yolana wasn’t sure about him taking her to work, plus he was a stranger. However, she recalled how everyone greeted him when he was around and how her own uncle reacted to his presence. He genuinely seemed like a good man and when everyone else ignored her and didn’t talk to her from fear of Freda, he came over anyway, not knowing the implications. Maybe it was the boredom of her day-to-day life, or the attention of a handsome man, but she found herself thinking irrationally. What if she let this man take her to and from work? A person that was a stranger to her, to her and her alone.

His eyes were easy, disarming and kind. He patiently waited for her answer, leaning one arm on the table facing her. His long legs wide and relaxed.

“Wouldn’t it be out of the way?”

“Not if it’s my destination.” He answered cooly.

“You don’t know me.”

“You’re Chief Friday’s niece, Yolana.” He gave a sly smile. Yolana looked at it, then his blue eyes.

What could be the harm? Her aunt leaves the house at 5:30 AM and doesn’t come home until 4:30 or 5 PM. Yolana didn’t have to be at work until 8 and she only works 6 hours a day, which should give her plenty of time to get home without her aunt knowing about Nathan. Yolana almost giggled to herself. The idea of Freda catching Yolana and Nathan was terrifying, more terrifying than her catching Yolana with Mrs. Henderson yesterday. But it would feel good. It would feel so good to not ride that bus in the morning and afternoon. It would feel amazing to not walk home if she missed it. To comfortably sit in a vehicle that wasn’t burning hot, from all the cold natured elderly riding beside her, that sounded fantastic. She could get to know Nathan, someone who was brand new to her. Also, even though it sounded bad, she could talk to a man without her aunt’s eyes burning a hole in the back of her head.

Yolana wasn’t sure if this was Nathan’s way of getting to know her in a friendly way or romantic way, but she didn’t feel like he was flirting with her. Maybe he’s just being nice. Friendly, like he seemed to be with everyone else there. It’s not like she had an abundance of friends. She could use one, even if it was temporary. Yolana bit her lip, looking down, then suddenly back up to him again.

“You promise not to murder me?” his abrupt laugh sent electricity through her bones.

“Chief Friday would kill me. I promise.” He lent an affirming hand to seal his promise, and she took it.

When they disconnected, he retreated to his back pocket to retrieve his phone. He asked for Yolana’s phone number. She set up to give it to him, but paused, remembering that was the wrong number. A year ago, she got a second phone without her aunt knowing. An old high school friend bought it for her with cash she put back from her paycheck. It was just a simple flip phone from Walmart that Yolana could gradually put minutes on. She bought it to talk to Mrs. Henderson when their shows came on and a few other things that she didn’t think were her aunt’s business. She decided that Nathan was also one of those things.

“I work Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 2 PM. It usually takes around 30 minutes to get to the blood center, sometime 35.”

He slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Alrighty, I will pick you up around 7:25 then.” He smiled at her, leaning back onto the table. He obviously had intentions of talking to Yolana more, but when he looked past her and she followed his eyes, she saw her aunt and her band of ladies behind her. Yolana abruptly got up, pointing towards the food table.

“Let’s go see if your ribs are up.”

He followed her to the food where he finally got his ribs, and she got her first plate of the party. To avoid an awkward exchange with Freda, she bid Nathan adieu, going back to her table, and he returning to his grandfather.

For the remainder of the party, the two remained separate. Yolana stole glances towards his direction, replaying their conversation in her head, trying to find any instance of him flirting. After some consideration, Yolana decided that he was, indeed, just being friendly. That was perfectly fine with her; it would make for a less tense exchange the next time she saw him.

When the event ended, Yolana thought she was in the clear before her aunt mentioned Nathan.

“What did that Bard boy want with you?” She had asked, glancing over to her niece while she was driving.

So, her aunt knew of Nathan too? Well, Yolana assumed Freda knew everyone, and she did leave the house more than Yolana did.

“Nothing, just saying hello.” Yolana lied easily. “Do you know him?”

“Barely. We crossed paths once or twice when he was young. How long did you talk to him?”

Yolana shrugged her shoulders. “Barely five minutes.” Freda looked at her, not really trusting her. There was a pause before Freda spoke again.

“I want your phone when we get to the house.” She said, dragging her eyes back to the road. Yolana didn’t dispute.

The roll of Yolana’s eyes couldn’t have been stopped to save her life. She sucked in her cheeks to keep the smart remark within her lungs. She wondered who she was, really. Was she really an adult, or was she an overgrown child?

[wallgirl]

The Little Nereid Part 16

Record of Ragnarok fanfiction

Poseidon x OC

Word count: 2,800

Dynamene, youngest of the 50 Nereids, has lived most of her adolescence as a servant alongside her sisters at Poseidon’s palace. But with her coming-of-age birthday and other developments, what she initially thought was just admiration of her master blossoms into something stronger and more passionate… and painful. Loving someone like Poseidon is not easy period, let alone as your first love. But Dynamene is young and naïve, and all she wants is a chance to be at the sea god’s side.

Categories and warnings: Romance, angst, unrequited love, coming-of-age, earn-your-happy-ending, slow-burn (ish); no sexual content. Graphic violence parts 15 and 16.

Updated regularly; will have about 20 parts total.

Edit AGAIN 9/16: Changed and added some text at the end, particularly with Poseidon. Didn’t save first time.

Violence and body horror throughout this chapter, largely unavoidable. It's too relevant to the plot. Not terribly graphic - more PG-13 than R - but it is disturbing, so be warned.

—

The prongs had completely passed through her body to the other end. Dynamene staggered backwards, her legs giving out. She opened her mouth to scream, to gasp, to make any sound, but was unable to. She brought her shaking hands up to her chest and stared as her lifewater began to drip from the punctures.

Poseidon's face turned to one of disbelief, then horror. The magic that had transformed her appearance melted away as her body began to weaken, revealing the petite girl's real form. He swallowed, pale hand clenching the trident, as he watched her stare at her chest in disoriented confusion. The silvery water that flowed was the blood of a Nereid, magic water in essence; something that could not be replicated.

"Dynamene," he whispered. "Dynamene." No. This can't be.

She looked up at him in a daze, eyes glazing over. The look of horror on his face seemed to register in her mind, and for a moment, she lifted one arm in his direction. Then her legs buckled and her eyes closed.

He removed the trident slowly, his knuckles white from the death grip. He dropped to one knee to catch her with his free arm as the prongs came loose. One hand went to her injuries, feeling the lifewater that seeped between his fingers. "Dynamene," he repeated hoarsely, commanding her to awaken. Her eyelids didn't even flutter.

It was then that the situation hit him entirely, and he grit his teeth. He tore part of the fabric off of his waist wrap and wrapped it about her chest deftly. She was still breathing, although each breathe was shallow and ragged. Time was of the essence, and he had to think fast.

Humans would not have survived such a blow, but Nereids were effectively shapeshifting ocean spirits that took a human form. Their bodies were made up of living water instead of flesh and organs, which rendered them impervious to most injuries. However, Poseidon's trident was able to harm any being regardless of body material, and Dynamene's body would begin to disintegrate from the trauma.

Lifting her up into his arms, he turned towards the doorway. There was no time to waste.

With improbable timing, he heard dozens of footsteps clamoring up the stairs, followed by worried shouts. "What's happened? What was that clamor? Lord Poseidon, are you okay?"

The other Nereids came bursting in with Actaea at the head. There was a moment of terrible silence as they took in the scene before them, then cries of disbelief.

"What... What have you DONE?!" Actaea screamed, lunging at Poseidon. Three other sisters quickly grabbed her by the arms, struggling to hold her back. "What did you do to her?!"

"There's no time to explain," Poseidon said coldly. "Don't give me a reason to hurt any of the rest of you."

"You monster! I'll kill you myself!" Actaea shrieked, yanking to get out of her sisters' grasp. Her pupils were full-blown in her rage, her steaming hair swirling angrily about her face. "How dare you hurt her! How could you?!"

Poseidon didn't let her words' effect on him show through in his expression as he looked coolly at the others. "Dynamene had magic used on her. It wasn't any power of the gods. Where might she have had access to this magic?"

The other Nereids backed away from him reproachfully, looking less and less human as their fury consumed them. One finally spoke up in a trembling voice. "Is... Is there not a witch that took up residence a few centuries ago not far from here?"

"How do you know that?" Another sister snapped back.

"A mermaid acquaintance of mine went to see her some time ago for help... She made a deal with her to solve a relationship matter. The deal wasn't much in her favor, unfortunately."

Poseidon's face darkened further. Would Dynamene really have made a deal with a witch?

Of course she would've... If it had meant being by my side. Foolish, silly, stupid-

He couldn't allow his thoughts to go any further, not when the subject of his berating was curled up limp in his arms. "Where is this witch?"

"Um... She lives in one of the deepest trenches, but I know little else..."

"Useless," Poseidon huffed. "Get out of my way." He stepped in front of the Nereids that continued to block the doorway.

There was a tense moment of defiance as the Nereids continued to stand in his way, unwilling to let him depart with their wounded youngest sister. His lip curled in outrage, and he began to raise his hand towards his discarded trident. Actaea, her expression now somber, spoke again in a defeated voice. "Let him pass... There's nothing we can do for Dynamene in this state. I don't want anyone else getting harmed." Her sisters listened, and reluctantly parted to allow him through. As he strode past, they got a closer look at their mortally wounded sister. Several of them broke out into wails and sobs.

Poseidon clenched his jaw and held the still Nereid closer to his chest. Save your mourning. She's not dead. Not yet.

Dynamene's body was beginning to dissolve. Drops of shimmering water began to fall from her fingertips and toes. She'd be dead before dawn if Poseidon didn't find a solution soon. But he was inexperienced with the concept of healing anything other than sea life; he pressed his hand against her torso, willing the bleeding to stop in vain. The liquid continued to flow.

It really had been her that sat across from him and confessed her love for him in tears. And what was his response? Gutting her like the monster everyone had warned her he was. He had messed up. It wasn't my fault, he told himself. She has no pulse. Her appearance was different. I could feel foreign magic about her. But then that led to the conclusion that he was able to be tricked by the power of lesser beings, and he found himself back at square one.

Enough. She will not die. She belongs to me. Her love for me is unconditional.

And when she wakes again, I will put an end to this chaos.

The wet sand crunched under his heavy boots. The dim starlight illuminated the surface of the ocean faintly before them. He would be able to seek the witch out with his abilities, but that would take time. He wasn't even sure what to look for, asides from a power with the same characteristics as the enchantment that Dynamene had. Time was fighting against him; a precious resource dripping through his grip like her blood onto the sand.

Without prelude, a sudden burst of light the size of a woman appeared in the shallow waves before Poseidon. The light dispersed gently in twinkles and stars, revealing the form of a woman. A faint heavenly glow emanated from her pale skin.

Aphrodite stared at him, her flawless face unusually somber. "Poseidon."

He narrowed his eyes. This was an unexpected development, and not a welcome one. "What the hell do you want? I'm short on time, if you haven't noticed."

She tilted her head, gaze flickering towards the still girl in his hold. "I know where you may find the witch you seek. If I have your guarantee that you won't harm me, I'll tell you."

Poseidon hissed, his clasp on Dynamene tightening. "Of course you would've had a hand in this. Meddling shrew. I should have known. Can  none of you Olympian cretins keep to your own business?" So you were the one to guide Dynamene to that witch. Selfish, narcissistic bitch. How else would you know where to find her?

"Your guarantee, Poseidon," Aphrodite pressed.

He grit his teeth. As much as he longed to rip her head from her body and watch her golden locks stream through the air, he needed her knowledge. "Fine."

Aphrodite stepped closer.

---

Miles away, deep in her underground lair, the witch sat at her table alone. She was aware of her impending fate. Her actions could only lead to this outcome. But she'd accomplished what she'd set out to do, so she was content.

Before her, pulsing gently with a sea-blue light, was a floating orb of liquid. The Nereid's heart. She was the only person to ever see one; perhaps it would remain that way even long after her death. It was a fascinating sight. The mass continued to live in its own way, even apart from its owner. Nereids truly were interesting creatures. She might've studied it, but there was no point now. Her journey was coming to an end.

She had no regrets. Her revenge was now sealed. Hera or Poseidon, it hadn't really mattered which. Fate had truly smiled on her the day before when that little nymph had appeared at her doorstep. So unexpected, but so welcome. She had waited centuries, honing her gifts in the dark, practicing them on others, so that she would be ready for this moment. The witch was not foolish enough to think she would be able to pull one over on both of the gods. Hera would've been best, but Poseidon would do just as well. He was partially to blame for her misfortune too. Now he would suffer, and she could die content.

It was a shame about the Nereid, though. Just a silly child chasing an impossible dream. The witch clicked her tongue sympathetically. Weren't we all, once?

A shudder echoed through the cave, and she heard the water at the entrance slosh with an unseen force. He was nearly here, and she stood patiently next to the table, awaiting his arrival.

Without any further warning, the water erupted upwards like a geyser. The sound was deafening, but the witch didn't even blink. Poseidon emerged from the upsurge, water dripping from his bangs before his enraged eyes. In his arms was the nymph; poor young Dynamene. She was deathly pale and had a ragged bandage wrapped about her chest. The witch tutted.

"Witch. You have something that belongs to me." Poseidon's eyes gleamed like a laser in the dim cavern, his chest heaving with barely-restrained wrath.

"It's here, Poseidon." The witch set her hand next to the shimmering orb. "The Nereid's heart. You won't have much use for it, though. I see she's already on death's door. Returning her heart will do no good. Replacing an organ is no help when the body is already shutting down."

"You will return it immediately. I will not repeat myself." Poseidon's trident materialized in his free hand as he shifted Dynamene into the opposite arm.

"Oh? Is there finally something the mighty sea tyrant cannot do?" The witch asked, feigning surprise. "Pathetic." Her tone flattened.

"Your enchantment," Poseidon stormed on. "What did you do to her?"

"I gave her what she desired. A chance to be with you. Oh, she just adores you. I'm sure that will have changed, though. Those wounds bleeding through the wrap look an awful lot like trident punctures to me. Weren't able to tell she was the real thing without that heartbeat to listen to, were you?"

Poseidon's eyes grew even wider as he realized the witch's plot. "You planned this."

"I did." The witch shuffled back around the table, gently taking Dynamene's heart into her hands. "Do you remember when we met, Poseidon? It was at some gathering of the gods, say, three or four hundred years ago."

Poseidon's face clenched further with anger at her idling, losing his patience rapidly. "I've never met a hag like you in my life."

"I wasn't like this when we met." The witch brought her hand to her white cheek with a wistful look. "I was beautiful. I came from a wealthy and powerful family with demigod blood. Hera made a deal with me, you see. If I successfully seduced you, she would shower me with blessings and gifts on our wedding day. She told me everything about you to give me a leg up. Even about your ability to hear certain heartbeats." Her hand dropped away. "But I failed, as I was guaranteed to, and she was thoroughly upset. I was turned into this. So here I've lived, all these years, cast away from society into these deep trenches, waiting.... for her." The witch smiled at Dynamene. "The perfect opportunity. Heaven sent, even." She sighed. "It's a shame. She's still so young, but..." The witch shrugged. "Cracking an egg, omelets, all that. Just someone caught in the peripheral."

"Enough with your monologuing, you insolent bitch!" The muscles on Poseidon's arm grew more defined and taut as he aimed his trident at her. His face was contorted with murderous intent. "Heal Dynamene, now!"

"I can't. What reason did I ever have to learn healing magic?" There was no regret in her milky eyes as she shrugged once more. "And even if I was knowledgeable in medicine, it would be no use. Nereids are so rare. Only fifty, as you know. Their anatomy is a mystery."

Poseidon's gaze sank down to Dynamene. Her breathes were many seconds apart now. There was no more time to waste. He held her more firmly against him and lowered his stance to steady his aim at the witch. "Then die now."

"Gladly. I knew this would be the price to pay for my revenge. For breaking the sea god's nonexistent heart. And to think that it was as easy as this." The witch broke into a laugh that grew until it boomed off the cavern's walls.

Without further ado, Poseidon rushed her.

And with a single swing, the witch's head left her body. The pale thing rolled until it hit up against the wall, still laughing. Her eyes rotated to look back at him with their blank gaze. "Don't worry, my lord. There's still forty-nine left, after all."

Without another word, the witch's voice died off and her face stilled.

Poseidon strode over to it and brought his boot down violently. The witch's skull shattered under his heel. He resisted the urge to continue stomping until nothing solid remained. Dynamene needed his focus now; he could vent his rage later. He wiped the sole of his boot off on the rug and carried her back to the entrance of the cavern.

Lying her next to the rippling pool, he retrieved her heart from where it continued to glow, unbothered, upon the table. It felt like cool gel in his hands with a definite pulse, one that was all too familiar to him. He returned to kneel beside her and, propping her back up with one arm, he undid the makeshift bandage.

Her body was nearly hollow where he had gored her. His lips parted in disbelief. Before his eyes, her flesh was turning to liquid that ran onto the cavern's rocky floor. Poseidon quickly pressed her heart into the hollow. It shimmered for a moment, the liquid solidifying and connecting with the open edges of her body, before its light sputtered out and the pulse stopped. Just like the rest of her, it started to melt away.

Poseidon swallowed hard now, his face stiff. It was time to face the gravity of the situation. Dynamene would not be waking up.

He turned his face away for a moment, unable to look at the wounds he had made on her slight body. She had trusted him. She had clung to his side despite the warnings of everyone else. And like a sick joke, their predictions had come true. Gutted just like Adamas, a voice whispered in the back of his head. He bit his lower lip until it bled. How was it that the mighty sea god, capable of stopping tsunamis and commanding schools of fish, was unable to save one girl?

This shouldn't be happening, his mind spun. This isn't happening. She can't die. I can save her.

No, I can't. I'm the one who killed her.

His throat was growing tight, an alien sensation. She can't die. She belongs with me. A thousand years spent living in the same palace flickered through his mind. From a shy little girl to a headstrong, passionate young woman, he had watched her life; he had watched as her world began to revolve around him without his meaning for it to. And without his permission, his world began to be colored by her as well. Perhaps it had been inevitable. She belongs with me. I don't want her to leave.

He held her closer to him, caressing her damp cheek with careful fingers. The silence that rung from her body made the stillness around them all the heavier. Her face was growing sunken, her cheeks almost gaunt. He wanted to see her eyes just one more time; wide pools of steel gray that reflected him amongst the stars in their depths, as if he was the only thing that mattered. Stay with me.

And as her body released its final breath, he slowly leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.

---

Author’s Notes: Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo Bids Juliet Farewell piece is so beautifully done. The first half sounds so remorseful.

I realized that, writing this chapter in particular, Poseidon seems less like canon RoR Poseidon. I was irritated about that at first, but then I realized that he's different because this story requires him to go through character development. That's important for a love interest. I'm not as frustrated anymore lol

[yujing1224]

Why is TNT famous in Taiwan?

The most well-known and popular boy groups and bands in Taiwan, such as Mayday, Power Train, and Little Tigers, are mainly formed in the 1990s. Whether they disbanded or not, they have always maintained high popularity throughout Asia. However, no more groups in Taiwan had accomplished the same achievement and rage after them. My first reason for TNT’s growth in popularity in Taiwan is because the market of idol groups in Taiwan is null. Not many new idol groups are formed in Taiwan, and those which were created didn’t become widespread either. 

Secondly, I think each member of TNT has different characteristics and stories. The story behind TNT’s formation was tough and challenging. A total of 24 children participated in the whole typhoon project. (The Typhoon Project refers to the TF family’s, the company of TNT, trainee project. Since its official launch in November 2014, it had lasted five years and ended on November 23, 2019, when the TNT debuted.) In the end, some of them made their debut in groups, some made their debut, and most of the children gave up their dreams of performing on stage and went home. During those five years, members from the typhoon project debuted different idol groups and were all disbanded except TNT.

 On July 19, 2018 (known as the 719 incident),  Zhang Zhenyuan, He Junlin, Yan Haoxiang, and other trainees were thrown out of the” typhoon program” and sent home overnight by the company. It was very temporary and the fans' emotions gradually intensified. 

(He Junlin was kicked out of the Typhoon program and sent home overnight. No one was sure if we would ever see him again as an idol.)

Fortunately, On June 28, 2019, the TF family announced the launch of the debut battle "Battle of Typhoon Transformation". In June 2019, Zhang Zhenyuan, He Junlin, and Yan Haoxiang returned and participated in the debut station as TF family trainees.

I think people often easily get touched by inspirational stories and start to have a good impression of them, so one key point of TNT’s success was the background story of them.

Last but not least, the third reason (which I think is the most likely one)  is because of their appearance. I first started to have my attention in TNT because of Liu Yaowen. He caught my eye during the performance with Zhu Zhixin.

(It was performed on TF Family "Reunion" New Year's Concert. He and Zhu Zhixin collaborated on the song “trouble maker”.)

Their appearance suits the public aesthetics nowadays and this is mainly why they became popular.

These are the three reasons I believed why Taiwanese like them so much.  Still, there may be some other possible reasons I haven’t found yet. In my next post, I would be telling some of the TNT fans in Taiwan feedback and opinions of them.

[alpacaparkaseok]

Mine - The Epilogue

Genre: Yoongi x oc, Jimin x oc

Warnings: so much fluff, and I got so far back into my freaking feelings, remembering how much I love this series. 

Word Count: 5k

a/n: guys, it’s here!! Thank you to those of you that read and loved ‘Mine’, that series seriously is one of my favorites ever. I’m just so soft for these characters. So thank you guys for even wanting an epilogue. I hope you enjoy, I know I did!

If you haven’t had a chance to read ‘Mine’...I would really love you to. it’s a good time, I promise. ⇨ Mine Masterlist

🌙

When Bong-cha heard from Jimin about Yoongi’s plan to fly to Paris and meet Cara there, she couldn’t decide if she wanted to hate him for being so cheesy, or cry because it was perfect.

In the end she did a little bit of both. 

The day that Cara called her as she was about to fly out, Bong-cha was at home, working in her makeshift studio. Jimin had invited her a million times to come out and use the studio at the company building, but she always felt like somehow she was intruding. When she woke up that morning and couldn’t make it out of bed without feeling dizzy, she decided that today was a perfect day to do her work from home. 

There wasn’t too much to be done; they were all rather routine things that she did often, however it was difficult to get even the most mundane task finished when every time she moved too quickly she had to close her eyes and lay down for fifteen minutes before even thinking about trying again. 

Bong-cha has just opened her eyes and is in the process of slowly sitting up when her phone rings. She’s half-tempted to just ignore it, but once she sees who it is, she’s quick to grab it. 

This should be exciting. 

“I was wondering if you were ever going to call me. You made it to the airport?” Bong-cha squeezes her eyes shut as she does her best to not sound absolutely miserable. 

“Just got to my terminal.” The nervousness is evident in Cara’s voice.

“And how are you feeling?”

“Like this is the most bizarre thing I’ve ever done and I’m scared something will go wrong.”

Bong-cha eases back down onto the pillows, stifling a groan as the room spins. “Sounds about right.”

“Has…he left?”

Bong-cha laughs on the other side of the phone, knowing Cara all too well. “Yeah, he left a while ago.”

“Did he say anything to you before he left?”

“No, Chim told me.”

“Ooooh, of course.”

Now Bong-cha does groan, feigning annoyance. “Yah. You know you have to tell me absolutely everything that happens, right?”

“I know, I know. Will you come to my funeral if this turns out to be some grand scheme to murder me?”

“Bold of you to assume that I wasn’t the mastermind behind your murder.” 

“Not helping,” Cara chides in a singsong voice.

“Joking. Everything will go great, I promise. Just trust Yoongi, ok? Or rather, trust my judgement.”

“I’m trying. Anyway, how’s Jimin?”

Bong-cha’s heart rate picks up at the mere mention of the boy that can never get out of her head. She’s got too much work to do today to start analyzing over every little side-long glance she’s received from him, so she’s quick to cut the conversation. “Oh, would you look at the time. I’ve some work to-”

“I hate you.”

Bong-cha croaks out a laugh, hoping that at least Cara is feeling better now. “Love you too, Cara. Text me when you get there.”

The call ends, leaving Bong-cha staring up at the ceiling that is swimming in stars. She hopes that everything works out with this crazy scheme - Yoongi’s hair is going to start turning gray if things don’t start looking up soon.

It was late in the evening in Seoul when Beth called, so Bong-cha ends up calling it a day and turning in for the evening. Falling into a deep sleep, she just hopes that tomorrow is a better day. 

🌙

Bong-cha’s dreams, as per usual, are haunted by Jimin. 

It’s something that’s gone on for much too long, if she were to admit it. In her waking hours, she does her best to forget it. However, once sleep overtakes her, her subconscious allows for moments of weakness. 

Tonight she’s dreaming that Jimin has found her, and he’s ever so delicately tracing the lines of her cheeks and brows. She’s feverish, that’s what he keeps saying. Bong-cha wants to tell him that she’s perfectly healthy; she’s just always a bit warm when he’s around. However, just like conscious Bong-cha, she’s unable to voice her feelings. 

Raising an arm; which is difficult to do in her dreamlike, hazy state, she rests her hand on Jimin’s knee. He’s sitting on the edge of the bed, giving her a look that she can only describe as concerned adoration. 

“Chim,” Bong-cha croaks out, wondering why everything seems so difficult in this particular dream. “I don’t d...don’t deserve you.”

Jimin freezes where he was trying to gauge just how bad of a fever Bong-cha has, his hand slowly retreating from her forehead. 

“What do you mean?” He asks incredulously. 

Jimin is never one to get out of bed a single second before he has to. It’s a defining characteristic, and one that he’s grown quite proud of. However, when Bong-cha failed to show up for dinner like she’d promised last night and didn’t answer any of his texts or calls, he grew worried.

The other boys just told him not to worry about it, that she was probably fine. They were all too busy hoping that Yoongi wasn’t about to make a complete fool of himself to worry about Bong-cha. 

Jimin almost left last night to check on the woman in question, however he was convinced not to. There was too much work he had to do. Bong-cha was a big girl, and she would most likely never let him live it down if he appeared at her doorstep late at night just to check on her.

Fear of embarrassment is what had him settling for checking her location for the sixteenth time and going to bed. 

It wasn’t until Jimin awoke at 4:30 am with a feeling of uneasiness that he snuck out of the apartment and drove out to Bong-cha’s. Not even thinking about the early hour, Jimin rustled through the shrubs outside of Bong-cha’s apartment for the spare key he helped her hide, and let himself in. 

He’d let out a sigh of relief when he saw Bong-cha laying on her bed, completely passed out. 

Then he noticed the way she was shivering.

Now here he was, heart pounding out of his chest as he stares down at Bong-cha’s hand on his knee, listening to her dazed self proclaim that she doesn’t deserve him.

“What do you mean?”

Bong-cha sighs, clearly annoyed that Jimin didn’t automatically understand what she meant. Jimin stifles a laugh, waiting patiently for an answer. 

Grasping blindly for her blankets, Jimin helps to bring the covers up to Bong-cha’s chin as she continues to shiver. 

“Dream Jimin is usually smarter than this,” Bong-cha grumbles. “He knows that he can never be mine.”

Jimin blinks down at the woman he’s come to fall completely head over heels with, his heart betraying him as it skips a beat and begins to hope. 

“Do you want me to be yours?”

It’s an innocent enough question, although Jimin finds that he's bracing himself for the answer. The closest him and Bong-cha have ever gotten to discussing any sort of feelings is when they fight to sit beside each other for a meal. 

Truthfully Jimin has come to love mealtimes because of it.

Bong-cha’s eyes are closed, but she keeps one hand extended out toward Jimin, clinging to this supposed dream for as long as she can. 

“Chiminie,” Bong-cha mumbles out quietly, making Jimin turn a little red at the endearing nickname, “You are mine.” She says it with such firmness that Jimin practically melts, believing her every word. 

“Really?” He breathes out.

Bong-cha grunts in confirmation. “But only dream Jimin is mine.”

Jimin furrows his brows, daring to brush a strand of hair from Bong-cha’s face. “Why isn’t real Jimin yours?”

Bong-cha looks a little angry, furrowing her eyebrows as though he just asked the most ridiculous question known to man. “I don’t deserve real Jimin.”

Sighing, Jimin gingerly gets off the bed to begin his search for medicine and a cool cloth. “That’s silly, Bong-cha. I’ll prove it to you.”

Bong-cha doesn’t reply, lost to her feverish sleep again. Backing out of the room, Jimin pauses to lean against the wall in the hallway and catch his breath. He’s caught between melting through the floor and his heart shattering at Bong-cha hopeless confession. 

His hands are shaking as he brings a bowl of cold water in, a cloth soaking in it. He rushes back to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and some pills, carrying a chair in to sit beside the bed. 

Unsure of how to best go about this, Jimin wrings the cloth out and presses it gently to Bong-cha’s forehead, holding his breath. 

Bong-cha stirs, frowning at the unexpected drops of water seeping into her hair. Eyes fluttering open, she looks more coherent than a few minutes ago. She gives a little gasp as she sees Jimin sitting beside the bed. 

“Hi,” Jimin says a little helplessly. He even gives her a small wave for emphasis. 

Bong-cha blinks heavily, reaching up to rub the sleep from her eyes. Does this mean her fever-dream was...real? 

Deciding to pretend that that was really just a dream in order to save face, Bong-cha returns the awkward wave.

“What are you doing here?” Bong-cha winces at how raw her throat sounds, Jimin turning in a hurry to grab the glass of water. Easing her into an upright position, Jimin hands her a pill and the water. Jimin waits until she’s finished the glass before speaking, tapping his fingers against the cup.

“...you have a fever.”

Bong-cha stares. “Ok?”

Scratching the back of his neck, Jimin realizing that conversing with conscious Bong-cha after a confession is more difficult than he thought it would be. 

“I was worried about you. And I want to make sure you feel better. It-it’s really early still,” Jimin winces as he sees that it’s not even 6 am yet. “But...when’s the last time you ate? I think you need to eat and drink and get lots of rest.”

At a complete loss for words, Bong-cha rests her head back against the pillow. “Hmph.”

Deeming the conversation temporarily finished, Jimin rushes back into the kitchen to refill the glass. When he re-enters Bong-cha room, he notices her shivering again. 

“I’ll get you another blanket,” Jimin murmurs, heading into the front room. 

The next half-hour follows a similar pattern: Jimin rushing from room to room, grabbing blankets, water bottles, and eventually ending up in the kitchen heating up some soup before the sun has even risen. It’s a little strange, but he figures that Bong-cha needs to eat, seeing as she couldn’t remember even getting out of bed the day before. 

When Jimin returns with a bowl of steaming soup, he can’t help but smile a little at the sight before him. 

Bong-cha is curled up under several fluffy blankets, her cheeks red from the fever as she snoozes. Despite feeling horrible, Jimin can’t help but take a mental picture. 

She's always been the most beautiful person in the room.

Hating to wake her up after she’s just fallen back asleep, Jimin decides to wait until the soup has cooled down a bit. Perching on his chair and watching every little movement, Jimin nearly jumps out of his skin when his phone dings. 

He quickly pulls it out, making sure it’s silenced and internally groaning when he sees a text from Jin asking where he is. Shooting back a reply and consigning himself to the fact that he will be endlessly teased, Jimin puts his phone away as Bong-cha begins to stir. 

“Sorry,” Jimin whispers, mentally cursing Jin. “Can you eat?”

Bong-cha’s eyelashes flutter as she focuses in on Jimin, the events of the strange morning flooding her mind as she wakes back up. Giving a small nod of her head, she manages to sit up, pulling a blanket over her shoulders. 

Blowing on the soup for good measure, Jimin extends the spoon to Bong-cha, his cheeks turning a shade of red to match Bong-cha’s. 

Overcome with emotion as a result of the kind action and exhaustion, Bong-cha keeps her eyes down as she carefully eats. The only sound is the spoon scraping against the bowl, the silence weighing down heavily upon the pair. It’s so quiet that Bong-cha’s quiet sniffle is obvious.

Jimin pauses where he was deathly concentrated on making sure not a single drop spilled, looking to see Bong-cha hastily brushing a tear from her eye. 

“What’s wrong?” Jimin asks, carefully placing the bowl on the nightstand and whirling around to face Bong-cha again. “What’s wrong, Bong-cha?”

She shakes her head, keeping her eyes trained on the ground and clenching her jaw as she fights the onslaught of tears that are begging to be released. Suddenly the weight of all the stress she’s been hiding and the fact that the man she’s been desperately been trying not to fall in love with is here and being so sweet and kind to her all convenes and crashes into her at full speed. Streams of tears rush down Bong-cha’s cheeks while she desperately tries to stop the flow. 

Jimin jumps into action, leaping off the chair and coming to sit beside her on the bed. “Come here,” he mumbles, letting out a sigh of relief when Bong-cha goes willingly into his arms. Her tears are soaking his shirt where she’s resting her head against his chest, but Jimin doesn’t mind one bit. 

“I-I’m so s-sorry,” Bong-cha hiccups, turning into a shaking, shivering mess. Cooing over her, Jimin grabs a fistful of blanket, hauling it over the two of them. 

“It’s ok,” he whispers, resting his cheek atop her head. “You’re exhausted and sick, I would be crying too.”

Bong-cha chuckles in between hiccups, burrowing in deeper. Jimin tightens his grip, locking her in place and momentarily giving silent thanks for fevers.

Eventually Bong-cha calms down, her hiccups subsiding as she leans against Jimin and lets out a long sigh. “I’m sorry,” Bong-cha apologizes again. 

Jimin shakes his head, furrowing his brow as he straightens up. “Don’t apologize.”

Bong-cha tries to refute him. “No, I-”

Gently cupping her chin, Jimin turns her face up to look at him. His words are caught in his throat as Bong-cha looks up at him with wide eyes, her lashes wet from her tears. Her cheeks are still an impressive shade of red, the tip of her nose matching it as she sniffles. 

Bong-cha watches in disbelief as Jimin freezes, his mouth ajar as his eyes graze over her face. They start at her eyes, but gradually glide down to her lips.

It’s so quiet as Jimin leans down, eyes focused on those lips as he looks almost confused. Like this wasn’t his original plan.

Bong-cha’s eyes are half-closed as Jimin leans down, his thumb brushing over her bottom lip before his lips replace it.

A part of Bong-cha wonders if this is just another cruel dream, but she knows better. This feels real. The way Jimin’s lips feel so cool against her fever-warm ones, their pillow-like softness pulling her in as she involuntarily sighs in contentment. 

When Jimin pulls away, he almost looks like he’s the one with a fever. His eyes are a little dazed and he wears a shy smile as he glances at Bong-cha, who’s eyes are still half-closed. 

It’s quiet still.

Jimin comes to his senses, deciding that he’s all in now. Placing a gentle kiss to the back of Bong-cha’s hand which almost makes her blush harder than when he kissed her lips, Jimin rises from the bed. 

“I think I need to reheat your soup,” Jimin mumbles, grabbing the bowl. “I’ll let you rest now.”

Before he can walk out the door, Bong-cha’s small voice calls out to him. Turning to face her from the doorway, Jimin can’t help but feel like he’s flying. 

“Jimin-ah?”

“Yes?”

Bong-cha fiddles with the blankets, not daring to look up at him. She’s burning up with embarrassment, she’s sure of it. “Was...this isn’t a dream, right?”

Jimin chuckles, leaning head head against the door frame. “No. This is very real.”

“Oh.”

He decides to press the matter a bit further. “Why, do you like dream Jimin better?”

Bong-cha flashes his a mortified glance, clinging to the blankets for dear life. “Don’t you have soup to reheat?”

Jimin’s laugh reverberates around the house as he heads into the kitchen, and Bong-cha quickly grabs her phone from the bedside table, sending off four hurried texts to Cara.

ME: I KNOW YOU’RE BUSY BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT

ME: THE HEAVENS HAVE OPENED AT LAST

ME: AND BY HEAVENS I MEAN PARK JIMIN FINALLY MADE A MOVE

ME: AND BY MOVE I MEAN KISS

🌙

8 Months Later

“Should we leave the rice in the pan a little longer?” Bong-cha muses aloud as she stares down at the rice. “Or do you think they’re close?”

Jimin appears at her side, maneuvering around the kitchen where Yoongi and Cara made mandu nearly a year ago. “I think they’re close. Yoongi said they were leaving the airport thirty minutes ago.”

The boys’ shared apartment is a hub of activity tonight, everyone pulling together to get everything prepared in time for Beth’s arrival. 

The last time Beth was in Seoul was nearly a year ago, her and Yoongi meeting up in Paris a mere eight months ago. 

The stars have finally aligned, and Beth is going to be staying with Bong-cha for the next month. It wasn’t easy for her to schedule out a complete month of vacation, but they did it.

Although Bong-cha has a sneaking suspicion that Yoongi might have pulled some strings. 

Carrying the dish filled to the brim with rice into the dining room, Bong-cha chuckles at the wide assortment of food that they’ve both ordered and made. In the middle of the table sits a humble plate filled to the brim with dumplings. Yoongi had insisted on making them this morning, recruiting the help of Bong-cha and Jimin. 

They’d helped for a little while before sneaking out when Yoongi had his back turned. 

“Is that them?” Jin asks, craning his neck to watch a car driving up. Soon enough everyone is stumbling over each other, trying to see.

Everyone starts shouting and celebrating as the car doors open to reveal Cara and Yoongi, Jin opening the window to yell down to them. 

“Finally!” 

Cara laughs as she looks up at the window, waving and turning to say something to Yoongi. He laughs at whatever it is she says, wasting no time in grabbing her hand in his. 

“Look at that smile,” Namjoon coos. “He’s been waiting for this for so long.”

Everyone is lined up around the table when Cara and Yoongi enter, Cara’s eyes immediately finding Bong-cha. The two friends are a mixture of laughter and yelling incoherent things as they embrace.

“Come sit down before the food gets cold,” Taehyung invites, making sure to leave a couple of empty spaces at the table for the couple to sit together. Yoongi moves toward the chair to take a seat, turning when Cara doesn’t immediately sit by him.

“Chim, why don’t you sit by Yoongi tonight?” Bong-cha chimes, dragging Cara behind her. Both men feign offense, Yoongi looking a bit like a lost puppy as his girlfriend is taken to sit across from him. When Bong-cha sees him, she rolls her  eyes. “What? You two will spend a lot of time together. I’m taking her while I can.”

“But she’s staying at your house!” Yoongi protests, Jimin laughing as he eases into the chair beside him. 

Bong-cha raises her brows at him. “Knowing you, she’ll be home after I’ve fallen asleep and gone again before I wake up.”

Yoongi mumbles something about ‘not true’ under his breath, shooting a glare at Jimin beside him. Jimin raises his hands up in innocence. 

“Hey, I didn’t get to sit by my girlfriend either. Don’t look at me like it’s my fault.”

Cara stares out at the food with wide eyes, looking surprisingly awake despite just coming off of a long flight. “So...you two are dating?”

Everyone around the table groans, Jimin and Bong-cha exchanging guilty glances. “Well...” Jimin starts, looking to his girlfriend for help.

“We are, it’s just-”

“They’re like awkward school children,” Namjoon drawls, watching with a bit of fear as Jungkook shovels unnaturally large amounts of food into his mouth. “They’re dating, but the second anyone brings it up they can hardly look at each other in the eye.”

Jimin slides down in his seat. “That’s not fair, hyung. How could you do this to me?”

Cara chuckles, observing the chaos she unleashed. “You two are freaking slow.”

Bong-cha gasps. “As opposed to you two?” She gestures angrily between Yoongi and Cara. “The two of you took all of a week to confess! And what, two months to go official?!”

Yoongi looks unfazed, piling some food onto his plate as though he hadn’t heard anything. Jimin laughs, elbowing his friend. 

“What?” Yoongi asks, looking innocent. 

“You know what,” Bong-cha quips. Cara laughs, the sound making Yoongi break his solemn expression as he grins. 

“Oh.” He shrugs. “We kind of had a strange situation, there wasn’t really any time to take our time.”

Jimin snaps his fingers. “Ha! So we’re fine! We’re...we’re enjoying our lives!”

it’s quiet for a moment before everyone bursts out into laughter. Cara rests her chin on her hand, her nose crinkling as she laughs. Looking over at Bong-cha, she winks.

“Welcome back, Cara,” Hobi says from the end of the table.

Cara takes a deep breath, looking around the table until her eyes land on Yoongi. The two of them share a knowing look.

“Thanks.”

Months of just seeing each other through a screen, that’s what they’ve been through. They’ve taken to sending each other hand-written letters once a week, the boys have often seen Yoongi sitting at the kitchen table reading through the latest letter with a soft smile on his face. 

The rumors surrounding the pair have died down quite a bit, however there are still a few circulating. Word has yet to get out about Cara’s vacation in Seoul, and Bong-cha just hopes that nobody finds out at least until it’s over. Heaven knows that the second people find out that Cara’s back in Seoul without a work reason, they’ll start freaking out. 

Bong-cha watches the couple throughout the night, a little in awe of the two of them. They look at each other like they’re so sure. A part of her knows that when Cara is looking at Yoongi, she’s looking at her future. 

Yoongi looks at Cara like the first flower of spring. Like he’s so excited that he found her, and like he knows that the best is yet to come. 

Despite having been apart for months, the two fall into an easy pattern together. Bong-cha giggles a little at how giddy Yoongi looks when they settle down to watch a movie later that night, Cara coming to snuggle in beside him. 

The end of the evening finds Bong-cha groaning and complaining as Yoongi takes his sweet time bidding Cara goodnight. 

“Let’s goooo,” Bong-cha says, jingling her keys. “Cara needs to sleep if she doesn’t want to be a zombie.”

Yoongi waves her on. “We’ll be down in a minute.”

Jimin opens up the door for Bong-cha, heading down to the garage with her. “That was fun tonight,” he comments. 

“It was nice, wasn’t it?” Bong-cha looks a little distracted as she fumbles to find the right key. 

Jimin chews on the inside of his cheek, the words from earlier echoing around his mind. Was he really being too slow with Bong-cha?

It had been eight months since he appeared to help Bong-cha when she was sick. What followed had been a bit of fumbling and uncertainty, both of them unsure at times if they were really doing this right. However, they had never stopped to discuss it. 

Bong-cha opens up the car door, sitting in the driver’s seat and dangling her legs out the side. She’s looking down at her lap, her mind still a bit flooded with the way Yoongi and Cara seem to fit so well together. 

Taking a deep breath, Jimin dares to ask what’s been bothering him for longer than he cares to admit. 

“Are we doing this right?”

Bong-cha’s eyes are wide as she looks up at her boyfriend, heart softening as she sees his hesitant worry. 

“I...” she shrugs, chewing on her lip. “I don’t know.”

Jimin nods, not looking comforted at all. “That’s...you know I love you, right?”

The thoughts in Bong-cha’s head go silent as she stares up at Jimin. “...I didn’t know that.”

Jimin falls to his knees, laughing in disbelief as he takes Bong-cha’s hands in his. “I do. I’m an idiot for not telling you sooner. I have since I met you, I think. It’s hard to tell where it began, because I feel like where you’re concerned, I’ve always been in love.”

Letting out a startled laugh, Bong-cha smiles wide. “We’re slow, but we’re steady.” She runs a hand through Jimin’s hair, practically glowing. “I love you.”

Jimin leans up, Bong-cha meeting him halfway as they melt into each other. Jimin does his best to pour all of his emotions into the kiss. He tries to follow Bong-cha as she pulls away, making her laugh and give in, wrapping her hands around his neck as their lips crash together again. 

The sound of a car door shutting has the pair jumping apart, Jimin and Bong-cha turning bright red as Yoongi walks around to the front of the car. Cara sits in the passenger seat, buckling in and pretending like she didn’t see anything.

“And you told us to make it quick,” Yoongi quips, giving the couple a disapproving glare. 

Jimin laughs, waiting for Bong-cha to pull her legs into the car before closing the door. “See you tomorrow,” he says, watching as the pair back out of the garage and wave goodbye. 

🌙

Cara laughs in the passenger seat as they pull out of the garage, her heart aching a little as she watches Yoongi disappear from sight. She tries her best to remind herself that she’ll see him again tomorrow. It’s just been so long.

“Looks like you two were having fun,” Cara says to a very embarrassed Bong-cha. “I can’t believe you didn’t believe me when I first told you that he liked you.”

Bong-cha rolls her eyes. “Can you really blame me?”

“Definitely.”

It’s quiet for a bit in the car as Bong-cha maneuvers out of the neighborhood. Once they’re out onto the streets of Seoul, she breaks the comfortable silence. 

“How do you two do it?”

Cara’s head swivels to look at her friend. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Bong-cha frowns a little as she watches the road, “Just watching you two tonight - not even just tonight. Over the past few months, observing your relationship...”

“You’ve been observing?” Cara teases.

“Shut up. It’s just, you two seem so...I don’t know, at ease? No, that’s not it. Just solid. You seem really solid and in love and like everything is going according to plan, which I know it doesn’t always go the way you want it to. But somehow you two take every curveball and hit it out of the park.”

Cara blinks, looking a little surprised by the observation. “Really?” She chuckles. “I was nervous out of my mind tonight.”

Bong-cha nearly slams on the brakes. “What?!”

“Yes!” The two laugh a little in disbelief. “I mean, we haven’t been in the same room together for eight months! But more than nervous, I was excited. You’re right, we’re in love. I think that’s what makes everything seem so perfect to everyone else.”

“So are things not perfect?”

Cara shrugs. “No, of course not. We have moments of doubt, or days where it feels like we’ll never get through this.” 

“But you two seem so great together.”

“That’s because I think we are,” Cara says with a smile. “And I think half of that is just believing it. If you believe that you can make it, then you’re halfway there.”

“Hmm.” Bong-cha sighs, thinking over the past few months with Jimin. They’ve been, in a word, wonderful. They’re just both so new to relationships and falling in love.

Cara seems to read her best friend’s mind. “Enjoy every stage. Whether you’re new and awkward, or old and annoyed. There’s something to learn and love through it all.”

“What stage are you in?”

“We’re definitely still new and awkward.”

“No way.”

“Yes! We’ve been dating for a few months now, but you should’ve seen me when I got out to the car at the airport!” Cara laughs, embarrassed at the memory of earlier tonight. “I seriously forgot how to speak Korean for like a solid two minutes.”

“Wow.”

“I know.”

Bong-cha reviews the advice that Cara gave her, feeling more and more calm. “Since when did you become so wise?”

Cara snorts. “It’s all Yoongi. He tells me that stuff when I’m freaking out.”

“That’s...wow. Smart guy.”

“Yeah, just don’t tell him I told you. It’ll go straight to his head.”

The two chuckle knowingly, watching the city fly by as they speed down the road. Cara lets out a content sigh, feeling like she could close her eyes and travel back to the night she drove down these same streets with Yoongi. Nervous, half in love, and completely oblivious to all that the future held. 

Pulling up the email on her phone she received a few weeks ago, Cara can’t help but smile. Being contracted into a film series that’s going to be based in Seoul was what she was working toward for the past few months. When Sebastian mentioned this particular series, Cara couldn’t wait to audition. 

It was a few weeks ago that she got the call and accompanying email that she had been chosen for the role. For the foreseeable future, she’d be here. 

When she told Yoongi in the car driving back from the airport, she didn’t mean to cry. Cara blamed her tears on the jet-lag, but Yoongi and her both knew that this was what they so desperately had been hoping for. 

It wasn’t permanent, but it was enough. For now. 

“Hey Bong-cha,” Cara says quietly, smiling softly out at the city she’s come to love more than she ever anticipated. “Have you seen any apartments for sale around here?”

masterlist

taglist: @eusticenatalie @agustneeds​ @prdshobi​ @oceandeep​ @baepsaetay​ @dreamcatcherjiah​

[jalapeno-princess]

Bad For You Chapter 3

Fuckboy Mark X Reader

Genre: Fluff and angst (the ending is hella angsty though just a warning)

Word Count: 11.1K (Damn this one is a long one LOL)

A/N: Am I the only one loving the fact that Mark is back home he’s been looking extra hot these days God bless. Things are getting more and more juicier with each and every chapter. Happy reading!

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?”

“Well, I mean, you remind me at least five times a day every single day—“

“Because you are. You’re so beautiful and it’s so hard for me to concentrate on anything else other than you. I want you to know that you are such an extraordinary human being and that I think the entire universe of you. I honestly think tutoring me does more damage to my grades than it does help them.” 

Mark pulled you closer to his body if it were even physically possible before smashing his cheek against yours. The two of you were practically sloths; clinging on to one another. When he first asked you to head over to his apartment, you told him you would only go if he agreed to work on some of his assignments. 

However, he coerced you in to eating some pizza with him; promising that once you both were finished with your food that he would start on his essay for world history. Knowing Mark’s tendencies to procrastinate and from past experiences of him sweet talking you in to doing anything other than his school work you weren’t surprised to find yourself sitting on his lap with his arms wrapped protectively around your waist—leaving kisses against the crook of your neck and stealing kisses from the corner of your mouth when you’d least expect it. 

You didn’t even try to fight him when you found yourself in the comfortable position you were currently in. He was warm—his air conditioning was on full blast yet he was your own personal furnace. It didn’t help that he was shirtless; he claimed that it took a lot for the air conditioning to really do anything for him but you had a huge feeling that was just an excuse to walk around without a shirt. You also loved spending as much time with him as you possibly could. 

Although the two of you got off on a rough start, you could confidently say the older boy brought out the best in you. It didn’t take much for him to make you laugh or to give him your signature smile that he claimed to adore so much. All he had to do was use a cheesy pick up line on you or compliment you on something he was well aware that you hated about yourself. 

Another thing you enjoyed about Mark was how childlike he was. Sure, there were times where he could be a little immature; whether it was being affectionate with you at all the wrong times—while the two of you were out to dinner with his parents or as you were proctoring one of the tests in your English class and he would playfully slap your butt when nobody was looking—but he was so free-spirited and positive about almost every single thing. 

Mark didn’t let anything bother him. He felt like allowing anything or anyone negative try to get on his nerves was a huge waste of time. He also enjoyed the little things; getting three scoops of ice cream not too long after the two of you would eat dinner even if he was full, sneaking in to your elementary school after hours just to play on the jungle gym, texting you random memes he’d get from Twitter even if he was sitting right next to you and taking you on dates to the most interesting places; like the art museum or the planetarium. 

The older boy was like a breath of fresh air; a far cry from the fuckboy who couldn’t care less about anyone other than himself you assumed he was before getting to learn who he really was. Honestly, he was one of the only reasons behind your happiness at the moment. Mark made you feel safe, protected—he made you feel so many positive emotions; carefree, joyful, content, loved—he made you feel beautiful; as if you were the most breathtaking human being to exist. 

Not once did you ever have to question your self worth; he made it very clear that you were perfect just the way you are and that whoever claimed perfect people didn’t exist obviously had never met you. Your boyfriend made you feel as though you were the only girl in the entire world because in his eyes, you were the only girl—let alone person who mattered. He’s told you on multiple occasions, he’d give up every single one of his friends and even some of his family members if he had to just to spend the rest of his life with you. 

If someone were to tell you at the beginning of your arrangement with Mark that the two of you would end up here; legs tangled up and hands intertwined—stealing sweet kisses from one another in arcades downtown and staying up in the wee hours of the morning, talking about your plans for the future—you would have laughed hysterically right in their face. But here you were, wanting nothing more than to be the lucky girl who got to love Mark Tuan and receive his love for as long as time allowed you to. 

You never believed in those romantic movie tropes where the main female lead—the goody two shoes who everyone knew was a virgin would be the only person who was able to change the bad boy male lead who had tattoos all over his body, got drunk and high on a daily basis and hated school in to a better human being. 

Things like that never happened. No man could ever love someone that much to want to change their entire life completely for. It just wasn’t real. Honestly, it was extremely laughable because that was so close to your reality—but you didn’t care. You didn’t think you changed Mark at all; well, he was no longer a fuckboy, but deep down you believed he was willing to settle down in an actual relationship with the right person. 

If only you knew then what you know now—you were the dream girl that Mark’s could only desire of having in his life to call his significant other. Even back in high school, he believed he was never good enough for someone like you. Someone with such an amazing head on their shoulders. 

Someone who cared more about their future and whether or not they were to succeed later in life. Someone who took every day with a grain of salt. Mark was well aware that he didn’t deserve you, but he was going to do whatever he could in his power to make sure he gave you everything he wholeheartedly felt you deserved. 

“Well, maybe we need to spend more time actually studying then. That’s the reason why we came together in the first place—“

“First of all, I think that is a stupid idea. Studying is genuinely such bullshit. You spend hours with your face in a book and barely memorize a thing. Second of all, we came together on many different occasions for many different reasons—ow, babe—what? I’m being serious. Making love to my pretty baby is my favorite past time—you’re no fun.” 

You repositioned yourself on his lap, turning your body so you were face to face with him and playfully squeezed his cheek before placing a kiss on his nose. 

“I love you.” 

The two of you had said that word quite a few times since you began your relationship. Actually, Mark confessed his love for you only a month after the two of you started dating and he claimed that he didn’t even care if it was too soon. He’s had feelings for you for over seven years now. It didn’t take long for his infatuation to develop in to something so much more—beautiful.

Even more so because he was spending almost every single day learning more and more about you; hearing that contagious laughter of yours, getting playfully shoved by you after making a dirty comment, watching your eyes light up as you talked about wanting to go in to criminology. 

It was only a matter of time that he’d find himself hopelessly in love with you and he had no intention on ever getting back up again. However, Mark was nervous to say the least which came as a complete shock; everyone knew how confident the older boy was. 

He was the definition of a confident man. It was one of his characteristics that you admired the most about him. But when it came to you—he was a complete and utter mess. If it were anyone else, he’d have no problem hinting towards what he wanted—but with you, he was afraid you had yet to reciprocate his feelings. You might have liked Mark, yet that didn’t mean you were ready to take a step further and claim you were in love with him. 

To say he was surprised to hear you say those three magical words only a second after he admitted it out loud to you was an understatement. It took him a while to process the thought of you reciprocating his same exact feelings. 

Especially because he didn’t think he was capable of loving another person. He understood that he should have been scared; the idea of love was terrifying. Being in love was genuinely one of the best feelings in the entire world. However, it also frightened him because he was so vulnerable and he was afraid of getting hurt. 

Mark was well aware that you would never do anything to purposely upset him or to make a fool out of him in any way. Sure, you said you loved him multiple times on a daily basis—but you were just as good with showing it through your actions as you were explaining your romantic feelings for him verbally. 

You’ve done so many things for him to prove your loyalty for him and that you were in this relationship for the long run—but that didn’t stop his many insecurities about never being good enough for you. Mark was selfish; he was well aware that you deserved better. So much better. 

He knew that there were so many more amazing men out there who could take care of you in ways that Mark couldn’t and who could give you everything that your boyfriend felt he lacked. However, he wanted you and only you—and he wanted to be the only one who received your passion, yearning, adoration and most of all, your love. 

The two of you haven’t been in a relationship for all that long, but Mark was very confident that you were the woman he wholeheartedly wanted to spend the rest of his life with. This was the first time he actually saw a future with someone; he knew this whole rolling stone life he was living was going to be temporary. He was young and in college. His entire group of friends lived the same hookup life and none of them—well, other than Jinyoung—but none of them ever gave off the vibe that they wanted something more than just a night of sex with someone they had no intention on getting to know on a personal level. 

However, he didn’t realize that it was going to end all that soon—he’d be lying if he said being in love wasn’t something he wanted to happen to him. For years, he would tell himself that he wasn’t capable of love or having someone love him. It came to a surprise to the older boy when you began to show him so much comfort, tenderness and affection that he realized every single person in the world—even people like Mark were able to experience the beauty of love and he was never going to take you or your feelings for him for granted. You were his person, and he was going to make sure you were aware of how blessed he was to be yours. 

“Babe, you can’t just out right say that you love me. We went over this. You need to give me time to prepare. You know exactly how much that four letter word means to me. My heart feels as if it’s about to leap out of my chest. Especially when you say it so confidently. God, you—you’re simply perfect. You make me the happiest man alive. I love you so much—ah shit. I’m hard again. Only you can be so adorable while confessing your love for me yet give me a painfully hardened erection. Ugh, I can’t wait till we start settling down one day. I hope you know that you’re stuck with me. For the rest of our lives. I never used to believe in soulmates. It’s such a cheesy and overrated concept but I know—you were made for me as I was made for you. I know I’m not what you deserve—you deserve so much more than what I can do and be for you. But I promise, I will do better baby. I will be better. I’ll work on being the man that you should be with. I just really want you to be happy.” 

He giggled softly when a stray tear fell down your cheek; it was hard to believe Mark used to be the campus’s number one player. Someone who never cared about what anyone used to think about him—nor did he care about anyone else but himself and his inner circle. He’s hurt so many people, both girls and boys in the last few years. 

Whether it was leading them on or making them look bad in front of other people—he was an inconsiderate asshole. So for him to say such kind-hearted and wholesome words, it was genuinely a lot to take in. Especially because it was meant for you. He loved you. He wanted to change for you. He wanted to take care of you and be the reason behind your happiness. 

He was aware that he wasn’t someone you probably would have seen yourself with, but yet he was willing to work on himself just to continue to be in your life. You stole a few sloppy kisses from his mouth—allowing your tongue to swirl around his and taking it in between your teeth before pulling away abruptly, earning yourself a raspy grown. 

Right as he was going to scold you for taking your lips away from his, you began to lower yourself down to his pelvis and brought your hand to his clothed cock—palming him through his sweats. His dick was throbbing through the cotton; the tip was protruding and standing right at attention causing your mouth to water. 

Both you and Mark have agreed that oral was one of your favorite parts of your love making sessions. He was very skilled with his mouth; he used every part—his lips, his teeth and his tongue in the hopes of bringing you to heaven at least once during sex. Your boyfriend knew you like the back of his hand—it didn’t take him long to find your g-spot and the parts of your body that would elicit any moan or cry of pleasure. 

From what he’s told you, you were just as talented. The first time you sucked him dry was the first time you’ve ever blown someone off before. Hell, the first time you found yourself writhing underneath him—begging him to something, anything to help loosen the tight coil in your stomach was the same night you lost your virginity. Mark was genuinely shocked to hear that you were a virgin. 

Although he had a hunch you had yet to go that extra mile with someone before, he found it hard to believe that you had never been in a relationship. Mark swore that you were the complete package; you were extremely beautiful, adorably cute yet painstakingly sexy. You were hardworking, super intelligent, dedicated passionate, fun-loving—men were stupid not to try and ask you out on a date. 

But then again, you didn’t seem as if you cared about getting in to a relationship nor did you show any interest towards the male gender in the first place. Something about knowing that he was the first man who got to have you like this—bare, innocent and raw—learning each and every single curve, birth mark, beauty mark and scar—learning your likes, dislikes, what made you squirm and scream—it made his heart soar. He was soon regretting not waiting till he met the one—you—to give himself to. 

Yet, he was glad he had some experience so he’d be able to show you a good time. It was understandable that you were just a little bit nervous. You felt as though you wouldn’t be able to please him in the way he never fails to do with you, but the way his moans practically bounced off the walls as you took him down your throat made it all the more evident that you knew exactly what you were doing. 

His expression once you swallowed him whole made you giggle like a little school girl. He looked as if you sucked the life out of his dick—he panted heavily as though he ran multiple miles in a short amount of time. The beads of sweat building up at his forehead should have been gross, but it only turned you on so much more than you already were. 

From that day on, he made sure you blew him off at least once a day—with your consent that is. He began to run his fingers through your hair and bit down on his bottom lip when you pulled down his sweats hastily, giving yourself better access to his length. When you finally freed him from the constraints of his boxers, he let out a breathy moan and the sound went straight to your pulsating core. 

“Such a pretty, pretty baby. Going to suck my cock like the dirty little cock slut you are? Want to show me how much you love me y/n? Put this dick down your throat and take it all as I fuck your face—if—if you’re okay with that my love—“ 

No matter how rough and dominant Mark could get behind close doors, his soft side for you never failed to come out every now and then. He was the definition of a switch for you; leaning more towards a sub both in the streets and in between the sheets. Sometimes, you’d forget that he was the man in the relationship because of how much he would follow you around as if he was a lost puppy. It didn’t bother you though, you enjoyed how gentle your boyfriend could be because you were the only person who got to see this timid, tender side of him. 

“You’re hard as a rock yet such a fucking softy for me babe. Who knew that the big and bad Mark Tuan would be so compassionate and sweet towards little old me.” A snarky remark was at the back of his throat, but instead, a groan of lust came out as soon as you circled your tongue around the tip of his cock. His grip on your hair tightened as you encompassed the beginning of his penis with your mouth. 

“Shit—shit, shit. Ah, so fucking good every single time. Y/n, ah just like that baby—y/n, y/n—“

“Y/n. Earth to y/n. Wake up—“ 

The not so gentle shaking of your shoulder broke you out of your deep sleep. Wait—that was a dream? It felt so real—you were seconds away from deepthroating him and you could actually feel him on your tongue. This wasn’t the first time you found yourself absentmindedly thinking about Mark in either a romantic or sexual light. This was probably the third time you’ve dreamt of him in the last week. 

Each dream became more and more sexual to the point where you’d wake up with a tight and uncomfortable sensation in between your legs. You’d try to take a few minutes and wonder why you were dreaming about him—especially all of a sudden. You’ve known Mark for more years than you could count on both of your hands yet this was the first time he’s been clouding your thoughts and this worried you. 

This was what you were afraid of when you agreed to tutoring him in the first place. Sure, it was only natural for him to appear in your mind since you’ve been spending so much time together. However, you were adamant on being nothing but platonic with him. 

No matter how nice he’s been to you these last few weeks and how much effort he’s been putting in to his studies, he was still a fuckboy in your eyes. You might have agreed to being friends with him, but you still didn’t trust him completely. It was going to take more than just a few study sessions to really get to know Mark as more than just someone you were trying to help with passing college. 

“Shit sorry. How long was I asleep for?” 

He giggled at your now pink cheeks; it’s obvious you were flustered and not all quite there yet. Your eyes were still droopy and there was hair stuck all over your face. The older boy leaned over and brought some of your hair back behind your ear. He might have thought he was doing you a favor—but he was only making things worse. His fingers grazed ever so gently against your neck; causing chills to run down your spine. If you were to look in the mirror, you’d probably give tomatoes a run for their money. 

“About ten minutes. But this is your second nap in the last hour so—“

“I fell asleep twice?! Why didn’t you tell me? Oh God, I’m so sorry. You should have woken me up! We’ve only been studying for a little over an hour—“

“You looked exhausted, and plus—you’re so adorable when you sleep.” 

You rolled your eyes at his comment as your way of trying to prevent your cheeks from warming up even more than they already were. Mark has been throwing in compliments and cheeky pick up lines at least once throughout your sessions and it was as if he knew they were slowly breaking your cold facade and your attempts not to smile at his words. You tried your best not to show just how much his flirtatious remarks were making their way in to your heart and repeatedly played on and on in your mind. 

When you weren’t with him—and even when you were together, Mark took up the entirety of your thought process and to your surprise, the feeling excited you more than it worried you like it would have weeks ago. It was only a matter of time that you’d end up falling for his charm; and you found yourself trying your best not to feel anything whenever you’d catch him stealing glances at you or whenever he would do something polite like pulling out your chair, carrying your things for you and opening the door for you. But it was impossible. 

You’ve spent enough time with him both in class and outside of school to see the way he interacted with a lot of your classmates. Not once have you seen him talk to anyone other than you and his friends and you never really questioned it. You just assumed that he had a tight circle and didn’t believe in breaking outside of the six guys he was so familiar with. 

Therefore, you wouldn’t really know how he was like towards other girls—then again, you weren’t sure you ever wanted to know. What did it matter to you? The two of you just became friends not too long ago. Before then, you saw Mark as someone you wanted no affiliation with at all. He was nothing but trouble, and you refused to be the next person on his list who he planned on ruining. 

For all you knew, the way he was actions towards you in the last few days could have all been an act to get you to trust him—to lure you in to his trap and get you to fall for his endearing ways only to break your heart and humiliate you for the entire university to witness. However, you were confident that the kindness and friendliness Mark has been showing you was not fake nor did he have any ill intent. 

He seemed to genuinely care about you even if you were just friends. It was in the little things; texting you encouraging words to get you through the day, purchasing you coffee and sometimes even meals as his way to show his gratitude, giving you his jacket to wear if he thought you were cold, asking you if you wanted to take a break—he would even pick you up from work if he was free against your many claims that you were fine with taking yourself to work. 

Again, like the many gifts and purchases of food, he stated that this was his way of thanking you for your help and you finally came to terms with the fact that the only reason why you agreed was because you really liked spending time with him. Mark made you very happy—in fact, this was the most happy you’ve been in a while. 

Nobody has ever made you feel so important; so protected and safe before and you could only hope that putting your trust in him and allowing the walls you’ve built so high to protect you from people like him wouldn’t come back to bite you in the ass if he turned out to be exactly what you were afraid he was. You were broken out of your whirlwind of thoughts when you felt something cold and wet yet refreshing being rubbed under your eyelids and just above your nose. Mark began to roll something all along your face and out of instinct reaction, you whacked whatever it was from his hands. 

“What the hell is that?” He shrugged indifferently and got up from his seat; picking the small tube off of the ground. 

“It’s a peppermint roller. Whenever I feel tired or my nose is congested, I either rub it under my eyes to prevent me from falling asleep or I’ll smell it to open my nasal airways—“ 

You couldn’t stop the giggle that fell from your lips as he described exactly what that little stick was; but your heart began to flutter at the proximity now that he was leaning towards you, and because something about his sudden movement was so domestic and considerate in a way. It was cute and so was he. God, what did you get yourself in to? 

“Oh. Well, thank you? Actually, it’s pretty—soothing? Where’d you get it from?”

“China. My family and I went to visit my grandparents a couple of months ago and since I’ve been using it from the time I was like eight I think, I stocked up on a lot of it. I can give you a few if you’d like. Can’t have you sleeping on me.” 

You gave him a soft smile and nodded in agreement. It took every bone in your body not to make it obvious that you enjoyed how much he seemed to care about you. Only Mark Tuan could make your head spin by just offering to give you something of his. 

“Hey, why don’t we call it a day on studying and go do something fun? There’s actually somewhere I want to take you.”

This peaked your interest, yet you found yourself giving him a knowing look. The older boy was notorious for trying to get out of studying. On multiple occasions, Mark would try and bribe you with food just so he could stop working on his assignments. Most of the time, you’d go along with whatever he’d ask of you only if he completed more than half of his work load. 

You’d be lying if you said you didn’t like taking these breaks—and getting to spend any time with him outside of your tutoring sessions. You needed a break from school every now and then, even if it wasn’t you who was doing all the studying and catching up on assignments. He picked up your things and led the way to his car. 

“Where are we going?” 

To your dismay, you were left with silence as he opened your door and allowed you to get in. You had a feeling he wasn’t going to admit where he was taking you, so you just accepted it for what it was and just sat back while he drove. Like most of your drives together, he would put on a playlist while no words were shared. 

Sometimes, you wondered why neither of you would start a conversation—when you were in the library or at a cafe while going over his notes or checking his work, the older boy would talk up a storm. You’d have to tell him to focus because he could talk to you for hours without getting any of his work done. But you liked it like this. You didn’t want to run out of topics to talk about with him in fear of losing him as a friend if he realized you were the definition of a boring person. 

Plus, there were a lot of songs on his playlist that you particularly enjoyed. On your down time, you’d listen to some songs even when you weren’t around him and that’s the moment you accepted that your feelings for Mark were no longer just platonic. You began to mirror a lot of his movements; scratching the back of your neck in embarrassment, biting your lip when you were deep in thought, tapping your pencil on the table if you were bored—and you also took a liking to his preferences. 

Mark had a positive influence on you which came as genuine shock seeing as you quickly assumed he was quite the party boy who wasted his money on drugs and alcohol. That might have been true before, but since you were spending almost every single hour of the day with him, you haven’t seen him drink or smoke even once. He was trying to change—to be a better person and it showed. 

“Hey, we’re here.” 

His gentle squeeze on your wrist as an attempt to break you out of your thoughts should have startled you, but the touch made you grin to yourself. Ever since the night you agreed to be friends, he started to be more physically interactive; he would poke your cheek, squeeze your nose, flick your forehead and even twist strands of your hair. Not once did you try to stop him—you genuinely enjoyed the skin ship.

You couldn’t quite put your finger on it as to why you were such a big fan of feeling him graze his fingers along your arm or when he would brush some of your hair behind your ear. Maybe it’s because this was the first time in your entire life that you were interacting with a guy other than in class or when you were at work. Especially in such a personal and intimate way. Was it intimate though? The two of you were just friends. You had to stop thinking that he there was something more behind his ministrations because you were only setting yourself up for heartbreak. 

But maybe you felt like this because it was Mark. One of the number one sought out boys on the entire campus and he decided to give up all his time to be with you. He didn’t really have much of a choice; his education completely depended on you and it was only a matter of time where he would realize he no longer needed to waste all of his time with you. 

“The beach?” He nodded in excitement while he walked over to his trunk and pulled out a few things. 

“Not just any beach though, this is my beach.”

“Your beach?”

“Mhm. No one ever comes here except me, so I’m assuming nobody knows about it.” 

He laid out a blanket and motioned for you to sit down, taking his place right next to you as you got comfortable on the sand. You’ve been to the beach many times before; you loved the beach, but you’ve never been to one that nearly took your breath away. It was beautiful. The sky was a bright blue and so was the ocean. 

The water was so clear, you could see the sand and there were a few palm trees. You closed your eyes and leaned backed; taking in the peaceful sound of the waves crashing against the shore. Mark chuckled at your extremely relaxed state—most of the time, you could be very stressed and tense whenever it came to school. He was happy to see you so calm and at ease. 

He mentally have himself a high five for taking you here. The two of you sat in silence, just like you did back in the car but again, it was a peaceful and comforting silence. Just having him there—even if no words were being exchanged made your heart extremely happy. 

Mark made your heart extremely happy. 

“So, I’m taking it that you’re enjoying yourself?” 

You turned over to face him and saw his cheesy grin, immediately tugging on your heartstrings. To be in such a beautiful place with an even more beautiful boy; it felt too good to be true. You wanted to spend however long you possibly could in that moment. Just you and Mark, away from everything. Away from the stress that came with education and work. Away from his air headed friends and the college life. Sure, he was just your friend and that was probably all he was ever going to be to you, but in the moment—he was all yours and you weren’t going to take it for granted.

“I do. The view is breathtaking.” 

You were so focused on taking in your surroundings that you failed to notice that Mark’s attention was solely on you. He was currently looking at you as if you were the most beautiful and ethereal goddess to walk the earth and in his eyes, that’s exactly what you were. 

“Sure is. Extremely breathtaking.”

“How long have you known about this place? How did you find it?”

“Well, one day, I got in to a fight with my parents and I just ran out of the house. I drove around for a couple of hours and I actually got lost, so I pulled in here to open up maps on my phone, but then I realized it was a beach and I went to go explore. It’s been about two years. I come here every time I need a break from life. It may not seem like it, but I do get overwhelmed and I just need some time by myself—away from all the negativity.”

“Oh, I see.” 

He was now slouched, as if he was upset with the fact that he was revealing so much to you. Yet, his words were so sincere. It was hard to believe someone like Mark—someone you assumed had every single thing in his life that he could ever want went through hardships. He was good at hiding it, but then again; it’s the people you would least expect to go through suffering that suffer the most. This was the first time you’ve ever seen him so out of it—anything other than happy and it made your stomach sore. Mark always tried to cheer you up and bring joy in to your day, so seeing him so distraught wasn’t something you ever wanted to see. 

“Are you—is life overwhelming you right now? I’m sorry if I’m a reason—I’ve been over working you and forcing you to study—“

“Don’t you dare even for one second think you are the reason for my distress. If I’m being honest—this is the first time I’ve been back to this beach in a while. A little over a month and a half to be exact. Ever since you came in to my life y/n, I’m so much more happy. I feel a lot more lighter in a sense. I love being around you and I love the effect you have on me. I’ve never brought anyone here before—not my friends, nor anyone in my family. You’re the first person and the only person I ever plan on taking here. You seemed out of it these last few days and I can tell you needed a well deserved break. You’re a full time student with a full time job and in your free time, you assist me with my education. I can’t thank you enough for all that you’ve done and continue to do for me. You’re such an indescribably wonderful and otherworldly human being. You deserve so much more than what this world can give to you. You mean hell of a lot to me y/n and I—“

“Mark.”

“Yes?”

“Can I kiss you?” 

His eyes widened in shock; as if they were about to pop out of his head yet he practically lunged forward and wasted no time connecting your lips together. As much as you wanted to lie yourself and say that you had no idea what had gotten in to you in that moment—asking if you could kiss him—it had been a long time coming. Hearing him say all those positive things about you, practically absentmindedly confirming that he did in fact see you as more than just a friend, hearing him tell you what you meant to him and that you deserved the entire world—you soon desired to be closer to him. 

As close as possible. Hugging, cuddling, holding hands—nothing would be enough. You needed to feel his lips against yours. It was irrational on your part, but you no longer cared at this point. He didn’t have to confirm whether or not he had a crush on you, his actions spoke the words he failed to and you preferred it that way.

Although he was hesitant at first, he soon took over and brought one hand in to your hair as the other cupped your neck all but gently. He pressed his lips against yours rougher—licking and sucking on both your bottom and top lip and playfully swirling his tongue around yours. He consistently hummed against your mouth and made his way on top of your lap, his legs were on either side of yours. 

The kiss got more passionate the longer the two of you continued and it came to a point where you didn’t even know how long you were kissing for. The desire—the thirst and even hunger to kiss Mark was too strong and you didn’t even care that you were practically breathless. He knew exactly what he was doing as his mouth melded so sweetly with yours. 

However, to his dismay, you finally detached yourself from him in order to catch your breath and retrieve back some of your sanity. Your chest began to heaven as if you ran a marathon and instead of feeling any ounce of exhaustion, you were filled with so much energy. He placed his forehead against yours but not before placing a kiss on your cheek. 

Never in a million years would you have ever thought you’d find yourself in this position; Mark hovering on top of your lap, his hair a mess because of how you were running your fingers through it, his lips raw and a shade of dark pink because of how much you nibbled on them. It was almost like your dream just a few hours ago—no wonder why it all felt so real. 

Your conscience was foreshadowing what was to come and it was a bittersweet feeling. You wanted to continue kissing him; he had the prettiest lips you have ever seen on a guy. But you needed to talk with Mark before continuing any further. He might have responded in to the kiss and allowed it to turn in to a full blown make out session, but you weren’t completely sure what was going on in his head. 

“Wow, y/n—I—wow. I can’t even speak. That was—fuck. You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to do that for. I catch myself staring at your lips more than I’d like to admit, and I’ve even dreamt about finally feeling them against my own but nothing could compare to how perfect that was. Shit. Does this mean—“ 

You gave him a shy smile and hid your face in the crook of his neck; not wanting to heighten his ego any more than it already was. He laughed at how flustered you were and placed a kiss on your hair. 

“I like you Mark.” 

He began to tense up right as your confession fell from your lips. If someone were to tell you that Mark Tuan was going to get all shy once you told him that you harbored feelings for them, you’d laugh right in there face. He was the last person you would ever expect to see so speechless—especially because of you. 

“You—you like me? Wait, seriously? You’re not kidding right?”

“Why would I lie about something like that? I wouldn’t have kissed you if I didn’t see you in a romantic light. I’ve liked you for a while now Mark. I only accepted my feelings for you a solid three days ago—“

“Three days?! You mean I could have been kissing these sweet lips sooner?” 

You couldn’t help but playfully roll your eyes now that he was sporting the most adorable pout and stole a kiss from the corner of his mouth. “I didn’t know what you thought about me. I wanted to make sure we were on the same page before doing something I’d regret later—“

“I swear to God y/n I literally look at you like the sun shines out of your ass it doesn’t get much more real than that—“

“Keep interrupting me Tuan and that kiss was the last kiss you’ll ever get from me.” His sarcastic groan sounded off throughout the quiet beach—he tightened his grip on your waist and flipped the two of you over so that you were now the one sitting on him. 

“Fine, fine, but hurry up and say what you want to. I really need to kiss you.” 

You placed your chin on his shoulder and wrapped your arms around his neck; now that you finally got to experience what it felt like being intimate with him, holding him and being held by him—feeling his lips meld perfectly against yours, you knew there was no turning back now. You were hooked on him like a drug and it was at the point that you would even consider yourself addicted.

“I mean, I had the tiniest hunch that you might’ve developed a little crush on me, but then again—I just assumed you were being nice. I didn’t think I was someone you would see yourself with. You and I come from two different social classes Mark. I’ve seen the girls who attend your parties and—well, there are quite a few girls that talked about their experiences with you and I’m nothing like them. So I just assumed all you would ever be to me was a friend and I was okay with that. I tried—I tried so hard to make myself immune to you. I was afraid of getting hurt. I tried to push you away and I apologize for being so hostile in the beginning, but you need to understand where I’m coming from. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I liked you. I’m happiest when I’m with you Mark. I always get so excited whenever we spend time together. Every single thing you do fills up my heart with so much joy. I’m putting my trust in you Mark. I want to believe that you’ll take good care of me. Please don’t make me regret my decision.” He placed a soft kiss on your forehead and pulled you closer to his body if it were even possible. 

“You trust me? Wow. That’s just—I can’t even explain how elated I am to hear you say that. I will never take your trust for granted baby. I promise, I will do whatever I can to make sure you are always smiling. Fuck, you don’t understand what this means to me. I’m yours y/n, all yours. Those girls—they could never hold a candle to you. No girl could ever fill my tummy with butterflies the way that you do. All you do is say my name and it fills up my chest with so much warmth. You need to understand, I have never felt this way for anyone before. Not once in my entire life. I’ve um—I’ve actually had feelings for you since middle school, but we were never all that close so I didn’t say anything because I was afraid you would think I was weird. It was worth the wait though, it really was.” 

He placed a wet kiss on your nose and smiled against your neck; probably trying his best to conceal just how happy he was to finally put his feelings for you out there. “You’re the most beautiful person I have the pleasure of knowing. Both on the inside and out. I’ll do whatever it is that you want me to okay? Wait, so um—does this mean—would you, will you be my girlfriend then?” 

It was tempting; the word yes was on the tip of your tongue. There was nothing more you wanted than to agree to start a relationship with him. You were well aware that if any other girl were in your position, they would have thrown themselves at the opportunity without hesitation. But then again, you weren’t like most girls. 

You weren’t judgmental; you were a firm believer in not judging anyone. However, a lot of the girls on your campus were the definition of easy. They would give themselves to all of the guys at your university that were pretty much eye candy. In more or less words, Mark and the rest of his friends. You wouldn’t be surprised if their body count together consisted 85% of the girls at your school. You on the other hand refused to give yourself to just anybody. 

It was as if the only thing on the mind of most boys your age was sex. From the time you were old enough to understand the meaning of love and what it would be like to be in love, that’s all you wanted to experience. You wanted someone to be in love with you entirely; your mind, body, soul, personality, likes and dislikes, good days and bad days. 

If you were to allow a man to ravish in just your body, you’d feel so insecure and empty knowing that he only wanted you in the time being to help him soothe his carnal urges. Although you didn’t think too highly of yourself when it came to your physical appearance, you were very secure with your mindset, work ethic and your personality. 

You believed that you deserved someone who would love you the way you so generously love others. Not someone who would only call you when his dick was hard. That’s why you found yourself giving him a sad smile and his now disheartened facial expression sent a sore sensation to your stomach. 

“I don’t know if you are aware of this, I’m sure you have your assumptions, but I’ve never been in a relationship before. So, I really don’t know how these things work. I think it would be best for us to take things slowly and let whatever happens, happen. If that’s okay with you.” 

Once you confessed what was weighing so heavy on your mind, his posture immediately switched back to what it was right after you told him you liked him. 

“Shit y/n, don’t scare me like that. I was thinking the worst, like, you were going to say that you don’t want to be in a relationship with me or something. There’s nothing wrong with that. I find it hard to believe though, I mean look at you. You’re literally everything that’s wonderful and extraordinary in a woman. Boys are stupid for not even trying to ask you out but I’m sure you have your reasons for being single. If I’m being honest, I’ve never been in a relationship either. Don’t give me that look baby, I’m being serious—“

“What about Leah in junior year?”

“That was just a fling. It only lasted about two months and even then, we only ever had—um—wait, how did you know about that? Somebody was paying some attention to me back in high school huh?” 

He sent you a wink and nudged your shoulder playfully and you were quick to shove him back. Why did you have to open your mouth sometimes? This was only going to add fuel to his already large ego. 

“Word spreads around school like wildfire Mark. It wasn’t as if I was purposely trying to see what was going on in your life. People talk—everywhere. I had Leah in pre-calculus. All she ever did was talk about how the two of you were together so don’t think you’re hot shit.”

He placed his face in the crook of your neck and left a few sloppy kisses there—the sensation went straight to your tummy, causing you to bite your lip as an attempt to conceal the large amount of glee you were currently experiencing. 

“Well none of that matters okay? I’m serious, I don’t date. I’ve never dated anyone. I never used to believe in feelings, emotions and all that lovey dovey bullshit, but now I do and I want to experience it all with you. We will take it at your pace okay? Whatever you want. You need to be vocal about what’s working and what’s not okay? I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. I just want you to enjoy what’s blossoming between us. I’ll follow your lead okay? Are you hungry? What do you say we get out of here and go get something to eat? Maybe we can go to an arcade and play a couple of games. I don’t want to let you go just yet.” 

You nodded vehemently, no longer caring if you seemed overly excited because you were. Your excitement and contentment was through the roof. He giggled at your enthusiasm and abruptly got up, not being able to wait a second longer to go to your next location. 

Mark was sure that if anyone were to tell him that he’d be here with you, sharing passionate and fleeting kissing, holding you protectively on his lap, watching the waves crash on to the shore, stealing glances and hearing you laugh at his nonsense jokes, he probably would have punched them in the face in disbelief. The probability of you reciprocating the same feelings that he held for you was almost laughable. 

There was no way you, the girl he’s been crushing on for more than half his life—the girl who had every trait and quality he was looking for in a significant other, the girl he was willing to drop all of his friends and stop his toxic ways; the drinking, the smoking and ditching school, none of that mattered to him anymore now that he had you. 

Hell, it never really did matter to him and it took you to come in to his life in order for him to realize that all the negative things in his life was his coping mechanism for how shitty the world really was. Since he was always considered “popular” since high school, he never knew anything other than the attention he received on a daily basis and he was afraid of what his world would be like if he were to give that all up. Every moment spent with you—in this last month an a half was the best time he’s had in his twenty-three years on earth. 

There was nothing more amazing to him than you, and he was going to make sure nothing was going to get in the way of that. You and Mark made your way to his favorite diner which was also an arcade just ten minutes away from the beach. He raved about their food and claimed that their games were so much better than most of the arcades in the area. 

In fact, once you both arrived, there were quite a few people waiting to be seated so he put his name down and brought you upstairs to where all the games were located. His hand sneakily intertwined with yours and you surprised him by squeezing his hand and bringing it up to your lips, placing a kiss behind it. It might have been dim in the arcade, but you could still see the pink on his cheeks from your ministration and it brought warmth to your own cheeks. 

“Okay, how about this, if you can win me a toy from the crane machine, I’ll be your girlfriend—“ 

Before you could even finish your sentence, Mark made a beeline to the two crane machines and took out his game card; swiping it roughly to the point where he had to swipe it a few times since it wasn’t going through. 

“Get ready to call me your boyfriend y/n, I’m a professional at this. One time, I brought my nieces here and I won all three of them prizes. You’re mine baby.” 

You don’t know what it was; hearing about him talking about his nieces made you smirk—you wondered what kind of uncle he was. Learning more and more about him only sparked your interest in the kind of person he was in front of his family. To his friends, he was this cool play boy that could get anyone he wanted. To the many girls at your school, he was sex on legs and to you, he was this dorky, procrastinating, silly yet patient, courageous, gentle and extremely generous being. It made you wonder what he was like around the people that he loved. 

“Is there one you want in particular?” 

You began to scan throughout all of the plush dolls. They were all so cute and you didn’t know which one to pick. That was until you saw the mini dumbo figure all the way in the far left corner. 

“Dumbo, I want dumbo.”

“Sounds good. I just need a kiss on the lips for good luck.” 

You did as you were told, tip-toeing in order to steal a kiss from the corner of his mouth and moved slightly to give him more room. He began to move the control all the way toward the doll and pressed it so that the claw sank down in the bunch of toys. He cockily turned to face you and winked—assuming he picked up the doll. However, his mood was quick to change once you let out a small little giggle. 

“Okay, so I didn’t get it. It was only the first try. It takes time y/n but I’m going to get you that damn doll even if it takes me all night to do so.” 

Try after try, round after round, Mark failed to pick up dumbo let alone any doll for that matter. You had to cover your mouth to prevent yourself from laughing at his many failed attempts, but you began to look at him in adoration. It was obvious that he really wanted to call you his. Most guys would have given up after the first few tries but here he was on this twenty-fifth time and over thirty dollars later, still trying to capture the doll. 

“Mark, hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to get it. I can always buy one at the store, don’t waste your money—“

“It’s not that y/n. I couldn’t care less about how much I spend. I just really want to win. I want to be with you—“ 

You wrapped your arms around his neck and placed a sloppy kiss on his lips. He didn’t put much effort in to the kiss and you felt it was because he was disappointed in himself for being so confident only to fail miserably. You could only hope that your next words could break him out of his moody funk. 

“I’m all yours baby.” 

Seeing his award winning smile before he roughly picked you up and swung you around made you return the same expression. You were no longer scared anymore. It might have only been a little over a month since you and Mark began to spend time together, but deep down you knew your heart belonged to the beautiful boy in front of you. He was the one you were willing to give yourself to. 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m so happy, I can’t wait to start taking you out on more dates and getting to kiss you all the time. I’m so fucking excited I don’t think you understand just how over the moon I am right now. God, I know I said I would stay here all night but I didn’t think I’d mean it. That game is fucking rigged I call bullshit—“

“Let me try.” 

He gave you a look of curiosity but didn’t say anything as he swiped his card and made room for you. You looked on either side of the machine to make sure the claw lined up with dumbo before releasing it. The look of pure shock and jealousy as the claw picked up your plush without effort caused you to let out a loud snicker. 

“What the fuck? Okay, yeah this game is definitely rigged how the hell did you do that?”

“What can I say? I’m a professional.” 

He caught on to your mocking and pulled you close to him—tickling your sides to get a reaction out of you and to get you to stop gloating. He already felt like a bad boyfriend for not being able to do something so simple. So he felt even worse seeing you get it on your first try. He was really going to need to put more effort in to impressing you. 

“Yeah, yeah whatever. I helped you get it there—“

“If that’s what helps you sleep at night—“

“Mark? Hey man, what are you doing here? Oh, y/n, hey! Fancy seeing you guys tonight.” 

If only he was facing you, you would have been able to witness how Mark’s face dropped at the sight of his younger friend. It’s as if his blood went cold and his stomach dropped watching Yugyeom walk over to the two of you. In his many years of knowing him, Yugyeom was such a loyal and timid human being. 

In fact, he was one of Mark’s favorites within their group. He never caused the older boy trouble in any way and did whatever was asked of him. This entire bet however made him realize that Yugyeom wasn’t exactly who he thought he was. Or he changed in to the person he would have never thought Yugyeom was capable of being. 

He’s been trying his best to avoid the younger boy; he no longer attended any of their parties and he snuck away to meet up with you before anyone could find out where he was going. He also hasn’t been responding to his invites or text messages mainly because he was extremely pissed off with himself for agreeing to the bet in the first place. If he had the choice, he wouldn’t have agreed. 

That was the old Mark who said yes. The old Mark was the one who wanted to win the bet. The new Mark, your Mark, the Mark that was head over heels in love with you—he no longer wanted any part of that anymore but he was afraid of what Yugyeom was capable of if he did so happen call them entire thing off. 

“Hey. Is it just the two of you?” Jackson nodded his head towards Mark and then to you in acknowledgment before Yugyeom shook his head in disagreement. 

“Nah, we’re all here. Everyone else is downstairs waiting. Jackson wanted to come see the prizes. We actually invited you, but you didn’t respond so we just assumed you were busy. Are you guys on a date right now?” 

For some reason, something didn’t feel right. You never really saw Mark this agitated or tense around his friends. Normally he was always a free spirit around them. He was a happy-go-lucky type of person, so it made you wonder if something happened but you weren’t going to force him to tell you if something in fact did happen between them. He might have been your boyfriend now, but you respected his boundaries. 

“We—we um—we just needed a break from studying.”

“Cool! Say, y/n, would it be okay if I stole Mark away for a few minutes. I just have to ask him something. You don’t mind, do you?” 

Mark turned to gaze at you and gave you a look that said something on the lines of don’t do it. However, you didn’t want to be rude. A part of you felt bothered that Mark didn’t confirm the fact that you were technically on a date but then again, you wouldn’t want them knowing you and Mark decided to start a relationship. It wasn’t any of your business and you knew shit would be the fan if any of them were to get involved. 

“No, go ahead.” 

Mark released a frustrated sigh—only loud enough for you to hear and you watched as Yugyeom brought him towards the elevators. You could tell he was probably annoyed with the fact that the two of you were rudely interrupted and even more so because Yugyeom was taking him away from you. Jackson gave you an awkward smile before placing his hands in his pockets. 

Just like you did with Mark, you considered Jackson to be pretty attractive back in high school. He was a little more outgoing and outspoken than your boyfriend was. However, you never batted an eye at him much like you didn’t with your boyfriend. In your eyes, the boy standing in front of you was just as much of a fuckboy as you considered Mark to be. 

Seeing him so embarrassed in front of you though kind of made you confused. Whether or not he caught on to the fact that you and Mark were a thing—you would have expected a snarky remark but you were left with nothing. As Yugyeom guided Mark to whatever secluded area he was taking him, there were scenarios popping in to his mind. 

He was afraid that Yugyeom was going to open his big mouth about the bet and even more afraid that it was going to get you to change the way you looked at him. Mark refused to lose you before the two of you could really do anything together as a couple and he would rather let something bad happen to him than to let Yugyeom get in the way of the relationship that was developing between the two of you. 

“Ayyyy, Markie boy. I see you’re practicing early huh. So you guys are a thing? I fucking knew it man, congrats. She’s one of the hottest girls on the entire campus—“

“What do you want Yugyeom?” The arrogant boy put his hands up and feigned innocence, but Mark could tell by his stupid grin that he was up to no good. 

“There’s a party at BamBam’s parent’s house on Friday. I know you didn’t forget about our little bet.”

“Look yugyeom, about that—“

“No way, you’re trying to get out of it aren’t you? I never thought I’d see the day where Mark Tuan is willing to give up his reputation for a girl. Not just any girl, sweet y/n. What, is her pussy magical or something? Does she swallow? I get it, she’s beautiful and extremely smart, but what’s so good about her? There must be something else about her that you like. She must be pretty special if she got you to give up your reputation. Maybe I should get a taste of her—“

“You touch her and I fucking end you Kim Yugyeom you hear me?” 

This was the first time he’s ever wanted to sock his friend in the face but it wasn’t his fault. Yugyeom knew exactly what he was doing. What was his problem? What had gotten in to him? Why did it seem like the way he was acting went beyond just a simple bet? Hearing him talk about you in such a degrading way made his blood boil. Mark couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he felt in his gut that something wasn’t right. 

“Ooooh, I’m so scared. Y/n is too much of a prissy bitch. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that she’s still a virgin. As much as I wouldn’t mind being the one to break her innocence, I like my girls experienced. Listen here Mark, I’d be careful if I were you. I know we’re friends, so you should know me better than anyone. I don’t think she’d be too happy if she found out this was all an act. Should I tell her she’s only worth $100–“

“You’re a fucking asshole you know that?” 

Mark tried to think about what he could have done to piss the younger boy off to get him to act this way but he came up short. There was nothing. No legitimate reason as to why Yugyeom was being so hostile towards him. If anything, he was the nicest one out of their group of friends towards him. He gave Yugyeom rides every now and then, he’d buy him food and he was just very generous and kind when it came to him. What could Mark have done for Yugyeom to try and manipulate your relationship? 

“Proud of it man. If you know what’s best for you, I’ll see you both at the party on Friday. Enjoy the rest of your night bro.”

What the hell did he get himself in to?

[macgyvertape]

So how’s Trials of Osiris now?

I’ve been wanting to do a follow up to on my essay “Trials of Osiris has been corrupting Guardians with Darkness“, and I figured no better time than when Bungie made a lot of changes to Trials gameplay.

No leak info or spoilers beyond week 1 of s15, this season’s Trials weapon is available in game from turning in last seasons bounty. I’ll cite like (this) the name of the lore, it can all be found on ishtar-collective since I’m having issues with links.

 to recap: before Stasis and before Savathun!Osiris, Trials was a corrupting influence related to the Darkness, affecting both Ghost and Guardian, and driving them try to perma-kill each other.

What I find fun about this storyline, is that it has shifted from being about creepy unknowable Darkness into a story about the clash between Guardian’s use of darkness powers vs faith in the Light, that’s clearly meant to continue the themes from Seasons of the Drifter and Opulence. Bungie isn’t going to put this plotline ingame, so IMO it’s fine all the lore implications are obscure.

thesis: in universe characters directly list the obvious parallels for Shayura “"You're no better than the Dredgen ," he says ... "…or Malphur ."” (SW, Shayura's Wrath) but also Shayura is set up as a foil to Aunor Mahal.

Since Season of the Chosen where the Trials Armor lore detailed Shayura’s descent into some degree of madness from 3 points of view; the lore has mentioned that while Savathun!Osiris is interested by guardians being corrupted by Darkness they aren’t the cause of it, and didn’t know of it till Saint-14 brought it up (In Memoriam Shell) (IH, Igneous Hammer).

Basically Shayura’s belief that the Traveler wants her to do this, and her willingness to kill Guardian is her own (PAB, Pyrrhic Ascent Bond) (Shayura's Wrath). Although there is confirmed final death for a Hunter in Shayura’s Wrath lore, it is implied that she has killed an unknown amount of Stasis users “Fragments of Ghost shells are scattered atop the console” (PAB)

There is an additional trophy “the Human skull sitting in the middle of her command console. Its hollow eye sockets stare back at her” (SW) following Shayura’s attempted murder patterns, I’m guessing that skull was her fireteam member Aisha who is one of the few humans mentioned in the context of Shayura’s breakdown, and who “betrayed” her by using stasis. Further evidence would be that Shayura’s story was told from the 3 points of view of her fireteam: the only point of view since the Shayura Wrath lore has been from that of Reed-7(Reeds Regret).

side note: it doesn’t seem like Shayura is treating her Ghost well either. “A Ghost reduced to little more than a bare sphere of metal, deprived of a shell” (SW)

Dredgen Yor:

It’s hard to make direct comparisons with Dredgen Yor, most of his lore is from D1, and contradicts in points where it seems like it was handled by different writers. The other point of similarity besides being infamous and reviled for murder of other Guardians is the lore being clear that they suffer from the emotional toll of endless war.

Shayura:

"Can Guardians be unfit for duty?" Shayura wonders aloud, her voice muffled by the tabletop.

"I mean…" Aisha replies. Her hesitation has a palpable sting. (PAG, Pyrric Ascent Gloves)

Yor:

To Rezyl, the Captain was already an afterthought. ... Rezyl’s attention had shifted to the unknown, but inevitable, battles to follow.... Rezyl was growing tired of small wins, however meaningful. (Rezyl Azzir - War Without End)

It’s not the same emotion, but it’s not often Guardians doubts in their role in such a way. You could say Shayura is the Light version of what Dredgen Yor was, but while the Darkness encouraged Yor (Ghost Fragment: Darkness 4), I HIGHLY doubt the traveler is encouraging Shayura the way she thinks it is. (Pyrrhic Ascent Boots)

Taking the the ending words of "I killed an agent of the Darkness," Shayura says, ... .Bile rises in the back of Shayura's throat."They come in many forms." (SR). I don’t think its much of a stretch to think the lines refer to her as an agent of darkness as well.

Shin Malphur:

Shin Malphur and Dredgen Yor, have a fair amount of parallels, especially considering Shin Malphur = Dredgen Vale twist, but it’s unclear how widely known that twist is in universe and if that is what the dead hunter was referring to.

Shayura’s Wrath item text “"But here you are. This is truly a beginning…" —Shin Malphur” (SW) parallels Dredgen Yor’s last words “But here you are. This is truly an end” (Ghost Fragment: The Last Word 4)

it’s heavily implied Shin is speaking to Shayura, but do I think Shin Malphur would be helping Shayura? Not unless Bungie is planning on changing his characterization yet again. There are obvious surface parallels: two solar wielding vigilantes who hunt Guardians who wield Darkness and love extra-judicial murder (Source: too many pages to count where Shin talks about culling those who have gone too far into the darkness). But Shayura’s zealot belief in the Traveler and her crusade against darkness wielders are the opposite of Shin’s beliefs of using both Light and Dark:

“the building of a new world, one where absolutes cower to the might of compromise, where Light tempers dark and the dark opens new insight into the Light's many undiscovered gifts.” (Nothing Ends: The Long Goodbye)

“the shadows of dark power that tempt us are not inherently evil. In fact, they are simply another tool to be used if we hope to bend the unknown to our will, an impossible feat we must learn to master if we wish to push back the ever-aggressive tide of extinction.“ (Nothing Ends: The Liar's Trap)

I think in the end Shin Malphur is more of a contrast than a comparison to Shayura, I’d also be suprised if Bungie brings him back as they’ve had him give his retirement twice now (Letters from a Renegade, Nothing Ends)

Aunor Mahal:

both are/were members of the Praxic Order, both strongly oppose Guardians using power of darkess.

A key difference is Aunor still has faith in the Vanguard while Shayura does not (Pyrrhic Ascent Hood). Shayura is what the fandom who only listened to Drifter’s side of the story thought Aunor was, someone more than ready to kill Guardians and Ghosts.

While Shayura only consideres execution, Aunor has faith in rehabilitation

“You're costing us Ghosts—means to fight enemies of humanity. These Guardians represent more than potential Dredgens” (The Warlock Aunor: The Salt Mines).

Following the Trend of other corrupted Guardians like Sola or Trestin, whom Aunor confrots; I’m expecting to see Aunor eventually confront Shayura, it seemed implied in the Igneous Hammer lore.

Side note:

Even before Guardians used stasis, its clear there was a ramp up from when Gambit appeared with Guardian’s going too far with the darkeness to the Guardian and ghost corruption seen in Trials

 “will face Praxic justice. Perhaps exile. We haven't had to lock anyone up in decade“(Message from Aunor VIII)

to

"It's affecting Ghosts now too. We should bring them back to the City. This makes five." (Temptation's Hook). “ You think she'll be lucky number…  how many are we up to now? At this point, the only chance I'm giving them is the chance to kill me first” (The Messenger)

Shayura mentions she was locked up and escaped (SW), and it’s clear that the Praxic Order is stretched thin

“Aunor scowled. She was perhaps the most diligent of the Hidden ...Each time they met, she seemed a little gaunter than before. A little testier" (IH)

Aunor’s morals and loyalty to the Vanguard are some of her defininging characteristics and I don’t see that changing. But if this storyline continues in Witch Queen then I see things hitting a breaking point.

[prioritysope]

Cheating

Reader: Female

Character: Oikawa Tooru

Rating: Explicit

Chapter: 26/26

The most difficult thing they had was learning Spanish, although it was a little easier for Gaby than for Oikawa. Tooru sometimes has difficulties, but cursing in Spanish is easy for him. It is normal that when you are learning a new language, insults are usually learned first.

In those years they never failed to go to Japan every winter and summer to spend with her family and friends. The last time they were found out that Matsukawa is working at a funeral home, Hanamaki was unemployed. And according to Tooru, Iwaizumi graduated from the United States and is currently an athletic starter, also coaching the Japan National team. About Scarlett, all they knew is that as soon as they graduated, she and Iwaizumi broke up. After that, they haven't heard about her at all. Maybe it was the best.

"Are we going to the party to celebrate your move to the National team?" She asked as she picked out some clothes from the closet.

Tooru was lying on the bed using his cell phone, totally semi naked, after the two of them had showered together. He stopped responding to messages on his cell phone, so he could reply to his girlfriend. He decided to get up from the bed, walking towards her, to hug her from behind her; also leaving a kiss on the back of her neck. Gaby turned her head and kissed his cheek.

"Of course we will go, amor." She closed her eyes when she heard that nickname in Spanish, it made her melt. If it weren't for Tooru hugging her, she would have fallen. "Besides, I'm sure tonight will be very special."

Before parting from her, he gave her a kiss on her cheek and a strong spanking, then went to dress himself.

"Better get dressed before I drag you to bed for round two." He murmured as he began to dress himself.

Gaby ignored his words, shaking her head. She opted to wear elegant shorts, a white top and a vest that she matched with her pants. In addition to black heels with gold trim, like the strap that the pants wore. While Tooru put on a white shirt, which highlighted his muscles along with elegant black pants, which highlighted his thighs. Also some white air forces one.

They both looked at each other totally in silence, admiring each other. Neither tires of admiring the other, it was as if they never saw each other. Tooru moved closer to her, grabbing her by the waist to hold her closer to him. He left a soft kiss on the lips that drove him crazy, he wanted more, but he knew they already had plans. Tooru couldn't help but spank his girlfriend again, earning himself a blow to his shoulder.

"Sos un boludo." She spat, rolling her eyes. Dumbass.

"Soy tu boludo, amor." I'm your dumbass, love.

----

It had been about ten minutes since they had both arrived at the event site. Everything was full of people. From afar Gaby could see Coach Armoa and some of Oikawa's teammates. She greeted each one with a kiss on the cheek and a smile as Tooru went to get something, or so he said.

She kept walking, searching for the feast until she saw a fairly recognizable figure. She rubbed her eyes, thinking she was dreaming or already drunk, even though she hasn't had anything to drink yet. She did not know whether to approach to corroborate, but her doubts were answered when the person turned and they were both face to face. It was... Iwaizumi Hajime. What was he doing there? For Gaby, he was in Japan training the Japanese team. What a surprise has been. They both stared at each other, not saying a single word. Five years without seeing each other, that was a lot. He looked different than seeing him on social media.

"What are you doing here, Hajime?" Gaby broke the silence first.

"The moron Oikawa invited me, remember he's my best friend after all and I want to support him." It was the only thing he answered, shrugging. "I admit that living here has done you good. You look more beautiful."

"From what I see the surprise was anticipated." Tooru's voice was heard behind both of them.

She turned around, and to her surprise it wasn't just Tooru. There was also Matsukawa, Hanamaki, the rest of the team, and her three best friends. She was really confused and happy to see them here. She didn't expect them to come, much less Tooru not telling her. She supposed this was part of the special night that Oikawa said before coming.

"Is this what you mean special night?"

They all looked at each other, laughing in unison; which confused her even more.

"Oh, that." Tooru muttered. "This is only the first part, the second is missing."

Just by looking at Gaby's face, anyone would realize she was anxious and she already wanted to know the rest of the surprise. Patience is not her strong suit. She frowned and received a big hug from her boyfriend, then a kiss on her forehead.

"Tranquila, mi amor." He murmured into her ear, hugging her around her waist. Stay calm, my love. "Solo disfrutemos la noche, y verás que en cualquier momento la otra sorpresa te la daré." Let's just enjoy the night, and you will see that at any moment the other surprise I will give you.

After that, everyone went dancing for a while and then caught up on everything. Everything was laughter with Sakura, Sumi and Akira. Each one was still with their respective boyfriends, and that surprised her quite a bit. The conversation was good until the music stopped and Tooru appeared out of nowhere. Her friends looked at each other strangely, which confused Gaby a bit.

"Sorry to interrupt, linduras, but I have to take this beautiful woman." His voice sounded a little weird, like he was nervous about something. She knew him well enough to know that.

Oikawa brought her to the center of it all, drawing everyone's attention and they surrounded them. Gaby was clearly confused about everything, that they all found tenderness. Although Tooru was the same. He moved his hands a lot when he spoke, something very characteristic of him when he is nervous. She was trying to figure out what might be happening, but nothing came to her mind.

A couple of minutes later, Oikawa took one of her hands. Squeezing it a little, hoping for a bit of comfort, which she gave him by squeezing his hand as well. Her curiosity was eating her from the inside every time.

"Gaby, there is something I want to tell you." Oikawa began. His nerves were on the edge of his skin. He reached his other hand into his pocket, waiting for the right moment. He could feel a few beads of sweat run down his hundreds. She kept her gaze on Tooru, waiting for him to continue, though you could also tell that he was anxious. "You know that I am terrible at saying romantic things, especially if it is in front of many people. You are someone very special to me. You have always been by my side, from the beginning and I am grateful to you for that. You have never let me go, not even at my worst moments. We have made mistakes, like anyone else and we learn from this every day. Despite the discussions and difficulties, we always come together to get ahead. Since I saw you I knew that I had to have you for myself and look at us, five years together; however , I want more. I want an eternity with you." The brunette knelt in front of her and all of her, including her, gasped in total surprise and perplexity at the scene.

"¿Me harías el honor de casarte con este boludo?" He said, a huge smile plastered on his face. Everyone was shocked. Would you do me the honor of marrying this idiot?

Nervously, he opened the little box showing a beautiful silver ring with a cute diamond in the middle. Gaby brought her hands to her mouth, totally shocked at the scene in front of her. She didn't expected Tooru to propose to her.

Gaby's face was bathed in tears, cheeks totally flushed. She was totally stumped at the sudden proposal from her brunette. The whole place was silent, giving her time to think and wait for her response. She was sure of her answer, but everything was so sudden, that she felt her heart in her throat because of the happiness and nerves that she felt. On the other hand, Tooru was nervous and anxious. He feared she would reject him, even though something inside him was screaming at him to calm down.

"Of course I want to, amor." Gaby answered after a while of silence, barely and answered, and Oikawa was putting the ring on her left ring finger and he raised her to start turning around. As he repeated over and over again, "She said yes, she said yes." When he lowered her, he brought her lips to his, hugging her around her waist and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Everyone shouted happily and a thousand "Congratulations" rained on both of them as they wished them the best in their lives. They also went to their friends, hugging. It was definitely a special night.

"I love you, baby." Tooru whispered over her lips as he brought their foreheads together, he was holding back the urge to kiss her again

"I love you." She replied with a smile on her lips as she closed her eyes. They both knew that those two words would last much longer.

They were going tomarry the love of their lives. They couldn't be happier.

[cotncandyboifics]

A Lovely Night: Chapter 5

AO3 Link

Masterpost

Chapter 1 ~ Chapter 2 ~ Chapter 3 ~ Chapter 4 ~ Chapter 6

Pairing(s): pre-established roceit & prinxiety, anaroceit, eventual anaroloceit, eventual intruality

Word count: ~2.5k

Story summary: Roman's boyfriends had had a rivalry since before either of them had actually met Roman. Running a bit late to a date night, Roman accidentally gets them to start dating too.

General CW: non-detailed description of an anxiety attack, non-detailed description of physical pain, food, kissing, potentially triggering descriptions of physical bodies, swearing, caps lock, school settings, s-xual innuendos, slight description of gore(imagery), vague descriptions of anxiety, Implications of an eating disorder, fatigue, dissociation, suppression of stimming, implied heavy restriction (ED), inner monologue-style anxiety description, eating,(will be added to as I write more)

Chapter CW: Swearing, slight description of gore(imagery), vague descriptions of anxiety, food, (let me know if i missed anything please!)

Author notes: i like this chapter a lot :) the stage has been set.

...

The next morning, Virgil had an opening shift at the knitting and sewing supply store he worked for. He'd found it the first week the three of them had moved to this town for college, and immediately took a liking to it, likely thanks to his long-lasting hobby of clothing alteration. He'd made some good money to save up in high school from making and selling custom hoodies and other clothing, even having taken a few commissions over the years.

It wasn't rare occurrence, that he was opening the store, and on this particular morning it wasn't so dreadful (once he'd pried himself away from his half-asleep boyfriends, who both vaguely grumbled protests at the incomplete cuddle pile as Virgil was getting ready). Virgil had gotten to his favorite coffee shop, where Janus' brother Patton worked, in time that it would be open and he also wouldn't be late for his shift, which was rare. It only worked out that way if Virgil's bus commute was perfectly timed.

Now caffeinated, and somewhat less-pessimistic-than-usual about the day ahead of him, Virgil retrieved the keys to the shop from his pocket, fumbling for a bit before finding the right one. He let out a breath as he found it, unlocking the door as he'd done a thousand times before and stepping in, shutting the door behind him and leaning his back against it. Virgil noted the clock on the wall, reading 5:02 am. The shop opened at 6, and he had more than enough sorting and stocking to do before then.

The next hour passed rather quickly. His co-worker Emile showed up shortly after him, and they both spent the rest of the time before the shop opened restocking and organizing the horrendous amounts of yarn and string and such supplies throughout the store and in the back room.

Shortly 6 am arrived, and it was time for the two of them to draw straws to decide who would man the register and help customers while the other continued stocking. Typically Virgil enjoyed the latter while Emile enjoyed the former, but their manager had insisted that they make the odds more random in order to get them both more comfortable in their unpreferred positions.

True to their manager's sentiment, Virgil drew the register stick. They both sighed at each other, and Emile returned to sorting through some cerulean yarn balls. Virgil made his way to the front of the store, unlocking the doors and flipping the sign to open, before making himself at home behind the register.

Generally, customers were rare at this time of morning, save for a few early-riser regulars. The bell at the top of the door chimed. Virgil didn't look up, expecting to see Margaret in her usual morning power-walk getup, coming in to check up on whether they'd gotten a shipment of lavender yarn yet.

"Morning, Marge. We still haven't gotten any lavender in, if-" Virgil halted his speaking upon looking up, feeling his throat constrict as he realized who had entered. At any rate, this person was certainly not Margaret.

The first thing that caught Virgil's attention about this new customer was their eyes. They were a burning blue, with small subtle mushes of gray here and there. Through their vaguely foggy colors, those eyes cut sharp like ice shards. The customer seemed entirely calm and stoic, however that did not extend to the ferocious - however not hostile - intensity with which they were staring Virgil down. Of course this intensity did not extend past their eyes, as the very slight twinge of a polite smile was seated at the corners of their mouth. Virgil briefly noted some seemingly familiar physical characteristics (although he was extremely wary to assume anything - what would be the chances of him and his boyfriends all meeting the same man individually, completely perchance?); shining black hair, square-framed glasses, the freckles, the pale and sunken nature of their face. Or, as Virgil certainly noticed, the subtle pronunciation of his cheekbones and jawline. They wore a black coat and a navy patterned scarf that appeared to be hand-knitted.

Virgil stumbled his way over to the closest register to the door - he wasn't sure why they even had two, they never needed to use them both simultaneously - and leaned haphazardly on the counter, propping his chin up on his palm.

"Sorry, hello, I thought you'd be someone else. Marge is usually the first in. What can I do for you?" His face felt really hot, and he was pretty sure that much was obvious to the newcomer, but he tried his best not to think about it.

The stranger didn't speak for a moment, merely leaning forward slightly with a furrowed brow. Virgil panicked for a moment, but followed their line of sight to the name tag on his hoodie. It was quite scuffed up, and the name "Virgil" was scarcely discernible through various smears of odd substances. Virgil quickly unpinned the name tag, beginning to rub away at the gunk with a sweater-covered thumb.

"It's Virgil, sorry about that," He spoke, hiding his hot cheeks behind his bangs as he scratched at his name tag feverishly. He quickly decided on just setting it down, wanting to give the newcomer his full attention.

"Good morning, Virgil," they spoke, and wow, was Virgil gay. The strangers' voice was deep and smooth, and reminded him a bit of Janus'. But this had a tactful, almost clinical and calculated sincerity, whereas Janus' was far more lilted and drawly. Regardless, Virgil felt his throat constricting a bit. He tried subtly coughing the feeling away. "I am in search of some high quality yarn, as a gift for a dear friend of mine. It is my understanding that this establishment is highly regarded for its products' quality?" Virgil tried not to stare. The stranger was running their fingers down and up the inside of one of the lapels of their coat very slowly, and that reminded Virgil terribly of Janus. He felt like he was in high school all over again, ogling over a tall pretty boy.

Regardless of his gay panic, Virgil cleared his throat. "Yeah, we try," His voice cracked slightly, and he tried clearing his throat again. "I mean, we have some pretty awesome suppliers, and we have a really, uh... Big selection of stuff. Do you, do you know what it is you want to get for your friend, exactly?" Virgil thanked any gods that existed had allowed him to formulate a coherent sentence, and he was glad to have the expectation of speaking temporarily off himself.

The customer tapped his chin with the side of his index finger, - which again, reminded Virgil painfully of Janus - humming as he continued surveying his surroundings. "I think he'd appreciate a selection of soft or pastel colors, and he adores the color blue. I think white would be a suitable addition as well. Do you sort your yarns by color?" he inquired, returning his heavy gaze to Virgil and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Virgil tried not to audibly gulp.

"Yeah, we do. here, let me show you to the right aisle," Virgil stepped away from the register, and tried to get out from behind the counter, only to completely trip over a cardboard box and fall directly onto his face.

"Goodness, are you alright?" the stranger paced quickly over to where Virgil was groaning on the floor, attempting to pull himself up onto his elbows. They reached a pale-white and very bony hand down to Virgil, who stared at it for a little too long before taking it gingerly.

The customer pulled firmly, and Virgil did too, and they both slightly miscalculated how much strength they needed to apply in order for Virgil to stand. Virgil stumbled forward just a bit as he rose. He looked up slightly and found himself nose to nose with the now wide-eyed man. Virgil yelped slightly, jumping away like a startled cat.

"Sh-shoot, sorry about that," Virgil took to fidgeting a bit aggressively with his hoodie strings, curling them around and between his fingers. "Uh, this way," he pushed a bit awkwardly past the man, looking at his shoes as he walked and willing away the burning heat he felt in his cheeks. Of course the first cute guy he encounters besides his boyfriends is right there when he falls on his face.

He paced over to the aisle with hues of blue and purple yarn, spotting Emile still working with a large box of cerulean. After a momentary panic and trying to wave Emile's attention without making any noise, the stranger turned the corner into the aisle Virgil had led him to. Virgil sighed to himself, annoyed at an in-no-way-at-fault Emile who still hadn't noticed their presence.

Virgil cleared his throat. "Hey, Emile, could you take register while I help this... customer?" Virgil had to take a moment to recall a phrase to describe him besides 'very beautiful man'.

"Uh-" Emile went to say he could help the customer for Virgil, since they were meant to stay in the vicinity of their assigned roles, but Virgil was looking at him with an intensity that blatantly said 'I am begging you to let me help this very gorgeous man to find his yarn and if you don't so help me god I will impale your severed and rotting skull on a rusty metal pole'. Emile chuckled a little shrilly. "Yeah, sure Virge," Emile slid past the two of them, making his way to the register as the chime of the door sounded again. "Welcome in, Margaret! Do-you-how-do?"

Virgil turned his attention back to the man looming slightly over him, leading him down the aisle to the softer and lighter shades. The customer was already scanning the shelves with a tactful intensity that made Virgil almost as anxious as it did further attracted to him.

"This variety is more than adequate," he spoke, almost under his breath, and Virgil tried not to shudder at the rumble in his voice.

"Um, great," Virgil piped up after a moment, and the icy gaze of the tall boy was on him once again. His cheeks felt real hot. "I can, get you a bag for... what you pick out? Er, a gift bag, if you'd like?" Virgil tapped the side of his fist into his hip a few times, trying to expel some of his nervousness. The stranger smiled softly.

"That would be excellent. Thank you, Virgil." He turned back to examining his options, and Virgil scurried off to find a gift bag.

The bags were all by the front register, and he grumbled a bit to himself on the way, preparing for some relentless teasing from his coworker for the next century at minimum. Emile was just waving Margaret off when Virgil rounded the corner, stepping behind the counter to rummage through some boxes for a gift bag.

"Sooo, Virgil," Emile started, tone entirely teasing as he leaned a little too far on the counter, tapping his orange pen on his lips.

"Don't. Say. Anything." Virgil hissed through clenched teeth, glancing up to give Emile another pointed glare for good measure. Emile chuckled lightly, leaning back on the counter a bit.

"Whaat? I won't! I'm totally innocent, see?" Emile puffed out his bottom lip and made his eyes look big. Virgil scoffed.

"Is that a cartoon reference?"

Emile grinned, shrugging. "Probably."

Virgil found the gift bags - finally - and began scampering off and away from the prying gaze of his overly curious co-worker.

Virgil helped the customer to find and collect the proper amount and variety of yarns that he wanted. As it turned out, it was a relatively easy task; aside from being impossibly and unintentionally charming, the stranger was mindful and courteous, and working with him was proving to be relatively easy. They bantered a bit, falling into a casual conversation as they searched for yarn, as well as while they walked back to the register for Virgil to ring his items up.

Emile gave Virgil a pointed look as he approached, trading him places as he walked with a skip in his step back to his yet unstocked shelves. Virgil rolled his eyes at him, stepping extra carefully behind the counter so as not to trip on any stray cardboard boxes. He leaned against the counter in front of the register, beginning to type numbers into it as though he knew the yarn prices like the back of his hand.

the customer stood at the counter before Virgil, vaguely examining his purchase as he watched Virgil slightly through his peripheral. He noticed the way Virgil bit at the inside corner of his mouth, worrying the flesh between his canines as he focused on adding the prices.

"Alright... your total is 82.53," Virgil said slowly, looking up at the stranger, who had - oddly enough - already been looking at him. The stranger glanced away momentarily, clearing his throat and reaching into an inside pocket of his coat for his wallet.

He produced a pristine black leather wallet, pulling a shiny navy blue debit card from between its folds and setting the wallet on the counter as he handed off the card. Virgil took the card and charged it, the customer punching in his PIN through the keypad.

A faint buzzing sounded from within the man's coat, and he reached in once more with knitted eyebrows. He pulled out what seemed to be his phone, eyes widening as he saw whatever was on the screen. Virgil couldn't see, but he figured someone must be calling him.

"My apologies, I must depart," The man spoke quietly, grabbing his gift bag of yarn and bringing his phone to his face as he made hastily for the door. Virgil didn't hear what he said when he answered the phone, but his brow was still furrowed when Virgil caught a glimpse of his face walking down the sidewalk out the store window.

"Bye..." Virgil said to the empty store front.

He looked down, seeing the customer's debit card still in his hand. "Shit." He saw the wallet set on the counter before him as well. He grabbed it, opening it to return the debit card to its proper place and see if there was a way of contacting the man within the wallet.

As he opened it, a white card similar in shape and size to the debit card fell to the floor. Virgil retrieved it, flipping it over to see what it was.

"No way..." Virgil was holding a driver's license. The name it was registered under was too familiar for it to be a coincidence.

He'd need to be giving one Logan Lattimer a call on his break.

[heloisedaphnebrightmore]

can you recommend me some good Ben Barnes movies/series? im watching the chronicles of marine prince caspian/voyage of dawn trader over me over again because I cannot get over how GOOD he looks but I need more

Oooh hello, here comes my expertise :D So, let’s begin with the more popular ones. 

Obviously him being Prince Caspian and King Caspian, you’re already watching that, but just in case anyone needs this, I will write them down. 

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian [Film]

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader [Film]

I was not a big fan of Caspian as a prince to be honest. Of course, when I was a teenager, sure, but as I grew older I had to realise he was just an entitled little sh*t at times, just like Peter :D So, when I will start writing for Caspian, it will be enemies to lovers xD

I’m assuming I don’t even have to talk about Dorian Gray. It was one of his most popular movies and it will never be forgotten. 

Dorian Gray [Film]

It was his next big role after Prince Caspian with a very interesting plot-line if you ask me.

Probably you have also heard about Billy Russo who was played by Ben Barnes, but if you haven’t here you go.

The Punisher [Series]

It is a very good series, but you do have to be prepared for some bloody scenes and shootings and betrayal and all those heavy stuff. It’s not an easy watch, but certainly worth it :)

He also played Logan Delos, who was quite a conflicting character, but I loved him. According to Ben, some of Logan’s characteristics were actually based on him, which I have no idea how true is, but... please tell me more :D

Westworld [Series]

If you like cocky self-destructing bad boys, Logan is for you :D

Another one I thoroughly enjoyed is a movie he shot with Katherine Heigl. He is playing a very laid back guy and I can just see Ben Barnes’ real personality in Ryan Brenner’s character so I just loved it :)

Jackie & Ryan aka Love Me Like You Do [Film]

It’s more like a romantic, closer to real life movie, but it has a certain charm, that I found to be very sweet. 

There was also a film where he played Josh Sawyer a father, who got into a car accident with his family. It was quite a heavy film too. [x]

Locked in [Film]

I would say I enjoyed it, it was an interesting concept, however, critics have rated it very low, so I guess it depends on you. I’m not a movie expert so I wouldn’t be able to tell you if technically it’s a good movie or not, I personally liked it. 

Anyways, I will not explain every single series and films he has played in, so here are some that are also good to watch from him. 

I have watched

Killing Bono [Ben Barnes as Neil McCormick] [Film]

By the Gun [Ben Barnes as Nick Tortano] [Film]

Seventh Son [Ben Barnes as Thomas Ward] [Film]

Easy Virtue [Ben Barnes as John Whittaker] [Film]

I have not watched yet

Gold Digger [Ben Barnes as Benjamin Greene] [Series]

Sons of Liberty [Ben Barnes as Samuel Adams] [Series]

And as very side characters

Stardust [Ben Barnes as Young Dunstan Thorn]

The Words [Ben Barnes as The Young Man]

The Big Wedding [Ben Barnes as Alejandro Griffin]

And of course, his upcoming simp-worthy role as The Darkling/General Kirigan in Shadow and Bone, coming on 23 April 2021 on Netfilx :D

I hope this helps :D

“Reading is my therapy” masterlist

[therewasatale]

Instinct

On Ao3.

That was not the plan. They both knew that this should not have been happened.

The fire had already engulfed almost everything and spread throughout the house. The roof was turned into a searing hot crimson carpet, moments away from collapsing.

"Anderson!" Alucard looked around anxiously. His crimson eyes almost glowed as he tried to find man's trail. "Where are you, you damned priest?!" He hurried from the bedroom to an adjoining room. One of the windows crackled and the glass exploded from the heat.

"Anderson!"

He needed a couple of seconds to realized that he had to calm down if he wanted to find the priest. As much as he could, he began to focus on the noises and sounds around him.

Then he heard it. As the heat crackled and popped, there was someone's cough and angry grunts mixed in with it. The sound could probably come from somewhere downstairs.

Alucard looked down and decided to take the fastest way.

With his weapons, he simply began shooting the already weakened floor and fell down to the lower level as pieces of debris accompanied him. He followed the sounds into the kitchen as quickly as he could, from there through a door down he hurried down to the basement. He paused for just a moment as a large plume of smoke erupted from below, right into his face. Something cracked down there. The flames had already reached the basement too.

"Anderson!"

"Here…" the response was stifled by a strong cough. The priest seemed to have fought for every single breath.

Alucard ran down the dilapidated stairway, which collapsed after his footsteps. He found Anderson almost immediately. The iscariot was trying to free himself from being trapped under a two-doored closet. But he was completely stuck.

Their eyes met for a moment.

He wouldn't die, Alucard was aware of that. Maybe he would fry black, and his lungs would fill with smoke, but his healing ability would drag him back to life. And within a few hours, the iscariots would dig him out from the rubble.

Anderson gave out big, labored breaths, coughing, his eyes became dull for a second.

He wouldn't die, but he would feel the smoke suffocating him, and the fire eating into his body again and again…

The vampire's hands trembled.

"God damn it!" Quickly he put away his guns.

He grabbed the edge of the closet and only had to strain a little to raise it up. It was then that he saw the bear trap which caught Anderson's now utterly broken leg.

"There!"

Alucard followed the man's gaze.

As he picked up the bayonet, the blade began to burn his hand.

"Cut it off!"

Anderson bit his lips.

Alucard hesitated for only a second.

A clean cut slashed off the injured leg, leaving a bloody stump behind.

The pain flashed through Anderson's whole body making him wince. A sharp yell escaped from his throat, but he still remained conscious. He had to gather all his strength to at least try to push himself to one leg, he started by turning onto his stomach. From the smoke his eyes burned and his entire left side throbbed with searing pain, but that was nothing compared to the heat that slowly constricted around them.

Two hands grabbed his shoulder and pulled him up. Then an arm closed around him, holding him steady on his one remaining leg.

He opened his mouth trying to protest, but the vampire was faster.

"You can kill me later, let's get out now!"

The father nodded weakly.

"To hell with it." Alucard held the man closer. Shielding him from the inferno the best he could. He leapt up to the ground floor, and from there he hurried to the nearest window. Something must have fallen behind him because he could feel the heat on his back, but he was just watching straight ahead. He threw himself out the window, dragging the priest with him.

"Damn..." they weren't safe just yet. The main beams of the house signaled the end of their fight against the heat with a loud crack.

"Let's get out of here, Father." Putting his arm around Anderson's shoulder again he jumped away from the house as fast as he could. The man's head was drooping down, but he was still conscious.

"Alright, maybe here." Alucard carefully laid him down at the trunk of a thicker willow tree, and with a heavy sight he leaned against it next to him. Both of them need to took a few deep breaths.

The house to which they were both sent was built beside a river. It looked like an ordinary abandoned vacation house at first glance. Now, in the glistening mirror of the water, the flames consuming the house illuminated the trees growing on the bank.

In addition to the crackling of the fire, a new, dull rumbling could be heard.

It was evening, but as the vampire looked up through the crown of the trees, he could only see the thick layer of clouds. The smoke rising from the burning house mixed up in it. A lightning bolt crisscrossed through the clouds, then the angry rumble was audible again.

"Great…"

The rain swept down without warning.

The branches of trees rattled in the icy wind. Leaves got torn off and danced in the air as thousands of raindrops began to blanket the area. It was impossible to decide where the river ended and where the sky began.

Anderson took a few slow breaths. His eyes were just throbbing instead of burning and his smaller injuries were starting to knit themselves together, but his leg was still bleeding. He needed time, and for once he would have given everything for a couple painkillers. With a big sigh, he threw his head against the tree and closed his eyes.

"Hey, don't say that a little fire and a missing limb is enough to kill you?" Alucard had almost managed to hide the concern in his voice.

"Silence." The answer came after a couple of seconds which seemed hours for the vampire.

"Good."

They watched in silence as the rain and raging fire fought for dominance. The tongues of flame burst into the sky again and again, but from the few corners of the house Alucard could already hear that characteristic hiss as the onrushing water started to extinguish the fire.

"I thought it would have collapsed by now. We might have had time to take out the-"

The roof of the house buckled in, then with a huge crack and a loud snap could be heard, the top floor also fallen on the ground floor.

"Never mind."

Then the crackling of fire, and the pattering of rain was the only sound that remained.

Father Anderson took in a deep breath of ice-cold air. His lungs slowly cleared and the burns finally healed. Even the gunshot wounds stopped throbbing in his side. Only the pain from his legs refused to subside.

He gripped in his trouser leg with one hand. He just had to wait.

Over the years, he has learned that pain is always temporary, no matter how unbearable it may seem at that time. When they were testing the effectiveness of his healing ability, and even more so its limits, he had to endure much more serious wounds and for longer time.

There were two things, however, that he could not ignore. He wished his body would stop trembling. Even he felt the exhaustion, the aches, and cold gusts of wind. He tried to sit still, but his body shuddered betraying him.

Alucard watched the man tremble beside him out of the corner of his eye.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes." A weak murmur was the answer. If he had not worn his gloves, his fingers would have become numb by now from the cold. "It just needs some times…to grow back."

Alucard looked over him and watched in silence for a few moments. Then he glanced down at himself.

"Alright, move."

"What?" Anderson glanced blankly at the vampire's hand as it gently touched his shoulder and then tilted him slightly forward. Finally, a red coat fell on his back, covering his body. "I didn't ask for your pity."

"I wouldn’t have given it because of pity." Alucard shrugged and sat back beside him only in his black suit but didn't look at the priest.

Anderson blew out an angry sigh. He couldn't decide what was worse; that the vampire had helped him out of pity, that his help really did stopped his shivering, or the fact — and what he thought was most unbearable — he felt grateful for the damn bloodsucker.

"I didn't think they would be equipped like a small army."

Anderson snorted. "Someone must have told them we were coming."

"Hellsing only knew of a few odd occurrences. People missing in the area, two weird strangers lurking in the woods most every evening." He glanced at the man's slowly re-growing leg. "But according to this, the Vatican had no idea about the situation either."

Anderson shook his head in response.

"Hm," the vampire rubbed his face and grinned. "Then we're dealing with something interesting here."

Anderson snorted again, and his body twinged in pain. For now, it would be better if he stopped being jumpy.

They both watched the rain and the burning house again. The flames began to lose the fight against the rain. It was a miracle how well the willow tree's crown protected them from the rain.

Anderson hid himself into the red material even more. "I would have been able to get out" there was a pause. "Sooner or later."

"I would say later, and maybe your kids would have had to dig you out."

"That damnable vampire lured me into that trap and then he rushed me."

Alucard glanced at Anderson. "Did it slip out of your hands?"

Not even the rain could suppress the priests affronted snort.

"I tore out his heart," he glared down at his injured leg. "But by then everything was aflame. Where did the fire start at all?"

"Upstairs. Several cans of diesel were hidden everywhere in the house, and I think they were connected with some kind of ignition device."

"Did you not smell the diesel?" Anderson glared at him.

"I did." Alucard grinned. "I just didn't care. I was wondering what they were up to. Two old vampires versus a priest and an old vampire."

"Well, not much remained of them."

"Mh, I'm just disappointed I haven’t managed to bite one. He must have had some interesting memories." The vampire leaned back and sighed.

"And now what?"

"And now we wait."

The father glanced towards him again.

"I thought you can move through the shadows."

"I can."

"Then why are you still here?" He muttered again as he gazed at the remains of the burning house.

Alucard shrugged slightly. He had been thinking about the same thing for the last few minutes.

"The reason is same as that why I helped you. I'm a genuine monster who only listens to his instincts and his own head, and other similar things Integra always say." He moved his hand in the air. "My instincts told me to pull you out, and now they are telling me to stay here."

The vampire tried to suppress the small voice within himself, which only subtly whispered that he had not completely followed his instincts for the past hour or so. Huffing softly, he buried his fingers into his dark hair.

Anderson listened quietly then just sighed.

"Do what you want, but my students will arrive soon. Don't you dare to hurt them."

Their eyes met.

"I won't, I promise."

Anderson blinked in surprised when he saw the softness in the vampire's eyes.

Alucard turned his gaze towards the house once again. "But for now, I think you should rather rest."

The priest rubbed his face into his hand. He was blushing. There were more and more thoughts charging around in his head, but for once, and this he himself hardly believed it, he listened to the vampire. He slowly relaxed his shoulders and slightly rubbed his thigh as a pang of pain ran down his legs.

The two of them watched as the fire slowly fizzled out, then they listened to the noises of the rain in complete darkness.

[wontshutup]

Skin || Five Hargreeves x reader

Description: reader is gender neutral on this one.  While staying abroad on a family trip,Five comforts reader and they talk about their skin picking. In this narrative the Hargreeves already went through all their “major problems” and now some years had passed from season 3 (in my mind of course)(sorry if I din’t add the sparrows, I just fel it to be an only umbrellas minus Ben, rip the umbrella Ben, moment) and the reader was somewhat adopted by the family and is in a relationship with Five. 

Warnings: mentions of blood, self harm?, tw: excoriation disorder, probably bad grammar.

Notes: I have been dealing with skin picking since I was 13, it tends to be as if it was seasonal thing as it doesn’t happen all year round, sitll is an issue in my daily life, recently it has gotten really bad and just felt like writing this.

I am not from the USA or any english speaking country , therefore english isn’t my native language, sorry if some things are not really well written. 

Five and Vanya arrived at the small house the family was staying in for the weekend, each carrying what was meant to be breakfast. Coffee and donuts, perfect for a chilly autumn morning, the day was starting to clear and so the sun made a pleasant contrast when in contact with their skin, making a perfect balance between the weather and the heat the light provided.

Vanya knocked with her foot, as she had both hands full with two big donut boxes that made her looked shorter than she actually was.

“Ooh! What is it I see?” Answered Klaus making a big gesture to welcome both his sibling in. “Breakfast is here you guys” he announced enthusiastically to his siblings who were already gathered in the living room.

“Thank you two!” said Allison while making her way to help her sister with the boxes.

“We brought you donuts, as it’s the only thing we found in the area, hope you like them” Vanya explained herself with her usual shyness earning a sympathetic look from his siblings.

“And even if they don’t, that’s all they’re getting” added Five, earning an eye-roll from Diego.

“Ugh, always so harsh! here, hand me those” and so, Klaus helped Five with the drinks and settled them on the table as Diego and Luther got up to inspect the boxes’ contents.

It was a nice morning, there seemed to be a sense of calm in the place, if it weren’t for the circumstances that had just gone down one could’ve thought it was a perfectly normal day with a perfectly normal family as if nothing had happened to any of them, still, the events from the past years were still fresh in their mind’s, yet Five allowed himself to enjoy the moment, this was everything he worked so hard for,  however, he didn’t felt the scene as complete for him, it lacked someone.

“Where’s Y/N?” he asked into his cup before giving a sip to the bitter beverage.

“They’re upstairs in the restroom” said Luther with a mouthful of jelly-filled donut.

To this Five felt his stomach dropped.

“Oh yeah, they’ve been taking awful long there” added Klaus. “It’s been like 30 minutes already, you think they’re ok?”

And this told Five everything he needed to know, he left his cup on the table in such a hurry that he almost spilled all the coffee, causing his siblings to worry, but before they could ask any more questions he had blinked away.

Reappearing at the door outside the restroom he brought himself to calm down a little, before speaking.

“Y/N it’s Five, may I come in?” he asked trying to remain in place, he knew better than to intrude on you and of course didn’t wanted to startle you.

“Uh, Y-yeah, I’m almost done, let me just” You answered, nervousness clear in your voice.  Inside the restroom, the sound of flushing could be heard. 

“Y/N” Five said now in a warning, his patience running thin out of worry.

The sound of the faucet running followed.“I’m coming, I just need to wash my hands” then splashes of water.

Five knew you too well, he had for the past years of sharing a roof with you and was done with waiting, blinking inside the restroom causing you to jump almost hitting your face with the faucet.

The sight of you pulled at Five’s heart. Your face was filled with red and dark spots forming in your chin, forehead, and nose, cheeks swollen and small bloodied spots covered several parts of your face, your eyes were teary, Five didn’t know if it was for being caught or from the stinging of your skin.

“Five, I” you started, lip quivering like a child who’s been caught doing something many times told not to “I was just” 

“Hey” Five cooed “Hey don’t cry, please just, here” he handed you a tissue.

He knew that you had been dealing with skin picking for a while after landing in Dallas and the years following, it had gotten worse by now though, but you said you would be fine, he expressed his concern,  yet you insisted you had it under control, but he knew you weren’t, still hadn’t really said anything more later, he didn’t really know how to help you but you were hurting yourself and he hated seeing you like this, he hated not being here for you.

You dried your eyes and blew your nose, hissing at the contact due to the irritation, a metallic smell filling your senses “I’m sorry, really it’s just...” you lowered your gaze, you were embarrassed by yourself, of being caught by one of the people who you loved the most, you had discussed this with him already, agreed not to do it, you swore you would be fine only to be found like this,  “I was too weak I’m sorry” and you knew you were, but sometimes, after the life you had, it felt as if this was the only way to control at least an aspect of your life, it helped you cope.

“Shhh, come here” with a soothing voice Five gently pulled you into him, embracing you in a reassuring hug. “Hey, I’m not mad at you ok?” he continued, caressing your back. "I just want to know that you don't have to deal with this on your own" he then pulled away the slightest to be able to meet your eyes. "Everyone in this house is here for you, especially me, got it?”

While looking into his eyes you couldn’t help but notice the worry in them, but past that you could see such a pure form of love, a different type of care, you hadn’t been looked that way before especially not at your worse, as if you were his everything. His eyes told you wou were as the waves inside his ocean greens slowly lulled you into a state of peace and his voice seemed to soothe your aching state.

“Guys, are you in there? Is everything fine?” asked Allison with concern from the other side of the door. You looked at the door, then at Five unsure of what to answer.

“We are here, we’ll be down there in a second” answered Five.

“Ok, if you need anything just let us know” and with that characteristic motherly way Allisson had with you and made her way back downstairs, her footsteps audible through the door.

“I’m sorry I worried all of you” you said apologetically to him, he only smiled a little.

“Don’t be, after all, we are a family, that’s what we do, we worry for each other, help each other and get in the occasional fight but we would do anything for each other” he gave you a small squeeze and handed you another piece of paper “and now you are part of our family, and not getting rid of us easily” he said jokingly earning a small laugh from you.

You washed your face and let your skin dry on its own while Five waited for you.

“Thanks for not telling Allisson just yet” you said while patting a bit of excess water from your chin.

“No problem, I won’t if you haven’t said you want to….but you should really seek some help” he handed you a skin ointment and sunscreen from a drawer “Vanya knows some therapists, you can discuss it with her if you want it, or I can do it for you if that’s ok with you”

  “I will do, thanks for everything” done with both products you looked at yourself in the mirror, feeling a small wave of regret wash over you again. Five noticed.

“Y/N” Five met your eyes in the mirror. “You are the most beautiful person I’ve met, all of you and you’ll get through this, I know you will, I’m here for you” 

You smiled and so did he.

“Well, let’s go downstairs, we don’t want cold coffee do we sir?” you said taking his hand, you made your way down, hands intertwined with one another, the smell of coffee, the sound of chatter meeting you two, it felt like home. You looked at him again and so you knew, you would be fine.